The Beggars’ Union members’ skill at erasing traces was astonishing.

Gyu Jeok’s Blue Furnace Pure Fire Art was a supreme art of the Divine Flame Cult, and its power was incomparable to any heat-yang art in the Central Plains. But the flame of the Blue Furnace was still flame. Whether from lightning or a campfire, forest fires could break out at any time.

Hundreds of Beggars’ Union members gathered quietly yet swiftly, suppressed the forest fire in moments, and erased every trace of the battle that had taken place there.

To obtain information one step ahead in this vast Central Plains, swift movement technique and tracking arts were essential. In other words, they were just as skilled at erasing traces as they were at following them.

And so the place where Yeon Hojeong and Gyu Jeok had fought their life-or-death battle was disguised as the site of a simple forest fire.

It was fast, swift, and precise work.

*****

Before daybreak.

Je Gal Munho secretly entered Warbreaker Pavilion.

“You’re here?”

“What happened? Where is Commander Yeon?”

“He will be here soon. He is still washing.”

“Huh! They say he wasn’t hurt?”

Yeon Wi smiled bitterly.

“He was hurt, but not so badly that he must be taken to a physician immediately.”

“What in the world happened?”

Yeon Wi explained in as much detail as he could within the limits of what he knew. It was what Yeon Hojeong had told him before going to wash.

Shock appeared on Je Gal Munho’s face.

“A Pacification Officer of the imperial Defense Command?!”

A Pacification Officer was a junior fifth-rank post. It could not be called a particularly impressive office, but neither was it low enough to dismiss.

No, putting that aside, the very fact that a person from beyond the frontier had become an official of the authorities made no sense to begin with. No matter how much strength the imperial palace had lost and how deeply the authorities were steeped in corruption, they had appointed someone who was not even from the Central Plains as an official?

Should we assume they did not merely establish a line into the authorities, but have seized control outright?

Je Gal Munho’s eyes sank darkly.

They said he was a master dangerous enough to make Commander Yeon tense. He was not gravely wounded, but the fact that this man wounded Commander Yeon at all is remarkable. And such a master held only the status of a Pacification Officer?

Yeon Hojeong was strong.

The realm he had reached was remarkable, but Je Gal Munho also knew his terrifying combat ability well.

If they were at roughly the same level, then unless luck failed him entirely, there was no way Yeon Hojeong would lose. Rather, Yeon Hojeong was the sort of man who would overwhelm his opponent without even having the edge of his clothes brushed, precisely because of that astonishing combat ability.

In other words, if judged simply by martial realm, the opponent who had fought Yeon Hojeong may have reached a level higher than Yeon Hojeong’s.

A level above Yeon Hojeong and Mo Yong-woo.

In other words, a level approaching the Clan Lords of the Six Great Clans.

“Then the enemy......?”

“He is dead.”

“A pity.”

It would have been better if they could have captured him alive. Je Gal Munho found that deeply regrettable.

Yeon Wi shook his head heavily.

“We will have to hear the details from my eldest to know for certain, but my eldest, too, must have tried to capture him alive if at all possible.”

“Does that mean capturing him alive would have been meaningless?”

“It may. Or he may have been a master so dangerous that trying to capture him alive would have gotten Hojeong killed instead, forcing him to kill the man.”

“That is true as well.”

Je Gal Munho nodded, then suddenly saw the shadow lying over Yeon Wi’s face.

“Somehow, your expression looks very poor.”

“.......”

“Is there something else I do not know?”

His son had returned safely from a fight to the death, so joy and worry could naturally cross within him.

But Je Gal Munho had watched Yeon Wi for a long time. He could tell. Aside from this situation, there was something he did not know.

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“No. I was simply thinking about something else.”

“I see.”

“It seems my eldest is coming. Let us hear the details from Hojeong.”

“Let us.”

A short while later, Yeon Hojeong knocked on the door.

“May I come in?”

His voice was far more stable than expected.

“Come in.”

CREEEEAK.

Yeon Hojeong’s appearance as he opened the door and entered was extremely clean.

But Je Gal Munho could smell the faint scent of blood coming from Yeon Hojeong’s body. It was the scent of blood that ordinary people could not detect, a scent only martial artists could know.

Je Gal Munho rose from his seat and patted Yeon Hojeong on the shoulder.

“You worked hard.”

“No. I apologize for acting on my own judgment without informing you beforehand.”

“Good man, if you put it like that, what does that make me? Am I not just some useless scholar who sits around all day slobbering over paperwork?”

At Je Gal Munho’s light joke, Yeon Hojeong smiled. For some reason, the smile felt hollow.

Yeon Wi pulled a chair back.

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

The three of them sat down.

Je Gal Munho opened his mouth.

“You must be tired as well, so it would be best to keep this conversation short and decisive. I will ask directly. Did you learn anything from him?”

Yeon Hojeong spoke in a flat voice.

“He was a master from the Divine Flame Cult.”

“We know that.”

“The Divine Flame Cult has masters called the Eighteen Warrior-Generals. They are, in a manner of speaking, the Divine Flame Cult’s commander-class masters in the field.”

“Commanders in «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the field...... Wa-wait. Did you say Eighteen Warrior-Generals?”

“Yes.”

“Then does that mean there are eighteen masters of his caliber?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.

“The Warrior-General I caught today was the twelfth among the Eighteen Warrior-Generals. His martial arts were not greatly inferior even when compared to the Clan Lords of the Six Great Clans.”

One could not know the result of a fight until one actually crossed hands. In this world, one could lose one’s life in a single stroke to a warrior several levels below simply by placing one’s foot wrong once.

Of course, the higher one’s skill and the greater one’s experience, the fewer such mistakes and variables became. Variables could arise at any time, but in fierce battles between masters, the result was usually decided by the realm one had reached and the characteristics of one’s martial arts.

In other words, on the Divine Flame Cult’s side, there were eighteen true masters who could rival the Clan Lords of the Six Great Clans.

Eighteen genuine masters who would not easily allow mistakes or variables.

Je Gal Munho’s and Yeon Wi’s faces hardened visibly.

Yeon Hojeong continued.

“Of course, there are differences in martial level among the Warrior-Generals. In particular, from the Eleventh General to the Eighteenth General, those outside the top ten have fairly clear differences in skill.”

“Then what about the masters inside the top ten?”

“They say the differences between them are not great. Because of that, from the Tenth General to the First General, there is no difference in rank among them. Of course, he said that in wartime, a Warrior-General with a higher number may issue orders to one with a lower number.”

“Mm.”

“Of course, that does not mean we can look down on them. According to him, from the First General to the Tenth General, they are all at least at the level of the Clan Lords of the Six Great Clans, and among them are masters at the level of the abbots of Shaolin and the Wudang Sect.”

“......!”

“Thinking of it that way, we may say their overall martial level does not differ greatly, but one or two exceptionally strong masters exist among them.”

Je Gal Munho’s eyes deepened.

All the heads of the Nine Sects and One Union and the Six Great Clans were Transcendent Peak masters, possessors of martial might that could contend for supremacy in a region—at least among the current active generation, excluding the previous one.

In other words, they were masters who could change the tide of battle alone. And yet the Divine Flame Cult alone was said to possess eighteen such masters.

Nor was that all.

“I did not hear the details, but if the Eighteen Warrior-Generals are the vanguard, then above them are previous-generation masters, such as those of the Council of Elders. I could not confirm their level of martial arts, but I expect they are certainly stronger than the Eighteen Warrior-Generals.”

Martial arts above the heads of the Nine Sects and One Union and the Six Great Clans.

“That means.”

Yeon Wi’s expression turned extremely grave.

“On the Divine Flame Cult’s side, are there also many masters who have reached the level of the Thirteen Seats of the Supreme Heavens?”

“That, I do not know. Including the Divine Flame Cult Leader, I expect there are at least two or three, but as yet, there is no information certain enough to confirm anything about them.”

“.......”

“As you know, Father, the so-called Transcendent Peak realm is also extremely vast. Did Venerable Gonggong not say that he himself still has far to go before reaching the pinnacle of this realm?”

“Mm.”

“What matters is that even the Divine Flame Cult alone has a formidable lineup of masters. And if the other two groups join them.......”

Yeon Wi tossed the words out.

“We will be devoured.”

The Central Plains was vast.

There had to be a tremendous number of masters who had not revealed themselves to the outside, and if one included not only the previous generation, but even the generation before that still alive, they would not lack greatly in a fight against the Three Creeds.

The problem was whether all of them could be bound together as one. The Orthodox Path and the Dark Path alone opposed each other like mortal enemies. Since countless webs of interest were entangled within them, uniting the entire Central Plains was virtually impossible.

“There is another problem.”

“The imperial palace.”

“That is correct. I do not know about the other groups, but it appears the Divine Flame Cult means to seize control of the imperial palace and the authorities. If those who move the empire fall into their hands, then we may not even be able to begin a proper fight.”

Yeon Hojeong asked Je Gal Munho, “I heard the Je Gal Clan has, generation after generation, maintained friendships with the great scholars of the Confucian scholarly circles. Among them, many have ties to the authorities, correct?”

Je Gal Munho nodded.

“There are quite a few. But if we try to deliberately create a line, I do not know how much they will move for us.”

“In my opinion, rather than sending false information to the Divine Flame Cult right now, we must first find out how deeply they have infiltrated the imperial palace and the authorities, and what they are trying to seize and how.”

“I agree. Which is why.”

After hesitating briefly, Je Gal Munho spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“It is time we gradually inform others of the existence of the Three Fanatic Creeds.”

Concern appeared on Yeon Hojeong’s face.

“Strategist.”

“Of course, I do not mean to inform everyone. I intend to pass it along one person at a time, beginning with those who are above suspicion and would never turn traitor.”

“......It will be dangerous.”

“It will. But sitting on our hands is just as dangerous.”

Confidence filled Je Gal Munho’s face.

“Leave that to me. I have been investigating the Service Lords all this time, just in case. There are three people I can be reasonably certain of.”

He had investigated them behind the scenes without anyone knowing.

Yeon Hojeong understood exactly what that meant.

“You may face a backlash if anything goes wrong.”

He had used the power of the Martial Alliance strategist to dig into the Service Lords’ backgrounds. If someone seized upon that, Je Gal Munho’s political position would be shaken badly.

Je Gal Munho shook his head.

“Were we ever in a position to pick and choose? And if my position is shaken, you can help me. That will be enough.”

“.......”

“In any case, is that everything you learned?”

“For now, yes.”

“Understood.”

Je Gal Munho rose from his seat.

“Good man, Commander Yeon.”

“Yes, Strategist.”

“I am always sorry to you. You suffer so much in the shadows, and yet far from rewarding you, I only rely on you even more. Truly, it leaves me dumbfounded.”

“Please do not say that. I.......”

“That is why this is the only thing I can say to you.”

“......?”

“Do not blame yourself. Go forward freely.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes wavered.

“When I falter, I have no doubt that you and the Clan Lord will hold me steady. So you, too, need not mind the eyes around you. Spread your wings as much as you please. If anyone points a finger at you, then I will protect you.”

“.......”

“You worked hard today. Go and rest well now.”

“Thank you.”

With those words, Je Gal Munho left the room.

Yeon Wi, who had been sitting silently, gave a faint laugh.

“That man, honestly.”

Yeon Hojeong had done what he had to do. So do not make it needlessly complicated.

That meaning was contained in Je Gal Munho’s final words. It was his true feeling, and at the same time, it was something he had hinted to Yeon Wi.

“Hojeong.”

“Yes.”

“You worked hard. Rest well today.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled bitterly.

“Yes. Today, I truly should do nothing and rest.”