Chapter 195: Night of Lanzhou (1)

As soon as Il-mok gave his orders, the group quickly got moving.

Well, everyone except Il-mok.

"Ahem. I have severe hygiene obsessions, so I'm afraid I can't help with this particular task. Carrying corpses around or rummaging through grimy corners is out of the question for me. What if I accidentally trigger my obsessive-compulsive disorder and go berserk? That would be quite problematic, wouldn't it?"

Il-mok felt awkward being the only one sitting this one out, so he rattled off excuse after excuse.

“It is fine for you to entrust such miscellaneous chores to us.”

"As your subordinates, this is naturally our duty."

"Don't worry about it, big brother."

Dam Bin, Jin Hayeon, and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah all responded without missing a beat, and the others didn't seem to mind either as they filed out of the hall.

Watching them voluntarily take on the grunt work, Il-mok let out a sigh of relief.

Half of what he'd said was just an excuse, but the other half was genuine.

'Damn sweat.'

The perspiration from his fight with the Heavenly Orchid Society's leader was making his obsessive-compulsive tendencies gradually worse as time went on.

"Phew."

While Il-mok tried to calm himself and ease his compulsions by cooling down his sweat, his companions busied themselves with their work.

They scoured the massive estate of the Heavenly Orchid Society, gathering up the corpses they'd created and searching every nook and cranny for valuables and ledgers along the way.

Resting in the leader's hall, Il-mok had this thought.

'Man, I really made the right call coming to the Central Plains!'

This kind of situation would've been impossible back at headquarters.

He'd probably be stuck under his Master or his Eldest Brother's thumb, getting worked to death, acting as a Wikipedia every single day.

Il-mok was enjoying this brief moment of happiness during his break when—

"Young Master, what do you plan to do with these people?"

Jin Hayeon pointed indifferently toward one corner while piling corpses,

There lay three unconscious women.

They were the women who'd been in bed with the Heavenly Orchid Society leader when they first attacked this place.

They’d all passed out from shock when Il-mok started butchering the bodyguards.

"Hmm."

Il-mok thought about it for a second, then shrugged.

“Let’s just take them to the local branch for now.”

***

After they finished piling up the bodies, setting them on fire, and stuffing their bags with all the loot and ledgers they could find, Il-mok and his crew headed for the cult's Lanzhou branch office.

Since Lanzhou was also a provincial capital, it was, of course, home to a branch office of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The cult had about six or seven branches in every Central Plains province they operated in, with around a dozen people at each one.

However, areas near provincial capitals and major sect locations had slightly more branch members assigned to them, though not every city had a branch.

They had a presence in the provinces closer to their home base in Xinjiang—like Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan—and their network stretched all the way out to Hunan and Hubei near Dongting Lake where the Murim Alliance was located.

On the flip side, they had zero presence in the eastern provinces like Zhejiang or Hebei.

It was a nightmare to manage a branch from that far away, and by the time any intel got back to main headquarters, it would be outdated.

Anyway, thanks to the info they got from Gulang’s Branch Leader, Il-mok and his team found the place with no problem.

"We greet the Eighth Disciple of the Supreme One!"

Even though it was still only the early morning hours of the Hour of Rabbit (5-7 AM), the Lanzhou Branch Leader was already outside with a welcoming party.

About half of the Lanzhou branch members lived at this estate as servants or family members, while the other half lived elsewhere and visited periodically to maintain their cover.

The Lanzhou Branch Leader bowed his head and clasped his hands as he asked, “Young Master. By any chance, did you run into some trouble on the way?”

While Il-mok himself had less blood on his clothes, quite a few others were splattered with it, and some were even carrying unconscious women on their backs, hence his question.

But the answer he got was beyond the Branch Leader's expectations.

"We fought the Heavenly Orchid Society."

"!?"

“From this day forth, the scums in Lanzhou who call themselves its sky will no longer exist.”

"You... you completely destroyed the Heavenly Orchid Society?"

When Il-mok nodded, the Branch Leader prostrated himself with a shocked expression.

"The Supreme One’s grace has shone upon Lanzhou, bringing salvation to all living beings."

Because he operated in Gansu rather than Xinjiang, the news was slow to reach him; however, he too had heard the rumors about the Eighth Young Master.

But he never would’ve dreamed they could take out the entire Heavenly Orchid Society with just that small number of martial artists.

The branch members, realizing that the disciple they served was a genius far beyond common sense, also prostrated themselves before Il-mok following their leader.

In that reverent atmosphere, the genius far beyond common sense opened his mouth.

"First, could you prepare some bath water for me?"

It had been over two hours since his life-and-death battle with the Heavenly Orchid Society Leader.

His tolerance for hygiene had already reached its limit.

—Kill them all!

—Purge this world of its filthy dust and filth! Slice it all away!

Those prostrating before Il-mok had no idea.

They had absolutely no clue that the man they were worshipping was a lunatic who was about one step away from completely snapping.

***

After finishing his ritual bath and cleansing.

"Lanzhou Branch Leader Gye Yun reporting. May I enter, Young Master?"

"Come in."

The Lanzhou Branch Leader entered the hall with Il-mok's guards.

“We questioned the women and found that all three women were sold here from other counties due to debts."

"Are you certain?"

If it turned out to be false, like they might be the Society Leader’s concubines for instance, things could get complicated.

In response to Il-mok's question, the Branch Leader replied.

"We have records of the transactions involving these women. Of course, we'd need to verify with their home counties to be completely certain, but it is highly likely to be true for now."

“If we have a branch in their hometowns, tell them to confirm it. If not, send someone over to check.”

"I will obey your command."

"And guide me to where those women are being held. I need to have a little chat with them."

At Il-mok's words, the Branch Leader led him there.

He was glad to see the women showed no signs of torture from their interrogation.

However, because they could not comprehend the current situation, every one of them had eyes filled with anxiety.

“Do not be alarmed. If what you've told us is true and you have no direct connection to the Heavenly Orchid Society, we'll release you in a few days."

Although Il-mok spoke in a placating manner, their eyes remained anxious.

Watching them for a moment, Il-mok brought up something more hopeful to lighten the mood.

"If what you've said is true, I'll gladly send you back to your hometowns. The Heavenly Orchid Society is gone now, so you won't need to worry about those debts anymore."

But for some reason, the news that they could go home didn’t make them happy.

Their expressions remained gloomy.

He thought maybe they didn't trust his words or were just anxious, but thanks to a telepathic message from Dam Bin nearby, Il-mok realized the truth.

—Young Master, sending those women back to their hometowns might actually be a terrible thing for them.

—What do you mean by that?

—Because the people in their villages know they were sold as prostitutes.

Only then did Il-mok recall something he'd learned long ago.

While studying Korean history for civil service exams, he'd learned about the concept known as "tribute women." He recalled the passage which stated that on the rare occasions that women sent as tribute to the Yuan dynasty returned to their hometowns, they were not welcomed by the village, and that such women were called by the slur ‘hwanyangnyeon.’

(TL Note: Just search 화냥년 on Google and you’ll know.)

After pondering for a moment how to handle this, a good idea occurred to Il-mok, and he opened his mouth to speak.

“So… any of you know how to act?”

The three women are beautiful enough to attract the Society Leader and keep them to himself. If they went into missionary work, they'd probably boast quite a success rate.

"A-acting?"

All three of them looked stunned. Il-mok quickly clarified.

“Oh, don’t worry about the basics. We’ll cover your food and housing.”

He had no intention of working them like slaves, at least.

The three women exchanged a long, complicated look. Finally, the one in the center took a deep breath and spoke.

“We’ve never acted a day in our lives, but we'll do our best."

They had nowhere to go anyway, and they'd realized their lives were in this man's hands.

Hearing her determined answer, Il-mok turned to Baek Cheon.

"Young Master Baek. You’re up. Teach these ladies how to act.”

The second he heard the word "act," Baek Cheon had started looking like a little kid unwrapping his gift during Christmas.

“Say no more, Young Master! Though this Baek's acting skills overflow abundantly, handling all the roles in a grand play by myself was proving quite difficult. This Baek will train these women into the finest actresses and spread the name of the Heavenl—I mean, Maitreya far and wide!"

Watching Baek Cheon's ecstatic reaction, Il-mok smiled awkwardly.

'I was just gonna use them as honey trap agents.'

He hadn't really planned to throw them into Baek Cheon's plays, but Baek Cheon looked so happy.

There’s an old saying that the only thing worse than not getting a gift is getting one and then having it snatched away. It was too late to take it back now.

'Well... it's better than going back to their hometowns.'

Il-mok felt a bit sorry for the three women who would now suffer under Baek Cheon, but decided to let it slide for now.

"Branch Leader."

"Yes, Young Master."

With the women's matter now concluded, Il-mok turned back to the Branch Leader.

“While you were going through their ledgers, did you happen to find a list of the brothels, inns, and taverns the society was running in the city?”

Thinking about the three women had made him think about the bigger picture.

'The intel said their whole operation was based on human trafficking across the entire province.'

There had to be more victims out there than just these three.

“We have identified a certain portion, but as we have not yet confirmed all of the ledgers, additional investigations will be needed."

Il-mok nodded at the Branch Leader's words.

"Let me know when you finish the investigations. With the Heavenly Orchid Society gone, Lanzhou's night scene will soon become a no-man's land, so it'll need organizing."

As Il-mok roughly sorted out the situation and was considering getting some sleep.

The Branch Leader cautiously spoke, "Young Master, there's one more thing I need to report."

When Il-mok looked at the Branch Leader with curiosity, he pulled out a small box from his robes and opened it.

Inside the box was some kind of plant.

A medicinal herb radiating mystical energy.

"This was among the Heavenly Orchid Society's assets that you acquired, Young Master. I was hesitant to present it to you recklessly without knowing its precise identity, but after searching their ledgers, we were able to confirm that it is a thousand-year-old tuber fleeceflower root that they purchased on the black market.”

Hearing that, the corners of Il-mok's mouth curved upward.