48. Murong Clan (10)
Murong Clan (10)
48. Murong Clan (10)
"Hmph. A brilliant genius as a child, then you grew into a pathetic wretch, and now you show up wearing Daoist robes? You've always been an amusing one."
Murong Hyeok-jung looked me up and down, as if he found me truly pitiful.
"I pay my respects to the Clan Head."
"Quick with your greeting, I'll grant you that. But a Daoist? Did you think joining a Daoist sect would make you some great master just because the Nine Great Sects are steeped in Daoism?"
"No."
"What do you mean, no? You pathetic whelp. A man ought to declare boldly that he will achieve something at any cost. What a waste of that cock of yours. You don't seem to have any use for it anyway—how about you let us cut it off and give it to our Rin?"
The old man cracked a joke in the most horrifying tone. Unlike his son Murong Sang, this gentleman was actually capable of following through, which made him far worse.
And, old man. No use for it? Your granddaughters are already putting it to excellent use.
"That would be a great loss to the world. If Murong Rin became a man, all under heaven would mourn the loss of a peerless beauty."
"Goodness. That mouth of yours hasn't changed. When you were still clever, I actually considered you as a match for Rin. Thank heaven you turned dull."
"I share that sentiment."
Damn old fox. The only reason people called me a genius as a child was because of my past-life memories. Just as the old man said, it was a real blessing that the gilding wore off.
"Oh-ho? Listen to this brat. Are you saying our Rin is not too good for the likes of you?"
"As you well know, my sole virtue is knowing my place."
Since I could see exactly where he was going with this, I fired off my prepared line, and the old man laughed with relish.
"Amusing fellow. As I said before, I like you. I heard you left the Baek Clan Estate. Have you thought about coming to the Murong Clan?"
"I'm truly grateful, but I've found my own path."
"I'm asking in earnest, so think carefully before you answer. I'm not telling you to come as a mere retainer. Dull as you've become, Rin's match is likely beyond you now, but I do have another granddaughter. She's been playing house with one of the clan's bodyguard-warriors for a while, but she's probably tired of it by now. I'll cut that fellow's head off. What say you become Jin's new husband and enter the Murong embrace?"
The terrifying thing about Murong Hyeok-jung was that, just like his granddaughter Murong Rin, he would actually do it.
"I repeat, I've found the path I must walk. Murong Rin has also found her own happiness, so I deeply regret that I cannot repay the Clan Head's kindness."
The path to becoming a power in the Murong Clan as Murong Jin's new husband. Honestly, what a tempting position. If I hadn't met the women of Yeongsan Sect, I might have groveled and clung to it somehow, even knowing full well it was the old man's twisted joke.
"It was a jest."
I knew.
"After all, you're going to end up as our Rin's loyal vassal one way or another.
"She does not let affection cloud her judgment, yet she understands righteousness and keeps people close. She looks upon reality with clear eyes, yet she is never ruled by it. If only she weren't a girl, Rin would be fully worthy of becoming the Murong Clan Head."
My, my. He really does dote on his granddaughter.
"I will ask you. Which clan is the greatest under heaven?"
The old man suddenly fixed me with a serious gaze.
"The Murong Clan."
"Don't make me laugh. If this were not the Murong Clan, and I were an ordinary market commoner rather than its head, would you answer the same way? The Nangong sword rivals Wudang, and the Tang Clan's poison is peerless. What can the Murong Clan claim as first under heaven?"
"I don't know. But, Clan Head. I am still just a whelp who barely crawled out of Jilin. I've never once left Jilin and Liaodong. How could the Murong Clan be anything but the greatest under heaven to me? No matter how great the Nangong are, no matter how great the Tang Clan is, the only place I've seen and marveled at with my own eyes is the Murong Clan. Even if it weren't a marketplace commoner but the Martial Alliance Leader who asked, I would have given the same answer."
The finest flattery was sincere flattery. Honestly, what did the Nangong or Tang Clan matter to me? Would I ever even visit them?
"You really are entertaining. Having lived more than eighty years, I've developed an eye for seeing a man's true heart.
"The only ones who ever answered my question with 'Murong' and truly meant it are you and Rin. Even Sang, the Young Clan Head, secretly places the Nangong or the Tang Clan above us. As do I, I confess."
Murong Hyeok-jung wore a self-deprecating smile. Even with his superhuman martial prowess, he could not help where his heart stood, it seemed.
"You've never actually crossed swords with the Nangong, have you? Why do you say they stand above the Murong Clan?"
"The Murong Clan is too far out on the frontier. Liaoning is our precious homeland, guarded for over a thousand years, but precisely because we remained here without a worthy rival, the clan never changes. Stagnant power inevitably rots.
"But our Rin. That child is different. With eyes that hold not a shred of doubt, she boldly declares that the Murong will surpass the Nangong. And the one who made Rin that way was you."
Ah...
He had known all along that my careless encouragement in childhood helped shape Murong Rin into the madwoman she was. Murong Hyeok-jung had known.
"Rin will need you. So you too must lay down your life and aid Rin."
Hold on. Why my life? Murong affairs are for you Murong to handle yourselves. Murong Hyeok-jung read my expression. He grinned.
—Rin is a woman, but she naturally possesses a ruler's caliber. You needn't imitate her lechery, of course. You've shared your body with her, have you not? Whether it was fleeting passion or genuine affection, a man who covets a woman's body must bear responsibility.—
A vivid voice transmission rang in my ears. A chill that seemed to freeze me solid. Even bathed in the warm spring sunlight, I felt a cold that seeped down to the bone.
—I'll let you in on something useful. At my level of attainment, I can grasp everything that happens within the clan. I warned you clearly. If you want to keep that proud cock of yours, then stake your life on aiding Rin. If you don't like that, then train your martial arts until you can defeat me.—
"I... I will bear it in mind."
Murong Hyeok-jung looked satisfied at my words. He patted my shoulder and sent another threatening voice transmission.
—And should Rin happen to conceive a child of yours, abandon any idea of claiming fatherhood. I shall personally raise my great-grandchild well.—
With those words, Murong Hyeok-jung vanished like a mirage. Murong Rin was certainly mad, but Murong Hyeok-jung had used a supreme master's senses to eavesdrop on his two granddaughters having wild sex with an outsider, then calmly tried to exploit it. He was a madman too.
I was going to lose my mind. Having sex with her once had given me some fondness for her, but I never planned to lay down my life for her. Come to think of it, that crazy bitch. The man who'd gotten off once thanks to her oral—hadn't he been a man who'd given his life for her? Damn it. I'd really been had.
The Spirit-Binding Art. The Spirit-Binding Art was my only answer. I couldn't beat Murong Hyeok-jung, but if I could reach even the level of Murong Sang's martial prowess, I could at least avoid being castrated. I searched every nook and cranny of the Murong Clan, literally staking my life on it, seeking ghosts with the Spirit-Summoning Art, but in the end I couldn't approach any of the truly important areas, and the day of the expedition ceremony arrived with nothing to show for it.
"I hear you've been gawking around the clan instead of practicing the ritual. Have you already given up, Young Master Baek?"
It was the day before the expedition ceremony that Murong Rin finally came to my room.
"You didn't summon me expecting a splendid ceremony, did you, Young Miss? Thanks to you, the Young Clan Head and both young masters have practically marked me."
"My older brothers don't matter. The position of Young Clan Head will be mine anyway."
The sun rose in the east. Murong Rin said it in the tone of someone stating an obvious truth.
"Well, anyway, I'll do my best. Who knows? Maybe one of the Eight Dragons and Four Peaks will come from the Murong Clan?"
"Don't talk nonsense. The Eight Dragons, maybe, but I'll never make the Four Peaks, even if I die. Those spots all have their owners already. That damnable bitch from the Emei Sect. She's a damned nun but she grows out her hair, and she's so greedy—the Four Peaks, and even the Four Flowers."
Seo Ok of the Emei Sect was a lay disciple, not a nun. She was the most famous among the young female masters. Her martial skill placed her among the Four Peaks, and her beauty among the Four Flowers across the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions—an astonishing record. Was she truly as beautiful as Jeong-hyang?
"And that man-hating lunatic from Sword Empress Pavilion. She's even stronger than Seo Ok."
As the chief disciple of a women's sect, Myo Hong-seon was a fierce champion of women. Unlike Seo Ok, however, her reputation in the martial world was poor.
"And I hear that beggar bitch is coming out to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering this year too. They say she even defeated Beggars' Sect Elder Song. Don't know if it's true."
The martial artist possessing the most outstanding innate talent in the entire martial world, man or woman. Beggars' Sect beggar Jo Bok. What's more, she was only eighteen years old. I'd heard she didn't compete in the last Dragon-Phoenix Gathering because she was only fourteen, but it seemed she was finally coming out this time. Still, to defeat an elder—honestly, that was absurd. A Beggars' Sect elder was a first-class master.
"If you, Lady, take the remaining spot, that'd make exactly the Four Peaks."
"Are you joking right now? Then why don't you make the Eight Dragons, Young Master Baek? There are eight slots there, so it should be nice and roomy."
Irritation colored her voice, understandably. The last place was contested by Nangong Hye of the Nangong Clan, Gong Yeon of Mount Hua, and Tang Mun-jeong of the Sichuan Tang Clan—all formidable. The Eight Dragons side had fewer rivals: Wudang's Gu Hyeon, strongest among the rising stars, had aged past twenty-six, while Nangong Deok and Seop Gang, the chief disciple of the Zhongnan Sect, had both been injured in a duel with each other and couldn't compete. Murong Su was strong even without those absences. Gu Hyeon had eliminated him in the previous preliminaries, but now at twenty-five he was the oldest competitor. Among rising stars, where a single year mattered enormously, he was considered a powerhouse.
"The tournament itself, I've already given up on. But the tournament isn't everything at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, so I'll have to move diligently."
As she said, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was the Orthodox Faction's greatest event, held every four years. We were traveling to Henan four months early because it offered a precious chance to expand our network.
Now that I thought about it, it was truly impressive. To me, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and the masters who competed in it seemed like beings from another world, like athletes at the Olympics or World Cup in my past life, but Murong Rin was actually in a position to cross swords with them directly.
"Young Master Baek. Would you like to come along? If you used that magnificent tool of yours to turn Seo Ok, Myo Hong-seon, and Jo Bok into putty in your hands, I might just have a chance, you know?"
"I'd rather die. Myo Hong-seon once stabbed out a man's eye at an inn just because he looked at her lecherously. Besides, Jo Bok is a beggar. I may not look it, but I was raised delicately. The smell of beggars alone makes me retch."
"Funny. You didn't say you don't want Seo Ok. I suppose a nun's fine as long as she's pretty, eh?"
"What does it matter whether I want her or not? Me ending up with those women is far more difficult than you becoming the Martial Alliance Leader, my lady."
"True. That would be excessive greed, wouldn't it?"
She said it as if joking, but this woman meant it. She meant it sincerely that the role of Martial Alliance Leader was beyond her. Meanwhile, for someone like me, that very ambition was just a vain and fanciful delusion.
"In any case, do a passable job tomorrow. I'll be in Henan for some time, so tell me now if you need anything."
"A request? I don't particularly have one right now."
Her brow twitched in an instant. The teacup she'd been drinking from instantly crumbled to stone dust. She rose from her seat, came before me, and seized me by the collar. Glaring down at me with maddened eyes, she said,
"Think again carefully."
Her eyes seemed to blaze. Even though she was much smaller than me, I found myself yanked upright by her hand.
"We won't see each other for several months now. I'm in a generous mood right now, so I can grant most any request of yours, Young Master Baek. Go on. Ask me."
A crazy bitch. A goddamn lunatic of a woman. I could see internal power visibly gathering in the hand that gripped my collar. At the level of forming sword qi at the tip of a blade, such fine control was possible, I supposed, but that wasn't the issue. I couldn't breathe. Unable even to answer, I desperately clutched at something to preserve this wretched life of mine. With one hand I grabbed her ample breast, and with the other I seized her taut, springy buttock.
"Oh my. Are you in heat? You put your hand on my treasured place—not some maidservant's, but mine—inside the Murong Clan? If I cried out, the whole clan would learn that my pure chastity had been defiled. What a dilemma. I have no choice but to quietly relieve Young Master Baek's beastly lust and keep silent. Be grateful for my sense of duty. Without a woman like me, your head would have parted from your body long ago."
She laughed with pleasure and let go of my collar.
Yes, thank you, you crazy bitch. On the name of a Yang Blossom Art cultivator, I wouldn't let her off lightly today.