Book 28 Chapter 2

Gang Ho Ran Do

— Mother and Daughter Reunion

Rooooar!

Rain began to fall. It rained even though the sky was a clear blue.

This happened after a water dragon ascended with a terrifying whirlwind.

When the waterspouts subsided and the raging waves calmed, the nearby fishermen whispered to each other, claiming they had witnessed the water dragon’s ascension, and then bowed deeply in that direction. They didn’t want to incur the wrath of the Dragon God. None of them suspected that a human had created such a spectacle.

The fishermen, who had prostrated themselves on their boats, were wide-eyed as they saw a single boat slide out from beneath the falling rain in a limited space onto the lake's surface. Scattered around the stern of the boat were undoubtedly the wreckage of sunken ships that had been swallowed by the dragon that had ascended moments before.

No matter how skilled the boatman, being caught in such a vortex was inescapable. All one could do was to experience the immensity of nature with their whole body and be shattered into pieces. Therefore, their astonishment was even greater. They couldn't comprehend how a functional boat could emerge from the very spot where the natural disaster had swept through.

‘Could it be a ghost ship?’

The most renowned fishermen of Dongting Lake could only watch as the boat passed by, their mouths agape.

Pinched their own cheeks hard.

The occupants of the boat suspected of being a ghost ship were not ghosts. They were the party of Bi Ryuyeon, who had just rescued Na Yerim and escaped Macheongak.

The atmosphere on the boat was somber due to the shock of losing Dang Munhye.

They had lost a comrade they thought they would never lose. One of them, whom they had always believed to be inseparable, was gone, forever.

It was such an unexpected event that everyone stood in a daze, forgetting to express their anger or sorrow.

If their senior disciple, Bi Ryuyeon, had not single-handedly held off the attacks of Seo Cheon and the Macheon First Squad, they would all have met their end on Jajukdo.

Among them, Namgung Sang’s sorrow was particularly profound. He sat hunched over, his mouth tightly shut, consumed by self-deprecation and guilt, not uttering a word.

“Don’t be too sad, Sang! It’s not your fault.”

Jin Ling, unable to bear it any longer, gently patted Namgung Sang’s shoulder to comfort him.

“No, it is my fault.”

Namgung Sang shook his head.

“Even if it was temporary, the head of the delegation was none other than me. And I was also the leader of the Suzaku Squad. Once I took on the position, I had the duty to lead them well.”

But the outcome, as seen, was disastrous.

“You fought well enough. So don’t blame yourself too much. Don’t whip yourself any longer.”

Watching him, her heart ached even more. But as if unaware of her feelings, Namgung Sang shook his head and continued,

“It’s not a leader’s role to simply charge forward and fight. A leader must know when to fight and when not to. But I… I couldn’t stop Dang Sam, that friend, from recklessly charging ahead. And so, in the end…”

Namgung Sang couldn’t finish his sentence. It was too painful.

“Failing to lead my comrades is my inexcusable responsibility.”

A gloomy expression began to spread across Namgung Sang’s face again. Jin Ling let out a quiet sigh as she looked at him.

“What about Dang Sam?”

To Namgung Sang’s question, Jin Ling sighed heavily and said in a bitter tone,

“We’ve administered acupuncture for blood transfusion, so he hasn’t woken up yet. We’re worried he might lose his mind due to the severe shock.”

“That was well done. He probably wouldn’t be able to endure it while conscious. It’s better for him to be unconscious.”

Namgung Sang, a twin like Dang Sam, could somewhat guess how it felt to lose one of his twins.

He had felt a similar sensation when he heard that Namgung Sansan had been seriously injured. Of course, the intensity was dozens of times weaker than what Dang Sam felt, but it was undoubtedly a sensation like a part of his body being torn away, a chilling feeling from the bottom of his chest.

“When will he wake up?”

“Let’s let him sleep for now.”

Everyone was mentally exhausted from escaping Jajukdo. In their weakened state, if Dang Sam were to recall Dang Munhye’s incident with weeping and raging, everyone would inevitably be caught in that emotional storm.

‘That wouldn’t be good. It would only further damage their mental state and leave them utterly depleted.’

They were still floating on Dongting Lake. The boat was moving forward, catching the wind, but they were still in the heart of enemy territory. It was a place where anything could happen. They couldn't afford to weaken themselves further when they should be consolidating their minds.

They didn't even have the leisure to mourn the death of a comrade, a friend.

Until they left this place, arrived at Gang Ho Ran Do, and met Master Yeom Do and Master Bing Geom, and Lady Ami Jin Yeo, and Changzong’s First Sword Liu Eunseong, they could never let their guard down.

They had already lost one. They had permanently lost their right arm. And that wasn't all. His younger sister was in a coma due to her injuries, and his old friend was currently poisoned after swallowing a potent poison to save her. They couldn’t let another tragedy that stained the Suzaku Squad with blood happen.

‘Never!’

They didn’t want to feel this intense sense of loss and grief again.

‘What will Senior Disciple say when he wakes up?’

He felt like he might feel a little better if he got hit once, relieving the pent-up emotions.

However, Senior Disciple showed no signs of waking up, still lying with his head on Na Yerim’s lap.

The Senior Disciple lying down, and Na Yerim giving him a lap pillow.

How many people in this martial world would believe it if the world-renowned Bingbaengbong Na Yerim offered such a thing? However, Na Yerim’s expression was serene.

* * *

Somehow, it felt familiar.

‘Already….’

She was very surprised that it felt familiar, even though she had only done it twice.

Lending her lap as a pillow to a sleeping man was something she could never have imagined before. Wasn’t she the one who couldn’t even bear to have her clothes brush against others?

But now, she was gently stroking the hair of the man sleeping with his head on her lap with her fingers. She even dared to brush it back.

He still hadn’t opened his eyes. He must have been truly exhausted.

Even while lying down, his bangs still covered his eyes.

Not many people had seen behind those bangs.

‘If I move this hair with my hand now, Ryuyeon won’t be able to resist, will he?’

Na Yerim thought as she fiddled with Bi Ryuyeon’s bangs with her fingers.

It would only take a few movements of her hand left and right. Then Bi Ryuyeon’s face would be revealed to the world.

‘Just a little?’

A mischievous thought briefly crossed her mind, but Na Yerim merely smiled. It would be disregarding Bi Ryuyeon’s wishes, and she didn’t particularly want to peek at his eyes teasingly.

As she thought this, Na Yerim was inwardly surprised.

‘Why am I acting like this?’

This way of thinking was not the way of thinking of Na Yerim, who was once called Bingbaengbong. She would never have thought like this before. She tried not to feel it deeply or think about it too much. That was her way of protecting her heart.

But after meeting Bi Ryuyeon, as those layers of ice began to melt one by one, something was emerging.

She felt like a small change had occurred within her due to this incident.

‘Joking around…’

Something she could never have imagined before.

Na Yerim restored the hair she had moved to the sides back to its original position and looked up at the sky.

The sky was blue.

Clouds drifted freely with the wind. A bird flew across the vast sky.

Towards the end of the blue sky, high, high up.

It felt as if shackles that had bound her for a long time had been released. The strong, tough, and tenacious shackles that had bound her to the past.

Now, she felt like she could fly too.

High, very high.

Fortunately, there were no more pursuers. The cold moon was rising beyond the horizon on the other side of the twilight-tinged lake.

The boat carrying Bi Ryuyeon’s party avoided the bustling pier and steered towards a secluded shore.

Docking at the pier would attract too many eyes, which would be troublesome. Therefore, they had already scouted a suitable spot on the shore beforehand.

Beneath the rising moon, in that twilight, a person stood.

A slender silhouette. A graceful posture that exuded elegance just by standing.

As soon as she saw the person, Na Yerim’s face lit up with joy. Before the boat even reached the dock, she threw herself towards that person.

“Mother!”

The person waiting for their return at the dock was Lady Mi, Ye Qing, the Bingwol Seonja, who resembled the cold moonlight of a crescent moon.

Although she originally had skin as white as if it had absorbed moonlight, she was now pale like a pale moon. It was likely because she had been standing like a weeping statue, not taking a single step, for several hours.

She didn’t particularly like prayer. She believed that matters that occurred in the secular world should be resolved by human power, and that simply praying to heaven before making any effort was too lazy.

However, the only thing she could do was pray. So she prayed. Standing still for several hours. Waiting for them to bring her daughter back, she continued to offer prayers to heaven.

How could a mother whose daughter had been kidnapped find peace? Even while waiting, Ye Qing’s heart was extremely uneasy.

‘Will nothing happen? Will she suffer misfortune?’

It was a difficult experience she never wanted to go through again.

Worry was not the only thing.

She couldn’t gauge how deep a wound this incident would leave in her daughter’s heart. That was what pressed down on her heart the most.

“Are you okay? Are you really okay?”

Ye Qing’s voice, asking again and again, was full of worry.

“Yes, Mother. I’m okay.”

It was not a bluff. Even though her daughter was expressionless, her mother knew. Moreover, she felt like her expression was richer than before.

“Really? Even though you were captured by him?”

However, she still seemed unconvinced and asked again.

“Don’t worry, Mother. Nothing happened. I’m not afraid of him anymore.”

Na Yerim’s words were calm but carried strength.

‘This child…’

Ye Qing was taken aback.

Her daughter’s returned face was brighter than she had imagined. So bright that not a shadow could be felt.

Instead of being wounded, she seemed to have overcome the wounds.

A bluff? No. It was not a bluff.

What had happened in that short time…

‘She’s changed…’

As a mother, she could tell. As a mother who had always been by her side watching her child grow up since childhood, she could tell.

That something about her daughter had changed. That her daughter had returned much stronger. That she no longer needed protection.

“You’ve become strong, my daughter.”

Na Yerim smiled slightly and said, looking back with a warm gaze.

“Yes, it’s all thanks to him.”

Ye Qing’s gaze followed Na Yerim’s, looking surprised. At that moment,

Thump!

Suddenly, a dull sound echoed from the boat ahead where Na Yerim and Ye Qing’s gazes were directed. Soon, the sound of people murmuring followed.

What was this commotion breaking the emotional reunion between mother and daughter?

Ye Qing’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

Among the sounds from the noisy boat was someone’s startled voice.

“Se-Senior Disciple! What on earth are you doing?”

And then, a nonchalant voice followed.

“Can’t you see? I drilled a hole in the boat.”

A hole in the boat? Come to think of it, the boat her daughter had arrived on was slowly tilting to one side.

“Then why are you drilling a hole in a perfectly good boat!”

“Destroying evidence!”

“Wh-What are we supposed to do when the injured can’t even swim?”

“That’s for you guys to figure out. The boat won’t completely sink if you dock it on the shore. Then I’ll be going.”

From the sinking boat, a figure flew towards Ye Qing and Yerim. A young man in loose black clothes with long bangs, Bi Ryuyeon.

As Na Yerim watched him brush off his sleeves and descend, she stood beside him with a gentle smile. ‘That person’ in ‘thanks to him’ likely referred to this fellow.

‘Because of him? That such words would so easily come from this child’s mouth….’

How could a mother not be surprised? Ye Qing stared at Bi Ryuyeon as if trying to dissect him.

The man who caused such a change in her daughter.

‘His name was indeed Bi Ryuyeon…’

Originally, she would have chased away a nobody of unknown origin. But if he had a positive influence on Yerim, wouldn’t it be better to observe him a bit longer?

Of course, her husband would vehemently object to him being a nobody of unknown origin, regardless of whether he had a good influence or not. But she, as a mother, had to think about her daughter’s future. She had a relatively normal way of thinking, unlike her husband who made remarks like, ‘Daughters, after all, live with their dads their whole lives without getting married?’

Of course, she herself had almost given up hope, never thinking her daughter would be able to date, let alone get married. Since her daughter harbored such disgust towards men, she had no intention of forcing her into anything unless it was a truly destined match.

However, this fellow dared to claim he was precious to Yerim. He even claimed to be more than that. What was surprising was that Yerim did not deny it. That meant she had somewhat accepted this man in her heart.

In any case, the fact that her daughter, who had previously harbored a hatred for all men and detested even being approached, let alone touched, was changing this much was definitely a good sign.

Ye Qing’s gaze flickered towards Bi Ryuyeon.

‘Will this child have the capacity for that? Or will he be just a hollow shell, all show and no substance?’

This child managed to rescue Na Yerim, who was captured by ‘that bastard,’ as promised. Therefore, he was unlikely to be just a braggart.

‘This child should also have a good eye for men, like her mother…’

Whether this fellow was the real deal or this incident was a coincidence, they would have to wait and see, but she concluded that it wouldn’t be bad to let things be for now.

It was a mother’s decision.

However, it was by no means a complete acceptance yet.

Never.

Why was her mother staring intently at Ryuyeon? As if dissecting him from head to toe. Yet, she wasn't angry at him or trying to drive him away.

Before the lingering emotions of the touching mother-daughter reunion had even faded, a thread of doubt arose in Na Yerim’s heart.

She clearly remembered her mother, who, when her father was too busy to fend off persistent suitors, would wield two dual-edged sabers and take his place. But now, even though Bi Ryuyeon was standing so close to her, almost touching shoulders, her mother was overlooking it.

‘How should I interpret this situation?’

To allow this much ‘approach’… could it be that…

And then she realized something and was surprised.

‘Why am I even concerned about such things right now?’

When her thoughts reached this point, Na Yerim was inwardly startled and shook her head. Her face felt like it was heating up slightly, but fortunately, due to long-held habits, her expression remained impassive. Thanks to the Hansang Okryeong Skill, her skin didn’t turn red.

After all, even if her mother was overlooking it, she still had her father, an insurmountable wall, remaining. So, there wouldn’t be any major changes for now.

Her father, who lost his composure and reason when it came to his daughter. A troublesome but loving father.

“Speaking of which, what happened to Father?”

She already knew through Bi Ryuyeon that her father, Na Baekcheon, had gone to the Heukcheon Alliance for her. She had to somehow let her father know that she was safe. Since it was impossible to relay news to Na Baekcheon via the Urumae, it had been postponed.

“Ah, I haven’t told your dad yet that you’re back safe. I’ll send Baekseom immediately.”

As Ye Qing took out a new flute from her pocket and blew it, a white kite descended from somewhere in the sky and landed on her right arm. It was Baekseom, a messenger hawk raised by both Ye Qing and Na Baekcheon. Unlike the Urumae with its blue feathers, it was a hawk with white feathers. Furthermore, it was an elegant and proud female.

“It’s not too late yet.”

Ye Qing quickly wrote a short note, placed it in the message tube attached to Baekseom’s leg, and said,

“Please, Baekseom. My only hope now is your strong wings. Please deliver this news to him as quickly as possible.”

Ye Qing lightly kissed Baekseom’s beak and sent it flying into the sky.

As if to answer her words,

Piiiii—

With a high cry, Baekseom flew into the darkening sky.

No one here at that moment could have predicted that this Baekseom would not return.

—It’s all over.

Everyone thought so.