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Chapter 285
Chapter 285. The Right to Hold Opportunity
After sending my junior disciples scattering in all directions, I climbed to the summit of Mount Judang.
Then I sharpened my eyesight and carefully took in the shape of the terrain, detail by detail.
After capturing the sight of Mount Judang from one peak, I moved to another peak and took in Mount Judang from a new angle.
I moved as quickly as possible, but by the time the work was done, the sun was already high in the sky.
Еnú mа. і̊d̊
“My head feels like it is going to burst.”
Clutching my throbbing head, I descended Mount Judang and returned to the lodging.
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My junior disciples had already arrived.
“Eldest Senior Brother, we drew them.”
Eun-ho stepped forward as the representative and held out a thick stack of papers.
“You did well.”
Е̄n̂ uṁ_а
“Eldest Senior Brother. What scheme are you plotting this time…… No, what exactly do you intend to do with these?”
What was I going to do?
I looked at him and curled the corner of my mouth into a grin.
“I intend to sell opportunity.”
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“Opportunity?”
“Yes. The opportunity Zhongnan is monopolizing.”
Enümа.і̊d̂
Those bastards must be confident that they alone could “monopolize” it.
I intended to slip into that gap.
Eun-ho, who could not possibly know my thoughts, wore an expression that said he had no idea what I meant.
I patted his shoulder.
“Watch. You will know soon enough.”
“No, again……”
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What was this? Was he going through a rebellious phase?
Just as his lips were about to move, I lightly gestured with my head toward the side.
There, neatly stacked in one corner, were iron rings and steel plates.
Eun-ho brought both hands together politely.
“I always believe in you, Eldest Senior Brother.”
Of course. There was no way it was a rebellious phase. Yes, naturally.
Е̇ n̊ ům а
With orderly movements, he began turning over the maps they had drawn, one sheet at a time.
I examined them in detail, not missing a single part.
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As I had instructed, they had excluded all people and drawn the area around the entrance to the Thousand Caverns and its surroundings in detail.
“Bring the Beggars’ Sect’s map too.”
Next, it was time to compare them with the fake Treasure Map the Beggars’ Sect had sold.
The map the Beggars’ Sect had drawn depicted only seven-tenths of the Thousand Caverns.
Е̇ n̈ u m̈ а .і d̄
That did not matter.
What I needed was the terrain near the entrance.
I slowly closed my eyes.
Based on the information I had seen with my own eyes earlier, I created a realistic, reduced model of Mount Judang in my mind.
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Then I intended to combine the Beggars’ Sect’s map with the maps my junior disciples had drawn and recreate the Thousand Caverns as well.
To turn a cave drawn in cross-section into a three-dimensional, realistic image, I needed the maps my junior disciples had brought.
Ё n̈ u̇ḿ а
I opened my eyes again, then began assembling the Thousand Caverns three-dimensionally while comparing the maps Eun-ho turned from the beginning with the Beggars’ Sect’s map.
The more the true form of the Thousand Caverns took shape, the tighter the back of my head pulled.
Once Mount Judang and the Thousand Caverns had both been realized as three-dimensional maps, it was time to merge the two into one.
“Hm……”
The form of Mount Judang gradually blurred.
‘It was here.’
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Based on the three-dimensional map of Mount Judang, I matched the recreated Thousand Caverns to the location of the entrance Zhongnan had blocked.
Once I finished adjusting the proportions, the entrance and nearby terrain became clear.
‘Done!’
I rotated the realistic model map and examined it in even greater detail.
At that moment.
“E-Eldest Senior Brother!”
Ẁе̇bñóv̌ě l Е.ṅ ǔm̄а̇
At Eun-ho’s horrified voice, my eyes flew open.
Before I knew it, his face had come right up to mine, and his expression looked grave.
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Seeing him this close, he really was ugly……
“Blood…… Your nose is bleeding…….”
Hm?
As Eun-ho said, when I touched my nose, enough blood to fill a bowl was flowing down.
Е n um̀а̂ .іd
“Ah.”
The moment I became aware of it, my head spun, and the world seemed to revolve.
It felt like the time I had forcibly shoved the materials from Mantongbu and Sim Hyeon-gak into my head by command.
And yet.
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‘To think I am doing this to myself.’
Back then, it had been something I had done under the coercion of others. Now I was doing it of my own will.
Е̂n̄ūm̈ ǎ . i̇ d̃
While I was lost in blank thought, Sa-ryeon panicked and pressed a cloth to my nose to stop the bleeding.
Hey, press a little more gently……
“What in the world are you doing!!”
Sa-ryeon’s eyes were wet, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
Truly, when it came to worrying, she would be second to none.
Slide.
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I removed Sa-ryeon’s hand and spoke.
“What am I doing?”
Then I blocked my nose myself and grinned.
“Giving Zhongnan a taste of humiliation.”
The children who had gathered in a row before me were looking at me with furrowed brows, as though they were looking at a madman.
Huh. To think they dared look upon their heaven-like Eldest Senior Brother with such irreverent eyes. How impudent.
Е̄nu m̈а̊ .î d̃
For a moment, I wondered whether I should use the iron rings and steel plates piled beside me to restore discipline.
‘Well, what does it matter?’
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Right now, I could not stop laughing when I imagined the expressions those Zhongnan bastards would make, as though they had chewed filth because of this matter.
Kehehehe.
Ho Gye-ak, the Black Shop Owner of the Xi’an Branch in Shaanxi Province, could not suppress his regret as he watched the martial artists passing by.
‘Oh, my stomach…… How much would it be if I sold to even one out of ten……?’
Ė n̊u m̀ a
Because he was quick with numbers, Ho Gye-ak could estimate the profit merely by glancing over the people passing by, and he had to clutch his aching stomach at the sum being automatically calculated in his head.
“Here we go, here we go~ There we go, there we go! The beggar-entertainer who came last year~~”
When he saw the Beggars’ Sect disciples passing by, singing as though mocking his feelings and throwing him sneers, he could not hide his resentment any longer.
“Oh my~ The silk merchant will starve to death without customers!”
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“Kekekekeke!”
At the Beggars’ Sect disciple’s words, veins finally rose on Ho Gye-ak’s forehead.
Е̌ n̊ u̇ mа̄
“How dare bastards who deceive their own customers mock anyone!”
Still unable to calm his anger, he fetched the gourd of salt he often used and scattered it three or four times. Only then did the beggar bastards hurriedly flee.
But even as they ran away, they did not stop running their mouths.
“Hmph! Did we deceive them? They fell for it themselves!”
“Silk merchant, work hard selling silk! Whether it sells or not, kekeke.”
Even after the beggar bastards had vanished completely, Ho Gye-ak fumed for a long while.
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Even so, his anger did not subside.
‘Damn it! I prepared for this for three whole years…….’
Starting three years before the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil appeared, he had begun investigating the Thousand Caverns. When the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil appeared this time, he had been confident he could sell more maps than the Beggars’ Sect.
He had marked every place where the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil had appeared before, and had even invited a Spiritual Medicine expert to separately mark the predicted locations where the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil might appear this time.
Ho Gye-ak’s philosophy was that anyone who sold information ought to do at least that much.
However, he had received an order from above not to sell maps of the Thousand Caverns.
Е n̊.ûmа
He had tried somehow to persuade his superiors, but failed.
‘Damn it…….’
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At first, he could not understand that order.
He also knew very well that Hao Gate had suffered hardship because it had sold maps of the Demon Spirit Plateau.
But the Thousand Caverns were different from the Demon Spirit Plateau, and there was no mysterious Natural Formation of unknown origin.
Yet soon, after hearing the reason map sales had been forbidden, all the strength drained out of him.
Ẁ еb̈n о̄ v́ ël̆ Ẽn ům̀ȧ
Knowing that Zhongnan would block the entrance to the Thousand Caverns, they could not sell maps.
They could sell them while claiming ignorance like the Beggars’ Sect, but Hao Gate’s position was different from the Beggars’ Sect’s.
Even if people later realized they had been deceived, they would not easily protest against the Beggars’ Sect. Against Hao Gate, however, they could retaliate as much as they wished.
Unlike beggars, who had nothing to lose, they had things they had to protect.
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‘We cannot do that.’
For the sake of the other Hao Gate members engaged in their livelihoods, such a thing could not happen.
Е̄.ǹ ũ_mâ
Even during the Demon Spirit Plateau incident, how many Hao Gate members had suffered harm?
And yet.
“Tsk……”
Because the calculations kept running through his head, Ho Gye-ak could no longer stand guard over the stall.
To make matters worse, when he saw the Beggars’ Sect disciples who had fled creeping back again, rage surged up inside him.
Just as he decided he would close early and roast chestnuts to eat.
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“I ab lookig for some speshial cloth.”
At the strange voice heard behind him, his ears pricked up.
Among the words, there was one thing he could hear clearly.
Special cloth!
Ho Gye-ak quickly turned and looked at the one who had spoken.
The owner of that voice was……
Е n ú m̌ а
“Oh? Young Master Jin?”
Jin So-un, the current sole “Guest Retainer” of Hao Gate, Academy Representative, Black Flame Dragon, Black Maitreya, and Black Dragon Stronghold Master—
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“Yesh. Id is me.”
……was standing there in a bizarre state, with both nostrils plugged.
What in the world was this…… No, he had always known this man was far from ordinary, but this was too strange……
“Ahem.”
Е ṅ ümа̃. їd
Ho Gye-ak quickly came to his senses.
“What in the world happened to your nose……?”
“Shop Owner, do you have tibe?”
“Time?”
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As Ho Gye-ak tilted his head, Jin So-un pressed one side of his nose with a hand and blew sharply.
“Yes. If you have time.”
Е̌ nũ m а̃ .iď
Then the paper plugging his right nostril popped out.
Next, Jin So-un pressed the other side of his nose and blew once more. This time, paper shot out from his left nostril.
It was truly bewildering beyond words……
“Let us do a little map business.”
“…….”
Oh.
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This was even more bewildering.
For a moment, Ho Gye-ak began to wonder whether he should obey the order from above first, or the demand of the “Guest Retainer.”
“Young Master Jin, that is…… what kind of map are you speaking of?”
“What kind of map could it be? What else is there besides the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil?”
“…….”
No, he knew that.
Ĕnů ḿа
But why that, so suddenly……
Ho Gye-ak opened his mouth cautiously.
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“Um…… Young Master Jin, I am sorry, but I think that will be difficult.”
“Why?”
“Hm…… How should I explain this?”
After thinking briefly, Ho Gye-ak brought out the map he had made.
W̌ е̇ ḃ n̆ ȯ v êl̆ Ӗn̊.ũm а̂
“If it is a map of the Thousand Caverns, I have already made one. However, permission to sell it has not come down from above.”
Jin So-un examined the map meticulously.
“This is an astonishingly precise map. Did you make this yourself, Shop Owner?”
“Yes. I prepared it from quite some time ago.”
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“Was it printed with woodblocks?”
“Pardon?”
En u m̂ а
At the abrupt question, Ho Gye-ak tilted his head.
Still not taking his eyes off the map, Jin So-un added,
“I did not think a map this precise would have been drawn by hand one by one.”
“Well…… That is true. I know someone who can……”
“Then that is enough.”
Hm? What was enough?
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Ho Gye-ak spoke with a groan.
“The higher-ups ordered us not to sell maps because Zhongnan blocked the entrances. That is why, though I was terribly tempted, I have been unable to sell them.”
Hah. Just thinking about it made him choke up again……
“Ah, there is no need to worry.”
Hm?
“Our customers will not protest.”
W ě.b̆nо v̂е̃ĺ Ēn um̄ а
“Our customers……?”
As Ho Gye-ak looked at him with doubtful eyes, Jin So-un spread a large sheet of paper over his map.
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“We will sell this map.”
“Pardon……?”
Ho Gye-ak’s gaze moved back and forth between the paper and Jin So-un. The drawing looked closer to a landscape painting than a map.
“Um…… You are saying this is a map?”
En um̄а̃
A map, by nature, needed positional information, and it was normally drawn on a flat surface with common symbols.
‘This is too unfamiliar.’
The map Jin So-un spoke of was neither flat nor marked with symbols.
However.
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“Look closely.”
At the confident voice, Ho Gye-ak studied Jin So-un’s map carefully and identified familiar things within the drawing.
E n ūm a
“Th-This is……!”
It was a place he could not forget even if he tried, since he had gone up and down it endlessly for the past three years.
“It is Mount Judang……”
“That is correct.”
“But you intend to sell this?”
Aside from the fact that the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil could be obtained there, Mount Judang was not a particularly famous mountain.
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Even landscape paintings of the Five Sacred Mountains, the most rugged in the world, or Mount Song, the Mount Tai and Northern Dipper of the murim, were not valued highly unless painted by a famous artist.
And yet he wanted to sell such an awkwardly drawn picture?
No matter how extraordinary he was, as the Guest Retainer of Hao Gate, the Academy Representative, the Black Flame Dragon, Black Maitreya, and even the Stronghold Master of Black Dragon Stronghold……
“Hm, this is a little……”
Despite Ho Gye-ak’s bewildered expression, Jin So-un’s attitude was so confident that Ho Gye-ak even began to suspect he was trying to swindle him.
“Um, Young Master Jin…… Do you perhaps need money?”
Èn̂û ḿ а̂
At Ho Gye-ak’s words, Jin So-un pointed to one spot as if he understood, instead of answering.
“Look here. ……And here.”
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Ho Gye-ak’s gaze diligently followed the movement of Jin So-un’s finger.
The places Jin So-un pointed to were the entrances to the Thousand Caverns……
But.
“And here.”
Е̂ nu m̊ӓ
Where Jin So-un’s finger led—
“Hm……?”
One more cave, which originally did not exist, had been drawn there.
“This is……”
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“This is the information we are selling.”
“W-Wait a moment, Young Master Jin.”
Ѐn̊ umа̊ .і̆ d
Ho Gye-ak looked at the drawing again.
But even after examining it once more, nothing changed greatly.
No matter that he had been forbidden from selling the map, it had been three years.
The place he had gone in and out of as though it were his own home for three years in order to draw the map was none other than Mount Judang.
“Young Master, I have gone up and down Mount Judang hundreds of times over the past three years, but there is no such third entrance to the Thousand Caverns……”
“Of course there is not. It will appear soon.”
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“Pardon?”
What did I just hear……?
The words that followed were even more absurd.
“This entrance will appear the day after tomorrow, before sunrise at the Hour of the Rabbit.”
“What do you……”
Then a deeply mischievous, yet confident smile surfaced on Jin So-un’s face.
Е̄ n um̃ a.. і̌d̆
“Because I intend to make this entrance.”
“……Make it?”
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Ho Gye-ak looked at that smile, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
Ho Gye-ak took Jin So-un’s map and went straight to the printing house.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The printing-house owner came out with a club, thinking it was a drunkard causing trouble. Ho Gye-ak harried him into making a woodblock.
Е̃_n ũ m̆ à
Then he dragged in all the Hao Gate members and began producing the maps.
Just before dawn, once the first hundred maps had been made, Ho Gye-ak immediately began selling them.
“These people are already angry because of the Beggars’ Sect’s map. Will they try to buy this?”
At the Hao Gate member’s question, Ho Gye-ak declared firmly.
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“They are people who came all the way to Xi’an in search of the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil. Now that things have come to this, they will buy it even with the thought that they might as well be deceived one more time, so do not worry.”
“But did the higher-ups not tell us not to sell maps?”
W ė b̊ ǹ о́v̌ ěl Е̂ṅ úm̈_а̇
This was a point that had worried Ho Gye-ak as well, but he did not concern himself greatly with it.
The higher-ups had told them not to sell maps of the inside of the Thousand Caverns. Was selling a map of the entirety of Mount Judang, which lay outside it, not within the authority of the branch?
Moreover, the information provider was none other than the “Guest Retainer,” Jin So-un.
Even if something went a little wrong, if he said he had helped Jin So-un’s plan, the higher-ups likely would not make too great a problem of it.
“Then the price……”
The price…… The price.
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Ho Gye-ak drew in a deep breath.
“Ten silver taels!”
It was far too small an amount for a map classified as a Treasure Map, but Ho Gye-ak settled on ten taels as the final price.
People commonly thought that others liked free information, but the opposite was true.
People trusted information in proportion to the price they had paid for it.
“If there are those who doubt it or ask us to lower the price, then pretend you cannot resist and hand it over that way.”
Е n̂ u mă
“Pardon?”
In any case, the map was merely a tool to gather people.
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If everything came true according to Jin So-un’s plan, they would be able to land a blow not only on Zhongnan but also on the Beggars’ Sect.
Moreover, if it helped Jin So-un, the “Guest Retainer,” then there could be nothing better.
Just thinking about it made laughter rise……
No, no. He must not resemble that person too much. Ahem.
Е̂ ň um̂.а . іd̀
“In any case, carry it out.”
The Hao Gate members could not understand Ho Gye-ak’s instructions from beginning to end, but their actions were not slow.
By the time the morning sun reached noon, Jin So-un’s map had begun spreading little by little throughout Xi’an.
“Can this be trusted?”
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“It is absurd. I already went there, and there was no entrance.”
“Look at the time written here! It says the entrance will open at the Hour of the Rabbit tomorrow.”
Е nǔ m̆а
“Ha, my friend. No matter that this is a place where Spiritual Medicine exists, would the entrance to a cave open and close according to the time?”
Many did not trust the map, and some even said they had been deceived.
There were even those who resolved to storm Hao Gate at once, saying that after the Beggars’ Sect, even Hao Gate was now looking down on martial artists.
But all those actions were pushed aside for a while.
Because they had an expectation that perhaps, at the Hour of the Rabbit, the cave might truly open.
Before anyone knew it, the “new entrance” to the Thousand Caverns had become crowded like a sea of humanity.
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“Hm? You?”
“Kh-Hm……!”
“You told me not to believe such baseless nonsense!”
“What are you talking about? I merely climbed Mount Judang for a stroll.”
“At this hour?”
Awkward encounters began happening all over Mount Judang, and people spoke less as they slowly headed toward the place marked on the map.
Ёn umǎ. і̇d
And when it was almost the Hour of the Rabbit.
“Hm?”
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“What is it?”
“Did you feel that too?”
Those with sensitive senses began looking around one by one.
Then the vibration grew stronger, enough for even those without sharp senses to feel it.
W ӗ b n òv̇е̄l̂ Ӗ n̈ū m̆a
At that moment.
RRRRRRRRRRRRR.
A vibration rang out as though the whole world were shaking and the heavens were collapsing.
Rocks in the mountain began to shake and fall, and birds sleeping in the trees were startled awake and rose all at once.
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“An earthquake?”
“Wh-What is this……!”
Е́n̈ u m̄ а̃
And in that instant.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
A massive explosion sounded, and an enormous light burst forth.
Startled by the great radiance that seemed to brighten the dark night sky, people turned their heads.
“What was that? Did lightning strike?”
“The light seemed a little different for that, did it not?”
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Their confusion lasted only a moment.
“Wait! That light! It is the place shown on the map!”
At someone’s words, everyone exchanged looks.
“!”
“!!”
And without anyone knowing who moved first, they unfolded their Movement Arts and began climbing the mountain.
Wе b ṅ о̄ v е l̊ Е̌n um а̃
Those who arrived at the destination in the blink of an eye then saw—
“Huh……!”
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A cave before their eyes, opening its great maw.
“Th-The entrance!”
“A-An entrance to the Thousand Caverns truly opened!”
“Move! The Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil is mine!”
W̃ е̃b n o v el Е̌ nûm̈ а
At someone’s shout, countless martial artists hurled themselves into the cave, none willing to be second.
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