NOVEL NEXT chapter 52 - Taeguk Sword Sovereign
His hair and beard streaked with white made him look like an old man, but his massive frame and upright bearing made him seem like a man in his middle years.
‘What is he trying to say…’
Because she had often heard Tang Min mockingly call him the Taeguk Bear, Sohwa thought the Taeguk Sword Sovereign would hardly be favorable toward the Tang Clan.
“Yes, please ask.”
Sohwa clasped her hands, gave a fist-and-palm salute, and greeted him. Yet instead of returning the greeting, the Taeguk Sword Sovereign looked her up and down.
As her eyes narrowed at the incomprehensible act, he burst into hearty laughter.
“Ha ha, I’ve heard much about you, but this is the first time I see you.”
His lips curved into a genial smile.
“Glad to meet you.”
The unexpected goodwill was strange, but Sohwa soon understood his response.
“I’ve heard a great deal from Jeom-chil.”
Since Yeon-a would never have spoken ill of her, Sohwa relaxed.
“Is Lady Jeom-chil doing well?”
“Of course. She is doing very well. But you must be tired and want to rest quickly, so let us talk on the way to your quarters. I will see you there.”
Sohwa walked as he escorted her. Though the hour was late, the road was not dark thanks to the unusually bright moonlight and lanterns placed here and there.
“To be honest, I found it hard to believe that someone like you could be in the Tang Clan. I thought Jeom-chil, being young, might have misjudged a person.”
Since he suddenly insulted her clan, Sohwa felt displeased. But she soon understood why the Taeguk Sword Sovereign thought so when he continued.
“The only Tang clansman I have dealt with was the Black Heaven Dark Ghost, so my misunderstanding ran deep. That man is not human. There is a reason he is called the Mad Green Frog. A man utterly frivolous to the extreme. When he decried that the Tang Clan’s great name was wasted, he insisted that was your clan’s very tradition, and I truly believed it.”
To claim that the very temperament that even the Tang Clan was ashamed of was their tradition—and the elders let him go about saying such things?
Frowning, Sohwa soon grasped the situation.
Indeed, if Tang Min insisted so, there would have been no one beside him daring to correct that it was not the Tang Clan’s tradition. In a way, it was behavior fitting a man called the Mad Green Frog.
As shame was about to rise in Sohwa’s eyes, the Taeguk Sword Sovereign laughed.
“At the time you would have been but seventeen, yet your nature seems bold. There are Wudang disciples far older than you who quail at the mere mention of the Blood Cult. Yet you, instead of cowering, came this far for us though men wielding the Heat Art walk about.”
Though not for the sake of the Hubei branch people, Sohwa bowed her head slightly rather than bluntly telling the truth. To the eye it seemed she was humbly receiving praise.
By now they had passed out of the central pavilion. The martial men they passed bowed their heads. They were disciples of Wudang.
“We greet the Grand Elder.”
“Yes, you labor much.”
Their eyes were filled with respect for the Sword Sovereign.
Sohwa looked at the sight with bitterness.
He was of similar age and reputation to Tang Min, yet why did their Grand Elder never receive such looks?
The sidelong glances were filled with goodwill.
Noticing this, the Taeguk Sword Sovereign smiled and explained.
“Normally those below Elder level do not receive Martial Alliance information, but since my niece and disciple were parties in that incident, every Wudang disciple knows about the Mount Emei affair.”
He added in praise,
“Though the Black Heaven Dark Ghost was absent, among hundreds of Blood Cult fiends you protected a young girl and an old man, and even stopped Namgung from conducting interrogation. That seems to have greatly moved the Wudang disciples. At such a young age, facing the martial force of another sect should make one shrink, but you stood against them to save those weaker than yourself—very impressive.”
“…But Sword Sovereign, you did not see it yourself.”
“Jeom-chil acted it out very well. As if you were right before her eyes.”
Sohwa’s lashes quivered slightly. She could not guess what strange words Yeon-a had spoken.
To end this uncomfortable talk, she changed the subject.
“But I am curious, Sword Sovereign, why you have come down to the branch. From the Grand Elder I heard that you rarely leave Mount Wudang.”
“Is that what he said? That I lock myself in my sect and study martial arts alone?”
More precisely, Tang Min had said he was a pitiful man who sat heavy-bottomed and never left his corner, but of course Sohwa did not repeat that.
Without even moistening her lips, she spun out words she had never once heard from Tang Min.
“Because so many respect the Sword Sovereign, he often said you mind the weight of your words and therefore refrain from involving yourself in Martial Alliance affairs, being a cautious man.”
The Taeguk Sword Sovereign’s lips tilted wryly.
“If the Black Heaven Dark Ghost had known how to speak such proper words, his epithet would have had something other than ‘frog’ attached. At least he would not have been mocked behind his back as the Mad Green Frog… Ah, here I am, insulting your clan’s pride before one of the Tang Clan. Forgive me.”
No, he is not the Tang Clan’s pride…
But Sohwa could not say this, so she stayed silent.
“You truly are different from the Black Heaven Dark Ghost. You are not talkative. As Jeom-chil said, you seem to have a cautious nature.”
“Lady Jeom-chil has not seen me long enough to know my nature well. Though I thank you for your kind thoughts, I fear you may form excessive expectations of me, Sword Sovereign.”
“Ha ha, do not worry about that. You are of the Black Heaven Dark Ghost’s family, so half your measure is cut at the start—so receiving this much expectation is only proper.”
Sohwa could not tell whether the Sword Sovereign and Tang Min were on good terms or ill. But perhaps because he guessed she might misunderstand, the Sword Sovereign soon revealed his fondness for Tang Min.
“Still, I like men like the Black Heaven Dark Ghost. Frank and straightforward. Sometimes they grate the nerves, but far safer than those who use their three-inch tongue to manipulate others.”
The Sword Sovereign turned his head and cast his gaze afar. Sohwa widened hers as well. Then she noticed how the surroundings had changed.
With a bitter voice, the Sword Sovereign said,
“From here it is the East Wing.”
Unlike the modest pavilions of the West Wing, the East Wing’s halls were grand and splendid.
She had known the Hubei branch was divided into zones, but she had not known the difference was so stark.
Feigning ignorance, Sohwa said calmly,
“So our lodging is in the East Wing.”
“As it is to receive honored guests, of course you must be housed in the best building. On that point we had no disagreement.”
Suddenly changing tone, the Sword Sovereign began another matter.
“Did you ask earlier why I came down to the branch?”
His sunken eyes swept the surroundings.
“As you see, the Hubei branch is in fact run mostly by the East Wing, the Zhuge family. That is not wrong in itself. They shoulder most of the branch’s operating costs, and since they are clever they handle affairs between branches wisely, so I have no complaint about them representing the branch. But.”
But.
The word that usually came before the true point drew a pause.
“The money the Zhuge family shoulders all comes from one particular merchant group. The Zhuge family keeps unusually close with that group, and now even our Wudang is trying to involve itself with them.”
Though he said “a particular merchant group,” Sohwa felt she knew which.
‘It must be the Anguk Merchant Group.’
She quietly listened as the Sword Sovereign went on.
“On occasion the East Wing even sends branch warriors for their errands. While it is not right to receive help and then look away, the branch exists for Martial Alliance work. To serve as the backer of a particular merchant group is dangerous.”
The Sword Sovereign’s concern continued.
“They even say ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) now they ask disciples of our West Wing to assist with that group’s affairs. Because the youths sent down to the branch are gentle, far from being suspicious they side with the East Wing. Finding that strange, I came myself to the branch. To make them hold the line.”
He let out a sigh.
“But it is not easy. I too keep being caught up in the Zhuge family’s words. See even now—I let the East Wing take the medicine and treatment you brought.”
“They said they would send it to the West Wing tomorrow, so it will be fine.”
The Sword Sovereign gave a dry laugh.
“I assure you, tomorrow another reason will arise for why it must stay in the East Wing.”
Before long they reached the guest pavilion. The Black Tiger Unit warriors following also halted their steps. The Sword Sovereign sighed.
“I knew you were weary, yet I still followed and prattled like this for one reason.”
He moved his lips and, with difficulty, made a request.
“I hope it will not come to this, but if by chance they do not transfer it to the West Wing tomorrow, could you write another copy of the treatment method for us? As for the Binggeukjicho, I will find a way to obtain it.”
Sohwa silently regarded the Sword Sovereign, then shifted her gaze. At that sign, Hanwon stepped forward with the load he carried and offered it. Opening the box, Sohwa chose the largest piece of Binggeukjicho and handed it to him.
Because she gave it as though it were nothing, the Sword Sovereign could not at first understand her action and asked again.
“You’re just giving me this?”
Tang Sohwa spoke with a calm face.
“You are the Grand Elder’s old friend. Of course. If I made such a distinguished man labor, when I return the Grand Elder would scold me greatly.”
“…Would I not instead be scolded for having taken such a precious thing from you?”
Perhaps experience cannot be ignored; the Sword Sovereign had seen straight through Tang Min.
Yet since she gave it for Tang Min’s sake, strictly speaking it was not a lie.
Tang Min and the Sword Sovereign were of similar age and similar lot. One had been hidden away in the Tang estate by compulsion, the other had chosen not to descend from Mount Wudang.
What knowledge they had of Murim would also be similar. Thus if the Sword Sovereign himself sought out Binggeukjicho, he might well discover that Tang Min had acquired it.
Though Sohwa did not yet know on whom Tang Min meant to use that poison, somehow she felt the Sword Sovereign might know. So she blocked his moves, to keep Tang Min’s secret. A family elder’s disgrace could not be exposed to outsiders.
Unaware of that inner thought, the Sword Sovereign looked at Sohwa with an unreadable gaze. Yet disquietingly, his dark pupils gleamed with a subdued light as though moist.