For some reason, Maeng Yu-baek was acting as solemn as a man who'd jumped into a tiger's mouth to escape a wolf, but…
Anyway, didn't he promise to grant our request if we resolved the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild's problem?
If so, I should handle it quickly and cleanly.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Lord of the Centipede Sect! The Guild Head showed you such goodwill, and this is how you repay it?!"
The shabby gate, which would hardly be surprising if it collapsed at any moment, was shaking violently.
And one man was desperately holding it shut. He was the sect member who had been wary of our group the other day.
I wondered why he was acting like that, and saw that the crossbar was smashed to pieces. It had apparently been breached once before, so he was using his body to plug the gap.
"How many times must I tell you! The Sect Leader is not present right now! Come back another time!"
"Not present, you say! I heard that someone came to buy poison from the Centipede Sect Leader yesterday, and since then, people have come in but no one has gone out! I know everything, so step aside!"
I see. So they had been holding out by pretending nothing was wrong.
It was only a stopgap measure that solved nothing… but then again, there wasn't much the Centipede Sect could do in the first place, so it was an understandable choice.
"You bastard! I figured you'd pull something like this, so I brought the elders with me! You call yourself a martial artist with all that strength… Elders, please handle this."
"W-What…?"
The confident voice outside the gate, and the flustered voice from within.
No wonder it felt familiar. This was just like the days before my regression, when I was doing odd jobs for the Black Alliance.
The most common task was protecting the smaller sects and merchant caravans under the Black Alliance's banner.
Surprisingly, there were Unorthodox Sects bastards who, thinking they wouldn't get caught—or that no one would dare come this far—would cause trouble even while knowing full well the place belonged to the Black Alliance.
Those types usually started by pounding on the front gate demanding money, and when that didn't work easily, they'd hire some decent wandering fighters and push through by force.
The sudden trip down memory lane lifted my spirits a little. Still in that pleasant mood, I patted the shoulder of the man standing guard at the gate.
"Hold on."
"What—! What are you doing here?! Go hide the sect leader at once… Huh?"
Mistaking me for another sect member, he had been whispering urgently, but now he just stared blankly, blinking.
His dazed expression was amusing, so I let out a snort of laughter and shoved him aside by the shoulder.
"Enough, move aside. I'll handle things from here."
"Eh? Eh…?"
He stammered as if he couldn't grasp the situation, but still shuffled behind me.
With the blockade gone, I'd thought the door would burst open at any moment… but perhaps it was because those so-called elders were on their way.
The door didn't open right away. Instead, a fairly intense presence was approaching from beyond it.
Three of them. Judging by the aura I could feel, each was a Peak Realm master. And not just at the threshold—they were close to full maturity in their cultivation.
They really came with the intent to finish this.
"You useless brat, Duchil. You couldn't handle a place like this, so you called us three brothers?"
"Brother, don't be too hard on him. Duchil's just doing what he's told, isn't he?"
"The youngest is right. Let's finish this quickly and go get a drink."
"Haha! If my little brothers want it that badly, I suppose I have no choice."
They chattered among themselves with boisterous laughter, and then internal energy began to concentrate beyond the gate.
So they intended to strike in one go and blow the gate clean off its hinges, did they?
With that in mind, I focused on drawing up my own internal energy, making sure not a shred of it leaked outward where the enemy might sense it.
And the moment their energy erupted—at that exact same instant—I thrust my palm out wide.
Thud!
The gate I pushed with my palm tore clean off its frame and flew into the distance.
"Kyaaah! My arm!"
"What the hell?!"
"B-brothers…!"
The three rogue martial artists screamed in their own ways as the gate carried them through the air.
After a long flight, their bodies tumbled across the ground, and the heavy wooden gate pressed down on top of them.
Still, they were skilled enough to try scrambling back to their feet quickly, so I shot a hint of killing intent their way.
"Stay lying down. If you get up, you die."
"""…"""
Whether they understood the words or not, the three immediately stopped resisting and quieted down.
"Th-that's the Sword Demon… no, Sword Lord. Yes, White Moon Sword Lord?"
"Hmm?"
I gave an awkward smile to the gatekeeper, whose mouth was now hanging open wide enough to drop his jaw.
"Sorry about that. I suppose the old memories got me carried away. Still, don't worry. The gate is fine—just fit the joints back into place later and it'll be good as new."
"It's strange that it's still intact after being hit that hard…"
For someone from the Heavenly Poison Sect, it was strange that he hadn't seen this level of skill before. The Heavenly Poison Sect wasn't an easy place, so it was probably that he was treated as a handyman rather than a proper sect member.
I lightly brushed the dust off his shoulder, which had gotten a bit dirty from the commotion a moment ago, and said.
"If you train hard, you'll get there too."
"R-really?"
"Actually, that was just empty words."
"???"
I passed by the man who was blinking his eyes and headed out through the wide-open gate.
It would be possible once one reached the Transcendent Peak, but that wasn't as easy as it sounded.
Instead, I looked at the middle-aged man who was stunned for a different reason.
"Let's see. Your name… Duchil?"
"Wh-what?! The White Moon Sword Lord?!"
Had he overheard our conversation just now? Or had he known me from before?
The middle-aged man, with a decent layer of flesh on his frame, took a step back and asked in a trembling voice.
"Why in the world are you here… R-right! The Centipede Sect! Do you know that those Centipede Sect bastards are descendants of the Heavenly Poison Sect?"
"Of course I know."
"Then why are you siding with them and lending them your strength?!"
"Hm? Surely you're not trying to move me with that silver tongue of yours?"
"Never! I would never—"
Duchil shrank back in an instant. As if to reassure the fellow, I patted his back a couple of times. Except, not with my hand—with my sword sheath.
"…!"
Only after confirming Duchil's reaction, as if he were about to stop breathing, did I speak.
"I have quite a bit of business at the Centipede Sect. But it seems there's a guest here. The Cheonghwa Merchant Group, was it?"
"Y-yes, sir…"
"Take me to their head merchant. From what I can see, it seems there was a bit of a misunderstanding between the Centipede Sect and the Cheonghwa Merchant Group."
"A misunderstanding, you say?"
"Yes. A misunderstanding. One that can be resolved with words before it becomes something big."
In other words, a statement that was no different from saying he would turn it into something big if things went wrong.
At this, Du-chil's face turned pale as he hastily bowed his head.
"Oh my! Of course, we should settle things amicably! Our head merchant will be overjoyed to have the Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord visit!"
"Good. Well thought. I'll bring my companions, so wait here for a moment."
Leaving the stiffened Du-chil behind, he turned around to see the Centipede Sect Leader and the others who had come out to watch.
"What's this. Were you all watching? Then this will be a quick conversation."
"Yes. I couldn't miss seeing the young hero Cheon acting differently from usual."
"Whoa… Cheon Hwi. That wasn't the skill of someone who's only done this once or twice."
"Just why are you so adept at threatening people with force, you?"
"…"
Well, that's because I'm a veteran.
I wanted to say that, but it also fell within the bounds of the seal, so I couldn't even utter anything similar.
Instead, I pointed at the three brothers still lying crushed beneath the main gate.
"Look. They brought those kinds of scum along."
Tang So-wol narrowed her eyes for a moment, gauging the ronin's martial levels, then nodded.
"Hmm. Even for ronin, hiring three experts at once wouldn't have been easy… Lord Centipede. I've never heard of them—might the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild be a considerable trading house?"
"Huh? Oh, uh. The Cheonghwa Merchant Guild has a tight grip on a few villages around here, but across all of Yunnan, they're not that impressive!"
"Then how…"
Tang So-wol tilted her head. Perhaps it was because she'd been stuck among those grimy men for a while.
I spoke toward her profile, which looked a little more beautiful than usual.
"It's simple. Their goal wasn't just to extort money—they meant to swallow the Centipede Sect whole."
The Centipede Sect Leader was at best first-rate. The other sect members ranged between second-rate and third-rate… but the Seven Flowers Centipede was a Peak Realm Spirit Beast.
Considering the difference between a human and a Spirit Beast, and the powerful weapon that poison represents, they must have mobilized enough force to definitively overpower the Centipede Sect.
Naturally, that would have cost a considerable sum.
It would be irrational to spend that much just to scare them into handing over Gold Coins.
If that's the case, then from the very beginning, the target of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild wasn't money, but something else.
It's a bit harsh to say, but the sect members weren't worth going to such lengths for… so it must have been Maeng Yu-baek. Or perhaps the Seven Flowers Centipede.
After hearing my explanation, Maeng Yu-baek asked with a shocked expression.
"Th-then, surely that ridiculous debt with interest was also targeting me from the start…"
"No, that was just you, the Centipede Sect Leader, being too naive and making a mistake."
"Ah!"
"But what came after must have been orchestrated by the Cheonghwa Merchant Association. You said you tried to work diligently, but no one would give you any work?"
"That's right. So instead of paying off the debt I took on to buy the house, I had no choice but to borrow even more. It wasn't a small amount, and I never imagined there would be no one at all. I didn't know the animosity toward the Heavenly Poison Sect ran this deep."
"That's what's strange. The Heavenly Poison Sect's infamy is so widespread that everyone in Yunnan knows of it. So it's understandable that people would shy away from a survivor of the sect. But isn't this the village where the Heavenly Poison Sect used to be? More than anyone, these people should know that some joined the sect because they had no other choice."
Yet they gave no work at all to the members of the Centipede Sect. It wasn't that they paid little—they refused to deal with them entirely.
Third-rate and second-rate martial artists may have lower skill and lower market value, but that should have made them cheaper to hire.
"After weakening the Centipede Sect like that, they sent someone to put the leash on at the very end. Isn't that right?"
"…!"
At the words telling him not to run, Do-chil, who had been standing in an awkward posture, turned pale.
At that, Maeng Yu-baek's expression briefly contorted, but he soon asked back in a calm voice.
"Then what would you have me do?"
"You should figure that out yourself. …I'd like to say that, but I've decided to help you with this matter. It's a simple task."
He stretched out his hand and pointed at the Seven-Tailed Centipede, which had been hiding in the shadows, ready to intervene if things went south.
"Bring Chil-gong and follow me. Ah, Tang So-wol, would you come along as well?"
"Hehe. Of course, I'd go anywhere the young hero Cheon goes."
"Cheon Hwi. What should Seomun unni and I do?"
"Just in case, keep watch over this place."
"Yes!"
After confirming that Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin nodded as if to say they'd take care of it, I asked Du-chil, who looked like he was about to pass out.
"I'll leave the guiding to you."
"Y-yes. Understood…"
I followed Du-chil toward the Cheonghwa Merchant Association. The building we arrived at before long was quite large.
Its grounds were wide enough to fit four Centipede Gates, and the hall rose three stories high.
A majesty incomparable to the crumbling Centipede Gate. Was that why I felt slightly intimidated?
Maeng Yu-baek, who had been following along atop the Seven-Flower Centipede, spoke up in an awkward voice.
"Lord White Moon Sword. I'm grateful for your help, but is this really possible? After all, I'm the one who stamped the seal."
"Don't worry. If it's a matter that can be resolved with money, I intend to resolve it with money."
It was originally the amount set aside to buy the Seven-Flower Centipede, but somehow I'd ended up saving it instead, hadn't I?
"But if it's a matter that can't be resolved with money… then I'll have to resolve it with my sword."
"Ah."
"Hm. With the Heavenly Poison Sect, I cut horizontally. This time, perhaps it would be good to try cutting vertically."
"Ugh…"
"Young hero Cheon?"
For some reason, Tang So-wol and Maeng Yu-baek were staring at him with startled expressions, so he shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm joking."
"…"
"…"
Their eyes clearly showed they didn't believe him at all.
***
He sensed internal energy with a similar quality to Maeng Yu-baek's emanating from the head of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild. Maeng Yu-baek, still only at the first-rate level, probably hadn't noticed, but this was the trace of someone who had trained in the martial arts of the Beast Palace.
"Ah-ha. Congratulations, Lord of the Centipede Sect. Even after leaving the order, it seems you're still one of the candidates for young head."
"Why…"
It seemed this matter would not end with money after all.