When Baekji returned to the Yang-Bai rchant Sect, the gate guard reported, "Taoists from the Qingcheng Sect have arrived."
"The Qingcheng Sect?"
He rembered Hong-yeon saying that Shaolin, Wudang, Qingcheng, and Ei had had a eting.
To think that Qingcheng was already in the Yang-Bai rchant Sect...
"What on earth are they up to?"
Baekji first went to Songhwa Hall to find Yang Soryeong.
In the living room of Songhwa Hall, Yang Soryeong and Shang Yiqing were drinking tea.
'Oho!'
Shang Yiqing's eyes were shining.
'Changseon Jin-in must have fed him sothing good.'
It hadn't been a long ti, but he had already developed the fra of an inner energy master.
Yang Soryeong gave Baekji a seat and said, "Baekji. I was looking for you... Changseon Jin-in has co."
"Changseon Jin-in? Why is that old Taoist here?"
"Watch your mouth! What do you an, 'old Taoist' to my grand-uncle! Your way of speaking is the sa as it was in the past."
Shang Yiqing gave him a warning.
"What am I supposed to call the old man who stole all my dicinal herbs?"
"Didn't you give them to him?"
Shang Yiqing tilted his head. It was Shang Yiqing who had pulled the cart when Changseon Jinin had taken the dicinal herbs. At that ti, he had heard that Baekji had given them to him.
"Why would I give them? He stole them. But why did he co back so shalessly?"
When Baekji answered bluntly, Yang Soryeong said, "Why else? He ca because he was curious about how you were doing."
"Aigoo. Master! You're too naive. Can't you tell by looking? He ca to steal the dicinal herbs I've gathered so far... eot!"
In the middle of speaking, Baekji was surprised and stood up.
"Where is he now?"
"Grand-uncle? He went out with Senior Oh earlier... he went to see the dicinal herb warehouse."
Baekji's face, 'hwak', contorted, and he ran outside.
"My dicinal herbs!"
He had gathered quite a few dicinal herbs in his spare ti. He hastily ran to the dicinal herb warehouse in his residence in the lower building of Songhwa Hall.
"Ah! In that short ti..."
He saw Changseon Jin-in loitering in front of the warehouse.
"Stop! Stop!"
Changseon Jin-in, who saw Baekji running towards him like a madman, waving his hands, let out his usual laugh and said, "Hehehe... you brat haven't changed at all. You're peculiar, peculiar..."
Baekji arrived in an instant and glared at the wide-open door of the dicinal herb warehouse.
"Who opened this?"
Senior Oh and Oh Cheong-su ca out from inside the warehouse.
"Master, you're here?"
Senior Oh bowed.
The corner of Baekji's eye went up.
"Senior Oh? Did you open the warehouse door?"
"Haha. Yes. It turns out this person is a relative of mine."
Oh Cheong-su stepped forward and acknowledged Baekji.
"Honored One Yang, it's been a long ti."
"What is a doctor who should be at the Tang family doing here?"
"Thanks to Changseon Jin-in's help, the great young master of the Tang family has fully recovered. I am serving the 'Jin-in' and am trying to find a way to completely detoxify the blood poison..."
"But why are you loitering here?"
"The 'Jin-in' said that the dicinal herbs of the Yang-Bai rchant Sect were good... but although the dicinal herbs in this warehouse are good, they are not very rare. The 'Jin-in' said there would be rare ones..."
Oh Cheong-su, in the middle of speaking, asked Senior Oh, "Is this all the dicinal herbs?"
"Haha. The precious ones are kept separately by my master. Do you need to check that side too?"
―Thwack!
Baekji's bamboo staff exploded on the back of Senior Oh's head.
"Senior Oh, I didn't even give you permission, and you opened the dicinal herb storehouse so carelessly?"
"Yes? Wasn't it that Master gave permission? Clearly..."
Senior Oh, as if he were wronged, his mouth protruded a foot, and he looked at Changseon Jin-in.
"Hehehe... didn't you say you wanted to eat pine needle dumplings? Here..."
Changseon Jin-in, changing the subject, held out pine needle dumplings to Senior Oh.
"Jin-in, please tell the truth. I'll be beaten to death by my master!"
The furious Senior Oh rushed at Changseon Jin-in, grabbed his collar, and shook him.
Oh Cheong-su stepped in to diate.
"Honored One Yang, it seems there was a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding? You were planning to steal the dicinal herbs by deceiving my disciple, right?"
"What do you an by that? Isn't this a rchant sect? Of course, I thought they were for sale..."
"The dicinal herbs are not for sale! I don't even have enough for myself!"
Baekji glared.
Oh Cheong-su looked at Changseon Jin-in with a troubled expression.
Changseon Jin-in just laughed, 'hehe'.
Oh Cheong-su said, "Please think about it again. In fact, if the 'Jin-in's' dicinal herb warehouse hadn't been robbed, he wouldn't have co this far. Since the developnt of the blood poison antidote is in its final stages, please show your generosity, Honored One."
"What? You stole my dicinal herbs, and then you got them all stolen? Who stole them?"
Baekji, as a thought suddenly crossed his mind, looked at Changseon Jin-in and asked.
If he caught the brat who had swallowed all those dicinal herbs? Wouldn't he be able to find them all?
Changseon Jin-in muttered, "Hehehe. If my dicinal herb warehouse hadn't been robbed then... I wouldn't have been so poor..."
"So... isn't there a brat you suspect? I'll catch him for you."
"Yes. Hehehe. Can you catch him? It will be difficult... difficult."
As Changseon Jin-in mumbled, Oh Cheong-su said instead, "They say the dicinal herbs that Changseon Jin-in had gathered his entire life were robbed. They said the culprit was a brat with a red scar on his forehead..."
"Huh?"
A red scar on his forehead?
Baekji sohow felt uneasy.
'Is that old Taoist trying to fra ?'
Since the red scar had appeared, Baekji had been covering his forehead with a hero's headband.
As Baekji was about to stealthily back away, Senior Oh, without any sense, looked at Baekji's forehead.
"A red scar? Doesn't Master also have sothing like that?"
"What are you talking about?"
As Baekji feigned ignorance and was about to turn around, Oh Cheong-su stealthily blocked his way.
"Did you get a scar in that short ti?"
"What? Are you suspecting ?"
"No... it's not that, but I'm interested because it's a red scar. Besides, I'm also curious... where did all those dicinal herbs co from..."
Oh Cheong-su had a stubborn personality. Since a suspicion had arisen, he had no intention of backing down.
"Can I see the scar? I might be able to treat it for you."
"That's enough."
"Let's just see it."
"No."
Baekji looked at Changseon Jin-in and said, "Don't fra an innocent person. Ask him when the dicinal herbs were robbed. I'll tell you where I was then."
Oh Cheong-su asked Changseon Jin-in, "Jin-in, when was the dicinal herb warehouse robbed?"
"Hehe... it's been a few years. I don't think it's been ten years, six or seven years? No, was it four or five years ago...?"
Changseon Jin-in said, blinking his hazy eyes.
"Yes?"
Oh Cheong-su was flustered and looked at Baekji.
If it was ten years, no, even if it was four or five years ago... could Baekji have robbed the dicinal herbs?
He would have been a real child then.
'Aigoo... I made a mistake by just listening to the 'Jin-in'.'
As Oh Cheong-su was at a loss as to what to do, Changseon Jin-in muttered, "He robbed all the dicinal herbs I had gathered my entire life. The dicine boy who was guarding the warehouse said it was a brat with a red scar on his forehead... did he say he was from the Demonic Cult? He said he would pay back, but there's no news... hehehe..."
Changseon Jin-in's eyes stared intently at the hero's headband.
'Acha! That old Taoist is suspecting !'
He had heard from Tang Tianhui that Changseon Jin-in was speculating that Baekji might have reincarnated.
'The Demonic Cult?'
Could it have been before my reincarnation? The words of the 'Divine Doctor of Life and Death' that he had brought half of the many dicinal herbs for the 'reincarnation pill' bothered him.
He had felt a strange uneasiness whenever he t Changseon Jin-in...
Baekji, without realizing it, took a step back.
Senior Oh, as if he were wronged, shouted at Changseon Jin-in, "A red scar? Master's scar appeared recently. There was no such thing as a scar even a year ago."
Then he said to Baekji, "Master! Please show the scar."
Baekji had no intention of showing the scar at all. He changed the subject.
"Stop talking nonsense... and just close the warehouse door. From now on, never open it without my permission."
Baekji, after telling Senior Oh, hastily left the place.
'That wicked old man... he must have found out my identity. He ca to take away the dicinal herbs by using my weakness as a pretext.'
Baekji went to Songhwa Hall again.
Shang Yiqing was still in the living room with Yang Soryeong.
Baekji asked bluntly, "What are they up to, flocking from Qingcheng?"
"How would I know what the higher-ups are doing? They said to go, so I escorted them."
Shang Yiqing knew nothing.
"What? You don't even know what's going on, and you just go when they say to go and co when they say to co? How pathetic. Master, you'll have to rethink the marriage. If you marry a fool like this, you'll suffer for the rest of your life."
Yang Soryeong jumped.
"What are you talking about! Are you going to keep saying strange things?"
Shang Yiqing also shot up and threatened with his fist.
"Are you done talking?"
At that mont, Gayang ca in and reported, "Honored One, a guest has co to see you. They say it's the Jin siblings."
"The Jin siblings? Ah!"
The Four Shrines Heaven Lord?
Baekji's head was about to explode.
After the Martial Alliance Leader, the brats from the great sects and the noble families, and now even the Four Shrines Heaven Lord!
The Yang-Bai rchant Sect had suddenly beco a microcosm of the martial world.
* * *
"Haha. Your younger brother's business is quite large."
Is he trying to act like the older brother again?
Baekji said, glaring, "Why is the person who should be laying the foundation for the 'Blood-Shattering Alliance' here?"
"It's not that easy."
Jin Tiansuo looked at Scholar Bing. It was a sign to answer for him.
Scholar Bing, 'ahem', said, shaking his fan, "The Guangxi army has stationed for a while and then has withdrawn, but the Northwest army has occupied Guangxi and is holding on, so it has beco difficult to move."
"You said you would et the Northwest army and negotiate."
"The Northwest army is the private army of the powerful local families. Those brats are refusing to even talk. They just want to fight. It is clear that the Zhuge family is instigating them from behind."
"Then you can just wipe them out."
The pushover of the century let out a dry cough.
"Ahem. We can't kill the innocent soldiers too, can we?"
"So you ran away?"
Jin Tianxiang flared up.
"Ran away! You said you would form sothing called the 'Blood-Shattering Alliance'. You were the one who endorsed my older brother as the Alliance Leader. Of course, we have to discuss how to form the Alliance. Are you pretending not to know now? As expected... they say if you see one, you know ten... I should have known when you said you didn't want to take responsibility then... you are my..."
"Stop! Stop it. I know, I know!"
Baekji hastily cut off Jin Tianxiang's words.
If she went on a little longer, it seed Jin Tianxiang would bring up the story of being hit on the buttocks.
Ah, my head hurts.
"Scholar Bing, I'm disappointed. I thought you were a rather smart military advisor... couldn't you have taken care of it yourself?"
Scholar Bing changed the subject.
"The grand plan of the 'Blood-Shattering Alliance' is sothing my dull head cannot possibly draw a picture of. The Honored One must give guidance."
Scholar Bing had been against Jin Tiansuo taking charge of the 'Blood-Shattering Alliance' from the beginning. So he was trying to pass the burden to Baekji.
"Yes. Anyway, you've co a long way, so rest for now. It's late at night."
Baekji gave the Jin siblings an annex in the back garden.
"It would be better not to co out as much as possible. The atmosphere here is a bit... anyway, don't co out. I'll also bring you your als."
"Hmph! Are you saying you're ashad because we are the Black Path of the Four Shrines Heaven? So you're telling us to hide?"
Jin Tianxiang flared up.
"No, that's not it..."
It was complicated to explain that the Demonic Cult, the Martial Alliance, and the great sects and the noble families were gathered.
"There are many crazy brats here. You have to be careful."
"It seems your position is difficult. Let's do that."
Jin Tiansuo did not ask any more and nodded his head.
"And... was the person you ntioned before a descendant of the Silver Moon Sect?"
He was referring to Mado.
"I think so."
"Can I et her?"
"Hmm. She went to train in seclusion... why do you have to et her now?"
"There is a reason for that..."
"I'll ask. The other person's opinion is also important, right?"
"I understand."
.
.
.
After parting with the Jin siblings and returning to his residence in Songhwa Hall, Ah-jok was waiting.
"What now?"
Ah-jok held out the envelopes in his hand. They were invitations, and there were three of them.
"The invitation in the na of Shaolin and Wudang is to visit tomorrow, and the invitation from the Martial Alliance Elder Qiu Ganyang is to set up a eting. The invitation in the joint na of the Zhuge family, the Peng family, and the Nangong family... is to prepare to escort the Martial Alliance Leader."
"What? Prepare what? Are these brats crazy?"
"I also think it is too rude. To notify us one-sidedly without even asking for our opinion. Even though we showed goodwill and gave them the 'Yang-Bai Guesthouse'..."
"These brats...? How dare they look down on the Yang-Bai rchant Sect. Charge them double for the accommodation!"
Baekji glared.
(End of Chapter)
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