A Priceless Journey
They set out at once.
It was an exhausting schedule: the letter arrived at dawn, preparations were made in the morning, and by afternoon they were already on the road.
The headquarters of the Murim Alliance was in Luoyang.
Traveling from Sichuan meant a long road and plenty to prepare, yet everything had come together surprisingly quickly.
For Tang Soyeong, it hardly mattered. Her everyday necessities would be taken care of by the Tang Clan anyway, so all she truly needed to bring herself were a sword, hidden weapons, and people.
“Uh… is it really okay if I only bring this much?”
Ga-ryeong fussed nervously over a tiny bundle in her hands.
For someone about to leave on a long journey, it was pitifully little luggage. The servants over there were each carrying bundles as big as their bodies, and yet here she was, clutching barely anything at all.
“If there’s anything missing, I’ll have someone fetch it. Don’t worry about it.”
“B-but still…”
Soyeong was the Tang Clan’s young lady, so of course it was only natural for other people to pack for her. But was it really all right for her to do the same? Ga-ryeong shrank in on herself.
“You don’t need to be so anxious.”
Jin-ha appeared at Ga-ryeong’s side, carrying what looked like five mountain-sized bundles all by himself.
“If you feel too awkward about it, I can lend you a few things from my own.”
“......Even so, sharing Mr. Jin-ha’s things feels a bit…”
“What’s there to worry about?”
“It feels like they’d be laced with poison.”
“That’s a misunderstanding.”
He was always being shoved into the poison chamber, so it was only natural that people would think such things of him.
Soyeong ignored Jin-ha’s pleading gaze.
Misunderstandings had to be cleared up by the person who made them.
“Is the preparation finished?”
Sun-hyeon approached.
Soyeong nodded.
“This is the carriage you’ll be riding in, young lady.”
It was a wide carriage, easily big enough for five people. It was the sort of carriage only royalty would normally ride in, but then again, this was the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Thanks to that, the ride was likely to be comfortable.
“Can someone besides me ride in it too?”
“A maid or one might fit, but it’ll be difficult for a man.”
Sun-hyeon’s gaze landed on Jin-ha.
No matter that he was Soyeong’s subordinate; for a man to ride in the carriage of a young lady was the sort of thing that could spark gossip all on its own.
“Then bring me a strong horse. My subordinate will ride that.”
“I’ll prepare one.”
Soyeong asked for a horse for Jin-ha.
She would have preferred to ride together in the carriage, but if it wasn’t allowed, then there was nothing to be done.
She didn’t care much for rumors about herself, but there would definitely be idiots who’d blame Jin-ha for it too.
No—there absolutely would be.
It was smartest not to leave any room for trouble in the first place.
“Wow… the carriage is bigger than my room.”
“......Should I ask to swap rooms with you?”
“Ah—no! I’m already grateful just to have a private room!”
Ga-ryeong waved her hands frantically.
It didn’t sound like false modesty.
Ga-ryeong sat down beside Soyeong.
“Would you like me to braid your hair, young lady?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Without the slightest hesitation, she gathered Soyeong’s long hair in her hands and began braiding it.
Somewhere along the way, Ga-ryeong’s wariness of Soyeong had dropped sharply.
She could be a little rude sometimes, but only to that extent. It wasn’t enough to truly bother her.
That was partly because Ga-ryeong had come to understand Soyeong’s real feelings.
At first, Soyeong had secured her loyalty through fear, but in practice she never actually used that to bully her.
On the contrary, she dotes on me quite a bit.
She didn’t use Ga-ryeong as a scapegoat, and when Ga-ryeong offered opinions, Soyeong listened and thought them over properly.
If she brought back hairpins, ribbons, jewelry, or expensive cosmetics, Soyeong would toss them to Ga-ryeong without a second thought.
And whenever she went out somewhere and Ga-ryeong fussed over her face with makeup, Soyeong hated it, so all the cosmetics ended up being Ga-ryeong’s anyway.
I thought I’d gotten myself into a bad situation at first…
But after spending time together, she was actually rather wonderful, aside from being a little eccentric.
“You weren’t thinking something disrespectful just now, were you?”
“Huh?! Are you a ghost?”
“Your thoughts are written all over your face.”
“......Can you see my back too?”
“I’ve got eyes back there too.”
By the time they finished their pointless banter, the carriage had already come to a stop.
Voices rose in a murmur outside. It didn’t seem like only the Tang Clan was here.
“Who are we meeting up with?”
“From what I heard, the Mount Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect proposed traveling to Luoyang together this time.”
“Ah.”
Soyeong nodded.
They were heading in the same direction, so it made sense to travel together.
If the three great sects of Sichuan moved as one, no half-baked opportunists would dare to lay a hand on them.
And from the Tang Clan’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse an offer made first.
“Young lady, it’s Sun-hyeon.”
Sun-hyeon’s voice came from outside the carriage.
Since Sun-hyeon was here, it meant the clan lord was summoning her.
“Does the clan lord want me?”
“Yes. The Mount Emei Sect leader and the Qingcheng Sect leader are also present.”
“......So the big shots are calling for me.”
The three pillars of Sichuan were looking for Soyeong.
When she stepped out of the carriage, countless eyes turned toward her.
There were Daoists in Qingcheng Sect robes and nuns in the plain garments of the Buddhist order.
“It’s the Poison Flower.”
“So the rumors were true after all.”
“At that level, wouldn’t she qualify for the Three Beauties of Murim?”
“Then would that make it the Four Beauties of Murim?”
“At the very least, she’s definitely the most beautiful woman in Sichuan.”
Aside from the Tang Clan people, everyone began whispering about Soyeong.
There was no malice in it, nor any praise for her martial prowess.
Only praise for her appearance.
They weren’t ignorant of her achievements either.
They had heard that she could copy an entire move after seeing it just once, that she had personally slaughtered two demons, that an elder of Qingcheng had been humiliated by her, and so on.
But those were things people said about her. What stood before them now was simply a beautiful blossom.
Being looked at like this is a first for me…
Soyeong realized for the first time that being stared at could be embarrassing.
In her previous life, everyone had been too busy bowing their heads to look at her like this.
“Ahem.”
For some reason, Ga-ryeong looked almost proud watching Soyeong being praised for her looks.
Soyeong almost said something at the absurdity of it, then decided against it.
She’d probably say something Soyeong wouldn’t understand again anyway.
“Ahem.”
......For some reason, Sun-hyeon was puffing himself up too.
In a way, that was only natural.
What servant of the Tang Clan wouldn’t be pleased when the clan’s young lady was praised for her beauty?
Whether the person being praised felt awkward or not wasn’t really the point.
“......Let’s go already.”
In the end, the only thing Soyeong could do was hurry her steps.
***
Soyeong stepped into the tent set up in the middle of the camp.
Inside were Tang Cheon-ak, a Daoist, and a nun.
The first to speak was the nun.
“Come in, child of the Tang Clan. This humble monk is Hyejeong, the leader of Mount Emei.”
“I am Cheongmun, leader of Qingcheng. I heard one of our elders was rude to you recently.”
“I’m Tang Soyeong. What happened then was nothing more than a simple exchange of martial arts.”
“If you say so, then I can breathe a little easier.”
At Soyeong’s words, Cheongmun smiled pleasantly.
“We meet again, child of the Tang Clan.”
“Amitabha. We meet again, child of the Tang Clan.”
Behind each sect leader stood Cheong-gyeong and Jeong-hyeon as well.
Soyeong gave them a slight nod in greeting.
It might have seemed rude, but neither of them minded.
Cheong-gyeong especially seemed pleased.
“Child of the Tang Clan. Would it be possible to show the sect leader that sword you used back then?”
“I’m sorry. I haven’t fully recovered from the strain yet.”
“Ah… that’s truly disappointing.”
Cheong-gyeong spoke with genuine regret.
If that sword could be shown to the sect leader, or even better, to everyone here in Qingcheng, it would surely become a great light for the sect.
“There will be another chance. Once my body recovers, I can show it to you anytime. Though…”
Soyeong let the sentence trail off.
Cheong-gyeong caught on quickly. She meant the “better spiritual medicine” she’d mentioned earlier.
Cheongmun, too, understood and laughed heartily.
“It seems the child of the Tang Clan has a very clear sense of profit and loss.”
“I apologize if that was rude.”
“No. How could it be rude to make sure one receives what one was promised?”
With that, Cheongmun took out a small wooden case from her robes.
Even sealed shut, the fragrance and energy leaking from it were unmistakable.
The supreme elixir of the Qingcheng Sect, beyond anything like the Cheongun Pill.
Jasacheonun Dan.
It was a peerless medicine that could stand beside the Huashan Sect’s Jaso Dan without being outclassed.
“You have a generous hand.”
At Soyeong’s words, Cheongmun smiled.
“Thanks to you, my disciple gained the first clue needed to break through the wall. This is hardly excessive.”
That meant Cheong-gyeong was standing at the threshold of the Wall of Transcendence.
The next realm beyond the Transcendent Realm: the Peak Realm.
It was the summit where the upper dantian opened and true martial essence could finally be revealed.
Soyeong clasped her hands in a martial salute toward Cheong-gyeong.
“Congratulations.”
“It’s all thanks to you, child of the Tang Clan.”
That sword she had shown them that day.
Merely seeing it had allowed Cheong-gyeong to glimpse a higher place.
That was why Cheongmun had taken out the Jasacheonun Dan.
The Peak Realm was the level at which one could truly be called the pinnacle of a sect.
A master of that caliber becoming one more would be no different from a favor bestowed upon the sect itself.
“Oh dear. It seems this humble monk was a step late.”
Breaking the atmosphere was the Mount Emei Sect leader, Hyejeong.
She also took out a wooden case from her robes.
Even from within it, a heavy fragrance and Buddhist energy could be felt, no less impressive than the Jasacheonun Dan.
“This is Mount Emei’s secret elixir, the Baeryeon Cheongjeong Hwan. I dare say it would not be outmatched even if compared to Shaolin’s Great Revival Pill.”
Another extravagant gift.
From Qingcheng, it was one thing; Soyeong had done something for them, so they could afford to be shameless about accepting her help in return.
But Mount Emei barely had any connection to her beyond the fact that they’d been a little obnoxious earlier.
If they were giving her such a large gift anyway, then they clearly wanted something.
“What do you want from me?”
Soyeong asked directly.
Hyejeong smiled warmly, like a kindly elder.
“This is an apology for my earlier rudeness, yes, but it is also a sign that I hope for your goodwill in the future.”
“That seems a bit much for something like that.”
“Not at all. Not when it’s a way to build a connection with the future greatest martial artist under heaven.”
The greatest martial artist under heaven.
It wasn’t the sort of thing one sect leader would casually say to a child from another sect.
And yet no one in the tent doubted Hyejeong’s words for even a moment.
The child before them would become the greatest martial artist of the next age.
“To be honest, Mount Emei doesn’t really have a prodigy like you. Well… we’re not a sect that pursues martial arts alone, of course.”
There was genuine sincerity in Hyejeong’s voice.
Mount Emei was a prestigious sect, yes, but not one that could claim the title of strongest in the world.
And yet, from a sect in the same region, a child with the potential to become number one under heaven had appeared.
“So what choice do we have? We may as well build the connection now. Since you’re from Sichuan, I’m sure you’ll treat us kindly, won’t you?”
“That seems like a strange thing for a nun to say…”
“Amitabha. Why should the secular world and liberation be kept so far apart? Troubles are only troubles because they remain unresolved. If I can ease worry in this way, then my heart can rest a little easier.”
As expected of a Buddhist, she slipped neatly out of even a sharp question.
“Well… then I’ll gratefully accept it.”
“Hmm. And there is one more thing.”
Soyeong felt a flicker of surprise at Hyejeong’s words.
Just giving her an elixir on the level of a Great Revival Pill was already excessive—another gift on top of that?
“It seems you have not learned the Tang Clan’s internal mental art.”
“...That’s right.”
At those words, Tang Cheon-ak’s body twitched slightly.
Come to think of it, he had never even taught Soyeong the Tang Clan’s basic mental art.
He had assumed that since she already had internal energy built up in her body, she must have learned something somewhere along the way.
It was a disaster born of her absurd talent.
“It isn’t Taoist internal energy, and it isn’t the energy of another clan either. It is purity itself.”
The core of Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong was, in the end, no different from a third-rate method of breathing and circulation.
Its efficiency was on another level, yes—but precisely because of that, it could gather a purer form of internal energy than anyone else.
Internal energy like a clean sheet of paper, one drop of dye away from being colored a different hue.
“So I ask you this… are you perhaps interested in Mount Emei’s mental art?”
Mount Emei’s mental art was Buddhist in nature.
All Buddhist mental arts ultimately shared one root.
No, perhaps it was closer to a body method than a mental art.
Yijinjing.
The Shaolin mental art woven by the Great Bodhidharma, the teacher of all martial artists.
Because Mount Emei was also Buddhist, its mental art had inevitably been built upon the foundations of Yijinjing.
Anyone else would likely have tried to force themselves to learn it and fallen into qi deviation, but Soyeong was different.
Could Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong accept a mental art too?
Having already reached the realm of enlightenment, Soyeong saw the possibility clearly.
Martial arts and mental arts were, in essence, one and the same.
Then there was no reason why Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong, which had already accepted the martial arts of Qingcheng, would be unable to accept Mount Emei’s mental art.
Well, if it goes wrong, I’ll just throw it away.
It would be a waste, sure, but it was still better than having inner power and martial technique fail to mesh, leaving her unable to bring out their full strength.
All things considered, there was no harm in learning it.
“I’ll take it. That mental art.”