Chapter 24. A Second-Rate Warrior Prepares to Soar (2)
Step, step.
Across the training ground where silence had settled, only one man’s footsteps rang out.
Wang Geum-san’s shoulders were proudly straight even before Gye Yeon-seok, whom the people of Taeul Sect found so difficult to deal with.
“Since I have ruined an important affair of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, must I pay the price for it?”
At Wang Geum-san’s words, Gye Yeon-seok’s teeth chattered.
“Th-That is….”
But before Gye Yeon-seok could finish speaking, Wang Geum-san cut him off.
“By the way, since when was the Gyeryong Merchant Guild able to look down on Wang Estate like this?”
“N-No! L-Look down on you, you say!”
Gye Yeon-seok startled violently and bowed at the waist.
“I came here today to see my benefactors, but seeing you disgrace yourself has left me in a rather poor mood.”
“Pardon? B-Benefactors….”
Instead of answering, Wang Geum-san swept his gaze over the warriors the Gyeryong Merchant Guild had brought, then spoke.
“Go back now. Before my mood worsens further.”
“……”
Gye Yeon-seok, whose mind had been knocked out of him by Wang Geum-san’s sudden appearance, stammered, “Uh, uh, uh,” then led the merchant guild’s warriors back and left.
Gye Cheol-yeong, who had been triumphant, looked around helplessly, unsure of what to do, then followed his father back to the Gyeryong Merchant Guild.
Hong Mun-gi, who had ended up receiving Wang Geum-san in bewilderment, was dumbfounded.
“……So-un saved Master Wang’s daughter……?”
Unable to believe it, Hong Mun-gi asked twice, and Wang Geum-san nodded with a benevolent smile.
Hong Mun-gi also knew about the Wang So-so incident.
The Golden King Wang Geum-san, who all but held the commercial rights of Anhui Province, no, all of Jiangdong, in his grasp.
The rumor that his precious only daughter had gone missing had reached Hong Mun-gi’s ears until they ached, even though he had kept somewhat distant from worldly affairs.
And yet the one who had saved that daughter was So-un.
“Come to think of it…….”
He remembered the time a few days ago when So-un had barged into the Great Mysterious Hall out of nowhere and asked for tea.
Surely the child he said he had saved back then….
“It seems that was my child.”
“……”
His mouth would not close.
Many kidnappings occurred among slash-and-burn farmers or nomads who could not settle in villages.
He had only thought So-un had saved such a child…….
“In truth, that part surprised me a little. In the area around Anhui Province, there was no one who did not know of this incident. Yet he simply left the child at the Wang residence and departed.”
“He simply left her at the Wang residence?”
Hearing the story, Hong Mun-gi’s mind snapped awake.
Then the way Jin So-un had spoken of Wang So-so’s story as though it were nothing much, and the story that he had simply left Wang So-so at the Wang residence, began to fit together and make sense.
“……So that was it.”
“Do you know something?”
“No. I merely understand that child’s state of mind a little.”
At Hong Mun-gi’s words, Wang Geum-san’s face showed a slight surprise.
“So-un probably did not attach great meaning to his own action.”
“He did not attach meaning to it?”
“If he attached meaning to saving your daughter, would he not become unable to attach meaning to the kidnapping of a child from a poor household?”
If he received compensation for rescuing Wang So-so, he would come to expect compensation for rescuing the child of a household with nothing.
“The teachings of Taeul Sect are not like that.”
Wang Geum-san also seemed somewhat moved and nodded.
“May I meet that child?”
A feast was held at Taeul Sect with the gifts Wang Geum-san had brought.
There were all sorts of precious fabrics and ornaments packed inside, and to one side stood a cart loaded full of grain, as well as another cart loaded with boxes whose contents were unknown.
‘He is more generous than I expected.’
Just by looking at how the corners of Father’s mouth twitched, when his brow had never known a day of smoothing out due to worries over the sect’s funds, I could tell how much wealth Wang Geum-san had brought.
“The Estate Master asked whether he might see you for a moment.”
A man who seemed to hold quite a high position even within the traveling party guided me politely, and I was able to meet Wang Geum-san in the very detached residence where Namgung San had once stayed.
“It is good to see you.”
As I entered the detached residence, unlike before, I felt faint traces of people here and there.
‘A concealment art?’
Perhaps because my sense of qi had improved after my inner arts reached One cycles, or perhaps because even Wang Geum-san’s wealth could not obtain skilled guards, I could feel the traces of people clearly.
When I looked toward a corner of the ceiling because of the faint traces of people I was feeling for the first time in my life, Wang Geum-san’s expression changed subtly.
“Can you feel them?”
“Pardon? What do you mean….”
“Did you not just feel that someone was there?”
“Ah…… yes.”
“Huhut!”
Along with Wang Geum-san’s hearty laugh, the traces of people became more distinct.
Their breathing was becoming disturbed.
“In truth, you see. The kidnappers abducted So-so while avoiding them. ……No, to speak precisely, it would be more correct to say they ignored them.”
Martial arts substitute for skill.
At times, it was also a saying of the Murim World that a path dug deeply in one direction could embrace its side branches.
It seemed ignoring those who had only trained for protection was no difficult thing for the elites of the Namgung Clan.
“A young man not even twenty, who saved my daughter from the hands of people skilled enough to ignore them. In truth, it is hard to believe.”
Wang Geum-san was still staring intently at me, as though observing me.
There was no fighting spirit and no killing intent, but the accumulated experience of life pressed down on me just as heavily.
“Moreover, to say that you saved her by coincidence and left. Even that fact is difficult to believe.”
Somehow, my actions, which could not be understood through his mind, instead seemed to be giving him a misunderstanding.
“I apologize if I caused you to misunderstand.”
“No. No. For the first time in a long while, I felt quite proud. ……Of course, that would only be if it were a misunderstanding.”
His tone now carried a clear chill.
It seemed he had been broken quite severely in some way after going through this incident.
In truth, there was no choice but for me to invite misunderstanding, because if not for me, he would never have seen Wang So-so again.
Even so, it was not exactly a pleasant feeling, so my tone also gradually grew colder.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I investigated you in detail. But in the end, I learned nothing.”
Of course.
The me from my previous life had merely been a person whose insides could be seen far too clearly.
“So if there is something you are hiding from me, I would like you to tell me. I will certainly pay the price for the rudeness I am committing.”
“I do not know what could possibly heal the heart of a wounded person. What are you most curious about?”
Wang Geum-san’s face was already unwavering.
“First, I want to know why you did not come to the Wang Estate with her.”
To Wang Geum-san, it seemed impossible to understand why I had not immediately received an enormous reward.
“First, because it was difficult to tell you the whole story of the matter.”
Wang Geum-san’s suspicion deepened further.
“When I saved your daughter, it was the third day after I had begun pursuing the kidnappers. At that time, your daughter’s condition was extremely poor, and it was the moment they were about to kill her to silence her…… so I had no choice but to step forward without even thinking of informing anyone.”
“……Ahem.”
No matter how stouthearted a person might be, hearing that one’s child had been in danger of almost dying was difficult.
“Second, because of the enormous reward that could be expected.”
“You did not reveal that it was your deed because of the reward?”
The enormous reward Wang Geum-san would give might appear good at first glance.
But if I had no strength to protect it immediately, that would be no different from a disaster.
“Third, because to me, saving Wang So-so was nothing more than an act based on a personal vow.”
“What is that personal vow?”
“To never overlook injustice.”
To be precise, it was to never overlook anyone who committed injustice against me.
In any case, what I needed was a sponsor strong enough to detach the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, so it did not matter who it was.
The reason I specifically chose Wang So-so in that process was merely because it was related to my personal grudge against Namgung Sang-won.
Moreover, now I even had the Seven-Colored Jewel I had obtained from Namgung San.
Now, it did not matter even if it was not Wang Estate.
“You have already paid more than the price I wanted with only the gifts you brought today, so I think there is no need for you to come looking for me any further.”
“Were you offended?”
“If an action done in good faith returns as suspicion, would anyone be able to perform the next act of good faith? I do not wish to become like that, so I have no desire to continue my connection with you, Estate Master.”
He was a person who had fought his entire life for profit and stood at its summit, so I knew well how lacking his faith in humans must be.
But that was entirely his position.
And because of it, my mood had been soured, which was my position, was it not?
I rose from my seat and politely offered a clasped hands greeting.
And the moment I tried to turn around.
Thud.
At his action, my mouth fell open.
“Wh-What are you doing right now?”
Soon, even those who had been using concealment arts on the ceiling appeared before my eyes.
With their employer kneeling and bowing, there was no way they could continue hiding.
“Please forgive me for the sin of failing to recognize a benefactor sent down by heaven and being suspicious first. In addition, for the grace of saving my precious daughter, I will engrave it into my bones for life and offer my gratitude every morning.”
“““Please forgive us.”””
Even the guards all offered great bows at once, leaving me unable to hide my bewilderment.
Who was he?
Was he not a great figure who could pile up a mountain of gold and who bore responsibility for the livelihood of people under heaven?
Even the great nobles of Beijing could not treat him carelessly, yet seeing him kneel and even offer a great bow, I quickly approached him and tried to raise him.
“Please do not do this. How can you bow to a mere warrior?”
“First, you saved my daughter, and second, because of that, you saved me. Thanks to that, my household was saved, and even the families of my household members were saved. So how could I not offer you a bow?”
I could not forcibly raise a man who would not budge, so in the end, I had no choice but to nod.
“I understand, so please get up quickly. I fear someone may see.”
“Are you forgiving me?”
“I understand, so please get up quickly.”
Wang Geum-san, who rose and sat down, had a bright smile on his face.
The title of great figure of the merchant world had not been attached to him for nothing.
This man was truly playing with people.
“Thank you.”
“Please stop using such respectful speech now. If you truly keep doing this, I will leave.”
“Hm, hm, I am sorry. But no matter how I thought about it, I simply had to find something I could believe in. Because there were parts I could not understand even at the end of my perception, I committed such rudeness. I apologize once more.”
“I understand. Please stop now.”
The strange presence that had seemed impossible to approach vanished, and only an expression that created a sense of dissonance, with fatigue and ease mixed on his face, remained.
He spoke to the guards.
“Please withdraw for a moment.”
“Yes.”
The guards vanished before my eyes like ghosts, and I could no longer feel their presence on the ceiling or inside the building.
“May I ask one thing?”
“It is because of the medicine, is it not?”
The reason he had gone so far as to put on this act to learn what was inside me could ultimately only be related to that medicine.
If that medicine had not existed, there would have been no need to learn what was inside me.
Even if I had been part of the kidnapping plot, if he watched me over time, my true intentions would have been exposed someday.
“Oh, I heard you had a clever mind, and it was true.”
“My memory is just unnecessarily good.”
“That…… medicine. What exactly is it? The dedicated physicians do not know what the medicine is. They are merely worried because of the poisonous herbs that went into it. They say there is a possibility of poisoning. But So-so says she will take that medicine even if she dies.”
Before parting from So-so, I had written down and given her the compounding method for the pills she had to take every day.
As long as she took one pill a day for the rest of her life, she would not have to suffer because of the Solar Body, so from Wang So-so’s perspective, she absolutely would not want to give it up.
“It is true that poisonous herbs are included. The possibility of poisoning must also be considered.”
“……Then is that not dangerous!”
“That is why I taught her the Taeul Heart Method to neutralize it. It would have been better if it had been a heart method of higher achievement, but the situation was so urgent that I only had that at the time.”
“Then…… Are you saying that if she takes only that medicine and practices only that heart method, she will be fine for life?”
“Of course, because she has already learned the Taeul Heart Method, she will not be able to learn another heart method. Even though I received your daughter’s permission regarding that point, I apologize once more.”
“No, no. That is not what I mean. How much longer can she live if she only takes that medicine?”
The medicine was not even a spiritual medicine, so how could I know a human lifespan?
“I am not a fortune-teller…… How could I know a person’s natural lifespan?”
Wang Geum-san’s eyes grew as round as bells.
“Then, she can live out her natural lifespan?”
“If there is no major illness or accident, I suppose so?”
“How on earth do you know such a compounding method?”
Here, a slight embellishment was necessary.
Because I could not reveal that it had been a confidential document of the Murim Alliance’s Mantongbu.
“In the past, there was a time when I nearly died after being bitten by a venomous snake in the mountains, but an old man saved me using poisonous herbs. After that, his medicinal herb arts were so wondrous that I kept clinging to him persistently and ended up learning various methods of making medicine.”
“He countered the venom of a venomous snake with poisonous herbs?”
When I told him a story mixed with part of the method of fighting poison with poison contained in the Secret Record of Ten Thousand Herbs, Wang Geum-san thought for a long while, then opened his mouth.
“You obtained a fortuitous encounter.”
“A fortuitous encounter?”
“Yes. Under heaven, the only one who could purge poison with poison was the former Divine Physician of Life and Death. His death was never made known, so I thought his true transmission had been cut off, but there was such a connection.”
Because his daughter had an illness, Wang Geum-san was also equipped with vast knowledge of medicine.
Thanks to that, the story passed smoothly.
Then Wang Geum-san suddenly seized my hand.
Wang Geum-san lowered his head.
“Thank you.”
“If I hear that one more time, my ears will grow calluses.”
Hot drops of water fell onto my hand.
“I will offer a prayer for you every morning when I wake. And I will not forget this grace until the day I die.”
At the tears falling onto my hand, the resentment I had held toward him soon melted away.
In the end, it was decided that Wang So-so would enter Taeul Sect.
Considering that Wang So-so had gone through a serious incident, one would expect caution, but Wang So-so’s insistence was too strong, and somehow Wang Geum-san also showed no sign of saying much.
Instead, he cautiously conveyed the question of whether he could have escort warriors accompany her, and considering that the Gyeryong Merchant Guild had planted a hall master in Busaeng Hall as an instructor, all the hall masters agreed with the feeling that this was nothing in comparison.
The person who had guided me to Wang Geum-san called me aside separately.
The person who introduced himself as the chief steward of Wang Estate had moved all the mysterious boxes that had been loaded on one cart into the detached residence after Wang Geum-san returned.
“What is all this?”
“These are gifts the Estate Master is giving to you, Young Master.”
“……?”
The gifts he had already brought to Taeul Sect were enormous, and he had also promised future sponsorship, yet there were still more gifts to give?
The chief steward first presented a long box that flowed with an antique beauty.
“This is one of the most precious items in the Estate Master’s treasury. It is called the Black Dragon Sword.”
Inside the box lay a sword that was entirely jet-black, from blade to hilt.
“Hah…….”
The flawless, perfect blade and the hilt coiled as though two dragons were ascending to heaven made it closer to a work of art than a weapon.
“The hilt and scabbard were forged from black iron, and the blade was forged from diamond indestructible iron, so even if it clashes against any divine weapon or treasure weapon, its edge will not be damaged.”
Because not a single ornament was attached to it, it looked, in one sense, utterly plain, but it held a demonic charm that drew the eye into itself.
While my gaze was stolen by the sword, the head merchant opened the next box.
“This is a garment called the Heavenly Silkworm Treasure Robe, made through a special manufacturing process passed down through Wang Estate for generations.”
The close-fitting treasure robe, whose shape I had never seen before, looked like an ideal garment for murim people to wear beneath their clothes, since they had to move freely.
“It is made by twisting Heavenly Silkworm Thread, diamond thread, and silver thread together, so it has elasticity, does not impede movement, and at the same time possesses tremendous protective power. As one example, even the Murim Alliance wanted to purchase it several times, but because the quantity was not large, it was not sold.”
The chief steward giving the explanation spoke on and on, as though he himself had grown excited.
“If it is this precious, should the Estate Master or Lady So-so not use it?”
“Ah, of course, the two of them are already using it. Because it is extremely difficult to make, Wang Estate makes them whenever the materials are secured. This time, for the first time, all the family members are wearing one, and the remaining robe is being gifted to you.”
If he was the chief steward, he should be connected to the important duty of managing the family’s assets.
It was difficult to get used to such a person explaining with such joy.
Perhaps noticing my puzzled look, the chief steward scratched his wrinkled cheek and spoke.
“You probably do not know how grateful we are.”
“……No, I think I know well enough.”
“In truth, the Estate Master lost his parents in his youth, and his wife passed away giving birth to Lady So-so. To the Estate Master, Lady So-so is his only family, and that is why she is all the more precious to him.”
Compared to Gye Yeon-seok, the master of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, having five wives and concubines combined, it was a truly contrasting sight.
“When we lost the young lady, we prepared for a true war. The Estate Master tried to commission assassinations against three sects at once. To do so, he was in the middle of liquidating his family fortune. If that had happened, we probably could no longer have remained in Wang Estate either. Young Master, you saved tens of thousands of people.”
The chief steward was looking at me with eyes full of gratitude.
“He said that if there is anything we can help with in the future, you should tell us at any time. If it is difficult for you to speak to the Estate Master, please tell this chief steward.”
“Haha…… This is truly very good, but it also feels burdensome.”
“There is no need for you to feel that way. We all think we have received life-saving grace.”
“I understand. If you continue any further, I will be too embarrassed, so please stop. But what are the rest of these? Did you perhaps empty the Estate Master’s entire treasury?”
There were still five boxes left.
“No, we brought things the young lady no longer needs.”
“Things she no longer needs?”
The moment he opened the first box, a cold energy wafted out from inside the box, as though I had entered an ice storehouse.
“They say that is the Inner Core of a Snow Carp.”
Clack.
I was so startled that I closed the box.
“Then what is this?”
“They say it is a Snow Lotus Seed. I heard the Dragon-Slaying Escort Agency went through quite a bit of trouble in Bukhae to obtain it.”
Inside the box, the fruit of a lotus was exuding blue cold qi.
She had said she spent her whole life in a place like an ice storehouse, and it seemed that place had been made with objects and spiritual medicines that exuded such cold qi.
“Then all of these are?”
The chief steward smiled comfortably, just like Wang Geum-san’s smile.
“Yes.”
Long live the rich.
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