Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 93 - Opening (1)

Chapter 93 – Opening (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Being the first merchant company to gain Wudang’s cooperation carries meaning.”

At Jo Chung-heon’s words, I nodded. The Acting Foreman had come over briefly from Wuhan this time for the establishment of the Wudang branch. I had called him because there was something I wanted to discuss.

“It also means we can no longer delay the trade run.”

I flinched. Securing food and craftsmen to supply the entire Wudang Sect had cost quite a bit. Enough to affect the operation of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company itself.

The silver I had once piled high in the warehouse from selling the Green Forest Twelve Forms had now been emptied out too.

“Ahem. In a joyful moment like this, it would be nice if you would let me enjoy only the joy.”

“That is one thing and this is another.”

“You seem to have grown rather cold.”

“I believe my temperament has withered from having to handle everything alone.”

Jo Chung-heon cast me a sidelong glance. Seeing him even joke now, he truly was a man of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company in name and in reality.

“That can happen.”

I laughed heartily and clapped Jo Chung-heon on the shoulder. To be honest, I could not deny what he was saying.

At present, the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had completed its reorganization by grinding down Jo Chung-heon’s time. The errand boys and foremen had been filled out with capable people, and the Wudang branch had been properly staffed as well.

Jo Chung-heon had also worked hard to open up the distribution network, so now all that remained was to think about what goods to sell. Of course, the first item had already been decided.

“We had those salt certificates Lord Wang gave us last time, didn’t we?”

“Yes. I intend to go exchange them for salt at the salt yards in Huaiyin.”

“Because that is the closest place.”

“But the problem is…”

“I know. That area is the domain of the Huizhou merchants.”

Large or small, the Huizhou merchants all dealt in the salt trade. Jiangsu and Anhui in particular were the home ground of the Huizhou merchants. If a merchant company no one had ever heard of brought salt certificates there and tried to exchange them for salt, it was obvious we would be treated with suspicion.

“But…”

“Hm?”

“What are those little Daoists?”

When Jo Chung-heon pointed behind us with his thumb, little heads instantly vanished behind the wall.

I merely shrugged as if it were nothing.

“They are my Senior Brothers.”

“Your Senior Brothers? Not your junior disciples?”

“It seems the martial world cares more about generation than age.”

“True enough.”

When Jo Chung-heon turned his head, the children’s little heads popped back out from behind the wall again.

I understood my Senior Brothers’ feelings. They were all children barely around ten years old. The only people they ever met were their Senior Brothers and Martial Uncles, so of course they would be curious about a whole group of outsiders arriving.

“Senior Brothers.”

I called to the children hiding there. The children seemed to think that if they just played dumb, this would pass, so they kept hiding behind the wall without coming out.

“Senior Brother Myeong-gyeong. Bring out the people who came with you.”

“…For a Junior Brother to speak to a Senior Brother in such a commanding tone. This is deceiving the master and betraying the ancestors.”

Now that I had called him by name, Myeong-gyeong came out grumbling. The other disciples trailed out after him in a line as well.

“Why do you keep spying on us?”

“Hmph. This is Wudang. Where in the Wudang Sect would a main-sect disciple not be allowed to go?”

“I was granted an independent space by the Sect Leader. Though maybe I misunderstood. Since that could be the case, I will ask him once more.”

“No!”

Myeong-gyeong jumped in alarm. I might now be on somewhat easier terms with the Sect Leader, but to children like Myeong-gyeong and the rest, he would still seem like an incomparably distant adult.

“Threatening people. That is deceiving the master and betraying the ancestors too.”

Myeong-gyeong must have found that phrase impressive, because he kept using it. Maybe he had only heard it for the first time recently.

“Who is threatening whom?”

At that moment, someone appeared out of nowhere behind Myeong-gyeong. The movement was so fast and smooth that even I had failed to notice it.

The little third-generation disciples, including Myeong-gyeong, all turned around.

And immediately froze stiff.

“S-Sect Leader…”

“Yes. Myeong-gyeong. Did Hui-yeong threaten you?”

The one who had appeared was Cheong-ui, the Sect Leader. Unable to endure Cheong-ui’s steady gaze, Myeong-gyeong furiously shook his head.

“N-No, he did not!”

“He did not? I distinctly heard it that way.”

“I did say that, but…”

“It is not possible for fellow disciples to threaten each other. So are you saying Hui-yeong truly threatened you?”

Cheong-ui smiled mischievously. Myeong-gyeong’s face twisted. Unable to decide how he should answer, he short-circuited on the spot.

I opened my mouth to rescue him.

“Isn’t the gap in generation a little too large for you to be bullying him?”

“To hear you talking about generation is absurd.”

“Why me?”

“If you do not know, then you should not speak.”

Cheong-ui smacked his lips. Only then, released from the prison of Cheong-ui’s gaze, did Myeong-gyeong suck in a breath.

“So why have you come?”

“If one more hall is effectively being added inside Wudang, should the Sect Leader not come inspect it?”

“That makes sense.”

“And I also have a favor to ask.”

Cheong-ui smiled meaningfully. Feeling a prick of unease, I asked,

“What favor?”

“I would like you to include some of Wudang’s disciples in your trade run.”

“But that is already all written into the contract, isn’t it? I should be the one asking for that.”

The Wudang disciples naturally had to participate in the trade run. That would reduce trouble, and it would also advertise that we and the Wudang Sect had formed a cooperative relationship. So I had already made it explicit in the contract. When we went to Huaiyin this time as well, I intended to bring Cheong-hwa and several first-generation disciples.

I wondered if he was only saying it out loud again because he was unaccustomed to contracts like this.

“That is for escort duty.”

“Then what?”

“I intend to send them on jianghu travels.”

As he said that, Cheong-ui rested a hand on Myeong-gyeong’s shoulder. Myeong-gyeong jolted and froze solid.

For a moment, I did not understand what that meant. Then it clicked.

“You want me to take the Senior Brothers with me?”

“Yes. Your Senior Brothers.”

I had quite a lot of Senior Brothers. From the first-generation disciples led by Myeong-yeop to the third-generation children led by the currently frozen Myeong-gyeong. In practice, every disciple of the Myeong generation was my Senior Brother.

But the Senior Brothers Cheong-ui was talking about would not be the second-generation or first-generation disciples who could serve as escorts.

“A trade run is not a pleasure trip. Dangerous things happen often.”

“With Wudang disciples attached as escorts, what dangerous thing could possibly happen?”

Cheong-ui said.

“Those are the kinds of dangerous situations they should experience too.”

“…Mm.”

I could feel firm determination in those words from Cheong-ui. From my perspective, there was not much to object to. It was not as if my Senior Brothers were the kind of people to cause trouble. It would simply be a burden.

“It sounds like a somewhat sudden decision.”

“Sudden, if you wish to call it that. But was it not you who presented a different path for Wudang? A Wudang that gathers warmth at the ondol floor even in the lower world. As Wudang’s Sect Leader, I have a duty to explore that path. It was a sufficiently persuasive argument.”

“If that is what you mean, then I welcome it as well. It will actually be of help.”

“Good.”

And just like that, without even asking the Myeong-generation third-generation disciples what they wanted, the two of us came to an agreement.

I had been pushed into taking them on, but it still had meaning. The real world was outside the Wudang Sect. If they were going to go out into the world someday anyway, then it was unconditionally better to get used to it in advance. And I wanted to feed them something delicious too.

“So where will this first trade run be going?”

“Huaiyin in Jiangsu. We were fortunate enough to receive salt certificates, so I thought we might try selling some salt.”

“Oh, the salt business. It sounds like it will leave more profit than the salt trade handled by the Hall of Preserved Wholeness.”

“It will.”

Legally speaking, only those carrying salt certificates are permitted to sell salt. Of course, a few sects and clans do buy in bulk and provide it cheaply to their local regions, like when Wudang, including me, once went down to Yichang. But strictly speaking, that qualifies as illegal salt and violates the law.

Still, it is overlooked on account of the fact that it cares for local livelihoods and stabilizes the price of salt. In a way, that too straddles the boundary of official-martial noninterference in a rather strange fashion.

So in the end, the people who could sell salt were fixed, and as long as the state coordinated the suppliers, the salt business could not help but yield huge profit margins. Normally, the salt trade produced profits of five to six times over, which gave it extraordinary profitability.

“Even so, keep this in mind. The reason a bee’s sting is so venomous is because honey is sweet.”

Cheong-ui said in a grave voice. As expected, the Sect Leader possessed insight.

In truth, the salt business was not something sweet and simple. The sweeter the honey, the more bees there were guarding it, and the more beasts there were trying to steal it.

To step forward as a salt merchant was the same as entering the main current as a merchant company. From here on, the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company would truly be participating in the war between merchant companies.

“Exactly. So your Senior Brothers will probably witness some ugly sights. When people gather for salt auctions, they can get rather sharp, unlike when advance contract purchases are being made.”

“Ugly sights. They should see things like that too. That is why I am sending them down.”

“I can show them ugliness better than anyone, so do not worry.”

“That is deeply reassuring.”

I said it jokingly, but half of it was true. There would be an initiation ceremony for a merchant company participating in its first bidding, and exchanging salt certificates for actual salt would turn out to be a more difficult process than one might think.

“Then I suppose the education has to be done again before going out into the jianghu.”

“Right. There needs to be guidance to prevent accidents.”

I nodded. It was not as if my Senior Brothers were the sort to make trouble, but I was still their Junior Brother. Instructions coming down from the Sect Leader would carry far more force than commands from me.

But that thought was running too far ahead.

“What are you talking about? I was speaking about you.”

“Pardon?”

For a moment, the thoughts in my head evaporated.

“Why would I have the others study separately when they are already properly educated?”

“You are saying I am not properly educated?”

“You are still far from sufficient to be called a Daoist.”

“I am not a Daoist.”

“All seekers of the Dao are Daoists. There is no law saying a man of the commercial world cannot be one.”

I had nothing to say. That was precisely what I myself had always insisted.

“…What sort of education do you mean?”

“You need to cultivate your mind.”

“Cultivation?”

“When does the trade run depart?”

“In about half a month. We need to leave to match the timing of the salt auction.”

“Then remain in the Cave of Repentance until then.”

“Pardon?”

I asked back in disbelief. Jo Chung-heon, who had been quietly listening, rolled his eyes in alarm, and the Senior Brothers watching nearby were equally shocked.

“Isn’t the Cave of Repentance a place people go only when they have done something wrong?”

“Repentance is something every human being ought to do. There is nothing better for cultivating the mind. Many disciples enter the Cave of Repentance of their own accord even without receiving punishment.”

Cheong-ui said in a stern voice. Even so, I could not understand it.

As a person, I was already complete. I did not think there was anything left here that needed to be adjusted.

I raised a hand and spoke firmly.

“I refuse.”

“You truly are ruining Wudang’s discipline all by yourself. This is why the word generation should never come out of your mouth.”

And then Cheong-ui vanished from in front of me. For an instant, it felt as though the ground was rushing up toward my face. That could not have been right. It was my face that was plunging toward the ground.

“Horse no…”

“Heh heh. It really does seem you need to be locked in the Cave of Repentance.”

Cheong-ui’s voice gradually faded into the distance. Only then did I feel a dull pain at the back of my neck. His hand had moved so fast that the pain itself had come late.

…And when I opened my eyes, there was a vast darkness swallowing me whole.

“Ah, damn it.”

The instant I sat up, I clutched the back of my neck and rolled it. But at that moment, I heard something slip out of my robe and drop.

Because it was dark, I could not find it right away. I went down on my knees and felt around on the ground, and touched something spherical.

The moment I touched the sphere, I jerked my hand away in surprise. An enormous aura was swirling around the pellet.

“…What is this?”

The words slipped out of me before I knew it.

Suddenly I remembered the Supreme Clarity Pill I had received long ago with Myeong-seong. I still had not consumed that one. But what I had just felt against my palm was absolutely not the clear and gentle aura of the Supreme Clarity Pill.

I rummaged through my robe again. I had hidden the Supreme Clarity Pill so thoroughly that I would have to tear open the sewn cloth inside my robe to get it out. After fumbling around inside my clothes, I felt a small sphere. As I had thought, the thing that had fallen out of my robe was not the Supreme Clarity Pill.

Then again, there was no way I would have forgotten I possessed a medicine like this. Which led to the conclusion that Cheong-ui, the one who had brought me here, had secretly slipped it into my robe.

It certainly seemed like something good, but that did not mean I was willing to eat it in a situation like this, where I could not even see in front of me.

At that moment, pale letters suddenly appeared before my eyes. The writing was so clear that I could distinguish it even in this darkness. There was only one thing that could produce such a strange power.

The Martial Talent Shop. It had sometimes popped out on its own at the beginning, but lately it had not appeared unless I called it. It had been a while since it had risen against my will.

[ The conditions have been met. The shop’s grade is increasing. ]

[ Certain lock conditions are being opened. ]

[ A one-time grade-up special benefit is being granted. ]

The strange situation, the strange object, and the strange letters all together left my head in a whirl.