The Hubei Pang Family
Beijing is a special place.
Not merely because it is a bustling city whose population, within and beyond the walls, exceeds a million.
It is where the emperor resides.
In other words, with the Imperial Palace and the government offices that surround it, Beijing is a city that can hardly be compared to anywhere else in the Central Plains.
Even if a family estate sits toward the outer city, near the edge, that alone is enough to earn recognition as extraordinary.
HUBEI PANG FAMILY
Beijing is so vast that even the outskirts throng with pedestrians.
To use the official avenues of Beijing for a family procession rather than official business was something that could not be done without the emperor’s special permission.
Flutter!
Moreover, the fact that they could parade so boldly with the family banner flying meant the Hubei Pang Family was a martial house acknowledged even by the Imperial Palace.
Clop—! Clop—!
Pedestrians parted to either side like an ebbing tide.
People in scholar’s robes, silk long coats, ink-black overcoats, and black martial attire murmured as they watched the procession returning in triumph to the Hubei Pang Family.
“Hoh. So they settled it after all?”
“Settled what?”
“Those bandits who’d been running wild outside lately! They went out shouting they wouldn’t come back until they’d caught them all!”
“Ah, the ones who even attacked the Wondan Escort Agency?”
“Look over there. They’ve recovered every last one of the lost escort tokens, so it seems they wiped them all out again.”
“Hoh.”
“To find them in such a short time…”
“Why is everyone so surprised? With the Hubei Pang Family and the Jegal Family joining hands, what problem couldn’t they solve?”
Someone in the conversation raised a hand.
His pointing finger indicated the two at the head of the column, holding their reins side by side—Pang Mu-gwang and Jegal Chan.
“And it’s those two, no less.”
“Mad Tiger Blade and the Tactician of the North working together—nothing to worry about.”
“Even the Jinmu Escort Agency and the Iron Moon Gate couldn’t handle it… as expected of Young Master Pang.”
“There’s even talk the Imperial Family entrusts them with work. Something like this is nothing.”
“But who are those people?”
The ones following a little behind them.
Someone studying the horses, carts, and carriage read the characters written on the side of the carriage.
“…Cheonhae Merchant Group?”
“Ah, I’ve heard of them. Quite famous down south, I hear.”
“Why are they coming together?”
“Probably ended up owing them a favor somehow. You know how those people are with their drinking habits?”
“They’re in luck. Real luck.”
Those who knew the Hubei Pang Family’s nature—famous for lavishly rewarding their benefactors—sent envious looks.
Two men at the head of the merchant procession.
Someone looking at Gwak Yeon among them muttered.
“Is that one the man in charge?”
“At a glance he looks like a handsome Rising Star.”
“Whoever he is, what does it matter? Coming back with the Hubei Pang Family, he can’t be ordinary.”
“True enough.”
Any imagination became plausible the moment the surname Pang was involved.
A tiny handful of groups that could reduce countless men who entered the martial world with a single blade, intending to look down on the world, into mere background.
The Nine Great Sects and the Seven Great Families.
And among them, one of the pillars of the Seven Great Families was right here—the Hubei Pang Family.
A place that spat out men worthy of being called heroes as if they ate them for breakfast, from the blood-soaked forests of blades and sabers.
Clop—! Clop—!
“…Their presence is truly formidable.”
“Hahaha! Well, they are one of the Seven Great Families. More than ten of them are on the Martial World Ranking List, too.”
“Hoh.”
Receiving the clamorous gazes directed at the Hubei Pang Family, Hwang Pil spoke to Gwak Yeon as if something had just occurred to him.
“By the way, Pavilion Master Gwak. May I ask you something?”
By now, “Pavilion Master of Iyeongak” came more readily to Hwang Pil’s lips than “Young Master.” Gwak Yeon nodded without hesitation.
“Of course. Ask anything you like.”
“That pouch our Young Master went looking for yesterday. How did you know some of the samples we were delivering to the Hubei Pang Family were in it?”
“Ah.”
Gwak Yeon smiled as if it were nothing.
Drawing his horse a little closer to Hwang Pil’s side, he covered his mouth with the hand not holding the reins and whispered.
“Truth is, I didn’t know.”
“Wha—?!”
“I was just fishing.”
“Why… how… that?!”
“This caravan was for the Cheonhae Merchant Group to show samples to the Hubei Pang Family and secure a bulk deal, wasn’t it?”
“Well… yes?”
“Then a situation like yesterday was a moment when Young Master Yeo should rightfully have been the star of the show.”
“Ah—so that’s why!”
“Yes. I put it as nicely as I could. And looking at everyone’s reactions, it seemed I was right. I just got lucky.”
“Haha. Well now.”
Even as he laughed in disbelief, Hwang Pil’s expression was one of admiration.
“But… what if they hadn’t actually been the samples?”
“Judging by yesterday, he didn’t strike me as someone who would check on the spot. And even if he had and they weren’t, I could have covered by saying we’d been so harried by the jiangshi and that bizarre formation that we’d lost our heads.”
“Hoh.”
“Even in the worst case, the only cost would be me looking like a fool for a moment, while the benefit was certain… so why wouldn’t I help?”
A peculiar light shone in Hwang Pil’s eyes as he looked at Gwak Yeon.
“I’m truly grateful for that heart. The days I spent testing whether Pavilion Master Gwak was fit to be an escort now feel rather shameful.”
“That was only natural for any—”
“Haha, enough, enough. No more modesty, please—it’s getting harder and harder for me to hold my head up. In any case, if a major deal is sealed through this caravan, Pavilion Master Gwak’s share is assured as well. I’ll speak well of you to Young Master Yeo.”
“…Thank you.”
“Hahaha! I’m the one who should thank you.”
Gwak Yeon smiled along with the laughing Hwang Pil.
Honestly, he felt a slight twinge of guilt.
He had known exactly what the samples were and where they were.
But making people accept without suspicion information gained through a vampire’s keen senses was difficult, so he had covered with a plausible story.
Still… it wasn’t a complete lie…
He had also intended to elevate this merchant group, with whom he had grown close during the journey, before the Hubei Pang Family, so it wasn’t as if he had spoken of something that didn’t exist at all.
Glance.
Gwak Yeon looked back for a moment.
They were loaded on one of those carts.
The samples, divided among twenty pouches.
He had only vaguely guessed what they were early in the caravan; he had learned their exact name by stretching his keen hearing now and then along the way and overhearing their conversations.
Scales of the Giant Bone Tongue Fish, was it?
Giant Bone Tongue Fish.
The scales of a monstrous fish that, when set on a stone and struck with a blade, only threw yellow sparks and refused to die—those were the samples the Cheonhae Merchant Group intended to show the Hubei Pang Family.
To think such a thing exists in this world.
Gwak Yeon recalled the conversation between Ju Hwa-jeong and Yeo Baek-rang surrounding the samples.
The scales of the Giant Bone Tongue Fish that had been aboard a foreign trade ship that had come to Zhejiang Province by way of Hainan Island.
If those scales were woven and worn over martial robes, they said, one could gain hardness enough to turn aside even decent sword strikes several times over.
Far too few to arm an army, but quite a decent item for a martial family to acquire a few times over.
Especially given the Hubei Pang Family’s specialty with great sabers, attaching those scales primarily to the few areas often left exposed would be a great help to them.
If what they said is true… the world truly is vast.
The vast Central Plains still overflowing with precious things he had never seen in his previous life. As Gwak Yeon wore a strange expression at the thought—
Clop.
The procession had already arrived before a great gate.
The Hubei Pang Family, situated on the outskirts of Beijing.
“Come in, all of you!”
As the great gates swung wide open from both sides—
“The Hubei Pang Family warmly welcomes you!”
A family estate so vast it could not be taken in at a single glance revealed itself, befitting the prestige of one of the Seven Great Families.
A three-story guest pavilion suitable for lodging.
Arriving at an estate where more than a dozen such guest pavilions could be seen—each with its own tearoom, annex, and garden—were the Cheonhae Merchant Group and their escorts.
“You have all worked hard on the long journey. The Cheonhae Merchant Group may use this guest pavilion. And as for you—though you served as escorts, I hear you are guests from the Seoho Gwak Family… if you wish, you may use a separate guest pavilion.”
“We can have an entire guest pavilion to ourselves, not just rooms?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s do that, Pavilion Master. The escort duty only applied until we reached the Hubei Pang Family, so here you may rest as guests before returning.”
Following the Cheonhae Merchant Group’s consideration, Gwak Yeon and his party unpacked in the guest pavilion facing the one they were using.
Behind Cheon Gang, who was bringing in the luggage while muttering about handing out whole guest pavilions complete with courtyards and gardens—
“Hahahaha! Then we’ll see you this evening! My family will welcome you most warmly as well!”
“I’m staying in the guest pavilion beyond that pond, so if you have any questions about formations, feel free to come find me.”
Pang Mu-gwang, laughing heartily as he spoke to Gwak Yeon, grabbed Jegal Chan and headed off somewhere.
“Talks—! Too much—!”
“Pfft.”
At Heoksijo’s complaint, everyone burst out laughing.
Gwak Yeon, Cheon Gang, and even Gwak Ho-shin.
Having unpacked in their respective rooms on the third floor of the guest pavilion, they soon came down to the tearoom below.
“Whew. There really is a reason they’re called one of the Seven Great Families.”
Cheon Gang muttered as he ran a hand over the gleaming table in the spacious tearoom. Then he suddenly grinned and opened his mouth.
“Anyway, everyone worked hard.”
“Yes, you all did well.”
“…You worked hard.”
“Worked hard—! Worked hard—!”
The faces of everyone seated around the tearoom chairs had grown considerably more relaxed. By contract, their duty to escort the Cheonhae Merchant Group had only lasted until they arrived at the Hubei Pang Family.
“We completed the mission properly, right?”
“I’d say so. No one was hurt during the caravan, and the merchant side didn’t lose anything or take any real damage.”
“Heheheh.”
At Gwak Yeon’s answer, Cheon Gang wore a peculiar smile.
“Why you laugh—! Sneaky—!”
“Didn’t you see yesterday? That little brat—no, the Young Master—looked completely moved by our Young Master!”
“He did—?! He did—?!”
“And we handled the job perfectly, so there’s no reason not to take care of us. I don’t know for sure, but a huge reward is going to drop.”
Heh heh heh, Cheon Gang laughed.
Seeing him, Gwak Yeon smiled as well and played along.
“I don’t think the Cheonhae Merchant Group will be stingy with the reward either.”
“Really—? What we get—!”
“Hard to say. They’re such a huge merchant group I can’t even guess.”
“Then go big and demand a million taels, Young Master! If you throw out a number, they’ll negotiate it down themselves, won’t they?”
“…Oh?”
“Ah—ah, I’m sorry.”
Cheon Gang quietly shut his mouth under Gwak Ho-shin’s murderous smile.
It had actually been a fairly decent joke, a sign of Gwak Ho-shin’s goodwill, but his expression was so ferocious that Cheon Gang had flinched.
In any case.
Watching them build their own kind of camaraderie, Gwak Yeon quietly nodded.
Still… they’ve all grown.
Not simply from eating spirit herbs.
Through actual combat in which they had properly used the inner force those herbs had increased, they had been able to break past the limits of their own skill.
They would have keenly experienced not only the application of their forms, but also their individual shortcomings and the other things they needed to fill in.
When they returned to training now, they would see things that had been invisible before.
They got stronger faster than I expected, too.
Gwak Ho-shin would be running Samho-gak again, so it was hard to say—but the growth of Cheon Gang and Heoksijo, who belonged to the pavilion Gwak Yeon moved with, would help when they later tracked the traces of great evil.
Hangzhou’s secret auction house… maybe it would help to raid it together?
Vampire and Gwak Yeon.
He was about to consider which of the two identities would be better for finding that Goechok fellow when—
Quickly collecting himself, Gwak Yeon thought.
This was not something to worry about right now.
Having entered the heart of the Hubei Pang Family, there was only one thing that mattered.
The Blood Cult.
Determining whether one of the Seven Great Families entangled with that place—suspected of being a great evil—was the Hubei Pang Family.
Learning that alone was what he needed to focus on while he stayed as a guest of the Hubei Pang Family.
.
.
.
As dust rose on all sides—
“Is that true?!”
“Without a lie?”
A middle-aged man and woman of towering build.
In other words, the Family Head and Matriarch of the Hubei Pang Family could not hide their smiles at their son’s report from the mission.
“…Yes!”
Forming ties with strong martial artists of the jianghu was something to be actively welcomed by those who had devoted their lives to the martial path.
“The brothers from the Seoho Gwak Family who came with the Cheonhae Merchant Group—their martial prowess seems beyond the rumors!”
At their son’s continued words, the Family Head and Matriarch of the Hubei Pang Family laughed heartily.
“Well done! You’ve brought us strong guests!”
“Yes!”
“Then.”
Oddly enough, they had received their son atop the sparring stage, and in each of their hands was a massive great saber.
“…We ought to receive them with the Pang Family’s proper hospitality, don’t you think?!”
“…That’s right!”