A month had passed since the day of the disturbance.
In the martial world outside the Sichuan Province,
rumors circulated that Central Armed Escort Agency,
one of the top ten trade companies in the central plains and located at the base of Sichuan's Mount Emei,
had been attacked by a mysterious group of assailants and had fallen.
The truth about the rumors that the Central Armed Escort Agency had been completely destroyed was not clearly established. Although all the goods entrusted to the agency remained undamaged, the number of escorts staying within the confines of their rooms, homes, or the agency premises had increased. However, there were no casualties. While it was true that they were attacked by unidentified assailants, all the entrusted goods were safe, and there were no fatalities.
Instead, the rumors took an unexpected turn. It was said that although the agency was attacked by unknown assailants targeting the goods, all the escorts of Central Armed Escort Agency bravely fought with their lives on the line to protect the goods. The intruders, failing to achieve their goal, supposedly retreated with their tails between their legs—or so the story went. The truth was flipped upside down, bleached, then dyed and embellished all over again before spreading throughout the martial world.
Yet no one knew of the sacred sacrifice of most of the assets the leader Jang Woo-yang had painstakingly built up that went unspoken behind that "truth", assets that could reduce him to tears. Nor did anyone know of the existence of the man named Bi Ryu-yeon, who had extorted a hefty portion of those assets under the pretext of damages compensation. Such disgrace was an internal secret that absolutely could not be divulged to outsiders, so all the former escorts of Central Armed Escort Agency kept their mouths firmly zipped, stoically keeping mum. Their livelihoods and lives were at stake after all.
And so the rumors became embellished to claim that no matter what harm befell Central Armed Escort Agency itself, even if it faced an annihilation crisis, it would steadfastly protect any entrusted goods – which led to even more merchants and martial clans looking to entrust goods to Central Armed Escort Agency than before. An embarrassing situation even emerged where people lined up outside the premises to deposit goods, allowing the Central Armed Escort Agency to enjoy a boom exceeding its previous golden age. Consequently, their business grew even larger in scale compared to the past.
Despite little interest in the happenings at the Central Armed Escort Agency, Bi Ryu-yeon, the instigator of the incident, and his disciple Tang Three's condition had greatly improved and was nearing full recovery. The other members of the Vermillion Bird team also felt that the time to leave was approaching after a month of final preparations. However, there was one significant issue that was currently causing Bi Ryu-yeon a great deal of headache.
"Argh, I'm out of money!"
Money, always the root of problems. It had been in the past, it was now, and it likely would be in the future. Financial issues, being directly linked to one's livelihood, were not something that could be taken lightly.
"What should I do, what to do… What can I do!"
Bi Ryu-yeon rolled twice to his left. Since he was on the floor of the room, he didn't get dirty. The floor of the training dormitory was made of wood, and there were no carpets. However, perhaps because it was made of high-quality, finely grained paulownia wood, it didn't make him feel uncomfortable.
"Money, money. Moneeey!"
Bi Ryu-yeon then rolled twice to his right. He was pulling at his hair and rolling around on the floor, floundering in the mire of his worries. The longer he pondered, the more hair he seemed to lose. If this situation continued, the number of hairs on Bi Ryu-yeon's head would steadily decrease, and in the worst case, the hairs uprooted might not show any signs of regrowth. There was a non-negligible chance of him becoming completely bald, such was the quantity of hair being forcefully shed from his pate1. But no matter how much he tugged at his hair, no solution came to mind. It seemed that the increase in cognitive ability was not proportional to the number of hairs pulled out. Having confirmed this painfully through personal experience, Bi Ryu-yeon stopped his hair-pulling and started looking for other solutions to the problem.
To send the kids back to Heavenly Martial Academy, naturally, travel expenses for the journey were needed. That part was fine. The problem, however, was the lack of money. The budget had already been spent entirely, leaving not a single penny or coin. Of course, the expenditures mentioned here did not include the money that had found its way into Bi Ryu-yeon's own pockets. According to Bi Ryu-yeon's philosophy, any money that entered his pocket, regardless of its origin, instance, or history, was his money.
According to a letter found in the possession of an old man who had died of unknown causes in a valley, Bi Ryu-yeon was supposed to teach the kids for three months with the enclosed expenses. If he ran short of money during this period, he was instructed to request additional funds from the treasury of Heavenly Martial Academy. But now, even that was no longer possible because he had already extracted a considerable sum two months ago under the pretext of homecoming expenses. Since the training period was set for three months, he could not receive any further support after that period. That's why, before the deadline, he extracted the last bit of money under the guise of homecoming expenses, which, of course, went straight into his own pockets.
The journey, even by horse, would take at least a month. It was a given that traveling on foot would take even longer, which meant more expenses. However, buying horses was too expensive, so they had to resort to the natural means of transportation they were granted with by the Heavens at birth – their feet.
Even if they used light-footed techniques and ran until they were exhausted, shortening the journey significantly beyond a certain limit would be difficult. The cost of traveling for more than a month with 16 people wouldn't be a small amount. And yet, not sending them wasn't an option either…
That's why Bi Ryu-yeon was currently wracking his brain, deep in thought. He was racking his brains, turning them over and over until smoke nearly came out of his ears, but still, no groundbreaking, proactive, or useful solutions to ease the situation came to mind. He was mired in a cycle of worry and concern, trying to find a way out.
"Argh! For free, for free, free. If not, at least minimize the expenses… What to do, how can I send them without spending a single penny? And I'm talking about 16 people here! Isn't there some clever solution?!"
It seemed his inactive brain cells would snap from overexertion along with the ones he'd been wracking.
"Isn't there a good idea? Travel, homecoming, 16 people, free, expenses, Heavenly Martial Academy, Poyang Lake2, Nanchang3, martial artists, martial arts…"
[TL/N: Whereabouts of Poyang Lake and Nanchang.]
Like a spell incantation, Bi Ryu-yeon, who had been diligently listing fragments of thoughts, suddenly stopped his mumbling of contemplation as something fleetingly crossed his mind..
"Strength? Hmm… Aha! That's it! Gahaha. Everything is resolved now, everything. No objections, right? If there are, it's over, really over. Hahaha."
Like a streak of a meteor, like a flash of lightning, a fleeting thought passed by. It was this extraordinary method that came to mind, which could swiftly like 'a sharp knife cutting through tangled hemp' all the troubles Bi Ryu-yeon had been agonizing over. Finally, Bi Ryu-yeon was able to complete preparations for sending his disciples back without any burden.Having thought of the method, now only implementation remained.
"I need to visit the village again tomorrow."
Bi Ryu-yeon gazed at the night sky, where stars seemed to be falling like meteors, and methodically organized what he needed to do the next day. Among the lights embroidering the heavens, one had begun trailing its tail as it plunged earthward. It was a meteor.
The revolutionary and useful solution that Bi Ryu-yeon, immersed in deep thought, had come up with was none other than utilizing the Central Armed Escort Agency. But what does this mean? Had Bi Ryu-yeon decided to become a permanent and everlasting enemy of the Central Armed Escort Agency? Absolutely not; his plan was not to break in with his disciples again and forcibly extract travel expenses. What Bi Ryu-yeon had in mind was to carry out an escort mission.
The destination for his 16 disciples was near Poyang Lake in Nanchang, where Heavenly Martial Academy was located. That place had become the de facto center of the martial arts world due to the presence of the immense Heavenly Martial Academy. Consequently, Nanchang was prospering more than ever. As the city grew, so did the demand for supplies and goods, which is a natural consequence in the world. Being called the center of Gangho, it was natural for countless people seeking profit to flock there. Therefore, the number of goods and escort missions heading to the bustling and active city of Nanchang never ceased, constantly flowing into the trade companies. This was why Nanchang was a hub of trade, with numerous goods entering and leaving in continuous transactions.
Recently, despite an increase in work volume and frequency at the Central Armed Escort Agency compared to the past, there was a significant shortage of escorts relative to the incoming missions, leaving them short-handed. Additionally, many escorts had been left almost incapacitated with broken bones from that dreadful incident a month ago, rendering them largely unusable. Even though hiring new escorts was an option, finding good escorts with high martial arts skills was extremely challenging.
The goods destined for Nanchang that were scattered throughout the escort agency, suffering from a shortage of manpower, caught Bi Ryu-yeon's attention. Thus, Bi Ryu-yeon found himself knocking on the door of the Central Armed Escort Agency once again. Of course, from the perspective of the Central Armed Escort Agency, this was undoubtedly an unwelcome development.
At the end of autumn, in the pleasant weather that was neither too cold nor too hot, two escorts stood guarding the main gate of the escort agency, with the peacefulness of late autumn all around them. The main gate, which had been damaged a month ago due to someone's kick, had now been neatly repaired, looking brand new except for a dent in the center. Escorts Jang-pal and Yi-sam, standing with the gate at their backs, were on duty for security. It was their turn to pair up and take charge of guarding for the day.
The ordinary escorts Jang-pal and Yi-sam, upon noticing the shadow of Bi Ryu-yeon walking towards the escort agency from a distance, were determined to fulfill their duty of guarding faithfully.
"What's the matte… Ack!"
Suddenly, the two escorts clutched their chests as if suffering from acute heart attacks. Their inability to straighten their legs and the ashen pallor of their faces resembled those of critically ill patients who had something seriously wrong with their bodies.
"Ah, how have you been? It's been a while. The leader is inside, right? I've come to see him."
"..."
"What's the matter? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Kergh… Khack… Ack… Ack..."
As his breath returned, Jang-pal coughed violently and then dashed into the escort agency like a colt with its tail on fire, cursing his fate for being chosen as the guard on duty among many possible days. The remaining escorts, Isam, trembling in his legs, managed to speak.
"Please, come inside. Just a, a moment… Wai, wait please. I will… will contact them soon…"
His words stumbled as he tried to speak, his face pale and frozen. Large amounts of cold sweat streamed down his bluish cheeks.
"Are you ill?"
Bi Ryu-yeon asked with a look of concern. This only made Yi-sam, with an even paler face, tremble more in fear.
For agency leader Jang Woo-yang, this was the most absurd situation he had encountered since the incident a month ago, except for that day. The reason being that an escort had burst into Jang Woo-yang's office, where he usually conducted his work, kicking the door so hard it nearly broke off its hinges. How dare a mere escort burst into the agency leader's office without any notice? He wouldn't even open his own home's door so rudely. Moreover, at that moment, Jang Woo-yang was busy preparing for a massive escort mission in two days, an unprecedented event in Central Armed Escort Agency's history, wrestling with a mountain of paperwork in front of him.
Therefore, Jang Woo-yang was extremely tense, with his nerves on edge. The escort mission to Nanchang scheduled for two days later was going to be the largest in the history of the Central Armed Escort Agency, in terms of the amount of money involved, the value of the goods entrusted, and the number of escorts deployed. Amidst his worries about this mission, an audacious escorts, with an unprecedented level of rudeness, had kicked open his office's paulownia wood door and barged in.
Leader Jang Woo-yang's patience seemed on the verge of exploding, already strained to its limit. Anyone aware of the current atmosphere of the escort agency and his psychological state would not dare to do such a thing, if only to save their neck. Moreover, the person who had barged in was the well-known ordinary escort Jang-pal, known for his quick wits and shrewdness…
"How rude. Where do you think you are!"
"Lea, Leader… It's, it's a disaster!"
Jang-pal struggled to speak, his condition looking pitiable. The cold sweat forming on his pale forehead and the soaked back were clear indicators of his current state of mind. If Jang Woo-yang had been in a slightly better mood, he might have expressed concern, suggesting Jang-pal see a doctor or take a few days off.
"What's this commotion? What disaster?"
"Th-the master, he's returned."
"What did you say, bang!"
The strength of Jang Woo-yang's hands coming down shattered the small table in front of him. The pile of papers that had been stacked on the table was now scattered in the air, filling the room. It would take a considerable amount of time to separate, sort, and organize them again.
Since that day, the only person referred to as 'the master' in the Central Armed Escort Agency was one specific individual. They initially wanted to call him the weird old man or monster elder, but out of fear that the old man might hear it and invade again in a fit of rage, they opted for the more respectful 'Venerable Master.'
top of person's head[ ]
Poyang Lake, located in Jiujiang, is the largest freshwater lake in China.The lake is fed by the Gan, Xin, and Xiu rivers, which connect to the Yangtze through a channel.[ ]
Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi Province and located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake.[ ]