****
Cheong-su had always thought that he needed to discipline this impudent fellow's behavior once.
He had even spoken to Cheong-hwa about it; Muk Hwi-young had a strange tendency to look down on martial artists.
Such a perception was not good for Muk Hwi-young, who would become a martial artist in the future.
In the first place, it was a mystery why such a perception was embedded in him.
Usually, ordinary people were supposed to fear and revere martial artists.
'Suffer for once.'
In truth, there was no need to go as far as the Sect Leader.
What reason was there to convey the opinion of someone who wasn't even a main mountain disciple to the Sect Leader?
It was simply a method Cheong-su chose to break Muk Hwi-young's spirit.
Muk Hwi-young lacked respect and fear for his elders.
He wouldn't dare to act like that in front of the Sect Leader of Wudang.
And even if he could speak proudly, it would be dismissed as it was a story without basis.
"Jinin. I was wrong. The Sect Leader is a bit……."
"I have already told the Sect Leader that I would go with you. You're not thinking of making me out to be an unreliable person, are you?"
"It's not that…."
Muk Hwi-young was deeply flustered, just as Cheong-su had intended.
He was always slick, but he did his work so well that there was no opportunity to say anything, so seeing his expression now was incredibly satisfying.
Muk Hwi-young sighed but couldn't help but follow Cheong-su.
When they entered the Sect Leader's office in Samcheonggwan, the elders and the Sect Leader of Wudang were already seated.
They were all gathered because the salt business would have a significant impact on the budgets of the Wudang Sect's pavilions.
Cheong-su glanced at Muk Hwi-young as he entered.
As expected, Muk Hwi-young's face was pale.
"Ahem. A mere disciple said that we should not do the salt business this time."
"Do we have to listen to that?"
"You said he's not even a main mountain disciple, but a lay disciple."
The elders immediately voiced their complaints.
The very idea of a lay disciple, barely of crowning age, giving an opinion on a major affair of the Wudang Sect was absurd.
"Sect Leader Sahyung. I have brought him."
When Cheong-su spoke, the Sect Leader, who had been silent until then, stared blankly at Muk Hwi-young.
Muk Hwi-young immediately fixed his eyes on the floor.
To be fair, how many people could stare wide-eyed in front of Cheong-yi, the Taiji Sword Emperor, one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven?
"So this is the friend."
"Yes. He has a negative opinion about the salt business……."
"Not that. The friend that Cheong-hwa has his eye on."
"Ah, yes. That is correct."
Cheong-yi's inner energy flickered slightly and then enveloped Muk Hwi-young.
It was to see Muk Hwi-young's muscles, bones, qi meridians, and inner energy.
Muk Hwi-young probably felt like he was being stripped naked right now.
"I can't tell for sure yet. But Cheong-hwa's eyes couldn't possibly be wrong."
Cheong-yi withdrew his inner energy.
Muk Hwi-young immediately let out a rough breath.
It was understandable that his breath would become ragged after being enveloped in that majestic inner energy.
"Alright. Let the Pavilion Master of Gokjeongak speak first."
"Pardon?"
Cheong-su was flustered.
This was a place where Muk Hwi-young should be the target.
"As to why we should not buy salt at the Yichang market this time."
"That is not my opinion, but……."
"In any case, it is an opinion that came from Gokjeongak, so the Pavilion Master should compile it and report it to me."
This wasn't it.
Cheong-su felt that things had gotten slightly twisted.
"If it is deemed to be without basis, the Pavilion Master will be punished."
Suddenly, things took a strange turn.
At that moment, Muk Hwi-young's expression changed completely.
"I am not a person of Gokjeongak."
Cheong-su looked at Muk Hwi-young with a stunned face.
Even he, a Saje, did not directly refute the Sect Leader's words.
Because it was a matter of courtesy to a senior elder.
However, Muk Hwi-young didn't care at all.
"I don't know why martial artists like joint liability so much, but this is not even a case to apply joint liability. As I said before, it is because I am not a person of Gokjeongak."
"You are standing in that spot because you are being treated as a person of Gokjeongak."
"I have never asked to be treated as such."
Cheong-yi's eyes sank deeply.
It was a gaze with a weight that an ordinary disciple would find difficult to bear, but Muk Hwi-young continued speaking.
"This salt business will surely fail."
"The basis?"
"I don't have one at the moment."
"You don't have one at the moment?"
The elders burst into hollow laughter.
However, Cheong-yi did not laugh and quietly waited for Muk Hwi-young's words.
"But I will let you know before the market opens."
"That is too late. I also received a letter from the Shanxi Prefecture. It said to buy as much as possible as they will cut the price of salt this time. With such good conditions, other places will surely try to buy up the rice before it's harvested. There is no time to delay."
"Buying up the rice before it's harvested is an action taken only when buying in large quantities."
Buying up the rice before it's harvested.
It was paying a deposit and then taking the goods after paying the balance.
Since it was a transaction based on credit, it was a method implicitly used only when trading a lot.
"I can assert that big players like the Huizhou merchants will absolutely not interfere in the salt business of this market. So there is plenty of time."
"That too is a statement without basis."
"This is something that can be proven right away."
"How?"
An arc was drawn in Muk Hwi-young's eyes.
"Among the lay disciples this time, there is a child of a merchant king, is there not? A merchant king would be the Yu family, one of the fifteen clans of Huizhou. We can just ask them directly, can't we? The only big players who would buy up the rice before it's harvested in Hubei are the Huizhou merchants."
Cheong-yi looked at Muk Hwi-young and then turned his head toward the door outside.
"Call Cheong-hyeon. Tell him to bring the child of the merchant king."
"As you command!"
From outside, the sound of a warrior moving nimbly was heard immediately.
Until Cheong-hyeon arrived, the room was filled with a suffocating tension.
A young man, barely of crowning age, was now having a battle of wills with the Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect.
Even Cheong-su was feeling dizzy, but Muk Hwi-young seemed completely unfazed.
Soon, Cheong-hyeon entered breathlessly with a frail-looking young man.
"You called for me, Sect Leader."
"Yes. Is the one next to you the child of the merchant king?"
The frail-looking man had a timid expression that matched his face.
He would have never thought that a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect would meet the Sect Leader.
"My name is Yu Hong-yang."
"Alright. Hong-yang-a. I called you because I have something I want to ask."
"What is it?"
"Are the Huizhou merchants participating in the Yichang market this time?"
Yu Hong-yang's body trembled.
He seemed to be quite timid.
It was a natural reaction since he had no idea of the Sect Leader's intentions in asking such a thing.
"As far as I know, I believe they are not."
"Why? If fifty businesses are coming, isn't it quite a big market?"
"I would have to go to my family's home to hear the exact circumstances, but there are no clans among the fifteen clans of Huizhou that are entering the Yichang market."
Yu Hong-yang's voice was trembling, but an assertion was an assertion.
The Samcheonggwan meeting room became as quiet as if cold water had been poured on it.
If there were Shanxi merchants in the north of the river, there were Huizhou merchants in the south.
If Shanxi merchants were coming, it was quite a big market, so it was definitely strange that the Huizhou merchants were not participating.
"……Alright, you may leave."
Cheong-yi, who had been unable to speak for a long time, barely opened his mouth.
Yu Hong-yang was about to bow his waist deeply, but when Cheong-hyeon poked his waist with his hand, he performed a cupped-fist salute and exited the meeting room.
The martial world had its own laws.
"How did you know? That the Huizhou merchants would not participate in the Yichang market this time."
As soon as he left, Cheong-yi looked at Muk Hwi-young.
"That's a trade secret, you shouldn't be digging into that."
"A trade secret?"
"Yes. In any case, I am glad that there seems to be at least a little more trust in my words."
Muk Hwi-young beamed as if he hadn't grasped the mood.
Or maybe he was doing it on purpose.
Even the elders who had been voicing their complaints without a break could not open their mouths now.
Because in the end, Muk Hwi-young had proven at least one of his statements.
Cheong-yi let out a sigh and spoke.
"We will not buy up the rice before it's harvested."
"Sect Leader!"
The elders were startled.
They were worried about losing the salt.
However, even in Cheong-su's opinion, that was a rational judgment.
Muk Hwi-young's statement that there would be no big player to buy up the rice before it's harvested if the Huizhou merchants were not there was an accurate insight.
Among the elders here, the only ones who knew about the merchant world to some extent were Cheong-su, the Pavilion Master of Gokjeongak, and Cheong-yi, who was listening to his report.
"Go to the market and buy it directly."
"Yes."
Cheong-su answered.
As expected, the Wudang Sect was not a place to be taken lightly enough to change its policy based on the words of a mere lay disciple.
"Instead, take that child with you."
The place Cheong-yi's finger pointed to was Muk Hwi-young.
Muk Hwi-young had a bewildered face.
"This child must train in the Wudang Sect."
"The salt business determines Wudang's year. Can you say it is more important than that?"
At Cheong-yi's stern words, Cheong-su lowered his head.
It was certainly true.
In fact, if someone was not going to become a master because they missed a few days, they were not destined to become a master in the first place.
At that moment, Muk Hwi-young cut in without any sense.
"What should I do when I get there?"
"Buy the salt."
"Pardon?"
This was a story that would make even Cheong-su dumbfounded.
Because until now, Muk Hwi-young was the person who had been insisting that they shouldn't buy the salt.
"We are not simply doing the salt business to earn money. It is to stabilize the lives of the common people by supplying salt stably to the Hubei province. In any case, we have no choice but to buy the salt."
"So if you just wait a bit……."
"I cannot believe that."
At Cheong-yi's words, Muk Hwi-young's mouth shut.
What more could be said when he said he couldn't believe it.
"You must buy the salt. You cannot come back empty-handed. Instead, since you seem to have good skills, buy it cheaply."
"What kind of tyranny is that?"
Muk Hwi-young couldn't hold it in and burst out.
Even in Cheong-su's opinion, there was a part of Cheong-yi's words that didn't make sense.
Ah. Only then did Cheong-su realize.
Cheong-yi was also trying to train Muk Hwi-young right now.
By giving him a mission that was bound to fail.
"Pavilion Master of Gokjeongak. Please say something. Isn't this an absurd statement?"
Muk Hwi-young immediately clung to Cheong-su, but Cheong-su had already finished his calculations.
"We will do so."
"Pavilion Master?"
"Yes. Let's move on to the next agenda."
Muk Hwi-young's shout was ignored, and they immediately moved on to the next agenda.
Muk Hwi-young was kicked out of the meeting room without being able to say anything more.
Cheong-su saw Muk Hwi-young's resentful gaze but pretended not to see it until the end.
<><><>
"Damn horse-noses."
I sighed.
I had always disliked the irrational and impractical mindset of martial artists, but now I was thinking that there was no need to butt heads like this and get on their bad side for no reason.
I butted heads for no reason.
In my view, I had definitely gotten on Cheong-yi's bad side.
Otherwise, there was no way he would give me such a ridiculous task.
Wasn't he openly telling me to cut the price?
If he had bought up the rice before it's harvested, there would at least be room to cut the price since he was buying in large quantities, but if he paid on the spot, those stubborn Shanxi merchants would surely cut the price very well.
Was it fortunate that I had discovered the child of the merchant king while spending time with the lay disciples?
If it weren't for Yu Hong-yang, the situation could have escalated to something even worse.
"……What should I do."
I was in deep thought before going down to Gungdogak.
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
The Outer Courtyard.
The Outer Courtyard was where the lay disciples were.
When a merchant was in trouble, it was only natural to receive help from a merchant.
I immediately changed direction and went down to the Outer Courtyard.
In the Outer Courtyard, there were many people related to banks, armed escort agencies, and merchant guilds.
And if they were coming as lay disciples of the Wudang Sect, they would likely be people from the region south of North China.
"Jeon Oh-soo!"
As soon as I went down to the Outer Courtyard, I saw a ray of light.
It was none other than Jeon Oh-soo, the son of the Wuhan Bank, with a flustered expression.