An Accelerated Plan
The new branch lord of the Sambong Branch. The Cruel Demon, Yi Do.
There was no one in Sambong-hyeon these days who did not know the name Yi Do. It was true that people had been afraid when word first came that he would arrive as branch lord. Setting aside the temperament of the previous branch lord, the two existing branch members had caused so much trouble that the Asura Sword Sect's reputation in Sambong-hyeon was already scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Frankly, to speak bluntly, to ordinary people who were not martial artists, all martial artists looked exactly the same.
Plunder, steal, kill.
To the weak, those who wielded power could only ever reign as the very embodiment of terror.
And their backing was the Asura Sword Sect, no less.
No matter how much they hated it, no matter how far the sect's reputation had fallen, they had no choice but to bow. Defy them, and a fist came flying; draw a sword, and the head of the one who drew it went rolling.
And to such people, there was no one quite as "good" as Yi Do.
So long as no one touched him, he did not touch them.
This much was true of all martial artists. The difference was one thing only.
He was utterly fair.
Absurd as it might sound, he truly was fair.
The men of his own branch, who had lived off extortion, he had killed in the most gruesome way imaginable and turned into a public spectacle for all of Sambong-hyeon to see.
More than several hundred people had witnessed the entire process of their deaths. There had been weeping and wailing, people retching onto the ground — utter chaos.
But what exactly had those two men done in Sambong-hyeon?
They had extorted.
They had preyed on ordinary people dozens of times. Violence was routine, and rape was simply a part of their daily lives.
They had been tyrants. Madmen.
And the Asura Sword Sect had looked the other way. Whether the reports were falsified and never reached the upper echelons, or whether the sect deliberately turned a blind eye, no one knew — but if the sect were branded demonic, it would have had no defense.
It was Yi Do who had cleaned up all of that.
Above all, he had repaid every last coin that Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon had borrowed and stolen over the years.
Where else in the world could one find a martial artist like this?
Whether or not he had aimed for this reaction, no one could say — but at least until now, no martial artist had ever behaved this way.
If anything, he seemed more like a magistrate than the actual county magistrate.
That Yi Do was now, at this very moment, circulating his breath-work in the basement of the Sambong Branch.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Pure Harmonious Qi filled him to the brim, and every wound across his body had healed completely.
His body was in peak condition.
Yi Do then began to move, sword still in hand. He honed the sword arts he favored most while stimulating every muscle in his body to its limit, awakening not only muscles that had gone unused, but the nerves themselves.
This was how Yi Do trained, every single day.
Recovering the strength of his previous life was a given.
In his previous life, Yi Do's realm had been the Realm of Harmony.
But calling it the Realm of Harmony was merely a label; in practice, the power he had wielded was beyond even the Realm of Myth.
The Asura Heaven-Breaking Five Secrets was by no means a flaw-free martial art.
It required Pure Harmonious Qi — and that qi clashed head-on with natural qi. They were, absolutely, not the same energy.
Yi Do had ascended to the Realm of Harmony only after his master's death.
For twenty years he had wandered the murim, yet his realm remained stalled at the Realm of Harmony.
Now he lingered in an ambiguous realm called Thousand Flowers Scattered Astray rather than Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown, and even that much was similar to back then.
At that time, Yi Do had thrown his upper dantian wide open, as one would at the Realm of Harmony or the Realm of Entering Divinity. But he had never been able to draw natural qi into himself in full.
He had been an incomplete Realm of Entering Divinity, unable to climb to the true realm — and so it had all been lumped together and called the Realm of Harmony.
With the Pure Harmonious Qi he had accumulated and his Ring Stepping Cultivation, he had overwhelmed martial artists of the Realm of Myth.
Of course, since he had not yet even entered the Heaven-Earth Realms, worrying about it now might be premature — but preparation had to begin somewhere.
If he could rise from Thousand Flowers Scattered Astray to a complete Original Qi Returning to Origin, perhaps he might find the thread he was looking for.
Without haste.
As slowly as possible — but with certainty.
He swung his sword powerfully and drove the breath from his lungs. His whole body was drenched in sweat.
A man hurried over and offered him a towel.
Un Dohyeon, branch member of the Sambong Branch.
"Thank you."
"It is nothing. But… your body is in remarkable condition, my lord."
At the sudden remark, Yi Do let out a short laugh. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he threw out a question.
"Any word come down from the sect? A dispatch, or anything of the sort?"
"No, my lord. Nothing."
The distance between the Asura Sword Sect's main mountain and Sambong-hyeon was considerable, so it took time for news of what happened here to reach the main sect. The same held true for anything sent the other way.
Yi Do considered for a moment, then headed for a small room tucked into a corner of the underground training hall. The basement of the Sambong Branch did not serve merely as a training ground — astonishingly, there was a bath.
Yi Do entered, stripped off his clothes, and lowered himself into the water. Un Dohyeon naturally took up position with his back to the door, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
A perfect escort's stance. Yi Do said nothing about it.
As Yi Do soaked, Un Dohyeon spoke.
"Using the Wang Trading Company's connections, I looked into the Killing Curtain."
Yi Do let out a dry laugh.
"That was a waste of effort."
"Yes, it was a waste of effort. Still, would you care to hear what I found?"
Yi Do did not answer, but Un Dohyeon understood it for the assent it was, and continued.
"Every branch of the Killing Curtain that existed in the Kingdom of Jeok has withdrawn."
"Withdrawn?"
"Yes. The assassins have moved out en masse."
Where they had gone was obvious. Yi Do was no fool.
"They'll have headed for the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect."
"……How did you know?"
"Isn't it obvious? I've joined the Asura Sword Sect, and they lack the strength to take on the Asura Sword Sect. So their only option is to forge ties with a sect of the caliber that can stand against it. Which leaves exactly one answer — the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect. Chances are high they've struck a deal with them."
"……Then I shall look into the terms of that deal."
"No. That's enough."
Yi Do closed his eyes slowly, still submerged in the bath.
No further than this.
If Un Dohyeon dug any deeper, he too could become a target of the Killing Curtain.
"Un Dohyeon."
"Yes, Branch Lord."
"My grievance with the Killing Curtain has nothing to do with the Asura Sword Sect. It is a matter that concerns me, and me alone."
"I understand."
"If you understand, then all the more reason not to meddle. This is something I must bear alone, and settle alone."
Un Dohyeon answered while staring straight ahead.
"I know that as well. I did not ask as a branch member — I asked as the master of the Wang Trading Company, as Un Dohyeon. I was simply curious about the Killing Curtain."
"Is that so."
"Yes. So please don't trouble yourself over it."
Time passed like that for a while.
Yi Do, who had remained silent, finally opened his mouth.
"If I tell you not to do it, will you stop?"
"……If it is your command, then I must obey."
"Then it's a command. Put an end to the investigation into the Killing Curtain."
"……Understood."
"In return, may I ask one other thing of you?"
"Command me with anything."
"I'm curious about the current state of Jangryeong Commandery. Can you find out?"
Un Dohyeon tilted his head for a moment.
Jangryeong Commandery?
The very man who had turned that place into a scorched wasteland, asking about it now?
The puzzlement lasted only a moment. If commanded, he would carry it out.
Un Dohyeon had already resolved to serve Yi Do. Not merely as subordinate and lord — he wished to serve the man as his true master.
"From the moment you left Jangryeong Commandery until this very day — I will find out everything, Branch Lord."
"Good. I'm counting on you."
Silence settled once more.
Un Dohyeon gazed steadily at the wall, while Yi Do quietly closed his eyes in the water. Once again, it was Yi Do who broke the silence.
"Are you planning to stay there the whole time?"
"Yes."
"You just finished your patrol round, didn't you? Go rest. That's enough for today."
"This is my rest, my lord."
Yi Do gave a soft snort of laughter.
"I see."
The one sect, one school, and three clans of Sambong-hyeon were all prestigious houses.
For over sixty years, they had reigned over Sambong-hyeon. Honestly speaking, their relations had never been particularly bad.
This was a border region rife with clashes between martial artists, so these clans' enemies were not the sects of Sambong-hyeon, but the sects of the neighboring territory — Jangam Commandery.
And among the one sect, one school, and three clans, the Hong Clan was now ablaze.
That was a metaphor.
The people of the Hong Clan stared at the corpses laid out before them, seething with rage and weeping.
Not long ago, they had sent a caravan to the Yeon State. Thirty carts laden with goods, fifty martial artists to escort them, and eighty porters.
The man who had commanded the entire operation was Hong Guk-beon, the young lord of the Hong Clan.
Now, every last one of them lay dead.
The countless corpses arrayed before them were those very people.
"Ah… Aaagh…!"
Hong Chik-seo, patriarch of the Hong Clan, wailed.
The lost goods? He could not have cared less.
Even if the sum ran to thousands of gold ryang, it was nothing compared to the shock of losing his own son. That worthless money — he didn't need it.
If it could bring his son back, he would have paid ten times his entire fortune.
But nothing could change what was done.
A heart run through, and a great hole punched through the throat.
There was no coming back from this. No treatment could save him.
He must have died instantly.
The heart first, then the throat.
Hong Chik-seo screamed.
They claimed a band of bandits had appeared out of nowhere, slaughtered everyone, and made off with the goods — but who could possibly believe that?
Between Sambong-hyeon and Jangam Commandery sprawled an enormous mountain called Bibong Mountain.
Its location was so perfectly placed that every merchant caravan in the surrounding commanderies and counties passed through it. It could rightly be called a vital chokepoint.
Bandits, at a chokepoint like that?
What kind of madman would play bandit in a region where the Asura Sword Sect and the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect were locked in a power struggle?
Anyone with an ounce of common sense would operate elsewhere. And anyone who lacked it would be annihilated in a single sweep of retribution.
They had sent martial artists of exactly that caliber, after all.
A man approached the wailing Hong Chik-seo and wrapped his arms around him.
It was Hong Ja-myeong, second son of the Hong Clan.
He and the young lord had been close. He had never coveted the position of young lord himself. They were brothers of a rare, steadfast loyalty to one another.
The young lord managed the Hong Clan's overall affairs, while the second son, Hong Ja-myeong, commanded its martial strength.
He had no ambitions.
Everyone knew this. The deep tear tracks carved into Hong Ja-myeong's eyes were proof enough.
Like any true martial artist, he could steady his emotions quickly.
Hong Ja-myeong spoke.
"What if we brought this matter before the branch lord of the Asura Sword Sect's Sambong Branch?"
Hong Chik-seo lifted his head.
"To… that man?"
"Yes."
This was Sambong-hyeon — home to the Asura Sword Sect's Sambong Branch, and that branch was obligated to protect the families of this region, collecting tribute as the price of that protection.
Hong Ja-myeong's reasoning was sound.
"……But that man is…"
"The rumors exaggerate, but he is the man who killed Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon. And the man who repaid, with his own hands, every coin they ever borrowed or stole."
"……But still…"
"Father — my lord. Anyone can see this was the work of a force under the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect. Right now, the Asura Sword Sect is the only place we have left to lean on."
There was no need to deliberate. Hong Chik-seo's two eyes gleamed with killing intent. He had to have his vengeance.
For that, he was prepared to offer everything he had.
"……Yes. Let us go at once."
"Yes, Father."
And so father and son made their way to the Sambong Branch.
They found Yi Do in the middle of a meal, and dropped to their knees without a moment's hesitation to beg.
The young lord of the clan had been slain. Fifty martial artists and eighty porters lay dead.
Help us, they pleaded.
Please — grant us our vengeance.
Yi Do spoke.
"Very well."