Legends and Reality (4)
“So something like that really happened?”
“It did.”
“What incredible nerve. To spout such reckless insults right in front of you, of all people?”
Tam-gyeong smiled bitterly.
“Looking back now, I probably deserved to hear every word of it. It had been so long since I’d seen a junior with such talent that I couldn’t help but tease him a little.”
Lee Beon clicked his tongue.
“No matter how you look at it, insulting a senior who’s lived seventy years longer than you? I can’t decide whether that’s bold or just plain rude.”
“Hahaha, I thought the same thing at first,” Tam-gyeong admitted.
“Hm?”
Tam-gyeong smacked his lips.
“We severed our ties with Buddhism and cut ourselves off from the secular world. We live the rest of our lives for a single purpose, and the only family we have left are the people here on this mountain.”
“I see.”
“He told us not to interfere with the world, not to judge us by the world’s standards. So what right does a junior have to speak of respect? If he’s going to nitpick like that, shouldn’t we at least be allowed to live like human beings?”
“……”
“In the end, it all comes full circle, doesn’t it? If you want to talk about rules and propriety, you should be living within them. If you shove your own convenient standards onto others while insisting on living however you please, how are you any different from those lawless thugs of the Dark Path?”
Lee Beon cleared his throat.
“You really know how to make a man feel small.”
“I’m just saying. Once I thought about it that way, I could understand the boy’s reaction.”
“In any case, you ended up accepting his deal?”
“What else could I do? If I refused, it looked like he was ready to come at me with that axe. At my age, I can’t exactly brawl with a greenhorn junior.”
“Tsk. You should’ve just run away.”
“I was thinking the same thing, but then he brought up the Sasin. After that, running wasn’t an option. How could I not be curious?”
Although they had cut ties with the world, both men had once been renowned masters of the Orthodox Path. For such people to speak of running away so casually…
They truly were far removed from ordinary life. Even their choice of words carried the unmistakable air of those who had left the secular world behind.
Lee Beon’s eyes sparkled.
“What was the boy’s name?”
“He said his name was Yeon Hojeong. Apparently he’s the eldest son of the Yeon family of Byeoksan in Gangdong.”
“The Yeon family of Byeoksan… Heh, it feels like only yesterday that that martial house began making a name for itself.”
When Lee Beon was still active in the jianghu, the Yeon family had been a newly rising martial house.
Of course, the Yeon clan itself had existed in that region for a long time. It was only recently that they had begun to display their formidable martial prowess.
“As far as I know, the Yeon family practices orthodox Central Plains swordsmanship. Yet he has mastered the Sasin? Was their family connected to it?”
“I don’t know. But from what we understand, the Sasin can never become the martial arts of a single group. It’s highly likely that it was passed down to that boy as a one-man transmission.”
“Mm, that makes sense, but…”
Lee Beon’s eyes gleamed.
“It’s fortunate that you were the one who met him. None of the rest of us would have been able to recognize the traces of the Sasin.”
“……”
“To be honest, I was shocked. Shocked, and I could hardly believe it. I never imagined that the young man who inherited the teachings of the person who made me decide to spend the rest of my life on Mount Bul would appear before my eyes.”
“Hmm.”
Tam-gyeong looked up at the ceiling of the cave.
Though his gaze was fixed on the rock above, his eyes were chasing the past.
“I had never met anyone like him. I had never even imagined a sight where all of Shaolin’s techniques would be dismantled with just a few gestures.”
“……”
“And yet he didn’t reveal his true qi or suppress me with his aura. It was pure dismantling. Strangely enough, he didn’t even seem all that familiar with Shaolin martial arts.”
Tam-gyeong closed his eyes.
“From the very moment I manifested my technique, he had already seen through every single one of my weaknesses.”
Lee Beon shook his head.
“I’ve heard this story many times, but I still can’t believe it. Is it truly possible to instantly dismantle Shaolin martial arts—especially the pinnacle techniques performed by someone of your caliber?”
“I don’t know. All I can say for certain is that he possessed that ability.”
“Incredible.”
“An eye that sees weaknesses… It sounds plausible at first, but when you think about it seriously, it’s an absurd power. There are geniuses who can watch a complex technique once and replicate it, but someone who can instantly devise a method to dismantle it would be called a once-in-a-century talent. And to actually manifest that dismantling method on the spot? That would be impossible without the enlightenment of a grandmaster.”
“There’s one thing I want to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Exactly what part of that boy made you think of the Sasin? You said you had never felt even a trace of that mysterious man’s qi.”
“His eyes and his temperament.”
“Hm?”
Tam-gyeong smacked his lips again.
“It’s hard to explain precisely. But that junior’s sharp, piercing gaze was identical to the mysterious man’s, and his unique temperament was almost exactly the same, differing only in degree of refinement.”
“……”
“Mm.”
“More than anything, I knew the moment I saw him. That he was that man’s successor. That kind of thing isn’t something you can tell by looking at internal energy or forms.”
Lee Beon nodded.
“This too must be fate.”
“Indeed. Seeing that, I wonder if what we’re doing—hiding away on Mount Bul, trying to uncover the final chapter of an old legend—is truly the right path.”
“Come now. Must you say it like that? If you speak that way, what does that make all the elders who spent their final years secluded here?”
“Hahaha.”
Tam-gyeong shook his head.
“Anyway, I should get going. If I leave now, I won’t be late for our appointment.”
“While you’re there, fix that boy’s manners. From what my great-grandson told me, his name is already shaking the current jianghu. With that level of martial prowess at his age, it’s enough to make anyone arrogant.”
“He may be rough, but he isn’t arrogant. At least, that’s what I think.”
“Is that so? Well, if you say so, then it must be true.”
“I’ll be back. You and the other brothers should rest for three or four days. You must be tired after using your bodies for the first time in a while.”
“We’ll take care of ourselves. Just make sure you return safely.”
Tam-gyeong smiled and turned around.
As he watched the man’s back, Lee Beon called out one last time.
“Are you still captive to that mysterious man?”
Tam-gyeong stopped in his tracks.
He stood there for a long time, staring out of the cave, before letting out a soft chuckle.
“Captive might be too strong a word, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget him. Even you would have felt the same, brother.”
Lee Beon nodded.
It was true. It would have been an experience impossible to forget. Where else could one feel such shock as watching the martial arts of Shaolin—the school that claimed to be unmatched under heaven—shattered to pieces?
Moreover, that mysterious man had sat the defeated Tam-gyeong down and spent over two full days teaching him a completely new martial principle and the areas where existing techniques could be improved.
Had it not been for that experience and those teachings, Tam-gyeong would never have been called the strongest Nahan Dangju in the history of Shaolin.
During his active years, Tam-gyeong’s fame had spread across the four seas. He had been even more famous than the abbot of Shaolin at the time.
And behind that reputation stood the mysterious man—the successor of the Sasin.
“I never imagined the connection would continue like this. He once told me that if I ever raised a disciple and sent him into the world, I would naturally come to understand. That simply by looking at him, I would recognize the successor of the Sasin…”
“Young Master Yeon.”
“I know.”
Yeon Hojeong turned his head.
In the distance, an old man dressed like a beggar was walking toward them. It was Tam-gyeong.
Tam-gyeong smiled brightly.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“You arrived right on time.”
“Of course. I have to keep my promises if I don’t want to be beaten to death by a vicious junior who threatens people with an axe.”
“We will depart in half a gak.”
“Hoho, unlike last time, your tone is quite polite now.”
“The minimum courtesy due to a trading partner. Besides, I don’t think this is the time to worry about such trivial things.”
“Trivial… Yes, this is indeed trivial.”
To think he would meet the disciple of that man in this manner. As the boy said, something like tone was utterly insignificant.
“By the way.”
Tam-gyeong turned his head.
There stood Muk Bi, staring at him with wide, startled eyes.
“Oh? And who might this child be?”
Muk Bi, who had been staring blankly, hurriedly bowed her head in surprise.
“This junior, Muk Bi, greets the esteemed senior of the jianghu.”
Her voice was trembling faintly.
It was unavoidable. She hadn’t noticed from afar, but the moment he drew close, the dense, overwhelming aura radiating from Tam-gyeong’s body pressed down on her.
‘An incredibly powerful expert!’
He was stronger than Yeon Hojeong.
No, he was stronger than anyone she had seen in the current Martial Alliance. Far stronger even than So Bang, whom she had faced as an enemy.
This went beyond differences in internal energy or technique. The old man before her was a supreme expert who had trained for a long time at a realm one step above the boundary Yeon Hojeong had currently built.
‘Could he be…!’
A powerhouse of the Seongcheon realm?
It was then that Tam-gyeong spoke.
“That’s not the case.”
He had instantly read her thoughts from her expression and aura.
“Although they are my juniors, the realm of those called Seongcheon is different from mine. It can’t be helped. They have pursued the path of martial arts for many long years, but after reaching this stage, I haven’t spent much time immersed in the martial path.”
Tam-gyeong smiled and continued.
“This isn’t humility; it’s simply the truth. Though I may appear outstanding in your eyes or this young friend’s, I have not reached Seongcheon. And that gap will only grow wider with time.”
“……!”
“Still, you are quite surprising yourself. You look to be of similar age to this young man, yet you possess such martial prowess… Heh, even the next Nahan Dangju of our temple would find you difficult to handle.”
Muk Bi bowed her head once more.
“N-no, that’s not…”
“By the way, you use archery? How unique. Is there a sect in the current Central Plains capable of producing an archer of your caliber?”
It seemed he knew the name of the Sasin but not that of Gwanil.
At that moment, Yeon Hojeong raised his hand.
“Let’s stop the pointless chatter. The last person is arriving.”
“Mm.”
Tam-gyeong turned his gaze toward the mountain path.
Instantly, his eyes sharpened.
‘Demonic arts?!’
Rumble.
A rather large carriage was approaching.
It wasn’t the coachman driving the carriage, but someone inside it. He had sensed a faint demonic energy. Though the amount was so small that one wouldn’t notice unless paying close attention, once detected, its density was comparable to Yeon Hojeong’s.
Tam-gyeong asked,
“Who are you traveling with?”
“A damn woman who will help persuade some stubborn officials.”
“……”
“Huh?”
Thud.
The carriage came to a stop.
Yun Ho, a member of the Myeolsa Army acting as the coachman, rose from the driver’s seat and bowed.
“We have arrived, Great Leader.”
“Good work. Did you memorize the route?”
“Of course.”
Yeon Hojeong spoke to Tam-gyeong and Muk Bi.
“Get in. We’re heading straight to the residence of the Left Pacification Commissioner.”