161. Martial Alliance (4)
Martial Alliance (4)
161. Martial Alliance (4)
"But that rumor—is it true? Are you really Reverend Yeongmok? The one who faced the Black Heaven Association and the Peng Clan?"
Baek Dan-yeong asked me with a look that said he, of all people—the brother who had lived with me—found it hardest to believe.
"I told you I got a fortuitous encounter, you idiot."
"That much I understand. But just a few months ago, after you said you'd already obtained a fortuitous encounter, wasn't your martial skill about on par with Min-mae's? You couldn't even properly block Reverend Hwa-il's Plum Blossom Sword Art."
Ah... Right. It had been like that, hadn't it?
"I'd only just gotten the fortuitous encounter, so even after catching Heuk Cheon-gyeon and the Black Heaven Association Leader, I couldn't control my strength. I'll have to apologize to Reverend Hwa-il later, separately."
The excuses rolled right off my tongue. Dan-yeong still looked dubious, but when I showed him not the pitiful Flame Qi from that day, but Flame Aura—flame-aspected martial aura—coalesced over my bare hand, the kid had no choice but to acknowledge his great brother's power.
"I just knew my oldest oppa could manage at least this much. There's no way oppa's martial skill could ever be anything like someone on my level. That oddly composed look you had that day was because you possessed this kind of power. But, oppa, why are you staying at Beautiful Madness's manor when you have such strength? The Tang Clan could lend you a manor as well."
Tang Min seized my sleeve without warning and spoke petulantly.
"It must be Beautiful Madness's scheme. Having Yeongsan Sect stay at the Murong manor and proclaiming to the Martial Alliance that Yeongsan Sect is under Murong influence. As the saying goes, 'Befriend the distant and attack the near'—if the rising Yeongsan Sect stays confined in the narrow Liaoning region, it will inevitably clash with the Murong someday. If you wish to join hands, the Tang Clan, far off in Sichuan, would be far more advantageous."
Tang Woo said, stroking his beard. As expected, this was clearly no simple happy reunion.
"That is not for me to decide. I am the youngest disciple of Yeongsan Sect. Whom Yeongsan Sect draws close to rests entirely with my master, the Sect Leader."
Any meddling beyond that was a breach of courtesy. Even faced with that firm refusal, Tang Woo merely laughed quietly. As expected, dealing with seasoned old men was truly tiresome.
"Well. You're right. No matter that I'm an elder of the Tang Clan, I cannot be telling another sect to do this or that. Then let me speak of something else. I am an elder of the Tang Clan, which is related by marriage to the Baek Clan Estate. I speak now as an elder of the house: the eldest young master is already past twenty. You are of an age to start a family, that is. Even if we say that martial artists marry late, you ought at least to have secured a bride, should you not?"
Tang Woo spoke suggestively, glancing sidelong at Tang Min. Her cheeks flushed bright red. Ah... the Sichuan Tang Clan. Their ability to act really was impressive. The instant they confirmed the rumor, they moved this quickly? They had clearly come here today with a plan. Seeing Dan-yeong barely suppress a laugh, it looked as though the bastard had arranged this with Tang Woo from the start to strengthen his ties to his backing, the Tang Clan. But their smiles froze in an instant, because Jeong-hyang entered the guest chamber with a dazzling smile to serve tea to my visitors.
"Thank you, Senior Sister."
"Of course. This is your younger brother, yes? A pleasure. I am Jeong-hyang, head disciple of Yeongsan Sect."
Jeong-hyang greeted them amiably with a beauty that stole the breath. Baek Dan-yeong saw Jeong-hyang's face and didn't know what to do with himself.
"I am... I am Baek Dan-yeong, Young Clan Head of the Baek Clan Estate."
"You said you were brothers, but you two don't really look alike?"
Two brothers who truly differed in everything from looks to personality. If anyone had said they resembled each other, both would have been violently furious.
"Ice Soul Divine Art? Why has the head disciple of Yeongsan Sect cultivated the Ice Soul Divine Art?"
Ice Soul Divine Art, a supremely yin art as distinctive as the Flame Blossom Art. Tang Woo, the seasoned elder of the Tang Clan, grasped her internal energy the moment he saw Jeong-hyang. As Jeong-hyang hesitated under the sudden question, I took her hand and spoke to Tang Woo in her stead.
"That is because I inherited the Ice Palace Bloodline, and Senior Sister is the person who will be my wife. The elder's concern is valid. I, too, am of age now, so I have already secured a bride."
At the words that she would be my wife, Jeong-hyang's cheeks reddened and the happiest smile imaginable spread across her face. When that peerless beauty smiled radiantly, her loveliness violently battered the three visitors. Baek Dan-yeong flustered at the news that the peerless beauty before his eyes would become his sister-in-law. Tang Woo, unable even to attempt the scheme he had prepared, could not say a word. And Tang Min—her face went ashen.
"The Young Clan Head is not married yet either, correct? Then I should call you Young Master, not Brother-in-Law. Please treat me kindly, Young Master."
"P-please... please treat me kindly. S-sister-in-law..."
Even to the dumbstruck Dan-yeong's greeting, Jeong-hyang smiled kindly.
The timing was too perfect. Normally, serving tea to guests was Lee Eun-ha's duty, not hers.
—Could Murong Rin have put you up to this?—
—How did you know? She told me to serve the tea if anyone from the Tang Clan came.—
A rapid exchange of Voice Transmission. As I'd thought—Murong Rin. She really put even Jeong-hyang's beauty to good use. That the Tang Clan, the one that could most easily approach me among the Five Great Clans, would use a honey trap was something Murong Rin had already predicted. Truly, Murong Rin. She handled things in the simplest way.
"Ah... ahem. How fortunate that you have found a beautiful wife. This old man's meddling was unwarranted. That aside, might I be able to meet the Yeongsan Sect Leader?"
Tang Woo shifted the topic to change the awkward atmosphere.
"That would be difficult at present. Yeongsan Sect is the descendant of the Maoshan Sect, and this place was once a Maoshan manor, so since yesterday my master has been engaged in a Taoist ritual inside the Great Clarity Palace."
As we were a Taoist sect, they could not interfere with a religious rite. In the face of that perfectly justified refusal, Tang Woo at last seemed to give up and spoke with a sigh.
"Regrettable. All the same, do try to convey to the Sect Leader the merits of ties with the Tang Clan."
"Yes. But I doubt it will change her mind. You know well what the Tang Clan means to a Sichuan native, do you not? To a Liaoning native, the Murong Clan is little different from heaven itself."
In the end, at those words, Tang Woo finished his cup of tea and rose from his seat.
"Let me ask just one last thing. Will Yeongsan Sect be appearing at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering this time?"
"No. We will not be joining the alliance, either. We will see the Alliance Leader and return directly to Liaoning."
"That is some relief, then. Our Tang Clan is sending three men and two women this time. If they manage not to meet a martial artist from the Zhongnan Sect, they should be able to produce good results."
The Zhongnan Sect. Not even on the level of Shaolin or Wudang, yet it was, for some strange reason, a particularly bad matchup for the Tang Clan. In truth, the Tang Clan carried an enormous penalty in these tournaments. Poisons and hidden weapons with high lethality were difficult to use in friendly martial contests. Even so, seeing them produce high-placing results every time, I truly felt that the Tang Clan was a step above the Murong Clan.
"I wish you the best of luck. Since you, Elder, speak of it thus, should the chance arise for me to face a Zhongnan martial artist in a match, I shall do my utmost."
Tang Woo's meaning was obvious. Even if an alliance with the Tang Clan was a stretch, if Zhongnan challenged me to a match, he wanted me to break their legs.
"Then I shall take my leave now.
"Min. Let us go now."
Before Tang Woo's words had even ended, Tang Min rushed out of the guest hall, her eyes brimming with tears. No, what exactly was wrong with this girl?
Once Tang Woo, Tang Min, and Jeong-hyang had left, Dan-yeong and I were finally alone together.
"In the end, even after you went to Yeongsan Sect, you chose the Murong again."
"I've been with this side a long time. Is the Tang Clan your maternal family, or mine?"
Since this kid was definitely family, my uncomfortable mood cleared, and I settled into a relaxed posture.
"Don't you rely on them too much either. Even your maternal family gives nothing for free. If the debts keep piling up, the Baek Clan Estate will become the Tang Clan's Jilin branch."
"There is no choice. Is the Murong Clan not the same? Are we not treated as their subordinates rather than their allies? Besides, they won't permit us to expand our influence into Liaoning. So no matter how long we stick close to the Murong, we will remain their underlings forever."
Baek Dan-yeong spoke, looking straight at me. My decision had not been wrong after all. If I had become Young Clan Head, I would have bowed my head to the Murong and prioritized the Baek Clan Estate's stability in Jilin above all else. Perhaps it was because, ever since my past life, submitting to enormous power and lying low had become a habit. But Dan-yeong was different. Even if that decision brought hardship upon the Baek Clan Estate, the kid would try to grow the Baek Clan Estate into a dignified sect of the Central Plains, not just a backwater bunch of hicks.
"You said that even with a maternal family, nothing is free. Does that mean between brothers, there are things that are free?"
"What are you trying to say? I'm no longer a person of the Baek Clan Estate."
"Yet you are still my older brother, and the eldest son of the Baek Clan Estate. Stop being stingy and share. You said you've gained a mountain of fortuitous encounters, so can't you concede just one to your own main family?"
The shameless brat. If it hadn't been for those ten taels of gold back then, I really would have left the estate to fail for all I cared. The moment I set the books I'd prepared down on the table, Dan-yeong snatched them up quick as a flash.
"Geosan Internal Art? The Yeomseon Sword Art?"
"An internal cultivation art and a sword art. Father is probably already too late, but if you learn them diligently, you can reach the second-rate realm."
"Huh? The second-rate realm? The White Shadow Hard Sword is a second-rate art too."
"Even among second-rate arts, there are differences in level. You saw it that day. Reverend Hwa-il and Father are both classified as second-rate martial artists, but their actual abilities were completely different. That was because Reverend Hwa-il had learned Mount Hua Sect's Plum Blossom Sword Art, a first-rate art. And it is already too late for you as well. Have your son learn this. As long as he doesn't grow lazy, he'll surely reach the first-rate realm someday."
A sect's strength was the strength of its secret manuals. Even though the Yeongsan Sect of the past had possessed the genius Son Yeong, they couldn't expect to grow because they'd only had third-rate secret manuals. A first-rate secret manual would bring great power to the Baek Clan Estate. In truth, I'd been thinking about it since long before. I was Yeongsan Sect's Yeongmok, but I couldn't abandon the Baek Clan Estate. Recently, when I asked the Four Heroes, who had grown bored, to create a suitable martial art, they exchanged opinions and the Flame Emperor and Moon Immortal whipped up a sword art, while Geo Am and Heosan whipped up an internal art.
The art was a rather experimental creation the Four Heroes of Dong-o had devised for amusement. It was easy to learn but had clear limitations and fell short of a supreme martial art. Even so, a first-rate art was still first-rate. The White Shadow Hard Sword could not begin to compare.
The kid Dan-yeong. The corners of his mouth were twitching.
"Though it's a first-rate martial art, it follows a fundamentally different path from the Baek Clan Estate's existing arts, so in your son's generation, the growing pains of a generational transition will be severe. That's why your role will be important. Like our great-grandfather."
Just because your son learned this martial art, the Baek Clan Estate wouldn't become a first-rate sect overnight. They'd have to accept new disciples, have them learn subordinate martial arts built upon this one, harmonize the upper and lower generations, and silently endure until the time was ripe for the Baek Clan Estate to soar.
Dan-yeong was going to become the cornerstone of the Baek Clan Estate. He himself might not live to see its glory, but he would have to take on the thankless task of laying the foundation for a Baek Clan Estate that would one day rise into a first-rate sect. Yet the kid Dan-yeong, picturing the same future as me right now, looked genuinely satisfied.
"This martial art truly has no connection to Yeongsan Sect?"
"I can't say it has none whatsoever, but it's not a martial art we have learned ourselves."
"Then I'll gratefully accept it. Look forward to it, hyung."
That confidence-filled face. Clearly, a talented man was a talented man. He didn't shrink before the Murong Clan, and even after experiencing the Martial Alliance, he remained a Jilin hick burning with fighting spirit.
"Yeah. So from now on, toss out any thoughts of marrying off your brother who's left the family and profiting from it. If a political marriage is needed, you're the Young Clan Head—you do it, idiot."
At the lightly tossed joke, the kid's face darkened.
"Hyung. Our Baek Clan Estate really can't manage without a solid in-law family, can it?"
"Honestly, if Father hadn't brought Mother from the Tang Clan, you wouldn't even be at the Martial Alliance right now, would you? Is there someplace you've thought of?"
"Yes. A little while ago, a matchmaker came from the Jinju Eon Clan. They said she's the granddaughter of Elder Song Jeon."
The Jinju Eon Clan, huh. They were a prestigious clan from Hebei, so they must have caught word of my rumor quickly. Since I'd stomped on the Peng Clan, whom they considered a rival, my birth family, the Baek Clan Estate, could only look good to them.
"That should be fine. Even if it's a branch line, if she's the granddaughter of a sitting elder, aren't her conditions better than Mother's?"
"That's true. But..."
The kid swallowed his words, hemming and hawing. After maturing a great deal as Young Clan Head, it seemed he now meant to confide his marriage worries to this brother of his, like a proper younger brother.
"What. You don't like her?"
"It's a political marriage. There's no question of liking or disliking. But..."
"Is she ugly?"
"Naturally she can't compare to my sister-in-law, but she's quite a beauty. However, unlike Mother, she seems like a typical daughter of a prestigious house."
Dan-yeong talked, letting out a small sigh. This kid had also grown up like a little prince, so his compatibility with a princess-like figure like Murong Rin was truly awful. She must be a woman who seemed domineering at first glance, so he hadn't felt drawn to her. Lady Tang, after marrying in from the Tang Clan, had replaced half the Baek Clan Estate's house staff with Tang Clan people. To Dan-yeong, she probably looked like a good and wise wife, but in truth, Father was just as fed up.
"On top of that, there are rumors she's promiscuous. They say she mixed her body with many men since childhood. Hyung. Is that truly all right?"
Murong Rin, Murong Jin, Hong Seon-hwa, and Gahong. Aside from the young Tang Min, every daughter of a prestigious family I had met was promiscuous even by twenty-first-century standards. I had not cared when I was the one enjoying myself, but the thought sat differently when my younger brother was involved. After going to the trouble of creating a first-rate martial art for my future nephew, I might discover that the boy was actually some stranger's child, conceived through my sister-in-law's affair.
"If you're that worried, don't do it. As great as the Eon Clan is, you might lose as much as you gain. Right now you're trying to pursue a pro-Tang Clan policy, and someday there could be conflict between your wife's family and your mother's. Isn't there some lady you actually want as a wife, setting aside family background?"
"There is a woman I want."
"Oh! Who?"
"Yeon-hwa. That bitch."
A name I hadn't expected came out. Gyeong Yeon-hwa. The second daughter of the Gyeongse Sect and Gyeong Su-yeon's younger sister. The same Gyeong Yeon-hwa who'd suffered sexual exploitation at Dan-yeong's hands, had cut off contact with the Baek Clan Estate after I stopped him, and was now said to cry and pine for Dan-yeong, unable to forget him? Just as I felt indebted to Gyeong Su-yeon, did Dan-yeong feel the same toward her sister?
"That's a surprise? Not bad, right? Since you have a solid maternal family, the Gyeongse Sect isn't bad either. They're from the same Jilin, so she could manage the Baek Clan Estate household well later on, and Young Lady Yeon-hwa could support you obediently."
I'd stopped the sexual exploitation because I feared it would cause her pain. But as my master showed, there were certainly women somewhere in the world who enjoyed that sort of thing. Now that I'd experienced what my master could do, I could congratulate the two of them.
"It's impossible. Didn't you, hyung, spirit Young Lady Su-yeon away to the Central Plains? Not long ago, a letter arrived saying she had entered the Mount Tai Sect. The Gyeongse Sect leader was shocked enough to faint, but that timid man didn't dare press the great Mount Tai Sect, and in the end, that bitch Yeon-hwa has become the successor to the Gyeongse Sect."
Dan-yeong looked at me with a hint of resentment in his voice. Ah... Had I tangled everything up? I could not let my embarrassment show. Instead, I spoke to him with a shameless expression.
"In any case, the Gyeongse Sect is an obstacle if the Baek Clan Estate is to grow. Besides, how many generations do you think the Gyeongse Sect can last? Do you really think a sect that offers up its daughters like whores can survive in the Martial World? Take Young Lady Yeon-hwa as your wife and swallow the Gyeongse Sect whole. Then expand your base in Jilin. If you want the Baek Clan Estate to compete with the sects of the Central Plains' Martial World as you wish, there is no other way."
It had been the second-greatest sect in Jilin, but now that I'd come to the Central Plains, I understood clearly. The Gyeongse Sect was a place that did not deserve to exist. The Gyeongse Sect Leader. Because of that man's obstinacy, Gyeong Su-yeon and Gyeong Yeon-hwa had suffered for decades. If we brothers were to repay them with new lives, eliminating the Gyeongse Sect was the most essential step.