Chapter 184: Sky Ocean Merchant Union (1)

Yong Hwarin and the others stayed a few more days at the Medical House.

Though they were supposed to recuperate for at least half a month, they couldn’t afford to idly rest there while knowing that Hoi Unkyung was in a precarious state. So as soon as they were well enough to circulate their qi, they left the Medical House.

Ironically, the most severely injured among the group, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect, looked in better shape than the guards of the Namgung Clan who had sustained lighter wounds.

It was because their cultivation had all increased due to the spiritual medicine given by Bukri Sogun.

The guards of the Namgung Clan, perhaps thinking it was all thanks to Yong Hwarin’s help, sometimes glanced at the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect with envy.

In the end, the most injured person among them became Do Gye-gong.

However, Do Gye-gong didn’t even utter a word about being in pain.

He couldn’t bring himself to say such things, knowing that the more their journey was delayed because of his condition, the more danger the Vice Chairman would be in. He never suggested they take a rest.

"Truly tenacious people."

Even though their injuries hadn’t completely healed, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect never neglected their martial arts training, not for a single moment.

They trained whenever they had the chance and even engaged in sparring, leaving the others unable to complain about their own pain.

Namgung Yoo and the Three Chivalrous Sisters looked at the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect and shook their heads.

"I don’t understand why they’re so obsessed with martial arts training. Isn’t this the time to focus on recovery?"

To Namgung Yoo’s words, Jeong Minji replied.

"They must’ve gained a great deal of insight from their fight against Heaven-Cleaving Saber Gu Hyeong. They probably don’t want to become a burden to Young Master Yong. You can't do what they're doing out of simple passion for martial arts. Just as Young Master Yong is trying to protect the ones he cherishes, once someone meets such a lord, even the subordinates change accordingly. That aside, the martial skills improve rapidly under Young Master Yong’s guidance."

Namgung Yoo turned her head and spoke.

"Did you hear that, gentlemen?"

The guards of the Namgung Clan, still not fully recovered from their injuries, could not stay still after hearing that.

The fervor of the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect greatly influenced the others as well.

Yong Hwarin and the group unloaded their belongings and took rest at a small county inn, only a day’s travel away from Jeongju.

Because there were many injured, they were moving as slowly as possible.

That night, Yong Hwarin saw Jeong Minji walking alone through the rear garden and approached her.

"Miss Jeong."

Jeong Minji smiled as she saw Yong Hwarin coming.

"Am I disturbing your training?"

As Yong Hwarin had been engrossed in martial arts training lately, Jeong Minji asked softly.

"Not at all. I should’ve thanked you properly on the day the assassins attacked, but I couldn’t because of the situation. I apologize."

"No need. It was Young Master Yong who worked the hardest that day."

"If Miss Jeong hadn’t broken the restriction herself and blocked the assassins, very few of us would’ve survived."

Jeong Minji received Yong Hwarin’s sincerity with a smile, fearing the mood would grow too heavy if she acted overly modest.

"Watching your martial arts that day gave me chills. It felt like I was witnessing the pinnacle of martial prowess, not just martial arts. If I may ask... is that martial art connected to your family?"

Since the conversation was flowing smoothly, Yong Hwarin didn’t speak in circles and asked directly.

"Yes, it’s a martial art passed down in my main family. It’s called Vermilion Bird Grand Heavenly Art. It’s not widely known in the murim, so it might sound unfamiliar."

"Seeing that your family held the Black Tortoise Tail Sword as a treasure, I thought your clan must be connected to the Black Tortoise. But now you say you’re practicing a martial art of the Vermilion Bird, and I find it a bit confusing."

Yong Hwarin had assumed that the Jeong Family Manor, which possessed the Black Tortoise Tail Sword, must be a sect connected to the Black Tortoise.

Jeong Minji originally had no intention of revealing anything about the Four Great Divine Items or the related martial arts to Yong Hwarin.

But Yong Hwarin, having heard nothing from his family regarding those matters, could only feel frustrated.

Since she believed Yong Hwarin to be the rightful owner of the Black Tortoise Tail Sword, Jeong Minji saw no reason to hide it from him as she had in the past and quietly opened her mouth.

"My mother never told me everything either, so I only know fragments. So unfortunately, I won’t be able to satisfy your curiosity fully. But from what I do know, although our clan held the Black Tortoise Tail Sword, the martial art we actually inherited was related to the Vermilion Bird. When I asked my mother why that was, she told me that long ago, the sects that held the Four Great Divine Items exchanged them with one another in order to limit the power they held."

That was a secret she hadn’t even shared with her younger siblings.

To her two younger siblings, she had only explained that the Jeong Family Manor had deep ties to the Geum Family Manor and the Heavenly Central Sect.

The two younger siblings simply thought that the Black Tortoise Tail Sword was their treasure and that the Vermilion Bird Grand Heavenly Art was their family martial art. They didn’t know the full story.

Jeong Minji hadn’t told them the full details because she believed it was enough for her alone to be bound by the family’s burden.

"Ah!"

Yong Hwarin let out a small exclamation.

With that, one of his long-held doubts had been resolved.

Yong Hwarin had never understood why they possessed the Vermilion Bird Blood Chalice while their martial art was related to the dragon.

They were supposed to have the Blue Dragon Three Marbles, yet someone else entirely had them, and it had long troubled him.

‘The Jeong Family Manor and our sect definitely are related to the Four Great Divine Items.’

Yong Hwarin once wondered if the Shaolin Temple, which possessed the White Tiger Demon-Subduing Sword, was also a sect connected to one of the divine items. But several clues didn’t quite match, and he eventually gave up on that idea.

At one point, Yong Hwarin even asked the Demonic Master about it, thinking he might know something.

But the Middle-aged Demonic Master said he knew absolutely nothing about the Four Great Divine Items or the sects related to them.

Since he claimed ignorance, Yong Hwarin surmised that the Middle-aged Demonic Master must’ve only recently gotten involved in the matter after being recruited by the Third Young Master.

‘If I asked the Middle-aged Demonic Master, I might be able to hear more detailed stories about the Four Great Divine Items and the sects connected to them.’

"Would the Vermilion Bird Blood Chalice be of any help to Miss Jeong’s martial arts?"

Yong Hwarin had said that the reason the Three Chivalrous Sisters were following him was to determine if he was suitable to be the master of the Black Silk Celestial Silkworm, but in truth, he believed they were following him to obtain the Vermilion Bird Blood Chalice.

"That’s something I don’t know either."

"Did Miss Jeong’s mother, by any chance, tell you to retrieve the Vermilion Bird Blood Chalice?"

At those words, Jeong Minji gave a bitter smile.

"There was no such instruction."

Jeong Minji’s heart ached because it seemed he believed that was the reason she had followed him.

If that had been the reason, there would have been no need to accompany him this far.

"This is something I’ll have to look into further to properly understand. It’s difficult to grasp with just fragments of information. I’ll also need to find out why my family never told me about this."

"If I hear anything new, I’ll let you know."

"Then I would be grateful."

When Yong Hwarin respectfully gave the clasped hands greeting, Jeong Minji felt a pang in her chest.

Though they had spent a long time together, strangely, the distance between her and Yong Hwarin never seemed to narrow.

On the contrary, while he casually called others brother and sister, he treated her with such formality that it created a sense of distance.

After exchanging a few more words, she silently watched Yong Hwarin turn and walk away, then let out a long sigh.

As the wind blew, fallen leaves scattered and passed beside him.

To Jeong Minji, it felt as if her heart was tumbling like those leaves, leaving her chest empty.

By the solar term White Dew, when the morning dew begins to fall, the air was filled with a chill, yet the sky remained clear.

Even in such cold mornings, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect and Yong Hwarin never missed their training.

Not only them, but in the early morning courtyard, the guards of the Namgung Clan and the Three Chivalrous Sisters also spent time training and circulating their qi.

Since they would arrive in Jeongju tomorrow, they planned to condition their bodies properly.

Despite being in pain, Yong Hwarin and his companions hastened their steps while continuing their martial arts training and finally arrived in Jeongju, where the Sky Ocean Merchant Union was located.

"Since this might be the last time, let’s have a spar."

The guards of the Namgung Clan, reluctant to part with the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect, proposed a final sparring session.

However, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect hesitated for a moment.

It would be troublesome if their increased internal power were to be noticed.

No matter how much they claimed their martial arts had rapidly improved, it would be suspicious if decades’ worth of internal power increased within just a few days.

"Let’s skip the sparring and just have a drink since it’s the last night."

When Mu Iso diverted the topic and suggested drinking, the guards of the Namgung Clan looked at them as if wondering what had happened to the martial arts fanatics.

And so, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect avoided the sparring match and concealed the fact that their internal power had increased.

Regardless, due to the bond formed over a month-long journey, they all drank late into the night.

The Sky Ocean Merchant Union was located in the center of Jeongju.

In Jeongju of Henan, the most well-known noble family was the Shangguan Clan, and the most famous trading company was the Sky Ocean Merchant Union.

There were even rumors that if the Sky Ocean Merchant Union had martial strength, the Shangguan Clan would not have left them alone—so much so that there had been times when the two forces clashed in the Upper World.

However, since the Sky Ocean Merchant Union deliberately avoided encroaching on the Shangguan Clan’s profit territories, they had never had a major conflict.

The reason the Sky Ocean Merchant Union was able to expand its influence beyond Henan into Jiangnan was because they had handed over the profits of Jeongju in Henan to the Shangguan Clan.

However, as a form of reciprocation for such consideration, the Shangguan Clan typically entrusted all purchases and transport of goods to the Sky Ocean Escort Agency.

But that was no different than a cat pretending to care for a mouse.

The Sky Ocean Merchant Union did not originally begin as a merchant company.

It began as a martial household founded by the expert Heaven Sea Sword Hoi Eulshin, who had led the subjugation of the Heavenly Demon Cult during the Muyang Era a hundred years ago. As time passed, the martial household gradually transformed into a trading company. Since there was no successor capable of properly inheriting the martial arts of Heaven Sea Sword Hoi Eulshin, it slowly shifted into a business, leading to what it had become today.

The decisive reason for that transformation was the loss of Heaven Sea Sword Hoi Eulshin’s ultimate technique, the Heaven Sea Divine Art.

After the subjugation of the Heavenly Demon Cult during the Muyang Era, he had his name listed in the Muyang Sword Record and rose to the rank of one of the Five Emperors of the Martial World. His sword technique was thus elevated to the level of divine arts, but in the end, none of his descendants were able to inherit the martial arts that had earned him that recognition.

There was a saying that had once widely spread in the murim, passed down like a will by Hoi Eulshin’s descendants for generations.

Since no proper successor could inherit his martial arts, he had left them behind by other means—but no one had been able to find them.

In his previous life, Yong Hwarin had believed those words and had scoured every book existing within the Sky Ocean Merchant Union.

That was because just acquiring the Heaven Sea Divine Art would allow one to become a master of the era—but even after years of searching, he had not found it.

And so now, Heaven Sea Sword Hoi Eulshin had become a legendary figure, and his martial arts were remembered only as legend.

"We’ll have to part ways here."

Namgung Yoo said her farewell upon entering Jeongju.

She had come to meet with the Division Leader of the East Evil Division regarding the jiangshi issue, and thus had no reason to continue traveling with Yong Hwarin.

She planned to stay temporarily at the martial arts hall affiliated with the Namgung Clan branch in Jeongju.

"I’ll be staying at the Azure Sky Martial Arts Hall. If anything comes up, please visit me there. Young Master Yong, how long will you be staying at the Sky Ocean Merchant Union?"

"I plan to leave for my main family once Miss Hoi recovers. I don’t know when that will be, but until then, I intend to stay. May I ask a favor?"

"Please go ahead."

Namgung Yoo was surprised that Yong Hwarin was making a request.

Until now, Yong Hwarin had never once spoken out of need.

"If you happen to meet with the Division Leader of the East Evil Division, please arrange for me to meet them as well."

The Division Leader of the East Evil Division would not meet anyone unless they had a guaranteed identity or the financial means to purchase a jiangshi.

Because of that, Yong Hwarin had no way of meeting the Division Leader personally.

To the East Evil Division, the Heavenly Central Sect would likely appear to be a poor sect unable to afford jiangshi.

Namgung Yoo looked at Yong Hwarin with wide, surprised eyes.

"You knew? That I came to Jeongju for that reason? There are only a few people in my main family who even know this."

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