Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 122 - Land of the Blind (1)
Chapter 122 – Land of the Blind (1)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Now that the appraiser was dead, the black market could no longer be maintained. To begin with, putting that aside, once the Embroidered Uniform Guard had caught wind of it, merciless consequences were a foregone conclusion.
The moment Baek Yu-gyeom left the black market, he went straight to the Provincial Administration Commission, called in government troops, and had the black market dismantled. It was only natural that all the merchants and visitors in the black market were hauled off to the prison cells.
“You handle things neatly.”
“Hardly neatly. I only cut off the shoots without being able to remove the root.”
“Isn’t it too large to remove?”
Behind Jin Ik-chan stood Prince Xian of Gansu. If so, it was possible to suspect that Prince Xian was also the backing behind Xi’an’s black market.
No matter how powerful the Northern Pacification Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was, it was not possible to meddle with a princely title.
“So, in other words, the Northern Pacification Commissioner is my direct superior?”
“That’s right. I oversee the martial-world censors.”
Martial-world censors. Naturally, it had to be a secret organization.
Of course, only the two of us were in this room now. I had sent Myeong-il and Yeo Hong-yang away. There was nothing to be gained by dragging them deeper into dealings with the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
“So, after secretly watching me, did you like what you saw?”
I put emphasis on the word secretly. Baek Yu-gyeom smiled faintly.
“You’ve got spirit. To put it simply, yes, I liked what I saw. Your martial arts are also far superior to what was reported.”
“That is fortunate.”
That truly was fortunate. There was nothing more troublesome than being marked by someone from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
It was true that I had once killed a Superintendent of the Eastern Depot, but that was only because I had been certain they could not trace it back to me. A mere local Eastern Depot superintendent and one of the only two Pacification Commissioners of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were worlds apart in weight.
“By the way, how did you know to wait for me to come out?”
“The Embroidered Uniform Guard’s intelligence network is excellent. So excellent that it cannot even be compared to those worthless eunuchs.”
One part of that was right, and one part was wrong. It was true that the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s intelligence network was excellent, but the Eastern Depot’s was comparable to it. It was simply natural for the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot to hate each other, since they were natural enemies.
“Do you even know where I’m headed?”
“You’re going to Gansu, aren’t you? To meet His Highness Prince Xian.”
“Heh heh.”
A thin trickle of cold sweat ran down the back of my neck. That was something I had only said when I was alone with the elders and the retired king of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company. If he knew even that, then his intelligence truly was formidable.
“In fact, that’s why I came to find you. Because you’re going to see His Highness Prince Xian.”
“Come to think of it, when Jin Ik-chan mentioned His Highness Prince Xian, you said, as I thought. What exactly did you mean by that?”
As I spoke, I suddenly started and corrected myself.
“If it’s information that would put me in danger just by hearing it, then I won’t listen.”
My self-preservation instinct kicked in. It was an instinct I had developed after dying in my previous life by taking on useless burdens. Baek Yu-gyeom shook his head.
“It’s not information that becomes dangerous just from hearing it. If you’re a martial-world censor, it’s something you need to know.”
“What is it?”
“For whatever reason, it seems His Highness Prince Xian wants to exert influence over the jianghu.”
“That would be a violation of official-martial noninterference.”
“That is just a pretty phrase. You can see it even from the fact that the Hebei Peng Clan is constantly chosen as military officers for the imperial army.”
“That is true enough.”
For all people spoke of official-martial noninterference, everyone lived upon the same land, so how could they avoid becoming entangled? It was impossible for them to live regarding each other like cows looking at chickens.
“The problem is that he seems to want to exert that influence in a bad direction.”
“If you say bad direction?”
“His Highness Prince Xian is famous for shuddering at the very thought of martial artists. He was once kidnapped by martial artists when he was young. Of course, we were deployed and brought him back quickly, but memories from childhood last a lifetime.”
“Is that so?”
Kidnapping a member of the royal family, of all things. Their nerve was swollen beyond all reason. Martial artists truly had too many reckless people among them.
“So that is why the Embroidered Uniform Guard is watching His Highness Prince Xian.”
“Exactly.”
“In what precise way does he want to exert influence?”
“As you’ve heard, martial arts of the famous orthodox sects are appearing in black markets from time to time. It makes no sense.”
“That’s true.”
“The sects and clans that are quick with information are already taking countermeasures.”
“Countermeasures. Buying back the martial art of their own sect?”
“That is the passive response. The active response is to inquire after and buy the martial arts of other sects as well. From their point of view, it’s a chance to grow stronger.”
I hummed lowly. That certainly was true. And I thought I more or less understood what the Embroidered Uniform Guard was worried about.
The imperial palace valued balance in the jianghu. If the jianghu lost that balance and fell into chaos, it was the common people who would suffer.
At that moment, one clan suddenly came to mind. The clan I had expected would walk the path of hegemony.
“Could it be that the Zhuge Clan is taking the active approach?”
Baek Yu-gyeom flinched. Then he soon admitted it.
“How did you know? Even within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this is something unknown below the rank of Pacification Commissioner.”
“I guessed.”
“You must have divine insight.”
Baek Yu-gyeom nodded as though satisfied. In any case, I was nominally his subordinate, and there were few things more satisfying to a superior than seeing a capable subordinate.
In any case, the Zhuge Clan was making inquiries and buying martial arts. It made me think there might not be long left until their declaration of hegemony.
“So you’re suspecting that His Highness Prince Xian is the one spreading those martial arts of the famous orthodox sects.”
“That’s right. It’s something that could sharply shake the balance of the jianghu. To be honest, I don’t even understand what His Highness Prince Xian stands to gain from doing it.”
I stroked my chin. One way or another, it was surely connected to the rebellion Prince Xian would raise. But I could not mention rebellion here. If I falsely accused a member of the royal family and got struck back, the minimum sentence was death. It was not a card to reveal without solid preparation.
“But does it truly have to be me?”
“For one thing, the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s censors have no opportunity to meet His Highness Prince Xian directly. Gansu is firmly in the grip of the eunuchs. But you gained the opportunity to meet him through the recommendation of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company, and that is a perfect chance for us to observe His Highness Prince Xian’s movements.”
There was a reason someone of the Northern Pacification Commissioner’s standing had come to find me. In the end, he was telling me to extract information from Prince Xian.
“I see.”
“And there’s something else. In a way, this may matter more to you. All the Embroidered Uniform Guard censors who were operating secretly in Gansu have disappeared. Internal information leaked. The Southern Pacification Commissioner is currently hunting for the mole.”
The moment I heard that, I frowned.
“Wait a moment. That’s a bit much.”
Wasn’t this simply telling me outright to walk into a land of death? Baek Yu-gyeom immediately waved his hands and said:
“The ones in Gansu are censors under the Southern Pacification Commissioner. Martial-world censors almost never have cause to go as far as Gansu. We believe the existence of the martial-world censors has not been leaked.”
“Disappeared, huh. That’s frightening. Don’t you track such things?”
“We can’t. If eunuchs disappear, or if our people disappear, there isn’t even time to go looking for them. We merely hold a brief memorial rite among ourselves.”
Well, that was why the killing of the Eastern Depot superintendent had simply been allowed to pass.
I turned things over in my head at speed, completed my calculations, and opened my mouth.
“As you heard from the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, all I am supposed to do is report suspicious matters within the jianghu. And even that was not something I volunteered for. He just shoved it onto me. He also never said I’d be taking on work like this, and only told me to report what I naturally happened to see. In other words, this is outside the scope of my duties.”
“Hm. Is that so?”
Baek Yu-gyeom looked troubled. This was precisely the moment of opportunity.
“So rather than as an Embroidered Uniform Guard censor, I’d like to be temporarily hired by the Pacification Commissioner.”
“Hired?”
“Exactly. Thinking it over, I’m not even receiving a salary from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. At this rate it’s just an honorary post.”
“Is that so? If you aren’t receiving a salary, then I suppose I can’t argue.”
As expected, people from the imperial palace really did communicate better than jianghu folk. A martial artist was not a profession, but an official was. This was why people had to live in society.
“So if I hire you, you’re saying you’ll look into the matter for me?”
“Exactly.”
“And the hiring fee is… Wait a moment, don’t tell me.”
Baek Yu-gyeom’s face turned pale. But the fishing line was already cast, and the bait had already been taken.
“That’s right.”
I smiled.
“Ten thousand taels of silver.”
“…Insane.”
Baek Yu-gyeom muttered blankly. Goods with only a single supplier were always worth whatever the seller chose to ask.
* * *
One word can repay a thousand-nyang debt.
Have you ever seen anyone with such skill? I repaid a debt of ten thousand taels of silver with a single sentence. That was the difference in ability.
“Why are you grinning like that?”
“I saved money.”
I told him how I had repaid ten thousand taels of silver with words alone. Yeo Hong-yang listened through it all, then clicked his tongue.
“Impressive.”
“Conman.”
That was all Myeong-il, who had heard it from the side, said bluntly.
“To a merchant, being called a conman is high praise. It means my profit margin is so high it looks fraudulent.”
“It’s not just fraudulent-looking. It is fraud.”
“It’s only fraud if the person on the receiving end feels cheated.”
Myeong-il shook his head. As expected, it was hard to teach a merchant’s mentality to a martial artist.
Thus we passed through Shaanxi and entered Gansu.
Ah, and Baek Yu-gyeom took the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms. He said he would return it directly to the Mount Hua Sect and use it to put them on alert. The Mount Hua Sect was going to be tremendously shocked.
Someone from the imperial palace bringing them their own core martial art. Baek Yu-gyeom seemed, true to his origins, not to like martial artists very much, but seeing him safely return it to the Mount Hua Sect showed he was someone who distinguished public matters from private feelings.
“There are fewer people than I expected.”
Yeo Hong-yang said. Yeo Hong-yang was a Huizhou merchant whose base was in the southeastern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu. He had almost no connection to the northwest. So it was only natural that he knew nothing of Gansu, the far edge of the northwest.
But I was different. In my previous life, I had done business while traveling all over the Central Plains. So I knew the atmosphere of Gansu well. Or rather, I had thought I did.
“Yeah. Far too few.”
I answered.
There really were as few people as Yeo Hong-yang had said. My answer carried the meaning that there were far fewer people here than in the Gansu I knew.
Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu, was the key point of the land trade route by which merchants from the Western Regions crossed over. Of course, it could not compare to Hangzhou or Suzhou with their Grand Canal, but it had still been a place crowded and noisy with merchants.
But what was it like now? Even though it was still broad daylight, there was not a peddler in sight, and even the few people walking the streets were drawing their collars close and visibly watching their surroundings with caution.
“Hm.”
Then again, the Gansu I knew was the Gansu of at least ten years later. The Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had started in the southeast, and it had taken a considerable amount of time before it extended as far as Gansu at the northwestern edge.
Even so, that alone did not explain it. Trade with Western Region merchants overland had been open since ancient times, and the environment of a city did not change so easily. The idea that Gansu’s floating population had simply increased within a mere decade was nonsense.
In any case, the Gansu before us was utterly different from the Gansu I had known in my previous life. Though from my experience, when a city had no people out in the streets and the locals were this guarded, there was usually only one thing it meant.
Sure enough, a scrawny child suddenly tumbled out from an alley into the main street. The child’s face was so caked with blood that even the borders of his features had blurred.
Myeong-il’s expression instantly hardened, and his hand went to his sword hilt.
That’s right. In a ghost town like this, the heterodox always swarmed thick.