Part 1,

Chapter 50. Fortune

So-hwa faintly furrowed her brows in displeasure.

There was no telling how long she had been watched.

She removed the ring from her hand and placed it back into the case. At that, the man beyond the curtain lightly tapped his lips with his fan.

“From what the shop attendant said earlier, that seems to be the most expensive item here.”

The outline of the man was clearly visible through the thin veil. His face couldn’t be seen, but his expression could be guessed. He spoke in a playful, mocking tone.

“If you give an answer worthy of its value, I’ll give it to you as a gift. What do you say?”

It sounded like an offer without a choice.

The murderous intent drifting from beyond the black curtain and the still air around her made that clear.

The man took her silence as agreement and opened his mouth.

“Have you ever trained in Fiery Yang Art?”

So-hwa’s lips curled slightly to one side.

“They say no martial artists are allowed in here, and yet you’re asking a customer about martial arts. How strange.”

In response to her sarcastic remark, the man countered:

“Are you saying you haven’t?”

“I’ve heard many fanciful tales about the lost martial arts of the Great Desert Solar Palace, but I have neither learned them nor witnessed their martial arts. Ah, although I did recently see traces of Fire Art.”

The man fell silent at her answer.

It didn’t seem like a bad reaction. The pressure that had been choking her began to ease. The heavy killing intent was beginning to disperse.

The man rested his chin on his fan and tilted his head.

“What you said is a bit strange. You claim to have neither learned nor witnessed Fire Art, so how do you know it was a trace of it?”

A calm voice flowed from between So-hwa’s red lips.

“A few days ago, I examined a patient whose body temperature had risen abnormally, yet there were no internal injuries that could explain it. Of course, there was something odd. The closer the organ was to the meridians, the hotter it was. When I traced those meridians, they formed a path—like a well-cleared meridian channel.”

Facing the large shadow, So-hwa asked in return:

“If there’s a correlation between unexplained body heat and the meridians, isn’t it only natural to suspect the nature of the internal energy? I’m suggesting the heat wasn’t a symptom but rather that the meridians were filled with heat. If an unconscious martial artist’s meridians are radiating heat, it would only be logical to conclude that someone injected that heat into them.”

“Did you treat that patient?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

So-hwa gently curved her lips into a smile. Removing her fingers from the butterfly’s waist, she asked:

“Is this item worth that much?”

The smile that had lingered on her red lips slowly faded.

“Doesn’t seem worth telling you the method to counter the martial art.”

Silence followed, but the man soon broke it with a chuckle.

“Hmm, I thought you liked it?”

“Not that much.”

“No, that’s exactly how much.”

Lowering his voice, the man added,

“The value of your countermeasure isn’t all that high.”

So-hwa thought of the treatment method she had left at the Shaanxi branch.

“Have you already obtained the countermeasure?”

“Hmm? I thought you were sharp, but it seems you have the inefficient habit of asking what you already know.”

“You’re the one being inefficient. If you already got the method, why bring me here?”

The man seemed to lean forward, and the shadow on the curtain lowered.

“I prefer to hear important things from the person involved, not others. Also…”

He was close enough for his breath to be felt.

A languid voice cut through the silence.

“I wanted to see you in person.”

The man straightened up again with a laugh.

“Don’t go to the Hubei branch.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“I don’t want to kill you anymore.”

He added with a mocking tone,

“At least, for now.”

So-hwa let out a scoffing laugh without realizing it. The man asked in a dissatisfied voice,

“Why are you laughing?”

So-hwa answered plainly.

“If killing me is as easy as your mood allows, then it wouldn’t be much of a problem even if I went to the Hubei branch.”

Her gaze dropped to the edge of the curtain, to the man’s feet.

She took in the sight of the feet that had come right up close, as if the curtain would be pulled back at any moment, then looked up again.

“Isn’t it funny, you running all the way here just to ramble on?”

A sigh-like breath was heard.

The man tapped his head lightly with his fan and spoke.

“I understand why you’d look down on me. But as you probably know, organizations are like that. With so many people chiming in, it’s hard to act as I wish.”

He seemed about to say more, but swallowed his words.

“If the order comes down to kill you, I won’t be able to do anything about it. So don’t draw any more attention.”

“That’s a rude thing to say. The Murim Alliance is not a place to be treated like a group similar to the Blood Demon Sect.”

So-hwa threw out the comment in a mocking tone to gauge the man’s affiliation, and he fell for it without suspicion.

“People from the orthodox side always get hung up on trivial things. The Blood Sect and the Murim Alliance are about the same size. Actually, we’re even bigger.”

The man didn’t deny being from the Blood Sect, and that left So-hwa feeling conflicted. It confirmed that the Anguk Merchant Group was connected to the Blood Sect.

But what business could Namgung Hyun have had with the Anguk Merchant Group in the past? He, too, must be involved with the Blood Sect.

Even though she had uncovered a fact about the sect, her mind only grew more tangled. So-hwa continued speaking calmly, trying not to show it.

“If I don’t listen to you, I wonder what will happen.”

Was it just her imagination?

She felt as though the Blood Sect bastard behind the curtain was smirking.

“Then we’ll meet again.”

“To have to see a dog of the Blood Sect again, what rotten fortune.”

“Haha.”

The man laughed, covering his face with his fan.

As the laughter died down, he lowered his head playfully.

“May the orthodox young lady’s fortune change—this Blood Sect dog will pray hard for it.”

Before he even finished speaking, his presence vanished like a snuffed-out candle. Only the fluttering curtain in the breeze remained, reminding her that the conversation had been real.

So-hwa opened her clenched fist.

She hadn’t even realized, but she had gripped it tightly enough to leave nail marks between her fingers.

Shaking off the unpleasant tension, she exited the shop.

As soon as she stepped outside, she stopped walking. At some point, all four members of the Black Tiger Unit had come out and were standing beside Cheolho.

Han-won, noticing her, quickly approached and looked her over. He seemed upset, but tried to cover it up by asking casually,

“Did you not buy anything?”

So-hwa looked quietly down at her hand and replied,

“It was too expensive.”

“Merchants are always like that. Well, try wearing something a little more shabby next time.”

“If the Young Lady had dressed shabbily, she wouldn’t have been let in at all.”

Ranhee scolded Han-won for his comment.

Apparently agreeing, Han-won nodded.

Seeing the peaceful mood, it seemed Cheolho hadn’t informed them. So-hwa glanced at his grim expression, then looked away and began to walk.

She had a lot to think about, so she planned to return to the inn and organize her thoughts before the Hubei branch martial artists arrived. But someone called out to her from behind.

“Young Lady!”

The shop attendant who had assisted her came running over. But before he could reach So-hwa, Han-won blocked his path.

“Oh dear, look at these eyes! You’ll hit someone! Here, instead of glaring, take this!”

The attendant hastily handed a small box to Han-won. Instead of accepting it, Han-won asked,

“What is this?”

“A gift. Our master instructed me to give it to the Young Lady.”

Calling the bastard his “master”, the attendant made a big fuss.

“This is a valuable item meant to go into the Platinum Pavilion. Once it’s there, you can’t get it even if you pay!”

Noticing So-hwa’s indifferent reaction, the attendant added quickly. She looked down and asked.

“Was it the ring you showed earlier?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

The attendant opened the box himself and took out the ring to show her.

It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, but So-hwa didn’t particularly want it. Without having gone through Ye-hwa, it held no meaning.

Her gaze rose again. The windowless, sealed building was stained red by the sunset. In a cold voice, she added,

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I will not accept it.”

“Pardon? Why not?”

“Because it’s something I haven’t paid for.”

“Oh no, please. It’s just a gift. Don’t feel pressured.”

So-hwa looked down, then spoke to the attendant with an expressionless face.

“Tell your master I don’t deal with those who ask outrageous prices.”

“A-ah, but if you don’t accept it, I’ll be in trouble!”

The attendant flailed exaggeratedly in mock distress, but So-hwa and the Black Tiger Unit martial artists left the shop without a word.

***

Haerak leaned back in his chair. He stared at the paper slipped between his fingers. It was a letter from a member of the Sichuan branch.

『Lure the heat using the cold energy of the Extreme Ice Grass, then absorb it. Presumed to follow the principle of energy absorption…』

At first, he thought it might be the divine physician’s medical skill and was secretly impressed, but it was written that the daughter of the Clan Head of the Tang Clan had devised the treatment method. It said she had noticed the Solar Palace’s Fire Art.

『… The Mount Hua Sect’s Muso’s name token. Promised to exchange a token of gratitude at the Murim Alliance’s Martial Arts Tournament…』

The report about Tang So-hwa continued. Most of it concerned the Mount Hua Sect elder, Muso. But Muso’s goodwill didn’t interest Haerak. What piqued his curiosity was the final phrase.

『A single glance topples a nation; a smile worth a thousand gold.』

A single glance topples a nation. A smile worth a thousand gold.

It referred to a breathtaking beauty. It couldn’t have been said about Muso, who was well into his forties — it must’ve been about the daughter of the Clan Head of the Tang Clan. From the way the letter ended, it seemed the writer had hesitated before including the phrase.

The Hall Lord of the Main Blood Hall had a taste for beauty. He coveted rare treasures and beautiful things. Even if they were useless, as long as they brought visual or auditory pleasure, he placed great value on them.

Thus, those who knew his taste refrained from speaking lightly of aesthetic matters in his presence.

So, this was not merely about physical beauty.

The second part of the phrase also bothered him. “A smile worth a thousand gold”

Why attach such a phrase, which implies wasting a fortune on something frivolous, to a beautiful woman?

In truth, Haerak had understood the implication immediately.

The two phrases together pointed to one thing.

Bao Si.

It was the woman the old geezer always claimed as the greatest beauty in the history of the Central Plains.

Everyone has their preferences and sense of aesthetics, so the standards for beauty vary widely.

Bao Si was exactly to the Blood Demon’s taste.

__________________

__________________

__________________

*Bao Si – She was a famous beauty in ancient China. She was the favorite consort of King You of Zhou, who became obsessed with making her smile. Since she rarely laughed, he lit emergency beacons—used for calling soldiers to battle—just to amuse her. When enemies actually attacked, no one believed the signals, leading to the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep