Volcanic Age - Chapter 28

Editor: Imagine

The feast didn’t end in one day and continued for two days straight. The first day was solely for the warriors.

They prohibited receiving any visits so people from the outside so nobody could bother them.

And the second day was filled with merchants or visitors.

“State your reason for visiting.”

“To congratulate them on their complete victory. I came to give a gift to the Fourteenth Gallant Sword.”

It wasn’t easy to meet a pinnacle expert. People affiliated with great sects like Mount Hua were especially hard to meet.

For them to make them remember even their names was the greatest profit.

Also, if the Zhuge Sega or the members of the Lotus Peak were lucky they would also be able to form a connection beforehand.

It wasn’t known when that would be but it would certainly be of help later. People aimed for that and brought gifts that would make it a little bit easier to remember them.

Some brought extremely beautiful children. If they were able to get married to the Zhuge Sega family they could aim for an increase in their status.

It was a bit vague for Mount Hua sect but it didn’t mean that there were no probabilities. They had children except for people with important positions.

However, they weren’t able to transmit the same martial arts as formal disciples, no matter how good their talent was. That was the limit for outer disciples.

Although Mount Hua sec was more well dispositioned towards outer disciples than the Shaman Faction, it didn’t mean that they weren’t strict at all.

There were various restrictions for them.

Whatever the case, it didn’t mean that there were no weddings at all because of these restrictions.

People worked hard to attract their attention and to not miss that opportunity.

“Today, I will teach you how to treat people.”

Gu Pung gathered the members of the Lotus Peak and said.

It would be serious if a disciple of Mount Hua they raised with all their heart and soul got blinded by wealth.

Falling in love was not something the sect controlled but what would children know about love? Falling for their obvious ploy when they weren’t mature enough was a problem.

Because of this, Gu Pung faced dozens of people in a day even though it was bothersome for him.

The disciples of the Lotus Peak didn’t say anything while standing behind Gu Pung and merely introduced themselves.

“It’s better to reject a gift if they make a request or something similar. Also, greed is prohibited for a taoist. You should only receive it if it is sincere. In the case of a gift that is excessive it means they expect something, an indication you can use to check would when looking at you, their eyes will dilate.”

“We understand.”

“Also, try to evade them if there is even a little bit of a promising tone in their words. Promises are as heavy as favor and dangerous for martial artists of the Righteous Faction like ourselves.”

“We will take it into account.”

Jang Hong and Jang Seo Eun focused on Gu Pung’s words and bore them in their minds and Ju Seo Cheon only pretended to listen.

He was originally an Elder of Mount Hua. He was really accustomed to handling people. In his past life, he was more accustomed to conversing rather than fighting others.

‘Hm, senior uncle is certainly a great person.’

His martial arts were one thing but his attitude on treating people was also at the pinnacle. He was extremely eloquent when addressing people and seemed as if it were second nature.

Dozens upon dozens of compliments poured down in a day.

Jang Hong and Jang Seo Eun seemed to be quite proud in the beginning but they started to get tired as that repeated several times.

Among the visitors, there were also small and middle sized sects belonging to the Righteous Faction besides merchants. The lords of those sects even brought their children and introduced them to the group.

‘Where are you.’

On the other hand Ju Seo Cheon was only searching for a person when Jang Seo Eun and Jang Hong and even Gu Pung was getting tired.

He ignored most of the lords of the small and big sects. He roughly listened to their names and then took a rest after emptying his head.

But he seemed to perk his ears when merchants came and focused.

‘He is certainly here.’

‘The Merchant King, Lee Ui Chae!’

He shouted his name in his head.

The merchant king was certainly in Guizhou at this time. It was to find a sponsor because he was a merchant that lacked funds.

This was also the reason he had come to the dangerous Guizhou without having proper protection. Many members of Murim that could become a sponsor came to this place, risking their lives with how dangerous it was here. If he could at least grab one of them, an opportunity to release his potential would come.

‘Damn it. I also prepared to help you. So please appear in front of me.’

The sun that was at its peak had started to fall. Visitors would stop coming soon.

There were many people waiting but the number of people they could meet was limited.

He couldn’t even sneak out at night and go find the visitors by himself. Even if that wasn’t the case, Gu Pung was taking more care of Ju Seo Cheon because he thought that he could have lost Ju Seo Cheon at Weng An.

‘He wouldn’t have gone to the Zhuge Sega, right?’

The Zhuge Sega had also performed great at the battle in Kae An but they were lacking compared to Gu Pung.

He had thought that the merchant king would certainly come here as someone that thoroughly differentiated from benefits. He was almost certain of it.

But what was happening? He couldn’t see Lee Ui Chae and not even anyone with a similar name.

Ju Seo Cheon’s insides started to burn the more time passed.

“Hehehe, how are you? We meet again like this.”

A familiar man visited them when the sun had almost set down.

He bowed down excessively and his eyes looked somewhat servile. It was to the point that it looked burdensome.

‘Was he the small merchant? That one isn’t it.’

It was the barker they saw at Kae Ang, the one that was so servile it was excessive.

Ju Seo Cheon guessed that the merchant king may have changed his name and he started to think of the characteristics of the merchant king he had heard in his past life in preparation for that.

They said that the merchant king was as fat as his greed or obsession towards wealth. And also, his spirit was so high it could pierce the sky that he didn’t lower himself even in front of the leader of Murim.

He got criticized in Murim saying that he was arrogant and cocky for a mere merchant.

At least, this small merchant that bowed so low it was servile and had a small physique wasn’t the merchant king.

Ju Seo Cheon’s interest disappeared and thought of another thing.

‘Now that it has turned like this, I should check the visitors list later.’

He was sure that he had gone to the Zhuge Sega if he hadn’t come to this place.

But if that wasn’t the case either, it would become really troublesome. Now that it had turned out like this, he wished for the visits to finish faster.

“You are indeed the disciples of the great Mount Hua. I was struck with admiration when I heard the news not long ago.

The small merchant only spoke flattery. They were words praising Gu Pung or Mount Hua but it was so blatant and obvious that it was rather more tiresome.

“Hey, merchant. I’m sorry but can’t we finish here? I spoke with a lot of people today so I hope you understand.”

In the end even Gu Pung wasn’t able to endure it and interrupted the words of the merchant.

“Do, don’t be like that. Can’t you give me some of your time?”

And then, the merchant got clearly flustered. It seemed like he was saying ‘I have prepared a lot so I can’t return like this’. Desperation was shown in his eyes.

“I’m sorry. You can return now.”

Gu Pung gave a clear farewell.

The warriors that were in wait near the entrance moved.

“Please wait a moment! I have an outstanding business plan. Just give me five minutes, no even half that time is fine so just listen to me! You won’t regret it!”

“Can’t you just punish people like him?”

Gu Pung was feeling tired of him so there was no way Jang Hong wasn’t. He put a really annoyed expression.

“Come here!”

“You crazy bastard, think of my position too!”

There were also levels among the visitors.

Their turn to visit would change depending on their prestige.

If their turn ended, it meant that that had nothing much in them. The warriors also knew that fact so they dragged away the merchant with no hesitation.

“Let me go, you bastards! Do you know who I am! I am a merchant  of the Kae An branch of the Murim Association!”

“Tch.”

The warriors clicked their tongues and dragged away the merchant.

“The Golden Merchant Organization!”

Flinch.

Ju Seo Cheon stopped in place while following Gu Pung’s back.

He could see the backs of Jang Hong, Jang Seo Eun and Gu Pung getting farther away.

‘Don’t tell me.’

The world flowed slowly and he concentrated internal energy in his hearing. The words echoed in his head.

Ju Seo Cheon erased all thoughts about the visitor records and slowly turned back.

Eyes that swirled with greed and desperation.

Eyes that others would click their tongues when they saw it.

He didn’t know why he was seeing the eyes of the merchant in gold.

“This small merchant is the owner of a small organization called the Golden Merchant Organization. My name is Lee Ui Chae… “

And his voice got smaller.

Ju Seo Cheon saw him being dragged away and laughed out loud.

“They say that It’s always in the last place you look. Who would have imagined that I would meet you like this…”

Being fat meant one was at the tip of prosperity. You become fatter as you had more things and great merchants were especially like that.

But the current Lee Ui Chae was rather lacking than. He was looking for a sponsor so there was no way he would spend excessively.

It wasn’t to the point that he starved but he didn’t over eat either. He didn’t have that much fat nor excessive amounts either.

There was also a circumstance for his personality.

When he got to know about the merchant king in his past life, Lee Ui Chae had already become someone he couldn’t touch.

Even if Lee Ui Chae was so servile to the point he got disdained, people wouldn’t be able to take care of the aftermaths if they went around saying that. It wasn’t weird that it got buried as a secret.

More than anything, his memories about Lee Ui Chae belonged to about sixty years ago in his past life.

It would be weirder if the past got transmitted like it was.

‘I made a mistake.’

People that survived at the age of war like Lee Ui Chae and people that came out victorious had high possibilities of having their past reformed.

But he wasn’t able to think of that. There was information he didn’t know about even after having become an Elder.

Ju Seo Cheon reflected on himself for having relied too much on the information of the future.

The second day. The meetings ended.

Lee Ui Chae visited  Gu Pung again but obviously didn’t meet with him again. The visiting period had already ended.

He had pledged several times in an hospitable way but he couldn’t help but return as the warriors of the Murim Association gave him a warning.

But…

“Hello, mister merchant.”

Lee Ui Chae met a figure he would have never thought about.