“I heard Gyu Jeok and Yo Roe are dead.”

“That is correct.”

The young man sitting in a careless posture frowned.

His unbearably languid face shifted, for the first time in a while, into an expression full of irritation.

“What kind of bastard was it?”

“We have yet to identify him precisely. However, the odds that he belongs to the Orthodox Path are low.”

“They all died in Henan Province, didn’t they? The Martial Alliance is in Henan Province. Then doesn’t that make it the Martial Alliance bastards?”

“I thought so at first as well.”

“Then why do you think it isn’t?”

“The Martial Alliance—no, the Orthodox Path—never moves in a manner like this. Unless you people had your existence exposed, that is.”

“Hmm.”

“Besides, I was told the traces left on the corpses themselves were not from orthodox martial arts. I am a layman when it comes to martial arts, but all the informants I command are first-rate. If they say that is the case, then it is.”

The young man snorted.

“What impressive informants you have.”

“.......”

“What did you say it was called? Beggars’ Union? The finest intelligence organization of the Orthodox Path?”

“That is correct.”

“Those informants you command. They haven’t been caught by those Beggars’ Union bastards, have they?”

“They would move if they wished to wage war against the government.”

“Hm!”

“Believe me. I dislike you people, but what I dislike even more than that is uncertainty. I am making efforts to identify them.”

“Hwaaaaahm!”

The young man yawned grandly, smacked his lips, and said,

“What a goddamn mess. Those useless idiots. To think they got taken out so emptily by fools from the Central Plains. This is why bastards who try to make up for talent with age are no good.”

His voice carried a clear sneer.

Listening to that voice, Yeo Sangdo thought that these people were not normal.

No matter how poor their relationship might have been, had they not been on the same side? If they had joined hands for one purpose, then anger at a comrade’s death should have been natural.

And yet there was none of that. There was not even the bare minimum of mourning for a fellow warrior.

“So? When can you figure out who they are?”

“I cannot guarantee how long it will take. However, we have secured the suspects’ location.”

The young man’s eyes flashed in that instant.

“Location?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. They touched our people and are still moving openly?”

“That is why I judge them not to be Martial Alliance personnel. If it were the Martial Alliance, they would never do such a thing.”

“That’s your thinking. We have to leave the possibility open.”

“That is true.”

“Enough. Where are they?”

“Near Xuchang.”

“Xuchang... Xuchang, huh.”

The young man stroked his chin. His jawline, smooth without a single hair of beard, was extremely sharp.

“How many?”

“Two, or perhaps three.”

“So you don’t know in detail.”

“They are masters capable of killing Yo Roe and Gyu Jeok. Approaching them is not easy.”

“Replace the bastards you’re using. A grand Provincial Defense Commissioner of all people is using rabble, so of course your eyes and ears are blocked.”

It was an absurd thing to say. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

And although he spoke that way, the young man’s eyes were burning with anticipation.

“Two, or perhaps three....”

After silently watching the young man, Yeo Sangdo asked as though tossing the question out.

“Are you thinking of going yourself?”

“Who knows? Unfortunately, I have to hold this place firmly in my grip. Even if I want to move, I cannot move easily.”

“I see.”

“Putting that aside....”

Hup!

For an instant, Yeo Sangdo’s eyes shook.

The young man, who had been sitting in a chair quite some distance away, had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.

‘......!!’

Yeo Sangdo felt the urge to close his eyes for a moment.

The young man’s eyes were right before his nose. The savage madness pouring from those two eyes was sharp enough to devastate a human being’s mental fortitude to the extreme.

“Old man.”

“.......”

“I can be excused, sure, but shouldn’t you be different?”

“......What do you mean?”

“You’re the Provincial Defense Commissioner in name, aren’t you? Gyu Jeok aside, if Yo Roe died, shouldn’t you be mobilizing government troops on a large scale? An Assistant Commissioner of the Provincial Defense Command was killed by martial-world people. That’s a major incident, isn’t it?”

Yeo Sangdo spoke in a voice he forced to remain calm.

“You people were the ones who told me not to make this matter large.”

“That was when we hadn’t been exposed. Done well, this incident could even create a pretext to stir up the Martial Alliance, but you didn’t do it?”

The young man smiled.

His protruding canine gleamed especially white.

“Do you want to become beast feed, old man?”

Terrifying Killing Intent washed over him.

Even before it, Yeo Sangdo maintained his composure. His heart was pounding madly beneath the pouring Killing Intent, but he preserved his expressionless face with superhuman mental strength.

“Is that what you want?”

Instead, he asked back boldly.

The young man silently stared at Yeo Sangdo, then soon grinned.

“As expected of the Provincial Defense Commissioner. Your nerve is quite something. I like courageous people.”

“.......”

“But that is that, and this is this. I’ll let it slide this once, but there won’t be a next time. Understood?”

“I will keep it in mind.”

“Release the government soldiers. Release them and have them stir up the Martial Alliance first.”

No matter how one looked at it, he was not normal.

He was certainly not normal, but he was not stupid either. On the contrary, when it came to strategically unraveling conflict between forces, his ability was no less than that of a veteran who had survived a hundred battles.

Yeo Sangdo asked,

“If that happens, the suspects may flee.”

“That’s why you release them after we catch the bastards.”

“......?!”

The young man returned to his place.

“Whether it was the Martial Alliance’s doing, the doing of those adorable little bastards from Ink Dragon Manor, or the sudden action of some hidden eccentric master passing by, I don’t care. This place has its own rules, doesn’t it?”

“.......”

“We should at least let them know that if they run wild carelessly, their lives will go flying.”

“Will you dispatch masters?”

“Of course.”

“Whom will you....”

It was then.

CLAP!

Yeo Sangdo’s face snapped sharply to the left.

He had been slapped across the cheek despite the considerable distance between them. He could not tell how the slap had landed, nor when the young man had returned to his original seat.

“Ptoo!”

The spit Yeo Sangdo spat out was mixed with blood. The inside of his mouth had split open.

The young man spoke with his characteristic languid expression.

“Pointless questions annoy me when you ask them too often. I believe I told you that before?”

“.......”

“Enough. Keep a firm eye on those bastards. I’ll catch them and slice them into fillets.”

“You will have to send quite a large number of troops.”

“That is for me to handle.”

For me to handle.

At first glance, it was an answer that could make one think he was the supreme commander who had infiltrated this place.

But Yeo Sangdo knew. He knew this young man was not the highest leader dispatched by the Divine Flame Cult.

He knew that here in Henan Province, there existed a true master whom that young man feared. He knew that master was the highest authority the Divine Flame Cult had dispatched to Henan Province.

“I will inform the lower ranks.”

“You may go now.”

Yeo Sangdo left the quarters without a word.

The young man, sitting with his chin propped in his hand and an indifferent look on his face, began giggling as soon as Yeo Sangdo left.

“A dull daily life needs at least this much amusement. Good.”

Yo Roe, and Gyu Jeok.

The two of them had stayed in one place for far too long. If they had had the potential to develop enough to climb higher, that would have been one thing, but they had sat in the seats of the Eighteen Warrior-Generals for too many years.

“Good timing. The stagnant upper water has to be blown away for clean lower water to surge upward.”

In fact, there were already more than five people waiting to become new Eighteen Warrior-Generals. Perhaps by now, the number had reached ten.

And among them were bastards who would carry fire on their backs and jump into a field of oil at his command.

“Still, if it wasn’t the Martial Alliance, who the hell could it be? That old fox Yeo Sangdo may be slippery, but he wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

At present, Yeo Sangdo’s hands and feet were completely bound. He had no means of requesting outside help.

Of course, a secret intelligence organization did exist. Since they had allowed him that much breathing room, an investigation like this had been possible.

Even then, the intelligence team leaders were under the Divine Flame Cult’s surveillance.

“Interesting.”

The young man’s pupils heated to a golden glow.

“Whatever the case, since they killed Warrior-Generals belonging to this Cult, shall I at least take a look at their faces?”

*****

“How dull.”

Tang Gwan yawned lazily.

They had already spent ten nights in various parts of the wild hills. It was because they worried the enemy would grow suspicious if they waited in one place.

Yeon Hojeong said,

“How about training?”

“Do you think merely moving the body is training?”

“Seeing how bored you are, it doesn’t seem you’re cultivating your mind either.”

“Not all sitting meditation becomes cultivation.”

“Then does staying still turn into training?”

“Of course.”

Unexpectedly, Tang Gwan was serious.

“Simply treading on the earth, feeling the wind, and looking up at the sky can allow one to feel something new. Martial arts are scattered throughout every corner of the world.”

Those were not words one would easily expect from a person whose main weapons were poison and hidden weapons.

Yeon Hojeong looked surprised as he said,

“Do you know the martial principle of martial arts belonging to nature?”

He asked out of genuine curiosity, but Tang Gwan was the one who was more surprised after hearing those words.

“You know of martial arts belonging to nature?”

“I do.”

“Hah!”

Tang Gwan was dumbfounded.

“How could you know a martial principle said to be touched only after reaching the ultimate end of enlightenment?”

Tang Gwan, too, had learned of the martial principle of martial arts belonging to nature thanks to his father, Tang Hyeong.

And it had not been long since he had actually begun attempting to melt into nature. He had known it in his head, but he had not been at a level where he could truly attempt it.

Even now, he was barely at the stage of touching it little by little. How did this impudent brat know of it?

“I just picked it up here and there.”

“......Hmm.”

Tang Gwan, who had been looking at Yeon Hojeong with dissatisfied eyes, nodded.

“In any case, once you think you have trained to a certain degree, turn your eyes toward nature. In the process of seeing, feeling, realizing, and experiencing it in your body, martial arts can grow once more.”

Yeon Hojeong grinned.

“Thank you for the advice.”

“Of course, even if you know it, it is useless if you cannot truly feel it.”

Tang Gwan grumbled, then asked in a sharp voice as though wanting to change the mood.

“So, where do we move next?”

“We do not need to move anymore.”

“Hm?”

Yeon Hojeong tapped the ground with his foot.

“Right here. We will fight here.”

Tang Gwan looked around with keen eyes.

“......It is fairly decent terrain.”

It was not bad terrain for receiving approaching enemies. The slope of the mountain was gentle, but the entrance leading in was small, and a large cliff stood at the rear.

It was terrain that held both flaws and advantages. If they fought at the entrance, they would have the advantage; if they were pushed back to the cliff, there would be nowhere to escape.

“Our allies will come to help as well. Please do not worry too much.”

“I am not worried. More importantly, allies?”

Tang Gwan glanced up toward the cliff.

“Do you mean that girl?”

Mookbi had long since been sitting atop the cliff, on a rock jutting out like a ledge, concealed by brush. It was a perfect spot for sniping.

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“There is something like that.”

Tang Gwan turned his head away in displeasure. It was not as though the bastard would tell him even if he asked.

Time passed like that.

Night passed and the morning sun rose, and that sun, before they knew it, crossed midheaven and began leaning west.

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!

A single pitch-black bird flew toward Yeon Hojeong.

Yeon Hojeong received the messenger hawk, checked the letter, and shouted,

“They’re coming! They will arrive here within one shichen to one and a half shichen!”

“Troops?”

“Their number is one hundred. At least three are Warrior-General-class or above.”

“Oho.”

Yeon Hojeong shouted toward Mookbi.

“Do not attack until a chaotic melee breaks out!”

No answer came back. However, Yeon Hojeong was certain Mookbi had heard him.

WHOOM.

Yeon Hojeong lifted Mad Dragon.

“Shall we start warming up?”

“Sounds good.”

Tang Gwan loosened his shoulders.

“I’ll vent some killing after so long.”

One shichen later.

HOOF!

A group spraying ferocious Killing Intent approached.