Episode 24, Chapter 3: Pajeo River (8)
After confirming once more that no martial artists were on their trail, Dokgo Ryeong and her companions began racing toward Cheonniwa with light-body techniques.
"Oppa Wi, you shook them off better than I expected?"
"I kept luring them toward the Pajeo River the whole time. Thanks to that, we covered an enormous distance."
"Hehe… Got it. Tonight, then, you and I…"
"You lewd bitch!"
"Hiiing…"
Dokgo Ryeong, who had been lying across Wi Ilcheong's back, suddenly bellowed. Wi Ilcheong's brow furrowed.
"Miss Dokgo, raising your voice so suddenly is…"
"Waaah!"
"…I apologize."
When Dokgo Ryeong shouted right into his ear a second time, the ringing left him half-deaf. Once Wi Ilcheong fell silent, she sank back into her thoughts.
…The Classic of the Plain Girl, huh.
She had far too little information. More than anything, the fundamental question still gnawed at her and left her restless.
A cultivation method was ultimately about accumulating qi inside one's own body. So how could the Classic of the Plain Girl help someone else build internal energy?
If she could just learn the formula of the Classic, things would be a little easier…
Had Baekri Sohyeon and Eun Gwanyeong learned the Classic from Wi Ilcheong?
Wasn't it his exclusive martial art?
Questions piled up one after another, each spawning the next.
But…
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong stared blankly at the back of Wi Ilcheong's head. Instantly the events of a few nights ago flooded back.
Fuck.
Every time she looked at him, "that" kept rising in her mind, and she was afraid to even speak to him. The realization sent a chill crawling over her skin.
I'm scared? Me? The Mad Demon of the world, Dokgo Jin?
She hadn't felt like this even when she smashed through the main gates of the Namgung Clan, where the Sword God and the Sword Immortal lived under the same roof. She hadn't felt this kind of fear even in the battle against the Tang Clan, where every breath stung her lungs and death seemed ready to bloom at any moment.
Yet now she found herself hesitating over one trivial question, and self-loathing surged up inside her.
"Slap!"
"…Miss Dokgo?"
She suddenly raised both hands and struck her own cheeks hard.
"Is something the matter?"
"Nothing. More importantly, Lust Demon, I've got a question."
"Please ask."
"If I… learn the Classic of the Plain Girl, can I build internal energy like you?"
"…Pardon?"
Hearing the blank tone of Wi Ilcheong's reply, Dokgo Ryeong forced herself to ask again.
"…I mean! If I fuck you…"
"Ah~, I understand. Only I can use the Classic of the Plain Girl."
"…What?"
Dokgo Ryeong's face twisted at the unexpected answer.
"Fuck, earlier you said Baekri Sohyeon and Eun Gwanyeong learned it too?"
"Both of them cultivated different foundational methods. Because those methods take a long time to master, they circulate their own arts normally and use the Classic only to accumulate pure qi."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"The Classic of the Plain Girl simply refines qi to a purer state. So they build their internal energy with their original methods, and I use the Classic to purify that energy and return it to them. In the process I absorb a little myself as well."
"…Isn't that just plundering yin to nourish yang, you fucking bastard?"
"…Even if the quantity of internal energy drops in the short term, over the long term you accumulate pure qi and the turbid energy inside the body decreases, so…"
"Yeah, it's plundering yin to nourish yang, you bastard."
Dokgo Ryeong smacked the back of Wi Ilcheong's head.
"Bastard. I was wondering why someone who seemed halfway decent still got cursed at all the time—turns out you really deserve the name Lust Demon."
"…Why are you like this, honestly? I told you it helps expel turbid energy. Spend ten nights with me and you won't even need a separate Bone Marrow Cleansing."
"Damn it, you bastard. Hey, Hao Sect! Turn into a man!"
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah, you little shit."
"Hiiing… Can't I just stay on Oppa Wi's back?"
"Fuck, just being on this bastard's back feels like my internal energy is leaking out."
"Hiiiing…"
Eun Gwanyeong grumbled but wriggled her body and transformed into the burly, bearded man from earlier.
"…Is that the only form you can take?"
"To change, I have to know the person's acupoints and bone structure really well… The familiar one is easier."
"…Fuck."
Dokgo Ryeong hopped up and hooked an arm around Eun Gwanyeong's neck; the girl cupped both hands under Dokgo Ryeong's backside to support her.
While her hands kneaded Dokgo Ryeong's rear, Eun Gwanyeong spoke.
"Ah, Miss Dokgo, even your butt is so plump and—gack!"
"You're dead…!"
"S-spare meee."
Dokgo Ryeong choked her for a moment, then let go.
"…Shut up and move. Got it?"
"Huuueeng…"
Lying across Eun Gwanyeong's back, Dokgo Ryeong fell into thought again.
…A cultivation method, huh.
In the end she would have to do it herself. Which method she chose was entirely up to her.
Crack!
No Sunpyeong's hand moved, and the sound of bone shattering rang from No Geukmyeong's face. Yet No Geukmyeong endured the blow with calm resignation.
"You…! You stupid fool…!!!"
"…I have nothing to say."
"You let the daughter of our sworn enemy slip away after we already had her? For something that important you should have been standing guard yourself!!"
"Please kill me…"
"Kill you?! Me, kill you?!!"
Killing intent rose from No Sunpyeong's body.
"Do not try to escape through death! Especially not when you are my own son!!"
"…"
"From this day forward you are no longer a member of the Moyong Clan."
"Father!!"
"Out!!"
No Sunpyeong roared.
"Before I am your father I am an elder of the Moyong Clan! This is a judgment rendered as an elder—accept it gratefully!"
"B-but…"
"Chase that bitch. That is the only way you will ever return."
"…"
At No Sunpyeong's sentence, No Geukmyeong could only stare blankly at the floor in hollow despair.
Where did it all go wrong…
When they first captured the Mad Demon's daughter, he had believed the Moyong Clan's long-standing grudge would finally be settled. He had watched his father suffer every night after fleeing, overpowered, from a fight with the Mad Demon; No Geukmyeong himself burned with enormous hatred for Dokgo Jin.
So he had wanted, even for a moment, to humiliate that daughter.
Yet less than two hours after locking her up, her body had rippled and she had turned into a man.
Only then had he realized everything was wrong.
With trembling hands he clawed at the dirt of the floor and opened his mouth.
"…I will return with that bitch's head without fail."
"Nonsense. The Lust Demon stuck to her side is not someone you can handle."
"…I know. Still, I will return with the head of the Mad Demon's daughter no matter what."
No Geukmyeong fixed bloodshot eyes on No Sunpyeong and swore.
"By any means necessary…!"
No Sunpyeong tossed him a money pouch.
"Go."
"I obey."
Watching No Geukmyeong's receding back, No Sunpyeong let out a long sigh.
"Haa…"
The Lust Demon was a soft-hearted bastard. Even while fighting so many Moyong martial artists, some had been seriously wounded, yet not one had lost his life. No Sunpyeong, who knew how much harder it was to injure without killing than simply to kill, found himself freshly astonished by the Lust Demon's level of martial skill.
…How can someone so young be that strong…
A faint gladness that his son would not die mixed with the stifling frustration of an elder forced to issue such a decree; the two emotions swirled inside him.
"Uncle."
"Second Young Master…"
Hearing Moyong Jun's voice behind him, No Sunpyeong turned.
"…Are you certain it is all right to send Geukmyeong off like that?"
"There is no other way. I have given him a chance to redeem his own mistake; he will consider himself fortunate."
"Sometimes you seem even stricter than Father."
"Haha. Then I shall ask the Clan Head to treat the Second Young Master more strictly from now on."
"Yes, please do."
Moyong Jun clenched his fist.
"…I will never forget today's humiliation."
"…Of course you must not. That is what it means to carry Moyong blood."
No Sunpyeong watched Moyong Jun's burning fighting spirit for a moment, then turned his gaze back toward the direction his son had vanished.
More than that, why did that bastard head that way… It's nothing but a tiny fishing village.
He pondered briefly, then dismissed the thought. His own son would manage somehow.
A quiet inn somewhere in the jianghu.
On the first floor there was only a dozing old man and a small child. When a young man entered the shabby establishment, the old man cracked an eye open and looked at him.
"…"
With a trembling hand the old man pointed toward the second floor. The young man gave a light bow and climbed the stairs.
He opened the door of the most secluded room on the second floor. Inside waited a woman.
She was dressed in lavish ornaments that radiated noble grace, yet her eyes held a bewitching allure that stole the heart of anyone who looked upon her. Anyone who saw her would naturally think of the praise "ruin-of-empire beauty."
That beauty was none other than the leader of the Hao Sect, one of the Four Great Beauties of the jianghu known as Gyeongguk, and the woman the Wulin Alliance called Eum-jon—Eun Yakbyeok.
The moment he faced her, the young man dropped to his knees.
"It has been too long, Sect Leader."
"Welcome, Eunho. Would you like some tea?"
"I will accept if you offer it."
"Come here."
Even the light gesture of offering tea carried a strange charm that could shake the hearts of countless men, yet the man called Eunho was long accustomed to it. Familiarity, however, did not calm his heart.
As she poured his tea, Eun Yakbyeok spoke.
"Eunho."
"…Yes, Sect Leader."
"It seems your training has been a little lacking lately. I can see your heart wavering."
"…I am sorry."
"It cannot be helped. So… how was Sichuan?"
"…I could find no opening to slip through."
"Hmm… Our guest will be disappointed."
Eun Yakbyeok flipped through the book spread before her and wrote something in it.
"Ah, by the way, have you heard the news?"
"…About Elder Dokgo Jin's daughter?"
"That's right. Quite an amusing rumor, isn't it?"
"…"
Watching her dismiss as mere "rumor" a story certified by both the Beggar Sect's Silent Immortal and the Wulin Alliance Leader, the Sword Immortal, Eunho floundered, unsure how to answer.
"I… well…"
"Haa… Eunho. How many times have I told you that the most necessary thing for a Hao Sect disciple is the eye that sifts information? Martial skill can come after."
"…I am sorry, Sect Leader."
"So what do you think?"
"…"
Eunho organized his thoughts for a moment, then spoke.
"…I believe the probability that it is true is high."
"The reason?"
"It is information guaranteed by the Wulin Alliance and the Beggar Sect. I also heard that the Ice Emperor and the Green Forest Bandits had a hand in it."
"Tsk tsk tsk."
When Eun Yakbyeok clicked her tongue, Eunho slammed his forehead to the floor.
"…I am sorry, Sect Leader."
"Apologize one more time and I truly will never call you again."
"Yes! Please bestow your teaching upon this dull disciple."
"I think the Mad Demon's daughter is a fake."
Eun Yakbyeok turned a page and continued writing as she spoke.
"The Dokgo Jin I personally met and spoke with was a beast. He chased battlefields, chased enemies, chased scoundrels."
"…"
"So there was never a woman who could slip into his heart. Did you know? When I first met him I thought Dokgo Jin had cultivated the Boy's Art."
"You have said so several times."
"I cannot imagine there are three people in the world who could look at me and see just another woman."
"Your words are most reasonable."
"Moreover, for a man who spent decades wandering for revenge to suddenly start a family—that is only possible once he has found peace of mind, is it not?"
"…I think so as well."
Eun Yakbyeok closed the book, took out another, and began writing again.
"And right at the place where our guest's trail last vanished, a man who never cared about women secretly raised a lovely daughter, and that daughter was discovered by the Wulin Alliance…"
"…"
"Do you call that coincidence?"
"…It is suspicious, yes."
"That is why I want to send you, Eunho."
"…Isn't my junior sister already there? I heard she is staying with the Jade-Faced Young Master."
The hand that had been writing stopped. Eun Yakbyeok lifted her head slightly and looked at him; he immediately bowed again.
"…Eunho."
"I have committed a capital offense, Sect Leader!"
"Answering me is not a capital offense. But it does anger me a little that among the disciples I raised there is a worthless one who has already given up on the succession contest before it even begins."
"…I am not fit to be Sect Leader."
"Haa…"
Eun Yakbyeok pressed her temples hard and tossed the book she had just finished writing to Eunho.
"Information on the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin, the Jade-Faced Young Master Wi Ilcheong, and Baekri Sohyeon of Diancang."
"…Yes."
"Gwanyeong is coming to Shandong with the Mad Demon's daughter. Fill the last page with information on the girl who claims to be the Mad Demon's daughter—Dokgo Ryeong."
"I will succeed even if it costs my life."
"…No need for your life. Just go."
"Yes!"
Eunho bowed deeply and left. Once he was gone, Eun Yakbyeok took out yet another blank book and began writing again.
Then her hand suddenly stopped.
…Of all people, Wi Ilcheong. Of all people, Dokgo Jin.
A connection had formed between the two most dangerous figures in the jianghu.
Coincidence? Or fate?
A smile lingered on Eun Yakbyeok's lips. Either way, the one who would reap the greatest benefit from the space between them would be the Hao Sect.
I only hope Gwanyeong handles it well.
Eun Yakbyeok moved her halted hand once more and continued filling the new book.