Chapter 19
Yeon Cheongha recognized them immediately and could not hide his surprise.
I now knew Yeon Cheongha's position in Heavenly Forest, and I also knew that even the Cho family could not treat him carelessly because of his skills.
But such a Yeon Cheongha was having a hard time with them.
At first, I thought they were the leaders of the Cho family, but for some reason, it seemed that it was also Yeon Cheongha's first time seeing them up close, and it was strange in many ways.
Then, finally, Yeon Cheongha greeted them first.
"I greet the elders."
'Elders?'
I thought they were the leaders of the Cho family and was quietly standing by when Yeon Cheongha introduced me to them.
"This child is Ya Socheong. Socheong, these are the elders of the Danli family. Pay your respects."
'Danli family? Why are the elders of the Danli family here? If it's the Danli family, I thought they weren't on good terms with the Cho family. What do they know?'
I wondered if they had come to recruit Yeon Cheongha, knowing that he had left Heavenly Forest, and then I also wondered how they knew we were here.
"You have a face that wonders how we knew you were here. I'll be honest. Our Danli family has the most skilled informants in the sect, Ya Socheong. We know about Nether Shadow Valley, and also about Heavenly Forest. The Cho family probably thinks they've hidden them quite well."
I secretly glanced at Yeon Cheongha.
We weren't from the Cho family anyway, and we no longer had any relationship with Heavenly Forest, so there was no need to act as if we were at fault in front of these people.
So I didn't understand even more why these people had come all this way to say what they had to say.
"We are not people with a lot of time, so let's get to the point. We are watching Pae Maseong. We have no doubt that Pae Maseong will play a big role in the sect in the future. The Cho family is too small a vessel to contain Pae Maseong. So, the Danli family intends to recruit Pae Maseong and give him a better opportunity."
If they were going to say that, they should have gone to Pae Maseong, so I don't know why they came here to do this.
But as if he knew what I was thinking, one of them said.
"We haven't met Pae Maseong directly yet, but we have a grasp of what kind of person he is. A child like Pae Maseong is not easily swayed by other things. Even if we say we'll help him achieve his martial arts, he won't be greatly swayed. But if we take care of the people around him, he won't forget it and will want to repay it."
Pae Maseong is like that.
'Oh! So they're trying to be nice to me?'
When that thought occurred to me, I wondered what kind of windfall this was.
I looked at Yeon Cheongha, but there was no particular expression on his face.
'Is he thinking that he has no intention of dealing with people who are trying to persuade him to sway his disciple?'
I decided to at least listen to what those people had to say.
"How about we go inside and talk first?"
Yeon Cheongha, as if he had no choice, let them in.
I could see that they had made up their minds.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for so many people who were elders to come like this.
And as if my prediction was not wrong, they unpacked the things they had brought.
The first thing that caught my eye was a book that looked extraordinary.
"This is a martial arts manual that our Danli family only teaches to the collateral branches. It is only passed on to children with particularly good martial talent among the collateral branches."
At those words, Yeon Cheongha's eyes lit up.
I couldn't get a good sense of it just by hearing those words, but seeing Yeon Cheongha's expression, it seemed to be a great thing.
Well, of course.
The Danli family is one of the four pillars that support the Heavenly Demon Sect.
It was known as a martial family stronger than the Cho family, so if it was a martial arts manual that was only taught to the collateral branches even in such a place, it probably wasn't trivial.
"And this is the Danli family's elixir. I don't know if you know, but the method of making this elixir is so difficult that there are only three left in the main family, and we have brought one of them."
One?
There are two of us...
It was a little disappointing, but it was a good thing if Yeon Cheongha became stronger that way.
"I will do the ki circulation for you, Ya Socheong. It may be a burden to entrust it to someone who doesn't know ki circulation well, but you probably don't know how good it is for a master of internal energy to do the ki circulation."
The elder who was talking said to me.
'Is he saying he'll give it to me? Why?'
I didn't understand the situation and looked at Yeon Cheongha.
"Please tell us what you want from us. Maseong is not with us right now. And we are not in a position to advise Maseong on his future."
However, Yeon Cheongha, without wavering, asked the elder that first.
"That's not what we want. We know well enough that we can't do that. And if we were to ask for that, this would not be enough. We want Pae Maseong to remember this when he confronts us."
To think that they would give a martial arts manual and an elixir for that was something I hadn't expected.
But considering what would happen to Pae Maseong in the future, they had calculated very well.
It was truly amazing that they had come to find us without knowing Pae Maseong's future accurately.
"Is that really all you want? Do we just have to tell Maseong that the elders came to see us and gave us a martial arts manual and an elixir?"
"That's right. But you must tell him that story. We will also tell him again when we see Pae Maseong later."
"That doesn't seem difficult."
"And I hope you two will also remember today's events for a long time. About how we extended our hand first in good faith. Even if we're not doing this just to expect something in return. I think you know what I mean."
Yeon Cheongha thought for a moment and then said he would.
The elder spoke about the ki circulation again, and Yeon Cheongha looked at me and nodded.
"I'm by your side, so you don't have to worry, Socheong."
No, I mean, why are you telling me that?
As if he had noticed my expression, he looked at them and said.
"I need to talk to Socheong separately for a moment. Please wait."
The elders nodded, and Yeon Cheongha took me out.
"Socheong, this is a very good opportunity. It's an opportunity you must not give up. It's something that anyone who has entered the path of a martial artist would want."
"Master, if it's such a good elixir, of course you should take it."
"That's not something we can decide anyway. It seems they came with the intention of giving it to you from the beginning."
"But master."
"It's okay. It's your fortune."
He told me not to talk about it anymore, so I had no choice.
"But is it okay to ask someone I don't know well to do the ki circulation? If they inject internal energy into my body, won't my blood vessels be damaged?"
"That's right. But at some moments, you have to trust the other person and make a decision. You won't know who was right until you go all the way. But there's no reason for those elders to harm you. And I will take responsibility and watch from the side. If it seems like they're trying to use some strange trick, I will save you."
If Yeon Cheongha said that, there was no need to worry anymore.
"I'm envious of you, Socheong. Isn't it because you made one good friend that these things are happening?"
He said with a laugh.
But it was the same for Yeon Cheongha, who had gotten one good disciple.
"We can learn the martial arts manual together, right?"
"That's right. It will probably be difficult for you to learn it alone, so that's the only way."
Yeon Cheongha seemed to be looking forward to that alone.
If he had been born with a good status in a good martial family from the beginning, Yeon Cheongha might have become a swordsman instead of an assassin.
It might be difficult to start over now, leaving behind what he had been training for so long, but seeing Yeon Cheongha so expectant, it must have been because he had felt the limits of what he had been learning.
As I followed Yeon Cheongha in, I belatedly remembered how much Pae Maseong had suffered when he took the inner core of the spiritual beast.
So I became tense from then on, but fortunately, it didn't seem to be that hard to absorb the power of the elixir.
When I opened my eyes after the absorption of the power was over, Yeon Cheongha was looking at me with a surprised face.
Wondering what was wrong, I looked at the elders who were there, and they also had strange faces.
"I've never seen someone with such strong and wide blood vessels. There's no turbidity at all. I don't even understand what kind of fortuitous encounter one must have to have such blood vessels."
When the elder who had done the ki circulation for me said that, the other elders also became curious.
Then they asked if they could check my pulse, but Yeon Cheongha refused.
I found what they were saying amazing.
I felt a little excited at the thought that I had a strength I didn't know about.
"And if you have anything to tell us about Mohwa Mountain Manor and the Blood Flesh Herb, we would like to hear about it. Can we hear that story directly here?"
The elder who had done the ki circulation for me said.
I thought it was for the better.
These people seemed to want to solve the matter themselves out of a sense of rivalry.
They didn't seem to think that their own lives would be in danger if they made a mistake.
That was their problem, so I started talking.
"I heard about Mohwa Mountain Manor and the Blood Flesh Herb a long time ago. It was before I entered Nether Shadow Valley, and I heard various stories while begging. I came to know about it because people would talk without caring that I was listening."
Once I started like that, the elders, as if they thought it was possible, nodded and focused on my story.
When I told them about how to grow the Blood Flesh Herb and how the person who ate it would become temporarily strong, they nodded with serious expressions.
When my story was somewhat over, this time Yeon Cheongha stepped up and began to explain how strong the people from Mohwa Mountain Manor were.
"How do those people fight? Did they train in any special martial arts?"
"No, but their physical strength is enormous. And they each use a weapon, and they use it quite freely."
"What if we send the martial artists of our main family here?"
They seemed to want to let the martial artists of the Danli family experience the people of Mohwa Mountain Manor, and we had no reason to refuse.
We didn't know when we would be ambushed again, so wouldn't it be good to make some allies that way?
(End of Chapter)