Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 76 - All for One, One for All (4)

Chapter 76 – All for One, One for All (4)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Ever since returning to Wudang, I had been unable to get proper sleep. That was because work kept piling in without end.

The merchant companies, money houses, and escort bureaus of the lay disciples handed their investment proposals over to me. Since there was no one in the Hall of Preserved Wholeness who could properly read those proposals, I had to take all of it on myself.

“This is difficult.”

The moment capital enters, Wudang must change. That stops being a choice and becomes an obligation. That is how the money can be received.

I struck out, one by one, the excessive demands that would burden Wudang, while still staying within the bounds of what would satisfy the merchants as much as possible. There were many ambiguous ventures too, so it was hard to judge. This time Jo Chung-heon wasn’t at my side to discuss business with.

“But do you really think that can work?”

A lukewarm voice came from in front of me. Sitting there in front of me was Cheong-su, Master of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, who did nothing but stamp the papers I’d handed over.

“What do you mean?”

“Senior Brother Sect Leader isn’t the sort who would damage Wudang’s traditions just to take a few coins. In the first place, these proposals won’t even make it as far as him. They’ll simply be buried in the elders’ council.”

Cheong-su’s words were worth hearing. In any case, the one who understood Wudang’s elders better wasn’t me, but Cheong-su.

“We still have to try our best.”

“I think it’s fine, but the others probably won’t. I only think this way because I realized the importance of money while working in the Hall of Preserved Wholeness. Do you think Daoists who have lived far removed from wealth will ever acknowledge that?”

“Who knows?”

I stamped the last sheet and passed it over to Cheong-su. That had been the final one. The completed final draft of the investment proposals, made by trimming away what needed trimming and adding what needed adding. It had taken me a full three days and nights to finish this alone.

“You really are living in peaceful times.”

“I am tense.”

“If you say that with that expression, who would believe you?”

But it was true. It was only because hiding my expression had become a habit. In truth, I was very tense right now.

This was, in effect, a counterproposal. Usually, the side seeking investment is the one that draws up the proposal. This, on the contrary, was the side to be invested in making the proposal.

To put it plainly, that meant they were proposals Wudang did not particularly want. The one who offers first is always the one who begins from a slightly disadvantaged position. I was already starting from a losing battle, and even doing so from a disadvantage, so even I couldn’t tell where this fight would go.

Still, all I can do is give it my best. That was how I had lived in my previous life, and that was how I was living in this one too.

“At any rate, by order of the Master of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, I have brought the elders and the Sect Leader into a meeting. This is as far as I can go for you.”

That was what Cheong-su said. And with just that, he had already done everything he needed to do.

“Thank you.”

“From here on, it’s your part.”

“Of course.”

Before long, it was time for the assembly. Cheong-su and I went up to the Three Purities Hall. The elders were sitting sparsely about the meeting chamber. Naturally, the Sect Leader was seated at the place of honor, and the moment he saw me, he let out a sigh.

“Registered lay disciple Muk Hui-yeong greets the Sect Leader.”

“…Yes.”

“Was that sigh because you saw me?”

“Then who else would it be?”

“Why?”

“Because when you’re tangled up in something, it is obvious the matter will become troublesome.”

What sort of prejudice was that? But I wasn’t here to bring chaos. If anything, I was someone who wanted to bring peace to Wudang.

“If anything, it’s the opposite. I’ve come to resolve the Sect Leader’s worries.”

“When you say that, it makes me even more uneasy.”

For some reason, within Wudang alone my credibility didn’t seem especially high. And for a merchant, trust is life itself.

As the elders gradually gathered in, the seats filled completely. There were even old men I was seeing for the first time. They were likely Supreme Elders of the Cheong generation.

“Since the Supreme Elders are attending this gathering as well, let all present conduct themselves with propriety.”

Before the meeting even began, Sect Leader Cheong-ui gave that warning in a grave voice. The fact that the Supreme Elders were participating meant that Wudang’s elders too understood the seriousness of the present situation.

“Then let us begin.”

“Wait.”

Before I could even begin speaking, Cheong-yu cut in, his brows tightly knit.

“Is the speaker not the Master of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, but you?”

“Yes.”

A murmur spread among the crowd. A lay disciple speaking in a place where Wudang’s elders, and even the Supreme Elders, were gathered. Even I, who didn’t know much about the etiquette of martial sects, thought that it was rather outside ordinary custom.

“I personally entrusted it to him. If this is deemed improper, then I will accept punishment later. But for now, I ask that you focus on what Hui-yeong has to say.”

Cheong-su spoke with internal energy mixed into his voice. Though his voice was small, it sank sharply into the ears. A serious voice carried persuasion in itself. Most of the elders chose to sit there with their arms folded and watch. After all, they too had all already seen my commercial ability.

“Senior Brother Cheong-su, even so, this is improper. Our martial uncles are present as well. How can a lay disciple of the third-generation rank speak in a place like this?”

“Cheong-yu.”

Cheong-ui’s voice dropped quietly. Cheong-yu flinched.

“Since when has Wudang been a place where masters and disciples measured one another by rank? Have you always thought that way?”

At Cheong-ui’s words, Cheong-yu had nothing to say. Had this been a Confucian sect that valued formality, that would be one thing, but a Daoist sect was marked by its free-spirited atmosphere.

“…This junior brother spoke out of turn.”

Cheong-yu obediently acknowledged his fault, but he did not stop glaring at me. He looked ready to leap up and tear into me the moment I made even a slight mistake.

That kind of sharpened hostility actually suited me better. It felt as though the tension and sensitivity already honed sharp inside me had been whetted once more by crashing against that force.

“Begin.”

At Cheong-ui’s words, I cleared my throat once and began to speak.

It was the moment when the first step toward Wudang’s great transformation was taken.

***

One by one, the elders vacated their seats. The only one left behind was Cheong-su, Master of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, who had arranged this gathering.

“A remarkable one truly is remarkable.”

“Indeed.”

Even elders like Cheong-yu, who didn’t care much for Muk Hui-yeong, had kept trying to trip him up, yet instead of being shaken he had dealt with them leisurely.

When he had to speak forcefully, he did so forcefully. When he had to speak gently, he did so with sly smoothness. His skill in dialogue seemed to have reached its peak.

“Doesn’t he feel like a child who’s spent several decades tumbling through the world somewhere?”

“I’ve always thought the same thing.”

Finding common ground, Cheong-su and Cheong-ui laughed together.

Muk Hui-yeong’s arguments this time had been things difficult for the elders and Supreme Elders to accept. Only Cheong-ui, having been forewarned by Cheong-su, had known roughly what was coming.

In truth, Cheong-ui had expected Muk Hui-yeong’s arguments to be completely rejected and earn him nothing but abuse. For a famous sect like Wudang, tradition mattered above all else. The elders and Supreme Elders, whose minds were already rigid enough, had no reason to approve the destruction of that tradition.

And yet, even under such terrible conditions, Muk Hui-yeong had fought astonishingly well. He increased the persuasiveness of his argument by presenting clear figures and calculations, and at times he even cited ancient examples and scriptures in explanation. His eloquence had truly been fantastic. Even Cheong-ui, who had already known the rough outline of the subject, had listened in a daze.

In the end, the meeting’s conclusion had been decided by majority vote. Whether or not to accept the investment proposals of the lay disciples. And if they were accepted, then that would in effect mean acknowledging Wudang’s transformation.

The result had been that the investment proposals would not be accepted, by a difference of three votes. It had simply been too much to expect several hundred years of tradition to be broken in a single stroke. Even so, the sight of Muk Hui-yeong arguing his case with such order and clarity had surely left a powerful impression on the elders.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Hui-yeong set his mind on something and fail to produce a result.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

At Cheong-su’s words, Cheong-ui smiled.

“As you know, I fundamentally opposed accepting investment from the lay disciples. A Sect Leader has no choice but to value tradition, and I do not doubt in the least that Wudang can wisely overcome this crisis on its own.”

“That much is only natural.”

“And yet it feels as though a spark has been planted in my heart. A seed that wonders what Wudang might be like if it changed in such a way.”

“…!”

Cheong-su looked at Cheong-ui in surprise. Cheong-ui was, to a certain extent, a completed human being. In martial skill, and as a person as well. Leading such a man toward change was no easy thing.

“And it is probably not only in me that it was planted, but in other elders as well.”

“Then it wasn’t a failure.”

“Of course not. But take care of him well. Some may have had the seed of curiosity planted in them, but there will also be those in whom the seed of resistance has been planted.”

Cheong-su recalled Cheong-yu, who had sat through Muk Hui-yeong’s speech with his arms folded and a stiffly displeased expression the whole time. There were also other elders who shared Cheong-yu’s views.

“In any case, it should be about time for the Martial Alliance’s man to arrive.”

“Indeed. The fact that the elders knew the Martial Alliance would come to mediate may well have been part of why the result turned out as it did.”

“A variable that cannot be ignored.”

Cheong-ui smiled faintly. Muk Hui-yeong had probably spent those sleepless nights preparing material to persuade them precisely because he had not known of the Martial Alliance’s mediation.

Even so, Cheong-ui had taken a copy of the investment proposals and memorized each and every merchant company, escort bureau, and money house that had declared its intention to invest in Wudang. That was Wudang’s way of calculating favors and grudges.

***

“Ahem. I feel ashamed.”

“Actually, this is probably for the best. To be honest, I did think it was risky.”

The lay disciples were actually more pleased that the investment proposals had failed to pass. It seemed that while they had boarded the ship in terms of outward atmosphere, behind the scenes they had been quite worried. Well, of course. No one wanted to gamble with their family behind them.

Yeo Hong-yang of Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company, who had hesitated to the very end, had signed the investment proposal too, but now it had all become a matter of the past.

“Tsk.”

Well, if the investors themselves said so, there was nothing I could say. In truth, I didn’t even feel it was that much of a failure. It was also true that I had gained far more support than I had expected.

After exchanging a few more words with the lay disciples, I left the Outer Court. Once I came out, I saw the entrance to Wudang.

Normally there should have been people standing guard there, but now it was vacant, perhaps because everyone was too lacking in energy even to take turns on watch. There was probably also the thought that no one would dare intrude upon Wudang, one of the great pillars of the martial world.

“Hm?”

I suddenly stopped in place and closed my eyes. Something was troubling my senses. A feeling unlike usual.

“Ho ho. So Wudang has a boy with keen instincts.”

I sprang in the direction opposite the voice and spun around. There stood a clean-featured middle-aged man with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Who are you?”

I drew the sword at my waist. Even though I had drawn steel, the middle-aged man merely kept laughing softly to himself.

“When asking an elder, isn’t it proper to introduce yourself first?”

“What sort of etiquette is that for an intruder?”

“An intruder, you say. There were no boys standing guard at the front, so I simply came in.”

“Then unbuckle your sword.”

“My sword?”

“The front gate is the Sword Release Grounds. Inside Wudang, no one except Wudang’s disciples may wear a sword.”

Even while speaking, I drew my senses up sharply. The middle-aged man didn’t seem ordinary. At the very least, he was certainly stronger than I was.

“Then try making me set it down. I have no intention of doing so.”

The middle-aged man smiled.

It seemed I had stumbled into a troublesome situation. Idling away was what allowed the world to deteriorate like this.