Chapter 145: Unexpected Ally

Usually, when escort warriors and mountain bandits meet, one thinks they will immediately point their swords at each other and wage a bloody fight.

However, contrary to expectations, cases where escort agencies and mountain bandits clash swords are not common. Usually, they compromise at an appropriate line.

That is due to the peculiarity of mountain bandits, who are bandits living in the mountains.

Unlike horse bandits who roam anywhere and plunder blindly, mountain bandits operate around a stronghold in the mountains.

Therefore, if they show themselves killing passing people and plundering goods without warning, people will give up that path even if they have to go a long way around.

Also, they might accidentally stimulate the government or surrounding sects and be subjugated.

Therefore, mountain bandits choose to negotiate with the escort agencies passing through their territory and receive only an appropriate toll.

Some mountain bandits even provide campsites and resting places to their paying customers (?), or protect them from the attacks of wild animals.

From the escort agency’s perspective too, it is a great setback if the escorted goods are damaged during a blind fight, and if injured people appear during a clash, expenses increase, so they do not prefer fighting.

Then, one might ask why merchants do not negotiate with mountain bandits on their own, but this too is not an easy task.

Mountain bandits negotiating with escort agencies is because there is a possibility they might lose if a fight breaks out.

Merchants who have no combat power to begin with cannot be subjects of negotiation.

Also, the threats on an escort journey are not limited to mountain bandits.

Merchants have no choice but to utilize escort agencies for safe trade.

Since this dynamic structure has solidified over a long period of time, it is not something one or two individuals can break.

However, if it is an escort agency, a situation where they must fight mountain bandits also comes.

Just like the situation Baek Jin-seong, the chief of the Baek Family Escort, was experiencing now.

“I remember the landlord of this mountain was Wang Chun-sam.”

“That friend went to see his mother in a hurry. So you can trade with us.”

The mountain bandits who blocked the escort journey giggled as if something was amusing and received Baek Jin-seong’s words.

Although it was a joke, Baek Jin-seong was not one to miss its true meaning.

“Then how much must I pay to trade with your side?”

“Half of the goods you are moving now.”

“Hahaha!”

It was an absurd demand.

“If we give that much, the escort agency will go bankrupt.”

“That is none of my business.”

“I see.”

Baek Jin-seong quickly understood the situation.

“It means you don’t intend to stay in this place for long.”

Just because they are mountain bandits does not mean they stay in one place forever.

According to need, or due to external factors, they also move their locations.

In that case, to cover the moving expenses, they escape from the existing customs (?) and try to strike it big.

“If you understand, quietly offer your neck…”

Slash!

The bandit’s body was split vertically.

The sword strike that split the rock-firm skull like tofu divided the person’s body in two.

Having seen blood, Baek Jin-seong did not hesitate.

As Baek Jin-seong swung his sword, the necks of five or six bandits fell in an instant.

Among them was the chief of the bandit group.

Baek Jin-seong, who did not merely seize the initiative but planted fear directly into the bandits’ heads, shouted coldly.

“Kill them all!”

After that, it was an overwhelming force.

The bandits, whose momentum was broken and whose bodies were stiff with fear, could not handle the leaders and warriors of the Baek Family Escort and were swept away in an instant.

When the bandits, who numbered about a hundred, were all slaughtered, Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang approached, clicking his tongue.

“A place that could be called a key point has become ownerless. For a while, we’ll save on the toll, but this will be troublesome.”

Baek Jin-seong also wiped his blood-stained sword and let out a sigh so that other escort warriors wouldn’t see.

“They say the Namgung Clan has entered a dispute with the Yangtze River Water Bandit Alliance, and the Nine Great Sects are driving out the mountain bandits and stimulating the Green Forest. It seems that was true. Probably the guys we just swept away were also ones who moved from somewhere. From now on, these kinds of guys will increase. Guys who are full of thoughts to flee after striking it big.”

Just as Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang evaluated, this place was a key point. They had no attachment to such a place and were full of thoughts to snatch a big sum and flee elsewhere.

“Then as expected…”

“The Green Forest is stirring. Coincidentally, the water bandits are the same.”

At Baek Jin-seong’s assertion, Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang’s face stiffened.

“I will make sure the escort warriors keep their wits about them.”

“You must do so. Since it seems it will be noisy for a while.”

Baek Jin-seong felt that flows where it wouldn’t be strange if something broke out were growing in size.

***

When the death of the former Minister of Revenue, Gyeong Sang-eon, became known, the whole of Suzhou stirred to a bothersome degree.

Even if he had retired from politics, a former high-ranking minister had been assassinated, so it was understandable.

Thanks to that, the government soldiers searched around to a noisy degree, so I stayed inside my lodgings for a while.

“Odd!”

“Even!”

We are in a gambling house, so what else would there be to do?

We are hitting the gambling table.

When I obtained Master Heavenly Demon’s synesthesia, I thought if I shook down the tricksters at the gambling table, I wouldn’t starve, but it is more fraudulent than I thought.

He put dice inside a cup that looked like a rice bowl and shook it, and I could clearly feel how the dice rolled.

I placed my money according to that sensation.

“I won!”

“Agh!”

The cup opened and joy and screams crossed.

I calmly collected the money I won and backed away.

The gambling house owner, Old Han, glared at me, grinding his teeth.

“Did Mu-ae, that obsessive-compulsive lunatic, teach you gambling too…”

“Since you earn a lot, why mind.”

I avoided Old Han’s gaze and slithered to another side.

Even though Suzhou is stirring, the gambling house is in prosperous business.

‘I see why they operate a gambling house too.’

If you loiter around this place, you can hear people cursing someone as a matter of course.

Between the words they muttered about who did what or who was annoyed, there were more high-level pieces of information than expected.

The whereabouts of powerful people came out in a row without filtering.

Moreover, according to Gwan Jung-yeon’s explanation, if they become crazy about gambling, they would even sell their wives and children, and if the wastrels of wealthy houses enter, if we lend them money appropriately and shake them, high-level information that is hard to obtain otherwise falls in a row.

Securing funds was basic, and depending on how it was utilized, it was a place where one could obtain information that couldn’t be bought with money.

[Is it fun?]

While evaluating the Dragon Scale Squad internally, Master Zhang Sanfeng quietly pierced in.

It was clear he was worried about my getting a taste of money through gambling.

“Since I see all the cards, it’s not fun.”

I couldn’t feel the thrill a gambler speaks of.

There was none of the tension I felt when Gwak Dae-pyeong rolled the dice in Sichuan.

To begin with, it was at a level where I watched all the cards and played, so there was no way there could be suspense or thrill.

[Then it’s fine.]

Whether my answer was to his liking, Master Zhang Sanfeng was relieved.

It was needless worry.

Already, the thing I had to go crazy for was before my eyes.

While shaking down the dice tables these past few days, I pondered over martial arts.

Particularly, I pondered endlessly over Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts.

‘The Upper Dantian is the area of extraordinary ability.’

Those who have transcended the human realm utilize it as a martial art system for the realization of intent like the Way of the Heart Sword, but at my current realm, it is an area I cannot dream of.

‘Conversely speaking, it means that even I, whose realm is still shallow, can utilize the martial art system that peak absolute experts of the martial world would display.’

When I fought the expert of black qi, what I actively utilized was Wudang’s softness and Shaolin’s strength.

If I could mix Master Heavenly Demon’s power into this, the thought that something grand would come out did not leave my head.

‘I feel if I ask the masters, I would obtain the answer easily…’

But they are silent.

These cases are usually parts I must realize on my own.

When the time comes for me to move to the next realm, they merely guide me naturally, but they do not force-feed me.

While I was pondering in my own way and walking through the gambling house, a strange conversation reached me.

“It will get tighter from here? Really?”

“I’m telling you. Yesterday, while passing by, I heard the elders above talking, and they muttered that until the culprit who murdered Lord Gyeong is caught, leaving office is out of the question. They said they must search Suzhou as if catching lice.”

“Wow! Really crazy? If it’s that much, it means they are blocking the whole of Suzhou. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Blocking it entirely would be difficult. Think of the loss if they did that in Suzhou. However… it did seem like a situation where they could not back down until a result came out. Well, if it really doesn’t work, they’ll pin it on someone and finish it, but until then…”

I stopped my steps briefly at the conversation of those who drank.

‘It will get worse from here.’

I intended to wait until it calmed down, but if this was the case, it seemed I had to change my plan.

“Yi Hwa.”

“Yes.”

“I intend to move tonight. Will you follow?”

“Yes.”

She said she would follow.

However, the conditions were different from before.

Before, when I searched the water, she merely had to wait outside, but in a situation like now, loitering outside could draw the suspicion of the surroundings.

“Do you know how to dive?”

“……Yes.”

Unlike before, her answer was quite late this time.

***

Contrary to my inner worries, rather, no trace of people could be found near the water.

Although it was inconvenient to move secretly due to the increased surveillance in the city where people gathered, it was easy to act here.

“Hah… Hah… Whew!”

Though Yi Hwa did not look entirely comfortable.

“Shall we stop here today?”

“No… I will do it… Whew! Continue! I can do… more!”

Yi Hwa, who came up to the surface after diving for a long time, looked as if she would lose her breath at any moment.

Her answer, made while gasping for breath, was so out of it that she didn’t seem to know what she was talking about, so I wiped her face once.

“Right, let’s try just two more times.”

If we do more than that, she will fall ill.

‘Two times… seems it will work…’

The good-for-nothing Buddha Sun Wukong said: if I go to the bottom and let my divine power flow, a reaction will come.

When I first heard it, I wondered what he meant, but once I tried it, I understood.

I felt something resonating.

As we dove repeatedly to find the place where the resonance occurred most strongly, Yi Hwa became exhausted, but…

After confirming that Yi Hwa’s breathing had settled to some extent, I dove again, pursuing the resonance I felt under the water.

“Inhale!”

This time, I held Yi Hwa’s waist and went down. It was better than Yi Hwa swimming alone.

‘This way, it will be easier to breathe.’

If one flails and moves their body, their breathing becomes shallow that much faster. Naturally, it is hard to dive for long.

Of course, my burden increases, but I can endure that much.

As we went down to the bottom and let the divine power flow, I felt the most violent reaction yet.

‘It seems we are almost there…’

I followed the reaction with conviction.

And the moment I moved to the side and let the divine power flow.

Splash!

Something rough surged and caught my wrist.

‘What?’

Something that moved like a living creature caught my body in an instant and pulled.

From the bottom to further below.

Pulled downward, I immediately corrected my body at the sensation of suspension that covered my frame.

A sound that could not be heard in the water echoed around like an echo.

I could know from that alone.

This place is an empty space without water.

Although it was hard to see the surroundings due to the lack of light, judging by the resonance of the sound, it was definitely an empty space of a generous size.

‘To think there is this kind of place under the water…’

While looking around in surprise, a flame about the size of a candle rose and lit the surroundings.

“This is…”

From the floor to the walls and ceiling.

It was an unusual structure.

What was visible around was not rock walls.

“Tree roots?”

The entirety of this empty space where I stood was composed of something like tree roots.