Repaying an Old Debt (4)
As anyone who knew horses well understood, they were extraordinarily delicate creatures, keenly sensitive to everything around them.
Because of that, no matter how long Seok Geum-ryong and his party waited on the plain of Gaewon, not a single wild horse appeared, not even one of the legendary Blood-Sweat Horses.
By contrast.
“Bwahahaha!”
“We’ve caught another one!”
From far away, toward Gangpyeong, laughter kept ringing out without a pause.
Judging from the faint sounds that reached them, it seemed Seok Ho-in and his people were busily rounding up wild horses by the dozens.
“Young Master, shouldn’t we head over there now?”
“At this rate, they’ll take everything.”
It was no wonder the Golden Needle Venerable, Yeo Gwang-rae, and the Moon Spirit Sword Lady, Im So-gun, were growing anxious enough to feel the fire at their heels.
Compared to them, Seok Geum-ryong and the servant Jang Sam remained utterly unshaken.
“The more unruly the wild horse, the more often it shows itself and the wilder it runs. By contrast, a natural fine steed or a true blooded warhorse carries itself differently from the start.”
Jang Sam had learned his trade under a stable master since childhood, so if anyone knew this truth, it was him.
Then, as the sun began to sink toward the horizon...
Hissssss...
On the far side of the plain, something swift at last revealed itself, flashing a reddish hue as it finally made its presence known.
At the sight, Seok Geum-ryong rose to his feet and forgot even his own dignity as he rejoiced.
At last. At last it’s here!
Blood-Sweat Horses.
They were named for the way they seemed to sweat blood, though in truth they did not bleed at all; their coats were simply so darkly red that they had earned the name.
Black and red like blood, the Blood-Sweat Horses appeared in a single herd, and there were more than fifty of them.
Seok Geum-ryong was astonished all over again.
What? There were fifty, not thirty? Seok Ho-in, that bastard. He bragged that he’d caught them all, but he was lying?
Surprisingly, reality differed from the tale.
Usually stories were the ones that exaggerated, but in this case reality was more exaggerated than any story.
There were more than fifty wild Blood-Sweat Horses, the kind people said were nearly impossible to see even once.
From this point on, it became a matter of speed, and above all, they could not be seen by the enemy, especially Seok Ho-in’s party.
If they were discovered, it was obvious even fools like Seok Ho-in’s men would rush to seize them.
At Shadowless One Shin Dan-woo’s telepathic message, Seok Geum-ryong and Jang Sam produced the equipment they had prepared in advance.
Rustle, rustle.
The two of them pulled out something transparent, rolled up tight, and to everyone’s shock it was a fishing net, a very large one at that.
“......!!”
Seeing what was meant for catching fish, the others stared in confusion and blurted out their surprise.
Their faces seemed to ask why on earth they were using a fishing net out here, where there was neither sea nor boat in sight.
Then Jang Sam explained.
“The value of a Blood-Sweat Horse lies in how fast it can run. That means its legs absolutely cannot be damaged. If you want to capture them alive without killing them, there’s nothing better than a net like this.”
He was right.
Seok Geum-ryong’s plan was to pair the fleet-footed Shin Dan-woo with himself and drive the Blood-Sweat Horses toward them, while Yeo Gwang-rae and Im So-gun, both exceptional masters, would pour their internal energy into the net and cast it out.
After that, all five of them, including the servant Jang Sam, would capture the horses and attach the reins one by one.
If any of them refused to obey, they would also use internal energy to crush their spirit and subdue them.
Everyone understands the plan, yes?
They had not traveled all the way from Hebei to Liaoning idly.
Seok Geum-ryong had practiced this kind of pincer maneuver with his companions many times.
Nods.
Everyone nodded, and it was Jang Sam’s job to keep watch on the horses’ movements and explain their behavior.
Though there were few of them, each could have been counted as a warrior worth a hundred men.
Then... we begin.
At last, the operation that would decide the fate of Seok Geum-ryong’s faction and the manor itself began.
Seok Dan-woo and Seok Geum-ryong’s gazes met in the air.
And then.
Shadowless Movement Technique!
Without waiting for one another, they both unleashed the Shadowless Movement Technique and dashed toward the herd of Blood-Sweat Horses.
Whoosh!
Even without raising their voices, it was enough to excite and drive the herd into a frenzy.
In particular, since Shin Dan-woo and Seok Geum-ryong had mastered the Shadowless Movement Technique, one of the finest light-footed movement arts in the Jianghu, their endurance fell short but their burst speed was nearly on par with the Blood-Sweat Horses themselves.
“Hee-eeeeeigh!”
“Kruruk!”
From the horses’ perspective, they had been going about their peaceful lives when, out of nowhere, humans nearly matching their speed suddenly appeared and began threatening them. They could hardly help but panic.
As a result, they let out wild cries and broke into a mass retreat.
Clatter, clatter!
They thundered over the Gaewon plains in a mad flight.
The sight of more than fifty dark-red Blood-Sweat Horses running as one was a spectacle to behold.
As though they had trained specifically for this day, Shin Dan-woo’s lightness skill and Seok Geum-ryong’s own footwork both shone brilliantly.
Their movement arts were so extraordinary that even Im So-gun’s eyes, fixed on Seok Geum-ryong, gleamed with a new light.
They’re coming, Lady Yeo.
Let’s move.
By the time the Blood-Sweat Horses reached the place where Yeo Gwang-rae and Im So-gun were waiting as a pair, the two masters, whose martial cultivation stood at the Zenith and Super Peak realms, poured their internal energy into the net.
Rustle...
To everyone’s astonishment, the net, despite being nothing more than an ordinary fishing net, took on a translucent sheen and sharpened as if it were a legendary net woven from heavenly silkworm thread.
Not that it became sharp enough to slice the targets apart like true heavenly silkworm silk; rather, it was strengthened, made tougher and more resilient.
Now!
Cast it!
At the exact right moment, the beauty and the old man hurled the net as if they had been waiting for this moment all along.
Their timing was so precise and forceful that it seemed as though starlight itself was streaming over the Blood-Sweat Horses galloping across the wilderness.
Swish-rattle-rattle!
But whatever romance there might have been in that description, reality was merciless.
The massive net, infused with the internal energy of those two exceptional masters, swept over the herd as though it had been waiting for this very moment and brought their hooves and forward motion to a halt.
“Kruk! Krururuk!”
“Kihiiiing!”
The herd cried out miserably in the process, but they were already caught and had no hope of escaping.
And on top of that...
Whoosh...
The moment the net stopped the horses, the next phase of the plan began. They all released killing intent at once, freezing the Blood-Sweat Horses in place.
Though they were few, each of them was a master at the level of a Super First-class expert or above, so subduing a handful of beasts was hardly difficult.
“Done, done!”
“Now that’s what you call catching them all in one net!”
From Shin Dan-woo, who had driven the horses, to Im So-gun, who had thrown the net, everyone rejoiced and felt a surge of exhilaration.
At the same time, they were deeply impressed by Seok Geum-ryong’s insight and strategy.
Young, yet already born with the makings of a ruler.
He truly is no ordinary man.
Im So-gun, who had only recently joined Seok Geum-ryong’s faction, was especially moved.
At just twelve years old, he was already displaying such extraordinary ability. What would he become once he reached his prime?
He was a talent more promising tomorrow than today, more dazzling in the future than in the present.
“All right, here are the reins. If any of them won’t listen, feel free to discipline or tame them lightly!”
Seok Geum-ryong’s group had successfully captured more than fifty Blood-Sweat Horses without losing a single one.
Jang Sam threaded his way through the horses stiffened by the net and the killing intent, fitting reins onto them with practiced hands.
In the process, he got a close look at the Blood-Sweat Horses, and heavens above...
“Goodness... I’ve seen quite a number of fine horses since I was a child, but I’ve never seen anything as remarkable as these.”
Jang Sam had worked under stable masters for a long time, so he knew and loved horses better than most, and these Blood-Sweat Horses were unquestionably the most valuable of them all.
Their worth was not merely as livestock.
“The men from Akmadang would come crawling over themselves to breed these.”
They also carried the value of spreading their bloodline.
They were worth whatever price one named, and then some.
There are even more than the thirty-odd horses Seok Ho-in caught in my previous life!
Seok Geum-ryong was extremely satisfied with this insane result and smiled broadly.
There were twenty more than he had expected, which meant that even after dividing them among the imperial family, the governor of Hebei, and other high officials, there would still be plenty left over.
Even with knowledge from my past life... I’ve outdone Seok Ho-in’s achievement.
That was why Seok Geum-ryong was so genuinely pleased.
The reason Seok Ho-in had managed to gain some fame despite having a weaker standing as a merchant than his elder brothers was simple.
He had secured these Blood-Sweat Horses and thereby enabled Seokga Manor to wield influence in the horse market.
It was not just that he had created value; he had acquired an item that Seokga Manor did not possess, and the manor lord had been overjoyed.
“Puhuhup.”
At the thought, Seok Geum-ryong let out an involuntary chuckle.
Originally, these Blood-Sweat Horses should have become Seok Ho-in’s achievement, around thirty of them at least.
But Seok Geum-ryong had stolen that merit away from him.
What made it even more amusing was that while Seok Geum-ryong was busy reaping a windfall from these Blood-Sweat Horses, Seok Ho-in was still laboring away at catching perfectly ordinary wild horses.
Seok Ho-in, I won’t apologize.
The crimes Seok Ho-in had committed against Seok Geum-ryong were simply too clear to feel sorry for him.
“Now, let’s return.”
Seok Geum-ryong carefully secured the fifty-odd Blood-Sweat Horses and began moving toward the place they had prepared in advance.
There was no need to stay any longer. They had already seized the finest prize of all without losing a single horse, so there was no reason to linger.
Flash, flash, flash!
And so Seok Geum-ryong’s party withdrew from Liaoning before Seok Ho-in’s group even noticed.
In fact, because the time spent seizing the horses had been so brief, they had only needed half a day in total to capture the Blood-Sweat Horses.
Even if one were generous, it was a single day’s concentration that had produced such an astonishing result.
By contrast, Seok Ho-in’s group was different.
“All right, everyone, let’s keep it up! Let’s fill the quota with exactly one hundred wild horses!”
When Seok Ho-in noticed that Seok Geum-ryong was nowhere in sight, he relaxed and urged his men on.
Seok Geum-ryong, you idiot. There’s no better place than this to catch wild horses.
In truth, that information had come from the Namgung Sect, Seok Ho-in’s maternal family.
The ruling power in Liaoning had originally been the Murong Clan, and since they were very close with the Namgung Sect, rumors had spread that Liaoning was overflowing with high-quality wild horses.
As soon as he heard that, he had intended to raise the matter at a clan meeting and insist that they head for the horse market, but Seok Geum-ryong had beaten him to the punch.
Although the opinion had been stolen from him at the clan meeting, Seok Ho-in still believed that he would be the final winner.
“Hah, in the end, I’ll be the victor! Hahaha!”
Unaware that Seok Geum-ryong had chased after him and stolen the Blood-Sweat Horses out from under his nose, he laughed brightly.
In the end, he did fill his quota with one hundred wild horses, but none of them was worth even a single Blood-Sweat Horse, so the merit that should have been his was quietly taken away in full.