Chapter 201
Chapter 201: Gangdo and the Courtesan (4)
"I'm glad you think that way."
Bae Dal-pae let out a deep sigh and continued.
"Earlier I mentioned that certain factions were showing great interest in Hero Gate, didn't I?"
"You did. Whether for good or ill."
"Yes. And it seems......the interest being directed our way is very significant—on the bad side."
"The bad side?"
"The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect and the Dark Net Rakshasa Path are apparently dragging every last small and mid-sized sect within their sphere of influence into this conflict."
"I see."
"This is not an 'I see' situation. This is growing far larger than anticipated—"
"No. It's the natural order. The nature of human society when it forms groups."
"Pardon?"
"Throughout all of history, great powers have always acted like bandits, and lesser powers have always acted like courtesans."
"......"
"That's the nature of this breed called humans when they band together. The stronger they are, the more they act like bandits."
"Well…"
Bae Dal-pae stood with his mouth slightly open, saying nothing.
Then, blinking his eyes two or three times, he resumed the conversation.
"Yes. The phrasing is a bit strong, but that's exactly how things are unfolding."
"So?"
"Pardon?"
"So what's your conclusion?"
"......"
"What is it we need to do?"
Bae Dal-pae scratched his temple for a long while before finally opening his mouth.
"The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect's envoy delegation......is apparently already on its way here."
A war-ready envoy delegation from the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect, already making its way here?
The corners of Dong Bong-soo's lips spread open.
"Good."
"Pardon? Them coming means—"
"I know, I know. I know what it means. Don't rehash what you said earlier."
"......"
"What did I say just now?"
"Pardon?"
"The strong always act like bandits, and the weak always act like prostitutes."
"......"
"Their momentum is strong, and our forces have not yet fully ripened. What should we do?"
"Ah."
The expression on Dong Bong-soo's face, which had grown slightly lukewarm, was now flushed with warm heat.
"Sell a bit of the body, that's what. What's so difficult about that?"
It was exactly what he'd been hoping for.
Wasn't the [Guild Window] idling away in an open-but-closed state anyway?
"In exchange, the flower fee ought to be collected generously."
Put on some airs, get a bit of shaping done, put on some makeup......
And if need be, get drenched in a bit of blood as well.
***
The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect.
The oldest and greatest sacred ground of the sword in the current Martial World.
That sect had six corps.
The Sword Training Corps, responsible for training.
The Sword Guard Corps, responsible for protecting the main mountain.
The Sword Branch Corps, responsible for managing branch sects.
The Sword Scouting Corps, responsible for gathering intelligence.
The Sword Law Corps, responsible for enforcing discipline.
And finally.
Last of all, the Sword Patrol Corps, responsible for external negotiations and inspection tours.
"Corps Leader, it's approximately two days until Gangdo."
Even at the subordinate's report, the man in his thirties seated on horseback, his long hair streaming in the wind, did not turn his head.
Sang Gwan-hwi.
Epithet: Heavenly Bloom Sword.
The youngest of the Vast Heaven Three Swords, and Corps Leader of the Sword Patrol Corps.
Features sharp as a blade, skin clear as jade.
His appearance was closer to that of a noble son than a swordsman—yet his eyes were different.
The light dwelling within those narrowly slitted eyes was like a sword edge freshly honed.
Rising to the position of Corps Leader at the age of thirty-two was a record without precedent in the twelve-hundred-year history of the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect.
Of course, one couldn't say it was entirely unrelated to the fact that he was the youngest disciple of the Sect Leader, Vast Heaven Sword Venerable.
Yet it was equally true that that alone couldn't explain everything.
The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect was a place that would never permit someone without ability to rise to a high position.
He simply gazed at the horizon stretching far ahead from atop his horse.
The emblem of the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect embroidered on his white robe—a sword rising through the clouds—fluttered in the wind.
"Two days."
Sang Gwan-hwi's voice was composed, yet within it lingered an undisguisable weariness.
"I can't fathom why I should be burdened with such trivial errands."
"......"
"Shouldn't this be a task for Elder Sister or Second Elder Brother? Why me?"
"The Sword Guard Corps Leader is handling the defense of the main mountain, while the Sword Law Corps Leader is already managing the eastern front where conflict with the Dark Net Rakshasa Path is underway......"
"I know. I know that."
Sang Gwan-hwi waved his hand listlessly, cutting off his adjutant's words.
He knew.
How pressing the current situation was.
Not long ago, the Dark Net Rakshasa Path had attacked a branch sect of the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect, the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
Fifty-three disciples had been massacred.
And it wasn't simply a matter of killing.
The bodies were gathered and used—employed—in what they called their mad "ritual."
They painted mandalas in blood and forged ritual implements from bones.
A blatant provocation against the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect.
Strictly speaking, it was more than provocation—it was a surprise declaration of war.
The Vast Heaven Sword Venerable had been enraged.
And declared.
This time, they would see it through to the end.
The problem was that the Dark Net Rakshasa Path would not have started a war without reason.
Killing Is Liberation.
Even for fanatics who believed that killing and being killed was salvation, and even if a large-scale war was the finest "sacred feast" of all—they would not have set things in motion without a chance of victory.
Urgent support missives had been dispatched to Orthodox sects across the Central Plains, yet local conflicts had already broken out to the east and south.
Skirmishes occurred without fail each passing day, and casualties were already mounting on both sides.
It was still too early to call it an all-out war, but the sparks had already been fanned into a great flame.
That it would blaze fully and reduce one side or the other to ash was only a matter of time.
"What became of the Formation Tower matter?"
Sang Gwan-hwi asked.
"That is......"
"Speak."
"It seems the Dark Net Rakshasa Path made contact first. Apparently they've already offered a considerable sum."
A crease formed between Sang Gwan-hwi's brows.
Formation Tower.
The Alliance Under Heaven Formation.
Those who would stand on any side so long as money was given.
That their formations could alter the course of a war was something everyone knew.
"Our offer?"
"We are doing our utmost, but......it seems insufficient to match the sum the Dark Net Rakshasa Path has proposed."
"As expected."
The difference between the Orthodox Path and the Evil Path.
The Orthodox Martial World moves by principles and conviction.
The Evil Martial World moves by desire and madness.
And in terms of money, the latter had always been more brazen.
Because they cared nothing for the means.
"We'll be fortunate to reduce the scale of their participation."
"It appears so."
"......"
That was precisely why this visit to Gangdo mattered.
The Sect Leader, Vast Heaven Sword Venerable, had placed great value on Gangdo.
Though it was typically dismissed as a backwater, in truth it was an undervalued place, he had said.
Martial artists tempered through hundreds of years of standoff against Northern Yan.
A martial ecology that developed independently under a system where government and the Martial World coexisted in an aberrant symbiosis.
Cut off from the outside world and sparsely connected, yet fundamentally a very powerful place, he had said.
—No matter how much frogs-in-a-well they may be, if those frogs kill and are killed amongst themselves for hundreds of years, they grow large enough to match a serpent or a fox from outside the well.
Those had been the Vast Heaven Sword Venerable's words.
Sang Gwan-hwi had not agreed.
The borderlands were simply the borderlands.
No matter how much they fought and scrapped amongst themselves, they were nothing more than country bumpkins who had never experienced the true storms of the Martial World.
That was Sang Gwan-hwi's view.
It was simply an order, so he would follow it.
"Wasn't it the Iron God Society and the Seven Star Immortal Assembly?"
Sang Gwan-hwi asked suddenly.
The subordinate bowed his head.
"Yes, they were said to have been the two great powers of Gangdo."
"Were?"
"The Iron God Society apparently no longer exists."
"No longer exists?"
"Yes, Corps Leader. It has been completely disbanded......"
"And the Seven Star Immortal Assembly?"
"Yes, the Seven Star Immortal Assembly too has apparently vanished without a trace."
Sang Gwan-hwi's brow rose slightly.
Unexpected.
Even for rural sects, they would have had some degree of foundation.
"Then who rules the Martial World of Gangdo now?"
"They say it is the Hero Gate."
"Hero Gate? Ha, an absurdly arrogant name."
It was a name he had never heard before.
Properly speaking, a sect needed at minimum several decades of history before it earned the right to attach the character "Gate."
And on top of that, to dare affix the noble word "hero" to a rural sect's name.
"When was it founded?"
"That is......apparently only a few months ago."
"A few months?"
"Yes. Yet within those few months, they are said to have toppled both the Iron God Society and the Seven Star Immortal Assembly and seized control of all of Gangdo."
"......Hmph."
Sang Gwan-hwi snorted.
Toppling two major powers within a few months?
Two great ones.
Preposterous drivel.
A handful of rural sects squabbling amongst themselves, and they dare call themselves "great" powers. A sneer comes naturally.
Right, this is the kind of sordid land that the borderland Martial World tends to be.
A place where hollow shells put on airs until they crumble of their own accord, and atop their ruins another hollow shell rises.
"Who did you say the Sect Leader is?"
"They say his name is Kim Rae-won."
"Kim Rae-won?"
It felt as though he had encountered the name somewhere......
Tilting his head slightly, Sang Gwan-hwi soon stroked his upper lip with his index finger and said,
"I've never heard of him."
He would surely be nothing more than a rural nobody.
"No. His origins and background are said to be unclear."
Sang Gwan-hwi asked no further.
He had no interest.
A borderland sect of that sort, in any case.
When the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect extended its hand, they would receive it with gratitude and deference.
No—they had to.
That was the duty of the weak.
"Corps Leader."
The subordinate opened his mouth with caution.
"What is it?"
"If they......though such a thing would not happen—if the Hero Gate does not take the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect's hand, what are you planning to do?"
"What should I do?"
Sang Gwan-hwi lightly tugged the reins.
The horse stopped.
He slowly turned his head.
"I would need to spend a pleasant half-day with them first during the day."
A smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth.
A benevolent and gentle smile.
Warm as a patch of sunlight on a spring day.
Yet.
The eyes revealed beneath that smile were cold as frost.
"If there's time left at night......"
A frozen abyss, devoid of a single trace of warmth.
"I suppose we'd have to engage in some interaction."
And yet the hand stroking his sleek jawline remained, as ever, elegant.
"The method won't require much talk. Ah, though of course the manner of interaction will have to differ just a little between men and women."
The subordinate could not answer.
He simply bowed his head.
Sang Gwan-hwi looked ahead once more.
Far beyond the horizon there would be Gangdo.
'Better finish this quickly and head back.'
A tiresome errand.
What need was there for one of the Vast Heaven Three Swords to personally come and persuade a single borderland sect?
Had it not been the Sect Leader's order, it would have been a place he never would have come to.
It was an order, so he would follow it.
An order, so he would handle it swiftly.
And if they refused?
The corners of Sang Gwan-hwi's lips rose again.
That would be entertaining in its own right.
How delicious might a frog that has been fermenting for several hundred years be?
His mouth was already watering.
"Move out."
At his command, the thirty-strong elite envoy delegation of the Sword Patrol Corps began to move as one.
Dust rose.
Through that dust, white robes streamed in the wind and disappeared.
Toward Gangdo.