Chapter 96
Chapter 96: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
A familiar proverb echoed throughout the jianghu:
The North bows to Shaolin (北崇少林), while the South venerates Wudang (南尊武当).
Paired alongside Shaolin, Wudang stood as an immovable pillar of the orthodox factions, the unrivaled pinnacle among Daoist lineages. Yet, Wudang’s historical foundation barely spanned a century and a half.
Despite such relatively brief roots, their might was potent enough to vie with Shaolin itself for the prime seat of the Nine Sects.
While Shaolin remained the most ponderous, unshakable institution in the realm, Wudang moved with remarkable grace and speed. Moreover, unlike Shaolin, they commanded the widest network of secular affiliate halls among all Nine Sects.
To think such a lineage had marched all the way from Hubei to Gyesu…
Covering that breadth meant traversing an entire territory. They must have sprinted hard enough to ignite sparks beneath their boots.
Yanghwi’s brow twitched faintly. Wudang showing up unannounced was troublesome enough, but allying with the Namgung noble house made matters worse.
An unforeseen variable. Given that Hyeonhyeon was traveling among their ranks, this was hardly a second-string vanguard.
Hyeonhyeon. He carried the reputation of being Wudang’s foremost rising star. His conduct and presence epitomized the sect’s ideals, radiating an elegance as if he had internalized the pristine aura of Mount Wudang straight into his sinews. Just recalling the sheer misery that hypocrite had inflicted on him in his prior existence caused his blood to simmer. Curse that bastard.
Nevertheless, one had to look past grudges for now.
Considering the timeline, organizing and deploying a legitimate contingent should have been borderline impossible. How did they pull it off?
He had intentionally confined the rumors to a tight half-month span. His scheme was meant to draw only nearby clans and wanderers across northern Anhui and southern Henan who caught wind of the tale, weighed its credibility, and rushed over in a panic.
Could Wudang have coincidentally stationed a band of disciples in this vicinity?
Barring that, arriving in time was out of the question. Showing up late would make sense, but lingering here already was baffling.
“Little Brother. Those robes make their affiliation obvious. Did you anticipate Wudang joining this fray as well?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Then matters have taken an unfavorable turn, Brother Hwi.”
“Far from it.”
“Hm?”
A wry smile tugged at the corner of Yanghwi’s lips.
“Against anyone else, it might spell trouble, but Wudang locking arms with Namgung is entirely welcome. Those hypocrites harbor interiors as ink-black as the dark vestments across their shoulders.”
If Namgung was the clan Yanghwi despised most among the Five Great Houses, Wudang held that exact distinction among the Nine Sects. It remained an absurdity how a blood-tied noble estate and a temple of monastic Daoists could act with the exact same vile greed.
“Neither side has the stomach to play nice for long. So let them come. Frankly, this tilts fortune directly into our hands.”
A complete pandemonium was brewing. Soon enough, chaos would swallow them all, leaving his group with nothing to do but watch the carnival unfold and haul away the spoils.
“Ku-ha-ha-ha-ha!“
He burst into unrestrained laughter, though his amusement proved slightly too loud. Several black-robed Daoists glanced over, traded subtle remarks with the Namgung escorts, and shifted their stares straight toward his party.
— Brother Hwi. They are heading straight toward us.
— Little Brother! What possessed you to draw their attention?!
Ugh, my head.
The twin bursts of loud inner transmission made his ears ring painfully. What an overblown panic. He had wanted an up-close look at their faces to gauge their schemes anyway.
— Relax. A brief round of greetings will suffice.
Passing his inner voice back, Yanghwi gave his cheeks a firm rub.
All I need is to play the role of an awestruck junior disciple starry-eyed before the grand prestige of the Nine Sects.
As the Daoists bridged the remaining paces, Yanghwi’s eyes lit up with sheer reverence. His face melted into unadulterated awe and worship. He lowered his posture and adopted a tone that bordered straight on servile.
“Good heavens! Could esteemed Daoists like yourselves hail from sacred Wudang?”
“May you attain Boundless Life. It seems the young hero recognizes this modest priest and his brethren.”
“How could my eyes ever fail to recognize you! Those pristine Daoist pins, the ink-dyed robes, and the Pine-Patterned Swords at your waists! You look as if you stepped right out of an immortal portrait of Wudang!”
While the scions of the Namgung noble house wielded heavy iron blades, Wudang’s hallmark arm was the Pine-Patterned Sword (松紋劍)—a refined straight blade patterned after their sacred ancestral armament, the Pine-Patterned Ancient Sword, carrying the ethereal dignity of the Daoist heritage.
“Ever since I first gripped a hilt as a young boy, meeting the grand elders of Wudang has been my fondest dream! The peerless sword lineage of the world! South venerates Wudang! Meeting you today is the honor of a lifetime!”
He bowed with clasped fists, perfectly threading the needle between sincere adulation and shameless flattery. Seeing such earnest devotion, smooth contentment and swelling pride spread across the Daoists’ faces.
“Hahaha, should you preserve such diligent devotion in your personal path, young hero, your sword will surely achieve great refinement in time. Yet… is the traveler seated behind you a member of the venerable Tang Clan?”
Naturally. They had noticed the Tang siblings, received a prompt from the Namgung swordsmen, and strolled over to inspect them.
Seeing that they maintained a calm demeanor, they didn’t appear overly suspicious.
In truth, there was nothing for them to pry into. The parchment circulated through the Hao Sect was an authentic transcript, completely distinct from the Jin family’s parchment. They presumed he was merely an opportunistic wanderer riding the wave of rumors.
“Haha, they are like blood siblings to a nobody like me, looking after my clumsy self with great kindness!”
Trading a few more trivial pleasantries, Yanghwi deliberately dragged out the conversation with incessant chatter, sticking to the Wudang group until they found his noisy fawning utterly exhausting and excused themselves.
“My thanks, Brother Hwi.”
Recognizing the boy’s subtle shield, Tang Gun offered his appreciation, but Yanghwi merely brushed his shoulder with a shrug.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Given your fierce pride, degrading yourself like that must have been galling. You endured it on my behalf.”
“If it shields you, Brother Tang, playing the clown is child’s play.”
With a wry grin, Yanghwi sorted through the nuances he had gleaned from the Wudang contingent’s demeanor.
So you jackals are waiting to snatch the fisherman’s bounty as well. Loud and clear.
The destination outlined by the treasure map pointed toward a mountain hollow midway up the slope of Baeksu Mountain. In short, the map simply revealed that the crypt’s threshold was concealed somewhere within that broad depression.
“Uncovering that entrance is going to swallow an eternity.”
“A fair assessment, Hero Gu.”
Baeksu Mountain was a sweeping massif, and the hollow nested within its ridge was vast. Truth be told, one would need to overturn hundreds of zhang across the dirt just to uncover the stone threshold. Sitting under the cool canopy of an ancient bough, Yanghwi reclined leisurely, watching bands of martial artists exchange venomous glares while digging through the soil.
“Little Brother. Aren’t you resting a bit too comfortably? What happens if another faction stumbles upon the entrance first?”
“Do you really expect us to out-dig dozens of men sweating side by side? Settle down and rest, elder.”
Though the logic was sound, Gu Ak could not keep from pacing restlessly. Having laid this risky board at immense peril, the thought of forfeiting the initiative and watching the Sword King’s Tomb get looted by strangers ate away at him.
“Everything moves on schedule. I didn’t summon all these hands just to let them stand idle.”
Surveying the terrain against the parchment, he had calculated that digging up the entrance would require months of backbreaking labor. Stirring up this hornet’s nest was primarily meant to trip up the Namgung clan, but it was equally designed to gather a free army of laborers to move mountains of earth.
“Brother Hwi speaks wisdom. With that settled, should I use this lull to temper my breathing?”
Tang Gun folded his legs into a lotus seat right beside them. Centering his internal meridians amidst this hornets’ nest—Brother Tang truly possessed iron nerves.
Then again, the Tang Clan breeds bold souls. Constant exposure to lethal venom and concealed needles hardens the mind.
“Chudal.”
“Yes, Brother?”
“Creep closer and observe which direction the crowd is concentrating their excavation.”
“You lounge in the shade while running your younger brother ragged?”
“A bitter youth builds an unyielding spine.”
“……?”
Muttering under his breath about whether his elder brother had aged into an old sage, Chudal slipped into the brush. Yanghwi made a quiet note to rap the rascal’s forehead once he wandered back.
A moment later, Chudal slipped through the trees.
“I checked the perimeter. Splitting the hollow across four quadrants, the vast majority are crowding the southwest terrace.”
“Hm. And the northeast?”
“Strewn with heavy boulders, and the dirt is choked with jagged slate. Digging there is brutal, so they are tackling the soft loam first. On top of that, a ravine cuts right through it, carrying a heavy stream.”
Wanderers these days possess no stomach for toil. Always running toward the soft path.
In my prime, men showed more grit. Truly, back when I walked the path…
“What about the Namgung and Wudang retinues?”
“I kept my distance to avoid unnecessary friction, but they appear to be maintaining an unmoving perimeter.”
“Is that so?”
They hadn’t altered their underlying strategy then.
Preserving stamina while letting lower hands wear themselves out was the textbook approach. They were great sects for a reason; they weren’t entirely witless.
“Everyone, rest while you can. Once we step past that threshold, we won’t enjoy a scrap of decent rest, and we’ll be driven like stray dogs.”
Hearing this warning, Adu lumbered forward and dropped his boulder-sized skull squarely onto Yanghwi’s extended legs.
“Oof! Get off, you brute! That’s crushing me!”
“I lack a pillow.”
“What temple monk complains about a missing pillow? Ascetics sleep on bare timber blocks without batting an eye!”
“That is untrue. My temple bed featured a soft quilted pillow.”
The man had the mind of a child. His stubborn head felt heavy as an iron ingot, planted so firmly using some unyielding foundation technique that Yanghwi’s kicks and shoves couldn’t budge him an inch.
Damn this oaf. I pride myself on being as stubborn as a mule…
Yet Adu operated on another plane entirely.
“Even so, Little Brother. Is it genuinely wise for us to idle like this? Truly?”
“Brother Gu.”
“Speak your mind.”
“You are pacing around like a hound that urgently needs to squat.”
“……”
Frowning deeply, Gu Ak glared down at the impudent brat who had barely stepped across the threshold of the first-rate realm. Should he seize this lull to instill some respect? With hours to kill, carving the dignity of an apex realm sovereign into this whelp’s backside felt increasingly tempting.
……Good heavens. Preaching sermons to a beast would yield more profit.
Scolding him was simple enough, but the Yanghwi he had come to know would inevitably devise some bizarre, petty revenge. In the worst scenario, the brat would run straight to his wife and daughter to weep and complain.
The mere thought brought a bitter pang to his chest. What magical quality did this insolent youth possess that made his wife and daughter beam with endless warmth every time he arrived?
……Then again, I was swayed by this very rascal and ended up throwing my lot in with the Baek house.
He was infuriating enough to provoke a punch, but stepping back, the boy wasn’t devoid of decency. Gu Ak let out an exasperated sigh and lowered his frame onto the turf.
“Brother Gu.”
“What is it now?”
“Slide half a foot to your right. Since you are planted there anyway, block the glare from my face.”
“……”
Just as Gu Ak was drawing breath for a thunderous reprimand, determined to make this the hour of reckoning, Yanghwi chimed in.
“Ah, my stomach is complaining. Shall we whip up a meal?”
Having swept the momentum entirely out of Gu Ak’s grasp once again, Yanghwi pushed his legs out and strolled toward the trees.
“Brother Hwi, where are you off to?”
“Collecting fresh water.”
With a ravine cutting through the northwest ridge, there was no reason to waste their stored flasks. He could drag back plenty of pristine mountain water, slice up preserved beef, and simmer a thick porridge with dry cakes. The absence of a wooden pail mattered little.
Let’s see. A trunk thick enough for the job should be… right over there.
Vaulting across several mossy stones inside the gully, Yanghwi planted his feet before a thick tree and drew his blade cleanly. He stripped the side boughs from the fallen trunk and swiftly carved a wide timber tub out of the wood.
The scenery nestled within this ravine is remarkably fine.
The clearing was serene, accompanied by a soothing cascade of crystal water that eased the eyes. Further upstream, a quaint yet lively waterfall tumbled down… Hm?
His relaxed posture stiffened as his steps drew toward the tumbling fall. Simultaneously, he stretched his razor-keen internal perception to its absolute boundary.
Behind that sheet of water… something is hiding.
Sweeping his senses through the surrounding glade to confirm that no prying eyes were watching, Yanghwi slipped through the roaring veil.
There was no hidden grotto behind the falls, but…
A fissure in the rock.
From within that slender opening, a faint wisp of energy was bleeding out into the mist. It was a pristine, unblemished current carrying an unmistakable resonance of righteous cultivation.
Immortal qi (仙氣).
The Sword King was… the favored disciple of the Sword Immortal. That very heritage was why I traveled to the Sword King’s Tomb seeking traces of immortal qi from the start.
He had never imagined he would encounter a strand of immortal qi before even breaching the tomb’s outer gates. The path into the crypt had to be resting somewhere adjacent to this crack.
Yanghwi let slip a low whisper before he could rein it in.
“Well now… the board just flipped.”
It seemed he could turn this chaotic gathering into an even grander mess—no, a total and absolute bloodbath.
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