The Price of Sixty Lives
From the first light of morning, the main hall of Wolyeong Moon was steeped in a heavy, oppressive gloom. Every face among those gathered there was grave, and not one person dared open their mouth to speak.
“We sent a hundred martial artists, yet only forty disciples returned alive?”
“We clearly underestimated our opponent. There were twenty-five experts we had no information on. Every last one of them was at the Peak level or even a Transcendence master.”
“And you call that an excuse?”
Chae Yeo-dong’s voice carried the full weight of his fury.
“A hundred men. Seventy percent of our sect’s entire fighting force was committed. Sixty died, and the forty who barely crawled back are met with the excuse that the enemy was simply too strong? Is that truly what an elder of this sect should be saying?”
Ji San-bak lowered his head.
“I am sorry. But they knew we were coming. They had dug a trap and were waiting for us. They even claimed they had planted a spy in our sect—one who had been bought with money.”
“A spy?”
“Indeed. That is how they knew the exact timing of our assault and prepared the ambush.”
Chae Yeo-dong narrowed his eyes at Ji San-bak’s explanation.
“You called them competitors. Planting a single spy in a rival force is the most basic precaution, is it not? Besides, their martial techniques carried neither the scent of the Orthodox faction nor the Demonic Cult.”
“Are you suggesting they are Sapa?”
“Judging by their cruel methods, they are undoubtedly from the unorthodox path.”
“But why would the Sapa—?”
“I cannot say for certain, but it is possible that forces driven out of other provinces have banded together to carve out territory in Jiangsu.”
Looking at Ji San-bak’s expression, it did not seem as though he was lying to escape responsibility.
Chae Yeo-dong turned his gaze toward Yeom Tak, who held the dual position of First Elder and Great Elder.
Yeom Tak simply shook his head.
It meant he had heard nothing of any power struggles breaking out in other provinces.
Chae Yeo-dong’s eyes shifted to the squad leaders standing behind the table.
“They were all high-level experts. If the Fourth Elder had not issued the retreat order, every one of us might have died there. Moreover, just as the elder said, there is a spy within our sect. We heard it directly from the mouth of the one called the Chief Steward.”
The squad leader who met Chae Yeo-dong’s gaze spoke up.
“Sect Leader! Sect Leader!”
A loud voice echoed from outside the main hall.
“What is it?”
“People from the Sinfung Escort Agency have delivered coffins.”
At the word “coffins,” everyone inside the hall narrowed their eyes.
Chae Yeo-dong bit his lip, then strode out of the hall with the elders and squad leaders following close behind.
When they reached the courtyard, sixty coffins lay neatly arranged. A young man sat atop one in a relaxed, almost lazy posture, while the warriors of the Sinfung Escort Agency stood in orderly ranks below him.
The moment they saw the scene, Fourth Elder Ji San-bak and the squad leaders’ faces twisted with rage.
“You bastard!”
Ji San-bak’s furious roar was aimed at the man standing at the front of the Sinfung group.
“That is the Chief Steward of Sinfung Manor. And the men behind him are the ones who slaughtered our warriors.”
“Hey, let’s get the story straight. Your people were the ones who climbed over our walls. We simply fought back against invaders who came to threaten our property and our lives.”
The moment the young man sitting casually atop the coffin spoke, every eye turned toward him.
“You are…”
A squad leader who recognized him spoke urgently.
“That man is the young escort warrior from the Haedong Merchant Group.”
Chae Yeo-dong narrowed his eyes as he studied Cheonhwa. Though he looked young, the easy confidence in his bearing made it clear he was no ordinary person.
“Who are you?”
“I am Cheonhwa, Lord of Sinfung Manor.”
“What an ill-mannered whelp.”
Second Elder Oh Dong-cheon bellowed at Cheonhwa for speaking so casually. In response, Cheonhwa gave a light flick of his wrist.
A powerful palm strike flew straight at Oh Dong-cheon and slammed into his chest.
“Keuk!”
Oh Dong-cheon was sent flying backward, crashing hard into a pillar before collapsing to the ground.
“Cough!”
He vomited blood, and the presence of shredded internal organs within it made it clear he had suffered severe internal injuries.
It had been a simple, almost casual move, yet it was more than enough to shock every person from Wolyeong Moon.
“Look, I’m not generous enough to show courtesy to the bastards who came charging into my home last night with blades drawn, intending to slaughter my entire family. I’ve come to Wolyeong Moon to demand compensation for damages. If you refuse to pay, I came here fully prepared to erase Wolyeong Moon from the map of Jiangsu Province. So if you’re looking for courtesy, go ask a stray dog on the street.”
At the declaration that he would wipe out Wolyeong Moon, Chae Yeo-dong’s face flushed crimson.
“Do you find our sect so laughable?”
Cheonhwa let out a soft, mocking laugh.
“Do I look laughable to you right now? Or is it my words that sound ridiculous?”
Cheonhwa stepped down from the stacked coffins. The moment his foot touched the ground, it sank in up to the ankle.
He took seven leisurely steps forward and suddenly stood directly before Chae Yeo-dong. The aura radiating from his entire body was so overwhelming that not a single person dared to interfere.
“Shall we do to you exactly what you tried to do to our manor yesterday?”
Chae Yeo-dong could not answer.
His warrior’s instinct was screaming that this was not an opponent he could possibly face. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
One wrong word and their entire sect could be annihilated.
Where did these people come from…? The Fourth Elder claimed they were Sapa, but these are definitely not unorthodox martial artists.
If such powerful individuals existed among the Sapa, they would have shaken the entire Central Plains Murim to showcase their strength. The fact that they had remained quiet until now meant they were clearly from the Orthodox faction—or possibly the Demonic Cult.
There were no traces of demonic energy in their aura, so they were not from the Demonic Cult. That left only one possibility.
“Are you from the Wulin Alliance?”
Chae Yeo-dong asked, certain his guess was correct.
“I came from Mungnyeong Island. My background isn’t important right now, is it?”
Mungnyeong Island? A place name I’ve never heard before.
“What do you want?”
Since fighting could truly lead to the destruction of Wolyeong Moon, Chae Yeo-dong asked what they desired.
“I already told you. Compensation for damages.”
“How much?”
“There are sixty coffins, and we had quite the time cleaning up all the blood your people spilled across our manor. So including labor costs—five taels of gold.”
Five taels of gold!
The realization that the man before him valued Wolyeong Moon at a mere five taels of gold made Chae Yeo-dong’s face twist with rage.
“You dare—ugh!”
Cheonhwa crushed the furious Chae Yeo-dong with pure overwhelming power.
“Today I will take only the compensation and leave. But the next time, you will have to risk your life just like the men lying in those coffins. And I won’t be satisfied with mere compensation then.”
Pressed down by Cheonhwa’s aura, Chae Yeo-dong could not utter a single word.
It wasn’t only Chae Yeo-dong. Every person present shrank back, bodies instinctively curling inward from the pressure of Cheonhwa’s energy.
If I move, I die.
That single thought filled every mind.
Cheonhwa seemed to read their fear. He gave a soft chuckle, withdrew his aura, and turned away. Only then could Chae Yeo-dong and the warriors of Wolyeong Moon finally breathe again.
The Wulin Alliance has raised a monster.
“Ah, and I don’t particularly enjoy rumors spreading about me, so keep that in mind. If I hear any stories about myself from elsewhere, I will assume without question that Wolyeong Moon was the source.”
It was nothing short of a threat—if word of him leaked into the Murim, he would destroy their sect.
“I won’t end things with a polite conversation like this next time. So use your head and behave accordingly.”
With those final words, Cheonhwa left Wolyeong Moon. The warriors of Sinfung Manor followed him out. Nam Sa-ik, the only one who remained behind, looked at Chae Yeo-dong and asked,
“Who will be making the payment?”
Inside his own residence, Chae Yeo-dong found his humiliation impossible to cool. Yet there was nothing he could do about it.
The martial prowess the young man had displayed far surpassed his own. In internal energy, killing intent, and every other aspect, he had been completely overwhelmed. If Chae Yeo-dong harbored any foolish thoughts, that monster would truly return the next day and slaughter every member of his family.
“Damn it!”
In a fit of helpless rage, he hurled his wine cup at the wall.
The cup shattered, sending sharp fragments flying in every direction.
Chae Yeo-dong grabbed the wine bottle and drank straight from it. The sight of him gulping it down without pause was utterly unlike his usual dignified appearance.
Do not take my words lightly. One wrong slip of the tongue and your family line may end with your generation.
The young Lord of Sinfung Manor had threatened him openly and left, yet Chae Yeo-dong had been unable to say a single word in response. The sense of powerlessness burned even deeper because of it.
When he had first heard Fourth Elder Ji San-bak’s report, he had dismissed it as the excuse of an incompetent man. But after meeting the youth in person and suffering his intimidation firsthand, he realized the elder had actually failed to convey just how terrifying the opponent truly was.
“Damn it all.”
Feeling his insides burn, Chae Yeo-dong drank again.
“He said he came from Mungnyeong Island, but there is no such sect. He must be an expert raised by the Wulin Alliance.”
Chae Yeo-dong was now certain of it.
“Then why establish Sinfung Manor in Jiangsu?”
No matter how one looked at him, he could not be older than twenty. If he possessed the power to overwhelm someone like Chae Yeo-dong at such a young age, the normal path would have been to travel the Murim, accumulate real combat experience, and build a grand reputation—not settle down as the lord of some newly built manor.
“Yet he created Sinfung Manor. And now he is acting as the personal escort for the young master of the Haedong Merchant Group. Hmm…”
As the young master of the Haedong Merchant Group came to mind, another thought surfaced.
“When the Divine Sword of Heaven Yi Hwarin fought the Demonic Prince Cheonwoo of the Demonic Cult to mutual defeat, the power of the Wulin Alliance was greatly weakened.”
At the time, Yi Hwarin’s influence within the Wulin Alliance had been enormous.
She possessed a rare charm that drew in not only orthodox martial artists but also those in the gray area between factions and even experts from the black path. There had even been open talk that if conflict broke out between the orthodox and unorthodox sides, her connections would bring both the gray area and the black path experts to the orthodox side.
Even though the unorthodox factions had been stronger at the time, Yi Hwarin alone had prevented them from gaining the upper hand.
After her mutual defeat with Cheonwoo, those close to her began leaving the Wulin Alliance. The unorthodox factions seized the advantage in their power struggle, which eventually allowed them to wield their current level of influence across the Murim.
“That is why they allowed the Haedong Merchant Group to be destroyed as revenge. The surrounding merchant groups and Murim sects pushed them out of the Ten Great Merchant Groups, and they have been sliding toward ruin ever since.”
A dangerous thought occurred to Chae Yeo-dong.
“Could the Wulin Alliance be supporting the Haedong Merchant Group? Does that mean those who were once close to the Great Princess have decided to help the Alliance again?”
The more he thought about it, the more cautious he became. A single clumsy move here could lead to the destruction of his own family.
“What if I inform the Warlord Alliance of this and ask for their help?”
If the Warlord Alliance sent a large force to attack Sinfung Manor, could they kill them all?
“The others might die, but the Lord of Sinfung Manor could escape whenever he wished.”
If that happened, his own family would face annihilation in retaliation.
“What if we eliminate him first?”
Chae Yeo-dong thought of the greatest assassin in the Central Plains.
“Would Ya-jeop be able to do it?”
He was one of the Wulin Hundred Great Experts. Though an assassin, he had earned his place through pure martial prowess. The rumors said that if he truly wanted someone dead, he could even take the head of the King of Hell. In the art of killing, he was the greatest in the Central Plains.
He was currently the assassin closest to the legendary achievements of the Assassin Emperor from three hundred years ago and was widely called the next Assassin Emperor.
There were even rumors that the Ten Great Experts feared him. If Chae Yeo-dong commissioned him, Ya-jeop would undoubtedly kill the Lord of Sinfung Manor.
The only problems were the enormous sum required to move him and the fact that the Lord of Sinfung Manor was still a nameless novice.
“If I send someone else and the fact that I made the request becomes known…”
Chae Yeo-dong lifted the wine bottle to his lips once more. If this were not a matter of his family’s very survival, he would not be agonizing over it like this.
“Damn it…”