Chang'an Shadowplay (4)
Soon, the northern wall of Gwanghaeng Ward came into view.
The infiltration team descended from the rooftops, slipped into an alley, and exited the ward. They melted into the crowds on the main avenue, concealing themselves amid the throng.
But they couldn't keep moving like this forever.
By now, they've surely realized we escaped via the eighth-floor brothel.
If cavalry charged down the avenue in pursuit, even the most skilled lightweight kung fu experts in the martial world would struggle to shake them off.
Besides, Song Hyeon had to consider preserving the team's stamina.
Out of the eleven members, one lagged in lightweight kung fu.
Wang Yi Sam.
He gritted his teeth, following the team. Leaping from roof to roof had left him gasping, breath caught in his throat.
Song Hyeon led the group into a nearby ward.
Once inside, they reached a narrow alley between buildings, and Song Hyeon spoke.
"We'll rest here a moment."
"Huff... huff... Finally, a chance to catch my breath..."
Wang Yi Sam, doubled over and panting, had something drop from his chest with a thud.
It was the talisman he'd roughly folded and tucked into his robes. Startled, he snatched it up and shoved it back inside.
Speed like this really is beyond him.
Song Hyeon didn't see Wang Yi Sam as dead weight. Quite the opposite.
Back during the Black Wolf Castle infiltration, hadn't everyone been green martial artists like him?
And Wang Yi Sam has one unique advantage money can't buy.
Years of hard-earned experience in the jianghu.
In a flat-out sprint like this, he was a liability, true. But in chaotic melee, he might provide unexpected aid.
Seo Baek scanned the surroundings and said,
"The watchtowers are the problem in a Chang'an chase."
"Indeed."
Song Hyeon nodded.
"I saw them at every corner of the ward walls. With 108 wards in Chang'an, that's 432 watchtowers total."
"Mathematically correct. But the imperial palace area and some wards lack them entirely, or have extras."
"Avoiding the gaze of the imperial guards scanning from the watchtowers perfectly is impossible."
"If we can't avoid them..."
"We use them."
Seo Baek and Song Hyeon were in perfect accord.
Then Dang Ryong, who had been silent, spoke up.
"Just wipe 'em all out. Simple."
"Chang'an's population tops a million. Even dumping every poison stock from the Sichuan Tang Clan warehouses wouldn't melt them all."
"Hmph. Can't know till we try."
Dang Ryong snorted at Song Hyeon's words.
Seo Baek countered sharply.
"Unless we can erase Chang'an in one go, caution is best."
"So you wouldn't mind if the whole city vanished?"
"No. It's a city of revenants anyway."
Dang Ryong shrugged at Seo Baek's cold logic, caught off guard.
At that moment, Chorang poked its head from Joo Eun-ri's sleeve and let out a low growl.
"Some livestock or beast nearby."
"In Chang'an? Anything alive would struggle to avoid turning revenant."
The group nodded in agreement.
Hadn't the cavalry horses that stormed the brothel all turned revenant?
Once Wang Yi Sam seemed recovered, Song Hyeon called Yu So Un and Joo Eun-ri over to explain the next move.
"So Un, if you would."
"Leave it to me."
Yu So Un wrapped one of Joo Eun-ri's talismans around an arrowhead, lit it with a fire starter, and waited until more than half had burned. He swiftly tore a corner and loosed the arrow toward the southwest sky.
Shooo!
The gazes of the watchtower guards and street revenants turned toward the arrow arcing through the air.
"Kee-eeek..."
A talisman mimicking the presence of the living.
While the team's talismans erased their living auras, this one bound to the arrowhead did the opposite.
Black Wolf Secret Book talismans varied in activation conditions by type. This living-presence talisman triggered only when torn.
The revenants had all snapped their heads toward the living scent from the arrowhead talisman!
But since Yu So Un had ignited it before firing, it burned to ash mid-flight, scattering in the wind.
The living presence vanished cleanly.
The revenants, on the verge of shrieking, blinked in confusion, unsure what had happened.
Moments later, they forgot the living scent entirely and resumed their prior tasks.
Meanwhile, the infiltration team swiftly moved northeast—far from the arrow's path.
So Cheon couldn't easily calculate how far the intruders had fled from Gwanghaeng Ward.
Murim warriors' skills varied wildly.
If they were all lightweight kung fu masters, they'd have slipped the silver-eyed soldiers' encirclement by now.
So Cheon linked her sight to dozens of watchtower guards radiating from Gwanghaeng Ward.
Dozens of visions flooded her mind at once, triggering intense vertigo.
...!
So Cheon was Chang'an's top commander.
She wielded tens of thousands of blood ghosts like limbs.
But the watchtower guards were different.
Scanning all directions, spotting intruders, and signaling with black-and-white flags demanded precise control. Even a dozen at once fatigued her quickly.
Controlling dozens simultaneously...
Drip.
A trickle of nosebleed ran from So Cheon's nostril.
She sensed a sharp ping through one guard's eyes.
Wiping the blood with her sleeve, So Cheon said,
"The intruders are using Qimen Dunjia."
"What?"
"Likely talismans to erase their living presence."
"Countermeasure?"
"Unknown yet. But for a split second, a living presence appeared. Someone must have dropped a talisman by mistake."
"Where?"
"One moment..."
So Cheon trailed off, vertigo surging again.
The living presence had streaked through the streets like an arrow before vanishing.
But she didn't report to Cheon Ryung immediately, pondering instead.
Finally, she spoke.
"The intruders tied a living-presence talisman to an arrow and fired it. A ploy to blind us and scramble the search direction."
Her analysis was spot-on.
No lightweight master moved like a machine.
The presence had followed too uniform a trajectory—hence, an arrow with a talisman.
"Well done! Where are they now?"
"One moment."
Suppressing another wave of vertigo, she shared senses with the guards again. Lips trembling, she said,
"...Found them."
"Where?"
"Ward 74, Block 36. Gate 392, Alley 258."
"Signal Gyeong Seung!"
So Cheon had already sent the signal before Cheon Ryung's order.
"Send four hundred more silver-eyed soldiers. Tighten the net—no rats escape!"
A horn blared outside the hall, followed by thundering hooves.
The additional silver-eyed soldiers So Cheon controlled departed the compound.
"So Cheon, don't break the link!"
"As you command."
"Sky or earth, we'll catch those rats yet! Hahaha!"
So Cheon staunched her nosebleed with her sleeve, maintaining the watchtower links.
Soon, she sensed a living presence through one guard.
"Spotted."
"Where?"
"Right beside us. Sending silver-eyed soldiers."
This time, she linked with the silver-eyed soldiers. The strain made her limbs tremble amid vertigo.
Dozens of silver-eyed soldiers crossed streets, pursuing the presence.
Then So Cheon noticed something odd.
The intruders from Gwanghaeng Ward had just entered Anseon Ward.
But their path was diagonal.
Chang'an's grid was perfectly rectangular, like a go board. Entering wards from main avenues required east, west, south, or north gates.
Had they leaped the walls?
Plausible, given their skills.
But the watchtower guards would have seen...
The guards had only sensed the living presence—So Cheon couldn't make sense of it.
Passed through the walls?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought. Smashing walls, maybe—but impossible unnoticed.
What trick, then?
Suddenly, So Cheon jerked her head up, body stiffening. A silver-eyed soldier had locked onto the presence.
She extended her hand skyward; far away, the soldier mirrored her.
The soldier grasped whatever emanated the presence.
Seeing her motion, Cheon Ryung asked gleefully,
"Caught them?"
"Lost them."
"What? Then what did the soldier grab?"
"What we've chased so far... was a cat."
"What?"
"The intruders tied a living-presence talisman to a cat."
"...!"
So Cheon bowed to Cheon Ryung.
The mystery's answer: a cat.
Chang'an's walls were once ironclad, but time bred gaps—dog holes.
The cat slipping through made the presence seem to cross walls diagonally.
The arrow-tied talisman had been a feint for her eyes.
Unlike the arrow's predictable arc, a cat's path was erratic. So she'd never doubted it was the intruders.
All orchestrated by their leader—a rare stealth genius!
Cheon Ryung realized it too, refraining from berating her.
"So Cheon, a day I'd see you bested."
"Never."
Biting her lip till it bled, So Cheon bowed.
"I'll capture them. They won't leave Chang'an alive."
While So Cheon and the silver-eyed soldiers chased the cat, the infiltration team moved northwest—utterly elsewhere.
They weren't even using lightweight kung fu; they sat comfortably.
Inside a massive merchant cart hauling goods.
They'd stealthily hitched a ride on a passing caravan!
With living-presence-erasing talismans, no merchants would detect them.
Even Wang Yi Sam, the team's weakest, neared first-rate; sneaking aboard was child's play.
Wang Yi Sam shook his head in disbelief.
"Unbelievable. Hitching a ride on revenant carts to escape."
"The darkest shadows hide in plain sight. Right, Chorang?"
"Kyeng."
Joo Eun-ri defended Song Hyeon.
Master of Qimen Dunjia, she was inwardly impressed by his ploy.
She'd made the talismans.
But Song Hyeon wielded them with ghostly ingenuity.
Her words seemed casual, yet acknowledged him as leader.
The team savored sweet rest in the cart.
Soon, as it entered a ward, Song Hyeon said,
"Our destination's painted in murals here."
They'd reached the entrance to Seo Bul's underground city.
Slipping off undetected, the team moved swiftly.