Chapter 24
Thud thud.
Only the sound of one man’s footsteps rang over the training ground where silence had descended. Wang Geum-san kept his shoulders straight proudly even in front of Gye Yeon-seok whom the people of the Taeeul Sect found so uncomfortable.
“Since you ruined the Great Affair of the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group, do you have to pay the price?”
At Wang Geum-san’s words, Gye Yeon-seok’s teeth chattered rattle rattle.
“T-That is….”
However, before Gye Yeon-seok’s words finished, Wang Geum-san blocked his words.
“By the way, since when could the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group ignore the Wang Clan like this?”
“N-No! I-Ignore, what do you mean!”
Gye Yeon-seok bowed his waist in surprise.
“I came here to see my benefactors today, but seeing the sight of you acting disgracefully, my mood is not very good.”
“Pardon? B-Benefactor…….”
Instead of answering, Wang Geum-san looked around the warriors led by the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group and spoke.
“Stop and go back. Before my mood gets worse.”
“…….”
Gye Yeon-seok, who lost his mind at Wang Geum-san’s sudden appearance, shouted ‘Uh-buh-buh’ then dragged the merchant group’s warriors and went back.
Gye Cheol-yeong, who was triumphant, couldn’t do this or that, noticed the mood, and followed his father back to the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group.
Hong Mun-gi, who welcomed Wang Geum-san in bewilderment, was dumbfounded.
“……So-un saved Lord Wang’s daughter……?”
Hong Mun-gi, who couldn’t believe it, asked twice, and Wang Geum-san nodded with a benevolent smile.
Hong Mun-gi also knew about the Wang So-so incident.
Golden King Wang Geum-san who practically held the commercial power of Anhui Province, no, the entire Jiangdong.
Since Hong Mun-gi, who was a bit distant from worldly affairs, also heard the rumor that his precious only daughter went missing until his ears hurt.
But to think the one who saved that daughter was So-un.
“Come to think of it…….”
He remembered the time a few days ago when he came into the Great Wise Hall abruptly and asked for tea.
Surely he saved her then. That child….
“It seems it is my child.”
“…….”
His mouth didn’t close.
Kidnapping incidents happen frequently among slash-and-burn farmers or nomads who haven’t settled in villages.
He only thought he saved such a child…….
“Actually, I was a bit surprised on that point. There was no one who didn’t know about this incident in the whole Anhui Province area. He just left the child at Wang Bu and left.”
“You mean he just left her at Wang Bu?”
Hong Mun-gi, who was listening to the story, came to his senses.
Then, Jin So-un treating Wang So-so’s story as nothing special and the story that he just left Wang So-so at Wang Bu meshed together and began to be understood.
“……It was so.”
“Do you know something?”
“No. I just understood that child’s feelings a little.”
At Hong Mun-gi’s words, Wang Geum-san made a slightly surprised expression.
“Probably So-un didn’t attach great meaning to the action he did.”
“He didn’t attach meaning?”
“If he attaches meaning to saving your daughter, wouldn’t he become unable to attach meaning to the kidnapping incident of a poor family’s child.”
If he receives a price for the rescue act of Wang So-so, he will come to wish for a price for the rescue act of a poor family’s child too.
“The teaching of the Taeeul Sect is not like that.”
Wang Geum-san also seemed a bit moved and nodded.
“May I meet that child?”
***
The Taeeul Sect held a feast with the gifts Wang Geum-san brought.
It was full of all kinds of precious fabrics and ornaments, and on one side was a cart full of grain, and besides that, a cart loaded with boxes of unknown identity.
‘He is more generous than I thought.’
Just looking at Father’s lips twitching, whose brow hadn’t known how to unfurl due to worries about funds within the sect, was a part where I could know how much wealth Wang Geum-san brought.
“The Lord asked if he could see you for a moment.”
A person who seemed to have quite a rank inside the procession guided me politely, and I could meet Wang Geum-san in that annex where Namgung San stayed.
“Nice to meet you.”
Entering the annex, faint presences were felt from here and there unlike before.
‘Concealment Art?’
Whether because my senses improved as my internal energy reached one cycle or because Wang Geum-san couldn’t hire skilled guards even with his financial power, I could feel the presences distinctly.
As I looked at the corner of the ceiling at the faint presences I felt for the first time in my life, Wang Geum-san’s expression changed strangely.
“Can you feel them?”
“Pardon? What…….”
“Did you not feel just now that someone is there?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
“Haha!”
Along with Wang Geum-san’s hearty laughter, the presences were felt more distinctly. The breathing was being disturbed.
“Actually. The kidnappers avoided them and kidnapped So-so. ……No, to be exact, it would be correct to say they ignored them.”
Martial arts replace skills.
Sometimes it was also a maxim of the Jianghu that one deeply dug path accommodates branches.
Ignoring those who only trained for protection seemed to be nothing for the elites of the Namgung Clan.
“Masters who ignore them, and a young man not yet twenty who saved my daughter from their hands. Actually, it is hard to believe.”
Wang Geum-san was still staring at me piercingly as if observing me.
Although there was no fighting spirit or killing intent, the accumulated experience of life was washing over me burdensomely no less than that.
“Moreover, that you saved her by chance and left. Even that fact, one must be able to believe.”
Somehow, my actions understandable to his head seemed to be rather providing him with misunderstanding.
“I apologize if I caused you to misunderstand.”
“No. Not at all. I felt a very proud emotion after a long time. ……Of course, provided that it was a misunderstanding.”
His tone now bearing complete chill.
It seemed he had broken firmly somewhere while going through this incident.
Actually, it was unavoidable to buy misunderstanding, because if not for me, he wouldn’t have been able to see Wang So-so again.
But since it wasn’t a very good feeling, my tone was also gradually becoming cold.
“What story do you want to talk about?”
“I investigated closely about you. But eventually, I couldn’t find out anything.”
That would be so. Because the me of the previous life is just a human whose inside is seen too clearly.
“So if there is something you are hiding from me, I wish you would tell me. I will definitely pay the price for this rudeness I am committing.”
“I do not know what can cure the heart of a wounded person. What are you most curious about?”
Wang Geum-san’s face was already unwavering.
“First, I want to know why you didn’t come to Wang Bu together.”
For Wang Geum-san, the reason for not receiving the huge reward immediately seemed impossible to accept.
“First, it was because it was difficult to tell you the full story of the matter.”
Wang Geum-san’s suspicion deepened further.
“When I saved your daughter, it was the third day of chasing the kidnappers. At that time, your daughter was in a very bad condition, and since it was the moment they were about to silence her by killing…… I couldn’t even think of notifying and had to step forward.”
“……Ahem.”
No matter how great a person’s guts are, the fact that his child was in a crisis of almost dying is hard to hear.
“Second is because of the expected huge reward.”
“You didn’t make it known it was your deed because of the reward?”
“The huge reward Wang Geum-san gives might look good visibly. However, if I don’t have the power to protect it right away, it is no different from a disaster.”
“Third is because saving Wang So-so to me was nothing more than a personal resolution.”
“What is the personal resolution?”
“Never overlook injustice when seeing it.”
To be exact, never overlook the person who caused injustice to me, though.
Anyway, what I needed was a sponsor enough to detach the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group, so anyone didn’t matter.
Choosing Wang So-so in that process was strictly only because it was related to the personal grudge against Namgung Sang-won.
Moreover, now I even have the Seven-Colored Jewel obtained from Namgung San.
Now it didn’t matter even if it wasn’t the Wang Clan.
“Since you paid the price beyond what I want with just the gifts you brought today, I think you do not have to come visit anymore.”
“Were you offended?”
“If an act of good will returns as suspicion, wouldn’t any person be unable to do the next act of good will. Since I do not want to be like that, I have no thought of continuing the relationship with the Lord.”
Since he is a person who fought for profit his whole life and reached the peak, I know well how lacking his trust in humans would be.
But that is strictly his position. Wouldn’t it be my position anyway that my mood became unpleasant due to that.
I rose from the seat and offered a polite bow with clasped hands.
And the moment I was about to turn around.
Thud.
My mouth opened wide at his action.
“W-What are you doing right now?”
Soon, even those who were doing concealment art on the ceiling appeared in front of my eyes.
Because they couldn’t keep doing concealment while their employer was kneeling and bowing.
“Please forgive the sin of not recognizing the benefactor sent by heaven and suspecting first. Furthermore, the grace of saving my precious daughter. I will carve it in my bones for life and offer a heart of gratitude every morning.”
“””Please forgive us.”””
Because even the guards bowed deeply in unison, I couldn’t help but be flustered.
Who is the opponent? Someone who can build a mountain with gold, a tycoon responsible for the economy of people under heaven.
At the sight of him, whom even the tycoon nobles of Beijing cannot treat carelessly, kneeling and even bowing deeply, I quickly approached him and tried to raise him up.
“Do not do this. How can you bow to a mere warrior.”
“First, you saved my daughter, and second, you saved me due to that. Thanks to that, my family members were saved, and even the families of the family members were saved. Like this, how can I not offer a bow.”
I couldn’t force someone who wouldn’t budge to stand up, so I eventually had to nod.
“I understand, so please get up quickly. I am afraid people might see.”
“Are you forgiving me?”
“I understand, so please get up quickly.”
A bright smile hovered on the face of Wang Geum-san who stood up and sat down.
The title of commercial tycoon was not attached for nothing.
This human is playing with a person very much.
“Thank you.”
“Please stop such honorifics now. If you keep doing this, I will really leave.”
“Ahem, I am sorry. But no matter how much I thought, I had to be able to believe. I committed such rudeness because of the part I couldn’t understand even at the end of my cognition. I apologize once again.”
“Understood. Please stop now.”
The strange spirit that seemed unapproachable also disappeared, and only an expression creating dissonance mixed with fatigue and comfort remained on his face.
He spoke to the guards.
“Vacate the seat for a moment.”
“Yes.”
The guards disappeared like ghosts in front of my eyes, and presence wasn’t felt from the ceiling or inside the building either.
“May I ask one thing?”
“It is probably because of the medicine, right?”
The reason he probed my inside even putting on such an act is eventually bound to be related to that medicine.
If not for that medicine, he wouldn’t have needed to probe my inside. Even if I were part of the kidnapping gang, if he watched over time, the inside would have been exposed someday.
“Ho-oh, they said you have a brilliant head, and it was true.”
“It’s just that my memory is uselessly good.”
“That…… medicine, what on earth is it? Even the former physicians don’t know the identity of the medicine. Only they worried because of the poisonous herbs in the medicine. Saying there is room for poisoning. But So-so said she would eat that medicine even if she died.”
Before parting with So-so, I wrote down the pill formula she has to eat every day and handed it over.
Since she won’t suffer due to the Solar Body if she just eats one pill a day for life, Wang So-so would never have wanted to give up.
“It is true that poisonous herbs are included. We also have to think about the possibility of poisoning.”
“……Then isn’t it dangerous!”
“That is why I taught her the Taeeul Heart Method to neutralize it. It would have been better if it were a heart method with higher power, but the situation was so urgent that there was only that at the time.”
“Then…… does it mean she just has to eat that medicine and learn the heart method for life?”
“Of course, since she already learned the Taeeul Heart Method, she won’t be able to learn other heart methods. Regarding that point, I apologize once again even if I obtained permission from your daughter.”
“No no, I don’t mean that. If she eats only that medicine, how much longer can she live?”
The medicine isn’t even an elixir, how would I know a human’s lifespan.
“I am not a fortune teller either…… how would I know a human’s natural lifespan?”
Wang Geum-san’s eyes became as big as large bells.
“Then, do you mean she can enjoy her natural lifespan?”
“If there is no major illness or accident, wouldn’t she?”
“How on earth do you know such a formula?”
Here, a little adaptation was needed.
Because I can’t reveal it was a confidential document of the Murim Alliance’s Universal Affairs Bureau.
“In the past, there was a time I was bitten by a poisonous snake in the mountain and almost died, but a certain old man saved me using poisonous herbs. After that, the herb art was so mysterious that I followed him persistently and came to learn various medicine formulas.”
“You caught a poisonous snake’s poison with poisonous herbs?”
When I added the story as part of the poison-countering-poison method contained in the Myriad Herb Record, Wang Geum-san thought for a long time before opening his mouth.
“You obtained a miraculous encounter.”
“Miraculous encounter?”
“Yes, in the world, the only one who countered poison with poison was the former Life and Death Divine Physician teacher. I thought the progress was cut off because his death was not known, but there was such a connection.”
Because his daughter had an illness, Wang Geum-san was also equipped with vast knowledge about medicine.
Thanks to that, the story passed smoothly.
Then Wang Geum-san grabbed my hands abruptly.
Wang Geum-san bowing his head.
“Thank you.”
“If I hear it just one more time, I will get calluses in my ears.”
Hot water drops fell drip drip onto my hand.
“I will offer a prayer for you every morning when I wake up. And I will not forget this grace until the day I die.”
At his tears falling on my hands, the bad feelings I had toward him were soon released quickly.
***
Eventually, it was decided that Wang So-so would enter the Taeeul Sect.
Even though he would be cautious considering Wang So-so had a big incident, Wang So-so’s insistence was too strong and somehow Wang Geum-san also seemed not to say much.
Instead, he carefully conveyed the words asking if he could have escort warriors accompany her, and thinking about the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group putting a Hall Master as an instructor in the Buseng Hall, all Hall Masters agreed with the feeling that it was nothing.
The person who guided me to Wang Geum-san called me separately.
The person who introduced himself as the Chief Manager of the Wang Clan had moved all the mysterious boxes loaded fully on one cart to the annex after Wang Geum-san returned.
“What is all this?”
“These are gifts the Lord gives to the Young Master.”
“……?”
The gifts brought to the Taeeul Sect were already huge, and he promised sponsorship money in the future, but there are more things to gift?
The Chief Manager showcased a long box flowing with antique beauty first.
“It is one of the most precious items in the Lord’s treasury. The name is Black Dragon Sword.”
Inside the box, a sword entirely black from blade to hilt was placed.
“Huh…….”
The flawless blade and the hilt wrapped as if two dragons were ascending were closer to a work of art than a weapon.
“The hilt and scabbard are smelted from Dark Steel, and the blade is smelted from Indestructible Diamond Steel, so even if it clashes with any divine weapon, the edge will not be damaged.”
Since no decorations were attached, it looked plain in a way, but it possessed a demonic energy sucking in the gaze by itself.
While my gaze was stolen by the sword, the Head Manager opened the next box.
“This is the Heavenly Silkworm Treasure Robe, clothing that went through a special manufacturing process handed down for generations within the Wang Clan.”
The tight-fitting treasure robe of a shape seen for the first time seemed to be perfect clothing for martial artists who need freedom of movement to wear inside their clothes.
“It is an item made by twisting Heavenly Silkworm Thread, Diamond Thread, and Silver Thread respectively, having elasticity and not hindering movement while simultaneously possessing enormous defensive power. As an example, the Murim Alliance also wanted to purchase it several times, but it was an item not sold because the quantity was not large.”
The Chief Manager explaining brought out stories fluently as if he was more excited.
“If it is this precious, shouldn’t the Lord or Young Mistress So-so use it?”
“Ah, of course, the two are already using it. Since it is so tricky to make, we make it whenever materials are secured within the Wang Clan. This time, for the first time, all family members wore it and he is gifting the one set remaining.”
If he is the Chief Manager, he would be related to the heavy responsibility of managing the property within the clan. I couldn’t quite adapt to the appearance of such a person explaining happily.
Whether he recognized my puzzled appearance, the Chief Manager scratched his wrinkled cheek and spoke.
“Probably you do not know how grateful we are.”
“……No, I think I know sufficiently.”
“Actually, the Lord lost his parents in his youth, and his wife passed away giving birth to Young Mistress So-so. To the Lord, family is only Young Mistress So-so alone, and that is why he is even more affectionate.”
Compared to Gye Yeon-seok, the owner of the Rooster Dragon Merchant Group, who had five wives including concubines, it is a truly contrasting appearance.
“We prepared for a real war after losing the Young Mistress. The Lord intended to hire contract killers for three sects simultaneously. He was in the middle of liquidating assets for that. If that happened, probably we also wouldn’t have been able to remain in the Wang Clan anymore. Young Master saved tens of thousands of people.”
The Chief Manager was looking at me with eyes full of gratitude.
“He said to tell him anytime if there is anything to help in the future. If it is hard to tell the Lord, please tell this Chief Manager.”
“Haha…… This is really too good but burdensome.”
“You do not need to be so. Because we all think we received the grace of saving lives.”
“Understood. If you do more than this, I will be too ashamed so let’s stop. But what are these remaining things? Did you perhaps empty the Lord’s treasury?”
There were still five boxes remaining.
“Not that, but we brought things the Young Mistress doesn’t need anymore.”
“You say she doesn’t need them?”
The moment he opened the first box, cold energy was felt strongly from inside the box as if entering an ice warehouse.
“They said it is the Snow Carp Internal Core.”
Snap.
I was so surprised I closed the box.
“Then this?”
“They said it is the Snow Lotus Seed. I heard the dragon-slaying escort agency suffered quite a bit in the North Sea to obtain that.”
Inside the box, the fruit of a lotus was emitting blue cold energy.
He said she lived in a place like an ice warehouse all her life, so it seems it was a place made with artifacts and elixirs emitting such cold energy.
“Then all these?”
The Chief Manager smiled comfortably like that smile of Wang Geum-san.
“Yes.”
Long live the rich.
