Chapter 394: Chapter 394

Hubei Province, Wuhan.

Situated at the confluence of the upper Yangtze River and the Han River, Wuhan had long been a vital hub of commerce.

That was not all. East Lake, the lake to Wuhan’s east, was a scenic landmark rivaling Hangzhou’s West Lake—a place that countless poets and literary figures considered a must-visit at least once in their lifetime.

In short, the place teemed with goods and people alike.

When the Murim Alliance established itself here on top of all that, the warrior population exploded as well.

Over the past five hundred years, institutions centered around the Murim Alliance had sprung up throughout Wuhan, culminating in the founding of the murim’s largest educational body—the Murim Academy.

Wuhan had become, in the truest sense, the heart of the murim and a sacred ground symbolizing the Orthodox Path.

And right now, I was feeling that fact in my bones.

After leaving the Alliance, I’d taken winding back alleys like a maze to avoid prying eyes.

We’d vaulted over buildings, and at times even used underground passages that the Hao Gate operated illegally.

Thanks to all that, we’d shaken off the Righteous Path Association’s initial tail—but a new problem had emerged.

‘We’re not rats. Why are there so many of them crawling around?’

Countless warriors were out in force, eyes blazing, hunting for our heads.

My Sensory Perception alone picked up over thirty.

Unless they’d practiced witchcraft and lost the ability to bear sunlight, there was only one reason these bastards would be prowling around at this hour of the predawn.

I’d hoped they’d at least leave us alone until we got out of Wuhan, but these bastards had shattered that small wish into pieces.

The reality that my enemy was the ‘Righteous Path Association’ sank in with renewed force.

They moved through the Murim Alliance buildings scattered across Wuhan as freely as if walking through their own bedrooms.

All they had to do was rest, grab a sword, and step outside.

There was no time to dawdle.

I had to commit even if it cost me, and having drawn the sword, I needed to cut something—even if it was just a radish.

I turned to the group and gestured.

“Let’s go.”

“……Is this going to be alright?”

One of the envoy delegation’s guard warriors fixed me with a look brimming with distrust.

Hey, I’m the only thing you’ve got to trust right now. Keep shooting me looks like that and I’ll really start feeling hurt.

“We don’t have a choice but to move.”

“……Understood.”

The guard nodded and added.

“At least they won’t come at us openly while we’re still inside Wuhan.”

Uh…… why would you say something like that?

Unless he was telling me Black Path people considered that common sens—

TAP— TAP— TAP— TAP— TAP—

As if answering the ominous premonition, shadows dropped from above.

Five figures in black martial arts uniforms with face coverings.

SHING.

They drew their swords immediately and blocked our path.

See, I told you not to jinx it.

Before I could even issue an order, the envoy delegation’s guards moved with lightning speed.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—

Swords aimed at each other in the dark alley—a critical standoff.

Through the air drawn taut with tension, a supremely relaxed voice drifted in.

“It seems these people hold even more outrageous ideas than Black Path fighters.”

Dam Ak, adding wholly unnecessary commentary in a situation like this.

Could you please just stay tense? Your life is on the line here.

I extended my hand toward the delegation, signaling them to lower their weapons.

Though puzzled, they complied, easing their blades down slightly.

Good—they were following my lead as agreed.

I acknowledged them with a nod, then shouted at the black-clad figures.

“This is Strategist Dam Ak of the Black Thought Alliance! The envoy delegation is returning home—on what grounds do you bar their path!”

“……”

No one answered.

Instead, they directed puzzled stares at me.

The delegation’s members also looked at me as if wondering what the hell I was doing.

I flashed a grin at the dozens of eyes trained on me.

“Even when it comes to a fight, you need a proper pretext.”

With those words, I unleashed the Sword Demon’s martial arts.

Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven.

First Form.

Extreme Swiftness.

The assassins scrambled to deploy their techniques.

But these bastards didn’t even bother disguising their identity—they were brazenly using their own sects’ martial arts.

SHRIEEEEK—

But a technique launched after Extreme Swiftness could never hope to catch it.

SLICE—

SPURT—!

One already had a long gash carved across his chest, while another’s sword hand had been severed, sending a fountain of blood spraying.

“AAAARGH—!!”

Their screams shattered the predawn silence.

But I couldn’t have them making a ruckus—

THWACK!

I launched a kick squarely at the face.

The figure sailed through the air, slammed into a wall, and crumpled to the ground.

“Nnngh!”

One of them seemed to want to say something but couldn’t—whether because doing so would blow his cover. Seething with frustration, he clenched his teeth.

Then fire flared in his eyes.

SHRIEEEEK—

A Sun-Shooting Sword Art riddled with feints came hurtling toward me.

Hmm, I understood he was using variant forms to hide his identity.

But did he really think operating a swift sword that sloppily would accomplish anything?

His moronic confidence beggared belief.

“Hey. Do I look that easy to you?”

CLANG—!

One twitch of my body and his sword went flying. Without giving him a moment to breathe, I unleashed a Phantom Shadow Kick—three consecutive strikes in rapid succession.

CRACK—

THWACK!

The distinct sensation of ribs snapping traveled through the tip of my foot.

Dark crimson blood seeped through the mask of the man slumped against the wall.

Wheezing metallic breaths rasped from behind the cloth.

I offered him some friendly advice.

“Move and your lungs will puncture. Stay still if you don’t want to die.”

The assassin glared back and forth between me and Dam Ak, as though the injustice of it were unbearable.

Honestly. I tell the guy how to survive and he still throws a fit.

I crouched beside him and tapped his blood-soaked face.

“Deliver this to your ringleader loud and clear. Unless they’ve steeled themselves for real, tell them not to make any rash moves.”

I stood and turned to leave, but……

Ha, this was really pissing me off.

“Hey, you sons of bitches! At least have the decency to hide your identities properly when you come after someone!”

“……”

“Fuck, the absolute basics of pursuit and assassination are missing—the basics! I swear, these Orthodox Path bastards all need a good crack to the skull on my way out!”

Only then did the assassins hang their heads.

I rubbed my chest in satisfaction and waved the delegation forward.

“Let’s go.”

“……”

The stares aimed at me were a little strange, but whatever. This wasn’t the first or second time I’d gotten looks like that.

I resumed leading the group.

There wasn’t a moment to waste here.

We wound through alley after alley, circled the residential district, and arrived at the commercial quarter of Wuhan—where businesses were densely packed.

Since it was close to the city’s east gate, I’d arranged to rendezvous here instead of at the inns in the entertainment district.

The moment I stopped, a puzzled voice reached me.

“Great Hero Jin…… aren’t we going to keep moving?”

Having just watched me dispatch the assassins up close, the guards’ attitude had shifted to something noticeably more respectful.

In this regard, Black Path types are honestly better than Orthodox Path types.

At least these bastards don’t turn their heads away from the truth that’s right in front of them.

I surveyed the area and gave a light nod.

“From here, we’ll be receiving assistance.”

“Assistance?”

Someone who’d help them right in the middle of Orthodox Path territory?

The delegation members, burning with curiosity about who this could be, turned the corner—

—and their jaws dropped.

“What on earth……”

Rounding the alley, they found—

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

A vast procession of carriages stretched endlessly down the broad avenue, filling it from end to end.

I grinned at the delegation, whose jaws still hung open as though they might come unhinged.

“Do you like shell games?”

“Shell…… games?”

That’s right. The put-your-money-down, take-their-money game.

Kids play it with their snack money, adults play it with their tobacco funds.

“Yes. Shell games.”

I happen to love hosting shell games.

You hawk the crowd in, get them to bet their snack money and drinking money—but in truth, the house always wins.

Shall we see how much the Righteous Path Association is willing to wager?

***

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The sudden carriage procession departing from Wuhan’s Geumsan Merchant Guild threw the Righteous Path Association operatives—who’d been tracking Dam Ak’s group through the predawn dew—into utter confusion.

Merchant guilds and escort agencies setting out at the crack of dawn was common enough.

But unless it was a covert escort run, departing before the first light of dawn was…… an utterly inexplicable scenario.

This was clearly the handiwork of Wang Geum-san, who was presently in Wuhan.

Above all, the fact that Wang Geum-san—one of the Four Great Merchants—had readily agreed to Jin So-un’s request was a shock they hadn’t anticipated.

Because the Wang Estate’s financial power was terrifying.

The vast majority of Righteous Path Association members had direct or indirect ties to the Wang Estate, and if their identities were accidentally exposed, the fallout could reach all the way to their sects and clans.

But they couldn’t just stand around idle either.

“What are you all gawking for?! Move, now!”

“But……”

“Don’t you understand that the future of the murim rests on this operation?!”

“……”

“And how many people do you think can identify us at this hour of the night?!”

It was less the grand cause of the murim’s future and more the assurance that they couldn’t be identified that finally got the operatives moving.

But just as they’d made the call and were about to act—

“C-Captain! The carriages are scattering!”

The carriages, which they’d assumed would naturally head for the east gate, began splitting off in different directions.

The Captain leading the team roared with fury etched on his face.

“Dam Ak! Which carriage has Dam Ak?!”

“It was a passenger carriage with a phoenix crest!”

“After it!”

Carriages broke into groups of three, each heading a different direction.

Among them, the Righteous Path Association operatives chose the phoenix-crested carriage.

“Shall we stop it?”

“You imbecile……”

Ordinarily they could search anything they pleased—and out of sheer habit, the subordinates made the same complacent assumption.

Sparks flew from the Captain’s eyes as he stared them down.

Right now, above all else, this was a mission where their identities absolutely could not be revealed.

Suppressing the urge to smash his subordinates’ skulls in, he gave the order.

“Destroy the carriage—the whole thing!”

“Yes, sir!”

Comparing a carriage’s speed to a first-rate movement art, the movement art was overwhelmingly faster.

And most of the operatives here had mastered first-rate movement arts.

Despite their delayed reaction, catching the carriages was quick work.

TA-TAP—!

The pursuers leaped from building to building, vaulted onto rooftops, then dropped to the ground and hurled palm strikes in unison.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

Three carriages exploded simultaneously, and the drivers hauled the horses to a stop. The escorts guarding the carriages drew their swords as one.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!

“Who are you?! How dare you attack the Geumsan Merchant Guild’s carriages in Wuhan!”

“Identify yourselves!”

Despite the escorts’ threats, the Righteous Path Association operatives’ eyes were fixed solely on the wreckage of the empty carriages.

“……”

“……Damn it.”

And they realized.

That they were the suckers in a shell game.

“The other carriages—track them, now!!”

The operatives scattered in a frenzy.

But not a single escort gave chase.

***

What a shame.

The best part of a shell game is seeing the sucker’s face when they realize they’ve been had—and I didn’t get to see it. Damn.

Then again, they’d be wearing face coverings, so I wouldn’t have been able to see their expressions anyway.

In any case, the con on the gullible had been a success.

Their fault for never imagining I’d run a shell game with dozens of carriages.

I was blameless.

After all, Jin So-un was a chivalrous hero who upheld righteousness and justice.

“Your daily life is an unbroken string of deception and fraud, isn’t it.”

Dam Ak, going out of his way to poke his head through the carriage’s small window to get a word in.

I truly…… had no idea what this man was on about.

I dug a finger in my ear and replied.

“That’s rich, coming from a Black Path man.”

“Young Master Jin, did you know? Even within the Black Path murim, there’s a widespread saying: ‘If you meet the Black Flame Dragon, check your money pouch.'”

What the hell kind of slander is that?

When have I ever pickpocketed Black Path fighters?

Hmm…… surely I haven’t……

Nah, never happened. These people and their daily diet of propaganda and fabrication.

“Anyway, are we safe now?”

Dam Ak asked, watching the scenery drift past the east gate.

What is he even talking about?

I shot back incredulously.

“You know perfectly well this is just the beginning.”

“I see. Then I’ll be taking a nap.”

With that, he shut the small window and disappeared inside the carriage.

Haa, what is this feeling? Not exactly pleasant.

Better than a passenger trembling with fear, whose anxiety I’d have to spend my mental energy quelling, I supposed.

But this passenger had a talent for getting under my skin.

Still, there was no time to dwell on it.

Rustle, rustle.

‘Here it comes.’

Because the moment we cleared the city and traveled a short distance past the official road, the forest had begun to stir.

“Alright then. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

I clenched my teeth in a silent declaration of war against the unseen Righteous Path Association bastards, and cracked the whip harder.