The Liars (3)
"Master. Baek isn't in Sichuan?"
"No. He received an invitation and departed for Guizhou."
We had nearly wasted our steps. In hindsight, it was only natural. The Central Plains were vast, and there were no such things as telephones. Any news we heard of Baek was always more than a week old. If he kept moving, those of us merely tracing his footsteps could never close the distance.
"Thank you for the information. I'll need to find a new route. So, what was this favor you wished to ask?"
Since she had given useful information, I was prepared to accommodate her request—so long as it was neither troublesome nor disadvantageous. If I was going to meet Yu Baek and stay in Hangzhou for a while, earning Jegal Ji's goodwill would make things far more convenient in many ways.
Yet the words that left Jegal Ji's mouth were nothing I had expected.
"Rather than continuing to chase after Hero Yu Baek, why not have him come to you instead?"
"Come to me?"
"It takes nearly two weeks to travel from Chang'an to Guizhou. By the time you arrive, Hero Yu Baek may already have moved elsewhere. Instead of following him, wouldn't it be better to stay in a convenient location like Wuhan or Yueyang and send word for him to come?"
"Hmm..."
It sounded reasonable, but honestly, I was a little worried whether Baek would actually come if I called. The same thing had happened with the Gold Tripod Merchant Alliance. If he had been willing to come obediently when summoned, he wouldn't have resorted to swordplay or running away in the first place. The thought made me feel uneasy, as though I were pointlessly tormenting a disciple who only wanted to find his own path in life.
But I could say with certainty that I had no intention of confining Baek. Whether it was a village or the martial world, if he wanted to leave, I would have let him go. If Baek was avoiding me now, it was purely due to a misunderstanding born from our failure to communicate. Fortunately, nothing irreversible had happened yet. Wouldn't it be better to meet him as soon as possible—before it was too late—and clear up this long-standing misunderstanding?
Having reached that conclusion, I spoke to Jegal Ji.
"It's a good idea, but there is a small misunderstanding between Baek and me. I would prefer you summon him without letting him know it is me."
"...Could you promise that you will not force, threaten, or attack Hero Yu Baek on the spot?"
I frowned slightly. What did she take me for? Even if my disciple came at night with a blade to slit my throat, it would be something a master could never bring herself to do. ...Could never bring herself to do? At any rate, I had no intention of doing such a thing.
"I promise."
Yet Jegal Ji seemed to interpret my frown and the pause in my reply differently.
"This is truly presumptuous of me, but given the deep distrust between the Demon Cult and the orthodox martial world, if we are to convince the others on our side, we will likely need several masters present as a formality. What do you think of that...?"
She could have simply said she didn't trust me and wanted others standing by. Why drag it out so long? Still, if I put myself in her position, it was understandable. If someone asked to meet another person but insisted it be done in secret without informing them, and swore they meant no harm, would that sound believable? Even knowing it sounded like the barking of a dog, I had no choice but to keep barking. That was the frustrating part.
"Haha, and in the midst of all that, Yu Baek defeated that Black Poison King fellow?"
"So I heard. Apparently the Black Poison King used underhanded assassination techniques first, turning their duel into a fight to the death, yet Hero Yu Baek counterattacked, inflicted serious injuries, and drove him off."
Of course Baek wouldn't lose easily. Whose disciple was he? It was only natural. A small seed of anxiety had lingered in my heart, but hearing those words finally put my mind at ease.
In truth, Baek was no ordinary talent. How many people possessed the ability to see straight through another's heart after merely watching and listening a few times? He could easily handle those who boasted of being at the Peak or Transcendent realms. And if the situation grew truly dangerous, his keen instincts would surely see him through.
With that thought, I felt a twinge of guilt toward Jegal Ji, Master Ju, and the others I had met over the past two days. My own cultivation of the heart was shallow, and I had failed to calm my turbulent emotions, which had led me to neglect others. Looking back, there were one or two things I could guess at. Of course, I still wouldn't have allowed Master Ju to meet Yu Baek, but at the very least, I could offer an apology the next time we met.
When it came to Jegal Ji standing before me now, there was no need for hesitation.
"Hearing that puts my mind at ease. I must apologize for what happened before. Not hearing any news of my disciple left me quite unsettled, and I fear I was rather neglectful in how I treated you because of it."
"I understand. It is only natural for a master to worry about their disciple."
"Thank you for understanding. Is there anything else you desire from me?"
Merely saying sorry with words was the most distasteful thing one could do. If I truly felt I had been rude, it was only proper to offer appropriate compensation. Yet perhaps because she was the cherished daughter of a great clan with nothing lacking, nothing immediately came to mind.
"...I'm sorry, but nothing comes to mind right now. Would it be all right if I thought about it slowly?"
"That would be fine. Just tell me while I'm still here."
Guiding us to Wuhan would take at least two weeks, and waiting for Yu Baek to arrive would take even longer, so there was plenty of time. As a responsible adult, I couldn't accept requests that were too burdensome or difficult, but Jegal Ji was among the top three most perceptive people in the Central Plains. She would figure that much out on her own.
I leaned back deeply against the chair and closed my eyes, once again recalling what Jegal Ji had told me. At first, I had only asked about recent events because I wanted to know if there was anything else she might have heard, now that I knew Baek wasn't in Sichuan. The story that emerged was far more fascinating than I had imagined.
A young noble who had just entered the martial world boldly asked the Poison King to accept him as a guest, borrowed the wisdom of the Poison King's daughter, and devised a way to defeat an old monster who had lived for over sixty years—finally triumphing through wit and courage. The tale was so gripping. They say it is difficult to fabricate a story better than real life, and indeed, the biography of Yu Baek that I had written felt utterly insignificant compared to the real Yu Baek's story.
In good spirits, my appetite returned. It was a little late, but not yet past lunchtime. I found myself thinking of trying that lamb soup the locals called yangroupaomo, which Yang So-chang had recommended as a Chang'an specialty.
"By the way, Lady Jegal, have you eaten lunch? I heard this region has a famous dish called yangroupaomo."
"My home is close by, so I visit Chang'an quite often and have had it many times. I haven't eaten lunch yet either, so if it's all right with you, allow me to treat you at a good inn I know."
"That sounds good, but I feel bad accepting your hospitality so freely..."
"There's no need to worry. My clan is right nearby. It has long been a beautiful custom for the host to treat guests who have come from afar with great hospitality."
I wondered if it was truly proper etiquette to admit I had been rude and then immediately accept a meal, but in any case, even if I paid my share, it would be nothing more than a speck of dust to Jegal Ji, who could freely enter and leave her clan's treasury. So I stopped trying to refuse.
"If that's the case, then..."
"Then wouldn't it be better to arrange a carriage in advance?" Cho Yak said.
It was a reasonable suggestion. A carriage wasn't something you could simply decide to take and depart immediately. You had to prepare provisions and fodder according to the distance, find a carriage of appropriate size, load it with cargo, provisions, fodder, and sometimes water, then bring the horses from the stable and harness them. Since we had people we could use, it made sense to arrange the carriage before going to eat and reduce the waiting time.
However, the people we could use weren't ours—they were Jegal Ji's.
Cho Yak and I turned to look at Jegal Ji, who replied,
"Ah, I was so flustered I forgot to mention it, but we won't be going straight by land. I intend to stop by Luoyang and travel by water."
"By water?"
"Yes. Chang'an and Wuhan may not seem far apart at a glance, but there are mountains and rivers in between, so the land route isn't entirely convenient. Instead, if we take the Yellow River from Luoyang, pass through Kaifeng to Jining, we can reach the Grand Canal. From there, we can go down to the capital and then travel up the Yangtze River to reach Wuhan without passing through land routes."
It wasn't impossible, but it meant the originally straight path would bend into a large detour. I wondered if there was any need to take such a long way around.
"Wouldn't that be nearly three times the distance?"
"A boat riding the current is actually faster than a carriage. A carriage must rest for as long as it travels, and at night it must stop to sleep, but a boat can keep moving without rest or sleep, so its speed is more than three times greater."
I let out a small exclamation. Now that I thought about it, she was right. Unless you changed horses at every post station like when delivering urgent messages, horses were creatures that needed to rest as much as they ran. That was true even when carrying only a rider—how much worse would it be when pulling a heavy carriage? But a boat was a machine made of wood, propelled by the power of river water and wind. Even if its speed wasn't dramatically different at any given moment, if the crew took shifts and simply held the tiller, it could keep moving all day without stopping.
"However, in practice, we will need to dock occasionally to pick up and drop off passengers, and there are many places where we must travel against the current, so looking at the schedule, it will take about one or two extra days. But traveling by carriage over rough roads exposes one to various accidents and bandits, and plans can easily go awry, whereas a boat has none of those issues and is far more comfortable."
I nodded in agreement, but one question remained.
"Then why don't more people take boats? Why are there so many carriage drivers?"
"Water routes only connect major cities. To reach every corner, carriages are still necessary. Above all, the country charges high tolls for the Grand Canal, so those without means have no choice but to travel by carriage."
"Ah, that makes sense."
The reason for the high tolls wasn't hard to imagine either. Since they had dug a waterway where none had existed before to connect the Yellow River and the Yangtze, sediment would accumulate and block the route if left alone. Even if they only charged enough to cover maintenance costs before collecting taxes, it would be difficult to make the tolls cheap. I briefly wondered how we would afford such expensive boat fares, but before I could voice the thought, Jegal Ji informed us that a boat had already been reserved—a high-class passenger vessel equipped with private cabins and a chef.
And the next day.
"...Sister? Is that you, Sister...? I can't see well..."
"Pull yourself together, Cho Mae! Hey, Lady Jegal, get a physician—call a physician!"
"I've already called for one, but we're on a boat. I don't know if they'll have proper medicine..."
Cho Yak, one of the One Hundred Great Masters and one of the Five Demonic Generals of Defying Heaven, as well as the head messenger of Yama Hall in the Asura Demon Sect, was on the verge of ending her twenty-seven years of hardship due to seasickness.
It wasn't an exaggeration or a joke. It was real.