Going To Tianshan (1)

“The captain went somewhere else.”

Cheong Yeon searched for every trace. But he could not tell where Neung Je-gang had gone. Even so, there was one thing he could tell. He had clearly gone after the culprits.

“Where?”

“I don’t know that. First, we’ll contact the Eastern Depot and put out a search for the captain’s destination.”

Ma-jil had already gone to look at the graves of Nam Yeong and Bibun that Neung Je-gang had made. It was unfortunate, but that was reality.

Ma-jil clenched his teeth. He felt wronged. While his master had been killed by the hands of enemies like this, he had been in Beijing, happily learning pickpocketing skills.

“Let’s go!”

Ma-jil shouted and stood up.

“Where?”

Cheong Yeon looked at Ma-jil with startled eyes. He had not expected him to bow only once before his master’s grave and then ask to leave so quickly.

“We need to quickly find out where the captain went and chase after him.”

“The captain said he would take revenge.”

“I know. Even if I chase after him, I probably won’t be of much use anyway. But the old man who acknowledged me died. If I don’t do anything, I might have to live my whole life feeling sorry. I don’t want to live like that. So use all the Eastern Depot’s intelligence network if you have to and find the captain for me. I absolutely have to go there.”

Ma-jil seemed as if he might even plead with Cheong Yeon. Bibun’s death was the same to Ma-jil as the death of a parent. He was the first person in his life who had given him the feeling of family.

“Fine. I’ll contact the Eastern Depot and also contact the Hall of Ten Thousand Sounds of the Black Alliance. I’ll search the entire Central Plains if I must and find where the captain went. But keep this in mind. We may not find him. If the captain decides to hide himself, finding him will not be easy.”

“I know. Just try to find him first. If we can’t find him, then there’s nothing we can do.”

Was it because of Cheong Yeon’s calm reply? The excitement gradually subsided from Ma-jil’s voice.

Gongsun Gyeong-in had nothing to say. He simply felt sorry for Ma-jil. He could only feel regret that the digging master he had heard about had died tragically. It was the day he learned that a great star of the thief world had fallen.

Je So-yeon did not leave Nam Yeong’s grave. Privately, he had been her teacher, and he was someone she would have served as her future father-in-law. That affection was not simple.

The sky over Antang Mountain, covered in clouds, felt nothing but gloomy.

Neung Je-gang felt that the old man’s atmosphere had changed. Was it unease, embarrassment, or perhaps fear?

“Hmm! Is it still far?”

“No. We only need to go another half day now.”

Ever since the old man had seen Neung Je-gang beat Ghost Blade to death, he had not been able to speak informally.

“If it is another half day, then it seems best to spend the night somewhere suitable.”

“I think that would be good.”

The old man knew well a place suitable for camping, as Neung Je-gang had mentioned. It was a place with a suitable space to spend the night and firewood scattered everywhere. There, Neung Je-gang and the old man roughly filled their stomachs and went to sleep early.

Darkness in the mountains progressed quickly. It was not yet time to sleep in the human world, but in the mountains, there was nothing to do anyway, so there was no choice but to lie down and try to sleep.

They had been lying there for quite some time. When there was still a little time left before midnight, the old man sat up. He took a small pipe from his bosom, filled it with tobacco, and lit it by making fire with his finger.

‘Samadhi True Fire.’

Neung Je-gang was not asleep. He was not so foolish as to carelessly fall asleep at a moment like this.

‘I knew his skill was no ordinary thing, but Samadhi True Fire? That makes him almost a supreme master.’

The old man looked at Neung Je-gang, smoked his tobacco, and let out a deep sigh. If even the slightest killing intent had arisen from him, Neung Je-gang would have acted first.

After finishing his tobacco, the old man looked at Neung Je-gang lying down. He stayed like that for a while, then went back to his place and lay down. It was obvious from the way he tossed and turned for a long time that he could not sleep. Was he uneasy about something? Neung Je-gang could not know why he was doing that.

Day broke. The two men, awakened by the cold wind of dawn, found a valley, washed their faces, and set off again.

“Mushik Poison Demon lives deep inside the valley you see here.”

After one night, the old man once again spoke informally to Neung Je-gang. He also no longer looked uneasy. Somehow, he looked like a Taoist who had realized something while cultivating the Dao.

“Understood. Then what will you do? Will you wait here?”

“I will.”

The old man answered that way as he sat down in a suitable place. Neung Je-gang looked at the old man’s face, smiled lightly, and then walked into the valley.