Chapter 33: Mangok Village Black Pavilion (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: Mangok Village Black Pavilion (2)
A cave deep within the forest.
The flickering light of a campfire illuminated the cavern.
"Ah, I feel like I can finally breathe again."
Jo Seong-won, having removed his human skin mask, wore an expression of pure relief.
Having been unable to take the mask off for over ten days, his face was bumpy and broken out with acne.
In contrast, Sama Yeong’s skin remained as clear as jade.
According to her, depending on the skill of the artisan who crafted the human skin mask, they could be made to put significantly less strain on the skin.
Judging by the state of his face, it seemed the person who made Jo Seong-won’s mask was relatively lacking in skill.
"My father made mine," she boasted, stretching the mask's material to show its elasticity.
Ho.
That was new information.
To think that Moon Evil Sword Sama Chak, one of the Central Plains Four Great Villains, was also well-versed in the craft of making human skin masks.
Then again, given his notorious reputation, he probably couldn't afford to wander around with his real face exposed.
"I’d love to ask Great Leader Sama’s father to make one for me too," Jo Seong-won said enviously.
Indeed. I wondered if he would still say such things if he knew the true identity of Sama Yeong’s father. He’d likely be so frozen with fear he wouldn't be able to utter a word.
While the two of them discussed the masks, I carefully pulled something from my robes, shielding it from their view.
It was a jade plaque, about a third the size of a palm.
‘So this is what Mother had with her when she met him?’
Family Head So Ik-heon had handed this to me.
When I asked why he was giving it to me, he said it seemed like something I needed more than he did.
‘No.’
A pattern was engraved on the jade plaque. It depicted a crane in flight, but I had no idea what it signified. Parts of the plaque were carved with rounded, rough indentations.
Even as a low-rank spy, I had spent eight years in the trade, yet I had never seen a motif like this. It was difficult to tell if it was merely an ornament or some kind of identification mark.
‘Hmm. A soaring crane... Flying Crane (飛鶴)?’
I wondered if there was a sect in the martial world with "Flying Crane" in its name. I decided to ask the Namcheon Iron Sword.
‘Do you happen to know what this is?’
Even the Namcheon Iron Sword, who was quite knowledgeable, didn't recognize it.
There were thousands of martial sects, gangs, and families known throughout the Central Plains. While only a few hundred had truly established a name for themselves, it was still impossible to know every single one.
‘Do you know what it symbolizes?’
Usually, a crane symbolizes three things: longevity, nobility, and because it is considered divine, it is often called a "Celestial Bird."
In truth, martial families rarely used the crane as a symbol. It was more commonly used by scholarly families. Martial families tended to use fierce beasts like tigers or wolves to represent their prowess, though I had heard of some prestigious, high-born martial families using the crane.
‘What could it be?’
Was this related to my mother’s past? Or was it something related to my biological father?
Having learned the secret of my birth, I was even more curious as to why my mother had been found injured by So Ik-heon, the Family Head of the Yikyang So Family.
That possibility was hard to ignore. I wished there were more clues regarding her, but unfortunately, the Lesser Conversation Sword knew nothing; my mother had simply bought it from a passing peddler of stolen goods.
Shhh!
"What are you looking at?"
I felt a presence behind me. Before I knew it, Sama Yeong had circled around and was approaching.
It was difficult to gauge the limits of someone who inherited the blood of the Moon Evil Sword without actually fighting her. Even without having opened her Middle Dantian, she could hide her presence this well.
I clenched my fist around the jade plaque.
"Please don't sneak up behind me without permission, Young Lady."
"I was just curious because the Deputy Unit Leader was looking at something with such a wistful gaze."
"You do realize that hiding it from view means I don't want it seen, right?"
Sometimes, she seemed excessively innocent. It was likely because she had so little interaction with others.
As I tucked the jade plaque back into my robes, she stepped closer and rested her chin on my shoulder.
"You didn't explicitly tell me not to look. Don't be mad."
"Don't put your chin on my..."
I turned my head slightly, and Sama Yeong’s face was incredibly close.
She was undeniably beautiful. Even the shadows cast by the campfire seemed to add a layer of mystery to her features. As her shallow breath brushed against my cheek, a strange sensation washed over me.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Jo Seong-won coughed loudly.
At that, Sama Yeong clicked her tongue, lifted her chin, and stood up. She walked over to the campfire and irritably smacked Jo Seong-won on the back of the head.
"Hey! Why did you hit me?"
"It was a gesture of affection."
"Ugh, seriously..."
"What? You want to go a round of sparring for the first time in a while?"
At Sama Yeong’s sharp tone, Jo Seong-won scratched his head and forced a laugh.
"Haha, well, friends do hit each other sometimes. Hahahaha!"
Outmatched in both skill and rank, Jo Seong-won was completely under her thumb.
Regardless, with her beauty and her breath so close in the middle of the night, even I had almost been swayed for a moment.
The bickering voices of the two swords echoed in my head. I looked at Sama Yeong with a questioning gaze.
‘Seduction?’
When our eyes met, she asked with an innocent face, "Is something wrong?"
The cruelty she showed when holding a sword, her bright, smiling face, and the deep gaze she just gave me... I couldn't tell which was Sama Yeong’s true face.
*
Before crossing from Hunan Province into Hubei Province, there is Seokmun County.
Once the first mission was accomplished, we were supposed to head there. We were to rendezvous with the twin brothers, Song Jwa-baek and Song Woo-hyeon, and then proceed to Wuhan City in Hubei Province, where the Grand Martial Assembly would be held.
However, since we had completed our task much faster than the allotted fifteen days, we came to Mangok Village, located between Seokmun and Mount Tianzi. It was less than half a day's journey away, so we could head to Seokmun at any time.
"Phew. This place is the same as ever," Jo Seong-won muttered, looking at the people on the street.
If the southern part of Hunan Province was the territory of the Orthodox Faction, the northern part was teeming with the Black Path and the Evil Faction. The border regions, in particular, were home to notorious groups like the Yangtze River Waterway Eighteen Strongholds and the Black Dragon Society.
Perhaps that was why it wasn't difficult to spot members of the Evil Faction here in Mangok Village.
Warriors with villainous faces and bodies covered in scars—men who practically screamed "I belong to the Black Path"—were easily seen on the streets.
"Are you really going in there?"
"Should we go look for the Beggar's Sect instead?"
At my words, Jo Seong-won shut his mouth. He knew it was too early to seek out the Beggar's Sect.
We were currently heading toward the Black Pavilion, the practical ruler of Mangok Village. While it posed as an ordinary tavern, it was actually one of the three main headquarters of the Haomen Sect.
It might sound strange to call it a headquarters rather than a branch, but as far as I knew, the Haomen Sect had no concept of a single Sect Leader. The Haomen Sect, a representative intelligence network of the martial world, was operated by three Pavilion Lords.
I had met the Pavilion Lord of the Black Pavilion once before. Before my regression, that is.
As we reached the northern edge of the village, a tavern with black awnings draped here and there came into view. Unlike typical gisaeng houses, this place, draped entirely in black, was the Black Pavilion.
Most of the customers drinking at the tables under the awnings were martial artists from the Evil Faction or the Black Path.
‘He was brave to come to a place like this.’
I had to admire So Ik-heon’s boldness. It was impressive that he had come alone into the heart of a place swarming with villains.
I had come to this place, one of the Haomen Sect's headquarters, for two—no, now three—reasons.
[There are quite a few masters here. Will it be alright?] Jo Seong-won asked via sound transmission, sounding worried.
Just as he said, a considerable amount of powerful energy was radiating from within the Black Pavilion. Since it was one of the three headquarters that openly traded in information, it was only natural that powerful warriors guarded it.
[Why, are you scared?]
[S-Scared? Why would I be? I'm fine.]
Jo Seong-won tried to act tough at my slight provocation. I smirked and said, "Let's go."
We walked past the tables under the black awnings and entered the Black Pavilion. All the while, the eyes of those around us were fixed on us.
It was only natural, as we looked more like greenhorns from the Orthodox Faction than a group from the Black Path.
Inside, it was noisy with the sounds of numerous drunken patrons. The Black Pavilion building itself was quite large, and there seemed to be nearly a hundred customers on the first floor alone.
"Welcom—huh?"
The young waiter who had started to greet us couldn't hide his confusion. His expression was no different from the thugs outside.
I spoke to him naturally. "Any empty seats?"
The waiter scanned me, his eyes darting back and forth, then gave a thin smile and told us to follow him.
Of all places, he led us to a spot right in the middle of the first floor. As a result, we were effectively trapped among dozens of martial artists from the Evil Faction and the Black Path.
"He gave us this seat on purpose, didn't he?" Sama Yeong’s eyes grew sharp.
In truth, such things were commonplace here. If you gave off even a slight air of being naive, these kinds of mischievous pranks were frequent.
Sama Yeong was waiting for the waiter to return so she could give him a piece of her mind, but instead, one of the women wearing revealing red military attire approached us. They looked like gisaeng, but each of them was at least a second-rate master.
"Welcome, young heroes. Would you like to order?"
At the term "young heroes," the surrounding Black Path warriors glanced at us.
It had worked exactly as intended. We could have come dressed more like members of the Black Path or the Evil Faction, but we had intentionally come here exuding the aura of the Orthodox Faction.
I smiled leisurely and said to her, "I'd like to go to the second floor."
"The second floor?"
"I heard the wine brewed by the Black Furnace is quite exquisite."
At my words, she turned her head to look somewhere. Throughout the Black Pavilion, in addition to the women in red, men in black were standing against the walls.
One of the men in black nodded.
"You know that only one person can taste the special wine, right?"
Only the client could ascend to the second floor. Knowing the procedure, I readily agreed.
"You two stay here and order some noodles or something."
Leaving Sama Yeong and Jo Seong-won on the first floor, I followed the woman in red to the upper level. As I headed up, the gazes of the Black Path warriors naturally followed me. They likely knew I was there to request information.
On the second floor, there was a central meeting area with rooms arranged around the perimeter. In the middle of the meeting area sat a table, where an old man in a black hat and shabby clothes was pouring himself a drink.
‘He’s different.’
He was a different face from the old man I had seen in the Azure Spirit Sword’s memories. This old man had no scar on his face.
While the Lesser Conversation Sword sounded puzzled, the old man spoke to me.
"Fishing for lines of poetry (Jo-si-gu)."
Jo-si-gu So-chu-chu. Wine is the hook that fishes for poetry, and the broom that sweeps away sorrow. This was the code for receiving a request in the Haomen Sect.
"Sweeping away sorrow (So-chu-chu)."
At my response, the old man smiled broadly and gestured to the seat across from him. As I sat down, he placed a cup in front of me.
There were three cups in total. Inside the cups, the characters for High (上), Middle (中), and Low (下) were written.
I picked up the wine bottle, poured a drink into the "Low" cup, and spoke.
"I have two requests. I don't believe they will be very difficult for your esteemed sect."
With those words, I pulled ten silver coins from my robes.
High, Middle, and Low represented the difficulty of the request. I chose Low because I judged these tasks wouldn't be particularly hard for them.
"Speak."
"Did a guest not visit you about a year and three months ago?"
"A guest?"
"He would have come to request the search for the third son of the Yikyang So Family."
At those words, the old man’s expression hardened. He said to me, "We cannot reveal the identity of a client, young brother."
"So you do know of him."
There was no way they wouldn't. Someone had come to the Haomen Sect, an intelligence organization of the Evil Faction, to ask them to find someone from the Orthodox Faction.
"Please find A-Song."
At my request, the old man stroked his beard and asked, "May I ask why?"
"He is my servant."
The old man’s eyes narrowed. He stared intently at my face, and then his Adam's apple quivered slightly. He seemed to be communicating with someone via sound transmission.
Eventually, the old man said to me, "What a coincidence. Following the servant, the father is looking for the young master, yet the young master who was said to have disappeared appears here in perfect health, looking for the servant."
They truly lived up to their reputation as one of the three great intelligence organizations. Just from the mention of my servant, they had immediately deduced my identity.
It had gone exactly as planned. One of the reasons I came here was to intentionally leak information to the Haomen Sect. Since Family Head So Ik-heon had told the Black Pavilion that I had been kidnapped by the Blood Cult, they might have had information suggesting I had become a pawn of the Cult. I needed to reduce any potential variables before participating in the Grand Martial Assembly.
"As far as this old man knows, the Young Master was certainly..."
"I was lucky. If it weren't for my master's help, I wouldn't have had the chance to come here and make a request."
The old man stared at me piercingly. He then pushed the ten silver coins back toward me and said, "How about we exchange the whereabouts of your servant for information about your master?"
I inwardly marveled at the old man’s audacity. An information broker trying to buy information from me?
It was something that would be revealed eventually anyway. I smiled broadly, pushed the ten silver coins back toward him, and spoke.
"You're trying to spend money on something that will be known soon enough."
"Are you saying you'll just tell me?"
"No."
"Then?"
"I had two requests to begin with."
The other request. It concerned the jade plaque in my robes. It was to find a clue about my mother. If anyone could recognize the pattern on the plaque, it would be an intelligence organization like them.
The old man said, "I will accept the request. Now, may I hear your master’s name?"
"His surname is Ho, and his given name is Jong-dae."
"Ho... Jongdae? The Namcheon Sword Guest!"
The old man couldn't hide his shock. Judging by this reaction, the events at the Yikyang So Family hadn't spread this far yet. At the mention of the Namcheon Sword Guest’s prestigious name, the old man’s hand holding the wine cup trembled.
Flash!
But then, something completely unexpected happened. The old man suddenly lunged forward, using the Golden Snake Hand technique to snatch my wrist.
I quickly struck his hand away and sprang back from the table to create distance.
"What is the meaning of this?"
The old man shouted with a furious face, "You claim to be the disciple of the Namcheon Sword Guest?!"