Chapter 852

The ways a Murim martial artist could get information were extremely limited.

The easiest places to start were inns and pleasure houses.

They were full of people from every walk of life. Listen for a while and you could hear all kinds of stories.

The downside was that none of the important information was there. Most of it was unverified rumor.

So martial artists whose heads weren’t just for decoration, and who’d spent some time earning their keep with a sword, went to information merchants instead.

These professionals bought and sold information in every region. Their prices were steep, but their information was reliable.

The problem was that there were clear limits to what they could gather.

They could provide high-quality information about the region where they were based, but that was as far as it went.

For people with money, a respectable sect behind them, and a few useful connections, that left two natural choices.

The Lower District Sect.

And the Beggars’ Sect.

They had taken root throughout the land. The weeds of this world had gathered one by one and grown a vast forest of their own.

The Beggars’ Sect was one of the Nine Sects and One Gang, so its importance went without saying. But the Lower District Sect couldn’t be dismissed, either.

Waiters and courtesans, coachmen and pickpockets. Back-alley gamblers and merchants running shops of every size.

Like the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect, they were everywhere.

Their vast networks let them cast a net across the land and haul in a wealth of information. Even the Sect Leaders of the most prestigious Murim sects couldn’t treat them carelessly.

Of course, there were exceptions to every rule.

“Gather everyone.”

“Pardon?”

“Gather everyone. You have half a day. At the Sichuan Tang Clan.”

At least for today, Jeok Cheongang was a Grand Mage.

In precisely half a day, he’d summoned the Lower District Sect and the Beggars’ Sect, along with the Qingcheng and Emei Sects, and seated them all in one place.

“Um, may I ask why you’ve called us here so suddenly…?”

“Plant yourself quietly in a corner. You need to hear this, too.”

Of course, Tang Sadok, the Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, was there as well.

But what surprised everyone except Jeok Cheongang was that the Sect Leaders of Qingcheng and Emei had come in person.

“I, Bicheonja of the Qingcheng Sect, a junior of the Murim, pay my respects to you, Senior.”

Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect or not, in front of Jeok Cheongang, he was a junior of the Murim.

Bicheonja looked as though he’d run hard enough to sweat through his soles. Jeok Cheongang nodded at his cupped-fist greeting. Bicheonja—or Cheongpung the Ancient Sword, as he was better known in Murim.

“So, is your master still doing well these days?”

“……He passed away twenty years ago.”

After a brief silence, Jeok Cheongang spoke without batting an eye.

“I was asking whether you’ve been tending his grave. No matter how busy you are, visit often and pull the weeds.”

“……Yes. I’ll remember that.”

Anyone could see Jeok Cheongang had forgotten, but Cheongpung the Ancient Sword showed the patience of a Daoist and took his seat.

No, it was probably more accurate to say he let it slide because this was the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

No one in Murim could match Jeok Cheongang’s seniority, and his age and martial arts were overwhelming.

But Extinction Divine Nun, who’d taken the vacant post of Emei Sect Leader after the Sichuan Blood Tragedy, was someone even Jeok Cheongang couldn’t treat carelessly, given her age.

“You’re here, old hag.”

“……”

“……”

I take it back. I must’ve been mistaken.

He’s treating her however the fuck he wants. Seriously.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. Everyone else’s mouths fell open.

At least there was one saving grace: Extinction Divine Nun, famous for rampaging like a madwoman on the battlefield, was usually an exceptionally gentle person.

“Benefactor Jeok, you’re the same whenever I see you. In more ways than one.”

“Old hag, you’ve gotten older since I last saw you. It feels like forty years, not four months. I mean that literally.”

“Amitabha¹. At your age, you should’ve grown up long ago. When are you going to start acting your age?”

“I’ve grown about a hundred years younger, so I plan to live like this for another hundred. Though by then, Venerable Nun, you’ll no longer be of this world.”

“……Amitabha¹. That was too harsh.”

“If you’re that offended, you should Return to Youth yourself.”

“Amitabhaaaaa¹!”

I sensed we were in deep shit and hurriedly stepped between them. It was the best move I could’ve made.

If they’d traded one more line, Extinction Divine Nun’s wooden prayer block would’ve come down on Jeok Cheongang’s skull.

Of course, Jeok Cheongang wouldn’t have just let her hit him. The important thing was that Extinction Divine Nun’s anger quickly subsided when I appeared.

“Oh, Benefactor Jin.”

“Have you been well, Venerable Nun? No—I mean, Sect Leader.”

“You needn’t be so formal. Call me whatever feels comfortable. In any case, you’ve become even more striking since I last saw you. And such a full head of hair.”

Extinction Divine Nun added that last part while looking at Jeok Cheongang, then patted my shoulder with her deeply wrinkled hand.

Perhaps because she thought so highly of the way I’d rushed around trying to minimize the damage during the Sichuan Blood Tragedy, both she and Cheongpung the Ancient Sword looked at me so fondly their eyes might as well have been dripping honey.

“Before we begin, I must say you’ve been through a great deal. I hear you distinguished yourself against Dark Heaven’s fiends in Nanman and even brought the Nanman Beast Palace into the alliance?”

“Fellow Daoist Jin’s chivalrous spirit is truly remarkable. I, too, can’t help but admire you.”

Words could travel a thousand li² without legs.

The story had already begun making the rounds among people with decent information networks. And that certainly included everyone gathered here.

Two Sect Leaders from the Nine Sects and One Gang, not to mention leaders of the land’s foremost information organizations.

“Congratulations, though belated, Great Hero Jin Taekyung. Our Shaanxi Branch Leader was delighted when she heard the news.”

“I only wish that brat Gung Gibang—or rather, the Successor Beggar—could measure up to you even halfway. Anyway, what you did was incredible.”

The Lower District Sect’s Sichuan Branch Leader politely offered his congratulations, mentioning Wolhwa, who was in Shaanxi. An Elder of the Beggars’ Sect chuckled and jabbed me in the side, but at a single remark from Jeok Cheongang, his laughter stopped dead.

“Where’s your Sect Leader? Why’s some mere Elder hanging around?”

“……Sir Jeok, how could we bring the Sect Leader here from Henan in half a day?”

“Henan? That bastard’s in Henan right now?”

“Yes.”

Getting from Henan to Sichuan in half a day would’ve been impossible without a jet.

Jeok Cheongang seemed to accept that the Elder had a point and looked for another target.

“Hey. Lower District Sect.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where’s your Sect Leader?”

“I’d dearly love to bring him here, but even I don’t know where he is. Our sect is organized into cells, so his location is a closely guarded secret…”

“So a nobody who doesn’t even know where his own Sect Leader is showed up?”

For a Lower District Sect with countless members, a Branch Leader was on the same level as a Beggars’ Sect Elder. The Sichuan Branch Leader swallowed hard under Jeok Cheongang’s pressure.

“Of course not. Whatever information you want, we’ll find it by any means necessary and bring it to you as quickly as we can!”

“Whatever you want. By any means necessary. As quickly as you can?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That sounds good. I’ll remember it clearly, so you remember this one thing, too. Understand?”

“I’m not sure what you mean…”

The Lower District Sect Branch Leader’s eyes wavered. Then Jeok Cheongang’s voice sounded, low and heavy.

“If even a single word of what’s said here today gets out…”

Whoooosh.

He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to.

The terrifying wave of qi that rolled out from Jeok Cheongang was a wordless warning against the slightest chance of a leak.

And there wasn’t a single person here too slow to understand what he meant.

They understood, too, that something important was about to be discussed.

“Around noon today, the City Lord of Sichuan Province died.”

With Jeok Cheongang’s first words, the curtain rose. Every eye turned toward the Divine Physician and Namho as they stepped forward.

“The late City Lord died of illness. His physical and mental strength had declined sharply over the past few months, and that led to his death.”

“The renowned physicians in the area have already examined the body at the City Lord’s Residence and reached the same conclusion. The Divine Physician here has as well.”

I added quietly, “A death by illness, beyond all suspicion. That’s how it will be reported. Officially, at least.”

I could feel the air around us shift.

Officially.

Anyone could hear the implication. That one word told them there was a secret the outside world didn’t know.

At my quiet glance, the Divine Physician nodded, took a small wooden case from his robe, and carefully opened it.

“This is known as Blood Soul Gu.”

The people who saw it stared wide-eyed. It was smaller than any insect I’d ever seen, and red as blood.

By the time everyone had left, evening had fallen.

Jeok Cheongang and I were the only ones left. We talked as we looked out at the pitch-black darkness that had settled all around us.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Who can say? All we can do now is trust them and wait.”

“If we wait, we’ll be too late. We need to move.”

“One wrong turn, and it’ll take even longer to find our way back. Besides, haven’t we already learned something from their information?”

I nodded without a word.

Just as Jeok Cheongang said, we’d already received information from the Lower District Sect and the Beggars’ Sect.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard.

No one living in this land could fail to know that name.

One of the Great Nation’s most powerful and secretive forces, acting only on the orders of a single person.

They’d shown themselves—and well before we arrived in Sichuan.

In Anhui Province, not Zhejiang Province, where the Great Nation’s capital and the Emperor’s residence were located.

And they’d been disguised, unlike usual.

Why had the Embroidered Uniform Guard—an agency directly under the Emperor—appeared in Anhui Province in disguise, unlike usual?

We had no way to learn more. The informants who’d caught their scent and followed them had been found dead. But I couldn’t help imagining the worst.

If they hadn’t stopped in Anhui and had kept heading northwest…

That would take them to Shanxi Province. And he was in Shanxi Province.

Prince Shangshan, Zhu Bao.

The only direct member of the imperial family the current Son of Heaven had spared after winning the horrific power struggle over the throne.

The only vassal king in the land and, with the Son of Heaven having no heir, the current successor to the Great Nation’s throne.

But the Emperor, who’d been quiet until now, has set the Embroidered Uniform Guard in motion. And so secretly, too.

If their destination was Shanxi Province… I could only foresee the worst.

The shadow of Dark Heaven had reached the Great Nation’s imperial family.

The Captain of the Guards said the City Lord of Sichuan Province had started showing signs of madness right after the Son of Heaven took his favorite concubine. And the Blood Soul Gu found in his body was so rare that I’d never even seen one in the Poisonblood Grounds in Nanman.

There was enough evidence. I silently stared up at the night sky, lit only by hazy moonlight.

A question that would reach no one.

What the hell are you after?

And then—

A faint sound came from somewhere in the sky and reached my ears.

No. It reached both our ears.

Flutter.

“Old Master.”

“This is…”

It wasn’t the wind. It was the beating of wings as something flew through it toward us.

A messenger pigeon!

The moment I realized it, Jeok Cheongang and I looked toward the distant sky. Our eyes widened.

Whooosh!

The shadows of more than ten birds raced toward us, cutting through the wind.