They had barely had enough time to get a grasp on the current state of the martial world, so they had not paid much attention to what was happening in the imperial palace.
But once they began going through the records, they discovered that one astonishing event after another had taken place there.
“What are you talking about? The Hanlin Academy scholars all returned home, and the palace is full of ordinary commoners? Then who is running the country? Don’t tell me... No. Surely not.”
“Those ordinary commoners are.”
Listening-Eye Beggar’s mouth fell open.
The country is doomed.
A new age will soon begin.
Those were the first thoughts that crossed his mind.
“Good heavens. How well could ordinary commoners possibly handle affairs of state? This country will collapse before long.”
“I don’t think it will.”
“What?”
“Well... apparently those commoners are master craftsmen and specialists handpicked from all across the Central Plains. They say government work is actually being handled more smoothly than before.”
“No... Even if they are masters of their respective fields, governing a country isn’t the same thing.”
“From what I’ve heard, they work far better than those fellows who do nothing but quote Confucius and Mencius. More importantly, they’re incredibly fast. Work that used to take a month now gets finished in a day or two.”
“No, just who in the world made that happen? The last intelligence I saw said the Emperor had no power and was being pushed around by his officials... Did His Majesty somehow gain enough authority in the meantime to seize control of the government? What in heaven’s name happened inside the palace?”
“Everyone is keeping quiet about that part, so we couldn’t find out the details.”
“The reason they’re keeping quiet... Wait. You said people avoid the subject whenever Jeok Wigang’s name comes up, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then he must have been involved in whatever happened at the imperial palace. Come to think of it, there are far too many suspicious things about this current affair as well. Jeok Wigang... There’s something about that man.”
As Listening-Eye Beggar sank into thought with a grave expression, the door to the straw hut opened and another beggar stepped inside, handing over a document.
It contained a list of the most recent oddities surrounding Jin Textile Shop.
Iron-Wrist Beggar’s brows twitched as he read it.
“Elder. You need to see this.”
Listening-Eye Beggar took the document and muttered with a serious look.
“The man traveling with Jeok Wigang is... a commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard? And yet this commander... treats Jeok Wigang with the utmost respect?”
Listening-Eye Beggar looked at Iron-Wrist Beggar.
“I knew it. That bastard did something in the imperial palace. But what? He has a body incapable of learning martial arts, so it couldn’t have been through martial prowess... Did he display some kind of almost divine strategic genius?”
“If so, then the Jin Textile Shop contract and this matter with the Thousand Flowers Sect both make sense.”
“Exactly. Jeok Wigang is connected to every last one of these incidents. I’m dying of curiosity. Just what kind of man is he?”
After pondering for a moment, Listening-Eye Beggar rose to his feet.
“What are you planning to do?”
“What do you think? I’ll find out for myself. For the time being, I’m going to follow Jeok Wigang around.”
“You’re not going to leave it to the men below you?”
“Then I’d have to wait. You know me. I can’t stand not knowing something once I get curious.”
“Of course I know. That’s why you learned the Listening-Eye Heart-Observing Art, the technique that lets you understand people from nothing more than their eyes, expressions, and the shape of their mouths.”
“Exactly. That’s how I got the nickname Listening-Eye Beggar.”
“Even so, you’re an elder of the great Beggars’ Union. It seems a little beneath your dignity to personally handle something like this.”
“You fool. What dignity does a beggar have to protect? I became a beggar so I wouldn’t have to care what other people thought of me. Enough nonsense. Send word to headquarters that I won’t be back for a while.”
Iron-Wrist Beggar knew there was no point trying to stop him. He sighed and nodded.
“Haah. Understood.”
“Elder Brother. Looks like the Beggars’ Union has someone on us.”
Jeok Wigang nodded at Jin Muryang’s words.
“I know.”
“Want me to chase him off?”
“No. Leave him.”
“He stinks so badly I can barely stand it.”
Jeok Wigang gave a faint chuckle and muttered something under his breath.
Then—
“Better?”
“Huh? It is.”
“Is there anything sorcery can’t do?”
“I told you. It’s convenient.”
Calling it convenient hardly did it justice.
There genuinely seemed to be nothing it could not do.
The moment something became even slightly inconvenient, sorcery could solve it.
Still, Jin Muryang was curious about one thing.
“But why go this far just to leave that beggar alone?”
“I’m planning to make use of the Beggars’ Union too.”
“What?”
“If every intelligence organization in the Central Plains starts saying the same thing—that a crisis is coming—it’ll be much more convincing.”
“White Horse Heaven emerging into the world would be a major crisis, sure, but couldn’t you just wipe them all out yourself, Elder Brother?”
“Of course I’ll wipe them out if they come into the world. But I can’t protect the entire Central Plains at once. Everyone needs enough strength to hold out until I can get there. Better yet, they should be able to win on their own.”
Baek Ryeongso looked surprised.
“Elder Brother, you really have changed. In the past, you couldn’t have cared less whether other people lived or died...”
“Back then, I had nothing to protect. Now I do.”
“Does that include us?”
Jin Muryang asked it like a joke. Jeok Wigang smirked.
“No. You lot can protect yourselves.”
“Tch. That hurts.”
“But if you ever run into an enemy you can’t beat, don’t look back. Run. Do whatever it takes to survive and come to me. Don’t let your pride make you stand and fight for no reason. You make sure you stay alive and come to me.”
The sincerity in Jeok Wigang’s serious words struck all three men unexpectedly hard.
Jin Muryang grumbled.
“Don’t worry. If something that dangerous ever happens, I’ll be the first one running.”
“This bastard would turn tail the instant he saw the enemy, so I doubt you need to worry about him.”
“Exactly. Exactly.”
As Ye Yahyeon and Baek Ryeongso chimed in, Jin Muryang grimaced.
“Want me to kill you two first?”
“Oh dear! How terrifying!”
Ye Yahyeon and Baek Ryeongso made exaggerated shows of fear.
Despite their words, their expressions were utterly at ease.
Meanwhile, Listening-Eye Beggar, watching them from a distance, kept tilting his head.
None of what they were saying made any sense.
Judging from the conversation, the four of them clearly knew one another.
And they were extremely close.
He had also learned that Jeok Wigang could use sorcery.
But that only created more questions.
“Elder Brother? White Horse Heaven? A crisis in the martial world?”
More baffling still, they were talking about a crisis threatening the martial world while casually telling Jeok Wigang to wipe it all out in one blow.
But he had clearly heard that Jeok Wigang possessed a body incapable of learning martial arts.
Were they joking with one another?
Yet that final exchange had not sounded like a joke at all.
Could they know I’m following them and be deliberately messing with me?
More importantly—
Make use of the Beggars’ Union?
Did they think the Beggars’ Union was a joke?
Listening-Eye Beggar took great pride in the fact that the Beggars’ Union, with its hundred thousand members, was the largest and most powerful force in the Central Plains. Jeok Wigang’s remark rubbed him the wrong way.
He wanted to show Jeok Wigang.
How great the Beggars’ Union truly was.
How much potential it possessed.
And just how much stronger it had become compared to the past.
Others might point fingers and call it nothing more than a den of beggars, but the Beggars’ Union of today had grown overwhelmingly powerful.
No other faction knew that.
The Beggars’ Union had hidden the information completely.
People called Heavenly Martial Castle the strongest force in the Central Plains.
But before long, the Beggars’ Union would take that position.
Listening-Eye Beggar was certain of it.
“What has you thinking so hard?”
The sudden voice nearly made him jump out of his skin.
He whipped his head around.
Jeok Wigang was standing right beside him.
“Hoho. I-I was merely worrying because today’s begging hasn’t gone very well.”
“My, my. You must be terribly disappointed.”
“N-No. Some days you get a lot, some days you get little. There are more bad days than good ones. If a thing like this were enough to upset me, I’d never survive as a beggar.”
“Is that so? How about I fill your begging bowl for you, and we have a little talk?”
“N-No, thank you. I’ll fill it with my own efforts.”
“Come now. From the look of things, you’ll spend the whole day following me around and won’t get much begging done anyway. Why don’t you just talk to me?”
He had been as careful as possible, yet Jeok Wigang had noticed him.
Listening-Eye Beggar immediately realized this was not someone to take lightly and decided he needed to get away fast.
“Hohoho. I appreciate the thought, but I’m rather busy, so I’ll be off...”
He suddenly staggered as though drunk.
BANG—
Then he vanished like an arrow loosed from a bow.
His cover was already blown, so there was no reason to hide his skills any longer.
I’ll have to approach him more carefully next time.
Reflecting on his own arrogance in thinking this would be easy, he sped away using his lightness arts.
“Is that the famous Drunken Eight Immortals Step?”
“Indeed. Someone who knows the Drunken Eight Immortals Step... Hm?”
The question had caught him so naturally that he answered without thinking.
Then something felt wrong.
He turned his head.
Jeok Wigang was beside him, grinning.
Jeok Wigang was keeping pace as though it required no effort whatsoever. Listening-Eye Beggar was so startled he nearly tangled his own feet and pitched forward.
“H-How?”
He stopped and stared at Jeok Wigang.
A moment later, three more figures caught up and descended from the air behind him.
None of them were beneath him.
The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was one thing, but how in the world was the owner of a textile shop capable of this?
This entire group was nothing but questions.
“If you’re that curious about everything, why are you running away? I told you I’d explain.”
There was usually only one reason someone offered to reveal the truth in a situation like this.
To silence the witness permanently.
Listening-Eye Beggar became convinced they intended to kill him.
“You bastards! You think I’ll go down that easily?”
He pulled the gourd from his waist, wound its strap around his arm, and took a stance ready to attack at any moment.
He seemed to have gotten something very wrong.
“Come at me! I’ll show you the power of the great Beggars’ Union!”
“I’m not asking you to fight. I’m asking you to talk.”
“Shut up! You think I don’t know you’re trying to make me lower my guard before attacking?”
“Why would we attack you?”
“You think I can’t see through your plan to silence me permanently?”
Jeok Wigang stared at him in disbelief.
“Why would I need to silence you?”
“Because I learned something you wanted to keep secret!”
“Something I wanted to keep secret?”
“I heard everything! You bastards are plotting something using the Beggars’ Union! If I tell the Union, that’ll cause trouble for you, won’t it? That’s why you mean to kill me. But you’ve made a mistake. You must think I’m easy prey just because I’m a beggar. Today I’ll show you otherwise.”
He clearly had no intention of listening.
“Bind the qi vessels. Lock the muscles and bones. Shackle the soul and will. Fivefold Refinement, form the chains. Edict of Absolute Immobility.”
Listening-Eye Beggar tilted his head at Jeok Wigang’s muttering.
Then he sensed something was wrong and tried to move.
“Uurk?”
His body would not respond.
It felt as though something invisible had bound him from head to toe.
Jeok Wigang had done something to him.
“W-What did you do to me?”
“Nothing serious. I just used sorcery to stop you from moving, so there’s no need to worry. Since you refuse to listen, I had no choice but to hold you still. If we’re going to have a peaceful conversation, this is the best method.”

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