Chapter 551
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 551
Chapter Title: Alright, Let's Get to Work
A pure white spirit eagle shot through the sky like a bolt.
Even the rugged Huashan of West Peak posed no obstacle to the spirit eagle soaring swiftly high above.
It arrived at the summit of Lotus Peak.
A spot from which the undulating Huashan Sect could be overlooked.
The spirit eagle perched on the branch of an ancient pine there.
"Kee-eeek! Kee-eeek!"
With a piercing cry, Yun Se-hyeok emerged from the training cave.
"Huh. Your arrival means one of my disciples sent you."
White Eagle.
A spirit beast Yun Se-hyeok had given his disciples to contact him when needed.
Sure enough, a message tube was tied to the White Eagle's leg.
He untied it and pulled out the letter.
He read it for quite some time.
"Tsk. Useless fool."
He couldn't help clicking his tongue.
To summon his master over a mere two peak experts.
It was absurd that they'd dispatched the White Eagle for some trivial rights dispute in a backwater town like Sangnam.
Even so, Yun Se-hyeok prepared to descend the mountain.
This disciple had reached out for the first time since he entered secluded training.
In truth, it was also the disciple who sent him the most money.
And above all, he was eager to test the insights he had finally perfected.
'Against two peak experts, I should be able to verify it somewhat.'
Yun Se-hyeok gazed down at Huashan Sect for a moment.
True to its renown as West Peak, Huashan was practically a mountain range unto itself, formed by countless peaks.
There were training spots aplenty, but the reason Yun Se-hyeok clung to this particular cave was simple.
He could overlook his home sect, Huashan.
Not just anyone could train in a cave commanding such a vista.
The cramped hermitage allowed only one occupant.
For decades, Yun Se-hyeok had claimed it, barring anyone else from Huashan Sect.
That was by design.
He refused to yield this view to another soul.
Especially not his martial nephew Gyu Hwi.
"Even this vista must be left behind for now."
He penned a quick reply—he'd arrive soon—tucked it into the tube on the White Eagle's leg, and sent it off.
Then he launched himself into the air, drifting slowly down from Lotus Peak.
His movements were feather-light yet profoundly stately.
The lightness skill of one who had transcended absolute peak.
At last, every preparation was complete.
Gong Yeop-myeong began prepping the ingredients bought at dawn's first light, in a kitchen scrubbed spotless.
Eun Cheong-seon threw open the inn's doors, while Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun polished surfaces that needed no further cleaning.
The signboard reading Small Traveler's Inn gleamed in the sunlight.
Courtesy of Gong Hae-jun's relentless buffing beforehand.
The inn this family would run was the Small Traveler's Inn, whether in Luoyang or here in Sangnam.
A modest happiness.
That was their family's heartfelt wish.
The sky stretched clear and blue, sunlight warm and gentle.
When they'd left Luoyang, spring's vanguard still lingered, but now it was deep into the season.
No—summer crept ever closer.
"Huh? They're open already?"
Scarce minutes after unlocking the doors, patrons trickled in, as if by some sixth sense, filling the dining hall.
The first-floor tables filled in no time.
Amid the unexpected rush, Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun darted about frantically.
Their mother, Eun Cheong-seon, could hardly catch her breath.
"What in the world is this."
She muttered under her breath, yet kept pace busily.
A windfall on opening day.
The cause became clear from the newcomers' chatter.
The eastern street they'd long favored.
Lately, the mood there had soured.
Two martial sects had clashed, and with whispers of a bigger brawl brewing, folk shunned the area.
Sangnam's districts were well-settled, so eastern regulars migrated to the southern street's inns and eateries.
The central avenue overflowed with crowds, so they'd sought the quieter southern stretch.
Spotting the fresh sign for Small Traveler's Inn, in they'd come.
"Huh? What is it?"
"What's up?"
"This is incredible!"
Two men at one table traded words.
"Man, even on the eastern street, this would've been top-tier!"
Another let out a booming sigh of delight.
To Eun Cheong-seon, those praises rang like the clamor of loyal regulars multiplying.
As expected, no chef could match her husband's skill.
The prime reason they'd left Luoyang to open shop elsewhere.
Late into the night.
Dining hall emptied, just one lodger left.
That guest long abed.
Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun had turned in early.
At an empty table on the first floor, Gong Yeop-myeong and Eun Cheong-seon sat across from each other, sharing a weary cup to melt the day's toil.
"You worked hard."
Gong Yeop-myeong's gruff words brimmed with unspoken feelings and sincerity.
"What a day. Things like this happen too."
Truth be told, since launching the inn, this was their first such bonanza.
Entertaining that throng without a hitch was sheer fortune.
"Still, a martial sect feud? That's worrisome."
Having dwelled in Righteous Heaven Alliance bastion Luoyang, they'd known no such strife.
Just travelers' tales at the inn.
Martial folk brawls meant blades flashing, bodies piling up—that was the norm.
"It'll be fine. Customers didn't seem fazed."
They merely sidestepped trouble; no real fear beyond that.
Figures who trusted the unrest wouldn't spill to the southern street.
"I hope you're right."
Night deepened.
With Yu Gwi-gwang and the Yu Yun Martial Hall retainers gone, the hall stood empty.
Only Pung Geon and Gwan Ha-kyeong remained, sharing lunch.
Beside them lay a shield akin to Fierce Dragon Corps issue.
Fetched that morning from the smithy Yu Hyeon-gwang had named.
"Ah."
Gwan Ha-kyeong murmured mid-bite, as if struck by a thought.
"What?"
"We need to send word—return's delayed. Unlike Squad Leader, now Pavilion Lord, I'm still plain squad."
"Plain squad? You're a full-fledged squad leader."
Pung Geon chuckled at her claim.
"To hit the one-month mark, we'd depart tomorrow at latest."
But no longer feasible.
Four days hence.
A showdown with Plum Fragrance Gate loomed.
Outcome unknowable.
"A swift messenger bird could cover it in a day flat."
No post station in Western Command, though.
Anbok way, via Sanhwajang, then to Fierce Dragon Corps.
"To the Corps Leader?"
Pung Geon's query held hope.
"Have to. But even Corps Leader can't make Sangnam in four days post-news. No false hopes. I'm notifying 'cause we might miss deadline."
Gwan Ha-kyeong pierced his ploy.
Lunch done, she slipped from Yu Yun Martial Hall unseen.
Watchers ringed the place, but none caught her peak-realm lightness.
Thus, one messenger bird soared over Sangnam's skies.
Its mighty flaps aimed over two thousand li distant.
Yu Yun Martial Hall.
Neither grand nor tiny—just an aged, threadbare school on Shaanxi's Sangnam east side.
Yet now, eye of the tempest.
Folk converging on it, departing it, marking it prey.
First on target: Gwan Ha-kyeong's bird.
Anbok before dayfall, letter to Sanhwajang, straight to Western Command's Fierce Dragon Corps.
Addressed to Corps Leader, but Han Seol-bing cracked it as deputy commander.
Yu Yun Hall clash, ensuing bind.
Couldn't return inside month-long leave—apologies.
"Guess I have to go."
Han Seol-bing smirked, stowed the missive, rose.
She'd deliver to Ha Mu-baek herself.
Once past Western Command bounds toward camp, that specter would sense her coming.
Han Seol-bing toed the earth lightly, unfolding lightness westward.
How far?
Halfway to billet?
Predictably, Ha Mu-baek materialized.
"What's the matter?"
Shift between camp and corps hands not due yet.
Han Seol-bing proffered the letter.
"About as I figured."
Ha Mu-baek scanned it.
Content Han Seol-bing had previewed.
"Five peak experts storming together, holding with Gwan Ha-kyeong and Pung Geon for now. Shields from local forge."
"Gotta head there, yeah?"
"Why?"
"They called for you."
She jabbed the parchment.
"Where?"
Reperusal yielded no such line.
"Hiding in the subtext. Timeline leaves two days—figures even Corps Leader can't hack Sangnam that quick. Hence no direct plea, but between lines? Begging for aid. Corps Leader ain't a bird, though. Tall order."
Ha Mu-baek smirked.
Transparent bait.
Yet.
"Well, if deputy deems it squad hands beseeching corps leader..."
He seized her phrasing as pretext.
Deputy's call.
Han Seol-bing's eyes bulged.
"Stepping out on deputy's say-so—trust you to mind the fort."
Ha Mu-baek's grin shifted hue.
With a sly smile, he ghosted into lightness.
That instant.
A fierce gust whipped up—Ha Mu-baek vanished utterly.
Han Seol-bing gaped after him.
"What the...?"
When did I request?
Sure, she'd prodded him along.
But personal hunch.
Not deputy protocol.
Twisting her subtext jab into official deputy's summons?
So handle shop well in his absence?
Infuriating cad.
Could've just owned the ask.
Blame her while he itched to bolt.
Truly.
"He's changed..."
Not the Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek of old.
"Still, can he even make it?"
Truth, her parting prod half earnest.
Jiangxi's Western Command.
To Shaanxi's Sangnam.
Vast gulf.
Bird managed day one—prime specimen, lucky winds.
Mortal in two? Fantasy.
But Ha Mu-baek...
Last Ice Heaven Palace affair proved it.
Han Seol-bing lingered, staring his way.
"Alright, let's get to work."
She toed earth anew, resuming toward camp.
First: brief the other deputy, Elder Wei, on Corps Leader's absence.