Chapter 413

When Jin Ja-gang caused chaos with Soul Seizing Thread, Yeong-gwi disguised herself as an unorthodox sect warrior and hid in the procession.

And she traveled on their boat.

‘Where are they going?’

She thought they would flee far since they were discovered, but the boat was only going upstream against the river. This would actually lead toward the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, passing through Sichuan toward Yunnan.

‘Why do they keep going upstream?’

Yeong-gwi wandered around the boat gathering as much information as possible. But ordinary warriors knew less than expected. They just moved as ordered from above, with upper-level information almost completely blocked.

She could only move around in the cabin below deck, and except for sailors, no one was allowed on deck.

Yeong-gwi tried to slip up to the deck but was stopped by an unorthodox sect warrior guarding the stairs.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m feeling seasick and want to get some air. Can’t I just get a little air and come back?”

“Want to get buried together when the sailors ask questions for wandering around? And if you have energy to wander, go wash yourself. Look at those blood clots from not washing. Ugh… seeing blood reminds me of that crazy Poison Dragon and it’s scary.”

“Ow, this is killing me. How much farther do we have to go?”

At Yeong-gwi’s question, the warrior’s eyes slightly squinted.

The warrior looked Yeong-gwi up and down. Yeong-gwi slightly lowered her head and turned her face away.

“But you… turn your head this way and wipe off some blood. I don’t think I’ve seen your face around here?”

“No. I don’t feel well so my face is a bit…”

“I don’t think so?”

The warrior wondered and kept trying to see Yeong-gwi’s face.

Yeong-gwi wondered if she should kill the warrior and hide. But not yet. Even if she was in danger, she had to find out where this boat was heading.

Hoooooo!

Then the sound of a horn came from the deck.

“Huh?”

The warrior was startled.

“Seems we’ve reached the rendezvous point. Hurry back to the cabin!”

“Yes yes.”

Yeong-gwi slowly turned and walked as slowly as possible.

There was a thud as something hit the boat, then sounds of someone jumping onto the deck. Then Go Lu-bon’s and a middle-aged woman’s voices were heard.

“You came at just the right time, not late.”

“Hahaha, I thought I’d die to Poison Dragon, but came back alive?”

“Hmph, who would die to Poison Dragon? When I smashed Sword Empress’s limbs, Poison Dragon pissed himself and begged to spare her life.”

“Nonsense. Poison Dragon wouldn’t do that.”

It was Su Su-jin. She seemed to have fled in the opposite direction then rejoined.

But Su Su-jin soon said something strange.

“Do you truly believe Poison Dragon took no action and obediently retreated?”

“No action my ass! He cut our subordinates’ legs and it was chaos. He caused a rampage saying he’d kill people and horses!”

“So you left Poison Dragon alone and came.”

“I didn’t leave him alone… I made an exchange with Sword Empress, can’t you understand, tsk.”

“With what?”

“…?”

“What did you exchange with?”

“Well, that is… not killing people and not killing horses…”

“In the end, you were threatened by him?”

Go Lu-bon got angry.

“No! He begged me to spare her life!”

Su Su-jin frowned and asked.

“So what did you do? Those with severed legs?”

“I brought them all. Can’t kill them just because their legs were cut, it would hurt morale.”

Go Lu-bon answered proudly.

“He tried to kill them all but I stopped him midway so it ended at this level. Otherwise all the subordinates’ legs would have been cut and we couldn’t have brought the goods intact.”

Su Su-jin snorted.

“Gather all those whose legs weren’t cut.”

“What? Why.”

“There’s something to check.”

Go Lu-bon frowned and ordered his subordinate to gather everyone below deck.

Yeong-gwi pressed her ear to the cabin ceiling and heard all of Su Su-jin and Go Lu-bon’s conversation.

‘I’m discovered. She’s quick-witted.’

There were two masters who had subdued Sword Empress. If caught, she’d be helplessly captured. She feared not completing her mission more than being caught and killed.

Should she hold out to the end? Or…

A thought suddenly struck Yeong-gwi.

Yeong-gwi immediately left the cabin and headed to the stern.

Warriors passing by in the narrow ship corridor looked at Yeong-gwi strangely.

“Hey. Didn’t you hear to gather?”

Yeong-gwi didn’t even reply and hurried to the stern. The stern warehouse contained provisions. Looking at the amount of provisions, she could roughly estimate how far this ship was going!

Warriors gathered below deck.

Having rested in the ship for three days, except for the severely injured, there was no particular fatigue.

Go Lu-bon said listlessly.

“See. I told you there’d be nothing strange.”

Su Su-jin asked.

“Everyone came without exception, right?”

One warrior raised his hand and answered.

“One hasn’t come yet.”

“What?”

“He ran toward the stern and when I called him, he seemed in a hurry and just went.”

Go Lu-bon glanced at Su Su-jin.

“Must have needed to relieve himself.”

Su Su-jin ignored this.

“What’s at the stern?”

“Water and dry provisions and such.”

Su Su-jin immediately headed to the stern. Go Lu-bon and the warriors followed Su Su-jin.

The warehouse door was closed.

Su Su-jin opened the door and entered the warehouse immediately.

Simultaneously, a small splash was heard.

Nothing seemed wrong with the goods stacked in the warehouse, but in one corner there was a small hole big enough for a person’s head.

“Huh?”

Surprised, Go Lu-bon stuck his head out of the hole and looked around outside. Water bubbles and a human shadow were reflected on the water surface outside the hole.

“Damn it!”

Go Lu-bon angrily tore off the plank from the hole and threw it outside. Then he jumped out through the hole, stepped on the plank, leaped into the air, and shot palm force wildly.

Bang! Bang bang!

Water columns shot up from the surface and water sprays burst continuously.

Fish with burst bodies floated up from all directions.

Bang! Baang!

Go Lu-bon again stepped on the plank and leaped, shooting palm force ceaselessly as if to destroy the entire river.

The boat tilted and swayed.

“Step aside. You’ll capsize our boat at this rate.”

Su Su-jin raised energy in her hands, turning them white.

Then she gazed quietly at the water surface and extended her hand.

Crack!

Sharp energy shot out like an arrow and burrowed into the river water.

Soon after, blood spread in spots on the river surface, then scattered and disappeared.

“Missed. Cleverly sealed pressure points in the meantime.”

Go Lu-bon spun acrobatically in the air and came in grabbing the hole.

“Should we chase?”

“Never mind. Be thankful we found out before reaching the hideout. That person doesn’t know where we’re going anyway.”

Su Su-jin smiled mockingly while looking at Go Lu-bon. Go Lu-bon couldn’t say anything and avoided her gaze.

“Of course, this matter will be reported to superiors as is. It’s not something to hide.”

* * *

“Huff huff…!”

Yeong-gwi crawled out to the riverbank.

Both ears were ringing from Go Lu-bon’s palm force, and Su Su-jin’s water attack had penetrated her lungs from behind, making breathing difficult.

But she had to move. Though she had learned only minimal information, she still had to report what she found.

Yeong-gwi bit her lower lip hard and got up.

Surprisingly, where Yeong-gwi had escaped was already the waterway Jin Ja-gang’s group had taken when going down to Guizhou.

Northern Heaven’s boat was going back up that same waterway.

* * *

A day after Jin Ja-gang, Taoist Master Bok-cheon, and Im Yi-yeon’s group returned to the Tang Family Main House, Yeong-gwi returned.

Tang Gwi-ok immediately convened a meeting.

All Tang family leaders including Jin Ja-gang gathered.

Everyone’s faces were dark.

The fact that Northern Heaven unorthodox sect was involved in this matter was revealed through Jin Ja-gang.

King of Hell Tang Qing had joined hands with Northern Heaven to take over the martial world, making things bigger.

Moreover, seeing they were still moving independently even after Tang Qing fell, they seemed to have no intention of stopping.

At this rate, the Tang family would be blamed for everything Northern Heaven unorthodox sect did.

Therefore, the clue Yeong-gwi brought was very precious.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the Tang family’s survival depended on it.

However, Yeong-gwi’s clue was very limited.

The clues she learned were only two.

The boat was going upstream on the Yangtze River, and based on the amount of provisions loaded on the boat, it was estimated they would go at least two days… at most four more days from Luzhou where Yeong-gwi escaped.

All the leaders stirred.

“Going upstream on the Yangtze River?”

It was hard to believe.

A map was spread on the table in the middle of the meeting room. One elder drew a circle for four days’ distance by waterway.

“If they go four more days at most, even considering wind and currents are opposite, they’d completely enter Yunnan. Or if they switch to other waterways midway, as you can see…”

The circle was drawn near Chengdu where the Tang Family Main House was located.

“Since they can’t be coming back toward where we are, we must see them as going to Yunnan. Yunnan.”

Others agreed with the elder’s words.

“Yunnan is far from the martial world. It seems suitable for hiding large quantities of supplies.”

“We must go to Yunnan immediately.”

The leaders repeatedly argued.

But Jin Ja-gang only silently looked at the map.

Tang Gwi-ok saw Jin Ja-gang thinking and asked.

“Does son-in-law have nothing to say?”

Jin Ja-gang was from Yunnan. He knew Yunnan’s terrain better than anyone.

Jin Ja-gang spoke.

“Yunnan’s terrain is rugged, making it unsuitable for hiding goods. Of course, conversely, it’s hard to find, so if you can hide something there, it’s hard to find.”

Tang family leaders frowned.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“If they really entered Yunnan, we must dispatch personnel immediately. Time is urgent to go upstream on the Yangtze River and search all of northern Yunnan.”

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“Consider whether there’s reason to go all the way back to Yunnan to hide. It has no meaning except to hide secretly.”

“If hiding, naturally not being discovered would be priority, wouldn’t it?”

The leaders were bewildered, not understanding.

“Yunnan has treacherous mountains, so if the hideout isn’t on waterways but separated from them, tremendous effort would be needed to transport. You can’t move hundreds of thousands of geun of salt that way.”

“Then… you mean they piled salt at some storage area near waterways?”

“Impossible.”

At Jin Ja-gang’s words, the leaders were dumbfounded. He said it should be near waterways but that wasn’t possible.

“King of Hell knew there would be severe flooding this year. Knowing that, he wouldn’t have piled salt near waterways.”

“Ah…!”

The leaders finally understood. Someone trying to use floods wouldn’t pile salt by riversides where floods would occur.

“Then it’s strange. If not Yunnan, where on earth? According to your words, the information must be wrong.”

Jin Ja-gang fell into thought again.

If Tang Qing had decided to prepare a hideout for large quantities of salt, what would he have considered first?

It should be easy to transport and safe from floods…

Suddenly Jin Ja-gang realized there was the most crucial situation.

Floods!

That’s right.

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes opened wide.

He figured it out.

Jin Ja-gang pointed to the edge of the circle on the map, above Chengdu where the Tang Family Main House was located.

“Dujiangyan! It’s Dujiangyan.”