Nokrim
“……Your recovery speed is remarkable.”
Yi Do gave a silent nod at the physician's words.
“There won't be any need for a splint either. I heard you broke it yesterday…… but the bone has already knitted. Rest for a couple of days without overexerting yourself, and you should be fully healed.”
The physician wound a bandage around Yi Do's arm and then turned toward Myeong Hyeon, whose condition was by far the worst. Two other physicians were already tending to him, but these were merely there to assist.
“Heh heh…… You truly are extraordinary in more ways than one.”
It was Jang Sangbo.
Since the early hours of the morning, the branch manager of Cheonjeong Gate's Jangam branch had brought no fewer than five renowned physicians from the vicinity of Jangam Commandery.
“Jang Sangbo.”
“Yes, Lord Yi Do.”
“I didn't expect you to take such care on my behalf. I'm grateful.”
“Haha. Think nothing of it. You've given me a great deal already, so it would wound me if you thanked me for something like this. This much is simply the baseline, wouldn't you say?”
Jang Sangbo had neither asked about what happened last night nor made any attempt to find out.
An elder of the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect had arrived with two hundred assassins, and two of the warriors under Yi Do's command—himself included—had sustained serious injuries.
And two hundred corpses had been found. Han Beom-seong had vanished.
That much alone was all that needed to be known.
This was the range that Yi Do permitted.
Were anyone to probe further, they would make an enemy of Yi Do.
Jang Sangbo had kept to the line. No—he had to keep to it, for he wished to maintain a good relationship with Yi Do.
Yi Do was a man who drew a hard, clean line between public duty and private favor.
He drew a pouch from his breast and handed it to Jang Sangbo. When Jang Sangbo looked inside, his eyes went wide.
“Lord Yi Do…… this is far too much.”
Nearly a hundred gold coins.
“Enough. I've taken information from you all this while, and now that you've shown me such care, staying silent with my mouth shut would hardly make me a man.”
He gave as much as he received. That was Yi Do.
“And—the 'side business'? Is it going well?”
Jang Sangbo smiled faintly.
“It's only just begun, so I can't say for certain, but I believe it will do well.”
Let it be said again: Yi Do always repaid goodwill with goodwill. And that was true now as well.
The 'side business' Yi Do spoke of referred to a new venture of Cheonjeong Gate's Jangam branch.
They were an intelligence organization, to be sure, but their martial force was considerable. It was with that force that they obtained information, and buying and selling that information was their core trade.
In Jangam Commandery, the clans that had migrated from Sambong-hyeon were currently scrambling to establish new footholds. Inns and smithies had already been claimed, but the most ambiguous prize had been the merchant guilds. To make matters worse, the sour relations with the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect meant that even the smuggling that had once flowed through here had grown scarce of late—some kind of solution was needed, and it was Yi Do who had proposed one.
The solution was almost absurdly simple: use Cheonjeong Gate.
The organization, possessed of formidable strength yet dealing only in information, began escorting Jangam Commandery's merchant guilds. Since Cheonjeong Gate was firmly neutral, if they provided the escort, the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect would have no reason to interfere—and neither would the Asura Sword Sect.
It was a clean, airtight solution.
“Hahaha. As a result, only twenty members remain at the Jangam branch right now…… but once the ones who departed first produce meaningful results, I intend to contact Cheonjeong Gate headquarters immediately and reinforce our numbers.”
“There's no need to report such things to me. I trust you'll handle it well on your own.”
“Heo…… To think you'd place such confidence in me…… Thank you, truly. And…….”
Glancing around, Jang Sangbo lowered his voice.
“……This is information that came in this very morning……”
The room had fallen very quiet. A glint of interest entered Yi Do's eyes.
“It isn't confirmed yet, so I'd rather not state it as fact…… but since no one can know what tomorrow brings, I felt I ought to pass it along regardless. Would that be all right?”
Yi Do nodded. “Go ahead.”
“……They say the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect is scheming something.”
“What kind of scheme?”
“Just as you attacked and seized the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect's territory, they intend to attack the domain of the Asura Sword Sect.”
There was a reason Jang Sangbo had spoken so carefully.
“But…… which territory they'll strike is still uncertain. That's why I hesitated to say anything…… Still, I thought you needed to know, so I'm telling you.”
Afterward, Jang Sangbo was inwardly startled—because of the reaction Yi Do showed. He had expected him to be flustered or alarmed. Instead, the man was smiling.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Certain.”
Yi Do listened to Jang Sangbo without a word.
“But as I said before, where they'll strike remains an unknown…… We likely won't find out until they're already on the move. And they will certainly move in secret. Even if our Cheonjeong Gate acquires the information as swiftly as possible, it's entirely possible we learn of it only after everything is already over. So wouldn't you need to prepare from this very moment?”
Listening, a question occurred to Yi Do.
“I've noticed this for some time now—your intelligence network operates at a considerable level. The information you've handed me is not only swift, but dense with substance. Hardly something I could pass up asking about. Where does it come from?”
“……Hm…… That relates to my own background, you see. The branch manager of Wisu Commandery, where the Asura Sword Sect's headquarters stands, is my senior martial brother.”
“The Wisu Commandery branch manager?”
“Yes. His name is Won Sunsang. He's on friendly terms with Cheonjeong Gate's elders, and his abilities are so exceptional that many within the organization have already privately settled on him as the next elder, so you see…… my lord, are you well?”
Jang Sangbo had not missed the way Yi Do's eyes had shifted. It was not because he disliked what he was hearing.
Yi Do had never expected to hear that name here.
“Won Sunsang, of the Shadow-Serpent Sword Sect?”
“……Yes, that…… how did you know?”
It was a natural enough reaction.
The Shadow-Serpent Sword Sect—a sect that had played at being a hegemon in a place called Hae Yeong-jin, far down to the south. A sect destroyed roughly ten years before this point in time, and frankly, no matter how grandly one strutted about in a backwater like Hae Yeong-jin, it was still nothing more than a frog in a well. Even those who remembered the sect's name were few and far between—which made it all the more astonishing to Jang Sangbo that Yi Do, still young, knew of the Shadow-Serpent Sword Sect at all.
“I heard word of it while traveling. Won Sunsang, is it…… I can't decide whether you're lucky or unlucky.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Enough. Since the topic has come up, I have a commission for you.”
Jang Sangbo's expression grew grave. Every time Yi Do spoke in that particular tone, some 'big trouble' had a way of following.
“Can you dig deeper into what the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect is planning?”
Jang Sangbo wet his lips with his tongue.
“……As you know, if an intelligence organization were to side with one party in a war between sects…… that alone carries ample risk of becoming a problem. However.”
What came after the 'however' was what mattered.
“I personally wish to maintain a good relationship with you, Lord Yi Do—and I hope you feel the same.”
“I already do.”
“Then, within the limits of my strength, I'll find out everything I can. Even if I can't learn what color undergarments Gong Wi-ryang is wearing today, I'll somehow manage to learn the color of the pair he'll wear tomorrow.”
It was a figure of speech.
“I mean it—I'll find out properly. Though as it happens, Gong Wi-ryang does favor red, so……”
Apparently not.
Yi Do snorted a quiet laugh and cast a glance at Un Dohyeon. Quick to read the cue, Un Dohyeon went straight to the storeroom, returned with a box, and set it before Jang Sangbo. When Jang Sangbo peered inside, he nearly staggered.
“……This is…… far too much.”
“That should be roughly a thousand gold coins. If you show me goodwill, shouldn't I show it back?”
“But this is……”
“Refuse nothing. Take it.”
Before long, Jang Sangbo nodded.
And then—
“There is a traitor among the Asura Sword Sect's elders. Look into that one as well.”
Jang Sangbo, who had been blinking wide-eyed, nodded again without hesitation.
“Your treatment is finished, so be on your way.”
“I will return with answers.”
Yi Do gave a faint smile and waved a hand in casual dismissal.
Having seen Jang Sangbo off, Yi Do sank briefly into thought.
Won Sunsang.
He had never imagined he would hear that name here.
In his past life, Yi Do had fought a war against Cheonjeong Gate. He had taken the Sect Master's head, then the Vice Sect Master's. He had beaten more than half the elders to death, and every branch his eyes could see he had blown to pieces.
Afterward, Yi Do had managed a dramatic reconciliation with Cheonjeong Gate—though 'reconciliation' was a generous word for what was, in truth, a subjugation. The undisputed victor had been Yi Do, and Cheonjeong Gate had been driven to the very brink of annihilation.
The one who became that broken organization's new Sect Master was Won Sunsang.
He rebuilt the collapsed Cheonjeong Gate from the ground up. He was the man who resurrected an organization everyone had assumed destroyed, restoring it to its place as the foremost intelligence body in the murim.
The 39th Sect Master of Cheonjeong Gate, Won Sunsang.
He had never guessed the man was serving as the Wisu Commandery branch manager. When he first met him, Won Sunsang had already been an elder of the gate.
And this Jang Sangbo, from the same sect lineage as Won Sunsang.
It was intriguing. Who knew the pieces could fit together like this?
“Un Dohyeon.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“How many elixirs were due to arrive today?”
“Three Heaven Bloom Pills aged thirty years, five Heaven Bloom Pills aged fifty years, and ten Spirit Restoration Pills aged twenty years.”
Money flowed in abundance.
Even after sending the tribute payments to the Asura Sword Sect, the surplus overflowed. With that money, Yi Do had been buying elixirs.
Traveling from here to Baekmun Town, fighting there, returning here, and fighting Han Beom-seong—that everything had been possible at all owed itself to these.
“And that information on Jangryeong Commandery proved useful.”
“Thank you.”
Jangryeong Commandery was running smoothly. Blood-Blood Asura Kang So-eo had restored his honor and now ruled as the head of the Kang clan that dominated the commandery. Thousand-Faced Assassin Hwang No-baek was faring well too, and the shopkeepers under him likewise.
Yi Do had no intention of summoning them. They were doing well enough where they were—what purpose would calling them here serve? Every affair has its proper season.
And—
Word was that the Yin-Yang Sect had established a branch in Jangryeong Commandery, but even that, for now, was said to pose no real problem.
Everything was unfolding well.
It was then that Myeong Hyeon approached Yi Do.
“My lord?”
Yi Do lifted his head and looked at Myeong Hyeon, who gestured subtly toward the outside.
“Cheon Chung-myeon of Hao Gate has arrived. Shall we drive him off, or let him in?”
He was curious.
“Did he come empty-handed?”
“No. He brought two cartloads of treasure.”
So the man had finally come to his senses. Had he arrived empty-handed, Yi Do would have turned him away at once—but that wasn't the case.
“Let him in.”
“Yes.”
Cheon Chung-myeon's first words were these:
“Yesterday…… I must beg your forgiveness.”
“And?”
“I've come bearing a small, humble compensation…… along with a piece of information.”
“Information?”
“……To speak frankly, yesterday's affair left me greatly displeased.”
Yi Do simply crossed his legs. When he jerked his chin as if to say go on, Cheon Chung-myeon continued.
“But I understand. If anything, it knocked some sense into me. From this point forward, I wish to maintain a good relationship with you.”
“A good relationship, is it……”
“Even when a beginning is poor, endings often turn for the better. So—will you hear the information I've brought?”
Yi Do found himself laughing.
“Fine. Let's hear it.”
“As you well know, this Jangam Commandery once belonged to the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect's domain. Bibong Mountain, which lies between here and Sambong-hyeon, is frequented by the merchant guilds of Yeon Country as well, and its value was considerable. But—did you know? There is a mountain that anyone entering Jangam Commandery must pass through first.”
Yi Do shook his head.
“Chilhyeon Mountain. It's not as grand as Bibong Mountain here, but a great many of Yeon Country's merchant guilds pass over it.”
“So what is it you're trying to tell me?”
“Nokrim holds that mountain.”
“Nokrim?”
“That is so. Nokrim. The very same Green Forest bandits who claim to carry on the spirit of the Eighteen Fortresses of old. They control the merchant guilds traveling from Chilhyeon Mountain toward Jangam Commandery.”
The smile drained from Yi Do's face.
“Of course, those Nokrim lords have their own considerations, so they don't bar every guild from passing. But these things accumulate, you see…… and in time, the clans of Yeon Country may well stir. And when they do, the odds are high that they'll set their sights on this very Jangam Commandery.”
It was a simple matter, really.
Bandits or not, there were always grades of quality. Nokrim could not be dismissed as ordinary brigands—they had to be regarded as a full-fledged murim power.
And they operated out of Yeon Country. A nuisance or not, an organization of that caliber would have strings threaded everywhere.
Cheon Chung-myeon's words were not wrong. Sooner or later, they would become a threat to him.
“……To your liking?”
“It pleases me. So what is it you want?”
“Nothing. I merely ask that you hold no grudge against Hao Gate for what happened yesterday.”
“Yesterday's affairs were forgotten with yesterday. Today, you've given me silver, so I must give silver in return. You're aware that Cheonjeong Gate has taken over the escorting of the merchant guilds?”
“Of course.”
“Then take part in that work as well. Jangam Commandery will become a new border in the days to come, and the more stable it grows, the greater the profits to be reaped. Do the escorting properly. Do that, and I'll hand over a tenth of the revenue.”
Cheon Chung-myeon's face brightened, and he clasped his fists in salute.
“Truly, you are a man possessed of a sovereign's bearing. My gratitude.”
“Enough. Now be on your way.”
Cheon Chung-myeon withdrew.
Yi Do drew a few Asura Pills from his breast and tipped them into his mouth. Running the Primordial Unity Qi Cultivation in slow circles, he sank into thought.
The information he had gathered today—it needed a little sorting.
The Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect was plotting something. Was it to seize branch territories, or an all-out war? Or failing both, were they trying to pressure the Asura Sword Sect while avoiding a full war as far as possible?
Even if he tried to predict, he lacked the information to do so.
And even dredging up his memories of his past life would not help—in that life, the period when he had been properly active in the murim came only after both sects had already fallen.
Waiting until more information accumulated was the correct course. For now, as branch master of this Jangam branch, his task was to maximize the profits of this place.
Far greater sums of money would flow in, and far more elixirs would come into his hands. Whatever threatened that had to be cleared away.
Nokrim.
Frankly, he knew little about the organization in detail. They operated only within Yeon Country, and they had been suppressed root and branch before he ever descended from the mountain.
Truthfully, there had never been any need to know much about bandits. Information on them was scarce—but then, it would have been stranger if it weren't.
If they stood in his way—
They would simply be exterminated a little ahead of schedule.
The sorting of his thoughts was finished.
Uninvited guests were squatting in his front yard. Worse, they were shaking down the very guests arriving through it. A long-term obstacle to his future.
There was nothing more to think about.
He opened his eyes.
More time had passed than he'd realized; the sun was already sinking low. And the two men who had descended to the underground quarters stood there as if to escort him.
Myeong Hyeon grinned.
“I suppose our lord truly does have it rough. It seems I'm having quite the rare experience today—actually witnessing you rest.”
Before long, Myeong Hyeon tossed him something. Catching it, Yi Do found it was a Golden Spear Salve—and not just any, but the highest grade that grew only in the North Sea.
“A bit left over from using it. Shin Ui gave it to me for this very purpose, and well—we can't have our lord bearing scars, now can we?”
There was no questioning this salve's potency. Ordinary wounds healed without fail—'regeneration' was not too strong a word. Myeong Hyeon's cheek bore a long scar from an old wound, yet on close inspection, it looked like nothing more than a shallow nick from a single pass of a blade.
All of it thanks to this Golden Spear Salve.
Yi Do checked inside the jar. More than half remained. He snorted a laugh and tossed it to Un Dohyeon, who caught it cleanly.
“My lord……”
“Use it.”
Myeong Hyeon cut in.
“Ah—if you're not going to use it, give it to me, then. Our junior here needs to be raised strong, you know.”
Yi Do ignored him. So did Un Dohyeon. Perhaps he hadn't expected any better, for Myeong Hyeon snickered to himself.
Yi Do rose slowly from his seat.
“Keep at whatever you were doing and listen. There are uninvited guests in the front yard of our house. I intend to clear them out.”
Myeong Hyeon asked, “Slaughter them all?”
“First, I'll make them an offer. If they refuse that offer, then I'll slaughter them. Myeong Hyeon.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“How far has your recovery come?”
“If I draw up power at the level of Ogijowon…… I can fight properly for about half a quarter-hour. And if I forego that and burn power at the level of Samhwa Chwijeong instead, I can manage about half a shijin. The elixirs you gave us are simply that exceptional.”
“Your wounds?”
“They sting, but not enough to stop me moving. You know as well as anyone, my lord—I'm well acquainted with pain. No need to worry on my account.”
Yi Do nodded.
“And you, Un Dohyeon?”
“I am in perfect condition. I can carry out every order you give.”
That was enough.
“We depart.”
The two men rose from their seats, smiling.
They headed straight for Chilhyeon Mountain. The moment they set foot within it, Myeong Hyeon snickered.
“It seems our lord's reputation has spread far and wide.”
It was only natural for such words to arise. Myeong Hyeon's gaze was not fixed straight ahead—but on what lay where the man was looking.
Due northeast, precisely.
From there came the sound of something crashing through the brush.
“Looks like he's running for it. Shall we catch him?”
Yi Do shook his head. There was no need.
“He's obligingly showing us the way, isn't he? How endearing. It seems the bandits around here have rather good manners.”
“So they do.”
Laughing, they followed the fleeing bandit deeper into the mountain.