Chapter 944

The Great Namgung Family.

The moment the bandit made out the five characters embroidered on the fluttering flag, only one thought came to mind.

Wait. What’s the Namgung Family doing here?

Of course, it wasn’t impossible.

This mountain range lay at the southeastern edge of Anhui Province, and the Namgung Family was the undisputed ruler of Anhui.

Still, in more than ten years at the mountain stronghold, the bandit had never once seen the Namgung Family’s flag nearby.

Why would they come all the way out to a backwater like this…?

Even if a tiger stays in its cave, every beast knows who their king is, who owns this mountain.

The Namgung Family was that tiger.

Rather than hiding in a dark cave, it held Hefei, the heart of Anhui, and commanded dozens of sects.

One roar was enough to rally countless martial artists beneath its flag. That was the power and influence of one of the Five Great Families.

There’s no reason for them to come into these rugged mountains.

The range stretched from west to the distant eastern edge for hundreds of li¹. Why would the mighty Namgung Family leave the well-maintained main road and come here with only a few dozen people?

The bandit couldn’t make sense of it. But his fear, so fierce his heart felt ready to burst, was greater than his confusion.

Goddamn it. What the hell are they hoping to scrounge up out here?

Cursing inwardly, he steadied himself and carefully backed away.

Fortunately, he was several dozen jang² away, on a hill thick with brush. Retreating without drawing attention wouldn’t be too difficult.

Rustle, rustle.

For a little over fifteen minutes, he edged backward, avoiding the leaves and branches on the ground.

Once he was sure he was clear of the danger of being spotted, he finally let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Hah… hah.”

His back was damp with cold sweat, and both legs trembled as if he’d suffered a stroke.

Only fifteen minutes or so had passed, but to a bandit who’d just escaped death, it felt longer than half a day.

“I-I’m alive. I’m alive.”

He gripped a nearby tree and sighed with relief. Then he suddenly felt sorry for himself.

You pathetic fool. Just look at yourself.

He didn’t regret becoming a bandit.

What could he do about it? He’d somehow been born, somehow lived, and somehow ended up here.

Still, if he was going to make his living this way, he should at least have joined a sizable mountain stronghold.

If he belonged to one of the Seventy-Two Strongholds under the Green Forest Alliance, merely seeing the Namgung Family’s flag wouldn’t make him fear for his life.

If you’re going to be a servant, you might as well serve in a lord’s house.

Had anything his drunkard father said ever hit so close to home?

The bandit wiped his eyes with his ragged sleeve and started back down the rugged mountain path.

Lord’s house or doghouse, either way, it was a house for a servant. He needed to get back to the stronghold and warn his brothers, who should be on their way here by now after receiving the signal.

If they ran into the Namgung Family when they weren’t even members of the Green Forest Alliance, they were as good as dead.

Thank Heaven they’re still some distance away. If I head back now, we can all escape in time.

Perhaps Heaven was moved by this noble display of camaraderie, because before another fifteen minutes had passed, the bandit encountered the fifty or so brothers led by their imposing chief.

More precisely, he found their chief sprawled out, while his brothers were, for some reason, lying with their heads pressed to the ground.

“I never meant to block your way, sir. So please, just…”

An unfamiliar back. An ominous feeling he couldn’t explain.

The deputy chief was earnestly explaining something to a bald man and a woman standing before everyone when he spotted the bandit watching blankly from some forty yards away. His eyes widened.

“Huh?”

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

The bandit sensed the danger and spun around. That was when—

Poke.

A finger prodded his cheek. An uninvited guest had appeared right in front of him and was studying him.

“Who are you?”

“……!”

The bandit shuddered as if struck by lightning.

First, because he hadn’t sensed a trace of the man’s presence.

And second, because the stranger was much younger than he’d expected.

A master…!

A chill ran down his spine.

With his life hanging in the balance, the bandit barely managed to force out an answer.

“I-I’m Jang Il. My name is Jang Il.”

The world was definitely unfair.

The man was absurdly young, stronger than he’d imagined, and even looked like a courtesan’s pretty-boy brother. He asked again.

“Good. Jang Il. What do you do?”

“Trees. Trees.”

“I asked what you do. What the fuck do trees have to do with it? Are you a forest spirit? Jangquines, King of the Spirits?³”

“N-No. I meant to say I’m a woodcutter, but…”

“Right, Jang Il. A woodcutter.”

The young man gave a small nod and glanced at the axe hanging from the bandit’s waist.

“You’ve got an axe, too. Because you’re a woodcutter, I suppose?”

“Y-Yes!”

“Then where’s your carrier frame?”

“…What?”

“Your carrier frame. You planning to haul all that firewood by hand after chopping it?”

“Well, I…”

The bandit hesitated, then hurriedly added, “Down below! I left it down below.”

“You left it down below. Sure, that happens.”

The young man muttered to himself and shrugged.

“Then let’s ask.”

“……?”

The bandit didn’t have to ask who he meant. Before he could open his mouth, the young man called toward the thick brush.

“This woodcutter says he left his carrier frame down below. Did you happen to see it on your way up?”

At that moment—

Whoosh.

A gust swept through the bushes, and a half-gray-haired man appeared as if from nowhere. He shook his head.

“I saw nothing. Aside from one bandit fleeing in a panic, that is.”

“Oh, dear.”

The young man glanced at the bandit, who looked ready to faint, and clicked his tongue. Then he respectfully clasped his hands toward the middle-aged man.

“Thank you for letting me know, Great Hero Namgung.”

The Family Head of the Namgung Family, the Heavenly Thunder Sword, Namgung Ryong, clasped his hands in return.

“It’s good to see you again, Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung.”

No matter how vast the world, people whose paths had crossed were bound to meet again.

Of course, this meeting wasn’t entirely a matter of chance.

“We received word from the Anhui Provincial Office. We happened to be nearby, so we were able to get here quickly.”

I nodded at Namgung Ryong’s brief explanation.

“So the messenger eagle reached the provincial office.”

“About two hours ago. They were in quite a state over there, saying the Son of Heaven had issued the order himself.”

Well, Namgung Ryong wasn’t Namgung Gil-dong⁴. He couldn’t just pop up in the east one moment and the west the next.

The imperial messenger eagle had entered Anhui two hours ahead of us and gone straight to the provincial office. After receiving the news, Namgung Ryong had immediately led his family members here. That was how it had happened.

“But how did you know where we were? Especially in a mountain range this damn huge.”

“No matter how vast it is, there are only so many paths. The terrain is rugged, but this is the quickest way through.”

An answer befitting the head of the Namgung Family, who knew Anhui Province like the palm of his hand.

Even so, a dark shadow hung over Namgung Ryong’s face as he looked at me.

“Is it all… true?”

There was no need to ask what he meant.

The air grew heavy. Then Jeok Cheongang spoke up.

“What, you don’t believe him?”

“Of course I do. I only wanted to make sure, because it’s a truth I can hardly bring myself to believe.”

Everyone felt the same way.

Bloodshed had already swept through Henan, Sichuan, and Yunnan, and even reached the Imperial Capital.

And before the stench of blood had faded, an even more terrible, far greater storm cloud was bearing down on us.

As the head of a family, Namgung Ryong had all the more reason to think of the many people who followed him.

“The Double Ninth Festival⁵. The Double Ninth Festival…”

He muttered in a low voice, then looked at me with troubled eyes.

“My condolences. I never imagined they’d cross the northern grasslands and set their sights on Shanxi Province.”

After a brief silence, I spoke.

“They’ll be able to hold them off. They’re strong enough.”

Even as I said it, I knew the truth.

This was a lie meant to hide what I really thought—something closer to an attempt to comfort myself.

The Jin Family of Taiyuan can’t manage it alone.

Even Shaolin Temple, called the Mount Tai and Northern Dipper of the Murim⁶, and the Sichuan Tang Clan, with its terrifying poisons, had suffered heavy losses.

Fortunately, Qingcheng, Emei, and the Nanman Beast Palace had kept their losses to a minimum and preserved their forces. But there was no denying that they’d faced a tremendous crisis.

And this time, it was Dark Heaven’s main force.

This wasn’t an attack to steal a divine artifact or destroy a single prestigious sect. It was a true invasion, meant to establish a foothold for an advance into the Central Plains.

At least ten thousand. Maybe more.

Even ten thousand—a staggering force—was only the minimum I was hoping for.

If everything so far had been a Mutated Gate, this was a Monster Wave.

Just as the Demonic Cult had swept through the Murim half a century ago with the Hundred Thousand Demonic Disciples.

Damn it.

My chest felt tight. I couldn’t stop thinking that if I’d found the missive left by the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord even a little sooner—or if I’d logged out before then—we might have gained some time.

Of course, it was already too late.

I’d lost three full days unconscious, and the Quest that appeared the moment I checked the missive in the iron chest had locked the door connecting me to reality.

It had taken away my last refuge, my place of rest, and forced me to move forward.

As if this were the only path I’d been given.

Then… I’ll have to run. With everything I’ve got.

I quietly clenched my fist and turned to Namgung Ryong, who seemed at a loss for words.

Holding on to a sliver of hope, I asked, “Where is the Azure Sky Sword King?”

Namgung Cheon, the Azure Sky Sword King.

A Supreme Peak master counted among the top three of the Ten Kings, and the Grand Family Head of the Namgung Family.

If he joined us and traveled to Shanxi, we could hold off even more enemies than I’d imagined. I already had two fighters at my side who could each take on ten thousand men: the Fire King and the Bow Saint.

But that brief hope vanished when Namgung Ryong answered with a quiet sigh.

“My father has been away from the family estate for a couple of months now.”

“Ah.”

“I’m afraid we don’t even know where he is. All we know is that he took on a mission at the request of Great Hero Mae Jonghak, the Alliance Leader.”

I hadn’t expected things to work out so easily. Still, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

“I see.”

“Still, as Family Head of the Namgung Family, I’ll help you and the Jin Family of Taiyuan. I’ve had fine horses, enough food, and a family member to guide you along the fastest route made ready, so you can set off at once…”

Just as Namgung Ryong was about to continue—

Grrk. Krrk.

With a muffled, strangled growl, a figure rose from the shadows.