While Hwang-gu was sniffing for the scent, the carriage moved slowly along the main road. I moved to the opposite seat and sat next to Hwang-gu, looking outside. Hwang-gu paid me no mind, continuing to twitch his nose and focus on the scent.
The frost-covered winter mountain was desolate. It was the dead of winter, a time when fur-clad beasts were holed up in their dens hibernating, and even birds seemed reluctant to leave their nests.
“Are you trying to find the opium?”
Tang Hye-seo asked, staring out the window, her white breath pouring into the cold air.
“We never found the carrier pigeon sent by the Sichuan black market merchant. We’ve searched everywhere, not just in Western Village but all the likely places nearby, and turned up nothing.”
“Did you check the Dragon Sky Escort Agency?”
“My aunt personally took Tang Clan members and searched the agency’s carrier pigeon hall.”
Bi-hyeon and the Tang Clan members watched out the window on the other side. In the hushed silence, only the sound of horse hooves striking the main road continued slowly, like punctuation marks. As we passed the foot of the mountain, the light breeze died down.
Suddenly, Hwang-gu’s ears perked up. He glanced around for a moment, then looked at Tang Hye-seo.
Woof.
As Hwang-gu let out a very small sound, Tang Hye-seo’s eyes sparkled.
“Did you find it?”
Hwang-gu stuck his head out the window again, sniffed the air once more, and this time barked with more certainty.
Woof woof.
“Stop the carriage.”
The driver pulled the reins, and the rear door opened. We all grabbed our weapons, disembarked quickly, and scanned our surroundings. Coming out of the warmth, the chill that seeped through my collar was quite sharp.
There was no one around. From the main road and the wasteland to the mountainside and the summit, there was no sign of anyone as far as the eye could see. Tang Hye-seo took out the opium wrapper again and held it to Hwang-gu’s nose.
Hwang-gu confidently left the main road and headed for a mountain path. Whenever the wind blew, he would stop in place as if the scent was scattering. He whined, pointing his nose at the air, then quickly caught the scent again and took off running.
Upon entering the valley, the icy mountain air stiffened my face, and my hands and feet felt numb, as if they would shatter from the cold. A faint shadow passed over the mountainside. I tilted my head back and looked up to see a large falcon circling high in the sky.
Hwang-gu, who was in the lead, suddenly dropped flat to the ground.
“Get ready.”
Tang Hye-seo gestured and silently drew her sword. I also quietly drew my long sword. We spread out on either side of the mountain path, and after rounding a small grove, a wide clearing appeared.
A large, covered carriage came into view. I watched for a moment, but there was no one standing guard.
Neigh!
The horses, startled by the strangers, neighed. The rear door of the carriage opened, and someone stepped out. It was a middle-aged martial artist dressed in black robes.
His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings before stopping on us.
“Who goes there!”
His aura wasn’t very impressive, but he was a sharp man.
Fwoosh!
“Keuk!”
A hidden weapon thrown by Tang Hye-seo lodged in the middle-aged man’s neck. At the same time, we all kicked off the ground and rushed forward. If there was only one carriage, there couldn’t be more than ten people inside.
It was a fight we could definitely win.
“Capture as many as you can alive!”
Dark-clothed men poured out of the carriage. Seeing their dead comrade and us rushing toward them, they gritted their teeth and drew their broadswords.
Piiing!
One of them was about to blow a whistle when he was struck by a hidden weapon and fell backward. The others were also hit in the thigh and lower abdomen by hidden weapons and collapsed. With the Tang Clan on our side, the situation was resolved in an instant, without even the need to clash swords.
A man who had been hiding beside the carriage jumped out with a broadsword. Among the group, this man’s martial ability was at least decent. He knocked away the incoming hidden weapons with his broadsword and ran toward his fallen comrades.
I thought he was trying to save them somehow, but he was a vicious man who far exceeded my expectations. The man mercilessly stabbed his comrades in the neck with his broadsword. After being struck by several hidden weapons and sprawling on the ground, he placed the blade against his own neck to commit suicide.
Bi-hyeon rushed in, kicked the broadsword away, and struck the man on the jaw. The man’s eyes rolled back, and he went limp. Bi-hyeon and the Tang Clan members checked the front carriage.
There was another carriage hidden behind it. Even with a fight raging outside and people dying, the rear carriage remained quiet. Tang Hye-seo and I approached from both sides, our weapons aimed.
As I threw open the carriage door, a nauseatingly sweet smell thick with heat wafted out. Someone was sprawled limply on the dark floor of the carriage. The man struggled to lift his head, his eyes unfocused.
At the end of the long pipe in his hand, opium was burning, releasing white smoke. Seeing that his face was still fleshy, it seemed he hadn’t been using opium for long. Intoxicated by the opium, the man didn’t recognize the strangers who had appeared.
I dragged the man out, placed him on the ground some distance away, and then waved the smoke away with my hand as I entered the carriage.
Thwack!!
Startled by the dull thud, I went back outside to find the man dead, a long spear embedded in his back. The long spear had pierced through his body with such force that it was stuck diagonally in the ground, quivering slightly.
“Over there!”
Bi-hyeon pointed to the steep slope of the mountain behind us. Even if his face was covered, it was an incredibly arrogant display of confidence against the world-renowned Tang Clan. As we all just stood there watching, the black-robed figure seemed to find it boring, turning with a flick of his robe and disappearing into the forest.
“Should we give chase?”
To Bi-hyeon’s question, Tang Hye-seo shook her head, her eyes fixed on the spot where the black-robed figure had stood.
“No pursuit. It could be a trick to lure us into a trap. We don’t know how many more enemies there are. They might bring their whole gang, so we’ll take the carriages and return as quickly as possible.”
It was an extremely calm and rational decision. The number of people we had here, including myself, was only five. No matter how skilled the Tang Clan members were with their poison arts and hidden weapon techniques, the risk of chasing an unknown opponent was too great.
The Tang Clan members climbed onto the driver's seats of the two large carriages and took the reins. They loaded the one surviving black-robed man into the cargo hold, and the carriages hurriedly left the valley. Inside the rattling carriage, Tang Hye-seo began to open the crates and bundles one by one.
Dry rations, water flasks, charcoal, firewood, dried… Tang Hye-seo opened a small leather pouch, and her face lit up with joy as she clenched her fist.
“I knew it was them…”
Tang Hye-seo handed me what was in her hand. It was a small, rolled-up bundle of paper. I unrolled it to find tiny characters, the size of sesame seeds, written on it.
“A message?”
It was the kind of letter tied to the leg of a carrier pigeon.
“This is it. We’ve caught the tail, so if we keep tracking, we’ll find the body. Good job, Hwang-ho, very good job. I knew you could do it.”
Unable to hide her excitement, Tang Hye-seo affectionately stroked Hwang-gu as if he were the most precious thing in the world. Hwang-gu let out a long yawn as if finally relieved of his duty, and then promptly fell fast asleep. The carriages sped out of the mountain path as if fleeing.
We rendezvoused with the waiting Tang Clan carriage and headed straight for the Deep Fragrance Pavilion. I got off near my house. As I watched the carriages disappear into the distance, I turned my eyes to the sky.
That falcon I saw on the mountain earlier… Did the men in this carriage release it? Did they use it to intercept the carrier pigeons coming to Western Village?
Now that we have their carriages, the Tang Clan will take care of it. I should be used to it by now, but the fact that Western Village had changed beyond recognition made a corner of my heart feel empty all over again. A highly suspicious escort agency that dealt in opium.
A dark path faction backed by one of the Nine Great Sects. An Underworld Information Clan branch disguised as a brothel. The Tang Clan, frantically searching for their stolen Iron Arm Guards with fire in their eyes.
Was that all? Somehow, I didn’t think so. What in the world is happening in my hometown of Western Village?
* As soon as I returned home, I sat in a lotus position and examined my energy core. The inner energy of the Hidden Force was still calm. What should I do with this…
If it had merged with my own inner energy, I would have felt as bolstered as if I had consumed a spiritual herb for free, but right now, it was of no use. I drew up the Hidden Force’s inner energy and circulated it along the path of the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art.
The Hidden Force circulated smoothly through my body, making it hard to believe it was what had crippled Jeok Chu-yeong. Its nature was a bit different from the inner energy of the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique, but there was no problem circulating it.
After circulating my energy and regulating my breath for about a quarter of an hour, I stored the Hidden Force away. I looked at my energy core and was dumbfounded. The Hidden Force’s inner energy accumulated in my energy core, though faint as a speck of dust, had clearly increased slightly.
It can be accumulated. When I circulated the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique’s inner energy with the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art, there was no accumulation. The Hidden Force is the inner energy of the Kongtong Sect master who sneak-attacked Jeok Chu-yeong.
Is it accumulating because it’s inner energy created by the same Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art? If so, wouldn’t I be able to imbue my forms with this inner energy? I took my long blade and went out to the yard.
I circulated the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art with the Hidden Force’s inner energy and swung the blade randomly.
Fwaaa!
With a flash of light from the blade, the edge cut fiercely through the air. A thrill ran up to the top of my head from the movement imbued with inner energy. I took my stance, channeled my inner energy, and executed a form from the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique.
Before I could even perform the second form, the saber technique began to creak and falter. The power and speed were lacking for the amount of inner energy being channeled. The transition between forms was also about half a beat too slow.
Compared to using the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique’s own inner cultivation method, the power was weaker and there were more openings. I stopped the long blade and calmly considered why this was happening. The reason was clear.
The Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art was compatible with the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique, but it wasn’t a perfect match. The saber technique best optimized for the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art would naturally be a martial art of the Kongtong Sect.
To have obtained the Kongtong Sect’s inner cultivation method, but have no saber technique to use it with properly. It was a great shame. Is there no way to get one?
Since it’s a martial art of the Nine Great Sects, it won’t be easy, but I managed to get the inner cultivation method, so maybe a saber technique is possible if I’m lucky...
As I was racking my brain, trying to figure out how to seize this opportunity I didn't want to miss, my mind suddenly snapped to attention as if I had stepped on a snake’s tail. What would happen if the Kongtong Sect found out I had learned the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art?
They would go berserk and come to kill me, stopping at nothing. Even small, insignificant sects treasured their unique martial arts like their own lives and were extremely wary of them being leaked outside. For one of the Nine Great Sects, renowned throughout the world, it went without saying.
The absolute master who struck Jeok Chu-yeong with the Hidden Force might come looking for me. Fortunately, an inner cultivation method is an internal matter, so no one can tell what kind of inner energy I’ve learned just by looking at me.
But if I somehow managed to obtain and learn the Kongtong Sect’s saber or sword techniques, that would be a different story. No matter how carefully I used them, someone would surely recognize them. If I was lucky, I’d become a sworn enemy of the Kongtong Sect.
If I was unlucky, a bounty might be placed on my head on the most wanted list. The Heavenly Steel Saber Technique that I learned is a supreme secret art that doesn’t fall short of those of the Nine Great Sects. You can tell just by looking at the realm of Body-Flickering that Do Gwang-il reached.
Even now, my martial ability was not something to be trifled with. If I diligently train in the first and latter eighteen forms, the Jade Spring Sword Technique, and the Immortal's Leisurely Ten Thousand Swords, I will one day be able to join the ranks of absolute masters.
There was no reason to go out of my way to learn the martial arts of the Kongtong Sect, which were difficult to obtain and fraught with danger. It was a pity, but I shook my head, cast aside my lingering attachment, and sheathed my long blade.
Suddenly, a sense of caution arose in me as I was reminded of how fearsome the black market merchants were. The secret manual for the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art that I learned was purchased by Bok Ha-gyu from a black market merchant through a secret channel.
How did the black market merchant come to possess the inner cultivation method of the Kongtong Sect? They probably captured a Kongtong Sect master using a trap set in a black inn and then extracted the information through torture. If I let my guard down just because of my inner energy, I could be hunted down at any time.
Looking back, being lured by a spiritual herb and participating in the martial arts tournament was by no means a wise choice. I stopped the Primordial Chaos Unified Qi Art and stored the Hidden Force’s inner energy in my energy core. I took a quiet, deep breath and checked my body’s condition.
I opened my eyes and circulated my inner energy along the path of the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique. I drew my long blade again and began to perform the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique from the beginning, a technique I had practiced countless times. Will I be able to bring Sister Soso’s family back safely from the sword school?
I plan to avoid conflict as much as possible and resolve things smoothly, but no one knows what might happen. If I only avoid confrontation, I might be seen as an easy target, which could make the situation worse. To overcome and shatter whatever appears on my path, I must become even a little bit stronger.
The long blade moved swiftly and powerfully toward unseen enemies and an unknown destiny. I gradually increased the amount of inner energy I channeled, immersing myself in the saber technique without rest until darkness fell. * Two days later, I performed the second direct transmission of true energy.
This time, I drew out three times as much Hidden Force as before. Even after clearing out so much, Jeok Chu-yeong’s energy core was still full of Hidden Force. I was amazed that he had managed to stay alive all this time.
If Gwang-hyo hadn’t been able to push the Hidden Force into his energy core and it had spread throughout his body, Jeok Chu-yeong would have died long ago.
“Is the Hidden Force always this vicious?”
A faint trace of anger appeared on Gwang-hyo’s face as he examined Jeok Chu-yeong’s condition.
“What Master Jeok was hit with was not just any Hidden Force. It was a secret art from the Kongtong Sect’s unique palm technique, the Marrow-Extracting Palm." "It is a vicious palm technique, powerful enough to kill even a decent master in a single blow.”
‘The Palm that Extracts Marrow’—what a brutal name.
It would have fit right in as a martial art of the Demonic Sect, not one from a righteous sect belonging to the Murim Alliance. The reason the Kongtong Sect used the Hidden Force on Jeok Chu-yeong was also far from the grand cause of eradicating the dark paths.
Bok Ha-gyu had said it was due to an internal power struggle within the Murim Alliance. The Kongtong Sect was at odds with one of the Nine Great Sects that backed the Black Night Gang. They had struck Jeok Chu-yeong with the Hidden Force to cut off his funding, leaving him in a state of neither life nor death.
Still, after two sessions of direct transmission of true energy, Jeok Chu-yeong’s condition had improved significantly.
“Put strength in your legs and hold on.”
Gwang-hyo supported him from the side, helping Jeok Chu-yeong to his feet. After taking a few difficult steps on trembling legs, Jeok Chu-yeong collapsed into the chair beside the table. Cold sweat poured down his gaunt face, but his expression was bright.
There was life in his eyes, and a smile never left his lips.
“When I could only lie down, this chair I always used to sit in seemed as high as Mount Tai. I am truly overcome with emotion.”
“In a few days, after one more direct transmission, I will leave for Shaanxi Province immediately.”
By the time I arrived in Shaanxi, it would be the dead of a harsh winter, but I didn’t have the luxury of waiting until spring. It was possible Sister Soso’s family was in such dire straits that they might not survive this winter. At that thought, my heart was already racing north like an arrow.
Jeok Chu-yeong gazed at my determined face and nodded silently. Gwang-hyo also readily agreed.
“I understand. I will make preparations.”