Chapter 846

Dududududu!

Some twenty horsemen galloped without slowing. The faces beneath their low-pulled helmets were tense, and white foam had dried around the mouths of their panting horses. Not one rider eased the reins.

Not until they reached their destination, enclosed by stone walls like a fortress.

The first thing to greet them was a wary shout.

“Stop!”

It happened in an instant. At the shout from atop the stone wall, a dozen or so arrows flashed through the air and pierced the plumes on the horsemen’s helmets.

Shaaak! Thunk, thunk, thunk!

The accuracy was almost supernatural, the force tremendous. The horsemen stared at the arrows quivering where they’d struck the ground.

A mistake?

No. A warning.

If they ignored the warning and came any closer, the next arrows would pierce their throats instead of their helmet plumes.

“Gasp…!”

Sighs erupted from all around.

The more than twenty horsemen stopped where they stood as if on cue. They couldn’t hide their fear, but the man at their center was different.

As expected. The reputation is well deserved.

He looked up at the wall, admiration and tension mingling in his eyes. A group of archers stood there with bows drawn, backlit by the early morning sun.

Above their green martial robes fluttered a banner bearing four characters written in a single flowing stroke.

Sichuan Tang Clan.

The Nine Sects and One Gang. The Five Great Families. Fifteen pillars supporting Murim as it stood today.

And among them, none had a reputation for being more closed-off or cunning.

But…

He’s here. Right here.

The man steeled himself and stepped forward alone. Rather than a sturdy shield against the arrows that might fly at any moment, he held high a silver token drawn from his robes.

“Don’t attack! I’ve come from Seongju Prefecture!”

“Who did you say you were?”

“Huang. I’m the City Lord’s Captain of the Guards.”

“The City Lord? Ah, that fellow who’s been wasting away?”

“…I don’t know who you are, but you’d do well to watch your tongue.”

“If you don’t know who I am, you’re the one who should watch his tongue. You look like you’ve spent a fair bit of time in Murim. How have you not figured out something that simple?”

The Captain of the Guards swallowed before he realized he was doing it.

The man had plainly been picking a fight, yet somehow the captain didn’t feel offended. No—the man’s bearing made it seem only natural that he should speak that way.

Who is he?

For a moment, the Captain of the Guards forgot his mission and studied the man in front of him.

He wasn’t quite a giant, but he had a sturdy, well-proportioned build and a face that looked around forty. So far, he could have been any martial artist in Murim.

But his gaze was so piercing it bordered on menacing. Even the Captain of the Guards, who’d seen all sorts of people since his days as a wandering martial artist, flinched.

And he’s bald.

The Captain of the Guards saw the middle-aged man’s scalp gleaming in the sunlight and sensed danger.

In his experience, most martial artists were missing something important. Why would anyone who was carefree and happy throw himself into the brutal, turbulent martial world?

The bald ones he remembered were especially unpredictable. They were missing something inside, just like the others—but, unfairly, they were missing their hair as well.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

The captain jumped and answered on reflex. He’d slipped from polite speech into outright deference so naturally that he hadn’t noticed it himself.

“You know me?”

“N-no.”

“Then why are you staring at my head like that? It’s making me uncomfortable.”

It was hard to say which was ruder: calling someone “you” and “that bastard” the moment you met, or staring at his head. But for the Captain of the Guards, who’d already sensed danger, there was only one option left.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Some stray mutt barges in out of nowhere, raising hell… At least you know when to back down.”

The captain felt wronged. He didn’t know who this middle-aged man was. He’d ridden hard since early morning to meet someone else.

How did things end up like this? Was the information wrong from the start?

Tang Sadok, Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, had approved the meeting. Yet the person the captain had come to see was nowhere in sight. Instead, a menacing bald man stood across from him, staring as if he meant to eat him alive.

That last part, however, was all in the captain’s head.

The middle-aged man—Jeok Cheongang—snorted. His gaze settled on the captain as he sank into thought.

Uninvited guests, barging in during broad daylight. Ordinarily, he’d have kicked them out on their asses. Officials were another matter, especially the Captain of the Guards, one of the City Lord’s closest men.

I can guess why they’re here.

Jeok Cheongang had eyes and ears. However little interest he took in the world around him, rumors still reached him. He’d heard that the City Lord had been confined to his sickbed for a couple of months.

“You came to see the Divine Physician?”

The captain, already on edge, stared at him. Two things startled him: the Divine Physician, whom even the imperial court had failed to find, really was staying with the Sichuan Tang Clan—and Jeok Cheongang had mentioned the renowned physician as casually as if he were Jang Sam from next door.

“I wasn’t sure whether to believe it. Is he really here?”

“What an ill-mannered bastard. Answer what I asked.”

“Y-yes.”

“Because the City Lord is ill?”

“Yes. I don’t know if you’ve already heard, but… We’re here to treat the City Lord’s illness.”

“Surely you have plenty of physicians.”

“That…”

The Captain of the Guards hesitated for a moment, but not for long.

He didn’t know who the man before him was, but he was clearly someone of considerable standing in Murim. He’d inserted himself into a meeting arranged by the Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan as though it were nothing. However badly the clan had been struck, challenging the authority of Tang Sadok, the Myriad-Poison Asura, took more than nerve. It took madness.

And then Jeok Cheongang spoke one sentence, enough to make the Captain of the Guards the most honest man in the world.

“You don’t have to force yourself to talk. Once you’ve been beaten senseless, you’ll start remembering things you’d forgotten.”

“…!”

“I must be seeing things. Your mouth still looks shut.”

Deeply grateful that his subordinates weren’t here, the Captain of the Guards hurriedly opened his mouth.

“The City Lord’s condition is that serious.”

“Five.”

“Pardon?”

“That answer was worth five hits. I’ll take one off for every proper answer you give from now on.”

Is he insane?

Jeok Cheongang hadn’t so much as blinked while making the threat. The captain’s knees went weak. He’d been a master of some renown among wandering martial artists, yet he felt he wouldn’t stand a chance against this man, who looked about his age.

“Go on, then. Spit it out properly.”

Jeok Cheongang spread the fingers of one hand. The captain forced out his answer.

“It’s quite different from what people say. Even the renowned physicians nearby have given up.”

“So you need the Divine Physician?”

“Yes. After everything we’ve tried, there should have been at least some improvement. Instead, his condition keeps getting worse.”

“Then it must be a race against time.”

“It is. But…”

The captain licked his dry lips before continuing.

“The City Lord’s illness is a little—no, very strange.”

“Strange…”

Jeok Cheongang murmured and folded one finger.

“Four. Go on.”

“Sometimes he’s conscious and can move about, but at other times he thrashes around like someone who’s gone mad.”

“Rather than like a madman, hasn’t he simply gone mad?”

“I thought so at first. The unmistakable symptoms started right after he returned from the Imperial Capital.”

“The Imperial Capital?”

“Yes. He was summoned to court over the Blood Tragedy that happened four months ago.”

The Sichuan Blood Tragedy had caused an enormous upheaval, even to an outsider with no ties to Murim. The authorities and Murim might have kept out of each other’s affairs, but an event of that scale was bound to have repercussions.

More than ten thousand martial artists had fought in Sichuan, territory of the Great Nation. Countless people died or were wounded, and smoke from the cremation of the dead lingered for more than three days.

“Word spread quickly. It happened not far from Chengdu, and there were too many witnesses for it not to. But the biggest problem was…”

Jeok Cheongang, who’d been listening quietly, tossed out a single word.

“Dark Heaven.”

“Yes. The court learned that members of Dark Heaven had disguised themselves as government soldiers.”

“The higher-ups must have been furious.”

“I spent years in Murim myself, but authority and saving face matter everywhere, don’t they?”

Whether a man made his living by the sword or by the pen, he was still human. And the dignity and authority of the unified dynasty—founded after an age of warring powers—were not to be challenged.

Dark Heaven had done just that. Disguised as government soldiers, they’d walked the streets in broad daylight and gone on to carry out a horrific massacre.

Which means…

Jeok Cheongang sorted through his tangled thoughts and spoke.

“This is more interesting than I expected. Fine. Three. Keep going.”

“After returning from the Imperial Capital, the City Lord took to his bed. Strictly speaking, it began on his way back to Sichuan.”

“The higher-ups must have given him a thorough dressing-down.”

“The court’s reprimand was part of it, but he also fell ill because he lost what he cherished most in the Imperial Capital.”

“What he cherished most?”

“Yes.”

The captain gave that brief answer, then fixed his gaze on Jeok Cheongang’s three raised fingers.

“…You crafty bastard.”

“The City Lord doesn’t favor me for nothing.”

“Fine. Two.”

“Be a little more generous. One.”

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life with one eye?”

“…”

“Fine. One.”

The Captain of the Guards stared at the last finger still raised and swallowed hard before speaking.

“His favored concubine.”

“His favored concubine?”

“Yes. Her name was Aehyang. He couldn’t live without her.”

“If he took her all the way to the Imperial Capital in the middle of that mess, I get the idea. So what, did he lose her in the street?”

“No. To be precise, a high-ranking person in the Imperial Capital took her from him.”

“Important enough to take the City Lord’s concubine. Who?”

“Well…”

Jeok Cheongang folded his last finger at the captain’s hesitation. Then he heard the answer and his eyes widened.

“The Son of Heaven.¹”