Chapter 52
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Namgung Seo-hui (2)
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Upon arriving in Hangzhou, Cheon Muryang couldn't help but marvel.
“Well, well.”
In the past, Hangzhou had also been a massive city, but many parts, like the back alleys, were poorly maintained.
This was because the Cheon Family lacked the capital to invest.
However, it seemed the Cheon Family's finances had stabilized recently, as investments were clearly underway.
“So it could change this much.”
Before searching for Namgung Seo-hui.
Cheon Muryang suddenly grew curious about how Hangzhou's back alleys had changed.
“The Lord of the Golden Pavilion must have handled it properly, of course.”
All of this was managed by the Lord of the Golden Pavilion, Geumsan.
“Since I'm here, I might as well take a look.”
Cheon Muryang walked along the noticeably widened main road.
“Huh? This isn't it.”
He had intended to enter a back alley.
But there were no back alleys to be found.
“Wait a minute. Could it be...”
It seemed it wasn't just a matter of the roads becoming wider and cleaner.
“Did they change the entire structure?”
Geumsan had intended to change the very structure of the city itself.
The layout revealed his intention.
The areas that were once back alleys were now under heavy construction.
“It might have been easier this way.”
Sometimes, it's better to clear everything away and start fresh.
“The back alleys themselves are gone.”
And so, the back alleys themselves had vanished.
This meant there were no longer any places in Hangzhou where the sun couldn't reach.
“It's warm.”
Perhaps that was why.
This place, which had once been so damp and gloomy, now felt warm.
“Waaah!”
A path that once led to the back alleys.
Children now ran along it, chattering boisterously.
*Hmm.*
Recognizing the clothes the children wore as belonging to the Cheon Family, Cheon Muryang followed them.
“What's this?”
Before long, he saw a long line of people.
At the end of the line, a Cheon Family flag was fluttering.
“Form a line, one by one!”
“Those who can work, come this way!”
“Ah...”
He could see how Geumsan intended to eliminate Hangzhou's back alleys.
Hangzhou's back alleys weren't just a physical location.
They were a gathering place for the abandoned, so true reform had to begin with their salvation.
“Relief, huh...”
Cheon Muryang smiled.
This aid was Geumsan's fundamental solution.
“I was right to entrust this to him. He knows what's at the core of the problem.”
Aid wasn't just about handing things out endlessly.
That would be like pouring water into a cracked pot.
Providing work for those who could, and offering educational opportunities to nurture their talents—that was the foundation of true relief.
Fortunately, there was plenty of work.
The back alley redevelopment project alone required a massive workforce.
“At this rate...”
In just a year, it would be changed beyond recognition.
It was then.
Thump!
Someone bumped into Cheon Muryang's thigh.
“I'm sorry!”
A boy in shabby clothes.
The child didn't run away; he bowed his head to Cheon Muryang.
*In the past...*
He would have been a pickpocket, nine times out of ten.
But now, these children no longer needed to steal from others to survive.
“Are you hurt?”
“No!”
Cheon Muryang patted the child's head.
“That's good. Off you go.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
In the direction the child was heading, a magnificent building came into view.
“...”
Glancing past it, he saw children learning to read and write, and others holding wooden swords.
*So this was the place.*
The place Geumsan had mentioned.
A place to raise those abducted by the Black Merchants into assets for the Cheon Family.
“This was it.”
Something the Cheon Family had forgotten.
He realized the fundamental reason why they were one of the Ten Great Families of the world, but not one of the Three Great Families.
“This aid is just the beginning.”
Those who have benefited from the Cheon Family's grace will become an unseen strength.
Only when that strength begins to sprout can the Cheon Family leap to the next level.
*Good.*
Cheon Muryang, a smile on his face, was about to head elsewhere to find Namgung Seo-hui.
“...?”
But it seemed he wouldn't have to.
A woman dressed unmistakably as a martial artist was walking this way.
*Found her.*
Cheon Muryang remembered Namgung Seo-hui.
*Kill me.*
Her eyes, devoid of light.
He remembered it clearly even now.
Alive, but not living.
Rescued from the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon, Namgung Seo-hui was a complete wreck.
She who craved death, Namgung Seo-hui.
*I don't know what happened to her after she returned to the Namgung Family.*
After returning to the Namgung Family, she never came out again.
*This time, let that flower bloom.*
A bud that never had the chance to blossom.
He was curious what kind of flower it would become.
Just as he had been given a chance, Cheon Muryang suddenly wanted to give her one too.
*That's why I came here in the first place. Namgung Seo-hui, I will save you.*
Cheon Muryang gazed at her.
Just seeing the vitality in her eyes stirred something new within him.
*I can change countless futures.*
Because he could twist a predetermined future.
The fall of the Cheon Family, the death of Namgung Seo-hui, and perhaps the destined collapse of the Central Plains' martial world.
Only Cheon Muryang knew, and only he could change that future.
“I will change it, that future.”
Cheon Muryang watched Namgung Seo-hui.
Her gait was extraordinary.
Her balanced steps were neither too light nor too heavy.
Even the title 'Sword Peak' failed to fully describe her talent.
*She is already a sword in her own right.*
Perhaps because he had seen the future Namgung Seo-hui, he wanted to see her vibrant swordplay.
She exuded the unique aura of one who wielded an unconventional sword.
*Was she this skilled?*
Such people existed from time to time.
Individuals who couldn't be explained by the common evaluation standards of Peak, Transcendent Peak, and Flower Realm.
That classification was merely a system of convenience.
According to that system, Cheon Muryang himself would only fall somewhere between Peak and Transcendent Peak, yet hadn't he blocked a strike from the Yama Demonic Lord, who had reached the Flower Realm?
*There are no absolutes in martial arts.*
There were no absolutes in martial arts.
That classification was just a broad framework.
How could there be only one anomaly in the Central Plains' martial world who defied the framework?
This was because everyone's path was different, and their enlightenments varied.
Therefore, even among those classified in the same Flower Realm, there were bound to be clear differences.
*That must be why they say there is no end to martial arts.*
Just as there are no absolutes.
There was no end.
And so, Cheon Muryang felt a sense of awe for the sword Namgung Seo-hui had achieved.
*She has already attained her own sword. Perhaps the reason she ran away from home wasn't simply to oppose a political marriage.*
A thirst for the sword—that thirst might have been what led her out of her family's home.
“Interesting.”
Flinch!
Namgung Seo-hui, who hadn't noticed Cheon Muryang's presence at all, widened her eyes.
“Wh-Who are you!”
He paused.
Cheon Muryang stopped in his tracks.
Namgung Seo-hui hadn't drawn her sword, but Cheon Muryang was already within her strike range.
However, Namgung Seo-hui's eyes darted left and right restlessly.
*When did he get so close?*
In other words, she hadn't noticed him until he was already within her strike range.
“No need to be on guard.”
“Who are you?”
“Me? Someone who's here to help you.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
“The Thousand-Faced Lust Demon.”
Shing!
The moment she heard those words, Namgung Seo-hui drew her sword and aimed it at him.
“How did you know I was chasing him?”
Swoosh.
Instead of answering,
Cheon Muryang pointed a finger at the place Namgung Seo-hui had been looking.
“I also have a reason to catch that bastard.”
The estate where the children captured by the Black Merchants were playing came into view.
The reason the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon settled here in Zhejiang was the smooth supply.
And that supplier was none other than the Black Merchants.
*The Cheon Family failed to stop the Black Merchants.*
Failing to stop the Black Merchants was the Cheon Family's karma, and Cheon Muryang intended to take responsibility for it.
Separate from his desire to save Namgung Seo-hui, he felt he had to be the one to catch the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon.
“Are you from the Cheon Family?”
“Well, something like that.”
“How can I believe that?”
“Proof, you say...”
Cheon Muryang grinned.
The proof was simple.
It was the sword.
Fwoosh!
A blue sword energy blossomed.
Its clear aura spoke of the path of the sword Cheon Muryang had walked.
“Ah...”
Namgung Seo-hui saw that path.
The blood and sweat steeped in Cheon Muryang's sword.
That was enough.
For Cheon Muryang was a man who held a sword, a swordsman, and Namgung Seo-hui could tell he was not one to speak falsehoods.
“Alright. Let's catch him together.”
Cheon Muryang smiled.
It was because Namgung Seo-hui's way of thinking was perfectly aligned with that of a swordsman.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Oh, it's nothing. I'm just curious about your plan.”
“I intend to be the bait.”
“...”
And, true to that way of thinking.
It was incredibly bold and dangerous.
“Bait?”
“If I become the most desirable woman at West Lake, the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon's desires will reach their peak.”
“...”
She said it calmly, but Namgung Seo-hui had just declared she would use her own beauty.
“You're very confident.”
“Because it's a fact that I'm beautiful.”
He wanted to call her brazen, but Namgung Seo-hui was undeniably beautiful.
That's why her title, 'Sword Peak,' was so significant.
It meant that her sword shone even brighter than her beauty.
“And so?”
“According to the testimony of those who survived the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon, he uses drugs.”
“Drugs?”
“Yes. Fortunately, I have a Poison-Cleansing Bead.”
A Poison-Cleansing Bead was a treasure with the ability to neutralize poisons.
As the precious jewel of the Namgung Family, it was only natural she would carry such an item.
“Hmm...”
Namgung Seo-hui's plan was risky, but it was a gamble worth taking.
*I would have done the same.*
It was a rational decision.
However, a question still lingered.
*Even with a Poison-Cleansing Bead, she was defeated so easily?*
Namgung Seo-hui was by no means weak.
Even if her realm had not yet reached the Peak, she had already attained her own sword and would not be defeated so easily.
*Is there something I'm not considering?*
There was no way to know what it was, so Cheon Muryang decided to face it himself.
“Let me ask one thing.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever think of asking the Cheon Family for help? Or even the Namgung Family?”
“No. I have no intention of asking for help. Ah, of course, I was planning to inform the Cheon Family. This isn't Anhui, after all.”
“I see.”
Cheon Muryang nodded.
She had intended to handle it herself from the beginning.
“Since it's come to this...”
“...?”
Namgung Seo-hui's eyes sparkled.
Normally, this was a task she would have to do alone, but an unexpected person had joined in.
She didn't know exactly who he was.
But what was certain was that he was not a villain, and that he was a swordsman with upright eyes.
*Good eyes. A good sword.*
She was more interested in his sword than his handsome looks.
“You're strong, aren't you?”
“What?”
“Let's cross swords. It's not like we have anything else to do, right? The Lust Demon won't be prowling around in broad daylight.”
“You want to cross swords?”
“Yes. I saw a clearing on a nearby mountain. That should be more than enough.”
Was she being polite,
or just bold?
Cheon Muryang shook his head.
However, his answer was yes.
“I like the sound of that.”
Wasn't this what he wanted?
“Good.”
“...”
Namgung Seo-hui extended her hand.
Seeing this, Cheon Muryang chuckled and took her hand.
“As expected, it's a good hand.”
Namgung Seo-hui smiled.
As she had expected, Cheon Muryang's hand was grotesque, with calluses that had broken and healed over and over.
But to a swordsman, those scars were like the highest of honors.
“Ah.”
Her hand, unlike her beauty,
was covered in calluses.
“You too.”
Cheon Muryang acknowledged her as a swordsman.