Senior Brother of the Sect Leader (4)
After the banquet ended and he returned to the Palace Lord’s quarters, Seol So-baek looked positively pleased.
“I’m glad things went well.”
“P-Palace Lord.”
But Han Yi-myung looked as though his soul had fled from him.
“A monopoly is not something to take lightly. In trade, profits come from competition between multiple trading houses. If you grant monopoly rights, that side will be able to set the price of goods however they please.”
“That’s true.”
“This is a tremendous loss.”
Even after hearing Han Yi-myung’s words, Seol So-baek shook his head.
“I know. Father… no, Chief Officer.”
“Then why do you look so at ease? The Ice Palace is about to be exploited by a sect from the Central Plains.”
A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.
“If they were the sort of people who cared only about their own profit, enough to exploit the North Sea, then the moment they learned the Demonic Sect was plotting something, they would have fled the North Sea. Even if they were dragged into it by accident, they wouldn’t have risked their lives fighting like that.”
“……”
“Their words and behavior are rough and unconventional, but I’ve never seen them act against righteousness.”
Yes. That was true.
If you ignored the fact that he had known those people for less than a month, then it was all true!
“But, Palace Lord…!”
“Chief Officer.”
Seol So-baek cut him off firmly and spoke with shining eyes.
“In your opinion, how much stronger do you think Mount Hua will become?”
“Well…”
Han Yi-myung was about to answer, then fell silent. After a moment’s thought, he replied,
“Until not long ago, Mount Hua’s reputation hadn’t even reached the North Sea. But soon, it’ll become the most famous sect in the North Sea. And perhaps the same will be true elsewhere as well.”
“Exactly. That much is certain.”
Seol So-baek and Han Yi-myung nodded together.
Hadn’t they seen with their own eyes just how shockingly high their martial prowess was?
For now, they might not yet rival Shaolin, the most powerful sect in the Central Plains. But what about when Baek Cheon and the other Mount Hua disciples grew into the core of the sect?
At the very least, they’ll become one of the strongest sects in the Central Plains.
More than anything, Chung Myung’s existence made that undeniable.
Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol, and the other Mount Hua disciples were all talented enough that, if you placed them in any other sect, they could reasonably aim for the position of the next sect leader, or the next number one disciple.
But among them, Chung Myung was clearly on another level.
It wasn’t just his martial prowess.
His ability to read a situation at a glance and analyze it, his wisdom in finding the best response, his execution that never hesitated once a decision was made, and his boldness and decisiveness in battle, where he never once looked back.
There was nothing lacking in any of it.
More than that, wasn’t he steering the wildly individualistic Mount Hua disciples with one hand as if gripping their reins?
Even if the others supporting Chung Myung were weaker than Baek Cheon and the rest, Mount Hua would still have more than enough to aim for the title of the greatest sect under heaven.
And with talents like that backing him, what did Chung Myung have to fear?
And on top of that, he even strips the Ice Palace down to its underwear.
As he thought about it, tears nearly welled up in Han Yi-myung’s eyes, and he quickly wiped at the corners of them before Seol So-baek could notice.
No.
It wasn’t as if they had taken nothing at all, was it?
Not only had they taken everything mined from the mines, they’d also taken all the Ice Crystals Seol Cheon-sang had secretly hoarded, and swept away every last treasure the Demonic Sect bastards had stashed away!
Sure, Seol Cheon-sang’s Ice Crystals had been used in some strange great ritual by the Demonic Sect, leaving less than a quarter of their essence behind, but even so, an Ice Crystal was still an Ice Crystal. Even that alone was worth far from nothing…
Too talented. Too talented.
That was the problem. They were too talented.
Seol So-baek smiled at Han Yi-myung, who seemed lost in thought.
“There’s no way making ties with Mount Hua will harm the Ice Palace.”
“……”
“Of course, we may struggle a little for now. But would forming a friendship with Mount Hua truly be a loss for the North Sea Ice Palace?”
Han Yi-myung could not answer right away.
He only looked at Seol So-baek with a strangely moved expression.
The Palace Lord has finally grown beyond my grasp.
He was no longer merely following Han Yi-myung’s opinion. He was thinking for himself, considering the direction the Ice Palace should take.
This meant Seol So-baek was becoming the true Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, and proof that he was leaving Han Yi-myung’s protection to stand alone as a man in his own right.
It was a little bittersweet that the shadow behind that growth belonged not to Han Yi-myung but to Chung Myung…
Still, it isn’t bad.
Chung Myung was by no means a bad person to place your trust in. In the eyes of others, he was enough to rot the mind and twist the guts, but if you thought of him as someone above you, there could be nothing more reassuring.
So he should think of it as a good change…
“Besides, this was proposed by Chung Myung Daoist Priest!”
“……Pardon?”
“If it’s something Chung Myung Daoist Priest is doing, how could it possibly go wrong? I trust Chung Myung Daoist Priest.”
“……”
No…
Something felt seriously wrong here.
Han Yi-myung let out a bewildered sigh. He couldn’t tell whether Seol So-baek had truly grown, or whether he had simply been dragged into Chung Myung’s orbit.
“Isn’t monopoly too much?”
“What is?”
“No… I mean, the North Sea…”
Jo Gul stared at Chung Myung as if he had nothing to say.
As a merchant, he knew perfectly well what a monopoly could bring.
They didn’t need to look far. Hadn’t Mount Hua made an absolute fortune after securing a trade monopoly over Yunnan?
And even that case was different. Mount Hua’s trade with Yunnan had been arranged on equal footing with the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, so the profits had been set at a fair level.
But if Chung Myung could now trade exclusively while holding the Ice Palace completely in his grip, it was impossible even to imagine just how much profit that would generate.
Of course, it wouldn’t bring in huge money immediately, but as the years passed, those profits would grow exponentially.
“Chief Officer Han is definitely not a stupid man. But would he really accept this?”
“You’re saying something strange, Senior Brother.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not that he wouldn’t accept it because he isn’t stupid. He’ll accept it precisely because he isn’t stupid.”
“……”
Chung Myung snorted and went on.
“Chief Officer Han… no, the Ice Palace can’t refuse this. And this isn’t a loss for the Ice Palace, either.”
“What are you talking about now?”
“The Ice Palace saw it with its own eyes. Just how terrifying the Demonic Sect is.”
“……”
“But there are still Demonic Sect bastards out there in the world. And if one branch caused trouble, that means the other branches can do the same whenever they want.”
“Th-That’s true.”
“But the Ice Palace doesn’t have the power to stop them.”
“Ah…”
Chung Myung shrugged.
“They used up too much strength in this war. And Seol So-baek, who just became Palace Lord, is too young.”
“That’s right.”
“It’ll take time for the Palace Lord to mature and for them to train new warriors until they’re back to their old strength. If anything happens in that time, the Ice Palace is finished. They won’t even get a chance to put up a fight.”
“……”
“So what I’m saying is…”
That was when Baek Cheon, who had been listening quietly to the conversation, finally spoke.
“The Ice Palace needs a roof over its head.”
“Exactly. See? Dong-ryong gets it. You understand me perfectly.”
Baek Cheon’s forehead bulged as if he were about to shout, but in the end he let out a long sigh and said,
“It isn’t wrong. A monopoly is a burden, but from the Ice Palace’s perspective, after losing so much of its strength, it would not be easy to face the Central Plains forces that would swarm in like jackals.”
“Well… that’s true too.”
Jo Gul nodded as if he finally understood.
Merchants were greedy. And any trading house that came all the way to the Ice Palace for commerce would naturally have at least one backing sect attached to it.
For the Ice Palace, which could no longer display the same authority it once had, dealing with the grandstanding of such people would be nothing but a headache.
“In order to buy time to recover the sect’s strength and allow the Palace Lord to grow, and above all to shield the Ice Palace from the claws of the Demonic Sect, which might flare up again at any time, they need a sect that can serve as a shield.”
“Exactly.”
Chung Myung nodded with a satisfied expression.
If it had been the old days, he would have had to explain every step one by one, but now, after only a few words, each of them could find the answer for themselves.
Their martial skills were not the only thing growing; their judgment was growing too.
“I understand all that, but I still feel weird about it.”
“Weird how?”
“Doesn’t that mean the Ice Palace sees Mount Hua as a sect capable of protecting them from the other sects in the Central Plains, and from the Demonic Sect?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Well…”
Baek Cheon laughed awkwardly.
Not long ago, Mount Hua had nearly shut its gates for good because of debt collectors breathing down its neck. For that Mount Hua to become a place the Ice Palace, one of the Four Outer Sacred Palaces, could rely on—it was both immensely satisfying and oddly awkward.
“I don’t know whether they’ll consider all this right away, but if they think about it over time, they’ll only be able to reach one conclusion.”
“Heh.”
At Chung Myung’s confident tone, Baek Cheon let out a hollow chuckle.
So that was why he wasn’t greedily chasing after wealth as usual—he’d been thinking bigger.
“That this benefits Mount Hua, right?”
“Of course.”
Chung Myung nodded.
“The North Sea Ice Palace may be going through hard times right now, but it’s still one of the Four Outer Sacred Palaces. It has history and hidden strength. If the Palace Lord just gets his act together a little, it’ll eventually recover its former standing.”
“Mm.”
“Then we get ourselves a strong friend.”
“……And make a little money off each other in the process.”
“We help each other out. Mutual benefit.”
Baek Cheon smiled faintly as he looked at Chung Myung.
Mutual benefit doesn’t sound quite right, somehow.
Well, in any case, that wasn’t important, so he let it go.
“But what I still don’t understand is…”
“What now?”
“If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean we’ll have to step in and beat back the other sects that’ll come rushing to pick the Ice Palace clean?”
“Yep.”
“But can we really do that right now? No matter how much Mount Hua has grown, dealing with the resentment of the other Nine Great Sects won’t be easy.”
“Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“You were starting to sound smart, and then you went and said something stupid again.”
“……”
“Why would we do that? There are people whose job it originally is to watch over the Ice Palace side and handle any trouble before it starts.”
“……”
“If they’ve had it this easy, then they should take responsibility for the aftermath themselves. Do they even have any conscience? Huh?!”
“……”
At those words, everyone turned their heads in unison toward one spot.
“C-Cough. Amitabha!”
And Hye Yeon’s face turned bright red.
Chung Myung snorted.
“Of course we’re making Shaolin’s abbot step in. If he doesn’t want every last hair on his beard ripped out. And the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace will help too. If the pressure comes from the Four Outer Sacred Palaces, there won’t be a problem.”
“Ah… right, the Beast Palace.”
Everyone nodded, thinking of Maeng So, the lord of the Beast Palace. Chung Myung added in a firm voice,
“More than anything else, once the Ice Palace joins the Heavenly Alliance, that’s the end of it. Mount Hua’s name alone may still not be enough to stand against the Nine Great Sects, but the Heavenly Alliance is a different story.”
“Indeed…”
At Chung Myung’s words, everyone’s faces brightened little by little.
“When the Heavenly Alliance is founded, we can just declare that the Ice Palace will participate as well. Then it’ll be hard for anyone to make trouble over trade flowing within the same alliance.”
“Good idea.”
Baek Cheon, having understood Chung Myung’s entire scheme, spoke up.
“In other words, you’re planning to shove all responsibility onto Shaolin and the Heavenly Alliance, while Mount Hua quietly pockets the profits. And monopolize all the Ice Crystals and cold iron that Mount Hua needs most?”
“……”
“Truly, our junior Chung Myung. Even the devil would weep and walk away.”
“At this point, we should seriously start asking who’s worse—the Demonic Sect or him.”
“I vote Chung Myung.”
“Then I’ll vote for Senior Brother too, with Sago!”
“……”
Baek Cheon shook his head.
What an absurd bastard. Still.
What had started from a few light remarks by the Beast Palace Lord had grown and grown until even the Ice Palace had ended up tying its fate to Mount Hua. He didn’t know where exactly that bastard’s plan had begun, but the result alone was worthy of nothing but praise.
“So, I suppose the big cleanup is mostly finished now?”
“Only the Ice Palace’s choice is left. Whatever the outcome, you can say things are settled now. What remains is just the clean-up.”
Chung Myung spoke lightly and tapped the chin of Baek Ah, who was perched on his shoulder.
“……That was hell.”
“I’m not even going to look north again.”
“……Don’t talk so cheerfully like it’s all over, Senior Brothers. We still have to go all the way back to Mount Hua.”
Dang Soso complained, but the others only laughed.
“We should head back now.”
“Yes, Sasuk.”
Mount Hua.
Back to the home they had already begun to miss.