The Growing Divide
Extremely irritated, Geukseon sent Geokrang Sword packing and strode toward me with heavy steps.
I could roughly guess why she was acting like that.
Was it because of how I’d mixed One Step, Thousand Miles into my use of Geokjong Meteor just a moment ago?
So she’d hurriedly sent Geokrang Sword away. Geukseon wasn’t the sort to let her curiosity sit around and fester.
"Child."
"Yes, senior."
"What was that sword technique you just used?"
Of course she noticed immediately. That was only natural.
She was the one who’d practically rewritten Yuyu Mugeuk Sword Art from the ground up.
So now that there was a sword path she’d never seen before mixed in, there was no way she wouldn’t catch it.
"I saw Geokrang Sword combine strong sword and soft sword styles, so I tried blending blunt sword and swift sword instead."
Geukseon’s expression made her thoughts obvious.
She looked utterly floored. Dumbfounded.
"What kind of sword is this swift sword you mixed in? It doesn’t seem like an ordinary one, either."
"I believe it’s called Splendor-Light Sword Art. The technique I used was the first form, One Step, Thousand Miles."
"Splendor-Light Sword Art?"
The suspicion still hadn’t cleared from Geukseon’s face.
That told me even she didn’t know this sword art. It had seemed pretty impressive, though. Was it just not famous?
"Show me the form. It may be a sword I know."
"Yes, senior."
It was said to be one of the utmost taboos to look at another person’s martial arts without permission, but Geukseon had already taught me even her own art.
So I just demonstrated it. Honestly, this was better.
At Geukseon’s level, she’d be able to judge the strengths and weaknesses just from watching and even improve it further.
I set aside the greatsword, which had been split in half, and used the cheap iron sword I’d originally had to show Splendor-Light Sword Art.
I still wasn’t skilled enough to perform it smoothly, so the movements were rough.
Even so, I tried to make every motion as precise as possible while drawing the sword art out.
After watching the full form, Geukseon covered her mouth and fixed her gaze on the ground, thinking for a long while.
Wow, she’s really thinking hard. What’s she so troubled about?
What did the world look like to someone like Geukseon? Martial arts and all that too?
That made me intensely curious. When would I ever reach a level like that?
* * *
Geukseon hadn’t covered her mouth for nothing.
She couldn’t stop the corners of her lips from lifting. She didn’t want Harin to see that.
Yes. The moment she kicked off the blanket and hurried back to Jegal Clan Manor, she really had done the right thing.
That was what Geukseon was thinking now, and inwardly she was so delighted she felt like dancing.
Splendor-Light Sword Art was a rather advanced martial art.
Comparable to Yuyu Mugeuk Sword Art, perhaps?
Truth be told, Harin’s reconstruction of it was still incomplete, so its deepest subtleties had not yet fully emerged.
But even from that alone, Geukseon could tell what the sword art focused on and what kind of subtle principles it contained.
And on top of that, she’d blended blunt and swift sword styles!?
The child who said such a thing with such a calm face was unbelievably, absurdly astonishing.
How could she speak so casually about something so difficult?
Did she have any idea how many people had tried and failed before her?
Geukseon could barely hold back the laughter threatening to spill out.
So she kept on looking solemn. She couldn’t afford to laugh here, unbecomingly. Of course not.
At the same time, she thought again about Yuyu Mugeuk Sword Art and Splendor-Light Sword Art.
And soon, she reached a conclusion.
Maybe this was something only that child could do.
"Child."
"Yes, senior."
"We need to hurry to Kaifeng. From now on, forget about Byeokhaedo and all the rest, and head straight to Kaifeng."
"Yes. Understood."
"And don’t carry that greatsword anymore. You’ll need a different sword. For now, use an ordinary one."
At Geukseon’s words, Harin looked a little disappointed.
But Geukseon didn’t particularly care about that.
The way Harin was using a greatsword now was a waste. It was a loss.
And now that Geokrang Sword had told her something useful, Geukseon felt they needed to get to Kaifeng as quickly as possible.
If that old man Manyaja had come to Kaifeng, then Geukseon would be able to get her hands on what she wanted.
With that, Geukseon stopped thinking and started walking.
Now that there was no need to worry about petty riffraff, the best thing would be to avoid people as much as possible and make for Kaifeng.
* * *
After leaving Jegal Clan Manor, Baek Jin-ah felt deeply satisfied to be traveling with Dang Yeong-young.
Central Plains geography was difficult. And vast.
No matter how much explanation you heard, and no matter how well you thought you knew the directions, this was the sort of place where you could still get lost.
But once Dang Yeong-young took the lead, that happened far less often.
"Miss Dang?"
"Yes."
"Aren’t you from Sichuan? How do you know these roads so well?"
"I know the road from Jegal Clan Manor to Kaifeng well. I’ve come and gone often, since that’s where the Murim Alliance is."
Dang Yeong-young was speaking so politely that anyone who knew her from before would’ve stared with wide eyes and asked, "Is that really the same Yeong-young of the Dang Clan?"
She had changed quite a bit after Harin gave her a sharp wake-up call.
And the Baek Jin-ah traveling with her now was exactly the sort of person Dang Yeong-young found pleasant to look at, someone whose face naturally made her brighten.
So Dang Yeong-young was quite courteous. It was hard to believe she’d ever been different.
If Baek Jin-ah had known what Dang Yeong-young used to be like, she would have refused to travel with her. No question.
In any case, Dang Yeong-young’s guidance was excellent. It was enough to make Baek Jin-ah resent all the hardship she’d gone through crossing mountains and rivers alone.
Truthfully, the thing that gave Baek Jin-ah the most trouble was the river.
Rivers. Streams. That sort of thing.
Mountains could be forced through one way or another.
Of course, it was startling when a cliff suddenly appeared out of nowhere, too.
Still, that sort of thing happened often enough along beast trails that she could grit her teeth and move on.
She could always turn back.
But a river was different. A river had to be crossed.
And to cross it, she needed a ferry landing and a boatman, which was a considerable hassle.
There wasn’t always a boatman around everywhere, after all.
If there happened to be a landing nearby, then at least she wouldn’t have to go too far out of her way, but if not, Baek Jin-ah would complain inwardly to no end.
Still, it was a relief when the river wasn’t too wide.
Since Baek Jin-ah had learned Ice Soul Divine Art, she did have a way across.
Using the light-foot technique called Ice-Chisel Step, she could at least cross rivers that weren’t overly broad.
It was a movement art that released inner power in an instant, freezing the ground beneath each step.
But even that was beyond her for places where the current ran too fast, or where she would have to use it repeatedly in quick succession.
The most infuriating case was when she crossed a river that bent back on itself in a zigzag.
There was nothing more absurd than finally crossing a river only to realize another one had appeared and that it was the very same river, just curving around.
It meant wasting both inner power and time.
Still, Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young’s journey went smoothly. For a day, at least.
But starting the next day, their progress began to be obstructed.
Three men in black martial outfits. Each of them gave off a sinister air. And the things they carried were no less suspicious.
Ordinary martial artists didn’t walk around carrying crossbows and nets.
Yet the black-clad men carrying such things saw Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young, then quickly formed up and advanced.
"Hah?"
Dang Yeong-young was dumbfounded when she saw that.
She was clearly wearing the dark green martial attire of the Sichuan Dang Clan.
And those men were still coming closer, as if they knew exactly who she was. Their eyes were like hunters looking at prey.
"Miss Baek, stay there. It won’t do you any good to come closer."
Dang Yeong-young said it calmly and stepped forward.
At the same time, two crossbow bolts shot toward her. And a net was thrown.
There was only one reason to use crossbows against a martial artist.
A flimsy trick meant to coat the tips with poison and seal the target’s first move.
Since the other side had already shown hostility first, there was no reason to show them any consideration, so Dang Yeong-young slipped a hand into her sleeve with a cold look.
There was no need for mercy here. And besides, she didn’t like the arrogant insolence of those fools daring to use poison even after seeing that she was from the Sichuan Dang Clan.
She dodged both incoming crossbow bolts and the net, then threw three hidden needles at once.
Three slender feather rain needles, so thin they were nearly invisible.
They flew straight toward the three men, and two of them jumped back in surprise, but the needles still buried themselves in their foreheads.
One, however, deflected the needle with a hook-like weapon in his hand and charged toward Dang Yeong-young at surprising speed.
But Dang Yeong-young only stepped back slightly.
The man who lunged past the place she’d stood suddenly went pale, then hurriedly retreated.
That was the end of it. Anyone who dared pass through the place where someone of the Dang Clan had stood had no right to complain if they suffered like that.
The Dang Clan were experts at secretly laying poison even from a distance, so spreading poison over the spot they’d occupied was hardly even worth mentioning as work.
The only fortunate thing was that Dang Yeong-young hadn’t used a lethal poison.
The man hit by the poison trembled all over and collapsed to his knees in place.
It was a poison called Kneel and Lie Still.
It was named for the fact that anyone afflicted by it would naturally sink to their knees and be unable to move at all.
The reason Dang Yeong-young used that poison was simple.
No matter how many odd eccentrics there were in the martial world, there weren’t that many who would behave this recklessly.
They were already as good as dead. The martial world was not such a gentle place.
If you went around antagonizing others and acting like a boar caught by an arrow, you didn’t last long.
"Urgh... ugh... P-please, spare me."
"Then tell me everything you know. Why you attacked without warning. Why you’re doing this."
Dang Yeong-young spoke coldly, and the man, relieved that he wasn’t dead yet, spilled everything he knew.
Byeokhaedo, the rumors, the people gathering nearby, the famous figures, and so on.
Dang Yeong-young and Baek Jin-ah stood quietly and listened, both thinking the same thing: this was troublesome.
Just following along quietly was hard enough; if these trash kept hanging around, things were bound to get annoying.
"I-I’ve told you everything! So please, just spare my life!!!"
"Let’s go."
Dang Yeong-young said it, and Baek Jin-ah gave the man one more glance before following her.
"W-wait! You can’t just leave like that! The antidote!?"
"How shameless. You’ve got no shame at all. Disgusting. You should be grateful we didn’t kill you on the spot."
After hurling those biting words, Dang Yeong-young shook her sleeve once more at the men.
Originally, the poison would have worn off after a day. But with that flick of her sleeve, she extended it by another two days.
If they remained in that condition in a place like this for three days, they might as well already be dead.
They might have survived if it had only been a day, if luck was on their side, but three days was impossible.
And so Dang Yeong-young and Baek Jin-ah left the spot behind them, leaving only the three men, who could no longer even summon the strength to cry out, staring after them.
---