Jin Haryeong was ascending the dueling platform.
Today was the day her first final-round duel was held. The cheers of the heroes were tremendous. Because they respected and liked the Martial Alliance Leader, everyone liked his granddaughter, Jin Haryeong, as well. Moreover, she was a beauty renowned as the greatest beauty of Hubei, so her popularity was only natural.
“Please win!”
“Jin Haryeong is the best!”
“You’re pretty, Jin Haryeong!”
“Buy us noodles!”
“The champion is Jin Haryeong!”
Jin Haryeong flinched on the dueling platform.
She had heard something that shouldn’t have been mixed in among the cheering voices.
She looked around. Because she had never looked at the heroes from the dueling platform until now, cheers erupted from all directions. Among these countless people, she found the person she had to find. Geom Mugeuk, sitting among the heroes, had shouted.
“You just left again!”
Even amid the crowd’s cheers, his words flew clearly to her ears. At that moment, she realized. That she had come out without settling the bill again that day.
She had even been asked to pay, yet she had gone out without doing it.
‘Ah! To think I’m so scatterbrained!’
That day too, she had gotten entangled with that man, lost her temper, and just stormed out.
Even so. So what? You’re going to come all the way to the dueling arena and shout for me to buy noodles?
A hollow laugh escaped her because it was so absurd.
Her opponent in the duel, seeing that look, hardened his expression. He misunderstood that she was looking down on him and laughing.
The misunderstanding certainly firmed his will to win, but unfortunately, he could not narrow the gap in skill with her. Not even against Jin Haryeong, who was thinking of noodles throughout the fight.
As she descended the dueling platform amid applause, she glanced at the spot where Geom Mugeuk had been earlier. But Geom Mugeuk was no longer there.
To think he left without watching the duel to the end. This guy! Did he really come just to collect the noodle money?
At that moment, the bodyguard martial artist Chuho came and reported.
“The Alliance Leader asks you to come to his quarters.”
“Grandfather?”
Half a shichen later, Jin Haryeong passed through countless heavy guards and entered the Martial Alliance Leader’s residence.
Located deep within the Martial Alliance, that place had splendidly carved rocks and thousand-year-old trees harmonizing elegantly together, truly resembling a place where immortals dwelled. A man stood there with his hands behind his back, lost in thought. Blending with the beautiful scenery, he looked like a part of a painting.
“Grandfather, I’m here!”
“You’ve come?”
A man with a robust physique turned toward her.
Looking twenty years younger than his age, he possessed a perfectly muscular body that even young people could not match.
More than his body, what dominated his impression were his eyes. With his two large, intense eyes that seemed like they could make even a tiger flinch if met directly, he looked like a divine general descended from the heavens.
Rather than this place where immortals dwelled, the dueling platform she had just been on suited him more.
Martial Alliance Leader Qin Batian.
As the foremost orthodox expert, he was the pillar of the righteous martial arts world and received the respect of all. There was even a saying that the reason the Demonic Cult could not act recklessly was because Qin Batian lived; he was the symbol of the righteous martial arts world.
Even in Jin Haryeong’s eyes, her grandfather was an impressive figure.
He had a kind heart, strong will, and above all, a high sense of chivalry. He was someone who deserved to be respected by anyone.
However, that was martial artist Jin Haryeong’s assessment, and granddaughter Jin Haryeong’s assessment was different. He was a rigid, suffocating grandfather who oppressed her—nothing more, nothing less.
Honestly, that made her angrier. He was so perfect and kind to others, yet he couldn’t do the same for his family. Rather than treating those who should be treated well properly, he devoted his body and life to people he had never met.
“I met the Zhenlong Manor Lord some time ago.”
On the day she won her duel, her grandfather brought up another subject first.
What’s the rush? Let’s talk about your granddaughter winning the duel first. Or at least the weather today.
Of course, she couldn’t voice such complaints. He wasn’t scary, but he wasn’t comfortable either.
“Is the Manor Lord doing well?”
“He complained about having no strength, but that old man is still as stubborn as ever.”
Really, if it weren’t for Grandfather, this was someone she wouldn’t think of for the rest of her life.
But there was a different reason Grandfather had brought up the Zhenlong Manor Lord.
“His grandson who went away for martial arts training has returned. He subtly brought up the idea of matching him with you. What do you think?”
Ah! Here we go again.
“Why is our grandfather so anxious to marry off this cute granddaughter? It’s not like you need an in-law from a famous family, right?”
She tried acting cute, but Qin Batian didn’t accept it.
“I am asking what you think.”
“I don’t like it. Grandfather, I don’t like it.”
At her firm answer, Qin Batian’s expression slightly furrowed.
“Why don’t you like it?”
“Would Grandfather want to marry someone whose face you don’t even know?”
“He is a trustworthy person.”
“Who says so? You haven’t even seen him.”
“You’ll know when you see the Zhenlong Manor Lord.”
“How exactly? Everyone looks at the granddaughter of the respected Grandfather and thinks what? Is it the same as how I am outside? Refined, proud, and polite? No, right? I’m rebellious like this. So how can you know his grandson just by looking at the Zhenlong Manor Lord?”
Qin Batian’s expression hardened, but Jin Haryeong didn’t back down.
“As I told you before, when it comes to marriage, I will meet someone I like and do it when the time is right.”
“That is childish talk! Do you even know how treacherous and dangerous this martial world is? All sorts of strange and weird fellows roam around.”
At the mention of weird fellows, she suddenly thought of an impudent servant. That was true, he was.
“The Zhenlong Manor has produced excellent martial artists for generations, so it is a place you can trust.”
“That trust is only valid for Grandfather.”
“What do you mean?”
“No one would dare betray Grandfather’s trust. That is why you have always had an accurate eye for people. But I am different. Just as people treat Grandfather differently from how they treat me.”
It was an irreverent remark. The surrounding air grew cold with the anger-laden aura of her grandfather.
Still, Jin Haryeong didn’t back down. If she broke under this anger, she might really have to marry someone she didn’t want.
“If you keep forcing me like this, I will marry just anyone.”
“Anyone? Who exactly are you talking about?”
“Anyone on the street. Even if he is a servant, I don’t care.”
After saying it carelessly, she inwardly flinched. A servant?
“If you can do it, go ahead.”
“Grandfather!”
“You absolutely cannot do that. Do I not know you? You couldn’t do that even for the sake of your pride. Go and bring a servant, a street merchant, or anyone. I will hold a grand wedding ceremony for you.”
Jin Haryeong couldn’t deny it. Because that was who she was.
“I know best that Grandfather is truly an excellent person. I know you are a noble person who would gladly give your life for the martial world. I respect Grandfather the most. But I don’t want to turn such a wonderful grandfather into an uncool Martial Alliance Leader who forces his granddaughter into marriage.”
She knew. The reason Grandfather was intervening so actively in her marriage. It was because of her deceased father.
He thought her father had died because he married poorly. That he had ruined his life by meeting the wrong wife.
Her father had been swept up in her mother’s family grudges and eventually died from an enemy ambush. Her mother had died with him then.
Though all revenge had been concluded afterward, regret remained in Grandfather’s heart.
Grandfather, how is that Mother’s fault? It was Father’s chosen life. Father loved Mother until the moment he died.
Knowing that Grandfather was trying to send her to a family he chose for this reason, she hated it even more.
“You still don’t know the world. You don’t know how treacherous and dangerous this martial world is.”
“I will learn it myself.”
“You will regret it.”
“I will regret it.”
But no matter how stubborn she was, it didn’t work on Qin Batian. Though he was known as a generous and broad-minded person in the world, that heart did not apply to his granddaughter’s marriage.
“The Zhenlong Manor Lord’s grandson will come to tomorrow evening’s dinner. You must attend.”
She suddenly remembered what Geom Mugeuk had said to her. Whether that consideration had been for her or for the other party. Could it be that Grandfather was making the same mistake?
“Do you want to marry me off for my sake? Or to ease your own heart?”
Grandfather did not fluster like her. Qin Batian answered without hesitation.
“Both.”
At Qin Batian’s will to never back down, Jin Haryeong retreated for now.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I understand Grandfather’s feelings, but that is absolutely not a heart for me.
* * *
“Hoo, hoo.”
Seo Daeryong catching his breath after training was clearly a different person from before.
When he learned from Hyeolcheon Doma, he had trained diligently without question, but now his training was different. He had enemies he had to fight, and his training was about how to defeat those enemies. Through this practical training, Seo Daeryong was entering the true path of a martial artist.
“Pavilion Lord, I want to become stronger!”
Moments like this came. Not just vaguely wanting to become stronger while playing around, but when you were working so hard you could barely breathe, you really wanted to do more. This was true resolve.
“Very well, become stronger. I shall watch over you.”
“You must watch.”
“Yes, I shall watch.”
Seo Daeryong was now a little giant. You may be grateful to me, but I am the one who is grateful. Because of you at that moment who said the main cult wouldn’t change, my regression could find its direction.
After finishing martial arts training with Seo Daeryong and returning, I found Jin Haryeong had come to the inn.
“That appearance isn’t unfamiliar now. What brings you here today?”
She had a slightly darker expression than usual.
“A face that needs counseling for its worries?”
“The granddaughter of the Martial Alliance Leader receiving counseling from the son of the Demonic Cult Leader. You figure everything out in the end. Where is the Martial Alliance’s forbidden area? To open the secret vault…”
“Stop right there!”
“Yes!”
Seo Daeryong went up to the guest room, and I walked to the seat where she had been sitting.
As soon as she saw me, Jin Haryeong asked outright.
“You shouted for me to buy noodles when you were cheering, didn’t you?”
“You heard?”
“Your words just flew into my ears and stuck there.”
“I’ve always had a loud voice.”
“Sit down.”
I sat across from her.
She filled my cup to the brim with alcohol.
“Do you drink well?”
“It depends on the occasion.”
“When do you drink well? When you’re with good people?”
“No, when I’m with good people, I actually get drunk quickly.”
“Then when?”
“I drink well when I’m angry. I talk a lot when excited, so the alcohol wears off quickly. When emotions run high, alcohol is like water. Though I regret it the next day with a hangover.”
“‘If I drink again, I’m a dog!’ Like that?”
“That’s right. You know me well.”
We emptied our cups together. Jin Haryeong set down her empty cup and said.
“The alcohol goes down smoothly for me today too.”
“Were you angry today as well?”
“Today too?”
“You usually come because you’re angry, don’t you?”
“I don’t come because I’m angry, I leave because I’m angry. Because of someone.”
At her words, I laughed.
“Do you drink alcohol poured by a servant too?”
“It depends on what kind of servant.”
I filled her cup with alcohol. She stared at me intently and suddenly asked.
“Do you have any intention of shaving that beard?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then do you have any intention of letting yourself be used by me? Just for one day.”
“I do.”
She looked at me with a surprised expression.
“You can’t shave your beard but you’ll let yourself be used?”
“It’s just one day, isn’t it? Growing a beard takes a long time.”
“Won’t you ask what it’s about?”
“It must be something very troubling for you, lady.”
“You might end up in trouble too. Someone might hold a grudge. You might be humiliated.”
“Having grudges held against me, being humiliated—that is the life of a servant. What could be more troublesome than that?”
“Then attend the Martial Alliance banquet with me tomorrow. You’ll get to meet my grandfather too. Can you do it?”
I blinked for a moment before answering.
“That’s a bit difficult.”
“Coward.”
“Servants are all like that, I suppose.”
Jin Haryeong laughed at me.
“I didn’t have any intention of asking for your help from the start. You wouldn’t end up well if you got swept up in my affairs. Still, I’m grateful you said that.”
She rose from her seat.
“See? One out of three.”
At that moment, a young man walked toward us.
“Miss Jin.”
The moment I saw him, I was inwardly surprised. It was someone I knew. Someone who had a direct connection with me before the regression.
“I am Cao Xin of Zhenlong Manor. We met once before. You’ve become more beautiful.”
Cao Xin.
The Cao Xin I knew was not the Cao Xin of Zhenlong Manor.
After Huawuqi went into seclusion, he became the head of Shenlong family, a newly risen orthodox family. The current Zhenlong Manor would later change its name to Shenlong family and rise to prominence under Cao Xin’s leadership. After the Martial Alliance’s decline, it would grow into a sect representing the righteous faction.
It was that family I had gone to in order to retrieve the Shenwu Incense Burner, the second ingredient for the Regression Technique.
‘So at this time in his youth, you approached Jin Haryeong.’
I knew well what kind of person Cao Xin was.
He was a typical hypocrite. He hid his cruel and ruthless nature deeply and lived the life of a great hero. He didn’t hesitate to use any means necessary for his success and felt no guilt about it.
If the Cao Xin of that time and the present Cao Xin had the same nature?
My gaze turned to Jin Haryeong.
This woman is in danger now.
Could it be that her life turned out that way not because of the Cheonmyeong Society, but because of this man?
Cao Xin looked at me and asked.
“Who is this person?”
Her gaze and mine met. She smiled faintly and said.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just a servant.”