The Most Terrifying Martial Artist (2)
Luoyang Sword Family.
Second Young Master's faction, Grand Conference Hall.
"As expected—our prediction was right!"
A small cheer rose through the Grand Conference Hall.
Elder Hahu laughed heartily, blowing out a vigorous plume of smoke.
"We've received intelligence confirming that the estate the Eldest Young Master visited belongs to the Gong Family!"
One of the elders mixed in among the strategists shouted.
"The projected scenarios for what the Eldest Young Master might undertake together with the Gong Family are nearly finished!"
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Elder Hahu nodded, satisfaction plain on his face. His exaggerated gestures and booming voice were already pumping confidence into the strategists filling the hall.
"Everything is going well!"
He turned casually and asked another elder in a lowered voice.
"But why is the intelligence coming through so slowly? Wasn't the Great Immortal Merchant Group supposed to be fully cooperating with this operation?"
The man he addressed was Elder An, the one responsible for the Great Immortal Merchant Group.
"Of course. The Great Immortal Merchant Group is committing every resource without reserve to this operation."
Whether it was the subtly provocative tone or the fact that Elder An's roots lay in the Jiangnan region—
"The Great Immortal Merchant Group is currently looking into the cause of the delay. Show a little patience."
Elder An, agitation replacing his usual composure, pushed up his glasses and turned his eyes back to the classified documents.
"…What on earth is going on?"
Seeing Elder An's tightly furrowed brow, Elder Hahu gave a small nod and turned his attention to the work he could actually control. The delusion that everything would unfold smoothly on the ground was the sort of fantasy only greenhorn strategists who fancied themselves the greatest talents under heaven would indulge in.
"Good! Then next—based on those projected scenarios, it's time to craft our response scenarios!"
A thunderous reply shook the Grand Conference Hall.
Luoyang, Mount Beimang.
The commercial district near the checkpoint.
"What did you say…?!"
Elder Kang, dispatched to the field by the Second Young Master's side, nearly leapt out of his skin.
"What did you just say?!"
"Aigoo…!"
As his voice rose, the other party hurriedly scanned the surroundings, ducked lower, and waved both hands in frantic appeal.
"Elder…! Please lower your voice. If the family learns I've been speaking with you like this, my neck won't stay on my shoulders…!"
The value of an informant planted inside the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families was so precious it could not be measured in gold.
"I—I'm sorry."
Snapping back to his senses, the elder cleared his throat and withdrew once more into the building's shadow.
"But is that true?"
The steward of the Gong Family, concealed opposite him, nodded.
"Would I risk this kind of danger to spout nonsense to a Sword Family elder's face?"
He quietly repeated the intelligence he had confirmed, for Elder Kang's benefit.
"The Sword Family's Eldest Young Master most certainly visited our Gong Family bearing an invitation personally written by the previous family head."
Elder Kang stroked his white beard over and over, expression dubious.
"So the Eldest Young Master didn't request the visit—he received an invitation…?"
"That's right…! I saw with my own eyes how the previous family head came out to the main gate himself to welcome the Eldest Young Master."
Just what in the world was going on?
Elder Kang shook his head for the moment and forced his thoughts into order. Analysis could be left to the collective wisdom of the Grand Conference Hall. His role was to gather intelligence on the ground, and right now he needed to focus on that.
"Then when the Eldest Young Master left the Gong Family and headed for the Hwang Family—was it the same? He entered carrying an invitation he had already received from the Hwang Family as well?"
"I can't be certain, since it's another family's business…."
The Gong Family steward shook his head.
"From what this humble one has heard, he entered the Hwang Family without even an invitation."
At those words the elder's mind went blank for an instant.
"…Without an invitation?"
At his reaction the Gong Family steward sighed. He himself had shown the exact same reaction when he first heard the story from the Hwang Family's steward.
"Whether you believe it or not, it can't be helped."
"No—it's not that I don't believe you…."
Just how many people in the entire Central Plains could come and go from the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families without appointment or invitation?
"That's all this humble one knows for now. Then."
The moment he had emptied out everything he knew, the Gong Family steward fled the scene in haste.
"…The Eldest Young Master went in without an invitation?"
Knowing full well how dangerous it was to pass on such intelligence, the elder could not stop the man as he vanished cleanly away.
Just what is going on with all of this?
Determining the authenticity of the intelligence would require further investigation later. For now, he sought out a messenger of the Great Immortal Merchant Group to deliver the primary intelligence he had obtained.
"The messenger?"
A martial artist who emerged from the darkness shook his head.
"Not yet."
Before the elder could explode, the martial artist hastily continued.
"Instead, an intelligence operative of the Great Immortal Merchant Group is standing by to receive and deliver the intelligence in person."
At those words the elder swallowed the string of curses that had climbed to his throat.
"…Good. As expected of the Great Immortal Merchant Group. They handle things thoroughly."
Luoyang, headquarters of the Great Immortal Merchant Group.
One of the directors slammed his desk hard enough to rattle the room.
"Just what the hell is happening to our messengers?!"
His office was practically a war zone of people rushing in and out trying to grasp the situation.
"We're currently investigating the messengers' whereabouts!"
"I've been hearing 'we're investigating' for a full shichen already! Are you even working?! What about countermeasures? How are the countermeasures progressing?!"
Another staff member answered.
"We've completed dissemination that the alert level has been raised to Level Two across all branches!"
She checked the notes and shouted urgently.
"Per headquarters' guidelines, all messengers are withdrawing! In their place, our own intelligence operatives have been deployed to respond to the unknown situation!"
The director ground his teeth.
"Deploy more senior investigation agents!"
An intelligence operative of the Great Immortal Merchant Group, carrying a tube of intelligence from Mount Beimang, was racing through a narrow alley.
"Ugh?!"
He had been moving with lightness skills after receiving the warning—but that only worked against him. Failing to notice the sky-silk threads strung through the air, his body spun once in midair and slammed straight into the ground.
A trap?!
As a professionally trained martial artist, he managed a breakfall even in that unprepared instant. But that was all. Amid a shock that felt as if his entire body were shattering, a dull impact cracked against the back of his skull just as he tried to respond.
"Kh!"
As the operative collapsed again, his blurring vision caught figures emerging like ghosts from every corner of the alley.
"Facial features confirmed. It's a Great Immortal Merchant Group intelligence operative, all right."
That was the last voice he remembered before consciousness fled completely.
Another intelligence operative of the Great Immortal Merchant Group was moving mixed among ordinary people along a main thoroughfare.
"…Mmph?!"
What struck him was a procession of people in hemp mourning clothes carrying a funeral bier. Before he could properly react, a thick water-soaked hemp cord cinched mercilessly around his carotid artery, and he lost consciousness with the whites of his eyes showing.
The mourners stuffed the operative into the bier and left as if nothing had happened. On the streets of Luoyang, where traffic never stopped, no one noticed anything amiss.
Second Young Master's faction, Grand Conference Hall.
"Damn it…!"
Elder An, director of the Great Immortal Merchant Group, roughly flung the note that had just been delivered. Being nothing more than a scrap of paper, it merely fluttered weakly through the air.
"I must return to the Great Immortal Merchant Group!"
As Elder An shot to his feet and began moving under escort of a cluster of intelligence operatives, Elder Hahu shouted after him.
"You should at least tell us what's going on before you leave your post, shouldn't you?!"
Elder An snapped back without even slowing his stride.
"I'll be right back!"
The door slammed shut roughly behind him.
"Hmm."
Elder Hahu picked up the note Elder An had thrown.
URGENT
An operation by an unidentified intelligence organization is underway against the Great Immortal Merchant Group. Upper-level instructions required.
A command safehouse located somewhere in Luoyang.
Every window of the house had been blocked, leaving the interior submerged in darkness.
"The Great Immortal Merchant Group is withdrawing all their operatives and replacing the messengers with martial artists of the Sword Family."
It was the accurate, swift, and even shrewd response of Elder An.
"As expected of the renowned Great Immortal Merchant Group. They're fast, aren't they?"
Se-a, Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion, received the report, blew out a long stream of smoke, and smiled.
"Withdraw all our field operatives. We can't afford to touch the Sword Family's martial artists and create friction with the Sword Family's intelligence department."
The smoke she exhaled caught the lamplight and glowed white.
"Are you ordering the operation suspended?"
She waved the pipe in her hand.
"No. The operation is already as good as a success."
Her commander nodded.
"We've already been able to 'abduct' more Great Immortal Merchant Group operatives than we originally targeted."
"Understood."
At her words, the Hyeonwol Pavilion operative nodded and left to relay the order.
"Commander."
Se-a, still seated, crossed her legs the other way.
"As my lord has commanded—extract every scrap of information you can squeeze from them."
"Loyalty!"
In the darkness, her one remaining eye curved into a charming arc.
"Now then—keep resisting all you like."
She laughed softly. "Heh heh."
"The harder you resist, the more your massive bulk will inevitably surface above the water."
Luoyang Sword Family, Supreme Operations Council.
"So that's all the information we have on this so-called Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion?"
At the Supreme Commissioner's words, a senior agent of The Agency on secondment to the Luoyang Sword Family's intelligence department bowed his head.
"Unfortunately, yes. Originally, the organization known as Hyeonwol Pavilion was until recently nothing more than a common information broker existing in Luoyang…."
"You should have conducted a proper investigation after they received the Fourth Young Master's Sword Family Token!"
A newly appointed male Supreme Commissioner roared. The senior agent, already kneeling on one knee, bowed his head even deeper.
"We completed the primary investigation according to procedure. An in-depth investigation was currently underway, but…."
Another Supreme Commissioner took up the thread.
"And even so, the information on this Se-a is still only this?"
"We've identified her family of origin, and that she has a blood relation to the Eldest Young Master's chief maid. …My apologies."
"The process of her rising from nothing as an information broker in Luoyang is known to some degree, but her earlier history is opaque—is that it?"
"Yes. That is correct."
A short while later, after the senior agent withdrew, a female Supreme Commissioner sighed.
"I'm truly curious about the identity of this so-called Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion. The current Hyeonwol Pavilion is no longer merely a rapidly growing information broker."
"Waging an intelligence war against the Second Young Master's Great Immortal Merchant Group. That clearly exceeds the scope of a mere information broker."
"We should now regard it as a full-fledged intelligence organization."
The gazes of the newly appointed male and female Supreme Commissioners turned toward the cave where the Chairman sat.
"This Hyeonwol Pavilion organization also began its rapid growth after meeting the Eldest Young Master, didn't it?"
"Should we consider that the Eldest Young Master stands behind this organization as well?"
The Chairman smiled faintly.
"It seems you too are gradually becoming able to grasp his influence from the traces of the Eldest Young Master."
"…."
"…."
The two newly appointed Supreme Commissioners shut their mouths in shock.
"As for the past of this so-called Master of Hyeonwol Pavilion, let us wait with time. Now that our main house's intelligence department has begun a full investigation, they will soon find some lead. More importantly…."
The Chairman unfolded a newly arrived note.
"It seems the Eldest Young Master has already visited a fourth family—without an invitation, no less."