147. Sakju (3)
Sakju (3)
147. Sakju (3)
I hadn't misheard, had I? That middle-aged woman was my grandmaster? Then what Jo Sa-eun had been telling the Commander—that he would regret it—had been about me all along?
"That's absurd! Miss Jo. The Yeongsan Sect is a very small sect. And Yeong-ok is a female disciple. Female disciples are the ones who attend to the Daoist masters. It is utterly inconceivable for one to dare accept a Daoist master as a disciple."
Madam Seong denied Jo Sa-eun's words, flustered. I was flustered myself, but the Yeongsan Sect had only made its name recently. There was no way its old internal affairs could have spread through the martial world. Besides, that clumsy Taiji Fist I'd seen earlier. The Taiji Fist and Three Talents Sword in the Yeongsan Sect were altered versions, reinterpreted by some clumsy martial artist. She really did seem to be my master's master. My grandmaster.
"No, Madam Seong! Yeongsan has now become the most famous sect under heaven. Not just the Black Heaven Association, even the Peng Clan was crushed by Yeongsan's hand."
"That's absurd!"
My grandmaster looked at me with a face that said she absolutely could not believe it.
"No, that woman is telling the truth. I am Yeongmok, disciple of Master Chae Yeong-ok, the sixth Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect."
I shoved aside the thug grabbing my arm and used Flame Blossom Steps to dart out in front of my grandmaster. True or false, from this moment on they were people I had to protect. The instant I confirmed that, I blocked the Commander's path to shield them from him. Even if this was Jo Sa-eun's insane joke, making her pay for it could wait.
"Wha... Yeong-ok's disciple, you say? And Yeong-ok is the sect leader? Daoist master, haven't you made some mistake? I did see Yeong-ok take a disciple, but that was a very pretty girl, not a boy."
"This disciple, Yeongmok, greets Great Grandmaster. The disciple you remember is my eldest senior sister, Jeong-hyang, the Head Disciple. I am Master’s youngest disciple."
"Jeong-hyang, yes. That was the name. You truly were Yeong-ok's disciple! But, Grand-disciple. For you to bow your head to a female disciple like me is to make me commit a grave sin."
It had been a long time since I'd heard that attitude from a female disciple of the old Yeongsan Sect—male superiority, female inferiority. And being called Grand-disciple, no less. I never expected to hear that word with my own ears.
"Grandmaster. I will offer my greetings properly together with my master later. First, please wait a moment."
I turned away from Great Grandmaster and faced the Great Sun Association Commander. He was just as unsettled, and the situation was troublesome for both of us. Great Sun Association didn't want to attack an orthodox sect and provoke the Martial Alliance, but it couldn't tuck its tail between its legs just because I had appeared. I didn't want a direct clash with Great Sun Association either, but Great Grandmaster had been humiliated before my eyes.
"You are Yeongmok of the Yeongsan Sect? The Yeongmok who fought the Black Heaven Association? The Great Sun Association has no intention of making an enemy of the Yeongsan Sect right now. That young wench is a disciple of Jidong Sect, an unorthodox sect that lost to us. And your grandmaster, together with Jo Sa-eun, ambushed our post and fled here to save her daughter.
"It was a matter of mutual ignorance. Why don't you withdraw, and if any resentment remains, we'll settle it properly at a later date and place?"
The Commander studied me briefly, then opened his mouth in a grave tone.
"Fight next time? You'll bring far more martial artists then. Wouldn't that put me at too much of a disadvantage?"
"I have heard the female martial artists of the Yeongsan Sect are not as strong as you. If war begins here and now, not only your grandmaster but your master and senior sisters will have a hard time remaining unharmed."
Unlike the Duanmu Clan, who were from Jiangsu and had just come up from Henan, the Great Sun Association seemed to have heard our name to some degree. Even considering that Shanxi bordered Hebei, their information network was quite excellent. Our information was now considerably exposed. Annoyingly, this Great Sun Association Commander accurately stabbed at my weakness and threatened me realistically. But compromising here was the worst of bad moves. My master and the others were at the inn at the village entrance. If I let these bastards go here, they would contact the Great Sun Association and surround the village in an instant.
Great Grandmaster had been humiliated, and there was no possibility that Great Sun Association would yield to us on its own doorstep. People said martial artists threw away their lives over foolish pride, but this truly was a situation in which neither side could retreat. Whichever side backed down would become the laughingstock of the martial world and be marked as easy prey. War was already unavoidable. This man was a first-rate master, so I needed to eliminate as much of the threat as possible.
—Yeongmok. It is a good opportunity. We will deal with the small fry. You face that one yourself.—
The Flame Emperor, a martial artist as grave as he was battle-loving, spoke to me. Honestly, I had very little experience fighting without the Four Heroes' help. It had only been sparring with Reverend Hwa-il at the Baek Clan Estate, or Peng Gang and Jo Bok, who were clearly below my level. How strong was I now? I had clearly just stepped into first-rate, so I was probably the lowest among first-rate masters, but since the very foundation of my martial arts diverged from the martial arts of the modern Central Plains, I was honestly curious too.
"Although my grandmaster was insulted, you guys didn't know she was our grandmaster, and honestly, making an enemy of the current Great Sun Association is really quite burdensome."
At words that sounded like I might take a step back, the Commander let out a hearty laugh.
"A clever fellow. Right. The power balance of the world always changes quickly. In the orthodox faction, the Yeongsan Sect is gaining fame at incredible speed, but our Great Sun Association's publicly revealed strength is also merely the tip of the iceberg. Just as you suspect, we now possess the power to oppose not only the small and medium sects of Shanxi, but half the unorthodox faction—Gunjo Sect, Sangjo Sect, even the Hao Sect. I am the Eleventh Commander. This means our main association has over ten Commanders like me."
The Commander had now naturally dropped formal speech and was boasting about his sect. Eleven or more first-rate masters. If you included high-ranking people like Protectors, Chief Stewards, and Elders beyond the serving Commanders, they'd probably easily exceed thirty. Honestly, it was a headache. I'd heard that unorthodox factions equal in power to the orthodox usually had fewer first-rate masters and more second- and third-rate martial artists. The Peng Clan, including its elders, had about twenty first-rate masters. If the Great Sun Association was similar or greater, their number of second- and third-rate fighters would be hard to count.
The Martial Alliance. Those useless bastards. During the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and the flood relief efforts, were you just watching an unorthodox faction under your nose grow this big?
"But, you see, capturing you here and taking on the Great Sun Association are two entirely different stories?"
I said to the Commander as I condensed Flame Aura. His face enraged, he condensed Sword Aura and spoke in a low voice.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's not as though Great Sun Association has a Daoist like me who can question the dead. Look around. Only we and the Hao Sect are here. Ordinarily, the Hao Sect would inform Great Sun Association of your miserable deaths because it's an unorthodox organization, but you're at war with them as well, while we, despite being orthodox, happen to have a friendly relationship with them."
The moment I said that, I sent the Four Heroes flying out to ambush the small fry, and brought my sword down on the Commander with the heavy sword of the Mount Tai Strike. The Commander, probably a better master than me, was slightly startled but calmly received my sword. As expected, I still didn't quite grasp the timing for the heavy sword. If I could land it, the power would be absolute, but it was too slow to use in the middle of fierce combat, hard to land, and not quite suited for an ambush.
The Four Heroes, disguised as Qi-Guided Sword, were slaughtering the small fry, but the Commander, having faced my sword just once, sensed my real skill and immediately switched from defense to offense. As expected, I was more accustomed to Heosan's teachings than Geo Am's. I contained his sword—which curved in from outside my vision like a hook, carrying seven transformations—within the completeness of Taiji and sent his attack back into nothingness. If I had used Limitless, it would have been over at this point. But today was a check of my martial prowess. I left an obvious opening and gave him time to recover his stance.
Enraged that an inferior opponent was toying with him, the commander thrust again with dazzling speed. My foundation, as expected, was the Solar Sword Art. Sword struck sword. Sword Aura crashed against Sword Aura, blasting the surroundings with a tremendous shockwave as a true battle between first-rate experts began. Such battles generally ended in one of two ways. One fighter's Sword Aura was exhausted first, a contest determined chiefly by the depth of their internal energy. Or one blade reached the opponent's body before the attack could be stopped with Sword Aura, in which case mastery of swordsmanship decided the outcome.
In internal energy, the Commander was superior; in sword art, I was slightly above. But even in the Sword Aura clash governed by that internal energy, I grew far more advantageous in the blink of an eye. The Commander's martial art, at the point of condensing Sword Aura, was certainly an excellent first-rate art, but the Flame Aura was, honestly, practically cheating. Every time our Sword Auras clashed, the Commander's Sword Aura was being visibly shaved away. Despite my lower internal energy level, the Flame Aura overwhelmed the Sword Aura clash. Its only flaw was that it consumed internal energy extremely fast, but in a short decisive battle, it displayed absurd power.
Driven onto the defensive, the Commander tried to overturn the battle by unleashing a volley of black Sword Aura that appeared to be his ultimate technique, but my body naturally traced Taiji and scattered it. My Transforming Force had already reached Limitless, so I had intended to use only the Solar Sword Art today. Yet through life-or-death training and Heosan’s persistent efforts, Taiji had become so deeply embedded in me that my body expressed it naturally, regardless of my will.
The Commander's stance had crumbled badly.
—Now. Now is the moment to use the Mount Tai Strike!—
Geo Am, having already finished his massacre of the riffraff, finally conveyed the timing for the Mount Tai Strike to me.
The Mount Tai Strike. Now that I had reached first-rate, its majesty was revealed to the world, the word destruction itself, emitting a force that truly seemed to contain Mount Tai and utterly shattering the Commander's clumsy sword, his body, and even the very earth he stood upon. After the strike, which evoked a landslide, nothing remained in that spot but the minced traces of the Commander and a ruined stone floor.
—Well? How is the true Mount Tai Strike?—
—More ordinary than I expected? I thought it would completely pulverize an entire street.—
Even Murong Rin, a second-rate martial artist, could shatter boulders with her bare hands. I thought a first-rate Mount Tai Strike would certainly turn this whole area to dust.
—If you wanted to, of course you could. But that is something only a worthless martial artist who doesn't even know how to concentrate power would do. A true first-rate martial artist concentrates a power greater than Mount Tai into a point smaller than a needle.—
The heavy sword, which I had thought was simply brute force, unexpectedly had a delicate side to it. Well, if Geo Am, the heavy sword master, said so, then it must be so.
—As expected, Reverend. Ordinarily, that exchange and Geo Am’s instruction would have granted you a major insight into the heavy sword. You can gain enlightenment through sex or drinking, yet combat still does nothing for you?—
The Moon Immortal said teasingly as she returned to me.
—I've thought about it too, but enlightenment usually comes when you hit a wall, right? In my case, you and the elders just smashed the walls down by force to raise me, so there aren't any walls. In the end, I guess I only achieve enlightenment through alcohol or women, things I couldn't learn from the Four Heroes of Dong-o.—
At those words, Heosan and the Flame Emperor laughed heartily and returned to me. The cleanup was now entirely finished. The street hadn't been clean to begin with, but in an instant, corpses were strewn about and the thick stench of blood filled the air. When I turned my head and looked at them, my grandmaster had collapsed on the ground and was trembling like an aspen leaf. Even Jo Sa-eun, who had heard rumors of me and prostrated herself naked, had not risen from the ground, speechless at the mythic martial prowess she had just witnessed firsthand.
"I... first of all, thank you. But, Great Hero, are you truly my mother's grand-disciple?"
The first to pull herself together and speak to me was my grandmaster's daughter, a girl called Miss Yu. She seemed about the same age as Cho-ryeong, but perhaps because she had grown up quite rough, she looked much more mature.
"For now, it seems to be correct.
"Grandmaster. My master is nearby. First, you should meet my master, and then we should discuss what comes next slowly."
"Wha... Yeong-ok? I... is it truly that you, Daoist Master, are Yeong-ok's disciple? It is impossible. To use a flaming Sword Aura, to defeat the Great Sun Association's Commander Geum... there is no way the Yeongsan Sect possesses such martial arts..."
My grandmaster spoke, still with a face that found it hard to believe, still afraid of me.
"Madam Seong. Reverend Yeongmok is someone who recently obtained a fortuitous encounter. He is a hero who defeated even the Black Heaven Association Leader, who is far stronger than Commander Geum. You see?"
Jo Sa-eun finally stood up and helped my grandmaster to her feet. Honestly, I also couldn't believe one hundred percent that she was my grandmaster, but anyway, once she met my master, all doubts between my grandmaster and me would be resolved.
On the journey to Henan, I had encountered various connections. But it seemed that connections were far more intricately entangled than I had imagined.