Having wrapped up the Lust Demon's business, I stepped out of the Silver Flower Pavilion.
"Let's head straight to the next location."
"Huh? Aren't you rushing things a bit, young hero Cheon? We came all the way to Hangzhou—surely we can afford to rest a little before moving on."
Tang So-wol tilted her head as she said that.
Her deep green hair swayed with the motion. A breeze happened to blow by just then, carrying the fragrance lingering in Tang So-wol's hair to me naturally.
I'd seen her apply scented oil when she stayed at the Tang Clan or when she had leisure time, so I knew about that much…
But this body scent that I often caught from Tang So-wol was completely different from the scent of the oil she usually used.
They say the most terrifying poison is one you willingly drink even knowing you'll be poisoned.
If that's true, then Tang So-wol's scent is surely the most terrifying poison I know.
…Well, that's not just a metaphor—it really is a kind of poison.
I didn't know it in the past, but after reaching the Harmony Realm and living with the Tang Clan, I've grown familiar with poison art without even realizing it.
After all, I achieved Bone-Exchange Rebirth centered on Tang So-wol's poison, gaining immunity to all poisons and a heightened sensitivity to them.
Now I can roughly guess the true nature of that body scent, even beneath the expensive scented oil she layers on top.
It's probably the fragrance that seeps out as Tang So-wol, born with the Poison Spirit Constitution, instinctively harmonizes her own poison energy within her body.
This is one thing that hasn't changed much from before my regression to now, so whenever Tang So-wol's body scent tickles my nose, I find myself relaxing enough to surprise even myself.
Of course, this is something I can never tell anyone.
No matter how much it's Tang So-wol, admitting that I feel at ease just from catching her scent… honestly, it's a little embarrassing.
So instead of showing anything on my face, I moved half a step closer to her.
"Now that we're around Hangzhou, the scenery is nice and there's plenty to enjoy. As long as you don't go too deep in, there are more inns than pleasure houses."
"Right? Then, even just three days or so…"
"So how about we all come together when we have a bit more leisure?"
"Ah."
"Besides, word about this sparring match will start spreading soon, and I don't want to give the other two too much time."
The Lust Demon had been able to hear about my sparring trip early because a retired courtesan from the Silver Flower Pavilion happened to live near the Tyrant King Asura Gate.
By now, rumors that I'd half-destroyed the Tyrant King Asura Gate and brought the One-Blade Asura under my control should be circulating.
It wasn't the entire Central Plains martial world, but within Zhejiang Province, rumors spread quickly enough.
I hadn't crossed swords with the Lust Demon, but there were people who recognized me, so the fact that I'd visited the Silver Flower Pavilion would spread on its own.
That meant there would naturally be those who figured I'd be coming for them next, and chances were they were all getting cold feet and preparing something.
It wouldn't sit right to give them time to prepare while I lingered in Hangzhou.
Tang So-wol, who had understood my explanation, pouted her lips and nodded.
"Ugh. It's a shame, but there's no helping it. …Come to think of it, hasn't this been happening a lot lately?"
"An occasion like this?"
"I mean, whenever I try to build a good mood with young hero Cheon, you say you're busy and push it off for later."
"…"
When she puts it that way, I have nothing to say.
In truth, I had been neglecting Tang So-wol lately, what with all the things weighing on my mind.
As I stood there hesitating, unsure of what to do, Tang So-wol strode over to me.
Since I had already taken a step closer, her approach brought us practically shoulder to shoulder.
But Tang So-wol, acting as if nothing were amiss, looked up at me from below, then placed her hand on her own head and began measuring my height.
"Forgive me for saying so, but you've grown so much, young hero Cheon. When we first met, you fit snugly in my arms like this."
"Your memory must be fabricating things. It's true I was young back then, but not to that extent."
"Hehe. Back then, you were so much younger, yet you insisted on using informal speech—it came across as impudent, but at the same time, it seemed like you were trying to appear grown-up to me, which was rather endearing."
"…"
So that was how she had been looking at me.
Come to think of it, when I was still at the Age of Fifteen, there were often times Tang So-wol acted like an older sister to me.
In fact, even now, she occasionally subtly insists that she's my senior.
"I thought it was strange—when I asked if you were some old monster hiding your identity, you adamantly denied it, yet you disliked being treated as that age. Now I finally understand the reason."
"Well, I suppose it's thanks to all the help I've received from others that I've been able to make it this far."
If not for the Great Master Gakcheong and the Great Master Jeonghyeon, the strategist of the Jegal family, and the Flowing Cloud Sword Immortal who came at Tang Jincheon's request.
The fact that the secret manual fell into my hands might be a stroke of fortune, but it was thanks to no fewer than several renowned masters of the martial world banding together to complete the Grand Ritual that I was able, albeit indirectly, to convey the story from before my regression.
I can only be grateful.
As I nodded inwardly, Tang So-wol blinked as if something had just occurred to her.
"Oh? Come to think of it, according to what I saw in the Grand Ritual… isn't the young hero Cheon actually an old monster hiding his true identity?"
"It's not quite to that extent."
"Hmm. Then where would you say the standard for an old monster begins?"
After a moment of silence, I slowly opened my mouth.
"Senior Seomun Hwa-rin?"
"Wow…"
"…Wait. Forget what I just said. Keep it a secret from Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Oh my. Young hero Cheon, so you've been looking at Hwa-rin unni with those eyes?"
"It's because my memories from the Dragon Phoenix Gathering are too vivid—don't misunderstand."
"The moment I get home, I have to tell Hwa-rin unni about this…!"
"Kuh."
A playful smile tugged at the corner of Tang So-wol's mouth. Seeing her squirm like that, I couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
"…What is it that you want?"
"Since I can't stay and play in Hangzhou, at least make the journey enjoyable. For instance… carry me on your back the whole way there?"
"What."
I didn't know who the nearest opponent was, but it wouldn't be close enough to reach in a single day's walk.
At least two days. Maybe she was asking me to carry Tang So-wol for three or four days straight.
By now, any decent martial artist would recognize my face. And I was supposed to walk around looking like that.
Of course, it wouldn't take long for word to spread across all of Zhejiang Province. But.
"You're the one who said it, Tang So-wol. Don't regret it."
"Huh? What do you mean all of a sudden…"
"Come on, get on my back."
"Okay."
Tang So-wol looked puzzled but lowered herself onto my back, which I had already bent for her.
Given the position, our bodies naturally pressed together in various places, but at this point I wasn't about to make a fuss over something like that…
"…It got bigger?"
"Mmm. You could say it's the result of my research on the Wind-Cloud Elixir that I mentioned before. The poison is still too strong for anyone but me to use, but I've at least figured out the general direction."
"Heh."
"By the way, I never would have guessed that young hero Cheon would be staring at my body with such a stern face."
"You're no different. I heard everything. You said you recognized me by the shape of my muscles even though you only saw me over my clothes through the sleeve opening…"
"Wh-who told you that?!"
"That's a secret."
How long did we go back and forth like that—Tang So-wol tapping my head trying to pry out the informant, and me teasing her in return?
The Twin Ghost Sword, who had returned with intelligence from the nearby Black Alliance branch, wore an expression as bizarre as if he had just seen a beast with a duck's beak and a raccoon's body.
"…What are you doing?"
"The person who went to make contact is later than I expected, so I was getting bored."
"No, it's only been about one Da-kyung at most… Ah."
When I said that with a straight face, the Twin Ghost Sword, who had been about to retort, flinched.
Then he glanced at the sword hanging at my waist and nodded.
"My apologies. I was late."
"As long as you know."
The conversation continued calmly. Only Tang So-wol, her face flushed, buried her head in the nape of my neck to hide her expression.
She finally caught on, didn't she.
I never placed much value on how others saw me in the first place.
Tang So-wol, on the other hand, wasn't especially sensitive to the gazes around her, but she was ordinary enough to read the room and ordinary enough to feel embarrassed.
Pretending not to notice her reaction as she belatedly realized her mistake and puffed up in frustration, I continued.
"So? Who's the closest?"
"Golden Wolf King Do Geum-jin. His estate is the nearest from here."
"Golden Wolf King, huh."
He was quite famous even before the regression, and he's still well-known in this timeline.
A self-made man who started as a wandering swordsman and rose to the Harmony Realm.
Of course, he's no match for the Lord of the Black Alliance who founded the organization, but I'd heard he'd built his own band of wandering swordsmen, introducing them around here and there and taking a cut for his troubles.
They said you could hire the Golden Wolf King if you had enough money… but his price was absurdly steep.
Well, the very fact that a figure on the level of an absolute master could be moved by money was unusual in itself, and I'd heard he occasionally took commissions from high-ranking officials or major merchant caravans, raking in enormous piles of Gold Coins.
Among Harmony Realm martial artists, the only ones who could be hired for money were the Slaughter King and the Golden Wolf King.
But the Slaughter King had died by my hand, so in the end, that left only the Golden Wolf King.
"His price must have gone up by now."
"Are you thinking of hiring him?"
"Not sure."
The Golden Wolf King lives up to his alias — he's mad for money.
One-Blade Asura was a man of moderate greed, playing the local patron and building up his own little power base.
Aside from his Harmony Realm martial level, he was an utterly unremarkable Unorthodox Sect martial artist.
But the Golden Wolf King's obsession with money borders on insanity, even by the standards of his fellow Unorthodox Sect fighters.
On the surface, he runs a brokerage that connects wandering warriors with employers, but behind the scenes he's into gambling dens, loan sharking, human trafficking, and the like.
The man has his hands in every kind of filthy business.
Which is why, before my regression, I had hired the Golden Wolf King with money.
Since nearly half of the Harmony Realm martial artists in the Orthodox Sects were already dead by then, he'd demanded his own price as a Harmony Realm fighter be multiplied several times over — but I'd paid it.
It wasn't an amount the Murim Alliance and the Black Alliance couldn't pay if they joined hands.
The Lord of the Black Alliance and Sama Yuryeon had shed tears of blood over the gold coins stripped away in an instant, but at any rate, they'd succeeded in securing a promise to stand on the side of the Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance and enter the battle against the Demonic Cult.
There was just the small problem that the very next day, he'd gone to the Heavenly Demon to try negotiating a contract for his own services, and only his neck came back.
Probably, after squeezing money from the Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance and taking payment from the Demonic Cult as well.
His plan must have been to pretend to fight the Demonic Cult while playing double agent, then side with whichever faction looked like winning in the end.
For a job of moderate scale, maybe, but for something as big and dangerous as a war against the Demonic Cult—something where even more money would change hands—he was a man who simply couldn't be trusted.
That was the Golden Wolf King as I knew him.
"First, we need to talk."
"That would be for the best. Since the true extent of the Demonic Cult's threat and the Heavenly Demon's strength aren't widely known yet, there should be plenty of room for negotiation."
The Twin Ghost Sword nodded and muttered something, but it was meaningless enough that I let it wash over me.
A martial artist's conversation is conducted with the sword.
Isn't that the common sense of the martial world?
As I organized my plans internally and nodded along, a soft whisper reached my ears—Tang So-wol's voice.
"Um… young hero Cheon? Are you really going to see the Golden Wolf King like this? I know I was the one who suggested it, but you could put me down now… W-well, since you said we'd resolve things through conversation, wouldn't first impressions matter?"
"Don't worry. I'm a man who always keeps his word once I've spoken it."
"Why is it only at times like this…!"
Perhaps she finally understood that I was serious. Tang So-wol bit the nape of my neck and voiced her complaint, but.
I hadn't slacked on my External Arts training even after the Bone-Exchange Rebirth, just in case of moments like this.
"It tickles."
"Eek!"
Tang So-wol's thrashing!
But nothing happened.