What Matters - 5
Geomseong had finished her meeting with Yu Wol, gone with him to the inn to receive the Clear Sand Pills, and returned — and her expression looked far brighter than before. Perhaps that was why Hong Ryeon, back from her patrol and waiting for her, could scarcely contain her curiosity.
"My, someone seems curious about what happened."
"Ahahaha..."
When Hong Ryeon gave an awkward laugh, Sa Yun, seated beside her, smiled as well. Hong Ryeon had been plenty curious throughout the patrol, after all.
"Let us head back first, and talk there."
When dinnertime came and everyone had gathered, Geomseong drew a deep breath. She would begin, she decided, with what he had given her.
"You recall the battle against the unorthodox sects a while back, do you not?"
"Yes."
Then, once the meal was over and everyone sat together nibbling at mooncakes, Geomseong took a sip of tea and finally broached the matter. With every gaze in the room fixed on her, she held out the box.
"I have received Clear Sand Pills. Three of them."
"That's wonderful."
The Clear Sand Pill was an elixir even Hong Ryeon knew well.
Though the Four Black Coalition made frequent use of it, there was nothing improper about the orthodox sects taking it as well. It was simply that once taken, any further dose yielded drastically diminished effects, so the common wisdom held that one should take it only once — and there was not a single disciple of Hongseong Sect who did not know this.
"Now, who among us has yet to take a Clear Sand Pill?"
"Hyeon Hwi, Yu Hui, Ryu Gang, and Sa Yun."
"Just so. The pills he gave me number three in all... so tell me, who would be best served by taking them?"
At that, Hyeon Hwi slowly raised her hand.
"Right now, enlightenment and training matter more to me than any elixir."
"Quite right. You were stalled at the Soft Hard Fist — the fist forms in the latter half of the Hongseong Divine Art, were you not?"
Martial prowess was not built on internal energy alone; proper insight and diligent training had to advance hand in hand. And at present, Hyeon Hwi judged her own situation to call for insight and training rather than an elixir-driven surge of internal energy.
Blunt as she always was, she had never once failed to look after her junior sisters, and she yielded the elixirs without ceremony.
"But Senior Sister Hyeon Hwi, you..."
"It's fine. I can always take mine later."
"I'm all right too. With everything I gained in the secret realms..."
"I took an elixir myself, some time ago. Everything has its season, and its rightful owner. Besides, elixirs serve the young and those of lesser internal energy best."
Ryu Gang, Yu Hui, and Sa Yun protested in flustered voices, but Hyeon Hwi would not be moved. She looked to Geomseong, and Geomseong nodded with a fond smile.
"Then Hyeon Hwi shall receive my personal instruction, intensively, for a time. And Ryu Gang, Yu Hui, Sa Yun — watching you three in the last battle, I could feel how your internal energy fell short."
Geomseong said it in a gentle tone, and the three nodded. On matters touching the martial arts above all, Geomseong's word was absolute.
So the pills passed to them, and Geomseong had Sa Yun take the first.
"Now then — I shall guide the energy through you. Sa Yun, you first."
"Yes, Master."
Geomseong rested her hand atop Sa Yun's head as the girl swallowed the pill, speaking in her usual calm manner.
In that same instant, a storm-like current of energy swept the elixir's potency through every corner of her body, gathering it all into her dantian.
An absorption that would have taken considerable time alone was finished in a fraction of it, and Geomseong then turned to the other two.
"You two as well."
Ryu Gang and Yu Hui likewise took their Clear Sand Pills under Geomseong's aid.
An elixir was truly an elixir — from the dose alone, they could feel their internal energy deepening.
Watching the three expressions settle into calm, Geomseong took a slow sip of her tea.
"That your internal energy has grown means you now need that much more training and insight. Devote yourselves all the more to your practice from this day forward."
"Yes, Master!"
"And — I heard from Innkeeper Yu earlier... it seems a Sanbeom may yet appear in these parts before long."
When she added that he had heard it from an old Taoist, Hong Ryeon started in surprise. The Sanbeom was an exceedingly rare monster — one even Hong Ryeon had laid eyes on only once in her life.
And she had not even managed to subdue it, at that. For such a creature to appear in this region...
"The Sanbeom's tail, surely..."
"Yes. A material for the forging of the Hyeon-ungap. True, he said it was only a possibility — but it is not a possibility we can afford to let slip."
Geomseong was in earnest, and the other disciples took it just as gravely.
"Plenty of people will be hunting the Sanbeom."
"Hm. Then we must move with all the more care. From this day on, the disciples are to put greater effort into scouting the lands near Seomhwa Village. And see that each of you carries talismans at all times."
"Um... by the way, Master. Was that something you discussed with Innkeeper Yu?"
At Hong Ryeon's question, Geomseong's lips curved.
"I did. He shared a few other matters besides. I walked the village and traded words with the people as well."
"I see... Hehe. He's a good man, isn't he?"
At that, Geomseong considered a moment, then answered with a faint smile — and with utter seriousness.
"Yes. A very good man, I found."
At Hongseong Sect, training carried on even after the evening meal.
The three who had taken the elixir that day, above all, had no choice but to redouble their efforts — with their internal energy grown, forms that had once eluded them were suddenly within reach.
"Hyaap!"
Rising into the empty air, Sa Yun loosed a kick and whirled her body around with it. A fist came hammering down, and in the same breath she spun her reverse-gripped sword in a cleaving arc.
A faint crimson sword qi blossomed at the trembling tip of her blade, mingling with the light the sword itself gave off — and together they bathed the darkened training grounds of Hongseong Sect in a bright glow.
"Not bad at all."
Geomseong had drawn near without her noticing. Only then did Sa Yun release her focus and look about — Ryu Gang and Yu Hui were already resting, slick with sweat, evidently having received Geomseong's guidance ahead of her.
"Thank you!"
"Your Flowing River Circle is still a touch rough. There is tension in your sword hand. I understand the strength that overflows now your internal energy has grown, but..."
Wooden sword held light in her grip, Geomseong demonstrated the very form Sa Yun had last swung. A sword-strike that split the darkness, wreathed in faint qi — beautiful even to Sa Yun's eyes.
"Once more, if you would."
"Yes!"
Sword in hand, Sa Yun gathered her focus and unfolded the form. Beside Geomseong's it was crude — and yet it was a form beautiful and strong enough all the same.
"Splendid. You have grown since the last battle."
"It's all thanks to the wonderful teaching of you and my senior sisters."
"Good. And that is precisely why I ask: this winter, could you make a short journey to Cheongho, with Hong Ryeon and Hyeon Hwi?"
"Pardon? Cheongho, you say..."
"I am telling you to pay a visit to Moon Lotus Pavilion."
Moon Lotus Pavilion.
The sect of the Blade Emperor — Hongseong Sect's longtime rival.
At the mention of it, Sa Yun tilted her head.
"It's not that I mind going..."
"The Hongseong Divine Art is a mighty art. But one grows stronger still by tasting other arts as well."
It was no lie. And just as her own master had done for her, the Blade Emperor would bestow his teaching on any disciple sent his way, asking nothing in return.
Just as he had taken up the blade himself for Hong Ryeon, Ryu Hyeon, and the other disciples in the days when they had been sent to him.
"It will be a fine experience for you. And I hear you have grown close with Chae Ryeon of Moon Lotus Pavilion?"
"Um... yes."
"Think of it as simply visiting a friend's home. Go, and see. I am certain it will do you good."
Sa Yun pondered the offer a moment, then nodded.
"Yes!"
It was a few days after her private meeting with Geomseong.
As on any other day, a courier of the Courier Gate arrived bearing several letters and a pair of boxes — correspondence and parcels from the Cheonghoe Merchant Guild.
"Huh?"
This one was from Sa Yun. I hadn't even sent my reply yet, and she'd written again?
Delighted all the same, I opened the box, lifted out the letter lying beside the small container within, and unfolded it.
Please forgive me for writing again before your reply has arrived, Uncle — there's something I simply had to tell you!
Do you remember how I wrote, in my last letter, about the great battle in Seomhwa Village? I'm sure you remember, Uncle. It was a hard, frightening fight — but we won, and Seomhwa Village was kept safe.
I thought I had only done what anyone would have to do. And yet, would you believe it — a reward came for that very deed!
And it was sent, they say, by the Alliance Leader of the Four Black Coalition — a man who is all but the chieftain of the unorthodox sects.
To be honest, it startled me a little. When I heard "Coalition Leader," I assumed he would be every bit as terrifying as the New Four Black Lotus Alliance Leader we fought before... but for someone like that to know how to repay a kindness — does that mean even the unorthodox understand righteousness and honor, in the end?
Anyway — for that kindness, our Hongseong Sect received an elixir called the Clear Sand Pill.
And — I'm truly grateful, though I feel a little guilty saying it — one of those pills was given to me.
Thanks to it, my internal energy has deepened, and my martial arts have grown stronger.
Is that the sort of news that would make you happy, Uncle, for all the help you always give me?
I want to keep growing stronger, so that when I finally meet you someday, I'll have the strength to protect you.
This winter, I'll be traveling to Moon Lotus Pavilion with Senior Sister Hong Ryeon and Senior Sister Hyeon Hwi. You know Moon Lotus Pavilion, don't you? It's an orthodox sect that rivals our Hongseong Sect... and it's also where Chae Ryeon, whom I wrote to you about before, makes her home.
The reason we're going is to seek instruction from the Blade Emperor, a warrior said to stand as an equal to our own Master.
Truthfully, that alone has me excited — but I've never once been to Cheongho, so the chance to see it with my own eyes is something else I can hardly wait for.
Senior Sister Yu Hui says Cheongho is so vast and so blue that people claim a dragon once dwelled there. Could it truly be as grand as all that?
Have you ever been to Cheongho, Uncle?
Hehe. When I go this time, I promise I'll tell you every one of my impressions of it.
And I'll send you a gift, too. They say Cheongho is famous for its cloth — what would you think of a sachet made from it? Ah — or perhaps a scarf, or a pair of gloves?
I learned how from Senior Sister Hong Ryeon a while back! If there's anything you'd like, please tell me in your next letter!
The days are turning colder and colder. I can bear the chill now that my internal energy keeps growing, little by little — but I worry whether you'll be all right, Uncle.
P.S.
I'm sending a little more Cheon-il Plum Blossom Tea, so please stay healthy and take care not to catch a cold.
They say the tea warms the body and keeps colds at bay. Next time, I'll learn to brew a different kind and send that to you as well.
I folded the letter shut, tucked it into my safe, and drew the jar of Cheon-il Plum Blossom Tea out of the box.
I still had tea left from the batch she'd sent a while back, and here was more. I would simply have to drink it with real dedication.
Still — Moon Lotus Pavilion, of all places.
Wasn't this much the same arrangement as when Chae Jin had come to study under Geomseong?
"...Hm?"
Hold on a moment.
If Hongseong Sect was heading to Cheongho for private reasons, they wouldn't be taking the official highways...
"In that case, wouldn't a modest detour along the way put the Murim Alliance right in their path?"
With Hong Ryeon going along, they would be sure to stop by the Murim Alliance en route.
A slight bend in the road would take them there, and seeing the Murim Alliance for herself would be a fine experience besides — I couldn't quite imagine them passing it by, not with Sa Yun in tow...
I picked up my pipe and leaned against the window frame.
As I smoked and turned the matter over, figures came into view from the back yard.
Sa Yun and Hyeon Hwi, arrived for their patrol.
I set my pipe down and went straight down to meet them.
"Hello."
"Oh! Hello!"
"Greetings."
The taciturn Hyeon Hwi bowed with formal courtesy and went inside to write up the patrol log.
Left alone, Sa Yun lingered as though she had something to say, then came up to me and asked in a small voice:
"Um... Innkeeper? Are you, by any chance... busy this winter?"
"This winter?"
It wasn't as though I sowed crops in winter, and there was no land-clearing work to be done, so nothing in particular demanded my time. And now that I had no further need to involve myself in developing Seomhwa Village, I expected to be quite idle, in fact...
"W-well, you see..."
Sa Yun laughed awkwardly.
"This winter, I'm... I'm going to Cheongho. Senior Sister Hong Ryeon told me this morning..."
"Told you what?"
"That the Murim Alliance lies along the way there, and that we should stop by it before going on... and, um — remember what I told you before? That when we went to the Murim Alliance, I wanted to bring you with us?"
"I remember."
"...If it's no trouble, would you come with us? I'll cover the travel expenses this time! Senior Sister divided up what was left from selling the sachets and medicinal herbs, and told us all to spend it as pocket money — and I never touched mine. I've been saving it..."
Arms flailing as she stumbled over her words, Sa Yun looked up at me with eyes brimming with hope.
Ah. How was anyone supposed to resist that?
"Thank you for asking me. I'll come along."
Sa Yun broke into a radiant smile.
And deep inside, so did I.