The teachers were aware of the methods by which the students sneaked the alcohol in, and their 'covert' drinking of the alcohol was also obvious to them.
Usually, to prevent any alcohol-related injuries, the teachers would run over to them as soon as they became conscious of any illicit activity, but today, the teachers remained still.
The teachers were informed of the ident.i.ty of the red coloured liquid the students drank earlier on.
And as they had predicted, the students were a little perplexed.
"Hey! Are you sure this is alcohol?"
"It is! It's an expensive bottle that I bought!"
"Then why are we not feeling tipsy?"
"Far from feeling tipsy, my mind is becoming clearer?"
"How is this possible? It definitely smells like alcohol!"
"Th-that's true!"
The group of teachers including Yun Hseong grinned as they observed the increasing confusion of the students from afar.
'Rascals, you should know what honour you're all experiencing. When are you all ever going to be able to drink a beverage made of the ten thousand year red nectar flower again?'
They continued to admire the expressions of the disconcerted students.
It was a little unethical for them to do so, but as it was the last day of the field trip, they permitted themselves this much entertainment.
Like this, the merry banquet continued on.
***
It was at this same time.
The location was a building on the border between Sanseo and Hanam.
The building itself was enormous in its size, containing a grand four story building within its complex.
On the uppermost floor of the building, a single lamp barely lit up the dark room.
Sitting under the lamp was a middle-aged man with neatly combed grey hair. Prostrating in front of him were two men clothed in black.
"I've lost face from this."
The two men in black trembled at the cold words of the middle-aged man.
"What? You got attacked by pine needles? Does that make any sense?"
"...."
"You're telling me that Heuk-sim went missing when he went to obtain the wolf essence, Hae-sak got captured whilst trying to find him, and the various warriors we scattered around the area are now all dead?"
The two men in black immediately prostrated once more. They were completely silent with the awareness of how the man in front of them was currently feeling.
They were well aware from experience that the first person to speak would definitely be beheaded.
"That person would risk his life for the group, it's impossible that he would have made a run for it."
"...."
"What do you think would be the next best line of action now?"
"...."
"Why aren't any of you responding?"
"...."
"I'll ask once more. What was the root cause of the failure of this operation?"
One of the two men, who had both been hesitant to speak until now, spoke up at the middle-aged man's question all of a sudden.
"I-it's because that man seemed to be an absolute master…..ah!"
The man was unable to complete his sentence. The middle-aged man picked up the sword next to him and beheaded the man before he had the chance to finish.
*Slash-!*
*Thud.*
Blood spurted out in all directions as the man's head rolled onto the floor.
It was as the men had expected.
The surviving man in black felt internally relieved. From experience, he knew that it was most likely that his life would now be spared.
"So there was a man that seemed like an absolute master?"
The man in black immediately responded to the middle-aged man, who was calmly wiping his sword clean of blood.
"Ye-yes, there was!"
"So who do you think he was?"
"It seemed like an elder of the Hwacheon Clan, Ji Cheol-mok."
"The old man was still up till now, why is he suddenly making a move? Has he gone senile or something?"
"...."
In truth, a branch of theirs had been in operation in the vicinity of Goseon Mountain, and their activities had only been able to continue as Ji Cheol-mok turned a blind eye to them.
It was thanks to this that they had been able to take the bandits also operating in the area into their group, increasing the overall strength of the organization.
This was why he was so confounded as to why Ji Cheol-mok suddenly started to act to suppress them.
"Anyway, even if the old man starts going crazy on us, he'll be restricted to the area around Goseon Mountain!"
"What do you mean?"
"That person told me that there is a rule for the retired elders of the Hwacheon Clan- to manage the area around which they have retired."
"So, what should we do?"
"There's a more obscure spot where that old man that smells like tobacco is less likely to intervene."
"...?"
"Snaketail Valley."
The Snaketail Valley.
It was a path on Goseon Mountain that headed towards the Hwacheon Academy.
It was nicknamed so as the long narrow valley meandered like a snake's tail.
"But there are quite a few paths that lead back to Hwacheon Academy."
"We can just lure them to this particular path. That particular route would also be the fastest way for them to get back. Once they get there, we're all set."
"But it will be hard to ambush along Snaketail Valley. It's surrounded by precipices on both sides. It's a precipice where you can't even throw stones from above."
The middle-aged man smiled cruelly.
"We can carry out a perfect operation there. If we lure them well enough, we can kill around three quarters of the students."
"Is there really such an operation?"
"Don't you trust in my words?"
"No-no, that's not it at all!"
The man clothed in black hastily prostrated himself.
"If it all goes as planned, Hwacheon Academy and the Hwacheon Clan that runs the place will have to pay a high price for the loss of those students!"
The middle-aged man burst out in laughter.
"Hahahaha! It's amusing just imagining the expression of the clan leader! Anyway, with this in mind, pay close attention to the training of the warriors."
"Understood!"
The middle-aged man lifted his hand, indicating the man in black to leave.
As he left, the middle-aged man sighed.
"d.a.m.n it, I'm going to have to receive that person's help again."
A number of their operations had failed in succession, resulting in the death of many warriors. To ensure the success of this operation, that person's backing was essential.
He stood up, and tied a small note onto the leg of a carrier pigeon, then released it into the skies through a window.
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly as he watched the pigeon's powerful flight.
'I don't know why that person is so obsessed with the Academy. There are many other ways to attack the Hwacheon Clan other than targeting the Academy.'
Then again, he didn't really care.
In exchange for moving as that person's arms and legs, he was able to enjoy wealth and honour.
'Anyways, I wonder where that fellow Heuk-sim has disappeared to.'
***
It was the morning of the next day.
After finishing their morning routines, the students began to prepare their departure.
Whilst it was common for people to be fatigued or have aftereffects after a banquet, the students seemed completely fine.
They in fact seemed to have a clearer mind than ever.
This meant that their attempt to rebel by drinking alcohol had ended in failure.
The culprit behind this was the beverage they drank the night before, which was brewed from the ten thousand year red nectar flower, but the teachers that were aware of this remained silent.
The Liberal Arts subject teachers, along with the maids and servants, had left in carriages early in the morning. This was after they had packed the teachers and students' breakfast and lunch.
The students were using their time to rest deeply, in an attempt to conserve their energy for the Gyeonggong they would have to utilize for their return to the Academy.
Kang-hyuk decided to make full use of this gap in time.
He took a small drawstring bag out of his luggage. He then poured out the contents of the bag-tea leaves, into a kettle boiling on the bonfire, and allowed the leaves to steep.
"Ah!"
The first person that noticed the diffusing fragrance of the tea was Dang So-mun.
"It seems like it's a high-quality tea."
"It is a tea of high-quality."
Kang-hyuk readily acknowledged Dang So-mun's observation.
"All the group members should have some tea before we leave."
"Indeed, let's have some."
Baek Mun-ji, who was rather quick-witted, had already taken out his tea cup. The other students then followed his lead, and also took out their tea cups, ready to drink.
The small wooden teacups had been inside the students' respective luggage bags.
"Will you have some Oh Seonsaeng?"
Oh-Tae coughed, then held out his tea cup in response to Kang-hyuk's offer.
"Ahem, ahem ahem. Thank you for the tea, I'll drink it well."
Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g looked a little puzzled at the complete polar shift in Oh-Tae's att.i.tude towards Kang-hyuk at the start of the field-trip in comparison to now.
"Here, you drink some too."
As Kang-hyuk poured tea into Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g's tea cup, Cheon Hae-geang accepted it with two hands.
"Thank you!"
The aroma of the tea was indescribably deep in its complexity.
It was also exquisite in its flavour.
"Wow! Seonsaengnim! What kind of tea is this?"
"Its flavour is slightly different from the tea you gave on the coming journey, but it's as delicious as the first one!"
Kang-hyuk's response to the praise of the students was short and simple.
"It's a good tea."
"I-I see."
Cheon Hae-gw.a.n.g smiled awkwardly in response.
"Here, you drink some too."
Kang-hyuk poured some tea into the palm of his hand, and fed it to Deuk. Deuk licked up the tea, and happily barked in response.
Kang-hyuk grinned.
'It is indeed a good tea.'
There was nothing else he could really openly say about the tea.
This was because the tea was in fact made of a blend of the Yin Yang Immortal Gra.s.s, and the Celadon Blood Immortal Fruit.
Regardless of whether one's physical const.i.tution was more yin or more yang, the Yin Yang Immortal Gra.s.s was extremely effective in creating an equilibrium of yin and yang within the body. The Celadon Blood Immortal Fruit was renowned for its fatigue relieving properties and recharging the vitality of the body.
The two were rare wild medicinal herbs.
If Kang-hyuk openly spoke of the const.i.tuents of his tea, it was most likely he would be accused of lying, or those that drank the tea would be confounded at having consumed such precious ingredients.
Therefore, Kang-hyuk felt that the wiser course of action was to keep the ident.i.ty of his tea ambiguous.
However, Oh-Tae had already noticed that Kang-hyuk's tea was no ordinary tea.
He could ascertain this by the effects he was feeling within his body after drinking it. Any fatigue within his system had almost instantaneously disappeared, and the movements of his internal energies were beginning to shift.
After some time had pa.s.sed, the time for departure had arrived.
The sound of a beating drum reverberated throughout the campsite.
*Deung Deung Deung!*
The students gathered around a large boulder in the campsite upon hearing the sound of the beating drum. Ok Hae-mi stood on top of the boulder.
"Right, are you all ready to leave?"
Ok Hae-mi shouted out at the students.
"You can begin to gather in your individual groups for departure. We will be officially leaving in fifteen minutes, when the drum begins to beat again."
The students began to return to their individual groups at Ok Hae-mi's instruction. Kang-hyuk's group too began to gather in formation.
*Deung-Deung-Deung-!*
The drum began to beat once more.
The time to depart had finally arrived.
The teachers and accompanying warriors took a deep breath in. They were aware that they couldn't relax till they had returned to the Academy. From experience, they had found that they could be endangered if they let down their guard for even a moment.
An hour had gone by.
Kang-hyuk gazed upon the sight in front of him.
As the path was downhill, he was able to clearly see the lines and formation of the students, teachers and the warriors, the whole of Hwacheon Academy.
The sight was truly spectacular.
He had in fact seen a formation of the Academy before, but there was a distinct difference in his present experiencing of it. This was most likely as presently, he too was a part of the formation, and not an onlooker.
*Bi-ik!*
Kang-hyuk looked up at the sky as heard the cry of a bird of prey.
It was a hawk.
Kang-hyuk looked at the hawk with a meaningful gaze.
The hawk was no ordinary hawk. It was the Clan Leader's messenger hawk that carried his conveyances.
There weren't many that could identify the Clan Leader's hawk.
Kang-hyuk reached his hand out at the messenger hawk.
The method by which the Clan Leader's private messenger hawk delivered messages was also somewhat unique. It would drop a bamboo box containing the message from the sky to the recipient.
The reason as to why unlike most messenger birds, the Clan Leader's messenger hawk was able to do this, was because it was a spiritual animal.
Kang-hyuk applied the technique of Heogongseopmul, and sent a stream of his energy out into the sky to receive the bamboo box.
As the rest of the group were busy concentrating on their Gyeonggong, they hadn't noticed Kang-hyuk's box.
He immediately opened up the message.
'Found the rice warehouse where rats gather.'
Whilst the message was short, Kang-hyuk knew what it was actually trying to convey.
'He's found the betrayer that helped the spy in the Academy.'
Kang-hyuk was a little concerned by the message.
He knew that they would most likely reach the Academy late into the evening.
'But…'
There was another sentence in the message.
'Found the racc.o.o.n den that is after the flowering plants.'
This meant that the Black Snake Sect's location was now found.
