38. Promise (8)
Promise (8)
38. Promise (8)
"You're leaving tomorrow morning, aren't you, Junior Brother? I mustn't tire out a man who's heading out to do great things. So tonight I won't share your bed. Instead, I wanted to give you my milk before you set out on the road."
Jeong-hyang was already seated beside us, speaking cheerfully.
"Senior Sister. That really was your breast milk?"
"Breast milk? Mmm... I'm not a mother yet, so it isn't breast milk—just milk. It's an effect of the Fourth Stage of Yin Blossom Art. Amazing, is it not? You must have been startled, since you used to suck and pull at my breasts without a drop coming out. Now it appears only when I circulate qi separately and stimulate the nipple. It can't increase your internal energy the way your seed does, but it can restore stamina. Of course, the person drinking it must also have reached the Fourth Stage of the Yin-Yang Art to receive the effect."
Ah...
The Yin-Yang Art was every bit as absurd as I'd thought. Honestly, by now the body-remodeling Yin-Yang Art was starting to feel a lot more terrifying than the Spirit-Binding Art that let me command ghosts.
"Here. It really doesn't produce much. As your master, I am ashamed to fall behind my disciples, but once you return, Disciple, I will train diligently too."
Before I knew it, Master had collected about a mouthful of milk and was holding the teacup out to me.
"Take it, quickly. It's colostrum, so it should be rich. The truth is, I've been looking forward to this. You said you lost your mother when you were still a small child, before you were even weaned, did you not? A master stands in a mother's place. Even if it's only my milk, I hope it eases your longing for her."
Ah... no. I did not particularly miss her. Because I retained my past-life memories, the self living this life had subtly blended with my previous one. Even now, when I heard 'mother,' I thought of my past-life mother, who was constantly being swindled. When I heard 'father,' I thought not of the bedridden father from my past life, but of Father, the Baek Clan Head. Still, this was Master—not displaying the perversion from earlier, but squeezing out what little milk she had and offering it to me with deep affection and maternal love. Although my stamina had already recovered, her milk spread through my mouth with a rich, deep flavor entirely different from Jeong-hyang's.
"Master. Let me have a little taste too."
Watching admiration fill my face as I tasted Master's milk, Jeong-hyang put her mouth directly to Master's breast and sucked. Master's serene, innocent expression transformed the sight of one adult woman caressing another's nipple from an erotic lesbian scene into something clothed in sublime maternity.
"Just as I thought. Master's tastes better. I know it can't be helped because Master is like a mother to us, but after I worked so hard to squeeze out two full cups, seeing Junior Brother melt over one sip of your milk wounds my pride a little."
Jeong-hyang spoke as though pretending to sulk and lifted her mouth from Master's breast. Master only smiled indulgently and stroked Jeong-hyang's hair.
No, wait, this isn't... this isn't some heartwarming scene. It's a bizarre and grotesque scene.
Jeong-hyang sent us back to the sleeping quarters, saying she would clean up the hot spring we'd left in disarray and then return to her own room. Thanks to that, on my last night before leaving, for the first time in a while I got to lie on a bed alone. It wasn't such a large bed to begin with, but lying alone, it felt a little too spacious.
Before I knew it, spring was in full bloom. On Spirit Mountain where Yeongsan Sect had made its home, bright, colorful flowers had blossomed. And the five women of Yeongsan Sect who had come out to see me off were showing off their own beauty, each in vividly colored Formal Martial Attire.
"You have to come back soon, okay?"
Cho-ryeong was on the verge of tears even after putting on her pretty new clothes. Judged by the cloth alone, it had been a vivid green fabric, but now that it was made into a dress, the delicate light-green shade was incredibly cute. Jeong-hyang pulled that Cho-ryeong into her arms. My parting with her had already been concluded with one ridiculous cup of milk. So I gave her nothing more than a light, silent smile, but Jeong-hyang in her scarlet Formal Martial Attire still set my heart pounding hard, even though we'd already done every conceivable thing between us. A beauty really is something else once she's dressed up.
But I suppose the most dramatic transformation was still Lee Eun-ha. Where she'd once worn shabby, housework-worn Martial Uniforms—her body was lovely, but her face had seemed slightly plain next to Master or Son Yeong—the moment she put on the elegant deep-purple Formal Martial Attire, it changed her completely. Just as I'd thought, when it came to showing off clothes, it was the person with a good figure who could truly carry that charm.
"Travel safely, Junior Brother. The revival of Yeongsan Sect is important, but above all, you must take care of your own health. You understand, don't you? For our Yeongsan Sect—if anything were to happen to you, Junior Brother, it would truly be a catastrophe."
Lee Eun-ha was genuinely worried about me. If I disappeared now, just as Yeongsan Sect had begun to breathe again, despair would strike all the harder because they'd tasted hope. But she didn't know that Master already possessed the ten taels of gold I'd given her.
"Master. I have something to say."
Son Yeong, who had been lost in thought about something, spoke—not to me, but to Master.
"Hm? What is it?"
"When Junior Brother returns, I ask that you permit him and me to train in the Yin-Yang Art together."
What?
At Son Yeong's utterly unexpected words, Master and I, who already shared a secret, and even Lee Eun-ha, who knew it, all stared at her in shock. Son Yeong alone wore no Formal Martial Attire. In a newly made blue Martial Uniform with a Treasured Sword at her waist, she spoke to Master with resolute dignity and, at least outwardly, radiated the presence of a Peerless Expert.
"If all of us remain virgins, none of us can complete the Yin-Yang Art left by the ancient masters. I will therefore carry on our sect's secret tradition."
Everyone looked bewildered. Only the brightly smiling Jeong-hyang and the innocent Cho-ryeong stared blankly at Son Yeong with enormous question marks written across their faces.
No—that damned Yin-Yang Art. We'd already reached the Fourth Stage.
Master was flustered for a moment, but quickly composed herself. Wearing the same innocent expression she used to hide secrets, she spoke as though nothing were amiss.
"But Yeong-i, you are also a virgin yourself. I cannot permit it."
"Yes. But from the very start, I had decided to give my virginity—no, my future—to Junior Brother. Because it was no one else but me who shamelessly asked Junior Brother for help back at Baek Clan Estate."
"Ah... no. That was on my orders. Yeong-i, you don't need to feel burdened by it."
Master had schemed in secret all this time, yet had never suspected Son Yeong thought this way. She spoke while sweating coldly and trying to conceal her dismay. Right. Master had already repaid the debt Yeongsan Sect owed me with her own body and heart—and with her future.
"It isn't a burden. I have no intention of marrying anyway. Neither you nor Junior Brother needs to worry, Master. Not at all. I know my body has no great value. But our sect's secret art, the Yin-Yang Art, would give it value. I believe using this worthless body to learn the Yin-Yang Art is the only way I can repay Junior Brother's kindness."
The more calmly Son Yeong spoke, the more flustered Master became. She was skilled at secret schemes, but terribly weak when forced to handle sudden developments.
"Master. Junior Sister Son is right. Please allow it."
Jeong-hyang spoke with a brilliant smile. Right. She was the culprit. Son Yeong hadn't even known the Yin-Yang Art was a Bedchamber Art. Despite her obsession with martial training, she'd refused to practice Yin Blossom Art because it made her lower body itch. Jeong-hyang, who already intended to take Cho-ryeong along when she married, had subtly leaked information about the Yin-Yang Art because she wanted Son Yeong to remain with them too. Jeong-hyang regarded me as an all-powerful Superman and wheedled me like a woman teasing her man. Master, by contrast, still felt apologetic for the burdens already placed upon me and found the thought of adding Son Yeong as well deeply troubling.
Watching Master fret helplessly, the troubleshooter Lee Eun-ha finally stepped in.
"Senior Sister, let's discuss this slowly after Junior Brother returns. You said the escort agency was summoned. If he doesn't leave soon, he will be late."
"She's right. Then I will be on my way."
Leaving behind the unsettled atmosphere, I set out for the first time onto a mountain path without a carrying frame. The remaining headache—I supposed that would be Master's to deal with.
Son Yeong.
A matter I'd never even dreamed of considering. For Jeong-hyang, the whole world was Yeongsan Sect, so more than any of the other disciples, she thought of Yeongsan Sect as her own family. That was probably why she'd stirred this up. Honestly, it was news that was both wonderful and staggeringly complicated, but—I'd tuck it away in a corner of my heart as something to look forward to when I returned.
Thanks to the milk from Master and Jeong-hyang yesterday, my condition was already at its peak. With light steps, I descended the mountain and arrived at the village in no time. On my way to the inn that was our meeting place, an odd group caught my eye.
People of the martial world.
More than thirty disciples from some sect moved together in matching Martial Uniforms. Every one carried a sword, and the villagers kept their distance and opened a wide path to avoid them, making the group stand out even more. I recognized only one face: the crazy bitch who'd started trouble with Son Yeong that day. Cheon something, was it? This must have been Seven Fingers Sect, the most prosperous sect in the area. In that case, the imposing middle-aged man at their head was probably its Sect Leader.
Murong Rin had said he was around the same level as our White Horse Unit Commander, had she not? That already made him a Second-Rate martial artist, and someone like me naturally stood no chance. Father, the White Horse Unit Commander, and Murong Rin were all Second-Rate. More precisely, Father stood around the middle of that realm, while the Unit Commander and the Seven Fingers Sect Leader had only just entered it. Murong Rin was somewhere between them. The champion of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was said to be stronger than Father. Damn reality. Most people began martial training around ten, which meant these youths in their early or mid-twenties had trained barely a dozen years, yet already stood equal to Father after his thirty. I hated it. Murong Rin would probably surpass him with ease before long. Baek Clan Estate's martial arts weren't terribly inferior, but this was the real gap between a Top-Tier Sect and a second- or third-rate sect.
For now, that Seven Fingers Sect leader.
Yeongsan Sect didn't dream of making its name resound across the world and competing with the Nine Great Sects and the Beggars' Sect, the Demonic Cult, or the Ten Great Evil Factions. We merely wanted to become a local hegemon like Baek Clan Estate, bowing appropriately to the Murong Clan while holding a position like Seven Fingers Sect, the most prominent faction in this neighborhood. For that to happen, Senior Sister Son Yeong had to surpass its Sect Leader quickly and easily...
Abruptly, my eyes met the crazy bitch's. When we'd last met, I had done nothing but hold back and swallow her insults, yet she glared at me now with murderous fury, as though I had been the one to insult her, before turning her head and following the middle-aged man, apparently the Sect Leader, with great, stomping strides.
Ah, fuck. Why was she glaring at me as though I'd done something wrong? An ordinary person like me could never understand the mind of a crazy bitch. Ignoring her was best. What could she do even if she grew angry? If she started trouble, Yongrim Escort Agency was waiting at the inn. It felt unpleasant, but compared with the thought of arriving at the Murong Clan and facing Murong Rin, it wasn't unpleasant at all. Having settled my mind that way, I headed to the inn, where the Yongrim Escort Agency was already waiting.
"Young Master. It has been far too long. You truly have become a Taoist."
It had barely been a month and a half, but Escort Captain Jeon greeted me with genuine delight.
"Does it suit me?"
Subtly, I showed off the White Feather Fan Master had made for me and the Taoist robes Lee Eun-ha had sewn, preening for him a little. The Taoist robes from Lee Eun-ha, well—perhaps. But Master's fan, honestly, wasn't anything of particularly high quality. Still, the urge to show off a gift that a precious person had made for me with her own hands—I supposed that meant I was well on my way to becoming a doting fool.
Well, his answer was a foregone conclusion anyway. Even if I showed up in rags, Escort Captain Jeon would still speak of feeling the aura of a Beggars' Sect master and lavish me with this same flattery-tinged admiration.
"You look remarkably impressive, Young Master. A mysterious radiance already seems to surround you. No—I should say Reverend."
"Yeongmok. Please, call me Yeongmok."
"Just as expected. Then for the next five days, I shall devote my utmost to escorting Reverend Yeongmok safely to Shenyang."
The cargo bed hitched to the oxcart was stiff and uncomfortable, but being served again according to such a clear hierarchy honestly felt good.