Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 186 - Return (5)

Chapter 186 – Return (5)

Cheong-hwa’s force made my skin sting. I’d never felt such overwhelming pressure from him before when he raised his presence.

Which meant not that Cheong-hwa had suddenly grown stronger, but that he no longer intended to hold back for my sake. He was now treating me as a proper martial artist in my own right.

Whenever Master showed me this side of himself, I was reminded once again that he too would one day become the Boundless Divine Sword, one of the Eight Exalts.

I’d experienced a number of things in this second life that could be called fortunate encounters, but among them all, perhaps the greatest was still meeting Master.

“What’s with that face? You look like you’re drowning in sentiment.”

“It seems you can see well even in the dark.”

“It’s the face of a disciple I’m seeing after so long. Of course I should look carefully. Otherwise I might forget it.”

At Cheong-hwa’s jest, I smiled. I too had sharpened my vision and was looking closely at his face.

“I’ll come often.”

“If you come too often, then what kind of Cave of Repentance would this be? Don’t.”

“Then at least from time to time.”

“From time to time is good. You don’t need to bring gifts.”

“You’d sulk if I didn’t. I don’t believe you.”

“To say a master sulks. Your choice of words is irreverent to the point of bringing ruin upon the entire lineage.”

Cheong-hwa took a step forward. The Cave of Repentance, with its door closed, was a realm of total darkness without a single ray of light, but that no longer troubled me. I had even activated the Heart’s Eye that let me see intent.

“I’m coming.”

“Yes. Please do.”

I wasn’t watching Cheong-hwa’s physical movements.

What I was concentrating on instead was his intent.

This was something I’d realized while facing the Commander-in-Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a master who was overwhelmingly above me. I couldn’t keep up with the movements themselves. The only thing I could respond to in advance was intent.

Wherever Cheong-hwa’s intent moved, I met it with my sword and blocked. Cheong-hwa exchanged a single round of blades with me, then spun backward and withdrew.

“So you’ve learned immortal arts?”

The Commander-in-Chief hadn’t understood the concept of immortal arts, but Cheong-hwa recognized it immediately.

“There’s really nothing I can hide in front of you, is there.”

“Where did you learn them? Immortal arts are things only the seniors who have washed their hands of the mortal world ever cultivate.”

“Last time, didn’t you leave me in that strange hidden residence? I met Grandmaster Hyeon-wol there.”

“My master?”

Cheong-hwa looked slightly startled. Come to think of it, I’d never really had a chance to tell him I’d met Grandmaster.

“That old man never tires, does he? Wandering around all over the place like that.”

“To call your own master an old man. Your choice of words is irreverent to the point of bringing ruin upon the lineage.”

“What words can’t one say where he can’t hear them?”

“You’re remarkably generous toward yourself.”

“Be quiet. In any case, are immortal arts really something learned that easily? Even I haven’t learned them.”

“What can I do? My natural talent is simply that great.”

Cheong-hwa gave a short laugh. It may have sounded outrageous, but it wasn’t actually wrong. Immortal arts were not something I’d bought through the Martial Talent Shop. I had learned them entirely through my own talent.

“Immortal arts aside, your martial arts have improved again.”

“Have they?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know, you insufferable thing. You of all people should know it best.”

“That’s true.”

We had only exchanged a single pass of blades, and already Cheong-hwa had recognized my growth. Then again, when it came to martial arts, Cheong-hwa was the one person in the Central Plains who knew me best.

“And your movement… you’ve learned something else too. It’s not Wudang’s movement.”

“I picked up a move from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard? Why on earth did you go there?”

“I had a connection.” “Hmph. If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t.”

“Don’t sulk.”

“Why do you keep calling it sulking? I’m not even fifty yet. You’re turning me into some old relic in the back room.”

“Apparently forty is the age people sulk most easily.”

“You little bastard.”

Cheong-hwa sighed and then continued. His tone had grown somewhat more serious.

“You’re standing at a fork in the road right now. Up to this point, you’ve always practiced martial arts in a way that made them entirely your own. But just now, in that movement, I saw an effort to understand a martial art not merely as your own, but as the martial art itself.”

“That’s almost frightening.”

As expected, when it came to martial arts, Cheong-hwa was the real expert. He had seen right through the fact that I’d started thinking more deeply about technique and taking the path of the martial artist more seriously.

“Normally, martial artists begin learning martial arts when they are still incomplete as people. So naturally they first try to understand the martial art itself. But you were different. You were already a completed person, so you understood those martial arts in your own way and unfolded them accordingly. In a sense, you went in reverse.”

“So did I learn the higher step first?”

“I wouldn’t call it a higher step. Of course, it’s true that most people never achieve the personalization of a martial art, but within the martial art itself there are the realizations and intentions of those who came before. If I were to put it simply, understanding a martial art as a martial art is like laying the foundation, and making it your own is like erecting a structure on top of that foundation. You, meanwhile, have been a building floating without any foundation beneath it.”

“I feel like I almost understand, and yet don’t.”

Cheong-hwa’s words made me think deeply. A building floating without a foundation. Even hearing it sounded unstable.

“There’s no need to think of it so complicatedly. The fact that you’re now seeing martial arts as martial arts means you’re building the base at last. Once you establish your understanding of martial arts properly, the building you’ve raised on top will become much sturdier. So simply continue doing what you’ve already been doing.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. You’ve really become a martial artist now. From here on, when others call you a martial artist, you won’t be able to deny it by calling yourself a merchant.”

“That’s true. I am a martial artist now.”

“It feels as though it took a very long time to hear you say that.”

Cheong-hwa smiled faintly. He had acknowledged the direction I was heading in. The truth was that I had been afraid too. This path of the martial artist was one I had never walked before. But Cheong-hwa’s words made that anxiety melt away like snow. Master really was different.

“Thank you for your guidance.”

“A master teaching his disciple is only natural.”

“And a disciple expressing gratitude is only natural as well.”

“Yes. I don’t think I need to see more now. You should go.”

“How cold of you, driving me out already.”

“If you stay here too long, then Martial Brother Cheong-yu will be put in a difficult position. He likely sent you in only on the understanding that you’d exchange greetings briefly and come back out.”

“That’s true.”

“And if I send you away like this, then next time too, perhaps you’ll be able to come again, even if only briefly.”

Cheong-hwa laughed heartily. Smiling, I dropped into a deep bow before him.

“Then this disciple will be going.”

“Yes. Go on.”

“Those sweets won’t go bad, but still, eat them soon.”

“That much I’ll decide for myself.”

Stubborn as ever. But once I’d given them, they were Cheong-hwa’s. It wasn’t my place to keep meddling.

When I stepped back out from Cheong-hwa’s Cave of Repentance chamber, the first thing I saw was Cheong-yu standing there with his arms folded.

“You said you’d only go in and exchange greetings. Why did you stay so long?”

“I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I saw him, so there was a lot to say.”

“After only two months, what nonsense.”

Apparently Cheong-yu had come to fetch me because I was taking too long. So Cheong-hwa had been right after all.

“In any case, thank you for your consideration.”

“Enough.”

Cheong-yu waved me away as if telling me to hurry up and leave. Even Cheong-yu, with whom I’d once had friction, was becoming someone I couldn’t dislike.

It really was strange. To feel this much attachment for Wudang, the place I’d once wanted so badly to escape.

Now that I’d even seen Master, it felt like I’d seen everyone I needed to see upon returning. I would’ve liked to see Grandmaster Hyeon-wol too and hear more about immortal arts, but he wasn’t someone I could summon merely because I wished to see him. He would appear again someday, as suddenly as ever.

Now it was time to move forward again. And the first thing I needed to do was already decided. The pressure against the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company was being carried out more smoothly than I’d expected. Though no spy had infiltrated the main branch itself, the company still judged that at least three tenths of its sales had fallen away.

And during that fall, the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company hadn’t really been able to respond. In truth, it couldn’t.

Because the forces hemming it in, led by the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company, were using the most straightforward method possible. They were taking losses themselves and simply undercutting the prices of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company’s goods.

“At this point, even the Merchant King himself couldn’t stop it.”

“As expected of you. So this is how you strangle someone to death.”

“It’s a bad habit, so don’t learn it.”

“Where’s the bad in doing what you need to do to survive?”

Covering her mouth, Zhuge Yan laughed. Yeo Bul-jin looked at her. For someone still so young, where had she cultivated such venom?

When Zhuge Yan grew older, it was certain she would become a giant of the merchant world, whether in good ways or in bad.

“In the end, it all comes down to whether they have the strength to endure. The Radiant Crystal Merchant Company is still only a small-to-medium merchant company, so it won’t have that much margin. What’s more, because we’re cooperating, we can spread out the risk we’re taking as well.”

“I see.”

The one bearing overall responsibility for this operation against the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company was Yeo Bul-jin. To begin with, the company had simply been growing too fast. On that point, several merchant companies within the Central Plains Merchant Union Council had agreed.

That had been largely because the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company had lent it its logistics network. So the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company had raised the banner first.

According to Yeo Hong-won, Muk Hui-yeong’s strategy had been to avoid making complete enemies within the Merchant Union Council and instead create complete allies, broadening his base that way. It was the most suitable strategy a small merchant company like the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company could choose.

But that strategy wasn’t without weakness. Once it had accumulated merchant companies that resented it, those very merchant companies could band together and drown it like this.

“Unless the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company finds a new lifeline, it will have no choice but to bow its head before us in the end.”

“I thought the plan was to strangle it to death outright.”

“It’s been a while since a true talent appeared in the merchant world. It would be a waste to kill him. If we tame him, he’ll be more useful to the merchant world.”

“I see.”

Zhuge Yan showed a trace of dissatisfaction, but there was nothing she could do. This was a fight within the merchant world, and the Zhuge Clan had merely given it a push from the side.

“Speaking of the Zhuge Clan, I hear you’ve been stirring up quite a gale lately in the martial world.”

“I don’t really know much about the martial side of things myself, but apparently that’s true.”

“Heh heh. If the Zhuge Clan, which is close with us, grows stronger, then that’s good news.”

“Indeed. The martial world and the merchant world aren’t things that can truly be separated.”

At present, the Zhuge Clan was swallowing up every sect in which it held a stake. Unlike other sects and great families, which merely provided support while allowing autonomy.

That meant they were incorporating those sects’ martial arts completely into the Zhuge Clan itself. It was a clear declaration that the Zhuge Clan intended to make yet another leap upward in martial arts, and it was already stirring both wariness and a sense of urgency in the other sects and great families.

While Yeo Bul-jin and Zhuge Yan were speaking together in the pavilion, someone came hurrying up the stairs.

“What is it?”

Yeo Bul-jin frowned. A guest of the Zhuge Clan was an honored guest. He found it unpleasant that such a person was now seeing this sort of disorderly display.

But the newcomer had good reason for the breach.

“…Th-the Sea Ban has been lifted.”

“What?”

Yeo Bul-jin slammed a hand against the table and rose to his feet. It was that absurd a report.

To men of the merchant world, the sea was a place where milk and honey flowed. The fact that no one had yet laid full claim to it only heightened that sense.

“Only the southeastern coast, for now.”

“Naturally. If they opened it all at once, chaos would only worsen. So, then, is the palace now selecting which merchant company will handle the maritime trade?”

“No. It has already been selected.”

“Which one? The South Gate Merchant Company?”

The South Gate Merchant Company was the largest merchant company in Guangdong, on the southeastern coast. But the answer that came back was ridiculous.

“No. The Radiant Crystal Merchant Company of Hubei.”

“…What did you say?”

Yeo Bul-jin’s face twisted.

Zhuge Yan, still too inexperienced to grasp just how enormous this news really was, nevertheless knew one thing for certain.

Muk Hui-yeong had gone and done something again.

She barely managed to suppress the irritation welling up from the deepest part of her chest. And just like that, the announcement issued from the palace struck every merchant company in the Central Plains like a hammer blow.