Unorthodox Factions of Hubei
"There are signs that the Fire Tiger Sword Sect and the Blade Ghost Gang are attempting to join hands once more."
"Already? Relations between them should have deteriorated to the point of utter ruin."
"An unidentified unorthodox expert intervened. It has not been finalized yet, but Sect Leader Ho and Gang Leader Gwi are reportedly arranging a secret meeting to talk."
"...My head already aches, and now this foul news."
The man ran a weary hand down his face as he took in his subordinate's report. Communication with the Blood Red Unit had gone dead. Yesterday was the absolute deadline, yet not a single missive had arrived. In their line of work, absolute silence meant only one thing: they had crossed blades with someone and been annihilated.
At a time when he needed to uncover what bastard was responsible for wiping out his unit, the local unorthodox factions were suddenly uniting? He could not simply sit back and watch. Those two organizations were supposed to bleed each other dry until mutual ruin consumed them. While neither posed an existential threat on the grand chessboard, depleting the martial realm's strength as much as possible remained the foremost objective of the Demon Blood Divine Cult.
Having suffered crushing defeats in past eras, the cult had lost countless masters. Though they were steadily subjugating and gathering the forces of the Outer Regions, draining the Central Plains' foundation required meticulous, tireless effort.
"Mobilize the Peerless Association. And warn them: if they fail this time as well, I will bury every last one of them without mercy."
"Understood, Fifth Blood King."
The man known as the Fifth Blood King nodded slowly. He was a figure occupying a pivotal seat within the Demon Blood Divine Cult, dispatched directly to the Central Plains to carve out a foothold for the grand invasion. His designated duty was to orchestrate subordinate detachments, seize sacred treasures, and whittle down the prominent sects of the Central Plains.
Things had seemed promising at first when they secured the Myriad Poison Ring right out of the gate. But obtaining the Taiji Heavenly Tablet had ended in failure, and now the Blood Red Unit—sent to retrieve the Red Cloud Divine Sword—had vanished without a trace. For all practical purposes, that operation was an utter defeat.
'The Central Plains is no easy prey after all.'
He began to understand a little of why their ancestors had repeatedly failed in conquering this fertile soil. The hidden depths of the Central Plains ran far deeper than imagined. Even plans refined dozens of times fell apart in the face of unforeseen variables. It made him appreciate anew why the Divine Cult and the Blood Cult had swallowed their differences to forge a single banner.
The rank of Blood King was by no means lowly. They stood on equal footing with the Demon Lords, who answered directly to the godlike ruler of their holy cult. Yet when the two sects merged, their doctrines were overhauled, dividing their hierarchy into a Blood Cult faction and a Divine Cult faction.
On the surface, no discrimination existed between the two branches. In reality, however, the dominant faction steering the cult was the Divine Cult. Because the current cult leader was the true successor to the Heavenly Demon's will, a quiet, pervasive bias weighed heavily against the Blood Cult faction. This was precisely why the Fifth Blood King had been handed the thankless task of paving the invasion's foothold in the Central Plains: he held the lowest seniority among the Blood Kings. To put it bluntly, he had been dumped with the dirty work.
'The main cult is entirely consumed with uniting the Outer Regions.'
The Beast Palace, the Potala Palace, and the North Sea Ice Palace had already sworn fealty. Alongside campaigns against the Great and Lesser Leiyin Monasteries, subjugation forces were also pressing toward the eastern peninsula across the sea. However, fierce resistance on the peninsula had tied down two Blood Kings and two Demon Lords just to maintain ground.
In terms of raw personnel, the Fifth Blood King commanded far greater numbers. The Central Plains was immense, after all. To bring this vast, prosperous land to its knees, sheer quantity of martial artists mattered just as much as supreme quality. Cloaked within the shadows, he pulled strings behind the scenes, meddling in the conflicts of the martial world.
The ambush on Mount Jongnam a year ago was merely a stepping stone. Creeping through the dark, his subordinates were slowly injecting poison into the Central Plains. Spies were already embedded deep within various sects, keeping him appraised of the changing tides. The only issue was today's sudden anomaly—a variable completely unaccounted for in any intelligence file. Determining the identity of this sudden unorthodox expert had to take priority.
To do that, he had to shatter the alliance between the Blade Ghost Gang and the Fire Tiger Sword Sect. And to that end, he would unleash his pawns, the Peerless Association.
'Whoever you are...'
The unbeliever who dared hinder their sacred cause would soon be brought to light. A cold, sinister smile curled across the Fifth Blood King's lips.
"That bastard Ho Jihwan actually agreed to talk?"
"He did. This meeting wasn't easy to arrange, so please, put your pride aside and reconcile with him. All right?"
When Ryeong returned to the Blade Ghost Gang and recounted what had transpired at the Fire Tiger Sword Sect, Gwi Hujin excused himself, weighed down by heavy thoughts. Even if outside instigation had caused their rift, years of mutual bloodshed amidst a web of lies had made the original truth meaningless. When two sides had held blades to each other's throats for so long, sitting down to talk was no simple feat. Ryeong understood this well, so she refrained from pushing Gwi Hujin any further.
Besides, there was no need to force it. While peace between the two factions was a welcome bonus, her true objective was using them as bait to drag the puppet master into the light. Torturing the embedded spies might have been simpler, but true precision demanded reducing all suspicion to zero. Abducting a spy risked tipping off the enemy, leaving her with an empty net.
Still, Ryeong made sure to let Jinyeong in on the truth: that this grand reconciliation was merely bait. There was an old adage about deceiving one's allies to deceive the enemy, but Jinyeong had already been duped by her so many times that he possessed an uncanny knack for playing along without batting an eye.
Moreover, she felt a slight pang of guilt for neglecting him lately. Since returning to the martial world, she had shouldered most matters alone, paying less attention to his training. Aside from giving him a bit of practical experience cleaning up the Blood Red Unit's dregs, she had barely looked after him.
Even so, Jinyeong stood in a different realm compared to ordinary rising stars. Even without the Heaven-Killing Art, he absorbed Ryeong's martial techniques like a sponge. She was confident that as long as he learned to properly reign in his bloodlust, even seasoned assassins would stand no chance against him.
After all, look who his master was.
Watching a disciple surpass their master was always a satisfying sight. Back during her days as Cheonsal, she had toyed with the thought of taking a disciple, but life had been far too harsh and bloody to afford the luxury. Only now, through teaching Jinyeong, did she truly understand why old masters took in disciples, and why her own master had chosen her back then. Perhaps because of that, Jinyeong had grown much closer to her heart. Whenever he was not by her side, an odd sense of emptiness crept in. It felt ridiculous, but spending a full year together through life and death had softened her callous nature.
"So the point is: don't go bouncing around swinging your sword right now. Just focus on circulating your qi. There's going to be a real bloodbath."
"Do you really think the two sects will join hands if an enemy attacks mid-conversation?"
"What, you think they'll keep glaring at each other instead? When the bastards who framed them come kicking down the door, they'll gladly team up to bash their skulls in."
Had they remained ignorant, the spies in their ranks would have stirred up mutual suspicion. But having confirmed the existence of a third faction pulling the strings, the Blade Ghost Gang and the Fire Tiger Sword Sect would inevitably band together the moment an outside force invaded. A shortage of foot soldiers was hardly a concern either; Ryeong herself would handle the true experts.
The enemy would have to be out of their minds to dispatch two Transformation Realm masters on an operation like this. In all likelihood, there wouldn't even be one. Her entire plan was deceptively simple: slaughter everyone except the leader of the raid, let that leader flee, and quietly tail them back to expose the mastermind.
"For this plan to work, you need to handle a crucial role."
"Me?"
"While I'm tracking down the enemy leader, Wudang will inevitably catch wind of this commotion. If they arrive, the united Blade Ghost Gang and Fire Tiger Sword Sect could find themselves in grave danger. You have to step in and hold them back."
"What power do I have to hold back Wudang...?"
"You'll have to figure that out yourself. Surely Wudang isn't crazy enough to mistreat the direct disciple of Mount Jongnam's Sect Leader, right?"
Jinyeong shook his head in exasperation. Calling it a 'crucial role' was just a fancy way of dumping the tedious chores on him. I'm going to chase the enemy, so clean up the mess for me. Oh, and I don't have a plan for you. It sounded absurd coming from someone who had meticulously plotted an entire counter-ambush.
He wanted to voice his complaints right then and there, but foolishly enough... he didn't feel upset at all.
'Am I an idiot?'
He had been entrusted with a mission. Better yet, the very person he looked up to had told him that he was the only one she could rely on. The task itself was borderline unreasonable, yet the sheer thrill of having his hard work acknowledged overshadowed everything else. Rather than arguing, he quietly accepted the duty.
Ryeong, on the other hand, was caught slightly off guard. Whenever she dumped something like this on him, Jinyeong had always bickered back. She had internally braced herself for whatever retort he would throw, only for him to take it without a peep.
'Did he mature all of a sudden? Not a word of backtalk.'
An awkward stillness instantly descended between them. They had barely exchanged a few sentences, yet the air had cooled with surprising speed. Fortunately, the silence did not drag on.
"Hero. The Gang Leader requests your presence."
"Got it. I'll be right there."
A Blade Ghost Gang warrior had arrived to summon her, breaking the strange lull.
Only after Ryeong stepped out did Jinyeong finally let out the breath he was holding. He knew he shouldn't let his mind wander, yet a bizarre sensation washed over him.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart beat at an alarming pace. It didn't feel like mere tension from the upcoming battle; it felt far closer to a raw, instinctive emotion.
'No... it can't be.'
Jinyeong clenched his fists tight, desperately casting aside the strange feeling as nothing more than an illusion.