Chapter 54

Part 4: Vessel

“By the way, who is that guard?”

“From what I saw earlier, he seems to be the First Young Master’s bodyguard…?”

“A bodyguard? A mere guard?”

The conversations exchanged by Fourth Young Master’s warriors nearby could be heard, but none of it reached the ears of the Life-Severing Ghost Sword.

He merely gazed at the bustling scene of Jamae-won with deep eyes.

‘Jamae-won…’

A facility operated with the First Young Master’s own money.

A place that made use of the Medicine Fairy’s shrines throughout Luoyang to distribute food for free and provide medical treatment in the slums.

“Hehe, do you finally understand our master’s greatness?”

“Thanks to that, Wongakjeong is treated like leftovers by the Inner Court, though.”

The triplet maids spoke to him proudly.

“…What does the Inner Court have to do with this?”

At that, they began grumbling.

“Because all the funds used to run this place come from the Inner Court’s budget.”

“The Inner Court is the department in charge of serving the clan head and his direct blood relatives.”

“But Master does not receive the Inner Court’s service. Instead, he takes the maximum budget Wongakjeong can receive and uses all of it here.”

“Hehe, are you surprised that mere maids like us know about the Inner Court’s flow of funds?”

“…Actually, we only found out recently while helping the maid chief with her work.”

“Hey…! You didn’t need to say that.”

He stroked his beard.

‘…So that was why.’

The hostility he had sensed when he visited the Inner Court steward to get Jeong-ah’s outdoor clothes.

Even if the other party was Yeon Sang-hyeon, called Swordless, there had been many aspects of their attitude that were difficult to understand.

But now he could understand.

Was Yeon Sang-hyeon not using almost all of the budget assigned by the Luoyang Sword Clan for his own sake for the poor instead?

“What an absurd person…”

He recalled what Yeon Sang-hyeon usually wore and ate.

Plain cotton clothes worn by commoners, and meals that were merely large in quantity.

Most of what he consumed was supplied within Wongakjeong itself, and other than that, the goods brought in as gifts were enough.

If one had to call anything a luxury, it would be all the books he bought in enormous quantities.

He recalled the poor kissing Yeon Sang-hyeon’s hands, his feet, and the hem of his clothes.

‘Is this what it means for one’s vessel to be different?’

Now, seeing the image of his lord—who had been like a mountain range—in that boy’s figure was gradually becoming something familiar to him.

With Fourth Young Master seated beside him, Yeon Sang-hyeon was listening to recent updates from a white-haired old physician and an old woman leaning on a cane.

“As you must have seen in the report, the situation is good. Not only here in this ‘Walnut Village,’ but in the other slums as well.”

The old physician was the person in charge of this Walnut Village Jamae-won.

Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.

“It must be due to the special demand created by the Dragon-Phoenix Conference.”

“That is correct. Thanks to that, the number of injured people has increased countless times over, so much so that our backs are about to break.”

He laughed heartily.

The old woman beside him cut in.

She was the shaman of the Fairy Cult in charge of the shrine in Walnut Village.

“Even so, is it not better than the days when people were starving to death everywhere? Back then, even clearing away the dried-up corpses from the streets was work.”

The complexions of the scholars standing behind them worsened when they heard that.

“And the collapse of the Black Bone Sect has also been quite helpful in its own way.”

The old woman spoke to Yeon Sang-hyeon.

“As the human-flesh factories they operated were shut down along with them, the number of disappearances with unknown causes has decreased.”

“And the number of parents selling off their children has decreased as well. There are more children on the streets now.”

The scholars’ faces turned pale.

Yeon Sang-hyeon clicked his tongue.

“That will be nothing more than a temporary phenomenon. Because of the special demand, people have more money in their pockets than usual, so they will seek meat even more.”

“After all, shops that handle human meat tend to be cheaper.”

“There is information that other organizations in the Underworld are rushing to open human-flesh factories these days. They must have smelled money.”

“We have been steadily strengthening religious education for parents who visit Jamae-won. We are teaching them that if they sell and eat their children, they will not receive salvation from the Medicine Fairy.”

“Even so, it is true that things are improving compared to the days when the remaining family members boiled and ate their dead children.”

Several scholars with weak stomachs rushed outside.

Fourth Young Master covered his face in shame.

“Are there any other suggestions?”

At Yeon Sang-hyeon’s question, the old physician carefully brought up a matter.

“There are still far too many slums beyond our reach. However, the support we can provide has remained stagnant…”

Even though exhaustion clung heavily to his face, the old physician was worrying about other slums.

Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.

“Do not worry about that. From now on, there will only be more work, not less.”

At his words, the faces of the old physician and the old woman brightened.

However, they did not ask for any further details.

To them, Yeon Sang-hyeon was an object of faith, an absolute being.

If he said it would be so, then it would be so.

“Ah, there is one peculiar matter that has continued to occur.”

At the old woman’s words, Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.

“I confirmed it in the intelligence report. There is a righteous thief helping the poor, yes?”

“Yes. Wealth left behind by him has entered even our Walnut Village Jamae-won before.”

“You handled its disposal carefully, I presume?”

The old physician smiled.

“Of course. Stolen goods may be traced, after all. We divided it among several experts connected to Jamae-won and had them dispose of it separately.”

“They are all devout believers, so you need not worry.”

Fourth Young Master, who had only been listening from the side, clicked his tongue in admiration.

They were exceptionally capable people.

“What about the Demonic Cult?”

At that question, everyone’s attention gathered.

“…As for that…”

The old woman glanced around, conscious of their surroundings.

Yeon Sang-hyeon placed an arm around the shoulder of Fourth Young Master, who had been sitting quietly beside him and listening.

“My younger brother is not only adorable, but also intelligent. You need not worry about anything said here leaking outside.”

At his words, Fourth Young Master’s nose rose proudly.

The old woman looked at him for a moment with a smile, then carefully began speaking.

“We are preventing the Demonic Cult from infiltrating through faith in the Medicine Fairy, but they still clearly exist.”

“When those whose hearts are weak experience shocking events, they are bound to be swayed more easily by radical doctrines.”

“We have been supplementing and strengthening our doctrines further, but…”

“I will help with that part.”

At their conversation, expressions of surprise appeared on the faces of those around them.

Unlike what their common sense told them, the Fairy Cult was not a simple religious group built on nothing more than prayer for blessings like ordinary religious organizations.

‘Does this mean honored elder brother designed the Medicine Fairy’s doctrines so they would serve as a dam against the Demonic Cult?!’

Behind those doctrines was a meticulous design meant to prevent the moral corruption of the people and stop Luoyang from being eroded by a radical religion.

‘Is this honored elder brother’s vessel?’

Fourth Young Master looked with trembling eyes at the existence he could never hope to catch up to.

“As for the other matters, let us discuss them in writing…”

Yeon Sang-hyeon looked at his younger brother.

Fourth Young Master came to his senses.

Now it seemed his honored elder brother was about to get to the main point.

“If the residents of all of Walnut Village had to be relocated, would it be possible without unnecessary bloodshed?”

Everyone’s attention focused on them.

There had been one surprise after another, but in the end, was this not the reason they had come this far?

Calmly ignoring the gazes pouring onto them, the two elderly people sank into thought. They exchanged a few opinions in low murmurs, then soon nodded.

“It is possible.”

Exclamations of admiration burst out from those around them.

“Of course, unnecessary bloodshed can be avoided, but a small amount of unavoidable bloodshed will likely occur.”

“Even so, the residents of Walnut Village are deeply faithful, and most of them are quite docile.”

Yeon Sang-hyeon held out a folded sheet of paper.

“Even with this amount?”

That amount was the limit Fourth Young Master’s side could offer.

The two elders unfolded the paper and nodded.

“It is quite a generous offer. With this much, when calculated together with the operating funds of the Walnut Village branch, it is a fully feasible amount.”

The scholars let out cheers.

Some embraced one another, some patted each other’s shoulders, and some even jumped up and down.

Fourth Young Master’s maids also laughed without reserve and clapped hands with one another in delight.

Yeon Sang-hyeon smiled at the sight of them.

His younger brother’s people were, at their core, cheerful, unpretentious, and honest.

Jeong-ah, who possessed the Dragon Eye, seemed to think the same, and she wore a warm smile as she watched them.

Amid their cheers, Yeon Sang-hyeon said to the two elders,

“Later, I will give you several possible situations. Establish feasible plans according to them and practice them so there will be no mistakes.”

“Yes, as you command.”

Seeing that, Fourth Young Master hurriedly cut in.

“Honored elder brother! It is still only in the planning stage.”

They had not even begun purchasing the land in earnest yet, and the investment funds had not all been gathered.

Yeon Sang-hyeon smiled at him.

“Do not worry. Now that this honored elder brother of yours is involved, the plan will be realized, and success is guaranteed.”

“Honored elder brother…”

Fourth Young Master, his face flushed red, gazed at Yeon Sang-hyeon with sparkling eyes.

Just then, the old physician slapped his own knee.

“Ah! So that was why!”

Yeon Sang-hyeon, who had been embracing his younger brother as he rushed into his arms, asked,

“What do you mean?”

The old woman, meeting the old physician’s eyes, nodded.

“That must be why, for the past few days, some low-level Underworld gangs we had never seen around here before have suddenly been causing trouble for no reason.”

“Perhaps the current landowners feared that their transaction with the Sword Clan might fall through…”

Yeon Sang-hyeon took over.

“So they intended to make the first move and drive out the residents in advance?”

The two elders expressed their concern.

“We thought they were merely newly formed organizations after the Black Bone Sect’s fall, marking their territory.”

At that moment, Fourth Young Master, who had been sitting on Yeon Sang-hyeon’s lap, cut in.

“Elders, you need not worry about that by now.”

**

A wealthy household in Luoyang.

When the owner heard that someone from the Luoyang Sword Clan had visited, he had hurriedly gathered others who, like him, held land in Walnut Village.

And now, they were trembling before that person from the Luoyang Sword Clan.

Some had even wet themselves.

“If so, the possibility is high that their acts of violence will become even more severe from now on.”

The man said not a single word.

He merely repeated the motion of throwing and catching the throwing knife in his hand.

The heads of the Underworld gang members the landlords had hired were rolling around the room.

They were heads with stupid expressions, as though they did not even know what had killed them.

And those heads were spilling blood that had not yet cooled.

The throwing knife the man tossed and caught had an ominous blue sheen.

The sharp, acrid smell of unknown origin that pierced their noses made the landlords tremble even more.

Just by looking at that throwing knife, they could understand why every one of the heads had a deep purple complexion, and why the blood flowing out from them had such a strange color.

The man’s gaze was fierce and sharp like that of a venomous snake, and even the sound of his breathing felt cold.

It was a tattoo that anyone with even a little knowledge of martial sects could never fail to recognize.

‘S-Sichuan Tang Clan…!’

Today, they were learning a lesson they would never forget.

In a suffocating silence.

***

He merely threw the throwing knife and caught it.

There was none of the common aura or killing intent that martial artists were said to emit.

He simply looked at them, like a beast quietly aiming for its prey’s throat in the darkness.

One landlord’s gaze turned toward the man’s nape.

Above the Luoyang Sword Clan martial uniform, a chilling snake tattoo poked its head out and flicked its tongue.

‘That is…?!’

Yeon Sang-hyeon repeatedly stroked his younger brother’s head.

“Oh my, as expected of my little brother. How can you be this clever?”

Fourth Young Master snuggled even deeper into his elder brother’s embrace.

“Praise me more! Honored elder brother!”

The smile filling his young face was utterly pure.

Beneath that skin, which showed spotless innocence, flowed blood that gave off an acrid scent.

It was the distinct bloodline of the clan that had once proudly called itself the overlord of Sichuan.