Resolving the Conflict (4)
It turned out that Seok Geum-ryong’s group had cut their way here by utterly crushing the vanguard of Salui-dang before they ever reached this place.
Because Seok Geum-ryong looked not the least bit exhausted and not even a single drop of blood stained him, the Nine Yin Association members had assumed he had only just arrived.
“Seok Geum-ryong, Young Hero?!”
The first to react to that familiar, long-missed name was, naturally, Yin-Extending Sword Cho So-yeon.
How could she possibly mistake Seok Geum-ryong’s voice?
“It really is Seok Young Hero!”
At Cho So-yeon’s confident declaration, Song Nan-hyang and the remaining female experts of the Nine Yin Association opened the door a little, half in doubt, and sure enough...
There stood not only the Golden Prince, Seok Geum-ryong, but also the Shadowless One, Shin Dan-woo, the Moon Spirit Sword Lady, Im So-gun, Wol-papa, and the Golden Needle Venerable, Yeo Gwang-rae.
It was no exaggeration to say that the martial artists representing the northern residence of Seokga Manor had all come out in force.
“Goodness! Even the outstanding experts of the Moon Lady Sect!”
The Nine Yin Association leader, Song Nan-hyang, who had been watching the door with a hopeful heart, was stunned.
The Nine Yin Association was a sect that barred men, and they knew full well of the Moon Lady Sect, which shared the same foundation and spirit.
Though they have now been forced, against their will, to rely on Seokga Manor... the Moon Lady Sect’s extreme yin martial arts are still worthy of admiration.
She could not have been unaware that, in terms of martial prowess, the Moon Lady Sect was the superior counterpart to the Nine Yin Association.
“Young Master Seok Geum-ryong. Just how did you manage to get here...?”
Cho So-yeon was just past fourteen and on the verge of her fifteenth birthday, and she stared at the suddenly much more imposing Seok Geum-ryong with a heart that was embarrassingly quickened.
Was he always this impressive?
Not only had he grown noticeably taller, but his complexion and gaze now radiated something extraordinary. If the old him had been a cub tiger, this version seemed ready to let out the roar of a true predator.
There was a reason she felt that way.
After taking the inner pellet of the Thousand-Year Great Hope, he had not only gained deeper internal energy but also undergone a complete transformation of body and bones. He had risen another step, both in function and in beauty.
“Didn’t we make an agreement with the Nine Yin Association? That I would sell you weapons and armor.”
“Pardon?”
Seok Geum-ryong answered the startled Cho So-yeon and the Nine Yin Association members with his usual knowing smile.
As he spoke, he showed them the result of these people personally hauling wagons all the way here.
The place he pointed to was lined with all manner of weapons and armor made by Na Cheon-lip, the Heaven-Earth Scholar, and his master craftsmen.
There was even more than the amount the Nine Yin Association had previously promised to purchase on credit, which moved the female experts of the association to tears.
“Goodness, goodness!”
“We haven’t even paid the balance yet, let alone the initial deposit, and yet...”
Song Nan-hyang, especially, was overwhelmed with emotion.
To be honest, she had only known Seok Geum-ryong by rumor and had dismissed him as little more than a shrewd merchant rather than a remarkable martial artist.
And yet the man standing before me now has the heart of a warrior, not a merchant.
If Seok Geum-ryong had truly been driven by the heart of a merchant in pursuit of profit, he would never have come to the Nine Yin Association at all. He would have gone directly to Salui-dang, the very people who would have boasted of paying in advance.
But instead he had come in person, and he had even brought experts with him. How could she not be grateful?
“As leader of the Nine Yin Association, I, Song, wish to offer my deepest thanks in your stead.”
Song Nan-hyang, in particular, could scarcely even lift her head.
Even when Cho So-yeon had defended Seok Geum-ryong, she had written it off as naïveté caused by being dazzled at the Hebei Exchange Gathering.
But paradoxically, that very Seok Geum-ryong had become a beam of salvation for the Nine Yin Association, and the feeling in her chest was so overwhelming it brought tears to her eyes.
“Not at all. The Nine Yin Association also attended the Hebei Exchange Gathering hosted by the northern residence of Seokga Manor, and... especially here, Miss Cho, you performed splendidly and helped brighten both my birthday and the gathering. How could I ever forget that kindness?”
Cho So-yeon’s heart was already fluttering, and now that Seok Geum-ryong praised her so lavishly in front of everyone, her face flushed red.
Im So-gun’s expression cooled a little at that, but Seok Geum-ryong seemed not to notice at all.
“More than anything, when you run a sect, there will always be difficult times, and there will always be times when the road is steep. What matters is that you endure those hardships to the end without giving up, together with good people.”
Seok Geum-ryong did not merely stop at supplying weapons and gear. He gave Cho So-yeon and Song Nan-hyang words they truly needed to hear.
Some might sneer and call them the sort of words a scholar or gentleman would spout, but to them, they were moving beyond measure.
At the very least, Seok Geum-ryong was the sort of man who could repay a debt of a thousand gold pieces with a single sentence.
At last, Song Nan-hyang, who had remained silent until now, was so moved that her true feelings spilled out on their own.
“When our association was in good standing, even those who had called us family or blood allies turned around and demanded repayment for overdue debts the moment we fell into hardship, so as not to suffer any loss. Not even the Dark Heaven Alliance, which serves as the anchor of the unorthodox martial world and collects monthly tribute from the various sects, did anything more than tell us to solve our own problems since this was a war between unorthodox factions.”
This was why Song Nan-hyang and the people of the Nine Yin Association were so deeply moved.
Their blood allies had abandoned them. Their close sects had abandoned them. Even the Dark Heaven Alliance had washed its hands of them. And in that hopeless situation, battle had been raging all around them.
“By the way... Salui-dang won’t just sit still after this, will they?”
Cho So-yeon asked, worried about Seok Geum-ryong and the northern residence’s position.
“It’s fine. The water has already been spilled.”
“Pardon?”
Song Nan-hyang, startled by those words suggesting the damage was already done and that Seokga Manor and Salui-dang could no longer coexist under the same sky, asked in surprise.
“We already came after annihilating Salui-dang’s vanguard.”
“Oh my!”
“Good heavens! I can’t believe it!”
At that crisp declaration, the Nine Yin Association’s female experts doubted him or refused to believe it, but only for a moment.
“The vanguard members are here!”
“Leader! The vanguard members are gathering one by one at the main hall!”
“Huh? How are the ones who fled from Salui-dang’s vanguard...?”
The Nine Yin Association still did not really understand the Golden Prince, Seok Geum-ryong.
They did not yet understand that he never spoke empty boasts or lies, and that every word he said was truth, every word important.
“If they have come back alive, then that means...”
“He really did... cut down Salui-dang’s vanguard?”
Song Nan-hyang and Cho So-yeon could no longer contain their joy. Their faces lit up like the full moon as they turned back to Seok Geum-ryong.
“That is correct. The northern residence of Seokga Manor has chosen the Nine Yin Association, not Salui-dang.”
At that, the people of the Nine Yin Association felt as though they had somehow gained an army of a hundred thousand troops.
They once again started to bow in gratitude, but Seok Geum-ryong and his companions stopped them.
“It is too early to feel at ease.”
“The Salui-dang leader is truly a schemer, and a man with deep, calculating thoughts.”
Seok Geum-ryong and Im So-gun shared the latest information the Nine Yin Association did not yet know.
“What? What does that mean...?”
“Salui-dang has placed everything on this battle. The vanguard was nothing more than a ruse.”
Even Seok Geum-ryong was greatly impressed by their scheme and acknowledged it to some extent.
In other words, Salui-dang had sent out the vanguard as if to test the waters, while secretly dispatching the rear force at the same time.
And that rear force included the entire strength of Salui-dang, leader and all.
“The Salui-dang leader’s plan was probably this: send the vanguard first to throw everything into chaos, then, once the Nine Yin Association’s main force is dealing with or pushing back the vanguard, have the rear force arrive and finish the job.”
Seok Geum-ryong’s guess was exactly right.
In fact, that was why the Salui-dang deputy leader who had served as the vanguard, the Nameless Sword Chu-sal, had not chased after the scattered members but had headed straight for the Nine Yin Association’s main force.
After all, his role was not annihilation but deception and disruption.
“In other words, they have already decided to wipe out the Nine Yin Association today.”
Oh, ohhh!
At the staggering truth Seok Geum-ryong revealed, the Nine Yin Association members trembled once more.
If it had not been for his warning, they would have remained trapped here and been annihilated by the rear force exactly as Salui-dang desired.
“Then how should we respond?”
Now the initiative flowed entirely into the hands of the Golden Prince, Seok Geum-ryong.
Leader Song Nan-hyang sought his insight and wisdom.
“Since the Salui-dang leader and rear force do not know that the vanguard has been wiped out, they will naturally come here to join up with them. Let’s strike them then, in reverse.”
Was there a plan cleaner, more stable, or more perfect than this?
At Seok Geum-ryong’s proposal, not only Cho So-yeon and Song Nan-hyang but every single member of the Nine Yin Association looked at him with a completely different light in their eyes, admiration genuine and deep.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Choosing the Hebei martial world was the right move, after all.”
Salui-dang’s leader, the one who had lost out in the succession struggle for the Great Killer Fortress and been driven all the way to the Hebei martial world, the Killing Swift Sword, Wi Ryong-cham, smiled broadly under the moonlight.
Ordinarily, people thought of the Hebei martial world as difficult to enter, but Salui-dang and Wi Ryong-cham had carved out their place there through malicious wit and layered schemes. He was not undeserving of being called a ruthless hero.
First, I’ll conquer the Nine Yin Association.
More astonishing still, all of this was only the beginning of a grand ambition and plan.
Wi Ryong-cham’s dream was enormous.
His first plan was to conquer the Nine Yin Association and establish a foothold in the Hebei martial world.
After that, he would expand the sect’s power.
To grow a sect, one needed not only manpower but also funds. That much was a law of the world.
The reason Salui-dang and Wi Ryong-cham had deliberately chosen the Hebei martial world was simple.
Here stood Seokga Manor, the greatest rich power in the martial world, and because the succession struggle had split it into several branches, they had calculated that if they could just squeeze one foolish heir well enough, a flood of money would come pouring in.
And that target was...
That young brat who has been riding high lately and overestimating his own abilities, the Golden Prince, Seok Geum-ryong.
Even while recognizing part of Seok Geum-ryong’s ability, Wi Ryong-cham still considered him an unfinished young serpent not yet fully grown.
And if that serpent had not yet become a dragon, he believed he could cook it alive himself, any time he liked.
That was why, when Seok Geum-ryong said he would sell those weapons and armor to the Nine Yin Association, Wi Ryong-cham had sent him a threatening letter.
“Hah-hahahaha! Who would have guessed that letter would hit the mark so perfectly?”
He licked his lips with greed, thinking that no matter how impressive the Golden Prince might be, he was still only a young brat, and that he would monopolize every last ounce of the gold Seok Geum-ryong possessed.
To Wi Ryong-cham, Seok Geum-ryong looked like nothing so much as a goose that laid golden eggs.
After moving a certain distance...
The rancid smell of blood hung thick in the air.
Ordinary people would have furrowed their brows and left the place at once, but for Wi Ryong-cham, a born killer, it was the opposite.
“Heh-heh-heh, so it worked.”
The place he had come to, where the smell of blood was so thick it clung to the air, was the designated meeting point where Salui-dang’s vanguard and rear force were supposed to converge.
So of course the Nine Yin Association’s vanguard must have been butchered; there was nothing suspicious about the blood scent at all.
Found them!
And then, just as he spotted familiar figures through the brush, men wearing black masks, and was about to move in with delight, a voice icily cold pierced through from behind Wi Ryong-cham.
“You seem to be in high spirits. You’ve been laughing all the way here.”