Chapter 234: An Arrow Already Released (1)
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The vast majority of the massive merchant group’s headquarters was empty. The building, which could easily accommodate over a hundred people, was hollow to the point of feeling desolate. And there was a sentinel guarding that desolation.
“You have arrived.”
Jo Chung-heon bowed deeply. His face was filled with overwhelming emotion.
“You truly have returned.”
Surprisingly, Jo Chung-heon was not the only one remaining. Yu Cha-ryeon, whom I had brought from the Bang Family Manor, was also there.
“It is good to see you.”
I also greeted them, doing my best to suppress the emotions welling up inside. Seeing Jo Chung-heon was one thing, but Yu Cha-ryeon remaining was a genuine surprise.
And it didn’t take long for me to realize why Yu Cha-ryeon had stayed.
“Gega. Is yesterday’s work all finished?”
“Yes. It’s all done.”
I blinked, looking back and forth between Yu Cha-ryeon and Jo Chung-heon.
Yu Cha-ryeon naturally walked over to Jo Chung-heon and linked her arm with his.
“I got remarried.”
“……Ah, yes. Congratulations.”
This was an unexpected happy occasion. When Yu Cha-ryeon first joined, her relationship with Jo Chung-heon had been rather awkward and distant.
Yet they had suddenly married. I felt that so many things had changed in just six months.
“I thought it was so admirable how he continued to perform the duties of the Chief Merchant even in the Group Lord’s absence. So, I snatched him up.”
“I see.”
“Snatched me up, indeed……”
Jo Chung-heon looked embarrassed. Suddenly, a memory from my past life surfaced.
In my past life, Jo Chung-heon, who worked as the chief manager of the Southern Gate Merchant Group, had also been married. However, his marriage partner back then had been different.
“Come to think of it, what about So-hwa?”
I asked. Bang So-hwa was Yu Cha-ryeon’s daughter. Knowing it could be difficult to remarry with a child, I asked out of concern.
“So-hwa said she was perfectly fine with it. The child matured early, so she follows her new father very well.”
“That is a relief.”
Was it because she was her mother’s daughter? As expected, Bang So-hwa was spirited and confident.
“I didn’t stay here simply because of Gega. The Sect Leader took great care of us. He provided us with studies and even taught us martial arts.”
“Ah. That is indeed something to be grateful for.”
“It truly is.”
Indeed, the Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect could be considered a highly educated scholar. One couldn’t even interpret martial formulas without being intelligent. He was bound to be far better than any village schoolmaster.
“A great deal has happened in six months.”
“It was a long enough time for a man and a woman to fall in love.”
“That is true.”
I had never imagined the combination of Jo Chung-heon and Yu Cha-ryeon, but looking at them now, they seemed to suit each other rather well.
“But you’ve managed to keep the merchant group running all this time.”
“Yes, by traveling for trade. Though lately, we’ve had to travel quite far due to Heaven’s Will Gate. Jun County is one thing, but those Heaven’s Will Gate bastards have completely taken over all the way to Shiyan.”
Shiyan was the closest bustling area to Jun County. For Heaven’s Will Gate to have occupied that area meant the situation was incredibly severe.
“Hmm.”
While Wudang Sect was important, I also had to revive the Hui-yeong Merchant Group. In fact, reviving the merchant group felt like it would be the harder task.
At least for Wudang Sect, even in my absence, there were elders of the Cheong generation like my master and the Sect Leader. For the Hui-yeong Merchant Group, however, the entire driving force would be lost without me.
“For now, I will go earn some money, so please rest for a while. You can focus on raising your child.”
“Aiyoo, how could I do that?”
“Why couldn’t you? Simply by guarding this penniless merchant group, you’ve already done more than enough.”
“Ah, but we aren’t completely penniless.”
Jo Chung-heon smiled. Curious, I listened, only to hear something absurd.
“We have some hidden funds. To hand over to the Group Lord when you returned, I saved a minimal amount of capital.”
“Wow. Don’t you know that hiding assets confiscated by the Imperial Court is a capital offense?”
“Even so, I felt it was too unfair. The Group Lord was forced to take the fall for everything. So, in a fit of anger, I hid it.”
“How much is it?”
“It is about a hundred silver taels.”
That is incredibly modest. Still, having even a small amount of capital was a relief.
“But how did you manage to protect the name of the Hui-yeong Merchant Group? Rather than taking over the group, you remained as the Deputy Master.”
“As the Group Lord knows, don’t merchants possess a certain intuition?”
“They do.”
“Somehow, I had a feeling the Group Lord would return. I believed you weren’t someone to perish so futilely.”
“That is just superstition.”
“Yet, is there any group more susceptible to superstition than merchants?”
I nodded. Indeed, merchants tended to rely heavily on things like intuition and superstition.
And in the end, Jo Chung-heon’s intuition had been absolutely spot on.
“But how do you plan to earn money?”
“By taking it.”
“Pardon?”
I laughed. Jo Chung-heon and Yu Cha-ryeon also laughed. They probably thought I was joking.
But I wasn’t. I truly intended to take it back. After all, it was ours to begin with.
* * *
I eventually descended Wudang Mountain. Naturally, the people of Wudang desperately opposed my departure.
Myeong-gyeong and Cheong-hwa practically foamed at the mouth, and even Cheong-ui questioned if I really had to go down. However, I was only able to slip away after promising repeatedly that I would return very soon.
And I truly intended to return quickly. I was only going to meet the Geonjeongdan, whom I had left at the foot of Wudang Mountain.
“You’ve arrived. Was it a touching reunion?”
“It was.”
Tang Se-ui roared with laughter.
Although it hadn’t even been two hours since I parted from Cheong-hwa and Myeong-gyeong, my nose tingled slightly at the thought of their reaction when we reunited.
“I didn’t expect Heaven’s Will Gate to have occupied even this far.”
“I also heard about that from the Wudang Sect.”
Shiyan was the closest bustling area to the Wudang Sect. There was a saying: if you want to hide a person, hide them in a forest. To hide dozens of robust martial artists, we needed a crowded place like this.
“The Wudang Sect must be under immense pressure currently.”
“Indeed. They even came all the way to Wudang’s mountain gate.”
“That is a rather severe issue.”
Tang Se-ui shook his head bitterly. He too surely remembered the Wudang Sect when it was grand and proud. It wouldn’t be easy for him to accept that Wudang was being persecuted by a newly established sect like Heaven’s Will Gate.
“That is why I have a plan.”
“What plan?”
“We need to revive the Old Factions.”
“By Old Factions, you mean the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans?”
“Yes. If the New Factions, represented by the Martial Alliance, completely take over the martial world, then the martial world will no longer belong to martial artists.”
“Indeed. It will belong to the Imperial Court.”
Tang Se-ui agreed. Ever since the Geyu Month Incident, all the sects had collapsed, save for the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhuge Clan, which had aligned themselves with the Martial Alliance.
“Since it has only been six months since the Geyu Rebellion, the martial strength of the Old Factions hasn’t decreased, but their influence has waned significantly. If this continues, even their martial power will eventually dwindle.”
“I agree. Influence yields wealth, which becomes the capital to nurture geniuses. They will prosper while we weaken.”
“This is our last chance. We must unite them while their martial strength is still intact.”
“And the Geonjeongdan must play that role.”
“Exactly.”
Without a shred of hesitation, Tang Se-ui nodded.
“We owe you our lives, so we will naturally follow you.”
“I am grateful. This will also be the right path for the Geonjeongdan.”
Tang Se-ui and I nodded in agreement. Having aligned our opinions, it was now time to discuss the method.
“Therefore, I would like the Geonjeongdan to establish a temporary sect.”
“Is that so?”
“Since we are in disguise, we should make use of it. First, we must integrate into the current martial world to change anything.”
“So we will act as the vanguard to revive the Old Factions.”
“Precisely.”
From then on, we discussed many things. The future of the orthodox martial world, the banner we would raise, and the metaphysical philosophy of our cause. And the physical methods of how to concretely achieve it.
For our first target, we agreed to aim at Heaven’s Will Gate. That was also what I desired.
Having finished the discussion, I returned to the Wudang Sect.
Before long, news spread that a sect named Guijeong Gate had been established in Shiyan.
Guijeong Gate would become the first blade aimed at our enemies’ throats. I had to make it so.
* * *
It took about ten hours to return to Jun County’s Wudang Mountain after finishing the discussion in Shiyan. By the time I climbed the mountain, it was already dawn, yet the people of the Wudang Sect were all awake, waiting for me.
“Why are you so late?!”
Myeong-gyeong scolded me the moment I arrived.
“Since I returned in less than a day, isn’t that considered fast?”
“It’s too late.”
I thought it was just Myeong-gyeong’s unilateral tantrum, but for some reason, the other disciples, including Cheong-hwa, seemed to agree.
“It is too late. If you were going to be this late, you should have sent word.”
“Am I a three-year-old child?”
“Currently, aren’t you the youngest in our Wudang Sect? You are worse than a three-year-old.”
I was left speechless by Cheong-hwa’s words. To shamelessly bring up seniority like that. Indeed, since I was Myeong-gyeong’s junior brother, I was the youngest by generation.
“Even so……”
“Quiet. You are in the wrong here.”
I got the feeling that the people of Wudang were overprotecting me. Well, if a child believed to be dead suddenly returned, they might react with such hypersensitivity.
Come to think of it, how would my biological father react? I hadn’t given that any thought. Since we weren’t close to begin with, did he just brush it off?
Since I was too busy to visit him right now, I resolved to show my face sometime in the future.
Seeing that I had arrived, the Wudang disciples who had gathered in a huddle finally relaxed and began to disperse to their quarters.
To think they all stayed up waiting for me just because I was a little late. I didn’t know whether to find it funny or endearing.
Although the others dispersed, Myeong-gyeong did not leave.
“Senior Brother, you should go sleep as well.”
“Yes. I should.”
Myeong-gyeong yawned, closing his eyes and opening his mouth like a baby bird.
“Then why are you following me?”
“Because I’m going to sleep.”
“……?”
Myeong-gyeong followed me all the way into my room. The cot was narrow, barely fitting one person, but Myeong-gyeong squeezed in and nestled into my chest anyway. Since it was narrow, I had to tilt my body sideways to let him fit.
“It is narrow.”
“It is good because it is narrow……”
Before I could even say anything, Myeong-gyeong fell asleep with those final words.
It wasn’t particularly troublesome. I could simply sleep as well.
Perhaps because I was also exhausted, I fell into a deep slumber. Ordinarily, I had a habit of circulating my inner qi through the Small Heavenly Circulation before sleeping, but I felt it was fine to skip it for just today.
I slept incredibly deeply that night. I hadn’t slept well even before the Geyu Month Incident, and ever since I entered the burial mound, I had never truly slept properly.
The ground inside the tomb was hard, making it difficult to sleep, and mentally, I felt a desperate urge to escape, so I had cut down on sleep to constantly practice my martial arts.
Even in Hainan, I couldn’t sleep because my mind was focused on returning to Wudang Mountain.
Only after returning to the Wudang Sect was I finally able to rest deeply. By the time I opened my eyes, the sun was high in the sky.
Yet, even with the sun high, Myeong-gyeong was still sleeping soundly beside me, breathing softly. It seemed Myeong-gyeong had also been incredibly tired from waiting for me. Children naturally need a lot of sleep.
Being careful not to wake him, I slipped out of the cot, covered him with the blanket, and stepped outside. Opening the window, the wind of Wudang Mountain brushed past my long hair.
Leaning against the window frame, I savored a brief moment of peace. Having trained so fiercely, it was a sweet, precious moment.
And like all sweet moments, it did not last long.
A delegation from Heaven’s Will Gate had arrived.