Chapter 16. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl (3)
Back to the Iron Sword Sect.
Though Seong Cheon-wol had refused everyone’s send-off, he could not ignore even the send-off of the Murim Alliance’s Grand Strategist. After seeing Jegal So-myeong off with a rotten expression, he went to find Seong Mo-hyeon, who was said to have been causing disturbances in the prison day after day.
“You bastard! Do you think you can keep your life after doing this! Who will inherit the Iron Sword Sect in the future!”
Although he was the chief culprit who had caused the Founder’s sword to be taken away, Seong Mo-hyeon was confident.
“Grandfather! This cannot be! He definitely learned the Great Star-Absorbing Art. If we call the Murim Alliance’s Execution Pavilion……”
“Shut up, you bastard! You mean to pull out even the pillars of the Iron Sword Sect!”
“I am certain. His techniques would not connect……”
“You stupid……”
The Iron Sword Sect Leader, Seong Cheon-wol, thought that if he entrusted the Iron Sword Sect to this foolish grandson any longer, a calamity would occur, and a great one at that.
“Call Mo-ran here.”
“Pardon?”
“Seong Mo-hyeon. If you can endure fifty moves against Mo-ran, I will pardon all the crimes you have committed.”
“……What does that mean?”
At Seong Cheon-wol’s sudden words, Seong Mo-hyeon, Seong Ju-tak, and the other warriors of the Iron Sword Sect all wore bewildered expressions.
“Mo-ran, display everything you possess.”
“…….”
“Do not think of hiding it. As you saw, the existence of the Iron Sword Sect is already hanging at the edge of a cliff. In a situation like this, can that bastard Seong Mo-hyeon inherit the Iron Sword Sect?”
“……I understand.”
The others listening to Seong Cheon-wol and Seong Mo-ran’s conversation could not understand the current situation at all.
“Grandfather! This cannot be! To exclude the eldest son!”
“You fool……”
“I did my very best for the Iron Sword Sect.”
Seong Mo-hyeon’s anger, with nowhere else to go, naturally turned toward Seong Mo-ran in the end.
After he had taken such good care of her all this time, in the end, she too had been a rival aiming for succession.
“Mo-ran! How dare you!”
“Shut up and come at me.”
Seong Mo-hyeon felt a greater anger than when he had been beaten by Jin So-un.
The sense of betrayal toward a blood relative with whom it had been natural to live together from birth and growth transformed into a hatred that even stirred killing intent.
“A thing like you……!”
The Mountain-Shattering Sword Art of the Tenth Star unfolded from the very beginning.
He unleashed a killing move from the start.
As if representing his state of mind, the movements of his sword were violent and unrestrained.
But.
“……!”
CRASH.
The thunderous sound of metal did not continue three times.
Seong Mo-hyeon was struck by the flat of Seong Mo-ran’s sword and sent flying three jang before rolling across the ground.
“What……!”
“Stand up, Elder Brother.”
CRASH. CRASH. CRASH.
The sound was completely different from the duel with Jin So-un.
The clash between the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art and the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art scattered roaring explosions in every direction.
While Seong Mo-ran’s expression did not change, Seong Mo-hyeon’s face was already filled with desperation and astonishment.
The feeling of wanting to use strength, but no strength entering his body.
The feeling of becoming powerless, even though his inner arts and attainment in techniques were clearly higher.
BOOM.
This time, Seong Mo-hyeon flew four jang, and unable even to spring back up, he stared blankly at Seong Mo-ran.
He had clearly believed she was beneath him.
There had been a few sharp counterattacks, but he had always overwhelmed her.
What was this?
It was as if his techniques were cutting off again and again, and his strength was draining away.
His hands and feet, which should have moved naturally, moved out of step with each other as if they were not his own.
“This is……”
A heavy voice of interrogation pierced into the dazed Seong Mo-hyeon.
“Did Mo-ran also learn the Great Star-Absorbing Art?”
“…….”
Seong Mo-hyeon could not continue speaking.
“Drag him away.”
The warriors of the Iron Sword Sect grabbed Seong Mo-hyeon, whom they had doted on, as roughly as if he were a traitorous criminal, and began dragging him to the prison.
Drag, drag, drag, drag.
Seong Mo-hyeon, too shocked to walk on his own, was dragged away.
‘But when that bastard’s hand touched me, clearly…….’
The doubt remained in his mind, but Seong Mo-hyeon could not bring himself to say it out loud.
Because Seong Mo-ran had already proven just how great a mistake he had made, now even opening his mouth had become frightening.
To remove the Gyeryong Merchant Guild from the Taeul Sect, the Taeul Sect’s finances had to be reorganized first.
There were likely many ways to resolve the Taeul Sect’s chronic financial deficit.
I could gather money by selling the spiritual medicines written in the Murim Compendium of Spiritual Medicines, and there was also the method of retrieving treasures from treasure vaults or tombs that had not yet been discovered.
But I had to eat all the spiritual medicines myself, and most of the treasures were in distant provinces, so I could not obtain them immediately.
“Even if I discovered them, bringing the treasures back and disposing of them would also be a problem.”
Spiritual medicines and treasures were the same.
If word spread that something had appeared somewhere, hyena-like people from all over the Murim would swarm in, and war would break out.
Because wars of this kind caused damage no less great than wars against the Black Path and the Demonic Cult, the Murim Alliance deployed faster than for any other report and tried to prevent bloodshed caused by spiritual medicines or treasures.
Thanks to that, when mounted bandits or mountain bandits sometimes came rushing into a village, people did not report that a gang of robbers had appeared. Instead, they reported that a spiritual medicine had appeared.
In any case, in the end, the best method was to bring in a sponsor like the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, even if only as a stopgap measure.
If one looked for merchant guilds that could replace the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, there were quite a few merchant guilds even within Anhui Province.
Nearby were Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, so Anhui Province had favorable conditions for merchants and escort agencies to expand their influence, and there were many wealthy people accordingly.
The problem was that those with such great financial power had no interest in the Taeul Sect.
To people who calculated profit and loss thoroughly, the Taeul Sect had nothing to give.
If so, what was needed was not a give-and-take relationship, but sponsorship arising from gratitude.
And for a person with great wealth, that gratitude would also be sufficiently large.
“They say the Wang Estate’s house was so large that in the end, they built an entire village.”
“Just how many employees and dependents are attached to it? I heard that even nearby provinces said they would give free land if he moved his residence to their province.”
“I am the one who made that Wang village, Wangbu!”
“Do you work at the Wang Estate?”
“I said I made Wangbu. I raised the roof tiles and the crossbeams and everything.”
“……Are you joking? Gwak. Shut up and just eat the side dishes.”
The Wang Estate was a venerable family that had begun with the Wang Fabric Shop and built immense wealth over ten generations.
Starting with the Wang Money House, they operated countless businesses, such as the Wang Merchant Guild, Wang Escort Agency, and Wang Inns, and they had also obtained the status of salt merchants, a right monopolized and granted by the state. They had built such immense wealth that they were counted among the top three in the world, beyond Anhui Province.
Of course, there was no reason for such a tremendous family to deal with the Taeul Sect.
“But it will be different if their precious daughter is involved.”
Wang So-so.
The precious only daughter whom Wang Geum-san, the current family head, had obtained in his old age.
He cherished her so greatly that Wang So-so had never gone outside until she turned fifteen, and all her studies and hobbies were handled within the enormous mansion that was like the back of a whale.
They said that even when she went out, she did so by circling the mansion’s courtyard in a carriage, so one could know just how great Wang Geum-san’s wealth was, and how dearly he cherished his daughter with that wealth.
“They say Wang So-so’s beauty is so extraordinary that anyone who sees her once is enchanted, and anyone who sees her twice falls ill, so he hides her away because he worries she will be taken by the Emperor.”
“I heard she has already entered the palace and is not in Wangbu?”
In my past life, there was an incident where that very girl went missing and disappeared forever.
Wang Geum-san emptied all the family property that ten generations had accumulated to find the vanished Wang So-so, but in the end, Wang So-so was not found anywhere.
And I knew the culprit whom Wang Geum-san could not find even after emptying all his family’s wealth.
“When I first learned this truth, I nearly fainted. To think…… they had moved……”
The Murim Alliance was a place where information from all across the Murim gathered and then spread again.
As such, it held everything from trivial information to confidential information that must not spread into the world, and Mantongbu classified that information by grading it.
Most of Mantongbu’s information did not go beyond Grade A.
Because each and every document was filled with information important enough to sway the state of the Murim, the management of information was equally strict.
But there was one place that made even the information of Mantongbu look shabby.
The secret department of Mantongbu, Sim Hyeon-gak.
Most of Sim Hyeon-gak’s information was classified as Beyond Grade A.
The information here could be viewed only by the administrator of Sim Hyeon-gak, the Grand Strategist of Mantongbu, and the Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance. Once information was decided to be confidential and sealed, even the Alliance Leader could never open it.
What could such important information be?
It was mostly the weaknesses and rotten secrets of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans.
The materials of Sim Hyeon-gak had been gathered to tighten the noose around the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans, which had become gigantic trees of the Murim.
“From the moment they made me memorize Sim Hyeon-gak’s materials, my power over life and death had already been decided, I suppose.”
After briefly recalling the final moment of my past life, I quickly shook my head.
In any case, it was in this Sim Hyeon-gak that I learned the culprit behind the “Wang So-so Disappearance Case,” which had stirred all under heaven.
It was a place no one could possibly have expected at the time.
“The Azure Sky Merchant Guild……”
At that time, three sects were implicated in the Wang So-so Disappearance Case.
The Dog Thread Sect and the Blood Pearl Fortress, Black Path sects named as suspects, were annihilated, and even the Tanghyeon Sect, an Orthodox Path sect, could not avoid annihilation.
Even so, no trace of Wang So-so could be found, and Wang Geum-san, who had recklessly pushed the matter forward, had to pay enormous compensation to the Murim Alliance and the Black Path Alliance.
“From the beginning, they were dancing on the board laid out by the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, so they could never find Wang So-so even if they died trying.”
The Azure Sky Merchant Guild was a newly established merchant guild created by the Namgung Clan.
At this time, the greatest concern of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild was that it did not have as deep a history and tradition as the Wang Estate.
To resolve this, they entered the bidding for the rights of the salt merchants, but they could not surpass the Wang Estate, which had held the salt merchant rights without any problem for one hundred and ten years.
Namgung Sang-won, the head of the Namgung Clan’s collateral line and the true owner of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, judged that for the Azure Sky Merchant Guild to grow, they had no choice but to step on the Wang Estate and rise. For that purpose, he concocted the matter.
“And this time, I intend to sprinkle red pepper powder over that operation of yours.”
It was not as if there were no other useful matters in my memories of my past life right now.
Even so, I deliberately chose the matter of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild.
It was not because of some shallow chivalrous spirit or sense of justice that I chose the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, which would be difficult to deal with.
“At the Iron Sword Sect, they acted as if it had nothing to do with them.”
The bloody battle with Seong Mo-hyeon.
The “forbidden art” incident, where even the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance had stepped forward.
In the middle of all that, Namgung Sang-won had been yawning on the platform as if he were bored.
Knowing that the reason the Iron Sword Sect could commit atrocities within Anhui Province was also because of the Namgung Clan’s tacit approval, and in addition, the influence of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, there was no way that sight could have looked good to me.
That attitude of driving another person’s life to the edge of a cliff and yet acting as if it had nothing to do with them.
“If so, there should be no great problem if I sprinkle a little red pepper powder over your business, right?”
Although the opponent was the Azure Sky Merchant Guild of the Namgung Clan, I was not particularly afraid.
The warriors of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild would naturally have learned the Boundless Firmament Sword Art, and since I knew the process of the kidnapping in detail, there were many things I could prepare.
Above all.
“Seong Mo-ran might perhaps not be such a bad woman.”
The spiritual pill Seong Mo-ran had handed over was none other than a Steel Guardian Pill.
Though it could not compare to the Snow Plum Pill of the Mount Hua Sect, it was a spiritual medicine so precious that it could not even be compared to something like an Iron Heart Pill.
She had readily given me that spiritual pill, which only the direct of the direct line within the Iron Sword Sect could consume.
After digesting the Iron Heart Pills and the Steel Guardian Pill, my inner arts had reached a point where they were looking toward forty-five years in one breath.
“Let us see your clothes get dirtied by the filth you bastards splashed.”
In any case, in the future, I would have to face the Demonic Cult and the entire Murim Alliance.
For me to fear some collateral line of the Namgung Clan, the final boss was far too great an existence.
