The Gathering Storm
The air grew razor-thin, poised on a hair-trigger. Though only two men had drawn steel, the clash stood between the supreme representatives of both sides.
No one dared make a reckless move. If anyone intervened thoughtlessly and provoked a full-blown brawl, both parties would suffer devastating consequences. The real issue, however, was that neither of the two men locked in confrontation had the slightest intention of backing down.
While Cheongsu's aggressive posture was undeniably provocative, Taecheong Jin'in was not about to feign ignorance and yield to him. The man had already displayed open disrespect toward Mount Jongnam several times over, which meant he was allowing personal grievances to contaminate his official duties.
What reason was there to show him leniency? The man had insulted Jongnam itself. As the sect leader who guided those very halls, Taecheong Jin'in refused to take even half a step back.
Cheongsu made no effort to mask his deepening displeasure.
"Jin'in. Do you truly fail to see that Jongnam alone stands to lose if you persist like this?"
"I find it utterly absurd to watch you handle public matters according to private spite. Do you imagine anyone here is blind to your Mount Hua roots merely because you wear the Alliance's banner on your back?"
"...Can you truly bear the weight of what you just said?"
"It was you who took Jongnam lightly first. Well then—care to test our blades?"
Taecheong Jin'in began gathering his inner energy in slow, deliberate waves. Sensing that the Taoist master was prepared to force an immediate resolution right then and there, Cheongsu was caught off guard, though he scrambled not to let his panic show.
A clash here would certainly inflict a heavy toll on Jongnam. Even so, the party that had far more to lose at this very moment was the Cheonmu Division.
Mount Hua being publicly insulted was an affront Cheongsu could hardly stomach. Simmering with an inferiority complex, he longed to tear Jongnam apart on the spot. Yet doing so would cost him the backing of the Murim Alliance and shatter any remaining diplomatic ties with Jongnam beyond repair. Cheongsu possessed neither the political weight nor the standing to shoulder the fallout of such a reckless gamble.
In the end, it was Cheongsu who yielded first. Even as he lowered his blade, venom burned virulent in his gaze—a clear warning that while he might yield a step today, he would not do so tomorrow.
Having no desire to let the incident escalate further either, Taecheong Jin'in promptly sheathed his sword. He then strode over to Jinyeong, who stood frozen in place.
Smack!
Without a moment's hesitation, the sect leader struck him across the cheek. The blow landed with such force that Jinyeong's lip split instantly, sending a spray of crimson spattering onto the stones.
Because Cheongsu had stepped down, Taecheong Jin'in struck his disciple as an example and a reprimand, immediately taking issue with the boy's rash insolence before anyone else could. From the sect leader's standpoint, it was the best possible move. By personally meting out punishment to his own disciple, he effectively cut off any pretext for Cheongsu to meddle.
Recognizing the sect leader's intent, the first-generation disciples sprang into motion. Jinyeong was swiftly bound and placed under guard.
"Confine him to the Face-Wall Cave. For three days."
"Understood!"
The sentence handed down was solitary confinement in the Face-Wall Cave. Though termed a punishment, it was effectively a protective measure. There was no telling how a petty man like Cheongsu might sink his teeth into the incident later on; assigning a formal three-day sentence eliminated the problem before it could even begin.
Cheongsu clicked his tongue in quiet irritation. The old master's mind worked quickly, fitting for a sect leader. With this, Cheongsu was barred from pressing charges against Jinyeong, even if he still held the girl in his grasp.
"We are returning to headquarters."
His path to tormenting Jongnam had been severed before it began. Frustrating though it was, he would have to content himself with interrogating the girl. Having reached that conclusion, Cheongsu escorted Ryeong toward the mountain gates, bringing the noon confrontation at Mount Jongnam to a temporary close.
Meanwhile, inside the Face-Wall Cave, Jinyeong sat in the damp dimness.
Why did I do that?
Regret was eating him alive. Had she somehow bewitched him?
Watching her hands being bound, seeing her dragged away in such a pathetic state—for reasons he could not fathom, his blood had boiled up inside his chest. It had been pure madness. Drawing steel against none other than an investigative commander dispatched by the Murim Alliance—and against an elite master like Cheongsu, the Hwajin Sword, of all people?
Had it not been for Ryeong's sound transmission and the sect leader's intervention, his right arm would have been severed on the spot.
Is she using some sort of sorcery?
Jinyeong could not comprehend his own actions. He was left wondering if the seals upon her possessed some hidden property. Even if his goodwill toward her had grown over the past few days, was there any reason on earth to risk his life standing in her defense?
The young Taoist boy remained entirely blind to his own heart. It was not merely because he was an ascetic monk, nor because he had never shared deep affections with a woman before.
It was simply ignorance born of total inexperience.
Someone once said that those who know nothing are often the bravest. Perhaps it was precisely because Jinyeong knew so little of the world that such a deranged thought—drawing a sword against Cheongsu—had crossed his mind in the first place.
He could not make sense of it. No matter how many times he turned the memory over in his tangled thoughts, the only conclusion he could reach was that he had suffered a momentary fit of lunacy.
Right... It was just anxiety that the young lady might cause trouble.
Ryeong was an unpredictable woman, a loose cannon who could bolt in any direction. If she had pulled some bizarre stunt right there, he would never have escaped suspicion himself given his involvement. He had only moved to prevent her arrest out of fear for that very outcome. After exhaustive brooding, that was the rationalization Jinyeong settled upon.
The young boy justified himself, burying his clueless true feelings beneath layers of denial.
"Meals will be provided promptly each day. They contain trace amounts of Qi-Dispersing Poison, so you would do well to abandon any thoughts of escape."
The man who delivered the tray appeared to be Cheongsu's adjutant. Ryeong sat on the bare wooden floor, her wrists securely bound behind her.
The cell was the foulest of its kind. They had clearly thrown her into the worst hole available so she would suffer. It was mildly annoying, but hardly unbearable.
"If your investigation moves quickly, will you release me?"
"I have no obligation to answer you. A summons will soon be issued to both Mount Jongnam and Mount Hua; until then, you will remain confined here."
Leaving the food behind, the adjutant departed. Perhaps fearing an escape attempt, the chopsticks had been crudely fashioned from tightly bundled straw. The problem was that the side dishes were drenched in watery broth.
I've always despised bastards who mess with people's food.
Straw was just dried grass. No matter how firmly one bound it, soaking it in liquid for too long would cause it to turn limp and useless. If they were going to do this, they might as well have served plain rice. Were they giving her side dishes purely so she would lose her temper trying to pick them up?
Should I just kill them all and leave?
She could not sense any active killing intent from them yet. But if she broke out and attacked, their survival instincts would naturally provoke hostility. With the troublesome Cheongsu nowhere in sight, crushing everyone in her path and fleeing was an easy option. Yet as Ryeong entertained the thought, she shook her head.
...That brat Jinyeong keeps lingering on my mind.
The boy's face surfaced in her thoughts. If she massacred her captors and fled now, what would become of his standing? She had been startled when he stepped in front of Cheongsu, and outright appalled when he reached for his sword. If she attempted a jailbreak under these circumstances, Jinyeong's reckless attempt to defend her would look suspicious in the worst possible light. It might even bring catastrophe upon the entire Jongnam Sect.
I'd really rather avoid that.
She had only stayed there for a handful of days, yet genuine attachment had taken root. It was an outcome she had never anticipated.
For most of her life, Ryeong had existed in absolute isolation. She had lived by taking lives and extorting coin and goods. There had never been anyone she could call a true companion by her side—only her master, and no one else. Then her master had vanished into thin air, leaving her to step into the jianghu without ever understanding the warmth of human connection.
Now, for the very first time in her life, she had felt that warmth.
It had touched her through Jinyeong, who had stepped forward on her behalf, and through the sect leader, Taecheong Jin'in, who had moved to shield the boy. Even the sharp, prompt reactions of the first-generation disciples and the murmuring whispers of the third-generation disciples watching her arrest had struck her as something entirely new.
People were inherently vulnerable to novel experiences; it was basic human nature. How much more so for someone tasting genuine affection for the very first time? Even if one did not actively crave it, turning one's back on it left an unpleasant, lingering sourness in the chest.
Ryeong was no exception. Mount Jongnam... Though she was nothing more than an outsider to them, she felt no desire to make enemies of them. For the first time, she realized what it meant to place faith in someone.
To think I'd only understand now why those righteous fools screamed for their disciples and elders...
One's environment truly mattered. When she had been a merciless assassin, she could never understand the soft-hearted fools of the orthodox sects who kept their lips sealed through agonizing torture. Now, she grasped a sliver of their reasoning. It was the desire to shelter and protect something precious to them. That conviction must have suppressed their sheer instinctual recoil from pain. Of course, under prolonged agony, most broke in the end, but there were always those who never yielded—those who died because the severity of the torture grew too fierce.
So I have to rot here until the summons, is that it?
Her internal energy had supposedly been locked by the Qi-Dispersing Poison.
Or so the Murim Alliance investigation team fondly imagined. But Ryeong possessed a middle dantian. Even if the Heaven-Killing Art within her lower dantian was suppressed, the Celestial Immortal Divine Art residing in her middle dantian could unleash its sacred power whenever she wished.
Trapped in her cell with nothing to do, her path for the boring hours ahead was clear: she would temper the Celestial Immortal Divine Art further and build up her strength. To avoid having to walk on eggshells around others, she needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
Just as Ryeong closed her eyes and began her meditative breathing, a shadowy band slipped through the rugged peaks into the lands of Shaanxi.
"You say his signal vanished here?"
"Yes. According to our informant, the deputy commander of the Cheonmu Division has arrived in Xi'an to investigate the incident."
"The Hwajin Sword, Cheongsu... He could prove useful."
The figures clad in black conversed in low, muffled murmurs within a shadowy back alley. Even standing still, they exuded an ominous, chilling energy, causing the lane around them to feel far colder than usual.
"When will Jongnam's sect leader and elders leave their posts?"
"In two days, Cheongsu will issue formal summons to both Mount Hua and Mount Jongnam. That will be the moment to strike and seize the sacred relic."
The leader of the black-clad figures nodded at his subordinate's report. The Thirty-Six Swords of Jongnam, the sect's greatest combative pillar, had already left the mountain. At this moment, Mount Jongnam was an empty nest.
"Have the decoys been positioned?"
"Yes. The moment the interrogation begins, the 'Hounds' will launch a surprise assault on the investigation team's temporary headquarters. That will buy us at least an hour."
"Good."
The corner of the man's mouth curled into a twisted grin. It seemed the grand scheme they had harbored in silence for so long was finally about to conclude in total triumph.