The group departed Bongyang and walked without rest for even a moment.
Only around evening were they able to reach Huainan.
Huainan was famous as the place where Yuan Shu established his capital at the end of the Later Han Dynasty, and as its name Huainan suggested, it was a city located directly south of the Huai River.
The Namgung Family was several dozen miles south from here. Perhaps if they walked diligently for just one more day, they could reach it.
In other words, they had to stay one night in Huainan...
After arriving in Huainan, the group struggled quite a bit to secure an inn. This was because most inns had no rooms available.
Just like Tang O and the Danri Family's personnel, countless martial artists were gathering in Hefei to go to the Namgung Family. Naturally, it was obvious that the inns in Huainan along the way would be crowded.
The group barely found an inn where they could all stay. Though it wasn't a particularly excellent inn, it was sufficient to relieve their travel fatigue, so they immediately scattered to their respective rooms. After all, if they were going to walk all day tomorrow, they needed to rest well when they could.
However,
Among them, there was only one person staying outside the inn alone. Of course, it was Dong Bong-su.
Though Gi Dae-hyo no longer considered him a person of the Danri Family and took no special measures, inwardly he hoped he would take care of Yeoro until they arrived at the Namgung Family. This was because he didn't know what might happen if they left a precious horse like a Ferghana Horse alone in the stable outside the inn.
Separate from his feelings, Dong Bong-su stayed in the stable with Yeoro of his own accord, even though no one had told him to.
For another person, it would have been better to rest at the inn, but for Dong Bong-su, staying in the stable was actually more comfortable. Being alone was far better than being squeezed among various servants.
He could quietly contemplate alone, and could also practice Inventory Divine Art or skills. He was someone who didn't waste even a single moment. If he didn't need to sleep, he absolutely wouldn't have slept at all.
Even now, sitting in a corner of the stable, he wasn't staying still.
Dong Bong-su had tied Yeoro to a hitching post in the stable and was training his Inventory Divine Art.
Whether his consistent training had been effective, he had now become quite skilled at Two Object Entry and Exit. From now on, it was time to practice taking out and putting in three grains of sand simultaneously.
Just as Dong Bong-su was about to begin that practice.
Hee-hee-hee-hing, snort-.
When a long black shadow of an uninvited guest receiving moonlight cast into the stable, Yeoro whinnied softly. Someone had come looking for him at the stable at this late hour. Unlike the Danri Family's stables, this inn's stable had no door, so it was structured to immediately notice when someone appeared at the entrance.
The moment he confirmed the shadow's presence, Dong Bong-su's transparent gaze instantly sank and became murky.
Who was it that said eyes were the mirror of the heart? If the person who said that had met Dong Bong-su, they would have wanted to retract those words or chew up and eliminate their own tongue.
Dong Bong-su could freely control his gaze to color it however he wanted. He could become a dullard, a genius, a passionate person, a languid person, or even a demon or angel. With his gaze alone, he could become anyone.
To him, eyes were not the mirror of the heart, but reflective glass with a video playing. When the other person looked, they would think they were seeing Dong Bong-su's heart reflected in a mirror, but in reality, they would see what they wanted to see. No matter how closely they looked, it was useless. Rather, the closer they were, the narrower their field of vision became, making them even more confused.
On the other hand, Dong Bong-su could hide behind the glass and freely observe the other person. Thus, Dong Bong-su could manipulate at will the other person who had become a clown in a glass tube.
When Dong Bong-su's eyes completely returned to Sosam's eyes, the shadow completely covered his eyes.
He waited until he felt a presence nearby, then slowly raised his head to confirm the face of the person who appeared.
The visitor was the veiled woman with a figure that seemed ready to fly away. At this late hour, the person who appeared before him was Tang Hwa, Tang O's granddaughter.
"Grandfather really. I don't know why he's telling me to bring someone like this at this hour."
"...."
Though Tang Hwa was grumbling without knowing the reason, Dong Bong-su knew what had to come.
"Follow me."
Regardless of her unpleasant tone, her words themselves were polite. Surely she had been told by Tang O not to treat him carelessly.
Dong Bong-su slowly rose from his spot at her words. When the two left the stable, one Black Five Group member who had come with her entered the stable in Dong Bong-su's place. They couldn't leave Yeoro alone.
Afterward, Dong Bong-su entered the inn as Tang Hwa led. She took him to the largest and best room in the inn. Probably Tang O was staying in this room.
As he expected, when they opened the door and entered the room, Tang O sat in the middle of the room with a cold expression.
"You're here? Bring him closer."
"Yes, Grandfather."
Dong Bong-su followed Tang Hwa and walked right up to Tang O.
Tang O quietly looked up at Dong Bong-su with sharp eyes, then raised his hand to point at a bed placed in one corner of the room and opened his mouth.
"Go up on that bed and sit in meditation."
Without much hesitation, Dong Bong-su climbed onto the bed as Tang O instructed and sat in a cross-legged position.
Though he didn't know what Tang O was trying to do, he judged it was good to do as told. Though Tang O's eyes were cold, some kind of yearning was burning within them. And that yearning was undoubtedly 'some matter' beneficial to him, without needing to question it.
When Dong Bong-su took the desired position, Tang O rose from his spot and approached the bed.
After scanning Dong Bong-su's body once with fierce eyes, Tang O soon began kneading various parts of his body here and there.
Would an archaeologist's touch handling ancient relics be this careful? Tang O's touch on Dong Bong-su's body was so cautious it was difficult to express in words.
After a while.
Having sufficiently confirmed Dong Bong-su's physical condition, he stopped touching his body. Then from his bosom, he took out a small wooden case meticulously decorated with gold leaf depicting dragons and phoenixes intertwined and soaring. Even at a glance, it seemed like a very precious item to Dong Bong-su.
"Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles!"
What? Judging by Tang Hwa's shocked outcry, it wasn't simply a precious item.
"Grandfather, what exactly are you trying to do? Surely not?"
Whether Tang Hwa was surprised or not, Tang O paid no attention and spoke to Dong Bong-su.
"I am about to perform a certain Great Method on you."
'Great Method.'
Dong Bong-su thought that was the 'beneficial matter.'
Tang O's words continued.
"It will be very painful. Perhaps to the extent you might think dying would be better. However, if you endure it, you will be able to regain your speech, and moreover! You will be able to return to your original self, yourself as you were born. What do you say? Will you do it?"
Dong Bong-su couldn't understand what Tang O meant by 'original self, as you were born.' He could only know that it was the reason Tang O had chosen him.
The interesting fact here was that Tang O was giving him a choice. The difference between himself as a groom and Tang O was as vast as the gap between the sun and a firefly.
Nevertheless, the fact that Tang O was allowing him to 'choose' rather than 'ordering' him meant the pain accompanying the Great Method transcended imagination.
It was a moment of choice. Dong Bong-su thought.
Was consideration really necessary?
No. An opportunity had come. When an opportunity comes, one must seize it.
The penalty? Pain enough to wish for death?
Who cares? Pain enough to wish for death ultimately meant not dying. If he didn't die, that was all. If he didn't die, he would become stronger.
Any room for choice?
None. Backing down here meant wasting that much time. The more time wasted, the closer one came to death in this jungle-like Martial World. There was no reason to look back because of a little pain.
'Advance, move forward.'
Dong Bong-su slowly but firmly nodded his head.
Seeing that, Tang O grinned. A satisfied smile. Dong Bong-su's light nod made Soul Chasing Poison Hand Tang O smile and gave him faith.
"Do you know the saying 'Orange Becomes Trifoliate Orange'?"
Orange Becomes Trifoliate Orange.
It was a four-character idiom meaning that Huainan's oranges transform into trifoliate oranges when they cross the Huai River and go north. It was a famous saying spoken by Yan Ying, who had been the Prime Minister of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, to the King of Chu when he went as an envoy to the State of Chu north of the Huai River after passing through this very Huainan.
Of course, Dong Bong-su knew those words well. And once again, he could understand that this place was a parallel world not much different from Earth's past, except for the simultaneous existence of the bizarre world called the Martial World.
As if to show that its meaning and origin were the same as Earth's, Tang O's explanation continued.
"It means Huainan's oranges transform into trifoliate oranges when they cross the Huai River and go north."
"G-Grandfather!"
She must have caught on to what Tang O was trying to say by bringing up the idiom Orange Becomes Trifoliate Orange. Tang Hwa called out to Tang O in surprise.
Dong Bong-su also seemed to understand why Tang O had brought up the saying Orange Becomes Trifoliate Orange. Slightly different from what he'd expected earlier, Tang O seemed about to give him even bigger wings.
'Not a disciple then. If so.'
Huainan's trifoliate orange becomes Huaibei's orange.
If Huainan was the Danri Family, Huaibei was the Tang Family.
If the orange was the groom Sosam, then the trifoliate orange was...
"Are you willing to receive the Tang Family's surname?"
It was the Tang surname.