Chapter 57: Love Confession Attack (3)
Chapter 57: Love Confession Attack (3)
"En... gagement...?"
"Engagement."
"Betroth...?"
"That's right."
"...Me? Why? I? I don't understand? What on earth does that even mean?"
Murong Cheong had completely short-circuited.
In truth, I was also quite confused about whether I was currently engaged or not.
It couldn't be helped. Over the past ten years, Hwa-yeong had sent letters constantly, but most of the content was very mundane and ordinary... and almost identical.
How should I put it? Could this even be considered a love letter sent to a fiancé?
I was so curious that I once went out into Beijing and bought a collection of old love letters to read. Those were full of sticky, bold content. Saying they missed the person was basic; phrases about the night being lonely or the bed feeling empty were metaphorically placed everywhere.
If that was the average for love letters in this era, Hwa-yeong’s letters were... well, a bit like a macro. Even the tone and frequently used expressions were only subtly different each time.
'It feels like she’s having someone else write them for her.'
So, was I actually engaged right now? The last marriage talk was ten years ago, and since then, there hadn't been any kind of contact between the Demonic Cult and my family.
Actually, considering the distance from Tianshan to Beijing, this was only natural. It was a journey that took months just for a messenger to travel. Tianshan was even considered part of the Outer Martial World. Land outside Qinghai Province wasn't Han territory.
And above all.
'They’re teaching me the family’s secret techniques.'
From the moment it was confirmed that Hwa-yeong had become the Little Heavenly Demon, if we assumed the marriage talks were proceeding normally, my future would only be as a live-in son-in-law. Hwa-yeong couldn't exactly join our family.
And no martial sect teaches the sect's secret techniques to a disciple destined to leave. This is the distinction for those classified as outer disciples or secular disciples. They only teach basic skills to those who will one day leave the sect.
It was the medieval Chinese version of "not passing techniques to the wrong person." It’s easier to think of it as guarding against industrial espionage.
Therefore, didn't the fact that I inherited the family's secret techniques at the point Hwa-yeong was designated as the next Heavenly Demon mean the marriage talks had been nullified?
However.
'Then why does she keep sending letters?'
Even if she was using a "macro," sending letters from Tianshan to Beijing was incredibly tedious and difficult. Furthermore, the Heavenly Demon Cult was one of the Three Great Demonic Cults according to the Great Ming Code, and the Hebei Peng Family belonged to the Ten Great Sects of the Black Dao.
In other words, they weren't sent through normal channels. They had to hand-pick a trustworthy person for direct delivery. Over a distance that took months to travel.
That was why I was in this state. Utterly ambiguous.
"Why? Why are you silent? Answer me... say something...! At least explain...!!"
"Huh? Ah, sorry. What?"
"The engagement!!"
Murong Cheong, pale as a ghost, shrieked.
"Engagement! To whom! When! Why! How!"
"What is this, the five Ws and one H?"
Are you interrogating me?
"It's hard to say who it is. It was decided when I was seven, arranged by the families. As for how... what should I say? It just happened because I was born and kept breathing."
"A betrothal before birth...?!"
"Not quite that far, but..."
"Is it the family of a close friend of the Family Head or the Young Family Head?"
"As far as I know, it was a family we had no prior connection with."
"Then why!!"
Murong Cheong started glitching again.
How was I supposed to explain this? No, wouldn't it be a bit problematic if I did?
A marriage alliance between the Hebei Peng Family and the Heavenly Demon Cult. What kind of ripples would it cause if this spread through the Orthodox Murim?
The Hebei Peng Family basically held the position of the "Demon King's Castle" among the Orthodox factions. Hebei was a hell for the Orthodox, and the Peng Family Head was the absolute ruler of the Black Path and Unorthodox factions. My grandfather, the Bloodhound Asura Peng Ik-jin, was the number one man of the Black Path.
And the Heavenly Demon Cult? They were rumored to be the strongest single force in the Outer Martial World. There were even rumors that they alone could match the entire Central Plains in a full-scale invasion. Moreover, the Heavenly Demon had never once been excluded from the "Outlier" line, counted among the Three Evils of the Fifteen Armies of the World.
One Unorthodox master among the Three Venerables of the World inside the Great Wall: the Peng Family Head. One master among the Three Evils of the World outside the Great Wall: the Heavenly Demon.
If you thought, 'Wait, this sounds like a pretty dangerous combination is being born,' you’d be right. Both my family and their side shook hands hoping for exactly that.
Good grief. 'The Eastern Demon King's Castle and the Western Demon King's Castle are discussing an alliance?' If such a story reached the aspiring heroes of the Orthodox Martial Alliance, bounties would be piled up on my head in gold-filled chests that very day.
Because if I died, the marriage talks would be scrapped.
That would be troublesome. Regardless of whether I trusted her now, Murong Cheong was a direct descendant of one of the Five Great Clans of the Orthodox Faction.
"Wait. A marriage talk with a family with no prior connection. And you said it was ten years ago."
"Oh."
Color returned to Murong Cheong's face. She seemed to regain her composure quickly.
"But the wedding hasn't actually happened yet. Is that correct?"
"I guess?"
"Engagements are easily broken. Do you know that?"
"That's also true."
Great sects and noble families often had marriage alliances. It was extremely common to push for marriage talks for strategic reasons when direct descendants were born. With a bit of exaggeration, you could consider all the noble families in Beijing to be distant relatives within five degrees of separation. That was the true nature of the massive web of government connections surrounding the Forbidden City.
But ta-da! This is medieval China. A land slightly more chaotic than Somalia. How many noble families go extinct in a single year? Inference is meaningless. The government bureaucracy is a place where life-and-death duels are fought with tongues and brushes, and those duels usually involve wagering the extermination of three generations. It’s a world of true "alpha males."
It was very common to have a betrothal before birth, only for that family to collapse five years later. It was a world where the weak could not survive.
Because of that, being a "fiancé" was more of a light promise—a "let's do this in the distant future if your side is still intact" kind of thing. As I had reflected before, the weight of an engagement in this era was lighter than in modern times.
The Murim was no different. In other words...
"It means there is a high possibility the marriage talks will fall through depending on your will."
By the standards of this era, seventeen was the perfect age to get married. Since weddings usually took place between the ages of fifteen and eighteen according to general customs. If there was no progress in marriage talks despite having a fiancé, it was safe to view it as a tacit annulment. Even for a Murim family where weddings tended to be relatively late, this held true.
Murong Cheong was speaking with that implication. Her eyes grew solemn.
"Do you... want to go through with that marriage?"
Tension, anxiety, and a small sliver of hope. I could read a complex mix of emotions. She asked cautiously, her fingers twitching.
I’m not a dense person. I’m not some protagonist of a Japanese mass-produced harem novel who scratches the back of his head, laughs good-naturedly, and notices nothing. It was certain that my overwhelming charm had bewitched Murong Cheong.
Regardless, I suppose it was my sin.
"I haven't thought about marriage itself at all."
"Pardon...?"
"There are still so many things I want to do, and I have to be careful about bringing in in-laws."
Meaning, the same applied to her.
The name of the Murong Family would be a brilliantly shining plaque for any ordinary family. A direct daughter of the Five Great Clans was a bride with a guaranteed first-class seat anywhere in the Central Plains. It’s easy to understand if you think of her as the daughter of a top-ten conglomerate. Since the nature of these families was a joint venture with the government, their practical power was even greater than a modern Korean conglomerate.
But I was the legitimate heir of the Hebei Peng Family.
Liaoning, where the Murong Family was located, and Hebei were within a stone's throw of each other by Central Plains standards, and the Dragon Slaying Alliance and the Murong Family had a terrible relationship. If I were to be linked with her, it would be Romeo and Juliet. Meaning, a tragedy. Whether she joined our family or I joined theirs. Inevitably.
"I plan to leave my family. Like I told you before."
"But you don't plan on changing your surname. Neither do I."
"Do you intend to inherit the family?"
"Didn't I tell you before? I'm preparing for the succession race quite seriously."
"......But...... still......"
The strength gradually left Murong Cheong's voice. She mumbled for a bit before falling silent.
Seeing such a pretty girl making that kind of expression made me feel uncomfortable. But it couldn't be helped. In this era, the rites of passage were family events where the individual's intentions weren't important at all.
If I insisted, it might be possible. But would Murong Cheong be happy with the result?
No. Her straight and upright personality could never find happiness in our family. In the pinnacle of a Black Path sect, there wouldn't be a single person, not even a maid, she could comfortably talk to.
If I were to become the Family Head...
"I..."
Murong Cheong looked at me and spoke with a firm face.
"I don't know how to give up. My family didn't teach me such things."
I knew. This was the person who had run alone into the heart of Black Path territory just to hear a final excuse from the uncle who had fled with the secret manuals.
"So. I will find a way."
She stood up and gathered her clothes hanging over the campfire. They were still damp, but she acted as if it were nothing. Then, she carefully rolled up and sealed her bamboo scrolls containing the secret techniques and spoke to me.
"We always repay our debts. You saved me three times. During those three times, I would have surely died if you hadn't been there."
I knew immediately what the three times were.
The help when we first arrived in Tianjin.
When we were leaving Tianjin, blocking the flying dagger aimed at her during the fight with the White Lotus Cult's peak master.
And yesterday, when she fell into the sea after taking a blow from Eon Do-cheon on the Black Ship.
I had given her help without asking for anything in return. I was deeply involved, to the point where it could be called the price of her life. Speaking of this, Murong Cheong bowed her head to me.
It was a righteous and noble sight. The dawn in the far east reached into the cave where we were. The rainy season had ended. The heavy, thick rain that made it impossible to see an inch ahead had subsided, and now sunlight was rising to illuminate the forest.
In front of that brilliant dawn, Murong Cheong slowly raised her head.
"So, I owe you my life. Three times over. Therefore... that is why..."
Murong Cheong stared at me with her deep blue eyes, choosing her words for a long time. Then, she suddenly opened her mouth.
"Bi ni si, amereme embi."
It was very fluent Manchu.
After saying that, Murong Cheong clenched her fist once and turned around.
"What does that mean?"
"...The next time we meet, I will be more fluent in the Han language. So, you should try to get used to the northern tongue. I won't tell you."
"Next time?"
"The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering this winter—I wasn't joking. I'm coming to get you, so show up."
"You're coming to Beijing? You'll really die if you do that."
"Let's meet where we first met. At the same time, during the Great Snow (early 11th lunar month), in Tianjin."
With those final words, Murong Cheong departed. I watched her back for a long while before quietly speaking.
"I got dumped."
Then, sitting alone in front of the campfire, I tossed Hyeong-shin's head, which was starting to rot, beside me. It must have been tied exceptionally well to stay so secure despite all that struggle in the sea. it was almost intact.
"Whether I want to get married, huh."
What if, contrary to my expectations, the marriage talks with Hwa-yeong proceeded normally?
If I just stayed by the side of Hwa-yeong, the designated next Heavenly Demon... yes. I would enjoy power "below one person and above ten thousand" in the Demonic Cult, which was prestigious, wealthy, and called the world's greatest sect in terms of individual scale, all the way in the far Western Regions. I could live a peaceful and safe life of luxury and pleasure as the Heavenly Demon's husband.
And wouldn't that be the same kind of life I first thought of when I dropped into this medieval China? The mindset of being the youngest son of a conglomerate and just living an easy life.
But was that still my dream?
'No!'
The 'me' of the 21st century and the 'me' of now had become fundamentally different people. The modern person who had never thrown a punch in his life and the current me who had no hesitation in beheading someone with a sharp blade could not be the same.
The influence of this body I entered, the influence of my surroundings, and the influence of these dozen or so years I had lived... humans are fundamentally animals that always change.
Murong Cheong's question about whether I wanted to marry wasn't just a kind of "love confession attack" where she threw her feelings at me. It was the same as asking for the direction of my life.
Do I want to pursue comfort and waste each day abundantly in a stable environment? To that, the 'me' who had lived as Peng Hyeon-hwi answered without hesitation.
'No.'
All Murim people are insane. A sane person would never devote their entire life to learning how to kill people. Martial artists, no matter how they justify it, are psychopaths carrying swords. And the Murim is the world of such psychopaths.
A contest of martial arts is a gamble played with one's life; higher fame is earned by killing more people; and the strong whom everyone looks up to are monsters who have survived for a long time atop a mountain of blood.
Thinking that way, I had loathed Murim people a little bit. I studied Confucianism and dabbled here and there. I acted as if I were someone who belonged neither here nor there, and I was still living that way.
But now, watching Murong Cheong walking toward the dawn in the distance, this thought suddenly occurred to me. That spirit of always standing upright and walking correctly... was truly a posture worth admiring.
By the standards of the 'me' who loved wuxia novels even in the 21st century.
'The Hebei Peng Family used to be an Orthodox sect.'
If I were to become the Family Head. If I could overcome all my damn brothers, who each had dozens of snakes in their bellies, and become the Family Head. If I could win this long gamble, this arduous game.
'I could live like that too.'
For a long time until the day fully broke, I rolled the thought of the "Orthodox Five Great Clans, Hebei Peng Family" around in my head before standing up.
It was time to go back.