The Man in the Azure Robe (1)
Wang Yi Sam let out a hollow laugh.
"Talking smack about Wang Family Fortress right in front of the family head? You must be itching to get kicked out."
Seo Baek half-agreed with him.
The Wang family claimed they didn't discriminate based on sects or affiliations.
They were always ready to listen, no matter who spoke.
But did the world ever flow the way one wished?
With a single remark criticizing Wang Family Fortress, the man in the azure robe had essentially branded himself a public enemy among the martial artists.
Sure enough, murmurs of blame toward the azure-robed man erupted from here and there.
"In this mess, where else you gonna find a fortress like this?"
"He's got a full belly. Let him face a revenant horde, and that nonsense'll go right down the hatch."
"Unsuitable for holding off revenants? What does he know?!"
The martial artists shot the azure-robed man unkind glances.
Yet for all their grumbling, not one stepped forward to berate him directly.
There was something profoundly eerie about the man's presence.
His face was gaunt from years weathering the jianghu's storms, his frame so emaciated that the bony outlines showed through his sleeves.
He looked like a withered tree draped in cloth.
Yet his eyes gleamed with an unnaturally bright light.
Among martial artists who had long cultivated their arts, it wasn't rare to see fierce, tiger-like gazes.
But the azure-robed man's eyes were coldly still, like a midnight lake—subtly different even from those of inner energy masters.
His gaze didn't pierce like a weapon, but whenever it met another's, it carried a strange power that made throats go dry.
That was why, though they muttered behind his back, no one dared confront him outright.
In the end, Wang Chung broke the tent's strange tension.
"You say Wang Family Fortress is unsuitable for holding off revenants?"
"That's right."
"I'd like to hear your esteemed opinion on why."
The martial artists, their faces stiff until then, smirked and relaxed.
Their thoughts were one:
—He's been acting all high and mighty alone. Let's see what nonsense he spouts!
But contrary to their expectations, words flowed from the azure-robed man like a clear mountain stream.
"The fortress walls are too old. Hastily built from untreated green wood without pitch, they're riddled with rot. A revenant horde would bring them down easily."
"……."
Wang Chung offered no reply, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
The martial artists interpreted his silence in their own way.
—The fortress is old? Then where's safe?
—Makes sense the family head won't dignify that crap with a response!
They sneered at the azure-robed man, smirks curling their lips.
But one man was startled by his words.
Wang Yi Sam.
What the azure-robed man had just said was identical to what Seo Baek had remarked upon their first arrival at the fortress.
Wang Yi Sam glanced back and forth between the two, thinking,
'How the hell do they say the exact same thing?'
Soon, Wang Chung responded.
"I appreciate your insight. We were already planning to repair the walls."
The martial artists nodded in satisfaction.
Though the azure-robed man had butted in tactlessly, Wang Chung had responded with the dignity befitting a family head. They praised his character once more.
But the azure-robed man's critiques didn't end there.
"With manpower shortages, there aren't enough warriors to man the walls. How do you plan to handle repairs?"
"……."
"The warriors' attire is problematic too. Instead of cotton clothes, they should wear windbreaker robes made from beast hide."
The martial artists, who had been holding their tongues out of deference to Wang Chung, couldn't contain their laughter.
"Windbreaker robes from heavy beast hide?"
"In that, you'd be too weighed down to even run from revenants!"
"Hahaha!"
Wang Yi Sam, meanwhile, swallowed hard in shock once again.
A martial artist wearing a windbreaker robe of beast hide to guard against revenant bites.
His own companion, Seo Baek!
Even when the Blood Oath Gang thugs in Sichuan mocked him, Wang Yi Sam had inwardly admired Seo Baek's foresight.
Now, that same revenant precaution had come from the azure-robed man's mouth.
Wang Yi Sam even harbored a wild thought.
'Are these two connected somehow?'
Unable to contain his curiosity, he whispered,
"Junior, you know that azure-robed guy?"
"First time seeing him."
Seo Baek's reply was as indifferent as ever.
The azure-robed man was no less detached.
Unfazed by the tent full of martial artists mocking him, he continued pointing out the fortress's flaws.
"One more thing. What the scouting parties have seen so far aren't revenants—they're just blood ghosts."
"Blood ghosts?"
"Yes. Revenants and blood ghosts are similar, yet distinctly different."
Laughter vanished in an instant.
The azure-robed man's unfamiliar words had captured not just Wang Chung's attention, but everyone's.
"Blood ghosts lack souls, so they charge mindlessly at the living. True revenants, however, are indistinguishable from living people on sight."
"Aren't revenants rotting corpses? A revenant that looks alive?"
"They exist. One might be hiding in the fortress, concealing its true nature. While scouting parties patrol outside, we must search inside for them too."
The martial artists stirred again.
If their earlier mockery was dismissive, now they were genuinely shocked.
"You ever heard that before?"
"No, you?"
"Me neither."
After a moment of bewilderment, they shook off the shock and reverted to form. The azure-robed man's words were just too hard to believe.
"Revenants indistinguishable from the living?"
"He must be confusing them with jiangshi."
"What? Jiangshi have that bluish face—you spot 'em right away. Like you!"
"Hahaha!"
The tent erupted in raucous laughter.
Wang Chung raised a hand to silence them, stroking his long beard as he spoke.
"If you're so certain, show us proof."
The martial artists stifled snickers while praising Wang Chung's mercy.
Even absurd claims deserved a full hearing from the Wang family!
But the smirking faces suddenly froze.
The azure-robed man's eyes seemed to flash menacingly—or was it a trick of the light?
Those who met that gaze felt chills down their spines, knees weakening.
It was like stumbling upon a tiger in a dark forest!
Sure enough, even the warriors on the platform instinctively gripped their sword hilts, ready to protect Wang Chung.
As tension turned the tent into thin ice, the azure-robed man spoke.
"I have proof, but I can't show it."
His voice sounded oddly detached, unlike his eyes.
The rigid martial artists relaxed and burst into laughter again.
"What kinda excuse is that? 'I have proof but can't show it'?"
"I could say my house has the world's best martial arts manual!"
"Hahaha!"
Even Wang Chung, ever courteous until now, let out a smirk.
"I appreciate your concern for Wang Family Fortress. I'll order stricter defenses."
"……."
The azure-robed man fell silent, saying no more.
The martial artists waited for whatever he'd say next.
Then a warrior burst into the tent from outside.
"Family head……."
Addressing Wang Chung as such marked him as a Wang family man.
He was caked in dirt, as if he'd rolled across the ground—utterly disheveled.
His waist bore no sword either. A martial artist without one must have lost it somewhere.
He looked like a messenger barely escaping a battlefield.
"What of the scouting party?"
Wang Chung asked, and the warrior glanced around before whispering in his ear.
Once the report ended, Wang Chung casually stroked his beard and addressed the crowd.
"The scouts spotted a revenant horde, but it's heading away from the fortress. No need for concern."
"Hooray!"
Cheers erupted spontaneously.
"Tomorrow's meeting will be at the same hour, shen shi. Dismissed."
"Long live the Wang family!"
As Wang Chung gave the order, the martial artists filed out one by one, still praising him and his house.
But Seo Baek hadn't missed it.
Wang Chung's eyes had flickered, just for an instant, during the whisper.
'What did that warrior report?'
As Seo Baek pondered, Wang Yi Sam spoke up.
"That Wang family head ain't just any martial artist—he's got real class."
"You're the true jianghu man, senior."
"Heh, I'll take that as a compliment."
Wang Yi Sam glanced around slyly and whispered,
"That azure-robed guy. Knows revenants like you do, huh? What kinda freak is he?"
"No idea. Ask him yourself."
"What? I'm shy with strangers……."
Seo Baek couldn't help but chuckle.
Wang Yi Sam, who chatted up anyone easily, using shyness as an excuse? The azure-robed man was truly intimidating.
"If Wang Chung's a refined scholar, that guy's like some shadowy strategist. Y'know, the type who'll do anything—soldiers be damned—for the win."
"You've read Romance of the Three Kingdoms a lot."
Seo Baek brushed it off with a laugh, but on second thought, it fit perfectly.
A strategist whose depths you couldn't fathom.
It described the azure-robed man's coldly sunken eyes to a tee.
Seo Baek figured there was no harm in talking to him.
"Fine, I'll approach him."
"Yeah? I yield to you then."
Wang Yi Sam deftly backed out, true to form.
But as he turned, he startled.
"Huh? He's gone?"
The azure-robed man, who had stood arms crossed in the tent's corner until moments ago, had vanished without a trace.
"Tch. Figures the weirdo'd disappear creepy-like."
Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam mingled with the crowd and exited the tent.
"Meeting's over—stomach's rumbling."
"You got beggars in your belly or what?"
"Broth's bland, but another bowl of yangchun noodles would hit the spot. No cash—or trade goods—though."
"I got one thing."
"What? You ain't trading that greatsword for noodles, right? My broad dao's off-limits."
"Got a few more wild boar hides, actually."
Seo Baek had skinned the boar carefully, separating left/right, back/belly into four distinct pieces.
"Knew you were sharp! C'mon, let's grab another bowl!"
Wang Yi Sam bounded ahead excitedly.
Seo Baek followed, but his mind was elsewhere.
On the azure-robed man in the tent.
'A master.'
The tent held some two hundred martial artists. None could hide their presence from Seo Baek's eyes.
Yet he hadn't sensed the man's departure.
That meant the azure-robed man's inner energy matched—or surpassed—his own!
'Even with Shika Heart Method active, would I have missed him?'
Unlikely.
With it running, he'd sense a needle drop in the tent, senses razor-sharp.
But Seo Baek couldn't be sure he'd have noticed the man's movements.