Chapter 141: Turbulent Waves

The gambling house they arrived at, guided by Gwan Jung-yeon, was bustling with people despite it being the middle of the night.

“Up we go!”

Gwan Jung-yeon climbed down from my back.

The place where he had been injured was his arm, and I had already taken care of the urgent crisis.

Although it did not seem entirely fine, as I could feel his body’s balance leaning slightly, it appeared he had judged that remaining carried on my back would draw too much attention from the people.

“We should be able to catch our breath for now. Around this area… even the government soldiers rarely come.”

I understood immediately.

When people think of a gambling house, they usually picture fools bringing themselves to ruin, but those who truly enjoy gambling are actually wealthy people holding large sums of money.

And with wealthy people, power naturally follows.

As Gwan Jung-yeon took the lead, those loitering near the entrance opened the door of their own accord.

“It seems this isn’t your first time?”

“When you perform public duties, you have to do many different things.”

Considering the specialized nature of the Dragon Scale Squad, this too was easy to understand.

As we stepped inside, the cheers and curses of the people gradually began to reach our ears.

It was the sound of someone winning and someone losing.

Cutting through the very center of this joy and sorrow, an old man approached.

He was an old man holding a long pipe from which smoke billowed.

How should I put it, he gave off the impression of someone who would deal in old antiques?

The old man’s sharp eyes swept over me and Yi Hwa, landed on Gwan Jung-yeon’s arm, and then he clicked his tongue.

“You’re hurt.”

“Well, that’s how it turned out.”

“Let’s see…”

At the old man’s words, Gwan Jung-yeon rolled up his sleeve and showed his arm that had been struck by the black qi.

Although the black qi that had billowed like fire was gone, in its place, it gleamed with a dark light like charcoal holding heat.

The old man frowned.

“Did you come here asking me to cut off your arm? We only have knives for cutting off fingers here. If I look around, I suppose cutting it off at the wrist might be possible?”

“Your jokes are as bloodcurdling as ever, Old Han.”

“Has the black qi seeped into your head too? Does this sound like a joke to you? You absolute blockhead!”

With his unreserved speech, the old man whacked Gwan Jung-yeon’s head with his long pipe.

However, I felt a strong sense that he was actually worried about Gwan Jung-yeon’s arm.

“Don’t worry too much. The young hero here has agreed to treat it.”

“He’s going to treat this?”

At Gwan Jung-yeon’s reassuring reply, the old man, who was about to raise his pipe again, looked at me with startled eyes.

His reaction made it clear how they had dealt with it whenever they were struck by black qi until now.

“Besides, the young hero is also someone we can trust. He is none other than Lord Yeon’s grandson.”

“Lord Yeon? If it’s a Yeon whom you would call Lord… could it be that you are Mu-ae’s grandson?”

This time, I was also surprised.

Most of those who referred to my grandfather’s alias in that manner were elders who had a close relationship with him.

“Do you know my grandfather?”

“I know him. I know him very well. That damn swindler.”

“Ahaha…”

I couldn’t help but laugh, realizing that grandfather’s personality could be described in such a way.

When I first saw the old man called Old Han, I thought he was just a local collaborator Gwan Jung-yeon had recruited.

But the more I listened to the story, the clearer it became.

‘This elder is also from the Dragon Scale Squad. And one with a close connection to grandfather…’

Once my thoughts reached that point, other details began to enter my sight.

‘Which means, a government official who receives a salary from the state is operating a gambling house…’

Suddenly, the words Gwan Jung-yeon had spoken a moment ago came to mind.

His comment about having to do many different things when performing public duties.

Dragon Scale.

It means the scales of a dragon.

In the martial world, a dragon is often used to refer to a rising star who receives attention, but in the imperial court, it is a spiritual beast symbolizing the Emperor.

I had suspected this ever since I first heard the name Dragon Scale Squad.

They belonged to an organization directly under the Emperor, or one equivalent to it.

Such an organization was operating a gambling house on its own?

‘It means they are even concealing the flow of funds…’

Funds must always move through someone’s hands.

And if one grasps that flow, they can grasp the scale and movement of the organization.

In other words, the Dragon Scale Squad was an extremely hidden organization that had to conceal even the flow of its funds.

From the owner’s perspective, it was a crazy form of organization that wouldn’t be surprising if they lost control of it at any moment, but looking at it from another perspective, the reason was understandable.

‘The Emperor does not trust the ministers in the palace.’

It contained the intentions of the Emperor, or an equivalent organization administrator, who could not trust the interior of the palace.

Politics in the imperial court have been called a demon’s den since ancient times. Thus, when I heard stories of the Dragon Scale Squad moving actively and wielding their blades, I had regarded it merely as a struggle for power among officials.

However, it seemed that something far more dangerous was lurking beneath.

The old man waved his hand dismissively and grumbled.

“Anyway, I’ll prepare a room. If it’s something you can do, go and treat him quickly. He’s a guy who still has many places to be put to work.”

Somehow, he seemed embarrassed to have shown his worry. In fact, his eyes were turned elsewhere.

“It will take about an hour.”

“I get it, so go on.”

The old man urged, pushing our backs.

“…Since that guy’s grandson said he could do it, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

I smiled softly at the sound of his muttering, which sounded like he was talking to himself.

***

Gwan Jung-yeon seemed to know the room Old Han had prepared, as he found his way in without difficulty.

We began the treatment immediately.

Since the urgent crisis had been taken care of, his condition had not worsened, but the sight of his skin completely peeled off by the black qi was gruesome.

Well, his willingness to maintain his composure without even a groan despite his raw flesh being in this state was worthy of high praise.

“It will hurt.”

“Even if it does, it’s just pain.”

Since he spoke like that, it made it easier for me to use my hands.

Placing my hand on the gruesome wound, I raised my energy.

Sssss!

Although the treatment resumed, there was no sound of screaming.

It must be a considerable amount of pain.

[He is a stubborn one.]

‘Indeed.’

It seemed even Master Zhang Sanfeng acknowledged this part.

“Come to think of it, your surname is Gwan.”

“Hahaha! Then, since things have turned out like this, shall we play a game of Go?”

At Gwan Jung-yeon’s pleasant reply to my words, which recalled the anecdote of Guan Yu having his bone scraped to extract the poison of a poison arrow, I smiled.

Ah! Come to think of it, I had forgotten to ask Teacher Hua Tuo about that.

Well, there will be another opportunity eventually.

“It’s a relief. Seeing you speak with a smile, it seems you still have the mind to converse.”

There were quite a few things I wanted to ask.

However, if I just thrust them forward blindly, there was a high probability he would pass the buck, telling me to hear it from grandfather as before.

After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I began to speak.

“I’ve clashed with someone who uses black qi in the Jungshin Merchant Group. I don’t know if they joined hands with the Defeng Yin Clan or were connected to the Jungshin Merchant Group side, but…”

“The Jungshin Merchant Group and the Defeng Yin Clan…”

The look in Gwan Jung-yeon’s eyes changed. As if to remember it without fail, he even muttered it under his breath.

“Have you heard anything about those called ‘Crane’?”

“Crane?”

“It is a name designated by Lord Yeon, but since you don’t know it, it seems Lord Yeon wished for you not to get involved in this matter.”

“And so? Are you going to keep your mouth shut again?”

“Honestly, I thought about doing so at first…”

Gwan Jung-yeon’s gaze briefly landed on his arm that had been struck by the black qi.

“If I hadn’t known, that would be one thing, but we cannot exclude a variable of your caliber.”

After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Gwan Jung-yeon began to speak.

“They say the first time they harbored doubts about their existence was when the opinion within the court occasionally turned in an odd direction.”

“The opinion was odd?”

“He said that occasionally, ministers who were practically political enemies would align their words as if they had shaken hands behind the scenes. Particularly on matters related to the martial world.”

As I listened attentively, Gwan Jung-yeon quickly continued his words.

“Since there are neither eternal enemies nor eternal allies before power, which is the nature of powerholders, one might think it possible, but Lord Yeon said he felt something strange in that movement. His Imperial Majesty also found it suspicious and handed down a secret decree to Lord Yeon.”

“Wait! Is this a story from when grandfather was in office?”

As far as I knew, one of the reasons grandfather resigned from his post and returned to his hometown was because the late Emperor he served had passed away.

“Yes. The beginning of this story dates back to the time of the late Emperor.”

“Which means…”

“It was revealed later, but the cause of the late Emperor’s death was assassination by poison made to look like a natural death.”

“Crazy…”

For a moment, I almost forgot that I was treating Gwan Jung-yeon.

The Emperor was assassinated!

“Lord Yeon stepped down from his post and returned home externally, but based on the secret decree he received from the late Emperor, he did various things beneath the surface. After reporting the results obtained through that process to the current Imperial Majesty, and receiving His Majesty’s decree, the Dragon Scale Squad began to take up positions separately outside like this.”

“And nothing has been revealed about the culprit?”

“That was also a problem… We barely managed to catch a tail, but there was no evidence. They knew nothing about the mastermind, and merely repeated that they followed the coercion of some existence that transcended common sense. And that minister vomited blood and died the next day. In a solitary prison cell guarded water-tight by the Dragon Scale Squad.”

“…”

It was getting more and more complicated.

“Which means…”

“Right now in the palace, we don’t even know who is on whose side. We cannot even be certain if the palace belongs to His Imperial Majesty. On the surface, it merely looks like a struggle for power among ministers, as is typical of a palace called a demon’s den, but even that is judged to have someone’s touch on it. The ministers have also kept their mouths shut. And even if we try to dig into something, there is no evidence.”

Some existence existed. And it possessed power beyond imagination.

Without properly revealing even a feather, let alone its body, it moved the ministers, and if it felt troublesome, it erased the traces without mercy.

Even the Emperor!

We didn’t even know the target of what we should strike.

If we moved recklessly just to stir things up, we could be killed like the late Emperor, so even the Emperor was holding his breath and moving as cautiously as possible.

‘No wonder the Emperor distrusts his ministers.’

“Then, have you ever contacted someone who is unusual, someone who would exist in the realm of fantasy beyond human perception?”

Why did the words of Aunt Han San-wol suddenly cross my mind once more?

The events happening in the imperial palace and the events happening in the martial world. The flow of those stories closely resembled something I knew.

‘If the power that seized the imperial palace did not show its body even to those it uses as limbs, even if we dug up information from the underworld through the masters, there would be nothing to find.’

This was the most frustrating part.

That one must not act rashly.

“Then, those who wield this black qi…”

“Once we began to dig behind the remaining ministers who kept their mouths shut, they started to show themselves at some point. There are times when we lose, but there are also times when we win, so occasionally we tried to capture them alive and open their mouths through torture, but they too were merely limbs who knew nothing about the body, just like the ministers.”

It was that powerful of an organization.

“What is more terrifying is that we estimate their history is not just a few decades.”

It would be so.

If the mastermind was truly the same as what I was thinking, it meant their history existed even before Aunt Han San-wol’s family.

It meant a power of at least several hundred years.

I understood newly why grandfather had kept it a secret from me.

It was a story of such a massive scale that it would have been better not to know.

“Then, Gwan-hyeong’s coming to Suzhou is also because of that?”

“Isn’t Suzhou one of the places retired officials seek out the most? One of the ministers Lord Yeon was watching back then came down here. It seems he is even acting as a source of funds based on the vast wealth of Suzhou.”

“If we shake down that guy, will something come out?”

“Who knows. It would be nice if that happened, but I’m not sure if the body will be revealed just because he acts as a source of funds. We’ve caught opportunities like this a few times, but the existence that could be called the body has still not been revealed. Well, in any case, if we can grasp the flow of funds, it seems we can at least grasp where the hands are reaching…”

“I understand.”

Even if it meant dirtying my hands, I felt I had to look into this matter.

Even if it meant causing trouble for the masters.

‘Wait?’

My thoughts reached that point, and then a sudden question arose.

‘No matter how meticulous the organization is, there is no way they could evade the eyes of heaven. If they are those who have done such deeds for hundreds of years, they should have shaken the balance of karma decreed by heaven.’

I knew that the task of balancing karma did not occur immediately like a summary trial.

I had heard that it was a task of balancing that karma over a long period of time, spanning decades, hell, or the next life.

However, if their history spanned hundreds of years, shouldn’t the balance of karma they shook have sufficiently revealed itself on the surface?

What in the world was heaven concealing?

And how far ahead was it looking?