Episode 16: Heart Method of the Heavy Sword (2)
Taiyang Jade Essence (太陽玉精).
I had never heard of the Taiyang Jade Essence. But from its name alone, I could tell it was a miraculous elixir.
The middle-aged man was staring at me intensely. As if he were waiting for my answer with bated breath.
‘He must want to obtain the Taiyang Jade Essence badly.’
But what flickered in the middle-aged man’s eyes was far from greed. It was closer to worry.
‘Obtaining a miraculous elixir would naturally be good for me as well. But my original goal in coming here was to meet the Crimson Flame Lord and fight him.’
I decided not to harbor greed beyond the goal I had initially set.
“I did not come here searching for the Taiyang Jade Essence.”
A slight sense of relief flickered in the middle-aged man’s eyes.
“What? Is that true? Cough, cough!”
And to ensure that he could rest assured, I drove the point home.
“Yes. Furthermore, I have no desire for the Taiyang Jade Essence.”
The middle-aged man’s eyes widened.
“No desire?”
“Yes.”
“A man’s word carries the weight of a thousand gold pieces, does it not?”
“Of course.”
The middle-aged man suddenly approached with his ailing body and embraced me. Though it was only his right arm, his emotions of genuine relief and gratitude were conveyed.
“As expected, perhaps because you are not one of those Five Great Clans or orthodox sect brats, your nature is very good! Even though the Nangong Clan stayed among the Five Great Clans for a long time, you did not become arrogant like them!”
As the middle-aged man separated from me, he continued.
“My introduction was delayed. I am called Peng Wuguang.”
I had intuited from the blade he carried and from the fact that he had called himself Old Peng earlier that he was from the Hebei Peng Clan.
And my expectation was correct.
He was the former head of the Hebei Peng Clan, Fierce Tiger Saber Peng Wuguang.
“I greet Senior Peng.”
As I displayed courtesy, he patted my shoulder.
“Hehe, yes, yes. Seeing a Nangong Clan member also gives me a needless sense of kinship.”
After the teachings of the Mount Hua Sword Immortal, the Hebei Peng Clan too lost its footing. Because the sword clans that accepted the teachings experienced rapid growth in strength.
Thus, the Hebei Peng Clan yielded its position among the Five Great Clans to the Hebei Luo Clan.
Perhaps pleased to hear “senior,” Peng Wuguang kept smiling broadly. To such a man, I smiled faintly and opened my mouth.
“Naturally, I will yield the Taiyang Jade Essence to Senior Peng. But in exchange, I have a condition.”
Peng Wuguang’s eyes opened wide.
“Hm? What is it? Say anything.”
“Allow me to face the Crimson Flame Lord.”
Peng Wuguang’s eyes suddenly narrowed.
“The Crimson Flame Lord?”
Peng Wuguang stared at me steadily for a moment.
“You still seem to be at first-rate level; how do you intend to face the Crimson Flame Lord? He is a peak expert. I’ve finally met a junior I like after a long time; I do not wish to see you come to harm. Cough, cough.”
“I know. But I must fight. For the clan, and also for myself.”
Peng Wuguang’s eyes widened. Looking at me, he remained silent for a long while.
“…For the clan. What heart moves you—how could I, a Peng clansman, not know? Very well. You shall face the Crimson Flame Lord.”
I showed a light smile.
“Thank you for understanding.”
Enlightenment gained at the crossroads of life and death.
I only needed that enlightenment.
* * *
Peng Wuguang and I entered the Daeheung Inn again. It was where Dokgwi Eumjeok and the Crimson Flame Lord had agreed to meet.
‘Anyway, the place they agreed to meet is here. The Crimson Flame Lord will definitely come back in some way.’
I ordered simple wine and food and ate with Peng Wuguang.
Peng Wuguang seemed to be in very high spirits after hearing that I would yield the Taiyang Jade Essence.
“I’m telling you this because you have the bearing of a true martial artist. Do you know what the Taiyang Jade Essence is?”
“Honestly, I know nothing about it.”
“Really? Ah, if I tell you, you might finally develop some greed for it.”
To the worried him, I showed a light smile.
“That won’t happen.”
“Good! Then I shall explain about the Taiyang Jade Essence. Several decades ago, there was a man called the Dreaming Elder. He was very weak even though he trained in martial arts until old age. So he wandered the world seeking miraculous elixirs, but how easy was that? However, by a stroke of luck, he arrived at a cave by the sea.”
According to Peng Wuguang, there was a small hole in the ceiling of that cave. It was a hole where light gathered when the sun was at its zenith.
“The sun’s energy shone down and gathered, and the cave’s jade dew and moss clumped together and hardened. For several hundred years continuously.”
I was not well-versed in miraculous elixirs. But just from hearing it, it seemed to be an elixir possessing extreme yang energy.
“How about it? Are you tempted now?”
I smiled faintly.
“I still feel nothing.”
“Hahaha! As expected, I judged a man correctly. You have loyalty, true loyalty!”
“But why did that Dreaming Elder not consume the Taiyang Jade Essence?”
“He realized it. That it was too late. Such an elixir alone couldn’t let him experience the legendary bone-transformation rebirth, and even if there were such a possibility, he had to go through the arduous process of absorbing the elixir.”
“He concluded that with his aged body, that process would be too much.”
“Exactly. So he left a treasure map, hoping that this hard-won elixir wouldn’t disappear and that someone in later generations would find it.”
“How did you end up pursuing this Taiyang Jade Essence, Senior Peng?”
“I happened to hear some subordinates of the Crimson Flame Lord talking. That the Crimson Flame Lord had obtained the treasure map of the Taiyang Jade Essence. So I’ve been tracking and investigating him all this time.”
“It seems you intend to consume it yourself to heal your body.”
Suddenly, Peng Wuguang’s face darkened.
“That’s not it…”
Soon his gaze turned to the wine cup. And he fiddled with the cup quietly.
“I intend to give it to our Peng Clan.”
Only then did I seem to understand Peng Wuguang’s heart.
Twenty years ago, the Hebei Peng Clan was pushed out by the Hebei Luo Clan and expelled from the Five Great Clans. And the clan head at the time, Peng Wuguang, reportedly took responsibility and stepped down as head, leaving the clan.
‘He left the clan like that, but all this time he has been working himself to the point of illness for that clan. To somehow be of help to the Hebei Peng Clan.’
My deceased father came to mind.
Father, too, until his final moments, had striven to somehow revive the clan.
And now, Peng Wuguang before my eyes was also striving for the Hebei Peng Clan just like my father.
“Tell me your story too. Cough, cough.”
“Didn’t you hear through rumors? That the Nangong Clan was also expelled from the Five Great Clans.”
“That’s the clan’s story, not your story, is it not? I saw earlier that you seem to use the Mighty Sword. Like the Nangong Clan swords of old.”
I smiled lightly.
“I am striving not to forget the essence. Like the Hebei Peng Clan, which does not abandon the Way.”
Peng Wuguang stared blankly at me, then soon burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha! Right! Exactly! Completely different from the others who only follow the Mount Hua Sword Immortal’s teachings. I too want to see our Hebei Peng Clan’s Way surpass their swords! I want to crush their arrogance!”
There was indeed something that connected us.
“I feel the same.”
“The more I see you, the more I like you… Cough, cough! Keok, keok!”
He had been coughing continuously. But now the coughing was even worse.
Suddenly, Peng Wuguang vomited a large amount of blood. Then he collapsed, striking his head on the table.
I quickly checked his breathing. He wasn’t dead. But he looked extremely critical.
I looked at the flustered owner.
“Is there a physician nearby?”
* * *
Not far from Danyang City, where Nangong Lin was currently located, there was an estate called the Li Family Estate (李家莊).
It was a fairly spacious estate, but now there was no sign of people and it was quiet.
The ones currently staying at the Li Family Estate were the Crimson Flame Lord and his subordinates.
The Crimson Flame Lord was a terrifying-looking man with a red-tinted beard and flashing eyes.
“Why haven’t the subordinates who went to Daeheung Inn sent any news? Even if the Poison Ghost doesn’t appear, weren’t they supposed to send word periodically?”
The Crimson Flame Lord pointed to the Poison Ghost—naturally, Dokgwi Eumjeok. He had sent subordinates to Daeheung Inn to meet Dokgwi Eumjeok. He was supposed to receive constant reports, but suddenly the news had cut off.
“Those fellows have weak martial arts but quick tempers; they might have gotten into a quarrel with someone and gotten beaten.”
At the subordinate’s words, the Crimson Flame Lord nodded.
“Pyeonak, go and check yourself.”
Pyeonak was the most trustworthy and strongest among the subordinates.
“Yes.”
Though a man of few words, his swordsmanship was powerful enough to always pierce the opponent’s throat.
As soon as Pyeonak disappeared with two subordinates, the Crimson Flame Lord immediately headed to a central building.
Upon opening the door and entering, a horrifying sight appeared. There were corpses brutally hacked to pieces, and in the center of the sea of blood, a young man was tied to a chair.
The Crimson Flame Lord approached the man.
“I hate brats like you, born into good families and raised without lacking anything. Thanks to that, they learn good martial arts and strut around calling themselves experts and late-generation prodigies.”
Having wandered as an orphan from childhood and grown up from the bottom with difficulty, the Crimson Flame Lord had met a master like Dokgwi Eumjeok and learned martial arts. And because of the treatment he received as a child, he came to target only well-born young prodigies.
The Crimson Flame Lord took one of the man’s remaining four fingers.
“So weak, yet so arrogant.”
The Crimson Flame Lord tore off the man’s finger. The man’s eyes were filled with pain, but his pressure points had been sealed, so he could neither make a sound nor struggle.
“Wonderful. If I consume the Taiyang Jade Essence together with Dokgwi Eumjeok, not only the young prodigies of the Five Great Clans, but even the Four Dragons and Two Phoenixes, I will be able to ravage them at will.”
* * *
As soon as Pyeonak arrived in Danyang City, he headed straight for the Daeheung Inn. A window that had been broken and repaired caught his eye.
It seemed some commotion had occurred.
Pyeonak immediately went to the owner and asked.
“What happened?”
The owner felt fear at Pyeonak’s emotionless gaze and spoke of the fight that had taken place.
“Where did the young man and the middle-aged man go?”
The owner’s face showed distress. The young man had been so polite that he even paid for the damages to the inn. He didn’t want to say, but feeling a crisis of death, he had no choice.
“I-I introduced them to a physician.”
“The location.”
In the end, Pyeonak left with his subordinates to find the physician the owner had mentioned.
The clinic was located in Danyang City, so it was easy to find.
As soon as Pyeonak stepped into the clinic, a door opened inside and a man walked out.
He was a tall man with a handsome appearance, wearing garments of sky-blue embroidered with golden thread.
The moment Pyeonak saw the man—Nangong Lin—walking out, his pupils shook unconsciously. He was no ordinary martial artist. His every step possessed dignity, and his eyes harbored an unwavering serenity.
Like a famous young prodigy who had studied at a prestigious orthodox sect.
Nangong Lin looked around at Pyeonak and his men, then slowly opened his mouth.
“I sense evil qi from you all.”
Soon, Nangong Lin glanced slightly toward the room.
“Senior Peng lost consciousness for three full days and has only just awoken. If you intend to cause a commotion here…”
His gaze returned to Pyeonak as his right hand moved behind his back, gripping the scabbard of his sword.
“I shall finish this quickly.”