Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 208 - Flooding (2)

Chapter 208 – Flooding (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“…”

I looked into Baek Yu-gyeom’s eyes. Those were the eyes of someone who truly knew. He was not trying to probe me.

“How did you find out?”

“Do I need to tell you that?”

At Baek Yu-gyeom’s question in return, I found myself with nothing to say.

“In any case, I think you’ll make an excellent official. It’s a joyous thing. Just think how delighted your mother in heaven would be. They say she wanted you to become an official.”

At those unexpected words, I blinked. Baek Yu-gyeom’s eyes pierced straight through me.

“You investigated my background.”

“It would be troublesome if you turned out to be the descendant of a traitor.”

I let out a sigh. Did information like that really circulate through places like the Beggars’ Gang too? If so, it was unpleasant. It meant not just my information had spread, but my family’s as well.

“Is my father doing well?”

“He’s quite healthy. Though he doesn’t seem to be looking for you. Look here, filial piety is the foundation of the household. If you quarreled with your father, you’d be better off mending things sooner rather than later.”

“I have no wish to hear you meddle in matters like that.”

“Ha ha, then I suppose that was unwelcome nosiness.”

Baek Yu-gyeom apologized readily enough for that. But that was not what mattered now.

“By the way, what exactly is this Flooding Operation?”

“For someone as clever as you, merely hearing the name should let you guess the rough outline.”

Baek Yu-gyeom smiled faintly.

“That’s right. We mean to reduce the number of key figures among the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans.”

“Why?”

“The martial world is a force led by oligarchs. If you cut away only the core members, all its strength drains right out.”

“I’m asking about what comes before that.”

“Before that?”

“Why is the imperial palace trying to kill martial experts?”

“Because in the eyes of the imperial palace, the martial world has too many experts now. Perhaps it’s because the age of peace has gone on too long. There is hardly anything left to kill them.”

“So because of that, you’ll kill them?”

“Why? Is that wrong? Watch your words. This isn’t my judgment. It’s the judgment of the imperial palace.”

At Baek Yu-gyeom’s words, I had no choice but to fall silent. If I talked back any further here, I would be branded a traitor.

“By means of that grand-sounding principle of official-martial noninterference, the martial world has escaped the imperial palace’s control and become an independent armed organization. Of course the imperial palace has to keep it in check.”

There had always been attempts from the authorities to shake the martial world. Prince Xian in Gansu had done it, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had continually shown hostility toward the martial world as well.

Given that, should I have anticipated this? No, that was impossible. How could I have known the imperial palace was this sort of group?

I desperately turned my thoughts over. Had something like this happened in my previous life as well? But even if it had, the imperial palace would naturally have taken care that it never reached the ears of commoners, so it was not strange that I knew nothing.

“Ah, don’t worry. We won’t kill them all. We’ll spare the Wudang Sect people at least, so put your mind at ease.”

“…That is not the problem.”

“Why, is there someone closer to you? I can spare a few at my own discretion. I’ll leave Chae-hyang of the Hebei Peng Clan alive too. She was close to you, wasn’t she?”

“I’m telling you that is not the problem.”

This was wrong. Truly wrong. I was startled by the boiling fury inside my own heart. Never once in my life had I felt such emotional upheaval over someone else’s affairs. That had been true even in my previous life. A merchant always had to remain calm.

I ground my teeth. So the imperial palace had known it would unfold like this? I had been dancing in the palm of its hand, moving exactly as it wished.

At that instant, a chill ran through me. Could it be that even the authority they granted me over maritime trade had been laid down as a stepping stone for this?

“Was the treasure map also false?”

“No. The treasure map is real. Longyuan is definitely in the Zhoushan Archipelago. But it’s also true that the imperial palace was the one that provided that treasure map.”

“So the imperial palace gave it to us. Then the Martial Alliance must have colluded with it.”

I clenched my fist. This was a board laid out by the Martial Alliance and the imperial palace together.

Come to think of it, Su Je-heon, the Martial Alliance Leader, also wanted to reduce the strength of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans.

The surest way to reduce that strength was to kill the experts who formed their backbone. With interests aligning so neatly, it was only natural that the Martial Alliance Leader and the imperial palace would work in concert.

“As expected, you really are clever.”

“That praise gives me no pleasure.”

“Heh. You’re quite angry. I do apologize for deceiving you. But even if I’d told you in advance, what you needed to do would not have changed.”

Baek Yu-gyeom stopped smiling and looked at me coldly.

“Surely you are not thinking of disobeying the Emperor’s command? No, no. Not only I, but even His Majesty himself has taken a liking to you. Do not betray those expectations.”

I lowered my head. What was I supposed to do? If I refused the Emperor’s edict, I would immediately be treated as a traitor.

“…Then how do you intend to kill that many experts?”

For the moment, I deliberately stretched out the conversation. Some clue might emerge from his words.

“A good question. That’s the part you’ll be handling.”

Baek Yu-gyeom went on.

“Do you know Hachido?”

“Yes.”

Originally I had not. I learned of it only after coming to Zhejiang and investigating the Zhoushan Archipelago.

Hachido was a small island south of the Zhoushan Archipelago, an uninhabited island where no one lived because of the sea-ban order. Of course, as we had to search the entire archipelago, it was also a place we had to visit.

“We’ll send the people we mean to kill there.”

“If they go there, they’ll die?”

“Yes.”

I had asked in sheer disbelief, but Baek Yu-gyeom answered more seriously than I expected.

“Die? All those experts?”

It made no sense. These were the foremost experts of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans. At the very least, that meant transcendent masters. How could so many of them be killed all at once?

“Not all of them. The Martial Alliance Leader has agreed to deal with a few of them personally.”

“Even so. Is that really possible?”

Even without dropping the qi barrier, Baek Yu-gyeom looked around warily. Then, lowering his voice as if frightened, he spoke.

“The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea is there.”

“The Great Toad of the Eastern Sea?”

At first I did not understand. Had I heard the name somewhere before? Thinking back, it was the being to whom we had offered sacrifice just before boarding.

The shaman had called it a divine beast that protected the Empire from foreign enemies. Was he saying that divine beast truly existed?

“Didn’t they call it a divine beast?”

“That is just folk belief. Officially, the Empire calls it not a divine beast, but a monster. One is not even permitted to use honorific language for it.”

Baek Yu-gyeom was speaking a ridiculous tale in deadly earnest. His voice was thick with fear, to the point that he resembled a child believing in a ghost story.

“So that monster called the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea is going to wipe out all those experts.”

“Exactly. If things go according to plan, people will split into small boats and search the Zhoushan Archipelago, and you’ll be the one directing them, yes? Then while giving orders, you need only send the boats to Hachido one by one. That is your role.”

Cowardly. It was murder by another’s hand layered on top of murder by another’s hand.

The imperial palace had placed a blade in my hands, and I, receiving that blade, was then to pass another blade to the monster called the Great Toad of the Eastern Sea. What a vile scheme.

To be honest, I hardly knew the others. Of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans gathered here, the only ones with whom I had even some connection were Peng Chae-hyang and Namgung Hwi.

“…I don’t understand. Why drag me into this to such an extent?”

I voiced my honest thoughts.

Baek Yu-gyeom already seemed to know all the details from the Martial Alliance Leader, since even the finer points of the plan were known to him.

Seeing that he even knew about the command group decided among ourselves on deck, it was clear that Su Je-heon steering me into that command role had been planned from the start.

But if this was a scheme from the beginning, then there would have been no great problem with Su Je-heon taking command himself.

Of course, had that happened, I would have died without ever learning the truth. Even so, I wanted to know why they had dragged me in deliberately to this extent.

“Do you still not understand?”

Baek Yu-gyeom said it plainly.

“Right now, you’ve caught His Majesty’s eye. And this serves not only the goal of reducing the power of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans, but also as a test of you. His Majesty wants to see how loyal you are to the imperial palace.”

“…”

“It’s embarrassing to say this to a subordinate, but you’ve stumbled into an enormous opportunity. If you simply pass this test, wealth and honor beyond anything ordinary people could imagine will follow. Before long, you may even become someone with enough power to have a man like me executed with a flick of the hand.”

I wanted none of that. Where, exactly, had the Emperor ever decided he liked me?

Then again, a great many people had wanted me. At first even Wudang had wanted to accept me as a main-sect disciple, Fighting Exalt had told me to become his disciple, the Martial Alliance Leader had coveted me, and even the Hebei Peng Clan had reacted positively to the notion of me as a bridegroom. That was because they had found something appealing in what I had shown so far.

And if the Emperor too knew of all those feats that bordered on the extraordinary, then it was not hard to understand why he might be drawn to me.

“Haa.”

“The Emperor’s attention must feel burdensome. Of course it does. I understand perfectly. I’ve only had audience with His Majesty once in my life, but I still vividly remember how suffocating it felt.”

Baek Yu-gyeom spoke as though comforting me. A storm raged inside my heart.

To be honest, had I still been the man I was in my previous life, I would never have refused such an offer. On the contrary, I would have been deeply moved at being given such a chance and would have moved eagerly.

I had always placed money above all else and cast aside anything that denied that goal.

Of course, I was still human. I did not want to witness a child falling into a well before my eyes. But I had never possessed enough room in my heart to sympathize with tragedies taking place beyond my sight. So instead, I had deliberately looked away from the countless tragedies across the Central Plains and pursued money alone.

The people dying here would be killed by the imperial palace. Not by me. I was only a powerless merchant, and I would have comforted myself by saying I had no choice but to obey.

“What will you do?”

Baek Yu-gyeom asked.

I had been hanging my head for a long time. Then I raised it.

What am I trying to do now?

I asked myself that. But before an answer could arise, I was already moving.

Boom!

The rear wall of the cabin behind where Baek Yu-gyeom sat was blown away in its entirety.

At the tip of my drawn sword there had appeared a mysterious sphere. Not merely a sphere-shaped image, but a true Sword Pellet. It was what I had just unleashed.

“…A disappointing choice.”

A voice came out from the dust and smoke. As expected. I had not been arrogant enough to think I could kill the Northern Pacification Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard with a surprise attack.

The qi barrier shattered at once, and the explosive noise from the cabin stirred a commotion on deck.

“Let me ask you just one thing.”

Baek Yu-gyeom said it while brushing the dust away with his hand. His eyes, of course, had turned cold.

“Why would you cast aside good fortune that rolled right into your lap?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know either.”

“A mad answer befitting a mad act.”

“But one thing is certain.”

“And that is?”

“The moment I accept this, whatever chivalry exists inside me will vanish completely.”

“Did you even possess anything so lukewarm?”

“Apparently I did, once I looked for it. You probably had some too, Northern Pacification Commissioner. Though not anymore.”

Baek Yu-gyeom twisted the corner of his mouth. I crooked my own lips in full and sneered back at him.

Bang!

Our swords collided an instant later.