Book 18 Chapter 4

Darkness of the night burning with crimson

-The Devastation of the Qinglong Silver Pavilion

Blah blah blah!

As if in defiance of the darkness of the moonless night, the red flames roared with searing heat, driving away the night. The darkness of the night turned to a pale gray as the manor house was reduced to black ash by the raging storm of flames, scattering in the heat. The price for lighting the darkness was black charcoal, black ash, and death.

"Eek! How did they know about this place?!"

A pained groan escaped from the mouth of Blue Dragon Silver Master Yue Yue. His sword was already stained red with the blood of more than a dozen assailants, but his strength alone was insufficient to deal with them all. He had two people to protect. The distance from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard was less than a dozen zhang, but to cross that short distance, Yue Yang would have to risk his life. Dozens of warriors had already made a name for themselves to help him escape.

Just getting to the great hall, Cheongryongjeon, was a struggle.

"This should buy us some time."

But even he realized that it wouldn't be long.

Most of the power of the silver field had already been drained from him, and the only thing that kept him from collapsing was the fact that he still had work to do as the father of a brother and sister, and as the keeper of 'it'. He looked at his children, whom he had protected so desperately.

The two children trembled with fear and looked to their only source of support. This fate was too much for them to bear. The father's heart was breaking as he realized that he had to pass on a greater karma.

"Young-ah, Sun-ah, this is it. This father can no longer protect you. I promised your mother, who went to heaven five years ago, that I would protect you no matter what… but now I'm being accused of being a liar. I'm sorry. It's all because I'm a bad father."

"Father!"

His son, Yu-young, cried out. He was only thirteen years old.

"Dad!"

Seon-ah, his daughter, called out to him in a sobbing voice and ran into his arms. She was only seven years old, but she was a strong child. I was impressed that she didn't start wailing and crying.

Jae Ryong stroked his daughter's hair and looked at his son, who was biting his lower lip tightly, with his eyes, and said in a heavy voice.

"Young-ah!"

"…Yes, Father!"

The boy was desperate not to cry. He must have been terribly frightened, but he was holding it together. It was clear that although he was still young, he already realized the fate that awaited him. He was precocious and intelligent from an early age. I was sure he would make a name for himself in the world of power, finance, and usury when he grew up, but it seemed he would never see it. The distant clashing of artillery and the screams of the horses were getting closer and closer. The clock was ticking.

"You're running out of time, take this!"

What he pulled out of his arms were two bags of gold.

"This is……."

"Open it."

At his father's command, Liu Yun wasted no time in opening the golden bag, which contained dozens of tightly folded sheets of paper. The boy took one of them and unfolded it. There was an intricate writing on it, as if a snake had twisted and coiled itself a thousand times. The writing was unrecognizable to the average person. Even the most learned of men could not read it, but the boy recognized it at a glance.

The words written on the paper were in Chinese characters.

"This… this is……!"

Tangjiajie is a special type of writing used by pawnbrokers and is a complex and highly variable form of Chinese script. It was designed to keep the industry's inner workings hidden from the outside world, and most importantly, it was difficult to forge. As such, it was hard to learn and hard to write quickly. However, it was a must for anyone involved in the usury business. It was used not only on bills of exchange, or slips, but also on all documents of silver.

From a young age, Yu Yongyong had mastered dozens of types of Chinese characters under his father's strict instruction. Each pawnshop or silversmith had a different typeface, so it was necessary to master many different types of fonts. However, the typeface on this paper did not belong to the Qinglong Silversmith.

"Here's a few bills and some silver, just in case. You'll need the money to get away. Do not open them in public. You are the son of the Blue Dragon Silversmith, and I trust you to know how to handle the money, both in storage and in use."

The amount on the slip was a staggering number.

"If the Qinglong Silversmith is destroyed today, the slips issued by our Qinglong Silversmith will become scraps of paper tomorrow! I trust that you will use them as capital to build the family business again someday. You're still young, but you've seen and learned a lot by my side since social media."

In fact, Yoo had taught him many of the skills needed to become a loan shark. The industry had a strong, closed system of customs and tradition-based apprenticeships for hiring and training employees, so it was traditional for employees to join the business at a young age and go through a rigorous training program. Trust and credibility are not built overnight. As a result, it was common for employees to be passed down through generations, or to be hired based on relatives or seniority, and sometimes seniority, blood ties, and academic connections were more important than competence. However, the nature of the work was such that it was never criticized. The eldest son was the next in line. Now, Yoo Jae Ryong realized it was time for his final lesson.

"What is money?"

Jae Ryong Yoo asked.

"Money is like a wild horse."

Liu Yongyong immediately replied, remembering the phrase because it was something his father had always said. His father always liked to compare money to horses.

Yoo nodded.

"You remember it well, then do you know its meaning, why this father said that money is like a horse?"

"That's……."

The boy was speechless; he had heard the phrase "money is a horse" before, but he couldn't read the underlying meaning behind it. Not knowing the meaning behind the phrase meant that the "horse shit" about money being a horse was useless.

"…I'm not sure, please dismiss."

"Money, as you say, is like a wild horse. If you don't control it, you harm yourself. But if you tame it well, it can carry you ten thousand miles and carry the world with it. Just as the nation of Qin used horses to unite the world in the past. This is the last lesson your father can give you. You should take it to heart and never forget it."

It was the last lesson he could give his son, and it was now entirely up to him to take it to heart and use it to nourish himself.

"I'll keep that in mind, Father."

Yoo Yong-young replied cheerfully.

"Never forget it. This teaching is the last legacy I can give you."

So what's the second nugget of gold?

Out of curiosity, Liu Yun shook the second golden bag, which was sealed very tightly.

There was only one item inside. When his son tried to open the second bag of gold, Yoo Jae Ryong quickly stopped him.

"Stop it! You must never open it, and you must never wonder about it. It's better not to know what's inside. Just know that it is something you must keep. You must never lose it. Even if you lose everything in the first bag, you must keep what is in this second bag."

Yoo's determination surprised her.

"What in the world is this… that would make my father, a pawnbroker to the bone, give up his money?

"Take that and go to one place."

"Where?"

Yoo said.

"Namchang!"

* * *

"Too late!"

There was a hint of bitterness in his voice as he stood in the center of the inferno, with burning pavilions and corpses in the background. Ahead of me, the furious clashing of armor and the screams of terminals mingled in the chaos. The operation was running behind schedule. According to the plan, there shouldn't have been any living, breathing people in the Blue Dragon Silver Hall. Time was not on their side. It was their greatest enemy. They had to end this before Amifa could intervene. The longer they waited, the more they would invite the Amifa's intervention. They had to end it before then.

The problem was the boundary between external and internal.

The Qinglong Silversmith had two walls. When it first started as a pawnshop, it was as small as any other business. It was so small, in fact, that it was often called a snore shop. But as the business grew, the building grew and grew, until finally, they were able to tear down the old wall and build a new one. Inside, there were several places, like a typical pawnshop.

But the growth didn't stop there. As the business grew, so did the need for people to run it, and hiring people meant more buildings. So they built a few more houses for the guards who guarded the silversmiths and the full-time staff, and enlarged the cramped stables. Of course, we also needed a place for the carts. But it seemed crazy to me that it would be a waste to tear down and rebuild a wall that was less than three years old. It was a waste of money. Besides, since it had grown to this point, I thought it would be effective to add another boundary. The new wall was destroyed by mysterious masked men, and now there was only a single wall surrounding the inner garden.

They were experts in fighting and killing, and I was a guy sitting at a desk counting money and bouncing an abacus. It was an insult to their professionalism to compare. But even so, there were invisible traps and institutions at the boundaries of the outer and inner circles holding them back. If you can't win a head-to-head fight, you can always switch to a diversionary tactic. For the merchant, it was a matter of economics, of which side was more efficient, rather than fairness.

"What is the tenacity of a trader……."

The fact that the silversmiths were still merchants, albeit in the form of usurious loans, rather than in kind, did not change the fact that they were merchants as long as they made a profit. They had done everything they could to make a profit, and now they were using every trick in the book to eliminate their enemies more efficiently. Progress was too slow as it was. They couldn't wait any longer. He needed to nudge his men.

"Tell the foremen! We're not busy enough to have incompetent humans as foremen! I'm giving them half a degree, and if they can't find a way through it, they're all demoted, and they'll have to start over with cleaning the latrines!"

"Yes!"

A moment after the dreaded messenger of the Bloodborne ran off, he could feel the clash of swords become noticeably, nay, deafeningly, louder.

* * *

"Namchang? You mean the namchang next to Payang Lake?"

Yu Yongyong asked, doubting his ears.

"Yeah, that's the hooker."

No wonder the boy was surprised.

For a male prostitute, it was a long way from here in Sichuan. It was too difficult for two younger siblings to travel. How many provincial borders would they have to cross? I wasn't sure if it would take two months or three. We didn't even factor in a month, and that's assuming we didn't encounter any threats along the way.

"I don't understand, father!"

The best place to take refuge was Amifa. A day was more than enough, and yet, a far, far away man-child? Even as a child, he couldn't understand the disparity. But Yoo Jae-ryong shook his head, all too clearly.

"You must not go to Amifa!"

He could sense what his son was worried about, but he had to force him to take the hard way rather than the easy way.

"Why not?"

"They attacked us with sickening precision. They can't have come without knowing of our connection to Amifa, and the roads to Amifa are probably all sealed off by now. If you two make a move, you'll be discovered. No beast would crawl into a trap knowing it was a trap. No matter how clever and cunning they are, they would never think that you two would go to the brothel in your young bodies. Stab the thought out of them. Do you understand?"

Only then did the boy understand his father's hidden meaning.

"Yes, Father. I understand now."

"I'm sorry I can't show you the road less traveled, but it's the only way to live. No matter how hard it is, you must endure."

Yoo Yeong-young nodded with a stern face.

"What do I do after I get to Namchang?"

"Take that bag of gold and meet the Iron Fist Marginals."

"What do you mean, the one-man, invincible, selfless……?!"

Even though he was still young, he remembered hearing the name; as a male of the martial arts, he had heard of the Heavenly Academy, the dream of all.

"Yes, it's called the Heavenly Martial Arts Pavilion Iron Fist Marginalia."

Yue Yue took a jade plaque from his bosom and handed it to his son.

"Take this token with you to meet your lord. The shadows of the Hall of Heaven will protect you."

Had my family ever been associated with such a high and famous person? I had no idea, but now I really didn't have time, and my father couldn't answer that question.

"Oh, and I'll give you this, too."

Yoo took off the necklace around his neck and gave it to his son. In the center of the necklace was a large, golden key.

"This key is……."

Yoo nodded.

"Yes, it's the key to unlocking the secret vault of the Blue Dragon Silver Chest."

He took the key, which glowed a brilliant golden color, and began to rub it, infusing it with his essence. The plating covering the key began to flake off in a puff of fumes. Pure gold was too brittle to be used as a key, so what was inside was naturally iron. Huanglong City instantly became Iron Dragon City.

"Gold sometimes blinds a man. You do not yet have the strength to protect that golden color. Grow in strength. So that you can protect your fortune. So that one day you may rebuild the Blue Dragon Silver Hall, and then this key will shine golden again."

Crrrrrr!

Yue Yang turned one of the candlesticks on the wall to the left, and the bookshelves behind him opened to the left and right, revealing a secret passage. The boy and girl's eyes widened.

"Gee, I can't believe this high-priced thing has been in my house……."

Yu Yongyong spoke with the voice of a merchant's son. He had been trained from the time he could walk. It wasn't difficult for him to make a rough estimate of the value of an object of this size.

Secret passageways operated by organs are difficult to make, the process is tricky, and the experts who can make them are few and far between, which means that once you try to make one, you'll break the bank a billion times over. Despite the urgency of the situation, the boy was thrilled by the sequence of facts.

"Come on, follow me!"

The screaming had ceased. The troopers, who had been shouting furiously, had fallen silent.

Yay!

The door opened with a deafening thud. A man in black robes walked in. Yoo Jae-Ryong was standing behind the bookshelves with a sword in his hand, his eyes shining with a deafening glow.

"Who is this, isn't it Master Yu of the Blue Dragon Silver House, where are all your servants, and are you guarding the house alone and lonely?"

The masked man at the front of the line spoke with a sneer. He was in a very good mood, knowing that he was in first place.

"Let's start with a common name. Because of my job, I can't give you my real name, but you can call me 'Blood,' and my title is Chief."

"Shut up, evil enemy! I don't want to hear the pseudonyms of the one who hides his face behind a mask. What kind of grudge do you have against our silversmith?"

"Grudge? How can there be such a thing? I have no grudge."

Pepe's answer was, in a sense, very blunt, and it was also something that took the wind out of Yoo's sails.

"Then what makes you do this cruelty when you have no grudge?"

"You really don't know?"

Bloodshot asked, sighing behind his mask.

"Humans are capable of such cruelty without wanting to. Look at the wars between nations. When a powerful nation invades a weaker nation, there's no grudge, it's just that the weaker nation happened to have something they needed…ah, coincidence! Their sense of justice is nothing more than a plausible excuse to rouse people to action, isn't it? You're a merchant, and you don't understand this simple truth?"

A sigh that I couldn't tell if it was an exclamation, a sigh, or a yawn escaped from Bloodshot's mouth.

"Do you need money?"

Bloodshot shook his head.

"I don't care about money, and even if I did, it's secondary. Have you ever seen a strong country beat a weak country because they don't have enough money? It's not always the money they want, it's the potential value they can generate for decades to come."

Yoo's teeth clenched at the sermonizing tone, like a teacher lecturing a student. It was obvious that he was doing it on purpose.

"Then I think we're in the wrong place, there's no way there's such a thing in a little silver shop like this, is there?"

"Don't play games, Mr. Yu. I know all about it, so you'd better give up the idea of changing your mind. Just give me the 'it' and I'll go away quietly."

The condescending tone finally made Yoo explode.

"What, back off, you bastards! Is it so easy to say that when there's a mountain of corpses outside?"

His anger exploded, and his lust spontaneously erupted. He was so enraged that he forgot his identity and became aroused. His composure was already shattered like a mirror falling from the top of a tower.

"I'm sorry for what happened, but I can't blame you for not giving it to me sooner. Besides, you've taken a hit. I didn't think you'd set the manor on fire yourself……. How could we not be impatient? It was inevitable."

He was still exasperatingly calm. But when the pavilion suddenly caught fire, even he couldn't help but panic.

In fact, the fire wasn't started by them, it was started by us. They were on a secret mission. By setting fires at night, they were loudly proclaiming, "I'm working here," so they were in the position of having to dive in and put it out. But the initial firefighting effort was a spectacular failure. The fact that the fire was able to grow so large and spread so quickly in less than a shovelful of time is a testament to the fact that all of the devices were in place. This could not have happened without careful preparation.

"So there's been an unplanned delay, and more casualties. It is unfortunate."

However, there was one thing he hadn't predicted: his opponent was too good at getting things done. As such, it was likely that Amifa would be wiped out before it could be saved. No, in fact, it had already been wiped out. All that remained was himself.

"But what kind of dick is 'it'? I don't know what that dick is, but we don't have one."

Yoo composed himself and spoke again. He needed to buy more time. The math wasn't right yet.

"Don't take your eyes off the clock, Yu Zhangzhu. I know everything……."

As he answered Yoo Jae Ryong's questions, Blood Pyo's voice suddenly cut off. He glanced around a couple times. As if he was looking for something.

Yoo felt an ominous sense of foreboding come over him, and it was spot on.

"Oh no, I don't see my kids."

A know-it-all tone.

"You can't tell me they've got the kids' identities?

Fortunately, the children had escaped through a secret passageway.

"That's weird. I didn't see them when I looked for them, so I figured they must be together……."

The masked man had already ordered his men to secure the children's recruits. He couldn't risk killing his precious hostages.

"They're not here."

Yue Yang's face crumpled at his answer. He could sense it even from outside his mask.

"That's a boring story. Well, fine. I'm guessing Amifa is the last place you'd want to go anyway, and I'm sorry you'll be caught soon enough."

"You bastards, what have those children done, leave them alone!"

Yoo Yoo-ryong screamed at the top of his lungs. In order to appear more panicked, of course, it was the exact opposite.

'Please… please… please…….'

He prayed inwardly, fuming-no, fuming-hard. May their attention be drawn to Amifa.

He gave instructions to a few of his men. Presumably to tighten the guard on the passage to Amifa. He could feel a few of the thugs making their way through the burning bowels. Yoo Jae Ryong shuddered.

Bloodshot's gaze turned to him.

"Don't worry. You'll meet the kids soon enough."

And it probably isn't this world.

"What do you guys really want?"

He didn't need money, and he didn't seem to need honor to do this. But he was too professional to be a bloodthirsty killer.

"Zhang Zhu, are you really asking because you don't know, or have you been suffering from dementia? I'll be straightforward. All we need is a 'key'."

The sound shocked Yoo Jae Ryong, as if the ground beneath him was collapsing into darkness. He desperately tried to stop the bridge from collapsing.

"Well, how do you do that?

How did they figure out a secret that you've been carrying around your whole life?

"I refuse! How could I hand over the heart of Ninggo, which is everything in the Blue Dragon Silver Field, to a villain like you! It's ridiculous!"

Then Bloodshot clicked his tongue and said in a tongue-in-cheek tone.

"Oh, come on, Yu Zhangzhu, you know very well that the key I'm talking about is not the key, and neither do I. Don't you?"

"Moo, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Yoo replied in a confused voice.

"What a pity. You keep denying it with your words, but isn't Zhang Zhu's voice trembling right now? Hello!"

"Yes!"

The officers in the three seats and four seats answered.

"Bring me two children at once; they will not come to their senses until they see their own children being mauled before their eyes!"

"I… where can I find you?"

Bam!

The masked man's fist flashed as he answered a stupid question from a subordinate the size of his son-in-law.

"Fool, if the children and the father had come this far together and disappeared in this place, would they have risen to heaven or fallen to earth? There must be a secret passage here somewhere, find it!"

"Yes!"

About two dozen men who had entered the war with him returned to duty at once.

Then Yoo Yoo-ryong shouted out.

"No! Not those kids!"

With a shout, Yoo Jae-Ryong threw himself against the wall, then raised his sword and looked around with a fierce glare. As if no one could touch it.

"Not those kids!"

Bloodshot's eyes lit up at the sight. A smile of conversion curved his lips.

"You tricked me, Yu Zhangzhu!"

"……!!"

"Hmph, I guess that's where the secret passage is."

"Yikes!"

A groan of real urgency came out of Yoo Jae Ryong's mouth. Anyone could see that he was panicking. He was horrified that his mistake had given the enemy a clue.

"Champion, Champion!"

With that command, two masked men charged toward Yoo Jae Ryong. Blood Pyo, standing with his arms crossed, added a word behind his charging men.

"There are still answers to be heard! Don't kill him!"

The two masked men who charged at Yoo Jae-ryong, Cham-young and Gyung-woon, were quite different from the other masked men who had fallen under his sword so far. They were the most skilled of the bunch, and they pounced on Yue Yang. In fact, these two were the second and third in rank among the twenty or so men who had entered the fray: the Önaldo man who approached, aiming for his left arm, was the second-ranked Cham-young, and the large man who was aiming for his right arm, swinging the guidon in his hand like a windmill, was the third-ranked Gyun.

"Found it!"

A subordinate who specializes in navigating organ devices exclaimed.

"Great!"

"No!"

One of the men giggled and one screamed, but he didn't care about the screams and pulled hard on the rope he'd found.

"I can't believe you made it so simple, you idiot!

For a professional of my caliber, finding an organization of this caliber was a no-brainer.

Grrrrr!

The machine does not distinguish between master and foe, for it only follows the principles given to it. After running the organ through a series of steps, the tightly closed passage finally opened its gaping black mouth.

"I can't get past it!"

Yoo Jae-Ryong shouted in an urgent voice and ran to block the passage.

"Where!"

However, he could not fulfill his intentions, as he was blocked by the swords of war and fierce clouds.

"Chase!"

Yoo Yoo-ryong thought that those two were enough, and quickly jumped into the secret passage that had been opened by a dozen masked men.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you later, Yu Zhangzhu!"

Yoo Jae Ryong replied to Blood Pyo's frown.

"That's great. I'm really looking forward to it. A little later."

At that moment, Yoo Jae Ryong's lips curled into a smile that was unmistakable. The desperate eyes that had been filled with despair a moment ago had vanished, replaced by a look of triumphant confidence. Feng Fei's eyes widened.

The moment,

"Kaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Ouch!"

"Kwehwehwehweh!"

For a moment, the masked men who had stayed behind and guarded the rear were under the illusion that the place their comrades had jumped into was not a secret passage in the Blue Dragon Silver Pavilion, but a gate to hell, and the screams that came from the darkness beyond the gate were unearthly, horrifying, and unimaginable.

"……."

When the screaming ceased, silence and stillness filled the arena until you could hear a hair fall.

"Looks like you weren't the one who was fooled, bloodsucker!"

In return for his earlier frown, Yoo Jae-Ryong flashed his best toothy grin.

At his feet lay Charmander and Gyung Yun, who had persecuted him only moments before with the intent to slit his throat.

* * *

"Uh, huh?"

Puzzlement burst from the boy's mouth. It was not unreasonable for Yu to be puzzled. The direction the father led the children by the hand was the opposite direction from where the expensive secret passage was opening.

"Huh? Ah, dad?"

No answer came back. Yoo walked briskly to a very common closet.

"This?"

"Hurry up!"

Yoo opened the small door of his closet and quickly pulled out a few items of clothing. Then he squeezed himself into the doorway and began fiddling with something. The work was done quickly.

"Come on, get in here. Come on!"

"What is this?"

Yoo was puzzled because he couldn't figure out what was going on. Luckily, this time he got an answer.

"That organ is fake. No, it would be more accurate to say that the organ is real, but the pathway is fake."

"Yes?"

"This is the real secret passage."

"Hello?"

The closet was only about the height of an adult's waist. And the door was really ugly and snotty. No doubt the aisle was just as ugly. It was like…….

"What, like an asshole?"

The father read his son's mind correctly.

"That, that, that… to, yes……."

The son blushed bright red and trailed off. He was still young enough to know that now was not the time to mix hot and cold, but his father did not blame him.

"Son, let me give you another piece of advice. Don't be fooled by the glossy exterior of something that looks expensive and plausible. It's the substance that counts, not the appearance. Merchants don't care about appearances. What they look for is true benefit. Never forget that."

There was no more time for a leisurely explanation. Yoo added only one word. An emotional farewell was ruled out in the name of effective use of time.

"Take care of your brother."

Yoo Jae Ryong hugged each of his children vigorously once, then pushed them into the closet. The boy and girl hurriedly crawled into the closet with tear-stained faces.

Soon enough, the closet swallowed them whole and returned to its original state as if it had always been there.

"Management, Seon-ah, please!"

He closed the closet with a stern face. He didn't put a lock on it.

"You alone… must… survive."

He showed no tears. There wasn't enough time for them to get away yet; now he had to buy time.

"Last call."

He even labeled it a business.

"It would be disgraceful if I didn't leave you with the best quote."

The saying that time is like gold is wrong.

Time cannot be measured in length [度], quantity [量], labeled [衡], or held in the hand. It is more expensive than gold. I think it's in the nature of time that it doesn't want you to put it in the same class as gold, because it hurts its pride.

It wasn't going to be a business.

"If only my father had been around, I wouldn't have been humiliated like this……."

He hated himself for not having a tenth of his father's abilities. He hated his missing father, and he had never felt more desperate for his presence than he did today. But there was still hope.