Fan-Favorite Tang Do-gyeong -2
Yu Sa-yeon and I went out.
She had dressed like a nangin herself — black bamboo hat, martial attire — the better to keep this meeting quiet. We were about to see someone from the Tang Family, after all. Since she was publicly posing as Heukmyo, we left Heukmyo behind at the inn.
The moment we turned into the agreed-upon alley, a peculiar dagger driven into the ground caught my eye.
A formation.
A light maze formation had been laid over the alley. Yu Sa-yeon and I exchanged a nod and gently drew up our internal energy to shield our minds.
The ranking of martial artists begins at Third-rate. In truth, the Murim barely counts Third-rate practitioners as martial artists at all — yet there is still a difference between Third-rate and those who fall short of even that.
Third-rate means a person whose goal is sensing Qi — the bare ability to feel energy. The boundary between Third-rate and non-Third-rate is treated as so vague for exactly this reason. Someone who can only sense Qi without truly handling it has no way to prove whether that sensation is real. Without a higher expert testing them directly through Qi techniques, there is simply no way to tell a genuine Third-rate from someone who is not.
Second-rate aims at controlling Qi. Having at least reached the minimum threshold of sensing it, these are the ones who can open their eyes of Qi-sense and finally look upon the forest called the Murim.
What does it mean for a Second-rate to move energy? Strip away the lofty riddles and it means this: the deliberate accumulation of internal energy. If Third-rate is the work of opening one's eyes to Qi, Second-rate is the stage of moving that Qi with those opened eyes. Even ordinary breathing builds some internal energy — but the question is whether one can perform that accumulation intentionally.
The ability to move Qi according to one's will. That is the goal a Second-rate pursues, and the capacity the rank itself implies.
Then comes First-rate.
From First-rate onward, no one disputes that you are a martial artist. Having mastered sensing Qi and achieved control of it, these are the ones who aim for the next stage: reinforcing with Qi. If Third-rate raises the senses and Second-rate stockpiles power, First-rate is the stage of actually using that power.
Reinforcing with Qi — filling the body with force. Just as you tense a fist and arm to strike someone, you pour intent into Qi, which is why some call it Intent-Qi. Once a person who holds intent begins to realize it, that becomes a path. However humble or unimpressive, it is still a Dao.
Whether a true martial artist starts at First-rate or at Second-rate is one of those immortal arguments among Murim folk that never dies. First-rate, because that is when intent is put into action — those are the real martial artists. No, Second-rate can move Qi too, so in the essential sense of harboring intent and acting on it they are no different from First-rate and should be counted as martial artists as well. Chicken or egg. Is the true lord of the Three Kingdoms Liu Bei or Cao Cao. Debates of that caliber.
Still, the recent consensus — individual differences aside — leans toward treating Second-rate and above as martial artists.
I myself had trained to a level that was First-rate in all but name, yet my rank remained Second-rate. Because I had not reached First-rate, I could not use the technique of reinforcing with Qi.
Call packing Qi into the forearm to increase strength a first-stage enhancement. That much becomes possible once you reach Second-rate and learn to control Qi. But to push arm strength even further, harden the skin, or force joints past their natural limits — for any of that, you need at least reinforcement with Qi.
Control of Qi has a low ceiling on how much force it can enhance, and no amount of Qi poured into the body will accomplish anything outside the natural range.
Once you reach First-rate and learn reinforcement, you can harden skin so it does not tear easily, or momentarily unleash strength several times your ordinary muscle power. Of course, ascending to First-rate does not suddenly erase the limits of your capacity — it is less becoming a superhuman overnight than simply having the possibility opened to you.
Bluntly put, a Second-rate who does not even know the first character of martial arts will likely lose to someone with blessed physical gifts. Why? Because even handling Qi cannot push past the line of natural bodily reinforcement, so meeting someone whose raw body is stronger than your enhanced one puts you at a disadvantage.
A seasoned First-rate, however, cannot lose to someone who knows nothing of martial arts. The very foundation of combat changes. At Second-rate, even one step with three sword strikes is a struggle; at First-rate, if you are willing to waste internal energy and overload the body, you can pull four or five sword strikes out of a single step.
You simply do not, because that is not an efficient way to fight.
"Let's go in."
Without raising Qi, the maze formation was just enough to make a person lose their way. Clearly set by someone from the Tang Family who did not want outsiders watching a meeting with the Sichuan nangin.
After walking a while, a man in Tang Family robes stood waiting.
"You've come. I was told the one who leads the Sichuan nangin is a heroine, so you must be Yu Sa-yeon?"
"Innkeeper. Yu Sa-yeon."
"I am Tang Dok-gi."
Tang Dok-gi let out a heavy sigh without preamble.
"First of all — I am deeply sorry that matters have come to this."
As apologies went it was stiff as a board, but coming from the mouth of the Tang Family — absolute power in the Sichuan Murim — it meant he was genuinely remorseful.
"Well then… explaining the whole chain of events first would be only proper."
Anyone who has ever worked in a superior-subordinate relationship knows this: the party with power almost never bothers to explain circumstances to the party without it. They just give orders. The only difference is whether they bark them with curses or phrase them a little more politely.
That he was willing to lay out the Tang Family's internal affairs meant, yes, an expression of regret — but also that resolving this mess was going to be that difficult.
"I should start with the day that reprobate Tang Do-gyeong stormed out of the family. From the moment he knocked out the messenger carrying a letter to Hwanggeumga, seized the documents, and went to the Golden Family himself, the Family Head's rage had already climbed past the top of his head."
He ambushed a messenger, robbed the letter, and then came to Sichuan Province?
Not a great hero. A lunatic.
"When Tang Do-gyeong tore off toward Sichuan Province in that uproar, the Family Head deduced that his target was Yeo Il-ye. Lately the only news that could have set that madman — ahem, Tang Do-gyeong — off was Yeo Il-ye of the Ten Rising Heroes reaching the Super-Peak Realm."
Reasonable enough so far.
But then why—?
"The Family Head was furious and immediately summoned Tang experts capable of subduing Tang Do-gyeong — but gathering several Super-Peak masters is hardly simple. And you can hardly dispatch elder-level figures just to haul in one rising junior, no matter how famous."
Elders have their dignity. Even if Tang Do-gyeong's name rang loud among the rising generation, having an elder personally drag home a member of his own family would look ridiculous.
"Above all, the fact that Tang Do-gyeong had headed for Hwanggeumga was the real problem. At that point the situation was simply that the Family Head was enraged and needed Tang Do-gyeong brought back. Associating with Sichuan nangin had nothing whatsoever to do with it then."
"Of course."
"No matter how furious the Family Head was, barging into Hwanggeumga to drag Tang Do-gyeong out was out of the question — and having multiple Tang experts enter Sichuan City and raise a commotion to extract him was equally impossible. Tang Do-gyeong knew that perfectly well, which is why he came here to Sichuan City instead of going straight to Jeomchang to meet Yeo Il-ye. Meeting her inside this city was, from his perspective, the move that would work out best."
We're already screwed, then.
Listening to this was giving me a headache. I already knew the Tang Family were a powerful local clan, and I knew that as such they had deliberately avoided building influence inside Sichuan City itself. But to the point that they could not even afford a disturbance within the city?
No — that was not unreasonable at all. If Tang experts clashed with Tang Do-gyeong inside Sichuan City just to catch him, the fact of that collision would spread in every direction. Friction with the provincial governor, plus a thoroughly humiliating rumor on top of it.
In that case, it might actually be better to let Tang Do-gyeong and Yeo Il-ye fight it out inside the city.
The former was the Tang Family's disgrace. The latter was only Tang Do-gyeong's.
"So the Family Head prepared two measures. One was sending me into Sichuan City to persuade Tang Do-gyeong. If I met Yeo Il-ye first, I was also to explain the situation and convince her to lure him out toward the Jeomchang Sect."
"The second was stationing Tang experts at Jeomchang. Yeo Il-ye may frequent Sichuan City these days, but she still has to orbit her home sect eventually — so if Tang Do-gyeong failed to meet her here, he would have no choice but to turn his steps toward Jeomchang."
Tang Dok-gi sighed as if the ground itself might collapse beneath him.
"And then I arrive in Sichuan, and what do I hear? Rumors everywhere that Tang Do-gyeong lost a wager and had the Blood Jade Stele taken from him by the Sichuan nangin. I was shocked. I made inquiries, and it seemed to be true. Ah — no need to answer. I've already confirmed it as fact from the man himself."
Tang Dok-gi thumped his own chest.
"I nearly lost my mind! That insane brat steals a letter meant for Hwanggeumga, then goes and challenges a disciple of the Nine Great Sects to a duel out of nowhere — and then loses something that can only be called a secret treasure, the Blood Jade Stele? Loses it? And to—! Hah…"
He had been about to say and to mere Sichuan nangin, of all people, then remembered those very Sichuan nangin were standing right in front of him, and settled for venting his frustration instead.
"I hope you can understand how stifling this has been for me. I misspoke for a moment, but in any case — when I heard that news I was so furious I tracked down Tang Do-gyeong's whereabouts, and what do I find? That he has been coming and going from the nangin's inn."
Tang Dok-gi stared up at the sky. Fresh rage was clearly boiling past his control.
"The moment I heard that, the sky itself seemed to turn black. That very day I set an ambush near the Wanderer Inn and caught Tang Do-gyeong when he appeared in the morning. I dragged him off and raged at him like wildfire. And that reprobate glared right back at me and started shouting in return!"
Judging purely by the way Tang Dok-gi's expression kept shifting, I could fill in the rest.
He had probably said something he could not quite repeat in front of us — Do you have any idea how far the Tang Family's reputation will fall if word spreads that you're hanging around a nangin inn and fraternizing with vagabonds? — and Tang Do-gyeong, who had lately been getting along rather well with the nangin, had fired back with something like Do you have any idea how passionate and excellent those nangin are?
Whether the Sichuan nangin actually cultivated a proper martial artist's bearing was none of Tang Dok-gi's concern. What mattered to him was the reputation lost by Tang Do-gyeong frequenting the Wanderer Inn. The man had already caused one massive disaster and was in the middle of causing another — and now he could not even take a word of sense, snapping back instead?
How utterly speechless Tang Dok-gi must have been.
"So I delivered the Family Head's ultimatum. I know I shouldn't say this, but — do you have any idea how many incidents this Tang Do-gyeong has caused? Hah. If I truly laid them all out, two nights without sleep would not be enough! By this point the patience of the Family Head and the senior figures had hit rock bottom. If he did not return this time, they would strike him from the family register."
The Tang Family is a bloodline collective.
Having even actively adopted the practice of taking in sons-in-law, the Tang are less a "family" than a vast Tang clan — so vast that there exists an entire fortified town, the Tang Family Estate, where Tang people live together.
That is how heavily the Tang Family weighs blood ties.
Severance of kinship — effectively a death sentence the family can pass on one of its own. Well… they were not truly going to cut him off. Crimes severe enough to erase someone from the register — killing kin, or dealing the family a blow that shatters one of its pillars — do not lead to severance lightly.
So the severance just mentioned meant this: they would no longer coddle him as a rising talent and let things slide. They would impose a punishment equivalent to the extreme penalty. No more looking the other way. Come back. No exceptions.
"And he starts babbling about some wager he cannot back down from, some promise he made — and then walks straight into the inn without so much as a glance my way!"
"Ah…"
Tang Do-gyeong was, by any measure, an intuitive chivalrous hero. I had wondered how a fan-favorite like him had earned the name Fighting Dog — but then again, Yeo Il-ye, the Nangin Crusher, was the Red Bamboo Sword Hero. Apparently you needed at least this much to tear off the packaging and get called a mad dog.
Casting off everything around him to pursue his own sense of chivalry — that was certainly the figure of a righteous hero. But discarding the family's position entirely and charging straight ahead…
Wasn't that a little too free-spirited?