Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Do You Even Know How to Read?
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“What can I do for you?”
A warrior handling registrations at the entrance of the Iron Blood Sect spoke to Namgung Urin.
Namgung Urin pointed to a large notice posted on the entrance wall and said,
“It's written right there. That you're recruiting warriors. That's why I'm here.”
The registrar replied, sounding exasperated.
“That's what I'm talking about.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Did you even read the notice properly... No, do you even know how to read?”
“Of course I do.”
Indeed, he looked like a pale scholar who prided himself on being well-read.
For such a person...
The registrar was utterly dumbfounded.
“And you still want to register?”
He was speechless.
A guy who claims he can read!
Dares to register so confidently?
Perhaps because he's young, his shamelessness was second to none.
“That's right.”
At Namgung Urin's confident demeanor, the registrar almost let a curse slip from his lips.
The registrar took a deep breath, calming himself.
“Hmph. Look here.”
“I'm listening.”
“It's written clearly on the notice. I'll read it slowly so it sinks in. Now, listen carefully. ‘One who can! Freely! Control their internal energy. And can! Use sword ki!’”
“Yes. That is what's written there.”
“...Why... this kid is really pushing it!”
“What's the registration procedure?”
The registrar stared intently at Namgung Urin for a moment.
His impassive expression didn't seem like he was joking.
“Hmph. Are you really serious?”
“Are there warriors who joke about such things?”
Not yet, there weren't.
Isn't that why I keep asking, because the one in front of me seems to be doing just that?
“Fine. I'll take your registration.”
The humiliation would be his, not mine. So the registrar picked up his brush.
“Age.”
“Eighteen.”
He had considered adding two years, but Namgung Urin knew it was pointless.
Eighteen or twenty.
It was all the same.
It was extremely rare for a rising martial artist under thirty to be able to freely control their internal energy and use sword ki. It was something only possible for those prodigies from major sects with long traditions, who were taught unsparingly and raised on countless elixirs.
So there was no reason to lie about his age. Even if he wanted to say he was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, his youthful face made that impossible.
The registrar let out a deep sigh.
‘Am I going to get chewed out for this?’
He was worried his superiors would scold him for accepting such a registration, but what could he do? He couldn't create a problem at the entrance, as it would tarnish the prestige of the Iron Blood Sect.
“Name.”
“Seol U.”
He came up with the name on the spot.
Someone in the Iron Blood Sect might know the name Urin.
After all, he was the son of the Namgung Family Head.
“You won't have an affiliation, I presume.”
It was unacceptable for someone registering to be a warrior of the Iron Blood Sect to belong to another sect.
“Are you perhaps registered as a wandering warrior?”
“No.”
“Then do you have a title or anything?”
“No.”
“...Then do you have anything to prove your identity?”
“No.”
“What! This kid...”
Namgung Urin suddenly lifted his head and looked at the sky.
“I don't even know who my parents are.”
“...Ah...”
Hadn't the registrar himself lost his parents when he was young?
“I barely survived day to day on the streets. I was too young to even get a job. It wasn't that I didn't want to work. Everyone just shook their heads, saying I was too young.”
“...Ah...”
He knew. How could he forget those wretched times?
“So I even considered joining the Beggars' Sect. But I didn't want to spend my whole life begging.”
The registrar nodded his head endlessly.
“Then, by chance, I met an old man. He told me to come with him. He said if I went with him, I wouldn't starve.”
“Kuh...”
If you endure and persevere, an opportunity will eventually come. The registrar felt a wave of emotion at Namgung Urin's story.
As if it were his own story.
“So, you've been training in the mountains all this time and just came down?”
Occasionally, there were people like that. And among them were sometimes great masters. But the person before him seemed too young for that to be the case.
“That's right.”
“Stay strong. I'll be cheering for you. If you fail and have nowhere to go, look for Pilgu in the Iron Blood Sword Brigade. I'll see if I can arrange a spot for you somehow.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me. People in similar situations should help each other out.”
“No, sir. You've personally shown me that righteousness and chivalry are not yet dead in the martial world. I will also take your righteousness and chivalry to heart.”
“Hey now. I told you it's nothing. Hahaha.”
The registrar called over a subordinate waiting behind him and instructed him to guide Namgung Urin.
And so, Namgung Urin followed the guide into the Iron Blood Sect's grounds.
The Iron Blood Sect was no less grand in scale than the Namgung Family estate. The warriors' auras were also fiercely sharp.
The aura of the warrior at the entrance had also been very sharp. It was just that he had a good personality.
He had a naive side, enough to empathize with Namgung Urin's lies.
He remembered what his late father used to say.
He had said that if you considered only the spirit of a warrior standing before a sword, no sect in the martial world could surpass the Iron Blood Sect.
The Iron Blood Sect was a sect acknowledged by the Namgung Family and his father.
With each step, Urin followed the guide's pace, etching the numerous pavilions into his mind's eye. There was only one reason he had come to this place, filled with a fierce energy.
To take the 500-year-old ginseng.
Though it was questionable whether he could even find it.
The place the guide led him to was a training ground. More than sixty people were gathered there, training. Among them were as many as thirty-five women.
The youngest were in their mid-thirties, and the majority were warriors in their late thirties and early forties. The age gap between them and Namgung Urin was as vast as the sky and the earth.
The guide spoke to Urin.
“Recruitment was supposed to end yesterday. But we were accepting more applications today under the Sect Leader's orders. She said some might arrive late. And it turns out she was right. I can't help but admire the Sect Leader's foresight.”
“...”
Namgung Urin didn't have much to say. It seemed the guide was just speaking his mind.
“Oh. I seem to have spoken out of turn. Hahaha.”
What was he even doing...
The guide's mouth opened again.
“Please warm up here. The Sect Leader will be here shortly.”
He could have just said that.
“Understood.”
After the guide left, Namgung Urin had to endure the piercing stares of more than sixty people all by himself.
But this was Namgung Urin.
The Namgung Urin who couldn't care less about others' stares.
“Oh my! Look at him!”
“His face is glowing.”
“That baby hair on his face looks softer than a cat's fur.”
“I want to touch it.”
“I don't think I've ever seen a man so handsome.”
“I know...”
“Wipe your drool, you wench.”
“Should we make him sleep in our room tonight?”
“Kikiki. Just thinking about it is thrilling.”
“As if he'd get any sleep.”
“Forcing him down wouldn't be so bad either.”
“Hehehe.”
The rapturous gazes of these older women and the silent, sour-faced stares of the wolf-like men were all directed at Namgung Urin.
Just then, one wolf from the silent pack decided to open its mouth.
“Hey! You, pretty boy! Go home and suckle on your mommy's teat some more!”
A burst of triumphant laughter erupted from the men.
A smile also appeared on Namgung Urin's face.
It was a sardonic smile.
“No, wait. There are plenty of old ladies over there. Go ask them for a suckle! Who knows? They might actually whip out a tit for you. Kehehe.”
The Iron Blood Sect's training ground was being defiled by the men's jeering laughter. At that moment, the warriors who were supervising them stepped forward.
Three warriors approached the man who had made the jeer. Then, one of them shouted, loud enough for everyone in the training ground to hear.
“Everyone, listen up! This is the Iron Blood Sect! A place where those unworthy of being called warriors are not allowed! Remember that! And this man right here is such a person.”
The warrior spoke to the man who had jeered.
“You are expelled from here.”
“What! I was just joking around!”
“That joke is your character. The Iron Blood Sect has no need for a warrior like you. So please, leave our sect immediately.”
Silence fell over the noisy training ground.
“Y-you...!”
The man who had jeered gritted his teeth and placed his hand on his sword.
“Go on, draw that sword. After you've remembered that this is the Iron Blood Sect.”
“Dammit!”
In the end, the man couldn't draw his sword.
Who but a fool would draw their sword on a warrior of the Iron Blood Sect?
Especially here, in the very heart of the Iron Blood Sect.
Having no choice, the man had to leave the Iron Blood Sect on his own two feet.
His father's words had not been wrong.
The kindness shown at the entrance, the registrar who spoke respectfully despite my young appearance, the guide who never once looked down on me while leading the way.
And the warrior who decisively threw someone out for a single misplaced joke.
This alone was enough to understand what kind of place the Iron Blood Sect was.
How many sects like this could there be in the martial world?
If so, how does my Namgung Family appear to others? And what about me?
He suddenly found himself picturing things he normally wouldn't.
What's more.
He began to question what it even meant to be himself. Just as he was getting lost in this personal, exitless maze, the leader of the Iron Blood Sect appeared in the training ground.
The leader of the Iron Blood Sect is a twenty-nine-year-old woman.
One of the reasons the Iron Blood Sect is renowned in the martial world is because of its women of iron and blood.
In the long history of the Iron Blood Sect, a man has taken the position of leader only three times. Strong-willed women had led the Iron Blood Sect to its current standing.
The Sect Leader entered, accompanied by the white-haired Grand Elder of the Iron Blood Sect and a black-haired guard. Both of them were also women.
Standing at the head of the training ground, the Grand Elder shouted.
“We will now begin the sparring matches to select members for the Sect Leader's special sword brigade. The format will be two spars per person. Winners of the first match will face other winners, while losers will face other losers. Causing injury to an opponent will result in a deduction of points, and anyone who severely injures their opponent will be disqualified on the spot. Each match will last for fifteen minutes. We are evaluating ability, not seeking a victor. Please keep this in mind. Let us begin now.”
This meant one had to be able to wield a sword freely enough to spar without injuring their opponent.
Thus began the first day of intense sparring to select the Iron Blood Sect Leader's special sword brigade.
When all the spars were over, only one person remained: Namgung Urin.
The Iron Blood Sect Leader, Han Seo-hui, spoke to her guard, Seo Ye.
“Guard Seo, you go.”
“What!”
“Why, you don't want to?”
“It's not that I don't want to... But how can I... he's just a boy with baby hair... Why did he even come to a place like this? Tsk.”
“Why? I thought you said you liked how handsome he is.”
“Sect Leader? Wow, is that how you're going to be? What about you, then? Didn't you say he's handsome enough to make you want to marry him?”
“I did. But that was just an expression. The age gap is too wide.”
“Sect Leader, you're so old-fashioned. In this day and age, what does an age gap matter in love?”
Just then, the Grand Elder standing beside them spoke.
“I will do it.”
The eyes of the Sect Leader and her guard went wide.
“What?”
“Huh?”
“I said I will spar with that boy.”
In Anhui Province, where absolute masters like the Sword Emperor who died in the War of Orthodox and Demonic Factions and the previous Namgung Family Head had vanished, the Grand Elder was a warrior whose power ranked within the top five, alongside the current head of the Namgung Family, Namgung Yul.