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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 65: Chapter Seven - Murim Alliance, Founding (8)

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It seemed as though someone was trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

With a gentle smile ill-suited to his fearsome build, Sa Baek-un addressed Namgung Jin-cheon.

"How has the Sword King been? It's been quite some time since I last visited him."

"He's well."

Namgung Jin-cheon answered and lifted his wine cup. Just as he brought it to his lips, clearly with no intention of saying more, blood vessels rose in the whites of Dang Hwa-seo's eyes.

'Give him a longer answer.'

Namgung Jin-cheon's shoulders twitched at the meaning in her glare.

He set down his cup, his expression turning sullen as he continued.

"...Before coming here, I heard he planned to travel the Martial World."

"Oh! Just as expected of the Sword King! It brings back old memories. Even amid such chaos, the Sword King was someone who enjoyed martial matches."

Dang Hwa-seo let out a sigh of relief at Sa Baek-un's smile.

They had cleared one crisis. If they could keep the mood pleasant, everything would be fine.

"Ah, that reminds me. How has Master Wonmyeong been?"

Il-un was next. He answered with a smile identical to Sa Baek-un's.

Only after Il-un, Hye-un, and Jegal San had each taken their turns did it finally become Dang Hwa-seo's turn.

"As for the Poison Phoenix..."

Sa Baek-un grew cautious. Though he was an outsider to the Tang Clan, he was still the Martial Alliance Leader. He knew Dang Hwa-seo's circumstances well enough to understand what it meant to ask about her family.

Dang Hwa-seo gave a bitter smile.

"It is an honor to be able to lend my strength to the Alliance."

"I see. My schedule is busy, so I may not visit often, but I will always support you."

Sa Baek-un left it at that, but his manner was far too earnest to be mere politeness.

Dang Hwa-seo was quietly moved.

Sa Baek-un then turned his gaze toward Mok Ri-won. His expression changed at once, showing even greater goodwill than it had during his conversations with the others.

"This is our first meeting. You must be the Ink Dragon who turned Anhui upside down. I'm pleased to meet you."

Mok Ri-won's fingertips trembled. Sa Baek-un's goodwill brought his guilt over deceiving him to the surface.

Still, he could not reveal the truth. Mok Ri-won forced a bright smile.

"You flatter me. It is I who am honored to meet the Alliance Leader."

It was an unusually serious attitude for Mok Ri-won. The other unit members could only be startled. How could they not be? A man who loved making a fuss was acting composed even before the Martial Alliance Leader. Naturally, they found it strange.

Their conversation continued nonetheless, with Sa Baek-un asking most of the questions out of curiosity about Mok Ri-won.

"I hear your martial talent is exceptional. Your sect is... Ah, forgive me. You must have a reason for not revealing it until now. Please understand. Whenever someone like you emerges in the White Path Martial World, I find it difficult to contain my joy."

Sa Baek-un's attitude was understandable.

Most who bore the Dragon Phoenix title, or won the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, naturally came from prestigious sects. Mok Ri-won was a master from a small sect, jutting out among them like an awl.

From Sa Baek-un's position, where he had to consider the improvement of the entire Martial World of the Orthodox Sects, Mok Ri-won was a most welcome treasure.

That was why Sa Baek-un's questions continued for so long. In turn, Mok Ri-won grew increasingly cautious.

As that strange mood dragged on, the old woman who had kept silent until then spoke.

"Alliance Leader, shouldn't you introduce this old woman soon?"

"Oh, look at me. My apologies."

Sa Baek-un gave an embarrassed smile, as though he had only just remembered. The unit members all turned to look at the old woman.

"I brought her here to introduce her to you all, yet I completely forgot. Forgive me. I'm getting old these days."

Everyone could tell that someone Sa Baek-un referred to with such respect could not be ordinary.

"This is Great Hero Kang So-so. She was one of the masters of the previous generation who stood at the forefront of the battlefield with me on the day of the Bloody Affair."

"Ah...!"

Dang Hwa-seo let out a sound of realization.

"Is she the one who was meant to come as our advisor?"

"Please take care of me."

The Killing Star, Yeom So-so, smiled beneath the alias Kang So-so.

Dang Hwa-seo then explained to the unit members that, because theirs was a newly founded unit, an outside advisor would come to provide various forms of instruction, and that this old woman, Kang So-so, was that advisor.

Their reactions varied, but none were negative.

Though she had been introduced as a master of the previous generation, they could not sense even a trace of qi from her. From that unfathomable fact, they realized she had reached the Transcendent Realm.

Training under a master of the Transcendent Realm was not an opportunity easily found, even in a prestigious sect.

Yeom So-so's gaze then moved to Mok Ri-won. Seeing that he still looked uncomfortable, she smiled gently and moved her lips slightly. No sound came out.

Voice Transmission.

It was a minor technique martial artists used to convey words in secret.

-Come behind the hall when this is over.

Mok Ri-won's eyes widened. He looked at Yeom So-so in surprise, but her gaze had already turned elsewhere.

Sa Baek-un continued his explanation.

"I don't know whether you've heard, but the missions you take on from now on will involve intelligence gathering and infiltration. She is highly skilled in those areas, so I hope you learn much from her."

Many more conversations followed, but Mok Ri-won's gaze could not leave Yeom So-so.

Yeom So-so never looked his way again.

'...Who could she be, to use Voice Transmission to speak to me?'

That was the only question lingering in Mok Ri-won's mind.

* * *

"I'll go take care of something!"

After the banquet ended, Mok Ri-won said this and slipped away from the unit members. He headed for the garden behind the hall.

Yeom So-so was already there, seated in a chair and looking at the wildflowers.

"So, you've come?"

Yeom So-so looked toward Mok Ri-won. A warm smile bloomed on her face.

Mok Ri-won swallowed dryly and offered a cupped-fist salute.

"...Greetings, Senior."

"No need to call me Senior."

Yeom So-so chuckled and waved a hand.

Then she approached Mok Ri-won.

Because of her naturally gentle features and small frame, the top of her head barely reached Mok Ri-won's solar plexus. Yet her unhurried manner somehow made her seem enormous.

Tension filled Mok Ri-won. She was a master of the previous generation he had never met in the Martial World, and one who knew him.

The thought that she might know his master, Mok Seon-o, came to mind.

Mok Ri-won's guess was not wrong.

"Well then, how is that Mok fellow doing?"

Mok Ri-won drew in a sharp breath.

'...She knows him.'

She knew Mok Seon-o, Mok Seon-o's relationship with him, and the Heavenly Slaughter Star.

Like the Sword King, Namgung Hyeok, she must already know everything.

That realization led Mok Ri-won to understand one thing.

"...May I ask your true name?"

If she was a master of the previous generation connected to Mok Seon-o, Ma Il-seok would not have failed to tell him about her. Yet the name Kang So-so was far too unfamiliar to Mok Ri-won.

There was only one answer. Kang So-so was an alias.

"Hoho, you're quite perceptive."

Yeom So-so chuckled.

"Well then, what did that beggar call me? An assassin? A wanton woman? Or perhaps someone of the Black Path?"

"...Ah!"

A spark lit Mok Ri-won's eyes.

Assassin, wanton woman, Black Path. Ma Il-seok had mentioned a woman who fit all those descriptions.

"The Killing Star...!"

"Oh, so you got it right."

Mok Ri-won's expression brightened. More than that, a smile blossomed on his face.

Yeom So-so, the Killing Star.

He had heard much about what kind of person she was.

-I don't like her, but... yes. If not for that woman, you would not have made it alive to Jiangxi. She was one of the four who voted to let you live. That damned Black Path woman was among them.

Of those who had decided his fate, she had been one of the four who voted in favor. When there were four opposing votes, two abstentions, and three votes in favor, she had held the final decision.

"Greetings to my benefactor!"

The Killing Star, Yeom So-so, was Mok Ri-won's benefactor.

Mok Ri-won hurriedly bowed. He had so many words of thanks he wanted to offer if they ever met that trying to organize them all at once left him flustered.

Yeom So-so smiled, apparently pleased by the sight.

"You've grown up so well. You're nothing like that Mok fellow when he was young."

"M-my master?"

"Yes. Didn't that beggar tell you? When that Mok fellow was young, he was so ugly that he even had the byname Ugly Dragon."

Mok Ri-won blinked blankly. Then he shook his head hard.

"Th-that's a lie! Even now that Master is old, he has a rugged and impressive face! When he was young, he must certainly have..."

Mok Ri-won's voice trailed off because he had nothing more to say.

It was only natural. Yeom So-so had actually seen Mok Seon-o in his youth, while Mok Ri-won had only seen him as an old man. It was obvious whose claim was more credible.

Yeom So-so chuckled at Mok Ri-won, who could not bring himself to say anything else, then asked teasingly.

"Then when will you answer my question? Is that Mok fellow doing well?"

"Ah, he is! Before I left, he built a small vegetable garden and devoted himself to it as a pastime!"

"That hobby certainly doesn't suit him."

Mok Ri-won was still flustered.

He did not know how to react to suddenly meeting his benefactor, especially one with such a playful manner.

Only after a while did Mok Ri-won finally speak.

"...May I thank you first?"

"Thank me for what?"

"Whenever the Beggar King told me about you, there was something I promised myself."

"Hm?"

"I wanted to tell you how grateful I am that you allowed me to live."

Mok Ri-won still held his cupped-fist salute.

His head was bowed deeply.

"If not for you, my life would have ended on the day the Bloody Affair ended. I would have met my end without knowing what Chivalry was, or how vast the world was. How unjust would that have been?"

Mok Ri-won moved his lips for a moment, then added one more thing.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I have been able to face such a vast world."

A person who did not know gratitude was a beast, and one who did not know Chivalry was a heretic of the demonic path.

Mok Ri-won had lived with those teachings carved into his bones. At last, he conveyed the words he had held in his heart to one of his benefactors.

Yeom So-so's eyes widened, then curved beautifully.

"Why thank me for that?"

"It is only right that I do."

"I did it because I wanted to."

Yeom So-so placed a hand on Mok Ri-won's shoulder and gently raised him upright.

"But for someone so grateful, you're not living in a way that makes saving you worthwhile."

"...What?"

Confusion spread across Mok Ri-won's face.

Yeom So-so chuckled.

"At the banquet just now. Why were you so cowed?"

Mok Ri-won's body flinched.

"That was..."

"Were you afraid Baek-un would hate you?"

"..."

"Why do you assume he will hate you?"

Trouble flickered over Mok Ri-won's face.

He could not help feeling ashamed of how cautious he had become before Sa Baek-un, a man who had devoted his entire life to the Righteous Path.

Yeom So-so felt a small pang of pity as she watched him.

"Kid."

"...Yes."

"What have you done so wrong that you're so intimidated? You're Mok's boy, aren't you? You're someone who wants to become a chivalrous hero, aren't you?"

Yeom So-so made up her mind once again as she watched Mok Ri-won's cautious manner.

'I had not planned to reveal myself like this.'

But simply watching over him would not be enough.

"Isn't there something Mok always says? Those who have committed no sin have no reason to run."

Mok Ri-won had committed no sin. He was a child trying to build Chivalric righteousness, not wrongdoing.

Yet he was already worrying that he would be hated because of his inborn nature. How heartbreaking was that?

How painful was it to see?

-So what if you are an assassin? If your sword is directed at the wicked, that too is Chivalry.

Yeom So-so did not want to see the disciple of the person who had given her hope to live looking so defeated.

"Do you know?"

"...What do you mean?"

"On the day we decided what to do with you, I said I would watch and see what kind of person you became before making my decision. I said that if you grew into a killing fiend, I would personally cut you down."

The answer had already come.

"And I acknowledge you. You have grown well, not into a killing fiend, but into a chivalrous hero. So do not be afraid before anything has happened."

Yeom So-so grinned.

"That Baek-un fellow is a coward. But he knows Chivalry. So hold your head high and prove it. Prove that your inborn nature has not defined you. Prove that you have become a true chivalrous hero."

Mok Ri-won's eyes widened at her words.

Yeom So-so added one more sentence.

"I will help you do that."

Kindness for kindness.

It was a saying proclaimed only by the Tang Clan of Sichuan, yet it also showed the nature of the Martial World itself.

Yeom So-so was simply following it.

-A debt, you say? You need not repay me. If someday you meet a junior like yourself, someone who thinks deeply about Chivalry, help them a little. That will be enough.

It had been a debt of kindness owed for decades. Only when Mok Seon-o's disciple entered the Martial World did Yeom So-so finally find the chance to repay it.

Footnotes:

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