CH 172

Despite his age being in the mid-fifties, Hwa Yu-cheon maintained a slim figure without any fat. His current body shape was achieved thanks to his rigorous daily training and strict diet.

So although he was over fifty years old, he boasted strength and energy as if he was still in his twenties.

He originally should have been in a very good mood today. Because today was the day when he would meet the woman who would become his new concubine.

Moreover, the woman who would become his concubine was said to be beautiful and young.

The fact that she was young was especially important. A young concubine can be a source of vitality for a man who is rushing towards the twilight of his life.

But Hwa Ok-gi ruined his good mood.

“You half-baked bastard! How could you just abandon someone like Hwangbo Chiseung just because he lost his arm?!”

He knew how terrifying a person, who is at their lowest, could be in Jianghu.

They might not be a problem right now, but they could make the situation worse if the Heavenly Silver Marketplace weakens or falls into a crisis.

There are no subordinates who will devote their allegiance to a sect leader who easily abandons his men. Small problems like this can pile up together and soon cause the collapse of a growing power like the Heavenly Silver Marketplace.

Hwa Yu-cheon sighed at his pathetic son.

But that didn’t mean he would stay frowning.

Hwa Yu-cheon called his steward.

“Steward Mae!”

“Yes, my Lord!”

Soon after, Steward Mae Bulgun appeared and answered.

“How is the preparation for the banquet going?”

“I’ve prepared everything perfectly.”

“Can I trust you to do well?”

“I’ve checked it a few times to be sure. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

At Mae Bulgun’s sure answer, Hwa Yu-cheon nodded.

“What about people from the Snow Cloud Villa?”

“We let them stay in the guest hall.”

“Did anyone complain when they learned that the banquet was delayed?”

“They had no choice but to accept it.”

“Read the atmosphere carefully, and make sure they are well compensated. The more we do things like this, the more certain they have to behave.”

“Alright, my Lord!”

“Who should I pay attention to?”

“Lord Wu Jang-rak. Being Lord Yu’s subordinate, he has the greatest influence on the decision-making of the party.”

“Who else?”

“No one in particular has stood out so far.”

“Still, be polite to them.”

“Is there anything in particular that bothers you?”

Mae Bulgun had a puzzled expression. Because the Hwa Yu-cheon he knew was never the one to give these orders without a reason.

“You know that there was a big incident in Sichuan Province, right?”

“Yes! I heard that the Emei and Qingcheng sect had fought each other.”

“Because of them, Jianghu was noisy for a while.”

“It was the biggest incident that happened in Jianghu in decades.”

“But surprisingly, the calculation that happened inside is not well known. Sichuan fortress itself is such a closed place, but for some reason, even those who knew the truth of the incident kept their mouths shut.”

The Heavenly Silver Marketplace was said to have emerged as a new sect in the Enshi, but they did not have an excellent intelligence network.

There was a limit to the information they could get, and above all, they were not free enough to pay attention to the situation in Sichuan Province.

For that reason, they had no choice but to be in the dark with regards to the situation in Sichuan.

“I heard about the incident where two sects closed their gates a while ago. It was a story that was hard to believe.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It seems that one assassin sent those two sects to closed isolation.”

“What?”

Mae Bulgun unknowingly frowned.

Because it was such an unbelievable story.

“I found it unbelievable, too. The Qingcheng and Emei sect can be said to be the lords of the Sichuan Province, but such huge sects have no choice but to close their doors because of a single assassin. But it was true.”

“Really?”

“The great sects in Jianghu are already aware of it. But the problem is the identity of the assassin. Even the great sects in Jianghu have not clearly grasped the nature of the assassin yet.”

“Isn’t it possible to find out through the Hao clan?”

“Rather, it seems that the Hao clan is thoroughly blocking information.”

“Oh, so that’s why I have to pay special attention to the people of Snow Cloud Villa. Because they’re from Sichuan.”

“That’s right. Since they came from Chengdu, which is the center of Sichuan, they must know something about that assassin.”

Mae Bulgun thought that Hwa Yu-cheon was scary.

If there is an assassin who is capable of making sects, such as the Emei and the Qingcheng sect, close their gates by themselves, they need to form a relationship with them somehow.

If that didn’t work, they at least had to figure out a way to know them. That’s because they can try to hire the assassin someday when they need it.

“You have to pay special attention. We must obtain information about the assassin.”

“Alright.”

Mae Bulgun bowed his head deeply and answered.

When Pyo-wol came out, Seol Hajin spoke to him.

“What happened last night?”

“Why?”

“I sneaked in your room and you weren’t there. You were late, weren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Where have you been? The brothel?”

“I met someone.”

“You knew someone in Enshi?”

“I recently just got to know them.”

“You didn’t seem that friendly.”

Seol Hajin frowned. But she smiled soon after and whispered in a low voice,

“Are you going to be in your room tonight?”

“Maybe.”

“Fufu!”

A peculiar smile appeared on Seol Hajin’s face.

“What about Ko Il-pae?”

“He’s with Lord Wu. I don’t think we’ll be able to attend the banquet.”

It was rare for mercenaries to be invited to a banquet.

This was because, in many cases, a mercenary without roots often has no manners and has a lot of potential to cause trouble.

For that reason, many sects were wary of inviting mercenaries inside their sect.

It was the same with the Heavenly Silver Marketplace.

Only the mercenary, Wolf King1, was required to be formally invited to such a banquet.

The Wolf King was one of the eight constellations.

He was a very unusual case. He was born into a noble family, but he soon left his abode and became strong on his own in the wilderness.

Only he is welcomed everywhere, but most of the mercenaries are not.

Wu Jang-rak did not tell the mercenaries to attend the banquet, even with empty words. But he sincerely asked Pyo-wol.

“We’ll take good care of your belongings, so please go to the banquet.”

Seol Hajin squinted one eye before returning to the other mercenaries.

Pyo-wol raised his head and looked at the tree.

Someone was crouching on the highest branch. He was wearing shabby black clothes. This made his crouching figure look like a big crow.

He entered the room with Pyo-wol, but Soma quickly escaped and spent the night on such a tall branch.

No matter how comfortable the bed was, Soma couldn’t get a good night’s sleep. So he looked for a high place, and curled up there.

Every time the wind blew, the branches swayed as if it would break, but Soma persevered. The fact that he could sleep in such a state was astonishing.

Pyo-wol understood Soma.

The memories of hell he experienced as a child left deep scars in his heart.

Some people are cured without leaving a scar, but most people suffer from the aftereffects one way or another.

Soma was like that.

His memory of being kidnapped and abused by the Xiaoleiyin Temple as a child, and having his father’s arm amputated because of him, still haunts him.

He pretended to be okay on the outside and smiled like he was cheerful, but all of that was just a disguise to hide his wounds.

It was the same with Pyo-wol.

He never lets his guard down for a moment.

While everyone else was looking around and being relaxed during breaks, he couldn’t. This was one of the effects of the scars left by his dark past.

Once engulfed in darkness, it was impossible to completely shake it off.

That was the reason Soma blindly followed Pyo-wol, and it was also the same reason why Pyo-wol followed Soma.

Pyo-wol quietly entered the room and meditated. Meditating like this from time to time was more helpful for his martial arts than moving his body directly.

His martial arts of Aguido1 was a trace of his struggle for survival.

A new technique was created according to the situation and added to the existing martial arts.

As a result, his martial arts could not be refined into one and had miscellaneous aspects.

This was also the case with his favorite combination of the phantom dagger and Soul-Reaping Thread, which he used the most.

The existing martial arts were not created with in mind from the time of making Aguido, but were created on the spot as needed.

Pyo-wol thought that from now on, rather than making a new technique, he should refine his existing martial arts and complete them as one martial art.

He didn’t know how long it would take. But he couldn’t just stop.

For that reason, Pyo-wol meditated whenever he had time and refined his Aguido.

Time flew by when he was so engrossed in Aguido.

When Pyo-wol woke up, the sun was already setting over the wall.

At that moment, a voice came from outside the door.

“Lord, it’s time to attend the banquet.”

“Okay.”

Pyo-wol got up from his seat and went outside.

He had been sitting cross-legged for almost half a day, but Pyo-wol showed no sign of numbness in his legs.

When he came out, Wu Jang-rak and his men were waiting for him.

“Brother!”

Suddenly, Soma’s voice came from the air.

Soma was falling, his clothes were flapping like a crow. He landed lightly in front of Pyo-wol.

“Did you stay on the tree all this time?”

“Yes!”

“Any movement?”

“I think the guests came when the sun was at its highest. It was noisy at the entrance.”

If a person stays on a tall tree, they could clearly see what was happening inside the Heavenly Silver Marketplace. Of course, that was only possible for someone who had very good eyesight.

Fortunately, Soma possessed excellent eyesight and hearing that went beyond the limits of an ordinary warrior. To others, he looked like he was just casually spending time on a tall tree, but in fact, Soma observed and collected information on everything that happened in the Heavenly Silver Marketplace.

Soma would then pass on the information he collected to Pyo-wol, while Pyo-wol would try to understand the overall situation based on the information Soma brought.

As Wu Jang-rak listened to the conversation between Pyo-wol and Soma, he felt goosebumps running through his body.

He felt it as he traveled to this place together with them.

Those two were never at peace. Even during the break when everyone else was relaxed, the two would constantly look around and try to grasp the situation that could become a variable in advance.

The appearance of these two people was enough to make Wu Jang-rak get tired.

Unlike those two, he thought nothing was going to happen at the Heavenly Silver Marketplace. After all, they came as guests, and after one more day they would leave.

‘How can someone like me understand what they are thinking?’

Wu Jang-rak gave up understanding Pyo-wol and moved on.

The banquet was held in the biggest hall in the Heavenly Silver Marketplace.

In the spacious hall, where beautiful pillars supported the high roof, a lot of food was already prepared, and people were diligently coming and going.

“Those who come from Snow Cloud Villa can sit here.”

Steward Mae Bulgun personally guided them.

It was a seat close to the chair where the sect leader was supposed to sit. The fact that they were seated close to the sect leader was proof that he was being treated specially.

Pyo-wol and Soma sat in the back of the seat assigned to the Snow Cloud Villa.

Meanwhile, people came in one after another.

Most of them were warriors. They mostly sat behind Pyo-wol.

Considering that the front seats were vacant, it seemed that more guests would come from outside besides the Snow Cloud Villa.

Pyo-wol’s prediction soon became a reality.

“You can sit this way.”

Mae Bulgun has guided a group of warriors to a seat right next to the Snow Cloud Villa.

One man and one woman, each young and beautiful.

All the clothes he was wearing were made of precious silk. He also had a glossy blade on his waist.

Just by looking at his outfit, he could tell that he was a son of a good family.

His head was slightly raised, and his gaze was directed upwards. This sight was common among people with high self-esteem or arrogant tendencies.

Mae Bulgun introduced them to Wu Jang-rak.

“Lord Wu, these are Lord Lim Tae-moon and Lady Geum-hwa. They are the friends of Lord Hwa Ok-gi.”

“Nice to meet you. I am Wu Jang-rak of the Snow Cloud Villa .”

“If it’s the Snow Cloud Villa, isn’t it the manor where Lord Yu of Taiyuan Merchant Group2 used to live?”

In response to Lim Tae-moon’s reaction, Wu Jang-rak tilted his head slightly.

“How do you know?”

“How can I not know? It’s an honor to meet Lord Wu. I am Lim Tae-moon of the Shindojang3.”

“Shindojang?”

A puzzled expression appeared on Woo Jang-rak’s face.

It was because it was a group he had never heard of.

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy the chapter~