Enchantress 3
It would take two days to finish loading the Zhuge Family’s ship with supplies.
They also had a letter to deliver to the Namgung Family, head of the Seven Great Clans, and someone who would be traveling with us for that purpose. So we agreed to wait out those two days and board a Zhuge vessel once more, bound for the Namgung estate.
Apparently the Namgung Family was in the middle of some major crisis and in complete disarray—but we could not afford to halt our journey. The strategist claimed he didn’t know the details either, yet according to him, the only place that still held the food our little azure companions needed was right there.
“This way.”
“Yes, Strategist.”
I had thought we would get two full days of rest on solid ground before setting out. Instead, the strategist came looking for me the very next morning, the moment breakfast was finished. He led me straight to the highest pavilion in the entire Murim Alliance—the Celestial Martial Pavilion—and all the way up to its topmost floor.
Apparently the highest-ranking person here wished to see me.
A meeting had been arranged with the Alliance Leader himself: Fist Emperor Ju Joong-hak. He had already sent a personal letter, and upon learning I had come, he had asked to meet me face-to-face.
Eight stories, no elevator. By the time my calves were screaming, we arrived. A young servant waited in front of an ornate door and announced us the moment we appeared.
“A-Alliance Leader, the Strategist and the young hero of the Tang Family have, ah, come to see you.”
“Very well. Show them in.”
A kindly old man’s voice drifted out from within. The stammering servant flushed scarlet, flustered over which door to open first, then hastily stepped aside. The strategist’s voice transmission slipped into my ear.
Thanks to you catching the previous attendant, this new boy who replaced him seems a bit green.
We stepped through the door the novice servant held open. Waiting for us was an old man of roughly the same age as Grandfather Mandok Singun. What struck me first was the pure white of his hair and brows—snow-white hair, snow-white eyebrows—and the weary look of a man who had weathered every storm the world had to offer.
I entered, clasped my fists respectfully, and bowed my head.
“Wi So-ryong of the Sichuan Tang Family greets the Leader of the Murim Alliance.”
“Ah, so it is you! Come, come!”
The Alliance Leader hurried over, seized my hands, and beamed. Still holding them, he asked with a face full of laughter,
“Those little ones on your wrists and waist don’t just bite anyone, do they?”
My sister had told me the Alliance Leader was one of the Three Emperors—one of the three strongest martial artists in the entire Central Plains. She had not been exaggerating. Until now, no one had ever noticed that the centipedes were clinging to my body. Yet he had sensed them at once.
“Of course not, Alliance Leader.”
I slipped free of his grip, rolled up my sleeve, and showed him the centipedes. He examined them with genuine wonder.
“So these are the young of the Azure-Spotted Centipede. Even after all I have seen in the murim, this is a first. Come, sit. I must at least offer you tea.”
“I am grateful for the hospitality.”
The strategist and I took our seats. As the Alliance Leader poured the tea himself, the questions began. True to an old man of Grandfather’s generation, he started with a full household census.
“So you became the live-in son-in-law of the Sichuan Tang Family?”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“And your parents?”
“I am utterly alone—without a single soul to turn to.”
I had always wanted to try out that elegant classical phrasing. The moment I did, the Alliance Leader glanced past me at the strategist. The strategist looked at me with pity and answered for me.
“I was told by the Tang Family Head that he has lost all memory of his past. Until the Family Head found him, he lived alone on Hainan Island catching and selling snakes.”
“Ah… is that so? Then the young hero must have lived a lonely and difficult life.”
“Not at all. With friends like these, I was never truly lonely or hard-pressed.”
I smiled as I said it, gesturing to the centipedes. The Alliance Leader only stared at me with an even more pained expression.
Hold on.
I suddenly realized why he was looking at me like that. To an ordinary person, “I raised bugs because I had no friends” sounded heartbreakingly sad—like a boy who couldn’t make human friends so he named insects and treated them as companions.
Aigoo, look how cute my little buddies are. Isn’t it nice hanging out with big bro?
In his eyes I was probably the castaway naming a volleyball.
“Ah, that’s not what I—”
“No, it’s all right. People get lonely. It happens…”
“No…”
I tried to protest that it absolutely was not like that, but the Alliance Leader only gave me an awkward smile. Clearly eager to smooth over the strange atmosphere, he cut me off and finally explained why he had summoned me.
“I called you here because you performed a great service this time, and I wish to reward you.”
A reward. Just like that, every last shred of injustice vanished from my heart. All grudges are best soothed by presents, after all.
Still, a question remained.
“You speak of a reward, yet I already told the Strategist what I needed.”
“I heard. But that is merely a matter of sorting through the information already piled up in the Alliance and sending it along. Do you understand how great a thing you have done? You made a discovery that will keep those bloodsucking Blood Sect parasites from ever setting foot in the Central Plains again. A reward of that level is nowhere near enough.”
So what I had done was no small matter, and he intended to give me something extra on the spot. Extra gifts on top of what was already promised sounded wonderful—but snatching them up greedily was not our style. Our ancestors taught that proper courtesy required refusing at least three times.
“I obtained it by chance while trying to save my family from the ones who invaded our house. Saving my family, plus the gift already promised, is more than enough for me.”
The moment the words left my mouth, the air turned icy.
“….”
He froze for a beat, then muttered under his breath, expression hardening.
“Obtained by chance while trying to save your family…”
What? Did I say something wrong?
I shot a glance at the strategist. He was staring at me with faintly startled eyes. Then the Alliance Leader’s voice reached my ears again.
“Yes… that was it. I wondered why I felt such kinship with you. It is because we are alike…”
“Pardon?”
Out of nowhere he claimed we resembled each other. I blinked hard—there was not a single similarity I could see. He pulled a slender book from his robes and tossed it toward me.
—Thump.
“You do not seem to understand. I do not mean our faces.”
“Ah… haha…”
Caught out, I laughed awkwardly. His voice, bitter and tired, continued.
“This old man lost his entire family and the people he loved to the Blood Sect. While thrashing about trying to save even one last remaining relative, I finally attained enlightenment and completed my martial arts. I heard you threw yourself at a Blood Sect elder while already poisoned, all to save the people of the Tang Family.”
“Eh? Yes… well…”
“Thirty years ago I was much the same. Powerless, yet staking everything, hurling yourself forward with desperate resolve…”
Hearing him, I finally understood. We had both risked our lives to protect our families. We were both utterly alone in the world. A certain brotherhood of men who had nothing left to lose.
As I was thinking I could almost relate, he went on.
“This is my own unique martial art—the Iron Safe Technique—which I refined from my family’s original arts. I have never taken a disciple, and my family was wiped out long ago. When I die, the art dies with me. I give it to you as your reward. You may even teach it to your descendants. I have no intention of playing master, so tell the Tang Family not to worry.”
“A-Alliance Leader! Your personal martial art?!”
I had been about to ask whether I might obtain something like ice jade. Instead he was handing over his own technique. The strategist’s mouth fell open as he looked back and forth between us—proof enough that this was no ordinary gift. One of the strongest men in the murim was offering his life’s work.
“Thank you, Alliance Leader. I will not bring shame upon your great name.”
At my answer, a warm smile finally softened the weary lines of his face.
“To think the Alliance Leader would bestow his own martial art… I can scarcely believe it. Still, for the time being keep it secret from everyone except the elders of your family.”
“Why is that?”
We were walking out with the manual of the Iron Safe Technique in hand. When I asked, the strategist lowered his voice.
“The man the Blood Sect most wants dead is the Alliance Leader. How kindly do you think they will look upon the youth who inherited his art? And you are also the one who uncovered their body-melting poison. Nothing good will come of the rumor spreading.”
So that’s how it works?
Listening to him, I felt as though I kept burning bridges with the Blood Sect that I could never rebuild. Honestly, it was a little frightening. But what choice did I have? I simply vowed to train hard and fight them in the greediest, most underhanded way possible—with hemorrhagic toxins—and answered,
“I understand, Strategist.”
“I still have matters to discuss with the Alliance Leader, so I will only see you this far. Can you find your quarters on your own?”
“Yes. Please don’t worry.”
“We leave early tomorrow morning, so this is the last day. Take care.”
“Then I take my leave.”
I clasped my fists to the strategist, left the Celestial Martial Pavilion, and headed for my lodging. It was nearly noon; I planned to grab a light bite with my sister and check whether accepting the gift had been the right move. I also still needed to ask her about that “no take-backs” matter I had forgotten to raise yesterday.
“Excuse me—Young Hero Wi?”
I had just stepped out of the pavilion and was heading toward the Guest Reception Hall when a voice called out. I looked around and turned. From the shadow of a wall a young man emerged, a spear across his back.
That’s definitely that Changryong Yang Seong-hu guy.
Judging by the way he stepped out of the wall’s shade, he had been waiting for me. Yang Seong-hu walked over and clasped his fists.
“Young Hero Wi. We meet again.”
“Ah… yes. We meet again.”
An awkward exchange of greetings.
“Were you just passing by, or were you looking for me?”
I asked what business had made him stop me. He clasped his fists once more, even more formally.
“I heard Young Hero Wi had visited the Celestial Martial Pavilion, so I came to find you. I have a request.”
“A request?”
We were hardly close. We had only seen each other’s faces yesterday, and now he suddenly had a request.
This better not be him asking me to co-sign a loan at first meeting.
I blinked in confusion. He clasped his fists yet again.
“Forgive my presumption, but may I request a spar with Young Hero Wi?”
“A spar?”
“Yes, Young Hero.”
A spar meant a contest of martial skill—something like sparring in taekwondo, my sister had explained. Because real weapons were usually involved and people could get hurt, it was rarely done except between close friends or in official tournaments. So I clasped my own fists and answered,
“No.”
I had a pretty good idea why he was doing this, but the truth was I had not even learned a proper combat art yet. The bigger problem was that my centipedes judged “spar” versus “real fight” solely by killing intent. The moment this guy leaked even a wisp of it, he would die on the spot.
His face twisted with panic.
“What? Y-Young Hero, if you are a man, then prove to me that you are a man worthy of Dokhwa!”
Prove what, you lunatic? A college kid barging up to a middle-schooler demanding a duel…
My sister had said they were not even close and had barely spoken, yet here he was overreacting all by himself. I shook my head.
“It’s too dangerous.”
He immediately began pleading.
“I’ll remove the spearhead and hold back with every ounce of control, so… just enough to convince me…”
He clearly thought I was refusing out of fear. I corrected him.
“No—not me. You might die. That’s why it’s dangerous.”
That was when his eyes rolled back.
This bastard’s eyes are rolling over a middle-schooler?
I instantly leapt backward with light-footwork. The sounds that followed were sharp and wet.
—Ssrrrk.
—Ssrrk!
—Thup. Thup. Thup.
Between me and him, the centipedes shot through the air and sank their fangs in.
“Th-this is?!”
Shock flooded his face at their sudden appearance. I let out a long sigh and said,
“Consider yourself saved—once.”