Return Home in Splendor (1)
Seok Geum-ryong had struggled in the middle, pressed hard by time, but in the end he had overcome the crisis in style.
Now, the positions of host and guest had been completely reversed.
Geuijongak, the Jeokma-dang lord who had been smiling the smile of a victor, had fallen into despair, while Seok Geum-ryong, who had looked like a defeated man, now wore the smile of the winner.
“This is...”
Apparently he had not expected to be done in by the Blood Ghost Sect, the old hand of Shanxi. Not only Geuijongak, but even Jin Sa-jun, the Golden Big Brother, looked flustered.
And then, at last—
“Blood Ghost Sect Lord! What is the meaning of this?”
“That’s right! How can you join hands with the enemy who killed your son, your sworn foe under the same heaven?”
They tried to provoke the Blood Ghost Sect Lord, Gun Wi-han the Blood Ghost Demonic Sword, hoping to make him betray them.
To be honest, it was a fairly convincing argument.
No matter how much of a bastard a son might be, if he was the one to carry on the line, a father’s arm would naturally bend inward.
“Nonsense! My son’s death had nothing whatsoever to do with the will of the Blood Ghost Sect. It was nothing more than an unavoidable accident that happened because he went off on his own and acted out of line!”
But the Jeokma-dang had overlooked one thing.
If Gun Wi-han were to admit his son’s death, it would become an official raid by the Blood Ghost Sect against Seokga Manor.
For that reason, the Blood Ghost Sect could not afford to incur Seokga Manor’s wrath, and they had to pin Gun Gyeong-mun’s harm to Seok Geum-ryong on nothing more than a personal deviation.
Thus, the death of the Blood Ghost Sect’s young lord Gun Gyeong-mun had to be treated as an unexpected accident.
“This crazy...”
Geuijongak was just about to rant further at the Blood Ghost Sect’s attempt to cover up even a son’s death, when—
“The Blood Ghost Sect is different from the Jeokma-dang, which openly covets Seokga Manor’s property and future generations... The Blood Ghost Sect will officially support Seok Geum-ryong of Seokga Manor!”
Blood Ghost Sect Lord Gun Wi-han had realized that if they were to attack the Blood Demon Hall, the Blood Ghost Sect’s crime, that is, the crime of Blood Ghost Scholar Gun Gyeong-mun, would be buried along with it.
From the beginning, the Blood Ghost Sect and the Jeokma-dang could never ride in the same boat.
Only one of the two could shoulder all the罪. Only then was it possible.
“No questions. No answers. I will hear no more of your vile lies! Warriors of the Blood Ghost Sect! These are our true enemies! Capture the Jeokma-dang lord alive, and you may kill the rest!”
With a voice more mournful than ever before, the Blood Ghost Demonic Sword Gun Wi-han took command of the battlefield.
As the Jeokma-dang had said, no matter what, his own son had died. How could he not be sorrowful?
But Gun Wi-han had no choice but to bury that incident beneath the weight of weeping as you behead Ma Su.
Waaah!
With that declaration, the great clash between the Jeokma-dang and the Blood Ghost Sect finally erupted into a chaotic brawl.
At first, the Blood Ghost Sect’s momentum was overwhelming, and it looked as though they would easily seize victory.
“You bastards! Who do you think you’re dealing with?”
Yet the Jeokma-dang possessed a formidable expert.
That man was, of course, Jin Sa-jun, the Golden Big Brother.
Jin Sa-jun fought like one man against a hundred, doing everything he could to protect his lord, Geuijongak, amid the madness.
Regrettably, that could not last long.
“Young Master! I’ll join in and lend a hand!”
At present, only two people could suppress a master on Jin Sa-jun’s level: Gun Wi-han of the Blood Ghost Sect, and Shin Dan-woo, the Shadowless One.
Accordingly, Shin Dan-woo leapt toward Jin Sa-jun, who was locked in a direct contest with Gun Wi-han, and Jin Sa-jun was forced to battle two men at once.
Meanwhile—
Geuijongak, that wicked bastard might run at any moment!
Seok Geum-ryong focused only on Geuijongak’s whereabouts.
He knew all too well the nature of men like Geuijongak.
There was a strong chance he would slip away or flee without a trace in the midst of the chaos.
And sure enough—
Swish.
Despite his bulky, heavy frame, Jeokma-dang Lord Geuijongak began moving as though he were a house cat, trying to crawl into the grass and escape.
Seok Geum-ryong caught that movement cleanly.
Geuijongak’s attempt to flee only meant he was breaking away from Jin Sa-jun’s protection, and Jin Sa-jun, who should have been guarding his back, was now too occupied to think straight under the combined assault of Shin Dan-woo and Gun Wi-han.
There.
Meanwhile, Geuijongak, believing that no one had noticed his secret movement, was just about to crawl into the weeds and make a clean escape when—
“How can a pig imitate the actions of a house cat?”
With a cruel, mocking voice, there was a gaze fixed on Geuijongak, who had flung himself flat to the ground for escape.
Seok Geum-ryong openly sneered at the disgraceful act and even leveled a golden needle at him.
“S-Seok Geum-ryong!”
Didn’t they say enemies meet on a narrow bridge?
Just as he was fleeing alone, to run into Seok Geum-ryong at that exact moment left Geuijongak so shocked that his fat face slicked over with cold sweat.
“Isn’t the world funny? Only moments ago, it looked like you were the winner, and now the tables have turned again and I’m the one on top. It’s almost as though life and death work that way.”
Seok Geum-ryong had already died once and been born again, so he had more than enough right to speak with that kind of bitter irony.
“Any last words?”
Seok Geum-ryong was never one to go easy.
Once, he had eagerly returned those words to the man who had said them to him.
“Th-That’s... You can’t kill me!”
By contrast, Geuijongak’s mind had completely collapsed. He was still blabbering and working himself up when—
Fshk!
Seok Geum-ryong’s golden needle spun out in an instant and pierced Geuijongak’s pressure point with perfect precision.
Rustle...
Then the bloated Geuijongak toppled forward without even the slightest resistance and sank into a deep sleep.
“Don’t worry. Your judgment and execution won’t be handled by me. They’ll be properly dealt with at Seokga Manor’s main estate.”
This was exactly why Seok Geum-ryong had bothered to capture him alive.
If he were being honest, he wanted to punish the man personally. But for the sake of a proper return and a triumphant homecoming in splendor, capturing the Jeokma-dang lord made a far more beautiful picture.
And that was not all.
“Jeokma-dang Lord Geuijongak has been subdued!”
No sooner had Seok Geum-ryong subdued Geuijongak than he shouted across the battlefield, where fierce combat was still raging, holding the large-bodied Geuijongak in his grasp like a boy dragging down a giant.
The force in his voice, amplified by his powerful inner energy, was enough to stop even the distracted Jin Sa-jun dead in his tracks.
“Lord!”
Jin Sa-jun turned around in alarm, only to find that Geuijongak was nowhere to be seen.
Trying to save himself, the man had secretly attempted to flee, only to be caught by Seok Geum-ryong.
He had failed to protect the lord he was meant to guard.
That thought broke his heart, and once his composure shattered, his body soon lost its balance as well. It did not take long before he fell to the combined assault of Shin Dan-woo and Gun Wi-han.
“I surrender. I surrender.”
In the end, after the Jeokma-dang lord, even the Golden Big Brother Jin Sa-jun, eldest of the Jeokma Ten Heroes and a true powerhouse, met complete defeat and ruin.
“The battle is over! If the Jeokma-dang men surrender now, I will spare your lives!”
As Seok Geum-ryong’s lion’s roar echoed across the battlefield once more, the troops of the Jeokma-dang all at once dropped their weapons to the ground, their faces crushed by despair.
Thus did Seok Geum-ryong’s plan and scheme achieve complete victory.
“Thank you for accepting my unreasonable and sudden request.”
The moment he had subdued the Jeokma-dang, Seok Geum-ryong approached the Blood Ghost Sect.
The Blood Ghost Sect had done him harm because of the young lord’s recklessness, yet soon after they had regretted their actions and curbed it by calling the young lord’s behavior a personal deviation.
“Not at all. Please... understand the sincerity of the Blood Ghost Sect.”
“Do not worry. I will remember the Blood Ghost Sect as the sect that saved my life when I was in dire straits. I, Seok Geum-ryong, am a man who never forgets either kindness or enmity.”
If a normal thirteen-year-old had said that, it would have been laughable. But the one speaking those words was the very person who had successfully sold the Blood Heaven Demon, and who had then splendidly safeguarded the astronomical ledger of four thousand gold taels earned from that sale.
“After I return to Seokga Manor, I will report only the Blood Ghost Sect’s kindness to Lord Seokga Manor.”
“Thank you! Truly, thank you!”
At Seok Geum-ryong’s generous words, Blood Ghost Sect Lord Gun Wi-han finally relaxed, bowing his head again and again.
Gyeong-mun, after your death, you are finally showing me your filial piety for the first and last time!
Enough for even that thought to cross his mind.
In any case, because of a worthless, impossible-to-manage bastard of a son, the Blood Ghost Sect had now formed a connection with one of Seokga Manor’s rising stars. For the Blood Ghost Sect, that was nothing short of a major opportunity.
Perhaps it was the one chance they would ever get to rise above the other rivals and stand tall within Shanxi’s martial world.
“Then I’ll accompany you until we join up with the support troops dispatched from the main estate.”
“Thank you. I will never forget Lord Gun’s kindness.”
And so Seok Geum-ryong and the Blood Ghost Sect, an unorthodox sect from Shanxi, forged yet another bond and connection, creating a situation where neither side lost and both stood to gain.
The only loser, the one who suffered the greatest loss, was the Jeokma-dang.
* * *
Seok Geum-ryong and his party accepted the Blood Ghost Sect’s escort together with the hostages captured from the Jeokma-dang.
“Young Master!”
“Butler Gong!”
“Young Hero Seok!”
“Hahahahaha!”
Before they had even fully left Shanxi, they were able to meet up with the men who had followed behind at a frantic pace by taking the water route.
In the process, they also met Gongson Ban, the Water Ghost, who had been sent as support from the main estate.
“Young Master. Why did you choose the water route? And if you chose the water route, why did you yourself travel over land and invite danger?”
As soon as he saw Seok Geum-ryong, Gongson Ban asked the questions that had been weighing on him.
“By choosing the water route, I managed to shake off the countless wandering martial artists and unorthodox pursuers who had gone blind with greed over the ledger. In the process, the Jeokma-dang, with their keen noses, turned traitor and followed after us, but that was unavoidable.”
Seok Geum-ryong answered the first question with an easy smile.
Then he began answering the second.
“I chose the land route because I could split the enemy’s strength in half, and even if I ended up in trouble, I was confident I could break through it.”
That, too, was true.
In the end, thanks to that choice, Seok Geum-ryong’s group had made it through the ordeal without losing or injuring anyone, including the low-ranking servant Jang Sam and the Scholar in Blue, Gong Sang-pil.
What was more, the support from the main estate had also come by water, so luck had kept falling on their side again and again.
Swish.
To that answer, Gongson Ban, the second butler and the right-hand man of Lord Seokga Manor Seok Ji-sung, following after the first butler, the Sword Discussant Jo Seung-pyo, bowed respectfully toward him.
“Butler Gongson!”
“I can’t accept that!”
At that deeply respectful gesture, both Seok Geum-ryong and Gong Sang-pil hurriedly tried to stop him in alarm.
That was because Gongson Ban was one of the most capable among the butlers, and also the person whom Seok Ji-sung trusted and relied on after Jo Seung-pyo.
Moreover, Butler Gongson despises factional disputes and power struggles. Rather than become entangled in the messy affairs of mankind, he chose instead to manage ships and naval forces while looking out upon the calm sea.
Gong Sang-pil knew Gongson Ban better than anyone else.
Among all the butlers, he was the one he respected most, his senior of seniors.
And yet that towering figure, that man as immense and solemn as the sea itself, who never lightly bowed to anyone, had now lowered his head in recognition to a boy who was still so young, Seok Geum-ryong. It was astonishing beyond words.
“Now then, Young Master Seok Geum-ryong. Let us return to Seokga Manor. Lord Manor is waiting with his neck stretched long.”
Having fully acknowledged Seok Geum-ryong in his heart, Gongson Ban took him over from the Blood Ghost Sect and smiled brightly.
All that remained now was a grand and glorious homecoming in splendor.