Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Granting My Wish?
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A chuckle escaped his lips.
What kind of all-knowing god was this merchant, promising to make any wish come true?
"Anything at all?"
The merchant leader waved his hand dismissively.
"Come on now. I'm no deity—how could I make anything possible? If it's beyond my capabilities, it's impossible. But within my reach, anything goes."
Of course.
Cheonhwi nodded.
The merchant leader's eyes narrowed.
"If you want money, I'll give you enough to last a lifetime with plenty left over. If it's power you crave, I can even buy you a position in the imperial court."
"You sound pretty confident."
"Looks can be deceiving. Money overflows from my coffers, and my connections are beyond counting."
"That much is true."
To run a merchant group, the essentials were money, connections, and trust above all.
Especially for the leader of the World's Premier Merchant Group, renowned across the land.
'Grant any wish, huh...'
Cheonhwi pondered briefly.
'What's there to think about?'
The moment passed in an instant.
He had only ever needed one thing, then or now.
"In that case, I'd like the Rising Sun's martial arts manual."
"Rising Sun manual?"
"Yes."
"That's a tall order."
The merchant leader stated flatly.
"You said you'd help within your capabilities."
Cheonhwi twisted his lips into a smirk.
"Or were those just empty words? From the leader of the World's Premier Merchant Group, no less?"
"Hah!"
Provoked, the merchant leader burst into laughter.
"I was too hasty. But as you know, in the jianghu, martial arts manuals are worth more than life itself. Even if I offered to buy one with money, would you sell yours?"
"Just hand over what you've got."
"But then it'd be something like the Six Harmonies Sword Art instead of the Rising Sun manual you want. Satisfied with that?"
"You could obtain it if you tried."
"What do you mean?"
"The black market."
"......"
The merchant leader's eyes narrowed again.
Then he shook his head.
"I don't want to make enemies in the jianghu."
The Rising Sun manuals sold on the black market were usually ones secretly peddled by expelled disciples.
Buying them would shatter trust with the jianghu sects.
Shaking his head, the merchant leader spoke up.
"How about this instead?"
He rummaged in his sleeve.
Soon, he pulled out a faded, ancient scroll and placed it on the table.
"This is the treasure map of the Shadowless Divine Thief, which I acquired recently."
Treasure map?
Cheonhwi furrowed his brow.
What treasure map?
The merchant leader looked flustered.
"What's wrong? I thought you'd be pleased with this."
"This?"
"It's the Shadowless Divine Thief's treasure map."
"Who's that?"
The merchant leader was momentarily speechless.
"......You don't know the Shadowless Divine Thief?"
"Is he famous?"
The merchant leader stared at Cheonhwi in slight shock, then laughed in disbelief.
"About two hundred fifty years ago, the Shadowless Divine Thief appeared out of nowhere and stole every martial arts manual in the jianghu, even imperial treasures. Some say if he hid them all in one place, it'd be the greatest trove in the world."
All sorts of manuals?
A spark lit in Cheonhwi's eyes.
"Hah! Your eyes just changed."
"But are you sure this is the Shadowless Divine Thief's treasure map? A map surfacing after two hundred fifty years seems suspicious."
The merchant leader smiled and nodded at Cheonhwi's blunt words.
"I bought it directly from the imperial palace after they verified it."
"The palace? You said he stole from them too—did they sell it back?"
"Precisely. They couldn't decipher the text and left it gathering dust. I paid a fortune for it."
No mere fortune.
Bolts of fine silk and rare imports from the western regions.
He had poured vast resources into the palace for this.
"I pinpointed the location near Shaanxi, but couldn't go further and was about to give up—then you showed up."
That was why he had been drinking today.
He had barely discerned the rough location.
He lingered in Shaanxi, trying to unravel the code.
But failed.
'Not meant for me.'
The merchant leader had cleanly given up.
Clinging on would just waste time.
Knowing when to fold was key.
And that was why the World's Premier Merchant Group reigned supreme.
Then.
As if by fate, Cheonhwi sought a martial arts manual.
'What else could this be but heaven's will...'
From the moment Cheonhwi appeared, the merchant leader sensed he was no ordinary man.
It was the instinct honed from years leading the group.
"What do you think?"
The merchant leader unrolled the scroll.
The yellowed map bore drawings and strange script everywhere.
"Instead of—"
But Cheonhwi wasn't listening.
It was only natural.
The script the palace couldn't read was all too familiar to him.
For it was...
'The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's secret script?'
Cheonhwi's eyes sharpened.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult revered the Heavenly Demon and Demonic Flame, with its own ancient language system.
That was the secret script.
Based on Sanskrit but with words reversed, it was known only to a tiny elite in the cult.
'The Shadowless Divine Thief wrote in secret script?'
He stared piercingly at the map.
'Was that thief a cultist? Or did the script spread after I vanished? Or a cult trap?'
Hypotheses swirled.
But.
'No point overthinking.'
He shook his head clear.
No amount of thought mattered without seeing it himself.
'Let's read more.'
Cheonhwi began deciphering the map.
"The eastern cave of Fang Mountain? Enter the hidden chamber inside, and claim all the world's treasures?"
A hollow laugh escaped.
All the world's treasures in hand.
What mad claim.
'Even past-life me couldn't boast that.'
Cheonhwi smirked.
Not even in his past life as the Absolute Heavenly Demon, who shook the Nine Provinces and Eight Emperors, could he claim every worldly thing.
The world was too vast.
"Head this way, then turn left? Then..."
As he read the scattered script...
"Y-You're reading it now?"
The merchant leader exclaimed in shock.
Was the map's code ordinary?
At first, he had been confident.
With his endless money and connections, he gathered experts.
But.
'Can't decipher.'
'Unknown.'
'Sorry.'
Nothing but failures.
Only by chance meeting the eccentric called Heavenly Record Master did he glean it was in Shaanxi.
Yet this youth he met today fluently decoded the map.
"I know the language."
"Th-that script?"
"Yes."
"What language is it?"
"From the... Divine River region."
He caught himself before saying Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
"Divine River?"
The merchant leader's brow furrowed.
"Never considered it a Divine River tongue."
The Divine River was the most remote, least trodden area beyond the borders.
Because it harbored the world's most terrifying beings.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!
Holy land of demons—and demons incarnate.
With them there, it was a forbidden zone no one dared enter.
'That's why almost no one knows the Divine River language... Could he be!'
The merchant leader startled and eyed Cheonhwi.
'A demonic cultist?'
He swallowed hard, scrutinizing him.
But no demonic aura, not even killing intent.
'Mad thought.'
The merchant leader chuckled awkwardly.
'Demonic cultists unseen for over a century...'
He shook his head, looking at Cheonhwi.
Embarrassed for suspecting; Cheonhwi was pure and transparent.
'More like a daoist...'
Smirking, he spoke.
"You must have stayed in the Divine River for a time."
"Something like that."
Cheonhwi nodded.
Far more than a stay.
He had lived tediously there.
His entire past life, barely stepping out to master the world's martial arts.
"Fate is wondrous. Just as I was giving up on the map, you arrive who can read it."
The merchant leader laughed heartily mid-sentence.
Truth be told, greed had flared the moment Cheonhwi read it.
It was the treasure map of the greatest thief of past and present, the Shadowless Divine Thief.
But he quashed it.
Hard for most, but...
'Greed brings disaster.'
He knew clinging to ill-fated things only brought suffering.
"Looks like the map's fate lies with you, not me."
The merchant leader grinned.
"Take it."
"Was planning to."
Cheonhwi snatched the map.
"Oh, right! One more thing besides this."
"Another request?"
"I need a horse."
"A horse...? Hahaha, I see."
The merchant leader grasped his intent immediately.
"I'll prepare one."
Moments later, he handed Cheonhwi a horse from the branch.
"Later, can you tell me what's in the Shadowless Divine Thief's hidden chamber?"
"We'll see."
"Hah! I'll look forward to it."
The merchant leader stepped back.
"Hyah!"
Cheonhwi mounted and gripped the reins.
'Fang Mountain in Shanxi Province.'
His gaze turned east.
Even on horseback, it would take ten straight days to the map's site.
'Quite the journey.'
As Cheonhwi was about to depart.
"Young hero!"
A voice called from afar.
Manager Oh, late from work, waved frantically.
"Travel safely! I'll grow your assets and come find you myself!"
Cheonhwi grinned.
"I'll hold you to it."