MTL NOVEL Chapter 23
“Uncle~.”
Gayoung Jin calls out to me, her pronunciation slurred as if she’s had some alcohol.
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t you like to have a drink with me on such a pleasant day?”
She leans towards me.
She appears to be in a very good mood.
It wouldn’t be wise to ruin that mood.
“If that’s what Miss wishes.”
“Heehee, here you go.”
Glug-glug…
As I accept the drink she offers, I ask a question.
“What are your plans from now?”
“Are you bringing up work at a drinking session??”
“…I apologize.”
As I receive and drink the cup, she smiles contently and replies.
Looking like she wasn’t going to answer at all.
“I have a lot to do. I have to deal with the blob of corruption that is the Elder Council, who holds all the power. I also need to participate in the Seven Flowers Tournament to be officially recognized as one of the Seven Flowers. And although it will take a long time… someday I would also like to elevate the Taewon Jin Clan to the rank of one of the Five Great Families. Of course, the latter is just a hopeful dream.”
The Five Great Families? Jin Gayoung has her eyes set that high.
Given the state of internal affairs now, it might not be as difficult as it seems.
As if she had the same thought as me, a heavy fog settles over Jin Gayoung’s face as she rattles off her aspirations.
“Uncle.”
“Yes.”
“Would you live with me quietly in some peaceful countryside?”
“Me and you?”
Jin Gayoung’s expression was serious.
A question she could only throw while intoxicated, but one could also see it as a sincerity that broke through the haze of her drunken state.
“Yes, somewhere where no one can interfere. Just us two.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I think I would be absolutely happy if that happened.”
“If that’s what Miss wishes.”
“…It’s a joke, if it weren’t, I wouldn’t have become the head of the household in the first place. How many family members do I have to support now? Where would I even have the time for that?”
“I see.”
It doesn’t really seem like a joke.
But if she says it was, there’s nothing I can say.
“Uncle, you’re too serious! Why are you taking a joke like this so seriously?! Surely you weren’t actually considering living with someone young and pretty like me?”
“I apologize.”
“Hahaha… Have another drink. We have to keep drinking on a day like today! There’s a lot to do in the future! It’s going to get insanely busy but… this is the day I’ve become truly recognized as the head!”
“Yes.”
I can’t get drunk.
The inner energy entrenched within my body makes it impossible.
I can allow myself to be slightly tipsy without using my inner energy, but that’s my limit.
What’s the point of drinking if I can’t even get drunk?
“…aren’t you having some strange thoughts?”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t do that. Not everything about drinking is about getting drunk, right?”
“Yes.”
After that, I spent a long while drinking with Gayoung Jin.
Even though she was already quite drunk, she had by now reached full intoxication.
I had seen a similar state once before, but she has a habit of leaning on others when drunk.
It’s a stark contrast to her usual demeanor, where, burdened by the weight of being the leader of the Taewon Jin Clan, she pretends to be strong. Her current state appears to show that, deep down, she is a fragile young woman who simply wants to lean on someone.
Just like this right now.
“Mmm…”
Gayoung Jin rubs her cheek against my thigh.
The servant nearby is at a loss.
Attempting to ease her burden, I try to gently move Gayoung away, but instead, she clings even closer.
“Uncle… don’t leave me…”
Is she still saying that?
Even though I’ve made it clear that I’m not going anywhere, she’s still like this.
It seems that the promise I made to Namgung So-so must have deeply hurt her.
“Uncle…”
Jin Gayoung speaks again.
Her pouting, drunken form is adorable, making it natural for me to lean in to listen.
“You’ve changed…”
My ears perk up.
Changed? Me?
“A little…”
…
“AAAAAAAHHH!!”
A blood-curdling scream echoes.
Did it reach the entirety of the Jin family estate?
I hope it did.
The less carving, the better.
“White Blade Wanderer! What is the meaning of this? You’re betraying the main family!”
The reputation of my newly acquired alias, “Byul Rak,” is growing.
I wanted to live low-profile but it seems like that ship has already sailed.
Well, it doesn’t matter. If reaching higher ranks will help Jin Gayoung, I will climb as high as necessary.
I’ve done it thousands of times, what’s one more climb?
“To betray the main family was the elders’ doing. What was your reasoning for paying tribute to Mount Hua Sect in Xianxi?”
“Chieftain!”
Jin Gayoung, her face half-hidden by a fan, strides forth delicately.
She already bears the complete appearance of the true head.
At first glance, she seemed like an exemplary junior filled with martial virtue, but now she has a cunning fox’s charm.
It’s not like I dislike that. On the contrary, it’s better this way; she won’t have to foolishly suffer like I did.
Though… isn’t it strange for me to seem even more youthful than Jin Gayoung?
“Head! How can you treat us this way! Who will take responsibility!”
“Responsibility for what? Dealing with Mount Hua Sect’s underlings?”
“It was merely a tribute to sustain our family! We have said this multiple times!”
“Indeed, and in return, didn’t you receive a bit of elixir and martial arts? Was I wrong?”
“Argh…!”
The grand elder, an old man, clamps his mouth shut like a bear that’s eaten honey.
The other elders resisting in a straight line behind him grit their teeth in defiance.
Swishhh!
I send a massive sword qi horizontally, shattering the swords they relied on, shocking them into kneeling.
As expected of people who’ve bribed Mount Hua Sect and received favors, their mental fortitude is nonexistent.
“Head! Please spare our lives!”
“Spare our lives!”
The elders, their support broken, one by one grasp at Jin Gayoung’s hem, begging for their lives.
The grand elder alone seems determined to hold out, despite lacking the courage for such an endeavor.
From his body flows Taiching Gang Qi, Mount Hua Sect’s internal energy.
Truly, these so-called righteous sects are no different from the Blood Cult.
Back in the days when we were earnestly combating the Blood Cult, they must have escaped by eliminating these cancerous elements. But when that became meaningless, they simply stayed alive.
Well, judging by how they are dying again at my hands, their fates seem to be predetermined.
“So, Grand Elder, have you resigned yourself to this?”
“Impossible, I plan to exterminate all of you and flee to Mount Hua!”
“Are you aware of what happens when someone from our family who has mastered True Martial Skills learns another sect’s martial arts? Would Mount Hua Sect overlook this favorably?”
“It is none of your concern. Peony Swordplay far surpasses the crude martial arts of the Jin Family. It is disgraceful to see someone who cannot even ascend in rank like you.”
“Are you belittling True Heaven Ice Flame Swordplay! How infuriating!”
“Hmph. Even at its peak, it is only a supreme martial art. It is far from matching the Lonely God Swordplay, which can shoulder the weight against the King’s Swordplay of the Namgung family and the Taiji Wisdom Swordplay of Wudang.”
“You would never have received Lonely God Swordplay even if you went to Mount Hua.”
“Even with just the fourteen Plum Blossom Swordplay moves I have learned, it far exceeds True Heaven Ice Flame Swordplay.”
“…Is that so? Let’s settle the matter of strength, then.”
Jin Gayoung strides forward, bristling.
Oh my…
“Miss, no matter how angry you are, fighting yourself is dangerous…”
“Let go. This old man irks me. How dare he belittle True Heaven Ice Flame Swordplay?”
Even for someone who practices King’s Swordplay, someone who has never been disrespected for their martial arts, is this reaction really so anger-inducing?
Even if she is upset, considering Jin Gayoung’s temperament, she wouldn’t be so emotional in dealing with the situation.
“Ho? Is that young thing daring to fight me who has blood not yet dried?”
“Come on in then, you’ll pay the price for belittling our family’s martial arts.”
“Are you truly delusional enough to duel me one-on-one?”
While verbally provoking, the grand elder subtly glances at me.
Despite saying he will exterminate all, he’s obviously afraid of me.
Having read his mind, Jin Gayoung adds a word.
To me.
“Uncle, don’t interfere. This is a matter of our family’s dignity.”
“…Yes.”
Though I thought even so, there’s a gap in experience and inner energy, I’m reassured by the fact that Jin Gayoung has defeated Namgung So-so.
After all, the outcome of a fight isn’t determined purely by levels of inner energy or martial arts abilities.
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to offer a headstart to the senior disciple?”
… Despite her bold advance, she seems to be afraid.
“I understand. I’ll give you three moves.”
“Really? Shall we start then…”
Shiiing!
“Of course not—it’s all a lie!”
“Hyeek…!”
Is it because it’s a Mount Hua sword that it embodies the swift swordsmanship so well? The grand elder’s sword quickly assaults Jin Gayoung.
Chang!
If Jin Gayoung hadn’t swiftly blocked it, I would have immediately intervened.
“Tha, that she can deflect…! Pretty good there…!”
“Cheating! What are you doing?!”
“Hmph, is there any such thing as cheating in a life-or-death duel?”
“Eep…! So you’re going to…!”
Kaang-!
As Jin Gayoung, who was caught off guard, quickly recovers and enters stance mode, the grand elder advances leading with the fourteen plum blossom sword technique after being surprised for a moment.
There are too many spectators, yet is it right for the grand elder of the Taiwon Jin family to be displaying Mount Hua Sect’s techniques so openly?
…Though it seems unimportant to the current martial arts world.
Kang! Kkaang! Chaang!
The sounds of clashing swords from Jin Gayoung and the grand elder fill the area.
Looking around, most of the Jin family people are whispering about the grand elder.
It seems like capturing the grand elder here will create a disgraceful tale to be told among people for a long time.
Conscious of that or not, Jin Gayoung is employing swift swordsmanship, unlike Taiwon Jin’s usual technique.
What’s surprising is that she’s pressuring the grand elder with just the swift swordsmanship.
Even though she’s clearly inferior in both inner energy and experience.
“What… is going on?”
Is the grand elder also puzzled by this?
As he mutters incomprehensibly to himself, Jin Gayoung withdraws her sword, smirking slyly as she mocks him.
“Why are you so surprised? Is it because you are reluctant to acknowledge that our family’s martial art is superior to Mount Hua’s?”
“Mu, what such nonsense…!”
It’s just sophistry.
Jin Gayoung is gaining the upper hand because of differences in understanding of the sword techniques, not because of the level of martial arts.
There’s no way she doesn’t know this; she’s deliberately saying it.
Angry about the grand elder’s earlier dismissal of her refined sword method.
Perhaps her stalling and taunting are deliberate.
“How else can you explain this situation? You have more internal energy and have learned more martial arts than me, yet you’re losing to me?”
“It can’t be… How can Mount Hua Sect’s technique be inferior to Jin Family’s crude techniques…?”
The grand elder mutters bitterly.
Having already mastered True Heaven Ice Flame Swordplay, doesn’t he realize that trying to learn new techniques will cause his skills to deteriorate?
Or does he consider Mount Hua Sect’s technique to be excellent enough to justify the cost?
Regardless, it’s a one-dimensional judgment.
While martial arts are important, for a martial artist, nothing is more critical than the fundamental realm and enlightenment.
Swoosh!
“Aah!!”
Behold, as Jin Gayoung properly wields her sword, the grand elder’s legs are effortlessly severed.
Even if Jin Gayoung is a genius who was titled a “Sword Flower” at the age of eighteen, it would be impossible without the grand elder’s own greed devouring him.
“Will you admit willingly now? That our family’s True Heaven Ice Flame Swordplay surpasses Mount Hua’s techniques?”
Anyway, speaking these words to so many onlookers…
Although Jin Gayoung outwardly seems emotional, she’s actually very rational and calculating. Why is she going to such extremes?
“Hrm…! Do not delude yourself…! It’s merely because my body has withered with age…”
“Would you have beaten me when you were younger?”
“Not me, but Mount Hua could…! You’re far below someone like Bai Hua (White Flower)…!”
“Really? Can you take responsibility for that statement?”
“Of course…! Can someone like you and the Taiwon Jin family ever be compared to Bai Hua and Mount Hua Sect!”
“Hey, everyone heard that, right? Such outrageous statements from the grand elder?”
Ah, that’s why.
Jin Gayoung’s next target was Bai Hua (White Flower), wasn’t it?
Now I see why she was concerned about the Seven Flowers Tournament, though it hasn’t even begun yet. She’s aiming to replace one of the Seven Flowers with herself.
Her current actions… are an official “declaration of war” against Mount Hua Sect and White Flower under the guise of punishing internal traitors.
“Though, you don’t necessarily have to take responsibility for it.”
“Keh…! What’s your game plan, Jin Gayoung?!”
“How can a corpse take responsibility? Just peacefully rest in the ground.”
“Wh, what are you saying…! Kech!”
Jin Gayoung’s sword now flashes with a heavier presence than before, and the grand elder’s wrinkled neck rolls on the ground.
Once she’s used him for everything useful, it’s time to deal with him immediately.
It’s commendable that she doesn’t leave any loose ends, but something else is bothering me right now.
“The Seven Flower Tournament…”
Regardless of others, Namgung Su-a will be coming.
I should probably stock up on more White Blade Wanderer disguises.