SERIES: Unrivaled Spear Demon
CHAPTER: 18
18 The Staff Fiend (6)
Ho Yeyang.
She could not fall asleep, though the night was deep.
“Huuu…”
Rising from her bed, she found and lit an oil lamp.
The Staff Fiend, Gu Gang-ryong.
His visit plunged the Hojeong Gate into a financial crisis once again.
The money that the escorts of the Hojil Escort Agency had earned with their lives, the Staff Fiend had taken as if shaking out pocket change, leaving the Hojeong Gate to shoulder all the suffering.
Whether in the martial world or the world of scholars, was this not the way of all places where people lived?
The weak are devoured by the strong, and the strong are devoured by those even stronger.
Such was the fate of a minor sect.
The blow was all the more severe because the Hojeong Gate was a place that refrained from preying on those weaker than themselves.
My poor father…
Ho Yeyang recalled Ho Yeon-am, who had drawn his sword for her sake.
In the end, for the sake of the Hojeong Gate's members, her father had suppressed his anger and bowed his head.
Had he made a single misstep, the Hojeong Gate, passed down through generations, could have vanished in an instant, submerged in a sea of blood.
In a way, it was the only choice.
In the end, everything came down to the logic of power.
The good cannot afford to be weak.
Only by being strong can one uphold one's own principles, one's own convictions.
Creeak—
Ho Yeyang pulled a document from the drawer beside her desk.
Murim Alliance—Dengtian Academy/Letter of Acceptance
In her hand was a letter sent from the distant Murim Alliance.
Dengtian Academy.
It was an institution directly operated by the Murim Alliance—the central coalition of the ‘Fifteen Pillars of the Righteous Way,’ which consisted of the Nine Sects, the One Guild, and the Five Great Families.
An institution where youths from sixteen to eighteen years of age would enroll, undergoing about eight years of training to be reborn as the next generation of talents who would lead the martial world.
Receiving systematic support here, becoming a master was a foregone conclusion.
After graduation, one could either remain with the Murim Alliance or return to their original sect.
Ho Yeyang had once, without her parents' knowledge, visited the Murim Alliance and taken the entrance examination for Dengtian Academy.
She had recently been notified of the results.
“Huuu…”
The candlelight flickered with Ho Yeyang's sigh.
“I can’t believe I actually passed.”
The younger generation from other great families would faint if they heard her.
After all, Dengtian Academy was, in name and reality, the greatest training ground for the future leaders of the Orthodox Faction, a place everyone was desperate to enter.
In the academy's annual examination of wisdom, virtue, and physique, Ho Yeyang had received a near-perfect score.
Despite this honorable achievement, she was sighing for one reason and one reason only.
The tuition fee.
Dengtian Academy was renowned for its astronomically high tuition.
Then again, the talents who applied to this place were groomed with intent by their respective sects and families, so perhaps the tuition fee was never a factor for them to begin with.
Ho Yeyang, too, had thought that while the tuition was a burden, her parents would be delighted if she could enroll.
Upon returning after graduation, she could use her experience from the Murim Alliance to greatly elevate her family's status.
However,
The family's fortunes, already declining day by day due to the interference of the Jo family and the Black Way Guild, had been completely shattered by the Staff Fiend's recent extortion.
Money.
That was the problem.
“……”
Ho Yeyang stared down at the acceptance letter from Dengtian Academy for a moment, then crumpled it in her hand.
She then decided not to bother telling her parents about it.
Still… it’s a shame.
She, too, had wanted to go to the Murim Alliance.
She had wanted to enter Dengtian Academy and see a wider, higher world.
But in her current situation, it was impossible.
So, Ho Yeyang decided to quickly cast aside any lingering attachment.
Perhaps if she went out into the cool night air and bought some of her favorite dumplings for a late-night snack, she might feel a little better.
* * *
“...Feel better, my ass.”
Ho Yeyang entered an alley with a troubled expression.
Swoooosh—
While she was walking down the empty main street, it had suddenly begun to pour.
“Bong-ah! Let’s get over there and take shelter from the rain!”
She pulled on the reins of her beloved horse.
The dumpling shop she frequented for late-night snacks was closed up tight.
It was late, but more than that, it was likely because of the rain, which looked as if it would pour for days to come.
Ho Yeyang hurried under the eaves.
She leaned against the earthen wall, sheltering from the rain.
Squeeeze—
She wrung out her wet clothes.
Wiping the rainwater that trickled down her forehead, she let out a small sigh.
She had come out for a night walk to soothe her disappointment, only to run into this mess.
Hee-hee-hing—
Beside her, the horse neighed.
The creature seemed to like the cool downpour, shaking its mane with a refreshed expression.
“Bong, you… Your big sister is soaked to the bone, and you’re the only one enjoying yourself?”
Ho Yeyang laughed, giving the horse a light smack on its rump.
Just then.
A voice drifted from the other end of the alley.
“Hey! Which bastard took a shit on the street!?”
It was the voice of the attendant from her usual dumpling shop.
He was a large man with a gruff demeanor, so her first thought was that he must be fighting with someone.
“Aren’t you going to pick this up right now!? How dare you, in front of someone else’s dumpling shop… Huk!?”
But the attendant’s voice, coming from beyond the darkness, changed abruptly.
“S-Sorry. Please, go on your way. Y-You might have needed to relieve yourself, yes, yes—just go ahead and leave it. I’ll clean it up tomorrow morning. Ah—with all this rain, it’ll just, uh, wash away. Nothing to clean up, then. Haha—hahahaha…”
What was it?
What could make that gruff attendant stammer and flee in a panic?
Ho Yeyang felt a flicker of curiosity.
So, she led her horse around to the back of the alley.
And there, she came face to face with something.
How could she describe it—that thing, that crimson thing.
A man, standing forlornly in the darkness, so precarious he looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
His entire body was stained with wounds and blood, and the coppery stench of it filled the air.
Droplets fell from the ends of his wet hair, but they too were stained so thoroughly crimson that it was impossible to tell if they were raindrops or blood drops.
“Excuse me…”
Ho Yeyang spoke, her voice trembling.
“A-Are you a person? Or a ghost?”
The crimson figure turned to look at her.
A short stature and a slender frame making it impossible to tell if they were male or female.
His face was not visible, but she could tell at a glance.
That he was in the process of dying.
Presently, the figure answered.
“As you see.”
“Then you must be a ghost.”
“……”
At Ho Yeyang's words, the figure fell silent.
Then, he made a motion as if to glance down at his own appearance.
Whew—he’s human.
Ho Yeyang felt her fear subside slightly.
If he were truly a blood-crazed demon, he would have lunged at her without a word.
Still, I’ve heard that voice somewhere before…
Ho Yeyang thought.
The figure's voice was raspy, as if he had swallowed hot coals, and even then, it was barely audible over the sound of the surrounding rain.
But despite that, she felt she had heard his voice somewhere before.
Then.
Hee-hee-hiiing!
Ho Yeyang's beloved horse interrupted her thoughts.
“B-Bong-ah! What’s wrong!”
The horse paid no heed to her urgent voice, its body trembling.
It seemed to fear the crimson figure looming at the other end of the alley.
Presently.
Shhhk—
The figure moved.
He seemed to be trying to pass through the alley.
His steps were precarious, staggering.
His breathing was so shallow it seemed he might collapse and die at any moment.
Seeing this, Ho Yeyang spoke without thinking.
“Wait!”
When the figure stopped, she took a pouch from her saddle.
Flick—
Ho Yeyang tossed the pouch toward the figure.
Inside was some golden wound salve for injuries.
“It’s not expensive, but… please use it if you need it.”
“……”
The figure clutched the pouch of salve, saying nothing.
She could only feel his gaze, staring blankly at her from beyond the darkness.
Ho Yeyang mustered her courage and spoke.
“I don’t know what happened… and I cannot rashly interfere in the grudges of the martial world… but I at least have enough compassion to help someone in trouble before my eyes. I-If you don’t want it, just throw it on the ground and go.”
Then.
“……”
The pouch of salve shhk—disappeared into the darkness.
And then.
Twitch—
The figure moved once.
Ho Yeyang instinctively leaped back a step.
In front of her.
…Clang!
A heavy sack fell to the ground.
It was a leather sack, caked with dried blood and looking exceedingly suspicious.
Ho Yeyang said hurriedly.
“W-What is this? I only wanted to help, why…”
“Load it on your horse.”
But the figure did not wait for her to finish.
Poof—
And like a candle being snuffed out, he vanished without a trace.
Ho Yeyang stood blankly for a moment, drenched by the pouring rain.
“...What was that?”
Only after some time had passed could she move again, cautiously.
The leather sack that reeked of blood.
What could be inside?
Ho Yeyang reached out a trembling hand.
Her eyes narrowed, not knowing what horror might lie within, she yanked open the mouth of the sack.
“Huk!”
She recoiled for a moment from the sudden, overpowering stench of blood.
She was ready to flee at once if it seemed to contain something dangerous.
However,
“...!”
What the sack contained was enough to make her eyes go wide.
Gold ingots.
A massive amount of them.
Without thinking, Ho Yeyang reached into the sack.
Cold, heavy, and reeking of blood—this was unmistakably money.
“This…… This is undoubtedly from our Hojeong Gate……?”
She peered inside the sack with a dazed expression.
Within it were the gold ingots the Staff Fiend had stolen from the Hojeong Gate, along with other assorted gold and silver.
There were even a considerable number of promissory notes mixed in, which appeared to have originated from the Jo family and the Black Way Guild.
Ho Yeyang knew instinctively.
This was the Staff Fiend’s money sack.
And the original owner of this money sack was dead.
From beyond the darkness, the sound of blood-soaked footsteps echoed.
Thud-
Tired.
Thud. Thud.
Lonely.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Pained.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Solitary.
Ho Yeyang rose to her feet without realizing it.
And unaware that her body was being soaked by the rain and muddy water, she followed the sound of the footsteps.
But.
“……”
There was nothing where the sound had disappeared.
Only the wretched trace of coughed-up blood, slowly being washed away by the rain.
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