Volume 2, Chapter 5
—There is no need to be the best.
—Do not dream of being the best.
This was the maxim passed down through generations of the Jangheon Clan’s heads.
And there was another.
—To stop is to stagnate.
—To stagnate is to rot.
This was the other maxim passed down to the heads of the Jangheon Clan.
It was because of these two adages, passed down through the family for generations, that they were able to transform from a small landholder with just a few plots of land into a Murim clan.
That they were able to grow from a mediocre Murim clan into one of the most prominent in Ansang Prefecture.
That the clan, which once had only a single small manor, could expand again and again.
The Jangheon Clan never coveted the top spot, and always sought to avoid stagnation.
But that was no longer the case.
For several generations now, the Jangheon Clan had remained just as it was.
It had stagnated. Signs of decay were beginning to appear here and there.
It was because they could grow no further.
The Jangheon Clan had already grown so large that Ansang Prefecture could not accommodate any further increase in its scale.
Nor could they expand beyond Ansang Prefecture.
The Jangheon Clan was a Murim clan.
To expand beyond Ansang Prefecture, they needed the requisite power.
Above all, the power of the Clan Head. The Clan Head’s Martial Prowess.
If the Martial Prowess of the Clan Head, the core of the clan, was not sufficient, it was as clear as day that any attempt to extend their influence beyond Ansang Prefecture would soon collapse.
However, acquiring that power was no easy task.
The current Clan Head, Jangheon Gon himself, as well as his father before him, possessed only mediocre talent.
It wasn't that they had no talent. They had a fair amount. It just wasn't overwhelmingly outstanding.
Furthermore, the clan's inherited martial arts, which had been practiced, accumulated, and developed over generations, were also beginning to show their limits.
In the midst of this, Jangheon Gon found hope.
His three children.
Among them, the eldest, Jangheon Taehan.
He had perfectly replicated the family’s swordsmanship after seeing it demonstrated only a couple of times.
It was a talent that neither Jangheon Gon nor his father had possessed.
So, he spent his personal fortune to acquire and feed him elixirs.
He sought out Renowned Masters to provide good instruction.
He believed this was the way to help his son’s innate talent blossom.
And he believed it would be the driving force that would allow the stagnating Jangheon Clan to grow once more.
Inviting Master Muak was the fruit of such efforts.
It had cost a great deal of money.
It was an arrangement made with great difficulty, by calling upon connections from his father's and grandfather's generations.
The Meeting, opportunely held due to the collapse of the Chagon Gang, provided a good pretext for it.
Thanks to that, he had killed two birds with one stone.
He was able to stabilize the sudden shift in power in Ansang Prefecture, and on that pretext, he was able to bring over the long-desired Master Muak.
And so, he was in a good mood.
He believed his son’s talent would be more than enough to capture Master Muak’s interest.
A main sect disciple. No, even a Lay Disciple would be fine. No, even just a few words of advice would be valuable enough.
In the Murim, a single word of advice from Master Muak was worth more than a thousand pieces of gold.
So, either outcome would be good.
Thus, the Meeting was a pleasant affair.
Everything had gone as he had wished, as he had planned.
But then, that pleasant gathering was turned on its head in an instant.
“What in the world is…!”
The Sect Leader of the Sincerity Gate. The very reason this Meeting was being held.
Immortal Cloud Sword Yu Hyeonjun.
He was holding a sword to Master Muak’s throat.
A killing intent as thick as the mist flowing from him was staining the entire Jangheon Clan.
His heart plummeted.
The world spun before his eyes.
This was the Immortal Cloud Sword, who had annihilated the Chagon Gang single-handedly in one night.
It was hard to expect that even if he and the other two sect leaders present at the Meeting attacked together, they could stop him.
To face him, he would likely have to pour out the full strength of the Jangheon Clan.
No, even if he did, could they truly stop him?
He was skeptical.
But he couldn't just let it be.
Master Muak was a guest Jangheon Gon had personally invited.
Moreover, he was a great elder of the Wudang Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects known as the pillars of the Orthodox Faction Murim, and one often mentioned first alongside Shaolin.
If something unfortunate were to happen to Master Muak, if he were to suffer even a minor injury…
The world spun before his eyes.
‘If even the slightest harm comes to the Master, my clan will not be safe either!’
The Wudang Sect would never laugh off an incident where one of its great elders was harmed.
It was a matter directly connected to their pride. Furthermore, who was the current Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect? The current Sect Leader, Thousand-Li Useless Sword Taeo-jin-in, was a man who had received Muak's teachings.
Therefore, he would be even less likely to overlook it.
The wrath of the Wudang Sect would descend upon Ansang Prefecture. The immense power the Wudang Sect had built over generations was not something the entire Murim of Ansang Prefecture could handle, even if they all came together.
And it was self-evident that this wrath would also fall upon Jangheon Gon and the Jangheon Clan, who had invited Master Muak. No, everyone present here would have to face the Wudang Sect’s fury.
If the Wudang Sect were to demand accountability, the end of that accountability would be Annihilation.
‘H-how did things turn out like this…!’
It was a hopeless dilemma.
If he tried to stop Yu Hyeonjun, he lacked the ability. If he let him be, he feared the wrath of the Wudang Sect.
Tears welled in Jangheon Gon’s eyes.
He hadn't shed a tear since he was severely scolded by his father around the age of twelve, but today, he wanted to cry.
What was most bewildering was that the cause of this entire situation was a single person.
‘Lee Hoo…’
Jangheon Gon’s gaze turned to Lee Hoo.
He had heard what happened.
That Master Muak had asked Lee Hoo if he would become his disciple, and that an enraged Yu Hyeonjun had drawn his sword because of it.
That was why it was so absurd.
‘No matter how I look at him, he has no talent…!’
He had no talent.
His Physical Constitution was not at all outstanding.
He had confirmed that with his own two eyes several times during the Meeting.
He was a boy he had thought was not only talentless but also had a personality so meek it bordered on weak.
That was why he had even concluded that once the current Yu Hyeonjun passed away, there would be nothing left to see from the Sincerity Gate.
With a Head Disciple of such poor quality, that was only natural.
But at some point, he had changed.
During the conflict with the successor of the Chagon Gang.
He had thought him surprisingly tenacious.
He had subdued Gwak Cheol-u, a practitioner of martial arts. The very same Gwak Cheol-u known in Ansang Prefecture for having talent on par with Jangheon Taehan. So, he had been quite surprised.
But that was all.
It was just a kids’ fight, after all.
No matter how much martial arts he had learned, Gwak Cheol-u was still a kid.
He wasn't yet mature, so it was possible he had been caught off guard by a stroke of bad luck and was subdued.
Besides, hadn't the fight taken place at the Sincerity Gate?
They say even a dog has the upper hand in its own yard; there was no reason the same couldn't be true for Lee Hoo.
He had accepted it and moved on.
And today.
Jangheon Gon had been surprised once again today.
His gait. And his greeting.
Confident yet polite, not losing his manners, yet not appearing servile.
It was not the image of the Sincerity Gate's Head Disciple he had known until now.
He was a completely different boy.
He seemed like he could manage the Sincerity Gate quite stably even without Yu Hyeonjun, regardless of his talent in martial arts, if he worked hard.
But he thought that, too, was possible.
He was still young.
A child’s time is different from an adult’s.
Children change from day to day.
So, it wasn't particularly strange that the Head Disciple of the Sincerity Gate had changed, whether he had matured or had some kind of awakening.
But no matter what, this one thing he could not understand.
‘Why on earth would Master Muak want that boy?’
Master Muak was showing interest.
The same Master Muak who was famous for never having taken a disciple in his entire life. Everyone said it was understandable. Master Muak's understanding of martial studies was so profound that he could lead others to a higher realm with just a few words of advice.
Therefore, his standards for accepting a disciple would naturally be just as high.
That was the general consensus in the Martial World.
‘Master Muak, who has such high standards… why on earth?’
That same Master Muak wanted to take Lee Hoo as his disciple.
His own son, the very reason for inviting Master Muak, had long been pushed to the side.
It was galling enough that his son hadn't received a single word of advice, let alone been considered as a Lay Disciple, but now he wasn't even getting a glance.
This wasn't just a case of cooking porridge for the dog. It was like preparing a magnificent feast and serving it to the dog.
No, that wasn't it either.
The dog he'd served the feast to was about to bring ruin to his entire house.
‘What a damn…!’
Jangheon Gon barely managed to swallow the curse, one he had rarely uttered in his entire life.
A cold sweat broke out.
He couldn't comprehend how the situation had come to this.
That things would turn out this way because of the Sincerity Gate's Head Disciple, who, no matter how he looked at him, seemed to have no talent for martial arts.
He wanted to cry, but it was a dirty feeling, tinged with a sense of injustice.
“Heh heh heh! The blade is so very thick with intent… I thought I had seen my fair share of demonic masters, but compared to the Immortal Cloud Sword, they seem almost righteous.”
Even in the midst of it all, Master Muak was at ease.
‘Don’t provoke him like that!’
What on earth was he trusting in to act like that?
What would he do if Yu Hyeonjun got angry and swung his sword?
Just watching made his hands and feet tingle.
His mouth went dry, and he felt like decades of his life were being shaved off with every passing moment.
“Will you be alright? The Immortal Cloud Sword also seems to be in a precarious state… Are you certain you can handle that child?”
Unaware that the onlookers' blood was running cold, Muak calmly said all he had to say.
“…”
Yet, what was strange was that Yu Hyeonjun did not swing his sword.
It didn't seem to be out of fear for the consequences.
His killing intent was too real for that.
“Why don’t we let the boy in question decide for himself?”
Even in this situation, Muak let out a slight smile.
“…”
Yu Hyeonjun remained silent, and Muak interpreted that silence as affirmation.
“Child. This concerns you, so you must be the one to decide, must you not? So, what will it be? Will you become a disciple of the Wudang Sect with me, or will you remain by your master's side?”
Muak directed his question to Lee Hoo.
In an instant, the fate of this entire affair rested in Lee Hoo's hands.
‘Of course he’ll agree.’
Jangheon Gon considered the answer a foregone conclusion.
The Wudang Sect.
In the Murim of today, the weight carried by the name ‘Wudang Sect’ was anything but light.
Just becoming a disciple of Wudang was enough to make the sect leader of any respectable Orthodox Faction sect come running out to greet you barefoot.
And this was to become the disciple of Master Muak, a Renowned Master.
Even if he didn't become The Greatest Under Heaven, it was a certainty that he would grow to become one of the most prominent masters in the Murim.
Furthermore, if he became Muak's disciple, the Sect Leader himself would become his nephew-disciple.
It was as if all the success one could achieve in the Martial World was being realized in a single moment.
‘If he offered to take me as a disciple, I’d accept in a heartbeat!’
That was why he found it so baffling that Yu Hyeonjun hadn't tried to stop this, and why he was still standing by.
If he was that furious, he could have easily put a stop to it. Yet Yu Hyeonjun remained silent, taking a step back to await his disciple's answer.
He swallowed hard.
It felt as if the bloody carnage that was about to unfold was already playing out before his eyes.
The Head Disciple of the Sincerity Gate would surely choose to become Master Muak's disciple. Enraged, Yu Hyeonjun would cut down anything in his path, re-enacting the Annihilation of the Chagon Gang right here in the Jangheon Clan.
“……”
In the brief moment he waited for the answer, he felt like he would suffocate.
And finally, the lips of Lee Hoo, the one who held all the cards, parted.
“...I don't want to?”
He refused.
He had clearly refused.
0 Comments