Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Venturing into the Jianghu, and the Fox Woman (9)
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Pyo San's disappearance and the purge of the One Wheel Society happened in the blink of an eye.
It was only natural.
The One Wheel Society was a minor Black Dao group where even their strongest, Society Leader Gang Byeok-un, was barely at the entry level of first-rate.
Facing them were Hwa Seo's escorts, each one first-rate, and Mok Ri-won, a Pinnacle Realm warrior. There was no contest in their weight class.
Leaving the One Wheel Society behind after the cleanup was complete, Mok Ri-won returned to Gyeonghwa Pavilion and found a quiet spot to sit cross-legged.
He was organizing the insights gained from his duel with Pyo San.
'Star-Link has reached complete three stars.'
The energy of the Star-Link Divine Art swimming through his body evoked three distinct stars.
When he had first set out into the jianghu, the third star had still been faint. This single duel had brought him considerable gains.
It was certainly an achievement to rejoice over.
However, when Mok Ri-won gathered his qi and opened his eyes, his face did not show full satisfaction.
'...I couldn't completely suppress my killing intent.'
That was what kept nagging at him.
For eleven full years, ever since he began seriously training in martial arts, he had trained without a single day off, yet the sight of blood still clouded his reason.
One might ask why, after investing so much time, he still couldn't control his killing intent. But conversely, it showed just how vicious the curse of the Heavenly Slaughter Star truly was.
Mok Ri-won recalled Ma Il-seok's advice.
-Once you're out in the jianghu facing real duels, you'll feel an even stronger impulse than before. The killing intent exchanged in that moment, when lives are on the line, will be different in nature from what you've felt sparring with your senior brother.
His words had been spot on.
Killing intent lunging at him every moment, thrusting toward his life.
And the sticky, negative emotions.
All of it was a new stimulus Mok Ri-won had never experienced before.
"Hup...!"
Mok Ri-won drew in a deep breath again.
He shook off the rising gloom and stood up.
'I just need to be more careful from now on.'
He had pushed aside self-reproach for now, but judging purely by results, he hadn't let his killing intent ruin things, so it was half a success.
If he kept progressing like this, someday he would fully suppress the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Mok Ri-won deliberately clung to hopeful thoughts and smiled.
Then he set off.
'I should go see Little Sister.'
She had looked troubled on the way back, so she probably needed comfort.
How warming it was to have someone by your side in tough times.
Surely, a few words of consolation would make Hwa Seo smile brightly.
Feeling his heart thump at the thought, Mok Ri-won hurried toward the top floor of the pavilion.
And there, he heard words that made him doubt his ears.
*
"Wh-what? You're selling the pavilion?!"
On the top floor of Gyeonghwa Pavilion.
Mok Ri-won cried out in utter shock.
Hwa Seo, who had shed all her elegant daytime poise, looked at the foolish Mok Ri-won and replied.
A smile played on her lips.
"Yes. There's no reason to stay here anymore."
"Wh-why? There's no one tormenting you now, Little Sister! From here on, it should be smooth sailing with nothing but happiness ahead...!"
It was a perfectly reasonable question from Mok Ri-won's perspective.
They had gone to all that trouble to drive out the villains and secure the pavilion, only for it all to go to waste?
Wondering why she would make such a choice, he pressed, and Hwa Seo answered again.
"There's something I have to do."
"Some task?"
"Yes. Something I've been too afraid to face, always running away from. In your words, it would be settling a grudge."
Mok Ri-won's fingertips trembled.
"A grudge..."
"As you know, I'm a martial artist. And of fairly high standing at that. Weren't you curious why someone like me would run a place like this?"
Of course he had been.
In fact, when he first came to see Hwa Seo, he had even voiced suspicions about her circumstances.
But once he learned about her, the question had faded.
"...I just thought you had your reasons."
"You'll get burned someday if you let things slide so easily. You should cultivate a habit of suspicion."
"..."
"Anyway, for those reasons, I'm done running. That's why I'm selling the pavilion."
Hwa Seo looked at Mok Ri-won as she spoke.
He looked so handsome even grunting and groaning like that—it was almost picturesque.
The thought crossed her mind for a moment before she brushed it aside, stood from her seat, and said to him,
"Thank you, Young Hero."
"Uh, um...?"
"Thanks to you, I found my courage. Without you, I might have spent my life fleeing—or failed at that and ended up hanging from a noose."
Hwa Seo clasped her hands in a formal fist-and-palm salute.
Wrapping her fist in her palm and bowing her head slightly in proper form, she looked like a painting come to life.
"I always thought I was pursuing practicality. But now I realize it was just an excuse to justify my running away. You made me see that, Young Hero."
"Little Sister..."
"You are the benefactor who showed me what true heroism means."
Hwa Seo hated the Tang Clan.
The people who formed it, their iron rules, their culture.
She rejected it all. Yet even she acknowledged at least half of one clan precept.
'Repay favors twofold.'
She could decide how to handle grudges later, but favors must be repaid double—that much she agreed with.
Watching Hwa Seo bow formally toward him, Mok Ri-won felt awkward.
Yet amid that, a swell of pride rose within him—a sense of accomplishment.
'You called me Young Hero...'
The emotion of having acted worthy of the title, of changing someone's life, warmed his heart.
Mok Ri-won scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
He averted his gaze to the air, mumbled at his lips, then finally responded in kind with the same fist-and-palm salute.
"I only did what needed doing!"
Thinking how cool the scene looked, Mok Ri-won grinned broadly. Hwa Seo let out a helpless chuckle and asked him,
"Where will you go now, Young Hero?"
"Hm? Me?"
"Yes. You said you came out into the jianghu for heroic adventures, right? Surely you've decided on a destination?"
Mok Ri-won froze.
His mouth clamped shut.
His pupils trembled as if an earthquake had hit.
'...I don't have one...'
He had just bolted out thinking somewhere would come up once he was in the jianghu.
He had heard from Mok Seon-o and Ma Il-seok about famous jianghu spots and planned to tour those.
Even if he got lost, he could use the Beggars' Sect token Ma Il-seok gave him. With that calculation, he hadn't planned ahead.
Hwa Seo could tell from his flustered twitching alone.
Disbelief flashed across her face.
"...You have no plan?"
"Uh..."
"You just charged into the jianghu like that?"
There was a limit to naivety. What had his master been thinking, sending out someone like this?
It was the kind of situation that bred such questions in Hwa Seo, but even Mok Ri-won's two masters hadn't anticipated it.
And why not? They had lived deep in the mountains of Gangseo Province.
Their daily routines there changed little over years—just chores—and Mok Ri-won was sharp enough for mountain life that his masters trusted him with it.
They figured the clever Mok Ri-won would manage on his own in the jianghu. That was their assumption.
"Young Hero...?"
"...I-I planned to go wherever my feet took me."
The excuse rang hollow.
At his answer, a sudden unease welled up in Hwa Seo.
What if this foolish, naive man got scammed somewhere?
No, getting scammed would be lucky—with that face, he might end up sold into servitude.
'In the worst case...'
He could wander off the mountain path and starve to death.
A chill ran through her.
Her face paled.
It felt like watching a child left by the water's edge.
'Absolutely not...!'
She couldn't let him go alone.
The thought slipped in unbidden, and Hwa Seo opened her mouth to invite Mok Ri-won.
"Then why don't you come with me?"
"With you, Little Sister?"
"Yes. If you have nothing pressing, follow me."
She said it casually, but in her mind, Mok Ri-won was already a corpse.
She had only one reason for the decision.
'I'll drag him along and cram some basic common sense into that thick skull.'
If her benefactor got sold into servitude or died lost in the mountains, she'd never sleep easy again.
At her invitation born of that worry, Mok Ri-won asked back.
"Where are you headed, Little Sister?"
"I'll stop by Anhui first, then head to Henan."
"Henan..."
"Shaolin Temple."
Mok Ri-won gasped.
Light gleamed in his eyes.
Hwa Seo snorted at the sight.
'...Yeah, I knew it.'
Mok Ri-won treated *Tales of the Jianghu Heroes* like scripture.
Shaolin, always the righteous force in the tales, was sure to pique his interest.
But better to drive the nail in deep.
Hwa Seo tempted his childlike heart once more.
"There's someone I need to meet at Shaolin. And that's why we're stopping in Anhui first."
"Anhui!"
"Yes, Anhui, home to the Namgung Clan, one of the Five Great Clans."
"That's right! The Anhui with Sword King Namgung Hyeok!"
Mok Ri-won was already on his knees on the floor.
Hwa Seo nodded and added,
"It's nearly the end of spring now. This time of year, there's always that one event in the orthodox sects."
"Orthodox...! Spring...! Event...!"
Anticipation thickened on Mok Ri-won's face.
Hwa Seo thought, *What's the point if he's this easy?*, then uttered the words to strike his heart.
"The Dragon-Phoenix Tournament. This year, it's in Anhui."
That sealed it.
Thud!
Mok Ri-won slammed his forehead to the floor.
Then he begged in a voice that bordered on groveling.
"Take me with you-!!!"
Dragon-Phoenix Tournament.
A festival where young later-generation disciples of the prestigious orthodox sects gathered to discuss martial arts.
An event brimming with the martial prowess and heroism Mok Ri-won thirsted for.
Hwa Seo smiled down at the round back of his head.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
*
Wrapping up affairs at the pavilion didn't take long.
Even setting aside everything else, plenty of buyers lined up for the largest pavilion in Gangseo Province now that the One Wheel Society was gone.
She could have been more deliberate and sold it at a premium.
But Hwa Seo valued time over a bit of extra coin, so she sold Gyeonghwa Pavilion at cost and hit the road.
Leaving Suyang County behind.
Gazing at the distant silhouette of Suyang County, Hwa Seo fell into reminiscence.
'My flight ends here.'
She had planned to hide away forever.
But even that changed nothing, so facing them head-on was the better path.
The Tang Clan was tenacious.
And they had venomous hearts that brooked no methods or means.
'I must as well...'
To face them, she needed a venomous heart of her own.
Hwa Seo's eyes gleamed coldly.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
She would hold nothing back against them.
"Hyang-a, it's time we part."
Hwa Seo's gaze turned to the limbs who had guarded her all this time.
They bowed their heads deeply, listening to her words.
"I ask you this: while I'm off to Shaolin, keep tabs on the clan's movements."
"As you command."
No more words were needed.
Those who had always protected Hwa Seo stepped back after that.
But one remained: So Hyang, her closest confidante.
Looking at Hwa Seo departing, she added one last thing.
"Please take care of yourself, no matter what."
"Worrying suits you. Isn't Young Hero Mok going with me?"
Mok Ri-won beamed and nodded at being called 'Young Hero Mok'.
"Leave it to me!"
*It's you I don't trust.*
So Hyang swallowed her true feelings, glared at him briefly, sighed, and gave her final farewell.
"I'll take my leave then. As for letters..."
"Yes, send them through the 'Room'."
So Hyang bowed deeply.
Then she, too, walked away.
Now alone with Hwa Seo, Mok Ri-won brimmed with excitement.
"Finally, we're off! Anhui! Dragon-Phoenix Tournament! Just thinking about it makes my heart pound, Mok Ri-won declares!"
"Don't get your hopes up. It's just a gathering of kids, after all."
"Aren't you a kid too, Little Sister?"
As he spoke, Mok Ri-won realized he had never known Hwa Seo's exact age.
He looked at her, and catching the hint, Hwa Seo smiled faintly and replied.
"Yes, I'm not that old. Twenty-two this year."
"Ah, you're my noona!"
"No need to stand on such ceremony."
Hwa Seo waved it off.
Pleased to learn a bit more about her, Mok Ri-won saluted with clasped hands.
"Got it! I'll keep calling you Sister Yeon-hwa like before!"
Sister Yeon-hwa.
*'Come to think of it, that was a fake name.'*
Why would a brothel owner use her real name?
Hwa Seo chuckled at his innocent expression and met his eyes squarely.
"It's Hwa Seo."
"Hm?"
"My real name is Hwa Seo. Yeon-hwa was just an alias for hiding."
Mok Ri-won's mouth fell open.
His eyes brimmed with belated betrayal.
*'He's so fun.'*
No matter what she said, his reactions were golden. He really was entertaining to tease.
*'The road won't be boring.'*
It might even be enjoyable company.
With that thought, Hwa Seo saluted toward Mok Ri-won.
And introduced herself once more.
"Now, a proper greeting. I am Hwa Seo, Dang Hwa-seo of the Tang Clan."
"Tang...?"
Mok Ri-won's face went blank.
Hwa Seo, delight bubbling within, prepared her next words in her mind.
*-I'm Mok Ri-won! No nickname yet!*
Childish as it was, she wondered how he'd react to that, given his obsession with nicknames. Smiling, she continued.
"Once upon a time, the jianghu called me Poison Phoenix."
And so it went.
His reaction was exactly as expected. She who had sworn to stand by her name Dang Hwa-seo from now on burst into the biggest laughter of her life.
The journey began with her clear laughter.
Dang Hwa-seo's prediction of delightful companionship shattered before three full days had passed.