The Last Room at the Inn

At dusk, in the study of Bamboo Forest Manor, Ouyang Qiangang sat across from Heo Il-bi and Heo Cho-ryeong, freshly returned from the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.

He shared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with them everything the Heavenly Fragrance Fairy had entrusted to him: the legendary master thief known as the Ghost Hand Divine Thief, the great Righteous-Demon War of forty years past, and Dayangsan Island in Poyang Lake — down to the ominous rumor that the island might be a secret branch stronghold of the Demon Cult's remnants.

When the account was finished, Qiangang spoke with the air of a man who had made up his mind. "I must go to Dayangsan Island myself."

Heo Il-bi's expression hardened. "Absolutely not!"

Worry filled his face as he pressed on. "How can a body like yours make the crossing to such a treacherous island? And it is only a forty-year-old rumor. There is no certainty any clue remains there, and no telling what dangers might be lying in wait."

But Qiangang's resolve did not waver. "Uncle, there is a reason I must go regardless. The cold energy of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians I suffer from resonates with the aura of the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade."

Heo Il-bi and Heo Cho-ryeong stared at him, eyes wide. The cold of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, resonating with that of the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade? Neither of them had ever heard of such a thing.

Qiangang met Heo Il-bi's gaze squarely and went on. "That is why only I can find the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade quickly. If someone else made the search, there is no telling how long it would take."

The argument left Heo Il-bi momentarily at a loss for words. It was a claim no sane man would readily believe — but the man making it was Ouyang Qiangang, whose abilities seemed to have no visible limit. There was no reason not to believe him. And yet neither could he simply consent to sending the boy to an island where unknown dangers might be waiting.

Heo Il-bi let out a long sigh and turned to his daughter. As if she had been waiting for exactly that look, Cho-ryeong spoke in a calm, assured tone. "Father, I will go with Gang and bring him back safely."

Both Heo Il-bi's and Qiangang's gazes swung to her at once.

"Ryeong-ah, not you too!"

Cho-ryeong looked at Qiangang with clear, steady eyes and pressed on in a firm voice. "As Father said, Gang cannot make that journey alone in his condition. I will stay at his side, protect him, and help him find the treasure."

Her words did not spring from mere pity for a sickly young man. Since the incident in the alley, the man she saw was no longer a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠frail creature in need of protection; he had become something unknowable, a figure wrapped in secrets and abilities that defied common sense. Strong curiosity burned in her, along with a longing to see with her own eyes the road he was about to walk. "Protecting him" was merely the pretext that let her travel at his side.

Heo Il-bi read his daughter's hidden heart and his nephew's unbending will in the same breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought. He could not send Qiangang alone in any case — and if so, there was no guard he could trust more than his own daughter, heir of Bamboo Forest Manor.

When he opened his eyes, he said, "So be it. Ryeong-ah, you will accompany Gang."

Then he added in a stern voice, "Bear this in mind. Your duty is to help Gang find the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Jade and to secure his safety no matter what befalls. If so much as a single hair on his head comes to harm, your father will not forgive you."

Cho-ryeong answered with unshaking eyes. "Yes, Father. I will not forget."

Watching the father and daughter, Qiangang bowed his head. "Thank you both for your kindness. I will return with good results — that I swear."

The next morning, Ouyang Qiangang rode out of Bamboo Forest Manor with Heo Cho-ryeong and Hwang Nodae.

Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor, Chang'an, Shaanxi Province. In the manor's inner hall, Cai Wencheng, head of the intelligence organization Spider Blood, stood before Dong Hyeon-do — seated in the high-backed master's chair — and bowed his head.

"What is it?"

Cai Wencheng bowed at the waist and began. "An interesting report has come up from Nanchang, where we have Ouyang Qiangang under watch."

"Interesting, you say?"

"Yes. Two Nanchang clans, Bamboo Forest Manor and Hwa Clan Manor, quarreled over a marriage between their children and ended up settling the matter with a martial contest."

"Clans I have heard of. And the outcome?"

"It ended in a complete victory for Bamboo Forest Manor. But the course of the contest turned up several things we find difficult to explain."

"If you cannot make sense of it, it can hardly be ordinary. What is it?"

"They say Heo Il-bi, master of Bamboo Forest Manor, grew so much stronger within the span of a few days that he defeated Jin Mun, master of the Half-Dragon Saber Gate, in barely fifty seconds. His daughter Heo Cho-ryeong's martial arts rose just as sharply; she bested Hwa Do-reung, young master of Hwa Clan Manor and Jin Mun's own disciple."

"Hmm... strange, certainly, but hardly what I would call entertaining."

"Then there is the matter of the medicinal herbs stockpiled in Hwa Clan Manor's warehouse, every last one of which spoiled overnight, fit for nothing. Counting the compensation paid to Bamboo Forest Manor, the estimated loss comes to fifteen thousand nyang."

Dong Hyeon-do's eyes narrowed, leaking a light sharp enough to cut. "Now that is somewhat amusing. Hwa Clan Manor will be suffering for some time yet."

He turned back to Cai Wencheng. "Qiangang. I do not like such things happening around that boy. Have you looked into the circumstances?"

"It appears Heo Il-bi was fortunate enough to attain a great enlightenment. As for the herbs... we have not yet identified who was behind it."

Dong Hyeon-do set down his teacup and chuckled low. "Heh heh heh heh."

At that laugh, a chill ran down Cai Wencheng's spine.

"Something you could not trace, hm... In any case, such events happening one after another are difficult to call coincidence."

Cai Wencheng bowed his head. "Your subordinate is too dull to see what you see, Manor Lord. Pray instruct me."

Dong Hyeon-do regarded him with cold eyes. "This is the work of a very clever mind. Those two incidents alone would have raised Bamboo Forest Manor's standing to the foremost in Nanchang. An exquisitely wrought, daringly laid scheme. I do not yet know the intent behind it, though."

"Ah..."

"It was not Heo Il-bi. A man with that kind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of capability would not have spent all these years struggling just to keep his head above water in Nanchang."

Dong Hyeon-do sank into thought. A power behind Bamboo Forest Manor... Was there anyone in Jiangxi Province capable of laying out such a board for Heo Il-bi? Ouyang Qiangang? That sickly boy has a fine head on his shoulders, but he can barely look after his own body. Not worth a moment's consideration.

His gaze sank deep as a swamp. Then is some outside power I know nothing of sheltering Bamboo Forest Manor? And if so — why?

His eyes turned bleaker than they had ever been. Qiangang... these things happen wherever that boy is. Too unsettling to brush aside.

"Blood Master Cai."

"Yes, Manor Lord."

"Send Spider Blood's elite, the 'Black Spiders,' to Nanchang."

"Yes, Manor Lord!"

"Watch not only Heo Il-bi and his daughter, but the boy Ouyang Qiangang staying at Bamboo Forest Manor — every breath he draws, every cup of tea he drinks — and report it all to me. The outside power aiding Heo Il-bi is surely hiding somewhere near him."

Dong Hyeon-do neither feared nor suspected Ouyang Qiangang himself. But happenings around the boy that he himself could not see — those he would not tolerate.

"Yes, Manor Lord! I will carry out your order at once!"

Even after Cai Wencheng withdrew, Dong Hyeon-do gazed out the window for a long while.

Having left Bamboo Forest Manor early in the morning, Qiangang's party made for Poyang Lake.

For the whole of the ride, Heo Cho-ryeong kept stealing glances at Ouyang Qiangang as he rode shoulder to shoulder with her. This was the sickly scholar who once could not have lasted an hour in the saddle before collapsing; yet now, though his complexion remained pale, he sat straight and drove his horse on without a trace of fatigue. Into her mind came the memory of that alley confrontation with Hwa Do-reung — Qiangang's eyes and bearing as he crushed the man before him. Everything the man she had reunited with had shown her over the past month had been one astonishment after another.

Qiangang felt her gaze as well, but saw no reason to let on. His head was already full — of the plans ahead, his thoughts on Dayangsan Island, and the terrain data Akasha was analyzing for him in real time.

By the time they reached a small fishing village on the shore of Poyang Lake the next day, darkness had settled thick over the water. The cool, damp wind off the lake carried a faint fishy tang. Hungry after the long ride, the party made for a two-story building whose sign read Supreme Unity Inn — the village's only inn.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.

As he urged his horse toward the inn, Qiangang tilted his head. On the streets of what should have been a quiet fishing village, martial artists with blades at their belts were unusually conspicuous. They huddled in twos and threes, whispering with stiff faces, and an invisible tension stretched taut through the air.

I was just thinking the same thing. Did something happen here? Qiangang found it strange, but with so little experience of the martial world, he could not judge precisely how abnormal the situation was. Cho-ryeong, raised as the daughter of a great house, seemed no more at home in such an atmosphere; she appeared to take it for ordinary bustle.

After a simple meal, the party called over the waiter and asked him to prepare rooms for the night. And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was then that they ran into an obstacle none of them had expected.

"Aigoo, I am so terribly sorry."

The innkeeper, his face a web of wrinkles, fidgeted helplessly as he went on. "You see how small the inn is, yet guests have been pouring in strangely of late... only one room remains. Just the one."

"O-one room?"

Cho-ryeong's face flamed red in an instant.

My head is already crowded enough. Could you keep it down for once? Clicking his tongue inwardly, Qiangang spoke up. "Sister Cho-ryeong, Hwang Nodae and I can spend the night in the stable. So you take the room and..."

Before he could finish, Cho-ryeong cut him off, her voice firm. "How can the two of you sleep outside!" She looked from one man to the other, her earlier flusteredness gone without a trace, her expression brisk and capable. "Gang's body has not fully recovered. What if he catches a chill in the cold night air and falls ill?"

Then, without a moment's hesitation, she dropped the bombshell. "We will all sleep in the one room!"

Hwang Nodae, scandalized, scurried for the door. "I will sleep in the barn. You two take the room." It had all happened before Qiangang could get a single word of protest in.

With matters thus decided, refusing her offer became an awkward thing to do. Left without an alternative, he followed the waiter's guidance up to the second-floor guest room, Cho-ryeong at his side.

But once he stepped inside, Qiangang's expression was calm and settled, quite unlike it had been downstairs. He turned to Cho-ryeong and said in a gentle voice, "Sister Cho-ryeong, I have only to circulate my qi and regulate my breathing through the night, so I have no need of a bed. Sleep comfortably on the bedstead."

There was not a trace of ulterior motive or awkwardness in his words. Cho-ryeong, who had been struggling to hide how the awkward atmosphere had flustered her, found herself momentarily speechless. Comparing her own flustered state with the easy composure with which he had untangled the whole impossible situation, she felt her cheeks grow warm before she knew it.