The First Sword of Hebei
Seo Jun had decided to give Gyeon Cho a little help. “Greetings. My name is Seo Jun. I happened to meet Cho today and ended up traveling with him this far. My courtesy name is Baekryong.”
Seo Jun bowed politely to the man who was apparently Gyeon Cho’s master, making sure the boy’s excited fussing didn’t cause any awkwardness.
“Seo Baekryong? Oh! Could it truly be?! The hero of Giju, the Black Wind Heavenly General, Duke Baekryong himself?!”
“Yes, that is correct. You honor me too much with such a warm welcome. I hardly know where to put myself.”
“Not at all. For Duke Baekryong, this much hospitality is only proper. Ah, but I haven’t introduced myself! I am called Ak Eun of Anpyeong in Giju. My courtesy name is Munyeong. I currently serve as Geogi Sima in the Geogi General’s Office.”
“If you are the Geogi Sima known as Ak Eun… then are you the one the world calls the First Sword of Hebei?”
“Haha~ That is nothing but an empty reputation that floats around among the common folk.”
Upon hearing Ak Eun’s introduction, Seo Jun’s eyes sparkled and his mood soared. In a way, he had just met the very person he most wanted to encounter these days.
Seo Jun had felt the need to elevate his understanding of the blade. Among those renowned for the sword in Luoyang, Ak Eun stood at the very top. He had wanted to seek him out. However, the relationship between Grand General Ha Jin and Geogi General Ha Myo—who were like brothers yet not quite—had grown so strained that the two factions now represented the military power of the Cheongryu and Takryu cliques. It was fortunate they weren’t openly at war. In such a situation, it would have been problematic for Seo Jun to visit Ak Eun, who belonged to the Geogi General’s Office, in a private capacity. He had no choice but to wait for the right opportunity.
Yet here, by pure chance, he had met the man he longed to know and even formed an acquaintance. How could his mood not be excellent?
“My, what a distinguished guest, and yet I’ve kept you standing outside. Duke Baekryong, though my home is humble, would you come inside for a while?”
Ak Eun gladly invited Seo Jun—who had formed a connection with his disciple by coincidence—into his house. Seo Jun ended up sharing dinner with them.
At the dinner table sat several other boys around Gyeon Cho’s age who appeared to be fellow disciples. The other children, having heard the rumors, clearly knew who Seo Jun was; they kept stealing glances at him with eyes full of curiosity.
The evening meal laid out on the worn table was quite meager for children in the midst of a growth spurt. Yet the boys seemed grateful for even that much and devoured everything without a single complaint.
“These children followed me all the way from Giju to Luoyang saying they wanted to learn the blade from me. It always pains me that I cannot feed them properly at an age when they should be eating their fill.”
Ak Eun looked at the boys wolfing down the sparse meal with pity in his eyes. Most of the children here had no parents. Had they not become his disciples, the majority would have starved to death in some crumbling shack in Giju or in the middle of an empty wasteland. There were two or three others like Gyeon Cho who still had parents in Giju, but their families lived in equal poverty and hardship.
Even so, the families of the remaining children in Giju scraped together what little they could and occasionally sent money to Luoyang. It was never a large amount, so their daily life remained at more or less the current level. Ak Eun himself still had family to support back in Giju, so he sent a considerable portion of his salary there. His heart ached whenever he looked at the children, but he had no means to give them more.
Unlike Ak Eun’s sorrowful feelings, the children understood how fortunate they were to even have regular meals in a world like this when they had no parents. They always felt deep gratitude toward him.
After everyone finished eating, the two men sat together on a bench in the courtyard.
“Please don’t feel too sorry. The children are surely grateful to you, Lord Sima. Even if they are young, they can sense that you have not abandoned them and have given them this opportunity for the future.”
Seo Jun spoke with a distant look in his eyes, as if recalling his own childhood. He told Ak Eun about the emotions he had once felt toward those who had truly been kind to him.
“Hearing Duke Baekryong speak so warmly puts my heart at ease.”
“In truth, I had been hoping to visit you, Lord Sima. And now, through this unexpected connection with Cho, I have met you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Lately I have been trying to train properly with the blade. Since your reputation in swordsmanship is so high, I very much wanted to visit you and learn from you.”
“Haha~ To think that Duke Baekryong, whose martial prowess shakes the world, wishes to learn something from me—this is truly an honor.”
The two continued talking about the way of the sword. They set out some pickled vegetables and a jar of liquor that had been in the house and enjoyed a modest drinking session. As their conversation deepened, they grew close enough to address each other as sworn brothers.
“I feel wonderful after getting to know you today. Neither of us is the type to lose our composure after a few cups, so why don’t we spar for a little while?”
“Brother, I am truly grateful! To be given the chance to witness the blade of the First Sword of Hebei—I am overjoyed.”
The two men stood facing each other in the middle of the courtyard, each holding one of the blunted training swords Ak Eun used to teach the children.
The boys gathered in a corner of the yard with faces full of anticipation at this sudden match between their master and Seo Jun, the man currently enjoying the highest fame. To them, the spar unfolding before their eyes was like the finest manual of martial arts, a sight they might never see again. Their eyes burned with determination not to miss a single movement.
The sword Ak Eun wielded was not the thick, heavy blade most commonly used, but a thin and sharp one similar to Seo Jun’s own. Seo Jun inwardly cheered at his good fortune that the man used a weapon so alike to his.
As the two stood with swords drawn, staring at each other, their auras clashed. The boys felt the air around them grow cold.
“As expected, the rumors were not exaggerated.”
“I still have much to learn. Brother, please guide me well today.”
No matter how much he liked Seo Jun, Ak Eun had no intention of going easy when it came to the blade. In a flash, Ak Eun’s figure soared into the air. Like a snake stretching out, his sword extended and struck down at Seo Jun from above as if baring venomous fangs.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang!
Seo Jun’s powerful sword strikes met Ak Eun’s blade in a dazzling flurry targeting his face, shoulders, and chest, scattering sparks through the air. A sharp, ear-piercing screech rang out as the swords scraped against each other.
Clang! Clang! Kwaaaaang!
Seo Jun’s sword was fierce and direct despite its thinness, while Ak Eun’s was concise, intricate, and fluid. Ak Eun used the thin edge of his blade to deflect and redirect Seo Jun’s fast, powerful strikes, maintaining the upper hand.
“Your body seems perfectly suited for martial arts. If this had been real combat instead of sparring, I doubt I could have lasted long against you.”
“Would that truly be the case?”
“No, I can tell you are holding back a great deal of your strength. If you had put your full power into every strike, I wouldn’t have been able to deflect or block them properly.”
“Yet whenever I move the blade, I keep feeling something lacking.”
“That is probably because your swordsmanship lacks softness and variation. Did you perhaps begin learning the blade as an adult?”
“Eh?! How did you know?”
“To have reached this level after starting as an adult is impressive indeed. From the beginning, you have swung your sword with raw power without any shortcomings. Because of that, it seems you never had the chance to naturally acquire the techniques of deception, redirection, and confusion. To someone with your strength and skill, those things might feel like mere tricks, but learning them would greatly increase your efficiency against enemies. The same power that lets you face fifty could then face seventy or even a hundred.”
After they briefly pushed each other away and separated, Ak Eun gave a rather detailed explanation of what he had observed while sparring with Seo Jun.
“If you intend to continue with your current sword style, I would recommend switching to a heavier and thicker blade. But if you’re not going to change weapons, then your current style needs to shed some of its force and become softer.”
Ak Eun stepped closer to Seo Jun and organized his thoughts for a moment.
“To put it simply, when an opponent attacks you like this, you strike back with power and knock it away. You certainly block the attack, but when you want to follow up, you have to chase after the opponent again. However, if you receive the attack, let it flow past you, and step in, you can strike the opponent with a short follow-up without needing to pursue them.”
Ak Eun carefully compared the timing for striking away an attack versus receiving and redirecting it, demonstrating each with actual movements.
“Indeed, hearing Brother’s explanation and seeing the comparison makes the problem immediately clear.”
Seo Jun felt he had learned a great deal from Ak Eun’s words. He realized that his old combat habits and confidence in his own strength had left many inefficiencies in the way he used his weapon. Against ordinary low-level soldiers, his existing movements were more than enough. But against high-level troops or skilled generals, he would have to exert far more effort.
‘As expected, hearing it from someone who has reached the pinnacle in one field makes the flaws stand out clearly.’
“Brother, I ask you once more.”
“Very well.”
The two moved quickly again. The sharp metallic clashes that had been ringing out loudly in all directions decreased significantly. Instead, there were more sounds of blades sliding, grazing, and interlocking.
‘Incredible! To begin grasping the essence of what I said after only a single explanation!’
The watching children’s mouths hung wide open. The two men’s movements had become so fast that the boys’ eyes ached just trying to follow them. They appeared, vanished in an instant, and the sound of impact came from a place far outside their field of vision. It was a speed the children had never even imagined.
As the exchange continued, the two swords gradually became equal. Then, at some point, Ak Eun’s sword flow began to be interrupted more and more often.
“Hahap!”
Ak Eun’s sword shadow instantly filled the space around Seo Jun and came rushing in like a whirlwind.
Whoooosh!
Seo Jun’s sword trembled with a short vibration and split the air apart.
Kwaaaaaang!
With a massive collision, both men were pushed backward.
“Hoo~ You truly are a genius of the martial path. To absorb this much after being told only once.”
“It is only because Brother’s explanation was so detailed and excellent.”
“Haha! If my explanation was that good, wouldn’t all those boys watching over there have become peerless martial artists like you by now?”
After finishing the spar, the two sat for a while sharing what they had felt and cooling down their sweat.
A short while later, Seo Jun beckoned lightly to Gyeon Cho. When the boy came closer, Seo Jun handed him a bit of money from his pocket and asked him to buy more liquor for himself and Ak Eun, as well as food for the children.
That night, Seo Jun enjoyed a pleasant drinking session with his new acquaintance Ak Eun until late. Only when the hour grew very late did he part from him with regret, promising to meet again, and returned home.