Just Smash Their Heads In
Sun Wukong settled into the gathering as if he had always belonged there.
"So your hometown is Flower-Fruit Mountain, you say?"
"Damn right. My hometown's a beautiful place. Even the scenery of the Heavenly Realm can't hold a candle to it."
"My, I'd love to visit sometime — but isn't it rather far?"
"It's hundreds of thousands of li across the sea. Unfortunately, humans have a hard time getting there."
"Ahaha!"
Naturally, not a single person took Sun Wukong's stories seriously. They all received them as lighthearted banter. Who in their right mind would believe tales of Flower-Fruit Mountain, the Heavenly Realm, secretly drinking the Jade Emperor's wine, and stealing the Queen Mother's Peaches of Immortality?
At a drinking party, even the most ridiculous stories could be entertaining depending on who told them — and Sun Wukong was a rather excellent storyteller. Until now, the gathering of the Five Great Clans' rising stars had been a place of veiled barbs and quiet power struggles. Having someone toss out nothing but genuine jokes was a novelty.
Of course, Sun Wukong hadn't told a single lie.
He had followed Sanzang's teachings faithfully. What need was there to deceive a bunch of children?
The more comfortable a person gets with you, the more their true nature comes out.
A person's true nature was something that ought to be hidden. No matter how thoroughly someone wrapped themselves in the guise of a sage, their true self always had something disappointing about it.
Funny thing, that.
And yet the moment they grew close or comfortable, they revealed it without even realizing. The closer the friend, the better the person — the more they ought to hide their true nature. That was only common sense.
Sun Wukong smiled bitterly at the faint echo of Sanzang's voice drifting through his mind.
It was late. A brilliant moon hung overhead, starlight pouring down over a drinking party in full, merry swing — and all of it lowered the walls of the mind another notch. The more rigorously trained the martial artist, the deeper their years of experience, the higher those walls stood. Unfortunately, as far as Sun Wukong was concerned, these rising stars didn't come close.
They're trained martial artists, sure — but compared to that friend of mine, Namgung Jinbaek, they're all pretty sloppy.
Whether they knew it or not, the rising stars at this gathering had already shown Sun Wukong their true colors.
"Ahaha! That's a fascinating story. Teacher Sun, I think you'd be better suited as a marketplace storyteller than a martial artist!"
Sun Wukong looked at Hwangbo Yong.
When I saw him at Manhyangru, he seemed pretty sharp and perceptive. Once the wine was in him, though, he didn't even seem to realize what was coming out of his mouth. The moment those words left him, Jegal Seoseo, sitting right beside him, had shot him a look that was just shy of a glare.
That was probably his true nature, right there.
Doesn't matter.
Even if that was his true self, so long as he packaged the outside well enough, what was the problem? Demons couldn't hide their true forms. They couldn't dress up the surface.
That's the power that let humans take this lower world for themselves, in the end.
Sun Wukong studied Hwangbo Yong with particular care. Nothing particularly special about him. His skill was solid, he had good instincts, and if he polished himself well enough, he had all the makings of a faction leader. But what Sun Wukong was looking for was something else entirely.
No bond of ill fate tying him to me, and no other sinister light about him either.
Sun Wukong casually shifted his gaze. Below the pavilion, seven martial artists were drinking and talking with Ojeong. For a fleeting instant, Sun Wukong's eyes met one of theirs across the empty air. The martial artist looked away at once, as naturally as breathing — but Sun Wukong smiled faintly.
So he's been watching me this whole time. And of all people, it was one bound to him by ill fate.
Since the Hwangbo Clan had brought these men along, Sun Wukong had wondered if Hwangbo Yong might be connected somehow. There wasn't a hint of it. At the very least, he could discard the theory that Hwangbo Yong belonged to that shadowy organization, or served as one of its underlings.
Sun Wukong turned his gaze once more — to Namgung Muyoung and Namgung Seowol.
Ugh...
These two were a mystery of an entirely different kind.
Seowol's a monomaniac.
She was staring straight at him, her fingers twitching restlessly, and Sun Wukong could see exactly what she was doing. She's looking at me and replaying our last spar in her head. At a drinking party, no less. A complete martial arts fanatic. A hopeless monomaniac.
...Sanzang had that monomaniacal streak too, in his own way. That stubborn march toward an ideal, so relentless it was almost infuriating. The sheer grit to endure trial after trial as colossal demons came crashing down upon them. That much, he could see in Seowol.
But no.
Killing intent. The vicious killing intent steeped in her blade was of an entirely different order. It was killing intent that rose from a person's very nature. If she were Sanzang's reincarnation, that would be impossible. Sun Wukong dismissed the thought cleanly. Namgung Seowol was not Sanzang.
Muyoung, on the other hand...
His presence was similar to Sanzang's. But he still couldn't be sure. He hasn't touched a single cup. He hadn't shown his true nature, and unlike the other members of the Namgung Clan, he was unusually wary of Sun Wukong. The stronger the wariness, the higher the walls of the mind — and Sun Wukong needed those walls to crumble before he could see through to the soul within.
Ugh. This one's going to be a headache too.
In the end, the ones he needed to approach first were Muhwa and Namgung Jinbaek. Better to focus on Muhwa first.
Sun Wukong shifted his gaze again.
Jegal Seoseo... I can see every gear turning in that head of hers.
Nothing worth worrying about. Sun Wukong didn't particularly care if someone was scheming at him. Even the cleverest types weren't much once you smashed their heads in. The ones who used their heads were actually easier opponents for him.
The one who rubbed him the wrong way, though...
Paeng Jeokhon.
The one hanging back a step, just sipping his wine and watching. I really can't stand the observer types. He said things, sure, but he never took the lead — just enough to show he was participating in the gathering. He didn't draw particular suspicion, nor particular interest.
These types are a real pain when things come to a clash.
Still. Even so.
They're nothing special once you smash their heads in.
Sun Wukong snickered.
Unfortunately, the conversation couldn't stretch much further. Even by the time Sun Wukong had joined, the drinking party had already been winding down, and the attendants below the pavilion looked ready to call it a night as well.
"It's gotten this late already. The Tang siblings of the Sichuan Tang Clan are supposed to arrive tomorrow — perhaps we ought to adjourn."
Namgung Muyoung's words drew a chorus of reluctant sounds from around the table.
"Today was fun."
"Having Teacher Sun join a gathering of juniors like this really brought the whole atmosphere to life."
"It did. I wish we had more gatherings like this."
When Jegal Seoseo said that, Hwangbo Yong laughed.
"Young Lady Jegal, haven't we already had plenty of drinking parties?"
"I don't mean just among us rising stars."
"Hm?"
"The Namgung Clan has no shortage of guest retainers like Teacher Sun, does it?"
"Ah."
A murmur of understanding rippled through the gathering as her meaning sank in.
The Namgung Clan's guest retainers. The estate housed so many remarkable people that they were a constant source of curiosity throughout the martial world — and what the martial world paid closest attention to was who those retainers were. Some were known. Others lived quietly within the Namgung Clan without anyone on the outside knowing they were there at all.
And the person who had put that thought in everyone's heads, more than anyone, was Sun Wukong.
He's even more interesting than I expected.
Just as Sun Wukong had been observing the rising stars, Jegal Seoseo had been turning the matter over in her own mind. He loosened the whole atmosphere with nothing but light drinking-party jokes. He made himself look like a clown among his juniors without a shred of dignity, all to make them feel close to him... and the whole time, only his mouth was smiling. His eyes never were.
As I thought — not a single one of the Namgung Clan's guest retainers is ordinary.
Jegal Seoseo found herself curious about the others. Most guest retainers were retired masters or martial artists who had withdrawn from the world. She had vaguely assumed that sitting down to drink with them would be a dull affair. But the gathering with Sun Wukong had been genuinely pleasant, and her preconceptions — of lonely figures who had walked the martial world in solitary preeminence, of hidden worthies sealed away from the world — had thinned considerably.
"What if we invited the guest retainers and asked them to offer us juniors some instruction? We could arrange a gathering for it."
Namgung Muyoung considered Jegal Seoseo's proposal for a moment. His deliberation was brief. Not a bad idea.
The guest retainers lived under the Namgung Clan's roof, after all. They were not people the clan could wield like a sword — but from the outside, they were unmistakably another form of the Namgung Clan's strength. If the guest retainers stepped forward at a gathering of the Five Great Clans, it would be one more display of power.
The problem, of course, is that there aren't any guest retainers who would actually step forward.
Namgung Muyoung glanced at Sun Wukong, who was snickering to himself. That one is just unusual. Even so, Jegal Seoseo's suggestion sat well with him. He stole a look at Hwangbo Yong, who was pretending otherwise — but whose face had gone slightly stiff. Sharp as he was, Hwangbo Yong had already grasped exactly what this would lead to.
That settled it. If it comes to it, I can ask Father to make it happen.
Namgung Muyoung accepted readily.
"Very well. I'll put the question to the other guest retainers. I can't give you a firm answer, however — they are people who prefer to keep to themselves in quiet."
"A firm answer... couldn't Teacher Sun give us one first, at least?"
When the arrow came flying his way, Sun Wukong smiled lightly and nodded.
"Me? I never miss a gathering where there's wine."
He swept a glance over them. These kids sure do a lot of thinking. Cheeky little things.
Namgung Jinbaek had treated him to wine, and he'd gotten a good look at some fine martial arts besides. Sun Wukong figured he could at least pay that much back.
"Did you enjoy yourself? You were laughing and carrying on loud enough."
There were thorns in Ojeong's words. Sun Wukong snorted.
"You were out there playing big brother with those guys yourself, weren't you?"
"Well, you kept shooting me looks that said you'd have my hide if I didn't do the job properly."
"Your senses have gotten sharp. You actually caught that."
"I was guessing, more or less. So you really were looking at me like that?"
Sun Wukong snickered at that. They had returned to their quarters after the drinking party broke up, and now he turned to Ojeong.
"So. Did you get anything useful?"
"They're wandering swordsmen well known in Shandong Province. Those seven."
"And that's how they ended up recruited by the Hwangbo Clan?"
"Yes. The Hwangbo Clan has been expanding its influence considerably of late."
"Well, that's Five Great Clans internal business."
Power struggles among the Five Great Clans were none of Sun Wukong's concern. When he showed no further interest, Ojeong pivoted at once.
"Yes. Those seven haven't been with the Hwangbo Clan for long, either. Their skill is outstanding enough that they've earned recognition, though."
"Hmph. So men who were only just recruited got brought along as attendants to a gathering this important?"
Sun Wukong folded his arms, sinking into thought.
Even a clan built on blood ties often recruited skilled outsiders. That was the Outer Hall.
"The Namgung Clan used to have one, a long time ago."
Even among those who shared the same blood, there was a divide between the direct line and the collateral branches — and as a rule, the collateral kin belonged to the Outer Hall. And it wasn't only the collateral branches.
"There are the people who come over through marriage, aren't there?"
"Yeah. There are."
Once married, a woman became an outsider to her natal family. If someone wed into the Namgung Clan, it was never just the woman who arrived. The martial escorts who guarded her, the servants who attended her — they were people, yes, but they were gifts in all but name. Bound to the woman who had married in, they became assets of the Namgung Clan. The problem was that they were not Namgung blood. They were outsiders, plain and simple.
"And the place those people end up is the Outer Hall."
A body composed of collateral kin and those who had drifted in from outside — that was the Outer Hall. Every one of the Five Great Clans of any real size had one organized. The only exceptions were the insular Tang Clan of Sichuan, and the Namgung Clan itself.
"Anyway. That's not the important part."
Ojeong steered the conversation back.
"There's one thing that's truly strange."
"Strange? What is it?"
"Those seven men."
Ojeong lowered his voice, letting the words trail off.