“…….”
Ogyo was struck speechless by the absurdity of it.
What kind of disgraceful display was this from a grown man?
But being able to swallow one’s pride to survive was, in its own way, remarkable.
All the more so if he was a renowned martial artist of the jianghu.
Ogyo had never understood those jianghu folk who valued face more than life itself.
That was why Wi Pungso’s attitude, prostrating himself before her and begging for his life, did not seem ridiculous to her.
If anything, it was an attitude worth learning from.
“Fine. I won’t kill you.”
“Truly?”
“But don’t follow me anymore. If you follow me again, I’ll kill you then.”
Wi Pungso jerked his head up, a fallen leaf stuck to his forehead. He broke into a broad smile.
“Thank you. Your heart is truly as merciful as Maitreya Bodhisattva’s.”
“……That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that to me.”
“You spared the lives of those three brothers on the streets of Zhangye, and today, here, you spared me as well. You have already saved four lives. Calling you a bodhisattva is no exaggeration at all.”
He could only say that because he did not know her.
The lives Ogyo had taken until now were far too many to count on her fingers.
Well, there was no need to bring that up now.
“You said your name was Ogyo, right? Which sect do you belong to? How is it that someone of your skill has appeared in the jianghu, and yet I’ve never once heard your name?”
“I’m not a martial artist of the jianghu.”
“With martial arts as outstanding as yours, you’re not a jianghu martial artist?”
“No.”
“Then where did you learn those martial arts? Tell me your master’s honored name.”
She had no answer to that question.
Originally, Ogyo had taken Dan Gohyeong, the cult leader of the Miaojiang Five Poisons Cult, as her master, but long ago she had run away from the sect without a word.
She had surely been expelled by now, so Dan Gohyeong could no longer be called Ogyo’s master.
These thread-using martial arts had been taught to her by Yohwa, but she herself had contributed somewhat to their creation, and Yohwa was closer to a friend than a master.
She had never performed the disciple’s bow to her either, so they were not master and disciple.
“I don’t have a master. A friend taught me these martial arts.”
“A friend? A friend, you say…… I see. So there are cases like that too.”
Wi Pungso accepted it surprisingly readily.
“If you’re done talking, I’m leaving now.”
“W-wait a moment.”
As Ogyo turned away without hesitation to leave, Wi Pungso hurriedly stopped her.
“I’m only asking, but…… are you going to go around spreading word that you beat me?”
What was this nonsense now?
Seeing Ogyo frown, Wi Pungso began to ramble.
“O-of course, since you won, it’s your freedom to spread the story. It feels strange saying this with my own mouth, but among the rising talents of the current jianghu, my reputation is rather high. If you say you defeated Heoryu, you won’t be looked down on wherever you go. And if you don’t belong to any sect, there will be plenty of people trying to bring you over to their side. I know it would only benefit you and do you no harm, but, well……”
He used many words, but in short, he was asking her to save him some face.
Begging for his life so shamelessly could be understood as a way to protect his precious life, but was this not a little too petty?
“I won’t spread any rumors. I have no interest in that sort of thing.”
At those words, Wi Pungso’s face instantly brightened.
“How can your heart be so beautiful? As I thought, you really are a bodhisattva. You have the makings of a great hero!”
He stepped closer and abruptly held out his right hand.
Ogyo grimaced as though looking at a leper and shrank back.
“What?”
“I’m just asking for a handshake. Why are you looking at me like that? Though our first meeting got a little tangled, I’m not a bad person. I only followed you because I saw you fighting on the streets of Zhangye and wanted to test my skills against yours.”
Ogyo looked back and forth between Wi Pungso’s outstretched hand and his smiling face.
He was certainly a strange fellow. But perhaps he was not as wicked a person as she had first thought.
Still, because there was something about him that felt unpleasant, Ogyo touched Wi Pungso’s hand lightly as though touching something filthy, then immediately withdrew.
“You really are a rude one.”
“……Yohwa told me to be careful of middle-aged men who come up smiling slyly like you.”
“Middle-aged? I’m twenty-two! More importantly, who is Yohwa? Is that the name of the friend who taught you martial arts?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Don’t be so distant. We conversed with swords and even shook hands, so isn’t it fair to say we’re friends now?”
As he said that, he shamelessly smiled again. He truly was a brazen man.
They had been fighting with their lives on the line only moments ago, yet he acted as though he had completely forgotten such a thing had ever happened.
“I don’t make friends with people like you. You’re weak and not worth much.”
“You say that much just because you won once? Hah, fine. The defeated have no words.”
Wi Pungso shook his head as though fed up, but soon regained his smile.
“Well, fine. In any case, it’s true that we’ve become acquainted, isn’t it? I’ll train my skills and challenge you again later, so let’s fight once more then.”
“I believe I told you I’d kill you if you followed me again.”
“……Were you serious about that?”
Ogyo snorted.
“Of course. Stop bothering me now. I have somewhere to go.”
Tired of arguing any further, Ogyo coldly turned her back and began walking down the mountain path.
Wi Pungso hurriedly followed alongside her.
“Where are you going? If we’re headed the same way, let’s travel together part of the way. I still have a mountain of questions.”
He really was noisy enough to drive her mad.
Ogyo was starting to grow irritated. To the point that she slightly regretted sparing this man.
Should she just kill him now instead?
For an instant, that thought occurred to her.
But.
—When dealing with others, with a gentle smile…… With kind words……
Yohwa’s words once again flickered through her mind.
It was impossible for her to follow those words exactly, but they were enough to suppress the killing intent in her heart.
“Do as you like.”
In the end, she ended up descending the mountain path together with Wi Pungso.
“So in other words, to complete a mental cultivation method called Myriad Poisons Return to the Origin, you’re wandering the jianghu in search of deadly poisons?”
Because he had questioned her so persistently, Ogyo had no choice but to tell him a little about her circumstances.
However, since she still found him suspicious, she did not mention a single specific name related to herself.
‘A mental cultivation method that builds inner energy through poison? It truly is a martial art of the unorthodox factions.’
He knew there were all kinds of oddballs in the jianghu, but seeing one in person like this left him unable to hide his shock.
And this girl, with such a small body, had learned such sinister and vicious poison arts?
He himself was often called unusual in the South Sea Sword Sect, but it seemed the jianghu was indeed not to be underestimated.
“Then where are you headed now? Is there a sect around here that uses poison arts?”
At Wi Pungso’s question, Ogyo hesitated a little.
“I don’t know.”
“Hm? You don’t know?”
At his casual question, Ogyo’s face flushed faintly.
“……I just came down from the mountain, so I don’t know the roads well. I was looking.”
Until now, she had never felt ashamed of not knowing something.
For some reason, however, admitting such a thing honestly in front of this irritating man made her feel extremely resentful.
Wi Pungso, on the other hand, brightened the moment he heard those words.
“What, so that was what you were worrying about? You should have said so earlier! I may not look it, but I’ve already been wandering the jianghu for three years. I can’t claim to know every corner of the land, but I do know my way around to some extent.”
Seeing that triumphant expression made her feel even more displeased.
“But a sect that uses poison arts……”
Wi Pungso stroked his chin and pondered.
He had spoken confidently, but in truth, he did not know much in detail either. He was a member of the orthodox factions, and he had never handled things like poison in his life.
At most, he remembered a few uncertain rumors circulating through the jianghu.
Even so, he did not lose confidence.
“Well, let’s go down the mountain first. If we go to a city, there will be sects that deal in information, so we can ask around there.”
“Hmph. And here you acted like you knew everything.”
“Don’t be so sarcastic. Didn’t Han Yu say that in understanding the Dao, there are those who come first and those who come later, and in the arts, there are specialties? It would be best to ask information brokers about information.”
“You have to pay money to use information brokers.”
Even this wild dog had that much common sense.
“I’ll pay that much for you. Consider it an apology for bothering you.”
Ogyo’s eyes widened.
Though it depended on the type of information, the price of using an information broker was generally not cheap.
Yet he was offering to pay it so readily.
For the first time, Ogyo saw the sloppy man before her in a different light.
“Then we can descend the mountain and go to Wuwei. It’s a fairly large city, so there should be a Gaebang branch or courtesan houses run by Haomun.”
Ogyo suddenly stopped walking.
Now that she thought of it, she had forgotten.
‘I’m wanted.’
If she went somewhere crowded, there was a risk of running into people after the bounty again.
Even if she dealt with them, once her movements became known, pursuers would follow.
Hadn’t she rushed out of the city in the first place to avoid that danger?
“I, I’m not going.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”
When Ogyo twisted her hands without being able to explain, Wi Pungso quickly realized.
“Right, you’re wanted, aren’t you?”
“……You know that too?”
“If you didn’t want someone like me to find out, you should have hidden your tracks better. You’re too careless. For someone wanted after committing a serious crime, I mean.”
Ogyo glared at Wi Pungso again, wary of him.
He gave a bitter smile.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about your whereabouts. I swear it on my master’s name.”
“You won’t tell?”
They said people of the orthodox factions regarded evildoers as enemies and would not yield even to their masters when carrying out justice, so why was this man saying he would let her go?
Seeing Ogyo’s suspicious face, Wi Pungso shrugged.
“You’re my lifesaver, aren’t you? Selling out one’s benefactor is not something a real man does. Besides, I don’t know what circumstances led to you being wanted, but to my eyes, you don’t look like an evil person.”
“……You have no eye for people.”
“Is that so? I don’t think that’s true.”
Wi Pungso grinned.
“It’s all right. In the three years I’ve wandered the jianghu, today was the first time I saw a wanted notice with your name on it. Of course, it may be because I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing…… But it probably means you aren’t that famous a criminal. If you hide your face, you won’t be recognized so easily.”
“Really?”
“I’m telling you. And even if not, what can you do? If you spend your whole life hiding like this, you won’t be able to eat delicious food. How inconvenient would that be? You have to eat your fill and gather strength first so that even if someone comes to catch you, you can quickly run away, don’t you think?”
Ogyo nodded furiously, as though in intense agreement.
The lamb skewers she had eaten at the inn in Zhangye had been truly exquisite.
Wasn’t a human being a creature that could endure humiliation but not hunger?
“Then let’s go. To commemorate our new acquaintance, I’ll treat you to a meal in Wuwei.”
“Good!”
Forgetting completely that she had been wary of this man until just moments ago, Ogyo answered excitedly.
Even though a beautiful fairy had warned her so earnestly not to fall for the coaxing of strange middle-aged men.
The foolish wild dog no longer had any such thing in mind.
*
Deep night.
Clouds faint as smoke coiled around the full moon.
The long corridor of Hexi, leading to the deserts of the Western Regions.
To the south, the Qilian Mountains, covered in eternal snow, stretched like a city wall; to the northeast, rocky mountains such as Longshou Mountain and Heli Mountain stood in rows.
Among them, on Jeogambong Peak at the foot of Yongsusan Mountain, there was a sect that had endured the long passage of years. It was Jeokhamun.
At an hour when everyone slept.
A lone woman walked through the silent grounds of the sect.
Her features were neat and beautiful, but her complexion was as pale as a ghost’s.
Song Cheongdam.
The only daughter of Song Geumseong, the pavilion master of Bichwigak, and also his burden, she had left home at an early age and been entrusted to Jeokhamun.
Many years had passed, and Cheongdam, who had once been a young girl, had become a full-grown woman.
She was eighteen this year.
Though she was passing through the most radiant years of a woman’s life, her face was sunk in deep melancholy every day.
All around her were only barren, rocky mountains, and there was not a single family member or relative by her side.
Life in her husband’s household, in a strange land far from home, had hollowed the girl’s heart into an empty void.
It was not the first time she had been unable to sleep at night and wandered aimlessly about the residence like this.
By now, it had become a habit.
“……Hm?”
As she walked without any particular destination, she heard a short shout and the sharp sound of wind being sliced from the direction of the backyard.
Drawn by curiosity, she went closer and found someone standing alone in the spacious yard, training.
The man was drenched in sweat as he diligently performed forms into empty air.
Jeokhamun was a sect of tough men, situated upon a dry, rocky mountain.
Most of its disciples were solidly built and mainly used forceful swordsmanship.
Only that man was different.
Unlike the other disciples of Jeokhamun, he was thin to the point of gauntness and wielded a swift sword.
Because of that, he was a pitiable man who was sometimes looked down upon by the people of the sect.
At length, the man seemed to sense someone’s presence and turned around. When he discovered Cheongdam, he started in surprise.
“S-S-Sister-in-law.”
“Young master, are you training even at this late hour? Tomorrow is an important day, so it would be better for you to rest.”
“I-I couldn’t sleep…… Did I, um, wake you? If so, I’m sorry.”
“That isn’t the case.”
At Cheongdam’s gentle tone, the man did not know what to do.
Unable even to meet her eyes, he only stared down at the ground.
His stutter was not simply from nervousness, but an affliction he had been born with.
Cheongdam had long since seen how he was always scorned because of that stuttering habit, and how he was even beaten by his father for it.
It was truly pitiful.
Im Saun.
He was the second son of Im Cheonak, the sect leader of Jeokhamun, and the younger brother of Cheongdam’s husband, Im Taeun.
And he was the man who would hold a wedding ceremony with Cheongdam tomorrow.