Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
“……”
“……”
“Little Brother.”
“What is it, Brother Gu?”
“I think I need a few moments to gather my courage.”
“A true man strikes while the metal is hot. Dither around like this any longer, and you might as well surrender whatever manhood you have left.”
“……”
Even when pushed to the brink of death, Gu Ak was the sort of fighter who would gnash his fangs and clash like a savage beast instead of shrinking back.
Yet at this moment, he was pacing back and forth with the frantic restlessness of a dog desperate for relief.
It was hardly surprising. He stood on the precipice of doing something he had never envisioned in all his born days.
Walk the righteous path? What sort of absurd joke was this?
The boundary separating the orthodox path from the dark path ultimately boiled down to a simple principle: whether one elevated selfish impulses above justice and moral duty.
Viewed broadly, it involved allowing avarice to reign supreme and squeezing the powerless dry.
Viewed narrowly, it meant holding one’s tongue and swallowing resentment when slighted, rather than erupting in fury.
Gu Ak remained uncertain about forsaking the former, but he knew beyond doubt that he lacked the discipline for the latter.
“By the way, Little Brother. You did give Lord Baek… your father… plenty of fair warning, didn’t you?”
“……”
Observing the boy’s unwavering silence, Gu Ak felt an icy dread crawl up the nape of his neck.
Could this mischievous rascal truly have withheld the news?
An ill omen rarely missed its mark.
Sure enough, the second their boots crossed into the Baek Estate, Gu Ak’s worst fears materialized.
“Hwi, what are you saying? Blood Axe wishes to pledge himself as our retainer?”
Yanghwi offered an answer laced with buoyant energy, entirely oblivious to Gu Ak’s inner agony.
“Precisely, Father!”
“…Can this be true, Blood Axe?”
“……”
Gu Ak stood transfixed, staring at Yanghwi in disbelief. Then, in sheer desperation, he sent an internal message via qi transmission.
— Little Brotheeeer!
— This is completely different from what you promised!!
Yanghwi answered aloud, his tone ringing with unbothered cheer.
“I said I would extend an invitation for you to enter our family, but I never once claimed I had his permission beforehand!”
Gu Ak was forced to summon every scrap of restraint he possessed to keep from striking the back of that cheerfully bobbing head.
Meanwhile, Baek Muryang released a weary breath before speaking.
“It appears your desire to unite your fortunes with our clan is genuine. Whatever could have prompted you to arrive at such a choice?”
“……”
A heavy quiet lingered as Gu Ak engaged in an intense internal debate.
Eventually, he found his voice.
“Allow me to speak plainly, Peerless in Chivalry. No, Lord of the House.”
Gu Ak lifted his chin, his gaze blazing with unyielding resolve.
“I clawed my way out from the foulest depths of the dark path, spending every waking hour subsisting by cold steel. Even so, a wretch like me has discovered something so precious that casting aside all else feels trivial.”
Gu Ak caught a glimpse of Rangnang peeking out from behind a pillar in the courtyard, her presence partly concealed as she watched the exchange unfold.
“Rangnang is the woman I love. She is someone for whom I would gladly discard everything I have amassed over the years. Therefore…”
Even if he took shelter under the banner of the Baek Estate, would he truly manage to evade the myriad grievances and thirsty blades tracking his scent?
In truth, the Baek Estate was nothing more than a modest martial clan whose patriarch had only just touched the second-rate realm.
Even so…
Gu Ak’s focus shifted back toward the young boy.
Thud! Gu Ak sank to one knee on the paved ground.
“I beg of you, Lord of the House, grant me the honor of serving the Baek house as a loyal retainer.”
“……”
Baek Muryang held his peace for an extended spell.
He examined the lowered head of Gu Ak, glanced toward Yanghwi, and ultimately cast his eyes toward the heavens above.
“This, too, must be an arrangement woven by fate. Gu Ak, I formally accept you into our household.”
“I shall serve you with wholehearted fidelity, Lord of the House.”
“No. There is no call to speak of lowly bondage. I am intimately familiar with your prowess and intend to accord you the respect you deserve. That being said…”
Baek Muryang hesitated, his visage hardening into a mantle of unbending gravity.
“The paramount virtue embedded in our clan’s discipline is chivalry. Blood Butcher Gu Ak, you must scrub clean the gore associated with your fearsome moniker. Thus, in my capacity as your master, I lay down this decree: you are to carry out a solitary righteous deed each day and earn the title One Chivalrous Deed a Day (ä¸€æ—¥ä¸€ä¿ ).”
Sheer confusion spread across Gu Ak’s features.
Righteous deeds? Each and every day without fail?
Throughout his existence, Gu Ak had dismissed chivalry as nothing more than an ornate facade donned by self-righteous hypocrites.
Nonetheless, he promptly dropped onto his knee once more and locked his hands in a traditional martial salute.
“I pledge my loyalty! I will follow the Lord’s mandate without fail!”
Reaching down, Baek Muryang took Gu Ak by the hands and personally guided him to his feet.
“You are warmly embraced beneath this roof. I bestow upon you the Baekik Pavilion within our detached living areas, and starting today, you shall be known as the Master of Baekik Pavilion.”
“I give you my deepest thanks for your immense generosity, Lord of the House.”
Taking in the scene from the side, Yanghwi displayed a grin of absolute contentment.
He had calculated every variable, determined that welcoming Gu Ak would yield immense dividends, and laid down his wager accordingly. The gamble had paid off without a hitch.
While everyone’s eyes remained pinned on the newcomer, Yanghwi quietly took his leave from the main grounds.
Now then… He ought to be watching from nearby.
Scanning the area, Yanghwi caught sight of Yeo Unjuk standing by himself atop the lofty pavilion where their paths had crossed originally, and he surged upward through the air to land beside him.
“Old gentleman.”
“You come.”
“You are always welcome to step inside the estate walls and watch up close, you know.”
The great storm he had orchestrated alongside Yeo Unjuk had completely eradicated the Cheongsa Gang, crippled half of the Honggyo Gang, routed over half of the criminal scum in Ak’an County, and ultimately brought tremendous wealth and standing to the Baek house.
With everything concluded, nothing stood in the way of bringing Yeo Unjuk into their fold.
Yanghwi turned his attention to Yeo Unjuk, the grandest prize of this entire endeavor.
“Do you not care to see your daughter? If you wish, I can take you straight to her side right now.”
“…No. The time has not yet come.”
Noticing the old man pull back with visible hesitation, Yanghwi probed,
“You need not harbor any fear. Sister Rang will embrace your presence joyfully, and reuniting with you will prove to be an absolute blessing for her.”
Yeo Unjuk’s gaze, which had been locked on the Baek Estate below, turned toward the youth, his eyes welling with deep reverence.
“Ha. Young master, you consistently defy the expectations of your tender years. Reading the hidden sentiments of a tired old soul as though they were laid out in broad daylight.”
“People tell me that quite frequently.”
Yanghwi comprehended the feelings pulling at Yeo Unjuk’s heart. The man likely burned with the urge to sprint toward his daughter this instant, speak with her, and hold her hands in his own.
Yet when someone represented the center of your universe, approaching them carried an unbearable weight of terror.
Beyond that, the elder remained an outcast and enemy of the martial world.
Should his true background ever be laid bare, both he and Rangnang would be dragged into the ensuing catastrophe.
All the same, given that he had never engaged in the repulsive cruelty practiced by dark-path vermin or demonic cultists and had successfully stayed one step ahead of hunters for years, keeping him under wraps shouldn’t present any insurmountable hurdle.
Yanghwi watched Yeo Unjuk quietly for a heartbeat before speaking.
“Old gentleman, how would you feel about taking up residence as an honored guest of our house?”
“Hm? You are well aware that I stand condemned as an enemy of the martial world.”
“You need only take on an assumed name and enter as Sister Rang’s father. That should be an effortless feat for a man of your talents.”
“At minimum, you will still be privy to my true identity.”
A concealed truth, once shared, had the perpetual chance of being exposed, effectively placing leverage in someone else’s palms.
“Does any of that carry weight once Sister Rang and Brother Gu are part of our clan anyway?”
“…I suppose you make a fair point.”
“Whenever I found the time to speak with Sister Rang, a truth became evident to me. She carries an immense hollow of loneliness within her soul. She requires family, old gentleman.”
Sheltering Yeo Unjuk was bound to bring far greater hazards than taking in Gu Ak.
Even so, he was someone who had to be brought into the fold regardless of the burden.
He stood as the indispensable key that would accelerate the Baek house’s rise to power.
“When you present yourself at our gates, please introduce yourself as Yeo Hyeok. Sister Rang will continue her days as Yeo Arang, and you must walk the earth as Yeo Hyeok. So long as you honor this single stipulation, we shall welcome you as our guest.”
As his words faded, Yanghwi saw the tempest of conflict raging behind Yeo Unjuk’s eyes.
“A life of tranquility beside your own child. Isn’t that what you truly yearn for above all else?”
“…Indeed. I crave it so intensely that I would gladly surrender everything in my possession. Which compels me to ask: what payment do you demand from this old man in return, young master?”
“Nothing complicated. I require you to forge two books on my behalf.”
Yeo Unjuk’s eyes stretched wide in genuine astonishment.
“Young master, surely you have discerned the magnitude of my martial attainments?”
“I have reached a sensible estimate.”
Relying on instinct, cold deduction, and circumstantial hints, Yanghwi had pieced together an accurate gauge.
He had yet to uncover how an individual renowned for altering deer into horses had secured such frightening martial prowess, but…
“And yet you ask for nothing more than the recreation of two books?”
“That is all.”
“……”
A wave of serene relief softened the weathered wrinkles around Yeo Unjuk’s weary eyes.
“Come to think of it, I have failed to express proper thanks to you.”
“I haven’t performed any feat that truly commands such deep gratitude, have I?”
“You rescued my daughter before the poison could claim her breath. You offered your brilliant intellect to an outcast of the martial world like myself. To crown it all, you secured a safe haven where she may live peacefully with the man she loves. And presently, you extend the very same grace to a transgressor like me.”
Put in those terms, he certainly had accomplished quite a string of righteous deeds.
Not that he had performed them out of a craving for thanks.
Yanghwi was merely honoring the principles he had absorbed during his former existence, which had solidified into his guiding philosophy.
Naturally seasoned with a healthy dose of pragmatic self-interest to propel the ascendancy of his clan.
“Since an elder insists on offering his thanks, it would be improper for me to decline. Very well, I shall frame my request as your token of appreciation. Please craft those two texts for me. But I hold one condition.”
“Speak it.”
“They must bear the unmistakable look of ancient manuscripts dating back roughly two centuries. On top of that, you must bind a cloth over your eyes and refrain from reading a single stroke of the text inside.”
“…Hm.”
Yeo Unjuk instantly grasped the nature of the task.
“Martial arts manuals.”
Offering an easy nod, Yanghwi let a faint smirk grace his lips.
“In any event, I hold your greatest vulnerability in my grasp, so consider this an act of me entrusting one of mine to you.”
Having weathered decades in the treacherous currents of the jianghu, Yeo Unjuk saw straight through the underlying gesture.
“I swear upon the breath of my daughter. My eyes shall never behold the characters written within those pages.”
“My thanks. When might we anticipate your arrival at our estate?”
“Let us balance the ledgers beforehand. The recreation of those two manuals serves as payment for the kindness you have shown me thus far. What then do you require of me in exchange for harboring this old man under your roof as a guest?”
Yeo Unjuk’s primary value lay in fabricating those two secret volumes; beyond that, Yanghwi frankly expected very little.
Turning the exploitation of others into one’s sole existence was a rather wretched way to live, after all.
“Well, if you are adamant about settling every debt, you may simply step forward to assist us whenever an emergency arises.”
“Will such a trivial promise truly suffice?”
“Is that not the standard arrangement for guests? Whiling away the seasons in leisure, only to step in when duty calls.”
Unlikely as it sounded, such an arrangement truly reflected the expectations laid upon honored guests by prominent noble houses.
“Hahaha. Hahahaha.”
Yeo Unjuk let loose a dry laugh layered with turbulent emotions.
Reaching inside his robes, Yanghwi brought forth a pair of handwritten books.
Their covers carried the titles Heaven-Splitting Sword Records and Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art.
These were the secret manuals detailing two divine martial arts, which he had spent considerable effort writing down in secret beforehand.
“When the time comes for you to arrive at our doors, I would like you to have these two volumes disguised as weathered ancient manuscripts in your possession. You could consider them the pretext our family requires to take you in as an honored guest.”
Closing his eyes, Yeo Unjuk asked,
“Lay down the guidelines for me. Once the work begins, to what degree am I allowed to gaze upon them? And what level of aging should the paper reflect?”
“You are free to open your eyes; glimpsing the covers and titles is perfectly fine. As for their state of decay… let us aim for ‘moderately well-preserved.'”
Taking the volumes into his hands, Yeo Unjuk read the titles inscribed upon them.
Heaven-Splitting Sword Records. And Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art.
Given that he sought to fashion them into antique relics, the boy evidently intended to deliver them to the Baek Estate while establishing a plausible origin story.
Did this child divine these techniques entirely on his own, or was he blessed with an inheritance from a hidden master of the martial world?
Yeo Unjuk had no way of knowing.
Even so…
He holds my fatal vulnerability. He has laid upon me a mountain of gratitude. And now, he has placed his own secret straight into my hands.
Reflecting on his decades of worldly experience, the youth before him was an individual worthy of absolute reliance.
Beyond that, he was a peerless prodigy of a generation; aligning oneself with his future promised boundless rewards.
“Young master.”
“Yes, old gentleman.”
Yeo Unjuk extended a dignified martial salute toward the scion of the clan he would soon call home.
“I shall carry out your task without the slightest flaw and present myself before the Baek Estate in seven days.”
In this manner, Yanghwi — alongside the Baek house — secured both Blood Butcher Gu Ak and the legendary craftsman capable of altering deer into horses, Yeo Unjuk.
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