Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 125 - Council of Elders
Chapter 125 – Council of Elders
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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An inn in Anqing’s north gate district.
This was where Cho Yu-gyeong and the Jiangnan Coalition martial artists had set up.
The top floor was occupied solely by Cho Yu-gyeong.
Cold sweat beaded on Cho Yu-gyeong’s forehead as he sat cross-legged, reviewing his recent battles.
What had happened just before he left Hainan Island kept replaying in his mind.
A child in the old man’s grip wore an expression full of terror.
Wrinkled hands swung a dagger.
The young child’s hot blood splattered, drawing a red line across Cho Yu-gyeong’s face.
An aged voice echoed through the cavern.
[For your victory, we sacrifice the lives of fifteen failures. Sincerity moves heaven… Heaven will surely recognize our fervor and your efforts.]
The old monsters entrenched on Hainan Island.
They had already lost their sanity to terror of the purges and hatred of the imperial house.
When minds already unstable eroded further with time, the result was ugly and nauseating.
They excavated ancient cult ruins on Hainan Island and had begun worshipping strange gods. Eventually, they even went so far as to sacrifice children they were raising… the ones with the lowest martial skill… as offerings.
But the old monsters were strong, and Cho Yu-gyeong’s martial arts were amateurish compared to theirs.
He forced down his trembling gaze and bowed his head.
[I’m off, masters.]
The blood splashed on his cheek felt scalding. The lingering warmth of a life not yet extinguished.
“Heoooook!”
When he broke free from his flashback, Cho Yu-gyeong’s entire body was soaked in sweat.
-Kkadeuk.
His jaw clenched, the sound of grinding teeth echoing through the quiet room.
Soon, his eyes opened after halting his cultivation, and in his pupils was a violent aura.
-Taang!
He flung open the window and dropped into the deserted evening streets.
Though his martial skills were advanced, his descent was graceful, like a maple seed fluttering down.
A light drizzle was falling. The north gate district was gloomy and dark, the sound of rain filling everything.
He ran madly until he reached a dark, damp alley beyond the reach of the inn’s lights.
-Seukaang!
Cho Yu-gyeong drew his sword with bloodshot eyes and screamed.
“Come out right now! Did the old monsters of Hainan Island send you! Did they distrust me that much! Or were they afraid of me!”
He swung wildly, cutting through rainwater.
“I’ll tear you all apart! Come out!”
His flailing blade had no sharpness.
“Heok, heoo…”
Cho Yu-gyeong collapsed into a puddle right there.
“Am I going mad too!”
A crescent moon hung eerily over the night.
An abused beast clutched its head and swallowed its screams.
* * *
To become a Buddha for an instant and perceive the world through that sense…
Ju-seong felt his self scattering.
Good and evil lost their meaning. Every value that people had established crumbled, and in its place came an intimidatingly full emptiness.
And from the most insignificant grain of sand to the boundlessly spread sky…
An overwhelming compassion that embraced all of it.
In that brief moment, Ju-seong ‘understood’ something.
But the moment of enlightenment was tear-inducingly short.
Like a shooting star faintly crossing the ridge of oblivion, distantly fading…
Ju-seong reached desperately for its tail, but it slipped through his fingers as if saying it wasn’t yet time.
“…Huuu.”
With a sigh filled with deep regret, Ju-seong opened his eyes.
Sighing Branch observed the young man’s face as he finally awoke.
A flash of golden Buddha light flickered in his pupils before fading.
Sighing Branch spoke with interest.
“You did gain something, I see.”
Ju-seong nodded, feeling deep regret along with relief.
His self scattering, feeling compassion for all things…
Put another way, it meant everyone he was attached to would become no different from stones on the street.
For the current Ju-seong, accepting that was difficult.
Ju-seong gathered himself and raised his head.
“Yes. Thanks to you.”
“Hmm. Then there’s something I’d like to ask you. Can you answer?”
“What is it? If it’s something I know, anything.”
Sighing Branch hesitated, choosing his words. He thought of the letter he had received from Weiji Baek and the stories about the Ten Thousand Ears Gang contained within. He wondered if they might be the very people he had searched for all his life.
After organizing his thoughts, he opened his mouth.
“Originally, my clan was a famous martial family in Shandong. People called us the Shandong Ak Family.”
As the gambler recounted his past, his eyes regained a rare clarity.
* * *
Deep within the Martial Alliance, the Council of Elders.
A quaint pavilion, and from it drifted aged voices.
“The tea’s fragrance is lovely. Isn’t it, old friends? Back when trade with Yunnan was scarce, we couldn’t get Yunnan tea.”
A similarly aged but fiercer voice answered.
“Spare me the pointless chatter and get to the point. That fellow has become quite refined after years of dealing with the Regional Commander.”
Those seated in the pavilion were all white-haired elders.
Their prime had long passed, yet vestiges of their bygone prowess remained, each one’s presence formidable.
The Council of Elders.
Where the Grand Elders of the Seven Sects and Three Families resided. It was a decision-making body rivaling the Military Affairs Division and the Martial Alliance Leader’s Office in the Martial Alliance.
The Martial Alliance Leader’s Office valued the spirit of jianghu. The Military Affairs Division valued the order of jianghu.
The Council of Elders had a slightly different coloring.
The interests and security of the Seven Sects and Three Families at the core of the orthodox faction. Plus the subtle power plays and politics with the government. Bribery and negotiations.
It might sound like an extremely corrupt body, but in reality, it was indispensable to the Alliance.
When the great sects were stable, the smaller sects could do their work under their shadow.
Those who moved the government were, in the end, people… someone had to coax and appease them to gain advantages for the Alliance.
The more upright officials of the Military Affairs Division or Martial Alliance Leader’s Office couldn’t do such work.
Moreover, positions in those divisions could be filled by others. The Martial Alliance Leader’s Office required advanced martial skill and character. The Military Affairs Division required understanding of martial arts and a sharp mind.
But an Alliance Elder needed experience in jianghu and reputation on top of all that.
The old men sprawled about the pavilion.
Three or four tea tables scattered haphazardly, some drinking tea, others leaning back lazily gazing at distant mountains.
Outsiders might struggle to accept it, but this was a council in session.
In the Council of Elders, formality didn’t exist. Formality was respect for authority, and the Elders were the pinnacle of authority.
-Tak!
One elder with a straight back struck his fan against his palm.
“Now… gentlemen, if you please.”
A gentle face with white hair combed neatly back and a Taoist coronet. In his youth, he’d once been listed as one of the top ten experts in the world.
Of course, time’s impermanence had worn away his strength, leaving only the ruins of memory…
In place of solid muscles and flowing internal power, experience and skill now resided there.
He was the Head of the Council and Grand Elder of the Wudang Sect, Nenggwang Taoist.
“The first item. The Chao merchants of Guangdong opened a sea route trading with the Southern Barbarians’ Beast Palace.”
A gaunt old man raised an eyebrow and replied.
It was Peng Hak-gyeong of the Hebei Peng family.
“Those people have been poking around everywhere via sea routes since ancient times, haven’t they? That’s just what traders connected to evil sects do. Bringing in worthless barbarian goods from beyond the frontier.”
The Chao merchants were one of the three major merchant guilds of the Central Plains, long established around Guangdong Province.
Located in the south of Jiangnan, their frequent dealings with the evil sects meant the orthodox sects regarded them with wariness.
The Council Head, Nenggwang Taoist, continued patiently.
“The problem is that the caravans of Sichuan and Jingzhou that profited from trade with the southern barbarians are now suffering losses. And the escorts cooperating with them are subsidiary or subcontracted to Qingcheng, Emei, Zhuge, and Wudang.”
Naturally, sea transport was cheaper and could handle larger volumes than land transport.
This meant the Chao merchants might monopolize trade with the Southern Barbarians’ Beast Palace.
“Let’s do this. Pressuring them openly is awkward… Let’s negotiate with the Regional Commander in Huguang Province and have them levy high river-crossing taxes at the Jiangnan-to-north crossing.”
“That won’t be enough to offset the losses.”
“For now, let’s ban wholesale of southern barbarian goods from Jiangnan as much as possible within our sphere of influence. We need to strangle the goods within Jiangnan.”
“And the Yunnan tea merchant union… What was it called, Cheongmokryeon? Let’s contact them. Tell them to secure a route for mass-exporting tea to the southern barbarians. We’ll provide military protection.”
“If that works, there’ll at least be something irreplaceable about overland trade. Sounds reasonable.”
Strategies flowed out. Each was somewhat cunning and twisted, but all stayed within the line of orthodoxy.
Nenggwang Taoist nodded, then struck his palm with his fan again.
“Next item. It concerns that young man drawing attention at the Ascending Dragon Assembly.”
The atmosphere brightened instantly at the relatively light topic.
Peng Hak-gyeong smirked crookedly and spoke first.
“That Mad Dragon fellow? I like him.”
Hyeon Ho-ja of the Zhongnan Sect also grinned and added.
“I was so startled at first when he used the White Lotus Sect’s defensive martial arts. Tsk tsk.”
“Is he a survivor of the White Lotus Sect?”
“His energy techniques are White Lotus, but the body techniques aren’t. Probably just a young man who encountered good fortune somewhere.”
An old monk with short, grizzled white hair fingered his rosary beads and said.
“He seems to have deeply trained in hidden weapon techniques. The junior elders looked quite displeased.”
Nenggwang Taoist tapped the table calmly and replied.
“It was precisely those junior elders who raised this item. They asked whether such a frivolous and crude person should receive attention at a competition meant to uphold jianghu’s spirit…”
“Ehing, worthless fools!”
Peng Hak-gyeong clicked his tongue as if the tea had gone sour and flung its contents out of the pavilion.
The old monk intoned quietly.
“They must be jealous because that Mad Dragon boy is stealing the attention their own children and disciples would have gotten. A delusion to shake off, an attachment indeed.”
An old woman with a hair bun and gentle features sipped her tea and spoke. Though youngest here, she was one of the grand elders of the Zhuge family.
“Hmm… It could create needless rumors, so let’s keep the fact that he uses the White Lotus Sect’s protective martial arts among ourselves.”
“But if that boy really wins the championship, won’t the authority of the Seven Sects and Three Families also fall?”
At Hyeon Ho-ja’s reasonable question, an ugly old man in Mount Hua robes answered.
Once he’d terrorized jianghu under the bizarre alias of ‘Ugly Swordsman.’
“The authority of the Seven Sects and Three Families doesn’t collapse because of one setback at the Ascending Dragon Assembly. If anything, it might serve as a stimulus for our young talents to grit their teeth harder.”
“Well… with every passing generation, the youngsters get more feeble.”
Nenggwang Taoist tapped the table and summarized.
“To consolidate your opinions… We leave Mad Dragon, Ju-seong, alone. And we keep the origins of his martial arts to ourselves.”
Peng Hak-gyeong snorted loudly.
“It wasn’t even worth raising as an item! Those pathetic fools… When they see a strong martial artist, they should burn with competitive spirit. That’s how it should be.”
“The ones who submitted the petition weren’t the young talents but the junior elders, so let’s not be too harsh. Now. The next item concerns the Ten Thousand Ears Gang and Assassination Curtain. They’ve caused major disturbances in Sichuan, Jingzhou…”
The council of those who ran jianghu continued.
The man called Mad Dragon probably never even dreamed that his fate had just narrowly escaped a major crisis.
* * *
Meanwhile, in another part of the Alliance… the lodgings of Seven Sects and Three Families participants.
A dim guest room.
A single lamp on a long table flickered as the only light source, as if aware of the surreptitious nature of the gathering.
Four or five yellowish faces emerged from the darkness.
All were promising young talents of the Seven Sects and Three Families.
One of them opened his mouth.
“So… how long are we going to leave that Mad Dragon or Mud Dragon or whatever vermin alone?”
People often said young folk couldn’t fathom the grand intentions of their elders.
But sometimes, the elders too failed to perceive the childish thoughts of the young.