Chapter 74

Chapter 74

It was about seven days after that when Dan Woo-hyun entered Hanchuan. He urged to go as fast as possible, and when a horse collapsed, they bought a new one and galloped on.

After repeating this a few times, the distance was significantly shortened, allowing them to arrive quickly.

Of course, they looked like an absolute mess.

Gwon Mu-jin's face was full of exhaustion.

They galloped day and night and could not even eat proper meals.

It was not that he did not understand the desire to find the treasure and return even a day sooner, but this felt a bit too much.

Sweating cold sweat, he looked at Dan Woo-hyun.

He had already gone far ahead before he knew it.

'Does he not even get tired…?'

Gwon Mu-jin was someone who was confident in his physical stamina in his own way.

He had trained by putting in several times more effort than others since childhood, and it was still the same now. No, after entering the manor, he had even increased the amount to focus on stamina management.

Yet, he could not match Dan Woo-hyun.

"So this is the place called Hanchuan."

"Huff… huff, y-yes… that is correct."

Wiping away the flowing cold sweat, he barely managed to speak. It was a stark contrast to the relaxed Dan Woo-hyun.

He thought it was quite amazing that he did not collapse right away. However, as if Dan Woo-hyun did not have even a single percent of interest in Gwon Mu-jin, he was looking around here and there.

He cast his gaze around before pulling out a map from his bosom and looking into it.

It was definitely pointing somewhere.

"Although the scenery has changed somewhat, it seems this is indeed the right place."

"Th-that is… a relief."

Since they did not have to move to another place.

Gwon Mu-jin let out an awkward laugh and cheered inwardly. If they had to travel any further from here, he felt like he would faint right on the spot.

"But it is large. More than expected… at this rate, it is hard to tell where is what."

For now, the terrain was similar.

No, it was absolutely certain that the treasure of the one named Geum Wang-su was somewhere in this Hanchuan. However, the map was drawn quite complexly, and it was impossible to know where to target and go.

What Dan Woo-hyun held in his hand right now was a simple map.

There was not even a trace indicating a specific location.

Knowing this fact beforehand, they had put so much effort into deciphering it even before coming here, but they still could not find it.

The guy who drew this map seemed to have been exceptionally clever.

"Hmm?"

As Dan Woo-hyun stared intently at it for a long while, he seemed to discover something and raised the map above his head. When the bright sunlight shone through the map, he realized that a certain spot was lightly colored.

"It seems to be here."

"Was there a clue?"

"If you hold it up like this, only this spot has a different color."

Gwon Mu-jin quietly looked up at the map.

Because the color difference was so extremely faint, it was incredibly difficult to confirm unless one stared intently. This meant Dan Woo-hyun's eyesight, which managed to find this, was also unbelievably good.

He was truly a man who did not seem human.

"Is that not quite far into the northwest?"

"Indeed."

Dan Woo-hyun nodded and turned his gaze.

Northwest?

The place shown on the map was definitely pointing there. But that place was not this Hanchuan village, but a large mountain. Looking at the directions of north, south, east, and west, as well as the distance, it undoubtedly seemed to point to that mountain.

It was quite far.

Even if they went on horseback, it seemed it would take about an hour and a half.

Dan Woo-hyun scratched his head and looked at Gwon Mu-jin.

Staring at his expression which looked as if he would collapse from exhaustion at any moment, he nodded slightly, as if having thought of something.

"It seems you are still fine. Let us go."

"…Y-yes, well… let's go."

Gwon Mu-jin nodded with a bitter expression.

His hope of being allowed to rest was ruthlessly shattered.

Thus, not even half a quarter of an hour after entering Hanchuan, the two moved toward the large mountain visible in the northwest. Although they were traveling on horseback, the distance was so great that it did not feel like it was easily closing.

Nevertheless, after persistently traveling for a bit less than two hours, the two were able to arrive at the mountain that could be called their destination.

Arriving there, Dan Woo-hyun stopped his horse and examined the map.

Looking at the location on the map, there seemed to be something inside the mountain. That place was quite rugged, making even climbing it seem difficult, but Dan Woo-hyun moved without caring in the least.

The treasure worth tens of millions was urging his footsteps.

He began to climb up along the winding mountain path.

"Huff… huff… do we have to go further?"

"It seems we need to climb a bit more. As expected, they did not hide it in an easy place, is that it?"

"Huff… huff… th-that is natural since it is Geum Wang-su."

Gwon Mu-jin broke out in cold sweat as he chased behind him. Just following behind Dan Woo-hyun, who was darting ahead with the desire to find the treasure even a moment sooner, felt like doing a year's worth of training.

He felt like he shouldn't have followed.

Had he known it would be like this, he should have sent that guy Sam-tae.

Although it was too late to regret now, Gwon Mu-jin's insides were in that much of a mess. It had not been like this when they traveled to Gunja Island last time…

This was all because of that damn gold and silver treasure.

Gritting his teeth, he moved along the mountain path for a long time.

Then, at some point, Dan Woo-hyun stopped dead in his tracks.

Wondering what it was, he looked up and saw a manor that was half-collapsed. The walls could no longer perform their role properly, and most of the buildings in sight were collapsed and worn down.

Spiders had spun webs everywhere, and it was a state where even rats and snakes crawled around in various places.

There was no way a human could live in a place like this.

"I-is this the place?"

"Yes… it is correct, but…"

Dan Woo-hyun, who was alternately looking at the manor and the map, frowned. It was clear that the bizarre manor in front of him was the place the map was pointing to, so why could he hear human voices coming from inside?

"Bwahahaha! Drink, drink!"

"Today's harvest is good!"

The voices coming over the wall were not only those of men. Because the high-pitched, short voices of women were also mixed in, he could roughly guess what was happening in there.

"Bandits… are they?"

"Bandits… indeed."

Deep in this kind of mountain

Abandoned manor

If it was an abandoned manor in a rugged place where people rarely came and went, it was only natural for bandits to settle down there. There was no need to build a mountain fortress, and they could just roughly use what was already there.

Thanks to that, Dan Woo-hyun's mood seemed to have soured slightly.

An anxiety arose that they might have already taken the treasure.

Dan Woo-hyun slowly stepped inside the manor.

Step, step…

The sound of his footsteps entering seemed to be buried in the laughter of the bandits, so no one heard them. However, the moment he stepped inside through the collapsed wall, eyes from everywhere turned toward him.

Soon, without warning, he slapped a bandit hard across the head.

Crack!

"Agh!"

"W-who?! Urgh!"

"What? Argh!"

In that place where laughter had run rampant, screams suddenly echoed out. The moment he stepped inside over the wall, Dan Woo-hyun threw his fists without warning.

It was to the point where even Gwon Mu-jin, who was watching, was dumbfounded.

He should have at least let them say "Who is it!" or "What bastard is this!"

Crash!

In an instant, about twenty bandits were blown away in all directions. Rolling on the ground and crashing into the manor, unable to even scream properly, it was a scene where one would not have recognized that people had collapsed without seeing it with their own eyes.

What remained were half-naked women.

They trembled in fear with pale faces.

However, Dan Woo-hyun's interest was not the women.

Quietly looking at the collapsed bandits, he dragged over the one who possessed a large aura among them. Although blood was streaming down his battered, bloody face, there was not even a shred of sympathy on the expression of Dan Woo-hyun, who grabbed him by the hair.

Rather, even Gwon Mu-jin, who was watching, broke into a cold sweat at that killing intent.

"I will ask."

"Y-yes!"

"How long has it been since you settled down here?"

"It… it has been nearly a year."

The bandit boss replied while trembling all over.

Sometimes, martial arts experts who attacked mountain fortresses did appear. Since most of them were rising stars who had just entered the Murim, though they were strong, they could not suppress over twenty people in such a short time.

If so, the person in front of him was an expert far beyond that.

If he said one wrong word, it would be his funeral.

"When you bastards came here, were there any traces of someone living here?"

"Th-there was none…"

"Have you ever found anything here?"

"Th-that neither."

Dan Woo-hyun quietly examined the leader's eyes. The fellow's eyes seemed full of terror and fear. Although his pupils were shaking slightly, it did not seem like he was lying at all.

"Get lost."

"Th-thank you, Great Hero! Thank you, Great Hero!"

The leader, who slowly stood up from his spot, gathered his collapsed comrades and began to run away in a hurry. Because if they stayed here any longer, there was no telling what would be done to them.

Looking at them disappearing one by one, Dan Woo-hyun turned his gaze toward the women with eyes that had soon lost interest. The women who met his eyes flinched and shrunk back in surprise.

"You all go as well."

At that single word, the women also hurriedly gathered their clothes and began to descend the mountain. Although going down like this would likely result in being caught by bandits anyway, it was a hundred times better than staying with that human who had beaten up over twenty bandits in an instant and threatened them.

"Are you not going to kill them?"

Gwon Mu-jin felt puzzled.

Even if he did not care about the other bandits, he should have killed the leader. As soon as they left this place, they would gather again around the leader.

At that moment, Dan Woo-hyun smirked and spoke.

"If I had intended to kill them, I would have killed every last one. Rather than that, search the surroundings. There must be a clue somewhere."

"U-understood."

Nodding, Gwon Mu-jin began to search the manor thoroughly. Actually, the thought of whether there was even a treasure here came to his mind first.

Although it was a year, it was a place where bandits had stayed.

Since there was also a possibility that one of them had already found it and hidden it, he realized that, probabilistically, finding this treasure itself was slim.

'Aren't we just going to suffer for nothing and leave?'

Gwon Mu-jin broke out in cold sweat.

They had traveled a considerably long distance from Hunan to here in Hubei. Even if Dan Woo-hyun did not know it, Gwon Mu-jin was still insanely tired and in pain.

If he did not get his hands on at least something, his anger would not be appeased.

If they found nothing here, he would search the entire Central Plains to catch that bastard Geum Wang-su and grind his wrists to pieces.

Just then, Dan Woo-hyun's voice was heard.

"Here it is."

"What!? Did you find it!"

At the sudden words, Gwon Mu-jin turned his head with wide eyes. The place where Dan Woo-hyun stood was the pond in the center of the manor.

Whether it was left unfinished or had dried up, there was no water in it, and in the exact center of the deeply dug pond, a single stone statue of a lion in a strange shape stood alone.

"Is it not just… a stone statue?"

"It is strange for a stone statue to be in a place like this. Moreover, when I tapped it, the inside seemed hollow. I was thinking of breaking it, but as it felt somewhat strange, I put my hand inside its mouth and found this."

Dan Woo-hyun pulled something out. It was a map made of leather. It was completely different from the paper Dan Woo-hyun currently held, and since it looked quite old, it felt like that was the actual map showing the location of the treasure.

Gwon Mu-jin dragged his exhausted body and rushed over.

It seemed like a ray of light was finally beginning to show.

"H-how is it? Is that really the map showing where Geum Wang-su's treasure is?"

"I do not know about that, but… it is certain that it marks something."

Dan Woo-hyun unfolded the map and showed it. Unlike before, it showed a spot about ten li to the west of the manor's vicinity, colored with a brush.

"L-Lord… th-this is…?"

Looking at it, Dan Woo-hyun smiled broadly.

Finally, he was getting closer to what he wanted.