Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon

Chapter 54 – Closer (3)

She woke up early in the morning.

She went to bed late and woke up early, to the point where I wondered if she even slept at all. I even speculated that she might be spending the short night in meditation instead of sleeping.

After waking up early, she went up the hill behind and came back down. It seemed she was doing some training.

When I asked the subordinates through Jeong Yeo, they said she hadn’t missed her morning training even once since she arrived here.

From that fact, I could infer one important thing.

She wasn’t protecting Ma Jeongsu. If she was trying to protect his safety, she would have ‘guarded’ him. But she wasn’t guarding, she was ‘observing’. Just like I was observing her.

For me, who had decided to eliminate Ma Jeongsu, this couldn’t be more fortunate.

I considered following her to see what kind of training she did.

But I decided against it. There was no worse situation than having her discover my existence, so I didn’t take any unnecessary risks.

In the end, I could only roughly guess about her martial arts.

If I could reveal my qi, I could more accurately gauge her level, but right now I was thoroughly concealing myself. I could only guess that she might use bare-handed techniques since she didn’t carry any weapons.

However, judging from her gait and qi, she was quite skilled.

Perhaps similar to or slightly below Si-gon? Considering her age, that would be an impressive level of skill.

Her martial arts skills and her aura.

My initial feeling that she might be a secret weapon raised in some secret organization was getting stronger.

Anyway, whoever she was, I needed to use her.

She would have to report back that Ma Jeongsu was eliminated by the hands of the Night Merchants. In that sense, her role was very important.

The next night, I was standing by the pond looking into it.

Beautiful white lotuses shimmered in the water, and the scent of lotus flowers wafted in on the autumn breeze. There were a few carp in the pond, but perhaps because it was late at night, they were hardly moving.

Why was she staring at this so intently? Did she want to save the carp? Or did she want to kill them?

Suddenly, I saw the moon reflected in the water.

It occurred to me that perhaps she wasn’t looking at the carp, but at this moon.

After watching for a while, I turned around and saw her watching me from afar in front of the building.

Normally, I thought she would just turn and go back inside, but she slowly walked towards me.

She walked over and stood beside me.

Without greeting, as if I wasn’t there, she looked down at the pond.

“Isn’t that stranger?”

At my words, she glanced at me.

“I’m asking if it’s not strange to treat someone as if they don’t exist when they’re clearly here.”

She looked back at the pond and said:

“Not at all.”

She spoke in such a small voice that an ordinary person wouldn’t have heard it. But I heard it clearly. It was her first words.

This time, I spoke briefly:

“I suppose.”

She turned to look at me. Her expression seemed to ask why I said “I suppose.”

“I mean, life is life whether you live this way or that way, so maybe it’s more comfortable to live alone without getting entangled with people.”

She turned her head back towards the pond.

“Won’t you tell me your name?”

After looking at the lotus for a moment, she suddenly said:

“Is a name that important?”

She said it as if talking to herself, but it was the first time she spoke properly.

“The person is more important than the name, I guess. But you need to have something to call them, right? You can’t just say ‘Hey, you’ like that.”

She didn’t answer, and I spoke as if giving up:

“Fine. You don’t even pretend to know me anyway, so what does the name matter? Whether I call you Pond or Carp, you’re still you anyway.”

She continued to look at the pond expressionlessly.

Somehow, her loneliness didn’t feel unpleasant. Rather, I felt a sense of kinship. Perhaps because I realized that my past life was also in deep loneliness.

“I’m sorry if I said something unnecessary.”

At my apology, her lips moved slightly. It seemed like she was hesitating to say something.

Just then, someone called me from afar.

“Warrior Gal.”

Ma Jeongsu was calling me with a hand gesture in front of the building. With his appearance, the woman’s hesitation disappeared.

“Yes.”

After answering loudly, I ran towards him.

Ma Jeongsu asked with a stern face:

“What were you talking about with her?”

“We didn’t talk about anything special. I asked for her name, but she didn’t answer.”

“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t pay attention to that woman!”

There was irritation in his voice.

“I’m sorry. We just met by chance…”

“Come to my room later.”

“Yes.”

Ma Jeongsu went into the building.

When I turned my head again, she had already disappeared.

***

When I went to Ma Jeongsu’s room, he was drinking alone.

“Come here and have a drink.”

His earlier irritable attitude had softened a bit.

I accepted the drink he offered.

“Drink it all in one go.”

“Yes.”

I drank the alcohol without hesitation. While drinking, I realized there was one more thing I needed to resolve as quickly as possible.

It was related to poison.

In my previous life, I had reached the realm of immunity to all poisons. Because of that, I could freely eat and drink anything, whether it was alcohol or food.

But Byeok Ri-dan’s body wasn’t like that.

To be immune to all poisons, one’s constitution itself needs to change. It’s not about blocking the poison with qi when it enters, but rather the poison having no effect at all.

Having become immune to all poisons before, I naturally knew how to achieve it.

First, you need a powerful poison. It’s not enough to use poisons that can be bought in the market, it needs to be something with very strong toxicity. Even with powerful poisons, artificially manufactured ones won’t work.

In other words, even the Formless Poison, said to be the most powerful in the martial world, won’t work because it’s artificially made by humans. It needs to be a natural poison like a venomous snake’s inner core or a poisonous plant, and importantly, it must be alive at the time of ingestion.

Of course, that alone isn’t enough. You need an antidote that can neutralize it at the critical moment.

You need to be poisoned almost to the point of death and then neutralize it at the critical moment. It’s not an easy task at all because if you make the slightest mistake, you could die even after taking the antidote.

Another depressing fact is that even if you survive like this, you don’t become immune to all poisons. It’s a very low probability event that occurs due to the complex interaction of various factors.

You need bold courage and heavenly luck.

Since I have the experience of achieving immunity to all poisons once, I plan to try it again if I can gather the necessary materials.

But finding such a poison and antidote itself is not easy, to the point where it could be called a miracle.

“Faction Leader Jeong praised you a lot.”

“I’m still lacking in many ways.”

“Come, have another drink.”

I drank another glass of alcohol.

He brought up that woman from earlier first.

“I understand that you’re interested in women because you’re young. But find a good woman, not one like her.”

“She must have been a very bad woman.”

I asked jokingly with a smile, but Ma Jeongsu answered seriously:

“More than that. She’s as dangerous as a snake. As you know, a man can ruin his life if he meets the wrong woman.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As he spoke, I saw irritation flash across his face. I could clearly see the relationship between the two.

I didn’t bring up any more talk about her. There was no need to draw attention to that matter.

Eventually, Ma Jeongsu brought up the reason he called me.

“I need some money…”

“I know that the sect provided financial support.”

Jeong Yeo had initially given him ten thousand taels. I told him to give generously since we planned to recover it all anyway.

“That money isn’t enough.”

“How much do you need?”

“A hundred thousand taels.”

I pretended to be shocked. Then, as if I knew nothing, I asked again:

“By when do you need it?”

“The sooner the better. I need to get it within five days at the latest.”

“A hundred thousand taels within five days?”

I made an expression of serious contemplation, then spoke carefully. This part was crucial.

“There is one way.”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard of the Night Merchants?”

“Night Merchants? Of course I know them. Aren’t they the ones who lend money at high interest rates? I heard they’re very vicious people.”

“That’s right. They’re people you shouldn’t associate with if possible.”

I told him exactly as it was. In fact, I emphasized it a bit more.

“They’re dirty, petty, and vicious bastards. Once they hold a grudge, they’ll definitely kill their target. They’re the kind who use hidden weapons banned in the martial world without hesitation.”

The Martial Righteous Alliance had banned the use of projectile hidden weapons, saying it tarnished the honor of martial artists. Poisoned hidden weapons were also banned. If caught using them, one would be imprisoned in the Thunder Prison.

But there are always those in the martial world who violate the Alliance’s rules. The Night Merchants are one of those types.

“Are you saying I should borrow money from such people?”

“It’s the only way to get a hundred thousand taels within five days.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Do they have such a large sum of a hundred thousand taels?”

“From what I’ve heard, the Night Merchants have amassed enormous wealth through secret dealings with local merchant groups. They should be able to mobilize a hundred thousand taels easily.”

“Alright. Let’s say they have the money as you say. Will they readily lend such a large sum of a hundred thousand taels? I don’t even have collateral.”

“Why don’t you have collateral?”

“What do you mean?”

“You yourself are the best collateral, Young Master Ma.”

“I’m the collateral?”

“You are the successor of the Heavenly Blade Sect. What could be more certain collateral than that?”

A look of satisfaction flashed across Ma Jeongsu’s face. At a time like this when he’s backed into a corner, such a tickling compliment must be like a welcome rain to him.

Nevertheless, Ma Jeongsu hesitated. It seemed he had some aversion to the existence of the Night Merchants.

At times like this, you shouldn’t push. Rather, taking a step back is more effective.

“I’m sorry, I seem to have said something unnecessary. Please forget what I said.”

“No. It’s certainly a method worth considering.”

After all, it was the only way for him, cornered as he was, to get the money within just a few days.

“Can you connect with them?”

“Of course.”

Ma Jeongsu, who had been pondering, emptied his glass and said:

“Contact them.”

“Yes.”

I drained the remaining alcohol smoothly.

It’s regrettable, but I hadn’t yet pulled out the tube I had inserted in him.

***

A piece of news flew into the Night Merchants.

“We’ve received word that Ma Jeongsu wants to visit us.”

At Ya-cheon’s words, Gu-cheol was surprised.

“Could it be that he’s figured out we killed Si-gon?”

“Maybe.”

But even so, they hadn’t expected Ma Jeongsu to come visit directly like this.

“You should avoid him for now!”

“If I avoid him?”

“I’ll take responsibility and meet him myself.”

“Idiot! What could you do!”

“I’m sorry.”

Ya-cheon yelled angrily, but inwardly he was pleased. Gu-cheol might be hot-tempered and impatient, but at least he was loyal to him.

“Then what should we do?”

They couldn’t just run away in fear when they weren’t even sure why he was coming. They couldn’t abandon the foundation they had built over a long time, and they couldn’t show such a weak image to their subordinates.

The swordsmen of the Night Merchants are rough and cruel. To rule over such men as subordinates, you need to show viciousness and guts. Even if it means dying.

Ya-cheon steeled his eyes, preparing for a fight.

“Gather all the tough and skilled guys. Prepare as many hidden weapons as possible. If they try anything funny, we’ll have to kill them all. Running away comes after that.”

***

The next day, we rode a carriage towards the headquarters of the Night Merchants.

The people in the carriage were me and Ma Jeongsu.

The mysterious woman saw us leave but didn’t accompany us. I thought she might follow separately. I wondered if she might have applied some kind of tracking incense on Ma Jeongsu.

“Will they really lend me the money?”

Ma Jeongsu seemed uneasy. If Si-gon and Flower Fan Elder were with him, he would have been arrogant, but naturally he’d be intimidated in the current situation.

“You need to approach them strongly.”

“Strongly?”

“The characteristic of those who live in the shadows is that they’re weak to the strong and strong to the weak. Although the Night Merchants have a bad reputation in the martial world, their essence is no different from the ruffians running gambling dens. Moreover, where we’re going is just a Night Merchant in a rural part of Shandong. There’s absolutely no reason for you to be afraid.”

Ma Jeongsu seemed to gain courage from my words.

“Having you with me is very reassuring.”

“You flatter me. Please leave this matter entirely to me.”

I showed strong determination, putting strength into my eyes.

“I’ll do that.”

Ma Jeongsu would think this was fortunate. After all, if things go wrong, he could just dump the responsibility on me and get away.

And so, the carriage arrived at the headquarters of the Night Merchants.