Chapter 128. Is All This Just a Coincidence?
Won Seung pulled out a single nyang of silver. His stomach churned bitterly. Buying the house and furniture had cost a fortune. With his assets dwindling so rapidly, even one nyang felt precious.
Lee Gwan pocketed the silver and said,
"Even if we hold a rite, the ghost won't find its way properly."
"Pardon?"
"You used the name Bang Kyung-pyo, but it's been revealed as a false identity. He claimed to be from Bangga Village near Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, but our investigation after the incident turned up no such person."
'And yet he took my money anyway?'
Won Seung glared. Lee Gwan's expression turned serious.
"I was planning to come find you anyway. You said you're from Joryeon in Sichuan Province, right? Is your identity solid?"
"You'd know if you investigated, wouldn't you?"
"We already sent an official document to Joryeon. Lately, impostors flooding into the imperial capital have spiked, so the Ministry of Personnel is conducting a massive crackdown. The county magistrate was in a real bind over the Bang Kyung-pyo case."
Won Seung paled. They were digging into his background?
"Shall I show you my identity plaque?"
"Anyone can forge one of those. Forgery techniques have gotten so advanced these days... Plus, we've received reports that you're suspicious."
"Reports? What have I even done...?"
"A young man buying a house with big money, holing up alone without working—people are bound to find that odd. And you still haven't submitted your relocation permit."
This was why martial artists wandered the rivers and lakes as vagrants.
Won Seung realized that passing as an ordinary person was no easy feat.
Sangyang had been laid-back, but Huangdo was on another level entirely.
"I'll send it over soon."
Won Seung subtly placed another nyang of silver on the table. Where was he supposed to get a Sichuan relocation permit? They hadn't taught that at the assassin training camp.
Gi Jangno surveyed the ruined assassin training camp with an impassive expression. Two months after the incident, he'd finally taken the antidote pills and entered the site. His subordinates were combing through the charred wooden barracks.
Investigations through branch offices nationwide had revealed no righteous sects had raided the camp. They'd even scouted the surroundings—no traces of martial artists passing through.
They'd concluded they needed to examine the scene firsthand, manufacturing antidote pills in bulk at great expense to enter the camp.
Gi Jangno's face remained stoic, but his mood was foul. When Bi Jangno died, he'd volunteered to take over the camp. He'd planned a thorough purge to uproot Bi Jangno's faction, but the sudden disaster had derailed that, leaving him saddled only with investigating the truth.
"Bones here."
A subordinate searching the cafeteria shouted. Moments later, as Gi Jangno examined the recovered remains, he furrowed his brow. The hand bones showed signs of fist training. The build matched Sa Gyo-du perfectly. A couple of ribs near the heart were shattered.
'One strike straight to the heart.'
Sa Gyo-du was a Peak Expert. Who in these mountains could kill him with a single sword thrust? A sharp glint flashed in Gi Jangno's eyes as he inspected the bones.
The bones around the nose were pale green.
'Poisoned?'
Then a shout rose from below.
"Bodies buried here. Not just one or two."
Winter had exposed the burial sites where the children had hidden the corpses. The soil differed from the surroundings, and the search team had dug them up.
The bodies were slightly decomposed, but their clothes were intact. With winter setting in right after, the forms were still recognizable.
"Twelve instructor bodies, three other warriors."
The subordinate, grimacing from digging frozen ground, reported curtly.
Gi Jangno swallowed hard. A possibility he'd dismissed was becoming reality. He examined the bodies. The chief instructor's cause of death caught his eye—a sword had pierced the throat's Tianzhu acupoint precisely.
'Could it really be that guy?'
Gi Jangno recalled sparring with trainee No. 50. The way he'd parried his sword and aimed for the throat. He'd been repelled by raw power, but that exchange had been chilling.
'He was said to be Dokgoe's poison successor, right?'
Everything burned, yet Dok Sabu's barracks stood intact. Only someone who could dismantle the poison formation and seal the toxin in the mountain basin...
That guy was the only one.
The picture was clear. The children had rebelled, killing Sa Gyo-du and all the instructors. The patrols and guards? Either they joined or fled—one or the other.
Gi Jangno summoned a subordinate.
"Go to headquarters and issue a red alert to all branches nationwide. Pull the kids' records and distribute them—hunt them down as top priority. Track down and eliminate every warrior hired on-site."
"Understood."
"And send every record on No. 50 to the Sangyang branch without omission."
Gi Jangno planned to hunt No. 50 himself. Starting with Sangyang, where he'd lingered longest.
Huangdo, Seongwangbu.
In the Samchungjeon Pavilion of the inner gardens, overlooking the vast estate, a sturdy middle-aged man entered Seong Wang's office.
Seong Wang stood near his desk, reading a book in one hand. On the side platform sat two men: a strikingly handsome young scholar and a rugged youth.
The scholar scribbled intently with his brush, while the sturdy youth sat with eyes closed.
The middle-aged man approached Seong Wang and bowed. Seong Wang set the book down and took his seat.
"Report."
The man reported on the Sangyang debacle with a troubled look.
"...The Jeok Yeom Three Divisions were wiped out, and Yu Bul-gun is missing."
"Hm. That Ilgwon Pasan was that impressive? One of the Ten Great Experts? No, Kwon-wang killed him, so he couldn't have been."
"From our investigation, he clearly used a latent power pill that exploded his vital energy."
Seong Wang frowned, lost in thought.
Jeok Yeom Gakju hesitated before speaking.
"I'll go myself, reexamine the situation, and search for Chief Steward Yu."
"No need. Focus on replenishing the Jeok Yeom Three Divisions."
Seong Wang waved him off, then called toward the door.
"Summon Yo-hwa."
Pacing briefly, Seong Wang paused and turned to the scholar.
"Yumyeong, you were right—Yu Bul-gun wasn't cut out for Chief Steward of the Fourth Division."
Bun Yumyeong set down his brush, straightened, and replied,
"Talent wasted in a lowly post... He was decent enough there, but not for Chief Steward of the Fourth."
"I tested him, and he lost us the Jeok Yeom Three Divisions."
Seongwangbu had a Grand Steward, Inner Steward, Outer Steward—and a fourth, the Strategist Steward.
"You plan to send Yo-hwa? Securing the Sang River routes isn't that urgent."
"I know. But something nags at me. Didn't you find anything odd in Jeok Yeom Gakju's report?"
"The Sangyang massacre was shocking, and word spread, stirring the jianghu. The Sangyang twin tyrants' feud drew little notice at first, yet it ended with Geom Yak Jong and Dosanrim experts dead, Musanggok's heir and Ten Great Expert Kwon-wang emerging after eight years. Enough to thrill the gossipmongers."
Seong Wang listened silently. Bun Yumyeong was known as his adopted son but was also a hidden strategist.
"But it's just entertaining chatter now, water under the bridge. Digging won't piece it all together—evidence destroyed, witnesses gone. I don't think Your Highness needs to bother."
Bun Yumyeong added,
"If you truly want the Sang River routes, wouldn't it be better to go straight—bribe the Sangyang Taesu?"
"......"
Seong Wang gestured silently. Bun Yumyeong and the seated youth rose and left.
Alone, Seong Wang pondered. Even Bun Yumyeong didn't know everything. Seong Wang controlled myriad organizations, their full scope known only to him. Thus, he viewed things differently; the opinion of one of the Cheonhasamjae, the literary martial scholar Bun Yumyeong, was mere reference.
'Bi Jangno died in Sangyang. The assassin training camp collapsed. Jeok Yeom Three Divisions annihilated... Yu Bul-gun missing. Is all this just coincidences piling up?'
If it was Won Guksa's scheme... what methods had he used? How much did he know?
Seong Wang resolved to investigate Sangyang.
Moments later, a woman of mesmerizing beauty entered—enough to make any man's eyes pop. Her jade-like forehead was pristine, brows like new moons, long lashes framing a sharp nose, red lips, slim waist, and legs that surely stretched endlessly... A peerless beauty, without exaggeration. The seductive curl at her lips was her only flaw—if it was one—but plenty of men would adore it.
"You summoned me?"
"There's something in Sangyang you need to look into."
Back home, Won Seung ate dinner and sat in his study, peering into the bronze box. He shook it—something like a book or document inside.
No gold ingots as hoped, disappointing. But the box wasn't ordinary; he was curious about its contents.
'Bang Kyung-pyo must have hidden it.'
The bronze hadn't tarnished. Not hidden long.
Bang Kyung-pyo had moved in last spring, lived half a year, then died. Wife and son killed, young daughter missing.
A false name, but origins in Zhejiang seemed right. Hard to fake a child's accent.
This was probably why he died.
A sudden thought struck. To air the room, Won Seung opened the lattice window. He'd scoped visible spots from outside when moving in.
Two trees, bare in winter—no hiding human owls. A real owl perched, hooting at him.
After scanning outside, Won Seung closed the lattice.
Then glared at the bronze box again.
"The seam means it opens... It was in a well without water getting in, so some special mechanism."
Inner energy wouldn't budge it. Not brute force. Won Seung recalled assassin camp knowledge. Then it hit him.
He took it to the brazier, set the grate atop, and placed the box on it.
"Heat might expand the air inside and pop it."
A casual hunch—and it worked. Moments later, a click from within.
"Whoa..."