Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: Is it the Will of the Hao Clan? (1)
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Chun Aeng, having revealed her true identity, alternated her gaze between me and the Sword Empress as she opened her mouth.
"Wouldn't it be better to move to another place first?"
With the conversation having reached this point...
The Sword Empress sent me a transmission.
[Do you have some connection with the Hao Clan?]
[It's not so much the Hao Clan as a small connection with this person named Chun Aeng.]
What the Sword Empress Professor was asking wasn't the detailed story of our connection, but whether Chun Aeng could be trusted.
I immediately conveyed my thoughts.
[It would be good to follow and see.]
[...You're aware that the Hao Clan has agents in the Evil Waterway Union, right? There's a chance this could be a trap to lure us in.]
The Sword Empress's concern was reasonable.
I too had doubts about whether my connection with Chun Aeng was strong enough to make the Hao Clan defy the Evil Waterway Union.
However, the situation was telling us that Chun Aeng could be trusted.
[That's exactly the point. The Hao Clan has agents in the Evil Waterway Union. So, from the moment Chun Aeng appeared before us, weren't we already exposed? Nothing to lose by trying.]
[That makes sense too.]
There was also real benefit.
No matter what exact position Chun Aeng held in the Hao Clan, she was an insider in the Evil Waterway Union.
We had the Open Clan on our side, but beggars couldn't uncover internal Evil Waterway Union matters no matter how hard they ran.
[Moreover, they could have tailed us quietly or ambushed us, but they chose to reveal themselves. That's worth trusting. At the very least, it means they want to talk first.]
Having heard my argument fully, the Sword Empress nodded.
I turned to Chun Aeng and spoke.
"Lead the way."
We followed Chun Aeng's guidance to Lake Flower Pavilion.
Lake Flower Pavilion.
The place where Chun Aeng, who had been hawking customers, had grabbed my sleeve.
"This way."
Following her guidance, we entered one of the pavilion's annexes and set down our bamboo hats and luggage.
Chun Aeng then lightly tugged at her sleeve and offered a polite greeting.
"Allow me to greet you properly. It's an honor to meet the renowned heroine Professor Moyong, whose name echoes throughout the world, and you young experts. I am Chun Aeng, known as the Heavenly Maiden, serving as the Deputy Leader overseeing the Tai Lake branch of the Hao Clan."
At the words from Chun Aeng's mouth, I stroked my chin.
'Deputy Leader?'
The current Hao Clan Leader was the heroine Mok Yeom-yak.
She had adopted promising disciples as foster daughters and sons.
Those who held the position of Deputy Leader were they.
Among our group, Jeong Hyeon, holed up in Wudang Mountain and ignorant of worldly affairs, and Brother So Cheon, who just didn't know much, merely blinked.
"......"
"......"
However, those who knew what a Hao Clan Deputy Leader signified widened their eyes in surprise.
The Sword Empress was the first.
"Are you the daughter of the Hao Clan Leader?"
"Yes. My lady mother took in this foolish me."
Cheon Jang-ho, the Heavenly Net Leader who had gathered info as an Open Clan disciple despite his lazy nature, reacted the same.
"Hey, Yong-myeong. When did Yong-un hyung build a connection with the Hao Clan's Deputy Leader? Don't you know anything?"
"Back when he was playing the scoundrel, there wasn't a brothel in the northern Hebei region without hyung's tab, but honestly, I don't know the details."
Yin Xia Lian directed a question straight at Chun Aeng.
"How do you know Young Master Eon?"
At Yin Xia Lian's question...
Chun Aeng put on a wistful expression and spoke.
"Beneath a bright moonlit night, this Heavenly Maiden tugged at Great Hero Eon's sleeve, and that became our bond, leading us to spend a long night together. By the way..."
She finished her last words looking at me.
"Even though I never revealed my identity, you remembered my name clearly. Great Hero, you truly are a debonair philanderer with a trail of broken hearts."
At first, I just listened, wondering where she was going with it.
But hearing it all, it seemed like she was teasing me.
I furrowed my brow and spoke.
"You took pay for guiding me as I requested—why phrase it like that?"
In response, Chun Aeng stuck out her tongue playfully.
"It's revenge for that moment when you said you'd only pay four taels even if it killed you. It pops into my mind even in my sleep."
However, knowing that too much joking becomes rudeness...
She quickly offered a light fist salute toward the surroundings as an apology.
"Having met my benefactor after so long, I got carried away with joy and was rude. The connection with Great Hero Eon is..."
With that preface, Chun Aeng began recounting the day we first met.
"Hearing that the famous northern Hebei scoundrel had reached courtesan level mastery, I went out myself to check the man."
"...No wonder she insisted on guiding personally when I said anyone else would do."
The story that began there continued to our journey toward Rotting Ghost Village and what followed.
"At first, I was skeptical, but even this Heavenly Maiden, born in Rotting Ghost Village, who sniffs when visiting after ages, saw Great Hero's unchanged expression and knew the rumors were wrong."
"......"
"Later confirming that you truly distributed herbs to all the Rotting Ghosts and held a memorial rite for the area's lingering spirits, I vowed to repay this grace someday."
Master was the first to chime in at Chun Aeng's words.
- I saw the memorial rite, but it seems you did other impressive things before that.
Then the Sword Empress looked at me admiringly and spoke.
"A small connection, you said. Saving even one person in a lifetime fulfills righteousness. And you dismiss such deeds as nothing. The more I know you, the more of a true gem of a man you are."
Jeong Hyeon then found his words.
"Indeed. I learn the way of the healer once more from Professor Sword Empress's words and Brother Eon's actions."
"But wasn't that right around when Brother Eon had just been kicked out of the Pearl Eon Family, so money was tight?"
Wu So-reung alternated glances between Eon Yong-myeong and Paeng So-cheon as she asked.
Eon Yong-myeong and Paeng So-cheon silently nodded.
'Those were indeed things I did...'
To me, they were actions taken to find Master, so I felt a bit embarrassed.
'Back then, it benefited the Rotting Ghosts and me alike, so what if it was hypocrisy? ...But with these guys, maybe because we've grown close, it feels awkward.'
I credited part of it to Yin Xia Lian.
"Money wasn't that tight. And those herbs were given freely by Miss Yin here without charge."
However, Yin Xia Lian herself shook her head.
"It's how you use them that matters. I knew Young Master Eon used those herbs for good, and that's how you connected with the Deputy Leader."
"Ahem."
At that, I decided to change the subject entirely.
"Enough of that story... Don't we have more urgent matters now?"
At my words, Chun Aeng smiled faintly.
"You needn't worry anymore since you've made contact with me. First, let me explain the situation in the Evil Waterway Union."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The situation in the Evil Waterway Union's leadership, as described by Chun Aeng, was this.
'The leader changed hands not long ago.'
As it was the black path's process for leadership change, it was anything but clean.
Naturally, bloody battles ensued.
And during that, the leader's insignia went missing.
As a result, though he won the succession struggle, the current leader's support base and authority were weakened.
"...The Evil Waterway Union's leadership is divided under the leader into Left and Right Armies. The Right Army consists of those who have followed the current leader Baek Gwang-ho from the start. In contrast, the Left Army are survivors from the previous leader's supporters who barely escaped the purge."
"They need to prove their loyalty by establishing merits."
"Exactly, Great Hero Eon. So, the Right Army focused on finding the lost insignia to bolster the current leader's authority."
"The Left Army chose a method that yields immediate results over endless searches."
"Yes. Using the Martial Alliance's subjugation of the Sea Release Gang and pressure on the Yangtze waterways as pretexts, they proposed sacrificing one of the Righteous Martial Academy's cadets as a warning."
"That would be me."
"Yes."
Well, my name as top cadet or something had gotten too well-known.
Not full control, but infiltration was likely, so the Demonic Cult's influence might be involved.
"But if it goes wrong, it could spark a righteous-evil great war, no? With their forces weakened too?"
"True. The Hao Clan warned them against it. However..."
"However?"
"Even if things go as the Left Army wants, the new leader doesn't think he'll lose much. Will the white path martial world erupt over this?"
"Yes."
"From the new leader's perspective, he can just treat the Left Army as remnants of the previous leader. If they hand over the culprits, his authority is preserved, and the uproar in the white path dies down. Especially with the Demonic Cult as a new enemy before the white path."
A prediction with ample plausibility.
At this point, I posed the most important question to Chun Aeng.
"But why are you telling this to us? Is it your will as Deputy Leader, or the Hao Clan's?"
"It's the Hao Clan's will."
"The Hao Clan is affiliated with the Evil Waterway Union? Giving some herbs to Rotting Ghosts might have touched the Hao Clan girls in brothels... fine, let's say it moved them. But the entire Hao Clan clashing with the Evil Waterway Union's leadership? That doesn't make sense to me."
"Sharp as ever. We see the matter of Great Hero Eon being targeted differently."
"How so?"
"Anyone else, maybe not, but if Great Hero Eon is killed, at least the Northern Hebei Three Heroes would start a war with the Evil Waterway Union, even if it means leaving the Martial Alliance."
"......"
"The Righteous Martial Academy Chief's involvement is highly likely, and so are the Windstorm Duo and the Open Clan stepping up. Funds would come from Taiwon Merchant House."
Continuing, Chun Aeng looked at Yin Xia Lian at this point.
"Silver Radiance Merchant Group might join too. If Miss Yin here gets involved, definitely. This is the minimum estimate, but even this much would force the Martial Alliance's hand. Especially since you're the later-generation talent the Alliance Leader personally escorted home for vacation."
"We predict a righteous-evil great war."
This too was a possibility with ample grounds.
Now I understood why the Hao Clan was stepping in.
Meanwhile, Chun Aeng spat out the rest.
"Above all, we're a collective that lives by working. A war between righteous and evil benefits us not one bit."
"So, how do you plan to help?"
"We were the ones who planted intel in the Martial Alliance's military department. Black pathers from Waterway Stronghold aligned with the Left Army may know the Yangtze routes well, but do they know better than the fishermen and ferrymen who evade those numbers? We'll escort you all the way to Lake North."
"...Hmm."
"If you don't trust us, stay here and verify. It's a decision reached after talks between Grand Strategist Jeon Gal-hye and my lady mother."
It wasn't that I distrusted Chun Aeng and the Hao Clan enough to withhold an answer.
They clearly had reason to protect me.
My hesitation stemmed from another cause.
'This is just a stopgap.'
In the original story, the Evil Waterway Union didn't make much waves until suddenly allying with Waterway Stronghold under Demonic Cult control, becoming a major threat.
'I can safely return to the academy for now, but that's not truly safe.'
Be it the Hao Clan or the Grand Strategist...
They weren't people who could babysit me forever.
To extinguish the spark of righteous-evil war and Demonic Cult control over the Evil Waterway Union, a more fundamental solution was needed.
After pondering, I spoke.
"If I want to meet the Evil Waterway Union Leader, can you arrange it?"
"...We could use back channels to make it happen, but you're saying you'll walk into the tiger's den yourself?"
Yes, right into the tiger's jaws.
But worth a shot.
The lost Evil Waterway Union Leader's insignia.
I knew where it was.