Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Chapter 6: Espionage Division (5)
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“Gasp!”
Oho’s eyes snapped open.
How long had he lost consciousness?
The sun was still high in the sky.
He hadn’t been lying there long. His body heat was mostly intact, and his joints hadn’t stiffened.
‘Their level was on another plane entirely. How is that even possible?’
The Espionage Division handled every kind of information.
The Bang family had been the foremost scholarly clan in name and reality during the Jianwen Emperor’s reign.
Bang Jung-heon’s father had been the emperor’s teacher, called the Upright Scholar, and had functioned as a key advisor proposing major policies—a true power player among power players.
‘There wasn’t a scrap of information on him.’
Oho couldn’t wrap his head around it.
As he checked his physical condition, he reviewed the Espionage Division’s past records.
The Peng Clan had its main house in Wu’an, Hebei.
The progenitor of the Central Plains Pengs was said to have settled in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. The Xuzhou Pengs were known for sturdy constitutions and martial prowess, with many serving as military officers even before the Tang Dynasty.
The connection between Hebei and the Pengs dated back to the Northern Song era.
He had learned that the migration of Peng military officers conscripted to Handan to counter the Liao invasion marked the origins of the Hebei Peng Clan. Those bearing the Peng surname were spread from Xuzhou to the old Jinreung area—that is, around Nanjing. The notably famous settlement was simply the Peng clan village in Handan, Wu’an County, Hebei.
Whatever its origins, in the current martial world, mentioning the Peng Clan evoked the Peng Blade Sect at the southern tip of Hebei. What deserved attention was the significance of its location in Handan.
Handan, Wu’an was a stone’s throw from Shunten Prefecture.
Shunten Prefecture was another name for Beiping. And Beiping was the city where Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan—who was now the emperor—had been enfeoffed as a regional prince.
Hebei’s vast expanse rivaled that of a minor border state, so even the southernmost Handan was quite distant in practice. But viewed across the Central Plains, it was undoubtedly close.
The regional prince was the highest authority locally, so the prestigious Peng Clan could not avoid interactions with him.
The Peng Clan had naturally forged close ties with Shunten Prefecture. It had no choice but to do so.
The problem was that Prince Yan Zhu Di had not been content with his princely position and rebelled against the Jianwen Emperor.
At that moment, the Peng Clan was forced to a crossroads of choosing sides.
The legitimate emperor in Nanjing, the Jianwen Emperor, was simply too far away. In contrast, Prince Yan Zhu Di had swelled his forces like a flood and was a once-in-a-generation hero who had honed his real combat experience fighting the northern Yuan remnants. Moreover, he was right overhead.
Would they pledge loyalty to the Jianwen Emperor and be swept away by the cascading waterfall of retribution?
Or follow the imperial scion who had built strength on the frontier and now revealed the qualities of a Son of Heaven?
The answer had been decided from the start.
Right after news of Prince Yan’s uprising reached the capital, the Peng Clan was immediately ordered to mobilize by the Jianwen Emperor. Given the Hebei Peng Clan’s position right under the capital—Shunten Prefecture—they were to obey the imperial command and block Prince Yan’s advance.
But the Peng Clan could not carry out the Jianwen Emperor’s decree as is. The Espionage Division was certain of Prince Yan’s victory. Beyond abstract assessments that the momentum of the realm was gathering toward him, it was a definitive prediction based on information collected in real time from close observation of Shunten Prefecture’s growth.
They had already leaked reverse intelligence that the Peng Clan’s main warriors had been neutralized by Shunten forces, thereby dodging treason charges. And when Prince Yan’s army clashed head-on with the Jianwen Emperor’s imperial forces, they intervened on neither side.
That alone lightened Prince Yan’s burden.
The Peng Clan possessed martial strength equivalent to a major army. Moreover, its territory lay at a strategic chokepoint on the path of Prince Yan’s southward advance and the Jianwen Emperor’s northward push.
Whichever side they joined, they could have swayed the overall tide.
By defying the Jianwen Emperor’s order and remaining silent, the Peng Clan clearly rode the wave of the new era.
Had they fought alongside him, Prince Yan would have treated them as major contributors to victory—but he did not desire that either.
Prince Yan had been shrewd even before becoming emperor.
The Peng Clan was an old, established house. If such a powerful clan gained influence as a meritorious supporter of the new emperor, it would ultimately burden the imperial house greatly.
A local magnate capable of wielding a massive private army, backed by the emperor’s own authority—what chaos might ensue? Even if the Peng Clan brimmed with loyalty, the imperial side would find it hard to leave them be. In the end, it would lead to wholesale purges. With blood winds likely to blow, any resistance from the Pengs would make the situation irredeemably disastrous.
The Peng Clan’s silence was the fruit of accumulated wisdom.
Prince Yan fully understood their intentions.
As a result, even after deposing the Jianwen Emperor and ascending the throne, he maintained amicable relations with the Peng Clan. He kept a generous distance while fully acknowledging their status as a major player in the jianghu.
That the outcome was satisfactory did not mean the process had been smooth.
No matter the jianghu sect, even one boasting supreme experts who dominated the realm, they were like candles in the wind before state power.
Had Prince Yan shown tyrannical tendencies beyond the Espionage Division’s analysis, he would have directly demanded the Peng Clan’s participation. Defiance would have brought fitting consequences, needless to say.
The Jianwen side was no different.
Had the Peng Clan alone obeyed the imperial edict, the outcomes of those lost battles would have shifted dramatically. It was not impossible that they could have suppressed Prince Yan and preserved the throne.
Had the Jianwen Emperor won without the Pengs, it would have been an even greater problem. By not raising troops, the Pengs had effectively aided Prince Yan. Using that as a pretext to brand them traitors could have doomed the clan’s very existence.
So, had the Peng Clan simply barricaded itself during the chaos, trembling as it watched the realm’s fate unfold?
Of course not.
During the escalation of the civil war between Prince Yan and the Jianwen Emperor.
That was precisely when the Espionage Division’s capabilities shone brightest.
From the moment they decided not to heed the mobilization order, the Peng Clan had to turn the prediction of Prince Yan’s victory into reality.
Espionage intelligence flowed into Prince Yan’s Shunten Prefecture through intermediary organizations to conceal its source. They thoroughly excluded direct martial units like the Heaven-Destroying Squad from all operations.
Warriors classified as combat strike teams like the Heaven-Destroying Squad were barred even from stepping beyond the clan walls. It was during this period that the Espionage Division grew into the preeminent covert intelligence force of the northern jianghu north of the Yellow River. They even infiltrated as far as Nanjing to spy on the Jianwen Emperor’s northern campaign strategies. At the same time, they established an information relay system that could traverse the Central Plains in the shortest time possible.
The Peng Clan aided Prince Yan covertly, and his side chose not to recognize it as merit—better to say they deliberately turned a blind eye. Amid the storm of the realm’s master changing, they achieved survival without blows. Though the Espionage Division’s feats were not publicized, the Peng Clan’s leadership at Wa Emperor Pavilion regarded them as the greatest achievement across all subordinate organizations in history.
That was why Bang Jung-heon’s name had circulated in the Espionage Division’s intelligence network.
During that turbulent era, the Espionage Division had invested heavily in scrutinizing the Jianwen Emperor’s inner circle. Yet they had obtained no information that Bang Jung-heon, son of the Imperial Tutor Upright Scholar, had trained in martial arts.
“That’s why I ended up like this.”
The final conclusion slipped out as a murmur.
Whether the Espionage Division’s investigation had been inadequate or Bang Jung-heon’s concealment masterful, he had completely fooled the eyes of a top jianghu intelligence organization—despite them staking the clan’s survival on information gathering.
It had to be chalked up to the exceptional talents of the Upright Scholar’s family. Generally, literary genius and martial talent were seen as separate, but there were cases where outstanding literary prowess fully converted into martial comprehension. The pinnacle of that was nothing short of miraculous achievement.
Such was the realm Bang Jung-heon had attained.
Oho possessed talent that not only surpassed his peers but easily overtook those a decade his senior. Among the younger generation, he had few equals.
It was his first outright defeat.
Oho checked that his qi circulation was flawless and inspected the state of his black-and-white swords.
Everything was intact.
His inner energy was considerably depleted, but a few hours of meditation would restore him to full strength.
The sense of defeat surged once more.
The hardest part of losing a fight was emerging unscathed.
Knocked out cold without internal or external injuries.
Among those in the main house who could do that to Oho, only a handful of elders came to mind.
Oho kicked off the ground.
He could lose in raw force.
He had even lost to Cheonwi, who was far weaker than him.
But losing in strategy too was a definite shock.
That was what terrified him.
Losing his squad members.
Heading back toward Ryu Hang, each step of his lightness skill felt leaden.
He crossed the waterfall’s roar behind him and entered the ravine path.
The sight he desperately hadn’t wanted to see unfolded before his eyes.
Fallen figures came into view.
They were Espionage Division squad members.
Squad members who had pushed themselves to search for Cheonwi lay rolling on the ground, bleeding. Five were visible.
“Any survivors, respond!”
Oho shouted.
Enemies who might still be lurking could hear.
Better if they did. Come out. I’ll cut you down.
That’s what he thought.
“Squad... leader... you’re here? Cough!”
Behind that rock over there.
He shot off the ground like an arrow and vaulted over the boulder.
One squad member, slumped against it as if lying down, was spewing blood foam.
“What happened.”
“As you see. We got hit. Cough, cough.”
Oho examined the details while listening to the response.
The chest wound was a sword gash. Bang Jung-heon had used a sword too. But something was off. Bang Jung-heon’s swordplay had been elegant and sharp. This was different. Utterly violent and vicious. It had cruelly targeted the heart meridians. Fatal.
“The enemy? Did you confirm?”
“One in number. Wore a gray robe, sword brimming with malign qi. Southern Sword style, scabbard engraving matching the regional style of the Yangtze lower reaches. Cough! Cough! The squad members couldn’t even last one exchange. Given the swordsmanship’s profundity and outward features, I assess him as a Non-Sword Alliance executioner.”
This man’s name was Eon.
Even as his face drained white in the throes of death, he adhered to Espionage Division formal reporting protocol.
Oho’s heart chilled.
A capable operative, now staring death in the face.
The report’s contents were far from ordinary. Oho suppressed rage and despair, pressing on with questions.
“All killed with one strike?”
“Yes.”
“Without suffering?”
“Indeed.”
“You... he left you alive on purpose, right?”
“You mean me surviving? As expected of the squad leader, you saw through it. Cough! Puke! You’re right. No way that was an accident.”
This kind of hemoptysis indicated lung damage.
Tore the heart meridians and burst the lungs. Yet left the thread of life intact.
The work of a supreme expert. Martial prowess even more refined than Bang Jung-heon’s.
“You did well.”
Even if not intentionally spared, survival depended on the man himself.
He had regulated his breathing and maintained qi circulation to relay what he’d seen, somehow.
He had long passed his limits. Having fulfilled his duty, the intelligence operative rapidly lost his vital energy.