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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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It was an understandable request.
Namgung-Woo’s martial prowess had already far surpassed the level of his age group.
If such a Namgung-Woo participated in the martial arts tournament, what more would it be than twisting a child’s wrist?
Although there was no age limit for participation in the martial arts tournament, the reason why middle-aged experts over forty did not participate was also for such reasons.
If they participated needlessly, they would be accused of muddying the waters of the tournament and would end up with a greater stigma than the honor of victory.
However, preventing a young expert in his twenties, full of vigor, from participating in the martial arts tournament was a matter that could cause considerable disagreement.
There would be people who would argue, “The martial arts tournament is intended to discover rising talents, so criticizing the participation of the most important young people is absurd!”
Conversely, there would also be those who would retort, “What kind of rising talent is that? Isn’t that already a super expert, no different from the backbone of the Jianghu Murim!”
Gakwon must have been one of the latter.
Or at least his close associates judged so, and Gakwon would have followed their opinions.
However, was this all?
Of course, there was no more suitable person than Gakwon to make such a proposal to Namgung-Woo.
It was unlikely that anyone with a personal acquaintance with Namgung-Woo would be in the Murim Alliance, and approaching someone presumed to be a peerless expert and telling them, “You’re too strong, so let’s be conscientious and skip the martial arts tournament,” was something everyone would be reluctant to do, just watching each other’s reactions.
What good could come from antagonizing a peerless expert?
The risk was far too great to expect to be recognized for one’s bold spirit and build a friendly relationship.
There was no one better suited to bear that risk than Gakwon, who was also a peerless expert.
“If that is the entirety of your reason for calling me, I’m afraid I can’t give you a very good answer.”
Namgung-Woo needed fame.
The incident in Beijing was long past, with the Imperial Family’s post-processing work all finished.
His performance in the Yunmeng Showdown and the slaying of the Five Yin Demonic Emperor, which punctuated it, had brought him great fame throughout the Huguang region, along with the moniker Azure Sword Emperor.
Azure Sword Emperor.
It was an arrogant name.
The ‘Azure’ derived from the blue color of the mixed True Qi of the Three Divine Arts manifested in the fight against the Five Yin Demonic Emperor and Namgung-Woo’s young age, and the name Sword Emperor followed under the assertion that since he killed the Five Yin Demonic Emperor, he should be given an equivalent title of Emperor.
Namgung-Woo didn’t know it, but he had inherited verbatim the moniker of the peerless expert the Namgung Family had produced 50 years ago.
However, it was still not enough.
Just looking at the Luoyang initiation ceremony, hadn’t unworthy people, doubting Namgung-Woo’s exploits, recklessly challenged him?
Namgung-Woo desired a name that would encompass the world, beyond Hebei and Huguang.
The martial arts tournament hosted by the Murim Alliance was a perfect stepping stone for that.
If Gakwon intended to force the issue using Namgung-Woo’s own background as an excuse, Namgung-Woo, intending to present the Five Tiger Tally and the Tablet of Damnyeong, waited for Gakwon’s next words.
And what Gakwon brought up was quite different from what Namgung-Woo had been expecting.
“Instead, I wish to entrust you with a request, benefactor.”
“A request, you say?”
“I heard that you, benefactor, and the Azure Sky Group you lead, are a wanderer group. I know that helping the Zhuge Family also started with a request from a daughter of the Zhuge family.”
That much was information that could be easily found out even if Zhuge Chong hadn’t informed him by letter.
There was no need to even mobilize the Murim Alliance’s intelligence organization, the Bochawon.
The Beggar’s Sect, faster than anyone in the world at information transmission, had shared every piece of information they obtained about the Yunmeng Showdown with the Murim Alliance.
“Do you remember the name of the child from just now?”
“Of course. It was Sol, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Sol, what that child is asking for is participation in the martial arts tournament. We, no, I am preventing that for a certain reason. However, a person’s will to do something does not easily stop just because those around try to block it. You too, benefactor, must know well the power that a person’s will possesses.”
Gakwon’s voice became subtly subdued.
It was a very slight difference, but Namgung-Woo noticed that Gakwon was feeling sadness.
And even a faint sense of guilt.
“Even if we stop her, she will try to participate in the martial arts tournament, even using a false name.”
Though it was an explanation for Namgung-Woo, for some reason, Gakwon’s words sounded like a monologue to himself.
It probably wasn’t just his imagination.
His emotions were by no means feigned.
“I wish to entrust you with an escort request.”
Namgung-Woo intuitively realized that the initial statement about not participating in the martial arts tournament was not for the sake of other rising talents, but for this request.
He must have intended to entrust him with a request from the beginning.
He had first mentioned not participating because it would be difficult to entrust the escort if Namgung-Woo participated in the martial arts tournament.
“I will ask only one thing.”
“Please do.”
“If I were to say I will not accept that request, what would you, Alliance Lord, intend to do with the child named Sol?”
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The fifth floor of the Central Heaven Pavilion, after Namgung-Woo had left.
The Sangpyeondang Hall Master, who had been waiting on the fourth floor, rushed up to the fifth floor and sought Gakwon.
“Alliance Lord, what happened?”
“Gyeongcheom, it has turned out just as you worried.”
The title Gakwon used to call the Sangpyeondang Hall Master was not his name but his courtesy name.
The Sangpyeondang Hall Master’s real name was Yu Myeon, and Yu Qian, who had shouldered the yoke of a traitor and saved the Ming Dynasty during the Tumu Crisis, was his father.
Because he was from a family that had served in the government offices rather than the Murim, Yu Myeon was more familiar with his courtesy name than a moniker.
Although he received a pardon for high treason from Emperor Chenghua and was offered an official position, Yu Myeon, already disillusioned with the Imperial Family, chose to remain in the Murim Alliance.
“Mmm… So he really is a peerless expert. For the Alliance Lord’s Six Supernatural Powers not to work…”
“You overestimate this old monk again. This humble monk is merely faster than others, hears farther, and has a slightly better eye for people. It is not grand enough to be called the Six Supernatural Powers, as this incident alone shows, does it not?”
Because his body could be where he wished, he possessed the Power of Swift Movement.
Because he could hear sounds others couldn’t, he possessed the Power of Divine Hearing.
Because he could read others’ minds as if they were his own, he possessed the Power of Knowing Others’ Minds.
However, Gakwon humbly self-assessed that his abilities were not great.
They didn’t work well against fellow peerless experts, for one.
The Six Supernatural Powers were powers that progressed in stages towards the final Power of Extinction of Defilements.
Gakwon still felt he had a long way to go.
“But not all peerless experts are fine, are they? It worked on the Murim Governor-General and the Sword Empress…”
“That was a stroke of luck, possible because the abilities harbored in their upper dantian had good compatibility. It was ineffective against True Man Ha Gyeong or True Man Ziyang. And, it was the same this time.”
That meant Namgung-Woo also possessed a mental defense centered on the upper dantian, like them.
However, Gakwon did not know its identity.
This was different from the cases of the two peerless experts, Ha Gyeong and Ziyang, who had blocked Gakwon’s Power of Knowing Others’ Minds.
At least in the cases of Ha Gyeong and Ziyang, he could find out what kind of power they had used to block it.
Namgung-Woo was not like that.
He had read clues enough to make a guess, but that was all.
He hadn’t reached the essence, merely licking the outer shell.
“He might possess the Heavenly Eye.”
“Heavenly Eye… You mean the Azure Sword Emperor?”
Among the Six Supernatural Powers, the Power of Divine Eye, the Power of Knowing Past Lives, and the Power of Extinction of Defilements, which were called the Three Insights and considered higher.
Among them, the Power of Divine Eye not only transcended mere seeing but also made it possible to observe beyond time and space.
“It’s just a guess. Don’t be too fixated on my words. No matter how crudely we try to infer, that young pillar of talent will advance much faster than we can follow.”
Yu Myeon also keenly agreed with Gakwon’s words.
A peerless expert before reaching the age of thirty.
He was a once-in-a-thousand-years talent, countable on one hand.
Such a person would improve day by day, and even the phrase ‘seeing someone in a new light’ would be insufficient.
However, that was, at best, a matter of the future.
Yu Myeon, as the Sangpyeondang Hall Master, as a supporter of Alliance Lord Gakwon who had opened a new path for him, and with the sentiment of shared suffering from having his family also reach the brink of ruin, asked.
“What happened to Sol-ah? Did he say he would accept the request?”
“Well…”
As Gakwon didn’t answer clearly, Yu Myeon spoke as if urging him, frustrated.
“Alliance Lord, you were the one who took Sol-ah into the Alliance. This is not a matter to be brushed aside like that, is it? The Namgung name could become the spark for a Righteous-Unorthodox war. If the Azure Sword Emperor said he wouldn’t accept the request, then immediately another…”
“He said he would not accept the request.”
“So it was like that. Hoo… I had pinned my hopes on the Zhuge Family Head’s guarantee. Young vigor is not easily controlled. The martial arts tournament will be very difficult…”
“He also said he would not participate in the martial arts tournament.”
“Yes?”
“He said he would watch for a while.”
Gakwon recalled the attitude, Qi, and gaze Namgung-Woo had shown.
Somehow, it was a Qi that felt strangely familiar.
Those eyes seemed to be reading the thoughts of Gakwon, who was conversely trying to read his inner thoughts.
“He was a young man who reminded me of an old dear friend.”
“The Alliance Lord’s dear friend…?”
As far as Yu Myeon knew, there was only one person Gakwon called an old dear friend.
The war between the Namgung Family and the Dugu Family, the Sword Family Blood Feud.
And the Namgung Family Head who had died in defeat in the life-and-death duel between the Family Heads, the Azure Sky Gallant Hero, Namgung Hyu.
Gakwon’s old dear friend meant Namgung Hyu.
It was the reason Gakwon had taken in Sol, even risking danger.
The fact that Gakwon had accepted the position of Murim Alliance Lord was also an expression of his guilt towards Namgung Hyu.
Regret and atonement for not being able to help his closest friend as a result of following the seclusion of his sect, Shaolin.
Gakwon had accepted the position of Alliance Lord with the determination not to let people be reduced to discarded pawns due to the Murim Alliance’s misjudgment, as had happened with the Namgung Family.
“Let’s wait. There’s still a little more time until the martial arts tournament, isn’t there?”
“…Hoo, I understand. If the Alliance Lord says so…”
“Stop sighing, man. You’re letting out your good fortune.”
Although he couldn’t explain the clear reason, Gakwon had a vague feeling.
“It will turn out well.”
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As soon as they left the Murim Alliance, Peng Ha-ryeong stuck close to Namgung-Woo and said.
“Oppa, I’m right, aren’t I? My thoughts are right, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“I knew it! There seemed to be a bit of an age gap, Oppa. She looked like she was of marriageable age, so to you, she’d be more like a younger female relative in the family. But why didn’t you take the request?”
“I’ll explain in a bit, when it’s just us.”
“Ah… Yes!”
After walking a little further, Yang Jeong, who was waiting for them at the prearranged place, saw the two and approached them, acknowledging their presence.
Perhaps Yang Jeong had also become quite famous, as the number of eyes following him was considerable.
They were probably people trying to see Namgung-Woo, using Yang Jeong as bait.
Namgung-Woo ignored the surrounding attention and asked Yang Jeong.
“The lodging?”
“Secured. However, Captain.”
Yang Jeong asked back with a tone of half-belief, half-doubt, as if wondering if this was right.
“Someone came looking for you, saying they know you well, Captain.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Uh, it was a woman of marriageable age…”
The moment he said that, an intense light flashed in Peng Ha-ryeong’s eyes and disappeared.
Yang Jeong felt it.
Peng Ha-ryeong’s determination not to forgive if it was someone trying to attach themselves with lies.
However, Yang Jeong steadfastly continued.
“Her name is Song Chae-ji.”
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