47. Murong Clan (9)
Murong Clan (9)
47. Murong Clan (9)
I met a girl. The girl, ignorant of the world's grime, must once have been as adorable as Cho-ryeong was now. As she grew, she learned the world's law of strength and her own special status. Little by little, standing above others turned her into an arrogant princess.
Yet even for her, limits came. No matter how much of a princess she was in Liaoning Province, so long as the ideology of male superiority and female inferiority existed, she learned that she could never stand on equal footing with her older brothers, the princes.
At some point, although I was still a child, my past-life memories led me to take on duties at Baek Clan Estate and be called something of a genius. When I visited the Murong Clan and met Murong Rin, her face was swollen from crying. Looking back, that was probably when her father—the second son—was chosen as Young Clan Head because Murong Hyeok-jung's eldest son, Murong Jin's father, had failed to produce a son.
Baek Clan Estate had everything except female relatives. Lady Tang and I had been awkward from the start, and without a mother or sister, I knew little about this era's women or its male-supremacist values. Such attitudes survived even in twenty-first-century Korea, but this was the martial world. Back then I foolishly believed the existence of female masters stronger than men meant such discrimination did not exist here.
That wasn't entirely wrong. Internal energy mattered more than physical strength, so women suffered little disadvantage, and the law of strength applied: man or woman, good or evil, the strong took everything. But the Murong Clan was not an ordinary sect. It was a great hereditary clan, where succession passed not to the best disciple but to the best legitimate child. Marriage was assumed, and because her children would bear her husband's surname rather than Murong, she could never stand equal to her brothers from the beginning.
I treated cheering Murong Rin up like customer service. Irresponsibly, I encouraged her dream by invoking Wu Zetian.
Wu Zetian, the unprecedented female emperor of Chinese history. I had learned of her in my past life. When people faced uncertainty, they looked for precedents. Even twenty-first-century courts resolved ambiguous cases by citing prior rulings. One Goryeo scholar whose name I had forgotten argued that Wu Zetian's rise had been influenced by Queen Seondeok of Silla: Tang Taizong mocked Silla for letting a woman rule, but the example helped spread the idea that a woman could become sovereign.
If Wu Zetian could become emperor, I had asked, why could Murong Rin not become Clan Head? It was theoretically possible, but in truth it was only a final justification to brandish after accumulating enough power. Murong Rin nevertheless seemed to choose her life's path because of my words: the first female head of one of the Five Great Clans in martial history. It was a dream that shattered every convention.
Shattering convention.
She could never achieve such a dream while remaining an ordinary young lady. So she became a madwoman. By the time the epithet Beautiful Madness arose, I—the one who had shown her that path—had apparently been marked by her.
Tch.
Now that I'd slept with her, pointless memories flooded back. After being swept up by her storm and embracing both Murong women, I finally found peace. Her birthday guests left Murong Rin too busy to bother with me, while Murong Jin, leaving me with a faint lingering regret, secured the promised help and hurried back to Shandong.
That was natural. However good the sex had been, neither woman was foolish enough to throw away her life for it. Forbidden sex created a strange mood for a moment, but becoming brainwashed by a large cock, abandoning everything, and turning into a slave to lust would have been far more horrifying.
With time to spare, I carried the White Feather Fan inhabited by Hwangseong and tried the Spirit-Summoning Art throughout the Fourth Guest Hall. Hwangseong's soul had probably lingered at the sect where he trained all his life, the place most familiar to him. With more than a thousand years of history, the Murong Clan should have been full of the souls of peerless martial artists, but my search of the guest hall yielded nothing.
Thinking about it, it made perfect sense. They were once the masters of the Murong Clan—there was no way they'd have become earthbound spirits in a mere Fourth Guest Hall where low-ranked guests like me stayed. Left with no choice, I summoned a servant assigned to attend my guest quarters and requested a tour of the Murong Clan's interior. A clan of the Murong Clan's stature attracted every sort of martial artist from across the Central Plains. To me, who'd been familiar with this place since childhood, it was nothing special, but to those who journeyed from afar, it was practically a historic tourist destination. The clan thus permitted visits—under a martial artist's surveillance and limited to places of lesser security importance—to enhance its renown.
"Approval has been granted, Young Master."
The servant returned with permission and spoke respectfully. Even a tour restricted to unimportant areas would not be granted easily to visitors of equal standing, such as members of the Five Great Clans or Nine Great Sects. But a guest from Baek Clan Estate was firmly within Murong's control, so permission came readily. I had taken the tour a few times as a child. Still, deeper inside I might run into Young Clan Head Murong Sang, who plainly disliked me, or Murong Rin's brothers, who were bound to feel uncomfortable with someone aligned with her faction. That was why I had avoided touring the inner compound until now.
"I am Shin Man, assigned to guide you. As you know, you must never leave my side within the clan estate."
A solidly built man greeted me politely. The red tassel on his chest marked him as a mid-ranking Murong warrior. For a retainer outside the Murong bloodline, that was probably the highest rank available. I couldn't measure a master's force precisely, but his bearing suggested strength around Father's level. If I acted recklessly, his sword would take my head.
"Thank you for granting permission."
"You are a guest of the Young Lady; this much is only natural."
Following him and his impeccably businesslike manner, I at last entered the clan's inner estate. There, utterly dwarfing the lavish guest halls, spread the clan seat itself, vast as a royal palace. I knew little of plants, but the gardens were filled with rare flowers and trees, like a twenty-first-century botanical garden. A staggeringly massive pond, nearly a small lake. On a tiny island accessible by rowboat, they'd even built a pavilion—the zenith of opulence.
The ground suddenly trembled. I lacked permission to approach, but the heavy stomps of warriors training in the neighboring hall carried all the way here. Servants in every color hurried about their duties, making the enormous compound resemble a small village. Some carried provisions, some tended the flowers, and others plastered buildings. Even now, the scale took my breath away.
—Elder. Are you with me?—
—Nothing yet. More to the point, the Murong Clan, foremost under heaven. Any words beyond "magnificent" are simply insufficient.—
—Weren't they people who once built a nation?—
—Indeed. The Murong bloodline itself is more impressive than these opulent halls.—
After muttering in profound awe, the old man resumed chanting the Spirit-Summoning Art. If he could not summon spirits from within the White Feather Fan, I could never have attempted the madness of hunting souls inside another sect.
"The Young Clan Head and the young masters."
Shin Man, who had silently watched me, stopped and lowered his head. Damn it. I had hoped not to meet them. Following his example, I bowed and prayed Young Clan Head Murong Sang would ignore a nuisance like me, but the footsteps drew closer.
"I greet the Murong Clan Young Clan Head and the two young masters."
When I finally addressed the father and his two sons, displeasure showed plainly on Young Clan Head Murong Sang's expression.
"It has been a long time. Young Master Baek."
Unlike his father Murong Sang, the second son Murong Jun tapped me on the shoulder and smiled brightly.
"Have you been in good health?"
"I've attempted what I can. Only heaven knows the outcome. I heard you'll be performing the expedition ceremony? Should a favorable result follow, I shall reward you handsomely."
Murong Jun joked cheerfully. Right. These three siblings were preparing for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering now, were they not?
"Do not burden an innocent man with pointless talk. It was none other than the Clan Head who delegated the expedition ceremony to Rin."
The eldest, Murong Su, spoke in a cold voice.
"A burden, Brother? I merely said I would give him a gift if things go well. This younger brother's martial arts are so paltry that I can only rely upon heaven—please understand."
"Even if spoken for humility's sake, talk of weakness makes a martial artist weak. Rin may be cross with me and seem to be scheming to ruin the ceremony, but a true martial artist of Murong ought to accomplish this by his own strength, not lean on such tricks."
Ah... fuck. This was about to get seriously screwed. The reason that madwoman Murong Rin put me in charge of the expedition ceremony was only now beginning to take shape before my eyes. The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, the greatest event of the Orthodox Faction, was held every five years, like the Olympics. A kind of youth Olympics, with an age restriction of twenty-five and under, since its purpose was to determine the finest rising star. Honestly, Murong Rin's martial arts were inferior to her two older brothers'. Making it into the Four Phoenixes was utterly beyond her. Under these circumstances, if either of them managed to place among the Eight Dragons, she'd be massively disadvantaged in the succession competition. And so that madwoman, hoping the Murong Clan representatives—herself included—would crash and burn completely, had called in a sacrificial rite novice like me to ruin the expedition ceremony from the very start.
The second son, Murong Jun, regarded his rival Murong Rin merely as his dear little sister and treated even me, aligned with her faction, favorably, while Murong Su maintained his businesslike attitude. At last, their father, Young Clan Head Murong Sang, spoke.
"Su is correct. Therefore, Baek Eun-hyeok. You too ought to go through the motions of the rite as seems fit and promptly return to Jilin."
"Though I am resolved to give my utmost for the expedition ceremony you have entrusted to me, your generous words have allowed me to lay down a great burden of worry."
Eldest young master of Baek Clan Estate though I might be, I was not important enough for one of the Top Hundred Masters—the Young Clan Head of the Murong Clan, no less—to personally remember my name. The fact that he did meant he truly detested me. Considering his incomparably precious and beautiful daughter's dissolute history with men, there was no way the man who'd hovered around her since childhood could possibly endear himself to him.
In the past, I truly would have felt wronged. But now, having violated both his unmarried daughter and his married niece, I was in no position to say anything.
Without replying, Murong Sang grimaced and continued on his way. Murong Su and Murong Jun followed in silence. I had truly drawn the attention of a troublesome man. Fortunately, though he stood at the very top of a world ruled by rank, he was one of the rare people fair-minded enough to distinguish public from private. He disliked me, but he did not torment me merely because of it. A flawless family background, overwhelming ability as a martial artist, the jade-like looks of a handsome middle-aged man thanks to generations of beautiful women entering the bloodline, and even the character of a gentleman—he was a true monster, the embodiment of unfairness. Had the bastard saved a continent in his past life or something?
"Still, it is an important Murong Clan rite. You mustn't conduct it carelessly."
Ah. Fuck, you scared me! The voice rang out directly behind me without so much as a stir in the air. I spun around in alarm and found an old man over 170 centimeters tall, with completely white hair and beard, regarding me with a nonchalant expression.
"G-Greetings, Clan Head!"
Sin-man too appeared startled, hurriedly saluting the old man.
Murong Hyeok-jung, head of the Murong Clan and sovereign of Liaoning Province, regarded me with amused eyes. They looked uncannily like Murong Rin's whenever she discovered an entertaining new toy.