Volume 6 Chapter 13 – Procession

===================

Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

“Everyone, clear the way and bow your heads! The Eldest Young Master of the Main Family is arriving!”

The shout of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s maid, imbued with internal energy, resounded far and wide.

“The Eldest Young Master of the Sword Family…?”

At the words that it was the Eldest Young Master’s procession, the deputy general director nun of the Emei Sect stepped forward.

Just as Sangwan Nan-hwa had said, it must have been to arrange a meeting to directly meet and speak with the Eldest Young Master.

However, the one who met the deputy general director nun was not the Eldest Young Master.

“Stand back!”

The heavy, warning energy emitted by the Special Duty Unit members shook the crowd.

At the energy emitted merely as a warning, the dust settled on the floor overnight was pushed back like a wave.

“…Experts?!”

The Buddhist nuns of the Emei Sect did not even have time to be astonished.

All the Special Duty Unit members deployed at the main gate post stepped forward and virtually pushed the Emei Sect members to the side of the main gate all at once.

“In, why are you doing this?!”

“This nun merely wished to meet the Eldest Young Master…!”

Even though she protested, there was no reply.

They merely blocked their front by raising their hands in a firm attitude.

Unlike the Emei Sect Buddhist nuns who were pushed back with a surprisingly coercive atmosphere, the Tea Fan Maidens, who had stood back obediently from the beginning, merely corrected their posture quietly.

The very first to reveal herself from Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s main gate was Hyang, the Maid Captain of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

She was not wearing a sword over her maid uniform as usual, but was in a state of complete armament over her maid uniform.

“Maid Division, advance! Take up alert positions on the main road!”

No sooner had her command fallen than the maids of the Maid Division began to pour out of the main gate all at once.

It did not take long for the complexions of the Emei Sect Buddhist nuns—who initially showed a tendency to look down on the maids since their martial arts levels seemed similar to or below those of the Emei Sect’s martial nuns—to change.

‘…There are many.’

The deputy general director nun’s face trembled slightly.

The Maid Division, consisting of fifty warriors, was a combat force rivaling any decent sword squad of the Luoyang Sword Family.

[The level of armament is extremely high. The leather light armor they are wearing is no ordinary item to begin with.]

[It is armament to a burdensome degree for martial artists of that level to use.]

Ten Thousand Forgings.

The weapon workshop, Ten Thousand Forgings, where iron is hammered under a thorough custom-made system only for elite warriors in the Luoyang Sword Family.

All the armaments worn by the entire Maid Division were indeed those of the Ten Thousand Forgings.

Basically, two swords.

Depending on the individual, daggers or throwing knives were firmly fixed to leather belts, and occasionally there were those who slung bows on their backs and hung quivers on their waists.

If there was any more unusual matter, it was the fact that everyone was equipped with combat boots with studs on their gaiters, and even leather helmets.

[They say those are the Eldest Young Master’s maids…?]

No one replied to that sound transmission.

For to anyone’s eyes, they were the figures of martial artists who had undergone high-level group combat training, who would clearly perform actively even if deployed to any front right away.

Among the Nine Great Sects that still maintained their existence, which sect indeed would dare to employ such people as maids?

No.

How many forces under heaven, excluding the imperial family, would there be that could establish and operate such a Maid Division?

‘There is no waste like that waste…’

The deputy general director nun clicked her tongue inwardly.

Clearly, the level of Emei Sect’s individual martial nuns was higher, but what on earth was the use of that before that spectacle?

“Clear the way!”

But making the Emei Sect Buddhist nuns look miserable was merely the beginning.

“Clear the way!”

Along with the shout imbued with internal energy, those who revealed themselves along the main road cleared by the Maid Division were a group of warriors on horseback.

They were warriors dressed much lighter than the iron-armored cavalry warriors Elder Yeom had led previously.

However, the level of their individual armament and realm was to the point of being worthy of being called worlds apart.

What did it mean that they had only unified the martial uniform worn innermost, and had not a single thing in common regarding weapons or attire?

[Advising one of them to look after us, it seems safe to view each and every one of them as equivalent to first-generation disciples of our Emei Sect…]

An expert, whose eyes clearly showed he had crossed the wall just by the energy softly flowing from them, spoke to the captain of the Maid Division.

“I inform you that ten guard warriors under the command of the Guard Generals have arrived in accordance with Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s request.”

“I am the Maid Captain of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, currently in charge of controlling the front of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s main gate. Please wait as you are.”

“Hmm.”

The warriors sent from the Guard Pavilion waited while scattered here and there on horseback without any small talk.

Unlike their appearance that seemed leisurely at a glance, they constantly guarded the surroundings while blocking major directions.

A few of them whose distance was close briefly scanned the Emei Sect’s Buddhist nuns, then turned their gazes away as if they had no interest.

“…”

Although their inner thoughts could not be known, it was as if they had made the judgment that they did not pose even a slight threat.

At the sense of humiliation rising for no reason, the Buddhist nuns of the Emei Sect trembled with rage.

And what appeared last were six pitch-black four-horse armored carriages, and dozens of guard unit troops accompanying them at a trot.

As soon as the armored carriages took their positions in front of the main road, the guard unit troops who arrived subsequently took over from the Maid Division, blocking the gazes of the people who had gathered before they knew it.

[Deputy General Director. Please look at those carriages.]

At that sound transmission, looking at the armored carriages, a groan leaked out from the deputy general director nun’s mouth involuntarily.

The roofs of the carriages were designed to open upward, and in the middle of those surrounded by armored iron plates, repeating crossbows that could only be seen on city walls were installed.

[…Could the reason why those carriages are black be because they were manufactured from solid Black Ironwood?]

There was someone’s sound transmission, but as expected, no one replied.

The deputy general director nun looked somewhat dumbfounded.

The Emei Sect was a sect that had succeeded far more greatly than any Nine Great Sects that had already virtually fallen to ruin.

Their businesses, the profits they earned, their influence—there was nothing for the Emei Sect to feel inferior about in the land of Sichuan except for the Sichuan Tang Family.

Even so, look at that incredibly vast gap that could never be filled.

Who among them did not know that the Luoyang Sword Family was the number one family under heaven?

They were a force that was impossible to view as merely a single family, and they knew that all too well as well.

They knew well that they were not even targets for comparison.

But indeed, the difference between knowing and seeing directly was stark.

Every time she verified each and every one of these differences directly like this, the deputy general director nun merely felt an endless sense of vastness.

[Preparing carriages and horses must mean that the Eldest Young Master of the Sword Family is heading somewhere, right…?]

At a nun’s sound transmission, the deputy general director nun snapped out of her daze.

“Today is the day our master, the Eldest Young Master, conducts his first official external schedule after ending his confinement!”

Even if it was not the Maid Captain’s shout imbued with internal energy, the momentum and morale of the Maid Division members were already piercing the sky.

“Let not a single member of the Maid Division do anything to bring disgrace to our master’s honor!”

“Loyalty!”

The shout of the Maid Division members resounded with the momentum to scatter the morning mist.

And he appeared.

What revealed their majestic appearance from the main gate were two ‘oxen’.

However, it seemed inappropriate to dismiss them as merely mere livestock.

A black ox and a yellow ox whose shoulder height exceeded that of a tall adult male, their entire bodies covered in steel-like muscles.

Those two spiritual beasts, fiercely snorting, were pulling a steel ox-cart.

The ox-cart that the Grand Patriarch of the Luoyang Sword Family had personally ordered and manufactured for his wife, who always traveled to dangerous places.

It was the moment when the Medicine Fairy’s ox-cart, which possessed the alias Armored Fortress, revealed its appearance to the outside like that for the first time in over a decade.

And on that Armored Fortress, along with a huge flag symbolizing the Luoyang Sword Family, the Eldest Young Master’s flag, which was as splendid and huge as that flag, was fluttering.

The steel wheels of the Armored Fortress completely exited the main gate, splattering sparks with the momentum to smash the paving stones despite the low speed.

“Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment main gate closed!”

“Closed!”

As the Maid Captain, who held command according to the Eldest Young Master’s order, shouted, the Special Duty Unit members locked Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s massive main gate.

Now from this time, only a tiny minority of authorized personnel could enter and exit using Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s side door.

Before they knew it, none of the Emei Sect members spoke a word, and not even sound transmissions were passing between them.

The one who broke that silence was Sangwan Nan-hwa of the Tea Fan Maidens, who had been standing quietly beside them until then.

“Have you realized it now?”

“…”

The deputy general director nun looked at Sangwan Nan-hwa without a word.

“Now, at least in Luoyang, there is no reason for our Tea Fan Maidens and the Emei Sect to engage in a war of nerves.”

With eyes as if looking at something pitiful, Sangwan Nan-hwa faced the middle-aged nun who was wrapped in illusions.

“Do you still believe we can dare tell the Eldest Young Master to meet the Emei Sect?”

“…”

Even though there was no reply, Sangwan Nan-hwa continued her words quietly.

“Things like the letters from our parents that you possess, or the justification for protecting students, are of no use whatsoever.”

The Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family.

The Eldest Young Master sitting inside the steel ox-cart, whose face could not even be seen.

Yet, merely with that name possessing a weight like Mount Sumeru, he was weighing down the shoulders of the Emei Sect’s Buddhist nuns.

“But even so, we have no intention of doing anything foolish, so rest assured. Since our families’ lives are precious to us as well.”

“…”

If that was the only consolation, perhaps it was.

For the Emei Sect had completely lost control over the Tea Fan Maidens, at least in this Luoyang.

“…”

At that moment, the deputy general director nun realized.

Why Abbess Chongmu, who had such strong pride and cursed the Luoyang Sword Family more than anyone, was still going around borrowing other people’s strength even now.

“…”

To the deputy general director nun who had lost her words, Sangwan Nan-hwa slightly bowed her head and offered a greeting.

“Well then.”

Following Cheongsu who was waiting quietly behind, the Tea Fan Maidens boarded the four-horse carriage assigned to them.

In the head of the deputy general director nun, who merely stared at their departing backs blankly, the voice of Abbess Chongmu heard last night brushed past.

‘Remember. No matter what happens, you must stick close to those children.’

Abbess Chongmu had handed down the order to stick close to the Tea Fan Maidens no matter what happened.

‘Abbess Chongmu had predicted that my heart would almost break in this situation…!’

If so, in the words of Abbess Chongmu telling her to stick to the Tea Fan Maidens no matter what, there must be a meaning beyond what she understood.

“Eldest Young Master!”

Everyone’s gazes focused on the deputy general director nun who shouted spasmodically.

A scolding immediately flew from the Maid Captain.

“How dare you! A nun, ignorant of her place, call the Eldest Young Master of the Main Family so carelessly?!”

The deputy general director nun ignored that Maid Captain and shouted in an even louder voice.

“Please! Please allow our Emei Sect to help the Eldest Young Master’s business by their side together with the Tea Fan Maidens!”

She was someone who did not even know what words she was shouting right now.

There seemed no possibility that the Eldest Young Master would accept their joining upon hearing such words.

Nevertheless, she had a foreboding conviction that if she did not say something right now, she would be distanced from the Tea Fan Maidens forever.

“Eldest Young Master!”

At that moment, the window of the ox-cart opened, and the voice of the head maid drifted outside.

“Master has permitted your joining. Grant carriage seats to those nuns.”