The Wanderer's Loyalty
There is a wanderer's loyalty for wanderers. The moment she returned to Mucheon Pavilion, Cheong hurriedly changed her clothes. Once she wrapped her entire body in arm guards, the stuffiness became unbearable. It felt as if she had stepped into a narrow room billowing with hot steam, or as if she had donned a thick mascot costume in the middle of summer—her breath caught in her throat with a terrible sensation.
“Phew. Now I can breathe.” With wind seeping through the gaps in her martial robe, she finally felt alive. At the same time, the flow of air within a radius of about one step became vividly perceptible through her skin, even without seeing it. After being tightly bound and stifled, her senses were liberated, making everything feel all the more vivid.
Ah. So this is what it feels like to see everything around you without using your eyes. Cheon Yuhak had said that if she kept her senses open, the range of her flow detection would gradually expand. Right now it was limited to barely one step and two chi, but that would change later. She newly realized what Cheon Yuhak had meant by “trick.” It was a kind of physical constitution improvement.
Seomun Su-rin’s training had been about drawing out combat instincts to establish Cheong’s fighting style and push her to the next realm. In contrast, the Divine Thief’s inheritance granted her mystical abilities rather than conventional martial arts. After all, if the lineage had relied solely on slow, orthodox training, it would have been cut off long ago.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t gained much from the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement, had she? That was what she had originally set out to learn. The only thing that had softened was her joints. Cheong bent her wrist backward. It twisted past ninety degrees, and her finger joints curved gently further back. Anyone could do it by pushing with the other hand, but doing it with the strength of one hand alone was an impossible feat for an ordinary person.
Cheon Yuhak’s middle fingernail could even touch his forearm. Having undergone the bone-stretching process only twice, Cheong still had a long way to go. She needed to complete the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement quickly. It was no longer boring anyway. Besides, she had found a body to suffer in her place.
With a light heart, Cheong begged her master to torture her. “Master, when are we doing the Flowing Softness Softening Refinement again? Can’t you do it tomorrow?”
Cheon Yuhak was dumbfounded. The last time she brought it up, she had been full of reluctance, trembling yet clearly resolved. Now she sounded like she was asking for pocket money. “You vicious girl. You’re not even scared anymore. Can you even endure it? I still get chills just thinking about being worked over.”
“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”
“Let’s deal with the Sleep Orchid Pill first. If that guy shows up during the recovery period, we’ll be stuck sucking our thumbs.”
“I just want to get it over with quickly……”
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
Of course she was in a hurry. She still had no grasp of the Transcendent realm, so she had to make up for it in other ways. The Divine Thief’s training was less training and more a mystical procedure to remodel or develop the human body, so she wanted to finish it as fast as possible.
“Master, if we finish quickly, it’ll be easier for you and better for me too. Right?”
“Among all the Divine Thieves in history, you’re the only one—well, the only girl—who’s ever begged to be worked over.”
In the end, Cheon Yuhak grumbled about how difficult it was to prepare the medicinal decoction and flew over the wall. Cheong did feel a little guilty. This was starting to look like she was bossing her master around. So she decided to help with the decoction tonight and lay down on Cheon Yuhak’s mat to wait.
Perhaps an hour had passed. Just as she was starting to feel sleepy, the flow of air within one step told her someone was flying in. “Well, well. Stealing your master’s spot now? You really are a born thief. I picked quite the capable disciple.”
“Hehe. I was just waiting to help you, Master. Did you already get the ingredients?”
“No.” Cheon Yuhak shook his head, his expression serious. “The scent of the Tracking Incense is overwhelming. That guy must have shown up.”
----
Among the eight martial artists who had reached the Eight Strong, two were unaffiliated wanderers. The ones who advanced were Wang No-pil, who used a chair, and Ma Yeong-jeon of the Earth Hall Fist. By the time one reached the Sixteen Strong, most righteous faction martial artists were elites carefully raised by prestigious sects, far beyond comparison with wanderers. Yet two wanderers had made it into the Eight Strong purely due to luck with the bracket. Two matches had been between unaffiliated fighters, so two were guaranteed to advance.
Still, it meant they had entered the top eight among the current generation’s rising stars, a joyous occasion for all wanderers. After the Sixteen Strong matches, the unaffiliated martial artists gathered for a celebration. It was a gathering to congratulate those who had advanced to the Eight Strong and to console those who had been eliminated.
The lively atmosphere instantly turned cold when Wang No-pil and Ma Yeong-jeon went out to meet a visitor and returned after encountering the man who had sprayed the incense. When Cheong followed Cheon Yuhak into the Jungjeong Inn, the mood was still heavy and awkward. Cheong clicked her tongue inwardly. If they were going to hold a gathering, they should have chosen a better place. A shabby corner spot that wasn’t even doing business, and it was an inn at that—neither a proper restaurant nor a tavern. That was the reality of a wanderer’s pockets. Still, it seemed they had rented the entire place.
Cheong tried to lighten the gloomy atmosphere. “If it was a company dinner, you should’ve invited me too. How could you sneak off and leave me out? I’m hurt. Is this how wanderers treat each other?”
“Ah. Lady Seomun. Well, the place is rather humble……”
“Humble, my foot. It has a roof, someone cooking, and you even rented the whole place so you don’t have to worry about others. It’s practically a feast hall. Ah, Young Hero Wang, Young Hero Ma, congratulations on advancing to the Eight Strong.”
Cheong poured them drinks as she spoke. The two men, who had looked grim, accepted the cups and downed them in one gulp.
“I came because the Tracking Incense was released. So you met that guy? What did he say?”
“He left this behind.” Wang No-pil held out another wooden box. Its exterior was lavishly carved with red patterns—clearly a treasure chest containing something precious. When Cheong opened it, she found another bright red pill.
“What? He gave you another Sleep Orchid Pill?”
“He called it an elixir this time. It has some side effects, but he said it would add ten years’ worth of internal energy.”
“He gave you an elixir? For free? Just handed it over as a gift?” Cheong knew how valuable elixirs were.
“He said it would be amusing if a wanderer won, and asked us to reveal later that we had taken an elixir given by the Divine Thief.”
“Tsk.” Cheon Yuhak clicked his tongue loudly beside her.
“Anyway, the Tracking Incense has been planted on both of you.” According to Cheon Yuhak, the Tracking Incense given to the martial artists had slight variations. Since the scent would cling to the one who sprayed it as well, he had used multiple types to track the culprit. In the end, two different scents had stuck to the man, achieving the intended goal perfectly.
“If it weren’t for Lady Seomun’s words, we would have taken it without suspicion. But now we know it’s no ordinary scheme. How many idle people in this world would bestow an elixir upon a wanderer? The Sleep Orchid Pill was understandable, but this……” The martial artists nodded in agreement.
Cheong clapped her hands. “Well then. He just left, so this is probably when he’s most off guard. Before he prepares any other tricks, we should strike tonight. What do you think?”
Killing intent flashed in the martial artists’ eyes. Unlike the young masters and ladies of the righteous faction, wanderers were wild men who saw blood as part of daily life. Cheong stirred the atmosphere before anyone could object. “For now, let’s enjoy the gathering. No one here can’t hold their liquor, right? Then tonight, I’m buying everything.”
Cheong had plenty of money in her pouch since she only earned and never spent. Her friends would panic whenever she reached for her pouch—Paeng Daesan and Namgung Sinjae because of the Central Plains notion that it was shameful for a man to let a woman pay, and Dang Nan-a because she saw Cheong as some kind of pauper or beggar. So when she finally opened her purse and ordered food from a proper restaurant along with fine liquor, the mood naturally soared.
When Cheong returned from a quick trip to the outhouse, Cheon Yuhak clicked his tongue. “What kind of idiotic plan is this? I’ve never heard anything so stupid in my life.”
“What?”
“We’ve already planted the Tracking Incense. If we just follow him for a few days, we can figure out who he is and what he’s up to.”
“Well, that’s true. But people make mistakes and waver when greed takes hold, don’t they? If we want to deal with him together and bury this, we can’t give him time to have second thoughts.” Cheong was terrifyingly thorough when it came to her own safety. Her original plan always started with the assumption that she could run away if things went wrong. The enemy’s location was known, and they could take their time to scout. Charging in without properly understanding the enemy’s identity or strength? It was a rather foolish plan when you thought about it. After all, Sun Tzu, who said “Know yourself and know your enemy,” had become an eternal victor with that single line.
Yet there was another reason she had pushed the martial artists to strike tonight. If even one person slipped out of sight, they might fall for the temptation that followed—betrayal. There was no martial artist who wouldn’t covet an elixir, let alone the Sleep Orchid Pill. If someone’s eyes were blinded by greed, anything was possible. If even one person talked, they would all become scoundrels who had taken someone else’s elixir. So she gathered them all under the pretense of a celebration, keeping them under watch so they wouldn’t have time to be swayed by temptation, and planned to end it once and for all.
Cheon Yuhak clicked his tongue again. “Even so, these are wanderers you’ve never met before and who can’t really help you. Why risk yourself for them?”
After all, the ones who would get worked over were the wanderers who had taken the suspicious Sleep Orchid Pill, not Cheong. So it wasn’t even her problem, yet she was willing to take risks just to protect the pride of some wanderers. Naturally, Cheon Yuhak didn’t like it.
Cheong coaxed him with a sweet voice. “Come on, you know I can get out anytime. Haven’t you seen the Wave-Treading Micro-Steps? You said yourself that if I decide to run, no one can catch me. Even you couldn’t catch me, Master.”
“Hmph.” Cheon Yuhak started to scold her but stopped. It was true. The girl was so skilled in movement techniques that in a prolonged chase over long distances, she was practically unmatched in the world.
They drank deep into the night, holding a grand feast. Only when the third watch of the night (around 2 a.m.) arrived did the wanderers expel the alcohol from their systems. Expelling alcohol with internal energy was a skill any first-class martial artist could perform. However, using it carelessly would earn you a scolding to just not drink at all. It was a technique that required careful judgment.
With over twenty martial artists gathered, the alcohol vapor they expelled at once was enough to create a mist. Finally, the wanderers returned to their senses, their eyes gleaming with killing intent. It was the unique pre-battle mindset of wanderers who lived by selling their blades.
“Shall we go, then?” Wang No-pil interjected. “Lady Seomun. How can we just leave like this? We wanderers need to hear a few words before a fight to feel satisfied. If you could say something impressive, we’d appreciate it.”
“Oh, how embarrassing……” But a pre-battle speech was an important ritual. It united them under a just cause and roused their fighting spirit by identifying the enemy. Cheong scratched the back of her neck and chose her words carefully.
“Um. The word ‘wanderer’ comes from wolves wandering alone like lone wolves. But wolves actually live in packs with the strongest sense of loyalty among beasts. And aren’t we the same? We’re the kind of people who repay loyalty even with our blood over small amounts of money, aren’t we?”
She had neatly packaged the phrase “selling blades for pocket change.” This was Cheong’s true specialty. That wicked mouth! That hellish tongue!
“Ooh!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!” The wanderers responded with excitement.
“There’s a bastard out there who looks down on us, calling us mere wanderers, wanderer-born, and tries to use us while pretending to do us a favor. Are we just going to sit back and watch? No, right? What should we do? We should beat him down the wanderer way. Why? Because we’re wanderers.”
“Because we’re wanderers!”
“Loyalty, and the blade. That’s what makes us wanderers.”
“Loyalty!”
“The blade!”
“Wanderers!” The wanderers, completely swept up, raised their voices. They had never heard such a stirring speech in their lives. It was an enchanting eloquence that even made them feel pride in living as wanderers. Confirming that their fighting spirit was fully ignited, Cheong drove the final nail in.
“Let’s go. Let’s carve the lesson that there is a wanderer’s loyalty for wanderers into that bastard with our blades.”