Chapter 174: Chapter 174

The surroundings turned into a mess in an instant.

Dozens of smoke bombs flew in and exploded everywhere, making the surroundings so hazy that one could not see even an inch ahead.

The guards waved their hands to try to clear the smoke, but it did not seem like they could stop the continuously exploding smoke bombs.

“Damn it!”

The guard captain spat out a curse and raised his internal energy.

It was to create a sword wind to clear away even a bit of the surrounding smoke.

But suddenly, a pitch-black figure appeared before his eyes.

“What?! Keugh!”

Thud!

Along with a short sound, the guard captain’s body went limp. Falling from his horse, he could only groan and could not stand up properly.

Preeeeet!

And then, the sound of a whistle echoed.

Subsequently, heavy thumping sounds of blows were heard from all directions.

What on earth was happening here?

The guards tried to gather their senses somehow to protect the cargo wagons.

However, the lead cargo wagon suddenly began to move, and the other wagons followed suit, rushing away. Even if they tried to grab them in surprise, there was no way they could retrieve them since they had already vanished beyond the smoke screen.

The merchant group’s cargo wagons, numbering about ten, vanished in a literal instant.

“Captain! Are you alright?”

Coughing, one of the guards helped the fallen guard captain up. Fortunately, he was breathing, and as he slowly opened his eyes, it did not seem like he had sustained any serious injuries.

“Ugh… What is going on?”

“I do not know. A smoke screen spread everywhere, and then someone attacked us. They ran away with all the cargo wagons.”

“What about their tracks?”

“We cannot see them yet because of the smoke… but given the weight of the wagons, tracks should be left on the ground.”

The guard captain nodded at his subordinate’s explanation.

If tracks remained, they could pursue them easily. Moreover, since they were carrying a considerable amount of cargo, they would not be able to get rid of the wagons easily.

The guard captain regulated his breathing and moved his body.

Soon, he approached the carriage at the very back.

Approaching the side of the carriage, he bowed deeply and spoke.

“Are you alright?”

“I am fine.”

Fortunately, a voice came from inside.

As if he were uninjured, there was a sense of leisure in that voice.

“I am sorry. Because of my shortcomings, all the goods have been stolen.”

“It is fine.”

“Yes?”

In that instant, a chuckle was heard.

Then, the carriage window opened, revealing the face of Gong Juk, the chief manager of the Hunan Merchant Group.

He had a smile on his lips. By no means did he look like someone who had just lost their goods.

“I said it is fine. Everything… is within expectations.”

“…?”

The guard captain could not understand the meaning of those words at all.

* * *

A group of people quickly drove the horses pulling the cargo wagons up the mountain path.

Without even caring about the heavy rattling caused by the uneven ground, they only seemed to think about leaving the place in a hurry.

Plop, plop.

Besides, they were lucky today.

They had even found a waterway to erase their tracks, and rain began to fall just at the right time.

Looking at the dark clouds, it seemed a considerable amount of rain would pour down, so the rainwater would wash away the tracks left by the wagons.

“We just need to run a little further!”

“I know!”

The group grinned.

Dongting Lake would appear soon.

If they could just load the cargo onto the boat they had prepared there in advance, they would acquire immense wealth.

Their hearts were already pounding at the thought.

They had watched the Hunan Merchant Group for a very long time.

Like those who made a habit of flocking together to steal, they had prepared their plans meticulously, and they had even set up several backup plans in case of unforeseen events.

Until now, they had never failed in their thievery.

Perhaps they would not fall behind even when compared to the most famous thieves in the Central Plains.

Yang Cheolsang, the leader of the group, smiled faintly as he looked at the cargo wagons filled with goods.

It was indeed a good decision to keep an eye on the Hunan Merchant Group.

Since they were people who had never failed a trade journey before, he believed they would lower their guard.

Thus, as soon as he heard the news that a large-scale trade journey was being prepared, he readied several plans, and the result was very good.

Once they arrived at Dongting Lake, all plans would be finalized.

“We have arrived!”

At the voice coming from ahead, Yang Cheolsang snapped out of it and raised his head.

He saw several people waiting in front of a large boat.

Every single one of them had their faces covered, but they were not enemies.

Rogues hired with money, they were meant to be the personnel to move the cargo from the wagons.

After that, they would also be used to shake off the pursuit of the Hunan Merchant Group.

Stopping the cargo wagons there, Yang Cheolsang shouted loudly.

“There is no time, so hurry up and move them!”

The people reacted instantly to his shout.

The rogues moved hurriedly.

Swift movements were indeed the primary element to finish a task quickly.

Moving quickly here and there, they stood in front of the ten or so cargo wagons.

Soon, at the moment they pulled back the pitch-black cloths.

“Stop!”

With a thunderous roar, people popped out of the cargo wagons.

There were constables, of course, and even those who had trained in martial arts.

From the beginning, no cargo was loaded in the wagons; instead, people had been hiding inside.

“What… the…?”

Yang Cheolsang stared at it with a blank expression.

The constables and martial artists, who revealed themselves as soon as the cloths were pulled back, immediately drew their spears and swords and pointed them at the rogues and Yang Cheolsang’s group.

“If anyone moves, kill them all!”

Ringing out!

That single sentence echoing around greatly shook Yang Cheolsang’s heart.

He knew who the person in front of him was; he recognized the face.

Yang Cheolsang gulped hard.

It was Gu Hwangjung, the county magistrate of Changsha.

Even the ones standing beside him were martial artists who were quite famous in Hunan, clearly hired by the Hunan Merchant Group.

Since their killing intent flowed thickly, his head would fly off if he moved rashly.

“Th-This is impossible…!”

Yang Cheolsang could not believe it.

Did they anticipate that they would launch an attack?

Did they disguise themselves as a trade journey and purposely hide this many people in the wagons for that reason?

Tremble.

The corners of his mouth trembled.

Soon, Gu Hwangjung’s voice, which rang out, shook his heart even more.

“Bind them all! You may kill anyone who resists!”

“Yes!”

He had never feared the constables, who replied in resounding voices, as much as he did today.

* * *

“Hmm…”

“…”

“Ugh…”

There was a group watching the spectacle from afar.

The three people wearing masks watched everything without missing a single thing, starting from the moment those guys attacked the Hunan Merchant Group’s trade journey.

They were flustered.

Because there were others who carried out the very action they had planned to do first.

However, thinking that things would be easier if those guys ran away with the goods in the end, they just watched quietly.

Soon, when they stopped in front of the Dongting Lake waterway and showed signs of moving the cargo to the boat, Dan Woo-hyun tried to step forward.

However, an entirely unexpected event occurred.

To think that there were no goods inside, only people?

Even people who looked like constables and a county magistrate appeared.

“Amazing.”

“Yes, it is wonderful.”

“If we had approached thoughtlessly, we would have been the ones caught.”

Namgung So-hye smiled awkwardly and agreed with Gwon Woojin’s words. Who could have possibly thought that people were riding inside those cargo wagons?

Even Dan Woo-hyun was completely fooled.

Part of the reason was that, to be absolutely safe, they stayed so far away that they would not be seen unless they were masters of internal energy, thus failing to sense the presence of the people inside the wagons.

“It must be a trap set in advance to catch us, right?”

“Probably.”

Letting out a sigh, Dan Woo-hyun stroked his chin.

If he had stepped forward first instead of those thieves, a troublesome situation might have unfolded.

If their opponents were government officials rather than martial artists, things would surely have become annoying in many ways.

“Does it mean they were reading our movements? I do not know who it is, but they are quite capable.”

“I suspect it was the plan of the person riding in that carriage earlier.”

Dan Woo-hyun agreed with Gwon Woojin’s words and nodded.

Something had been strange since right after the attack. Even though they should have pursued immediately, the Hunan Merchant Group was extremely peaceful.

“Even if we fell into a trap, there would be plenty of ways to escape, but…”

Still, they could not be confident that this would not happen again.

“Sigh… This is why one should not commit bad deeds.”

What came out of Namgung So-hye’s mouth was definitely a sigh of relief. As Gwon Woojin said, there would have been plenty of ways to escape, but they might have ended up on wanted posters in the land of Hunan to catch the masked trio.

It was rather a good thing.

Dan Woo-hyun watched the entire scene.

The constables moved quickly and began to bind the thieves.

A few of the masked men threw themselves to escape, but the martial artists, who seemed to have been hired by the Hunan Merchant Group, moved swiftly.

Several had already died and become lonely souls.

Dan Woo-hyun muttered as he watched the scene.

“Planned from the very beginning… It seems I underestimated them too much.”

Frowning, Dan Woo-hyun looked displeased about something.

Thinking that all of this happened according to someone’s intention, he felt like Sun Wukong playing in the palm of the Buddha.

It was a dirty feeling.

Dan Woo-hyun turned his back with an utterly hollow laugh.

In any case, if the stolen goods were not here, there was nothing more to see.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes.”

Dan Woo-hyun’s pace as he walked ahead was quite fast.

Judging by his subdued voice, one could tell that his mood was extremely bad.

“Do you know the reason why Sun Wukong tried to kill the Buddha?”

“Well…?”

“Because he did not want to play in that palm anymore.”

Leaving those words behind, Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes narrowed.

His cold expression struck fear into anyone who saw it.

Gwon Woojin and Namgung So-hye followed him in tight-lipped silence.

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