Chapter 21: Chapter 21
It was none other than the Namgung Clan that had produced the most first-place finishers in the history of the Martial Alliance selection examinations.
Not only were they called the foremost among the Five Great Clans, but it was also a natural matter since they showcased rising stars who had already been perfected within the clan to the outside world.
Furthermore, this time, it was none other than the eldest son, who would become the Patriarch of the Namgung Clan in the future, who personally participated in the examination.
Even within the Namgung Clan, taking first place was considered a matter of course. It was merely a question of how overwhelmingly wide the margin of taking first place would be.
However, a strange fellow popped out and seized that spot.
‘Cheon Woo-jin…’
Flames rose in Namgung Jin’s gaze. Truly, he was the man who had seized first place while throwing the Martial Alliance into an uproar.
Because of that, Namgung Jin felt his face grow hot every time he encountered people from his clan within the Martial Alliance. In particular, the elders of the Namgung Clan residing in the Alliance openly clicked their tongues.
For the Namgung Clan, second place was no honor. It was merely a disgraceful matter to the point where it was difficult to walk around with one’s head held high.
At the single remark uttered by Namgung Jin, the atmosphere among the successful applicants changed at once. While they had complaints but dared not voice them, none other than the Young Patriarch of the Namgung Clan had stepped forward.
Somehow, an atmosphere demanding an apology from Cheon Woo-jin and Song Yi-yeon, the two of them, was formed.
“Ahem, we did not properly receive the guidance…”
“As expected of a merchant.”
Namgung Jin cut off Song Yi-yeon’s awkward excuse in a single stroke.
“Song Yi-yeon, this place is not the rice shop you came from, but the Martial Alliance. There is etiquette that must be observed between martial artists. If one is naturally a martial artist, upon committing a fault, instead of blurting out excuses first like a merchant, one should apologize, or if you cannot accept it, you just need to draw your sword.”
Song Yi-yeon’s expression twisted peculiarly. He was already someone who was acquainted with Namgung Jin. As a martial family and a merchant family situated in the same region, the Anhui Song Clan and the Namgung Clan had interacted for quite a long time.
Of course, in the current jianghu, there was a strong tendency to look down upon merchant houses, and because the presence of the Namgung Clan was so gigantic, an invisible relationship of superior and subordinate existed.
“A rice shop. Your words are a bit excessive.”
Song Yi-yeon spoke in a slightly lowered tone. Even so, Namgung Jin merely broke into a smirk.
“Are you ashamed of your family business? Is it not a remarkable feat that the Anhui Song Clan started from a small rice shop and achieved such immense wealth? Within the Namgung Clan as well, Clan Head Song’s abilities are evaluated very highly.”
Of course, in Namgung Jin’s manner of speaking, there was not the slightest bit of respect for the Song Clan. On the contrary, it merely reminded him once again of the distinct hierarchy between the Namgung Clan and the Anhui Song Clan.
Song Yi-yeon shut his mouth tightly. He was a man who did not lose his nerve in ordinary circumstances, but he could not take lightly the perception of the Namgung Clan deeply rooted in his mindset since childhood.
– Yi-yeon, when you go out into the jianghu, you must never get entangled with the demonic individuals of the Heavenly Demon Cult and the martial artists of the Namgung Clan.
In Anhui, the Namgung Clan possessed a presence so colossal that it was mentioned alongside the Demonic Cult, which the whole world feared.
Merchants, entertainers, farmers, courtesans, shop boys, and even the government soldiers who were fed by official stipends.
In order to eat, sleep, buy and sell goods, and breathe to live in Anhui, one had to watch the Namgung Clan’s mood.
Around the time Song Yi-yeon was holding back his inwardly boiling temper due to such reasons.
“You are venting your anger in the wrong place.”
“What?”
Namgung Jin’s razor-sharp gaze turned toward Cheon Woo-jin. Most rising stars would be overwhelmed by his martial prowess and background, unable even to meet his eyes properly.
However, Cheon Woo-jin was not like that. He merely wore a peculiar smile. Even though that smile clearly provoked Namgung Jin’s anger, he did not care in the slightest.
Things like background and martial arts could not pressure Cheon Woo-jin even a bit.
To begin with, he was a man raised by two masters whose inclinations were vastly removed from such things.
– Woo-jin, if you encounter a martial artist of the Namgung Clan, smash his head before the bastard opens his mouth. Because the words those bastards spit out are generally prone to infuriating people.
Black Elder master disliked the Righteous Path, the Unorthodox Path, and the Demonic Path all the same. One might say he was a person who simply loathed humans themselves.
On the other hand, White Elder master was a person who strove to find lovely aspects even by force, so long as someone was not an ordinary villain.
Even so, White Elder master’s assessment of the Namgung Clan went like this:
– Black Elder’s words are only half right. It is true that the children of the Namgung Clan are on the sharper side, but even so, if you smash their heads without rhyme or reason, what would that be if not a blood-crazed great demonic head?
– You are saying that for me to hear right now, aren’t you?
Of course, the conversations between the two masters always led to grabbing each other by the collar.
At any rate, if even White Elder master spoke that much, it meant that the character of the people of the Namgung Clan was generally like that.
‘Coming out into the jianghu in earnest, there is nothing wrong in what the masters said.’
Seeing with his own eyes and feeling with his skin the world he had only ever heard about through words was immensely enjoyable.
Around the time Cheon Woo-jin was lost in enjoyable contemplation without paying any heed to Namgung Jin, Namgung Jin, unable to overcome his anger, strode toward him with heavy footsteps.
It was a stride that strove to look threatening in its own way, but Cheon Woo-jin did not even bother to grasp the Crescent Moon Staff slung across his back.
Soon arriving, Namgung Jin asked in a low voice:
“Young Hero Cheon, what is so enjoyable?”
It was a calmer tone than expected.
Cheon Woo-jin found that appearance rather amusing.
Toward Young Hero Song, whom he judged to be clearly inferior in both background and martial prowess compared to himself, he had spoken down without hesitation and showed contempt, yet toward himself, he was maintaining a degree of polite honorifics.
Moreover, he did not commit the blunder of uselessly failing to overcome his anger and circulating internal energy like Gu Jin-seok.
On the surface, Namgung Jin appeared to be a man who acted driven by emotions, but inside, calculations were constantly taking place.
Cheon Woo-jin smiled warmly.
“Everything is simply enjoyable. I lived in the mountains all my life before coming down. The tall pavilions that could not be seen there, and even a single gust of wind blowing with diverse scents are enjoyable to me.”
“…”
“I apologize for making you wait unintentionally. To Young Hero Namgung, as well as to the young heroes and young ladies behind you. However, if you insult me and my friend any further, I cannot just sit by idly either.”
Cheon Woo-jin looked at Namgung Jin while still wearing that peculiar smile. The instant he met his eyes, Namgung Jin felt a chill run down his spine.
‘What kind of eyes does a person…’
In his childhood, he had once gone out on a hunt together with the clan’s elders. While shooting roe deer, wild boars, and the like with bows to kill them, he had encountered a tiger.
Of course, being not ordinary people but martial artists, and master martial artists of the Namgung Clan at that, no one was afraid.
Except for one person: the young Namgung Jin.
The eyes of the tiger he encountered for the first time were truly bizarre and eerie. It felt as though those massive pupils would swallow his tiny body right away. Even at that moment when it was struck by the elders’ swords and arrows and let out its final roar along with snow-white breath, its gaze had not died in the slightest.
Those fearful eyes he had lived forgetting were identical to Cheon Woo-jin’s.
‘The gaze of a predator.’
Of course, the standard of a predator changed depending on the situation. To a rabbit, a fox would look like a predator; to a fox, a tiger would; and to a tiger, a spiritual beast that had lived for hundreds of years would be regarded as such.
Namgung Jin would also be a predator to someone. However, memories of Namgung Jin receiving such a feeling had occurred only three times throughout his entire life.
The massive tiger he had encountered for the first time in his childhood.
Alliance Leader Bukli Cheon, whom he had looked at from a distance upon entering the Martial Alliance.
The Patriarch of the Namgung Clan, who was called the Sword King by the world. That was, Namgung Jin’s father.
Namgung Jin let out a hollow laugh.
‘Did that foolish fellow Gu Jin-seok charge at a guy like this?’
Indeed, there was no way Gu Jin-seok possessed the eyes to discern such a thing.
Having been born and raised as the eldest son in the Namgung Clan, he had lived with masters who made the world tremble always by his side.
Naturally, his discernment for recognizing masters could not help but be outstanding. Even if the Gu Clan had many masters in recent times, how could they compare with the Namgung Clan?
After having a brief staring contest with Cheon Woo-jin, Namgung Jin realized that he had been holding his breath without even knowing it, and exhaled slowly.
Soon, Namgung Jin’s gaze shifted slightly toward Song Yi-yeon beside him.
“Unlike you, your friend is definitely a martial artist.”
Having spoken so, Namgung Jin smirked and returned to where he had been.
Cheon Woo-jin smacked his lips.
“Did I do something unnecessary?”
“Not at all. I fell for Young Hero once again. Ah, of course, as one person to another.”
He spoke like that, but the bitterness lingering around his mouth could not be helped. As a scion of a merchant family, he would have to endure such treatment in the jianghu constantly in the future as well.
‘Or become strong enough to not have to endure it.’
Song Yi-yeon glanced sideways at Cheon Woo-jin beside him. He did not know his sect, nor did he know the martial arts he learned. In short, the orthodoxy that the Righteous Path valued so much had not been verified at all.
Even so, no one looked down upon Young Hero Cheon. The reason was exceedingly clear.
‘…Because he is strong.’
A rising star who completely crushed the fairly large Western Sky Society. Who in the world could look down upon such a monster-like man?
Seeing even the great Namgung Jin tucking his tail and retreating, he realized once again how important martial might was in the jianghu.
While Zhuge Rin’s guidance continued, Song Yi-yeon looked only at Namgung Jin’s back.
‘No matter who else it is, I will surpass Namgung Jin without fail.’
Such was typically the goal of a martial artist born and raised in Anhui.
While Song Yi-yeon looked only at Namgung Jin’s back, Cheon Woo-jin, who had been looking intently at such a Song Yi-yeon, recalled the words of his two masters.
– The goal of a martial artist must not stop at simply becoming strong. That is why a goal like surpassing someone or taking revenge is extremely dangerous.
– Nonsense. For a martial artist, being strong is everything.
Having simultaneously recalled the differing opinions of the two masters, Cheon Woo-jin pondered for a moment before simply shaking his head.
‘It is merely Young Hero Song’s affair.’
To step forward here and offer advice was meddlesome and presumptuous.
Above all else.
‘Young Hero Song’s realm is already not inferior to Namgung Jin.’
Song Yi-yeon was also a man who possessed the most outstanding talent among the martial artists Cheon Woo-jin had seen since stepping foot into the jianghu.
It was just that the shadow of the Namgung Clan deeply rooted in Song Yi-yeon’s heart caused him to shrink back.
In Cheon Woo-jin’s view, what Song Yi-yeon had to overcome was not Namgung Jin, but the limit he had unconsciously set for himself.
If he could not overcome this, the gap between him and Namgung Jin would eventually widen. However, it was not something that could be overcome through someone’s advice. He had to realize it on his own.
“Young Hero Song.”
“…”
Because Song Yi-yeon had been lost in deep thought while looking at Namgung Jin’s back, he was unable even to respond.
When Cheon Woo-jin called him once more, only then did Song Yi-yeon shake off his thoughts and look back with wide eyes.
“Why is that?”
“We are all just the same people. Me, Young Hero Song, and Young Hero Namgung over there.”
He could not provide assistance to Song Yi-yeon’s enlightenment, but this was not advice, rather a form of comfort. Not as a martial artist, but as a friend.
After looking at Cheon Woo-jin with surprised eyes, Song Yi-yeon soon glanced at Namgung Jin’s back.
“That is true. Just because one carries the blood of the Namgung Clan does not mean a sword will not pierce their body.”
Song Yi-yeon nodded with a peculiar expression.
A rising star walking ahead turned around with an expression of shock. At that, Song Yi-yeon grinned.
“It is a joke.”
“W-What did you say? I heard nothing.”
The rising star shook his head vigorously with an expression looking as though he wanted to wash his ears with water.
“Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning…”
He was Jin Un of the Mount Hua Sect, who never wanted to get entangled in political fights among peers. He was also the man who had seized fifth place due to Gu Jin-seok’s disqualification and had been assigned to the Heavenly Tiger Squad.