The Birth of the Lower Five Gates
Let's have some fun. Lining people up in order is an instinct engraved in the souls of the Chinese. Just as the Five Great Clans stand at the top, the lowly and filthy bastards at the bottom have their own rankings too. So the five humblest professions gathered and thought: No one cares if we pathetic wretches get beaten or killed. Let's band together, us lowly ones, and help each other survive. Even if we're the lowest of the low, we still need to live. That was the birth of the Lower Five Gates.
That said, the Lower Five Gates wasn't some grand organization. It was more like a mutual aid society for the miserable and downtrodden, a cooperative of the bottom rung. They didn't wave red flags shouting about creating a world where the lowly would be respected. That would get them all killed.
There were hardly any masters in the Lower Five Gates either. Once someone reached that level, they were no longer lowly. They would burst into the bright world above and live comfortably, receiving proper treatment. The few masters they did have were the ones who couldn't show their faces under the sun because of the accidents they'd caused.
Of course, the people running the Lower Five Gates weren't without ambition. Just because they had no status, no style, no popularity, and no honor didn't mean they had no money. There were factions eager to launch major operations. However, after the Black Point's recent collapse, even those hawkish groups lost their influence.
Look at those Black Point bastards. Mere shadow merchants acting like they were something special, babbling about their laws and codes. What happened to them? No matter how much gold and silver a lowly life might have, acting arrogant only gets you smashed to pieces in the blink of an eye.
So when the wind blows, we sway with it. Reeds may bend, but they don't die. In that sense, the Lower Five Gates preferred righteous martial artists over the unorthodox ones. The righteous at least paid in gold and silver when they asked for something, while the unorthodox treated the Lower Five Gates like their personal servants.
Actually, the work the Lower Five Gates did was lowly, dirty, and often outright evil, so they were treated as part of the unorthodox path. But the Sadoryeon didn't want to rub shoulders with lowly street scum, so they refused to officially recognize the Lower Five Gates. That made them nothing but parasites leeching off unorthodox territory.
Despite looking down on them more than anyone, the unorthodox only called on them when needed. And when compensation was demanded?
“My lord. This humble one has information about the Heavenly Flower Sword that might interest you. If you could bestow a few silver coins so these lowly ones who worked hard can wet their throats—”
Slap!
The porter Wang's cheek spun violently. How dare a lowly bastard try to squeeze money out of someone?
Mun Jeong-yeok snarled. “Say that again. What?”
“N-no, nothing at all! This small one must have lost his mind. Hehe, it's an honor that the great hero makes use of us. How could this lowly one dare speak of compensation?”
The porter Wang, who hauled trash from the yoga salt room, wore an obsequious smile. In truth, the Sadoryeon's own guidelines stated that a set compensation should be paid when requesting information from the Lower Five Gates. After all, if you used them without pay, the results were often poor, or they might sabotage things out of spite.
The problem was that the unorthodox interpreted those guidelines as an excuse to inflate operational costs and legally skim the difference. So the information coming from the porter Wang, who had just been slapped instead of paid, naturally carried the message of go fuck yourselves.
“So you have information about the Heavenly Flower Sword?”
“Hehe, as you commanded, this one was watching the Heavenly Flower Sword and discovered something truly astonishing! Last night, the Heavenly Flower Sword rented the Dragon Palace Room at Yonggung-ru. Ah, do you know the Dragon Palace Room at Yonggung-ru? It's the best room in Nangnyeong's finest inn—”
“Enough. Get to the point.”
“But here's the thing! Great Hero Sasa visited the Dragon Palace Room in the dead of night. According to the maidservant, the Heavenly Flower Sword greeted Great Hero Sasa with the warmth one might show their own grandmother and the respect one would give an elder of their sect.”
“……?”
Mun Jeong-yeok's mind briefly froze. Who met who? And why?
“Do you even understand what you're saying? Your head could roll for this.”
“Would this one dare put lies in such a dangerous report? The Heavenly Flower Sword reserved the room, prepared tea, and waited. Then Great Hero Sasa secretly visited in person during the hour of the rat, deep in the night.”
Words were such subtle things. Especially when it was the hour of the rat, in the middle of the night. A senior figure in the Jianghu, Great Hero Sasa, had secretly gone to visit in person. This implied that the Heavenly Flower Sword held the dominant position between them. That Sasa was colluding with the Heavenly Flower Sword.
Usually, the one with business was the one who called on the person who could provide it.
“Your words had better be true. Otherwise, I might just wipe out every single rat in this entire city.”
“Of course, of course.”
Even when they gave information, they got this kind of treatment. Truly, the unorthodox were impossible to get along with. But then, getting cursed at was nothing new for a porter. The obsequious smile perfectly hid his true feelings.
After the Lower Five Gates member bowed deeply and withdrew, Mun Jeong-yeok brooded alone with a serious expression. Sasa was colluding with a righteous rising dragon? Sasa was a master, and one of the few physicians in the Sadoryeon, so he received proper treatment as a big shot. Of course, since he was obsessed with snake venom and loved to fiddle with it, almost no patients actually wanted him to take their pulse.
Still, for such a figure to be in contact with a righteous rising dragon? But the reverse made even less sense. The righteous path's greatest young expert, who lacked nothing in martial prowess, wealth, fame, or beauty, had no reason to secretly meet with an unorthodox demon.
Yet it was far more believable that Sasa had betrayed the unorthodox than that the Heavenly Flower Sword had betrayed the righteous path. First, Sasa was an unorthodox demon with no sense of loyalty. If the old man had grown greedy for honor in his later years and was trying to quietly wash his identity toward the white path, it would be an understandable motive for betrayal.
In reality, unlike the righteous old masters who lived well and died beautifully, the old demons of the unorthodox path all met miserable ends. Once their skills declined with age, the grudges they'd accumulated would explode as enemies came flooding in. Their juniors who coveted their martial arts would stab them in the back. The disciples they'd worked like dogs would come to collect overdue wages through intimidation...
It was hard enough for a demon to live long, but even if they did, this was what awaited them. Living as a villain in the Murim was truly a pitiful existence.
But no matter how much he thought about it, there was not a single reason he could come up with for the Heavenly Flower Sword to betray the righteous path.
Interesting.
Look at that. The old bastard had acted like he was going to do something, yet an entire month had passed with nothing but silence. Damn old fool. How dare he try to betray the Sadoryeon’s grand alliance? And all for the sake of his own comfortable retirement?
Mun Jeong-yeok's lips twisted.
----
Na Yang-gyeol had come to see the Heavenly Flower Sword as a representative of the Cheonhwa Jeondang. From the Cheonhwa Jeondang's perspective, it was an incredibly awkward situation. They needed to discuss the title of Cheonhwa. However, the reason Na Yang-gyeol had been chosen as representative wasn't because she was the senior disciple or anything of the sort. It was because she was the Cheonhwa Jeondang's foremost face supremacist—an extreme beauty-obsessed lunatic.
She had been acknowledged as possessing an objective aesthetic sense with standards so strict they went beyond mere preference. If the Heavenly Flower Sword was truly the greatest beauty under heaven as the rumors claimed, the Cheonhwa Jeondang had no complaints about granting her the title. A flower outside the flowerbed was still a flower. If the flower outside the flowerbed was the most beautiful in the world, their own flowerbed would gladly show respect.
Therefore, Na Yang-gyeol's attitude had been decided long before she even met Cheong.
“Did you know? I originally hate putting anything on my face.”
Cheong looked at Na Yang-gyeol's face. She had been a stunning beauty to begin with, but with the makeup added, she possessed a charm that truly never got old no matter how many times you looked. However.
Here we go again.
Cheong shook her head. “Yeah. I didn't ask.”
“That's right. All of this is makeup I do because I want to look good for my little bear. Every morning I sit in front of the mirror for exactly this long, applying my powder. I wonder if my little bear will feel their heart flutter when they see me? Will they understand my earnest heart?”
“Nope. No fluttering. No understanding.”
“It's okay even if you don't understand. If my little bear can at least enjoy the sight of me, that's already a tremendous reward for me.”
“By the way, who are you calling little bear? That's a weird nickname for a person.”
“Well, because they're a cute animal that eats all day, rolls around, eats again, then sleeps? They're absolutely helpless against sweets. But in reality, they're also a ferocious beast and a clever creature. Just like someone I know.”
The affectionate culture of the Central Plains had an uncanny ability to make onlookers cringe. Especially the pet names. The people of the Central Plains tended to give their lovers increasingly pathetic nicknames the closer they became. My little parasite. My ugly one. My piggy. And so on.
Na Yang-gyeol gazed at Cheong with deep, meaningful eyes. But it bounced right off.
“This one really starts performing the moment her mouth opens.”
“It's overflowing sincerity that I can't possibly hide. Here, feel my racing heart—”
Na Yang-gyeol tried to grab Cheong's hand and press it against her own chest, but her hand sliced through empty air. Cheong had swiftly pulled her wrist away.
“Aww. Did you know? Bears are surprisingly fast. Just like my little bear.”
Originally, Cheong was weak to people who pushed themselves onto her. Even if she couldn't bring herself to be too cold when someone said they liked her, her sides weren't sore enough to accept romantic feelings based solely on her face. After shaking off Na Yang-gyeol, who had been clinging to her since morning, Cheong had been heading toward the Gyerim Sword Sect's disciple cafeteria, thinking about what to eat for breakfast. Eating too heavily right after waking up felt wrong, so maybe just a simple bowl of porridge.
“Hyung-nim! Have you heard the news!?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“The yoga salt room bastards have sent an ultimatum to the Jangsan Martial Hall! They're demanding it submit to them!”
“Huh? Suddenly? So what happened?”
“The master of Jangsan Martial Hall has requested reinforcements from the Gyerim Sword Sect! They're discussing it right now—”
“Ah. So this is where you were, Lady Seomun.”
Interrupting U Na-ram's booming voice, the Gyerim Sword Sect's first disciple, Do Dal-jeon, appeared.
“You were looking for me?”
“Actually, I have a favor to ask. It seems the Sadoryeon bastards have given up on the Gyerim Sword Sect and are now targeting other righteous sects in Nanning instead.”
“Ah. I just heard. They said Jangsan Martial Hall requested reinforcements?”
“Ahem. Na-ram, you bastard.”
When Do Dal-jeon glared at her, U Na-ram flinched and quickly looked into the distance. No matter how close they were, revealing sect matters so casually was worthy of rebuke, and her averted gaze was her answer.
“Once Jangsan Martial Hall falls, the other righteous martial halls will likely abandon the Murim Alliance one after another. So the disciples of Gyerim will be going to provide support, and I was wondering if perhaps……”
In other words, since it was going to be a big fight, could she lend a hand? It was very welcome news.
“Ah. Then I can't possibly sit this one out.”
“To be honest, our sect leader opposed the Heavenly Flower Sword's participation. Frankly speaking, the enemy's forces are far superior to ours, and we cannot guarantee your safety, young lady.”
“Come on, where is safety for people who live by the sword? Besides, what good is having a transcendent master if you don't use them? I'm already eating a lot as a guest. I should at least earn my keep.”
At Cheong's casual words, Do Dal-jeon's eyes trembled violently. Easy to say, but the enemy had three full combat units from the Sadoryeon, their leaders and vice-leaders, plus the poison master Sasa. It was clearly an unwinnable fight. They had barely avoided it by using the prince as a shield, and the Heavenly Flower Sword knew that. For her to so readily offer her strength left him drowning in a sea of emotion.
Do Dal-jeon respectfully brought his hands together and bowed deeply at the waist.
“I will never forget this kindness.”
In truth, it was an enormous favor. Cheong had confidence in her own ability, so she never even considered the possibility of losing. It was simply the natural result of her straightforward thinking that, as a member of the righteous Murim, she should naturally help the righteous Murim.
But if Seomun Su-rin had seen this, she would have clutched her chest in horror. Why was this child throwing herself into dangerous battlefields of her own accord? Here she was, volunteering to help in a dangerous fight that she could have sat out without any criticism.
It was a decision worthy of Do Dal-jeon's deep bow and utmost respect. However, Cheong, who had ended up receiving the kind of greeting meant for elders from someone older than herself, simply felt embarrassed.
So she just waved it off with more casual words.
“Oh come on, kindness is too strong a word. We're all one family in the righteous Murim. Of course we should help each other.”