Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 39

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 39
9. Training, Training!
The first day, we ran.
Chasing after Dang Jung, who ambled along without urgency, I ran all day until the sun sank beyond the mountain peaks surrounding Seongdo.
The second day, we ran again.
The third day was no different.
I’d wake and run, eat and run, collapse flat on my face convinced I’d die this way, then the moment our eyes met, I’d run again.
When I finally stumbled back to Cheoso and lay there like a corpse, Dang Jung would appear and work my arms and legs with steady, methodical pressure.
“That’s what we call the Acupoint Massage Technique.”
By the next morning, I’d be running again without a hitch. Whatever he was doing, not a single blister formed on my feet.
With no muscle soreness to complain about, and everything pristine by dawn, I couldn’t even muster a whimper.
A week of pouring every last ounce of strength into running.
As I bounded up the mountainside, Dang Jung, who’d been watching me with leisurely calm, leaped down from a tree and spoke.
“Your legs are starting to toughen up.”
“I really hope so.”
I wanted nothing more than to stop running.
At my complaint, Dang Jung chuckled and walked over, hoisting me into the air.
“Now that running’s become second nature, it’s time you tackled a cliff.”
“I’m sorry—what?”
Climb what? Surely I misheard. Tell me I misheard. Please.
I stared at Dang Jung with wide eyes, but he paid no mind to my expression.
Having descended in a single stride the mountain it had taken me half a day to climb, Dang Jung set me down at the base of a sheer cliff face.
Then he spoke as casually as one might comment on the weather.
“Your grandfather will be up there. Climb to him.”
“I’m sorry—what?”
I looked between Dang Jung and the cliff wall. Even a rough estimate put it well over twenty stories high.
“How on earth am I supposed to climb this?”
“You crawl up it.”
Have you lost your mind?
Deok Ju, who had been standing quietly at my side, added her worried voice.
“Master, the cliff is too treacherous for the young lady to climb. If she were to fall midway—”
“Then I’ll catch her before she hits bottom.”
Why not just prevent her from falling in the first place? I’m going mad.
“Grandfather, this is insane. I can’t possibly climb a cliff like—”
Wait. Where’d he go?
As I spun around searching for the vanished Dang Jung, Deok Ju whispered softly.
“He’s up on the cliff.”
Only then did I spot him perched on a jutting tree halfway up the cliff face, looking down at me.
With an impatient expression, he waved his hand as if to ask why I wasn’t climbing yet.
I wanted to cry.
* * *
Climbing a cliff face with bare hands was a new form of torment.
“Gah!”
Each time my foot slipped, I heard loose stones tumble down,
“Hic!”
“Miss, you mustn’t look down.”
Whenever I caught sight of the ground below, the vertiginous vista made my legs go weak.
Pressing back the urge to weep and cling to Deok Ju, I placed one foot after another toward the cliff’s summit.
Deok Ju, suddenly roped into this cliff climb with me, stifled her own moans each time I whimpered, gauging my reaction.
What in blazes is this? All martial artists are insane!
Gripping a protruding boulder and straining upward, I asked Deok Ju a question.
“How far have I climbed?”
“You’ve covered a tenth of the distance, miss.”
Her brutally honest answer stung. Our dear Deok Ju didn’t know how to tell even a merciful lie.
I thought I’d made decent progress, but only a tenth? My heart sank.
Unable to go further or retreat, I clung to the rock when Dang Jung, observing from above, clicked his tongue and approached.
He traversed the sheer precipice as if it were level ground, moving like a mountain goat scaling stone.
“Let go.”
“If I let go from here, I’ll die.”
“Grandfather will catch you. Let go.”
“You really will take it, won’t you?”
“Let go.”
Dang Jung urged me on.
Trembling, I squeezed my eyes shut and released my grip. As my body began to fall, a scream tore from my throat.
“Aaaah!”
Dang Jung caught my waist as I plummeted and set me gently on the ground.
“That’s enough for today. Your stamina is abysmal. I should boil you some carp broth.”
My eyes flew open at those welcome words.
“So I can rest now?”
“No. You have studies to attend to. Go to Cheoso. Dang Un will be there.”
Dang Jung dismissed my protest with casual indifference.
“Yes, sir.”
I trudged toward Byeoldang.
* * *
Dang Un’s face wore its customary warm smile as I approached—the first time I’d seen him in days. He made no remark about the dust and sweat that clung to me, merely waving in greeting.
“Sohye, you’ve arrived. Did your training go well? Come, sit.”
I collapsed into a chair without even washing, and Song Ji promptly brought me a damp cloth. Her expression suggested I should at least wipe my face.
Dang Un waited patiently as I scrubbed frantically, then laughed with his eyes crinkling.
“Today we’ll read the I Ching. Your brother will read aloud, so listen carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Heaven is high and earth is low, thus Qian and Kun are defined. By ascending and descending in their order, the noble and the base find their proper places…….”
After burning through my strength all morning, drowsiness crashed over me within minutes.
I struggled to keep my head up, but my body refused to obey. Dang Un’s soft voice grew fainter and fainter.
“……Sohye? Are you sleeping?”
Dang Un tapped my shoulder lightly as my head bobbed forward.
Ptui.
I hurriedly wiped my mouth, but our eyes had already met. I’d been caught red-handed sleeping, yet he simply smiled gently without reproach.
“The training was exhausting, then? Shall we stop here for today?”
“Yes!”
I nodded eagerly, so tired I could have collapsed onto the floor and never moved again.
In response to my answer, Dang Un closed the book and slowly adjusted his Pifung Robe.
“You can’t spend all your time at play, of course. Perhaps instead of more book study, I should teach you about the ways of the Martial World. What would be most useful…….”
Dang Un released the beaded tassels of his Pifung Robe that he’d been toying with, as if a thought had struck him.
“Yes. Today, let’s speak of the Ten Masters of the Martial World.”
“The Ten Masters of the Martial World?”
“They are the ten supreme masters known as the Ten Greatest Masters Under Heaven. Your grandfather is one of them.”
“What? Grandfather?”
“Indeed. Isn’t it strange that the family elder you see every day ranks among the greatest masters in all the land?”
Dang Un nodded and continued.
“You’ve met Peng Lak, who visited some time ago, haven’t you? Like his epithet suggests—the Ferocious Tiger Saber Emperor—he is a master who has conquered the land with his saber technique. They say that wounds from his blade tear like those from a tiger’s claws, leaving flesh in tatters.”
Recalling Peng Lak’s booming laugh, I nodded in agreement. The man certainly looked capable of tearing someone apart with his bare hands.
“Then there is one who, though a physician, possesses exceptional martial skill. The Ghost Hand Divine Physician, Lim Seol Yak, is a master of the craft of healing. As his epithet suggests, he is a renowned physician of Zhongyuan, and every patient wishes to meet him. I myself once hoped to encounter him, though fate never allowed it.”
A wistful shadow crossed Dang Un’s face before vanishing. He changed his expression and posed his next question like a puzzle.
“Do you know of the Nine Major Sects and One Honorable Clan? Can you name which of the Nine Major Sects practice the Daoist Path?”
“Um……? The Daoist Path? Isn’t it Mount Wudang and Mount Hua?”
If my memory served, the protagonist had always been cursing at some Daoist sect, and it was always Mount Wudang or Mount Hua.
“You remember well. Both Mount Wudang and Mount Hua, which you named, practice the Daoist Path. Though they are more renowned, Mount Kunlun, Gongdong, and Mount Qingcheng are also venerable Daoist sects.”
“There are more than I thought.”
“Of course, if one were to name the Supreme Daoist Sect of the Martial World, it would be Mount Wudang without question. The current Supreme Swordmaster of the Martial World resides there.”
“Who is that?”
“The Taiji Sword Immortal, Tae Heo Jinin.”
I’d heard that name before. He was Namgoong Hui’s rival and would later become Jin Seong’s master—the greatest swordmaster of Mount Wudang.
Jin Seong had played quite a significant role in the novel. I wondered what he was doing now.
As I pondered the rival of a man whose face I’d never seen, another question bubbled up.
“Do all martial cultivators use swords?”
“Many do not. Your grandfather himself ranks among the Ten Masters through mastery of his special art, not the blade. There are masters who have reached the heights with the spear. Have you heard of the Spear King, Ak Jibak?”
“I know the Ak Family of Shandong is famous for their spear technique.”
“Exactly. The Ak Family’s spear art is renowned throughout the land. Among them, Ak Jibak’s technique is so swift the eye cannot follow it. I’ve encountered her several times personally, as she serves with the Martial Alliance.”
“The Martial Alliance?”
The one that crumbles every time the demonic sects attack, always busy tending to their own sectarian interests? Perhaps things work differently here.
“That’s right. We have our main headquarters in Wuhan, and a branch in Sichuan, so Sohye could visit if the opportunity arose. Should you happen to meet Ak Jibak, mind your words carefully.”
“What sort of things should I be careful about saying?”
“She despises hearing that the spear is inferior to the sword. She also dislikes those who get tangled up in political games while letting their martial training fall to the wayside. But of all things, she seemed to hate most the question ‘You’re a woman?'”
A woman?
My mouth fell open in shock, and Dang Un flicked my nose.
“So you had the same thought, did you? Be careful. If such words slip from a man’s lips, she delivers a punishment.”
“What kind of punishment?”
“She hangs them from the peak of a pavilion in Geochang for two hours.”
Ouch—she doesn’t pull her punches.
“Mind just that one point, and she’s a fine senior. Don’t worry. Show proper courtesy and respect, and she treats you well.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
As if I’d ever have occasion to meet her. I’m not going anywhere near the Martial Alliance anyway.
Yet the story was interesting enough to jolt me fully awake.
Dang Un really ought to be a teacher—he explains the tales of the Martial World as naturally as reading a bedtime story.
By now my eyes had grown wide and bright with interest, and noticing my delight, Dang Un rested his chin on his hand and continued.
“When Ak Jibak’s name comes up, you can’t leave out the story of Ja Un Bi, the Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend—they were once inseparable friends before they fell into open conflict, and it’s quite famous.”
“They fought? Why?”
“It was over the Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend’s beloved.”
A lovers’ quarrel? I tilted my head in confusion, and Dang Un smiled and went on.
“The Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend’s beloved was a stable hand. He’d been a scholar once, but when his family fell into ruin, he took up work in the stables—a literate young man who’d been reduced to such circumstances.”
“He wasn’t a martial artist?”
“No. A very ordinary man indeed. Though he was said to be gifted at composing poetry. His meeting with the Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend came about through verse. You know how people are drawn to their opposites, don’t they? The Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend was the same. He fell deeply for this man who recited beautiful poetry to him, someone untrained in the martial arts.”
A love story between a swordmaster and a scholar—it’s like something from a romance novel.
“The man, too, was captivated by the powerful swordmaster. He wanted to be of use to the Heaven-Breaker Swordfiend, to help him somehow. But how could an ordinary stable hand ever be helpful to such a formidable warrior? After much deliberation, he went to seek out the Hao Gate.”
“And then? What happened after that?”
I looked up at Dang Un with bright, eager eyes.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————