Chapter 1065

Losing a battle meant the end.

Especially in a large-scale engagement, with tens of thousands clashing head-on.

The survivors on the losing side had only two possible fates: become prisoners or run to the ends of the earth.

They couldn’t choose between them. They couldn’t refuse them.

The victors were different.

So, three days ago, just after the bloody battle around the Great Snow Mountain ended in a crushing victory for our side, we were given a new choice.

Would we deal with the aftermath and stay to protect Gansu Province? Or would we move to stop the Dark Heaven forces advancing somewhere else?

We chose the latter.

No—more accurately, everyone respected my wishes.

“I’ll be leaving now. There’s something I have to do.”

The snowfield was covered in flames and smoke that day.

The fire, consuming tens of thousands of corpses, burned as if it would never go out. And my sudden announcement must have felt unbearably cruel to those watching the scene, their tears falling without end.

Yet even though I’d denied them the time to grieve, they didn’t blame me.

Not one of them.

Only Perfected Being Hyeoncheon, the Sect Leader of the Kongtong Sect, stepped forward with a question.

“Where do you intend to go?”

My answer had been decided from the start.

The System had already pointed the way to our next destination with a Quest as clear as a compass.

“Qinghai. Qinghai.”

“Which means…”

“Yes. They’re coming.”

I spoke with a certainty I couldn’t explain, but Perfected Being Hyeoncheon didn’t ask why. He only nodded, his expression grave.

“The world will be stained with blood once more.”

“It will. Without a doubt.”

“If we win another great victory against them there, do you think we can bring this accursed war to an end?”

“We’ll be one step closer. And the step we take this time will be bigger and deeper than any before it.”

“Deep enough to reach the Lord of Heaven?”

“I believe so.”

“Then the Kongtong Sect will stand with you.”

“…!”

“We won’t stop until we reach the end. If only for the sake of the souls who must now be under the care of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable¹, beyond those clouds.”

If Perfected Being Hyeoncheon had been giving off the same killing intent he’d shown while slaughtering the surviving Dark Heaven followers, I would have refused his offer.

But the old Daoist had lost so much, and his eyes were clear. The same was true of the Kongtong Disciples, who had poured out their anger and grief.

“All right.”

And so Perfected Being Hyeoncheon and about a hundred Kongtong Disciples joined us. But that was only the beginning.

“I, Hyuk Sopyung, a junior martial artist, humbly ask leave to answer for my sect’s sins.”

Hyuk Sopyung, the Zhongnan One Dragon.

Along with him, more than three hundred Zhongnan Sect Disciples who had barely survived the bloody battle set down their weapons and knelt.

The Roaring Fury Swordsman, Song Il, and the Taeeul Merciless Sword, Hwangbo Eom.

The two elders of their sect were dead, and now the Disciples knew what they had done. Shame and grief filled their faces. Blood trickled between their tightly clenched teeth.

If the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord, the Zhongnan Sect Leader, hadn’t been unconscious from his severe injuries, he would have knelt beside them and asked to answer for those sins too.

Perfected Being Hyeoncheon watched the Zhongnan Disciples in silence for a long while. Then he spoke.

“A father’s sins do not belong to his children, nor a master’s to his Disciples. Why, then, do the Disciples of Zhongnan ask me to hold them to account?”

“…!”

“Still, if you insist on accepting a penalty, so be it. Follow Daoist Friend Jin here and walk a straight, honorable path. Let that be the Zhongnan Sect’s new way.”

At the old Daoist’s wise and compassionate words, Hyuk Sopyung and the Zhongnan Disciples bowed deeply. Then they gave me a fist-and-palm salute with the utmost respect.

“We wish to walk the righteous path without straying an inch. Great Hero Jin, we ask to join you.”

It was the first time I’d come face-to-face with Hyuk Sopyung since the incident at the Yongbong Escort Bureau.

He had once been the Zhongnan Sect’s most promising young prodigy, one of the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes. The gap between us had grown even wider than before.

Even after spending several days alongside the Zhongnan Sect in Gansu, I’d only ever passed him at a distance. Maybe that was why I’d only just noticed how much more serious his bearing had become, how much deeper his gaze.

“I’d be glad to have you.”

For once, I accepted an offer with proper courtesy. Our numbers had swelled to around five hundred with the two sects joining us, and someone watching it all came over.

“Even this won’t be enough. Don’t you think?”

“Maybe. Still better than padding our numbers with any old riffraff.”

“Funny. My ears are itching. Must be my imagination.”

“Maybe not.”

The new Sect Leader of the Black Dragon Demon Gate gave a dry laugh at my feigned innocence, then pointed to his new followers, lined up in orderly ranks.

“Five hundred. Time was short, but I chose them carefully from the volunteers. They may not measure up to the Disciples of the Nine Sects and One Gang, but I can vouch for their loyalty and fighting spirit.”

“So you’re putting them under my command?”

“No. I’d be grateful if you let them come with you.”

“What?”

“I, Sama Pyo, Sect Leader of the Black Dragon Demon Gate, and five hundred men ask to join the Fire Dragon Pavilion Master. Please allow us to fight for the realm and make up, however little, for our past wrongs.”

“…!”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

I might not have been able to hold back the emotion welling up inside me if a giant with a little old man dangling from his neck hadn’t shouted right then.

“Taishan’s going! Taishan’s going too! Taishan will go with the Pavilion Master to the end!”

“Goddamn it! Stop bouncing around so much! Please!”

Everyone burst out laughing at once, as if they’d planned it.

Me, Sama Pyo, the Fire Dragon Pavilion members, and the survivors of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

Even Jeong Hogun, Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, whose expression never changed whether he was happy or sad.

“You martial artists are quite an amusing lot.”

“Really? Since you brought it up, want to hear something even funnier?”

“Something funnier?”

“Yeah. It’s about a certain Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who kept talking back to a Marquis like he was his equal and is now on the verge of being forcibly discharged. The funny thing is, he has the same surname as you. What a coincidence, huh?”

“…Is that how you’re going to play this?”

“Then do your best. So I don’t have to.”

Jeong Hogun shook his head as though there was no winning with me. Then he stood as straight as an iron tower and saluted.

“Then please give your orders.”

“Qinghai. We’re going to Qinghai Province. At full speed.”

“I, Jeong Hogun, Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, accept the solemn order of the Most Honorable Marquis of Shangshan.”

And so, two days ago, the Embroidered Uniform Guard joined us as the final piece of our force. Now nearly two thousand strong, we took a brief rest and headed straight for Qinghai Province.

A few people raised the cautious possibility that Dark Heaven might target Gansu again. The Bow Saint put those concerns to rest with a single remark.

“The North is moving.”

Naturally, she didn’t mean northern Gansu.

She meant the North of the entire world, divided by the Great Wall—and the two powers that ruled that vast land.

The fierce tiger of Hebei: the Hebei Peng Family.

And the Azure Dragon of Shanxi Province: the Jin Family of Taiyuan, who had now claimed even the skies above the green grasslands.

“Arrows may fly at different speeds, but so long as they hold their course, each will eventually strike its target.”

The Bow Saint and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, for example, were arrows shot ahead of the rest.

It was a metaphor worthy of the Bow Saint. No one argued after that.

Not merely because she was the Bow Saint. Everyone knew that with the Azure Dragon and the fierce tiger of the North spreading their wings and baring their claws, Gansu was reasonably safe.

And the brief purge just before we left Gansu was enough to wipe out any possible future threat.

“Anything you want to say before you die? Spare me the excuses. I’ll hear your last words.”

“I—I never colluded with Dark Heaven. There must have been some misunderstanding!”

“Young Sect Leader—no, Sect Leader! Why are you doing this? You know your late father and I were practically sworn brothers!”

“Yeah, I know. Close enough to betray us together. You were so close that my father wrote it all down in detail… Did you know that?”

“…!”

The meeting meant to decide the future of Gansu’s Murim had become a trial of its traitors. The room froze.

Wide eyes. Trembling lips.

Sama Pyo gave a quiet sigh at the sight of them, took a battered old book from inside his robe, and set it on the table.

“So you didn’t know. I’d have thought you might at least suspect.”

Even I was surprised that the meticulous Black Night King, Sima Gong, had left such conclusive evidence behind. How much more shocked must those men have been, after knowing him for decades?

Sama Pyo went on. There was a trace of bitterness toward his father in his voice, and he looked at the men as though they were insects.

“So. Any last words?”

That did it.

“You—you little brat, with the blood barely dry on your head! You dare kill me, your uncle in all but name?!”

“Heh. Heh heh. So this is how it ends.”

A cornered rat had only two choices.

Charge with its adorable little front teeth as its only weapon, or give up and accept its fate.

And waiting for the fools who chose to charge was—

“Story’s over, Taishan.”

“Yaaawn. Taishan nearly fell asleep listening.”

Tiger Giant Child Taishan: designated hitter for the Gansu Black Dragons, with a career batting average of .999.

Wham! Whaaam!

I was there in case anything went wrong, but I never had to step in.

Taishan’s two-section staff was gleefully spitting fire—no, blood.

One of the Black Dragon Demon Gate’s senior members had shouted that Sama Pyo was a little brat with the blood barely dry on his head, then charged at him. His head was gone before he could spill any blood into it. Several Sect Leaders and Family Heads tried to flee with all their might, but they were surrounded the moment they left the pavilion.

By Black Dragon Demon Gate warriors who had sworn loyalty to their new lord.

And by their own followers and Disciples.

“G-Gangpyeong! How could you do this to me?!”

“How could you do what you did, Sect Leader?”

“Guard the way! Hurry! No—this is an order from your Sect Leader! Stop those men right—”

“Shut your filthy mouth.”

“What?”

“Because of you, my Master, my Junior Sister, and my Martial Nephew died! That makes you guilty of deceiving your master and betraying your ancestors. Disciples of the Gorang Sword Sect, execute the Sect Leader on the spot, as the sect rules demand!”

“What are the members of the Lanzhou Hyuk Family doing?!”

“Please don’t hold it against us, Family Head. You were the one who betrayed us first.”

“Y-you dare…!”

Slice! Thud-thud-thud!

Spears and blades came at them from every direction. Around a dozen Sect Leaders and Family Heads died with their eyes wide open, unable even to leave proper last words.

A miserable end for men who had led Gansu’s Murim, each the head of a faction with a substantial following.

But the young Sect Leader of the Black Dragon Demon Gate didn’t so much as blink as he killed or captured twenty renowned masters in all.

He watched it all with calm, cold eyes. Then, touching his teacup, which had long since gone cold, he spoke out of the blue.

“Should I have them bring fresh tea?”

“No. It tastes awful, and we don’t have time. Besides, that scatterbrained man will be joining us soon. Tea will just turn my stomach.”

“Great Sir—does he really know the fastest route to Qinghai Province?”

“Ma Junggeol told me he does, anyway. I don’t know what he did when he was young, but apparently he knows the terrain inside out.”

“I see. Then our business here is done. I’ll go with you, Pavilion Master.”

Sama Pyo nodded and stood.

Only fifteen minutes ago, more than twenty faces had crowded around the table. Now no one remained at it, and all that lay on top were overturned teacups and a battered old book.

“Aren’t you taking it?”

“I don’t need it anymore.”

With that, Sama Pyo left. After a moment’s thought, I picked up the book.

It had served its purpose and been cast aside, but it was still something his dead father had left behind.

I clicked my tongue, turned the first page without thinking, and understood what Sama Pyo had really meant.

“…Huh.”

I let out a dry laugh and set the book down.

No. Not a book.

Just a bundle of yellowed pages without a single character written on them. It had plainly spent years gathering dust somewhere, never once put to use.

“Guess blood really does tell. In a good way.”

Muttering under my breath, I walked on, breathing in the stench of blood flowing from the traitors’ bodies.

Two days passed after that. Then another three went by as we made our way over mountain slopes so rough they made me want to curse.

“Hey, young man. What’s your name?”

“Jin Taekyung. You know that’s the twenty-fourth time I’ve told you, right?”

“Ah, yes. Jang Sam.”

“How the hell does Jin Taekyung become Jang Sam… Forget it. What do you want?”

“Well, it’s nothing terribly important.”

“Tell me anyway. While I’m still speaking politely to you.”

“It’s just that I can’t for the life of me tell where we are.”

“Pardon? What?”

“I asked where we are.”

“Fucking hell.”

I was seized by the urge to kill that lunatic guide for spouting this insanity with a straight face.

A fierce, overpowering urge, strong enough to snap my last thread of self-control.

Step.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. But just as I approached Great Sir to let our fists do the talking—

Ding!

System

Entered Qinghai Province.

A clear chime rang in my ears, gluing my momentarily severed thread of self-control back together.