284. The Greedy Ones' Night (5)
No, what the hell is this bullshit?
The Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil that appears only once every ten years already has an owner? It sounded so absurd I wondered what kind of nonsense Cheol Sunjik was spouting this time, but when I looked at him, his expression was far from his usual smug self. To be precise, he looked like he knew damn well he was talking crap himself.
Something told me there was more to it, so I asked again.
"What do you mean by that?"
Cheol Sunjik didn't answer for a long while. Then, after a long pause, he turned the question back on me.
"Do you happen to have a map of Cheondong Cave?"
"......"
I pulled the map from my bosom and showed it to him. He glanced back and forth between the map and me.
"......You actually bought this."
His gaze was filled with the kind of disgust you'd give someone who'd been conned by a quack into buying an immortality herb.
"I never thought Representative Jin was this naive."
Ha, listen to this bastard trying to twist things.
"I heard the map costs twenty gold taels...... Did you really buy it?"
As if. I gave him a quick rundown of what happened right after arriving in Seoan.
Cheol Sunjik, who'd been listening silently, nodded.
"......At least that's a relief."
A relief? Whatever. Anyway.
"You gonna keep beating around the bush?"
Under my sharp glare, Cheol Sunjik nodded quickly and continued.
"Jongnam has already reached an agreement with Huashan. Jongnam gets the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil."
What the hell? By whose authority?
"They've already found the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil?"
"Not yet. No one knows exactly where in Cheondong Cave it'll appear. But with Huashan's permission, Jongnam is planning to exclude everyone else."
"......"
The Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil is a spirit medicine that bursts forth in an instant once a certain amount of earth's energy gathers. You might know when it'll appear, but not where. Searching for it inside Cheondong Cave naturally sparks competition.
But if they could exclude others......
"Does that mean Jongnam's making a full move?"
In the end, it meant they planned to block everyone else from even entering the competition from the start. And as if confirming my guess, Cheol Sunjik nodded.
"Jongnam will deploy disciples from their main sect and lay affiliates to keep others out of Cheondong Cave."
I tilted my head.
"But the Beggars' Sect is selling maps."
"That's part of the deal between Beggars' Sect and Jongnam too. Beggars' Sect handed over detailed maps of Cheondong Cave to Jongnam, and in exchange, they're profiting off selling these incomplete ones to everyone else."
"......"
So it was rigged from the beginning?
Then......
"Your clash with the Beggars' Sect wasn't a coincidence either, Representative Jin. They're preparing rosters of outsiders just in case Jongnam fails to secure the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil. That's what sparked the fight."
Now it all fit together.
The reports from the Seoan branch and the Rivers and Lakes Spirit Medicine Records only mentioned that Jongnam secured the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil. In my previous life, when I first saw those records, I'd thought, 'As expected of the Nine Great Sects' power,' even with competitors like Huashan around.
'But it wasn't that—they blocked the competition and colluded from the start?'
And the Beggars' Sect was toying with people's greed to boot. Twenty gold taels wasn't pocket change; it was a lifetime's savings for an ordinary person. This was outright fraud.
"Playing with people like this......?"
A bitter look crossed even Cheol Sunjik's face at my murmur.
"Jukhyeonbang is already guarding the Cheondong Cave area too. You won't be able to enter either, Representative Jin. If you try forcing your way in......"
"Jongnam and their lay affiliates won't sit idly by."
Cheol Sunjik gave a short nod. What came next was even more despairing.
"Jongnam's even deploying the North Dipper Sword Guardians."
"Crazy......"
The North Dipper Sword Guardians were Jongnam's final strike force. They never moved unless the sect's foundation was shaken, and once they did, they didn't stop until the enemy was annihilated.
To deploy even them showed how dead serious Jongnam was about the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil.
"Word among the lay affiliates is that the Hyeoncheong Group is nearly depleted, so they must secure it this time. Jongnam's prepared to take the backlash."
Even those who proclaimed justice ignored it when their own house was on fire. Ordinary folk did it, let alone a giant like Jongnam sensing crisis—they'd spare no means.
"This isn't like the Mareung Plateau incident. Jongnam will pay any price to get the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil."
"......Even murder?"
Cheol Sunjik paused for a moment. His gaze lingered in the air before returning to me.
"That's why they're blocking the entrance—to prevent such a situation."
It sounded reasonable at first glance.
"Of course, no one would know what happens inside Cheondong Cave."
His following words were ominous as hell. Just like he said, whatever happened inside stayed inside—making it as if it never happened at all.
"Representative Jin, go back home. Enjoy your break."
This time, his eyes held genuine sincerity.
"No need to waste energy on the impossible."
The impossible...... It sure looked that way.
But they'd escalated this far; backing down wasn't an option anymore.
"Is Jukhyeonbang entering Cheondong Cave?"
Seeing my expression, Cheol Sunjik sighed.
"No intention of giving up, huh."
"Just say if you're going in or not."
He looked at me with profoundly complicated eyes.
"......The lay affiliates can't enter Cheondong Cave. They just protect Jongnam."
"Perfect."
"What the...... Never mind."
Cheol Sunjik started to ask why but shook his head. After getting burned by me a few times, he'd gotten sharper.
"You're really going in?"
His question was off-base from the start. Go in? Of course. That wasn't even up for debate.
We couldn't give up the Oryeong Immortal Flower Oil either.
"What do you think?"
"......"
Unlike them, my options were to face them head-on honorably or cheat just as(?) dishonorably. Jongnam was playing dirty like this......
#
As soon as dawn broke, I bought writing supplies and climbed Judang Mountain with my junior brothers.
I'd heard Cheol Sunjik's story, but I needed to see exactly how Jongnam was excluding others.
From the mountain base, it was already packed with armed crowds, silent tensions crackling everywhere.
And midway up, the crowd ground to a halt.
"Eldest senior brother, more and more people are gathering."
Few were advancing. A few with superior lightness skills climbed trees or scaled cliffs to bypass, but most were stuck on the trail.
Forcing through the throng, I reached the blockage's source.
"What do you mean we can't enter?!"
"Too many people could cause casualties, so we've taken necessary measures. Understand."
"What bullshit! You saying Jongnam monopolizes the spirit medicine?!"
"Bullshit?"
The Jongnam warrior who'd latched onto the word drew his sword.
"Say that again."
"Eek!"
As Jongnam disciples and lay warriors stepped forward led by him, the protester clamped his mouth shut.
The illogical situation bred discontent, but gleaming blades silenced them.
"Jongnam's unilaterally blocking the entrance and barring entry—that's causing the jam! This is unjust! And for Jongnam to resort to such petty tactics......!"
Someone's logical rebuttal sparked hope on faces. The righteous sects moved by justification, after all.
"The Murim Alliance decrees spirit medicines belong to whoever acquires them. Jongnam acting unilaterally is problematic."
Mention of the Alliance had all eyes on the Jongnam warrior. Even Jongnam couldn't defy the Alliance here.
As the murmurs died, the warrior who'd eyed the protester spoke.
"Remember the Mareung Plateau incident? Crowds entered and disaster struck—everyone blamed Mudang, right?"
"......"
"They entered of their own greed, not forced. Yet because Mudang was there, everyone piled on the blame. Isn't that so?"
"......Th-that was a bit different......"
"Cheondong Cave is close to Jongnam. Any incident there, and they'll blame us."
Silence enveloped the crowd. The Jongnam warrior smirked faintly, seizing the momentum, and bellowed.
"Jongnam acts to prevent this! Huashan understands and permits it. Please understand too."
Huashan's name and his cupped-fist salute shut mouths instantly. Pushing with such absurd justification meant they wouldn't listen anyway.
Discontent simmered, but none stepped up easily. Jongnam's force was one thing, but their lay allies' numbers were formidable. And with diverse affiliations here, protesting first meant becoming the example.
Meanwhile.
"Let's try another entrance."
"Yeah, Cheondong Cave has multiple ways in."
"Move, I'm going first."
Some sought other entrances, but the situation was the same.
"Damn it...... Shouldn't have bought the map!"
"Did Beggars' Sect not know?!"
"No way! They're the ones who scammed us!"
Some tore maps in rage. Curses and glares at Jongnam abounded, but Jongnam ignored it all.
Their brazenness drew an involuntary scoff from me.
Were they always this tyrannical?
In my previous life, the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families seemed mighty. In the cutthroat jianghu, they held supreme power to the end.
I'd admired and chased them once. As a Tae-eul Gate disciple, places they reached were unreachable for me, so I resented their oppression yet envied them.
But now, they just looked like they'd climbed first and kicked away the ladder.
Is this how they maintained power?
Stealing others' chances without a care. Denying even the right to compete or climb.
Then using their might to preserve that cowardly-gained power.
Damn bastards......
If they were true powerhouses, their dirty tricks wouldn't matter—they'd protect others sufficiently.
But in the Upright-Demonic Great War, what were they? Those who'd monopolized spirit medicines hid in the rear, while the opportunity-deprived stood at the front.
We, scavenging their scraps, became meat shields under the banner of jianghu justice.
'Even our chance to uphold justice was forced upon us.'
For minor sects like Tae-eul Gate.
Did we ever choose the vanguard by our will? Pushed forward by those hiding behind us, stabbing our backs—not the enemy's.
That's how we lost our lives.
"Eldest senior brother, no way to squeeze in."
"With Jongnam blocking like that, no breakthrough."
"And if we linger and get caught in their crackdown......"
I turned toward the voices. My juniors' faces brimmed with worry.
Yes, they're still alive.
I fixed my gaze back on the Jongnam group.
The chance they monopolized could be my juniors' too. With it, they wouldn't have died so absurdly in the previous life.
So in this life, I absolutely couldn't let it slip.
"From now on, we climb J udang Mountain."
My juniors tilted their heads.
"We're already on J udang Mountain."
I looked back at them.
"Got all the writing supplies?"
"Yes."
"Map every inch of the Cheondong Cave area from now on. Don't miss a single terrain detail."
"Huh? What......?"
"Eldest senior brother, what are you planning now?"
In the previous life, Jongnam got the chance but couldn't stop the Demonic Cult.
Then this time.
"Time to show Tae-eul Gate's power."
It's our turn.