Episode 232

“Don’t move! The one who moves is the culprit!”

“… what?”

“Please understand. It isn’t like you’ve only known us a day or two.”

Baek Cheon sighed, looking at Chung Myung.

The sack that held the Purple Wood Grass lay on Chung Myung’s back. As soon they returned to the Palace, he grabbed onto the sack, saying he would protect it.

“So cute.”

“Don’t say that even as a joke; I feel creeped out.”

At Jo Gul’s trembling words, Baek Cheon laughed.

‘Of course, Chung Myung is amazing, but…’

‘But it isn’t something I cannot not understand…’

Just because they had done their task easier than they thought they would, it didn’t make it any less important. Only with this herb could the Soul Vitality Pill even be made in Mount Hua.

Because of that, that herb was more precious than gold to Mount Hua. It was only natural that Chung Myung’s nerves weren’t calming down.

“Since it is so important, I cannot leave it here for others to protect. We should get back to Mount Hua as soon as possible.”

Chung Myung nodded his head.

“The elder’s necks must have gotten longer by an inch.”

“…”

Baek Cheon imagined the elders with an inch-long neck and shook his head.

‘Right, this journey took longer than I thought.’

Who could have thought that they would have to go through so much to get their hands on the herb?

When he thought about it, Baek Cheon felt like the time he had spent was too precious. He turned his head and looked at the other disciples.

“Are you ready to leave?”

“There is nothing more left to prepare. We don’t have any luggage.”

“Um. Right.”

He nodded quietly. Then, looking at Chung Myung, he spoke in a slight voice.

“Then, without delay, let’s greet the Beast Palace Lord and leave. Since he showed us a lot of favor, we need to properly greet him before we leave.”

“Well, we should do that.”

Chung Myung nodded his head.

In his opinion, he wanted to leave right away, but they had to make a good relationship with the Beast Palace Lord.

‘Because he has the purple wood grass.’

Chung Myung frowned.

The more he thought, the smarter the Lord seemed to him. He gave them the herbs and then won the favor of Mount Hua. He even made a new growing field for the other half of the herbs in a new place.

Of course, this was beneficial for Mount Hua too, since they had a lot of herbs in hand, and now there was the future possibility of having it supplied.

At that time, Yoon Jong and Jo Gul sneakily approached Chung Myung.

“What! Don’t approach me so recklessly!”

“We won’t take it, brat! We are people of Mount Hua too!”

Jo Gul screamed and felt shocked. Yoon Jong opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“Chung Myung.”

“Uh?”

“I have something to ask you.”

“Uh?”

Chung Myung tilted his head with a serious attitude.

“Why do we have to do this?”

Chung Myung glanced at Yoon Jong seriously at that question, and Yoon Jong spoke up in a calm manner.

“No, think about it.”

“It isn’t like we are blocking the trade to Yunnan, and we aren’t preventing them from coming in! They themselves don’t want to come into the Central Plains, so why do we have to convince them?”

“There are many reasons.”

“And what if people continue to starve? Sahyung… Yoon Jong sahyung. That isn’t our duty or responsibility. No, it is sad. But there are things you can do and things you can not do.”

“No, it isn’t just because of that.”

Jo Gul, who was beside them, waved and said.

“Chung Myung. If sahyung was doing things only with compassion, I would have stopped him before he spoke to you. But when you think about it, it isn’t so simple.”

At Jo Gul’s words, Chung Myung narrowed his eyes.

“Then?”

“Money.”

“Uh?”

“Money!”

Jo Gul’s eyes shone.

As he heard the word ‘money,’ Chung Myung frowned, looking at the two.

“So…’

“I will explain…”

But before Jo Gul spoke, Chung Myung spoke.

“Since the food situation in Yunnan didn’t look good, if we can buy food and then sell it in exchange for Yunnan tea, money can be made, right?”

“Uh…”

“Of course, there will be a small amount of good change, but the supply will be absolutely insufficient. If we can acquire the trade rights to the tea of Yunnan, we can earn much more than the top 10 merchant groups of the Central Plains, can’t we?”

“…”

“And since sahyung can handle it, it would be easy to feed anyone, right?”

Jo Gul was wide-eyed.

“…was what we thought?”

“Did you think I was stupid?”

“Yes!”

“What?”

“No, no.”

Chung Myung smiled.

“I know what sahyung is thinking, but you know one thing and don’t know the other. For us, the important thing is not making money in Yunnan. We have to make sure to maintain a good relationship with the Beast Palace.”

“…”

“I mean, we don’t have to do things for the sake of others. Money? Surely it is important. But there are things more important than money in the world.”

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul looked at Chung Myung and gently exchanged glances.

‘He normally goes crazy at the mention of making money.’

‘And sahyung knew that too! Who knew this money ghost would have a change of heart?’

Chung Myung looked at the two.

“Don’t think of useless things and pack your bags.”

“…uh.”

Yoon Jong groaned and lowered his head.

“Can’t we just try it out and test our luck?”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung looked at Yoon Jong, who didn’t want to give up.

“Doesn’t the Beast Palace Lord take care of you? He might listen to your words. Actually, the fact that the Palace is blocking the trade here is because they don’t like the Central Plains.”

Chung Myung frowned.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t wrong.

After a moment’s thought, he said.

“Really, it is all because of luck.”

“Right. So just once.”

“Instead!”

Chung Myung smiled.

“There will be something sahyung has to prepare.”

“Uh?”

“It isn’t something huge.”

Chung Myung smiled.

“Isn’t it said that one’s appearance makes it easier to negotiate?”

Anxiety struck the faces of Yoon Jong and Jo Gul.

“…”

Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with blank eyes.

“Th…”

“Why?’

“… No.”

He started at his head and looked down to his toes.

“…what is it?”

“So, what?”

“Ugh.”

Baek Cheon took a deep breath.

Chung Myung was dressed in a blue uniform, and he held a fan made of pure white tail feathers in one hand.

It was similar to the look of Zhuge Liang, but it was something of a poorer version.

Chung Myung stood tall with a weird face.

“If you are going to negotiate in Yunnan, you need to dress like this.”

Baek Cheon, who was smiling with his bag on the back, frowned as he turned back. But as soon as he turned, he saw a couple people.

“What is with you people again?”

“…”

Yoon Jong and Jo Gul silently touched their wet eyes with their sleeves.

The white feather fan in Chung Myung’s hands had been made by these two. Chung Myung had demanded a robe for himself and asked for a fan to be made by them. The two of them, unable to get past their thoughts of Kunming, jumped into the jungle with bare feet and chased after a bird with long tail feathers.

Thanks to that, they had been scratched in multiple places on their body due to branches and other angry birds.

‘That damned bastard!’

‘Even a dog won’t bite him!’

Thanks to that, they succeeded in making the white feather fan in the nick of time. The result of those tears and worries was now in the hands of Chung Myung.

“Huhu. As expected, history is bound to repeat itself! At this point, won’t everyone just listen to me? Hehehe.”

Seeing Chung Myung smiling at his own words, Baek Cheon spoke to the others in a serious tone.

“…everyone listen to me very carefully.”

“Yes. Sasuk.”

“When we go back to our place, this stays a secret. If the Zhuge family finds out we tried to impersonate one of their members, they would come after us with swords.”

“…they will.”

The disciples all sighed as they heard Baek Cheon’s words. Either way, Chung Myung was spreading his arms to the left and right, admiring the clothes he had. Then he coughed and said.

“Okay, now the Palace Lord…”

It was then.

“Are you inside?”

“Uh?”

Chung Myung opened the doors at the knock and heard something from outside.

“Our Lord is looking for disciple Chung Myung.”

“Eh?”

Chung Myung titled his head.

“Why?”

“I don’t know the reason. He asked me to inform you to stop by when you had time.”

“Is that so?”

Chung Myung nodded his head.

He had to find out why the Lord wanted to meet him, so he thought that going right away would be better.

“Then I will go.”

“Um…”

“Don’t worry. Because I speak very well. I can probably go around making people believe that I am Zhuge Chung Myung.’

“…I hope Zhuge Chung Myung freezes to death.”

“Ahem!”

Baek Cheon, with a stiff face, watched as Chung Myung began to walk away.

“Kids.”

“Yes, sahyung!”

“Take your bags.”

“Uh?”

“Keep the bags on you at all times so we can move quickly.”

“…yes.”

Baek Cheon looked at Chung Myung with an anxious gaze.

‘Please don’t create trouble, Chung Myung.’

‘Please.’

“You’re here already?”

“Yes. Is there anything special going on?”

“What can… but what is with that outfit?”

“I see you noticed.”

“Hahahaha! Well, can there be a warrior dressed like this?”

“Right? Hehe!”

Chung Myung spread out his arms and sprinted ahead, and sat in front of the Lord.

“I am here because you called for me.”

“Um… Yes. I had something to say, so I called for you.”

“Yes, please speak.”

The Palace Lord looked at Chung Myung.

“It is a bit awkward to say it with my own mouth, but weren’t the disciples of Mount Hua taken care of by the Palace?”

“Ah, you did. Thank you very much.”

This was sincere.

Even if the Plum Blossom Sword Saint was a hero of Yunnan, it wasn’t easy to have the same goodwill to the descendants of the man.

So, Chung Myung had to thank the Palace Lord. However, the Beast Palace Lord opened his mouth with a troubled face.

“I don’t mean to say this, but…”

“Uh?”

Seeing his intense face and twisted body, Chung Myung frowned.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

“Yes.”

The Beast Palace Lord sighed and looked at Chung Myung.

“This is also the request that the Beast Palace is making to Mount Hua, and I, the Lord, Meng So…”

“Wait.”

“Uh?”

“Your name is Meng So?”

Note¹

“Yes.”

“So?” (small)

The Lord nodded his head.

“I was so small that my father called me that.”

“…”

‘No.’

‘What happened for someone who was small to grow up this huge?’

‘Did he eat some kind of body-enhancing fruits?’

“Ahem, anyway!”

The man continued to speak with a little embarrassed face.

“This is also the request from the Lord of the Beast Palace, Meng So to disciple Chung Myung of Mount Hua.”

Chung Myung sat straight.

If this was how he was speaking, then this had to be huge. A person who’s done favors for them needed to be treated right.

“Please tell me.”

“It isn’t something else…”

Meng So, who had been mumbling something, took a deep breath and said.

“I know it is a difficult request, but… can’t Mount Hua engage in trade with Yunnan?”

“…uh?”

“trade…”

“Sorry?”

“The tea trade…”

“…uh?”

“I know that it is difficult.”

Hearing that, Chung Myung asked with a blank face.

“You want to trade tea?”

“Yes.”

“…with Mount Hua?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Chung Myung thought that the whole thing was absurd.

‘No, what is with him?’

‘Isn’t this something that I am supposed to ask him?’

‘Why are things so twisted?’