Friends Can Be a Blessing! (3)
Chorororok.
Sichuan’s famed Chunhong tea was slowly poured into the cup.
Its soft fragrance, soothing to the mind and body alike, spread faintly through the room.
“Hmm.”
The one holding the cup sipped the tea with measured grace, every motion proper and in no way at odds with the etiquette of tea ceremony.
“Care for a cup?”
The voice was gentle.
Yet the subtle weight behind those words made the speaker’s status all the more apparent.
Only…
“Hey.”
Chung Myung, who had been quietly watching the scene, spoke with a sullen face.
“Trying to look calm now isn’t gonna change anything, you know?”
“…….”
Dang Gun-ak lowered his cup and glanced around.
The Mount Hua disciples sitting in the room were all staring at him with sour expressions. Even his own daughter looked pouting.
“Ahem.”
Dang Gun-ak gave a low, awkward cough.
I got carried away.
He had, in fact, been more than carried away. It was enough to make him wonder if he had ever lost his composure so completely in the past ten years.
Thinking he had to salvage the situation somehow, he opened his mouth in a solemn tone.
“You may think I was being foolish, but….”
“Yes.”
“…….”
Dang Gun-ak was reminded all over again what kind of man Chung Myung was.
“...Of course, I did get a little excited. But that’s only because the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron is such an extraordinary material.”
“Ah… yes.”
“…….”
The response was not especially encouraging.
After stealing a look at everyone’s faces, Dang Gun-ak put on a gentle smile once more.
“So, shall we at least have a cup of tea first….”
But Chung Myung cleanly cut him off mid-sentence.
“I don’t care about that. Get to the point already. So, you can make swords out of it, right?”
“…….”
How in the world could a Daoist be more impatient than a Sichuan native?
Still, at least the subject had changed, and that was a relief.
“As the supply of cold iron has dried up in the Central Plains, the techniques for working it have indeed become increasingly lost. Fortunately, though, the Tang Family still preserves the methods for handling it.”
“Right. Then make them.”
At that utterly unruffled answer, Dang Gun-ak’s brow twitched.
“But do you truly intend to make swords? I’m telling you again, cold iron is now worth more than gold by an absurd margin. And to use that precious material to forge swords….”
Chung Myung answered with complete indifference.
“At the end of the day, it’s still just iron.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not just iron!”
Dang Gun-ak kept trying to dissuade him, but Chung Myung only shrugged.
“I get what you’re saying, but I’ve got money. I can always make more. Besides, you said this stuff can’t be found anywhere else anymore, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then of course we’re making swords. If we waste it on something else and later can’t make them when we want to, I’ll be pissed enough to die.”
“…….”
At that utterly matter-of-fact explanation, Dang Gun-ak could only shake his head.
He really isn’t sane.
But that was Chung Myung, all right.
“Very well. If you insist that much, then I’ll make them. But you must pay the proper price.”
“What do you mean, proper price! We’re friends!”
“The closer the relationship, the more careful one must be in business.”
Dang Gun-ak braced himself as though he would not yield on this matter. Chung Myung stuck out his lips in annoyance.
“How much are you charging?”
“Forget the money. Instead, the cold iron you brought….”
“Ah, no way.”
“Just a little, a little! You’ve brought so much! Would anyone even notice if I took a bit off the top?”
As Dang Gun-ak’s voice gradually rose, Chung Myung glared at him, clearly displeased.
“What are you even going to use the cold iron for? You were just saying it’d be better to sell it.”
“...That was in reference to making swords and the like.”
Dang Gun-ak let out a long sigh.
“As you know, hidden weapons are consumables.”
“True.”
“The higher-grade the hidden weapon, the thinner and finer it must be made. Which means that no matter how carefully it is used, it will still wear down. Once it’s launched, it isn’t easy to retrieve either.”
“Yeah.”
“But paradoxically, that is precisely why they must be made of superior steel. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah. So there are hidden weapons you want to make out of Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.”
“Exactly.”
Dang Gun-ak’s eyes burned with rare intensity.
He had no interest in wealth. This was something else entirely.
For the Sichuan Tang Family, sturdier and more refined hidden weapons were treasures no amount of money could replace. Simply making their hidden weapons more precise could be as good as increasing their martial power itself.
“There are a few hidden weapons in the Tang Family that can only be made from a material as hard as Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron. Since cold iron became so difficult to obtain, we’ve tried to conserve what we had by using it as sparingly as possible, but even that had its limits.”
“So you want to remake them now that you’ve finally got some cold iron?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm.”
Chung Myung tilted his head from side to side as if deep in thought.
“Is something bothering you?”
“No. I mean… not exactly.”
“Then?”
After a short hesitation, he spoke in a voice still heavy with thought.
“Logically speaking, if the Tang Family grows stronger, that’ll help Mount Hua too, so of course I should do it for you.”
“...Should?”
Chung Myung grinned.
“But the moment I heard how rare the cold iron is, my gut started hurting at the thought of giving it up. If I hadn’t heard it was rare, I think I’d have handed it over without a second thought.”
At that honest confession, Dang Gun-ak gave a broad smile.
So this is what I went all the way to Maninbang for.
Why had he done it?
Why?
“Tch. Well, what can you do? It’s not good for a person to be this kind, but since you’re the Tang Family head, I’ll make a special exception and listen once. Just take a little.”
“I’m gra….”
“A little!”
“...You really do make it hard to be grateful.”
It was something he truly ought to be grateful for, and yet somehow Chung Myung made it sound so ungrateful that even gratitude turned into a trial.
Dang Gun-ak shook his head vigorously.
“Then there’s no time to waste. Come.”
“Huh? Where to?”
A faint, strange smile touched his lips.
“To meet the one who can work cold iron.”
“Greetings!”
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Mount Hua people!”
“Oh my, young miss! You’ve grown even healthier!”
As they followed Dang Gun-ak deeper into the Tang estate, everyone they passed greeted them with bright smiles.
The Mount Hua disciples, caught off guard by the welcome, found themselves smiling before they knew it.
“This is a lot different from last time.”
“It is.”
At Yoon Jong’s remark, Baek Cheon looked around with renewed attention. Indeed, the Tang Family members watching them were full of goodwill.
They had visited the Tang Family before as guests, but they had never felt a look like this. Back then, the stares had been full of wariness.
So much had changed in such a short time.
“That’s because the Tang Family no longer sees Mount Hua as outsiders.”
Having heard their conversation, Tang Jan smiled and gave them an explanation.
“The Mount Hua people may not realize this, but the Tang Family isn’t a sect that makes friends lightly. We may unite with the other noble families under the name of the Odaesega, but that is simply due to necessity.”
“...Right.”
“But Mount Hua is different. The Tang Family truly wants to become a relationship where we support each other. The household understands the Tang Family head’s feelings as well.”
“Ah….”
Baek Cheon nodded at the perfectly reasonable explanation.
Then, from across the way, Tang Jan quietly murmured just loudly enough for them to hear.
“And since Daoist Chung Myung smashed the elders’ council to pieces last time, the family head’s standing rose quite a bit. Thanks to that, the family has developed quickly and the household members’ lives have improved too. That’s why everyone welcomes Mount Hua.”
“…….”
Baek Cheon suddenly thought that Chung Myung seemed to solve most problems scattered throughout the world by beating people up.
“Where are we going now, exactly?”
“To the workshop.”
“I thought the workshop was over there….”
Tang Jan smiled.
“There’s no way the Tang Family only has one workshop. There are more than a dozen workshops within the estate alone.”
“...That’s an enormous scale.”
“The place we’re heading to is the most important of them all, if you value it highly. And the most useless, if you don’t.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that….”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
After passing the cluster of grand halls, a beautifully maintained garden came into view. Crossing through it and heading deeper inside, they found, unlike the imposing halls they had seen until then, an old and worn workshop standing there.
“Just set it down here.”
“Yes.”
The Mount Hua disciples set down the cold iron they had been carrying in the yard and followed Dang Gun-ak to a house beside the workshop.
It was a ramshackle thatched hut that looked as though it might collapse at any moment. Dang Gun-ak stood before it and, quite unlike his usual self, spoke respectfully in a low voice.
“Granduncle. It’s Gun-ak.”
As Dang Gun-ak lowered himself in posture, the others reflexively clasped their hands and bowed awkwardly too.
“Granduncle.”
“…….”
But after calling several times with no answer, Dang Gun-ak opened the thatched door with an expression of faint discomfort.
Inside the small room, a white-haired old man was lying there with an unbelievably peaceful face.
Chung Myung tilted his head.
“Looks dead to me.”
“Watch your mouth, will you?”
“I’ll sew that mouth shut, seriously!”
Dang Gun-ak gave the old man a light shake, his face tense.
“Granduncle. Granduncle?”
But even after being shaken quite a bit, the old man did not awaken easily.
Chung Myung said with a sour face, “See? He’s dead.”
“Shut up, you brat!”
“Someone stitch this punk’s mouth shut. Please!”
Perhaps because the Mount Hua disciples’ voices had grown louder at last, the old man, who had not moved an inch until then, flinched and slowly opened his eyes.
“...Huh?”
“Granduncle, it’s me, Gun-ak.”
“Who’s Gun-ak?”
“...The family head, Granduncle.”
“Family head? You?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember? I greeted you just ten days ago.”
“You’re the family head? Then where’s Ming?”
“...Father passed away more than ten years ago.”
“Really? You’re the family head?”
“…….”
Listening to the exchange, Chung Myung’s face slowly began to contort.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Daoist.”
“...Who is this old man?”
“He is the current Tang Family’s most senior elder, Master Tang Jo-pyeong. In the family, we usually call him Lord Divine Hand rather than by his name.”
“Divine Hand?”
Tang Pae nodded with great pride and satisfaction.
“Yes. He is the Tang Family’s finest artisan. There is no hidden weapon he cannot make with those godlike hands of his. If the family head leads the Tang Family’s martial arts, then this one leads the Tang Family’s workshops.”
“Ah….”
“There likely isn’t a master craftsman in the current martial world greater than him. Even throughout the Tang Family’s entire history, masters of his caliber are rare.”
“Ah….”
That was good.
All of that was good….
Chung Myung cautiously turned his unsteady gaze to the very master artisan in question.
“So who did you say you were again?”
“...I am Gun-ak, Granduncle. Tang Gun-ak.”
The corner of Chung Myung’s cheek twitched faintly.
“...But he looks pretty bad. Is he sick or something?”
“Ah… it’s not that….”
Tang Pae scratched the back of his head with an awkward face.
“He is rather old, so recently his mind hasn’t been very clear. Usually he’s not this bad, but today seems to be a little worse….”
“His mind isn’t clear?”
“...A little.”
Now Chung Myung’s cheek, the corner of his eye, and then his whole face began to tremble.
“So that means he’s basically lost it, right?”
“...No, not that far….”
Chung Myung’s gaze returned to Tang Jo-pyeong.
“So, what business has the family head come for to see this old man?”
Oh?
Turning around as though he had suddenly come to his senses, Tang Jo-pyeong faced Dang Gun-ak, who bowed his head.
“Granduncle. There is a matter involving the cold iron. It seems I must ask you to step in.”
“Cold iron. Hmm, yes. Cold iron.”
Tang Jo-pyeong stroked his white beard and nodded to himself.
“If it’s cold iron, then I must step in… cold iron… hmm, Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.”
He muttered under his breath with a seriously thoughtful expression. Dang Gun-ak asked,
“Is there some problem?”
“That is, well.”
“Yes, Granduncle.”
“It’s just that….”
Tang Jo-pyeong tilted his head.
“Who are you?”
“…….”
“And where’s Ming gone?”
Twitch, twitch.
Chung Myung’s face turned so red it looked ready to burst, every muscle in it spasming.
“No! You said we were coming to the person who works with Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron, so why the hell did you drag us to some senile old man?! Why is nothing in Mount Hua or the Tang Family working properly!”
In the end, Baek Cheon hurriedly clamped a hand over Chung Myung’s mouth. Sweating cold, he quickly apologized.
“Hahaha. We’re sorry! This bastard’s gone crazy, hahaha!”
“Will you shut up already? Please!”
The Mount Hua disciples dragging Chung Myung back were nearly in tears now. From the looks of it, this was the person with the highest seniority in the Tang Family, and Chung Myung was calling him senile!
But Chung Myung tore free of everyone’s grip and shouted,
“What, did I say something wrong? A craftsman is a damn craftsman only if he still has his wits! If he’s lost them, he’s just gone senile!”
Then Tang Jo-pyeong, who had been scanning the room with dim, unfocused eyes, looked at Chung Myung. In that instant, the old man’s thin body jolted hard.
For the first time, a strange light entered his previously vacant eyes.
“Ah… ah?”
As if he had just seen something unbelievable, Tang Jo-pyeong stared at Chung Myung with his mouth slowly opening wide. His reaction was like that of someone who had seen a ghost.
“Ah? Ahh… Plum….”
“Granduncle?”
Dang Gun-ak, now truly flustered, called out in an uncertain voice, but Tang Jo-pyeong did not answer. Instead, he raised a trembling hand and pointed at Chung Myung.
“Plum Blossom Sword Saint?”
“…….”
Huh?
Had this old man really gone senile? Who was he calling the Plum Blossom Sword Saint—
Ah, right.
Ah. I am the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, aren’t I?
Hahaha….
Hahahaha….
What in the world is this situation?
For a moment, Chung Myung lost the ability to speak. His mouth went dry in an instant, and a cold sweat began trickling down his spine.