Ah, in his anger, he rushed out without asking for the gambling den's location.

"Damn it! Because of Gongsun Cheok!"

Cheonyeong, who blamed all his mistakes on Gongsun Cheok, examined the alley with bloodshot eyes.

What if he didn't ask?

It was evening.

There were people to ask anywhere.

Even though the moon hadn't yet tilted, there were drunks walking zigzag and staggering, hustlers armed with kind smiles trying to fleece them, and courtesans.

And.

"You bastard! I told you to bring money by today!"

Loan sharks threatening with fists and extorting money from unfortunate people.

Bang!

At that sound tickling his ears, Cheonyeong changed direction toward a shadowy alley.

"You bastard... huh?"

In the shadowy alley.

The large, ugly-faced men surrounding and threatening someone by the collar suddenly turned their heads at the chilling aura felt from behind.

"Haa, haa... are you loan sharks?"

At Cheonyeong's sudden question, the men exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

"What's this guy?"

"Right?"

Then one man spoke with his face contorted.

"Sigh, no matter where you go, there are these thoughtless bastards?"

The man with a dirty beard shook his head and approached Cheonyeong.

"Hey kid, you seem to be poking around with some misplaced sense of justice, but we're scary people, okay? We don't have business with you, so don't pretend to be a righteous hero and get lost. Alright?"

"Yunbaek! Don't be too rough. The kid looks like he has a long life ahead. What if he gets so scared he can't even pee at night?"

As the man holding the collar made a joke, Jang Yunbaek, who had been approaching Cheonyeong, waved his hand reassuringly and laughed.

"Listen, young friend. Since this is your first time at Dongting Lake and you don't know us, look at this. See the character 山 (mountain) on my arm? We're the Goshan Faction... huh?"

Jang Yunbaek showed his arm.

Cheonyeong, staring at the character 山 (mountain) carved in ink, grabbed his wrist.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

His eyes were indifferent.

Cheonyeong twisted the wrist lightly.

Crack!

"Ugh... ahhhhh!"

With his wrist bent and held, Jang Yunbaek was forced to kneel and cried out in pain.

"Th-This bastard?"

"Hey! Let go, damn it!"

The men with him drew weapons and shouted with wide eyes.

Crunch.

"Ahhhhh!"

This time, as Cheonyeong twisted Jang Yunbaek's wrist the other way and looked down with chilling eyes, the men flinched and took a step back.

"You said Goshan Faction? Then you're loan sharks. Do you happen to know where the gambling den is?"

Cheonyeong, unconcerned, dragged Jang Yunbaek forward by his twisted wrist.

But a gambling den?

The men's eyes widened as they looked at each other, and without hesitation, they spoke.

"W-Wait."

"Yeah. Calm down, young friend. This won't be good for either of us."

Bad things had already happened.

To them.

"The gambling den's location."

With each step Cheonyeong took, his eyes grew colder and the killing intent radiating from his body intensified.

"Ugh, eight! Eight!"

As Jang Yunbaek screamed and tried to pull his wrist free, Cheonyeong said irritably.

"Annoying..."

Crack!

"Ahhhhh!"

After twisting the wrist once more with cruel force, Cheonyeong struck Jang Yunbaek's face.

Thwack!

Jang Yunbaek collapsed without even managing a scream.

"Now it's quiet."

His cold words froze the men's bodies instantly.

The sight of Cheonyeong dragging the unconscious Jang Yunbaek by the wrist was terror itself.

Thud, thud.

His footsteps sounded like thunder in their ears, and the aura radiating from his body oppressed the surroundings, making it difficult even to breathe.

Though they held swords, they unconsciously stepped backward. The wall touched their backs.

There was nowhere to run.

Resistance?

He was a master they couldn't even look at.

With such overwhelming killing intent, the sword blades in their hands trembled. How could they possibly resist?

The characteristics of ruffians were similar.

Strong against the weak, weak against the strong.

That's how they lived well and long.

Thud.

Simultaneously, the men fell on their backsides and begged with terrified expressions.

"P-Please spare us! Great hero!"

"We've committed a grave sin."

Whether their companion Jang Yunbaek was captured or not, whether the man they had been holding by the collar had quickly escaped or not, they needed to save themselves first.

"Just tell me the gambling den's location. Then nothing will happen."

At his clenched question, the men quickly pointed with their fingers and spoke.

"Th-There's a shabby shantytown north of Yajang Street!"

"That's right! That's the entrance!"

"The biggest games are held on the south side. Everyone in Dongting Lake who gambles is there."

"It's run by the Heukgal Faction!"

He only asked for the location.

But under Cheonyeong's piercing gaze, the men pressed against the wall vomited out every word that came to mind.

"Yajang Street north, shantytown. Heukgal Faction."

Cheonyeong repeated it as if memorizing, then finally released Jang Yunbaek's wrist.

Thud.

As Jang Yunbaek's limp body hit the ground, the men trembled like aspen leaves and watched Cheonyeong's expression.

Cheonyeong turned away as if he only needed answers to his questions.

"Phew..."

As Cheonyeong took a step, the men exhaled deeply with relief that they were alive.

"Ah!"

"Yes?"

Suddenly, Cheonyeong stopped at the alley's end and turned his head as if remembering something, and the men's eyes widened again in surprise.

"You guys, you said you were Goshan Faction?"

"Yes."

"By any chance, do you have any connection to the Gongsun family?"

"No."

"We've never even set foot near the Gongsun family. Really."

There truly wasn't any.

Goshan Faction was just a small-time gang doing petty money dealings on Dongting Lake's wine house street.

Even if there had been, they should have said no.

"Good then. Anyway, don't get involved with the Gongsun family. That day will be their memorial day."

"We'll keep that in mind!"

"And from now on, don't threaten people in back alleys and extort money. If you catch my eye again, that day you die."

"Gulp!"

With those words, Cheonyeong disappeared.

The men couldn't breathe for a long time.

Worried he might come back.

"Whew."

Only after counting to a hundred in their minds did the men finally exhale the breath they had been holding.

Their fingertips were still trembling.

"Gwan-il."

"Huh?"

"We don't have any connection to the Gongsun family, right?"

"We shouldn't have."

"What if we did?"

"..."

"..."

After silently staring at each other, the men swallowed hard and ran off.

They were heading back to Goshan Faction's headquarters to verify.

And in the now-empty alley, only the unconscious Jang Yunbaek remained, lonely and abandoned.

* * *

On the outskirts of Dongting Lake, filled with taverns and wine houses.

Bang bang bang!

Even at the late hour, the sound of sweating workers' hammers echoed.

"Damn it, Gongsun Cheok, you bastard."

His anger seemed to intensify by the moment.

He sold a mortgaged estate?

The fact that he, who had always seemed so clever, had been tricked by such a fool made him even angrier.

To be fooled so absurdly.

He had only been pleased with the thought that he could return Gongsun Seung's family and estate to him.

Gongsun Cheok, deeply trapped in the swamp of greed, was foolish, and his foolishness meant he hadn't properly verified things—that was his mistake.

"If I catch him, I'll break every bone in his body."

Cheonyeong, grinding his teeth, walked toward the shantytown located at the far end of Yajang Street.

Thud, thud, thud.

As the sound of hammering faded and he walked toward the shantytown under moonlight, Cheonyeong stopped.

A presence?

As he spread his senses with narrowed eyes, he felt messy auras all around.

Thump, thump.

A large man emerged from the darkness.

"You have good instincts, young master?"

The man who appeared near Cheonyeong with a laugh had impressive white teeth.

"An invitation."

"An invitation?"

"Huh?"

At his sudden extended hand, Cheonyeong frowned.

An invitation?

Did you need such a thing to enter a gambling den?

"What? You don't have one? Ha!"

The man laughed as if it were absurd.

"Then a referral?"

"A referral?"

Everything had requirements.

These bastards hiding in a shantytown running a gambling den.

"What? No invitation and no referral? But how did you find this place?"

There was a way.

Goshan Faction... those guys.

But as Cheonyeong stood silently, the man shook his head and waved his hand in the darkness.

"Damn, this rookie must have picked up some rumor somewhere. Just leave. This isn't a place for a fool like you."

He was irritated.

Already angry because of Gongsun Cheok, and now this nobody appeared to block his path.

"Get out of the way. I have no business with you."

As Cheonyeong spoke quietly and walked, the man's eyes changed.

"Hey, that's far enough. Don't come any closer."

Before he finished speaking, men who had been hiding all around revealed themselves before Cheonyeong.

He had known for a while how many were hiding.

But directly seeing the number of men revealed under moonlight was still surprising.

Ten men.

Clearly gambling den guards, and quite a few.

When he came before, there were almost none of these guys, so it was unexpected.

When did Dongting Lake become the domain of these ruffians?

It was strange.

Dongting Lake had no particular faction or force that could be called its master, and nearby martial forces didn't covet it either, so it was treated as unclaimed territory.

Like Beggar Gang with its branches and a few people...

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Cheonyeong's mind and he nodded.

Sanggun, or rather Zhulong Namgwangro.

All this time, he had been at Gunsan Island in Dongting.

Because his notorious presence was uncomfortable, even if there were branches near Dongting Lake, no one claimed it as their territory.

But after Gunsan Faction became able to make a living thanks to the Tang Family, they didn't actively seize others' territory, so the unclaimed land became a battlefield for greedy ruffian gangs.

"Sigh, it was because of me after all."

Cheonyeong shook his head with a self-deprecating expression.

"This bastard, laughing?"

That laugh seemed to look that way to the gambling den guards.

Yes, it's my fault.

It's all my fault.

If Gunsan Faction had continued as always, plundering passing boats, and when money ran short, extorting money from nearby taverns and wine houses, guys like you wouldn't exist... and the Gongsun family wouldn't have collapsed so easily.

Nothing would have changed.

Cheonyeong, reflecting on the negative influence he had brought to Dongting Lake, spoke coldly to the men blocking his path.

"Phew. You guys, today isn't your day? So get out of the way."

"What are you saying? You pretty boy bastard!"

He expected them to react this way.

That's why he prepared.

Clench.

His fist tightened, and pushing off the ground, Cheonyeong's figure leaped forward and reached the man's front in an instant.

"Gasp!"

Before the startled man could even step back, Cheonyeong's punch struck his face powerfully.

Crunch crunch crunch!

"Here's your invitation."

(End of Chapter)