Chapter 144

Last year, and in the spring of this year, a series of major incidents occurred in Chengdu. Both incidents shook Chengdu to its core and left deep scars. But after a few months, the people of Chengdu regained their stability, as if such things had never happened.

Shops opened their doors, and the streets were filled with people looking to buy goods. Among them were many merchants from outside Sichuan Province.

To merchants, Chengdu was a very attractive place.

This was because they could acquire goods from Tibet and the specialties of Sichuan Province all at once.

By taking the goods obtained here to other provinces and selling them, they could make a handsome profit, so many trading companies and escort agencies came and went day after day.

The Somyeong Escort Agency was one such agency that had entered the city. With twenty Escort Chiefs, fifty Escorts, and over twenty porters, the Somyeong Escort Agency was a large one.

It was extremely rare for all ninety members to be mobilized for an escort mission. In the more than one hundred years since the Somyeong Escort Agency was founded, there had been only three missions that mobilized the entire staff. And now, for the first time in decades, they had embarked on their fourth.

Only the agency head, Seo Guksang, knew what item the client had requested to be delivered.

Seo Guksang had loaded the chest containing the item onto his own carriage and set out on the mission.

The item was merely a single chest, yet the escorting personnel numbered over ninety.

However, not a single member of the escort agency complained.

Some might have criticized it as a needless waste of manpower, but it was the way of things for more important items to be mobilized with more people.

The Escort Chiefs and Escorts of the Somyeong Escort Agency guarded the agency head’s carriage like an iron fortress as they entered Chengdu. They rode their horses without rest until they reached their destination, the Snow Cloud Stronghold.

The Snow Cloud Stronghold was a manor newly established on New Heaven Road.

Even on New Heaven Road, which was lined with high-grade mansions, it boasted a scale so vast it was counted among the very top.

As the Somyeong Escort Agency arrived, the massive gates of the Snow Cloud Stronghold opened.

The first thing that came into view was a training ground large enough to accommodate the more than ninety people with room to spare.

In the training ground, a gray-bearded old man, leading dozens of martial artists, greeted the Somyeong Escort Agency’s procession.

“Welcome. You have suffered much on your long journey.”

“Not at all. Thank you for coming to greet us in person, Great Hero Yu!”

“Ho ho! You have brought a precious item to my stronghold safely; it is only natural that I greet you myself.”

The gray-bearded old man was the master of the Snow Cloud Stronghold, Yu Gicheon.

Yu Gicheon had originally operated a large trading company in the Hunan area. He had started with his bare hands and built a massive trading company, but when his health deteriorated, he returned to his hometown of Chengdu.

Although he had retired from the front lines, his children had taken over the trading company he had built and were running it well. Its scale had even doubled from when he was the master.

Thanks to this, he was earning an immense fortune even while sitting still.

Seo Guksang gestured to the Escort Chiefs with his eyes.

The Escort Chiefs took a large chest out of Seo Guksang’s carriage.

“This is the item Great Hero Yu’s son asked us to deliver.”

“Ooh!”

Yu Gicheon’s eyes widened.

A look of deep emotion was evident on his face.

The Escort Chiefs placed the chest down in front of Yu Gicheon.

Yu Gicheon carefully opened the chest. Inside, yellowed books on the verge of crumbling were visible.

A sour smell emanated from the old books, whose titles had worn away.

The Escort Chiefs stared at the books in the chest with puzzled expressions. They were curious as to what on earth those books were that Yu Gicheon, one of the wealthiest men in all under heaven, would make such an emotional face.

Yu Gicheon took out one of the books from the chest and carefully opened it. The paper was filled with strange, indecipherable characters.

They were characters the Escort Chiefs could not read even if they saw them.

“It is indeed the original.”

Yu Gicheon muttered as he carefully placed the book back in the chest.

The books inside the chest were Buddhist scriptures.

Moreover, they were the originals that a high monk of the Central Plains had personally gone to the Western Regions to retrieve long ago.

All the Buddhist scriptures existing in the current Jianghu were merely translations of the originals in the chest.

Yu Gicheon had been seeking the originals for a very long time.

After retiring, he became deeply engrossed in the teachings of Buddhism. Having fallen for Buddhism late in life, he pondered what the most meaningful thing to do in his final years would be.

It was then that he heard a rumor about the existence of the original Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit, and he searched high and low to obtain them.

Fortunately, his son was able to acquire the originals in Shaanxi Province and had sent them via the Somyeong Escort Agency.

‘Later, if I send these scriptures to the Shaolin Temple for safekeeping, they will be pleased.’

Until then, he planned to look at and translate the scriptures himself.

Yu Gicheon ordered his Steward to move the chest of scriptures to his quarters, then looked at Seo Guksang.

“Thank you so much for safely transporting this precious treasure all this way. I will not be stingy with the payment for this.”

“We have already received payment from your son. You need not worry.”

“Ho ho! I can’t have that. By any chance, have you arranged for lodging?”

“We were about to.”

“The Daegyeong Inn in the center of Chengdu is my property. If you rest there, I will have my Steward arrange for your compensation.”

“There’s no need for all that…”

“It is my wish.”

“Then I will gratefully accept Great Hero Yu’s kindness.”

Seo Guksang could no longer refuse and accepted Yu Gicheon’s offer.

He inwardly thought it was a windfall.

This was because if he solidified his relationship with Yu Gicheon, it would become possible to have continuous business with the trading company his son was master of.

It was incredibly important for an escort agency to secure a stable client. Furthermore, if that client was one of the top trading companies in all under heaven, it went without saying.

Seo Guksang repeatedly thanked Yu Gicheon and then left the Snow Cloud Stronghold.

The Daegyeong Inn was massive enough to easily accommodate a large party of ninety people.

Seo Guksang said to the Escort Chiefs and Escorts.

“We will be staying here until we receive our compensation from Great Hero Yu, so everyone get some good rest. The drinks are on me tonight, so eat and drink to your heart’s content and unwind.”

“Waaah!”

“The Agency Head is the best!”

The members of the Somyeong Escort Agency let out a cheer.

They immediately ordered drinks and food.

Escort Chief Sagong Yun also drank with his colleagues.

Sagong Yun was now in his early twenties. He lacked both the experience and the martial arts to be an Escort Chief. The reason he was hired as an Escort Chief despite this was because he was Seo Guksang’s nephew-in-law.

While everyone else was laughing and chatting, only Sagong Yun wore a dissatisfied expression.

‘Damn it! What’s the fun in drinking without a woman?’

He was originally famous in his hometown as a libertine.

His father, unable to watch any longer, had asked Seo Guksang to take him in as an Escort Chief at the Somyeong Escort Agency. He thought that if his son wandered the world and learned the escort business, he would come to his senses.

Seo Guksang treated Sagong Yun like any other Escort. Though his title was Escort Chief, the work he did was no different from an Escort’s.

Thanks to that, his butt, which had been on a horse for the grueling journey, was raw. Above all, his biggest complaint was that he hadn’t even been able to smell the scent of a woman’s skin.

‘There are no women, so what’s so great to be chattering about?’

The Escort Chiefs and Escorts laughing and chatting around him seemed like idiots.

Although he was drinking in the same place, he couldn’t blend in with the people around him at all.

In the end, he quietly slipped out of his seat midway through.

“It’s better to go to a brothel than to waste time like this.”

He had plenty of money.

It was thanks to his mother, who had given him a generous amount.

Finding the street where the brothels were clustered was not very difficult. All he had to do was look for the place where the red lanterns were brightly lit.

Fortunately, there was a red-light district not too far from the Daegyeong Inn.

Sagong Yun strode confidently toward the red-light district.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Sagong Yun stopped.

A girl had caught his eye.

“Ho!”

An exclamation of admiration escaped his lips on its own.

The girl looked to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old. But her atmosphere was strange.

She walked with her head slightly bowed and her eyes half-lowered, but her exposed white neck was impossibly alluring.

Sagong Yun stared, mesmerized, at the girl’s back.

Sagong Yun had been with countless women until now, but this was the first time he had seen a girl with such a unique and dreamlike atmosphere.

The fact that the girl was still an unripe child was not a problem for him.

Without realizing it, Sagong Yun began to follow the girl.

Whether she knew this or not, the girl walked on with quick steps.

After following the girl for a good while, Sagong Yun suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.

‘That bitch, she’s blind.’

On her way here, the girl had not once glanced at her surroundings.

When she came to a fork in the road, she would perk up her ears and feel the wall with her hand to gauge the direction.

Someone with good eyes would not act in such a cumbersome way.

A smile touched the corners of Sagong Yun’s lips.

‘If she’s blind, all the better.’

Suddenly, his whole body grew hot, and his lower body tensed up.

He followed the girl even more cautiously.

But the direction the girl was heading was strange.

‘Isn’t that the street where the Snow Cloud Stronghold is?’

He had heard that only the most prominent and powerful people in Chengdu established their homes here.

‘Could I get in trouble if I mess with the wrong person?’

But he soon shook his head.

His target was blind, anyway.

Even if he violated her to his heart’s content, she wouldn’t be able to recognize his face anyway.

The thought that he could commit a perfect crime made what little caution he had left disappear.

Sagong Yun boldly followed the girl.

The girl stopped in front of a mansion with an impressive red pine tree. It seemed that was her home.

When the girl knocked on the door, a servant came out and greeted her.

Thud!

The door closed, and the girl disappeared inside the mansion.

He couldn’t stand it any longer.

Sagong Yun leaped onto the mansion wall.

The wall was quite high, but it couldn’t stop him, a man who had learned martial arts.

He landed lightly on top of the wall like a stray cat.

The inside of the mansion was quiet.

If he hadn’t seen the girl go in, he would have mistaken it for an uninhabited place.

A lamp was lit in one of the rooms.

It was clearly the girl who had just come in who had lit the lamp.

‘She’s in that room.’

Sagong Yun’s eyes glistened with excitement.

Now that he had confirmed the room, all he had to do was go in and violate her.

Unlike his worries, there seemed to be no guards inside the mansion. At this rate, it was no different from an undefended mountain.

Sagong Yun hesitated no longer.

He landed lightly on the ground.

It was then.

“Who are you, big brother?”

Suddenly, a child’s voice came from behind him.

For a moment, Sagong Yun felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

“Huk!”

When Sagong Yun hurriedly turned around, he saw a boy of about six or seven smiling brightly.

Around the boy’s neck hung seven rings, like an accessory.

‘I was sure there was no one here.’

He felt like he was being tricked by a ghost.

He asked cautiously.

“Who are you?”

“Me? I live in this house.”

The boy answered with his characteristic bright expression.

“Then the girl who went in just a moment ago?”

“My friend!”

“Don’t lie. At a glance, she looks older than you.”

“Sorry! Big brother. But it’s true. Something’s wrong with me, so I don’t age anymore.”

“What kind of nonsense…”

“But did you know, big brother?”

“Wh-what?”

“That you’re the fifteenth ruffian to sneak in here.”

“What?”

The boy, Soma, grinned.

“Honestly, whenever Eun-yo goes out and comes back, flies like this are always buzzing around. How annoying.”

In that instant, the look in Soma’s eyes changed.

“Huk!”

Sagong Yun was terrified.

The boy’s gaze hurt his own eyes, as if stabbing them with a needle.

Screech!

Soma took off one of the rings from his neck and said.

“Because of you, your family will be completely ruined.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“You’d better believe me. The families of the fourteen who trespassed over this wall so far have all been ruined just like that.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.”

Unable to bear the pressure, Sagong Yun drew his sword.

Now that it had come to this, he planned to dispose of the boy in one fell swoop, violate the girl, and then completely destroy the evidence.

Shwwiik!

A chilling sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

In that moment, Soma smiled.

“They never seem to get it when you just use words.”