Yongjeong Inn (1)
Seo Baek stepped into Wang Yi Sam's quarters.
As expected, Wang Yi Sam and Song Hyeon were there together, with Dohwa Gwang's severed head and corpse sprawled on the floor.
Wang Yi Sam greeted him warmly.
"Junior brother, you okay?"
"I'm fine. You must've had it rough, senior brother."
"Rough? What're you talking about? I didn't do much..."
"I set a trap because I wanted to meet the commander one-on-one."
"What trap?"
"Dohwa Gwang didn't seem like the commander, so I arranged the defenses to let him ambush you. And the result... well, you can see for yourself."
Seo Baek pointed at Dohwa Gwang's body on the floor.
Wang Yi Sam stared blankly for a moment, then his jaw dropped wide open.
"So you're saying you planned for that clown to come at me?"
"That's right."
"You little punk...!"
Wang Yi Sam bellowed, but when he saw Seo Baek's faint smile, his anger oddly fizzled out.
It was rare to see Seo Baek smiling like that.
Wang Yi Sam crossed his arms, pouting as he turned his head away.
"Tch. You owe me one now—don't forget it!"
"Of course. I'll pay you back double."
At that, Wang Yi Sam whipped his head back around. Quick to anger and just as quick to cool off, he couldn't stay mad long.
"So, who was the commander?"
"So Samnak."
"That bushy-bearded bastard was a revenant?"
"He was wearing a human skin mask, so the beard was fake."
Seo Baek recounted what had happened with So Samnak.
He also explained that all four underworld warriors were actually assassins who had trailed the group for the bounty on his head.
Wang Yi Sam listened, his jaw dropping again in shock.
"So Samnak was disguised with a human skin mask... But how'd you know he was the commander out of those four underworld thugs?"
"I didn't."
"What?"
"I planned to cut all their throats anyway. Revenant or not, they were assassins gunning for me."
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam swallowed hard, stunned for a different reason.
Sometimes Seo Baek seemed like an innocent boy not even in his twenties, but at others, he revealed the cold ruthlessness of a seasoned martial artist who had carved through forests of blades.
The group chatted, speculating on how So Samnak had turned the waterway gang into a nest of revenants.
In the midst of it, Wang Yi Sam had a question.
"If So Samnak turned the gang into revenants, why'd he follow us off the boat?"
"It was a no-lose deal for him."
Song Hyeon answered this time.
"If the gang caught Seo Baek, they could've dragged him straight to the Namgung family. If we escaped the boat, he'd just bide his time and grab him while traveling with us."
"A win-win no matter what?"
"Exactly."
"Ugh."
Wang Yi Sam loved Romance of the Three Kingdoms for its endless strategies and schemes, but seeing it play out in real life made his head spin.
Seo Baek and Song Hyeon—the schemers straight out of the classics!
"A commander is a revenant linked mentally to the progenitor. The progenitor vanished after the Black Wolf Castle incident, so I don't know how commanders are still appearing in the Central Plains."
Seo Baek fell into thought at Song Hyeon's words.
He had studied revenants endlessly back at Shika Manor, but mysteries remained.
Perhaps the revenants' types and traits were evolving over time.
'We need to hurry to Shaolin. ...Same thought as always?'
Nothing was more foolish than regretting the past.
They had gained as much as they'd lost—now it was time to press on.
"Let's resume our journey to Shaolin."
"We couldn't even make it to Luoyang and got off the boat—where to now?"
When Wang Yi Sam asked, Seo Baek's eyes sparkled.
"Yongjeong Inn."
* * *
The group left the house and moved through the streets.
In the thick darkness, the sounds of revenants shuffling here and there echoed faintly.
A few approached the group now and then, but since they held their breath to mask their living presence, the revenants passed by unaware.
After about the time it took to eat a meal, they slipped out of Sukju's dockside streets.
Song Hyeon addressed the group.
"Yongjeong Inn isn't far from Sukju. I stopped there once as an escort—I know the way."
"Perfect."
Seo Baek replied with a pleased smile.
Wang Yi Sam, however, thought differently.
'Of course he knows it like the back of his hand—he treats every underworld den like home.'
Still, not getting lost was a relief. Even Wang Yi Sam had to admit that much.
But one thing nagged at him.
"Even so, heading to an inn where assassins tried to nab you feels off."
"Even a tiger's den can be survived with a clear head. You planning to walk all the way to Shaolin?"
"No way."
"We'll get horses there, and if anyone's after me, we grab 'em and dig out their backers."
"Hmm."
Wang Yi Sam was convinced but still shook his head worriedly.
Seo Baek and Song Hyeon, meanwhile, walked on impassively.
As dawn broke, a barren wasteland stretched before them.
Wang Yi Sam sighed at the thought of trudging through it hungry again.
Luckily, Yongjeong Inn wasn't too far from the docks. After camping one night and walking into the next evening, they arrived.
"That's Yongjeong Inn."
Song Hyeon pointed to the dilapidated building perched at the horizon's edge.
True to its name, the inn stood alone in a desolate wasteland.
No settlements nearby—just an isolated outpost.
Wang Yi Sam felt uneasy.
'Not another underworld joint, is it?'
Song Hyeon didn't know much about underworld spots, yet he led them confidently. That alone stirred ominous feelings in Wang Yi Sam.
"Sun's setting soon—let's hurry. Once we're there, hot bowls of yangchun noodles all around."
Seo Baek strode ahead energetically, as always.
Wang Yi Sam decided to relax.
'Yeah. With junior here and that ice-cold swordsman, even if it's underworld, no big deal.'
He still distrusted Song Hyeon, but had to respect his martial prowess.
Then a strange thought struck him.
Shaolin was in the heart of the Central Plains, ground zero for the revenant outbreak. They weren't there yet by land, but getting closer.
Yet no revenants around. Odd.
They'd encountered a few on the road and hidden their presence by holding breath.
What puzzled Wang Yi Sam was the inn itself.
With hordes possibly swarming anytime, how was it still open?
It wasn't abandoned—smoke curled from the chimney, sign of boiling water and cooking.
'Does the owner have nine lives or something?'
As Wang Yi Sam pondered, Song Hyeon suddenly halted.
"What's wrong?"
Seo Baek asked. Song Hyeon nodded toward a wooden stockade in the wasteland.
"A barrier against revenants."
They approached for a closer look.
Wang Yi Sam tilted his head at the sight.
'What kinda revenant barrier is this?'
It was barely a fence—a few rotting logs stabbed into the ground, lashed with rope.
No way it'd stop revenants, no matter how many.
The Wang family fortress was sturdy, yet they'd fled at night on news of a horde!
'This thing couldn't scare off sparrows, let alone revenants.'
Yet Song Hyeon stared intently at the crumbling barrier. Wang Yi Sam was baffled, bordering on exasperation.
Then Song Hyeon peeled something off it—a stained red rag.
Wang Yi Sam started to ask what it was, but Song Hyeon pocketed it and kept walking. Seo Baek followed silently, and Wang Yi Sam missed his chance.
But he didn't really want to pry.
'Better not to know what those two are up to.'
They reached the inn after another meal's worth of time.
Up close, it was larger than expected.
Three stories tall, with separate stables. In its heyday, it would've been a welcome rest stop for travelers.
A weathered signboard over the door read Yongjeong Inn, though half the characters had faded.
The roof and walls were weathered, on the verge of collapse.
Once bustling with martial artists passing between the Namgung family and Shaolin.
But with the revenant plague cutting off traffic, it had decayed—like the Central Plains itself.
Wang Yi Sam wondered how this isolated wasteland inn survived the outbreak.
They pushed open the door and entered.
Despite its size, no welcoming voices greeted them.
The open atrium revealed corridors up to the third floor—empty of guests. The first-floor tables sat vacant.
A young waiter appeared, gesturing silently for them to sit.
They did, but Wang Yi Sam bristled at the rudeness.
"What kinda service is this? No wonder a big place like this is empty."
Seo Baek and Song Hyeon chimed in.
"No guests because of the revenant outbreak."
"Martial artists traveling between Namgung and Shaolin all stopped here back then. During a martial conference, you couldn't squeeze in."
When the waiter approached, Wang Yi Sam ordered.
"Three bowls of yangchun noodles and baijiu."
The waiter didn't speak, just flashed fingers: two, then all ten on both hands. Twenty silver taels.
"Twenty silvers? For what?"
Wang Yi Sam yelped.
Fifty silvers bought a silver ingot.
Twenty was nearly half that—for three bowls of noodles and a bottle of booze? Even a lifelong wanderer like him had never seen such gouging.
The waiter waved his hand dismissively.
Too pricey? Then leave.
Wang Yi Sam exploded.
"You telling us to get out? What kinda inn is this?!"
He realized how the inn survived: outrageous profiteering!
"Extorting travelers in the middle of nowhere with nowhere else to go?"
The waiter nodded brazenly. Wang Yi Sam was speechless with outrage.
As he geared up to yell again, Song Hyeon raised a hand.
"I know Pyeon Bok Teacher. Any chance of a discount?"
Wang Yi Sam whispered to Seo Baek, baffled.
"Pyeon Bok Teacher? Who's that?"
"First I've heard of him."
Then—
"You know Pyeon Bok Teacher?"
The voice came from the third floor.
Polite, slightly nasal high tone—a woman.
But a sharp rustling followed, like folding and unfolding something rapidly.
Shwick.
The waiter leaped back three steps, drawing a whip from his waist.
A horsewhip tipped with a metal weight like a meteor hammer for extra devastation.
Then, grotesque grinding from behind—scrrch scrrch scrrch.
Turning, they saw the cook had appeared, hefting massive cleavers in both hands and a whetstone. The noise was him sharpening them.
The voice from upstairs spoke again.
"Which of you knows Pyeon Bok Teacher?"
"Me."
"What is your relationship to him?"
Her tone was excessively courteous, enough to give a rough martial artist chills.
But then, in that same polite voice, she delivered a spine-tingling threat.
No—a declaration.
"Please consider your answer carefully. If it doesn't add up, the waiter and cook will strip your flesh from your bones and feed it to the wild beasts."