Chapter 530
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 530
Chapter Title: Immortal Talent...
Elder Kang stared silently at Yoo Gwi-gwang.
"Some troublesome fellows have their eyes on the Yun Martial Hall."
"Troublesome fellows?"
Yoo Gwi-gwang tilted his head curiously.
"Yeah. Well, since you seem to know a thing or two about the money trade, this should be easy to explain. Folks like us always have some backing faction watching our backs."
Yoo Gwi-gwang nodded.
Running a business with money was never easy.
You had to endure all sorts of filth and even dish it out yourself.
That meant symbiotic ties with those who handled the dirty work in your stead.
He knew that usually meant black path thugs or the Hao Gate taking on that role.
Naturally, there was a Hao Gate branch in Shangnam too, but why would they covet a martial hall?
An inn or brothel, maybe.
That meant black path scum were involved.
"Black path bastards, huh."
"Handy term—makes it easier."
Elder Kang grinned at Yoo Gwi-gwang's response.
"Don't tell me... the Black Veil Hall...?"
Yoo Hyun-gwang blurted out in sudden shock, something dawning on him.
"That's right, the Black Veil Hall crew. They're the ones who help with my business too."
Yoo Gwi-gwang said nothing.
He was all ears, intent on Elder Kang's tale.
"I've known for a while they've been eyeing the Yun Martial Hall. Prime spot, that place. Of course, the Yun Hall claimed it first when it was still empty."
That was true.
The reason the Yun Martial Hall sat on the eastern edge of Shangnam, away from the center, was simple.
Back when it opened, the land there was the cheapest around.
Things were different now, though.
"Plus, with all those bustling shops on the eastern streets, it's perfect for the Black Veil Hall to shake down protection money. They don't have a solid base right now. The Fragrant Incense Gate keeps them from setting up in central Shangnam or the west, south, or north. No way the Fragrant Incense Gate would allow that."
Yoo Hyun-gwang nodded vigorously.
He knew that well.
They'd holed up in a brothel, which was why the Fragrant Incense Gate tolerated the Black Veil Hall.
"That's why I pushed you boys hard. Told you to start paying back as fast as possible if you wanted the hall back. Otherwise, the Black Veil Hall would've snatched up the debt."
Yoo Gwi-gwang recalled that time.
Despite the ties between his late father and Elder Kang's son, they'd been hounded mercilessly, without a drop of pity.
That was why he'd had no choice but to leave for the Fierce Dragon Corps.
But looking back now, Elder Kang had actually shown them plenty of consideration.
Back then, with his inexperience, he'd seen it as ruthless. But after joining the Fierce Dragon Corps and surviving the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, he'd witnessed true moneylenders—cold, brutal sorts.
Elder Kang could've evicted them anytime, yet he'd just visited daily to remind them of the deadline.
Sure, they'd have been tossed out once it passed, but which moneylender shows that kind of leeway?
"Thank you."
Yoo Gwi-gwang bowed his head deeply.
Back then, he'd cursed up a storm as he left Shangnam for Wuchang. Now he understood, so he offered belated gratitude.
"Then that promissory note was forged, right?"
Yoo Gwi-gwang said calmly.
"Yep. They even asked me to fake it up... but I couldn't do that. Told 'em I didn't have the skill, so they just took a blank note to the Hao Gate and had it done there."
"That's why you quoted a hundred gold taels. They wouldn't know how much that really is. Just set it high enough we couldn't pay in one go."
"Does everyone come back from the Fierce Dragon Corps like you, Gwi-gwang?"
Elder Kang asked, sounding surprised.
Yoo Gwi-gwang gave a wry smile.
Was it the Fierce Dragon Corps that changed him, or the desperate struggle to survive there?
He was unrecognizable compared to before leaving Shangnam.
'If they survive, they might end up like me.'
He answered inwardly.
He was the sole survivor from his cohort in the Fierce Dragon Corps.
"If you'd come sniffing around about the odd amount, I planned to spill the story. If not, no helping it. Can't afford to cross the Black Veil Hall as a moneylender."
Elder Kang gave a wry smile.
"......"
Yoo Hyun-gwang stayed silent.
Yoo Gwi-gwang pondered briefly before asking,
"So, what happens if we pay back the hundred gold taels you mentioned?"
"The Black Veil Hall chews on thin air."
"And you eat the loss on the hundred gold?"
Elder Kang shook his head at the follow-up.
"Money lending runs on trust. I won't stab a man in the back who seeks me out knowingly. I'll skim a bit for my trouble and return the rest in bits, once the heat dies down."
He couldn't refund it all at once—not with the Black Veil Hall watching.
"Hm."
Yoo Gwi-gwang crossed his arms, thinking, then turned to Yoo Hyun-gwang.
"The Black Veil Hall crew—what's their level?"
"Mostly second- or third-rate riffraff... but their hall leader, Seon-gyu, I don't know. Stronger than me, for sure."
"Numbers?"
"About fifty."
Elder Kang answered.
Fifty strong.
No small force.
Most might be third-rate street trash, but even ten at second-rate would make it a tough fight.
The leader Seon-gyu's skill was the real wildcard.
"We need to buy time first."
Yoo Gwi-gwang's hand dipped into his bosom and emerged.
He opened the heavy pouch, counted out the gold, and placed exactly a hundred taels on the desk.
"A hundred gold taels."
"Whoa......"
Elder Kang gaped at the gold in disbelief.
"You... didn't you send all your earnings home?"
"'Comfort money,' they called it......"
Yoo Gwi-gwang recalled Instructor Ha Mu-baek's words when handing over the pouch.
"Well, I'll be."
Elder Kang knew there was no such thing as comfort money in the Fierce Dragon Corps.
"Hand over the promissory note."
"Let's head up together."
With that, the three left the secret room.
Elder Kang rummaged through a bookshelf and pulled out the Yun Martial Hall's note.
He added today's date and a seal confirming full repayment, then handed it to Yoo Gwi-gwang.
"Don't lose this one—keep it safe."
"Thank you."
Yoo Gwi-gwang tucked the note away and turned to his brother Hyun-gwang.
"Where's the Black Veil Hall's base?"
"Uh, well......"
Yoo Hyun-gwang hesitated.
His brother's aura screamed he might charge in alone.
"Flower Red Tower in the central district."
"E-Elder......"
Yoo Hyun-gwang jumped as Elder Kang cut in.
"Tch, don't you trust your brother? Hall Lord Yoo's just going to scout. No reckless moves."
Yoo Gwi-gwang nodded once, as if agreeing, then told his brother,
"You head back to the hall first. They don't know my face, but they know yours."
It made sense, so he had no choice.
"Be careful, brother."
Yoo Hyun-gwang bowed and hurried off to the hall.
"Oh, and tell the wife and Sun-ah I went out to look around."
It was a message for those who'd wonder where he was.
"Got it."
With Yoo Hyun-gwang gone,
"Really, thank you."
Yoo Gwi-gwang bowed to Elder Kang once more.
"I'm the one who's sorry. With my own family to feed, this is the best I could do."
Elder Kang turned away, as if the thanks weighed on him.
Yoo Gwi-gwang gave a light nod and headed for central Shangnam.
Toward the Flower Red Tower, where the Black Veil Hall lurked.
Hwashan Sect atop Lotus Flower Peak.
But Lotus Flower Peak wasn't the tallest in Hwashan.
Wi Su-yeon had climbed another summit on a hunch, but no plum blossoms—even scouring with wide eyes.
Well, there were some, but so rare it barely counted.
"Haa. None after all."
Wi Su-yeon sighed and flopped down flat.
The peak's rocks were still cold, but lying atop them, she didn't care.
The sky was clear.
Gazing up, fluffy white clouds drifted by.
"Lucky. If only I could float along carefree like that......"
The thought slipped out in a mutter.
Why did she keep courting hardship?
p>As her sect brothers and juniors said, so what if Hwashan had plums or not?
Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.
Mastering and refining it—that was what mattered.
But, but...
In the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship—especially the Twenty-Four Forms of the Plum Blossom Sword, the essence—she kept stumbling on awkward bits. That was why Wi Su-yeon obsessed over the plums.
Then an old man strolled up to the summit like he was on a leisurely walk.
He spotted Wi Su-yeon lying on the rock.
"Hm? A guest already."
Wi Su-yeon jolted upright at the raspy voice.
'No presence at all.'
Tense, she eyed the elder before her.
His gaze lingered on the plum tassel dangling from her sword sheath.
"A child of Hwashan. Lotus Tail Peak isn't one you young ones climb often. What's the occasion?"
Wi Su-yeon gasped at his words.
Her eyes flew to the sword at his waist.
Plain, no crest, no ornaments.
No tassel either.
Yet she knew who he was.
"Disciple Wi Su-yeon of Hwashan greets the Plum Blossom Sword Sage."
She hastily clasped her hands and bowed deeply.
The Flowerless Sword.
Its lack of features was its feature.
Legend said the sheath once bore plum markings, worn faint over years of the Sword Sage's training.
Wi Su-yeon had spotted those traces.
"Heh heh, sharp eyes on you. So, what brings you here? No one knows I'm around, so you didn't seek me out."
Wi Su-yeon's eyes sparkled at the Plum Blossom Sword Sage's words.
A fated encounter, perhaps, beyond her wildest hopes.
Wi Su-yeon spilled her entire long, winding tale.
The Sword Sage listened patiently, without a hint of boredom.
"So... I came here hoping to spot plums hidden from Lotus Flower Peak, since they're about to wilt soon and I was getting desperate."
"Hmm."
The Sword Sage let out a soft hum as her story ended.
"You felt an inexplicable awkwardness in the Twenty-Four Forms of the Plum Blossom Sword?"
"Yes."
"How old are you this year?"
"Twenty."
Prime of youth.
"Heavens. Remarkable, truly remarkable. What prodigious talent... Immortal genius indeed......"
Wi Su-yeon blinked blankly at the Sword Sage's exclamations.
She couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"I was past forty—around unyielding age—when I sensed that in the Twenty-Four Forms. Thought I'd reached the pinnacle, only to realize otherwise."
Wi Su-yeon's eyes widened in shock.
"Care to demonstrate the Twenty-Four Forms for me?"
Who'd refuse such a request?
Wi Su-yeon took the center of Lotus Tail Peak's summit and reverently drew her sword.