The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 81

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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81
Woo Geom-san Contends for Supremacy
The place Woo Geom-san headed after securing his ferry ticket was none other than the market.
A large market was always bound to form around a wharf where the Cloud River-Crossing Vessel docked.
This was because a portion of the cargo unloaded from the ships was immediately released into the market.
Cheongang County was no different.
A fairly large market had formed not very far from the wharf. All kinds of goods were laid out on stalls in front of shops or along the roadside.
Woo Geom-san moved his steps while carefully scanning the goods on the stalls.
Though countless items were scattered about, none of them could hold Woo Geom-san’s gaze for long.
Suddenly, Woo Geom-san stopped and sniffed the air.
He had caught a thick scent drifting from somewhere.
As if possessed, Woo Geom-san walked following the scent. The place he arrived at after doing so was none other than the medicinal herb market, where countless medicinal herbs were piled up like mountains.
Laid out on the stalls were everything from commonly seen Licorice Root, Cinnamon, Dangquai, and Poria Cocos to precious medicinal ingredients like Lingzhi Mushroom, Danshen, and Rhinoceros Horn.
‘I can just buy the medicinal ingredients I need here.’
With a market of this scale, there was a high probability that Woo Geom-san could purchase all the medicinal herbs he wanted.
Woo Geom-san immediately began bargaining.
“How much is the Rhinoceros Horn?”
“That just came in yesterday, so I must get at least eight copper coins for it.”
“Oh, come on! Looking at its condition, it’s been at least three or four days since it came in, so what do you mean eight coins? Just take five coins.”
“Ehei! If it’s five coins, I’d rather not sell it. Seven coins!”
“Then I’ll go somewhere else.”
As he said that and actually turned his body away, the merchant hurriedly grabbed Woo Geom-san’s arm.
“Why are you so hot-tempered? How about six coins?”
“Hmm, alright.”
“You’re tough. So tough! You’ll live a wealthy life.”
At the merchant’s words, Woo Geom-san smiled brightly and replied.
“One must be frugal to live well.”
“Right! One must be frugal to live well. Anything else?”
“Ah, I need Poria Cocos and Danshen. How much will you give them to me for?”
“Dammit!”
At Woo Geom-san’s nonchalant words, the merchant’s face twisted fiercely.
He had realized once again that this was no easy opponent.
The merchant continued his bargaining with Woo Geom-san.
“Ah! Tui, tui! Fine, take it all. Take it, eat well, and live well.”
In the end, the merchant offered Woo Geom-san the highest form of praise he could muster.
Receiving the merchant’s high praise like that, Woo Geom-san moved on to the next shop. And there, too, he successfully concluded his business while receiving the merchant’s praise.
There was no medicinal herb that couldn’t be found in the medicinal herb market.
Ultimately, Woo Geom-san was able to obtain all the medicinal herbs he wanted.
However, obtaining the medicinal herbs didn’t mean it was over.
He needed a furnace and a medicine decoction pot capable of alchemical refining.
Fortunately, the medicinal herb market sold both of these items.
Thanks to that, less than one shijin after entering the market, Woo Geom-san was able to buy all the items he desired.
“What’s with that brat? Why is he buying medicinal herbs like that? Is he some kind of doctor? What is he?”
Zhang Oh, who had been tagging along closely behind Woo Geom-san for a shijin, muttered with an exhausted expression.
He was currently tailing Woo Geom-san under the orders of Im So-ryeong, the Chief of the Inspection Hall of Punglim Fort.
Punglim Fort was originally one of the Eighteen Water Bandit Fortresses of the Yangtze River.
However, pushed aside by the flow of time, most of the Eighteen Water Bandit Fortresses of the Yangtze River had vanished into the recesses of history, and only Punglim Fort remained to keep its lifeblood flowing.
To have survived alone when all the other water bandit fortresses disappeared meant that Punglim Fort’s underlying strength was just that immense.
Now that it had survived alone and even acquired shipping rights, no one insulted Punglim Fort by calling them greenwood bandits anymore.
The Fort Chief, Zhang Guanghao, was a Transcendent Master whom no one could match once he picked up an axe, and right beneath him was a strategist named Guo Noya who oversaw and managed all of Punglim Fort.
Punglim Fort was divided into six organizations, and those who managed them were referred to as the Six Rivers Squadron Leaders.
The Six Rivers Squadron Leaders managed the six large and small rivers swirling around Punglim Fort, and their martial might was also known to be tremendous.
The one who controlled these Six Rivers Squadron Leaders and maintained discipline throughout all of Punglim Fort was none other than the Investigation Hall Chief, Im So-ryeong.
Without being bound to any single place, Im So-ryeong traveled throughout the entire territory under Punglim Fort’s jurisdiction to enforce the rules.
The authority she possessed was so vast that she was treated as the third-in-command of Punglim Fort.
She held such immense authority that even the formidable Six Rivers Squadron Leaders of the world would defer to her.
Im Henry-so-ryeong’s abilities were just that outstanding.
In particular, her intuition and insight were so great that there was no object of comparison, to the point where even Fort Chief Zhang Guanghao and Guo Noya acknowledged her.
There was no way such an Im So-ryeong would have told him to watch Woo Geom-san for no reason.
She must have ordered the surveillance because she definitely saw something special in Woo Geom-san.
However, Zhang Oh had still not seen that special something Im So-ryeong had seen in Woo Geom-san.
“Is it just… because he’s handsome that she told me to watch him? Is she really planning to pounce on him?”
In the end, Zhang Oh had no choice but to harbor a reasonable suspicion.
***
Where people gathered, money flowed, and where money flowed, countless flies were bound to swarm.
Cheongang County was no different.
No matter how well Punglim Fort managed it, lower-class thugs were inevitably bound to gather in the shadows.
While they didn’t dare show their faces at the wharf directly managed by Punglim Fort, they actively intervened in any other matters that brought in money.
The most representative among those was the labor supply organization that provided sailors.
They lived by supplying laborers to work on the Cloud River-Crossing Vessel or at the wharf and taking a brokerage fee.
Punglim Fort had nothing to lose either.
This was because the brokerage fee was taken from the salaries that would have to be paid to the sailors anyway.
Since they managed the sailors in exchange for taking the brokerage fee, Punglim Fort tacitly approved of their existence as well.
There were three labor supply organizations in Cheongang County, and Mechao Dang was one of them.
This organization, which used the peculiar name of Mechao, meaning red weeds, boasted the largest scale among the labor supply organizations.
The Chief of Mechao Dang, Li Changyi, was a large-framed man in his mid-to-late thirties.
He possessed a grand physique, and his face looked menacing to boot. On top of that, he had even learned martial arts, so everyone feared him.
Such a Li Changyi was currently kneeling down, looking toward the seat of honor with fear-filled eyes.
Seated in the chair where Li Changyi originally sat as master was a man enveloped entirely in a red robe.
Though his original features couldn’t be discerned due to his disheveled hair, Li Changyi knew the man all too well.
The intense red light gleaming between the strands of hair and the heterodox energy that made one’s knees tremble could never be forgotten once experienced.
‘Chilian Xinjun, for that monster to come to this place. A storm of blood is going to blow through Cheongang County.’
Just as Li Changyi swallowed hard, Chilian Xinjun, who was sitting in the seat of honor, opened his mouth.
“Have you found their residence?”
“Yes! I have discovered that they are staying at the Chunyang Inn.”
“Chunyang Inn?”
“It is the largest inn near the wharf.”
“Is that so?”
Murderous intent flickered in Chilian Xinjun’s eyes.
At his momentum, which looked as though he would storm into the Chunyang Inn this very instant, Li Changyi spoke hurriedly.
“I know well of your Wuwei, God-King, but even so, you must be careful.”
“What do you mean by that? Are you saying you cannot trust me?”
“It is not that, but rather because the Feiyun Merchant Group has rented out the entirety of the inn where they are staying.”
“Feiyun Merchant Group?”
“It is a merchant group that mainly trades Beyond the Border. More than a hundred martial artists are stationed there.”
“So, are you telling me to be careful of mere martial artists belonging to a merchant group right now?”
As Chilian Xinjun’s voice sounded ominous, Li Changyi thudded his head against the floor and spoke frantically.
“Th-that is not it, but if you clash with the Feiyun Merchant Group, the martial artists of Punglim Fort will inevitably rush over. Then your existence will become known, and it could lead to a conflict between our sect and Punglim Fort…”
“You make a valid point.”
Fortunately, Chilian Xinjun accepted Li Changyi’s words.
The likes of the Feiyun Merchant Group were not existence to be feared, but if it was Punglim Fort, the story changed.
Punglim Fort was a sect powerful enough to belong to the Seven Great Water Gates.
If they made an enemy of them, the future trouble would be no small matter.
No matter how fearless Chilian Xinjun was, he had to avoid a head-on collision with Punglim Fort.
“I must divert Punglim Fort’s attention.”
“How will you do that?”
“The method is something you will have to think up.”
Chilian Xinjun stared intently at Li Changyi.
His gaze made Li Changyi even more terrified.
‘Dammit! Of all places, for that monster to come to the area where I’ve settled down. Heaven has abandoned me.’
He knew well that there was never a single time when a matter ended well in a place where Chilian Xinjun intervened.
It would probably be the same here.
If that happened, the life of Li Changyi, who had taken root here with great difficulty, would also crumble. But there was no choice left for Li Changyi.
The moment he disobeyed Chilian Xinjun’s order, a punishment more terrifying than death would be handed down to him.
Ever since he joined the Red Cloud Sect, it was an inescapable fate for him.
The Ten Pillars, the ten sects that became the new overlords of Jianghu after the Nine Great Sects sealed their gates.
The place that inherited the lineage of the Demonic Cult, which had been destroyed long ago, and was a member of the Ten Pillars was precisely the Red Cloud Sect.
Although it was pushed out of people’s attention because it was located in the frontier, the Red Cloud Sect was truly a terrifying place.
With the Sect Leader Ning Hanming at the forefront, there were the Four Great Envoys and the Ten Direction God-Kings, and their Wuwei surpassed imagination.
Chilian Xinjun occupied the lowest rank among the Ten Direction God-Kings, but his Wuwei was by no means inferior to the other Ten Direction God-Kings.
Li Changyi was a Red Cloud Sect disciple.
Because his parents were members of the Red Cloud Sect, he naturally became a Red Cloud Sect disciple.
A significant portion of the disciples who grew up in the Red Cloud Sect from a young age would naturally leave the sect once they reached adulthood.
It wasn’t that they were expelled from the Red Cloud Sect, but rather that they scattered all over Under Heaven to take on the mission of expanding the Red Cloud Sect’s influence from the shadows.
Li Changyi had also stepped out into the world after receiving such a mission, and the place he settled down in was this very Cheongang County.
Li Changyi liked Cheongang County very much.
Here, there was no one to order him around to do this or that, and he hardly had to care about the opinions of others.
At the very least, he could live a life no different from a king in this place.
There was no need to propagate the faith diligently either.
This was because the occurrences here couldn’t be grasped in detail by the Red Cloud Sect anyway.
His duty was over simply by reporting brief trends via a letter once a year.
For the remaining time, he could do whatever he wanted.
To Li Changyi, Cheongang County was a place like paradise.
He could earn big money while supplying laborers to Punglim Fort, and with the money earned that way, he frequented the entertainment districts to live a life of pleasure.
He wished for this kind of life to continue forever. However, unfortunately, Chilian Xinjun sought him out yesterday.
As a Red Cloud Sect disciple, Li Changyi could not disobey Chilian Xinjun’s command.
The moment he disobeyed Chilian Xinjun’s command, not only would his life here be shattered to pieces, but his life would also end.
Li Changyi had to rack his brains desperately to maintain his life here.
After a short while, he opened his mouth cautiously.
“How about this method?”
***
The place where Woo Geom-san secured a room was a small inn called the Sohyang Inn.
On both sides of the Sohyang Inn, large inns like the Chunyang Inn and the Daebong Inn were lined up in rows.
However, those large inns had so many customers that they were noisy right from the entrance.
The noise leaking from inside was so loud that one would be afraid to even step inside.
In particular, the Chunyang Inn was rented out entirely by the Feiyun Merchant Group, making it exceptionally boisterous.
Although he had built friendships with Gong Hwapyeong, Zhang Yinu, and others, he felt quite reluctant to stay in such a noisy space together. That was why he deliberately chose the small inn next door.
There were a fair number of people in the Sohyang Inn as well, but compared to the Chunyang Inn, it was at the level of silence.
Thanks to that, Woo Geom-san could comfortably have his meal and go up to his room.
Entering the room, Woo Geom-san took out all the medicinal herbs he had acquired at the medicinal herb market earlier.
“Shall I start by preparing to make the Sinmyeonggo?”
When active in Jianghu, one was bound to sustain large and small wounds.
The item most usefully employed at such times was precisely a wound salve like the Sinmyeonggo.
To make the Sinmyeonggo, it was important to mix the medicinal herbs in precise proportions.
Woo Geom-san began classifying the medicinal herbs while leaving the Bojebang spread open.

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