The Shadow Over Hangzhou
Rain was pouring down on Hangzhou as well.
Eo Gwan stood before a secluded little estate in a remote corner of the city, a place where no one ever passed by.
Whoosh—!
BOOM!
The Eoryongchak that flew out from his Eoryongcham slammed into the gate and blasted it wide open.
Akgae, the leader of the Seven Evils Faction, who had been lounging inside, shot upright in alarm.
“Elder Eo Gwan! Weren’t you supposed to come after seven days and nights?”
“The Cheonsimcho wasn’t at the promised location.”
“That can’t be!”
“Can’t be? You spout such obvious bullshit without even blinking.”
Swish!
The Eoryongchak that flew in wrapped around Akgae’s throat and tightened.
When Eo Gwan lifted his Eoryongcham, Akgae’s legs kicked desperately in midair.
The sickening sound of vertebrae twisting mixed with his pleas, instantly shattering the quiet of the estate.
“You dared deceive the Janggang Water Sect and fail to place the Cheonsimcho at the promised spot?”
“Ugh… That’s not it. I definitely left five stalks in front of the grassy patch with the five trees.”
“Then why is it gone?”
Crack.
The Eoryongchak constricted even harder around Akgae’s neck.
Blood welled up from the gouged flesh, soaking the bloodthirsty Eoryongchak.
Akgae cried out in desperate appeal.
“Kuhk… I didn’t deceive you!”
“So you’re saying the Cheonsimcho got up and walked away on its own?”
“We only did exactly as you ordered… You said if we wanted to hide the trees, we should hide them in a forest, so we put them exactly where Elder Eo Gwan told us…”
Akgae’s words, already choking off, scattered into the air before he could finish.
Eo Gwan stared coldly at the dying man and pierced through his inner thoughts.
He’s not the type to have the guts to tell such a bold-faced lie.
The Seven Evils Faction.
A black path organization that had grown rapidly after stumbling upon a lucky opportunity in Cheongyang, Anhui Province. They were the fools who had accidentally discovered the Cheonsimcho on a cliff at the summit of Guhwasan near Cheongyang.
And they were the idiots who had been marked by the Namgung Clan, which dominated Anhui.
These were the men now flailing before his eyes.
Chased out of Anhui by the Namgung Clan, they had begged the Janggang Water Sect for help in exchange for offering up the Cheonsimcho, pleading to be allowed to settle in Hangzhou.
With their lives hanging by a thread and one foot already in the grave, they wouldn’t value the Cheonsimcho more than their own survival.
Eo Gwan loosened the Eoryongchak that had been strangling Akgae’s neck.
“Cough, cough!”
Akgae collapsed to the floor, spitting up blood-mixed coughs.
Eo Gwan’s gaze turned icy as it fixed on him.
“Find it. If you fail, every last one of you dies.”
“Cough, cough. W-we’ll find it…”
“Five days. That’s all the time you have left.”
Akgae’s eyes trembled violently.
The time until his bleeding neck would be completely severed was far too short.
Yet he still nodded.
Akgae grabbed onto that last straw with every ounce of strength he possessed.
“I will keep my promise. I will deliver the Cheonsimcho within five days.”
“There were footprints leading from where the Cheonsimcho had been all the way toward Hangzhou. There were also traces of a carriage moving and the heavy scent of blood from a fight. Do you understand what you need to do now?”
“We will track the trail.”
At Akgae’s shout, the thirty-odd black path warriors scattered busily in every direction.
Like wild dogs that had caught a scent and were now hunting their prey.
Eo Gwan crossed his arms as he watched them set out to find the Cheonsimcho.
Countless thoughts rose like clouds in his frowning mind.
An ominous unease was stirring in his chest.
Someone recognized the Cheonsimcho. And they took it.
How could they have recognized it?
Akgae’s grandfather had been a renowned herb gatherer even in the Central Plains, so Akgae had learned how to identify medicinal herbs from a young age.
That knowledge had allowed him to recognize the Cheonsimcho, granting him the fortune of extending his life a little longer.
But the Cheonsimcho was something that appeared only once every few decades, or even centuries.
Because of that, even its appearance was not widely known.
Even the imperial palace, which had recorded the Cheonsimcho discovered several hundred years ago in illustrations, had never made its appearance public.
Yet someone recognized it and took it. That means it wasn’t an ordinary person.
If there was someone in Hangzhou who could cast such an ominous shadow of unease, and if he couldn’t identify who they were…
It would be safer to request help from the Sect Leader.
Eo Gwan reviewed his plans once more.
He had no choice.
This matter could not be allowed to fail.
Hangzhou was a honeyed land without any Murim forces.
It was like a storehouse full of grain with no owner.
Everyone wanted it, and simply taking possession would bring unimaginable wealth and glory.
Yet Hangzhou still remained empty.
Because it was the place where nineteen hundred people had died in an incident decades ago that violated the Gwan-Mu Bulgachim.
After that event, every Murim faction had withdrawn from Hangzhou.
That’s right.
The fact that the Seven Evils Faction had come begging the Janggang Water Sect for help had been a stroke of luck.
It was the perfect opportunity for the Janggang Water Sect to devour Hangzhou without anyone knowing, using them as a front.
If this fails, seizing Hangzhou again will be impossible. Anyone capable of recognizing the Cheonsimcho would be a significant figure in either the government or the Murim world. It looks like I’ll need to bring in several more experts and dozens of subordinates.
Eo Gwan reached that conclusion.
Then he turned his gaze back to Akgae.
“What about the matter I told you to look into?”
“You mean the location that will serve as the base for both the Seven Evils Faction and the Janggang Water Sect?”
“I told you to find a family that owns a few small, inconspicuous estates, operates two or three shops, and has connections in the merchant world. You found one, right?”
“It wasn’t easy, but we managed to locate a suitable place. Here, this is it.”
Even while clearly afraid of Eo Gwan, Akgae handed over a bundle of papers with drawings on them with a hint of pride.
His face was filled with certainty that it would be satisfactory.
Eo Gwan took the papers with a smirk and flipped through them one by one with a saliva-moistened finger.
An estate in a good location that was still quiet.
Small but high-traffic shops and a trading company that brought in decent revenue.
They had somehow found something perfectly suitable.
Eo Gwan engraved the name of the estate written on the last page into his mind.
Dan Manor… Even the name is to my liking.
For three full days, rain poured down on Hangzhou until it finally began to roar with thunder and lightning.
Moyong Sehui folded the oiled-paper umbrella whose wooden ribs were flapping wildly.
If she had wandered outside even a little longer, the paper would have torn.
The wind that never stopped blowing grew stronger by the minute.
Moyong Sehui shook the water from her umbrella and stepped into the inn.
“Do you have any rooms available? I’d like to see one suitable for a long stay.”
Since the mission would clearly take a long time, she couldn’t afford an expensive room.
The waiter looked at Moyong Sehui’s exhausted face and silently asked with his expression, How long is this ‘long stay’ exactly?
“I’ll stay for a month to start.”
“That’ll be three gold coins.”
“Isn’t that more expensive than I expected?”
“This is Hangzhou, miss.”
“Ah…”
It really was a place where everything was disgustingly expensive in proportion to how wealthy it was.
The cost of living in Hangzhou was about three times that of the area around the main house of the Moyong Clan in Liaoning Province.
Moyong Sehui hesitated for a moment.
Although the Murim Alliance would cover the room cost, the money she had on hand was tight.
After paying, I’ll only have three gold coins and ten copper coins left?
She had already spent two gold coins treating the shoulder wound she received from the iron wire.
She had been carrying five months’ living expenses for a commoner, but after paying for the room, all that remained was ten copper coins—barely enough for two bowls of noodles.
Money gone in a single day.
I’ll have to ask Father for more later.
Moyong Sehui handed over the three gold coins.
“This way, please.”
The waiter led her up to the third floor.
The room he opened for her was fortunately quite clean.
“It’s best not to leave important items in the room. Even if they get stolen, we won’t take responsibility.”
Expensive and unfriendly on top of it.
Moyong Sehui tossed her bundle onto the bed.
With the waiter slamming the door shut with a bang, she was finally able to enjoy some time alone for the first time in a while.
Flopping down on her back, Moyong Sehui blinked while staring at the ceiling.
Finding the person who holds the Six-Horse Golden Plaque… It feels so overwhelming.
Her father had sent her with no clues whatsoever.
Even her father, Moyong Seryong—the leader of the Murim Alliance—must have known how harsh it would be to start from scratch with nothing but her bare hands in this vast city of Hangzhou.
In other words.
Her father was that desperate.
Moyong Sehui reached that conclusion.
The government and the martial world were like oil and water—they didn’t mix. If someone with absolute power equal to the Emperor had appeared again…
The balance of power would collapse. That’s not good. For now… I should start by gathering information at the market.
Going through the Beggars’ Sect or the Hao Clan would inevitably cause information to leak. On the other hand, merchants’ conversations often hid surprisingly useful intelligence.
Just by eavesdropping on conversations, she could grasp the movements in Hangzhou. With that in mind, Moyong Sehui picked up her umbrella again.
It’s pouring so relentlessly.
Her shoulder, pierced by the iron wire, throbbed.
A slight fever rose from the wound she had paid two gold coins to have treated.
The wound was beginning to fester.
But Moyong Sehui, unaware of the heat rising in her body, hurried toward the market to carry out her mission.
Drip.
A single drop of cold sweat that she mistook for rainwater fell from her forehead and mixed into a puddle before being washed away.
The market in Hangzhou was huge.
That was Moyong Sehui’s first impression as she walked through it.
Instead of foolishly asking about the Six-Horse Golden Plaque outright, she began to walk slowly and pick up information through eavesdropping.
She hoped that since the market was so large, there would be plenty of rumors floating around.
After carefully filtering, compiling, and organizing the information she gathered, Moyong Sehui came across an unexpected story.
A villain who turned over a new leaf overturned the constabulary and beat up the corrupt magistrate and head constable? And that villain was Yu Sucheon?
She knew his name quite well.
She had done preliminary research before coming to Hangzhou.
That was why it made even less sense.
He was the greatest expert in Hangzhou and one of the Five Great Experts of Zhejiang Province.
But he was a man of the Sapa whose fame came from his notoriety as a villain.
Yet he had turned over a new leaf?
The merchants were calling him a hero of justice.
His heroic tales had become the talk of the town and were still circulating through the market.
It didn’t make sense, but that was what people were saying.
What on earth is going on?
The story of him wearing a thick coat of righteousness and siding with the market merchants didn’t sound like something an ordinary person would do.
Moreover, even though Yu Sucheon had violated the Gwan-Mu Bulgachim, he seemed to be living quite comfortably in Hangzhou.
It was as if the Gwan-Mu Bulgachim no longer existed.
Hmm… Yu Sucheon turned over a new leaf, and the Six-Horse Golden Plaque appeared. And he’s still fine. Could this be a coincidence? Either way, I need to look into this more.
Moyong Sehui decided to make another round through the market to gather more information.
But then she suddenly stopped walking and turned her gaze toward the rainy harbor.
“Geum Nak and Chun Ran?”
For a moment, she caught a fleeting glimpse of two figures disappearing into the distance.
Geum Nak was one of the Eight Great Experts of the Janggang Water Sect—a giant nearly six feet tall with broad shoulders who used a massive harpoon as his weapon.
Chun Ran looked young at first glance but was actually over forty. Like Geum Nak, she was one of the Eight Great Experts of the Janggang Water Sect.
She thought she had caught a glimpse of the twin-bladed exotic weapon Hogangssang that Chun Ran was said to use.
Tap tap tap!
Moyong Sehui hurriedly ran to where she had seen them.
But their figures were nowhere to be found.
Mistaking the heat rising from her festering wound for shock, Moyong Sehui muttered with trembling lips.
“Why are they here…”
The rain gradually began to ease.
She stood there blankly for a full quarter-hour, staring at the spot where they had been, but only the weakening raindrops spread like mist.
After standing there like that for a while, the rain finally stopped completely.
And two days later.
A massive blaze erupted across Hangzhou.