The next day, the trio left the Wudang Sect behind.
Hyun Gong was still bleeding profusely, which drew suspicious glances from passersby. However, thanks to Young Bo Jin’s masterful swordsmanship and desperate defense, his injuries weren’t debilitating.
The worst of it was a shallow cut along his ribs from the Song Moon Sword.
’…Honestly, that’s enough to make moving difficult.’
Every time Hyun Gong moved, he winced in pain, his eyebrows twitching involuntarily. Yet, neither Tang Mu Jin nor Hong Geol Gae felt the slightest sympathy. Despite his furrowed brow, Hyun Gong wore a smug smile that refused to leave his face.
“Are you sure you can move?” Hong Geol Gae asked skeptically.
Hyun Gong tilted his chin up at the question, looking down slightly despite their similar heights. With a smirk, he replied, “Of course. A leader mustn’t be swayed by mere discomfort.”
His arrogant demeanor, coupled with that unsettling smile, made it clear to Tang Mu Jin and Hong Geol Gae what had transpired between Hyun Gong and Young Bo Jin the previous day.
Indeed, Hyun Gong’s talk of becoming a sect leader wasn’t just empty words.
‘It seems Young Bo Jin intends to dismantle the Wudang Sect. Perhaps this is the end of its history.’
The two felt a strange mix of emotions. Though they often bickered, they genuinely wished each other well. But this was more than they had bargained for.
Hyun Gong, still with his chin raised, asked Tang Mu Jin, “We’re heading straight to Chengdu, right?”
Tang Mu Jin considered whether to knock that chin down a peg but shook his head instead. “No, there’s somewhere we need to stop by first.”
“Where?”
“I’m concerned about the Gongdong Sect. We should at least take a look before heading back.”
“Hmm, true.”
Tang Mu Jin wasn’t the only one with suspicions about the Gongdong Sect. While Hong Geol Gae hadn’t paid much attention during the meeting, Hyun Gong found the sect and its leader, Baek Ya Hyo, somewhat peculiar.
A mysterious master from the unorthodox sect suddenly becoming a leader? It was unsettling to dismiss it as just another quirk of the Gongdong Sect.
Hyun Gong took the lead in suggesting, “Then let’s return via Hanzhong instead of Zhongjing. That should work, right?”
Traveling through Hanzhong to Sichuan would shorten their route and allow them to pass near the Gongdong Sect’s headquarters, killing two birds with one stone.
Hong Geol Gae turned to Tang Mu Jin. “What about Namgung Myung?”
“Of course, he has to come with us.”
Rumors had spread that the Shintu had raided the Huashan and Zhongnan sects. By now, the sect leaders were likely rushing back to their headquarters, and Namgung Myung would be making his final moves before they returned.
Even Namgung Myung couldn’t waltz in and out of a sect with its leader present. And they would likely need Namgung Myung’s skills to spy on the Gongdong Sect.
After all, no one in their group was as adept at stealthy infiltration as Namgung Myung.
Hong Geol Gae tapped his heel on the ground thoughtfully. “But we don’t know where Namgung Myung is or how to contact him. Are we just going to wait in the village until he shows up?”
“That’s not an option. We can’t just sit around indefinitely waiting for him. We’ll go ahead and wait for him there.”
“How do you plan to contact him?”
“You don’t need to know a fish’s exact location to catch it. You just need to cast your net along the stream.”
Hong Geol Gae frowned at Tang Mu Jin’s cryptic words. “What are you talking about?”
“Namgung Myung won’t return without passing near the Wudang Sect. Just follow me.”
Tang Mu Jin had known Namgung Myung for six years. Just as a dog learns to recite poetry after three years at a school, watching a thief for six years teaches you a thing or two about thievery.
Tang Mu Jin headed for the most affluent-looking house in the village below Wudang Mountain.
Pointing to the house, he said, “If Namgung Myung returns to this village, he’ll definitely come here.”
It was as obvious as the sun rising in the east, so neither Hong Geol Gae nor Hyun Gong argued.
The three of them moved to the opposite side of the gate and leapt over the wall. Despite it being broad daylight, no one in the house noticed them.
Once over the wall, they saw a large building that seemed to divide the estate into two halves.
They paused to think.
‘If I were Namgung Myung, where would I go from here?’
The less-traveled left side? The right side with more hiding spots?
No, that was too ordinary. They climbed onto the roof of the building directly in front of them.
Crawling along the ridge of the roof, they hung from the eaves, peering inside.
Even at this moment, they needed no discussion. They knew Namgung Myung too well.
Their ability to predict his actions so effortlessly made Hong Geol Gae sigh. “They say you become like those you associate with. Have we become as dark as Namgung Myung?”
“True. Namgung Myung has a lot to answer for.”
“Sometimes I wonder if Sword Demon Namgung Jincheon was too lenient. If I were him, I’d have cut off Namgung Myung’s good arm instead of the one already broken.”
“You’re right.”
They whispered as they surveyed the building’s interior. Fortunately, it seemed empty.
They quietly entered, with Tang Mu Jin leading the way. Naturally, Hyun Gong stayed at the back, reasoning that those with less to lose should go first.
The interior was quite lavish, a place Namgung Myung would find hard to resist.
Tang Mu Jin scanned the surroundings and then looked up.
The most comfortable spot for Namgung Myung, the main beam, was visible.
Tang Mu Jin leapt up to the beam and pulled out a small knife.
‘Writing “Namgung So-and-so” would be too obvious, right?’
He carved a message into the beam.
This way, even if someone discovered the message later, it wouldn’t cause any trouble.
“Done. Let’s get out of here.”
The three quickly exited the estate and headed west toward Gongdong Mountain.
Gongdong Mountain is located in Pingliang County, Gansu.
Compared to the distance between other sects and their nearby villages, the Gongdong Sect and Pingliang County were relatively far apart.
To understand why, one must consider the relationship between orthodox martial sects and local villagers.
To outsiders, martial sects are reliable pillars of support. Even the most arrogant black path practitioners or unruly ruffians become humble near a martial sect.
Moreover, orthodox martial artists are excellent customers for merchants. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, and naturally, property values rise the closer you are to a martial sect.
Thus, if a sect is on a mountain, villages cluster around it. If a sect is at the base, villages surround it.
While there are cases where villages predate the arrival of a sect, the result is always the same.
But the Gongdong Sect is different. Most of its martial artists hail from the black path.
People gathered in Pingliang County near Gongdong Mountain to make a living through interactions with the Gongdong Sect.
However, the reality was that Gongdong Sect martial artists were more likely to intimidate villagers than protect them.
As people found the Gongdong Sect troublesome, the distance between Gongdong Mountain and Pingliang County subtly increased.
Instead, Pingliang County itself grew quite large, as if it had absorbed all the small villages nearby.
“This place is about half the size of Zhongjing.”
“Indeed.”
The group stopped short of entering the heart of Pingliang County.
Unlike other times when they had nothing to hide, they were here to spy on the Gongdong Sect. They needed to avoid situations where they might encounter Gongdong Sect martial artists or arouse their suspicions.
Hyun Gong asked, “What do we do now?”
“We’ll stay here until Namgung Myung arrives and gather information about the Gongdong Sect.”
“If we do that, the Gongdong Sect martial artists will hear about us.”
It’s natural for locals to be interested in the Gongdong Sect, but outsiders showing interest is suspicious.
Tang Mu Jin waved his hand dismissively. “Who said anything about interrogating people? We need to blend in and act like ordinary folks.”
“How?”
“Follow me.”
Instead of heading to the town center, Tang Mu Jin meandered along the outskirts.
No one found their behavior particularly odd. In a town as large as Pingliang County, with over ten thousand households, not everyone knew each other. As long as they didn’t act suspiciously, they wouldn’t draw attention.
‘The problem is that outsiders asking about the Gongdong Sect is suspicious behavior.’
The solution was simple: blur the perception of being outsiders and listen for information without actively seeking it.
Before long, Tang Mu Jin found a half-collapsed blacksmith’s shop on the outskirts. It was clearly abandoned.
“Is anyone here…?”
Tang Mu Jin cautiously stepped inside. As expected, it was empty.
All the sellable items had long disappeared, leaving only a thick layer of dust and an old forge behind.
It must have been abandoned for at least three years.
“The blacksmith isn’t coming back, is he?”
Dang Mujin said to Hyun Gong and Hong Geolgae.
“For now, this forge will be our base. Let’s clean it up first. We’ll have to buy or borrow any tools we need from nearby blacksmiths.”
“Are you planning to play blacksmith?” Hyun Gong sounded a bit disgruntled, a clear shift from his usual unquestioning compliance.
“Yes. If three able-bodied men just laze around, anyone would find it suspicious. We need to do something.”
“What I mean is, why a blacksmith’s forge?”
Dang Mujin raised an eyebrow. “And what else can you do besides being a blacksmith’s assistant?”
Hong Geolgae could blend in easily by begging, using his skills to mix with the locals. The town beggars might look down on him a bit, but ordinary people wouldn’t pay much attention. To them, beggars appear and disappear like mist.
But Hyun Gong was different.
“What can I do?” he thought.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The only thing Hyun Gong had ever learned was the martial arts of the Wudang Sect. But he couldn’t just set up a martial arts school in Pyeongryang County and start teaching Wudang techniques.
Yet, he couldn’t back down easily. Wasn’t he the leader of their group and the next head of the Wudang Sect? Hyun Gong pressed his point once more.
“Wouldn’t it be better to set up a clinic instead?”
Dang Mujin cut him off sharply again. “No. You can hammer metal at your own pace, but you can’t treat patients that way. Can you just leave people groaning in pain? You have to give it your all.”
“And if you start hammering metal, it’ll be the same. I bet within five days, martial artists from the Gongdong Sect will be lining up, asking you to make swords. It’ll be exposed much faster than if you were a doctor.”
“That won’t happen. I’m only planning to make farming tools.”
“Farming tools? You want to make sickles and plows?”
“Yes.”
Hyun Gong was appalled. Using the skills that forged the Songmun Sword to make something as mundane as a sickle? It was unthinkable.
Blacksmiths generally fall into two categories: those who make weapons and those who make farming tools. Unless they’re particularly skilled or trained by a master swordsmith, blacksmiths are usually associated with making farming tools. In fact, swordsmiths make up only a small fraction of all blacksmiths.
In a similar vein, the status of a skilled swordsmith is much higher than that of a common blacksmith who makes farming tools. Martial artists often maintain close ties with swordsmiths, but they might never speak to a blacksmith who makes farming tools in their entire lives.
In a way, a blacksmith who makes farming tools is the furthest from the world of martial artists—a shadow beneath the lamp, so to speak.
Hyun Gong recalled the past, the times he had begged Dang Mujin to forge a sword, sacrificing sleep to polish his skills day and night.
Would the farmers who bought a sickle for a few coins even recognize its true value?
Of course not. They’d probably just think, “This sickle is pretty sharp and sturdy,” and move on.
A pang of sorrow hit him. Hyun Gong couldn’t bear the thought of such a future.
“That’s just ridiculous…”
Instead of further persuasion, Dang Mujin offered a practical alternative.
“If you don’t like it, you can go with Hong Geolgae and beg.”
As always, Hyun Gong’s decision was swift and precise.
“Let’s start by cleaning up, then.”