Chapter 44 : The Encounter (2)
The martial arts masters of the current generation are divided into those who have experienced the Great War against the Demonic Cult and those who have not.
The difference between these two was not the level of their internal energy or martial arts, but ultimately experience, and the difference in experience led to a difference in insight. The ability to make the right judgment in battle is cultivated more than eighty percent of the time only through real combat experience.
Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang had not experienced the Great War against the Demonic Cult. The Diancang Sect had fought against the beasts of the Southern Man Beast Palace, but the two of them were in closed-door training at that time to master the Yin-Yang Contest, and after their training ended, they were exhausted and needed to recuperate.
By the time they finished recuperating, the Great War against the Demonic Cult was over. The two considered that fact a disgrace, but because of that, they acted with an even louder voice. They would often insist that if they had been there during the Great War, they would have surely played an active role, and that Alliance Leader Gumen Long would not have had to go south because of the Diancang Sect being pushed into a disadvantageous position in the fight against the Southern Man Beast Palace.
A dog that only knows how to bark loudly looks like a dog, not a tiger. They knew that, so they performed good deeds more enthusiastically than anyone else. For a martial artist of the Diancang Sect, a good deed was, of course, the salvation of evil men. Bandits, thieves, criminals. Yunnan was a paradise for such evil villains, so there was no shortage of things to save.
Through days of fighting, fighting, and more fighting, the two steadily built up their reputation.
As they became famous as masters, they came to have a great misunderstanding because of it.
The misunderstanding that they had a lot of experience.
The experience gained from fighting those weaker than oneself is only effective against the weak.
It is not helpful when fighting the strong, but they did not know that.
Daoist Hyeonyang sent a telepathic message.
'Daoist Hyeoneum, we must stop here.'
The situation was not good. He had lost one weapon and received a considerable shock. He had to assume that his combat power had decreased by fifty percent. The damage was all the more painful because it was sustained as soon as the fight began.
What was the cause?
'There is a considerable gap between that fellow's footwork and ours. It's only natural, since it's the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon.'
The Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon was a supreme skill of the world, with few footwork techniques of a similar level even if one searched the entire martial world. The footwork passed down in the Diancang Sect, the Plucking String Body Step, was certainly an advanced supreme skill, but its subtlety was in using the whole body like an arrow set on a taut string to quickly approach the enemy, making it a body skill that was the polar opposite of the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon, which changed direction several times in the air to increase the distance. Even the level of the martial art was one level lower.
'At this rate, it's certain defeat, Daoist Hyeoneum.'
'I see it that way too, Daoist Hyeonyang. We must retreat.'
The two gritted their teeth and raised their heads.
"If you run away, I won't chase you. You still want to fight?"
Jang So-gil was looking down on them with an arrogant expression under the moonlight.
He exuded the air of an absolute master.
"We'll see about that."
"We will not forget this."
Hyeoneum supported the injured Hyeonyang and left the place.
So they could not see.
That Jang So-gil's legs, hidden by the roof of the shrine, were trembling like a newborn fawn.
* * *
After they left, Jang So-gil let out a long breath.
"I thought I was going to die."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm not alright. My internal energy was sucked out in one go."
The Soul-Stealing Flash was used with the true qi contained in the White Azure Divine Sword, but unleashing the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon was entirely Jang So-gil's internal energy. Even though he had undergone a body transformation through the Thunderclap Acupoint Opening Grand Method, taken the elixir given by Sima Hui morning and evening, and recuperated for over a month under Go Danyeong's care, Jang So-gil's internal energy was not that abundant. All combined, it would barely amount to half a year's worth.
"To have gathered this much internal energy in a short time of just over a month, the excellence of the Sima Divine Art and the necessity of elixirs have been proven. But it's still an insufficient amount of internal energy."
Even with such insufficient internal energy, the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon was worth unleashing. As befitting a peerless footwork, it was also excellent in terms of internal energy consumption efficiency. In practice, he could use it ten or twenty times.
But that was only practice. As soon as he entered real combat, this was the result.
"I made a mistake."
"It's your first real fight, it can't be helped."
"There's no excuse. I made a mistake. My goodness, I just unconsciously moved like the Alliance Leader, how could my internal energy possibly hold up."
The Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon could change direction eight times in the air if used in order from the first to the eighth form. The problem was that the internal energy consumption increased sharply each time the direction was changed.
"The enemy's attacks were three, but I meaninglessly used it five times in a row, so it was extremely inefficient. The application of the forms was also a mess, so I wasted my internal energy."
"The first real fight is always like that."
"Yes. I've had a good experience, so I'll be able to do better next time. This time, I was saved because those guys were naively deceived."
The pressure of the first real fight.
The burden of meeting first-rate masters like Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang had made him make a huge mistake.
So, Jang So-gil put on a desperate act.
Pretending to be fine, pretending to be a peak master looking down on the world.
To set the mood, he stealthily moved under the moonlight, and used the true qi of the White Azure Divine Sword to freeze the rain and make it look like a ghostly fire. He used the angle of the roof to hide his trembling legs, and put strength in his waist to suppress the vibration of his upper body as much as possible.
Thinking back, it was amazing that they were deceived.
"It's also thanks to you blowing one of them away, but those guys seem to have less real combat experience than I thought. To fall for that. If it were Seok Pacheon, he would have noticed immediately and attacked."
"Well, compared to Elder Seok Pacheon, most martial artists have no experience. In any case, I'm glad it ended well."
"What do you mean it ended well, my clothes are all wet."
Jang So-gil grumbled as he entered the shrine. He looked like a drowned rat.
Yang Gwan was even worse. He hadn't fought by flying around like Jang So-gil, but had firmly planted his two feet on the ground and traded blows, so he was covered in muddy water and splattered with mud, a complete mess.
It would be better to wash his body in the rainwater than to enter the shrine like this. Yang Gwan spread his arms and replied while being hit by the rain.
"What's the big deal about getting a little wet."
"When my body gets wet, I get unpleasant thoughts, so it's displeasing."
"That's..."
It must be about the time he escaped from the Heaven and Earth Net cast by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
He had heard that he had escaped by practically swimming through a mud field.
As Yang Gwan's face crumpled, Jang So-gil continued nonchalantly.
"And clothes are things that get easily ruined when they get wet in the rain, and my clothes are all expensive."
"Are your clothes also expensive silk like Shu brocade or something, Young Master So?"
"It's not Sichuan Shu brocade, but it's a rather expensive silk garment called Hwangnokgeum. It's from the most successful silk merchant guild in Luoyang. Hiss, if I leave it like this, it will get ruined, so I'll have to dry it in a hurry for now."
When drying silk in a hurry, was it better to dry it at a certain distance from the fire?
Jang So-gil took off his clothes and searched his old memories. He had learned something from the merchants when he had briefly handled silk clothes before, but his memory was not clear. It was partly because the excitement of the battle had not yet subsided since he had just finished fighting, and partly because his mind was slightly hazy due to the lack of internal energy.
"Normally, it would have come to me right away. When my internal energy is low, even my thoughts slow down."
With a groan, Jang So-gil threw off his top and pulled down his pants. He wiped his dripping body with a dry cloth.
His body could be wiped of the rainwater, but what should he do with these clothes?
"Was it better to dry it slowly at a distance of more than one zhang from the fire, or was it better to dry it quickly even if the distance was somewhat close? I feel like it was a completely different method... Wringing out the water would ruin the texture, so it wasn't wringing either. Aaargh, I'm tired. I'm dizzy, so I can't remember well."
"Hwangnokgeum gets easily damaged when it comes into contact with strong heat. It's best to dry it slowly in the natural wind if possible."
"But it's raining and it's wet right now, so it can't be helped."
"In that case, it's good to gently shake it by spinning it to get the water out, and then slowly create a breeze with a fan to dry it. It's even better if you use agarwood to scent it."
"Ah, right. That was it."
Jang So-gil nodded his head blankly. Then he suddenly looked in the direction the voice came from. There was a girl holding her breath, curled up, and hugging the sable fur tightly. Their eyes met, and a moment of silence flowed.
The sound of firewood crackling echoed, and the sound of Yang Gwan warming up his body reverberated.
In that long silence, it was Jang So-gil who spoke first.
"You're not looking away. I'm charging you money."
Jin Sangran hastily turned her head.
* * *
While Yang Gwan was struggling to dry the Hwangnokgeum according to the instructions, Jang So-gil untied his bundle and took out a change of clothes to wear.
Then, as he sat in front of the fire and calmly chewed on beef jerky, Jin Sangran, who had been glancing at him, hesitated before speaking.
"I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? For seeing me naked?"
"Th-that too, I'm sorry, but for not telling you about the pursuers..."
"That, of course, is something to be sorry for. So is it over with just being sorry?"
"If you want compensation for the damages, I am willing to pay."
Now that it was a merchant's business, her tone was much clearer. A soft expression appeared on Jin Sangran's face, which had been so stiff it looked like it would break at any moment. As soon as she realized that the other party was not a big shot from the Unorthodox Faction, nor a ruffian or a thief, she regained her composure.
Now she's like a merchant. Jang So-gil grinned.
"Then how much shall we start with?"
"For the compensation for seeing you naked, I'd like to pay the price with the knowledge I shared about how to handle Yellow-Green Gold."
"It was knowledge I already knew anyway, and I would have remembered it in a little while, so it was a rather unnecessary help."
"But you knew it vaguely. Acting on it immediately after remembering is a completely different thing from recalling the memory an hour later. And since your mind was confused, there's no guarantee that there wouldn't have been a mistake in the process of recalling the memory."
She had good guts, good knowledge of handling silk, and was quite eloquent. With these abilities, her young age was actually a weapon. Because she was young, people would underestimate her, because she was young, they would let their guard down, and because she was young, they would feel sorry for her. Jang So-gil knew this because he himself had played countless old foxes of the merchant world in that way.
"Alright. Then let's move on from that. How will you compensate for not saying anything about the pursuers?"
"I apologize once again for that matter."
"I said apologies are enough. Please present a clear compensation."
Jin Sangran's large eyes widened as she looked around. Yang Gwan drying the Yellow-Green Gold, the two porters who had fainted and couldn't get up even after all this commotion. Outside the rainy shrine, a broken stone statue. Fragments of a broken sword. Traces of a fight. A man sitting with a sullen look, wearing expensive silk clothes.
"In the bundle in that stable, there is jewelry worth a thousand silver taels. I will give you all of it."
"A thousand silver taels is too much of a profit."
"In return, please escort us to Mount Wudang."
"To Mount Wudang?"
"If the assassins of the Diancang Sect are trying to kill us, we have no choice but to receive the protection of the Wudang Sect, do we?"
Jang So-gil rested his chin on his hand and replied.
"Are you saying you'll give me a job worth a thousand silver taels along with an apology? It's not a bad story. But it's not what I would call an attractive story. Do you have any other suggestions?"
"Of course, I do. How about hiring us?"
"Hiring?"
"Two able-bodied porters who can ride horses and read, and a vice-general manager of a first-class merchant guild in Yunnan, albeit inexperienced. If you hire us, we will work hard."
(End of Chapter)