Chapter 143: < Is That What You Call Peace of Mind? >
The air grew heavy, sinking oppressively around them.
Subtle ripples of energy began radiating from Jang Deok-chul, spreading outward until they surged chaotically. Sensing the situation, Jang Joong-San stepped in swiftly.
Jang Joong-San placed a firm hand on Jang Deok-chul's shoulder, applying pressure. The raging energy waves subsided all at once.
“Do not act recklessly. If you were going to behave this way, why attend this meeting in the first place?”
Jang Deok-chul scowled and glared at him but ultimately turned his head away sharply. He had no intention of clashing with Jang Joong-San here.
“You always choose the roundabout path, abandoning the easiest route right in front of you.”
“And yet, the path I chose has always proven to be the fastest in the end, hasn’t it?”
Jang Joong-San responded calmly and turned his gaze to Byeok Taesoo.
“Apologies for disrupting the atmosphere. I’ll make it up to you later, but for now, I hope we can continue where we left off.”
Byeok Taesoo shook his head.
“It’s fine. I want to wrap up this discussion quickly as well. I trust you understand this isn’t exactly a pleasant situation.”
“Of course, I understand. I’d feel the same if I were in your position. But from what I’ve gathered, it seems you really don’t know anything… I’d like to confirm that further.”
Jang Joong-San observed Byeok Taesoo and Byeok Taesan closely as he spoke.
In truth, he was slightly surprised.
Jang Deok-chul’s earlier action had been quite dangerous, releasing and boiling the energy all at once.
Most people wouldn’t have survived such a maneuver; their hearts would have stopped on the spot.
Yet, both Byeok Taesoo and Byeok Taesan appeared completely unaffected.
‘This means their martial arts level is considerable…’
Still, neither Byeok Taesan nor Byeok Taesoo struck Jang Joong-San as particularly remarkable.
Jang Joong-San considered himself a formidable master. Though he was outclassed by Gwan Hooseung and the Sect Leader of the Supreme Heavenly Sect, he was far stronger than the average martial artist of the Supreme Heavenly Sect.
Moreover, he prided himself on his discerning eye for martial prowess.
Yet, these two individuals, who didn’t seem all that extraordinary to him, had withstood
Jang Deok-chul’s display without flinching. Naturally, his curiosity was piqued.
Byeok Taesoo, enduring the focused stares of Jang Joong-San and Jang Deok-chul, finally spoke.
“Are you aware that this entire situation is exceedingly rude?”
It was Jang Deok-chul who answered.
“Rudeness is when the weak defy the strong. What’s happening here isn’t rudeness, it’s exercising authority.”
Byeok Taesoo regarded Jang Deok-chul calmly and asked, “Are you saying it’s acceptable for the strong to treat the weak however they please?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Once again, Jang Joong-San gripped Jang Deok-chul’s shoulder tightly. But this time, Jang Deok-chul shrugged it off with a flick of his shoulder.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Jang Joong-San glared at Jang Deok-chul, who smirked and said, “This matter is settled now. Our men have taken control of the Golden Wall Manor. Judging by how long it took, the warriors there must have been quite capable.”
Jang Joong-San’s expression hardened.
Jang Deok-chul chuckled as he observed him.
“You should have been prepared in advance. I’ll take what I need and leave.”
He stood up, looking down at Byeok Taesoo and Byeok Taesan.
“You two can wait here. It won’t take long.”
Byeok Taesoo, still composed, spoke.
“Do you really think this will end well? Is this the will of the Golden Moon Merchants?”
Jang Deok-chul frowned in confusion.
“What’s there to worry about? If anyone should fear the aftermath, it’s the two of you, not me. Don’t you agree?”
With that, Jang Deok-chul exited the room, leaving a parting remark as he closed the door.
“Think carefully.”
As the door shut, Byeok Taesoo turned to Jang Joong-San, whose admiration for Byeok Taesoo grew upon noticing the latter’s tranquil expression.
For someone to remain so unshaken in such a situation—it was a clear sign of extraordinary character.
While Jang Joong-San was gathering his thoughts, Byeok Taesoo spoke first.
“The current situation in Wuhan is quite complicated.”
Jang Joong-San focused his attention on him.
“The Murim Alliance, Black Lotus, the Namgoong Clan, the Zhuge Clan, and even the Hubei Martial Alliance are all deeply entangled.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re all closely connected to the Golden Wall Merchants.”
Jang Joong-San’s eyes sharpened.
“Don’t tell me…”
Byeok Taesoo replied calmly.
“You’re exactly right. Did you think I wouldn’t anticipate this situation? By now, warriors sent by those groups should have arrived at the Golden Wall Manor.”
Jang Joong-San shook his head in disbelief.
“Even so, they won’t be enough to stop them.”
He stared intently at Byeok Taesoo as he spoke.
Looking at Byeok Taesoo’s unreadable expression somehow left a heavy feeling in his chest.
The situation had turned into something truly troublesome to handle.
Jang Joong-San suddenly shifted his gaze to Byeok Taesan, who was sitting quietly next to Byeok Taesoo.
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Byeok Taesan stood up from his seat.
"Isn’t the conversation over by now?"
Jang Joong-San's eyebrows twitched.
'What a disrespectful brat.'
Standing, Byeok Taesan silently looked down at Jang Joong-San.
The inexplicable pressure made Jang Joong-San swallow hard and rise from his seat with a groan.
"Ugh."
When Jang Joong-San stood up, Byeok Taesoo followed suit.
It was time to bring the meeting to a close.
"Take care. If you want to avoid entanglements with the Murim Alliance or the Black Lotus Warriors, you’d better act quickly,"
Jang Joong-San shook his head in frustration and left the room.
Now alone with Byeok Taesan, Byeok Taesoo asked, "I’ve done as that Hwaryeong young lady instructed. Is this enough?"
Byeok Taesan nodded.
"Well, there wasn’t any real need to do it this way, but if it makes you feel at ease, I’ll play along."
With those words, Byeok Taesan exited the room.
Now, it was time to start moving in earnest.
Jang Deok-chul hurried to the Golden Wall Manor Lord's office.
The situation was more challenging than anticipated.
They had come too recklessly. The urgency of potentially losing the Golden Wall to the Supreme Heavenly Sect had been the driving force behind this.
What was done was done. Cleaning up would come later; for now, securing the Golden Wall took precedence.
The office of the Golden Wall Manor Lord was empty.
After all, the lord’s escorts were currently stationed near him.
Two warriors from Azure Martial Hall stood guard outside the office, while several more were stationed inside.
"Have you found it?" Jang Deok-chul asked urgently.
The warrior on guard immediately responded, "There’s a protective mechanism installed."
"As expected. The answer lies here. What about the process?"
"We’re dismantling the core mechanism and tearing up the floor."
Not only had he brought capable men, but he also had two experts highly skilled in mechanism arrays.
Their goal wasn’t to dismantle it entirely but to break it without causing damage to its contents.
"Hurry. I hear the Murim Alliance and Black Lotus are making their move."
"Won’t that cause problems later?"
"Just deny everything. You think it’s the first time we’ve dealt with something like this?"
Neither the Murim Alliance nor the Black Lotus were likely to exert significant effort over minor issues like this.
With a bit of appropriate bribery, the matter could easily be resolved.
Of course, there might be sacrifices, but even those could be compensated with money.
Jang Deok-chul quickly stepped inside.
He leaped down through the gaping hole in the floor.
Moments later, upon reaching the place where the Golden Wall had originally been, Jang Deok-chul let out a piercing scream.
"Ahhhhh! Those crazy bastards actually tore out the Golden Wall and sold it!"
The warriors of the Murim Alliance and the Black Lotus arrived at the Golden Wall Manor.
Shortly afterward, warriors from the Zhuge Clan and the Namgoong Clan arrived as well.
The Hubei Martial Alliance was the last to arrive, but they came in the greatest numbers.
They established a perimeter around the Golden Wall Manor.
Though not tightly packed, the formation was designed to detect and pursue anyone trying to escape over the walls.
Soon after, warriors from Azure Martial Hall began fleeing over the walls.
"There they are! Chase them!"
The warriors of the Hubei Martial Alliance surged forward, chasing them down.
Even the warriors inside the Golden Wall Manor joined in the pursuit.
For some time, Wuhan was abuzz with commotion over the incident.
Byeok Taesoo clasped his hands respectfully toward the five people in front of him.
"Thanks to your assistance, we were able to stay safe. I sincerely thank you."
"Think nothing of it. We merely did what we had to do."
Indeed, they had only done what was necessary. The Golden Wall Merchants were deeply connected to these groups.
In particular, the Murim Alliance and the Hubei Martial Alliance were directly engaged in joint ventures with the Golden Wall Merchants.
The others also had various ties to the Golden Wall Merchants and were preparing to strengthen those ties further once Byeok Taesan became independent.
Thus, lending their support to protect the Golden Wall Manor through force was a natural decision.
"But I don’t see your younger brother," remarked Jeong Gyeol Gyeong, the Black Lotus representative, as he looked around.
"Considering the danger, I had him leave the manor," Byeok Taesoo replied.
Everyone nodded at this explanation.
However, they didn’t truly believe it. They were well aware that Byeok Taesan was far from ordinary.
Thus, they couldn’t take his absence from the manor at face value.
“I’ve more or less wrapped up my work here, so I’ll be leaving now. Just in case, I’ll leave about ten men behind,” said Jin Sahong.
Following his lead, the others quickly announced their intention to leave as well.
Each of them decided to leave ten warriors behind, resulting in a total of fifty warriors left to guard the Golden Wall Manor.
Byeok Taesoo watched the backs of the five people as they busily departed, then turned and began walking toward the office.
The fact that the office had been wrecked was now evident to everyone.
Though there wasn’t anything particularly incriminating inside, it was obvious to all that it had been a place used to store something important.
Moreover, they believed that the Vice-leader of the Azure Martial Hall faction had fled with whatever had been stored there.
The room had been lined with luminous pearls embedded densely along the walls, a sign of how valuable the stored item was considered.
Interestingly, the Azure Martial Hall hadn’t bothered taking even a single luminous pearl.
This meant that the item stored inside was far more precious than the sum of all those pearls.
Byeok Taesoo hadn’t specifically asked anyone to retrieve the item.
This implied that, whoever found it first, it was theirs to claim.
Currently, the search for the Azure Martial Hall’s vice-Leader was causing an uproar in Wuhan.
Jang Joong-San left the Golden Wall Manor before the Murim Alliance warriors could overtake it.
In truth, he could have stayed and pleaded his innocence, but he didn’t.
It would have been too complicated.
If he were detained at the Golden Wall Manor, future negotiations would become far more difficult, and expensive.
Jang Joong-San, along with Gwan Hooseung, left the Golden Wall Manor and decided to exit Wuhan entirely for the time being.
“Still… I’m not sure if the Vice-Leader of the Azure Martial Hall secured the Golden Wall properly,” Gwan Hooseung remarked beside him.
“I left two men on it. If they weren’t discovered, they should confirm and retrieve it soon,” Gwan Hooseung replied.
“Well done.”
Jang Joong-San responded absentmindedly, his mind occupied.
Ever since leaving the Golden Wall Manor, one person had been lingering in his thoughts.
It was none other than Byeok Taesan.
‘Why did I tolerate that rude brat?’
At the time, Byeok Taesan had spoken down to him without a care, and yet Jang Joong-San hadn’t reacted. He had simply accepted it as natural.
The same held true for Jang Deok-chul.
Jang Deok-chul, too, must have accepted it without a second thought.
‘Unless it was due to sheer intimidation…’
But if they’d been overwhelmed by his aura, they would have felt it instantly, uncomfortable pressure, cold sweat, perhaps even a sense of breathlessness.
Yet, there had been none of that earlier.
Everything had simply felt… natural.
“Pavilion Master Jang, we need to hurry,” Gwan Hooseung said, snapping Jang Joong-San back to reality.
“What’s the matter?”
“The atmosphere isn’t good. It seems the prominent figures in Wuhan have now set their sights on us.”
Jang Joong-San chuckled.
“They’re just second-rate warriors. Do you really think they can catch us?”
“There’s no harm in being cautious.”
“Fair enough. Let’s proceed.”
Before coming to Wuhan, they had thoroughly investigated the groups operating in the region.
If Jang Joong-San’s group made up their minds, there was no way those local forces could capture them.
They quickened their pace.
Their plan was to leave Wuhan, board a ship at a nearby location, and move elsewhere.
‘Jang Deok-chul is probably taking a similar route,’ Jang Joong-San thought, his eyes gleaming ominously.