We moved immediately.
First, we secretly sent out several trustworthy palace servants to spread rumors throughout Chaotian Palace.
“Have you heard what happened?”
“Huh? What happened?”
“Didn't that Taoist from the Maoshan Sect say yesterday that he'd reveal the traitors' names tonight? Well, the traitors struck first. They kidnapped him.”
“What?”
“That's why the Imperial Guards were mobilized to search for him, and now even we eunuchs are being dragged into it.”
“Seriously! Why the hell do we have to suffer because of those bastards?!”
Just then.
A group of soldiers came rushing over, and a eunuch among them shouted.
“Everyone inside your quarters, come out at once! Anyone who fails to come out before I count to five will be considered an enemy collaborator and arrested. One! Two…”
Faced with that merciless command, the eunuchs hurried outside.
And no wonder.
The eunuch who had given the order belonged to the Palace Inspectorate.
The Censorate investigated government officials, while the Palace Inspectorate kept watch over eunuchs and palace maids.
And those who drew the Palace Inspectorate's attention had a habit of vanishing without a trace.
“Now, search every single room!”
“Yes!”
One eunuch's heart dropped as he watched them.
There was a ‘letter’ hidden inside his quarters.
No matter how carefully he had concealed it, there was no chance the Palace Inspectorate would fail to find it once they began searching this thoroughly.
He remembered what the Crown Prince had said yesterday.
“They dare betray Father and me and act as spies under our very noses? Even flaying them alive wouldn't be punishment enough!”
If the Palace Inspectorate found that letter, there was no question what awaited him.
He would be flayed alive.
He quietly tried to slip away.
However…
“Stop right there!”
“I–I have urgent business to attend to!”
“We were given orders that no one is permitted to leave Chaotian Palace without His Highness's authorization.”
Just then, the sound of soldiers came rushing from behind him.
“Arrest the criminal!”
“Yes!”
That could only mean one thing.
They had found the letter.
In the end, his legs gave out, and he collapsed where he stood.
* * *
At that same time.
I was listening to Escort Guard Jin Yu's report on the current situation inside Chaotian Palace.
“We found evidence proving that they were secretly communicating with the enemy, and we also arrested three people who grew nervous during the search and attempted to flee.”
“Good.”
I nodded.
There were several reasons I'd arranged for every room to be searched.
First, we needed evidence proving that the people who had suddenly disappeared were, in fact, the rats we'd been hunting.
Second, the search would flush out anyone else who had been watching the situation and waiting for a chance to run.
And finally, I needed the palace maids to become angry about the current situation as well, then direct that anger toward the traitors.
The eunuchs had been forcibly mobilized to search for Daoist Cheong-su, but palace maids weren't allowed to freely leave the palace, so they couldn't be sent out with the search parties.
That was why I'd chosen another method to stir up their resentment.
As far as I knew, palace maids tended to hide all sorts of little things inside their rooms.
Now that those things had been discovered during the search, they would probably be punished for them once Daoist Cheong-su was found.
From what I'd heard, they were going to be made to kneel in the courtyard and beg forgiveness.
I let out a quiet chuckle.
“They must be absolutely furious by now.”
“You have no idea.”
“Then shall we start moving?”
They said a woman's grudge could bring frost even in the heat of summer, and there was no need to let this go too far.
Besides, every suspicious person inside Chaotian Palace had now been dealt with.
We immediately launched ourselves forward and headed toward the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince himself was armed and personally overseeing the search.
He needed everyone in Chaotian Palace to see him rescuing Daoist Cheong-su and punishing the traitors.
This little performance was finally approaching its conclusion.
I hurried over to the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness. We've found a suspicious location.”
“Is that so? Take me there at once!”
“Yes!”
I led the Crown Prince toward a nearby cave.
We continued deep inside until we finally found Daoist Cheong-su tied to a pillar.
Several armed men stood around him, keeping watch over the area.
The Crown Prince shouted at them.
“You're surrounded! Surrender immediately, or the only thing awaiting you is death!”
The men fell into confusion upon seeing us, and the one who appeared to be their leader shouted back.
“Nonsense! Lift the encirclement, or this Taoist dies!”
“Damn it!”
The Crown Prince erupted in anger, and I spoke.
“I'll rescue Daoist Cheong-su. Don't worry about him. Just attack.”
“Understood.”
The Crown Prince's guards were all highly skilled martial artists, but they couldn't recklessly leave his side.
Which meant I had no choice but to take charge of rescuing the Daoist.
“Attack!”
“Yes!”
At the Crown Prince's command, everyone charged at the traitors gathered inside.
While they did, I pulled a dagger from my robes and hurled it toward the man trying to harm Daoist Cheong-su.
“Aagh!”
I didn't waste the opening and immediately rushed to Daoist Cheong-su's side, cutting through his restraints.
“Are you all right?”
“I'm fine.”
Daoist Cheong-su shook his head with a bitter smile.
– To think I'd experience something like this at my age. Life certainly is amusing. Hahaha.
Seeing him use Voice Transmission confirmed it.
Daoist Cheong-su had also reached at least the Peak Realm.
He simply didn't use that strength for combat, instead applying it to things such as Walking Corpse Arts and exorcisms.
Just then, the man who had collapsed after being struck by my dagger opened his eyes and sent me a Voice Transmission.
– Was that good enough?
– Yes.
The man was Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am.
He had used the Novel Disguise Art to assume the face of one of the traitors and pretended he was about to harm Daoist Cheong-su.
The others who had pretended to panic earlier were also my Escort Guards, disguised with the Novel Disguise Art to play the part of the traitors planted here by the Murim Alliance.
Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am quietly rose, pulled out the real traitor's corpse that we'd hidden beforehand, and changed into a soldier's uniform.
Once he put on a helmet as well, there was no longer any way for someone to recognize him as Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am.
In the meantime, the Crown Prince's side had finished dealing with their opponents.
The men personally cut down by the Crown Prince were the real traitors.
Their acupoints had been sealed beforehand, preventing them from displaying their true abilities.
Naturally, my Escort Guards had quickly shoved them to the front, fallen back themselves, and then disguised themselves as ordinary soldiers.
The men who had infiltrated this place as spies for the Murim Alliance were destined to be executed anyway.
So I had given them a choice: cooperate with our little performance and die from a single clean strike, or be flayed alive during their execution.
Every last one of them had chosen the first option.
“Daoist Cheong-su! Are you unharmed?”
“Yes. I am fine. To think Your Highness would personally come all this way to save this humble Daoist! I don't know how I could ever repay such kindness.”
“Nonsense. You suffered all this because you were performing the ritual at my request. If anything, I'm the one who should apologize.”
The Crown Prince then turned to everyone and declared.
“We've rescued Daoist Cheong-su! Everyone, return to the palace.”
“Yes!”
.
.
.
The people of Chaotian Palace welcomed the Crown Prince's return with cheers.
It was only natural.
Everyone had been suffering because of Daoist Cheong-su's kidnapping.
Whew, I suppose that settles everything for now.
To be fair, there had been a few minor holes in our plan.
For example, Daoist Cheong-su had supposedly been kidnapped, yet no one had requested assistance from the Maoshan Sect.
But now that the entire incident had been resolved, those were the kinds of details everyone would soon forget.
.
.
.
That evening.
The ritual resumed as scheduled.
Ring. Ring.
After shaking his ritual bell for quite some time, Daoist Cheong-su spoke to the Crown Prince.
“He says that all the traitors have vanished from Chaotian Palace, so there is no longer any need for him to reveal their names himself.”
“I see.”
“He says he can finally depart for the afterlife with his mind at peace. He also wishes Your Highness a long and healthy life.”
“I'm grateful.”
The moment the Crown Prince said those words, I circulated my Qi and extinguished the candles.
Whoosh!
And with that, our long performance finally came to an end.
The next morning.
I arrived at Chaotian Palace and headed straight for Daoist Cheong-su's quarters.
He was still staying at Chaotian Palace.
I wanted to thank him for helping us and give him a small reward for his trouble.
“Daoist, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
He was already packing his belongings. Hadn't he only just finished breakfast?
“Are you leaving this early?”
“There are other fated encounters awaiting this humble Daoist. If I linger here too long, those bonds may grow lonely without me.”
“Well, I can't exactly stop you after hearing that.”
Looking genuinely disappointed, I cupped my fist toward him.
“Thank you sincerely for helping us with all of this.”
“There is no need. It was hardly difficult. Besides, if people like that had remained inside Chaotian Palace, they would eventually have caused harm not only to Nanjing, but to all of Jiangsu.”
“I'm grateful that you see it that way.”
I held out a money pouch.
“This isn't much, but please accept it as a token of my gratitude.”
“I'll accept it gratefully.”
As expected, he didn't refuse.
“I was able to remain safe because of the ones you sent to protect me. I was touched that you entrusted companions so close to you with my safety.”
“Of course I did. You came here because I asked you to. The least I could do was make sure you were protected.”
But something about his words bothered me, and I hesitated.
The ones I'd sent to protect Daoist Cheong-su were Palgap and Geumryeong.
But Geumryeong couldn't normally be seen, so if he'd only noticed Palgap, he should have spoken of a single companion, not several.
Could it be…
Had he actually noticed Geumryeong?
Feigning ignorance, I cautiously tested Daoist Cheong-su.
“I only sent one person to guard you…”
Daoist Cheong-su answered with a faint smile.
“You needn't be so wary. I'm already aware that little one's nature is rather unusual.”
Ah…
“It will become a precious friend to you.”
I smiled at those words.
“It already is.”
Looks like Geumryeong's embarrassed.
Otherwise, I would've expected at least some kind of reaction by now.
“I see. By the way, did Little Palgap not come with you?”
“No. He isn't allowed this far inside, so he's staying at the inn.”
Yesterday had been an exceptional situation, so he'd been granted special permission to enter, but things had returned to normal today.
That was why I alone had been permitted inside Chaotian Palace.
Daoist Cheong-su rummaged through his robes, pulled something out, and held it toward me.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“Little Palgap seems to be quite timid.”
I chuckled.
“He is. You wouldn't expect it from someone his size, but he's easily frightened.”
“So I prepared this for him.”
Had he heard me telling Palgap that Daoist Cheong-su would give him a gift if he worked hard to protect him?
I'd only said that because I'd planned to buy Palgap a small present myself and claim it had come from the Daoist.
What Daoist Cheong-su handed me was a bracelet woven from several different colors of cotton thread.
“I infused some of my power into it. It should protect whoever wears it from wicked and unnatural things.”
“Palgap's going to love this.”
Together, we headed to meet the Crown Prince.
Daoist Cheong-su said his farewells to the Crown Prince there, and I was assigned to see him off.
Once someone became the Emperor or Crown Prince, their position made it difficult for them to personally see off those beneath them.
Besides, the Crown Prince looked busy.
Before long, we passed through the courtyard where the ritual had been held.
“By the way, your acting was incredibly convincing. I still remember what you said while ringing your bell the moment you first entered Chaotian Palace.”
But at my words, Daoist Cheong-su gave me a strange look.
“You thought that was acting?”
“…What?”
But instead of answering my question, the Daoist strode briskly onward and left the palace.
Wait, Daoist…
You can't just say something like that and leave without explaining what you meant.
.
.
.
Several days passed.
With the departure date drawing near, goods were steadily being loaded onto the Eunhae Merchant Group's ship.
I stood before one of the rooms at the inn and knocked on the door.
“Deputy Merchant Lord Seong, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
When I entered, Deputy Merchant Lord Seong was seated at a table, reviewing documents.
At the moment, Deputy Merchant Lord Seong suspected the supervisors of the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group of corruption.
That was why his people had remained holed up inside this inn ever since arriving in Nanjing, keeping their trips outside to an absolute minimum.
If the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group's supervisors discovered what they were doing, there would be no chance of uncovering the corruption.
So I had been personally bringing them news from outside.
“There are three days left until departure.”
“I see.”
Deputy Merchant Lord Seong began organizing the documents as he spoke.
“Then we'll make our move sometime tomorrow evening.”
After thinking for a moment, he asked me a question.
“Have you noticed anything strange about the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group's supervisors?”
“Other than the fact that they're unusually close with one another, nothing particularly suspicious stood out.”
“Is that so?”
Supervisors were rivals by nature.
There were only so many positions available for Senior Supervisors, so competition between them was unavoidable.
And the most important factor in determining which supervisor became a Senior Supervisor was performance.
Since they had to compete over those achievements, there was little reason for them to be especially close.
Of course, they belonged to the same merchant group, so they wouldn't necessarily be hostile to one another, but it was still difficult for them to become excessively friendly.
Which meant that if their relationship was unusually close, there was a good chance they were all in the same boat.
Deputy Merchant Lord Seong seemed to understand the implication hidden in my words.
“Deputy Merchant Lord Eun, aren't you curious why I'm going this far?”
“Isn't it only natural to root out people committing corruption?”
“That is true, but the real reason is that I want to leave my son a good merchant group.”
At that moment, his expression was simply that of a father thinking about his son, Young Lord Seong Yu-jin.
I smiled gently and spoke to him.
“The Myeongmyeong Merchant Group will become a good merchant group.”
That much, I could guarantee.
In the future, the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group would solidify its position by distributing not only pepper, but also medicinal ingredients produced in the Great Yue Kingdom.
In my previous life, someone else had stolen the profits from that trade, but this time, I wouldn't let that happen.
–TL Notes–
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