As we walked silently along the main street of Hangzhou, many people made way for her or exchanged light greetings.
It seed she was quite well-respected by the locals.
The way she skillfully exchanged greetings and passed by people was on a completely different level from the awkward Chief Escort Gong Ilsang.
‘Co to think of it, they do look alike.’
Jin Cheon-hee asked:
“What’s your relationship with Chief Escort Gong Ilsang?”
At those words, Agency Head Gong Banha covered her mouth with her sleeve and laughed.
“The Gong-woon Escort Agency is run by the Gong family. Gong Ilsang is my younger brother.”
“Your faces are similar, but your auras are so different that I couldn’t tell.”
“He’s just starting to learn the job, so he must be quite clumsy. I’m so grateful that you saved my brother’s life. He’s still lacking in both martial arts and escort skills.”
‘Hmm. A sharp older sister and a still naive younger brother. The opposite of the Namgoong family.’
She seed to have been worried about her brother a lot, chattering about him.
Saying things like how he was originally supposed to be a scholar, but for so reason decided to start as an escort. How she’s worried if he’s sleeping well outdoors.
Judging by her asking if he slled when they t, it seed she was even concerned about whether he was bathing regularly.
“That child couldn’t enter the Putuo Sword Sect, so he trained for a long ti as a lay disciple of another sword sect. But his progress was slow, and I was so worried.”
Her voice was tinged with relief.
As expected, it seems Gong Ilsang had taken on an overly difficult escort mission.
‘I’d better not ntion that he was getting beaten up by bandits.’
One wrong move of the tongue, and it could spell doom for Gong Ilsang.
Jin Cheon-hee, feeling like an accomplice, said:
“The mountain terrain was very treacherous, and the bandits ambushed them, so it couldn’t be helped. Even the strongest expert would be vulnerable to a surprise attack.”
“That’s true, but… In any case, I’ll have to make him train more as soon as he returns.”
‘Hmm. Looks like I failed to shield him.’
On the positive side, with his current skills, the sa thing could happen again if he goes out, so it might be better to build up his abilities while he has the chance.
That’s what Jin Cheon-hee thought.
‘Co to think of it, the people from the Putuo Escort Agency walked quite orderly.’
Even Gong Banha, who was leading the way, had an upright and light gait that was beyond compare.
‘As befitting the phrase “small but elite,” they may not be many in number, but each one looks strong.’
It was fitting for a sword sect that had produced sword masters in every generation.
Finally, the place she guided him to was an inn called the Celestial Inn.
“It’s the largest inn in Hangzhou. It’s also run by the Namgoong family’s trading company.”
I wonder if she also knows about Jin Cheon-hee’s connection to the Namgoong family.
He realized that the Gong-woon Escort Agency couldn’t be underestimated despite its small size.
She said:
“Oh, and the cuisine here is among the top five in Hangzhou, so you won’t be disappointed. They’re especially good at dongpo pork.”
She smiled brightly.
In front of him was a massive six-story pavilion.
‘In modern terms, this would be… a hotel?’
She went inside, showed her identification tag to the attendant, and handed over so money.
Leaving a ssage to take good care of the escort agency’s benefactor.
“Thank you so much.”
Jin Cheon-hee made a deep fist-and-palm salute. At those words, she shook her head.
“Not at all. This doesn’t even amount to a ten-thousandth of the gratitude we owe you for saving my brother’s life. Oh, that reminds .”
She took out a tag from her bosom. It was made of carved jade and had “Gong-woon Escort Agency” written on it.
“If you ever need , just show this tag. We may not have many branches, but we’ll certainly be able to help you.”
***
The Celestial Inn slled delicious right from the entrance.
The rumbling sound from his stomach indicated that he was in the perfect state to enjoy a delicious al.
“Welco!”
Perhaps thanks to the money received from Gong Banha, the attendant beca even more polite.
Jin Cheon-hee sat down at a quite spacious table as guided by the attendant.
“Please bring dongpo pork and a couple of your most delicious dishes.”
“Certainly! What would you like to drink?”
Dongpo pork is perfect as a drinking snack. Jin Cheon-hee pondered for a mont before waving his hand.
“Warm tea will be enough.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and please bring the rice piping hot and heaped high.”
“Don’t worry! We’ll bring you freshly cooked rice. By the way, young master, you’re in luck.”
“Why’s that?”
“We happen to have a performance today. Enjoying the performance while savoring our specialties – there’s no better way to live like an immortal.”
“Ooh!”
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Especially if you pair it with our inn’s master-crafted Tianxia Gaoliang wine, it’s the finest delicacy in the world…”
“The alcohol will be fine, thank you.”
“Ah, I understand. My mouth ran away with .”
The attendant slapped his own mouth repeatedly as he walked away.
Looking at the prices written on the wall, Jin Cheon-hee saw that the Tianxia Gaoliang wine was more expensive than all the dishes he had ordered combined.
It was the second most expensive alcohol on the nu.
An expensive wine, but not unaffordable – the kind of price you could pay if you really set your mind to it.
The kind of price that would make your wallet cry the next day.
‘I almost cut off my nose to spite my face. As expected of Hangzhou. I almost bought the wine in the blink of an eye.’
As expected of a big city. I absolutely won’t be taken for a fool.
Jin Cheon-hee clenched his fist.
After so ti,
Dishes began to appear one by one on Jin Cheon-hee’s table.
Especially when he saw the tender dongpo pork, he almost lost his mind.
‘I wonder how it’s different from Earth’s dongpo pork. Gulp…’
He carefully used his chopsticks to place the dongpo pork on top of the freshly cooked heaped rice. Then he drizzled the dongpo pork sauce over the rice grains with a spoon.
At this mont, Jin Cheon-hee felt like an ascetic monk practicing silent ditation.
And then he inhaled the dongpo pork along with the rice grains.
‘Hot, hot, hot…!’
It was hotter than he expected.
He could have used his Five-Elental Divine Technique to cool it down, but he didn’t want to.
This heat was also part of the joy of travel.
The aroma of freshly cooked rice filled his mouth. Soon, the star of the show, the dongpo pork, reached the tip of Jin Cheon-hee’s tongue.
The soft yet chewy texture touched his tongue and molars.
‘Delicious!’
Was it because it was cooked in a cauldron?
Or was it because the rice grains were hand-milled instead of factory-processed?
He couldn’t be sure, but it was the most delicious thing Jin Cheon-hee had ever eaten in his life.
‘Ugh… tears… tears are coming out.’
He was even overco with the moving realization that he had co all this way to eat this.
This ti, Jin Cheon-hee wrapped so bok choy around the dongpo pork and put it in his mouth.
The dongpo pork lted on his tongue between the well-boiled bok choy leaves.
He felt like he could fall in love with this texture that lted so much it was almost embarrassing to chew.
Jin Cheon-hee began to inhale the dongpo pork voraciously.
He was happy.
Jin Cheon-hee even felt grateful to Namgoong Woon.
For bringing in such a chef to make this kind of food.
‘This is truly a good deed. A good deed indeed.’
It was then.
About five children began to climb onto the stage in the center of the inn.
One of the girls among them shouted in a clear voice:
“After the passing of Master Seok, the master of face-changing, his top disciple Sama Hyeon has co here. He will now demonstrate his skills!”
Waaah!
Face-changing.
It refers to the act of quickly changing silk masks called lianpu to perform.
Because the masks are changed so quickly that it looks like magic, to the audience it appears as if the face is continuously changing.
There were already people applauding, so it must be quite famous in the area.
‘There are no adults, only children performing?’
That was quite interesting.
Jin Cheon-hee finished one plate of dongpo pork and ordered another. anwhile, he started to finish the crab dish and the cold chicken salad.
The girl said:
“The realm of five changes in one step!”
The performance began. Each of the children played an instrunt.
The girl who had been the emcee quickly went to the back and played the pipa.
While it couldn’t be called a professional-level performance, it was enough to set the mood.
Then the boy who was said to be Master Seok’s disciple ca up on stage.
He wore a mask painted on silk, typical of that era.
Following the music, the boy’s mask changed rapidly.
Jin Cheon-hee focused his spirit energy to see how the boy was changing his masks.
‘Wow, even to my eyes it looks quite blurry?’
The Mysterious Origin Thousand Calculations Skill is an ability that allows one to perceive and calculate many things in a short ti.
If even Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes couldn’t see the changes clearly, it ant that the boy was quite skilled in face-changing.
‘He can do this at that age?’
A child performing tricks for money at an inn couldn’t possibly be from a prestigious family.
They wouldn’t treat children who receive bee venom face washes and dicinal showers from a young age like that.
So this face-changing skill must be the child’s own talent.
Five changes in one step. The mask changes five tis with each step.
True to those words, the boy’s mask changed five tis with each step he took.
Everyone was amazed at the skill that seed to suck the soul out of you.
Jin Cheon-hee also applauded. He could do this because the dongpo pork hadn’t arrived yet.
If it had, he would have been inhaling it again.
As he was applauding, Jin Cheon-hee suddenly recalled the content of the novel “Supre Heavenly Demon.”
‘Co to think of it, wasn’t the Hao Sect Leader a master of face-changing?’
The martial art he had learned was also the Thousand Changes Face Demon Skill.
This guy was so vicious that he used human skin instead of masks for his face-changing.
Human skin masks.
It refers to wearing masks made of human skin, but in reality, cases of using actual human skin are extrely rare.
Usually, they use masks made from pig skin treated with special dicines.
But the Hao Sect Leader actually used human face skin for his disguises.
“That face, I really want it. Won’t you give it to ~?”
The Hao Sect Leader also used acupuncture, but in a different way from the dical sects.
He used acupuncture that prevented facial muscles from moving but allowed the victim to feel pain fully.
Then he would peel off the victim’s facial skin and wear it himself.
The victim, still alive, had to watch as their facial skin was peeled off and a demon in human form looked down at them with their exact sa face.
His grip was so strong.
He could even tear off soone’s facial skin with just his bare hands, without using a knife.
This is one of the reasons why he isn’t well-described in the novel.
He never reveals his true face.
Of course, the Hao Sect Leader’s face is known, but even the Hao Sect mbers don’t know if it’s his real face or soone else’s human skin mask.
He did have a na, but it wasn’t certain whether it was his real na or an alias.
‘Ah, no… it can’t be.’
The boy in front of him showed none of the ominousness from the novel.
He was simply enjoying performing tricks and hearing the audience’s exclamations of wonder.
Waaah-!
After the performance ended, the children went around with baskets to collect money from the people.
People put in a copper coin or two.
Jin Cheon-hee fell into contemplation.
“…”
What finally ca out of Jin Cheon-hee’s pocket was a large silver coin.
Clink-
The girl’s eyes widened at the heavy sensation.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Then she quickly ran back, as if afraid soone might snatch it away.
‘Whether he’s the future Hao Sect Leader or not, this should help in its own way.’
If the boy in front of him was indeed the future Hao Sect Leader, this could form a connection of sorts, and even if he wasn’t, those children would be able to eat well for a week, so that would be enough.
Jin Cheon-hee thought that far and picked up his chopsticks again.
The next plate of dongpo pork had arrived.
‘Today, I’m going to absolutely demolish this place’s dongpo pork.’
His expression was quite serious.
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