Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Clan's Secret Hideout (3)
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Rustle.
The middle-aged man, who had been flipping through documents for a long while, finally nodded.
"I've checked everything."
"Then what will you do about the Great Dragon Iron House?"
"Accept them. Their skills are decent enough, and with a dowry like that, they've shown their sincerity. There's no reason not to take them."
"Understood."
"You've worked hard."
As the scholar bowed his head and left, the middle-aged man tidied up the documents and spoke.
"Sit down."
"......Yes."
Lady Hwang Inhwa, who had been frozen stiff, sat down across from him.
The middle-aged man, Hwang Gyu, finally leaned back in his chair and looked at her.
"You burned them yourself?"
Lady Hwang Inhwa bit her lip.
The destruction of the Black Tiger Gang had happened just yesterday. She'd rushed home straight after and reported it immediately, yet her father had only summoned her now.
And his first words were a rebuke.
"......Yes."
Bracing herself for a scolding, Lady Hwang Inhwa squeezed her eyes shut.
"You did well."
"Pardon?"
"I heard there were plenty of eyes on you. Burning the documents yourself in that situation was the right call."
"......!"
"Of course, taking them would have been ideal, but if that were possible, you could've smuggled them out sooner."
Gratitude bloomed across Lady Hwang Inhwa's face.
"Father."
"But going into the Black Tiger Gang yourself was foolish."
"......"
"People are sensitive to others' attitudes. They attach meaning even to thoughtless actions. And you're the daughter of the Ten Sword Sect Leader, no less."
Hwang Gyu's gaze sharpened.
"Getting caught up in needless rumors out of curiosity is entirely your fault."
"I-I'm sorry."
The rebuke had come from an angle she hadn't expected.
Lady Hwang Inhwa realized just how far she'd strayed. She truly hadn't anticipated the Black Tiger Gang's downfall, but with the outcome as it was, excuses were pointless.
Hwang Gyu, who had been glaring silently at her, tapped one of the documents with his finger.
"I've had Murong Bi investigated from yesterday until today."
"Pardon?"
"From examining the battle traces at the Black Tiger Gang, that bastard Murong Bi's martial arts are first-rate, without a doubt. We'll need more investigation, but it seems he had no accomplices."
Lady Hwang Inhwa shuddered involuntarily.
She recalled Murong Bi's gaze and aura that day. Never had she felt such overwhelming pressure.
"His martial arts were incredible."
"I know. Myeong himself said he's a powerhouse he couldn't handle. Among the later-generation disciples of Wudang, there aren't even three with skills like that."
Lady Hwang Inhwa spoke urgently.
"A guy like that has the ledgers too! He's been hiding his martial prowess all this time, even pretending to be a drunkard! Who knows what he'll do next......!"
"The ledgers are irrelevant."
"Y-Yes?"
"He can just claim some madman wrote down delusions. Of course, we'll verify it, but the sect isn't so weak as to be swayed by mere ledgers."
"I-I see."
"If that bastard steps forward to reveal the ledgers right away, that's when you can relax. What profit is there in exposing them immediately when you could gain so much from just one ledger? It'd mean his martial arts might be useful, but his head hasn't matured."
Lady Hwang Inhwa flushed red without realizing it.
That remark implied her own head, panicking like this, hadn't matured either.
"The ones locked in the Black Tiger Gang warehouse were smuggled out in secret. No real interrogation needed, but we'll dig out what we can and bury them all. No loose ends."
"I-I see."
"That's not what intrigues me."
Hwang Gyu's gaze grew ever more intense.
"I heard Murong Bi tried to do 'something' with you?"
Lady Hwang Inhwa's face paled.
Even seeing his daughter's expression change so drastically, Hwang Gyu feigned ignorance and pressed on.
"I heard you arranged for him to borrow a hundred taels from the Black Tiger Gang."
"......"
"What did he want with you? What did you see in him, and what did you hope to gain? Spit it out."
Lady Hwang Inhwa stammered.
"It was......"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ It was just shy of a year before the war with the Holy Blood Palace would end.
On the eve of battle with their legendary arch-nemesis, the Demon Immortal, intelligence came in that a special unit from the Holy Blood Palace would strike and obliterate the Martial Alliance's supply depot in Hubei.
And according to that intel, the unit's leader was the Lawless Divine Demon, known as the strongest demon under Neng Heng's command.
'I wasn't in my right mind back then, probably?'
Just prior, he'd charged out with a single spear to rescue an isolated unit.
He'd saved them somehow, but the odds were so against him that he'd suffered severe internal and external injuries. He'd nearly died trying to save that one unit.
And right on the heels of that, the Lawless Divine Demon led his special unit in another raid.
'No reinforcements to dispatch. So I went again.'
On his way to block them with a minimal elite force.
While staying at the Martial Alliance headquarters and serving in the rescue unit, he'd had this exchange with Murong Daeho.
'Alliance Leader! No, Uncle! Please, send me instead!'
'You think you can handle those bastards? What nonsense is this? Even your father couldn't.'
'You're the Martial Alliance Leader! If you go out in your injured state and don't come back, we'll......!'
'I won't die. I've faced far worse dangers countless times, and I'm still here, aren't I?'
'Then let me go with you. I'll stake my life to protect you!'
'Cut the filial piety act. You hold the fort here, then dispatch to Hubei once the operations wrap up. That's your job.'
'Uncle......'
'Even if you hear I've died or gone missing—which is unlikely—don't act rashly. Stay put. I'm likely holed up in the safehouse.'
'H-How can you say such things, Uncle.'
'That's why I said "unlikely." Don't worry; it won't happen.'
And indeed, it didn't.
By sheer fortune, the intel was false. The Holy Blood Palace had leaked it deliberately to strike elsewhere.
He'd realized midway, changed course, and managed to defend half the targeted area.
In other words, he'd never needed to hole up in the Hubei safehouse.
'Could Daeho's "secret place" be the Alliance Leader's safehouse?!'
Safehouses for the Martial Alliance Leader dotted the land.
They were built even in peacetime. Any threat to the Leader's safety would shake the Martial Alliance, even the entire orthodox martial world. For the realm's sake, not just the Leader's, they were essential.
Those built during his tenure as Leader were particularly elaborate.
'Had to be. It was wartime.'
Even as Leader, he'd never hesitated to lead from the front. The high command had plenty of headaches because of it.
'My safehouses were especially lavish, weren't they?'
For him, now the spiritual pillar of the Alliance, the safehouses stocked every healing pill imaginable, Emergency Grain Pills to last a decade, and even a few top-grade spirit medicines.
That wasn't all.
'Famed swords and treasure blades, divine weapons and exotic arms. Medical texts, tactical manuals, blueprints for supreme mechanisms and formations!'
Retreating to a safehouse in wartime meant severe injury or no other hiding spot.
Stocking healing and spirit medicines for quick recovery was standard. Since no one knew when they'd escort the Leader in, annotated medical texts were needed. For covert escapes, knowledge of mechanisms and formations too.
Everything prepared solely for the Leader's safety, recovery, and escape.
'And only a handful knew about them.'
Off the top of his head: the Grand Strategist assassinated by spies, the bodyguard captain, and Murong Daeho. Only a tiny fraction of the Leader's innermost circle.
Murong Daeho, as a rescue unit member and blood relative, knew every safehouse location, entry methods, and escape routes across all regions.
'If Daeho really meant the safehouse......!'
It was highly likely. No, it had to be.
Murong Bi clenched his fist, then hesitated.
'But if he knew, why didn't he raid it sooner?'
Because it was for his uncle?
No way. His uncle was gone, along with his father.
With no one to use it, normal procedure would be to grab all the treasures inside.
'Besides, the Hubei and Henan safehouses were more for me personally than the Alliance Leader.'
Hubei was frontline territory, Henan a prime refuge. Even the Grand Strategist didn't know those two; he'd advised building them in secret himself.
In essence, the Hubei and Henan safehouses belonged to "Murong Clan bloodline member Murong Cheon," not "Martial Alliance Leader Murong Cheon."
Murong Bi, deep in thought, shook his head.
'There must've been circumstances. Daeho's no fool.'
Either way, a ray of light pierced the gloom.
Martial arts could be taught somehow, but the rest had been daunting. Raiding the safehouse would solve much.
"......Anyway."
A thick smile spread across Murong Bi's face.
"Yeah, that's it, huh?"
Without Jin Gwang there, he might've laughed until the clan ancestors heard. Even now, creepy chuckles leaked out like a pervert's.
Murong Bi patted Jin Gwang's shoulder, utterly pleased.
"Thanks for trusting me, Squad Leader Jin."
Jin Gwang bowed his head, overcome with emotion.
Tears like chicken droppings splashed onto the street.
"You've wronged me in saying that. Punish this lowly one for ever doubting you, Young Master."
He was a bit creepy and burdensome, but in this moment, even those dripping tears looked endearing.
'Good. Then.'
The clan's revival, once a vague dream, felt tangible now.
'Meet Sujing first. Verify if that's the spot.'
Honestly, no verification needed. What else could a secret place be if not the safehouse?
Murong Bi burst into booming laughter without realizing.
"Squad Leader Jin, stop crying and let's go."
"Sniff! Yes, Young Master."
And so the two amiably linked arms and retraced their steps.
"By the way, Squad Leader Jin."
"Yes?"
"That guy using the duck-butt sword style."
"Ah, you mean Jong Hwon?"
"Not just him—all their stances were weird. The one who tossed me the sword was passable, though."
"Gwan Hyun's the senior-most, and he has some talent for martial arts."
"You knew that and left them be?"
"That's what I'm fixing."
"Huh?"
"It's always like that. By the end of afternoon training, they're somewhat decent, but the next day, it's back to square one like ghosts possessed them......"
Murong Bi's lips twitched.
He'd thought there was some grand reason, but turns out they were all talentless idiots?
"......Do the kids have any grit?"
"Pushing themselves to death in stamina training is to build grit. Without that, I'd have booted them with squad leader authority."
Well, at least they had that much.
A brief gloom settled, but Murong Bi walked on with a refreshed smile.
The tougher the situation, the more you smile.