Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Millennium Snow Ginseng
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My first job as an escort warrior for the Sa Gong Escort Agency was transporting moving goods to another village. To be precise, some wealthy man from Wangha had bought a house in that village, and it seemed his son was going to live there. My role was to guard the transport cart and make sure no stray bandits latched onto us.
*This is a total walk in the park.*
I'd handled escort missions like this dozens of times over the past several decades. So I felt no tension whatsoever and departed comfortably alongside the goods. There were three escort warriors assigned to this job total, and no escort captain was coming along. That was because the cargo wasn't particularly valuable, and there were hardly any mountain bandits in the area anyway.
A few hours after setting out, the transport cart paused for a break. The horses looked a bit fatigued, so it was to let them rest in the shade. The escort warriors and laborers sat down too, munching on snacks and relaxing.
"Why'd you become an escort warrior?"
One of the escort warriors asked me. He looked to be in his thirties, the typical low-grade escort type. He was probably like me—thrown into this line of work to make ends meet and sticking it out for over a decade. I stared blankly at his utterly ordinary face before replying.
"No other way to put food on the table."
"With your level of martial arts, you could join a martial hall and aim for a real position."
There was a hint of regret in his voice.
He had a point. At my current level, I could enter the imperial martial exams held once a year or compete in a martial tournament. Sure, it'd be packed with strong experts, but passing wouldn't be impossible. He was right—wasting my skills on escort work might indeed be a shame.
But right now, climbing the ranks in some government office wasn't my priority. First, I needed to consume the Millennium Snow Ginseng. Then, unravel the secrets of the Heavenly Dark Secret Book. Oh, and on top of that, exact bloody revenge on the village chief. With so much on my plate, I didn't have time to nitpick over details like that.
I chuckled and said,
"I don't think escort work is bad at all. As long as you do the job right, the pay's steady enough to live on, isn't it?"
"True enough."
The escort warrior seemed convinced.
No escort agency in the world dared mistreat or exploit their escort warriors. There were countless agencies out there, locked in fierce competition within the trade networks. Even low-grade warriors with escort-level skills weren't all that common.
Escort warriors were, at the very least, martial artists versed in basic techniques. They were the agency's assets, so it was standard practice to ensure they earned a decent living.
The chit-chat ended, and the escort procession set off again. If we waited till dawn, morning dew could ruin the moving goods, so we had to move fast. Thanks to the carts hustling along, we thankfully delivered everything to the destination before midnight. The laborers and I bustled about with the escort warriors, hauling furniture and luggage into the house.
By the time we finished, it was dawn. Everywhere was pitch black except where the torches illuminated. The veteran escort warrior acting as leader for this run held up a torch and shouted,
"We're beat today, so we'll stay at the inn for six hours! Rest up—we leave tomorrow morning."
"Yes, sir!"
We could've crossed the mountains and rushed back to the agency right away, but the veteran apparently judged the predawn mountain path too risky. Soon after, the procession's laborers and escort warriors headed to the village inn, unpacked, and settled in to rest. Needless to say, not everyone could snag a room—some laborers just unrolled sleeping bags on the floor inside.
Sleep wouldn't come to me, so I stood on the second floor of the inn, gazing down quietly as everyone prepped for bed. I could see the laborers curling up for quick naps, nursing their weary bodies.
*That's why I hated being a laborer.*
Laborers didn't have to step up front and fight bandits like escort warriors did, but overall, they got treated worse. Even now, the three of us escort warriors each had our own room, while the rest of the laborers were bedding down on the inn floor.
*Could go for a drink right about now.*
I didn't hate alcohol. Quite liked it, actually. Back when I worked as an escort, a stiff drink and a good night's sleep washed away all the misery. But since regressing, I hadn't had a chance to drink. Even now, with this kid's body, it felt conspicuous, so I held back.
Instead, I returned to my room and began cultivating my internal energy. Circulating the Small Celestial Circuit with the Thunder Dragon One Qi Art melted away fatigue and restored stamina without needing sleep. Plus, the more I trained, the stronger I got—a total win-win.
With so much to do, I couldn't afford to slack off or play around now.
Once this escort run ended and we returned to the agency, Sa Gong-pae approached me familiarly. As Sa Gong-rin's brother, an escort captain, and one of the agency's executives, I couldn't just brush him off.
"Escort Warrior Baek Woong! First run go well?"
"No trouble at all."
"Hahaha. You're a rising star in our agency."
Sa Gong-pae chatted idly for about an hour. He asked about my background and past, or just rambled about his recent jobs, how pretty Sa Gong-rin was, that sort of thing. I had no idea why he was saying all this and felt awkward.
"See you next time."
"Yes."
I could tell Sa Gong-pae held some goodwill toward me. Probably just wanted to get chummy with a promising new guy for the agency. It was a pretty novel feeling, but I soon shrugged it off.
*Having power changes a lot.*
It was the same emotion I'd felt when gearing up for revenge on the village chief. Once you had strength, the world looked entirely different. In other words, lacking it was just that pathetic.
Now, it truly begins.
From here, I had to keep working while waiting for my body to mature, and bide my time to hunt down the Millennium Snow Ginseng on Yellow Mountain.
For the next three years or so, I continued my agency life without incident. My fellow escort warriors were initially wary because of my youth, but since my skills surpassed regular escorts—reaching escort captain level—they benefited from my help more than once or twice. Over those three years, I'd saved over a dozen of their lives, so they finally acknowledged me as a comrade.
We clashed with mountain bandits, thieves, and river pirates over twenty times during escort runs. Not as many as you'd think, but each time, we drew blades and fought for our lives. Attacked mid-run? No crime in cutting down bandits, so escort warriors slew them without hesitation.
I'd probably killed at least thirty in those three years myself. I held back when I could avoid killing, but sometimes there was no choice.
Before I knew it, my body had grown enough to wield advanced techniques smoothly. On a winter day with snow blanketing everything, I warmed myself by the fire inside, staring out the window in thought.
*This agency is a hybrid with the Sa Gong Family. Unlike typical agencies, the members have strong martial arts and a family-like atmosphere.*
You could tell just from the executives all being Sa Gong blood relatives. The escort warriors were less like contractors and more like the family's lower warriors. That was probably why Sa Gong-pae kept buddying up to me—like we were in the same boat.
What I couldn't figure out was why a family with Sa Gong-level martial arts would dive straight into the escort business. With their skills, they could've produced government martial officers or muscled into trade or battlefields for tribute. Easier ways to build wealth, yet they chose escort work.
And Sa Gong-rin nagged at me.
Part of the problem was that I'd fallen for her at first sight. The real issue, though, was that *I didn't know her*.
You might think that's nonsense, but it was a big deal. In all my decades of memories, I'd never heard of the Sa Gong Family or a Sa Gong-rin making waves in the martial world. The family, maybe, but Sa Gong-rin? That was blatantly off.
She'd become a disciple of the Mount Tai Old Man, the righteous faction's top prodigy, and her talent rivaled Jin So-cheong's—yet she never became a known master? In a world where even female experts could shine with superior skills, it made no sense.
*I'll look into the questions I have before leaving the agency.*
Lately, I'd been thinking of departing. My Thunder Dragon One Qi Art had advanced considerably, bolstered by heaps of real combat experience—my overall martial arts had leaped forward. I could probably hold my own against a first-class expert now. With the money I'd saved as an escort warrior, it was about time to start searching Yellow Mountain for the Millennium Snow Ginseng.
Who to ask to satisfy my curiosity?
After a moment's thought, I headed to Sa Gong-rin. I was close enough to Sa Gong-pae to ask him outright, but since I was at it, I wanted to see her face once more.
"Escort Captain Sa Gong-rin. Got a moment?"
"Come in."
Sa Gong-rin was quietly reading in her private room, reserved for escort captains. With snow falling softly outside the window behind her, the serene beauty reading by the light was like a painting.
*She's beautiful.*
I stood there dazed, as if the painting had stepped into the world, then snapped to and said,
"I came to ask you something, Escort Captain Sa Gong-rin."
"What is it?"
"Why does the Sa Gong Family run an escort agency?"
Sa Gong-rin closed her book and gazed at me steadily. Her doe-like eyes blinked once, and she smiled faintly.
"Ahaha, is that what you've been wondering about for the past three years?"
"Something like that."
"It's not much of a secret. Our main house just doesn't want to clash with the Yellow Mountain Sect unnecessarily."
"Yellow Mountain Sect..."
I frowned.
*So that's it.*
Yellow Mountain Sect!
A rising faction newly claiming the tail end of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, famed for their exquisite swordsmanship. The old occupant had been the Central Plains Sect, which suffered a catastrophe when their sect leader and elders vanished into thin air. Yellow Mountain Sect stepped in, rapidly expanding influence around Yellow Mountain.
The Sa Gong Family's martial arts were first-class, but reality was they lagged a step behind Yellow Mountain Sect's peak techniques and experts, who rivaled the Nine Greats. Any armed clash or dispute would disadvantage the Sa Gongs too much, so they'd pulled out of battlefields and finance, opting to earn directly via escort work.
It still didn't sit right, so I said,
"Even avoiding turf wars, Yellow Mountain Sect will eventually push into Guanzhong. Is playing this passively really okay? It might come down to submission or annihilation."
Sa Gong-rin's eyes gleamed oddly.
"Young warrior, you sound convinced it'll happen that way."
"Ah..."
Oops. I'd let future events slip without thinking.
Just as I'd said, decades from now, Yellow Mountain Sect would claim hegemony over Yellow Mountain and Guanzhong, expanding aggressively. All the minor martial groups there knelt and submitted. Unable to stomach it, the Mount Zhong Sect and Mount Hua Sect allied, clashing with Yellow Mountain at Greater Wheel Mountain in what became the Five Peaks Blood War.
No clear victor emerged— all three sects took heavy losses, entering a stalemate. That vacuum let evil faction folks and demonic masters run wild in Guanzhong and the Five Peaks area for a while. It was during that chaos my old Plum Blossom Escort Agency got raided by Blood Phosphorous Hand.
The Sa Gong Family had probably been swallowed by Yellow Mountain Sect in the future. That's why no one knew their name.
Even with expansion, for Yellow Mountain to grow enough to fight Mount Zhong and Mount Hua 2-on-1... Facing such a domineering sect passively would just mean getting eaten eventually. To avoid that fate, they needed to ally with neighboring groups and check Yellow Mountain now.
Sa Gong-rin sighed.
"Haa... I get what you're saying, young warrior. Father and brother worry about it constantly. But worrying doesn't conjure alternatives. Without power, knowing the situation changes nothing."
"..."
Fair enough. Sa Gong-hwan and the Sa Gong clan weren't idiots—they knew they needed to counter Yellow Mountain. It was just too unrealistic against a sect with peak and transcendent experts, so they endured.
"Nothing else to say?"
"You seem on the verge of peak expert level, Escort Captain Sa Gong-rin. No thoughts of making a name in the martial world? Being stuck here as an escort captain feels like such a..."
"Waste?"
Sa Gong-rin laughed softly. Her smile carried pathos and bitterness. Even that looked beautiful to me—probably because I was already smitten.
"If I ventured into the jianghu, I'd gain some fame. Live a fulfilling life as a heroine. But that'd burden the rest of the family too much. I can't just live for myself."
"That's..."
"Young warrior, everyone has their own way of living."
I knew Sa Gong-rin wasn't being sincere.
She'd joined the Mount Tai Old Man as a disciple because she loved martial arts and wanted to roam the martial world. But with her family's tough spot, she'd suppressed her ambitions, helping out instead.
She was well past marriageable age yet unmarried. Too busy with duties, no doubt.
My second question resolved.
*That's why Sa Gong-rin's name stayed buried even decades later.*
She'd reach peak expert soon, maybe transcendent later. But she'd spend those decades guarding the family, never stepping out. I pitied her misfortune, but maybe it wasn't entirely that.
Everyone has their own path.
Even if it wasn't hers by choice, if she could live content, wasn't that fine?
Shaking off my reverie, I bowed to Sa Gong-rin.
"I'll be heading out today. Thanks for everything."
"...Figured you might."
Sa Gong-rin gazed at the snow falling quietly outside and continued.
"Young warrior, you have dreams. Dreams of the wide, vast world..."
"Just want to satisfy my greed."
"Dreams and greed aren't so different. I'm envious..."
Sa Gong-rin smiled wistfully.
"Farewell, Young Warrior Baek Woong."
And that day, I submitted my resignation to Agency Master Sa Gong-hwan and left the Sa Gong Escort Agency.
Vowing that this time, I would find the Millennium Snow Ginseng on Yellow Mountain.