Chapter 1017

Sima Gong and the leaders of Gansu Murim had made their position perfectly clear:

• Don’t go demanding this and that in someone else’s territory.

Honestly, there wasn’t much room to argue with that.

Every one of them was an old fixture who’d ruled Gansu Murim for decades at the very least, and some for more than a century. Besides, ever since the Great Faction War, interfering too much in another sect’s affairs had been taboo.

And then there was the Black Dragon Demon Gate, standing at the center of it all. What kind of place was it?

Despite its relatively short history of only a few decades, it wielded tremendous influence throughout Gansu. It was, without question, a pillar of the unorthodox faction.

At least in Gansu, it stood shoulder to shoulder with the Kongtong Sect, one of the Nine Sects and One Gang. In fact, it might have built an even stronger power base by now—a true regional overlord.

With Sima Gong, the beginning and end of the Black Dragon Demon Gate, speaking so bluntly, even the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord had no choice but to back down after briefly letting his anger show.

But someone else had watched it all without so much as twitching an eyebrow.

“Why are you growling? You sound like a yellow dog whose food bowl’s been taken away.”

There was only one person here who could compare the Black Night King himself to a yellow dog.

The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

At last, the giant who’d left his mark on the distant history of Murim parted his lips. The icy gleam in Sima Gong’s eyes settled.

“I suppose I should growl. I’ll do it as much as I must to protect my food bowl.”

“And it never crossed your mind that someone else’s life might depend on that food bowl?”

“It’s for the greater good.”

“You mean your own good. The good of the select few who follow you and the Black Dragon Demon Gate.”

Jeok Cheongang slowly looked around the room.

There were around twenty people here, not counting those from the Zhongnan Sect and the Black Dragon Demon Gate.

As he looked from one leader of Gansu Murim to the next, an unmistakable sneer curled his lips.

“Come to think of it, isn’t it strange? As I understand it, Gansu has at least fifty sects and martial families, yet not even half of them are here. Ah… were the others already sent to different fronts?”

“They’re already carrying out other assignments,” Sima Gong answered dryly.

“So they were left behind. To delay Dark Heaven for even half a day if it uses the Moving Formation to appear in the rear.”

“Everyone agreed to it.”

“And before you got that agreement, did you lay out all the facts? Or did you put a sword to their throats first?”

“With all due respect, there’s something I’d like to say while we’re at it.”

“‘With all due respect’ already puts me in a shitty mood, but I suppose that’s what you’ve got a mouth for. Go on, then. Spit it out.”

Sima Gong let out a short breath at Jeok Cheongang’s continuing barbs. Then, with a calm expression, he spoke.

“We of Gansu Murim will not accept interference from outsiders in this decision, in any form. Even if it comes from the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Families. Or…”

Sima Gong’s gaze swept past the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord and me, then stopped on Jeok Cheongang.

“Even if it comes from you, Senior.”

“……!”

“……!”

The air around us lurched.

Stiffened hands and feet came standard. The slight bobbing of people’s throats was an added bonus.

Even if it was Sima Gong, who was he speaking to?

Jeok Cheongang, the Fire King himself.

A terrifying old monster said to rank among the top five in the Central Plains when it came to martial arts—and first when it came to a foul temper.

He’d answered Jeok Cheongang in a downright challenging tone. No wonder everyone reacted as if they’d been burned.

Everyone except me.

That’s far enough for today.

I’d been watching events unfold the whole time, and I made up my mind.

Then, at a moment nobody expected, I clapped my hands together hard.

Clap!

The sharp sound broke the silence, short and yet seemingly endless. Everyone turned toward me, startled as if they’d just woken from a dream. I blinked at them with perfect composure.

“Oh, sorry. A damn mosquito was buzzing around.”

Of course, I was lying.

With snow that never melted lying all around us, what mosquito?

But the point was that my sudden clap had instantly broken the tension, which had been spiraling toward disaster.

And the two men at the center of it understood why I’d clapped at once.

“You’ve grown up some. Come a long way.”

At last, Jeok Cheongang spoke in a low voice. Sima Gong, as if nothing had happened, respectfully clasped his hands in salute.

“I still have a long way to go. I hope you’ll look kindly on this inadequate junior.”

Jeok Cheongang looked at me and put on a frown, as though something displeased him.

“You certainly do have a long way to go. Just thinking about what lies ahead, it’s one obstacle after another. Isn’t it?”

“With you here alongside us, Senior, what need have we of an army?”

Sima Gong put particular emphasis on alongside us, then lifted his head and looked at me.

“You truly have a perceptive Disciple.”

“I don’t know about perceptive. He’s good at reading a room.”

“Remarkable martial prowess, and a mind that sees several moves ahead. He’s a blessing to all Murim. My son ought to have spent more time watching and learning from you while he had the chance… What do you think of him?”

At Sima Gong’s sudden question, I answered without hesitation.

“He’s useful.”

“What?”

“Now that I’ve spent some time with him, he’s a pretty decent kid. A little gloomy, though.”

By Murim’s reckoning, Sama Pyo was much older than me.

But even though I’d just thrown the whole idea of respecting my elders to the dogs, Sima Gong only smiled in a way I couldn’t quite read.

“Thank you for saying so. It makes all the effort I put into raising him worthwhile.”

Over his shoulder, I saw Sama Pyo standing there without a trace of expression. It struck me that Sima Gong sounded less like a father talking about raising his son than a craftsman talking about a piece he’d made.

But the thought vanished as quickly as it had come, and I spoke again.

“So, you don’t plan to change your decision?”

“Decision. A choice made by firmly settling on a course of action or attitude.”

“So that’s a no. Then can I assume the Kongtong Sect’s position is the same?”

“The Kongtong Sect opposed it, but that changes nothing. All of Gansu Murim reached this decision after extensive discussion.”

Maybe. But was this really what Gansu Murim wanted?

Or…

Was it only what the Black Dragon Demon Gate wanted?

I swallowed the words hovering on the tip of my tongue and thought for a moment.

Inventory.

I mentally felt for an item stowed somewhere in that bottomless, pitch-black subspace.

But then I shook my head.

No matter how I looked at it, the timing wasn’t right yet.

Not now, at least.

“Then let’s do that.”

“What?”

The startled question came from neither Jeok Cheongang, who was frowning, nor Sima Gong.

It was the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord. He stared at me with wide eyes.

“You’re willing to accept this as it stands? Are you serious?”

Right then, before I could answer, two other voices cut the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord off.

“Everywhere you go, people have their own rules. Our Zhongnan is no different.”

“Eldest Senior Brother is right. Junior Brother, remember how you ought to conduct yourself as our sect’s Sect Leader.”

The Roaring Fury Swordsman and the Taeeul Merciless Sword.

Those were the two who had spoken.

After hearing his Senior Brothers speak in turn, the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord muttered as though groaning.

“Senior Brothers. But how can we let this happen?”

“We understand how you feel, Sect Leader. But further discord could jeopardize what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Sima Gong calmly but firmly cut off the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord before he could continue. Then he surveyed the room and went on.

“I hope everyone will remember this. We are allies united beneath the Murim Alliance’s banner, and we must not create discord over a decision that has already been made. Much less…”

Sima Gong’s deeply lowered gaze suddenly came to rest on me.

“Acting alone without seeking everyone’s agreement is even less acceptable. Wouldn’t you say?”

I already knew what Sima Gong meant, so I nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I hope sending those horse caravans away wasn’t a grievous mistake for our allies.”

“There won’t be any problem. At least, if my expectations are right.”

“His name was Ma Junggeol, wasn’t it? If you’d let that man go as well… we would’ve been disappointed in you. Very disappointed.”

At the sudden drop in his voice, Jeok Cheongang’s eyebrow twitched. I discreetly tugged at his sleeve where Sima Gong couldn’t see, then shrugged.

“I’ll remember.”

After that, the meeting wrapped up in less than another fifteen minutes.

As the leaders of Gansu Murim filed out, they kept stealing anxious glances at Jeok Cheongang. He stayed silent, wearing the expression of someone suffering from a particularly nasty case of constipation.

Only after we were out of everyone’s sight and alone together did he finally speak.

“What are you plotting?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t dodge the question. You had something in mind, or you wouldn’t have tried so hard to hold this old man back.”

“I didn’t try to hold you back. I just gave you a look to calm you down.”

“What?”

“Were you planning to grab him by the collar and beat the crap out of him right there? The Sect Leader of the Black Dragon Demon Gate, no less?”

“Why? You think this old man couldn’t do it?”

“……”

Fair point.

I was at a loss for words. After a deep sigh, I started walking again.

“There was something bothering me.”

“That would be Sima Gong. You can tell just by looking at that bastard’s face.”

“That’s not it. He’s hiding something.”

At my quiet words, Jeok Cheongang’s expression hardened.

“What do you mean… Wait. Don’t tell me—”

His voice rose toward the end. I gave a small shake of my head.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not sure yet.”

“Tell me more. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Do you remember how Elder Nam came to see me out of the blue a day ago and said he had something to discuss?”

“Of course. I suddenly had to relieve myself, so I didn’t hear him out.”

Jeok Cheongang furrowed his brow and continued.

“If it was that important, you’d have told me later. Why haven’t you said a word about it for more than a day?”

He was right.

I’d always discussed most important matters with Jeok Cheongang, and sometimes found the answer by doing so.

But…

There are exceptions.

That day, that moment, was one of them.

“It’s important. Something I can only tell you now.”

Namho had approached me out of the blue and, speaking in a hushed voice, told me something I hadn’t expected.

“Just before we left the Jin Family of Taiyuan, I noticed Sama Pyo was missing and went looking for him. Taishan was with him.”

And there, the old agent of the Hidden Shadow Pavilion had caught a smell that was both familiar and strange.

“There wasn’t a trace left, but I’m certain Sama Pyo was burning a missive.”

No—once Sama Pyo had tried to hide that fact, it was no ordinary missive.

It was a secret letter.