It wasn't just about the tanghulu.
Her master had left her a will with a bunch of truly random requests, and compared to all that, the tanghulu was a piece of cake. Even reaching Tianzhu Mountain in Anhui Province.
She figured her deceased master probably wanted her to travel the Jianghu, using the will as an excuse. And it had worked perfectly.
Just then, the carriage, which had been moving along smoothly, suddenly stopped.
"Uh oh... What do we do, Nunim? It looks like we can't get through here with the carriage."
Trouble. A loud scream came from nearby.
"Assassins! Assassins! Don't panic, and protect the carriage!"
Guards, perhaps?
Being attacked by assassins, not just common bandits, on this mountain road? They must be carrying something quite valuable. Yeo-il, sitting inside the carriage, rolled up the scroll and spoke.
"Seolyeong, is there a problem on the road?"
A confused voice came from the driver's seat on the other side of the wall.
"Yes? How did you know? A tree has fallen and is blocking the path, and it's so large that it seems impossible for one or two strong men to move it."
"Didn't you see the carriage that passed us a while ago coming back? I could hear the merchant complaining all the way over here. You should've turned us around then."
"If you notice something like that, please let me know! We wouldn't have wasted time going the long way...…"
Seolyeong's grumbling was cut short by the growing commotion outside.
"Damn it, don't scatter! Protect Young Miss Namgung Soyo!"
Namgung. A very familiar surname.
So, they weren't guards, but escorts from some prominent family? The carriage Yeo-il was riding in began to move again—in the opposite direction.
"We'll be two hours late, but if we keep going, we should get down the mountain before dark. If you'd told me sooner, Nunim, it would've only been an hour."
Just then, someone screamed right in front of the carriage.
"H-Help me!"
Simultaneously, the slowly moving wheels stopped again. Bang, bang. Someone started pounding on the carriage wall.
"Help us, please! Our young miss is Namgung Soyo, the only daughter of the Namgung family! If you save her, the head of the family will reward you handsomely! Please, help us!"
That's quite a request for a coachman. Seolyeong sighed and asked Yeo-il inside the carriage.
"What should we do, Nunim?"
Yeo-il, who had been silent for a while, unfolded the scroll again.
Her master had left her 40 random requests in his will. She'd managed to fulfill about half of them, 20, in the six months she'd been wandering.
Of the remaining 20, some were difficult, some were easy, and Yeo-il tried to find ones that might pertain to Namgung Soyo.
Let's see.
11.If you meet a woman who's seven cheok tall, listen to her problems and help her out.*
"Is Namgung Soyo over seven cheok tall, by any chance?"
To Yeo-il's question, a woman outside the carriage, presumed to be Namgung Soyo's maid, answered in a flustered voice.
"Huh? Oh, uh, no..."
Okay, next.
23.If you meet someone with a terminal illness, grant them one wish.*
"Or does Namgung Soyo have some terminal illness?"
"Not that I know of..."
Then next.
39.If someone with golden eyes shows up...*
"Are her eyes... golden?"
“••••••••••”
40.Someone who's intersex...*
"Or... is she intersex?"
Finally losing her patience, the maid snapped.
"Wh-why are you asking these ridiculous questions?! We're in a hurry, and you're wasting time!"
"She's none of those things."
Then I'm sorry, but I have no reason to help.
Yeo-il had two reasons for venturing into the Jianghu: to return the jade ring and to fulfill her master's will.
If Namgung Soyo isn't seven cheok tall, doesn't have a terminal illness, doesn't have golden eyes, and isn't intersex, then it's simply her fate to die here.
Fate's a cruel mistress, and you just have to accept it. That's the way of the Jianghu and Murim, isn't it?
Yeo-il, putting away the scroll, said coldly.
"Let's head back, Seolyeong. We'll arrive after dark at this rate."
"Ah, no!"
"Yes, I understand. But Nunim."
"Speak."
"The funny thing is, while we were talking, the road on the other side got blocked too."
Yeo-il slowly raised her head and stared at the inner wall of the carriage in front of her.
Everything had gone quiet. The clashing of weapons was gone, and an eerie feeling hung in the air. Beyond the wall, she could sense a killing intent so strong it felt like it was pricking her skin, all focused on the carriage.
"It's them! They're after our Young Miss Namgung Soyo's carriage...!"
Seolyeong's tense breathing was audible.
Seeing how easily the martial arts family's escorts were taken down, these weren't your average assassins. Or perhaps someone on the inside had betrayed them.
Soon, a cold voice offered them a proposition.
"Hand over the maid, and we'll let your carriage go."
A fair enough deal.
"Nunim."
At Seolyeong's call, Yeo-il smiled calmly.
"Give her to them."
"N-no! Please, save me! sob I'll do anything, just save me! Please, I'm begging you!"
"I'm sorry. My Nunim's orders come first."
Seolyeong got down from the driver's seat and must have pushed the maid, because her sobbing screams slowly faded away.
"This can't be happening! Ah, no! Save me... Save me...!"
Around that time, Yeo-il put down the scroll and picked up something else from the opposite side.
Until the moment Yeo-il got up and stepped out of the carriage, none of those blocking the carriage in front had noticed Yeo-il's presence.
When she stepped out to the side of the carriage, she saw Seolyeong facing a man in black robes next to the sobbing maid. The man in black robes chuckled with a sinister smile and muttered.
"You actually believed I'd let you go? How naive."
Suddenly, a silver blade flashed from his clothes.
"Die and blame your own stupidity for trusting a Murim warrior!"
But the assassin's hidden blade didn't kill Seolyeong.
“Keuk!"
Instead, a terrible scream erupted under the clear sky. Along with the scattered blood, one of those standing behind the man in black robes shouted.
"Sword Qi!"
That white light that blew away the man in black robe's hand!
Everyone's eyes turned to one place—exactly in the direction where Yeo-il was standing.
“••••••••••”
While those who saw her face hesitated in disbelief, Yeo-il met the eyes of the man in black robes, who had stepped back clutching his wrist, and said.
"I don't care what happens to Namgung Soyo."
“••••••••••”
"But you're going to pay for threatening my coachman, the one who's supposed to take me to get tanghulu at Tianzhu Mountain.”
