Chapter 169

She was a woman with a unique atmosphere.

Her two eyes, visible above the veil, were deep and serene. She had shut off her emotions to the point that most people would be unable to read her inner thoughts. People with deep thoughts and far-reaching concerns usually had such eyes.

An iron sword hung at the woman’s waist.

Compared to her splendid attire, the iron sword was excessively plain. And yet, it strangely seemed to suit the woman.

It was as if dissonance was clashing to create harmony.

It was the first time he had seen someone with such an aura.

Pyo Wol silently stepped to one side. The woman then gave Pyo Wol a slight bow.

“Thank you.”

The woman passed Pyo Wol and entered the inn.

Pyo Wol looked at the street again.

He could see which way people were flocking, and which way they were dispersing.

After watching the street for a long while, Pyo Wol felt a pang of hunger.

Without needing to look for another place, Pyo Wol walked toward the same inn the woman had just entered.

There were quite a few people inside the inn, and it was just as noisy.

The interior was quite spacious, with empty seats scattered here and there.

Pyo Wol sat down in one of them.

After ordering a simple meal from the waiter, Pyo Wol looked out the window. His gaze was directed outside, but his ears were listening to the conversations of the people inside the inn.

“The Heavenly Eunuch Clan’s momentum is frightening. At this rate, they’ll really push out Bamboo Sea Manor and become the rulers of this area.”

“It’s just pitiful for Bamboo Sea Manor’s Miss Yeo. If only the Manor Lord were healthy, they wouldn’t have been pushed back this far by the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.”

“Is it really because of his health? Isn’t his temperament just too gentle? He hates unnecessary conflict and emotional squabbles, so didn’t he just keep yielding to the Heavenly Eunuch Clan until it came to this?”

“Whatever the reason, it’s true that Miss Yeo is the only one having a hard time. Tsk, tsk!”

The topics that many people could discuss in common were limited. Among them, the best topic for gossip was about the two major powers currently ruling Enshi.

Pyo Wol listened to their stories in silence.

It was impossible to get proper information inside an inn. This was because most of it was speculative, with their own imaginations added to recreate it as something interesting. However, truth was bound to be mixed in.

As he listened to the stories of various people, he found overlapping parts. Pyo Wol thought that this part was the core of the rumor.

By cross-verifying in this way, one would eventually get closer to the truth.

‘The one who hired the Demon Pursuit Squad is likely the young master of Bamboo Sea Manor.’

It was nothing more than a guess without any evidence, but Pyo Wol thought it was the truth.

Currently, Bamboo Sea Manor was being pushed back by the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.

They were in danger of losing the supremacy over Enshi that they had held for hundreds of years to the emerging power, the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.

The current Manor Lord, Yeo Muyeon, had a disposition closer to that of a scholar. He detested getting his hands bloody, not to mention engaging in mud-slinging fights. On top of that, he was innately frail.

When pushed back by the Heavenly Eunuch Clan, he fell ill with anxiety and ultimately chose seclusion.

He had avoided the problem instead of confronting it head-on.

Because of that, only his daughter, Yeo Hwa-yeong, was left to suffer.

Unlike her father, Yeo Hwa-yeong was smart and bold.

She accurately grasped the core of the problem and had the will to solve it.

The problem was that the situation she was in was not easy.

For that reason, she had to somehow prevent any more power from shifting to the Heavenly Eunuch Clan. Even if it was through unethical means.

This was the state of affairs that Pyo Wol had inferred.

“Hmph!”

Pyo Wol furrowed his brow.

He hadn’t gathered information and made deductions specifically to help Mok Ga-hye. It was simply because of his curiosity.

Pyo Wol knew the importance of information better than anyone.

He had to grasp what was happening around him in advance to be able to deal with any kind of threat.

Wherever Pyo Wol went, he never neglected to gather information. In a way, he was obsessed to a pathological degree.

It was then.

Thump!

Suddenly, an intense Qi Wave shook Pyo Wol from his thoughts.

A Qi Wave referred to the wave of Qi possessed by martial artists.

If there were a thousand martial artists, their Qi Waves would all be different; that’s how unique they were.

The factors that determined a Qi Wave were diverse.

They were divided into thousands, tens of thousands of types depending on the kind and level of internal energy, as well as the martial artist’s disposition and the martial arts they had learned.

Some preferred to hide their Qi Wave, while others enjoyed revealing it.

This case was the former.

The owner of the Qi Wave did not wish to reveal himself.

As proof, no one else in the inn was aware of the Qi Wave. That’s how subtle it was.

It was so subtle that no one could detect the Qi Wave unless they had reached Pyo Wol’s level of mastery.

The Qi Wave grew more intense.

It meant that the owner of the Qi Wave was getting closer.

At that moment, the inn’s door opened and an old man in a black robe appeared.

His hair, disheveled like a lion’s mane, and his fierce eyebrows, shooting up toward the sky, were impressive.

The old man looked around the inn for a moment before heading straight up to the second floor.

A thick saber hung at the waist of the old man as he climbed the stairs.

A few people glanced at the old man, but they soon turned their heads away with expressions of lost interest.

The old man was clearly an expert who had reached a great level of mastery. But because he had thoroughly concealed his Qi Wave, the people in the inn did not recognize his true face.

Pyo Wol called the waiter and asked.

“Can I move to a seat on the second floor?”

“I’m sorry. A guest has rented out the entire second floor.”

“Who rented it?”

“The master himself received the guest, so I don’t know either. Shall I find out for you?”

“No, that’s alright.”

Asking any more would only arouse suspicion.

Instead, Pyo Wol scanned the inside of the inn.

The veiled woman who had entered before him was nowhere to be seen. If so, it was clear that she was the one who had rented the entire second floor.

He was curious about the woman’s identity, but Pyo Wol decided to stop there. He had a premonition that if he got involved any further, he would be swept up in a truly troublesome affair.

It was when Pyo Wol was about to get up from his seat.

Crash!

With a loud bang, the inn’s door suddenly flew wide open.

Someone had kicked the door of the inn.

Vrrrr!

The door had been kicked so hard that it was still trembling as it stood wide open.

A group of martial artists swarmed in through the open door.

At their appearance, the customers inside the inn held their breath in unison. They had recognized their identities.

“They’re the martial artists of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.”

“Why are they here?”

They stared at the Heavenly Eunuch Clan martial artists who had entered the inn with puzzled expressions.

At their center was a young martial artist.

A handsome man in a pristine white robe that looked as if not a single speck of dust would dare to settle on it.

The only flaw was that the corners of his eyes were excessively sharp, but he still had looks that would make any woman look back at him at least once.

People recognized his identity at once.

“Isn’t that Young Master Hwa Ok-gi of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan?”

“Why has he come here?”

Hwa Ok-gi was the son of Hwa Yu-cheon, the lord of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.

Having inherited Hwa Yu-cheon’s blood, he was extremely smart and had good situational judgment. Thanks to that, he had accomplished much and earned his father’s trust.

Hwa Ok-gi briefly looked around the inn with a cold gaze. The people who met his gaze quickly bowed their heads. They didn’t want to get caught in his eye and be swept up in anything.

Suddenly, a strange light appeared in Hwa Ok-gi’s eyes.

It was because while everyone else was avoiding his gaze, only one man was looking at him. His face was half-covered by a scarf, making it impossible to know what he originally looked like.

Although his interest was piqued for a moment, he soon turned his gaze away.

He had a different purpose for coming here today.

Just then, as if they had heard the noise from the first floor, a man and a woman descended the stairs from the second floor.

The moment he saw the woman in front, Hwa Ok-gi’s pupils wavered.

Although her face was covered by a veil, Hwa Ok-gi knew her identity well.

He was the first to greet the veiled woman with a fist-palm salute.

“Greetings, Miss Yeo!”

“It’s Young Master Hwa. What brings you here?”

“I came because I heard Miss Yeo was here.”

A furrow formed on the veiled woman’s beautiful brow.

Her identity was Yeo Hwa-yeong of Bamboo Sea Manor.

Yeo Hwa-yeong’s presence here was top secret. To hide her identity, she had even worn a veil she didn’t normally use and secretly slipped out of Bamboo Sea Manor. Yet, the fact that Hwa Ok-gi had found out she was here meant that information was leaking from within Bamboo Sea Manor.

‘I don’t know just how many people have been won over by the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.’

What was detestable about the Heavenly Eunuch Clan was that they recruited people from within Bamboo Sea Manor and used them as spies.

Yeo Hwa-yeong had already identified and driven out many who were connected to the Heavenly Eunuch Clan. And yet, it seemed there were still people within Bamboo Sea Manor who had been recruited by them.

Yeo Hwa-yeong’s face hardened like a stone.

“I appreciate you coming, but I have nothing to say to Young Master Hwa.”

“Don’t be like that, let’s talk for a bit. Isn’t it better to be amicable?”

“I wonder! My thoughts are different from Young Master Hwa’s. I have no desire to speak with you.”

“Miss Yeo!”

“I’ll be on my way now.”

Yeo Hwa-yeong tried to pass by Hwa Ok-gi.

At that moment, one of the martial artists behind Hwa Ok-gi stepped forward and blocked her path.

“The Young Master is not finished speaking.”

The martial artist who blocked Hwa Ok-gi was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. His physique was imposing, and his palms, as large as pot lids, were particularly impressive.

The middle-aged man was Hwa Ok-gi’s bodyguard, Hwangbo Chiseung.

Hwangbo Chiseung was a descendant of the prestigious Hwangbo Noble Family.

The Hwangbo Noble Family had fallen with the vicissitudes of time, but its descendants remained. Hwangbo Chiseung was one such descendant.

He was an expert who had mastered the Three Fists of Heavenly King, the representative fist art of the Hwangbo Noble Family.

Hwa Yu-cheon, the lord of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan, had invested a huge sum of money to recruit him.

The Heavenly Eunuch Clan had many experts like Hwangbo Chiseung who were recruited from outside. Hwangbo Chiseung’s martial prowess was decidedly among the top ranks.

Yeo Hwa-yeong recognized Hwangbo Chiseung’s identity at once.

“It’s Great Hero Hwangbo. I heard the news that you rejected our offer and joined the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.”

“I had no choice. The Heavenly Eunuch Clan’s offer was much better.”

“I didn’t know Great Hero Hwangbo was so materialistic.”

“What can I do? My livelihood is at stake, and I have many mouths to feed.”

“Do you not think of honor?”

“I realized long ago that honor doesn’t put food on the table. Right now, I am nothing but a wanderer sold for money. What need does a wanderer have for honor?”

“Hah!”

“What can one do? The Jianghu has changed.”

Hwangbo Chiseung briefly closed his eyes.

There was once a time when honor was prioritized.

People revered those with high reputations.

There were even those who, intoxicated by fame, threw away everything and jumped into great wars like the Great Demonic War. But Hwangbo Chiseung knew well what became of such people.

They were wounded in the war and lost everything, but no one gave them a second glance.

It would have been better if they had a solid financial foundation like the prestigious families that currently ruled the Jianghu. The final years of those without such things were incredibly miserable.

The Hwangbo Noble Family had lost its foundation long ago.

It once boasted a might so great it made the Jianghu tremble, but that too had declined to the point of being remembered as glory of the past.

Currently, the men of the Hwangbo Noble Family were scattered across the Central Plains, earning money. Hwangbo Chiseung was one of them.

Yeo Hwa-yeong looked at Hwangbo Chiseung with a regretful gaze.

Hwangbo Chiseung was a man of such excellent character that she had tried to recruit him three times. The fact that such a person had been won over by the Heavenly Eunuch Clan and was wasting his time as Hwa Ok-gi’s guard was simply pitiful.

Yeo Hwa-yeong sighed and said.

“In any case, I must return to Bamboo Sea Manor.”

“Please spare just a moment of your time.”

“And if I must go anyway?”

“Then I have no choice but to stop you.”

Hwangbo Chiseung answered firmly.

He felt sorry for Yeo Hwa-yeong’s situation personally, but he was currently working for the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.

Whether he liked it or not, he had to follow Hwa Ok-gi’s will.

“Great Hero Hwangbo is persecuting this young lady too much.”

“I will ask for your forgiveness later.”

“That won’t make what happened disappear.”

“Please understand my situation as well.”

“When Great Hero Hwangbo won’t consider my situation, why should I consider yours?”

“Miss Yeo!”

Hwangbo Chiseung raised his voice. At that, the objects inside the inn all began to cry out with a ‘woong woong’ sound.

It was a formidable internal power.

Yeo Hwa-yeong furrowed her brow.

Hwangbo Chiseung’s lion’s roar was causing her distress.

It was then.

The old man who had been standing quietly behind her until now stepped in front of Yeo Hwa-yeong. At that, Hwangbo Chiseung’s lion’s roar was cut off abruptly. The old man’s Qi Wave had blocked the lion’s roar from having an effect.

The old man looked at Hwangbo Chiseung with his lion-like eyes.

“That’s enough.”