As they stared blankly at Jeok Wigang, he spoke with a serious expression.
“I’m not asking you to accept them for nothing. A great calamity will soon descend upon the martial world. I’m giving you these so you can prepare for it.”
“A calamity?”
“Do you truly believe what happened on Mount Emei was a coincidence?”
“Then someone deliberately caused it?”
“That’s right. Things like this are already happening throughout the Central Plains.”
“My goodness. Amitabha.”
“That is why you must prepare. I’m not simply giving you these weapons as gifts. I’m asking you to ready yourselves to fight when the time comes. Our enemies will not be easy to deal with, so we must prepare thoroughly on our side as well.”
“Hmm.”
“You’ll need good weapons to face them. So don’t refuse. Train with them again and again until each weapon becomes an extension of your body.”
“Benefactor, I am truly sorry.”
“What?”
“While you have been rushing from place to place to preserve the peace of the martial world... we knew nothing and treated you with such discourtesy. I am ashamed.”
No matter how she considered it, Abbess Unjeong felt only remorse.
Jeok Wigang shook his head.
“That feeling is enough. If you are truly sorry, then grow stronger. Become strong enough that I can trust you to guard my back.”
Everyone in the room took on a resolute expression.
To them, Jeok Wigang was the strongest man in the world.
And that man had said he would entrust his back to them—to women, no less.
Those words shook them to their very cores.
“We will!”
“We will defend your back with our lives, Benefactor!”
“We will grow stronger and stronger until you can trust us enough to turn your back to us!”
Their response was even more fervent than Jeok Wigang had expected, leaving him momentarily flustered.
He smiled at their reaction.
“Until then, we will borrow these swords for a while.”
Jeok Wigang nodded.
He had no intention of taking them back anyway.
They seemed more comfortable thinking of it that way, so he simply went along with them.
*****
After Jeok Wigang descended the mountain, the elders gathered in the Abbess’s quarters.
“Starting tomorrow, the Emei Sect will close its gates.”
“What?”
“We have no leisure to concern ourselves with the affairs of the world. From now on, we will devote ourselves solely to training.”
“But if we formally close our gates, won’t our benefactor worry? Would he feel at ease if he heard we had done so because of him?”
“Hmm. I had not considered that. Then we will close our gates unofficially. From today onward, all external activity is forbidden except for matters of genuine importance.”
“Understood.”
“Spare no secret spirit pills of the Emei Sect on disciples with talent. If our benefactor spoke with such gravity, then a calamity capable of deciding the fate of the Central Plains must be coming. This is no time to hoard our resources.”
The elders’ eyes gleamed.
“We will defend our benefactor’s back, no matter what!”
On the quiet night of Mount Emei, the nuns’ resolve burned like flame.
*****
After finishing his business on Mount Emei, Jeok Wigang returned to Mount Qingcheng and found Baek Un pacing with a worried expression.
“Benefactor!”
The moment he spotted Jeok Wigang, Baek Un came racing over like an arrow.
He showed no concern whatsoever for the dignity of a Sect Master.
“I heard you went to Mount Emei in pursuit of a necromancer.”
“Yes. I caught him and sent him cleanly into the next world.”
“As expected of you. By the way, nothing happened on Mount Emei, did it?”
“Are you asking about the Emei Sect?”
“Yes. I was worried they might treat you disrespectfully.”
“They treated me very well.”
“Truly?”
Jeok Wigang nodded.
“Abbess Unjeong even brewed tea for me herself.”
“Truly? I can hardly believe it. Those women cannot stand the sight of men.”
Jeok Wigang gave a quiet snort.
“Ah, my apologies. When I heard you were on your way back, I had food prepared. It is nothing grand, but I wanted to offer you something.”
“I was just getting hungry, so that works out well.”
“Ah! Is that so? Hahaha! Excellent. Then allow this Daoist to guide you.”
*****
The day Jeok Wigang left the Qingcheng Sect, every Daoist in the sect came running out to stop him.
They begged him to stay longer.
They pleaded for a chance to repay his kindness.
Only after repeatedly insisting that he had pressing business did Jeok Wigang finally manage to shake them off and descend Mount Qingcheng.
But reaching the foot of the mountain did not end it.
Baek Un and the entire Un generation followed him all the way down under the pretext of seeing him off. Then they presented him with the Azure Jade Tablet, the sacred token symbolizing the Qingcheng Sect.
When he refused to accept it, they forcibly stuffed it into his clothes and fled back up the mountain as though escaping.
Jeok Wigang let out a helpless laugh.
He could have avoided them easily enough, but he understood their feelings, so he let them have their way.
Once they were gone, Ha Muhyeon began making a fuss.
“Thank you, Merchant Master.”
Ha Muhyeon repeatedly bowed his thanks to Jeok Wigang.
“What are you talking about? We’re family. Of course I would help.”
Of course?
It was anything but.
Ha Muhyeon looked at Jeok Wigang.
At first, he had disliked him.
He had believed Jeok Wigang had claimed the position of Merchant Master solely because he was the Gate Master’s son.
But not anymore.
Ha Muhyeon gazed at Jeok Wigang with satisfaction.
He was happy because he had finally found a lord worth serving for the rest of his life.
*****
Jeok Wigang headed to the Tang Family estate to collect Tang Un.
The Tang martial artist guarding the main gate spotted him and sprinted inside at full speed.
A short while later, Tang Mujin and Tang Pae came rushing out.
They greeted him with broad smiles, yet a trace of disappointment lingered beneath their expressions.
Jeok Wigang could guess the reason and gave a quiet chuckle.
It was probably because they had failed to buy any weapons.
“S-So, did your business go well?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, everything went smoothly.”
“Ahem. That is good. Very good.”
They clearly had something they wanted to say but could not bring themselves to do it.
“Is this about the weapons?”
“What? W-Well... yes, actually.”
Tang Pae added from the side,
“We rushed over to buy some, but they said everything had already sold out...”
Jeok Wigang snorted.
“I’ll make some for you before I leave.”
“What? R-Really?”
“Yes. I can use the Tang Family forge, can’t I?”
“O-Of course! Tell us anything you need! We will obtain it all for you!”
“I don’t need anything special. Just materials and somewhere quiet where I can work alone.”
“Understood! I will place the area around the forge under such strict guard that not even an ant will be allowed near it!”
“How many people need weapons?”
They wanted to say everyone, but their consciences would not allow it.
“Well... could you perhaps make them for the direct descendants first?”
“How many direct descendants are there?”
“About... twenty?”
That was almost certainly a reduced figure.
“There are more than that. I’ll make around fifty.”
“R-Really? We would be deeply grateful!”
“We will pay the full price! Just make them for us.”
“That’s unnecessary. Consider them a gift to commemorate our connection.”
“But then you won’t make any profit. As a Merchant Master, you must leave with a profit. We’ll buy them.”
“I intend to make a profit. Since I’ll already be borrowing the Tang Family forge, may I make some additional weapons?”
“As many as you like! Tell us whenever you need materials. The Tang Family will provide everything. Should we build an entire forge exclusively for you?”
“No. I only need to borrow one briefly.”
“Should I send all the smiths away?”
“That’s all right. I’m more worried that I might disrupt their work.”
“What are you saying? They will be delighted. They’ll have a chance to learn from a craftsman more skilled than themselves.”
Jeok Wigang was curious.
What would the Tang Family’s forge be like?
*****
Jeok Wigang became the center of attention the moment he entered the forge.
The Tang Family smiths watched his every movement, desperate to steal even the smallest fragment of his technique.
Weapons that took them days of painstaking effort to complete were casually produced by Jeok Wigang in a single day.
It should have been impossible, yet it was happening before their very eyes, leaving them no choice but to believe it.
His work bordered on the divine, and the smiths lost all track of time simply watching him.
The hours passed in an instant.
When Jeok Wigang finally completed the number of weapons he wanted, the smiths looked deeply disappointed.
He consoled them by promising to visit again and left the forge.
Of the weapons he had made, he gave fifty to the Tang Family and took the remaining fifty to the marketplace, where they sold out almost instantly.
The moment the banner of the True Martial Merchant Company began to fly, martial artists rushed in from every direction with money in hand.
The entire stock vanished in moments.
That was when the rumor began to spread.
The True Martial Merchant Company was selling masterwork weapons for one gold tael each.
Whenever its banner appeared, people should grab a gold tael and run.
Between the fifty gold taels in sales and the compensation obtained from the Tang Family, the trading run had earned an enormous profit.
Now it was time to return.
Tang Mujin, Tang Pae, and the rest of the Tang Family’s upper leadership came out to see Jeok Wigang off.
Tang Un stood beside him.
“Grandfather. Father. Your son will be going now.”
“Yes. Listen carefully to everything you are told.”
“I will.”
Tang Mujin and Tang Pae made a request of Jeok Wigang.
“Please take good care of Un.”
Jeok Wigang grinned.
“Don’t worry. By the time you see him again, I’ll make sure he shocks you.”
How could the promise to make someone “shocking” sound so terrifying?
Tang Mujin, Tang Pae, and Tang Un all felt chills run down their spines.
Tang Un cautiously asked,
“I... will be able to come back alive, won’t I?”
“Yeah. Of course. Don’t worry. There is absolutely no chance you’ll die.”
What was this feeling?
Why did it seem as though death might actually be preferable?
No.
He was surely imagining things.
Tang Un decided to think positively.
“Then we will be going. You remember, don’t you? If there is no improvement when I return...”
“You’ll take back every weapon? I remember! We will work hard enough to satisfy you.”
“Good. Then I wish you fortune in your training.”
*****
On the road to the True Martial Merchant Company, Jeok Wigang fell deep into thought.
“What has you thinking so hard?”
Jeok Wigang answered Ye Yahyeon’s question.
“I’m wondering what we should sell.”
“What is there to worry about? If you sell weapons you made, Elder Brother, people will carry sacks of money on their backs just to buy them.”
“That is true. We could simply turn the company into a weapons specialist.”
Jeok Wigang sighed at Ye Yahyeon and Jin Muryang’s suggestions.
“I can’t keep making weapons forever. I’m only selling them because I want the martial artists who buy them to grow a little stronger and become useful later. I’m not doing this for profit. So I have to make sure the True Martial Merchant Company won’t collapse when I’m no longer around.”
“Ah, I see. I hadn’t thought that far.”
Now that they considered it, the weapons Jeok Wigang made were absurdly exceptional.
No one else could possibly reproduce them.
“Imagine someone else tries to make and sell weapons like mine. The people who use them will be disappointed, and word will spread immediately. Then the True Martial Merchant Company will gain a reputation for being untrustworthy and eventually collapse. Isn’t that right?”
“That is correct.”
“That’s why I’m worried.”
Jeok Wigang turned to Ha Muhyeon.
“From now on, whenever we sell weapons, put this notice in front of them: ‘Weapons forged by the greatest craftsman in the Central Plains. Available for a limited time only.’”
“Understood.”
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