Omens (3)
"May I come in?"
Paeng Gun-ak made his presence known as he stepped into the infirmary. After confirming that the occupants were deep in breath regulation and energy circulation, he spoke to those standing guard.
"I have business with Daoist Yeobhwa, but it seems I shall have to wait."
He quietly took a place in the corner of the room and waited until the party finished their cultivation. Before long, those who had completed their breathing exercises opened their eyes one by one, and, startled by the unexpected visitor, asked:
"Young Hero Paeng Gun-ak, what brings you here?"
"I have come to keep a promise."
To Cheonhwa's question, Paeng Gun-ak answered with a courtesy wholly unlike his former manner. That sudden change of attitude left not only Cheonhwa but even Yeobhwa wide-eyed with astonishment. At their reaction, Paeng Gun-ak gave a bitter smile. Then he bowed deeply toward Yeobhwa.
"I apologize to Daoist Yeobhwa. With my careless attitude, I stained the honor of your sect."
Receiving the apology, Yeobhwa was so flustered that words failed him. He had heard from Cheonhwa that there had been a wager, but he had never imagined he would receive so straightforward an apology. Yeobhwa shot a sidelong glance at Cheonhwa, signaling him to somehow handle the situation. Cheonhwa turned to Paeng Gun-ak and asked:
"What on earth has come over you that you would come to apologize?"
It was not meant as sarcasm, but pure curiosity. The Paeng Gun-ak Cheonhwa knew was a man whose pride in his family ran deep. For that reason, Cheonhwa had expected him to be unable to accept that the Hebei Paeng Family had been defeated by the Zhongnan Sect. That was precisely why he had asked Paeng Mu-jin to ensure Paeng Gun-ak kept his word properly. Yet here the man had come of his own accord and offered a heartfelt apology. Honestly, Cheonhwa half suspected it was someone else wearing Paeng Gun-ak's face.
Paeng Gun-ak answered the question without resentment.
"A promise spoken with one's own mouth must of course be kept, but there was also a certain realization."
"A realization?"
"Yes. Something perfectly obvious, yet something I had until now rejected in my self-conceit."
Paeng Gun-ak looked at Cheonhwa, a faint smile touching his lips.
"Martial study is important, but more important still is the person who wields it. I came to understand that through my match with Daoist Cheonhwa."
Until now, Paeng Gun-ak had looked down on others on the strength of his family's greatness. Through this affair, however, he had learned that there existed martial artists worthy of respect regardless of a family's or sect's standing. The result was the far more respectful manner he showed now.
"I watched Daoist Yeobhwa's matches in the main tournament."
Paeng Gun-ak turned his head to look at Yeobhwa. Iryeop of the Kongtong Sect, and Namgung Myeong of the Namgung Family. Not one of them had been an easy opponent, and every fight had been crude to the point of desperation. Yet that struggle had not been meaningless. There had been something in those matches that stirred the hearts of the martial artists watching them.
"Daoist Yeobhwa, I grew arrogant after defeating you once, but watching your matches taught me a great deal."
In every bout Yeobhwa had given his utmost, and that attitude had, even in defeat, earned the recognition of his opponents. That recognition had come from none other than Namgung Myeong, the previous Dragon and Phoenix Gathering champion. Paeng Gun-ak had asked himself whether looking down on Yeobhwa after a single loss was truly right, and after much thought had concluded that it was not.
"I apologize for trampling on Daoist Yeobhwa's honor and for the insulting words I spoke against your sect."
Paeng Gun-ak bowed his head toward Yeobhwa once more. Yeobhwa stared blankly at the back of his head for a moment, then let out a light sigh.
"To think I would hear words of genuine apology from Young Hero's lips. Truly, they say one may know the depths of ten fathoms of water, but never the depths of a single fathom of a man's heart."
"…"
"I accept the apology. So raise your head. In return, I would ask one promise of you."
"What is it?"
"Let us match blades again before long. We cannot simply leave it after a single loss, can we?"
At Yeobhwa's proposal, Paeng Gun-ak wore a dazed look for a moment, then smiled.
"Very well. But it will not be easy. As you know, I am strong."
"That is what I hoped to hear."
Yeobhwa and Paeng Gun-ak had begun as enemies bound by ill fortune, but now their relationship had become something else. No longer merely hostile, they were rivals who would measure their martial arts against one another. Watching them, Cheonhwa smiled with quiet satisfaction.
"Thankfully, it ended well."
A voice came from behind him. Turning toward the sound, Cheonhwa found Paeng Mu-jin standing near the door.
"Great Hero Paeng Mu-jin, are you well enough to be up?"
It was not Paeng Mu-jin who answered Cheonhwa's question, but Paeng Yeon-hui standing beside him.
"Of course he is not. The physician insisted he needed rest, yet he paid no heed and came charging over on his own."
Paeng Yeon-hui heaved a deep sigh and glared at her eldest brother as if at a sworn enemy. Paeng Mu-jin received that look with perfect composure and spoke in his usual booming voice.
"When my younger brother has realized his fault and gone to apologize like a true man, how could I, as his elder brother, simply stay put?"
And that choice had not been wrong, he thought, looking with fond satisfaction at Yeobhwa and Paeng Gun-ak.
"Reminds me of the old days. I caused no small number of incidents myself, just like my brother."
"Great Hero Paeng Mu-jin did?"
"Then I met Brother Namgung and became the man I am now. Just as my brother has changed after meeting you and Daoist Yeobhwa."
A person can change through the bonds they form. Paeng Mu-jin had truly understood that then. The jianghu was vast, filled with countless martial artists and extraordinary figures. However great a pillar of the orthodox path the Hebei Paeng Family might be among the Five Great Noble Families, it could never be the whole of the world.
"To be frank, the Five Great Noble Families as they stand now are not right."
The Namgung Family and the Hebei Paeng Family had let arrogance reach its peak. The Jegal Family had withdrawn to merely watch from the sidelines. The Moyong Family was obsessed with merit and glory. Even the relatively better Sichuan Dang Family was strongly single-minded and closed off.
"No matter how much history and tradition they claim, how can such a mess of groups call themselves the pillars of the orthodox path?"
"Elder Brother!"
Paeng Yeon-hui cried out at Paeng Mu-jin's sharp criticism, but he paid no mind and continued.
"Have I said anything untrue?"
"Even so, this is not the place to discuss such things!"
"Mm. True enough—this is not conversation for an infirmary where patients ought to rest."
At Paeng Yeon-hui's rebuke, Paeng Mu-jin admitted his fault with a nod. There was no need to force such an unpleasant topic on people who should have been resting in peace.
"We shall speak again once the main tournament of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering is over. At that time I would like to introduce Brother Namgung to Daoist Cheonhwa."
"You mean Great Hero Namgung Myeong?"
"Yes. Brother Namgung likes people with a challenging spirit. In that regard, I think the two of you would get along rather well."
"I am scheduled to face Great Hero Namgung Myeong in tomorrow's match, though."
"That is why I am mentioning it in advance. Whatever the result, martial artists who have crossed hands grow closer more easily."
Perhaps after the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering ended, Namgung Myeong himself might make the first approach, Paeng Mu-jin said with a great booming laugh. Then his face twisted as if an old wound had flared. Unable to watch any longer, Paeng Yeon-hui hauled him out.
"I cannot live like this. You still need rest. What is there to laugh so hard about?!"
Paeng Mu-jin was dragged from the room by Paeng Yeon-hui. Cheonhwa saw the two of them off with a wry smile. Yet he could not entirely dismiss Paeng Mu-jin's words. A martial artist's techniques held the traces of a life, and for that reason a match sometimes revealed more than conversation ever could. The problem was that it remained unclear whether the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering would even continue. Only six people, Cheonhwa among them, had noticed the presence of agents from the Mysterious Faction and a collaborator inside the Sichuan Dang Family.
By now, Martial Uncle Gakhyeon should be meeting the head of the Sichuan Dang Family…
Cheonhwa turned his gaze toward the grand halls that rose at the heart of the Sichuan Dang Family beyond the window.
Leaving the Hall of Medicine, Gakhyeon went straight to request a private audience with the head of the Sichuan Dang Family. Naturally, the Dang Family side looked troubled. Even if he was a first-generation disciple representing the Zhongnan Sect, they could not easily grant an unannounced meeting with the family head. Yet now that they knew a collaborator existed within the Sichuan Dang Family, disaster could erupt at any moment. Gakhyeon therefore resolved to be shameless.
"I shall wait here until I can meet Family Head Dang."
His insistence left them at a loss. Who would have thought a man known as a Daoist would push so stubbornly? The retainers of the Sichuan Dang Family had no choice but to report Gakhyeon's visit to Family Head Dang Taeun.
"Daoist Gakhyeon of the Zhongnan Sect is refusing to leave until he sees me?"
Dang Taeun doubted his own ears. He knew what manner of man Gakhyeon was. The fellow might grumble with his mouth, but to shove his way forward so forcefully was not like him. Which meant, put another way, that something important enough to ignore etiquette had arisen.
"Send him in. And until I call for them, let no one else enter the study."
Dang Taeun set aside the work he had been handling and gave the order. Before long Gakhyeon arrived at the study. He glanced around the interior.
"No one else is here."
"Did you not request a private audience, Daoist Gakhyeon? I merely cleared the room."
"My thanks. Now we can speak at ease."
"So what is this about?"
"I shall be blunt. It appears agents of the Mysterious Faction have infiltrated the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering."
"…"
At Gakhyeon's words, Dang Taeun pressed his lips tight and furrowed his brow. He wanted to shout that it was nonsense, but he held it back and signaled with his eyes for the man to continue. Gakhyeon relayed everything he had heard from Jeokhwa. As the account went on, Dang Taeun's expression grew graver still.
"Is there any chance Daoist Jeokhwa is mistaken, or lying?"
"The chance of a mistake is vanishingly small, and I am certain it is no lie."
A Super Expert who had reached the same realm as Gakhyeon could distinguish falsehood through the intent woven into speech. At the same time, the foresight of his upper dantian told him the conjecture was correct.
"Do you not feel it as well, Family Head? That this is no lie."
"…"
To Gakhyeon's question, Dang Taeun answered with silence. After hearing Gakhyeon's words, an instinct that they were true had indeed come to him. He had known that an unidentified force was targeting the Sichuan Dang Family and the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering. But he had never imagined there would be a collaborator inside the family itself.
Before the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering even opened, I forced investigations of the household against all opposition. And still this mess…
There was only one way such a thing could be possible within the Sichuan Dang Family.
There is a traitor among the direct line.
Without that, remaining undiscovered this long would have been impossible. Someone must have been manipulating or blocking information in the middle.
"For now we have only suspicion, so seizing and interrogating those we suspect would likely provoke a backlash. The same is true of suspending the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering."
"You mean to keep the Gathering running and draw them out?"
"An ambush is dangerous because one never knows where or how the enemy will strike. But if one knows the opponent's schemes, turning them to one's own use is not impossible."
With a traitor inside, moving the Sichuan Dang Family's forces risked tipping them off. Personnel from outside the family would need to act.
The Five Great Noble Families are unlikely to move properly. Better to sound out the great sects of the Nine Sects and One Gang in secret.
If Gakhyeon joined him, securing the cooperation of the Nine Sects and One Gang should pose little difficulty.
To dare play tricks on a Sichuan Dang Family event—they will not die cleanly.
Repaying kindness twofold and grudges tenfold was the family tradition of the Sichuan Dang Family. Dang Taeun had no intention of forgiving those who sought to ruin the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering hosted by his house.