Wudang Mountain
The deal had gone off without a hitch.
From now on, all we had to do was visit the Haomu Gate branches scattered across the Central Plains, and information about bigeup would practically fall into our laps.
A pleasant feeling of certainty settled over me. Something told me the road ahead was going to be smooth sailing.
“Would it be weird to head straight to Yangyang? We’ve got plenty of time.”
After leaving the Haomu Gate headquarters, Cheong-a and I went straight back to our lodgings and packed our things. At a leisurely pace, it would only take about two weeks to reach Yangyang, where the Jegal Clan’s main estate stood.
There was still more than a month left before the Yongbongjihoe, so there was no reason to rush.
What a life of luxury.
“Right. There’s less to see there than you’d expect, anyway.”
Cheong-a answered flatly as she slung her bag over her back.
Guess some things never changed, no matter the era—like saying your own hometown had nothing worth seeing.
Still, we’d already enjoyed everything Seoan had to offer, so without a shred of lingering regret, we headed for the escort agency.
When I showed the iron token the Haomu Gate leader had given me, the clerk nearly jumped out of his skin and hurried off to contact someone.
Watching the escort agency chief come scrambling out in a panic was a pretty entertaining sight.
Heh. This is what power tastes like.
I’d considered splurging a little just to savor the glory of it, but the escort chief absolutely refused to take a single coin and instead lent us a carriage for free.
So we were able to leave Seoan reclining comfortably in a top-of-the-line carriage.
“Things are really going smoothly.”
The seat was so soft I liked it instantly.
City carriages really were on a different level.
Unlike when we’d first come to Seoan, we were now fairly close, so the two of us chatted idly inside the moving carriage.
“Cheong-a, what’s the Jegal Clan like?”
Ah, her birth name was Cheongha, but I’d decided to keep calling her Cheong-a like I had before.
She said she preferred it that way, too.
“The Jegal Clan….”
Cheong-a’s beautiful brows, now bare after she’d removed her face veil, pinched together hard enough to wrinkle.
Just thinking about them made her look that disgusted? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
“To summarize in your style, it’s a breeding ground for Murim old fogies.”
A surprisingly harsh line came tumbling out of her mouth.
Traveling together had apparently taught her a few bad habits, because she’d started saying whatever came to mind.
I should reflect on that.
“They don’t have a shred of justice in them. All they care about is loss and profit. Anything that doesn’t bring a benefit is treated like a sin there.”
Her voice dripped with contempt.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of affection for her family.
“And the funny thing is, they used to nag me nonstop to learn the clan’s martial arts because I was a girl, but once I actually started training hard, they turned around and scolded me for making my brain do the work while my body suffered.”
“You’ve had it rough….”
Watching Cheong-a grind her teeth, I offered my heartfelt sympathy.
Old men who looked down on people had always been a problem, no matter the age.
Cheong-a looked at me with fierce, determined eyes after hearing my words.
“Don’t worry. I’ll prepare everything in advance so they won’t get in the way of our path. It’ll be a chance to prove my justice to them, too.”
“Yeah… just don’t push yourself too hard.”
Well, it was family business, so I should probably leave it to Cheong-a for now.
Still, the way she was so openly hostile toward her clan did worry me a little.
Being too at odds with your family wasn’t exactly a good thing.
Once we got to Yangyang, I’d step in and help more actively.
I gave her shoulders, blazing with motivation, a light pat.
Cheong-a closed her eyes at my touch for a moment, then opened them and changed the subject.
“That said, Wudang Mountain? Do you know anyone from the Wudang Sect?”
Our carriage was bound for the village at the foot of Wudang Mountain.
Since there was still plenty of time before Yangyang, I’d insisted we take a little sightseeing detour.
“Nope. It’s just a famous mountain, so I thought we’d stop by and look around.”
My answer left a flicker of flusterment on Cheong-a’s face.
But I was serious.
The thing was, I’d spent three years on Mount Hua, and back then I’d been too busy trying to survive day to day to properly appreciate the scenery of a famous mountain.
I’d occasionally looked out at the landscape, sure, but Mount Hua was mostly just rocks, so there wasn’t much to see.
Even when I talked to disciples of the Mount Hua Sect now and then, they gave off such a worldly, down-to-earth vibe that there was none of the lofty, transcendent feeling you’d expect from a renowned Daoist sect.
Plus there was that insane pedo kidnapper.
The memory of that day’s crisis made me shudder all over.
So naturally, I had expectations that Wudang, the grand mountain sect hailed as the foremost of the righteous schools, would be different.
“They say, ‘Northern Shaolin, Southern Wudang,’ right? The essence of Daoist sects has to be Wudang.”
“I see…. That’s my first time hearing that, though.”
When I proudly recited something I’d picked up somewhere, Cheong-a fell into deep thought.
Seeing that, I suddenly felt self-conscious.
Wait—did people actually say that?
This Murim world was different in tiny ways from the martial arts worlds I knew from novels.
If I showed off half-baked knowledge like this, it would always be riddled with little errors.
Until now, even if Cheong-a didn’t know better, I’d gotten away with thinking, Well, our Cheong-a’s a bit of a blockhead.
But now that her background had been revealed, I couldn’t help questioning my own knowledge.
All those times I’d acted like I knew what I was talking about—hadn’t I just sounded like a fool standing atop the peak of ignorance, at least in the eyes of the daughter of a prestigious strategist family?
While I was cautiously reading her expression, Cheong-a suddenly smiled.
“As expected, it’s you, sister.”
I had no idea what she was thinking behind that innocent-looking smile.
And honestly, there was a decent chance it was just my own guilt talking.
I found myself missing the days when I knew nothing at all.
**
“Waaah~”
The moment I got off the carriage, I looked up at the mountain and let out an involuntary cry of admiration at the grand sight before me.
Clouds wrapped around the mountain’s waist, and pines rising among strange jagged rocks made the whole place look like a black-and-white ink painting.
Pure, mysterious energy seemed to pour from the mountain itself, making even the air feel enchanted.
“This is the real deal.”
“It’s my first time here, too. It really does live up to its reputation as the place where Daoist martial arts were born.”
“And it’s not even far from Yangyang?”
“The closer something is, the less people seem to visit it.”
I could sympathize with that.
After watching the carriage disappear, we slowly began our ascent.
Fresh air sank deep into my lungs, clearing my head all the way down to my thoughts.
As Cheong-a and I kept exclaiming at everything we saw, time slipped away without our noticing.
This was a sacred mountain, and this was mountain climbing!
While we were making our way upward, I spotted something unusual.
“Huh?”
A butterfly with pure white wings fluttered in from somewhere, circled around me a few times, then flew off into the depths of the woods.
I could have dismissed it as nothing, but something about it felt off.
When I stared toward the direction it had gone, the butterfly came back, circled above my head twice, then fluttered off to the same place again.
That’s a signal.
This smells like a fated encounter.
“Cheong-a, wait a second.”
Before I knew it, my feet were following the butterfly.
Cheong-a must have sensed that something was up, too, because after seeing the same thing, she followed quietly behind me without a word.
Led by the butterfly, we kept walking.
It guided us down a narrow mountain path where hardly any human footsteps seemed to pass.
How long did we follow it? The butterfly reached a small clearing and simply dissolved away like light.
And beyond that, a pure white deer lay collapsed on its side, a deep wound running through its flank.
Its entire body was wrapped in a faint glow, and the antlers on its head sparkled like transparent crystal.
Wow. That hide looks really expensive. I wonder if the meat tastes good?
A primitive thought born of long mountain life flashed through my mind.
An injured prey animal.
Warm, beautiful-colored hide.
While I was entertaining such savage notions, Cheong-a let out a breathless murmur.
“A spirit beast….”
Hearing her, I snapped back to my senses.
Look at me, acting like a total uncultured bumpkin.
I shook my head to clear away the nonsense and studied the deer again, this time with a calmer eye.
She was right—it wasn’t an ordinary beast.
I’d recognized that at first glance, but some animal instinct had clouded my judgment.
Even the blood flowing from the wound was red mixed with a faint gold shimmer.
If you hunted something like this, you’d probably be cursed for generations.
The idea of hunting vanished from my mind in an instant.
“Um… are you asking me to treat you or something?”
As I took a step toward the deer, it lifted its head and stared straight at me.
It had sent the butterfly to guide us, so this must be a plea for help, right?
But I wasn’t trained in medicine, and I didn’t have any herbs on me.
Even as I approached the deer, no obvious solution came to mind.
Cheong-a followed behind me, emitting only worried little gasps.
…
The deer simply looked at me with its deep eyes, motionless.
Poor thing.
Spirit beast or not, once you’re wounded and collapse, you’re still just waiting for death.
Sympathy welled up in me, and I reached out my hand.
I just wanted to stroke it, to tell it it would be okay.
“Ghk?!”
The instant my hand touched the deer’s neck, I felt the warm energy resting in my lower abdomen surge violently upward and get sucked through my palm.
This bastard! It wasn’t a spirit beast—it was some kind of demon beast?
“Sister? What’s wrong!”
My expression twisted in shock and my breathing turned ragged, and Cheong-a must have realized something was wrong, because she hastily drew her sword.
But she couldn’t bring herself to swing it and only hesitated.
The deer was still staring at my face in silence.
“Stop….”
I forced the word out, but it didn’t stop.
Grinding my teeth, I glared at the deer and tightened the hand still gripping its neck, refusing to let any more energy be drained away.
“I said stop.”
Spirit beast or not, if it threatened me, I wouldn’t forgive it.
Perhaps it sensed my killing intent, because only then did the deer give a small nod.
And just like that, the flow of energy being sucked through my palm stopped as if nothing had ever happened.
So it only listens when I get angry, huh?
Just as I was still simmering, a dazzling light drew my attention downward.
The wound in the deer’s side was glowing brightly as it slowly began to knit itself shut.
“How….”
While Cheong-a and I could only stare dumbfounded at the miraculous sight, the deer, now mostly healed, pushed itself to its feet.
As though grateful that its injury had been treated—or perhaps apologizing for its rudeness a moment ago—it nudged its head into my limp hand and rubbed against it.
It was clearly hoping to be petted.
I’d seen this kind of behavior before.
It was just like a dog that had done something wrong and was carefully watching its owner’s mood.
“What on earth is going on….”
The fur felt nice, so I went ahead and stroked its head.
Hmm.
So, in other words, I’d randomly met a spirit beast on a sacred Daoist mountain and tamed it with the energy of my beautiful-girl body… is that what this was?
That was exactly the kind of fated encounter a story needed at its opening.
Cheong-a, watching me pet the deer, looked so fascinated that she clasped both hands over her mouth.
“A spirit beast offering itself first—truly, that’s you, sister.”
“I’m a little dazed, honestly.”
The deer seemed to think everything was wonderful, because it stuck out its tongue and licked my hand.
My beautiful-girl body….
Apparently it had started seducing even the beasts now, regardless of species.
I wanted to know why it was acting like this, but thinking about it didn’t seem likely to solve anything right away.
So, with the attitude that I might as well enjoy the moment, I kept stroking the deer’s head.
Then a low voice rumbled from behind us.
“You there. Who are you?”
It was a voice sharp with wariness.