Chapter 316

Gung Gibang carefully tucked the silver nyang into his clothes before opening his mouth.

“It’s information about the Yongbong Escort Bureau.”

“The Yongbong Escort Bureau? You mean the one we ran into on the way here?”

“That’s right. It’s been reduced to Shaanxi Province now, but in the past, it was one of the largest escort bureaus in the world.”

“The Yongbong Escort Bureau?”

I recalled what I had seen two days earlier.

Of course, it had been an impressive force for a mere escort bureau. Its Young Bureau Head, Ju Hwaran, was a remarkably skilled swordswoman worthy of the title Ten Dragons and Phoenixes, while an escort named Song Ilseom was at least one level above her.

Even counting the old man who looked like he could have written the Donguibogam, that made three Peak masters.¹

That was enough to put them on par with most mid-sized sects.

But compared to the past, when the Yongbong Escort Bureau had ranked among the top three in the world, what I had seen that day had been downright shabby.

“What the hell happened to leave it in that state?”

“It began immediately after the Escort King passed away.”

“The Escort King? The one I know?”

“There can’t be two Escort Kings under Heaven. The Great Hero Ju Gongsan, the Escort King you know, was the former Bureau Head of the Yongbong Escort Bureau.”

Escort King Ju Gongsan.

I didn’t know his name, but I had heard his sobriquet plenty of times. Perhaps I had accumulated enough experience in the Murim by now, because I had a fair amount of basic knowledge.

Besides, I had spent the past year practically attached at the hip to the Fire King Jeok Cheongang.

He was a living witness to history—and occasionally an old man who reminisced about the past.

Come to think of it, that friend of mine, the Escort King, was quite something too.

He’s not your friend.

You were hit by the Flame Divine Palm not that long ago, weren’t you?

Please tell me more. I’ll listen with rapt attention.

The anecdote Jeok Cheongang had told me about the Escort King that day had been quite moving.

It was when the Great Faction War was reaching its peak. At the time, the Demonic Cult had seized eight provinces, including Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan, and was advancing into the Central Plains at the head of a hundred thousand demonic soldiers.

When does the Escort King show up?

You were hit by the Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist not that long ago, weren’t you?

Please continue. I’m begging you.

In any case, the Escort King of that time was nothing more than a wandering escort. Of course, he was already known as a famed escort because of his remarkable skill and chivalrous spirit. But with the Demonic Cult sweeping across the world, would orthodox Murim practitioners have had the time to care about something like that?

That’s true. Strictly speaking, escorts are closer to the business world than the Murim.

The Demonic Cult needed money as well, so rather than oppressing escort bureaus and merchant groups, they chose to win them over. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t particularly strange that the Escort King of those days was in Guangdong, which was under the Demonic Cult’s control. Everything went smoothly until he met a woman who was about to give birth.

She was about to give birth?

The last seed of the Guangdong Chen Family was in the woman’s womb. The Guangdong Chen Family had already been wiped out for resisting the Demonic Cult more fiercely than anyone else.

They must have found out right away.

The Escort King only realized the truth after he encountered a Demonic Cult pursuit squad. If he refused to hand over the woman, he would have to make an enemy of the Demonic Cult.

At the time, the Demonic Cult had already swallowed half the world after winning battle after battle, Jeok Cheongang had said.

To make matters worse, Guangdong Province was tens of thousands of li from orthodox territory. It was nothing less than the Demonic Cult’s lair.

What do you think the Escort King did?

If he’d handed the woman over to the Demonic Cult, he wouldn’t have been the Escort King.

Correct. He rejected the Demonic Cult’s demand without a word of hesitation. There was only one reason: he had already been paid the escort fee.

On a day when war had engulfed the world, the young escort began what might have been his final escort mission.

The woman of the Guangdong Chen Family had paid him with an old jade hairpin, which he tucked inside his clothes.

I heard it took him two whole years.

From Guangdong through Jiangxi and Hubei, all the way to Henan, where the Murim Alliance was located.

The young escort crossed half the continent while evading the pursuit squad. He climbed mountains, ran across fields, and swam through rivers.

No one knew how he had done it or how many crises he had overcome, but one thing was certain.

The young escort had completed an escort mission unlike anything in the history of the Murim.

When the escort’s footsteps finally reached Henan, the last seed of the Guangdong Chen Family was crying vigorously in the woman’s arms, and the escort Ju Gongsan had become the Escort King.

The Martial God said he was truly worthy of being called a king. No one disagreed.

Jeok Cheongang often brought up stories about the Escort King after that.

Even to Jeok Cheongang, who viewed the world with a crooked eye, the Escort King seemed to have been a fairly decent man.

I heard he established an escort bureau in his hometown of Shaanxi after the Great Faction War ended… I don’t know what happened after that. Perhaps I should stop by sometime and share a few drinks with him.

In the end, Jeok Cheongang’s wish was never to come true.

According to what I had just heard from Gung Gibang, the Escort King Ju Gongsan was already dead.

The continent sure is small.

So the Yongbong Escort Bureau we had happened to encounter two days ago was the legacy of that Escort King.

Gung Gibang spoke when he saw the interest in my eyes.

“Great Hero Ju Gongsan couldn’t hold out for long after the internal injuries he suffered during the Great Faction War, and passed away. It was a tragic thing.”

“Then who’s the current Bureau Head?”

“Great Hero Ju Hogun, the Junzi Sword. He’s the Escort King’s only child by blood and Young Lady Ju Hwaran’s father.”

“Junzi Sword? Somehow, the sobriquet alone gives me a pretty clear impression of him.”

“I’ve never met him myself, but… my Master once said he was a very good person.”

A single particle could change the feeling of someone’s words entirely.

Gung Gibang’s Master, the Beggars’ Sect Leader, hadn’t said that Ju Hogun was a good person.

He had said that, as a person, Ju Hogun was good.

That reeks of a sucker.

I had a feeling that the Junzi Sword’s personality had contributed significantly to the Yongbong Escort Bureau ending up in its current state.

Sure enough, Gung Gibang nodded as though he had read my expression.

“As you guessed. Great Hero Ju is sentimental and can’t stand by when he sees injustice, so he’s suffered tremendous losses in various ways since taking over the Yongbong Escort Bureau.”

“He was in the wrong line of work from the start.”

“My Master once said something. A chivalrous hero can’t become a merchant.”

He was right. You had to disregard profit to be called a chivalrous hero, while you had to pursue profit more fiercely than anyone else to become a successful merchant.

An escort bureau could be called the intersection of the Murim and the business world, but in the end, it was closer to the latter.

One hundred points as a chivalrous hero. Zero points as a merchant.

The reason the Escort King had managed to catch two rabbits at once and build the Yongbong Escort Bureau into one of the five biggest in the industry was his fame.

But that advantage must have vanished after the Escort King’s death. For Ju Hogun, who lacked the qualities of a merchant, it would have been impossible to make up the difference.

“Whenever a great famine struck, he would buy grain even after exhausting his own stores, paying extra for it if necessary, and give it all away. He would take in poor or parentless children, feed them, and give them a place to sleep…”

“At that point, isn’t he basically UNICEF?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Keep going.”

“In any case, more went out than came in, so the Yongbong Escort Bureau gradually began to decline. My Master also offered him advice several times because of his connection with the previous Bureau Head, but apparently, none of it got through. Great Hero Ju insisted that this was his policy.”

“Wow.”

He was certainly an admirable and respectable businessman. It was just a shame he wasn’t a capable one.

Gung Gibang continued while scratching his back vigorously.

“What could anyone do? Since a man like Great Hero Ju inherited the escort bureau, its size had no choice but to shrink drastically in just thirty years.”

“Thirty years? They say a rich family lasts for three generations no matter how badly it falls.”

“It would have lasted three generations easily. If Great Hero Ju hadn’t collapsed from qi deviation two years ago.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean? Is this some kind of Age of Tribulations for the Yongbong Escort Bureau?”

“Considering all the misfortunes the Yongbong Escort Bureau has suffered over the past two years, you could call it that.”

“Good grief. They must have been through a lot.”

For an instant, Ju Hwaran’s bold figure flashed through my mind.

Back then, I had thought only that she was smart and pretty. But as it turned out, she was a young head of household carrying a tremendous burden.

But then…

“What exactly is this stink you keep talking about?”

Gung Gibang had opened the conversation with such meaningful words that I had been listening closely. But the only foul smell around here was the reek coming off that bastard.

My fastball straight at his body made Cheongpung and Hyuk Mujin, who had been listening in silence, crane their necks forward.

“That’s right. I don’t smell anything. I want to smell the stink too!”

“Young Hero Gung, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?”

When the guy who had nearly killed someone and the guy who had nearly died asked in unison, Gung Gibang’s face twisted into a scowl.

“Oh, shut up with all that yapping.”

“Forget that. Tell us quickly. And open your mouth a little less. Seriously, when did you last brush your teeth?”

“Four months ago.”

What a filthy bastard.

At my stare, which regarded him like some kind of beast, Gung Gibang flinched and hurriedly spat out a name.

“Z-Zhongnan Sect.”

“Huh? Zhongnan Sect?”

“According to what our Xi’an branch uncovered, there are signs that the Zhongnan Sect was deeply involved in the downfall of the Yongbong Escort Bureau.”

“Good grief. Those bastards have their fingers in everything.”

This really was information that stank.

No wonder a foul smell had suddenly filled the air the moment I heard the words Zhongnan Sect.

For a moment, I wondered if it was because Gung Gibang had opened his mouth too wide. But considering the behavior of every Zhongnan Sect member I had encountered so far, this wasn’t a rumor. It was a fact.

“They’re trying to swallow the Yongbong Escort Bureau whole, right?”

“Swallow it whole? Is it tasty?”

“Young Hero Cheong, could you shut your mouth for a moment?”

“Yes, Benefactor!”

By now accustomed to every part of this situation, Gung Gibang answered as though nothing had happened.

“That is highly likely. The Zhongnan Sect does operate an escort bureau, but it can’t compare to the position the Yongbong Escort Bureau holds within Shaanxi. From Zhongnan’s perspective, the Yongbong Escort Bureau must be a thorn in its side, along with Huashan.”

“So they’ve been methodically bringing it down for the past two years?”

“Ju Hwaran is certainly a gifted young woman. But she’s far too inexperienced. Being as sentimental as her father is another weakness.”

So, she was a clever fool.

Then again, according to what I had heard, Ju Hwaran was only twenty-one.

It was hard enough to organize everything she had learned in her head. Adjusting to practical work while leading an escort bureau of that size must have been a difficult task.

Especially if the Zhongnan Sect was pulling dirty tricks behind the scenes.

No matter how far beneath Huashan the Zhongnan Sect might be, it was still one of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

The Yongbong Escort Bureau might have been able to withstand the pressure while the Escort King was alive, but it had no way of doing so now.

It would be nibbled away little by little until it finally collapsed.

“How widely known is this?”

“It’s top-secret information told to me by the head of the Xi’an branch.”

“Top secret, huh? Then Huashan doesn’t know either?”

“Who knows? They might know, or they might not. Even if they do know, they could pretend not to and let it pass.”

“Pretend not to know? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Gung Gibang hesitated for a moment before answering with a sigh.

“Because they’re both part of the Nine Sects and One Gang.”

“…What?”

“Huashan’s Lone Crane, Baek Museong, is an upright and fair man. The Sword Saint Mae Jonghak is clear as a stream, and so is the Young Hero Cheong standing here. But remember that judging everything by a single facet is foolish.”

It was a single sentence that saw straight through my thoughts.

I was leaving today anyway. I had been planning to discreetly tip Baek Museong off about this information.

He was someone I knew to be a good man. And he had enough standing to be called the future of Huashan.

But I had been wrong.

The future is only the future. It isn’t the present.

Once again, I realized that the Murim was more complicated than I had thought.

Even the world of ignorant, simple-looking swordsmen had rules—and a league of its own.

I guess even an arm bends inward.²

When I remained silent, Gung Gibang cautiously watched me and asked,

“What are you planning to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Are you thinking of stepping in yourself?”

“Me?”

I considered it for a moment, but soon shook my head.

My encounter with the Yongbong Escort Bureau had been nothing more than a chance meeting. I had things I needed to do.

“If I run into them before I leave, I can give them a heads-up. But that’s it.”

Now that Jeok Cheongang had collapsed, getting entangled with the Zhongnan Sect would complicate matters.

For some reason, Ju Hwaran’s face suddenly came to mind. I shook my head and let it pass.