The Cheonhwangdo Map
Dokjeonhwa had not come seeking revenge against the six sects that had caused the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident.
"What is this object Great Hero Dok seeks?"
"Forgive me. That... is something I must ask the Family Head of the Namgung Family myself."
Dokjeonhwa would answer Namgung Hyeonwu no further.
Yet in that very moment, the identity of the object rose clear and sharp in Dokjeonhwa's mind.
And as Uncheon's eyes met his, the man's thoughts flowed straight into the boy's head.
A map? The Middle Kingdom Merchant State?
Something belonging to the Middle Kingdom Merchant State that had been hidden within the Baekcheon Sect.
The Central Plains were vast enough to hold many merchant states, yet Uncheon had never once heard of a place called the Middle Kingdom Merchant State.
Still, he could not tell his father that these men were searching for a map belonging to that Merchant State.
How could he explain that he had learned it by reading Dokjeonhwa's thoughts?
Namgung Hyeonwu saw that no further answer would come from the man.
"Very well, Great Hero Dok. I understand your intent precisely. I shall meet the Family Head myself and convey your meaning with exactness."
"......"
"The day has grown late. You have waited this long already—wait one day more."
"I understand."
Namgung Hyeonwu left the Guest Pavilion with Uncheon and entered the family grounds.
He had to see the Family Head at once.
The Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident was undeniably a grave chapter in the family's history, yet it was not something that could shake the Namgung Family itself.
"I must meet Brother Family Head. You go in and rest."
"Yes, Father. Please take care."
"Take care of what? Now that I think of it, I have been rather bored of late."
Namgung Hyeonwu watched Uncheon's retreating back as the boy returned to Hyeoncheong Pavilion.
In a father's eyes, the boy looked as though he knew the limits of his inner energy all too well and therefore refused to grow greedy.
...Well. Even if he did grow ambitious, the things he can do within the family are already set. So I understand why he wants to leave... yet...
He knew the truth of it himself, but as a father he still could not let the boy go easily.
Turning, he headed for the Family Head's Hall.
He passed straight through the Guardian Hall that encircled the Family Head's Hall and approached the main gate; there, Captain Jeong Huta of the Secret Guard bowed to him.
The Family Head's outer protection fell to the Guardian Hall, but the secret escort and the interior of the Family Head's Hall itself belonged to the Secret Guard.
"I greet the Head of the Law Enforcement Hall."
"Captain Jeong, I wish to see the Family Head. May I enter?"
"This humble one will guide you."
Jeong Huta led the way for Namgung Hyeonwu.
Upon reaching the office door he stepped aside.
Namgung Hyeonwu spoke toward the room within.
"The Head of the Law Enforcement Hall."
"Enter."
A deep yet clear voice answered from inside.
The door slid open with a low rumble.
"Hyeonwu, come in."
When he stepped through, Family Head Namgung Cheonwu greeted him with a bright expression far different from the one he had worn in the First Hall of the Blue Sky.
"Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
"Perfect. Join me."
"......"
"Worries are best settled on a full stomach."
"Yes, Elder Brother."
Namgung Cheonwu was magnanimous and broad-minded, and as befit the head of a great martial family he carried a powerful confidence.
Perhaps because he was the eldest son of the previous Family Head, he met every person without the least stiffness or reserve.
When they entered the reception room, a meal already waited.
"Elder Brother, did you know I would come?"
"Once you met Wolyeonggwangheun at the Branch Pavilion, you could not stay away."
"So it was."
While they ate, Namgung Cheonwu asked,
"Ah yes—nephew Uncheon passed the examination, did he not? What did he say he wished to do?"
"...He has not yet decided."
"A deep thinker, that one. He has been different from the other children since he was small. Everyone in the family likes him."
"That is true enough... yet being liked and surviving in the Murim are not the same thing, are they?"
"Not so. That very quality may become nephew Uncheon's strength. Leave him free to do as he wishes. The family needs men like him as well."
Namgung Cheonwu regarded Uncheon with clear approval.
"Shall we take our tea outside?"
"As you wish."
When the meal was largely finished the two men stepped out and entered the rear garden.
A maid had already prepared tea upon the pavilion.
Namgung Cheonwu lifted the pot and poured for them both.
"It has been a long time since the two of us shared tea alone."
"There has been little chance for it."
"The Law Enforcement Hall keeps one busy, true."
Namgung Cheonwu took a sip, set the cup down, and asked,
"What did he say?"
"Confirming that Wolyeonggwangheun is indeed a disciple of the Baekcheon Sect should not be difficult. Yet he seemed to hold no interest in the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident itself. The fact that he knew exactly how many of our family went to the Baekcheon Sect that day—knowledge never made public—suggests someone stands behind him."
"Hmm... Then he has another reason for climbing our mountain."
"His purpose appears to be the recovery of an object belonging to the Baekcheon Sect."
"Hah... so it is that after all... Did he know assassins had been set upon them?"
"He showed no sign of knowing."
Namgung Cheonwu seemed already to have guessed why Dokjeonhwa had come to the family.
"May I ask what that object is?"
"...At this point it will be difficult to leave it forever among the secrets of the previous generation."
Namgung Hyeonwu's expression hardened.
"Elder Brother, is it something ill? Your face has grown dark."
"Younger brother Hyeonwu. If what I heard from the previous Family Head is true, the Murim will be thrown into turmoil."
"Surely not... because of the object he speaks of?"
"Exactly so. Yet what he seeks is not precisely an object of the Baekcheon Sect."
As Family Head, Namgung Cheonwu had long ago received every fact from the previous Family Head, Namgung Hu.
"You have heard of Cheonhwangdo, I presume?"
"The treasure vault of the Middle Kingdom Merchant State from two hundred years ago? I know it as the reason that Merchant State fell overnight."
"Correct."
The Middle Kingdom Merchant State.
The first merchant house to unify the commercial world of the Central Plains, so mighty it was called a Merchant State, possessing a fortune great enough to threaten even Myeongseon Palace—still ranked among the supreme sects of the Murim.
"Just so. The Middle Kingdom Merchant State was destroyed by martial artists... much as the Baekcheon Sect was."
Cheonhwangdo, the treasure vault of the Middle Kingdom Merchant State.
And the object that had brought about the Baekcheon Sect's destruction.
If among the six great families that went that day there was one that had annihilated the Baekcheon Sect...
Namgung Hyeonwu already knew what words would follow.
"When the Middle Kingdom Merchant State fell, every person who knew the location of Cheonhwangdo vanished from the world. Yet the place itself did not vanish. According to the rumors of the time, the Merchant State Lord had created a map—four pieces that must all be gathered before the precise location of Cheonhwangdo could be known."
"And those maps were hidden within the Baekcheon Sect?"
"Whether there were truly four pieces or only one is not even certain. What followed after that, you already know."
Namgung Hyeonwu asked quietly,
"...Elder Brother, did our family truly take no part in their destruction?"
"The Cheonhwangdo Map is a treasure for which any family would pour out its entire strength. Yet we are an ancient and righteous great family. Once we realized all six families had gathered, we were the first to withdraw from the Baekcheon Sect."
"I see."
Namgung Hyeonwu felt relief.
He had taught the children righteousness and justice, trust and loyalty, and the chivalric way.
Had the family truly been involved in the Baekcheon Sect's fall, he would no longer have been able to look those children in the face.
"Tomorrow we shall meet Wolyeonggwangheun and hear what he has to say."
"Yes, Elder Brother."
Namgung Hyeonwu's voice had grown low.
As though clouds had veiled the moon and darkened the world, a heavy weight settled in one corner of his chest.
When Uncheon entered Hyeoncheong Pavilion he saw a middle-aged man sweeping the garden beyond the main gate and called out in cheerful greeting.
"Uncle Chaeun!"
For ten years the man had managed every household affair of Hyeoncheong Pavilion; from the day he first met eight-year-old Uncheon he had doted on the boy as though he were his own son.
Uncheon in turn had always followed and liked him.
Chaeun looked up with a bright face.
"Young Master, are you just now returning?"
"Yes. Uncle, I have something to ask."
"What is it you wish to know?"
"You said you worked at the Hwangshan Escort Agency before coming to the family, didn't you?"
"Yes, that is right. My younger brother still works there. Why do you ask all of a sudden?"
"There are many merchant houses and trading companies in the Central Plains, aren't there? In Hefei there is the Anhui Great Merchant Guild."
"Just as you say, Young Master, the Central Plains hold many merchant houses. Among the great ones, ten are called the Ten Heavenly Merchant Guilds."
"Ah... Then do you know of a place called the Middle Kingdom Merchant State?"
Chaeun stared at Uncheon in surprise.
"How does the Young Master know of the Middle Kingdom Merchant State? Two hundred years ago it was the greatest merchant house of the Central Plains—called the very sky of the commercial world."
"It truly was that great, then."
"I have only heard the tales myself, yet they say that in those days the Middle Kingdom Merchant State possessed greater power even than the martial forces. That is why the Murim checked it so heavily. In the end it could not withstand the united strength of the Murim and was destroyed—or so the story goes."
"Even a united Murim alliance?"
"I do not know the details. It is only an old rumor I heard long ago... whether true or false I cannot say."
The Baekcheon Sect had fallen, and so had the Middle Kingdom Merchant State.
One question rose in Uncheon's mind.
Had the Murim alliance attacked the Middle Kingdom Merchant State merely because its power was too great?
Dokjeonhwa was searching for a map of that Merchant State.
"Uncle, if the Middle Kingdom Merchant State was so mighty, it must have possessed countless treasures, yes?"
"Indeed. Yet they say the Murim alliance never found the Merchant State Lord's treasure vault—Cheonhwangdo."
"Cheonhwangdo is the name of the treasure vault?"
"Yes. Its location was known only to the Merchant State Lord himself."
"Ah... Uncle, thank you for telling me so carefully."
"It is nothing. Is there anything else about the commercial world you wish to know?"
"No, that is enough for now. Ah—what is escort work like?"
"Escort work? Does the Young Master wish to work for an escort agency?"
"I have thought about it a little. Being able to travel all across the Central Plains might be interesting."
"Hmm... In my eyes the Young Master seems better suited to the commercial world than to an escort agency."
"Is that so? Why?"
"I have long thought you read people's hearts well. If you entered the commercial world I believe you would succeed handsomely."
"Haha, I will think about it."
After parting from Chaeun, Uncheon went to his room.
He flopped onto the bed and began to sort through everything in his mind.
The object Wolyeonggwangheun sought was a map of the Middle Kingdom Merchant State.
He had already suspected it would be no ordinary map, and his guess had been correct.
If the Baekcheon Sect had held a map that pointed to the location of Cheonhwangdo, it was more than enough reason for all six great families to move.
Even I would have been interested.
Uncheon stared blankly at the ceiling and thought.
Whatever the other families might have done, his own family would not have moved for the sake of an uncertain treasure.
Is there something else I still do not know?
The sun stood at noon.
Dokjeonhwa had expected someone at sunrise, yet no one came to the Branch Pavilion even as midday arrived.
He remained calm instead.
Since climbing to the Namgung Family he had gained time to think quietly through the chain of events that had overtaken him.
Who is he?
The identity of the man who had always puzzled him.
He had never once seen the man's face.
Dokjeonhwa had been fortunate enough to survive the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident.
Yet he had never once thought of risking his life to avenge the Baekcheon Sect's destruction.
Then one day, after he had long forgotten the Baekcheon Sect, the man found him.
A figure wearing a golden mask.
He had come and asked whether Dokjeonhwa wished to know the truth of the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident.
Dokjeonhwa had not been curious.
But the moment he opened his mouth to say so, he felt as though his throat would be cut.
Thus he heard the reason the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident had occurred.
The Cheonhwangdo Map. The treasure vault the Baekcheon Sect Leader had hidden long ago.
Was there any man of the Central Plains who did not know the legend of Cheonhwangdo?
The golden-masked man's words did not end there.
He offered to teach martial arts if Dokjeonhwa wished to make the truth of the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident known to the world.
A chance to learn supreme martial arts and to seek the Cheonhwangdo Map?
Even a guttersnipe living without hope would have dreamed of a future at such an offer.
The golden-masked man added that only Dokjeonhwa—the sole survivor of the Baekcheon Sect—could reveal to the world the six families that had caused the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident.
Of course it was glaringly obvious that the man had other designs.
He, too, must need the Cheonhwangdo Map.
At present the golden-masked man was someone Dokjeonhwa could not confront head-on; yet he believed that if he moved according to the man's will, a chance might one day appear.
He had not yet realized that a man who fails to grasp his own abilities precisely cannot survive.
Dokjeonhwa opened the eyes he had closed.
Just then Namgung Hyeonwu's voice reached him from outside the door.
"Great Hero Dok, we shall enter."
Dokjeonhwa and Jeong Cheong faced the two figures who opened the door and appeared.
Lips firmly closed, eyes powerful.
A faint crease sat between the brows, yet the inner energy flowing through the entire face proclaimed at once that this was a being of a higher plane.
The Family Head of the Namgung Family... Sword Emperor Namgung Cheonwu.
In the present Central Plains Murim the renown of Sword Emperor Namgung Cheonwu stood high.
One of the twenty greatest masters of the Central Plains Murim. Namgung Cheonwu was an Absolute Martial Artist.
Simply meeting him was an honor in itself.
Dokjeonhwa and Jeong Cheong learned what it felt like for breath itself to grow tight merely from facing a man.
Namgung Hyeonwu formally introduced him.
"Great Hero Dok, this is Namgung Cheonwu, Family Head of the Great Namgung Family."
"I-it is an honor. I am Dokjeonhwa."
Jeong Cheong quickly bowed his head as well. Words would not come properly.
Namgung Cheonwu regarded the two men.
"I am Namgung Cheonwu, who holds this family. Wolyeonggwangheun, I heard your name and grew curious; I am glad to meet you."
A deep, irresistible voice pressed upon them with formless weight.
Seeing the situation, Namgung Hyeonwu spoke first.
"Great Hero Dok, tell the Family Head the reason you have come."
"Ah... yes."
Dokjeonhwa drew a long breath and looked into Namgung Cheonwu's face.
"I have come to the Namgung Family to ask the truth of that day."
"Do you speak of the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident? Or do you wish to know whether this family carried away that object?"
"......"
"You yourself came knowing what that object is, did you not? Why not speak with open hearts?"
"...I understand. I know that the Namgung Family went to the Baekcheon Sect in search of the Cheonhwangdo Map."
"Mm... The previous Family Head told me that when he first heard of the Cheonhwangdo Map he had no way to judge whether the tale was true or false. To confirm the truth he had no choice but to go to the Baekcheon Sect. Yet ours was not the only place that knew. On the road he learned that the other five families were moving as well."
"You did not move together from the beginning?"
"We did not. The previous Family Head found it strange, yet every eye was fixed upon the Cheonhwangdo Map. The important fact remains that the Namgung Family took no part whatever in the Baekcheon Sect's destruction, and therefore committed no wrong."
Namgung Cheonwu answered with firm finality.
The Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident was a matter that would one day cause trouble; he meant to clean it away thoroughly with this opportunity.
"How did the Namgung Family learn that the Cheonhwangdo Map lay within the Baekcheon Sect?"
"He said a secret letter arrived."
"You never discovered who sent it?"
"We did not. Our family investigated as thoroughly as possible, yet found nothing."
"I do not disbelieve you, yet no proof remains that the Namgung Family withdrew first. And it was said that traces of Heavenly Thunder Energy were found upon the corpses."
"I myself heard that from the Head of the Law Enforcement Hall. Yet you did not personally confirm that Heavenly Thunder Energy. Can you be certain the man was of our family?"
Namgung Cheonwu's words were correct.
It had been only a story told by the golden-masked man; none of it could be verified.
"I do not know who told you these things, yet I trust the words of the previous Family Head. The Cheonhwangdo Map is an object any man would greedily desire. He went, so I am told, to prevent the chaos that would seize the Murim should the worst come to pass."
In the present Murim the chivalric way of the Namgung Family and of the previous Family Head—the Fire Heaven Sword King—was widely known.
Ordinary martial artists might not have believed, yet for the Namgung Family alone everyone was ready to grant full credit.
Sword Emperor Namgung Cheonwu himself was one of the few men still respected throughout the Central Plains Murim.
This time Namgung Hyeonwu spoke to Dokjeonhwa, who had lost his words.
"Now there is something I myself wish to ask Great Hero Dok."
"What is it?"
"I wish to know how you learned that the six families moved that day in search of the Cheonhwangdo Map."
Dokjeonhwa hesitated.
Now the positions were reversed.
"Great Hero Dok, do you find it difficult to speak?"
"It is not that... I only wonder whether the two of you will believe me."
"If you show sincerity, even a truth buried in darkness will appear as bright light. Even if you think it will not be believed, truth has a way of reaching truth."
The Head of the Law Enforcement Hall of the Namgung Family—true to his alias Cold Wind Cold Heart—judged every situation with icy clarity and possessed a resolute nature.
When Namgung Cheonwu gave a slight nod at those words, Dokjeonhwa finally bit his lip and opened his mouth.
"...You may find it hard to believe, yet a man wearing a golden mask told me. He sought me out as the sole survivor of the Baekcheon Sect. For twenty years I had never revealed that I was a survivor, yet somehow he found me. How a casual word I once let slip long afterward reached his ears, I still do not know."
"You do not even know his face?"
"That is so. Whenever he met me he always wore a golden mask."
"A golden mask..."
Namgung Cheonwu and Namgung Hyeonwu both sensed at once that the situation was worse than they had thought.
It meant Dokjeonhwa himself was being used by someone.
"Seeing that he sent you to our family, it seems even he does not know who took the Cheonhwangdo Map."
"He said it was one of the six families."
Namgung Cheonwu and Namgung Hyeonwu looked at each other and nodded.
"Great Hero Dok, we have heard you well. Just as you believe our words, we believe yours."
"Thank you."
"What do you intend now? Will you go to a second family?"
"He said he would contact me once I left the Namgung Family."
"Mm. Wherever you go, the remaining five families will not be like ours."
The six families that had entered the Baekcheon Sect in search of the Cheonhwangdo Map were, including the Namgung, all supreme martial families of the Central Plains.
"I do not know what the existence behind you truly desires, yet I hope you will stop here."
"Is that advice? Or concern?"
"If you understand our sincerity, you will feel which it is."
"......"
When there was nothing more to say, Namgung Cheonwu rose from his seat.
"Rest here as long as you wish, and descend whenever you desire to leave."
Dokjeonhwa and Jeong Cheong watched the two men's backs as they walked out of the Branch Pavilion.