A Safe Place -1
The two nangin's injuries were not life-threatening. That bastard Gae Myeong-bu had clearly meant business; his sword qi had left them with internal wounds, but fortunately both were Peak Realm experts, so they would be back on their feet within a week.
They accepted the Jambong Sect's compensation that Yu Sa-yeon had brought back with ambiguous expressions. Yu Sa-yeon, who had stormed off declaring she would attend the sects' assembly, returned looking thoroughly dejected, carrying nothing more than a money pouch.
Every nangin, myself included, immediately sensed that things had not gone well.
And just as that intuition predicted, the grand performance came to an abrupt end.
"Senior. It's time."
"Mm. Shall we, then."
Hyeok Gi-rin's lodging had been moved from the inn to the Hwanggeumga. Every time we approached the Golden Family estate, the atmosphere was far from pleasant.
I might have been fine, but Heukmyo possessed distinctive enough features that the Hwanggeumga's guard martial artists would recognize her on sight. After all the sorcery performances and the ruckus she had caused, they could hardly look at her kindly.
The moment we left the Hwanggeumga with a visibly irritated Hyeok Gi-rin, he unleashed a torrent of complaints. Both Heukmyo and I had long grown used to this side of him.
"Do you know what Hwanggeum-seon said today? He claims he still wants to give the Sichuan sects a chance! Ha! And the others actually nod along, praising him for his mercy!"
"Well... from Hwanggeum-seon's perspective, it's not a bad story."
Heukmyo carefully agreed.
"That's exactly my point! The longer this situation drags on, the more the small merchants without capital will wither and die, and he'll be able to snatch up their shares for a pittance. That shameless bastard has nothing to lose even if this crisis stretches out forever...!"
Hyeok Gi-rin was so furious he snorted like a bull. The sight of him fuming was less threatening than a child stamping the ground, yet the content of his words was deadly serious.
"If he were just some ordinary great merchant, fine! But he's a man who holds a post in the Sichuan Merchants' Alliance! In the middle of this chaos, all he cares about is lining his own pockets!"
From what Hyeok Gi-rin said, Hwanggeum-seon was clearly reaping all sorts of influence and profit from the current crisis. Was Hwanggeum-seon also one of Yeo Il-ye's sworn enemies?
Yet he was not someone we could simply pin down without hard evidence. True merchants were the sort who would sell torches in hell and water jars in the rainy season. Even if Hwanggeum-seon was actively maneuvering and standing to gain from the bandit crisis... the greatest victims of that same crisis were still the merchants of Sichuan.
Sichuan's economic depression had already reached a critical level.
The greatest strength of Sichuan Province had always been its safety. Because it was safe, even villagers from remote hamlets who could not afford a single escort came here without fear to sell their goods. Crowds naturally meant thriving business, and lodging and food industries had flourished as a result.
Cheap labor from the people living near Sichuan Province had been one of the engines of the city's growth.
But now that Sichuan was no longer safe, who would dare come and go freely? Most country folk lived off the crops they grew themselves. The foraged goods or homemade crafts they usually sold could simply be left ungathered or stacked inside their houses.
They were nothing like merchants, who choked the moment money stopped circulating.
The main avenues of Sichuan, once so packed with people there was nowhere to set foot, now held only sparse passersby. The street vendors and merchants who used to shout themselves hoarse every day simply stood in their places with dark faces.
The entire province of Sichuan was dying.
Hyeok Gi-rin's expression darkened as he felt that atmosphere on his skin. Seeing his grim face, Heukmyo spoke up.
"Are you planning to visit the merchants again today?"
"Yes..."
Hyeok Gi-rin nodded. Ever since the first summit of the great sects had ended, he had been visiting merchants belonging to the Merchants' Alliance day after day, explaining Yeo Il-ye's circumstances. He was trying to persuade them that the bandits' pretext of targeting Yeo Il-ye was worthless, and that they should raise their voices to have the conditions imposed on the Jeomchang Sect withdrawn.
But for merchants who had no particular ties to Jeomchang, it was an easy request to refuse. There was little charm in defying the Merchants' Alliance's will just to support Jeomchang. Hyeok Gi-rin was not completely ignorant of reality, so he would have offered various conditions... yet the temperaments of both Hyeok Gi-rin and the Jeomchang Sect itself were simply unsuited to this kind of lobbying. How should I put it? They would never make proposals that strayed from the righteous path, so almost no merchant would risk standing against the Alliance for their sake.
That was Jeomchang, and the reason it had been able to grow until now. But this was no time for such leisurely talk.
"We're running out of time..."
The reason for Hyeok Gi-rin's sigh was clear. The key figures of each sect were scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow. Men with the authority to decide on the major matter of establishing a branch in Sichuan Province were coming.
"Come to think of it, who is Jeomchang sending?"
"...My master, Cheongheo Jinin, will come."
Hwanyeong Ilgeom, Cheongheo. As expected of such a weighty affair, they were sending someone substantial. Yet... the choice of person left something to be desired. Frankly, I wondered whether Cheongheo Jinin would be able to make his voice heard in this pit of pure dog-eat-dog politics.
Well, the only people in Jeomchang remotely suited to this kind of free-for-all were the sect leader or Hyeok Gi-rin himself, and the sect leader could hardly come in person, so there was no choice.
If they were going to send a gentle soul no matter what, better to send an extremely strong gentle soul.
Cheongheo the Daoist was one of the few Profound Realm experts in all of Sichuan.
Was this Jeomchang's strength, or proof of their character? Either way, it was a unique trait of theirs.
The Nine Great Sects also had Profound Realm experts. But when a sect leader said, "Elder, would you mind stepping forward a little?" the Profound Realm expert would first stroke his beard and ask, "Is this related to my disciple?"
If not? The Profound Realm expert would snort and tell the juniors to handle it themselves for anything short of a true emergency.
By the time one reached the Profound Realm, one's disciples had long since matured and one had already contributed enough to the sect. In other words, one had done everything that needed doing. Would such a person jump at the orders of a sect leader or elder of lower seniority?
It was true that the true strength of the Nine Great Sects lay in their previous-generation experts... but why would they leave that power idle? The Nine Great Sects were no ordinary organizations. They were the greatest martial sects under heaven.
They simply could not be used except in truly critical moments. Those previous-generation experts would not budge unless the matter was so grave that their dignity as sect elders would be damaged by staying out of it. That was why they appeared to be sitting idle.
But the experts of Jeomchang were true men of character who readily rolled up their sleeves for the affairs of their sect or disciples.
The lowest seat among the Nine Great Sects? An absolute gap in total power? Those existed, certainly. Yet the combat power that could actually be mobilized on a daily basis was overwhelmingly higher on Jeomchang's side.
What good were previous-generation experts who only crawled out when the very pillars of the sect were about to be pulled up? By the time a spark needed extinguishing, the house was already on fire.
In exchange, Jeomchang lost efficiency elsewhere. Most orthodox sects looked pure on the surface while secretly cracking pumpkin seeds behind the scenes. Only honest Jeomchang ended up taking the loss.
I did not think Cheongheo the Sage would be able to overturn this board that was so unfavorable to Jeomchang.
I knew Cheongheo's martial prowess well enough, but not his temperament or political skill. Still, Hyeok Gi-rin's attitude gave me a rough idea. If his master had truly been a reliable pillar, he would not be showing this much anxiety.
Hyeok Gi-rin had roamed Sichuan meeting various merchants, yet he seemed to have achieved little. He entered each place to warm welcomes, but his face was always dark when he came out. Heukmyo must have found the sight pitiful.
"Eat this!"
"Pardon? Ah... I'm fine. They already served me refreshments inside..."
"Just eat when I tell you to eat! Why so many excuses?!"
"Mmph?!"
Even after she shared her puffed rice with him, Hyeok Gi-rin was not Heukmyo; eating puffed rice was never going to brighten his face.
Whenever Hyeok Gi-rin entered a merchant house to persuade its master, we had no choice but to wait outside. We were strolling through a nearby alley that offered a decent view of the entrance when a commotion reached our ears.
Crash! Bang!
"Get the hell out of here, you bastards!"
"You're the ones who refused the experts' support, aren't you?!"
Furious people hurled mud and filth at a group of martial artists who fled while taking the hits.
Even after the staged cooperation with the nangin had failed, a few sects had continued their volunteer activities, clinging to hope. The results were exactly what we were seeing now.
"Someone is spreading rumors."
Heukmyo nodded.
"Negative rumors about the Sichuan sects have been spreading heavily ever since the night streets. It's so artificial that it wouldn't be strange if some of those people over there were working as agitators."
"Can we find the mastermind?"
Heukmyo hesitated for a moment before answering.
"...You know how this board is turning, Senior. So I didn't dig too deep. I don't know what kind of danger might come back at us."
Heukmyo's words forced me to face a subject I had been vaguely avoiding.
"Haa."
I let out a sigh that could barely be called an answer, and Heukmyo said nothing more after that.
It was too deep. This was not a situation I could fix by running around alone. Even if I had stayed put instead of leaving for the underwater cave to save Hwari... would the result have been any different?
The enemy's roots were far too deep, and their influence vast.
They held the Sichuan Merchants' Alliance, represented by the Hwanggeumga, in the palm of their hand and used it like a limb. They had attracted the great sects to Sichuan. And that was not all. Even the Jambong Sect, counted among Sichuan's three strongest, was completely in cahoots with them, and they had allies in Sichuan's pleasure quarters as well.
This was not a board where a mere First-rate martial artist could change anything by stepping forward. It was not a matter of having left my post for a water-attribute inner core, or of failing to properly grasp the enemy.
The weight class was simply too different.
Helplessness. Frustration.
Even if I used Heukmyo and the Wolbokdang's power to the fullest and received the active cooperation of the Sichuan nangin, there was still a colossal gap in power that I could not bridge. How many moves could I possibly make against someone who had nearly seized control of all Sichuan Province?
Heukmyo no longer spoke to me, and I pulled the wuxia novel from my robes. Damn it. It was too dark to read properly. I grumbled inwardly as I folded the book and tucked it away again, just as Hyeok Gi-rin emerged.
He exchanged a polite martial salute with a man who appeared to be the merchant house master, yet an unmistakable shadow hung over Hyeok Gi-rin's face.
The three of us walked the darkened streets of Sichuan in silence.
Finding the Hwanggeumga was not difficult. The vast estate blazed with countless lanterns, shining as if the sun itself had descended. In ordinary times it might not have stood out so much, but with only sparse lights now burning across the city, the Hwanggeumga looked almost like a landmark.
"You've both worked hard. I'll see you tomorrow."
We exchanged light bows and turned away. Hyeok Gi-rin must have been the last one out; the great gates of the Hwanggeumga closed behind him. After confirming through the crack that he had disappeared inside, Heukmyo and I set off toward the Wanderer Inn.
We had not even rounded a few alleys when—
"Hwanggeum-seooooooooon!!"
A tremendous roar shook the very air.
BOOOOOOM!!
An explosion followed immediately. Heukmyo's eyes met mine. That had been Yeo Il-ye's voice, and the thing that had just blown apart... was probably the main gate of the Hwanggeumga.
Heukmyo and I spun around and raced back. We had only gone two alleys from the estate; we reached the front gate in an instant.
The main gate, wide enough for ten men to stand abreast, had been literally smashed to pieces.
"Intruder! Stop her!"
The gatekeepers drew their swords with pale faces and charged, only to be sent flying by Yeo Il-ye's bare fists rather than her blades. From the way they rolled across the ground, at least they were not dead.
One side of the Hwanggeumga's massive gate—nearly two jang high—already had a hole large enough for several people to pass through.
Seeing Yeo Il-ye's sudden rampage, I briefly wondered why she had come here to pour out her rage right now, but the answer came at once.
The rumors of bandits appearing in Sichuan Province would not have stayed confined to the city. They would be shaking all of Sichuan. For those rumors to reach the ears of Yeo Il-ye, who had been moving to avenge her family, was only a matter of time.
Having grasped the current state of Sichuan through the rumors, Yeo Il-ye must have charged here in a straight line, filled with fury.
In the end, one of Yeo Il-ye's sworn enemies was Hwanggeum-seon, the current head of the Hwanggeumga.
Yeo Il-ye's eyes had already rolled back; storm-like qi and killing intent poured from her entire body.
When her hand moved, the half-ruined gate was completely thrown open. She strode inside with a savage glare—then her feet stopped cold.
"...."
Hyeok Gi-rin.
Because Hyeok Gi-rin was standing right there.
"...This is the Hwanggeumga. As a guest currently receiving their hospitality, I ask you: Yeo Il-ye, for what purpose have you committed such an outrageous act?!"
"Step aside, Senior Brother."
"I am not your senior brother right now! I ask again! For what purpose have you come to the Hwanggeumga?! If you have no legitimate reason, withdraw!"
Hyeok Gi-rin's voice was firm, yet his expression was full of sorrow. He must have found the sight of Yeo Il-ye's face twisted with rage heartbreaking, and the reality that he himself had to stand in her way even more so.
"Step aside. Hwanggeum-seon is a wretch not even worth chewing and spitting out! Even if I become a public enemy of the murim today by killing that bastard, I will kill him without fail!"
"Do you think I will simply stand by and watch?"
Hyeok Gi-rin drew his sword. At the same time his robes began to flutter. He did not possess the deranged volume of internal energy that Yeo Il-ye did, yet Hyeok Gi-rin was still a considerable master of neigong.
Before Yeo Il-ye's internal energy that seemed ready to sweep the entire world away, he planted his will like iron. A solid aura rose like an iron wall holding back a storm.
"There is no time. We break through as we are."
"Nonsense."
In an instant both figures vanished. A speed ordinary eyes could not even track. Only after I hurriedly poured internal energy into my eyes did their blurred forms become faintly visible.
KRAAAANG!!
Sword Gang collided with Sword Gang. Unlike Yeo Il-ye's blazing Sword Gang, Hyeok Gi-rin's took a more refined, water-like form.
If Yeo Il-ye had yet to shed the air of a Super-Peak Realm beginner, Hyeok Gi-rin was displaying the stable presence of a true Super-Peak expert.
The situation favored Hyeok Gi-rin. Yeo Il-ye was merely thrusting her sword to shake him off, while Hyeok Gi-rin was thrusting his with the clear intent of subduing her if necessary.
Rumble!
Every time Yeo Il-ye's Sword Gang, packed with massive internal energy, clashed with Hyeok Gi-rin's, which had reached a mature stage, shockwaves scattered in every direction. If I had been standing nearby, I was confident I would have coughed blood and collapsed within three seconds from the mere force that erupted each time the blades met.
"Il-ye, control yourself!"
"Step aside! Senior Brother!"
"Do you intend to become a blood-crazed demon like this?! Was that not why you went into seclusion in the first place?!"
Crash! Bang!
The exchanges were evenly matched, yet the one actually achieving her purpose was Hyeok Gi-rin. Across more than ten exchanges, the distance Yeo Il-ye advanced was a mere three jang. Whether from the difference in internal energy or something else, Hyeok Gi-rin gave ground slightly with each exchange, but he was still blocking Yeo Il-ye superbly.
Meanwhile martial artists poured out of the Hwanggeumga. One by one they appeared until there were easily dozens.
"What is this uproar in the Hwanggeumga?!"
Even the guests currently staying at the estate came rushing out.
Yeo Il-ye halted her sword and looked around. Dozens of people leveling weapons at her.
Even in that moment, more guard martial artists kept flooding in from every corner of the Hwanggeumga, surrounding her. Just how many security personnel did the Hwanggeumga employ? The ever-increasing number of guards was enough to make anyone feel sick.
It was clear they had been fully prepared for the possibility that Yeo Il-ye might attack. Without prior emergency measures, martial artists could never have poured out this quickly.
Hwanggeum-seon had almost certainly secured his own safety by some means as well.
Yeo Il-ye must have reached the same conclusion; her shoulders slumped in dejection.
"...Withdraw, Il-ye. It's over now."
Hyeok Gi-rin lowered his sword and stepped forward. What expression did Yeo Il-ye wear as she looked at Hyeok Gi-rin's face, steeped in sorrow?
"...Why did Senior Brother have to be here of all places."
"...Il-ye!"
Yeo Il-ye looked up at the sky. Hyeok Gi-rin's face twisted as if he were about to cry at any moment.
And I...
"Senior?"
...moved forward.
Whoosh!
Something flew toward Yeo Il-ye. Sensing an object coming from behind, she reflexively struck it aside, then saw me and her eyes went wide... before she looked down at the fallen object.
The Grace-and-Grudge Token.
"Did you not say you would repay grace before even taking revenge?"
"....Benefactor, why are you here...?"
"I will speak using the Grace-and-Grudge Token. Follow me."
Looking at Yeo Il-ye, I realized something.
The bandits targeting Yeo Il-ye had certainly produced multiple effects. First, they clouded Yeo Il-ye's reason. Second, the grudge between a Jeomchang disciple and the bandits damaged Jeomchang's competitiveness for the Sichuan branch. On top of that, Jeomchang could use Yeo Il-ye as a pretext to force a bandit suppression, which would make the other sects focus their checks on Jeomchang.
But that very fact had created a gap.
Right now Yeo Il-ye was in seclusion status. She was not a Jeomchang disciple; she was simply the Super-Peak expert Yeo Il-ye. And the grudge with the bandits was purely personal to her.
So what if Yeo Il-ye, as an individual, wiped the bandits out completely?
Every single event currently swirling around the bandits would shatter in one stroke.
Yeo Il-ye would become a hero, and the Hwangbo, Qingcheng, Zhongnan, Emei, and even Jeomchang itself would lose any reason to plant roots in Sichuan Province. Since an individual rather than a sect had handled it, Sichuan's ecosystem would be preserved as well.
Therefore, getting Yeo Il-ye out of here was the first priority.
Watching Yeo Il-ye's eyes shake violently, I opened my mouth.
"Were those words back then nothing but empty talk?"
"How... can you be so heartless."
Yeo Il-ye glared at me with resentful eyes, but I did not look away. Perhaps she read the will in my gaze; she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Will you follow me?"
"...I will go."
"How dare you smash the main gate of the Hwanggeumga and expect to leave unharmed...!"
As Yeo Il-ye tried to step back, the face of the Hwanggeumga martial artist captain who had been about to raise his momentum turned deathly pale in an instant. Yeo Il-ye had explosively circulated her qi and swept the entire atmosphere of the gathering in a single breath.
"Don't worry. Before long I will visit the Hwanggeumga again on my own two feet."
"Damn it...!"
The man who appeared to be the captain of the Hwanggeumga's escorts bit his lip and gestured for the martial artists to stand down. Had they been a martial sect, they might have charged in ready to die, but these were a merchant house's guards... fortunately, it resolved peacefully.
They would all have been subdued by a single move from Yeo Il-ye anyway, but it was better to withdraw without unnecessary bloodshed than to force a clash.
Heukmyo, Yeo Il-ye, and I left the Hwanggeumga and entered an alley.
"Il-ye!"
And Hyeok Gi-rin came charging out of the Hwanggeumga after us.
"...Senior Brother."
Perhaps her heated emotions had cooled. Yeo Il-ye looked at Hyeok Gi-rin with melancholy eyes, and Hyeok Gi-rin likewise gazed at her with a complicated expression.
"First... thank you, Nangin. Because you stopped our Il-ye, we avoided the worst outcome."
"It was nothing."
"By the way... do you have somewhere to go? The Hwanggeumga's martial artists may come after you, and from tomorrow or the day after the experts of the Nine Great Sects will arrive. They might join the pursuit as well."
"Do you have any suggestions?"
To be honest, I had acted just now without any plan at all. But if I had not pulled Yeo Il-ye out of there immediately, no options would have remained, so there had been no choice.
"I was thinking of leaving Sichuan Province for the time being..."
"I will guide you to a safe place."
A safe place. I had no idea where that might be, but more importantly—
"Is it all right for you to come with us? There must be chaos at the Hwanggeumga right now."
"Hmph. What can they do to me? Officially, I am the one who stopped the ruffian who invaded the Hwanggeumga. Compared to their shamelessness, this is nothing."
Having vented his anger, Hyeok Gi-rin strode forward and took the lead.
And the place where those feet finally stopped was—
"Halt! This is the residence of the Sichuan Prefect! Withdraw!"
"Please inform the Prefect that Okryong Sinhyeop Hyeok Gi-rin has come to call."
The mansion of the Sichuan Prefect.