The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 490

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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 490. Well, Look at That?

 

 

“Elder Jeon.”

A heavy voice.

“What, what is it?”

His voice was clearly frightened.

It was because of the favorable reaction the martial artists had shown when Gong Yeop-myeong placed the plate on the dining table just now.

If he showed conflict with Gong Yeop-myeong in this situation, those martial artists might take his side and intimidate him.

Jeon Dok-woo naturally had to shrink back.

The guard warriors waiting at the inn entrance were nothing more than fireflies before moonlight compared to the Jeongcheon Alliance martial artists here.

“I’ll sell it.”

Gong Yeop-myeong spoke briefly.

“Huh… what?”

Jeon Dok-woo asked back in surprise.

It was because Gong Yeop-myeong had said something he never expected.

“What did you say? What did you just say?”

“I said I’ll sell it.”

Jeon Dok-woo’s expression was bewildered as he opened his eyes wide.

“However.”

Gong Yeop-myeong continued briefly.

“You’ll have to add ten percent more.”

“Ten percent?”

At the condition Gong Yeop-myeong set, Jeon Dok-woo quickly came to his senses.

He said he’d sell, but not at the price he had set, but with an additional ten percent.

Honestly speaking, it wasn’t a bad price.

Considering the process so far, he could add that much.

Though it did sting a bit.

The sect messenger had come and urged him, and because of that, hadn’t he even moved Jangbang?

“If you were going to do that, you should have done it yesterday.”

Jeon Dok-woo muttered as if regretful.

If he had made this decision yesterday, there would have been no need to spend money on Jangbang.

“I made up my mind this morning.”

At those words, Jeon Dok-woo realized that moving Jangbang wasn’t a pointless act but the right answer.

It meant that even yesterday, Gong Yeop-myeong had no intention of selling this place.

Only after moving Jangbang and cutting off the flow of laborers and craftsmen did he decide to sell, so his own decision had been correct.

“I think I need to think about it a bit…”

As the bargaining began, Jeon Dok-woo’s eyes lit up.

He looked nothing like someone who had been afraid of the martial artists here.

He was a merchant to his bones.

“Please decide right here and now. Otherwise, I might change my mind.”

Gong Yeop-myeong remained expressionless.

He was just saying what he had to say.

In fact, Gong Yeop-myeong’s heart was also pounding.

Since he had decided to leave Luoyang, he had to earn even one more penny, so he asked for ten percent more.

Thinking that Elder Jeon was the one in a hurry.

But what if he refused the purchase because he asked for ten percent more than market price? And what if he interfered with his business through even more petty means?

Gong Yeop-myeong knew how to bargain over ingredient prices at the market, but this kind of business negotiation was his first time.

So his heart was pounding right now.

It became quiet.

The martial artists who had been chattering noisily and drinking became quiet.

Then they glanced at Gong Yeop-myeong and Jeon Dok-woo.

No matter how noisy they were, they had reached a level where they could hear the conversation between the two, so they were interested.

This kind of silence came as a great burden to Jeon Dok-woo.

It seemed as if those Jeongcheon Alliance martial artists were backing Gong Yeop-myeong and pressuring him.

The moment he recognized that situation, Jeon Dok-woo’s back became soaked with cold sweat.

His mind kept repeating conflict after conflict.

If they had been other Jeongcheon Alliance martial artists, it wouldn’t have been like this.

The problem was their clothing.

People wearing clothing of unknown affiliation.

That became a characteristic that actually allowed him to guess several possible affiliations.

“Phew. Fine. Ten percent. That’s the limit. But you must vacate within three days.”

At Jeon Dok-woo’s words after making a big decision, Gong Yeop-myeong nodded.

“Understood.”

Considering everything that had happened, it was a frustratingly simple transaction.

Gong Yeop-myeong turned around and headed back to the kitchen.

He had consumed almost all the remaining ingredients.

He had prepared enough for the large number of laborers to eat for about three days.

But eleven martial artists were eating almost everything.

The alcohol was the same.

They were drinking everything he had stocked.

Yet they were properly enjoying the taste, so from the head cook’s perspective, it was truly gratifying.

“Huh? What? This place was sold? The head cook is changing in three days?”

One of the Hocheon Corps members muttered regretfully.

“Right. It’s delicious and good… and cheap too. Three days is the end?”

Another one picked up on that.

Someone looked at Dam Mu-heun.

“You’ve been keeping a place like this to yourself all this time?”

At the resentful question.

“Hey. I only found out today too!”

Dam Mu-heun shouted as if wronged.

“It’s such a shame…”

They really seemed to like it.

“Well, then we’ll have to come eat diligently for the remaining two days.”

At those words, someone else made a sad face.

“I’m on duty tomorrow and the day after? And it’s packed full too.”

“Then eat a lot now.”

With that, their eating speed increased.

Thus, all the ingredients Gong Yeop-myeong had prepared were consumed.

“We ate deliciously.”

“See you again tomorrow.”

With that, the Hocheon Corps martial artists left.

Only Dam Mu-heun remained.

He stared intently at Ha Mu-baek.

His eyes were saying to pay up.

“Tsk.”

Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue and his hand moved swiftly.

A movement invisible to the eye.

In fact, the Gong siblings and Eun Cheong-seon couldn’t perceive Ha Mu-baek’s movement at all.

Swoosh.

Only a very small and low sound of cutting through air rang out.

A sound that couldn’t be heard unless one paid careful attention.

Thud.

Dam Mu-heun naturally caught what flew toward him.

[It seems to have killing intent in it?]

He sent a telepathic message to Ha Mu-baek.

[You’re mistaken.]

After hearing the short reply and opening his palm, it was one tael of gold.

One tael of gold equals ten taels of silver.

[It’s not enough?]

Dam Mu-heun immediately sent a telepathic message.

And for good reason, as just the cost of alcohol they drank today was worth one tael of gold.

Not only did they drink a lot, but the alcohol was better than expected, making it expensive.

Swoosh.

A gold piece flew over a bit stronger than before.

[This definitely has killing intent in it…?]

Ha Mu-baek didn’t answer and turned his head, tilting his wine cup.

“Tsk.”

Dam Mu-heun clicked his tongue, got up from his seat, and headed toward the female innkeeper Eun Cheong-seon.

Since it was a large sum, he was reluctant to give it to the young shopkeeper.

Even if he was the female innkeeper’s child.

“Here it is.”

Dam Mu-heun handed over two taels of gold.

Eun Cheong-seon’s eyes flickered as she confirmed it.

“Is it not enough?”

Dam Mu-heun asked at her reaction.

“N-no. Please wait a moment.”

Eun Cheong-seon headed to the kitchen.

She soon returned and handed over three taels of silver.

“Huh? It only costs this much?”

Dam Mu-heun asked with puzzlement.

He had calculated and given the food cost he already heard from the shopkeeper.

Of course, he gave a bit more, but that would only be a few coins at most.

“Some ingredients were bad, so this price is correct.”

A strange light appeared in Dam Mu-heun’s eyes.

Because all the dishes were excellent without exception.

Dam Mu-heun didn’t take the three taels of silver Eun Cheong-seon offered.

“E-excuse me, customer?”

“Keep it. You say some ingredients were bad, but the dishes were so excellent that we couldn’t tell at all.”

“I cannot do that.”

Eun Cheong-seon offered the silver again.

‘Even if she takes it, that gentleman will just take it back anyway…’

Since she couldn’t voice such inner thoughts.

“If it’s not lacking, then just accept what’s given.”

Dam Mu-heun said that and simply walked out of the inn.

[The meal was delicious.]

After leaving one telepathic message to Ha Mu-baek.

Eun Cheong-seon hurriedly followed out, but the martial artists were already walking far away.

She considered chasing after them to give it back, but Dam Mu-heun’s back seemed to say not to follow, so Eun Cheong-seon had no choice but to stop walking.

When she turned around and returned to the inn.

The restaurant was empty.

Ha Mu-baek had also disappeared without a trace.

 

Ha Mu-baek was standing on the main road.

The massive building before his eyes, the Jeon Family Merchant Guild.

He stood in front of it, looking at the trading company.

‘It is suspicious though.’

The man called Elder Jeon who came again today.

He definitely felt something suspicious from him, but couldn’t tell what it was.

He was a human who knew not even the basics of martial arts and had not a handful of internal energy.

A human who had no energy other than the innate true qi he was born with.

Yet somehow he felt a suspicious feeling.

Starting with his reason for wanting to build an estate in that location.

“Well, I’ll find out by investigating directly.”

Ha Mu-baek’s figure smoothly disappeared.

He had deployed the Phantom Ghost Step.

Naturally, there was no one in the Jeon Family Merchant Guild who could detect Ha Mu-baek’s presence when he was determined to hide.

Ha Mu-baek roamed throughout the Jeon Family Merchant Guild as if inspecting his own home.

To catch a clue of that suspicious something.

However, there was nothing.

It was just an ordinary trading company, nothing more, nothing less.

Listening to the conversations of the company’s merchants and shop clerks, there was only the fact that they worked with war profiteers.

One couldn’t blame merchants for becoming war profiteers.

‘This is unsettling…’

Ha Mu-baek tilted his head and continued moving, arriving at the trading master’s office on the top floor.

Perhaps because he had one less worry?

Jeon Dok-woo was concentrating on his work.

He was quickly resolving matters that hadn’t been manageable due to the Sohaeng Inn problem.

A sight no different from any other trading master.

Ha Mu-baek confirmed even that sight and tilted his head as he turned around.

Then a small wooden sculpture caught Ha Mu-baek’s eye.

It was an eight-armed Thousand-Hand Guanyin sculpture.

Ha Mu-baek’s gaze stopped on it.

‘This is…’

Thousand-Hand Guanyin.

If someone who didn’t know saw it, it would definitely be Thousand-Hand Guanyin.

But looking closely, it wasn’t.

Eight arms.

Each of the eight arms held different objects.

One of them was a vajra.

Ha Mu-baek concentrated his eyesight to look at that vajra.

Originally, Thousand-Hand Guanyin, said to have a thousand arms, didn’t hold a vajra in her hands.

It was certainly a unique sculpture, but it couldn’t be said to be wrong or mistaken.

Nevertheless, the reason Ha Mu-baek focused on it.

Demonic Cult Leader Seok Won-cho.

The weapon that bastard held in his left hand was a vajra.

No, it looked similar to a vajra but was subtly different.

Recalling the image of that weapon clearly etched in Ha Mu-baek’s memory, he examined the small vajra of the statue.

‘It’s identical.’

The sculptor’s skill seemed to be extremely outstanding.

Even in such a small carving, the characteristics of Seok Won-cho’s weapon were perfectly expressed.

Ha Mu-baek looked over the statue as a whole again.

The face of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara looked different.

The eyes resembled Seok Won-cho.

The shape of the lips was the same as well.

Looking closely at the nose, it also reminded him of Seok Won-cho.

Combining all these recognized features together.

‘Seok Won-cho.’

It wasn’t a Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue, but a wooden statue of Seok Won-cho.

The weapons of the other seven arms among the eight arms.

All of those were things that Seok Won-cho had wielded.

When Seok Won-cho fought against So Hwi-ung and Ha Mu-baek himself, he held a blade in his right hand and a vajra in his left hand.

One of the eight arms was gripping a blade.

It was Seok Won-cho’s.

What a cleverly crafted statue.

If someone who didn’t know Seok Won-cho saw it, they would think it was just an ordinary, or rather slightly unusual Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue.

If someone who knew Seok Won-cho examined it closely, that was a wooden statue of the Demonic Cult Leader.

‘Well, look at this?’

The corners of Ha Mu-baek’s mouth turned up.

It was natural.

Having such a thing on the shelf against one wall of the office while working was announcing that he was a member of the Demon Cult.

Above all, to possess such a cleverly crafted, precise, and excellent wooden statue meant his position in the Demon Cult wouldn’t be low.

The guild master of the Luoyang First Merchant Guild was a Demon Cult member.

Ha Mu-baek withdrew for now.

It was strange.

Upon seeing such a Demon Cult member, murderous intent should have surged up immediately.

But it didn’t.

The evil spirit within Ha Mu-baek was still crouched down.

Instead, what came to mind first was the laughter of the Sohaeng Inn family.

He wished they would just leave Luoyang without knowing anything and live happily in a new place.

Looking at Gong Hae-jun, that child.

Perhaps if there had been no Demon Cult and Blood Cult, could he have lived such a simple and happy life? Such a question arose.

So he just wanted to protect such everyday life.

It would be a turbulent daily life with both good and bad things, but still, it would be an ordinary life different from the bloody path he had walked.

‘Let’s meet in three days.’

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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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