Chapter 52
Namgung Seohee (2)
Upon arriving in Hangzhou, Cheon Muyang could not hide his admiration.
"Oh ho."
In the past, Hangzhou had already been a massive city, but its back alleys in particular had been poorly maintained.
That was because the Cheon Clan had lacked the capital to invest.
However, recently, it seemed the Cheon Clan's financial strength had stabilized, as investment had clearly begun in earnest.
"So it could change this much."
Before searching for Namgung Seohee,
Cheon Muyang suddenly became curious about how Hangzhou's back alleys had changed.
"Though the Lord of the Thousand-Gold Pavilion surely handled it all."
All of this had been overseen by the Lord of the Thousand-Gold Pavilion, Geumsan.
"Since I'm here, I should take a look."
Cheon Muyang walked along the clearly widened main road.
"Hm? Isn't this the place?"
He tried to head toward the back alleys.
But no matter where he looked, there were no back alleys to be found.
"Wait. Don't tell me..."
It didn't seem that the roads had simply been widened and cleaned.
"Did he completely change the structure itself?"
Geumsan had aimed to overhaul the very structure of the city.
The layout made that intention obvious.
The areas that had once been back alleys were now bustling with construction.
"Maybe this was actually easier."
Sometimes, isn't it better to clear everything away and start anew from scratch?
"So the back alleys themselves are gone."
And with that, the back alleys had truly disappeared.
Meaning there were no longer any places in Hangzhou where sunlight could not reach.
"It's warm."
Perhaps because of that,
this place, once steeped in damp gloom, now felt warm.
"Waaah!"
What had once been a road leading into the back alleysβ
children were now running along it, shouting noisily.
'Hm.'
Recognizing that the clothes the children wore bore the mark of the Cheon Clan, Cheon Muyang followed them.
"What is this?"
Before long, he saw a long line stretching ahead.
At the end of the line, the Cheon Clan's banner fluttered.
"Line up in order!"
"Those who can work, come this way!"
"Ah..."
Now he understood how Geumsan intended to eliminate Hangzhou's back alleys.
A back alley was not merely a location.
It was a place where the abandoned gathered, and true reform always began with their salvation.
"Relief efforts, huh..."
Cheon Muyang smiled.
Relief was the fundamental solution Geumsan had chosen.
"As expected. I entrusted this well. He knows what the core issue is."
Simply handing things out was not relief.
That was no different from pouring water into a bottomless jar.
True relief meant giving work to those who could work, and providing education so people could make use of the talents they possessed.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of work.
The back-alley redevelopment project alone required an enormous workforce.
"At this rate..."
In just a year, the city would be unrecognizable.
That was when it happened.
Thud!
Someone bumped into Cheon Muyang's thigh.
"I'm sorry!"
A boy in filthy clothes.
Instead of running away, the boy bowed his head to Cheon Muyang.
'In the past...'
He would almost certainly have been a pickpocket.
But now, these children no longer needed to steal to survive.
"Are you hurt?"
"No!"
Cheon Muyang gently patted the boy's head.
"That's a relief. Off you go."
"Yes! Thank you!"
In the direction the boy ran, a magnificent building came into view.
"...."
As he passed by, Cheon Muyang saw children studying academics, and others holding wooden swords.
'So this is the place.'
The place Geumsan had spoken of.
A facility meant to raise those abducted by the Black Traders into talents of the Cheon Clan.
"This was it."
Something the Cheon Clan had forgotten.
He finally realized the fundamental reason the Cheon Clan could enter the Ten Great Clans of the world, yet never the Three Great Clans.
"Relief is only the beginning."
Those who benefited from the Cheon Clan would become an unseen force.
When that force finally sprouted, only then could the Cheon Clan leap to the next stage.
'Good.'
With a faint smile, Cheon Muyang was about to head elsewhere to look for Namgung Seohee.
"...?"
But it didn't seem necessary.
A woman, clearly dressed as a martial artist, was walking toward him.
'Found her?'
Cheon Muyang remembered Namgung Seohee.
γPleaseβ¦ kill me.γ
Those eyes that had lost all light.
Even now, he remembered them vividly.
Alive, yet not truly living.
Rescued from the Thousand-Faced Yin Demon, Namgung Seohee had been nothing more than a ruined shell.
A Namgung Seohee who longed for death.
'I don't know what became of her after she returned to the Namgung Clan.'
After returning, she had never once stepped outside again.
'This time, let that flower bloom.'
A peak that had never fully blossomed.
He wondered what kind of flower she would produce.
Just as he himself had been given a second chance, Cheon Muyang wanted to give that chance to Namgung Seohee as well.
'I came here for that reason from the start. Namgung Seohee, I will save you.'
Cheon Muyang gazed at her.
Just seeing the vitality in her eyes stirred new emotions within him.
'I can change countless futures.'
Because he could twist a future that had once been set in stone.
The annihilation of the Cheon Clan, the death of Namgung Seohee, and likely even the downfall of the Central Plains' martial world.
Only Cheon Muyang knew that future.
And only he could change it.
"I'll change it. That future."
Cheon Muyang continued to watch Namgung Seohee.
Even her gait was different.
Her balanced steps were neither light nor heavy.
Even the epithet Sword Peak failed to fully describe her talent.
'She's already a sword herself.'
Perhaps because he had seen her future self,
he wanted to see the living, vibrant sword she carried now.
There was a unique presence about those who wielded a sword unbound by rigid forms.
'Was she always this good?'
Such people did exist from time to time.
Those who could not be explained by the common classifications of Peak, Transcendent, or Enlightened.
Those distinctions were merely convenient labels.
By those standards, Cheon Muyang himself would fall somewhere between Peak and Transcendentβ
yet hadn't he blocked a blow from Yeomradojon, who had reached the realm of Enlightenment?
'There is no absolute in martial arts.'
There was no such thing as absolutes.
Those categories were nothing more than broad frameworks.
How could there be only one anomaly in the Central Plains' martial world?
Everyone's path was different.
Everyone's enlightenment was different.
Thus, even among those classified in the same realm, there could be undeniable differences.
'That's why they say there's no end to martial arts.'
Just as there is no absolute,
there is no end.
And so, Cheon Muyang felt genuine reverence for the sword Namgung Seohee had achieved.
'She's already obtained her own sword. Perhaps the reason she ran away wasn't merely to oppose a political marriage.'
Her yearning for the swordβ
that yearning may have been what led her outside her family in the first place.
"Interesting."
Flinch!
Namgung Seohee's eyes widened. She hadn't sensed Cheon Muyang's presence at all.
"W-who are you?!"
She froze.
Cheon Muyang stopped as well.
Namgung Seohee hadn't drawn her sword, yet Cheon Muyang was already within the range of her strike.
Even so, her eyes darted left and right without pause.
'When did he approach?'
In other words, she hadn't noticed until he had already entered her sword's reach.
"No need to be on guard."
"Who are you?"
"Me? Someone who's here to help you."
"β¦What do you mean by that?"
"The Thousand-Faced Yin Demon."
Shiiing!
The instant she heard those words, Namgung Seohee drew her sword and aimed it at him.
"How did you know I was hunting him?"
Swish.
Instead of answering, Cheon Muyang pointed toward where Namgung Seohee had been looking.
"I have my own reason for needing to catch him as well."
In the distance was an estate where children once abducted by the Black Traders were now playing.
The reason the Thousand-Faced Yin Demon had settled in Zhejiang was simpleβ
his supply was steady.
And that supplier was the Black Traders.
'Failing to stop the Black Traders was the Cheon Clan's fault.'
That failure was the Cheon Clan's karma, and Cheon Muyang intended to bear that responsibility himself.
Separate from his desire to save Namgung Seohee,
it had to be him who captured the Thousand-Faced Yin Demon.
"Are you from the Cheon Clan?"
"Well, something like that."
"And how am I supposed to believe you?"
"Proof, huh..."
Cheon Muyang grinned.
Proof was simple.
The sword.
Whoooong!
Sword energy bloomed in a clear blue hue.
That pure, lucid aura spoke of the path Cheon Muyang had walked with the sword.
"Ah..."
Namgung Seohee saw it.
The blood and sweat soaked into Cheon Muyang's blade.
That alone was enough.
He was a man of the swordβa swordsman.
And a swordsman did not lie with his blade.
"I'm in. Let's catch him together."
Cheon Muyang smiled.
Her way of thinking was perfectly aligned with that of a true swordsman.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just curious about your plan."
"I'll be the bait."
"...."
As befitting her mindset,
it was an extremely boldβand dangerousβidea.
"Bait?"
"If I become the woman who best suits West Lake, the Thousand-Faced Yin Demon's lust will reach its peak."
"...."
She said it calmly,
stating plainly that she would use her own beauty.
"You're remarkably confident."
"It's simply the truth that I'm beautiful."
He almost wanted to call it shamelessness,
but Namgung Seohee was undeniably beautiful.
That was precisely why the epithet Sword Peak carried such weight.
It meant that her sword shone even brighter than her beauty.
"So?"
"According to the testimonies of those who survived him, the Thousand-Faced Yin Demon uses drugs."
"Drugs?"
"Yes. Fortunately, I have an antidote bead."
An antidote bead was an artifact capable of neutralizing poisons.
As the treasured daughter of the Namgung Clan, it seemed only natural she would possess such an item.
"Hm..."
Her plan was dangerous, but it was a gamble worth taking.
'I would've done the same.'
It was a rational judgment.
Still, a question lingered.
'Even with an antidote bead, was she defeated that easily?'
Namgung Seohee was not weak.
Even if she hadn't reached the pinnacle, she had already obtained her own sword.
She shouldn't have fallen so easily.
'Is there something I'm missing?'
There was no way to know without facing it directly.
So Cheon Muyang decided to confront it head-on.
"Let me ask you one thing."
"Yes."
"Did you intend to ask the Cheon Clan for help? Or even the Namgung Clan?"
"No. I had no intention of asking for help. Ahβwell, I did plan to inform the Cheon Clan. This isn't Anhui, after all."
"I see."
Cheon Muyang nodded.
From the beginning, she had intended to shoulder everything herself.
"Since it's come to this..."
"β¦?"
Namgung Seohee's eyes lit up.
It was supposed to be something she did alone,
yet an unexpected person had stepped in.
She didn't even know exactly who he was.
But one thing was certainβ
he wasn't evil, and he was a swordsman with upright eyes.
'Good eyes. A good sword.'
More than his handsome looks, it was his sword that interested her.
"You're strong, aren't you?"
"β¦What?"
"Let's cross swords. There's nothing else to do anyway. No Yin Demon would be roaming around in broad daylight."
"You want to spar?"
"Yes. There's an open clearing in the nearby mountains. That should be enough."
Was it politeness?
Or sheer boldness?
Cheon Muyang shook his headβ
but his answer was affirmative.
"That sounds good."
Wasn't it exactly what he'd hoped for?
"Great."
"...."
Namgung Seohee extended her hand.
Cheon Muyang chuckled softly and took it.
"As expectedβgood hands."
Namgung Seohee smiled.
Just as she'd expected, Cheon Muyang's hands were rough and ugly,
calluses split and healed over countless times.
But to a swordsman, those scars were the finest of medals.
"Ah..."
Her hands, unlike her appearance,
were also covered in calluses.
"You too."
Cheon Muyang acknowledged herβ
as a fellow swordsman.