145. Sakju (1)
Sakju (1)
145. Sakju (1)
"Did everyone have fun yesterday?"
The Master asked her disciples during breakfast. The meaning of the question was obvious, but Cho-ryeong, who had spent the day flying kites with the neighborhood kids, answered most vigorously.
"Yes! Master."
"The snow has melted quite a bit now, and the inns that closed for the Spring Festival will have started doing business again. Our sect will now continue on to Henan."
Our stay at the rented manor, which had felt like a winter vacation, came to an end. Just as Jeong-hyang had predicted, the Red Flower Pavilion Mistress had completely dealt with the large tree at the manor. She had also sent a letter reporting that she had greeted Seungdeok Manor and White Tiger Sect and begun business discussions with them. At the end of the letter, she added a stern warning about the current situation in Shanxi.
—The recent movements of Great Sun Association are unusual. I have not been able to ascertain detailed intelligence, but they are rapidly swelling their power, swallowing up the minor unorthodox sects of Shanxi. In nearby Henan, thousands of orthodox martial artists have gathered for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, so they are not attacking the orthodox faction, but the Taiyuan area has become a battlefield. I earnestly urge you to detour your next destination toward Sakju.—
A letter in a clean hand. While we were taking a leisurely Spring Festival at the edge of Shanxi, it seemed something unusual had been going on. I had often heard about the unorthodox faction over drinks with Byeok-geum. Unlike my perception from my time at Baek Clan Estate, when I had considered the unorthodox faction simply a collection of the worst human scum, there were passably decent unorthodox groups like Hao Sect and Red Flower Pavilion, and there were also truly irredeemable trash.
Great Sun Association was a prime example. Even among the Ten Great Evil Factions, the vileness was on a different level compared to Gunjo Sect, which was like a mercenary company made of wanderers, or Sangjo Sect, which had started as a gang. Now that they had grown into one of the Ten Great Evil Factions, they seemed to have become purely an armed group, but their origin was a human trafficking ring. They kidnapped young boys and sold them to wanderer groups to make them cannon fodder, and naturally sold the women off to cheap red-light districts, not even proper pleasure houses.
They were the number one subjugation target for the orthodox faction by any standard, but for the moment they had refrained from trafficking, the atmosphere between the orthodox and unorthodox factions had become relatively mild since the Blood Sect Rebellion a hundred years ago, and besides Great Sun Association, Gunjo Sect and Sangjo Sect were also in Shanxi, so even the orthodox faction had difficulty mounting a subjugation. That must be why Shanxi was called a fortress-like region for the unorthodox faction.
"The Red Flower Pavilion Mistress is truly capable. We don't need unnecessary friction, so let us detour through Sakju as she said."
After reading the letter, the Master decided to change our route. Naturally, her thinking was correct. We of Yeongsan Sect had no grudge or relationship at all with Great Sun Association, but if we passed that way needlessly and ran into bad luck, we might get swept up. Anyway, as the Master had said, Lee Yeon was the pro of intelligence and service, truly like an excellent remote secretary. Honestly, I had been skeptical about bringing Red Flower Pavilion under us, but her competence was making us considerably comfortable.
Leaving the pleasant manor behind, Yeongsan Sect set a new course and resumed the journey. A fair amount of snow still remained piled on the mountain paths, but when we occasionally launched sword wind with Flame Aura as part of training, a path roughly wide enough to walk appeared. Truly an all-purpose tool, Flame Aura. In my past life, snow removal work in the military had been unimaginably awful, but with Flame Aura, that kind of work would be a piece of cake.
The problem came when training ended and we had to camp. Even if we avoided snow-covered ground, sleeping outside without a tent in winter was madness. Everyone was accustomed to the cold of northern Liaoning, however, and by now they possessed enough internal energy to endure it, so Master maintained her existing policy. Humans still instinctively sought coolness in summer and warmth in winter. Just as I had clung to Jeong-hyang’s cool body in summer, the women now slept pressed tightly around me. Thanks to the Flame Blossom Art’s natural heat, Cho-ryeong burrowed completely into my embrace, while Jeong-hyang slept peacefully by herself a short distance away.
Whatever chaos Shanxi was currently in, Yeongsan Sect carried on with our own journey just as usual.
Taiyuan, the originally planned route, was the main sphere of activity for Great Sun Association and the provincial capital of Shanxi. We had developed a taste for touring big cities like Beijing and Shijiazhuang, but we had no intention of forcing ourselves to seek out danger, and honestly, going by Korean comparisons, we had already seen the equivalent of Seoul and Incheon, so cutting out one decent metropolitan city from the itinerary wasn't a big deal. That was how we arrived at the detour route, Sakju. It wasn't a great metropolis like a provincial capital, but it was still a fairly large city.
"Master. Can't we at least buy a baggage wagon now and set up a tent to sleep? Thanks to my Junior Brother, the cold isn't a big issue, but just look at our state."
The moment we reached Sakju, Lee Eun-ha made the rare suggestion that we spend a large sum of money. I understood why. Unlike our earlier camps before the snowfall, sleeping outdoors after the snow had left our newly tailored sect uniforms caked in mud. On our leisurely journey, we had washed our clothes and bathed in streams along the way, but now every stream was frozen solid. We could not even do that. At this point, a few lengths of rope would have made us pass for members of the Beggars' Sect. The proof was that even after entering a new city, neither the usual flies drawn by feminine beauty nor the common merchants hawking their wares came near us.
"Ah... You're right? I didn't imagine it was this bad. When we were all dirty, I didn't notice, but now that I see the townspeople, I'm truly embarrassed."
Cleanliness was relative. By twenty-first-century standards, even the townspeople were far from clean, but after being covered in mud and dust among ourselves, seeing presentable townspeople made a flush of shame rise in everyone. Even Cho-ryeong, apparently not wanting to be seen in a dirty state, hid away behind the Master. Without haggling over price or anything else, we grabbed the nearest inn at the village entrance and, before even eating, began washing ourselves first.
Naturally, I washed first, shed my soiled martial uniform, changed into a comfortable Taoist robe for the first time in a while, and hurried out to buy a baggage wagon. We planned to stay here for a few days anyway, but like a car from my past life, a baggage wagon wasn't something you could buy straight off the lot. If a shop built and stored several bulky baggage wagons, they would incur a large loss, so such items were made by custom order. That was why I rushed out into the street and looked for a wagon shop.
"Would a used one be acceptable? It is a little worn, but it is still sturdy and well made. It was expensive when new, but since you're my first customer of the year, I'll let it go for only two taels of gold."
The merchant spoke enthusiastically, unable to hide his delight at such an expensive wagon sale. Two taels of gold. I had no idea whether that was a fair price or a swindle. I'd probably never need to buy another baggage wagon in my life, and no matter how wealthy we had become, an expense measured in taels of gold was too large to make recklessly. I considered it alone for a while but reached no conclusion. When I returned to the inn, the women had finished bathing, changed into splendid martial robes, and gathered in the first-floor dining room.
Flies ought to have begun gathering around their newly revealed beauty, but the women were used to such attention by now. Even in light formal dresses, each wore a sword at her waist, and no one dared approach carelessly. Ordinary people were afraid to address a group of armed martial artists, while other martial artists would be cowed by the immense internal energy of second-rate experts. Second-rate might seem unimpressive to me now, but the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering participants, Father, Great Leader Kang of the White Horse Unit, Chief Steward Jang, Hwa-il of Mount Hua, and the Seven Fingers Sect Leader—once the most prominent martial artist around Yeongsan—had all stood at that level.
"Where did you go?"
The Master, her face clear and clean, handed me a bottle of liquor. They didn't enjoy drinking, so they must have ordered it in advance for me.
"I went to look at baggage wagons. They want two taels of gold for a used one, but I don't know the market price, so I came back to discuss it with you, Master."
"Two taels of gold? Is it really that expensive?"
The Master also asked in surprise.
"If you add a horse or a mule, the expense would go even higher, wouldn't it? We don't know the market price for a horse either."
Son Yeong spoke with a worried face. We naturally turned our eyes to Lee Eun-ha, who was in charge of Yeongsan Sect's finances.
"Let's use the wooden token we received from Hao Sect. There's sure to be a Hao Sect branch here, too, so getting information about market prices from them will be cheap. And since we're outsiders, if we can get purchasing help from them as local martial artists, it'll become much cheaper."
Lee Eun-ha answered immediately, as if offering a prepared answer. When we looked at her with admiring eyes at her intelligence, her face reddened and she turned her head away.
"Wow. Our Junior Sister is really smart."
"I thought about it in advance from the moment the baggage wagon was brought up."
Lee Eun-ha spoke as if making an excuse, perhaps embarrassed by Jeong-hyang's praise. Which was just as impressive in its own way. She wasn't just quick-witted; she was someone who calmly and meticulously prepared everything for Yeongsan Sect every time. Without her, how on earth would Yeongsan Sect have gotten through those difficult times?
When I received the wooden token from the Master, the dishes we had ordered came out. Jilin wasn't the Central Plains, so I still didn't know the exact names of these dishes. It was roughly like a richly aromatic short-rib soup. It was quite salty, but for what it was, it was excellent. Except that the slightly heavy atmosphere in the inn's dining room had been bothering me for a while.
Even if martial artists were dangerous people, Yeongsan Sect's women, at least, were characterized by that uniquely comfortable atmosphere, setting aside their beauty, and yet even now that we were washed clean, everyone was keeping their distance from us. Was it because of Great Sun Association's movements nearby, perhaps? It bothered me a little, but just as Lee Yeon's letter had said, right below us in Henan were thousands of orthodox martial artists and the Martial Alliance, and we were guests invited by the Alliance Leader, so unless they were prepared to risk annihilation, there was no reason for them to touch us first.
The women also read that subtle mood, and although normally they would have wanted to go see the Hao Sect branch or the wagon purchase, this time they let me handle the business alone.
I left the inn and headed to the back alleys. It was my first time in Sakju, but Hao Sect branches were mostly in the gloomiest and filthiest back alleys like this. Do-hwa's house in Beijing had been that way too, but at least there it was the capital of the Central Plains and a place where the Gongsun Clan was responsible for public order. The back alleys of a provincial city like this were truly on a different level.
A woman of the red-light district solicited customers with her breasts completely bared. Men trading suspicious pouches, and an old man lying on the freezing winter ground who could have been a beggar or a corpse.
"Oh my, what business would a respectable Daoist have in a place like this? Have you come seeking the Way of the Union of Yin and Yang?"
A heavily made-up woman in her early forties gave off a foul scent as she approached and solicited me at the alley entrance. The breasts she put on display with a vulgar smile and a seductive air sagged down like an old crone's, utterly erasing even sexual desire I didn't have. Reading the undisguised displeasure on my face, she spoke, still smiling.
"Don't worry. I sell my body, yes, but basically, I'm a guide. You can see at a glance that you aren't from our side, and the streets are a little complicated for an outsider to walk alone, aren't they? I won't try to scam a martial artist, but finding what you really want will take a lot of time and trouble. Just give me one tael of silver. I'll guide you quickly to the place you want, Taoist Priest."
"This is my first time in this neighborhood, but I'm not such a fool as to get lost."
"No, Taoist Priest. The problem isn't finding the way, I tell you. Even if an outsider goes looking alone, no one will deal with you. That's the rule of this street. You're a martial artist yourself, so you'd know, but to put it bluntly, this whole place is a street managed by Hao Sect."
Suspicious medicine peddlers, thugs, whores, touts. Everyone on this street was Hao Sect. Indeed, no matter how desperately Hao Sect struggled to survive, there was a clear reason they belonged to the unorthodox faction. Since I was in a position to go and ask a favor of Hao Sect, I felt sorry to refuse her solicitation coldly any further, and it truly did seem impossible for me alone, an outsider, to find the Hao Sect branch somewhere on this street as she said, so I handed her one tael of silver.
At that, she bowed her head in greeting with a broad smile on her face. Knowing that I currently found her appearance unpleasant, she clumsily stuffed her sagging breasts back inside her clothes.
"Thank you, Daoist. What are you looking for? We have everything from an old whore like me to a ten-year-old girl, and boys as well. Don't expect the beauty of a high-class courtesan, but for a fraction of what a pleasure house charges, you can satisfy desires you could never openly indulge there."
"I'm not looking for the red-light district."
"Then, are you looking for goods? I can also get you things that are hard to find on the open market, like drugs or stolen goods. I'll tell you in advance so you aren't disappointed, most of it is just junk, but still, sometimes you can pick up a precious treasure for cheap."
"No, not that either. I came looking for the Sakju branch of Hao Sect."
When I showed her my Hao Sect wooden token and told her, she was startled for a moment, then put on a troubled face.
"The branch is closed right now. Those Great Sun Association bastards have gone crazy and are hauling off anyone who's learned some martial arts. We haven't learned martial arts ourselves, but every one of the branch's family members who had learned martial arts has shut the door and gone into hiding."
The Hao Sect branch was closed, but she spoke while clutching the silver tight, as if she could not return the guide fee. Byeok-geum used to say that when she was with the Green Forest strongholds, if the situation was unfavorable, they'd abandon their mountain stronghold and run immediately, so it was only natural for Hao Sect, a weaker armed group, to flee as well, and this woman didn't particularly seem to be lying.
Great Sun Association.
Were they even laying hands on Hao Sect, a fellow member of the Ten Great Evil Factions? What on earth were these crazy bastards thinking, right under the Martial Alliance's nose?