Chapter 11: A Warrior Dies for the One Who Recognizes His Worth (2)
Cutting off the middle of this long winter solstice night,
I will roll it up and put it under the spring breeze blanket,
And unfold it loop by loop on the night my beloved returns.
A deepening night. A precariously flickering candle.
Here is a person standing at the crossroads of a girl and a woman.
Hair like the waist of the night sky and eyes like starlight.
Ho Ye-yang.
She lifted her brush from the calligraphy paper and let out a soft sigh.
“A marriage proposal……”
Ho Ye-yang was currently pondering seriously over the marriage proposal that came from the Cao Family Manor.
The financial situation of the Tiger Pit Sect was too poor.
They suffered major accidents in several escort missions, losing escorts and porters.
After paying penalties for the escort goods and consolation money to the casualties, they could not avoid deficits every year.
It is hard to keep one’s sanity alone in a muddy world.
She merely wished to treat people as people and regard duty as duty, but…… the family fortune kept declining.
Under such circumstances, the marriage proposal presented by the Cao Family Manor.
And the massive marriage dowry.
Although mercenary marriage is common for the poor, it is the same for the rich.
Political marriage.
Only the name they call it is different.
“Perhaps it cannot be helped.”
Ho Ye-yang let out a sigh once more.
For the family’s recovery and revival, she strengthened her determination to sacrifice her own body.
Right at that moment,
Clatter—
The door to her room opened hurriedly.
Ho Yeon-am. Her father entered with a flustered expression.
Beside him, her mother, Sa Ji-won, stood together.
“Hui.”
“Father?”
Ho Ye-yang laid down her brush in surprise.
It was the first time her parents visited by opening the door directly without notice.
Even at this late hour, at that.
‘But it’s good. I should tell them of my decision at this opportunity.’
Ho Ye-yang tried hard to maintain her composure.
And soon, she spoke in a trembling voice.
“Father, regarding the marriage proposal from the Cao Family Manor that you dismissed last time……”
But her words could not continue to the end.
It was because Ho Yeon-am spoke first.
“Have you heard? The Cao Family Manor has been destroyed.”
“……Yes?”
* * *
Public notices were posted throughout Gulai County and Inner Pine County.
The content was simple.
First. The Orthodox Path held hands with the Underworld Path and took unjust gains.
Second. Punishment is meted out on behalf of the people who suffered damage from it.
The Cao Family Manor secretly commissioned the Black Path Gang and took numerous unjust gains.
People who had thought the Black Path Gang was the sole culprit until now were enraged by the Cao Family Manor’s behavior, which was different inside and out.
But they could not take revenge on the Cao Family Manor.
Because the Cao Family Manor had completely burned down during the past night.
In the center of the burned manor, the corpses of Cao Yangzi and Ouyang Po were placed.
Ledgers showing that they had been in collusion for a long time flew over the walls of the government office.
The Black Path Gang members, the Cao Family Manor, those who mastered martial arts were all dead.
The only ones who survived were the employees who did not know martial arts.
Whenever two or more people of the county gathered, they unconditionally chatted about last night’s bloody event.
“What on earth happened?”
“I heard the Black Path Gang and the Cao Family Manor displeased some hidden expert?”
“They say he invaded alone and killed them all.”
“They certainly crossed the line lately. To think they would even touch the Tiger Pit Sect.”
“Of course, what kind of sect is the Tiger Pit Sect? Even if the whole world is rotten, at least that place is clean. Huh, they should have known who to touch.”
“By the way, who could have done such a thing? Ouyang Po of the Black Path Gang aside, Cao Yangzi of the Cao Family Manor is not an easy figure.”
“The Martial Alliance must have dispatched an expert for punishment.”
“You idiot, would the Martial Alliance act so brutally? The Heterodox Alliance must have cut off the tail of the Black Path Gang!”
The market street, which was originally noisy, became even noisier.
Attention was now shifting toward the entity that had wiped out the Black Path Gang and the Cao Family Manor.
“I heard a maid who survived at the Cao Family Manor heard it. The chivalrous hero called his name three times before killing Cao Yangzi.”
“It’s not like he is a Grim Reaper, why call the name?”
“But they said when he called his name three times like that, Cao Yangzi was terrified and cried?”
“That’s scary…… Doesn’t it mean he calls the name three times and takes them to the Yellow Springs.”
By nature, gossips love to exaggerate.
The expert in the rumors had become a supreme expert who called Cao Yangzi’s name three times and sent him to the Yellow Springs in that short time.
Three Calls of the Yellow Springs.
That was the alias referring to the unidentified expert.
* * *
A horse walked down the walkway.
Ho Ye-yang was lost in thought while holding the horse’s reins.
‘The destruction of the Black Path Gang and the Cao Family Manor……’
Her mind was complicated.
That another’s misfortune becomes one’s own joy makes one feel guilty.
If it becomes group and group, the guilt fades.
Ho Ye-yang swallowed the sigh she was about to let out.
‘Yes. Let’s think positively.’
As the Black Path Gang burned, all the debt documents of the Tiger Pit Sect also disappeared.
Now, even if they wanted to pay it back, there was no one to pay back, so they could not repay it.
And the Cao Family Manor, which attacked the Swift Tiger Escort Agency through the Black Path Gang, had also disappeared.
Now the Tiger Pit Sect will soon be able to escape the financial difficulties.
‘By the way, who is it? That expert.’
Ho Ye-yang pondered.
In the martial world, similar kinds of stories are heard from time to time.
Ghost stories of a large group showing off its power looking down on a lone individual and picking a fight, only to be wiped out down to a single blade of grass.
It is a subject that appears abundantly in stories, but it is something that rarely happens in reality.
……But it actually happened in reality.
“Three Calls of the Yellow Springs.”
Rumors are bound to be exaggerated.
But if the one who really destroyed the Black Path Gang and the Cao Family Manor one day after another was indeed a single individual, is he human? Or a ghost?
Rustle—
Ho Ye-yang is riding on the horse, Ho Ye-yang pulled out a letter.
It was a letter from Escort Leader Ju Ye-hwa that had arrived via messenger pigeon a few weeks ago.
The content of the letter was quite long.
A letter informing what happened in this escort mission and what the plans for the future were.
But what Ho Ye-yang noted was the end of that letter.
-……Therefore, we safely protected the escort goods from the attack of the Green Forest bandits and plan to resume the escort mission like this.
Thanks to the help of a chivalrous hero, we were able to save the lives of many escorts.
I gave my gold plaque to that hero and had him go to the Tiger Pit Sect, so please treat him well.
Escort Leader Ju Ye-hwa wrote in the letter that she was attacked by Green Forest bandits during the escort mission, repelled them with the help of a hero, and thanks to that, was able to successfully resume the escort mission.
‘But there was no guest possessing Escort Leader Ju Ye-hwa’s gold plaque.’
After receiving this letter, Ho Yeon-am inquired about all the retainers who had visited the Tiger Pit Sect, but there was no such person.
Suddenly, Ho Ye-yang thought.
‘Could the expert called Three Calls of the Yellow Springs, who wiped out the Black Path Gang and the Cao Family Manor, be the hero Escort Leader Ju Ye-hwa spoke of?’
She assumed a slightly sullen expression.
‘I guess he didn’t come to our martial arts academy.’
It was both scary and intriguing.
What kind of existence is he to walk only in ways so beneficial to the Tiger Pit Sect?
Of course, it must be a coincidence, but she thought it was truly strange to dismiss it as a mere coincidence.
At that time,
“……Ah!”
Ho Ye-yang lifted her head with a start.
Because she was focused on thinking while reading the letter, she could not pay attention to the direction the horse was going.
Wondering if she had come to some strange place, Ho Ye-yang hastily looked around.
At that moment,
“……Ah.”
An exclamation different from before escaped her mouth.
The horse was strolling along the newly built road near Lake Ruxi.
Willow leaves swaying by the lakeside rustled and shook their bodies.
Every time the gold-shining waves sparkled, ducks dove beneath the surface of the water.
“······.”
Ho Ye-yang turned her head.
The boy silently walking in front of the horse while holding the reins.
Chui’s back was fully captured in Ho Ye-yang’s large, clear eyes.
Ho Ye-yang tapped Chui’s shoulder and said,
“How did you know I liked lakes and came here? I didn’t even say so.”
“You did.”
“Eh?”
Ho Ye-yang’s eyes widened.
She fell into thought for a moment, wondering if she had ever told Chui that she liked lakes.
Meanwhile, Chui was recalling the past.
‘……On days when she was in a bad mood or had a lot of things to think about, she used to sit by the lakeside.’
The Ho Ye-yang Chui met in his past life liked the lakeside very much.
On days when she received unreasonable missions from superiors and thus lost many comrades, she always stood by the lakeside and watched the willow leaves.
She did not dislike the fishy smell of the lakeside, and liked the reeds on the mudflat and the flocks of migratory birds flying above them.
At that time, Ho Ye-yang said,
“But you, you really handle horses well, don’t you?”
“······.”
Since Chui remained silent, Ho Ye-yang continued speaking in wonder.
“This horse is actually a bit ill-tempered. So the other stable boys avoid it a bit. But it listens to you very well.”
Ho Ye-yang looked down at the horse she was riding.
This fellow had been behaving submissively since earlier while watching Chui’s reactions.
Soon, Chui held the reins and approached the lakeside.
In a sunny place, Ho Ye-yang stretched.
‘Somehow, it’s very comfortable today.’
She thought.
Usually, when other children drive horses, they drive them avoiding the sunlight.
This is because most women do not want to expose their skin directly to sunlight.
But Ho Ye-yang had liked soaking up the sunlight since long ago.
And Chui, as if he knew that, was driving the horse only toward the sunny side.
At that time,
Hummm—
A flying bug grazed the tip of Ho Ye-yang’s nose.
“Ugh, bugs. The water’s edge is all good, but this one thing is the problem.”
Lakesides originally have very many flying bugs.
It was so even though the weather had grown chilly.
Ho Ye-yang liked sightseeing the lake, but bugs were the sole annoyance.
At that time,
Sizzle—
Chui took something out from his breast pocket.
It was dried mugwort.
When Chui lit the mugwort fire, the flying bugs all fled.
Ho Ye-yang’s eyes widened.
“You carry such things around too?”
“······.”
Chui did not answer this time either.
Yet for some reason, Ho Ye-yang did not feel angry.
She asked Chui.
“You seem to be a newbie, but you have very good intuition. Are you originally this good at work?”
Then, finally, Chui answered.
“A warrior dies for the one who recognizes his worth.”
He looked back at Ho Ye-yang and continued.
“I merely treat the one who treats me as family as family in return.”
At Chui’s words, Ho Ye-yang open her eyes wide and was speechless for a moment.
Soon, her mouth opened.
“Because it seems you have a story, it is a bit difficult to speak at length, but……”
Chui’s face was captured in Ho Ye-yang’s large, clear eyes.
“While you are in the Tiger Pit Sect, we are your family.”
Hearing those words, Chui felt an illusion of going back to the past for an instant.
‘Do you know why I saved you?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It was because you were a porter of the Swift Tiger Escort Agency.’
‘……?’
‘I am the last descendant of the destroyed Tiger Pit Sect.’
‘……!’
‘You said so, didn’t you? That you worked as a porter at the Swift Tiger Escort Agency, albeit briefly. That the Sect Leader there and his wife were good people.’
‘…….’
‘I think it was from that time. That I thought of you as family.’
In the pouring rain, the conversation he shared with the dying Ho Ye-yang came to mind.
The last appearance and voice of the sworn brother were still vivid before his eyes.
The more it was so, the appearance of the brother seen before his eyes now pained Chui’s heart even more.
The past Ho Ye-yang, whose face to chest was uglily distorted due to burns.
The present Ho Ye-yang, who possessed a beautiful appearance that had just begun to bloom.
The past Ho Ye-yang, who could only emit a rasping, metallic sound after swallowing hot coals.
The present Ho Ye-yang, who possessed a voice like rolling jade beads.
“······.”
Chui closed his mouth.
Anger and revenge, sadness and longing.
It is impossible to maintain such emotions continuously.
As long as one is human, anger dies down, revenge fades, and sadness and longing are forgotten.
No matter how iron-blooded of an avenger Ho Ye-yang had been, there must have been moments when her heart broke and her will weakened.
At those times, what did she think while looking back at her situation and appearance?
What kind of mind did she have, who became an avenger who discarded gender and appearance, immersed her body in toilet dung water, squeezed into a maggot-ridden pile of corpses to hide, had to flee to the faraway border battlefield chased by pursuers, and shared a barracks mixed with dirty and uneducated low-ranking ruffians……?
Chui opened his mouth, trying to say something.
Ho Ye-yang tilted her ear, wishing to hear it.
……However,
there was a shout separating the two.
“Lady!”
Woo Dong-won was seen running hurriedly from far behind.
“The escort warriors have returned!”
The moment she heard those words, Ho Ye-yang’s eyes widened.
The escorts of the Swift Tiger Escort Agency, including Escort Leader Ju Ye-hwa who had gone on the escort mission, returned safely.
It was a journey of a full one hundred and eight days, which would resolve the Tiger Pit Sect’s financial difficulties at once.
Ho Ye-yang quickly held the reins.
And she looked back at Chui and said,
“Sorry, but I will go first! A big feast will be held tonight, so empty your stomach! You will be able to eat a lot of delicious food!”
After speaking, Ho Ye-yang asked for understanding and quickly drove the horse.
Watching Ho Ye-yang run off in an instant toward the Tiger Pit Sect’s manor, Chui also turned his steps.
Far away, beyond the walls of the Tiger Pit Sect, the sound of grandly welcoming the safely returned escorts echoed all the way here.
Right at that moment,
“Hey.”
Woo Dong-won grabbed Chui’s back neck.
And then he said in a low voice,
“Who do you think you are, accompanying the Lady on your own? Don’t you know that is originally done by seniors?”
Woo Dong-won threatened Chui and pushed his back.
“I can’t let this go. I will see you at the feast later. Know that you won’t even be able to eat leftover broth.”
Unrivaled Spear Ghost