Chapter 427: Five Hundred Years of Waiting (2)
After returning to Taeul Sect and sharing our feelings with everyone, the sect immediately convened a general assembly.
“Am I going in too?”
“Not just you. The Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers and Sa-ryeon, come in as well.”
At Kang Chae-seok’s words, the Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers tilted their heads in puzzlement but cautiously entered the inner chamber.
Though we were attending the assembly, we had no speaking rights, so we watched the proceedings in silence from the far end of the table.
“Of those invited to the Gate-Opening Ceremony, roughly seventy percent have replied that they’ll attend. Estimating generously that eighty percent of those actually show up, we project approximately one hundred attendees.”
“Hmm……”
A small murmur of unease passed through the room.
Even adding up every person coming to celebrate Taeul Sect, the number couldn’t compare to the scale of the crowd camped outside the gate to tear them apart.
After a moment of deliberation, the Sect Leader raised his head.
“Prepare lodging and meals so there is no shortage.”
My father — the Outer Hall Master and now also the Merchant Guild Master of the Great Heaven Merchant Guild — answered.
“I’ll prepare double the amount to account for the companions traveling with our guests.”
“Never mind the lodging — prepare meals for five hundred.”
“Sect Leader!”
“That’s outrageous.”
Preparing meals for uninvited people as well — the implication was singular.
“They are hostile to Taeul Sect! They’re the ones trying to forcibly rouse a sect that’s still growing!”
Objections erupted from every direction, but Sect Leader Hong did not react.
After the brief flare of agitation subsided, my father continued the conversation calmly.
“I share that sentiment. This seems like needless waste. So-eum County has plenty of merchants now — there’s no problem with food or lodging there.”
“Is that the Outer Hall Master’s view?”
“……It is merely an opinion.”
Hong Mun-gi’s gaze, carrying a keen light, slowly swept across those assembled.
“Do you consider the people outside our gate to be enemies?”
“If they’re not enemies, then what are they?”
“Let me ask this. Are they Black Path practitioners?”
“……”
“Or have they scaled our walls?”
An icy chill descended over the room, as though cold water had been dashed across it.
“They’ve been rude in their protests and intimidated our children, yes — but they did send Martial Duel Challenges and observed a minimum of courtesy.”
“That’s all for the sake of justification, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Justification. That is precisely why. And if so, should we not also respond to them with at least a minimum of courtesy?”
“……”
Not a single word the Sect Leader spoke was wrong, but the mood in the room made clear that few were easily persuaded.
Voicing their sentiment, my father cautiously spoke.
“May I ask why you think this way?”
“Did So-un not say it himself? That if they act like guests, he’ll treat them as guests.”
My father’s sharp gaze stabbed into me.
“Don’t blame So-un. This was something I’d already been thinking. The boy simply said what I’d wanted to say.”
Where my father’s eyes were sharp, the Sect Leader’s were warm.
At least that eased some of the weight on my heart.
After surveying the room for a moment, the Sect Leader tightly clasped his hands atop the table.
“This Gate-Opening Ceremony must not end as merely an event where a sealed sect reopens its doors.”
His gaze then drifted slowly toward the far end of the table — toward me.
In his eyes, unlike in my past life, there was strength.
I met his gaze squarely.
“Because this ceremony carries the meaning of Taeul Sect spreading its wings once more.”
Wings.
Taeul Sect’s ascent.
Following the Sect Leader’s gaze, every eye in the room gradually settled on me.
‘He kept what I said years ago that close to his heart.’
Meanwhile, the Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers and Sa-ryeon wore nothing but bewildered expressions.
“I consider the people camped before our gates to be quail. Is it really so difficult to share a bit of our nest’s food with quail?”
At the Sect Leader’s question, my father finally heaved a long sigh.
“They seem like quail with rather large appetites, though.”
“I’m always sorry to burden you.”
But a faint smile lingered at the corners of my father’s mouth as well.
“Don’t say things like that. This is my job.”
The first agenda item passed, and Kang Chae-seok raised the next topic.
“The next item is the Martial Duel Tournament.”
“The Martial Duel Tournament.”
Compared to the relatively lighter first topic, the moment the second was announced, sighs deepened throughout the room.
“Realistically, we cannot face everyone who has sent Martial Duel Challenges. Nor do we need to. Therefore, following the Gate-Opening Ceremony, we intend to hold a Martial Duel Tournament. We’ll select challengers from among those who sent challenges — choosing those with decent reputations and character.”
“Wouldn’t that reduce the number of participants in the tournament?”
The eyes of Hong Mun-gi — now thoroughly transformed into a fighter — widened fiercely.
“We must also consider our own numbers. Given the caliber of those who sent challenges, how many people on Taeul Sect’s side could actually face them?”
“What if I take on five or more?”
“Hah……”
Kang Chae-seok let out a long sigh.
“I’d prefer it didn’t come to that.”
One of the Hall Masters raised a concern.
“Even if we select representatives for the duels, would everyone out there accept it? They come from different regions and different backgrounds.”
“Since the majority are tied to Wudang and Diancang…… if we let them choose their own representatives from among their ranks, most should be satisfied.”
Kang Chae-seok finished speaking, but silence lingered.
Everyone knew the nature of martial artists — there was no chance they’d meekly accept such a one-sided proposal.
Especially those backed by massive sects like Wudang or Diancang.
“If things go wrong, the ceremony itself could be ruined.”
That, in truth, was the greatest concern.
If the people who’d waited outside the gate for days finally reached the end of their patience, rejected Taeul Sect’s terms, and that rejection became justification for a riot —
The Gate-Opening Ceremony would inevitably be consumed.
The Busaeng Hall Master, who’d raised the issue, began to tremble.
“They may well be waiting for us to take a unilateral stance.”
“……”
“From the choking of the Great Heaven Merchant Guild’s funding to the endless deluge of Martial Duel Challenges — think about it. Not a single phase of this has proceeded on our terms.”
The all-encompassing pressure bearing down on Taeul Sect tightened like a noose around their throats.
“I don’t believe any of this happened by coincidence. And what lies ahead will be no different.”
The adversary’s immense power, imperceptible from a distance — by the time you began to see it, it was already too late.
“I’m terrified of how this will end.”
Dark emotions fed the imagination, painting bleak futures unbidden.
The Busaeng Hall Master had laid bare his honest feelings.
“……”
“……”
“……”
And his fear was not his alone.
Everyone in the room had sensed it beneath the surface but had been deliberately looking away.
Now, confronting that harsh despair head-on, they were crushed to silence under its unbearable weight.
Hong Mun-gi studied the worry-laden faces of each Hall Master in turn.
Faces hardened in proportion to their sense of responsibility.
And finally, his gaze came to rest on me.
“So-un, what do you think?”
I hadn’t been given speaking rights.
But the Sect Leader and the Hall Masters were looking at me with unmistakable expectation.
I carefully parted my lips.
“I share the Busaeng Hall Master’s view. I don’t believe there’s a way to defeat those who are hostile to Taeul Sect.”
The moment I stated my honest assessment, disappointment was written plainly across every face.
“Then are you saying we should just let everything fall apart? If so, why did you suggest opening the gates in the first place?”
Kang Chae-seok pressed forward, agitated.
I regarded his flushed face for a moment, then calmly laid out Taeul Sect’s future.
“I don’t know how to secure victory, but I do know how to send a signal that Taeul Sect is taking flight once more.”
“What kind of sophistry is that?”
“Swift Blossom Hall Master. Please wait a moment and hear So-un out.”
Hong Mun-gi intervened, and Kang Chae-seok silenced himself with gulps of tea.
A brief stillness settled.
“I believe we should accept every single duel request that comes in.”
“What?!”
Not just the Sect Leader — every Hall Master recoiled in shock.
“They will inevitably challenge whatever format we set. Win or lose, the representatives we choose won’t truly represent each individual, and they’ll raise objections on that basis. They’ll cling to every loose thread Taeul Sect offers until the very end.”
“So?”
Kang Chae-seok, unable to contain himself, shot back.
“If we’re going to be dragged along anyway, we might as well tell them to drag us as far as they please.”
“……Hah. The number of people gathered out there exceeds six hundred. The Martial Duel Challenges that have reached Taeul Sect approach four hundred. Even if every member of the sect won twice each, it wouldn’t be enough.”
“Why do you assume we must win?”
“Wh-what?”
“Taeul Sect has been a sect without presence for five hundred years. We’ve only just taken our first step by carrying on our Founding Patriarch’s true inheritance.”
“……”
“Do you believe we need to become a massive sect like Wudang or Shaolin within a few years?”
My objective assessment of Taeul Sect left everyone in the room silenced, as if caught off guard.
“I was taught that Taeul Sect’s Core Principle is transformation. To keep changing and evolving through the passage of time, through the rises and falls — carrying the will forward. Taeul Sect doesn’t need to beat every one of them. We simply show them.”
I met each and every gaze directed at me.
“That no matter the pressure, no matter the attacks, no matter the schemes — Taeul Sect will keep transforming and tenaciously carry its will forward.”
What our essence is. What our origin is. What our strength is.
I spoke with the hope that they would understand.
“That is the study I was born into at Taeul Sect, raised on, and have practiced all along.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
A cold stillness fell over the room like an aftermath of sudden rain.
Sect Leader Hong drew in a long, deep breath, then let out a protracted exclamation.
“Hah…… How did such a disciple come to be born in Taeul Sect? I must give thanks to the Primordial Heavenly Worthy.”
When his gaze returned to the Hall Masters, resolution shone in his eyes.
“Is there anything more I need to say?”
Silence, still.
But it was unmistakably different from the silence before.
“Is there anything more I need to say, I asked.”
At the voice that rang out a second time, everyone answered as one.
“””No.”””
With that, the general assembly was adjourned.
***
After everyone else filed out of the inner chamber, only Jin Tae-san and Kang Chae-seok remained.
The two sat in prolonged silence, neither moving from their seats.
A short while later, Hong Mun-gi entered carrying a single wine jar in one hand.
“My apologies. It took a moment to fetch this.”
“Isn’t that…… the Succession Wine?”
At the appearance of the wine that was only to be opened when Taeul Sect’s generation changed, Kang Chae-seok was visibly stunned.
“Don’t tell me…… you’re planning to step down as Sect Leader?”
Hong Mun-gi’s shoulders shook with a chuckle.
“Do you know…… what this wine’s original name is?”
“……Isn’t it just Succession Wine? For the next Sect Leader’s inauguration.”
“This wine’s original name is ‘Ten Thousand Transformations, Thousand Flowers Wine.'”
Hong Mun-gi ran his hand along the weathered jar.
“It was named to mean ‘Transform ten thousand times and let a thousand flowers bloom.’ Nowadays it’s only used for succession ceremonies, but.”
“……”
“I believe the time to open it is right now.”
Everyone knew whom his words were praising.
The father of that very person grumbled quietly.
“That boy’s always been good with words, hasn’t he? Why must you be the same, Sect Leader?”
“Honest as ever, I see. Did you think I didn’t notice the tears welling in your eyes while So-un was speaking?”
“……It, it was a yawn. A yawn! I yawned because I was tired!”
Hong Mun-gi and Kang Chae-seok burst into laughter at the embarrassed Jin Tae-san.
Their bodies and faces had aged, their generation fading into twilight — but in moments like these, teasing one another, it felt as though they’d traveled back to childhood.
“So…… are we drinking or not?”
“Once it’s been opened, resealing it won’t do any good.”
Into the three tea cups went not tea but Ten Thousand Transformations, Thousand Flowers Wine.
They quietly savored the robust opening, the bitter middle, and the deep fragrance that lingered at the end.
“The first time I drank this wine, I couldn’t understand why something so bitter was our tradition. I even resented my master, thinking it was because of Taeul Sect’s pitiful finances.”
A brief, rueful smile crossed Hong Mun-gi’s lips.
And then that smile —
“My master didn’t answer my complaint. He only said I’d understand someday.”
— blossomed into one as radiant as a flower in full bloom.
Ten Thousand Transformations, Thousand Flowers.
Only the blossom that endures agonizing patience and bitter effort produces a brilliant fragrance.
His master had wanted him to find this simple answer on his own. Through the passage of a long, long time.
“He was always a man of few words, after all.”
Hong Mun-gi shook his head.
“No. The answer was so simple, so obvious, that he couldn’t simply tell me. Because one must feel it and experience it oneself to truly grasp its meaning.”
Taking another sip of the wine’s aroma, Hong Mun-gi said softly:
“I’m no longer afraid of death.”
“Sect Leader!”
“Ah, I don’t mean I’d throw my life away carelessly — calm down. I only mean that I’m no longer worried about the next generation’s Taeul Sect, or the one after that.”
His words carried the lightness and freedom of having shed heavy shackles.
“The Taeul Sect our children will build will be different from the one we’ve built. There will be hardships and suffering, but they’ll keep transforming and ultimately bloom into flowers of brilliant fragrance.”
His eyes, straighter than ever before.
“I only hope I can witness that sight with my own eyes.”
And within them burned a flame that would not easily be extinguished.
***
I was about to head to my quarters when my juniors seized me by the arms and dragged me to the training ground instead.
“Why?! I’m tired.”
“Is being tired the problem right now?! Are you planning to turn Taeul Sect into one giant infirmary?”
Geum-pyo grabbed my arm with a face full of worry.
“Why? Getting cold feet already at the thought of endless fighting?”
“That’s not the issue! We can set ourselves aside, but what about the young disciples and the older elders? What if someone gets seriously hurt during a duel?”
“Why would anyone get hurt?”
“What?”
“Nobody’s getting hurt, so stop worrying.”
Words were only words, after all.
What I’d said at the assembly was merely a declaration of our resolve and attitude.
“You think I’m crazy enough to send young juniors and elders into the dueling grounds?”
“Then the four hundred — no, potentially even more — Martial Duel Challenges……”
“I’ve got it all figured out, so relax.”
They pressure us with Martial Duel Challenges, and now they’re babbling about ruining the ceremony?
What a joke.
Since when did the world ever flow the way you wanted it to?
“Wash your feet and go to sleep. I have a plan.”
Time to show them that life is a battlefield with no rehearsals.