The Victors' Banner
After the banquet ended, the Seoho Gwak Family packed their belongings and set out once more for Hangzhou, while the Cheonhae Merchant Group began preparing for their next trading expedition.
At that very moment, only a heavy silence filled the main hall of the Jusan Baek Family.
Gulp.
"…So then."
Family Head Baek Ryang-san finally spoke. He sat with one arm draped carelessly over the armrest of his luxurious chair, the picture of indifference—yet the torch-like blaze in his eyes was more than enough to cow anyone who met them.
Perhaps that was why Baek Jung-hyeok still could not lift his head, even as the questions continued.
"Why do you think you lost?"
"…"
"You little—!"
The mighty inner force behind Baek Ryang-san's roar made the floor itself rumble. Startled, Baek Jung-hyeok jerked his head up. His face looked rough and haggard; the defeat at Gwak Yeon's hands had clearly shaken him hard.
"Are you going to keep sitting there like that?"
"F-Father."
"You idiot! Those eyes! What did you do with the eyes of the Baek Jung-hyeok I know?!"
Fire flashed in Baek Ryang-san's gaze.
"And straighten those damned shoulders!"
His booming aura lashed out like an invisible whip, battering his son. Baek Jung-hyeok braced with everything he had against the pressure that threatened to send him sprawling. In that instant, as he forced his posture straight and snapped his eyes open—
"Why do you think you lost to that Gwak Yeon?!"
"…"
"I'm asking you! I don't care what it is—give me a reason!"
"H-his momentum was better."
"Momentum?"
Under the relentless pressure, Baek Jung-hyeok's mouth finally broke open.
"Yes! I was clearly ahead at the start! But once the flow of the fight shifted to him, I couldn't bring out all my techniques!"
"And why did the momentum shift?"
"Because I panicked! The poison I spread at the beginning had no effect on him at all—he must have prepared thoroughly before coming! And I never imagined he would disguise weapons as hard as my Celestial Moon Axe as mere scabbards and swing them with both hands! I let my guard down!"
"Go on."
"And before the fight even started, his taunts got me riled up! On top of that—I looked down on him too much! I never expected him to come so thoroughly prepared, so I was thrown off in every way and couldn't show my true skill!"
"So."
"So… so…"
They both knew the real reason was Gwak Yeon's skill. But what Baek Ryang-san truly wanted to hear right now was something else entirely.
"…Next time we fight, I'll count today's humiliation twice over and crush him!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes! That damned bastard! I'll completely wreck him!"
"Hahaha!"
Only then did Baek Ryang-san burst into laughter. At last his rage began to ease.
"Yes—that's the Baek Jung-hyeok I know!"
"Next time I'll see tears streaming down that face of his if it's the last thing I do!"
"That's exactly it!"
"That damned Gwak Yeon!"
"Yes! If you lose once, you just win twice. If your skill falls short, change the place and the means!"
"Yes!"
"I can forgive a man who loses. I will never forgive a man who bows his head and gives up! Do you understand?!"
"Yes, Father!"
Only then did life return to Baek Jung-hyeok's eyes. His father's scolding—more as a father than as family head—had begun to pull him free of the sting of his first defeat.
Destroy Gwak Yeon—!
Watching his son burn with that fierce resolve, Baek Ryang-san slowly nodded.
Heh. Finally come to your senses.
Useless boy.
Baek Ryang-san thought to himself. Because of this fight, their entry into the Seven Great Families had been delayed, and the next trading expedition with the Cheonhae Merchant Group was as good as gone—but that was not what truly mattered.
There's nothing more pathetic than a martial artist who's lost the will to fight.
In that regard, this was acceptable. A little wound to one's pride was an excellent way to make a man's venom boil.
This ought to be decent medicine for Jung-hyeok as well.
But thinking the wound to pride would stop at this level meant he had not yet accounted for all the karma Baek Jung-hyeok had piled up among the countless sects and families of Zhejiang Province.
Knock, knock.
"What is it?!"
"It's me, Ga-hee."
The answer came from his daughter, who had knocked on the door of the main hall.
"I asked you what it is!"
"A flag arrived."
"…A flag?"
"…Never mind. Look at it later."
Having said only what she needed to, Baek Ga-hee, eldest daughter of Baek Ryang-san, quickly made her way back toward her quarters. As she walked through the estate, she soon saw it.
Whoosh!
The enormous flag that had arrived at the estate fluttered in the wind.
In other words—
The Seoho Gwak Family Is the Best!
—this flag, which would have to stand right beside the Jusan Baek Family's main plaque for the next several months.
Aaaaaargh—!
A roar already echoed from the distant main hall. Of course it did. Having to plant a banner praising Zhejiang's only rival family right next to their own gate—what greater humiliation could there be?
Whew. Nearly caught in the splash of that fire.
Baek Ga-hee wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a small sigh. She had not taken her younger brother's side. How many sects and families across Zhejiang had been forced to hang banners praising the Jusan Baek Family beside their own plaques because of that boy?
Baek Jung-hyeok. This is your karma.
She had always known that wager would come back to bite him someday. Maybe this would finally make a decent person of him.
Baek Ga-hee was the sort of woman who did not particularly care about the humiliation of having such a flag flying beside their family plaque. That very nature was why, despite possessing greater talent than Baek Jung-hyeok, she had never deliberately shown it off.
What bothered her more was—
Still… missing the chance to drink with Young Master Namgung is a bit irritating.
She had only been a little disappointed that participating in the Seven Great Families gathering would have given her a natural chance to build rapport with that famously handsome young master of the Namgung family.
Even so.
Baek Ga-hee suddenly stopped walking and recalled the face of the one who had caused all this.
That man wasn't half bad to look at either, was he?
Gwak Yeon. Just as the thought of how completely different he had been from the rumors rose in her mind—
Aaaaaargh—!
"Ha."
This time a shout from beyond the storehouses interrupted her thoughts.
My money—!
"Honestly. Chaos everywhere."
This one belonged to the chief steward of the Jusan Baek Family—Steward Gam, who, because of Gwak Yeon, now had to hand over most of the money he had carefully saved to Steward Yu of the Seoho Gwak Family, his former fellow student.
Rattle, rattle!
Inside the carriage bound for Hangzhou, Steward Yu wore a more satisfied smile than ever before.
"Hahahahahaha!"
In one hand was the written contract of the wager he had made with Steward Gam of the Jusan Baek Family. In the other—
Clink!
—the jewels Yeo Geum-hwi of the Cheonhae Merchant Group had separately set aside for him glittered extravagantly.
"The second young master… was a walking fortune!"
Even with no one around, he now addressed Gwak Yeon as "Young Master." It was thanks to how much Gwak Yeon had brought him. Winning the money bet against that insufferable Steward Gam of the Jusan Baek Family had already been thrilling enough—and on the way back the Cheonhae Merchant Group had called it a fine spectacle and loaded him with generous gifts?
Steward Yu was no fool; he understood exactly what those gifts meant.
"I never knew Young Master Gwak had that kind of talent."
His face, full of praise for Gwak Yeon, soon darkened slightly. In the succession contest within the family, the young master he supported was the third young master, Gwak Ho-shin.
Once a man entered the pavilion of one young master, the rules of the Seoho Gwak Family forbade him from transferring his allegiance to another. Remembering that, Steward Yu twisted his lips and muttered to himself.
"It doesn't matter. The succession contest is only beginning."
There was still a chance. As surprising as Gwak Yeon's performance today had been, Gwak Ho-shin still held the advantage in the race for heir. The family rule that the official successor would be chosen by the achievements of the pavilions each young master led saw to that—formed power, reputation, wealth, and so on.
For now, it was certain that Gwak Yeon could not yet surpass Gwak Ho-shin in any of those areas.
"In the end… every step of this process will work in my favor."
The way Gwak Yeon had raised the family's name would, in the larger view, benefit him as well. Whatever happened, the day he became "the most famous man in the Central Plains" was drawing steadily closer. With that thought, Steward Yu began to chuckle again.
At the same hour, inside another carriage bound for Hangzhou.
Hmm.
Reclining on a tiger-skin rug and gazing out the window, Gwak Seo-ryong's eyes held a thoughtful light.
I never knew he had that kind of skill.
Gwak Yeon's performance the day before. The dual-wielding that could almost be called a secret technique for someone of his age, and the easy drinking session with Moyong Wol-un, known across the jianghu as the Mad Dragon…
If he has grown that much… I should have been able to guess.
Moyong Wol-un was a monster. Simply put, he had been the strongest man at yesterday's banquet—and that included Gwak Seo-ryong himself. Yet the boy had carried the drinking session with Moyong Wol-un all the way to the end, never once giving the pavilion lords of the Seoho Gwak Family, Gwak Seo-ryong included, an opening to join.
And in the end he even secured the Moyong Family's golden plaque.
He had never expected it. That Gwak Yeon—the family's sore thumb—would sense the family's intention to form ties with the Seven Great Families and strive so hard.
It was a refreshing shock.
Perhaps… even I, his own father, have unconsciously failed to see his true worth.
And so he delayed no longer.
Yes. I promised. I should tell him.
The family's long-cherished wish. That one of the shadowy forces the Seoho Gwak Family was hunting had deep ties to one of the Seven Great Families—he would tell Gwak Yeon that truth.
One day before they reached Hangzhou.
"…………What?!"
Gwak Yeon could not help raising his voice.
"The Blood Cult, you say?"
"Yes. They are one of the shadowy forces we are pursuing—vile bastards who maintain close ties with one of the Seven Great Families of the jianghu."
"Th-that…"
"Your victory over Baek Jung-hyeok this time was well done. You lowered the chance that the Jusan Baek Family would fill the last empty seat among the Seven Great Families, and you left a deep impression on Moyong Wol-un, greatly increasing our chances of forming ties with the Seven Great Families. You worked hard, Yeon."
At the same time, all sorts of information about the Blood Cult poured out. His head spun. He was already reeling from the chance encounter with the son of a friend from his previous life, drinking with him and hearing stories of what had happened after his own death—and now this?
The Blood Cult?
Then… what about the Ilwolgyo?
"Ah, and forget for now what you saw in my study long ago. Carrying half-baked information is more dangerous than knowing nothing at all."
Whether the information he had just heard pointed to the same shadowy force or to a group closely linked to it, he still could not be sure. He would have to gather more information based on what the family head had told him.
Even as unsorted new facts suddenly flooded in and his thoughts grew tangled—
Well… nothing bad about it.
Gwak Yeon's heart began to race. Blood Cult, Ilwolgyo. Whichever trail he followed, he had a premonition that the information he could gain through his own actions would eventually converge into one.
When he thought about it, the deeds of that old monster from his previous life had fit the character for "blood" rather well, too.
Nothing has really changed.
The great evil he had hunted since his previous life. The shadowy forces connected to it still sank deep roots throughout the Central Plains, and by luck the family he now belonged to was hunting them as well.
And he now possessed a body far more violent than anything he had owned in his previous life—the body of a vampire.
Grow strong as fast as I can, and wipe them out as fast as I can.
Gather as much usable blood as possible, pile up inner power through spiritual medicines and every rare treasure, become a monster who surpasses the self of his previous life as quickly as possible, and uproot the great evil of the Central Plains—
For Gwak Yeon, who held those goals, his current state was far from satisfying.
Beating Baek Jung-hyeok? By his standards that was nothing special.
I need to reach at least the level of that cocky little Moyong Wol-un.
The man who had piled up enough inner power that even this body could not yet measure it. Only when he reached that level could Gwak Yeon say he had surpassed his previous self.
I have to work harder.
Crushing villains while gathering information on the shadowy forces, never letting go of the ties to the Seven Great Families like the Moyong Family's golden plaque he had just obtained, and at the same time securing money and spiritual medicines so he could take the shortest path to surpassing his previous life—
Gwak Yeon already knew that forming ties with Zhejiang's foremost merchant group, the Cheonhae Merchant Group, would be quite effective for that purpose.
Right. First, starting with the trading expedition in two weeks.
Rattle, rattle.
As the carriage entered Hangzhou and headed for the estate of the Seoho Gwak Family, Gwak Yeon slipped a hand into his robes and drew out the cloth pouch he had received from the Cheonhae Merchant Group.
"Those Cheonhae Merchant Group fellows really have no sincerity."
"You think so?"
"What did they put in it, anyway?"
"Well, just…"
"See? I knew it. Even if they were in a hurry, if they were going to give something they could at least have wrapped it in a silk pouch."
Unlike Cheon Gang, who grumbled from the opposite seat, Gwak Yeon only smirked. The "gift" inside the cloth pouch was more than enough reason to continue his relationship with the Cheonhae Merchant Group for the sake of his long-term plans. Didn't this very packaging radiate their confidence that goods of this level were so common to them they stored them in plain cloth?
Rattle, rattle!
At last, as the vast estate of the Seoho Gwak Family came into view beyond the window, a smile rose to Gwak Yeon's lips as he looked at the cloth pouch.
I only showed a little ability, and already this much.
Perhaps the time it would take to surpass the martial prowess of his previous life would be shorter than he had thought.
Clench.
Gwak Yeon tightened his grip on the cloth pouch he had received from the Cheonhae Merchant Group.
In other words—the pouch filled with spiritual herbs that raised the inner power of whoever consumed them.