Moorim Pochang - Chapter 26

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 26. Bitter Memories.

“All we have is liquor.”
Tap.
At Gang Jo’s words, Dok Go Yeop withdrew a manual from his robe and set it on the dining table.
He’d brought it as a precaution, but in the end, this was all he could offer.
If Baek Mun Do meant to take that younger man as his disciple, then he would take the elder as his own.
Baek Mun Do examined the cover of the manual and shot to his feet.
“The Purple Heaven Crimson Demon Sword technique? Have you lost your mind?”
The Purple Heaven Crimson Demon Sword technique was no common sword art like the Moonlit Sword technique he himself had offered.
It ranked among the top ten sword techniques even within the Demonic Cult.
By any objective measure, the Purple Heaven Crimson Demon Sword technique surpassed the Moonlit Sword technique.
“And what of you, giving away the Moonlit Sword technique as payment for drinks?”
“But this is crossing a line!”
“Crossing a line? What nonsense. You scheming devil. Be honest with me — you were trying to reel those two into the Wulin Alliance by any means, weren’t you?”
At Dok Go Yeop’s accusation, Baek Mun Do felt a pang of guilt.
True, he hadn’t been entirely free of ambition.
That’s why he’d tossed out the Moonlit Sword technique—to judge their sincerity.
He’d given no thought to Internal Energy.
Once they drank that precious liquor, they could rebuild their Qi quickly enough.
Though the Moonlit Sword technique was indeed a treasure, he possessed martial arts far greater than it.
But the Purple Heaven Crimson Demon Sword technique was far too blatant.
‘So this man has already made his decision.’
Contrary to Baek Mun Do’s worries, Gang Jo refused the secret technique.
“I will not accept a martial secret as payment for drinks.”
At that, Dok Go Yeop smiled coldly.
“I’ve already paid my tab, so bring out that medicinal liquor at once. If you try to cheat me this time, you’ll find it hard to do business in this place.”
“Who are you to dictate whether I do business here? This is the front gate of the Wulin Alliance!”
Baek Mun Do interjected, his voice trembling with fury.
But Dok Go Yeop remained unmoved.
“Regardless, I’ve paid for my drink. Bring it out now.”

*

Gang Jo found himself in turmoil.
The Cult Master’s threats didn’t frighten him.
Yet the thought that they would keep searching for that liquor gave him a headache.
‘I’ll have to show them the jar is truly empty to make this end.’
Gang Jo opened the liquor vessel and withdrew a large root.
It was a thousand-year-old He Shou Wu that had been steeping in the liquor for years, leaving it nearly drained of medicinal potency.
Placing it on a cutting board, Gang Jo picked up a kitchen knife and sliced it in half.
Then he began slicing the severed root into thin strips.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Once he’d arranged the sliced root in a large bowl and set it out, Dok Go Yeop spoke.
“I distinctly asked for liquor, did I not?”
“There is truly no medicinal liquor left. Only the spiritual herb that was steeped in it remains.”
At Gang Jo’s words, Dok Go Yeop quickly picked up chopsticks and grabbed one of the thinly sliced strips.
Crunch, crunch.
From years of steeping, it had lost its crisp texture.
Yet it was rich with the aroma of the liquor, savory on the tongue.
Baek Mun Do also reached for chopsticks and began eating the root.
Crunch, crunch.
They moved their chopsticks busily, as though determined to eat every last piece.
“I’ll take payment in silver coins for the food.”
At Gang Jo’s words, Baek Mun Do glanced at Dok Go Yeop while his chopsticks kept moving.
“I paid last time, so you pay this time.”
“A cunning bastard, and now he’s spouting nonsense too. I never asked to drink that medicinal liquor before.”
“Even so, you ate for free, didn’t you?”
“So now you’re a man who covets married women and won’t even pay for his meal?”
The jab struck home, and Baek Mun Do flared with rage.
“When did I ever covet a married woman…? Do you want to die? You bastard…!”
Dok Go Yeop wasn’t about to sit idle either.
“Fine, you dog. It’s been a while—let’s settle this with a proper fight.”
As their quarrel escalated, Gang Jo stepped in.
“Take your fight outside, if you please.”
After staring daggers at each other for a long moment, they settled back into their seats.
Then, just as quickly, they resumed moving their chopsticks with renewed vigor.
“Next time it’s your turn to pay. How much is the bill?”
Baek Mun Do backed down and asked the price.
“Ten thousand silver coins.”
The man paused in his eating and fixed Gang Jo with a hard stare.
“What’s so expensive about it?”
“A bargain, really. It’s been steeped in alcohol for years, but an immortal herb is still an immortal herb, isn’t it?”
A long exhale escaped him.
He turned to look at Dok Go Yeop.
But the man wouldn’t even meet his eye.
A heavy sigh.
“I’ve only brought two thousand silver coins, so I’ll settle the rest another time.”
Baek Mun Do drew a money pouch from his robe and placed it on the table.

*

Baek Mun Do and Dok Go Yeop crossed the Stone Bridge and vanished into the darkness.
“Elder brother. What should we do with the lord?”
The moment they disappeared, Yang Jeong pointed to Shin Pung Gae, who was snoring away.
“Toss him outside, far away.”
“The lord of the Dagger Band?”
“Would you rather sleep in the same room as a stinking man?”
“Ah…that’s true.”
He nodded and hoisted Shin Pung Gae onto his hip, then crossed the Stone Bridge.
Once across, Yang Jeong walked toward the Wulin Alliance.
After walking for some time, he came upon a spot of soft grass and set Shin Pung Gae down there.
‘From tomorrow on, there’ll be trouble. They’ll keep coming to find us.’
Yang Jeong felt the weight of worry descend first.
But unlike what the elder had said, they couldn’t keep running forever.
“Well, things will work out somehow.”
Worrying changed nothing.
To live at ease, one had to shed worry first.
No matter how much he fretted over problems that couldn’t be solved, it was better never to worry about them in the first place.

*

A low hum of energy filled him.
Baek Mun Do felt his power surging, building with a warm intensity as he returned to the Wulin Alliance.
‘What kind of immortal herb is this, to have such power?’
When three-hundred-year-old herbs appeared in the world, the wealthy would pay a fortune to acquire them.
Yet even three-hundred-year-old herbs had limited efficacy.
You needed at least five hundred years to see real results.
But what he had consumed seemed to far exceed five hundred years of age.
‘My lady. Wait just a moment longer. Tonight will be quite…’
He stopped as he approached his wife’s chambers.
“Where are you coming from, Father?”
He turned at the sound of his son’s greeting.
“Ah. I had a drink at an inn.”
“It seems to have been quite an enjoyable evening, Father.”
“What makes you say so?”
Baek Won Young smiled softly to himself.
His father’s footsteps had been light, his expression bright—surely it had been a satisfying meeting.
“It was just a feeling, Father.”
He chuckled.
“Now go rest. Oh, and one more thing—do you know that fellow, Yang Jeong or whatever they call him, the one whose name keeps slipping your mind?”
Baek Mun Do paused mid-turn and opened his mouth to ask.
“I know him as the innkeeper’s younger brother. His appearance is quite refined—one might even say he deserves the title of the most handsome man under heaven.”
“Good, you know of him. From now on, treat that boy well.”
“Has something happened, Father?”
Baek Won Young wondered what had sparked his father’s interest in Yang Jeong.
The inn had felt so warm and pleasant that even without his father’s words, he’d wanted to grow close to them.
Especially the elder brother—his temperament aligned better with Won Young’s own.
“Don’t trouble yourself with deep thoughts. Simply observe that boy carefully, and if you notice anything remarkable, inform me of it as well.”
“Understood, Father.”

*

He could feel it—the power radiating outward.
An overwhelming force that defied containment.
A shrill whistle cut through the air.
Dok Go Yeop threw himself into lightness work, moving recklessly.
‘Damn. That inn’s too far away. He has all the advantage.’
Baek Mun Do would be feeling this volcanic surge of power by now as well.
But for him, still so far from the Demonic Cult’s sanctuary, the distance worked against him.
‘Of all the cursed luck—that inn planted itself right at the Wulin Alliance’s doorstep.’
That bastard Baek Mun Do was blessed with fortune.
‘Just wait a moment, madam. I’ll be there soon.’

*

Geol Gae of the Dagger Band raced toward the Wulin Alliance.
He could have sent a carrier pigeon, but the bandmaster had called this matter urgently important.
‘Why would he want to dredge up ancient history?’
The bandmaster himself knew of what had happened thirteen years ago.
More than a dozen Dagger Band members had lost their heads that day.
It remained a deep wound to the organization’s honor.
Another shrill whistle echoed through the sky.
As Geol Gae raced toward the Wulin Alliance, he spotted something and brought his lightness work to a halt.
“Bandmaster! What are you doing here? Bandmaster, wake up!”
Geol Gae shook Shin Pung Gae awake, finding him sprawled in the grass.
Shin Pung Gae’s eyes snapped open with a groan.
A low moan escaped his lips.
The moment his eyes opened, all he saw was brilliant sunlight and the filthy face of a beggar looming over him.
Then came the splitting headache that threatened to crack his skull open.
Another groan.
But a true lover of wine was duty-bound to savor even such headaches.
As he struggled to enjoy the pain in his head, he suddenly became aware that he was lying in a meadow.
“These shameless bastards!”
Shin Pung Gae, seething with rage, bolted upright from the grass.
No matter how drunk he’d been, there was no excuse—left in a field like refuse, not even an inn.
This was an affront beyond forgiveness.
As fury poured from him, Shin Pung Gae’s eyes fixed on the middle-aged Dagger Band member.
“Why have you come to this place?”
“You ordered me to find those Dagger Band members who committed misdeeds long ago, did you not?”
A flash of recollection crossed his face.
Shin Pung Gae’s rage vanished in an instant.
He’d issued such a command, yes, but he’d never expected it to be carried out this swiftly.
“Impressive work indeed. Speak—who are these men?”
The middle-aged Dagger Band member opened his mouth, his expression grave.
“It is a matter you know well, Bandmaster.”
“How should I know? What do you mean by ‘know’?”
Shin Pung Gae couldn’t make sense of Geol Gae’s words.
The middle-aged Geol Gae sighed and sat down.
Sigh……
“Earth could swallow me whole. Out with it.”
“So thirteen years ago, didn’t the master directly slay those men?”
Shin Pung Gae’s face twisted hideously in an instant.
How could he forget what happened then?
Thirteen years prior, a dozen members of the Dagger Band had captured homeless children and sold them into slavery.
Enraged, he’d hunted them down and cut off their heads with his own hands.
Then he’d begun tracking the bandits who’d taken the children.
But the moment the pursuit began, the bandits vanished without a trace.
“What does that have to do with what’s happening now?”
“I personally interrogated those members of the Dagger Band back then, master. And during the interrogation, I learned of a certain child.”

*

A truly industrious child, it was said.
Instead of begging for scraps, the child worked odd jobs to earn his bread.
But those cursed members of the Dagger Band stole even that from him.
Unable to bear it, the child fought back against them.
But how could a child hope to overcome hardened men of the Dagger Band?
They seized him, meaning to sell him into bondage.
Yet remarkably, that young child escaped from a pigsty-like cell in the dead of night and attacked the men.
Clutching a stone, the child crushed their heads.
The enraged members of the Dagger Band beat him savagely, nearly to death.
Had they not intended to sell him, the child surely would have died that night.
And then they handed him over to the bandits.
“Whether that child is the one the master seeks, I cannot say. But during interrogation, such a child’s existence was confirmed.”
It had been a brutal interrogation.
The members of the Dagger Band, unable to withstand it, confessed everything they could remember.
Grind, grind……
“Insufferable……”
Shin Pung Gae, blazing with fury, ground his teeth.
He should not have merely severed their heads.
He should have beaten them to death with a club.
Sigh……
Shin Pung Gae could not suppress his regret.
He still didn’t know if that child was the innkeeper.
But what face could he show that man if they met again?
The problem, however, was even deeper than that.
If he couldn’t enter the Inn, he couldn’t take his younger brother as his successor either.
“Because of those bastards, I’ve even ruined the Dagger Band’s great enterprise. How am I to salvage this? How……”
Overwhelmed by despair, Shin Pung Gae wept.
“Master, please calm yourself.”
“Calm myself? Now? You fool! The Dagger Band’s successor will be lost, the successor will be lost!”
Sigh……
The master, who had raised his voice, exhaled a long breath.
“Is there anything else to report?”
“Much, sir. Suspicious figures have been appearing in various places, but their identities remain unclear.”
“Continue to observe them.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————