The Lewd Manual
After finishing their meal, Seomun Hwi strolled the marketplace of Nanzhou with Cheongwol.
Fruits candied in honey and sugar.
Wooden dolls carved just right for children to play with.
Books filled with the words of sages, and every sort of lewd text crammed with debauched content.
They were things one could find anywhere in the Central Plains, and Seomun Hwi could not help feeling a quiet disappointment.
I expected something special since this is the gateway to the Western Regions, yet this place is no different from any other corner of the Central Plains.
Cheongwol, on the other hand, found everything new, and so he poked and prodded his way through every corner of the market.
"Hwi! Look at this! Some uncle just handed me a martial arts manual and told me to take it if I needed it!"
Cheongwol proudly thrust a book he had somehow acquired right under Seomun Hwi's nose.
Common folk sometimes bought and sold third-rate techniques among themselves, so Seomun Hwi simply nodded, thinking little of it.
"Even so, it won't be of much use to a martial artist of your level. Worse, learning internal energy that doesn't match your mind method could be dangerous."
"Really? But this one's a bit special. It says it can only be used at night, and a man and a woman have to train together."
"...What?"
The words rang faintly familiar. Only then did Seomun Hwi turn to look at the book in Cheongwol's hands.
Yin-Yang Unity Divine Art
The title alone was enough to set a face burning, yet Cheongwol was studying it with the solemn care one might give a peerless secret manual.
"When a man's yang energy becomes one with a woman's yin energy... Ah!"
Seomun Hwi snatched the book as if plucking it from the air and shoved Cheongwol back, struggling to keep the embarrassment from his face.
"...It's a manual still far too much for you."
"How would you know? Give it back. I only got through the first part."
"No."
When Cheongwol stepped forward to reclaim it, Seomun Hwi fled with startling speed.
His steps looked almost like some mysterious footwork; Cheongwol stared after the retreating back with wide eyes and shouted,
"Hey! Give me back my martial arts manual!"
The chase lasted until the sun hung low and red. It ended only when Seomun Hwi finally returned the manual to Cheongwol.
At that rate they would have raced through Nanzhou until one of them collapsed from exhaustion.
"Never read it in front of anyone. No—don't even read it when you're alone."
Cheongwol swept sweat-damp bangs from his forehead and tucked the demonic text Seomun Hwi held out back into his robes.
"What kind of manual is it that you're acting like this? Is it dangerous?"
"...Nothing good comes of knowing."
Seomun Hwi shook his head and looked up at the sky already stained with sunset.
"We should head back to the inn."
"...I'm hungry."
Even while clutching the manual tightly to his chest, Cheongwol nodded and drew close to Seomun Hwi's side.
A short while later, when the two stepped into the inn, the waiter stared in open surprise.
"I've been waiting for you... Did something happen?"
They had left looking perfectly presentable and returned soaked in sweat and dust.
"Nothing of note."
Their appearances said otherwise, yet if the guests themselves claimed all was well, what more was there to say? The waiter merely nodded, already counting the silver he would receive from Seomun Hwi.
"Understood. Hot water is ready—please wash first. I'll bring the food to your room afterward."
While Seomun Hwi waited in the room, Cheongwol came to him, cheeks flushed from the heat, shaking water from his hair.
"I never knew washing with hot water could feel this good. I almost fell asleep right there."
"You've never bathed in hot water before?"
By now Seomun Hwi asked the question with a calm, almost accustomed expression.
"Yeah. Grandfather always said you had to wash with cold water after training. Something about letting yin energy gather in the dantian."
"...Yin energy?"
Just when Seomun Hwi thought he was growing used to Cheongwol's remarks, another absurd one appeared and his face stiffened again.
What man accumulated yin energy?
Yet the jianghu overflowed with arts that defied common sense; he soon decided this, too, must simply be some peculiar family technique and accepted it.
"I see. That must have been hard."
"Yeah. He said I don't have to do it anymore, but cold water had already become a habit. I should have tried hot water ages ago."
Having said so, Cheongwol flopped onto the soft bed and waved his arms up and down.
"I always slept on hard, cold floors... The Central Plains really is wonderful at everything. Now I think I finally understand why Grandfather insisted I come here."
Seomun Hwi gave a quiet laugh and looked at him.
"I'm glad you like it. But what will you do after you reach the Kongdong Sect?"
"Huh?"
At the sudden question Cheongwol sat up.
"You're not going there to enter as a disciple, are you? I'm asking whether you have somewhere to stay afterward."
When Cheongwol could not answer at once, Seomun Hwi stepped to the bedside and looked down at him.
"If you know no one and have nowhere to go, why not come with me to the clan? A martial artist of your skill could remain as a guest retainer for as long as you wished. If you desired it, you could even become a martial artist of the Seomun Clan itself."
"I..."
"Answer carefully. I made the offer because I rather like you—but a proposal from the Seomun Clan is given only once."
Something heavy in Seomun Hwi's gaze made Cheongwol close his mouth.
He did not fully understand, yet he felt that Seomun Hwi had spoken out of genuine concern for him.
So he pondered for a long while. Just as his lips finally began to part—
"Food's here! May I come in?"
The waiter's voice shattered the atmosphere and filled the room.
Seomun Hwi glared toward the door where the man stood with the trays and clicked his tongue softly.
"...I'll hear the answer later. Tell me before we come down from Mount Kongtong."
Moonlight spilled into the room, yet Cheongwol could not sleep. Seomun Hwi's proposal kept turning in his mind.
Why not come with me to the clan?
At the same time his grandfather's final words circled endlessly.
I've thought it over many times—give up on revenge after all.
His grandfather's will: forget vengeance and live an ordinary life.
Seomun Hwi's offer: come with him to the Seomun Clan.
The two voices overlapped with uncanny precision and would not stop shaking Cheongwol's heart.
If he accepted Seomun Hwi's proposal, he might truly live the ordinary life his grandfather had wished for him.
But then how would he repay the blood debt of the Im Clan, who had died so unjustly?
Could he really set down that crushing weight and live as an ordinary man?
Parents whose faces he had never once seen.
The retainers of the Im Clan who had thrown themselves onto the blades so that grandfather and he might escape.
He had only ever pictured them from his grandfather's stories, yet every time he remembered them his chest ached as if it would tear.
Cheongwol let out a long breath and quietly closed his eyes.
I'm sorry, Grandfather.
His heart had already leaned one way. He turned restlessly and looked across at Seomun Hwi sleeping on the opposite bed.
Looking back, the bond with Seomun Hwi was truly strange.
To meet someone by chance while lost on a mountain path, and to discover their destinations were the same...
Moreover the man was so thoughtful that he treated Cheongwol as if they had known each other for years—though scarcely two days had passed since they first met.
"...Thank you."
So Cheongwol smiled without meaning to and quietly offered thanks to the first connection he had formed in the Central Plains.
There was only one problem he did not know: Seomun Hwi was still awake.
"..."
To toss and turn for so long as if the bed were unfamiliar, then suddenly turn and thank him...
Did Cheongwol know he was awake?
Seomun Hwi soon realized he did not.
Cheongwol carefully sat up and, with furtive care, picked up a single book.
...I should have thrown the damned thing far away instead of giving it back.
While Seomun Hwi regretted his earlier mercy, Cheongwol began to read by moonlight.
The root of all things under heaven lies precisely in this unity of yin and yang...
He turned the pages without hesitation, following the plausible phrases—until he flinched and his hand stopped.
As with most erotic manuals, the Yin-Yang Unity Divine Art contained spring pictures drawn to aid understanding.
"W-what..."
His face flushed so red it looked ready to burst, yet he could not tear his eyes away.
How could such an explicit, shameless act even exist?
Even as the thought formed, he slowly turned another page.
As if determined to burn every line into his mind.
The soft rustle of paper continued for as long as the moon hung in the sky, and the sound kept Seomun Hwi from sleep as well.
Only after dawn broke did Cheongwol finally close the book he had read again and again and bury his face in the bedding.
"Haa..."
The sigh filled the room, yet the one who truly wanted to sigh was Seomun Hwi.
...Looks like the road to Mount Kongtong is going to be a long one.