The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Ye-er's martial arts level was higher than Jang So-gil had expected. To be able to approach this far while avoiding the Martial Alliance's guards, she was clearly skilled not only in stealth but also in lightness skills. There was another reason for thinking so.

"You went to the Beast Palace and came back?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I ran."

Although Jang So-gil had stopped at various villages on his way to Mount Diancang to rest and estimate the transport plan, if she had made a round trip to the Beast Palace in the meantime, she was no ordinary fast. Even Yang Gwan, a first-rate master, or Sima Hui, who was at the entrance of a peak master, couldn't even dream of such a thing. But it was unlikely that Ye-er was a supreme master, so it must be the power of a special lightness skill from the foreign martial world.

And it was true. Her Horse Form Step was very ugly to look at, but she could maintain the speed of a running horse for over ten days.

'The martial arts of the foreign martial world have a different direction from the martial arts of the Central Plains, and among them, the martial arts of the Beast Palace are said to have developed by imitating the form of beasts and borrowing their power. Is that ridiculous posture of running like a horse that effective? Martial arts are something I can't understand even if I try.'

It probably wouldn't be very helpful in a fight. In a fight, it was advantageous to pursue explosive speed that could be produced in a short time and simplicity of movement, not a method of running at a moderate speed for a long time. But if one assumed a time when there was no fight, it was an attractive footwork. For messengers and couriers, there would be no other divine art or ultimate skill.

Of course, if asked if he wanted to learn it, the answer was a firm no. The Horse Form Step was cute because Ye-er did it, but if Yang Gwan or Jang So-gil did it, it would be a demonic martial art that would make them want to throw themselves into the Yangtze River or call forth Qi Deviation.

"But how did you find me?"

"By smell."

"Smell..."

Do I have a bad smell?

Did I get some Thousand Li Fragrance on me?

Jang So-gil, bewildered, sniffed himself, but he couldn't feel anything. It seemed there was also a martial art that made one's sense of smell as good as a dog's.

"So what's the matter?"

When Jang So-gil asked, Ye-er yawned and told her story.

* * *

Jang So-gil had said he would somehow solve the food problem. Although they hadn't written a contract, Ye-er decided to believe Jang So-gil's words. Because he was handsome. A name tells the essence, and a face tells the personality. Handsome people are good. The ugly youngest son of the Dali Ye Clan was a bad guy.

Having solved the problem, Ye-er immediately returned to the Beast Palace. The problem was that she had run away from home. She didn't want to be caught by her father, so she decided to sneak in. She would get scolded less if she met her mother first. So she used the Lizard Art, which imitated a lizard and moved quietly along the walls, to sneak into the Beast Palace.

But as luck would have it, her father and mother were awake.

'Heeik, it's Dad.'

She would be really scolded if she got caught. She held her breath and watched.

The atmosphere was unusual. Her mother was furiously angry at her father.

She raised her voice, not yielding a single step to Ye Daesan, who was bigger than a bear, as tall as a mountain, and had muscles that looked like they would burst.

"Ye-er is only thirteen. You're marrying off a child who hasn't even shed her childhood name? As a hostage, no less? To the likes of the Dali Ye Clan?"

"You were that age when you married me. Early marriage is not that rare, so why are you so angry?"

"It's because you're heartless. Don't you feel sorry for Ye-er!?"

"Of course I feel sorry for Ye-er. But I feel more sorry for the starving people of Nan Yue. If it's just the sacrifice of one Ye-er, I think it's a very cheap price to pay. Am I wrong in my calculation?"

Ye-er's eyes trembled, and her mother held her breath. Then she sighed and shed tears drop by drop.

"You..."

"Isn't Ye-er also a member of the Beast Palace clan? It's a sacrifice for the people."

"But Ye-er is the young palace lord. She's the next palace lord. What happens if she marries the youngest son of the Dali Ye Clan? Does he become the palace lord? What are you going to do if the Dali Ye Clan starts to interfere, using food as a weapon? The Dali Ye Clan, who were already arrogant, will try to subordinate us."

Ye Daesan's one eyebrow twitched. His mouth twitched as if he was dumbfounded.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Ye-er, about the future of our Beast Palace! Our young palace lord! Our princess!"

"You're gravely mistaken. Let me make it clear this time."

Ye Daesan's large hand, as thick as a pot lid and covered in tiger-like hair, patted his wife's shoulder.

"We can just have another child."

"...!"

"I can still be the palace lord for another 30 years. I'm still vigorous as a man, so it doesn't matter if I find a successor slowly."

"How can you say such a thing..."

"It might be a big burden for you. Then I will take three more wives starting today. One of them will succeed."

"!?"

"I'd like a son next."

Ye Daesan said so with cruel eyes, and his mother fell to her knees like a doll with its strings cut.

And Ye-er, who was watching it...

* * *

Jang So-gil clicked his tongue.

'What an amazing fellow.'

At first glance, he seemed like a proper lord. The duty of a lord is to protect and look after the people. Throughout all ages, that was the most important thing. Other things were trivial compared to the well-being of the people. Even selling one's own child, if it could be properly handled, was a good use of a pawn and could even be praised.

Jang So-gil finished his brief evaluation and nodded his head.

"I see. So that's what happened."

"Yes. So help me."

"What exactly?"

"The people of Nan Yue. They have no food. Me. I have nowhere to go. Both need help."

"I promised about the food, so I'll help to some extent, but helping you is a different matter."

"To some extent. No. We need a lot of food."

"I can't help that much without any compensation."

When Jang So-gil looked at her with cold eyes, Ye-er crossed her arms with a 'hmm'.

It might sound heartless, but this was reality. Jang So-gil and Ye-er had no relationship. They were just acquaintances they had met on the road. The same went for the people of Nan Yue.

What Jang So-gil had to do was to order the sending of relief rice as an inspector of the Martial Alliance who had learned of the situation in Nan Yue. They were not in a relationship where he would expend more mental energy than that, and he had no obligation to help Ye-er.

"I'll give you compensation."

"I don't need it if it's a worthless compensation..."

"I have it. A good one."

Ye-er took out a crumpled piece of paper from her bosom. It seemed to be a pill.

Jang So-gil sighed and received the medicine. Since it was a medicine given by a child, it was probably just a digestive aid.

'Ah, this is troublesome.'

When a child came out like this, it was hard to refuse coldly. It could be said to be Jang So-gil's only weakness.

Of course, if they were rotten from the start even if they were young, it wouldn't be a weakness, but wasn't this fellow trying to fulfill her duty as a young palace lord? The first thing she asked for help with was the people of Nan Yue.

Jang So-gil gave a bitter smile. At this rate, he had no choice but to help. In exchange for this shabby medicine.

"Alright. I'll help you."

"Thank you!"

"By the way, what is this... Sniff, I've smelled this before. Is it bezoar?"

Bezoar refers to the gallstones that form in the gallbladder of a cow, and it is characterized by a yellow color and a slightly unpleasant smell. It is an ingredient for antidotes and heart stimulants, and it is also an expensive medicinal ingredient used as a raw material for Bezoar Soothing Pills. One piece roughly costs ten silver taels. But when he touched it through the paper, the shape was a cone.

'Top grade? This would be thirty taels then.'

Bezoar is low grade if it's round, and the more it's shaped like a cone, the more it's top grade. Jang So-gil's eyes widened when he opened the paper out of curiosity. A strong fragrance, a deep yellow color staining it. It was a live bezoar.

A bezoar found in a living cow, not a dead one, is specially called a live bezoar. It was a very precious item that many emperors bought at a high price. If this was a live bezoar, it would be two hundred silver taels even if sold as it was.

"A live bezoar?"

Ye-er shook her head.

"Not a live bezoar."

"No?"

"Yes. That's a Fierce Bull Live Bezoar Pill."

"A Fierce Bull Live Bezoar Pill?!"

Jang So-gil quickly recalled the elixir section of the Sima Collection Record that he had memorized. The Sima Collection Record divided elixirs into ten grades, from one to ten. The first-grade elixirs were only the Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root and the Azure Stone Marrow, both of which were considered to be in the realm of fantasy. The elixirs that were believed to exist were up to the second grade, and the Fierce Bull Live Bezoar Pill, along with the Shaolin Great Rejuvenation Pill, was one of the few second-grade elixirs in the world.

'H-how much is this? No, can I even calculate the price?'

The value of a second-grade elixir could not be priced. Whatever the seller called it was the price.

If he said 'name your price' to the sect leader of a prestigious orthodox sect, the clan head of the Five Great Clans, or the Martial Alliance Leader, he could get a thousand gold. If he presented it to the emperor, his descendants could live in luxury for generations.

"Where did you get this?"

"I raided the treasure vault."

"..."

"Dad. Was annoying. You know."

A normal child would have cried and made a fuss at the words that they could just have another child. But Ye-er was not a normal child. Ye-er heard those words and got so angry that she decided to leave home altogether.

If she decided to leave home, she needed capital. So she immediately snuck into the treasure vault and took the Fierce Bull Live Bezoar Pill.

"I have this too."

"There's more?"

"I took as much as I could."

Ye-er, from where in her small body she had hidden them, kept taking out something from her bosom.

There were gold bars, manuals, and a whip. Expensive items kept coming out.

'This is quite interesting.'

Ye Daesan was probably not a very bad lord. He had heard that he was the first to surrender to Gumen Long to protect his people and preserve the power of the Beast Palace as much as possible. Since he was the first to break the alliance, he could be called treacherous and disloyal, but he could also be called quick-witted and smart.

Was it because he was so cunning?

To have thrown such treasures worth a thousand gold into the warehouse and sold off his young child first.

To continue to reign as a lord, he had to solve the problem of Nan Yue, but he didn't want to consume his own wealth. And since he could just have another child, he sold her off when there was someone who would buy her.

He forced sacrifice, but he himself had no intention of sacrificing anything. He had no basic loyalty or morality, and not even the instinct to cherish his family. He was a type of human for whom only his own profit and power were important.

So he could roughly guess how he would have handled the matter with the Dali Ye Clan afterward.

He was not the type of person he wanted to get close to. He was not very good as a business partner either.

'That guy Ye Daesan is a really bad guy.'

Ye-er, who had taken out all the items, was staring at Jang So-gil.

How frugal. She had good survival skills and good decisiveness.

Yes, a child abandoned by their parents had to have at least this much strength to survive. The world was a place where you could only live by doing everything you could and struggling desperately.

"You're really amazing."

"Me, amazing?"

"Yes. Very amazing."

Jang So-gil burst out laughing. Even a kid like this was struggling to do something. He felt his perspective broadening.

It was good to get angry when the words 'Sichuan' and 'Great Cloud Guild' were mentioned. It meant he hadn't forgotten his grudge yet.

But his vision shouldn't become narrow. Why was his vision so narrow? If he broadened his vision, the answer was everywhere.

A profound one-year internal energy, the White Azure Divine Sword, and an advanced divine art and ultimate skill were not his only weapons.

A broad vision, a quick wit, and bold execution were Jang So-gil's true weapons.

Use your head, think more, see broadly.

It is said that Confucius gained enlightenment even from a beggar.

What gave Jang So-gil enlightenment was a small child of the Nan Yue tribe.

Then he had to return the favor.

Jang So-gil quickly took the Fierce Bull Live Bezoar Pill and grinned.

"You, want to try working for the Martial Alliance?"

* * *

The next morning.

Jang So-gil, with a relieved expression, entered Sima Hui's tent.

"I have a proposal."

"If it's not about annihilating the Sichuan Tang Clan, I'll listen. What kind of proposal is it?"

"Organizing the Diancang Sect and the subsequent distribution is difficult and hard, but it's not something that needs discussion, is it? Of course, it's about the problem of restoring public order in Yunnan."

"Alright. Tell me."

Jang So-gil smiled faintly.

"I hate those Sichuan Tang dogs to death. I can't stand to see them do well. It's not necessarily because I can't separate public and private affairs. The expansion of the Tang Clan's power is not a very good thing for the Martial Alliance either, is it?"

"If the Tang Clan takes over Yunnan, the balance of the Five Great Clans will be broken, so it's not a good thing. So?"

"But I also don't want to let the Dali Ye Clan guys run wild. You might not know, Brother Hui, but those guys were planning to occupy Yunnan by force by involving the Beast Palace. These bastards, they're trying to re-establish the Dali Kingdom."

"Where did you get such information that even I don't know... Ah, anyway, you don't like the Dali Ye Clan, and you don't like the Sichuan Tang Clan. Then is it the Eight Sects? Or the Changzhe Sect? Either way, it's not realistic."

"That's right. Unorthodox sects like the Eight Sects are not helpful for public order, and the Changzhe Sect is too weak. So let's do this. Let's support those who are everywhere and nowhere."

Sima Hui's expression hardened.

Those who are everywhere and nowhere.

That was.

"You want to bring in the Beggars' Sect?"

Because he was talking about the beggars.

(End of Chapter)