Chapter 52: There is No Such Thing As Retreat (2)

Translator: Hwarang

Editor: Coyo

Ma Jung Soo put the bag of money inside the vault.

Since he was able to achieve something that he never thought he could achieve, the grin on his

face remained.

After calling the woman, he reported to her about the money that he borrowed. He made it sound

like he was the one who got the money, “You should have seen their fearful expression.”

I was outside listening to him telling his story.

How can someone be this shameless? Additionally, he said it knowing that I was listening from the

outside.

“You must report all this to him! Understood?”

After listening to his story the woman left the room giving me a glance.

Her glance was inquisitorial. Questioning whether all this was my doing.

Since she had observed him for a long period of time, she knew that Ma Jung Soo wasn’t a

person who could display such bravery.

Although I didn’t reply, she knew what I was implying.

I became very doubtful watching her leave. Was she really sent by Ma Bong Gi? No matter how

low in the ranking Ma Jung Soo was to the successor’s seat, how could she react in such a way

toward one of her master’s children?

There was a possibility that she was emotionless due to the fact that she was raised like an

a.s.sa.s.sin.

But there was also a possibility that she acted like this due to the fact that she wasn’t raised by Ma

Bong Gi. Then who did? And why did Ma Bong Gi agree to let such a person watch and observe

his descendants?

“Warrior Kal, please enter.”

“Yes sir.”

As I entered the room he spoke to me with a big smile on his face, “I took some of your credit

warrior Kal, it’s alright, right?”

“Of course sir.”

“Haha, I knew that you were sensible.”

I gave a fake smile as an answer to his empty compliment.

“I have a question sir?”

“What is it?”

“Do other successors have people similar to that woman?”

Ma Jung Soo nodded, “That is what I heard.”

“Are they all women?”

“I heard some were women while other men. But why are you asking?”

“To help you achieve greater things, these are the small things that I must know.”

This was my plan to extort as much information I could from him before killing him.

Not knowing my true intent Ma Jung Soo just smiled.

“How did your father become the Mengju? Was it through years of planning?”

“That’s… of course!”

He didn’t answer this question immediately meaning that he also didn’t know about it.

Since Ma Bong Gi had over twenty children, why would he care for all of them?

“Why are you asking this?”

“Because just a moment ago I was picturing you sitting on the Mengju’s chair.”

“Me? Sitting on the Mengju’s chair? That is unlikely to happen.”

“It’s not completely unlikely. You still have the chance to become the Mengju.”

“If you help me it might be a possibility.”

“Since we are talking about it, who do you think is your greatest compet.i.tor?”

“Most likely it would be Ma Chul Goon.”

Out of the twenty-two sons that Ma Bong Gi had, Ma Chul Goon was his fifth son who was

currently holding the position of temporary master of Heavenly Dao Gate.

Although I had never seen Ma Chul Goon, I heard that he was pretty smart, clear headed and had

a good personality unlike the rest of his brothers.

“The next person is?”

“Ma Ryung In is very cunning, Ma Yang Hwa is very evil. Ma Koong Tae is strong but ignorant, Ma

Sung Hoo is still very young.”

Since this was an evaluation coming from Ma Jung Soo so I didn’t know how they truly were as I

had never met them. But it seems that they can’t be worse than Ma Jung Soo.

Ma Chul Goon, Ma Ryung In, Ma Yang Hwa, Ma Koong Tae, Ma Sung Hoo, Ma Jung Soo. These

six were the ones who were currently struggling for the seat of the successor.

“Out of these five, someone is trying to hinder my progress.”

Ma Jung Soo held deep hatred against these five.

“Don’t you think that they are doing this because they think that you are greatest threat to them?”

My words were like honey to Ma Jung Soo’s ears, making his face brighter by the minute.

I said with a truthful expression, “I will do everything that I can to help you sir.”

“I will trust you warrior Kal.”

Ma Jung Soo said something I would have never imagined, “Ah, can you go to Jae Nam with me.”

“To Jae Nam?”

“Yes, I am only telling you this but I had some trouble there. Due to the fact that San Dong

Merchant was unable to provide the money, the contract to build the Martial Arts School became

void.”

“So, such a thing happened.”

“Yes so, I decided to take the money over there personally. To finish this contract as soon as

possible.”

He could have requested someone from their side some to come here, but that would have taken

some time and there was no guarantee that they would agree to come here since there were

rumors that he was the one who canceled the deal. They could make some sort of excuse to not

come here.

“Yes, I plan on going there personally.”

Then I said in a low voice, “But it is dangerous to travel with so much money.”

“I’m only going to take how much I need to make the deposit. If you and that woman come with

me, that would be plenty as an escort.”

Even though he hated that woman, what he hated more was getting robbed. So he thought that

this was the best option.

There was a safer way to transfer the money. Which was to place it in a bank and withdraw it at

Jae Nam. But that would take at least ten days and he didn’t have the time to wait that long.

“I think it would be safe if your escort is only us.”

“So you trust her?”

“How could I trust her? Didn’t you personally warn me to be wary of her? Isn’t having two hands

better than one?”

“We will leave early in the morning. So be prepared.”

“Yes.”

I wanted to eliminate him tonight but decided not to. Since I had the opportunity to find out more

about that woman’s ident.i.ty when we get to Jae Nam, I was going to keep him alive for a few

more days.

Don’t be too happy that I am keeping you alive for a few more days. It’s just that your luck is

terrible. You will soon feel my wrath starting with the fake money.

The next day a carriage pulls in front of the manor.

Next to me sat the woman, since she couldn’t refuse Ma Jung Soo’s order to escort him.

She was silent through most of the way. Since she wasn’t one to talk I didn’t even start a

conversation with her.

I was able to see her hand clearer than ever. It was unlike other women’s hands. It was rough and

full of callus. Which showed that she was a pract.i.tioner of the fist art.

And a very seasoned expert at that.

On top of that she also had numerous scars. One of her scars ran from her left hand all the way

up to her arm. I couldn’t properly see the rest of her scars or where it ended since it was covered

by her clothes, but was sure that she had more.

Sensing that my attention was on her hand, she covered that scar with her other hand.

Although I wanted to ask I didn’t since it might have been rude.

“Have you mastered the Fist Art?”

 A few moments later she replied, “Yes”

“Of all the arts that exist why have you mastered the fist art?”

Fist Arts were a martial art that very few female chose because of their lack of strength and they

didn’t want to mar their appearance.

“I… didn’t have a choice.”

The conversation was put on hold for a bit.

This meant that she was trained by some organization since her childhood.

“At one point I favored the fist art as well, because I think men should fight with their fists.”

This was true since I mastered many different types of martials arts beside Sword Arts like the Fist

Arts, the Spear Arts and other arts.

But among them I particularly favored the Fist Arts after my Sword Arts. This was due to my

mastery of Fist of the Peerless Wind G.o.d art.

This Fist Art was created by  the previous fight king and it was preserved in the Murim

Headquarter Library.

It was hard to master and on top of that this was the period when I was still roaming the Central

Plain crushing my opponents with my Ashura Soul Chasing Art, so I had only scratched the

surface and did not dedicate that  much time trying to learn from it.

“If I hadn’t learned the sword art I would have mastered the fist art.”

Then she said, “That’s just an excuse.”

When I turned to look at her she continued, “Just an excuse since you didn’t want to learn it.”

“While you must have dexterity to learn sword art, don’t you become stiff after learning the fist art?

Unless I learn the throwing art these two arts, the fist art and sword art, do not complement each

other.”

“Who said that?”

I paused for a second. What I said earlier was information that most experts knew. Since she was

an expert she should have heard of something like this before.

“Have you ever asked the Strongest Under Heaven about this?”

“No”

Hey, look here. Mysterious lady. These are the words that are coming straight out of the Strongest

Under Heaven’s mouth.

Then she continued, “I believe, the Strongest Under Heaven would never say such a thing. He

would never be bounded by these beliefs.”

Something shook my heart.

‘The Strongest Under Heaven would never be bounded by these beliefs’. If it was me from before,

after hearing something like this I would have replied, ‘Hey, look here just because I am the

Strongest Under Heaven doesn’t make me any different from you. It’s just that I have master

thousands of martial arts which have allowed me to reach this place.’

But after hearing what she said, I thought of something that I had never thought of before.

Shouldn’t the strongest under heaven be different?

Even though some things were pa.s.sed down through traditions, shouldn’t the Strongest Under

Heaven decipher them differently and apply them in a different manner? Because he was the

Strongest Under Heaven? The strongest person under heaven.

Couldn’t he prove the whole world wrong?

I never experimented with it before. I never experimented whether sword arts were compatible

with fist arts or if they were truly incompatible with.

If I displayed the sword arts along with the fist arts what sort of beautiful combination would it give

birth to?

Shouldn’t I have learned martial art with this sort of mindset? Since I saw martial arts with

limitations and boundaries, once I remove those boundaries, wouldn’t I be able to find the truth,

the Spirit-Sword?

Since I was stuck in my beliefs I was unable to move past that limitation.

When I got back to my senses, I saw that she was driving the carriage. She was driving the

carriage after seeing me fall into  deep and profound thoughts.

I set out on this journey to discover her true ident.i.ty, but it seemed that this experience with her

allowed me to see many different things. Although this was a small insight, this was all I needed to

break through the threshold.

As I was about to thank her the carriage got out of the main road.

“Ahh!” She showed some signs of amazement for the first time in this journey. On top of the

mountain were beautiful autumn leaves changing their color. It was truly a beautiful sight.

Her reaction surprised me since I thought she was emotionless.

Then I said to her, “Thank you.”

She made a light grin. It seemed that she was not used to being thanked. Then she focused her

sight back towards the mountain admiring the view.

How long did we ride for?

Few travelers who were on horseback came towards our side.

I was surprised to see the lead person. It was Song Woo Kyung, and beside him was Song Hwa

Rin. And the people who were around them were all martial artists of the Song Clan. It seemed

that they were coming back from some sort of  mission.

Since I saw them in this unexpected place I was truly surprised. But of course, they wouldn’t know

my thoughts since I was wearing a face-alteration mask.

As we drove past them Ma Jung Soo said to me, “Stop the carriage.”

I stopped the carriage then he stuck his head out the window and said loudly, “Song Gaju-nim!”

Song Woo Kyung stopped his horse and turned his horse around.

“Oh! Lord Ma!”

The reason why Ma Jung Soo stopped the carriage wasn’t because of Song Woo Kyung, it was

because of the young lady who was beside him.

Following Song Woo Kyung’s lead, Song Hwa Rin as well as their guards got off their horse.

“This is my daughter Song Hwa Rin. Show your respect, he is Lord Ma of Heavenly Dao Gate.”

Song Hwa Rin greeted Ma Jung Soo, “This is our first meeting, I am called Song Hwa Rin.”

“Oh, so you were someone this beautiful. My heart is beating nonstop.”

Ma Jung Soo might have said it jokingly but I knew he truly meant it because he couldn’t take his

eyes of Song Hwa Rin.

Feeling awkward, Song Hwa Rin gave him a light smile and said, “But I am sorry sir, I have a

fiancé.”

“I heard, isn’t he the rascal son of the Byuk Clan? I am sorry.”

Although he said it on purpose, he apologized as if he had made a mistake.

I knew his true nature. He was someone who would turn tail when faced with a stronger

opponent, but if he believed he was superior than that person he acted without shame. He was

weak against the strong, while strong against the weak.

“It may be rude but, I heard that you requested a divorce.”

Then Song Hwa Rin replied with a smile, “You know how fickle a woman’s mind is.”

“Does that mean you are not going to divorce him?”

“All I can tell you about Byuk Lee Dan is he is greater than how he is portrayed in Kang Ho.”

“Oh, you feel that way about him. He must have something that others don’t see.”

You son of a, since you can’t talk bad about me you are trying all sorts of things now…

Song Hwa Rin continued, “I think you also have something that is not known to the public.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Song Hwa Rin just continued smiling.

Ma Jung Soo and I both knew the meaning of this smile. Although she heard that Ma Jung Soo

was an amazing person, seeing him in person made her realize that he was lacking in many ways.

She took a page of his book.

If she said something like that when I am around I would have appreciated it less. But seeing her

act this way behind my back I was thankful.

The mysterious woman said to me, “So you are also the same.”

“What?”

She just turned her head again, “You can’t take your eyes off that miss.”

“That’s…”

Since I couldn’t tell her my relation with Song Hwa Rin I stopped.

After sensing the solemnness in the atmosphere Song Woo Kyung quickly departed after saying

his farewells, “We must be off since we still have things to do. Next time I will invite you to our

house formally.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Song Woo Kyung’s party quickly departed the other way.

“B*tch! You dare mock me!”

Listening to him scream I smiled. How does it feel to be mocked?

Hahaha. Good job Hwa Rin-ah.

We raised our speed as well. Soon Ma Jung Soo’s words became m.u.f.fled under the noise of the

wind.