The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

The word, which he had never heard before in his life, threw Yang Gwan's mind into confusion.

"What is a Black Village?"

"Hmm, do you know what a Black Shop is?"

"Of course, I do. It's an inn or a shop run by the Unorthodox Faction or thieves with the intention of preying on customers. Hahahaha! I'm not a martial arts novice, how could I not know that!"

As he said that, Yang Gwan's face was slightly flushed, because he had recalled a painful past. He had stayed at an inn without knowing it was run by the Serpent's Path Union, and after eating a meal laced with a sleeping drug, he had fallen asleep and suffered great hardship. It was a good thing he had managed to escape by cutting the ropes with his teeth when they let their guard down. If he had failed, what state would he be in now?

"This guy..."

"Ahem, ahem! Ah, what is it!"

At Yang Gwan's attitude of coming on even stronger, Jang So-gil thought, 'This guy has been through it,' and pressed his brow firmly.

"A Black Village is the same as a Black Shop. It's just that the scale has gotten bigger."

"What? Th-then does that mean this entire village is a Black Shop?!"

"That's right. Not just the inns or shops, but every building is filled with thieves. Do you see over there?"

At Jang So-gil's words, Yang Gwan focused his internal energy into his eyes.

"Are you talking about the horse's hoofprints?"

"Yes, isn't something strange?"

Only after observing for a long time did Yang Gwan open his mouth.

"Compared to the hoofprints going in, there are fewer hoofprints going out. It's not even half. This doesn't make sense."

"And look at the patrolman standing at that government office."

"My goodness! He's wearing his official tag (patrolman's ID) upside down. His spear hasn't been maintained, so it's rusted. The color of his wooden shoes is also all different. What a disorderly mob, the head constable would have a fit if he knew!"

"They're fakes, so of course their discipline is lax. They probably don't have the leisure to pay attention to such details."

Looking at it this way, it was certainly suspicious. No, it was ninety percent fake.

Yang Gwan shook his head as if he was dumbfounded.

"T-to be this suspicious and not notice it right away, are my eyes knotholes..."

"That's why it works."

Only someone like Jang So-gil, with good eyesight and observation skills, would notice at first glance. Even Yang Gwan, who prided himself on having quite a bit of experience, didn't know until it was pointed out. A Black Village, not a Black Shop, who would think that an entire village could be fake? It was a scheme that aimed for a psychological blind spot.

"Even if they make a fake village, it's not like they made it deep in the mountains. To turn the original village on the official road into a Black Village just like that, they're talented fellows, tsk."

"They say a needle thief becomes a cow thief. It seems they started by running one Black Shop and it spread to the whole village."

"It looks that way to my eyes too. Truly, it was a good thing I came to see it in person. If I had just handled things on paper, I would have ended up just fattening the bellies of the Unorthodox Faction guys here."

When counting silver, people often say one tael, two taels, but a tael is, strictly speaking, a unit of weight. Sixteen taels of silver is one geun, and the amount of silver to be traded in this matter was estimated by Sima Hui to be over one hundred thousand taels. In geun, that was over six thousand two hundred and fifty geun (about 3.75 tons).

The reason the transaction amount was so enormous was because the Martial Alliance had publicly announced that they would sell the Diancang Sect's manuals, excluding the great supreme martial arts like the Sun-Shooting Sword Art. Sects from all over were gathering, offering huge prices to aim for the Diancang Sect's martial arts, so just estimating this alone was a hundred thousand taels. If artifacts, jewelry, and weapons were included, the amount was likely to jump even higher.

"To deliver that much silver, securing the official road and a base is of course important. If I had used this place as a bridgehead, I can't even imagine how much I would have lost. I would have committed a huge blunder and almost been beaten to death by the Alliance Leader."

Even for the gutsy Jang So-gil, it was a cold sweat-inducing matter. As he pretended to be calm and rode his horse towards Huize County, Yang Gwan asked.

"Since the government office in Yunnan can't be trusted, shouldn't we request support from the government offices in Guizhou or Guangxi?"

"If we assume the enemy is the entire village, it would certainly be better to request support from the government office for safety. But that scream from earlier is bothering me too much."

The scream Yang Gwan heard must have been the sound of someone suffering great hardship in the Black Village. Yang Gwan nodded his head.

"That's why I'm saying, how about I go in first, find out the cause of the scream, and rescue them?"

"And I run straight to Guizhou to request support from the government office? Don't. If we do that, the bastards might all run away. It's better to clean them out root and stem to have an easy future."

"Ah..."

"And who will protect me on the way there? In that case, it's better to just go into the Black Village together and fight the Unorthodox Faction group."

"Honestly, you're well past the level of a second-rate warrior now, Young Master So. Do you still need my escort?"

The speed of Jang So-gil's development was terrifying. It was only natural. He ate elixirs like they were meals, and learned the world-renowned divine arts and ultimate skills directly from the greatest martial arts scholar and the number one person in the world. It would be stranger if he didn't develop. Even a king or a high-ranking noble would not have an environment as suitable for learning martial arts as Jang So-gil. That's why, not even a few months after he started learning martial arts, his skills had already surpassed the level of a second-rate warrior and were approaching the realm of a first-rate master. If he filled his lack of experience, he would become a full-fledged first-rate master within the year.

In the first place, even a second-rate warrior was not at a martial arts level weak enough to need an escort. Did he really need an escort while riding a horse on a safe official road?

At Yang Gwan's point, Jang So-gil grinned.

"Honestly, I'm very interested in the scream."

"What?"

"It might be a princess, you know."

"Wasn't what you said earlier a joke?"

"It was a joke in earnest."

"You have a surprisingly childish side to you too, Young Master So."

"I'm twenty this year. It's an age where I can act like a child. Anyway, let's go in."

Humming, the two entered Huize County.

As expected of a Black Village, Yang Gwan felt piercing gazes focused on him from all directions.

"Two archers on the roof of the building to the left, two archers on the roof of the building to the right. There are also three hiding in the building in front."

"You foolish fellow, if you're on guard like that, won't the bastards notice? You're already big and have a spear on your back, so you're threatening. Relax your expression a little more and pretend you don't know. Didn't I tell you to act earlier?"

"L-like this?"

When Yang Gwan relaxed his face and forced a smile, his appearance was like a Diamond Guardian delighting in the subjugation of evil demons, making him look even more bizarre and threatening. Jang So-gil clicked his tongue.

"My mistake. Just do as you were doing."

"..."

"It seems they don't teach acting at the Shaolin Temple. Tsk."

"They probably don't teach that in any sect!"

"That's probably true. Thanks to you, my grand strategy is completely ruined. They're already on guard like that, what great deed can we accomplish?"

"I-I'm sorry."

"If you're sorry, try learning some acting from entertainers next time. Anyway, the scream probably came from that inn."

If there was a place a traveler would look for first, it was definitely an inn. Because they were hungry and wanted to rest. Feeding the horses could also be taken care of at an inn, so an inn was a reliable haven for travelers.

"To attack in that haven, they're truly bastards with no business ethics."

"First, we should go into the inn and check the situation."

"Why go into the inn?"

"What? What do you mean why? We have to find whoever might be captured, and we have to find evidence to punish them or report them to the government office, don't we?"

"What in the world are you talking about? Who am I? I am the inspector of the Martial Alliance."

The only reason he had hidden the Blue Jade Token was because he didn't want to be attacked as soon as he entered the village.

Jang So-gil took out a tinderbox and oil with a broad smile.

Tinderbox and oil?

"Y-Young Master So?!"

"If I see it and it's suspicious, I can punish first and collect the evidence later. The strategy is already ruined anyway, so it's easier to just set a fire first."

"What are you going to do if you're wrong!"

"I trust Lord Jang who trusted my eyes, and I trust myself who Lord Jang trusted. So my eyes are not wrong. What if I'm still wrong? I'll apologize and build them a few inns, what of it!"

Whether Yang Gwan's eyes widened or not, Jang So-gil threw the oil into the inn's stable and then threw the lit tinderbox. A fire flared up, and the horses, scared out of their wits, broke their ropes and fled.

There was a reaction. The thieves waiting on the roof screamed and shot arrows.

"That, that, that crazy bastard-!"

"What kind of dogshit is this, out of the blue! Kill him!"

"Shoot! Shoot! Turn him into a porcupine!"

It was useless even if four archers fired at the same time. Yang Gwan spurred his horse and leaped like he was flying, swatting away the arrows. When he got back on his horse, Jang So-gil burst out laughing and took out oil and a tinderbox again.

"You thieves, over here, over here. What are you all doing! If you don't come out quickly, everything will burn down."

This time, the cloth merchant's shop caught fire. The owner of the cloth shop, who didn't know what to do, rushed to put out the fire, but it was not enough. It was inevitable since hemp and cotton burn very well.

Jang So-gil, as if he was having fun, threw oil and tinderboxes in all directions. The whole village began to burn, and the thieves, sensing the commotion, came running out from here and there with their weapons.

"Be quiet! I was trying to have some fun, which bastard dares to make a commotion... Huh, fire?"

"Which crazy bastard set the fire!"

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! A crazy bastard is setting fires! Everyone out!"

"How dare you touch our mountain fortress, you fearless bastard!"

There was no end to the number of thieves coming out, spewing curses.

10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

Yang Gwan, who was counting the numbers while guarding Jang So-gil's side, was terrified.

"There are over a hundred! It's a complete den of thieves. Did you hear that? They said mountain fortress, mountain fortress."

"In that case, they were Green Forest, not Unorthodox Faction guys."

Seeing them brandishing blood-stained weapons, they were all seasoned Green Forest bandits. Well, to occupy a village and use it as a mountain fortress, they must be pretty successful among the Green Forest bandits. How many of the people who passed through this village had died and how many had been injured? As Yang Gwan frowned and watched them, Jang So-gil set fire to one more place and laughed.

"Look, if we're surrounded by this many guys, even you and I can't hold out. In times like this, a preemptive strike is the answer."

"But what's the point of setting fires indiscriminately?!"

"Of course it makes a difference. First, I set fire to all the stables and chased away the horses, so the bastards can't ride horses. But we are on horseback. The Alliance Leader and Military Advisor Sima told me until their mouths were sore that a fight is half eyes and half feet."

"The blockade of mobility."

"That's right. As a bonus, I've also blocked their escape."

"But how do we find the hostage?!"

"I've already found that too. Do you see that big guy with the axe over there?"

He was a giant man with a shaggy beard and his clothes half-off. The sun was still high in the sky, and it was the attire of someone who had been about to do something. Yang Gwan, understanding the situation, gagged and answered.

"They must be in the house that guy came out of."

"So we avoid that side and set fire, and wipe out the bastards in one fell swoop. You can do it, right?"

"Even if there are a hundred of them, most of them are worse than third-rate warriors. In that case..."

The Yang Family Spear Art began with Yang Miaozhen, and she was a female general of the Red Coat Army at the end of the Jin Dynasty. In other words, if you trace its origins, it was a military art used by a general of the army. Because of that, the Yang Family Spear Art was on a different level from the general spear techniques of the martial world. While many other spear techniques were based on being used without riding a horse, the Yang Family Spear Art showed its true value only when on horseback.

Yang Gwan swung his spear once and laughed.

"I'll finish it in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"Then now is the time. Go!"

"As you command-!"

When he spurred Yang Hwangbi-jeon's side, the beast reared its front legs high and neighed. As it approached the enemy with a single spirited leap, the thieves' knees buckled and they fell backward. Yang Hwangbi-jeon mercilessly headbutted such a fellow, sending him flying, and advanced forward according to its master's command.

"It's too good a horse for you beasts, but may you rest in peace!"

Yang Gwan's spear was extremely rational and concise. With one thrust, he protected his horse and struck the neck of one enemy. A horse running at full speed is a weapon in itself. It tramples the overwhelmed, headbutts the retreating, and shatters their formation. Those who barely muster the courage to attack are neutralized with a spear stab, and his movements are like a loom weaving cotton, so he would not get tired even if he cut down a hundred.

"It's as if I'm watching Zhao Zilong wield his spear. Then I'll get to my own work."

Jang So-gil tilted his head and looked at the giant man with the axe. The fellow was approaching, huffing and puffing.

(End of Chapter)