Chapter 25 :

Chapter 25. Tangerine Transform into bitter oranges

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The party departed from Bongyang and walked without resting even for a moment.

Only by evening were they able to arrive at Huainan.

Huainan is famous as the place where Yuan Shu of the late Eastern Han chose to establish his capital, and true to its name, it is a city located directly south of the Huai River.

The Namgung Family lay several dozen li to the south from here. If they walked diligently for just one more day, they would likely reach it.

That meant they had to stay one night in Huainan.......

Upon arriving in Huainan, the party had quite a bit of trouble finding an inn.

That was because most of the inns had no vacant rooms.

Just like the people of Tang Wu and the Danri Family, countless martial artists were gathering in Hefei to head toward the Namgung Family.

Naturally, the inns of Huainan along the way were bound to be crowded.

After much difficulty, the party finally found an inn where all of them could stay.

It was not an outstanding inn, but it was sufficient to wash away their travel fatigue, so they immediately scattered to their respective rooms.

After all, if they were to walk all day tomorrow, they needed to rest well whenever they could.

However.

Among them, there was one person who alone remained outside the inn.

Of course, it was Dong Bong-su.

Gi Dae-hyo no longer considered him a person of the Danri Family, so he took no special measures, but inwardly, he hoped that Dong Bong-su would take charge of Yeoro until they arrived at the Namgung Family.

After all, leaving such a precious horse like a Blood-Sweating Horse alone in the stable outside the inn—there was no telling what might happen.

Regardless of his thoughts, Dong Bong-su, without being told by anyone, stayed in the stable together with Yeoro.

For someone else, resting inside the inn would have been better, but for Dong Bong-su, living in the stable was actually more comfortable.

Being alone outside was far better than being mixed in among many servants.

He could quietly engage in deep contemplation, or train the Inventory Divine Art and skills.

He was a man who never wasted even a single moment of time.

If he did not need to sleep, he would never have slept at all.

Even now, seated in a corner of the stable, he was not idle.

Dong Bong-su tied Yeoro to the horse post in the stable and continued to refine the Inventory Divine Art.

Thanks to his steady training, he had now become quite proficient at Two-Item Insertion and Withdrawal.

Next, it was time to practice taking out and putting in three grains of sand simultaneously.

Just as Dong Bong-su was about to begin that practice.

Heeheeheehing, phurur—.

As a long, black uninvited guest cast its shadow into the stable under the moonlight, Yeoro let out a low whinny.

At this late hour, someone had come looking for him in the stable.

Unlike the Danri Family’s stables, this inn’s stable had no door, so anyone appearing at the entrance could be noticed immediately.

The moment he confirmed the presence of the shadow, Dong Bong-su’s clear gaze instantly sank and grew murky.

Whoever said that the eyes are the mirror of the heart—if that person had met Dong Bong-su, they would have wanted to take those words back, or else grind their own tongue to pieces.

Dong Bong-su could freely adjust his gaze however he wished.

He could become a dullard, a genius, a passionate man, a listless one, or even a demon or an angel.

With just his eyes, he could become anyone.

To him, the eyes were not a mirror of the heart, but reflective glass with an image playing upon it.

The other person might believe they were seeing Dong Bong-su’s heart reflected like a mirror, but in truth, they were only seeing what they themselves wished to see.

No matter how closely they looked, it was useless.

Rather, the closer they got, the narrower their field of view became, leaving them even more confused.

Meanwhile, Dong Bong-su could hide behind the glass and freely observe his opponent.

In doing so, he could toy at will with the other person, who had become a clown inside a glass case.

When Dong Bong-su’s eyes completely returned to the eyes of Sosam, the shadow fully covered his vision.

He waited until the presence came close, then slowly lifted his head to check the face of the person who had appeared.

The visitor was a veiled woman with a body so light it seemed ready to take flight.

At this late hour, the person standing before him was none other than Tang Hua, the granddaughter of Tang Wu.

“Grandfather, really. I don’t know why he tells me to bring someone like this at this hour.”

“.........”

Tang Hua was grumbling without even knowing the reason, but Dong Bong-su knew that what was meant to come had come.

“Follow me.”

Despite her unpleasant tone, her words themselves were polite.

She had clearly been told by Tang Wu not to treat him carelessly.

Dong Bong-su followed her words and slowly stood up from his seat.

As the two left the stable, one member of the Black Five Group who had come with her stepped inside the stable in Dong Bong-su’s place.

Yeoro could not be left alone, after all.

After that, Dong Bong-su entered the inn as Tang Hua led the way.

She brought him to the largest and finest room in the inn.

Most likely, Tang Wu was staying in this room.

As he had expected, when the door opened and he entered the room, Tang Wu was sitting in the center with a cold expression.

“You have come? Bring him closer.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

Following Tang Hua, Dong Bong-su walked to stand directly in front of Tang Wu.

Tang Wu silently looked down at Dong Bong-su with sharp eyes, then raised his hand and pointed to the bed placed in one corner of the room as he spoke.

“Get onto that bed and sit in meditation.”

Without hesitation, Dong Bong-su did as Tang Wu instructed, climbed onto the bed, and sat upright in a proper seated posture.

He did not know what Tang Wu intended to do, but he judged that it was best to comply.

Though Tang Wu’s eyes were cold, within them burned a certain kind of fervent desire.

And that desire, without question, was for ‘something’ beneficial to him.

Once Dong Bong-su had assumed the desired posture, Tang Wu rose from his seat and approached the bed.

After sweeping his sharp gaze over Dong Bong-su’s body once, Tang Wu began to knead and press various parts of his body.

Would even the hands of an archaeologist handling an ancient relic be this careful?

Tang Wu’s touch as he examined Dong Bong-su’s body was so cautious it defied description.

After a long while.

Having sufficiently confirmed Dong Bong-su’s physical condition, he stopped touching him.

Then, from within his robes, he took out a small wooden case, meticulously inlaid with gold leaf depicting a dragon and a phoenix intertwined as they soared.

At a glance, even Dong Bong-su could tell it was an extremely precious item.

“Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles!”

What?

Judging by Tang Hua’s cry of shock, it was not merely a valuable object.

“Grandfather, what on earth are you trying to do? Surely you don’t mean—?”

Ignoring whether Tang Hua was startled or not, Tang Wu spoke to Dong Bong-su.

“I intend to perform a certain great method upon you now.”

A great method.

Dong Bong-su thought that this must be the ‘beneficial something’ he had sensed.

Tang Wu continued speaking.

“It will be extremely painful. Perhaps painful enough that you may think death would be preferable. However, if you endure it, you will regain your speech, and moreover! You will be able to return to your original self, the you as you were at birth. Well? Will you do it?”

Dong Bong-su did not know exactly what Tang Wu meant by ‘original, as you were at birth’.

He only knew that this was the reason Tang Wu had chosen him.

What was interesting here was that Tang Wu had given him a choice.

The gap between himself, a Horse Stable Hireling, and Tang Wu was as vast as the distance between the sun and a firefly.

Even so, the fact that Tang Wu was allowing him to ‘choose’ rather than issuing an ‘order’ meant that the pain accompanying the great method would be beyond imagination.

This was the moment of choice.

Dong Bong-su thought.

Was there really any need to hesitate?

No.

An opportunity had come.

Opportunities must be seized when they arrive.

The penalty?

Pain to the point of death?

So what?

If it was painful enough to feel like dying, that meant he would not actually die.

If he did not die, then that was all there was to it.

If he did not die, he would become even stronger.

Was there any other option?

No.

If he retreated here, he would only be wasting time.

The more time one wasted, the closer one came to death in a jungle-like martial world such as this.

There was no reason to look back over such trivial pain.

‘Advance. Move forward.’

Dong Bong-su slowly, yet firmly, nodded his head.

Seeing that, Tang Wu broke into a grin.

It was a satisfied smile.

With just a single light nod, Dong Bong-su had made Tang Wu, the master of the Soul-Chasing Poisoned Hand, smile and had earned his trust.

“Do you know the phrase ‘tangerine  transform into bitter oranges’?”

Tangerines transform into bitter oranges.

It is an idiom meaning that tangerine from Huainan become bitter oranges once they cross the Huai River to the north.

During the Spring and Autumn period, Yan Ying, the prime minister of the State of Qi, passed through Huainan on a diplomatic mission to the State of Chu north of the river and spoke these famous words to the King of Chu.

Of course, Dong Bong-su knew this saying well.

And once again, aside from the bizarre existence of the martial world, he realized that this parallel world was not much different from Earth’s past.

As if to show that the meaning and origin were the same as on Earth, Tang Wu continued his explanation.

“It means that the tangerines of Huainan become bitter oranges when they cross the Huai River to the north.”

“G-grandfather!”

Tang Hua seemed to realize why Tang Wu had brought up this idiom and called out to him in shock.

Dong Bong-su also felt that he understood why Tang Wu had mentioned tangerines transforming into bitter oranges.

Contrary to his earlier expectations, Tang Wu seemed intent on giving him even larger wings.

‘So I am not to be a disciple. Then…’

The bitter orange of Huainan becomes the tangerine of Huaibei.

If Huainan was the Danri Family, then Huaibei was the Tang Family.

If the tangerine was Sosam the Horse Stable Hireling, then the bitter orange was…….

“Do you intend to receive the Tang family name?”

It was the Tang surname.