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If hundreds of people had been waiting with weapons in hand, the opponent might have seemed easier to deal with.

But although they had been notified in advance of Ma Jeongsu’s visit, their preparations were no different from usual. This showed that these guys were certainly not ordinary. Well, if they were, Si-gon wouldn’t have been taken out.

A man came out to guide us to the main hall.

Ya-cheon was sitting in the middle of the hall, with about twenty men lined up around him. They must be the strongest warriors among the Night Merchants here.

Their eyes were clearly different from those of ordinary martial artists. The reason they looked frightening was because you could feel that their viciousness and anger stemmed from a kind of contempt for martial world people.

Not only them, but men were also hiding their bodies here and there on the pillars around. Their eyes shone like beasts eyeing their prey. Although I knew that their individual martial arts weren’t that high, they didn’t look easy to deal with at all.

I had already seen how they fight. Their martial arts weren’t much, but the problem was the hidden weapons. Moreover, they were poisoned hidden weapons, so one had to be extremely careful.

Ma Jeongsu also seemed to sense the ambush, as he swallowed hard. He was tense.

I walked confidently to about ten steps away from Ya-cheon and then introduced Ma Jeongsu.

“This is Young Master Ma Jeongsu, successor of the Heavenly Blade Sect. Greet him properly.”

Then Ya-cheon stood up and greeted politely with a cupped-hand salute.

“Welcome, I am Ya-cheon, the master of these insignificant ones. What brings such esteemed guests to this humble place?”

Ma Jeongsu returned the cupped-hand salute and briefly introduced himself.

After that, I stepped forward as we had discussed in the carriage earlier.

“What else would bring us here?”

Ya-cheon was also very tense, so there was a palpable tension in the air.

I knew what he was worried about. He must be concerned that we might have come about Si-gon’s death.

I smiled and said:

“Young Master Ma has come to borrow money from you.”

Ya-cheon was startled by those words. He hadn’t expected Ma Jeongsu to come to him to borrow money.

“Why are you so surprised? Isn’t this your main business?”

“Of course, but I can’t believe such an esteemed person would come to borrow money from this insignificant one.”

“Even esteemed people need money sometimes.”

Only then did Ya-cheon feel relieved. At least we hadn’t come for revenge.

Ya-cheon asked with a slightly more relaxed expression:

“How much do you need?”

“A hundred thousand taels.”

Ya-cheon’s expression, which had been relaxing, stiffened again. Not only was it an enormous amount, but he couldn’t guess the other party’s true intentions.

Whether we had purely come to borrow money, or if we were offering to cover up Si-gon’s death for a hundred thousand taels.

I secretly sent a voice transmission to Ya-cheon.

-You killed a Heavenly Blade Sect person, shouldn’t you pay this much at least?

Ya-cheon flinched. It was a reaction mixed with surprise and anger.

I quickly continued the voice transmission.

-Test your luck. See if you can touch the successor of the Heavenly Blade Sect and get away with it. Do you think we came here without any precautions? If you lend us a hundred thousand taels, we’ll forget about that incident. Of course, we’ll pay interest and return the money.

Ya-cheon sent a voice transmission back.

-Why are you talking through voice transmission?

-The moment we mention Si-gon’s death out loud, we’ll have to eliminate all of you. Even if we don’t want to, that’s how things will progress. You know, right? We’re people who value face more than life.

After sending that sharp-toned voice transmission, I spoke in a gentle tone this time:

“You must have heard the news, but Young Master Ma will be establishing his foundation in Shandong from now on. I believe this transaction will be a great help for your future.”

It was also a subtle threat. Because if the deal didn’t happen, the opposite would be true.

“Give me a moment to think.”

“Of course.”

Ya-cheon closed his eyes tightly and fell into thought.

He thought that it must have been Ma Jeongsu’s people who had informed them of Si-gon’s whereabouts. They had used him to eliminate a troublesome subordinate. Borrowing money and getting rid of a subordinate. From Ya-cheon’s perspective, he couldn’t help but think this way.

‘Those bastards!’

He thought they were even dirtier and pettier than themselves.

Given how things had turned out, he had no choice but to lend the money. Unless a hundred thousand taels was his entire fortune, he couldn’t risk his life over it. It was a situation where he had to lend it first and then consider revenge or whatever later.

Ya-cheon opened his eyes and said smoothly:

“Alright, I’ll lend you the money.”

“By tomorrow!”

“Very well.”

“Thank you. You won’t regret this decision today. The full amount in small-denomination notes, let’s meet at the temple in Feng Shan tomorrow.”

We immediately drew up a contract.

Ma Jeongsu personally stamped his seal and signed it.

He was reluctant, asking if a contract was really necessary, but I persuaded him nicely.

That we should do this much. That it’s better to be precise when dealing with such people.

Although reluctant, Ma Jeongsu agreed. He urgently needed the hundred thousand taels right now.

This was a necessary process for later. When someone investigates this matter later, there needed to be clear evidence that he had borrowed money.

After writing the contract like that, we left the estate.

Anger erupted in the place we left. The first anger to burst out was Gu-cheol’s.

“Arrogant bastard! How dare he come here! I barely held myself back from killing him right there.”

The men next to him all had similar expressions.

On the other hand, Ya-cheon was relaxed.

“We can kill him later if we need to.”

After Gu-cheol killed Si-gon, Ya-cheon had started seriously investigating Ma Jeongsu.

Ma Jeongsu had been vicious and cruel since childhood, casually killing concubines and subordinate warriors.

Even Ya-cheon, who was no stranger to evil, frowned at more than one or two incidents. The victims were relatively weak. That’s why most of those deaths were buried without being revealed.

“Are you really going to give a hundred thousand taels to such a dirty bastard?”

Ya-cheon nodded.

“We’ve committed a sin, so let’s wait and see for now.”

“But it’s too much money.”

“Don’t just think of it that way.”

Ya-cheon was thinking of something else.

“If it’s certain that he intercepted Shandong Merchant Association’s money, he must have a lot of money, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Then he should be able to pay plenty of interest.”

“What? You mean…”

“Did you think we were just giving it away? Who are we? Even if it’s not the Heavenly Blade Sect but the Heavenly Blade Sect’s grandfather, we have to collect the interest and the principal. We’ll collect it somehow. Plus the price for playing games with us.”

***

As soon as the carriage carrying Ma Jeongsu and me left the estate, Ma Jeongsu laughed loudly.

“Hahaha. You’re really amazing.”

“You flatter me.”

“No, you were excellent.”

He looked at me with fresh eyes. He probably didn’t know I could handle things this well.

“Now we just need to collect the money tomorrow. You can handle the rest yourself, Young Master Ma.”

I spoke as if my role was completely finished. It was to appear as if I had no interest in the money at all.

“I’ll leave that to you too.”

Ma Jeongsu still didn’t completely trust the Night Merchants. He was worried that they might set a trap in the process of lending money and try to kill him.

Of course, I had anticipated that Ma Jeongsu would react this way.

“Understood. Wait outside, and I’ll come out after receiving the money.”

I didn’t say I would go alone to get it, but told him to wait outside.

Hearing the words he wanted to hear, Ma Jeongsu was even more pleased.

“Hahaha. Good.”

I had succeeded in deceiving both Ma Jeongsu and Ya-cheon.

Things were progressing according to my plan.

Throughout my past life, I had been through all sorts of experiences.

I had experiences as a martial artist dealing with demonic path sects and evil cults. I had fought against tremendously powerful experts. I had experienced all kinds of battles. On top of that, I had experiences as an Alliance Leader who overcame power struggles.

When these combined, I could play Ma Jeongsu and Ya-cheon like a Buddha rolling them in his palm. Moreover, I was the person called the Iron-blooded Alliance Leader, the Punishing Alliance Leader. I had lived mercilessly towards evil people. It was like divine punishment that they had encountered me.

Of course, I shouldn’t be careless because of that.

There was still that woman of unknown identity.

Whether I could take possession of that hundred thousand taels, kill Ma Jeongsu, and then shift the responsibility to the Night Merchants depended on whether I could deceive that woman.

The core of this matter isn’t just taking and killing.

It’s about how I can slip away from this incident without a trace afterward.

***

That night, I met the woman by the pond. I had intentionally gone out to meet her.

“I think you should stop your master.”

The woman glanced at me. To her expression that seemed to ask what I meant, I said:

“He threatened the Night Merchants and extorted money from them.”

She must know that we went to the Night Merchants. I spoke with a needlessly worried face:

“I had no choice but to help, but… as you know, the Night Merchants are very vicious and frightening people.”

I needed to leak to her that Ma Jeongsu was dangerously entangled with them. Because I planned to make it look like Ma Jeongsu was eliminated by the hands of the Night Merchants.

Leaking information like this was only possible because the woman and Ma Jeongsu didn’t talk to each other at all.

“He is not my master.”

It was the first thing she said to me that wasn’t like talking to herself. She spoke politely. Of course, polite doesn’t mean it was friendly.

“If you’re so worried, you stop him.”

She turned and went into the building.

I was convinced once again. Even if Ma Jeongsu dies, she won’t intervene. I even thought that she might be hoping for Ma Jeongsu’s downfall.

I looked up at the night sky.

Even the moon wanes after it’s full, and I felt that the matter with Ma Jeongsu was also gradually racing towards its end.

***

“Will you come with me?”

I asked at the foot of Feng Shan.

“It’s alright. I’ll wait here.”

He was afraid of an ambush by the Night Merchants. That’s why he was sending only me. He really is a selfish and petty bastard. But he wasn’t worried that I might run away with this money.

Through my intentional efforts, trust in me had built up, and even if I ran away with the money, he probably thought he could get it back from the Yang Minor Faction leader who introduced me.

“I’ll be back.”

“Do you need such a big leather bag?”

“We need to receive it in small-denomination notes.”

“Why is that necessary?”

“It’s dark and dirty money. There could be problems later.”

“You’re thorough as always.”

Is it because I’m thorough? It’s because I need this money.

“Yes, I’ll be back.”

I climbed the mountain, carrying a large leather bag.

Gu-cheol was waiting inside the temple with a few men.

Having been strictly warned by Ya-cheon, they didn’t show such a fierce attitude.

They filled the leather bag with small-denomination notes of fifty and hundred taels.

“I don’t need to count it, right?”

Gu-cheol said coldly.

“Someday, you’ll pay the price for looking down on us.”

I smirked at him and then went outside.

Someday, you’ll pay the price for not recognizing your opponent. No, it will be punishment for living a wrong life. If they had lived righteously, I wouldn’t have entangled them with Ma Jeongsu in the first place.

As I was coming down the mountain carrying the leather bag, I surveyed the surroundings.

Only after raising my qi sense and checking if anyone was around did I enter the forest beside the trail.

Someone was waiting there. It was Jeong Yeo. He held out a leather bag identical to the one I was carrying. That bag was also full of notes. Only a few thousand taels at the top were real, the rest were fake notes.

This was why I had chosen the location. When planning, I had found out that there were several good hiding spots nearby.

Adding the current hundred thousand taels, the money I had obtained from the Night Merchants this time amounted to two hundred thousand taels. It was capital to build my power. This money could become elixirs, Sword Squad members, or something else to strengthen my power.

The best thing is that no one knows I’m involved with this money.

I came down the mountain carrying the leather bag full of fake notes.

At the foot of the mountain, Ma Jeongsu greeted me with a happy face. He smiled broadly when he saw the notes in the leather bag.

“Keep helping me from now on.”

“Of course.”

I smiled brightly at him too. When the fake notes are discovered, it will be seen as the Night Merchants’ doing. He won’t even dream that I switched them.

Even if he did, it doesn’t matter.

Because I’m planning to finish things now.

Even without digging up past sins, he has committed enough sins against me. He insulted a father in front of his son and tried to take another man’s woman. He oppressed powerless sects in Shandong and extorted money from them. All of these are things he did to the weak while riding on the back of the Heavenly Blade Sect.

I felt that the time had come.

It was time to pull out the tube and thrust a sword into that place instead.