Chapter 340

“The Nanjing Jo Clan?”

“Jo Igwang, whom you’ve met, Great Hero Pyo, is my younger brother.”

“Now that you mention it, you do look alike.”

“I hear that often. It’s not a very pleasant thing to hear, though.”

“It seems you don’t like your brother.”

“I’ve rarely seen siblings who get along well. My family is much the same.”

Pyo Wol did not miss the flash of contempt that crossed Jo Yuseol’s eyes when she mentioned Jo Igwang.

He didn’t know the reason, but it was clear that Jo Yuseol held an extreme aversion toward her younger brother, Jo Igwang.

“May I join you for a moment?”

“Sit.”

At Pyo Wol’s permission, Jo Yuseol sat down.

An unapproachable dignity emanated from Jo Yuseol.

She was looking at Pyo Wol with an aloof expression.

Pyo Wol looked around and said.

“I don’t see any escorting martial artists.”

“I had some trouble shaking them off.”

“Is there a problem with your escorts?”

“They’re spies my brother assigned to me.”

“Your family affairs seem complicated.”

“It’s a common occurrence in families like ours. It’s nothing special.”

Jo Yuseol said as if it were nothing.

“Something like a power struggle between the eldest son and eldest daughter?”

“That’s right. The problem is that the eldest son is trying to become the master of the Jo Clan just because he’s a man, without any ability whatsoever.”

“Interesting!”

“It may be an interesting matter to you, Great Hero Pyo, but for me, the one involved, it’s a succession of nerve-wracking days.”

Jo Yuseol bit her red lips.

Since she was young, she had been renowned for being pretty and smart.

It wasn’t just a matter of being slightly intelligent; she boasted a talent for understanding ten things upon hearing one.

The problem was that her mind was too brilliant.

Her father and the Clan Head of the Jo Clan, Jo Sumok, was concerned that his daughter’s outstanding talent would swallow up his son, Jo Igwang.

For that reason, he strictly monitored Jo Yuseol to prevent her from distinguishing herself and restricted her sphere of activity.

Because of this, Jo Yuseol’s name was hardly known to the outside world, and only Jo Igwang came to prominence.

Whenever Jo Yuseol went out, escorting martial artists always followed her. They served to protect her, but their main duty was to monitor her movements.

As Jo Igwang grew older, he began to appoint Jo Yuseol’s escorts himself. They were all men under his influence, which inevitably narrowed Jo Yuseol’s range of action even further.

That was why coming to the Great Lake had not been easy.

Jo Igwang was constantly suspicious of her intentions.

She had arrived at the Great Lake after many twists and turns, but the surveillance of the escorts was still in place.

“If the Jo Clan hadn’t been turned upside down because of you, Great Hero Pyo, it would have been impossible to shake them off.”

“The Jo Clan was turned upside down?”

“Not just the Jo Clan, but other sects like the Janggang Stronghold must be on high alert as well. Their fates might be decided depending on what actions you take, Great Hero Pyo.”

“I have no intention of exerting influence over them.”

“That’s because you are the strong one, Great Hero Pyo. The strong don’t care what anyone thinks, but the weak have a higher chance of survival if they watch the strong’s every move. And that is also the reason I came to find you.”

Jo Yuseol did not hide her inner thoughts.

In truth, her coming to find Pyo Wol was a huge gamble.

If word of it reached her father, Jo Sumok, and her brother, Jo Igwang, she had no idea what kind of retaliation would come her way.

She might even be married off to a man she had never met and kicked out of the house.

Not only her brother, Jo Igwang, but also her father, Jo Sumok, were people capable of doing such a thing.

Jo Sumok was a man who always believed his son should inherit the Jo Clan. That was why no matter how much outstanding talent his daughter, Jo Yuseol, displayed, he never gave her a second glance. On the contrary, he was busy hiding his daughter’s existence, afraid she would block his son’s path.

Because of such a father and brother, Jo Yuseol had to live holding her breath until now.

An ordinary woman would have just given up and lived with it, but unfortunately, she was too smart. Her outstanding talent would not allow her to live such an ordinary life.

Jo Yuseol had absolutely no intention of living as someone’s wife.

Even while being monitored by her escorts, she secretly built her own power base.

The force she had built over more than a decade was by no means small. Jo Sumok and Jo Igwang were completely unaware of this fact.

That was how formidable Jo Yuseol’s abilities were.

The problem was that Jo Yuseol lacked a just cause.

For a daughter to surpass her brother and ascend to the position of Clan Head, she needed a worthy cause, or her brother’s mistakes had to be that great. Or, she could possess a power so strong that she wouldn’t have to worry about such things. That was why Jo Yuseol had come to find Pyo Wol.

“You’re a smart person, so I won’t give any unnecessary explanations. Please help me. I will reward you handsomely.”

“……”

“What the Jo Clan needs right now is me, not Igwang. Igwang is actually ruining the Jo Clan. My father doesn’t know how cruel he is, or what wrong paths he is taking.”

“Tell me. What has Jo Igwang done that is so wrong?”

“I can’t say it here. It’s the shame of the Jo Clan.”

Jo Yuseol glanced around.

The customers in the Inn were stealing glances at them.

Pyo Wol stood up from his seat and said.

“Then let’s move to another place.”

“We don’t have to go far. Let’s just go to your room, Great Hero Pyo. Right now, the safest place in the Great Lake is your room.”

“It could start rumors. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course. If I were afraid of such things, I wouldn’t have come this far.”

Jo Yuseol smiled. Her eyes curved into a soft arc.

Within her smiling eyes was a fierce ambition.

The two went up to Pyo Wol’s room on the upper floor together.

The murmuring voices of the customers could be heard, but Jo Yuseol ascended the stairs without a single change in her expression.

Thud!

Upon entering Pyo Wol’s room, Jo Yuseol’s eyes lit up.

“The room is more modest than I thought.”

“Tell me. What has Jo Igwang done that is so wrong?”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“……”

“We can talk about such a complicated story a little later, can’t we?”

Jo Yuseol revealed her bright red tongue between her red lips and approached Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol stood in place, staring at her intently.

A thick Body Scent was wafting from Jo Yuseol’s body. The closer she came, the more intense the scent became.

Jo Yuseol wrapped her arms around Pyo Wol’s neck and met his gaze.

“Surely you’re not scared, are you?”

“Putting on a brave face?”

“Pardon?”

In that moment, Pyo Wol wrapped his arm around Jo Yuseol’s slender waist and pulled her in.

“Huk!”

Jo Yuseol let out a rough gasp without realizing it.

Her previous confident demeanor was gone, replaced by a flustered expression.

No matter how boldly she acted, Pyo Wol could see that she was nervous.

Her ambition might be great, but she was still a woman.

It would be a lie if she wasn’t flustered by this situation, being held in the arms of a strange man. But she tried hard to hide her agitation and spoke calmly.

“Who’s putting on a brave face?”

“Then you won’t regret it.”

Pyo Wol brought his lips to Jo Yuseol’s red ones.

Jo Yuseol’s eyebrows trembled, but she did not avoid Pyo Wol’s lips. On the contrary, she responded actively.

“Hah!”

＊＊＊

“Keuk!”

A sturdy Martial Artist let out a groan.

It was because of Jo Igwang’s fist, which had struck him hard in the abdomen.

Thwack!

Jo Igwang struck him once more.

The Martial Artist clenched his teeth and endured the pain.

“Did I ask you guys for something big? I just told you to follow her diligently and monitor her movements. Was that such a difficult thing to do?”

“No, sir.”

“Then why did you lose her?”

“I am sorry.”

“How little must you think of me to fail to carry out such a simple order and cause this mess?”

“It was my fault.”

“Do you even know that it’s your fault?”

Thwack!

Jo Igwang began to beat the Martial Artist again.

The other martial artists watching from the side felt their legs tremble.

The one currently being beaten one-sidedly by Jo Igwang was the leader of Jo Yuseol’s escort team.

His duty was to monitor Jo Yuseol’s movements and report on her whereabouts. But today, he and the other escorts had lost track of Jo Yuseol.

While they were distracted for a moment, Jo Yuseol had vanished without a trace, and the team leader was paying the price.

Under Jo Igwang’s merciless violence, the team leader became a battered mess.

When Jo Igwang’s violence finally ended, the team leader was sprawled limply like a well-tenderized piece of meat.

Jo Igwang, panting heavily, said to the remaining escorts.

“Get this bastard out of my sight. And find Jo Yuseol quickly. Before that bitch does something stupid.”

“Yes!”

The escorts replied and, hoisting the team leader, went outside.

Jo Igwang watched their retreating backs and muttered.

“Not a single one of them, this one or that one, does their job properly. Useless freeloading bastards.”

It was then.

“You’re really pissed off. How about you calm down a bit?”

Someone said as they entered his residence.

Jo Igwang frowned and looked at the owner of the voice. It was taboo for anyone to enter his residence without permission. But the moment he saw the owner of the voice, his frown smoothed out as if it had never been there.

“It’s you.”

“I could hear you throwing punches even from outside the wall.”

The man who answered was none other than Bok Hojin.

Bok Hojin didn’t seem to care much about Jo Igwang’s use of violence. He, too, sometimes beat his subordinates to vent his anger.

Jo Igwang asked.

“What brings you here?”

“Didn’t you send a carrier pigeon? Asking to meet.”

“Ah! Right. My apologies. I was out of my mind.”

“Get a grip. If you’re not careful, you might get eaten by him.”

“Him? Pyo Wol?”

“That’s right! Isn’t the Great Lake and Jiangsu Province in an uproar because of him?”

“Hmph!”

“If he continues to stay in the Great Lake like this, both you and I will take a big hit. People are already mentioning Pyo Wol as if he’s above us.”

At Bok Hojin’s words, Jo Igwang’s expression turned serious.

He already knew that Pyo Wol’s martial prowess was far superior to their own. The path Pyo Wol had taken so far was so tremendous that they wouldn’t dare to follow it.

One couldn’t display the same kind of actions as Pyo Wol just by having strong martial arts.

Both Jo Igwang and Bok Hojin were arrogant men, but they weren’t confident they could show the same martial prowess as Pyo Wol if they were in his shoes. That was why they considered Pyo Wol superior to themselves.

The problem was that even people who knew nothing thought so.

If the gossips started talking like this, they would undoubtedly be constantly compared to Pyo Wol.

Especially the longer Pyo Wol stayed in the Great Lake, the worse it would get, and people would surely perceive Pyo Wol as a being far superior to the two of them.

Even if that was the truth, having such a perception embedded in people’s minds was truly dangerous.

Because such perceptions accumulate and become a person’s reputation.

In other words, no matter how much fame Jo Igwang built in the future, no matter how great a person he became, people would always think of him as being below Pyo Wol.

Such a perception would surely be a great hindrance to Jo Igwang’s future endeavors. That was why neither Jo Igwang nor Bok Hojin was pleased with Pyo Wol staying in the Great Lake for long.

The problem was that, for now, there was no way to do anything about him.

“The Sword Flower Pavilion was wiped out, and the Iron Mountain Manor is in shambles. If we make one wrong move, we could end up like them.”

“To think that the Janggang Stronghold and the Jo Clan have to walk on eggshells because of that one man. I really don’t like it.”

“For now, we have no choice but to be patient and wait for an opportunity.”

“Until when?”

“Until our patience runs out.”

“Dammit!”

Bok Hojin’s lips twisted.

Bok Hojin had lived his entire life as he pleased, without caring what anyone thought. The word ‘patience’ was foreign to him.

This situation of having to wait indefinitely made him uncomfortable.

Jo Igwang silently watched Bok Hojin.

Just then, as if he had thought of something, Bok Hojin said.

“Oh! I heard a strange rumor.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the Iron Mountain Manor. There’s a story that the one who kidnapped Tang Ikgi was a disciple from the Iron Mountain Workshop, Do-je.”

“A mere disciple like Do-je kidnapped Tang Ikgi?”

“I thought it was nonsense too. Tang Ikgi might be a bit of a fool, but he’s not a man who would be taken down by someone like Do-je. But there are several witnesses. It’s not something we can just ignore.”

“For what reason would Do-je kidnap him?”

“I heard that a few days ago, Do-je’s parents were killed, and his only younger sister went missing.”

“Huh?”

In that instant, Jo Igwang’s eyebrows twitched.