Chapter 106: Chapter 106
The old man did not take his eyes off Jang Geon despite Dan Sang-woon’s question. The two met each other’s gazes with deeply sunken eyes.
The old man asked:
“Where did you come from?”
“From the west.”
“The west? Beyond the mountains, or beyond the sea?”
“Beyond the sea.”
At Jang Geon’s answer, the old man narrowed his eyes slightly. In that brief silence, the air between them grew heavy. Feeling that heavy atmosphere, Dan Sang-woon looked back and forth between his master and Jang Geon with a bewildered expression.
A moment later, the old man asked once more:
“What is your purpose in coming to this frontier?”
“I am merely traveling. Following the wind and clouds.”
“Traveling…”
The old man repeated that word in a low voice, then stroked his white beard. A sharp light flickered in his eyes, but Jang Geon met that gaze calmly without backing down. Seeing Jang Geon’s calm posture, the old man let out a faint sigh and lowered his momentum.
“Forgive me. A solitary old man tends to be overly suspicious.”
“It is understandable. In these lands, caution is a virtue.”
At Jang Geon’s response, the old man gave a small laugh and turned to Dan Sang-woon.
“Sang-woon, introduce our guest.”
“Ah, yes! Master, this is Warrior Jang Geon. He is a traveler staying in our room for the night.”
Dan Sang-woon hurriedly introduced Jang Geon, then turned to Jang Geon and said:
“Brother Jang, this is my master, Taoist Wang.”
Jang Geon offered a polite bow.
“Greetings, Taoist Wang.”
“Mhm. Welcome to our humble home.”
Taoist Wang nodded casually, but his eyes still maintained a keen scrutiny. Feeling the awkwardness lingering in the air, Dan Sang-woon quickly chimed in:
“Master, Brother Jang is my invited guest. Please don’t be so strict.”
He meant that he was the one who had invited him first. But Dan Sang-woon shook his head.
“If I hadn’t spoken like that, Master would have thrown a punch at Brother Jang for sure. You’re already past eighty, yet being too energetic is the problem.”
“He is certainly energetic.”
At Jang Geon’s response, he laughed heartily.
“Though our first meeting turned out a bit strange, Master isn’t a bad person either. He’s just deeply cautious in a rough world. Isn’t it true that there are many crazy bandits in this land? Come, let’s step inside and have a cup of tea. Once you talk comfortably, Brother Jang will find Master easy to be around as well.”
Speaking thus, Dan Sang-woon gestured broadly as if guiding Jang Geon toward the house. After reflecting briefly, Jang Geon nodded and entered the house. Having ushered Jang Geon into the house, Dan Sang-woon was about to follow him inside when he abruptly looked back at the yard.
Centered around where his master had been standing, a pattern swept clean as if brushed by a broom was drawn on the dirt ground. It was a phenomenon appearing when the formidable internal energy of an extraordinary master was projected as momentum. It was also a landscape revealing the power of an old master who had cultivated martial arts for decades.
And a pattern similar yet different was drawn on the spot where Jang Geon had been standing.
Furthermore, unlike his master’s which was wildly scattered without a particular rule, Jang Geon’s drew a distinct whirlwind shape, though smaller in range. Seeing that, Dan Sang-woon unconsciously swallowed hard. Though he didn’t know precisely what that pattern signified, he could tell well enough that Jang Geon was no ordinary warrior.
However, he soon shook his head lightly and turned around. The martial arts a person holds do not speak for everything about that person. Dan Sang-woon believed that viewing someone as suspicious merely because they were an expert was looking at the world with far too desolate a vision. Yet for some reason, he could not stop his eyes from checking those traces once more before stepping through the doorway.
After all of them entered inside, a light breeze blowing from somewhere blew away the dirt of the yard, erasing the patterns. Merely by scattering the ground a little, the place became an ordinary farm yard once more.
* * *
Stepping inside, Jang Geon witnessed the old man who had glared at him with a hardened face moments ago sitting in the living room smiling brightly as he received the affection of the children. He looked every bit like a neighborhood elder lost in playing with his grandchildren.
Chae-yun, who was setting things on the living room table, spoke upon seeing Jang Geon enter:
“Come over here and have some tea and snacks.”
At the mention of snacks, Jang Geon submissively followed her words and sat at the living room table. On the table were tea and small pastries. Picking up one yellowish pastry and eating it, a sweet taste spread through his mouth. It seemed to be a pastry made by adding brown sugar to flour dough. One could naturally feel that Chae-yun held high expectations for the lodging fee Jang Geon would pay.
While chewing on the pastries like that, he soon felt eager gazes from beside him. Those gazes naturally belonged to the children, and Jang Geon chuckled softly, subtly pushing the pastry plate toward them. At that, the two children standing before the old man trotted over to Jang Geon and picked up a pastry each. They then looked up at their mother with pleading eyes.
Chae-yun, who brought out snacks with the thought of winning the favor of a wealthy guest, could only nod at those looks, and the children with a pastry in their mouths wore happy smiles.
Having picked up and eaten a few snacks, the two children soon got absorbed in their own play, as children that age do, and trotted off to the far side of the house. Thus, only the men—Jang Geon, the old man, and Dan Sang-woon who entered a bit late—remained sitting at the living room table.
Between the three, only the sound of slurping tea rang out. Dan Sang-woon seemed to find that atmosphere hard to bear, hesitating while fidgeting with his teacup. But the one who spoke first was the old man.
“Did you say Jang Geon?”
“That is correct.”
“Your achievements are remarkable for a young age. Where is your sect?”
Jang Geon shook his head.
“There is no master sect to speak of. I merely have some senior martial brothers.”
“···If there are senior brothers with whom you shared learning, what is that if not a sect?”
Jang Geon let out a dry laugh at those words as he raised his teacup.
“That is also true. But since there is no special name attached to it, it’s hard to give an answer.”
“A peculiar sect indeed.”
As Jang Geon silently nodded, the old man slurped his tea and continued:
“Just call me Taoist Wang. My circumstances are also a bit complex for me to reveal my sect.”
At the old man’s words telling him to call him Taoist Wang, Jang Geon set down his teacup and bowed his head lightly. Taoist Wang let out an ‘Mhm’ sound at that greeting, closing his eyes and nodding.
Afterward, silence returned once more, but Dan Sang-woon felt that the silence was not as uncomfortable as earlier. It simply felt like acquaintances sitting together drinking tea to kill time.
After such a brief silence, Taoist Wang opened his mouth again.
“Earlier you called yourself a wanderer, right? Then where are you heading now?”
“I have no particular destination. I am considering traveling further east to visit Gowon City.”
“Gowon City? So far away? Why buy trouble like that? Just head over toward Heavenly Empress City and spend the summer. They say the women there are so fiery, perhaps because the weather is warm.”
Dan Sang-woon barely contained the tea water spewing out at his master’s banter and let out a dry cough. Looking at Dan Sang-woon, Taoist Wang clicked his tongue.
“For a young fellow to be so rigid. Can’t you go over and hang out a bit?”
“···Did I say anything?”
“You said it with your facial expression, you rascal. How many years have I known you that I wouldn’t know that?”
“No··· Master. There is a guest present, what are you···”
However, far from stopping his words, Taoist Wang set down his cup and clicked his tongue again.
“Master? When you barely bother to learn the martial arts I painstakingly taught you, do you really consider me your master? A fellow who tinkers all day with those strange metal pieces and sticky lumps. Neglecting half your farm work as well—the kids are growing up, how long are you going to play alone in a small room? Why don’t you try making something worth selling!”
Dan Sang-woon broke into a cold sweat and answered:
“Well··· if I reduce the size of the Fire Canister a bit more···”
“How many months have you been saying that? Don’t you feel sorry toward Chae-yun?”
“Wait, why would I feel sorry for that··· I’ve never neglected farm work··· I help with everything···”
“Why you little rascal?”
Jang Geon raised his teacup to cover his mouth from laughing, watching Taoist Wang scolding his disciple out of nowhere and Dan Sang-woon quietly backtalking in the process. It was hard to believe these were the same people who had displayed scary momentum and era-transcending mechanisms moments ago. Yet that was likely the true appearance of people living in this land, distinct from their martial arts and abilities.
While the two were engaging in a dialogue that was hard to tell whether it was scolding or arguing, Chae-yun, who had vanished into the kitchen, reappeared in the living room. The two men didn’t notice her approaching the table and kept blabbering until she set the tray down with a thud, making them flinch and shut their mouths.
Chae-yun quietly said to the two men:
“Shall I brew more tea?”
“···Will you drink more?”
“Umm··· No, it’s fine. I was bored sitting alone at home, so I came by to see the kids’ faces briefly. Since there’s a guest, I should get up now. Ahem.”
Taoist Wang said thus and quietly rose from his seat.
“Ahem. Then I’ll go say goodbye to Yeong and Sang. Are you leaving first thing tomorrow?”
“Yes, I will leave in the morning.”
“Hmm. Then take care and safe travels. Pleasure meeting you. I shall take my leave.”
Reading Chae-yun’s mood, Taoist Wang approached the children poking their heads out of the kitchen doorway, showed them the broad smile he displayed earlier, and departed with Dan Sang-woon seeing him off. As the two stepped into the yard, Chae-yun led the way, saying she would guide Jang Geon to his room.
The room was small but tidy. The bedding had no particular stains, and in the corner stood his sword Azure Dragon, which Chae-yun had taken earlier.
Chae-yun adjusted the bed once more and asked:
“Are you truly interested in my husband’s inventions?”
It was an out-of-the-blue question, but Jang Geon readily nodded.
“They were items that couldn’t help but spark interest. After all, they contain imagination and insight centuries ahead.”
Chae-yun looked slightly surprised at Jang Geon’s response, then offered a gentle smile.
“Aren’t you praising him too much?”
“If supported by proper luck, they are items capable of changing the era. Your husband is undoubtedly a genius.”
She blinked as if even more surprised by those words, then laughed bashfully.
“Oh dear. I ended up hearing the words my husband should have heard. I’ll pass them along to him. Or how about telling him directly over dinner tonight?”
“Well. I wonder if I will have an opening to speak.”
Laughing heartily this time, she left the room saying to let her know if he needed anything else. Closing the door behind her, Jang Geon flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. A faint fragrance wafted from the bedding. Though he didn’t know exactly what scent it was, it undoubtedly eased his mind.
* * *
Having eaten a somewhat boisterous dinner with the farm family—to be precise, filled with Dan Sang-woon’s chatter—Jang Geon checked Jojo’s condition once, returned to his room, washed his face lightly, and lay on the bed. It had been a fine dinner after a long time. At most, it was white dumplings, porridge boiled with beans and meat, and stir-fried vegetables, but Jang Geon had enjoyed a meal beyond what merely entered his mouth.
Lying with his arm as a pillow and pondering for a long while about the farm family and Taoist Wang whom he had met during the day, Jang Geon soon got up from the bed out of some thought. Pulling a leaf of tobacco from his discarded coat and rolling it, he quietly opened his room door.
After dinner, the Dan couple and children had all entered their rooms, leaving the living room dim and quiet. Stepping into the yard without making a sound, Jang Geon moved a short distance from the house. Leaning his arms against the low wooden fence surrounding the house and warehouse, he held the tobacco in his mouth. Lighting it with his index finger and taking a deep drag, he looked up at the sky.
Within a clear night sky without a single cloud, the Milky Way flowed.
Though stars merely shine alone in their places, as thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of stars twinkled together, that river of light became a spectacle capable of lightly overwhelming a human standing on the ground. Gazing up at that grand spectacle, Jang Geon poked out the tobacco in his mouth, idly adding a single red dot of light to the river’s glow. It didn’t particularly match.
However, as he exhaled smoke with a ‘Phoo’, he sensed a presence behind him. Turning his head, he saw Dan Sang-woon.
“So you smoked tobacco.”
“Want one?”
Dan Sang-woon shook his head. At that, Jang Geon returned his gaze to the night sky and inhaled smoke. Approaching his side, Dan Sang-woon leaned his elbows against the fence just like him, gazing quietly up at the sky.
The tobacco burned red, and the stars in the sky twinkled. Cool night air wrapped around the two men. Standing on two feet in the vast farm, there were only the two of them. As the tobacco burned down toward its stub at some moment, Dan Sang-woon spoke:
“Brother Jang.”
“I’m listening.”
“Shall we have a spar?”
Jang Geon turned his head to look at Dan Sang-woon. He was looking back at Jang Geon with a serious face lacking any playfulness.
“Though embarrassing to say, as I mentioned during the day, I am also a martial artist who learned martial arts. It’s just that my level is not high, and there is a field I am more deeply absorbed in.”
Despite his somewhat self-deprecating words, Jang Geon merely looked at him with deep eyes.
“···Though embarrassing, Brother Jang’s clash of momentum with Master during the day remained deeply in this Dan’s heart. It was even more so because it didn’t seem like there was much age difference between Brother Jang and me. I thought I had no martial ambition, but it seems that wasn’t the case. Of course, I know full well that compared to Brother Jang, who stood ground against Master, someone of my level is nothing special. I just··· I don’t know. I just want to spar with Brother Jang once.”
Watching his eyes sparkle steadily without wavering, Jang Geon inhaled the last bit of smoke from the tobacco. Dropping the stub onto the ground and crushing it out with his foot, he walked slowly toward one side of the yard without saying a word. He then spoke to Dan Sang-woon, who seemed somewhat flustered by his movement:
“Will fist techniques suit you?”
With a face that brightened dramatically at those words, Dan Sang-woon quickly moved opposite Jang Geon. Cupping his fists in a formal salute, he said:
“I am Dan Sang-woon. I learned Primordial Qi Cultivation Art, Mind Fasting Sword, and Sitting in Oblivion Fist, and I shall use Sitting in Oblivion Fist this time. Please grant me your guidance.”
Jang Geon also cupped his fists in return and declared:
“Jang Geon. The internal energy that started my cultivation is Three Talents Art, and besides that, there are many arts I have learned and created. Among them, I shall use Tai Chi Fist.”
Under the Milky Way filling the night sky, the two martial artists thus cupped their fists toward each other and declared their martial arts. It was the beginning of the spar.