You'll Die Even If You Don't Talk
Chu Jahyeok's pupils shuddered. Warrior Heo had been the martial artist he trusted most. For all the greed he carried, Chu Jahyeok was no fool — if he hadn't been clever to begin with, he never would have even conceived of swallowing the vast Chuhyeon Merchant Group whole.
This wasn't a scheme born of mere appetite. That was how, despite being the youngest son, he had managed to gather a faction of his own. A man like that wouldn't keep just anyone at his side as a bodyguard. Even to someone as ignorant of martial arts as he was, Warrior Heo was clearly a talent any sect would covet.
"W-Warrior Heo!"
He had never dreamed the man would go down without even drawing his blade. With trembling pupils, he stared at Sun Wukong — who was clicking his tongue, looking thoroughly irritated by the blood splattered across his body.
"Ugh. I really don't feel like washing twice."
Sun Wukong let out a heavy sigh. Chu Jahyeok bit his lip, his mind racing. With Warrior Heo down, there was no stopping this man. There was only one option left.
"How much did my eldest brother offer you?"
"Huh?"
"I'll give you twice what he promised. No — three times."
"Hah."
Sun Wukong let out a hollow laugh. Unbelievable.
Old memories surfaced without warning. How many temptations had lain in wait along that long, bitter road to India? Starting with the seven spider demons — the past lives of the Seven Heroes of Shandong — and all the others who had tried to lure him with every treasure and fortune imaginable. Temptations so fierce that even Sanzang, a living Buddha who had cultivated the Dharma, had nearly succumbed more than once. Zhu Bajie went without saying, and even the steadfast Sha Wujing had fallen for them every single time.
But Sun Wukong swore he had never once been swayed. He'd pretended to fall for it, sure — to mess with them. But no woman's beauty, no fortune, no treasure had ever truly tempted him.
"Perhaps you, Wukong, already possess a more Buddha-like nature than I do."
"That's why Master's just a greedy monk. Got it? Sanzang?"
Trying to buy me off with money?
"I've always been taught that if a deal falls through, it's because the money wasn't enough. I'll give you a blank promissory note. Write whatever amount you want."
Chu Jahyeok tried again. Well, he had his reasons — he was under the delusion that he'd already bought Muhwa and Namgung Seowol with money, so he must have figured Sun Wukong wouldn't be any different. When Sun Wukong just stared at him with a blank look, Chu Jahyeok hurriedly added:
"I hear you came out of Tibet and have been wandering with nowhere to go. Why not settle here? The Chuhyeon Merchant Group will soon be the greatest in Hubei. I'll treat you as an honored guest — no expense spared. Money, women, whatever you need. I'll give you everything."
Chu Jahyeok didn't stop. It was a desperate, pathetic struggle to stay alive. Seen like this, he cut a truly wretched figure. But Sun Wukong never underestimated a man driven by greed.
"Stalling until your reinforcements get here?"
"……!"
Chu Jahyeok's body went rigid. The martial artists currently fighting were one thing, but there was no way Warrior Heo was his only bodyguard. His other guards were hanging back from the fighting, watching from a distance. The ones bleeding and clashing right now were mostly the second brother's — Chu Jain's — men. Even in the middle of all this, Chu Jahyeok had pushed them to the front to weaken Chu Jain's faction.
Which meant Chu Jahyeok's own guards, having belatedly taken in the situation, would come running. He needed time. Time before this bastard beat him to death. It wasn't just about recruiting him — if that failed, he needed to buy time to gather his guards.
Sun Wukong saw through it in an instant. Chu Jahyeok's eyes twitched; he hadn't expected to be found out.
"W-we don't have any grudge between us, do we?"
"Well, that's true enough."
"Then there's a chance our relationship could improve, isn't there?"
"Fate and feud flip like a palm, so yeah, maybe."
"What do you want?"
"The Yusal Sect."
"……!"
Not just Chu Jahyeok — even Chu Jain's face went rigid. For a fleeting instant, killing intent flashed through Chu Jahyeok's eyes. Sun Wukong smirked.
"What, now that I know you used assassins, you've decided you have to kill me no matter what?"
Of course he had. If word got out that he'd hired assassins to kill his own brothers and seize the merchant group — what could be worse than that? For a merchant, the most important virtue was trust. Even if you weren't actually trustworthy, you had to at least appear so. And if a man like that took over the merchant group? Who would ever do business with him?
Chu Jahyeok wasn't wondering how Sun Wukong knew. He was only thinking about shutting him up.
"You want information on the Yusal Sect?"
"That's right."
"But I can't tell you. If I talk, they'll kill me."
"……."
Chu Jahyeok bit his lip.
"Then I suppose I have no choice."
He let out a deep sigh.
"I'll just have to kill you to keep you quiet."
Sun Wukong laughed, incredulous. He knew exactly why the man's attitude had suddenly shifted. Chu Jahyeok clenched his fists. Two women were walking toward them from one side — Muhwa and Namgung Seowol.
"You think there's something money can't buy? Hmph. Even the bodyguards you brought with you have all come over to my side. So why don't you just give up?"
He looked thoroughly confident. A civilian who knew nothing of martial arts would think that — two First-class martial artists, and Sun Wukong standing there empty-handed. He'd assume Warrior Heo had fallen to a sneak attack. But his entire premise was wrong.
"Those two? Bought with your money?"
The question came in a tone of genuine, almost innocent curiosity. A chill ran through Chu Jahyeok. Muhwa and Seowol, who had been approaching, suddenly launched themselves forward — not toward Sun Wukong.
"What the— ghk!"
A rupture tore through the martial artists who had been shouting and clashing with one another.
"S-stop them! Form a sword wall!"
Panicked voices. Screams. Chu Jahyeok's face went deathly pale. They hadn't charged at Sun Wukong. They'd drawn their blades on the bodyguards who had spotted this side and were coming this way.
And that wasn't all. Chu Jahyeok's fingertips trembled. Martial artists he'd hired at great expense — men he'd considered quite skilled — crumpled after barely a few exchanges. It was a sight he never would have imagined. They were helpless. Guards who had casually slaughtered bandits and raiders on countless trade expeditions were collapsing without putting up a fight.
These were real martial artists.
"Sitting pretty in one place, collecting a paycheck — that doesn't make you a martial artist. That's what a real martial artist of the jianghu looks like."
Sun Wukong's languid voice slid into his ear.
"So? How's it feel, being a frog in a well?"
"You—!"
Chu Jahyeok trembled.
"W-what is that?!"
The second brother, Chu Jain, standing beside him, cried out with a deathly pale face. The bodyguards lasted only a moment. Muhwa and Seowol plunged straight into the heart of the fighting, and the martial artists on Vice-Leader Chu Jahon's side — who had been barely holding on — found new strength at the unexpected reinforcements. Of course they did. The tide of battle had reversed in an instant and was now tipping hard the other way.
"Gah!"
"Don't take them on alone! Three of you, attack together!"
They crumpled before they could even react, their faces still blank with shock. A proper coordinated assault was never going to happen. This was a melee, and in a chaotic brawl there was no such thing as a refined joint attack.
And besides, Muhwa was already a martial artist who had reached full maturity within the Peak Realm. Having gleaned insight from the recent duel between Sun Wukong and Namgung Jinbaek, she was a peerless expert standing just one wall away from glimpsing the Transcendental Realm. And Seowol was no different. The killing intent coiled in her blade cut down martial artists in a single stroke.
Even to merchants like Chu Jain and Chu Jahyeok, who knew little of martial arts, the overwhelming gap was painfully clear.
"What in the..."
Chu Jahyeok grasped the situation easily enough. He was by no means incompetent. If he had been, he never would have been able to quietly scheme for the heir's seat of the vast Chuhyeon Merchant Group. But grasping a situation and understanding it were two very different things.
Chu Jahyeok couldn't comprehend it. Every time a sword traced its arc, martial artists went down spraying blood. They shattered without lasting even a single exchange. To the eyes of an ordinary civilian who was not a martial artist, it was incomprehensible.
"What in the..."
The voice that escaped his lips trembled. Disbelief filled his eyes.
"We have so many more people."
Why were they losing? That was the limit of a merchant who knew nothing of the martial world. A tongue-clicking voice reached his ear.
"Looks like you've got the picture. How about we just wrap this up quietly without any more bloodshed?"
Chu Jahyeok's shoulders sagged. Was this it? Did he really have to give up? A deep despair settled over him. Even with the noise, the flashing light, the roaring flames throwing his senses into chaos, Sun Wukong's voice came through with perfect clarity.
"It's over, old man. Yeah?"
"No — that can't be — it can't! My merchant group, it was already in my grasp...!"
"Aigoo. Just another dime-a-dozen human."
Sun Wukong sighed and struck like lightning. His fingers hammered Chu Jahyeok's pressure points in an instant. This wasn't a simple sealing of the meridians to freeze the body and lock the tongue. Nor was it a killing strike — Sun Wukong had no intention of ending his life. But he struck the pain points without hesitation, the ones that delivered agony so extreme it bordered on death.
Chu Jahyeok's mouth fell open in a silent, choking scream. His body twisted and crumpled in on itself. His eyes rolled back, and foam spilled from his lips.
"Yep. Now that's how you seal a point."
See? He passed out all on his own.
Sun Wukong grinned, grabbed Chu Jain and Chu Jahyeok by the scruffs of their necks, and vaulted up onto the pavilion roof.
BOOM!
The moment he landed with a thunderous stomp, the entire surroundings fell as silent as if the world itself had held its breath. Dangling one man from each hand, Sun Wukong called out:
"It's over, so how about we all wash up and get some sleep? Yeah?"
Chu Jahon greeted Sun Wukong looking thoroughly exhausted. Moisture still clung to the skin visible through his loosely draped robe, and there was a languid look in his eyes — he almost looked like a wastrel drifting between wine and courtesans. Chu Jahon smiled bitterly.
"You were in the middle of bathing, I take it."
"Yeah. That's when you're most defenseless. Figured that's when the kids would come running."
"Thanks to you, sir, this matter has been resolved. I questioned them briefly — my brothers really did commission the Yusal Sect to have me killed. The ledger was genuine."
A bitter light crossed his face. He had expected a confrontation someday, but seeing it laid bare before his own eyes still left him deeply unsettled.
"I had made my own preparations, but my brothers had gathered more martial artists than I anticipated — and they were more skilled, too. If you and your companions hadn't come to warn me and lend your aid, I would have been finished. Thank you. I am deeply in your debt."
Sun Wukong waved a hand dismissively, speaking as if it were nothing.
"We can talk about paying me back later. First, hand those two over."
"Ah, yes. Of course. But, well..."
"Don't kill them, right?"
"Yes. Yes."
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna kill them. I'm a pacifist."
Even Chu Jahon, with all a merchant's thick skin, paused for a moment at that. The shattered fragments of a bathtub, tossed carelessly at Sun Wukong's feet, were soaked in blood. Sun Wukong grinned sheepishly.
"Anyway, I just need to find out how they made contact with the Yusal Sect. Shouldn't be too hard."
"Anyone who talks about an assassination guild gets hunted down and killed — that's the rule in this business. You think they'll talk that easily?"
Chu Jahon said, his tone worried. Sun Wukong shrugged.
"I've got a good method."
"A method?"
Sun Wukong grinned.