Past Ties
“A sword?”
Jeok Hwa found herself asking the question before she could stop herself.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard properly. She asked because she couldn’t believe what she’d heard.
A daughter of the Tang Clan ordering a sword?
It was as absurd as saying the sun rose in the west.
“Yes, a sword. About this long, nothing fancy—just the sort of blade ordinary martial artists use.”
But Tang Soyeong confirmed it for her with her own mouth.
So the sun really was rising in the west.
“Why? There’s no sword art among the Tang Clan’s martial arts, is there? At least, none of the higher forms.”
“Do I really need to explain that to you? You’re just a blacksmith.”
“If you wanted an ordinary sword, then sure. But you’re not asking for something ordinary.”
Jeok Hwa had a point.
The sword Tang Soyeong wanted was a peerless blade.
If she’d wanted something mediocre, she could have simply picked up any old sword lying around Manryeongak and been done with it.
“A famous sword is choosy about its master. If I’m going to make one, I need to see the owner’s martial arts.”
What Jeok Hwa said was true.
Even when she had the smith forge her treasured blade, the Suramyeongwang Sword, in her past life, that blacksmith had first studied her martial arts.
If I’m going to make a sword for some half-baked martial art, I won’t make one at all.
That was what Jeok Hwa was really saying.
A craftsman with pride.
The kind of person who refused to let her work be used as something worthless.
She was troublesome, yes—but exactly the sort of person Tang Soyeong needed.
Then she’d have to show her.
The greatest sword art of Sapa.
“Let me borrow one for a moment.”
Tang Soyeong reached out and plucked a sword from among the blades hanging carelessly in Jeok Hwa’s workshop.
Its weight settled into her hand.
A familiar weight.
Memories surfaced of how many times she had swung a sword in her past life.
She took a stance.
“This is….”
Just taking a stance before even swinging the blade.
And yet Jeok Hwa felt the atmosphere change.
Tang Soyeong had been calmly gathering her inner image with her eyes closed; then, suddenly, they snapped open.
Whoosh!
She moved.
Inner force from the Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong stored in her dantian burst forth and streamed through the sword.
It was martial skill of unmistakable depth, apparent at a glance.
But at its root, it was surely still a third-class sword art anyone could learn.
That worthless, ordinary swordsmanship had, in the end, reached a point where it became a towering wall no one could hope to scale.
That was the secret art of the Sapaeryeon Lord, the greatest sword art of Sapa.
Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong.
“...Hah.”
After finishing the sequence, Tang Soyeong felt her mind and body settle into ease.
Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong contained everything from her past life.
It held the experiences of the time when she had been nothing more than a lowly third-rate thug, all the way to the years when she had become the hegemon south of the Yangtze.
That was why it could be passed on to no one and learned from no one.
To master this art was to understand the life and will of the Sapaeryeon Lord.
“Where did you learn that martial art?”
Jeok Hwa’s voice had dropped low.
It wasn’t the tone of a simple question. It sounded more like an interrogation.
Tang Soyeong answered her with calm indifference.
“I learned it myself.”
“Nonsense! That martial art can’t be learned alone!”
Jeok Hwa barked at the answer.
She couldn’t help it.
Only once, but she had seen that sword art before.
“That’s the Sapaeryeon Lord’s sword art!”
This time, Tang Soyeong was the one who was surprised.
She hadn’t expected the Tang Clan’s blacksmith to recognize her sword art.
Grinding her teeth, Jeok Hwa said, “Tell me. Where did you learn it!? Who taught you!?”
“You’re awfully obsessed with this art.”
“How could I not know it? I can’t forget it… that was….”
“But this is a martial art I created myself.”
“What did you say?”
Jeok Hwa looked flustered at Tang Soyeong’s words.
It wasn’t impossible.
It was an exceptionally high-level martial art, yes, but at its root it was still a third-class sword art anyone could recognize.
This princess had talent for martial arts, and she’d never said anyone had taught her any.
If she’d taught herself and, through repeated refinement, created a martial art of her own, it wasn’t impossible.
“But it’s too similar….”
“You seem to know that martial art very well.”
Tang Soyeong muttered as she pressed the sword to Jeok Hwa’s throat.
There were only so many people who could know the Sapaeryeon Lord’s martial art that well.
If they were enemies, they’d all have been killed. It couldn’t have spread that way.
Then she could be a spy for Sapaeryeon.
If someone of the Tang Clan’s Manryeongak Lord’s rank were a spy for Sapaeryeon, it would have been strange not to know it.
But this was a body that had already been poisoned to death by the son she had trusted.
It wouldn’t be strange if she had failed to notice one or two things.
If Jeok Hwa was a spy for Sapaeryeon…
Then I’ll have to make her talk.
After cutting off about eight fingers, most people would start speaking very quickly on their own.
If that still wasn’t enough, she could pull out every last tooth.
Tang Soyeong’s eyes narrowed little by little.
Watching her, Jeok Hwa let out a sigh.
“I know what you’re thinking. But that’s not it.”
“If you’re going to make excuses, you’d better hurry.”
“...You’re terrifying. I’m not a spy for Sapaeryeon.”
“Anyone can say that.”
“The reason I know the Sapaeryeon Lord’s martial art is because he was my benefactor.”
“...A benefactor? The Sapaeryeon Lord?”
Startled, Tang Soyeong eased the sword away from Jeok Hwa’s throat.
Jeok Hwa, saying it was only natural for her to be surprised, began to explain.
“Long ago… before I entered the Tang Clan, the Sapaeryeon Lord saved my life and my father’s life.”
“.... Is that so?”
Tang Soyeong didn’t remember it.
Well, she might have saved someone in a haze of impulse before, but… she had no memory of saving Jeok Hwa.
“My father was the finest blacksmith in Wuan. That’s why there were so many who wanted his life.”
“.... Ah.”
Only then did Tang Soyeong remember.
Back when she still hadn’t obtained the Suramyeongwang Sword, she’d once gone to Wuan after hearing of a famous smith there.
At the time, some nameless Sapa bastards had tried to kill the blacksmith, so she had cut them down.
“My father repaid that man by forging a peerless famous sword for him. The sword art he showed then was exactly like yours.”
So the woman who had been peeking at the side with sparkling eyes back then was Jeok Hwa?
Tang Soyeong looked her over with skeptical eyes.
Dark, sun-browned skin; a body packed with firm muscle, so much so that it was hard to believe she was a woman.
...Back then, she definitely seemed smaller and more delicate.
It was impossible to believe this was the same person.
At the very least, Tang Soyeong could not find that woman from her memory.
“After that, I started working as a blacksmith in Sichuan too. In case he ever came looking for me.”
By hammering iron all those years, she had become the most famous blacksmith in Sichuan—and even risen to become the Tang Clan’s Manryeongak Lord.
...If this is also a tie from my past life, then I suppose it is one.
Tang Soyeong looked at Jeok Hwa with a sour expression.
Jeok Hwa grabbed her shoulders and asked, “So tell me! Where did you learn that martial art? Could it be that man…!”
“I already told you. This is a martial art I thought up myself.”
Tang Soyeong cut her off.
The Sapaeryeon Lord had died, and she had become the Tang Clan’s daughter.
No one would believe it even if she said it, and she had no particular desire to tell anyone.
Secrets were strange things. The more people knew them, the more certain it became that they’d be exposed.
No one was to learn that the Sapaeryeon Lord was alive in the Tang Clan.
It would ruin my revenge.
That was why Tang Soyeong hid herself.
Besides, Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong was a martial art whose true nature no one knew.
They might think it looked similar, but it would be hard to say for certain that it really was that art.
“...You really made that martial art all by yourself?”
“No one was there to teach me. I picked up sword techniques here and there and combined them, modifying them until I made this.”
“And yet the finished result is excellent.”
“I’m pretty impressive.”
Jeok Hwa wore a stunned expression.
She had met plenty of people called geniuses, but this was the first one she’d seen so brazenly declare herself one.
And yet, that was what she liked about her.
“...Fine! If this is fate, then it’s fate.”
Jeok Hwa said that, then declared it as though making a proclamation to Tang Soyeong.
“I acknowledge your talent. You are without question a once-in-a-generation genius, and you have the talent to become the finest swordswoman alive.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t find a shred of modesty in you. Anyway! I’ll make the sword for you. Come back in two weeks.”
“That’s all it takes?”
“What, you’re only asking me to make a sword suited to you. Two weeks is plenty.”
Jeok Hwa’s confidence was unmistakable.
She spoke lightly, but there was a heavy sense of responsibility in her eyes.
Even more than that, though, there was a firelike passion burning there.
I’ll make a sword better than my father’s!
It held the same determination as a child who wanted to surpass their parent.
If a master of that caliber said she could do it, then she had to be believed.
Tang Soyeong nodded.
“I’ll come back in two weeks.”
“Think of a name for the sword while you’re at it.”
“Well… I’ll see when the time comes.”
That was the end of their exchange.
Jeok Hwa had already sunk deep into thoughts of the sword before Tang Soyeong’s farewell had even fully reached her ears.
Staying any longer would only get in the way.
Tang Soyeong left Manryeongak in high spirits.
As the heat gradually fell behind her, she felt refreshingly cool.
And it wasn’t just because of the heat.
This must all be the reward for having lived decently in my past life.
Tang Soyeong’s shamelessness had truly reached the heavens.
Walking along in a good mood, she spotted Garyeong waiting for her outside Manryeongak.
She had left Garyeong behind because the inside was far too hot for her to endure.
Yet for some reason, she looked restless and uneasy.
Probably because of the person beside her.
Someone Tang Soyeong knew very well.
“Hey. You bullying my maid again?”
Tang Soyeong greeted her first.
To Tang So-seol, who was glaring at her with a dark expression.
“...I’m not doing anything like that.”
“Really? That’s a relief. I was just wondering whether I’d need to challenge you to another duel.”
“You damned—”
Just as Tang So-seol was about to flare up at the provocation, she seemed to catch herself and stopped mid-sentence.
Then, in an even gloomier tone than before, she spat out the words like a machine.
“This princess… has come bearing a message.”
“Go on.”
Tang Soyeong sensed something in Tang So-seol’s manner.
It didn’t seem like she had come just to vent her anger. She looked more like someone being forced to do something unpleasant.
Who could possibly make Tang So-seol come looking for Tang Soyeong against her will?
When she thought about it, there was only one answer.
“The First Wife… wishes to see you.”
Only the First Wife.
So that moon-faced bitch wants to see me.
What was her purpose? Threats? Persuasion? Or murder?
It didn’t matter which.
Tang Soyeong gave Tang So-seol a slight nod.
“Lead the way.”