A Dangerous Place's Invitation

I met Namgung Cheol-ung’s eyes and began.

“Water flows from the high place to the low. And yet through most of the Great Expansion Sword Technique the Young Hero unfolded just now, the water moved as though it were flowing from the low place to the high.”

Namgung Cheol-ung’s face said the shot had struck home.

“And the second move — was it the second? Water that meets an obstruction goes around it. And yet the Young Hero kept trying to drive straight on.”

I went on.

“The fifth move, was it? Something in it moved as though it had never been fused into a whole. Water takes in all water, foul or clean alike. That was a move that ought to have shown its power to embrace.”

It sounded like a Zen riddle, but Namgung Cheol-ung seemed to have caught my meaning.

“The seventh move must show the force of the water-drop that bores through rock given time enough. But it lacked the strength to gather upon one place.”

A cry broke out of Namgung Cheol-ung in spite of himself.

“Ah!”

A shudder went through him.

“However high the place, water has the courage to fall from it. The ninth move was very nearly a move resolved upon mutual destruction. That is precisely the meaning the move carries. It is not a move for trading blows with an opponent.”

Namgung Cheol-ung shuddered, sinking for a moment into the mental image, and I waited for him to surface from it.

“The Great Expansion Sword Technique is truly greater than any sword technique there is. It is a sword technique that holds the flow in it. Were it left to me, I would count it the finest sword art of the Namgung Clan.”

I said it as Namgung Cheol-ung woke from the mental image.

“Enlighten me as to the rest of it, I beg you.”

His eyes shone bright.

“Where does water go, once it has flowed? All that water runs this way and that, and when it has gone round the whole business of the world it comes to the sea. Wherever it rose, the last destination of all water is the sea. That, one may say, is the great cause.”

Namgung Cheol-ung answered.

“The tenth move was just so. It ought to move as though it carried the great cause in it, and I moved it lightly, so its force never came out as it should.”

I nodded.

“You have understood. The twenty-third move is the very move that sets the crown on the Great Expansion Sword Technique. Water gives life to every living thing evenly, with no distinction whatsoever. It shows its true force only when it lays bare a heart of mercy. It is a move from which the killing intent must be stripped away.”

“And I, knowing nothing of that, unfolded it blindly with the utmost killing intent in it.”

“You are not wrong.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I named seven virtues a moment ago, but for my own part I think the last move must hold in it a killing intent that means to kill every last thing. Has water nothing but mercy in it? Water swollen into a flood, a vast tidal wave, swallows ships and sea and houses and men alike. Nothing on earth is more savage. There is no mercy in it at all. The Great Expansion Sword Technique has mercy in it, and it has also a cruelty and a savagery not to be found in this world.”

“Ah!”

“Grasp only that, and you will be able to complete the Great Expansion Sword Technique.”

“Haah, and all I did was swing the thing.”

Having said it against himself, Namgung Cheol-ung took the sword in a reversed grip and made a cupped-hands salute.

That is the courtesy by which a martial artist shows the highest respect he has.

“Master Scholar Cheon.”

“What is it?”

“Would you look over my moves for me, then?”

“By all means.”

I was the clan head’s Protector of the Person in any case, so there was no difficulty in my watching the Namgung Clan train.

Namgung Cheol-ung unfolded the art, reading the Seven Virtues of Water into each move as it came. From the opening posture on, move after move, a profound mystery hung about his sword strokes. To share an insight with a man and then watch him carry it toward completion filled me with a pride beyond measure, the pride of looking at a disciple who had learned his letters from me and come to understanding.¹

This is the flavor for which a man teaches. This is why one of the three joys of the gentleman is the pleasure of teaching a clever disciple.

He unfolded all twenty-four moves of the Great Expansion Sword Technique and then stared blankly into the empty air. He would be taking in a great many mental images and making them his own.

From here on, the man called Namgung Cheol-ung will make a name for himself even in the Namgung Clan.

Namgung Cheol-ung came to himself before long and spoke.

“To be given so fine an insight — I shall not forget it though my bones lie bleached white. If it is not amiss, may I share this insight with my fellows?”

“It is the Young Hero’s own insight already. Why do you ask my leave for it?”

“Thank you.”

“The Young Hero’s goodwill will deepen both the Namgung Clan and the Young Hero himself, I think.”

Namgung Cheol-ung held the cupped-hands salute unbroken until I was out of sight, and I smiled to see it.

I circulated my internal qi, centering it on the thirteen points that are the spirit meridians of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. It passed through without the Great Circulation or the Small Circulation the murim sets such store by, and there was no trouble in it at all. That alone sent life brimming up through my whole body. A different feeling again from raising my vitality with spirit energy.

So this is the flavor for which martial artists gather internal force in the dantian.

I understood it now. Vitality went round my body and my vigor came surging up. And when I worked the Nine Nether Dark Prison Internal Art, the internal art honed with ghost qi, the spirit energy stirred into motion of itself. Spirit energy and ghost qi belong to the same spirit force, so the two fell into place with one another naturally. That I had come by the Ghost Immortal’s martial arts might, for all I knew, have been the will of Heaven.

I have taken the third of the Seven Stars energies, so have I stretched my span by some five years?

To stay alive I had absorbed the energies of Paeng So-un first, then Namgung Mu-baek and Yi Mak-seong. In a word, my life had a term set upon it and I had been desperate; only now did I have room to catch my breath.

But there is no telling how long I shall be held up getting the fourth energy.

Yi Mak-seong was as far as my survey of the Seven Stars wheel-energies had gone.

From the fourth energy on, there is nothing for it but to run into them and find out.

Searching that way, five years might not be enough. Room to breathe or not, this was no time to be idle.

“Scholar Cheon.”

Eun-bi’s voice came from outside.

“What is it?”

“Word has come that you are to attend the clan head’s hall.”

The hour was too late for lunch, and it was not a call to take supper early either. Official business of some kind, then. I set my dress and cap in order and made for the clan head’s hall.

“Come in.”

Namgung Hak greeted me as I stepped into the clan head’s hall. Jeon I-an, who was all but always at his side, was nowhere to be seen; in his place sat a middle-aged stranger, a martial artist in an unusual dress, red above and black below. I knew whose colors those were, and I frowned a little. Never once had I thought to see a martial artist of that power inside the Namgung Clan.

“Scholar Cheon, do you know who this is?”

Namgung Hak’s face stayed composed.

“By your dress, I take it you are of the Hyeoncheon Sect, the overlords of Jiangxi.”

Heard on its own, the Hyeoncheon Sect might be the name of some illustrious orthodox house; the famous part was the words tacked on in front of it.²

Hyeoncheon Sect of the Unorthodox Supreme.

The Hyeoncheon Sect was where the supreme of the unorthodox sects sat, and might be called the home ground of the unorthodox. Mak Yeo-heun, the one called the Unorthodox Supreme, held it as sect leader. It worked out of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, and both its size and its strength were formidable.

The Hyeoncheon Sect’s martial artist looked at me and spoke.

“Do you know who I am?”

The riddle came out of nowhere and it irritated me, but they seemed to be taking the measure of my eye, so I played along.

“By the lightning-shaped scar at the left eye, the sword-mark that seems to have cut the lip clean across on the slant, and the cross-shaped scar upon the cheek — are you not the Snake God Sword, whose illustrious name rings everywhere?”

The Snake God Sword was the byname Myo Su-jae had earned for handling, with a spirit’s own skill, a soft sword that bends like a snake. They served as the trusted right hand of Mak Yeo-heun, the Unorthodox Supreme, and were known as a transcendent-peak master.

“Indeed, just as I had heard.”

Myo Su-jae marveled, a light coming into their eyes.

“And what was it they said of me?”

Not having expected such a question, Myo Su-jae let out a snort of laughter.

“Unpredictable as well, just as I had heard.”

I looked at Namgung Hak and asked.

“On what business did you send for me?”

Namgung Hak answered.

“It was not I. It was our guest who asked to see you.”

“Mm?”

What business could the Snake God Sword Myo Su-jae have with me?

“Why have you sought me out?”

Myo Su-jae laid it out evenly.

“Talk of Master Scholar Cheon has reached us even in Jiangxi. That you are a scholar with a particular gift for reforming hellions.”

“I had not known my name had spread so far. And?”

“The truth is that our sect has a hellion of its own. I have come to ask you to reform him.”

One person came to mind at that.

“Do you mean Mak Ji-mong, the son of Great Hero Mak, the Unorthodox Supreme?”

“Just as I thought! Exactly so.”

“The Hyeoncheon Sect’s affairs the Hyeoncheon Sect may settle for itself, surely. Why have you come to me? As you know, I am a scholar attached to the Murim Alliance.”

“In all the unorthodox sects we have yet to find anyone so gifted at reforming a hellion as Master Scholar Cheon.”

“To be asked to school the Unorthodox Supreme’s child…”

I muttered it and let out a helpless laugh. Of all things, I had never thought a request would come in from the unorthodox sects too.

Namgung Hak spoke.

“This is not a thing I could well decide upon my own authority, so I called Scholar Cheon in.”

Not a trace of worry showed in Namgung Hak’s eyes; he must have been sure I would refuse. But at Myo Su-jae’s next words the air in the room went cold.

“It would be well if Master Scholar Cheon reformed him. The Young Sect Leader is so warlike and so given to fighting that, once he becomes the next sect leader, he will set about swallowing up the neighboring factions at once. Anhui, of course, no less.”

“Are you saying you mean to make war upon this house?”

Namgung Hak said it with a banked anger in his voice.

“You mistake me. I speak upon the supposition that the Young Sect Leader does not put off his hellion’s temper and becomes the next sect leader.”

“Hmm.”

“It is a request made for the peace of the murim of Jiangxi and Anhui. Our sect leader wishes no such thing either, and knowing it a discourtesy has sent me here all the same.”

“The unorthodox sects must have many fine scholars besides myself.”

“Of course they have. But there is no scholar among them fit to reform the Young Sect Leader. It has been tried several times and every one of them failed. Why else do you suppose I have come myself?”

Asked to reform a hellion Young Sect Leader for the peace of the murim, I could hardly curse them outright. I turned the merits and demerits of the business over for a moment. The demerits were two: I did not know what degree of hellion Mak Ji-mong was, and the place was the home ground of the unorthodox sects, much of a kind with the Demonic Cult. Put in order, it came to one thing. My life could not be guaranteed.

Then what merits are there?

I sank into thought for a moment, and Myo Su-jae spoke.

“Should you reform the Young Sect Leader, of course, we will give you money and land enough to live idle upon for the rest of your life.”

In truth, such things could no longer be much of a motive to me.

Wait. It is not as though there were no merits at all.

I called to mind the year’s worth of internal power my dantian had stolen out of Namgung Cheol-ung in the course of the night.

If I stay at the Hyeoncheon Sect and my dantian steals the internal power of unorthodox martial artists, a hundred and eighty years’ worth is possible. A year’s worth in a night, after all. And being the unorthodox sects, there will be no guilt in it either.

The internal force had belonged to a Namgung Clan man, so the guilt had come with it; taken from the unorthodox sects or the Demonic Cult, would it not be a thing to welcome instead?

Yes. Shall I take the chance and make my dantian a hundred and eighty years’ worth outright, there? There is nothing to say I cannot. And Mak Ji-mong may well be a man who carries a Seven Stars wheel-energy. Even if not, it is no loss.

Reckon it this way or that, and the only demerit left was the danger to my life.

“How will you guarantee this body’s safety?”

Something in my question struck Namgung Hak as odd, and he called to me in a low voice.

“Scholar Cheon. What is this you say?”

Myo Su-jae took up the words at once.

“The word of the Unorthodox Supreme is stronger than any word given. I promise you in the name of the Unorthodox Supreme that Scholar Cheon will be safe until he returns to the Namgung Clan.”

“Money and land enough to live upon for life, and with them the Dragon Blood Pill the Hyeoncheon Sect boasts of — give me those and I shall consider it.”

I knew why these people were offering land as well. A man who takes land cannot easily leave it behind and move on, and that shrewd calculation lay hidden in the offer. That was why they made a point of the land.

“Indeed! Scholar Cheon knows how to bargain, I see.”

Myo Su-jae broke into a broad and delighted smile. They had thought I would refuse, it seemed, and were hugely pleased.

“On the condition that the money, the land and the Dragon Blood Pill are handed over the moment I arrive at the Hyeoncheon Sect, I shall go.”

“And if it is done so, what is the promise Scholar Cheon will give?”

“I shall remain at the Hyeoncheon Sect until the Young Sect Leader Mak Ji-mong is reformed.”

“Scholar Cheon!”

Namgung Hak came to his feet in astonishment. He had not for a moment imagined I would accept Myo Su-jae’s request.

“Clan head. The money, the land and the spirit medicine are secondary matters. If the Young Sect Leader Mak Ji-mong, with his madness in him, truly becomes the Hyeoncheon Sect’s sect leader, a war between the two schools may very well come of it. Do you not know what a hellion is?”

Namgung Hak had lived worn out with worry all through the days when his son Namgung Mu-baek went about playing the hellion, for there is no knowing what a hellion will do.

I let it be understood that I was sacrificing myself purely for the sake of the larger picture.

That made for better justification than going out of greed for money, land and spirit medicine, did it not?