Yongjeong Inn (2)
A terrified tone utterly at odds with her polite voice.
Sure enough, the woman revealed her true feelings, a far cry from her courteous words.
"Wang Il, Wang Yi. Don't let the guests get away, no matter what."
At her command, the inn boy and cook flanked Seo Baek's group from front and back.
They were poised to lunge the moment the group took a single step, whips and cleavers at the ready.
Seo Baek cupped his fists in salute toward the unseen woman on the third floor above.
"Are you the innkeeper?"
"And what if I am?"
"Even if you come down, it's three against three. Right now, on the first floor, it's three against two. We outnumber you."
"A pup that doesn't know the tiger's might. Since you're just a kid without a clue, I suppose I should teach you how fearsome the jianghu can be."
The woman's voice grew even softer.
But anyone could tell it wasn't born of goodwill.
She was simply cooing at Seo Baek—a boy not even in his twenties—like a child throwing a tantrum.
"We'll disregard the kid lugging around a greatsword he can't even swing properly, and the hunched-over geezer who can't straighten his back. That makes it one against one, and if I come down, three against one, right?"
"Will it really?"
Seo Baek kept his composure as he bantered with her.
Wang Yi Sam, meanwhile, was growing impatient—and utterly baffled.
The woman was treating Seo Baek like a joke, calling him a kid. Anyone who'd seen him swing that greatsword mercilessly would know better.
But aside from that, Wang Yi Sam bristled at her mentioning his age.
'The hell? Where do I look like a geezer?'
He was well past forty, sure, but Wang Yi Sam still saw himself in his prime.
He could've shrugged it off if she'd mocked his weak martial arts, but calling his spirited heart "geezer" made his blood boil.
And there was another reason for his anger.
The inn boy and cook's names: Wang Il and Wang Yi.
They were eerily similar to his own, Wang Yi Sam.
With "Sam" meaning three, any outsider might mistake him for the baby of the trio.
'Who the hell were their parents to saddle 'em with such lame names?'
In his rage, Wang Yi Sam failed to realize he was cursing his own forebears.
"You there, the lanky one. You seem to know Pyeon Bok Teacher. What's your connection? If you're hiding something, I can mince you alive and pickle the lot."
Her tone was gentle, but the words would make even black path thugs wince.
"We fought side by side, staking our lives."
"Pyeon Bok Teacher? That world-class con artist and deadbeat would've been right at home with that."
Her resentment ran deep; her reaction to Song Hyeon sharpened at the mention.
But his next words stunned not just her, but everyone in the inn.
"To survive Black Wolf Castle, even a con man like him wouldn't dream of pulling tricks."
"……!"
Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam exchanged tense glances at that.
Black Wolf Castle.
A secretive sect shrouded in mystery, far northwest in Gansu Province.
Rumors swirled among martial artists that it had played a key role in repelling the Western Regions' Guryun Temple invasion long ago.
But the Murim Alliance had wiped it out.
It was the very place where the revenants first appeared in the world.
"I led a covert team on the Alliance's orders, infiltrated Black Wolf Castle, and escaped. Pyeon Bok Teacher was on that team, and his skills proved invaluable."
"……."
"I've heard bits since, but I don't know where he is or what he's up to now."
Song Hyeon's account was brief, but it painted a clear picture of his history with Pyeon Bok Teacher.
As silence fell, Wang Yi Sam reeled for a different reason.
He'd already suspected Song Hyeon might be some black path demon.
A covert mission into Black Wolf Castle on Murim Alliance orders?
That made him something far more terrifying than he'd imagined!
'Just who the hell is this guy?'
Wang Yi Sam increasingly saw both Seo Baek and Song Hyeon as enigmatic figures whose depths he couldn't fathom.
This time, Song Hyeon turned the question back.
"I've told my side. Now, what's your connection to Pyeon Bok Teacher?"
"You pretending not to know? Anyone tangled with him knows it's about money. That con artist deadbeat stiffed me."
"I understand completely."
Her tone grew sharper, but Song Hyeon nodded sympathetically, arms crossed.
"The teacher's got a bit of a gambling problem."
"A bit? He'd sell his own wife for a bet!"
"No, that's not true. He's more henpecked than any man alive."
Wang Yi Sam, who'd been on edge, couldn't help a snort of laughter.
"You think it's funny? That I got conned?"
"No, that's not... Sorry."
Her polite scolding sent chills down his spine. Wang Yi Sam shrank back and apologized.
"Even counting just the cash he scammed me out of, it was four silver wonbo notes."
"……."
When Seo Baek's group had taken a Tang Clan commission, two silver wonbo notes had filled a whole cart. Four was a fortune.
'No wonder she treats him like a blood enemy. Fair enough. But her polite tone's creepier than outright cursing—like a ghost whispering.'
Wang Yi Sam thought it, but kept his mouth shut. No point stirring the pot.
"I'll give you valuable info in exchange for three concessions."
"Hohohoho! You amuse me. What valuable info could there be in this wasteland?"
"Hear it first; your mind will change."
"……."
Song Hyeon's earnest tone made her pause, then reply.
"Fine. I'll decide after."
Wang Yi Sam jumped in to stop it.
'Wait! Don't just spill it!'
Once info's heard, it's stuck in your head—you can't unhear it.
What if she dismissed it as useless after? No take-backs.
Especially with martial folk, black path or not—promises meant nothing, even to the righteous.
Trades like this needed simultaneity...
But against his fears, Song Hyeon just blurted it out.
"The talisman tore."
'Argh, I said don't! Knew it...'
Yet things unfolded differently than Wang Yi Sam expected.
"Wang Il, Wang Yi! Brush and ink!"
At her words, the inn boy and cook leaped away.
A figure appeared smoothly on the third-floor railing.
As her voice had suggested, she was a young woman.
Her long black hair cascaded past her waist; her pale yellow robe exuded unexpected refinement for an innkeeper catering to martial artists.
But she was far younger than imagined—barely past her prime, her face fresh enough to pass for Seo Baek's older sister.
Her lightly powdered features seemed distant from the jianghu world. Without her polite-yet-crude speech, she'd pass for a high official's pampered daughter.
Seeing her face, Wang Yi Sam was even more flabbergasted.
'A green girl like her called me a geezer?'
As he rolled up his sleeves to step forward, she vaulted the third-floor railing and dropped down.
Three stories high, yet she landed feather-light.
Tap.
The sound was so faint, you'd miss it without straining your ears.
A master of lightness skill!
Wang Yi Sam swallowed hard.
'...So what if geezer? It's not like it's wrong for others. People can call folks whatever.'
His knack for spotting the strong was ghost-sharp.
It was how he'd survived the jianghu for decades.
She sat gracefully at a central table on the first floor, every motion elegant. Then she unrolled a large sheet of paper from her bosom.
Soon, the inn boy and cook returned with items.
Wang Il handed her what looked like an oversized dust broom—a massive brush.
Wang Yi set down a large soup bowl brimming with red ink.
She began inscribing on the vast paper covering the table.
Wang Yi Sam whispered to Seo Baek.
"She's drawing a talisman, right?"
"Yes. With chicken blood."
"Chicken blood?"
"Chickens are spiritual creatures, so their blood's used for talismans that repel ghosts or death demons."
Swish-swish-swish. Red strokes and curves bloomed across the paper with each flourish.
Unlike her delicate beauty, her script was bold and domineering, the brush dancing freely.
On the pristine white, strange symbols—neither letters nor pictures—took shape.
Seo Baek asked Song Hyeon.
"Do you know what kind it is?"
"A talisman to ward off revenants."
"As I thought."
Seo Baek nodded knowingly, but Wang Yi Sam gaped.
"A revenant-repelling talisman? Those exist?"
He spoke loudly in shock. The inn boy and cook glanced over, but she didn't even flick her eyes, finishing her work.
"You had them posted around. That's why the revenant hordes crossing the plains never approached the inn?"
"Of course."
Song Hyeon nodded.
"There's a manual called the Black Wolf Secret Book with methods to craft talismans that repel or lure revenants. That's what she's making."
"I see."
"Pyeon Bok Teacher's the one who uncovered its secrets. Con artist obsessed with money, but his skills are top-tier."
"Didn't Jegal Seong, the Jegal Clan's second young master, use its Qimen Dunjia?"
"Right. The Murim Alliance and Jegal Seong studied it for years, but they didn't uncover more than Pyeon Bok Teacher did."
"So he's that exceptional?"
"Yeah. At Qimen Dunjia sorcery, at least."
Wang Yi Sam caught the barb in Song Hyeon's words.
'Top at sorcery, trash at everything else, huh?'
Now it made sense why Song Hyeon had demanded a discount upon entering, citing Pyeon Bok Teacher.
He'd spotted the fence talismans as revenant wards and guessed the inn's connection.
And his hunch had hit the mark.
Wang Yi Sam couldn't pin down Song Hyeon or Pyeon Bok Teacher.
"But how do you know all this?"
Wang Yi Sam blurted. Song Hyeon's gaze turned icy.
As he clamped his mouth shut, unsure of his blunder, Song Hyeon replied in a voice like frozen steel.
"I retrieved the Black Wolf Secret Book from Black Wolf Castle and handed it to the Murim Alliance."
"……!"
Wang Yi Sam gaped again; Seo Baek, who'd pieced it together, just nodded silently.
At last, the group understood how Yongjeong Inn had endured amid the revenant plague.
Revenant isolation via Black Wolf Secret Book talismans!
Pyeon Bok Teacher pioneered it; she was furious over his debt, so it wasn't hard to imagine how the talismans reached her.
Just then, she finished.
Song Hyeon timed it perfectly.
"The stockade a cup of tea's ride southeast—the one on the left."
"You heard her. Hurry."
She handed over the paper. Wang Il and Wang Yi bowed and dashed out.
Their lightness skills matched hers; they vanished in a blink.
Wang Yi Sam swallowed involuntarily.
'Masters!'
Inn boy and cook in a wasteland inn.
A barely-adult proprietress.
People who screamed "not martial artists" were top experts. Wang Yi Sam marveled anew at the jianghu's vastness.