There's a problem?
I tilted my head and asked the Grand Clan Lord.
“What exactly is the problem?”
“This isn't really the place to explain it… Come with me and see for yourself.”
“Understood.”
We rose from our seats and followed the Grand Clan Lord.
On the way, we passed through Luoyang's marketplace. Like Beijing, the residential estates and commercial district here were clearly separated.
“This is the place.”
When I saw where the Grand Clan Lord had brought me, all I could do was blink.
Wait. This place…
This was an ideal location for a merchant group's property.
It wasn't too close to the Murim Alliance, but it wasn't too far away either, and it wasn't tucked away somewhere inconvenient from the marketplace.
There were roads leading in every direction, and it even came with a fairly large manor.
The buildings weren't especially old, either. A little repair work would make them usable almost immediately, which meant saving both money and time.
Unfortunately, the ‘problem’ the Grand Clan Lord had mentioned was severe enough to wipe out every one of those advantages.
Because this was none other than the infamous ‘haunted manor.’
Even in my previous life, this manor had remained notorious as it slowly fell into ruin, and as far as I remembered, it was still abandoned by the time I died.
The manor's first owner had been an extraordinarily wealthy man.
He had bought every private residence on this land, demolished them all, and built the manor in their place.
But the Manor Lord and his entire family were supposedly slaughtered in a single night under mysterious circumstances.
The sole surviving heir, who had only escaped death because he was away at the time, sold the property.
The marketplace happened to be expanding around then, and as the Grand Clan Lord himself had said, the location was exceptional enough to match every condition I wanted.
Naturally, it sold without much trouble, but strange phenomena supposedly began occurring here afterward.
Unsettling noises from empty rooms.
Objects moving on their own.
Even when someone was clearly alone, something would suddenly tug at their ankle or tap them on the back. There was simply no way to explain such things except by calling the place haunted.
After changing hands several times, the manor eventually became a place where no one dared to live.
Some claimed the original Manor Lord and his family, having died unjustly, were taking their anger out on anyone who entered. Others insisted someone had secretly taken refuge inside and was playing tricks on the owners.
Eventually, even the Murim Alliance stepped in to resolve the matter, but they failed as well.
And so the place remained as both a failure and an embarrassment to the Murim Alliance, constantly irritating them like a piece of meat stuck between their teeth.
“You seem to know what kind of place this is. Then I imagine you can guess why I said there was a problem.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“You're probably wondering why I would introduce a place like this to you.”
I certainly was. Why, of all places, had he chosen to show me this one?
“First, it satisfies every condition you gave me. There isn't a single thing lacking.”
The Grand Clan Lord was right about that.
“And there is one very important detail.”
The Grand Clan Lord smiled mischievously.
“The land and the manor together are priced at only one hundred silver taels.”
“…Excuse me?”
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard him.
One hundred silver taels?
Even an ordinary tiled-roof house could easily cost more than a hundred silver taels, and this entire place was only a hundred?
Haunted or not, considering the size of the property and the manor itself… that price made no sense.
“One hundred silver taels? Did I hear you correctly?”
“You did. The price is exactly one hundred silver taels.”
“How can it possibly be that cheap?”
“They wanted to sell it quickly, so they lowered the price. Then they lowered it again. And again. Eventually, it fell all the way to one hundred silver taels.”
Hearing his explanation, I understood.
It was obvious when I thought about it, but a property's price ultimately depended on the circumstances of the buyer and seller.
The seller of this manor was desperate, while prospective buyers had no reason to be. Naturally, the price had continued falling.
When I thought about how much I'd spent expanding the Luoyang Branch of the Eunhae Merchant Group in my previous life… a hundred silver taels was practically free.
Of course, if I couldn't solve the problem the Grand Clan Lord had mentioned, the place would be nothing more than an expensive burden.
While I was considering that, the Grand Clan Lord spoke cautiously.
“And to tell you the truth, the current owner is a member of the Zhuge Clan.”
“Excuse me?”
He turned his head away, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“He bought the place because he wanted to investigate it, but whatever happened inside frightened him so badly that he fled looking deathly pale. He hasn't come anywhere near the place since, and he refuses to say a word about what happened.”
Had the Grand Clan Lord introduced the place to me simply because he wanted to help another member of his clan?
Somehow, I doubted that was the only reason.
The Grand Clan Lord continued.
“If you'd like to inspect the inside, just tell me. I'll give you the key.”
“You have the key, Grand Clan Lord?”
“He left it at the estate.”
Ah…
“As you said, the location perfectly matches what I need, and the price is excellent. Still, the fact that there's a problem bothers me. Wouldn't it be better to choose somewhere without one?”
“You're right. But I introduced this place because I thought you, of all people, might be perfectly fine here.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“There was one person who inspected this manor and came back out without suffering any trouble at all.”
The Grand Clan Lord continued.
“After looking around, he said he intended to buy it and use it as something like a branch base. Unfortunately, that visit was also the last time he ever came to Luoyang.”
Who could that have been?
The Grand Clan Lord answered my unspoken question through Voice Transmission.
– My friend, the former Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace.
Ah!
“So I'd like you to keep this place in mind as well. Now, shall we go look at the others?”
The Grand Clan Lord took me to several more properties.
But no matter where we went, my mind kept returning to the haunted manor we'd seen first.
The price was absurdly low, and the location met every one of my requirements. It was only natural that I couldn't stop thinking about it.
More importantly, if the former Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace had chosen that place, there had to be a reason.
.
.
.
That evening.
In the end, I returned to the property with the haunted manor.
I decided I needed to inspect it myself.
I wanted to know why the former Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace had intended to buy this place.
“Here. I brought the key.”
“I see. Then let's go inside.”
“Yes.”
The grounds clearly hadn't been maintained for quite some time, because the weeds had grown long and wild.
At least it was winter. If we'd come here in summer, the entire place probably would've been crawling with insects.
We pushed through grass tall enough to rise past my waist until the manor buildings came into view.
Whew. Seeing it like this only makes me want it more.
It wasn't as though there were no other properties of this size nearby, but actually acquiring any of them would be extremely difficult.
They were either already owned by major merchant groups or belonged to wealthy and influential families in the area.
Of course, I could force those people to surrender their land, but then I'd be building my success on their tears and blood.
I could never do that. If I did, I'd be no different from the people I'd dealt with until now.
“Haa…”
“Why are you sighing again?”
At Palgap's question, I gave a hollow laugh.
“Because the more I look at this place, the more I want it.”
“If you want it that badly, can't you just buy it?”
Escort Guard Jin Yu answered before I could.
“Palgap, it's not something you can dismiss that easily. This place's reputation is worse than you can imagine. Even experts from the Maoshan Sect and Wudang Sect failed to solve whatever is happening here.”
His expression remained filled with vigilance as he continued.
“To be truthful, I only came inside because you were coming, Master. Even standing here makes me uneasy.”
I looked at him and calmly replied.
“Don't worry too much. We're hardly helpless.”
“Of course not. But when your safety is involved, Master, I can't help worrying.”
“I'll be fine. Let's go inside.”
We entered the manor.
Creeeak.
The main gate swung open with the grating squeal of rusted hinges.
The first thing we saw was a spacious courtyard.
Beyond it stood several buildings, arranged neatly across the grounds.
Heavy furnishings and other bulky household items had been left behind, but there was nothing particularly valuable.
Well, of course. Anything expensive would've been taken long ago.
My guards moved with their eyes constantly sweeping their surroundings, clearly aware that we had no idea what might happen here.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an abandoned manor, but this was no place to lower our guard.
Escort Guard Jin Yu hadn't spoken so seriously for nothing.
I calmly walked onward while examining the Qi around us, but I couldn't sense even the slightest trace of Unorthodox Qi.
Which meant this wasn't some trick or scheme devised by an Unorthodox Sect.
Not that it would've made sense if it were. If the answer had been that simple, the Murim Alliance's experts would've solved the matter long ago.
That only made the mystery deeper.
We searched the manor from top to bottom, but none of the things we'd feared actually happened.
All the inspection accomplished was reminding me once again just how attractive this manor and its property really were.
Then again, I suppose it makes sense that nothing happened immediately.
If something happened to everyone the moment they came to inspect the place, no one would've ever bought it in the first place.
After thinking for a moment, I made my decision.
“I should borrow this manor for a little while.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I think I'll need to stay here for a while and observe the place properly.”
The next morning.
I went to the Zhuge Clan, met with the Grand Clan Lord, and told him what I intended to do.
“So I'd like to stay there for a few days and see what happens.”
“You're saying exactly what my friend said.”
“Excuse me?”
The Grand Clan Lord smiled.
“I didn't mention this yesterday, but that man stayed there for about four days before deciding he wanted to buy it.”
“I see. In that case, how much should I pay to rent the manor?”
“There's no need for that. If it's only a few days, stay as long as you like. You're a busy man yourself. It's not as though you intend to remain there for over a month, is it?”
“That's true. Then I'll observe the place for a few days and speak with you again afterward.”
With that, I left the Zhuge Clan and returned to the manor.
If I remembered correctly, none of the former owners had ever managed to live there for longer than a month.
That meant something should happen before then.
We entered the manor again, and Palgap cleaned one of the buildings that had a bedchamber connected to a study.
We were only going to stay here temporarily, so there was no reason to clean the rest of the place.
I told everyone I would be fine staying alone, but they opposed the idea so fiercely that I eventually gave in and agreed to let them stay with me.
By the time we'd finished cleaning and arranging the furnishings, night had already fallen.
I'm tired.
I lay down on the bed.
It was an unfamiliar place, and a manor known for mysterious incidents at that, but my Escort Guards were taking turns standing watch. I was exhausted enough that I fell asleep almost immediately.
Nothing happened during the night.
If there was anything unusual, it was that I'd slept far more deeply than expected.
I got out of bed and began my usual Breathing Meditation.
Hm?
But it didn't take long for me to notice something strange.
Qi flows through the earth, and in certain places, that pure Qi gathers into veins before rising toward the surface.
Those veins are places where pure Qi naturally converges, and throughout the martial world, Orthodox sects and clans had established themselves over them.
Whether they had understood what they were doing or simply followed some unconscious instinct, I couldn't say.
I hadn't known about it at first either, but once my Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art reached the Profound realm, I began to sense those currents.
And of all the places in the empire, the greatest concentration of that pure Qi could be found right here in Luoyang.
The Murim Alliance had been established in Luoyang, and countless Orthodox martial artists gathered here, not merely because the city was convenient for travel. The greater reason was that this was where pure Qi converged more strongly than anywhere else.
Naturally, such places were extremely effective for cultivating Internal Power.
For Orthodox martial artists, there could hardly be a greater advantage.
And now, I finally understood why the former Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace had wanted to establish a branch base here.
From my many visits to the Murim Alliance, I'd already noticed that its headquarters had been built over the place in Luoyang where pure Qi gathered most intensely.
This manor wasn't quite on the Murim Alliance's level, but the concentration of pure Qi here was still remarkably strong.
The ideal place to cultivate Snow Wind Palace's Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art was somewhere rich in yin Qi.
That was precisely why Xiangyang Martial Arts Academy was located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
Snow Wind Palace's martial arts also benefited greatly from places rich in pure Qi, but the problem was that locations like that were extremely difficult to find.
So instead, they had settled for the next best thing and sought places abundant in yin Qi.
How delighted must the former Palace Lord of Snow Wind Palace have been when he discovered what was special about this manor?
But if that visit had been his last trip to Luoyang, then he must have died afterward during the Blood Cult's attack.
Whew. Calm down.
Losing control of my emotions in the middle of Breathing Meditation could be disastrous.
Once I finished my Breathing Meditation, I realized my cultivation had been nearly twice as efficient as usual.
And I wasn't the only one who noticed how unusual this place was.
“For some reason, I feel much lighter after doing Breathing Meditation here.”
“My fatigue is almost completely gone, too.”
At my Escort Guards' remarks, I nodded.
“I noticed it as well.”
I looked around for a moment before continuing.
“What in the world is this place?”
Just then, Palgap returned with breakfast.
Cooking here would be difficult for now, so we'd decided to buy food from an inn and bring it back to the manor.
We ate the breakfast Palgap had brought, then began our work for the day.
I sat at the desk and had been reviewing documents for quite some time when…
Tap, tap.
Something tapped me on the shoulder.
“Yes, Deputy Gwak.”
Then the realization struck me.
I was working alone right now.
I'd left Lady Seohyang at the inn just in case something happened.
And Lady Seohyang always called out to me when she needed my attention. She never tapped me on the shoulder.
Cold sweat instantly broke out across my entire body.
It had finally appeared.
–TL Notes–
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