Chapter 106

In Shanxi, two prestigious sects stood above the rest.

Namely, the Southern Edge Sect and the Mount Hua Sect.

To open a transport route to Ten Thousand Gold Manor, one had to pass through Xi’an, the capital of Shanxi Province.

Mount Hua and Southern Edge were not far from Xi’an.

That meant it was almost impossible to pass through Xi’an without drawing the attention of both sects.

Thus Flying Swallow Manor had to persuade and win over Mount Hua and Southern Edge to be considered as having kept its promise to Ten Thousand Gold Manor.

—Let’s split into two.

—Into two?

—Is it necessary to trudge around in a crowd and visit each place together? Let’s split: one to Mount Hua and one to Southern Edge, and handle them separately.

It was Yeon Mujin’s suggestion.

—I’ll take Mount Hua. Manor Lord, you should go straight to Xi’an and meet Southern Edge’s sect leader.

—Alone? Can you negotiate with Mount Hua by yourself?

At Bukgung Yoon’s question, Yeon Mujin made a look of disbelief.

—Isn’t that what I should be asking? Can manor lord do it alone?

—……

Indeed, that was true.

Usually, in situations like this, Yeon Mujin would resolve things while Bukgung Yoon stood back with her hands behind her and only stepped in at the last moment.

—Shall we make a wager? Who can win over a sect faster?

Bukgung Yoon said, sounding incredulous.

—Captain Yeon, we’re not on a prank. This is an important matter that concerns the future of Flying Swallow Manor.

—You think you’ll lose?

—It’s not that, it’s the stakes….

—If you don’t want to, don’t accept it. Are you saying you won’t accept a bet you’re bound to lose? Oh dear, I’ll have to go through hell in place of our incompetent Manor Lord.

—……

—Well, Manor Lord really can’t do anything without me, so I understand. This loyal subject will toil and go to both Mount Hua and Southern Edge. Manor Lord can sit there quietly as he always has.

—……I accept.

—Pardon? I couldn’t quite hear you.

—I will. A bet. The loser must grant the winner a wish. If I win, I’ll have to flatten Captain Yeon’s pride.

Yeon Mujin said with a sly smile.

—Very well. Do you accept the bet?

Thus Flying Swallow Manor split into two.

To Xi’an, located at the foot of Southern Edge Mountain, went Bukgung Yoon and the External Protection Troops who guarded her.

And to Hua Yun County, where Mount Hua was located, went Yeon Mujin and Shapeshifter — just the two of them.

“Speed up. Southern Edge is farther than Mount Hua, so we must cut down time. Buy new horses in every village we stop at and ride. Minimize sleep, eat on the move, arrive as quickly as possible to meet Southern Edge’s sect leader. Faster. Quicker…!”

The External Protection Troops accompanying Bukgung Yoon were dying from her urging.

“Seems like Manor Lord’s gotten strange.”

“What can we do. If she orders, we obey…”

From Taiyuan in Shanxi to Xi’an in Shanxi — a journey that would normally take ten days — Bukgung Yoon’s party covered it in seven days and nights.

The External Protection Troops who arrived in Xi’an were in a state of utter exhaustion.

Only then did Bukgung Yoon, perhaps pricked by conscience, relent.

“You’ve all suffered enough, so let’s rest properly in Xi’an for a day.”

It was a sweet rest given after seven days of forced marching.

Meanwhile, there were some who needed this rest more than anyone.

They were the members who, after the masked martial contest, had acquired the Jegal family’s elixir as a prize.

“Finally…!”

Yu Segwang, Pyo Gang-hyeok, and Chu Myungwon, who had won the Small Sky Pill as a prize, retreated to their rooms early as soon as they finished dinner.

And so did Wi Gonchan, who had been eliminated early but fortuitously ended up with the Great Heavenly Pill.

“Gon-chan, you should stand guard.”

“It’s not my turn today.”

“Gon-chan, let’s spar.”

“Piss off.”

“Gon-chan, don’t go. Isn’t a day like this a day for a drink?”

“Shut up. Where do you think you’re grabbing at my leg for?”

Wi Gonchan shook off the envious stares clinging to him and returned to his assigned room.

“Hehehe.”

Wi Gonchan looked down at the wooden box in his hands and gave a sinister smile.

“What a stroke of luck.”

Inside the wooden box was the Zhuge family’s elixir, the Great Heavenly Pill.

“Hehehe, once I take this, I’ll be stronger than the deputy captains.”

I’ll never go back to those humiliating days of getting beaten during matches…

The days of being scolded by the lord for having no talent, the painful past when bruises never had time to fade.

“The Wi Gonchan until yesterday and the Wi Gonchan from today are different. I am reborn starting today…!”

Wi Gonchan even blocked his door with a table just in case.

There were too many toad-like External Protection Troops eyeing his elixir.

“Welcome, Great Heavenly Pill. I never thought I’d enjoy such luxury in my lifetime…”

Click.

He opened the lid of the wooden box full of anticipation.

“…Huh?”

Wi Gonchan sensed that something was wrong.

He shook it, emptied its contents, and even searched his pockets, but the item he sought was nowhere to be found.

The Great Heavenly Pill was nowhere to be seen.

This can’t be. This can’t be happening.

He had stored it in double and triple layers so there’s no way he could have dropped it.

“Fuck, where did my Great Heavenly Pill go!”

The other carriage departing from Flying Swallow Manor was traveling southwest along the main road.

Shapeshifter sat in the carriage, staring blankly at the jostling scenery outside the window.

She turned her gaze to the man sitting beside her.

“Exactly where are you taking me?”

“Mount Hua.”

Yeon Mujin answered.

“Mount Hua? Why Mount Hua all of a sudden?”

“There’s something to attend to there.”

Yeon Mujin briefly explained to Shapeshifter the reason for going to Mount Hua.

Shapeshifter made a strange face as she listened.

“Is it okay for you to explain it to me in such detail?”

“You asked me.”

“Do you answer everything you are asked? Isn’t it the manor’s business anyway?”

“Then don’t ask.”

Truly, he was a man impossible to predict from one to ten.

“But why are you taking me to such a place?”

“The important thing is persuading Mount Hua. But if I go alone, will those masters even lend an ear? If direct methods fail, we need other ways, so I’m bringing you along.”

“You intend to use me like that?”

“You promised me. If you lose the bet you agreed to grant three favors. This is my first request.”

Shapeshifter swallowed the surge of feeling.

She felt ridiculous that she was tied down by one drunken betting remark.

She had never settled anywhere her whole life — a floating existence drifted along by wind and river, like a loose reed.

“If you mean to use that bet as an excuse to bind me forever, stop. If I see any sign of dragging things out, I’ll run immediately.”

“Do as you wish.”

“If I run again you will never find me. I will be untethered.”

Yeon Mujin stared at her intently.

“What are you staring at?”

“Don’t just talk—if you’re going to leave, then leave. I won’t stop you. That would be to your loss, right?”

“How is it my loss if I run away?”

“Because you wouldn’t be keeping your word.”

“So what?”

“Even if you can fool everyone in the world, there is one person you cannot deceive: yourself. If you do not keep your spoken words, you will end up unable to trust yourself. That is a loss in your life.”

“……”

The unexpected words silenced Shapeshifter.

Though Yeon Mujin seemed careless, he sometimes offered surprising insights.

After a long yawn, Yeon Mujin took something out from his bosom.

It was a wooden box precisely the right size to hold a single pill.

Shapeshifter quietly watched to see what he would do.

Click.

When he opened the lid of the wooden box, a pure, clear scent wafted out.

Even to laywoman Shapeshifter, it was no ordinary item.

“What is that?”

“Great Heavenly Pill.”

“…The one that was the prize for winning your masked contest?”

“Yes.”

“Why is it in your hands?”

The winner of the masked contest was not Yeon Mujin but another fellow.

Was it Katuri or whatever his name was?

Shapeshifter had watched the contest and knew clearly.

Yeon Mujin spoke without changing his expression.

“Because it’s mine.”

“Didn’t some other guy win it as a prize? I distinctly heard your lord say so.”

Yeon Mujin gave no answer.

“You didn’t… take your subordinate’s pill, did you?”

“I didn’t take it.”

“Then?”

“I borrowed it.”

“Did you get permission?”

“Have you ever seen a superior ask a subordinate for permission?”

“What a brazen thing to say! How is that different from stealing!”

“Be quiet. I’m about to enter qi circulation now. If you babble beside me during circulation, you’ll invite possession by the demon of obsession. If you get psychically afflicted, I won’t die peacefully alone.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen someone threaten others with ‘possession by obsession’ to shut them up.

Shapeshifter watched as Yeon Mujin actually sat cross-legged, began his qi circulation, and muttered to himself.

“What a lunatic…”

When he swallowed the Great Heavenly Pill, the clear fragrance characteristic of orthodox elixirs slid down his throat.

Well, that’s tasty.

Indeed, the power of orthodox martial medicine—compared to that toxin-laden pill made by that rascal—felt different from the start.

When he’d taken the Profound Death Moon pill, he had to endure suppressing his morale while absorbing its effects and suffered for a long time, but the Great Heavenly Pill spread its medicinal energy through his channels as soon as he swallowed it — clearly a superb elixir.

Thanks to that, he assimilated most of the effects in less than an hour.

A body conditioned by the Travelling Swallow Qi Technique takes spiritual pills well.

This will make me even stronger.

Now it won’t be a stretch to properly wield the Three Calamity Sword.

The problem is that I’m heading to Mount Hua.

There was one more reason for splitting Flying Swallow Manor and sending Bukgung Yoon to Southern Edge.

At this time Mount Hua was a dangerous place. Because that man was in Mount Hua.

The Mount Hua Sword Ghost, Mok Gyeong-hae.

His rank is the present sword master.

Even after searching through seven memories, the only Mount Hua master I know is that man.

Why? Because in the past Mount Hua always fell. Or rather, perhaps I should say in the future?

Mok Gyeong-hae sold the declining Mount Hua wholesale to the lord of Ten Thousand Gold Manor.

A Mount Hua master selling Mount Hua? Is there a greater treason than that which destroys a lineage?

But that was the mild part. When he couldn’t sell Mount Hua, that bastard slaughtered every Mount Hua master with a single sword.

Thus Mount Hua inevitably fell.

The monster Mok Gyeong-hae always devoured Mount Hua.

Mok Gyeong-hae… that madman is truly strong.

To the extent that he could be compared to the Three Evils of Heavenly Martial Manor, where the world’s monstrous strongmen gathered.

I guarantee that when it comes to sword talent, there is not a single figure in the orthodox martial world of the era who can be compared to Mok Gyeong-hae.

Even I, a heaven-sent genius, could not match him.

When I was under the lord of Ten Thousand Gold Manor, I never once beat Mok Gyeong-hae in swordplay.

That such tremendous talent was born into Mok Gyeong-hae’s body was a catastrophe.

Mok Gyeong-hae was full of ambition and a villain capable of selling a school for money.

I may call my sword the Three Calamity Sword, but the true sword calamity is that man.

So I couldn’t possibly send the young lord to Mount Hua.

If that sword prodigy is involved, there’s no predicting what he might do.

I must go to the most dangerous place. The most dangerous, dirty, and difficult tasks always fall to me.

Young lord, do you know?

How deep is my loyalty to protect you.

No, you don’t even need to know.

Clearing the thorny path the lord must walk is my duty as his sword.

You need not acknowledge my pain and peril.

You only need to trudge up and sit on the throne.

In this life, can I catch Mok Gyeong-hae?

I do not know.

This is not an enemy you can avoid out of fear.

Nor is this a path you can turn back on because you don’t know.

Let the carriage run — toward Mount Hua.

Let’s head toward the gates of hell where the villain bares his maw.

Now, then.

Let’s go meet the Sword Talent.