A New Threat (1)
Seo Baek watched Namgung Jin's head lying on the ground for a moment.
As time passed with no changes, Wang Yi Sam approached and spoke.
"Not a revenant, then."
"Looks that way."
"If he wasn't a revenant, were you planning to let him off the hook?"
"Not a chance. Even if they'd handed over the entire Namgung Clan, I still would've taken his head."
Wang Yi Sam turned away, muttering under his breath.
"Tch, half the Namgung Clan's wealth would've let me live easy for life."
Seo Baek showed no reaction, as indifferent as ever, whether he'd heard or not.
Feeling awkwardly sheepish, Wang Yi Sam turned to Song Hyeon.
"But this guy—he's really the Five Families Alliance's interim leader and the Namgung Clan's top expert? What the hell makes him so damn weak?"
"Ever since the Western Frontier Guryun Temple skirmish and the Black Wolf Castle incident, the number of peak experts in the Central Plains has dwindled. That's how some silver-tongued schemer seized control."
"Tch. 'When the tiger's away, the fox reigns,' huh?"
"Namgung Jin's foxy enough, but his martial arts aren't that pathetic."
"Then what?"
"He just faced someone too strong."
Namgung Jin's opponent had been none other than Seo Baek.
Wang Yi Sam nodded at Song Hyeon's praise for Seo Baek, inwardly pleased.
'Even this underworld thug recognizes how great my junior is.'
Ever since witnessing Song Hyeon's ghostly swordsmanship at the Jegal Clan, Wang Yi Sam had pegged him as underworld despite his suspicions—but he'd acknowledged the man's skills.
Seo Baek turned to the group.
"We've safely breached the Five Families Alliance fortress. Namgung Jin fell into his own trap and blew up the Thunderbolt Bomb facility, so no loose ends there. And we rescued the hostages."
"First infiltration: perfect score!"
Wang Yi Sam whooped, and Song Hyeon, inwardly agreeing, said nothing.
"But there's the issue of what to do with Lady Joo."
"Huh? Why her?"
Wang Yi Sam blinked in confusion.
The high regard he held for experts had subtly shifted his attitude toward Joo Eun-ri once her sorcery proved pivotal in the fortress raid.
Seo Baek knew Wang Yi Sam well enough, but now wasn't the time for jokes.
He explained everything that had happened with Joo Eun-ri in the warehouse, step by step.
The tale was full of twists upon twists.
And that was the truth.
Joo Eun-ri buying the inn to infiltrate the fortress, using talismans to deceive and hide from Seo Baek, Wang Il and Wang Yi being former underworld assassins who'd cut out their own tongues to swear loyalty.
Wang Yi Sam gasped and groaned at every revelation.
Song Hyeon, listening with his usual impassive expression, finally spoke.
"Gohomun."
"You know of it?"
"Heard the name. But it's so shrouded in mystery, even the scouts weren't sure it actually existed."
Joo Eun-ri held up the yoje she'd reclaimed from Moyong Hwa-jeong.
"Gohomun is real. I've recovered my clan's sacred relic. We'll make our name echo through the Central Plains martial world again."
"……."
Seo Baek fell silent, exchanging a glance with Song Hyeon.
No words needed—he was deferring to Song Hyeon as infiltration leader, seeking his input.
Sharp-eyed Wang Yi Sam caught the look and grumbled inwardly.
'Tch, that underworld guy's the leader? I ain't buying it.'
But then Song Hyeon turned to Wang Yi Sam.
"What would you do?"
"M-Me?"
"Who else is there?"
"……."
Wang Yi Sam had planned to oppose any harsh punishment from Song Hyeon. But with the man asking his opinion instead, his mind blanked.
"Uh, well... Hmm, what to do..."
"Just give your honest take."
With that, Wang Yi Sam gathered his thoughts.
"Hey, we escaped the fortress together, right? We wiped out the bad guys, blew the Thunderbolt Bomb warehouse, cleared the road to Shaolin. Her sorcery pulled its weight, so let's call it even. My junior's too straight-laced sometimes."
Seo Baek, who'd been stoic, cracked a faint smile at Wang Yi Sam's words.
'For once, listening to Senior Wang might not be a bad idea.'
Skip the complications, decide simply.
Pure Wang Yi Sam thinking.
And truthfully, Seo Baek preferred straightforward solutions over tangled webs.
'Come to think of it, it's been a while since we met.'
A comrade who'd journeyed from Sichuan, circling the Central Plains.
If their temperaments hadn't meshed, they couldn't have stuck together this long.
Seo Baek made his call.
"Very well. Her contributions outweigh the deception. We'll let it slide."
"My thanks."
Joo Eun-ri spoke haughtily, but her eyes shone with genuine gratitude toward Seo Baek.
The moment held special weight for her too.
She'd schemed to infiltrate the fortress, even buying that remote inn. Reclaiming Gohomun's relic and avenging her grandfather—claiming otherwise would be a lie.
Joo Eun-ri approached Wang Il and Wang Yi on their horses, sliced their binding ropes, and said,
"You're free now."
"……!"
Though mute, their faces lit up instantly.
"There's an abandoned well at the old Gohomun estate. Pull the loose brick at the bottom—silver ingots hidden there. Use it to retire and start fresh."
She turned away, as if no more words were needed.
Wang Il and Wang Yi stared at her back, then realized her resolve and shed tears. They bowed deeply in her direction.
Moments later, they mounted up and departed.
They'd arrived on one horse, but with Namgung Jin's spare, it matched perfectly: two men, two horses.
Watching them go, Wang Yi Sam remarked,
"Underworld assassins, huh? Figures their skills stood out."
Back at the inn, he'd dismissed the cook and errand boy as uppity. But hearing Joo Eun-ri's story had flipped his attitude.
Then a thought struck him.
"Wait. If those two head off alone, what about Lady Joo...?"
"I'll go to Shaolin with you all."
"……!"
Her sudden declaration drew surprised looks—not just from Wang Yi Sam, but Seo Baek and Song Hyeon too.
Wang Yi Sam glanced between Seo Baek and Joo Eun-ri.
"Wait, why? Don't tell me it's because of our junior...?"
"Cut the nonsense."
She snapped sharply.
Having misread it as some romantic entanglement, Wang Yi Sam shut his mouth without retort.
"After Gohomun fell, wandering the Central Plains taught me something."
She shared her heart with the group.
"Gohomun's sorcery is renowned, but our ancestral martial arts are formidable too. A few generations back, we overemphasized spells to our detriment. I'll join the Murim Alliance via Shaolin and restore Gohomun as a true righteous sect."
"S-So you'll be the founding master?"
"Gohomun's reopening—not some new sect. What founding master?"
"……."
Irritated, she shot back, and Wang Yi Sam flinched away, muttering,
"Man, she's cold."
With Joo Eun-ri's resolve for Shaolin declared, their party was now four: Seo Baek, Wang Yi Sam, Song Hyeon, and her. Yoo So-un would rejoin later, making five.
They prepared to mount up and depart.
"Whew, finally back on the road. What a nail-biter of an infiltration."
"But we gained something."
Wang Yi Sam snorted at Seo Baek's words.
"Hah, no silver earned and nothing but grief—what gain?"
"Four horses means no walking to Shaolin."
"……!"
Caught off-guard, Wang Yi Sam gaped, then burst into laughter.
"Fair enough! Feels like owning the world—wahaha!"
The group mounted and resumed their journey to Shaolin.
The Tang Clan head, Dang Jeong-myeong, had four daughters named Cheonghong Manri.
With the aging lord stepping back, his eldest, Dang Cheong, and second, Dang Hong, effectively ruled Sacheon Tang Clan.
The third, Dang Man, had died in childbirth long ago. The fourth, Dang Ri, shunned martial arts, living apart from the jianghu.
But Dang Cheong fell in Murim Alliance service. Recently, Dang Hong met a mysterious end at Shu Dao Pass.
Worse, her death took Dang Jo Jeong—Dang Man's son from that birth—leaving Sacheon Tang Clan in a powder keg of succession strife.
One figure stayed clear of the power plays: Dang Ryong, son of the fourth daughter, Dang Ri.
From childhood to his mid-twenties, he'd been the clan's neglected outcast. Everyone dismissed him.
His mother rejected martial arts, so her son must be worthless too.
Yet a week after confirming Dang Hong's corpse, Lord Dang Jeong-myeong secretly summoned Dang Ryong with a command.
Simple enough:
"Find who killed Dang Hong and Dang Jo Jeong. Kill them."
For Dang Ryong, child's play.
The follow-up was tedious:
"Sever their head, brand the forehead with the Tang Clan lord's seal, and hang it from Shaolin's Zhi Ke Tang eaves."
Shaolin Temple: the Central Plains' unrivaled pillar.
Zhi Ke Tang hosted visitors.
The lord meant to broadcast Sacheon Tang Clan's vengeance to the world.
Dang Ryong thought:
'Shaolin's gonna flip.'
An unknown head dangling from those eaves would furrow even the high monks' brows.
Whether Shaolin fumed or not, neither lord nor assassin cared.
When had mighty Sacheon Tang ever minded others' glares?
"Brand the dead one's forehead with this."
The lord handed over the iron Tang Clan lord's seal.
Hongjeop-in: red butterfly emblem.
Heat it red-hot for branding.
"As you command."
With the sole lord's seal in hand, Sacheon Tang's honor rested on Dang Ryong.
But as he left the room, he sneered inwardly.
'Extra hassle thanks to those pathetic worms.'
Childless Dang Hong had favored nephew Dang Jo Jeong like a son. Dang Ryong, also her nephew, got nothing from aunts Dang Cheong and Dang Hong.
His non-martial mother was a thorn in their side.
The neglected grow in two ways:
Lacking confidence, failing at everything.
Or harboring venom, honing skills for revenge.
Dang Ryong was the latter.
The command bordered on suicide.
But no order to die. Drop the head at midnight; dawn discovery. Escape by then.
With the sisters dead, perhaps the lord eyed him as heir. The seal hinted at that.
Dang Ryong didn't care.
'I don't need your recognition.'
If wanted, he'd seize the throne himself.
Leaving Sacheon Tang, Dang Ryong first headed to Ami Mountain.
Pretending a righteous sect disciple, he seduced an Ami nun. Revealing Tang ties would've sent her fleeing in terror.
She followed unsuspectingly—Dang Ryong's rare handsome looks helped.
In an empty shrine, he revealed himself, striking her pressure points.
His ma-hyeol technique inflicted fire-ant agony—perfect torture.
Sure enough, she spilled everything before a teacup could cool.
Her tale hooked him: a rising expert slicing revenants atop Shu Dao Pass walls like wind.
Dang Ryong had suspected Dang Hong's killer was some nameless prodigy.
'That explains the lack of rumors.'
But her next words crumpled his brow like paper.
"The boy looked under twenty."
"A boy? Under twenty?"
"Yes."
Dang Ryong fell silent.
Terrified he'd silence her forever, the nun trembled.
At last, he released her points.
"Go."
"P-Pardon?"
"I said go. Before I change my mind."
Stunned, she fled, hastily composing herself.
Dang Ryong had never intended to kill her.
Weaklings weren't worth the effort.
"Dang Hong felled by someone under twenty?"
No love lost, but he'd respected her skills.
Her Ji-sang Man-rae poison arts were peerless even in hidden-weapon Sacheon Tang; he'd developed his own to match.
For her to lose her head to some boy's sword!
Dang Ryong's lips curled into a grin.
His listless eyes ignited with fervor, unseen since leaving the clan.
"I'll kill you myself."
His heart pounded in sync with his killing intent.