Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: Gentlemen Thieves
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Dang Mujin answered immediately.
"Are you finally out of your mind?"
If Namgung Myeong had any shred of human conscience, he should have felt ashamed. But instead, Namgung Myeong puffed out his chest. It seemed his own words didn't embarrass him in the slightest.
"What's wrong? What's the problem?"
"How could you steal it from there..."
"It'll ease their suffering."
"What nonsense... Anyway, how did you arrive at that conclusion?"
Namgung Myeong let out a deep sigh, as if Dang Mujin were being exasperating, then began explaining patiently.
"Listen carefully. Hero Yu has to repay that money. But the Wan Geum Merchant Master doesn't want to take it."
"So?"
"If that money stays in the Wan Geum Merchant Guild, the master will inevitably have to deal with it. But remember the master's expression? Just having the money in front of him was agony enough. At his age, he should be smiling watching his grandchildren play, not suffering like that!"
Namgung Myeong casually glossed over the fact that the Wan Geum Merchant Master was blind, but Dang Mujin didn't bother pointing it out.
"Namgung Myeong, you know how Hero Yu and Flashsword Senior earned that money, right? You think they'd want anyone touching it?"
"I do. That's exactly why we can't just leave it be."
Namgung Myeong continued in a grave tone.
"Remember earlier when the Wan Geum Merchant Master said he'd rather throw the money into the sea than use it? Did that sound like a joke?"
Dang Mujin hesitated.
"Well... no, it didn't."
"Put yourself in his shoes. How would you feel if I threw away all the money you'd earned your whole life into the ocean?"
"Well, obviously... Ugh."
"Imagine the Wan Geum Merchant Master tossing a lifetime's earnings into the sea—and Flashsword Senior watching it happen. He'd die of resentment without even closing his eyes."
It was a fairly convincing argument, but Dang Mujin couldn't easily agree. Not because of the logic, but because of Namgung Myeong's appearance.
No three-year-old would be swayed by the words of someone wearing a pitch-black mask on a moonless night.
Dang Mujin glanced around. He figured Hyeon Gong and Hong Geolgae felt the same reluctance he did.
But unexpectedly, Hyeon Gong nodded as if agreeing with Namgung Myeong.
"...That's a persuasive argument."
"What?"
"We have to step in, if only for the Wan Geum Merchant Master's sake."
In truth, Hyeon Gong had already made up his mind. Among everyone here, no one needed money as desperately as he did.
The Wudang Sect wasn't as destitute as the Jeomchang Sect, but it was poor all the same. If you ranked them by poverty, Jeomchang Sect was at the bottom, the Beggars' Sect just above, and right after that, the Wudang Sect.
Major sects often ran trading companies or escort agencies, but factions like the Wudang Sect couldn't openly dive into money-making.
They relied on donations, but gathering those required branches scattered across the Central Plains and recruiting disciples. The problem was that the Wudang Sect had only one branch—in Luoyang.
They needed money to establish more branches to make money. A truly lamentable vicious cycle.
'If I can secure a big haul here, my influence will rise significantly. Even a quarter of the money Hero Yu gave the Wan Geum Merchant Master would fund a couple of branches.'
Branches could serve as a support base, a huge boost on the path to sect leader.
Even if he never became sect leader, controlling a few major branches would make him a core figure in the Wudang Sect in name and reality.
While Hyeon Gong weighed and calculated the situation, Dang Mujin posed a sensible question.
"But if Flashsword Senior loses money he worked so hard for, won't that make the Wan Geum Merchant Master suffer even more?"
"I doubt it. Just seeing it vanish from sight will lighten his heart. 'Seeing breeds desire.' If it's out of sight, the pain fades too."
Hyeon Gong seemed unconcerned about the Wan Geum Merchant Master's eyesight as well.
Even without literally seeing it, the idea that an object's existence affects the mind made a rough sort of sense.
"Let's say we head to the Wan Geum Merchant Guild. But how do we find the money? Rummage through the place looking for the pouch?"
"The Wan Geum Merchant Master said he wouldn't touch the pouch. It'll still be in his room untouched."
Dang Mujin snorted at Namgung Myeong's words.
"That's easy to say, but do you really think he'd leave that much money sitting there? That's a huge sum even for him."
Namgung Myeong clapped his hands as if that were perfect.
"Then here's the plan: If the money's been moved elsewhere, we touch nothing and leave. But if it's still sitting on the desk in his office, we take it. How's that?"
Dang Mujin pondered deeply. If the master's words were empty or he had any greed, the money would be gone by now.
Conversely, if it was still untouched as Namgung Myeong claimed, didn't that mean he truly didn't want it?
'In that case, maybe it really would be okay to take it...'
Dang Mujin was being swayed by Namgung Myeong and Hyeon Gong without realizing it.
"And if we take it, what then?"
"We split it four ways."
Hong Geolgae realized he'd been naturally included but didn't object. The momentum was clearly toward all of them sneaking into the Wan Geum Merchant Guild together.
Dang Mujin asked,
"Why four ways? What about Hero Yu?"
"Hero Yu doesn't want it back, so we exclude him. We take it and quietly funnel bits to the Jeomchang Sect. Effectively five ways."
"Hmm."
"Think about it. Flashsword Senior would prefer this outcome by far. The debt's repaid, Jeomchang Sect and Hero Yu benefit, the Wan Geum Merchant Master sheds a mental burden. And we get a cut as our fee. Sound good?"
Hong Geolgae, who'd been listening silently, chimed in.
"Sounds fine, but as a Beggars' Sect member, I don't need money."
"Fair enough. Then take Hong Geolgae's share, Dang Mujin. We've imposed on the Dang Clinic for so long, and Youngie is growing fast—he'll need plenty."
Raising a child didn't actually require that much money. But just mentioning Dang Young shook Dang Mujin deeply. It was a man's instinct to want to be a capable husband and father.
In the end, Dang Mujin nodded.
"Fine. If there's nothing on the desk, we leave immediately. Same if it's even just moved underneath. Got it?"
"Of course. Let's go."
Namgung Myeong pulled three more masks from his bosom.
*
The four arrived at the Wan Geum Merchant Guild under cover of darkness. And they faced an unexpected situation.
"Why are there so many people?"
Contrary to Dang Mujin's assumption that everyone would be asleep late at night, plenty were still awake even at this hour.
The main gate of the Wan Geum Merchant Guild remained open, with wagons occasionally coming and going.
"Large merchant guilds or high officials' estates are always like this. No need to worry—I've seen it before."
Namgung Myeong spoke confidently. The assurance of an experienced hand.
But that confidence soon deflated.
Unlike daytime, martial artists were scattered around the Wan Geum Merchant Guild, and they didn't look like pushovers.
"See that guy? What's his skill level?"
"Hard to say. But he doesn't seem like some amateur we can ignore."
The Wan Geum Merchant Guild often assigned first-rate or better experts even for ordinary shipments, so having them on guard duty wasn't surprising.
The issue was a few among them seemed beyond first-rate. And with the dark night and minimal movement, gauging their prowess was tricky.
As the group strained their eyes from the shadows to assess the guards, Namgung Myeong pointed at one.
"There—that one's a peak expert."
"How can you tell?"
"I know him. Sima Hong of the Sima family."
"What? Why's someone from the Sima family at the Wan Geum Merchant Guild?"
The Sima family was fairly renowned. A martial house famous for its domineering Fierce Yang Technique.
Before parting ways with the freakish physician long ago, he'd even recommended Dang Mujin and Dan Seol-yeong serve as retainers in the Sima household.
"The Wan Geum Merchant Guild has money, and those people need it. And that guy in the corner looks familiar too—probably Heo Baek of the Huashan Sect. Looks like their Luoyang branch sent him to earn operating funds."
A tougher situation than expected. Tension crept onto Dang Mujin's face.
"One wrong move and we're caught. Let's just go back."
But Namgung Myeong spoke with renewed vigor.
"If I planned to back off easy, I wouldn't have worn the mask. The game started the moment we scaled the wall."
"Game? Whatever. Got a plan?"
"I do. Hong Geolgae—I need your help."
Hong Geolgae, who'd been spacing out, widened his eyes.
"Me? What do I do?"
"I'll explain now. Listen close—it's not hard."
*
Heo Baek, acting branch leader of the Huashan Sect's Luoyang branch, gazed at the dark night sky.
Two months of spending days at the branch and nights guarding the Wan Geum Merchant Master. His days and nights had flipped.
'Such is my fate.'
He'd been overjoyed at first assignment to the Luoyang branch.
Life cultivating the Dao and training on Huashan wasn't bad. But even Daoists were human—decades of the same routine twisted the body with boredom.
To accommodate that and expand influence, Huashan periodically sent mid-level Daoists to branches for a year or three in the outside world.
Those postings offered considerable freedom. Eating spicy food or prowling red-light districts was tacitly ignored.
Among cities with Huashan branches, Changan and Luoyang were the most popular. Biggest cities, most amusements.
The problem was this year's secular disciple recruitment hadn't gone well. The Wudang, Kunlun, Qingcheng, and Huashan sects—all with Luoyang branches—had recruited at similar times.
Huashan proper drew crowds, but branch recruitments weren't explosive.
Thus, the Huashan Luoyang branch fell short, leaving Heo Baek, as acting leader, moonlighting at the Wan Geum Merchant Guild to fund operations.
'If I could catch a couple petty thieves...'
Guards' pay was base plus performance bonuses.
Catching intruders brought fat bonuses; some had pocketed serious cash that way. The Wan Geum Merchant Master was the world's richest merchant, after all, drawing plenty of thieves.
'But no petty thief would make it this far... Huh?'
Heo Baek spotted something dark moving.
A stealthy motion distinct from guild workers. His heart raced.
'A thief? A thief? Looks like he's got decent martial arts.'
Catching a trained thief meant bigger bonuses. Heo Baek's hands itched.
'It'd be great if he were a peak expert, but unlikely.'
Solo-catching a peak thief would net an enormous bonus. Enough to massively fund the branch and lounge around after.
'Not peak? Fine. First-rate. First-rate is plenty.'
A first-rate thief's bonus would be smaller, but solo capture meant no split. Heo Baek ducked into cover, watching where the shadow vanished.
How much time passed? Someone emerged stealthily from the spot. Dark night or not, Heo Baek—beyond peak—easily gauged the intruder's level. First-rate.
'Perfect.'
Heo Baek quietly scanned around. Sima Hong nearby hadn't noticed yet.
Heo Baek unfolded the Azure Cloud Step silently, heading for the building, more careful not to alert Sima Hong than the intruder.
Rounding a small building's corner, he peeked out—and locked eyes with the intruder.
Strange attire, mask. Definitely a thief. Heo Baek smiled broadly and drew his sword.
"You there, fine gentleman. Stay still if you don't want to get hurt."
The next instant, Heo Baek sensed three presences surrounding him.