Chapter 12

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‘But what if I shouldn’t have told him? Maybe he’ll be upset. Or he might think it’s just the ramblings of a child.’

“Ying.”

“Yes, yes? Yes!”

Jung-yeong, who had been walking, was startled and looked at Ryeon. It seemed he hadn’t expected Ryeon to know his name.

“Want to practice footwork?”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m still lacking….”

Jung-yeong was even more surprised and hurriedly spoke. It was natural for him to be startled, as he had been doing something else while accompanying his master.

“No, no, I’m not saying anything. Just….”

Ryeon trailed off for a moment and then let go of Jung-yeong’s hand. Although he had never practiced martial arts, he had lived his whole life in a martial arts family and naturally knew the basic footwork.

For a beginner, it would be fortunate if their feet didn’t tangle, but Ryeon had a sense of rhythm.

Ryeon’s steps moved joyfully and lightly.

“This isn’t just about moving away from the enemy. It’s a good movement to use when you need to dodge and then advance. So, you put firm strength in your left foot, which is the rear leg, to pull your body back and then use that momentum to move forward.”

“Yes?”

“You pull your right leg with your left foot as the axis, so don’t be afraid of the slight tilt in your body and move quickly. It might be better.”

Tap, ta-da!

The movement of taking one step back from Jung-yeong and then one step closer was light, like a child playing a prank on a relative, but there was a subtle technique in his steps.

“Ah… Ah, yes! I will remember it. Thank you for your guidance.”

Jung-yeong clasped his hands and bowed. Ryeon, feeling awkward at his overly compliant response, scratched his cheek.

‘Well, of course. If the master’s eldest grandson tells you to do something, you’d say you understand, wouldn’t you?’

Feeling awkward and regretful for having spoken, Ryeon remained silent.

The mansion was so vast that it would take at least an hour to tour it all. By the time the two quietly arrived at the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, the morning sun was shining brightly.

“Now… you want to go to the library in the Jae-gyeong Pavilion?”

“Ying said the same thing. Is there a problem with that?”

Ryeon’s words, said with a smile, startled the Jae-gyeong Pavilion’s head, who then looked at the warrior standing next to her and held her hand.

The head of the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, Seol Gwan-hee, was in his early forties, but his hair was already graying, while his face was smooth and youthful, making him look like a young man.

“Oh, what are you saying? Of course, you can go in. Absolutely.”

The head of the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, trying to recall the last time he had entered the library ten days ago, led Ryeon to the library.

‘Was it well-organized? Or not? Ah, I remember. I left the documents on the table and told Choe-il to organize them. Did he do a good job?’

Even though Danmok Ryeon was just a child, barely a year old, she felt uneasy and anxious.

Ryeon, wanting to know what was going on, left the head of the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, who looked like he was about to get a headache, at the entrance of the library and went inside.

She could feel the head of the Jae-gyeong Pavilion, like a rooster, stretching his neck to peek inside.

‘I need to understand how the family works to do anything.’

She already knew the family was in trouble.

Just the fact that her aunt, Danmok Hyun-yo, who was acting as the head of the family, couldn’t stay at home and had to go to the Martial Arts Alliance was a clear sign.

To stand up, you need to know where you’re sitting. If you’re sitting on eggs, you’ll break them if you stand up too hastily. If you’re sitting on sand, you’ll sink.

Ryeon took a deep breath and began to look around with bright eyes.

* * *

“Is our sister… very sick?”

“I don’t think so….”

Two boys were peeking around Danmok Ryeon’s quarters. Jung-yeong, the warrior guarding the quarters, noticed their presence and smiled at the sight of the young boys whispering to each other.

But his smile soon faded.

A few days ago, early in the morning, Danmok Ryeon had visited the Jae-gyeong Pavilion.

Everyone was puzzled at first, but soon understood. She must have wanted to read some characters since she had almost finished learning the Thousand Character Classic.

The problem was that since that day, a cloud had hung over the young girl’s face.

Her smile had faded, and her laughter had diminished. Even her appetite had decreased, and the family was in a state of emergency.

Even her young brothers had gathered to peek inside, so worried were they.

“Should we pick some plum blossoms? Maybe seeing the flowers will cheer her up.”

Danmok Bi muttered. The small boy, who couldn’t even reach the branches, stretched his neck to look at the plum tree, which had no visible buds.

The other boy standing next to him shook his head with a bored expression.

“You can’t reach them with your height, and it’s still a long time before they bloom.”

“But there are already plenty of golden osmanthus around.”

“Those won’t cheer her up.”

“Then what should we bring?”

“Hmm… maybe a stack of bills.”

“Bills? What are those?”

Jung-yeong, overhearing the boys’ conversation, glanced at Hwaryun, who had mentioned the ‘bills.’

With his large, clear eyes and well-defined features, Danmok Bi, standing next to Hwaryun, would make anyone think they were two young masters, not a master and a servant.

It was said that Hwaryun was a boy who had caught Danmok Ryeon’s eye by chance, and because he was very bright, she had decided to raise him as a companion and a close aide from a young age.

“Bills, is that all it takes? Where can we get them? Should we ask our mother?”

“It was just a suggestion. If it were that easy to get, she wouldn’t be like this.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Exactly… I wonder why she’s like this. Sigh, I have an idea, but….”

The low, sighing voice didn’t sound like that of a child at all.

Jung-yeong had started to pay attention to Hwaryun not long after he entered the Danmok family.

Although he was just a servant, he thought the boy might become a close aide to the family’s main pillar in ten or twenty years, so he decided to observe him.

But one day, the boy suddenly turned to look at him.

Without blinking, he stared at him intently, scanning him from head to toe, and then turned his head away as if he had lost interest.

After that, the boy never paid any attention to him again.

But that penetrating gaze left a strange and chilling impression in Jung-yeong’s heart.

“This is a tough one. Let’s start by memorizing the Thousand Character Classic. Have you memorized it all?”

“Eh? No… not yet… What about you, Hyun?”

“I’ve memorized as much as you. Let’s go and memorize the Thousand Character Classic quickly.”

“But what about our sister…?”

“If you memorize the Thousand Character Classic and learn swordsmanship from the Grand Patriarch, your sister will get up and cheer. She’ll be the happiest.”

“Really?”

“She’ll be so happy that she’ll dance when you become the best in the world.”

“Really, really? But can I become the best in the world?”

“Hmm… it won’t be easy.”

Jung-yeong watched the two boys as they walked away.

The best in the world… He had once had such a dream. But those days felt so distant now.

Jung-yeong suddenly recalled the day she visited the Jae-gyeong Pavilion.

That early morning, Danmok Ryeon had given him pointers on his footwork, but he hadn’t really cared much about it.

It would be too difficult to continue if he let every word from the family’s heir affect him.

But after that, he hadn’t practiced footwork for a while, feeling self-conscious. Jung-yeong looked down at his feet.

* * *

Ryeon lay flat on the bed.

‘Sigh….’

Then she turned over and buried her head in her arms.

‘What can I do about this?’

She couldn’t sleep.

The days she spent using spirit energy to extend her lifespan seemed like a dream.

Her decision to visit the Jae-gyeong Pavilion was half impulsive, but she hadn’t expected the family to be in such a state.

The number of shops directly operated by the family had decreased to a countable few, and the Youcheng Escort Agency, which had once extended its reach beyond Xinjiang, had shrunk to a fraction of its former size.

Now, the only escort missions outside Zhejiang Province were to Henan and Shanxi, and even those were only because the Martial Arts Alliance was in Henan and Wei Zhiqing’s brother was in the Huashan Sect in Shanxi.

Whenever they needed money, they had sold their land, and the amount they owned was now half of what it was twenty years ago. The fruit trees in the orchard had long withered, and the family’s medical pavilion had been split in half, with half absorbed by Hangzhou’s Hosun Medical Pavilion, leaving only the pharmacy.

The family, which used to accept new disciples every three years, had skipped the last cycle.

They decided to focus on maintaining the existing disciples rather than accepting new ones. Why? Because they couldn’t maintain the family’s current size anymore.

As a result, the number of people had decreased, and the warriors the family had nurtured slipped away like sand slipping through their fingers.