Tavern Uproar (2)
What famous sects were there in Shanxi?
In this region, there were the towering sects and clans worthy of the orthodox martial world’s attention, though none belonged to the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Clans. Still, a few influential powers held sway within Shanxi itself.
Among the orthodox forces, the most prominent were probably Mount Heng Sect, which had once been counted among the Nine Great Sects and was highly esteemed as one of the Five Great Sword Sects, and the Gongsun Clan, which had produced exceptional strategists and martial artists in the past.
As for the unorthodox side, the Blue-robed Sect and the Blood Ghost Sect were the names that carried weight.
The Blue-robed Sect was, as the name suggested, made up of outstanding martial artists who wore blue robes and operated somewhere between orthodoxy and heresy, while the Blood Ghost Sect was a far more sinister lot, firmly leaning toward the unorthodox path.
By a strange coincidence, the sect responsible for managing the territory around Shanxi Tavern, where Seok Geum-ryong and his group were staying, belonged to the rather aggressive Blood Ghost Sect.
“Welcome, Young Master Gun Gyeong-mun of the Blood Ghost Scholar.”
For example, the Blood Ghost Scholar Gun Gyeong-mun, the eldest young master of the Blood Ghost Sect and a rising talent among the younger generation of the unorthodox world after reaching first-class level at a young age, was making an inspection tour of the Shanxi Tavern area.
“Yes. Has anything happened?”
Having received a respectful greeting from the tavern owner, Gun Gyeong-mun casually enjoyed the admiring looks from those around him and acted with shameless grandeur.
“Thanks to you, everything has been peaceful.”
“Good. That is how it should be. My Blood Ghost Sect rules the western reaches of Shanxi, so who would dare invade our territory?”
“You speak truly. Thanks to that, we’ve maintained good relations with the Shanxi magistrate’s office.”
The tavern owner bowed repeatedly, expressing his gratitude.
The reason the Blood Ghost Sect had grown unusually large for an unorthodox faction was that it maintained an extremely friendly relationship with the local authorities in Shanxi.
“I see. Trust only in me and in our Blood Ghost Sect, and stay at ease.”
Gun Gyeong-mun laughed heartily, then, just in case, searched the area around Shanxi Tavern.
Recently, word had spread that the Blue-robed Sect, a small and elite force, was expanding its territory and might even be planning to seize Shanxi Tavern first.
That was when it happened.
“Huff! Haaah!”
Blood Ghost Scholar Gun Gyeong-mun, who was combing through the Shanxi Tavern area, sucked in a sharp breath and fussed noisily.
As the young master of the Blood Ghost Sect, Gun Gyeong-mun had two things he was completely obsessed with, and one of them was women, in other words, he was a lecherous man.
No way! I never imagined there would be such a stunning woman in this area!
Gun Gyeong-mun could not regain his wits at the sight of the peerless beauty standing near the entrance of Shanxi Tavern, so breathtakingly lovely it was enough to make one’s eyes fly wide open.
She had skin so clear one could almost see the fine veins beneath it, and she stood there expressionlessly, a woman beautiful as snow itself.
“Hahaha! Young miss! May I ask your noble name?”
Acting exactly as one would expect from a lustful fool, Gun Gyeong-mun approached the beautiful woman.
Coincidentally, she was Im So-gun, one of the Four Honored Guests of Seokga Manor and the one who would later become a world-class female grandmaster for certain.
Swish.
Her nature was reclusive to begin with, and she particularly disliked speaking with men. Under normal circumstances, she would have drawn her sword without even looking back at the lecherous Gun Gyeong-mun.
But not today. She had been given the vital task of guarding the Blood Horse.
Especially for the sake of Young Master Seok Geum-ryong!
Just as that thought crossed her mind and she loosened her grip on the sword, deciding to resolve things peacefully through conversation, Gun Gyeong-mun, who had been staring madly at Im So-gun, suddenly did not look at her at all but at the other side of her, and nearly lost his mind.
Earlier, it had been said that Blood Ghost Scholar Gun Gyeong-mun was a complete lunatic in two fields. The first was women, and the second was...
“To think the legendary Blood Horse, the kind one can only hope to see once in a lifetime, is gathered here in such numbers!”
Horses.
Gun Gyeong-mun was so obsessed with horses that people had gone so far as to call him the Mad Horse Scholar.
At first, he had simply liked horse racing, but as he fell deeply into it, his attention naturally shifted to horses themselves.
To a man like Gun Gyeong-mun, a Blood Horse was a mythical beast that existed only in legend, a dream breed he had always wanted to ride and drive for himself at least once.
Yet now there were not one but dozens of them, so Im So-gun barely registered in his eyes anymore.
“This is truly driving me mad. Are these Blood Horses yours, young miss?”
With the two things he loved most standing right in front of him and calling to him as if possessed, Gun Gyeong-mun could not keep still.
“No, they’re not mine...”
Im So-gun was flustered by his sudden and bizarre behavior, first showing interest in her and then going half-mad at the sight of the Blood Horses. She turned to look at the one leading the escort, the Scholar in Blue, Gong Sang-pil.
She looked to Gong Sang-pil, unsure of how to handle the situation, but Gun Gyeong-mun misunderstood her meaning entirely.
“Ah, I see!”
In Gun Gyeong-mun’s eyes, the owner of the horses had to be Gong Sang-pil, who wore blue robes and looked somewhat noble and highborn.
That made sense, since Gong Sang-pil looked like a young man from a wealthy household, while Im So-gun seemed like his younger sister or young wife.
On top of that, Jang Sam, dressed like a servant, and Wol-papa, who looked like an old maid attending them, stood among the group as well, so anyone would have taken them for a wealthy family party at a glance.
“So you’re the owner of these Blood Horses, I see.”
“That’s not it...”
“If you don’t mind, may I stroke one?”
“Well, now...”
“I’d even like to feed them some grain myself.”
Gong Sang-pil felt cornered, staring at Gun Gyeong-mun, who spoke only his own words without the slightest intention of listening to anyone else.
More than anything, Gun Gyeong-mun’s sincerity about loving horses made refusal awkward. It was not as though he was demanding to ride the Blood Horse; he only wanted to stroke it and give it some feed.
“Well, if it’s only for a moment...”
And so Gong Sang-pil, in a muddled sort of way, ended up giving his permission. Gun Gyeong-mun was, after all, the type of scoundrel who operated in this area with no regard for anyone’s consent, a complete tyrant by nature, so he delightedly petted the Blood Horse as though he had gone mad.
“Good, very good.”
The way he looked as satisfied as if he were grasping a lovely woman’s wrist made Im So-gun, as well as Jang Sam and Gong Sang-pil, think the young martial artist before them had entirely lost his mind.
Still, since he had done no harm yet, they could only hope he would be satisfied at this level and back off.
But if Gun Gyeong-mun did not make trouble here, then he would not be the Blood Ghost Sect’s young master, nor would he be Blood Ghost Scholar Gun Gyeong-mun.
“I’d like to ride one.”
“What? No, that’s impossible. These horses aren’t mine, they...”
The thing they had feared most still happened. Gong Sang-pil rejected him flatly, but...
“Impossible? What do you mean, impossible! Do you know who I am?!”
Gun Gyeong-mun, exhilarated by the Blood Horses, finally revealed the wicked nature he had been hiding beneath his excitement.
The moment he was refused, he puffed up with outrage as though his pride had been wounded, and before long he had drawn his sword.
Clang!
What was more, the martial artists behind Gun Gyeong-mun also drew their swords in twos and threes, aiming their blades at the throats of Jang Sam, Wol-papa, and the others who looked ordinary and weak at first glance.
“Shut up and stay still. There are so many Blood Horses here. What harm would there be in me taking a few?”
Gun Gyeong-mun, known even as the Mad Horse Scholar, grew more and more violent, more and more crazed by horses.
At first he had been satisfied just petting them, but now it was obvious he intended to take a few away.
“What kind of nonsense is this!”
He had only acted kindly because he thought Gun Gyeong-mun was merely a slightly excitable young man who loved horses, but now that the man had turned into a horse thief in an instant, Gong Sang-pil could no longer suppress his anger and raised his voice.
Just then, as Im So-gun, a superb transcendent swordswoman, was about to draw her sword...
“What’s going on?”
Seok Geum-ryong and his group, who had just been eating, appeared.
From the start, their mission had been to guard the Blood Horses, so they had agreed that if anything happened, they would stop everything and rush to the stable where the horses were kept.
“Young master!”
“Ah, well, this young master here tried to steal our Blood Horses, that’s what happened!”
At last, with Seok Geum-ryong appearing, Gong Sang-pil spoke in an apologetic tone, clearly distressed at having caused such a troublesome uproar.
“What? This brat was the owner of the Blood Horses?”
Gun Gyeong-mun had thought Gong Sang-pil was the owner, so when Seok Geum-ryong appeared, looking even younger, he did not get nervous at all. He merely snorted.
Then, as though something occurred to him, he fell silent for a moment and...
“Owner!”
He called out to the owner of Shanxi Tavern, who had gathered with the others to watch the commotion.
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Go to the magistrate’s office at once and bring the imperial guards here.”
Smirk.
Gun Gyeong-mun smiled wickedly as he said it.
His plan was simple. Since the other side looked wealthy, had quite a few people, and was being watched by many eyes, it would be too conspicuous to seize the Blood Horses by force as things stood.
So he decided to use the government to extort them “officially.”
He figured that if the imperial guards stepped in to settle things, the others would be unable to resist because of the mutual noninterference pact between the martial world and the state.
“What? Yes, of course. I understand.”
The owner of Shanxi Tavern was reluctant, but he too belonged to the weak side of the equation.
In the end, he had no choice but to fetch the imperial guards from the Shanxi magistrate’s office.
“Excuse me, just a moment.”
As soon as the imperial guards arrived, Gun Gyeong-mun called over their leader and spoke with him quietly.
That conversation was clearly about how he would give him a few Blood Horses if he would lend his strength to the matter.
“Heh heh heh, very well.”
In the end, the captain of the imperial guards nodded too, his eyes fixed on the fine color of the Blood Horses.
Because of that, they forgot to ask who the true owner of these precious horses actually was.
They had no idea what enormous consequences that lapse would bring.
“I hear that you people stole the beloved horse of Young Master Gun Gyeong-mun, the Blood Ghost Scholar, who is a prominent figure in Shanxi and the young master of the great Blood Ghost Sect, which does its part for public order in this province.”
“What?”
At the imperial guard’s absurd words, Gong Sang-pil was so dumbfounded that he wondered if he had misheard.
He had heard that in these outer regions, the government sometimes colluded with others and became corrupt, but this was exactly that sort of situation.
“Now, now, let’s settle this amicably. I’m not saying you have to hand over everything, so return just a few of them to Young Master Gun Gyeong-mun.”
As though he were being generous, the captain of the guards even proposed a solution, claiming that good enough was good enough.
A couple of those “few” would plainly end up in the captain’s own pocket, and the rank-and-file soldiers would surely take silver from the Blood Ghost Sect and drink themselves into a feast.
“If you refuse this solution, then we will naturally have no choice but to help protect Young Master Gun Gyeong-mun’s private property. It looks like you’re from a martial clan, but surely you know the mutual noninterference pact between the government and the martial world, do you not?”
The captain of the guards was openly looking down on them now that Seok Geum-ryong, Gong Sang-pil, and even Im So-gun all looked young.
He was even trying to pressure them by invoking the very mutual noninterference pact that martial artists found most troublesome.
There’s no helping it.
In the end, Seok Geum-ryong would have to step in.
Ordinary martial artists might have hesitated somewhat because of that pact between government and martial world, but not him. Not in the slightest.
Rustle.
As if he had been waiting for this, Seok Geum-ryong produced something from within his robes.
It was none other than the appointment certificate he had carried on the chance he might need it, naming him as a Judge, a seventh-rank government official.
Moreover, the office of judge carried the authority to investigate corruption and crimes committed by officials below the seventh rank, and even to issue summary punishment in place of the governor of Hebei, the official who had appointed him.
“I am Seok Geum-ryong, a seventh-rank judge appointed personally by the Governor of Hebei.”
At last, Seok Geum-ryong revealed his identity along with the judge’s appointment certificate, and both the captain of the imperial guards and Gun Gyeong-mun of the Blood Ghost Sect went pale and shut their mouths in shock.