Chapter 337

The man asked back.

“You mean they stockpiled medicinal materials?”

“It seems so.”

But the man felt puzzled and tilted his head.

“Why? Why would they stockpile medicinal materials when there wasn’t even a plague?”

The man summarized what Jin Ja-gang had said.

“So basically, the Ningbo merchants supplied plague medicines to Iron Umbrella Sect, and Iron Umbrella Sect gave salt in return.”

“That’s right.”

“We were so focused on analyzing the loopholes in the ledgers that we didn’t think that far. If what you say is true, we should find out what it means.”

There was nothing more to discover from the ledgers.

Jin Ja-gang asked the man.

“Ah, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

“What is it?”

“How is So-so doing? If you don’t know her current situation, could you look into it for me?”

The man tensed up, then smiled and answered.

“I know So-so too. She’s doing well. She’s so capable that she takes care of all the Shandong brothers’ household affairs. Everyone’s already saying they’ll take her when she grows up.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Not at all. Well then, I’ll be going.”

After the man left, Jin Ja-gang thought more about the medicinal materials but couldn’t figure it out.

The Ningbo merchants could avoid enormous taxes through salt smuggling.

But what profit could Iron Umbrella Sect gain in exchange for buying medicinal materials?

Salt smuggling was a serious crime, but mobilizing even the Northern Heaven Unorthodox Sects to destroy all evidence seemed excessive.

If so, it must be related to the medicinal materials…

They weren’t antidotes related to poison, but ordinary plague medicines.

Spreading plague?

It was impossible to arbitrarily spread plague.

When plague spreads, villages and roads are immediately sealed to prevent contagion. So even if it spreads, it’s only in some regions.

Therefore, they couldn’t deliberately cause plague outbreaks, and unless they completely monopolized medicinal materials, how much profit could they make by causing plague in some regions?

* * *

Since he was out, Jin Ja-gang looked for a blacksmith shop to repair Soul Seizing Thread.

Perhaps because Wuhan was Zhuge family territory, surprisingly few Yangtze River Sword Sect emblems were visible on the streets.

Jin Ja-gang visited several blacksmith shops, but they all referred him elsewhere.

After going around in circles several times.

After a long while, he finally arrived at a blacksmith shop tucked away in a corner.

A middle-aged man with a thin build was sitting in front, polishing newly made farming tools, when he looked up at Jin Ja-gang. He also noticed Jin Ja-gang limping slightly.

“Follow me.”

The middle-aged man stood up. But he was only half of Jin Ja-gang’s height.

His legs were cut off below his thighs. The middle-aged man dragged his short legs and went inside.

Jin Ja-gang followed him inside. From the outside, it was indeed a blacksmith shop that made and repaired farming tools, but there was more space inside.

The inner space had even more tools than outside. Rather than farming tools, there were several unidentifiable metal pieces.

“This isn’t a blacksmith shop.”

“I was originally at the Tang family. There I made hidden weapons and mechanical weapons for the Tang family.”

“Did the Tang family let you go willingly?”

The middle-aged man pointed to his legs.

“Why do you think my legs became like this? It was the price for freedom. Others say I’m fortunate not to have died, but I actually nearly died and survived.”

There was even anger in the middle-aged man’s voice.

“If I hadn’t entrusted myself to Yangtze River Sword Sect, I would have been dead long ago.”

Jin Ja-gang said.

“I understand why the others referred me here.”

The middle-aged man smiled with a bitter feeling.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. You burned Tang family members and captured that family’s daughter? Hearing that story, I felt as refreshed as if I had done it myself.”

“It was something I did to survive.”

“It doesn’t matter. I enjoyed it. Now let’s see the item.”

Jin Ja-gang presented the broken Soul Seizing Thread.

The middle-aged man recognized it immediately. His hands trembled slightly.

“Soul Seizing Thread. It’s something that doesn’t break easily. May I ask how this happened?”

Craftsmen usually don’t ask about weapons’ purposes. They deliberately avoid being curious. If they learn about things they don’t need to know, secret matters, their lives could be lost.

But the middle-aged man seemed very interested in the martial world and didn’t care.

“It was cut by Funeral Parlor Yeong Hyeon-sa’s bone claws.”

“I’ve never seen them, but I’ve heard rumors. Yeong Hyeon-sa’s bone claws are specially tempered so his finger bones rival precious swords.”

“He’s dead now.”

The middle-aged man grinned.

“Excellent. The owner of Soul Seizing Thread, Poison Dragon. I’ll improve it to be much more amazing than before.”

“How is that possible?”

The middle-aged man explained.

“I can make Soul Seizing Thread’s threads completely invisible. In bright daylight, they’ll be transparent and not reflect light, and at night they’ll be pitch black and completely invisible. How’s that?”

Jin Ja-gang thought briefly. Then he shook his head and said.

“Make half visible and half invisible.”

At Jin Ja-gang’s words, the middle-aged man looked blank for a moment.

“I never thought of that.”

“Is it possible?”

The middle-aged man closed his eyes and muttered something to himself, then said.

“I’ll make the Soul Seizing Thread rings thinner than now and create two. One ring with visible thread attached, another ring with invisible thread attached. How’s that?”

“That’s sufficient.”

The middle-aged man looked at Jin Ja-gang again.

“I can see how you’ve survived this long. You’re a frightening person.”

Rather than something blindly invisible, something invisible behind something visible was more deadly.

Even in small things, he embedded psychology that would terrifyingly shake opponents.

The middle-aged man suddenly made a proposal, thinking of something.

“Don’t you need anything else? Originally my specialty is bladed weapons.”

“If so, I’d like to request two sickles.”

“Sickles? Understood. Surely not for cutting grass.”

“What can I do in return?”

The middle-aged man said seriously.

“Cut off the legs of the one who made my legs like this, the same way. With that Soul Seizing Thread.”

“The name?”

“Tang Sang-yul! Master of Soul Seizing Hall!”

Jin Ja-gang had heard that name before. He had even met him once.

“As you can see from the name, Soul Seizing Thread was originally Soul Seizing Hall Master Tang Sang-yul’s signature weapon. He’s also the one who made my legs like this.”

“What’s your name?”

At those words, the middle-aged man trembled with joy. Asking for his name wasn’t simply meaning to get revenge for him. It meant he would truly carry out proper revenge with his resentment!

“My, my, my name is Beon-woo.”

“Understood. Soul Seizing Hall Master Tang Sang-yul will face his final moments in this world together with that name.”

Beon-woo was overwhelmed and immediately prostrated himself right there.

“Thank you. Thank you!”

Jin Ja-gang helped Beon-woo to his feet. But Beon-woo couldn’t compose his emotions for a while.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang returned to the inn.

Woon-jeong was waiting in his room. Seeing Jin Ja-gang, Woon-jeong scratched his head.

“I…”

Woon-jeong sighed and said.

“I want to apologize to Poison Dragon for what happened earlier.”

Jin Ja-gang silently listened to Woon-jeong’s words.

“It’s not that Poison Dragon did anything wrong, but I was angry that a civilian got involved. But thinking about it, on the ship before, it was Poison Dragon who took care of the merchants. I didn’t do anything. This time too, I did nothing while shifting responsibility to Poison Dragon.”

Woon-jeong bowed his head deeply.

“I’m sorry!”

In front of such Woon-jeong, Jin Ja-gang extended his hand. A fresh and sweet smell made Woon-jeong’s nose tingle.

“Huh? This is…”

“Candied fruit made from hawthorn berries.”

He had remembered that Woon-jeong had enjoyed eating it last time.

Woon-jeong’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Poison Dragon…”

While eating the candied fruit, Woon-jeong asked Jin Ja-gang.

“But where did you go?”

“I met someone from Shandong Unorthodox Sects.”

“What? Shandong Unorthodox Sects?”

“Aren’t you curious how So-so is doing?”

Woon-jeong’s eyes sparkled.

“Of course I’m curious!”

Jin Ja-gang relayed what he had heard from the Shandong Unorthodox Sects man. Woon-jeong felt both sorry and relieved hearing news of So-so.

“Ah, that’s good. So-so is settling in well in Shandong.”

“If you miss her that much, why don’t you send a letter?”

“Sh-should I? But sending a letter out of the blue is a bit…”

Jin Ja-gang found Woon-jeong’s blushing face cute. He was smiling when Woon-jeong asked him with a serious expression.

“Poison Dragon.”

“Yes.”

“How did you win Lady Tang Ha-ran’s heart?”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang was slightly flustered by Woon-jeong’s words while recalling memories with Tang Ha-ran.

“I think my wife asked me to take her away.”

Woon-jeong’s expression soured.

“No, not that. Before that. There must have been some occasion when you became close through conversation. The most vivid memory.”

“Hmm…”

Jin Ja-gang thought seriously.

“My wife was once imprisoned in Tang family’s dungeon because of me.”

“Oho!”

Woon-jeong’s eyes sparkled.

“And then?”

“I went to find her.”

“To rescue her?”

“I said if she was thinking of dying, I would kill her.”

Woon-jeong’s expression soured again.

“You went all the way there just to say you’d kill her?”

“No. I said if she was thinking of dying, I would kill her. I didn’t go to kill her.”

“Um… to me that sounds like the same thing?”

Jin Ja-gang threatened Woon-jeong.

“Do you not want to hear more?”

“Ah, yes yes… And then?”

“She cried.”

Woon-jeong stared at Jin Ja-gang incredulously.

“No, of course she’d cry if you say you’ll kill her!”

Jin Ja-gang smiled somewhat awkwardly.

“But she said she didn’t want to die.”

“That’s also obvious!”

Jin Ja-gang closed his mouth and turned his head. He seemed to be thinking of something else to talk about.

“Try to recall more memories.”

“Hmm.”

Jin Ja-gang thought for a long time and answered.

“I remember. It was about what happened at Qingcheng Mountain.”

“Ooo!”

“Come to think of it, I was trying to kill my wife then too.”

“…”

Woon-jeong thought Jin Ja-gang’s experience was completely unhelpful. He seriously thought he didn’t need to hear more.

“Um, sorry, but isn’t there anything besides killing? Even something trivial?”

“Master Bok-cheon stopped us so we stopped fighting, then my wife suddenly asked me to take her in.”

“…”

Woon-jeong was so dumbfounded he opened his mouth and couldn’t close it.

Then he couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted.

“You’re both strange! Just listening to Poison Dragon, Lady Tang seems like a really strange person too!”

“It’s not exactly like that.”

“What’s not exactly like that! Poison Dragon charges in saying he’ll kill her, and in the midst of that Lady Tang asks to be taken in! What kind of strange relationship is that!”

“If there’s more I remember…”

Woon-jeong shook his head vigorously.

“No. I think I was wrong to consult Poison Dragon. I’m not a strange person like Poison Dragon, so I can’t just go around saying I’ll kill people.”

Jin Ja-gang shrugged. Even Jin Ja-gang felt embarrassed thinking about it now.

Woon-jeong sighed and said.

“I’d rather just ask about her current situation naturally. Like writing that there was a lot of snow in Qinghai this year, so be careful of possible floods in Shandong.”