Save Deungchon (2)
"Aaaagh! Aaaagh!"
Gong Sang-pil, who had been watching the scene, collapsed in tears and wailed as though his heart had been torn from his body. Even Seok Geum-ryong was so shocked that all four limbs trembled violently.
Deung Chon's body had been reduced to a mangled corpse by the vengeance of several assassins, and more than ten weapons were embedded through him. What pained Gong Sang-pil even more was the fact that Deung Chon had died without even being able to close his eyes.
"Brave man... you're dead, and I, the cowardly and contemptible one, am still alive!"
He shook so hard it seemed he might faint, but at last managed to crawl to the corpse and close Deung Chon's eyes.
Gong Sang-pil had been intelligent, yes, but also somewhat selfish. Deung Chon's sacrifice awakened him to that truth once more, and years later he, too, would die protecting Seok Geum-ryong just as Deung Chon had.
"Hah... Haaah!"
Seok Geum-ryong finally woke from the dream, panting hard. He checked the bedding and found it soaked through with cold sweat.
This was not merely a dream.
That dream was a memory of the Seok Geum-ryong from his past life, a scene that had truly happened.
"No. That can't happen. It mustn't."
However unreal it might have seemed, it had happened in his previous life, and above all, the dream had been far too vivid. Seok Geum-ryong shuddered.
In his former life, the Gold-Selling Swordsman Woo Do-min had never once met Deung Chon. By the time he joined the household, even Gong Sang-pil was already dead.
So he had thought his heart would remain calm, but no.
I will save them. I will save every single one of them.
Not because of the dream, but because in reality Deung Chon had always been so good to him. He would do whatever it took to bring him back to life.
"For that to happen, for the future to change, I need to become stronger."
Simply increasing security and adding more bodyguards would not solve the problem at its root. No, if he expanded the escort force, there was always the chance that, just like the Flying Horse Spear Woo Jun-rae incident, one of those guards could be bribed and turn into an assassin himself.
If he was going to shoulder danger by bringing in unknown variables, it would be better to let things proceed according to the information from his past life. Let events unfold as they had before, then have the completely changed Seok Geum-ryong overturn the future.
That was far more stable and far cleaner.
Swish.
Having indirectly witnessed Deung Chon's end through the dream, Seok Geum-ryong trained with even greater urgency from that day on. So driven was he that even Shadowless One Shin Dan-woo, his bodyguard and martial arts teacher, clicked his tongue in amazement.
That did not mean he neglected his business studies. By day, he learned the basics of commerce from the Scholar in Blue, Gong Sang-pil, and by night he studied martial arts under Shin Dan-woo.
And so a year passed. When he had become eleven years old...
Shuuuuuu.
From the body of Seok Geum-ryong, who had been regulating his breath in meditation since dawn, a clear light began to seep out.
What happened when extraordinary talent, knowledge of peerless martial arts, and desperate resolve were all reborn in one person, who then trained with a sense of life-or-death urgency?
Seok Geum-ryong had finally broken through to a new realm.
Unbelievably, in just one year, Seok Geum-ryong had risen from a first-class master to the realm of a super first-class expert.
Some might ask, if first-class was first-class, then what exactly was super first-class? But that would miss the point entirely. Breaking through first-class and yet falling just short of the true transcendent realm of peak mastery required profound enlightenment and perfect balance.
Thus, one who missed peak by the slightest margin, yet could defeat every existing first-class master, was classified in the Central Plains martial world as a super first-class expert.
And now, astonishingly, the eleven-year-old Seok Geum-ryong had entered that realm.
That was not all.
I have also awakened the second form of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique.
The Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique consisted of seven forms in all, each form revealing itself by one step whenever his realm advanced. He had now grasped the second form.
It meant not only a rise in realm, but also the mastery of a decisive killing form that would utterly suppress an opponent. That was no small thing.
"Huuuu..."
Taking the opportunity presented by that realization, Seok Geum-ryong calmly prepared the second form of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique.
The forms of that technique were named after the seven stellar gods of the Big Dipper.
"Haah!"
With a clear shout, Seok Geum-ryong swung his sword in a wide arc.
-Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: Second Form, Great Gate!
The second form of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique, Great Gate.
If the first form, Greedy Wolf, was like a savage wolf lunging straight in with ferocious momentum, then the second form evoked a grand and upright gate, carrying with it the bearing of an orthodox sect of noble lineage.
Kwagigigigik!
It had only been a light test to confirm his enlightenment, and yet this happened!
"...!!"
Seok Geum-ryong stared at the training ground, now in utter disarray, and was stunned.
Impossible! To reach this level of power, I once had to undergo countless trials and duels over many years.
In his past life, Woo Do-min had needed tremendous effort and had not been able to fully execute Great Gate until he was well into his thirties.
And yet the force unleashed by an eleven-year-old was already this much.
"Perhaps I really am... the finest boy in the martial world."
Seok Geum-ryong shook his head in disbelief and set about restoring the training ground.
His grasp of the Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique advanced steadily, and so did the achievements of Shin Dan-woo's Shadowless Movement Technique and Wind-Breaking Sword Technique.
That insane talent, the Heaven-Defying Body, was absorbing many martial arts to perfection.
"By now, I need not fear ordinary assassins."
Those words were no exaggeration.
Most run-of-the-mill assassins, at best, were only first-class. But Seok Geum-ryong was already super first-class and could defeat all first-class masters, so he had no difficulty protecting himself.
Still, there had been at least ten assassins who killed Deung Chon back then.
Even for a super first-class expert, defeating ten first-class masters head-on alone was close to impossible.
In other words, saving Deung Chon would require not just a rise in martial realm, but strategy and planning as well.
Fortunately, the assassins back then had been split into two groups, lying in ambush separately.
And in this life, he had the extraordinary bodyguard Shin Dan-woo at his side, so there was nothing to worry about.
* * *
"Young Master! How would you like to go see the flowers for your eleventh birthday this year?"
Servant Deung Chon came forward and suggested it with an innocent face.
At the time he made that suggestion, had he known he would die in such a miserable state?
That outing was the starting point for everything.
"Very well."
"Excellent! Is there anything you would especially like to eat? I plan to have food brought in from Gangha Inn, the most famous inn in Hebei Province."
"Anything will do."
"Then I'll prepare something extravagant, since it is your birthday after all. I've already arranged a carriage, so please look forward to it."
Whether he understood Seok Geum-ryong's thoughts or not, he looked overjoyed the entire time. He had no idea the assassins would spring from Gangha Inn, nor that he himself would die a miserable death while driving that carriage.
In my previous life, the assassins were divided into five hiding at Gangha Inn and five more pursuing our carriage from behind.
The guards protecting Seok Geum-ryong in that life had focused entirely on the five assassins lying in wait at Gangha Inn.
Or rather, to be precise, they had believed those five were the entirety of the force targeting Seok Geum-ryong.
But in truth, they were only there to separate the bodyguards from Young Master Seok.
While the guards were occupied with those five, the assassins chasing Seok Geum-ryong's carriage closed in from behind.
Then, later, the assassins joined forces, brought the carriage down, and killed Deung Chon, who had been driving it.
Needless to say, when they thought Seok Geum-ryong was inside and found no one there, they tortured Deung Chon cruelly to death.
And even so, Deung Chon did not say a single word.
He endured the cruel torture in silence until death took him.
"The plum blossoms in nearby Mount Sohwa are said to be in full bloom. Since we'll be leaving early in the morning because of the carriage schedule, go to bed early."
"Understood. You should sleep early too, Deung Chon."
Seok Geum-ryong answered casually, then went to his room when night fell.
On any ordinary day, he would have fallen asleep after light circulation of qi, but tonight was different.
Instead of going to sleep, he carefully tucked an ironwood sword beneath his clothes and hid it well.
Not only that, he also remembered to pack a set of black martial robes that fit a young boy perfectly.
Swish.
After midnight passed and dawn drew near, Seok Geum-ryong, fully prepared, set out.
He lightly vaulted over the wall of his own estate.
-Shadowless Movement Technique!
Then he used the Shadowless Movement Technique, which allowed him to move swiftly while erasing his presence completely.
In the darkness of dawn, dressed in black martial robes and using the Shadowless Movement Technique, no one detected Seok Geum-ryong's movement.
That was because the only masters capable of sensing him were not near his estate, but at the manor of the Seok family's lord or in the central compound.
Besides, since Seok Geum-ryong's group had agreed to depart early in the morning, the place was already bustling with preparations and many small movements.
That meant attention could be scattered as much as needed.
Paaaat!
Taking advantage of the many people absorbed in their own tasks, Seok Geum-ryong once again slipped out at full speed with the Shadowless Movement Technique.
I know this entire area of Hebei like the back of my hand.
Seok Geum-ryong had spent nearly his entire life within Seokga Manor, but the soul dwelling in that body was not. Woo Do-min had roamed the Central Plains extensively from a young age, and in particular had spent a long time operating here in Hebei, so he knew the region as well as if his eyes were closed.
Gangha Inn.
Red flags fluttered where he headed.
His destination was the very place where the food for his eleventh birthday had been arranged: Gangha Inn.
The inn had lights on from early dawn, looking as though it were preparing for the morning business.
If Gangha Inn had truly been in its usual state, the staff would have been busy getting ready for breakfast trade. But reality was different.
Since first light, five assassins had seized Gangha Inn, killing the cook, the owner, and even the serving boys, and they had finished their preparations to kill Seok Geum-ryong.
Thud, thud, thud.
As proof, one assassin dressed in clothing completely out of place for an inn was circling the building on patrol.
They were taking turns standing guard so that no stray traveler or customer would blunder in by accident.
"Who goes there?"
While walking around the inn, he spotted Seok Geum-ryong and nearly blew a whistle on the spot.
But on closer inspection, the other party was only a child in dark clothing.
A child?
A normal martial artist might have let down his guard the moment he identified the child as a boy, but assassins were different.
Wasn't there an old maxim in the martial world: beware of children and old men?
"Noodles... dumplings..."
Seok Geum-ryong approached, pretending to be hungry.
The assassin felt some relief, thinking he was just a beggar child drawn in by hunger, but when the boy came close, what was this?
The young boy was overflowing with a natural elegance and bearing that made it impossible to mistake him for a beggar.
"You..."
Sensing something suspicious, the assassin hurriedly reached for a dagger, but before he could...
-Wind-Turbulent Blossom!
Seok Geum-ryong struck first.
He moved with lightning speed and drew the ironwood sword in an instant.
Swish!
Then, releasing sword qi like flashing lightning, he cleanly slit the assassin's throat in the blink of an eye.
It was an uncanny skill, utterly inappropriate for his age.
Seok Geum-ryong, who had chosen to protect someone, was fiercer and stronger than any martial artist or beast.