Chapter 450

The Zigong Merchant Group unpacked their belongings at the largest Inn in Chishui.

It was a guesthouse with a stable large enough for the horses and a huge warehouse. The horses were put in the stable, and the cargo they brought was stored in the warehouse, with the Escorts taking turns to guard it.

Because the goods were so valuable, they maintained a tight guard even though they were stored in the warehouse.

On the first floor of the Inn, the Escorts and workers who were not on guard duty were sitting and eating.

Do Yeon-san and Eun-yo were sitting in a corner of the Inn.

“Wow!”

“She’s insane.”

The Escorts and workers exclaimed in admiration as they stole glances at Eun-yo’s appearance.

With her Wind Cloak off, Eun-yo’s face was incredibly beautiful.

The fact that her eyes were unfocused was a flaw, but even that looked mystical in the light.

Eun-yo moved her chopsticks, picking up and eating the food on the table little by little.

Although she couldn’t see, her actions were no different from those of an ordinary person.

Ninety percent of the information humans perceive is handled by the eyes. However, Eun-yo’s extremely developed senses substituted for her eyes, allowing her to live her daily life without inconvenience.

“This is delicious! The cook really knows how to make food.”

“Really?”

“Look at the dumplings. The ingredients aren’t too much, nor too little. It’s not easy to combine ingredients in such a harmonious way.”

“You’re right!”

Do Yeon-san exclaimed as if he had just realized a fact he hadn’t known.

It was then.

“Ahem! Miss.”

Someone cleared their throat and approached the table where the two were sitting.

He was a giant of a man, and his gaze was fixed on Eun-yo.

The giant was another guest staying at the Inn.

He pointed to a table behind him and said.

“The person I serve wishes to see you up close, Miss. Please come with us for a moment.”

“Why should I?”

“Our Young Master is a very influential person in this area.”

“So?”

“Pardon?”

The giant’s brow furrowed at Eun-yo’s reply.

He glanced around at others and spoke politely.

“Did you not come with the Zigong Merchant Group?”

“And?”

“If the Zigong Merchant Group wishes to leave Chishui safely, it would be best for you to spare a moment, Miss.”

His words were polite, but their content was nothing short of a threat.

“Our Young Master is the young master of the Crimson Hand Clan, the rulers of Chishui.”

“So?”

“If the Crimson Hand Clan decides, no one can take their cargo out of here. Tying up the Zigong Merchant Group for a day or two is no trouble at all. If a large Trading Company like the Zigong Merchant Group is held up for two days, the losses will not be small. However, if you would just spare a moment, Miss, you will be able to leave Chishui with ease.”

The giant spewed out smooth words as if his tongue was coated in oil.

It seemed this was not the first or second time he had done such a thing.

The young master of the Crimson Hand Clan was a notorious playboy in the area.

He couldn’t help himself whenever he saw a beautiful woman.

And Eun-yo had caught the young master’s eye.

Eun-yo’s mystical appearance was enough to draw the young master’s gaze.

‘No matter how great the Zigong Merchant Group is, they can’t do anything to the Crimson Hand Clan.’

The young master’s father and the Boss of the Crimson Hand Clan, Gwak Ho-cheol, was famous for his cruel nature.

Because of that, all the trading companies and escort agencies that entered this place were wary of Gwak Ho-cheol and the Crimson Hand Clan.

The young master, Gwak Ji-mun, observed Eun-yo carefully.

Seeing that the Escorts of the Zigong Merchant Group did not approach her at all, he was convinced she was a guest. Such cases happened occasionally.

People on long journeys would travel with a trading company or an escort agency.

Gwak Ji-mun thought this was another one of those cases. That was why he ignored the Zigong Merchant Group’s Unit Leader, Lee Shin-pil, and sent his Subordinate directly to Eun-yo.

Since he maintained a polite attitude on the surface, there would be no problem.

The giant stared at Eun-yo with an intense gaze.

He naturally thought Eun-yo would follow him, just like most people he had met until now. But Eun-yo’s reaction was different from his expectation.

“I’ll pass.”

“Miss!”

“Noona said she doesn’t want to.”

At that moment, Do Yeon-san cut in.

The giant’s eyes flashed.

“You stay quiet.”

“You stay quiet and get lost.”

“This bastard…”

“If you open your mouth uselessly one more time, you’ll never chew food with your teeth again.”

“You bastard!”

The moment the giant let out a roar.

Crack!

Do Yeon-san’s fist slammed into his mouth.

His jawbone shattered and all his teeth were knocked out.

“Eu-euh-eoh!”

The giant stared at Do Yeon-san’s hand with a look of disbelief before falling backward.

Thud!

“What?”

“What happened?”

The subordinates who were with Gwak Ji-mun stood up in surprise.

At that moment, Do Yeon-san got up from his seat and walked toward the table where Gwak Ji-mun and the others were sitting.

The sight of the young boy sauntering over exuded a strange sense of pressure.

Gwak Ji-mun, his brow deeply furrowed, watched Do Yeon-san fearlessly approach him.

“Sir?”

Sensing that the problem was about to escalate, Lee Shin-pil stood up to intervene. At that moment, Do Yeon-san wagged his index finger at him as if to say not to get involved.

“Eum!”

In the end, Lee Shin-pil had no choice but to sit back down.

Gwak Ji-mun’s eyes wavered slightly at Lee Shin-pil’s reaction.

It was because his attitude was too confident for someone who had joined a trading company for a ride.

Screech!

Finally arriving in front of Gwak Ji-mun, Do Yeon-san pulled up a chair and sat down.

Gwak Ji-mun glared at Do Yeon-san and said.

“How dare you harm a Martial Artist of the Crimson Hand Clan. You must have a death wish.”

“Hyung!”

“What?”

“Since you’re older than me, I’ll just call you hyung. Hyung, if you want to die, just put a sword in your mouth upside down and slam your head down. Then you’ll die alone, and no one else will get hurt.”

“What? Does this little brat know who I am to be spouting such nonsense? What are you doing? Get rid of this bastard, now.”

Gwak Ji-mun got angry at the subordinates standing on either side of him.

“Yes!”

“You, come here! You bastard.”

The subordinates reached out for Do Yeon-san.

At that moment, Do Yeon-san lightly scraped a plate with his fingernail.

Screeeeeech!

A hair-raising scraping sound echoed through the Inn.

The next moment, the complexions of the subordinates and Gwak Ji-mun changed drastically.

The empty plate had been split in two as if cut by a knife.

Although he had been blinded by lust and attempted something foolish, he too was a Martial Artist who had learned Martial Arts. So he could tell how sublime the move Do Yeon-san had just shown was.

Even his father, Gwak Ho-cheol, had not reached such a level.

Do Yeon-san tapped the severed plate with his finger and said.

“Hyung, is your neck harder than this plate?”

“N…o.”

“Is your dad’s neck harder than this plate?”

“N…o.”

“I understand you, hyung. When you see a beautiful woman, your heart is drawn to her and you want to hold her hand, right?”

“Yes!”

“But you have to pick your battles. You’re really lucky today, hyung. Because you ran into me. If you had run into my hyung, there wouldn’t be a single living soul left in the Crimson Hand Clan tomorrow.”

Do Yeon-san was speaking with a bright smile. But the faces of Gwak Ji-mun and his subordinates were deathly pale.

Their chests were crushed by the aura Do Yeon-san was emitting, making it impossible to breathe.

Their whole bodies trembled like an aspen tree.

“Keuk!”

“Heok!”

Groans escaped from the lips of Gwak Ji-mun and his subordinates.

When they could no longer bear it and reached their limit, the aura pressing down on them vanished like melting snow.

“Hyung!”

“Yes!”

“I just want to stay here quietly and leave.”

“Yes!”

“I’d like you to help us rest quietly, hyung.”

“I will do so.”

“Thanks! I knew you’d be reasonable, hyung. Well then, I’m counting on you!”

Do Yeon-san pushed his chair back and stood up.

His face was still beaming. But to Gwak Ji-mun, he looked more terrifying than any demon.

‘What? That bastard… Where did a bastard like that come from?’

He didn’t dare dream of revenge.

It was because the severed plate on the table looked exactly like his own future.

If even Do Yeon-san possessed such formidable power, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrifying the person he called his hyung must be.

“Hurry up and bring that bastard over.”

He had his subordinates bring the giant who was sprawled on the floor.

The subordinates scurried over and dragged the giant away.

Seeing the giant’s miserable state, he no longer wanted to stay there.

They hurriedly left the Inn, afraid that Do Yeon-san might chase after them.

Do Yeon-san chuckled and sat down.

Eun-yo turned her gaze in his direction and said.

“Good work. You didn’t go too hard on them, did you?”

“I don’t want to draw any more attention than this.”

“Well done!”

“Heehee!”

Do Yeon-san smiled brightly at Eun-yo’s praise.

The people of the Zigong Merchant Group who saw the scene felt a chill run down their spines.

Lee Shin-pil had repeatedly warned them that they were formidable people, but they truly hadn’t expected that even the young-looking Do Yeon-san would possess such power.

‘I shouldn’t even look in that direction.’

‘If that child possesses such power, how much more terrifying must the person he calls his hyung be?’

It was then.

Screech!

Someone opened the door and entered the Inn.

The faces of the people who saw his attire froze even more.

The man, with the hood of his Wind Cloak pulled down low, was none other than Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol glanced around the inside of the Inn once, then walked straight to the table where Do Yeon-san and Eun-yo were sitting.

“Hyung!”

Do Yeon-san waved his hand upon seeing Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol nodded and sat down next to him.

He instantly read the frozen atmosphere inside the Inn.

“It seems something happened.”

“Ah! Some guy was hitting on Eun-yo noona, so…”

“Did you kill him?”

“No, I just gave him a stern warning.”

“Then that’s fine.”

“Yup!”

When Pyo Wol didn’t press further, Do Yeon-san smiled as if he had expected it.

Eun-yo put down her chopsticks and asked Pyo Wol.

“Did your business go well?”

“Mm!”

When Pyo Wol nodded, Eun-yo smiled as if she had known it would.

Pyo Wol smelled of Blood Scent.

It wasn’t a smell that could be washed away by killing one or two people.

It was clear that at least five or six people had died at Pyo Wol’s hands.

Pyo Wol kills people easily, but he never kills recklessly. He only kills people when there is a good reason.

Pyo Wol had used the Soul Restraining Thread to torture the strange man.

The man gritted his teeth and endured, but it was useless.

He couldn’t withstand the pain inflicted by the Soul Restraining Thread as it moved through his blood vessels. Unable to bear it any longer, he tried to kill himself, but Pyo Wol did not even allow that.

Pyo Wol tortured the man in a state where he could neither die nor live. In the end, unable to overcome the pain, the man confessed what he knew.

As Pyo Wol had expected, the man was one of the watchers So Yeowol had put in place.

So Yeowol had dispatched people like the strange man to various key locations in the Jianghu.

People like him stayed at these locations and built their own independent information networks. They lived ordinary lives on a daily basis and only moved when So Yeowol’s orders came down.

The Forbidden Demon Manor, which had cooperated when the Silver River Escort Agency entered Sichuan Province, was also one of So Yeowol’s bases.

It was only out of fear of Pyo Wol that she had chosen a base on the outskirts of Sichuan Province, far from Chengdu.

‘You’ve been busy, Yeowol!’

After escaping the Celestial Net, So Yeowol had clearly not rested for a moment. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to build such an efficient information network throughout All Under Heaven.

Pyo Wol asked the man.

Whether the information network they operated received orders from the Nine Dragons Assassination Guild.

The man said they only listened to So Yeowol’s orders.

This meant that So Yeowol was operating an information network separate from the Nine Dragons Assassination Guild.

At that moment, Pyo Wol realized.

The fact that although So Yeowol belonged to the Nine Dragons Assassination Guild, she had not completely submitted to it.

Come to think of it, So Yeowol had a rebellious streak even in the underground cavern. It was hard to picture her submitting to anyone.

No matter where she belonged or who she was under, So Yeowol was a woman who would not be satisfied until she reached the very top.

A poisonous mushroom named So Yeowol was growing in the Nine Dragons Assassination Guild, which he had thought was perfect.

Pyo Wol’s job was to make the most of this poisonous mushroom named So Yeowol. And that was one of the things Pyo Wol did best.