Journey Through the martial world (3)

87. Journey Through the martial world (3)

The Yeongsan Sect was peace itself. In the mornings, each person trained independently, and in the afternoons, they spent their time as they pleased. And at breakfast and dinner, everyone clustered together to enjoy their meals, every last sect member savoring the comfortable life they had longed for. The problem was the four heroes. A martial artist, by nature, was a person who made their living through combat. Until now, they had shown dignified, adult faces before their successors, but once the intensive training had ended, they sank into boredom and, inevitably, caused an incident.

It started as a small argument at first. Geo Am and Moon Immortal, bickering over whether Son Yeong was stronger or Cho-ryeong was stronger.

—Hmph. I grant that Cho-ryeong has respectable aptitude, but Son Yeong is not merely gifted—she is a genius.—

—Nonsense! Vajra Art holds an advantage over the Moonlit Divine Sword. Unlike Son Yeong, our Cho-ryeong also began learning martial arts during the ideal period. She may lag behind Son Yeong now because she is young, but in the future she will overwhelmingly surpass her.—

The two spirits snarled at each other. To these two doting old men who were insufferably besotted with their successors, Flame Emperor offered the simplest solution.

—What use is it for martial artists to fight with words? They should speak through their swords. We are ghosts now, with nothing left to protect and no lives to lose, so we may as well fight to our hearts' content and see who is right.—

Watching a fight was always a pleasure. Thinking it a shame to watch such a rare spectacle all alone—two swords flying through the air, striking each other with Martial Aura—I hurriedly called them over, and we clustered together at the edge of the training hall. For a martial artist, observing a high-level fight like this was considered a professional duty, after all.

Setting aside the compatibility they had possessed in life, the two swords clashed without physical bodies behind them. Geo Am wielded overwhelming destructive power; Moon Immortal was dazzlingly flamboyant. Damn it. I had been a bit of a fool. If I had just left them alone to quietly work off their frustration, it would have been fine, but I gathered everyone for the rare spectacle of watching a fight, and so Geo Am and Moon Immortal, unable to show defeat before Cho-ryeong and Son Yeong, gradually began turning the spar into a duel.

No—if it had been a duel, it would at least have ended with someone's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠death. This fight would not end even with death. Because they were using my divine power, the two spirits had unlimited internal energy and could not die. In life, they would have used their ultimate techniques, which consumed enormous amounts of internal energy, only with extreme caution. Excited by their limitless supply, however, the two spirits now hurled ultimate techniques without restraint, turning the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠training hall into an Asura realm.

I had failed to think it through. I hadn't imagined that a true master's fight would be this overwhelmingly powerful. The whole world shook. The Mount Tai Strike shattered the earth, and the Moonlit Divine Sword tore the atmosphere apart. A colossal clash of power against power, the stuff of legend, raised the level of impact little by little without ever seeming to peak. However, they were not, at the moment, legendary heroes with bodies of formidable flesh, but merely ordinary swords bought in town. Martial Aura met Martial Aura and eroded each other, and in the end, the very swords they inhabited were broken, and countless sword fragments rained down upon us spectators like meteors.

Heosan and the Flame Emperor hurriedly rose to protect us, but one fragment still carrying the force of an ultimate technique pierced their defense and flew toward us. Medicine Immortal's rice paddle, which had never once displayed its power through the Spirit Vessel Art, rose as well and spread a vast Qi Barrier that blocked the fragment.

Utter devastation. The training hall became a ruin in an instant. Medicine Immortal's wooden rice paddle had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snapped in half, and the swords belonging to Moon Immortal and Geo Am had shattered into pieces.

—I have won. My sword may have broken this way, but my physical body, which had attained the diamond body realm, would never have shattered.—

—Don't make me laugh, Geo Am. With such a lumbering body, could you even have dodged my sword?—

The two spirits, continuing to fight stubbornly even with nothing left but their sword hilts. I was just relieved that their souls were unharmed even though the spirit vessels had been destroyed.

—No! Show some restraint! Were you trying to kill your successors? Did you not realize that Senior Sister Son and Senior Sister Cho were both in danger?—

I, at least, had been through the terror of death enough times, but Master and Jeong-hyang, who had witnessed this tremendous battlefield of carnage, were trembling like leaves.

"Master!!!"

Lee Eun-ha rushed out, picked up the broken rice paddle, and burst into tears. Unlike the rest of us, Son Yeong watched with eyes full of rapture, imagining the perfected Moonlit Divine Sword she would someday wield. Cho-ryeong, perhaps proving that she truly had the makings of a great figure, observed the entire process without any visible reaction. Was this another difference in natural aptitude?

Only then did Geo Am and Moon Immortal belatedly take in our presence. In their embarrassment, their hilts quietly returned to my side and fell silent.

Damn it. Only afterward did I realize that, in such a dangerous situation, I could simply have looked away from Geo Am and Moon Immortal. The Spirit Vessel Art would have ended automatically, and nothing further would have happened. Yet the training had ingrained in me the habit of never taking my eyes from a sword technique, no matter how dangerous it became, so I had allowed matters to go this far.

"Junior Brother! We have several spare rice paddles stored away. You can move Master's soul into a new one, right?"

Lee Eun-ha spoke, her face on the verge of tears.

"Of course. This time, I should place her in a steel rice paddle from the start."

In an emergency, even Medicine Immortal lent us tremendous power. For the women's sake, I needed to prepare a sturdy steel rice paddle as a final safeguard.

—I acted foolishly as well, so it's difficult for me to criticize you. Still, please show some restraint. Until I return with two new swords, remain quiet for a while.—

In truth, I had gathered the women and placed them in danger, and as the practitioner of the Spirit Vessel Art, I was also responsible for forgetting to release it. Strictly speaking, the blame belonged to four of us: me, Moon Immortal, Geo Am, and the Flame Emperor, who had encouraged the fight. It felt wrong to scold only them, so I ended the discussion and stared at the ruined training hall.

"Hyung!! Are you alright!"

The White Tiger Sect broke even the unwritten rule that forbade anyone other than Byeok-geum and Ban Ho-jeong from entering Yeongsan Sect, and rushed urgently to the temporary dwelling with twenty of their sect members. It had been a staggering clash of qi. Byeok-geum had detected the anomaly and hurriedly led his sect members here to help us. I was moved to the point of tears, but truthfully, the whole affair had been a natural disaster that they could never have prevented.

"I'm fine. I made a mess while testing the Qi-Guided Sword. Sorry, but you'll have to rebuild the training hall."

"A test of Qi-Guided Sword? Don't tell me, hyung, you placed two opposing martial arts into the swords and collided them against each other?"

Byeok-geum asked in surprise, his jaw dropping open.

"That's right. Since you've already brought your sect members here, help me clear the debris. But your weapons have changed? Didn't you bandits always carry Wolf Fang Blades?"

The White Tiger Sect members now wore neat yellow martial uniforms and carried refined swords instead of crude heavy weapons. The sight felt deeply unfamiliar.

"Back then, didn't you give us Heuk Cheon-gyeon's secret manual, Blood Wolf Sword? We ought to start using the sword now, like a proper orthodox sect, with a bit of style."

The White Tiger Sect, having confirmed that nothing was amiss at Yeongsan Sect, let out sighs of relief. I was grateful for their sentiment, but they were probably this desperate because, having gone all-in on Yeongsan Sect over this period, they knew they would be completely ruined if this sect went under.

—Two masters are rapidly approaching. One is comparable to the Black Heaven Association Leader, and the other is at the level of the man called Heuk Cheon-gyeon.—

Suddenly, Flame Emperor sent a warning alarm. By the time I heard the warning, my Qi Sense had also detected that someone was approaching near Yeongsan Sect at tremendous speed. As I was preparing to scramble Heosan and Flame Emperor at a moment's notice, a small old man in blue martial uniform and a large old man in an orange martial uniform instantly crossed the main gate of Yeongsan Sect and arrived before us.

"What is the matter? The aftershocks of a tremendous collision spread all the way down to the foot of the mountain!"

The small old man in blue, who had even finished drawing his sword, exclaimed in alarm. One of the Top Hundred Masters and the head of the Martial Alliance Liaoning Branch. Branch Head Jeong Su-han. Why had the man who was supposed to arrive in three days come up here already?

"It was nothing. I made a clumsy mistake during martial training and startled Great Hero Jeongmyeonggeom."

"A clumsy mistake?"

"You know our hyung, don't you? Look at those broken swords over there. He says he channeled different martial arts into each sword for Qi-Guided Sword and collided them to see which was stronger."

Byeok-geum spoke, letting out a sigh.

"Huh... The Cheonghwa Hall Master told me, but I simply couldn't believe it. Now that I have personally felt that powerful clash of qi, I have no choice but to believe."

The Branch Head said, sheathing his drawn sword with a sense of futility. The large old man beside him also loosened his guard as he looked at me and spoke.

"I felt that collision myself and came here in a single bound. No one has fled, so your story must be true. Yet more surprising than your martial prowess is that, even while I observe you at close range, I can sense no more internal energy from you than a second-rate martial artist would possess. You've learned an intriguing trick."

A first-rate master could freely erase their internal energy, lower it to the level of a third-rate martial artist, or reveal only enough to resemble a second-rate one. Yet if an experienced first-rate master observed such an artificial disguise at close range, they ought to sense a faint incongruity. My ability made my internal energy feel perfectly second-rate, and that seemed to have fascinated the old man.

Of course it was perfect. It was because I really was a second-class nobody.

"So, now that you have become a master, have you decided not to greet me?"

"... It's been a long time."

"You still make others prompt you before you will pay your respects."

The old man turned away with a sneer. At the sight of this man for the first time, Master quietly approached and asked,

"Who is that?"

"You didn't know? That is the Murong Clan Head."

No matter how strong we had become, or how much the former bandit Byeok-geum now seemed like an amiable neighbor, the head of the Murong Clan was the sky itself to martial artists from Liaoning. Murong Hyeok-jung. At my casual introduction, the women—including Master—froze. Lee Eun-ha recovered first and greeted him.

"I greet the Murong Clan Head."

Jeong-hyang and Son Yeong followed. Cho-ryeong bowed as her senior sisters did, and Master, who was poor at handling sudden situations, offered her greeting last.

"I greet Murong Clan Head...? Ah... Huh?"

Murong Hyeok-jung used Formless Qi to stop Master as she tried to bow her head. Honestly, the way he casually reenacted a classic cliché right out of a martial arts novel looked truly impressive.

"The head of a sect does not bow within her own sect.

"Sect Leader of Yeongsan, I had heard the stories, but I am truly surprised to find you so young. To lead a sect at the same age as my Rin..."

Still, Murong Hyeok-jung accorded to Master the treatment due a Sect Leader. But because of his manner, Master grew even more unsure of what to do with herself.

"She is not the same age as Lady Murong. Master has reached thirty."

"Thirty? That is hardly different from Rin, is it?"

As expected of an octogenarian whose own age was probably hazy to him. Even so, twenty-three and thirty were not the same, were they?

"I regret entering your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sect without permission. I judged the situation urgent and hurried here with Jeongmyeonggeom, so I ask for your understanding."

His tone was polite yet sounded like a command. Well, for him, this was probably the utmost courtesy. To his eyes, Master truly looked like a child his granddaughter's age.

"Though nothing serious befell us, I am truly grateful that you rushed here at a moment of crisis for our sect. I am Chae Yeong-ok, Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect."

"I am Murong Hyeok-jung."

Our Master, exchanging a cupped-fist salute with the head of the great Murong Clan. Yeongsan Sect. It had really grown.

"I have brought tea from Yunnan as a gift for the Sect Leader. Would it be permissible to share some tea and talk for a moment?"

"W-with me? Ah. Yes."

Our Master started in surprise. Was she still, after all, a little short of having fully grown?

"Jeongmyeonggeom. You go ahead to the tavern and rest. I will speak with the Sect Leader and then be on my way."

Though the Branch Head looked uneasy at those words, in the end he headed for Yeongsan Lodge. The man who dismissed the head of the Martial Alliance branch with a single word was truly worthy of being the overlord of Liaoning.

I led him to the dining hall that doubled as our reception room, and as we sat down, Lee Eun-ha quickly served tea.

"Because a great fire befell our sect, we have received you in a temporary dwelling, for which I apologize."

"It is fine. I am thankful for the hospitality."

Master was desperately trying not to lose her air of dignity. But, honestly, the temporary dwelling seemed far more decent than our original Yeongsan Sect...

"Mm. An excellent fragrance. People in Liaoning are unfamiliar with Yunnan tea, yet your skill is exceptional. Moreover, you possess internal energy surpassing even Rin's! You—would you consider entering the Murong Clan as a retainer?"

Murong Hyeok-jung praised Lee Eun-ha as he drank a sip of tea.

"She is our Medicine Immortal Hall Master. Do not even think of poaching her."

"Medicine Immortal Hall Master? She handles medicine as well? Hah! What a commendable child. But that title... You should not use it before an old man like me. Medicine Immortal was a real master who lived during the Yuan dynasty."

As expected of the Murong Clan Head, an old man past eighty. He even knew of Medicine Immortal, who had died one hundred and seventy years ago. Why had he come personally to our remote Yeongsan Sect? After leisurely drinking tea for a while, his gaze abruptly sharpened and he addressed Master.

"Sect Leader, I will ask you directly. Does Yeongsan Sect intend to supplant the Murong Clan and claim hegemony over Liaoning?"

At a single sentence from the Murong Clan Head, whose family had reigned as the absolute ruler of Liaoning for more than a thousand years, everyone in Yeongsan Sect froze.