Chapter 48
After leaving the Great Sima Family, Baek Mu-Gun headed straight to Nanjing.
He checked to see if the Great Huangfu Family or the Great Namgung Family had tracked him down, but he didn’t see any signs of that. However, he was still unsure. To put it bluntly, they could have smeared him with the chasing incense to track him from an undetectable distance. Just in case, Mu-Gun exuded the Thunder God qi to eliminate that possibility. If they had used chasing incense on him, the Thunder God qi would’ve burned it away.
Mu-Gun maintained a layer of Thunder God qi around him and tried his best to not leave any tracks. Upon arriving in Nanjing, Mu-Gun checked for any ship headed to Wenzhou. Unfortunately, the next earliest availability was fifteen days from now. However, there was a ferry headed for Hangzhou. Mu-Gun chose to go to Hangzhou first and decide there whether to go by ship or by land.
Three days later, the ferry Mu-Gun boarded arrived safely in Hangzhou. Upon checking if there was any ship heading to Wenzhou, he found one that was set to depart in five days. However, he wasn’t sure if he could board it since it was a merchant ship.
Hence, Mu-Gun decided to go to Wenzhou by land after spending the night in Hangzhou. He had been to this place several times in his previous life. There was an old saying along the lines of, “Even rivers and mountains would change in ten years’ time,” but Hangzhou remained glamorous and bustling even though quite some time had passed.
Mu-Gun booked a room in the inn located at the West Lake in Hangzhou. It was the most expensive one available in the area, but it offered amazing scenery, food, and alcohol that befitted its price. Even the children of Hangzhou’s upper-class families frequented the bar inside it.
Mu-Gun was a gourmet in a way. Hence, he deliberately paid a lot of money to book a room in this place upon remembering the food he had eaten here in his previous life. He washed up in the inn and changed into clean clothes before going to the bar, which was already packed even though it was still early. The seats by the window that offered a great view were already occupied. Mu-Gun found an empty seat inside, then ordered some dishes. After quite some time, the dishes he ordered were served.
The dishes looked and smelled different from how he remembered them, making Mu-Gun ask the waiter, “How long has the chef been in charge of the kitchen here?”
“It’s been about five years now.”
“What happened to the previous chef?”
“He retired five years ago, leaving the kitchen to the current chef.”
“Got it.”
Half-excited and half-worried, Mu-Gun sent the waiter away and tasted the food. Soon after, he frowned. It wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t feel the touching taste from before. It was mimicked properly, but that was all. Mu-Gun held back his disappointment at not being able to eat the food he craved as if it was his mother’s cooking, then finished all of it since it didn’t taste bad.
As he did, a woman paid close attention to him. She was in her early twenties, and even though she didn’t have makeup on, she was considerably beautiful. There was a sword laid beside her, which made Mu-Gun guess she was a member of murim. He was in the Absolute Realm, so there was no way he wouldn’t notice her gaze. He initially just ignored her, but after some time had passed, he couldn’t disregard it any further. He lifted his head and looked at the woman.
‘Ooh?’
As if looking at a well-forged sword, Mu-Gun sensed a strong aura from her. She seemed to be at the Peak Realm at the very least. However, her aura was quite familiar.
‘The Putuo Sword Sect, huh.’
The Putuo Sword Sect was formed from the Putuo Hermitage, located in Zhoushan Archipelago, Zhejiang Province. It consisted only of women, and its swordsmanship was so powerful that it was considered one of the strongest in murim. Moreover, its generational matriarchs were referred to as the Sword Empress and revered as the strongest martial artist among women.
In his previous life, Mu-Gun had directly competed against the Putuo Sword Sect’s matriarch. Sensing the unique energy of the Putuo Sword Sect’s martial arts from the woman’s aura, he became convinced that the woman was a disciple of the Putuo Sword Sect.
Mu-Gun then remembered one of their traditions. When the time was right, their acting matriarch would leave on a journey across murim to experience the world and gain enlightenment by sparring with various masters. Hence, he inferred that the woman looking at him was the Putuo Sword Sect’s young matriarch. It wouldn’t have been possible to reach the Peak Realm at her tender age otherwise.
Furthermore, Mu-Gun could sense that the woman’s gaze toward him didn’t stem from her sexual interests. Rather, she was interested in Mu-Gun as a martial artist. The sense of competitiveness in her eyes evidenced that. The woman made eye contact with Mu-Gun as she stood up and picked up her sword. She then approached his table.
“May I sit down with you?” she asked politely.
“Sure.”
With Mu-Gun’s permission, the woman sat opposite him.
“First of all, I apologize for staring at you too blatantly even though this is our first meeting.”
“It’s fine.”
“With all due respect, can I request a spar with you, young master?”
“As you said, it’s really a disrespectful request.”
“I apologize if I offended you. I merely don’t know how to request a spar because it’s my first time doing so.”
“Before that, I think you should introduce yourself first.”
“Oh! I’m So Yeon-Hwa, a disciple of the Putuo Sword Sect.”
It was as Mu-Gun had guessed.
“I’m Baek Mu-Gun from the Baek Sword Sect.”
“Are you the one known as the Young Sword Dragon?”
“I was once called by that title.”
“I heard that you suffered from qi deviation though?”
“With the blessings from the heavens, I recovered from it not long ago.”
“I see. You likely possess a high level of martial arts, considering you suffered from qi deviation,” Yeon-Hwa commented, seemingly sounding Mu-Gun out.
“I think Lady So’s level is also high for your age,” Mu-Gun said as if to point out they were on the same boat.
“Let me repeat my request. Please spar with me.”
“You want to spar with me without anything in return?”
“Should there be something in return when we’re putting our martial arts to the test?” Yeon-Hwa asked innocently.
“Lady So, you likely have your own reasons to spar with me, but I have no particular reason to reciprocate. Isn’t it normal to offer the other person something in return for doing something they don’t want to do?”
“What is it that you want?”
“Well, I don’t know if there’s anything I want.”
“If you don’t want anything, then you can just do it for free.”
Mu-Gun chuckled, baffled by Yeon-Hwa’s stubborn reasoning.
“I don’t have the slightest intention of doing that.”
“I’ll keep following you around until you agree to spar with me, then.”
“I’ve got nothing to lose in a pretty woman like Lady So following me around.” Mu-Gun shrugged at Yeon-Hwa’s threats.
“You’re not rejecting it because you’re worried that you’ll lose to me, are you?”
“I’m not na?ve enough to fall for such obvious provocation.”
“Fine. I don’t think it’s polite to ask any further when you hate the thought so much. I’m sorry for disturbing you. Please enjoy the rest of your meal,” Yeon-Hwa spoke with a disheartened voice and got up.
Now that provocation had seemingly failed, she changed her strategy and tried to appeal to his sympathy.
Yeon-Hwa was doing something so obvious, which Mu-Gun thought was cute. Her beauty supported her quite well.
“Alright, I’ll spar with you just like you wanted.”
“Really?” Yeon-Hwa rejoiced.
“Yes. Come to the inn tomorrow morning.”
“You won’t just disappear after making a promise, right?”
“I won’t do such a shameless act after revealing my sect and name.”
“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Since it’s come down to this, why don’t we have a meal together? I think there would be leftover food anyway. Ah! Is it a little off-putting since I was eating it?”
“No, I was thinking it’d be lonely to eat alone too. Let’s eat together, then.”
Yeon-Hwa sat back down.
“Do you think you’ll be able to finish your journey across murim safely if you trust people so easily?”
“I won’t be able to meet a good person if I’m thoughtlessly wary and suspicious of them first, will I?”
“Murim is much more insidious and dangerous than you think. You have to be careful and prudent in everything to prevent getting hurt.”
“Hearing you say that makes me think you’re an undoubtedly good person, Young Master Baek. You also agreed to spar with me without any conditions.” Yeon-Hwa grinned.
“This could be a trick to win your heart over, Lady So.”
“I can tell from the way you look at me that that’s not the case, Young Master Baek. Nevertheless, I will keep your advice close to heart.”
Yeon-Hwa’s reply made Mu-Gun realize that she had a pretty good eye for people. It also made him think that she could overcome the hardships in murim better than expected. They became quite close over dinner. Mu-Gun liked Yeon-Hwa’s pure, unstained-by-the-world attitude. However, he didn’t feel attracted to her as a woman. Rather, he saw her as a younger sister. Yeon-Hwa also felt warm and comfortable around Mu-Gun, who cared about her despite being unrelated to him.
The next morning, Yeon-Hwa visited Mu-Gun. As promised, Mu-Gun proceeded to spar with her. After leaving the inn, they found an empty area they could spar in along the side of the West Lake.
“Let’s begin.”
Mu-Gun allowed her to attack first, which could’ve seemed as if he was looking down on her. Yeon-Hwa wasn’t offended, however. Mu-Gun was well-qualified to do that. Yeon-Hwa unleashed the Chaotic White Flower’s Shadow Movement Art, a secret Putuo Sword Sect movement art, and charged at Mu-Gun. Her fast-paced movements shook like petals fluttering in the wind. Yeon-Hwa approached him quickly, confusing Mu-Gun’s eyes, then swung her sword. It went through countless changes and caused white flowers to bloom in the air.
As Mu-Gun had expected, she unleashed the Graceful White Flower’s Aerial Sword Art, the Putuo Sword Sect’s secret sword technique. The Graceful White Flower’s Aerial Sword Art and the Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Art were known as the Twin Stellar Flower Sword Arts. Just as its name suggested, it caused beautiful white flowers to bloom.
Upon mastering the Graceful White Flower’s Aerial Sword Art to the ultimate level, it was known to spread white flower blossoms throughout the user’s surroundings. Yeon-Hwa’s technique was yet to reach that stage, but it was still powerful even at the Peak Realm. When Yeon-Hwa unleashed the Graceful White Flower’s Aerial Sword Art, she looked like a fairy waltzing around with white flowers. The moment the opponent was deceived by her beauty, the white flowers would unquestionably take the opponent’s life.
However, Mu-Gun wasn’t deceived at all. He scattered moonlight sword qi around and easily caused the white flowers to fall. Without panicking, Yeon-Hwa continued her attacks. The white sword petals blossoming from her sword increased as the battle prolonged, and they took unpredictable trajectories as they aimed for Mu-Gun almost as if they were fluttering in the wind. Mu-Gun used the Thunder God's Aerial Steps to evade them, then used the Celestial Moonlight Sword technique to knock them down.
He didn’t just defend, either. Mu-Gun occasionally launched sharp counterattacks. Every time he did, Yeon-Hwa would be taken by surprise and block it. Mu-Gun could win in one blow if he wanted. He simply refused to do so since the spar would be redundant if that were to happen.
As Mu-Gun helped Yeon-Hwa unleash her attacks with all her might, he broke through her sword technique’s weak points and counterattacked. With Yeon-Hwa’s martial talent, she deciphered the meaning behind Mu-Gun’s counterattack: if she made up for her weak points, her martial prowess would become even stronger. She’d have to figure out the answer to her weaknesses herself, though.
Still, the spar with Mu-Gun was meaningful to Yeon-Hwa in many ways. Throughout her training, she had never encountered martial arts other than the Putuo Sword Sect. Hence, she learned a lot just by going against the Celestial Moonlight Sword Art.
Above all, she realized her own inadequacy. She was actually pretty confident about her skills and thought there would be no one her age capable of rivaling her when she traveled throughout murim. However, Yeon-Hwa’s fight against Mu-Gun, who was the same age as her, made her realize that she was merely a frog in a well.
Deciding to abandon her pride and return to the basics with a humble heart, she devoted herself to and poured her heart and soul into her swordsmanship. That mindset put meaning to her spar with Mu-Gun.
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