Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 199 - The Calm Before the Storm (2)
Chapter 199 – The Calm Before the Storm (2)
The chill silence was broken by Su Je-heon’s forced laughter.
“Haha. Whatever do you mean by that?”
But Zhuge Gyeom mercilessly brushed away Su Je-heon’s attempt to smooth things over with laughter.
“Did I not tell you, Alliance Leader? That you would regret it.”
“Are you now saying you will ruin the public affairs of the martial world over some trivial personal matter?”
“A trivial personal matter, you say. I am the Zhuge Clan itself. My personal matters are the Zhuge Clan’s matters, and if I feel humiliated, then the Zhuge Clan itself has been humiliated.”
“Heh…”
Once Zhuge Gyeom had gone that far, Su Je-heon gave a hollow laugh. And then Zhuge Gyeom drove the nail in.
“Here and now, the Zhuge Clan declares this. The Martial Alliance says it will cooperate, but everyone knows it is our family that will actually be making the formations. We have no intention of handing them over for free. If you need our formations, then buy them.”
“If you seek personal profit here, then what makes the Zhuge Clan any different from the black path? What became of the code of the jianghu?”
Someone spoke with a frown. Since the expressions of the people from the other sects were not good either, it seemed they all sympathized with that statement.
After all, the Zhuge Clan’s attitude amounted to turning a matter that the martial world should confront together into a money-making scheme.
But Zhuge Gyeom laughed at the attitudes of those orthodox-path people.
“Why is it only when you demand sacrifice from others that the code of the jianghu suddenly comes out? Is it truly the code of the jianghu to swallow down the effort and sweat of the Zhuge Clan for free without paying its proper worth?”
At Zhuge Gyeom’s biting words, all their faces reddened. Naturally, I disliked Zhuge Gyeom, but only this once did I think he had a point.
“Take back those words.”
“And what will you do if I do not?”
Zhuge Gyeom sneered. With a cold gaze, I looked around the room.
Though many people were worked up, there were also people like me who were looking at the situation calmly.
Three years ago, after losing narrowly to the Wudang Sect in the formal match, the Zhuge Clan had declared the way of domination.
Of course, that path of domination had not truly involved us. At most, they had swallowed up a few minor sects and used them to strengthen their own force.
But if Zhuge Gyeom’s act of provoking the people here was part of that same path, then it was a different matter. It meant he intended to turn the edge of that dominion against the entire Central Plains. Which also meant that the Zhuge Clan had finished all its preparations.
“Now, now. That is enough.”
Su Je-heon clapped his hands, and the sound of resonance spread through the conference hall. Because the clap was filled with internal force, everyone’s gaze turned toward Su Je-heon.
“It seems I have made quite a grave mistake. Clan Head Zhuge, then if the Zhuge Clan creates the formation, the Martial Alliance will buy it and distribute it to the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families. Would you permit at least that much?”
Zhuge Gyeom let out a snort of laughter. It seemed the fact that the famous one of the Five Great Sword Masters and Martial Alliance Leader, the Ink Sword Hero Su Je-heon, had yielded a step pleased him.
“I will not block that much.”
“I thank Clan Head Zhuge for his generosity.”
Su Je-heon saluted Zhuge Gyeom with his fists clasped.
Many people looked at Su Je-heon with eyes of respect. Anyone could see that Zhuge Gyeom had no intention of setting a low price on those formations. Yet the Martial Alliance was saying it would buy them and distribute them without charge, a bearing worthy of a true great hero.
‘Hm.’
Of course, because I had seen the kind of man Su Je-heon was, I could only wonder what scheme lay behind it.
“Very well. Then let us move on to the next agenda.”
The others still looked as though they wanted to voice their dissatisfaction with the Zhuge Clan’s attitude, but Su Je-heon, as if intending to block that, immediately moved to the next topic.
“This matter is somewhat connected to the first agenda. Although we failed to locate the spy inside, we did find out that the manual was sold through the brokerage of a merchant company.”
Right. The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms that had been traded in the black market of Shaanxi had indeed been handled by the Qin-Jin Merchant Company.
“It may not be official, but I know that by unwritten custom each great family and sect tends to have one merchant company close to it. Through them they buy weapons, commission forging, and even conduct trade. This is not something unknown to me.”
Cheong-ui had said that one agenda would concern the justification for Wudang’s advance into the world of trade. This, it seemed, was that very matter.
“This Alliance issued a stern warning to the merchant company that sold the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms, but the merchant company’s people did not listen with even half an ear. They spouted absurd nonsense about how merchants naturally did whatever made money, and why anyone should stop them.”
“And why should a merchant company have to concern itself with the safety of the martial world?”
Someone seated in front spoke in a displeased voice. Since I could only see the back of his head, I did not know his face, but judging by how thickly fat he was, he did not look like a martial artist.
Come to think of it, they had said that some merchant-company people would be coming to advise Wudang’s entry into commerce. He was probably one of them.
“We move for the safety of the Central Plains. If the world of commerce profits from the improved peace we create, is it not only natural that the commercial world should cooperate with that?” “Did you call us here only to pressure us like this?”
The merchant said that resentfully. And he had a point. They had been summoned under the pretense of playing an advisory role, only to be spoken to as if they were being interrogated.
“Perhaps the Head of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company thinks the same?”
Suddenly the arrow flew toward me. All eyes in the hall gathered on me.
I had been prepared to some extent, so I was not particularly flustered.
“Is that a question I absolutely must answer?”
“If you do not answer, that too will become an answer of its own.”
Su Je-heon smiled. He truly was crafty like a snake. With a bitter smile, I answered.
“Merchant companies do not, in principle, choose what goods they handle. Setting aside whether it is morally right or wrong, that is how merchants generally are.”
“And what about you, Head Muk?”
“I imagine it would depend on how much I would receive.”
Contempt practically dripped from people’s eyes. I could even hear the words, This is why traders are all the same. But I had merely answered honestly.
“Thank you for the clear answer. This time, let me ask Immortal Cheong-yu of the Wudang Sect. Recently Wudang entered the world of trade through the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, a course of action utterly unimaginable for Wudang, which has always emphasized austerity. What do you think of that?”
Cheong-yu seemed slightly taken aback by the unexpected question. Before he could answer, I spoke first.
“I can answer that as well. The Wudang Sect originally opposed advancing into commerce. But because of my persuasion, it entered.”
I continued.
“Even Immortal Cheong-ui, who is not present here, in other words the Sect Leader himself, opposed it. However, I told him that entering the world of trade did not violate the spirit of the Wudang Sect.”
“How does it not violate it? Was not Wudang founded on distancing itself from the worldly realm?”
“And what exactly is the worldly realm? The worldly realm is this world itself. No matter how much Wudang’s people may be Daoists, they are still unavoidably ordinary people. The only way to depart from that is through ascension to immortality.”
“That sounds rather like sophistry.”
“Hear me out. The people of Wudang are those who cultivate themselves in order to become immortals. But cultivation does not consist solely of staying in the mountains and refining the Dao. Descending even into the lowly places of the lower world and experiencing them is likewise cultivation. When I explained it on that level, even the Sect Leader permitted it.”
Su Je-heon looked toward Cheong-yu. Cheong-yu merely shrugged. Since I had already said everything he would have said, he likely had nothing more to add.
“I see. That was merely a matter of personal curiosity. Other Daoist sects are active in commerce as well, so singling out Wudang alone would hardly be equitable.”
Su Je-heon withdrew more quickly than expected. A few of the merchants seated in front looked slightly disappointed. It seemed they had expected Su Je-heon to strongly object to Wudang’s entry into commerce.
“In any case, to return to the main point, sects and families alike are already involved in commerce, whether directly or indirectly. Since all live mingled together in one world, it is not as though that can be wholly stopped. But while the world of commerce is attached to the martial world and profits from it, the profits the martial world receives in return seem meager indeed. And as all have heard, the merchants are even uncooperative in public matters.”
Even though I could only see the backs of the merchants’ heads sitting in front, I could feel their fury. Their shoulders were already trembling continuously.
“Thus, the Martial Alliance would like to propose one thing here. Merchant companies that conduct business through martial forces shall offer five pun in profits to the Martial Alliance.”
“What kind of ridiculous bullshit is that?”
One of the merchants exploded in a roar and shot to his feet. Because of that, I caught a glimpse of his side profile, and somehow it looked familiar.
“Are you saying the martial world intends to parasitize merchant companies and suck money from them?”
“Is it not rather the opposite? I had thought it was the merchant companies who were parasitizing the safety maintained by the martial world.”
“I too am a secular disciple of Wudang, so it is not as though I do not understand the martial world’s efforts in that regard. But is this not taking things too far?”
Looking more closely, the speaker was astonishingly none other than Yeo Hong-yang, my fellow secular disciple. So you were the merchant-company man they called in? And yet I still had no idea why he was here instead of at Wudang.
In any case, even to me as a merchant, Su Je-heon’s idea sounded offensive. It felt overly greedy.
And there were plenty of people to refute it without any need for me to speak.
“This is absurd. Merchant companies and the martial world exist in a relationship of mutual benefit. There is no need to impose such restrictions.”
“I too think it might be worth considering collecting money from the merchant companies, but I do not understand why the Martial Alliance would take all of it.”
Even the martial artists were initially negative about the Martial Alliance’s proposal. Though unlike the merchants, their opposition split into two different kinds.
One kind shared the same view as the merchants. The other was not against taking money, but questioned why the Martial Alliance alone should be the one to receive it.
It seemed those opinions largely split according to how close each one was with the merchant companies they dealt with. If they had close and positive relationships with merchant companies, then there was little reason to touch them. If not, then they likely wanted to squeeze more from them.
The merchants seated in front looked, even from the back, as though their necks were turning red and blue with rage. They had been invited for consultation, only to find that extracting money from them had apparently been the true purpose all along. Honestly, it really was absurd.
Su Je-heon did not seem like the sort of man who failed to understand what sort of reputation and backlash this kind of high-handed handling would bring.
“This does not seem right to me, Martial Alliance Leader. I do not understand why the Martial Alliance is so determined to oppress the merchant companies.”
“No, the Alliance Leader is correct. Since the merchant companies do not even show gratitude for the safety the martial world preserves, should not something be collected from them in this way?”
“Each side is merely doing the work proper to its own place. Merchants too are necessary to martial artists.” “Hmph. How can those seeking private profit and those guarding public safety be placed on the same plane?”
At once the people began fighting among themselves. Their voices rose higher and higher as their argument sharpened.
In that very moment, my gaze went to Su Je-heon, and I saw the slightest smile flicker across his lips.
‘…Wait a moment.’
Suddenly another thought flashed through my mind like lightning.
The meaning of the smile others saw on Su Je-heon’s face and the meaning of the smile I saw were entirely different. Because I had heard his true thoughts the night before.
He hated a martial world centered on the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families. Then what if the very act of raising this issue was meant to induce a collision among the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families themselves?
“Ah. Then let me correct myself. Not tribute to the Martial Alliance, but tribute into a martial development fund. That development fund can be jointly managed by the Nine Great Sects, the Five Great Families, and the Martial Alliance, can it not?”
Su Je-heon did not stop there. He tossed more fire onto the flames. The result was that people split even more clearly.
“We would agree to that.”
“It is a preposterous proposal, Alliance Leader.”
Su Je-heon had ended up splitting the people almost evenly into approval and opposition. It truly was astonishingly close to half and half.
He had first separated out main-mountain and secular disciples. Truly, Su Je-heon seemed to possess a heaven-given talent for setting people against one another.
Even if I understood Su Je-heon’s intent here, there was no way for me to ruin it. In the eyes of the others, I was nothing more than the head of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.
Amid the chaos of people arguing, Su Je-heon’s eyes met mine. He smiled in my direction.
Your advice of last night still stands, Head Muk.
His voice transmission rang inside my head.
“Hahahaha…”
Without meaning to, I let out a loose laugh.
“Miss Peng.”
“Yes?”
“That voice transmission thing. How exactly do you use it?”
“What? You still do not know how to use it?”
“No one ever taught me.”
Rolling her eyes at me, Peng Chae-hyang explained how to use voice transmission. At my current level, it was something simple enough to do.
Ah. Ah. You can hear this, right?
Yes.
After trying out voice transmission on Peng Chae-hyang, I immediately turned my head toward Su Je-heon.
Get lost.
That was the voice transmission I sent to Su Je-heon. He flinched, then looked at me with an even deeper smile. I too returned a small smile.
Within that hellish turmoil, the only two who recognized each other’s smiles were the two of us.
In the end, the argument was settled through the mediation of the Martial Alliance Leader. Of course, even if the shouting stopped, that did not mean any point of compromise had actually been reached between the two sides.
“Whew. I truly did not think it would draw such intense reactions from all of you. I apologize.”
Brazenly enough, Su Je-heon said such a thing.
He had started the fight himself and then stepped in to mediate it. He really was something else.
“Let us move on to the next agenda. As was announced beforehand, the Martial Alliance has something to declare this time.”
Interest flared in people’s eyes. In truth, it was what everyone had been curious about.
After all, if they had gone so far as to call this a major announcement and gather all these busy people here, then however one looked at it, it had to be something enormous.
“Recently, this Alliance discovered a map believed to be a treasure map leading to Longyuan.”
“…!”
People’s eyes widened.
By contrast, I narrowed mine.
The Martial Alliance’s major announcement did not betray the expectations of the crowd.
Longyuan. It was the moment one of the missing Eighteen Famous Swords appeared.