The Divine Condor Hero (1)
Moyong Gwang bowed respectfully and spoke in his usual curt tone.
“I have admired Lord Taeheo Singeom since childhood. I hope to meet him one day.”
“Thank you. My master will be pleased to hear that.”
After that single sentence, Moyong Gwang clamped his mouth shut again.
A strong, silent type, as expected from the north.
A real man’s man.
Setting personality aside, his skills were clearly exceptional. Hadn’t he cleared the Heavenly Wheel Five Palace Formation in less than half a shichen? It was an overwhelming record, second only to Seomun Hwan himself. Considering how effective the Moyong Clan’s greatsword techniques were in real combat, the man would surely prove just as formidable on the battlefield.
Even the Heavenly Demon Cult rarely produced talents like him.
If Seomun Hwan excluded himself, Moyong Gwang might rank alongside his eldest brother.
Seomun Hwan found himself reevaluating the Moyong Clan.
The world of murim truly is vast.
He gave a faint smile and tilted his wine bottle.
The first meeting ended with light greetings, and the next day arrived.
On the second day, the schedule was to tour West Lake, Hangzhou’s famous landmark. By noon the entire group had gathered. The sky was perfectly clear, the sun bright, and a cool breeze blew across the water.
Yeongho Jun shouted enthusiastically, “The weather is incredible! West Lake looks like a shimmering jewel!”
He wasn’t exaggerating. The lake’s surface held the early spring sunlight and glowed with a soft jade hue. Simply gazing at the wide-open vista was enough to wash away the previous day’s hangover.
Someone let out an awed cry. “This is wonderful!”
It felt less like the Yongbong Gathering and more like a sightseeing trip. Yet even this leisurely outing served an important purpose. By helping the rising stars of the next generation grow closer, the event aimed to foster harmony and peace throughout the murim.
I don’t know about peace in the murim, but I definitely don’t see any ideal daughter-in-law material here for my parents.
There were only three women present. All of them were indeed the greatest young female talents of the murim, but as marriage prospects they were all terrible.
A beggar, an idiot, and a Tang Clan girl.
The first two were bad enough, but Dang Mi-ju was the kind of woman every man dreamed of at least once. Plenty of men would sell their souls for the chance to marry her.
To Seomun Hwan, however, she was the worst of the three.
Becoming a son-in-law to the Tang Clan? How horrifying!
The future Seomun Hwan dreamed of was one where he could roll around in bed from morning till night. Once he elevated the Seomun Clan to the greatest in the murim, he planned to do absolutely nothing. But being dragged off as a son-in-law to the notoriously strict Tang Clan? He would be forced to wake at dawn and handle family affairs until evening.
Absolutely not.
Just imagining it sent a shiver down his spine.
Still… Mother and Father are so insistent. I’ll have to get married eventually.
Even in the murim, unless one was a wandering rogue, most people married before twenty-five. For someone from a stable clan like the Seomun family, it was expected even earlier. His eldest brother had already taken a wife, and his second brother was scheduled to marry next year.
It was bothersome, but unless he wanted to break his parents’ hearts, he would have to find a suitable partner and hold a proper wedding.
The problem was…
But how does one even date?
In his previous life as the Phantom Demon, he had never needed to worry about such things. In the Heavenly Demon Cult, strength was truth. If he wanted something, he took it. When he grew tired of it, he discarded it. Women had gathered around him and then vanished in exactly that manner.
But the situation was different now.
Ah… what a hassle. Maybe I should have just married Baekri Seonhwa.
Her conditions hadn’t been bad. She might have been rude, relied too much on makeup, lacked loyalty, and…
The more he thought about it, the more flaws he found.
“Ahem! No, never mind. She’s definitely not it.”
Seomun Hwan scratched his head.
I can’t even imagine myself married to anyone.
In the end, he gave up thinking about it, as usual.
Unlike him, one person was freely carrying out her own youthful plans.
Hwangbo Myeong-ju.
“Young master! I want to see that!”
She dragged Namgung Cheon-hwi around like a favorite doll.
“Miss, please slow down a little… whoa!”
Though Namgung Cheon-hwi was considered the greatest talent of the younger generation, he couldn’t match her in raw strength. When the excited Hwangbo Myeong-ju rampaged about like a wild bull, he flailed after her like a paper puppet.
“Wow! That boat is so pretty! Let’s ride it, young master!”
“Miss, they said the boat is already at capacity. It might sink… No, I said you can’t get on that one!”
Namgung Cheon-hwi broke into a cold sweat trying to stop her, but Hwangbo Myeong-ju had already planted her foot on the boat.
“Whoops, I slipped… Kyaa!”
Splash!
“Lady Myeong-ju!”
Namgung Cheon-hwi struggled to pull the soaked girl from the water. Everyone watched the scene with pity.
Seomun Hwan shook his head.
If those two ever become husband and wife, Namgung Cheon-hwi will die ten times a day.
After finishing their tour of West Lake, Dang Mi-ju made a suggestion.
“The Hangzhou market has everything. Goods from all over the Central Plains arrive here, even items from the Western Regions. Shall we take a look before we leave?”
Gu Ja-yun shouted as if she had been waiting for the words. “Great! That sounds excellent!”
Even Hwangbo Myeong-ju, who was still clinging to Namgung Cheon-hwi’s arm, looked delighted.
Hangzhou was the crossroads where Eastern and Western cultures met. Silk, spices, and porcelain stood shoulder to shoulder with strange ironware, glass bottles, and vibrant oil paintings brought across the sea by blue-eyed merchants.
A market filled with rare and fascinating items no one saw every day. Both the women and the men couldn’t help but feel curious.
In the end, the group unanimously headed for the market.
And there…
“Direct from Luoyang! Paulownia wood incense burner! Not even the fires of the Demonic Cult can put it out!”
“Hey, customer! This is an immortal candle from the Western Trading Company! One stick burns for three whole days!”
“This isn’t just any silk—it’s heavenly silk! The undergarments of the greatest beauty under heaven!”
It was truly a spectacle. Eastern shops and Western peddlers filled the streets with different accents and gestures, each trying to lure customers with animated calls and waves.
“Whoa!”
With an excited Gu Ja-yun leading the way, the group began wandering through every corner of the Hangzhou market. The women were drawn to unique accessories and beautiful ornaments, while the men pretended to be uninterested yet stopped unconsciously before intriguing objects.
Even for Seomun Hwan, whose combined ages from both lives approached a hundred years, such a market was a fresh experience. His previous life as the Phantom Demon had consisted of nothing but martial training and war. When would he have had the chance to stroll through a market like this? If he needed something, a single word had been enough to obtain it.
“There are quite a few decent items here.”
Seomun Hwan had mastered the Mysterious Golden Eye, which allowed him to see the true nature of all things. He could distinguish truth from lies, and genuine articles from skillfully made counterfeits. While there were plenty of convincing fakes meant to trick fools, there were also many genuinely rare treasures.
Picking them out was surprisingly fun.
“Maybe… I have the talent to be a merchant?”
He suddenly burst into quiet laughter. Perhaps being reincarnated into the Seomun Clan wasn’t mere coincidence. Of course, a lazy person like him could never become a good merchant.
“Still, it’s exhausting.”
The Mysterious Golden Eye required enormous inner energy and concentration. Seomun Hwan could only circulate his qi for very short bursts before resting.
It’s still too much to use in actual combat.
Then something caught his eye.
“Huh?”
Seomun Hwan tilted his head, then walked toward a corner of the market. A boy who looked about fifteen had spread a cloth on the ground and laid out a few items.
When Seomun Hwan approached, the boy’s face brightened. “Welcome, handsome young master!”
He was a scrawny kid. A strange silver-rimmed accessory hung on his face, with two transparent crystals covering his eyes like small windows.
The boy touched the silver frame with practiced ease. “This is a Western item called ‘spectacles.’ It’s very useful for people with poor eyesight like me.”
As expected of Hangzhou, even a street kid like this was familiar with Western goods.
“Spectacles… something that brightens blurry vision? The meaning makes sense, but the pronunciation is odd. Wouldn’t ‘eyeglasses’ be better?”
“Oh! That’s a good idea. Eyeglasses…”
Leaving the boy muttering to himself, Seomun Hwan picked up one of the items on the cloth. It was a long, snake-like object made of leather.
“What is this? It doesn’t look like something from the Central Plains.”
“Are you interested in that item? You have excellent taste, young master. That is a belt for the waist. It comes from Basa, the most prosperous kingdom in the Western Regions. Only royalty uses such fine goods there. It will help maintain the dignity of a stylish person like yourself. Ehehe!”
The boy had a clumsy yet strangely persuasive way of speaking. His words carried weight, and he knew exactly how to mix gestures that tickled a customer’s fancy.
When Seomun Hwan showed interest, the boy rubbed his hands together eagerly. “Just ten silver coins!”
“Ten silver coins for this?”
Ten silver coins was no small sum; an ordinary commoner could live comfortably for a month on that amount. When Seomun Hwan tilted his head, the boy spoke urgently.
“That’s practically giving it away. I bought it myself in the Western Regions. It’s the genuine article!”
Even as he spoke, his eyes constantly scanned Seomun Hwan’s expression. His gestures were exaggerated just enough to seem sincere.
“Ten coins? Fine. I’ll buy it.”
When Seomun Hwan actually took out ten silver coins, the boy’s face lit up with joy. In truth, he had never intended to sell the belt for ten silver. If the customer complained it was too expensive, he had planned to gradually lower the price to around five silver coins. That way the buyer would feel satisfied about getting a bargain.
Jackpot today!
While the boy happily fiddled with the silver coins, Seomun Hwan ran his fingers delicately along the belt. Then—
Click!
With a strange sound, the belt came apart and a pure white blade sprang out.
“Eh?”
The leather he had thought was a belt was actually the sheath for a flexible sword that could bend like a whip. The boy’s eyes bulged as he saw the item’s true form for the first time, but Seomun Hwan spoke as if he had expected it.
“You’re an honest merchant. Selling such a rare treasure for only ten silver coins? Even ten gold coins wouldn’t be enough.”
He swung the blade, and it bent smoothly like a wave.
“This is a specially made flexible sword used in Basa swordsmanship. The double-layered leather design makes it look like an ordinary belt. It was once used by assassins in the Western royal palaces. Let me see…”
Seomun Hwan flipped the hilt, revealing characters written in the Basa language.
“Talātom. It means ‘turbulent waves.’”
“Y-you can read the Basa script?”
“There is nothing I do not know.”
He didn’t know what circumstances had brought the sword here, but it was clearly no ordinary weapon.
“Now that I look at it, this divine blade couldn’t be bought even for ten gold coins.”
The color drained from the boy’s face.
“Uh… um, that is…”
The glib tongue that had been so confident moments ago vanished. His voice trembled. If Seomun Hwan was right, he had just sold a treasure worth ten gold coins at a dirt-cheap price.
One hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin. Ten gold coins was an enormous sum that would take years of hard work to earn. He wanted to ask for the item back, but it had already left his hands.
All he could do was…
“Sigh!”
…blame his own stupidity and let out a long breath.
When the boy quietly accepted his fate, Seomun Hwan spoke with amusement. “What is your name?”
“…They call me Sodam.”
“You have a good eye. Not only this item, but all the others are in excellent condition too.”
Besides the flexible sword, Jegal So-dam was also selling various accessories and trinkets. Though slightly dusty, every piece was genuine.
“There’s no way you went all the way to the Western Regions yourself. And you don’t seem to be from a trading company… How did you obtain these? Did you steal them?”
The boy jumped in fright. “N-no! Steal? I would never do such a thing!”
“Then?”
“…I buy them cheap from other merchants who don’t know their true value and resell them.”
A reseller. Easy to say, but impossible without an accurate eye for goods.
Seomun Hwan’s eyes sparkled with interest. “I see. Very well.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by ‘very well’?”
“I will buy everything you have.”
“All of these items?”
The boy’s eyes regained their sparkle. Then Seomun Hwan’s next words made them bulge again.
“Would ten gold coins be enough?”
“T-ten gold coins?!”
It felt as if the ten gold coins that had flown away had come rolling back. Jegal So-dam shot to his feet.
“I’ll sell! I’ll definitely sell!”
“Will you now?”
Seomun Hwan reached into his robe and took out ten gleaming gold coins.
“Take them.”
“Th-this is really…”
Jegal So-dam stared at the coins in a daze, unable to believe what he was seeing and touching. In all his time doing business in Hangzhou, he had never held such an amount. It was more than all the profit he had ever made combined.
Then Seomun Hwan said, “Follow me.”
“Huh? Follow you?”
“Obviously. You don’t expect me to carry all that luggage myself, do you?”
“N-no! Of course I’ll carry it! I’ll hold everything!”
Fearing Seomun Hwan might change his mind, Jegal So-dam hurriedly wrapped the items in the cloth he had spread on the ground.
“Where shall I accompany you? I’ll follow you even to the ends of hell!”
At the boy’s excited voice, Seomun Hwan gave a small chuckle.
When they returned to where the group was waiting, Dang Mi-ju looked at the new face with curiosity. “I don’t recall seeing this person before. Who is he?”
“I simply hired him as a porter on the way.”
“Is that so?”
Dang Mi-ju blinked in mild surprise but soon nodded. From behind them, Jegal So-dam whispered, “Wow, she’s incredibly beautiful. They say Hangzhou is full of beauties, but I’ve never seen anyone like her. Young master, is she perhaps…?”
He held up his pinky finger.
“Shut your nonsense and follow.”
“As expected of a capable man. Truly impressive.”
Jegal So-dam was a natural at flattery.
Some time after rejoining the group, just as the market tour was winding down, a young man appeared before them.
He wore luxurious silk robes. His features were handsome and refined, yet carried an unmistakable air of arrogance.
“Who do we have here? If it isn’t the recently famous Namgung Cheon-hwi, the Heavenly Dragon of Namgung.”
The man had singled out Namgung Cheon-hwi among all the Yongbong Gathering participants. Namgung Cheon-hwi recognized him and returned a polite bow.
“It has been a while, Jongli Hyeok.”
The eldest son of the Jongnam Sect Leader and a leading candidate to become the next sect leader. Behind him clustered several other young men and women. Yeongho Jun and the others recognized them.
“Sister Hua? What are you doing here?”
“Hyeonhak? Why are you still in Hangzhou?”
They were the ones who had been invited to the Yongbong Gathering but failed to pass the three trials. Somehow, they had run into each other in the Hangzhou market.