Nanjing.
“Damn, it isn’t sticking!”
Go Tae threw the card in his hand onto the board and scratched his head with an annoyed look on his face.
“Hehehe. There are such days.”
“What? Such days? It would be faster to find a day when it wasn’t like this!”
He quickly got up and left the room in a huff.
“It is sunny today.”
“It is just evening, and you are already trying to leave?”
“The more you try, the more you lose. Why do it? You want to steal a drink?”
“This bastard. Didn’t you do it last time?”“How much does it cost!”
He glared harshly at the person sitting across from him and then kicked the chair in anger.
“Whatever, I am going to leave, so you guys play well among yourselves.”
“Where are you going? Did you forget you have work today?”
“How many people are supposed to stay in this small gambling house? I will collect the money and come back, so you people can continue.”
“Now, now, you have a bad temper, tsk.”
Regardless of whether someone was watching him or not, Go Tae picked up the sword he had left lying around and walked out of the gambling house at a rough pace.
As he walked along the back alley for a while, he saw merchants engaged in talks.
“The fruit is deliciously ripe! Try it!”
“But this! This is nice!”
“This is fabric which came from Xi’an! Take a look and go!”
Go Tae, who had been closely looking at that, frowned and strode to one side.
“Hey, elder!”
“Uh? Come and… uh….”
The merchant who discovered Go Tae instantly contorted his face. But for a moment, the merchant, who had a calm face, asked with an awkward look.
“Oh, you are here?”
“So? How is it? Is the business happening well?”
“Haha… ha. It is, as always, in business. But thanks to your concern, I am able to keep my mouth full.”
“Is that so?”
Go Tae chuckled.
“The elder puts treats right in my mouth, but I am unable to even put tree bark in my mouth.”
“Why…”
“What do you mean why?”
Kwang!
He mercilessly kicked away the items the old man was selling.
“Oh my!”
“If you made money, shouldn’t you have paid the rent? If you make money and throw it into your own old mouth, is that the end? You are already three months behind on paying me!” 𝐑Α𐌽Ȯ𝖇Ěš
“Oh my, please… I really don’t have any money.”
“You don’t have money? Then close the damn business! What are you doing in a business when you don’t even make enough to pay rent? Just go up a mountain and cut down a tree!”
“If you could just wait another month….”
“But you know, old man, do you think someone makes a business by digging in the ground?”
Bang!
He kicked the cart loaded with goods and threw it away, yelling.
“I was generous enough to wait for two more months? And what? Another month? Is this old man insane, or what? Want to die?! Do you think our Ghost Scorpion Clan is funny?”
“N-No! Why would I?”
“If you cannot pay money, then you should pay with something!”
Go Tae walked ahead with long strides and grabbed the cart he had kicked. The merchant, scared, grabbed the hem of Go Tae’s clothes.
“I-If you take these away, my family will starve to death! I will definitely give it next month, so just this once…!”
“Is this old man insane!”
Puak!
Go Tae grabbed the merchant’s leg and kicked him in the chest. The merchant screamed helplessly and fell down. Go Tae shook off the clothes the merchant had grabbed and spoke loudly.
“This is why one shouldn’t help these black-haired things. When this old man first started the business, he said he would pay as much rent as I wanted, and now he is making me a bad person? You could have just waited for two months, then! My baby ended up starving because you kept trying to feed your baby!”
Other merchants glanced at the scene from afar and whispered.
“What happened again?”
“I don’t know. Looks like that insane guy lost money at the gambling house again. This doesn’t happen just once or twice.”
“… how long do we have to watch this….”
Complaints and sighs came from everyone’s mouths. But no one dared to step forward and stop Go Tae.
For them, who were just normal people, dealing with Go Tae, a member of an Evil Faction sect, was tantamount to suicide. Just looking at the blade hanging and shaking on his side gave them chills.
As the old merchant was kicked away again, the other merchants couldn’t bear to watch and closed their eyes.
“If you are useless, you need to get hit.”
“Don’t say that. If I quit the business, what will I do for a living?”
“Would you not be able to make a living if you cultivated a crop?”
“What crop? I heard there are bandits in the mountains! There is no place to live without being robbed!”
“… damn it.”
At that moment, Go Tae grabbed the cart with one hand and looked around.
“Where is the rat squeaking around?”
Seeing that blood-thirsty gaze, the merchants quickly closed their mouths and lowered their eyes. There was a moment of silence.
“Starting from this month, those who cannot pay their rent on time will be kicked out, so keep that in mind! Are these shameless people trying to eat up everything they can and not even pay back?”
“W-would I do that?”
“And you should know that starting next month, the rent will be raised by a percentage.”
“Ah, no! Man! If you suddenly say that out of the blue…”
“It was decided by the leader, not me. It is no use whining, so get your money ready in time!”
Go Tae, with fear in his eyes, turned around and dragged the cart. No, he tried to hide.
“Y-You cannot go!”
The merchant whose cart had been taken away was holding onto the pant leg of Go Tae, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Does this old man want to die?”
“If you take that, I will die. Whether I die this way or that way, it is the same then! So please… please…”
“Oh, my? Is it the same?”
Go Tae put down the cart and took out the blade.
The merchants who heard the pulling sound were frightened and stepped back, their faces full of anxiety and confusion.
“S-someone, please stop him!”
“No! You cannot do that!”
“Gold man!”
The people around him screamed, but the merchant holding Go Tae seemed to have no intention of backing down. Instead, he was so angry that he started cursing.
“Right! Better I die! You thief! No matter how much money I earn doing business, it gets taken away! I don’t want to live like that either! Better to just kill me!”
“Haha, see this man?”
Puak!
Go Tae kicked the merchant in the chest and grabbed the blade tightly.
“Okay. If you want me to kill you, I will kill you! Today is your final day!”
It was the moment when he was shouting angrily and swinging the sword.
“Stop!”
“…!”
Go Tae slowly turned his head at the sound of a voice coming from somewhere.
If the merchants around him had shouted, they probably wouldn’t have even heard him, but the voice heard now was filled with qi.
Sure enough, people wearing blue uniforms were approaching.
“Spit!”
Go Tae glared at those approaching with unhappy eyes and spat on the floor.
“Oh my, did the people from the Chasing Righteousness clan come all the way here?”
“Go away!”
“Go away?”
A clear sneer appeared on the lips of Go Tae.
“Your side is the one to step down. Have you forgotten that this is our land? I don’t know since when the Chasing Righteousness clan has started to set foot in our area.”
The two of them glared at Go Tae.
“Area?”
“Right, area. This is our area. Did you forget that we decided not to approach one another? Or not? What? You want to start a war?”
Instead of responding to those words, the middle-aged man stared at Go Tae with a strange expression. Go Tae looked more triumphant as he spoke.
“Why? It seems like your spine has become numb to hear that even the world’s Nanjing Sword would be dragged into war, isn’t it?”
“War…”
A twisted smile appeared on the lips of Nanjing’s Sword, Cho Sang-Gil.
“There’s nothing we cannot do.”
“What?”
Go Tae was taken aback by those words.
‘Is this guy insane for real?’
The Chasing Righteousness clan, to which Nanjing’s Sword belonged, and the Ghost Scorpion clan, to which Go Tae belonged, had signed a treaty to not encroach on each other’s land. Therefore, they interacted with each other like cows and chickens over the border of Nanjing.
But today, that man suddenly led his disciples and invaded the territory of the Ghost Scorpion clan.
“What is happening?”
“Those bastards! Who do you think I am?”
As if they had heard the news that the Chasing Righteousness clan had appeared, the Ghost Scorpion clan members inside the gambling hall came rushing out. And behind the disciples of the Chasing Righteousness clan, people were being added one by one.
The two sides were engulfed in tension. Dozens of disciples from each clan gathered together, glaring at each other with angry eyes.
“Looks like Nanjing’s Sword’s soul will be spilled from his stomach.”
“You are the ones who went overboard first.”
“What?”
Cho Sang-Gil twitched his lips and sneered.
“The reason we have been letting your wicked behavior go unnoticed all this time is because the 18 River Families were behind you. You probably didn’t think I’d put up with it until now just because I was afraid of you people, right?”
“This bastard…”
“But that ends now.”
“… What is that supposed to mean?”
“Wudang and Shaolin are subjugating the pirate troops. That means the fate of the pirates is now sealed.”
“…”
“Then there is no reason why we should just sit by and watch little jerks like you act out. Disgusting rats. From today, there will be no place for you to step into Nanjing! I will give you one chance. Pack your bags and get out of Nanjing right now. If not, you will all die today.”
Go Tae’s face contorted with embarrassment. This was an unexpected situation.
‘A-are these people insane?’
Were they really going to war now?
This wasn’t something he could answer. This had to be a decision of his superiors…
“Three.”
“W-wait! W-wait! Cho Sang-gil!”
“Two.”
“N-Now!”
“One. Hit! Today we will drive out the Ghost Scorpion Sect from Nanjing!”
“Yes!”
Nanjing’s Sword gave an order without giving him time to reply. The waiting disciples drew their swords and rushed at once.
“Defeat them all!”
“You bastards! Do you think we have all been patient with you all this time because we had no strength?”
As the Chasing Righteousness Clan members rushed in, the Ghost Scorpion clan also drew their weapons.
“What are you doing! Knock down those novice ascetics and kill them!”
“Are you saying these people are looking down on us!”
“Kill them all!”
As the swords and blades clashed in the middle of the cast, the surrounding area instantly turned into a mess, with blood spurting in all directions.
“O-Oh my! What is happening!”
The merchants who were there all hurriedly ran or moved back.
The two clans paid no heed to that and continued with their bloody fight.
‘Oh god, this is war.’
‘Nothing like this has happened in 10 years.’
‘The Chasing Righteousness Clan has finally drawn its sword!’
At that moment, a beggar crouching in the corner of the square quietly stood up with a serious expression.
“… a war, huh.”
This wasn’t a simple fight. They were fighting for each other’s survival. No matter who won, the landscape of Nanjing would change.
‘We need to inform the superiors of this.’
He started running towards the hut in a huff.
Nanjing, which had maintained some semblance of peace on the outside, was suddenly engulfed in chaos.
And it wasn’t just Nanjing where this happened.
In cities where the Evils Faction and Justice Faction coexisted, similar events occurred, with just slight differences.
Kangho, which had been as quiet as a lake, began to stir.
The stones thrown into the Yangtze River shook not just the river but the whole world.
All the beggars in the provinces of Central Plains flew ceaselessly towards the general leaders of the Beggars Union to inform them about the strange events occurring there.
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