༺ Second Chapter – The Seductress and the World Beyond (1) ༻
In broad daylight, Mok Riwon stood in front of the straw-thatched house with his arms extended outwards and his fist covered by his other hand.
The Fist Palm Salute.
It was a way of showing respect in the world of martial arts.
“I’ll be back.”
Mok Riwon, wearing a gray martial arts outfit, was carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth on his back.
At his waist was an old steel sword, and in his arms was the book he had treated with care since childhood for a long, long time, ‘Tales of the Martial Heroes’.
Mok Seon-oh had a satisfied smile on his face as he sat on the floor, answering Mok Riwon.
“Right, it’s time for you to go out into the world.”
How could he not know the accomplishments of his disciple?
Though Mok Seon-oh sensed that he had reached the Peak Realm from his qi pathways, he said nothing further.
He was simply filled with pride and asked the following question to him, who had the appearance of someone who could no longer be called a child.
“Won.”
“Yes!”
“The world beyond will be treacherous. From time to time, you will meet the heartless who will spare no empathy towards you, other times the sly who will deceive you, as well as the evil who intend to harm you. Will you be able to overcome these hardships?”
With a voice full of determination, Mok Riwon responded back with a smile.
“I will overcome all of those hardships through chivalry and righteousness.”
“Excellent answer.”
Mok Seon-oh nodded his head.
Ma Il-seok, now an elderly man with arms folded side to side and half of his head covered in gray hair, spoke next to him.
“You certainly have a way with words.”
Eleven years had passed, and yet Ma Il-seok’s manner of speaking was still as blunt as ever.
However, that wasn’t to say that he hadn’t had a change of heart or that was how he really felt.
Is affection not something that can be developed through living and talking to each other?
Ma Il-seok, feeling cracks in his heart for some reason at the sight of Mok Riwon brimming with confidence, took out a badge from his arms and threw it to him.
“What’s this?”
“If you ever need help with anything, show that to the beggars of the city. Ah, those guys will be wearing a sash like this around their waist.”
Ma Il-seok said, patting the one wrapped around his waist.
“If it isn’t anything too difficult, they’ll help.”
Though he had now stepped down from the position of leader of the Beggars’ Gang and had chosen a life of seclusion, that did not mean that the influence of the name Beggar King in the Central Plains had diminished.
That badge alone meant that Mok Riwon could become a guest of the Beggars’ Gang.
Mok Riwon looked at Ma Il-seok with a deeply touched expression.
“Thank you!”
“Thanks my ass.”
Ma Il-seok snorted dismissively. Yet, contrary to his expression, he let out concerned words.
“You must have heard this enough that you’re tired of it, but I’ll say it again.”
“Yes!”
“The martial world will not take kindly to you.”
Thump-
Mok Riwon’s face broke into a bittersweet smile.
“…I know.”
“Right, you are the Heaven-Slaying Star, and you possess the Supreme Demonic Body. It would be fortunate if you could keep this hidden, but there will definitely be people who will associate you with Brother through your martial arts.”
“And through my martial arts, there will be those who realize who I really am, right?”
“Don’t interrupt me.”
Ma Il-seok’s expression crumpled, but Mok Riwon couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Cocky brat.”
Mok Seon-oh smiled at the two’s banter. Then, looking at Mok Riwon, he said.
“Go on your way.”
It would be a lie to say there weren’t any regrets.
However, holding onto a disciple finally about to embark on his own path was not the duty of a master.
It was a reminder to suppress the rising regrets.
Mok Riwon, feeling something tug at his heart at the sight of his master, took a wide view and captured the image of his home one last time in his eyes.
The valley deep inside the heart of a dense forest-covered mountain.
The humble straw-thatched house within.
And the two masters who were something like family.
Now he was about to leave this place and enter a world that would no longer be warm to him. Mok Riwon, with both excitement and worry, began to kneel down slowly and bow deeply.
Three Kneelings, Nine Kowtows.
It was meant as an act of the utmost respect toward his masters, and upon completion, he rose up and said.
“I’ll definitely come back without anyone finding out who I am!”
And then he turned around.
As he set off on his journey, he did not look back.
He knew very well that doing so would only add to his regrets.
Three days had passed since he descended from the mountain.
As he leisurely strolled down carrying his bindle, Mok Riwon burst out in admiration at the sight of the big city before him.
“Finally, the city!”
He thought that he had almost lost his way.
It was no wonder because all he could see was the mountain valley, and the place he visited beneath thinking there would be people, was just an empty ruin.
When he took his first step into the city, Mok Riwon thought that it was truly fortunate that he hadn’t starved and died on the road for his first time in the world beyond.
“Ohh…!”
Both of Mok Riwon’s fists clenched tightly as his eyes began to shine with longing.
‘Isn’t there so many people here?!’
People here, people there.
They were all different from each other, from age to sex.
This came as a sudden shock to Mok Riwon, who for as long as he had been alive, had only known Mok Seon-oh and Ma Il-seok.
In the middle of that.
Growl–
A growling noise came out of his stomach, his cheeks reddening from embarrassment as he glanced around.
Fortunately, no one else seemed to hear it.
“Ah-Ahem!”
He took a moment to awkwardly clear his throat and started to walk again.
‘I’m gonna eat first.’
The place he headed to was an inn, with a dish already in mind.
‘Bamboo leaf liquor in somen noodles!’
In Tales of the Martial Heroes there was not a single martial arts master who hadn’t tried it, it was truly the food of a martial hero.
Mok Riwon, having now journeyed to the outside world, started his search for an inn with excited steps.
In Suyang County, Jiangxi Province, along the main street, there stood a small establishment known as Sohwa Inn.
It was enveloped in an unusually tense and subdued atmosphere, a stark contrast to its usual lively ambiance.
There was only one reason for that.
It was the youth ‘drinking’ somen noodles in the far corner of the establishment.
The gray martial arts uniform and the bindle leaned against the wall appeared all too shabby.
The sword hanging by his waist, too, bore the look of an old blade that had seen its share of wear and tear in the market streets.
Despite all of this, there was an undeniable radiance about him.
Skin that was far too fair for one considered a man.
A high nose bridge, a slender face, and long eyelashes.
He looked like a young noble, whose appearance did not suit his attire.
That was the cause of the odd atmosphere in the inn.
They seemed to be under the misconception that he was possibly a child of a Great Family, traveling in disguise.
Upon noticing his appearance, a ruffian situated in a distant corner opposite Mok Riwon began to whisper.
“That guy, doesn’t he look like some gigolo bastard?”
“Yeah, that… What is it, isn’t that bastard like the Zhuge Family’s Jade Dragon or Mystic Dragon?”
“Zhuge Family? Eh, seriously brother? Why would a child from that house be in a place like this?”
“Don’t you know? Rumors have been spreading like wildfire that he’s a bit of an oddball.”
The ruffians’ conversation continued.
Behind them, the waiter’s mouth was wide open as he stared at Mok Riwon. As well as several women stealing a glance at him with dreamy eyes.
Such was the nature of having an otherworldly appearance.
It had the inherent characteristic of drawing attention even in stillness, and furthermore, any action taken seemed to be perceived positively.
Therefore, the whispers of the women stealing a glance at Mok Riwon were also reflective of that extraordinary allure.
“How can someone make even a meal look so thrilling…?”
He was wrong.
The way the child was eating was most certainly like a glutton.
“The bamboo leaf liquor dripping down his chin, and even the constant slurping are all quite careless…”
Except he wasn’t being careless, he had been intentionally spilling the liquor soup.
It was because Mok Riwon had read this in ‘Tales of the Martial Heroes’, the description of [Bamboo leaf liquor dripping down the chin].
“Surely he must be the young master who had secretly come out from that Great Family.”
It was all nonsense.
Mok Riwon was a country bumpkin who had grown up in the mountains.
All he was, is literally a fearless man who knew nothing about the ways of the world.
The misunderstandings kept deepening with no one to resolve them.
As that continued, there was only Mok Riwon, drunk on romance and not listening to a single thing going on.
‘It’s delicious!’
It was electrifying!
‘Now this is the taste of a martial hero!’
It was the taste of a man’s romance overlapping with a childhood dream.
The light somen noodles, and refreshing taste of bamboo leaf liquor going down his throat were unparalleled.
All he had eaten in the mountains were wild vegetables. The flavors of the secular world were so different that Mok Riwon seemed to be unable to stop the tears from leaking out.
‘It’s so gooood…!’
If his journey through the martial arts world were like this, Mok Riwon thought that he could even do this for the rest of his life. As he let out a big wide smile, there were exclamations all around.
Only then did Mok Riwon become aware of his surroundings.
‘Hm?’
When he swiftly turned his head to look around, everyone was so startled that they ducked their heads down onto the table. And then commotion quickly subsided again.
As he tilted his head at the bizarre reactions, Mok Riwon heard a sigh.
“Phew…”
He looked sideways towards the source of the sound.
In that direction he saw a fairly old-looking man.
A middle-aged man with a dead-looking expression.
Mok Riwon suddenly felt curious.
It wasn’t for any particular reason, just, the complexion on their face made them seem like a person in need of help.
Mok Riwon’s qi surged forth from within his dantian as he covered his ears.
It was a kind of menial trick that let him maximize his hearing ability, which he had learned from the Beggar King.
“The Jade Flower Pavilion is going to kill me.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. How can those bastards be so heartless? Why the hell are they so intent on monopolizing the entire market…”
‘Jade Flower Pavilion?’
Mok Riwon narrowed his forehead as he concentrated on that name.
‘It sounds like a tavern or a courtesan house from the name…’
As Mok Riwon was thinking, the middle-aged man, who looked dead on the inside slammed his fist on the table.
Bang!
“This is all because of that seductress!”
“H-Hey!”
“Did I say something wrong? You actually think the same, don’t you, brother?! Ever since that seductress entered Jade Flower Pavilion, the alley has bizarrely changed! The money collected under the guise of protection fees by the Unorthodox Path has doubled, and unknown martial artists have started showing up here and there! If things keep going on like this, is it not our necks that will be sent flying next?!”
The voice of the enraged middle-aged man echoed throughout the inn.
However, even as that went on, one point made him feel doubtful.
Normally, when someone was that agitated, you would expect someone to step in and calm them down, but not a single person in the inn seemed to be paying any attention to that man.
No, it was more like…
‘…They’re trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves.’
The people in the inn were deliberately trying to avert their gaze from him.
Mok Riwon’s eyes sparkled at this peculiar situation.
‘It’s time to help!’
Mok Riwon, the mountain boy who had trouble discerning right from wrong, found himself entertaining such thoughts within this tense atmosphere.
In general, there were multiple factors to consider when extracting information.
Things like secrecy and caution.
However, Mok Riwon was unaware of such things.
Just that, eventually someone would tell him if he walked around on the streets and asked people.
That was all he had in his mind.
…Should this be considered fortunate?
Nevertheless, Mok Riwon’s attempt proved successful.
Contrary to what one would expect of him, his good looks helped out.
“Thank you, young lady! I will not forget this kindness.”
“N-no, it’s okay!”
Women with bright red faces hurried away from Mok Riwon, who was bowing with one fist pressed against his palm.
Mok Riwon straightened his waist without harboring any doubts at all and continued his thoughts.
‘A so-called seductress, huh!’
That was what those young ladies had informed him.
One day out of the blue, a woman had entered Suyang County.
The movements of the woman with the mysteriously beautiful allure were as such.
‘She went to the Lord of the Red Flower Pavilion and played an instrument for him, and completely enthralled by her, he came to cherish her deeply.’
Mok Riwon narrowed his eyes.
‘It’s suspicious.’
He could have simply said that it was because of her skillful musical performance, but Mok Riwon recalled something Ma Il-seok had told him previously.
–There are all kinds of evil sorcery rampant in the martial arts world. Among them is a particularly evil one, called the Soul Ensnarement Technique, which ensnares the human heart.
–Soul Ensnarement Technique?
–Right, it’s a technique that clouds a human’s mind and transforms them into a puppet.
What the seductress had done might have been this Soul Ensnarement Technique.
And ever since her arrival, the Unorthodox Path movements had intensified, so she may have been a scout sent by them to devour Suyang County.
‘It’s clearly that seductress from what he said.’
Mok Riwon racked his seldom-used brain intensely, stringing his thoughts together.
Soul Ensnarement Technique.
A technique to ensnare the human heart and transform them into a puppet.
Even if it wasn’t that, there was still a possibility that it could be some martial arts that captured the heart.
And if that were the case, there was something Mok Riwon knew.
‘Seduction arts…!’
Mok Riwon’s face reddened.
Unlike when he was seven years old, the Mok Riwon of today didn’t lack knowledge of those things. He even knew of the fight between Ma Il-seok and the Crimson Lady of the Azure Night which he had heard from Ma Il-seok one day.
Therefore, he was now well aware about how seduction arts bewitches people.
“Aha–!”
Mok Riwon quickly turned around and looked in the direction of the place he had just heard about, the Jade Flower Pavilion.
‘It really is seduction arts!’
…As he said that, Mok Riwon became convinced that the now so-called ‘Seductress’ wasn’t using sorcery at all, and the trick she was using was in fact seduction arts.
Of course, there wasn’t any reason behind that.
Tadak–!
‘It’s dangerous!’
Mok Riwon quickly ran towards the Jade Flower Pavilion.
It was because he thought that seduction arts was a very dangerous martial arts, and he didn’t want ordinary people to be forced to experience it.
‘It should be me instead!’
‘If it were me, I could endure through my inner strength!’
‘I could find her weakness!’
Mok Riwon’s steps quickened.
A grin was hanging over his flushed crimson face.
‘Seduction arts!’
Making that promise to himself deep down, he told himself that he wouldn’t let her get away with it.
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