The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 73

First, I left the awakened man in black as he was and called my senior brothers who were outside.

The rest of my senior brothers, except for Senior Brother Uncheol, were not far away, so they came quickly at my call.

"Senior Brothers. Can you take this old man and stay outside? The enemies might come again, so please keep a lookout."

"Okay. Is there anything I can help with?"

"That's enough. I need to talk to this guy alone."

My senior brothers soon took the old man and left the room, and only the man in black and I were left in the room.

Before I could ask anything, the man in black looked at me and said, "I will never say anything. It's useless to threaten me, and it's useless to torture me. I've been trained for that much."

"I thought so. So I'm not going to torture you, and I'm not going to threaten you."

"What...?"

"I've heard of the notoriety of the Black Society martial artists before. Although they are an Unorthodox Faction, I've heard rumors that many brave men are gathered there. Is the White-Faced Gentleman doing well?"

"......!"

His eyes were filled with astonishment.

Seeing that expression, I realized two things.

'This guy. He was a member of the Black Society. And even at this point, the head of the Black Society is that hypocrite, the White-Faced Gentleman.'

In fact, I was testing this guy. Since the old man had said it was either the Baekma Merchant Guild or the Black Society, I had deliberately mentioned the name of one of the two groups. As if I knew everything.

Of course, if I had asked, 'Are you from the Black Society?', he would have denied it, but I had dug one more trap in my words.

The identity of the head of the Black Society has not yet been revealed to the world.

Because he thoroughly operates in the shadows and has never shown his face publicly.

But surprisingly, the identity of the notorious head of the Black Society is the White-Faced Gentleman, Lee Mun-hak, who is known as a chivalrous hero.

That guy is a real piece of trash who pretends to value righteousness and chivalry and care for the weak on the outside, but creates the Black Society behind the scenes to fill his own selfish desires.

"You have an expression as if you don't know how I know that."

The man in black still had a dumbfounded expression.

I took a step closer to the guy and said, "What do I look like to you?"

"What do I look like..."

The man in black trailed off and reflexively looked me up and down.

"As you can see, I'm a young Taoist of the Wudang Sect. I don't know if you know, but the Eungnam Merchant Guild and the Wudang Sect are in a relationship of helping each other. Did you know that in advance by any chance?"

He nodded.

"Then you attacked this place to secure something here before the Wudang Sect and the Eungnam Merchant Guild officially cooperated? Is that right?"

"......"

He continued to be silent.

Since it was an expected action, I wasn't frustrated.

"But you really have a lot of nerve. You knew it was a merchant guild related to the Wudang Sect, and you still did this? Aha. By any chance, the dead don't talk. Is it something like that? If you kill all the witnesses and burn or demolish this building, it will be difficult to find any traces. You didn't think we would come here so quickly, did you?"

Although the man in black didn't answer, I began to organize my thoughts based on the information I had gathered so far and continued to deduce the situation.

"Then it must be one of two things... you either didn't know we were coming here at all, or you didn't know we were coming 'now'."

When I emphasized the word 'now', the guy's eyebrows lifted slightly.

Although he had been trained to endure harsh torture, it seems he was less trained in controlling his unconscious expression of emotions.

Well, it's understandable. Although it will become a fairly large sect that dominates the underworld of Hubei Province in a few decades, for now, it's just a riffraff Unorthodox Faction.

To train the unconscious, you need a fairly deep cultivation, and if that were possible, he wouldn't have entered an Unorthodox Faction and gone around killing innocent people like this in the first place.

"You didn't think we would come this quickly, did you? For example... you thought we would stop by Baokang and then come here? So you couldn't even kill the old man to get the job done quickly, and you were trying to get at least one piece of information from his mouth, right?"

The guy's expression changed very slightly.

I clicked my tongue without realizing it.

Although his level is low, he can't even hide his emotions like that.

Of course, people with little experience in the martial world or who don't know this world might think that the man in black is maintaining his composure well, but from my point of view, he's too clumsy.

'The fact that they know we're going to Baokang means that there's a mole of these guys inside the Eungnam Merchant Guild.'

Internal information is leaking from somewhere.

Perhaps the reason the Black Society suddenly started to move at this point was because they had received information that we had started to move.

The closest safe house to the Eungnam Merchant Guild is probably Baokang, and the next one is this place.

So as soon as they heard the news that we were going to Baokang, they must have come here in a hurry.

But I heard that the Baokang safe house was just built and not actually being used.

'Wang Hyeon-seong. If I think about it, that person is also a fairly thorough person.'

I realized it intuitively.

The fact that the Eungnam Merchant Guild, run by such a capable person, disappeared without a trace is related to this incident now.

To summarize, first, in order to interfere with the cooperation with Wudang, they sent an assassin to kill the young Taoists sent from Wudang.

Although they were the incompetent Geoungbang, if my senior brothers hadn't met me, they would have been killed by them.

And second, the Black Society guy immediately attacked this place.

You might think how big of a deal it is for a merchant guild to have one safe house collapse, but this is a place to prepare for an emergency.

If they attack the Eungnam Merchant Guild after destroying this place first, the possibility of the Eungnam Merchant Guild collapsing without being able to recover becomes even greater.

Then the conclusion.

The series of events that are happening now are being plotted by those who want the Eungnam Merchant Guild to collapse.

Then in the end, there's only one place left.

"You... you came here under the orders of the Baekma Merchant Guild, didn't you?"

"......!"

This time, the guy made a really surprised expression.

It's understandable.

Because I, who knew the identity of the head of the Black Society, had thought of something on my own and then suddenly revealed the client.

Unless you're a person with a considerable amount of composure, you can't help but make such an expression.

'Ah. Now that I think about it, since a merchant guild is involved, the things I didn't understand before are all understood at once.'

Although the Baekma Merchant Guild's position is shrinking because of the Eungnam Merchant Guild now, it was still a merchant guild that once held sway over this area.

Even if it's rotten, it's still a sea bream, so it would be no big deal to use a few hundred taels of silver.

It's natural that the source of the money sent to the Geoungbang cannot be found.

Because it must have come straight out of the Baekma Merchant Guild's safe.

And as for riffraff like the Geoungbang, if you just give them a lot of money, they'll kill anyone, whether it's a Taoist from Wudang or a Taoist from Huashan, so there was no need to reveal themselves.

Because if it was revealed that a large merchant guild like the Baekma Merchant Guild was involved with a low-quality Unorthodox Faction like the Geoungbang, it would be a bigger loss.

But the scale of the Black Society is different.

They wouldn't even move for just a few hundred taels, and even if they did accept a request, they wouldn't accept an anonymous request.

Because they are not in urgent need of money, and if something happens after accepting a request from an unknown person, there is a risk that they will be the ones to take the fall.

"Then it would be more reasonable to think that the spy in the Eungnam Merchant Guild was not planted by you, but by the Baekma Merchant Guild. Right?"

When I said this much, the man in black, perhaps because he had given up everything, let out a small laugh.

"Oh, you're laughing? What's so funny? Am I wrong?"

"No... I haven't said anything, but you already know everything... I was so dumbfounded that I laughed, wondering if my mind had been read."

His tone of voice has changed quite a bit.

And although he seemed to be thinking only of death until a little while ago, it seems that some of that venom has been removed.

"Ugh..."

He frowned as if the pain in his abdomen was finally being felt as his tension was released.

He seemed to have reflexively brought his hand to his wound, but since his hands were tied, it seemed he couldn't.

I approached him and stretched out my hand to his wound.

And I slowly injected my energy.

Since the pure energy of the Wudang Sect was entering his body, whether it was pain or something else, it must have gotten better.

He looked at my face with a much more comfortable expression and then opened his mouth.

"Please save me."

"Now?"

"The reason I was prepared to die earlier was so that I wouldn't hand over the information I know. If it's revealed that that information has leaked from my mouth... they won't leave my family alone."

He, perhaps thinking of his family, let out a deep sigh and said, "But since you already know everything, there's only one path I can take."

"What is it?"

"I have to tell you all the information I know and then immediately take my family and run away. Because even if I don't say anything, the head of the Black Society will surely think that I have told you the information as long as I'm alive."

He is a person who can distinguish right from wrong quite accurately.

His judgment is also fast and reasonable.

Although he is an Unorthodox Faction riffraff, I don't dislike such people.

"Do you have a family? Are you married?"

"I'm... not married. In this line of work, it's not right to shamelessly meet a woman, have children, and live."

"Then what do you mean by family?"

"I have an old mother and an older brother. My brother was born a fool and can't distinguish right from wrong. He can't even eat properly on his own."

It didn't seem like he was lying.

And he didn't try to look overly servile or pitiful.

"What's your name?"

"Zhongli Hou."

"Zhongli?"

"Although it's an uncommon surname, my family has no connection with the Zhongli family."

The Zhongli family is a family located in Fujian Province, and although it is not one of the five great families, it is a martial arts family that acts like a king in Fujian Province, where there are no Nine Factions and One Sect.

A martial artist from such a family would not have flowed into such an Unorthodox Faction.

"Yes. Zhongli Hou. Tell me information that is worth saving you. I'll listen to it and then decide whether to save you or not. If you try any funny business, I won't just kill you, I'll throw you to the Black Society. With an anonymous letter saying that you betrayed everyone and sided with us."

At my words, his eyes trembled.

Because he himself knew best what it meant to be thrown to the Black Society.

"The Black Society guys probably won't let you die easily. Oh, and I already know that the Black Society is near Xiangyang, so you don't need to tell me that."

"Ha... you even know that? Is the Wudang Sect keeping an eye on the Black Society by any chance?"

I just nodded.

It seems to be the best reason to convince him how I know.

"Haha... should I say it was a good thing I was caught here... I heard that Wudang doesn't get involved much in such matters..."

"We don't get involved in most matters, but when we do, we do it properly, that's our Wudang. You said you decided to form an agreement with the Eungnam Merchant Guild, right? It's good to get rid of any Unorthodox Factions that could harm the merchant guild in advance."

The man, perhaps convinced, nodded and said, "I will tell you everything I know with all my heart. Until a little while ago, I thought that coming here was the biggest mistake of my life... but it might be a stroke of luck."

"No. The biggest mistake you made in your life was becoming a henchman of a trashy group like the Black Society."

"...If I get out of here alive, I swear I will never live by tormenting others again. I swear on my mother and brother."

"Whether you make such a vow or not is up to you. Just tell me what you know."

I deliberately pretended not to be interested and focused on Zhongli Hou's words.

Whatever he said, I was planning to pass it off with composure and nonchalance and show him what a mind game was.

"First, it's true that the Baekma Merchant Guild asked us to attack this place and recover all sorts of documents, bills, and notes. The person who came to the Black Society was a man named Jin Tae-jin from the Baekma Merchant Guild..."

I stood up from my seat as if I had misheard.

"What?!"

Mind game, my foot. I was so surprised that I shouted.

Because the name that came out of Zhongli Hou's mouth was a name I had never imagined.

Jin Tae-jin.

It was definitely the name of the co-owner of Guild Master Wang Hyeon-seong, who had come all the way to the Wudang Sect and handed me a golden butterfly.

(End of Chapter)