Chapter 20

• The Jungyang Escort Bureau Was Eternal Food

A month had passed since the day of the great commotion. A rumor spread throughout the Jianghu, beyond the Sichuan region, that the Jungyang Escort Bureau, which was located at the foot of Mount Emei in Sichuan and held a top position among the ten great escort bureaus of the Central Plains, had been attacked and broken by a group of unidentified assailants.

The truth of the rumor that the Jungyang Escort Bureau had been completely broken was not accurately determined. All of the clients' goods were unharmed, without a single scratch, and for some reason, although the number of escorts who stayed indoors and did not leave their rooms, houses, or the escort bureau had increased, there were no casualties. It was true that they had been attacked by unidentified assailants, but all the entrusted goods were safe, and there were no casualties.

Rather, the rumor was dancing in an unexpected direction. The story was that the escort bureau had been attacked by unidentified assailants aiming for the goods, but thanks to all the escorts of the Jungyang Escort Bureau bravely fighting back and protecting the goods with their lives, the unidentified intruders who had rushed in aiming for the goods had failed to achieve their goal and had retreated with their tails between their legs. The truth was reversed, bleached, then re-dyed and colored, and after going through a total process of adaptation, it spread throughout the Jianghu.

However, no one knew that within that truth, there was the noble sacrifice of most of the wealth that Bureau Chief Jang U-yang had gathered with efforts that could not be spoken of without tears. Also, people did not know of the existence of the man, Bi Ryu-yeon, who had extorted a significant portion of that wealth under the pretext of compensation for damages. Because the deep inner secret on the theme of such a disgrace was something that should never spread to outsiders, all the escorts of the Jungyang Escort Bureau firmly zipped their lips and remained silently silent. Their jobs and lives were important.

Thus, the rumor was adapted to say that if you entrusted your goods to the Jungyang Escort Bureau, the Jungyang Escort Bureau itself would staunchly protect the goods no matter what damage they suffered, even if they faced a crisis of annihilation, and rather, the number of merchants and martial arts sects wanting to entrust their goods to the Jungyang Escort Bureau doubled compared to before. There was even the laughable phenomenon of people lining up outside the escort bureau to entrust their goods, and the Jungyang Escort Bureau came to enjoy a boom that surpassed its former heyday. Thus, the scale of the business became even larger than before.

Bi Ryu-yeon, who had no particular interest in the story of the Jungyang Escort Bureau but had a very deep relationship with it, and his disciple Tang Sam, who could be said to be the cause of the incident, had improved a lot and were on the verge of a full recovery. The rest of the Vermilion Bird members, through the final finishing touches of the past month, now intuitively felt that the time to leave was approaching. However, there was one big problem here, and that problem was now giving Bi Ryu-yeon a headache.

'Kuaaah, I have no money.'

Money, it was always this that was the problem. It was so in the past, it is so in the present, and it probably will be so in the future. As expected, the issue of money was a part directly related to a person's life, so it was not a part that could be lightly passed over.

'What to do, what to do... What do I do!'

Bi Ryu-yeon rolled twice to the left. Since it was a wooden floor, no dirt got on him. The floor of the training camp room was, of course, made of wood, but there were no rugs. However, perhaps because they had used high-quality paulownia wood planks with good quality and grain, it did not make Bi Ryu-yeon feel unpleasant.

'Money, money. Mon-ey!'

Again, Bi Ryu-yeon rolled twice to the right. Bi Ryu-yeon was tearing at his hair and rolling on the floor, struggling in the swamp of worry. As the time of worry grew longer, the number of hairs leaving his body was on the rise. If this situation continued, the number of Bi Ryu-yeon's hairs would gradually decrease, and in the worst case, the hairs pulled out by the roots might not show any signs of regeneration. If that happened, there was a possibility of becoming a bald-headed man, which was the worst-case scenario. That's how many hairs were being forcibly detached from Bi Ryu-yeon's head. However, no matter how much he grabbed and pulled his hair, no solution came out. It seemed that the increase in thinking power was not proportional to the number of hairs being pulled out. Bi Ryu-yeon, who had tearfully confirmed the truth of that fact through a human experiment, stopped the hair-pulling act and began to search for another solution to the situation.

To send the kids back to the Cheonmu Academy, of course, travel expenses corresponding to that journey are needed. So far, so good. But the problem was that there was no money. Because the budget had already been used up, and not a single penny, not a single coin was left. Of course, the money that had gone into Bi Ryu-yeon's own pocket was not included in the expenditure mentioned here. It was Bi Ryu-yeon's philosophy that the money that went into his own pocket, regardless of its origin, precedent, and history, became his own money.

According to the letter that came out of the pocket of the old man who had died of an unknown cause in the valley at the beginning, it said to enclose the necessary expenses for teaching the kids while being a master for three months, and if money became insufficient while teaching the kids, to request additional expenses from the silver guild under the Cheonmu Academy written there. But now, even that was impossible. Because he had already squeezed out a considerable amount of money in the name of return-home expenses two months ago. Since the scheduled training period was three months, he could not receive any more support after three months. That's why he had squeezed out the last money in the name of return-home expenses before the deadline. Of course, that money went straight into Bi Ryu-yeon's pocket.

It was a journey that would take a good month even on horseback. It was a matter of course that it would take more time if you walked on two feet, and taking more time meant that more expenses would be required. But it was too expensive to buy horses, so he had no choice but to find a way to cheaply use the natural means of transportation given at birth, the feet.

But no matter how much he ran using his movement techniques and lightness skills until his telescope sweated, it would be difficult to shorten the journey beyond a certain limit. In any case, the expenses for 16 people to travel for over a month could not be a small amount of money. And yet, he couldn't just not send them...

That's why Bi Ryu-yeon was now racking his brain and lost in thought. He was rolling his head and rolling it, rolling his small brain until smoke came out of his ears, but no groundbreaking, enterprising, and useful method to solve the situation came to mind, so he was worrying over and over again.

'Kuaaak! For free, for free, free. If not, at least the minimum expense... What to do, how can I send them without spending a single penny? And that, a group of 16 people. Isn't there any good idea?'

Trying to roll even the small brain he didn't usually use, he really felt like he was going to die.

"Isn't there any good idea? Travel, return home, 16 people, free, expenses, Cheonmu Academy, Poyang Lake, Nanchang, martial artists, martial arts..."

Bi Ryu-yeon, who was diligently listing the fragments of his thoughts like a magic incantation, suddenly had something flash through his mind and stopped his murmuring of thoughts.

'Power? Stron~g... Clap, that's it. Hahaha. Now everything is solved, everything is solved. No objections, right? If you have any, you die, you die. Hahaha.'

A thought that flashed by like a meteor, like a flash of lightning. A brilliant method that would cut through all the things Bi Ryu-yeon had been racking his brain and worrying about until now had come to mind. Finally, Bi Ryu-yeon was able to finish the preparations to send his disciples back without any burden. Now that he had thought of a method, all that was left was to put it into practice.

'I'll have to go to the village again tomorrow.'

Bi Ryu-yeon looked at the stars in the night sky that looked like they would fall as meteors at any moment and organized the things he had to do tomorrow step by step. A single light embroidered in the sky was drawing a tail and falling to the ground. It was a meteor.

The groundbreaking and useful clue to solving the problem that Bi Ryu-yeon, who had been racking his brain and worrying, had found was the Jungyang Escort Bureau. No, what on earth did this mean? Had Bi Ryu-yeon now decided to become the permanent and eternal enemy of the Jungyang Escort Bureau? The idea of using the Jungyang Escort Bureau was by no means to invade again with his disciples and forcibly extort travel expenses. What Bi Ryu-yeon, he, had thought of was an escort mission.

The destination of his 16 disciples was the shore of Poyang Lake in Nanchang, where the Cheonmu Academy was located. That place, due to the huge existence of the Cheonmu Academy, had become the center of the orthodox martial world in both name and reality. Thanks to that, Nanchang was walking on an even more prosperous path. It was the way of the world that as the scale of a city grew, the amount of supplies and goods consumed accordingly also increased. When it reached the point of being called the center of the orthodox martial world, it was natural that the number of people gathering there in search of profit was countless. So, requests for goods and escort missions to the prosperous and active city of Nanchang were constantly pouring into the escort bureau at all times. This was because Nanchang was a place where a huge amount of goods were traded, going in and out repeatedly.

For some reason, the number and amount of jobs coming into the Jungyang Escort Bureau these days had increased even more than before, but compared to the incoming escort missions, the number of escorts to work was significantly insufficient, and they were short-handed. Moreover, due to that incident a month ago that he didn't even want to think about, there were many escorts with broken bones who were half-crippled, so they were in a situation where they couldn't even be properly used. Even if they hired new escorts, it was very difficult to hire good escorts with high martial arts skills.

The goods destined for Nanchang, scattered in the escort bureau that was suffering from a manpower shortage. The part that Bi Ryu-yeon paid attention to was this part. Thus, Bi Ryu-yeon knocked on the door of the Jungyang Escort Bureau once more. Of course, from the Jungyang Escort Bureau's point of view, this was undoubtedly not a welcome event.

At the end of autumn, on an afternoon with pleasant weather that was neither cold nor hot. At the end of autumn, full of peace, two escorts were standing guard at the main gate of the escort bureau. The main gate, which had been broken by someone's kick a month ago, was now neatly repaired, and everything was fine except for the dented spot in the center of the door. With that door behind them, Jang Pal and Lee Sam were now on guard duty for the escort bureau. Today was the day that Jang Pal and Lee Sam themselves had to form a team and take on the guard duty.

Jang Pal and Lee Sam, the ordinary escorts who had confirmed the shadow of Bi Ryu-yeon walking towards the escort bureau from afar, tried to faithfully carry out the guard duty entrusted to them.

"What business... Gak!"

The two escorts suddenly stopped breathing, clutching their chests like patients with acute heart attacks. Their pale complexions and inability to straighten their knees were exactly the appearance of a seriously ill patient with something seriously wrong somewhere in their body.

"Ah, have you been well? It's been a while. The Bureau Chief is inside, right? Go and tell him I'd like to see him."

"..."

"What's wrong? Are you sick somewhere?"

"Keo-eok... Kak... Gak... Gak..."

As if his stopped breathing had returned, Jang Pal coughed violently and ran into the escort bureau like a colt with its tail on fire. Cursing his fate for having been chosen for the escort bureau's guard duty today, of all the many days. The remaining ordinary escort, Lee Sam, barely said, his legs trembling.

"P-please... c-come inside. J-just a moment... p-please wait. I'll... c-contact..."

Trying to move his stiff tongue with a pale face, his words kept stuttering. A large amount of cold sweat flowed down his pale cheeks.

"Are you sick somewhere?"

Bi Ryu-yeon asked with a pitiful expression. Even more frightened by his expression, Lee Sam just stood there trembling, his face even paler.

For Bureau Chief Jang U-yang, he had never had such a dumbfounding experience in his life, except for that day a month ago. This was because an escort had run in, kicking the door of Jang U-yang's office, where he usually handled his affairs, so hard that it broke and was torn off. Where did he think this was, that a mere escort would dare to kick open the door of the Bureau Chief's office without any notice and run in? He wouldn't even open the door to his own room so rudely. Moreover, Jang U-yang was now struggling with a mountain of documents piled up in front of him, preparing for a large-scale escort mission in two days, the likes of which had never been seen in the history of the Jungyang Escort Bureau.

Because of that, his nerves were on edge. The escort mission to Nanchang in two days was scheduled to be the largest in the history of the Jungyang Escort Bureau's establishment, in terms of its amount, the value of the entrusted goods, and the number of escorts mobilized. While he was racking his brain and worrying about that, a fearless escort had committed an endless rudeness and kicked open the paulownia wood door of his office.

Bureau Chief Jang U-yang's mood was now as uncomfortable as it could be, and it seemed that all that was left was to explode. Anyone who knew the atmosphere of the escort bureau and his own psychological state would not have done this, if only for the sake of the thing on their neck. Moreover, the guy who had just run in was an ordinary escort, Jang Pal, whom he knew well. Quick-witted, cunning, and good at sucking up on his own...

"How rude. Where do you think this is!"

"B-Bureau Chief... w-we have a big problem!"

Jang Pal's appearance, struggling to move his stiff tongue, looked pitiful. The cold sweat beading on his discolored, white forehead, and his soaked back, well represented Jang Pal's current state of mind. If his mood had been a little less bad, he would have said words of concern like, 'Are you alright? Why don't you go see a doctor? You should rest for a few days.'

"What's all the fuss? A big problem?"

"O-Old Master has come again."

"What did you say? Kwang!"

The small table in front of Jang U-yang shattered from the force of his slammed hands. Because of that, the documents piled up like a mountain on the small table were sent flying by the aftermath and filled the air in the room. It would take a considerable amount of time to separate them by type and organize them in order again.

Since that day, the title 'Old Master' in this Jungyang Escort Bureau referred to only one person. They were going to just call him the strange old man, or the monster old geezer, etc., but out of concern that if it entered the ears of that monster-like old geezer, he might have another fit and invade again, they gave up the title of strange old man and came to call him the gentlemanly-sounding 'Old Master'.