Chapter 201

“It’s been hard to catch sight of you lately.”

“Tell me about it. These days, I can’t tell whether I’m a bodyguard or a chief steward.”

At Wipeng’s complaint, Jin Wikyung let out a quiet laugh.

“Bear with it for a few more days. More importantly, how did the matters we discussed last time turn out?”

“Everything is proceeding smoothly. The Sect Leaders we brought into the fold are obedient, and the local authorities and merchant world are actively cooperating.”

If the Jin Family of Taiyuan was a ship riding a favorable wind, Jin Wikyung was its seasoned captain.

Beginning with securing the loyalty of the smaller and mid-sized sects on the first day of the gathering, he had handled one major matter after another.

The Fire King was holding down the Murim side of things, while Prince Shangshan, a member of the imperial family, was holding down the authorities. As a result, there had been no trouble at all.

As for the merchant world, there was never any question.

Merchants were more sensitive to profit than anyone. Once they smelled money, it was only natural for them to come rushing in.

After quickly organizing his thoughts, Jin Wikyung asked Wipeng:

“What about the budget? How much do you think we’ll have left?”

“We’re short.”

“What?”

At Jin Wikyung’s startled expression, the corners of Wipeng’s mouth rose.

“I mean that we’re short on warehouses to store the wealth.”

“……Phew.”

“Two warehouses were already full two days ago. The wealth that came in after that is being stored in empty pavilions.”

Jin Wikyung released a sigh of relief and gave a quiet laugh.

“What a haul.”

“Great Hero Jeok’s announcement yesterday was decisive. It gave certainty to those who had still been wavering until the end.”

“They’re the real heavyweights.”

“Indeed.”

The wider a person’s connections, the more likely they were to get pricked by thorns.

The Jin Family of Taiyuan was clearly a goose laying golden eggs, but there were also powerful sects and great families—including the Zhongnan Sect—with which it had an uneasy relationship because of the Fire King.

“Seok Family Manor suddenly requesting a private meeting after remaining quiet all this time must be because of that.”

Seok Family Manor was one of the greatest merchant houses in the world.

The fact that they had stepped forward was proof of how certain they were of the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s potential.

“Isn’t weighing the situation their defining trait? Since they were late to the party, they’ll make up for it with a generous gift.”

“They should. Have them come in.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Not long after Wipeng left, a fleshy middle-aged man entered the office.

“Oh, my! Lesser Family Head! How long has it been?”

“It’s been a long time, Chief Ha.”

The middle-aged man was one of Seok Family Manor’s five Outer Stewards. Though he was only one of five, the authority he possessed was immense.

Jin Wikyung smiled gently at the man, who kept wiping away his sweat.

“It’s been three years since we last met. How is your Lord?”

“He’s as hale and hearty as a young man in his prime. As it happens, he heard the happy news this time and wishes to meet you. As you know, Lesser Family Head, he wasn’t feeling well the last time……”

“Yes, I remember. Quite clearly.”

Jin Wikyung remembered that day three years ago as though it had happened yesterday.

He had waited a full fifteen days before being granted a private audience, only to leave Seok Family Manor as though he had been chased out without ever seeing the Lord’s face.

Finding the sedan chair of a high-ranking official in front of Seok Family Manor’s main gate had been a coincidence.

That was what he had chosen to believe.

That’s how the Murim works.

But now, their positions had changed.

The past three years had been short but eventful, and the arrogant Outer Steward who had treated him like a beggar had somehow become a humble merchant.

I didn’t know this man even knew how to use honorifics. That’s a first.

With a strange sense of amusement, Jin Wikyung listened carefully to Chief Ha.

He readily accepted Seok Family Manor’s proposal to enter the Shanxi merchant world in earnest with the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s cooperation.

Naturally, the details would need to be reviewed, but Seok Family Manor’s offer was extraordinarily generous.

“You’ve made a better offer than I expected. Generous enough to make me wonder whether this is really all right.”

Chief Ha rubbed his hands together and laughed.

“I’m a merchant to the bone. I never conduct business at a loss.”

There were different levels among merchants.

A Third Rate merchant exchanged goods. A Second Rate merchant purchased goods that could leave him a profit. A First Rate merchant bought the future.

Seok Family Manor was one of the greatest merchant houses in the world. They were aiming not for an immediate profit, but for dozens of times that profit in the years to come.

You won’t make that much off us. Our family will never dance to your tune.

Unlike his thoughts, Jin Wikyung smiled broadly.

Life in this world was not easy enough to reveal one’s true feelings and say everything one wanted to say. That was even more true with a cunning merchant.

“I’ll arrange a place for you to stay. We can discuss the finer details then.”

“Thank you, Lesser Family Head.”

Chief Ha was about to rise from his seat when he stopped.

“Um……”

“Do you have another matter to discuss?”

“This is a difficult request, but might I be allowed to meet Great Hero Jeok?”

The Outer Steward of Seok Family Manor was a man of considerable authority, but the Fire King was an exception. Since he had begun staying at the Jin Family of Taiyuan, Jeok Cheongang had permitted none of the honored guests to meet him privately.

Chief Ha continued, wiping away his sweat.

“It’s been extraordinarily difficult. I tried going to him myself, and I even sent my subordinates to discreetly request a meeting, but……”

“Oh, dear. Great Hero Jeok probably didn’t take that well.”

“No. My subordinate came back nearly crippled. That’s why I’m shamelessly asking you for a favor, Lesser Family Head.”

Suppressing his laughter, Jin Wikyung answered:

“Well, I can’t say for certain. It might be possible after the gathering ends, but it will be difficult over the next few days.”

“I noticed he hasn’t been seen since yesterday. May I ask why?”

“He must be instructing my youngest brother.”

“Ah, I see. My apologies for intruding.”

As soon as Chief Ha left the office, Jin Wikyung could no longer hold back his laughter.

The fatigue in both his body and mind from hosting the gathering for several days seemed to lift all at once. In a cheerful voice, he called for his most trusted subordinate.

“Wipeng. Who’s next?”

Before dawn, before the sun had even risen.

The person who woke me was neither Hyuk Mujin nor Cheongpung.

Splaash!

“Gah!”

The first thing I saw after opening my eyes to the cold-water ambush was Jeok Cheongang, glaring at me with his eyes wide open.

“W-What are you doing?”

“You slept like the dead until this hour. Are you out of your mind?”

“I only slept for two shichen.¹ What do you mean, I slept until this hour?”

Jeok Cheongang started lecturing me as I stared at him in disbelief.

“In four hours, you bastard, this old man could swing a weapon a thousand more times. And where did you learn the disrespect of not even paying your morning respects to your Master?”

“……Master?”

Jeok Cheongang flinched and stammered for a moment.

“W-We need to look that way to other people, don’t we?”

“……”

“To avoid suspicion, we need to act like a real master! Like a real Disciple! That’s the bare minimum!”

“Ah, yes.”

So the pioneer of method acting in the Murim was right here.

At my lukewarm response, Jeok Cheongang’s face grew bright red.

“Regardless, I won’t stand for you loafing around like this. Come with me. Now.”

“Where?”

“There’s a place this old man has picked out.”

I thought he had found a secluded training ground, but the place Jeok Cheongang took me was not inside the Jin Family of Taiyuan. It was a nearby mountain.

Trees with trunks easily several meters around grew thickly in every direction, and the ground was firm.

“This will do.”

Jeok Cheongang stopped in a wide clearing and placed the pack on his back atop a tree stump.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s something we’ll use later.”

“Later?”

“Yes. They’re things that will make you writhe with pleasure.”

“……”

Why was I suddenly thinking of whips, candlesticks, and masks?

As I cast anxious sidelong glances at the pack, Jeok Cheongang spoke with a stern expression.

“Stop taking an unnecessary interest in it and take out your spear.”

“Ah, yes.”

I’d had the good sense to bring several spears along, and I planted them in the ground.

The reason Jeok Cheongang had come to find me so early was obvious.

Training.

Though he tried hard not to show it, Jeok Cheongang wanted to take me as his Disciple.

The reason he kept stubbornly denying it was that he still wasn’t certain himself.

He’s already made one painful mistake.

The emotional wound Jopil had inflicted on Jeok Cheongang had not yet healed.

That was why he would surely continue watching and thinking before deciding whether he could accept someone like me as his Disciple.

Even if he doesn’t pass down the Fire Gate Clan’s supreme martial arts right away, he’ll still do his best to teach me.

This was instruction from a Supreme Peak master.

A single word from someone who had gone farther ahead and conquered a longer path than I had was worth more than a thousand pieces of gold.

I lifted one of the well-balanced iron spears and swallowed.

“What do I do now?”

“Attack me.”

“Pardon?”

“I said attack me. With all your strength.”

A smile appeared around Jeok Cheongang’s wrinkled mouth.

“Thirty minutes. If you can make this old man retreat even one step, you win.”

Ding.

System

Quest One Step Back has been created.

Quest

One Step Back

Fire King Jeok Cheongang wants to see your true ability.

Make him retreat within the time limit and imprint your worth upon him!

Grade: Peak

Restriction: Jin Taekyung

Mission: One Step Back (Incomplete)

Reward: ???

Failure: ???

Make him retreat one step?

At first glance, it seemed easy, but there was a reason it was a Peak-Grade Quest.

Especially when the opponent was Fire King Jeok Cheongang.

I took my eyes off the Quest window and saw Jeok Cheongang standing there with a relaxed expression.

“All right. Begin.”

Beep.

System

29:59

At the instant the time-limit window appeared in the air, I kicked off the ground and charged toward him.

Whooosh!

Whoosh!

The spearhead tore through the air. Compressed air burst outward, sending the old man’s white hair flying.

Having dodged the first spear Jin Taekyung thrust at him, Jeok Cheongang thought:

What is this kid?

He was fast.

And the spear carried enough force to shatter a boulder.

Even for Jeok Cheongang, who had already examined Jin Taekyung’s body once, the speed and strength were beyond anything he had expected.

Whirl, whoosh! Boom!

Second strike, third, fourth……

He stabbed, slashed, and swept upward.

Every time Jeok Cheongang evaded the shower of spearheads pouring down like torrential rain, his astonishment grew like a snowball.

He’s seasoned. As if he was born on a battlefield.

He was only twenty-one. Yet the trajectories and movements traced by his spearhead were no worse than those of any famous master in the martial world.

No—if anything, they were better.

After encountering countless martial artists during the Great Faction War, Jeok Cheongang had learned something well.

A true martial artist is forged through countless real battles.

The Nine Sects and One Gang.

The Five Great Families.

They were certainly great powers that held sway over the world, but only a small number of their members had ever experienced surviving at the brink of death.

That was why the Demonic Cult, which had grown through conquest and the principle of Might Makes Right, had been able to swallow half the Central Plains.

How many disciples of prestigious great sects had died at the beginning of the war?

But this kid is different.

There was no hollow opening stance or hesitation.

The spearhead that relentlessly targeted the vital points throughout his body and the cold, hardened eyes were marks possessed only by someone who had experienced countless real battles and seen blood.

Shriiiik, whoosh!

The spinning spearhead vibrated.

Humm. Humm. Humm.

The sound was like hundreds of bees beating their wings, and the spearhead shooting toward him was sharper than a poisonous stinger.

He’s only been practicing martial arts for three months? Someone like this?

Judging by his movements alone, it seemed not three months but three years.

No—thirty years.

Jeok Cheongang knew nothing of Jin Taekyung’s battle-scarred seven years. All he could do was marvel.

……What an incredible kid.

Jeok Cheongang himself had spent his entire life obsessed with martial arts.

Yet even for someone who had achieved a great realm, what Jin Taekyung was displaying now was incomprehensible.

The greatest martial talent in history, was it?

Remembering Jin Wikyung’s words, Jeok Cheongang’s body trembled with joy and awe.

Yes. You were right.

It was then, as he slowly closed his eyes, savoring the lingering emotion.

Whoosh!

A streak of light shot toward his chest.

Jeok Cheongang’s eyes opened halfway. At the same time, his wrinkled hand seized the spearhead.

Crack!

His hands were already blazing with red flames. They crushed and melted the spearhead.

Molten metal dripped onto the ground, hardened by the cold wind.

“……Wow, shit. Isn’t that cheating?”

Jin Taekyung muttered in disbelief.

Jeok Cheongang grinned at him.

“Now we’re getting started.”