Chapter 90
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: The True Merchant
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Gold Purity Nun was the first to draw the Azure Wave Sword she had set aside nearby into her hand, and the other four likewise took up their own weapons.
“Someone’s coming.”
Drunken Dragon Divine Dog Jin Kwai muttered as he rose from his seat and cast his gaze into the darkness.
“Yeah, looks like three or four of them, and they don’t seem like pushovers.”
Gold Purity Nun also stood now, the revelry among them already broken as everyone rose to await the uninvited guests in the darkness.
They appeared soon enough.
There were four of them, their faces covered with scarves to block the desert sands, dressed in wind-resistant cloaks, their identities unknown.
“Hold it right there! What business brings you here in the middle of the night?”
As expected, Jin Kwai stepped forward and bellowed heartily.
But they did not stop and continued approaching without pause.
“Didn’t I say stop? If you won’t listen to words, I’ll have no choice but to use force.”
Jin Kwai finally seemed ready to strike as he raised the staff in his hand to shoulder height, prompting a reaction.
“Heh heh… that hot temper of yours hasn’t changed. Kwai-ya. How are you still so immature?”
Hearing such words from the unidentified man, Jin Kwai finally erupted.
“You dare, you bastard.”
Jin Kwai’s staff unleashed the Breaking Character Formula of the Dog-Beating Staff Method, striking like a gale.
It was a technique and power that no one in the martial world dared receive, yet the opponent simply raised his left hand and caught the staff.
Unable to comprehend this absurd situation, Jin Kwai could only blink in confusion.
The ten thousand jin of power contained in the staff had vanished without a trace.
“Attacking like a dog the moment you see me—beggar boy, did you even have dinner? Heh heh heh…”
With that, the opponent lowered the scarf covering his face with his right hand and threw back his hood.
Incredibly, he was a strikingly young monk.
Though the robes beneath his wind-resistant cloak could not be seen, his freshly shaven head clearly bore multiple precept marks.
“A monk? Just who the hell are you?”
“Heh heh… you punk. After just forty years apart, you can’t even recognize your senior brother’s voice?”
Only then did Jin Kwai’s expression turn grave as he fell into thought.
The young monk released the staff from his left hand and walked past Jin Kwai toward the front.
“Kwai-ya. Stop racking your brains and come here. Let’s have a drink. It’s been so long.”
At that, Jin Kwai whipped around with a startled look and shouted.
“Eh? Hyeonjin? Baldy hyung?”
“You punk. Heh heh heh…”
Gold Purity Nun now stood before him.
“Long time no see, Senior Hyeonjin.”
She clasped her hands and bowed in greeting.
“You too—it’s been ages. Your name was Cheongmyeong, wasn’t it?”
* * *
Dunhuang’s market was astounding.
For starters, all sorts of animals drew the eyes of passersby.
Even horses were far from uniform—varying in size, shape, and color, with dozens of breeds, while camels differed with one hump or two.
Silk snakes and monkeys from the southern barbarians mingled with birds of every kind said to hail from somewhere in the west, all gathered to be bought and sold.
As a crossroads where the cultures of east and west converged only to scatter again, it had everything from ginseng shipped from the distant eastern edge of Chosun to perfume from the western land called France.
Seonwoyong appeared in that market.
Naturally, wagons from the Great Fortune Merchant Troupe loaded with silk trailed behind him.
They could go further west, but Seonwoyong’s destination had always been Dunhuang, so now it was time to unload.
Disposing of twelve hundred bolts of silk in Dunhuang’s market was simplicity itself.
Middlemen who specialized in buying silk from the Central Plains swarmed from the market entrance, calling out prices.
Seonwoyong simply pulled out a few bolts to show their quality and dragged out the time a bit, which was enough.
Thus, it wasn’t long before he handed them over to merchants clearly Huihui faithful from foreign lands in exchange for gold ingots worth three thousand five hundred taels.
Most Central Plains merchants typically used the proceeds from selling silk here to buy western goods for the return trip.
But Seonwoyong simply stowed the gold ingots away without spending them.
“Hmm. Just how much did you make?”
Dogwang, who had watched the whole process from start to finish at his side, muttered enviously.
“Here. Your share.”
Seonwoyong pulled separate silver ingots from his bosom and handed a few to Dogwang.
Dogwang glanced at them in his hand and grumbled.
“Sigh. Stingy to the bone. You didn’t even haggle a single extra coin. So petty.”
“Hey, plenty of times wages get docked entirely—what are you complaining about?”
“But still, I fended off those bandits along the way—shouldn’t you toss in a few extra coppers for that?”
Seonwoyong made no reply and headed into an alley exiting the market.
“Hey, really not giving any more?”
As Dogwang followed behind and yelled, Seonwoyong muttered as if to himself.
“Hey! I’m broke! This money’s barely enough as it is. Tsk.”
That evening, a grand drinking party unfolded at the Azure Dragon Grand Inn, said to be the largest in Dunhuang.
It was Sa Hongcheon of the Shenzhou Merchant Troupe treating the hardworking laborers, but also a farewell gathering in a sense.
Seonwoyong had liquidated all his silk here, but the Shenzhou Merchant Troupe was set to press on toward Turpan.
Merchants had to go even a little farther to get even a slightly better price—it was a perfectly reasonable decision by their reckoning.
But Seonwoyong’s face was nowhere to be seen at the party.
Ever since slaying the Primordial Great Curtain God Kulrui that day, he had avoided showing his face in public.
Han Sojung and Old Man Jang were likewise absent from the gathering, leaving only Dogwang, Bangchung, I Taejeong, and Moyong Cheong drinking alongside Sa Hongcheon and Jin Seolhwa.
“So, where are you headed now?”
Sa Hongcheon asked Dogwang first.
“Why? Got some business for me?”
Dogwang replied glumly, but Sa Hongcheon continued in an exceedingly friendly tone.
“If you’ve nothing pressing, I’d like you to stick with the Shenzhou Merchant Troupe a bit longer. Not as a wagon driver—I’d have you travel as our escort. I’ll pay you handsomely for it.”
“What, all the way to Turpan? I hear it’s another month from here—how much are you thinking?”
“I’ll give you five silver taels a day. That’s one hundred fifty for the trip. And if you join us on the way back, another five hundred silver.”
Seonwoyong had paid him a mere ten silver for a month at two per day, so this was an enormous offer.
In truth, it was a fair price for hiring an expert like Dogwang.
But Dogwang’s reaction remained glum.
“Aigoo. Even making a fortune, there’s not much to spend it on. I’m not interested.”
In fact, Dogwang had already won a massive sum gambling in Xi’an and Lanzhou, leaving him quite well-off.
Sa Hongcheon grew eager and pressed on, but Dogwang’s interest had shifted elsewhere.
Moyong Cheong and I Taejeong had already visited Mingsha Mountain that afternoon.
“So, quite a crowd gathered at Mingsha Mountain?”
At Dogwang’s question, I Taejeong replied politely.
“Yes. The elders from various sects and their experts were already assembled.”
“Oh? Then tell me who from where has shown up.”
I Taejeong began detailing in response to Dogwang’s query.
He mentioned experts from each sect, starting with Emei Sect’s Gold Purity Nun, but made no reference to Smiling Buddha Hyeonjin.
“But they say Wudang’s elders have no interest and aren’t coming?”
“That’s right. Our sect merely instructed me alone to go and observe the situation.”
“Those sly old fogeys. Heh heh, as if they wouldn’t care. They’ll show up soon enough. At the right moment, that is.”
I Taejeong could not retort to Dogwang’s sharp words.
In truth, at his level of seniority, he knew next to nothing about Wudang’s constellation of elders.
“Then what are your plans now, Uncle Master?”
At I Taejeong’s question, Dogwang clapped his hands and laughed.
“You punk, what plans? How could I just let you go off alone? Heh heh heh.”
“Wait, does that mean you’re going into that Mingsha Mountain cave too, Uncle Master?”
As I Taejeong asked in surprise, Dogwang drained his cup and replied gravely.
“You punk, do you even know how dangerous that cave really is? Greenhorns like you who go blundering in might die without even realizing it. And this time, it’s especially…”
Dogwang trailed off, his expression turning serious as he emptied another cup.
I Taejeong could only bow his head without reply when Bangchung spoke up.
“Hey, Dogwang. I want to check out that cave too. As a chief inspector of the bandits, I can’t just pass by such a big event.”
“Do as you like. But let’s each look after our own necks. I’ve got my hands full just watching this punk.”
With that, he patted I Taejeong’s shoulder beside him.
“Keh heh… what a ruthless answer.”
But then Moyong Cheong cut in.
“By the way, have you heard what Leader Seonwoyong plans to do?”
“Heh heh… your interest is only ever in him.”
Bangchung, who had been quietly downing cups, threw in a jab.
“Do I need to hide my interest? Of course, I’ve none in the chief inspector. Ho ho.”
Moyong Cheong answered with the bold frankness of a northern barbarian girl.
“How should I know? Hard enough to even see his face lately.”
Dogwang replied in a deflated tone, and Moyong Cheong asked again.
“Didn’t you just get paid?”
“No idea. That guy rakes in a fortune and tosses me a few silver scraps before vanishing.”
At that, Sa Hongcheon interjected once more.
“Wait, not even any separate bonus?”
“Ten silver for the month at two a day, plus the original fifty promised—exactly sixty total.”
“Heh heh… that fellow’s a real merchant through and through. Never would’ve pegged him for it.”
Thus, as they shared their farewell drinks, Seonwoyong was engaged in an unexpected task in an unexpected place.