Chapter 629

After parting ways with Yayul Mok, I headed back toward the temporary lodging where the Fire Dragon Pavilion members were waiting.

With my martial prowess, I wasn’t in danger of anyone trying to harm me. Still, wandering around alone in this atmosphere wouldn’t do me any good.

Somehow, I found myself in the Nanman Beast Palace’s Outer Hall.

“Huh. When did I get here?”

I muttered to myself and looked around.

Perhaps because it was hidden among the thick, overgrown grass, I couldn’t see a single rat anywhere…

Well, not quite. Two or three monkeys were milling around—Nanman’s mascots, much like Gukkeoni was for the Ministry of National Defense.

—Screech?

Why’s that Han Chinese bastard crawling around out here instead of staying put in his lodging?

That seemed to be the question in the monkey’s curious eyes. But I had nothing to be ashamed of before the heavens.

I got lost. What do you want me to do about it?

Of course, I’d followed the advice of the greatest assassin of all time disguised as the Divine Physician: conceal my breathing and move stealthily so no one would spot me.

But one thing was certain. I was lost.

The lodging was less than fifteen minutes away, and there were only two roads, but that was beside the point. If I said I was lost, I was lost.

Still, I’m here representing the Murim Alliance. I should be able to figure out this much on my own.

Back at the Hunter Training Center, a fellow recruit had once said that a perfect lie was a true story.

In the end, all that mattered was not getting caught. Though in this atmosphere, I did need to make an effort to avoid it.

Rustle.

I steadied my breathing, slipped out of the grass, and blended into the people gathered nearby.

I suppressed my presence, reined in my aura, and bent slightly at the waist to make myself look shorter. Just as Mungyeong had taught me.

Do you know who the most frightening assassin in the world is?

Sure. The person standing right in front of me.

……

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve committed a crime worthy of death. Please put the dagger in your sleeve away and teach this fool.

Mungyeong had glared at me as though deciding whether to kill me, then answered.

An ordinary person.

Ordinary?

Someone more ordinary than anyone else, who blends naturally into any place. That is the most frightening assassin.

What Mungyeong taught me that day wasn’t useful only to assassins.

He’d mentioned it in passing, calling it a simple trick that couldn’t even be considered martial arts. But I hadn’t forgotten it, and it had come in handy more than once.

Just like now.

This really is different from the Central Plains.

I turned my head without drawing attention and looked around the Outer Hall.

Even on a second look, the Nanman Beast Palace was a distinctive place. It was less like a sect than a small city, with all kinds of peoples living together.

Compared to the Central Plains, where the Han Chinese made up the majority, Nanman was practically a melting pot of races.

A Miao woman draped in colorful jewelry strode through the market, enjoying the attention of the people around her, while a Bai merchant in white traditional clothing tried to conduct a trade with a monkey perched on his shoulder.

And an old man was limping straight toward me.

No, sir. Why are you coming this way?

“Excuse me. I’m trying to buy some cloth at the market. Which shop would you recommend? If I were ten years younger, I could have found it with my eyes closed, but perhaps it’s because I’m old that I can’t remember anything these days.”

“Uh…”

Had I blended in too well? I hadn’t expected this.

The non-Han old man had blocked my path with his cane and asked me the question. I hesitated for a moment, then answered as shamelessly as possible.

“Go straight ahead, then take the alley on the right.”

“The alley on the right? Was there a cloth shop there?”

How would I know, sir?

But contrary to my thoughts, I nodded.

“Yes. Plenty of them. More than the hairs on your head. They’re springing up everywhere.”

“Really? What’s one of them called?”

Why do you need the name, too?

Hesitating now would make him suspicious, so I blurted out the first name that came to mind.

“Hyuk Family Textile Shop. Their cloth is pretty good.”

“Hyuk Family Textile Shop? I don’t think I’ve heard of it…”

I’d underestimated how well a local knew his own market.

It was clearly an unreasonable answer, but in situations like this, the shameless person won. With an expression utterly free of shame, I spoke firmly.

“It’s been there for over ten years.”

“Really? That’s strange. I could’ve sworn…”

“Isn’t your memory getting hazy? That’s why you asked me, right?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Sir, if you don’t mind my asking, how old are you?”

“Me? Eighty-two.”

“I’m twenty-two. I can still vividly remember moving from my father’s side to my mother’s.”

“You remember that?”

“I’m only twenty-two, so I remember everything. Trust me.”

“Ah. All right, then. Thank you.”

Defeated by sheer force of confidence, the old man turned to leave. I suddenly remembered something and called after him.

“Sir?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Where is the place with the biggest crowd right now? I was supposed to meet someone, but that bastard isn’t showing up anywhere, so I’m going to look for him myself.”

“Try over there.” He pointed with his cane. “I caught a glimpse of it on my way here. No idea what’s going on, but it was awfully noisy. Probably something to do with the festival in a few days.”

Then he paused and studied my face with his cloudy eyes.

“By the way, which tribe are you from?”

“What?”

“You don’t look Yao, like me. Yet you speak our language so well. How strange…”

“Oh, I can see it over there. Please be careful on your way.”

“Hey. Wait.”

I left the old man behind and walked away quickly.

No matter how naturally I blended in, anyone who had enough time to study my face would notice. The differences between the Han Chinese and Nanman’s other peoples weren’t so pronounced that I’d stand out at a glance, but they were there.

Fortunately, there was a solution.

My hands were very fast. And as luck would have it, the market was packed with non-Han people, while the merchant selling traditional animal masks was too busy dealing with customers pouring in from every direction to pay attention to anything else.

In short, slipping one mask away was no trouble at all.

Open Inventory. Store.

Ding.

System

You have acquired Crudely Made Tiger Mask!

The hand wasn’t faster than the eye. The System was.

I put the mask in my Inventory. By the time I’d passed a couple of people, the tiger mask, painted with crude dye, was on my face.

This should do. It won’t stand out around here.

Maybe it was because of the festival the old man had mentioned. Two or three out of every ten people I saw were wearing similar masks.

I headed in the direction he’d pointed and listened to the voices around me.

“Did you hear? The great chieftains of the Yi and Yao peoples are back.”

“Really? I heard they went to subdue man-eating beasts about fifteen days ago.”

“They mobilized around five hundred warriors, so they must have finished quickly. Unlike the Yao people, it seems the great chieftain of the Yi people didn’t achieve any noteworthy results, though.”

“Just what I expected. Not that I expected much.”

I didn’t miss the familiar information exchanged in their conversation.

The Yi and Yao peoples.

Together with the Miao and Bai peoples—led respectively by the Beast Miao King, lord of the Nanman Beast Palace, and Baeksang, whom I had briefly encountered earlier—the Yi and Yao peoples made up Nanman’s four most powerful tribes.

I remembered what Namho had told me on our way to the Nanman Beast Palace.

Nanman’s four great tribes are the Miao, Bai, Yi, and Yao peoples. The Miao are the strongest, followed by the Bai.

What about the Yi and Yao?

Twenty or thirty years ago, the Yi would have been ahead.

Sounds like they aren’t anymore.

Times have changed. Many say the Yi great chieftain, who inherited the position from his late father, lacks resolve. The Yao, on the other hand, have grown considerably. They gained an exceptional leader. I doubt any man they put in her place could have done as much.

Wait. Are you saying…?

You’ve guessed right. The Yao great chieftain is a woman. Extremely intelligent, and extraordinarily beautiful.

My thoughts broke off. Not because I chose to stop thinking, but because a clear note from a distant instrument reached my ears.

Fwoooosh.

A gentle melody rode Nanman’s hot, humid wind across the open space.

The noisy market fell silent in an instant, and a short exclamation escaped someone’s lips.

“Ah…”

It was impossible to hold back. The melody was that pure, and the procession revealed as people hurriedly stepped aside was splendid and beautiful.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Hundreds of men and women marched to the low beat of drums.

The Yi men wore black tops trimmed with floral cloth and wide, pleated trousers. The Yao women, in conical hats, walked slowly in two lines.

“Wow.”

“The Yi and Yao have arrived!”

Cheers rose all around me.

But while everyone else admired their beauty and finery, I watched the weapons strapped to their waists and shoulders.

Every one of them is a warrior.

A warrior of Nanman was equivalent to a Murim practitioner in the Central Plains. Since these people belonged to their respective tribes, it would be more accurate to call them members of a martial sect.

And if the Yi and Yao great chieftains are back from subduing those beasts…

This was more than a procession. It was a victory parade, and a victory parade needed the generals who had led the battle.

In this case, those generals were the two great chieftains.

“Oh!”

“Th-there…!”

Cries rang out almost as soon as the thought occurred to me. Gazes and voices turned in one direction, and then the whole crowd erupted into cheers.

“Waaaaah!”

Amid the roar that seemed capable of shaking all of Nanman beyond the Outer Hall, two people finally appeared at the center of the procession and waved their hands.

A man riding an enormous black bear—presumably the Yi great chieftain. And…

“Yohi! Great Chieftain Yohi!”

A woman smiling brightly as the crowd lavished her with far more attention and affection than they had the man.

Even without hearing them call her name, I would have known she was the Yao great chieftain.

The Yao great chieftain is a woman. Extremely intelligent, and extraordinarily beautiful.

Namho had been right. Yohi was beautiful—almost bewitchingly so.

Whenever her deep gaze swept over the crowd, people gasped in admiration.

That was probably why I stood out. Amid all those cheers and admiring faces, I was standing there like a block of wood.

“……!”

Yohi’s eyes lit up when she spotted me.