The Sound Venerable
"Gwanyeong."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Dokgo Ryeong is a fake."
"…Excuse me?"
Eun Yakbyeok drew out a fresh volume and took up her brush. She began writing as she spoke, her tone utterly calm.
"Dokgo Ryeong claims she was born near Mount Hua in Shaanxi Province."
"…I've been listening."
"But no matter how thoroughly I search my memory, I have no recollection of the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin lingering anywhere near that region some twenty years ago."
"…"
Had Dokgo Ryeong been present to hear this, she might have argued that memories grow hazy with time. Unfortunately for her, the woman speaking was Eun Yakbyeok, Leader of the Hao Sect.
Her memory never failed.
That a middling, unremarkable sect had been raised in a single generation to an information network rivaling the Beggars' Guild was due entirely to Eun Yakbyeok's efforts.
"Well… it wouldn't be impossible to claim he spent a single night with some woman he met on the road. The problem is that Dokgo Jin was still weak in that period."
"What do you mean…?"
"Dokgo Jin is a martial artist who rose to stand shoulder to shoulder with the great masters of the jianghu on nothing but pure vengeance. Easy to say — far harder to live. Very few in the Murim can bear rage that fierce. That is precisely how he reached the summit. He was never the type to let his eyes wander."
Eun Yakbyeok lifted her gaze and looked at Eun Gwanyeong.
"And besides… a man who behaved as though he had nothing left to lose turns out to have blood kin?"
"…Perhaps he simply never knew?"
"I considered that as well. It makes even less sense."
She tossed the volume she had been writing in to Eun Gwanyeong.
"Read it."
"This is…"
"The full record of the last conversation I had with Dokgo Jin."
Just as she said, the book laid out every exchange between Eun Yakbyeok and Dokgo Jin without omission.
"His eyes were ruined by the Tang Clan's Poison Jiangshi. Remarkable people, the Tang. To think of pouring extreme Yang energy into something that already defies the natural order, like a jiangshi."
"…So that was when you mentioned the Ice Palace's sacred treasure."
"Yes. The Outer Murim would have to be wiped out eventually anyway. I figured I might as well erase the Ice Palace while I was at it — and mend our guest's eyes in the bargain."
She continued speaking as Eun Gwanyeong read.
"Even then, there was not a word about a daughter. Not so much as a shadow of one."
"…It is strange, I'll grant you."
"Suppose he stumbled across a daughter he had never known for twenty years. Given his nature, he would never have left her alone. He was endlessly soft toward anyone who knew nothing of martial arts."
Eun Yakbyeok's words quickened.
"And I hear the girl was ill, no less. Dokgo Jin was acquainted with the Divine Physician — he would have gone straight to him."
"…"
"Yet the guest who set out in search of a miraculous elixir vanishes without a trace, and from that very place a woman suddenly appears claiming to be Dokgo Jin's daughter — whereupon the Wulin Alliance issues a kill order. If she had been hidden for twenty years, that is an awfully clumsy way to be found out."
Eun Yakbyeok pressed her fingers hard against her temples.
"Haa… How amusing. Truly, too amusing."
"…"
"Dokgo Jin was the card that would kill the Poison Venerable any day now and plunge Sichuan into chaos. And of all times, he vanishes at this critical moment. Ha!"
She said it was amusing and let out a hollow laugh — but cold sweat began to slide down Eun Gwanyeong's back as she watched. The Sect Leader's voice was turning steadily more irritable.
"What irritates me most is Dokgo Ryeong's existence itself."
"…In what way…?"
"She is far too much like a daughter."
"Pardon?"
Bang!
Eun Yakbyeok struck the table.
"That insolent, utterly unmannered way of speaking. That attitude as if she looks down on the entire world. That competitive fire that snaps up any challenge you toss her. Those eyes that make you think of a blaze roaring to life the moment you look at them! She is far too genuine, do you understand? No matter how I turn it over, she has to be a fake — and yet."
"…"
Only then did Eun Gwanyeong grasp the true source of her master's irritation.
No matter what situation she faced, the Leader of the Hao Sect always produced the correct answer. That was how she had raised the Hao Sect into a major power in so short a time.
But now she was experiencing a reality that stood in direct contradiction to the ideal answer she had arrived at in her mind.
Dokgo Ryeong, who by every calculation had to be a fake.
And yet, when seen in the flesh, a Dokgo Ryeong who truly seemed like Dokgo Jin's daughter.
"Gwanyeong."
"…Yes."
"Is the contract between the Jade-Faced Young Master and Dokgo Ryeong genuine?"
"It is."
"Which means she also knows the Saber of Asura Rakshasa and the Nine Yang Divine Art. And the authenticity of those?"
"Young Master Wi confirmed the Saber of Asura Rakshasa himself. The probability that it is genuine is high."
"…The Jade-Faced Young Master has crossed blades with Dokgo Jin before. Haa… This is driving me mad."
Eun Yakbyeok tipped her body far back and propped her feet atop the stacked volumes. Watching her loosen even a little, Eun Gwanyeong realized just how deeply exhausted her Sect Leader had become.
"It has been a very long time since anything forced me to deliberate this hard."
"…Shall I rub your feet for you?"
"I would be grateful if you did."
"Yes…"
Eun Gwanyeong quickly settled beside her and began pressing firmly into her feet.
"…I'm sorry, Sect Leader. You are already so busy, and now you have to involve yourself in a problem like this as well…"
"Gwanyeong. Have I not told you? Beneath the elegant swan gliding across the water's surface…"
"…one must remember that the feet are paddling furiously."
"You remember well, Gwanyeong. We are an information organization. Guests come to us to purchase knowledge."
"…Yes."
"Which means we cannot afford to not know. We cannot let it show that we do not know. And we cannot let the other party realize how much effort it took to learn what we did not know."
"Because only then do the guests revere us."
"Exactly. You remember well."
When she sat upright again, Eun Gwanyeong returned to her original place. Eun Yakbyeok opened a new volume and began to read.
"Gwanyeong."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Prepare to receive a guest. Tea, clothing — and the full record of your observations of Dokgo Ryeong."
"…You mean to speak with Dokgo Ryeong yourself?"
"Yes. No matter how I turn it over, meeting the person in question face to face will be the most convenient approach. If she is genuine, she will know of the promise I made with her father, and I can purchase her goodwill. If she is a fake, I can interrogate her on the spot."
"Yes. Understood."
Eun Gwanyeong was about to leave the inner chamber when she paused mid-step.
"Um… Sect Leader…"
"What is it, Gwanyeong?"
"About… Young Lady Dokgo…. There is a small problem."
"What sort of problem?"
"…Her manners are a bit…"
"That much is fine. I already experienced it earlier; it does not matter. So long as she is not so far gone that she cannot tell right from wrong, I do not care."
"…She can tell right from wrong quite well…"
"…"
At that carefully chosen phrasing, Eun Yakbyeok let out another sigh.
"Haa… I will keep it in mind."
"…Yes."
"Ah — and Gwanyeong."
Eun Yakbyeok smiled faintly as she asked.
"Would you bring me a zither?"
"Ah…! Yes!"
Eun Gwanyeong brightened and went out. Eun Yakbyeok watched her go for a moment, then took up her brush again and opened another volume.
Meanwhile, entirely unaware of the conversation taking place, Dokgo Ryeong was spending her time with Baekri Sohyeon.
After finishing a cut with her saber, Dokgo Ryeong turned to her.
"So — like this. How is it?"
"…"
"Why aren't you answering?"
"Ryeong Mae."
"Yeah."
"…Are you actually a genius?"
Baekri Sohyeon's mouth fell open.
"H-how did you figure that out? You really reconstructed the final ultimate form just from looking at the mnemonic?"
"Doesn't it just jump out at you if you look?"
"…"
"Anyway, you try it. I roughly copied the form, but I can't get a feel for how to channel the internal energy through the path."
"Mm. So then…"
The two of them poured themselves into completing the final ultimate strike of the Shoot the Sun Sword Art — Shoot the Sun — for some time, until Eun Gwanyeong arrived.
"Young Lady Dokgo."
"Oh, you're back? You said you had work…"
"Might I trouble you for a moment of your time?"
"…Did you eat something weird? Why are you being so polite all of a sudden?"
"If you will come with me, we should begin with a bath."
"…"
Watching Eun Gwanyeong suddenly observe formal courtesy and bow to her left Dokgo Ryeong with an uneasy prickle at the back of her neck.
"…Is it important?"
"Yes."
"Haa… Dunchi. We'll finish the rest later. We were stuck anyway — no answers coming out of this."
"Mm. Take care, Ryeong Mae. I'll stay a little longer."
"Yeah. Lead the way, Hao Sect."
"Yes."
"…"
Eun Gwanyeong guided her in complete silence, offering no reaction at all, and Dokgo Ryeong grew more unsettled by the second.
No, seriously — what is this?
The first people who came to mind were Eunho, or perhaps the branch master of the Shandong office. She figured they simply wanted to pay their respects because she had claimed to be the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin's daughter, and so she kept her mood light.
The moment she stepped into the bath chamber, she knew something was seriously wrong.
"…What the hell is this."
"Please wash as thoroughly as possible."
"Yes!"
A dozen or so people were already waiting for Dokgo Ryeong inside the bath.
"Hey—! Hao Sect! What the hell are you—!"
"My, what lovely hair."
"And such soft skin…"
"Hnnk…! Wh-where do you think you're touching!"
"Look at this. Her hair is turning pink. Isn't that fascinating?"
"Hmm? Wasn't it red just a moment ago?"
"Kyaaaaah!!"
After being thoroughly tormented by a dozen women and completing a meticulous ritual bath, attendants swarmed her again — combing her hair, draping her in one garment after another.
"How about this color?"
"I think this side would be prettier."
"Just pick whatever, I don't—"
"Absolutely not! 'Whatever' has no place in a lady's attire!"
"…"
After a long ordeal, by the time her hair — which had once shifted to a soft pink — had returned to red, Dokgo Ryeong was finally released.
When she met Eun Gwanyeong again, she glared.
"Hey, Hao Sect. What the fuck was that shit?"
"You are going to meet a person of high standing. Even if you cannot manage proper manners, you should at least be dressed for the occasion."
"I wouldn't put up with this fucking circus even if the Wulin Alliance Leader or the Demonic Cult Leader showed up."
"…"
"What — did one of them actually show?"
"This way, please."
"…"
Watching Eun Gwanyeong seal her lips tight, Dokgo Ryeong felt her heart begin to race. Her senses were sounding the alarm.
…Am I walking into a tiger's den?
She considered bolting then and there and glanced back — only to find the dozen women who had just finished dressing her standing in her path, smiling.
"Please proceed forward."
"…Fuck."
Dokgo Ryeong grumbled and stepped ahead. An uneasy feeling clung to her, but she still had one corner of confidence to lean on.
This was the Hao Sect.
The sect she had dealt with for nearly thirty years in her days as the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin. She might grumble with her mouth, but the Hao Sect she had traded with all those years had always been an organization that understood honor.
"…This way."
"Hey, Hao Sect…. Seriously…"
"Please follow me."
"…"
When the path led not up the stairs of the pleasure house but down, Dokgo Ryeong's confidence evaporated at once.
Those who knew the Hao Sect only shallowly believed its master lived on the upper floors. Those who truly knew the Hao Sect understood that its real master resided below.
They put a figurehead upstairs to receive guests, and the true master's judgment was rendered underground. Dokgo Ryeong was hardly ignorant of that habit.
No… just what kind of big shot are they trying to make me meet?
She was wondering whether Eunho was more important than she had thought when Eun Gwanyeong stopped before a door.
"They requested a private audience. Please enter alone."
"…What, am I meeting the Hao Sect Leader or some—"
Mid-sentence, lightning struck through Dokgo Ryeong's mind.
The Hao Sect Leader! Did Eun Yakbyeok come in person?
Only then did the gravity of the situation truly hit her.
Come to think of it, the Hao Sect Leader was acquainted with Wi Ilcheong — and with Dokgo Jin as well. There was no reason she could not come herself.
Fuck… I'm screwed.
She would be scouring the land with fire in her eyes looking for the man who had vanished without a word. And in the middle of that search, someone claiming to be Dokgo Jin's daughter had appeared. Of course she would come in person.
The moment the thought reached that far, Dokgo Ryeong suddenly clutched her stomach.
"I, uh… my stomach's a little…"
"…"
"Where's the privy? I'll just duck in for a—"
Rrrrk.
The door opened of its own accord, and from within came the sound of a zither being plucked.
At once, as if someone had shoved her, Dokgo Ryeong's body was flung into the room.
"Ghk—!"
"My apologies. It looked as though you were about to run."
"…"
She lifted her head toward the voice. There, a familiar woman sat plucking the strings of a zither.
Her dread made real, Dokgo Ryeong's face twisted.
"Fufu. A pleasure to meet you. The self-proclaimed daughter of Dokgo Jin — Young Lady Dokgo Ryeong."
"…"
"People call me the Sound Venerable. Some call me the Lust Venerable. But this is the introduction I prefer most of all."
Just as she had drawn Dokgo Ryeong into the room, Eun Yakbyeok cleared the zither away with a telekinetic grasp of qi and rose to her feet.
"I am the Leader of the Hao Sect. Eun Yakbyeok."