Donghwa Merchant Group (2)
"So the saying was true — ten years really can change mountains and rivers."
As Jinmyung and Ak Jun crossed into Shandong Province, they found themselves facing landscapes both familiar and strange. Looking out the carriage window, both men sank into memories of the past.
"Still, skipping Jinan and heading straight to Yantai is a bit rough."
"The rest of the family is leaving their branches and heading to Yantai too, so stop complaining."
"I'm just saying."
Ak Jun grumbled, as if his fiancée's face were already floating before his eyes. Jinmyung had spoken firmly, but the carriage was no more familiar to him than it was to Ak Jun.
Whenever a decent rest stop appeared, they climbed out of the carriage to work the stiffness from their bodies. The coachman reined in the horses, announcing a place to rest.
Jinmyung and Ak Jun stepped down and stretched their cramped limbs. Ak Jun suddenly assembled the spear shaft he'd kept hidden beneath his clothes.
He swung the spear through the air, loosening up. Watching him, Jinmyung spoke.
"Is it all right to show off your martial arts like that? I heard you're supposed to die if someone steals a look at your techniques."
"That would be true for a family's secret arts. What I'm doing now is just basic forms. Any decent soldier would know these."
The Shandong Ak Family was famous for its spear techniques. Spears were more useful on the battlefield than in the Murim, and the spear arts of the new dynasty's army were based on the Ak Family's spear method.
The coachman stepped away briefly to relieve himself. Ak Jun continued swinging his spear, demonstrating the forms.
Jinmyung rested against the zelkova tree at the center of the rest stop. He rubbed his back against the trunk for a moment, then simply leaned there and watched Ak Jun.
"Aren't you going to train, my lord? Nothing loosens a stiff body better than this."
"Look at you — not bad for someone who's trained without a master for ten years."
"You wouldn't know this, my lord, but children of martial families train their bones and sinews relentlessly from a young age. Something like this is just... well..."
"Is that so? Honestly, it doesn't look all that different from the level I saw at the Yongbong Gathering."
At Jinmyung's words, Ak Jun's eyes suddenly snapped up to stare at him.
"That look... so you're thinking there's no way I'd say something like that?"
"Of course not, haha... Come to think of it, my lord, you've researched and created martial arts, but the Mt. Hua Sword Conference was the first time you actually watched someone perform them, wasn't it?"
Ak Jun changed the subject, looking a little caught out.
"Right. You're not circulating any energy right now — just practicing the forms. Is that correct?"
"Yes, I'm just loosening the body."
Watching Ak Jun's exercises, Jinmyung recalled something Moyong Ran had said.
"Come to think of it, I heard that Inki-jeongong has very simple forms."
"Well, that's stating the obvious... A martial art that consists of throwing punches from a horse stance — there's probably only one of those in the entire jianghu."
"If you ever take a hit from it, you'll change your mind."
Tap, tap, tap. Ak Jun struck the ground with his spear shaft.
"That Pasan-gwon of yours — what happens if you use only the forms, without internal energy?"
"...You throw a straight punch from a horse stance."
"If we sparred with internal energy, one of us would spend the rest of the trip lying flat in the carriage... But with just the forms, it's nothing special, is it?"
"Forms alone make it a martial technique — is that really martial arts?"
"Well, using only one of the three — mind, energy, or body — is technically just a technique. But if this were a real fight instead of a spar... no one would willingly take a hit from Pasan-gwon."
During the carriage ride, Ak Jun had learned a great deal about Inki-jeongong from Jinmyung. The principle behind Pasan-gwon was similar to poison arts.
Poison arts attack the body, making it difficult to use martial arts. Pasan-gwon channels internal energy into the opponent's body to strike their meridians.
The strategy Jinmyung had displayed at the Yongbong Gathering involved standing in a horse stance and countering without dodging. But a horse stance plants both legs firmly in the ground and doesn't move.
If his opponent had been someone who primarily used a whip — like the Tang Family's whip staff — Jinmyung's performance at the Yongbong Gathering would have been less a spar and more a one-sided beating. He would have simply stood there taking every lash.
"Most of the manuals emphasize the horse stance, though."
"That's because nothing builds a powerful lower body quite like it. The reason we train the body is to create a physique that can freely execute the forms."
"Right. Watching the Mt. Hua Sword Conference, it wasn't just the forms themselves — there were so many variations, the kind where you think, Wait, how does that even connect from there?"
"You see as much as you know."
Jinmyung understood the importance of forms that Ak Jun was describing. But some corner of his heart didn't want to admit it.
"But nobody actually fights with just the bare forms. So is there really a need to train them?"
"You know that a form is a stance that can carry internal energy into an attack, right? The reason every sect refuses to demonstrate their training isn't about hiding the forms themselves — it's about not revealing how the forms link together."
Jinmyung recalled Taeshin's attacks. Taeshin had pressured him using nothing but footwork techniques — the Azure Cloud Step and the Azure Wind Step.
Because a sword is a tool, the positions from which an attack can come are limited. Taeshin had used his footwork to make his own position nearly impossible to track.
"These Murim masters... they're more inefficient than I thought?"
"...How did we go from talking about forms to that?"
"Like you said, to learn martial arts you have to train your bones and sinews from childhood. Then you eat a ton of spiritual elixirs... and on top of all that, you still have to spend time drilling forms until you master them?"
"Well, there is something called the Natural Stance — supposedly the ultimate posture that can link into any form. At that level, forms themselves become meaningless... but you'd have to be one of the Three Emperors to pull that off."
From the perspective of martial technique, a form is simply a posture for putting force into an attack. Forms are collections of stances that channel power well — but from the perspective of martial arts, it's a little different.
Internal energy comes from the breath, and assuming a form that carries internal energy means performing a continuous movement of breathing. The chain of forms Taeshin had demonstrated at the Yongbong Gathering had broken the moment his breathing faltered.
Having learned and created martial arts from books, Jinmyung had believed that the principle of Pasan-gwon alone would be enough for a one-hit kill. But the forms that moved the body were more important than he had thought.
"My lord, how about a deal?"
"A deal? What kind of deal?"
"I'll train your body using the Ak Family's methods. In exchange, you teach me Inki-jeongong. How about it?"
"It's a tempting offer... but Inki-jeongong's internal energy isn't pure. It'll clash with the Ak Family's martial arts."
"Learning it myself would be nice, but... either way, Inki-jeongong came from the Murim Alliance's archives. Studying it, I'm bound to gain some insight of my own, aren't I?"
Jinmyung considered for a moment. The reason he hadn't told even Ak Jun about creating martial arts was because that information was critical.
But now the information was already out. Discussing martial arts with Ak Jun might even help him advance Inki-jeongong to the next stage.
"All right, fine. But can you train inside a carriage?"
"I'll take that as a deal. You've done plenty of horse stance, I take it... Let's see if you can hold one in a place that rocks like a carriage."
"What?"
The coachman returned from his business. The two climbed back into the carriage to resume their journey.
At Ak Jun's insistence, Jinmyung assumed a horse stance inside the carriage — and promptly toppled over from the rocking. Ak Jun looked down at him with a grin spreading across his face.
"Show me how it's done. No — you said your body was stiff too, so join me."
"That's... nngh... Fine."
Unlike the rest of their homeward journey, the carriage filled with a thick, heated energy.
The other carriages of the Donghwa Merchant Group traveling up from Jiangsu Province to Shandong carried a very different atmosphere. At the Jiangsu branch of the Donghwa Merchant Group, major matters awaiting Dan Jun and Eunseong's approval were pouring in like a flood.
At any other time, Chief Manager Ak Sun would have handled them — but all three had set out to meet the Emperor, and that had been a critical mistake. The one silver lining was that with all three together, decisions could be made quickly.
But one matter refused to be settled and kept snagging their progress. Dan Jun and Eunseong simply could not agree.
"With Goryeo becoming Joseon, His Majesty is watching Joseon's military movements with a hawk's eye. If the merchant group continues to depend on trade with Joseon, the moment war breaks out, our future will hang by a thread."
"You're right. But the moment we use the privileges His Majesty granted us to expand our influence within the country, every other merchant group will turn against us."
"According to my sources, Joseon is mobilizing troops to conquer Liaodong. Changbai Mountain in Liaodong is where our merchant group's finest product — Changbai Mountain ginseng — is harvested..."
Eunseong kept pressing for diversification, arguing that the merchant group needed to redirect its focus inward. But Dan Jun continued to refuse.
"His Majesty is not the kind of man who will start another war before he's finished cleaning out the remnants of the old dynasty. He always said it himself — a gentleman's grand design is not late even if it takes ten years."
Dan Jun knew the Emperor well. That was why, even though Eunseong's argument was rationally sound, he was certain the Emperor's nature would keep him from waging war against Joseon.
And yet, somewhere, that phrase — ten years — sat uneasily with him. Like a thorn caught in his throat.