The Sword Idiot and the Goddess Sect Matriarch
Paeng Daesan looked like he had something to say, but the sheer absurdity of it all left him completely speechless. His mouth just kept opening and closing like a fish. Cheong let out a cackle.
“Wow, that’s cold. Is that all our friendship was worth, San?”
“Haa……”
In Cheong’s opinion, a proper prank had to be enjoyable for both parties. It could cross the line a little, but it should stop just short of genuinely upsetting the other person. Once feelings got hurt, it stopped being a joke and turned into a provocation. So this was exactly the right moment to come clean. Trying to act all feminine now would only make him even more irritated.
This precise sense of where the line was? That was Cheong’s one true innate talent.
Let’s give the kid a moment to collect himself.
Cheong turned her attention elsewhere.
“By the way, this friend over here is drinking all by himself? Mind if I join you for a cup?”
She picked up one of the stacked cups on the table and held it out. Changbin flinched hard, then scrambled to grab the wine bottle. He held it with both hands in an extremely polite, almost reverent manner, and his hands shook so badly that the wine sloshed as he poured.
“Uh, here……”
“Whoa, why are your hands shaking so much?”
“Ah, n-no, it’s nothing. I have a bit of a tremor……”
A tremor? What? Was he not actually a master?
Well, it made sense. Not every member of a group could be a Peak realm expert.
Cheong brushed it off and tapped the table lightly.
“Alright then. You should have a cup too.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Changbin quickly emptied his cup and held it out again. The tremor must have been pretty severe. His hands were shaking so violently it was hard to even pour the wine. But Cheong was a late-stage Peak realm master. One of the greatest perks of reaching that level was the ability to pour wine cleanly even into a shaking cup. They said that once you surpassed Transcendent and reached the Harmonious Realm, you could even pour into a cup that was flying through the air. That was why masters had been respected since ancient times.
“Nice to meet you. Let’s drink. Cheers.”
“Cheers……”
Cheong downed the clear liquor in one go. It was a strong, pungent baekganju whose aroma shot straight up her nose. As expected from rich young masters—their drinks were on another level. The fiery spirit hit her empty stomach like a blast of flame. Cheong shivered all over.
“Kya. That’s the stuff.”
Her long, slender fingers picked up a piece of dried fish jerky. The appreciation for beautiful hands in the Central Plains had a long history. The conditions for a beauty always included the shape of the hands. That was where the phrases “delicate jade fingers” and “slender jade hands” came from.
Paeng Daesan had been staring blankly at those white fingers when he suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Wait. Had her hands always looked like that?
Now that he was really looking at her enhanced beauty and the refined shape of her hands, something clicked. Body Reconstruction. When someone reached the Transcendent realm, their body was remade, and their natural beauty would leap to an entirely new level.
“Did you reach Transcendent already?”
Cheong crunched away on the jerky as she answered.
“Nah? I did gain a small enlightenment, though.”
It really had been a small enlightenment—one that everyone present already knew about. It was the kind of realization necessary to reach the Peak realm. Cheong had somehow skipped over it with her half-assed learning, achieved the realm first, and filled in the understanding later. A very strange path of growth. Only Cheong herself, unaware of this fact, felt proud of it.
Whoa. So gaining enlightenment shows on the outside?
Of course it didn’t.
“I thought you’d undergone Body Reconstruction. Or did you learn some kind of youth-preservation technique?”
“Youth-preservation technique?”
Cheong tilted her head with that pure, clueless, innocent-but-stupid expression.
“Ah.”
Paeng Daesan muttered quietly.
It’s been a while. I forgot how ignorant she is.
“The Fairy Art is…… never mind. Your face changed so much I just assumed. Did you learn the Fairy Art? In that short time?”
“Whoa! You know about the Fairy Art?!”
“What the hell is that reaction. Haa.”
The commonly available version of the Fairy Art only offered skin and teeth whitening, brighter eyes, and the removal of useless fat. Of course, since those were the core elements of Central Plains beauty standards, its effects were considered quite remarkable. It was practically a required skill for noblewomen.
But a version that reshaped the very form of one’s beauty like this was extremely rare. Only the secret arts of the most famous female-led factions in the Jianghu would have something like that. The Goddess Sect, the Vermillion Bird Gate, the Heavenly Flower Hall, the Joyful Flower Palace…… or perhaps the demonic art from the North Sea Ice Palace that turned even men into something resembling women.
“I got a master recently. She recognized the genius of this body. She kept asking so earnestly that I had no choice but to accept her as my master.”
“What kind of rude way is that to talk about—never mind. Your master must have understood your personality and taught you anyway. So you’ve taken a master?”
“Yeah. Her name is Seomun Su-rin. She even gave me her surname. So now I’m Seomun Cheong.”
“Cough.”
Suddenly, the sound of someone choking on their drink came from the side.
“Cough, khuk, kuhuuu……”
When liquor over fifty proof goes down the wrong pipe, even a master ends up looking pathetic. Changbin coughed violently, his eyes turning red. Even so, he somehow managed to offer a fist salute.
“Young lady, by any chance are you referring to the Grand Elder of the Goddess Sect, the respected Matriarch Seomun Su-rin……”
“Oh! You know my master!”
“No, please, you must speak more respectfully……”
“Ah. This friend, you’re from a Daoist sect?”
Cheong looked at Changbin with interest. Seomun Su-rin had told her that if any meddlesome Daoist priests or monks started acting up, she should just drop her name. Even their sect leaders wouldn’t dare mess with her disciple.
“No way. Sword-friend. Are you telling me my sword-friend is truly the greatest female swordswoman alive, the direct disciple of the current Sword Empress?”
“Huh? Didn’t I mention it?”
“You did not. I did think your swordsmanship was far beyond ordinary, but still…… To think the successor of the world’s greatest sword clan and the disciple of the Sword Empress would become sword-friends. What an incredible connection……!”
“Is it really that special? If you start assigning meaning to every little thing, every connection in the world becomes extraordinary.”
“So, has the Sword Empress truly reached the realm of Sword Flight?”
“Sword what? No idea. Oh, but she does fly around riding on her sword.”
The terror of a Nuclear Noogie dropping from the sky was something you could never understand without experiencing it firsthand.
“Sword Flight! She has truly reached such a realm? Oh heavens. If only I could pay my respects once and witness that supreme sword technique, I would have no other wishes in this life.”
“That might be a bit difficult?”
Namgung Sinjae was panting like he was about to pass out. While Cheong was giving vague responses, a sullen voice cut in.
“Namgung brother. Aren’t we in the middle of a conversation? So, you’ve officially joined the Goddess Sect?”
“Nah. Outer disciple. I told her I had circumstances that made joining difficult, but Master said it was fine anyway.”
“Hmm.”
Paeng Daesan let out a low groan. So it seemed the Matriarch really had clung to her and begged her to become a disciple. For an elder of the highest generation in the Jianghu to go so far as to accept an outer disciple……
Come to think of it, it made sense. A female martial artist who had reached late-stage Peak at such a young age. Even if the Matriarch’s personality was only half as intense as the rumors said, it was still a convincing story.
“But why, of all people, are you traveling with that guy—er, with Namgung brother?”
“Because he’s my sword-friend?”
“What the hell is a sword-friend supposed to—never mind. I can more or less guess……”
“We were on our way to see Mount Hua. There’s this Sword Cliff? Apparently it’s worth seeing. I was curious about Mount Hua itself too.”
“No, even if you’re going to say it, at least don’t say it so casually. Actually, never mind. Wait a second.”
Paeng Daesan’s eyebrows twitched.
“Where’s the rest of your group?”
“There isn’t one?”
There wasn’t? Paeng Daesan frowned deeply.
“Are you telling me the two of you are traveling alone right now?”
“That’s right?”
“I know what kind of personality he has, but still—how can a woman travel alone with an unrelated man?”
Cheong let out a snort and answered.
“From what I’ve seen, my sword-friend doesn’t care about that kind of thing. In his world, there are only two kinds of people: those with swords and those without.”
“That is correct. In this world, there are only two types of people. As expected of my sword-friend—no, now that our hearts are connected, I suppose I can call you my heart-friend.”
“Ooh. Heart-friend.”
It was a reference to the ancient tale of Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi, famous in Chinese history as the most profound friendship ever known. Their bond was so deep that they didn’t even need words—music alone was enough for them to communicate. After that, the closest of friends came to be called “those who understand the sound,” or heart-friends.
“Stop changing the subject.”
Paeng Daesan’s voice dropped a tone as he steered the conversation back. Cheong raised her palm.
“Hold on! Stop! What? Are you still sulking? What would you have done if you were there? The Black Shadow Association? Right? We couldn’t exactly fight them to the death. The weaker side has to back off.”
“That wasn’t what I was talking about……”
Paeng Daesan’s voice returned to normal. Come to think of it, was there any reason to care? What did it matter who this insane woman traveled with? Besides, just like she said, among all the men in the world, a sword-obsessed idiot was probably the safest person for a woman to be around. Even if they traveled together, they’d probably just spend all day sparring. That was the only thing the guy ever had in his head anyway.
“Anyway, you’re heading to Mount Hua?”
“Yep.”
“Perfect timing. Changbin brother and I were just on our way back to Mount Hua as well.”
“Hm? You want to go together?”
Paeng Daesan’s eyebrows twitched again.
“Why? Don’t want to?”
“No, I’m fine with it……”
Cheong turned her head. Changbin was frantically waving his hands and shaking his head desperately, but when her gaze landed on him, he quietly lowered his head.
“Just ignore him. He’s the kind of guy whose lifelong wish is to travel with a woman. Think of it as granting one of his wishes.”
“Hey, Paeng brother, what do you mean ‘just ignore him’? Even if I am the eldest of the Hidden Dragon Assembly, that’s a bit—”
“Just drink that supposedly delicious alcohol. There’s a woman here, so it must taste even better, right?”
“Ahem.”
It sounded like he was trying to regain some momentum. Changbin quietly picked up his cup.
“So, did you book a room at the inn?”
“Nope. We came here because they said it was good, but the women had put up a wall. I figured my San must be here.”
“So you didn’t book one. Then let’s get one now.”
And just like that, she called over the waiter and casually secured a room. That was what having good friends was all about. Especially when they were rich young masters.