Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Chapter 29. Lion Gwak Nan-hoe (1)
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The Myriad Steeds Escort Agency was renowned as one of the premier sects in northern Shaanxi.
Their core business was the escort trade, transporting goods across dangerous routes. They had earned fame by blazing a trail unique to them—from the capital Chang'an along the Silk Road, past the Pamir Plateau, all the way to the Greater Yuezhi lands.
Not a single one of their fifteen escort captains lacked true skill, and their three chief captains especially commanded fearsome reputations across the jianghu. Moreover, the over three hundred escorts they had forged through grueling training and brutal real-world combat were held in esteem comparable to the elite troops of any outfit.
Even hardened bandits would wheel their horses around at the mere sight of the flag emblazoned with their signature three-camel emblem. That alone spoke volumes of their prestige.
Yes, the Myriad Steeds Escort Agency was classed among the righteous sects of the orthodox path, but in truth, they shared a close bond with the Locust Brigade—a massive bandit outfit much like themselves. Theirs was a symbiotic tie, akin to the crocodile and the plover bird.
In exchange for vast sums handed over every quarter, the bandits under the Locust Brigade left them untouched.
Up to that point, it was at least somewhat understandable.
But they sought an even deeper partnership. In other words, they crossed the line.
From time to time, the Escort Agency would leak internal rival escort intel, prompting the Locust Brigade to raid those caravans. Through such means, they had eliminated competitors on multiple occasions.
And in reciprocation?
Whenever the imperial troops or jianghu folk geared up for a large-scale subjugation of the Locust Brigade, the agency would discreetly tip them off, helping them dodge the flames.
In this fashion—scratching each other's backs—they had bulked up together over the past decade.
But as the proverb goes, a long tail is bound to get stepped on.
They had dared to touch even the Face Pursuit Squad under Gwak Nan-hoe's command—and that sparked disaster.
At the time, the Face Pursuit Platoon had mobilized on intelligence to capture the Locust Brigade's second-in-command. Instead of nabbing him outright, they tailed him straight to the bandits' lair—a den no one had sniffed out in over ten years. A solid feat in its own right.
Squad Leader Go Gun-gi wasted no time firing off a messenger pigeon to report the find to Squad Leader Gwak Nan-hoe. Meanwhile, they kept tabs on the surroundings, gathering more intel while awaiting further orders.
But the Myriad Steeds Escort Agency—the midway relay for those pigeons—snooped the message as usual and secretly passed it to the Locust Brigade. The result? The entire platoon massacred. Save for one: Dan-geum, who had stepped away at that exact moment for a bowel movement.
Even hunkered down in the hideout the platoon had scouted, they were still sniffed out by the Locust Brigade's search parties. That was why.
Thanks to the fortuitous survival of Dan-geum, the Locust Brigade's base was now laid bare.
The bandits hastily plotted to abandon the exposed lair and relocate, while the Escort Agency tensed, eyes peeled for any moves from the Face Pursuit Squad or the Martial Qin Alliance.
Yet both sides failed to anticipate one thing: Gwak Nan-hoe's counter was lightning-swift, razor-sharp, and ruthlessly proactive.
The instant she received word of the platoon's annihilation, instinct told her this crisis was opportunity incarnate.
A golden ticket to fuel her political ambitions.
First, she grilled the lone survivor Dan-geum down to the bone, then scoured every potential leak point based on his account.
All the while, she unleashed her shadows—including the Ten Phantoms—to surveil the suspects.
Preparations complete, she summoned Jin Ga-yong and Wang Baek-gun separately, briefed them on the full picture, and dispatched them into the fray.
On another front, she circulated formal alliance missives to her northern Martial Qin partners: "We've located the Locust Brigade's base. Join us in crushing it. I'll visit shortly."
Fishing bait, laced with disinformation.
In other words, every public move Gwak Nan-hoe flashed until reuniting with Jeong's Unit at Small Flower Mountain was deliberate misdirection for the enemy.
一. Dispatch the Face Pursuit Unit first for hit-and-fade disruptions.
一. While they tie up the foe, rally northern Martial Qin allies into a subjugation force and smash the Locust Brigade.
Gwak Nan-hoe bided her time for a nibble—and sure enough, the enemy's spies snapped it up.
She traced the line back.
And exposed the traitor: the Myriad Steeds Escort Agency.
Meanwhile.
Jin Ga-yong's Face Pursuit Unit—defying the leaked intel—smashed headlong into the Locust Brigade's vanguard, shattering it before storming the base.
They culled the ringleader White Horse Deng and most of the top brass in short order.
In the interim.
Gwak Nan-hoe's camp hustled nonstop.
Even at her Small Flower Mountain rendezvous with the Unit, she lacked airtight proof pinning the Escort Agency—just damning circumstantial vibes. Still, she was already northward bound. She knew operations like this were a brutal race against the clock.
Lurking incognito at a northern outpost, she nailed down persuasive evidence within a day or two.
From there, she gingerly networked with other northern heavyweights—without tipping off the Agency.
"Ahem, ahem. The Leader's assertion that Myriad Steeds is the traitor carries real weight. But this sudden call for troops is... awkward. Why not report it to Martial Qin Alliance headquarters and let due process handle the judgment?"
"This is heaven dropping opportunity in our laps. Would you, Sect Leader, toss it aside and boot it away?"
"Heh~ Care to elaborate on that thinking?"
"Merit earns the right to claim. And in this jianghu, how can bloodless hands speak of merit? Sect Leader—it's Myriad Steeds."
"You mean..."
"Exactly. And with everyone gathered, why not ride the wave and raze the Locust base too? No fattening up outsiders on our dime."
"...!"
The glittering hoards stuffed in booming Myriad Steeds' vaults? No small change. As for the infamous Locust Brigade? Overkill to even mention.
Fruit that sweet—why not cut out other regions and divvy it amicably among us northerners? That was the heart of Gwak Nan-hoe's pitch.
She sweetened it further with a lavish vow.
Upon victory, despite her outsized merit, she'd claim only a slice—and fairly redistribute the rest by each sect's contribution.
Why hand out such bounty?
She picked prestige over profit.
Or put differently: buying fame on someone else's coin.
In one stroke, she locked in hefty backing within the Martial Qin Alliance—foundation for cementing her political clout.
The Lion Gwak Nan-hoe preferred wealth chasing her, not the reverse.
Gwak Nan-hoe's audacious proposal hit paydirt.
She sealed pacts with three sects rivaling Myriad Steeds' scale, who in turn roped in the small fry around them.
All achieved in a mere week.
The payoff: eleven sects and twelve hundred warriors converging on Nan-ga Plains—trailing Jeong's Unit by half a day past Mi-deok County via Ye-ryang Sword Sect. Every last fighter was an elite from their sect, commanded by reps who were the sects' finest.
The birth of the "Northern Union"—a bold new faction within the Martial Qin Alliance!
Myriad Steeds grasped the peril far too late, their guard utterly pierced.
They scrambled for aid from neighbors, but with even their fellow escorts peeling off one by one, who would grasp their hand?
They had no moral high ground left—only fodder for scorn and finger-pointing.
Thus, the clash between Gwak Nan-hoe's coalition and Myriad Steeds wrapped in under half a day.
Most of it? One side encircling and berating; the other fumbling excuses amid chaos.
True combat? A single exchange.
Dead numbered under a hundred—all but guaranteed Myriad Steeds' men.
For context, that was fewer than the bandits Jeong's Unit had butchered four days prior in their Locust Brigade brawl.
For an outfit of their fame and might? An abjectly pathetic downfall.
一. The wages of immorality.
一. Unlike blood or mentor ties, theirs were business bonds.
一. Sheer disparity in force.
一. And the foe's mercy pleas, dangled right up to the end.
These factors intertwined, shattering Myriad Steeds' will to fight until they crumbled from within.
The Lion Gwak Nan-hoe and the Northern Union strode boldly through the main gates.
They disarmed every soul from the Agency Lord on down, bound them, and herded them to kneel in the vast courtyard.
With total subjugation secured, the mood—till then pliable—flipped on a dime. Executions commenced on the spot, public and raw!
No delays for last words or such niceties.
Just Gwak Nan-hoe's lone, preordained command.
"Execute them!"
It began with the Agency Lord—heads tumbling in a row from the top ranks.
Next, their bloodlines dragged forth and beheaded to a one. Seedline extinguished.
Then the schemers grilled for their treachery, the shocked ones yammering too loud—all hauled off and done in.
In moments, the broad courtyard drowned in terror, thick silence reigning.
Gwak Nan-hoe beheld it all with icy composure, eyes unblinking. A woman with a heart of iron—surely thus? Even the allied sect heads at her side felt chills rack their spines.
Only after drenching the yard in blood did she sort the pardoned from the imprisoned.
The released fell into three camps.
First: the patently guiltless. Powerless weaklings, incapable of rebellion or revenge even in dreams.
Second: light offenders. Hired by contract alone, forfeiting any future claim to Agency stakes.
Third: sinners with skills to pay the piper. Those versed in the Agency's asset web, how to liquidate and convey them.
Gwak Nan-hoe tied it all off with ruthless efficiency.
She took no needless blood—but squeezed every drop required.
Thus exacting steep payment for daring to graze her own, while honoring her word to her followers.
Now Myriad Steeds' piled wealth claimed no rightful heirs.
It belonged to her—and those who trailed her banner.
That night.
The Escort Agency grounds hosted a raucous victory feast.
A glimpse of the jianghu's merciless underbelly. The victors' due.