The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

The Diancang Sect was based on Mount Diancang, to the west of Yunnan. Their numbers totaled three hundred and fifty-five, and including their secular disciples, they exceeded a thousand. Among them, forty could be called first-rate masters, and ten could be called peak masters.

Recalling that the Hakseo Escort Agency, a rather successful escort agency in Luoyang, had only one first-rate master, the Righteous Sword Yi Deokryang, one could easily guess how large a force the Diancang Sect was.

As the battle between such a huge sect and the Martial Alliance drew near, the anxiety of the common people grew day by day. Of course, the most anxious must have been the Diancang Sect, who were on the verge of war.

Thus, the war began, and Jang So-gil set out on his journey home.

Jin Sangran and the two porters had horses, but the other five did not, so there was an additional expense of five dwarf horses. But as the number of people and horses increased, the amount of goods they could handle also increased, and their profits increased accordingly.

One day, a few days after Jang So-gil, who had made a considerable profit from his trip to Yunnan, returned in glory.

It was when he was enjoying a whole roasted pig with the children.

A beacon fire and a carrier pigeon from the south delivered the news of Yunnan to Luoyang.

* * *

The war was over. It was an overwhelming victory for the Martial Alliance.

Out of the three hundred and fifty-five martial artists of the Diancang Sect, two hundred and forty-one were executed, and the head of the sect, the Diancang Sect Leader, Swift Wind and Thunder Gu Hakmyeong, his relatives, and eleven elders were captured.

In the process, the Martial Alliance's losses were only fifteen deaths and ninety injuries, so Gumen Long's appointment of Military Advisor Sima was very accurate.

Gumen Long, who brushed off the words of praise directed at him with a satisfied smile, did not have a very good expression after reading all of Sima Hui's letter. Jang So-gil, who had been summoned while eating and had rushed over, asked with a puzzled look.

"I heard it was a report of victory, but was there some bad news?"

"Mm. Everyone except the inspector, please leave."

At Gumen Long's gesture, the maids and the officials in charge of the Martial Alliance's internal affairs left the room in a line. Watching their orderly backs, Jang So-gil scratched his cheek.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"It's not your fault. It's just that I'm about to say something that would be troublesome if others heard."

"If it's a troublesome story, I don't want to hear it either..."

"When you're in a high position like an inspector, you have to do things you don't want to do. Anyway, you, what do you know about Daoists?"

Jang So-gil put on a feigned solemn expression.

"Very fair and righteous..."

"Ah, come on. I've cleared the people out, so speak honestly as it is."

"A type of human who will do anything if it benefits them."

"Why do you think so?"

"Isn't Daoism, in the end, a faith of praying for blessings?"

Daoism is about wishing for blessings that benefit oneself through faith, and those blessings are very human desires. Let me eat well. Let me live well. Let me not get sick. Let me live long.

"Because they're like that, of course they're greedy."

"Hmm, a rather biased view, but you've surprisingly pierced through the essence."

"But why are you curious about my shallow knowledge?"

"I was thinking of telling you the truth of this incident, but it would be troublesome for me if you were a believer in Daoism. But seeing as you don't seem to be, it should be fine."

"What? The truth of this incident?"

Gumen Long sighed and stroked his beard.

"You and the Military Advisor thought from the beginning that the Diancang Sect would resort to extreme measures like silencing witnesses by murder. But I thought that since they had been heros who had protected the merchants with the righteousness of an orthodox sect until now, and as Daoists, they had a certain belief that the entire sect shared, so silencing witnesses by murder was an absurd story. Why do you think they suddenly committed such an extreme act?"

"Isn't it because they didn't want to pay? Seeing what those Sichuan Tang dogs did, they probably thought they could do it too. But seeing as you're talking at length about something that would have such an obvious answer, there must have been another reason besides money."

"Yes. The problem was Ascension to Immortality."

Ascension to Immortality means that wings sprout from one's back and one ascends to heaven to become an immortal, and most Daoist martial artists set ascending to immortality through training as their ultimate goal. But what did that have to do with this incident? To Jang So-gil, who had a bewildered face, Gumen Long asked back.

"Do you know how to become an immortal?"

"I heard that if you do a lot of good deeds, you become an immortal."

"Whether that's true or not, let's talk about it separately someday. Anyway, the Daoists of the Diancang Sect believed that if they performed 1,500 good deeds continuously without a break, they could become an immortal."

"Continuously?"

"Yes. Performing 1,500 good deeds in a row without a single evil act."

"That must be incredibly hard... Ah!"

Jang So-gil let out a cry of exclamation. He had understood the gist of the words in an instant.

"Don't tell me those bastards thought their good deeds were broken because of this incident?"

"Yes. The Sect Leader, Gu Hakmyeong, had apparently reached 1,490 good deeds, counting each one. After receiving Ouyang Xiu's carrier pigeon, he said he had completed the remaining 10 good deeds..."

"He didn't become an immortal, is that it?"

"He didn't. So who would he blame? What would he think was the cause? His heart was swayed by the huge debt, and when he refused to pay, the merchants got angry and talked back, so the filth of the secular world stained them. He thought that because of that, his training had collapsed."

"No, have you ever seen such crazy bastards? They don't even think about what they did wrong first and start blaming others?!"

"That's because, as you said, they are a type of human who will do anything if it benefits them, so they only think in a way that is advantageous to themselves."

"Wow, I, really. There's a limit to audacity. For a bunch of guys who were playing with money and embezzling..."

It was such a dumbfounding and ridiculous matter that Jang So-gil couldn't speak for a while, then sneezed loudly. Still, his throat was ticklish. It felt like a string of curses was stuck there. If he had his way, he would spit them out thickly, but he was in front of the Alliance Leader, so he had to endure. As he was enduring, Gumen Long said.

"They're a bunch of utter bastards."

"Thank you for cursing them on my behalf."

"The Sect Leader, Gu Hakmyeong, reached the age of following his heart this year."

Following one's heart is another way of saying seventy years old, and it originated from Confucius saying, 'At the age of seventy, I could follow what my heart desired without transgressing the norms.'

Jang So-gil burst out laughing.

"He doesn't seem to be ashamed of the words 'following one's heart'."

"I agree. It's a pitiful thing if you think about it, but anyway, since he's seventy years old, it would be impossible for him to do 1,500 good deeds again from now on, wouldn't it?"

"He would probably die before that."

The two of them frowned at the same time.

"Then it would be stranger if he didn't get Qi Deviation."

"That's right. A heart demon has properly settled in his head. And the reason why not only the Sect Leader went crazy, but the entire Diancang Sect went crazy and ran wild is because they thought that since it was a sin committed by the sect, all the Daoists belonging to the sect had accumulated sin. They thought they had ruined everything."

"There must be other reasons for that."

If it was broken even once, they had to start the training all over again from the beginning.

In that case, since the path of good deeds was already broken, it was profitable to commit evil deeds.

Before starting the good deeds again, let's pacify Yunnan and firmly grasp the merchant world so that there will be no more problems related to money in the future.

Jang So-gil tapped the White Azure Divine Sword with his finger and said.

"They might have had such thoughts."

"That's quite persuasive."

"Anyway, I understand the truth about the Diancang Sect well. What will happen to them in the future?"

"Of course, their sect will be annihilated."

The Sect Leader, Gu Hakmyeong, and the elders would have their dantians destroyed, making them unable to use martial arts, and then they would be imprisoned for life in the prison of Luoyang. The wealth of the Diancang Sect on Mount Diancang would be collected by the Martial Alliance and used for the compensation of the people of Yunnan.

When Gumen Long said this much, Jang So-gil was already so anxious he couldn't sit still. He could predict the future.

'Wow, this is just asking to be eaten.'

There was no possibility that the wealth of the Diancang Sect would be delivered to Luoyang intact. On the way, this and that guy would stick to it and snatch it away like a beggar snatching a well-cooked dumpling, and it would be the same after it arrived. Then, in the process of distributing the money that had been sucked dry by mosquitoes as compensation, they would snatch it away again. It was close to impossible for that money to be properly given to the people who should receive it.

'It's the same even if Sima Hui does it.'

Genius military advisor or whatever, Sima Hui was a strategist, a military strategist, and a martial artist. From the moment he considered the skills of a merchant to be lowly, he was nothing more than prey, so snatching money away from under his nose was something Jang So-gil could do in a jiffy with just his tongue, even if his arms and legs were tied up.

Even if other people couldn't do it as easily as Jang So-gil, when so many people were rushing in from all directions like bears eating honey, was there any way the money could hold out?

The wealth of the Diancang Sect would fatten the bellies of others, and there was no possibility of it going to Yunnan. For that to be properly executed, Jang So-gil himself would have to lead and manage it, but he didn't want to.

'It's a really tough job.'

He had just returned to Luoyang, but he had to go down to Yunnan again. He had to go down and this time, prevent the high-nosed masters of the orthodox sects who participated in the war from doing anything funny, and sprinkle salt on the maggot-like merchants who were swarming in. It was no ordinary tiring job.

'I still have a lot to do in Luoyang. I don't want to go to Yunnan!'

Gumen Long grinned as he watched the fidgety Jang So-gil.

"So, I have a favor to ask of you, Inspector So."

"Yes, yes. You want me to handle that damage compensation, right?"

"I like you because you're so quick to understand. How can you be so quick-witted? It's convenient because I don't have to talk for long."

"I'd rather die than do it, but since you're telling me to, I guess I have to. But I can't do it for free."

"Should I give you another Thunderclap Acupoint Opening Grand Method?"

"I'll pass."

Jang So-gil was disgusted. The Thunderclap Acupoint Opening Grand Method was certainly a huge opportunity, but if you received it once, you needed a long period of recuperation. He hadn't even properly assimilated the last grand method yet, and he was going to receive another Thunderclap Acupoint Opening Grand Method? It was a job that required a long recuperation and had little gain.

Gumen Long, as if he had expected it, took out another bait.

"How about the martial arts manuals of the Diancang Sect? They're a sect that's about to be annihilated, so if I give them away as I please, no one can say anything."

"I'm not falling for it. I know there are guys who will say something."

Daoism started from the Five Pecks of Rice Sect and continued to the Quanzhen Sect.

Even that Quanzhen Sect was annihilated by the Asura Blood Cult hundreds of years ago, and its survivors scattered to various places and became the Daoist martial artists of the current Diancang Sect, Kunlun Sect, Huashan Sect, Wudang Sect, and Zhongnan Sect.

Jang So-gil narrowed his eyes and continued.

"The Kunlun Sect was the first and biggest victim of the Great War against the Demonic Cult, so they were pushed to the brink of annihilation and became a weak sect with only the sect leader and a few disciples left, but aren't the Huashan Sect and the Wudang Sect among the strongest sects in the Nine Sects One Union? And the Zhongnan Sect is famous for being ill-tempered."

"Huh, you even know about Quanzhen?"

"Looking at their origins, the martial arts of these five sects all continued from Quanzhen, so I heard that they still fight to the death over a single Quanzhen martial arts manual. So there's no way that a bunch of peas from the same pod would leave the martial arts of the Diancang Sect alone."

"You've really studied a lot. But there's one thing you don't know."

Gumen Long grinned and pointed to himself.

"Do you happen to know my surname?"

"Who in the world wouldn't know that?"

He was born an orphan but was adopted into the Gu clan and became the Martial Alliance Leader, a man of legendary success. Even a person without ears knows that his surname is Gu.

"Then you must also know that now that the Diancang Sect has been annihilated, there is no one closer to the Diancang Sect than me, right? It's because the Martial Alliance Leader cannot hold a concurrent position, otherwise, I am no different from the Sect Leader of Diancang."

"...Ah!"

"That's how it is. Do you think Huashan or Wudang can talk nonsense in front of me when I'm giving away the manuals? That's something to look forward to."

"..."

"If you finish the post-war processing of Yunnan cleanly, I will give you the Sun-Shooting Sword Art and the Plucking String Body Step from the Diancang manuals, and if you wish, I will give you up to two items from the goods as well."

The Sun-Shooting Sword Art, meaning to shoot the sun, was a supreme martial art that entered the Ten Great Sword Arts of the World because there was no one who could match its speed. The Plucking String Body Step was a lightness skill that made one's body as fast as an arrow, and it was said that its power would be doubled if learned together with the Sun-Shooting Sword Art.

The Plucking String Body Step was a lightness skill given to the first-generation disciples, so that was understandable, but the Sun-Shooting Sword Art was a martial art passed down to only one person, the Sect Leader, and he was using that as bait.

Jang So-gil stealthily bowed his head.

"I will go right away."

He didn't want to go, but the bait was too delicious.

(End of Chapter)