Chapter 36

Chapter 36: The Passing Wind Is Not Always Warm (2)

Dam Ho knelt on one knee and examined a corpse. The moment he confirmed the face, his gaze grew heavy.

He recognized this person.

'The merchant who had organized the Silver Lotus Trading Company and departed.'

He was the man who had become the rallying point after Cho So-gwang's death. He lay dead in the middle of the grassland. There was no need to check the other bodies.

"The Silver Lotus Trading Company… why?"

Bang Jin-bo's voice trembled.

They had traveled together for a year. He could identify them by their clothing and build alone.

The bodies strewn across the ground were merchants of the Silver Lotus Trading Company. The group that Dam Ho had saved and who had departed separately had, contrary to all expectations, ended up as corpses here.

"Brother, why are they…"

"They appear to have been ambushed."

"By whom?"

"Likely the companions or associates of those who attacked recently."

"How can that be!"

The corners of Bang Jin-bo's eyes twitched violently.

These were people who had survived a disaster and set out to forge a new life. To see them lying as cold corpses in the middle of the grassland was a tremendous shock to Bang Jin-bo.

Dam Ho noticed that many people were missing.

'Did they take them?'

Dam Ho rose to his feet.

Even upon seeing the dead merchants, his expression did not change.

'This was deliberate.'

That the corpses lay along the very path Dam Ho and Bang Jin-bo would travel was no coincidence. Someone wanted them to find these bodies.

The signs of torture remaining on several merchants' bodies confirmed his suspicion.

They had been cut just deep enough not to kill, then salt had been rubbed into the wounds. Even martial artists would have found such pain excruciating. And the subjects of this torture were merchants who had never trained in martial arts.

The outcome was as predictable as fire on a torch.

"Brother!"

Bang Jin-bo looked at Dam Ho.

The fear that had vanished during his time with Dam Ho had returned to his eyes. Dam Ho placed his large hand upon Bang Jin-bo's head and ruffled his hair.

"There is nothing to fear."

"But…"

"Trust me."

"Yes!"

A single word from Dam Ho dissolved the tension in Bang Jin-bo's face. An inexplicable sense of relief washed over him.

Dam Ho patted Bang Jin-bo's shoulder and surveyed their surroundings.

All that could be seen was the endless grassland. But Dam Ho felt concealed gazes. Somewhere in that verdant expanse, there were those who watched him and Bang Jin-bo.

A cold light began to flicker in Dam Ho's eyes. Bang Jin-bo, oblivious to this, continued looking around.

There was no leisure to gather the bodies. Dam Ho left them by the roadside and mounted the black horse. But Bang Jin-bo hesitated, unable to bring himself to leave them behind so easily.

"Let's go."

Only after Dam Ho urged him did Bang Jin-bo finally mount his horse.

"He just leaves them, then."

Gyeong-cheon-saeng's lips twisted upward in a smirk.

He now stood in the middle of the grassland. Tall grass concealed him and his subordinates.

"I hear he's quite an interesting fellow."

Gyeong-cheon-saeng's eyes glinted ominously.

Finding the trail of the Silver Lotus Trading Company had not been difficult. The places they were likely to go were obvious.

He had found traces of them in Toro Banner and encountered them here. The aftermath was visible for all to see.

The merchants had hired martial artists at Toro Banner for protection. But their skill level was so low that they were not even worth the effort of warming up.

It was like scything through a bundle of rotten straw. He had cut them down and tortured the merchants.

To identify the ones who had killed Dong Ja-chu and the Blood Wolf Corps.

The merchants, unable to withstand the torture, had confessed everything. What they revealed was truly astonishing.

'So it was just one person?'

He had expected at least ten. But the culprit was a single individual.

He could not believe that the devastation he had witnessed had been wrought by one man alone. So he had tortured a few more. But the answer was always the same.

Now he had no choice but to believe.

The culprit was a single person. And that person was powerful enough to raise Gyeong-cheon-saeng's警觉.

He had placed the dead merchants along the path the culprit would take. To test him. By observing how he dealt with the corpses, they could discern his true character.

He had thought that if the culprit possessed human emotions, he would not turn away from the merchants' bodies. And when the culprit stopped to gather the dead, they would launch a surprise attack.

But Dam Ho's reaction differed from Gyeong-cheon-saeng's expectations. He showed no agitation, nor did he attempt to gather the bodies. At the very least, his response was unlike that of an ordinary person. He fell outside the category of people Gyeong-cheon-saeng knew.

"An interesting fellow. And lame, to boot…"

When he first received the report, he had thought it false. A lame man was not someone capable of dealing with the Blood Wolf Corps and Dong Ja-chu, who were no pushovers.

His subordinate asked.

"What shall we do?"

"He touched our people. He must pay the proper price."

"Shall we attack now?"

"That would be too easy, and no fun."

"Then?"

"We must shake him. Keep sending gifts."

Gyeong-cheon-saeng turned around. Behind him stood a group of people bound and weeping—the surviving members of the Silver Lotus Trading Company.

Gyeong-cheon-saeng's lips twisted cruelly upward.

***

"B-but…"

Bang Jin-bo could not close his gaping mouth.

Before them, once again, corpses lay scattered. People who had not been there before were now dead.

A man Bang Jin-bo knew well had been nailed to a great tree with stakes through his limbs. Even in death, he had found no freedom, and from the eyes of this bound man, tears of blood had flowed.

Dam Ho's gaze grew even more somber.

He instinctively understood that this was a provocation directed at him.

Even now, they were hidden somewhere, observing his reaction.

They might want to see him gripped by terror, flailing about in pathetic panic.

Dam Ho spoke to Bang Jin-bo.

"Do not waver."

"But…"

"That is what they want."

"I… understand."

Bang Jin-bo gritted his teeth and nodded. Tears welled in his eyes.

His face was filled entirely with despair. To this, Dam Ho spoke.

"There is something you must do."

"What?"

Beneath the great tree, Dam Ho removed his black robe.

He handed it to Bang Jin-bo, but his gaze was fixed upon the distant grassland.

"The man?"

"He is simply leaving."

"He's leaving again, just like before?"

"That is correct."

At his subordinate's report, Gyeong-cheon-saeng rose from the rock where he had been reclining.

In the distance, beyond the great tree, Dam Ho and Bang Jin-bo could be seen departing on horseback, leaving the corpses behind. Gyeong-cheon-saeng furrowed his brow slightly.

The reaction was far removed from what he had expected. Surely a human would show at least some agitation, yet Dam Ho displayed none whatsoever.

"Hmph! A cooler head than I imagined."

"What shall we do?"

"We've run out of gifts to send. We'll have to move ourselves."

"Are we finally going to capture him?"

"Prepare the men. The atmosphere is unusual, so tell them to steel themselves."

"Understood."

The subordinate bowed deeply.

His eyes were stained with killing intent.

Until now, it had been tedious. Killing the kidnapped merchants was entertaining, but it lacked the thrill of blood boiling.

"Ah! What about the report to the Mountain Lodge?"

"Do it later. There's no rush until after we've caught him."

"Understood."

The subordinate withdrew.

Gyeong-cheon-saeng rose to his feet.

It was time to act. He lightly checked his condition.

His internal energy circulated unobstructed throughout his body, and his muscles were in prime condition.

"A fine day for a battle."

As Gyeong-cheon-saeng smiled—

Thoom!

The sound of a droplet striking the water's surface echoed.

Ripples spread through the air, and soon sharp sonic waves radiated in all directions at terrifying speed.

The piercing vibration that pierced through his skull made every hair on Gyeong-cheon-saeng's body stand on end.

"What?"

Gyeong-cheon-saeng's expression changed completely.

Before he knew it, his hand had moved to grip the hilt of the sword at his waist. Instinct had commanded it.

"What's happening?"

He shouted.

In normal circumstances, his subordinates would have responded immediately. But their voices did not come.

The air itself had grown heavy, as though an enormous boulder were pressing down upon it. His subordinates were being crushed by the weight of the atmosphere.

Gyeong-cheon-saeng rushed toward where his men were.

"Ugh!"

In that instant, his expression transformed.

Standing in the path toward his subordinates was a man who had appeared from nowhere.

"When?"

Gyeong-cheon-saeng's pupils trembled for the first time.

The man blocking the road was unmistakably someone he knew well. But he should not have been standing here.

'I confirmed him riding away on horseback.'

A man in a black robe riding a black horse—that was Dam Ho's most defining characteristic. But the Dam Ho standing before him now was not wearing a black robe.

Only then did Gyeong-cheon-saeng realize he had been deceived.

'Tsk! To fall for such a basic trick.'

Dam Ho had dressed a corpse in his black robe and placed it on horseback. They had simply been too far away for Gyeong-cheon-saeng and his subordinates to notice.

Gyeong-cheon-saeng stepped forward.

"A clever one, aren't you?"

His hand still gripped the hilt of his sword.

Dam Ho's gaze turned to Gyeong-cheon-saeng.

"Ugh!"

A low groan escaped through Gyeong-cheon-saeng's lips.

From a distance, he had not felt it. But facing that gaze directly, the pressure was beyond imagination.

'Were their words not exaggerated after all?'

When he heard it from the merchants, he had assumed much of it was embellishment. Still, he had thought caution was warranted, so he sent gifts to test Dam Ho. But the opponent had seen through his intentions and struck back.

Moreover, the pressure emanating from those eyes was no joke. Even the man he served as lord had never made him feel such oppressive force.

Gyeong-cheon-saeng asked.

"Who are you?"

"And who might you be?"

"We are—"

Gyeong-cheon-saeng closed his mouth.

Their identity must not yet be revealed.

Dam Ho stared at Gyeong-cheon-saeng.

"Why did you kill the merchants? If I was your target, you could have simply come for me directly."

"Hmph! They were only worth that much."

"……"

"Every person has their own value. They possessed only that much value. Their existence or absence made no difference to the world. That is why they had to die."

"I see."

Dam Ho's gaze turned cold.

"Then you too must prove it. That your lives are worth sparing."