Black Market
Mu-jin watched as the n, who had co after them, fought among themselves.
Swish.
“Please, spare …”
The weakest mbers of the forr Great Tiger Village bandits were being cut down like falling leaves.
Of course, Mu-jin, who had no sympathy for these scoundrels who coveted others’ money, remained indifferent.
“Nooo!!”
Suddenly, Mu-gung shouted and charged into the chaotic battlefield.
“How dare you harm my brothers!!”
Mu-gung, filled with burning rage as he saw his followers being torn apart, began attacking the North Wind Escort Agency’s guards with explosive fists.
‘What’s with that overacting guy?’
Mu-jin smirked at the absurd sight for a mont.
“Ook! Ook ook!”
“Well done, Ling-ling!”
As if it were a playground, Mu-yul also joined the fray with Ling-ling, blending into the chaos with the North Wind Escort Agency guards.
‘Why are you smiling while hitting people, Mu-yul?’
Previously unnoticed, Mu-yul, now in bandit attire, seed like a lunatic. Next to the crazed Mu-yul and Ling-ling was:
“Hahaha. It seems there’s no end to the fights when we’re with you, Duou-nim!”
The mbers of Cheongsu Dojang also wielded their swords with insane smiles, as if enjoying the madness.
“Move a bit faster, Duou-nim! You can definitely do it!”
Cheongsu Dojang, seemingly having adapted to the opponent’s martial arts, even cheered them on.
What about the future blood monk Mu-gyeong, who should have been the original lunatic?
‘Are you studying for an exam?’
Mu-gyeong was like a martial scholar, admiring the martial arts of the fake escort guards from North Wind Escort Agency as he fought them.
‘Stop copying, you madman.’
Unlike the Yongbongji Conference, where he had to be mindful of others, Mu-gyeong freely stole the guards’ martial arts techniques.
However, despite the four fighting the North Wind Escort Agency guards, the battle wasn’t entirely in their favor.
The forr Great Tiger Village bandits were still falling dead, and only the forr chief of Great Tiger Village, Cheolsang-gwi, was barely holding off an escort’s attack.
As for the new bandits who had co to attack Mu-jin’s group:
“Hm. These bandits are quite skilled.”
Although the ten bandits couldn’t match the North Wind Escort Agency guards individually, they managed to hold off one guard per two or three bandits.
A bearded bandit, who seed to be at a similar level to Mu-gung or Mu-yul, was fighting an escort on equal footing.
Finally, the most skilled bandit was:
“Deputy chief! What are you doing?!”
being overwheld by the man who seed to be the leader of the North Wind Escort Agency.
It wasn’t that the bandit lacked skill; he seed to be on par with the North Wind Escort Agency’s chief, Jang Won-sang, from their previous encounter.
But his opponent was formidable.
‘As expected, is he a sort of manager?’
The North Wind Escort Agency leader seed comparable to the half-bald old man, Black Claw Blood Demon, they had faced previously.
In other words, unless Mu-jin revealed his full power, victory wasn’t assured.
“I’m sorry, chief! Please hold on a bit longer!”
It seed the bearded bandit was the deputy chief, shouting to the bandit fighting the leader.
At first glance, it sounded like a desperate plea to help his leader.
‘Ah, as expected, bandits are bandits.’
Mu-jin didn’t miss the fleeting smile on the bearded bandit’s face.
It seed he was using this opportunity to kill his leader and take over.
But unfortunately for the bearded bandit:
Whoosh!
Mu-jin leaped towards the leader of the North Wind Escort Agency, attacking from behind.
His move wasn’t to save the bandit leader but to conceal his own skills.
“Damn bandits!”
The leader, caught in a pincer attack, roared and swung his sword, sending icy sword energy in all directions.
Mu-jin evaded and parried the sword energy with his fists, while the bandit leader twirled his axes like a firework display.
“Huff, huff.”
Despite revealing openings due to using a large martial technique, Mu-jin didn’t recklessly charge in.
‘No way that bandit leader would help if I charge in.’
Mu-jin kept a distance, provoking the leader occasionally with feints and bursts of fist energy.
“I’ll kill you all!!”
The core of the battle remained between the bandit leader and the fake escort leader.
Slash!
Naturally, minor wounds accumulated on the bandit leader’s body, and the escort leader, distracted by Mu-jin, also sustained so injuries.
‘At this rate, they’ll both wear out.’
Ultimately, the escort leader, falling for Mu-jin’s ploy, decided to kill the bandit leader first.
He unleashed his ultimate technique to finish the bandit leader in one strike.
As the sword gathered imnse internal energy, creating an icy storm of sword energy, the bandit nearby tried to intervene, but the escort leader ignored him.
This was the so-called “at-cutting bone-breaking” strategy.
If he could kill the bandit leader, he believed he could handle the remaining bandit despite so injuries.
Crunch!
“!!!”
The escort leader didn’t expect the attack ant to inflict minor wounds to go through his bone and destroy his internal organs.
“Ugh…”
Severely injured, the escort leader spat blood and collapsed.
“Huff, huff. Thank you, my brother.”
The bandit leader, who had been overwheld, gasped for breath and spoke to Mu-jin.
“It was thanks to you drawing his attention, brother.”
“Hahaha. My brother knows what’s up! Today, I gained an excellent sworn brother!”
The bandit leader, deeply moved, exclaid and approached Mu-jin with arms wide open, as if to hug him.
Mu-jin also responded by approaching the bandit leader.
As soon as he got within a distance of about one and a half ters, the bandit leader’s expression changed.
At the sa ti, the bandit leader’s axe flew towards Mu-jin in a sudden attack.
Crunch!!
Mu-jin’s fist, which had already moved, struck the bandit leader’s face.
“You dare try such a dirty trick.”
Why would he trust a bandit leader?
However, the others seed to think differently as they all looked at Mu-jin with eyes saying, ‘Who’s really being underhanded here?’
Unhappy with those looks, Mu-jin scowled and shouted.
“If you don’t want to die, drop your weapons and kneel, you bastards.”
It was an order befitting the true leader of bandits.
* * *
By the ti they had subdued all the escort guards.
Out of the forr Great Tiger Village bandits, only about a dozen survived. Out of fifty, only a quarter remained.
Mu-jin ordered the survivors to drag the subdued fake escorts and the bandits who had co to attack them back to Black Bear Village.
“So, where did you co from?”
“From Guwa Village.”
“What did you say?”
“From, Gu, Guwa Village!”
The bandit leader, whose jaw was shattered, cried out with tears streaming down his face due to the excruciating pain each ti he opened his mouth.
But his pronunciation was so bad because of his broken jaw that Mu-jin asked the bearded deputy leader who was subdued beside him.
“Hey, rat. You answer.”
“We ca from Geumwang Village, sir!”
“Why am I your sir? You look at least three tis older than .”
“Hehe. What does age matter among bandits? The one with the skill is the boss!”
“Ho, you’re like Kang Il.”
“Did you call, deputy leader?”
As soon as Mu-jin ntioned the na, Kang Il, who was far away, answered loudly.
Even in the midst of most dying, Kang Il had survived, proving that skilled people lived longer. This deputy leader was the sa.
“Ah, yes. Kang Il, co here for a mont.”
“Yes, deputy leader!”
Kang Il quickly ran over and stood at attention beside Mu-jin.
“Have you heard of Geumwang Village?”
“Yes! When the youngest was the leader, he bragged about being sworn brothers with the leader of Geumwang Village! Now that I think about it, when these guys ca, the youngest called them brother!”
Realizing the connection, Kang Il’s eyes widened.
With his ugly face and wide eyes, it was sohow unappealing.
Whack.
Mu-jin hit the back of Kang Il’s head and asked.
“Why are you so surprised? Is Geumwang Village that famous?”
“Yes! Geumwang Village is one of the top ten bandit villages in the green forest… But of course, they’re nothing compared to you, deputy leader!”
Even after being hit, Kang Il didn’t show any displeasure and flattered Mu-jin.
“Ho. One of the top ten, huh?”
“Haha. The youngest said so to boast, but it actually ans they’re tenth.”
“Still, it’s a notable bandit village, isn’t it?”
“Exactly! Oh, co to think of it, their village is closer to Gyerim than ours. These guys might know about the black market in Gyerim!”
“Really? Hey, rat.”
“Yes, deputy leader!”
“Do you know about the black market in Gyerim?”
The forr deputy leader of Geumwang Village eagerly explained everything he knew about the black market in Gyerim.
Thanks to him, Mu-jin learned the exact location and timing of the black market, and how often it opened.
He also obtained several other pieces of information, though they were not as critical.
After interrogating the Geumwang Village mbers, Mu-jin moved to question the captured escort leader.
‘It’s a good thing I brought the Simnyeong Pill.’
Knowing that torture wouldn’t work, Mu-jin readily fed the Simnyeong Pill to the escort leader.
He had a few from the Sichuan Tang Clan, but they were limited and not to be used lightly.
“So, the item known as the Dragon Scale Thread was supposed to be delivered to the person called Chil Dae-ju?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Do you know the identity of this Chil Dae-ju?”
“No.”
“How many people hold the title of Dae-ju?”
“Seven. Recently, one died, and one more was added.”
“So, there should be eight, but since one died, there are seven?”
“Yes.”
Mu-jin pondered the escort leader’s answers.
‘Although he said he didn’t know, Chil Dae-ju is likely the Wolf King. If one died recently, it must be the Head of Unhyangwon.’
In other words, the strength of those holding the title of Dae-ju was similar to the Seven Kings, and there were seven of them left.
But it didn’t an there were seven warriors as powerful as the Seven Kings in hiding.
Since one of them would eventually beco known as the Wolf King in a few years, so might already be recognized as the Seven Kings.
“Do you know the nas or identities of the other Dae-ju?”
“No.”
“Then, who is above the Dae-ju? There must be soone higher up.”
“I don’t know.”
Mu-jin sighed as the escort leader kept shaking his head in response.
‘These crazy bastards. How far do they go to keep their secrets?’
Most of the answers to his questions were “I don’t know.”
When asked about how they communicated with the organization, the escort leader only pointed to specific sects or agencies in nearby or neighboring towns.
Direct communication with the main organization involved occasional visits from a contact person.
It seed the only way to get more information was to capture a higher-up and feed them a Simnyeong Pill.
* * *
“Hehehehe. So, the item that should have co to is now missing?”
“Yes.”
“And because of so lowly bandits?”
“Yes.”
“Hahahaha.”
The middle-aged man, dressed like a savage, laughed loudly at the emotionless response of the black-clad man kneeling before him.
But the laughter didn’t last long.
“It seems I’ll have to step in personally.”
Suddenly stopping his laughter, the man picked up a bloodstained saber that had been lying nearby and stood up.
“The first chance to make a na for myself is against bandit scum and escort guards. Truly a pitiful fate.”
The saber exuded a strong scent of blood.
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