The Hundred-Year Windfall
Eon Jungmi let out a delighted laugh. “Oh ho ho ho!”
She had been in an excellent mood lately. News kept reaching her from every direction that the insolent Sanlong was suffering, so how could she feel anything but pleased? She had merely dropped a light hint, yet everyone was eagerly stepping forward to make his life miserable. What a joyous thing.
Because of her thick makeup, she kept checking her mirror, worried it was causing breakouts on her face.
“Tsk.”
The irritation lasted only a moment before she immersed herself in the fragrant aroma of her tea.
“This is what power tastes like.”
Power was exactly this. Simply by being the wife of the Inryong-dan leader, the underlings tripped over themselves to win her favor and pledge their loyalty.
“Hoho! Ah!”
“Forgive me, my lady!”
“You lowly wretch!”
Slap!
The maid massaging her feet had made a tiny mistake, and Eon Jungmi’s hand flew up instantly. Her good mood vanished in a puff of smoke.
“How dare you.”
“My lady, I’m sorry!”
Eon Jungmi snatched up the switch lying in the corner of the room.
“How dare you! How dare you!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Whack! Whack!
After beating the maid with practiced ease, Eon Jungmi paused to catch her breath and smoothed her disheveled hair.
“Tsk! Get that thing out of here. From now on, put her on menial chores like organizing the warehouse. If she refuses, throw her out.”
“Yes, my lady!”
Once the battered maid had been dragged from the room, Eon Jungmi sat down again. Another maid hurried in.
“My lady, the head merchant from the Geumo Trading Company has arrived.”
“Oh! The item has finally arrived? Bring him in at once.”
A full smile bloomed across Eon Jungmi’s face at the news she had waited so long to hear. She had gone through so much trouble to obtain it—paying an exorbitant premium and even borrowing money from the main family. It was a true treasure.
“Oh ho ho ho!”
Because she normally wore such a severe expression, even her smile looked vicious.
A person’s face truly reflected the life they had led. Eon Jungmi’s life was plain for anyone to see.
The door opened, and a prosperous-looking man who could only be the head merchant entered.
“Ha ha ha……”
The instant she saw his face, Eon Jungmi’s expression turned glacial. It was obvious something had gone wrong.
“Has a problem occurred?”
“Well… there was a small issue during the escort……”
A vein bulged on Eon Jungmi’s forehead as if it might burst, and her eyes looked ready to spit fire.
“What? Do you even understand what kind of item that was!”
“Ack!”
Slap!
Her merciless slap sent the head merchant crashing onto his backside. The strength was impressive, exactly what one would expect from the Jinju Eon Clan.
“That was the 100-Year Hasuo for our Gihyo!”
She had thought things were finally going her way, yet it had twisted in the most unexpected place. If only Gihyo could consume the 100-Year Hasuo, he would no longer have to suffer humiliation at the hands of someone like Tang Sanlong!
Eon Jungmi’s eyes had already rolled halfway into madness.
“Where! How! Why did a problem occur!”
The head merchant of the Geumo Trading Company trembled as he answered, knowing a wrong word would leave him in the same condition as the maid who had just been dragged away.
“It appears… there was an ambush during the escort. We lost all contact after the last messenger pigeon.”
“Then tell me! Who did it! Why!”
“That… I don’t know either……”
It was frustrating for the merchant as well; he truly did not have the details.
“Ughhh! Aaaargh!”
Eon Jungmi’s roar exploded with enough force to blow the entire house away.
“How do you plan to resolve this! I even pulled money from the main family to purchase it!”
“I have hired ronin to recover it.”
“Ronin?”
“Yes. I employed the Ghost Blade Three Killers.”
She had never heard the name, but the title sounded rather impressive.
“People I’ve never heard of.”
“They were active on the northern battlefields before coming down to Sichuan. In a short time they’ve built quite a reputation. They defeated Qingcheng’s second-generation disciple with their ghost-like blade techniques.”
“…Qingcheng’s second-generation disciple?”
“Yes.”
Even though the Qingcheng Sect had poor relations with the Tang Clan, it was still an orthodox prestigious sect that held one of the positions among the Nine Great Schools. Its second-generation disciples ranged from second-rate to first-rate, but the foundation of a Nine School could never be underestimated.
“They are also skilled trackers, so they should recover it quickly.”
“Haa……”
The merchant broke into a cold sweat with every move Eon Jungmi made.
“You must find it without fail! Tell them to cut down anyone who interferes, no matter who they are.”
“Understood. I will take my leave immediately.”
“Get out!”
As soon as the merchant left, a maid approached.
“My lady, Tang Sanlong has been assigned to an external mission……”
“Is that bastard important right now! Don’t irritate me with useless chatter—everyone get out! Out!”
Eon Jungmi hurled objects around the room as she chased the maids away. Anyone who crossed her on a day like this would become her punching bag.
“She’s the one who ordered us to report, so why is she getting angry?”
“Has it only been a day or two? Let’s just stay out of her sight today. If we slip up, we’ll end up like Chun-sim—beaten like dogs and thrown out.”
“Yeah… ugh……”
It looked like it would be another day of walking on thin ice.
“What the hell is this mess?”
Tang Chil-ju, instructor of the 7th Class, had taken a wrong turn on the way to his patrol mission in a small village near Tang-gata and stumbled upon an appalling scene.
“It’s the Geumo Trading Company,” Sanlong said, recognizing it at once from the broken flag.
The Geumo Trading Company was not particularly large, but because it had done business with the Tang Clan for a long time, it was impossible not to know them.
Attacks on trading companies are common, but…
It looked like they had been raided by the Green Forest Bandits, and the battle had been fierce.
The Geumo side put up one hell of a fight.
They must have been escorting something important. Their fierce resistance had cost the bandits dearly as well—half the corpses scattered around belonged to the Green Forest thugs.
“Everyone stay alert! There may still be enemies nearby……”
Tang Chil-ju tried to act like a proper instructor and warn the members, but Sanlong cut him off immediately.
“The corpses have already started decomposing. That means quite a bit of time has passed. Let’s investigate before the traces disappear.”
Sanlong looked at the ten Tanggidae members.
“What are you waiting for? Search for anything useful. Pile the bodies in one place.”
“Y-yes!”
“Got it!”
Watching the 7th Class members move with brisk obedience the moment they stepped outside, Sanlong congratulated himself on disciplining them in advance. Of course, a few still resisted—Tang Bo, one of the three who had bullied Gi Chae-yun, was the main offender.
“Why should I!”
“Why should you? Want to spar?”
At Sanlong’s chilling tone, the hulking Tang Bo flinched and began moving without further complaint. The forced sparring sessions before the mission had clearly left an impression.
“Move. Faster.”
Together with the members, Sanlong examined the ambush site.
What were they carrying that forced them to take such a remote route?
The road was too rough and isolated for any normal trading company or escort agency.
The Green Forest Bandits wouldn’t usually operate here either.
Something smelled off.
“Hmm.”
Inside the shattered carriage lay trade goods the attackers had failed to carry away.
They left this much behind? Looks like the bandits didn’t survive in great numbers either.
Judging from the battle traces, it had likely been a mutual slaughter.
Footprints.
Among the jumble of tracks, Sanlong spotted a unique set.
One person is injured in the leg—the depth is different on each side. Two others are supporting him…
From the traces, it seemed roughly three people had survived. Most likely the Green Forest attackers. If they had been company survivors, the news would have already spread through Chengdu.
The tracks led naturally into the dense forest. Sanlong followed them slowly.
“Tang Sanlong, moving alone will result in punishment.”
“Yeah~ I’ll take it when we get back.”
“Tang San… ugh! Blegh!”
Tang Chil-ju kept retching from the revolting stench, and similar sounds echoed from the other members. Using their gagging as background noise, Sanlong continued following the trail.
They couldn’t have gone far.
At first they had tried to erase their tracks, but eventually they must have given up. Bloody smears now littered the path.
Soon Sanlong found two corpses.
“Huh? A fight between comrades? No… this was an ambush from behind.”
They always preached loyalty, yet these Green Forest bastards had less honor than anyone. Just seeing this told him how valuable the stolen item must have been.
“Only one left.”
He was growing curious about the face of the survivor who had stabbed his own comrades in the back.
Here?
Following the tracks, he discovered a small cave. It was large enough for a beast, yet no animal presence could be felt. Instead, he caught the faint sound of human breathing.
“Wh… who’s there……”
A fierce-looking man inside the cave clutched something tightly to his chest and threatened Sanlong with a bloodstained podao.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“Don’t come closer… This… this is… mine… my thing……”
It was obvious the man didn’t have long to live even without any help.
“You caused all that chaos for this?”
“Heh… with this… I can… cross the wall… cross……”
He could no longer speak. The man’s head drooped lifelessly.
Sanlong checked his nose.
“Dead. I won’t wish you a peaceful afterlife, you bandit scum. What the hell was it that you’d betray your own comrades?”
Sanlong pried the small red box from the dead man’s arms. It took real effort—the corpse’s fingers were locked around it in a death grip.
“Even in death, what a greedy bastard.”
“The box itself looks expensive.”
The moment he opened it, a powerful medicinal fragrance assaulted his nose.
“This aroma is no joke.”
The stronger the scent, the richer the natural energy it contained. The fact that it was wrapped in soft silk told him this was no ordinary herb.
“What kind of herb…? This is… Hasuo?”
It was Hasuo, but the important question was its age. Just from the scent alone, it was clearly at least a hundred years old.
Damn… secretly taking something like this is going to cause problems.
His mouth watered at the thought of the internal energy boost, but such a precious item always brought both fortune and disaster.
Thud.
A letter fell to the floor. The stiff paper and faint scent of ink suggested it had been written with great care, each stroke pressed down with sincerity.
My beloved son Gihyo,
Mother has gone to great lengths to obtain this 100-Year Hasuo for you. Consume it and gain the strength to utterly crush that detestable Tang Sanlong. Do not disappoint me. Make those who look down on us regret it.
With all my love and expectation,
Your Mother
Sanlong slowly read the letter, and his expression gradually turned bizarre. It wasn’t strange in a bad way—it was the face of someone so overjoyed he could barely contain himself.
“Puhuhu! So even Eon Jungmi and Tang Gihyo have their days of helping me out?”
The letter was so earnest it almost moved him. Was this what true sincerity looked like? Sanlong ripped the letter apart without hesitation.
“Perfect kindling!”
Setting aside the excellent tinder, Sanlong gazed at the brilliant 100-Year Hasuo.
“Ooh……”
It couldn’t compare to the legendary thousand-year or ten-thousand-year varieties, but even a century-old specimen was a magnificent elixir for martial artists cultivating their inner energy.
Breaking through to the peak with it alone will be difficult, but it’ll definitely give me a boost.
Sanlong quietly checked his surroundings.
Good. That instructor will be thrilled to have an excuse to punish me if I disappear. The 7th Class guys won’t bother looking for me either.
In short, unless it was Gi Chae-yun, no one was searching for him right now.
Let’s eat it immediately.
He had originally planned to wait until after the mission, but items like this were best consumed on the spot to minimize side effects.
“Oho ho ho~”
A hum rose naturally from his throat as Sanlong slowly began chewing the 100-Year Hasuo. With the resolve not to waste even the smallest root, he chewed thoroughly and swallowed. Soon a fiery heat bloomed in his dantian.
Ugh! The medicinal effect is stronger than I expected.
Perhaps it was thanks to the experience he had gained from the Thousand-Year Spider. Sanlong absorbed the surging inner energy from the 100-Year Hasuo without much difficulty.