Jin Sohan and the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master drank at the same time.
Jin Sohan had already emptied an entire bottle of Moonlit Night Wine downstairs. The instant he drank what the maid from Moonlit Night Pavilion poured for him, he’d noticed.
So they mixed in an aphrodisiac.
As the drug began spreading through his body, Jin Sohan’s ash-gray eyes rippled ever so slightly. With the whole pavilion kept dim, it was something no one could possibly see.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master smiled and spoke to Jin Sohan.
“Bold. Good. Another?”
“Sure.”
The maid alternated, refilling Jin Sohan’s cup and the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s cup. Again, the two of them drained their cups at the same time, and the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master said,
“Let’s skip introductions and get to the point. From the look of you, you came here to have some fun from another region—what do you want?”
As if he was used to this sort of thing, the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master omitted names and went straight to business. He believed Jin Sohan had disrupted the auction because he wanted a face-to-face with him. So his attitude was clear: if Jin stopped interfering with the auction from now on, he’d be treated accordingly.
And on top of that, he’d laced the liquor. A sneaky bastard.
Of course, an aphrodisiac wouldn’t kill you. But it could make you lose your head to a pretty face. Right on cue, the courtesan the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master had summoned approached with a coquettish smile—then, the moment she saw his gesture, she plastered herself against Jin Sohan’s side.
“Young Master, I’ll attend to you.”
The courtesan, pale-skinned, sat and immediately clung to Jin Sohan’s arm, subtly pressing her breasts against him.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master laughed, entertained by her behavior.
“You’re getting right to the point too.”
Jin Sohan frowned at the heavy powder scent, then pulled out the White Fan he’d kept tucked in the upper pocket of his white martial robe and started fanning as he spoke.
“Back off a little.”
“…Pardon?”
“The powder smell is choking me. Stay back. And take your hands off.”
“Yes.”
With the folding fan in his left hand, Jin Sohan fanned lazily, slipped a trace of inner energy into it, and briefly breathed in the flower scent that flowed out from the fan. It was an infuriatingly smug gesture—like he was cleansing his nose after that momentary disgust from her powder. As he continued to fan the White Fan for a moment, a gentle, fragrant floral scent spread through the second floor.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s expression turned sour at Jin Sohan’s behavior, and he jerked his chin at the courtesan again. It didn’t matter. Once the aphrodisiac fully took hold and the man lost his senses, they could tie him up with anyone and send him to a room. He’d be unable to crawl out of a courtesan’s arms until his essence was wrung dry—and then they could send a single swordsman to finish it. That was all.
Reading the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s gaze, the courtesan tried to come close again, and Jin Sohan snorted and scolded her.
“Stop.”
The courtesan answered, a little frightened.
“Yes.”
Jin Sohan looked at the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master and smiled.
“I might jump you now that I’ve had an aphrodisiac, so stay far away. I’m talking to your Pavilion Master. Don’t interrupt.”
He flicked his hand as if shooing her away.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master’s face hardened for a beat—then he burst into a hearty laugh and said to the courtesan,
“Hahaha…! Buyeon, step back. Looks like I need to have a serious talk with our guest.”
“Yes, Pavilion Master.”
After the courtesan bowed politely and retreated with a scared face, Jin Sohan snapped the White Fan shut with a sharp—
SHRAK—
—and tucked it back into his white martial robe.
At that moment, the courtesan who’d been retreating collapsed onto the floor as if she’d fainted.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master, who’d been watching it with a casual glance, turned back to Jin Sohan and asked in a heavy voice,
“What do you want? Money? Women? Or do you want me to introduce you to the Blood-Whisper Sect?”
Jin Sohan let out a cold little laugh.
“Before that… we need to settle something. You laced it?”
The two of them were talking as casually as if they’d known each other for ten years. And by now the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master knew Jin Sohan wasn’t an ordinary man, so it wasn’t the time to nitpick his tone.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master answered smoothly.
“It’s just an aphrodisiac… I was only trying to treat you well.”
“Just? It’s the kind of drug that gets you rolling around until you’re perfect for taking a blade. Isn’t it?”
Come to think of it, the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master found it strange—why had Jin Sohan shown no reaction at all, even after drinking an aphrodisiac?
“Why aren’t you affected?”
Normally, a man’s face would be burning red by now—so far gone he’d be forcing himself on any maid who passed through this floor, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
Jin Sohan replied.
“Do I have to tell you that?”
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master was still brimming with ease.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to tell me before you die? I could even let you die cleanly.”
He’d brought all the experts guarding him.
If the line of guards rushed in and he joined them, he thought he could tear apart a martial artist in his mid-twenties with ease.
It was only that the auction was still in progress, so he wanted to handle it quietly.
So while he tried to intimidate Jin with words, he was also thinking, Why is this bastard so relaxed?
“…Hmm.”
Just then, one of the guards waiting nearby dropped to the floor.
THUD…!
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master whipped his head around.
“What is this?”
The moment the others stepped forward to check the fallen man, the rest of the lined-up guards began collapsing one after another—like bundles of straw toppling in sequence. And because they were dropping unconscious, the noise was downright raucous.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master shouted,
“What is it! Choo Sahyeok!”
He called for the head of his guard detail—the pavilion’s second-in-command. From somewhere, a slack, weakening voice answered faintly.
“Yes…”
Even Choo Sahyeok’s state was wrong. He hadn’t fallen like the others, but he was slumped on the floor, drenched in sweat.
Choo Sahyeok was a tall martial artist with a reddish cast to his face—now his jaw trembled as he told the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master,
“It’s… po… poison…”
With that, Choo Sahyeok folded into a seated position and began circulating his inner energy and regulating his breath to drive the poison out.
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master started to turn back toward Jin Sohan—
—and his own eyelids suddenly grew heavy. He lost consciousness for a moment and slammed his head straight into the table.
BANG!
Jin Sohan swept his bored gaze over the fallen men.
A few were twitching, barely resisting sleep, but they were sprawled out and limp, showing no sign of getting back up. The only reason anyone could even hold on this long was because Jin Sohan hadn’t scattered much Drunken Dream Powder.
That Choo Sahyeok at least had the strongest inner energy—and the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master, now face-planted on the table, looked comparable.
After a brief blackout, the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master stretched both hands out, shoved against the tabletop, and with effort peeled his head off it.
His face had already turned ashen.
Jin Sohan spoke leisurely.
“I didn’t spray it straight at you in the first place. And you still can’t endure even this, yet you swagger around calling yourself the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master. Disappointing. Or is it because you trained around external techniques? Your inner energy’s worse than even your guards’.”
“You… you damn bastard…”
The Moonlit Night Pavilion Master spat the curse out like he was chewing and swallowing broken teeth.
When Jin Sohan had fanned the White Fan, he’d slipped a trace of inner energy into it and launched the Drunken Dream Powder packed inside the fan toward the subordinates.
The Drunken Dream Powder’s sweet scent rode Jin Sohan’s inner energy and the fan’s wind, dropping the lined-up guards—and as the fragrance spread, it reached the Moonlit Night Pavilion Master a beat later.
Jin Sohan continued, calmly, even as he drank the liquor that had been mixed with an aphrodisiac.
“Pavilion Master, you should figure out what condition you’re in before you start running your mouth.”
If Jin Sohan stood up right now and started cutting, he could slaughter everyone on this floor in an instant.
Someone shouted from the stairs as they rushed up.
“Pavilion Master!”
After witnessing the disturbance on this floor, Moonlit Night Pavilion staff poured in—pushing past the guards collapsed in the narrow corridor. As they appeared on this floor, Jin Sohan spoke to them.
“If you want to dream, come in.”
At that, the ones at the front breathed in what lingered in the air and collapsed again. The people trying to enter this floor flinched and retreated.
The truth was, Moonlit Night Pavilion’s experts were gathered on this floor. The staff and guards coming up from the first floor couldn’t do anything.
From the back, someone murmured to a superior in a small voice.
“What do we do? Should we send word?”
It meant sending word to the Blood-Whisper Sect—but the auction hadn’t ended yet, and both the front and back doors were locked.
The man who’d been asked shook his head.
“No. It’s useless. Let’s go back down.”
Choo Sahyeok held the keys—yet he was sweating buckets, busy circulating his inner energy and regulating his breath. Before they could even reach him, they’d either lose consciousness or be killed by Jin Sohan. That was obvious.
Even downstairs, the murmuring was growing louder.
When a few guests participating in the auction tried to come up to this floor, the man in blue martial robes—who’d been cleaning his sword—warned them in a flat tone.
“Interfere in someone else’s organization and you’ll invite trouble, won’t you? How will you bear the Blood-Whisper Sect’s interrogation? Just remain guests who participated in the auction. Then you’ve committed no crime. That’s the cleanest path, isn’t it?”
It was reasonable enough that no one wanted to come up to this floor.
Jin Sohan looked down toward the first floor and said,
“I’m going to talk for a bit, so don’t mind us. If you’re bored, keep auctioning.”
The man in blue martial robes nodded in a friendly manner.
“Take your time with your business.”
The two of them met eyes and smiled at the same time. In that smile was the meaning: an acknowledgment of each other’s presence, at least to a certain degree.
With things turning out like this, there was no way the auction could proceed properly.