Chapter 21
Gaining People
The atmosphere of the Cheon Family was unsettled.
It wasn't only because of the embezzlement by the Cheongeum Pavilion Master and the Head of the Inspection Corps.
Cheon Muyang, newly elevated to Head of the Inspection Corps, issued a proclamation to every hall, sect, escort agency, merchant guild, and all others that maintained allied status with the Cheon Family.
γWe hereby declare war on corruption.γ
γAny exploitation other than lawful interest or legitimate taxation will not be tolerated. Upon discovery, it will be dealt with immediately and executed on the spot under the authority of the Head of the Inspection Corps.γ
γA grace period of fifteen days will be given. After that, any corruption discovered will never be forgiven.γ
So-Eungbang collapsed overnight.
There were even widespread rumors throughout Zhejiang that the So-Eungbang Lord died without leaving behind even a corpse.
However, no one feared the reckless young master.
γAt worst, he's just a reckless fool! Just slip him a few coins and that'll be that.γ
Most people thought lightly of it.
γIs the Cheon Family trying to stretch its limbs again?γ
Only a handful sensed that something had changed.
One thing was certain: Cheon Muyang stood at the center of the storm.
"Hmm...."
Of course, the man himself was frowning as if something displeased him.
"So, the warehouse in Shaoxing was completely empty?"
"Yes. We couldn't find anything at all."
"Then the whereabouts of the funds...."
"Cheon Ahaeng likely doesn't know either. He was nothing more than a scarecrow."
Cheon Muyang nodded.
Just as Cheon Seon-hak had said, the former Head of the Inspection Corps, Cheon Ahaeng, had merely been a puppet.
"That's a shame. It seemed like the Cheongeum Pavilion Master knew something."
"That's probably why he ended up dead."
In contrast, Cheon Ahaeng survived.
He knew almost nothing.
Cheon Muyang clicked his tongue.
"So in the end, the funds have effectively vanished."
"There was no helping it."
"But...."
Where that money had flowed remained unknown.
That fact nagged at Cheon Muyang.
"If the Elder Council has joined hands with the Demonic Cult..."
In the worst case.
"Isn't it possible that the Cheon Family's funds flowed into the Demonic Cult?"
"...."
It sounded unlikely, but.
If one assumed the worst, it wasn't impossible.
"What do you intend to do now?"
"For now, I plan to start with internal discipline. There will surely be forces that have defected, just like So-Eungbang."
"Does the Inspection Corps even have the manpower for that?"
Cheon Muyang had arrested everyone belonging to the Inspection Corps.
They had failed to fulfill their duty, and thus had to pay the price.
"That is indeed the problem."
As a result, Cheon Muyang's Inspection Corps was practically devoid of people.
Though he scratched the back of his head, Cheon Muyang didn't look particularly worried.
"You remember the promise we made back then, don't you?"
"The promise where you asked for people?"
"Yes."
"However, that choice belongs to them."
"I know."
The trainees were assigned throughout the Cheon Family based on their performance, personal wishes, and other considerations.
Of course, the vast majority wanted to enter the Cheonryong Sword Unit or the Cheonbong Sword Unit.
"You seem rather confident."
"Not at all. No matter what choice they make, they'll end up becoming people of the Cheon Family anyway, so it doesn't matter."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Cheon Seon-hak let out a small chuckle.
'The current has already changed.'
He even wondered if Cheon Muyang had won over more hearts than he had expected.
"You must not neglect your training. At that level, you won't be able to handle the Elder Council."
"Don't worry. I know my own weakness better than anyone."
"Until then, I'll help you."
"I won't refuse."
Cheon Muyang gave a small bow and stepped outside.
"I have to become stronger."
He had obtained the Azure Clear Stone Oil, but without the internal energy to absorb it, it would all be for nothing.
"A race against time, then."
The fifteen days he had promised Cheon Wi-gang.
Within that time, Cheon Muyang had to grow stronger.
"Let's not rush."
Slowly, Cheon Muyang repeated only the best efforts he could make.
When he arrived at the training grounds, he saw Wolyeong still running.
"Wolyeong."
"You're here, Young Master?"
Wolyeong had improved so much she was hardly recognizable, her breathing no longer disturbed in the slightest.
"You're running pretty well now."
"Of course! When it comes to running, I might even be better than you, Young Master?"
"Is that so?"
Cheon Muyang loosened up his body.
"Then shall we run together for once?"
"Yes! I'd love that."
The two of them ran side by side.
***
Swaaah!
It was a rainy day.
The daily routine of Cheon Muyang, who had temporarily risen to the position of Head of the Inspection Corps, was no different from usual.
Hwoong!
Standing at the center of the training grounds with his sword in hand, there was no trace of the reckless executioner-like image in Cheon Muyang.
Having lost a great deal of weight, Cheon Muyang now looked refined enough to be mistaken for a noble young master reciting poetry.
Countless gazes were fixed on him, but unlike before, their nature was different.
"Huhk, huhk!"
Near Cheon Muyang as he swung his sword, Wolyeong was running frantically.
The sight of the two of them together had now become familiar to the trainees.
Step, step.
Someone approached Cheon Muyang.
It was Neung Ryeo-un, the one whose sword had been taken away before.
"Eldest Young Master."
After his defeat that day, Neung Ryeo-un had become a completely different person.
He corrected his careless speech and behavior and no longer cared about others' gazes.
So focused solely on the sword, Neung Ryeo-un had become a true swordsman.
Everyone acknowledged that Neung Ryeo-un had become the new chief trainee, with the sole exception of Lee Seok-gi.
"Yes. What is it?"
"I have something to say."
"Oh? Did you come to get your sword back?"
Cheon Muyang chuckled softly.
Neung Ryeo-un had already repented his past shortcomings and stood upright now; he was more than qualified to wield a sword.
"If you want it, I can give it back."
Wolyeong was in the middle of training.
So Cheon Muyang would have had to retrieve the sword himself.
"What I want is not the sword."
"What?"
"I want to become your sword, Eldest Young Master."
"...."
Neung Ryeo-un knelt.
Seeing this, Cheon Muyang smiled faintly.
'So the bite finally comes.'
Neung Ryeo-un was a talent.
In the future, he would rise under Cheon Seon-hak, pass through the role of squad leader of the Cheonbong Sword Unit, and even reach the position of vice unit leader.
However, Cheon Muyang rejected him once.
"You want to become my sword?"
"Yes."
"Not just anyone can become my sword."
"...I know."
Neung Ryeo-un lifted his head.
There was a resolute determination that could even be called stubbornness.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to enter the Cheonbong Sword Unit or the Cheonryong Sword Unit?"
With his ability, Neung Ryeo-un could surely enter the Cheonryong Sword Unit.
Joining the sword unit that represented the Cheon Family was a path of honor for trainees.
"It's not my path."
"Hm.... Stubborn, aren't you."
"I learned that from you, Eldest Young Master."
Grin.
The corner of Cheon Muyang's lips lifted.
Wasn't this exactly what he wanted?
"Very well. I'll watch whether you keep that resolve."
"Thank you."
"If you've decided to become my sword, remember just one thing."
"...."
"Never lose to anyone."
"I will remember that."
"Good."
Hwoooong!
Cheon Muyang raised Cheon-gwang.
Cheon-gwang surged upward without the slightest tremor, emitting a momentum that seemed ready to pierce the heavens.
"What are you looking at?"
"...?"
He wanted to throw out a topic.
After all, contemplation of the sword would become the driving force to move forward.
"I'll ask again. What does your sword seek to contain?"
The martial arts a trainee could learn were extremely limited.
However, hadn't Cheon Muyang realized it?
The Cheon Family's true martial arts could never be expressed through mere formulas.
'In other words, there are no limits.'
It depended on one's realization.
Depending on what kind of sky one pursued, it was possible to learn an entirely new martial art.
'Of course, a standardized sky isn't wrong either....'
Cheon Wi-gang had only seen and learned a sky that had been endlessly refined and improved from the past.
Yet he still reached a supreme realm, so it was never an incorrect path.
'At the very least, my people must not pursue that kind of sky.'
It could not be a sky that everyone saw.
Hwoooong!
"And what do you desire?"
Three questions.
What he saw, what he wished to contain, and what he desiredβthose answers would ultimately become the path of the sword that Neung Ryeo-un would walk.
"Watch carefully."
Cheon-gwang split the heavens.
Through that rift, an infinite sky revealed itself.
It was like the countless skies Cheon Muyang had seen in the Cheonryong Archive.
"Ah...!"
Countless skies.
Neung Ryeo-un stepped toward the far side of that infinite world.
The same was true for Cheon Muyang.
Facing the sky branching into infinite paths, greed welled up within him.
'I will embrace all of these skies.'
Hadn't he declared that he would walk the path of the Heaven Beyond Heaven, daring to contain the infinite sky?
That illusory sky shimmered faintly, like a wavering mirage.
'Upper Heaven....'
A faint scent of peaches filled the air.
The closer he drew to that place, the more Cheon Muyang felt as though his very soul was floating.
'Ah....'
All the harmonies of creation existed there.
The law of cause and effect that surrounded all things in the world.
That pure and ultimate principle became visible.
That was why he understood.
'It is a power that is not permitted.'
In accordance with the will of the world.
Cheon-gwang ultimately failed to complete the path of the sword and stopped at a single point in the void.
The infinite sky slowly closed, leaving only one sky behind.
It was Neung Ryeo-un's sky.
Paaaat!
Even that sky closed.
As everything vanished, Neung Ryeo-un realized the true essence of the sword he had cultivated.
"Was I... blind all this time?"
The sword he had known until now had been nothing more than a shadow.
Knowing and not knowing were separated by a sheet of paper, yet at the same time, by a distance as vast as heaven and earth.
That contact with a world he would never have known had he not seen it left a deep resonance within Neung Ryeo-un.
"What did you see?"
"The Middle Heaven ... I saw 'weight.'"
Grin.
Cheon Muyang smiled.
What he had seen did not matter.
The important thing was that he had seen something at all.
"Yes. That is your sky."
"My sky...."
"Now that you've become my sword, shouldn't you manage at least this much?"
"Ah."
Neung Ryeo-un vaguely glimpsed the sky Cheon Muyang was looking at.
It was so unimaginably high that he wondered if it could ever be reached.
'We're looking at different places....'
Neung Ryeo-un clenched his teeth.
Even if he could never reach Cheon Muyang's sky, he still wanted to chase after it.
"Sharpen yourself diligently."
"Yes, Eldest Young Master."
Neung Ryeo-un made a vow.
Until the day he could confidently say he was strong enough, he would not reclaim the sword he had entrusted to Cheon Muyang.
"My sword... I'll come to retrieve it someday."
Cheon Muyang nodded, understanding his resolve.
"I won't wait forever, so hurry up and come get it."
"Yes."
That was the end of it.
Neung Ryeo-un, who had declared himself Cheon Muyang's sword, once again grasped a wooden training sword.
'You'll become stronger than before, Neung Ryeo-un.'
Cheon Muyang did not know what Neung Ryeo-un's end would be.
But one thing was certainβhe would have died wielding his sword for the sake of the Cheon Family.
That was the kind of man Neung Ryeo-un was.
'How many died for the Cheon Family despite not bearing the Cheon surname?'
Cheon Muyangβno, Mu-myeongβhad been the same.
Crunch.
Cheon Muyang gripped his sword tightly.
The memory of the day the flames of the Demonic Cult engulfed the Cheon Family resurfaced vividly.
'When the Demonic Cult attacked the Cheon Family, those who bore the Cheon surname were busy fleeing or surrendering.'
Those who fought with their lives on the line were Mu-myeong and others who did not carry the Cheon name.
Then who, truly, was the master of the Cheon Family?
To that question, Cheon Muyang could not rashly answer that it was those with the Cheon surname.
That was why Cheon Muyang did not want to see their deaths again.
'I never want to see their deaths again.'
When reborn as Cheon Muyang, Mu-myeong had made a vow.
"I will not die a meaningless death."
He wanted to grow strong and survive.
Up until now, he had only sought to protect the Cheon Family for the sake of survival.
'But not anymore.'
That was no longer the case.
Cheon Muyang finally realized it.
The reason he had to become strong was not only to survive, but to protect those who had given their lives for the Cheon Family.
'Is that, in the end, a requiem for the nameless who died protecting the Cheon Family....'
Cheon Muyang's resolve changed.
Yet, at the same time, it did not.
Protecting the nameless (η‘ε) was ultimately the same as protecting himself.
'One failure is enough, isn't it?'
Cheon Muyang looked up at the sky.
The sky, impossibly high, felt strangely close today.