Resolving the Conflict, Part 7
Waaah!
The moment Seok Geum-ryong finally brought down Wi Ryong-cham, everyone erupted in cheers, from Nine Yin Association leader Song Nan-hyang to Yin-Extending Sword Cho So-yeon.
They had never dreamed that Seok Geum-ryong, who had already given the Nine Yin Association such immense help, would go so far as to take care of the leader of Salui-dang as well.
“Huuuu.”
Seok Geum-ryong took a steady breath and rested for a moment.
If not for his ingenuity, the fight would have dragged on even longer.
Even setting the result aside, that was an extremely difficult battle.
As he sent Wi Ryong-cham on his way, Seok Geum-ryong quietly brought his hands together in salute.
Go in peace.
He would never forget that swift sword of his.
Wi Ryong-cham, the leader of Salui-dang, the Killing Swift Sword, who had dreamed of establishing a foothold in the Hebei martial world.
In the end, he met a bitter end at the hands of Seok Geum-ryong, the Golden Young Master whom he had looked down on.
And that was not the only despair waiting for them.
“The Salui-dang leader has fallen! If anyone surrenders, you will be spared!”
Pointing at the pitifully collapsed Wi Ryong-cham, Seok Geum-ryong unleashed a mighty lion’s roar.
Once you bring down the enemy commander, you must spread the word and break their morale.
Seok Geum-ryong knew that very well from his past life.
“L- leader!”
“Unbelievable. How could the leader possibly...”
To the members of Salui-dang, Wi Ryong-cham was not merely their head, but their spiritual pillar and the prophet who governed every plan.
It had already been shocking enough that he had been pushed back by Seok Geum-ryong, but now he had even lost his life to him.
Some of the more emotional members of Salui-dang broke down in despair on the spot, while the more pragmatic ones immediately tried to flee, caring for nothing but their own lives.
With the enemy leader broken, surrendering members began to multiply like bamboo shoots after a summer rain.
And so, with Seok Geum-ryong’s help, the Nine Yin Association achieved a complete victory over Salui-dang.
“At last, at last...”
Song Nan-hyang, the Nine Yin Witch and leader of the Nine Yin Association, cut down the last resisting member of Salui-dang, and once everything had finally been settled, she shed tears with a face full of emotion.
It made sense. By all rights, this had been a battle they were unlikely to win.
Not even their allied sects, nor the Dark Heaven Alliance, the coalition of the unorthodox martial world, had turned a helping hand toward the Nine Yin Association.
In this hopeless situation, abandoned by everyone, the only one who reached out in salvation was one man: Seok Geum-ryong, young master of Bukcheon-won at Seokga Manor.
Cho So-yeon was just as moved.
To be honest, she hadn’t even considered herself close to Seok Geum-ryong.
She had thought of him as someone she merely knew from the Hebei Exchange Meeting, but what had he done?
The Golden Young Master, Seok Geum-ryong, was a man who understood what trust meant, a true merchant willing to shoulder danger for the sake of his client, and a martial artist with a depth of heart.
If Seok Geum-ryong had not helped them, the Nine Yin Association would have collapsed completely.
“You’ve all worked hard.”
After confirming that none of the Bukcheon-won forces had suffered even a single casualty, Seok Geum-ryong approached Song Nan-hyang and offered his congratulations.
This battle had been a swift victory, a complete victory.
“I scarcely know how to thank you. I don’t even know how to express this gratitude...”
Song Nan-hyang and Cho So-yeon kept bowing again and again, feeling not only grateful but almost apologetic.
“Not at all. I simply came to keep my promise to my client. It was Salui-dang that was acting out of turn.”
Seok Geum-ryong said it as though it were nothing at all, but Song Nan-hyang disagreed.
“Even so, helping others is not something one can do lightly. This is the so-called heartless jianghu, is it not? A place also called the unfeeling jianghu.”
The unfeeling jianghu was full of people who walked the road of nonhuman depravity, failing even to do what ought to be done.
Compared to them, Seok Geum-ryong was a righteous great hero and a man who truly understood righteousness.
“It is rare to see someone help those who are in trouble when times are hard. I sincerely thank you, Seok Geum-ryong and all your companions.”
“Please, think nothing of it. I never considered the Nine Yin Association to be strangers.”
There was still one more scene that moved the Nine Yin Association deeply.
Swish.
Seok Geum-ryong drew something from within his robes.
It was none other than the Northern Heaven Short Sword, a rare nameplate forged from the bones of the Thousand-Year Python, awarded only to those who belonged to Bukcheon-won at Seokga Manor, along with people and groups truly close to Seok Geum-ryong.
“This is...”
“The Northern Heaven Short Sword. It is only a small token, but I offer it to the members of the Nine Yin Association with whom I have shared purpose in this battle.”
“My goodness!”
Seok Geum-ryong called it a modest gesture, but the Northern Heaven Short Sword, made from the bones of the Thousand-Year Python, was worth whatever price the market could name.
And yet he had offered such a rare gift as proof of trust and friendship at the very time the Nine Yin Association needed it most. How could they not be grateful?
Drip.
Before long, Cho So-yeon and several of the more tender-hearted female experts were in tears.
“I myself have gone through difficult times within Seokga Manor, so I understand the Nine Yin Association’s position very well.”
Seok Geum-ryong’s words and consideration were by no means empty or false.
The pain of needing someone’s help desperately, only to have no one reach out. No one in this world understands that pain better than I do.
How could Seok Geum-ryong not understand such a feeling?
Not only in this life, but in his past one as well, the grief of losing a son and the grief of losing the master he had sworn to protect were impossible to put into words.
“Do not cry. The harder the times, the more firmly one must steel one’s heart. The Nine Yin Association has now defeated Salui-dang and proven its strength... no new sect or clan will dare look down on you lightly.”
Hearing Seok Geum-ryong’s encouraging praise, Song Nan-hyang and Cho So-yeon felt courage welling up inside them.
They had received immense help from Seok Geum-ryong, and now it was their turn to repay him.
“To Seok Geum-ryong and the people of Bukcheon-won at Seokga Manor... the Nine Yin Association hereby declares that we are no longer mere allies, but blood oath brothers and sisters. By nature, our territory is a forbidden land to men, but young master Seok Geum-ryong is the one exception. Please, come visit whenever it suits you.”
Song Nan-hyang spoke from the heart.
At present, the association’s circumstances were bleak, and she could not offer material rewards, but she wanted to give him everything she could in spirit.
As one example, the Nine Yin Association had always strictly upheld a no-men policy, yet Seok Geum-ryong alone was now free to enter the main headquarters without restriction.
“And if our situation improves, our Nine Yin Association will promise to make substantial investments in Seokga Manor’s weapons and armor.”
“Oh!”
The Nine Yin Association was struggling right now, but as an unorthodox sect, it was by no means short on funds.
For such a medium-sized sect to promise major investment in the new weapons and armor line from Seokga Manor was a huge gain for Bukcheon-won as well.
“And not just with words. We’ll draw up a contract right away.”
Their sincerity was genuine.
Before long, they even drafted a contract, tidied up the sect’s difficulties, and announced plans for major investment.
Good!
Seok Geum-ryong was genuinely pleased with the result.
Now, alongside horses and bloodsweating steeds, he had secured a regular sect through which he could officially sell weapons and armor. That was a very large gain indeed.
And there was one more thing.
The Nine Yin Association is a highly closed-off organization, a sturdy sect that everyone wants to bind into a blood oath.
There were many sects in Hebei’s martial world, such as the Beggars’ Sect, the Haodemun, and the Hebei Peng Clan, that wanted to grow close to the Nine Yin Association.
Yet the Nine Yin Association had turned them all away, and now it had formed a blood oath alliance only with Bukcheon-won at Seokga Manor. There was no doubt this would bring great fruit in the future.
Thus Seok Geum-ryong’s group closed things out on an excellent note, and with the promise that they would lend troops to the weakened Nine Yin Association for a time, they prepared to return.
Before Seok Geum-ryong departed, Yin-Extending Sword Cho So-yeon spoke up, gathering her courage and pressing her feelings down deep.
“Young master Seok Geum-ryong. The mountain where our Nine Yin Association stands may look plain and unremarkable, but... when spring comes again, the plum blossoms will bloom beautifully. When plum blossom season arrives, please come visit the Nine Yin Association. Please, you must.”
Cho So-yeon, who could almost be called the association’s young mistress, spoke with trembling courage.
She was so lovely in that moment that even the women of the Nine Yin Association could only stare at her, dazed by her beauty.
“I promise.”
Moved by her courage, Seok Geum-ryong answered with a bright smile.
* * *
At last, Seok Geum-ryong returned to Seokga Manor.
The actual fighting against Salui-dang had not even lasted two full days, yet its effect was striking.
Bukcheon-won of Seokga Manor had proven its boldness as a weapons merchant.
- Bukcheon-won of Seokga Manor is absolutely not to be taken lightly!
- Anyone who wants powerful weapons should go to Bukcheon-won at Seokga Manor! But if you foolishly look down on them and make a clumsy threat, you’ll end up just like Salui-dang, which vanished without a trace!
Who knew that even such rumors would spread through the Hebei martial world?
Seok Ji-sung, the lord of Seokga Manor, had once advised Seok Geum-ryong, who had begun selling weapons, that he must take a firm stance, and that the answer he himself had chosen was the true one, so he must not waver.
“Excellent, excellent!”
When Seok Ji-sung confirmed that Seok Geum-ryong had returned safely from the battle with Salui-dang, he was extremely pleased and patted his son on the shoulder.
Now his son, the young lord Seok Geum-ryong, had established a definite line of goods in Bukcheon-won, first horses and now weapons and armor, and that was a great benefit to all of Seokga Manor.
“Geum-ryong, your contribution has been immense, so I have made a special effort... I was thinking of exempting you from the Family Heritage Test at fifteen. What do you think?”
Seok Ji-sung was so pleased that he presented an astonishing privilege beyond all expectation.
In truth, this was no ordinary favor.
That was because everyone who had left a significant mark on Seokga Manor had passed the internal Family Heritage Test at the age of fifteen, a trial in which one had to take a starting sum of gold coins and increase it by more than fivefold.
So to hear that such a major test would be exempted was nothing short of astonishing.
What was even more astonishing was Seok Geum-ryong’s answer.
“No. I will take it.”
“...!!”
The Family Heritage Test at fifteen was by no means easy.
Even those who showed remarkable commercial talent often failed repeatedly, and until one passed that test, one was not recognized as a legitimate heir.
There were also many who failed to properly complete the test begun at fifteen and, even as they passed sixteen and seventeen and eventually crossed into their twenties, still could not finish it, growing old in vain.
And yet, rather than escaping such a difficult test, he was boldly saying he would take it? Seok Ji-sung and the upper echelons were shocked.
“Why would you do that? There is an easier path.”
“Because an easier path is by no means the correct answer.”
Seok Geum-ryong had his own thoughts.
If he let himself skip the Family Heritage Test just to be comfortable now, that decision would eventually come back to bite him.
For example, he might become the target of mockery from his brothers, who had struggled through and passed the test. In the worst case, someone might even make the absurd claim that since he had been exempted from the Family Heritage Test, he was unqualified to become lord.
More than anything, I have prepared perfectly for the Family Heritage Test, and I’m confident I can pass it in record fashion!
Most importantly, the Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong was fully prepared not merely to pass the Family Heritage Test with difficulty, but to pass it in record-breaking fashion and write a new history and legend for Seokga Manor.
“Hah hah hah! As expected of my son. You truly are a born merchant, a bold martial man, and the proper heir to lead great Seokga Manor.”
Seok Ji-sung was overjoyed by his son’s ambitions and showed how satisfied he was.
By definition, a merchant of Seokga Manor did not need to be constrained by the test itself; he had to go mad with the task and leave behind not fivefold profit but profit tens of times over to be considered a true descendant of Seokga Manor.
“Yes. A man like you can surely break the record of twentyfold profit set by that first son, Seok Dong-seo.”
The most remarkable achievement in the last five hundred years of Seokga Manor was the twentyfold profit record left by the current heir, the first son, Seok Dong-seo.
If one invested ten gold coins, he had earned two hundred. It was an astonishing record.
But Seok Ji-sung was certain, without the slightest doubt, that the fifth son, Seok Geum-ryong, would surpass that magnificent record by a wide margin.