For fleecing, bandits alone were enough.
The moment he settled on that, the middle-aged man came to his senses and approached.
Without a shred of hesitation he bowed his head toward Jeong I-shin.
His two hands were joined politely as well, in the clasped hands greeting he had only ever heard about.
“Thank you, Master! I am Shin Jong-ik of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency.”
“I am Jeong I-shin.”
“Master Jeong! I have received a great kindness, but...... might this Shin set aside his shame and make one request of you?”
“Hmm......”
Jeong I-shin closed his mouth and nodded.
It felt awkward to act so stiffly toward an adult older than himself, but this too was one article of the Jianghu Code of Conduct, a way of raising one's price.
Sure enough, Shin Jong-ik's expression turned earnest at once.
“Master Jeong! I will show you a token of gratitude worthy of the name of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency. Please, grant me the chance to repay this grudge——!”
“Hmm......!”
The instant Jeong I-shin nodded, Shin Jong-ik raised his sword.
“Strike them down! Master Jeong stands with us! These are men who turned their blades on the Azure Cloud Escort Agency! Show them what we are made of!”
“Waaaah!”
There had hardly been any unharmed men left among the bandits to begin with. In the end, under Jeong I-shin's tacit consent, they became the Azure Cloud Escort Agency's prey.
The cleanup took no time at all.
Shin Jong-ik sheathed his sword and came straight to him with his head bowed.
“Once again, I offer you my thanks!”
“It was nothing.”
“I had heard there were restless movements within the unorthodox path, but I never expected them to come out this openly.”
“Hmm.”
“It is small, but it is my sincerity.”
“Hmm!”
Shin Jong-ik handed over a small pouch.
The moment the thought ‘it really is small’ crossed his mind, Shin Jong-ik immediately spoke up.
“Please understand that this is the small sincerity of Shin himself, not of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency. Our agency has a branch in Dawu County at the foot of the mountain. There I would like to repay you properly.”
The purse he took was fairly heavy. It felt embarrassing even to Jeong I-shin to open it in front of the man, so he settled for weighing it in his hand.
Still, Shin Jong-ik's attitude felt excessive.
‘All I did was beat down one bandit, wasn't it?’
Shin Jong-ik's level was not high enough to see through what he had hidden, either.
And yet the eyes looking at him sparkled.
They shone brightly enough to be a burden.
So, as he had planned from the start, he shook his head.
“It is all right. This is enough for me.”
“Ah......”
Shin Jong-ik looked deeply disappointed at the refusal.
Jeong I-shin pointed at the bandit collapsed at his feet.
This had been Jeong I-shin's purpose from the beginning.
“I've been drawn in as well, so I should finish this in my own way.”
But somehow Shin Jong-ik took those words another way and let out a great exclamation.
“Aah......! The Beggar's Gang indeed! Seeing that no knots are visible, you must be that rumored tattered——ah, no, I have spoken too long. On your road of chivalrous deeds, this Shin would also accompany you——!”
“No, it's all right.”
“......Indeed! I will not stretch my words needlessly and shall take my leave. However, should you come down to Dawu County within three days, please do seek out the Azure Cloud Escort Agency.”
Saying that, Shin Jong-ik offered the clasped hands greeting once more and turned around.
When the long line of carts had disappeared beyond the distant ridge, Jeong I-shin tilted his head.
“What a strange fellow.”
Setting aside his second impression of the people of the Central Plains, he looked around.
The area was full of corpses. All of it the work of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency's escorts.
Even standing alone in such a place, no particular thought came to him.
‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I've witnessed a killing.’
When he had occasionally thought about the future in the Bottomless Abyss, he had pictured this sort of situation.
Killing.
Kill or be killed.
He had expected it would be very hard on him mentally, and that the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture's function would activate.
But right now the Scripture's true qi was too busy tending the internal injury carried over from the Bottomless Abyss to bother with his mind.
It was a strange feeling.
‘Has my spirit grown that much?’
Or has it been worn away?
SQUEAK—
A small cry came from inside his robes.
“......Right, there's a lot to do.”
He slid a hand into his inner pocket, stroked the flying squirrel lightly, and raised his foot.
His target was the bandit still lying face down.
PRESS—
“Wake up.”
PRESS!
“Wake up.”
GRIND—
“I-I'm up! I'm awake!!! I'm awake, Master! Please, forgive me!”
The bandit sprang up, dropped to his knees, and pressed his head to the ground.
The whole sequence flowed so naturally that it was like watching a single technique.
“Name.”
“Third Squad Leader of the Ink Tiger Keep, Heo Ung!”
“Good, let's go.”
“......Excuse me?”
“Let's go to your home.”
Heo Ung lifted the head he had buried and looked at him.
“Uh......”
Seriously?
“You're a fellow who can talk with his face. Well, of course I mean it. Does it look like a joke? Get up.”
“Y-Yes, yes! I will take you by the shortest route, Master!”
Heo Ung shot to his feet, stole another glance at Jeong I-shin, then turned and began walking.
It was when the two of them had crossed one mountain ridge.
“M-Master.”
“What?”
“I-I truly did not know. I was told it was nothing but household goods! Even if it was the Heavenly Martial Academy, I never thought a master of the Beggar's Gang would move......!”
“What are you talking about? Shut your mouth and walk.”
Heo Ung squeezed his eyes shut.
He had realized why this ghost of a man was dragging him to the mountain keep.
‘It was a Beggar's Gang trap!’
The road he had always walked back in high spirits after a raid now felt like hell.
No, the Ink Tiger Keep he would soon reach would be the true hell.
‘The Wind and Dust Life-Pursuing Corps? ......No, no. Judging by the state of the clothes he's wearing, it's the Tattered Garment Iron Guard Corps.’
Was this a matter grave enough for the Beggar's Gang's greatest force to take the field?
‘To think I was swayed by the Boss' words for nothing......!’
His legs shook harder the closer the mountain keep came.
Just as he had told Shin Jong-ik, the times were what they were.
The clash of orthodox and unorthodox that had been unfolding beneath the surface had risen above it long ago.
Even the great sects that had kept up appearances spilled blood often enough.
The Ink Tiger Keep had its name listed among the Green Forest Seventy-Two Keeps, but it was literally just one of seventy-two mountain keeps. And the lowest of them at that!
If the Beggar's Gang had set its mind to move, the keep would already have been cleanly wiped out!
‘I'll probably be the last.’
Heo Ung, having finally arrived at resignation, reached the Ink Tiger Keep.
The moment he stood before the tall palisade, a familiar voice came from atop the watchtower.
“Third Squad Leader, you're back? Hm? But where did everyone go, and only the two of you returned?”
“......Huh?”
Why is everything so intact?
***
The Dawu County branch of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency.
Before the goods had even finished being sorted, Shin Jong-ik requested an audience with the branch head.
Knowing his naturally serious character, the branch head summoned him to his office at once.
Before the tea had even steeped, Shin Jong-ik spoke.
“I believe I met one of the candidates for the Beggar's Gang's...... Beggar Successor.”
“What!?”
“Just before arriving at the branch......”
The branch head leapt up after hearing Shin Jong-ik's account.
“What, such a thing happened? How truly fortunate! The Five Heavenly Stars were watching over you!”
“Yes, and no matter how many times I turn it over, that Master's identity is no ordinary matter. It was absolutely not a martial prowess one sees in someone of that age.”
“Hmm...... even so, the Beggar Successor......”
“They never reveal their identity until it is decided. But I believe the possibility is high.”
The branch head narrowed his brow and asked carefully.
“You mean he was that impressive?”
“Yes. There has never been a beggar's state like his. Both sleeves were torn off roughly, thrown away who knows where, and his hair looked untouched for years.”
“My......”
“A filthy martial arts uniform goes without saying, and the robe he wore was faded as though it had aged for decades.”
“Ha ha!”
“And yet he was strong. Not once could I follow the movements of a young man who looked barely twenty.”
Watching the tea trickle into the cup, Shin Jong-ik said,
“Is there not a rumor quietly going around lately?”
“......The future of the Beggar's Gang lies in the Tattered Garment Iron Guard Corps.”
“Yes.”
Shin Jong-ik nodded with conviction. Then he quietly closed his words.
“He was a man whose righteous spirit reached the heavens. If our agency could earn even a handful of his goodwill, then someday......”
***
The Jianghu Code of Conduct.
Chapter Two of the funding section consists of lending strength to escort agencies and receiving a fee. It was said to be useful mainly when traveling long distances.
However, Jeong I-shin had no intention yet of becoming deeply entangled with anyone in this land.
Separate from the Jianghu Code of Conduct, Jeong I-shin had also clearly set out what he had to do here.
‘Revenge.’
Kill the bastard who betrayed the old men. From the start, that was all.
Of course, he had no thought of accomplishing it alone.
‘Why would I do that alone?’
Tell the old men's sects the truth, join forces, and beat the bastard to death!
Had not Namgung Baek said as much?
That there was no telling what form Jaegal Gi-cheon might be in.
It meant that the places Jeong I-shin could truly trust were already decided.
‘It might be a fuss over nothing, but there's no harm in being careful.’
So he had taken only a very light token from the escort agency and made a plan to follow Chapter One of the funding section.
Unlike the escort agency chapter, Chapter One was very simple in content.
‘Fleecing bandits.’
Apart from a few renowned mountain keeps, they were all said to be nothing much.
Sure enough, seeing the level of Heo Ung and his subordinates, even a body less than whole should be plenty.
That was certainly how it had seemed......
“Third Squad Leader, you're back? Hm? But where did everyone go, and only the two of you returned?”
CREEEAK!
With a harsh sound the palisade gate opened.
The mountain keep was bigger than he expected. A stockade he had to crane his neck to see the top of ran along the mountain ridge.
Between that and the watchtower that had recognized Heo Ung a moment ago, the defenses did not look laughable.
Jeong I-shin met Heo Ung's eyes.
“Bigger than I thought.”
“Y-Yes, it is. Haha......”
Heo Ung's face was still one whose thoughts could be read plainly.
Faint hope had begun to settle over a face that had been dark with despair.
‘How many are inside? More than a few dozen, surely?’
A few dozen, then.
When dealing with Heo Ung, his breathing had not even quickened. That level of force was laughable for shaking down an escort agency.
But the main camp would be different.
‘Green Forest, Green Forest......’
He dug a little further through his head.
It was an organization that had come up fairly often in Tang Mu-jeong's jianghu education.
One of the seven forces under the Unorthodox Alliance.
Not everyone in a mountain keep was a combatant, he had said. They used the kidnapped and the enslaved as labor.
‘Hmm...... go in? Or not?’
Heo Ung and his men had been so weak that he could not properly gauge his own level.
While he was deliberating, Heo Ung suddenly bolted inside.
“Enemy!!! We're under attack!!”
“Such a fuss.”
He had sensed it coming, but he did not bother to stop him.
If he went in they would meet anyway, and if they withdrew, that would be the end of it.
Just then, through the gate, he happened to see the scene inside.
A woman was being dragged along by the hair in a bandit's grip.
It was a scene that passed in an instant, yet it loomed unusually large.
“......Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, Jeong I-shin immediately pushed through the half-open gate and walked in.
Quickening his steps, he caught the bandit who had been dragging the woman.
“Eh? A beggar? What are you? I've never seen your face.”
“None of your business.”
“What? You little bas—— aaaargh!”
The bandit tried without a moment's thought to slap Jeong I-shin across the face, and Jeong I-shin lightly caught the arm and bent it back.
After driving the man's head into the ground, Jeong I-shin gestured for the woman to fall back.
“Th-Thank......”
The woman opened and closed her mouth several times, then bobbed her head and withdrew.
At the same moment, Heo Ung's voice came from deeper in the keep.
“The enemy's come in, you bastards! The Beggar's Gang! The Beggar's Gang has moved!! It's a Beggar's Gang beggar bastard!”
At that the commotion spread like wildfire.
From far off, Heo Ung jabbed a finger at Jeong I-shin.
“You stupid bastard! You're dead now!”
“Who does he keep calling a beggar.”
Heo Ung promptly fled deeper into the keep.
There were quite a few obstacles between them for an immediate pursuit.
Bandits were already pouring out of the buildings all over the keep.
Every one of them was well built, and none of them looked to be thinking deeply about the situation.
Jeong I-shin, too, walked toward them with a light heart.
“Gwahaha! I'll take care of——”
“Some beggar bas—— khuk!”
“Move, you bastard. I'll handle—— urk!”
He moved exactly half a step to dodge, and brushed them lightly as he passed.
That was all.
Even so, the bandits dropped one after another.
The martial arts he had created together with the old men all consumed a great deal of inner arts.
For Jeong I-shin, whose accumulated qi Tang Mu-jeong had called ‘pitiable,’ it felt wasteful to spend inner arts on such feeble men.
So he simply tapped them with a hand wrapped in Heavenly Thunder Qi.
‘With the feeling of electrocuting them. I wasn't sure, but now it's certain. There's no need to release it strongly. Contact is enough.’
“Guhk!”
“Uweck!”
It was when more than twenty of them lay twitching on the ground.
“Yooou! Halt!”
“Hm? ......Now he's throwing a fit.”
A dry laugh escaped him.
At some point he had come all the way into the center of the keep, and in the middle of it stood a great throne.
On that seat decorated with tiger pelts sat a giant of a man whose beard was thicker than the hair on his head.
Jeong I-shin let out a long sigh.
“You bandit bastards really do put on every kind of show.”