With one arm cradling Seol Ri-hyang, I used the other to bind Bing Yerin to the carrying frame.
"…Wasn't I supposed to be going to Haomun or whatever it was to help Miss Seol?"
"I'm grateful for that part."
"It's all for the sake of the future Young Palace Mistress, so this much is only natural… No, wait, that's not it! Why on earth are you tying me up like this?! What exactly are you planning to do?!"
"Does it hurt? Bear with it anyway."
"What is that sup——"
"If you're not careful, you might fall off."
"…?"
Bing Yerin tilted her head, still not understanding the situation. Seol Ri-hyang, who had been examining each knot binding her, poked her head out just enough to speak with an apologetic look.
"We decided to ride Cheon Hwi to Guangdong Province instead of taking a carriage."
"Pardon?"
"It's much faster and safer that way."
"B-But… a martial artist on the level of the White Moon Sword Lord, a Great Hero, volunteering for such a role?!"
The part she was surprised about was a little different from what I'd expected.
I'd thought she'd ask why I was only telling her this now, or whether we really had to travel with her tied to a carrying frame like cargo.
It seemed that what surprised Bing Yerin was the fact that I was volunteering for such a task myself.
Seol Ri-hyang tilted her head as if she couldn't understand.
"Uh… is that strange?"
"Of course it is! A martial artist in the Harmony Realm… no, even without going that far, every martial artist worthy of being called a master takes pride in their martial art and their training process! That's why they refuse to use their martial art for things they consider beneath them!"
"Hmm. Now that I think about it, I suppose there is something to that."
"But the fact that the White Moon Sword Lord, a Great Hero, would volunteer for such a task… that must mean he holds Miss Seol in high regard, right? Thinking about it that way, I'm a little envious."
"Well…"
Seol Ri-hyang glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. She shook her head and continued speaking.
"So you're saying Cheon Hwi just thinks of martial arts as a simple tool?"
"Yeah."
Seol Ri-hyang gave a simple example to the flustered Bing Yerin.
"For instance, when you're eating and there's a dish just out of reach. Or when you run out of something to drink."
"Right? That's why the servants join us at mealtimes."
"Cheon Hwi just uses Void Grasp to bring it over himself."
"???"
"He says it's more efficient, or something."
Bing Yerin, bound to the carrying frame, twisted her head alone to look at him. He shrugged his shoulders at her.
"Using Void Grasp to handle chopsticks is a task more delicate than you can imagine. It's convenient, and it doubles as Intent training—there's no reason not to do it."
"Wow… so that's why…"
Bing Yerin marveled. Seeing her reaction, Seol Ri-hyang felt oddly pleased and added,
"It's not just Cheon Hwi—others are the same. Seomun unni spends her days off lying still on her bed and handling everything with Void Grasp."
"Hmm. That does seem a bit excessive."
"Tang unni also mixes poison into her tea whenever she's bored, trying out new flavors."
"Ah, that one I've heard of—it's a fairly famous rumor about the Tang Clan."
"And in the summer, I also use cold energy to cool the area around me, or chill food."
"Hmm. As someone born in the North Sea Ice Palace, I find that a bit hard to understand."
At Seol Ri-hyang's final remark, Bing Yerin tilted her head with an ambiguous expression.
Well, that made sense. Even in summer, the North Sea was so cold that water thrown outside would freeze instantly, and no matter how warm a meal was prepared, it would go cold in no time.
Bing Yerin tilted her head for a long while like that, but before long, a faint smile crossed her face.
"Still, I'm relieved to see the Young Palace Mistress is doing well."
"I told you, I'm not the Young Palace Mistress. Are you still going on about that…"
"And it's true that the surroundings of the Great Hero, the White Moon Sword Lord, are different—not just compared to the North Sea Ice Palace, but to anywhere else in the Central Plains. …Perhaps this place might suit Young Lady Seol even better than becoming the master of the North Sea."
"…Yes. That's true."
Seol Ri-hyang nodded with a satisfied tone. The warm atmosphere continued for a while, but it couldn't last forever.
"I think it's about time we set off."
"Ah, yes. Let's go quickly."
"Ugh… Well, since we'll arrive soon, I'll just shut my eyes and bear it…"
Seol Ri-hyang leaped at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and locking on tightly. Bing Yerin, meanwhile, sat bound to the carrying frame, mentally preparing herself.
Hoisting the two of them up, I broke into my most extreme footwork.
.
.
.
.
"Gyaaahk!"
Bing Yerin couldn't hold out even a single sijin before dry-heaving, but she never once told me to stop.
***
There was a bit of sacrifice involved, but we still arrived at Guangdong Province in good time.
"Two days?"
"If we hadn't stopped in the middle, I think we could have made it in a single day."
"If that had happened, Bing Yerin would have been in real trouble."
Right. To be specific, a catastrophe might have occurred where she ended up tied to the carrying frame, covered in vomit.
"…Never again. I'm never traveling like this again."
Bing Yerin glared at me with haggard eyes. I let out a small chuckle at her.
"I have some bad news."
"What is it?"
"So this is how we have to go back."
"…"
Bing Yerin squeezed her eyes shut. But other than squeezing them shut, there was nothing she could do.
I gave her trembling form a moment alone, then looked around.
Guangdong Province.
Unlike other regions, which were tense with news of one incident after another and the formation of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance to bring down the Demonic Cult.
The atmosphere in Guangdong Province was not much different from what I had seen before my regression.
As befitting a territory of the Unorthodox Sects second only to Zhejiang Province, it was a strange space—flashy, chaotic, where the scent of powder and the stench of blood mingled and turned into the smell of money.
In my case, this was a place I had visited often before my regression to find work, and Seol Ri-hyang, though it was her first time in Guangdong Province, remained calm—perhaps because she had spent her childhood in a similar environment.
For Bing Yerin, who had lived her entire life in the North Sea where nothing but snow flurries raged, it seemed to be a bit too much stimulation.
"Wh-What is this place?! I mean, I know what kind of place it is, but why on earth did you bring us here?!"
"That's because the Haomun's main headquarters is here, and Seol Ri-hyang's father is here."
"Ugh… I had heard of what the Haomun was like, but seeing it in person feels different…"
Bing Yerin's eyes spun in circles—not from motion sickness, but for a different reason. Seol Ri-hyang let out a small chuckle at her appearance and poked her in the side.
"Stay sharp. If you look like easy prey, it's over just like that."
"But I'm a Transcendent Peak martial artist, even if I'm only at the early stage?"
"You think Transcendent Peak martial artists can't be scammed? Well, if you're unlucky, it goes beyond being scammed—you get poisoned, your pressure points get sealed, and you end up as merchandise… but that's an extremely rare case."
"…Then why is Haomun still standing?"
Bing Yerin, scanning her surroundings with a wary posture. The look only made her seem more clumsy, but… well, it didn't matter.
I pressed down on Seol Ri-hyang's crown, who was grinning, and said,
"Don't tease her too much. The reason Haomun is still standing is because their top priority is survival. If anyone ever prioritized profit over survival, they either left Haomun on their own two feet… or died a guest death not long after."
"Huh? So you mean…"
"If you had come alone, Bing Yerin, things would have gotten very troublesome for you. Guangdong Province is too far for the backing of the North Sea Ice Palace to be of any use, and news travels slowly. So, as Seol Ri-hyang said, you could have been scammed, or if you were unlucky, the sect leader or an executive-level figure might have personally stepped in to capture you."
But the Bing Yerin here now had come with me, no one else. Above all, Bing Yerin and I were companions of Seol Ri-hyang, who had received the sect leader's invitation.
"At most, you might get overcharged without realizing it, but nothing beyond that. Not as long as Haomun fears me and the Tang Clan."
"So you're saying that if anything happens to me, Lady Seol, the Tang Clan, and even the Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord would go on a rampage?"
"Since I brought you here at my own request, that much is only natural. …Ah, but I won't take responsibility for any trouble you stir up first."
"I had no such intention. What exactly do you take me for?"
"?"
Isn't it common sense that once you have backing, you'd want to use it to raise some hell?
It seemed that the North Sea, being the distant Outer Murim, had different common sense from the Central Plains.
As I nodded to myself with that thought, the gaze I had been feeling little by little since earlier grew increasingly blatant.
Unlike the entrance area, where many merchants simply paid their protection fees, the deeper one went, the more shops operated directly by Haomun or the unorthodox sects cooperating with them appeared.
The Haomun Leader had personally sent a letter, and as a group that dealt in information, there was no way they wouldn't know what I looked like.
They were surely watching to see if they recognized me and might let slip some worthwhile information.
Still, perhaps they hadn't expected me to arrive this quickly. The signs of fluster were considerable.
And so I moved deeper into the pleasure district, until the point where, more than ordinary customers, I began to see more patrons who clearly had some skill in one field or another.
Finally, I reached my destination.
Even though it was already past midnight, the buildings blazed so brightly they hurt the eyes. Amidst a scene that truly felt like a city that never slept, one pavilion stood out above all others.
"Jeokwolru? Another pavilion? Be honest with me, Cheon Hwi. You actually have a thing for taking women to pleasure houses, don't you?"
"It's just where the Haomun Leader is."
"I'm joking. But seriously, between the Lust Demon and the Honghua Pavilion Mistress who died at your hands, Cheon Hwi, why do you always end up at pleasure houses?"
"Because it's the one business that never goes under."
After all, this area was Haomun territory. Unless the Imperial Court personally stepped in to crush them, or every man suddenly became impotent, a pleasure house would never go bankrupt.
Of course, there was also the fact that they were the easiest places to extract information.
Men's tongues loosened with drink, and loosened even further in front of a woman they fancied.
"Well, that's none of our concern. Besides, we're only planning to stay for a few sijin before heading out."
"True enough. And look, they've already sent someone to greet us. Let's get this over with quickly."
Seol Ri-hyang nodded and lightly extended her hand. At the tip of her index finger, a woman was descending with a graceful, feather-light step.
Well, that made sense. They had been spotted plenty of times on the way here, so it would be strange if Haomun hadn't finished preparing to receive them by now.
I could tell she moved with a certain refinement, but… what caught my attention more was that her footwork resembled an assassin's.
That was all the fault of the Slaughter King for tormenting me so much, and the Heavenly Demon for keeping him alive.
As usual, I was in the middle of blaming the Heavenly Demon for anything that displeased me when the woman who had come to greet us bowed her head deeply before us.
"It is an honor to meet you, Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord, and Young Lady Cheong-eum Binghwa. The Haomun Leader awaits you. Shall I escort you right away?"
"Yes. Lead the way."
In my heart, I wanted to see Seol Ri-hyang's father and hurry back, but that wasn't an option.
After all, wasn't it the Haomun Leader who had brought Seol Ri-hyang's dying father here, barely keeping him alive, and who had invited us along with a letter detailing his condition and final request?
I nodded and followed the woman up the stairs of Jeokwol Tower.
And so we arrived at the top floor. I had expected as much, given that she was the owner of a pleasure house, but the Haomun Leader was a woman in the bloom of youth. And then.
"Hmm…"
"If there's something you wish to say, please feel free."
"Would it be insulting to say you're not as good as the Lust Demon?"
"…"
The Haomun Leader widened her eyes as if wronged.