Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Heading South
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The silk pouches left behind as gifts by the Weird Physician were each a different color.
Blue, red, and yellow.
Wi Sowol pondered deeply whether there was some meaning tied to the colors of the Three Great Extremes, examining the silk pouches closely, but there was no clue to be found.
"He said to open them one by one, and once we've dealt with what's inside, move on to the next."
Wi Sowol muttered to herself.
Was there significance in the order?
Unlike Wi Sowol, whose thoughts were swirling, Hwangboyun's decision-making was refreshingly straightforward.
"How about the blue one? It looks the prettiest."
Just a gut feeling.
"...This isn't something you decide so simply... hey!"
Growing frustrated at Wi Sowol, who was staring into the pouches as if they held the weight of her life's greatest decision,
Hwangboyun went so far as to deploy the Huangbo clan's Golden Whip Single Lash, snatching the blue silk pouch right out of Wi Sowol's hand.
Wi Sowol, caught off guard and never expecting Hwangboyun to go that far, watched wide-eyed as the pouch was taken.
Anticipating Wi Sowol's immediate counterattack, Hwangboyun circulated his Vajra Heavenly Body Divine Art to its peak and hurriedly unfurled the silk pouch.
"Oh! O...?"
"Give it... back!"
It wasn't a strike woven from advanced martial arts, but Wi Sowol's nimble Golden Whip technique wrested the silk pouch back from Hwangboyun.
However, the pouch was already open, its contents revealed.
"Looks like a letter. Pretty short, though?"
Hwangboyun remarked, puzzled, having sneaked a peek at the contents in the meantime.
Without responding, Wi Sowol examined the letter from inside the pouch.
[Jiangxi Province, Nanchang]
"That's far."
"Yeah."
The distance from Xi'an to Nanchang was twice that to Nanju.
'I was planning to head south to Jiangnan anyway. Master must have heard about that and pointed me here. Something must be up.'
As Wi Sowol racked her brilliant mind but still struggled to grasp the true intent,
Hwangboyun had an idea pop into his head the moment he saw it.
"Nanchang—that's where the Nangong Clan is, right? Did he set up a debt with the Nangong Clan for you?"
"If that were the case, Master never mentioned them even once."
Excluding the Nangong Clan, the only famous thing in Nanchang was Tengwang Pavilion.
It didn't seem likely the Weird Physician would leave a letter just to tell her to sightsee there.
"It's gotta be the Nangong Clan, right?"
Hwangboyun kept pushing toward the Nangong Clan, clearly delighted at the name of another one of the Eight Great Clans.
Honestly, without a shred of falsehood or mere contradiction for its own sake—Wi Sowol genuinely felt an uneasy hunch rising to the tip of her tongue that it couldn't be.
Not wishful thinking, but sincere.
"No, but."
Suddenly struck by a thought, Wi Sowol turned to Hwangboyun.
"You're coming along?"
"Huh? Of course?"
He shot back as if asking why she'd state the obvious.
Hwangboyun's eyes sparkled with keen interest and enthusiasm.
"It's over three thousand li (1,200 km)."
"The distance we've covered so far is about that much, isn't it?"
With that, Hwangboyun propped his foot up beside him, proudly displaying his long, sturdy legs—his point of pride.
Of course, with pants on, no bare skin was visible.
But their health and strength were evident even through the fabric.
It was the body of the Heavenly King Physique, after all.
What was a mere three thousand li to him?
Hwangboyun proclaimed confidently.
"If anything, you should be begging me to come along. I'm Hwangboyun, young lord of the Huangbo Clan! The Nangong Clan, another of the Eight Great Clans, will treat me as an honored guest."
"...Can't you pick one—Hwangboyun or Little Emperor?"
"No way!"
What a kid.
In Wi Sowol's eyes, Hwangboyun was all bulk but a puppy at heart.
'What a shame.'
Yes. For now, he found romance and fun in hiding his identity.
But later, it would all come back as karma.
Wi Sowol gazed at the oblivious Hwangboyun, half pitying, half pathetic, and shook her head slowly.
Hwangboyun's playful expression faded into a faint smile as Wi Sowol sighed loudly enough for him to hear.
Really. What a high-maintenance friend.
The image of her wilted by Jang Rok's death and her parting with her master the Weird Physician lingered so sharply in his mind.
Looking like an abandoned stray cat, how could a great hero like Hwangboyun just stand by?
'Whew... Heroic conduct. Well done, Hwangboyun. Once word of this spreads, my next title will be the Golden Justice Great Hero.'
When he returned home, he'd do so in glory, adorned with a title known across the land.
Etching this new feather in his cap from the True Immortal Great Hero Valley deep into his heart, Hwangboyun refocused on Wi Sowol's words.
Wi Sowol unrolled a rough map of the realm and gauged their route.
"To enter Jiangxi Province, we'll have to pass through Huguang or Zhili."
"Huguang seems faster, right?"
"Huguang is stronghold territory for the unorthodox sects. Not just Huguang—most of Jiangnan is."
Huguang Province was so vast that Emperor Honghua's administrative reforms had split it into Hubei and Hunan Provinces, though people still referred to them combined as Huguang.
Hwangboyun tilted his head curiously and countered.
"Not entirely. Hubei has the Wudang Sect."
Hubei Province housed the Wudang Sect.
Did Wi Sowol not know that?
She was well aware of the Wudang Sect's foundations.
But unless it were Shaolin,
the Wudang Sect alone couldn't dominate Huguang's martial world.
The problem was their rival for hegemony in Hubei.
The supreme unorthodox sect.
The Overlord Extreme Sect.
"Hunan has the Sword Assembly too. The Jinju Yan Clan and Heng Mountain Sect hold the orthodox line in Hunan, but that's as far as it goes."
If the Overlord Extreme Sect was the top unorthodox sect, the Sword Assembly was the one the orthodox sects dreaded most.
For it began as a gathering of those who had broken away from various orthodox schools to freely exchange sword techniques on their own terms.
Thus branded heretics and traitors, the Sword Assembly had fallen to unorthodoxy.
And as a natural progression, the orthodox martial world sought to excise them from the jianghu.
Yet they survived.
Even to this moment.
"Because they're strong."
Survival meant strength.
The Sword Assembly embodied that adage.
Abandoning their sects, betraying their masters, slaying their senior brothers, scorning orthodox, unorthodox, demonic, and outer paths alike.
A collective of sword-mad lunatics obsessed solely with the blade.
Any swordsman was welcome.
If you sought the sword's pinnacle, join them.
Their mad proclamation, "All swords gather here," had become their symbol, enduring even the relentless assaults of the martial alliance formed by the Nine Great Sects.
"The Jinju Yan Clan is one of the Eight Great Clans but ranks at the bottom. Wudang is elite but few in number."
In their early days of expansion, the Wudang Sect got caught in the Jingnan Rebellion.
Facing imperial suspicion of colluding with the Prince of Yan in treasonous rebellion, Wudang abandoned territorial growth under the court's watchful eye, focusing inward instead.
Had the dynasty been weak, they might have seized an opportunity.
But in those founding years, the court's authority and might were utterly formidable.
Thanks to their superb arts and the spiritual energy of Wudang Mountain, they remained one of the Nine Great Sects—but only that.
The heart of Hubei they failed to claim ultimately fell to the unorthodox Overlord Extreme Sect.
"Overlord Extreme Sect and Sword Assembly... both among the Twelve Black Seats."
"Top ranks, too."
"Hmm..."
Even Hwangboyun tensed at the names of those two colossal forces ranked above even Rampaging Demon Heaven.
His face turned deadly serious as he pondered deeply.
After long deliberation, words slipped from Hwangboyun's lips.
"We can just take a boat."
Even by boat, they'd have to pass Wuchang, stronghold of the Overlord Extreme Sect—risk couldn't be eliminated.
But the Overlord Extreme Sect weren't petty thugs clinging to tolls for survival.
Merchant caravans with sealed contracts passed with minimal hassle.
They had no real authority to blockade the Yangtze, after all.
"Oh..."
Impressive.
You really are the Huangbo Clan's young lord.
With the route set, there was no time to hesitate!
The two girls unleashed their lightness skills at full speed, returning to Xi'an in mere days.
And as promised, Wi Sowol stopped by Hyang Pawnshop to restock on candies.
Filling a pouch to bursting with various sweets and confections, they promptly left Xi'an and raced southward.
'Come to think of it, the King of Medicine once told me to visit Song Mountain.'
That can wait.
Wi Sowol arrived at her first waypoint, Xiangyang.
"From here on, it's Hubei Province."
"Whoa... already? Where'd Henan go?"
Hwangboyun joked, shading her eyes with her hand as she scanned the surroundings.
Truly the land of waters, Huguang.
Even the city was full of waterways.
Wi Sowol planned to take a boat from Xiangyang, hugging the Han River.
Follow the Han southward to Jingzhou, switch to a larger vessel there, and board the Yangtze.
Then they could comfortably cross Hubei Province via the great river into Jiangxi.
"And once in Jiangxi, it's Nangong Clan territory."
Hubei and Jiangxi were sharply divided by mountains, marshes, and the Yangtze.
Natural borders, in a sense.
Thus, the Overlord Extreme Sect and Nangong Clan could largely guard their domains by watching the river.
That kept their relationship distant and cordial, despite one leading the Twelve Black Seats and the other representing the Eight Great Clans.
"Not a bad idea."
"If you're gonna praise me, do it properly."
"I'll do it next time you block all my ambushes."
"Hmm? Does that mean today?"
Hwangboyun reached to pat Wi Sowol's head affectionately, but the Green Shadow Step fused with Star Lodge Divine Traces twisted fluidly, evading the Golden Whip's trajectory and slipping Wi Sowol away.
Using the noble Golden Whip Single Lash just to pat a head,
or mobilizing divine steps to dodge it—
they truly seemed made for each other.
"What kind of boat should we take?"
Hwangboyun had received a broad education as young lord, but sadly, little on river or sea transport.
Gansu Province was arid with scant rain—an inland among inlands.
No need to study seas or great rivers there.
And wasting lessons on waterways for the future alliance leader? Pointless.
Wi Sowol wasn't much different.
Why? In her past life, running was fastest.
By the same logic, she didn't even know how to ride a horse.
But Wi Sowol pretended to mull it over.
Anyone else, maybe—but for some reason, she didn't want Hwangboyun looking down on her.
"Mm... Henan has the Yu merchants, Jiangxi the Gan merchants dominating trade. Hubei lacks such a clear merchant group."
"The Ten Great Merchant Associations? I know that much."
Hwangboyun knew commerce, if not shipping.
Economics was essential for a clan head.
'This is trouble.'
Wi Sowol felt more crisis now than tangling with Overlord Extreme Sect or Sword Assembly.
At a loss for words, as Hwangboyun's eyes—dull normally but sharp now—narrowed slyly,
Flash—
Enlightenment struck Wi Sowol.
"Hao Gate."
"Huh?"
"We'll take a Hao Gate boat. I have connections."
Hao Gate (下汚門).
Now using "filth" to encompass society's underbelly, it originally used "five" for its core five trades.
Cart drivers (車), boatmen (船), porters (脚), innkeepers (店), brokers (牙).
Today it includes courtesans, slaves, thieves, gamblers—those five no longer central—but shipping remained a mainstay.
The thought of Hao Gate sparked another, and Wi Sowol added as if planned.
"We need to check Shaanxi's situation anyway."
"Ooh, as expected of Sowol—you've got it all planned!"
"Yeah. Just follow along quietly."
Shrugging her shoulders, Wi Sowol strode boldly through the streets.
"Teacher Jeong Pil-hwa! Please, have mercy—spare my life!!"
Those were the first words Wi Sowol heard upon finding the Hao Gate.