Are You Truly Trying to Kill Me?
Are you seriously trying to kill me?
When I opened my eyes, hot sunlight poured straight into them.
Ahh. So this is paradise, is it?
Right. I'd already died once and come back to life. Even so, at least I'd done nobility properly the second time around — no regrets there.
With nothing left to tie me to this mortal world, I was ready to become an immortal and ascend to the celestial realm—
"Hahk!"
Wait. Surely I'm not actually dead?
For a moment I worried I really had failed to withstand the power of the Tiger Dragon Body Pill, but after prodding at my body here and there and drawing up my internal energy, I confirmed I was still among the living.
How on earth did I end up like this, honestly.
I cast my mind back to what had happened after taking the pill. My first mistake had been assuming everything was fine just because I felt nothing at first.
The sensations only crept in gradually, and when I stilled my breath and examined my body through circulation practice, there it was — a tidal wave of energy surging toward my dantian, trying to swallow it whole.
I immediately sat up in alarm and scrambled, together with Moyong Hu, to bring the Tiger Dragon Body Pill's energy under control, but it was no easy task.
I stayed up an entire night just slowing the speed of the onrushing energy, then began peeling it away bit by bit and transferring it into my dantian.
Only after two more days of that agony did the energy finally settle — and by then I had burned through so much stamina that I lost consciousness.
Thinking about it now made me angry. Granted, it was my first time taking an elixir, so what could I have known? But even so, shouldn't our Royal Sword Brigade Commander, Lord Moyong Hu, who all but force-fed the elixir to me, have known better?
I was nursing that resentful thought as I tried to get up from the bed when something bumped against my thigh.
What the—?
Turning my head, I found a woman's head there. I nearly screamed, but seeing that my neck was still attached, I swallowed the shriek rising up my throat.
That startled me.
Who on earth would dare sleep with their face buried in my thigh? Curious, I gently lifted a strand of hair to peek at the face — it was Nari.
I made her worry again, didn't I.
A bitter feeling washed over me, followed closely by dread. The moment Nari woke up, she would torment me with a ten-out-of-ten probability.
So I stroked her hair. Partly to offer a word of praise for all her hard work, and partly out of the desperate hope that she would just keep sleeping like an angel.
But those hopes were shattered to pieces by a voice from outside the door.
"Sogaju-nim!!!!"
There it is. Of course. It's you, isn't it, Hu?
BANG!
Moyong Hu flung the door open as if he were tearing it off its hinges. He must have noticed I was awake from far away and sprinted over in a single bound, because he was drenched in sweat from head to toe. I regarded him with icy eyes.
"Sogaju-nim! In my ignorance, I have wrought great harm upon you! I beg you, forgive this disloyal wretch!"
And with that, he began slamming his head against the floor over and over. I had planned to wait until his forehead started bleeding before stopping him, but the man's strength was monstrous — barely ten strikes in, the wooden floor went beyond cracking and started to shatter outright.
At this rate the entire medical hall would collapse before Moyong Hu's forehead bled, so I hurriedly stopped him.
"Hey, hey, hey! Enough! That's enough!"
At my words, he stopped at once and bowed his head deeply.
"Now lift your face and talk to me. What happened after I collapsed?"
"Well, you see...."
According to Moyong Hu, even after I'd fallen unconscious he had continued suppressing the energy inside my body. The moment it showed signs of stabilizing, he hoisted me onto his back and sprinted straight for the medical hall.
The servants who saw him raced off to spread the word in every direction, and it eventually reached Wang Inho's ears — putting Moyong Hu in danger of the harshest punishment yet, for real this time.
But Wang Inho had deferred the sentence until I woke, and Moyong Hu had sat imprisoned in the brig all this while until he sensed I was stirring — at which point he smashed his way out and ran here. That was his explanation, anyway.
Moyong Hu looked to be on the verge of tears. I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him. After all, he had offered me the Tiger Dragon Body Pill he'd stolen from his own clan, only for everything to turn out like this.
"Phew.... I see. Well then, it's all water under the bridge."
At my words, Moyong Hu's eyes flew wide open in shock. He was silent for a long moment, and then at last the tears came.
"Sogaju-nim... I am a sinner who deserves death. How can you forgive me....."
A grown man. Forty years old, no less, carrying on like that — it was just unpleasant to watch. I felt a powerful urge to gather up his tears in my hands and pour them over the crown of his head.
That was when it happened.
"Mmmm..... why is it so noisy out here.... Hm? Sogaju-nim?"
Ahh, Nari. You should have slept a little longer. Then at least I could have steeled myself. In my current state, I am in no condition to receive your baptism of nagging.
Recognizing my impending doom, I glared at Moyong Hu. It was all that bastard's fault. Whenever that bastard was involved, Nari worried herself sick and then unloaded all of it on me.
Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Nari busied herself checking my condition, her dark-blue eyes shimmering.
"Are you all right?! Is there anywhere that hurts? I was so, so worried about you..... sob, hic...."
She must have suffered terribly while I was unconscious, because she wept with genuine anguish. I patted her back and comforted her, but she wouldn't stop crying, so I finally pulled her into a hug — only then did her sobs begin to quiet.
"I'm sorry, Nari. You worried a lot, didn't you?"
"I really... I really worried about you....."
"I know. I'm sorry."
As I said it, I held her even tighter. Nari burrowed into my chest, practically shoving her head at me.
Realizing the unspoken plea — pet me — I stroked her slowly.
Hmm. It felt like Nari was regressing into a toddler more and more, but whatever. She was cute, and that was all that mattered.
I looked at Moyong Hu over Nari's shoulder. He was so moved that he appeared to be attempting to manufacture a puddle with his tears. Watching him carry on shamelessly, I thought to myself:
By the way. You're not cute at all, you bastard.
"Hey."
"Command me in anything!"
"So — did I absorb the whole Tiger Dragon Body Pill or not?"
"W-well, you see...."
Moyong Hu bowed his head again and explained the whole story. The long and short of it was that I had failed to absorb the pill's energy completely. I'd managed to take in perhaps thirty percent, but apparently my body simply couldn't accept any more.
Picture a teacup too small to hold all the tea in the pot at once. That was the situation.
It had happened in the first place because my realm was far too low. That was on me for not thinking it through, but Moyong Hu admitted his own head had been so full of the idea of presenting me with the pill that the thought had never crossed his mind.
"So I nearly died for the sake of thirty percent of the pill."
"Not at all, Sogaju-nim! Though you did absorb thirty percent of it, the remaining seventy percent has not simply vanished."
"What?"
Now this was an interesting development. When I gestured with my chin for him to go on, Moyong Hu hurried to explain.
"The remaining seventy percent lies pooled directly before your dantian, like sediment at rest. As your realm rises in the future, Sogaju-nim will be able to harvest the pill's energy little by little."
Oh ho. Well, that changes the story entirely.
"Good. I'll speak to Father and have your crime formally pardoned."
"No, Sogaju-nim! The sin of gravely harming you is far too great. Please, take my life!"
"No. I said I forgive you."
"I cannot. How could I ever hold my head up and walk the halls of the Wang Clan? Please, strike off my head at once."
Ugh, should I just kill him after all? I said I forgive him — what is this nonsense? Barely suppressing the homicidal urge, I dismissed Moyong Hu.
"Enough. Get out and let me rest."
"I stand ready to carry out any command whatsoever, so please do not pardon my—"
"I said get out, damn it!"
"Yes, Sogaju-nim....."
And so the whole affair was laid to rest. Nari's heart was soothed after I held her for a full four hours, and Wang Inho declared that since the parties involved had resolved matters well, he would pardon Moyong Hu's crime.
The Four Gods Pavilions and the Council of Elders kicked up a fuss for a while, of course, but in the Wang Clan — where the Patriarch's authority was absolute — there was no choice in the end but to follow Wang Inho's decision.
The only thing that concerned me slightly was that Moyong Hu had earned the Council of Elders' undying hatred.
Well, fair enough. He nearly got the clan's succession killed — not once, but twice.
On that point, both Moyong Hu and I were in full agreement. And so Moyong Hu donated his entire personal fortune to the clan.
Maybe that's why his cheeks seem to be getting thinner these days. Not that it's any of my concern.
After that, once I'd nursed my body back to shape, I threw myself back into training alongside Moyong Hu. Nari tried to bar me from going, crying that I'd get hurt again — but what could I do? I soothed her and sprinted off.
"I want to learn a different martial art. Teach me something — anything. A clan art would be even better."
I couldn't train the Radiant Bow Guard forever, after all.
"A clan martial art, you say? I'm afraid you can no longer learn the clan arts."
"What? Why not?"
I mean, if the Sogaju can't learn the clan arts, what is he supposed to learn?
Baffled, I asked, and Moyong Hu explained.
"The Wang Clan's inherited martial arts were originally meant to be learned only after one attained sainthood. For the Patriarch to teach you the Radiant Bow Guard at all was already unprecedented."
I remembered what Wang Inho had said three years ago, before teaching me the Radiant Bow Guard.
'In principle, transmitting a clan art at this age is impossible. But I permit it.'
So that's what he meant.
Then what am I supposed to learn? The Royal Sword Brigade's arts seemed tremendously powerful, but...
The Royal Sword Brigade was the strongest fighting force of the Wang Clan. And true to that reputation, their martial arts were said to be mightier even than those of the Four Gods Pavilions.
Of course, Wang Yeomsu, Master of the Vermilion Bird Pavilion, was such a perfect match for the Vermilion Bird Art that within the Royal Sword Brigade, no one but Moyong Hu could stand against him — but that was beside the point.
"How about the Royal Sword Brigade's arts, then?"
With the brigade commander himself standing right in front of me, it seemed like a fine option — but Moyong Hu shook his head.
"Should you join the Flag Bearer Corps, you could learn the fundamentals of the brigade's arts. But might I suggest you learn something else instead?"
I scowled at that. So in the end, he wanted me to learn the Four Gods Pavilions' arts.
The Four Gods Pavilions was the collective name for the four pavilions: the Vermilion Bird Pavilion, the White Tiger Pavilion, the Azure Dragon Pavilion, and the Black Tortoise Pavilion. With both the clan arts and the brigade arts off the table, I would have to choose among them — but nothing leapt out at me.
The Vermilion Bird Art specialized in group combat, the White Tiger Art in one-on-one duels, the Azure Dragon Art in speed, and the Black Tortoise Art in defense. Each had its own clear strength.
But as someone who pursued versatility above all, I had no desire to learn any of those four arts — arts whose weaknesses were as stark as their strengths.
I knew perfectly well it was an entitled thing to say, given my past life. But what could I do? I'd already tasted the Radiant Bow Guard, a peerless art among peerless arts.
As I sat there furrowing my brow, Moyong Hu grinned and said, as if wondering what there was even to worry about:
"How would the martial arts of the Moyong Clan suit you?"
That's the one.
The Moyong Clan's arts? There was no question at all. The Moyong Clan was prestigious enough to have founded multiple dynasties, with traditions running just as deep. Which meant, in other words, that they possessed a staggering number of martial arts.
And wasn't it about thirty years ago that they took all those arts and forged new ones from them?
With so many techniques in their possession, they had cherry-picked only the finest strengths and fused them into their own clan arts, or so the story went.
Combining the Moyong Clan's signature techniques with the arts amassed during the reigns of the Moyong dynasties, the result alone would have let them shout loudest in the Central Plains murim for another two hundred years.
And he was offering to teach me the Moyong Clan's arts? Obviously I would learn them. No — I had to learn them.
"What do I need to do first?"
"You need only accept the teachings I offer."
We looked at each other and smiled. I smiled in anticipation of learning the Moyong Clan's arts; Moyong Hu smiled in anticipation of seeing how far I could keep up.
And so, learning the Moyong Clan's martial arts from Moyong Hu, another two years slipped past.