Book 2 Chapter 2

The Master's Book

The disciple grew up and was twenty years old.

What a shame that a man should not have seen the world at twenty-two!

Disciple, now go out into the world and see the world,

I want to get back to me.

Now go out into the world and make a name for your master,

I'll be back in the glory of your name.

So, don't stop me. I'm going.

The Book of Disciple Bi Ryuyeon

P.S. Below, I've deposited an absolute old-age guarantee annuity in your name at the Qinglong Silver Jiang Army branch, so your old age won't be interrupted. Don't chase after me, because I've made sure to take care of my old age. I put the seal and the deposit certificate next to the letter.

The account number is 241052-52-021455. The password is on the back of the letter. Oh, and cut back on the booze - it's the biggest culprit in your spending.

It wasn't long, just the entirety of the student's runaway report. The body of the letter was better as it was, but the postscript was really stupidly written, the master thought, and the words 'absolute retirement pension' were the only thing that saved him from being angry. Still, whether the boy was mindless or thoughtful, or whether he was trying to avoid being tracked or flattered, he had run away with the 'absolute retirement pension'.

The "Absolute Longevity Annuity" was a specialized silverware product of the Qinglong Silversmith that required a significant amount of money to be invested over a very long period of time. The Blue Dragon Silversmith was said to have been started by Yoo Jae-ryong, the owner of the Blue Dragon Silversmith, when he first stole away from his family home, and at the time, everyone would carry it around with them to keep them from doing anything crazy, but now it had surpassed the Nanda Ginda Silversmith as the most prominent silversmith in the country.

In addition to lending and storing money, the Qinglong Silver Pavilion also offered a product called an annuity, which paid a set amount of interest each month for the rest of your life if you saved a certain amount of silver each month. Of course, upon the death of the person, the money deposited would naturally become the property of the Blue Dragon Silversmith. Among them, the "Absolute Old Age Guarantee Annuity" was the signature annuity of the Blue Dragon Silver House and was a popular product that was well known to the middle class and above as a reliable way to prepare for life after the age of 50. Therefore, the fact that Bi Ryuyeon signed up for this annuity means that she had been preparing to run away for quite some time. It must also have cost her a significant amount of money.

He couldn't help but wonder where, how, and in what numbers she had collected such a large amount of silver. Ever since Bi Ryuyeon had returned from her overnight stay in the valley a few days ago, he had been feeling a little off. The signs had been there since then, but he had never imagined in his wildest dreams that things would turn out this way.

The disciple, the one and only disciple, the one and only disciple, has been staring blankly at the sky for days, and he's finally done it. I thought he was a man who knew nothing but money, but the mountains must have been hard on him. I thought he knew everything about his master, but he had the good sense to make a plan for his master's old age. As if he thought that if he did that, his master wouldn't chase him down and take him back…….

'You're going, you're going. If this is fate, I must accept it. You're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, you're leaving without saying goodbye to your master…….'

The master's curses and laments for his pupil were carried away by the winter winds, silent and unable to echo through the mountains. It was early in the new year, one of those days that mark the beginning of a new year.

By the time the master had finished lamenting, Bi Ryuyeon was already on the road, accompanied by the marksmen of the Zhongyang Marking House. It was Bi Ryuyeon, once again, pampering the Zhongyang Marking House, or rather, the Zhongyang Marking House in every way possible. Whether he hadn't gotten tired of it, or whether there was still some soup left in the pot, Bi Ryuyeon once again walked straight in without knocking on the front door of the Zhongyang Bureau a few days ago. Hearing his news, the head of the state, Zhang Wuyang, immediately rushed out, but when he saw that it wasn't the polite "Lord Nosa" who delivered the news, his enemy breathed a sigh of relief.

By this time, Bi Ryuyeon had taken off the bast face mask that she had been wearing for the past five months without fail, and was now barefaced, which is why Zhang Wuyang didn't recognize her. When a letter came out of Bi Ryuyeon's arms, she looked nervous for a moment, but when she saw the contents of the letter, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. The contents of the letter were nothing major.

This child is my beloved, and I ask you to take her with you on this trip to the brothels. Of course, I'm asking you to take him as an emissary like last time, so don't forget the wages. I'm asking for a particularly generous wage than last time. It'll be worth it. She's very strong. Be careful what you wish for, or your reputation will suffer.

From the Ministry of Labor and Employment

The letter was a bit threatening, but she could live with that. It's been said that humans are adaptable creatures, and if you underestimate their ability to adapt to their environment, you could end up with a broken nose. In some ways, it is the human being who has a tougher life force than a cockroach. Zhang Wuyang's nerves seemed to have become quite thick and strong after all that had happened. As a bonus, her stomach was also stronger and her blood color was better. For Zhang Wuyang, this incident was nothing compared to the last two, which were filled with violence and intimidation.

Zhang Wuyang would rather dance than celebrate. Last time, it was all thanks to them, the disciples of Master Nosabu, that we were able to safely complete the journey to Nanchang, carrying the high-value trophies of Goryeo Qing and Kita. The divine power of only sixteen men against seventy-two green forests and two living houses, if it weren't for them, the trophies would have been wiped out halfway to Namchang instead of being safely transported. So this time, it was Zhang Wuyang, a disciple of Nosu, who was not unwilling, but rather obliging, to accompany them on their journey.

After what seemed like weeks of grumbling since the last time they'd traveled, the Zhongyang Bureau seemed to be back to normal. The Bureau has been scrambling to heal the wounded, fill the vacancies caused by injuries, and organize revenue and expenses. The good news is that the injuries were limited to lower-level marksmen, so there wasn't much of a disruption in the recruitment process. If there had been any major injuries among the mid- to high-level players, it would have been very difficult to recruit new players. This is because it is not easy to recruit top-level masters to the national team.

In fact, after the clash between the Zhongyang Bureau and the Green Forest Sanchai on the last trip to Nanchang, the Zhongyang Bureau's reputation had grown even higher, and there was no need to worry about replenishing its ranks, as there was a steady stream of applicants, some of whom were classified as high-level talents, which had been amusing Zhang Wuyang lately. Given the state of affairs at the Zhongyang Bureau, Bi Ryuyeon had chosen to convey her intentions in a letter instead of words, as letters were better than words in many ways.

The written word had more psychological credibility than the spoken word. It didn't matter if the king didn't recognize Nosabu's handwriting. Zhang Wuyang had the psychological pressure of the existence of Nosabu, so he would not dare to doubt or rebel.

The reason why Bi Ryuyeon didn't wear a bast face mask and appear as Nosabu was because she didn't want to be bothered. She didn't want to appear in the guise of Zhang Wuyang because it would make the Zhongyang Marking Bureau noisy again. If Zhang Wuyang was suspicious and didn't believe her, there was no problem for Bi Ryuyeon, as she had the next best thing, which was to show her strength. In any case, sovereign Zhang Wuyang didn't have any questions about this, and the story went on without a hitch.

A few days later, the journey to Nanchang began, and Bi Ryuyeon set out with her companions, this time accompanied by Zhang Wuyang himself. In fact, the marker was not important enough for him to follow, but he was accompanied by a disciple from the Labor Department, which seemed quite dangerous to him, and he had his own business to attend to in Nanchang. He had an appointment to meet with the sovereign of the Great Lake Kingdom, one of the ten major kingdoms based in Nanchang. Originally, she had planned to leave in a few days because she still had a lot of work to do, but when Bi Ryuyeon joined her on this trip, she had to change her plans at the last minute because she was worried about any problems that might arise between the newcomers and Bi Ryuyeon.

After the last incident, the Zhongyang Marking Bureau had to recruit many new markers because so many had been injured that there was no other way for the bureau to function properly. The fact that there were no casualties was a miracle in itself, and it was unreasonable to expect anything less.

But there were good things, too. Partly due to the high number of casualties, but also due to the fact that they were able to deliver the Goryeo youth safely, they were rewarded with a large sum of money to expand their base. Their reputation for destroying two of the seventy-two houses of the Green Forest has increased, and they've received an overwhelming number of applicants and requests for tributes, keeping them busy.

Most of the newcomers were unaware of the affairs between the Zhongyang Marks Bureau and the Ministry of Labor, so there was no telling what might happen. Currently, there was even talk in Jiang Lake, through the mouths of tutors and the tongues of jokers, that the Zhongyang Marks Bureau had some very skilled masters who were secretly protecting the marks, but very few people in Jiang Lake really knew the truth. The sixteen of them had kept their mouths shut, and the people of the Zhongyang Marking Bureau had kept their mouths shut as well, so there were very few people who knew the truth. Zhang Wuyang didn't feel like telling the new recruits the truth. This was even more true for the broken story of Nao Bu and his disciples. A special order was issued within the kingdom to keep everyone's mouths sealed. Anyone who spoke out would not be forgiven and would be dealt with sternly.

He was worried that the newcomers wouldn't know the delicate relationship between the Zhongyang Bureau of Marks and his disciple, and that something might happen along the way. This is why Zhang Wuyang went out of his way to accompany them, even ahead of schedule.

After all, the word was out on the river that it was safer to entrust your goods to Zhongyang than to any other marker. Zhang Wuyang had been enjoying himself lately, thinking that it would only be a matter of time before he became one of the first or second-ranked markers among the teenage markers in Zhongyuan. However, a worry weighed heavily on his mind as he set out on this journey. It was about his son.