Chapter 30

Darkness lay heavy over the reed beds of Danjiangkou Reservoir.

Rattle, rattle.

Several heavily laden carts crept through reeds as tall as a grown adult.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes.”

Dressed in black for the night, Geum Jeoksan questioned his subordinate while cautiously watching the waters of Danjiangkou.

“And the buyers?”

“There’s still some time before the meeting.”

Geum Jeoksan nodded and looked around.

Silence.

It was the end of the lunar month. No moon rose, and pitch darkness filled their surroundings.

Geum Jeoksan clenched his fists.

Gunpowder smuggling.

He had poured everything the Cheongyang Merchant Guild possessed into this single deal. It had cost four times the usual price.

But that did not matter.

Once the deal was done, the enormous profit would be a fortune in itself.

He had already picked out shops along the main thoroughfare in central Danjiangkou. As soon as he had the funds, he intended to buy them all.

Once this deal is over, I’m done with smuggling. We’ll be a real merchant guild, instead of merely pretending to be one.

He could not run the guild illegally forever.

Leave a long enough trail, and someone was bound to catch you.

Geum Jeoksan glanced at the loads piled on the carts.

Gunpowder lay hidden among the goods.

There was no small amount of it, either.

Gathered together, it would easily fill half a cart.

The preparations alone had taken three months.

Who on earth would want to buy this much?

He could not help wondering.

The buyers had not revealed their identities.

Well, both sides were better off not knowing. He intended to pull off one last big deal and get out, anyway.

“Guild Master.”

While Geum Jeoksan was lost in thought, one of his subordinates pointed toward the river.

A light.

Someone out on the water was signaling with a torch, tracing a circle.

A boat?

He had not expected them to come from that direction.

The buyers had specified only the goods, the time, and the meeting place. Nothing else. Geum Jeoksan had asked no further questions.

But why come by water instead of land?

Waterways were hardly ideal for smuggling.

Government patrol boats were a problem, but the Yangtze’s river pirates were an even greater one.

Danjiangkou connected to Hubei, Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi, so there were more than three pirate strongholds in the vicinity alone.

There was no way to escape their notice.

And more than one boat was approaching.

Five boats, lacquered black to blend into the darkness.

Each carried at least three or four people, all with their faces masked.

That’s not my problem. I just have to hand over the goods and collect the money.

Geum Jeoksan discreetly signaled to the people around the carts.

“Stay alert. If they try anything, we attack at once.”

“Understood, Guild Master.”

Geum Jeoksan had deliberately selected only the guild’s most skilled guards for this job.

Even the drivers and porters were martial artists carrying concealed daggers.

Smuggling was dangerous.

Since the transaction was illegal, he could not report it to the authorities if anything went wrong.

He had to protect himself.

At his command, the guards, porters, and drivers took their assigned positions.

A circular defensive formation around the carts.

It was an effective formation for protecting the center against any unforeseen trouble.

Once he had confirmed that everything was ready, Geum Jeoksan spoke to the martial artist beside him.

“Giseon, send the signal.”

“Yes.”

With that brief reply, Giseon lit a torch and traced the same circle, signaling to the buyers on the river.

The boats, which had stopped on the water, approached the Cheongyang Merchant Guild.

Scraaape.

Their hulls scraped the bottom as they reached the bank, and five masked figures jumped ashore.

“The goods?”

A short, simple question.

There was no need for introductions or greetings during a clandestine deal.

“They’re ready.”

Geum Jeoksan gestured toward the carts with his chin.

Once the masked figures had finished checking the goods—

“The money?”

At his question, two masked figures from the rear brought over a chest and set it down.

Thump.

The lid opened after that heavy thud, revealing yellow lumps of gold.

Ten gwan of gold.

In the torchlight, their yellow gleam seemed bright enough to drive away the darkness.

“Giseon.”

“Yes, Guild Master.”

Giseon and two guards accepted the chest from the masked figures.

“But how do you intend to transport the goods by boat? Even leaving the authorities aside, the Yangtze pirates won’t simply let you pass.”

“…”

The masked figure’s eyes hardened at Geum Jeoksan’s question.

“Ah, my apologies. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Quickly acknowledging his mistake, Geum Jeoksan signaled to the martial artists surrounding the carts.

As they broke their circular formation and slowly withdrew, the masked figures signaled toward the boats.

Everyone still aboard disembarked and approached the carts.

Fifteen in all.

The deal was done.

Now he just had to remain alert until they left—

“That’s far enough.”

A voice from one side of the reed beds brought everyone to a halt.

Shing!

The masked figures approaching the carts drew their swords in unison, the blades radiating a sharp menace.

“Who’s there?”

Geum Jeoksan scowled, and the guild’s martial artists immediately drew their weapons and readied themselves.

Then—

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Three men emerged through the reeds.

“Y-you!”

As the torchlight revealed the newcomer’s face, Geum Jeoksan’s eyes widened almost to bursting.

“Been well? Life treating you better since you sent me off to die?”

“…”

Jinmu.

He had appeared, with Cheongu and Gong Sacheok.

“Look at that face. Quite a surprise, huh?”

As Jinmu stood sneering with his arms folded, the masked figures turned menacing glares on Geum Jeoksan.

“Damn it…”

Why was someone who should have been dead long ago here?

And what was Gong Sacheok doing beside him?

But Jinmu being alive was not the most pressing concern.

Since Geum Jeoksan had recognized him, the masked figures might suspect they were working together.

In their place, he would certainly assume this was an attempt to keep both the money and the goods.

Some of their sword points were already turned toward his people.

He had no particular obligation to honor their trust, but there was no reason to fight them.

Fifteen masked figures.

Twenty from the Cheongyang Merchant Guild.

Even against a first-generation Wudang disciple and Gong Sacheok, a well-known fighter in Danjiangkou, more than thirty people working together could easily kill them and silence the witnesses.

“You stupid bastard. You should have pretended you hadn’t seen anything.”

Murder gleamed in Geum Jeoksan’s eyes.

“Kill him!”

At his command, the guild’s martial artists immediately thrust their blades at Jinmu.

“That’s more like it. I haven’t got much time right now.”

Jinmu’s lips parted, revealing his white canines in a wicked grin.

“Gong Sacheok!”

“Yes!”

At Jinmu’s shout, Gong Sacheok sprang forward like a loyal servant.

Clang-clang-clang!

Deflecting the guards’ sword strikes with his broad saber, Gong Sacheok unleashed saber qi and lashed it about like a whip.

But the guild’s guards were no pushovers, either.

Some were wounded, but none had died.

In an instant, as many as fifteen guild guards were counterattacking Gong Sacheok.

But there was a reason Jinmu had sent him out first.

“Boys! Get them!”

At Gong Sacheok’s shout, thugs appeared on all sides.

“Raaah!”

A chaotic melee erupted at once.

“Wh-what?”

Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Geum Jeoksan stumbled backward.

Tsk, tsk. Did you think I’d come alone?

With internal injuries and my body a wreck from using the Raging Blood Soul-Severing Qi Art?

Set one pack of barbarians against another, you bastards.

Jinmu sneered at Geum Jeoksan.

Clang! Clang-clang!

Wounds multiplied on Gong Sacheok’s body as he fought, but what did that matter?

If he died, that was his lot.

Still, Jinmu decided to lend a little help, generously flicking blasts of qi from his fingers at the enemies swarming around Gong Sacheok.

Ffft! Ffft!

“Gah!”

With Jinmu’s help, they began dying under Gong Sacheok’s saber, one by one.

“Great hero, thanksh!”

Given some breathing room by Jinmu’s intervention, Gong Sacheok cried out in gratitude through a mouth that could barely form the words.

Kill another one instead of wasting time talking, you idiot.

Jinmu now set about his own business.

While Gong Sacheok took all the hits for him, Jinmu approached the chest sitting there in all its beauty.

“Th-that… Has Gong Sacheok gone mad?”

As the fighting continued and Gong Sacheok’s saber steadily thinned the ranks of his guards, Geum Jeoksan grew increasingly alarmed.

What if they all died?

Everything he had planned would come to nothing.

If Jinmu escaped alive, it would not merely end his ties to Wudang. The Cheongyang Merchant Guild itself would cease to exist.

“Fight, you fools! Kill them! I said kill them!”

Shouting in frustration, Geum Jeoksan turned toward the masked figures.

To ask for help.

To ask them to join him in killing those bastards.

But they showed no intention of joining the fight.

After a brief whispered exchange—

Th-these bastards!

They approached the chest of gold instead of trying to kill Jinmu and Gong Sacheok.

It’s mine. That money is mine now! Just take your gunpowder and get lost!

Geum Jeoksan wanted to shout those words.

But with the masked figures threatening him with raised swords, he had no choice but to retreat.

He was a merchant, not a martial artist.

Goddamn it…

Then Jinmu suddenly appeared and blocked their path.

“Keep your hands off!”

Shrrring!

Vivid blue sword qi burst forth.

Clang-clang-clang!

The masked figures blocked the fierce sword qi and fell back.

Could it be? Was he trying to save me?

For a moment, Geum Jeoksan mistakenly believed Jinmu had come to his rescue.

Thwack!

“Urgh!”

Jinmu’s kick sent Geum Jeoksan tumbling across the ground.

“It’s mine, you bastards! I ran my fucking balls off to get here for this!”

He stood guard over the chest of gold.

Streams of blue sword qi poured from his blade, his eyes as fierce as though he faced a mortal enemy.

That was right.

This was precisely why he had not brought government troops with him.

All that gunpowder would be useless to him, even if he took it.

What Jinmu wanted was Geum Jeoksan’s head, with the payment for the gunpowder thrown in as a bonus.

“I’ve got no interest in you lot, so get lost. Unless you all want to die.”

“…”

The masked figures glared at Jinmu, faced with his resolve(?) to defend the chest even at the cost of his life.

Whoosh!

A flaming arrow shot up from the edge of the reed beds.

“Arrest them all!”

Already?

Damn it, Cheongsang. Why did you have to be so bloody quick!

Startled by the arrival of government troops, the masked figures abandoned their attempt to reclaim the chest and hurried back toward their boats.

Jinmu was in just as much of a hurry.

“Goddamn it! Cheongu!”

“Yes, Martial Uncle!”

“Pick it up!”

“…What?”

You little bastard. Please, catch on for once.

“The chest!”

“Ah, yes.”

Cheongu easily lifted the chest with its ten gwan of gold.

“Run!”

“…”

“Hurry!”

At Jinmu’s glaring shout, Cheongu fled without question or argument.

“Whew.”

Only then did Jinmu breathe a sigh of relief and quietly turn his head.

“Now, shall we take our time and have a little talk, just the two of us?”

“…”

At the chill in Jinmu’s voice, Geum Jeoksan went deathly pale.