Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 202 - Probe Battle (1)
Chapter 202 – Probe Battle (1)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
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“That was all? Why did you take so long to say it?”
I burst out laughing. But the expressions of Namgung Hwi and Namgung Ik were utterly serious.
“Young Master Muk does not seem to understand his own current position very well.”
Namgung Hwi continued speaking with a seriousness that made my laughter feel almost embarrassing.
“As you saw after the meeting ended, there are a great many people who want to meet Young Master Muk right now.”
“That much did seem true.”
“Yes. And the surprising part is that they are not some miscellaneous households or lesser families, but all distinguished forces belonging to the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families.”
“That is true.”
If one compared it to the commercial world, would it be like all fifteen Huizhou clans and the Shanxi four families attaching themselves to me at once? Thinking of it that way, just as Namgung Hwi said, it did seem rather significant.
“Though there did seem to be some people who did not like the fact that I am a secular disciple from a merchant background.”
“There would be. The martial world has its share of narrow-minded people. But anyone with a functioning head would naturally want to build ties with Young Master Muk.”
“With me?”
“That is correct. To put it bluntly, the advantages to be gained from getting close to Young Master Muk are simply too great.”
“I have never really thought about it.”
I had expected merchants to crowd around me. After all, I had secured a monopoly over the southeastern coastal maritime trade. But I had never imagined martial artists would crowd around me as well.
“Martial artists are not a breed who only swing blades. You have been looking down on martial artists too much.”
Namgung Ik laughed heartily. I felt a slight sting.
“To begin with, the maritime trade monopoly. That is certainly a tremendous opportunity, but no one knows whether it will succeed or fail. It may bring you immense wealth, or it may bankrupt you.”
Namgung Ik said that. Just as he said, it seemed I had looked down on martial artists too much. There were certainly people among martial artists with keen insight.
The monopoly on maritime trade really was a double-edged sword. Up to now, the imperial court had maintained the sea-ban order because it judged the sea too dangerous. Vast amounts of trade goods loaded onto ships could be sunk by storms or plundered by pirates. There was no guarantee the same would not happen to the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.
“Of course, we hope the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company completes its maritime trade without even the slightest setback, so please do not take offense. I only mean that as an example.”
“I understand. It is true, so there is nothing for me to be offended by.”
“Your vessel really is as broad as the rumors say. To continue, what we find important is not the monopoly over maritime trade itself, but the background through which it was obtained.”
“You certainly know how to see things.”
“The fact that the imperial court singled out the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, still nothing more than a new merchant company in Hubei, and granted it permission for maritime trade is not merely unusual but exceptional. At this point, even a three-foot child would know that the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company has some kind of close relationship with the imperial court.”
I nodded. Whether the Five Great Families or the Nine Great Sects, all were planted in the soil of the Central Plains and therefore within the imperial court’s sphere of influence. Naturally, they would want to become close to the imperial court.
“So the idea is that they want to create a point of contact with the imperial court by targeting the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company. Certainly something that would tempt martial forces as well.”
“Exactly. But from the Namgung Clan’s perspective, even that is secondary.”
“Is it?”
“It is. In truth, the Namgung Clan already maintains a good relationship with the imperial court, so there is no need for us to go through the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company at all.”
“That makes sense.”
“Those who are hostile toward you are probably the sort who feel the same way, that there is no need to connect with the imperial court through the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company. But we are different.”
Namgung Ik certainly had a gift for words. The Daoists of Wudang really ought to learn from him. They were all too guileless to know these techniques of wrapping things up nicely.
“How so?”
“We are focused on you as a person. The Namgung Clan possesses information those others do not.”
“Oh, now I am curious.”
“Ah. It is something you already know yourself.”
Namgung Ik laughed heartily.
“Namely, that this Hwi here was defeated by you.”
“…Ah.”
As his defeat was mentioned, Namgung Hwi tucked his lips inward in slight embarrassment. I cleared my throat and corrected the information.
“That was not really a defeat. I merely made clever use of the rules to trap Young Master Namgung.”
“Of course, that is also how Hwi explained it to us. But even so, if our clan’s representative younger-generation expert was beaten, should we not at least look into the man who did it? And what we learned was quite shocking.”
“What was it?”
“That at the time you fought at the salt works, you had only been studying martial arts for around two years.”
I let out a low sound. That was true. My master, my senior brothers, and my martial grand-uncles had all said it until their mouths went dry. That my current rate of growth went beyond talent and was simply inhuman.
If the Namgung Clan had learned that too, then of course they could not help being interested in me.
“To have studied martial arts for only two years and yet land a decisive blow on Hwi. That is truly absurd. Do you understand now why I said you were the hottest topic in the martial world?”
“Do the others also know that I defeated Young Master Namgung?”
“No. The Namgung Clan controlled that information thoroughly. But right before coming to the Martial Alliance, did you not flatten another younger-generation expert as well? That time you did not use the rules, and there was no excuse to be made for it.”
Ah. The Falling Blossom Sword Dragon, Mae Su-il. Now that he mentioned it, that had happened too. That one certainly would have become known to everyone. There had been many people at the inn, and it had happened in Nanjing.
“That is why so many people are curious about you. And on top of that, at the Martial Alliance meeting you even showed them you could make that snake-like Alliance Leader swallow a mouthful of mud. Of course they become even more curious. They go mad over it.”
Now that I listened to it laid out this way, it felt as if I had been acting far too boldly. But I had not really had a choice at the time.
Though it feels improper to say this about myself, there is a saying about an awl in a sack. Perhaps this too had simply been inevitable.
“So the people who asked to see me wanted to probe me out.”
“That is right. But we are a little different.”
“The Namgung Clan keeps saying it is different.”
“Because it is the Namgung Clan. In any case, we did not come to probe you. We came to befriend you.”
“Friends.”
“To be exact, it is a business cooperation agreement between the Azure Sky Merchant Company created by the Namgung Clan and the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.”
As he said that, Namgung Ik took something from his sleeve and pushed it toward me. At a glance it was a jade box of obvious refinement.
“And what is this?”
“A token of sincerity between friends, one might say.”
“Do friends in the Namgung Clan also exchange valuables? In my experience, once money starts moving between friends, the odds of growing distant increase.”
“Is it not true that the more that passes back and forth, the better?”
Namgung Ik smiled slyly. I knew this sort of relationship very well. In other words, a business friendship. And as both I and the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company rose higher, that sort of relationship would only become more indispensable. A force on the level of the Namgung Clan was certainly more than qualified to count as a valuable ally.
“May I open it?”
“Of course.”
The moment I opened it, a beautiful green spread before my eyes. It was a necklace bearing a blue jade pendant. The quality was naturally of the highest grade, and the jade itself was as large as a person’s thumb.
Ordinarily, when people traded jade, the overwhelming majority was white jade. Recently, however, green jade from the southern regions had begun flowing in, and because of its rarity, green jade had come to command a higher value than white jade. Some merchants even called green jade true jade, saying that it alone was genuine jade. And the jade before my eyes was precisely that true jade.
“It is something precious.”
“They say that if you wear that necklace, it replenishes cold qi. As you say, it is precious.”
“This feels a bit burdensome. It would be worth over five thousand nyang of silver.”
“Hehe. If the Namgung Clan is the one extending a hand first, we should at least give this much in order to preserve our dignity.”
I smacked my lips. Honestly, it did tempt me. It was beautiful, yes, but more importantly it was expensive, and it even had the effect of warding off cold qi. And in any case, even if I refused, Namgung Ik clearly looked like the sort who would keep pressing it on me. Having come to my decision, I put the jade box into my robe.
“Then I will accept it with thanks.”
“A good choice.”
“But what does becoming friends with me have to do with the spar with Young Master Namgung?”
“How could it not? Only if we become friends can he cross blades with a younger-generation expert at your level. You are no longer in a position where you can draw your sword casually. Usually, the stronger one becomes, the more one must use one’s mouth rather than one’s sword. It is quite the contradiction, really.”
Was I really at that sort of level? Then again, in the martial world, a duel with a master was treated like an extraordinary stroke of fortune. I had heard that to ask for and grant a duel was itself a tremendous honor. I simply had never expected it to become part of my own life. That had belonged to the realm of real masters.
“The problem is that I do not have a sword right now.”
“Ah, right.”
Honestly, I would have been fine using any sword at hand. But after they had gone so far as to request a duel with this much courtesy, I could not treat it carelessly. I had thought I would either return to Wudang and receive another pine-pattern sword or at least get some time to accustom myself to a new blade.
“That is all right. You may use any sword.”
Unexpectedly, it was Namgung Hwi who spoke first. Even Namgung Ik looked surprised and turned to him sharply. I gave an awkward smile.
“That feels as though it might come across as discourteous.”
“Not in the slightest. How could I possibly treat Young Master Muk so…”
Namgung Hwi bowed his head. Namgung Ik had said that Namgung Hwi had never humbled himself this way before others of his own age.
Come to think of it, I had once revealed to Namgung Hwi that I was an Investigating Censor of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. That was probably why he was behaving with such humility now.
“This truly is the first time I have seen Hwi behave this way toward someone of his own age.”
Namgung Ik spoke in a somewhat strange tone.
In any case, we went to the backyard of the Namgung Clan’s lodging. Namgung Hwi gave me one of his spare swords, he said. But for a spare sword, the quality was absurdly good. As expected of the Namgung Clan.
“You may simply keep that.”
“Ahem, thank you. I feel a bit sorry, though, receiving so much from the Namgung Clan.”
“Friends do not concern themselves with that.”
Namgung Hwi grinned. In his eyes burned a peculiar yearning.
For reasons I could not quite grasp, Namgung Hwi seemed to have been longing for a fight with me for quite some time. Otherwise he would not be wearing such an excited expression.
“There is one thing my uncle said incorrectly.”
“Your uncle? Ah, you mean the elder.”
Apparently Namgung Ik was Namgung Hwi’s uncle. Namgung Hwi nodded.
“Yes. My uncle said we did not come to probe you.”
“He said you wanted to become friends.”
“That is true. Of course, I feel the same. I really did think it would be wonderful if the Namgung Clan and the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company became close. But…”
“But?”
“Setting that aside, I myself wanted to probe you, Young Master Muk.”
Namgung Hwi drew his sword. A beautiful blue blade. Azure Radiance, the famous sword possessed by the Namgung Clan.
“Probe me, you say.”
“Soon the Gathering of Dragons and Phoenixes will be held, will it not? If Longyuan is found, it will have to be to decide its owner.”
“That is probably true.”
“There, I will become the greatest younger-generation expert. And because of that, I wanted to cross blades once beforehand with the strongest variable among them, namely you, Young Master Muk.”
“I see.”
I smiled. There was not even the slightest arrogance in Namgung Hwi’s expression. Rather, the slight tremor on his firm face suggested he was actually a little tense.
“There will be no yielding three moves this time. I will go all out from the very beginning.”
Blue lightning crackled from Namgung Hwi’s sword. It was a tension of a kind I had not felt when fighting Mae Su-il.