The Miraculous Divorce Technique

Chapter 14

Cheok Sagyeol's final destination after coming down the mountain was set.

Xinjiang, where the main base of the Demonic Cult was located.

It was the most barren region in the territory of the Great Ming Empire, a remote area so far removed that it was classified as outside the central plains.

In short, among the groups with a foothold in the martial world, it was located the farthest from the Central Plains.

'The road to Xinjiang is long, but it will take even longer if I stop by here and there.'

He could go straight back to the main base and screw over Muheo.

But would that bastard obediently return his body?

It was clear that the old monster would not open his mouth no matter what torture he received.

'In fact, I can't even torture him severely. Because it's my body... damn it...'

So, before he went back, he had to find the cause of this and a way to reverse it.

To do that, digging into the surroundings of the Four Eccentrics might be the only way.

'The closest one was also in Henan Province.'

The Four Eccentrics caused trouble all over the country, so they did not operate in a specific region.

But two of them, Muheo and the one Cheok Sagyeol was currently targeting.

They had a foothold in Henan, so they were active in the vicinity, and because they were close, they were also close friends.

'Wait for me. I'll strip you to the bone.'

Cheok Sagyeol moved, aiming for Luoyang in Henan Province.

"Ugh, those bald monks, they're so damn fast."

Cheok Sagyeol clicked his tongue as he walked along a secluded mountain path.

It was because he had spotted Shaolin monks just before entering the first village after coming down the mountain and had gone back up the mountain.

After that, he had to face the same situation every time he found a village, so he was eventually moving mainly along mountain paths.

He had no choice but to sleep outdoors, and his movement speed was slow, but it couldn't be helped if he didn't want to get caught.

Because the eyes of the martial monks looking for him were bloodshot.

He wouldn't be caught by his appearance, but since he had the Green Jade Buddha Staff, he would be caught if he was inspected.

"At this rate, I might get caught by those Embroidered Uniform Guard bastards..."

As Cheok Sagyeol said, the pursuers were not only the Shaolin monks.

In some ways, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who were chasing him with the Thousand Li Tracking Incense, were more of a headache.

"It's annoying. Should I just slit their throats and bury them in the mountains?"

He hesitated whether to carry out the words he had uttered, but he soon shook his head.

The imperial family was more persistent than he thought, and those bastards were consumables that could be replaced at any time.

New bastards would continue to be replenished, and their numbers would also increase.

"Come and get me if you can. If things go wrong, I'll just strip them naked and hang them on a tree."

Cheok Sagyeol increased his speed, traversing the mountains as if they were flat ground.

Jeonhahyeon Pungryu Inn.

It was the first inn Cheok Sagyeol had stopped at after passing through as many as ten villages.

It seemed that Shaolin had not yet sent martial monks this far.

"Welcome."

A young girl of about thirteen welcomed Cheok Sagyeol.

"Are you just here for a meal, or will you be staying for a few days?"

"I'll be staying for one day. I'm hungry for now, so bring me a few of the best dishes here."

"Yes, please sit here first. I'll show you to your room after your meal."

Not long after Cheok Sagyeol sat down, the food came out.

It seemed to be because there were not many customers yet, as it was before lunch.

"These are our restaurant's special dishes, Six Shredded Stir-fried Noodles and Fish-fragrant Shredded Pork. Would you like some wine? It's even more delicious with the bamboo leaf wine that my mother made. Hehe."

"Hahaha, is that so? Then bring me a bottle of that too."

Cheok Sagyeol smiled pleasantly at the salesmanship of the young waitress, Ahwa.

He disliked wine because of Muheo, but it wasn't that he couldn't drink it. And perhaps because it was Muheo's body, he also felt that his body wanted wine.

"Thank you, you'll be blessed."

Ahwa quickly brought the bamboo leaf wine, and as the child had said, it felt like the taste was doubled when eaten with the bamboo leaf wine.

Cheok Sagyeol smiled warmly and said.

"This is amazing. Thanks to you, I've learned such a taste, so this is my reward."

"Thank you. Hehe."

Ahwa, without even pretending to refuse, put the one nyang in her bosom.

"But are you a merchant, sir? Did you come to our village on business?"

Ahwa asked, looking at Cheok Sagyeol's luggage.

For a traveler, with a backpack, a bundle, and a walking stick, he looked exactly like a merchant.

"Well... I guess so."

There was no need to deny it.

If they thought so, he could also avoid the eyes of the pursuers who would follow him.

"What kind of goods do you sell? I'm a native here, so I know a lot of places."

Ahwa, audaciously, seemed to be hoping for another reward.

"Hahahaha. You little rascal. There's a designated owner, so I don't need that information."

"Aww, what a waste. I could have hit the jackpot today. Hehehe."

"Hahaha. You will one day, so don't worry."

Cheok Sagyeol was able to laugh for the first time in a long time as he looked at Ahwa.

He felt the indigestion that had built up from deceiving himself and living among the bald monks go away as he talked with this child.

Ahwa was honest, and she had a refreshing coolness that was different from the sly bastards of Shaolin.

CLANG.

At that moment, about ten burly men entered the inn.

"Then enjoy your meal. Call me if you need anything. I'll go greet the customers."

"Alright. Thanks to you, I'll eat well."

Cheok Sagyeol sipped his bamboo leaf wine and watched Ahwa's back.

'If I had lived a normal life, would I have had a child like that?'

Cheok Sagyeol smirked and finished his glass.

But then, annoying words began to enter his pleasant ears.

"Oh my, that much?"

The owner of the Pungryu Inn, Ahwa's father, was expressing his predicament in front of the burly men who had just entered.

"Hey, owner. What's so much about that? If you hire people for a few days, you can prepare it, can't you? My big brother likes the food at Pungryu Inn so much that he specifically picked this place. Are you telling me to say I was rejected?"

The man kicked a chair in the inn, showing his annoyance.

"I said I'll pay you. Here's the deposit. What's the problem?"

The man, with his brow furrowed and his eyes glaring, looked like a typical back-alley ruffian.

Cheok Sagyeol beckoned Ahwa with a hand gesture.

"What's going on?"

"Well..."

Ahwa was hesitating and couldn't answer.

'The territory of the righteous faction is the same. Well, maggots that eat away at the world like that are everywhere.'

Cheok Sagyeol clicked his tongue and asked again.

"Are they asking for protection money?"

Ahwa, with her lips tightly sealed, answered.

"It's not that."

"It's not that? Then what is it?"

"They're asking to make a reservation... but the amount to prepare is too much..."

"Too much? How much?"

"For eight hundred people..."

Looking at the size of the inn, the capacity would be less than fifty people.

So Ahwa's father was at a loss.

'What kind of ruffian bastards are eight hundred people...'

'Are all the nearby back-alley gangs having a meeting together?'

But usually, they were in a competitive relationship, fighting over territory, so that was unlikely.

Cheok Sagyeol tilted his head.

"Ahwa, are you worried that those bastards will run off without paying?"

"Well... I'm not too worried about them running off with the money. Jeonhahyeon is the territory of the Jongli family, so if I report it there, it will be resolved."

The Jongli family was not as powerful as the Five Great Families, but it was a family whose power had been rapidly increasing recently.

Even more so after the Jongli family produced the leader of the Eui-cheon Alliance, Jongli Cheon, a few years ago.

'That idiot leader's family has expanded its power this far.'

Jeonhahyeon was strictly part of Henan, so it was a place where Shaolin had influence.

Shaolin was traditionally the hegemon of Henan Province.

'Is it not only the Daoist school but also the Buddhist school that is gradually declining...'

In the past, when they were called the Nine Sects and One Gang, they would not have even dreamed of it.

But as time passed, their power gradually weakened, and now, the five families called the Five Great Families formed the mainstay of the righteous faction.

The Jongli family was one of the many martial families ranked below those five families.

'I pushed back the Kongtong Sect's main temple a few months ago, so for the Daoist school, only Wudang and Mount Hua are left, and for the Buddhist school, only Shaolin. And only the Beggars' Sect is left. The remnants of the Nine Sects and One Gang won't last long.'

In the past, their alliance was even called the 'Martial Arts Alliance,' an arrogant name as if it represented the entire martial world.

Even they had disappeared into the back of history with the flow of time.

Cheok Sagyeol smiled wryly and downed a glass of bamboo leaf wine.

"Ahwa. If you're not worried about them running off with the money, then what's the problem? Is it because this inn can't accommodate them?"

Cheok Sagyeol asked Ahwa again.

"That's part of it..."

Ahwa was glancing at the burly men and couldn't speak her mind.

It was a complete change from when she was chattering to him earlier.

'I don't know the circumstances, so should I just watch for now?'

Cheok Sagyeol kept Ahwa by his side.

It was to protect the child in case any evil deeds occurred.

But the conversation between the ruffians and Ahwa's father seemed to be ending quietly.

"Anyway, owner! As for the seating, you can just set up a tent outside or lay out some mats. But you have to prepare it. You're lucky today. Here's the deposit of twenty nyang."

The burly man forcibly handed a thick money pouch to Ahwa's father and left the inn.

Although the money pouch was full in both hands, his expression was bitter.

"Phew."

As he sighed deeply, his wife was comforting him by his side.

Cheok Sagyeol took Ahwa and approached them.

"Excuse me. What on earth is going on?"

"Well..."

At Cheok Sagyeol's question, Ahwa's father had a hard time opening his mouth.

At his following explanation, Cheok Sagyeol was dumbfounded.

The bastards were ruffians called the Jakdupa, who ruled Jeonhahyeon and the nearby villages.

In short, this was the method they used when they occasionally needed a large sum of money.

If they suddenly raised the protection money, they would have to be wary of the Jongli family, so they used a trick.

The trick was this.

They would make an excessive reservation that a small merchant could not handle and inflict damage.

If they managed to prepare it, they would cancel the reservation on the day, and if they didn't prepare it, they would show up and make them pay a penalty.

"If we cancel the reservation, we lose the deposit of twenty nyang, so the bastards repeat the same thing until they receive the penalty. If we respond by not accepting the reservation, they spread rumors all over the neighborhood that our restaurant doesn't take reservations. Since reservations account for a large portion of our business as a village inn, such rumors are fatal."

"So they're just going to inflict damage with some excuse. Geez, do the ruffians here spend money to harass merchants... But can't you just report it to the Jongli family? I heard this is their jurisdiction."

At Cheok Sagyeol's question, Ahwa's mother sighed and said.

"The Jongli family only moves when there is direct damage. Even if we talk about the damage from the reservation cancellation, they just ask if we didn't receive the deposit and what the problem is. The Yeonheung Inn in the next village suffered the same damage and reported it, but they said they were furious at the martial artists who treated them like that. They know that people like us can't go over the contract items in detail, but they pretend not to know. Phew..."

Reservations at inns are usually made orally.

Since it is not a grand transaction, it is not left in writing, and small merchants are not familiar with contracts. The bastards had exploited that loophole.

But there was something strange.

"Still, the Jongli family bastards aren't fools. If they just look at the circumstances carefully, they should be able to see the problem. Why are they doing that? Aren't they the ones who claim to walk the righteous path?"

At Cheok Sagyeol's words, the father and mother had bitter expressions, but Ahwa burst out in anger.

"Righteous faction, my ass! Those bastards have always been like that. Even if a drunkard disturbs the business, they say to understand because he's drunk, and even if a drug addict causes a scene, they say he's of diminished mental capacity and release him soon, and we get retaliated against. Even if the Jakdupa subtly harasses us, they only do a formal patrol and don't impose any particular sanctions!"

'Anyway, these dogshit righteous faction bastards. Looking at what they do, my anger just bursts out.'

"Sob, sob..."

Ahwa eventually shed tears.

Hearing Ahwa's words, Cheok Sagyeol could guess.

The righteous faction, although they would step up and punish great villains, would stand by and watch petty criminals.

In other words, they knew but did not uproot the dirty seeds.

Because they had to clean up and manage them moderately to highlight their own necessity.

And because they also received things like jurisdiction maintenance fees and protection money from the merchants.

"I'd rather the Demonic Sect came here. I heard that those people kill all those bastards..."

"What are you saying right now! Ahwa, didn't your mother always tell you to watch your mouth!"

Ahwa's mother, for fear that someone might hear, hit Ahwa's back and said.

At Ahwa's words, Cheok Sagyeol's mood improved again.

'Oh my, you cute little thing.'

Cheok Sagyeol, who had stroked Ahwa's head, said to Ahwa's father.

"Owner, you've really hit the jackpot today."

(End of Chapter)