Chapter 236

The man gazed at the neatly arranged Four Treasures of the Study.

The brush was made from sable fur, the inkstone was bluish jade, and the ink and paper were tribute goods said to be used by the royal family of Haedong,¹ ten thousand li away.

Every one of them was a luxury that only the wealthiest of the wealthy could afford.

“Excellent. Simply excellent.”

A satisfied smile spread across his face. The man was famous for his frugality, and the only luxury he allowed himself was the Four Treasures of the Study.

“Well, then. Shall we begin?”

Just as the man was happily grinding his ink, the door opened, and someone approached with brisk, unhesitating steps.

“Anyone who saw you would think you were a Hanlin Academician.”

The unexpected visitor was a martial artist covered in dust.

He had narrow, sharply slanted eyes and a well-worn sword hanging from his waist. The man made a show of hardening his expression when he saw him.

“A Hanlin Academician? I’d rather you call me a master painter.”

“You still paint?”

“It’s my only pleasure.”

“Sadly, you don’t have the bearing of a master painter. Would you like to learn some martial arts from me?”

“I must respectfully decline. This is the limit of my abilities as a martial artist.”

“What a shame. You seem to lack the qualities a martial artist ought to possess.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have a subordinate who handles a sword brilliantly. Why else would his epithet be Ghost Sword?”

At the man’s sly response, the unexpected visitor’s expression slowly relaxed.

The next moment, the two of them let out quiet laughs as though they had planned it together.

“My lord, you haven’t changed.”

“Neither have you, Wipeng.”

It had been no less than four months since they had last seen each other, which made their reunion all the more welcome.

Jin Wikyung, the Lesser Family Head of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, wore a broad smile as he slapped Wipeng on the shoulder.

“What brings you here without any warning? The messenger pigeon said you wouldn’t arrive until noon tomorrow.”

“The Jin Dragon Squad can manage perfectly well without me.”

The Jin Dragon Squad was currently the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s foremost armed force.

It had been established only a year ago, but every member possessed impressive martial skills, and their loyalty to the family was even greater.

The fact that Wipeng, Jin Wikyung’s trusted subordinate, served as its Commander was enough to reveal the squad’s status.

“You didn’t slip away by yourself without telling anyone, despite being the Commander, did you?”

“Of course not. I left that Hyuk fellow in charge. He’ll manage just fine.”

“The acting Deputy Commander?”

“Yes.”

“This was his first mission, wasn’t it? What did you think after watching him?”

Wipeng’s eyebrow twitched.

He had thought he was becoming somewhat accustomed to Hyuk Mujin, but merely thinking about the man gave him a headache.

Still, business was business, and personal feelings were personal. His answer came out like a sigh.

“He’s serviceable enough. The only problem is that he never stops running his mouth.”

“I had a rough idea, but he sounds more cheerful than I expected.”

“He’s so goddamn cheerful it’s a problem.”

“What about the rest?”

“…If you teach him things one by one, he does learn quickly.”

“If you’re saying that, he must possess considerable martial talent.”

A year earlier, Hyuk Mujin had been granted the honor of joining the Jin Dragon Squad in recognition of his service.

Naturally, Jin Taekyung’s influence had played a role in that decision.

That fellow is better than he looks. Try raising him.

Jin Wikyung would do anything for his younger brothers.

On the off chance Taekyung was right, he had placed Hyuk Mujin in the Jin Dragon Squad and assigned Wipeng to train him. The young man’s skills had improved by the day.

His slick personality allowed him to get along well with the other members, and there was no question about his loyalty.

“Ha-ha-ha! As expected of our youngest—he has an eye for people.”

Jin Wikyung laughed heartily. In his hand was a bottle of liquor that no one had seen him take out.

After filling a cup to the brim and handing it over, he spoke.

“In any case, you’ve worked hard. So, is everything in Northern Gaoyuan settled now?”

“Yes. There shouldn’t be any trouble for at least the next ten years.”

Stabilizing Northern Gaoyuan.

That was why Wipeng had been away from the Jin Family of Taiyuan for the past four months.

Jin Wikyung believed that he needed to subjugate the mounted bandits of Gaoyuan to become the true hegemon of Shanxi Province. After months of secret, meticulous preparation, he had swung his sharpest weapon at them.

The sword known as Ghost Sword Wipeng.

“We attacked from seven directions, and they collapsed without being able to do anything.”

The Murim of Shanxi—and especially the sects and merchant groups in the northern region, which had suffered the most damage—welcomed the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s bold decision and actively cooperated.

The so-called Seven-Route Army had been formed with Wipeng and the Jin Dragon Squad at its forefront. With the merchants’ full support, they were equipped with quality weapons and warhorses.

They also had a powerful ally.

“The Lower District Sect was frightening. I was reminded once again of how terrifying information can be.”

The Lower District Sect had received a considerable share of the northern region’s interests immediately after the war ended, and they had welcomed Jin Wikyung’s decision with open arms.

Like seasoned information merchants, they monitored the mounted bandits’ every move while spreading false information and setting traps.

Their thoroughness was enough to make even Jin Wikyung shake his head in admiration.

“Everything in this world is used differently depending on who owns it. But the truly frightening one is Wolhwa. She isn’t meant to be confined to Shanxi Province.”

“Is that so?”

“Can’t you tell from the results? Her true weapon isn’t her beautiful appearance. It’s her strategy.”

Two thousand.

That was the number of mounted bandits who had been killed or captured in Northern Gaoyuan that day.

Seven battles had broken out in different locations, and after claiming seven victories, the army had advanced without hesitation.

“After that, we killed or captured every one we came across.”

Hundreds of crows flew through the sky, while corpses that seemed to number ten times as many lay scattered across the ground below.

By the time the Seven-Route Army’s horses came to a stop, five major mounted-bandit groups had been annihilated, and more than ten others had surrendered.

“Effectively, we had already achieved our objective.”

“I believe there’s more to the story.”

“Ah. You mean the nomads?”

“You got it.”

Thanks to their rapid mobile strikes, the Seven-Route Army had suffered few casualties. But the successive battles had left them thoroughly exhausted.

That was when thousands of nomads appeared amid a massive cloud of dust.

“To be honest, even I felt dizzy when I saw them.”

There were thousands of them, and every single one was a master of mounted combat.

No matter how seasoned a Peak master Wipeng was, he had no way to turn the tide of battle by himself.

“That was when the matter I reported earlier by messenger pigeon took place.”

“You mean the people who called themselves khans?”

The great nomadic empire that had once ruled even the Central Plains had long since become a distant memory. But the conquerors’ bloodline had not been severed, and neither had the title of khan.

“There were two of them. They came forward first and introduced themselves…”

“Temur and Chinggen, descendants of the Great Khan and members of the Golden Clan.²”

“Exactly.”

Wipeng nodded.

The young chieftains of the steppe had arrived with two thousand riders each. They were neither aggressive nor arrogant.

Instead, they cautiously attempted to converse in halting Han language.

“Is there anyone among you from the Jin Family of Taiyuan?”

The battle that everyone had expected never took place.

All because of the name of the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

“The rumor had already reached Gaoyuan. They knew about the relationship between Great Hero Jeok and the Third Young Master, and they said they didn’t want to become enemies with us.”

“That’s what I’m curious about. It seems suspicious to say they withdrew after hearing only the Fire King’s reputation.”

“Ah, that? I found it rather unsettling myself, so I beat the information out of the mounted-bandit prisoners we captured.”

Wipeng grinned as he continued.

“They had been taught a lesson the previous winter. Great Hero Jeok killed two notorious mounted-bandit leaders from Gaoyuan—Black Sand and the Human Butcher—with a single palm strike. The two of them were there as well.”

“They were frightened.”

“On the other hand, it helped them, too. After their leaders died, the mounted-bandit remnants fell into chaos, and Temur and Chinggen absorbed them. That’s how they grew this powerful.”

Temur and Chinggen had been lucky.

Black Sand and the Human Butcher had died in the same place, and not long afterward, even the Heavenly Wind Band had been annihilated by Jeok Cheongang. A power vacuum had formed.

After swallowing up the mounted-bandit remnants and gathering the scattered nomads, the two men had rapidly emerged as powers in Gaoyuan in the span of only a year.

“They said they wanted to be friends from now on. They even loaded us down with furs and gold and silver treasures they’d plundered.”

“What? Ha-ha-ha!”

Jin Wikyung burst into delighted laughter.

The outcome could not have been better.

The campaign had strengthened the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s fame and position in the Shanxi Murim, while also winning it the support of the affiliated sects and the common people.

“You’ve worked hard. You deserve great credit.”

“I don’t know about that, but I do know that my cup is empty.”

“Ha-ha! Let’s drink until we’re completely drunk tonight.”

The two men took turns filling each other’s cups as they talked.

An enormous number of things had happened over the past year, so they had plenty to discuss.

“Oh, right. What happened to the Seongun Escort Bureau?”

“We finished dealing with it completely right after you left. Though I suppose we should call it the Jin Family Escort Bureau now.”

Woo Hwangtae, chief of the Seongun Escort Bureau, had fled with his family, taking only a paltry sum of money. It had been discovered that they had bribed several officials and secretly diverted military supplies.

Prince Shangshan, Zhu Bao, an ardent admirer of Jin Taekyung, had of course provided considerable help during the process.

“Our cooperation with the other sects is progressing smoothly as well. An escort caravan traveling through Mount Song to Hefei is already under way.”

“Mount Song and Hefei…?”

“Shaolin and Namgung. There was no reason to reject such a good offer.”

Shaolin, the Mount Tai and Northern Dipper of the world’s Murim, and the Nangong Family, counted among the foremost of the Five Great Families.

They were so large that Jin Wikyung would have been satisfied merely to open trade relations with them. Instead, they had been the ones to propose a deal first—and on extremely generous terms, at that.

“The presence of Great Hero Jeok has been a tremendous help to our family.”

At Wipeng’s words, Jin Wikyung merely smiled.

He firmly believed that in the Murim, at least, no favor came without a price.

Their goodwill contained the price of two people.

One was the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

The other was the value of Jin Taekyung, a Sleeping Dragon.

Come to think of it, it’s already been a year since our youngest left.

It had been a year filled with countless hardships and events.

Once the ground thawed, the Star-Array Grand Banquet would be held in Henan. The brothers would meet again there.

Are you staying safe?

Just as Jin Wikyung was raising his cup while thinking about his thoughtless youngest brother, who had not contacted him even once, Wipeng suddenly spoke.

“By the way, what were you planning to paint this time?”

“I wonder.”

“You were grinding ink without even deciding what to paint?”

“It happens from time to time. There are many occasions when I grind ink for one or two shichen before putting everything away again.”

“Huh. Are you really trying to become a master painter now?”

“Put that thought aside for now. But once this painting is complete, I think I’d be happy to be called a master painter.”

“Didn’t you just say you hadn’t decided what to paint?”

“It’s merely that I can’t easily visualize what it will look like. I decided on the title long ago.”

“Then what is the title of this magnificent work?”

Jin Wikyung answered with a smile.

“The Sleeping Dragon Enters Service.”

He was a young man in shabby clothes.

His long, loose hair reached his shoulder blades, and his chin and philtrum were covered in thick stubble.

The final touch was the iron balls dangling from all four limbs, making him look like a convict at a forced-labor camp.

But there was one thing that set him apart.

His eyes.

The young man stared at the blue-white flame with a gaze so deep its bottom could not be seen, then muttered,

“Ah. This would be the perfect place to grill some meat.”

And then—

Fwoosh! Smack!

With a savage crack of displaced air, a wrinkled palm struck the young man on the back of the head.

“What an insolent brat! How dare you think of grilling meat over our sect’s sacred flame!”

The old man was furious. The young man grumbled.

“Ah, why not? It seems like it’d be fine if I just put it in for a second and pulled it right back out.”

“What did you say?”

“You’ve never heard of kiln-roasted pork belly? It’s insanely good.”

“You—you’re dead today!”

Smack! Crash!

On a day in early spring, when the earth had thawed and fresh sprouts were poking their heads aboveground, peaceful Mount Jiuhua began to grow noisy.