Episode 130: When We Survive the Martial World, Then

The Lecher of the past life had become the Lecher of the present life because of me.

A mountain is a mountain, water is water, and a lecher is a lecher, but.

The past life and the present life will be different.

If in his past life that shitting bastard was a Lecher who spread his ill fame across the world, in this life I intend to suppress him to the level of a neighborhood lecher.

Suppress, restrain, torment, and harass.

Simply lowering his standing to that of a problematic bastard who flirts with women in one village or another.

Doing good ought to bring good fortune, and yet…

What I do is largely unacknowledged, so it is mildly regrettable.

I looked at the Lecher, who was plunging his chopsticks into the pork bones.

‘Such a worthless bastard…’

I was certain that in his past life, the period when this bastard earned the malignant reputation of the Lecher was clearly after the Sword Demon had disappeared.

This time, I would not let it come to that.

Whether the Sword Demon dies in the wilderness, dies surrounded by experts, or falls into qi deviation and ascends alone, I would block such situations at the root. In short, I intended not to leave him to die in a lonely, desolate state.

Because this solemn, weighty man was precisely the Lecher’s master.

In summary, we would survive, and…

We would keep watch over the Lecher.

The Lecher had once again become a lecher, but lecherous deeds would not come easily. With such thoughts, as I finished the pork bones, not only the resolve in my heart but even my lower belly was splendidly sated.

The Sword Demon asked me.

“Lord, what thoughts are you pondering so deeply?”

I replied while drinking Dugangju.

“I was seriously pondering for a moment whether I am someone who acts on personal feelings, or someone who values the greater good.”

“And the conclusion?”

“I am simply a man who lives as he pleases.”

The Sword Demon nodded and spoke.

“Admirably clear. If you’re finished eating, show me around Zaha Inn for a moment.”

“Let’s do that.”

The Lecher, who had been unable to eat properly while fumbling with his chopsticks, smacked his lips and gazed at the pork bones.

The Sword Demon spoke in a light tone.

“Eat with your hands.”

“Yes.”

In that instant, I studied the Sword Demon and the Lecher simultaneously. Strange though it was, the two looked like master and disciple, yet at the same time like a foster father and a foster son. Considering the original meaning of the word sabu—master—it was not such a strange thing.

I did not know whether the two were aware of the undercurrent of such a relationship.

The Sword Demon looked precisely like a man with no intention of forming a family. The Lecher was an illegitimate son who had not received his due in his household.

My conclusion was that the trash-like Lecher’s constant respectfulness toward his master was not solely because of martial arts.

Shortly after, I pressed a generous amount of silver coins into Brother Deoksu’s hands and left the restaurant.

* * *

“The site is favorable.”

“Is it?”

Since it was near sunset, those who had been working on construction had all gone home, and Yeonjaseong was nowhere to be seen.

Every time I visited, the appearance of Zaha Inn was gradually changing.

Like my own martial arts, it was slowly and steadily advancing toward completion, so I felt rather pleased.

The Lecher asked me.

“Were you rich? The construction progress looks quite advanced. This isn’t a site you’d see in some backwater.”

“I stole it.”

“Stole what?”

“The money.”

“From whom?”

“The Dark Path.”

“I see.”

The Sword Demon spoke while observing his disciple’s expression.

“If you have something to say, speak.”

The Lecher replied.

“If you plunder money from the Dark Path to build an inn like this, you will end up employing many workers regardless.”

“What of it?”

“It seems like work with its own meaning.”

The Sword Demon replied while looking at the inn.

“Meaning… so there are times when you speak such words.”

“Do you think I concern myself with women all day, Master?”

The Sword Demon nodded and replied.

“That is you.”

“……”

I looked back and forth between the two and tilted my head.

Seeing that even a man of the Sword Demon’s caliber had been tainted by my manner of speech, I felt a peculiar sensation.

Anyway, since I agreed with the Sword Demon’s words as well, I looked at the Lecher.

“That is you. Shitter.”

“Shut up for once.”

The Sword Demon spoke.

“When the inn is complete, give me a room later as well.”

“That is not difficult. But when you say later?”

The Sword Demon replied, looking at the darkening sky.

“When we survive the martial world, then.”

“Let it be so.”

The Lecher interjected.

“Master, of course you must survive. No matter how powerful the Cult is, does not the Alliance exist? And the Dark Path hates the Cult no less than the Righteous Path.”

The Sword Demon replied.

“There will be those of the Dark Path. But there will also be many of the Dark Path who cling to the Cult. The Dark Path has always been thus. Cowards and the not-cowardly are chaotically intertwined.”

I replied to the Sword Demon’s words.

“The cowards should be killed in advance.”

“Do not neglect your training chasing after those to be killed day after day. That applies to me and my disciple as well. In any case, building inner force is a static form of training, so the surrounding environment is important too. For the time being, rather than finding new enemies, it would be better to first solve that chaotic sleep problem.”

“I shall do so.”

As the situation had become an unintentional tour of Ilyang Hyeon, I spoke with the intention of showing them around properly.

“Shall we go see another place worth visiting?”

“Where?”

“The forge. I requested they make my weapon, but there has been no word on whether they are dead or alive. Since we’ve come this far, let us stop by.”

This time, I guided the two to the Yongdu Forge.

I could not even predict what Geum Cheolyong was up to.

* * *

As I always did, I barged into the Yongdu Forge. When I made my entrance, flinging the door wide open, someone fled inside and shouted.

“The Lord has arrived!”

“…Why is he running away?”

The Lecherous Demon looked around the ironworks and said,

“It’s quite large, isn’t it?”

Geum Cheolyong and Gwak Yonggae came running out from inside, both shirtless.

“Sect Leader, you’re here?”

I was rather surprised by Geum Cheolyong’s condition.

Before, his face had been fairly padded with age, but now the grease had been stripped clean from his face and entire body. On top of that, perhaps because he had been scorched by the flames, his whole body even carried a reddish hue. Meanwhile, Gwak Yonggae, who had been on the thin side, now had quite a bit of muscle clinging to his upper body. The man who had once been somewhat bulky had lost weight, while the scrawny fellow had gained muscle.

“Uncle Geum, have you been well?”

Geum Cheolyong nodded.

“Me? Same as always.”

Geum Cheolyong first bowed his head slightly to the Sword Demon and the Lecherous Demon in greeting.

“I am Geum Cheolyong of Yongdu Ironworks. Welcome.”

Gwak Yonggae also said,

“I am Deputy Head Gwak Yonggae.”

The Sword Demon nodded and replied briefly.

“Good to meet you.”

When the Sword Demon did not introduce himself, Geum Cheolyong gave an awkward smile and looked at me.

“Did you come to see Gwangin?”

“That, among other things.”

“Come in.”

As we were heading inside together, the Sword Demon stopped when he saw several swords laid out on a table. They were swords still in the process of being made, without handles attached.

Geum Cheolyong said with a flustered expression,

“Ah, those were made as tests, so there’s no need to look at them.”

The Sword Demon ignored Geum Cheolyong’s words, took hold of a longsword without a handle, and examined its blade.

“……”

The Sword Demon asked Geum Cheolyong,

“Master, did you make this recently?”

“Yes.”

“Not bad.”

Geum Cheolyong replied,

“Thank you.”

I deliberately did not introduce the Sword Demon in grand fashion. What was certain was that he was not a swordsman of a level Geum Cheolyong could easily meet in the course of his life. Craftsmen made swords, but swordsmen used them. He would be able to see their strengths and flaws more clearly than anyone.

Gwak Yonggae guided us.

“This way, please.”

As we moved, I asked Geum Cheolyong,

“Is it finished?”

“No. If it were finished, I would have gone to find you first.”

Suddenly, I looked at the sweat gleaming on Geum Cheolyong’s body. In the midst of making weapons, Geum Cheolyong’s body, too, was changing as if he were training in external arts.

Before, it had been the body of an unimpressive middle-aged man, but now the muscles of his back, which anyone would recognize as belonging to the master of an ironworks, rippled with every step he took.

Then had I come to see my weapon?

Or had I come to see Geum Cheolyong as he changed?

It did not feel bad.

On the desk where Gwak Yonggae led us, a single blade lay placed. It, too, had no handle, and beside it were a measuring cord and tools for tending to swords.

Perhaps because black iron had been mixed into it, its overall color was dark.

The Sword Demon asked me,

“May I look first?”

When I nodded, the Sword Demon again grasped Gwangin with his left hand and examined the blade.

The Sword Demon asked Geum Cheolyong,

“Did you mix in black iron?”

“Yes. The Sect Leader brought it to me, so I mixed it in.”

The Sword Demon infused qi into his finger and flicked the blade. With a sound that struck the eardrums, the blade trembled violently.

Geum Cheolyong and Gwak Yonggae’s eyes widened.

“……!”

In the midst of that, when the Sword Demon suppressed the vibration with his left hand, stillness settled over the blade.

The Sword Demon said,

“Master, the edge seems far too dull. Was that the Sect Leader’s request?”

Geum Cheolyong answered,

“Yes. To abandon sharpness and make it solely sturdy. That was the Sect Leader’s request.”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“Solely sturdy……”

This time, the Sword Demon confirmed with me.

“Is that right?”

“It is.”

“Then it is not a sword.”

“It does not matter if it is not a sword. A weapon that contains an unbreakable conviction.”

The Sword Demon smiled.

“An unbreakable conviction. I say, Master.”

“Yes.”

“It has the form of a sword, but make it with the feeling that you are making a heavy staff. Is there any black iron left?”

“There is still some left.”

“You have made this well, too. However, if the Sect Leader wants something that will absolutely not break, then a sword, which by its nature must have an edge ground onto it, is an extremely difficult task. If you repeat the process of making and breaking it like this several times, there will come a point when your stamina runs out first, and after that, even your mental strength will struggle to endure. Qi deviation is not something that comes only to jianghu people; craftsmen, too, often experience qi deviation just like those of the jianghu.”

“Mm, did you call me a craftsman?”

The Sword Demon, not grasping the meaning of the question, tilted his head and replied,

“You are a craftsman who makes weapons, so the Sect Leader entrusted this to you. Is that not so?”

“It is.”

The Sword Demon nodded and continued speaking.

“……This time, melt down all the remaining black iron along with this and try making a single heavy staff. Instead, during the process, do it with the feeling that you are removing every impurity mixed into the black iron. Focus from the start only on making it unbreakable, and if your skill is added to that, a weapon sturdier than what you have made now will certainly come out.”

The Sword Demon looked at me.

“May I order it like this?”

“That is perfect.”

Geum Cheolyong nodded and replied,

“I will attempt it that way.”

Perhaps the words had left an impression on Geum Cheolyong as well, for he asked the Sword Demon, who had not bothered to introduce himself, about his identity.

“May I ask your name?”

The Sword Demon pondered for a moment before replying,

“Master Geum, it has been a long time since I used a name fit for a human being. I am called the Sword Demon.”

I watched the Sword Demon’s expression for a long while.

It felt strange.

Geum Cheolyong, who had once sold weapons with only their handles exaggerated like a swindler, was becoming a craftsman.

And by my standards, the Sword Demon was increasingly saying human things from time to time.

Having learned the swordsman’s identity, Geum Cheolyong and Gwak Yonggae kept their mouths firmly shut.

The Sword Demon asked,

“Have you heard of me?”

“Yes.”

The iron workshop’s people were, in any case, those with a foot in the jianghu. Naturally, they would have heard of it.

The Sword Demon asked,

“They call it an unbreakable conviction. Who was the first to utter those words?”

Geum Cheolyong looked at me.

“The Sect Master said them first.”

The Sword Demon looked at Geum Cheolyong, then surveyed the inside of the iron workshop as he said,

“I like that phrase. I would like to come here and have a sword made. Not immediately, so let us meet again another time.”

“Yes, please do visit.”

The Sword Demon said to me,

“Have a brief talk and come out. Let’s go.”

The Sword Demon took the Lust Demon and left the iron workshop first.

As soon as I met Geum Cheolyong’s eyes, I grinned. Not only Geum Cheolyong, but Gwak Yonggae as well had faces drenched in sweat.

Geum Cheolyong whispered to me.

“The Sword Demon is from the Demon Cult, isn’t he?”

I nodded and whispered back.

“He’s enough of a master to hear a whisper like that from outside.”

“Good grief……”

Geum Cheolyong whispered in an even lower voice.

“Even so, what are you thinking, getting friendly with someone from the Demon Cult?”

“He left the cult.”

“Good grief……”

“Uncle Geum, are you getting enough to eat?”

“Enough to keep body and soul together.”

I took out my money pouch and tossed the whole thing to Geum Cheolyong. Geum Cheolyong answered,

“How can you give me all of this?”

I waved a hand at Geum Cheolyong and Gwak Yonggae as I said,

“I have plenty of money. So much that I don’t even know how much there is.”

I really did not know how much money I had.

What mattered was that with that money, I would change, and the people around me would change.

In my opinion, money spent anywhere else was utterly useless.

I would not count my money from now on, either.

Like today, I intended to scatter it around me and throw it away as my temper dictated.