Chapter 20

The hour-long negotiation was finally drawing to a close.

“Half the shops owned by the Mount Heng Sword Sect, and exclusive rights to the pleasure district. Is that correct?”

“Without a doubt. And your sect?”

“From this moment onward, we will sell no information to any sect in Shanxi other than the Jin Family of Taiyuan. We will also devote all our resources to gathering and delivering information about the war.”

The terms had already been decided after dozens of rounds of push and pull.

Jin Wikyung and Wolhwa carefully reviewed the agreement one last time for any loopholes, then drew up and exchanged the documents.

“We’re officially in the same boat now. I look forward to working with you, Lesser Family Head.”

“Likewise.”

The moment they shook hands—

Ding.

System

• The Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Lower District Sect have formed an alliance.

• The alliance will remain in effect for the duration of the war.

Even this showed up. Then again, a similar notification had appeared when the war with the Mount Heng Sword Sect began.

With the Lower District Sect joining us, have our odds of winning gone up a little?

The Lower District Sect specialized in information.

Wolhwa had confidently claimed that all the information in Shanxi passed through her hands. If that was true, their help would be enormous.

Nothing is more important than information.

I didn’t know how things worked in Murim, but I knew that much. Information could become anything depending on how it was handled. A sword, a shield, or sometimes even a bomb capable of turning the tide in a single stroke.

It would be nice if Wolhwa brought us information like that.

“Then I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Please understand that I cannot see you out far while there are eyes on us.”

“Of course.”

It’s finally over.

Wipeng bowed with his usual impassive expression, and I gave an awkward half-bow of my own.

“Goodbye.”

Wolhwa’s eyes curved into crescents as she looked at me.

“Young Master Jin is coming with me.”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you going to see me off?”

“…Why would I?”

“Because we spent a hot night together?”

That full-force fastball straight to the body left me momentarily stunned. No, seriously. I’d told this woman to bring information, so why was the first thing she was spreading this kind of adults-only information?

In front of everyone, no less.

“Oh?”

“A—a hot night? Together?”

Wipeng looked back and forth between Wolhwa and me with interest, while an earthquake shook Jin Wikyung’s pupils.

“Taekyung, is that true? Is it really true?”

After a long silence, I answered.

“I’ll see her out.”

I grabbed Wolhwa by the wrist and dashed out. Behind me, Jin Wikyung’s mournful voice echoed through the hall.

“Little brotherrr!”

Wolhwa was a rare beauty. Between her slender figure and her extravagant clothes, she couldn’t help but draw attention.

“Did our family have a beauty like that?”

“Of course not. She’s an outsider.”

“An outsider?”

“Yeah. A friend among the gate guards said she’s a courtesan from Honghwaru.”

“Ah, that Honghwaru everyone says is ridiculously expensive. I know the place. Wait, but why would a courtesan come here now?”

“They say she came to collect the Third Young Master’s unpaid tab. She probably wants her money before the war turns into a full-scale conflict.”

“…Huh. The Third Young Master really gets up to all kinds of things, doesn’t he?”

Their whispers wormed their way into my ears. Wolhwa had been walking ahead of me, humming to herself, but she suddenly turned around.

“Young Master Jin, why are you so far behind?”

I answered sullenly.

“If we walk together, people will get the wrong idea. There are already ridiculous rumors going around…”

“Oh, the unpaid tab?”

Yeah. That.

“That rumor isn’t actually false.”

Wolhwa smiled brightly.

“When the gate guards asked why I came, I simply told them I was here to collect an unpaid tab. It’s not an outright lie.”

“What?”

“Were you planning to announce our alliance to the whole world?”

“…No.”

But why did she have to use my name? My image was already a complete disaster.

If a rumor like this spread when a war had just broken out, there would be no denying it. My reputation as a piece of trash would be set in stone.

“Considering you’ve already been falsely accused of poisoning someone, being a kept man is comparatively mild. Given your usual behavior, people will believe it.”

That was strangely persuasive. I nodded without thinking, then sensed something off in Wolhwa’s words.

“Falsely accused?”

Now that I thought about it, she had never once mentioned Lee Seogeun. She had adjusted the negotiations like a fastidious businesswoman, then formed an alliance as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

What exactly is she relying on?

Wolhwa gave a small smile at my suspicious look.

“Young Master Jin, have you forgotten who I am?”

“The Lower District Sect’s Shanxi Branch Leader…”

My eyes flew open.

Information. She had information.

Information proving that I wasn’t the culprit!

I hurried to Wolhwa’s side.

“Can you clear my name? Do you really have information like that?”

The war had begun with Lee Seogeun’s poisoning. If we could prove that all of this was a conspiracy carried out by someone else, we could stop the war.

But that hope was shattered by Wolhwa’s next words.

“No. I don’t.”

What?

“Then why did you form an alliance with us?”

“Because I’m a merchant.”

Wolhwa continued in a light, cheerful tone.

“We of the Lower District Sect are merchants at heart. We act strictly according to profit and loss.”

“Then this makes even less sense.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Because the Mount Heng Sword Sect is stronger than us. If you’re weighing profit and loss, shouldn’t you side with them?”

“You’re honest. Or should I say naïve?”

Wolhwa snickered.

“This is an investment. It’s the result of placing both sides on a scale and analyzing them coldly.”

“So as long as you profit, it doesn’t matter? Even if I really did poison Lee Seogeun?”

“Young Master Jin, what do you think it means that the Lower District Sect’s Shanxi branch devoted all its resources to investigating this, yet still couldn’t verify the truth?”

I hesitated, but Wolhwa didn’t wait for an answer.

“It’s simple. Either Young Master Jin is truly innocent, or you concealed the truth so well that even we couldn’t uncover it.”

“Ah.”

“Either way, I don’t lose. If the former is true, then you have legitimacy, which is enough for us. If the latter is true, then it proves the Jin Family of Taiyuan is that capable.”

I was more than a little surprised. So that was another way of looking at it.

Thorough profit-and-loss calculation. I finally understood exactly what Wolhwa meant when she called her people merchants.

Knowing someone like her was on our side was reassuring.

But…

“You’re overlooking one important thing. If I’m innocent, then who actually poisoned Lee Seogeun?”

That was the heart of this war. The biggest missing piece of the puzzle, and one even Wolhwa had failed to find.

If the Lower District Sect had discovered the culprit’s identity, she would have brought that information today.

Wolhwa sighed.

“I’m ashamed to say that nothing has been uncovered yet. But our sect is doing its best. Ah, we’re almost there.”

There were still plenty of things I wanted to ask, but with the gate guards now close by, I had no choice but to fall silent.

Our alliance with the Lower District Sect is still a secret.

A four-horse carriage, apparently the one Wolhwa had arrived in, came into view, surrounded by gate guards in a wide circle. The strange tension around it reached us even from here.

Did something happen?

I channeled internal energy into my eyes and ears. My enhanced senses soon picked up the gate guards’ tense voices.

“He’s a master. No doubt about it. At least Super First Rate, maybe even Peak. See the whip at his waist? He must be someone who handles a whip like a ghost.”

“A master of that caliber volunteering to be a coachman? A peerless beauty really is something else.”

The martial artists speaking in such grave tones appeared fairly experienced. A younger martial artist cautiously murmured,

“But doesn’t his posture have too many openings for someone like that? He’s thin, too…”

The senior martial artists clicked their tongues.

“Hey, this fellow and I have ten years of experience at the gate-watch office. We can tell from a person’s eyes alone. What the hell would a little shit like you know, butting into your elders’ conversation?”

“Tsk. Openings? Those look like openings to you? Can’t you see the ease and naturalness that only masters possess?”

“Then what about his temples? Masters with profound internal energy have bulging temples.”

“That’s just Returning to the Origin…”

Unfortunately, the conversation ended there. The gate guards noticed us standing blankly in front of the main gate and scattered.

Thanks to them, I learned the identity of the Peak master who handled a whip like a ghost—the romantic martial artist who had volunteered to be a coachman after falling for Wolhwa’s beauty.

“Young Master, do you remember me?”

“…”

As if I could forget.

That heavy voice. The sharp gaze that carried the air of a master.

He was the coachman who had brought me to the Jin Family of Taiyuan a few days ago.

I never expected to see that face here. I was momentarily speechless, and Wolhwa spoke up.

“I hear you two are acquainted. Last time, you crossed the boundary between life and death together and forged a deep friendship that transcended age and status…”

No. That isn’t what happened. Please stop.

I tugged at Wolhwa’s sleeve, but it was already too late. The coachman smiled gently and opened his mouth.

“Even now, whenever I close my eyes, the memories of that day remain vivid. The Heavenly Axe… He was a truly strong bastard.”

The gate guards, who had been listening intently, exclaimed in amazement.

“Oh!”

“The Heavenly Axe… Surely he means that Heavenly Axe of the Eighteen Strongholds of Green Forest?”

“Wasn’t he the infamous Peak master of Green Forest? To kill a man like that, as expected, this gentleman must be…”

“…”

They seemed to have gotten something seriously wrong.

I didn’t even know where to begin correcting them—or where to stop.

While I stood there blankly, the coachman grabbed me in a hug.

“If it hadn’t been for you, Young Master, I would have been in serious trouble.”

This man certainly had a strange way of putting things. Without me, he would have been drinking a cup of makgeolli atop Mount Beimang by now.¹

“Please let go of me first, then we can talk…”

I was just about to pry him off when someone muttered,

“Yama Whip. The master of the whip arts who vanished without a trace more than ten years ago. It’s him. It has to be.”

A ripple passed through the gate guards.

“Yama Whip? You mean that Peak master who roamed the realm beating down remnants of the Demonic path?”

“I’ve heard that name, too. A master who stood between the orthodox and unorthodox paths, with neither his sect nor his past known… Come to think of it, didn’t his trail vanish somewhere near Shanxi?”

“Then the Third Young Master—no, our Young Master—is acquainted with Great Hero Yama Whip.”

“And not only that. He must have played a major role in taking down the Heavenly Axe.”

“Oh! Ohhh!”

Fervent gazes poured in from every direction. Perhaps sensing that something was wrong, the coachman tried to pull away, but my hand was gripping his shoulder tightly.

“Young Master?”

I gave him the brightest smile in the world.

“To meet you again like this—Yama. Whip. Great Hero!”

My words were like oil thrown onto a fire.

“Woooah!”

The overheated gate guards stomped their feet, while Wolhwa bent over, desperately trying to hold back her laughter.

Ding.

System

• Rumors about the Poisoner are dying down!

• Rumors about the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi are gaining credibility!

• Fame increases by 20!

• Passionate supporters have appeared!

As the beautiful System notifications rang out, a famous saying came to mind.

The perfect lie… is a true story.

The young man stared at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. The light had gone out of his once-bright black eyes, and his face was twisted with fear and pain.

“Seogeun. My son.”

A large, rough hand caressed the young man’s face. Intense poisonous energy seeped through the man’s skin, only to be stopped by the internal energy that instinctively surged within him.

“How did this happen to you?”

The middle-aged man lamented.

He had grown up a complete orphan and spent decades in Murim.

He had met countless people and watched countless people leave. From the days when he was a green twenty-year-old wandering martial artist to the moment he became the master of a sect, his memories were beyond counting.

“Did it hurt? Were you so wronged that you couldn’t even close your eyes?”

He quietly looked down at his son’s wide-open eyes. Every tiny blood vessel had burst, staining his eyes red.

His son was barely twenty. Blood tears flowed from the eyes of a father who stood before his poisoned son.

“My son.”

The poisonous energy that had entered through his hand was spreading throughout his body. Within only a few breaths, his head began to spin and his limbs went numb.

Such a deadly poison.

He could vividly picture his son’s final moments—his entire body stiffening until he couldn’t even struggle.

“I will remember this pain.”

The next moment, powerful internal energy rose like a wildfire and drove the poisonous energy away. The poison that had been consuming his insides vanished in an instant, as if it had been torn apart by a pack of hundreds of wolves.

“I’ll pay those bastards back a hundredfold. A thousandfold.”

The Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect, Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheonbaek, left his son’s corpse behind and walked away.

When he opened the pavilion door, he saw the black night sky and the flickering torches beneath it.

A group of about two hundred fully armed men stood outside. The man at the front bowed his head.

“Father.”

Lee Cheonbaek nodded to his eldest son.

“Go. Tonight… our revenge begins.”

That night, about two hundred martial artists left the Mount Heng Sword Sect.