It had already been three days since I left Luoyang with the Bermuda Triangle.
I suddenly opened my mouth.
“Mujin.”
“Huff, huff. Yes?”
Hyuk Mujin lay sprawled facedown over a rock beside a stream, looking ready to breathe his last.
He had made tremendous progress over the past year, but the limits of his internal energy and martial arts had quickly caught up with him.
Gung Gibang’s keeping up reasonably well, but even he’s falling short.
As befitted the Successor Beggar of the Beggars’ Sect, Gung Gibang possessed one of the finest movement techniques among the young prodigies. Even so, he was still a step below Cheongpung and me.
What good was learning the Myriad-Li Chasing Wind Movement Technique1, supposedly the fastest movement technique in the Beggars’ Sect, when he had only mastered it to the fifth stage?
“Gung Gibang.”
“Huff… Why’d you call me?”
His breathing was ragged.
He was in better shape than Hyuk Mujin, but he was having just as hard a time.
And then there was the last one…
“Benefactor, would you like a dumpling?”
“You eat plenty yourself.”
“I ate plenty on the way. I’m full.”
“Then take a shit and eat some more.”
“Wow! What a great idea!”
“…”
That was Cheongpung for you.
Anyone who had enough energy to stuff himself with dumplings between bursts of movement technique was a monster, all right.
Though I had no room to talk when I was in about the same shape as Cheongpung despite carrying Jeok Cheongang on the wooden frame strapped to my back.
I scratched the side of my head as I looked at the three of them.
Hmm. This isn’t going to work.
From Henan, through Shaanxi, and all the way to Sichuan.
The journey spanned several thousand li1. Even on horseback, it would take at least a month.
But we didn’t have that kind of time.
If we wanted to shorten the journey drastically, we needed drastic measures.
“Huff… Captain, why did you call me?”
“Oh, no particular reason.”
I turned to Hyuk Mujin.
“That thing I asked you to hold on to. You still have it?”
“What thing?”
“The chain.”
“What are you talking about…? Oh, that thing you used to wear with all those weights dangling from it?”
“Yeah.”
It was a chain specially crafted by the Fire Gate Clan from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
Just before the Star-Array Grand Banquet began, I had removed the chain along with the iron ball. When Hyuk Mujin heard that it was made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, his eyes had lit up, and he had quickly taken it.
“You brought it, right?”
He was quick on the uptake, if nothing else.
Sensing trouble, Hyuk Mujin’s eyes darted about.
“No. I left it somewhere safe.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s do this. If I search you and find it, you die.”
“Ah, silly me. Now that I think about it, I did bring it.”
Clink.
Only then did Hyuk Mujin begin unwinding the chain wrapped around his torso beneath his shirt.
Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron was both impossibly hard and remarkably light. Apparently, he had wrapped it around himself as makeshift armor.
It could serve as temporary armor or a weapon, and the material alone was worth an enormous fortune.
No wonder Hyuk Mujin looked as if his soul were being torn from his body as he handed it over.
“Didn’t you give this to me to use? I was saving it to make a weapon later…”
“I told you to hold on to it. Did I say you could keep it?”
“You can’t just give someone something and take it back.”
“I borrowed it too. It belongs to the Fire Gate Clan. How do you think Old Master will react if he wakes up and finds you carrying it?”
“…Please take it. Hide it somewhere I’ll never have to see it again.”
“Good choice. Gibang!”
Chain in hand, I called the bewildered Gung Gibang over and got to work.
The two of them stared blankly at me, wearing expressions that clearly asked what I was doing. Then they spoke at the same time.
“What are you doing?”
“What kind of pointless bullshit is this?”
Rattle, rattle.
I answered calmly.
“Can’t you see? I’m tying a knot with the chain.”
“No, I mean, why are you wrapping it around my waist…?”
“Hold on. Untie this.”
“There. Done.”
I proudly admired the fruits of my labor.
Hyuk Mujin, Gung Gibang, and finally me. The three of us were strung together with the chain like dried fish.
“Everyone well rested?”
“What rest? It hasn’t even been fifteen minutes!”
“Untie us this instant!”
I beamed and shook my head.
At the same time, my dantian began to churn, sending ninety years’ worth of internal energy surging into my legs.
“All right. Let’s run.”
Fwoooosh!
“Waaaaagh! You lunatic!”
“The Captain’s lost his mind! He’s trying to kill me!”
Chained to me, Gung Gibang and Hyuk Mujin tore off like wild boars with their tails on fire.
At the commotion, Cheongpung came scrambling out of the nearby brush, where he had been relieving himself with his ass bared, and raced after us.
“Benefactor! I’m coming too!”
“…”
I don’t think that bastard wiped.
No. He must have.
I desperately pushed the thought from my mind and unleashed my movement technique.
Time flew as quickly as the scenery streaking past us, and in only two days, we accomplished the astonishing feat of reaching the border between Henan and Shaanxi.
Trudge. Trudge.
Broken ranks. Exhausted faces.
The dozens of people trudging wearily onward were all members of an Escort Bureau.
The armed escorts were exhausted. So were the caravan porters, bundled in thick clothing as they led the horses and carts.
And it wasn’t merely because their trading journey had already lasted four months.
“Hwaran.”
At the voice in her ear, a pair of faintly gleaming black eyes turned to the side. Her clear voice followed.
“Yes, Uncle Heo?”
“It’s…”
A middle-aged man with a graying beard quietly approached the head of the procession. After a moment’s hesitation, he sighed.
“Chief Escort Seok has passed away.”
“…!”
The slender figure swaying gently in the saddle went rigid. A moment passed before her trembling voice emerged.
“So in the end… he’s gone.”
“The poison reached his marrow. There was nothing more we could do. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Uncle. Brother Seok—no, Escort Leader Seok died because of me.”
Ju Hwaran bit down hard on her lip beneath her veil.
It’s true. Everything happened because I lacked virtue.
Escort Leader Seok, who had grown up with her like a brother, and the thirty-two people who had died before him—all of their deaths had been caused by her poor judgment.
Father. What am I supposed to do?
Ju Hwaran raised her head toward the sky.
It was black as ink, studded with countless stars. Above them, a man’s face appeared in her mind.
Her father, Ju Hogun, had fallen into qi deviation while cultivating two years earlier and had hovered between life and death ever since.
To have such a beautiful and gifted daughter—this father could ask for nothing more. Ha-ha!
Ju Hogun had said it so often that it had become a habit.
Another man might have adopted a son to carry on his line, but Ju Hogun loved his beautiful and talented only daughter and had always taken pride in her.
You alone will succeed me. The Yongbong Escort Bureau’s past fifty years will be nothing compared to what you accomplish in the future.
Everyone in Shaanxi knew how completely Ju Hogun doted on his daughter.
But as Ju Hwaran grew older, people realized that he wasn’t simply a foolishly indulgent father.
She was brilliant enough to master the Escort Bureau’s ledgers before she had even turned twenty, and beautiful enough to be named one of the Three Flowers of Jiangbei.
On top of that, she was a master of martial arts skilled enough to be counted among the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes, the greatest young prodigies of the orthodox Murim.
That was Ju Hwaran.
And yet…
Where did it all go wrong?
Ju Hwaran swallowed the sigh welling up from deep within her chest.
Everything around her was collapsing—and only two years had passed since she took over the Yongbong Escort Bureau in place of her stricken father.
“Hwaran, are you all right?”
At least she still had her people.
The fifty years of goodwill her grandfather and father had built through benevolence and virtue were now the only pillar holding her upright.
Ju Hwaran forced a smile at Heo Jun, the Chief Escort, who spoke to her with concern.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Uncle Heo.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Heo Jun nodded, his expression somber.
Ju Hwaran was only twenty-one.
She already possessed much, but she was still too young for her heart to have hardened enough to bear it all.
Burdened by such terrible guilt, she needed someone to watch over her. That was all he could do.
Ju Hwaran understood how he felt. Steadying her voice, she said, “It’s getting dark. We’ll camp here tonight. Please make the preparations.”
“A good idea.”
“And… prepare the funeral as well.”
Escort Leader Seok was the thirty-third casualty of this journey.
It was time to lay to rest the man who had been beside Ju Hwaran since childhood.
Salt could slow the decay of his body, but by the time they completed their escort mission, the poison remaining within him would undoubtedly have reduced his flesh and bones to a handful of bloody water.
“All right. Rest here for a while.”
“Everyone else is working. How could I rest? Don’t worry about me. Go.”
Heo Jun nodded slightly and gave a hand signal. The procession soon came to a halt.
There was still a chill in the air, but the broad stretch of land was perfect for camping. Ju Hwaran planned to replenish her strength here and cross the mountain early the next morning.
We’re almost there.
Ju Hwaran stared at the mountain shrouded in darkness.
Its stones were black, giving Black Stone Mountain its name. Once they crossed it, this escort mission would enter its final leg.
They had suffered countless losses, but if the escort journey succeeded, the Yongbong Escort Bureau would have a chance to catch its breath.
It’s seven days and nights from here to Mount Zhongnan. We don’t have much time to spare, but if we make it safely across Black Stone Mountain, it should be enough.
The question was how Black Stone Mountain’s master would receive them.
Of the countless mountain strongholds belonging to the Green Forest Alliance, Black Stone Stronghold was powerful enough to rank among the Eighteen Strongholds. Its Stronghold Lord was a Peak master renowned for wielding an axe with uncanny skill.
If the travel-worn Yongbong Escort Bureau clashed with Black Stone Stronghold, they might suffer even greater losses than they already had.
Please, let nothing happen.
Ju Hwaran had just turned away when—
Rustle.
A faint sound reached her ears.
Something had stepped on a dry leaf, and it wasn’t a wild animal.
A red alarm bell instantly rang in Ju Hwaran’s mind.
An enemy!
Shing!
Ju Hwaran drew the flexible sword at her waist and shouted like a thunderbolt.
“Who’s there?”
Her sharp cry rang through the darkness.
Chief Escort Heo Jun noticed the danger almost simultaneously and led the escorts into a protective ring around her.
“Protect the Young Bureau Head!”
“Yes, sir!”
Clang, clang, clang!
Keen-edged weapons flashed beneath the dim moonlight.
At that moment, the brush more than five hundred feet away began to stir.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the brave escorts of the Yongbong Escort Bureau.”
A towering giant emerged, a huge axe strapped across his back. At the sight of him, Heo Jun let out a low groan.
“Heavenly Axe…”
“Oh, Brother Heo. I’ve heard all about how busy you’ve been wiping some little girl’s ass lately.”
“You dare!”
A graceful figure suddenly stepped forward beside the stiffly standing Heo Jun.
“Perfect timing. We were just about to pay the toll.”
“We’ll see.”
Heavenly Axe grinned and gave his axe a shake.
“Let’s take a look at the goods first. Then we’ll talk.”
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
Behind his axe, hundreds of Green Forest bandits emerged.
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