Chapter 54: Enchantress (1)
Translator: bjgoofy
After two days of traveling by boat along the Zhongjiang River, which flows beside Chengdu in Sichuan, the river's width suddenly seemed to expand, revealing a vast and enormous waterway.
As the boat entered this widened river, it began to sway from side to side.
-Splash!
Cold water splashed against the boat’s side.
“The water current is strong, so everyone, be careful!”
“Oh! Young Master Soryong, be careful.”
“Yes, Squad leader Gu Pae.”
As the boatman spoke, everyone grabbed onto the creaking railings with tense expressions, bracing themselves.
At that moment, nunim, who stood beside me, pointed at the widened waterway with a calm expression.
As the boat completely rose onto the massive surging waves, stabilizing from the swaying, I heard nunim’s bright voice.
“Soryong, this is the Yangtze River. It’s the longest river in the Central Plains.”
‘So, this is the lifeline of the Central Plains, one of the longest rivers in the world, the Yangtze River?’
Realizing that I was sailing across the Yangtze River filled me with a sense of wonder.
In my previous life, I had always wanted to visit this place at least once.
The reason wasn’t anything grand, but rather because the Yangtze River was once home to the now-extinct Yangtze River dolphin.
There was also the adorable dolphin known as the finless porpoise.
Even though I was mostly fond of insects and reptiles, dolphins are universally beloved creatures.
So, I had always wanted to see this place, and now that I was actually sailing on the river, it felt surreal.
“Wow, the river is truly vast.”
“Now, we just need to follow the Yangtze River to Wuhan, Soryong.”
Our final destination was Anhui, where the Namgoong Family resided.
However, before heading to Anhui, we had to stop by the Murim Alliance in Wuhan.
This was because my father-in-law had tasked me with delivering an additional portion of the Tiger Keelback’s poison to the Murim Alliance.
“We’ll stop by Wuhan first and then disembark at Anqing, correct?”
“That’s right, Soryong.”
I had assumed we would need to ride a carriage or use qinggong to reach Anhui, but our journey was a river voyage.
I figured it would be faster than traveling by foot or horseback, but once we entered the main course of the Yangtze River, the boat moved at an entirely different speed.
Carried by the river’s swift current, the boat was gliding forward much faster than before.
“At this speed, we’ll arrive quite early.”
As I marveled at the boat’s sudden increase in speed, nunim smiled.
"Even so, it will still take about half a month."
“I see.”
Indeed, the Central Plains was vast.
As I gazed beyond the boat’s railing alongside nunim, I decided to bring up something that had been on my mind.
‘This is concerning, no matter how I think about it.’
I had left in a hurry after getting father-in-law’s permission, but as we sailed, I had time to ponder.
Would the Namgoong Family really hand over the Ice Jade so easily?
If it was as precious as they claimed, there was no way they would simply give it up.
“By the way, Young Miss, thinking about it now, if Ice Jade is truly that valuable, will the Namgoong Family really give it to us so easily, as you say? I can’t help but worry...”
“Just trust me, will you? Do you not believe me?”
"O-Of course I do."
Although I assured her that I believed her, the truth was, I still had doubts.
Nunim had said it would go smoothly, but I had a good reason to be skeptical.
She had claimed that she would take care of the exchange herself since the person involved was her friend, but after we set sail, she had said something that made it hard for me to trust her.
And as expected, when I asked again, nunim nonchalantly pointed at my chest and spoke as if it was no big deal.
“They will definitely hand it over because ‘we have that’. I once heard that Ice Jade isn’t particularly useful to her. For her, this would be far more valuable. She needs something she can consume, and Ice Jade can’t be eaten. But this, on the other hand, can be.”
“Well, that may be true, but… will it really be okay?”
I touched the item tucked inside my chest, and nunim smiled.
She nodded confidently.
“Of course. Don’t worry so much, Soryong. Something insignificant to one person can be incredibly important to another. And besides, that doesn’t seem so insignificant to me.”
“You mean this?”
“Yes.”
‘Surely, this won’t cause any trouble… right?’
As I fiddled with the object tucked in my chest, I asked nunim another question.
Well, that matter aside, another curiosity had come to mind.
“But, Miss Hwa-eun, you mentioned that what we need is yin energy infused with coldness. What exactly is that? I assume it’s something like a cold aura, but...
I heard about yang energy and yin energy from Grandfather, but the explanation was a bit difficult...."
Since I was told that the lizards required yin energy infused with coldness, I was curious about what that actually meant.
For a breeder, knowing about the food their creatures needed was essential.
‘I can’t just feed them something I don’t understand.’
If a breeder didn’t have a thorough understanding of the food, they were unfit for the role.
Although grandfather, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, had given me a general idea of yin and yang energy, his explanation had been too complex.
Besides, lizards were normally cold-blooded animals that disliked cold environments.
Although Snow and Ice seemed to be an exception.
“Well, since it’s also beneficial for martial arts training, I’ll explain it to you. Listen carefully and remember it.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“Generally, yin energy is the type of qi that induces yin transformation and is the opposite of yang energy. Among the natural energies of heaven and earth, it is the energy that sinks and gathers.
Normally, it suppresses the activity of living beings. That’s why the eerie, fearful emotions that restrict movement, as well as darkness and coldness, are all forms of yin energy.
When I mentioned yin energy infused with coldness, I was simply referring to a specific type of yin energy.”
“Oh, then… does that mean yin energy is bad?”
I thought I understood the general idea, but since she mentioned it suppressing human activity, I wondered if it was inherently negative.
Nunim shook her head.
“No. The opposite of yin energy is yang energy, which induces yang transformation. Yang energy rises and disperses, governing the natural flow of heaven and earth, but because it stimulates the activity of living beings, an excess of it can be harmful. It accelerates aging and depletes vitality too quickly.
As for Snow and Ice, the reason they need cold energy is that their bodies themselves are highly receptive to it. They absorb the cold to grow.”
‘So, it’s like charging a battery?’
Nunim’s explanation was still a bit difficult, but it was much easier to understand than my grandfather’s.
She smiled at me and asked,
“Did that clear up some of your questions?”
It certainly did.
But with my shallow knowledge from my past life, I had always understood that yin and yang needed to be in balance.
So I asked about that.
“Yes. But I have another question. I thought yin and yang had to be in harmony, like how men and women complement each other. But if Ice and Snow are purely yin, how do they achieve the balance of yin and yang?”
I was wondering whether opposite forces had to form a pair, just like male and female.
Suddenly, nunim’s face turned bright red, and she stammered.
“Uh… w-well… I-I suppose we can check later to see how they achieve the balance of yin and yang?”
“…What?”
Nunim suddenly suggested observing them later, leaving me confused.
‘Wait a second… balance of yin and yang? Could it be that nunim is thinking…?’
After some thought, I was almost certain, nunim’s mind had been tainted with indecent thoughts!
Just as I was wondering how to handle this awkward situation,
“S-Soryong, you… y-you ask such embarrassing questions without hesitation.”
“…Huh?”
Nunim was clearly the one whose mind had been invaded by indecent thoughts, yet she suddenly turned the tables, treating me like some kind of pervert or heretic.
I stared at her in disbelief, but she quickly turned her gaze to the river, desperately trying to change the subject.
“L-Let’s talk about something else! Ah! Soryong, look over there! It’s a Baiji!”
“A Baiji?”
I followed her pointing finger and spotted something leaping above the river’s surface.
Upon closer inspection, it was a dolphin.
“Huh? That’s-!”
The Yangtze River dolphin, which I had always wanted to see at least once, was leaping above the water’s surface.
Right, now that I thought about it, the Yangtze River dolphin had gone extinct in my previous life, but not here.
The dolphins swam closer, gliding near the side of the boat, and before long, they leaped up towards me and nunim, playfully splashing us with water.
***
Late at night, on a hill in Huangshan.
The wind blew, carrying petals that had bloomed and begun to wither.
-Whoosh.
The wind swirled around the hill, gathering the petals and lifting them into the air.
Just as the petals were about to be carried high into the sky,
-Shiiing!
A sword strike cut through the moonlit night, leaving a long arc in its wake.
The short journey of the petals, about to begin with the wind, ended in an instant.
With a single sword strike, the wind scattered, and all the petals fell straight back to the ground.
A woman let out a sigh as she gazed at the petals that had been forced down in one strike.
“Haah... Am I still lacking?”
The technique she had just executed was the third move of the Emperor's Sword Form, Emperor’s Crushing Strike.
The essence of this form was to accumulate qi by executing the first and second moves, increasing the weight of the greatsword, and then, upon reaching the third move, unleashing that stored force to overwhelm the opponent.
However, the reason the swordswoman sighed was that her third move was still incomplete.
If executed perfectly, the pressure from her strike should have reduced the petals to dust.
Yet, the petals, though stained with flower sap, still maintained their shape.
Despite not yet reaching the age of twenty, she had already mastered the Azure Heaven Boundless Sword Technique of the Namgoong Family, entered the path of the Emperor’s Sword Form, and could even wield its third move.
And yet, her expression showed dissatisfaction.
To an outsider, her ambition might seem excessive.
But the reason she was here, secretly honing her sword in the middle of the night on the outskirts of Huangshan mountain, far from her family estate, was because she had no choice.
“Sis, let’s go back. If we stay out too late, we’ll definitely get caught. And if Father finds out again, I’ll be scolded too! I know you love swordsmanship, but as the eldest daughter of the Namgoong Family, you should take better care of yourself.”
Just as her younger sister said, she was Namgoong Seol, the eldest daughter of the Namgoong Family.
One of the Three Beauties of the Central Plains, known by the title Flower King Peony.
Her sister sat on a rock, holding a lantern in one hand, pouting as she spoke.
At her younger sister’s sulking tone, Seol nodded, an apologetic look on her face.
“All right, I understand, Eun-ah.”
The reason Namgoong Seol had to secretly train her swordsmanship late at night in a secluded part of Huangshan mountain with her younger sister,
It was because her training had been forbidden within the family.
No, to be precise, it wasn’t just banned within the estate, her martial training had been completely prohibited.
That was why she had to sneak out with her sister, take up her sword in secret, and train like this.
“Sis, this is making me so nervous. Can’t you stop at least until Uncle returns with the medicine? If you collapse again, I’ll be the one getting scolded for not stopping you.”
At her younger sister’s complaint, Namgoong Seol gave a bitter smile.
The reason she had to train despite the prohibition, the reason her younger sister looked at her with such concern,
It was all because of her illness.
Flowing Meridian Syndrome.
That was the name of the condition she suffered from.
At first, everyone in the family believed it was not an illness but a blessing.
Her body’s meridians were completely open, allowing her to accumulate internal energy at an incredible pace.
The circulation of true qi and the flow of energy had no obstructions whatsoever.
It was as if she had been reborn with a completely transformed body.
A physique born for martial arts, the Heavenly Martial Body.
Everyone, including Namgoong Seol herself, initially believed it to be a type of Heavenly Martial Body.
However, when she reached the age of fifteen, she realized that Flowing Meridian Syndrome was not a blessing.
Her rapid physical growth began to seem unnatural, prompting the family to call upon the Medicine Immortal to examine her.
The Medicine Immortal, who had visited the family, had taken Namgoong Seol’s pulse and spoken with a grave expression.
「“Her body's meridians are excessively open. This is the opposite of Severed Meridians, so should we call it Flowing Meridian Syndrome instead? How is it that innate qi, which should remain unused, is being consumed within her body…
The child’s beauty stems from the innate qi that is maintaining her body in a perfect state. If this continues, she will have a short lifespan.”」
Innate Qi, the life force a person is born with.
It gradually diminishes over time, leading to aging and eventually death.
However, in Namgoong Seol’s case, her body was consuming far more of it than normal in order to maintain its flawless state.
Her porcelain-white skin, as smooth as jade, her dark eyebrows as though painted with ink, and her slightly pale, peach-colored lips,
All of it, the beauty that had earned her the title Flower King Peony, was a result of the excessive use of her Innate Qi.
If Severed Meridian Syndrome caused issues due to blocked or disconnected meridians, Flowing Meridian Syndrome was the opposite,
Too many meridians were open, allowing the body to freely consume even the Innate Qi that should have been preserved, using it to sustain a state of perfection.
Her father had asked in a sorrowful voice,
「“Is there no way to stop this, Medicine Immortal?”
“What maintains a woman's beauty is originally yin energy. So she needs yin energy. If her body is filled with highly pure yin energy, it will be consumed first, before her Innate Qi.
Even if she trains in Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art, which carries the energy of pure yang, and takes spiritual medicine, it will hardly aid her internal energy cultivation. But… this is the only way.”」
Snapping out of thoughts about her illness, Namgoong Seol responded to her younger sister’s plea.
“Fine, I’ll do as you say. So, forgive me.”
“Really? You promise, sis?”
“Yes.”
Her younger sister beamed with joy.
But it was a lie.
As she followed her sister, who carried the lantern, Namgoong Seol thought to herself.
She was like the flame burning inside that lantern,
A light that would vanish once the oil was fully consumed.
That was why, before the oil ran dry and she disappeared, she had to,
She had to perfect the Emperor’s Sword Form, no matter what.
*****
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