The surroundings turned into a mess right then.
Dozens of smoke bombs exploded around the place, and the surroundings were so hazy that it was impossible to see more than an inch ahead.
The guards tried to disperse the smoke by waving their hands, but it seemed impossible to stop the smoke from exploding.
“Damn it!”
The guard captain swore as he pulled up his defense qi.
The purpose was to create this wind of qi to disperse a little of the smoke.
However, a black form suddenly appeared right in front of his eyes.
“What!? Kuak!”
Puak!
With a short groan, the guard captain went limp. After falling from his horse, he could only continue to groan, and not even stand up properly.
Biik!
And then came the sound of a whistle.
And the dull sound of hitting.
Just what was happening?
The guards somehow came to their senses, and tried to protect the carts.
But, the cart in front suddenly began to move, and the rest of the carts rushed ahead. They were startled and tried to grab onto them, but there was nothing they could do to retrieve what had vanished behind the smoke.
About a dozen carts of the Hunan Merchant Union disappeared in an instant.
“Captain! Are you alright?”
Cough, cough!
One of the guards tried to help their fallen captain. Fortunately, the man was breathing and fine, and it didn’t seem like he was seriously hurt as he opened his eyes.
“Kuaak… how is this happening now?”
“I don’t know. There was smoke around and someone attacked us. They took all the carts away.”
“Any traces?”
“We couldn’t see any because of the smoke… and because of the weight of the carts, there should be traces on the ground.”
The captain nodded at the explanation.
If there were traces left behind, he could just follow them. Also, since there was a lot of baggage on the carts, they would not be abandoned any time soon.
The guard captain took a deep breath and moved. Eventually, he approached the rearmost carriage.
He went to the side of the carriage, bowed, and opened his mouth.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Fortunately, he heard a voice from the inside. The voice was calm and didn’t sound like it belonged to someone that was hurt.
“Sorry. I wasn’t strong enough so the goods got stolen.”
“It’s fine.”
“Uh?”
At that moment, the sound of tired laughter was heard.
The carriage window opened, revealing the Commander of the Hunan Merchant Union.
There was a smile on his face. Anyone could see that this wasn’t the expression of a man whose goods had just been stolen.
“I said it’s alright. The entire thing… is going as expected.”
The guard captain couldn’t understand it at all.
The group quickly drove the horses, pulling the carts up the mountain path.
They seemed to be only thinking about getting out of the forest in a hurry, not even caring about the shaking sound which came from the uneven ground.
Tattle!
Besides, he was lucky.
They even dug out a waterway to remove the traces, but then it began to rain soon.
Looking at the dark clouds, it seems like a considerable amount of rain would fall, so the rain would erase all traces.
“Just a little more!”
“I know!”
The group grinned. And soon Dongting Lake will come into view.
Just by loading the cargo onto the ship prepared there in advance, they would come into amazing wealth.
Their hearts raced at the thought of this. They had been watching the Hunan Merchant Union for a long time.
As expected of people who roamed around and robbed, they prepared a clean plan, and even did several workarounds to prepare for anything unexpected.
So far, they have never failed to steal.
Perhaps even compared to the most famous thief in the Central Plains, they were no different.
The leader of the group, Yang Cheol-sang, smiled faintly while looking at the carts full of goods.
As expected, it was good to keep an eye on the merchants.
He believed that they would let their guards down as they had never failed to ascend the mountains.
As soon as he heard the news of this commercial trip, he prepared several plans, and the results turned out well.
All the plans now would be complete once they got close to Dongting Lake.
“We’re almost there!”
Hearing the voice coming from ahead, Yang Cheol-sang came to his senses.
There, he saw several people waiting in front of a large ship.
Everyone had their faces covered, but they weren’t from the same group.
These people were hired to move the load on the carts.
After that, they would also be used to discourage the pursuit from the Hunan Merchant Union.
The tin merchant who had set up his cart there shouted.
“We don’t have time, so move quickly!”
People moved as the shout came.
The wanderers all moved in a hurry.
They moved a lot more quickly to complete the work.
They moved swiftly all around and stood in front of the dozen carts. Finally, the moment the black cloth was lifted,
“Stop!”
People leaped out of the carts, shouting.
They weren’t just officials, but also those skilled in martial arts. From the start, there was no load there, just people in hiding.
“What… huh…?”
Yang cheol-sang looked at it in shock.
The officials and warriors who appeared at the same time removed their robes and pulled out spears, swords, and weapons, and aimed them at the wanderers.
“If anyone moves, just kill them!”
Clack!
That one word reverberated around, and shook Yang Cheol-sang to his core.
He knew who the person in front of him was.
Yang Cheol-sang gulped.
His task was being taken over.
Even the people next to the officials were people who were quite famous in Hunan, and it was clear that they had been hired by the Hunan merchants.
Their deadly killing intent was so strong that it felt like their heads would be cut down any time.
“Th-this makes no sense…!”
Yang Cheol-sang couldn’t believe this. Did these people already expect their carts would be attacked?
So they deliberately hid people in the carts and disguised this entire trip?
Drrrr!
His lips trembled. The voice of Gu Hwang-jung soon shook his heart.
“Arrest them all! Anyone who resists now will be killed!”
“Yes!”
He had never felt more afraid of officials who spoke in a loud voice before today.
“Yes…”
A group of people were observing from afar.
Three masked men who watched this unfold right from the start.
They were flustered.
Because they were looking at the people that carried out the task which they had intended to do.
But in the end, they thought that this was a lot better after seeing what transpired.
Eventually, when they stopped near Dongting Lake and looked like they were moving the luggage, Dan Woo-hyun tried to step forward.
But something entirely shocking happened.
There was no luggage, just people, in the carts?
Even people who looked like officials and county men and warriors appearing?
“It’s amazing.”
“Th-that is cool.”
“If we had gone there without thought, we would have been harmed.”
Namgung Sohye laughed awkwardly and agreed with Kwon Mujin. Who would have thought that there were people hiding in the carts?
Even Dan Woo-hyun was fooled.
In order to be safe, he stayed far away and unless the opponent consisted of great warriors, they wouldn’t sense the presence of those in the carts.
“They must have set a trap in advance to catch us, right?”
“Seems like it.”
Dan Woo-hyun sighed as he stroked his chin.
If he had moved ahead before the thieves, then it was obvious what would happen. And it was clear that it would be a hassle since the officials couldn’t be attacked.
“Does this mean that they are reading the movements? I don’t know who it is, but it looks like it.”
“I think it was the plan of the person in the carriage.”
Dan Woo-hyun nodded in agreement with Kwon Mujin.
Something did seem odd after the attack. Even though the merchant’s party had to immediately give chase back then, the Hunan Merchant Union was quite peaceful.
“Even if we are caught in a trap, there are countless means to get out….”
But they weren’t confident that something like this would not happen again.
“Phew, this is why it’s not advisable to do bad things.”
What came out from Namgung Sohye’s mouth was relief. As Kwon Mujin said, there might be numerous ways to escape, but it was a disgrace for anyone to catch the three of them.
This was actually a good thing.
Dan Woo-hyun watched the entire thing unfold.
The officials moved and began to capture the thieves.
Among them, several masked men tried to escape, but the warriors, who appeared to be hired by the Hunan Merchant Union, moved swiftly.
Several people have died now.
Dan Woo-hyun watched and mumbled,
“It was planned right from the start… maybe I took them too lightly.”
Dan Woo-hyun frowned as he didn’t like this.
When he thought of something like this happening according to the intentions of others, it felt like the Monkey King playing in Buddha’s palm.
This felt dirty.
Dan Woo-hyun turned with a completely empty smile.
Anyway, if there wasn’t anything left to steal, there was no reason to stay any longer.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
Dan Woo-hyun walked ahead briskly.
From his low voice, they could tell he was in a bad mood.
“Do you know why the Monkey King tried to kill Buddha?”
“Hmm…?”
“Because he didn’t like playing in his palm anymore.”
After saying those words, Dan Woo-hyun frowned.
And looking at his cold expression, they felt even more scared.
Kwon Mujin and Namgung Sohye followed behind with mouths shut.
