Chapter 10

Namgung Woo was riding in a carriage.

In an era where science hadn’t properly developed, he had worried about how terrible the ride quality of a carriage would be, but it seemed his body had become one that no longer felt discomfort.

As the carriage swayed, his body naturally adapted to the flow, as if it had its own suspension.

“Game bodies are the best.”

If it had been his original, unmanaged modern body from reality, how horrifying would it have been?

Just imagining it gave him chills.

However, it seemed his companion had genuinely mistaken Namgung Woo’s lack of discomfort for something else.

“Are you not used to the carriage?”

Looking at his appearance alone, Namgung Woo seemed to be around 20 years old, while the young man accompanying him appeared to be a few years older. He was Pyeong Choyul, the second son of the Yopyeong Escort Agency’s leader, introduced by Song Chaeji.

“Yes, it’s not my first time, but it still feels awkward.”

“Haha. Well, that’s a relief. It seems you’re not too troubled, probably because you’ve trained in martial arts.”

“As you say, it’s bearable.”

“Still, it’s better to get used to it. It’s a long way to Beijing. Even though Shanxi and Beizhili seem close, the actual distance on the road is quite significant.”

Namgung Woo knew this too.

How vast this Central Plains land must be.

From Linfen County in Shanxi to Beijing in Beizhili. The distance of this escort mission was roughly about 700 km, and that was just one way.

Thinking of it as roughly the distance from Seoul to Busan, which is a little over 300 km in a straight line, it was similar to making a round trip from Seoul to Busan.

“It’s incredibly far.”

Of course, Namgung Woo himself was accompanying this escort mission not as an escort but as a guest, so he wasn’t obligated to follow all the way to Beijing. He could easily drop off midway.

“Lucky me.”

Namgung Woo briefly reflected on how he had gotten to this point.

After parting ways with Song Chaeji and Yang Sodang in Pyeongyo County, Namgung Woo had asked around for directions and safely arrived in Linfen County.

The Yopyeong Escort Agency was somewhat famous in Linfen County, so finding it wasn’t difficult. And when he showed the letter of introduction Song Chaeji had written for him, the reaction was quite intense.

“A letter from Chaeji? That Song Chaeji, the daughter of the Song family head?”

“Our Chaeji isn’t the type to write letters of introduction for just anyone…”

“Could it be… no, right?”

It was a strange look.

It gave Namgung Woo a rough idea of what Song Chaeji’s image was like to the Yopyeong Escort Agency family.

Especially the cautious last question from the agency leader’s eldest son, which was tinged with shock, made Namgung Woo quickly clarify that it wasn’t what he thought.

He had worried that there might be some kind of arranged marriage between the Pyeong family running the Yopyeong Escort Agency and the Song family head, causing misunderstandings, but that was just Namgung Woo’s paranoia. During a dinner with the guest, when Namgung Woo cautiously brought up the question, they laughed heartily and waved it off.

“It’s not like there was no talk, but we’ve known her since she was little, so she doesn’t seem like a woman to us.”

“And she’s always been a tomboy… did you know? She even ran away to join the Hangsan Faction despite the Song family head’s opposition. Ah, should we call it ‘leaving home’ in this case?”

It was quite a fun time.

Even though Namgung Woo’s body didn’t feel discomfort, mentally, he was feeling fatigued.

The time spent at the Yopyeong Escort Agency was incredibly beneficial for resting and relieving mental fatigue. It also helped him study the era’s cost of living and historical background.

Although Song Chaeji and Yang Sodang had given him supplies and money when they parted ways, they were somewhat unfamiliar to Namgung Woo.

Coming from an era where currency was half gone and only electronic transactions existed, how much could Namgung Woo really understand the value of money? Especially when it wasn’t paper bills or coins with numbers on them, but silver ingots.

In that regard, the people of the Yopyeong Escort Agency were excellent teachers who taught Namgung Woo about the ways of the world.

“Are you not bored?”

At Pyeong Choyul’s words, Namgung Woo snapped out of his past thoughts.

“Yeah, well.”

Actually, Namgung Woo quite enjoyed being lost in thought alone. His tendency to meditate and train his internal energy in the Chasing Deer Murim had allowed him to grow quickly.

On the other hand, Pyeong Choyul’s face was plastered with boredom. Judging by his expression, it seemed less like he was worried about Namgung Woo being bored and more like he himself was bored and wanted someone to play with.

When Namgung Woo half-heartedly agreed, Pyeong Choyul brightened up and started talking.

“At the agency, with my father and older brother around, we couldn’t talk much, so this is good. There’s nothing to do in the carriage, so why don’t we chat and pass the time?”

“Sure, that doesn’t sound bad.”

Not that Namgung Woo was obsessed with alone time, so he thought this was a good opportunity to broaden his understanding of the world.

“As you know, I’m new to the martial world. The current state of the martial world seems quite dark. Could you enlighten me, Pyeong Xiaoxia?”

“Oh, the martial world! That’s a great topic. Honestly, aside from the agency’s business, most of our conversations are about romance or martial world affairs, right?”

He was a bit long-winded, this friend.

Pyeong Choyul seemed more interested in what Namgung Woo had casually mentioned and continued.

“Currently, the martial world is in a stage where the conflict between the orthodox and unorthodox factions is becoming entrenched.”

Unlike his father and older brother, who usually stayed at the agency unless it was an important mission, Pyeong Choyul often accompanied or even led escort missions himself.

What is an escort agency’s job? It’s to receive entrusted goods or letters and deliver them to specific locations or people on their behalf. Naturally, this process often involves martial force.

How else could they guarantee safety without martial force? Therefore, the agency’s work was closely tied to the martial world.

Some agencies with significant martial power were even considered no different from martial factions.

Naturally, Pyeong Choyul had traveled many places and interacted with many martial artists. He had a deep understanding of the martial world’s history.

“The Martial Alliance, represented by the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Seven Great Families, and the Black Martial Alliance, formed by the Black Path Seven Gates and the Four Great Families. These two forces divide the martial world.”

This much, Namgung Woo had heard here and there.

And the Shadowless Gate, a major faction in Shanxi, was one of the Black Path Seven Gates, the core of the Black Martial Alliance. The Dokgo Family, which annihilated the Namgung Family, was considered the top among the Four Great Families of the unorthodox faction.

“But thanks to that, the martial world has been enjoying its most peaceful days recently. Just 20 years ago, the intense Jeongsa Great War broke out. Thinking about it, it feels like a different era. Ah, of course, I was just a snot-nosed kid back then, so I don’t really remember.”

Pyeong Choyul seemed to be joking, as he chuckled to himself. Namgung Woo awkwardly laughed along a few times.

‘The Namgung Family was destroyed about 20 years ago, right? So, was it caught up in the Jeongsa Great War and annihilated by the Dokgo Family? But why hasn’t the Martial Alliance stopped the Dokgo Family’s pursuit order until now?’

Could it be that the Namgung Family was a sacrificial pawn?

To resolve his growing doubts, Namgung Woo subtly asked a question.

However, he avoided directly asking why the Namgung Family had fallen. After all, he was hiding his Namgung identity, using the surname Nam and the given name Woo, as Song Chaeji had done.

The martial arts Namgung Woo had learned were supposedly the Namgung Family’s secret techniques. Even if the worlds were different, there was always a chance. It was possible that the Namgung Family’s martial arts were eerily similar to what Namgung Woo had learned.

Twenty years ago wasn’t that long ago. A martial artist who was 30 back then would now be 50, still roaming the martial world, and might recognize Namgung Woo’s techniques as “Wait, that’s the Namgung Family’s…!”

In any case, Namgung Woo judged it unwise to create a direct connection to the Namgung Family.

So, he slightly twisted the question.

“But how did the war stop?”

“Why did the Jeongsa Great War end? It’s simple.”

Pyeong Choyul answered in a somewhat deflated tone, as if it were no big deal.

“The Imperial Family wanted it to.”

“The Imperial Family?”

From Namgung Woo’s perspective, this was indeed a bit of a sudden answer.

Why would the Imperial Family get involved in martial world affairs? But thinking about it logically, from the Imperial Family’s perspective, the outbreak of the Jeongsa Great War itself was absurd.

They were having a massive brawl, calling it a “Great War,” within a country where the sacred laws of the Ming Dynasty existed.

“Shouldn’t they have stopped it right after the Jeongsa Great War broke out?”

“At that time, the Imperial Family didn’t have the luxury to do so. They were also caught up in intense power struggles. With two emperors, how could there not be conflict?”

“Two emperors?”

“Yes. The Tumu Crisis. That horrific incident could be considered the starting point of the Jeongsa Great War.”

The Tumu Crisis was something Namgung Woo knew about.

Wasn’t it the incident where the Ming emperor was captured by the Oirats during a war, and the Imperial Family abandoned the captured emperor, installing his younger brother as the new emperor?

Hearing about two emperors, it seemed Pyeong Choyul was referring to the same Tumu Crisis Namgung Woo knew.

And after a few more verifying questions.

Namgung Woo came up with one possibility.

‘Could this be a parallel world?’