Chapter 13: Northern Heavenly Black Tortoise Unit

After climbing over the high walls, there was something like a shrine at the entrance.

Inside the shrine, three statues were placed on either side.

They looked like the Four Heavenly Kings statues at the entrance of a Buddhist temple.

“These are three of the Four Martial Heavenly Kings.”

Only then did I realize the identity of the three statues.

The statue with a bow on its back, a sword at its waist, and a spear in its hand was none other than Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor Jo Yang-seung.

And the statue standing next to it, holding a spear in one hand, was definitely Western Heavenly Spear Master Ak Mu-il.

“This one is the former Best Under Heaven, Great Hero Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor Jo Yang-seung, and this one is Great Hero Western Heavenly Spear Master Ak Mu-il.”

Unit Leader Yang pointed to the statue standing on the opposite side of the passage.

That statue had a weapon at its waist, I couldn’t tell if it was a sword or a blade.

“This one is Great Hero Southern Heavenly Blade Emperor Dokgo Un. These three, along with the Leader of the Alliance, eradicated the Evil Perpetrators eighteen years ago and brought peace to the jianghu. Hurry up and pay your respects.”

I looked up at the statue of the Southern Heavenly Blade Emperor.

‘This is the Best Under Heaven that Ajusshi was talking about.’

The statue had a faint smile on its lips, and its eyes were looking down at me.

‘I wish I could have met him once.’

I turned my head and looked up at the statue of Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor Jo Yang-seung.

‘Ajusshi has become a g*d after death.’

Even after death, he was made into a wooden statue and revered by people, so how could he not be considered a g*d?

As I looked up at the statue of the Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor, I burst out laughing.

Puhuhuhu……

The statue’s appearance was so similar to the actual Ajusshi that it was like looking at a copy.

With a plausible, robust physique, along with a stylish mustache and beard, it was reminiscent of Guan Yu in the Guandi Temple.

But I knew the true nature of this Ajusshi.

Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor was a man with light movements that didn’t match his stylish appearance at all and who constantly poured out nagging like a wicked mother-in-law.

“Why are you laughing?”

Unit Leader Yang glared at me sharply.

“Ah…… It’s nothing.”

When I mumbled a reply, Unit Leader Yang picked up the incense sticks placed on the table and inserted them one by one into the incense burner in front of the statues.

Then, he bowed to each statue, and the time he spent bowing to the Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor’s statue was the longest and most respectful.

I also put a piece of agarwood into the incense burner and bowed to each statue in turn.

After the ritual, Unit Leader Yang led me somewhere else again.

The place he was leading me to was a mountain deep in the forest.

As we entered the forest, several buildings appeared one after another.

Unit Leader Yang led me a little deeper into the forest and towards a large building located in the north.

“This is the lodging and residence of the Northern Heavenly Black Tortoise Unit. You can practice martial arts in the mountains, but don’t s*oot arrows. You might hit other Unit Members who are practicing martial arts in the mountains.”

“Yes.”

“And keep the fact that you were a Crow a secret for the time being.”

“……Yes.”

About a hundred people were looking at me.

I turned my head because their gazes were so burdensome.

“He’s a new Unit Member, so treat him well.”

Following Unit Leader Yang’s introduction, I clasped my hands and bowed.

“Kang Dong-jae of Yangyang is honored to meet the heroes of the Black Tortoise Unit……”

“Crow?”

Before I could even finish my introduction, a sharp voice popped out from among the Unit Members.

When I turned my head towards the direction of the voice, the man with the bruised face quickly hid himself among the Unit Members.

‘That b*stard……’

I remembered that man’s face.

He was one of the two who had picked a fight with me before.

“Crow, what do you mean?”

“Are you talking about the Crow who pieces together fragmented corpses?”

The Unit Members started murmuring, and Unit Leader Yang made a troubled expression.

“Ah…… I’ve seen him before too. He found and pieced together my aunt’s body and took twenty silver taels.”

Even a Unit Member who recognized my face appeared.

Well, it wasn’t strange that people who recognized my face appeared since I had been going around wherever there were fights.

Those with good memories would recognize me later anyway.

I thought it was rather fortunate.

Since it would be known eventually, it seemed much better to reveal it from the beginning.

“Quiet!”

Unit Leader Yang raised his voice and silenced the murmuring Unit Members in an instant.

“He used to do something else, but now he has joined our Black Tortoise Unit, so accept him as a colleague. If any unpleasant incidents occur in the future due to this matter, that Unit Member will be expelled from the Black Tortoise Unit.”

Sigh……

I sighed inwardly.

How could the Unit Members accept me with just a word?

I understood their resistance.

‘It’s going to take quite a while.’

Yeon Ja-ryong was enjoying leisurely days after a long time.

The Green Forest and the Water Bandits seemed to have stopped their rampages as if they had made a promise, and the Assassins were also not making any particular moves.

As the jianghu became quiet, the Unit Members were spending their time practicing martial arts, but he found the peacefulness boring.

‘Is there anything fun to do? Should I go to a Courtesan House with Mu-ho after a long time?’

Leaving the Azure Dragon Unit’s residence, he headed towards the mountain where the Unit Members were practicing martial arts.

The Four Divine Units were using the entire mountain, but as if they had forcibly divided the areas, the places where they practiced martial arts were different.

The north was used by the Black Tortoise Unit, the south by the Vermilion Bird Unit, the east by the Azure Dragon Unit, and the west by the White Tiger Unit, so he headed east.

“Unit Leader, you came at the right time. Have a sparring match with me.”

Before he could walk far to the east, a Unit Member jumped out of the forest and blocked his way.

“I’m too tired. It’s annoying enough to practice martial arts at night.”

“Come on……”

When Yeon Ja-ryong waved his hand and refused, the Unit Member stepped back with a disappointed look.

As he started walking again, he saw Jeong Bong practicing martial arts with several rookies and grinned.

‘As expected, there’s no one like Bong this year.’

Actually, he had met Jeong Bong once before.

He had stayed at the Jeong Family’s house when he went to Henan to subdue bandits, and that’s when he met Jeong Bong.

He had predicted that Jeong Bong would definitely receive a Hundred Martial Arts Plaque within a year or two because of his excellent martial arts skills and upright personality.

As expected, Jeong Bong received a Hundred Martial Arts Plaque and entered the Martial Alliance.

As soon as Yeon Ja-ryong found out that Jeong Bong had entered the Martial Alliance, he moved busily.

He found the Elder who had been to Henan and treated him to food and drinks.

Eventually, the drunken Elder unknowingly revealed the number on the Hundred Martial Arts Plaque that he had given to Jeong Bong.

However, even if he found out the number, the problem was taking him without arousing the Chief Administrator’s suspicion.

He couldn’t pick him first, and he couldn’t pick him second either.

Yeon Ja-ryong waited for the other Unit Leaders not to pick Jeong Bong’s plaque, and when he saw the desired plaque at the end, he picked it with an innocent face.

He didn’t know how much his heart pounded at that moment.

Khehehe……

As he walked with a satisfied smile, Yeon Ja-ryong arrived at a deserted part of the forest.

Sigh……

“This is a good spot. I’ll take a nap here and go eat dinner.”

He lay down on a rock and closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them wide.

Amidst the faint sounds of martial arts practice coming from here and there, he heard a peculiar sound.

Thwack. Thwack……

It was the sound of someone chopping wood with an axe.

His curiosity piqued, he got up from the rock and approached the direction of the sound.

He walked for a long time, but he couldn’t feel any presence, and only the sound of someone chopping wood with an axe grew louder.

As he turned a corner and came out from under the trees, he saw a small leaf falling in front of him.

And at that moment, something flew towards his face, piercing through the falling leaf.

Thwack!

Yeon Ja-ryong quickly twisted his body, but the something passed close to his face and deeply embedded itself in the thick tree behind him.

‘Wh…… What was that?’

It was so fast that he realized it was an arrow only after it was embedded in the tree.

‘Oh…… S*it. That was close.’

After calming his pounding heart, Yeon Ja-ryong spotted a young man lowering his bow from a distance of over a hundred paces.

“Hey, who are you!”

When he shouted, the young man holding the bow answered nonchalantly.

“I’m Kang Dong-jae.”

“Kang Dong-jae? I didn’t ask for your name! Who are you?”

Yeon Ja-ryong shouted again.

But the young man still answered nonchalantly.

“I’m a new recruit in the Northern Heavenly Black Tortoise Unit.”

“……What?”

His eyes widened at the young man’s answer.

It couldn’t be.

There was no such man among the ninety-nine gathered at the training ground.

If there had been, he would have brought him to the Azure Dragon Unit by any means necessary.

“Don’t lie!”

“It’s true.”

“What was your number?”

“Number thirty-seven.”

Yeon Ja-ryong’s eyes widened again.

Number thirty-seven was the lost Hundred Martial Arts Plaque.

No, he heard a rumor that it was found.

He had heard a story that a slightly foolish young man had picked up a Hundred Martial Arts Plaque in front of an Inn and insisted on being allowed into the Four Divine Units.

At that time, he just laughed it off, but that foolish young man was standing in front of him.

“The Chief Administrator said he sent you out, what are you talking about?”

“He did, but I found the Hundred Martial Arts Plaque that was lost two years ago and came back in.”

He hadn’t heard this story.

“Huh? When did you come in?”

“Yesterday.”

After hearing the young man’s answer, Yeon Ja-ryong stared at him intently.

It was suspicious.

It was extremely suspicious.

He could have picked up a Hundred Martial Arts Plaque by chance, but he couldn’t have picked up two in a row that were lost two years ago.

‘This guy…… I think he had both of them.’

Above all, the young man standing in front of him looked familiar.

‘Is he a Bandit from a Mountain Stronghold or a Water Bandit from a Water Bandit Stronghold? No, no. There were no bandits or water bandits who could s*oot a bow this well. Where have I seen him before……?’

As he looked at the familiar young man and tried to recall his memory, Yeon Ja-ryong asked.

“What did you do before? Where is your family from?”

“I used to sew up dismembered corpses.”

“Crow?”

“Yes.”

Only then did Yeon Ja-ryong remember the young man’s face.

He was the young man who was driving the cart when he got a ride on it a while ago.

“Oh…… S*it.”

Grimacing, Yeon Ja-ryong ran down the mountain.

Kang Dong-jae, who was left alone again, pulled the arrow out of the tree and muttered.

“What’s wrong with him?”

The Chief Administrator clicked his tongue when he heard that the atmosphere in the Black Tortoise Unit was not good.

Tsk tsk……

“It’ll be hard for him to last long.”

It was impossible from the beginning for a young man who had lived as a Crow to survive in the Four Divine Units, where only talented individuals gathered.

‘A month at most.’

He predicted the day when Kang Dong-jae would inevitably give up and leave the Martial Alliance.

‘It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.’

To survive in the Four Divine Units, one had to have extraordinary martial arts skills.

If one’s martial arts skills were not extraordinary, one had to be sociable and get along well with the Unit Members.

That way, one could receive help from the Unit Members in times of danger.

But Kang Dong-jae was not a person who fit into either category.

Bang!

As the Chief Administrator was feeling regretful, the door suddenly burst open, and Yeon Ja-ryong rushed in.

“What’s going on……?”

He shouted as soon as he saw Yeon Ja-ryong.

But Yeon Ja-ryong didn’t seem to care about the Chief Administrator’s shouting.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Why did you put Kang Dong-jae into the Black Tortoise Unit?”