It was a day so hectic they could hardly keep their wits about them.
An enormous amount of luggage.
And as soon as they arrived at the training ground, a scene that resembled a construction site.
Every last bit of it was something they could not adapt to at all.
Even those who came up later stood there with their mouths hanging open.
What on earth was going on?
The training ground they had imagined was a place deep in the mountains with one or two small buildings.
‘This is the training ground we’re going to use?’
It only looked that way now because materials and laborers were coming and going, but it seemed he intended to use the entirety of this wide clearing.
THUUUD—!
Those who set down the Dragon-Sealing Chains caught their breath and met one another’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Namgung Yeon approached Manho, who had arrived in advance.
There were a few things he wanted to ask him.
“Manho.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Was there any trouble?”
Manho thought for a moment, then nodded.
Several scenes flashed past.
There had certainly been words he heard, but there was no need to bring them up to the young master.
No, perhaps the young master already knew this fact.
Was it called the Black Wind Gang?
With the young master’s ability, having seized control of that place, he must be fully aware of the situation within the clan.
Manho believed that and deliberately did not say much.
“It is good that you are cautious. However, you must choose your line well.”
“Of course. Would I ever betray you, Young Master?”
“As long as you remain in Namgung, it is not betrayal.”
After all, they were tied beneath the same Namgung.
Petty squabbling within the Namgung Clan?
Once one experienced betrayal in the truest sense, a power struggle of this level would feel like children playing house.
“Look over there. How does it seem?”
“They’re working hard.”
“I should be a little more precise. I mean, what were the facilities here originally like?”
Namgung Yeon spoke while looking around.
An empty clearing.
Several buildings on the verge of collapse.
Doorposts that looked like they would snap if touched.
Could one see such things and call this a training ground?
Someone might say this.
How could a martial artist indulge in luxury when training?
A martial artist was one who tempered body and mind, so how could they covet luxurious facilities?
However, this was not simply a matter of mindset.
The Namgung Clan had a great deal of money.
So why had they only built facilities like this?
“There must surely have been a budget allocated to this place as well. Is that not so?”
“Yes……. I suppose so?”
“Then do you know why it has been kept in this state?”
“…….”
Manho could not bring himself to open his mouth.
Because he clearly remembered what sort of lives the Elders of the Namgung Clan enjoyed.
They were certainly the pillars of the Namgung Clan.
In the Namgung Clan, where strength was discussed above all else, they were among its foremost masters.
That was why they had been appointed Elders, and they had once raised Namgung’s prestige.
Certainly, at least until a dozen or so years ago.
‘Now…….’
<Heh heh heh! Today, I will guide you to a pleasure house in Hefei.>
<How could I not be pleased when a friend has come from a distant hometown? I shall buy a round!>
<Let us drink until our noses twist and play until our bodies go numb!>
At some point, they had pushed martial training aside.
Surviving politics and power struggles was also a form of strength, if one wished to call it that.
However, Namgung was already beginning to change for the worse.
“The goal we must move toward is not merely to curry favor with old men like that.”
The rising talents of the Namgung Clan had, at some point, gathered beside him and were listening to those words.
Namgung Yeon looked at them and spoke.
“We must become better beings.”
More outstanding.
More virtuous.
More transparent…….
Pillars that could firmly protect the Namgung Clan and the murim no matter what crisis came.
We must become such beings.
***
“How many days will it take?”
“Yes, my lord. It will easily take three months. Everyone is working hard because the wages are not bad, but…….”
“That is a little slow. Can it not be done within one month?”
“Pardon? Th-that is impossible. We are human too, so…….”
He knew.
Expanding the training ground and adding various facilities.
It was easy to say, but in the end, it was work where people had to move their bodies directly.
On top of that, this was the Namgung Clan.
It was a place where it would not be strange to lose one’s head if one moved carelessly.
They had come running because the pay was high, but the demand was far too excessive.
Did that mean they would do shoddy construction?
That was not right either.
“I know. Of course it is difficult. I have prepared something. Will you distribute it to the laborers?”
“What is this?”
“It is good for the body.”
[Clear Origin Water]
A diluted version of [Dragon Clear Origin Water], a peerless elixir.
It was dragon spring water that restored a small amount of vigor and, when ordinary people drank it, infused them with vitality so they could work without tiring.
It was a sort of low-grade elixir, and its defining trait was that it was piled up in mountains inside the storehouse.
“Test it.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Surely the great Namgung Clan under heaven would not have put poison in something like this.
The work crew leader in charge of the laborers carefully tasted the Clear Origin Water.
It was a drink with a clear, cool taste, and at the end, a bitterness like tea leaves.
In addition, if a martial artist consumed it, it was an elixir that could even increase internal energy.
This was the Clear Origin Water.
“Ooh……!?”
“How is it? Your energy should rise at once.”
“T-to give something this precious to lowly people like us…….”
“Where is there a lowly person among those building my house?”
A young master with such thoughts.
The man cupped his fist and bowed his head as though he were about to prostrate himself.
Extreme respect.
What did three months matter?
He felt determined to complete it within one month no matter what.
Namgung Yeon’s proposal was still not over.
He had paid them a great deal, but here, he had to give more for certainty.
“If you finish the construction within one month, I will pay you twice the contract amount I promised.”
“R-really!?”
“That is right. Is that all? I will even spread word about you.”
He knew what people who lived as day laborers like this considered most important.
Petty cargo owners.
Patrons who tried to cheat them out of money.
When one was tormented by such people, there were times one truly came to hate humans.
But if they openly fought, their reputation fell.
Reputation and trust.
Those two things were everything to them, like a martial arts manual.
How could a direct young master of Great Namgung Clan know such circumstances?
‘And yet…… astonishingly, this person knows everything.’
There was nothing better than a superior who understood their circumstances accurately.
Even if he did not interfere in particular, a person who rewarded results was the best.
Before he knew it, the work crew leader was utterly captivated by Namgung Yeon.
“One month! We will complete it somehow!”
“If the Clear Origin Water is insufficient, tell me. I will give you as much as needed.”
“Thank you!”
The start was good.
They took the Clear Origin Water in the huge barrel and began continuing their work.
As he was watching the laborer disappear at a trot, he sensed someone beside him.
“What are you planning to do by taking care of people like that?”
“Why, do you want a cup too?”
“I do not need one. Bastards like that only need to be pressed hard and quickly. They are worms who only waste money.”
[Yi Hyeon].
And Namgung Jinjin.
The two had thrown the Dragon-Sealing Chains into a corner and come over.
Yi Hyeon, who had been one of Namgung Jin’s gang, grumbled as he spoke.
Namgung Jinjin also seemed to agree silently, since he did not object.
Yes, this was how children of famous clans usually thought.
It must have been even more so in this era.
Class still remained, and it was a world where people moved to seize petty authority from one another.
When the time came, and all of murim began to be swept up in the fires of war, they would realize.
‘In the end…… before destruction, there was no high or low birth.’
Human lives were light, every one of them.
The moments when one realized that varied.
Please, may that realization not come through your own life.
Namgung Yeon looked at the two of them and wished it, and wished it again.
Because in the end, you are people who must work for murim.
Because you must follow me and become valuable resources.
“I must make the training schedule.”
Third Group must have looked easy to them.
He intended to make them feel in their bones that it was not.
***
Namgung Yeon wrote down the training schedule with a brush.
It was a packed training schedule that ran from dawn until evening.
Hoho, who had been quietly looking at it from beside him, spoke.
“Will the martial artists be able to handle all this?”
“Do you think they cannot?”
“That is not it, but…….”
Hoho glanced back.
Were their names Namgung Jinjin and Yi Hyeon?
The two of them were originally outstanding fighters and had steadily trained their bodies, so they would probably be fine, but…….
He thought the rest seemed to have participated in the competition merely to occupy a place.
Even at a glance, it was a murderous schedule.
Could…… they handle this?
“What do you think?”
“Pardon? Me?”
“Yes.”
“May I speak honestly?”
Hoho asked.
Namgung Yeon handed him the schedule and nodded.
Hoho let out a small sigh and carefully opened his mouth, explaining the situation.
“Honestly, I think it would be difficult for me to handle it completely. I have many things to take care of, after all.”
“So?”
“But I intend to try as much as I can. You would overlook it if I at least train in my spare moments, would you not?”
If it were the young master……?
Hoho spoke cautiously.
Namgung Yeon smiled and nodded.
“That is right. Just do not skip it. Do your best within what you can manage.”
“Thank you.”
For now, Hoho’s main duties were still cleaning, cooking, and miscellaneous tasks.
Actively assisting those participating in the Young Clan Head Competition.
That was the work of the cleaners dispatched here.
“But what about those bastards?”
“…….”
He looked at those who were still looking around.
By nature, when people were treated well, they tended to climb even higher.
“Perhaps you may catch up to them soon.”
“Pardon?”
Namgung Yeon did not answer Hoho’s question and approached them.
Now it was time to work in earnest as group leader.
“Everyone, gather.”
“…….”
“A new lodging will be completed within one month. Until then, use the old building that is already here.”
If they went down just a little, there was a stream, so each day would begin by drawing water from there.
Namgung Yeon brought up that point first.
“As group leader, I will set one rule.”
“What is it?”
“From now on, whenever you leave this training ground, you will carry those Dragon-Sealing Chains with you.”
“Are you insane……?”
Yi Hyeon was the first to rebel.
The insolence had not been fully beaten out of him yet.
Namgung Yeon rolled his emotionless eyes toward him.
How should he reform these bastards?
“If I am insane, will you attack me?”
“…….”
“Before daybreak, you will carry the Dragon-Sealing Chains and draw water from the stream. Two people at a time. You will rotate. There are no exceptions.”
In other words, it meant that even he, the group leader, would do it.
Then he looked toward the back as he spoke.
The place where construction was underway.
The laborers were moving busily in high spirits.
“Do you want to enjoy those facilities in full? Then you will have to train and become stronger.”
Especially you.
Namgung Yeon looked at those whose skin had turned red and then returned to normal as he spoke.
“If you do not do it properly, you will be weeded out in the end.”
“…….”
“Who knows? You might find time to speak ill of those around you. Is that not so?”
Namgung Yeon’s eyes shone coldly.
The training had begun in earnest.