A Peaceful Day at the Paeng Family Manor
Several days had passed since the incident at the closed gates of Mount Wanse in the Paeng Family Manor. Officially announced as Lee Ja-ryong’s Rebellion, the event was known in the martial world and among civilians as the Beijing Turmoil. Despite being a monumental event that had drastically altered the course of the world, life surprisingly continued on as usual. The realm was simply too vast for news of Beijing to spread quickly to distant lands, and the imperial family was devoting every resource to restoration efforts. Of course, Beijing itself remained in chaos. The damage left by the Ghost Gates that had opened across the capital—not merely at Mount Wanse—was no small matter. Even with the imperial family fully committed, they were still reeling from the massive void created by the death of Jinyiwei Commander Gwak Dan.
Fortunately, the current emperor, Emperor Seonghwa, was a capable ruler. When his ministers suggested abandoning the half-destroyed Beijing and relocating the capital to Nanjing, he declared firmly that he would defend the city. He opened the imperial vaults and personally oversaw the purge of all who had joined Lee Ja-ryong’s rebellion. Though the Jinyiwei had been shaken by the loss of Gwak Dan—the emperor’s foremost blade—the unrest quickly settled once Emperor Seonghwa began conducting the interrogations himself. The absence of the imperial family’s greatest martial asset was somehow compensated for by Grand Imperial Dowager Consort Han Gye-ran. Having restrained herself since Emperor Seonghwa’s ascension, she now accompanied him personally, lending her strength where it was lacking. She was not a true Peerless Master, yet if one excluded those at the Transformation Realm, she ranked among the top handful across the entire realm. It was just enough for her to serve as Gwak Dan’s makeshift replacement.
Namgung Woo had learned of Beijing’s situation through the vivid firsthand account of someone who had remained in the capital until the previous day.
“Still, with His Majesty taking direct action, Beijing should soon return to stability,” Paeng Hu-sang reported in an unusually courteous and measured tone. He would likely not have been this polite even with an old friend. To Paeng Hu-sang, however, Namgung Woo was someone who fully deserved such respect.
When they had first met at Mount Wanse, he had not known the full story. Only during their time in Beijing had Paeng Mu-ho informed him in detail of the grace Namgung Woo had shown the Hebei Paeng Family. The first life debt was for saving both his younger brother Paeng Mu-ho and his eldest daughter Paeng Ha-ryeong. The second was for teaching his own supreme divine art to Paeng Ye-ryeong, whose remaining lifespan had been less than two years, thereby extending her life. To Paeng Hu-sang, these were favors that could not be repaid even if he offered his own life.
People often described Paeng Hu-sang as possessing a rough temperament, yet he knew when to restrain his nature. Had he not, the imperial family’s displeasure would have seen him driven from Hebei entirely, just like the Jinju Eon clan. Though his innate disposition was coarse, Paeng Hu-sang understood human duty. That was why his title was Blade King. Had he truly been an arrogant tyrant, his nickname would have been something like Blade Monster or Blade Ghost instead.
“Furthermore, though it has not been publicly announced, there have been discreet discussions within the imperial family regarding the benefactor.”
“Hmm…”
Namgung Woo let out a small, unobtrusive hum.
He had encountered Han Gye-ran upon entering Mount Wanse. When she mentioned she would be staying with the Hebei Paeng Family, he had told her he would send word later.
“I heard you met Her Highness the Grand Empress Dowager.”
Since there was no reason to hide it, Namgung Woo nodded calmly. “That is correct.”
“Her Highness mentioned that you and she share the same hometown.”
“To be precise, it is a little distance apart. Roughly the span between Muan County and Handan County.”
Namgung Woo compared the distance to that between Cheonan and Cheongju. Though approximate, the route he had personally traveled from Shanxi Province to Beijing meant the margin of error was not large.
“A distance like Muan and Handan… In the distant lands of Joseon, people from two such counties would indeed consider themselves from the same hometown. Her Highness was correct.”
Paeng Hu-sang stroked his neatly trimmed beard and muttered in understanding. After a brief pause, his expression grew more serious.
“In that case, does the benefactor intend to become the imperial family’s son-in-law?”
“…Is that a matter I am permitted to refuse?”
Though Namgung Woo had lived in a democratic future, he was not ignorant of the absolute power held by a monarch in an autocratic system. Even in distant eras where nominal status had vanished, implicit hierarchies remained. The social authority gap between an ordinary employee and the chairman of his company was overwhelming. If such disparity existed between employer and employee, how much greater would the power of command be between a nation’s ruler and its subjects?
Yet Paeng Hu-sang answered decisively. “Of course.”
Though the Hebei Paeng Family had withdrawn to Tianjin to avoid the imperial court’s gaze and had even abandoned their independent intelligence network due to pressure from the East Depot, they remained the second-most influential house among the Seven Great Families that anchored the righteous path of the murim. Moreover, the imperial family—having possessed unprecedented imperial authority only to see it collapse in a single moment—now stood before two Peerless Masters to whom they owed immense debts of gratitude. Peerless Masters were extraordinarily rare. Officially, the gangho murim recognized only fifteen: the Three Peaks and Twelve. Even counting those held by the imperial family, experts from beyond the borders, and recluses hidden in remote mountains, common wisdom held that the total would not exceed thirty.
This was no baseless speculation. There was precedent. Roughly fifty years earlier, the seventeen masters known as the Seventeen Absolutes of Murim had been celebrated, yet only twelve had truly reached the Transformation Realm. The remaining five stood at a level similar to Han Gye-ran, but at the time there had been neither means nor incidents to verify their status as Peerless Masters. Then came the unprecedented crisis of the Blood Cult’s rampage. Recluses emerged from their hidden valleys and the imperial family deployed their secret forces, more than doubling the number of Peerless Masters to over thirty. When one considered that twelve of those had belonged to the Blood Cult, it meant six Peerless Masters had been concealed within the Central Plains.
If that had been the case fifty years ago, the situation could not be so different now. Though martial arts continued to be refined, many were also lost, and the successive calamities of the Blood Cult uprising and the Righteous-Demonic War had drastically reduced the number of Peerless Masters.
“The benefactor is one of those roughly twenty Peerless Masters. If I, Paeng Hu-sang, stand at your side, even the imperial family would not dare coerce you.”
In the wake of this incident, which had confirmed the absence of the realm’s greatest expert, the imperial family had lost its absolute coercive power over those at the Transformation Realm. Despite Paeng Hu-sang’s lengthy explanation of why Peerless Masters were so formidable, Namgung Woo remained silent. Paeng Hu-sang asked again.
“Does it trouble you?”
“…Yes. Embarrassingly so.”
“Embarrassing? How could it be shameful for a true man to agonize over a matter that will shape his entire life?”
Had anyone else heard Paeng Hu-sang’s words, they might have spat blood and shouted, “As if you have any right to say that!” But only the two of them were present.
“I fear this may only make the benefactor’s dilemma more difficult, but may I offer you another option?”
“I will listen with gratitude.”
Namgung Woo felt a quiet sense of thanks toward Paeng Hu-sang. The man had handled negotiations with the imperial family in his stead and had even declared that he would lend his own name should Namgung Woo choose to refuse. Though Namgung Woo had indeed granted the Paeng Family great favors, repayment was rare in this harsh world. Having lived in an era where proper gratitude was seldom returned, the attitude of the Hebei Paeng Family moved him deeply.
Yet the moment he heard Paeng Hu-sang’s suggestion, that emotion vanished completely.
“What do you think of our Ha-ryeong?”
The person waiting for Namgung Woo when he left the family head’s residence was not his subordinate Yang twins, but the fourth most precious individual in the entire manor.
“Ah, Eun-gong. Have you finished speaking with the family head?”
Paeng Ha-ryeong approached with quick, light steps. Under normal circumstances he would have answered casually and walked beside her, but after what Paeng Hu-sang had just said, facing her felt strangely awkward. Namgung Woo subtly wove in the evasive principles of Infinite Step and slipped aside.
“Eun-gong?”
Paeng Ha-ryeong tilted her head at his unusual behavior.
“Hm? Ah, the conversation went well. Where have the Yang brothers gone?”
“They said you told them not to wait and to focus on training, so they are sparring at the training grounds…”
“The training grounds. I haven’t been able to observe them properly lately. This is a good opportunity to check their progress.”
“I-I’ll come too, Eun-gong!”
Namgung Woo awkwardly trying to create distance, and Paeng Ha-ryeong sticking closely to his side. And the pair of eyes watching them both.
“Hmmmm…”
From a short distance away, Paeng Ye-ryeong observed the little comedy between the man and woman and decided to postpone her original intention of discussing the Gongryeong Taeheo Singong with Namgung Woo until later.
“Well, I’ll yield to my sister today.”
It was a peaceful day at the Paeng Family Manor.