Chapter 22
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: It's Paid (3)
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"So this is Shaanxi Province."
Kang Moo-jin's eyes gleamed as he gazed at the enormous walls of Shaanxi Province, so towering he had to crane his neck all the way back just to see the top.
'Definitely a different vibe.'
Shaanxi Province lay right next to Shanxi Province, where Kang Moo-jin lived, but the atmosphere couldn't have been more dissimilar.
Unlike Shanxi, where evil sects ran rampant without the protection of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang or the Eight Great Families, Shaanxi was home to Mount Zhongnan Sect and Mount Hua Sect—members of the Nine Great Sects. This made it orderly, calm, and safe overall.
"Gonna be boring."
With that curt assessment of Shaanxi Province, Kang Moo-jin headed straight for Mount Zhongnan Sect.
Up the stone steps carved into the green mountains shrouded in faint mists sat a massive stone gate.
A large placard reading Mount Zhongnan Sect.
It exuded an overwhelming presence, as if designed from the outset to impress visitors with the sect's prestige as one of the Nine Great Sects.
"Hmph."
Of course, Kang Moo-jin felt no such intimidation.
After punching a monster bigger than Mount Zhongnan itself into oblivion with his bare fists, what was a mere placard to him?
'Plenty of people around.'
Mount Zhongnan Sect was a famed Taoist sect, so it often drew crowds of worshippers coming to pray or make offerings. Even by Moo-jin's count, there were hundreds already.
'Even a single silver tael from each would be hundreds of nyang.'
Some folks ran themselves ragged from Taiyuan to Mount Zhongnan just to earn a living, while others raked it in sitting pretty.
Name value was money value, as they said.
And that old adage rang true.
"Makes my stomach hurt. With that kind of cash, I wouldn't have to worry about the Flying Wind Crew ripping me off."
Eying the worshippers with a twinge of envy, Kang Moo-jin approached a Mount Zhongnan Taoist guarding the gate.
"...Gah!"
The guard, sporting a ferret-like mustache, startled at the sight of Moo-jin and reached for his sword sheath.
"...?"
"Ah, my apologies. That was rude of me. For a moment, I thought you were some demonic fiend."
"... ."
Moo-jin found it a bit absurd but nodded without showing it.
"No harm done. I'm from Diamond Escort Agency, delivering a shipment."
"A shipment? Mind waiting a moment?"
"Sure."
The gate guard beckoned to another Taoist and muttered something.
Moments later, a broad-faced Taoist approached Moo-jin with a bow.
"I'm Jin-woo, deputy leader of the Guest Reception Hall. Which escort agency did you say?"
"Diamond Escort Agency."
"Diamond Escort Agency. Diamond... Escort Agency."
Jin-woo mulled over the name, searching his memory. No matter how hard he racked his brain, it rang no bells.
"Hm. Sorry, my knowledge is lacking—I don't know the place. Care to come inside anyway?"
"Lead on."
The weary-looking Taoist—clearly short on sleep—guided Moo-jin through the stone gate.
Beyond it, the view opened up dramatically.
A grand palace hall dominated the scene first, its blue-tiled roof curving elegantly against the sky.
Even to Moo-jin, who'd witnessed countless spectacles in the Linked Qi Realm, it was a striking sight.
"Hoho, watching the kids train? Don't worry. They might look rough around the edges, but they're not really like that."
"...?"
Only then did Moo-jin lower his gaze to the courtyard in front of the hall, following Jin-woo's words.
Dozens of Mount Zhongnan disciples were deep in training there, the ground scarred from their intense drills.
Moo-jin tilted his head slightly at the sight.
'Rough?'
Compared to the grueling regimen his own men endured at Diamond Escort Agency, this was little more than a scratch.
"Doesn't look all that rough to me."
"...Is that so? Hm. Got it."
Jin-woo gave Moo-jin a puzzled look before nodding.
'Well, a nobody from some obscure escort agency wouldn't know any better. No way to gauge how tough our sect's training really is.'
Having firmly misjudged the situation, Jin-woo led Moo-jin to a small side room in the outer hall.
"Come in. This is where we receive goods from escort agencies and merchant groups."
"Mm."
Kang Moo-jin ducked through the surprisingly low doorway, set the package on the table, and took a seat.
"Could you tell me about the shipment—how it came your way?"
"It was a secret escort commission. Sender was a man from the Black Market."
"Mm... I see."
Jin-woo's face hardened at the mention of a secret escort.
Using covert delivery usually meant the cargo was anything but ordinary.
"Do you know what's inside?"
Kang Moo-jin shook his head.
"Secret escorts don't involve knowing the contents—that's the rule."
"This... seems above my pay grade. Hold on a sec."
Daoist Jin-woo closed his eyes and circulated his inner energy. His throat bobbed as if speaking, and soon a middle-aged man resembling him appeared.
"I'm Poong-rim, leader of the Guest Reception Hall. Pardon the intrusion."
With gray hair fluttering, Hall Leader Poong-rim entered and eyed the box Moo-jin had brought with a grim expression.
Jin-woo, glancing sideways, handed Moo-jin a slip of paper.
"Receipt with our seal. Thanks for the delivery."
"Appreciated."
Kang Moo-jin pocketed the receipt and stood to leave.
What they did with the contents was none of his business.
An escort agency's job was delivery, nothing more.
'That's the ironclad rule.'
Never inquire about the purpose or appearance of the goods.
It was a mantra his father had drilled into him hundreds of times since childhood.
"Wait. Hold on a moment?"
"...?"
Hall Leader Poong-rim stopped Moo-jin as he turned to go and pried open the box with a stiff face.
Inside the brown box lay a Mount Zhongnan sword, snapped clean in half.
The blade gleamed with a mix of silver and deep blue, engraved with the character for "six."
Poong-rim's hardened expression twitched faintly at the sight.
"This... is Hyun-i's sword."
From the inscription, Poong-rim realized it belonged to Jin-hyeon, the missing third-generation disciple of Mount Zhongnan.
'Something's happened at the sect.'
Sensing the gravity from Poong-rim's face, Moo-jin schooled his features into indifference.
'Not my problem.'
Right now, he was just an escort from Diamond Escort Agency, not some wandering martial hero.
Unless they offered him a fortune like the worshippers' donations, he had zero interest.
Besides, martial artists going missing or dying mysteriously for no reason was a daily occurrence in the jianghu.
'Not what I expected, though.'
What actually caught Moo-jin's eye wasn't the incident at Mount Zhongnan, but Hall Leader Poong-rim himself.
'Thought it'd be a den of monsters.'
Long before he'd been sucked into the Linked Qi Realm—back when he was just a jianghu wanderer—Mount Zhongnan Sect had seemed like the heavens themselves.
The Nine Great Sects and One Gang, twin pillars of the righteous factions alongside the Eight Great Families.
Mount Zhongnan, one of those exalted Nine Great Sects, had been an untouchable constellation of legends.
Monsters dwelling above even the elite warriors who soared and dashed.
Knowing they nurtured such beasts had filled him with awe bordering on fear.
But seeing Poong-rim—a second-generation disciple and hall leader—in the flesh shattered those notions.
'Not that strong.'
Underwhelming, perhaps?
He'd have to clash directly to gauge his exact power, but no threat emanated from him at all.
No subtle aura that marked a true master, no hidden claws of a predator.
'Is this the level of the Central Plains?'
Truth be told, since returning to the jianghu, Kang Moo-jin hadn't unleashed any proper martial arts.
More precisely, he hadn't needed to.
Pure physical might had sufficed—no fancy techniques required.
And even that raw power he'd held back. Unleashing martial arts on top would've turned him into a bloodthirsty demon terrorizing the land long ago.
'Not that I know many techniques anyway.'
The extent of Moo-jin's martial knowledge was a handful of Shaolin basics passed down from his grandfather, a lay disciple.
No peerless divine arts or flashy elite techniques for him.
But that didn't mean he lacked depth in martial arts.
He'd peered into their extremes to survive, battling to crush every foe and endure.
Had his insight been shallow, he'd never have returned from the Linked Qi Realm.
"Could you share more details?"
At Poong-rim's question, Kang Moo-jin nodded and sat back down.
"It started when the Black Market came to our Diamond Escort Agency with the commission."
"Can you tell me the man's name?"
"Can't do that."
Moo-jin shook his head firmly.
Of course, revealing a name was harmless enough.
Escort agencies just delivered—no duty to protect clients' identities.
"Please. I'll make it worth your while."
Clink—
Poong-rim placed a gold tael on the table with a pleading look.
"In that case, sure. A warrior named No Yu-dal. Voice raspy from poison damage, build and height similar to this Daoist Jin-woo here."
Moo-jin snatched the gold tael in a flash and rattled off the info without pausing for breath.
"... ."
"... ."
Hall Leader Poong-rim and Deputy Jin-woo stared, dumbfounded by the precise, rapid-fire details.
He'd observed that much... and still said no?!
"Want the rest?"
"P-Please."
"... ."
Even at Poong-rim's plea, Kang Moo-jin didn't continue. He just silently stared at the table.
"...?"
As Poong-rim tilted his head in confusion, Jin-woo whispered in his ear.
"Hall Leader. Money. Money."
"Ah! Sorry."
The moment Poong-rim set down another gold tael, Moo-jin whisked it away.
Jin-woo couldn't even track the motion.
"After that, two ambushes. First at the inn. Second on the mountain path. The initial attack started with the waiter acting suspicious, then black-clad assailants raided while I slept. They hit me with a Thunderbolt..."
Kang Moo-jin detailed everything: the waiter's odd behavior, the midnight raid, and countering with the Thunderbolt.
"W-W-Wait. Hold on! What did you say? Th-Thunderbolt?!"
Poong-rim gaped, unable to close his mouth, as Moo-jin nodded.
"Yeah."
"N-No way. You survived that?"
"Hall Leader, what's a Thunderbolt?!"
Poong-rim explained to the baffled Jin-woo.
"It's an explosive hidden weapon called the Heaven-Shaking Thunder. Packed with gunpowder—military issue, only the imperial army uses it."
"...! Y-You survived that?!"
Moo-jin nodded to their bulging eyes.
"Got lucky. Saved my clothes, at least."
"N-No, even luck wouldn't—how?!"
The two Mount Zhongnan Daoists couldn't hide their shock at Moo-jin's far-superior prowess.
In their astonishment, they missed his offhand remark about the clothes.
"Whoa! Diamond Escort Agency's tougher than I thought... Holding onto talent like you."
Poong-rim was genuinely impressed by the unknown agency's unexpected strength.
The jianghu is vast, and masters abound, as the saying goes.
No old proverb was wrong.
"Want details on the second ambush?"
"Please."
"Got it."
Moo-jin nodded but clamped his mouth shut, eyes fixed on the table.
"... ."
"...?"
As Poong-rim cocked his head again, Jin-woo cupped his hand to his ear.
"Hall Leader. It's paid. Paid."