Chapter 165
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 165
Chapter 165. A Guest in the Middle of the Night (2)
I thought I knew what the sound was, so I quietly calmed my arms.
“Calm down. It's not an enemy.”
“What? It's not an enemy?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“It's the sound of someone doing good work.”
The road we were traveling on was in the mountains, but it was a mountain road connecting two main roads.
In other words, it was a safe road that was maintained to a certain extent by the government.
Furthermore, I didn't sense any killing intent or black energy, so it wasn't an enemy targeting us.
“Then what is it?”
Hearing that, I stood up and said.
“Gangshi.”
“What?”
Pal-gap was startled by my words and exclaimed.
“If it's gangshi, then...”
Pal-gap swallowed hard and continued.
“Isn't that a corpse?”
“That's right. That sound is the sound of a Mosanpa shaman leading gangshi.”
That's why I'm so calm.
The Moosangpa Taoists were responsible for returning corpses that had died in foreign lands to their hometowns.
Although they used magic to move the corpses, the thumping sound they made as they moved was bound to terrify others.
Therefore, in order to avoid attracting attention, they tended to use mountain roads in the middle of the night.
I knew this well because of my extensive experience in the trade.
Sometimes, the head escort of the escort agency would ask for my understanding, saying, “I'm sorry, but we have a request from the Mosanpa priests.”
When I had no choice but to ask for the escort agency's help, it was an unspoken rule that I would not refuse their request.
So, we would prepare a cart and transport the body there.
Although it was unpleasant to transport a corpse, we did not refuse the request because the lives of the escort agency and the trading company were such that we never knew when we might die away from home.
We did this to accumulate good deeds in the hope that if we were to die away from home in an unfortunate accident, our bodies would be returned to our families.
In a similar vein, it was customary for the Trading Company and the escort agency to treat the Mosanpa Dao well when they met him.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
Pal-gap tilted his head at my words and asked.
“But as far as I know, I've never seen Mosanpa Doshi during your trip. How do you know that?”
Uh... He's sharper than I thought.
I gave a vague answer.
“I haven't met him in person, but I heard it from other leaders and my seniors. And if you don't treat Daoist Mosan well when you meet him, your journey will be cursed.”
At that moment, I heard Seo Woo's voice behind me.
“As you say, Liege.”
I turned around and saw Seo Woo standing up.
“Huh? You're awake?”
“Yes, I can't sleep through the sound of the bell.”
After all, Seo Woo is a warrior at the peak of his powers.
His senses are so sharp that no matter how deep he sleeps, he cannot help but wake up to a sound like that.
“From the sound of the bell, it seems they are coming this way.”
I nodded at Seo Woo's words.
“Let's wake up the others and get ready to welcome them.”
A moment later
Ding.
Ding.
“The spirits of the dead are returning to their homeland. What can stop them? Let's go.”
Ding.
Ding.
As we expected, a yellow-robed monk from the Mosan sect approached, shaking a bell and reciting a prayer.
It was a prayer to appease the spirits of the dead.
Behind him were five zombies.
Seo Woo looked at me and asked quietly.
“This is your first time seeing a Mosan sect monk and zombies, isn't it? Are you all right?”
“Yes, I'm fine.”
I must have looked too calm.
“As I thought... I've always felt that you are not an ordinary person, my Liege.”
“Hahaha. Is that so?”
I scratched my head.
Surely, most people would be so shocked that they would faint.
I was also very surprised when I saw them for the first time in my previous life.
Just like Pal-gap, who is now trembling beside me.
He was born with the talent of a warrior, yet he is afraid of corpses!
And bears are supposed to be brave animals.
It's only natural to be surprised by their appearance once or twice, but after seeing them several times, rather than feeling scared or uneasy, I feel sorry for them.
Come to think of it, in my previous life, a Daoist priest from the Mosan sect visited our Trading Company.
It was to deliver the bodies of our missing Trading Company members.
I was so grateful at the time.
The sound of the Mosanpa Taoist priest's footsteps approaching us suddenly stopped.
My companions and I approached him and greeted him with clasped hands.
“Greetings, Taoist priest of the Mosanpa. I am a member of the Eunhae Trading Company, and these are my bodyguards and attendants.”
The Taoist priest of the Mosanpa also greeted us.
“Ah, you are from the Eunhae Trading Company.”
I looked at the master's face and hid my joy.
His face looked familiar, and I realized that he was the master who had brought back the bodies of our caravan members who had gone missing in my previous life.
In this life, thanks to my warning, no one went missing, but my gratitude for his help in my previous life was not something that could be easily forgotten.
The name of this master was...
“My name is Cheongsu, from the Mosanpa.”
“It seems you are leading these poor people back to their hometown.”
“That's right. You seemed to be resting here, so I'm sorry to have startled you.”
“Not at all. It's only natural. Please have some tea before you go.”
Cheongsu shook his head at my words.
“Thank you for your offer, but as you know, I must leave before noon.”
I nodded and handed him the pouch I had set aside earlier.
“I understand. I can't blame you. This isn't much, but I hope it will help you avenge the dead.”
The Daoist did not refuse and bowed politely.
“Thank you. I wish you all a safe journey.”
With that, Daoist Cheongsu put the bag in his pocket and said,
“We will be on our way now.”
He shook the bell again, recited a prayer, and led the ghouls away.
It was as if a storm had passed.
“Oh my!”
Only then did Pal-gap relax and sit down, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Did they leave?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and asked.
“Was it that scary?”
“Don't even ask! Of course it was scary. I saw corpses moving in the middle of the night.”
“I wasn't scared.”
“That's because you're so brave, young master. You're not afraid of anything.”
Did you just say I'm brave?
I just smiled and laughed.
Anyway, we tidied up our seats and Pal-gap and I sat down in front of the bonfire.
The warriors who had woken up went back to sleep.
Morning came.
Seo-woo and Lee-pil, who had been on the last watch, had returned at some point and brought back wild game and herbs to make a hot soup.
After taking a spoonful, Yeo-eung-am said with a refreshed look on his face.
“I didn't even drink, but this feels like a hangover cure.”
“That's right.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Seo-woo is a good cook.”
Seo-woo smiled shyly at my comment.
“The head chef where I used to work was an amazing cook. So I learned a little bit. You never know what might happen in life.”
“Thanks to you, we got to eat such a delicious breakfast. Thank you.”
We finished our breakfast in a cheerful atmosphere and prepared to leave.
Everyone moved in unison, and we were ready to go in no time.
We got on our horses and set off again toward our destination.
How long had we been riding when we heard something strange?
“What's going on?”
Seo-woo asked, and I pointed ahead.
“I think I heard someone moaning.”
Upon hearing this, Seo Woo and Jin Yu closed their eyes for a moment, concentrated on something, and then nodded.
“It is as you said, Liege.”
“It seems to be coming from over there. But... it sounds familiar.”
“Yes.”
This was clearly the aura of Cheongsu Doshi of the Mosanpa, who had passed us yesterday.
We immediately headed toward the source of the energy and found a person lying on the ground.
The person, covered in blood and moaning in pain, was indeed Cheongsu Dao.
“Dao, please wake up. Dao.”
“Ugh...”
“Dao.”
We carefully laid him down and found several wounds on his body.
“This is bad. We must find a physician.”
We had a schedule to keep, but how could we leave a man dying like this?
Besides, Master Dao had returned the bodies of those who had gone missing from the Eunhae Trading Company.
Fortunately, there was a private house on the way, so we stopped there and looked for a physician.
.
.
.
That afternoon.
Daoist Cheongsu regained consciousness.
“Are you awake?”
“Um. You are the young donor I met yesterday.”
“Yes. I found you lying on the road covered in blood, so I brought you to the physician.”
At my words, he tried to sit up, but he had not yet fully recovered and grimaced.
“Just lie down.”
However, Master Cheongsu insisted on sitting up, clasped his hands together, and bowed his head to me.
“Thank you for saving my life.”
“I only did what I had to do. And I believe that I found you thanks to the good deeds you have accumulated over the years.”
Daoist Cheongsu looked at me and smiled faintly.
That smile made me feel embarrassed.
“By the way, what happened to you?”
Daoist Cheongsu sighed deeply and replied.
“The corpses were stolen.”
“What?”
Daoist Cheongsu explained the whole story, saying that after meeting us, he hurried to his destination.
This was because he had to get to a place where he could hide the corpses before dawn.
However, just before he arrived at the location, a group of people suddenly attacked and stole the corpses.
After finishing his explanation, he bowed his head to me.
“You said you were a merchant from the Eunhae Trading Company, but I know that you and your bodyguards are not ordinary people.”
“Yes?”
How did you know that?
“You seem curious as to how I know that.”
“Yes, I am.”
“In this line of work, one naturally develops an eye for recognizing the skills of martial artists. No matter how well they hide their abilities, there are things that reveal themselves without one realizing it.”
“I see. As you say, their skills are not that lacking.”
“That is why I am asking for your help. Please help us recover the stolen corpses and return these poor souls to their homeland.”
.
.
.
I told Master Cheongsu that I would think about it for a while, then went outside.
When I heard that the corpses had been stolen, something came to mind, and I became serious.
And then there was the disgusting aura I felt where Daoist Cheongsu had collapsed.
In my previous life, there was a powerful group that rose up in Shandong and Hebei.
They called themselves the “Hwan Cheon Dan.”
They planned to invade Beijing with the help of the ghouls.
However, they were stopped by the Peng Family of Hebei, the Jin Family of Jin, the Huangbo Family of Shandong, and others.
The problem is the many people who suffered in the process.
We couldn't prevent that.
By the way, that was about ten years ago, but they were already gathering ghouls?
Well, it couldn't be helped.
It's not something you can gather in a short period of time.
As I recall, they mobilized about 50,000 ghouls.
How did they gather so many?
They gathered the ghouls by stealing them from the Mo Shan Sect's Daoists who were traveling throughout the Central Plains.
Usually, the Taoists of the Mosan Sect were very secretive and tended to work alone.
That's why they didn't know about the situation and had their ghouls stolen.
In addition, they probably kidnapped refugees and people who had lost their homes.
There must be places where the government and the martial artists don't have much influence.
In any case, if they have started their activities now, it would be best to nip them in the bud.
When poisonous weeds are just sprouting, you can remove them with just two fingers, but once they have grown, you have to call someone.
However, it was a large-scale operation and very dangerous, so it was difficult to make a quick decision.
At that moment, Jin-yu Musha approached from behind.
“How are you, Master?”
“If you take care of yourself, you will recover quickly.”
“But why do you look so worried?”
I rubbed my forehead and said.
“Haha, you caught me.”
“If you have any concerns, please feel free to share them.”
“Well, it's just that we...”
I hesitated, trying to speak carefully.
No, we don't necessarily have to handle the Hwacheon Dan on our own, do we?
It's best for the parties involved to resolve this themselves.