Chapter 24: I Set Out for the Jianghu

My father, Dancheon Gang, seemed to ponder in silence for a long while.

The fact that my journey through the Jianghu was a matter for him to consider so seriously felt unfamiliar, as I hadn’t realized it before.

In any case, as time passed, a conclusion was reached.

It meant that my father, Dancheon Gang, had made a decision.

“Then let’s do this. Hak will return within seven days and nights, so Myeong, how about you set out for the Jianghu after that?”

The fact that Dancheon Hak would be returning soon was something I had not known.

“I will do that.”

Seven days and nights was a period I could wait for with plenty of leeway.

“Instead, you must return within two months.”

There were rarely time constraints when leaving for a journey through the Jianghu.

Dancheon Gang was not an unreasonable person, so it was not difficult to guess that there was a reason.

He was telling me that the heir competition would be held in two months.

“I understand.”

I gave Dancheon Gang a slight bow and was about to leave the Clan Head's hall.

Flinch.

A vicious killing intent.

At the same time, I felt the presence of a blade flying towards my back.

Wasn't I someone who had trained while being relentlessly attacked by Uncle Yeo Baek?

Before I could even think of anything in my head, my body reacted.

Using the internal energy gathered at my Dragon Spring Point as a foothold, I quickly turned my body.

Using that force as a support, I spun a strong roundhouse kick and kicked the hidden weapon.

Hwoong!

However, my roundhouse kick uselessly cut through the air.

“Hmm?”

It was not a miss.

There was no hidden weapon flying towards my back in the first place.

“You’re fine. With that level, it won’t be a problem for you to go on a journey through the Jianghu.”

“Ah……”

Only then did I grasp the situation.

It was not a blade that had flown at me, but my father, Dancheon Gang, who had shot killing intent at me.

To handle consciousness like this, it meant that it would not be long before he took the next step after the State of Harmony.

“Travel safely.”

“……Yes.”

There stood Dancheon Gang with the face of a father.

I could now realize that I had been definitively granted permission for the journey through the Jianghu.

“……”

Perhaps he just never had the chance, but maybe he was a good father.

***

Seven days and nights passed.

“It’s been a while.”

“It’s been a while, Senior Brother.”

I faced Dancheon Hak, who had returned from a journey through the Jianghu for nearly a year.

I did not know the reason why he, who had been away for a long time, sought me out first, passing over our mother Baek Yeo-hae or his master, the first elder.

He scanned my features.

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“The same goes for you, Senior Brother.”

We had both changed a lot in that time.

Both in appearance and in heart.

Who would have known that a day would come when he and I would face each other like this and have a conversation?

The twenty-two-year-old Dancheon Hak.

He was one of the most memorable figures to me.

But the Dancheon Hak from my memory was no longer there.

Perhaps because he had experienced many things during his journey, the immature young master of a prestigious clan had disappeared, and in his place was a martial artist with a deep gaze.

In truth, I knew that Dancheon Hak had been changing even before his journey.

If my life had changed starting from my regression, Dancheon Hak’s life had changed starting from the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

It was not simply that his alias had changed from Severing Dragon to Sword Dragon.

It would be more correct to say that the person named Dancheon Hak himself had changed.

Even the journey he had just returned from was something that had not happened in his past life.

Dancheon Hak, who had obtained the alias of Severing Dragon, had lived comfortably within the clan with that prestige, enjoyed himself, and then lightly crushed me in the heir competition to become the Young Clan Head.

As the eldest son of a prestigious clan with the talent to obtain a Dragon’s alias, it was a natural result.

In dealing with me, he probably never realized the need for effort.

But what about the Dancheon Hak of this life?

Right after the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly ended.

Dancheon Hak was not satisfied with the fact that he was a pillar of the Jianghu Murim who had won the alias of Sword Dragon.

I had not watched his training, but rumors were rampant within the clan that he was continuing a much harsher training than before.

To the extent that it reached my ears, who had no particular connections within the clan besides Uncle Yeo Baek, I could infer that it had not been easy.

And then suddenly, last year, Dancheon Hak declared his journey through the Jianghu, left abruptly, and returned just now.

“You’re leaving for the Jianghu?”

“That’s right. I was just about to set out.”

Dancheon Hak, lost in thought for a moment.

“Then there’s no time but now.”

Sreung.

Saying so, Dancheon Hak drew his sword.

It was the same sword that had pierced the Hundred-Refined Steel during the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

I did not become tense at his sudden action.

The first reason was that I believed he was not foolish enough to attack me now, and the second reason was that I could not feel any killing intent from his mind and body.

Woowoong.

Internal energy gathered on Dancheon Hak’s famed sword.

A bluish, formless sword formed on the blade; that was the sword qi, the proof of the Peak Realm.

And…….

Saaaaa.

The sword qi shimmered and began to weave together strand by strand.

Weaving bundles of sword qi like a skein of thread to create a stronger energy sword; this was the Sword Thread, the proof of the Transcendent Peak.

“Do not forget. The position of Clan Head is mine.”

He had declared to me that he himself had entered the Transcendent Peak.

Having finished his business, Dancheon Hak left without a goodbye.

In this aspect, he was a consistent person.

Two years after the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

I was not the only one who had grown.

With a year of fierce training and a year of journeying through the Jianghu, the genius of the Dancheon Clan, Dancheon Hak, had reached the Transcendent Peak.

It was a natural result for a talented martial artist who had made bone-grinding efforts.

This too was something that had not happened in his past life.

But I was not worried.

The reason was that my journey through the Jianghu was by no means a pleasure trip.

Two years had passed.

This meant that I now knew where the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root was.

On this journey, I would achieve the Fourth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art and step into the State of Harmony.

‘Senior Brother, the position of Clan Head is mine.’

In this life, it would be so.

***

The first step of my journey through the Jianghu.

The first place to go was already decided.

At a safe house of the Rogues’ Guild, which could even evade the eyes of the Beggar’s Gang, I met the Soul-Chasing and Life-Reaping Ma Sok.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, Young Master. It’s been a while.”

Things could not be the same as before.

It might be different for the bastard son of the Dancheon Clan, whom no one in the Jianghu Murim paid attention to, but it was not acceptable for a rising star who had obtained a Dragon’s alias to openly frequent the Flower Moon Pavilion, the Anhui branch of the Rogues’ Guild.

Knowing full well that the eyes and ears of the beggars were everywhere, it was right to always be cautious.

Stare.

I felt Ma Sok’s gaze sizing me up.

But soon, Ma Sok shook his head as if giving up.

“You’ve become more imposing.”

“Thank you.”

That was likely the limit of what he could express.

He would not be able to gauge my martial arts, as I had achieved Returning to the Original State with the Second Stage Golden Body.

At my calmness, Ma Sok chuckled and confessed his thoughts.

“The more I see of Young Master Myeong, the less I understand him. You are the first person like this in my life.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Being told you’re an unknown person by an information broker, you can consider it the highest praise.”

“Haha, thank you.”

It was partly thanks to having steadily built a relationship with him for two years, and also because he considered me a benefactor.

Having gained the trust of Ma Sok, who would become the right-hand man of the future Rogues’ Guild Leader, was an excellent harvest.

“You look well too, Lord Ma.”

“As for me, what could be different?”

He answered with humility, but Ma Sok had changed a lot.

It was because he had completely assimilated the Immaculate Pomegranate over a long period of two years.

He, who was originally a master of the supreme level representing the Rogues’ Guild, had already taken the Immaculate Pomegranate and made it his own, so if he wished, he could likely rule the Jianghu Murim.

The prestige of the Soul-Chasing and Life-Reaping could resonate through the Jianghu Murim five years earlier.

Nevertheless, his Returning to the Original State could not be as perfect as mine, so I was able to glimpse a fragment of Ma Sok’s realm.

At least, I felt that his prowess was comparable to that of my father, Dancheon Gang.

Creak.

The door of the safe house opened and a person entered.

There was only one person who would come here now.

“It’s been a while, Young Master Myeong.”

“It’s been a while, Branch Lord.”

It was Yeo-wol, the Branch Lord of the Rogues’ Guild, with her veil removed.

The fact that she had removed her veil in front of me was also a great achievement over the years.

Though I, who had been trained by Yang Su-rin, known as one of the Five Beauties of Anhui, was not tempted, I would say that her beauty was not lacking in captivating any man.

Yeo-wol sat down.

“Haven’t we been too distant?”

“Wouldn’t it be strange for the Branch Lord of the Rogues’ Guild and the second son of the Dancheon Clan to meet too often?”

Yeo-wol’s lips pouted.

“For someone who says that, you use the Rogues’ Guild quite often, don’t you?”

“Haha. What’s good is good.”

The conversation, which had been drifting into idle chatter, got to the main point with Yeo-wol’s question.

“So, what information are you selling this time?”

Anticipation was written on Yeo-wol’s face.

Selling information.

This was the way I had built a relationship with them over the past two years.

In truth, what I had gained was not money but the trust of Yeo-wol and Ma Sok, so it would not be wrong to say that we had formed a friendship.

The Rogues’ Guild had two types of clients.

Clients who sold important information to the Rogues’ Guild, and clients who bought the information held by the Rogues’ Guild.

In terms of added value, the former clients were superior, so their treatment was exceptional.

I did not know for sure, but I thought I was probably a top-tier client among them.

Hadn’t Yeo-wol, the overall manager of the Anhui branch and the Branch Lord, come in person?

Of course, the information I sold to the Rogues’ Guild was mostly things that were not important to me.

But I knew that just because it was not important to me did not mean its value was low.

It could be called the relativity of information value.

“You must have recently acquired a treasure map.”

As I opened my mouth, Yeo-wol and Ma Sok focused and hid their expressions.

It was to determine the authenticity of the information.

The conduct of skilled information merchants.

“The marked location is probably Zhangxing in Zhejiang Province.”

When I said this much, Yeo-wol’s eyes widened.

“How on earth do you know that?”

She, who had soon given up on managing her expression, asked back.

It also meant that she trusted my information without needing to verify its authenticity.

The treasure map of Zhangxing in Zhejiang Province.

It was a treasure map that started circulating around this time.

At this point, it would be at a stage where only organizations like the Rogues’ Guild or the Beggar’s Gang could trace its clues.

This treasure map had brought about a huge bloodbath, so it was vivid in my memory.

But……

“Don’t do it. It’s better to back off.”

That treasure map was a fake.

“Young Master Myeong.”

Ma Sok stepped forward instead of the still somewhat lacking Yeo-wol.

“I trust you.”

The trust we had built so far was not that thin.

“But a treasure map is too great a treasure to give up so easily. You know that, don’t you?”

That was right.

The reason treasure maps caused bloodbaths.

Wasn’t it because a treasure valuable enough to disregard one’s own life was sleeping within?

“Are you saying you need proof that the treasure map is fake?”

“That’s right.”

Unfortunately, I did not have such a thing in my possession.

Just because I had built a relationship of trust with them, I could not say, ‘I know because I regressed,’ could I?

But if there was no way, I would not have selected it as information to sell in the first place.

“In that case, just dip your toes in the treasure map, and try digging into the Martial Spirit Palace.”

It was a fact that would be revealed in at least three more years.

The truth was that the treasure map was a scheme by the Martial Spirit Palace, the ruler of Zhejiang Province and a member of the Heretic Alliance.

It was something done in secret even from the main headquarters of the Heretic Alliance, so it was natural that the Rogues’ Guild did not know.

But was the Rogues’ Guild a place that vied for the top spot as an information sect for nothing?

The Rogues’ Guild was a place that could grasp the reality with just this much of a fragment of information.

As the name of the Martial Spirit Palace was mentioned, Ma Sok’s gaze sharpened.

The reason was that just because they were both part of the Heretic Alliance did not mean they were all close.

“Thank you. I will take your information into consideration, Young Master.”

Since they had gained a lot from my information so far, they would not take it lightly.

In the midst of that, Yeo-wol, with an innocent look, subtly sounded me out.

“How did you obtain that information?”

“Someone you would know told me.”

Of course, I was not drawn in.

“Tsk.”

I had passed the level of being fooled by such acting back when Myeong-gae was still a one-knot beggar.