The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 228

The next day.

We woke up early in the morning and headed for Chang'an.

Since Chang'an was now only a few days away, I explained to my senior brother and the Shaolin monks the purpose of our trip to Chang'an.

"Although we are going to Chang'an, we are not going with the thought that the four of us alone can solve all of Minister Jeong's worries."

"Then why are we going all the way there?"

"First, the biggest reason is to find 'evidence'. The top priority is to find evidence that the martial artists who are tormenting Minister Jeong were sent by the Left General of Luoyang, Jin Baek."

"Evidence..."

Monk Il-won, after stroking his chin and thinking for a moment, said to me, "But isn't finding that evidence like plucking a star from the sky? From what I've heard, it seems the Left General is tormenting Minister Jeong with petty methods."

"That's right. He said he sends assassins, creates fear so he can't sleep, and even sends martial artists to threaten him to hand over the 'Art of War by Wu Qi'."

"Even if you catch them, it will be difficult to get the name 'Jin Baek' out of their mouths. Because there is a high possibility that they don't know that the mission they are doing was commissioned by Jin Baek."

As expected, Monk Il-won, perhaps because he was originally active in the martial world, knows the situation well.

In most cases, those who do shady things like assassins don't know the real client of the mission they are doing.

Because in case they are caught and tortured, they receive orders through several stages so that they cannot say the client's name.

"It's not that there's no way."

"What way is there?"

"Do you know that? That salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs."

At my sudden words, a question appeared on the faces of the other three.

Their expressions were so funny that I, with a small laugh, continued, "Just like salmon swim upstream, we can go up one step at a time and beat them up. First, if we catch an assassin, we catch the one who gave him the order, and then we find the one who gave that guy the order and beat him up... If we go up like that, we'll eventually have to meet the guy who knows the client."

"No... isn't that no different from saying that you're going to completely destroy one assassin sect?"

"If you think about it, that's right. But isn't this the most certain way?"

Monk Il-won shook his head with a fed-up expression.

"Hwi-ya. What if they notice while you're going up like that and run away, or if they band together and fight to the death?"

"If they run away, we chase them, and if they band together, we catch them all at once."

"But still, they are the ones who are persecuting a minister who has served as a chancellor. Their scale won't be that small..."

"Senior brother. Have you forgotten? Who we have been fighting against until now?"

"Huh...?"

"Do you remember the Black Society?"

"Yes. I remember. They were vicious guys."

"Although the guys from the Black Society looked very weak on the outside, in fact, they were guys with a pretty large force. It won't be easy to find a force bigger than them."

When I was explaining to my senior brother, Monk Il-won, cutting between us, said, "But isn't there a large unorthodox faction? For example, like the Evil Way Alliance..."

"Evil Way Alliance?"

The moment I heard the name 'Evil Way Alliance', I felt a sense of disharmony in his words.

'Is the Evil Way Alliance a large unorthodox faction?'

The Evil Way Alliance is still only active below the surface.

Although they may have heard the name 'Evil Way Alliance', it means that there are few martial artists who know that the Evil Way Alliance is a larger organization than they think.

But Monk Il-won said it as if it were natural that it was a larger organization than the Black Society.

When I glanced at him, Monk Il-won also had a look of 'oops'.

"Is the Evil Way Alliance that big of an organization?"

"When I was in the secular world, I heard a rumor. That the Evil Way Alliance might actually be a larger organization than we think. In fact, I also heard that most of the unorthodox factions we know are already affiliated with the Evil Way Alliance."

"I see."

For now, I decided to move on as if it were nothing.

Because it is possible that he really heard a rumor.

But, from now on, I naturally had the thought that I should keep a closer eye on Monk Il-won than before.

"Anyway, for now, let's go to Minister Jeong and listen to his story. We might be able to find out something else while listening to Minister Jeong's story."

"I understand."

"Let's do that."

We continued to move forward without a word.

For some reason, I felt that this silence was awkward, and at the same time, it was an even more uncomfortable walk because I felt that Monk Il-won was conscious of me.

***

Finally, we arrived in Chang'an.

As befits the largest city in Shaanxi Province, Chang'an had many people, and its scale was also enormous.

Because at a glance, it seemed much larger and had more people than Wuhan, the largest city in Hubei Province.

It was not that difficult to find Minister Jeong's manor there.

Because Minister Jeong was a pretty famous person in this Chang'an.

We arrived at Minister Jeong's manor sooner than we thought.

When the servant heard my name, he immediately took me to the innermost building.

It seemed that the master of the Shi-yue Pavilion had contacted him in advance that I was coming.

"Welcome. I am Jeong Yang. Although martial artists may not know me well, I have served as a chancellor in the court."

Finally, we met Minister Jeong.

Although it usually takes a few hours, or even a few days, to meet such a high-ranking person, we were able to face him in less than a quarter of an hour after arriving at the manor.

It was a part where we could see how urgent he was right now.

'The area under his eyes is dark, his cheeks are sunken, and his limbs are emaciated. It means he hasn't slept properly recently, and he hasn't eaten properly either.'

And just by looking at his appearance, he was not in a good condition.

If he is a person who has risen to the position of chancellor, he will have a considerable amount of wealth and a great network of connections.

He would have already tried to solve this matter by hiring the most outstanding martial artists he could.

But since there were no results, he must be in that state now.

"It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time. I am Unhwi of the Wudang Sect."

"I am Un Cheol of the Wudang Sect."

"I am Il-jik of the Shaolin Temple. This is my junior brother, and he uses the Buddhist name Il-won."

"Oh...! The Wudang Sect and the Shaolin Sect... Although I am a layman in the martial world, I have heard countless stories about your sects. Thank you very much for coming all this way."

He greeted us very warmly and very unpretentiously.

I don't know if he is originally like that, or if he is so happy to see us because he is in an extreme situation, but at least I didn't think he was an evil person.

Well, if he were an evil person by nature, he would not have adopted a relative's child who had become an orphan and raised him as his third son, and he would not have allowed the third son he had taken in to become the master of a brothel.

"For now, won't you come further inside? I can't talk comfortably here..."

Minister Jeong said in an anxious voice, rolling his eyes here and there.

It was a typical symptom of a nervous breakdown.

I don't know since when, but he must be fighting the fear of death every day.

He can't sleep properly because he doesn't know if an assassin will come when he's sleeping, and it must have been difficult to eat properly because he doesn't know if there is poison in the food.

"Yes. Let's do that."

When I answered coolly, he, with a brighter face, took us deep, deep into the building.

The place we arrived at was a room without a single window.

It was blocked on all four sides, and since the sunlight didn't even come in properly, it was a small room where you had to light a lamp even though it was daytime.

Only after entering there did Minister Jeong's expression become comfortable.

This place, where everything that could threaten him was blocked from the source, was the most comfortable place for him.

"I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this..."

"I understand. I heard the general story from Mr. Gongsun Huan. I should have come sooner, but I'm sorry for coming late."

"No... there was nothing wrong in the meantime, and since you came to help me, I can't complain that you came late, can I?"

He said with a faint smile.

Looking at him like this, I feel like I know what a bright and good person he is by nature.

Because it seemed that he was trying to make us feel comfortable even in this extreme situation.

For now, I, realizing what I had to do first, untied my bundle and placed a few things in front of him.

"What is this?"

"This is a grain pill, this is beef jerky, and what's in this bottle is clean water I drew this morning. It seems it's been a while since you've eaten properly, so for now, please have this to tide you over. And from tonight, I will go around the inns and restaurants in this area, try them myself, and bring you some good ones."

"Ah...! Thank you. Thank you very much...!"

Minister Jeong devoured the grain pill and beef jerky as if he were possessed.

In fact, if it were his usual self, he would not have eaten them even if they were given to him, but he ate them with emotion, as if he were eating delicacies.

It wasn't the taste of the food that was important, but the fact that it was food that he was sure he wouldn't die from eating was important to him right now.

"Although I have met many martial artists until now, you are the first to take care of my food. I couldn't even eat properly because I was so paranoid."

He, with a pitiful expression, sighed and then, looking at me, continued, "Although it may seem ridiculous to say this already when we have only just met, I have no one to trust right now. To the extent that I even suspect that the servants who work in this manor might be people who have been won over by Jin Baek."

"I understand. Although it's not certain that it's the Left General Jin Baek, he's very vicious. He seems to be a person who knows how to make people's blood run dry."

Minister Jeong even had tears in his eyes.

"The many martial artists I have hired until now did not believe my words. They asked why a person like the Left General of Luoyang would try to harm me. And although I saw and felt that assassins had been in my room, the martial artists only said that there were no intruders in the manor... I was really going crazy."

"Please calm down and tell me slowly. Everything that has happened until now."

But is it because he is a person who has risen to the position of chancellor of a country?

He, after taking a deep breath, began to speak with a slightly calmer face.

"It started about a year and a half ago. Jin Baek and I originally knew each other in the court, and I invited him here. He came here and, saying he had heard a rumor, asked if he could see the 'Art of War by Wu Qi' that we have, and I, since he was a guest who had come to my house, showed him the family heirloom without any suspicion..."

He began to explain what had happened until now calmly.

A few months after Jin Baek returned to Luoyang. Strange things began to happen around him.

When he fell asleep, people would walk around in his room, and he even heard that the person would whisper in the sleeping Minister Jeong's ear, 'Give me what you have.'

"That's not all. There were dead cats and dogs on my bed, and there were also times when there were bugs in the food I was about to eat."

"Has he ever directly harmed you?"

"Not yet. It's his intention to torment me like this and make me dry up and die. But do you know what's the most crazy thing?"

"What is it?"

"If I let someone in my room and sleep, or if I secretly hide someone, such things don't happen. It's clear that they are watching me from a close distance. So I began to not be able to trust anyone around me..."

There was no strength in his voice.

It was a face and voice that made me roughly guess how much pain he had suffered over the past year.

"I understand. For now, I'll have to look around the house."

"Will you do that...? If you can solve this matter somehow... I will give you as much money as you want. Or you can tell me what else you want. I don't want to live like this anymore..."

We answered that we understood for now.

A little while later, a man came to pick us up.

"This is the head steward, Yi Jeong, who is currently in charge of our family. He will show you around every corner of the house."

"I understand."

We, following the man named Yi Jeong, came out of that small room.

As I frowned because the sun, which was still in the middle of the sky, was dazzling, the head steward Yi Jeong, looking at us, said in a voice full of sighs, "I'm sorry. You're going through unnecessary trouble because of the master..."

But his tone and attitude were a little strange.

The fact that he was apologizing to us first, not worrying about Minister Jeong, was even more so.

When I looked at him with a strange look, the head steward, once again with a polite attitude, said to us, "As you will see when you look around the house, in fact, there were no intruders in this manor."

"No intruders?"

"Although we hired bodyguards, martial artists, and even mobilized the government troops, we have never found any trace of an intruder."

"Then are you saying that Minister Jeong made up the story?"

"So that's the problem..."

The head steward, after fidgeting, managed to speak.

"Actually, we suspect that the master, since he is old, might have dementia. I don't want to say this, but other than that, there is nothing that can explain the current symptoms..."

The words he uttered were truly shocking.

"Could you come over here for a moment and talk with me?"

We, in a daze, answered that we would, and we had no choice but to follow him.

(End of Chapter)