Chapter 25: Old Men
The second-generation disciple of the Wudang Sect, Baek Sang.
Ever since joining the Wudang Sect at a very young age along with his younger sister, Baek Seol, this was his first journey into the jianghu.
The siblings possessed notable talent even within the Wudang Sect. Although they were the youngest among the second-generation disciples, some even evaluated that they were capable of aiming for the position of the next head disciple.
They feared they might just be frogs in a well. The jianghu was known to be extremely dangerous and full of eccentric and bizarre people.
However, that anxiety melted away like snow upon their arrival at the Murim Alliance. No matter which prodigy of their age group they saw, the two of them were better.
Frankly speaking, apart from a few prodigies from the Five Great Clans or the Nine Great Sects, the rest all seemed unimpressive.
After making acquaintances with senior orthodox martial artists in the Murim Alliance, they resumed their journey into the jianghu.
Along with Seomun Ak, Seok Tae-shin, and Tang So-yeon—friends they had made at the Murim Alliance—they headed to Sichuan. It was to attend the birthday banquet of the Poison King, the head of the Tang Clan.
The journey from Hubei to Sichuan was smooth.
Even when they occasionally encountered bandits or mountain brigands, there were no problems. Merely mentioning the names of the Wudang Sect, Tang Clan of Sichuan, Seomun Clan, or House of Seok was enough to make most flee.
They had not once engaged in a real fight.
Whenever they stopped at an inn, Seomun Ak would pick a quarrel with the waiter or the cook, just as he was doing now.
‘What a ruffian.’
Every time, Baek Sang would click his tongue inwardly.
The reason Seomun Ak behaved so obnoxiously was obvious. He wanted to earn points with Tang So-yeon, the daughter of the Tang Clan.
As men often did, he was showing off how aggressive he could be.
‘What’s the point if his target is just a waiter?’
Baek Sang simply could not understand it.
Of course, a man who only did things that made sense would not have earned the nickname of a once-in-a-lifetime troublemaker.
This time too, the group entered an inn in a small area called Yichang, and as usual, Seomun Ak picked a pointless quarrel with the waiter.
Baek Sang clicked his tongue inwardly but did not intervene.
More precisely, there was no reason to intervene.
Tang So-yeon seemed to enjoy Seomun Ak’s antics. Not that she rationally approved of them, but she seemed to enjoy the stimulating and entertaining situation.
‘They say the people of the Tang Clan grow up close to poison and like anything stimulating.’
The warriors of the Tang Clan liked their food, their people, and their situations all stimulating. Likely the result of repeated exposure to strong stimuli since childhood.
For that reason, Baek Sang found no reason to protect the waiter at the cost of offending Tang So-yeon.
Unlike himself, just one of many disciples of the Wudang Sect, Tang So-yeon was a woman destined to be the next head of one of the Five Great Clans.
And above all…
Baek Sang looked under the table at Baek Seol, who was tugging at his sleeve. Their family ran a business in Sichuan. There was nothing good that could come from offending Tang So-yeon.
His younger sister Baek Seol was a clever woman. She was looking at him with eyes that told him not to create trouble for their family out of a fleeting sense of chivalry.
Just as Baek Sang let out a small sigh—
“Tell the cook to come out!”
Seomun Ak shouted again.
The guests who had been eating in the inn had already all fled outside.
To the common folk of a small town like this, the tyranny of martial artists felt like a disaster.
Even a thoughtless punch from a martial artist could take their life if they were unlucky.
“Chef Seo, don’t come out. I’ll handle this.”
The waiter called toward the kitchen.
Baek Sang sighed even more deeply. The waiter seemed to think he could handle this somehow, but didn’t realize such words only made Seomun Ak angrier.
Sure enough, Seomun Ak’s face turned red and blue.
From what Baek Sang could tell, as the second son of the Seomun Clan, Seomun Ak had an inferiority complex toward the Five Great Clans, and perhaps to compensate for that, he treated those he considered beneath him even more harshly.
Seomun Ak raised his fist. Fortunately—or unfortunately—there was no qi imbued in it.
Suddenly, Seomun Ak’s fist shot toward the waiter’s face. Even without qi, someone without martial arts would never be able to dodge.
At the very least, his nose bone would be smashed.
‘Well, if it ends with that, it’s lucky.’
Baek Sang had previously witnessed a waiter’s face being beaten into a bloody mess in another town, simply for not lowering his head when receiving payment.
Seomun Ak enjoyed deliberately smashing people halfway with an unimbued punch.
Swaek—!
Seomun Ak’s fist cut through the air.
In that instant, everyone, including Baek Sang and Baek Seol, widened their eyes.
The waiter stumbled slightly and dodged the punch. It seemed he had avoided it by sheer luck, almost falling over in surprise.
Not a good sign.
The reddened fist of Seomun Ak began to fill with qi. The Seomun Clan’s specialty was fist techniques.
If that fist hit the waiter, he would die instantly. Soon enough, people from the Seomun Clan would come to soothe, cajole, and threaten the innkeeper to cover up the incident.
Seomun Ak would not be punished in the slightest. Killing a mere waiter ‘by accident’ would be forgotten after a few days of feigned reflection.
Baek Sang stood up.
He was not particularly chivalrous, but this had crossed the line.
His younger sister seemed to think the same, as she released his sleeve and stood up with him.
At that moment, Tang So-yeon spoke.
“Just leave it. Young Master Seomun isn’t a child; he must have his reasons. If you interfere here, you’ll only end up greatly damaging his honor.”
Baek Sang and Baek Seol looked at Tang So-yeon.
Her green eyes were sparkling as if she found the situation fascinating.
Baek Sang felt confident that if he fought Tang So-yeon—who was his age—he would win six out of ten times. But the problem was that she was a woman destined to be the ruler of Sichuan.
The Wudang Sect was in no way inferior to the Tang Clan, but the prestige of an ordinary disciple and that of a future clan head were vastly different.
Also, he could not ignore his parents’ business in Sichuan.
As Baek Sang hesitated—
Swiik—!
Seomun Ak’s fist swung widely.
It carried overwhelming power and speed compared to before.
If that punch landed, the waiter’s head might burst entirely.
Baek Sang regretted his moment of hesitation.
‘I should have stepped in immediately!’
Seomun Ak’s fist was already at the waiter’s nose tip.
As a martial artist, Baek Sang could see every movement, but the waiter seemed completely unaware that a punch was being thrown.
Baek Sang sighed, and Baek Seol turned her head away. Seok Tae-shin of the House of Seok grimaced, seemingly unable to watch something so cruel, while Tang So-yeon’s eyes shone as if she didn’t want to miss a single moment.
Kwaang—!
Suddenly, the fist struck something, releasing the qi it held.
As the qi dispersed, everyone’s eyes widened. At some point, a man had appeared, blocking Seomun Ak’s punch with an open palm.
Tang So-yeon leapt to her feet. The sudden appearance of a black-haired cook whose looks were just as outstanding as the waiter’s—was this not an exciting and stimulating turn of events?
While Tang So-yeon’s eyes glittered, the waiter spoke in a sighing voice.
“…I told you I’d handle it.”
Baek Sang thought the waiter was truly full of bluster.
From the looks of it, the cook had learned martial arts—so who was protecting whom here?
Cooks, too, were often among those who lived by the blade, and many of them had fierce tempers.
Some had learned martial arts from cheap manuals bought in the marketplace, and it seemed this cook was the same.
‘Still, he seems quite talented.’
To block Seomun Ak’s punch so lightly with such martial arts—on closer inspection, he didn’t seem much older than Baek Sang and his peers.
Baek Sang studied the suddenly-appeared cook’s features and felt something off.
Were those eyes really those of a cook?
As he examined him more closely, he spotted a dagger peeking out from the cook’s sleeve. It was certainly not something a cook would normally use.
‘A martial artist?’
Just as the thought crossed his mind—
The cook clicked his tongue while looking at Seomun Ak and the rest of them.
“I knew there were plenty of vermin among the orthodox sects, but I didn’t expect even the Wudang Sect’s prodigies to be like this.”
At Seo Yu-gyeom’s mocking voice, Baek Sang’s face flushed red.
It was truly shameful. But more than shame, his foremost feeling was concern.
He had blatantly provoked Seomun Ak—something big was bound to happen.
Baek Sang made up his mind in that instant.
No matter how awkward things might become with the Tang Clan of Sichuan or Tang So-yeon, now that the Wudang Sect had been mentioned, he had to step in.
Sure enough, qi burst violently from Seomun Ak’s entire body in his rage. When he stepped forward, the floor cracked, and a light wave of his hand smashed tables and chairs.
“Young Master Seomun, that’s enough…”
Just as Baek Sang hurriedly spoke—
Two old men suddenly entered the inn.
At the sight of them, Baek Sang’s face turned pale.
Baek Seol’s face, beside him, went beyond pale to blue.
Tang So-yeon, Seomun Ak, and Seok Tae-shin didn’t know who the old men were—so Seomun Ak uttered reckless words.
“Old men, the shop’s closed for today, so—”
His words never finished.
In an instant, the figure of the old man at the door appeared right in front of Seomun Ak.
Suddenly, the old man raised a knife-hand high.
Just as Seomun Ak’s expression turned bewildered—
Crack!
With a sharp splitting sound, Seomun Ak lay on the floor. Blood trickled from a slightly cracked crown of his head.
Tang So-yeon and Seok Tae-shin were shocked.
Not only was the old man’s martial skill astonishing, but they had never imagined he would dare to crack the skull of the Seomun Clan’s second son.
The Seomun Clan might lag slightly behind the Five Great Clans, but it was still one of the most renowned noble families of the era.
But Baek Sang and Baek Seol, as if that no longer mattered, didn’t even look at Seomun Ak—they just trembled.
The old man who had battered Seomun Ak’s head now roared at the gathered prodigies.
“You crazy brats! Do you have any idea where you are?!”
Hyeon-un was so angry his beard quivered—something that hadn’t happened in a long time.
His close friend, Shin Mok, had obtained an extremely rare liquor from somewhere, so he had thought of Seong-un and came to the inn with him to drink.
But upon entering, what he saw was a bunch of orthodox troublemakers bullying Seong-un and the cook, Seo.
Moreover, the cook had a dagger in his hand. If he had been even a moment later, that Seomun Clan brat’s throat would have been pierced.
But there was an even bigger problem. Hyeon-un’s eyes blazed as he glared at a certain pair.
“I could understand if it were the ruffians of the Seomun Clan, House of Seok, or Tang Clan—but you dare…!”
Tang So-yeon frowned.
Hubei wasn’t far from Sichuan. And yet, to be insulted like this here?
She felt a moment of displeasure, but kept silent for now, as Baek Sang and Baek Seol’s behavior was strange.
Baek Sang and Baek Seol were crushed under immense pressure. Baek Seol, whose martial skill was weaker, felt her legs would collapse any second.
Baek Sang, at least, managed to speak through his trembling.
“E-Elder, it’s not what it looks like…”
Baek Sang felt wronged—he had been just about to stop Seomun Ak when the elder appeared.
At the word elder, Seok Tae-shin’s face also turned blue. Even his father, the head of the House of Seok, would not dare put on airs before a Wudang Sect elder.
Tang So-yeon alone maintained some composure. The Tang Clan and Wudang Sect were equals in standing.
“Elder, please calm yourself. You’ll break everything.”
When Jin Seong-un said that, Baek Sang’s eyes widened. The waiter dared to speak like that to…
“Ah! Right, right! S-sorry about that.”
“…”
Shock filled Baek Sang’s face.
Hyeon-un, known for being so stubborn that even the sect leader of Wudang had trouble dealing with him—
And yet, at a single word from the waiter, he completely let go of his anger and even smiled, almost as if watching his words.
‘What is this?’
Baek Sang felt as if he were dreaming.
It was that surreal a scene.
Suddenly, a hurried voice came from outside the inn.
“M-Master! I think there’s been a thief in Yichang! My treasured Yanghadae liquor…”
The man who appeared made Baek Sang’s expression grow even stranger upon seeing his face.
“U-Uncle Cheong-u?”
Cheong-u was the courtesy name of Oh Jeong-san.
Among the first-generation disciples, Oh Jeong-san was the one Baek Sang feared most.
Though he had become an outside disciple, he ran a fairly large trading company.
Since Baek Sang and Baek Seol were from a merchant family, Oh Jeong-san was both a senior in the murim and in the business world.
Oh Jeong-san blinked for a moment upon entering.
With a serious look as if trying to grasp the situation, he surveyed the inn.
First, Elder Shin Mok, who kept avoiding his gaze—apparently, he was the one who stole the liquor.
Then, his master’s angry expression.
Seong-un, as calm as ever. For some reason, Chef Seo was snorting heavily.
His flustered juniors—what were they doing here?
The cowardly second son of the House of Seok, and the unruly daughter of the Tang Clan.
‘And lastly, the half-dead one lying there… Seomun Clan!’
Oh Jeong-san quickly sized up the situation, then suddenly widened his eyes, nose, and mouth, speaking in a trembling voice.
“Ah, so Chef Seo finally…!”
A perfectly reasonable conclusion for a merchant.
Seo Yu-gyeom only looked at Oh Jeong-san with an incredulous expression.