Chapter 82: Shaanxi Scorpion (5)
Seven strands of hair that had been bound with jeung suddenly snapped.
What the hell?
This had never happened before.
Well, it had once—back with his own wife, the first person he'd ever controlled.
One day, she discovered the secret of the jeung and fled from him.
In his rage, Nok Il chased her down and killed her.
That was when her hair strands broke.
As far as he knew, the only ways to break the jeung's control were death... or if Nok Il himself, its master, cut the strands.
But he certainly hadn't done that...
Something's off here.
As Nok Il pondered his jeung, a subordinate's voice came from outside the door.
"Master."
"Come in."
The subordinate entered the room and reported.
"The Eunhae Merchant Group hasn't left yet."
"Idiots... They must still have lingering regrets. Why not just head back quickly instead of wasting their own money to stick around..."
"Exactly, sir."
The subordinate continued.
"Oh, what about that old man?"
"Who?"
"The one who makes the tea."
This time, given the opponent's status, he'd acted boldly.
He'd kidnapped a retired black tea master and threatened him into brewing pu'er tea.
But if that old man's testimony exposed him as a fraud, that would be trouble.
So he couldn't just let him go.
"What do you mean 'what'? If he talks, we're done. Kill him."
"Understood."
It wasn't dirtying his own hands, so he issued the order without hesitation.
That was when it happened.
"Seize them all!"
"Yes, sir!"
Officials suddenly burst in, surrounding the Nokgeum Merchant Group in an instant.
Nok Il wondered what the hell was going on.
The officials who stormed into his room bound him and his subordinate with ropes.
He demanded of them.
"What is the meaning of this? What crime have we committed?"
"Your crimes are already exposed. You're the Shaanxi Scorpion!"
I was in the county office.
As the sun dipped low, a group knelt in the courtyard.
At their center sat a man named Nok Il.
This was the Shaanxi Scorpion.
In my previous life, he'd died as a middle-aged man. But now he was young.
That meant he'd spent those years scamming countless people.
And controlling even more courtesans.
"My lord! I'm innocent!"
"Hah! Silence, criminal! These many witnesses have come to testify to your evil deeds!"
Beside him stood the witnesses.
Courtesans.
Honestly, I was surprised when they said they'd testify at the county office.
I hadn't expected that.
Even if they'd been controlled, they could face punishment themselves.
"I'll testify," said a courtesan named Ju Wol.
"Ten days ago, he asked me to drug Hwang Haengsu into sleep and take a mold of his face."
"And did you?"
"Yes."
"Was there payment?"
"No. But I had no choice. An unknown force compelled me."
"So you were under sorcery?"
At those words, I stepped forward. The rest was for me to explain.
"That's right. These courtesans were all under sorcery."
Nok Il—no, the Shaanxi Scorpion's eyes wavered at my words.
No wonder.
I'd seen through his sorcery.
"How did you break the spell on them?"
"Truth be told, I'm cultivating a technique to dispel sorcery."
"I knew it."
Then warriors from the Eun Pung Corps and officials approached us.
"As you said, we found these."
They carried human skin face masks.
The courtesans had revealed their hiding spot, and they'd retrieved them.
Nok Il hadn't hidden them at the Nokgeum Merchant Group, of course.
But in an unexpected, remote house.
According to the courtesans, it was a rendezvous point.
Believing he controlled them, he'd revealed it freely.
"We also found someone imprisoned there."
An old man followed beside them.
Seeing the haggard elder, Magistrate Ji Hyun said.
"Bring a chair for him."
"Yes."
Once the old man sat, Ji Hyun asked.
"So, old timer, why were you imprisoned?"
"Well..."
The elder glanced at the bound Nok Il and said.
"I was kidnapped. He threatened to kill my grandson unless I brewed pu'er tea for him."
I had a feeling I knew who this old man was.
Hwang Haengsu had investigated the fake tea we'd obtained and said it bore the craftsmanship of the Oh family's tea fields.
At the old Oh man's words, Nok Il bristled.
"I never did that! The old fool's senile, and I've never even seen him before!"
"Hah! Quiet!"
So he planned to keep denying everything?
Honestly, there was no decisive evidence yet. All the current proof could be twisted with a silver tongue.
What if irrefutable evidence emerged here? How would Nok Il—or rather, the Shaanxi Scorpion—react?
"Merciful and wise Magistrate Ji Hyun, allow me to speak."
"Go ahead."
"Actually, our Eunhae Merchant Group's Eom Sam Taek Haengsu meant to serve Tieguanyin tea to Hwang Haengsu during their dealings, but served something else by mistake."
"Something else?"
"Chuo flowers. Eom Haengsu brews them as medicine for his arthritis."
Chuo flowers, which bloomed like helmets, were also used for arthritis.
"He drank a lot, and we were worried. Because in large amounts, they become poisonous."
"Poisonous?"
"Yes. At first, symptoms include indigestion, nausea, and bile rising. Then, after two days, the skin grows cold, breathing slows, heartbeat weakens..."
I paused briefly before continuing.
"And death follows."
I looked at the Shaanxi Scorpion with a concerned expression.
"That's why I'm worried. He drank enough to be fatal."
"..."
His eyes shook at my words.
In truth, indigestion and nausea were chronic ailments for Shaanxi folk, thanks to their wheat-flour staple diet.
But hearing it described as poisoning symptoms with no context? Terrifying.
"That's why I'm trying to find the culprit. Even a scammer doesn't deserve to die from our mistake, right?"
"True enough."
"Licorice root, black beans boiled as an antidote, or candy would work..."
I turned to Magistrate Ji Hyun.
"But this man claims innocence, so he probably didn't drink the chuo. Lucky for us."
"Indeed, a relief. Dealing with a corpse is no small task."
Ji Hyun nodded.
"We'll end the interrogation here for today. Lock them in the jail!"
"Yes, sir!"
That night.
I was inside the Nokgeum Merchant Group compound.
Officials guarded the place, but thanks to my Shadowless Step, they hadn't noticed me.
I'd come for something I absolutely had to find.
The artifact that controlled the courtesans.
Where could it be?
He'd hidden scam tools in unrelated places.
But an artifact used constantly to control people? Not likely hidden away.
No.
He'd probably kept it on him.
And he was in his room when captured.
I entered Nok Il's room.
Recalling the moment officials seized him.
If he'd held it then?
No. With a subordinate present, he'd have hidden it first.
Somewhere quick to stash.
As I scanned the room, my stomach churned.
The exact queasy feeling from seeing Ju Wol at Surok Pavilion.
Meaning it was nearby.
I quickly checked around, spotting under the desk.
I smirked.
A hidden drawer beneath the desk. I opened it immediately.
A single jeung lay inside.
Seeing it made my gut roil violently.
This was the artifact that controlled the courtesans.
I took it and headed to a deserted spot.
After checking surroundings, I drew the jeung from my bosom.
In my previous life, after the Shaanxi Scorpion's capture, this jeung was revealed.
The Emperor ordered it burned, but it vanished mysteriously.
When it reappeared, it was in the hands of the palace lord of the Cheonhui Hwanrak Palace.
A black path martial artist, she'd used it to control countless men she'd bedded.
Causing horrific tragedies.
Fathers and sons, brothers turning blades on each other.
I sneered at the jeung in my hand and chose to burn it.
For using it accumulated side effects.
Loss of emotions.
That's why the Shaanxi Scorpion scammed without remorse, and the palace lord ravaged men and sparked bloodbaths without batting an eye.
Humans are human because of emotions.
I wanted to stay human.
Besides, if I couldn't feel joy at successful revenge, what meaning would this life hold?
If the rage from my death faded, what point in revenge?
Second reason: Using it required copulation.
I'm no lust-crazed fool. Sacrifice my purity for this?
Ridiculous.
Third: This jeung was crafted by a black path figure brimming with grudges.
Its very form as bound hair screamed a curse on the world.
Probably made after being abandoned by a lover.
Hence its power over those you'd bed.
No matter how I saw it, it harmed the world more with use.
But as an artifact, it wouldn't burn easily.
I drew a dagger and lightly sliced my left ring finger.
Ugh!
Damn, that hurts.
With the flowing blood, I wrote the character for "release" (解) on the jeung's chest.
The method a Mosan Sect Taoist used when I seized this jeung from the palace lord in my past life.
I set it down, poured oil over it.
Then struck flint, igniting the jeung.
Whoosh!
Soaked in oil, it blazed up instantly.
The repulsive aura vanished, and my churning stomach settled.
Thus, the tragedy-bringing artifact jeung was gone.
Ow, my finger stings.
I'll have Palgap apply some salve.
Next, off to see the Shaanxi Scorpion.
Something amusing awaits.
Nok Il was locked in jail.
Manacles bound his hands and feet, restricting movement.
At least he was separated from his subordinates.
He could sell them out and buy his freedom.
The problem was the tea he'd drunk during the deal—it was poison.
Damn! No wonder it tasted odd!
The tea he'd sipped was from the Eunhae Merchant Group itself.
Not yet on the market, so he had no choice but to believe Eun Seo-ho's claim of "poison tea."
His body felt increasingly cold.
Is this what dying feels like...?
Then.
"My lord, are you alright?"
"You...?"
Fortunately, it was his subordinate who'd come.
Absent from the Nokgeum compound while carrying out orders, he'd escaped capture.
"How'd you get in here?"
"Bribed some guards. But eat this quick."
The subordinate pulled a pouch from his bosom.
"Candy."
Nok Il's eyes widened.
"They said you drank poison tea, and this is the antidote. So I brought it."
"You're the only one I can count on!"
"How did you end up drinking poison tea?"
Nok Il shook his head vigorously.
"I didn't know it was poison. Eom Sam Taek Haengsu said it was fine tea, so I believed him! Where'd you get the candy?"
"We skimmed some from the batch we sold."
"Ah, that's it!"
Nok Il tore open the pouch and devoured the candy greedily.
"Phew, now I'll live... Gah!"
Something felt off. Turning his head, he froze in horror.
Ji Hyun, who'd interrogated him earlier, and the bailiff glared down at him.