Chapter 100: Watering the Horse and Throwing Money (1)
Far away on the horizon, before they knew it, the shadow of a mountain range was visible.
Although the path left to go was still far, the weather was already nearing severe cold.
“…….”
Chui was in the middle of circulating his qi to regulate his breathing while sitting in the carriage.
‘The spear ghost of Tiger Butcher has been completely absorbed.’
Tiger Butcher Ga Jeong-maeng. Killing him and turning him into a spear ghost caused the realm of Spear Ghost Calling to explode.
In just a single moment, he had rushed into the fifth tier of Towering Vessel (彛兀).
‘It seems he likely also absorbed the power of the spear ghost that Tiger Butcher had absorbed to some extent.’
To cross over from the fourth tier of Towering Vessel to the fifth tier, normally about five years of practice is required.
Needless to say, one must consume countless spirit herbs during that process.
However, in the fight with Tiger Butcher, Chui was able to shorten all of these processes dramatically.
Among all the harvests he had obtained so far, it was the greatest harvest.
Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble……
Inside Chui’s palm, bright red internal force surged.
It was producing bubbles and red steam, as if blood contained in a cauldron was boiling up from the center.
At that moment, Gyeon Sul, who was watching Chui’s appearance, clapped.
“Congratulations, handsome guy. It seems you have obtained some realization.”
“…….”
Chui turned his head.
In that place, Namgung Yul was staring intently at Chui’s face.
“It is mysterious, Young Hero Chui. Because I have absolutely no guess as to what kind of martial arts you are practicing. I have no idea at all whether it belongs to the Orthodox path or the Heterodox path.”
“It is a martial art from a distant land outside.”
“Is it toward Haidong? Because there seemed to be a similar story among the things my grandfather told me in the past.”
Gyeon Sul and Namgung Yul had not even thought that Spear Ghost Calling was a demonic art.
And that was naturally because those who practiced a demonic art usually became lunatics and ran wild.
Right then.
“Thousand-Heeeeeaaaaad!”
Outside the curtain, a desperate wail was heard.
It was Xu Se-chi’s voice.
At that, Gyeon Sul sprang up.
“I will go out this time.”
Chui remained closing his eyes as if it did not matter much.
Gyeon Sul winked one eye at Namgung Yul as he pulled back the curtain and went out.
“Then, the two of you, have a good time.”
“W-What? What? What is it?”
“Anyway, just have it~”
Gyeon Sul stepped outside, leaving behind Namgung Yul whose ear tips had turned red.
With a terrifying smile hung at the corners of his mouth.
“Hey— dogs and horses. Stop for a moment!”
As Gyeon Sul’s command dropped, the prisoners collapsed and sat down on the spot.
“Not pulling the wagon is good, but……”
“S-S-Since the sweat is cooling, it is c-cold……”
“Yet if we pull the wagon again, it feels like we will die……”
“The skin of our soles and palms is completely peeled off……”
“Rather just kill me……”
The sight of them sitting huddled together behind rocks to avoid the cold wind looked quite pitiful, but in fact, they were vicious criminals who were plundering innocent commoners until just recently.
Gyeon Sul, who knew that fact well, smiled brightly.
“Look at these bastards’ discipline loosening up. Are you not going to eat today?”
The moment the word meal came out, the eyes and ears of the prisoners flashed open.
Before long, Gyeon Sul went to the adjacent wagon and rustled out something.
It was a huge chunk of meat and alcohol contained in a large wooden barrel.
“Today, I will sell salted wild boar hind leg and fire liquor.”
At those words, the eyes of the prisoners spun.
“Long live Lord Chui the Thousand-Head! Long live Lord Gyeon Sul the Thousand-Head! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
“But it might be a little expensive?”
“I will buy it for however many Pariga! Please just sell it to us!”
“I warned you clearly? That it is expensive.”
Before long, Gyeon Sul tore off a handful of pork and raised it.
And wearing a fully emotional expression, he recited his lines.
“Now, it is not something that comes day after day. First of all, it is meat naturally salted in the process of starting from the main stream of the Yangtze River, passing through human-inhabited villages, and entering all the way to the snowy mountains, and it is a product that even meat merchants cannot eat because they don’t have it, with its chewy taste. However, since I am briefly opening a purchase opportunity at the support of our dear prisoners, I request polite behavior without mutual damage from everyone. First of all, to introduce myself, I am Gyeon Sul, who was a Thousand-Head of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union. Since I am not a merchant in the first place, if you show a appearance of trying to bargain and do things like that, I might get hurt, so I would like to ask for your understanding.”
The prisoners listening to that wore expressions as if they had chewed on shit without exception.
‘He’s starting again, that crazy guy.’
‘Hurry up and say the price, you lunatic bastard!’
‘It will be crazily expensive anyway. Sigh, that thief.’
Before long, today’s price was set.
Gyeon Sul shouted in a loud voice.
“Thirty Pariga for one chunk of this!”
If calculated in silver, it was a whopping three thousand liang.
At this rate, it was an amount with which one could buy not a handful of pork, but a massive pig farm.
……However.
“What!? Thirty Pariga?”
“That huge chunk of meat only costs thirty Pariga?”
“Thirty Pariga…… is Gyeon Sul giving up business now?”
“No! If it’s like this, what do merchants live on!”
“Isn’t this absolutely super cheap!? Insane! At that rate, it is almost at the level of selling at a loss!”
“Wow, if wild boar meat and fire liquor are at this price, it is an all-time great price. A massive rush will occur.”
“It’s a super special discount! We must buy immediately! Aaargh! Everyone move! I am first!”
“Everyone, don’t get excited and think properly. Buy this at thirty Pariga? Buy it? Even if we resell it, forty Pariga. Gasp, we gain ten Pariga even if we just sell it? Isn’t he simply providing an opportunity to become rich?”
“Honestly, let’s raise the price of this. At this price, every dog and cow, even guys without money, will rush in, so there is no point in specifically buying wild boar.”
Due to the continuous rise in prices all this time, the prisoners’ financial sense had become strange somewhere.
‘Buying now is the cheapest.’
Chui had imprinted and imprinted this thesis on the prisoners until now.
The roasted mitten crab, which was at the price of about one hundred liang of silver at first.
Seeing it soar to two thousand liang of silver later, how much had the prisoners regretted not buying it right then.
Was that all?
Chui opened his shop only when he felt like it.
In other words, it meant that even those days when he did not sell that expensive roasted mitten crab were frequent.
One must buy whatever whenever it is sold, and buying now is the cheapest.
The prisoners vied to crowd in front of Gyeon Sul.
“I will buy! Give me all!”
“Please sell it to me!”
“I will buy paying a premium! I have a lot of money! I really sucked the sweet water out of the embezzlement completely, so I have a lot of money! I am truly not a human child! Please believe me!”
“Ah, why is it not an auction! This is unfair! Those with money should be able to buy more!”
“I will take a bundle price for both products, so I request only fire liquor without needing anything else! Keep the remaining money! Without burden!”
Gyeon Sul placed both of his palms together neatly as he watched those sights.
“Please observe polite greetings when you first purchase a product. If you grab too early or too late, the product purchase will be processed as invalid, and refunds are difficult. If you do not buy and take them precisely on time, the products will be immediately discarded~ Since that is the shop’s policy, I ask for your understanding.”
Structurally, the prisoners could not purchase these products immediately.
Because the products were operated thoroughly on a prepaid basis.
Thus, the prisoners had to pick up paper, brush, and ink first in order to buy the products.
“…….”
Xu Se-chi raised his trembling hand and moved the brush.
-To nephews Xu Song and Xu Bo…… You remember the mansion and land I secretly bought under your names with the money Uncle gave you back then, right? Sell all of them, and donate the sales proceeds to the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union under Lord Chui the Thousand-Head’s name. Report all of it to the government office to formally undergo the processing steps, and if there are taxes to pay in that process, pay all of them transparently. Since this entire matter is urgent, competing for split seconds, there must not be an inch of hesitation. And once the sale and donation are finished, make sure to write a receipt and send it. Without fail. Surely. You must absolutely not forget.
Xu Se-chi signed his name at the end of the letter and even stamped his thumbprint with blood, taking it to Gyeon Sul.
After checking it, Gyeon Sul tied the letter to the leg of a carrier pigeon.
“Okay, passed. I will send this as it is, and once the reply to the carrier pigeon sent before arrives, I will immediately give you the pork and fire liquor.”
“Sob! Please take good care of it.”
Xu Se-chi bowed his head.
The reply to that carrier pigeon would only arrive a few days later.
Therefore, to eat this pork and fire liquor right now, a reply to the carrier pigeon sent a few days ago had to arrive.
At that moment.
Flutter—
The carrier pigeon sent a few days ago returned.
“Ohhhhhh!”
The carrier pigeon arrived amid the passionate cheers of the prisoners.
Gyeon Sul hummed and untied the letter tied to the pigeon’s leg.
Before long, the receipts were fully revealed.
Gyeon Sul was amazed.
“Wow. The bastards who hid gold ingots in their home latrines, jewels in their mother-in-law’s house walls, and bought houses and lands under their relatives’ names are almost cute now. Hahaha— who is this bastard who put gold ingots inside a cow’s belly again? Huh? He said he did it on his own accord? Does that make sense? Why would a cow suddenly ask to put gold ingots inside its belly, you human scum bastard. Furthermore, who is this bastard? The bastard who hid treasures inside his parents’ coffin. Then if there is a need to dig out treasures little by little, do you pull out the coffin every time? You say it is good since you get to visit your parents’ faces one more time every time you do so? This fellow is out of his mind.”
The wealth that the prisoners had sweat and bled to embezzle over their entire lifetimes was completely recovered.
Only after thoroughly verifying the receipts did Gyeon Sul give them the pork and alcohol.
“Now, just pay money sincerely like now. Then I will also give you leather clothes, sell fur shoes, and let you wear fur gloves.”
The prisoners cheered.
“Hurrah! Please sell us fur gloves next time without fail!”
“My skin is weak, so by any chance is there no medicine good for frostbite?”
“Other things do not matter, so I just wish I could drink some alcohol! I have as much money as you want! Because I pocketed a massive amount!”
But those who had no money, or had promised falsely to pay money but failed to pay, had to starve once again this time too.
“Sob sob sob……”
Xu Se-chi ended up belonging to the former category this time.
-To respected Uncle…… Uncle, where are you right now? Since Uncle volunteered for the trade journey, the family has been in an uproar. It is said that the house and land Uncle told us to buy back then have been bound to a resale restriction zone set by the government office, so they cannot be sold for at least sixty years in the future. We hope Uncle will come quickly and resolve these. We miss you, Uncle, please come quickly. Sincerely, nephews Xu Song and Xu Bo.
In the end, it meant he could sell neither the house nor the land, and had no money.
What that statement meant was.
“Aargh! My meat! My alcohol!”
Today, Xu Se-chi ended up unable to eat anything after the arduous labor.
A plight where he had to lick only salt rocks all dawn and suck the salty dew formed there.
In the end, Xu Se-chi’s eyes flipped completely.
“Rather than living like this, I won’t buy! I won’t buy! I won’t buy and I won’t live! Since I neither want to buy nor want to live, just kill me, kill me!”
At that very moment.
There was something that calmed Xu Se-chi’s anger.
Crack!
It was a whip falling down toward his back.
“Ugh-gack-ku-ku-ka-ka!?”
Xu Se-chi tumbled on the floor while clutching the skin of his back.
Before Xu Se-chi, who immediately turned gentle, Chui strode forward.
“If you don’t want to buy, forget it, so why do you throw a tantrum?”
“Uh…… th-that is……”
“So this is why they say running a business is hard. Because of power-tripping customers like you.”
Xu Se-chi trembled and made a gloomy face.
‘Tantrum…… power-tripping…… those are not words used at times like this…….’
It was the first time in his life he shed tears out of sheer indignation at this age.
No, before that, he felt like he would die because the skin of his back was too sore.
At that very moment.
Shwip—
A sound of something brushing past over the heads of the prisoners was heard.
“……!”
Gyeon Sul’s eyes turned fierce.
Namgung Yul, who had been maintaining her sword, also hurriedly rushed out of the carriage.
“Assassins!”
It was exactly as she said.
Dozens of men wearing black masks were surrounding the carriage while holding spears and staffs.
“Timely Rain Chui. We have come to see if you possess the skill worthy of that reputation.”
The masked man at the very front spoke while holding a spear.
Before long, Chui stepped forward with slow steps.
“Is it the Nailuo Valley?”
“……?”
“It is not.”
The interest that had been faintly shining in Chui’s eyes soon vanished.
Gyeon Sul spoke.
“By the looks of it, they seem to be assassins sent by the Heterodox Alliance.”
“That is right. We are the disciples of Staff Ghost.”
Another masked man replied.
The disciples trained by Staff Ghost Gu Gang-ryong.
They had come to kill Chui to avenge their master’s death.
Meanwhile.
“Aaaargh…… what is this, what is going on.”
“I-It has nothing to do with us!”
“Save me! Those guys are holding spears!”
The prisoners were fully terrified.
Xu Se-chi shouted toward Chui.
“P-Please save us, Thousand-Head!”
At that, Chui replied in a slow tone.
“Did you not say you didn’t want to live earlier?”
“What!? Wh-When did I ever say that!? I meant I didn’t want to buy goods, I didn’t say I didn’t want to live my life!”
“I am certain you said something like you neither wanted to buy nor wanted to live.”
“That was because my front teeth were missing, so my pronunciation leaked! Please save me!”
The prisoners shivered and gathered around the carriage.
To those prisoners, Chui said a word.
“Maxim.”
He is starting again.
The prisoners raised their heads with fed-up expressions.
Chui’s maxim followed.
“敎子採薪 (Teaching the Child to Gather Firewood).”
The prisoners’ gazes automatically turned toward Xu Se-chi.
Xu Se-chi interpreted falteringly.
“Possess a long-term perspective in everything…… for instance, rather than catching a fish and giving it, it is far better to teach how to catch a fish…… isn’t it roughly that kind of meaning?”
Hearing those words, Chui nodded his head.
“Yes. Therefore, rather than catching the assassins for you……”
At that very moment, Chui removed the cover of the adjacent wagon.
There, weapons such as swords and spears were piled up abundantly.
“I will teach you how to catch the assassins.”
In other words, defend your own bodies by yourselves.
Since Chui, whom the assassins were targeting, was beyond the prisoners, the assassins had to kill the prisoners first before capturing Chui.
The prisoners had become meat shields without a doubt.
‘Ugggh…… that talk about meat shields before we departed meant this!’
The prisoners, including Xu Se-chi, closed both eyes tightly.
Those assassins would kill them first, if only to capture Chui.
If so, there was no way to survive besides using those weapons to fight.
One had to defend one’s own body by oneself.
In the end, Xu Se-chi reached out his hand and gripped a spear.
At that very moment.
“……Wait.”
Chui stopped Xu Se-chi, who was trying to take the spear.
And soon, a single sentence followed that made the prisoners’ eyes widen.
“It is a bleeding discount. Close your eyes tightly and take it for one thousand Pariga.”
With a literal bleeding situation before their eyes, Chui had started a new business.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost