Chapter 187. The Gourmet of the Thousand-Li Inn
Instead of heading for Baekeungji’s bustling streets, I chose a path that led off toward the old official road and walked through the darkness.
The farther we got from Baekeungji, the quieter our surroundings became.
We were already walking into a trap, so there was no need to run.
“Since we killed Hwangwija, unless that bastard is stupid, wouldn’t he have brought along an expert stronger than Hwangwija? Or could the Third Young Master be stronger than Hwangwija? Did Senior Sword Demon ever tell you anything about those lunatic bastards?”
The Lust Demon, walking beside me, answered without much thought.
“How strong was this Hwangwija guy?”
I pondered for a moment before replying.
“In any case, he was stronger than me and Yukhap. He fought better than expected. Plenty of experience, too.”
The Lust Demon suddenly stopped walking and asked back in a serious tone.
“Hwangwija was stronger than you?”
“He was. His inner energy was deeper than mine, too. He was over sixty, after all.”
“Then how did you kill him? By attacking together?”
“No.”
“Then?”
I let out a sigh.
“Let’s move on. The stronger one doesn’t always win.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
I simply couldn’t bring myself to calmly tell him that, in the middle of repeatedly running away, I had killed him while taking a piss. Thinking about it, I suddenly wondered whether I was even in my right mind at the moment. I had drunk a hell of a lot. The reason I was not running was partly because I was trying to keep driving the drunkenness out of me—and of course, the Lust Demon was in the same state.
The Lust Demon said,
“He said that once the generation changes, if one wants to contend for the title of greatest under heaven, the Cult Leader’s sons will become the competition. In any case, he said there wouldn’t be many experts of that level among my peers even in the orthodox factions. But Master’s prediction was this.”
“What?”
“That only one of them would survive anyway. I think the same. If a tiger cub wants to become king, it’ll have to eat its siblings, tear into them, cut off their hands and feet, destroy their dantians… In the end, only one will remain. What does that mean? It means taking care of him now is to our advantage.”
I gave a cold sneer.
“Fighting among brothers. Those spoiled bastards.”
“You wouldn’t know because you don’t have siblings, but half-siblings are often worse than strangers. Especially when they have a lot to possess. Brotherhood isn’t as heartwarming as you think. Like me.”
I nodded.
“I’ve had nothing since I was young, so it’s none of my business. But I do know very well why these Demonic Cult bastards are so damn vicious.”
“Why is that?”
“If they can kill their own brothers, who can’t they kill?”
“That’s true.”
“If people who don’t believe in their god end up in trouble or suffering because of it, then it’s a bad religion. That’s why it gets called demonic instead of by a proper name.”
In truth, I knew of far more evil deeds committed by the Demonic Cult. But I couldn’t tell the Lust Demon about things that had yet to happen.
When the moon began to reveal itself slightly, I asked the Lust Demon,
“Shitter, since we’re fighting together, let me ask you one thing.”
“Ask.”
“With your strongest ice-art consummate technique, how many could you strike down at once? Assuming they’re low-ranking martial artists.”
After thinking for a moment, the Lust Demon answered,
“About fifty or sixty… What about you?”
Without much thought, I replied with exaggeration.
“Seventy for me.”
“Then I can do eighty.”
“Now that I think about it, ninety.”
“Let’s stop this bullshit.”
As we walked through the darkness, a lantern appeared ahead. A short while later, a man carrying the lantern emerged and said,
“Sect Leader? This way.”
I stopped walking and stared at the lantern. The man lifted the lantern beside his face and said to me,
“I will guide you to where the lord is.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
I grabbed the shoulder of the man holding the lantern and said,
“If hidden weapons come raining in using that lantern as a marker, you’ll die too. How does that feel?”
“Surely that wouldn’t happen while I’m guiding you.”
“Do you know your superiors’ minds that well?”
Only then did his expression stiffen. With my arm around his shoulders, I walked along the road with the bright lantern as my companion.
“Where exactly are you leading us? Was there a base nearby?”
“There is an inn in a secluded place. He is waiting there.”
“Ah, is it yours?”
“No.”
“Then someone must be there.”
I had this thought.
If the Third Young Master tried to kill me while bringing along a large number of troops, that would be easy for me to handle. It would mean there were a lot of low-grade bastards, and running around would actually be easier. But if one or two experts had been added at the inn, that would make things a little troublesome.
Because a strong bastard was surely waiting there.
Even so, I wasn’t the type to come this far and run away with the Lust Demon. If I ran, it was obvious the Third Young Master would torment Haomun anyway, so I was caught in a dead end.
A short while later, we entered a filthy establishment with a sign that read Thousand-Li Inn (千里客棧). Perhaps they did their own butchering, because the inn was thick with the smell of blood.
***
The Third Young Master appeared at the railing on the second floor of the inn and looked down at us.
“Welcome.”
I looked around, but all I could see were the Third Young Master’s subordinates. No expert in particular caught my eye.
The Third Young Master looked down at the Lust Demon and me, then said,
“Innkeeper, your guests have arrived.”
I heard faint footsteps from the kitchen, and then saw a man in his thirties come out while wiping his hands on an apron. He was the innkeeper, his whole body wrapped in utter ordinariness, though his hair seemed to have been oiled, gleaming slickly.
‘Hmm…’
The moment I saw the innkeeper, I recognized him as Butcher Bai Jia. He was also called by another alias: the Gourmet.
He was indeed an expert who had entered the ranks of the strong, just as I had expected.
Because even including the Third Young Master, inside this inn right now, Butcher Bai Jia was the strongest.
In any case, that meant the Thousand-Li Inn was a place where Butcher Bai Jia made food out of human flesh, and the reason Butcher Bai Jia’s inn was near the orthodox factions was likely so he could capture perfectly fine people and use them as human meat.
This rare villain’s other alias was the Gourmet, so both in the past and now, he was often operating a tavern or an inn. The situation made a snicker escape me on its own.
Butcher Bai Jia asked us,
“Guests, what will you have?”
I sat down at a table and answered,
“Just bring liquor. No side dishes.”
Seated around the table with the Lust Demon, I looked at the Baek bastard, and he said with a smile.
“The snacks are good.”
Having nothing in particular to say, I let out a sigh and asked the Third Young Master.
“Bring some liquor, at least. Third Young Master, why did you lure us here?”
While Butcher Baek went into the kitchen, the Third Young Master answered.
“I commissioned a rather famous man in this underworld for a killing, but he said he’d have to see for himself before deciding.”
“I see.”
I looked at the Lust Demon. The moment this fellow saw the innkeeper, he seemed to have grown unusually tense, and only his eyes were darting this way and that.
In any case, it was right for the Lust Demon to be tense.
The Lust Demon, who had been a public enemy of the murim in my past life, and I were still quite young. And a master counted among the Five Evils was in a period of success great enough to openly accept a request from the son of the Demonic Cult Leader.
In other words, Butcher Baek was someone who would later become one of the Five Evils.
Of course, I could not know whether that Five Evils name had already been properly entered on the list of public enemies of the murim. Very few people would know that the mere proprietor of the Thousand-Li Inn was a member of the Five Evils.
Naturally, since I knew all the traits of the Five Evils, I recognized him the moment I saw him.
The Lust Demon also seemed to have noticed, from the innkeeper’s atmosphere and bearing, that he was a powerful expert not easily encountered.
The Lust Demon muttered.
“We should have come with Master. Weren’t we too arrogant?”
“You noticed? Exactly.”
“What are we supposed to do now? Retreat?”
I looked at the Lust Demon and said.
“Well, I’ve always been confident in my qinggong. You can take care of yourself.”
“You goddamn bastard……”
Butcher Baek came out of the kitchen carrying liquor, approached with a smile, and set it down on the table.
“Sorry, but this is the only liquor I have. And you two guests, do not leave the inn without my permission.”
Butcher Baek walked away with his back exposed, then sat down a short distance off and looked up at the Third Young Master.
“So, it’s these two? You asked me to kill one man, so why has it increased to two?”
The Third Young Master answered with a smile.
“It does not matter if you kill only one. Do they suit your taste?”
“Tell me the terms.”
Ignoring us, the Third Young Master began negotiating with Butcher Baek.
“If you take on this matter, I will give you one thousand standard silver ingots. And I will place you in an Outer Hall organization where your movements will be free. You need not receive orders, nor do you have to work for the Cult in particular. If you occasionally deal with targets I name, as you would today, I will continue to pay you handsomely each time. Of course, I do not intend to settle this with money alone. If you want martial arts, I will obtain manuals for you, and I will use my connections to supply you as much as possible with not only beauties, but also rare liquors and food ingredients that are hard to acquire. I hear you are a gourmet…… If I am to entrust work to a master difficult to obtain, should I not do at least this much?”
Butcher Baek smiled broadly and looked at us.
“……So he says. Which one of you is the Hao Sect Leader?”
I immediately pointed at the Lust Demon and said in an indifferent tone.
“This one.”
The Lust Demon let out a sigh.
“……Hoo. I am—”
I cut off the Lust Demon.
“Shut up. Hao Sect Leader. You pathetic fool.”
As though he had suddenly gone mad, the Lust Demon gave up making excuses and cackled with laughter.
For now, I poured a cup of the liquor the butcher had brought. Then I held it out to the Lust Demon and said.
“Sect Leader, have a drink.”
“Drink it by yourself.”
In the end, I drank the liquor by myself and hurriedly spat it onto the floor.
“Ptooey! This fucking…… Why does it taste like this?”
I glared at Butcher Baek. When the butcher looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, I asked again.
“Innkeeper, why does the liquor taste like this? Why are you selling this crap? Did you mix gutter water into it? Did you mix in shit water? It wouldn’t taste like this even if you only watered it down. Selling this idiotic liquor while lying around, are you? You look like an idiot too. Damn unlucky. Ptooey! You fucking bastard……”
Butcher Baek glared at me with truly terrifying eyes.
“……”
I spun a finger around near my temple and said.
“It’s because you drink liquor like this that your head goes completely twisted and you end up eating human flesh, you bastard. There are so many delicious things in the world, so why are you sitting around eating people meat?”
The Lust Demon beside me nudged me.
“Stop. Even if he doesn’t accept the request, he’ll kill us.”
I answered the Lust Demon in a respectful tone.
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
The Lust Demon sighed beside me, then looked at the butcher.
“Um, Senior Gourmet.”
Surprisingly, the Lust Demon seemed to know the innkeeper’s identity as well.
The butcher answered with a smile.
“Young guest, do you know me?”
The Lust Demon answered.
“My master mentioned you from time to time, so I recognized you. Your attire and aura are exactly as I heard.”
“Who is your master?”
The Lust Demon answered quickly.
“He is called the Sword Demon.”
“Ah……”
The butcher laughed, his shoulders shaking, then looked up at the Third Young Master.
“Third Young Master, are you making this request so I’ll be chased by the Sword Demon? This is not something to be settled with one thousand silver ingots. The price must go up.”
The Third Young Master narrowed his brow and glared at the butcher.
“Do you fear the Sword Demon?”
The butcher answered.
“You wet-behind-the-ears son of a Cult Leader, the Sword Demon was a man of fame before you were even born. And you want to entrust me with something like this for a thousand silver ingots?”
One of the Third Young Master’s subordinates cut in.
“What insolent tone is that toward the young master?”
The butcher asked the Third Young Master.
“May I kill him?”
The Third Young Master shook his head.
“Endure it.”
In that instant, the Third Young Master swung his left hand, and the subordinate who had interrupted the conversation flew into the wall with a thud, then immediately fainted.
The Third Young Master looked down at the butcher and said.
“Senior Baek, is the path you walk not close to our side anyway? You are already used to killing people, so if your tail is stepped on, Im Sobaek will pursue you. It would not be bad to have dealings with our side. To be frank, I am also in a situation where I need even one more expert. Whether I succeed or fail in the future, it will not be a loss for you to receive financial support from our side from time to time.”
I answered in the butcher’s place.
“Good grief, you pathetic bastard. Your father must be so pleased. Commissioning a killing from a man who eats human flesh, are you? If your father hears of this, you’re a dead man. How did the demonic path fall so low? I came along to see the skill of the Cult Leader’s son, and you had a butcher waiting?”
The Third Young Master pointed at me with his hand and asked the butcher.
“See? He’s a reckless bastard. For your information, that man is the Hao Sect Master, so don’t mistake him for the Sword Demon’s disciple.”
The butcher, Baek Ga, looked at me and laughed.
“I see. So you’re the Hao Sect Master.”
I pointed at the butcher bastard with my finger too.
“Hwan Gwija acted as relaxed as you and died by my hand. But before that, I have a proposal.”
The butcher replied with an expression that showed no particular expectation.
“What is it?”
I pointed at the Third Young Master and said.
“The cult leader’s third son. Kill him for me instead, and a thousand pieces of silver? I’ll take that and add another hundred.”
The moment I finished speaking…….
The Third Young Master, the Lecherous Demon, and the butcher all sighed at the same time. It was not as if a mere hundred pieces of silver would change the situation, but I was getting excited as though I had come to a gambling den after a long while. This must be why people can’t quit gambling.
I looked at the Third Young Master with expectant eyes.
“You taking it? Or not?”
The butcher said to the Third Young Master with a resolved expression.
“First, I’ll cut off the Hao Sect Master’s two arms for you. A thousand pieces for both arms. He’s an interesting one, so there’s no need to kill him right away. Seems he has plenty of money too, after all. What do you say?”
The Third Young Master replied with a satisfied expression.
“Good.”
I nodded as well and replied.
“Confirmed.”