The Public Enemy of the Martial World
As the heavy silence settled over the room and made it feel even smaller, Hong Chilsong was the first to break it.
"I don't think the two clan leaders would have bullied a young woman for no reason. Still, I am a law enforcer of the Beggar Sect before I am anything else. It would be hard to simply pretend I never saw this."
At his words, Dang Hyeongeuk’s face hardened, perhaps because he took offense.
"We acted only as the situation required. We had no reason to seek the Beggar Sect’s permission, nor any intention of doing so."
In an instant, the air turned sharp and rough, and their eyes tangled in the empty space between them for a heartbeat.
"Clan Leader, surely the elder did not mean it that way."
"Elder. That was a bit much."
When the two men and women stepped in quickly to restrain them, Dang Hyeongeuk and Hong Chilsong each took a step back, acknowledging their own embarrassment.
"...I offer my apologies. For a moment, I forgot I stand beneath the skies of Sichuan."
"I had no intention of slighting you or the Beggar Sect, elder. My words came from agitation, so I hope you will forgive me."
Even as he lowered his head slightly, Hong Chilsong cast a sidelong glance at Dang Hyeongeuk.
What on earth had happened to make the clan leader of the Sichuan Tang Clan, a man who valued a still and unshaken mind above all else, say that he had spoken in agitation?
Before the question could settle, another voice turned the inquiry toward him.
"Then, elder, what relationship do you have with that girl?"
When he turned, Namgung Cheon was watching him with an intense, unsettled gaze.
From what he had overheard through the door, the Seomun Clan’s young leader had been severely injured.
Was whatever had happened to Cheongwol more important than that?
Hong Chilsong drew a breath and answered Namgung Cheon with a composed face.
"I’m afraid I can’t tell you. You haven’t told me anything either."
As he said that and rose to his feet, Dang Hyeongeuk’s low, decisive voice rang through the room.
"Sit down. I have not given you permission to leave."
The words carried the force of a clan leader, but Hong Chilsong merely turned his back and smiled with easy amusement at the corners of his mouth.
"I have never been bound to anything in my whole life except my sense of righteousness and loyalty. I doubt this time will be any different."
If they let him walk out like this, everything that had happened today would reach the Beggar Sect’s ears without fail.
Just as they were about to forcefully stop him, and just as a sharp aura began to rise from Dang Hyeongeuk’s body—
"...If that is how badly you want to hear it, I can tell you."
No one had expected those words to come from Namgung Cheon.
"But first, elder, you must tell us plainly what relationship you have with that child."
When he returned to his seat, Hong Chilsong glanced briefly at Ak Seo-ah. It was a silent signal telling her to read the room and follow his lead however she could.
"I first came to know that child—Cheongwol, I mean—in Gansu."
At that, Namgung Cheon’s brow narrowed slightly.
"You mean Gansu, where the Kongtong Sect is located?"
"Yes. I don’t know what brought her there, but she used to visit the same inn every three days without fail."
It was clearly a story he had made up on the spot, yet Hong Chilsong’s gaze clung to the edge of a memory that did not exist.
"Perhaps she pitied this old beggar who had been asking for handouts on the road, because she offered to buy me a meal. Back then, I thought she had the kindest heart."
For a fleeting instant, the corner of Namgung Cheon’s mouth twitched.
"...A natural thing to think."
Though he did not understand why, once Namgung Cheon and Dang Hyeongeuk’s expressions had softened, Hong Chilsong swallowed his confusion and continued.
"After that, we somehow became acquainted and wandered through the Central Plains together. From Dongting Lake to Songshan and Huashan, now that I think on it, we traveled a long way. Then I took on some work for my sect and we were separated for a while, only to run into each other here by pure chance."
Dang Hyeongeuk’s keen eyes shot straight at Hong Chilsong.
"Don’t brush past it so lightly. Tell us more."
Hong Chilsong hesitated for a moment before speaking carefully.
"...I was reluctant, fearing it might sound like I was speaking ill behind her back, but it cannot be helped. The child had a pure heart, but she was not well versed in the ways of the world. I simply couldn’t leave her alone."
"The elder is right. When I first met her, I remember barely talking her out of going to Hengshan."
When Ak Seo-ah added that at just the right moment, Namgung Cheon turned his gaze to her.
"You said you were the eldest daughter of the Shandong Ak Family."
"Yes. I am Ak Seo-ah, eldest daughter of the Shandong Ak Family."
"I see. And is the clan head in good health?"
"Thanks to your concern, he is safe and well."
At her flawless reply, Dang Gangjin let out a breath of relief and gauged Dang Hyeongeuk’s expression.
"I’ll speak plainly. What relation are you to that child?"
"We’re as close as any two friends could be. I also owe Cheongwol a great debt."
"A debt, you say..."
"Since it concerns our family’s affairs, that is all I can say. Everything was resolved without any trouble afterward."
It was not a particularly satisfying answer, but if he could not say more, what else could be done?
Namgung Cheon slowly nodded.
"I understand. So, to sum it up, the elder is her guardian, and you are her friend."
"That would be one way to put it."
"That’s right."
Dang Hyeongeuk and Namgung Cheon exchanged a brief look.
From what they had heard, neither of them seemed to be merely ordinary acquaintances with Cheongwol. How much of the truth should they reveal?
The decision did not take long.
These were the people who had stood at Cheongwol’s side while they themselves had not even known she existed; they were more than qualified to hear this.
And even if it should somehow leak out—though it likely would not—they would simply make the price of that betrayal dearly paid.
"...Before I begin, there is something the two of you should know first."
Dang Hyeongeuk paused for a moment, then continued with a somewhat complicated expression.
"The Im Clan that once stood in Luoyang, Henan. I speak of them."
When she drew in a little air, the stale taste of blood spread across her dried-out mouth.
She forced her eyelids open, but as expected, her arms and legs were as immobile as stones sunk in water.
...
Despair was already creeping in, and she squeezed her eyes shut again.
If she could not move her body, what about the inside?
Fortunately, she could feel a faint trace of inner energy near her dantian.
If she sent that energy through her meridians and guided the small heavenly circulation, she should at least be able to judge her condition roughly.
Just as she made up her mind and tried to draw the sleeping force in her dantian upward—
"Ugh...!"
Her breath caught, and her teeth clamped down of their own accord.
A horrific pain swept through her entire body, as though a red-hot awl had driven straight through her spine.
She had thought she could endure pain well enough.
Now she realized that had been a grave mistake, born of arrogance, and all she wanted was for this agony to vanish as quickly as possible.
When she finally felt as though she might rather lose consciousness again than bear it any longer—
She felt a small tremor near her cheek.
"Hwi!"
At that voice, Seomun Hwi opened his eyes wide before he even realized it, and there was Cheongwol’s face, much more haggard than it had been before he passed out.
She looked so startled that even her long lashes were trembling, and the sight made his chest ache with sympathy.
"Cheong... wol..."
His throat felt as if it had been torn to pieces, and the voice that finally slipped out sounded so strange even to his own ears that it seemed to belong to someone else.
"Mm. I’m here."
Yet Cheongwol smiled through her tears, a sorrowful little smile.
"Thank you. For waking up."
Seeing how red and raw the skin around her eyes had become from crying, Seomun Hwi’s chest hurt even more than before.
He had only recently promised himself that he would always make her smile, and already he had failed to protect her.
As though she understood what he was thinking, Cheongwol swallowed her sadness and shook her head.
"Don’t think about anything else. None of this is your fault."
She looked at him as if demanding a response, so Seomun Hwi blinked once, quietly.
Apparently satisfied, the corners of Cheongwol’s eyes softened again.
"Wait here for a moment. I’ll go let them know you’ve come to."
They said it was a pleasure quarter that sold wine and laughter, but when moonlight fell over it, it could also become a place where rumors caught their breath and hid.
At the far end of a corridor where half the lanterns had gone dark, there was a hidden room just like that.
...Can I believe this?
Her beauty had not faded, but the authority left behind by time had settled into the woman’s eyes.
For more than twenty years, she had searched so desperately for news that she had not found even a single strand of hair.
And yet now, out of nowhere, not only had someone claimed to know where she was, but they had also written down the years that had gone missing—and even her name.
Rouzhu’s gaze lowered to the letter on the table.
Because the message had arrived with its sender concealed, she could not ignore the thick malice soaked into it.
And yet who would go to such lengths now, and for what reason?
It was too hard to accept as truth, but too difficult to dismiss as a lie, because some intention plainly lay beneath it.
As her thoughts stretched on, Rouzhu clicked her tongue and walked to the window.
The heated air trembled with the night, but in another hour or so the streets would be as still as a grave, as though nothing had ever happened.
By then, the rumors would slip back into the darkness and set out once more on a long journey.
Moonlight, tilted at an angle, brushed across the letter and brought one line into sharp focus.
- Im Cheongwol.
The granddaughter of the martial world’s public enemy, Im Yuguang. Sighted in Sichuan.