Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: What Do You Want to Do With Me?
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As I hesitated, the Azure Moon Pavilion Mistress tilted her head.
“The young lady here is Yuehua, the one in charge of this pavilion. Does the great hero have some issue?”
“W-Well… the alcohol here…”
“Pardon? I can’t hear you well.”
She cut me off and leaned in close, as if trying to hear me better, tilting her ear toward me.
Step-.
“…!”
As she took one step after another toward me, I couldn’t help but flinch even harder with my already hesitant body.
‘This is weird.’
Yeah, it’s weird.
Azure Moon Pavilion Mistress Yuehua. Every little movement she made stiffened my body and made my heart pound.
Stimulation rushed through all my senses….
Sniff sniff.
And her natural fragrance wafting from her was so intoxicating….
Just smelling it felt like I’d chugged strong liquor nonstop, my mind growing hazy.
….
Wait.
My mind’s getting hazy?
It was a close call. Thanks to that fleeting doubt before I lost my senses, I managed to check my own body in that instant.
And….
I could see my yang energy surging out abnormally. At some point, this space had been filled with thick yin energy too.
“Ah… haha….”
“…….”
“Fuck, my heart’s pounding like crazy, so I thought I’d met my fated first love or some shit. But what the hell is this…?”
Seduction arts.
The reason I was acting so weird right now was all because of those seduction arts. Since it was my first time getting hit by them, I hadn’t reacted right away.
Well, now that I knew, that was enough.
I immediately circulated my qi to dispel the abnormal state in my body.
Now, the Azure Moon Pavilion Mistress in front of me came into proper focus.
She was beautiful.
If I had to describe her, she was the cool beauty type who’d look great in office attire.
However… now that the seduction arts were gone, my heart wasn’t racing, and my mind wasn’t hazy anymore.
I fetched my sword from a distant corner and said to her,
“How do you plan to atone for trampling on a man’s pure heart? Hao Gate Leader.”
“Hoo…?”
Hoo my ass.
The moment I regained my senses, I realized she was the Hao Gate Leader. She hadn’t even tried to properly hide her identity from the start.
Back when she’d been lurking underground, she’d shown me the exact same qi without any change.
For some reason, the Hao Gate Leader, who always kept her info secret, had revealed her true identity to me herself.
Even with her identity exposed, the Hao Gate Leader chuckled pleasantly and opened her mouth.
“I apologize for slipping poison into the alcohol. I just wanted to test your skills.”
“Who the hell are you to test me?”
The Hao Gate Leader sat down as if she wanted to chat with me, but I didn’t sit. I had nothing particular to discuss with her, and I didn’t know what tricks she might pull.
Just moments ago, during the deal, she’d been hiding like a rat, but now she was out in the open. In this absurd situation, the Hao Gate Leader grinned slyly and spoke.
“I hear you’re in the bandit business. Bandits are unorthodox like our Hao Gate, so shouldn’t we get along?”
“Bullshit. Spit out what you have to say quick, settle the tab, and get lost?”
Realizing it’d be hard to talk nicely, she closed her eyes briefly before opening them again and speaking.
“I have a proposal for you.”
“Rejected. Pay up and scram.”
“We’ll provide fitting compensation too.”
“Compensation my ass. Do I look like I need money right now?”
I’d just pocketed 200 taels of gold from that deal with her goons. Sure, it’d run out someday, but I didn’t need any right now.
‘Why would I let them use money to make me do their bidding?’
It couldn’t be easy for the Hao Gate Leader to come out personally with a proposal like this. For someone like me aiming for a normal life, getting deeply tangled with them was a hard pass.
As if she’d expected my refusal, the Hao Gate Leader continued smoothly without missing a beat.
“The Hao Gate can offer more than just money. We hold the second-most information in the world after the Beggars’ Sect.”
“You’ll give me info as payment? But I’m not curious about anything.”
“How about information on the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“W-What…?”
I flinched for a moment. No wonder— a completely unexpected term had come out of the Hao Gate Leader’s mouth.
Stunned, I asked her,
“You… why bring up the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult all of a sudden…?”
“If you accept our proposal, I’ll tell you everything.”
…As expected, she wouldn’t answer easily.
“Well? Does that pique your interest now?”
“…….”
The Hao Gate lived up to their reputation for being slippery. Suddenly bringing up the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to me…. It did stab sharply at my heart….
“…Rejected.”
Rejected again.
“…May I ask why?”
“They’re just skirmishing with the Murim Alliance over borders now and then…. Those shadowy bastards aren’t up to anything special, right?”
“What’s your basis for saying that?”
“I just know everything.”
I’d read the novel. Right now was when the protagonist was monopolizing opportunities to build power, and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was laying low, waiting for their moment without any big moves.
I didn’t know how she’d figured out I cared about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, but she was bluffing with some trivial info.
But….
“I don’t know what makes you so sure, but no matter how much info you have, could it surpass the Hao Gate’s? We have people secretly embedded even in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.”
“…So?”
“Right now, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is engaging in activity we classify as upper-grade intelligence.”
“……What?”
Upper-grade intelligence.
Not the highest grade, but right below it—info they valued highly. In the novel, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was supposed to be laying low at this point, but the Hao Gate was classifying their activity as upper-grade?
If this was true, it meant the story in the novel was changing. I quickly scanned the Hao Gate Leader’s face, wondering if it was a lie, but it didn’t seem so.
Flustered, I pulled out some gold and said to her,
“You said upper-grade info, right? How much to see it? I’ll pay.”
I was willing to shell out 10—no, 20 taels of gold if that’s what it cost. But….
“…That info you just heard has now been upgraded to highest-grade by the Hao Gate Leader’s authority.”
“…What?”
“Highest-grade info is worth whatever we say. And for this Heavenly Demon Divine Cult info….”
“…….”
“…I’d like to offer it for 200 taels of gold.”
“…….”
I had no choice but to shut my mouth at this crazy bitch’s nonsense.
That fucking bitch was telling me to cough up the exact 200 taels of gold I’d just gotten from selling the Shanxi Liu Clan’s treasure.
For a second, my fist genuinely itched to swing.
“Hehe, 200 taels of gold is quite a steep price, isn’t it? If you accept my proposal, I’ll give you the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult info as compensation.”
“Fuck… what the hell is this damn proposal?”
“That too, I’ll reveal only after you accept.”
The Hao Gate Leader wouldn’t even tell me the proposal’s contents. That meant it was definitely something major and dangerous.
‘Ha… what to do….’
Of course, I had to agonize over it.
I was curious about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult info, but I didn’t want to get deeply involved with the Hao Gate.
After I pondered long and hard for those reasons, the Hao Gate Leader, who’d been grinning in front of me, spoke first.
“You seem to be struggling a lot with this.”
“Who’re you mocking?”
“No, not mocking—I want to help. If you can’t choose either side, how about making a bet with me?”
“…A bet?”
“Yes. If you win, you’ll get everything you want.”
The Hao Gate Leader smiled delightedly, which made me uneasy, but….
“…What kind of bet?”
Bets always turned out in my favor anyway.
Tempted by the promise of getting what I wanted without cost, I nodded for now.
**
Once I accepted the bet and sat down, the Hao Gate Leader soon called someone to bring something over. It looked like three bottles filled with alcohol.
“In Sichuan, they call it a wine duel. Do you know of it?”
“…I do.”
“Then I can explain quickly.”
Wine duel. Literally, a battle of alcohol. But in Sichuan, it wasn’t just about who could drink more.
First, the two betters decide who serves the drinks and who drinks them.
The server mixes and prepares poisoned liquor to give to the drinker, who then has to drink it.
If the drinker stays sober and compos mentis after downing it, they win. Otherwise, the server wins.
It’s a contest that pits everything—detox ability, internal energy, alcohol tolerance—against each other.
“As you’ve guessed, these bottles contain poisoned liquors. I’d like to be the server. Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
“Then let me explain the rules. You just need to take one cup from each bottle here. Every time you drink a cup, I’ll give you the info you want.”
“What if I can’t hold out after drinking?”
“Then you must unconditionally accept the job we propose at the Hao Gate.”
“Hmm… is that how it is?”
As I trailed off slightly, the Hao Gate Leader smirked as if it was laughable. She seemed extremely confident in this bet.
But….
“If anything life-threatening happens, I’ll detox you, so no worries. Ah, if you’re scared, you don’t have to take the bet.”
“Scared, huh… pfft.”
“…?”
She was looking at me like I was pathetic, but right now, I was looking at her the same way.
Stupid bitch.
She wanted to do a poisoned alcohol battle with me?
“As if I’d be scared.”
I was confident. Confident I could twist up that arrogant Hao Gate Leader’s face.
“Pour the drinks now. I’ll down them right away.”
She’d pissed me off from the moment she dared try to manipulate a man’s heart with seduction arts.
And now she wanted to bet with poison?
Fine, this time I’d strip her bare.
I resolved to give the Hao Gate Leader a proper schooling.