“Return”
Samgu.
The young man who made his living gathering herbs on the mountain and supplying them to the apothecary found himself in a quandary.
He was no middle-aged man. He was a youth—he’d merely struggled since childhood climbing these slopes.
His skin was wrinkled, his hair half-bald, his flesh coarse and withered, yet astonishingly he was around thirty.
“Samgu, is dinner far off?”
To anyone’s eye he looked forty, but the youth, fresh into adulthood, spoke in deferential tones as he set the table. As always, Samgu cooked and laid out the meal for his “master.”
“Samgu, the seasoning’s rather salty tonight.”
“I-I’m sorry, Master!”
The small boy who’d been rescued from the river and raised in this mountainside hut had filled out into a body no longer truly boyish.
It had been thirteen years since the day he’d dragged the boy from the rushing water.
The boy always proclaimed himself far younger than Samgu, and every time Samgu heard that polite, respectful tone, his heart twisted.
“Samgu, you seem troubled tonight. What weighs on your mind?”
“I… I fear it would trouble you if I told you, Master.”
“Come now, speak plainly. Is your martial cultivation stalled, or are you short of funds? Shall I fetch you a century-old Baek Suo * from the hills, like last time?”
“N-no, it isn’t that! Thanks to your grace, my martial skill grows day by day, and by your generosity my coffers swell. Only…”
Samgu deliberately left a hint.
“Speak your mind. What is it that troubles you?”
“Master… may this disciple venture a suggestion?”
“Why so formal? Just speak your mind freely—I’m not so narrow. I’m as broad as the sky!”
Samgu wanted to retort that “broad” only meant he did as he pleased without care, but he dared not speak such disrespect toward his master.
“Master, if I may—”
“Enough beating around the bush! Get to the point!”
“You going to the gi-roo ** tonight is far too soon, in my opinion!”
He’d said it. Samgu squeezed his eyes shut, fearing he’d be cast out on the spot.
“Hah. Really. I was wondering what you’d say, and that’s it, is it? Samgu, since you’ve spoken honestly, I’ll speak mine.”
The boy, Seonggi, hurled the empty soup bowl aside.
“I’ve come of age and want to woo a woman—what business is it of yours?!”
Smack—
Struck by the qi-charged bowl, Samgu collapsed at once.
“’I want to sleep with a woman, you cursed fool—who do you think you are lecturing me?’”
I slammed my insolent attendant into the room.
“That fellow even dodged the secret art of the Blade King. He’s finally useful.”
The bowl I’d flung carried the subtleties of the Blade King’s art, and Samgu instinctively tried to dodge—but as he flew, the warped rim caught him squarely on the head.
“Ugh… I am quite the master, aren’t I? Training an herb-gatherer to first-rate skill. Hey, you listening? You’d better treat me well.”
I pushed the unconscious Samgu onto the bedding. By saving my life, Samgu had bound me to him for thirteen years, and I’d taught him martial arts in return.
‘And I’ve grown stronger, too.’
When Samgu drank Baek Suo, I consumed In-shaped He Shou Wu. When we sparred under the guise of training, I honed my bones and wielded my secret art.
A mutually beneficial arrangement. No matter my antics, Samgu truly regarded me as his teacher, for the chance to learn martial arts.
“But tonight you were insolent indeed.”
After decades—if you count my past life too—of waiting to use my waist again, who’s to stop me? I reveled in the warmth flooding my lower body as I ran down the mountain.
‘How long I’ve awaited the day I’d become an adult!’
Thud, thud, thud!
Alternating Phantasm-Slicing Strike and Void-Walking Step, I raced down the sheer slope.
A supreme rising art few masters could use, yet I wielded it effortlessly.
‘Good thing I watched and learned during my Blood-Devil-Corpse days.’
Used by the Blood Cult leader to slaughter countless righteous sects, I’d been his research subject, my body infused with the blood of numerous warriors. Though he ruled my flesh, my mind remained clear, and I learned myriad techniques by sight and thought alone.
‘They’d die of shock to know their arts fuel this.’
My sole motive in racing downhill:
To bed a woman.
Not a match made of hearts but one bought with silver—still, who could fault a man whose desires were no mere trickle?
“Samgu must be green with envy—lecturing his master on my private affairs. Tsk.”
No servant’s protest would stop me. I slowed only at the mountain’s base, planting my feet and blending into the road.
“Long time no see, Brother Kim!”
“Oh! Master Seonggi has returned.”
The man addressing me as “master” was a castle guard, a watchman for the village. I slipped a pouch into his vest.
“You’re here for that again, I see. Look the other way, will you?”
“Huh… well, I don’t know what it is, but I’ll keep quiet. Oh, right—I almost forgot to mention: someone important’s expected at the gi-roo tonight.”
“Someone important?”
I passed the guard’s search and entered the town. From the gate, merchants’ cries rang out.
‘They’re tenser than last time.’
These road-side hawkers cared only for coin, yet the air bristled with unease. I shouldered my pack and hurried toward the apothecary.
“Come here.”
“You insolent brat.”
The old apothecary spat on the floor as soon as he heard my voice. Once stooped, he now straightened his back to greet me.
“Well, well, spitting in your own shop—hygiene’s gone to ruin. Might as well sell this elsewhere.”
“Shut it. Where could you fetch a fair price? Just bring it here.”
“You sure have a filthy mouth… here you are.”
I set my pack on the table and plucked a leaf, then filled it with herbs as I pleased, rolled it up, and popped it in my mouth.
“I’ve found something special this time. I trust you’ve lined up plenty of silver.”
“What did you find? Something hidden inside?”
The old man unwrapped a second bundle from my pack. I flicked my finger, nodded, and ignited the leaf-cigarette with a burst of focused qi.
“This was hard-won. Use it wisely. Rare around here.”
“If it were In-shaped He Shou Wu, maybe… but… it’s Baek Suo.”
He examined the flawless Baek Suo, as long as my arm and aged to perfection.
“Th-this can’t be…!”
“If you’re going to prattle on about millennium He Shou Wu *** , quit being a physician.”
“A hundred-year Baek Suo, then.”
“Ha! So that’s why it’s called Baek Suo? …Ahem. Don’t stare at me like that.”
I inhaled deeply. The herb’s pungent aroma pierced my lungs, and I exhaled, clearing my mind.
“I want a swift deal. Thirty silver taels—just thirty.”
“Deciding so quickly cuts like a knife.”
He fetched a box. Inside lay eight heavy silver taels.
Five more than I’d asked—exactly the going rate for Baek Suo here.
“You’re not leaving any profit? After all that effort, not even your dignity as a husband?”
“Shut up, you old fool. My conscience won’t let me fleece a kid. This is worth eight taels.”
“Conscience won’t earn you five taels more. Fine by me.”
I wrapped the box and bundle into my pack. Having earned war chest funds, it was time to spend them.
“Hold on.”
“What now?”
“You aren’t planning on… that again, are you?”
At his words I halted. My morning appetite had vanished, and here came more scolding.
“You think I gathered herbs just to bed a woman? And ‘that’—so crude.”
“If you aren’t headed to the gi-roo, give me back that Baek Suo.”
“I’m not looking to bed her—I mean to share intimate pleasure.”
The old man regarded me with an “I thought so” look. I tied my pack as tight as ever.
“You’ve got a head, but not much upstairs… tsk, tsk. Degenerate world.”
“You’re harsh. I’m a grown man now!”
“Don’t people usually get angrier at being called a brat?”
“Being called a brat is worse! I’ve heard it since dawn—if I go into the gi-roo looking like this, people will misunderstand!”
I checked my reflection in the apothecary’s hanging mirror. A young man no longer, yet on the cusp of adulthood, now solidly built.
Age made me an adult—age, at least.
“Look at this sturdy body! Could rival any external-power master!”
“You look so pretty—dress you up and you’d pass for a courtesan.”
“Courtesan… ahem, maybe I should grow a beard.”
Perhaps half the blood of Anhui’s top beauty ran through my veins, for my unbroken face was indeed comely. In the right clothes, I’d be mistaken for a woman.
“Still, who cares about looks? You don’t need a pretty face to hold a woman! All you need is this!”
I flicked my fingers at my fly.
“See? Hardly a boy. A man making children!”
“…You swine.”
The old man scowled, but even without standing tall, my manhood throbbed so visibly it strained my trousers.
“Even if your face’s childish, your equipment’s grown up, right?”
“I know your character. I’ll let it slide, but watch your manners tonight.”
“Manners at a gi-roo? You expect scholars to show up?”
“Those who preach righteousness often lust after the female form, are they not?”
“True enough. So the righteous… ahem. Understood. Well then, the servants always oblige you.”
I turned and left the apothecary. On the wide street ahead, people edged aside as I passed.
“What now?”
Clatter, clatter.
Hooves and wheels sounded. I looked toward the source of the dignified qi.
“Oh.”
Inside the carriage. Through the papered window frame, I glimpsed a graceful beauty’s black hair—my mouth went dry.
“Peng Yuwol?”
The Demon-Cleave Saber.
Daughter of the Hebei Peng Clan, counted among the top hundred masters.
She’d mastered the Five Tigers Sever the Gate Saber to its extreme, shone in the Demon-Martyr War, then married the warrior who’d saved her life and borne his heir.
‘She was beautiful even as a child. Always covered in blood as a demoness, yet…’
I admired her face until the carriage passed. Veiled by paper and a face-covering, but with my qi vision, none could hide from me.
“One of the Six Phoenixes, indeed…!”
“Eh? What are you talking about, Captain?”
“What do you mean? The lady of the Peng Clan in that carriage—one of the Six Phoenixes!”
“Ridiculous.”
“…Not a Sixth Phoenix at least, but nearly of age—oops.”
I waved them off, moving on. Raising that ruckus was a mistake of returning to the past.
Those I knew decades hence were very different now.
Peng Yuwol was no top-hundred master, let alone a Phoenix—only a practitioner of middling skill.
“…Fine. I’ve decided.”
I gripped my pack and resumed toward the gi-roo.
“Tonight, I’ll spend a long night with a courtesan who resembles Peng Yuwol.”
One night should suffice.
_______________________
TL Note:
* Century-old Baek Suo is an herb used in traditional medicine as a potent tonic to strengthen qi and promote longevity, and when it’s been aged or matured for a full century it’s considered especially powerful.
** “Gi-roo” is a romanization of the Korean/Chinese term, literally “courtesan tower.” In the wuxia context it refers to a high-end brothel or pleasure house where professional courtesans entertain guests with conversation, music, and companionship—much more than just a tavern, it’s a multi-story establishment catering to wealthy patrons.
*** “Millennium He Shou Wu” refers to the legendary form of He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) that has been allowed to mature for a full thousand years. In wuxia and alchemical lore, such a root is unimaginably rare and potent—a supreme tonic said to massively bolster one’s qi, strengthen the body, and greatly extend lifespan. It’s the next step up from “Century-old Baek Suo,” reserved only for the most extraordinary medicinal caches.