Chapter 982

I’m a selfish bastard.

As long as the people around me and I can be happy, I don’t much care what happens elsewhere.

But every now and then, I notice that somewhere along the way, I’ve changed.

Like when I put on a ridiculous little show because I couldn’t stop worrying about someone who was beating himself up and crying.

“Sometimes, when I look at you, Captain, I think…”

It had been a while since I’d fled the pavilion, practically running away from Jin Mukyung.

We were walking in silence when Hyuk Mujin spoke up. I cut him off.

“Don’t think. No, just don’t talk.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to hear it.”

“It’s not because you’re embarrassed, is it?”

He was right.

That was why I’d been trying so hard to ignore the way Hyuk Mujin kept staring at me.

“It’s just…”

“Just?”

“I somehow felt concerned, so I stuck my nose in where it didn’t belong. That’s all.”

The words I’d said to Jin Mukyung through the door were also the conclusion I’d reached after a long time thinking about it.

I didn’t know if it was the right answer. If it could comfort him even a little right now, that was enough.

In the end, time and experience solved most problems.

An answer wasn’t something someone else could hand you. You had to find it yourself.

For him, this is only the first step.

He was an unparalleled genius born of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, and in this world, at least, he was my older brother. But Jin Mukyung was only in his mid-twenties.

He’d spent his life honing his martial arts. He could count his experiences in real combat on one hand, and he wasn’t used to the loss that came with them.

If a few embarrassing words could bring him even a little comfort, I’d say them dozens or hundreds of times.

Jin Mukyung’s heart and his feet were pointed toward the righteous path, without a hair’s breadth of deviation.

The more he grew, the more livable the world would become.

Walk. Don’t sit down. Keep walking, and walking, and walking.

At the end of that road was an answer.

There was light.

I believed that.

With all my heart.

“But, Captain. Can I tell you something?”

“What?”

“This is the wrong way. If we keep going, we’ll hit a dead end.”

I was silent for a moment, then looked at Hyuk Mujin in disbelief.

“Wait… Why are you only telling me now, you bastard?”

“Well, you suddenly got this intense look in your eyes and started making a cool face.”

“…”

I wanted to hit him.

I really did.

Too much had happened over the past three days for me to tell Jin Mukyung everything.

A great battle, with tens of thousands of allies and enemies tangled together.

Three days had already passed since the people of Shanxi won their great victory, but the battle had left a staggering mess behind.

When uninvited guests show up and leave a place filthy and wrecked, the cleanup falls to the homeowner.

From the day of our victory, Jin Wikyung had more work than ten people could handle. Before he’d even recovered from the battle, he had to begin dealing with its aftermath.

Of course, the people around him weren’t going to stand by and let him do that.

“I’m going to give the Lesser Family Head three choices. Hear them all before you pick one.”

The first to step in was the Medicine King Hall Master.

At a glance, he looked like a stubborn old man. But with a menacing gleam in his eyes that didn’t match his calm tone, he glanced back and forth between the long needle in his hand and Jin Wikyung, then said:

“You can keep ignoring my orders and working until you ruin your health and die. Or you can get treated now, take it easy, and live a long life. Or, if you’d rather not drag it out, you can die by my hand. Which will it be?”

Only then did Jin Wikyung begin to get some proper rest. Everyone who’d witnessed the exchange fiercely debated what they’d seen behind his back.

Had his face gone as pale as a corpse’s from exhaustion, or from the Medicine King Hall Master’s long needle?

Hyuk Mujin put it plainly.

“The needle. No question. Didn’t you see that old man’s eyes? If he hadn’t studied medicine, he’d have a position in Dark Heaven by now.”

What mattered was that Jin Wikyung had relented. Others had helped make that possible, too.

“That quack who calls himself the Medicine King Hall Master is absolutely right. You focus on recovering. The others will take care of what’s left.”

We’d won the battle on the Double Ninth Festival¹, but we still couldn’t be sure every threat was gone.

Even so, the presence of a giant like the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang, was enough to wash away the slightest worry.

So was the Bow Saint, who had finally appeared before people again after decades.

“I’ll go to Hebei.”

The Bow Saint left as soon as the battle ended, with only those few words.

Peng Cheolyeong—the Thunderbolt Saber King’s son, the current Family Head of the Hebei Peng Family, and the Iron Blood Saber—had no choice but to take the family members fit to travel and return to Hebei with her.

It was only natural.

The North Heaven Demon Lord—no, Murong Baek—hadn’t betrayed us alone.

That meant the entire Murong Family had joined Dark Heaven. Two days later, a messenger eagle arrived at the Jin Family of Taiyuan with news confirming part of what we’d suspected.

“As we expected, there was trouble in Hebei.”

Several people had forced Jin Wikyung to rest, but getting the paperwork out of his hands was nearly impossible.

The instant the messenger eagle arrived at the Jin Family of Taiyuan, Jin Wikyung received the news. He immediately called me in and told me what had happened in Hebei.

“It seems the Murong Family targeted both Shanxi and Hebei from the start. They used their offer to support us as a pretext to cross Hebei, leaving some of their forces behind to ambush the Peng Family.”

The bloodshed on the Double Ninth Festival¹ hadn’t been confined to Shanxi Province.

The Hebei Peng Family had been caught completely off guard by the Murong Family’s betrayal. With the Thunderbolt Saber King and many of their strongest masters away, they’d suffered heavy losses and had barely managed to defend their family home, fighting to the death.

“But even that would only have bought them time. If everything had been delayed by two days, something irreversible would have happened.”

But just as the family stood on the brink of ruin, Peng Cheolyeong, its Family Head, finally arrived.

Peng Cheolyeong announced himself with a roar. Behind him came some five hundred family members who’d returned from Shanxi at his side, along with hundreds of martial artists from the Jinzhou Yan Family, who were effectively vassals of the Hebei Peng Family.

If that had been all, the battle would have been a hard one for the Hebei Peng Family.

The surprise attack had already devastated the Hebei Peng Family, and the thousand troops Peng Cheolyeong had assembled in haste were exhausted.

But at their head stood a giant whom even Peng Cheolyeong, Family Head of the Hebei Peng Family, would not dare step ahead of.

“Once Senior Bow Saint made up her mind, the outcome was as good as decided.”

It was another victory for us—and a terrible defeat for the Murong Family.

The kind of defeat they could never recover from.

And so the Murong Family was annihilated.

Several dozen enemies, including its Lesser Family Head, Murong Yeonghwi, barely escaped the battlefield and vanished. But who knew?

“Unless they have a Moving Formation hidden somewhere, they’ll be caught soon enough. We have eyes everywhere.”

Jin Wikyung wasn’t boasting.

Even if the dark clouds cast by Dark Heaven eventually covered everyone’s heads, for now, the orthodox Murim factions still ruled the land.

The Murong Family had made an enemy of the world.

They couldn’t flee into the vast Central Plains without breaking through the Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Hebei Peng Family. To the east, the Great Nation’s warships guarded the open sea.

And the Great Steppe—their roots and little more than the final destination for outlaws—was already practically under the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s control.

“Send your tribespeople after them. Hunt them to the ends of the earth if you have to.”

It wasn’t a request.

As Shanxi’s Alliance Leader, the victor of the great battle, and the master who had brought a defeated hunting dog to heel, Jin Wikyung gave his first order.

“You don’t want to leave yourself trouble later, either. Do you, Temur?”

“I… will obey.”

The young chieftain who had once dreamed of uniting the vast steppe as its Great Khan submitted helplessly.

Of course he did.

He was a commander defeated in battle, and a coward who had betrayed his brothers and tribespeople for fear of death.

For his defeat, he’d been given a pretext: Jamukha and the North Heaven Demon Lord had drawn him into their schemes. He’d also been given the false absolution of having prevented greater losses by submitting to the Jin Family of Taiyuan. His betrayal was another matter.

If the whole truth came out, Temur would die.

Not at our hands or Dark Heaven’s. At the hands of his own tribespeople.

That was the leash Jin Wikyung held tight. The hunting dog couldn’t even think of betraying him.

From the moment Temur accepted Jin Wikyung’s offer and joined the attack on the Murong Family, every other choice had effectively disappeared.

It’s disgusting, but now that we’re holding his leash, we need him on our side.

How many lives had Temur’s petty cowardice and instinct for survival cost?

“Go. Just looking at you pisses me off.”

Temur lowered his head at my contemptuous words and left. I called over the man who could deal with the remaining problem once and for all.

“You called?”

His brilliant golden armor drew every eye wherever he went.

His expression and manner of speaking were as stiff as the helmet tucked under his arm.

I deliberately frowned at Jeong Hogun, Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

“What’s with you? Why do you look so fine?”

“Because I fought well.”

“Or did you just show up at the end and take all the credit?”

“Is that what you say to a Benefactor who traveled thousands of li² to help you?”

“Hey, remember who helped you first. What would you have done at the Imperial Palace without me?”

“What would I have done? The Bow Saint would have helped.”

“…Huh. Now that I think about it, you’re right.”

“…I didn’t expect you to admit that.”

Silence settled between us for a moment. Then, as if on cue, we both chuckled.

I’d been teasing him for no reason, but I was grateful to the guy.

He was grateful to me, and I felt the same way about him.

“I called you because I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

“Yeah. It might be a little difficult. No, very difficult.”

“Someone might die.”

I nodded quietly. Jeong Hogun answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Then I refuse.”

“Ah.”

His tone was as sharp as a blade.

I swallowed a groan at the unexpected refusal. Then he continued in a low voice.

“An order.”

“What?”

“I can’t grant a personal favor. An order is different.”

I finally understood what he meant and let out a short laugh.

“Why go this far?”

“Because that is the Great Nation’s military code.”

What an interesting guy.

And for a moment, I thought: perhaps the Great Nation could exist because it had people like Jeong Hogun.

So I gave him what he wanted.

“Jeong Hogun, Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

As though our conversation had never happened, Jeong Hogun respectfully bowed his head.

“Give your order.”

“Lead the Embroidered Uniform Guard under your command to Liaoning.”

Liaoning Province.

The Murong Family’s stronghold, and the last threat left to deal with.

At my order, Jeong Hogun struck his armor.

“I obey the Marquis of Shangshan’s command.”