ISS 30

chapter 30

For the Time Being, Stay Together

The four people who had met by chance at the Ju River were sharing a meal together at an inn.

“Sir, the noodles are getting soggy.”

Geomryeong was still eating slowly, savoring each bite, and Jin Aseol scolded him for it.

“It’s fine. It still tastes good this way.”

He said it as if whether the noodles softened or not didn’t matter, and chewed thoughtfully, enjoying the flavors.

“So what will you do from now on?”

Naeng Yeoseol asked Geomryeong.

She worried about him because she thought he liked to poke his nose into things and boasted too much — if left alone like that, he might get stabbed in some alley and die. So out of concern among acquaintances, she asked.

“At first I thought I’d just wander through the Central Plains, but I’ve changed my mind a bit.”

Contrary to Naeng Yeoseol’s expectations and worries, Geomryeong spoke with an expression that suggested he’d found something interesting.

“Changed your mind?”

He smiled broadly and said, “I’m thinking of unearthing a conspiracy.”

At Geomryeong’s casual words, Naeng Yeoseol and Jeok Hwamyung both gathered around him.

“What kind of talk is that in front of Lord Taesangmunju?”

Jeok Hwamyung admonished his impudent behavior.

“You mean the conspiracy you’re talking about is about the demonic qi that appeared in the Ju River?”

“That may be part of it.”

“You call yourself the greatest in the world, so you shouldn’t be afraid of people who practice demonic qi, right?”

“Even I’m human — I’m not without fear. But those who mastered demonic qi have ritual inscriptions. If I can find those, I can subdue them more easily than expected. What worries me though is…”

He trailed off, and the three turned their gazes toward him.

Not because they believed him, but out of curiosity to hear what kind of nonsense he might say next.

“When someone completes an incomplete demonic qi, the problem is that it becomes not demonic qi but divine technique.”

He boasted with such a serious demeanor that anyone unfamiliar hearing it might have taken his words for fact.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard someone say incomplete demonic qi becomes a divine technique.”

“Is that so? That’s what the people who taught me said.”

“I heard from our Aseol that you learned martial arts from Senior Godless Ma-ya, Senior Phantom Majeh, and Senior Jeonmo. Are you talking about those three?”

“Yes. If not for them, no one would have taught me.”

Jeok Hwamyung looked stunned, and Naeng Yeoseol showed a pitying expression.

“Then let me ask one thing.”

“Yes.”

“It’s been fifty years since your seniors left the martial world, but you look like you’re sixteen or seventeen.”

“Actually, I’m exactly twenty — of legal age.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! I’m a bit young-looking. After undergoing a few transformations, I became younger.”

Jeok Hwamyung decided to take Geomryeong’s words in one ear and let them out the other.

“Then where are your seniors now?”

“They passed away. Per their wishes, they were laid to rest in the South Sea.”

At the word “dead,” their eyes narrowed.

“Then where did you meet them?”

“On Heukam Island.”

“Heukam Island?”

Jeok Hwamyung and Jin Aseol thought Geomryeong was making up a story.

“I’ve heard Heukam Island is a place even top martial experts can’t approach easily.”

“The waves are always high and whirlpools form around the island. Even masters would find it hard to get near.”

“Then how did you get to Heukam Island?”

“I don’t know. I was told I was carried in a wooden box and pushed out to sea; Grandmother Jeonmo said heaven helped me.”

The three considered that a bit fanciful.

“See? That’s a lie — there’s no way a wooden box could get out of the whirlpool.” Jin Aseol said.

“I told you I don’t know. Anyway, I was carried in a box to the island, and the three raised me.”

“So you don’t know who your parents are or what clan you belong to?”

“No! But when I was in the box, there was a necklace around my neck. This one.”

Geomryeong showed the necklace hanging from his neck.

It looked antique. Unless the family was wealthy, it would be hard to place such a necklace on a newborn.

“Brother, the necklace is pretty.”

Aseol — who called him “big brother” when she wanted something — said this, and Geomryeong knew she used “big brother” only when trying to get something.

“Even if you ask me for it, I won’t give it. It’s the only thing that can tell who I am.”

“Did I say I wanted it?”

Jin Aseol pouted, but her eyes stayed fixed on the necklace.

“So you learned martial arts from the three of them?”

“Rather than ‘learned,’ they taught me because they were bored. I was bored too, actually.”

It was hard to tell whether he was rude or merely cocky.

“Then why did the three vanish from the martial world fifty years ago?”

“I heard they were disgusted with the martial world. They had achieved everything they wanted and saw no reason to remain…”

“That’s enough!”

Jeok Hwamyung cut him off as if he couldn’t tolerate it any longer.

Godless Ma-ya, Phantom Majeh, Jeonmo — these three were respected figures among martial artists, exemplars admired by those in righteous, demonic, and middle-path sects. For Geomryeong to speak of them so casually angered Jeok Hwamyung.

Geomryeong felt frustrated in his own way.

“Sigh… I only answered your questions. I don’t know why you’re getting mad. From now on I won’t speak about my grandparents, so please don’t ask about them.”

Because telling these stories only made him seem untrustworthy, he didn’t feel like sharing any more.

“Your story was heard. Back to the main point — tell us about this conspiracy.”

“I won’t. Looking at your expressions makes me feel like I’m a circus ape.”

From his perspective, whether he spoke or not made no difference; either way he felt stifled.

Naeng Yeoseol turned her gaze to Jeok Hwamyung.

“Is there anything urgent you need to attend to?”

“No urgent matters.”

“Very well. I know you’re in a hard place, but I’d like you to guide Geomryeong for a while.”

Jeok Hwamyung asked on behalf of Naeng Yeoseol as a senior of the martial world and out of concern that Geomryeong be properly led.

“You mean me?”

Jeok Hwamyung also wanted to. If left as he was, he feared Geomryeong would be stabbed somewhere and die a meaningless death.

“I plan to travel alone. Why should I travel with someone who doesn’t believe me? I can get by on my own.”

Geomryeong had no reason to accompany Jeok Hwamyung either. He had enough money from previous raids on the Heukho faction, Wangaksan stockade, Bulsan wall-house, and Ju River water channel to live without working.

“Still, because you are connected to our Aseol, we worry and want to look after you, so please accept it.”

Geomryeong was about to refuse, but seeing Jin Aseol nod, he fell silent.

Even the young Aseol showed concern on her face; Geomryeong could read her feelings.

“Alright, do it for now, and if I want to leave later I will.”

He thought that and spoke.

“For the time being.”

He left the possibility open; “for the time being” could comfortably mean even just for one day together.

“This is ridiculous, like bowing and begging…”

Jeok Hwamyung was a little exasperated but couldn’t refuse Naeng Yeoseol’s request as a senior of the martial world.

“I’m being coerced. I’m the one who’ll suffer.”

They were doing it out of concern for Geomryeong, but from his point of view he would be inconvenienced.

“All right. Thank you for staying with him.”

“You’re welcome.”

The three shook their heads at Geomryeong’s expression and tone.

“Then shall we travel together for now?”

“Together?”

“Now that I think about it, instead of going straight to the Gate, I thought it better to travel with Aseol and show and teach her many things.”

“That would be fine by me…”

They fell silent and looked at Geomryeong.

“I’d be fine traveling with Aseol.”

Being with Jin Aseol at least made things less boring. The four decided to stay together for the time being.

“With just two it’s one thing, but four means there’s no pressing need to leave. And people will take what they say more seriously than what I say.”

News that demonic qi had appeared was spreading through the Gaebang and Haomun channels across the Central Plains. It quickly moved through Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian near Guangdong Province, stirring the martial world of the Central Plains.

Thirty years earlier, the martial world had been devastated by demonic practitioners, so martial artists of the Central Plains could not take any report of demonic qi lightly.

Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, sits on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and is a central transportation hub that uses the river. Many traded goods flowing along the Yangtze pass through Wuhan nonstop, either heading to Sichuan via Chongqing or entering Anhui via Wuhan.

Wuhan, the center of the Central Plains, had several prestigious institutions, and chief among them was the Martial Alliance.

The Martial Alliance was the coalition of the righteous sects: the Nine Orthodox Schools including Shaolin and Wudang, the Five Great Houses including the Nangong and Tang families, and some fifty other sects that were members and active in the martial world. Together with the heterodox Sadowong (the Sadae League), they divided the martial world into two major camps — a massive collective.

Although there were also sects in between the righteous and heterodox camps, their presence was minor by comparison.

The Martial Alliance was in turmoil because of the news coming from Guangdong Province.

The Martial Hall, where the Martial Alliance met to discuss and resolve many issues, had council seats occupied by important leaders of the currently righteous martial world.

Inside the hall, people sat divided on either side of a long table, and directly opposite, in a prominent seat, sat a man — Seoja Myung, the Iron-Defeating Sword, the Alliance leader of the current righteous martial world.

Wide forehead, thick eyebrows, a high nose, full lips, and a sharply defined jawline gave him a stern, robust impression.

“The first appearance of demonic qi was in a small fishing village called Xianggang in Guangdong Province.”

A man stood at the entrance to the Martial Hall, speaking toward Seoja Myung’s front. He was the Gaebang’s vessel master, Yong Chwison, dressed in ragged clothes.

You couldn’t judge him by looks alone — Yong Chwison, head of Gaebang, was already counted among the top hundred masters of the martial world. His famed techniques, Chuseon Babo (Eight Steps to Seizing Immortality) and Chuseon Samsip-nyuk Ta-kyubong method (Thirty-Six Ball-Strike Way of Seizing Immortality), were well known and people avoided facing him.

“The ruffians of the Heukho faction in the back alleys were massacred overnight. All showed traces of being affected by inner-qi strangulation.”

“All of them were victims of inner-qi strangulation?”

Seoja Myung asked. Although he was the Martial Alliance leader, he treated elders politely and juniors warmly.

“That’s correct.”

“They might be just alley thugs, but if they were killed by inner-qi strangulation, the perpetrator would have to be at least a top-tier master.”

Those seated nodded and murmured agreements with those beside them.

“That’s what we think. Even though the victims were untrained thugs, a true top master would not be able to easily kill resisting thugs by inner-qi strangulation. At minimum, to use such inner-qi freely, the practitioner would be a pinnacle-class martial artist.”

“A demonic practitioner being a pinnacle master…”

This was not something to be taken lightly.

“The second incident occurred at Wangaksan Stockade, not far from Xianggang.”

Yong Chwison continued, summarizing information gathered from Gaebang branches and Bunta.

“And another happened at Bulsan Wall-house, one of the Twenty-Four Green Woods strongholds in the Bulsan area, not far from Guangju. Unlike the earlier cases, these left wounds.”

“Wounds?”

“Yes. Based on those marks, we tried to infer what kind of martial art the demonic practitioner used, but we failed.”

“What caused the failure? Was it an unfamiliar martial art?”

Seoja Myung asked.

“No. It’s just that it’s hard to call it a martial art. He swung wildly and killed.”

At the phrase “swung wildly,” everyone narrowed their eyes.

“Then the demon must have had demonic energy permeating to the bone.”

“Most likely. While investigating Bulsan Wall-house, we also found—”

Yong Chwison’s report went on for some time, and none present grew bored or distracted.

“Understood.”

Yong Chwison bowed lightly and returned to his seat.

“We all remember clearly the bloodshed thirty years ago.”

Everyone in the Martial Hall had experienced that slaughter thirty years prior, and the memory made them tremble slightly.

“We have been biting our teeth and steeling our hearts not to repeat that, and we have exerted great effort.”

Seoja Myung, as Martial Alliance leader, spoke with conviction, and everyone agreed, nodding.

“Pursuing traces of demonic practitioners is the duty of not only Gaebang or the Flying Wing Corps but of us all.”

The Flying Wing Corps was the Alliance’s intelligence organization, collecting and analyzing reports from all regions — indispensable to the Martial Alliance.

“Notify each sect that demonic practitioners have been seen, request their assistance, and mobilize cooperation from each branch.”

“Aye!”

“And the Alliance’s armed units — White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon — have their captains keep their forces ready and continue training.”

“We will.”

The four bowed their heads.

“The appearance of even a single demonic practitioner could mean two or three more will appear. Spread this throughout the martial world quickly and seek cooperation from the heterodox and middle-path sects.”

Although the heterodox sects often bickered with the righteous ones, a common enemy could still bring them together.

“They will also be aware of demonic practitioners’ appearance and will be preparing countermeasures in their own way.”

Yong Chwison said.

“That will be so. Lord Yong Chwison, please go to the Sadowong and discuss this in more detail.”

“I will, Alliance Leader!”