Chapter 456

“Dongting Lake, out of nowhere? What do you mean?”

Zhuge Gyun’s confusion lasted only a moment. Though he occasionally behaved like an eccentric, his mind was as sharp as one would expect from a scion of the Zhuge Clan.

His epithet, the Divine Marvel Dragon, had not been bestowed on him merely because of his deep understanding of mechanisms and formations.

“Are you trying to find the Dongting Fisherman?”

Several shichen¹ earlier, when I first arrived at the Zhuge Clan, Zhuge Gyun had heard the full circumstances of the case from me. He also knew that the Dongting Fisherman had been identified as one of the culprits.

“Yeah.”

“Given how suddenly you’re acting… I assume your information came from the Beggars’ Sect and the Lower District Sect.”

“More precisely, the Lower District Sect. They’ve been watching the Dongting Fisherman for three years.”

“Not watching. Monitoring. Our family had also noticed that something had happened between the Dongting Fisherman and the Lower District Sect Leader.”

“Either way, it works in our favor. Read this.”

Zhuge Gyun took the bamboo slip from me, and his eyes moved rapidly across it.

He read every last word in mere moments, then rubbed his temple and muttered, “The Dongting Fisherman is still in Hubei Province?”

“That’s what the Lower District Sect’s intelligence says.”

“This is insufficient. According to what is written on this bamboo slip, the Lower District Sect has not determined the Dongting Fisherman’s exact whereabouts. They merely failed to detect him leaving Hubei Province.”

“I’ve considered that too. But what if the information is accurate?”

“If it is…”

The Dongting Fisherman, whom everyone believed to be dead, was alive and well somewhere in Hubei Province?

That could mean only one thing.

“If the Dongting Fisherman really is a Dark Heaven underling and one of the culprits who massacred Donghu Stronghold, then it would certainly be possible. No—in fact, it would make it even more certain that he is a culprit.”

Zhuge Gyun nodded gravely.

“Indeed. If he were not affiliated with Dark Heaven, he would already have informed the world of the tragedy at Donghu Stronghold and requested assistance from our family and Wudang.”

After the Sea Serpent Society, three strongholds of the Yangtze River Channel League—including Donghu Stronghold—had been annihilated.

If we had not arrived when we did—and if it had not been for Ship-Fire Boy Mu Song and the swift ship under his command—the tragedy at Donghu Stronghold beyond Tianling Falls would have remained unknown for much longer.

“But one question remains. This is not something that can be concealed forever. It might take time, but the truth was bound to come out. If Dark Heaven had truly intended to cover it up, they would have handled everything more quietly, without drawing public attention. They could have laid the blame for the Sea Serpent Society’s destruction on the Yangtze River Channel League.”

He was right. The Zhuge Clan and Wudang had been unable to cross Tianling Falls only because they lacked vessels sturdy enough for the journey and skilled boatmen to pilot them.

Even if they could not rely on Mu Song and the river bandits of Water Dragon Stronghold, they would eventually have found suitable men elsewhere.

Zhuge Gyun stared pensively at the bamboo slip before raising his head to look at me.

“Then why go this far?”

I took a drink from the cup on the table to wet my throat.

“Under ordinary circumstances, they would’ve done it to buy time.”

“Exactly. Dark Heaven would have needed time to escape. But the fact that the Dongting Fisherman is still in Hubei Province is strange.”

“Yeah. It’s strange. So strange that the pieces don’t fit.”

When I answered without hesitation, Zhuge Gyun’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“You have another theory.”

“I said under ordinary circumstances.”

“Then…”

“Dark Heaven isn’t made up of ordinary people. You experienced them in Henan, so you should know that.”

“……!”

“They throw a pebble first to draw everyone’s attention, then get a boulder ready. This won’t end with the Sea Serpent Society and three strongholds. They’re definitely after something bigger.”

Dark Heaven’s power and audacity defied common sense.

Two Supreme Peak masters of the previous generation, both counted among the Ten Kings, had already died. Thousands more had fallen in sprays of blood.

And the two blood-soaked disasters Dark Heaven had caused shared one clear objective.

“Divine artifacts…”

At Zhuge Gyun’s low murmur, I quietly nodded.

In Henan, Dark Heaven had stolen Shaolin Temple’s divine artifact, the Green Jade Buddha Staff. When they attacked Sichuan, they had attempted to seize the Myriad-Poison Ring.

Fortunately, their operation in Sichuan had failed, but what they were after was obvious.

Divine artifacts—or the destruction of the prestigious great sects known as the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families.

It was hard to believe that people like that had gone to such lengths merely to wipe out a sect like the Sea Serpent Society, whose members were just trying to make a living, and three strongholds.

It might have made sense if they had targeted the headquarters of the Yangtze River Channel League, where the Seafaring King was based.

Zhuge Gyun’s expression stiffened.

“Then the culprits, including the Dongting Fisherman, have ample reason to remain in Hubei Province.”

“It’s still only speculation, but for now, we have to assume they drew everyone’s attention elsewhere in preparation for something bigger. The delay was just a smokescreen meant to convince us they’d already left Hubei Province.”

“The darkest place is directly beneath the lamp… But could they not have already vanished through that bizarre Moving Formation?”

“You might as well tell me Cheongpung walked past a dumpling shop.”

“Oh. Now that you put it that way, I understand completely.”

I stared hard into empty space.

“What happened to the Sea Serpent Society and Donghu Stronghold was the pebble. The boulder comes next.”

The pond called Hubei Province was vast. Even if a pebble fell into it, the ripples would not travel far before subsiding.

If a boulder fell, however, it would send water surging into the air—and the fish in the pond would not escape unharmed.

We had to stop the boulder from falling before the pond was dyed with blood.

“I will inform the local authorities and Wudang in preparation for the worst. I will also strengthen our defenses inside and out.”

“Watch the government troops carefully. You’ve heard what happened in Sichuan, haven’t you?”

The forces of Dark Heaven, led by the Western Heaven Demon Lord, had disguised themselves as government troops and swept through the Tang Clan, Emei, and Qingcheng.

It was already common knowledge. There was no way Zhuge Gyun, the Lesser Family Head of the Zhuge Clan, could be unaware of it.

“I am already taking precautions, though I doubt they will use the same method twice.”

“Inform Donghu Stronghold too. The swift ship from Water Dragon Stronghold should be waiting at the Zaoyang ferry, so entrust the letter to our family retainers.”

A messenger pigeon would have been faster and more convenient, but it could be intercepted along the way. Besides, the Zhuge Clan had no messenger pigeons trained to fly to and from Donghu Stronghold.

The other two strongholds that had been able to communicate with Donghu Stronghold had already been wiped out, too.

The gruesome sea of corpses and blood flashed before my eyes, and my fist tightened before I realized it.

Shanxi. Henan. Sichuan. Then the monster wave in Sichuan Province in the modern world. Traveling between two worlds, I had already witnessed far too many deaths.

Scrape.

As I rose from my seat, Zhuge Gyun asked, “Are you leaving right now?”

“The sooner, the better. I don’t know where the Dongting Fisherman is, but we need to start at Dongting Lake and look for traces.”

“That will not be easy. The Dongting Fisherman spent his entire life around Dongting Lake, so he likely knows several secret refuges unknown to the rest of the world.”

I clenched my fist.

“Hey. Are you Dark Heaven?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked if you’re Dark Heaven.”

“Ah, no.”

“Then stop saying ominous things and cheer me on, you bastard.”

Zhuge Gyun glanced at my fist and answered at once.

“Yes, sir. For now, I will mobilize all of our family’s intelligence resources and cooperate with the Beggars’ Sect and the Lower District Sect to search every region outside Dongting Lake.”

“Do a good job. I’m leaving.”

I was about to turn away when I realized I had forgotten one important question.

“Wait. Does the Zhuge Clan have any divine artifacts?”

“Of course. There is the Four-Wheeled Cart our ancestor Zhuge Wuhou rode during his lifetime, the Twenty-Four Chapters on the Art of War, in which he compiled his insights, and the White Feather Fan.”

“……That’s quite a collection.”

I had no idea how impressive a wheelchair, a book, and a fan could be as divine artifacts, but it was worth checking just in case.

I turned to Zhuge Gyun.

“Let me see them for a minute. There’s something I need to confirm.”

“We had them, but we don’t anymore.”

“……?”

“The Twenty-Four Chapters on the Art of War were lost during a war, and the White Feather Fan crumbled with age. As for the Four-Wheeled Cart, I heard that one of our former Family Heads rode it and broke it around two hundred years ago. I cannot remember his name.”

“…….”

What the fuck.

Was this some grand strategy to destroy their own treasures before Dark Heaven could steal them?

Judging by the artifacts themselves, they seemed to have been significant only because Zhuge Wuhou had left them behind. Still, the whole thing was absurd.

“The Four-Wheeled Cart is still here in its broken state. Would you like me to show it to you?”

“No. Forget it.”

I answered firmly and left the pavilion. Outside, beneath the night sky that had once again grown dark, three people stood waiting with all their preparations complete.

Or was it four?

“That bastard’s still breathing, right?”

“Yes, Benefactor.”

Just as I had in Sichuan, Cheongpung carried a wooden pack frame on his back. The Third Fiend lay atop it, every acupoint sealed and his body bound in chains.

“He is very weak, but he should be fine if I use my internal energy from time to time to bolster his vitality.”

“That’s enough.”

There was a simple reason for bringing the Third Fiend along. I wanted to find out whether there were any codes or markings that only members of Dark Heaven could recognize.

That was the sole value of keeping him alive.

“Let’s go to Dongting Lake.”

We left the Zhuge Clan and raced like comets along the straight highway.

The wind rushing over my body seemed tinged with the smell of blood.

Whoooosh!

We raced without conserving our strength.

Hyuk Mujin had less internal energy and an inferior movement technique compared to me, Cheongpung, and Gung Gibang, so he kept falling behind. But it was not much of a problem.

“Get on my back.”

Drenched in sweat from head to toe, Hyuk Mujin shook his head with effort.

“Huff, huff. No, sir. I can keep running!”

“I know you’re struggling. Get on.”

“Huff, I am truly fine. I am the Vice Squad Leader of the Jin Dragon Squad of the great Jin Family of Taiyuan! I cannot cause trouble for my family or Captain—”

“Did a guy like you run around trying to pick up silver nyang²?”

“…….”

“Get on if you don’t want to die. Otherwise, I’m leaving you behind.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hyuk Mujin was a fairly large man, but I possessed an extraordinary Strength stat. Carrying one person while running was no great burden.

Why do I suddenly feel like Red Hare?³

I don’t know how long we ran with that strange feeling.

The sky had been only slightly dim when we left the Zhuge Clan, but now it was completely dark. Even the travelers on the highway had disappeared.

After more than two shichen had passed, Gung Gibang, who had been exerting his movement technique at full strength, opened his mouth.

His words, reeking of filth and sickly sweetness, pierced my ears.

“Wuhan.”

Wuhan was the capital of Hubei Province, a city a stone’s throw from Dongting Lake.

But perhaps because of the recent string of ominous incidents, the streets that should have bustled all night were silent. Not even a rat showed its face.

Of course. No ordinary person wants to wander around at night and die like a dog for no reason.

I was thinking that as we crossed Wuhan’s maze of streets when it happened.

“Dongting Lake! A ship has sunk in Dongting Lake!”

“……!”

A scream rang out in the distance, shattering the deep, dark silence.