Eoyang-chon was not a very large place.
Would there be 30 households in total?
So, for the most part, the neighbors all knew who lived in the house across the street.
Since it was a small fishing village, if an outsider ca in, everyone would naturally notice.
In the martial world of this era, it was like that everywhere.
Unless one worked for an escort agency or a rchant group, or achieved fa and fortune and obtained a governnt post, or else made a na for oneself as a martial artist.
It was a common life to not leave the place where one was born for one's entire life.
The fact that an outsider had co to a fishing village like this was a surprise and at the sa ti made the village busy.
"Who is it?"
"Two n and two won."
"Two are young brats, one woman has a sword, so she's a martial artist, and that old man also seems to be quite sothing."
"Seeing how he speaks casually to the two brats, he must be their guardian."
But the reaction of the fishing village people was a little strange.
It was not just a level of simple curiosity, but they were analyzing it in detail. And even more than that.
"How is she? The martial prowess of that girl who looks like an escort warrior?"
"Roughly second-rate. At best, first-rate? I can't tell from a distance."
"It seems to be a kind of flexible sword, doesn't it? The shape of the sword. Then even if she's second-rate, it would be as tricky as facing a first-rate, so we have to be careful."
"What about that old man?"
"I don't know about that guy. He doesn't look like much on the outside."
"But looking at his footsteps, it seems he has learned so martial arts."
"But doesn't he seem more like one of us? He has a rather rough feeling."
Right, to predict the level of martial arts was by no ans sothing that ordinary fishing village people could do.
A middle-aged man with narrow eyes stretched his neck and called for a person.
"Jang-woo."
"Yes."
Jang-woo, with a rather bear-like face, popped out. Although his build was large, perhaps because his eyebrows were light, he had a rather gentle impression.
Because of that, it was Jang-woo's role to often step forward in matters like this.
"You go and approach them. Find out what they're here for, and roughly find out the level of that old man and the escort warrior."
As if they were used to this kind of thing, the people moved naturally.
Jang-woo bowed his head and approached the outsiders right away.
"Who are you?"
Jang-woo made a face that anyone would see as simple. But in his eyes, there was a slight sense of caution. To the point where if a stranger had seen it, it would have looked like the typical caution of a country person.
As if he really thought so, the old man laughed heartily and said.
"My nephew and niece ca to Chongqing from Henan to play. I'm taking the kids around here and there for a pleasure trip, and they said they wanted to see the Yangtze River, so I brought them."
"Aha, is that so? Then are you going to enjoy the scenery by floating a boat on the Yangtze River?"
"Of course, wouldn't that be nice? I'll give you a hefty sum, so can you prepare a small boat, a boatman, and so alcohol and food?"
"Oh, of course."
"But it seems there are no inns here..."
"It's just a quiet fishing village. It's a place where the villagers just live by fishing, so it's a little ssy, but I can take you to a place where the scenery is amazing."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Hehe. If you just give a decent sum, I'll take you to a famous spot that only the people here know."
"Oh. That's good. But. I heard that the Yangtze River is swarming with river bandits, is it okay? I'm fine, but my nephew and niece are a little scared."
Jang-woo turned his head slightly at those words.
At a glance, they were a handso young man and a woman who looked like sisters.
Although there was no feeling that they looked alike, since they were both handso and beautiful, he naturally thought that their parents must have outstanding beauty.
'They're just brats who don't know any martial arts.'
At this point, Jang-woo believed the old man's words.
Although the woman who looked like an escort warrior had a slightly awkward face, looking at her cold impression, it seed that was her original face.
It didn't seem like she was telling a particular lie. The old man's words were natural, and the two young brats also just looked around with a nonchalant expression.
And the boy was even wrinkling his nose as if he slled sothing. The fishy sll of the seafood in a fishing village like this would not be familiar.
Jang-woo laughed inwardly.
"Don't worry. Not a single river bandit loiters around here. Because the Flying Sword Sect is far away."
"Well, I suppose so."
"Yes, yes. There's a reason why commoners like us can fish peacefully here."
Jang-woo held back his laughter inwardly.
In an instant, his eyes sparkled.
'Hehe. There's a reason. Yes.'
And at that mont.
The eyes of the young man who had been wrinkling his nose as if he slled sothing flashed.
Of course, Jang-woo did not see it. No, even if he had seen it, he would not have known.
Because it had passed by in an instant.
Jang-woo bowed his waist and said.
"Then I'll take you right away. I'll prepare it right away."
"Right, first, the down paynt. I'll give you more if we have fun."
The old man handed over a money pouch.
Jang-woo's eyes widened in surprise at the weight.
'Wow. I've caught a real sucker.'
He imdiately told them to wait a mont and moved quickly.
Without even thinking that he was being watched with a aningful gaze from behind.
* * *
"Where did you learn to act?"
"Experience."
Neung-heo laughed as if he were dumbfounded. Although he had thought it was just a joke, Cheon Mubaeck's words were in fact serious.
The experience he had gained through nurous past lives had lted in relatively naturally.
Every ti he awakened his past life, his personality itself had changed completely.
How much had Cheon Mubaeck tried to not make the people around him feel a sense of unease?
The current acting was also a result of such experience.
"You're not bad either."
"Well, since I've rolled around in the black-way, my specialty is to read people's faces. I have to have this much of a thick skin. But would it be as much as my lord? I really thought I was taking a rich young master around."
When Neung-heo's chatter beca long, Cheon Mubaeck waved his hand and looked back at Chae Ga-ryeong.
"You roughly understand, right?"
"Yes. His eyes were strange."
"A killing intent was lingering. Especially the mont he handed over the money. He recognized us as just rich people, and since we were from the far-off Henan."
"He'll probably push us all into the water on the boat trip, right?"
"That's right. These guys, they're not ordinary fishern or commoners. They're guys who have experience killing many people and plundering."
Then what was it?
"The whole fishing village is river bandits..."
"Well, that's how life is."
Cheon Mubaeck muttered cynically and then changed his expression again.
Jang-woo was approaching with two fishing village people.
"Wow, there's a pretty big boat! Then shall we go? The sunset from the scenic spot we know is really a spectacle."
Neung-heo also laughed heartily and shouted.
"Right. Let's go."
* * *
When they had been sailing on the boat for about an hour.
Cheon Mubaeck suddenly asked.
"Is this a fishing boat?"
A very natural condescending tone.
At that, the middle-aged man who had co with Jang-woo and was steering the boat even shook off the last bit of suspicion.
For a statent made to soone two or three tis his age, it was a very natural condescending tone.
As if he were a person who had lived his whole life looking down on others.
'He's a rich young master, indeed.'
Jang-woo, who had exchanged glances, said with a grin.
"Yes. It's a boat that the fishing village people use to go out when they're catching so big fish."
Jang-woo's words had a rather ambiguous aning.
As if the you guys on board were the big fish.
Cheon Mubaeck, who had guessed the aning, asked nonchalantly.
"Is that so? How big a fish is it that it's this big?"
In fact, the boat that Cheon Mubaeck had boarded was quite large.
It was large for a simple fishing boat, and although there was only one, there was also a sail, so if you just caught the wind well when you weren't rowing, there would be no problem moving.
"Well, it depends on the ti. But since the sum you gave us was so generous, we gave you the biggest boat we could offer in the village. How is it, are you enjoying it?"
Jang-woo said nonchalantly and turned his head to them.
On the well-set table, there were quite a few delicious-looking food and alcohol.
But...
"Oh, does it not suit your taste? Why aren't you eating?"
The corners of Jang-woo's eyes trembled slightly for a mont.
Why was the food untouched?
'This is a problem.'
He had put poison in that food. Originally, he had planned to just push them all into the water and take the money, but the middle-aged man had stopped him.
Since their appearances were quite good, he had said to sell them sowhere else. So he had planned to feed them poison and to make them unconscious...
Cheon Mubaeck smirked.
"Because it doesn't suit my taste."
"Ah, is that so? Well, it's a little low-grade for soone like you to eat. But the alcohol is amazingly good, oops. Are you not of the age to drink?"
Jang-woo trailed off.
Cheon Mubaeck snorted inwardly. A young man of Cheon Mubaeck's age would naturally have a bluff that was packaged as pride. And even more so if he was a person who looked like a rich young master.
Jang-woo was subtly encouraging that.
'He's using a trick.'
Well, wasn't that proof that Cheon Mubaeck looked like a bratty young master?
When Cheon Mubaeck just laughed, Neung-heo interrupted.
"The alcohol doesn't taste good."
"Ah, is that so? But... it seems you haven't drunk it, sir."
Jang-woo trailed off as if he had felt a strange sense of unease.
"It's obvious that the scent is not good, so you brought this as alcohol?"
"That is..."
"You should have at least brought Baihua-ju or Shaoxing-ju. Isn't that right?"
"Shaoxing-ju?"
To look for Shaoxing-ju from Zhejiang Province here?
And on a boat?
What kind of nonsense was this? Jang-woo looked at Neung-heo with a dumbfounded look. When he glanced, all four of them had not eaten or drunk anything.
In an instant, his spine went cold.
'Why?'
No, they said they ca for a boat trip, but they're just sitting on the boat?
A strange atmosphere lingered on the boat.
The middle-aged man, who had been rowing and turning the rudder to set the direction from a distance, exchanged glances with Jang-woo.
It was then.
"Where are you rolling your eyes?"
"...!"
Jang-woo and the middle-aged man's faces hardened.
A low and deep voice that spread like a thick fog.
It was Cheon Mubaeck.
Jang-woo, who had only seen him as a bratty rich young master, had no thoughts for a mont when he looked at him with a serious face.
"How would I know to eat it when you've put the ten-thousand-mile Yangtze River poison in it? Huh?"
"...The ten-thousand-mile Yangtze River poison, what is that?"
"You're feigning ignorance until the end."
When Cheon Mubaeck gestured, Neung-heo and Yeon So-un drew their swords.
At the rapidly changing atmosphere, the middle-aged man and Jang-woo let out a sigh.
Then they smirked and took out fireworks and a sword from their bosoms.
At the point when the sun was just beginning to set, fireworks suddenly exploded in the darkening sky.
"You noticed."
"Tsk. Well, since we've already co to a scenic spot that only we know, please enjoy the view."
"A scenic spot. Indeed, the sunset is beautiful."
When Cheon Mubaeck said nonchalantly, Jang-woo mocked him.
"You seem to believe that your uncle there can use a sword, but this is on the river."
"Uncle? What? Are you still believing the play? You guys are so clueless, how do you make a living as river bandits?"
"..."
At Cheon Mubaeck's laugh, Jang-woo's face hardened.
In an instant, a warning bell was about to ring in his head.
The middle-aged man, who was his senior, realized what the situation was and drew his sword.
No, it was the mont he was about to draw it.
"...!"
A spray of blood erupted. Jang-woo could not even raise his head at the blood that splattered on his face.
Without a single groan, he heard sothing fall with a thud next to him.
Jang-woo, trembling, barely rolled his eyes and looked down.
Blood was gushing out of the corpse of the middle-aged man, whose head had completely disappeared.
The pale-faced Jang-woo saw Cheon Mubaeck.
While sitting, he had thrown a wine cup and had broken his head.
Jang-woo shouted in a trembling voice.
"Th-These guys. D-Don't you see over there? Our boats are coming. You guys, do you think you'll be safe?"
Indeed, it was as he had said. Beyond the river where the sun was setting.
Two boats slowly appeared.
At that, Cheon Mubaeck, on the contrary, laughed.
'He's laughing?'
He's laughing in this situation?
Even though the river bandits he had called for just in case things went wrong were coming, he's laughing?
One side of his chest went cold.
"You, what are you? Why did you co here!"
Cheon Mubaeck answered sullenly.
"I told you. I ca for a pleasure trip."
Cheon Mubaeck laughed heartily and shouted as he looked at the approaching boats.
"Alright! Let's have a grand boat trip!”
(End of Chapter)
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