A Challenge at the Birthday Feast
Surely they're not arriving together as if they'd been waiting on purpose.
The middle-aged man approaching ahead wore an indifferent, expressionless face, his features as sharp as ever. Behind him appeared more than a dozen martial artists of the Yuk An So Family. Among them, Uncheon could pick out So Ji-dong's smiling face.
Sun Heo smiled as he looked upon Po-ui, who was revealing himself after so long.
Ten years ago, Po-ui had quietly left Hefei. Even the Yeoyang Po Family had claimed not to know where he had gone.
Sun Heo addressed him not by his real name, as in the old days, but by his courtesy name.
"Hyeonmyeong, it has been a long time. It must already be ten years since we last met face to face."
"Elder, I offer my congratulations on your birthday."
"Thank you. Have you been well all this while? As it happens, I heard about you from Uncheon. Where have you been, and is this the road of your return?"
"I have not returned. I am only in Hefei for a short while."
Po-ui pointed to Uncheon standing beside him and said, "It must please you that your maternal grandson has grown and come to visit."
"Ha ha ha. Indeed it does."
Uncheon met his gaze once more.
As expected... I still can't read the light in his eyes.
He still could not read the man's thoughts.
...Looking at him again, this child is unusual.
Po-ui, too, was startled as he regarded Uncheon. Even though he had opened his Heart Eye, the youth met his gaze straight on.
He had come to the Chungui Sun Family not only to congratulate Sun Heo on his birthday, but to meet Uncheon once more.
"Might we speak when you have the time?"
"Of course."
"Then I shall see you later."
Po-ui glanced at the group of martial artists who had arrived behind him, then stepped aside.
Last of all, the martial artists of the Yuk An So Family approached Sun Heo and Uncheon. So Hwan-gyeong, deputy family head of the Yuk An So Family, received a seven-treasure box from a subordinate who followed close behind and held it out with both hands.
"I offer my congratulations on Elder Sun Heo's birthday. The family head of the Yuk An So Family has sent medicinal ingredients beneficial to the body."
Uncheon accepted the seven-treasure box. When he opened the heavy casket, fragrance drifted from the herbs within. Merely smelling them made it plain they were precious medicines.
"Ha ha ha. You have given a rare gift. When you return, convey my thanks to your family head."
"I shall relay your words exactly to the family head."
After exchanging greetings with Sun Heo, So Hwan-gyeong looked at Uncheon standing beside him. A smile rose to the corners of his mouth.
Just as Ji-dong said, his internal energy is nothing special.
For someone from the Namgung Family, his internal energy looked endlessly weak.
I still don't know how he defeated the Murderous Light Venom Serpent. Perhaps someone helped him.
If they fought, victory seemed certain. If the Yuk An So Family defeated the much-rumored Blue Stream Sword Fragrance of the Namgung Family, their renown would soar at once.
Of course, to Uncheon, who met his eyes, those thoughts were plain as day.
"Deputy Family Head So, please go inside and enjoy the banquet."
"Thank you."
So Hwan-gyeong clasped his fists in salute and brushed past Uncheon's side with a subtle smile.
So he wants to show off here. Well, the stage is set rather nicely.
Though the banquet was meant to celebrate Sun Heo's birthday, it was a rare occasion, and many of Hefei's leading figures had gathered at the Chungui Sun Family. Once the banquet began, people of every sort began circulating in search of chances to deepen connections. Moreover, young men and women flocked to such gatherings. Men and women one would not easily meet in ordinary times could exchange greetings without burden in a place like this. Naturally, young people of similar ages clustered together.
And the foremost beauty of the banquet was without question Jang Ho-ryeon. Jang So-hwa and other young women stood gathered at her side. Young men flocked around them as if competing to catch their interest.
A presence approached Uncheon's side. He turned his head and met Po-ui's deep-eyed gaze.
"May I speak with you?"
"Please do."
Po-ui pointed toward the young men and women gathered across the way and asked, "Why are you alone? You look old enough to join them."
"I have little interest. They talk far too much trying to win a woman's favor."
Po-ui gave a short laugh. "You sound like an old man. At your age one ought to be enjoying oneself to the fullest. Setting yourself apart as special is no good thing either."
"They only boasted of how fine they were, and I am not particularly fine myself."
Po-ui's brow furrowed at Uncheon's words. "Not particularly fine? Anyone hearing that would call you insufferable. Is it not special enough simply to be a descendant of the Namgung Family?"
"If a family's background is what makes one special, that would only discourage those who work hard, would it not?"
"It sounds like the full-bellied talk of one who has plenty. Of course you did not choose it—you were simply born into the Namgung Family. Flaunting it too much is unwise, yet denying a clear fact outright can also make others feel wretched."
"Thank you for the advice. But I still have no interest."
"Heh heh heh. What an amusing fellow."
Uncheon looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Now that I think of it, I heard that Uncle Po-ui was fond of my mother."
"..."
For the first time, the pupils of Po-ui's Heart Eye wavered.
"What did you just say?"
"That you were fond of my mother..."
"Before that?"
"Uncle Po-ui, you mean?"
"Why am I your uncle?"
"It sounds better than 'mister,' doesn't it? And I heard you studied together with Mother."
"Huh. So you're unfazed even after hearing I liked your mother?"
"It was long ago—before she married. That someone liked Mother back then does not seem a bad thing."
"...Pfft. You truly are Yuhwa's son. You've got a way with words."
"Do I resemble Mother?"
"You're exactly like Yuhwa when she was young. Regardless of what the other person thought, she decided her own view was right, freely inferred, and drew conclusions."
"Ah... that's a relief."
"What part of it?"
"I don't look much like either of my parents, so I wondered if I might have been a foundling. Hearing I resemble Mother sets my mind at ease."
Po-ui found himself speechless at Uncheon's absurd remarks. At times the image of Sun Yuhwa, who used to say idle nonsense, overlapped with Uncheon's face. His gaze upon Uncheon gradually softened.
"But may I not call you Uncle?"
"Do as you like."
"Thank you, Uncle Po."
Po-ui still could not quite adjust to the brightly smiling Uncheon. After Sun Yuhwa, had there been anyone with whom conversation flowed so easily?
"Is she well?"
"Yes, she is always in good health. Are you still alone, Uncle Po?"
"I never married."
"Surely not because of Mother?"
"It was so long ago I no longer know."
"It's not too late even now. If you meet a good person, you could still marry."
"There's no need."
As they talked, Po-ui strangely felt as if he were being led by Uncheon. Before he knew it, he no longer held the initiative in the conversation. He looked straight into Uncheon's eyes and asked,
"What thoughts come to you when you look into my eyes?"
"No thoughts at all, really. Hmm... I thought the pupils were black, but they're a deep brown, that sort of thing?"
"..."
"But looking at how clear and deep your eyes are, it seems you have cultivated a great deal."
"What an amusing fellow. What do you know to say such things? Words must come truly from the heart—not something picked up by eavesdropping."
"I don't know if this is nonsense, but when I look into someone's eyes I roughly know what they're thinking. Yet I cannot read you at all, Uncle."
Po-ui narrowed his eyes and stared at Uncheon as if glaring. The ability to read a person's thoughts was something even highly cultivated masters rarely obtained. He concluded that Uncheon might be an even more eccentric youth than he appeared. Simply enduring his Heart Eye again and again already set him apart from ordinary people.
"Is it impossible for scions of the Namgung Family to enter other martial forces?"
"Within our family, up to the family head's cousins must remain, but from the sixth degree of kinship one may leave for the Central Plains if one wishes. Of course it would depend on where."
"What is your relation to the family head?"
"I am his fifth-degree nephew."
"So it is possible. But you will remain with the family, I take it?"
"No. I intend to leave the family."
"...!"
An unexpected answer. Even those who could become independent mostly never left the great houses, as Po-ui well knew.
"Staying with the family would be more comfortable, would it not? Do you have some great ambition out in the world?"
"There is no need for me to do great things when there are many elder brothers in the family. I mean to seek out the work I myself desire."
Po-ui received yet another eccentric reply.
This eccentricity is the exact image of Yuhwa as a child.
While they studied together she had suddenly stood up saying she wanted to see the sea, and that very afternoon she had left with a servant to look at it—only to be caught by the elder an hour later and brought back.
Po-ui spoke casually. "You are a martial artist, so you must know of Myeongseon Palace."
"Yes. I know it well."
Even those with no interest in the martial world could not fail to know of Myeongseon Palace. At present five superpowers in the Central Plains martial world possessed strength enough to aim at unifying the realm under one rule.
The One Ancestor: Martial Ancestor Baekryuje. He was the one who had earned the title of the greatest martial artist under heaven. Though alone, if the Martial Ancestor Baekryuje gave an order, countless martial artists would flock to him and in an instant form a vast force.
The One Palace: Myeongseon Palace. A single martial power continuing for three hundred years, belonging to neither orthodox nor unorthodox, it was called the greatest giant force of the martial world.
The One Alliance: the Wulin Alliance. There was no longer any need to explain it—the undisputed united alliance of the orthodox factions.
The One Evil: Cheonsasa. The united force of the unorthodox created by the supreme Heavenly Death Cult to oppose the orthodox alliance. Even unorthodox martial artists who never banded together could not defy the order of the Heavenly Death Cult Leader alone.
The One Cult: the Thousand-Year Demonic Cult. Known as the headquarters of the demonic path with a thousand years of history, the place Central Plains people shortened to simply "the Demonic Cult." Existing on Heavenly Demon Mountain in Xinjiang, far from the Central Plains, they were the sovereigns of the demonic path.
Martial artists of the Central Plains called these the Five Heavens Beyond Heaven.
Po-ui opened his mouth. "I reside in Myeongseon Palace."
"Is that true? That is impressive."
He had known the man was no ordinary figure, yet he had never imagined he belonged to one of the greatest powers of the Central Plains.
"But what brings you here...?"
"After leaving Hefei I had not returned for a long while. It merely happened to coincide with the elder's birthday."
It was the first time Uncheon had met a person of Myeongseon Palace.
"Myeongseon Palace's renown is tremendous."
"So it is. How about it? Would you care to visit Myeongseon Palace yourself sometime?"
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Of course. I have wanted to go if the chance arose. At present I have not yet left the family, so I cannot move freely."
"I see. Once you leave the family, come find Myeongseon Palace."
"Yes. I look forward to the day I pay my respects."
Po-ui held out a white token to Uncheon.
"When you come to Myeongseon Palace, show this token."
"Understood."
Uncheon accepted the white token and carefully tucked it inside his sash.
"It seems someone over there has business with you."
Jang So-hwa was running over swiftly from across the way.
"Brother Uncheon!"
"What is it?"
"Well... that is..."
"Someone wants to spar with me?"
"Ah! How did you know?"
"Martial artists have sharp ears. When martial artists pick a quarrel, it means they want a fight."
"Ah, even while we were talking among ourselves they butted in without any sense. They keep saying if they fight Brother they will win."
"..."
"They made a wager that if they win they will court Sister Ho-ryeon, just as they please..."
"I, the person concerned, have not even decided whether to accept the wager. What if I simply say I do not wish to fight him?"
"They said... that would mean you ran away because you were afraid to fight them. Then they would count it as their automatic victory."
"What a bothersome person."
They had laid the groundwork so that a sparring match would be unavoidable.
If that is what they want.
There was no reason he could not fight. The Yuk An So Family had come to the banquet precisely to manufacture a pretext and disgrace the Namgung Family. If he avoided them, he could already picture how loudly they would crow through Hefei. He had thought that keeping distance might let the matter pass, but things had not gone as hoped.
"Brother, what should we do?"
"Let's go. We'll know once we hear what they say. If talk fails, we will spar as they wish."
The only way martial artists settled problems was sparring or fighting. From the moment they had met in the village, he had expected it would come to this.
"Uncle, I shall go."
"Young people brim with vigor. This is the elder's birthday; I hope nothing unpleasant arises."
"I will keep it as quiet as possible, so that neither side is hurt."
Uncheon took his leave and walked with Jang So-hwa toward So Ji-dong. Many people had gathered around the youth. Their gazes upon the approaching Uncheon brimmed with eager expectation.
Well. The most entertaining thing in the world is watching a fight. Next comes watching a fire.
Uncheon stopped before So Ji-dong.
"It seems you have business with me."
"We are martial artists, are we not? To liven the atmosphere, nothing beats a spar. I wonder if the Chungui Sun Family will allow it."
"There is a saying that nothing under heaven is impossible. It is possible."
"Coming on strong. Did you think we would back down because of that?"
"I do not recall telling you to back down."
"..."
"I will give you what you want."
Uncheon's hidden strength did not show outwardly. A master of the martial world concealed three-tenths of his power. For Uncheon, who could naturally hide his internal energy, that was only to his advantage.
He poured internal energy into his voice so that everyone gathered in the banquet hall could hear.
"Greetings, everyone. Today, on the occasion of my maternal grandfather's birthday, I, Namgung Uncheon, his maternal grandson, wish to present a sparring match for you all. Allow me to introduce So Ji-dong of the Yuk An So Family, who will spar with me."
The moment Uncheon's voice ended, as if they had waited only for this, the people of the Yuk An So Family swiftly began clearing space in the banquet hall.
Namgung Go-hee and Jin U-myeong hurried to Uncheon's side.
"Uncheon! What is going on?"
"Aunt, it seems the Yuk An So Family wants to trample me. They are crossing the line."
"Those brats... they truly need a thrashing before they come to their senses...!"
"If they have slighted our family, is that not pretext enough?"
"More than enough. Are you confident against that fellow?"
"Victory is decided only after fighting, is it not?"
"Oh, honestly, that is true, but!"
"I will be back."
Namgung Go-hee watched Uncheon step forward with worry. The opponent had already drawn up his internal energy, while Uncheon's still looked low by comparison.
"My lady, I do not think you need worry. Look at Nephew Uncheon. Do you see any tension on his face?"
Namgung Go-hee looked at Uncheon. Just as her husband said, he wore a calm expression.
"The nephew is not trembling in the least. That means he is confident, so we need only watch quietly."
At Jin U-myeong's composed words she nodded. The two of them watched Uncheon stand before his opponent and clasp his fists in salute.