CH 150

“Come on, hurry up!”

“If you move so slowly, we can’t get on the boat, so move faster!”

Merchants rushed the workers.

The workers were sweating profusely, loading the wagons with cargo.

There were more than tens of thousands of wagons lined up in the vacant lot. Each wagon was loaded with goods, which inevitably slowed the work down.

“Be sure to finish all work within half an hour.”

“Don’t worry. By then it will all be over.”

Lee Changdu answered Captain Zhao Musheng’s words.

Lee Changdu was an experienced trader who oversaw miscellaneous work in his merchant group.

Above the wagon was a flag with the inscription Xuanwu Merchant Group1 flying over it.

Xuanwu Merchant Group was located in Kaiyuan in Yunnan Province. They bought salt off the coast of Yunnan and sold it to Chengdu in Sichuan Province.

Rock salt was also produced in Sichuan, but since the amount was not so much, there was a high demand for salt.

Xuanwu Merchant Group made a lot of profit by selling salt. However, they could not return back to Yunnan empty-handed. So they traveled all over Sichuan Province to buy tea.

Sichuan tea was very famous and sold at a high price.

Zhao Musheng was planning to sell tea from Sichuan Province to Yunnan Province. However, finding tea was not as easy as expected. Since there is a lot of demand for tea in Sichuan, there are not enough products to sell in large quantities outside.

For that reason, Zhao Musheng traveled all over Sichuan, buying and collecting tea little by little. Such efforts have now paid off.

At last, they had gathered enough tea to fill all the wagons they had pulled.

After meeting his goal, Zhao Musheng decided to return to Chengdu. Once they are prepared in Chengdu, they plan to return to Yunnan.

Lee Changdu complained and shouted at a young man loading the luggage,

“Hey, youngest! What have you been doing all night that you can’t use your strength? Can’t you stay tighter in the line? If you lose your luggage, you won’t be able to pay for it! Tie it tighter. So it’ll never come loose. Do you understand?!”

“Yes, I understand.”

The said young man answered with a crawling voice.

Lee Changdu looked at such a young man with a displeased expression. The young man seemed to have sensed Lee Changdu’s gaze, so he shook his head and concentrated on loading the luggage.

The young man’s name is Tae Yongha.

He was a newly hired worker. Lee Changdu hired him because he had a big physique and strength, but he was not very good at work, so he made a lot of mistakes.

Because of this, Lee Changdu was thinking that he should cut off Tae Yongha as soon as he returned to Yunnan.

‘There are workers all over the world, so it’s a waste to keep hiring useless guys like that.

Lee Changdu looked at Tae Yongha with dissatisfied eyes, and then went to the carriage at the front.

When Lee Changdu disappeared, Tae Yongha gently lifted his head.

It was an ordinary face.

The face was slightly flat, and the eyes, nose and mouth were all flat, so there was no prominent spot. It was an ambiguous face that was difficult to say whether he was handsome or ugly.

Tae Yongha started to focus on work again.

He pulled the string as hard as he could to secure the object, and shook it a couple of times to make sure it was firmly fixed.

“It’s okay.”

Although Lee Changdu criticized him for not being able to work properly, Tae Yongha was actually pretty good. It was just that Lee Changdu didn’t like him.

The reason was that he left the dorm without permission a couple of times.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I don’t plan on staying here too long.”

Tae Yongha mumbled softly and sat down in the empty space behind the cart.

Although the Xuanwu Merchant Group is said to be quite a large company, it does not take care of workers like him.

A worker like Tae Yongha had to walk all the way up, or get stuck in a corner like this on his own.

He was lucky enough to ride a wagon.

A lot of the workers trudged next to the wagon.

“Everyone, let’s depart!”

Finally, when all the luggage was loaded, the Xuanwu Merchant Group started to move.

The warriors escorting the merchant company took the lead, followed by merchants and wagons.

Tae Yongha sat at the back of the last wagon and looked up at the sky. 

As he was riding in the last wagon, no one paid any attention to him. Even the worker driving the wagon he’s riding on. The high load blocked people’s gaze.

Tae Yongha took something out of his arms.

It was an elongated container.

When he opened the lid of the barrel, several envelopes came out.

After confirming once again that no one was around, Tae Yongha opened the envelopes. Inside the envelope was a fine powder.

Tae Yongha carefully started mixing the powder in each bag. It had to be mixed in the correct proportions without any error.

Tae Yongha concentrated on mixing the powder without blinking once.

After a while, the powder was completed in the desired ratio.

The finished powder had the color of a fine azalea.

Tae Yongha put azalea powder in a bamboo barrel and sealed it.

“Hoo…!”

When the series of work was finished, Tae Yongha’s back was drenched with sweat.

It was a task that required a high degree of concentration. It was fortunate that the work was completed without any accidents.

Then he heard people’s voices from the front.

“Be careful because this road is rough.”

“Check again to make sure the load wouldn’t fall off.”

The well-polished roads ended and a rough road appeared. Because the road was so rough, the wagon swayed left and right.

The porters in the wagons got down and held the load so it wouldn’t fall.

No matter how strong the straps were, if the road was this rough, the load could fall. The merchants and workers moved, taking care not to let the load fall.

After a while, a large river finally appeared.

It was a river leading to their destination, Chengdu.

A boat was already waiting in the small dock. It was the Unmado Steel Ship which was obtained in advance.

The people of the merchant group loaded the wagons and horses on the Unmado Steel Ship.

Finally, after all the work was done, the Unmado Steel Ship left the dock.

“Phew! I guess we can get some rest now.”

“It’s cool.”

Merchants and workers sat on the decks and rested.

It was quick to get to Chengdu by boat. There was no need to be vigilant in this area, as there were no enemies.

Merchants and workers were given a honey-like rest.

The boat, which received the tailwind, went down the river at high speed. After running like that for half a day, they could already see Chengdu in the distance.

There were smiles on people’s lips.

They were going to spend a few days resting once they arrived in Chengdu.

‘When we arrive in Chengdu, I should stop by the brothel first.’

‘I can drink as much as I want.’

Everyone daydreamed.

Splash!

They suddenly heard the sound of something falling into the water from the rear of the boat.

“Someone have fallen.”

“Someone fell into the water.”

At the sudden commotion, Zhao Musheng, the owner of the merchant group, hurriedly ran to the rear.

Workers were gathered in the rear.

Zhao Musheng asked hastily.

“What’s going on?”

“The youngest fell into the water.”

“What?”

Zhao Musheng looked at the river. However, the youngest Tae Yongha was nowhere to be seen.

Unmado Steel Ship went around the area to find a body, but Tae Yonghaa’s body was never found.

“So unlucky. I can’t believe he would drown to death just before reaching the city.”

“Does anyone know Yongha’s family?”

“He’s an orphan.”

“That’s…”

It was Tae Yongha, who didn’t get along well with the group because of his introverted personality. His death was sad, but not that sad.

When the body was not found, the ship stopped its search and departed for Chengdu.

Tae Yongha was declared as dead person.

* * *

“How clever.”

Pyo-wol muttered while looking at the corpse in front of him.

The owner of the body was Jin Seunghak.

He was the crown prince of Star Palace2 and was known to have died of qi deviation five days ago. And Yu Gi-cheon was also the one who doubted his cause of death.

Pyo-wol dug up Jin Seunghak’s body, which was buried. It was a body that had been dead for seven days. Yet there was no sign of corruption on the body.

As soon as a body was buried in the ground, the body should begin to decompose, but Jin Seunghak’s body was completely intact.

Pyo-wol pulled out a silver needle from his bosom and stabbed Jin Seunghak in the stomach. The silver needles penetrated his flesh as deep as two fingers.

Yu Gi-cheon watched Pyo-wol’s actions with nervous eyes.

After a while, Pyo-wol pulled out the silver needle.

The middle part of the silver needle was discolored black.

Pyo-wol brought the silver needle in front of him and examined it closely.

“He has been poisoned. But the poison is concentrated in the skin, not the organs.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that the one who killed this guy is a master of poison.”

“Master?”

“His internal organs were not damaged at all. He injected the poison into the muscles under the skin to induce a heart attack. So when his heart stopped suddenly, his expression was contorted in pain. Everyone must have been deceived by his appearance since its similar to that of a person who undergone qi deviation.”

“Ah!”

Yu Gi-cheon exclaimed involuntarily. 

This was the first time he learned that a person could be poisoned in this way. 

The poison was distributed extensively between the skin and the muscles, so the body doesn’t even rot even after death.

“How about the rest?”

“It’s highly likely they suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm it.”

The other bodies were cremated like the female servant, leaving no trace.

Yu Gi-cheon muttered.

“Who the hell is killing them and for what purpose?”

All three of them were close friends with Yu Gi-cheon.

One was the sect leaderof White Clan, and the other was the sect leader of the military officer. And the last one was the owner of the manor. There was nothing in common among the three of them.

“There are only a few people who can use poison like this. There is no way that someone with this kind of poison can move without getting caught.”

“Is it an assassin?”

“An assassin who uses poison to be exact.”

Pyo-wol kindly corrected Soma’s words.

Not all assassins learned martial arts or used sneak attacks.

Some used traps, and some used poisoning.

But they all had one thing in common. 

They could easily kill people. And poisoning had the advantage of being far more dangerous than direct attack.

“There are quite a few assassins who use poison. But few are able to use it with this level of precision.”

Usually, those people who were poisoned left a trace. However, neither Noh Kang-myeong nor Jin Seunghak had left any traces. That was the proof that the poison user had reached such a high level of mastery.

A person who kills with poison but leaves no traces at all.

He was worthy of being called a master of poison.

“A troublesome being has crawled into Sichuan. Or has he been here, hiding secretly for a long time?”

Pyo-wol thought it was the former.

He couldn’t even imagine that other assassins would come and work in Sichuan when the Blood Shadow Group was still alive.

The Blood Shadow Group was not merciful enough to allow other assassins to operate in their domain.

Ordinary people and other warriors may be fooled, but it was almost impossible to completely fool the eyes of another assassin.

‘If there had been an assassin who used poison for a long time, they would surely have stood out and been noticed by the Blood Shadow Group. So, it was clear that the assassin using poison had recently entered Sichuan Castle.

“Three victims have been identified so far, but there must be more unknown victims.”

“For what purpose does he commit murder?”

“There is only one reason why an assassin would kill. Someone must have commissioned him.”

“Who the hell?”

“That’s what we’ll have to find out from now on.”

Pyo-wol looked at Jin Seunghak’s body.

He doesn’t know who the assassin is, but this was clearly a challenge to him.

The Hao clan blocked information about Pyo-wol, so warriors outside Sichuan might not know about his existence. But it was impossible to block the mouths of many people with just one hand.

Rumors about Pyo-wol would not stop spreading around. However, because most of the content was unbelievable, those who heard the rumors would not believe it easily.

An assassin who rules the night of Sichuan.

It was a story that was unrealistic to anyone who heard it.

But if the target is an assassin, it is different.

Assassins were more sensitive to information than anyone else.

It was the assassin who didn’t miss out on even the smallest information and delved into it. They would have noticed that the rumors about Pyo-wol were true to some extent. 

Even so, entering Pyo-wol’s domain and assassinating them was one of two things. Either they despise Pyo-wol or they were confident that they will never get caught.

Either way, it wasn’t a pleasant experience for Pyo-wol.

“Soma!”

“Yes, brother!”

“From now on, I’ll track him down.”

“Okay!”

Soma nodded his head vigorously.

His face was full of excitement.

It was Soma, who had spent a lot of time idling around after entering Chengdu. What was fun at first was no longer fun. No matter what he did, it didn’t bring him any excitement. 

But when he heard that they were about to track some people, his heart began to pound and a smile crept up to his face. 

It seemed to him that this kind of work was his vocation.

Then Yu Gi-ccheon asked cautiously,

“We don’t even know the assassin’s face or name. He’s like a ghost. Is it possible to find such a person?”

“It’s possible.”

“How?”

“Since that’s what I’m good at. Finding and killing people who are in hiding.”

End of Volume 6. Who do you think the new assassin is? Could he be from the Hundred Wraith Union or one of Pyo-wol’s previous colleagues? Hmm…