189. Taboo (5)
Taboo (5)
189. Taboo (5)
"I'm exhausted."
Lee Eun-ha sat down on a stool, looking utterly drained. While I'd been fooling around with Duanmu Seon, she'd treated the internal injuries of every martial artist who'd stepped forward during the jiangshi incident—not only Hyeon-gang and Ok-cheong, but also the Drunken Beggar and Heroic Beggar, Hyesang and Hye-gwang, Tang Woo, Murong Guk, and Yi-seong. Originally, she'd intended to treat only Reverend Hyeon-gang on her master's orders, but the Martial Alliance's upper leadership had sent renowned elders to formally request her cooperation.
"The horde of people crowding around to watch me was far worse than examining internal injuries."
Lee Eun-ha spoke with a face on the verge of tears. Even back in the grueling old days of Yeongsan Sect, she'd always managed the household with a bright face, so this was the first time I'd seen her look this worn out. What was genuinely funny, though, was that despite all this, Lee Eun-ha had come back to the manor, dismissed the servants from the kitchen, and insisted on cooking our meal herself. That was so perfectly her.
"Senior Sister, is it really hard?"
Cho-ryeong trotted over and patted Lee Eun-ha's shoulders with little tapping motions. It probably wasn't muscle pain, but Lee Eun-ha, who'd long suffered from chronic shoulder stiffness thanks to her ample chest, accepted Cho-ryeong's tiny fists with visible pleasure.
"Oh my! This dish—isn't this Zhejiang cuisine? The flavor is truly exquisite."
Oblivious to whether Lee Eun-ha was exhausted or not, Murong Rin sat down at the table and popped food into her mouth.
"I learned it from a servant here. Knowing it suits your palate, Heroine Murong, secretly lifts my spirits."
A small smile settled on Lee Eun-ha's face at having satisfied the gourmet Murong Rin.
"You really worked hard, Eun-ha. Reverend Hyeon-gang must have pushed himself badly while pretending to be fine."
My master spoke with satisfaction, her face looking like someone who'd just come back from her favorite concert. As I'd thought, Hyeon-gang had seriously overexerted himself back then.
"His qi and blood were completely twisted. To think he still fought a jiangshi in that state—a master's capabilities truly are terrifying. That said, when I examine patients from now on, I'll have to show restraint around other sects. High-ranking people swarmed in and made it hard even to breathe. Especially at the end, when dozens of martial artists shouted "Medicine Immortal" at the top of their lungs, I truly wanted to run away."
Lee Eun-ha looked thoroughly sick of it—apparently, she'd received quite the grand reception.
"Since our junior sister prescribed a month's worth of medicine, shouldn't it be fine now? We're not staying with the Alliance; we're going back to Yeongsan."
Son Yeong tried to soothe Lee Eun-ha with a worried face, but Murong Rin snorted and spoke.
"You think so? It's obvious the Alliance leadership will try to parade the Medicine Immortal around as a hero of the martial world."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Startled, Lee Eun-ha asked Murong Rin, who replied calmly.
"It hasn't been announced yet, but they say the Blood Cult Leader was a Medical Immortal, right? This is more serious than it sounds. The Medical Immortal Sect and its Medical Immortals were a kind of sanctuary—the last place martial artists, who are injured so easily, could rely on. Now the Medical Immortal Sect is gone and a Medical Immortal has become the enemy, countless martial artists will be uneasy. From the Alliance's perspective, to quell that anxiety, they'll proclaim that the Martial World has a Medicine Immortal who surpasses the Medical Immortals."
"Th-that's ridiculous. I did study herbology, but I'm not a physician."
She'd only treated some patients, but that had turned her into propaganda for a massive political maneuver, and she was actually trembling, but Jeong-hyang spoke leisurely.
"Even if we go back to Yeongsan, patients will come flocking, won't they? Then Yeongsan Lodge will be packed. Lodge Master Ban Ho-jeong will be delighted. Red Flower Pavilion's business will boom too."
"Senior Sister!!"
Lee Eun-ha cried out, her face crumpling. To discuss fate like a proper Daoist, Lee Eun-ha was unmistakably fated to suffer.
"What's there to worry about so much? You aren't a Medical Immortal, Lady Medicine Immortal. If you set your consultation fee at something like one hundred taels of gold, you'll filter out all the riffraff."
Murong Rin spoke as she popped food into her mouth, her face brimming with greed.
"I can't do that. My teacher, the previous Medicine Immortal, gave alms to the poor until the very day she passed. Having inherited the name of Medicine Immortal, I can't do such a thing."
"The previous Medicine Immortal was a remarkable person, was she not? My grandfather still deeply respects her. But what you should inherit is the previous Medicine Immortal's will, not her methods. Almsgiving requires a great deal of money. So take money from martial artists, and use it to care for the common people. That way, you won't be plagued by nuisances, and you can still carry on the previous Medicine Immortal's will exactly as intended. Only, since Murong is Yeongsan's close neighbor, let the Murong Estate request treatment for ten taels of gold."
Murong Rin smiled lightly and offered a practical suggestion.
"What about poor martial artists?"
Cho-ryeong, who'd been tapping Lee Eun-ha's shoulders, poked her head out and asked, and Murong Rin answered simply.
"They have to accept that as martial artists. The moment you learn martial arts and take up a weapon, you accept that you may harm others. You can only call yourself a martial artist if you also accept that you yourself may die, be injured, or become crippled. If you hate that, you can just give up on being a martial artist and be done with it."
A brutal but sound argument. Cho-ryeong, who had already accepted that resolve as a martial artist, nodded, taking Murong Rin's point.
"Master. Actually, when we visited the Shaolin manor, Venerable Hye-gwang asked whether Yeongsan Sect had any intention of visiting Shaolin after the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering."
Abruptly changing the subject, Cho-ryeong asked my master cautiously. Songsan, where Shaolin Temple was located, was certainly close to the Martial Alliance headquarters here, but because the jiangshi uproar and the Medicine Immortal affair had drawn attention to Yeongsan Sect at a pace that far exceeded expectations, all we felt was a desire to get back to Yeongsan as quickly as possible.
"The Red Flower Pavilion Mistress sent a letter. She says our new Yeongsan Sect compound is finished. Leaving a new house vacant too long isn't right, so couldn't we visit Shaolin later?"
My master soothed Cho-ryeong as gently as a real mother.
"Master. Then... could I go to Shaolin Temple by myself?"
"What? Ryeong, by yourself? No. You're still much too young."
"I'm not too young. This senior sister came from Joseon to the Central Plains when she was younger than me."
Cho-ryeong stuck out her lower lip and spoke stubbornly. The fact that the good kid who used to only watch others' reactions now knew how to voice her own opinions was undoubtedly a good thing, but at this unreasonable fit of pique, my master put on a troubled face.
"Ryeong. This is Henan. We've seen firsthand how far Henan is from Liaoning, haven't we? If anything happened to Ryeong in a land this far away, your master would truly be beside herself with worry. And if you were separated and on your own, wouldn't Ryeong get lonely?"
"...I think I would be lonely. But still—I just got out into the martial world, and thinking about going back already, I feel a little disappointed."
Everyone had enjoyed the splendid journey into the martial world, but now the adults were gradually feeling that even leaving home meant hardship and wanting to return to Yeongsan, and she, like a student whose vacation had ended, was disappointed the journey was over.
"Still, we need to go home first, don't we? We should see our new Yeongsan Sect compound, decorate Ryeong's new room, and hold a ritual for the gods of heaven and earth to mark our safe return. And now Ryeong has a junior sister too, doesn't she? So-wol must be waiting for Ryeong a lot."
"Oh. Right! My junior sister! I have to look after my junior sister. I'll buy her candy and snacks too."
My master was seriously good with kids. Just as my mother in my past life had raised me with the constant refrain, 'You're the older brother,' my master turned Cho-ryeong into a responsible older sister in an instant. The warm, harmonious night passed, and everyone spent the next day quietly at the manor. At last, the curtain rose on the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
"Yeongsan Sect is this way."
Sima Buyong came to the manor that morning and guided us. Following her to the central grounds, we found a truly enormous martial arena surrounded by spectator stands packed together like a baseball stadium. As expected, our seats were excellent. The VVVIP section was naturally occupied by the Martial Alliance's upper leadership, and directly below were the seats of the Nine Great Sects and Beggars' Sect, along with the Five Great Clans—their own sects and clans. Our section was shared with groups such as the Duanmu Clan and Mount Tai Sect, which had once belonged among the Nine Great Sects or Five Great Clans but had since been pushed out.
In this section, rather fancy chairs were set out spaciously beneath awnings that blocked the sunlight, and it was extremely close to the martial arena. Compared to the seats of the silver-rank sects behind us, which didn't even have chairs, just straw mats—or compared to the iron-badge visitors who didn't even have those and had to peer through gaps in the massive crowds at the distant stage—these really were excellent seats.
About 420 in the Eight Dragons and about 100 in the Four Phoenixes—nearly five hundred young martial artists, each carrying their own dreams, gathered for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. With tedious speeches from the Alliance Leader and Military Strategist, followed by a solemn rite conducted by a Mount Hua Daoist, this youth Olympiad finally opened in splendor. Unlike those young people burning with passion as they displayed the martial arts each had honed within their sect, we—peers of the competitors—watched leisurely while snacking on Lee Eun-ha's treats. The women's matches came first, and graceful sword dances unfolded, but perhaps my eye had grown too discerning, because the level seemed lower than I'd expected.
"As expected. Lady Murong subdued her opponent in just five moves."
Son Yeong couldn't hide her admiration as she watched the overwhelmingly dominant Murong Rin's match.
"Senior Sister Son—between you and Murong Rin, who do you think is stronger?"
"I don't know. When we first arrived at the Alliance, I thought I absolutely couldn't handle Lady Murong. But after that day when Master descended into my body and fought Myo Hong-seon, I lost confidence in my own eye for assessment. They say discussions of the sword fall within the realm of martial contests too, but unless you've actually crossed blades, the outcome seems unknowable to anyone."
She said she'd lost confidence in her eye for assessment, but the competitive spirit that peeked through suggested she now felt she had someone worth testing herself against. I felt similarly. After the Duanmu Hwang affair, I'd had it driven home with bone-deep clarity just how pathetic my judgment was, but since the day the Moon Immortal had descended, Son Yeong's martial arts had been expanding at a terrifying rate. At the very least, I now considered Son Yeong and Murong Rin to be on an equal footing. With Jo Bok and Myo Hong-seon absent, the likely champion was Seo Ok, but Murong Rin was also a strong contender for the Four Phoenixes. And to think she was at a similar level to someone like that—Son Yeong, true to form as a genius who worked hard, was steadily and swiftly walking the path of the strong.
"Oh dear—if she'd dug inside instead of dodging there, the Kunlun Sect heroine would've had a chance."
My master spoke regretfully while watching a match between the Mount Hua Sect and the Kunlun Sect.
"Couldn't she win more easily if she just broke through head-on instead of dodging? That sword—its variations are complex, but the force behind each single strike is light."
"That's only possible for you, Junior Sister. The rest of us aren't lumps of iron, you know."
"I'm not a lump of iron either."
Jeong-hyang laughed prettily, giggling as she teased Cho-ryeong. Honestly, even Jeong-hyang looked like she was on a far higher level than the women from those two great sects.
"One thing I can't understand—why does the Mount Hua Sect heroine's sword qi keep coalescing, then dissipating, then repeating over and over?"
Lee Eun-ha, who lacked the eye for evaluating martial arts, quietly asked me.
"With her internal energy level, it would be difficult for that heroine to sustain sword qi throughout the entire match. It's likely a strategy to conserve internal energy by only coalescing sword qi at the necessary moments."
"What? You can coalesce and dismiss sword qi that quickly in real combat? As expected, the masters of the great sects are incredible."
I'd heard that Mount Hua's Plum Blossom Sword Art required considerable internal strength. Of course, for a young Mount Hua martial artist, wrapping her sword in Sword Qi only at crucial moments was an essential skill. But what would she think if she saw Lee Eun-ha, who'd never once worried about lacking internal energy from the moment she entered the second-rate realm?
Once the first round ended, the dreams of fifty-two martial artists were shattered. That was the nature of a tournament. Dreams cherished for years could end in an instant despite all that effort and talent. Then the second round shattered twenty-six more. By now, the martial artists who genuinely looked capable had begun separating themselves from the rest: Gong-ye and Gong Yeon of Mount Hua; Gyeong-wol, Gyeong-chu, and Gyeong-mi of Emei; Nangong Hye of the Nangong Clan; Jang Ha of Sword Empress Pavilion; Tang Mun-jeong of the Sichuan Tang Clan; and Murong Rin.
As expected, there were no surprises. The top-tier members were, in the end, monopolized by the prestigious sects and great clans. Well, the World Cup and Olympics in my past life had been the same, really—even if upsets happened in the qualifiers, the powerhouses contending for the championship were always predetermined.
But there was one thing—one person who should have been there wasn't. The overwhelming favorite everyone had predicted for the Four Phoenixes didn't appear: Emei Sect's Seo Ok. With Jo Bok of the Beggars' Sect, Myo Hong-seon of Sword Empress Pavilion, and even Seo Ok—all three of the powerhouses everyone had predicted for the Four Phoenixes had withdrawn from the competition. Amidst thunderous cheers, Nangong Hye, the direct-line daughter of the Nangong Clan, became this tournament's victor, and the first day's matches of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering drew to a magnificent close.