Chapter 112
"I like honesty."
"I think it's a very bad thing to forcibly take someone else's money."
After saying this, he stealthily glanced at Baekji.
"I said I borrowed it. Ajok must have written you a promissory note."
"When you borrow, you must specify when you will repay and also pay interest."
"..."
"Because you took the assets of the Hongmeng Brothel, Zhaojia County has become difficult."
"Why Zhaojia County?"
"Although the assets of the Hongmeng Brothel were accumulated by my sister and me over a lifetime... we don't use all of it. We have to pay the monthly salaries of those who work at the Hongmeng Brothel, buy food, silk, and jewelry, give settlement money to the retiring courtesans, and also buy new courtesans... Since there is no money, we can't do all of that. Since money is not circulating, the people of Zhaojia County have also become that much more difficult."
"The people of Zhaojia County have become difficult because the Hongmeng Brothel is not releasing money?"
"You don't know. The Hongmeng Brothel is one of the top brothels in Sichuan. People even come from other regions on purpose."
"Yes... so I was the bad guy?"
Hongyan was startled and waved her hands.
"Of course! At that time, the White Mountain Sect was on the verge of war... there were unavoidable circumstances, so it is understandable."
"..."
"Now... since the fight is over, if you return it, there will be no problem."
Although the bamboo staff was frightening, she could not miss the opportunity to get her money back.
"Of course, the Hongmeng Brothel is also under the jurisdiction of the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect, so you have to pay protection fees. I will pay double from now on."
Baekji was lost in thought.
Hongyan, who had become bored, drank alcohol.
Hongyan, who had suffered a lot chasing the Blood Fiend, attending to Jian Yi, and chasing Baekji, got drunk after a few glasses.
With tipsy eyes, she looked outside and muttered, "Huh? Those brats are running away?"
The mountain of people was rapidly collapsing.
The brats who had woken up were supporting the brats they knew and were running away.
At Hongyan's muttering, Baekji woke up from his thoughts.
The slowly collapsing mountain of people came into his eyes.
Hongyan, seeing the brats from the Four Shrines Heaven who had dragged her around running away, searched her bosom for a dagger.
"Leave them be."
Baekji said.
"Do you want to kill them even when they are running away to live? Those brats have been hit a lot."
"I didn't hit them."
"When you catch them later, you can decide whether to kill them or let them live."
"..."
Hongyan, with a sullen face, gulped down her alcohol.
"I have something I'm curious about."
"..."
"What do the Demonic Cult members eat to live?"
"What?"
At Baekji's absurd question, Hongyan asked back.
"Hmm... to ask back means you're not listening to what I'm saying. In the old days... sigh, never mind. What's the point of boasting about beating someone to death for asking back..."
As Baekji muttered, Hongyan, who had sobered up, corrected her posture.
"The Honored One I have seen is a truly reasonable person. Of course, it is a pity that there is a somewhat murky part regarding the money issue... but he is not a person who hits people without reason."
"Never mind the useless talk and just answer what I'm asking."
Hongyan rolled her eyes for a moment and then opened her mouth.
"Those who do not know shun our cult as the Demonic Cult, but a place where people live is all the same. We are living by working hard."
"You work? The Demonic Cult members also work?"
"Of course. If I were to tell you how hard I worked to build the current Hongmeng Brothel..."
"Never mind that! What kind of work does the Demonic Cult do so diligently?"
"You didn't know? Our cult manages the road that connects the Western Regions and the Central Plains. In fact, if our cult didn't exist, the Central Plains would also be in trouble."
"Yes. I see."
When Baekji emptied his cup, Hongyan demurely poured more and said, "I also heard what Mado-unni said earlier."
"Mado-unni? You said you were older than Menghua? I think Menghua is older than Mado. What on earth is your real age?"
"A person... lives by the gaze of others. So I am still twenty years old."
Sigh...
Even though it was a shameless thing to say, she said it so naturally that it seemed plausible.
Hongyan continued.
"It is a very difficult thing to earn money honestly. The courtesans receive all sorts of drunken ramblings from drunk brats and barely get a few pennies in their hands. The assets of the Hongmeng Brothel that the Honored One took are, if you think about it, the blood and sweat of the courtesans. You took that..."
"Aigoo... I know. I said I'll give it back!"
"Then, I will shut my mouth and pour the alcohol."
* * *
Mado said, "I don't need up to ten thousand taels. I will borrow only a thousand taels."
Although Mado had no experience in the ways of the world, she was not foolish.
She knew how scary interest was.
When Baekji handed her a thousand taels, she handed him back two hundred taels.
"The cost of food and clothes so far... and the price of the horse is two hundred taels, right? Take it. From now on, I will pay for what I eat."
"You won't be able to use much with eight hundred taels."
"I can use it sparingly. I will also earn money."
Then she went out and bought a sword for herself and Cho-hye.
In her hand was a wanted poster that she had torn from in front of the government office.
"You said you don't kill people."
"I said I wouldn't kill people for money, not that I wouldn't kill the brats who deserve to be killed."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"The order is different."
"Bounty hunters are what fallen wanderers do... the owner of the 'Heaven-Shattering Divine Saber'..."
Mado held up her sword.
It was an expression that said, 'Does this look like the 'Heaven-Shattering Demonic Saber'?'
"A fallen wanderer is better than a freeloader."
Mado compared the wanted poster with the smooth face drawn on it to Baekji's.
"It says he's a rapist... I can't tell them apart. How can I recognize a wanted person like this?"
"What are you talking about? To compare me to such a petty criminal!"
Baekji was indignant.
* * *
As they were leaving the inn, Mado and Cho-hye followed.
Baekji, whose resentment had not yet subsided, said bluntly, "Aren't you going to catch the rapist?"
"..."
"You have money. Let's go our separate ways."
Mado's gaze turned to the 'Heaven-Shattering Demonic Saber' hanging at Baekji's waist.
He thought he knew what she meant.
She intended to follow him until she got the 'Heaven-Shattering Demonic Saber' back.
"Aigoo."
The waiter brought the horse.
When Baekji got on the horse, Hongyan followed.
"Why are you following?"
"Our paths are the same."
The Hongmeng Brothel was in Zhaojia County.
"...I don't have travel expenses either."
Mado cut in and said to Hongyan, "If you don't have money, borrow it. There's no such thing as free."
"It's not free. I can just subtract it from the money I'm supposed to receive."
"Money you're supposed to receive?"
Hongyan was about to explain but stopped.
Baekji was glaring at her.
* * *
The rumor that Baekji had beaten the people who were following him and had piled them up into a mountain of people spread far and wide.
Now there was no one who followed him.
But.
He was lost.
He had been wandering in the mountains for three days already.
Mado and Cho-hye, who had lived in the mountains all their lives, went on without a word, but Baekji grumbled constantly.
"The Demonic Cult's information network can't even find the way... how can they realize their ambition of conquering the Central Plains?"
"I am the Sichuan branch manager who was born and raised in Sichuan! And our cult doesn't even think about things like conquering the Central Plains!"
Hongyan's insides were boiling.
The reason they were lost was entirely because of Baekji. Because he had insisted on only going to large villages with good inns, they had kept going north and had entered a mountainous region.
Occasionally, a mountain village appeared, but it was not helpful. The villagers, who had lived in the mountains all their lives, did not know the way.
They were just going on, roughly guessing by watching the sun rise and set.
Cho-hye took Hongyan's side.
"Hongyan-unni is also working hard to find the way. Stop complaining and come down. Oryong is having a hard time."
The Mado master and disciple were still leading their horses. Hongyan had no horse to begin with.
Only Baekji rode his horse up the rough mountain path.
"Oryong is fine. A mountain like this is nothing."
At Cho-hye's insistence, he had finally given it a name, and since it was a horse given by the 'Five Dragons Divine Lord', he had called it 'Oryong'.
"Ah! There's someone over there!"
Baekji shouted, looking at the top of the narrow mountain pass.
The figure holding a large sword looked like a mountain bandit.
"Ask for directions."
Hongyan ran as if flying.
The mountain bandits, seeing a brat and three women, had come down with a light heart, but were startled.
The approaching Hongyan's lightness skill seemed to be at least at the first-rate level.
"Hurry and contact the mountain fortress. That bitch's martial arts seem to be quite good."
One brat ran diligently, and the remaining two brats stood their ground.
Hongyan stood in front of them and said, "Where is this?"
The brat, who had fallen for Hongyan's beauty at first sight, said, "Hehe... it seems you're lost. If you embrace this big brother, I'll tell you."
Hongyan looked at the brat with a face full of a stiff beard and then smiled wickedly.
A brat to release her boiling anger had appeared.
"Oh... is that so...? It's not impossible..."
Hongyan, shaking her hips, approached the bearded man and kicked his lower body.
Peo-eok!
"Keu-ak!"
"What are you going to do with such a weak lower body?"
"Th-this crazy bitch?"
The bearded man, who had been ambushed, grabbed his groin and jumped up and down.
From afar, Baekji clicked his tongue.
"That's... a bit much, isn't it?"
He saw Hongyan jump into the air and kick the jaw of the brat next to her.
"The 'Nine-Tailed Fox Shattering Jade'...?"
He had wondered why Hongyan was unfolding a killing move, but the brat who was hit only staggered and did not fall.
"Yes... it seems she has some pent-up anger."
Baekji understood Hongyan's feelings.
And Hongyan, as if she had inherited Baekji's technique, beat them just enough not to kill them.
"Kya-yoo!"
She released all her pent-up anger.
Even letting out a monstrous scream.
The brats who were being hit were on the verge of death.
"Keo-heuk!"
"This crazy bitch! Just you wait!"
One brat tried to run away but was caught.
"Where are you running to? You don't like this big sister touching you?"
"A-heuk! I-I was wrong."
The mountain bandits finally knelt.
"Tell me. Where is this?"
"We belong to the 'Great Radiance Fortress'..."
"Great Radiance Fortress? I've heard that name somewhere... I don't know. Tell me the name of the place, not the mountain fortress."
"This is the border between Hubei and Shaanxi."
"Shaanxi? We've come a long way... where do we have to go to get to Sichuan?"
"You have to go back three hundred li and then cross the mountain to the southwest. This road goes through Shaanxi, so you have to go a long way around."
Baekji had also heard everything.
He shouted from afar, "Ask which road has many large villages!"
A double wick lit up in Hongyan's eyes.
Before she could even ask, the bearded mountain bandit said, "This way is a bit of a detour, but the road is comfortable... and there are many large villages. Since the 'Zhongnan Sect' is there, it is also safe from... mountain men like us."
Thwack!
"Mountain men? If you're a mountain bandit, you're a mountain bandit..."
Hongyan released her final resentment.
Just then.
"Who dares to touch the family of the 'Great Radiance Fortress'..."
With a loud shout, a middle-aged man with a tiger skin draped over his shoulders and a large sword on his shoulder appeared.
The middle-aged man, who had appeared with a dignified momentum, flinched when he saw Hongyan.
"Huh! Isn't that Hongyan?"
"Oh my? Brigade Leader?"
The middle-aged mountain bandit with the tiger skin was Hu Yeonjo, who had been the leader of the White Mountain Sect's 'Great Light Brigade'.
Hu Yeonjo's face lit up and then he frowned.
The belly that had been stabbed by the chopsticks that Hongyan had thrown instinctively throbbed.
"What are you doing here? Gasp!"
Hu Yeonjo's gaze turned to the back, and then he turned his body and ran away.
"Uh, uh? Brigade Leader?"
As he was wondering why he was doing that, something brushed past him.
Hu Yeonjo, who was running away, stopped.
Baekji was standing in front of him.
"Brigade Leader Hu? Wow, to meet you in a place like this... I'm glad."
"I greet the Honored One."
Hu Yeonjo knelt.
"Hey. You don't have to do this. Get up."
(End of Chapter)