Chapter 25

• Sichuan's Finest Okruju

45 days before the miraculous return of the Vermilion Bird members, that is, the afternoon of the day after the Vermilion Bird members left Mount Emei.

From a small thatched hut on the mid-slope of a peak on Mount Emei, a wisp of white smoke was dancing and being pulled up to the sky.

It was smoke that the thatched hut had not puffed out in a long time. White smoke rising faintly to the sky, like the smoke puffed out by an old man smoking a pipe while lying on a windy veranda. At the end of that smoke, a young man was now humming a tune and cooking rice. It was a meal he had not cooked in a long time. For about five months, other people had cooked the rice, made the side dishes, and set the table, but now that they were gone, he had to cook the rice himself.

A delicious smell was tickling his nose and rising. For the time being, he would not be in want, as there was a lot of meat that his now-gone disciples had hunted while running around the mountains as part of their training, and there was also a pile of wild vegetables they had dug up. The reward for having worked his disciples to the bone by imposing three times the usual quota for ten days before sending them off was now showing. Today, for some reason, the young man was so happy that he was humming a tune and setting the table, when the voice of an old, but powerful, man was heard from behind him.

"Ryu-yeon-ah!"

Bi Ryu-yeon, who had turned around, just stared intently at his master's face. With his head slightly tilted to the side and in a crooked posture, his gaze swept over the old man's entire body as if it would pierce him. The disciple was standing crookedly and just glaring at his master's face without a word, so the master felt both insolence and frustration.

"What are you staring at so intently? It's embarrassing... You're going to put a hole in my face."

He was telling him to stop staring. But...

"Did you take a bath?"

A bath? It seems to refer to the act of washing one's body and making it clean. A completely unexpected word popped out of Bi Ryu-yeon's mouth. Judging by his tone, it was not a question asked because of the smell. It was a confirmation.

"Oh, you noticed? Yes, I scrubbed myself a bit yesterday. How is it? Doesn't Baek-ah look even whiter and fluffier today? I went to the valley stream last night and washed my beard and scrubbed off some dirt."

The master spoke proudly about a trivial matter. Here, the Baek-ah that the master was talking about refers to the name of his master's beard. He was a master who respected Guan Yunchang, the Lord of the Beautiful Beard from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and was covetously aiming for the position of the second Lord of the Beautiful Beard to succeed him.

That's why the master paid special attention to his beard. The white hair that came down to his waist, the pure white eyebrows, and the beautiful and clean beard that came down below his dantian were the master's pride. Because of that, whenever there was a big event or ceremony, the master would fuss over it like a father raising a child. To take it a step further, the person who had done the absurd thing of ultimately giving his own beard a name was none other than the master. The name of the beard was Baek-ah! To give a name to a part of his own body, it was truly a dumbfounding thing.

"Why did you make such a fuss? It's embarrassing for an old man."

"I made an appearance after a long time. I have to look good too. A good impression and a clean and handsome appearance are directly related to popularity, you see. I put in some effort for the sake of managing my popularity."

"What?"

"Ah, no. Just let it go."

The master, who was mumbling his words as if there was something fishy. The master, who had not mumbled his words very deliciously, changed the subject of the conversation to another topic. In fact, this change of topic was not very welcome to Bi Ryu-yeon.

"By the way, what's up? You haven't been seen much lately and have been wandering around, but today you're even cooking. The sun will set in the east today. Have you finished your affair?"

It was Bi Ryu-yeon, who was a little startled.

"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just a little free for a change. What's with the grand affair... I'm not a cheating wife..."

The master's gaze, as if looking at a suspicious person, made Bi Ryu-yeon's face uncomfortable. For Bi Ryu-yeon, who had recently started to care about his skin, it felt fatal.

"You've been neglectful for about five months, haven't you? You haven't even been doing your assigned work properly. Has something been going on? Did you get this?"

The master shamelessly raised his little finger and wiggled it in front of Bi Ryu-yeon's eyes. But Bi Ryu-yeon vehemently shook his head and denied it. The master seemed to be harboring a strange thought as a suspicion. But Bi Ryu-yeon did not want to suffer a loss by being caught up in a groundless suspicion.

"No, what woman? Don't make any unnecessary misunderstandings."

"If it's not a woman, then what is it? You don't come back at night and stay out frequently, and although you were given three meals a day, you didn't cook them here, you brought them from somewhere. Besides, the taste of the food was not your taste. Well, the fact that you frequently bought and offered me alcohol during that time was something to be forgiven. But that food was definitely the handiwork of a woman. So, confess obediently."

It was Bi Ryu-yeon, with cold sweat beading on his forehead. He had been constantly buying and offering alcohol to cover up his frequent staying out, going out, and trips, but it seemed that its effect had now run out.

"I'm telling you, it's not true. What woman? You're being nosy..."

The master cut off Bi Ryu-yeon's words, who was trying to mumble his words with an attitude of 'it was nothing,' flaring up tactically, and said.

"Hey, what's that?"

"What, what is it?"

"That thing sticking out from your left side."

Flinch. In that instant, Bi Ryu-yeon's nerves rapidly tensed, becoming so taut that they could be strung on a zither and played.

"No, what is it? It's nothing."

"What do you mean, nothing? My eyes are not wrong. You can fool a ghost, but you dare to try to fool me. Speak the truth when I'm being nice."

"Why are you so suspicious? If your beloved disciple says no, then it's no. It's just some cotton sticking out. Just some cotton..."

But the clothes Bi Ryu-yeon was wearing now were cotton clothes; there was no way there was any cotton. But as Bi Ryu-yeon mumbled and hurriedly turned around, something suddenly popped out from his bosom. It was a betrayal. The goddess of fate had betrayed him.

"Thud."

A heavy-looking sound, a pretty silk cloth; people call this a silk pouch. It was a rather expensive-looking pouch with colorful red light and gorgeous embroidery on it. Considering Bi Ryu-yeon's current living situation, it was clearly a luxury item. So, for the master, he couldn't help but be suspicious of its origin and contents.

A flash of light sparkled in the master's two eyes. The intensity of the sparkling flash told that the master's ears had just caught what sound it was. That this sound was the sound of money...

'He's old, but his ears are sharp...'

Muttering to himself, he began to look for a way to smooth things over.

"Where did you get that?"

A high-handed voice, a voice that was full of the will to not hesitate to use force if he didn't answer. Bi Ryu-yeon was in a difficult situation. Because he was still far from being able to handle his master's use of force. At this point, when he had not yet completed the final part of the Flying Thunder Dagger, he had no way to withstand his master's use of force.

"I'm telling you, this is really nothing. It's just a simple token of gratitude, a token of gratitude. A small token of appreciation from the other party."

"For a token of appreciation, it looks quite heavy."

The master still sent a suspicious gaze, zapping him. Bi Ryu-yeon's skin tingled. Bi Ryu-yeon was inwardly flustered. He had to somehow smooth over this situation. For a bright tomorrow!

"No, um, you see. There were some kids who wanted to become strong. They kept pestering me, saying they wanted to become strong. I don't know how they knew I was your disciple, but they knew I was pretty strong. They were crying and clinging to me, so I had no way to refuse. I'm a bit soft-hearted, you know. So, I made them strong. A disciple of yours can't not be able to do that, right? But as expected, trials are the best way to become strong, aren't they?"

"So?"

"Ah, so I asked someone I know for a favor. Please make those kids a little stronger, I said. Then the people who received the favor were so grateful that they even gave me money like this."

"Huh? You should have given them money and expressed your gratitude, how can the side that received the favor give you money and express their gratitude? Shouldn't you, who asked them for a favor, be the one to express gratitude?"

"Well? How would I know something so deep? They just said they were so grateful that I had told them such a thing, that I should be blessed for doing such a wonderful thing. They said this was a small token of gratitude and asked me to accept it. An information fee or something. They said they would actively participate in giving them trials and slipped it to me. They were really warm-hearted people. Ah, so, I said, how can I receive money from people who will make people I know stronger, and even though I strongly refused, they kept trying to give it to me. So I had no choice but to accept it, thinking that it would be rude to keep refusing. I was thinking of buying a bottle of your favorite Okruju to atone for my neglect of you during that time."

"Ok-ru-ju!"

Although there were some suspicious parts, his saliva went down with a gulp at the sound of a bottle of Okruju. Bi Ryu-yeon's strategy seemed to have succeeded.

"Yes, Okruju. And it's a 20-year-old gem. It's a bit expensive, you know. I haven't been able to be filial to you during that time, so I'm trying to do a little bit today. I'll buy it when I go to the market in the evening. I've already placed an order at Hong-a-ru."

"Tw-twenty years!"

It was the master, his eyes wide open at the number 20, swallowing his saliva with a gulp. Okruju was the master's favorite alcohol, but he couldn't drink it often because it was expensive. And that was Okruju with an aging period of three years or less. A 20-year-old one, when would the master have ever drunk it? The 20-year-old secret liquor Okruju from Hong-a-ru, the finest liquor in Sichuan, is a top-quality liquor recognized in the Mount Emei area, no, in the entire Sichuan area.

The aging secret is a top secret of Hong-a-ru that is never revealed. How good must its taste be for a story to come out that even the precepts of Emei lose their effect in front of Okruju? This was because since ancient times, there have been many Emei disciples who were caught drinking Okruju at Hong-a-ru and were punished at the precept hall. Although Emei is a sect centered on women, it is not that there are no male disciples at all. As the power of Emei grew, they began to accept male disciples, and although their status was lower than that of female disciples, they were also beings with skills that could not be ignored in the Jianghu.

It is a well-known fact that such people, tempted by the taste and aroma of Okruju, break the precept of abstinence from alcohol, come down the mountain to drink it secretly, and are often dragged up to the law enforcement hall of the precept hall, and such incidents are still not ceasing. Such an Okruju, and a 20-year-old one at that, was a top-grade item among top-grade items. It couldn't be more perfect for the master, who loved alcohol more than rice.

The master, his mouth stretched wide in a grin, was a master who nodded his head in satisfaction with a pleased smile. Seeing this, Bi Ryu-yeon, who thought the danger had now passed, wiped the sweat from his forehead. It seemed the matter had been properly smoothed over. Although Okruju was a rather expensive liquor, it even felt cheap for the sacrifice made to smooth over the events of the past and yesterday. Ah, in fact, a 20-year-old Okruju was a top-grade item among top-grade items, and as befitting its name as the finest liquor in Sichuan, its price was no joke. In terms of price, a 20-year-old Okruju was an item with a value of three or four gold leaves.

It was a liquor that ordinary people would find difficult to drink even in their lifetime. Nevertheless, the reason he mentioned a small sacrifice was because Bi Ryu-yeon had no intention of buying Okruju at Hong-a-ru. That's not to say that Bi Ryu-yeon had lied to his master. He was definitely planning to bring Okruju and offer it to his master. This was because he had a bottle of 20-year-old Okruju that he had obtained through good words (?) when he met the people he knew, mentioned above, yesterday. Good words refer to an exchange of opinions through an affectionate conversation.

"Ah, please come up, Master."

After setting the lunch table, Bi Ryu-yeon quickly urged his master. At times like this, it was best to act quickly so that the other person couldn't have any other thoughts.

"Yes, yes."

The master, who was nodding his head and seemed to be going along with it, suddenly's eyes lit up. He had discovered something.

"Hey, Ryu-yeon-ah. But you have something red on your sleeve?"

On the sleeve of Bi Ryu-yeon, who was holding both ends of the deliciously prepared table, there was a red stain, just as the master had said. The master, who had discovered it, asked Bi Ryu-yeon.

"Ah, this. It got on me a little while I was exchanging opinions through an affectionate conversation with people I don't know well. It's nothing."

"Really? To me, it looks like something splattered while you were crushing someone's face."

"No way, that can't be."

Bi Ryu-yeon showed a bright smile without any deceit.

"Hmm, really?"

It was Bi Ryu-yeon, who was a little dissatisfied with the master who still hadn't removed his suspicious gaze even in front of his bright smile.

'He's old, but he's so suspicious...'

Bi Ryu-yeon cursed his master in his heart, but he couldn't show it.

"Go easy on them. When you hit them, the bruises don't even go away for 2-3 months, you know."

The word 'gently' coming out of the master's mouth felt like the end of the world. Where was 'gently' and 'moderately' in the master's dictionary? The master's dictionary was a dictionary that didn't even have the word 'degree.' He, who had spent nearly 10 years with him, knew that well. He thought that what the master had just said was probably not his true intention. He must have said that to look good in front of his disciple. Although he was dissatisfied with these facts, Bi Ryu-yeon answered politely.

"Yes, Master."

"Yes, yes. But what about the braised potatoes?"

"Yes, of course I prepared them, Master."

"Yes, then let's go up quickly."

The master said, his face full of joy and liveliness (?). The two went up to the veranda, set down the table while feeling the cool wind blowing from the mountain, and began to eat lunch. Autumn was now almost over. This is a story that took place on the mid-slope of a peak on Mount Emei, in a thatched hut, on the afternoon of the day after the Vermilion Bird members left Mount Emei.