Chapter 447

Yeong-gwi looked at the plaque of Emei Sect in bewilderment for a while.

Then she glared at Baek-won.

“It seems we’ve just wasted time because of that monkey.”

Baek-won, as if unable to hold back any longer, charged at Yeong-gwi.

“Kkyaaak!”

She clawed at her  with sharp claws. Yeong-gwi also didn’t hold back and immediately kicked Baek-won.

Thwack!

Baek-won and Yeong-gwi’s attacks crossed and collided. Baek-won placed her long front paws on the ground, flipped her body over nimbly, and landed on Yeong-gwi’s shoulder with her hind paws. Her movements were so precise it was hard to believe she was a monkey.

Yeong-gwi rolled on the ground and launched an air palm strike upward. Baek-won twisted her body, spun around, and swept the ground with her claws. Yeong-gwi slapped the ground with her palm to launch his body upward. Baek-won’s claws scraped and whirled under Yeong-gwi’s back.

Crack!

Eerily, the sound of stones being split could be heard. Baek-won lay on the ground and kicked Yeong-gwi’s buttocks with her hind legs. Yeong-gwi twisted her body in mid-air, kicked off Baek-won’s feet, and leaped higher. The series of exchanges was no different from those of martial arts masters.

Yeong-gwi and Baek-won’s arms became entangled several times. Yeong-gwi pointed her fingertips sharply and stabbed at Baek-won’s shoulder. Red blood spurted from Baek-won’s shoulder. Seeing blood, Baek-won’s eyes reddened and she became increasingly excited and fierce.

Baek-won swung her front paws at a speed that was hard to follow with the eyes. Even when Yeong-gwi drew her dagger to block, he was pushed back by the force and had to retreat.

Killing intent also appeared in Yeong-gwi’s eyes. As a successor of Leper Mound, being pushed back by a monkey was damaging to her pride.

Hiss. Sword energy about a span’s length rose from the dagger.

Then Jin Ja-gang intervened.

“Stop it.”

Jin Ja-gang grabbed Baek-won’s head and pulled her back.

Baek-won huffed and glared at Jin Ja-gang before leaping up to a tree and running away. Earlier her actions had meant to follow, but now she just left.

Yeong-gwi’s anger had not yet subsided.

“This doesn’t make sense. According to that monkey’s behavior, the culprit freely went in and out of all of Mount Emei like it was their own home. But after going round and round, we end up at Emei Sect at last? So does that mean the culprit is still in Emei Sect?”

Jin Ja-gang could not answer Yeong-gwi’s question either.

Jin Ja-gang looked at Emei Sect’s main mountain halls.

“If whoever it is came here last, it means they came after the massacre at Soun-am. Even after the rebellion occurred.”

Jin Ja-gang moved his steps inside the main gate.

“I need to find out who came here.”

***

The Emei Sect gatekeeper was puzzled.

It was because Jin Ja-gang, who had gone down looking for clues, had returned.

“I have something to ask.”

“Yes.”

“I want to know if there were any outsiders who entered here after the rebellion.”

“Usually there were pilgrims who came to burn incense and benefactors who came to learn martial arts. However, after the disturbance occurred, we completely controlled all outside contact.”

“You mean no one came in?”

“Yes.”

Yeong-gwi shook his head as if he had expected this.

Jin Ja-gang’s face darkened.

If it really meant that the culprit was still remaining in Emei Sect, and if that person was in the worst case scenario…!

But then another female monk who had been listening nearby spoke up.

“Ah! It wasn’t completely none.”

Jin Ja-gang and Yeong-gwi looked at the female monk.

“Was there an outsider?”

“We see them so frequently that it’s a bit awkward to call them outsiders…”

Only then did the gatekeeper also seem to remember and exclaimed “Ah!”

“Right. Master Wang came!”

“You said Master Wang?”

The gatekeeper answered awkwardly.

“He’s a merchant who brings us necessary goods. We’re mostly self-sufficient, but there are things we can’t manage ourselves. Yes, that’s right. Because of this incident… we had to throw away all the food materials mixed with poison, so he urgently brought food.”

“If he brought goods, he couldn’t have come alone.”

The gatekeeper added as if making an excuse.

“There were workers carrying loads and escort warriors. But they didn’t enter inside the main gate. From here to the main temple, we carried everything ourselves. We’ve always done it that way. And he’s absolutely not a suspicious person. He’s someone who’s had dealings with our temple for over decades. He even takes care of the family affairs of lowly people like us.”

However, Jin Ja-gang was no longer listening to those words.

When Jin Ja-gang looked at Yeong-gwi, Yeong-gwi swallowed dry saliva and nodded.

***

Jin Ja-gang and Yeong-gwi visited all the temples they had been to once more.

And they confirmed it.

That a merchant named Wang Ung had come.

The monks at the temples all showed the same reaction as the Emei Sect gatekeeper.

“Ah, come to think of it, around that time Master Wang came and went because there were goods to bring in.”

“But Master Wang can’t be called suspicious, can he? We’ve known him for so long…”

All the numerous temples and monasteries on Mount Emei were doing business with Min-sang, where Wang Ung belonged. Having met and traded for over decades, they no longer perceived him as an outsider.

He was not a ‘suspicious person’ as Jin Ja-gang had asked about.

Wang Ung was from Min-sang, and Jin Ja-gang had previously heard about Min-sang.

“The Three Rivers of Sichuan all originally traded with Min-sang, but only the Tang Family Estate changed their dealings to Yingpo merchants ten years ago.”

These were the words of the clerk he had met in Chongqing because of Iron Umbrella Sect’s secret ledger.

Yeong-gwi let out a sigh like a lament.

“If he’s a merchant, he could have freely come and gone from Mount Emei.”

He was a merchant who provided goods to the temples and monasteries on Mount Emei.

“The monkey was right. If they were merchants who had been trading continuously, they could have come and gone without any suspicion.”

“That’s right. What Baek-won taught us wasn’t about the culprit. She showed us where she had seen the one who brought the Five Paths Fatal Poison.”

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

“I’m certain. The Five Paths Fatal Poison entered through the procession led by Master Wang.”

“But we can’t know whether Master Wang was directly involved, or if someone secretly mixed it in with the cargo, can we?”

“There’s a way to confirm it.”

Jin Ja-gang looked into the distance.

From an invisible distance in a tree, Baek-won, who had been watching Jin Ja-gang, turned her head away with a sulky attitude.

***

“Kkyuu, kkyuu!”

Baek-won, who had climbed onto Jin Ja-gang’s shoulder, cried out excitedly.

Jin Ja-gang had decided to take Baek-won down the mountain. Baek-won was completely excited and would snarl “Haak!” and get angry whenever Yeong-gwi approached.

Thanks to this, Yeong-gwi had to maintain a distance of five or six zhang from Jin Ja-gang.

Moreover, hundreds of monkeys followed Jin Ja-gang and Baek-won down the mountain. Caught between them, Yeong-gwi found her situation ridiculous but could not lament it.

Jin Ja-gang running with the leader monkey on his shoulder.

The king of monkeys…

Somehow, Yeong-gwi thought that such an appearance of Jin Ja-gang wasn’t particularly strange either.

However, on one hand, she felt disappointed.

If Jin Ja-gang hadn’t learned lightness skills, Yeong-gwi would probably still be able to carry Jin Ja-gang on her back and run.

The sound of Jin Ja-gang’s breathing when he slept on her back, the warm touch, the emotion that made her chest swell with overwhelming feeling… Yeong-gwi could not forget.

So she even envied Baek-won, who expressed her emotions freely even if willfully.

‘Jealousy…?’

Yeong-gwi laughed bitterly to herself.

Animals are sensitive to human emotions, so perhaps that’s why Baek-won was particularly wary of Yeong-gwi.

Yeong-gwi took a deep breath. She must not forget her proper role.

Now he had to serve Jin Ja-gang as the master of Leper Mound.

She should be satisfied just with being able to stay closest to Jin Ja-gang.

For a lifetime. Maintaining a distance that she could never get close to.

Hiding her disappointed and sad feelings, Yeong-gwi looked at Jin Ja-gang’s retreating figure.

***

Jin Ja-gang headed toward Eshan.

Eshan was a large village a hundred li away from Mount Emei, where tributaries of the Min River flowed, making the movement of goods well-developed.

A distance that could be easily reached within an hour using lightness skills.

There was Wang Ung’s Min-sang branch office in Eshan.

Upon arriving in Eshan, Jin Ja-gang put Baek-won in a bundle. Feeling cramped, Baek-won poked her head out through the bundle.

“Stay still. You’re too conspicuous to others’ eyes. I’ll call you when needed, so come out then.”

Baek-won pouted her lips and grumbled like a human, then glared at Yeong-gwi. Then she tucked her head inside.

Jin Ja-gang and Yeong-gwi entered Eshan town. Many people were coming and going in Eshan’s streets.

Thanks to the repair facilities of the river embankment, they had hardly suffered flood damage, yet strangely the atmosphere felt tense. People were walking quickly, glancing around as if they had committed some crime.

Even not just ordinary people, but several who appeared to be martial artists were the same. All carried swords and looked around nervously with obvious signs of tension.

Jin Ja-gang watched them thoughtfully and then called out to one passing by.

“May I ask you something?”

“Ah, you startled me!”

A young man with a sword at his waist was startled and whipped his head around frantically, then sighed when he saw Jin Ja-gang.

“You scared me. What is it?”

“The atmosphere in Eshan seems unusual. Is there some problem?”

The young man looked at Jin Ja-gang and Yeong-gwi in turn and said.

“You seem to be quite behind on news of how the world is going. These days the martial world is so turbulent that everyone is being careful because they don’t know when they might get stabbed in the back.”

“Turbulent?”

“Huh… you really don’t know what’s going on.”

When the young man frowned and didn’t continue speaking, Yeong-gwi quickly slipped him some silver coins. The young man pocketed the silver and continued.

“It’s absolute chaos everywhere. You go to sleep and wake up to find that the guy who shared meals with you yesterday has betrayed you… guys who called each other brothers stab each other in the back… So how could the atmosphere not be turbulent?”

“Isn’t Emei Sect nearby? Are such things happening even with Emei Sect here?”

“Emei Sect is…”

The young man lowered his voice.

“Emei Sect also had chaos with poisoning from within. But is it just Emei Sect? Wudang Sect, Namgung family, all the renowned sects are in chaos. So smaller places go without saying. In Eshan too, all the large and small sects have been turned upside down. What an absolute mess. We also… hmm.”

Yeong-gwi slipped him more silver coins.

“I’m not in a sect but at a training hall, and even there the assistant instructor drove out the instructor and took over the hall. And he’s hunting down and beating up the disciples who followed the instructor. I’m also disposing of all my belongings and will soon leave Eshan. I’m thinking of going somewhere quiet to live and maybe opening a training hall later when things calm down.”

The young man, grateful for the money, didn’t forget to give some advice.

“From what I see, you don’t seem to be martial artists, so be careful not to get caught up in anything.”

The young man shook his head and left.

“Really, with all moral principles fallen to the ground, you can’t tell who’s enemy and who’s ally in this world. Now I don’t know who to trust…”

Jin Ja-gang pondered the young man’s words.

A world of distrust where you can’t tell enemy from ally…

What benefit was the Ghost King trying to gain by creating such an absurd world?

Jin Ja-gang nodded at the waiting Yeong-gwi.

“Let’s go.”