Chapter 185. Surrounded on All Sides (5)
As he connected one thought after another related to Hanbin, the edge of enlightenment flickered tantalizingly before Se Jaeo's eyes once more.
Se Jaeo sank deeper into contemplation.
What would a typical righteous faction martial artist have done?
If they had caught wind of the enemy's plan to harm the common folk, they would have pulled out all the stops to thwart it.
But the outcome was obvious.
You couldn't catch every single one of those hundred petty thieves.
The enemy would flee and start trouble elsewhere.
In a way, it was like pissing in the wind.
Even with some sacrifices, no righteous martial artist could entertain the idea of wiping out a hundred thieves.
As his thoughts continued, a question arose in Se Jaeo's mind.
The Beggar Clan as the spear, Heuksa Gate as the shield.
Se Jaeo couldn't understand why Heuksa Gate was called the shield.
The edge of enlightenment hovered just out of reach again.
At that moment, Hong Chilgae patted Se Jaeo's shoulder.
"What's got you so worried?"
"Ah, Master Mujaeja!"
Today, of all days, Se Jaeo found Hong Chilgae more irritating than Hanbin.
But that lasted only a moment. Se Jaeo muttered under his breath.
"A shield..."
"A shield?"
Hong Chilgae tilted his head, and Se Jaeo asked,
"Is Heuksa Gate really a shield?"
"Oh, Heuksa Gate? I don't know why they're called that either."
"Even you don't know everything, Elder?"
"Ahem."
Hong Chilgae cleared his throat awkwardly and hurried ahead. Se Jaeo quickly followed.
"Let's go together, Elder."
Se Jaeo unleashed his lightness skill, kicking up dust around them.
Their question was answered a few days later.
A few days later.
A strange affliction struck the Heuksa Gate thugs gathered outside the inn's fence.
Their faces turned not just blue, but pitch black, and blisters began swelling on exposed skin here and there.
The sight was so grotesque they couldn't even stomach their food upon looking at each other.
Seol Muik finished his meal and called for Jang Daechan.
"Take my bowl."
"Do your own chores now. Why make others do it?"
"You bastard, you trying to die...?"
"Go ahead and kill me. We're both dying anyway, aren't we, Young Lord?"
Jang Daechan bared his neck, veins bulging.
Seol Muik instinctively stepped back.
Then he peered into a water bucket.
Blisters riddled his face.
Skin turned black.
It all screamed anything but an ordinary illness.
His condition was worse than the villagers supposedly struck by plague.
And sure enough—no one approached the inn, whether because of them or not.
Even now, a few martial artists hesitated from afar.
They were righteous faction members who divided up Jangun-hyeon's commerce.
They had come for a reason.
Rumors spread that only those from Hebei Paeng Family and the merchants under their watch remained unscathed.
They were convinced a cure-all plague remedy existed here.
But seeing the wheezing Heuksa Gate crew sapped their courage to enter.
Seol Muik watched the warriors retreat hesitantly from afar. Only then did he grasp why Hanbin had called them a shield.
You could dodge poison, but there was no countering a freak disease like this.
Could even Sacheon Dang Family handle it?
Could Baekdokmun in Baekdok Valley stop a plague?
To murim folk, plague was more terrifying than poison.
"If I survive this..."
Seol Muik trailed off. His throat suddenly itched.
Scratch.
A blister on his neck burst.
Pop.
Pus trickled down his nape.
Drip, drip.
The righteous warriors watching from afar paled in horror and fled in droves.
Even a Hwagyeong master might struggle to pass through now.
Seol Muik froze, staring blankly at the fleeing crowd.
His subordinates followed suit, gazing vacantly at the sky.
Jang Daechan saw it as divine punishment.
Stealing others' hard work overnight, ruining lives wholesale—hadn't they done it countless times?
He'd followed Seol Muik blindly, thinking it the way of the unorthodox.
But now, shunned not out of fear but disgust, like filth, Jang Daechan truly repented.
Though his desire to survive hadn't changed.
He shook his head.
He'd refused earlier, but seeing Seol Muik lost in a daze, he worried he'd skip dinner too.
Jang Daechan took the remaining bowls to Sim Miho at the fence.
She asked kindly,
"Did you eat well?"
"Yes, very well."
Turning away, Jang Daechan's eyes welled up unbidden.
She was like Kwan Yin herself here.
While everyone shunned them, only she continued serving food without fear.
Without Aekhyeolmaengho-dae deputy leader Sim Miho, he and the Heuksa Gate crew would have starved to death already.
Handing over the bowls, Jang Daechan hurried back.
His body suddenly itched fiercely.
Scratching his back, he saw flesh under his nails.
"Gasp!"
Screaming, he leaped up.
Something caught his eye—a green robe, like leaves in his vision.
But it vanished smoothly before him.
"What? My eyes too...?"
Jang Daechan assumed it was some eye affliction.
His odd behavior drew the Heuksa Gate crowd.
"What's wrong? Your eyes going too?"
They pressed him—his symptoms always hit them next.
Jang Daechan waved them off.
"A green robe appeared and vanished, but it's fine now."
"Phew..."
His comrades sighed in relief and checked his line of sight.
From the inn's upper floor, Hanbin watched the Heuksa Gate thugs' gaze with arms crossed.
"That guy spots the Pal Seon too...?"
Hanbin trailed off uncertainly.
He couldn't be sure.
Seol-hwa beside him asked,
"Worried about something, Young Master?"
"Nah, it's going to plan so far. Tsk."
Finishing, Hanbin smacked his lips.
Seol-hwa looked concerned.
"Planning more trouble? Last time was rough for me too. That lady was so heavy..."
Glancing at Hanbin, she vented.
The day they moved Baek Seon out of the village, Seol-hwa had melted like mochi in hot soup.
And Hanbin had bought a mountain of tanghwa candy that day.
Hanbin cut her off quickly.
"Don't worry. Won't be tough this time, Seol-hwa."
"If it is, double the tanghwa, Young Master."
"Double it is."
Turning to the window, a sly grin spread across Hanbin's face.
A multifaceted smile.
First, the enemy was in sight.
Second, Se Jaeo approached the inn.
"He's back, as expected."
Seol-hwa peered out too.
Seeing Se Jaeo with Hong Chilgae, she chuckled.
"Aw, the Volcanic guy has some loyalty, huh?"
"Yeah, loyalty..."
Hanbin trailed off.
Seol-hwa tilted her head at the approaching Se Jaeo.
"But he looks haggard. Hasn't even been days since he left."
"Runaways don't come home right away. That's family for you, Seol-hwa."
"Family?"
Seol-hwa craned her neck skeptically at the shambling Se Jaeo.
"Looks like he rolled in the dirt somewhere."
"No way."
Hanbin waved it off.
But he knew the truth. Seol-hwa's eyes were sharp.
Hong Chilgae must have run him ragged with errands.
For attempting to bolt, anyway.
Hanbin gazed out contentedly.
The next morning.
On a distant pavilion roof where Aekhyeolmaengho-dae lodged, a white-haired elder in a fluttering green robe watched the inn.
He stroked his white beard, head tilted.
One oddity stood out: his hand stroking the beard.
Bare skin, yet black as shifted darkness.
Touch it, and light seemed absorbed into void.
A shadow appeared beside the green-robed elder.
"The bait's set, Master."
"Perfectly?"
"Yes, except those tied to Hebei Paeng Family. Perfect, Master."
"Perfect..."
The white-haired elder was Cheon Dok, Pal Seon's poison master dubbed Heavenly Poison.
Cheon Dok eyed his subordinate skeptically.
A gaunt woman stood there, like clothes on a millet stalk.
Black uniform, green sash.
Her name: Cheong Yeon.
Taken in by Cheon Dok as a child, now his right hand.
She looked twenty-eight, but was truly eighteen.
Her clenched fist was blue.
That blue hand meant immunity to a hundred poisons—and wielding them freely.
Her aged look stemmed from poison arts.
Sensing Cheon Dok's unease, Cheong Yeon spoke.
"Did I err, Master?"
Cautiously, she asked. Cheon Dok hardened his expression.
"No plan is perfect excluding variables. Variables make it imperfect, Cheong Yeon."
"How to perfect it, Master?"
"Eliminate variables, then harvest. The proper way."
"Then I'll remove the meddlesome variable—myself first, Master."
Finishing, Cheong Yeon eyed the inn.
Her blue hand deepened.
From faint blue to deep azure.
She channeled poison qi to signal resolve.
Cheon Dok nodded approvingly, then murmured low.
"Hold. Plan first. They're no pushovers."
"What? In stealth, who rivals our Black Water Squad? Just say the word—I'll clear that inn spotless, Master."
"Cheong Yeon, look closely."
Cheon Dok pointed at the inn. Cheong Yeon tilted her head.
"I'm looking, Master. That's the target, right?"
She scanned relentlessly.
Nothing amiss to her.
As her eyes darted, Cheon Dok said,
"Not there—the fence below."
He pointed not at the inn, but the fence.
"Below...?"
Boosting her inner power for sight, Cheong Yeon trailed off.
A horrific scene unfolded near the inn's front fence.
What is that?