The Azure Serpent, the Heavenly Demon, and the Tanghulu
"……I see. So that's how it is."
Having heard my story, Yeong Yeong nodded along.
"That's still better than an all-out war between the two sects, I suppose."
I nodded.
It had been barely a year since the Great Demon War ended, and yet the martial world had already degenerated into an ashen free-for-all of clashing interests.
Now imagine Wudang and Kongtong — the two great pillars of the Orthodox Sects — throwing themselves into the scramble for the Wulin Alliance Leader's seat, joining the fray and throwing the whole thing into deeper chaos.
The Imperial Court would have no choice but to stop turning a blind eye to the murim.
The reason the court had maintained its policy of non-interference all this while was simple enough: the Central Plains were so vast that policing every last corner of them was simply impossible. The murimfolk imposed their own order under the banner of chivalry, and so the court tolerated men who lived by the sword. But if that order began collapsing into turmoil?
Instead of wheat and rice, the harvest that year would be nothing but imperial meddling and bureaucratic plague.
Eun Ae-hyang spoke.
"And if word of our duel spreads in a situation like that—"
Yeong Yeong picked up the thread. "Then it snowballs into a war between our sects."
"Exactly. So — could the two of us keep our duel a secret?"
At Eun Ae-hyang's proposal, Yeong Yeong rested her chin on one hand and stared at the ground as if deliberating. After a moment, she seemed to reach some decision and nodded.
"All right. I won't breathe a word about this to anyone."
Then she turned to me and said,
"Senior brother, since it's come to this, you'd better win and become the Wulin Alliance Leader."
"Well, naturally."
But then, quite abruptly, Yeong Yeong — who had been looking at me — threw her arms around mine. I flinched on reflex and tried to pull free, but her grip absolutely would not budge.
"Because then I'll be the Alliance Leader's lady of the house."
"Um, no? You're the one who announced our engagement without my consent in the first place."
But Yeong Yeong, as though she couldn't hear a word I said, simply squeezed my arm tighter and grinned from ear to ear.
Morning, after the dawn fog had lifted.
The embankment road near Luoyang came back into view along with a shoe.
The hobby of the farmer walking the Grand Canal embankment, pitchfork slung over his shoulder, was watching the canal's scenery. Gazing at a view that had not changed since the waterway was first cut, he liked to muse that peace and prosperity were not so far away after all.
But today's scenery was quite different.
The farmer raised a hand to shade his brow and squinted hard at a spot on the canal.
"The devil is that?"
Where his gaze had settled, fish were floating belly-up on the water. As he looked around the area wondering what on earth had happened, bubbles suddenly began to rise — and then something burst up out of the canal in a spray of white.
Shwaaaaaaah……
When the water cascading off the rising shape fell away, its identity was revealed: the Azure Serpent — the creature that had taken Seong Hyun's and Eun Ae-hyang's blows. Furious at having been beaten, it seethed with killing intent, staining the surrounding water a murky venomous blue.
Having vented its poison and calmed itself a little, the Azure Serpent turned its head this way and that. And into those eyes came the farmer, who had been watching the whole scene with an expression of utter disbelief.
The moment their eyes met, the farmer snapped to his senses, whirled around, and tried to flee.
But the Azure Serpent shot forward in an instant and blocked the farmer's path.
What followed took only a heartbeat. Charging at the hapless farmer, the serpent gaping its jaws wide, it swallowed his entire body in a single bite — everything except his ankles.
The farmer's ankles kicked and squirmed as if in protest, but one shake of the serpent's head and they went limp, sliding down into that gaping maw like the rest.
The recoil knocked the farmer's shoe, which dropped to the ground with a soft thump.
And so the morning embankment came back into view — along with a shoe.
Feeling rather pleased with itself for having stuffed something into its belly, the Azure Serpent bobbed its head contentedly and slipped back into the rocky cave it had made its lair.
It was coiling itself up inside to digest its meal at leisure when someone approached from behind and rapped it squarely on the head.
The Azure Serpent whipped around in alarm — and there stood a man of enormous height, his long hair white despite his youth.
Then the serpent opened its mouth, and a woman's voice came out.
"My lord Bishop…… how did you find this place?"
The man's face twisted.
"I commanded you never to show yourself to the world. And you couldn't even manage that? Is my order a jest to you?"
This man, who called himself Bonjwa — the Sovereign — was none other than the Heavenly Demon Emperor.
The supreme head of the Demonic Cult, the very man who had ignited the Great Demon War, the maelstrom that had convulsed the martial world until a year ago.
At the sight of the Heavenly Demon Emperor, the Azure Serpent writhed its body into knots and belched out a thick cloud of steam to hide itself. A moment later, a woman walked out of the mist.
The woman knelt.
"This girl had no thought of defying your order, my lord. But when those two — the very ones who toppled the Demonic Cult — appeared before my eyes, I confess I lost my senses for a moment. Still, the crime of disobeying your command deserves death a thousand times over. Take my life, I beg you."
The Heavenly Demon Emperor clicked his tongue.
"Insolent chit. Do you take me for a man who cannot recognize such loyalty? But did I not tell you to await your moment?"
"Forgive me."
"Withdraw. And even if you must rest, live henceforth among the common folk — nowhere near another cave like this one."
The Azure Serpent bowed its head and slipped out of the cave.
Only after watching the creature vanish completely did the Heavenly Demon Emperor clench his fist, his brow knotting in fury.
A lame man dropped his crutch and pitched forward, about to fall.
I caught him and steadied him at once.
"Bless you, Master Cheongun."
"Mind your step, elder."
Watching the man bow his awkward thanks and hobble on his way, I found the whole village spread out before my eyes at a glance.
The village that had grown up at the foot of Mount Wudang.
I had come down from the mountain today to sign a supply contract for ingredients. The deal worked like this: we picked a farmstead, paid them in advance, and for the next year the household delivered our provisions.
……That said, the farmsteads we contracted with hadn't changed in years, and this time would be no different.
"Right. That family's scallions are on the tastier side."
"That's right, senior brother."
……An entirely unexpected voice had just drifted in from my left.
I turned toward it and found Yeong Yeong staring at me, blank-faced.
What are you doing here? What about your training?
Oblivious to my confusion, Yeong Yeong beamed.
"I snuck out behind Father's back."
"Do you want to watch me die?"
"Then marry me."
No. We are not getting married. I opened my mouth to say exactly that — but Yeong Yeong seized my arm and dragged me off toward a tanghulu stall.
"Senior brother, buy me that."
Several days had passed since we routed the Azure Serpent, and yet things had stayed like this the whole time.
I had said, quite clearly, that there would be no engagement — but apparently my opinion on the matter carried very little weight with Yeong Yeong.
It wasn't as if I'd let the subject drop, either. Every time the two of us were alone, I refused her flatly, over and over. But instead of drawing her sword and holding it to her own throat like last time, Yeong Yeong had simply started clinging to me all the more often.
'I don't care what my dear senior brother says. What matters is that he beats that Kongtong witch and becomes the Wulin Alliance Leader. And after that, naturally, he marries me, doesn't he?'
The logic didn't hold together anywhere, and I tried to argue the point further — but if I told her any more, I risked her learning the real plan: that I intended to become Alliance Leader and confess to Eun Ae-hyang. And that would throw a wrench into the duels still to come.
All these thoughts made my head throb, and I was rubbing the bridge of my nose when Yeong Yeong's voice rang out again.
"Senior brother, buy me that."
Right. One thing at a time. Today's errands first.
So I reached for the skewer of tanghulu Yeong Yeong had demanded — and found my hand closing around an unfamiliar hand reaching for the very same one.
"Oh."
"Ah — forgive me."
I let go and moved to take a different skewer instead.
At that moment, the hand seized mine. Well, this is an outright provocation, isn't it.
The hand that gripped me was hard with calluses — a swordsman's hand, unmistakably.
I twisted my wrist and clamped down on that hand's wrist in return.
Whereupon its owner spun her whole arm in a full circle and slipped cleanly out of my grip.
In the gap that opened between us I glanced sideways — and saw a familiar face.
"Eun Ae-hyang."
"Well, well. Master Cheongun."
"What's a Kongtong disciple doing all the way out here?"
Eun Ae-hyang withdrew her hand and looked at me. Then her gaze slid to Yeong Yeong, still latched snugly onto my arm.
Yeong Yeong was glaring daggers back at her.
"Gh……"
"You shameless wretch, Master Cheongun! How dare you grab my senior sister's wrist?"
Just then Jeok Seong cut across Eun Ae-hyang's words, popping his face out beside her and bellowing at me.
Ah. So that's what that smell was.
Eun Ae-hyang pinched her nose shut. Aha — so it wasn't just me after all.
"Jeok Seong, be quiet. I'll do the talking."
"Yes, senior sister!"
Yeong Yeong released one of my arms, pinched her nose as well, and spoke up.
"Senior brother, who's that?"
"Oh, that's Jeok Seong. A Kongtong fellow with a face like a crushed walnut, as you can see."
"Hmm."
"You there, Master Cheongun! I am Jeok Seong!"
Yeong Yeong regarded him with a look of supreme indifference.
Go wash yourself, Jeok Seong. You are the shame of the martial world — a man whose mere existence drags the honor of the murim through the mud.
"So. You Kongtong folk — what brings you here?"
"Oh my. Have you forgotten what day it is today?"
"What day is it?"
"Haa… so you really did forget."
Eun Ae-hyang closed her eyes, laid a hand to her brow, and shook her head with theatrical sorrow.
"Master Cheongun! It is the day of the discussions regarding the schedule for the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams assembly!"
"Ah. So that's already upon us, is it."
The Eight Trigrams and Five Elements Assembly.
A gathering of Wudang and Kongtong — the two sects most versed in the Daoist arts — held to further the development of Daoist learning.
It consisted of a social gathering for the elders, a debate between the sect leaders, and, finally, a martial exhibition.
It had begun as an event to nurture each sect's promising young disciples, but over the years it had morphed into an all-out contest of pride between the two sects.
Jeok Seong declared, chest puffed out:
"This year's exhibition, we shall win beyond all doubt, and set the Five Elements before the Eight Trigrams!"
Quite so.
The sect that prevailed in the exhibition earned the right to inscribe its school of Daoist philosophy above its rival's — its name placed foremost. An event of that consequence, and yes, there was a very good reason I'd forgotten it was on the calendar.
"It's the first assembly since the Great Demon War, but even before that, haven't our Wudang children won it year after year?"
"Hmph. This year will be different."
Right, right. Good luck with that.
I glanced around to see whether any other Kongtong disciples were nearby. Only then did I notice figures in Kongtong's black garb scattered here and there through the market, and snatches of whispered chatter drifting in from every direction.
I turned toward the sound — and found myself meeting eyes with a group of women who appeared to be from Kongtong.
The moment our gazes locked, they hastily averted their eyes, then started giggling and tittering among themselves. What in the world?
Just then, Yeong Yeong turned to stare at them with eyes utterly drained of light.
"Those wenches……"