Side Story 32. The Three Outer Disciples (2)

Yu Jeong-shin looked at the trio.
The three had put on their uniforms embroidered with flowers and were looking themselves over.
They even talked about whether the uniforms suited each other or not.

“Hmph, Senior Brother Cheongho is still short. I think you’re smaller than me.”
“I’m still young, so I’ll grow more.”
“How old are you?”
“About ten?”
“Are you kidding me!”

When Cheongho stated his age, Baek Sang-ye, who was nearly twenty, snorted.
She thought he was joking.
Tsering suddenly cut in and praised Baek Sang-ye.

“Senior Sister Sang-ye, the clothes suit you. They don’t suit me much.”
“Oh my, they suit you too.”
“No, three flowers suit me. Two and a half is just right for you, Senior Sister.”
“Hoho, you’ve got no manners.”

Yu Jeong-shin gave a wry smile.

‘It does not seem their relationship has become entirely good yet.’

That much was clear from the way they bickered.
Even this, however, was tremendous progress. When they had first entered Azure Forest, they had not even spoken to one another.
It seemed they had at least sorted out their senior-junior relationship.

‘If they suffer together, they will come to understand each other’s worth.’

Though they bickered endlessly, Yu Jeong-shin believed in the trio.
The three possessed a kind of purity rarely seen these days.
That purity could also be called, in truth, an innocence unfitting for their age.
It couldn’t be helped. None of the three had lived an ordinary childhood.
The lack of children their own age around them had likely been one reason their social sense was lacking.

Yu Jeong-shin deliberately hardened his voice.

“Once you leave Azure Forest, you must not show any conduct that would shame you as disciples of Azure Forest.”

Only then did the three sit down properly.

“Look at the Guihon Compass I gave you.”

Yu Jeong-shin gave Cheongho an item called a Guihon Compass.
It was an item made in imitation of the one Yi-gang had sent to Azure Forest through Jun Myung.

“Wow, so this is a Guihon Compass….”
“How strange. So it points this way?”

The trio leaned in close and examined the Guihon Compass.
It looked similar to a compass, but it differed in that a purple shard of Guihon Jade was attached to one end of the silver needle floating within it.
The end of the needle with the Guihon Jade attached pointed steadily in one direction.

“As the Murim Alliance has already proclaimed, Azure Forest too is collecting Guihon Jade. The task you will be taking on is also to recover Guihon Jade.”

Azure Forest, the Murim Alliance, and the Heretical Alliance had all come to an agreement.
Guihon, the Disaster Grade yokai they had slain three years ago, had scattered its internal core throughout the world as it died.
That enormous internal core had spread across all the Central Plains, centered around Hangzhou, where Guihon had been subjugated.
No, they said fragments of Guihon Jade had flown not only across the Central Plains, but even as far as the western lands and Wa¹, so it was surely a marvel.

“What do you think was the reason the Alliance publicly announced the existence of Guihon Jade and declared that it would recover it?”

Yu Jeong-shin asked that and looked at the three.
As expected, Baek Sang-ye alone shot her hand up.
He had heard that whenever a question was asked, Baek Sang-ye was always the only one who tried to answer by raising her hand.
Looking at Tsering and Cheongho, Tsering quietly averted her gaze, while Cheongho sat there with his mouth slightly open in a daze.

In the end, Yu Jeong-shin looked toward Baek Sang-ye.

“Hasn’t the story of Guihon Jade already spread as far as it can throughout the world?”
“Ho ho, that’s right. And on top of that, the story has even been distorted.”

Guihon Jade contained an immense amount of yokai energy.
The amount was so tremendous that even if a beast ate only a tiny fragment of Guihon Jade, it would become a yokai.

“In the outside world, Guihon Jade is treated like the finest miraculous medicine under heaven, like Man-Shaped Snow Ginseng or Stalactite Milk.”

That was the problem.
If one swallowed Guihon Jade whole, internal energy increased immensely.
The change before and after was so great that it surpassed even what one would expect from consuming a true elixir.
The problem was that even a piece as small as an acorn produced an effect comparable to consuming a Man-Shaped Snow Ginseng.
No matter how difficult Guihon Jade was to find, there was still far more of it than Man-Shaped Snow Ginseng.
There were no few people in Kangho who had consumed it and gained powerful martial arts because of it.

“Martial artists are the sort of breed who will do anything to become stronger. So of course they would consume even a yokai’s internal core without hesitation.”

There was a cynical edge to Yu Jeong-shin’s words.
In his eyes, eating a yokai’s internal core for the sake of becoming stronger was madness.
It was true that a yokai’s internal core could serve as a miraculous medicine. But side effects existed as well. The issue was the powerful poisonous energy within it.
Even the internal core of a Cat Grade yokai could kill or drive one mad if consumed as is. That was why people underwent such troublesome purification rites.

“The claim that it has no side effects is utter nonsense. Even miraculous medicine is dangerous if not taken properly, so how could a yokai’s internal core possibly be any different. It may even be a rumor someone is spreading maliciously.”

And yet rumors had spread that Guihon Jade had no side effects whatsoever.

“Even now, that Guihon Jade must be recovered and destroyed.”

The decision had been made.
That was why the trio had also been assigned the task of recovering Guihon Jade.

“Do you know how to use the Guihon Compass?”
“Yes. Doesn’t it point toward the nearest piece of Guihon Jade?”
“That is so. And if you place a piece of Guihon Jade into the compartment below, it will point only toward Guihon Jade larger than that piece.”

Yu Jeong-shin had admired the design of the Guihon Compass Yi-gang had sent.
It was an item infused with Tianzhu craftsmanship, not something of the Central Plains.

Cheongho and the trio examined the Guihon Compass.
Naturally, the Guihon Compass was pointing toward Azure Forest’s storage house, since a great deal of Guihon Jade had been gathered there.

“It should be able to detect Guihon Jade within a radius of 500 meters.”

A radius of 500 meters sounded broader than one might think.

“That Guihon Compass is a little different from the others. It seems to be because it was made using the piece of Guihon Jade you brought back, Cheongho.”

Yu Jeong-shin looked at Cheongho.
Cheongho had met a yokai called Noksu and obtained that Guihon Jade from it. Why Noksu had simply given over the Guihon Jade was unknown.

“When it moves far away from you, the Guihon Jade loses its light. A strange thing indeed.”

Strangely enough, that Guihon Jade lost its power when separated from Cheongho. Yu Jeong-shin’s conclusion was that it likely had something to do with Cheongho’s true identity.

“Since that Guihon Compass was made from that piece of Guihon Jade, Cheongho, you should use it yourself.”
“Yes.”

Cheongho answered quietly.

“Go to Hangzhou. One of your martial aunts will be waiting for you there.”

Yu Jeong-shin gave the order with the stern authority of a sect leader.

“You will depart at once tomorrow!”

The trio saluted with clasped fists and left Yu Jeong-shin’s residence.
Only after they had left did Yu Jeong-shin relax his stern expression.

‘Will they do well?’

It was not such a difficult task. The three were highly capable, so there should be no great problem.
Besides, ‘that child’ was in Hangzhou.
If they met their martial aunt there, the three would surely follow her well.

The one thing that worried him was how little the trio knew of the world.

“If they go through a little hardship, they’ll mature.”

Yu Jeong-shin believed that.

The next day.
The three passed beneath Azure Forest’s signboard.
They were leaving the sect and heading out into the world.

The three did not leave huddled together in harmony.
They had agreed to meet instead at Sumok County, down below Azure Forest on the slopes of Mount Heng.
The fact that they had insisted on moving separately instead of simply leaving together was very much like the trio.

They had agreed to meet at the entrance to Sumok County at noon, but the only one there on time was Baek Sang-ye.
Seeing that the sun had climbed to the very center of the sky, she clicked her tongue.

“They really have no sense of time.”

It had already been quite some time since So-ryu had left Azure Forest.
But her bodyguard had still not returned. In the meantime, Baek Sang-ye had instead become much better at taking care of herself.
Cheongho and Tsering did not arrive until the sun had already begun to slant westward.

Baek Sang-ye had been about to get annoyed, but instead she was taken aback.
They looked completely unlike what she had expected.

“What the….”

Tsering was carrying a load on her back larger than her own body.

“Junior Sister, are you fleeing somewhere?”

She asked that in complete sincerity.
Tsering answered proudly.

“Do you know how far Hangzhou is? I have to bring at least this much.”

Baek Sang-ye saw the beads of sweat running down Tsering’s forehead.
If even Tsering, whose martial arts were not weak, was sweating from the burden, then it was no ordinary weight.
And indeed that was so. When Baek Sang-ye pulled on the load, Tsering screamed and toppled backward.

“Help me up!”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”

Tsering flailed around, unable to get up at once.
Since the bundle under her was bigger than she was, it was only natural, but the sight of her like that made her look like an overturned turtle.

“This is almost all food!”
“I don’t want to go begging again.”
“What are you even saying….”

Baek Sang-ye let out a sigh.
Then she turned to Cheongho.
Sadly, Cheongho also managed to astonish Baek Sang-ye.

“Ha… why are you carrying nothing at all, Senior Brother.”

In contrast to Tsering, Cheongho was carrying nothing at all. He had only a single sword hanging at his waist.
Cheongho’s answer was concise.

“She packed a lot.”

“……”

He meant that after seeing Tsering pack enough to fill a mountain, he had decided not to bring anything himself.

“…That’s rational.”

Without realizing it, Baek Sang-ye found herself persuaded.
Then she quickly shook her head.

“You should still have packed more clothes.”
“……”
“Well, whatever. Let’s just go.”

Tsering, who had been worried Baek Sang-ye might actually tell them to go back and repack, brightened immediately.

“Sounds good, but could you help carry some of my luggage?”
“It’s fine, Junior Sister. Here.”

At Baek Sang-ye’s gesture, laborers appeared from somewhere and took Tsering’s baggage for her.
Then the laborers loaded the luggage onto a large four-horse carriage.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and get in.”
“A-a carriage!”
“Were you planning to walk all the way to Hangzhou otherwise?”

That was exactly it.
Even Yu Jeong-shin had likely expected as much.
After all, disciples could not have much spending money on hand.

“I have plenty of money, so it’s fine.”
“Wow, you’re amazing, Senior Sister.”

But the princess of Great Ming had an enormous amount of money.
And she had already experienced more than enough of the rough overnights befitting a Murim wanderer and was thoroughly sick of them.

The carriage bearing the three of them set off.
The “hardship” Yu Jeong-shin had expected did not seem to have arrived yet.

Of course.
The incident waiting for the trio in Hangzhou was something even Yu Jeong-shin, the Forest Lord himself, had never expected, and it was extremely dangerous.

The finest scenic place in the Central Plains.
A city of pleasure.
A city of wealth and riches.
A city that the greatest merchant guild under heaven must inevitably claim.
All of these different names referred to one and the same city, Hangzhou.

There were many reasons Hangzhou had developed so greatly.
There was the beautiful West Lake, and there was a great river.
And beyond that river lay the sea.
Trade ports had been established there, and it exchanged goods with Wa and the western regions.

But when a city prospers, its shadows grow darker as well.
Hangzhou was filled not only with poets and scholars, but also with ambitious people looking to strike it rich.
When night fell, brightly lit gambling boats would gather on West Lake.
Upon them, drunken people gambled, and from time to time, some would vanish beneath West Lake with a splash of spray.

Men like that invariably kept women at their side along with the liquor.
Courtesans.
Hangzhou had many pleasure houses.
Especially along the waterside, where the beautiful scenery of West Lake could be seen, pleasure houses were more common than teahouses.

Half of these pleasure houses were run by merchants, and the other half by martial artists of the unorthodox factions.
Among them was a pleasure house called Hundred Flower Pavilion.
As one could tell from its shameless name, boasting a hundred flowers, it was not that high-class a pleasure house.
It was merely an ordinary place where the price for a night of songs came to about ten nyang of silver.
It was not a blue house, but a red house where women did not sell their bodies, and even so, it was hardly a place of particularly fine quality.

There was a gambling den below ground, and the first floor was always crowded with drunkards.
The problem with Hundred Flower Pavilion was that a great many of those drunkards were warriors from the unorthodox path.

Amid the drunken men, one striking figure sat alone.
A bottle of liquor had been set before her, but she had hardly drunk any of it.

Her lips were red, and her long black hair shimmered as it swayed.
She stood out greatly because of both her beauty and her sex.

Tok, tok.

She lightly tapped the table with her finger, as though waiting for something.

Jin Li-yeon.
An Azure Forest Six-Flower Disciple.
She was here, in Hangzhou’s Hundred Flower Pavilion.