Chapter 446

Ding.

System

A Quest has been generated.

A familiar System notification.

Immediately afterward, a translucent holographic window visible only to me appeared in midair.

System

Quest

Another Chaos

An ominous air hangs over the once-peaceful Hubei Province.

The clear waters of the Yangtze have been dyed red with blood, the once-mighty Sea Serpent Society has fallen amid countless deaths, and the Dongting Fisherman, who publicly condemned the Yangtze River Channel League, has disappeared.

If someone uncovers the truth behind these events and finds the culprit, the chaos will subside.

Grade: Peak

Restriction: Jin Taekyung

Mission: Uncover the truth behind the events (Incomplete)

Reward: ???

Failure: The chaos in Hubei Province will worsen, and further incidents will occur

Will you accept the Quest?

Y / N

A Quest…

I slowly looked around.

Mu Song sat with his lips pressed tightly together, while Crouching Dragon Guest Zhuge Feng stared at him with a cold smile.

Jeok Cheongang frowned as he watched the two of them, and Mungyeong sat expressionlessly.

And finally… there was Jin Wikyung, calmly observing the entire situation.

So he did know.

According to Zhuge Feng, the Sea Serpent Society Head and a thousand of his men had been buried beneath the waters of Red Cliffs a fortnight ago. Jin Wikyung must have heard about it on his way to Sichuan.

And adding Hubei to our return route means the leadership in Henan approved it too.

Now that the bloody incidents in Shaolin and Sichuan had exposed Dark Heaven’s existence to the entire world, the series of events unfolding in Hubei could not be taken lightly.

If this was Dark Heaven’s scheme, we had to stop it.

And if the Yangtze River Channel League had taken advantage of the chaos caused by Dark Heaven to carry out some plot of its own, they had to be punished as an example to others.

Jin Wikyung had not come here as the Lesser Family Head or acting Family Head of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.

He had come as an inspector for the new Murim Alliance that would soon be formed.

What that meant was simple.

I have to stand with Jin Wikyung too.

Besides, the Quest carried no penalty. There was little point in asking whether I would accept when I was already in the same boat as him.

I muttered inwardly.

Yes.

Ding.

System

• Quest accepted!
• Quest Another Chaos has been registered in the Quest Window! Quest information may be updated depending on the situation.

I wasn’t sure what else there was to update.

Judging by Zhuge Feng’s words and the atmosphere I had sensed on the way to the Zhuge Clan, all of Hubei Province had already branded the Yangtze River Channel League as the culprit and was pointing fingers at them.

But…

“Are you certain the Yangtze River Channel League is responsible?”

Personally, I didn’t think we could jump to conclusions just yet.

My question broke the heavy silence. Crouching Dragon Guest Zhuge Feng smiled faintly.

“Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung. You seem to have many questions about this matter.”

“I can’t say I don’t.”

“Go ahead, provided we do not waste each other’s valuable time.”

“First, I would like to ask whether there is any evidence.”

“Evidence?”

“Yes. All you have is circumstantial evidence, don’t you? At the very least, shouldn’t there be a witness who saw the Yangtze River Channel League attack the Sea Serpent Society on the night of the incident at Red Cliffs?”

“A witness. What else?”

“You still haven’t determined what happened to the Dongting Fisherman, who publicly condemned the Yangtze River Channel League.”

“Continue.”

I glanced at Jeok Cheongang before going on.

“According to what I once heard from the old—no, from my Master, the Dongting Fisherman was a Supreme Peak master who belonged to neither the orthodox nor the unorthodox faction.”

“Correct. The Dongting Fisherman spent his entire life near Dongting Lake and built friendships with renowned figures from all walks of life.”

The Dongting Fisherman was well known even in Murim, where strange and extraordinary figures were hardly rare.

It was unusual enough that he had never joined either the orthodox or unorthodox faction and had spent his entire life near Dongting Lake. But the formidable martial arts he performed with the single fishing rod he always carried were also famous throughout Murim.

“I couldn’t understand how a Supreme Peak master like the Dongting Fisherman could disappear without anyone noticing.”

“What about it do you find difficult to understand?”

“If someone killed the Dongting Fisherman, his opponent must have been a master of equal or greater skill. When two Supreme Peak masters really go at it, all hell breaks loose. There’s no way no one would notice.”

“You certainly speak plainly. Continue.”

“And this might be disrespectful to Senior Mu Song.”

Mu Song, who had regained some of his composure after I stepped in, nodded.

“Speak. I don’t mind.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Well, if you say so.”

I spoke cautiously.

“Honestly, does the Yangtze River Channel League have a master of that caliber? From what I’ve seen, it sure didn’t seem like it.”

“……!”

“……!”

What? You said you didn’t mind. You told me to speak.

Mu Song looked considerably less fine than before, so I quietly amended my statement.

“Ah, of course, I’m only talking about Hubei. I respect the Seafaring King. I even enjoyed the drama—no, anyway, I’m a huge fan.”

“……”

“Actually, when I was little, I dreamed of becoming a river bandit. The Grand Line!¹ The great Yangtze!”

“……”

All right. My fault.

Why did I feel guilty when I was technically trying to help him?

Zhuge Feng rescued me from the crisis with a single sentence.

“There is a master of that caliber.”

“What? There is? You’re not lying? Seriously?”

“……”

Leaving Mu Song looking dejected once again, Zhuge Feng continued slowly.

“Yangtze One Saber Hwang Chung.”

“Yangtze One Saber. Yangtze One Saber…”

The sobriquet sounded vaguely familiar, but the name itself was new to me. Surely he wasn’t the Hwang Chung from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.²

He does seem to be the Uncle Hwang Mu Song mentioned when we first arrived in Hubei.

As I tilted my head at the unfamiliar name, Jeok Cheongang cut in sharply.

“Yangtze One Saber? That bastard who’s the Seafaring King’s sworn brother?”

“Yes. I imagine you know him as well, Senior.”

“I crossed paths with him once during the Great Faction War. He was calm and clever for a river bandit. I remember thinking the young fellow had a decent personality and considerable martial talent… It seems he finally crossed the wall.”

“If he had not helped the Seafaring King, the Yangtze River Channel League as it exists today would not be here.”

“You call that something worth saying? Without someone to keep him in check, how could the Seafaring King, that foul-tempered bastard, have ruled the Yangtze?”

Wow. That was practically spitting in his face.

Mu Song’s lips twitched as though he had something to say after hearing his Master insulted right in front of him, but Jeok Cheongang silenced him with a single fierce glare.

I seized the opening and quickly spoke up.

“Then are you saying Yangtze One Saber killed the Dongting Fisherman?”

Zhuge Feng considered the question for a moment, then nodded.

“Most likely.”

“Most likely?”

“Nothing has been proven. We have no certainty, only suspicions and circumstantial evidence. But many witnesses can testify to where the Dongting Fisherman went before he disappeared.”

“And where was that?”

Zhuge Feng looked at Mu Song and continued slowly.

“Donghu Stronghold. He headed for the headquarters of Donghu Stronghold, where Yangtze One Saber, Great Hero Hwang Chung, serves as Stronghold Lord. And he was never seen again.”

“That’s impossible!”

Those words had not come from me.

Mu Song shot to his feet, the veins standing out on his neck as he shouted.

“Uncle Hwang would never do such a thing!”

He, too, was one of the disciples who had inherited the Seafaring King’s ultimate technique.

The qi pressure radiating from Mu Song, who had reached the upper limits of the Peak realm, stirred the dust settled around us.

Zhuge Feng covered his mouth with his sleeve, gave a small cough, and answered calmly.

“Why do you say that?”

“You know as well as I do, Family Head! During the Great Faction War, Uncle Hwang persuaded my Master to side with the orthodox faction. He is also one of the moderates within our League! There is no possibility that a man like him would destroy the Sea Serpent Society in this manner and kill the Dongting Fisherman!”

“‘No possibility’? What an empty and meaningless thing to say. Circumstances change, and so do people. A wise man such as myself deduces the outcome from the circumstances.”

Zhuge Feng remained so composed that Mu Song’s anger seemed almost pointless.

“I will say this plainly: I am not convinced that the Yangtze River Channel League is behind this. But every circumstance points to your League.”

“Why? Because once the Sea Serpent Society, which opposed our League for so many years, disappeared, our brothers moved in to fill the void? Or because the Dongting Fisherman happened to disappear on his way to visit Uncle Hwang?”

“Both.”

“Did you even ask our brothers what happened?”

“Not yet.”

“Then why—!”

Just as Mu Song was about to shout, Zhuge Feng’s quiet voice pierced the ears of everyone in the room, including me.

“If no one from the Yangtze River Channel League has shown themselves, whom could I possibly ask?”

“……!”

“……!”

“A full month has passed. Did you think our family, Wudang, and the authorities had done nothing all this time and were simply casting baseless suspicion upon the Yangtze River Channel League?”

Silence settled over the room.

Everyone stared wordlessly at Zhuge Feng and Mu Song.

Unlike Mu Song, who had frozen like a statue, Zhuge Feng continued smoothly.

“Two days after the incident at Red Cliffs, Dangyang Stronghold and Honghu Stronghold—which had swiftly seized the Sea Serpent Society’s territory—vanished without a trace. Every last person.”

“……Then what about Donghu Stronghold?”

“Someone once told me that Donghu Stronghold was a natural fortress built on the water. I tried to see for myself, and they were right. Now that even the Sea Serpent Society’s core boatmen have all been drowned, we could not enter Donghu Stronghold by crossing the waters of Tianling Falls.”

The mysterious grandeur of nature sometimes refused all human intrusion.

The Tianling Falls Zhuge Feng mentioned were clearly the passage to Donghu Stronghold, one that only a tiny number of boatmen could navigate.

Someone counted among the finest boatmen in the Yangtze River Channel League or the Sea Serpent Society—or someone who had spent his entire life on the Yangtze in Hubei…

The Dongting Fisherman must have been one of them.

“The Dongting Fisherman and the late Sea Serpent Society Head were close friends. Enraged by his friend’s death, he publicly condemned your League, launched a boat, and crossed Tianling Falls—the very same Tianling Falls where we have sunk dozens of ships over the past month.”

Zhuge Feng abruptly rose and began walking at a leisurely pace.

He clicked his tongue softly at the fallen bookshelf, then rummaged through the towering piles of books as he continued.

“But did you know this? Although we failed to cross Tianling Falls, the Yangtze, after accepting dozens of ships as tribute, tossed us a gift as if out of generosity.”

Scrape. Crash!

A precariously balanced stack of books came tumbling down, sending dust billowing into the air.

Covered in pale dust, Zhuge Feng adjusted his cap and straightened.

Something dark and battered lay in his hand.

“That’s…”

“Your guess is correct, Successor Beggar.”

Zhuge Feng nodded at Gung Gibang’s murmur.

“The Black Bamboo Fishing Rod. The Dongting Fisherman’s signature weapon, the only one of its kind in all Murim.”

“……!”

“Well then, Ship-Fire Boy Mu Song.”

Zhuge Feng slowly raised the broken Black Bamboo Fishing Rod.

He pointed it at the wide-eyed Mu Song as though about to run him through.

“You will take the lead and guide us beyond Tianling Falls to Donghu Stronghold. I intend to see with my own two eyes exactly what happened there.”