167. Martial Alliance (10)
Martial Alliance (10)
167. Martial Alliance (10)
Only ten days remained until the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. By now we had grown fairly accustomed to the Martial Alliance, and everyone had become comfortable enough with stepping outside the manor. Cho-ryeong, however, was confined to quarters and forbidden from going out. But with Ak Jung-young visiting our manor every day and Murong Rin delighting the two little ones with a barrage of snacks, Cho-ryeong set aside her bitter defeat and soon began laughing brightly again.
"Oppa!"
Before I knew it, Ak Jung-young was approaching me and calling out familiarly. It was a little bewildering. A five-year-old kid calling me oppa. Considering our ages, wouldn't I obviously be an uncle?
"They say you're really strong, oppa? Are you stronger than my unni?"
"Your unni? Who?"
"Murong Rin unni."
"Well? I'm not sure."
"My unni said you pinned her underneath you once and she cried and cried?"
That crazy bitch. There were some things you simply didn't say to children.
"Oppa. I'm very obedient and well-behaved. Please accept me as your disciple."
Ak Jung-young looked at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
"I'm the youngest member of Yeongsan Sect, and it hasn't even been a year since I joined. A disciple? What disciple?"
"Then when can you accept me?"
"Well. By the time I'm taking disciples, won't you be married off?"
"Oh... Then when I get married, please accept my baby as your disciple."
"I'll think about it."
The baby of a kid younger than Cho-ryeong. It was a dizzyingly distant prospect. Her parents had probably put her up to it, right? Having said everything she had come to say, Ak Jung-young grabbed Cho-ryeong's hand again and ran off somewhere. Why did children always default to running like soldiers whenever they went anywhere?
"Junior Brother! They say there's a pretty pond in front of the Emei Sect manor. Let's go play together."
Jeong-hyang suggested the outing with a radiant smile.
"I heard you can even take a boat out. Let me join you."
Son Yeong, tinged with anticipation, joined in the conversation with Jeong-hyang, and before I knew it, Lee Eun-ha had packed two bottles of liquor and was standing before me.
"I brewed two bottles of Milky Way Wine. You'll definitely like it."
"What about Master?"
"She went to pay her respects to the Beggars' Sect. She said none of us, and especially not you, Junior Brother, were to follow."
As expected of Master. It wasn't entirely our fault, but it seemed she had even overcome her homebody tendencies and gone to the Beggars' Sect to apologize. That was why being a sect leader was such a thankless job.
As I followed them toward the pond, I sensed something odd. At some point, the men on the street had vanished. The surrounding manors were those of the Emei Sect and Sword Empress Pavilion—sects of women—and since Yeongsan Sect was also entirely female except for me, a sense of unease crept over me, like a clueless man who had stepped into a women-only compartment. But they paid no mind to the glares and headed straight for the small boat on the pond, climbed aboard before I knew it, and held out their hands to me. A harem date on a boat with these beauties. No need to worry about dirty looks.
I grabbed an oar and tried rowing, but the boat wouldn't move at all. Heosan, unable to watch any longer, asked to possess me, and when I entrusted my body to him, the boat slowly glided forward. The man turned out to be a fisherman's son, unexpectedly.
"It's truly beautiful. I can't believe a pond made by human hands could be like this."
"I heard the Murong Clan has a pond like this too."
"Shall we make one too?"
They sat chattering on the boat about this and that. With only us on the pond like this, I couldn't feel at all that this was the Martial Alliance or that they were martial artists. Gazing at the glittering surface of the water, they seemed simply like ordinary young ladies, utterly delighted, blending into this tranquil space. When I set down the oar at a suitable spot in the middle of the pond and took a sip of Milky Way Wine, the mental fatigue I had been carrying seemed to vanish in an instant. What's more, since the base ingredient was Lee Eun-ha's breast milk, even my physical fatigue truly melted away like snow.
"The Martial Alliance is nice, but I want to go back to Yeongsan soon. Since we came here, Master always tries to be alone."
Jeong-hyang gazed far north with lonely eyes.
"You're right. The journey through the martial world was enjoyable, but I think Yeongsan is where we truly belong."
Son Yeong felt the same. When the four of us gathered, Master naturally came to mind, and it seemed everyone's mood sank in the same way. Perhaps sensing this, Lee Eun-ha suddenly changed the subject and spoke with a smile.
"You know what? Junior Sister Cho has changed. She tries to sleep alone now, and she's started training in martial arts seriously. She said if she's going to carry on Yeongsan Sect, she must never lose again."
"What? Junior Sister Cho? Pfft. That's scary. The head disciple is right here, and the junior sister says she'll carry on Yeongsan Sect?"
At the thought of cute Cho-ryeong, Jeong-hyang's smile returned.
"Realistically, it's not impossible. Master is so young, so the age gap with us isn't large. Considering age, Junior Sister Cho is actually the most suitable."
Unlike Jeong-hyang, Son Yeong spoke seriously.
"To be frank, it's good news for us. If Junior Sister Cho becomes the sect leader, the rest of us can all leave the mountain. We need to hold ceremonies and have children, but we can't be leaving the mountain as old grandmothers. The decision is Master's to make, but I'm in favor of Junior Sister Cho's idea."
Lee Eun-ha spoke pragmatically. Since the incident with Jo Bok, we had come to see Cho-ryeong in a new light. To us, Cho-ryeong was a cute child, but in reality, she was a gifted and fearsome martial artist even among this Martial Alliance elite. Her qualifications to become sect leader were already more than sufficient.
"Shall we start with a coup? Once we return to Yeongsan, I mean, we force Master into retirement. Given Master's age, we need to get her to have a child quickly. How about I take over as sect leader for the time being and then hand it over to Junior Sister Cho?"
"If you're going to do it, Senior Sister, wouldn't I be the better choice?"
Jeong-hyang and Lee Eun-ha bickered playfully. As expected of our Yeongsan Sect, even our coup-plotting was truly gentle beyond compare. As we finished the light boat ride and were heading back to the manor to prepare a meal for the two children, a group of women blocked our path.
"Are you the ones from Yeongsan Sect?"
They addressed us with contempt from the outset. Their eyes and gestures were arrogant. Above all, their crazed gazes looked at me in particular with disgust, as though I were an insect.
Fuck. Looked like these bitches were from Sword Empress Pavilion. Then the bitch at the front must be that Myo Hong-seon cunt. However great Sword Empress Pavilion's martial arts might be, at our age, no one other than Myo Hong-seon could have reached this level.
"That's right. What business do you have?"
Son Yeong calmly stepped forward and asked. The woman presumed to be Myo Hong-seon looked us up and down and spoke coldly.
"I heard recently of the sparring match between your young girl and Jo Bok. Hearing that she fought quite admirably against that supposedly formidable Jo Bok, I thought she might be worth something and wished to meet you. You are indeed considerable, as I was told. Every single one of your disciples is no less than our Sword Empress Pavilion. Especially you. I like the look in your eyes."
We were momentarily dumbfounded by her looking down on us and passing judgment out of the blue, but Son Yeong responded composedly.
"Is that so? Is that all you came to say?"
"No. I came to give you one piece of advice. Yeongsan Sect, you said? Although you are not well-known, you are a remarkably excellent sect. There is just one thing, however, that displeases me. Why, when you are sufficiently strong and beautiful with women alone, have you deliberately accepted that filthy man into your sect? Men are filthy waste. Even if it is a beautiful flower, when left with filth it emits not a floral fragrance but a stench. Remove that filth at once, and reclaim the scent of women."
However arrogant Murong Rin might be, however much she was called Beautiful Madness, she looked genuinely normal in front of a real crazy bitch. I wasn't so much angry as simply dumbfounded. The answer to crazy bitches was avoidance. Just as I was about to ignore her and leave, my senior sisters' faces hardened.
"What are you saying? Our junior brother is a disciple of our Yeongsan Sect, and our family."
At Lee Eun-ha's indignant words, the crazy bitch glared at her.
"Fragrance, you say? Yeongsan Sect is a sect that has survived hungrier even than the Beggars' Sect. Without our junior brother, rather than any fragrance, we would have smelled of rotting corpses."
When Son Yeong also spoke to her, she suddenly barked out in a loud voice.
"Disappointing! However difficult your circumstances, the moment you accept a man's help, you are no different from harlots. Do you know why Sword Empress Pavilion is the strongest female sect of all time? It is because, unlike the Emei Sect, we have thoroughly rejected the help of filthy men!"
—Wh... what? The strongest female sect of all time?
Your Reverence! Are you going to just listen to this?!—
Moon Immortal's irritation exploded before anyone in Yeongsan Sect could even react, as though her pride had been struck in some unexpected place.
—Surely you're not telling me to fight? Those crazy bitches?—
—What do you mean? How could a reverend interfere when we're discussing the strongest female martial artist? The true strongest female sword is the Moonlit Divine Sword.—
—Senior Sister Son? No. It's impossible. Maybe in a year, but right now, even if the sky split in two, Senior Sister Son cannot defeat her.—
—Frustrating as it is, that's true. Then I will step forward. Let me inhabit Yeong-i's body, as with the expedition ceremony that day.—
"What you say is strange, young lady. We are a Daoist sect. All things under heaven consist of yin and yang, and humanity consists of men and women. The Dao of the world moves through the harmony of yin and yang, and new human beings are born only when men and women meet. You seem to despise men, but were you yourself not born by way of your father's seed?"
While I conversed with Moon Immortal, Jeong-hyang, who had been dragged around by Master and force-fed Daoist studies, spoke to that crazy bitch gently but adamantly.
"Filthy thing. I had thought yourself a flower that bloomed on its own, but that pretty face was meant to seduce men, was it not. Begone. This is no brothel!"
Even when told that no matter how great she thought she was, she had emerged from her father's jizz, the crazy bitch answered with nonsense. From the start, she was the type with whom logic and dialogue were impossible. As Jeong-hyang stood insulted, Son Yeong stepped forward and spoke.
"What is your name?"
"Myo Hong-seon. The next Sword Empress."
"Is that so? I am Son Yeong of Yeongsan Sect. You have belittled our sect and insulted my Senior Sister and Junior Brother. Draw your sword. Miss Myo."
While I was talking with Moon Immortal, Son Yeong rushed headlong into action. I urgently sent her a voice transmission.
—Senior Sister! No. It's impossible. Besides, unlike a friendly spar, a defeat here would stain the name of Yeongsan Sect.—
—But I cannot back down. I may not be able to win, but like Junior Sister Cho, I won't send that woman back in one piece.—
—W... wait a moment! Lady Moon Immortal says she'll do it. Lady Moon Immortal says she'll step forward, so please experience the completed Moonlit Divine Sword through your own body this time, Senior Sister.—
There was no choice. I urgently used the Spirit Possession Art to let Moon Immortal inhabit her body, and her gaze changed. It was not a look that was strong yet gentle, but the perfected gaze of a veteran of a hundred battles, blazing with fury. That single look alone conveyed that she was no longer Son Yeong but Moon Immortal.
"You insolent wench who knows no fear of heaven! You dare speak of drawing a sword before Sword Empress Pavilion? I shall grant your wish. Let me show you plainly the difference between a sword superior to men and a sword dependent upon men!"
This lunatic bitch could have simply accepted the duel, but instead she deliberately infused her internal energy and shouted at the top of her lungs, causing martial artists to begin gathering one by one from the surrounding manors.
The martial artists of this western region all bore the honor of their sects and did not engage in reckless sparring. Moreover, since even a minor injury could turn the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering they had waited years for into foam—as in Jo Bok's case—a duel here became a tremendous spectacle.
Moon Immortal inhabited Son Yeong. Moon Immortal's skill needed no explanation, but just as when I had let the Flame Emperor possess me, Son Yeong's internal energy still imposed limits. Her body could not even use Martial Aura, yet Moon Immortal's expression held not a speck of tension. The same was true for me. The idea of Moon Immortal losing to Myo Hong-seon, who was only second-rate, was as unrealistic as Do-hwa flinging Martial Aura everywhere.
The onlookers' expressions were a sight to behold. Son Yeong of our Yeongsan Sect, who had recently begun making a name, and Myo Hong-seon, infamous for her viciousness. By common sense, Myo Hong-seon's overwhelming victory was certain, but given Cho-ryeong's case, martial artists hoping for Son Yeong to put up a good fight could be seen here and there.
Moon Immortal observed her opponent unhurriedly. It was Myo Hong-seon who moved first. She unfolded her sword swiftly and fluidly with lightning-fast blade-work, but Moon Immortal merely raised her sword lightly. How many among the martial artists gathered here could have fully grasped this sword? The simply raised sword concealed a staggering six hundred and thirty-seven transformations, and with that single sword's unfolding, Myo Hong-seon's martial uniform was shredded to pieces and scattered in the air.
Then blood sprayed forth. It was the exact same result as Geum Sa-hwa I had seen before. No, if there was one small difference, it was that Moon Immortal had regulated the power—the Ten-Orifice Blood Burst from the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, vaginal opening, urethra, and anus was still the same, but the amount of blood was far less. Instead, as though she had taken inspiration from the sewing torture she had once suffered at Ban Ho-jeong's hands, intricate flowers were drawn upon Myo Hong-seon's white skin. She probably wouldn't die, but she would be a cripple for a long while.
"It is good to hone the strength of women. But where were you man-hating bitches, what were you doing, when that man Goshifa Lama and the Demonic Cult Leader were violating the women of the martial world! The strongest female sect of all time? Stop your ridiculous nonsense. Was fifty years of closed doors not enough? Sword Empress Pavilion was a pathetic sect that pissed itself at the mere name of Moon Immortal. Deliver this to your generation's Sword Empress. Tell her Moon Immortal has returned. Tell her it is time to go back to those days."