Chapter 54
Turning His Entire Fortune into Internal Energy (1)
Cheon-geuk entered the manor with a young girl.
The adorable girl, whom anyone would have taken for a child at first glance, was Na Sa-rin, an elderly master of the Assassin Alliance.
She was the same person who had once used a soul-enthrallment art to force a confession out of Mr. Jong of Shinhwa-bang. However, because she had begun learning the art at far too young an age, she had developed an illness that halted her physical growth.
After Baek So-cheon asked Cheon-geuk to purchase spiritual medicines for him, she immediately sought out Na Sa-rin and asked for her help.
“I’m sorry for troubling you.”
“Why would you apologize? If the Alliance Leader requires this old woman’s assistance, then of course I must help.”
Na Sa-rin had likely been able to live for so many years as a respected figure within the Assassin Alliance because of her unwavering loyalty to both the alliance and its leader.
Today, Cheon-geuk intended to borrow the connections of this loyal old master for Baek So-cheon’s sake.
A middle-aged man was waiting in the spacious main hall of the manor.
At a glance, his clothes looked expensive. His shoes were of equally high quality, as were the accessories he wore. Yet he did not give the impression of someone indulging in excessive luxury. Rather, he looked like a man who dressed well for business.
The moment she stepped into the hall, Cheon-geuk sensed two experts concealed behind the wall where the man stood.
She also detected another presence in the ceiling.
The man they were protecting was named Maek Ga.
He was a famous spiritual-medicine merchant in the murim. He purchased spiritual medicines at low prices and resold them at high prices, or acted as an intermediary between sellers and buyers in exchange for a commission.
It sounded like a business that would generate enormous profits, but apparently that was not always the case.
He had to pay vast sums to hire powerful martial artists as guards against those who tried to steal the medicines. Incidents involving spiritual medicines also occurred from time to time.
Whenever such an incident happened, a great deal of money often had to be spent to conceal the answer to the question, “Who sold you that spiritual medicine?”
At least, that was what Maek Ga himself claimed.
No one knew exactly how much money he truly earned.
“It has been a long time.”
Maek Ga greeted Na Sa-rin respectfully.
He knew exactly who she was.
They had formed a connection by coincidence in the past, and the reason a man who did not sell his wares to just anyone had prepared such expensive spiritual medicines and waited for them was precisely because he knew who his client was.
“It has indeed been a long time.”
“It is also good to hear your clear and beautiful voice again, Elder.”
“Only my voice?”
“How could that be? You seem even more mature than the last time I saw you.”
He knew very well that, even if it was mere flattery, Na Sa-rin loved being told that she had matured.
Sure enough, Na Sa-rin smiled brightly.
When she smiled like that, she looked exactly like a child.
“You look a little thinner.”
“I have been rather busy lately.”
“Why work yourself so hard to earn money? What do you intend to do with all of it? Instead of selling every good spiritual medicine you obtain, you should take some yourself.”
“I can accept all your other advice, Elder, but that alone is impossible.”
“Why?”
“How could I chew up money and swallow it?”
“What a miserly merchant.”
“If something too precious entered this body, it would only cause trouble.”
Maek Ga laughed amiably.
Beneath her bamboo hat, Cheon-geuk did not smile.
One had to be careful around friendly-looking merchants like him.
It was precisely because people were taken in by those amiable faces that they ended up being thoroughly overcharged.
“Where are the goods?”
“I have prepared them. You said you wished to purchase the finest spiritual medicines, did you not? I had to travel extensively to obtain these.”
With a self-satisfied air, Maek Ga placed the first of three prepared boxes on the table.
He slowly opened it.
“This is an Emperor Pill.”
It was known that a martial artist who consumed it could gain between twenty and twenty-five years’ worth of internal energy.
“How much?”
“Four hundred and ninety thousand nyang.”
“That is expensive.”
“As you know, nearly all spiritual medicines were consumed during the Great War Between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions. The best one can find circulating in the market these days is an inferior hundred-year-old fleeceflower root, and even those are not easy to obtain.”
What he said was half true and half false.
It was true that a great many spiritual medicines had been consumed during the war.
However, merchants like Maek Ga had predicted that prices would soar once the war ended and had deliberately withheld some of their stock from the market.
These medicines were among that withheld stock.
“Lower the price for my sake.”
“Very well. For you, Elder, I will specially offer it for four hundred thousand nyang. That is the price I paid for it.”
It was a lie.
He had purchased it for two hundred thousand nyang.
One might wonder how he dared lie in front of Na Sa-rin, but merchants would always try to increase their profit somehow, no matter how frightening the person before them might be.
Maek Ga had dealt with every sort of martial artist imaginable.
In fact, he found martial artists easier to deal with than fellow merchants.
A martial artist wealthy enough to purchase spiritual medicine was usually either a formidable expert or someone from a prestigious family.
By carefully flattering their reputation and pride, he could earn outrageous profits from them.
Of course, he had to judge his target carefully.
Trying to earn a few extra coins could sometimes cost him his head.
Even so, it was true that he was offering Na Sa-rin a somewhat lower price.
Had he been selling it to someone else, his opening price would have been at least six hundred thousand nyang.
“Let us see the others.”
“Yes.”
Maek Ga took a slightly larger box from his luggage.
“This is a high-grade thousand-year-old fleeceflower root.”
It was said that a martial artist who consumed it could gain between half a cycle and one full cycle of internal energy.
In other words, one could gain a full cycle if they absorbed all of its medicinal power, but only half a cycle if they failed to do so properly.
“How much is this one?”
“Eight hundred and forty thousand nyang.”
Depending on its quality, a hundred-year-old fleeceflower root was traded for between ten and thirty thousand nyang.
One might make the simple calculation that a thousand years was ten times a hundred years, and therefore even a high-grade specimen should cost only three hundred thousand nyang.
But spiritual medicines did not work that way.
The higher the grade of the medicine, the more enormous the additional cost became for every single extra year of internal energy it could provide.
Had his client not been Na Sa-rin, Maek Ga would have demanded an even higher price.
“How low can you go?”
“For you, Elder, I will specially offer it for seven hundred and fifty thousand nyang.”
“Do you have anything else?”
“Of course. You said that something poisonous would also be acceptable, so I prepared one.”
Maek Ga took out another box.
“This is a Seven-Colored Centipede Pill.”
The Seven-Colored Centipede was a venomous centipede bearing seven colors. Like the Hundred-Legged Golden Thread Serpent, it was a spirit creature.
The pill was a poison elixir created from the inner core extracted from such a centipede, and it was primarily used by poison practitioners.
If consumed by someone capable of overcoming its poison, it was an extraordinarily rare elixir that could likewise grant between half a cycle and one full cycle of internal energy.
“The price is six hundred and eighty thousand nyang.”
As expected, spiritual medicines based on poison were less expensive than other medicines of equivalent effect.
“I will specially offer it for six hundred thousand nyang. I obtained all three of these exceptional medicines specifically for you, Elder. If you fail to purchase them today, you will not be able to find spiritual medicines of this quality again for several years.”
At the very least, it was true that spiritual medicines were currently scarce.
It might not take several years, but it would certainly be difficult to obtain such medicines for the foreseeable future.
“How much for all three?”
“One million seven hundred and fifty thousand nyang.”
As though her role was now complete, Na Sa-rin looked toward Cheon-geuk.
Maek Ga found the gesture strange.
Why is she looking at her guard?
Until now, he had naturally assumed that the woman standing beside Na Sa-rin in a bamboo hat was her bodyguard.
The surprising part began now.
Cheon-geuk spoke for the first time.
“Mr. Maek.”
Even those two words carried overwhelming authority.
Maek Ga immediately realized his mistake.
She was not merely a guard.
Cheon-geuk began revealing the presence she had kept concealed.
“We will buy all three for one million four hundred thousand nyang.”
“Impossible!”
“Mr. Maek. You would still make a profit, would you not?”
“No. I would take a loss. I already offered these at low prices for Elder Na’s sake. I could sell them elsewhere for far more.”
“I once heard that a skilled spiritual-medicine merchant makes three times the purchasing price in profit.”
“That is only a rumor.”
“So before coming here, I investigated the spiritual-medicine merchants of the Central Plains. Even among them, you tend to sell at rather high prices.”
Maek Ga turned toward Na Sa-rin.
“Elder, please say something.”
He tried to use Na Sa-rin as a shield.
Cheon-geuk instead turned that shield into a weapon.
“Ah, that works out well. Since you know exactly what she excels at, we can have her confirm whether Mr. Maek is telling the truth.”
Maek Ga flinched.
Even if his profit margin was not quite threefold, he was still making a great deal of money on the transaction.
Selling the medicines for one million four hundred thousand nyang would not result in a loss.
There were many people seeking spiritual medicines and very few available, which was precisely why he could demand such enormous margins.
Na Sa-rin spoke to Cheon-geuk.
“Alliance Leader.”
“Yes?”
Maek Ga was shocked when he heard that title.
There was only one person Na Sa-rin addressed as Alliance Leader.
She is the leader of the Assassin Alliance!
Na Sa-rin asked Cheon-geuk,
“Do you only have one million four hundred thousand nyang?”
“Yes.”
“Then purchase only two.”
“I cannot. I need all three. I will persuade Mr. Maek myself.”
Behaving in such a way was extremely discourteous toward Na Sa-rin, who had arranged this meeting.
Even so, Na Sa-rin assumed there had to be a reason for Cheon-geuk to act so differently from usual, so she did not interfere further.
Cheon-geuk looked at Maek Ga.
“If I am going to make such an inconsiderate request, I should at least show you my face.”
When she reached up to remove her bamboo hat, Maek Ga squeezed his eyes shut and shouted,
“Do not take it off!”
As expected of a merchant seasoned by years of experience.
Among the faces one should never wish to know, the face of the Assassin King ranked either first or second.
He understood perfectly well that Cheon-geuk was threatening him by attempting to reveal it.
“Very well! I will sell them for one million four hundred thousand nyang.”
Once he confirmed that his opponent was the Assassin King, Maek Ga abandoned all hope of making a good profit today.
“Thank you, Mr. Maek. Please understand. I urgently need these spiritual medicines, so I behaved discourteously today.”
Her polite apology improved Maek Ga’s mood somewhat.
“Not at all.”
“But please remember this. The kindness you have shown today may one day prove to have been the wise choice that protected your fortune.”
Maek Ga did not understand what she meant.
Her words implied that if the Cheokcheon Alliance won the war and came to rule the murim, they would seize all his wealth.
She paid the money and received the three boxes, which she packed into a leather bag.
“I will wait outside.”
“I will join you shortly.”
Cheon-geuk left the room.
Once only the two of them remained, Na Sa-rin asked Maek Ga,
“Are you all right?”
“Sometimes a merchant must conduct business at a loss.”
He had not suffered a loss, yet even now he claimed that he had.
That was simply the nature of merchants.
“When dealing with assassins like us, one occasionally suffers unpleasant experiences. Please understand. Besides, I doubt you truly lost money on today’s transaction.”
Her words carried a slightly different meaning from Cheon-geuk’s.
The Alliance Leader now owed him a favor.
That meant if he ever faced death in the future, she might spare his life once.
Maek Ga smiled and joked,
“Please visit again next time.”
“Do you mean that?”
“No. Please always take good care of yourself.”
“Haha. Live well. Do not only think about money. Take care of your health too.”
When Na Sa-rin stepped outside, Cheon-geuk was waiting for her.
“Alliance Leader.”
“I’m sorry, Elder.”
“It is all right. You must have had a good reason.”
“Thank you for understanding. There is someone I desperately wish to help, even if I have to become a complete bitch to do it.”
Had the medicines been for herself, she would simply have purchased two.
But when she thought of them as medicines she would bring back to Baek So-cheon, she wanted to buy all three.
The fact that Maek Ga was an unscrupulous merchant also played a part.
When Na Sa-rin said she knew a spiritual-medicine merchant named Maek Ga and offered to arrange the meeting, Cheon-geuk secretly ordered the Guardian Killing Star to investigate him.
Because of Na Sa-rin’s connection to him, she could not say it openly in front of her, but he was a man who earned excessive profits from selling spiritual medicines.
Most spiritual-medicine merchants did the same, but he was especially notorious even among them.
That was why she had forced the price down as much as possible.
In any case, thanks to Na Sa-rin arranging the meeting, she had ultimately obtained the spiritual medicines for less than the market price.
“I am curious what kind of person he is.”
What kind of man could make the Alliance Leader behave so unlike herself just to help him?
Na Sa-rin could not help but wonder.
Cheon-geuk answered cautiously.
“Baek So-cheon.”
“Baek So-cheon? Do you mean the Martial Alliance’s God of War?”
Na Sa-rin recognized the name immediately.
“Yes. That man.”
Na Sa-rin’s expression stiffened at once.
Baek So-cheon was the man who had killed the previous Assassin King.
“I’m sorry I could not tell you beforehand.”
Cheon-geuk lowered her head deeply.
Na Sa-rin had faithfully served not only Cheon-geuk, but also the previous Assassin King and even the Assassin King before him.
Yet these spiritual medicines were meant for the man who had killed her former leader.
Cheon-geuk could not bring herself to raise her head before her.
Na Sa-rin quietly watched her for a moment before speaking calmly.
“This old woman is eighty-four years old this year. I do not have many years left to devote my loyalty to our Alliance Leader. What has passed is in the past. I trust your decision.”
Her eighty-four years had not turned her into an unyielding wall.
She remained reasonable and was filled with affection for Cheon-geuk.
Cheon-geuk respectfully expressed her gratitude once more.
“Thank you, Elder.”
“I would like to meet him.”
“Shall I introduce you?”
Cheon-geuk suddenly became curious.
What kind of person would Baek So-cheon appear to be in Na Sa-rin’s eyes?
“Would that be acceptable?”
“Of course. Let us go together.”
The two women boarded the waiting carriage.
Their destination was Wuhan, where the Martial Alliance’s main headquarters was located.