Book 22 Chapter 6

The wagon is loaded with tricks, and the

-The Ramblings of a Nonconformist

Namgungsang looked around the cabin, lost in thought.

'That's even more suspicious. Am I the only one who's been affected by the Archon?

He scratched his head in exasperation.

The cabin was spacious and comfortable enough for three or four people to share. Even though the ship had already departed, I didn't feel much floating or rocking.

To brace myself for the shock, I realized that the beds and tables were anchored to the floor, the furniture had rounded corners, and the ceilings were low, so it was like stepping into an expensive cabin on the ocean. It's just a shame that the colors are so bright and colorful that it detracts from the experience.

"What is this for, anyway?

Namgungsang sat at the round table and stared at the wooden tray he had brought with him. It had come with an invitation. The scroll said to open it when they boarded the ship, and Namgungsang had naively kept that promise until now.

"Well, now that we're on board, let's open this up, shall we?"

Namgungsang raised his head and looked at the three people sitting in front of him. Across the table from them were Long Tianming, Maha Ling, and Baek Muyoung.

"That's a good idea. It's always good to have a contingency plan, depending on the type of item and the situation."

As if imagining the worst, Baek said heavily.

"Surely it's not something dangerous?"

Mahar was nervous, too. Given the habits of Kisil's blackness, it wouldn't be surprising if there was a murderous device inside.

"From what I've seen, it doesn't appear to be a special device, Spirit. I've already run it through the poison test."

Namgungsang was surprised to hear her affectionately called Haeryung.

"No, these two, when did they start calling me names?

Not so long ago, they were enemies, desperate to eat each other. Indeed, things between men and women are so changeable that one's dull mind cannot keep up with them.

"That's great, but it can't hurt to be cautious."

Maharishi thought for a moment, then replied.

"Of course, we should be careful, don't you agree, Captain?"

"It's still 'tentative'."

Namgungsang emphasized. He couldn't approve of the manner in which he was being treated, like a big brother who knew what he was doing.

"Of course, I'll be paying close attention, so rest assured, Martha Sojae."

"Then please, sir."

Namgung Sang stepped forward with the key. It was up to him to open it.

"Is this a test?

I was nervous and nervous, but I couldn't avoid it, or I'd be labeled a coward. And I didn't want to leave it to someone else to do it when there was so much at stake.

Ironclad.

The key slipped silently into the keyhole. The lock, integral with the box, only added to my anxiety.

"Eh, but it's not going to explode as soon as you turn the key, is it?

Even though they were black, they were not invincible and would never do something so reckless. At least it was good for my mental health to believe that.

'Eight, why do you need a boss like…….'

I have a strong feeling that I'm going to hate boxes and locks after today.

"One… two……."

Count the number so that the two people waiting a short distance away are prepared.

Taking another deep breath and preparing himself to jump backwards at any moment, Namgungsang slowly turned the key.

Click!

Finally unlocked.

Luckily, the box didn't explode, and the three of them were safe. But they still didn't know what was in the box, because it was something they had never seen before.

"What is this?"

Maharishi asked, pulling out one of the items in the box.

"Well, I've never seen that before."

"It looks like a coin……."

"Is it close?"

They were round in shape and a little larger than a dime, but the material made them look like they were made of wood. They came in two colors: red and blue.

"What is it for?"

The numbers ten and one hundred were engraved in the center. But it wasn't something I could use to make a purchase. I'd never heard of a store accepting something like this. Who would accept a wooden splinter that hadn't been certified by a national organization?

"Wait a minute, there's writing here?"

True to her word, upon closer inspection, a letter was carved into each of the four ears of the round head. She slowly began to read it, letter by letter.

* * *

Yunbi leaned gracefully against the railing and watched the skyscraper slip away, lost in thought.

"Namgungsang, what the hell is this guy doing, not at least figuring out where he's going and letting me know.

She hadn't gotten any better since we left, and I knew I'd need to give her a good refresher later. But for now, with Na Yerin waiting for me in my cabin, I decided to take the quick and easy way out. Find the right person, grab them, and ask them, and the answer would come quickly.

"Excuse me."

"Huh? Huh, yeah."

The young man replied nervously. I blushed for some reason.

"Where is this ship going?"

"What? It's, uh, it's……."

* * *

"River… Lake… Ran… Island… ……? Is it a place name?"

The Maharajah scratched her head. The name sounded like some kind of island, and she had never heard of it before.

"I guess that's the name of the place we're headed."

Namgungsang agreed with Baek Mu-young.

"I agree, and is this not the currency of that place called Kanghorando?"

The invitation unkindly said nothing about the contents, so we can only speculate for now. As Yong Tian Ming stared at the texts handed to him by the Maharishi, he spoke up.

"That sounds good, but I think you should go upstairs and get a competent advisor just to be sure."

Just then, the cabin door slid open and a voice answered.

"You don't have to go far, I'll tell you."

In astonishment, the men whipped their heads toward the door, but there was no one outside the wide-open door. It was as if the door had opened by itself. They must have put a doorknob on it, but it was a ghost.

Maharishi rushed out into the hallway like the wind and shouted in a shrill voice.

"Who are you, show yourself!"

There were no human shadows in the hallway. Just her long shadow in the dim light.

CHANG!

Long Tianming, who followed, quietly drew his dao and said.

"If you're a guest, please come into the cabin."

"Alas, no customers. Same side, same side. Oh no, don't frown like that, it's bad for your beauty, it's a waste of wrinkles."

The left earlobe of the cabin's lightly cast shadow twitched, and that part of it suddenly lengthened forward, and a figure stepped out from behind the shadow.

"No way!"

Namgung Sang, who had followed them to the door, cried out in surprise; he was too big to be lurking in the cramped shadows.

"Since when?"

There was a hint of admiration in Long Tianming's voice. To be able to deceive the attention of these three people, his stealth was not something he normally excelled at.

"Yes… you are……!"

The Maharajah shouted, even more alert than when he was hidden. The thought of putting the sword away did not cross his mind.

"You're too kind, Ma Sojae, but you're still a senior."

The large man grumbled softly as he walked toward the South Palace statues, his stomach churning with each step.

"Why are you here?"

He changed his name, but the hatred in his voice was still there. The knife was still pointed at the man.

"Well, at least I'm an intelligence officer."

In hindsight, I realize that happened. I wish I had been more vocal in my opposition on behalf of women at the time……. In hindsight, it was a hindsight I regret.

"What do you mean there's nothing to be found in the distance, sir?"

Long Tianming asked as he gently lowered the dao of the Maharishi, who was trembling with the need to call for blood. He had to soothe her for a long time before he could put her dao back into the dao book.

"Ah, since you seem to want to know, I'll give you the information about Kang Horando. I, who have studied and controlled the information of all the beauties for so many years!"

The hulking figure that emerged from the shadows was none other than Bi-Yeon-Tae, the perennial honorary president of the Association of Women, who has been called variously "the enemy of women," "the pervert," and "the threat to women's peace.

"Isn't there such a thing as re-enrollment at the Academy of Heavenly Arts, where you have to graduate in ten years?"

Long Tianming's voice was not warm as he asked the question. When he had first entered the Heavenly Martial Academy, he had been the president of the Association, and he still was.

"Of course not. A man must never stop learning, must never stop striving to know more. There's so much I don't know, and I can't leave this place before I've distilled it all into a discipline!"

With his fists pumping and his voice full of conviction, Bi Yantai exclaimed. The words were so heartfelt that they would have struck a chord with the uninitiated.

"Academics? What the hell are they about?"

Baek Moo-young asked, not seeing Namgung-sang's face as he shook his head from one side.

"Three figures!"

Clenching his fists, his eyes burning with hot blood, Bi Yantai shouted, his flesh surging at the same time.

"Sambu?"

Maharishi's eyebrows twitched instinctively, along with Bai Muyoung's puzzlement. Namgung Sang lamented to himself. He had a sneaking suspicion that the information his intelligence officers were most eager to gather would continue to be from that side.

"I do not know the threefold measure of all the beauties who dwell in the Hall of Heaven. Alas, I am so ashamed and embarrassed of my ignorance; do you understand my shame?"

With eyes that looked like they might cry, Bi Yantai asked.

"I'm kind of embarrassed that I'm from the same school as you."

With a heavy sigh, Namgungsang replied.

"Tell me more about your power than that. I'm sure you've heard of him since you've been so vocal about him."

Bi Yantai nodded coolly at the Namgung Sang's request.

"Who do you think I am? Of course I know. Figuring that out is a cakewalk compared to figuring out the favorite underwear color of a beauty queen, or her trim figure, or her bodily secrets."

"Oh, yeah?"

By now, Namgungsang had no energy left to argue.

"Stop it. If you keep going, you're going to make us look like half the gang."

In place of the groggy captain, the dazed staff, and the cowering Maharajah, Yong Chun-myung stepped forward.

"Isn't that a bit naughty."

Bi Yantai grumbled. Maharishi spoke impatiently.

"I think that's a natural reaction, right? A woman must prepare herself for the beast."

Though he had taken the sword of iron, he had no intention of taking the sword under his tongue.

"But who did you get this information from, and is the source credible?"

Namgungsang, who has a reputation for being cautious and sometimes timid, replied.

"Of course you can trust me."

"Who, that?"

"A man like me, with a noble heart, who loves and appreciates female beauty. It was like meeting Ziggy, mmm!"

Bi Yantai smiled wryly and nodded, seemingly content just to recall the encounter once more. But the four of them were no longer convinced.

"So, who the hell is that jiggy?"

"Jagun, he called himself Jagun. What did he say because of his star sign? Oh, right! Unabomber. Well, everything else is good, but that naming sense is hard to beat. Great guy!"

Four people were confused as to whether it was meant as a compliment or vice versa.

"Oh, you mean him? You were able to extract information from someone with such a unique mental structure, weren't you, senior?"

"Oh, that's right, we made a deal."

Bi Yantai replied, jumping up and down with joy, and the sight of him made the maharishi frown. She felt an instinctive disgust and went into an unconscious defensive posture. This was the same Maha Ling who had brought victory to the Dragonborn. She was strong. But her instincts were warning her to be careful, that this man was dangerous, and she didn't feel inclined to heed those warnings.

"Deal? No way……?"

Bi Yantai nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, we didn't trade information about our side of the world. You can't trade something like that."

Do you think he doesn't know something as basic as that? That's what Bi Yantai was saying. But looking at him, the four of them were worried about every single one of them, and he seemed to lack the most elemental thing: common sense.

"So what did you trade for?"

"That's something he's very excited about."

"What the hell is that?"

"Isn't that obvious? It's about the black swallow, the gas guzzler."

At Bi Yantai's confident answer, the Namgung Sang bowed his head deeply. So it wasn't 'information about our side' after all. Baek Mu-young, who was the quickest of the group to regain his senses, expressed his puzzlement.

"The information from the Yeonbi Sojae, was that really that decisive?"

"Of course not. It's for the proposal."

Maharishi replied, excitedly.

"A marriage proposal? Wasn't that a joke?"

"Well… at least it looked genuine to me. Those are not the eyes of a liar."

I didn't bother to add that it could be the narcissistic human eye.

"So, did you hand it over?"

At Namgungsang's nervous confirmation, Bi Yeontae shook her head.

"That information is priceless, even among those in our industry. It's not quite as valuable as Bing Bing Bong Na Yerin's, but its value has been rising rapidly in recent years. But there's too little of it. Dozens of people have clung to it, and they haven't gotten a single piece of information, a single piece of underwear. No one, not a single one. And that's a shame."

"That's an iron wall."

"You're right, it's a shame. Cancer, too bad."

"That's a bit reassuring to hear. If even one more woman is safe from the wolves, that's a huge win for women."

Maharishi's voice was chilling.

"You don't have to look at it that way, just try to be a little more open-minded."

"If you do, you're going to fall prey to the wolves."

Maharaj's response was still blunt.

"Even I have not yet succeeded in obtaining information on Yeonbi Sojaes. However, the amount of information I have is the most extensive, especially about me, as I am a rare and hard-to-find piece of information. Information on the Seven Peaks of the Heavenly Martial Academy is always highly prized, black or white."

Hearing this, the Maharishi's complexion turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Whoa, that doesn't mean there's information about me in there, does it?"

"No, it's there, why wouldn't it be?"

"You can't have your weight in it!

I didn't want that to happen.

I'll kill you right now!" He was about to pounce and beat Bi Yantai to a pulp when Long Tianming rushed in and barely calmed him down.

"Just tell me what you need, sir. While I can still stop her."

With a little more time, I wasn't sure if Long Tianming would be able to stop Mach.

"Hmm, I see. In a nutshell, Kang Ho Randoran……."

Bi Yantai began to unpack the treasure trove of information she had learned. As the story continued, surprise appeared on the faces of the four men in the Southern Palace.

The place was not at all what they had expected.

* * *

"The mighty lake… Lando(江湖亂島)……?"

Na Yerin rolled the name she'd heard from Yanbi around in her mouth once.

"Judging by the name, it must be an island, right?"

"But… I've never heard that name before."

That's where she got stuck.

"Yeah, well, if it's a famous island, it's definitely on our radar."

The information was woefully inadequate.

"The young man said it was like heaven on earth, with all the entertainment in one place……."

Na Yerin, who was practically a veteran in that area, couldn't seem to get the picture in her head.

"Hmm… does that mean it's a secret nightclub…… beyond the reach of the law?"

This means that……

"This is where the money of the night is…… this is suddenly interesting!"

Yeonbi said, smiling broadly.

"Yes?"

Na Yerin is puzzled by his cheerfulness.

"This could get pretty interesting."

Now the lights of the pagoda were sinking into darkness, leaving only a faint remnant.

* * *

Same time.

In the Thirteenth Dormitory Instructor's Quarters within the Heavenly Palace, Yeomdo and Binggum were making plans for the training of the guards and pondering how to keep them on their toes. Compared to the Temple of Heaven, where they were trained to react instantly to any eventuality, the system at the Heavenly Martial Academy was far too relaxed. It was only natural for a person of sound judgment to feel alarmed that they would only become fodder for the Temple of Heaven if they continued to be lax in their approach and mental state.

Smart!

"Who?"

Binggum asked, not taking his eyes off the plans that outlined the various options.

"It's us."

"Come in."

Soon, the door opened and two men and women walked in, both martial artists of exceptional prayer: the Amu Goddess Qin Xiaoling and the Divine Sword of Divination Yue Yunsheng, who had volunteered to lead the way.

"Did you check where the kids went?"

Bingum asked first.

"Yes, but I didn't expect everyone to get on a boat and head out of the city."

"A ship? Where are we going?"

"Yes, it's called Kanghorandoran Island in the Dongjing Lake. Apparently it's a popular nightlife destination on the Black Sea. The boats seem to leave on a regular basis on their scheduled rest days. I guess they won't be back for a few days."

Suddenly, Bing'er's body twitched. Sharp needles seemed to surge out of his body.

"Did you just say nightlife, and a night out?"

Binggum asked in a hushed voice.

"What? Oh, it's a nightlife destination, yes, but it's not a night out, it's just a group trip for a few days……."

Boom!

The ice sword slammed down hard on the table.

"Shut up!"

He burst out laughing.

"That's not a night out, that's an unauthorized night out, a night out without your father's permission, do you think that's even possible, do you?"

As he stared at Yue Yun, his eyes flashed with a celestial glow.

"That… shouldn't be…… shouldn't be."

With a chill in her step, Yoo Eun-sung couldn't help but answer.

"Oh no, I'm going to have to go after him now."

Binggum said, scrambling out of his seat.

"Hey, Iceberg, I thought we agreed to stay out of this between the kids?"

Yeomdo, who was sitting at the table, flicked his fingers behind his ears.

"You've changed your mind."

"Why?"

"There's a Sulji in them. I've never allowed my daughter to stay overnight without permission, so if you ever see anyone flirting with her, please contact me at …….."

"What if?"

"He should see how cool my sword feels to the touch."

Binggum said forcefully.

"Is this really the same ice-blade old man whose temper is as cold as the north wind and whose reputation is for being cool and calm?

It's not unreasonable for such questions to have been brewing in Eunsung's mind.

"Would you like to leave now?"

Qin Xiaoling asked in a calm voice.

"Is there still a boat?"

"There's a ship headed there in one hour."

He had already found out. In fact, Qin Xiaoling was worried about him, too. If there wasn't another transportation, he would have boarded the ship with him. Luckily, there was another one, and he was able to make this report.

"Good, let's get you guys ready."

"Yes, I understand."

Jin So-ryung and Yoo Eun-sung took up positions and went to prepare.

"Iceberg, I've never seen you so excited."

It was a refreshing sight. Yeomdo had often wondered if emotions didn't exist in those cipherlike cold-blooded humans.

"Fireball, you'll know when you have a daughter, that's what fatherhood is."

"You're gonna hate me for that."

Yeomdo, who thought I was bragging, said something.

"Leave him alone. Some thief may steal that child from my side, but not before!"

Binggum said in a stern voice. Yeomdo swallowed hard.

"You're calling him a thief before you've met him, before you've even seen him, before you've seen if he's there or not. If I ever get a whisper from him asking for my daughter, I'm going to start by punching him in the face."

"Hmph. Leave the sword behind."

"……You're not going to turn your daughter into a bhikkhu, are you?"

This is what a father with a daughter feels like, and it was out of his realm of understanding, as he hadn't even been married yet, let alone had a child.

"……You'd have to be at least as strong as me to take him."

With those heavy words, Binggum began to prepare himself.