Palgap dipped his fingers into the clear water in the bowl I had handed over – which was actually water mixed with Geumryeong’s drool – and dabbed it onto the warriors’ wounds.
“Huuh? H–huh? Whoa!”
Palgap shouted in surprise. It was only natural; the warriors’ wounds were starting to heal at an incredible speed.
“What an unbelievably miraculous spirit.”
Everyone nodded at Palgap’s words. There was no other way to explain it.
Before we knew it, fresh flesh was growing where bone had been exposed, and the smaller scars vanished without a trace.
Watching that, I wore a satisfied smile.
All that effort collecting Geumryeong’s drool in a bowl was finally worth it. But I planned to keep the fact that it was Geumryeong’s drool as secret as possible.
Not because of anything else, but because Geumryeong could end up in danger.
That afternoon.
Elder Bang proposed a plan.
“If we were just wiping them all out, what we have now would be more than enough, but the problem is rescuing the children.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s why I’m thinking we should use a sleeping poison.”
“Sleeping poison?”
“Yeah. Just in case, I brought along a sleeping poison I used fairly often back in the day.”
Elder Bang pulled a small vial out from his sleeve.
“This works a lot better than you’d think. I made quite a name for myself with it back then. When you can’t use martial arts, you end up needing things like this.”
Elder Bang looked at me and asked,
“You’re not going to call me cowardly for this, are you?”
“Why would I blame you, Elder? As long as we can resolve this, who cares which road we take?”
“Now that’s something I like to hear. Heh heh.”
Elder Bang chuckled and went on.
“The thing is, we’ve got to get this into their stomachs. So I came up with a way…”
A man called Gaeseung scratched at his groin.
Grrrrgle.
He let out a sigh at the growling from his stomach; it had already been over half a month since the supplies from the higher-ups had stopped coming.
“I’m so hungry I could die.”
“At this rate we’re all going to starve to death, aren’t we?”
“Quit jinxing it, you bastard!”
But that unease was slowly becoming reality. They were catching wild animals and even peeling bark off trees to eat in a pinch, yet it was nowhere near enough.
On top of that, it was the spring famine season.
Even ordinary farmers were starting to go hungry, so where were they supposed to find food?
Maybe because of that, or maybe because rumors had spread that anyone passing through here got robbed, but even merchant caravans had stopped coming by.
Right then.
Rattle, rattle,
At the clattering sound from down below, Gaeseung and his comrades instantly tensed.
“That sound’s definitely wagon wheels!”
“Is it a merchant group?”
“W–what do we do?”
“What do you mean, what? Go report to the Chieftain, now!”
One of them sprinted up to the mountain stronghold and breathlessly reported to the Chieftain.
The Chieftain hurried down leading his underlings.
Who knew how long they waited?
At last, the wagons came into view.
They were wagons bearing the Eunhae Merchant Group’s crest, and the sacks piled on them were obviously full of grain.
“Heh heh! Guess Heaven doesn’t mean for us to die just yet!”
“Let’s finally stuff ourselves for once tonight!”
They waited until the wagons drew close, then loosed their arrows at the Chieftain’s signal.
Thwip!
Thwip, thwip!
The sudden ambush threw the merchant group into chaos.
“Damn it! Forest bandits!”
“Abandon the cargo!”
“B–but! That rice…”
“Just run! You wanna die here?”
The merchants ditched their cargo and bolted.
“Should we chase them?”
At that question, the Chieftain shook his head.
“No need. Don’t waste your strength for nothing.”
“Yes!”
“We can finally fill our bellies with white rice today. Move out!”
I watched the wagons disappear into the distance.
Phew. So far, I’d say the plan was a success.
“Good work, everyone.”
At my words, everyone grinned. Escort Guard Myeong Jong and Escort Guard Chang Un in particular looked oddly refreshed.
“Traveling with you, my lord, makes me feel like I’ve stepped into one of those heroic tales.”
“I feel the same way.”
Smiling at their words, I gently replied,
“I’m glad you don’t hate it, but still, be careful with everything you do. You only get one life.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then, Escort Guard Jin Yu, keep an eye on their movements for us.”
“Understood.”
“The rest of us will head back and finish getting ready.”
When we returned, Elder Bang came out to greet us.
“So, did everything go well?”
“Yes.”
We needed to make them consume the sleeping poison, so the idea we settled on was to deliberately let them steal our rice.
We’d brought already-polished rice on purpose; even if sleeping poison granules were mixed in, they’d never notice.
They might rinse the rice before cooking, but that didn’t matter.
The poison wouldn’t dissolve just from touching water for a bit.
It would only dissolve once it hit hot water, and by then it would already be in the pot.
Elder Bang said he normally slipped it into tea to put people to sleep.
While the rice cooked, the sleeping poison would spread evenly, and anyone who ate it would be out cold within about two hours.
That would be our moment to move.
“Alright, let’s start getting ready.”
We hitched up a covered carriage and headed toward the foot of the mountain.
We needed something to carry the children in.
Just then, Escort Guard Lee Pil approached me.
“My lord, reinforcements from the military camp have arrived.”
The Embroidered Guard warriors had gone ahead to the camp in Gansu and brought the reinforcements from there.
If we requested troops from Beijing, it would take too long, and the factions lurking there in the shadows might catch wind of it, so we’d decided to ask the Gansu military camp for support instead.
They might not be elite soldiers trained in Imperial Palace martial arts, but they’d still be useful.
Which was all the more reason we needed the sleeping poison.
We had to keep casualties to an absolute minimum.
By evening, Escort Guard Jin Yu came back to us.
“How did it go?”
“Yes. They cooked a meal with the rice they took from us. I confirmed that several of them have already fallen asleep.”
In other words, it was time for us to move.
I turned to Escort Guard Lee Pil and said,
“Tell the commander at the camp that we’re ready on our end as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
My group and I tied strips of red cloth around our left arms. That would mark us as allies.
While they subdued the people in the mountain stronghold, we would focus on rescuing the children.
Saving Lord Cheong-gwan could wait until later.
Right then.
An arrow shot up into the sky.
That was the signal that they were making their move.
We slipped in quietly and infiltrated the stronghold.
By the way, the sleeping poison Elder Bang gave us worked insanely well. Everyone was slumped against the walls, snoring away.
Where in the world did he even get his hands on this?
Well, he’s famous for being resourceful to begin with.
Thanks to that, we slipped into the stronghold without resistance and headed straight underground.
Down there were the children we had seen last time.
“Can you move?”
When the children saw us, they backed away, faces tight with fear.
“W–who are you?”
“We’re from the Imperial Palace. We came here to rescue you.”
“You just left last time.”
As expected, they remembered us from before.
“We did.”
I didn’t deny it.
“Back then, we weren’t prepared enough. If we’d tried to take you out with us at that time, every last one of us would’ve died.”
“Then what about now?”
“Now we’ve prepared for this properly.”
I glanced at Escort Guard Seo Wu, and Seo Wu swung a sword and severed the chains on the dungeon door where the children were locked up.
Slash.
Clang.
The chains snapped, the door swung open, and I stepped inside and spoke to the children.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
At my words, the children slowly got to their feet and shuffled out of the dungeon one by one.
From above, we could hear people moving busily about.
The noise made the children flinch and huddle together, so I calmed them down.
“It’s alright. Those are good adults who came to arrest all the bad ones in this stronghold.”
With that, I led the children up.
Just then, one of the children spoke up.
“A man was taken over that way.”
“Really?”
“The bad men kept hurting him, over and over.”
It sounded like they were talking about Lord Cheong-gwan.
“But that man deserves to be hit. They said he sold off the people who were captured here before.”
Just because they’re children doesn’t mean they can’t think.
Even locked up, they had listened to the stories drifting in and pieced the situation together.
“Are you going to save that man too?”
“We should save him too, yes. But later. Right now, getting you all out safely comes first.”
With that, we escorted the children out of the cave. The situation at the stronghold was already mostly wrapped up.
All that was left was to arrest the ones who’d fallen asleep, so it was practically a free capture.
The soldiers pointed their weapons at us for a moment when we suddenly appeared, but soon lowered them.
They had seen the red strips tied around our left arms.
“So you must be the ones His Majesty the Emperor sent.”
“Yes, that’s right. We’re bringing the children out now. How are things here?”
One of them answered my question.
“There are only a few left now.”
“Good. I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Of course.”
We were just about to leave the stronghold with the children when it happened.
“…!”
Every hair on my body stood on end.
In an instant, I raised my sword and stepped in front.
Clang!
Something heavy crashed against my blade. When I looked up, a man stood there, the claw gauntlet on his hand locked against my sword.
I quickly grasped the situation. Since the stronghold was built over a cave, there were gaps in the flooring where someone could hide.
He’d hidden there and launched a surprise attack.
His level was that of a seasoned first-rate expert.
Which meant he had to be the stronghold’s Chieftain.
But how had the sleeping poison not worked on him?
“So it was you! The bastard who made a fool of me!”
“You’re the Chieftain?”
“Yeah, I’m the Chieftain of this mountain stronghold. From that look on your face, I guess you’re wondering why I didn’t fall asleep.”
“…”
“You should’ve done your homework on me. I’ve got resistance to most poisons. And the moment I took a single bite of that rice, I knew it had sleeping poison in it.”
At his words, I immediately gave an order.
“Right now, take everyone and get away from here.”
“What?”
“My lord! We’ll help you.”
As Seo Wu and the others spoke up, I cut them off firmly.
“That’s an order. I won’t hear any objections. Take everyone and fall back from where I stand, right now!”
Then I swung my sword and drove him out of the stronghold.
Boom!
He blocked my blade and let out a thin, mocking laugh.
“So, you’re saying we do this for real?”
The reason I’d forced everyone to retreat was because of the Chieftain’s martial arts.
He was sharp enough to recognize sleeping poison on taste alone.
He had resistance to most poisons.
And lastly, the tips of the claw gauntlet on his hand were tinged blue.
That meant the Chieftain practiced poison arts.
Poison arts could harm anyone nearby, so I had to clear everyone out.
Fortunately, thanks to cultivating the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art, poisonous Qi doesn’t affect me easily.
That’s why I would be the one to face the Chieftain.
Clang! Clang!
My sword and the Chieftain’s claw gauntlet clashed again and again.
Considering the gap between our realms, I thought I’d be able to overpower him easily, but that claw weapon was trickier than I’d expected.
I couldn’t afford to let it so much as scratch me.
Swish! Slash!
Screeech!
On top of that, he was fighting with the resolve to die, which made things even harder.
At this rate, this wasn’t going to end quickly.
Then a thought suddenly hit me.
Wait, poison doesn’t work on me, does it?
Even though I’d sent everyone else away because of it, I’d completely overlooked that fact.
In that case, this was doable. I raised my sword, fixed my gaze on him, and drew up my inner Qi once more.
True Snow Twelve Form Sword’s Snow Wind.
If he wanted speed, I’d match him with swift swordplay of my own.
And then…
Swoosh!
Swooosh!
The two of us charged straight at each other.
His claw gauntlet grazed my side, and delight flashed in his eyes at the same time.
He had no idea I’d taken the hit on purpose.
Now.
Slash!
I swung my sword in a wide arc at the Chieftain, and my blade severed both his arms.
Thump, thump.
The Chieftain’s severed arms tumbled across the ground.
“Graaah!”
He collapsed where he stood, screaming in pain.
But then he caught sight of the wound on my side and gave a twisted grin.
“Heh heh, you’ve been hit by my poison too. You’re as good as dead.”
“Sorry, but you’re not the only one with resistance to poison.”
The clear, pure Qi in my body was already purifying the poison that had seeped in.
This cultivation art really was incredible.
“So you might want to start worrying about yourself instead.”
“Heh heh… fair enough.”
The Chieftain’s face twisted into a sneer.
Sensing that he was about to bite his tongue and kill himself, I rushed in and kicked him hard under the jaw.
“Urgh!”
“Hey now! Where do you think you’re running off to in such a cowardly way?”
Crack!
Then I smacked the back of his head and knocked him out cold.
I couldn’t let this one die.
He was the key person who knew where the kidnapped children had been taken.
Even if he died, it would only be after spitting out everything he knew.
–TL Notes–
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