Divine Physician's Tomb
"How did things go yesterday?"
"What do you an, how did things go?"
When Jeong-un asked with a puzzled face, Baek Il-gang narrowed his eyes and replied.
"Everyone in the guesthouse must have heard the thunderous sound of swords clashing last night."
"......."
They were all martial artists with keen hearing. Their particular martial curiosity should also be considered.
It wouldn't be strange if so of them even peeked through the lattice windows as they listened.
"He possesses quite powerful martial arts. My palms still ache just thinking about it."
"That's expected. He's an important figure in one of the Five Great Families."
"......."
At those words, Jeong-un gazed at Baek Il-gang intently.
It was rather unexpected since Baek Il-gang usually didn't think well of prestigious families or large sects.
Reading Jeong-un's gaze, Baek Il-gang's face grew slightly awkward and his brow furrowed.
"Do I really look that petty? Just because I dislike them, doesn't an I'll deny the facts. They've dominated various regions for years, exploiting the common people. Of course they must possess powerful martial arts."
"Is it true that they exploit the people?"
Baek Il-gang let out a snort in response to Jeong-un's question.
"Where do you think the massive annual taxes they pay to the royal family co from? Let's not even ntion the hefty protection fees they collect from the landowners—they run all sorts of businesses, too."
"......."
Jeong-un thought of the Yu household. The Yu household was also among the wealthiest landowners in the vicinity.
In truth, it hadn't been long since they started calling themselves a sword family. That had only started in the previous generation.
Even so, the Yu household regularly paid contributions to the Mount Hua Sect.
Sotis, it almost seed as if they were eager to pay even more.
'That really wasn't normal.'
Noticing Jeong-un's peculiar expression, Baek Il-gang glanced at him before speaking.
"I know you used to belong to the house where Young hero Yu is from. I'm not criticizing you. I'm just saying that's how things are now."
"I didn't take it the wrong way."
Jeong-un replied in a flat tone.
He really felt indifferent. The Yu household had always been on the paying end anyway.
"Anyway, judging by your face, you didn't lose, did you? That's a relief. If word went around that the Heavenly Martial Hall's special test's top disciple lost sowhere, I'd have no face left to wear these martial robes."
"It wasn't a duel to determine a winner or loser. There wasn't any real animosity between us, either."
"......?"
Leaving Baek Il-gang's curious gaze behind, Jeong-un walked ahead.
They were patrolling the market streets of Yangyang. There were many people passing by, but their expressions weren't dark.
In the end, martial artists were people too, and where people gathered, money gathered.
Jeong-un's group had already brushed off the inn servant's attempts to lure them in several tis.
"There it is."
They arrived at a cloth shop.
As they'd heard before, it was a small building.
It was tucked away on a corner easily missed, and on the small wooden signboard, the words "Lotus Cloth" were written in neat brushstrokes.
Jeong-un and Baek Il-gang entered through the open door.
Inside was not very spacious. But one side of the room was packed with neatly folded clothes on shelves, while on the other side a few rolls of fine silk were displayed, fluttering in the breeze against the wall.
"Welco!"
The owner appeared to be a man around thirty.
When Jeong-un and Baek Il-gang entered, he glanced at the swords hanging at their waist and hurriedly greeted them.
"Are you looking for sothing?"
"Ah, actually, we're not here to buy clothes..."
As Baek Il-gang spoke, the expectation faded from the owner's eyes.
Then he asked first, his voice subdued.
"Have you co to ask about the missing herb collector?"
"So we're not the first, then?"
"Of course not. People have been coming by all the ti..."
There was a hint of effort in his frown.
Though he tried not to show it in front of ard martial artists, he couldn't conceal his irritation.
Clearly, this wasn't the first ti this had happened.
"There was a herb collector who bought clothes from several tis. We called him Mr. Jang. Since he was always in the mountains, his clothes wore out quickly."
And without needing to be asked further, the owner continued his explanations.
Perhaps he just wanted to get it over with quickly.
"One day, he said he'd found a grave in the nearby mountains. The mound was huge, as if it belonged to a royal or noble family, and there was a strange inscription on the headstone out front."
"King of Martial Arts?"
"Yes, that's right. The problem was, he couldn't rember exactly where he'd seen it."
"If he was a herb collector who went up and down the mountain daily, how could he not rember that?"
"That's why I dismissed it as nonsense, too. But suddenly, he disappeared, rumors started swirling, and more people started coming to ask about it."
"Did he tell this story to you alone?"
The owner shook his head emphatically.
"Not at all. He must have told everyone everywhere. I'm just one of them. That's all I know."
"Do you know anything about the Black Dragon Gang?"
The owner tilted his head and replied.
"There've always been ruffians with nas like dragons or heaven, but those ones were different."
"How so?"
"Yangyang is patrolled by the warriors of the Murim Alliance branch, right? Most of those underworld types try to live as if they're dead, collecting interest behind the scenes. But these ones were brazen, showing off everywhere. They caused such havoc to extract protection fees everywhere that the Murim Alliance warriors would co by from ti to ti, and as soon as that happened, they'd disappear like ghosts—not a single one was ever caught. They were like phantoms."
"And now even they've vanished."
"Coincidentally, Mr. Jang disappeared at the sa ti, so that's why those rumors are spreading. But really, that's all I know."
Jeong-un set a rather large silver coin down on the counter.
The owner's eyes grew wide, but considering the annoyance he'd suffered from martial artists, it was a fair reward.
"Thank you! Please co again!"
They hadn't even bought a set of clothes, yet he asked them to co again.
He probably wouldn't say the Heavenly Martial Hall's martial artists were rude anywhere.
"We'll have to look into the Black Dragon Gang."
"Doesn't this all seem a bit strange to you?"
At Jeong-un's words, Baek Il-gang looked at him with a puzzled face.
"What do you an?"
"That herb collector, and those Black Dragon Gang people too—it all feels a bit insubstantial, just plausible stories floating around. And the rumors spread too lightly, as if soone wants everyone to know."
"What are you getting at?"
"It feels like soone is deliberately spreading it."
"......!"
Baek Il-gang's face grew serious as he understood Jeong-un's point.
It might not simply be empty rumors about a dead grandmaster's tomb.
Soone could be deliberately sowing confusion among martial artists with such an enticing story.
"If so, then as the corps leader said, regardless of whether the Immortal Spirit Pill truly exists, a different problem has arisen."
"Either way, it's not good."
* * *
Three days passed like that.
As feared, martial artists, excited about the Immortal Spirit Pill, continued to cause trouble everywhere, and the Heavenly Martial Hall's martial artists were busy diating.
Jeong-un did not hesitate to draw his sword, either.
Once, he faced a swordsman who was famous in Shandong.
For causing a disturbance at the tavern, the man had to forfeit his wrist.
"You really are rciless, Young Master Jeong-un."
"He swung his sword at ordinary people who knew nothing of martial arts. He would have deserved to die."
Jeong-un replied simply to Tang Yerin, who looked at him in surprise.
For a swordsman, one's wrist is as precious as life. He would never recklessly swing a sword again.
Martial artists like a cloud still kept flocking to Yangyang.
Rumors begot more rumors, but nothing more concrete erged—just a few offshoot stories.
"They say the Black Dragon Gang only settled here recently."
"How recently?"
"Two months ago. And it wasn't a large group."
Jeong-un fell into thought at Tang Yerin's words.
'It's still odd.'
Only a few days had passed.
He hadn't expected sothing else to happen quite so quickly.
Yet while the situation stagnant, the martial artists' desire seed only to grow.
No substance. Only the rumor remained, and the witnesses had vanished.
And there was a plausible scapegoat for their disappearance—the Black Dragon Gang.
But even those Black Dragon Gang people had only recently co, and now even they had disappeared.
'And that absence is making everyone even more desperate.'
Could those guys have gotten the Immortal Spirit Pill first?
That simple fear was keeping the martial artists glued to Yangyang, unable to leave.
"B-big news!"
Bursting into the guesthouse with a shout was Jo Gwang.
He dashed, panicked, to where the others were eating.
"What now?"
Baek Il-gang, now used to Jo Gwang's theatrics, asked indifferently.
But the next words shook them all.
"T-the Divine Physician's tomb has appeared!"
"What?!"
Everyone's eyes grew wide. Tang Yerin nearly leapt to her feet.
Jo Gwang poured out his words, almost flipping the table in excitent.
"The rumors are true! The Divine Physician's tomb has been discovered on Nokmun Mountain! Now every martial artist in Yangyang is rushing over there!"
KABOOM!
A thunderous explosion rang out from the upper floor.
Anyone could tell it was the sound of a lattice window bursting open. Martial artists from the Hebei Peng Clan had shot out at once.
"Damn, run!"
"......!"
At Baek Il-gang's cry, without any cue, everyone leapt into action.
Nokmun Mountain wasn't far from there. For martial artists, it would be just an instant.
"How did you hear about this?"
They talked while running; their eyes stayed forward.
They had already passed several martial artists, and truly, everyone in Yangyang was sprinting toward Nokmun Mountain with all their might.
"I was passing through the marketplace, and a group of martial artists ca running straight toward , even using lightness skill. I thought they were about to cause a scene, so I tried to stop them, but they shouted that the Divine Physician's tomb had appeared on Nokmun Mountain and told to get out of the way. I was so shocked I froze up."
"Damn, maybe we should head up to the roofs."
Yangyang was a sizable city. With so many people, and the martial artists from all over flocking in, it was chaos.
Now, with people running and using lightness skill in all directions, even the broad main roads were thrown into pandemonium.
Already, ordinary people were scattered everywhere, having been bowled over by the martial artists.
'... This.'
Drawn like moths to a fla by the rumors, the martial artists had gathered.
The past few quiet days had been like rice steaming, and now all at once, the news of the Divine Physician's Tomb's location exploded across the city.
'This is strange.'
Even as he rushed forward, Jeong-un couldn't shake the odd feeling creeping up his back.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
It's a trap!
ಠ╭╮ಠ
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