Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 153 - Beijing's Heavyweights (3)
Chapter 153 – Beijing’s Heavyweights (3)
From the moment Muk Hui-yeong appeared, Na Han-geol observed him closely. To begin with, it was already mysterious that he had somehow known to come to the Beijing Restaurant, a place even the old men of the Merchant Union Council did not know.
What was even more surprising was that his own son was standing behind him, sweating nervously.
Before departing for Beijing, Na Hyeon-wi had suddenly left home early, saying some business had come up and that they should meet in Beijing instead. Na Han-geol had roughly guessed that Na Hyeon-wi had gone to meet Muk Hui-yeong.
After all, he had moved immediately after Na Han-geol stressed the importance of cultivating ties with the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.
Na Han-geol had been worried that his son, who was transparent and somewhat naive by nature, might commit some discourtesy toward Muk Hui-yeong, but there was no way he could keep him penned inside the fence forever, so he had decided to leave him alone and let him handle it himself. And so the result was that he had shown up there together with Muk Hui-yeong.
‘Well done.’ Of course, once he learned the full process, Na Han-geol would be clutching the back of his neck in frustration, but for now at least, he felt proud of his son.
And Muk Hui-yeong, who had come in with that son, was even better than expected.
Na Han-geol had already heard something of his exploits in Hubei. He had single-handedly smashed the Wuhan Merchant Association that had dominated the region, gone to the Huaiyin salt yards, the heartland of the Huizhou merchants, and taken salt from there, and in only a few years had raised the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company into the orbit of the Hubei merchant companies.
‘I knew he would not be ordinary.’
Merchants sometimes described commerce as a business of fortune. Not transportation as in carrying goods, like an escort bureau, but fortune as in auspicious and inauspicious turns of fate.
It was a fitting expression, because business truly depended on luck to a great degree.
No matter how great a merchant was, there was simply no defense against unexpected natural disaster. So there were people who dismissed Muk Hui-yeong’s string of achievements as mere luck, but Na Han-geol belonged to the camp that considered repeated good fortune to be skill, and that was why he had high expectations for Muk Hui-yeong.
It was not easy to satisfy the expectations of someone who had already chosen to expect much of you. That was why there were so many people who said, Let me tell you something funny, and then failed to be funny.
Even so, Muk Hui-yeong had astonished Na Han-geol by showing that he could seize the winding, serpent-like heavyweights of the commercial world in a single motion.
What was even more astonishing was that Na Han-geol had not even known Muk Hui-yeong had trained in martial arts. At present, because of the talent he had purchased from the Martial Talent Shop, All Streams Return to the Source, Muk Hui-yeong’s true martial level did not reveal itself clearly.
His inner power was mixed with natural energy due to the nature of All Streams Return to the Source, so it was difficult to judge his realm.
Na Han-geol was not merely a master. He was one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven.
For even him not to be able to gauge the man’s martial level could only mean one thing. Muk Hui-yeong had something hidden.
And because Na Han-geol wanted to identify that hidden move, he had sent Na Hyeon-wi in.
Even setting aside the fact that he was his son, Na Hyeon-wi was naturally gifted in martial arts. If anything, his martial talent outstripped his merchant talent, which had always left Na Han-geol with some regret.
Because Na Hyeon-wi was being trained in merchant affairs, and because Na Han-geol wanted to keep him from getting entangled with the martial world, he had not had many chances to show his abilities in public, but Na Han-geol still assessed him as stronger than most of the rising younger generation.
With proper martial talent and a superb teacher who happened to be one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven, there was no reason he should not be strong. But Na Han-geol had not known that Na Hyeon-wi had already crossed blades with Muk Hui-yeong once.
Granted, only in terms of lightness skill.
“Shall we?” “…Yes.”
Not only Na Hyeon-wi and Muk Hui-yeong, who had agreed to spar, but everyone inside poured out into the rear yard. Merchants might dislike martial artists, but that did not mean they could resist watching a fight.
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
“Ah, yes.” What dissatisfied Na Han-geol somewhat was that Na Hyeon-wi looked rather intimidated.
Na Han-geol had always worked to instill confidence in him.
That compared to others his age, his martial arts were already very strong, and that such strength was both the privilege and the natural result of having one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven as a father. And yet what was that timid look?
As far as Na Han-geol knew, Muk Hui-yeong was no more than a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect. He could not imagine that a mere lay disciple of Wudang could defeat the direct disciple of one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven.
“…Wait, what is that tassel?”
“Isn’t that the symbol of a Taiji Sword Guardian?” “Then why is he wearing it? Isn’t he a lay disciple?”
At that moment, he heard the merchants whispering behind him.
Until now the sword hilt had been hidden under the folds of Muk Hui-yeong’s robe, but now it was fully visible outside. And hanging from that hilt was a tassel of red and blue intertwined.
The other merchants looked unsure, but Na Han-geol, who had one foot in the martial world, knew at once what it was.
That tassel symbolized the Taiji Sword Guardians, the elite of the Wudang Sect. At that moment, confusion struck Na Han-geol.
He might not have that many ties with the Nine Great Sects, but it was not as though he had none at all, and there were certainly people in Wudang that he knew. Did lay disciples now wear the sign of a Taiji Sword Guardian?
No matter how he turned it over, that made no sense.
What is this, he was thinking, when Na Hyeon-wi moved first, sword in hand, and charged Muk Hui-yeong. “Haaat!”
Golden light blazed along Na Hyeon-wi’s sword.
It was Golden Dragon Thirteen Swords, the signature art of Na Han-geol, the Golden Sword. The first form of Golden Dragon Thirteen Swords.
Golden Dragon Raises Its Head unfolded.
Na Hyeon-wi’s blade drove toward Muk Hui-yeong with a brisk sound like a hawk slicing wind. Golden Dragon Raises Its Head was a swift and domineering move, like a dragon snapping up its prey.
Na Hyeon-wi’s sword tip first seemed to aim at Muk Hui-yeong’s left shoulder, only to bend downward like lightning and strike for the right waist instead. “Ho.”
Gasps rose from the merchants, and inwardly Na Han-geol smiled.
Even by his own judgment, Na Hyeon-wi’s move had been quite solid. After all, as a father, there was little as gratifying as showing others how well his son had grown.
Na Han-geol’s rough calculation had been this:
If Na Hyeon-wi subdued Muk Hui-yeong, then Na Han-geol could encourage Muk Hui-yeong by saying that he had fought surprisingly well for a merchant and could then step in as his patron. Na Han-geol would get to show off his grown son, while Muk Hui-yeong would earn the protection of a man who was both one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven and the Company Lord of the All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company.
It seemed an appropriate arrangement. But Muk Hui-yeong did not react at all to the sword coming toward his shoulder and only turned his body once the blade had already come toward his waist.
He moved so smoothly that it almost looked as though he had let the blade touch his waist before moving.
“Hup!” Na Hyeon-wi immediately linked into the next move.
There was no mistake in his motion.
If anything, it was as though he had expected Muk Hui-yeong to dodge lightly and had entered smoothly into the next chain because of that. Turning his body in the same direction as Muk Hui-yeong, Na Hyeon-wi drove his elbow at Muk Hui-yeong’s temple.
Muk Hui-yeong lowered his head naturally and let it pass, whereupon Na Hyeon-wi placed his free palm against the sword hilt and chopped downward toward Muk Hui-yeong’s knee.
Only then did Muk Hui-yeong draw his own sword and block Na Hyeon-wi’s blade. Only at that moment did the crowd realize that Muk Hui-yeong had not even drawn his sword until now.
Na Han-geol, too, had missed that fact because he had been concentrating on Na Hyeon-wi’s movements. “Your movement is not bad.”
No merchant there could have heard it, but Na Han-geol heard Muk Hui-yeong mutter the words.
Muk Hui-yeong had not said it for Na Han-geol’s benefit either. He had said it to Na Hyeon-wi.
And that alone was shocking enough.
Because Muk Hui-yeong’s voice sounded not merely relaxed, but almost languid. ‘Is the gap really that great?’
Perhaps provoked by that lazy tone, Na Hyeon-wi accelerated his sword. The golden brilliance on his blade grew stronger.
“Do not look down on me, Brother!”
Na Hyeon-wi shouted, gripping the hilt tightly with both hands. Everyone’s eyes flew open.
The golden sword qi wreathing Na Hyeon-wi’s blade had begun to flicker.
“Oh, sword qi!” Sword qi.
Strictly speaking, the actual reach of the blade itself did not change, but a sword imbued with sword qi possessed an entirely different level of cutting power.
If being able to pour qi into a blade was considered the threshold of first-rate mastery, then for someone of Na Hyeon-wi’s age, it was an outstanding display. “Hyeon-wi!”
Na Han-geol was startled. Generally speaking, once one reached sword qi, one had crossed squarely into the domain of a martial artist who had dedicated himself to martial arts.
And lay disciples were not usually counted as full martial artists, so Na Han-geol had assumed Muk Hui-yeong would not be able to receive sword qi head-on.
From the beginning, the whole reason Na Han-geol had come to the Merchant Union Council was to establish friendly ties with the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company. If Na Hyeon-wi injured Muk Hui-yeong here, their relationship would inevitably twist, and so he called out urgently.
But Muk Hui-yeong did not seem flustered at all.
He simply knocked aside the blade infused with sword qi. And from there, what followed was still more astonishing.
Mist burst forth from Muk Hui-yeong’s sword.
Mist pouring out from a blade. That distinctive hallmark of cloud-mist made it harder not to recognize the art than to recognize it.
“The Flowing Cloud Sword Art?” Na Han-geol said blankly.
Muk Hui-yeong’s use of the Flowing Cloud Sword Art proved that he truly was a Taiji Sword Guardian.
From the beginning, the idea of a lay disciple learning the Flowing Cloud Sword Art had made no sense. And what was more, his proficiency in it was remarkably high.
Usually, one judged proficiency in the Flowing Cloud Sword Art by the thickness and thinness of the cloud-mist it produced.
But the cloud-mist pouring out from Muk Hui-yeong was so thick that ordinary people would have had difficulty discerning it properly. The mist unleashed by the Flowing Cloud Sword Art swallowed Na Hyeon-wi’s golden brilliance in an instant.
From that point onward, the merchants could only follow the fight through the ringing of clashing blades and the sparks that flew when steel met steel. The only person there who could properly follow the battle was Na Han-geol.
Na Han-geol saw through the fact that Muk Hui-yeong had yielded Na Hyeon-wi three moves.
In other words, he had intentionally treated Na Hyeon-wi as the lesser. Depending on the actual difference in strength, that sort of conduct could be absurd arrogance or courtesy.
To Na Han-geol, it looked like courtesy.
Because from the moment Muk Hui-yeong began truly moving his sword, the spar had become one-sided. “Brother, go a little easy on me!”
The moment Muk Hui-yeong switched to offense, Na Hyeon-wi immediately started crying for mercy.
Using Wudang’s characteristic sword principles, Muk Hui-yeong wrapped around Na Hyeon-wi’s blade and never let him escape. While continuing to press Na Hyeon-wi, he even condensed a flickering sphere at the tip of his sword and launched it.
“…Huh!” That was not sword pellet.
Sword pellet required compressed gang qi, so it could not properly be called that.
But the very fact that he could shape sword qi into a sphere meant he had already entered the threshold leading toward sword pellet. Of course, releasing gang qi and then compressing gang qi into a sphere were altogether different realms.
Even so, that much clearly meant he stood above the middle level even among first-rate masters.
“Uwaaat!” Hit by the sphere of sword qi Muk Hui-yeong fired, Na Hyeon-wi tumbled backward across the ground and crashed into the wall.
Apparently, he had struck the back of his head, because he immediately went limp and fainted. There was no doubt who had won the spar.
When Muk Hui-yeong sheathed his sword, the mist drifted upward into the sky.
Everyone could only stare blankly at the sight of Na Hyeon-wi collapsed unconscious while Muk Hui-yeong stood there without the slightest sign of strain. Muk Hui-yeong turned toward Na Han-geol and gave him a martial salute.
“We will end the spar here.”
“…Indeed.” Once Na Han-geol gave the word, Muk Hui-yeong naturally walked over to Na Hyeon-wi and pressed his acupoint.
He was helping him wake from the faint.
The moment the acupoint was pressed, Na Hyeon-wi’s eyes flew open and he gasped for breath. “H-huff! Is it over?”
“Yeah. You did not suffer any internal injury, did you?” “I do not think so?”
“Then that is fine.”
Muk Hui-yeong stood and grabbed Na Hyeon-wi’s hand, pulling him to his feet. That sight made a deep impression on Na Han-geol.
The man possessed martial power this strong, had merchant talent besides, and yet was not arrogant.
“A prodigy!” Na Han-geol laughed loudly as he shouted it.
At that hearty laughter, everyone flinched. They had expected Na Han-geol to be displeased because his own son had lost, but instead he looked thoroughly delighted.