Back to Mount Heng (4)
"Hmm. Then I'll just have to come up with a different name. Imagine if it'd been a bad omen right out of the gate."
To think there had already been a Ma Family in Hunan.
With my knowledge of murim still full of holes, I'd been drilling myself on it nonstop throughout the journey. This time was no different—a question had come to mind.
"What kind of place was the Hunan Ma Family?"
"This is only what I've heard, but... the Zhuge Family was once pushed out of the Five Great Families, you know?"
"Yeah, I heard about that from Lady Yeon Hwa."
"Well, the family that knocked the Zhuges out was the Hunan Ma Family."
The Five Great Families.
The Moyong Family.
The Namgung Family.
The Zhuge Family.
The Tang Family of Sichuan.
The Peng Family of Hebei.
Five great houses standing at the very summit of the murim.
They were bread-and-butter material for every martial arts novel I'd ever read—and this family had shattered that balance and carved its name onto that list?
"But how on earth did they end up annihilated...?"
"Ten years ago they were hauled up on official charges before the whole murim. Accused of colluding with the Demonic Cult."
Yikes, a murim-wide indictment? Getting tangled up in something like that sounded exhausting.
You know, the whole business where they spread the inescapable net of heaven and earth over you?
"Naming it the Ma Family again—isn't that just inviting the same misunderstanding all over?"
"Oh! It's fine. Ma is a common surname, and even though they were wiped out, the misunderstanding was cleared up after the fact. Word is, the intelligence networks admitted they'd been fed false information by the Demonic Cult."
"The Demonic Cult... that's terrifying..."
"Ahahaha! Don't look so grim! Traces of the cult do turn up now and then, but it's been ages since they were last truly active!"
If there was a Demonic Cult, there had to be a Heavenly Demon too. In plenty of novels he showed up as a bit of a letdown, but in this world, at least, he was bound to be a devil straight out of hell.
How long had we been traveling, filling the gaps in my murim knowledge with lessons from Zhuge Yang and Yeon Hwa?
Before I knew it, we had arrived at our destination—Mount Heng.
It had only been a few months since I last laid eyes on the mountain, yet it felt nothing like the hopeless, overwhelming mass it had been back when I'd had no margin to spare.
The mountain towered, magnificent and green. It more than deserved to be called a breathtaking sight.
Even Zhuge Yang, country girl of Longzhong that she was, fell head over heels for it.
"Wow... it's so tall! Way taller than Mount Longzhong!"
"Don't compare it to Longzhong. That's just the hill behind the village."
"I-It's not that small..."
Next to Mount Heng, honestly, that was about all it amounted to.
Lost in some thought or other, her big eyes went glassy and moist, as if tears might spill down her cheeks at any moment.
"I-I'm sorry, Yang. Longzhong is big! Really big!"
I fumbled about in a panic, and Zhuge Yang shook her head.
"That's not it, Won... thank you, really... You went through so much, digging for snow ginseng on a mountain this tall and treacherous, didn't you?"
Then her warm, soft hand closed around mine. For a moment I thought it was just a comforting squeeze, but her fingers held on as if she had no intention of letting go. Even with sweat beading in the summer heat, she stayed exactly where she was.
Moments like this always confused me. Could it be that she liked me too? No—it had to be gratitude. She just thought of me as a comfortable friend, nothing more.
That was what I told myself.
A little later, once the strange tension between us had faded, I spoke up. Time to lay the groundwork.
"Turns out I might have a real talent for hunting rare mountain herbs. Never knew it myself."
"You do! Won, you're amazing. There's no way someone without talent could have found a ten-thousand-year snow ginseng!"
"Mm... so I'm thinking of digging up a lot more elixirs from now on."
"I know you can do it!"
She said it so easily now, but things were about to get seriously ridiculous...
We settled in a village near Mount Heng. Yeon Hwa stripped Zhuge Yang's keepsakes down to the last trinket and managed to rent a house with a yard big enough to serve as a training ground.
Most of their money had already gone up in medicine bills as Zhuge Yang's condition worsened, so we were in no position to sit idle—we needed income.
"Sister Hwa, aren't we overextending ourselves a little?"
"We need separate rooms, and space for a training ground. There was no way around it."
"I suppose that's true."
"I'll find a way to earn the money myself."
There were plenty of places a First-Class warrior could make a living. We'd at least be able to eat without worry.
But it was inefficient. Yeon Hwa, who had already followed Zhuge Yang to the ends of the earth, was by default a precious warrior of the family I intended to build. She needed to grow stronger.
And I knew exactly how to make that happen.
"Lady Yeon Hwa, I'm planning to go up the mountain tomorrow. Will you join me?"
"Hmm... I have some shopping to do tomorrow, so I'll be making a trip into the city. I leave the Young Miss in your care."
"Ah! Understood."
Until now luck had been on my side, and I'd planned to bring Yeon Hwa along as insurance against any unforeseen danger. Change of plans.
I was going with Zhuge Yang.
Zhuge Yang pressed earnest instructions on Yeon Hwa before she departed for the city.
"Sister Hwa, I need a lead on curing my Qi Core. Anything at all will do—bring me back every book you can find on the subject. Spend every last coin we have if you must."
"Yes, Young Miss."
Yeon Hwa set off for the city in search of medical texts and information about the region. A village halfway up the mountain, after all, was hardly convenient for travel. Counting the time she'd spend there, she'd be gone at least three days.
And that meant three days alone with Ma Won. Her mood lifted at the thought.
"Yang, I'm heading up the mountain. Want to come?"
"Yes!"
When Ma Won spoke of building the greatest family under heaven, Zhuge Yang had quietly rejoiced. True, she had her own aim of taking revenge on the Zhuge Family, just as he said—but that hardly mattered. All she wanted was to stand at his side and help his dream come true.
And so, climbing Mount Heng—renowned as one of the Five Great Mountains of the Central Plains—with Ma Won, just the two of them, felt almost romantic.
She'd pictured spending the day together, eating something delicious, taking in the scenery, and started up the trail with a heart as light as the mountain air.
"That spot feels right. Let's try over there!"
"Okay!"
Ma Won, veteran of his herb-hunting days on this very mountain, moved without hesitation. He sliced through thickets of undergrowth that all looked identical to Zhuge Yang as if he owned them.
But as she followed along in his wake, something started to feel very, very strange.
"Oh? A hundred-year snow ginseng, here?"
"Wow! Really?"
A hundred-year snow ginseng was already a priceless treasure, and one had just turned up in the very patch of weeds Ma Won had been casually rummaging through.
Sure enough, the gray-tinged root looked positively numinous.
Zhuge Yang had only ever glimpsed the last scraps of the ten-thousand-year ginseng, so this was her first time seeing a whole, living elixir—and it stunned her.
"Hardly anyone in a whole lifetime ever digs up a ginseng like this. Won, you're incredible!"
"Guess today's just my lucky day. Yang, you're the one who brings me luck!"
"R-Really...?"
"Of course! You're my Goddess of Fortune!"
Being called his Goddess of Fortune made her heart thump for no reason at all.
"See? How else would I ever find things like this? That spot over there feels good too. Shall we?"
"Let's!"
Steadying her fluttering heart, Zhuge Yang followed him.
"Oh!"
"Whoa!"
"Lucky again!"
Their basket began to swell.
Every last root in it was a hundred-year snow ginseng.
Weren't hundred-year ginsengs already potent elixirs in their own right? Zhuge Yang was starting to get a little scared.
This was... herb hunting?
But it didn't stop there.
"Oh, and a thousand-year snow ginseng? It's a gold mine. A regular gold mine."
"......"
Zhuge Yang was too stunned to speak. Ma Won swept the soil aside, pried out a gleaming silver-white thousand-year ginseng, and tossed it into the basket like it was a turnip.
The basket was already bulging.
Through the gaping mouth she could count five grayish-white roots already packed inside.
Am I dreaming...?
She pinched her own cheek as hard as she could.
"Ow!"
It hurt. She'd probably left a red mark, too.
"Yang! What's wrong with your cheek?! Did something bite you?!"
"N-No, it's nothing!"
Ma Won had abandoned a basket full of priceless elixirs and come scrambling over, peering at her with such worry that Zhuge Yang's face burned with embarrassment.
However hard it was to believe, what kind of dream was this vivid? Pinching her own cheek and shrieking like a child—how mortifying.
Ma Won leaned in close, gently stroking her cheek.
"Looks like you hurt it right here! Something must've bitten you—does it hurt?!"
There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek, but with Ma Won's face suddenly so near, studying it, Zhuge Yang abruptly remembered their kiss. Beside the old burn scar, his lips seemed to stand out, impossibly distinct.
Gulp.
They'd been so soft and warm...
The moment the thought crossed her mind, the other cheek—the one she hadn't pinched—flared hot as well.
It was probably scarlet by now.
Zhuge Yang was mortified—but she couldn't say she minded his fussing.
"N-No, it doesn't hurt... thank you for worrying."
"Good. But if anything hurts, you have to tell me! When Lady Yeon Hwa gets back, she'll have my head!"
Zhuge Yang felt an unexpected twinge of displeasure. Was he only worried about catching an earful from Yeon Hwa? Her tone cooled without her meaning it to.
"So that's what you're worried about...?"
But his next words melted her on the spot.
"That, and what if a scar got left on a face this pretty?!"
He'd called her pretty.
Zhuge Yang grinned like an absolute fool.
I had made Zhuge Yang my Goddess of Fortune. That perception was one I had deliberately planted in her.
Unable to form a dantian, my success would have to come through the Treasure Locator in the end. I needed to squeeze every drop of use out of it—and if I let her believe that fortune smiled on me whenever she was by my side, wouldn't she draw that much closer to me?
Truthfully, after the thousand-year ginseng I'd meant to set the mood and try for a ten-thousand-year one as well, but Zhuge Yang didn't look too good.
Her face had gone red—even a First-Class warrior, it seemed, could get heatstroke.
Probably because she hadn't yet reached the Peak Realm, where one could command qi freely enough to regulate her own body.
"Let's head back down for today."
"Okay!"
She was smiling even more brightly than usual—forcing it, squeezing out the last of her energy—and together we made our way down the mountain.
With a basket full to bursting at my hip.
"How much is all this worth...?"
Zhuge Yang asked, half in a trance, staring at the pile of hundred-year ginsengs and the lone thousand-year one.
"Hard to say. I'd guess a hundred-year ginseng would fetch at least five hundred nyang of silver apiece."
"Th-Then that's two thousand five hundred nyang...!"
"At least. Think that's enough to serve as starting capital when I found the family?"
"Of course! Everything I smuggled out of the Zhuge Family wasn't even worth a hundred nyang!"
"And how much would a thousand-year ginseng go for?"
"For something like that... the price is whatever someone's willing to pay..."
She had a point. Any family with a member suffering from Nine Yin Severed Meridians would pay a king's ransom to get their hands on one.
Even an ordinary martial artist who simply consumed one would see a tremendous surge in internal power.
...I was going to have to be very careful about security.
Unexpectedly, Mount Heng held only a handful of thousand-year ginsengs—about five roots scattered across the entire range.
Mount Heng was a great range stretching eight hundred li, crowned with seventy-two peaks; covering every inch of it was no small feat. Since I couldn't live on thousand-year ginsengs alone, I was settling for hundred-year ones in the meantime, with a plan to shift gradually from quantity to quality.
And one of those five, of course, was the ten-thousand-year ginseng.
Then again... it was about time I started looking into martial arts myself, wasn't it?