Chapter 147: Breaking Through
From the day I recovered the divine power of wood and returned, I felt that the way Yi Hwa looked at me had changed.
‘It’s excessive…’
It felt like she was looking at an object of worship and service rather than someone she followed.
It felt like how one would treat Master Heavenly Demon in heaven, whom they served as a god, rather than the Heavenly Demon who led the current Demonic Cult.
In Yi Hwa’s eyes, I must have looked like a sort of living god—a god in human form.
‘I can understand it. I can understand it, but…’
If someone had witnessed a person making a dying old tree bloom in full, I wondered if even I would have viewed that person as human.
‘But still, this is a bit disappointing.’
To what extent was it? It felt as if she thought even stepping on my shadow was disrespectful.
Yi Hwa, who would normally be right next to me, was keeping a slight distance now, watching my expression closely.
Feeling that it shouldn’t go on like this, I decided to address it.
“Yi Hwa?”
“Yes!”
“…Does my body smell or something?”
“No! How could that be!”
A flustered Yi Hwa waved her hands in a hurry.
The way she flapped her hands was quite cute.
“I was just wondering. Since you suddenly kept a distance, I thought maybe I smelled bad.”
“Ah…”
“I was a bit hurt, you know?”
I held the flapping hands of Yi Hwa tightly as I spoke.
[In my ears, it sounds like a threat, though?]
“…”
However, the word from Master Zhang Sanfeng that suddenly popped up pierced my chest.
Come to think of it, if a superior grabbed one’s hand with a hurt expression, it did seem like it would send a shiver down one’s spine.
“I am sorry. I have come to my senses now.”
Fortunately, Yi Hwa, who had been in confusion, soon returned to her usual self.
“Even though it is my duty to serve you, b-brother, closer than anyone else…”
Calling me brother seemed to have a bit of resistance, but still, it seemed to have wrapped up decently.
[Isn’t the medicine too strong?]
However, Master Zhang Sanfeng’s thoughts seemed to be different.
‘She seems like the usual Yi Hwa, though?’
Although her clenching her fists and pledging felt a bit more enthusiastic than usual, that much was fine.
‘…Hmm?’
The phrase ‘more enthusiastic than usual’ suddenly weighed on my mind.
‘Well, could anything happen?’
“Then let’s prepare to leave soon. According to the information I heard, it seems leaving the city will become tighter before long.”
“Yes.”
Although it was equally tight, there was an unexpected positive factor right now.
Because rumors were spreading that a flower immortal had descended due to the dying old tree blooming in full, and people were bustling to see it.
As people bustled, the eyes of surveillance had no choice but to grow dim.
Now is the right time to leave Suzhou.
The purpose of coming to Suzhou was perfectly accomplished.
Since I had no particular intention of enjoying Suzhou’s elegant lifestyle, it was right to leave in a hurry.
However, there is someone I must meet before that.
‘Although I have certainty, I should still verify it.’
Since there was no luggage either, preparing to leave was quick.
As I headed to where Gwan Jung-yeon of the Dragon Scale Squad and Elder Han were, Gwan Jung-yeon smirked and waved his hand.
“Seeing that you have made preparations, it seems you are planning to leave?”
“Because now is the right time to leave.”
“That is true. The dying old tree bloomed in full right by the waterside where it’s perfect for boating, so there is no way the elegant people of Suzhou would miss that.”
Gwan Jung-yeon also agreed with my words.
It was time to part with the Dragon Scale Squad.
Before leaving, I brought up what I wanted to verify.
“You tried to tie my feet here, didn’t you? To pull me in over time.”
“Oh!”
I did not bother to ask indirectly.
“Was I caught?”
“Ahem!”
Gwan Jung-yeon replied shamelessly with a smirk.
In Elder Han’s case, he coughed and showed embarrassment, but this fellow was indeed different.
As expected, it seemed to be a scheme brought up by this guy.
Yesterday evening, the information that prompted me to move came from the conversation of ruffians chattering casually in the gambling den.
After finishing all the work and returning to my residence, thinking about it calmly, something felt off.
Would the Dragon Scale Squad, which handled vast amounts of information beyond imagination, really not know information of a level that would come from ruffians?
However, even so, they did not tell me that fact.
They just watched me passing time with gambling.
‘People who do not choose means and methods are scary.’
The Dragon Scale Squad are loyal people. However, that loyalty is not beneficial to everyone.
What is important to them is the Emperor, not individual connections. They are people who can turn their backs on anyone for the sake of what they believe is right.
If they judge it is for the Emperor, they will drive a sword into my heart without a single moment of hesitation.
“Still, we are on the same side, right?”
“We are on the same side, I suppose.”
‘We just aren’t friends.’
Though only for a moment, looking at Gwan Jung-yeon, I had thought that if Baek Mu-ho grew up slightly twisted, he might grow up like that.
Thinking about it now, it was something I should apologize to Baek Mu-ho for.
Because Baek Mu-ho, no matter how twisted he became, would never erase his heart for me.
That is what a true friend is.
Therefore, I cannot become friends with them.
“That’s enough.”
Sensing that I had drawn a line, Gwan Jung-yeon smacked his lips with a regretful face.
“Let’s meet again next time.”
While tying and linking a line that could not be fully trusted.
***
The Dragon King descended on the Yangtze River,
and a flower immortal came down to Suzhou.
As the saying goes that words travel fast, the rumors spread quickly.
That story even reached the people who carried the blood of Namgung.
“Wow! That is amazing. A real monster or spirit that would only appear in fairy tales or ancient stories. Hahahaha!”
The Namgung Clan has been greatly expanding its influence lately.
Needless to say, they do not focus solely on martial strength when expanding their influence.
There are times when financial power exceeds martial power.
Knowing this well, the Namgung Clan actively operated the Changcheon Merchant Group.
Namgung Han also departed for his next destination without rest, even though he had just completed one business trip.
Namgung Jo sighed at Namgung Han’s reaction while reading the information secured at a halfway junction during their journey.
“The Yangtze River is the lifeblood of the Namgung Clan. And since Suzhou, just like us, is a place that has grown its commerce through the Yangtze River, it has significant exchange with the Changcheon Merchant Group. The sudden spread of such absurd stories is not something to be ignored.”
“Indeed, I suppose so.”
“Then, what thoughts did you have upon hearing that story?”
A field study focuses on gaining experience in various situations actually encountered.
Namgung Jo presented a sudden assignment to Namgung Han.
After thinking for a moment, Namgung Han replied with a bright smile,
“I want to go flower viewing.”
“What flower viewing! Grow up, you rascal!!”
Smack!
A crisp sound resounded from the back of Namgung Han’s head.
The members of the Changcheon Merchant Group nearby tried their best to hold back their laughter.
“What! You guys laughed!”
Escaping from Namgung Jo’s hands, Namgung Han rushed at the laughing members of the Changcheon Merchant Group and tumbled around with them.
Namgung Jo let out a sigh at the sight of Namgung Han mingling informally with the members of the Changcheon Merchant Group.
“Among my brother’s children, that fellow has the best potential…”
Namgung Han is a direct descendant of the family. He is the son of the family head, and although he is not the eldest son, many people inside and outside the clan like and follow him.
He has high talent for martial arts and a charm that draws people, making him a potential candidate to be raised as the next family head, but as things stand now, it is a bleak prospect.
Above all, the family head did not like Namgung Han’s temperament.
“Justice is a monster. Countless people have been eaten by it and collapsed.”
“There is no perfect human. Yet, the name of justice always demands perfection. If there is even a speck of flaw in it, no matter how righteous one is, people will curse them. This is not because people are petty. It is because the power of the word ‘justice’ is so strong that even small flaws look large next to it.”
“Only a person who knows how to use justice as a tool can rise to the position of the head of the Namgung Clan.”
Namgung Jo, who had subtly sounded out the family head about Namgung Han, clicked his tongue as he recalled the words he had heard at that time.
“There is no way my brother would place Han-i in the position of family head.”
The current family head was ambitious enough to expand their influence while ignoring conflicts.
His temperament did not match with Namgung Han, who preferred mingling together rather than reigning from above.
That was why Namgung Han, unlike his other brothers who received successor training in the deep chambers of the clan, was affiliated with the Changcheon Merchant Group and wandering outside.
“It’s a big problem. A big problem…”
In fact, discussing the successor issue from Namgung Jo’s position could be crossing the line.
However, Namgung Jo was serious. Because he was directly communicating with the outside and feeling and experiencing the world firsthand, he could not stay still.
“Too much time has passed since the truce…”
It has been decades since the great war between the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions disappeared. The strength accumulated over several generations has now reached a saturation point.
There had been minor disputes, but compared to the accumulated military power, they were merely scratches.
What this pointed to was clear.
“War will be unavoidable. It is something that will happen in that fellow’s generation at the latest.”
Right now, even the head of the Namgung Clan is moving aggressively, looking for a way to release the accumulated power.
Would it be any different elsewhere?
Namgung Jo could not even estimate how many places would be looking forward to the day they could resolve the grudges built up through minor disputes.
If those forces collided, an immense amount of blood would flow.
Countless people would die, and numerous secret manuals would be lost.
Considering the forces the martial world has nurtured as a whole, it might lead to a result close to ‘mutual destruction’.
Therefore, it is clear that the successor who will become the next family head will decide the future of the Namgung Clan.
And it was Namgung Jo’s belief that Namgung Han was the talent who would become the most ideal family head in such a situation.
“But behaving like that… Tsk tsk.”
Whether he has no thoughts or is trying not to think.
At the very moment Namgung Jo, clicking his tongue in regret, pulled the horse reins,
“This is…”
At a presence felt from afar, Namgung Jo shook the reins and turned his horse’s head.
Someone revealed themselves before the vigilant Namgung Jo.
“Changcheon Merchant Group?! Namgung Clan!”
“A Beggars’ Sect two-knot disciple?”
The one who approached Namgung Jo was a disciple of the Beggars’ Sect.
However, his condition was not good. Seeing his panting breath, one could guess he was being chased by someone.
“Whom on earth is a disciple of the Beggars’ Sect fleeing from to show such a wretched appearance?”
“The Green Forest… it’s the Green Forest!”
“The Green Forest?”
A person who first enters the Beggars’ Sect is called a white-clothed beggar and does not obtain any knots for about three years. It is a sort of probationary period.
After those three years pass, they gradually increase their knots.
In short, a Beggars’ Sect two-knot disciple is a person who has spent at least five years, or about ten years, knocking around.
If one had knocked around for ten years as a Beggars’ Sect beggar, setting aside the level of their martial arts, the quick wits to survive anywhere were basic.
Above all, what made Namgung Jo wonder was what that Beggars’ Sect disciple said.
“There shouldn’t be any Green Forest forces set up in this vicinity, though?”
This place was Anhui. For bandits to set up base in the Namgung Clan’s backyard meant they had a death wish.
The Beggars’ Sect disciple cried out urgently,
“A Fortress Lord-level figure of the Seventy-Two Fortresses of the Green Forest has taken action!”
“What?”
The strength of those called the true forces of the Green Forest is not light.
The bandits of the Seventy-Two Fortresses of the Green Forest are forces with a history of accumulating martial arts over generations, just like the prestigious orthodox sects.
A Fortress Lord of those Seventy-Two Fortresses of the Green Forest is a high leader leading the Green Forest.
It meant one of those figures was here, filled with the intention to cut off the Beggars’ Sect disciple’s neck.
“Since they say you are the one leading the Changcheon Merchant Group, you are probably Great Hero Namgung Jo… but will you be able to handle it?”
At the questioning of the skeptical Beggars’ Sect two-knot disciple, Namgung Jo’s face hardened.