AWB Chapter 227
Chapter 227
Late at night, Old Master Gu—the coachman of Great Plains Livery—was sleeping among the other coachmen when he woke with the urge to relieve himself.
His stomach burned as well, thanks to the cheap fire liquor he had shared with the coachmen that evening.
‘I got swept up in the mood and gulped down whatever they kept pressing on me. It’s my own fault—who could I blame?’
Since he was already up to piss, Old Master Gu stopped by the stable for a moment.
Those two horses were his entire fortune, so he cherished them day and night without pause.
In the dark stable, the two horses were resting comfortably.
When Old Master Gu stroked their manes, the two horses recognized their owner and flared their nostrils.
“Yeah. Rest well, and take good care of me again tomorrow.”
—Prrrrt!
—Prrrrt!
Old Master Gu couldn’t help but find these two horses—who understood their owner’s words—too lovable to bear.
‘They’re a hundred times better than those brats who’ve grown up and only give their old man half a glance.’
If it were up to him, he wanted to spread bedding in the corner of the stable and lie down to sleep beside the horses.
But he couldn’t. It went against the rules of this livery, which had ties with Great Plains Livery.
Old Master Gu patted the two horses and left the stable.
—THUD!
As Old Master Gu closed the stable door and turned, a thick voice reached his ears.
“Old Master Gu of Great Plains Livery in Gujiang County.”
When he saw a shadow appear like a ghost from under the eaves’ shade, Old Master Gu’s heart dropped.
“...Who are you?”
“Just answer what I ask.”
Old Master Gu saw the thick saber hanging at the man’s waist and immediately bowed his head.
“...Yes, sir.”
“I heard you told an interesting story at last night’s drinking table. That you saw some young master beat five experts to pulp with buns.”
Old Master Gu remembered, with fire liquor in an empty belly, how he’d gotten drunk and excitedly bragged about the day’s ‘heroic tale.’
“...Y-yes, sir. But it wasn’t exactly ‘to pulp’....”
“That’s enough.”
The man brought a hand to the saber hilt as he continued.
“You cherish your horses a great deal. I’m usually the same.”
With that threat made plain as day, Old Master Gu bowed his head again.
“Just tell me what you want. I’ll speak without a single grain of lie.”
“We’re looking for someone. Their trail ended in Gujiang County. We expect they’re headed to Wuhan—so that young master you spoke of is also going to Wuhan, right?”
“...Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
A satisfied smile touched the man’s mouth.
“And that person is traveling with a beggar?”
“....”
When Old Master Gu hesitated, the man gripped the saber hilt.
“Old Master Gu. One of your sons is an inn errand boy at Great Plains Livery, and the other is a porter for some escort agency, isn’t that right?”
—SHIIING!
Old Master Gu saw the blue blade flash and slammed his head down until it nearly hit his knees.
“Yes. That young master is traveling with a beggar.”
—CLICK!
Hearing the saber return to its sheath, Old Master Gu finally breathed, at least a little easier.
*****
—CLATTER-CLATTER! CLATTER-CLATTER!
Only the monotonous sound of the carriage wheels could be heard. Inside the carriage, no one opened their mouth.
It had already been an hour since they left the guesthouse in Seochang County, and the long stretch of silence continued.
“Uuuaaahhhm!”
Chwi Dugae—who had been slumped against the carriage wall, sleeping like a corpse—stretched with a long yawn.
“Brother, you’re awake?”
“Huh?”
Chwi Dugae stared at Kwak Yeon with suspicious eyes.
“What is this? A random ‘how are you upon rising’ greeting?”
“What’s wrong with your younger brother looking after you?”
“Be honest. You’re not exactly a Taoist famous for good manners.”
“...”
“Anyway, you’re saying you’re that happy I woke up... Don’t tell me you two were so awkward you didn’t say a single word the whole time?”
Perhaps Chwi Dugae’s gaze felt uncomfortable, because Jin Cheongha quickly turned her eyes toward the carriage window.
It wasn’t something he could really scold a young woman for, so Chwi Dugae narrowed his eyes and glared at Kwak Yeon instead.
“Why is a man acting that petty?”
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“What?”
“If I didn’t do something wrong in your dream, there’s no way you’d glare at me like this.”
“Hah. You’d be less hateful if you just couldn’t talk.”
“...”
“What I’m saying is—yesterday you two were so warm, but today why is there nothing but cold wind?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I kept my mouth shut because I had something to think about.”
“Hm?”
Seeing Kwak Yeon’s gaze deepen, Chwi Dugae straightened his expression.
“What are you thinking about?”
Jin Cheongha had also turned her head by now, looking at Kwak Yeon with curious eyes.
“Open your ears and listen carefully.”
At Kwak Yeon’s words, Chwi Dugae and Jin Cheongha heightened their hearing.
—CLATTER-CLATTER! CLATTER-CLATTER!
—TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK!
They heard only the carriage wheels and the crisp beat of horseshoes.
“What? I don’t hear anything....”
Chwi Dugae was about to snap, but when he saw Jin Cheongha’s expression stiffen, he swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
“Sister Jin—did you hear something?”
Jin Cheongha lightly shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why...?”
Kwak Yeon answered in her stead.
“Brother, isn’t it strange that there’s no sound at all?”
Only then did Chwi Dugae realize why Kwak Yeon had told them to listen to the outside.
Between the wheel noise and hoofbeats, Old Master Gu’s voice should have been heard from time to time.
Yesterday, all along the road, Old Master Gu had often spoken to the two horses pulling the carriage. He had even called them by name.
“Yueying, you bastard—put some strength into it. Because you’re slacking off, Yingchui is having a hard time!”
As if they were his children, he would sometimes scold them, sometimes coax them.
“Yingchui, why are you such a glutton! Stop eyeing Yueying’s feed like some filthy thing and hurry up and drink water!”
When Chwi Dugae saw that Old Master Gu had named his aging horses after legendary steeds—Yueying, Leaping Beyond the Shadow, and Yingchui, Chasing the Shadow—he’d once told him that was a bit much.
“Honored guest, these fellows understand human speech. So I’m sorry, but if you could refrain from saying such things while they’re present, I’d be grateful.”
Watching Old Master Gu turn serious like that, Chwi Dugae had thought he had quite a bit of backbone as a coachman.
“Since when has Old Master Gu been silent?”
When Chwi Dugae asked with an ominous expression, Kwak Yeon answered.
“He’s been quiet the whole time since we left Seojeong County.”
“Hah. So something’s definitely going on.”
“...”
“Then why didn’t you wake me sooner?”
“There was no urgent reason. And I needed to confirm something—so the silence was better.”
“What does that mean?”
Kwak Yeon directed his gaze to the small rear hatch on the carriage.
Today, unlike yesterday, bundles of fodder were loaded outside the hatch, so they couldn’t see the back of the carriage.
“That—did Old Master Gu load it?”
“If my guess is right, he loaded it because someone ordered him to.”
“So we can’t see whoever’s following? Isn’t that jumping ahead?”
Kwak Yeon shook his head.
“There is a carriage following us. Even at the forks, it kept following. More than anything, it’s maintaining a steady distance of thirty zhang.”
“Then it’s certain. But you... how did you know that?”
The rear hatch was blocked. And he said the carriage was thirty zhang away.
“...”
When Kwak Yeon kept his mouth shut, Chwi Dugae shook his head.
“Yeah. Otherwise you wouldn’t be a Transformation Realm master.”
“...”
“Fine, fine. But when you said it wasn’t urgent—was it because we’ve got a watcher tailing us?”
Kwak Yeon nodded.
“They probably threatened Old Master Gu to drive the carriage somewhere.”
“Then those bastards are waiting there with some trick prepared? Like a trap?”
“What do you think, Brother?”
“It’s obvious. Why ask?”
Chwi Dugae suddenly snapped in irritation, and both Kwak Yeon and Jin Cheongha looked at him with puzzled eyes.
“...?”
“...?”
Chwi Dugae spoke, as if his own feet were suddenly burning.
“I’m annoyed because we were careful and still got our tail stepped on. Understand that.”
But there was another reason he snapped.
On the road to the Martial Alliance, something had happened that could leave the ground soaked in blood.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“There’s no need to obediently walk into the trap and make things hard for ourselves, is there?”
After asking back, Kwak Yeon continued calmly.
“Before we do anything, we need to ease Old Master Gu’s mind first. If he shows signs of panic, the watchers behind us will notice.”
Of course, that was why.
But he also wanted to ease Old Master Gu’s suffering as quickly as possible.
This morning, when Old Master Gu drove the carriage to the guesthouse, Kwak Yeon felt Honwonmusang qi surge up in a rush.
Ever since he first felt resonance—harmonizing through sympathy—with So Cheong on the public ferry crossing Dongting Lake, the higher his mastery of the Honwonmusang Technique rose, the more easily he resonated with emotions rising from another person’s nature.
What he felt from Old Master Gu was suffocating anguish.
Having seen that something was seriously wrong with Old Master Gu, Kwak Yeon had remained silent in the carriage the entire time, searching for the reason.
—CREAK!
Kwak Yeon opened the hatch on the driver’s side that he had kept closed.
—TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK!
The sound of horseshoes striking the road rang loudly.
Old Master Gu drove the carriage blankly, as if he hadn’t even heard the hatch open behind him.
The hand holding the reins sagged limply, as though the two horses were pulling the carriage on their own.
“Old Master Gu—just listen.”
“...!”
Old Master Gu flinched.
“I know you’re being threatened. Don’t panic, and do as they told you. That’s enough—don’t look back.”
Old Master Gu twitched, trying to turn his head, then stopped.
“When you see a suitable open space, stop the carriage like you always do. It’s time to feed the horses, isn’t it?”
“...”
“Old Master Gu, trust us. I promise you nothing will happen.”
Old Master Gu’s body trembled.
—THUD!
When Kwak Yeon closed the driver’s hatch, Chwi Dugae asked,
“If we stop the carriage, what do you plan to do?”
“When our carriage stops, theirs will stop too.”
“So we go straight after them and grab them...?”
“No. There won’t be only one or two in that carriage. If we let even one escape, the aftermath will be severe.”
They would surely think Old Master Gu disobeyed their instructions and try to retaliate.
And they would also spread talk everywhere about the route of a million taels of gold.
“Damn it. There’s no way except to wipe them out in one sweep. The problem is how we’re supposed to approach those bastards’ carriage—thirty zhang away—without ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) them noticing.”
“That’s what troubles me as well.”
Kwak Yeon glanced sideways at Jin Cheongha as he continued.
“If someone were skilled in concealment arts, approaching wouldn’t be difficult at all.”