Chapter 9 :

Chapter 9. The Third-Rate Warrior Who Protects His Sect’s Honor (3)

Seong Moran was growing tired from receiving guests.

“Haha, young lady! As the rumors say, your beauty is outstanding!”

“You are like Xishi herself. Your father must be very pleased.”

“The moment you entered, I thought the sun had already risen.”

Countless men showed excessive interest.

“I heard your sword is incredibly sharp, young lady. May I take a look at it someday?”

“I also have deep knowledge of the sword, so how about discussing swordsmanship over tea sometime?”

“How about coming to our family as an exchange disciple? I could speak to my grandfather……”

They swaggered as if they possessed tremendous skill.

“Flowers in a greenhouse who have never experienced real combat even once.”

Was their swagger really possible through their own skill alone?

Would it have been possible without the protection of their sects and the investments of their families?

At the very least, she did not think they were the same as herself, who had climbed to this position without receiving anything from her family.

Of course, she could not express such feelings.

She remembered how grotesquely Seong Mohyeon’s face had twisted when he failed to overwhelmingly defeat her in their sparring match, and how worried the eyes of the family elders had been, so Seong Moran did not create trouble needlessly.

“There isn’t a real martial artist here, let alone a decent man.”

It was boring.

Because of her mother, who poured out endless nagging about family dignity and such, she was forcing herself to endure it, but it was unbearably boring.

Her father, grandfather, and even Seong Mohyeon seemed to be plotting something, but they had not told her about it, and she was not particularly interested either.

‘It must be something about the One Hundred and Eight Peaks or whatever.’

The fact that a group of men gathered only to talk about schemes.

She would rather they hold a fiery duel instead. Had they not already overwhelmed Taeul Sect’s strength long ago?

If they showed the difference in power and embraced the opponent fairly, at least they would look like martial artists.

“How dull.”

She greatly regretted that Namgung Seonhwa could not attend the banquet.

At least if she had been here, it would not have been this boring.

“She must be busy right now.”

She had heard that Namgung San, who attended the sixtieth birthday feast in Namgung Seonhwa’s place, was hosting a banquet, but she had no desire to attend.

After all, even if she went, it would only be full of people desperate to flatter the Namgung Family and the Iron Sword Sect.

She had heard more than enough praise and flattery for a while.

“Young Lady! Young Lady!”

A maid was looking for Seong Moran.

“Oops.”

Knowing what the maid’s purpose was, Seong Moran lightly kicked off the ground and landed silently on the roof.

“Where did she go?”

The maid, who had arrived at the place where Seong Moran had been just moments ago, was still turning her head and searching for her.

“Young Master is looking for you. Young Lady! Young Lady!”

Only after the maid disappeared did Seong Moran let out a small sigh.

“Aah……”

Because she had been pretending to be a refined young lady, she had not even been able to stretch properly, and just as she stretched refreshingly,

her eyes fixed on a man and woman between the pavilions.

They were Gye Cheolyeong and the young lady of Taeul Sect.

“Hmm…… Are only those two going?”

Seong Moran thought of the man named Jin Sowoon whom she had seen during the day.

His internal strength had clearly seemed humble, and there were no marks at his temples.

The martial arts he possessed seemed extremely meager, yet he had instantly subdued that Bamboo Flame something from Green Bamboo Fort.

“He really is curious.”

It was not only the move he had shown then that was curious.

A person’s attitude was determined by what they possessed.

Someone with a solid family background naturally straightened their shoulders, and someone without it bent their waist. Someone who had built a household through personal effort, excluding background, could also have a confident attitude.

But that man named Jin Sowoon had Taeul Sect as his background, and he was too young to have built a household.

On top of that, he had even possessed the eloquence to answer her father, Seong Jutak, logically and clearly, leaving him speechless.

“Was he not very afraid of the Iron Sword Sect?”

While thinking that, she suddenly stood up.

“This will be fun.”

The banquet that had been boring suddenly seemed like it might become enjoyable.

Seong Moran lightly kicked off the roof and flew through the night sky.

#

“……Isn’t it a little strange?”

Kang Chaeseok, who had entrusted Jin Sowoon with an important task, said to Jin Taesan, who was changing clothes.

“Hmm…… It is a little strange. The dining hall seats, the guest rooms, and all.”

“No, no, not that. I mean Jin Sowoon. Your son.”

“Sowoon?”

“No, is he not a little strange? You saw it earlier too, did you not? How he held his head stiffly in front of Seong Jutak and struck him with words. Even I felt hurt watching it.”

“…….”

“Come to think of it, starting from the matter with Gye Yeonseung, that boy has seemed strange lately, as if he became a different person.”

“……You know it too, do you not? Sowoon’s specialty. He probably remembered things he saw in books before.”

“Then what about Gye Yeonseung? How did he defeat that man?”

“Did he not say it was a simple contest of techniques? Since he can memorize everything after seeing it once, perhaps he found some method.”

After listening to Jin Taesan’s words, Kang Chaeseok pondered for a moment and tilted his head.

“The Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Art?”

“…….”

“Can someone find its weakness just by looking at it? Moreover, they say the boy used the Small Heaven Sword Art?”

“……I do not know about that.”

“What if, perhaps.”

Kang Chaeseok unconsciously lowered his voice.

“Sowoon has been training alone?”

“??”

Jin Taesan’s face was full of questions. That boy who loved playing around was training?

“No, that is what I mean. The way he keeps wandering around mountains and rivers day after day. ……What if that is for personal training? If he used that memory of his to imagine sparring thousands of times in order to defeat the Plum Blossom Sword Art……”

Sowoon’s memory surpassed common sense.

Perhaps, as Kang Chaeseok said, it might be possible.

“Hah.”

What nonsense.

Because Sowoon had possessed an outstanding mind since childhood, he had learned easily without making much effort, and because of that, laziness had cut into his very bones.

Since he memorized a book after reading it only once and could imitate techniques after roughly seeing them, Jin Taesan thought that perhaps laziness was the boy’s fate.

But Kang Chaeseok seemed to think differently.

“Think about it. What was the condition he set when he made that bet with Gye Yeonseung? Was it not completing Busaeng Hall?”

“…….”

“They say he has been running around without coming home for days because he no longer has to attend Busaeng Hall, right?”

“…….”

“And while we were coming to the Iron Sword Sect, I watched him from behind the entire time, and his physique has changed a little.”

Jin Taesan found it unbelievable, yet he gradually began getting drawn into Kang Chaeseok’s words.

“In my opinion, I think that boy may be carrying tremendous anger.”

“Anger?”

“Yes. After Gye Cheolyeong entered Taeul Sect, how much has the hierarchy collapsed? On top of that, how much has Gye Cheolyeong tormented the junior disciples without us knowing? And since it is practically decided that Gye Cheolyeong will be the one going to the Martial Academy later, would the boy not be angry?”

It was something he had never thought about even once.

“And earlier too. Seong Jutak. I hate to admit it, but he is still an expert who has reached the peak level. Even if he was not releasing his aura, is it easy for a child like Sowoon to meet his eyes without trembling?”

After listening to Kang Chaeseok’s words for a long while, Jin Taesan shook his head and said,

“That is what worries me. The murim world is too harsh for Taeul Sect to survive on courage alone.”

“Tsk, tsk. You have grown old too. The will to move forward. The courage to take one step away from fear. In the end, are those not the things that gather together and raise Taeul Sect again?”

At Kang Chaeseok’s words, Jin Taesan was silent for a long while.

He only chewed over what Kang Chaeseok had said again and again.

“I’m back.”

Jin Sowoon appeared, holding a large bundle in one hand.

Kang Chaeseok shouted angrily.

“You fool. Why is someone who will lead Taeul Sect wasting so much time on such an important mission?”

“What are you suddenly talking about? Lead what? And how is this important enough to be called a mission?”

Jin Sowoon had mixed in with the kitchen staff and was in the middle of bringing out several bottles of precious alcohol that would not be served at the ordinary banquet tables.

“This is all part of the important process of measuring the Iron Sword Sect’s wealth.”

Kang Chaeseok hurried over to Jin Sowoon, nearly snatched the bundle from him, then suddenly stopped and looked at Jin Sowoon.

“Sniff, sniff.”

“……Ahem. Ah, it was stuffy, so I got some fresh air……”

“You drank alcohol, didn’t you?”

“Is that really something you should say to a disciple who risked his life to gather information? I spilled a little while bringing the alcohol.”

Kang Chaeseok grabbed Jin Sowoon by the back of the neck as he tried to leave.

“Say ‘haa.’”

“How could I dare thrust my filthy mouth toward the noble face of the heaven-like hall master of Kuaehwa Hall?”

Kang Chaeseok’s head turned stiffly.

“Taesan, forget what I said earlier. I saw wrong.”

“What do you mean? Was it perhaps something import— Aagh! Aagh!”

While Jin Sowoon was unable to escape Kang Chaeseok’s rough hands, someone knocked on the door of the pavilion.

Knock, knock.

Kang Chaeseok and Jin Sowoon’s eyes met, and the two began moving like arrows.

Kang Chaeseok hid the alcohol inside the bedding, and Jin Sowoon hid the bundle somewhere out of sight.

“Young Lady Moran?”

When the door opened, the person who appeared in front of it was not an administrator or servant of the Iron Sword Sect, but Seong Moran, the Beautiful Wolf Iron Sword.

“What brings you here so late at night?”

“The young rising talents of Anhui Province have prepared a banquet among themselves. I thought it would be nice if you joined us.”

Jin Sowoon looked behind him at Jin Taesan, and Jin Taesan shook his head.

“Thank you, but because we walked all day, our minds and bodies are exhausted. I think it would be better to have such a gathering next time.”

At Jin Sowoon’s refusal, Seong Moran paused for a moment before speaking.

“……Will that be all right? Young Lady Hong seems to have already gone.”

Jin Sowoon, Jin Taesan, and Kang Chaeseok’s gazes became entangled with one another.

#

Hahahaha.

Hohohoho.

The banquet hall was full of laughter.

Beautiful men and women laughed endlessly, as though something joyful had happened.

But among the silk clothes, Saryeon’s face alone, dressed in a martial uniform, was stiff.

She had been prepared.

Prepared for the fact that she would not be treated well anywhere……

No, that it would be fortunate if she was not ignored or mocked.

Because she had been prepared for that, she had attended this gathering.

With a faint hope that they might show at least the bare minimum courtesy in front of her, the child of a sect leader.

“As it happens, as one who holds a sword, it has been my dream to witness the sword of the Taeul Sword Emperor. Could you arrange an appointment with your sect leader sometime?”

“…….”

The words coming from the mouth of the man wearing jade-colored silk were not as beautiful as his clothes.

“Come now, my friend! Tease her in moderation.”

From one side, someone seemed to be stopping him.

“Wasn’t that Taeul Sword Emperor story something they made up to enter the One Hundred and Eight Peaks?”

“Huh! Is that so?”

Exaggerated and absurd behavior.

At those gestures, the women in palace dresses covered their mouths and laughed.

“No, in the first place, can someone enter the One Hundred and Eight Peaks with a story like that?”

“The story is quite realistic, is it not? I suppose that was why they could enter.”

Words that would have been no problem if the person involved had not been present.

“…….”

She had prepared for this.

“Stop it, everyone. Young Lady Hong will be embarrassed.”

The one who had teased her the most was the first to step forward and stop them.

“My apologies, Young Lady Hong. Men tend to take jokes too far.”

In a way, she thought it was fortunate.

Because if it had been Senior Brother Sowoon, he probably would not have endured it.

He might have grown furious and angry.

He might have acted recklessly and gotten beaten up.

‘But how did he beat Senior Brother Cheolyeong?’

When she suddenly thought of something else, her heart became a little more at ease.

Somehow, she felt as though she could endure more comfortably.

It was truly fortunate.

It was truly fortunate that she had come instead of Senior Brother Sowoon.

Instead of answering, Saryeon smiled faintly.