A Clan With Roots (2)

Flash!

Jin-hyeon’s pupils were dyed a pale sky-blue.

At the same time, the world slowed.

‘Good.’

The dagger swung by the masked figure on the left aimed for his shoulder, while the dagger swung by the masked figure on the right aimed for his thigh.

Neither strike aimed to kill in one blow, but because it was a coordinated attack, it was extremely dangerous. Just from the fact that they targeted areas difficult to evade in such a cramped space, he could tell they had trained deeply in killing methods.

Of course, for someone who had no reason to dodge, it was no problem at all.

Pabak! Koong!

Jin-hyeon immediately grabbed the left masked figure’s wrist, twisted it, and planted that figure into the floor, then grabbed the right masked figure’s wrist, twisted it behind his back, and made him roll across the floor.

The moment the two startled figures tried to swing their leg techniques.

Wooooong!

Jin-hyeon’s qi waves, spreading faintly, pressed down their movements as they were.

They were suppressed by his presence before they could even swing their legs. A faint bewilderment appeared in the eyes of the two masked figures.

Jiiing. Jiiiing.

With a strange sound, the spoons and chopsticks placed before the wine table clattered and shook.

Without causing any harm to Gang Yeo across from him, Jin-hyeon crushed only the range he wanted with the pressure of his qi waves. It was a qi art of divine skill, one not easily seen.

Gang Yeo’s eyes were dyed with shock.

Jin-hyeon spoke calmly.

“I can allow myself to be tested, but you need to present a proper test before I even pick up the brush.”

It meant he had not even brought out his real skill.

That was when it happened.

Fit!

The masked figure on the right drew a short dagger from his robes and swung it toward Jin-hyeon’s wrist. If it pierced through, it was a delicate strike that could tear the ligament and artery between the joints at the same time.

That was not all. The masked figure on the left spat something from his mouth even faster, and what shot out through the torn mask was a poisoned needle as fine as an ox hair.

The moment the two masked figures’ poisoned needle and short dagger touched Jin-hyeon’s neck and wrist.

Tuduk.

The poisoned needle bounced off futilely, and blood flowed from the hand of the masked figure who had stabbed down with the short dagger.

“!!”

The eyes of both figures shook even more.

Whether the poisoned needle or the short dagger, both were sharp enough that there was no reason they should fail to pierce a human body. And yet they could not pierce Jin-hyeon’s body. They could not leave even a single scratch.

“What are you, mosquitoes?”

Holding the two people by the wrists, Jin-hyeon lightly shook both arms.

Buoong.

The two masked figures spun quickly through the air and sat awkwardly on the floor.

They had not tried to sit. That posture had formed on its own. It was an artistic move by Jin-hyeon, who had perfectly controlled his opponents’ bodies.

Including Gang Yeo, all three stared blankly at Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon released their wrists and shook his cup.

“This is not the time to drink much, but this is far too lacking in warmth. Let’s see…”

Jin-hyeon pointed with his chin at the wine bottle in front of the masked figure on the right.

“How about it? Will you pour me a cup?”

The moment the masked figure on the right tried to take a step back.

“Pour him a cup.”

The masked figure flinched and looked back and forth between Gang Yeo and Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon only looked at the wine cup as he tapped it with his index finger.

“Your arms and legs are unusually long. You used an original killing method that makes use of the elasticity of your muscles to strike half a beat early. Your bones and muscles are so good they are hard to find anywhere.”

“…”

“With this much praise, I think I have paid enough to receive a cup. What do you say?”

The masked figure, who had been quietly looking at Jin-hyeon, took off the mask covering his face.

Jin-hyeon turned his head to look at the assassin on the right and smiled.

“No wonder. You didn’t seem like someone from the Central Plains.”

The assassin who had removed his mask had especially dark skin.

It was not skin darkened by the sun. He had simply been born with black skin. The reason he had gone so far as to wear gloves seemed to be to hide his palms, which were especially pale compared to the backs of his hands.

He was a so-called Kunlun Nu, a Black man. However, perhaps because he was of mixed blood, his skin was not completely black.

“Now, pour.”

The black man looked at Jin-hyeon with unusually large and clear eyes.

But only for a moment.

He politely held the wine bottle and filled Jin-hyeon’s cup. His appearance differed from that of a Central Plains person, but the etiquette of the Central Plains was well ingrained in him.

Jin-hyeon emptied the cup refreshingly, wiped it with a handkerchief, and handed it to the man.

“You receive a cup too.”

The flustered black man looked at Gang Yeo.

When Gang Yeo nodded slightly, the man received the cup with both hands and bowed his head.

Once the cup was filled, the black man quietly emptied it.

Jin-hyeon took his cup, then held it out before the masked figure on the left.

“I have received his cup, so let me receive yours as well.”

The masked figure on the left obediently removed her mask.

Then golden hair that fell to the nape of her neck was revealed. Her skin was especially white, her eyes were deep-set, and her nose stood high. She was a woman of the Western Regions, said to live at the far western edge of the lands.

“I had thought your eyes were blue because you had trained in some unusual martial art, but it seems that wasn’t it.”

Jin-hyeon tapped the cup.

When the white woman politely filled the cup, Jin-hyeon emptied it again, wiped it with his handkerchief, and handed it to her.

“Receive it.”

When Jin-hyeon filled the cup for her, the woman emptied it heartily.

Both were foreigners, but their difference in temperament was clear from their behavior alone. If the black man was somewhat careful and cautious, the white woman seemed to have an active and openhearted side.

Gang Yeo, who had been quietly looking at Jin-hyeon, asked as if tossing the words out.

“You are not surprised.”

“By what?”

“These two people. They do not have appearances one can easily see in the Central Plains, do they?”

Jin-hyeon tilted his head.

“Then are my skin and white hair common in the Central Plains?”

“…”

“Countless tribes live in this land of Sichuan. If we are not going to treat them as foreigners just because they live in Sichuan, then these two live in the Central Plains as well, so we should not treat them as foreigners either.”

In that instant, the eyes of the man and woman shone.

Gang Yeo smiled.

“Is that so?”

“To me, there are only three kinds of people. My people, enemies, and ambiguous ones who may become either enemies or allies.”

Jin-hyeon tapped his cup.

The white woman picked up the wine bottle, but the one who filled his cup first was the black man.

When Jin-hyeon emptied the cup, this time the white woman filled it.

“Well, putting that aside.”

As Jin-hyeon tilted his head, faint qi waves flowed from his body.

The qi waves openly revealed his displeasure. Tension appeared not only on the faces of the man and woman who had attempted the assassination, but on Gang Yeo’s face as well.

“Were you trying to judge whether to form an alliance by launching a sudden ambush? If so, I am a little disappointed.”

“I apologize for committing such rudeness.”

Gang Yeo bowed his head respectfully.

Jin-hyeon gave a small laugh.

“Let us hear whether you had a proper reason.”

The words carried a strong sense of danger. It was a warning that if they had launched a surprise attack without a proper reason, today’s meeting would not end well.

Gang Yeo spoke carefully.

“I heard that in the past, you asked Gold Lord Seomun to select useful talent for you?”

“I did.”

Jin-hyeon nodded, then looked at the two people on either side as a thought suddenly came to him.

“These two?”

“That is correct. To be precise, we found useful talent long ago. However, you were busy, Patriarch, and this matter was buried with the understanding that it would be handled later.”

“Continue.”

“But as time passed, the scale of the things you caused and resolved became too great. At that time, Gold Lord Seomun told me this. He said to send these two, but if they did not take a liking to you, Patriarch, he would replace them with the talent already selected.”

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“I understand that. But what do they have to do with the alliance?”

“I wanted to see how you would treat these two.”

“I could have killed them.”

“I believed you would not kill them.”

“You wagered other people’s lives on that paltry belief?”

“On top of that belief lay not only their lives, but mine as well.”

Jin-hyeon’s smile deepened.

Gang Yeo continued with a serious expression.

“You never showed me the path toward all under heaven, nor did you tell me a clear method for how you would face the Heavenly Will Alliance. Yet you told me to choose between forming an alliance or not.”

“It was an invitation.”

“That is true. If it had been coercion or a threat, I would not have needed to agonize over it either.”

“And for that, you wagered the fate of your merchant guild on how I handled two assassins?”

“I am the one who moves the merchant guild. And I am in a position where I am responsible for all those people.”

Gang Yeo’s eyes shone.

“I am a person with many shortcomings. However, I pride myself that my intuition is better than most. Even so, the reason I agonized was because my people’s lives were at stake in this matter.”

“…”

“I wanted to confirm my intuition one more time. You called them merely two assassins, Patriarch, but to me, the way you treated these two was the very image of how you treat all under heaven.”

“You speak well.”

“You said this before, did you not? That I had already made my decision, and that the reason I was agonizing despite having decided was simply because I wanted to know why I had made that decision.”

“I did.”

“I have now realized that reason.”

Gang Yeo pushed the wine table to one side.

He slowly knelt, planted both fists on the floor, and fixed his body in place.

“Until now, Patriarch, you have accomplished things everyone thought impossible. But looking back, most of them were things one wonders why anyone thought impossible in the first place.”

“…”

“You did not accomplish truly impossible things. You simply advanced without hesitation, pulling aside the curtains no one dared to touch.”

Of all the looks he had seen in Gang Yeo’s eyes until now, Jin-hyeon liked the look in this moment the most.

“If you were someone who made the impossible possible, I would have refused. But you are someone who knows how to distinguish the possible from the impossible.”

“…”

“I will wager the fate of the Five Tigers Merchant Guild on the goal you believe is possible, Patriarch.”

Jin-hyeon erased the faint smile lingering on his face and slowly opened his mouth.

“Will you truly wager it?”

“I have already wagered it. Today was merely an occasion to confirm my own heart.”

“Good.”

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“As of this moment today, you and I are one body, and my clan and your merchant guild will walk steadily toward the goals each of us looks toward for ten years, without betrayal.”

Gang Yeo bowed his head deeply.

“I am Gang Yeo, son of the current Black Society Leader and Guild Leader of the Five Tigers Merchant Guild. This is only an alliance, not a lord-vassal relationship, but since I have, in effect, joined myself to your goal, Patriarch, I will continue to treat you with due respect.”

“There is no need to be so formal. Each of us only needs to properly handle the work we are responsible for, and the work we ask of each other. That is all.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Gang Yeo relaxed his posture and asked with a smile.

“You said you could not drink for long. What do you think? Is that still the case?”

Jin-hyeon smacked his lips.

“What else can I do when an information broker who has formed a ten-year alliance with me is sitting right in front of me? Even if something fairly important came up, I would have to put it all off and hold a drinking party.”

“Hahaha! Good.”

Jin-hyeon looked back at the two people.

“By the way, these two…”

That was when it happened.

Gang Yeo’s face, which had been bursting with laughter, turned serious in an instant. He was receiving a report from someone.

A moment later.

“Patriarch. How about postponing today’s drinking session until next time?”

“What happened?”

He could have done so if he wanted, but Jin-hyeon deliberately did not eavesdrop on the voice transmission entering Gang Yeo.

Gang Yeo’s face turned grave.

“They say some kind of armed group is currently heading toward Ziyang.”