Chapter 428

Even though they had no relation to Hundred Flowers Valley of Yunnan, they couldn’t help but bow their heads together in the current solemn ritual.

In the midst of that…

Someone had quietly slipped in.

Behind Jin Ja-gang and Tang Ha-ran, he prostrated continuously offering hundreds of bows and reciting prayers.

“In the twenty-ninth year of the reign, in the seventh month of the Imjin year… the Sim family of the Central Plains dares to report to the deceased of distant Yunnan’s Hundred Flowers Valley… mumble mumble… this year too as the year changes… kindness is boundlessly vast without end… thus and so offering clear wine and the enemy’s head, I earnestly pray that the deeply harbored resentment be resolved…”

It was Sim Hak.

He bowed so earnestly that from the side he looked like a child who had lost his father.

Taoist Master Bok-cheon was already watching what Sim Hak was doing, but left him alone until Jin Ja-gang finished his bowing.

However, as soon as the bowing ended, he grabbed Sim Hak’s nape and immediately dragged him out.

“Save me! Save me! I know nothing and was only dragged here by that Mang Ryo fellow!”

Taoist Master Bok-cheon said coldly.

“For someone who claims to know nothing, I saw earlier that you know quite a lot about this matter. When reciting prayers, you also seemed to know Poison Dragon’s past well.”

“No! You listened to all my rambling? Why were you listening to that?”

Bian Bu looked at Sim Hak and tilted his head before speaking.

“Cover that torn mouth. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”

Sim Hak covered his cheek with his hand and pleaded while crying.

“If you know me, please spare me. I’m just a nobody like a foolish old man with no relation to martial world affairs. I still don’t even know why I have to be here.”

“Ah, now that you’re covering it, I remember. Aren’t you the accountant who used to work at Yeongpa Trading Company?”

“That’s right! I’m just a lowly person from merchant origins living at rock bottom. So killing me would only dirty the hands of the Taoist master and great heroes.”

Bian Bu said.

“Right, right. I wondered why it seemed familiar. I once wrote a talisman for you. You haggled so much over the price that I got angry and drew the talisman with toilet water.”

Sim Hak’s face contorted servilely.

“That, that’s why the talisman smelled.”

“I told you to keep it under your pillow. Do you still have it? It’s an efficacious talisman. Exactly ten coins’ worth of efficacious.”

“My wife threw it away because it smelled. Don’t be upset, and since you know my face, please spare me. I’ll make sure to provide very good compensation later…”

“But why did I write that talisman? I think I wrote it for something to go well.”

As Bian Bu scratched his chin pretending to try to remember, Sim Hak’s expression hardened.

“Right, right, I remember now. You were entering some family as a strategist… so I wrote the talisman for things to go well…?”

Taoist Master Bok-cheon coldly spat out.

“You entered as strategist for the Baek Li family.”

Bian Bu grinned wickedly. He had deliberately pretended not to know while knowing, to scratch at Sim Hak’s nerves.

“That’s right. Indestructible Heavenly Sword’s most trusted confidant is that fellow, Sim Hak.”

Im Yi-yeon said.

“If he’s Indestructible Heavenly Sword’s confidant, he must have been greatly involved in this matter too. It would be better not to let him live.”

Sim Hak smacked his lips then let out a deep sigh.

“Whew.”

Suddenly Sim Hak’s servile expression changed. Sim Hak glared at Jin Ja-gang and the others with cold eyes. It was enough to startle Bian Bu.

Sim Hak laughed bitterly.

Then he suddenly grabbed his torn mouth and struggled.

“Argh! It hurts! Because of that damned bastard, I can’t even smile freely, damn it!”

Sim Hak held his torn cheek and spat bloody saliva toward dead Mang Ryo’s head.

“I didn’t like you from the start, and now because of you I’m going to die a dog’s death in an unexpected place!”

Sim Hak groaned but gritted his teeth and said.

“You think you can stop it? You can’t! Now you’ll really see the world turned upside down.”

Bian Bu clicked his tongue.

“Yeah. Sure. But you’re going to die today. So you should have paid properly for the talisman. Then I wouldn’t have remembered you, you fool.”

Sim Hak suddenly grabbed his belt and pulled. Bian Bu hobbled over on his crutch and stabbed Sim Hak’s chest with a dagger without hesitation.

“AAAAAH! Argh! AAAAAH!”

Sim Hak screamed wildly and shed tears.

WHOOOOSH!

Dark red smoke began rising from Sim Hak’s body. It seemed he had a signal flare device in his clothes.

“Damn!”

It was already too late to stop the smoke.

Angry Bian Bu repeatedly stabbed with the dagger.

“Argh!”

Sim Hak gritted his bloody teeth.

“You… you… bad bastards. You’ll all die soon too.”

Sim Hak soon grabbed Bian Bu’s arm and fell forward to die. But smoke was still pouring from his body.

Bian Bu took out the bamboo tube emitting smoke and buried it in the soil.

“Looks like he contacted his associates.”

Taoist Master Bok-cheon looked at Jin Ja-gang.

“What do you plan to do?”

“We have to go.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Ha-ran.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect this child until you return.”

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

Im Yi-yeon had internal injuries so couldn’t move together with them.

Instead Son Bi stepped forward. Bian Bu tried to dissuade her.

“This is dangerous work that even Master Haewol failed at. Will it be alright?”

Im Yi-yeon said to Jin Ja-gang.

“Before leaving, I have something I briefly want to say.”

“Please speak.”

“You must have heard that we were attacked while coming to the Tang Family Main House.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why?”

Actually, that was what he was curious about. Why were Im Yi-yeon and Son Bi coming to the Tang Family Main House?

“We were coming to find you. Poison Dragon.”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t answer. He didn’t ask why.

Son Bi blushed with embarrassment.

Im Yi-yeon looked at Tang Ha-ran, then slightly bowed as if greeting with her eyes.

“I feel sorry toward your wife.”

Tang Ha-ran answered coldly.

“If you felt sorry, you shouldn’t have come here.”

Tang Ha-ran had already figured out why Im Yi-yeon and Son Bi had come.

Im Yi-yeon sighed.

“After the inn incident, I thought a lot. Must I force my disciple to walk the same path as me? No, even if not that… even if she maintains chastity for life like me, I wanted to at least let her have a child with the person she holds in her heart.”

Tang Ha-ran said curtly.

“That’s impossible. Tang family women don’t lend their husbands to others.”

Son Bi rushed over in panic and grabbed Tang Ha-ran’s hand. Then she looked into Tang Ha-ran’s eyes and shook her head.

It wasn’t like that.

She was sorry. She shouldn’t have come here.

Though she couldn’t speak, she was saying that with her expression.

Tang Ha-ran said.

“Lady Son. Whatever expression you make, once you’ve already come here, excuses are meaningless.”

Tang Ha-ran pushed away Son Bi’s hand and looked at everyone. Of course, that included Yeong-gwi as well.

“Listen well, everyone. My husband is too big a person for one woman to hold. I won’t try to monopolize him. But the Tang family is his in-laws and I am his wife – that won’t change. Do you understand?”

Im Yi-yeon’s eyebrows trembled slightly.

“Does that mean… I may understand it as permission?”

“I’m not giving permission. The choice is for my husband to make.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Jin Ja-gang.

In the past, Jin Ja-gang might have been embarrassed. But after Tang Ha-ran had given him the topic of lack, Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts had deepened. That lacking beings were drawn to each other was not Jin Ja-gang’s fault. And it might also be Jin Ja-gang’s responsibility.

Tang Ha-ran said to Jin Ja-gang.

“Your karma is your responsibility.”

Jin Ja-gang quietly nodded.

Son Bi’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Wow…”

Woon-jeong, who had been watching, muttered.

“I didn’t know even Ice Phoenix Lady Son was trying to kill Poison Dragon friend.”

Everyone looked at Woon-jeong wondering what nonsense he was talking.

Woon-jeong said.

“Didn’t you know? All the ladies who tried to kill Poison Dragon friend fell for Poison Dragon friend… Recently Lady Yeong-gwi also…”

Yeong-gwi’s face turned red. Son Bi and Yeong-gwi’s eyes met each other. Yeong-gwi unconsciously bit her lips. Complex emotions crossed.

So-so kicked Woon-jeong’s bottom with a thump.

Bian Bu teased.

“Poison Dragon aside, someone appeared who wants to kill Taoist Woon-jeong too?”

So-so’s face reddened as she glared at Bian Bu fuming.

Bian Bu subtly asked Taoist Master Bok-cheon.

“Don’t Qingcheng Sect Taoists marry?”

Taoist Master Bok-cheon stroked his beard and said.

“Marriage isn’t strictly forbidden. However, if one is distracted during cultivation, we deal with it severely with strict beatings.”

Woon-jeong’s face stiffened.

“Master!”

Bian Bu laughed heartily. Taoist Master Bok-cheon also couldn’t suppress his laughter and held a slight smile on his stern face.

Tang Ha-ran grabbed Jin Ja-gang.

“And.”

Tang Ha-ran said with a smile.

“Whatever happened at the inn… I’ll listen carefully when you return, okay? So you must finish your work well and come back, okay?”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t say anything. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t speak – he really couldn’t.

Bian Bu watched this and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Look at him already being tightly controlled. How does he think he can manage three wives and four concubines…”

Tang Ha-ran glared at Bian Bu. Bian Bu pretended to look elsewhere.

“Come on, hurry up and go. Hurry!”

Finally Jin Ja-gang departed.

But Jin Ja-gang wasn’t alone. Right beside him were Taoist Master Bok-cheon and Son Bi. Not only that, but Qingcheng Sect and Poison Gate Four Cliques would join in turn, and most importantly, Emei Sect would also provide strong support.

It wasn’t long after Jin Ja-gang and the others departed.

Tang Ha-ran made a slight groaning sound.

“Ugh.”

Water flowed down her ankle.

Her water had broken right on time.

So-so quickly supported her.

Im Yi-yeon also held Tang Ha-ran from the other side.

“Hurry inside!”

Bian Bu hobbled in first on his crutch.

“I’ll go ahead and tell them to prepare!”

There was no need – a servant soon appeared.

“By the family head’s orders, we’ve prepared for childbirth. I’ll guide you.”

“Let’s hurry, hurry.”

Bian Bu urged. But while following the servant, Im Yi-yeon’s eyes changed. Im Yi-yeon said in a low voice.

“Something’s strange.”

“What do you mean?”

Woon-jeong also stopped walking and looked around with wide eyes.

“Something about the atmosphere is strange. It’s hard to express in words, but it seems different from when we came out earlier…? The path is different too…”

They felt the atmosphere had become too quiet somewhere.

CLANG!

Im Yi-yeon’s sword pointed at the servant’s neck.

“Where are you taking us?”

The servant looked back. Even with the sword touching her neck, she wasn’t afraid.

The servant took out a seal that was like the family head’s symbol.

“Nothing has happened yet. Trust the family head and follow. I’ll escort you to a safe place.”

“A safe place?”

Bian Bu’s eyes widened.

“Something seems about to happen. It would be better to call Poison Dragon back. If it’s now, we could catch up quickly!”

But Tang Ha-ran grabbed Bian Bu’s sleeve.

“No, don’t do that. We mustn’t confuse him now.”

Tang Ha-ran bit her teeth tightly due to labor pains. But even so, she spoke in a dignified voice.

“From now on, this is something I must handle.”