Chapter 180: Righteousness and Chivalry
Not long after the Vice Leader left.
Seomun Ak and Lee Seowon, who had been lingering upstairs, finally came down hesitantly.
Seomun Ak looked around cautiously and said.
“Someone came by just now. For the record, I didn’t hear who it was. Really. Don’t kill me for it.”
That was why they only came down after the Vice Leader had left.
Deathshroud was a group of those who hid their existence. There was no benefit in deliberately showing one’s face to the Vice Leader.
At that, Seo Yu-gyeom spoke, looking dumbfounded.
“Our master isn’t some bloodthirsty murderer.”
“Well, what was it people called your master again?”
“Shinsalgwi.”
“Hm.”
A brief silence passed.
Seomun Ak and Seo Yu-gyeom exchanged nods.
If a man was the Vice Leader of Deathshroud, and his alias was something like Shinsalgwi, then calling him a murderer was not far from the truth.
Meanwhile, Lee Seowon looked at Seo Yu-gyeom with a fresh gaze.
‘No wonder there was no information.’
Back when he had been the General Manager of Geumun Inn, he had investigated the members of Seong-un Inn thoroughly.
The one that had always been most suspicious was the cook, Seo Yu-gyeom.
It had been astonishing—so little information existed, almost as though someone had deliberately erased it.
Not some mere assassin, but the disciple of Deathshroud’s Vice Leader.
A cook, Seomun Clan’s second son working as a waiter, and the innkeeper himself being one of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes.
One could not help but wonder if Seong-un Inn was truly an inn or a rising Murim faction.
While such thoughts crossed his mind, Jin Seong-un returned with a rag soaked in water and began wiping the bloodstains off the floor. Lee Seowon helped as well.
Seomun Ak, ever the skillful inn waiter, wiped away the fine splatters of blood on chairs and tables.
Then Seo Yu-gyeom declared confidently.
“I’ll go train.”
“Why are you the only one skipping out when we’re all cleaning? Besides, isn’t all this your fault to begin with?”
When Seomun Ak frowned and asked, Jin Seong-un, wiping the floor, replied calmly.
“Seo Sohyeop’s master taught him something just now. He has to digest the enlightenment.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Seomun Ak nodded obediently.
After all, before being an inn waiter, he was also a martial artist, and he knew full well how critical such a moment was.
So he said.
“Stop loitering and get lost.”
“Wow, such sweet words.”
Seo Yu-gyeom expressed admiration, but Seomun Ak just waved his hand as though shooing him away in annoyance.
That brusque attitude also carried a hidden wish—that Seo Yu-gyeom would not miss his chance.
Not long after Seo Yu-gyeom left for the backyard to absorb his enlightenment, Shin Eui came downstairs, looking extremely weary.
“The children are all asleep. Truthfully, a few of them wouldn’t sleep no matter what, so I had to press their acupoints.”
“……”
“Don’t give me that look. Haven’t you heard the saying that sleep is the best medicine? Especially for children burdened with mental scars—it’s all the more essential that they get proper rest.”
With those words, Shin Eui walked naturally into the kitchen, took out a bottle of liquor, and moistened his throat.
As the lukewarm liquor settled in his stomach, his expression seemed to ease somewhat.
“Their hearts are already rotten with pain. It’ll take a very long time to heal. From the way they have seizures at the mere mention of the word ‘parents,’ sending them back home is the worst choice.”
The problem of where the children would go remained.
Every child upstairs was still of an age where they couldn’t survive without someone’s care.
Shin Eui continued.
“I myself am but a wanderer across the world. I can’t care for these children forever. To be blunt, there are countless patients across the Central Plains far more urgent than these little ones.”
“Hmm, should we take them back to the inn then?”
When Jin Seong-un suggested it, Shin Eui frowned and replied.
“Guest Dragon, think carefully. That inn of yours is no ordinary inn. You’ve drawn in all sorts of demonic practitioners and villains, and just recently even some troublemakers from Myriad Gold Manor. And you would leave the children there?”
“……”
“On top of that, aren’t you cursed with a wandering star? You’re always abandoning the inn to run around brandishing your blade!”
Jin Seong-un realized then that words could be more painful than fists. More painful than the fists of most masters, in fact.
Just then.
“Is this the place?”
“Smells like blood, so it must be. I bet Seo Sohyeop lost control and cut someone down again, huh?”
Familiar voices sounded from outside.
Jin Seong-un shot to his feet and looked toward the entrance. Soon enough, an old man, a young man and woman, and a boy with a sword strapped to his waist stepped into the inn, looking around.
“Elder.”
It was none other than White Cloud Sword Hyeon-un, Baek Sang, Baek Seol.
And the boy barely able to carry the sword as big as his own body was Choi Jeong-myeong, the one Jang Gwang had rescued from the Shui Stronghold.
Born with a Yin-Yang Body, he had been forced to watch as the Chief Escort Captain of Shui Stronghold brutally murdered his parents right before his eyes.
‘He’s grown.’
Though only a few months had passed since they had sent him to Wudang Sect, Choi Jeong-myeong had already grown a few inches taller.
The boy stared straight at Jin Seong-un. Jin Seong-un wondered if he remembered him.
As the two locked eyes in silence, something surprising happened.
“Where’s Uncle Jang Gwang?”
“…Jang Daehyeop is in Yichang.”
“Aw, I wanted to see him.”
Jin Seong-un’s face showed rare surprise. Choi Jeong-myeong, who had been struck dumb with aphasia from his trauma, was now speaking.
Shin Eui too looked at him with intrigue and asked Hyeon-un.
“Oh? How did this come about?”
“Didn’t do much. Just taught him some martial arts, made sure he ate well, and put him to bed. One day, he just started speaking again.”
Though Hyeon-un said it plainly, a faint smile tugged at his lips at the memory of the boy’s first words.
Shin Eui nodded. Sometimes, healing a wounded heart was not about medicine but about circumstance.
The same applied to the children upstairs.
‘So that stubborn White Cloud Sword has this side to him too.’
Hyeon-un’s temperament was well known.
Everyone in Murim feared him, even Elder Byeok of the Beggars’ Union, nicknamed the Mad Rooster.
Perhaps because he had lived his whole life without family, he now treated Choi Jeong-myeong with boundless kindness, as though he were a grandson gained in old age.
“But look at this.”
Suddenly, Choi Jeong-myeong drew his sword.
Though smaller than an ordinary sword, it still looked heavy in the boy’s young hands.
When everyone’s eyes gathered on him, he swung it with a satisfied smile.
Whoosh—the sword fell straight down, the strike sharp and crisp.
Sharper, at least, than Lee Seowon’s clumsy swings.
“Oh.”
Jin Seong-un murmured in low admiration.
Indeed.
They said he had a Yin-Yang Body, and it seemed he truly had been born with outstanding martial talent. Especially with the Wudang Sect, one of the two great pillars of the Nine Sects, teaching him.
“Wow!”
Baek Seol exaggerated her admiration, and Baek Sang clapped enthusiastically.
Then, exchanging glances, the two looked at Jin Seong-un and Seomun Ak and silently mouthed something.
A beat later, Jin Seong-un and Seomun Ak mimicked them.
“Oh, oh…!”
“Good job, well done.”
At that, Choi Jeong-myeong’s shoulders rose proudly.
As was typical of a child his age, and Jin Seong-un and Seomun Ak both felt relieved.
Then came a stream of chatter from Choi Jeong-myeong, like the flurry of strikes from a swift swordsman.
What martial arts he had learned at Wudang, how the food usually tasted bad, who had given him candied fruit, who had scolded him, what dream he had last night—
Trivial stories and important ones mixed together in no particular order.
He was every bit the talkative eight-year-old child.
‘So he was this talkative all along.’
It hit Jin Seong-un just how deep Choi Jeong-myeong’s trauma had run back then.
The boy even shared about a fight between a puppy and a stray cat in the back garden a few days ago, and ended with his aspiration to become a great Taiji swordsman.
“My masters said I’ll become a great swordsman one day.”
Jin Seong-un looked at Hyeon-un.
Watching the boy fondly with a grandfatherly smile, Hyeon-un said.
“To divide disciples evenly, I placed him under Baek Sang as a disciple, not myself.”
Jin Seong-un nodded.
If Hyeon-un had taken him directly as a disciple, Choi Jeong-myeong would have become a fellow disciple with Oh Jeong-san, even though he was only eight years old.
Jin Seong-un held back a quiet laugh as he recalled how Baek Sang and Baek Seol had called Choi Jeong-myeong “Sasuk.”
Meanwhile, Seomun Ak decided to play around with Choi Jeong-myeong a little, bumping his fists together in a playful manner as he said.
“You’re going to be a great Taiji swordsman, huh? Let’s see if that’s true.”
As Seomun Ak spoke jokingly, Choi Jeong-myeong boldly drew his sword and took a stance.
Though the sword looked too heavy for him, his grip showed no wavering, and a subtle, mysterious aura flowed faintly around him.
Considering his age, it was truly a sight worthy of admiration, and Seomun Ak’s grin grew wider.
The people around them stepped back to create space, and soon Seomun Ak’s fist and Choi Jeong-myeong’s blade clashed head-on.
Seomun Ak had made sure to hold back his strength. But one thing he had overlooked was that he had never fought a seven-year-old child before.
Kang–!
Choi Jeong-myeong’s sword flew high into the air. His small hands swelled red and puffy in an instant.
No matter how much talent or skill he had, the difference of nearly twenty years between them was insurmountable.
Between an adult and a child, those two decades were a gulf as vast as heaven and earth.
Immediately, Baek Seol, Baek Sang, and even Seo Yu-gyeom, who had been training in the backyard, peeked into the inn and showered him with ridicule.
“…You’re the lowest of the low.”
“A scoundrel unlike any other in the world.”
“Magnificent, Seomun Ak. A man who goes all out against a seven-year-old.”
Seomun Ak briefly wore an aggrieved expression.
He had tried to control his strength…
Then White Cloud Sword Hyeon-un spoke.
“It’s only been two months since he first held a sword. He’s still a child whose palms haven’t even toughened yet.”
With even Hyeon-un weighing in, Seomun Ak began to sweat. Since it was true that he had failed to hold back against a child, he stepped forward, intending to apologize to Choi Jeong-myeong.
But Choi Jeong-myeong simply picked his fallen sword back up and declared.
“Let’s do it again!”
His eyes burned with competitive spirit.
At this, Seomun Ak showed a surprised expression.
“Oh ho.”
For a boy who had only been wielding a sword for two months, his spirit was impressively bold.
He had pride and competitiveness, and if White Cloud Sword’s words were true, then his talent was extraordinary, with his body type and martial arts perfectly matched.
Even the age at which he first picked up a sword was not late compared to the heirs of the Nine Sects or the Five Great Clans.
Thinking this far, Seomun Ak began to understand why White Cloud Sword was so intent on keeping Jin Seong-un close.
From the perspective of Seomun Ak, who would one day become Grand Elder or Clan Head, the chance to ‘buy low’ on a future great martial artist was a rare opportunity.
“Good. This time I won’t hold back, so brace yourself.”
“Yes, Daehyeop!”
When such a young voice addressed him with that dignified title, everyone around smiled like parents watching their child.
Just like that, Seomun Ak and Choi Jeong-myeong went off to the backyard to spar again.
White Cloud Sword continued in a calm tone.
“Seong-un, I heard that you intend to help those afflicted by the flood, so I brought Jeong-myeong here to show him what righteousness and chivalry look like in the world. But it seems your companions have also changed quite a bit.”
Hyeon-un saw at a glance the growth of Seo Yu-gyeom and Seomun Ak. Only Jin Seong-un seemed no different than before.
The meaning was clear.
Either he had not grown at all, or he was already at a realm so far beyond that even Hyeon-un could not see through it.
Of course, Hyeon-un was certain it was the latter. After all, it was thanks to Jin Seong-un that those two rascals had grown in the first place.
‘Heh, even after so long, my heart still stirs when I see him.’
Jin Seong-un thought the elder’s gaze upon him was rather dangerous. It was enough to restore a sense of tension to his heart.
Baek Sang and Baek Seol then formally greeted Jin Seong-un.
“It has been a while, Sohyeop.”
“I’ve heard so many rumors about your inn lately. People don’t even believe me when I say I cooked there.”
Jin Seong-un introduced Lee Seowon as the new General Manager. Lee Seowon also exchanged greetings with Baek Sang and Baek Seol.
Through this, Lee Seowon realized something. These two Taoists were entirely different in spirit from those he had encountered when traveling with Ha Jooyeon.
It was clear at a glance—they were people who would spend their entire lives fighting against evil and living by righteousness and chivalry. In other words, the very embodiment of the Nine Sects’ later-generation prodigies.
The old saying about “like attracts like” came unbidden to his mind.
“My name is Lee Seowon. I will make Seong-un Inn the number one trading company in the world. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Oh, now that’s the kind of ambition a man should have. A very fine attitude.”
Baek Sang nodded vigorously, for he naturally liked people who were upright, passionate, and enterprising.
Then Baek Seol tilted her head curiously and asked.
“Jin Sohyeop, are you planning to go into the trading business now?”
“Ahem. Somehow it has already half turned out that way. The former Shui Stronghold has completely merged with Red Cliff Escort Agency, and Seong-un Inn has taken on the role of helping unite the two forces. And furthermore…”
Jin Seong-un went on to describe the current situation of Seong-un Inn.
In Sichuan, they stood between Hwa-un Trading Company and the Tang Clan. In Hunan, they were connected with the Anchaesa and the Changsha merchants. And in Jingzhou, they had ties to both the Jingzhou Merchants’ Association and the Yichang Trading District…
As he spoke, Jin Seong-un realized something strange.
“I don’t seem to be doing anything myself.”
And yet, in return, the wealth piled up quite substantially. So much that he himself couldn’t even guess the amount.
To this, it was Lee Seowon who replied.
“What you are doing is the most important work, Innkeeper.”
“And why is that so?”
“Hwa-un Trading Company and the Tang Clan of Sichuan, the Yangtze River Stronghold and Red Cliff Escort Agency, the Jingzhou Merchants’ Association and the Yichang Trading District, the Hunan Anchaesa and Mount Heng Sect—each of them is a powerful faction with a strong reputation. Not only in their provinces, but nationwide.”
When everyone nodded, Lee Seowon paused and continued.
“Without the Innkeeper, none of them could be connected. The most important thing in business is mutual trust. But between forces that have matured to this degree, true trust is impossible. Their interests always differ subtly. And so, they all rely on you, Innkeeper. You are their single shared point of interest.”
With Jin Seong-un as the fulcrum, they pledged trust with one another.
To betray each other would mean betraying Jin Seong-un.
And that very fact forged their trust.
Considering Jin Seong-un’s current rate of growth, there was no fool alive who would dare betray him.
While Baek Sang and Baek Seol showered Lee Seowon with praise for his analysis, Hyeon-un’s expression grew increasingly grave.
Then, a voice transmission slipped into Jin Seong-un’s ear.
– Tang Clan of Sichuan, or Wudang Sect?
– …What?
– Hwa-un Trading Company, or Wudang Sect?
– Wait, why are you using voice transmission for this…?
– Sima Baek, the Chief Strategist, or me, White Cloud Sword Hyeon-un! Which one will you choose?
Jin Seong-un looked at White Cloud Sword with a baffled face.
Hyeon-un’s expression showed he would not let this go without an answer.
Though Jin Seong-un had no parents, in that moment he understood the heart of a child being asked, “Do you like your mother or your father more?”
As he scratched his head in embarrassment—
Suddenly, the sound of children came from upstairs.
Everyone turned their heads toward the upper floor, their senses sharp enough to hear it clearly.
Someone had begun to cry softly.
Perhaps from sorrow, perhaps from hunger, or simply from a shaken heart.
Emotions are contagious. This was even truer for children. When one cried, the others followed.
Soon, the quiet whimpering turned into sobbing, then seizures, spreading through the entire group of children. Everyone hurriedly rushed upstairs.
…
…
Shin Eui told them it would take time to brew medicine, and urged them to comfort the children as best they could before disappearing.
Baek Sang and Baek Seol tried, but only made things worse. Neither of them had ever dealt with children before.
Lee Seowon’s head spun. He was good with numbers, but weak in things that could not be explained by numbers—like the emotions of children.
White Cloud Sword stepped forward confidently, only for one child to grab hold of his beard.
Though he had once defeated demonic masters of the Demonic Cult and even experts of the Golden Net, against the tender grip of a child’s hand, he had no way to escape.
At that moment—
The door creaked open wide.
It was Choi Jeong-myeong and Seomun Ak who entered.
When the children grew even more frightened at the sight of Seomun Ak’s face, Choi Jeong-myeong spoke.
“You’re like me, aren’t you?”
At those words, the uproar began to subside.
Choi Jeong-myeong simply gazed at the children quietly. And strangely enough, their seizures stopped, and their crying ceased.
Everyone held their breath, watching that strange scene intently.
Especially in Jin Seong-un’s eyes, a clear light of surprise flickered. Even if the others could not see it, with his Heavenly Martial Body, Jin Seong-un could clearly perceive what kind of existence Choi Jeong-myeong was.
It was not simply shared sympathy from children who had suffered similar fates that calmed the others.
That was part of it, but the true reason was the unique aura Choi Jeong-myeong radiated so faintly.
‘So this is the Yin-Yang Body.’
It was a stabilizing force, though in a different way from Women’s Moon Qi.
If Dalgi’s Women’s Moon Qi felt like it embraced and ruled over all under heaven, then the aura that Choi Jeong-myeong gave off was one of perfect balance.
Yin and Yang (陰陽), male and female (男女), black and white (黑白), heaven and earth (天地), day and night (晝夜). Choi Jeong-myeong’s qi stood at the exact center of them all.
That perfect equilibrium and calm was what soothed the anxious hearts of the children.
Then Choi Jeong-myeong spoke.
“You have nowhere to go? Then come with me.”
“W-what are you saying…”
Hyeon-un looked uncharacteristically flustered.
How could he possibly take so many children back to Wudang Sect?
But Baek Sang and Baek Seol clapped their hands, calling it a good idea.
Even Divine Physician chimed in, subtly agreeing with, “If it’s Wudang, they can be trusted.”
Then Choi Jeong-myeong turned to White Cloud Sword and asked.
“Elder! It’s okay, right!? You said righteousness and chivalry were important!”
Jin Seong-un was impressed. He had heard that the fearsome power of Wudang’s sword arts lay in their mysterious ability to redirect or deflect all of an opponent’s attacks.
That was exactly what Choi Jeong-myeong was doing now. He had been taught righteousness and chivalry, and now he was using it as a weapon to corner Hyeon-un.
Jin Seong-un looked into Choi Jeong-myeong’s eyes and understood. The pure gaze of a child could, at times, be sharper and stronger than any sword qi.
Hyeon-un was utterly cornered.
A boy who felt like his own grandson asked with sparkling eyes. Worse, he invoked righteousness and chivalry with his words.
That sly Divine Physician stirred the fire further, saying, “As expected of Wudang. The hope of the Orthodox Path!”
The pitiful children, who just moments ago had been crying and seizing, now all looked up at him together.
Above all, Seong-un was watching. Whatever decision he made now would directly shape Jin Seong-un’s impression of Wudang Sect.
There was never truly any other choice.
“…Very well, let us do that. Of course, the proper process must still be followed.”
By proper process, he meant meeting each child’s parents and speaking to them personally.
But everyone already knew the answer.
These were parents who had sold their children to strangers. Even if the local village chief had deceived them in part, the essence was unchanged.
And if Wudang Sect itself offered to care for the children, the parents’ answer was as plain as day.
Hyeon-un let out a quiet sigh.
What he had sought was Jin Seong-un, yet every time he became entangled with this fellow, it felt as though he ended up with a whole brood of grandchildren instead.