Jianghu Trembles
Jianghu was thrown into utter chaos.
An anomaly—something no one had anticipated, or rather, an event that far exceeded everyone's expectations.
An utterly absurd situation had unfolded.
Naturally, it was all because of the incident that had transpired in Tongseong County.
According to the rumors spreading from mouth to mouth, Sadocheon had completely unified Tongseong County.
As was widely known, Tongseong County was a place where the three major factions dividing the Murim converged.
It was a demonic realm where conflicts of all sizes erupted constantly, and people died day in and day out.
"Sadocheon took control of Tongseong County?"
All three major factions had set their sights on Tongseong County.
As a vital hub for transportation, logistics, and shipping, it was only natural that everyone coveted it for both strategic and economic reasons.
Thus, it wouldn't have been strange to hear rumors of who died today, who was attacked yesterday, or even that a certain faction had seized the county overnight.
However, the fact that the faction in question was Sadocheon was undeniably bizarre.
"That Sadocheon? The one getting squeezed by the Martial Alliance and pushed back by Heukpaeseong?"
"Come on, at least make your lies believable. Who would buy that?"
At first, everyone denied it.
The news that had arrived was nothing more than a rumor, a groundless report.
Yet, it was not uncommon for the conclusion to spread first, with the detailed process trailing close behind.
"The rumors were true! The Great Battle of Tongseong County began to reclaim the Snow Soul Gauntlets, the sacred relic stolen by Heukpaeseong...!"
"And it started with the Tongseong Branch of the Martial Alliance, making the Poison Dagger Yama, Dang Maeng, the first casualty!"
Once a concrete motive like a sacred relic and specific circumstances emerged, the public's attention shifted rapidly.
Naturally, the first to act were the busybodies and storytellers.
Those who simply loved to gossip, along with the storytellers who made a living selling tales, traveled far and wide to piece together the details.
"Oh! The Snow Soul Gauntlets!"
"...Wait. Weren't the Snow Soul Gauntlets in Heukpaeseong's possession? Why did they attack the Martial Alliance?"
"Tsk, how slow can you be? If they had attacked Heukpaeseong directly, the Martial Alliance would have swooped in to reap the spoils. That's why they struck them first."
"They attacked the Martial Alliance first just to prevent that? That's putting the cart before the horse. Are they insane?"
The doubt was reasonable.
Normally, missions of this nature—reclaiming a relic or eliminating a key figure—were carried out covertly, like a master thief slipping in to target only the objective.
That was common sense.
Yet, they had launched a preemptive strike simply to eliminate the possibility of a third party taking advantage of the situation.
Furthermore, who was the man guarding Tongseong County?
Was it not the Poison Dagger Yama, Dang Maeng—a master of the Transformation Realm raised by the renowned Sichuan Dang Family?
Even yielding a hundred, no, ten thousand times, it might have made sense if the mastermind behind this incident was a squad leader of Sadocheon, or perhaps the Vice Lord himself...
But shockingly, the one who instigated this entire affair was the Ruined Dragon, Jegal Jeok-un—a man who had been nothing but an object of ridicule and mockery.
"The Poison Dagger Yama, Dang Maeng, fought valiantly to halt the enemy's fierce advance! Alas, how tragic and lamentable! As the saying goes, the rear waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves forward. How could Dang Maeng withstand it?"
While the phrase literally meant that the rear waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves forward,
it was also a common idiom and metaphor used when a senior was overtaken and defeated by a junior.
"What? Is that true...?"
"The Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf actually did that?!"
As the crowd began to murmur, the storyteller, growing even more excited, bellowed in a booming voice.
"He lost his life to a rising star of the Unorthodox faction! The front wave that was Dang Maeng has crumbled like a stream sinking into the sand. Ah, Jianghu! How heartless you are!"
"Hey, did the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf really defeat Dang Maeng? Is that the truth, not an exaggeration?"
"It is indeed! According to the survivors from the Martial Alliance, the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf dominated the battle from start to finish! They say his martial prowess reached the very heavens!"
"My goodness! Isn't he barely twenty? How could he achieve such heights at that age...?!"
Naturally, the person the public gossiped about most was Jeok-un, the protagonist of this incident.
"Rumor has it that the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf is a hidden disciple taken in by the Lord of Sadocheon, Dok-go Cheon!"
"Is—is that true?!"
"Of course it is! Otherwise, how could a prodigal son of the Jegal Family slay the Poison Dagger Yama, a man at the peak of the Transformation Realm?"
"True, very true!"
As the people marveled at Jeok-un's achievements and martial prowess, theories began to surface that he might be the true successor of the Lion Sword Emperor.
The way he was perceived had completely transformed from when he was treated as a degenerate and a prodigal son of the Jegal Family.
A man who had once been the butt of crude jokes had slain Dang Maeng, a proud expert of the Sichuan Dang Family.
The martial artists of the Orthodox faction let out heavy sighs and shut their mouths tight, while Heukpaeseong was plunged into deep grief.
Only the martial artists of Sadocheon cheered and sang Jeok-un's praises.
For the path Jeok-un had carved out was nothing short of astonishing.
To put it kindly, it was the path of a hero, but in truth, most evaluated it as sheer madness.
He had openly targeted a branch of the Martial Alliance, declared war by telling them to get lost, and fought a battle of life and death against an expert of the Sichuan Dang Family.
Even more surprising was that, not content with what he did to Dang Maeng, he had also left Heukpaeseong in a wretched state.
"The—the Sea Overflowing Fist Madman, Seo Do-yeom, is dead too?"
"Indeed. I heard his corpse was in a truly horrific state."
"No, how does this make any sense? Even if we set the Poison Dagger Yama aside, the Sea Overflowing Fist Madman was a veteran expert who spent his life in Jianghu. How could a mere Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf..."
In a tavern within Sadocheon's territory, someone uttered Jeok-un's old moniker, prompting a nearby friend to gasp and warn him.
"Shh! Keep your voice down! Do you want to get us killed, using that name so recklessly?"
"Wh-what?"
"Don't you know that the martial artists of Sadocheon are parading the 'Dark Sky Mad Dragon' around as their hero these days?"
"Ah, right. I'll be careful. That was close."
His reputation had flipped in an instant.
Derogatory titles like the Ruined Dragon of Jegal or the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf had vanished without a trace.
The public, especially the martial artists of Sadocheon, now revered Jeok-un, calling him the Dark Sky Mad Dragon.
It was a natural consequence of Sadocheon, which had been pushed back by Heukpaeseong and squeezed by the Martial Alliance for so long, suddenly achieving a spectacular victory.
There were even rumors that a faction of devoted followers had formed within Sadocheon, giving a clear indication of his soaring popularity.
Furthermore, it wasn't just Jeok-un's title that had changed.
"I heard the Dark Sky Mad Dragon has been newly listed among the Ten Heroes of the Evil Heaven."
"Isn't that only natural? Who else could achieve such a feat?"
"Exactly. How fortunate we are to have such a hero rise within the Unorthodox faction."
"Hmph. Weren't you just calling the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf a disgrace to the Unorthodox faction not too long ago?"
"Hey! When did I ever say that, you rascal!"
If the Orthodox faction had the Nine Dragons and Four Phoenixes, the Unorthodox faction had the Ten Heroes of the Evil Heaven.
Both were glorious titles referring to the rising young stars of the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions.
Yet, the way Jeok-un was treated was somewhat peculiar.
Because he was barely twenty, he was placed alongside his peers in the Ten Heroes of the Evil Heaven.
However, the Mad Dragon Jeok-un had slain two experts at the peak of the Transformation Realm—a feat that none of the Nine Dragons, Four Phoenixes, or the other Ten Heroes could ever hope to achieve.
Recognizing this, the public placed him above the undisputed number one of the Ten Heroes, the Thousand Ghost Blood Eagle, Jin Yeo-mong, the moment his name was added to the list.
The Thousand Ghost Blood Eagle, Jin Yeo-mong, was the direct disciple of the Lord of Heukpaeseong and had been the undisputed leader of the Ten Heroes until Jeok-un's sudden rise.
But now, Jin Yeo-mong had been pushed down to second place by Jeok-un.
All of this was the aftermath of the Tongseong County incident.
The scale of the incident was that massive, and its repercussions were far from minor.
The first to groan under the weight of it was the Martial Alliance.
"Jeok-un, that degenerate, is of the Chief Strategist's bloodline! Shouldn't the Jegal Family take responsibility for this?!"
"What absolute nonsense! That boy has already been excommunicated from the Jegal Family! Do you truly not see that the reckless actions of the former Tongseong Branch Leader brought this upon us?!"
"What? Have you said your piece?!"
"And what if I have?!"
The festering wounds within the Martial Alliance had finally ruptured.
The Sichuan Dang Family blamed the Jegal Family simply because Jeok-un was born of their bloodline.
In response, the Jegal Family countered that Dang Maeng's rash judgment had caused the loss of Tongseong County.
This was not a mere feud between two families.
It was the beginning of an all-out clash between the Alliance Leader's faction, to which the Jegal Family belonged, and the Elders' faction, backed by the Sichuan Dang Family.
Meanwhile, the perception of Sadocheon, which had been deemed the weakest of the three major powers due to Heukpaeseong's aggressive expansion, shifted completely.
With Heukpaeseong's relentless growth, Sadocheon had been viewed as the most declining faction among the three.
They had even become the laughingstock of Jianghu when it was revealed just before the Tongseong County incident that the leader of the Geum-wol Squad, No Hwang-mun—one of the Ten Heaven Squads—was a spy sent by Heukpaeseong.
Yet, this very Sadocheon had just pulled off an event that would be talked about for at least a decade. How could they not be elated?
Until now, many had criticized Sadocheon's future as bleak, claiming they had no notable figures other than the Lion Sword Emperor, Dok-go Cheon.
But this incident shattered those assessments, proving that Sadocheon had found a new direction and a promising future.
Naturally, Heukpaeseong had no choice but to take this situation with the utmost seriousness.
"Jeok-un, was it? If you were to describe him in a single word?"
"Exceedingly cunning."
"Your reason?"
"He anticipated that the Sword Saint and I would arrive, so he dragged the government into it. Before that, he deliberately escalated the situation to draw the local magistrate's attention. None of this could possibly be a coincidence."
Though it had all been a series of coincidences, Dan Gyo-ik and the Lord of Heukpaeseong would never know.
They believed the display of both strategic intellect and martial prowess Jeok-un had shown was a calculated plan, rather than the result of him acting on a whim and stumbling into luck.
To deliberately blow up the situation to attract the government, and then use those official ties to resolve the crisis cleanly like cutting through a knot when the Sword Saint and the Ghost Moon Demon arrived...
The public could not help but marvel at this sequence of events.
Whispers spread everywhere that Jeok-un was indeed of the Sleeping Dragon's bloodline, and that his heritage could not be denied.
While Jeok-un was riding a wave of success, another entity was experiencing a precipitous fall.
It was none other than the Geumhwang Merchant Group.
"By the way, I heard there's evidence that martial artists from the Geumhwang Merchant Group aided them in this affair..."
"Wait, why on earth would the Geumhwang Merchant Group help Jeok-un? The very man who killed the Golden Venerable's daughter?!"
"Tsk, tsk. They weren't helping the Ring-Shattering Mad Wolf. They were trying to secretly align themselves with Sadocheon. This is why you can never trust merchants!"
When rumors spread that the Geumhwang Merchant Group had betrayed the Martial Alliance to side with Sadocheon and clash with the Tongseong Branch, the warriors of the Alliance were outraged.
"Golden Venerable? More like the Golden Insect! What an absolute parasite!"
"They will pay a bitter price for this! I hear the Sichuan Dang Family is absolutely furious. How will they handle the backlash?"
"Indeed. Would the Poison World Dark Venerable ever let his brother's death slide?"
The Poison World Dark Venerable was the title of Dang Cheon-hwi, the Lord of the Sichuan Dang Family.
Despite his brutal methods, he was famous for his fierce devotion to his siblings.
"With the heavily wounded Sichuan Dang Family bound to bare their fangs, and Heukpaeseong unlikely to sit idle after losing their sacred relic..."
"Sigh, the road ahead for Jianghu will not be smooth."
"It's terrifying, truly terrifying... I dread to think what will become of Jianghu..."
Watching the unstoppable upheaval of Jianghu, the people talked.
Expressing fear and excitement, curiosity and dread.