Chapter 399: Chapter 399

“It was the Righteous Path Association!”

Cold yet heavy, Jegal So-myeong’s words fell.

“……”

Hyeok Mu-gang knew all too well how much weight those words carried, and even agreeing was no easy thing.

Knowing that, Jegal So-myeong continued without waiting for a reply.

Or perhaps he needed to keep talking—cursing, even—just to vent some of his fury.

“Those lunatics have finally done it.”

“So it was them after all.”

“You knew?”

“The Heavenly Eye Pavilion’s reports had been suspiciously absent. I sent people from the Alliance Leader’s Hall to look into it. I could have forced my way through, but I held back for fear of breeding more misunderstanding. That restraint has come back to bite us.”

At Hyeok Mu-gang’s explanation, Jegal So-myeong let out a brooding hum.

“Those war-crazed fools truly intend to see blood.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re chasing the escaped Dam Ak as we speak.”

Hyeok Mu-gang’s eyes went wide.

“How far are they willing to go……!”

Even he, who had maintained relative composure, could barely contain his agitation.

“We need to arrest them immediately. Do we have evidence?”

“Investigate and it would overflow. But…… if they’d been worried about evidence, they wouldn’t have started in the first place.”

They hadn’t made the slightest effort to hide their tracks.

Which meant they didn’t care even if evidence surfaced.

“They believe war is inevitable.”

Attacking an invited guest was a grave offense in peacetime.

But if Dam Ak ended up dead and war broke out between the Murim Alliance and the Black Thought Alliance—

‘They’d be reassessed and elevated to the heart of the Murim Alliance.’

Minor blemishes committed before a war would become medals of honor.

“They’ll strut around boasting that they killed the Black Thought Alliance’s strategist.”

“And the reason they’re hiding like rats right now is to bide their time until that moment.”

They weren’t hiding.

They were flaunting.

By flaunting their deeds, they could sweep away the current Alliance Leader and himself in one stroke.

The Righteous Path Association’s foxes had steeled their resolve.

What made them even more cunning was that they’d made time their ally.

The Heavenly Eye Pavilion Master, who’d been suppressing every other piece of intelligence, had been delivering reports on the Black Path fighters besieging the Alliance branches with clockwork regularity—once every half-day.

He was even being blatant about signaling where his loyalties lay in this crisis.

“We cannot let this stand.”

“The ringleaders would be the Righteous Path Association’s Eight, correct? Where are they?”

Hyeok Mu-gang looked ready to take matters into his own hands.

Jegal So-myeong shook his head to stop him.

“The Heavenly Eye Pavilion and the Beggars’ Sect are both in their pocket. Their current whereabouts are unknown.”

“What about deploying the Martial Pavilions directly to find them?”

Impossible. The moment the Martial Pavilions or the Inspection Office moved, the political war would be over.

And the other side would turn around and attack, claiming the Murim Alliance was being used for personal vendettas to persecute innocent men.

It would be handing them absolution on a silver platter.

“But we can’t simply stand by and let Strategist Dam be killed…… can we?”

Hyeok Mu-gang, who had risen from his seat, was met by Jegal So-myeong’s steady upward gaze.

“Are you familiar with the Hao Gate?”

“Yes. Isn’t it the organization formed by shop attendants and courtesans?”

“More precisely, it’s an intelligence organization. Not yet on par with the Beggars’ Sect, but growing fast. I’ve entrusted this matter to them.”

“Can they be trusted?”

Skill aside, the most critical quality for an intelligence organization was trust.

The Beggars’ Sect, as one of the Nine Sects and One Gang, was inseparable from the Murim Alliance by nature.

Similarly, the Hao Gate needed to be a trustworthy counterpart to the Alliance.

“It seems that cursed boy Jin So-un has been using the Hao Gate rather than the Beggars’ Sect all this time. So I decided to give them a chance.”

Jegal So-myeong added with a bitter laugh.

“What’s more, the Hao Gate tells me that Jin So-un…… that brat is helping Dam Ak escape.”

“Jin So-un……? Why would that boy suddenly……”

At this critical juncture, with war between the Murim Alliance and the Black Thought Alliance liable to erupt at any moment—why would Jin So-un’s name come up?

“That, I don’t know. But that’s what the Hao Gate reported. Remember how Dang Gi-han—who was arrested by the Execution Pavilion for putting the outer compound’s warriors to sleep—kept insisting it was an ‘accident’?”

“Indeed. Though I must say, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the Tang Clan mishandling their poisons.”

“Besides Dang Gi-han, several of Jin So-un’s Academy classmates are also unaccounted for.”

“Meaning?”

“It would appear Jin So-un brought more people in beyond Dang Gi-han.”

“Good heavens……”

They’d been bracing for the worst—thinking ‘a great war is unavoidable!’—drowning in despair.

Yet all along, someone had been propping things up from below, keeping that despair from overflowing.

“Truly…… this is extraordinary.”

“I’m equally astonished.”

When they’d failed to find Dam Ak’s body, the assumption had been that the Righteous Path Association had already disposed of it—or had smuggled him out to kill elsewhere.

Learning that he was still alive and on the run had been a relief.

And now, to find that Jin So-un was the one helping him. An even deeper wave of relief swelled in his chest.

While Hyeok Mu-gang pressed a hand to his chest in comfort, Jegal So-myeong’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“……That cursed boy, running an operation like this without so much as a single report.”

Grateful as he was for the timely intervention, the fact that he’d been kept entirely in the dark clearly still rankled. Jegal So-myeong clicked his tongue.

Hyeok Mu-gang quickly soothed him.

“There must have been reasons. He’s not the type to act without one.”

That was true. However reckless he might appear, in the end every current flowed in the right direction because of that boy.

“In any case…… this war rests on that cursed boy’s shoulders. I ask that you urgently dispatch people from the Alliance Leader’s Hall.”

Under normal circumstances, this would have been flatly impossible. But now was no time for rigid adherence to protocol.

“Of course. Naturally, we must. Even so, I worry. From the look of things, that boy is bearing this entire situation alone…… I’m deeply concerned about how much despair he must be going through.”

Jegal So-myeong nodded silently, clearly sharing the sentiment.

***

Hmm, if this operation succeeds, what should I demand in return?

Should I ask to be sent to the White Wolf Pavilion? No, that’d be selling myself cheap.

Right now I’m risking my neck to prevent a war between the Murim Alliance and the Black Thought Alliance—I can’t let them buy me off for that little. Absolutely not.

Elder Wang Geum-san would smack my behind if I did.

Right…… I need to squeeze out something bigger, much bigger……

“Eldest Senior Brother!!”

“Hm?”

Sa-ryeon, her face covered by a veil, snapped me out of my reverie.

“What were you thinking about so hard that you zoned out?”

“I didn’t zone out.”

“You almost drove us into the mountain again.”

“This is all part of my operational pla……”

“Focus!!”

“……Yes, ma’am.”

Anyone watching would think she was my senior sister.

We had passed Mount Horyeong and were approaching Danbung County.

I’d been prepared to abandon the carriages for a potential ambush at the Hwanggang River crossing, but thanks to the Yuk Clan Spear Form, no pursuers had appeared for some time.

Even so, we rested only about one double-hour per day and kept moving continuously.

One double-hour.

Generous for a rest period during a pursuit, but considering we didn’t stop again until the next day, it could hardly be called rest at all.

Only three days had passed, yet the drivers—who hadn’t trained in martial arts—and Dam Ak were visibly reaching their limits.

“Young Master Jin. Can’t we rest a while?”

“Strategist. Once you’re dead, you can rest all you want. Rest to your heart’s content in the afterlife.”

“……Now I understand why loyal ministers who spoke truth to power tended to die young.”

“Do you perhaps wish to have my head, Strategist?”

Dam Ak tilted his head as if to ask where on earth that question had come from.

“Not at present, no.”

“Then all the more reason not to rest. It means you’re still comfortable enough to live.”

His expression shifted, and he gave a firm nod.

“……I’ve changed my mind. I’d very much like to have your head right now.”

“Unfortunately for you, I’m a proud member of the Murim Alliance, brimming with righteousness and chivalrous spirit. As strategist of the Black Thought Alliance, you lack the authority to order my execution.”

It might sound grating, but there was a right time to rest.

The current lull was likely thanks to the reports from the pursuers who’d seen the Yuk Clan Spear Form traveling back and forth to Wuhan.

While those reports were in transit, the operatives who’d witnessed the spear art were frozen in place, hands scalded.

The moment Clear Water True Man and the other ringleaders received the reports, the decision would come down.

Keep pursuing.

How could I be so sure?

Because fanatics blinded by justice would never halt their march over a mere trick.

Short of an imperial edict, they would chase us to the bitter end.

No—even with an imperial edict, the truly justice-crazed would shamelessly say, ‘Oh, we didn’t know. Sorry about that. But please understand, we did it to protect justice.’ Such was the breed.

In the final days of the Great Righteous-Demonic War in my previous life, the Righteous Path Association and Orthodox Path Association operatives had been indistinguishable from demonic practitioners who craved blood and flesh.

No—they’d been even more fanatical, driven to madness by watching the absolute good they’d upheld for five hundred years being pushed back by absolute evil.

People who’d toss you a single iron sword and order you to fight thousands of demonic practitioners, exterminate swarms of corpse puppets, and push the Demonic Cult south of Jiangnan—such people couldn’t possibly be sane.

Viewed in that light, the pursuit force would definitely resume the chase.

Neither that horse-nosed Daoist Clear Water True Man nor that bald old Great Master Hye-seong were the types to give up easily.

Their behavior—shoving lower-rank warriors into the grinder even when the Murim Alliance was clearly losing—told the whole story.

People like that never quit.

So we had to run as fast as we could before they caught up. Catch me if you can, you bastards.

The most dangerous part—the Hwanggang River crossing—had been cleared by sheer dumb luck, so now we only needed to pass through Yeongsan, Namjeong, and Maseong.

Yeah, let’s think positive.

Not ‘we’re not even halfway there’ but ‘hey, at least we crossed the Hwanggang.’

See? Doesn’t that sound so much better?

If it sounds sarcastic, it’s because your heart is crooked.

The Black Maitreya comes for those possessed by dark demons!

After catching my breath, I surveyed the surroundings.

I’d ordered the warriors to take the reins for the night stretches.

Warriors with keener senses were better suited to lead in the dark.

Some hadn’t handled a carriage before, but that was a minor issue. I could teach them.

“I’ve never driven a carriage before.”

“You know how to ride a horse, right?”

“I do.”

“Then imagine the horse is twice as wide and five times as long. How’s that? Not so hard, is it?”

“……”

The guard stared at me with undisguised contempt.

Roughly translated: ‘What kind of bullshit is that, you moron?’

But there weren’t any secret techniques to impart right now.

Just wing it. Each carriage had a driver riding alongside anyway, and knowing the theory wasn’t the important part.

Besides, I’d be out front clearing every obstacle in the way.

Somehow the carriages kept rolling forward.

The dark night limited speed to less than half of daytime, but they kept moving.

The moon waned again and dawn crept in.

SCREEE—

Far too early for a hunting bird, yet a single Iron Hawk circled the sky as the first hints of blue seeped in.

On a hunch, I pulled out my Black Token.

As if responding, the hawk that had been wheeling overhead plummeted like lightning and fluttered its wings before me.

After nuzzling my cheek in a brief reunion, the Iron Hawk thrust its leg forward.

Tied there was a dispatch from the Hao Gate’s Wuhan branch.

I slowly unfolded the paper.

“Young Master?”

The driver, studying my expression, asked cautiously.

“Is…… something the matter?”

“It’s nothing.”

Right. Nothing at all.

This was expected.

—The pursuit force is on the move again.

The brief reprieve was over.

***

WHOOSH— WHOOSH—

Pursuers came crashing through the trees.

Those sons of bitches had zero fundamentals.

Whether it’s assassination or pursuit, stealth is the baseline.

But chopping through trees on your way in? What’s the plan there?

I didn’t know which barbarian tribe they belonged to, but I couldn’t let those filthy footsteps tread on the Central Plains.

SHRIEEEEK— SHRIEEEEK—

I drew two shuriken from my robes and flung them, infusing the principles of the White Phoenix Hand.

THWACK—!

My shuriken were caught and hurled back at me using a counter-seize technique.

SHRIEEEEK—

Fuck, since when is Zhongnan a barbarian tribe?

CLANG—!

I snatched a Flying Dragon Claw just before it pierced the driver’s nape.

And by the time I turned my head—

WHOOSH— WHOOSH—

Ten more pursuers were carving through the trees, launching into Grass-Skimming Flight and dancing through the air.

The number of pursuers had surged dramatically.

While I deliberated for a moment—

“May I step in now?”

Dang Seo-hui, masked and in her blue-green changshan, was practically bouncing with readiness. I nodded.

“Yes.”

Now that fifteen had been sent after this carriage, it meant they’d likely identified the occupants of the other carriages.

From here, different tactics were needed.

“I could barely hold myself back.”

Before her words had even faded, willow-leaf throwing daggers and ox-hair needles flowed from Dang Seo-hui’s hands as if drawn to their targets.

Seven crescent-shaped daggers arced through the air and embedded themselves in the pursuers.

“Gasp! This is—!”

Those who deflected the daggers seemed to recognize whose weapons they were.

Their eyes burned with indignation, but what could they do? We had nothing left to hide.

WHIRRRR—

They’d managed to dodge the daggers well enough, but the real threat was the ox-hair needles hidden behind them.

“GAAARGH!”

“GKHH!”

Dozens of needles, thin as a strand of hair, riddled one man’s entire body. He collapsed on the spot, vomiting blood.

Having dispatched one, Dang Seo-hui shook her head with her cheeks puffed.

“Don’t worry. He’ll suffer some internal injuries, but that’s all.”

Um…… saying it like that actually makes me worry more.

Then again, what did I care? If sacrificing these bastards prevented a war, I’d offer them up in a heartbeat.

Cursed wretches. Go bald, every last one of you.

Once the willow-leaf daggers and ox-hair needles had swept the field, the pursuers quickly spread out to create distance between themselves.

Ah, this negated the ox-hair needles’ advantage.

Just then, Wang So-so stepped up beside me.

“Brother, let me have a turn.”

“Hm? You?”

Clink, clink.

Something sounded off. I looked down.

“Are those…… gold coins?”

“Yes. Normally I use copper coins, or iron coins that Old Man Jang made for me—but these are all I have right now.”

Before she’d even finished, So-so’s hands moved.

SHWIPP—

Shortly after, a strangled groan came from between the trees, and a warrior dropped to the ground.

SHWIPP—

So-so’s hands moved as though she had several of them, flinging gold coins in a ceaseless stream.

Perhaps infused with the principles of the Great Heaven Sword Art—each gold coin in flight split into several, confounding the enemy’s vision.

And with each coin that flew, a pursuer fell without fail.

‘Good heavens.’

A throwing art the likes of which I’d never seen nor heard of. Coin-throwing art, to be precise.

I’d assumed Wang So-so had tagged along under Wang Geum-san’s protection, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Even Dang Seo-hui, watching from the side, let out an appreciative murmur.

“Quite an impressive throwing art.”

“Oh my, Senior Dang! Thank you for the compliment!”

So-so beamed and kept flinging coins.

Before long, she was looking at me with a shrug of her shoulders.

“How was that, Brother? I was helpful, wasn’t I?”

“Hm? Y-yeah. Absolutely. You were brilliant.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“What? I’m fine. Why?”

“It’s just…… you look like you’re struggling to hold something in.”

I’m not uncomfortable at all. I’m not holding anything in. It’s just……

If I said, ‘Hang on, let me go collect those’—that would look really pathetic, wouldn’t it?

“……Seeing how much you’ve grown reminds me of old times.”

“Brother……”

Gazing up at me with moved eyes, I had to wrestle down the desperate urge to go retrieve the gold coins.

Every single one of those is money.

The waste was killing me.