Reaping What You Sow (3)
The banquet Namgung Myeong had invited them to was not to be held in Anhui Province, home of the Namgung Family, but in Wuhan of Hubei Province.
Wuhan was the provincial capital of Hubei and a vital transport hub where the waters of the Han River and the Yangtze River converged. Because those waterways made travel to the surrounding provinces so convenient, it was even called the Thoroughfare of the Nine Provinces. That same ease of access was why the headquarters of the Martial Alliance had been established there as well.
He said it was the Cloud Rock Pavilion, didn't he?
Cheonhwa wandered this way and that in search of the meeting place. In the course of his search he came upon a familiar face—Heogong, the senior disciple of the Wudang Sect's Heo generation.
The moment Heogong laid eyes on Cheonhwa, he started and his eyes went wide. The presence radiating from Cheonhwa was unmistakably different from before.
"Daoist Heogong, are you all right?"
"Ah—forgive me. I ought to have greeted you properly, yet I found myself staring. Have you been well, Daoist Cheonhwa?"
"I have. And yourself, Daoist Heogong?"
"Quite well, of course. It seems you too have been invited to the banquet. I was on my way to the Cloud Rock Pavilion myself—shall we go together?"
"I was actually lost, so I would be grateful."
True to a Taoist who had trained in the orthodox arts of a great sect, Heogong recovered his composure at once. Side by side they set out for the Cloud Rock Pavilion.
"As it happens, I have something to tell you, Daoist Cheonhwa."
"To me?"
"Yes. Do you remember the promise we made when we visited for the Righteous Path Journey?"
"Of course."
Cheonhwa nodded at Heogong's question. It had been back when Cheonhwa was still an outer disciple, during the exchange visit of the Heo-generation Taoists led by Heogong. The youngest of their party, Heosang, had behaved disgracefully in a friendly spar with Cheonhwa. The Wudang Sect had punished Heosang and promised Cheonhwa a separate compensation—yet that promise had never been fulfilled.
"I never imagined the spiritual medicine meant for you would be stolen."
"Neither did I. I doubt anyone foresaw it turning out this way."
It had happened around the time the Zhongnan Sect was attacked by the Dark Night Assassination Pavilion during its third promotion examination. Several other great sects, including the Huashan Sect, had suffered similar raids in the same period—and the Wudang Sect had been among them.
I heard the force that clashed with Wudang was Black Water Castle.
Black Water Castle. A major unorthodox sect of the Six Tyrant Coalition, built around salt smuggling and black-market trade. In many ways it resembled the Silent Merchant Guild with its illicit dealings, or the Yangtze Waterway Sect with its river pirates. Its greatest distinction, however, was specialization in group combat—rumored to stem from the fact that its ranks were filled with deserters from the military. The military itself had kept silent, so the truth of the rumor remained unknown.
Given that the Wudang Sect stood as a pillar of the righteous path, a clash with Black Water Castle alone would not have been catastrophic. But while the sect was distracted by the fighting with the Six Tyrant Coalition, another presence had slipped inside: Wind Evil, one of the Four Great Evils of Flowers, Birds, Wind, and Moon—a Super Expert thief hailed as the reincarnation of the Divine Thief. True to his moniker, Wind Evil had appeared like the wind itself, stolen every medicinal ingredient the Wudang Sect had been refining, and in the ensuing battle with the masters on guard, several halls had burned to the ground in a disaster of the first order.
"I heard the Wudang Sect came within a hair of sealing its gates because of it."
"Yes. The damage was hard to believe for the work of a single thief."
Heogong's expression hardened at the memory. Even a gentle-natured Taoist could not forgive the atrocity Wind Evil had committed. Under ordinary circumstances the losses would never have grown so severe, but nearly every Peerless Expert and Super Expert of the Wudang Sect had been away fighting Black Water Castle. That clash had greatly weakened Black Water Castle's strength and influence, yet the Wudang Sect had suffered on every front as misfortune piled upon misfortune. The compensation promised to Cheonhwa had been postponed, and only after concentrating on recovery until recently had the sect sent disciples to the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering to prove it still stood firm.
"Now that we have recovered enough to appear at the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, we can at last deliver the compensation we promised—late though it is."
"Understood. Since I am already in Hubei, I will pay a visit once this banquet is over and I have a free moment."
While they talked they reached the Cloud Rock Pavilion. The moment they stepped inside, a waiter hurried over to greet them.
"Welcome, honored guests. Just the two of you?"
"Yes. Our party should already be here. If you mention guests from the Zhongnan Sect, they will know."
The waiter's eyes went round.
"You are the rising star of the Zhongnan Sect and champion of this year's Dragon and Phoenix Gathering—the Flash Sword Dragon himself! Allow me to show you to your reserved table at once."
Cheonhwa and Heogong followed the waiter deeper into the establishment. For a wine house the Cloud Rock Pavilion was remarkably understated in its décor; that clean restraint lent it an antique elegance set apart from ordinary taverns. The guests, too, seemed to melt into the atmosphere, sipping tea and wine in quiet conversation, so that one almost felt one had stepped into a teahouse rather than a wine house.
The waiter led them to a private room at the very top of the building—clearly a place reserved for distinguished guests. Through the window the waters of the Yangtze stretched out at a glance. The guests who had arrived earlier were already sharing cups around the central table: the host himself, Young Master of the Namgung Family and Heavenly Sword Dragon Namgung Myeong, together with Iron Fist Dragon Beomhye of the Shaolin Temple and Tyrant Blade Dragon Paeng Mu-jin of the Hebei Paeng Family. Every face was one Cheonhwa knew.
The three men turned at Cheonhwa's entrance, and shock flooded their faces. When they had parted after the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, Cheonhwa had still been at the extreme of First-class. Yet the presence he now radiated was sharper, clearer—unmistakably the aura of a Peak Expert who had forged a Spiritual Nature. Even allowing for the proverb about rubbing one's eyes in astonishment, this was beyond the pale. Peak Experts generally reached that realm only after their thirties, and even the swiftest prodigies only after their twenties. To see that common knowledge overturned so completely left them speechless.
"Just what on earth happened?"
"A great many things."
Cheonhwa answered Namgung Myeong lightly and took the seat prepared for him, Heogong settling beside him.
"Last to arrive, so you will have to drink a penalty cup."
To lighten the mood Namgung Myeong poured wine and sent the cups sliding across the table; they came to rest neatly before Cheonhwa and Heogong. The effortless use of Empty Force to ferry the cups was plain at a glance. Cheonhwa accepted the lavish gesture with a wry smile.
"I thought I was hurrying, yet somehow I am the latest of all."
"It was your first time here, so it is only natural. Besides, the Cloud Rock Pavilion sits well away from the bustling districts."
Namgung Myeong glanced out the window as he spoke. A smile touched his lips at the sweeping view of the winding Yangtze; he took a sip from his cup.
"But the Cloud Rock Pavilion offers a charm no other wine house can match. Many guests come precisely for this atmosphere."
In his heart he would have liked nothing better than to continue the peaceful conversation. Unfortunately the situation did not allow it. Above all he burned to ask how Cheonhwa had become a Peak Expert—but personal matters could wait until the business at hand was finished.
Namgung Myeong set down his cup, swept his gaze once around the table, and spoke.
"You have all likely guessed by now. Claiming I wished to deepen friendships with those who took part in the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering was merely a pretext for gathering us here."
Then why had Namgung Myeong convened this banquet under his own name? The reason was simple.
"I have called the four of you because I need your support."
"Is that the will of the entire Namgung Family?"
"No. This is purely my own decision."
Namgung Myeong shook his head at Cheonhwa's question.
"The reason I have ignored the family's wishes and acted so unilaterally is simple. At present the Namgung Family is marching straight toward a cliff."
He went on to explain why the Namgung Family had volunteered to deal with the jiangshi horde that had appeared in Jiangsu Province.
"In short, the Namgung Family intended to extend its influence into Jiangsu."
Ever since the Maoshan Sect's destruction, Jiangsu had lacked any proper great sect and had become a free-for-all where righteous and unorthodox, white path and black path, all jostled together. For now the factions were more or less evenly matched, but through repeated clashes and absorptions a great sect that would dominate Jiangsu was bound to emerge someday.
"Our family meant to plant a spoon in that empty power vacuum before any such great sect appeared."
Great sects generally rooted themselves in a single region and exercised influence there; cases of projecting power over a wider area were rare. The reason was simple: the Central Plains were simply too vast. A single province was the size of a nation. Sects like the Beggars' Guild or the Hao Clan that managed to reach beyond their home regions did so only through overwhelming numbers and cell-like organization; their actual martial strength and local influence inevitably lagged behind other great sects.
"Naturally our family cannot escape that same limitation, yet we had been establishing branch halls and gradually expanding our reach. If we could project influence beyond Anhui, our material and human resources would grow far richer than before."
Everything had seemed to be proceeding smoothly—until disaster struck without warning. A jiangshi horde had suddenly poured forth and swept through the martial world of Jiangsu, and among the victims were the branch halls the Namgung Family had secretly established. In effect the family's reserve forces were now tied down in Jiangsu.
"Wait a moment. Then the reason the Namgung Family opposed the Martial Alliance's summons and threw itself so actively into the Jiangsu problem was…?"
"Because they had poured every spare resource into expansion out of greed, and they needed to hide the fact that they no longer had the strength to answer a summons. So they put on a show."
Namgung Myeong gave a bitter smile, calling the conduct of his own family ugly beyond words.
"The family is convinced it can handle the jiangshi horde with only the forces already committed to Jiangsu. I do not share that conviction."
Namgung Myeong had sensed that if things continued as they were, the family's very survival would be at risk. And so he had unilaterally gathered those he trusted most. The four men seated here were the ones he trusted above all others from the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering. Paeng Mu-jin was a sworn brother of many years; Beomhye and Heogong belonged to the Shaolin Temple and the Wudang Sect; and Cheonhwa had the distinction of having won the Gathering. With their aid, support would be available should the Namgung Family fall into true danger.
"I know it is an unreasonable request, but please—help me."
Namgung Myeong bowed his head and pleaded earnestly with the four of them. The four were stunned by the ugly reality of the Namgung Family, yet even more astonished by Namgung Myeong's purpose. To think he would choose to stand against his own family in order to save it.
But before any of them could answer, a new problem arose. Footsteps came racing urgently toward the room. The banquet had been arranged with the utmost secrecy; every waiter had been deliberately kept away and ordered not to send anyone upstairs. For someone to ignore that and come running so desperately meant the matter was truly urgent.
"Forgive the intrusion!"
The door burst open with a frantic cry. The man who entered was a martial artist in a blue long robe—clearly one of the warriors under Namgung Myeong's command. He had sprinted the entire way; sweat poured down his brow and his breathing was ragged, yet his trembling eyes burned with the need to deliver his message at once. Once he had caught enough breath he spoke without delay.
"Urgent report! The jiangshi horde of Jiangsu Province has passed through Anhui and is advancing in a straight line toward this very place—Wuhan!"