Come to think of it, I vaguely recalled hearing about it once in passing. The elder reorganized the letter, folding it neatly, and continued speaking.

“The Seongchang Trading Company is located in Shaanxi. Specifically, in Nanan County of Shangluo City. As you know, it’s famous for being good land for growing medicinal herbs, situated right below the Qinling Mountains, isn’t it? The Seongchang Trading Company, in particular, has a lot of exchanges with outstanding herbalists, so they deal in a wide variety of high-quality medicinal herbs. Geographically, it’s quite close to Zhongnan and Wudang, but…”

But close?

“The current leader’s grandfather was an inner disciple of Huashan who left the mountain.”

“Ah.”

“He’s my senior uncle. Because of that, among the sects, they’ve only maintained trade with Huashan until now.”

Loyalty continuing for three generations, I see.

To understand why this is considered loyalty, one needs to know about Huashan’s relationship with other sects.

First, in the case of the Zhongnan Sect, they are located in Shaanxi along with Huashan.

Although Zhongnan is also part of the Nine Major Sects, they are essentially the lowest-ranking and weaker than Huashan. Perhaps because of this, they don’t antagonize Huashan, and Huashan doesn’t particularly attack them either, maintaining a form of coexistence.

‘I suppose it’s because they’re in the same Shaanxi Province, making them the best allies to call for help in case of emergency.’

It was, in a sense, a political judgment.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they get along particularly well in ordinary times. Despite coexisting, they still subtly feel uncomfortable with each other.

And as for the Wudang Sect, they simply don’t get along.

At the current point, Wudang is slightly stronger than Huashan, but the difference isn’t as great as between Zhongnan and Huashan. They have been alternating in power over a long period, and are still actively competing.

Moreover, being in different regions, there was no question of coexistence. All that remains between them is infinite competitiveness.

‘Both Huashan and Wudang seem to be more secular compared to places like Kunlun, which might be why they’re like this.’

Even though they’re supposed to be Taoist sects, one might want to ask why they’re uncomfortable with each other and even fight instead of cultivating the Tao as they should, but…

‘Even if they’re cultivating the Tao, they’re all still places where people live.’

It’s the same everywhere.

This is why even places like the Seongchang Trading Company, despite being geographically close, don’t maintain trade relations with Zhongnan or Wudang due to their connection with Huashan. I didn’t expect the elder to state this so openly.

“When the leader of such a place earnestly requested, how could we turn a blind eye? So, I’m planning to send a few people, led by your seniors Yoo Baek and Yoo Seong…”

He trailed off, then looked straight at me and Ha Hyun, nodding once.

“Yes, I thought it would be good for you to go along too. What do you think?”

The elder asked as if inquiring our opinion, but rejecting a jianghu expedition that he had proposed with this much consideration was out of the question without a special reason.

I swallowed a sigh inwardly.

‘A goal…’

Yes, thinking differently, couldn’t this be considered valuable since it wasn’t in the original work? After all, ‘Ha Heun’ at 18 was on a runaway train heading towards catastrophe.

In this way, leaving Huashan and spending a few months away would mean diverging quite a bit from the original story. In some sense, this could be marked as ‘caution’.

“I accept the elder’s command.”

“…Yes, I accept the elder’s command.”

Thanks to Ha Hyun answering first while I was momentarily lost in thought, I quickly came to my senses and responded not too late. The elder, who had been silent for a moment as if examining our expressions, soon smiled gently.

“Good. I heard that you’ve all learned a bit of medical skills, and Ha Heun, in particular, has shown interest in methods of breaking curses and learned a few. So you’ll surely be of help to the leader. Go to Yoo Baek, he’ll tell you the schedule.”

“Understood.”

“Don’t forget to say goodbye to your masters before you leave.”

“Yes.”

And so, I found myself facing a new change in what had been an almost monotonously peaceful daily life.

The departure date was set for just two days later, much sooner than I had expected.

‘Well, with all the leader’s children collapsed and ill, I suppose we can’t afford to waste time.’

Our party consists of two first-generation disciples: Senior Yoo Baek and Senior Yoo Seong, as the elder mentioned earlier.

And then three second-generation disciples: Senior Ha Jin, myself, and Ha Hyun, making a total of five people.

The actual person in charge here is Senior Yoo Baek, who was the very person I met right after I regained consciousness at Huashan and asked my master, “Who are you?”

Senior Yoo Baek is another disciple of the Great Master, and unlike our master, he has long been affiliated with the Medical Wing and is likely to become the next head of the Medical Wing.

‘Even if a curse is suspected to be the cause, the fact remains that people have collapsed and fallen ill… So to keep them alive, someone knowledgeable in medicine must be included.’

But the fact that they’re sending someone who’s all but confirmed to be the next head of the Medical Wing, rather than just someone who knows medicine, shows how much the elder and the Medical Wing care about the Seongchang Trading Company.

And Senior Yoo Seong is a first-generation disciple belonging to the Talisman Wing. He’s also the immediate disciple of the Talisman Wing Master.

Within the Talisman Wing, there are those who specialize in teaching apprentices and those who research curse detection and breaking methods. Senior Yoo Seong belongs to the latter group.

Having broken a curse from the demonic cult, I had occasionally learned simple curse-breaking methods from the Talisman Wing Master over the past few years. During that process, I met Senior Yoo Seong a few times, and he was quite skilled in that area.

Senior Ha Jin is a disciple of Senior Yoo Seong, and it seems the senior is bringing him along to assist in case the problem escalates and something major happens.

Looking at the lineup of members excluding myself and Ha Hyun, one thought comes to mind.

‘…It feels like we’re just being given a ride.’

That’s right.

It really seemed like they just wanted us to ‘go out’ and come back.

No, of course, with two first-generation disciples going, one of whom is even the next head of the Medical Wing, this matter itself is significant.

But that doesn’t mean it could be considered difficult or dangerous.

‘The location itself says as much.’

Nanan County in Shangluo City, where the Seongchang Trading Company is located, is to the south of Huashan, even further south than Mount Zhongnan, at the foot of the Qinling Mountains.

Since we can’t cross the mountain range in a straight line, we plan to pass slightly through Yunan and Xi’an, and even then we can’t avoid mountains entirely, but the fact remains that the entire route is within Shaanxi.

Due to the presence of the Zhongnan Sect nearby, the public security is relatively stable, and as a result, there are many commoners passing through, so even the mountain paths should be somewhat developed. The chances of encountering bandits are likely low too.

Wild animals, living by instinct, are sensitive and don’t often attack martial artists they can’t defeat, so the chances of encountering them are equally low.

‘For commoners, the journey would take at least ten days one way, but…’

None of our party are commoners. Moreover, as it’s an urgent matter, we decided to use horses, one of the common modes of transportation in this era.

‘Even being generous, we should arrive in three or four days, shouldn’t we?’

I’m not sure how long it will take to solve the problem, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll be staying outside Huashan for more than two months.

‘Moreover…’

The elder said, “You’ve learned this and that, so you’ll be of help to the leader,” but looking at the seniors, it seemed like that was just something he said.

Of course, they couldn’t send completely ignorant kids out recklessly, so he might have considered it to some extent, but it doesn’t mean he expected anything great.

‘Ha Hyun and I will probably just be assistants to the assistants.’

The practical work will be the seniors’ role, and the assistance will be the job of the juniors.

Thinking this far, I could almost see the elder’s thoughts in including Ha Hyun and me in this task.

It’s been about 3 years since the third-generation disciples joined, so no matter how young they are, they can’t keep disciples who are second-generation in name from going out at all, but sending them just anywhere to work seems a bit too early, something like that…

‘But I shouldn’t take it too lightly either.’

There’s no reason to be overly tense either.

Yes, there were already four people going together. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult or dangerous, it wouldn’t take long, and it could distance us from the original story.

There’s no point in continuing to be reluctant about something that’s already been decided, so I should stop worrying about it now. It seems better in many ways to simply think of it as spending about a month out of eight months outside.

Above all…

“Um, Senior.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never properly ridden a horse before.”

“Ah.”

I wonder if I can learn in two days…

Time flew by quickly. As I had consciously set aside tension and worry, I wasn’t unbearably anxious.

‘…In fact, I couldn’t help but be that way.’

Because I was busy learning horseback riding.

Fortunately, the juniors peeked their faces in and handed over various items, telling me to take this and that, so without me having to worry, my luggage was packed before I knew it.

‘This is why it’s good to be the youngest.’

Until a few years ago, I felt a bit wronged about being treated as the youngest even though there was a junior disciple, but now I’m half enjoying that treatment.

A life where you don’t do much but receive a lot.

It feels a bit wrong, but once you accept it, it’s quite comfortable.

And so, the morning of our departure arrived.