The Hwangbo Clan’s Beloved Live-In Son-in-Law - Chapter 96

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 96

Jingzhou

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That ancient land that Guan Yu once defended and Sun Wu coveted remains an important territory even now.

To the east flowed a great river crossing the continent alongside vast plains, while to the west overflowed diverse products from the deep mountain ranges.

Among them, Jiangling could be called the gateway, an important city.

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Tigers live in Wushan.

Between Chongqing and Jiangling, the mountain terrain was deep and treacherous.

Especially the steep cliffs and mountains that wound and turned along the Yangtze River were called the Yangtze Three Gorges, and among them, Wushan was an even more dangerous place.

People lived there too.

The Wushan Beast was their terror.

That incorporeal ghost, which particularly favored young and tender children, took away dozens of children each year. Sometimes even herb gatherers who had lived in that land for decades would lose their lives if bewitched by the Wushan Beast.

Therefore, people living in the Wushan area grew up as wary individuals, especially distrustful of outsiders.

Another terror struck their lives.

The Wushan Blood Demon.

There was a mad blood demon, and villages that received his visits had no living souls left.

Because some deep mountain villages that these non-communicating people secretly communicated with had died out entirely, these rumors spread as substantial fear.

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“…Excuse me, guest.”

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Xie Baowei arrived in Yiling late at night.

It was because he had ridden for another full day from Qianjiang through Jiangling.

He could learn nothing in Jiangling.

Jegal Seolhye’s information network also had its limits.

Xie Baowei had come to Yiling after briefly inquiring and hearing that ominous rumors were circulating.

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“I’m sorry, but we have no rooms available.”

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Before Xie Baowei could even dismount and tie his reins, the innkeeper came out to the entrance and waved his hands dismissively.

Two tired horses snorted and shook off their saliva.

The smell of dust and faint heat still lingered on Xie Baowei’s body.

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“I just saw someone leaving as I came.”

“…You’re not heading west, are you?”

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The innkeeper glanced at Xie Baowei’s appearance and whispered low.

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“Right now, Yiling city is full of people who fled from the west. Those people panic at the mere sight of anyone carrying weapons. If we let in a martial artist like you and all our other guests flee, what are we supposed to do? Just follow the main road further and look for a small inn…”

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Hah.

Xie Baowei frowned.

He’d heard dangerous rumors were circulating in the Three Gorges, and indeed, coming closer, the atmosphere was even more strange.

He had already been refused twice before coming here.

He had deliberately entered after seeing someone leave, only to hear unexpected words.

He could see the innkeeper flinch in fear at Xie Baowei’s expression.

Xie Baowei shook his head and asked in a somewhat softer voice.

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“Are there only one or two martial artists in a city like Yiling? What’s the reason for such fear?”

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The innkeeper looked at Xie Baowei, glanced around briefly, then lowered his voice even more.

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“…The, the Dang Family has posted quite a large bounty. So the number of guards has increased, and as guards increase, disturbances have increased too…”

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How could the temperament of sword-carrying guards be proper?

Even those claiming to be members of prestigious families were arrogant, so how much worse were those beneath them?

Naturally, wherever guards gathered, disturbances were bound to occur.

What should handle this would be the sects that could be called the local powers of each region, but in fact, Yiling was a place where the famous Wudang sect was located just a bit further north.

With the Yiling Checkpoint and Three Gorges Guard backed by Chokmaeng boasting of their respective powers, it wasn’t a place where public order was easily shaken.

The problem was that recently, with the Crown Prince entering Shu, the government’s power had grown tremendously.

Even if Yiling wasn’t Sichuan, it could be called the gateway to it.

Unlike usual, government interference had increased excessively, and the arrogance and tension of officials had also heightened.

Then shouldn’t public order have improved? One might think… but how could inland military discipline suddenly become strict?

Yiling was already a place where countless people came and went along the waterways of the Three Gorges.

Those who used to turn a blind eye to most things if given some money couldn’t easily change.

So there were separately those who committed misdeeds and got caught, those who resisted, those caught while resisting, those who fled, and those who were released, making it even more chaotic.

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“Even a martial artist from the Dang Family has disappeared, hasn’t he?”

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In the midst of this, rumors circulated about some strange place deep in the forest that no one knew about, along with rumors that a Dang Family martial artist had disappeared.

Even Dang Family guards, who were rarely seen more than once every two days, were wandering around in ominous appearances.

For the people of Yiling, it was a living hell.

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“His Highness the Crown Prince had to come here of all places…”

“Hey now. Watch your words. How dare you blame someone who came to investigate foreign threats?”

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As Xie Baowei listened well, even adding interjections here and there, the innkeeper who had been excitedly chattering about this and that suddenly looked at Xie Baowei in shock.

A hiccup sound involuntarily came from his mouth at that blade-like momentum.

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“Hic. I, I commit a mortal sin…”

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His body collapsed flat onto the cold stone floor.

Xie Baowei made a “hmm” sound and patted his shoulder.

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“Get up and go inside… You said the inn would accept me?”

“Yes, yes, yes! If, if you go that way…”

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The innkeeper still hiccupping stretched out his trembling hand toward the path leading to the outskirts.

Xie Baowei nodded and disappeared into the darkness, leading his two horses.

The innkeeper kept his head deeply bowed until he disappeared, then finally raised his head and let out a long sigh.

He should go inside and drink a bucket of water.

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“I, I should sprinkle some salt.”

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It was when the grumbling innkeeper turned his tired body around.

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“I say.”

“P-p-p-please spare me, my lord!”

“…”

The innkeeper collapsed on the ground as if having a seizure.

His hiccups stopped completely.

It was when he was shedding tears, blaming his own careless mouth.

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“…Even if I can’t stay, could you at least take my horse?”

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Xie Baowei said with a shrug of his shoulders.

When the innkeeper nodded blankly, he pulled out a thick pouch of silver from his chest and tossed it to him.

Handing over the horse’s reins, Xie Baowei walked westward without looking back, toward the entrance of the pitch-black gorge where Yiling’s brilliant lanterns couldn’t reach.

From now on, his own feet would be faster than a horse.

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***

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Xiliang Gorge, said to be the end of the Yangtze Three Gorges, was a very long and narrow canyon.

Dense clouds followed the massive Wushan ridges, winding around blade-like cliffs, and along those cliffs, jando precariously clung.

Several jando were attached to the cliffs of Xiliang Gorge, which stretched for hundreds of zhang.

Some used by herb gatherers, some by merchants, some following water streams.

Someone like Namgung Bin could probably leap across pine trees hanging from cliff edges or even small crevices, so there were likely three or four more paths available.

In this dense fog, one could easily deceive people even on these narrow paths.

However, the path wasn’t what mattered.

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“…My ears are getting numb.”

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Not even half a quarter-hour after leaving Yiling’s west gate, the world’s noise receded like a tide.

What filled its place was the Yangtze’s roar that made ears ring and Wushan’s bone-chillingly cold night fog.

Even at this late hour, many warriors were prowling around the gorge.

Even now, somewhere in the distance, several were raising their voices before guards’ spears and swords.

Xie Baowei had secretly passed by numerous warriors through the dense fog before finally entering the gorge’s entrance.

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“I wonder where it might be.”

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He had completed one journey to Sichuan, but he wasn’t familiar with that route.

He had never been particularly good with directions, and he hadn’t taken the Yangtze Three Gorges route into Shu.

If Namgung Bin followed Xiliang Gorge, he would see him just by sitting in Yiling, and if it was another route, it was a lost cause anyway.

So he could just sit and rest in Yiling, but that wouldn’t serve his true purpose.

Meeting only after all sorts of chaos would just earn him Jegal Seolhye’s glare.

But he couldn’t enter Wushan.

That vast and treacherous land that even locals shuddered at – what could he possibly do there?

Moreover, the Dang Family’s warriors had already entered the Wushan foothills.

They seemed to have information… but Xie Baowei had no clue about it.

It wasn’t that the Dang Family lacked clever people, but the perspectives of those inside and those outside were completely different.

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“Namgung Bin went missing while chasing Qitian. Since then, there’s been no news of Qitian…”

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After Tougui, Aesoo, Gwanghwa, and Shihui died, Yukgwi was effectively disbanded.

Along with Namgung Bin’s disappearance, rumors were rampant but Qitian, who never appeared, was similarly rumored to be dead.

The whereabouts of Geomhon and Yueyan, who had headed in directions other than Sichuan, were mysterious.

There were rumors of them being spotted somewhere in the south, but investigations were sluggish since it wasn’t Alliance territory.

Xie Baowei wasn’t one to work on intuition, but he didn’t ignore his instincts either.

From his perspective, Namgung Bin wasn’t someone who would die easily, and the same went for Qitian.

Were the two of them together? When he thought about it, he couldn’t tell.

Indeed, intuition was unreliable.

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“Let me see here.”

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I should have brought Dangyeonhwa… no, even Akmungi… tsk.

The young ones are much faster at thinking.

What was it again.

Dangyeonhwa had said.

When things get complicated, start by organizing the revealed facts.

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Namgung Bin went missing near Chenggu. Chenggu is in southern Sichuan.

Nearly half a year later, there was a massacre deep in Wushan.

The connection between these two… hmm, difficult.

Alright. Again.

The massacre occurred in some village. Rumor has it that it was deep in a place where people could barely survive.

It was a place closely related to the Dang Family, so rumors spread quickly within the Dang Family.

They said the culprit was a Namgung.

Hmm. That story spread too quickly.

Either there were connections between Namgung and Jegal within the Dang Family, or the Dang Family deliberately spread it.

…This too is unknowable.

The Dang Family stepped forward, and Namgung is on their way up.

Xie Baowei moved alone while they moved as a group, so the distance would grow. But it would only be a matter of days.

The Dang Family entered Wushan to find the culprit. It’s been several days but they’ve only come up empty-handed?

If the Dang Family found anything during that time, it was that there was one more massacre.

That too happened within just a day or two.

Even though it wasn’t proven to be Namgung Bin’s doing, many were moving with half-certainty.

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A massacre. That Namgung Bin?

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“Hmm… damn.”

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I can’t figure it out.

With my head, nothing becomes clear.

Would it have helped if Dangyeonhwa were here, if Akmungi were here?

Xie Baowei shook his head.

Even what’s revealed is ambiguous, and all the connections are ambiguous too.

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But there are certainties too.

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There’s something in Wushan.

That something has bewitched the Dang Family.

And,

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Namgung Bin is being hunted.

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Xie Baowei nodded.

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“I’ll have to cross Xiliang Gorge.”

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Hah.

Xie Baowei let out a sigh.

For now, how do I avoid these sharp-eyed people and climb up to that Jando?​

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