Episode 2
Chapter 1: The Fiancé of the Baekri Family (2)
Baekri Un had already resolved in his heart that this marriage was absolutely impossible.
“Frankly speaking, we are a renowned house even within the murim. But for one to become in-laws with the likes of us, there would be many difficulties.”
Jang Muho looked at Baekri Yuha with an expression full of regret at Baekri Un's candid words.
“It seems your daughter thinks the same as well.”
When Jang Muho looked at her, Baekri Yuha lowered her head slightly and spoke.
“I feel the same, but I should like to meet this person who is supposedly my fiancé.”
At Baekri Yuha's words, Jang Muho’s face brightened, and he nodded readily.
“Very well. Once the meal is finished, I shall guide you to where my son is staying.”
The moment Jang Muho finished speaking, the door opened and a middle-aged woman entered carrying a large table.
The woman set the table before Baekri Un and sat quietly to one side.
The middle-aged woman was so exceedingly beautiful that Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha were startled and could not take their eyes from her face.
When the woman saw them staring intently at her, she slightly furrowed her brow and went outside.
Hmph!
Baekri Un, feeling awkward, cleared his throat once and turned his eyes to the dinner table.
The dishes were not many, but the table was neatly and properly set.
Moreover, there was even roasted meat laid out, though they could not guess where it had been caught.
“Please, eat.”
As Jang Muho offered the meal, Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.
The food was so excellent that the Baekri father and daughter were greatly surprised inwardly, though they did not show it.
When the meal ended, Jang Muho led the Baekri father and daughter outside.
“My son resides atop that hill. So we must walk a short distance.”
“I do not mind. Let us go at once.”
As Baekri Un urged him on, Jang Muho took the lead down the dark night path.
After walking the night path for some time and ascending the hill, a pavilion woven of thatch appeared before their eyes.
Inside the pavilion, a young man sat with a lamp lit, and talismans were stuck here and there upon the pavilion's pillars.
The sight was so exceedingly strange that they observed it closely, but the man's words and actions were even stranger.
“My lady, since you come to find me every night like this, how can I possibly devote myself to training?”
Though no one was there, the man looked across from him and muttered with a face full of anguish.
“Sigh! Since your devotion is so fervent, I have no choice but to grant your wish. But this is a single karmic encounter, so do not come again.”
Having even let out a sigh, the man rose from his seat and suddenly cast off his upper garment.
And then he even removed his trousers.
At that absurd action, Baekri Un furrowed his brow, and Baekri Yuha quickly turned her head away.
“I shall lie down, so my lady may do as she pleases.”
Baekri Un was so dumbfounded by the man's subsequent action that his mouth fell agape.
Jang Muho, seeming to think they had witnessed something unsightly, scratched his head.
“He is merely communing with a ghost for a moment, so please do not think it too strange.”
The father's words were an even more spectacular sight, and Baekri Un could not close his gaping mouth.
What kind of madhouse was this?
Was this not a place where complete lunatics lived?
“We must go back down.”
As Baekri Un spat out the words coldly with a thoroughly stiffened face, Jang Muho scratched his head again and took the lead.
Having returned to the thatched house, Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha tried to leave immediately, but because Jang Muho urged them so strongly to stay, they spent the night in the cottage and set out on the road the moment dawn broke.
Needless to say, they broke off the engagement.
“If you come to our family later and cause trouble over a matter decided between elders, know that great misfortune will befall you.”
Baekri Un even tapped the sword at his waist with his hand as he extracted a promise from Jang Muho.
“I understand. Still, it is regrettable to part like this, and I am grieved that our ties should be severed, so our family must offer something as a token of apology.”
Jang Muho ran to the shed and brought out a sword that had been stored inside.
A sword, in a rural village like this.
Still, at a glance it seemed to be a rather fine sword, so Baekri Un accepted it in a daze.
“With this sword, I make the promise of broken engagement. I shall never again speak of marriage.”
Baekri Un was more pleased with Jang Muho’s words than with the sword. He quickly accepted the blade and hurried on his way as if being chased by something.
* * *
Baekri Cheon stared blankly at the ten iron plaques atop his table.
‘What were these again? Ah, they were called Muryeong Tokens.’
His dementia was growing worse; he had nearly forgotten even the Muryeong Tokens used by the Northern Justice Alliance to summon disciples.
Having finished breakfast, Baekri Cheon looked at the Muryeong Tokens, then dozed off leaning against the table.
Just then, an old man with jet-black hair suddenly revealed himself before him.
The moment he appeared, he grabbed Baekri Cheon by the collar and hauled him up.
“You bastard! Long time no see! Remember me?”
At the old man’s ferocious question, Baekri Cheon tried to gather internal energy in his hands in haste, but upon recognizing his face, he trembled like an aspen tree.
“C... Could it be Brother Jang?”
“They said you had dementia, but that was complete nonsense. You wronged me, didn’t you?”
Because of his dementia, long-buried memories that had been faint suddenly surged to the surface.
That’s right.
According to his memories, he had done something terribly wrong to this person who did not even seem old.
Originally, Baekri Cheon had been unable to enter the ranks of the Ten Great Masters even as he approached sixty years of age.
His martial arts were profound, but they had been insufficient for him to become one of the Ten Great Masters.
But then a demon called the Bloodfield Demon appeared and wrought a bloodbath, and as the person in charge of the Northern Justice Alliance, Baekri Cheon had been tasked with pursuing him.
Though the Bloodfield Demon was said to occupy the lowest seat among the Ten Great Masters, he was an Absolute Master.
Leading the martial artists of the Northern Justice Alliance in pursuit of the Bloodfield Demon, Baekri Cheon began a search when the demon fled into the mountains.
But no matter how hard they searched, the Bloodfield Demon did not appear. Just as he was about to look elsewhere, he witnessed the Bloodfield Demon fleeing while having lost his right arm.
And he saw a man in early old age whose hair was jet-black leisurely following behind the Bloodfield Demon.
Baekri Cheon pursued the Bloodfield Demon and fought a great battle with him.
The Bloodfield Demon had originally been a master of palm techniques. Having lost his right arm, how could he be a match for Baekri Cheon?
Still, the prestige of a Ten Great Master was formidable.
Having barely killed the Bloodfield Demon, he saw the man who had been sitting nearby watching the fight let out a hearty laugh, clap his hands, and disappear from the spot.
And shortly after, the martial artists of the Northern Justice Alliance arrived.
The martial artists of the Northern Justice Alliance spread rumors wherever they went on the return journey, believing that Baekri Cheon had slain the Bloodfield Demon alone.
Thus Baekri Cheon replaced the Bloodfield Demon and became one of the Ten Great Masters.
Less than a month later, Baekri Cheon happened to meet again the man who had cut off the Bloodfield Demon’s right arm.
Baekri Cheon felt sorry for having unexpectedly usurped the man’s fame, and was also curious about his identity, so he invited the man to an inn and drank with him.
The man was a very magnanimous person.
He said such fame was nothing and told Baekri Cheon to take credit for catching the Bloodfield Demon.
As they drank, their spirits resonated, and the two became sworn brothers, with the older man becoming the elder brother.
The sworn brother’s name was Jang Hamyeong.
Jang Hamyeong said his grandson had been born not long ago, and he was currently looking around for a future daughter-in-law in advance.
It so happened that Baekri Cheon’s granddaughter had also been born not long ago.
The two promised a marriage pact on the spot and drank until dawn.
A few days later, Baekri Cheon led a group of greenwood bandits and pursued Wang Yangsaeng, the Iron Pagoda Blade King and second-in-command of the Greenwood, who had fought a fierce battle with the Paeng Clan and nearly annihilated the Paeng Clan’s family members.
The Northern Justice Alliance had requested this of Baekri Cheon again.
Baekri Cheon accepted the task readily.
Because his sworn brother Jang Hamyeong was by his side.
Though Wang Yangsaeng was said to be powerful, he had not entered the Ten Great Masters and instead occupied one of the seats of the Ten Stars.
How then could he survive?
Wang Yangsaeng, who was returning to his mountain stronghold, and over two hundred greenwood bandits were annihilated by the hands of Jang Hamyeong and Baekri Cheon.
Afterward, Jang Hamyeong spent time with Baekri Cheon and imparted to him the principles of the sword, which was the stroke of fortune of a lifetime for him.
It was a stroke of fortune made possible by Jang Hamyeong’s stubborn insistence that since they were to become in-laws, Baekri Cheon must not die first.
The murim people who had been suspicious when he killed the Bloodfield Demon acknowledged Baekri Cheon as one of the Ten Great Masters when he annihilated Wang Yangsaeng and the greenwood bandits single-handedly.
After that matter, Baekri Cheon, having parted with Jang Hamyeong, returned to the Northern Justice Alliance and went into seclusion.
A year later, Baekri Cheon emerged from seclusion having truly attained the skill of a Ten Great Master.
The martial insight gained at that time was passed down to his son, and then to his grandson.
When teaching his martial insight to his son, Baekri Cheon had said these words:
“Yuha will eventually marry into a remarkable family.”
Baekri Cheon was now overcome with regret.
Why had he not explained clearly to his son what had happened then?
“You promised your granddaughter to my grandson and now you’re trying to marry her off to someone else?”
Killing intent even flickered in Jang Hamyeong’s eyes as he grabbed Baekri Cheon by the collar and shook him.
“Brother Jang, I am sorry. I have committed a mortal sin. Even so, I sent my son and granddaughter to the Liaodong region after persuading them, so there will be a good outcome.”
“A good outcome, you say. They must have looked down on him as a country bumpkin living in a backwater. No, if they wandered near Hwangun Valley, they couldn’t have avoided our family’s surveillance. The two women must have muttered all sorts of pointless words, pretending to find the village where I live. From that moment, they would be cast out of my grandson’s sight. My soft-hearted son would have felt sorry as if the broken engagement were his own fault and given them some gift, and my grandson, who likes certainty, would have taken it a step further.”
“No, that is not it! My son and granddaughter are not so ill-mannered. Trust me and wait, Brother.”
Baekri Cheon shook his head repeatedly as if to say absolutely not, but the old man did not release his collar.
“Listen well, Baekri Cheon. If your son and granddaughter return holding something in their hands, then the broken engagement is certain. At that time, the loyalty between brothers will also be severed. And soon, my grandson will appear in the murim. He takes after me; he is an exceptional lad. The power balance of the murim itself will change.”
Having spoken to that point, the old man’s eyes filled with regret before he continued as if sighing.
“If I had not met you then, I could have saved hundreds of other good people. I regret that. Farewell.”
The old man flung Baekri Cheon to the floor and disappeared like the wind.
Baekri Cheon lay sprawled on the room floor, then hurriedly rose and called out for his brother, but by then even his trace had vanished.
And only later did he realize that three of the Muryeong Tokens on the table had disappeared.
* * *
The Baekri father and daughter ran in such haste that they did not even know how they had left the village.
Using even their lightness arts, they flew along winding paths and arrived at a familiar place, where a sigh of relief escaped them.
“We nearly met with disaster. To think I harbored even the slightest thought of entangling you with such madmen—coming here was a mistake from the start.”
“Still, since we concluded matters cleanly, I do not think it was a wasted trip.”
Baekri Yuha even shuddered, as if she never wanted to see that man again.
Baekri Un looked back at the path he had walked, relieved that matters had concluded smoothly.
It was due to a strange feeling that he should not simply leave like this.
A terrible lingering thought remained: would it not be better to go back and kill them to cleanly tie up loose ends?
But the path by which they had come was nowhere to be seen.
“How can this be?”
It felt as though they had been bewitched by ghosts in broad daylight.
At Baekri Un’s startled words, Baekri Yuha also turned around and opened her eyes wide in shock.
“How can such a thing...”
Believing that the path they had taken should be there, Baekri Un and Baekri Yuha searched their surroundings thoroughly and wandered nearby.