Chapter 219: Chapter 219

The Murim Alliance punitive force…… no, envoy delegation attending the founding ceremony of the Black Thought Alliance departed from Wuhan and headed north.

The place where the Black Thought Alliance was located was Shanxi Province.

To get there from Wuhan, one had to cross Hubei Province and pass through Henan.

There were no great difficulties on the traveling party’s journey.

The capable escorts guided us along good roads, so we moved comfortably, and a Murim Alliance flag was hung at the head of the traveling party to prevent small disputes in advance.

“Still, it is regrettable.”

Dang Seo-hui, who for some reason looked as though she was sitting on a horse bigger than everyone else’s, wore a gloomy expression.

“I heard that large and small incidents are bound to happen during the journey of a traveling party.”

Please do not say such frightening things.

If this group became entangled in an incident, there would be no answer.

We were in a position where we needed to prevent even existing incidents, yet she wanted to get tangled in conflicts large and small.

……Just imagining it was horrifying.

However, Dang Seo-hui’s gloomy expression showed no sign of easing.

“Senior Tang, have you not been active in the murim for quite some time?”

“When I travel with the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, no one picks a fight with us.”

“……Is that not a good thing?”

When I looked at her in puzzlement, Dang Seo-hui’s cheeks puffed up slightly, as though she had filled them with air.

“……As a chivalrous hero, I want to subdue villains.”

“…….”

Grr, what was that expression supposed to be?

I shook my head hard and held on to my sanity.

No, had she not played chivalrous hero enough while working with the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly?

What was the reason the Black Path murim trembled when they heard the name Plain Hand Divine Maiden?

It was because the number of people who had died at her hands exceeded the number handled by the entire Dragon and Phoenix Assembly……

“We are an envoy delegation. Rather, it is better if we do not get involved in such matters.”

Moreover, until Henan, it could be considered Shaolin Temple’s territory, so even Black Path members would be careful with their actions on their own.

But Shanxi Province, which we were entering from now on, was where the Murim Alliance’s influence began weakening.

That meant we also had to be on full alert.

‘Still, they chose quite the exquisite location.’

I had thought the place where the Black Path alliance would be established would be near Mount Dabie in Henan, the same as in my past life, but the Black Path alliance of this life had settled in Shanxi Province.

In truth, no matter where in the murim one took root, one could not escape the Murim Alliance’s influence, but Shanxi Province’s location was subtle.

Since there were many Black Path sects on Mount Dabie in Henan, when they fought a battle against the Murim Alliance, they could use Mount Dabie as a forward base.

And when they targeted Shaolin, the Mount Tai and Northern Dipper of the murim, they could establish an encirclement from both Mount Dabie and Shanxi Province.

Conversely, if the Murim Alliance raised warriors to subjugate the Black Thought Alliance and headed north, the emperor, seated in nearby Beijing, would have his fur stand on end and suspect the Murim Alliance of “rebellion.”

For the Murim Alliance, it was a situation where they had to watch Beijing’s reaction before striking the Black Thought Alliance.

‘Is there someone acting as the brain of the Black Thought Alliance?’

In my past life, the Demonic Cult’s attack had been so swift that the formation of the Black Path alliance had also been done in a hurry, like roasting beans in a lightning flash, and even that had not lasted long before it dissolved.

But in this life, the Black Path alliance had been formed earlier and had even preoccupied a strategic location.

Perhaps there was a sense of expectation that the history of the future might truly change.

Around the time I was lost in such thoughts,

our envoy delegation’s ideological inquisitor……. no, delegation leader, Ak Byeong-bi, spoke.

“We will lower the flag from here.”

“Pardon?”

Ak Byeong-bi stared at me with eyes that still did not like me.

“What? Do you have a complaint?”

“This is Shanxi Province from here on. We do not know what dangers may be lying in wait, yet you want to lower the flag?”

“If we keep the flag raised in Shanxi, it may be mistaken as a signal that our Murim Alliance is submitting to the Black Thought Alliance.”

No, was it not usually the opposite?

Why would he insist on pride in a dangerous place?

“With the founding of the Black Thought Alliance, the Black Path members around Shanxi Province will also know that many supplies are moving around. An incident will definitely happen.”

Even at my calm explanation, Ak Byeong-bi shouted with his characteristic emotionless gaze.

“Hmph! I do not fear mere Black Path bastards!”

Fuck, this was why I had not wanted to come.

If an administrator who did not know martial arts had come instead, they definitely would never have said to lower the flag.

Amid the chaotic atmosphere, Il-myeong calmly put his palms together while his head shone.

“Benefactor Jin, please do not worry too much. Black Path members are people too. They will not commit atrocities against just anyone.”

What would a monk who knew nothing of the world know?

As my sigh deepened, Dang Seo-hui said with her eyes sparkling unusually brightly,

“My heart is pounding!”

My heart was pounding too. Damn it.

***

After passing Zhengzhou, going through Luoyang, and crossing Jiyuan, we soon entered Shanxi Province.

Contrary to my worries, no major disputes occurred in the small cities.

‘Well, our traveling party is extremely unusual.’

A massive man holding an iron spear.

A monk rolling prayer beads.

A girl draped in green silk with an ominous aura.

Even if some thug strutted around with his shoulders full of strength, he would not dare approach a group like this.

Thinking about it, even within the Black Path murim, did they not tend to be more wary of people dressed strangely?

Unless they were giants, they would not easily attack, and giants would not be interested in us in the first place.

Perhaps my worries were nothing but needless concern.

‘It should have been that way…….’

Gaoping, the first large city where we stayed after entering Shanxi Province.

As we were having an awkward meal at an inn in Gaoping, voices that tickled our ears reached us.

“You fucking bastard, do you want to die? Lower your eyes.”

“You dog-pawed bastard! Should I use your intestines as a jump rope today?!”

A quarrel commonly found in an inn.

Moreover, since Black Path members from all over the country were gathering for the founding ceremony of the Black Thought Alliance, fights occurred more frequently than usual inside the inn.

“You fucking bastard, seriously! Are you crazy enough to want to die? Do you know the Evil Sword Gang? Its Gang Chief is my eldest brother’s sworn brother!”

“You dog-pawed bastard! You! Do you know the Evil Tiger Sect? Its Sect Leader is my cousin’s friend’s wife’s cousin!”

As their voices grew louder, the companions of those fighting began rising from their seats one by one, and the small scuffle made the surroundings tense.

‘Still, it will not turn into a full fight.’

If they had intended to fight in the first place, they would have grabbed their weapons and charged at each other.

But since both sides had a considerable number of people, they would probably just keep up this psychological warfare and end it like this.

Just as I turned my head and stopped paying attention,

Thwack.

With a strange sound, screams filled the inside of the inn.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Ghk!! Ch-chopsticks?!”

A wooden chopstick was stuck in each of the arms of the two people who had led the quarrel.

Then, from beside me, I heard a voice that somehow carried a slight excitement.

“I will let you off this far. Do not harm people anymore.”

When I looked at Dang Seo-hui with unbelieving eyes,

……there was a bundle of chopsticks in her hand.

When Dang Seo-hui’s eyes met mine, she whispered in a strangely proud voice.

“I practiced because I knew something like this would happen.”

‘Insane!!!’

No, they had not picked a fight with us, and they were fighting among themselves, so why did she throw chopsticks at them?

As I was so dumbfounded I could not say anything, the bastards with chopsticks stuck in them rolled their eyes and tried to charge.

“You fucking bastard! You ambushed us out of nowhere?”

“You damn dog-pawed bastard, are you trying to die?!”

The Black Path members with chopsticks stuck in them took the opportunity and defined us as their enemy.

That was because they judged that rather than fighting nearly forty people among themselves, it would be better to beat up us, who were dressed strangely but numbered only four.

I quickly looked at Il-myeong and Ak Byeong-bi.

Unlike Il-myeong, who was quietly rolling his prayer beads and looking at the Black Path members, Ak Byeong-bi slammed his iron spear onto the floor with a thud, as though he was ready to act at any moment.

No, you are the delegation leader! You should stop them, not join the fight!

‘Haa…… My head…….’

I did not know anymore either.

I felt as though I had done everything I could.

Well, would the Blood Star, Plain Hand Divine Maiden, and Small Buddha under heaven die to mere Black Path riffraff?

It was just that this incident would twist our relationship with the Black Thought Alliance, ruin the alliance, break the agreement, and start a war.

Tsk.

Just as I felt strength leave my body as though a cord had snapped in my head, and I sat down to pour alcohol into my mouth,

“Huh?”

I saw a man and a woman mixed in among the Black Path group.

A beautiful woman who seemed to have just entered her thirties, and a skinny old man who looked around eighty.

The two of them were watching with shining eyes, as if waiting for the fight to begin.

Those people…….

My head went numb as though I had been struck.

‘Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Battle!’

Their appearances were clearly different, but their habits, movements, and even their gazes were identical to what I had seen in my past life.

Infamous absolute masters of the Black Path had hidden their energy and were hiding among the Black Path riffraff!

I shouted without even having time to think about why they were hiding here.

“W-wait!!!!”

My voice rang thunderously through the inn.

Everyone who had been about to begin fighting looked at me, and I quickly went into the center and searched through my clothes.

“Oh my…… I am sorry. My companion made a mistake.”

At my sudden change in attitude, the Black Path bastards’ eyes turned sharp.

Then they glared at me and pointed at the chopsticks stuck in their arms.

“A mistake?”

“What is this dog-pawed bastard saying?”

I smiled as kindly as possible and said,

“I am sorry. I am sorry. That person is a daughter of the Tang Clan, and because she has practiced martial arts too much, her hands sometimes move on their own even in daily life.”

“A d-daughter of the Tang Clan?”

I felt their eyes shake slightly.

I quickly nodded.

“Yes. You have heard of the Plain Hand Divine Maiden of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, have you not?”

“Hup…….”

I took out one gold coin each from my bosom and held them out to the two.

“I am sorry. The pain of your wounds cannot be converted into money, but is this not better than causing an unnecessary fight and being injured further?”

When the gold coins shimmered before their eyes, the Black Path members who had been hesitating reached out and gripped the coins.

“Hmph! Keep her under control from now on! If you make the same mistake next time, you will meet the Evil Sword Gang Chief, my eldest brother’s sworn brother.”

“If you do not want to meet the Evil Tiger Sect Leader, my cousin’s friend’s wife’s cousin, be careful too!”

“Yees, yees. Of course. Of course.”

The Black Path group turned sharply and began leaving the inn in a rush.

Fortunately, Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Battle also left the inn, unable to hide their regretful expressions.

“Haa…….”

When I turned around with a long sigh, Dang Seo-hui and Ak Byeong-bi were staring at me with expressions full of dissatisfaction.

“Why did you interfere? Because of you, justice in the murim has fallen to the ground!!!”

She did not even know I had saved her……!

And judging those bastards would not make justice stand upright in the first place!

“You…… Seeing as you worry about the Black Path members’ injuries, you are clearly a bastard rooted in the Black Path!”

Ak Byeong-bi, the ideological inquisitor, was glaring at me with eyes that seemed eager to “enact justice” at any moment.

‘Haa, fuck, all of you nearly died here!’

If I died during this envoy delegation, it would probably be from pent-up rage.

I felt like chanting the Buddhist prayers I hated so much.

***

On the road past Gaoping, after staying a day in Shangchi and heading toward Jinzhong.

Midway, we briefly rested and took a meal.

While the escorts guarded the surroundings and inspected the cargo and carriages, the cart hands fed and watered the horses and prepared our meal.

This was what was so convenient about traveling with an escort agency.

Other people did all the things I had to do for me.

As I was eating with satisfaction, a small voice came from beside me.

“Um…… Is it truly all right for you to eat with us?”

At the question from a middle-aged cart hand, I answered,

“It is fine. I feel like I will get indigestion if I eat over there. Are you uncomfortable because I am here?”

“Ah, no! We are fine.”

Originally, I had to eat with the envoy delegation, but because Ak Byeong-bi kept staring at me with suspicious eyes every time I lifted my spoon, I could not get the porridge down at all.

‘My lifespan will be shortened by at least a year on this journey.’

If they openly picked fights with me, I would subdue them at once and grate on their nerves even more, but after that day, Ak Byeong-bi had not raised any particular other issues with me.

It was the same on this journey. He simply did not like me, but as a delegation member, he was treating me sufficiently well, which instead made me feel even more uncomfortable.

The middle-aged cart hand lowered his head slightly.

“Y-young Master, thank you.”

“Pardon? For what?”

I had told the cart hands and escorts to speak comfortably to me, but my status as an academy student seemed to make them tense.

“W-well, you always stop fights and such, do you not?”

The middle-aged cart hand scratched his head awkwardly.

“You have no idea how reassuring it is.”

Well, if a fight began, the first ones to die would be the weakest.

“Not at all.”

“By the way, I am worried about what comes next. Soon, we will encounter mountain strongholds. And since the flag has been lowered……. I am worried whether the delegation leader will allow us to pay a toll.”

I asked back in puzzlement,

“Mountain strongholds? Are there many of them?”

“Originally, there were only two large mountain strongholds on the road from Shangchi to Jinzhong, but many have appeared this year because of the drought in Shanxi Province.”

The so-called livelihood bandits.

How much time had even passed since the harvest ended for people to already go up into the mountains?

Hearing the story, the officials of Shanxi Province must have been quite corrupt.

“Still, they will not demand too much in tolls. Especially if they see martial artists, they usually do not rush in very much…….”

I roughly understood what he meant.

I reassured him.

“Do not worry. The envoy delegation’s mission is to reach Tae-won safely, not to cause disturbances on the way.”

Of course, there was a human Thunderbolt Bomb who exploded at the slightest scent of the Black Path, and a human who could not distinguish between martial arts novels and reality…… but had we not somehow come this far?

The middle-aged cart hand’s eyes shone as though he was moved, and he lowered his head.

“Th-thank you!”

“Thank you, Young Master!”

The other cart hands seemed to have been very worried about that too, and all lowered their heads at once.

For their sake as well, I resolved to keep my mind even sharper.

Not long after we left the main road and began climbing an unknown mountain, the escort standing at the front of the traveling party raised his hand and stopped the group.

“What is it?”

At Ak Byeong-bi’s question, the escort pointed ahead and said,

“It seems a group of people is blocking the road.”

“Is it a mountain stronghold?”

“It is a place that originally did not exist. It seems to have appeared recently. They are probably people who went into the mountains because they had no food. What should we do?”

If we wanted to cross, we would have to pay a toll, and if we did not want to pay the toll, we would have to fight.

Of course, the envoy delegation would not be beaten by half-baked bandits, so the escort’s intent was probably to suggest giving them money and passing through.

Because they too knew how cruel the reality was when a head of household could not bring food home to his family.

However.

“The Murim Alliance neither compromises nor turns back!”

Look, look at that blockheaded thing.

At Ak Byeong-bi’s words, the escort let out a small sigh.

The other escorts also began picking up clubs instead of swords, as though they had expected as much.

Their intent was that even if they could not give money, they would at least not take lives.

When we climbed to the top of the slope like that, a strange scene entered our eyes.

Dozens of people who seemed to be clumsy bandits were kneeling to one side, and opposite them stood a man and a woman looking down at the bandits.

Soon, an unpleasant smell blew in on the wind.

‘Blood?’

My gaze turned toward the corpses piled on one side.

Perhaps they had not been dead long, because blood was still dripping from the corpses.

The escorts quickly put down their clubs and adjusted their grip on their swords.

Around the time the members of the envoy delegation also cautiously drew their swords one by one,

“Oh my? Who is this? Did we not meet in Gaoping?”

The beautiful woman who had been looking down at the bandits turned toward us and waved gently.

“What a coincidence.”

A coincidence?

The routes used by escorts might be fixed, but there were dozens of roads from Gaoping to Tae-won.

It was far too perfect to call it a coincidence.

I looked at the woman wearing a painted, beautiful smile and the old man standing with a ramrod-straight posture.

‘Damn it……. Were they waiting for us?’

The true identities of the man and woman were none other than Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Battle.