Outer Strength, Inner Strength
Part Three — Outer Strength, Inner Strength
"Second Young Mistress! You must not leave this place!"
The one who stepped into the path of the Second Young Mistress as she strode out was the same woman who had brought the Kongtong Sect martial artist.
"Training Hall Master. Stand aside."
Even before that firm command, the woman called the Training Hall Master showed no intention of yielding.
"This is an order your master — the Guard Pavilion Master himself — issued to us directly!"
"It does not matter."
One of the martial scholars fretted and tried to stop the Second Young Mistress.
"S-Second Young Mistress! If you leave this closed-door training ground now, the formation's effects will plummet!"
"Lay it again."
"Second Young Mistress! The spirit medicines…! The spirit medicines…!"
"Refine new ones."
Bodies surged in a human wave, trying to seize her by force, but the hands of people who knew no martial arts could never so much as graze her sleeve.
"Second Young Mistress."
What met her as she passed down the corridor and stepped out through the entrance was a full company of martial artists.
"Stand aside."
"That is…"
The martial artists awkwardly avoided her gaze, yet they did not retreat.
The Training Hall Master, who had hurried after her, cried out in a sharp voice.
"Martial artists of the main house! Remember the orders you received!"
At those words, the unit's commander stepped forward.
"Second Young Mistress, do you not know from whom this order has come? This is not merely a command from the Guard Pavilion Master, your teacher alone."
The Second Young Mistress's brow twitched.
"…"
When she said nothing, the martial artist found a little more courage and pressed harder.
"Not only that — this closed-door training is a truly momentous undertaking into which countless people have poured bone-grinding effort and enormous funds…"
The Second Young Mistress let out a short sigh.
"You talk too much."
She drew a practice sword from her sword belt.
"Since when do the martial artists of the great Luoyang Sword Family deliver oratory with their tongues instead of their blades?"
"…!"
At her words the martial artist's face flushed red and he fell back.
That did not mean he chose to withdraw quietly.
"All hands, form the sword formation!"
Just as the Second Young Mistress had said, he had simply decided to settle the matter in the manner of a Luoyang Sword Family martial artist.
"Anyone who does not know the main house's sword formation, fall to the rear!"
At that order the Kongtong Sect martial artist hastily withdrew and took his stance. What in the world is this situation… His expression was nothing if not uneasy.
Whether it was the Second Young Mistress ordering them to draw steel, or the Luoyang Sword Family martial artists who actually drew their blades and prepared to charge at her word — from his perspective, neither made any sense. Are they all mad?
The Luoyang Sword Family was nothing like the sects of the past, which had run strictly on allotment and rank. The intricate power dynamics of this impossibly vast house, fused with the Luoyang Sword Family's martial spirit, had given birth to a culture unique to its martial artists.
That a man who was, for all practical purposes, still a newcomer could not understand it was only natural.
When the martial artists finished forming ranks, the commander shouted.
"Open the formation!"
The Kongtong Sect martial artist did not know what sword formation the Luoyang Sword Family men had woven, but he was certain its level stood an unfathomable distance above anything his own sect possessed.
"Kh—!"
The pressure the formation generated was enough to make his knees buckle even from outside it.
Standing in the very heart of that sword formation as it moved with ferocious speed, revealing endless variation and a bone-chilling edge of killing intent, the Second Young Mistress was — astonishingly — bursting into wild laughter.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
She raised her practice sword and called out.
"You know, I've always thought…"
She bared her teeth.
"This would be far more helpful for training."
In that instant, the Kongtong Sect martial artist poured every scrap of his strength into a body technique and flung himself backward.
It was a reflexive movement that relied on the same keen sense the Second Young Mistress had once praised as useful.
And that judgment saved him.
A thousand rays of sword-light became lightning and swept the four directions like a mad gale.
A thunderous sword-cry became pale lightning and shredded the air in every direction.
There was a thunderbolt that, at the beginning of heaven, had struck down ten thousand mountain peaks.
The Sword Family Sixty-One Sword Arts — called a perfect sword art only in theory until the Second Young Mistress had actually mastered it. A phantom sword art born when the Luoyang Sword Family collected and refined the essence of sixty-one martial arts from every school, weaving together only their deepest principles.
In a single breath, three of those essences from the Sword Family Sixty-One Swords unfolded at once.
When the sword-light and sword-cries faded, only one figure still stood in that place.
The Second Young Mistress, Yeon Seo-rin, alone.
"You."
She stood tall among the collapsed martial artists and turned a crooked smile toward the Kongtong Sect man, who alone remained apart.
"As I thought. Your instincts are good."
She brushed past him as she spoke.
"You would do better learning Mount Heng's Formless Sword Form, or the main house's Sword-Heart Sword-Cry."
Only after the Second Young Mistress's figure had vanished into the distance did the martial artist gain the "freedom" to sink to his knees where he stood.
"…!"
Still unable to steady his ragged breathing, he stared after the direction she had gone. So that is the true face of Yeon Seo-rin, Heavenly Robe Without Seams — the one all of the murim name as a genius of a thousand years!
One of the Luoyang Sword Family's foremost martial artists. She who had already crossed the wall at a tender age, and who, without ever once appearing at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, had been ranked from long ago as the overwhelming first among the rising talents of the younger generation.
And as her epithet declared, she had already left the measure of those rising talents far, far behind.
In the pouring light of the setting sun, the investment party's procession climbed the hill road that led to the Luoyang Sword Family.
Originally they had planned to pass through Luoyang's city gates, take even a brief look around, and only then head for the Luoyang Sword Family. But because of the ambush, the procession was now moving straight to the Luoyang Sword Family without entering Luoyang itself.
"Ohhh! Everyone, look at all these invitations!"
The youngest of the Daseonrang cradled an armful of invitations and beamed with pure happiness.
Somehow knowing which road they would take, people dispatched by various houses of Luoyang had waited along the way to the Luoyang Sword Family and handed these over.
"They're all from houses with real names. I was a little worried, but Luoyang is a far more welcoming city than we thought."
The tall one among the Daseonrang smiled and nodded.
"Looks like our name carries weight in Luoyang, too!"
Watching the Daseonrang rejoice, Cheong-su, seated in a corner of the carriage, smiled to herself. Even famous businesswomen look like kids their age when you see them like this.
Still warm with that thought as she glanced around the carriage, her eyes met Sang-gwan Nan-hwa's.
"Cheong-su, was it?"
She smiled with elegant grace and spoke to Cheong-su.
"Would you happen to have any interest in accessories?"
She had clearly said it after noticing that Cheong-su wore not a single ornament.
"Ah, well. It isn't that I have no interest. It's just that the rules at my old workplace were rather strict…"
She had always cared a great deal about accessories and cosmetics alike, but the special nature of the Agency had been as good as total control over her entire life.
"If you don't mind, please take these. They're a new product we plan to unveil this spring."
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa abruptly held out a pair of earrings to the flustered Cheong-su.
"What? I couldn't. Accepting something so precious just like that…"
Cheong-su knew very well how valuable Daseonrang's accessories were.
"Not at all."
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa carefully gathered her skirt with one hand and sat down beside Cheong-su.
"Please accept them. Compared to the grace of your help, this is nothing."
"No, that was only my duty…"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa fastened the earrings to Cheong-su's ears herself.
"They suit you beautifully. So elegant."
At those words Cheong-su's mouth stretched in a grin that reached her ears.
"E-elegant? Haha. Well now."
Before she knew it, the Daseonrang young ladies who had been watching clapped their hands and shared in the delight.
From the opposite corner, the martial monk who served as their self-defense instructor watched the scene with a quietly pleased expression as well.
"Thank you so much for helping us!"
"Cheong-su unnie! You're so pretty!"
Cheong-su scratched the back of her head and gave an embarrassed smile.
"I'm embarrassed. Haha…"
And then, right on cue.
Someone rode a horse up to the window and barked an order.
"Making a racket again with your frivolous nonsense, are you?!"
It was the supervising nun.
But unlike before, Cheong-su had already signaled them in advance, so the Daseonrang young ladies were not startled.
Instead, the scolding fell upon the self-defense instructor, who had been sitting quietly.
"Junior sister! Instead of keeping the children in order, what are you doing sitting there staring blankly?!"
The self-defense instructor bowed her head with an awkward look.
"I apologize, senior sister. I will be more careful."
The supervising nun's gaze shifted to the invitations the Daseonrang young ladies were holding.
"Hand every one of those invitations over to this supervisor."
The youngest Daseonrang's eyes went round as saucers.
"What?!"
"These are necessary for our business…!"
"Be silent!"
They tried to resist, but the supervising nun would not be moved.
Having collected every invitation, she spoke to the Daseonrang young ladies in a sharp voice.
"This is not Sichuan. Everyone you visit or meet here in Luoyang will be overseen by the Emei Sect, which bears the responsibility of protecting the students. Do you understand?"
"…"
When the Daseonrang young ladies only lowered their heads without answering, the supervising nun pressed them again.
"You would do well to remember thanks to whom your families back home enjoy wealth and glory."
Her gaze turned to Sang-gwan Nan-hwa.
"You as well will remember that the Governor's lady shares our Emei Sect's will."
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa's brow twitched, but she made no reply and kept her composure, looking only straight ahead.
To that Sang-gwan Nan-hwa the supervising nun spoke in a low voice.
"Even if you enjoy the Governor's protection, for the sake of your fellow students if nothing else, you must not dare to act as you please. Do you understand?"
It was an open threat.
Just as Cheong-su clicked her tongue and was about to intervene, the self-defense instructor spoke first.
"…Senior sister. That is enough. Even these children have understood fully by now."
Only after unleashing several more cutting remarks upon the self-defense instructor did the supervising nun at last withdraw.
"Most likely…"
In the heavy atmosphere that filled the carriage, Cheong-su put on a wry smile and spoke.
"The people delivering invitations from truly great houses will be waiting inside the main house, so please don't take it too hard…"
"It is all right."
At her words Sang-gwan Nan-hwa smiled quietly.
Considering everything they had endured that day, it was a composure that was almost startling — enough to take Cheong-su aback inwardly.
"They cannot take the invitation that matters most."
She pressed a hand firmly over her chest.
"You had a hidden invitation?"
To Cheong-su's question she quietly shook her head, then opened her mouth.
"They could not stop us from joining the investment party bound for Luoyang."
It was the business of the Luoyang Sword Family's Fourth Young Master, who carried the blood of the Sichuan Tang Family. Even the Emei Sect, had they tried to bar Daseonrang from joining the investment party, would only have handed the Sichuan Tang Family a pretext to intervene.
"And now that we are already on our way to the Luoyang Sword Family, they could not block the First Young Master's invitation either."
Had it still been the Mugeomza Yeon So-hyeon of the past, it might have been another matter — but now that he had ended his seclusion, a mere outside power like the Emei Sect could not obstruct the First Young Master's will in Luoyang.
At the sight of Sang-gwan Nan-hwa like that, Cheong-su found herself nodding without meaning to.
"Indeed…"
She nodded several times more. So they are not simply lucky girls who know nothing of the world.
Well — if they had been, her lord would never have "chosen" them in the first place.