Episode 117. You're the Only One Who Can Help.

I didn't return to Haomun from the lake where I killed the assassins.

The ones who died here were stronger than the ones I killed near Heukmyobang.

Roughly speaking, I suppose it felt like squad-leader-level assassins had gathered to gang up on me?

So the next assassin to pay me a visit would likely be Ilwi Dogang. Since I speculated that Ilwi Dogang is an assassin from Saryugok, there was no reason to recklessly face them at Haomun.

Because while I would be fine, there was the risk of innocent subordinates dying.

Going to the Nammyeonghoe would also be a nuisance, and given my personality, hiding is no easy feat.

So I headed back to Baengeungji.

The greatness of the White Path, the nobility of the White Path, a place where one out of every three people walking down the street looks like a chivalrous hero.

A place teeming with beautiful experts of the White Path.

Somehow, I got the feeling that if the White Path and the assassins fought, I could lend a hand with a smile.

Of course, I'd be rooting for the White Path.

I arrived at a clean inn in Baengeungji at dawn, made up for my lack of sleep, then rose at midday like a jobless young man and swaggered through the streets of Baengeungji as if it were my own neighborhood.

The White Path territory was definitely cleaner than places where the Black Path gathers.

It's a city whose people know how to clean.

I looked at the street trees, peered into teahouses, then settled down at the inn where I'd run into that Jwasa fellow last time, eating noodles and drinking liquor to kill time.

When I was near Heukmyobang, my nerves had been somewhat on edge watching out for assassins, but sitting down at an inn in White Path territory put my mind at ease.

A situation where I wondered if perhaps my very constitution was meant for the White Path.

I spotted that lecherous bastard, who had appeared late in the afternoon, swaggering about, and called out in a loud voice.

"Well, if it isn't Young Master Mong over there. Second son of the Pungunmong family, Mongrang of Baengeungji."

Jwasa, startled on the street, looked at me with a bewildered expression.

"What? Who are you?"

Since I thought Jwasa might bolt, I replied in a loud voice.

"Hey, you shit—"

Jwasa arrived in front of me in an instant with tremendous speed and glared at me.

"You wanna die? This guy is completely insane. Won't you shut your trap?"

Jwasa naturally sat across from me and started tearing into me as if trying to cover my mouth.

"Why are you here?"

"As you can see, I was eating."

"I asked why you're stuffing your face here instead of crawling back to Haomun."

I took a drink and looked at Jwasa.

"Because I feel like it."

In fact, there was no one stronger than Jwasa among my subordinates. That was the reason I was in Baengeungji. Meaning, it's far more comfortable facing assassins alongside Jwasa.

"I was planning to return."

"But?"

"Assassins chased after me."

"So?"

"After killing them all, I got a craving for this place's noodles. This place makes excellent noodles."

A passing waiter looked at me and grinned.

"We are quite good at it."

I pointed at the waiter and nodded.

"My point exactly."

Jwasa tore into the waiter too.

"Why don't you get lost?"

The waiter bowed his head toward Jwasa.

"I'll get lost, Young Master."

Jwasa looked at me.

"So there's no reason for you to insist on resting here. Ijaha, Lord of Haomun, why do you keep being a nuisance? Stop pretending you know me."

"Mongrang, you still don't get it?"

"Get what?"

"When you tell me not to act like I know you, that's exactly the kind of person I become. This bastard hasn't come to his senses. Want to throw hands? Should I show you who's the strongest among the youngsters of Baengeungji?"

I had just changed jobs from Lord of Haomun to a youngster of Baengeungji.

"And is Baengeungji your private property? Your front yard? Your backyard? You rude bastard."

Jwasa let out a sigh.

"Baengeungji isn't my private property. Fine. Since it's fine, go ahead and have a lovely little fight with the assassins and live or die on your own. I'll be leaving, so stop pretending you know—"

As I stared at him blankly, Jwasa corrected himself.

"Anyway, I wish you martial fortune."

I watched blankly as Jwasa got up, then spoke in a serious tone.

"Shithead, sit down."

Jwasa sat back down with an expression of fury.

"This bastard, really... Want to throw down?"

I smirked as I looked at Jwasa.

"Mongrang."

"What."

"Don't get cocky. What do you think will happen if I lose my temper? I'm going to establish a Haomun branch in Baengeungji. Until the branch stabilizes, I'll be drinking and wandering around here every day, and if I see you acting cocky or harassing women, I'll report you to Senior Geomma, or to Lord Im—there are plenty of ways. Don't provoke me. I'm the kind of man who would establish a branch just to torment you. Got it?"

Jwasa fell silent for a moment.

"……."

I spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"Even if I only gather the useful ones among my subordinates, there are over five hundred. All five hundred of them could keep watch on you. They'll just observe. 'Today Mongrang entered a tavern and ordered dried meat.' I'll even have things like that reach my ears. Because that is precisely what Haomun is."

"……."

"Do you think life will be fun for you? Or not?"

Jwasa replied with a bitter expression.

"What do you want?"

I nodded and held out a drink.

"Now you're talking. Have a drink."

As I filled the empty cup Jwasa held out, I spoke.

"The ones chasing me are probably assassins from a place called Saryugok."

Jwasa replied.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you gather your amazing five hundred subordinates and storm the place? If those five hundred just took a shit in Saryugok, the water supply would be cut off and the assassins would all die of shit poisoning. Why can't you do something so simple?"

While Jwasa giggled, I replied.

"Is shit all you have in your head?"

"……."

"Did you pick up women with shit talk too? Did you seduce them by pissing yourself?"

"Shut up."

"Anyway, Saryugok is a place that often produces the King of Assassins. Their skills are quite outstanding. If I charged in with Haomun, quite a lot of my subordinates would die."

"I see. What does that have to do with me?"

I pointed at Jwasa with my finger.

“There is no man among my subordinates stronger than you.”

Jwasa looked at me with a smile.

“Ha, isn’t that obvious? There isn’t one in Baekeungji either. Except for Master, of course.”

I rested my chin on my hand for a moment and watched Jwasa’s expression change. Seeing him suddenly smile at such a trivial compliment... I sighed inwardly.

“What do you think about assassins?”

“What is there to think? They’re damned bastards. If they get caught, I just kill them.”

“Good. I’ve decided.”

“Decided what?”

“You and I are going to do a job together. The two of us will smash Saryugok. It’ll be quite a difficult fight.”

“Why are you the one deciding that?”

Now, as if he found it utterly absurd, Jwasa sat rocking dangerously in his chair as though it might topple backward.

“Why should I go to Saryugok with you and kill those assassins who supposedly even produced the King of Assassins? It’s true that I’m strong, but why me? Explain it so I can understand, Hao Gate Master.”

I nodded.

“At times like this, one must make an offer that cannot be refused. I’ll give you a spiritual medicine.”

“Spiritual medicine, my ass. You sly bastard.”

“……”

“Do you even know what people who cultivate ice arts need to eat?”

I took a sip of water and said,

“I’ll tell you where the Moon Cinnabar Flower (月丹花) is.”

For an instant, Jwasa was so startled that he toppled backward with his chair. From that nearly fallen posture, he suddenly straightened like a ghost and stared at me in shock.

“The Moon Cinnabar Flower? How do you know about that?”

“Because I’m the Hao Gate Master. Most people don’t even know what the Moon Cinnabar Flower is. You would, since you’ve trained in ice arts.”

The Moon Cinnabar Flower was the rare spiritual medicine marked on the treasure map that the Twin Ghosts of the Ringed Sabers had once tried to obtain. The reason I knew its location and yet had not gone to find it right away was because if one consumed it without having obtained an ice art, its effects would diminish.

That was what had happened to me in my previous life.

Though the energy of the spiritual medicine was extraordinary, it had not suited the Golden Tortoise Carefree Art, and I had suffered for it.

To explain the Moon Cinnabar Flower simply, it was like this.

If the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng (萬年雪蔘), the king of ice-art spiritual medicines, stood at the highest peak, then the Moon Cinnabar Flower occupied a position that could be called above ten thousand men.

For those who cultivated ice arts, it was no different from Kongqing Stone Milk.

Several Moon Cinnabar Flowers were blooming at the location indicated by the treasure map, but no matter what master it was, they could only take one blossom. Even in my previous life, eating a single flower had been extremely painful, and once one blossom was plucked, the surrounding Moon Cinnabar Flowers would soon wither as well. Furthermore, it was a troublesome spiritual medicine that had to be consumed immediately without being handled.

In any case, I had learned the Moon Shadow Merciless Art, and Jwasa had also learned the Jadeflower Ice Art, so the Moon Cinnabar Flower should be compatible with both of us.

Jwasa asked me,

“Where is the Moon Cinnabar Flower?”

“Somewhere cool, I’d imagine.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

I watched Jwasa’s expression and said,

“Day in and day out, you go around guzzling liquor and loitering around women. At some point, you must have hit a wall. Spiritual medicines that help ice arts are truly difficult to obtain. When you’re blocked, if you forcibly increase the total amount of your internal energy with a spiritual medicine and become able to use the techniques you’re cultivating a bit more smoothly, you can naturally move on to the next stage. Whether you keep living here getting scolded by Senior Sword Demon every time, or obtain the Moon Cinnabar Flower and focus on your martial training again as Senior Sword Demon wants, is up to you.”

Jwasa replied with a serious expression.

“First of all, I can’t believe that the Moon Cinnabar Flower exists. If I chew up the Moon Cinnabar Flower first, circulate my qi, regulate my breathing, and absorb all its energy, then say we go to Saryugok after that, I’ll think about it. Not the other way around. I have to take the Moon Cinnabar Flower first.”

I looked at Jwasa with a calm expression, then nodded.

“That’s fine. However.”

“However what?”

“Tell Senior Sword Demon about this matter and reveal our destination as well. Tell him that after taking the Moon Cinnabar Flower, you’ll storm Saryugok with me. You’re still a greenhorn, so your words carry no weight.”

Jwasa replied with a puzzled expression.

“You say you know the place, so why haven’t you eaten the Moon Cinnabar Flower?”

“I told you. I was looking for an ice art. Don’t you understand what that means?”

“Ah... right.”

Jwasa understood quickly, then his expression changed again.

“What? You obtained an ice art?”

I replied with a broad grin.

“Do you think the ice art you learned is the only one?”

I infused the wine cup in my hand with the Waning Moon Ice Art. White vapor soon settled over the cup, and in an instant, even the surface of the wine froze over.

“……”

Jwasa swallowed once, then held out his hand to me.

“Let me see.”

When I tossed him the frozen wine cup, Jwasa stared at it in a daze before cursing.

“What the hell. This really is an ice art.”

I looked at Jwasa.

“Mongrang, think carefully. This is a chance to change your life. What martial artist would tell you the location of a spiritual medicine? Fortunately, with the Moon Cinnabar Flower, one can only take a single blossom. Once it receives a person’s energy, all its petals are bound to fall. Prepare a sword and come with me to pick the Moon Cinnabar Flower. We can take them at the same time and raise our ice arts to an even higher realm. After that, we go to Saryugok. If you’re afraid of the assassins there, you can ask Senior Sword Demon to come with us. If the three of us join forces, we could lay waste to most sects. Isn’t that right?”

Suddenly, I turned my head and looked toward the road.

The Sword Demon was approaching with his hands clasped behind his back, and without preamble, he asked me,

“Gate Master, is it true?”

“I don’t know how much you heard, but it is true.”

The Sword Demon approached with a composed expression and looked at Jwasa.

“Disciple.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Let’s go.”

“Ah, where shall I escort you?”

The Sword Demon replied,

“Where else? We have to go pick the Moon Cinnabar Flower.”

“Now?”

This time, the Sword Demon looked at me.

“Gate Master, let us go.”

As I called the waiter over and settled the bill, Jwasa asked the Sword Demon,

“Why are you suddenly coming too, Master? Do you need the Moon Cinnabar Flower?”

“I do not need it.”

“But you’re saying you’ll go? I’ll go with the Gate Master first.”

The Sword Demon calmly looked back and forth between his disciple and me, then replied,

“Guide us. I will stand guard. It will be a dangerous moment.”

I glared at the Sword Demon, then nodded.

“Let’s go.”