The Hour Before Dawn
The darkest hour of any day is the moment just before dawn breaks. In that predawn gloom, even starlight and moonlight are often swallowed by the darkness.
On rainy nights, the entire world turns into a realm of pitch-black shadow.
Under a downpour that lashed the earth like whips, a group of men raced along Suzhou’s main road. Their destination was a manor situated a short distance from Taihu Lake, past the bustling residential quarters and markets that formed the heart of the city.
Sinfungjang.
It was a rapidly rising force in Jiangsu Province, and rumors that even the Haedong Merchant Group—the province’s foremost trading organization—feared its growth had drawn the attention of countless eyes.
Their main businesses included gambling dens, entertainment houses, inns, general stores, escort agencies, pawnshops, and lending operations. By running only profitable ventures with minimal risk, they were expanding at a terrifying pace across Jiangsu.
The figures sprinting through the darkness slowed as Sinfungjang came into view. Some spread out to surround the manor while others vaulted directly over the walls.
“Kill every last one of them. Don’t leave even an ant alive.”
At the leader’s command, the men drew the swords at their waists and charged straight into the buildings.
They were warriors of the Moon Shadow Sect. Acting on a request from the Haedong Merchant Group, they had come with the sole purpose of annihilating Sinfungjang.
KWAAAANG!
At the same moment, a person was sent flying out of a building like a broken kite, tumbling across the ground.
“What could possibly be so appetizing that you’d climb someone else’s wall in the dead of night…”
The voice drifting from inside the building made everyone flinch. All eyes turned toward the entrance.
Several figures emerged. They stood with swords already drawn, gazing down at the intruders with relaxed, almost bored expressions—as if they had known this attack was coming.
“They call this the greatest sect in Jiangsu? Doesn’t look like much.”
“Indeed. Seems they only brought numbers, not skill.”
The Moon Shadow Sect warriors stiffened at the exchange. The people of Sinfungjang clearly knew exactly who they were.
“About time to begin, wouldn’t you say?”
“It should be.”
The words had barely left their lips when screams erupted from behind them.
“Kwaaaaah!”
“Don’t leave a single one alive!”
A thunderous voice pierced the heavy rain and echoed throughout the manor grounds.
“A trap?”
In that instant, the Moon Shadow Sect warriors realized they had walked into an ambush.
“How…?”
Jisan Park, one of the four elders of the Moon Shadow Sect, voiced his confusion.
“How do you think we knew?”
Jisan Park glared fiercely at the speaker. He did not appreciate being treated like a cornered rat by a smug cat.
“When two powers compete, isn’t it only natural to plant at least one spy?”
“What?”
“Heh heh. There isn’t a person in this world who truly hates money.”
At those words, Jisan Park’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Who?
Judging by the current situation, Nam Sa-ik’s claim did not seem to be a bluff. That meant the enemy had known the exact date and time of their surprise attack.
“Kwaaaaah!”
Outside, the clash of weapons and screams blended together so chaotically that it was impossible to tell who held the upper hand.
“Attack!”
Jisan Park decided that identifying the spy could wait. The situation would not change either way.
At his command, the Moon Shadow Sect warriors surged forward.
“If that is your wish, I shall grant it. Kill them all. Slaughter them as a warning to the Moon Shadow Sect.”
The moment Nam Sa-ik gave the order, the members of the New Wind Squad drew their swords and met the Moon Shadow warriors head-on.
The New Wind Squad consisted of elite warriors secretly cultivated long ago by the Great Princess of the Wulin Alliance. Having learned martial arts directly from her, they had already surpassed first-rate and reached the level of peak experts.
On top of that, Cheonhwa had taught them the Chaos Asura Art and the Moonlight Sword Art in hopes that they would gain enlightenment.
After receiving those two supreme arts from Cheonhwa, the New Wind Squad had trained with fierce dedication and achieved considerable results.
While the Moon Shadow Sect’s combat forces might have earned some renown within Jiangsu, they were still vastly inferior to the warriors of the New Wind Squad.
The moment the New Wind Squad members unleashed their terrifying auras and began to fight, the momentum of the Moon Shadow warriors crumbled in an instant.
The New Wind warriors wielded the Moonlight Sword Art with their sword hands and the Chaos Asura Art with their empty hands, completely overwhelming their opponents and steadily reducing their numbers.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
In the blink of an eye, the courtyard of Sinfungjang had transformed into a hellish slaughterhouse. Yet it was the Moon Shadow Sect warriors who bled and fell.
When they had set out, they had not even considered the possibility of serious trouble. They had mobilized a full hundred warriors to wipe out Sinfungjang before dawn.
Now that they were actually engaged, not a single part of the plan was proceeding as intended. This was not a battle—it was a one-sided massacre.
“You bastards!”
Jisan Park leaped into the fray.
“I’ll be your opponent.”
Just as he was about to slash a New Wind warrior across the waist, another man intervened, deflecting his blade.
“Who are you…?”
“You may think of me as the chief steward managing Sinfungjang.”
Claaaaang!
Nam Sa-ik’s sword struck Jisan Park’s blade with tremendous force.
Ugh!
The power transmitted through his hand was by no means inferior to his own.
Just where did these people come from…?
If they possessed the skill to overwhelm his sect, their names or at least rumors about them should have spread throughout the Murim. Yet he knew nothing about them. It was deeply suspicious.
Are they from the Orthodox faction? No. Perhaps they are unorthodox warriors who were driven out of another province?
Their techniques were too cruel to belong to the Orthodox path, yet the energy they emanated contained no demonic qi, so they could not be warriors of the Demonic Cult.
“Die!”
With a roar, Jisan Park circulated his internal energy and channeled it into his sword.
Claaaaang!
Nam Sa-ik refused to yield. He moved his own internal energy in response.
Jisan Park realized that he was being pushed back even in terms of pure internal energy.
I’m at the early stage of Transcendence, yet I’m losing?
Jisan Park had stepped past the peak level and into the Transcendence realm. The fact that he was being overpowered by the chief steward of Sinfungjang made his face burn with humiliation.
“Try blocking this as well!”
Furious at being pushed back, Jisan Park pressed the attack. Nam Sa-ik, however, calmly blocked every strike and even counterattacked.
“Kwaaaaah!”
The screams coming from all around finally snapped Jisan Park out of his rage. When he looked around, he saw that many of his warriors had already fallen.
At that moment, the main gates of Sinfungjang swung wide open and more warriors poured in.
“Kill every single one of the dogs who dared attack our manor. Leave none alive.”
Did they attack the warriors we left surrounding the outside? Then what about the ones we stationed out there?
The realization that they had all been defeated made him sense mortal danger. Only then did he carefully examine the warriors of Sinfungjang. Jisan Park discovered, to his shock, that there were fully fifty of them—and every single one was a peak or Transcendent expert.
“Retreat!”
The moment he assessed the situation, he instinctively gave the order to withdraw. The Moon Shadow warriors had clearly been waiting for it; the instant the command was issued, they turned and fled, leaping over the walls of Sinfungjang and disappearing into the night.
Watching the Moon Shadow warriors run, neither the New Wind Squad nor the Black Wind Squad made any move to pursue. They simply chuckled.
“That was easy. You’ve worked hard.”
“Big Brother worked even harder.”
Nam Sa-ik of the New Wind Squad and Hyeok Cheon-gwang of the Black Wind Squad had become sworn brothers, and their subordinates now lived together like one family.
“Making coffins is going to cost quite a bit.”
“How about we start running a lumber mill while we’re at it?”
“To make coffins?”
“There will be plenty of bastards dropping dead from now on, won’t there? Might as well make some money off them.”
Hyeok Cheon-gwang’s words drew a chuckle, but Nam Sa-ik had to admit there was logic to it.
“A lumber mill… Not a bad idea. Our lord mentioned he would soon begin civil engineering projects, so we may need both a lumber mill and a forge. I’ll speak with him about it.”
Hyeok Cheon-gwang nodded, then looked at the corpses scattered across the courtyard.
“Shall we send these back to the Moon Shadow Sect?”
“We should. And we’ll charge them a hundred gold taels per head for damages and coffin costs, yes?”
“Understood. Big Brother, please rest. You must be tired after running the businesses all day. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”
“Very well. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Rest well.”
After seeing Nam Sa-ik off, Hyeok Cheon-gwang began organizing the battlefield.
“Pile the bodies to one side. Gather their weapons as well—we can sell them to the smithy for decent coin. Dangcheong, once the sun rises, order coffins according to the number of dead. When our lord arrives, we will deliver their heads to the Moon Shadow Sect.”
“Understood.”
“Move quickly. Dawn is almost here.”
The warriors of the New Wind Squad and Black Wind Squad hurried to clean up the manor.
* * *
On Hongze Lake, the floating fortress that had once served as the main base of the Hongze Lake Water Bandits now belonged to Sinfungjang. After the bandits had been wiped out by Sinfungjang, the manor had taken control of the fortress, renovated it, and turned it into a business complex for gambling and moneylending.
The main customers here were merchants who did business around Hongze Lake, courtesans from the pleasure houses, and tourists who came specifically to gamble.
“This is absurd.”
Dongjeong-eong stood staring at the floating fortress with an expression of utter disbelief.
He wanted nothing more than to charge in and destroy everything, but after hearing about Sinfungjang’s connection to the Jiangsu Provincial Governor and the warnings from his subordinates, he suppressed his rage and simply watched the people coming and going.
“For now, I should meet the owner of this place.”
Just as Dongjeong-eong was about to move, a young man approached and spoke to him.
“I clearly told you to stop concerning yourself with Hongze Lake.”
His head snapped around. There stood a beautiful young man wearing a faint smile.
“You look like a person, yet you don’t seem to understand human speech. How strange.”
“Are you speaking to me?”
“Of course. There’s no one else beside me. Or did you think I was talking to that random passerby over there?”
Dongjeong-eong’s face flushed slightly with anger.
“Do you know who I am?”
“I know you as the leader of the water bandits who have settled along the Yangtze River. Am I wrong?”
“Leader of the water bandits?”
“Aren’t you? What kind of person has nothing better to do than play at being a pirate? You look perfectly respectable.”
Provoked by Cheonhwa’s taunt, Dongjeong-eong spoke in a low, murderous voice.
“It seems you wish to die.”
“Didn’t I just say that?”
“What?”
“I told you to stop paying attention to Hongze Lake. I even spared your subordinates and sent them back with that exact message.”
Dongjeong-eong narrowed his eyes.
“You don’t value the lives of your subordinates. No… it seems the ones I sent back decided to treat me like a fool.”
“You brat!”
“When lives are on the line, what does age matter? A young man doesn’t have to lose to an old one just because he’s younger. Isn’t that right?”
Even though he knew exactly who Dongjeong-eong was, the boy showed not the slightest trace of fear.
— Chief, it may be presumptuous of me to say this, but Hongze Lake and Taihu seem to have slipped beyond our reach. There is nothing to gain by provoking the master of Sinfungjang.
Recalling his subordinate’s words, Dongjeong-eong asked,
“Are you the lord of Sinfungjang?”
He unleashed his internal energy, attempting to crush Cheonhwa with raw pressure.
In response, a smile formed on Cheonhwa’s lips. It was unmistakably a sneer.
“You really do want to die. Very well. I shall grant your wish.”