A Hundred Years in the Wilderness
"So this is Chengdu. Even though we're both in Sichuan, it's a place we've had a hard time entering."
A young man in his late teens, refined and handsome, stood overlooking the capital city and murmured the words softly.
"How long has it been since we were barred from entering this place by legitimate means?"
The man who answered his question spoke in an even tone. A long scar ran down his cheek, and a massive saber hung across his back.
"Since the Orthodox-Demonic War, Young Master."
In other words, more than a hundred years had already flowed past.
"That's right. Back then, we held half of Chengdu — and because we sided with neither the demonic cult nor the orthodox sects, we were driven out. They were my ancestors, but honestly, weren't they fools? They sat back waiting for the cult and the orthodox sects to bleed each other dry, and instead they got hammered from both sides at once. Each of them invoked the noble cause of securing their own rear."
His tone was smooth and measured, but a tangle of complicated emotions churned beneath the young man's words.
"At the time... was that choice not the right one?"
"Of course it was. Naturally! A splendid choice. But if you were going to make a choice like that, you should have pulled out of Chengdu entirely. You should have removed yourself completely from the war."
Their half-hearted tightrope walk had only produced one outcome: a total retreat from Chengdu.
After all, neither side would ever have left Paedolim — a faction brazenly biding its time for an opening — alone.
"Ever since then, we've scraped together the dregs of the unorthodox in Sichuan's borderlands and built our strength... khof!"
"Young Master."
What the man held out was an ornate long-stemmed pipe, its intricate patterns etched deep into the metal.
"Khof... khof..."
Only after drawing the pipe's smoke deep into his lungs did the color slowly seep back into the young man's pale face.
"Haah... Building our strength, and a hundred years passed just like that. A full hundred years."
"And on that foundation, hasn't Paedolim now reclaimed its former glory? We've become one of the five great pillars of the unorthodox world."
Even so, the young man's expression did not improve in the slightest.
"We were meant to be the greatest of all. We should never have settled for a seat among the Five Star Alliance — we should have been its leader."
Paedolim's Young Master, Dan Haseong, gazed out at Chengdu, his feelings visibly tangled.
"Today marks our first step toward re-entering Chengdu — and toward the leadership of the Five Star Alliance. Now, which was the place that requested our help?"
"The Geumo Merchant Guild. They're not a large guild, but they've operated in Chengdu for a long time and did business with the Tang Clan. Recently, however, they hired the Ghost Blade Three Killers for a job — and the Three Killers massacred Seoksu Village, which the Tang Clan administers, along with the clan's disciples."
"What a man of truly wretched luck."
Could things really go this godawfully wrong? Whether he'd intended it or not, the Geumo Merchant Guild had made an enemy of the Tang Clan right there in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.
From the air they breathed to the food they ate, they would now have to guard against everything. Every single day would probably taste of death.
"Does the Tang Clan know yet?"
"I haven't confirmed that far. But judging by the clan's movements, I'd say they've just found out."
One way or another, the Geumo Merchant Guild would not escape the Tang Clan's fury.
"So even knowing all this, the Tang Clan stays quiet..."
"Apparently, Qingcheng and Emei have arrived. The Ghost Blade Three Killers murdered Qingcheng's second disciple, and there was an altercation with Emei's disciples as well."
That explained why the Tang Clan's response had been so sluggish.
"Quite the industrious rampage for such a short span of time."
Dan Haseeng felt not a shred of sympathy for the Ghost Blade Three Killers and their idiotic blundering — poking and prodding in every direction without a thought.
"How, then, did the Geumo Merchant Guild come to petition us for help?"
"They're an active guild in Sichuan, so it seems some connection formed with our side. They aren't a sect of the Jianghu — they're merchants, and merchants will trade with whichever group turns them a profit."
At those words, Dan Haseong took a light draw from his pipe.
"I see. The Tang Clan can't be trusted, and setting aside Qingcheng and Emei, there's no orthodox sect in these parts capable of standing against the Tang Clan... They didn't have many options."
Even in a situation like this, the Guild Master of Geumo had picked the best available card. His competence made Dan Haseong nod in fresh appreciation.
"The moment we set foot in Chengdu, we'll have made an enemy of the Tang Clan."
"What does it matter? We're already in open opposition to the Tang Clan outside the city. To keep growing from here, we have no choice but to move into Chengdu."
After a long era of coveting Chengdu at every opportunity, they had finally been handed a justification. If they hesitated here, the title of foremost among the unorthodox would slip further and further into the future.
"For now they're merely a small guild, but on that foundation we must spread Paedolim's influence through Chengdu. The Geumo Merchant Guild may be small, but their network of connections is anything but."
It was a sound argument.
"Understood."
"Where is the Mad Blood Unit at the moment?"
"They've infiltrated the city in advance. The moment you send the signal, they can appear at any time."
"One unit won't be enough. Order the Myeolcheon Squad to join them as well. The rear is secure now, so we have strength to spare."
"Understood."
Dan Haseong smiled with evident satisfaction at Woo Jong-seon, Commander of the Mad Blood Unit.
With that handsome face breaking into a smile, it would have been enough to set a hundred women's hearts aflutter.
Dan Haseong gazed at Chengdu a while longer, and then a story he'd heard on the way here drifted back to him.
"Come to think of it, there's an amusing rumor making the rounds in Chengdu these days, isn't there?"
"You mean the tale of the Poison Viper who captured the Ghost Blade Three Killers, the ones who brought the blood calamity down on Seoksu Village?"
"The Poison Viper... A fitting sobriquet for someone of the Tang Clan."
The nickname alone made it instantly obvious which family the man belonged to.
"Yes. They say he's the Third Young Master of the Tang Clan."
"Is the Tang Clan's Third Young Master capturing the Ghost Blade Three Killers really such a remarkable feat?"
The Three Killers were disciples of Mak Gwi-cheon, the Blade Killing Ghost of Yukhwangseong — one of the Five Star Alliance. True to the Six Devils Killing Saber they practiced, an art that grew by taking lives, they had gone off to the war-torn battlefields of the north. And in Dan Haseong's memory, they had been unremarkable fighters before they left for the front.
"When I last saw them, their skill was nothing to write home about."
"Word is they killed Qingcheng's second disciple and defeated Emei's disciples."
"Oh~?"
"And the Third Young Master who captured those same Three Killers — barely half a year ago, he was famous in Chengdu as a good-for-nothing degenerate."
"A degenerate?"
Amid all the tedious, scholastic business, an intriguing topic had finally surfaced. A fallen man's turnaround, of all things.
Dan Haseong's curiosity about this Poison Viper took root.
"I'm curious now. Perhaps... I'll get the chance to meet him this time?"
"Very likely. Now that the link between the Ghost Blade Three Killers and the Geumo Merchant Guild has come to light, the odds that the Poison Viper comes for the Guild Master himself are extremely high."
"Haha! Haha! Hahahaha! Then I'd best steel my heart."
The words sounded ominous enough, but his face was filled with more anticipation than it had ever held.
"Whew! The Poison Viper, is it..."
Exhaling a plume of smoke, Dan Haseong began to walk, unhurried.
"You there! I heard the whole story!"
"..."
Had she come to rage at him? Or to offer her thanks?
Samryong could only curse the Clan Head who had arranged this deeply uncomfortable meeting with Hwasun Satae.
"Tch!"
For whatever it was that displeased her so, Hwasun Satae sipped her tea with her face screwed up in an impressive scowl before slowly getting to the point.
"I heard you lent our So-gun your aid. So, in return, forget what you did to So-gun back then. Consider the matter closed!"
'Ha!'
For a moment the sheer absurdity of it nearly wrenched an insolent laugh out of him, but Samryong had absolutely no desire to earn the grudge of a Transcendent Peak master, so he spoke with careful calm.
"That matter was already settled decisively by Elder Sister Wi. If you, Hwasun Satae, keep bringing it up, you aren't protecting her — you're only making her word weigh less."
"Ahem..."
Even the headstrong Hwasun Satae could see that dwelling on something Wi So-gun had already definitively resolved was improper. The moment the elder nun kept harping on it, the weight of Wi So-gun's own words would grow lighter by the instant.
Wi So-gun was the talent who would one day lead the Emei Sect. Hwasun Satae was ruthless with everyone else, but she was not so witless as to trample the authority of her future successor.
"...You insolent whelp."
Hwasun Satae's face brimmed with displeasure, yet her eyes studied Samryong with something like surprise.
"I merely stated what was obvious."
"Hmph. Very well. Is there anything you want, then? Guiding our So-gun to the Peak Realm is no trivial service."
'Now that's an elder's bearing.'
'Demand too much, and you'll receive nothing at all.'
Knowing Hwasun Satae's temperament, the moment he asked for too much he would walk away empty-handed.
"Could you procure some cold iron for me?"
"Ten-thousand-year cold iron?"
What? Is her hearing bad?
Under that ferocious glare — one that seemed to say she had never in her life beheld such an irredeemable wretch — Samryong had to shake his head and explain himself.
"Ordinary cold iron will do."
"Does the Tang Clan not have any?"
"I need it for personal use, and unfortunately there's no cold iron allocated to me in the clan. Besides — even plain cold iron isn't something one acquires easily, let alone the ten-thousand-year variety."
"I have none on hand at present."
"You could send it through our escort agency once you return to your main sect."
"Fine. Truly a Tang Clan man through and through — asking for the strangest things. If it isn't an excessive quantity, that can be arranged."
"Thank you. Please consult Elder Sister Wi and send whatever you two agree upon."
"...You're every bit as cunning as you look!"
With Hwasun Satae alone, the favor would most likely have ended as a gesture of magnanimity and nothing more. But with Wi So-gun involved, there was a good chance it would not stop at gestures.
"And another thing — why do you call our So-gun 'Elder Sister'!"
"Elder Sister Wi told me she'd treat me like a younger brother and told me to make myself comfortable, so that's all there is to it."
"Tch! That So-gun knows nothing but her martial arts! She doesn't grasp at all the weight a form of address carries!"
'Her thoughts probably aren't as simple as that.'
On the surface she pretended to care for nothing beyond the sword, but she read the situations around her more keenly than anyone. She was someone who collected that information, and then spoke and acted with meticulous deliberation.
'Though... I honestly have no idea why Elder Sister Wi told me to call her that.'
Not that it was a bad offer for Samryong. The Nine Dragons and Eight Phoenixes were a gathering of promising young masters — forging a connection with one of them could only help.
'Most of them come from great families and major sects. No harm in knowing them.'
Admittedly, the first-ranked among the Nine Dragons and Eight Phoenixes, Tang I-ryeong, was herself a member of the Tang Clan — but she was hardly close to Samryong. If anything, within the clan, the people to guard against as much as Eon Jungmi were Tang Ilryong, Tang I-ryeong, and the mother of those two, Dang Sinhye.
'That brother and sister never treated Saryeong, Oryeong, and me as human beings at all.'
The contemptuous looks he'd had to face since childhood were still seared vividly into his memory.
"Ow!"
Smack!
Just then, a sharp pain cracked across his skull and jolted Samryong back to his senses. At some point, Hwasun Satae had rapped him on the head with her sword scabbard.
"Treating a person like a folding screen right in front of you, are you? Got everything you needed, did you? Eh?"
"...My apologies. I've been preoccupied with recent matters, and I was rude in your presence, Hwasun Satae."
"Well, at least the apologies come quick and brisk. Here — take it!"
What Hwasun Satae handed over was a small tablet made of copper.
Samryong recognized it without the slightest difficulty.
"Isn't this a Gratitude Tablet?"
"It is. It will at least guarantee you aren't thrown out of the Emei Sect's front courtyard."
Though the Copper Grade was the lowest tier of Gratitude Tablet, the tablet itself was not something handed out lightly. Moreover, Samryong was a man of the Tang Clan. For someone of Emei to award a Gratitude Tablet to a member of the Tang Clan was no everyday occurrence.
"Doesn't this feel a bit... excessive?"
"Hmph! Compared to the standing So-gun holds within the Emei Sect, it's nothing. Reaching the Peak Realm before she's even twenty! Great fortune has come to our Emei — great fortune! Ahahahaha!"
Hwasun Satae's face was all smiles.
Then, as if the moment Lotus Hall's guests had been sent on their way had never happened, she pulled her stern features back on and looked at Samryong.
"My business here is finished, so off you go to the Clan Head's hall."
"Pardon?"
"The Tang Clan has no manners at all. Making me run errands like this."
Wasn't the Clan Head not the sort of person to assign errands like that, though? And Hwasun Satae certainly wasn't the type to hear such a request and sit there quietly.
'Don't tell me this old nun...'
The whole picture assembled itself in Samryong's mind at once.
"Originally I was meant to call on the Clan Head's hall first — it wasn't you who insisted on meeting me on the way, Hwasun Satae?"
"Wha—! Ahem! Ahem!"
'Called it.'
Without pressing the visibly flustered elder any further, Samryong rose from his seat and offered a fist-and-palm salute.
"Then I'll take my leave."
"Be gone! I've had my fill of your face!"
"Rest well."
And with that, Samryong left Lotus Hall and made his way toward the Clan Head's hall.