"Looking for a mine?"

"Yes, a mine."

That was the other rumor Cheonyeong had mentioned.

But why a mine all of a sudden?

Since it had no connection with what he had said before, Baekta and his group were just puzzled.

"Cheonyeong, what on earth are you talking about? Why are you looking for a mine?"

At Baekta's question, which represented everyone's confusion, Cheonyeong smiled and said.

"Is a spiritual herb some weed on the street?"

"No."

"Is a spiritual beast a baby rabbit that you can see on this mountain and that mountain?"

"That's not it either."

"It's not for nothing that herb gatherers bow to the heavens first when they find a wild ginseng. They are expressing their gratitude because it is something that can only be obtained if fate allows."

"So?"

"If a rumor about a spiritual beast and a spiritual herb spreads, the herb gatherers and hunters will flock to the Qilian Mountains."

"That's right."

"But not everyone can get it. One in a hundred, one in a thousand will get it. The hunters and ginseng diggers know that too. So, a mine."

"So what does that mean… ah!"

Baekta's eyes went wide.

He had figured out Cheonyeong's intention.

"Hahahaha! Look at this damn bastard! So there was such a way! There was such a way."

"…"

"So you're saying, you'll pay a reward to the person who finds a place where a mine might be?"

"That's right."

"Then the hunters and ginseng diggers will search for the place we want while looking for the spiritual herb or spiritual beast?"

At Baekta's words, everyone burst out in admiration.

Only then did they also understand Cheonyeong's aim.

By spreading a rumor about a spiritual herb and a spiritual beast, he would attract the hunters and ginseng diggers.

A large-scale search team would be formed on its own.

And by separately spreading a rumor that he was looking for a mine, Cheonyeong was trying to make the hunters and ginseng diggers work as he intended.

Since they would also know that only a limited number of people could obtain the spiritual beast and spiritual herb, they would surely search hard to earn some extra income.

"You're really something else. How did you think of that?"

"I just remembered a promise I made with the Great Blacksmith."

"A promise?"

"Yes, I said I would buy him a mine later."

At Cheonyeong's words, Baekta opened his eyes narrowly and said.

"Hah! This man is a really sly bastard."

"What?"

"You bastard, do you think I don't know your black heart?"

"…"

"A promise is good. But if you buy him that mine? Aren't you planning to mass-produce hidden weapons and weapons with the minerals from there?"

"Huh?"

"The Great Blacksmith is truly pitiful. To be deceived by your sweet talk and worked to the bone."

At Baekta's words, Cheonyeong curled up one corner of his mouth and smiled.

A sharp fellow.

His intuition was damn fast.

"Ahem! I'm just trying to relieve the Great Blacksmith's overflowing creativity, you know?"

"Enough, you bastard. Have I seen you for just a day or two?"

"…"

"I'll keep it a secret, a secret. Hahahat!"

As Baekta spoke as if he had caught a weakness, Cheonyeong, who had been feigning ignorance, shook his head.

Secret, my ass.

Not only Gwi-su and Yoo Seongyeon, but also the descendants of the Eight Immortals had all heard it.

"Wait, one more thing!"

"What now?"

"Let's say people come looking for the mine because of the rumor, but that's not the Jingagu, is it?"

"That's right."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"We have to make them find a place where the Jingagu might be."

"A place where the Jingagu might be? Is there such a place?"

"Yes."

Cheonyeong, who nodded, said with cold eyes.

"A cliff."

"A cliff?"

"Yes."

"A cliff… how did you know that?"

Because he had memories of his past life.

When he was receiving assassin training, a place where the children had to climb, risking their lives.

Young children had died there.

They died competing to climb first, and they died after being kicked by the martial instructors while crying and begging in fear.

Those young ones had fallen to the bottom of the ten-thousand-zhang cliff and died.

If he could just find that place, he could find the main building of the Jingagu.

Because he remembered.

Because he was one of the children who had survived that cliff at that time and had moved the corpses of the dead children to the place where corpse poison was made.

"I was attacked on my way from Anhui."

"Ah! You said that happened. Then did you find out from them?"

"Yes, that the main building is in the Qilian Mountains."

"Hmm."

Baekta, who nodded slowly, shot up from his seat.

"Alright, I'll spread the rumor. That's my specialty, isn't it?"

"I was going to ask you anyway."

"Then I'll be right back. So that guests will be lining up from tomorrow morning."

"Without eating?"

"What's with the food? Since when did a beggar eat three meals a day? I came because I was curious about what your plan was. Then I'll see you later."

Baekta left the inn before he could be stopped.

Curiosity overcoming hunger…

He was indeed a man worthy of being the future Sect Leader of the Beggars' Sect.

Well, it wouldn't matter. He wasn't the type to starve no matter where he was or what he did.

"Then, we'll have to wait for now?"

"Yes."

"Then let's have a drink leisurely. We haven't had much of a conversation with them yet, have we?"

Gwi-su gestured for the innkeeper to bring liquor and food and said.

"That's right."

Cheonyeong looked at the descendants of the Eight Immortals sitting with Byeon Gil-tae.

They were still awkward.

Knowing that they were fellow descendants of the Eight Immortals, they seemed to get along with Byeon Gil-tae without any barriers, but they seemed to feel a distance from him and did not easily open their hearts.

Nevertheless, the reason he had brought them was because the matter of the Jingagu was also closely related to them.

They had suffered, being chased for so long, and had lost their families at the hands of those men.

But they hadn't even known their identity all this time.

The assassins of the Jingagu had secretly and sinisterly searched for them, and after finding them, they had hovered around them like shadows.

Of course, that connection was not something that had arisen in their generation.

Much, much earlier than that.

Perhaps from the time when the Demonic Cult, the backer of the Jingagu, and the Samyang Divine Lord had fought.

They were people who had learned all of that after meeting Cheonyeong.

He needed to get close to them.

Since they had all learned the Samyang, he had to embrace them just like Byeon Gil-tae, who had become a family member.

"Senior Brother."

"Yes, Lord."

"Please bring a chair and come over here. Let's have a meal together."

"Yes. But, before that…"

"Pardon?"

"They want to confirm."

"Confirm?"

"That is… I have already explained it several times, but they insist on seeing it for themselves."

Byeon Gil-tae laughed awkwardly and scratched his head.

Cheonyeong, who was not unaware of the meaning of those words, smiled and nodded.

The will that the Eight Immortals, who had inherited the will of the Samyang Divine Lord, had left to their descendants.

-The strongest of the eight will inherit the Samyang and prepare for the future.

He must have already heard it from Byeon Gil-tae.

About his realm at the time they first met, and about his current realm of having opened the strong bow and reached the Middle Dantian by taking the precious blood of the Ten Thousand Gong Baek.

But they wanted to confirm it for themselves.

He understood. People originally believe only when they see and feel it for themselves.

"Then, shall we exchange a few moves before the meal?"

"Pardon? Before the meal?"

"Yes, it won't take long."

At Cheonyeong's words, Byeon Gil-tae recalled his fight with him.

There had been an exchange of over a hundred moves before the match was decided.

But Cheonyeong had wanted to talk to him and save him, so it had taken that long.

If the purpose had been to defeat him, the match would have been decided sooner.

And now, he was so much stronger that it couldn't even be compared to that time.

"Well, I suppose so. I understand. Then I will step back for a moment."

Byeon Gil-tae stepped back from the side of the two descendants of the Eight Immortals.

He also had a desire to see it inwardly.

Although he had seen him fight the assassins on the way back from Anhui, it was only a part of it.

Cheonyeong, who had opened his Middle Dantian, had not yet clearly shown his power.

Of course, Gwi-su's heart was no different, so he got up from his seat and moved far away.

"Senior Brothers, what are you doing? You said you wanted to test it."

As Cheonyeong said with a smile while sitting at the table, one of the descendants of the Eight Immortals, Yeon Wihyeon, frowned.

It wasn't because he had called them senior brothers even though the hierarchy had not yet been decided.

From what he had observed for a few days, he seemed to be a person who was unreserved in dealing with people and did not seem to be a character who was greatly bound by high and low status.

From what he had heard from Byeon Gil-tae, he said that he had called him senior brother out of the blue just because he had learned the Samyang first.

The only problem was the fact that he was still sitting.

"Are you not going to stand up?"

"That's for me to decide."

"You have a rather arrogant personality, unlike how you look."

At the voice full of displeasure, Cheonyeong smirked and said.

"Because I have the skill to be arrogant. I'm not the type to pretend I don't."

"Alright! Don't say anything else later. Then who first…"

"Who, you ask?"

"Pardon?"

"The meal will be out soon. There's no need to drag this out by facing one at a time."

"What does that mean?"

"Let's finish this quickly, I'm not the type to enjoy tests. You two do it together."

"…"

At Cheonyeong's words, the faces of Yeon Wihyeon and the other descendant of the Eight Immortals, Jeon Yang, turned chilly.

"It seems you are looking down on us too much."

"Looking down? No way. I don't look down on anyone. Because I know that carelessness becomes a weakness."

"And yet you're going to face the two of us at once? While sitting down!?"

"I told you. I don't have time, and I have enough skill."

"This man…"

As Yeon Wihyeon clenched his fists and glared, Jeon Yang sighed and stopped him.

"Let's do it."

"Pardon?"

"We already know he's strong, don't we? If he can't withstand the combined attack of the two of us, we can just leave."

"Hmm."

Yeon Wihyeon nodded with a firm expression.

It was a fight with nothing to lose.

"Then we will begin!"

"Anytime."

Cheonyeong turned to face the two of them.

Confidence? He had more than enough.

Also, he had already grasped their skills.

It would be different if the opponent had learned something different from him, but they had learned the same thing.

Just from the traces of the Samyang felt from their bodies, he could more than predict their realm.

Their skills were similar to Byeon Gil-tae's.

There was a difference in the level of their internal energy, but it was only a slight difference.

"Let's make a bet before we fight."

"A bet?"

"Yes."

"What kind of bet?"

"I won't move from my seat. If you senior brothers can get close to me, I will consider it my loss."

"What! This man!?"

"But! If you can't get close to me, then you will stay as my senior brother and a family member of the Tang Family."

Yeon Wihyeon and Jeon Yang, who exchanged glances at Cheonyeong's words, nodded vigorously.

"Alright! Let's do that! If we win the bet, do not interfere in our lives anymore!"

"I will do so. Then shall we begin?"

Cheonyeong's bright smile became the signal, and Yeon Wihyeon and Jeon Yang took their stances, raising all the energy they had.

Kududuk!

As the energy of the two, which had spread in the narrow space, was released to the outside, the objects in the inn began to tremble minutely as if an earthquake had occurred.

Left? Right?

They had to divide the attack.

Although they had only met a short time ago, since their intentions were the same, their wills were instantly connected, and they could decide how to move with just a look.

But they couldn't move.

The moment they tried to move, a huge pressure released from Cheonyeong's body pressed down on the entire inn, and they knelt down, unable to even lift a finger.

"…The end. Let's eat, Senior Brothers."

The aura disappeared in an instant, and Cheonyeong smiled.

Yeon Wihyeon and Jeon Yang just stared with their mouths agape and their eyes wide open.

(End of Chapter)