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Episode 308. The Su-Maeng-Dan
Not far to the northwest of Chengdu, where Sichuan Tangga is located, there is an old famous mountain.
Cheongseongsan (Cheongseongsan)━
This is where the Cheongseongpa, which is now extinct and has lost its lineage, had its place for hundreds of years, and where Yu Gil-jun, the Black Lotus Lord who was the mastermind behind their annihilation, took his sworn brothers and subordinates and set up camp.
And now that even the Black Lotus has been destroyed.
There is a land near Cheongseongsan that has been called Maengji (盟地) for some time now. The reason it is called that way is simple. It is because the Jeongcheonmaeng (正天盟) established by Sogaju of Sacheondangga, Amdokgeomryong (暗毒劍龍) Dangmyeong (正天盟) entered that land.
The blind spot was growing rapidly with many people coming and going. It was only natural. The number of Jeongcheon Meng followers alone was in the thousands, and most of them were warriors. Those who did not engage in any productive activities but focused on honing their martial arts and building up their own strength, so-called Murimin.
It was expected that they would need a place to practice martial arts or stay. First, hundreds of workers from all over Sichuan came to Maengji to build various buildings including the main hall. The work was good, but the rumor that the wages were good was a big reason. In addition, hundreds of ironworkers who made weapons and equipment also came, and with that many people gathered, there were inevitably many who would provide food and clothing for them. Even among those who did not have to do such work, there were quite a few who went to Maengji. This was because they wanted the protection of the Jeongcheon Alliance in the midst of the increasingly unstable situation in the Central Plains martial arts world.
In this way, today, even if there are no warriors, there are many commoners living in the Maengji, so it is natural that the military leader of the Jeongcheon Alliance, Jegal Changsin, left behind a minimum number of troops to defend the area before going on an expedition. This was also a measure taken into account in case the returning Tang Ming and Zi Yun needed troops.
The number of those left behind was five hundred. This is by no means a small number. Aside from their military status, this number exceeds the number of unmanned personnel possessed by any military or defense force. There must be someone who can command them.
━I will leave these to Confucius.
Zhuge Changxin named the remaining 500 Zhengtian Alliance members the Shui Meng Dan (守盟團) and transferred command of them to Murong Hui before leaving for Hubei. Although he was not a person he knew well, he believed that he could trust him with a large force because the leader of the alliance, Yuan Ming, had personally called him his teacher and disciple. He also felt a sense of kinship with him because he was from the Murong clan, which had been destroyed by Ma Guang Tianju, just like the Zhuge family.
anyway.
For this reason, the 500 troops of the Jeongcheon Alliance were currently under the command of Murong Hui.
* * *
“There was a message from the leader of the secret conspiracy.”
The leader of the Su-mang-dan, Mo Yong-hui, spoke. There were two people sitting in front of him. One was a one-armed man who looked to be in his thirties, and the other was a beautiful girl who looked to be about sixteen years old, with large, impressive eyes.
They are Dang Gye-jung and Jegal Yeong-yeong respectively.
Dang Gye-jung was once the leader of the Pa-ryong-dae (破龍隊), a direct military unit under the third elder, Dang Seok-hyeong, who was one of the real powers of the Sacheon Dang family. However, during the competition for the Sogaju, Dang Seok-hyeong was caught smuggling out the Dangga Ten Poisons, which were as valuable as family heirlooms, and giving them to his granddaughter, Dang Yeong-ryeong, and he was exiled by Yu Sang-myeong. Of course, the decisive cause of his death was that he tried to harm Yu Sang-myeong.
The same goes for the elder Dang Seok-jung. He took the traitor of the Taeeulmukgeompa, Dang Geuk-rin, as his disciple, gave him the Dang surname, and had him participate in the competition for the minor position, putting the lives of many of the later party leaders in danger. In fact, many of the contestants were killed by Dang Geuk-rin. Although Dang Seok-jung cut off one of Dang Seok-jung’s arms to take responsibility, he continued to use ineffective poison to poison and kill Dang Seok-jung, who had become the minor position leader. According to the rules of the Dang family, the punishment for treason is beheading. Elder Dang Seok-jung died with his head cut off, his power being insignificant.
Due to the clear cause and overwhelming force of the Sogaju, two elders lost their lives that day, and the Paryongdae (破龍隊) and Junryeongdae (俊令隊) that they directly commanded were merged into the Howondae (護院隊). And Dang Gye-jung became the leader of the Howondae and was in charge of the petty job of guarding the outer palace. He was reduced to a position not much different from a gatekeeper who took turns guarding the gate by appointing a position.
However, Dang Gye-jung did not harbor any complaints and faithfully carried out his duties in order to gain the trust of Sogaju Dang-myeong.
He couldn’t help but tremble when he saw the inaction of Sogaju Dangmyeong. He thought that a talent capable of reviving the family had finally appeared. He wanted to be one of the pillars leading the family’s revival by standing by Dangmyeong’s side.
Was it because of that determination? Even when the Black Lotus invaded, Dang Gye-jung did not spare himself. Rather, he actively jumped into battle with the intention of making a great achievement. Then, he rushed in without hesitation to save the Dang family head Dokbong Dang Ji-hye, who was in danger due to the attack of Baek Yeong-san, one of the Six Wicked Paths and the sworn brother of Yu Gil-jun, the Black Lotus Lord. That was why his right arm disappeared.
Thanks to the arrival of Dangunmyeong right after, he was able to save his life, but it was impossible to reattach his right arm, which had already been severed.
But Dang Gye-jung had no regrets.
━Thank you very much. I will never forget your contribution.
Because he was a person who knew the rules of the household. The favor was doubled, and the resentment was tenfold.
Is it to repay a favor?
One day, Dang Gye-jung called Danggye-jung and began teaching him swordsmanship.
━I know you are familiar with the dagger technique, but since you have to get used to the new form anyway, if possible, train with a longsword. Later on, when you reach the realm, it won’t matter whether you use a longsword or a dagger, but at least until you realize what a sword is, it would be better to use a longsword.
━I never thought about left-handed swordsmanship, but since what I will teach is the essential part of swordsmanship, the path of the sword, there shouldn’t be a problem.
━Give an estimate of the distance from your opponent, and look back at your own posture. Depending on the distance, depending on the posture you take… just by doing that, you can derive tens of thousands of sword paths that can reach your opponent. If you can choose the optimal sword path among them, you won’t be pushed back much even if you face an opponent of a certain level.
━What you should pursue right now is not finding the optimal sword path. First, you should make sure that your sword follows whatever sword path you have drawn in your mind. Without even an inch of error.
━Swinging the sword quickly is not the only skill. Sometimes you need to swing slowly and control the speed. When swinging slowly, do it with the feeling of imprinting the sword path on your body. Then, when you feel somewhat accustomed, try swinging it quickly. Whether it is slow or fast, never let the sword deviate from the path you have set. This is the essence of the martial arts of kendo. What kind of law (法) or style (式) is there in a sword that deviates from the path and is swung haphazardly?
━Even if it’s boring, that’s just the beginning. It might be hard to draw the sword path you’ve drawn in your mind with your unfamiliar left hand, but it’ll get better if you keep correcting it through repetition. So keep repeating it. Until you feel like it’s perfect. If you do that, your swordsmanship skills will naturally deepen, and no matter what swordsmanship you learn, your accomplishments will deepen in no time.
To Tang Ji-zhong, these were like golden advice. He was deeply grateful to Tang Yuanming, and he continued to train hard in the hopes of being of some help to him one day. Whether it was because of his efforts or because he had an aptitude for swordsmanship, Tang Ji-zhong’s swordsmanship skills quickly deepened. He was no less than a matchmaker for Murong Hui, a descendant of Murong Family, a famous swordsman who was once renowned as one of the Five Dynasties.
Meanwhile.
Jegal Yeongyeong’s momentum was also completely different from before.
Originally, she had been devoted to cultivating her natural beauty as a woman and making her appearance stand out even more. She thought that her beauty was the most powerful weapon she had as the concubine of the Zhuge family. Perhaps that was why, as a daughter of a martial artist, she had learned basic martial arts, but had never sweated in training.
She changed after visiting Sacheonjihoe with Dang Miryeo and Dang Myeong. It was because of this that she realized her own helplessness more clearly. In a situation surrounded by countless enemies, the beauty that Jegal Yeongyeong had honed over the years was of no help. She simply relied on the helplessness of Sogaju Dang Miryeo to survive.
The first threat to his life that he experienced after being born made Jegal Yeongyeong think a lot. Although they were both women, Dang Miryeo showed martial arts achievements that were far superior to hers. The dazzling secret techniques that she displayed with her calloused hands.
Jegal Yeongyeong thought that he was able to survive on his own thanks to the consideration and kindness of Dang-myeong. It was from that moment that he began to feel ashamed. How could he proudly talk about being a son of a noble family? It was humiliating and regrettable. If only he had achieved a little more in martial arts, if only he had worked hard and shed blood, sweat, and tears instead of making excuses for his lack of talent.
After that, Jegal Yeong-yeong, who survived the invasion of the Black Lotus, developed a desire for military power. He decided to at least have the power to protect himself.
So he went to see his uncle, Jegal Changsin, to learn the art of fanning. However, contrary to appearances, the art of fanning was not an easy skill.
━In real combat, you can use your inner strength to fight your enemies with a light sword, but when you train, it is standard to use an iron fan. That is the only way to produce the proper power.
Zhuge Changsin ordered his men to make an iron fan and then ordered Zhuge Yingying to practice martial arts with the iron fan. It wasn’t easy. It was only natural. She had never practiced martial arts by sweating blood before. From the very beginning, all the muscles in her body screamed. Even if she only held the iron fan and swung it slowly for a moment, let alone an hour, her shoulders would completely fall off.
The two words ‘giving up’ flashed through my mind more than once.
But every time.
Jegal Yeong-yeong chewed over his experiences at the Sacheonjihoe. A sense of helplessness, shame bordering on jealousy, regret, and determination.
I chew my lips and steel my heart.
I don’t know how many times I continued to do that. But as I continued to practice persistently, my body eventually began to adapt little by little. My body, which had been unable to hold on for even a moment and would collapse, was able to hold on for one hour, and then two hours, with ease…
━I’m not an expert on the fan method, but I understand that quickly turning it over isn’t the point. It seems like the important thing is to change the flow. Yes, the trick of flowing is more appropriate than fast.
Sometimes, Sogaju’s famous name would pass by and give a few words of advice with an indifferent expression. Whenever he received such teachings, Jegal Yeongyeong would express his gratitude and repeat them to himself over and over again. This was because they were teachings given by a peerless master who had reached the level of Jo Hwa-gyeong. It could even be the starting point for him to immediately surpass the realm.
Now, quite some time has passed since Dang-Myeong left for Qinghai to rescue Kunlun.
As befitting the bloodline of the Zhuge family, Zhuge Ying was quite clever. From the perspective of those who have entered the world of martial arts, it can be said that he had outstanding intelligence. Added to that was his thirst for martial arts, his efforts, and the advice of peerless masters. It would not be surprising if he achieved remarkable results.
She too had now grown into one of the best masters within the Jeongcheonmaeng Su-maeng-dan.