Different from a Year Ago
One year had passed since the Jongnam Sect sealed its gates. With one of the great pillars anchoring Shaanxi removed from the board, the unorthodox factions that had long been kept under heel naturally began to run rampant.
The Mount Hua Sect alone was not enough to stem the tide. Taking advantage of the sudden vacuum, unorthodox scum from across the land converged upon Shaanxi in droves.
The Murim Alliance convened an emergency council. There, they confirmed that the ultimate responsibility for Jongnam's isolation lay squarely at the feet of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Yet all they received from Clan Head Dang was the excuse that he had merely requested the sect's closure to contain the fallout after their sacred relic was stolen by the Demon Blood Divine Cult. No fundamental solution to the escalating crisis was offered.
To make matters worse, the place where these unorthodox factions had massed was Hu County. Of all places, the entire perimeter surrounding Xi'an was plunged into utter pandemonium. With Jongnam's Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven having withdrawn their presence from the north as well, the Murim Alliance found itself pinned between checking the movements of the Demon Blood Divine Cult and fending off the encroaching unorthodox horde.
At this point, venomous arrows of criticism rained down upon the Tang Clan. No matter that their heirloom had been plundered, it was their demand for Jongnam's closure that had placed the entire orthodox faction in mortal peril.
"Clan Head Dang. How do you intend to take responsibility for this debacle?"
"I have no intention of taking responsibility."
In the Murim Alliance council chamber, surrounded by the gathered elders and dignitaries, Dang Heo-gun sat through what was practically an interrogation. The void left by Jongnam was far greater than anyone had anticipated, reaching a point where the Tang Clan could no longer evade blame. Yet Dang Heo-gun remained entirely unabashed, maintaining that a rabble of unorthodox bandits could never last long.
"Jongnam failed to treat our clan's sacred relic with proper reverence. On the contrary, every venerable elder here must surely understand how much consideration we showed them by granting a mere one-year isolation."
Dang Heo-gun's reasoning was unassailable. Just as he said, the initial fault lay with the Jongnam Sect. Furthermore, the situation was nearing its end.
"Besides, Jongnam's closed-door isolation will conclude shortly. Once it does, leaving the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven to purge Hu County will be more than enough—"
"Alliance Leader! An urgent dispatch!"
Before Dang Heo-gun could finish, someone threw open the council doors and rushed inside breathless. It was Chief Strategist Jegal Cheong, the man who had excused himself from the meeting to compile intelligence on Hu County.
"The unorthodox forces gathered in Hu County have been found completely annihilated!"
"What did you say? Annihilated?!"
Uproar erupted among the elders at Jegal Cheong's shout. The martial artists amassed in Hu County were by no means weaklings; among their ranks were two masters of the Transcendent Realm dispatched directly by the Evil Way Alliance. A force spearheaded by two Transcendent Realm masters had been wiped out overnight? From the Alliance Leader down to the lowest elder, none could believe the strategist's report.
"Clan Head Dang. There is a task I must ask of you."
"Speak, Alliance Leader."
Amidst the chaotic din, the quiet Alliance Leader—and the sole master of the Profound Realm in the contemporary orthodox faction, Mu Jeok-cheon—finally broke his silence.
"Make haste to Hu County and assess the tragedy. Whatever pertains to Jongnam, I shall see to it that the matter is buried."
"If it is the Alliance Leader's decree, I shall obey."
Dang Heo-gun rose to his feet. Even though the root fault lay with Jongnam, he had anticipated catching flak himself; yet the massacre in Hu County had provided him a spotless exit without reprimand.
"Chief Strategist. Any traces tied to the Demon Blood Divine Cult?"
"Following their failed raid on the Wudang Sect, they have remained completely dormant. No insignia symbolizing their presence was uncovered at the scene of the massacre."
"Is that so."
Mu Jeok-cheon's eyes narrowed into sharp slits. The Demon Blood Divine Cult had been quiet for three whole months. Could this incident in Hu County truly be unrelated to them? Every instinct honed by decades of bloodshed told him otherwise.
"Depart at once, Clan Head Dang."
"Then I shall take my leave first."
At the Alliance Leader's command, Dang Heo-gun bowed and exited the chamber. As one of the undisputed peak masters of the Murim Alliance, whatever danger awaited in Hu County would pose him no trouble.
One year ago, the Jongnam Sect had barred its mountain gates, severing every link with the outside world. The heavy timber that looked as though it would never open again creaked wide after a full year.
And from beyond those gates surged thirty-six shadows.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
They were Jongnam's supreme pride, its thirty-six greatest swordsmen—the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. They dashed toward Hu County like a gale. No matter that Jongnam had chosen closed-door isolation, they were not so deaf as to miss the bloody uproar unfolding in their neighboring prefecture.
Their martial progress was on a fundamentally different plane compared to a year prior. Where only a select few had touched the Transcendent Realm in the past, now nearly all of them had attained that lofty height, save for a scant handful. It was a pinnacle forged through relentless, borderline-obsessive cultivation behind barred doors.
Because of this, they knew no fear. Scour the entire martial world, and aside from the Eighteen Arhats of Shaolin or the Seven Swords of Wudang, one would be hard-pressed to find a strike force of this caliber.
When they arrived at the outskirts, the Murim Alliance martial artists stationed there gaped in astonishment. They had believed Jongnam to be locked tight in seclusion, yet the sect's legendary vanguard stood before their eyes.
"Our gates opened, and we raced here at once. We heard word of a catastrophe in Hu County."
"Ah, your isolation has ended? Thank the heavens..."
"Can you inform us of what transpired?"
"Please, step inside. We will share the findings of our investigation."
The Alliance martial artists ushered the swordsmen into the cordon. There was every reason to share information. Above all, men who had been sealed on a mountain peak for an entire year could hardly be the culprits behind the slaughter.
As the Thirty-Six Swords entered the bloodstained compound, a faint, dark presence slipped inside right behind their heels.
It was Ryeong.
What kind of reckless bastards went and butchered everyone in Hu County?
Astonishingly, she had erased her presence down to the last breath. Not a single member of the Thirty-Six Swords detected her. It was the fruit of her harrowing training over the past year. In her current state, even Dang Heo-gun would struggle to notice her presence if she chose to hide.
There were even masters from the Evil Way Alliance stationed here.
Even after the sect barred its gates, Ryeong had slipped out time and again. Taecheong Jin'in had chided her repeatedly at first, but after seeing that his rebukes changed nothing, he threw up his hands and gave up. Thanks to that, Ryeong had become Jongnam's secret intelligence network. The sole reason Jongnam had known about the turmoil in Hu County was because she had brought the news back herself.
The bastards who died weren't pushovers, either.
She recognized several of the dead greenhorns. Back in her days as the Heavenly Slaughterer, she had exchanged words with a few of them, even if they hadn't been affiliated with the Evil Way Alliance back then. She felt no pity. The jianghu was a butcher's yard where anyone could catch a blade in the gut at any moment. The question was: who had slaughtered them, and to what end?
Is it the Demon Blood Divine Cult?
There was a limit to what information Ryeong could gather on her own. She had no way of knowing what moves the Cult had made since their assault on Jongnam. Yet with the unorthodox forces of Hu County butchered down to the last man, it reeked unmistakably of the Cult's handiwork.
Just then, sensing a familiar ripple of qi, Ryeong melted deeper into the darkness.
"Well, well. Look who we have here. If it isn't the Thirty-Six Swords."
"We pay our respects to Clan Head Dang."
"Your isolation has ended, I see. Yes, time has truly flown."
Dang Clan Head, Dang Heo-gun. The man who had coerced Jongnam into closing its gates, and an expert standing at the absolute peak of the Transcendent Realm. If anything, he felt even stronger than a year ago; continuing down this path, crossing the threshold into the Profound Realm was well within his reach. He greeted the swordsmen warmly. Untrustworthy as Jongnam might be, the Thirty-Six Swords under their command were among the finest units in the Central Plains.
"What is the situation?"
"Ah, allow me to report, Clan Head."
The branch vice-commander who had discovered the scene stepped forward to recount the events. Neighbors had reported hearing bizarre noises in the dead of night, prompting a five-man team to inspect the inn where the unorthodox martial artists were lodged. There, they walked into a slaughterhouse. Even the bodies of the two Transcendent Realm masters they had been watching were found hacked into pieces.
"We cordoned off the perimeter immediately and contacted the local authorities just in case."
"The authorities? Do you truly believe the government will be of any help?"
"The innkeeper and staff were entirely wiped out. The ordinary guests suffered the exact same fate."
"Ordinary guests staying at an inn overrun by unorthodox thugs?"
Dang Heo-gun let out a derisive snort. What civilian in their right mind would lodge under the same roof as a den of criminal cutthroats?
"Uncover their identities first. Nine times out of ten, the culprit disguised themselves as an ordinary patron."
"We took that into account as well. However, there are so few traces left behind that the investigation has hit a wall."
In truth, the odds of identifying the culprit were virtually nonexistent. The butchery had unfolded at dawn and was discovered only after the sun had risen. Even so, Dang Heo-gun did not abandon the search. Despite the nauseating stench of gore hanging heavy in the air, he had left the corpses undisturbed, knowing that tampering with the scene would corrupt what few clues remained.
Wuuung.
Clasping his hands behind his back, Dang Heo-gun drifted into the air, seeking any pattern that might be visible only from above. Yet nothing stood out amid the crimson-splattered ruin.
"Clear them away."
"Pardon?"
"Leaving them as they are will only hide whatever clues exist. Move all the corpses. The blood has dried, so the underlying marks will not be lost."
At Dang Heo-gun's command, the Alliance martial artists moved briskly. Ryeong, her face thoroughly concealed, blended seamlessly among them. And once the pile of corpses was cleared from the center of the hall, a massive character etched in crimson blood emerged on the wooden floor.
"Just as I thought."
Written in fresh, dark crimson blood. There was not a single person present who failed to grasp what it meant.
"Those bastards have shown themselves again."
The Demon Blood Divine Cult, quiet for months on end. Their sinister shadow had finally surfaced once more.