Black Flame Dragon Leaping Over the Gate (3)
First, to handle the paying of respects I had mentioned to the bandits of Hwamak Stronghold, I requested help from Haomun through a messenger hawk.
Two days later, a wagon loaded with dozens of wooden barrels entered the village just as I had ordered, and I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw the person leading the caravan.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Yueyang?”
The one chuckling was Yang Gunbaek, the black market owner of Yueyang and the eleventh disciple of the Haomun sect leader.
“One thing led to another. Still, thanks to that, I am overjoyed to see you again after so long, Young Master Sowoon.”
Yang Gunbaek’s attitude was extremely warm.
Even taking into account the fact that my changed position from when I had been in Yueyang was now that of Haomun’s “guest-retainer,” it was excessive enough to make me very uncomfortable.
‘In a way, he lost his chance at becoming the Haomun sect leader because of me. Does he know that?’
Whether he knew or not, Yang Gunbaek still wore a smiling face.
“Did you bring what I asked for?”
Yang Gunbaek nodded.
In one corner of the wagon he guided me to, four boxes were lined up side by side.
When I opened the first and second boxes, there were fifty gold coins inside.
“Normally, around twenty gold nyang are used when a merchant guild or escort agency pays respects, but is there a reason you prepared this much?”
When I opened the third and fourth boxes, there were twenty gold ingots in each.
Each box contained money worth a thousand gold nyang.
“I heard the villagers were dragged off to Mount Tianmu.”
“Ah…… Don’t tell me…….”
Realizing my intention, deep worry settled over his face.
“……I am sure you have a plan, Young Master Sowoon, but I can’t help but worry.”
I wondered what he was thinking.
“The Golden-Faced Buddha Saber and the One-Eyed Blood Axe, who newly rose to the positions of stronghold chiefs on Mount Tianmu, are violent and greedy men. Even if you rescue the hostages, they will probably commit atrocities again after a few days.”
“Please continue.”
“Moreover, Twin Curtain Stronghold is twice as large as the other Seventy-Two Green Forest Strongholds, and its numbers also reach around a thousand. How about looking for another mountain stronghold, even now?”
He was looking at me as though he were watching his younger brother being dragged to a battlefield.
“I have already accepted the request.”
“A request?”
“Yes. Chief Heo’s grandson made a request.”
“If it was a request, does that mean you have already received payment? Just how much was it?”
“One silver coin.”
“Pardon?”
Yang Gunbaek could no longer continue speaking and looked at me with complicated feelings.
“It must also be related to the matter you asked of me, correct?”
“Yes.”
“……Please, I hope you do not get hurt.”
Moved by his concern, I took out the promissory note worth five thousand gold nyang that I had kept inside my robe.
It was an amount that included the cost of the gold coins, the alcohol, and the hiring of people.
“…….”
Yang Gunbaek looked at the promissory note for a moment, then shook his head and pushed it back.
“Is it perhaps not enough?”
“No. It is certainly a sufficient amount.”
“Then why?”
“Because I want to make this matter a gift from me to you, Young Master Sowoon.”
“Pardon?”
Even if I became Haomun’s guest-retainer, Haomun was strict when it came to transactions and exchanges.
Why was he saying he would not accept the money?
“Senior Sister Haeryeong is someone who looked after me like my mother from the time I was young.”
“Ah.”
“When misfortune piled on top of misfortune for such a senior sister, I could not put my feelings into words.”
Yang Gunbaek took out the hand he had hidden in his sleeve and respectfully cupped his fist.
“Thank you very much for saving Senior Sister.”
Unlike the Yang Gunbaek I had seen in Yueyang, his current appearance was sincere, with his feelings plainly visible.
#
“Brother Geumpyo, just what do you think Eldest Senior Brother is thinking?”
“I don’t know. More importantly, aren’t you going to put your back into it?”
“In the first place, we could just have the people who brought the alcohol do this.”
Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong were pushing a cart loaded with a huge barrel with all their strength.
“Ugh, I think Eldest Senior Brother must have something in mind.”
“Dongryong, you’d believe Eldest Senior Brother even if he said he was making soybean paste out of red beans.”
“Isn’t that true?”
“Damn it, both of you put some real strength into it before I let go too.”
“Damn it! What in the world is that man called Eldest Senior Brother thinking, with these little barrels of oil…….”
Eunho was grumbling like that beside me.
“You’re saying that for me to hear, right?”
“Huh? Eldest Senior Brother? When did you get here?”
“Hmph.”
I lightly sent out finger wind and broke one of the wheel latches.
Click.
“Huh?”
“M-move back!”
“Get out of the way!!”
As the wheel came off, the cart broke apart with a crunch, and at the same time, the barrels loaded on top of the cart rolled down, broke open, and spilled the liquid that had filled them in every direction.
Fortunately, the cart pulled by the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had been at the very back, so no one was injured.
“Tsk, tsk. You brats can’t even pull one of those properly?”
“We could have moved it just fine if we hadn’t been using moving circulation.”
“Then there would be no point in training, would there?”
As I was bickering with my junior brothers like that, Bang Duchil approached.
“Do you really think you can save the hostages with this?”
Bang Duchil’s subordinates had already been moving the carts up toward Mount Tianmu together with the escorts.
It was a grand sight, with as many as thirty carts going up a single road.
“If we don’t actually subjugate Twin Curtain Stronghold, all of this will become meaningless.”
“At any rate, isn’t it better not to have hostages?”
“…….”
When the caravan loaded with alcohol finally reached the end of the road leading up Mount Tianmu, bandits appeared and blocked the path.
“Stop!”
They were the very same bandits who had attacked the village a few days ago.
“Greetings.”
“You are men who don’t keep the promised time.”
Because I had sent someone ahead to say we would pay our respects, the bandit already knew we would come.
“I apologize. As you can see, there are many goods to deliver, so we were a little late.”
The bandit looked quite satisfied as he gazed at the meat and wine barrels piled high on the carts.
“It doesn’t matter to us, but the stronghold chiefs of Twin Curtain Stronghold will not let it pass easily.”
“You don’t need to worry. I have prepared separate gifts for them.”
“From here on, we will move the goods.”
“Yes.”
At the bandit’s words, hundreds of figures suddenly sprang out from the bushes.
“Waaaaaaa!”
Those who appeared with thunderous shouts began moving the goods loaded on the carts with lightning speed, as if they were committing banditry.
“Wait.”
I blocked the hand of a bandit who was trying to touch the box in front of me with the Black Dragon Sword.
“What the hell!”
“This is something I will deliver to the stronghold chiefs personally.”
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
Tap.
When I struck his hand away with the scabbard, the bandit grabbed his hand and looked ready to draw his saber at any moment.
“Stop. Do not touch the stronghold chiefs’ goods carelessly.”
When the one who had spoken with me said that, the bandit who had been about to draw his saber soon turned his gaze elsewhere.
“Follow me.”
#
A hill lay between the two enormous peaks that made up Mount Tianmu.
Whenever Twin Curtain Stronghold held a major event, they would gather on this hill and hold a feast.
“Waaaaaaa!”
“Waaaaaaa!”
When around a thousand people shouted inside the hill, the air rang thunderously.
It was such an overwhelming number that not only the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers and Bang Duchil’s subordinates, but even Bang Duchil, who had lived as if he alone stood above heaven and earth, turned slightly pale.
“Senior Brother, is this really all right?”
Geumpyo could not hide his unease.
Although their clothing and weapons were not uniform, considering that each and every one of them was an expert who had learned martial arts, Twin Curtain Stronghold was already no different from a mid-level sect even when compared to the sects of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
“Enough!”
When a thunderous Lion’s Roar cut across the hill, the bandits who had been cheering stopped moving and looked at the two men seated at the highest place.
“Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect, was it?”
A large chair had been placed atop a tiger pelt, and beside that chair leaned a massive saber that looked wide enough to be two palms across.
It was Song Goak, the Golden-Faced Buddha Saber.
“This humble junior of murim, Jin Sowoon, greets the seniors.”
Strictly speaking, it made no sense to use a title like “seniors” for mere dark faction trash, but I am a righteous hero who shows courtesy even to villains.
“Kukuk. If it’s the Black Flame Dragon, then the title senior does not sound that strange.”
The one-eyed man sitting on a bear pelt beside him was the Geummok Stronghold chief, the One-Eyed Blood Axe.
“So, Junior Black Flame Dragon, what brings you to a place where mere bandit rabble live? And you even called all of Twin Curtain Stronghold together?”
“Perhaps you called us here to take the official murim exam?”
“Krahahahaha.”
“Krahahahaha.”
At the One-Eyed Blood Axe’s words, the hill thundered with laughter.
They knew exactly why I had asked them to gather, yet they were playing dumb like that as a trick to raise their own price.
“As you seniors know well, how could the Taeul Sect possibly qualify for the Martial Academy’s official exam? As I said earlier, I am here to pay my respects.”
“Hmmm.”
“This time, our Taeul Sect acquired a large merchant guild, and I expect we will often travel between Hangzhou and Suzhou from now on. So I prepared a modest gift.”
Geumpyo and Eunho each carried a small box and walked forward.
The Golden-Faced Buddha Saber and the One-Eyed Blood Axe looked indifferent at the boxes, which contained twice the amount used in an ordinary paying of respects.
“Junior, I am grateful that you showed sincerity by bringing wine and meat to pay your respects, but gathering all of us in one place for merely this matter is rather upsetting.”
I nodded readily.
After all, when I had asked them to gather all the bandits of Hwamak Stronghold and Geummak Stronghold in one place, the other side’s reaction had been the same.
“In truth, there was something else I truly wanted to propose.”
Geumpyo and Eunho opened the large boxes again.
The boxes, each containing twenty gold ingots, scattered radiance in every direction under the sunlight shining on the hill.
Even the thousand or so bandits who had been chattering all around became as silent as mutes in that moment, staring wide-eyed while salivating.
“While going around the nearby villages, I heard that the villagers were working here.”
Thud.
When the Golden-Faced Buddha Saber stamped his foot, the aftershock faintly reached all the way to me.
“So?”
“Our sect has a motto: ‘Benefit people far and wide.’ Because of that, I could not simply overlook this. If you would be so generous, please allow me to take away the people who have come here.”
I offered a cupped-fist salute, but the other side gave no answer.
“Kuku. You are an amusing fellow.”
The One-Eyed Blood Axe picked up his red axe and stroked its blade.
“To think you would dare propose a deal to Twin Curtain Stronghold.”
“Can most things in the world not become a deal?”
“But touching the other party’s pride cannot become a deal. You may have to offer your neck here as the price for that.”
“Since ancient times, it has been said that only fools kill the goose that lays golden eggs.”
“What!”
The One-Eyed Blood Axe sprang up from his seat.
The bandits sitting on the right side of the hill also rose from their seats and drew their weapons.
Geumpyo, Eunho, Dongryong, and Bang Duchil’s subordinates were startled by that force and tried to draw their weapons as well.
“I do not know whether you have heard, but the Taeul Sect acquired Namgung Family’s Changgung Merchant Guild without a single decent martial art to its name. No one can predict how much larger it will grow in the future. It is something only fools would do to lose such a good business partner and let their eyes be stolen by greed for a single moment.”
“Haha, do you have three lives or something?”
“Because I am certain that those who have become the stronghold chiefs of Twin Curtain Stronghold would not make a foolish choice.”
“You are an insolent fellow.”
The One-Eyed Blood Axe said this while twirling his axe.
However, his gaze still refused to leave the boxes.
No matter how much he was the stronghold chief of Geummak Stronghold, it was not easy to remain unmoved before a thousand gold nyang.
“As you say, we can release the people along with taking that money. However, I cannot guarantee that they will not come back here again.”
He meant that he would take the money as money, then capture the released people again.
‘As expected of bandit bastards.’
I nodded readily.
“What happens afterward is none of my concern.”
“What?”
“Hm?”
At my words, our group, the One-Eyed Blood Axe, and the Golden-Faced Buddha Saber all stared with rabbit-like eyes.
“We merely do good. It is not as though we can prevent disaster from striking again, can we?”
The One-Eyed Blood Axe, who had been staring blankly like a mute who had eaten honey, burst into roaring laughter toward the sky.
“Krahahahahaha.”
“Krahahahahaha!”
Then, at the same time, the bandits on the right side who had drawn their weapons also burst into laughter, as if they were the One-Eyed Blood Axe’s shadows.
“You are an amusing fellow. I heard that a rising star of the dark faction wearing the hide of the righteous faction had appeared, and it seems the rumors are true.”
No, they’re not. How dare you compare me to someone like that?
“Good. Take them away. However!”
The One-Eyed Blood Axe paused for a moment.
“Have them make the food for the feast before you take them!”
“Waaaaaaa!”
At the word “feast,” the bandits, having smelled the liquor, shouted from every direction.
—Do you think this settles everything?
At that moment, a thunderous sound transmission struck my eardrums, startling me so much that I almost covered my ears.
When I turned my head, Bang Duchil was moving his lips.
Just like his ignorant internal energy, he could not control his sound transmission either.
—We rescued them first, didn’t we?
—Thanks to that, we lost the chance for a surprise attack.
—Were you planning to launch a surprise attack? Against a thousand people?
Is one of the traits of the Heavenly Astral Boundless Body having an ignorant brain?
Why does his head fail to keep up with even half of his body?
—…….
—Just stay quiet and watch. Everything has been prepared.
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