Taesan’s simple life continued on for some time.

The only big change was that he took on two prostitutes on a daily basis.

Of course, he invited them into the room one by one.

The time he allocated per person had shortened.

This was because Taesan was highly accomplished in the skill of sucking out the souls, but also because his body condition was much better.

He had cleared out his thicker blood veins and path and felt his condition improve.

The danger of passing out whenever was nowadays of the past.

But his body was still far from perfect. He still needed long continuous treatment.

Just because he had cleared out the thicker blood veins and path it didn’t mean his entire blood pathway had been healed.

It was just temporarily healed.

He now needed to focus on strengthening his blood veins and path.

The fact that he was now able to accept two prostitutes in one day, meant that his recovery rate had improved.

Taesan constantly checked on the gathered information from the doctor and his disciples.

The information he mostly asked for was on Hwang Hwa Ru and on Cheon Guem Ryeon.

He was no longer interested in the news of the Jong household.

Of course, he was not going to leave things be just because he wasn’t interested.

Since it was something he started, he would see an end to it.

As for Gyeongwan and Yoo, he trained them even more intensively.

The two wanted it voluntarily as well, but the doctor improved the intensity extremely due to Taesan’s earlier comments.

The two trained with many near-death encounters. It truly felt like hell.

But the results were evident from the training.

Gyeongwan had a goal.

It was to be able to move as beautifully as Taesan when he had recently defeated Jong Risungrak.

He didn’t mean to imitate Taesan but wanted to draw that beautiful movement with his own sword.

His end goal was a big motivator to improving his skills quickly.

And as Gyeongwan’s skills improved his opponent, Yoo, naturally picked up her pace.

During that time the Golden wall merchants moved about endlessly.

Now that they knew what Cheon Geum Ryeon was up to they were planning for it and at the same time looking for a way to teach them a lesson.

Taesan had been spending his days in relaxation and met the doctor for the first time after a long time.

“Prince, what are you doing?”

The doctor asked Taesan as he observed him clenching and unclenching his hand while deep in thought.

“I’m trying to see how many I can kill this time.”

“Oh my, what a menacing thing to say, what are you up to now.”

Although the contents of what he said sounded afraid, his expression was nothing of the sort. In fact, his expression brightened up. Like a child expecting a sweet treat.

“So where are you going to attack now. Are you going to wipe out the Jong clan yourself?”

The Jong household was currently in an extremely difficult situation.

They had gathered their forces to wipe out the black thieves when someone attacked them as if they had been waiting for the right opportunity.

In other words, it was as though they had been robbed and left with a bare house. Because of that, the already crumbling household was now in shambles.

And they had not been able to deal with the black thieves. As they had all escaped.

Also, the other Mo and Bangpa clans that had been suppressed by the Jong clan, started to rise up.

They would have suppressed them immediately in the past, but now that was impossible.

The weakness of the Jong clan had been spread far and wide.

And now, Cheon Geum Ryeon was discreetly trying to merge and acquire the Jong household.

As though they had planned to do so from the start.

“What about those that are helping Cheon Geum Ryeon?”

The doctor avoided his eyes.

“They are like shadows and very hard to find…as of now we’ve found that they are connected with Hwang Hwa Ru.”

Initially, he had expected Hwang Hwa Ru to be a small information hub being run by Cheon Geum Ryeon or the Jong clan.

But it was not it.

When he had been involved in Hwang Hwa Ru previously, those that tried to ambush Taesan were under the nameless organization like Hwang Hwa Ru.

“It bothers me.”

Taesan was bothered by this nameless organization

When he had been Cheonma he could find out anything he wanted, it was just that he had no interest in most things.

Of course, it was unnecessary to be referred to as nameless.

He simply needed to instruct to find out.

But now he always faced a barricade whenever he tried to find out about something. This frustrated and bothered him.

Like this body of his right now.

“So…what are you going to do?”

The doctor asked cautiously. There was no playfulness. It felt like it would result in something bad if he were to trigger Taesan right now.

To be exact, it was ever since he said it was bothering him.

This phrase reminded the doctor of a scene he had once seen before.

“To catch the body we need to catch its tail.”

Taeasn looked at the doctor and asked.

“The establishments Cheon Geum Ryeon set up recently, how are they doing? Are they causing any trouble?”

“No, they are still relatively on the low. But don’t you think they will make a move soon? They can’t just sit and watch forever.”

The doctor continued with bright eyes.

“I think the start will be the Hwang Hwa Ru. Since they can easily cause a scene if you were to get involved.’

Taeasn smoked.

“You think so too?”

“Yes.”

That’s why they must have taken Taesan there.

“They won’t act recklessly?”

“Recently Woong and Moonkwang were spotted in the vicinity.”

“Woong? Who’s that?”

The doctor had anticipated Taesan not to recall so he answered him without a change of facial expression

“The one that soiled himself.”

“Oh, that one.”

The corners of Taesan’s lips went up

“So I looked into it, all ten of those from the Jong clan that had been at the Yeon residence seemed to have come here.”

“So?”

“Those guys seem to be disturbing the bangoa clan thieves.”

“Thieves?”

Taesan snorted a laugh. That’s why they say people never change.

To think that the Jong clan were adopting the same tactic they had used at the dongho district and were doing the exact same thing again.

“It’s the easiest way for them to hide their identity and get what they want. And it’s easy to throw them away in the future.”

“Are the golden wall merchants really that weak to fall victim to such tactics?”

“Of course not. I even passed the information. I doubt they will sit on it.”

The doctor looked at Taesan with bright eyes. It was the eyes of one asking to be praised.

Taesan smirked.

How would this guy act if he knew that he himself was Cheonma? Would he still look at him with such eyes?

“It’s obvious what the Jong clan is trying to do.”

“Guess they’re trying to cause a scene with the thieves while they are doing something else.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And that is Hwang Hwa Ru?”

“You are correct.”

“And you are confident?”

“No. I can’t swear upon my life, but I can swear upon my finger since I can stitch it back together”

The credibility went down was he didn’t even swear on his finger confidently. But knowing that too wasn’t easy he just let it pass.

“There are other investigations I am doing as well. And they intend to cause a scene when you visit the white flower inn.”

“Aha, and involve me in a fight?”

“Yes. Since the thieves are about everywhere it would be hard for the goldenwall merchants to fight back don’t you think? And it’s also in the middle of a busy road.”

Taesan smirked.

“This will be interesting.”

Just as well since he had been planning to rip out the tail to catch the body.

And there they were helping him out, of course, he should use them appropriately.

“From the looks of it, they seem to be planning for today or tomorrow. The thieves in moohan are all on their toes right now.”

Even for the Jong clan, it was impossible to beat the thieves with only twelve of them.

So they must be the strongest ones.

Just by getting the thieves to submit did not resolve the issue. They had to be fully controlled and suppressed before having them submit to their rules and controls.

And that was impossible.

The Jong clan were only able to suppress the thieves in Dongo to collect their taxes.

So this meant the longer he dragged out the lower his possibilities were.

He would need to deal with this quickly.

“I think today is the day. That is if you decide to make a move.”

The doctor smiled slyly.

“Actually if you don’t’ move for a few days, it will put them in an awkward position.”

But there was no way that Taesan would choose to do so.

“Then that’s not fun. And it just ends with them being in an awkward position.”

The corners of the doctor’s lips went up. As this was what he had been anticipating.

“Let’s have some fun today.”

At Taesan’s words, the doctor smiled excitedly.

***

“I told you not to tell them.”

At Taesan’s words, the doctor smiled awkwardly.

“Then shall we leave them behind?”

Gyeongwan replied loudly to that sentence.

“No! We can do a good job!”

But even his reply was way too tense.

The doctor shook his head.

“Your face already shows that today something will happen, so how can we take you along?”

The doctor looked at Yoo who was walking side by side next to Gyeongwan and asked.

“Don’t you agree?”

Then Gyeongwan looked at Yoo with eager eyes.

Yoo was not able to answer and avoided his eyes.

Even she felt that he was being excessive.

No, it was surprising.

Gyeongwan was not a very expressive person, to begin with.

He rarely had any expressions and was rarely surprised.

So she didn’t think that a little bit of tension would be so evident on his expressionless face.

But she had been wrong.

He looked like someone who had studied how to be obvious.

He was unusually expressive today.

Anyone who saw him would know that something was up.

It was a dilemma to tell Gyeongwan not to tag along when he was the most eager and enthusiastic one to come.

Hence Taesan only nagged slightly.

Which surprised Yoo, she had thought he would firmly instruct him not to come along.

But he had not.

Perhaps it was his way of looking out for him or it didn’t matter to him to be found out.

In any case, the doctor made a suggestion.

“Let’s use poison.”

“Po..poison?”

Yoo looked at the doctor in shock.

“The point is not to have his expressions revealed. So we can kill the muscle in his face with the poison.”

Yoo looked at the doctor horrified.

How could he say such a thing so nonchalantly? To kill the muscle in his face? Then he would have to live on without any expressions?

No, before that did that have any influence on his body?

“If you look at me like that, even I will get hurt. What are you making me out to be? I am a doctor, doctor.”

“Oh…sorry. I was taken aback by the word poison so…”

“Forget it. It’s only temporary so you don’t have to be so worried. There might be some side effects but they are minor. So what do you think?”

The doctor looked at Gyeongwan and asked, without hesitation Gyeongwan nodded.

“I will do it.”

The doctor smiled and took out a needle the size of his forearm.

Gyeongwan’s face turned pale.

“Are you going to use that on my face?”

“I will only push it in slightly. Very slightly.”

Of course, that was his definition. Yoo’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out from the sight of the doctor using the large thick needle to acupuncture Gyeongwan’s face.

What was even more surprising came next.

The doctor broke the needle that was inserted in his face.

“What are you doing!”

Yoo couldn’t help but shout.

The doctor nonchalantly shook the broken needle.

“It’s an acupuncture needle made from solidified poison. Once it melts inside, it will be removed from the body once he urinates.”

“Oh….!”

Yoo made an apologetic face but soon returned to her usual self.

“Then let’s.. let’s go.”

Of course, her words didn’t return as fast as her facial expression.

Yoo hastened her pace as her face turned red, and Gyeongwan was blankly looking at her back as she walked on when the doctor nudged his shoulder.

As though he was telling him to hurry on.

As they walked side by side Gyeongwan’s face returned to his normally expressionless face. His expressions had miraculously disappeared.

Then they finally arrived at the white flower brothel.

And somehow they felt tension in the air.