Chapter 159. The Mindset of Riding Them Until They Cough Blood

While drinking the liquor Junpyeong had brought, Murong Bai said to me.

“Sect Leader, I will see if there is a physician nearby and procure some ingredients.”

“No need for that. Let’s just drink.”

I poured Murong Bai a drink and said,

“Gang Leader Huang is a hostage we’ll take back to the Black Cat Gang. We can’t leave him in the hands of men like this and just walk away. You can feed him the poison there.”

“Understood.”

I watched the martial artists of the Daeo Gang busily carry the funds. At first, I had not thought much of it, but large and small chests were piling up even outside the main hall. Murong Bai seemed to have lost his words as well, and from time to time he sighed while looking at the stacked chests.

“They have… a lot of wealth.”

I sighed too.

“We’ll have to hand some out to the merchants nearby. If there’s still any left, we’ll move it to the Black Cat Gang. This wasn’t the Daeo Gang, it was the Great Bandit Gang.”

I spoke to Gang Leader Huang as he was passing by.

“Great Bandit Gang Leader.”

“Yes?”

“Come here.”

Gang Leader Huang approached hesitantly, then respectfully clasped both hands before me. I asked him,

“Have you been living as a bandit? What is all this? This isn’t the first time you’ve seized an escort shipment, is it?”

Gang Leader Huang answered in a cautious tone.

“N-no. Under the Daeo Gang, we have taverns, pleasure houses, and even breweries, so the scale of our business is rather large.”

When I crooked my finger, Gang Leader Huang lowered his head and presented his face. I slapped him across the cheek just like that, then said,

“You have that much money, and you still collected tribute? Are you insane?”

Gang Leader Huang, who had fallen over, sprang back to his feet and replied,

“I apologize.”

For a moment my thoughts were so jumbled my head spun, so I sent Gang Leader Huang away.

“I simply cannot understand the greed of the rich. Teacher Murong, how am I supposed to take this?”

Murong Bai answered.

“Sect Leader, I have never been rich either, so I do not know.”

“It is not a world we poor dare even imagine.”

“Indeed.”

“Teacher, let’s not try to understand things like this. If we understand it, we might become rich too.”

“Exactly. Let us simply live on without knowing.”

Murong Bai and I nodded, then shared our drinks. It was a dangerous moment in which we might have become rich if we were not careful.

But after I drank a cup, my anger flared up again, and I shouted at Gang Leader Huang.

“Gang Leader Huang!”

“Yes!”

“Set aside plenty of money first to deliver to the shops you collected tribute from. Later, if I go out to inspect and ask around, and the merchants make even the slightest complaint to me, it won’t end with a single slap.”

“U-understood.”

My anger rose all the way to the top of my head, then subsided, over and over again. At least Murong Bai was silently pouring me drinks, so I was able to calm myself somewhat.

How should I put this feeling?

It was like controlling my temper in front of my attending physician.

“Teacher, we have to settle the money matters properly. Even if we have to stay up all night, let’s leave only after confirming that the Daeo Gang’s money has been thoroughly dispersed.”

“Understood.”

Murong Bai said to me in a calm tone.

“Sect Leader, there are likely still many men in this world who have built wealth by feeding off others. Please calm your anger.”

I nodded.

“That’s right. Bastards like that won’t understand how I feel until they’ve become beggars. Let’s make them beggars.”

“Understood.”

* * *

The day after I more or less wrapped up what had happened at the Daeo Gang, I took Gang Leader Huang as a hostage and put him in a carriage.

Gang Leader Huang was not the only thing I kidnapped.

The day before, I had generously distributed the funds the Daeo Gang had piled up to the neighborhood inns, shops, clinics, taverns, and private homes. I also sent the payment for the hundred-year fleeceflower root to the Huayang Escort Agency. Even so, a considerable amount of wealth remained, so I loaded it onto the carriage.

In effect, I had arbitrarily set a generous amount for the damages caused by my delayed return and the compensation owed to the Hao Gate, and packed it in. Thus, I was returning by carriage together with the Daeo Gang’s funds, Gang Leader Huang, and Murong Bai.

Inside the rattling carriage, I occasionally glared at Gang Leader Huang, who sat across from me.

“Gang Leader Huang.”

Gang Leader Huang responded with truly remarkable speed.

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“How old is our nouveau riche friend?”

“Ah, I am…”

“Come to think of it, why should I care how old you are?”

“……”

“Whether you’ve eaten thirty years or forty years, what matters is that you’ve wasted those years. Isn’t that right?”

Murong Bai nodded beside me.

“That is so.”

I asked Gang Leader Huang again.

“And has our nouveau riche friend married?”

“……”

Gang Leader Huang looked at me with a briefly troubled expression.

I narrowed my brow and said,

“Not answering? Do I have to tie a rope around your waist outside the carriage and make you run along before you come to your senses?”

“Ah, I have not married.”

“Why?”

Gang Leader Huang replied with a bitter smile.

“…How could there be marriage when one lives in the jianghu?”

My eyes opened wide.

“What a load of shit. Wow…”

Seeing my reaction, Murong Bai asked as though curious.

“Why are you so surprised?”

I pointed at Gang Leader Huang with my finger.

“Originally, that’s a fairly cool thing to say, but when this bastard says it, it’s extremely unpleasant. That affected swagger sounded incredibly unpleasant. He’s a completely rotten bastard through and through. He really does all sorts of things.”

Murong Bai held back his laughter as he asked me,

“Ah, come to think of it, Sect Leader, do you also have no thoughts of marriage?”

I organized my thoughts for a moment.

‘This is driving me mad.’

Because, in truth, my thoughts were similar to Gang Leader Huang’s. My enemies were swarming all over the jianghu, so what marriage was there to speak of? Unfortunately, since Gang Leader Huang had said the same thing, I needed to put it differently.

“My skill is still lacking, and I don’t know when I might die, so I shouldn’t meet a woman right now.”

Murong Bai looked at me and said,

“So it was the same reason as Gang Leader Huang.”

“Mm.”

I clutched my forehead. For the first time in a while, my pride was wounded, so I changed the subject.

“I’m hungry, so let’s get down, eat, and then move on.”

Because I had mixed internal energy into my voice, the coachman slowed the carriage and replied.

“I’ll stop as soon as I see a nearby inn!”

I met Leader Hwang’s eyes, then kicked him in the shin. Leader Hwang let out an “Urk!” and grabbed his leg.

* * *

We stopped the carriage at a large crossroads in Jinmok County and took seats at a restaurant with many tables set up outdoors.

After the coachman joined us, the four of us each ordered whatever we wanted to eat.

Looking around, I saw plenty of men guzzling liquor in broad daylight.

Perhaps it was a fashion unique to this place, but most of them had their weapons propped against their tables.

All manner of weapons rose above the food.

It looked as though the weapons they had to swing in order to survive were guarding their meals. Strangely, there seemed to be far more people of the martial world here than ordinary folk, so I asked Leader Hwang.

“You said this was Jinmok County, right? What’s wrong with this town? Is there a war going on?”

Leader Hwang explained.

“Part of it is because several escort agencies often stop here. It’s also a place where mounted bandits from nearby openly raid. They suddenly rush in from every direction, create a complete mess, then steal the escorted goods and flee. That is why even most of the waiters in Jinmok County carry knives at their waists.”

I looked around, and it was true.

“Wouldn’t it be better to gather people and strike the bandits’ base?”

“Apparently, these mounted bandits have prepared several strongholds somewhere out in the wilderness and lure forces there to fight them, so wiping them out completely is difficult. I’ve heard the leader commanding them is quite a skilled master as well, so he isn’t easy to catch.”

“Who is the leader?”

At that moment, a hairy martial artist at the table beside us cut in.

“He is called Ciwen Honggui.”

“Ciwen Honggui, is it……”

Ciwen, in other words, meant tattoos.

So it seemed he had many tattoos on his face or body. The Murim Alliance was, in truth, busy. It would be difficult for them to come all the way down here and deploy forces on a large scale.

Leader Hwang continued.

“The mounted bandit gang led by Ciwen Honggui is also called the Ciwen Bandits.”

Even so, I liked the atmosphere of this place, where even the waiters wore knives.

‘Looks like they aren’t the type to simply take it lying down.’

Seeing the venom even in the eyes of a waiter passing by, I asked Leader Hwang.

“Have the mounted bandits kidnapped women or children from here as well?”

“Yes.”

“If it’s that bad, it seems like they could report it to the Murim Alliance and ask them to wipe the bandits out.”

The waiter who had brought our food and was setting it down on the table replied.

“……We do not want that. What happened in Jinmok County should be resolved by the people who live in Jinmok County.”

“Is there a reason it has to be that way?”

The waiter looked at me and said.

“Some of those bandit bastards were originally from Jinmok County. They’re trash who were lured in by Honggui and betrayed the hometown where they were born.”

I nodded, then said to Moyong Baek.

“The atmosphere is similar to the men of Ilyang County, where I was born. I’ve decided.”

“Decided what?”

“Let’s stay here for a day before leaving.”

“Yes.”

“If we’re unlucky, we’ll just leave. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch and kill Ciwen Honggui. Leader Hwang.”

Leader Hwang, sensing something, replied cautiously.

“Yes?”

“You ate the hundred-year heshouwu too, so your skills must have grown quite strong. Honggui should be nothing to you, right? From what I saw, fire was practically coming out of your palms. If you’re the leader of the Daeo Gang, someone like Honggui wouldn’t even last ten exchanges. If we catch him, make sure you can slap his face until he dies. Let’s see what you can do.”

Leader Hwang nodded.

“Understood.”

But when I praised Leader Hwang’s abilities, everyone nearby glanced sideways at him.

I still had not resolved my doubt as to why the people here did not ask the Murim Alliance, or some other organization, to wipe out the mounted bandits.

If traitors from this place had joined the mounted bandits, then I suspected that bastards like spies might still be left here, exchanging information with the bandits outside.

As I ate, I continued to praise Leader Hwang.

“With your skills, Leader Hwang, you could beat a hundred or so mounted bandits to death by yourself, couldn’t you?”

“That is a bit……”

“You can’t?”

“I do think a hundred or so would be difficult.”

“Then what about that Honggui or whatever? One-on-one.”

Leader Hwang grinned.

“He is only the leader of a mounted bandit gang, isn’t he? I am confident.”

I nodded with a solemn expression.

“Ah, how reassuring.”

But at the word reassuring, Leader Hwang did not smile. Perhaps the food had given him indigestion, for he beat his chest with his hand and drank several cups of water in succession. Anyone could see he was nervous.

After the emptied dishes were cleared away and we were sharing liquor, I asked.

“Leader Hwang, why are you so nervous?”

“I-I am not. Nervous, you say?”

“You stupid bastard. I bet you never felt this sort of tension when you were fleecing working people to the bone, did you? If Honggui came and asked for money, you’d be the kind of man who handed over the money first without fighting. I told you, didn’t I? You are strong against the weak and servile before the strong.”

Leader Hwang stared blankly at me.

“Now that I hear your words, Sect Leader, I realize that is exactly the kind of man I was.”

I spoke with the determination to berate Leader Hwang until he coughed up blood from listening to me.

“You were a third-rate Black Path thug.”

“Yes.”

“And the leader of subordinates who snatched the money boxes of people who made food and collected tribute.”

“Yes.”

“A pathetic bastard who stole goods from escort agencies and acted high and mighty.”

“Yes.”

“A stupid bastard so afraid of a mounted bandit leader he has never even seen that he gets indigestion while eating.”

“Yes, that is me.”

I laughed by myself, my shoulders shaking.

“It’s been a long time since I met a moron like you.”

Suddenly, Leader Hwang lifted an empty cup with both hands and said to Moyong Baek.

“Sir, please pour me a cup.”

Moyong Baek nodded, then poured liquor for Leader Hwang with a faint smile.

“Receive it.”

“Thank you.”

Leader Hwang drank with his gaze lowered, but the hand holding the cup was trembling violently.

I glared at Leader Hwang and said.

“Leader Hwang.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve had all your money taken by me, and now you’re on your way to Heukmyo Bang to choke down poison. At this point, you must seem like such a pathetic bastard that all your Daeo Bang subordinates have scattered to the winds, no? What do you think?”

“There should still be some left. I treated my subordinates well.”

“Oh, really? How surprising. You were quite the remarkable lodge master.”

I pointed at Lodge Master Hwang and spoke to Moyong Baek.

“Well, well, our Lodge Master Hwang Gao has quite the grip on his men. He says his subordinates will remain. If there are men who would wait for a bastard like this, even I’d acknowledge that. The dark path is just a corpse without loyalty.”

Moyong Baek nodded with a calm expression.

“It is as you say.”

For a time, I left Lodge Master Hwang be and exchanged drinks and small talk with Moyong Baek. We spoke of the Martial Alliance, I showed him my wooden sword, and I heard about Heukbaek Soso, who was adjusting well at the Moyong Estate. To the point of perfection, I treated Lodge Master Hwang—who was right before my eyes—as though he were a man not present at this table.

Just as I asked Moyong Baek which martial arts he planned to focus on going forward, Lodge Master Hwang—who had been guzzling his liquor alone—cut into the conversation.

“My lord, I have something to say.”

“What? What, you bastard. Are you drunk? If you’re going to pick a drunken fight, you’d better stake your life on it.”

Lodge Master Hwang, who had been keeping his head lowered, pointed at the coachman with an expression of resolve.

“May I send this man to summon the whole of Daeo Bang? If you grant permission, I will call them all.”

“Why call them?”

Lodge Master Hwang looked me straight in the eye.

“……I will lead Daeo Bang and sever Jamun Honggwi’s head.”

I glared at Lodge Master Hwang with my arms crossed. When I glanced to the side, Moyong Baek was also looking at Lodge Master Hwang with his arms crossed.