Byeokunja
“Ooh! At last, the lost treasure of the family!”
The wealthy house reacted with great excitement when I brought them the jade hairpin, and they paid out the reward at once.
“It’s of no use to us. Surely it should be put to good use by our benefactor.”
What they handed over was a mid-grade elixir called Cheon-okdan.
It was far better than Yanggasoyeongdan. In fact, it was enough to make me a little disappointed that this was all the elixirs I could get from quests.
After taking the elixir, I left the wealthy house and headed straight back to the inn to swallow it down.
Things like this should be eaten right away. It wasn’t like I was saving it for someone else out of kindness.
I opened the wooden box and put the elixir in my mouth. The moment it slid down my throat, it melted away to nothing.
I immediately opened my skill window to check it, but… huh? It wasn’t just Jinwon Heart Art that had gone up?
Jinwon Heart Art had risen from two stars to five.
But Moonlight Divine Art had also gone up by half a star, and Ice Soul Divine Art had increased by half a star as well.
So if I ate an elixir, all the martial arts I was learning went up in stars? That was kind of interesting.
Still, Moonlight Divine Art was only at a quarter star, and Ice Soul Divine Art was at half a star.
Then was Moonlight Divine Art twice as strong as Ice Soul Divine Art?
Wasn’t Ice Soul Divine Art the North Sea Ice Palace’s signature martial art too? And yet it was only at this level?
Still, if the stars went up, that meant I could use them.
Of course, with only a quarter star and half a star, the effects would be slight, but… it was better than nothing, wasn’t it?
So I checked Moonlight Divine Art first.
But this was hard. Was this because it was a supreme-level martial art? Even when I recalled the verses and principles that surfaced in my mind, I still couldn’t make heads or tails of them.
By contrast, Ice Soul Divine Art was much easier to understand.
A faint chill moving through the body. It wasn’t especially impressive, but it was definitely there.
And as I read through the verses of Ice Soul Divine Art carefully, I realized it suited me quite well.
It explained that the cold spreading through the body made one skilled in defense.
So I tried circulating Ice Soul Divine Art properly.
At first it didn’t go well, but after straining at it for a while, I could feel a slight chill gathering over the surface of my body, and that part began to harden.
Wow. My body was already tough thanks to Golden Dragon Body.
This would make me even better. That was a relief.
In a harsh world like this, even a single badly placed injury could put you in danger instantly, couldn’t it?
At the very least, this was a world where everyone carried around a weapon forged from iron.
If I made even one careless mistake, I could end up with something like tetanus.
Anyway, even this alone had made the trip to Kaifeng worthwhile.
I’d gotten a manual and an elixir. The problem was that there wasn’t much else I could do now.
What should I do?
Should I try the Murim Alliance? Or the Beggars’ Sect?
But would they even let me in that easily?
And if they asked where the manual for Ice Soul Divine Art came from, what would I say?
For now, I figured the honest answer was the right one.
That was probably the best way to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Though then there was that Sintu theft… I’d have to tell them the exact location of the report too.
I’d just say I got it by chance. Surely if I brought it to them, they wouldn’t start prying into every little thing.
If it really came to it, I’d just have to tell the truth.
With that settled, I left the inn again and headed first for the Murim Alliance.
If I got turned away there, I’d try the Beggars’ Sect. And if they turned me away too? Well, there’d be nothing I could do about it.
The breath of spring was full upon the city. If this had been a game, it wouldn’t have been something worth considering at all.
There were no seasons in a game, after all.
But here, it was spring, with warm winds blowing through the streets.
Well, there were a few bad smells mixed into the breeze now and then, but they vanished quickly enough, leaving only the heavy, blunt wind behind.
I’d been walking for a while when I noticed a huge crowd gathered up ahead, as if something was going on. I could also hear raised voices.
So I slipped closer and watched from between the people. There were two men there, red-faced and glaring at each other.
“No! This is too much! I clearly apologized properly and sincerely! How can you be so unreasonable!?”
“Ha! Tell me, young brother. Was that supposed to be a sincere apology? Do you really think that? How surprising. Is that how your sect teaches you?”
“What!? Why are you dragging my sect into this!? This whole mess happened because you kept picking a fight!”
As I listened, it didn’t seem like anything that serious.
Probably just a couple of nobodies who’d gotten into a spat.
Both of them had too much pride, so things were getting heated.
I was about to turn away since there was no reason to keep watching, when one of the men suddenly barked, “Fine! Bickering with words like this is a waste of time, isn’t it!? Then let’s stop talking. Draw your sword!”
At that, the people around them went, “Ooh!” and quietly backed away to give them space.
Because of that, I missed my chance to slip out too, and as everyone moved back, I found myself pushed toward the front of the crowd.
And just like that, the other man drew his sword as if he’d been waiting for it, and the two of them faced off blade to blade.
Well, this had turned into a show whether I wanted it or not.
But how skilled were those two, anyway? They didn’t look all that old.
And yet, surprisingly, both men clad their swords in sword qi almost at the same time.
Apparently neither of them had expected that, because regret flickered across both their faces.
They must have thought the other man was beneath him, so he’d tried to seize the upper hand by showing off sword qi first.
But once they saw the other using it too, that was the expression they made.
It was hilarious. Just from that alone, I could tell they both lacked real experience.
And yet, for all that, their stances and momentum were excellent. Were they rising stars of the righteous and demonic factions?
Still, if they couldn’t tell when to step forward and when to stop, then they still had a long way to go.
What would they do now? They’d already drawn their swords and wrapped them in sword qi.
There was nothing more embarrassing than backing down from here, was there?
Maybe that was why, as if they’d been shoved into it against their will, the two finally started swinging their swords.
There was no better way to put it. They were just trading blows like two people hoping someone would stop them.
Honestly, pathetic. Absolutely ridiculous.
It was enough to make me think, Do I really have to keep watching this?
That was how little the duel offered me. Even though they were both peak experts.
Still, the people around me didn’t seem to agree.
Watching the two swordsmen clash, sword qi ringing out with each collision, they kept exclaiming in admiration.
Perhaps because of that response, the two of them eventually began to fight in earnest.
Once you’ve climbed onto the tiger’s back, you can’t just get off. They were in the same boat now.
The man in white wore a heavy style—slow, deliberate swordsmanship—while the man in blue used a fast, light sword, full of quick changes.
Because of that, it looked as though the man in blue was overwhelming his opponent one-sidedly.
But I felt like I could tell. The fight was actually dead even.
Especially the man in white—he was clearly waiting for one decisive opening.
That was odd. How could I tell that?
Was it the dynamic visual acuity and battlefield intuition I’d honed through FPS games?
My guess was right. The instant the man in white found a gap, he swung his sword hard.
The man in blue barely managed to block it, but he couldn’t stop the clang as the sword shattered.
And then a broken shard of blade flew toward me.
As I stared at it, I knew it was going to lodge in the face of a man standing nearby and watching.
Ping.
So I casually swung my arm and knocked the shard away.
It was kind of funny, really. A human hand and a shard of sword colliding, and it made a pinging sound.
“Oooh!”
Because of that, the people around me let out cries of admiration as they looked my way.
Whew. Good thing I was wearing a bamboo hat and veil. That would’ve been a little embarrassing.
With the sword broken, the duel ended right there.
Those two were probably relieved. The fight ended without either of them getting hurt.
“Ha-ha! Young brother, you’re skilled! A man with such ability has no reason to harbor ill will! I apologize! What do you say? It’s still early—how about a drink?”
“Your Excellency’s heart is wonderfully broad! My narrow-mindedness a moment ago is making me ashamed! Very well! Let’s do that!”
And just like that, the pair who’d been fighting a moment ago began striding toward a tavern, laughing together as if nothing had happened.
Seriously. It was baffling. Was that what righteous-faction thinking was like?
Still, it was a hundred times better than nursing a grudge and holding onto an old feud.
Funny as it was, though, that was just the truth.
Anyway, seeing the two of them like that, the crowd dispersed as well, and I turned away to head once more toward the Murim Alliance.
But as I was walking, an old man approached me from behind at a slightly brisk pace, came up beside me, and quietly spoke.
“Do you have a moment?”
It was an old man speaking to me out of nowhere, so I looked him over with some caution.
But… wow. What was this?
My judgment still wasn’t all that great, but the moment I looked at him properly, I felt as if this old man was enormous.
How should I put it…? Fear? Majesty? Presence?
“Heh-heh. There’s no need to worry. This old man is Byeokunja of Jongnam.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, Senior Byeokunja.”
When I bowed politely, Byeokunja studied me for a moment and then asked carefully, “You’ve never heard my name before?”
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been out in the jianghu for long, so my knowledge is still lacking. Please forgive me.”
At that, Byeokunja turned his head and looked into the air, clicking his tongue as he muttered, “Tch. Yes, and what good is fame, anyway? It’s all just empty renown.”
Then he looked back at me and asked, “I’m sorry to take a bit of your time, but I have something I’m curious about. Would that be all right?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
“Good. Then…”
He paused for a moment and stared at me intently.
His eyes shone with such piercing brightness it felt as though they might see straight through my veil.
“How is the Palace Lord doing?”
“Pardon?”
“Hm? Ah. Yes, I understand your feelings—you’re wearing both a bamboo hat and a veil, after all. But don’t worry. I once had a connection with the Palace Lord of the Ice Palace, and we were close enough to call each other brothers. So there’s no need to hide your identity from me.”
Oh boy. Now he was flat-out deciding I was a member of the North Sea Ice Palace.
And this man seemed to be quite something himself.
Now I was curious too. Just what kind of person had come out of the North Sea Ice Palace?