#23: Red Hare (4) — The Patriarch of Sichuan

Waiting outside the Seol Clan was a man dressed as a peddler.

“I greet you, Sir.”

Jin-hyeon’s eyes lit up.

“Did you find them?”

“Follow me.”

It seemed they had even gone so far as to detain them.

He had only joked—’Better yet, catch and hold them’—but he hadn’t expected them to actually do so.

Thinking the Black Society’s efficiency exceeded expectations, Jin-hyeon followed the peddler.

The place he led to was a forest, well apart from the market.

In a clearing stood Dam Jun with several men, and two blacksmiths bound with rope and gagged.

Dam Jun bowed silently.

Jin-hyeon jerked his chin at the two kneeling men.

“These the ones?”

“They are.”

Dam Jun’s tone was more deferential than ever.

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“Remove the gags.”

The men behind Dam Jun untied them.

“Huuh! Huuh!”

“Sp-spare us!”

Jin-hyeon crouched before them with a smile.

“I thought at least something would be broken, but you’re intact.”

Indeed, they were uninjured. There were no bruises, or swelling on their faces at all.

Dam Jun asked,

“Shall we break their limbs?”

The two turned pale.

“That’ll depend on their answers, whether they lose their limbs, heads, or end up crippled.”

“Understood.”

Jin-hyeon placed a hand on the shoulder of the man to the right.

“Good muscles. Shoulders well built. With this, your back must be thick as well.”

“Spare me!”

“You’re blacksmiths of the Yeo Family Ironworks, are you not?”

“Y-yes, we are!”

“You’ve trained well. I’ve seen many blacksmiths, but without endless hammering you don’t get muscle like this.”

“!”

“What’s your name?”

“Y-Yeo Hum!”

Jin-hyeon turned to the left-hand man.

“And you?”

“Heo Kang.”

Dam Jun added,

“Heo Kang is one of the head smiths, and Yeo Hum is deputy master of the Ironworks.”

Jin-hyeon nodded and rose.

The two swallowed nervously.

He stepped back a few paces and sat down on the bare ground.

“Whoever speaks first keeps his bones whole. Stay silent, you both end up cripples.”

“!!”

“You’ve done wrong of late, haven’t you?”

The two glanced at each other, swallowing.

Jin-hyeon told Dam Jun,

“Sever the tendons in their right feet. Both of them.”

At his signal, the men drew their daggers.

Startled, Yeo Hum and Heo Kang shouted.

“Forgive us!”

“We—we received money!”

“Ah! Two hundred taels from the master of the Hwangpyo Ironworks!”

They babbled over each other, spilling where and from whom they had taken coin, which made Jin-hyeon think it was pathetic how eagerly they sold themselves.

Jin-hyeon raised a finger to his lips.

Their mouths snapped shut at once.

“Is that all?”

“Wh-what?”

Jin-hyeon’s gaze turned cold.

“Make me repeat myself once more, and you die.”

Terrified, they babbled new confessions.

One after another their sins spilled out. Heo Kang had stolen, even beaten a beggar to death; Yeo Hum had dodged tavern debts and embezzled guild funds to gamble them away.

As their long litany of crimes dragged on, Jin-hyeon listened with calm, even boredom.

“And… and with the Seol Clan’s swords…!”

Yeo Hum clenched his teeth.

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“The swords—what about them?”

“…Are you perhaps from the Seol Clan?”

Jin-hyeon sighed.

Startled, Yeo Hum cried,

“Forgive us! Heo Kang and I—we cracked the blades supplied to the Seol Clan, at the Hwangpyo Ironworks master’s order!”

“Yes! He said if we didn’t, he’d expose the bribes we took… forgive us! We had no choice…”

Jin-hyeon stood.

“Stone Pillar Dam. You heard all that?”

“Yes.”

“Have you looked into everything besides the matter of the swords?”

“We have people around the ironworks as well. We’ll have everything within half a day.”

From his robe, Dam Jun produced a fairly thick stack of papers.

“Information on Hwangpyo Ironworks, the current mood within the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild, and a first report on the businesses they’ve touched and their violations.”

“Hwangpyo Ironworks can wait. It’s obvious that they’re managed by Mighty Tiger, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“If we press Hwangpyo Ironworks, they’ll just cut off a tail.”

“Most likely.”

“Tsk. Petty schemers, the lot of them.”

As Jin-hyeon flipped through the pages, his hand halted.

“Oh? The physicians who treated Lee Yong-do were beheaded?”

“Yes.”

Dam Jun’s eyes glinted.

“And we learned that, since this morning, more people are out looking for you, Sir Jin.”

“Didn’t that Gwak Pyeong come to you with a commission? It’s the same. If it isn’t me, that little beast can’t be fixed.”

“You mean the ankle?”

“It started with the ankle.”

The Body-Refining Art’s Bone Press Technique, the Body-Refining Bone-Press Art, compared to the Soul-Refining Art’s Refining-Soul Brain-Gate Art, is a far more stable technique.

But that stability applies only to the user. When forced upon another, if the victim cannot drive out the frost energy with internal energy, their life is at risk.

Even if another tries to correct it, if their internal strength differs in nature, the body won’t accept it. While it’s uncertain how a transcendent master would fare against it, peak experts would struggle, given the amount of Jin-hyeon’s inner strength.

Moreover, what was used on Lee Yong-do was no mere frost poison, it was a vicious art that assailed every bone in the body.

By now, Lee Yong-do should be dying in agony.

“And the rest of what I asked for?”

“It should be done by evening.”

“Faster than I expected.”

“We’ve investigated the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild thoroughly.”

Jin-hyeon smiled.

“Good.”

“Anything else you would have us do?”

“What strength does their main compound have now?”

“Setting guards aside, a hundred bodyguards, and three guest experts.”

“Bought with money?”

“Yes. The sort commonly called first-rate in the martial world.”

“What passes for first-rate? Anything like the Patriarch of the Seol Clan?”

“By no means. The Patriarch could put all three down with ease.”

“Seems I don’t know what ‘first-rate’ means. By my eye, the Patriarch qualifies.”

“By the Heavenly Will Alliance’s Public Enemy Notices, think of them as Ghost General class. In fact, one of the three was once listed at that grade.”

“And the Patriarch?”

“By that scale, a step above—Demon General class. He was counted among Sichuan’s Ten Great Swordsmen.”

“So those ranks follow martial might.”

“Largely, yes—but not purely. Some listed as Demon General fight poorly, yet they handle poison or fire bombs with lethal skill.”

“I see how it is.”

In short, the notice grades weigh danger more than raw strength.

“A hundred guards… What of the rest?”

“Nearly seventy percent have been deployed outside. They’re tied up in many operations.”

“Good.”

Jin-hyeon held out a hand to one of Dam Jun’s men.

“Lend me a dagger.”

The man respectfully offered a dagger and sheath.

Jin-hyeon tucked it into his breast and turned away.

“See to the Yeo Family Ironworks. Keep those bastards alive.”

“We’ll detain the master of the Hwangpyo Ironworks as well.”

Jin-hyeon glanced at Dam Jun.

“That wasn’t part of my commission.”

“Lord Gold Pillar ordered us to take an active hand in this matter.”

Jin-hyeon snorted a laugh.

“Quick on the numbers. Good. I’ll expect much.”

“Will you be alright alone?”

“I will.”

Frost settled over Jin-hyeon’s face.

“I already gauged his level when I crossed hands with the Patriarch.”

Near sunset in the west.

Jin-hyeon appeared before the Mighty Tiger Guild’s main compound.

A gate guard stepped forward.

“This is the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild. If you had an appoint—”

“Call Lee Ho-gon.”

The guard’s eyes shook.

Lee Ho-gon?

This youth wasn’t even past thirty, yet he called the Guild Master by name.

The guard nearly lost control in a fit for an instant, but he did not let go of his courtesy. After all, he could not be sure.

“Whom shall I announce is requesting for him?”

“The one who snapped Lee Yong-do’s ankle.”

“Pardon?”

“The bastard who ruined Lee Ho-gon’s son’s foot. Go tell him—now.”

The guards’ eyes changed at once.

“Are you called Jin-hyeon?”

“Mm.”

“Seize him!”

Kwaduk!

Before the words were done, the guard crumpled. His eyes had rolled back.

Jin-hyeon let out a thin laugh.

“So the order’s already out.”

Fwoosh!

The other two rushed him.

Whoosh!

They swung their sheathed swords—aiming to capture.

Jin-hyeon slipped between the two blades.

Thmp!

Both guards took hand-blades to the napes and collapsed.

‘Good.’

His body wasn’t fully honed, but his internal energy was at his command.

‘All I need is control.’

Vmmm.

A faint shimmer rose over his right hand.

He stepped to the great doors and drove his fist forward.

Kwaduk!

His hand punched through the middle and shattered the thick bar.

Kugung!

The gate groaned open.

Though wooden, the doors were a full three meters tall and over half a foot thick—yet a single strike pierced them. That was the power of the Body-Refining Qi.

Ignoring the stinging pain in his fist, Jin-hyeon scanned the grounds.

“What—?!”

“The gate is broken!”

“An intruder!”

The guards on watch in the distance shouted and ran in.

Chaaang!

Starting with the one at the front, they all drew their swords in turn. Amid the urgent atmosphere, a faint fighting qi rippled through the air.

Strength gathered in Jin-hyeon’s legs.

Fwoooosh!

He burst off the ground, and was suddenly at the guards’ noses.

The guards’ eyes widened. He was twice as fast as their sprint.

In panic, they swung.

Jin-hyeon turned lightly.

Thud! Crack!

He smashed his elbow into the back of one warrior’s head, then kicked at the outside of the knee of the man beside him, snapping it clean.

As the crippled man fell screaming, two behind him yelled and slashed down.

Jin-hyeon’s eyes flashed.

Kaaaang!

With a clean ring, both blades snapped at mid-length.

Having shattered them with his palms, he seized their wrists.

Crunch!

“Graaagh!”

Both wrists broke alike.

Jin-hyeon, who had broken them as though grabbing them, pressed down and shoved them away.

Crack!

The warriors, with their shoulders dislocated, screamed.

He yanked them back in, released their wrists, and threw twin palms at their foreheads.

Thmp!

The blows dropped them senseless.

Fwoosh!

Taking the men in sight down, Jin-hyeon sprinted for the inner gate.

“An intruder! Seize him!”

Sensing the danger, more rushed in.

Eyes blazing, the warriors charged—only to meet dismay.

He was fast.

Too fast. They ran full tilt from all sides, yet beside him their pace was yawn-slow.

It was a movement art, what people commonly call lightness skill. It didn’t extend his time in the air, but since it also influenced his running steps, his speed was inevitably great.

He was unfolding Tianshan’s Moon-Shadow Divine Steps in a lightness technique form. He had not trained it deeply, yet by channeling his internal energy per the mnemonic, he gained such speed.

The inner gate which had been a fingernail in the distance, now filled his view.

He spread the Body-Refining Qi through his body.

Kwaaang!

He needed no punch. Speed became a weapon.

Crouching, he crashed through the thick door and saw a dozen sword-bearing guards all around.

These were the inner ward’s bodyguards; their spirit outmatched the warriors outside.

“Name yourself!”

“Take him!”

Jin-hyeon clicked his tongue.

“I hate playing hide-and-seek.”

Fwhooosh!

The nearest guard swung for his head.