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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Since We've Dug the Trap (2)
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"Well. Considering the sincerity Merchant Go has shown us all this time, there's no reason we can't help."
"Really?!"
It was true that he felt uneasy.
But there was no reason not to trust their confidence.
This was the Black Alliance, after all.
"Of course, I assume you know it's not for free."
"Of course! Absolutely! Then let's go right now!!"
"Hm? No, come on. It's been ages since I visited. At least have a drink..."
"Now's our chance! Dang Yu-wol is out of the residence right now!"
They had been keeping a close watch on the Sacheon Escort Agency's movements ever since Ji Gong disappeared.
Dang Yu-wol had left his post.
"Even the elders who could fight the Tang Clan Head have gone to Yun'nan! Now's our chance!"
That made things even easier.
The Four Fiends' Death Sword figured this job would be simpler than expected.
'I can squeeze a bit out of this as an excuse, and the Alliance Leader won't complain, right?'
"Just capture Ji Seon, and we'll escort you to Taeseong Pavilion!"
"Haha. To think my body would fail me like this. No helping it. Let's go."
The Four Fiends' Death Sword stepped out of the merchant house.
Behind him joined Go Cheok and six peak experts from the Crimson Merchant Group.
"No need for Merchant Go to come along himself."
"Better to be thorough, don't you think...?"
"Very well, then."
He wished Go Cheok would just stay put quietly.
But what could he say when the one paying wanted it this way?
He nodded nonchalantly and headed for the Tang residence.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
'Tch. So this is the Tang Clan?'
The Four Fiends' Death Sword recalled his early days wandering the martial world.
Back then, the Tang Clan had been an object of terror in the jianghu.
For such a place to have fallen into such disrepair.
"Come out!!"
"What is it?"
"I heard a child Merchant Go cherishes like his own daughter is being held captive here in the Tang Clan!!"
"What are you talking about..."
"Quiet!! The Four Fiends' Death Sword, External Branch Leader of the Black Alliance, is a close friend of Merchant Go!!"
The old man and his single disciple who had come out to greet him trembled at the shout of a transcendent expert.
For only an old man to come out even after such a declaration.
There was truly nothing to fear.
"We can't let this slide, so have the Tang Clan bring out that child at once!!"
The Tang Clan disciple covered his ears at the cry laced with internal energy.
The white-haired old man who had followed him out, broom in hand, also bowed his head in pain.
"If you don't bring her out right now, I'll unleash a bloodbath here!!"
He was utterly fearless.
Looking ready to attack the Tang Clan at any moment, the old man approached him with effort.
"Please, sir... spare us this..."
"You bastard!! How dare a mere gatekeeper..."
He sneered at the trembling old man in fear and was about to shout again.
-Shing!!
The old man holding the broom moved.
It was a motion even a transcendent expert couldn't easily block.
"Arghhh!!"
A surprise attack.
A perfect ambush exploiting his carelessness.
The sword disguised as a broom severed the Four Fiends' Death Sword's right arm.
A fatal wound for a right-handed swordsman.
"You... you bastard...!!"
At that moment, Go Cheok behind him cried out, face drained of color.
"Y-you!! Ji Gong!!"
What?
Ji Gong?
The Four Fiends' Death Sword forgot even the pain of his severed arm and stared at the old man.
"Hm. Not bad."
Looking closely at the white-haired old man's face, it was indeed the Ji Gong he knew.
"Y-you bastard...!! For a transcendent expert to use such cowardly tricks!!"
As he said, this was the way of an assassin, not a warrior.
Not something a renowned fighter like Ji Gong would do.
But.
"Where's 'cowardly' in a fight?"
That was the final voice the Four Fiends' Death Sword, External Branch Leader of the Black Alliance and slaughterer of countless orthodox warriors, ever heard.
"H-heek!!"
The Four Fiends' Death Sword was dead.
Pathetically so.
"Th-this...!!"
"Merchant Go."
The Tang Clan disciple, who had seemed terrified just moments ago, slowly wiped his face.
What emerged from the makeup was the expressionless face of a young man.
"Y-young Clan Head... of the Tang..."
'I set this up in case they had another hidden transcendent expert targeting Ji Gong...'
Go Cheok, having lost Ji Gong, seemed likely to make a move.
That's why he'd quietly returned, laid the trap, and waited.
And they'd walked right into it.
"To dare attack the Tang Clan. Are you tired of living?"
"No! No! I-I just... I..."
"Fine. We should accept a fight that comes to us. Ji Gong. Get ready."
"Yes, my lord."
"H-heek!! Block them! Block them!!"
Five peak experts stepped forward, sensing the gravity of the situation.
But they never got to act.
"Cough!! Cough!!"
They were already poisoned.
"Did you enter the Tang Clan's domain without even considering poison?"
"Wh-when...?"
"From the moment you arrived. Why do you think I let the Four Fiends' Death Sword yap on like that?"
It was to spread the poison and buy time for it to take effect.
"Go Cheok. Thank you for coming all this way yourself."
"Young Clan Head! Young Clan Head! No! Please! Please spare m..."
-Stab!!
"Arghhh!!"
A flying sword pierced Go Cheok's shoulder.
What did this mean?
He soon found out.
"Aaaarghhh!!"
Pain like his entire body was being wrung out.
Organs twisting, eyes about to burst—that agony consumed Go Cheok.
Poison.
"Killing you outright would be a waste. Here, Ji Gong. He's yours."
"Thank you."
Writhing, foaming at the mouth, rolling on the ground like a bug.
Yet Ji Gong hadn't vented his grudge yet.
"What about these ones?"
The poisoned warriors.
Dang Yu-wol showed them no interest.
"They're useless. Kill them."
"Yes."
Ji Gong coldly raised his sword.
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The revenge was thorough.
Go Cheok's daughter had suffered because of him all this time.
He had to pay it back in full.
Ji Gong tortured Go Cheok with bloodshot eyes.
"Huff... huff... Young Clan Head... please... please kill me... just kill me..."
Pain so intense he no longer wished to live.
He desperately wanted escape through death.
Dang Yu-wol grinned at the pleading Go Cheok.
Finally, the words he wanted to hear.
"Just two days, and you're already like this. How do you think Ji Gong feels?"
"Please... pleeease..."
"If you're that desperate, how about stamping your seal here?"
What Dang Yu-wol held out was a single sheet of paper.
The content was simple.
A last will transferring all assets of the Crimson Merchant Group and Go Cheok to the Tang Clan.
A common method after disputes between martial sects.
"Huff... huff..."
With bloodshot eyes, he looked at the paper.
"From what I know, you've seized plenty of others' assets this way."
"Arghhh...!!"
"Why? A shame? But you have no family anyway. No point taking it to the grave."
"Guh... grrr...!! Do you think... I, Go Cheok... would agree to this dogshit deal!!"
"Not in enough pain yet, I see."
Dang Yu-wol smiled and raised his hand. Ji Gong, who had stepped back, moved again.
"Arghhh!!"
The torture resumed.
In the end, Go Cheok had no choice but to submit.
"Then we'll need to get it notarized."
Having the will wasn't enough to march into the Crimson Merchant Group with it.
These documents required official notarization by custom.
"You don't need to go this far. We could just go and take it all..."
"The Crimson Merchant Group grew this big under the Tang Clan."
"Is that so?"
"Then everything there belongs to the Tang Clan. This is cleaner for absorbing it without issues."
"I see... Still, I didn't expect the Black Alliance."
"Yeah."
He'd anticipated they'd bring one transcendent expert to deal with Ji Gong.
But not the Four Fiends' Death Sword from the Black Alliance.
Of course, it didn't matter.
'The Black Alliance scum aren't good people anyway.'
-Right. Those guys joined hands with them the moment the Blood Cult stirred. Trash.
To them, they were just things to be swept away soon enough.
That's why he hadn't hesitated to kill the Four Fiends' Death Sword.
"Young Clan Head. The Magistrate has arrived."
As they talked outside, a disciple approached.
Behind him stood Jang Ung, beaming.
"Whoa!! My friend!! How've you been?!"
"It's been a while. I'm truly sorry to have you come like this."
"What sorry between us? So, why'd you call me here?"
"Well, not long ago, Crimson Merchant Group's Head Go Cheok attacked our Tang Clan."
"Whoa. And?"
"In the process, Merchant Go sustained severe injuries."
"What a tragedy!!"
"Since he's not a stranger, we decided to treat him first."
"Splendid!!"
"But his wounds are so grave he's on the brink of death."
"Truly tragic!!"
"Before dying, perhaps because I treated him, he sincerely repented betraying the Tang Clan."
"I see. At least he's a decent man in the end."
"And he said he'd return everything he has to the Tang Clan. How could I refuse?"
"Mm. Makes sense."
"So... could you notarize it?"
What a ridiculous story.
Capturing, torturing, and then notarization?
But it wasn't particularly strange.
'This is commonplace in disputes between martial sects or those in power.'
"Not a problem. But... absorbing it this way means heavy taxes."
"I know."
"Cheaper to just bribe the officials instead."
He said lightly with a grin.
His friendship with Dang Yu-wol couldn't be measured by mere money like this.
"No need to give me any, of course. You're my friend."
"I'm grateful for your constant regard for our bond. We could do as you say, but..."
Dang Yu-wol chuckled.
"Am I not a subject of the Great Empire too? What's there to begrudge about paying taxes for the Empire?"
"You'll have to pay ten times more than a bribe?"
"Doesn't matter."
Jang Ung admired Dang Yu-wol's detachment.
"I've seen many martial families, but the Tang Clan is the first this honest."
"Hahaha..."
-Is extorting a will through torture 'honest'...?
Unimaginable in his previous life's world.
But this place was different, wasn't it?
Dang Yu-wol just smiled faintly.
"If you put it that way... tch. A shame."
"There'll be no skimping on treating a friend properly."
"Aw, come on."
"Also, to let my friend save face... I'll set up a gathering at Taeseong Pavilion."
Jang Ung's face lit up at his words.
"Let's get the notarization started!!"
Grinning, he entered with Dang Yu-wol and Ji Gong.
Seeing the Magistrate, Go Cheok clung to faint hope.
"Ah, aaah...!! Magistrate! Please save me!"
A truly desperate plea.
But Jang Ung merely scratched his ear.
"Mm. My ears haven't been great lately. Public duty must be wearing me down. Friend."
"I'll brew you some good medicine."
"Heh. Thanks."
'Those bastards...!! In cahoots!!'
Go Cheok despaired.
But there was nothing he could do.
Just wait for a peaceful death.