Homecoming (1)
On the road back to the lodgings, Go Jinmyung ran into Ak Jun and Namgung Hyeon. The three of them entered together.
Jinmyung led Namgung Hyeon to a table inside, while Ak Jun set about preparing tea. Namgung Hyeon looked around the room — the interior was different from his previous visit.
"Are you leaving?"
Namgung Hyeon asked, a flicker of surprise on his face. Jinmyung answered as if it were nothing, changing the subject entirely.
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better."
"As you've seen, something urgent has come up. I need to leave in a hurry. Which brings me to my point… would you care to purchase the participation token?"
"You're… selling the participation token?"
Namgung Hyeon stared at him, astonished.
"Yes. Since you were the original owner, I thought it only proper to offer the goods to you first."
Jinmyung drew the token from his robes and set it on the table. Ak Jun brought the tea and placed it down, and for a moment the conversation fell quiet.
"Is there even anyone else who would buy it, if not me?"
Once Ak Jun had left the room, Namgung Hyeon asked again. A change of participant mid-tournament was unprecedented — he and Go Jinmyung were the first.
By the rules, whoever presented a participation token upon ascending the dueling platform was recognized as the contestant for that match. That was how Jinmyung had been able to compete in the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament despite concealing his identity.
If Jinmyung returned the token… then by the rules, Namgung Hyeon could take the final. But still…
"What are your terms? I doubt I can look after Young Master Go's health for him."
"Haha. My health is fine. More to the point, this is a token for the finals, so I intend to sell it dearly. Honestly, I'm curious whether there's even a buyer."
Namgung Hyeon deliberated. The value of a first-round token and a finals token were worlds apart. Even settling the first-round token had required curing a case of cholera that no one had been able to resolve for a fortnight.
How, then, was one supposed to settle a token for the finals…? As Namgung Hyeon wrestled with the question, Jinmyung smiled and spoke.
"It seems you do have a buyer, after all."
"Yes… though I'm worried about how to settle the account. It wouldn't be… anything to do with winning or losing, would it?"
The prenatal betrothal between Moyong Ran and Jinmyung flickered through Namgung Hyeon's mind. Just in case — on the off chance — he asked.
"Of course not. Though I am curious. The duel between Young Master Namgung and Lady Moyong… I don't think I'll get to see it."
Since their last meeting, Namgung Hyeon had been reexamining his own state of mind. The plums Jinmyung had brought him had stabilized his body, and as he reflected on his mindset, he had even made a small breakthrough in the Changgung Muae Sword.
"Very well… I'll buy the token. How should I settle the account?"
"An excellent choice. I'd like you to settle it in favor."
"Favor…?"
"Yes. Favor is convenient. Since it isn't something you can casually buy at market, there's no fixed price."
"Does the Donghwa Merchant Group intend to place the Namgung Clan under a debt it can never repay?"
"I'll correct two things in what you just said."
Jinmyung took a sip of tea and continued.
"A favor is not a debt. The value of a favor is not jointly appraised by seller and buyer the way a debt is. Only the buyer can determine its worth."
Jinmyung said this with a smile. Namgung Hyeon listened on, his face still startled.
"And this is not the Donghwa Merchant Group selling to the Namgung Clan. This is Go Jinmyung selling to Namgung Hyeon."
"…It sounds as though I may settle it however I wish, whenever I wish."
"That is the nature of a favor. Which is why it so rarely appears on the open market."
"And if I simply renege on it?"
"Hahaha. An amusing thought. Street thugs might do such a thing. But a great clan… is not so easily trifled with."
Storytellers liked to claim that the great clans would ignore petty matters in pursuit of their own interests. In truth, they valued honor far more than most imagined.
A great clan was not built in one or two generations. To hold sway over a region across many generations required a reputation without blemish.
That was why the great clans made such clean, reliable trading partners. And someone as careful as Namgung Hyeon was an especially good one.
Jinmyung was certain that a favor extended to such a man would one day yield a substantial return. Of course, even if Namgung Hyeon refused, he could always sell the token to one of the other five Dragon-Phoenix contenders.
Namgung Hyeon sighed, picked up the token from the table, and tucked it into his robes. Jinmyung, knowing the deal was done, let out a quiet breath of his own.
"Then I wish you fortune in the finals a week from now."
Jinmyung clasped his hands in farewell and ended the meeting. Once Namgung Hyeon had left the lodgings, Ak Jun came in.
"So, are we making a midnight run for it?"
"Not quite a midnight run. Let's leave at first light tomorrow. Did you get a horse?"
"Only one, so I've already sent word to an escort agency on the outskirts of Shaanxi."
"Good. The finals are a week out… make arrangements so we can receive the results through the escort agency as well."
Jinmyung issued a string of further instructions. The thought of returning home put Ak Jun in such good spirits that he took them all down without complaint.
"I'll pay my respects at the Mt. Hua Sect myself. Handle the rest of the preparations."
"Understood."
Having given Ak Jun his orders, Jinmyung left the lodgings. When he had first ascended Mt. Hua, he had paid his respects to the First Sword of Mt. Hua, who oversaw the Haegeomji, and to the elder in charge of the Guest Reception Hall.
He now sought out the Guest Reception Hall to arrange an audience with its elder before departing the next morning. The hall was overwhelmed with the Mt. Hua Sword Conference, so crowded that even under a bright full moon the place still thronged with people.
After a long wait, Jinmyung secured his appointment and stepped back outside. On the road back to the lodgings, a reception attendant came scrambling after him.
"Young Master Go — do you have a moment? The Sect Leader wishes to see you."
"The Sect Leader? Please, lead the way."
Jinmyung followed the attendant into a garden. Within it stood a small pavilion, and inside that pavilion Yeon Hochun was waiting for him.
"I am Go Jinmyung of the Donghwa Merchant Group. It is an honor to meet you."
"Yeon Hochun. Sit."
As Jinmyung took his seat, Yeon Hochun lifted the teapot and poured for him himself. Jinmyung set the cup to his lips, then paused, tasting something different, and asked:
"Is this… wine?"
"Nonsense. The Mt. Hua Sect is a Daoist order — how could we drink wine? It's grain tea. Your attendant was asking after some."
It had been one of the instructions Jinmyung had given Ak Jun. With his bond to Moyong Ran severed and his spirits low, he had idly mentioned wanting a drink.
"You summoned me simply to offer grain tea?"
"Among other things. Originally… even with you so close to Mt. Hua, I pretended not to know you, and you, for your part, only gazed up at the mountain from Chang'an. You never once climbed it."
From the day Jinmyung had arrived in Chang'an, Yeon Hochun had heard a great deal about him — the dealings with the Emperor, the rummaging through Chang'an's archives.
Yeon Hochun had even sent Mt. Hua disciples in secret to discover why Jinmyung was searching the archives. It had come to nothing.
"And then, out of nowhere, you crash the Mt. Hua Sword Conference — the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, no less. From what a friend of mine told me… didn't you climb this mountain looking for a single book?"
"Is this friend of yours from Xinjiang?"
"I have many friends in the martial world. One of them happens to be in Xinjiang."
"My entry into the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament has nothing to do with the book. I simply…"
Jinmyung did not know what to say. He could not read Yeon Hochun's intent. He had crashed the tournament for no reason other than to see Moyong Ran.
But Yeon Hochun was speaking of the book and the intrusion as if they were one and the same.
"Your grandfather, too… was one of my comrades-in-arms. Not that he ever took up arms and walked onto a battlefield himself, of course…"
Yeon Hochun drained his cup while Jinmyung sat thinking. Jinmyung emptied his own and accepted the grain tea Yeon Hochun poured for him.
"Mt. Hua always welcomes its comrades. Especially a friend who has something left to learn."
After watching Jinmyung's duel with Taeshin, Yeon Hochun had gone to find the young man. He had meant to offer consolation for the defeat — but Taeshin's eyes were not fixed on loss.
Taeshin had been observing his own meridians with the same rapt fascination as a child first taking up the sword. Seeing that, Yeon Hochun had known the duel would push Taeshin to grow.
He had returned in good spirits and met with Namgung Ho, who had spoken to him about Jinmyung.
"The martial arts you displayed felt like the seeds we protected in the last war finally putting forth shoots. That is, if you truly created them yourself."
Yeon Hochun drained his cup again and offered Jinmyung more. Watching him drink, Jinmyung emptied his own and accepted the pour.
"Do you believe His Majesty is looking for that book?"
"His Majesty was my comrade as well. Every time the Mt. Hua Sword Conference comes around, Jinyiwei agents slip in looking for that book — just as you have."
Yeon Hochun gave a short, dry laugh and went on.
"Pitiful, really. What do they think they'll accomplish, hunting for it now…"
Jinmyung did not think those words were meant for him.
"I struck a deal with your friend in Xinjiang. A transaction in which both sides settled accounts only in truth. I would like to propose the same arrangement to you."
"That fellow made a deal like that? Heh. Fine by me."
Jinmyung told him why he had crashed the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament. Hearing it, Yeon Hochun burst into open, roaring laughter. Only after laughing for a long while did he smile and say:
"You truly take after your grandfather. He put on a show of being rational, too… but he had a romantic streak, just like you. Well then — what is it you want to hear from me?"
"Is it true that the book is not at the Mt. Hua Sect?"
"It is on Mt. Hua. It is not with the Mt. Hua Sect."
"Pardon?"
"But if you mean to find the book whole and complete, you will not find it on this mountain. Forgive me. That is all I can tell you."
"I see…"
"In exchange, I'll offer one piece of advice. Your internal energy is not pure. If you are not careful, it may cause you great harm someday."
"I appreciate your concern, but this is the energy my heart is drawn to. Please don't trouble yourself over it."
"The heart is drawn to grain tea as well. But drink nothing but grain tea and you'll come to grief. Well — so long as you don't overindulge, you should be fine."
Yeon Hochun passed the teapot of grain tea to Jinmyung.
"I hear you're returning home. Grain tea drunk while gazing at plum blossoms is one of Mt. Hua's treasures."
Jinmyung accepted the pot.
"Go home and enjoy Mt. Hua's treasure. I, for my part, should share a cup with an old friend."
Jinmyung clasped his hands in farewell, took the teapot, and headed back to the lodgings — thinking how much Ak Jun would like it.