The Blade Hidden in the Prison
Click.
The sound of the sword sliding back into its scabbard rang out with a clear, crisp note. I turned and looked at Won Woo-hyeop and Namgung Gyeom. They were gaping as if they’d just seen something impossible. That expression disappeared quickly enough after a single sentence from me, though.
“Why are you staring like that? Did you see something so amazing?”
Won Woo-hyeop moved first. He strode up to me quickly.
“Anonymous Lowlife... no, was it Baek Mugeuk?”
He gave me another once-over, then opened his mouth again.
“You were hiding your skill?”
“Me? I never hid anything.”
“I thought you were an interesting guy, but... I didn’t expect this much.”
“I didn’t expect you lot to be this weak either.”
At my words, Won Woo-hyeop didn’t get angry. Instead, he broke into a thin smile. Then he walked past me and headed for the exit.
“I’ll give that line back to you next time we meet. Anonymous Lowlife.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
I’d made a wager with him over who killed Mo Hu-gun, betting on the right to Zhejiang’s interests and the Treasury of the Divine Thief, but if he had wanted to, he could have kept opposing me by relying on the authority of Cheolhyeol-seong.
But he didn’t look back. He left the Treasury of the Divine Thief with a smile, yet his spirit wasn’t broken. If anything, it had hardened.
He’ll be considerably stronger the next time we meet.
There were far too many things a martial artist needed in order to grow stronger. Vast internal energy, of course, and exceptional martial skill as well; honestly, the list went on until it made your mouth sore. But above all, the most important thing was the martial artist’s own state of mind. It looked like Won Woo-hyeop had just found his.
“How long are you planning to stand there?”
This time, I turned my gaze to Namgung Gyeom. He was glaring at me sharply. If looks could kill, he would have been wearing exactly that expression.
“Shut up.”
“That’s pretty rude for someone talking to his lifesaver.”
“……”
At my words, Namgung Gyeom’s gaze sharpened even further. But he didn’t say anything else and simply started walking out of the Treasury of the Divine Thief.
“I’ll repay that debt no matter what. And I’ll definitely kill you myself too.”
He left those words behind and vanished from the Treasury of the Divine Thief. Without meaning to, I shook my head.
I can’t even tell who’s orthodox and who’s unorthodox anymore. Anyway... I should clean this up.
I called up Sammae True Fire in my hand and burned Mo Hu-gun’s corpse. Then I started tidying things up one by one. I burned the corpses of the Taoists, cleared away the broken inn buildings, and rewrote the signboard.
Baek-ga Inn.
Closed indefinitely.
After that, I decided to sort out the Divine Thief’s wealth.
I couldn’t possibly carry all of it around, and it didn’t seem right to take it straight to Baek-ga either.
In the end, I divided it into five portions and visited the branches of the Five Great Trading Houses in Zhejiang one by one, entrusting the wealth to them and registering deposit slips.
“I’ve become rich overnight.”
The money I’d earned in Heuksi wasn’t small, but compared to the amount from the Treasury of the Divine Thief, it was barely a drop in the bucket. Still, money didn’t mean all that much to me.
“I should decide my next destination soon.”
I spread out the map. Then I drew a thick line through the words Treasury of the Divine Thief written in Zhejiang. After that, I scanned the incidents marked on the map once more.
“There are too many to dig through one by one, as expected.”
I had to think about where to go first. It couldn’t be helped. What I wanted wasn’t to solve every incident here and create peace in the martial world.
What I wanted was only one thing: to become stronger than anyone else. That meant the rewards I could gain from each incident mattered.
Hmm...
Then the things I had to weigh were the distance to each incident and the reward.
And whether it could actually be solved.
Just as my thoughts were deepening, an unfamiliar voice came from outside the inn.
“Innkeeper. Are you there?”
A customer?
I had put up a sign saying the place was closed for business, so I decided not to pay it any mind. But then the voice came again, this time accompanied by knocking at the door.
“Innkeeper! I’m a messenger from the Murim Alliance! Please open the door.”
“Murim Alliance?”
The moment I heard that, I shot to my feet and opened the door. Standing there was a man who looked like a messenger from the Murim Alliance. The moment our eyes met, he took out a letter from his bosom.
“This is an official sealed summons from the Murim Alliance Lord.”
“The Murim Alliance Lord?”
“Watch your words. It’s the Murim Alliance Lord!”
At my response, the messenger bristled furiously. I ignored his reaction, took the letter, and shut the door. Then I sat down at the desk, tore open the seal, and read the letter through.
Baek Mugeuk of the Baek Family is hereby ordered to report to the Murim Alliance at once.
“No reason given, and they’re already this rude.”
The contents were so brief they were almost insulting. Well, that was just how those old orthodox idiots were, so I let it go.
Why do they want me there? Probably because of the Treasury of the Divine Thief and Mo Hu-gun’s betrayal. The interests of Zhejiang, most likely.
It had been less than three days since the Treasury of the Divine Thief opened and Mo Hu-gun died. And yet they’d sent this letter so quickly, which meant the Murim Alliance also considered the matter highly important.
I don’t need to go immediately, but...
I set the letter down and shifted my gaze to the map. Then I lifted my brush and drew a circle on it.
Maybe I should go to the Murim Alliance next?
I’d chosen my second destination. Henan, where the Murim Alliance stood.
* * *
The walls of Henan Province came into view. I slowly began sorting through the information in my head.
I was heading for the Murim Alliance because of the message from the Alliance Lord. That was the surface reason I had come here. But my real purpose was not the Alliance Lord’s summons.
The Alliance Lord’s sword is there.
Among the incidents from my past life, there was one in particular that I still remembered clearly. The details were simple. A prisoner escaped from the prison dungeon, and several orthodox martial artists were killed by that prisoner.
Someone might ask why the escape of a prisoner from a dungeon caused such a stir throughout the Central Plains.
A prisoner escapes from prison? That was possible. But if the prison in question was the underground dungeon of the Murim Alliance, the story changed. Add to that the fact that top-tier martial artists in Henan were murdered by an upper-ranking martial artist? At the hands of a first-rate martial artist, no less?
From that moment on, it was no longer something that could be dismissed so easily.
Who would’ve guessed? That the Murim Alliance’s dungeon would be hiding a divine weapon capable of letting a first-rate martial artist kill a top-tier one.
That was right. A sword that could fairly be called a divine weapon had been hidden in the dungeon. The prisoner had stumbled across it by chance and escaped. In the end, that prisoner was subdued by none other than my counterpart, the Murim Alliance Lord Namgung Mu, and the sword taken from him at that time became the blade that symbolized him.
I’m taking that sword for myself.
Just as the image of Namgung Mu swinging that sword surfaced in my mind, I heard a guard’s voice from the entrance to Henan Province.
“Halt! State your purpose for visiting Henan Province.”
“I’ve come by order of the Murim Alliance Lord.”
I took out the letter bearing the Murim Alliance Lord’s seal and showed it to him. The guard glanced at it and motioned for me to enter.
Once I crossed the threshold into Henan Province, martial artists dressed in black martial robes filled my field of vision. The one at their head approached me. He was broad-shouldered, and the character Hyeon was embroidered on his chest.
Only one force in the world could wear the character Hyeon on their chest: the Hyeonmu Guard, the Murim Alliance’s personal guard and the armed force that protected Henan Province.
“Are you Baek Mugeuk of the Baek Family?”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself before asking someone else’s name?”
My answer must have seemed insolent.
He shot me a contemptuous look, then spoke.
“...My apologies. I am the captain of the Hyeonmu Guard, Jin Mu-heon.”
“Baek Mugeuk of the Baek Family. So, what’s the matter?”
“The Murim Alliance Lord has ordered us to escort an honored guest.”
“An honored guest?”
“That’s right.”
Jin Mu-heon called me an honored guest, but from his expression, his manner, and the aura of the Hyeonmu Guard standing behind him, he did not think of me as a guest at all.
“Doesn’t look like you see me as one, though. Fine. I’ll go along with you.”
“……”
Even after I said I’d follow the Hyeonmu Guard, they didn’t move right away. Jin Mu-heon ran his eyes over me from head to toe and held out his hand. I looked at him for a moment, then tilted my head.
“What is it?”
“A martial artist not registered with the Murim Alliance may not carry weapons when entering the Murim Alliance.”
“You want a swordsman to hand over his sword?”
“That is the rule.”
The corners of Jin Mu-heon’s mouth lifted faintly. He was probably trying to bully me under the pretext that I was new to the martial world. That was because, as far as I knew, no such rule existed in the Murim Alliance.
I tapped lightly on my scabbard with a finger and looked at Jin Mu-heon.
“Hmm... if that’s the rule, then I guess there’s no helping it.”
I gripped the scabbard lightly, then in an instant extended it and pressed it up under Jin Mu-heon’s throat.
At the same time, Jin Mu-heon’s eyes widened. He reflexively lurched back and drew his sword. The Hyeonmu Guard behind him all put their hands to their blades at once.
“What is the meaning of this! Are you challenging the Murim Alliance head-on?”
“What are you talking about?”
I asked, tilting my head.
“You said to hand over the sword, didn’t you?”
Jin Mu-heon’s eyes dropped to my hand. I had drawn the sword, but the blade had never left the scabbard even once.
It had remained in the scabbard from beginning to end.
“……”
“As expected of the Hyeonmu Guard. The fact that you kept your guard up even before I handed it over tells me why the Murim Alliance’s safety is guaranteed.”
I smiled and handed the sword to Jin Mu-heon. Then I leaned in and whispered just loudly enough for only him to hear.
“Why don’t you relax your face a little? It’d be a problem if word got out that the captain of the Hyeonmu Guard got toyed with by a newbie to the martial world.”
Crack.
Jin Mu-heon clenched his teeth and strained his arm, but because too many eyes were on us, he ultimately couldn’t do anything.
“The Murim Alliance is this way, I presume? No, wait. Is that enormous hall the Murim Alliance?”
I passed Jin Mu-heon and looked around in several directions. Then I heard his cold voice.
“The Murim Alliance is this way. Follow me.”
“Ah, so it’s that way?”
When Jin Mu-heon turned around without another word, the members of the Hyeonmu Guard began moving around him.
As I followed behind Jin Mu-heon, the one in front, four or five martial artists naturally closed in on my left, right, and rear as if they’d agreed to it in advance.
Before I knew it, I was completely surrounded, moving along like a prisoner.
“So this is what they call an honored guest? More like a prisoner escort.”
The corners of my mouth rose on their own. I wasn’t especially flustered or angry. If anything, I found this response more amusing, so I put my hands behind my back and strolled along at an easy pace.
The Hyeonmu Guard kept glancing at my profile, but I pretended not to notice and lifted my chin.
“If the Murim Alliance’s vigilance is this tight, then the real enemy’s probably coming from inside.”
I murmured the words under my breath, but somehow they caught the wind and reached Jin Mu-heon, because I could feel his shoulders twitch for a brief moment.
It wasn’t long before the Murim Alliance’s main hall finally came into view.
High walls, restrained ornamentation, sharply angled eaves. On the upper section of the hall were the three characters Murim Alliance engraved in proud strokes. The place certainly wasn’t flashy, but it was imposing enough.
To most orthodox martial artists, this would be the center of the martial world. But to me, it felt like...
“Nothing’s changed.”
Like looking at a faded painting.