"Hehehehe. Got a fool."
Cheongmyeong grinned widely.
"I mean, how can those merchants be so out of touch with reality? Just because I helped them get one thing, they give away all this?" Money! It's all about money! Wealth! Ah, didn't the ancient sages say that the more money, the better? Cheongmyeong had already become one of the wealthiest in Shanxi by thoroughly raiding the secret funds of his master, but the increase in wealth was always a joyful matter.
"Quite generous, aren't they?" They say the merchants in Shanxi are big spenders, but this is beyond anything.
It was just a joke, but who would have thought they would actually give it all away? Even if they kept half, it would have been worth celebrating.
Of course! Surely, they didn’t just give all this to Cheongmyeong out of gratitude.
If it had been before the rise of Huang Wenyue, they might have had enough goodwill to do so, but now that he had fully recovered, the situation had changed.
It is human nature for one’s feelings to change before and after visiting the restroom.
Yet, the fact that they gave away so much without any complaints must mean they had some ulterior motives.
However, even if they had something they wanted from Cheongmyeong, it didn’t matter to him. 'If they don’t want to do it, then fine.' If Cheongmyeong had been a child as he appeared, he might have felt burdened by receiving such wealth, but unfortunately for them, Cheongmyeong was no child.
Rather, he was like a stagnant pool that had grown overly worn.
If they had known that, they might have thought differently...
"Anyway, it seems like everything is more or less settled."
He had saved the great man Huang and, in return, received a promise of support for Huashan.
Once preparations were complete, he would head to Huashan with Cheongmyeong.
So, he could say he had done everything he needed to do here.
There was just one thing left...
Cheongmyeong smiled as he saw someone approaching him.
"Hey. Are you feeling a bit better?"
Lee Songbaek.
The second disciple of Jongnam, Lee Songbaek, approached Cheongmyeong, who was lying on the main hall floor, and quietly looked down at him.
"What brings you here?" Lee Songbaek stared at Cheongmyeong for a moment before speaking.
"I’m going back to Jongnam."
"Oh, that’s great. I thought you’d be lonely staying here alone. Congratulations."
"Thank you."
After saying that, Lee Songbaek showed no signs of turning away.
Cheongmyeong glanced at him and asked, "Is there something you want to say?"
Lee Songbaek smiled faintly.
"The Young Master."
"Excuse me?"
"I understand that you set a trap for me to resolve this matter."
"What?"
"I mean, since the outcome is good, I can understand."
Cheongmyeong sat up on the main hall floor and looked at Lee Songbaek, chuckling softly.
"Calling it a trap seems a bit strange. Wasn't it you who tried to trap me?"
Lee Songbaek smiled broadly.
"So, we agreed not to blame each other, right?"
Cheongmyeong laughed as if he found it absurd. 'This kid has a strange personality.' The younger generation seemed quite different from the past.
The Jongnam disciples he had met before were all eager to show hostility towards him.
But then again, he hadn’t had the chance to see what the personalities of the Jongnam disciples were like.
"So, what do you want to say?"
"It doesn’t matter if I was humiliated, or if I was put in danger because of you, or if I was toyed with by the Young Master. Those are all things that happened because of my own shortcomings."
Lee Songbaek said with a serious face.
"However, what troubles me is the martial arts match we had before this incident. I still cannot understand what I experienced back then."
Cheongmyeong narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Lee Songbaek.
"So?"
"If you permit me, I would like to have another martial arts match with you. This time, it is not with any ulterior motives. I genuinely ask you for a match."
Cheongmyeong scratched his cheek while looking at Lee Songbaek. 'Look at this?' He thought it was obvious that Lee Songbaek had come to pick a fight again.
If he had grasped the situation, it would be strange for him not to know that he had been toyed with by Cheongmyeong.
He thought Lee Songbaek would be jumping around like a wild boar that had been hit, but instead, he was burying that fact and asking for a match. 'It doesn’t seem like he means to lose in the match either.'
What an interesting reaction.
"Hmm. What should I do?" A martial arts match is originally a contest of skills.
From Lee Songbaek's perspective, it might have some meaning to fight Cheongmyeong, but from Cheongmyeong's perspective, he had nothing to gain from Lee Songbaek.
So, there was no reason to accept this challenge, but...
"Well, I suppose."
There was no particular reason to refuse.
Cheongmyeong stood up and gestured towards the yard.
"Here?"
"Let’s go somewhere people can’t see us."
"Oh dear. How scary. You’re not planning something sneaky, are you?" When Cheongmyeong pretended to cut his throat, Lee Songbaek sighed.
"Young Master. I am not a fool. It’s hard to believe, but I already know that your martial arts are superior to mine."
"Oh?" Cheongmyeong looked at Lee Songbaek with interest.
"I didn’t say it. I just want to know what I experienced."
Cheongmyeong smiled subtly.
"You’ll regret it."
"But I’m fine with that."
"Yes, well. Alright then."
As Cheongmyeong took the lead, Lee Songbaek followed him with a serious expression.
Lee Songbaek let out a low breath.
He was nervous.
Even when facing his brothers, his master, or his fellow disciples, he had never felt this nervous.
But standing before Cheongmyeong made his heart race three times faster.
'He’s small.'
Looking closely again, Cheongmyeong still looked like a child.
Of course, it was a bit embarrassing to call him a child now, but the fact that he was at least ten years younger than Lee Songbaek remained unchanged.
In Jongnam, he might be around the age of Lee Songbaek's youngest disciple.
'At least there’s a difference of one generation.'
One generation refers to the difference between a master and a disciple.
In principle, the second disciple, Lee Songbaek, could take Cheongmyeong, the third disciple, as his disciple.
Of course, it would be difficult to take a disciple at an age when one should be focused on training, so in practice, one would need to be a first disciple to take on a disciple, but in principle, it was possible.
In other words, he was about to draw his sword against someone who could be considered his junior disciple.
Yet, why did he feel this pressure? He was simply recognizing Cheongmyeong as an enemy, but an unfamiliar pressure he had never experienced before weighed down on him.
'Why am I so nervous?'
It felt like facing the elders with swords drawn.
Even though that child shouldn’t be at that level.
In reality, he felt no aura from Cheongmyeong.
And he didn’t sense any firm will to defeat him either.
He was just looking at Lee Songbaek while hanging his wooden sword loosely.
Lee Songbaek bit his lip and steeled himself. 'I must confirm with my own eyes.' He needed to see what he had witnessed.
'He has good instincts.' Cheongmyeong looked at the trembling Lee Songbaek with interest.
Right now, Cheongmyeong posed no threat to Lee Songbaek.
Yet, Lee Songbaek couldn’t relax as if he were facing a tiger right in front of him.
What a sharp sense he had. 'He might become the best sword in Jongnam one day.'
When Cheongmyeong was at that age, were there any peers in Jongnam with similar instincts? Well, he wasn’t sure.
Back then, he hadn’t paid much attention to others.
He was too busy honing his own sword and avoiding his master’s nagging.
But even if he didn’t know about martial arts, he couldn’t recall anyone with such keen senses.
Having sharp senses meant being able to see more, and that would lead to greater potential.
'A late bloomer, perhaps.'
He might not stand out much at the moment, but as he grew older and continued to train, he would start to surpass others by leaps and bounds.
And in the distant future, he might be called the best sword of Jongnam or even the sword master of Jongnam.
However, the unfortunate thing was... 'He was born in the era I returned to.'
Cheongmyeong slightly raised his sword.
Should he teach him a lesson as an apology?
"Not coming?" Cheongmyeong tilted his head and pointed his sword, causing Lee Songbaek to flinch and step back slightly.
Then, gritting his teeth, he pulled himself forward.
The beads of sweat forming on his forehead showed just how hard he was trying.
After taking several deep breaths, Lee Songbaek finally managed to speak.
"Can I ask you one thing before we exchange blows?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Who exactly is the Young Master?"
"…I’m Cheongmyeong of Huashan."
Lee Songbaek gritted his teeth as he spoke.
"How can that be? The Young Master has only just started learning the sword."
I practiced for a hundred years until I turned gray, you fool.
And when I was your age, I could have easily taken you down with a finger!
Cheongmyeong smacked his lips.
It felt a bit like cheating, but he didn’t feel guilty about it.
The Cheongmyeong of that time was actually stronger than the current Cheongmyeong.
The current Cheongmyeong had only been training for less than a year and was progressing very slowly while building his foundation.
But the Cheongmyeong of the past had already been honing his sword for over ten years by this time and had reached a level that no one could match among the later disciples.
So, there was nothing awkward about it.
"The world is inherently unfair."
"…"
"But it’s not like you have no opportunities. The important thing is to believe in your own path, isn’t it?"
"So you’re saying that if I believe in my sword and work hard, I will eventually be able to defeat you?"
"Ah, surely not."
Cheongmyeong waved his hand dismissively.
"If a sparrow tries to follow a stork, it will end up tearing its legs."
"…"
"But it’s okay. It won’t be embarrassing for you not to win against me. Instead, you’ll come to see it as an honor to have exchanged blows with me."
"How foolish. Utterly foolish."
Lee Songbaek’s eyes slowly calmed down.
As they talked, he seemed to relax a bit, and his face gradually returned to that of a warrior.
"Be careful. I know my shortcomings, so I will use my best moves from the start."
"Anytime."
Lee Songbaek slightly twisted his sword to the side.
Seeing that movement, Cheongmyeong narrowed his eyes. 'What is this?'
A sword can change its form with even the slightest movement.
Jongnam is a sect that fundamentally pursues the righteous path.
They do not twist their swords.
Showing both the blade and the surface of the sword to the opponent is a technique mainly used in the Illusionary Sword.
Yes.
This is Huashan’s style.
"I will face you with the Snowflake Twelve Forms."
"Snowflake Twelve Forms?" Cheongmyeong tilted his head.
Did Jongnam have such a martial art? When one thinks of Jongnam, it’s usually the Thirty-Six Swords of the World and the Taeeul Splitting Sword.
It seemed that something new had been created during his absence.
"Let’s go!"
"Yes."
"Taah!"
Lee Songbaek shouted as he charged at Cheongmyeong.
Cheongmyeong looked at Lee Songbaek with slightly bored eyes. 'So, what should I do?' Should he crush this junior disciple who was different from the rest right from the start? Or should he teach him so he could grow well?
'Tsk, even if I have a bad personality, I wouldn’t do that.'
It might be fine to crush someone like an elder or a first disciple, but he didn’t have a taste for crushing a child like that.
For now, he would teach him...
It was at that moment.
Lee Songbaek’s sword underwent a heavy transformation.
It wasn’t fast, but it was incredibly heavy, and while it wasn’t flashy, it was colorful.
A change unfolded before Cheongmyeong’s eyes that was different from what he had known of Jongnam’s style until now.
And upon seeing that change, Cheongmyeong’s face twisted in an instant like a demon.
"This…."
Cheongmyeong’s wooden sword swung forward powerfully without any change.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, in just one move, Lee Songbaek spat blood and fell backward.
But Cheongmyeong was not satisfied with that and immediately rushed forward, grabbing Lee Songbaek by the collar.
He pulled him close to his face.
In an instant, Lee Songbaek trembled, unable to breathe, as he saw Cheongmyeong’s face transform into that of a demon.
"Where did you learn this, you brat?"
"Cough, cough. W-what…?"
"This…."
Cheongmyeong bit his lip.
The Snowflake Twelve Forms? Nonsense.
That might fool others, but there was one person it could never deceive—Cheongmyeong himself.
The movements were clumsy and awkward, but the basic form of this swordplay was one that Cheongmyeong knew very well.
'Plum Blossom in the Wind.'
The sword of Huashan.
The sword that represents Huashan.
A sword said to contain all the essence of Huashan.
The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
This was none other than the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, which had now even been lost in Huashan, being displayed by Lee Songbaek.