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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Namgung-Woo was riding in a carriage.
He’d been a little worried about how bumpy it would be…after all, this wasn’t exactly an era known for its advanced suspension systems.
But his body, well, it just didn’t seem to register discomfort anymore.
The carriage swayed and rattled, but his body moved with it, effortlessly absorbing the motion. It was like he had his own personal shock absorbers.
‘This game body is the best.’
He shuddered to imagine how rough this ride would be in his original, out-of-shape, modern-day body.
But his traveling companion, Pyeong Cho-yul, seemed to misinterpret Namgung-Woo’s relaxed posture.
“Not a fan of carriages, huh?”
Cho-yul, the second son of the Yo-Pyeong Escort Agency’s owner, was a few years older than Namgung-Woo, who looked to be about twenty.
Song Chae-ji had introduced them.
“Not exactly my first time, but it still feels a little weird.”
“Haha, well, that’s good. Looks like your martial arts training’s coming in handy. Doesn’t seem to bother you too much.”
“Yeah, it’s not too bad.”
“Still, you’d better get used to it. It’s a long journey to Beijing. Shanxi and Northern Zhili might look like they’re right next door, but once you’re on the road, you realize just how far it is.”
Namgung-Woo knew.
The Central Plains were huge.
The journey from Lin Fen County in Shanxi Province to Beijing in Northern Zhili spanned roughly 700 kilometers one way.
It was comparable to a round trip between Seoul and Busan.
‘That’s a heck of a long way.’
Of course, he wasn’t working as an escort on this trip; he was just a passenger. He didn’t have to go all the way to Beijing. He could hop off whenever he wanted.
‘Lucky me.’
Namgung-Woo thought back to how he’d ended up here.
After saying goodbye to Song Chae-ji and Yang So-dang in Pingyao, he’d headed south, asking for directions here and there, and made it to Lin Fen without any problems.
The Yo-Pyeong Escort Agency was fairly well-known in Lin Fen, so finding it wasn’t too difficult. And when he presented Song Chae-ji’s letter of recommendation, their reactions were unforgettable.
‘A letter from Chae-ji? You mean… *the* Song Chae-ji, from the Song Family?’
‘Our Chae-ji isn’t exactly the type to write recommendations…’
‘Wait, are you by any chance… are you…?’
The looks they gave him were something else.
He got a pretty clear picture of Song Chae-ji’s reputation with the Yo-Pyeong family.
The agency owner’s eldest son, with a look of pure shock, had even asked if there was something going on between them, prompting Namgung-Woo to quickly set the record straight.
He’d briefly wondered if there was some sort of childhood marriage promise between the Pyeong and Song families, but it turned out he was just overthinking things.
During the welcome dinner, when he cautiously brought it up, they simply laughed and shook their heads.
‘It’s not that there haven’t been any talks, but we’ve known each other since we were kids. I don’t even see her as a woman.’
‘And she’s always been such a tomboy. You know, she actually ran away from home to join the Hangsang Sect. Or maybe we should call it ‘leaving home for a greater cause’ in this case? Her father was absolutely furious.’
It had been a fun evening.
Even though his body never seemed to tire, his mind certainly did.
His time at the Yo-Pyeong Escort Agency had been a great chance to relax and recharge.
It was also a good opportunity to learn about the local prices and the general historical context.
Song Chae-ji and Yang So-dang had given him supplies and money, but it was all new to him.
He came from a world of cashless transactions…he didn’t even know the value of money, let alone silver taels.
In that sense, the folks at the Yo-Pyeong Escort Agency had been great teachers, patiently explaining the basics.
“You bored?”
Pyeong Cho-yul’s question snapped Namgung-Woo out of his reverie.
“Not really.”
Namgung-Woo didn’t mind spending time lost in thought.
In fact, his ability to focus had helped him advance quickly in Chu-rok Murim through meditation and internal energy cultivation.
But Cho-yul looked restless. He didn’t really seem worried about Namgung-Woo being bored; he just seemed eager to chat.
Namgung-Woo’s lukewarm response was all the encouragement Cho-yul needed.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get to talk much back at the agency, with Father and my older brother always so busy. There’s not much else to do in a carriage anyway, so how about we pass the time with some conversation?”
“Sure, sounds good.”
Namgung-Woo wasn’t exactly a hermit, so he didn’t mind indulging him.
He figured this would be a good chance to learn more about this world.
“As you know, I’m new to the martial arts world and unfamiliar with its current state. Could you enlighten me?”
“Ah, the martial arts world! That’s a great topic. Honestly, what else do we talk about besides escort work, love stories, or martial arts?”
He was a talkative guy.
Cho-yul seemed even more enthusiastic about the topic than Namgung-Woo.
“Currently, the martial arts world is divided between the righteous factions and the unorthodox sects.”
Unlike his father and older brother, who stayed at the agency unless it was a major escort mission, Cho-yul often went on the road, sometimes even leading the escorts himself.
What did escort agencies do? They transported goods and messages, making sure they got where they needed to go safely. And that meant knowing how to handle yourself in a fight.
How else could you guarantee safe passage? So, the escort business was pretty much part of the martial world.
Some escort agencies, with their own skilled martial artists, were practically indistinguishable from martial arts sects.
Naturally, Cho-yul had been all over the place and met all sorts of people. He knew the martial world inside and out.
“The righteous sects, led by the Nine Great Sects and Seven Great Families, formed the Martial Alliance. And the unorthodox sects, with the Seven Black Sects and Four Black Families, have the Black Martial Union. Those two groups pretty much call the shots.”
Namgung-Woo had already picked up bits and pieces of this.
He also knew that the Shadowless Sect, one of the major unorthodox sects in Shanxi, was part of the Seven Black Sects, and that the Dugu Family…the very family that had wiped out the Namgung Family…was among the top powers of the Four Black Families.
“But thanks to this division, the martial arts world is experiencing an unprecedented period of peace. Just 20 years ago, there was a fierce war between the righteous and unorthodox factions. It’s hard to believe how much things have changed.”
Cho-yul chuckled, and Namgung-Woo responded with a polite laugh of his own.
‘They said the Namgung Family was destroyed about twenty years ago. So, they got wiped out by the Dugu Family during the Righteous-Black Path War? But why hasn’t the Martial Alliance done anything about the Dugu Family’s ongoing pursuit against the Namgung Family members?’
Had the Namgung Family truly been abandoned?
Namgung-Woo subtly fished for information, careful not to ask directly about the Namgung Family’s downfall.
He was using the fake name “Nam Woo,” just like Song Chae-ji had suggested.
And the martial arts he practiced were supposed to be the Namgung Family’s secret techniques. Even though this was a different world, there was a chance they bore some resemblance.
Twenty years wasn’t that long ago. A martial artist who had been thirty back then would now be fifty, likely still active. What if they saw his techniques and recognized them?
“Hold on… that’s the Namgung Family’s…!”
He decided it was best to avoid drawing any direct connections to the Namgung Family.
So, he changed the subject slightly.
“So, how did the war end?”
“Why the Righteous-Black Path War ended? Easy.”
Cho-yul’s answer was surprisingly straightforward.
“The imperial court wanted it to end.”
“The Imperial Court?”
Now that was unexpected.
Why would the Imperial Court involve itself in martial arts affairs? But, thinking about it, the Righteous-Black Path War must have been a massive headache for them.
A giant brawl, as they called it, unfolding right under their noses in blatant defiance of Imperial law.
“But if the court wanted to stop it, why didn’t they intervene earlier?”
“At the time, the court was too busy with its own power struggles. I mean, there were two emperors! Isn’t it natural for chaos to erupt?”
“Two emperors?”
“Yes. The Tumu Crisis. That disaster is essentially what sparked the war.”
Namgung-Woo knew about the Tumu Crisis.
The Ming emperor had been captured by the Oirats, and the Imperial Court, instead of trying to rescue him, just decided to make his younger brother the new emperor.
Two emperors… so the Tumu Crisis in this world was the same as the one he knew.
He asked a few more questions to confirm, and then a startling thought struck him.
‘Perhaps this place is… a parallel world?’
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… Bro we may have a lot of cashless transactions nowadays but it’s not fully cashless. That’s a crazy statement to try and say he doesn’t use cash.I guess hiring an escort to learn stuff and bring him places is the smart option, now that I think about it. Bro wouldn’t know where he is going.