"n must be clear about their grudges and favors. If you have received sothing, you must also know how to give. Our Peng family will not be at odds with the Pacification Envoy regarding this matter."
The people sitting around nodded their heads.
Peng Zijing, who had been keeping his mouth shut, also said a word.
"Then, if you don't know gratitude, you should have your middle thing cut off."
* * *
While Cheongun was at the Zirong Palace, he deliberately avoided eting Kang Ho-poong and the others. He didn't want to be bothered by unnecessary gossip.
Instead, he handled a few urgent matters.
First, he sent a long letter to his master, Miao Qing. It was a content asking him to watch over him as he would live for the people.
Second, it was the matter of moving the surviving Baifeng Manor family mbers to the Baifeng Manor.
The letter with the seal of the Pacification Envoy given by the Emperor was delivered to various parts of the Central Plains through the Jinyiwei.
The Jinyiwei under Thousand-household Commander Song moved in groups.
Although he didn't know how much ti it would take for them to co to the Zirong Palace, he gave a strict order to implent it imdiately.
Third, as he had instructed Song In-ho, he entered into a large-scale investigation.
This was also a matter that he didn't know how much manpower and ti it would take.
He left a ssage to ignore external pressure in particular, and to create a list and report if there was external pressure.
Cheongun, who had returned to the detached house of the Gong family manor, leisurely drank tea and organized his thoughts.
As Cheongun raised his teacup and moistened his lips, the Blood Emperor, who was next to him, asked.
[You have a lot to do, but do you really have to take care of them too?]
Cheongun put down his teacup and looked at the Blood Emperor.
The Blood Emperor had been quiet for the past few days. Although it was a sudden question, it was also an expected question.
"My heart tells to do so."
[That's a good thing to say. Haven't you forgotten that the thing you have to do right now is to get revenge?]
"How could I forget that? The matter of getting revenge for my enemy and the Blood Emperor's enemy."
Cheongun had not forgotten what he had to do for a mont.
But from the Blood Emperor's perspective, he was displeased.
[Even just handling those two things, you might have to fight the entire martial world.]
Cheongun also thought that the scale and power of the ones hidden behind the black curtain would be enormous.
"Don't worry. Even if that's the case, I will not retreat."
His own revenge was not as easy as the Blood Emperor's revenge. The only fortunate thing was that their revenge was related.
Even now, if he were to just eliminate Hyeokryeon Hui, he could get revenge right away.
But if he did that, the tail of the mysterious organization that he had barely caught could be cut off.
So he was enduring and watching for an opportunity, waiting for the main body to appear.
But the Blood Emperor was still displeased.
[There is an old saying that you should push forward with one thing. You should know it well.]
"Yes, it's a word that is often used when learning academics. It ans to go forward on one path without hesitation."
[Don't tell you feel our enemy is light?]
"How could that be? I have never thought of our enemies lightly for a single mont."
[Keung.]
A groaning sound flowed out of the Blood Emperor's mouth on its own.
It was a feeling of facing a wall that was blocked in front and back.
[Damn the stubbornness of the scholar bastards...]
As the Blood Emperor was soothing his complicated and troubled heart, Cheongun said.
"My heart hurts so much. I can't seem to turn a blind eye to them because it hurts so much."
He saw the family mbers of the Baifeng Manor who had returned after working in the Zirong Palace's labor camp. He was furious at their too-shabby and emaciated appearance.
Since he was in charge of the Zirong Palace's matter, he could not turn a blind eye to them.
"I was also like that when I was young. I was no better than them. But no one took care of . If my master had not gone out to find the young ... I would have starved to death on the street, or I would have been eaten during the spring famine."
Cheongun's two eyes were bloodshot. But he did not shed tears.
The Blood Emperor, who was about to say sothing, just watched him quietly.
"Hyeokryeon Hui is a person who tried to kill after trampling on for several years, not being satisfied. That's why I tried to get revenge even more tenaciously. And I will definitely do it. I will not just leave Hyeokryeon Jongdo, who killed my father, to the law."
Cheongun turned his head and stared at the Blood Emperor.
"But, I don't think it's right to turn a blind eye to those who have lived as hard as I have just to get revenge. Then what's the difference between and Hyeokryeon Hui? If I turn back now, I probably won't be able to forgive myself."
[...]
"Please give in to just this once."
Two streams of hot tears flowed from Cheongun's two eyes.
It was Cheongun who had shed tears of blood because he was so wronged and angry when he had first t him at the Blood Emperor's Tomb. Cheongun, who had not cried no matter how hard and difficult things he had experienced, was shedding tears again.
The Blood Emperor's mouth, which had seed as if it would not fall, moved.
[...I understand. I understand, so don't cry.]
"When did I cry..."
[You're crying now, you bastard! Stop!]
But it was strange. It seed as if sothing was flowing from the shouting Blood Emperor's eyes.
No way?
"Huh? Are you also crying, Blood Emperor?
[Who's crying, you bastard!]
The Blood Emperor, who had shouted, turned his head and looked out the window.
Cheongun was his disciple.
A disciple who was inheriting everything of his.
Although he was still lacking and had many things to learn, the fact that he was his disciple was an unchanging fact.
He had never thought that his disciple had lived so hard.
'Damn it, I think I understand a little of the heart of that guy nad Master Miao Qing.'
* * *
There was still a lot of ti left until the Yongfeng Caravan's escort mission returned. It would take at least three months for all the information, such as where they had stopped and who they had t, to co in.
In the anti, Cheongun thoroughly monitored the Yongfeng Manor by utilizing the Beggars' Sect.
The Yongfeng Manor still did not show any particular movent.
There was nothing to do, so much so that the only thing they did was to carry the goods that were heading to the port once every three or four days.
He was even curious how they could maintain that large manor by just doing this.
It was a day when he was monitoring the Yongfeng Manor amidst various suspicions.
News that an unusual group had entered the Yongfeng Manor was delivered to Cheongun.
Although it was a visit that was not particularly strange, a Beggars' Sect mber who was monitoring said that he seed to have seen one of the party sowhere.
And his identity was soon revealed.
-A person who seems to be a guest from Shaoxing has appeared.
Cheongun, who had first received the news, did not know who the guest from Shaoxing was and asked the person who had received the news.
"Who is this person?"
"He is a person who is active in a place called Shaoxing, below Hangzhou."
Shaoxing was a city that was ford in a place where the waterways of the wetlands were developed.
Its scale was also large and wide, so much so that it went beyond a county and reached a prefecture.
If you left the main road and entered the residential area, it was a place where it was easy to get lost because of the nurous waterways.
Thanks to that, it was famous as a place where the criminals of the underworld hid.
Because of the buildings and roads that were built on the complicated waterways, it was not easy for the imperial army to subjugate them.
Occasionally, when a new Wei Zhihui Shi was appointed, he would force a subjugation, but it was a place where they did not even subjugate these days because it was just noisy like an annual event and the results were insignificant.
The guest from Shaoxing was a big shot who held the Shaoxing underworld in his hands.
"A great person has co."
"Yes, Your Excellency, he is a person who rarely cos out. I also saw him once in the past, and I was barely able to recognize him because of the scar on his face."
On the left eye of the guest from Shaoxing, there was a scar that was torn from his forehead to his cheek. It was a wound that had been torn after being hit by sothing blunt.
"Did he co by land, or did he co through the waterway?"
"It is said that he ca by waterway."
The movents of the guest from Shaoxing had already been grasped. Although he could not know who the people who had co with him were, he expected that they were the close associates of the guest from Shaoxing.
Cheongun asked a few more questions and then praised the Beggars' Sect mber.
"You have worked hard. The Jinyiwei will give you silver as a reward on your way out, so use it well."
"Thank you, Your Excellency!"
The Beggars' Sect mber repeatedly bowed his head to Cheongun.
He had never thought that he would receive a reward for just recognizing one person.
Looking at the returning Beggars' Sect mber, Cheongun thought.
'If that guy spreads the rumor, the surveillance on the Yongfeng Manor will be strengthened a little more.'
Even if he had asked the Beggars' Sect, there was bound to be a vacancy. There would definitely be a hole sowhere.
But if it beca known that he had rewarded like this, wouldn't the ones who were monitoring light a fire in their eyes? Now they would monitor more thoroughly to receive a reward themselves.
The day after the party of the guest from Shaoxing had entered the Yongfeng Manor.
Their appearance of leaving on the road in the early morning was captured.
Cheongun, who had been preparing, imdiately followed them.
When they had first entered, they had entered with one oxcart. But when they ca out, they ca out empty-handed.
Although sothing was strange, for now, he decided to watch from behind.
They got on a boat as if to use the waterway when they returned, just as when they had co.
'This is strange. There's no particular movent.'
He had thought they would stop by sowhere else. But seeing that they had co straight to the ferry, it seed they had no other business.
But even after a long ti had passed since they had gotten on, the boat did not depart.
Cheongun, who was thinking of returning, waited a little longer at the Blood Emperor's words and monitored the boat they had boarded from a distance.
How much ti had passed, as people flocked to the ferry and began to carry the luggage, two oxcarts appeared, loaded with luggage.
[Look over there.]
At the Blood Emperor's words, Cheongun turned his head to the place he had pointed to.
-They are the warriors of the Yongfeng Caravan.
[Yes, in my opinion, it seems they will load that luggage onto the boat that the person called the guest from Shaoxing has boarded.]
-I think so too.
Sure enough, the oxcart of the Yongfeng Caravan moved near the boat.
Just like last ti, about a dozen warriors blocked the vicinity of the boat in a circle.
The ones who were working nearby did not approach on their own.
-By any chance, was the situation like this last ti too?
[That's highly likely. Let's check once.]
-I understand.
Cheongun imdiately showed his figure.
This ti too, he was in the form of the Thunder God Dragon.
Cheongun, who had beco a middle-aged man, again sauntered and approached the group of the Yongfeng Caravan.
As Cheongun approached, the warrior who was about to block the front frowned. He had recognized Cheongun.
"What brings the Thunder God Dragon here?"
"I ca to see the river. Are you going to block ?"
"How could that be? Please pass."
The warrior hurriedly made way.
Cheongun walked to the place where he had been watching the river last ti and quietly looked at the river.
The warriors of the Yongfeng Caravan watched Cheongun's figure intently. It would be a big problem if he did sothing foolish.
'Why did that bastard appear again?'
The person who seed to be the leader gave a slight look to the warrior next to him.
The warrior, who had answered by nodding his head slightly, quickly ran sowhere. Cheongun knew that he had run to the Yongfeng Manor, but he did not intervene.
As Cheongun was looking at the river endlessly, the Blood Emperor examined the luggage of the oxcart.
Since he was in a soul state, he could roughly see the contents without having to unpack the luggage.
The Blood Emperor, who had quickly looked over the two oxcarts, was already standing next to Cheongun.
[It's opium. Just like last ti, the luggage on the upper part is goods like silk, and the boxes below are all filled with opium.]
-So they were earning money with opium.
As expected, the Yongfeng Manor was trading opium using the caravan.
No one knew how far the opium would flow.
Cheongun left them trading and turned his steps.
A warrior spoke to Cheongun.
"Are you leaving?"
Cheongun stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
"Why? Do you have sothing to do?"
(End of Chapter)
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