Silver Light Merchant Group (4)
Grinning fiercely!
Yi Jeong-gap, who had finally returned to the Silver Light Merchant Group after enduring untold hardships.
His face flushed beet red, he huffed and puffed repeatedly.
'How dare they toy with me?'
Until now, as he roamed Hubei Province freely, he had never suffered such humiliation.
Of course, back when the Demon Sword Ghost Lord Cheon Baeksang lived and the Mangeum Clan stood strong, he had been nothing more than a lowly cloth merchant—neither more nor less—but no one could deny his towering pride.
"Steward Kang! Steward Kang, are you there?"
Yi Jeong-gap immediately sought out the merchant group's steward.
He was practically a retainer who had served him for years.
"You called for me, milord?"
"Go find out right now who wiped out the Black Sword Pavilion."
No sooner had he spoken than Steward Kang opened his mouth.
"You mean the Demon Sword Sect?"
"Eh? D-Demon Sword Sect?"
In truth, only Yi Jeong-gap was unaware; rumors of the Demon Sword Sect had spread far and wide across Hubei Province.
And rightly so, for the news that they had crushed the Black Sword Pavilion—the real power among Hubei's unorthodox factions—and installed a new young sect leader had become the talk of the central plains.
Merchants, by nature, had sharp ears for gossip and tales.
Yi Jeong-gap, however, was the exception—a layabout with no interest in such things.
"You didn't know? The Demon Sword Sect, once mighty in the past, has made a rare revival. They even conquered the Black Sword Pavilion, which had been a major obstacle to dominating Hubei."
Steward Kang spoke calmly.
Indeed, wherever one went in Hubei, the Demon Sword Sect was the hot topic.
'Those bastards were from the Demon Sword Sect?'
Yi Jeong-gap was no spring chicken; he had lived through the era of Demon Sword Ghost Lord Cheon Baeksang.
The name sent chills down his spine at first, but that passed quickly.
"Hmph! Even so, they're just the remnants after their Ghost Lord vanished and they fell into ruin, aren't they?"
For all their formidable aura—Hyeon Yucheon and the Black Wolf Three Swords behind him—Yi Jeong-gap paid it no mind.
After all, he planned not brute force, but sanctions using the tools at a merchant's disposal.
"Steward Kang. From now on, proclaim it across all of Hubei: Any merchant group or shop selling grain, daily necessities, weapons, or emergency rations to the Demon Sword Sect will face no mercy."
His body trembled with rage, eyes blazing, fists clenched tight.
His fury pierced the heavens.
"Understood. They haven't made much impact on Hubei's merchant circles anyway, so there won't be any backlash to the sanctions."
At Steward Kang's firm assurance, Yi Jeong-gap's anger eased somewhat, albeit belatedly.
"We'll dry them out alive!"
His resolve remained unshaken.
An eye for an eye, tenfold—that was his creed.
'Just you wait, Demon Sword Sect. Soon, their wails will echo on their own.'
Imagining their miserable end, a smile crept across Yi Jeong-gap’s face.
But would things truly unfold as he wished?
"Sect Leader! Big trouble!"
A few days later, Gu Seung-hwan—the former Black Sword Pavilion steward turned Demon Sword Sect steward—rushed in with a pallid face.
"As expected. Everyone's cut off trade with us, isolating the sect, right?"
Hyeon Yucheon saw through the situation perfectly.
"Yes. From clothing merchants to vegetable and meat sellers—even kids hawking firewood—they're all shunning the Demon Sword Sect."
Gu Seung-hwan spoke with a voice near tears.
It seemed trivial, but this was a tactic that could easily topple mid-tier factions.
While Gu Seung-hwan and the others wavered,
'It's here.'
Hyeon Yucheon remained utterly composed.
He had countermeasures ready.
"Don't panic, Steward. First, distribute rations from the grain and rice seized from the Black Sword Pavilion."
His response was calm, but problems lingered.
"We can't source meat, vegetables, or liquor. Even surviving on grain alone has its limits, doesn't it?"
At those words, Hyeon Yucheon finally made his move.
"Just wait a moment. It'll resolve itself soon enough."
And sure enough,
as soon as he finished speaking, visitors arrived at the Demon Sword Sect.
"Sect Leader! Sect Leader!"
It was Gyeon Jong-o, the Little Light Demon, who had recently taken charge of gate security.
He had witnessed something astonishing.
Incredibly, amid the boycott, people were arriving laden with massive quantities of food, vegetables, and daily goods.
"Ah, they've finally come."
Hyeon Yucheon recognized it from his voice alone.
Yes.
Before this mess erupted, Hyeon Yucheon had met one person.
That person was...
"Young Master Hyeon!"
Jeong Se-in, the reclusive owner of the Haeha Guest House.
Normally confined to the inn's basement and rarely venturing out, she had appeared at the Demon Sword Sect dazzlingly made up, more beautiful than ever.
Whoaaa!
The moment Jeong Se-in stepped through the gates, the mostly male Demon Sword Sect disciples went wild.
And small wonder—she was a peerless beauty not easily seen twice.
"You've come, sis?"
Hyeon Yucheon welcomed her warmly and led her to the sect leader's quarters.
"Wh-who is that young lady?"
The Demon Sword Sect's leadership—Eum Ji-myeong, Jeong Inheon, and the Black Wolf Three Swords—stared in bewilderment, seeing her for the first time.
"Ah, my one and only family."
Hyeon Yucheon's casual remark filled Jeong Se-in's heart.
Knowing he saw her as true family made her glad she had come in person.
"Family?"
Hearing that, the leadership thought their sect leader was far too naive.
They took it as her being his actual blood sister.
Hyeon Yucheon escorted Jeong Se-in inside and quickly clarified before further misunderstandings.
"My sis here is the last survivor of the Mangeum Clan alongside me, owner of the Haeha Guest House... practically my only family."
Once he explained everything, they were all impressed.
"Truly remarkable, Miss Jeong!"
"Indeed. Defying the Silver Light Merchant Group as an innkeeper couldn't have been easy."
They were right.
Had Jeong Se-in not shared deep ties with Hyeon Yucheon, she had no reason to help.
Yet two days prior, when he sought her out, she couldn't refuse his words.
—Sis, I'm actually the final disciple of Demon Sword Ghost Lord Cheon Baeksang and the current leader of the Demon Sword Sect.
Will you help me revive it?
She doubted her ears at first.
She had suspected he trained under some master martial artist, but learning it was the Ghost Lord shocked her.
The surprise was fleeting.
Soon, Jeong Se-in beamed.
—I'm overjoyed you're his successor, Young Master Hyeon.
My existence is solely for the Mangeum Clan and you.
With you as Demon Sword Sect leader, this Haeha Guest House and I are practically yours too.
Knowing supplies would soon be cut off, she had scouted ahead and brought heaps of food, ingredients, and necessities.
Her innkeeping built strong ties with local merchants, making bulk procurement easy.
And one more thing.
"No worries about ingredients or daily goods for a while. Yeon Daecheon, leader of the Gold Amount Escort Agency, and his daughter Yeon Jinjin discreetly connected me to distributors outside Hubei."
Others quietly aided Hyeon Yucheon too.
The Gold Amount Escort Agency folk.
They knew neither his identity nor that they aided the Demon Sword Sect—Jeong Se-in served as the conduit.
"Pardon the interruption, but... we can't hold out forever like this. We need to storm the Silver Light Merchant Group or go to full war with them."
Amid the joy, Gu Seung-hwan voiced a grim prognosis.
He had a point.
Jeong Se-in's aid and others' help were stopgaps; they couldn't run a sect like this indefinitely.
An unorthodox sect attacking the Silver Light Merchant Group, tied to the Seok Family, would spark massive fallout—possibly Murim Alliance sanctions—making rash moves impossible.
This was worlds apart from personal squabbles at the Black Faction auction house.
Hyeon Yucheon smiled in reply.
"No need to worry. The Silver Light Merchant Group will go bankrupt soon enough."
Had he summoned Jeong Se-in merely for food supplies?
No—her true maneuver was something else.
"Uahaha!"
Meanwhile, inside the Silver Light Merchant Group, laughter echoed nonstop.
Having slapped the Demon Sword Sect with satisfying sanctions, good news followed.
"Is it because I vented my spleen? Who'd have thought Lady Hye Ryeong, wife of the Hubei governor, would order this much silk and raw cotton!"
Yi Jeong-gap laughed heartily.
As he said, after sealing off the Demon Sword Sect, Lady Hye Ryeong had visited days ago with a massive order.
—The governor must soon pay respects to His Imperial Majesty. So, prepare five thousand bolts of silk as tribute, plus raw cotton worth ten thousand gold nyang.
With the audience sudden, it must be ready in ten days.
Absolutely no delays.
Fail the deadline, and your head rolls.
Learning this via Steward Kang, Yi Jeong-gap thrust his fist skyward.
'Heaven itself aids me!'
True, a governor's wife meant slim margins, but even at cut rates, the profits were immense.
Enough to recoup the ten thousand gold nyang lost to the Demon Sword Sect fiasco in one go.
Her threats held no terror.
The goods were his specialty, and he had the connections—what could go wrong?
—Of course! We'll have it ready in a week.
Yi Jeong-gap agreed readily.
'Tight quantity, but doable.'
He already stocked a thousand bolts of silk baseline; the rest he could source via networks and the merchant group.
"Come on, Steward Kang. Hurry and meet the cloth merchants—buy up silk and raw cotton."
Enough celebrating; Yi Jeong-gap urged eagerly.
If word leaked, prices would skyrocket.
"Understood."
Thus, Steward Kang visited allied cloth merchants to procure them.
"Sorry, we're out."
"Our shop's sold everything too."
But a snag arose.
To meet the ten-day deadline, he desperately needed silk and cotton, yet merchants flatly refused, claiming no stock.
"Wh-what? Who could buy up this much at once—a titan merchant?"
Sensing dire crisis, Steward Kang paled and demanded answers.
The merchants replied.
"The beautiful young miss from Myo-ryeong swept it all up a few days ago."
That beautiful young miss of Myo-ryeong was none other than Jeong Se-in, owner of the Haeha Guest House and close to Hyeon Yucheon.