Chapter 31

Wham!

A fist swung, sending Geum Jeoksan’s corpulent body flying through the air before crashing to the ground.

“Urghhh. S-stop.”

Sprawled in the dirt, Geum Jeoksan held out a hand to ward off the approaching Jinmu.

Thwack!

A kick immediately sank into his fleshy belly.

“Gah!”

Thud! Thud-thud! Thud!

Then came a merciless stomping.

You bastard! You fat pig of a bastard! You dared send me to my death! You smuggling bastard!

“Guaaagh!”

Geum Jeoksan’s screams filled the reed beds, but Jinmu’s beating did not stop.

There was no peerless martial art involved.

He simply stomped.

Simply punched and kicked.

But Geum Jeoksan, whose martial training amounted to a few third-rate punches and kicks, could do nothing but take every blow.

And Jinmu’s beating was relentless, expertly calculated to inflict pain.

He seemed to be striking everywhere indiscriminately, yet each blow landed on the same spot as before. Just as the pain began to fade, he hit that spot again, and again. Only when he had beaten it enough did he move on to another…

“Uhhh… Please, please spare me. Please.”

His face a mess of tears and snot, Geum Jeoksan clutched Jinmu’s trouser leg and begged again and again.

His grip tightened.

Jinmu looked down at the trouser leg in his grasp.

“Let go.”

“Please… spare me.”

Jinmu slowly crouched and took hold of the fingers clutching his trousers.

“Who said I was going to kill you?”

Crack.

“Aaagh!”

The fingers bent in a direction they were never meant to bend.

Crunch!

Then he crushed the bones of the hand with his fist.

“Urrrgh!”

Pain far worse than that of the broken fingers struck.

It hurt.

Enough to make him shudder, but precisely that much.

More extreme pain might have made him faint, but Jinmu kept it just short of making him lose consciousness.

“Er, s-shouldn’t you stop him?”

Unable to bear watching any longer, the commander of the government troops whispered to Cheongsang.

Who? Stop whom? Why?

Cheongsang had absolutely no intention of doing that.

If the commander wanted to go to hell, he could go alone. Why drag Cheongsang into it?

Jinmu’s eyes.

They were terrifyingly cold, enough to make his skin crawl.

In all his time with Jinmu, he had never seen that look before.

If he tried to intervene, he would surely get caught in the crossfire. He had not even dared ask why Cheongu was nowhere to be seen.

“Buddha of Infinite Life.”

Cheongsang resolutely avoided the officer’s gaze and murmured his invocation.

“Huff, huff…”

How much time had passed?

After beating Geum Jeoksan without a moment’s rest, Jinmu finally rose, shaking out his hands.

The figure on the ground was barely recognizable as Geum Jeoksan.

He looked like a frog that had been flung into the road and trampled countless times by passersby.

He was so badly mangled that only when someone said, “That’s actually a person,” would an observer nod in understanding.

As Jinmu slowly turned his head, Cheongsang spoke hastily.

“M-Martial Uncle! Thank you for your hard work.”

What work? Beating someone up?

The words had simply slipped out.

With murder filling Jinmu’s eyes, he had felt compelled to say something.

“Th-thank you for your hard work.”

The commander beside him bowed his head and echoed him.

For the same reason as Cheongsang. Somehow, it had seemed necessary.

Jinmu slowly surveyed his surroundings.

The Cheongyang Merchant Guild’s guards had all been disarmed and subdued by the hundred or so government troops.

The thugs who had helped Jinmu’s party were in the same predicament.

The moment the troops appeared, Gong Sacheok had thrown down his broad saber and surrendered.

“Grea’ hero!”

Despite being a prisoner and slurring his words through missing teeth, Gong Sacheok looked cheerful.

He had helped a Wudang Taoist round up gunpowder smugglers.

He had surrendered, his martial powers had been suppressed, and wooden manacles had been fastened around his wrists, but there was such a thing as extenuating circumstances.

Surely they would release him if Jinmu spoke on his behalf.

Meeting Gong Sacheok’s hopeful gaze, Jinmu gave a slight nod, approached the commander, and whispered.

“How much?”

“Pardon?”

The officer tilted his head at Jinmu’s whisper.

“Gong Sacheok. The bounty.”

“Ah. One hundred taels of silver.”

A hundred taels. A hundred, he said.

Unlike orthodox martial artists, those of the unorthodox faction were not covered by the tradition of noninterference between the government and the martial world.

The Green Forest were mountain bandits, the Yangtze gangs were river pirates, and Heuksabang was a hotbed of every kind of illegal activity.

Gong Sacheok was no different.

As the boss of the thugs who ruled Danjiangkou’s back alleys, he had bled merchants dry and tormented countless people.

In other words, they disrupted the lives of ordinary citizens.

It was simply that a rash attempt to arrest them could get the officers hurt.

And the bribes they scattered about were so enormous that even when an arrest was possible, the authorities looked the other way.

But if they happened to get caught, they went straight to prison. No exceptions.

The troops would hardly release them when it was such an easy way to chalk up an achievement.

Once they were cornered, no amount of bribery would help.

Of course, Jinmu might have felt uneasy handing a capable fellow martial artist of the unorthodox faction over to government troops.

But hadn’t the bastard dared try to kill him in the first place? He felt no particular urge to show mercy.

“Take him away. Throw the rest in with him.”

“Understood. In any event, thanks to you, we’ve rounded up the entire Sacheok Gang and stopped a gunpowder deal prohibited by the state. On behalf of the county magistrate, I thank you.”

At the commander’s words, Gong Sacheok blinked at Jinmu.

“W-wait a shecond, grea’ hero?”

Hadn’t he promised to overlook the attempt on his life?

Of course he had.

But what could you do?

Jinmu was far too unscrupulous to let a mere promise constrain him.

A hundred taels of silver… And as extra income, too.

“Take him away.”

At the commander’s order, Gong Sacheok stared at Jinmu with round eyes.

“Grea’ hero!”

Then—

He saw the commander hand Jinmu a certificate entitling him to the bounty.

Gong Sacheok’s face twisted.

“You! You backstabbing son of a bitch!”

For once, Gong Sacheok’s pronunciation was remarkably clear.

“Hmm. You’d better gag him. No telling what lies he’ll invent to get out of this.”

“Ah, shall we?”

The commander nodded at Jinmu’s suggestion.

He had wanted to do just that.

Gong Sacheok had paid such enormous bribes that if he started talking, the officials would find themselves in trouble too.

A happy arrangement for both sides. The officer immediately had Gong Sacheok gagged.

The troops followed, binding the thugs, the guild’s guards, and Geum Jeoksan—now a bloody pulp barely retaining a human shape—and marching them away.

In his heart, Jinmu wanted to kill Gong Sacheok, Geum Jeoksan, every last one of them.

But wasn’t he a Taoist of the illustrious Wudang sect, after all?

The matter was settled.

Government patrol boats were pursuing the masked figures who had escaped by water, so Jinmu need not concern himself with them.

The troops had caught the criminals.

A bad man had caught the bad men.

All Jinmu had to do was collect the money.

Cheongu had run off with the chest, and he had secured the bounty. That should be enough—

“Excuse me.”

“…Yes?”

The commander turned at Jinmu’s sudden call.

“Would there happen to be a reward for stopping the smuggling?”

“…”

“…Is there not?”

His eyes shone with hope.

Jinmu looked as though he would be terribly disappointed if there wasn’t one. The commander smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, well… Please visit the county office later. I’ll report this to the magistrate.”

“Oh, may I?”

“Of course. Now that we’ve caught Geum Jeoksan, whom we’ve suspected for some time, the Cheongyang Merchant Guild’s assets will be confiscated. It should be a considerable fortune, so a reward would be no trouble.”

What?

They were confiscating the Cheongyang Merchant Guild’s assets?

Damn it. If I’d known, I would have skimmed a little off when we first attacked the guild…

What a waste.

Wasn’t that the nature of greed? Even with a mountain of gold, you still coveted an iron coin lying on the ground.

But—

Jinmu was a Wudang Taoist.

He could not display any more of his worldly nature.

“Then I shall look forward to a considerable reward!”

“Ah. Y-yes.”

The commander smiled awkwardly at Jinmu’s emphasis on that particular word.

“I’ll see you later, then. Don’t forget!”

Jinmu waved vigorously until the commander and his prisoners had completely disappeared from sight.

Then—

“Cheongsang.”

“Yes, Martial Uncle.”

“Let’s find Cheongu.”

“…”

“He can’t have gone far.”

Cheongsang could only blink.

Come to think of it, where had Cheongu gone?

---

Bang, bang!

“Who is it?”

Hwang Jeon, manager of the Dongnim Banking House’s Danjiang branch, woke irritably to someone pounding on the door first thing in the morning.

Bang-bang-bang!

The visitor gave no answer and simply kept pounding.

“Stop that! You’ll break it down!”

Still cranky from being woken, Hwang Jeon cautiously peered outside through the little window in the door.

Taoists. Three of them.

How strange.

Taoists generally had little reason to do business with a banking house.

They were above money.

Yet the clear Supreme Ultimate symbols on the fronts of their robes marked them unmistakably as Taoists. Wudang Taoists, at that.

Penniless Taoists, first thing in the morning. What rotten luck…

His irritation deepened.

The first customer of the day mattered. Why did it have to be Taoists?

And just look at those shabby clothes.

He had to chase them away.

If he let them in, even the God of Wealth would turn back at the door.

“We won’t be opening for a good while. If you have business here, come back in the afternoon.”

“…”

Perhaps they did not understand plain speech. They showed no sign of leaving.

Hwang Jeon scowled and turned away anyway.

Bang! Bang-bang!

“…”

The pounding grew harder.

These damned Taoists!

They really sounded as if they would break down the door.

Hwang Jeon barely made it a few steps before turning back.

“Look here! We’re not open—”

The moment he slid back the bolt—

The Taoists pushed past him and entered.

Needless to say, it was Jinmu’s party.

As soon as they came in, they sat in the tiger-hide chairs reserved for consultations with valued customers depositing at least a hundred taels.

Did they have any idea how much those hides cost?

They hadn’t even brushed the straw or dirt off their clothes!

“Now see here!”

Furious, Hwang Jeon was about to point an accusing finger when—

“One cup of Longjing tea here—no, three!”

This was no teahouse, yet they were ordering him to fetch tea without so much as a greeting.

Hwang Jeon was over fifty this year.

How could these young Taoist brats be so ill-mannered?

But years of serving customers had trained him well. He barely suppressed his anger and spoke as politely as he could.

“Listen, good Taoists. If you don’t leave immediately, I shall call the guards…”

He was prepared to have them thrown out by force, but Jinmu looked him straight in the eye.

“Cheongu!”

“Yes, Martial Uncle!”

“Put it up.”

Thump!

The chest they had brought landed on the table.

“Open it!”

Clack!

The lid opened.

“…”

Hwang Jeon could not close his mouth.

Yellow.

A blessed, glorious tide of golden light filled the room.

Gulp.

He swallowed involuntarily.

The G-God of Wealth. It’s the God of Wealth!

Moving like lightning, Hwang Jeon seized a handle mounted on the banking house wall and yanked it frantically.

Clang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang!

Surely a bell was supposed to go “ding.”

But he pulled so furiously that the sound never had a chance to end.

Before long, the banking house’s newly roused employees were carrying tea and food to Jinmu’s table.

“You fools! You dare serve this swill to the God of Wealth? Hurry up and replace it with West Lake Longjing!”

“You idiots! What are these refreshments? The finest! Bring the finest we have!”

“You wench! Hurry up and massage our honored guests’ shoulders! Can’t you see how tired they look?”

Bellowing as though playing three roles at once, Hwang Jeon approached their table with reverence.

Thump.

He might have been over fifty, but he was still a branch manager working on the front lines of the banking trade.

Age? Who cared about that?

In a banking house, money conferred seniority and status.

And they were from Wudang, weren’t they?

There could be no more reliable credentials.

Even if those credentials were a little uncertain, what did it matter? The yellow stuff in their chest amounted to an entire year’s transactions.

“Honored guest!”

Kneeling before Jinmu, Hwang Jeon spoke with the utmost respect.

“I am Hwang Jeon, manager of the Dongnim Banking House’s Danjiang branch. I humbly greet you.”

For the first time since its founding, the Danjiang branch of the Dongnim Banking House opened for business at the crack of dawn. And Jinmu opened his first account there.

One each for Cheongsang and Cheongu, too.

There was only one reason. To keep their mouths shut…