TSBIRBV Ch 58

Chapter 58 A Cornered Rat (3)

Damn it!

Tang Eonbo was ready to tear her hair out. Sichuan Tang and Golden Dragon had joined forces to strike the Jiaolong Stockade—so what in the world was this?

“We’ve been played,” Tang Seoak ground out.

With Namgung’s clan at arm’s length, there was no way they could be seen cooperating with Golden Dragon.

Even in the name of crushing the Jiaolong King, being caught partnering with river pirates—without so much as notifying a fellow Great House—would be a fatal scandal.

“Jiaolong King’s own Golden Dragon Stockade has arrived!”

“We’re saved!”

The bandits on the bait boat hugged each other and whooped. Just as the pirates had coached them, the words “Jiaolong King’s own” came out full-throated, and the ringing in Tang Seoak’s skull worsened.

Namgung was never meant to be stationed here; that was why Tang had felt free to chase the Jiaolong Ship and those bandits.

“With the Golden Dragon elders here, you’re all fish feed!”

Because the distance had shrunk, the Green Forest chief’s taunt landed clean on Tang ears—an eager provocation from a bandit who had said his lines and now hungered for a bonus.

Eonbo, barely regaining her composure, shouted:

“Seize that bandit boat! This one’s taking on water—everyone across!”

Seoak’s plan was in tatters; at the very least, they needed to bag the bandits who had twice spoiled their works.

Meanwhile, Golden Dragon pirates who had boarded Tang’s vessel tossed grapnel lines toward the Jiaolong Ship.

At once, the Jiaolong Ship, which had kept the distance tight, surged and pulled away.

The bandits’ voices drifted over the river like fading echoes.

“Then, as planned, we leave the rear to Golden Dragon!”

“Please pin down Sichuan Tang and Namgung!”

Tang Seoak’s eyes went cold and blue.

“Those rotten…”

Eonbo’s hand, which had landed on his shoulder, withdrew as she saw him slowly shake his head.

“All Tang vessels—attack the Golden Dragon Ship.”

“What are you saying?”

The Golden Dragon deputy-chief who stood on Tang’s deck flashed his eyes.

“The situation’s become difficult. As you see, with Namgung present, we cannot reveal our cooperation.”

“Then at least give the Golden Dragon Ship time to retreat—”

“I’m afraid not.”

Seoak’s hand punched clean through the deputy’s chest. The smile he’d worn like a gentle mask split and fell away, revealing the face of a ruthless villain.

“This boat is sinking, you see… we need something to change into.”

Even hearing that whisper, Eonbo shifted subtly to obscure her cousin’s motion.

“I’ll be generous with your posthumous reputation—sleep easy. I’ll tell Jianghu that Golden Dragon pirates punched holes in our hull, clambered aboard, and fought desperately.”

Black blood sprayed from the man’s lips. Seoak withdrew his hand and flicked hidden weapons; three Golden Dragon pirates who had been charging staggered mid-stride.

“You cur!”

One managed to dodge and hurl himself at Seoak—only to have the back of his skull pierced by a throwing blade from one of Tang’s own.

Seoak kicked aside the fallen body and muttered through his teeth:

“It’ll be a long night.”

— — —

“Where are the hostages?”

Namgung Un had boarded the Golden Dragon Ship and gone straight for the stockade chief, Manak, trading a hundred rounds. Un was one of the foremost prodigies of his generation, but he lacked experience; matching Sabok Paedo Manak, a river wolf who had tasted every kind of battle, was no simple task. In the end the old pirate coughed black blood and kneeled.

He had been poisoned—Tang’s handiwork.

Deck to deck, the fighting was savage. Golden Dragon’s pirates fought like cornered dogs.

But before dawn break, their fate was sealed.

With Namgung and Sichuan Tang pressing together, the Golden Dragon Ship was trapped.

Unlike the systematically trained fighters of the Five Great Houses, the pirates were men who learned arts over shoulders. They swam and handled boats with genius—but in a head-on clash like this, the gap would only widen.

“Hostages? I know nothing.”

“If he won’t speak, allow me to help,” Tang Seoak said, striding forward when Manak stonewalled Un’s questioning.

“You—!” The chief’s eyes went blood-red. The largest reason things had become this was Tang Seoak’s betrayal.

They promised me the river alliance’s throne…

The old pirate’s eyes threaded with red. Before the clash began in earnest, Seoak had approached, slinging a bleeding deputy on his back. Jiaolong men had bored holes in the hull, he’d said, voice taut—using the confusion, they’d stabbed the deputy. Manak had been fooled for a heartbeat.

Once aboard, Seoak and his men had released poison over the deck and drove blades into pirates as they cried:

“Show Sichuan Tang’s might!”

“Open the way for Namgung!”

Betrayal—from the man who should have been ally.

Golden Dragon pirates who jumped into the water to flee ballooned dead to the surface—the river seeded already with Tang’s poison meant for Jiaolong.

Now all of it poured over Golden Dragon.

“Tang Seoak, you dare!”

Manak had trusted him. More precisely—he had trusted the Jiaolong King’s hatred for Seoak. Unless Seoak destroyed her, he could never safely sail the Yangtze.

“How loyal of you,” Seoak drawled. “The Jiaolong King never leaves her stockade, and you, old as you are, drag yourself here to block the foe.”

His sneer carried warning.

“If you answer Namgung’s question nice and plain, I shall spare your head. Where are the hostages?”

Now that things had come this far, Seoak had to perform the part of “rescuing” Qinghai’s guild master. The difference between him and Un was only this: Seoak knew full well Manak could not possibly know where Mun Yegyeol was.

It was, in its way, an offer to Manak.

If it was revealed he had colluded with Sichuan Tang, it would not be only Seoak who was damned; Manak would be exposed as a rebel against the Jiaolong King.

Let him die, and it ends. But Manak had a family. The Jiaolong King was not someone who left a traitor’s family alive.

“All my life I walked the pirate’s path—but to a faithless snake like you, I’ll say nothing!”

Pt-tt! Spit landed on Seoak’s cheek.

“Faithless? It’s been decades since I turned from the Jiaolong King.” Seoak’s tone was quick and cold.

“Young Dragon of Namgung… let me tell you the truth,” Manak rasped.

“Sabok Paedo Manak has prowled this river forty years,” Seoak cut in fast. “His tongue is a blade—do not be swayed.”

Namgung Un, who had watched their exchange in silence, spoke coolly.

“What matters most is the hostage’s safety. Step back for now, Master Tang.”

Seoak clenched his jaw and checked the wind.

He stepped back one pace; his sleeve twitched. Fine sand, refined poison, trickled free—an exquisite venom technique.

He hid a throwing blade between his fingers and tore his own sleeve.

With that dose, Manak would soon die.

The poisoning itself could not be hidden; Un would suspect. He would claim his sleeve tore in the melee and poison spilled out.

A sloppy cover, bleeding suspicion everywhere. But it was the best at hand.

At all costs, he had to prevent Namgung’s heir from extracting testimony from Manak.

Having done the deed, Seoak stepped back farther and listened—but heard nothing. Manak, once a rival of the Jiaolong King for river rule, could only sag, kneeling, then sink to the boards.

He didn’t speak, did he?

Anxiety crawled; Seoak kept stealing glances at Un.

Despite the dead being a pirate chief, Namgung Un gently laid the body straight and closed the glaring eyes, then rose slowly.

“First and Second units of the Azure Corps, search the Golden Dragon Ship from stem to stern! The rest form up on Tang’s prisoners and prepare to enter Golden Dragon’s stockade!”

Seoak sidled near.

“What did the chief say?”

“Nothing,” Un replied, face blank.

“He said nothing at all.”

— — —

Meanwhile, the man Namgung Un sought so desperately—Mun Yegyeol—was at the Yangtze’s bank, reunited with someone very special.

“Long time no see, Red Thunder.”

— — —