Hebei Exchange Meeting (3)
Everyone pictures a different sort of hero, but at some point, everyone has dreamed of becoming one.
That was no exception for martial artists of the orthodox faction, the neutral camp, or the demonic path.
"A hero!"
The words alone were enough to make a man's blood surge hot, and the first to react were the young talents of the orthodox side.
They had grown up hearing stories of heroes who would gladly lay down their lives for righteousness.
"That's an interesting theme."
At the topic of heroes, even Kyeon Ja-bok, the branch chief of the Hebei division of the Haomun, could not help but admire it.
To know one thing and understand ten was the rule of the world.
In that sense, Seok Geum-ryong's insight in choosing heroes as the theme of the Hebei Exchange Meeting was enough to make many of the young talents gasp in admiration.
Of course, there were always contrarians wherever one went.
"Heroes, is it? That seems a little too abstract... On what basis and for what reason do you intend to select the estate that comes closest to it?"
Someone spoke in a challenging tone that, at first hearing, sounded almost like he was picking a fight.
Blood Heaven King of Hell, Jeok Geon-ryung!
Seok Geum-ryong recognized him at once.
Jeok Geon-ryung of Blood Heaven was the vice young lord of Blood Heaven Manor, the most belligerent and battle-hungry of the Hebei demonic-path sects, and true to the nature of his own faction, he was a combat maniac.
What made that temperament plain was his participation in the Hebei Exchange Meeting. Though he was in his mid-twenties, he did not so much as blush at taking part.
He did it because he was convinced that he was not merely the finest of Hebei's demonic path, but the greatest young talent in all Hebei martial circles.
"A good question. Since your respective sects and clans differ so sharply in what you pursue from the very beginning, your ideas of a hero will naturally differ as well. So I intend to present the qualities that the various heroes envisioned by the orthodox, demonic, and neutral factions ought to possess, and use those as the theme of the exchange meeting."
That level of provocation was nowhere near enough to shake Seok Geum-ryong.
Rather than looking flustered, he did not so much as twitch an eyebrow and calmly let his eloquence shine, which only left Jeok Geon-ryung subdued.
He had meant to needle Seok Geum-ryong and pull the atmosphere toward his own side, but instead of pulling, he had been the one dragged along.
Hmph, idiot. Seok Geum-ryong is not someone so easy to toy with.
Seok Ho-in, the fourth young master of Seokga Manor, snorted inwardly as he watched Jeok Geon-ryung stumble.
In a way, he even felt a strange sense of kinship.
"If there are no further objections, then I will begin the Hebei Exchange Meeting at once."
Seok Geum-ryong showed not the slightest hesitation in running the proceedings.
He handled everything with practiced ease, and, far from being cowed by the many renowned young talents of the Hebei martial world, he instead earned the goodwill of the younger martial artists by showing no fear at all.
"Then let us begin the first contest of the Hebei Exchange Meeting, and the first quality of a hero: martial prowess! More specifically, martial prowess that completely overwhelms the opponent!"
After lightly sweeping aside the troublemaking Blood Heaven Asura Jeok Geon-ryung, Seok Geum-ryong finally announced the first theme of the Hebei Exchange Meeting.
The topic of martial prowess was one of the basic qualifications expected of any hero, so everyone readily accepted it as a proper theme.
Both the hero envisioned by the orthodox faction and the hero envisioned by the demonic path required martial prowess. That was only natural.
But did that mean Seok Geum-ryong would stage an ordinary martial contest or a simple winner's bracket?
"Hmph. So in the end, it's just like the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and every other exchange meeting, isn't it? A one-on-one contest where the winner advances?"
One of the orthodox young talents curled his lip, already expecting something old and dull.
He was Eon Won-su, the second son of the Jinju Eon family, a martial clan said to rank among the top ten in the world.
"As I said before, the theme isn't simply martial prowess. It's the martial prowess of a hero. Therefore... to win this theme, it won't be enough to merely fight a bracket. The person who truly believes themselves to be a hero and claims to possess the greatest martial prowess will come here, to the center of the training ground."
Pointing to the center of the practice arena, Seok Geum-ryong explained the contest format he had devised after days of discussion with the martial artists of Bukcheon-won.
"That person must fight other challengers and win three consecutive matches to be acknowledged as one who possesses the martial prowess of a hero, thereby taking the title."
"Only three wins?"
"At this rate, everyone's going to jump into the center."
The participants voiced doubts at how short the required streak was.
And then Seok Geum-ryong smiled meaningfully.
"Yes. I imagine there will be no one who rushes up to the center recklessly. Because any participant and any sect that suffers a single defeat in this hero's martial prowess theme... will be eliminated entirely from this exchange meeting."
Ohhhhhh!
At the astonishing rule Seok Geum-ryong revealed, no one was calling it boring anymore.
On the contrary, the sheer audacity of it made everyone gasp in shock or fall silent.
That was only natural. The exchange meeting was meant to have at least three themes, and to be eliminated from the very first contest was an exceedingly rare humiliation and a dangerous risk.
One defeat could turn the entire Hebei Exchange Meeting into nothing.
"Those who are confident in and pursue the martial prowess of a hero must bear the weight of that pursuit in full. So I ask that only those who truly believe they are formidable and fully possess the martial strength of a hero take part."
Amid the startled, shrinking crowd of participants, Seok Geum-ryong let loose a thunderous lion's roar.
His internal energy was so astounding that from the very front all the way to the back, the sound remained perfectly even, leaving everyone else flabbergasted.
What a brilliant move!
Kyeon Ja-bok, who had heard the rule, smacked his thigh inwardly and burst into admiration.
If the risk of defeat was made sufficiently high, then the riffraff who merely hoped to gain a great deal through a lucky win would be unable to take part at all.
And because one defeat meant total elimination, only those truly confident in their own skill, as well as the self-styled little heroes who did not doubt their own martial prowess, would dare join.
He has proposed a rule that is unconventional yet entertaining... and it fits the theme of a hero perfectly.
Kyeon Ja-bok, along with Cha Bok-sam of the Beggars' Sect, was inwardly astonished.
After all, it was difficult enough to solve a problem, but it was even harder to create one.
And yet Seok Geum-ryong was now displaying a level of insight that made him seem to be playing above the heads of everyone trying to crack it. Even if many minds had gone into devising it, this was still an extraordinary rule.
"For reference, there are a total of three contest themes, and we intend to directly select the estate that emerges through those three contests as the winner, based on the talent it displays before me and the martial artists of Bukcheon-won."
While informing them of the overall schedule, Seok Geum-ryong also slipped in words with a purpose.
His tone implied that even if one did not take part in the first contest, one could still participate in the second and third, warning them not to force themselves into the first and be eliminated.
"Now then, let us begin the first theme and contest: the heroic quality of martial prowess."
Once more, Seok Geum-ryong called out with great vigor.
Yet unlike the earlier uproar, now eleven fiery young talents stood there, and not one of them rushed first into the center of the training ground.
In truth, from the theme itself to this unprecedented rule, all of it was devised by Young Master Seok Geum-ryong.
Im So-gun, the Moon Spirit Sword Lady, who was guarding the Bukcheon-won area with a burning gaze to ensure the Hebei Exchange Meeting proceeded without incident, was covering her dazzling beauty with a bamboo veil and admiring him inwardly.
Though she had received help from the Blue-robed Scholar Gong Sang-pil and the seasoned Golden Needle Venerable Yeo Gwang-rae, the initial draft had all come from Seok Geum-ryong.
"Is there truly no one willing to come up first?"
When half a ke had passed and no one had stepped into the center, Seok Geum-ryong cried out as if disappointed.
At that, the gazes of the Hebei Exchange Meeting participants all dispersed toward three people.
Those three were the martial artists currently regarded as the strongest among the participants: Cha Bok-sam, the Little Heavenly Beggar of the Beggars' Sect; Paeng Jin-mo, the eldest son of the Hebei Paeng Clan and the Stubborn Single Blade; and Cho So-yeon, the female expert of the Nine Yin Association and the Yin-Extending Sword.
The Beggars' Sect and the Hebei Paeng Clan were one of the Nine Great Schools and one of the Five Great Clans, so there was no need for further explanation regarding their standing among the top young talents. As for the demonic path, the Nine Yin Association occupied a somewhat unusual position. It was made up of an extremely small number of people and was also known as a mysterious sect.
Among the younger generation of the Nine Yin Association, the one whose skill had at least been revealed was the veiled woman, Cho So-yeon, the Yin-Extending Sword. Her prowess became known because she had killed Du Guchong, the lecherous demon known as the Initial Lust Demon, after a half-day life-and-death battle.
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
So everyone assumed that one of those three would step forward first, but unexpectedly, the three of them remained calm and seemed content to watch how things unfolded.
And then, at last!
"I dare to step forward!"
Of all the people present, the one who bravely raised his hand was, surprisingly... someone very familiar to Seok Geum-ryong.
"The Mad Tiger Young Master, Seok Ho-in!"
"It's Young Master Seok Ho-in, isn't it?"
"So Young Master Seok is the first to step up... Is there something arranged between him and Seokga Manor?"
While everyone else hesitated, Seok Ho-in boldly raised his hand and stepped forward.
As a result, some even began to suspect that Seokga Manor had somehow coordinated in advance to push Seok Ho-in forward.
Of course, that was nonsense.
Seok Geum-ryong, no matter how you twist the contest theme, it doesn't matter to me. I, Seok Ho-in, am the one who boasts the most overwhelming martial prowess among Hebei's young martial artists.
Seok Ho-in had immense confidence in his own abilities.
That was only natural. He was a young talent at the peak first-class level, like Cha Bok-sam or Paeng Jin-mo, and because he lived in the shadow of Seokga Manor's vast power, his skill had never been fully displayed to the world.
Ohhhhhh!
After the startling theme and rule, now an entirely unexpected participant had entered the stage, and the crowd felt the situation growing more and more entertaining.
It could not have been otherwise. If Seok Ho-in were defeated here, it would mean a participant from Seokga Manor fell at the very beginning.
"Now then, Young Master Seok Ho-in of Seokga Manor has stepped into the training ground first. Is there anyone willing to challenge him?"
Seok Geum-ryong, too, had not imagined that Seok Ho-in would step forward from the very start, and he was briefly surprised. But only for a moment.
He immediately judged that this too would pass quickly.
"I will do it!"
"No, I will!"
"I shall go!"
Now that the seemingly strongest three were staying silent and the less conspicuous Seok Ho-in had stepped up, the young talents began clamoring to volunteer as though nothing had ever been more urgent.
They thought that if the strongest three remained silent, and the seemingly weaker Seok Ho-in stepped up only to defeat another Seok Ho-in, then hurriedly took down two more in succession, he could come down having completed three straight victories.
"The Golden Blade Sect's participant, Lee Chi-won, who raised his hand first, shall be chosen."
Seok Geum-ryong named Lee Chi-won, the chief instructor of the Golden Blade Sect, a neutral faction within the Hebei martial world, as the first volunteer.
Thus the match between the Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in and Lee Chi-won of the Curved Golden Blade was set.
"Who will win?"
"Still, Lee Chi-won of the Curved Golden Blade is among the upper ranks of first-class. I think he can grind it out and win."
"The Golden Blade Sect's martial arts are said to be strong in real combat."
"No matter how much Seokga Manor tries to prop up Seok Ho-in, this time it won't be easy."
Not only the exchange meeting participants, but also the many servants and acquaintances who had come to support them and handle menial tasks gathered to predict what would happen next.
Most predicted Lee Chi-won's victory, which only proved how little they understood Seokga Manor's martial strength.
"Then the two of you, please prepare yourselves."
Everyone had expected Seok Geum-ryong to show special consideration toward Seok Ho-in, who came from the same manor, but naturally, he had not the slightest intention of doing so.
He carried out the proceedings with complete neutrality.
Swish.
Thus the first theme, martial prowess of a hero, became a proper contest.
Who, then, would emerge victorious?