About half an hour later, Tang Hye-seo appeared at the Wind River Inn with her guard, Bi-hyeon. Unlike before, she wore a navy blue martial arts uniform and hid her face with a bamboo hat. Dressed like that, she looked like a small martial artist or an ordinary swordswoman.
When she sat across from me and took off her bamboo hat, the atmosphere suddenly brightened. Perhaps because she was wearing the plain navy blue uniform, her splendid features stood out even more. The eyes of Gu-sam, who came to take our order, went wide.
“Tsk, tsk, your eyes are going to pop out.”
Even when I clicked my tongue and looked at him pitifully, Gu-sam couldn't snap out of it. He should consider himself lucky.
If a grown man had stared so openly at a daughter of the Tang Clan, his eyes would have likely been pierced by hidden weapons, and he would have had to live the rest of his life as a blind man. Most beautiful women are gentle in their ways, but the Tang Clan is an exception.
Tang Hye-seo is the most fearsome... no, the second most dangerous woman in the Western Village. I may be better with a blade, but when it comes to the art of killing, Tang Hye-seo is a step above. With just a shake of her sleeve, a poisoned hidden weapon could fly out and embed itself in someone's brow.
She could also secretly poison the tea I'm drinking.
"For such a peerless beauty to be with a hero like..."
“Shut your mouth and take the order.”
"What's good here?"
At Tang Hye-seo's question, Gu-sam, with a dopey grin, excitedly ran his mouth.
"From simple noodles to dumplings and fine dishes, there's nothing we can't make. Our innkeeper is from the capital of Sichuan, so he's especially skilled with Sichuan food..."
“Oh, from Sichuan, you say?
Interesting.
Then bring out the twice-cooked pork and shredded pork with green peppers first. Is that alright?
I'm buying."
“Let’s do that.”
If I could get a free meal, I'd be grateful even for cold rice in tea water. Gu-sam quickly disappeared into the kitchen. After scanning the quiet inn, Tang Hye-seo quietly studied my face.
“Things seem to be going well for you lately. You’re looking quite bright." It sounded like a polite compliment, but it was actually true.
I had met Do Gwang-il, learned the latter eighteen forms of the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique, obtained an inner cultivation method, and even ate a spiritual herb. For a martial artist, there is nothing more heart-pounding and joyful than becoming stronger than the day before, so it was true that things were going well. “I’m living well enough.
Did things go well for you too, young woman?" I thought it was all over when she captured the traitor Tang Do-hun and returned to Sichuan. It was a long way from Sichuan to the Western Village, and there were no sects in this town connected to the Tang Clan.
Honestly, I thought I would never see her again. As if the mere thought gave her a headache, Tang Hye-seo let out a weary sigh.
“The main family was turned completely upside down trying to root out the traitors. We raided every black market in Sichuan, capturing and torturing them, so many died and were injured… Anyway, the capital is still in turmoil.”
Seeing her grim expression, it seemed she hadn't recovered the lost Iron Arm Guards even after all that. She probably wasn't here on a leisurely trip to escape the chaos, so what was her business in the Western Village, with her aunt in tow? I was curious but didn't ask.
The Vice Lord of the Extermination Hall had betrayed the Tang Clan, stolen the secret art of the Iron Arm Guards, and sold it. Just knowing that fact already put me in enough danger. Tang Hye-seo rested her elbows on the table and suddenly leaned her upper body forward.
"I heard there's a black market here, too. Have you been?"
A fragrant scent washed over me, and her face was suddenly so close I could see the small mole under her eye. My face was reflected small in her clear eyes. I was making a dazed expression I had never seen on myself before.
It was unfamiliar, but not bad. My mouth went dry, and a strange flutter stirred in my chest. As I realized who the woman sitting across from me was, both my floating expression and heart sank back to the ground as if they had lost all weight.
Besides her family, I wondered how many who had gotten this close to Tang Hye-seo were still alive. If she was trying to catch me off guard so I couldn't deny it, she had succeeded. Startled, I straightened my posture that had leaned back and swallowed dryly with an awkward expression.
“I’ve been there just once. I was wondering if I could find a leather vest or chain armor.”
At the words I added to hide the fact I went to buy a spiritual herb, Tang Hye-seo leaned back in her chair and tilted her head.
“A leather vest?
Chain armor?
Do you wear things like that? Were you a soldier by any chance?" “Have you ever worn a leather vest?”
"No.” “A well-made one is quite useful. It can block a blade or two. It's much easier and cleaner to get a vest than to find a loyal companion who will take a blade for you."
Tang Hye-seo looked as if she didn't quite understand. "Can't you just kill them before you get stabbed?" That might be possible for someone from the Tang Clan.
Hidden weapons are faster than blades and have a longer range. "Can you accompany me to the black market?”
“Is this a request?" Tang Hye-seo nodded.
"Let's not tell the Underworld Information Clan, just the three of us will go for a bit."
It was quite tempting. I wasn't a member of the Underworld Information Clan, so I had no obligation to report. Besides, I needed to get a spiritual herb before the remaining five pills ran out.
If I could earn money and also stop by the apothecary in the black market, there was no reason to refuse. The only thing that bothered me was Tang Hye-seo's purpose.
"What's your business at the black market?"
“We confirmed that one of the black market merchants from the Sichuan black market sent a carrier pigeon to this area. He committed suicide before he could be captured, so we don't know the exact destination, just that it's around here. It's probably another merchant in the same black market. I need to take a look around.”
“Does your aunt know you're going to the black market?" Tang Hye-seo's fine eyes narrowed slightly.
“That’s disappointing.”
I didn't know what she had been expecting, but I was sorry to disappoint her. But if her aunt was displeased by a mere 'wandering swordsman' like me hovering around her niece, I might find myself drinking poisoned tea at any moment.
Tang Hye-seo, who was born and raised in a den of vipers, might not fear the Tang Clan, but I had seen and heard too much. How little the people of the Tang Clan valued human life. "I told her I'd look around, so it should be fine.
My aunt doesn't really care much what I do. If it’s okay, let’s leave right after we eat.”
“Let’s go early tomorrow morning.”
Tang Hye-seo tilted her head.
“Why? Is the black market far?”
“Last time, I took a carriage in the morning and arrived at sunset.”
“That’s quite far.”
“Still, it's the closest city to the Western Village." Tang Hye-seo narrowed her eyes and looked out the window. She observed the bustling daytime street for a moment before speaking.
“It’s no match for the capital, but this town is quite respectable. I heard it wasn't like this before.”
“Until 10 years ago, it was a poor country village with about 20 households. There was no main road back then, so we mostly used mountain paths.”
"Hmm, is it possible for a place to change this much in just 10 years..."
Tang Hye-seo was lost in thought with a puzzled look on her face.
“Your food has arrived.”
Gu-sam, still excited, brought out the dishes.
“It looks decent enough.”
“Hehe, the taste is even more amazing. Enjoy your meal!" Tang Hye-seo picked up her chopsticks with a face full of anticipation.
She took a bite of the twice-cooked pork and blinked her eyes in bewilderment. After tasting the shredded pork with green peppers, her head tilted slightly to one side.
“This is truly mysterious.”
"Does it not taste good?"
“It's tasty, but… it's not Sichuan cuisine, it's Sichuan-style cuisine.”
Still, it seemed to suit her palate, as Tang Hye-seo didn't put down her chopsticks and continued to eat. I also began to eat. Whether I was wandering as a swordsman or after returning to my hometown, I usually ate alone.
Then and now, the people who occasionally joined me at my table were mostly martial artists carrying blades. Martial artists were an incorrigible breed who would draw their blades even while eating if they got upset, so I could never let my guard down for a moment.
If they were within blade's reach, my senses were always on edge, watching their every move. To relax and eat a meal in peace, it was more comfortable to be alone. Sitting across from Tang Hye-seo and eating, I felt at ease for the first time in a long time, even though I wasn't alone.
“What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" Tang Hye-seo tilted her head, wiping a bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth with her hand.
It seemed I had been staring blankly at the daughter of the Tang Clan without realizing it.
"No." Picking up a piece of meat with my chopsticks, I glanced at Bi-hyeon sitting at another table.
He was also eating and talking with Gu-sam. He wasn't looking this way at all. When I went to the black market with Do Gwang-il before, I had rented a carriage from the Underworld Information Clan.
The condition of the main road was still not good, but unlike last time, I was riding in the Tang Clan's large carriage, so my backside didn't hurt. The scenery outside the window and the blowing wind made me realize anew how the season had changed. Winter was coming soon, where could that old man with no family have gone?
Surely he wasn't spending the winter alone in the ruined Blue Mountain Sect... After driving for a while, a shabby inn with a fluttering flag appeared at the foot of a distant mountain.
“There’s an inn in a place like this?”
“That’s a black inn.”
In that moment, Tang Hye-seo's eyes sparkled. “Those madmen who hunt martial artists?"
"Do you know what a black inn is?"
“Is there any martial artist who doesn't? I heard about them so much I was sick of it even before I entered the martial world.”
Most people, upon encountering a viper in the mountains, would flee in terror. Snake hunters, who catch and sell vipers for a living, actively seek them out. From the perspective of a human viper from the Tang Clan, a black inn was like a snake hunter.
The poisons and hidden weapons of the Tang Clan were secretly traded at extremely high prices in the black market. Since it was big money, the black inn merchants wouldn't refuse. If a member of the Tang Clan went missing or was taken by a black inn, the pursuit squad would track them to the ends of the earth.
It was said that the Tang Clan had captured and killed dozens of black inn merchants so far. Yet, they couldn't completely root them out.
“They are organized in cells, so it's not easy to track them. What kind of traps does that inn have?" “If you pull the iron lever next to the counter, the floor splits open to both sides.” "The depth of the trap?”
"About five jang."
"But you managed to come out unscathed?"
“I tend to be cautious.”
The ten or so bandits who fell into the trap and died there, along with the man guarding the black inn, were probably still rotting away in vain. Or perhaps the black inn had recovered the bodies and built a new trap. Tang Hye-seo couldn't take her eyes off the black inn visible outside the window.
I was worried she might ask to go check it out and was contemplating how to talk her out of it, but thankfully, she wasn't that reckless. Watching the black inn recede into the distance, I felt uneasy again about such a place existing near my hometown. Maybe I should have just burned the place down back then.
As the black inn disappeared from sight, my unpleasant feelings also began to subside. Anything becomes bearable when it's out of sight. The days were certainly getting shorter than in summer.
By the time we arrived at White Rooster County, where the black market was located, it was already dark. Before getting out of the carriage, as if the bamboo hat wasn't enough, Tang Hye-seo took something out and completely covered her face.
"How is it?"
When Tang Hye-seo lifted her head, her face was covered by the mask of a young man with a short beard. It was so exquisitely made that at night, one could be completely fooled. “What on earth is that?"
“If an unfamiliar beauty appears in the black market, everyone will be surprised, so I have no choice, do I?" Tang Hye-seo was nonchalant, as if she had worn it once or twice before. We got a room at an inn affiliated with the Underworld Information Clan where I had stayed before, and then entered the black market.
I had wondered how she would find a shop without a letter of introduction, but Tang Hye-seo had a token that was accepted in the black market. She seemed to have already known the shops, as she navigated through various places without getting lost.
When I found out what she was looking for, I was even more surprised than the apothecary.
“You’re looking for poison? What kind of poison do you need? There are many types of poison. Paralyzing powder, death poison…”
“Do you have any inner energy-scattering poison?”
Tang Hye-seo asked in a voice she forced to be as low and thick as possible. It seemed she was trying to imitate a man's voice, but it sounded somewhat like a eunuch.
“Eh, what?”
The apothecary quickly scanned the faces of Tang Hye-seo, Bi-hyeon, and me, as if testing the waters with a suspicious expression.
“Even in the black market, we don’t have such a treasure.”
Though she probably knew better than anyone, Tang Hye-seo feigned ignorance.
“Is inner energy-scattering poison that rare? I heard it has no toxic effect on those without inner energy.”
“That's why few people make it and few people look for it. The useful ones among the inner energy-scattering poisons are Divine Immortal's Ruin or Gentleman's Dispersal Powder, but these are all among the eight great poisons of the Sichuan Tang Clan. They rarely leak out, their recipes are top secret, and if you're caught buying or selling them by the Tang Clan bastards, you'll all be annihilated…”
“So you can't get it?”
“It would be difficult…”
At Tang Hye-seo's gesture, Bi-hyeon handed over a banknote. It was for 10 silver taels. The apothecary's face gleamed with greed after confirming the amount.
“Consider this a retainer fee. Money is no object, so please get me Divine Immortal's Ruin or Gentleman's Dispersal Powder.”
“Where should I contact you?”
“I will return in about ten days." At other black market merchants, Tang Hye-seo placed the same order for inner energy-scattering poison. A member of the Tang Clan searching for an inner energy-scattering poison made by her own clan in the black market.
I had a rough idea of what was going on. It seemed Tang Do-hun had sold not only the Iron Arm Guards but also the inner energy-scattering poison. If the black market merchant in Sichuan had distributed the poison, then the merchant here who deals in it would be the one who received the carrier pigeon.
I said nothing and silently accompanied her. If there was something I needed to know, Tang Hye-seo would tell me. If she didn't, there was a reason for it.
And so, we roamed the black market, stopping at five shops and wasting one banknote at each, before returning to the inn. Now all that was left was to wait for a merchant to take the bait.
"I'll be out for a moment."
Leaving Tang Hye-seo and Bi-hyeon at the inn, I went out alone. I was thinking of visiting the apothecary I had been to before. I only had 80 silver taels in my pouch, but I thought I might be able to buy a root or two of a low-grade spiritual herb.
As I was leaving the alley, I came face to face with a man who was completely drunk. He wore shabby clothes and didn't even have a blade at his waist. He reeked of alcohol, a testament to how much he had drunk.
I gripped my long blade with my left hand and stepped aside.
"Uuurgh!"
The drunkard retched and stumbled forward, collapsing in front of me. As he hit the ground with a thud, something like a fine dust rose up. His clothes were covered in dirt, as if he had been doing manual labor during the day.
Waving my hand to brush away the dust, I turned and headed for the apothecary.