The Finger Seal
Around the time Yeon So-hyeon launched his assault on the Yi clan—
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa, founder of Daseonrang, was poring over documents in a private office at the main temple of the House of Benevolence.
"……"
Beneath her thick lashes, those beautiful eyes held a question she could not unravel.
"What sort of papers are those, that you frown over them so intently?"
The question came from I-ryeong, second of the triplet maids assigned as her personal escort.
"Ah—these are the second list the Representative gave me. The names of the enterprises we are to acquire."
I-ryeong tilted her head.
"Is there something amiss with the list Master handed over?"
"No, not exactly. But the businesses listed in the annex…"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa’s delicate brows drew together.
"Their management is sound, their scale enormous. By ordinary means there is simply no way we could take them over."
"Then why would Master go so far as to attach an annex and place them on the list?"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa’s long, slender fingers tapped the papers.
"Who can say? If we begin with what these enterprises have in common—first, they are so large that even I, whose business roots lie in Sichuan, know of them. And second…"
Watching her rattle off the shared traits of companies known only by name, I-ryeong looked faintly overwhelmed.
"Ah…!"
"Have you discovered something?"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa nodded and smiled.
"Prepare a carriage. I expect the Representative’s order to move will arrive any moment now."
"…Pardon?"
Still bewildered, I-ryeong summoned attendants and carried out the instruction.
About one shichen later, an encrypted note arrived from Yeon So-hyeon containing both the order to relocate and a set of coordinates.
"……!"
I-ryeong wore the expression of someone who had just seen a ghost.
Present.
Luoyang, main residence of the Yi clan.
A rookie investigator, glancing about for signs of disapproval, edged toward the area where the prisoners were gathered.
"Ahem."
He pretended to shuffle the documents in his hands and gave a pointed cough near a burly martial artist.
"…What is it?"
The middle-aged fighter, who had been meditating while bound, opened his eyes and looked at the young investigator.
The man’s face and chest were a lattice of scars; for a moment the rookie’s courage faltered. Curiosity, however, won out, and he asked in a carefully casual tone:
"You’re that famous duelist from Kaifeng, aren’t you?"
The man called a duelist snorted a short laugh.
"Kaifeng has any number of duelists."
Just then a fellow rookie sidled up and joined the conversation.
"But looking at you, I’d say you’re the one known as One Day, One Step, One Blade, One Victory—the Liangxian Blade Guest. Am I right?"
The middle-aged martial artist gave a curt nod.
"You are. That is I."
"I thought so. So you’re the same Liangxian Blade Guest who broke the Wolf Ghost Blade on his way to a hundred victories."
"Naturally. A man needs at least that much to be kept as a guest retainer by the Yi clan."
The Blade Guest showed not the slightest interest in their back-and-forth.
"We have something we wish to ask you."
"…What is it?"
The second rookie jerked his chin toward a distant point.
"Him. That man."
The Blade Guest’s sharp three-white eyes followed the gesture.
Far off stood the First Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.
"……"
The moment he confirmed the figure, the duelist’s usually impassive face twisted for an instant—no doubt remembering that he had surrendered without even exchanging a single blow.
"What level do you think he’s reached?"
the rookies asked.
"A famous duelist like you must have a better eye for martial arts than we do."
Still newcomers, the two had only observed the fighting; they had watched Yeon So-hyeon’s performance with their own eyes and now sought to satisfy their curiosity by questioning a prisoner renowned throughout the martial world.
"……"
The Blade Guest had no desire to answer, yet he knew that silence would only invite further pestering. And though they were clearly green, given his present circumstances it would do him no good to be uncooperative with the investigators.
"…I know little of group combat or tactics," he said at last.
His keen gaze locked onto Yeon So-hyeon in the distance.
"But his movements among the elite soldiers never once faltered. He wove through the press of clashing forces as though the space were empty."
"We saw that clearly enough ourselves."
"So what level do you judge the First Young Master has reached?"
The Blade Guest shrugged.
"I do not know."
The two rookies looked absurdly taken aback.
"You don’t know?"
"……"
Instead of answering he simply closed his mouth, then shut his eyes again and pretended to resume his meditation.
"Come now, say something."
"If you think keeping us in suspense will get you some favor—"
A rough palm cracked across the backs of both rookies’ heads.
"You idiots…!"
It was a senior investigator. He rebuked them in a low, fierce voice.
"Have you unmannered whelps, drunk on the sight of blood, completely lost your wits?"
"S-Senior…!"
Faced with their senior’s utterly humorless expression, the rookies hastily straightened and bowed.
"That man is not some common martial artist of the jianghu. He is the First Young Master of the Sword Family, and the hero who today spared our side countless casualties. And you dare gossip about his realm in his presence?"
Still wearing armor crusted with the enemy’s barely dried blood, the senior glared at the two newcomers with savage eyes.
"Do you think everyone else is blind and mute, that they refrain from chattering about the divine prowess he displayed? Have you not even the heart to show respect? Or were you simply never taught proper manners?"
The rookies’ faces went white at once.
"…W-We will correct ourselves."
"Incompetents. Both of you, return to your posts at once."
As the rookies fled, the senior watched their retreating backs with open distaste, then returned to his own duties.
"…Hmph."
Having sensed the senior’s approach a moment earlier and fallen silent in advance, the Liangxian Blade Guest quietly opened his eyes again and looked toward Yeon So-hyeon in the distance.
…To display a level of martial skill I cannot even gauge, at that age. After Heavenly Robe Without Seams Yeon Seo-rin, has another genius appeared in the jianghu?
He himself was one who challenged the “wall” that stood before mastery. That he could not read the First Young Master’s realm meant, quite simply, that the young man had already crossed that wall.
Hoping to snatch even the faintest clue that might help him surmount the wall himself, the Blade Guest had been studying Yeon So-hyeon’s every move—only to duck his head in haste.
"……!"
The instant he poured internal energy into his eyes to sharpen his vision for observation, Yeon So-hyeon turned and looked straight at him, as if by some impossible coincidence.
In the moment their gazes met, the Blade Guest’s mind went utterly blank.
It was a gaze that did more than oppress body and spirit; it seemed to pierce down to the very bottom of his soul and crush it.
…Wh-what in the world…!
He felt cold sweat trickling down without his noticing.
He had seen countless warriors in the slaughterhouse that was Kaifeng—men second to none—yet the First Young Master was unlike any of them.
And now that I think of it…
A sudden thought struck him.
If that First Young Master were to take up a sword…?
The youth whose realm he dared not even measure was, after all, the First Young Master of that very Sword Family.
Before boarding the Ironclad Fortress after its repairs were complete, Yeon So-hyeon spoke to the head of the Qing clan, Lord Qing.
"I leave the finishing work in your capable hands."
"Leave it to me, First Young Master."
Lord Qing answered with a hearty smile.
"Besides, this war is only just beginning, is it not?"
"Indeed."
Yeon So-hyeon gave the man a brief look, then climbed aboard. The door shut. The spirit beasts loosed long cries, and the steel wheels began to turn.
"……"
One of the wounded who had been receiving treatment pushed the physician’s hands aside and rose to his feet. Seeing him, the other casualties, with help if necessary, also stood on their own two legs.
They had seen the Ironclad Fortress begin to move.
"……"
Investigators mid-search, the young magistrate who had been directing operations on the front line, judicial enforcement troops resting in the shade—every one of them rose and turned their eyes toward the Ironclad Fortress.
In those gazes there was not a trace of insolence.
The first to raise a clenched fist to his chest and bow his head was the commander of the judicial enforcement troops.
Following him, every man present placed a fist over his heart and lowered his head toward Yeon So-hyeon.
It was the military salute.
"……"
"……"
The gesture expressed their respect for the First Young Master’s martial might, his valor, and the fact that, despite his lofty station, he had charged into the enemy’s ranks himself.
Even after the Ironclad Fortress vanished from sight, they kept their heads bowed for a long while.
Only when enough time had passed that all were satisfied the respect had been fully shown did they, as if by unspoken agreement, begin to speak.
"…Did you see it?"
"Of course I saw it. That was divine prowess. ‘Divine General’ fits him perfectly."
While Yeon So-hyeon had still been present they had been obliged to keep proper etiquette and could not dare chatter behind his back.
Once he had departed, however, it was different.
He had shone with brilliant achievement that day, and to spread praise of that achievement far and wide was the natural courtesy due a rising star.
The investigators talked freely among themselves.
"I’ve had my eyes opened wide today, thanks to him."
"Just watching was enough to feel as though I’d grasped something new about my own martial arts."
"He made no distinction among fist, palm, or kick—and that refined spear technique he displayed with nothing but a flagpole…!"
The magistrates stroked their beards without pause.
"To think such a figure has been secluding himself all this time, hiding his true skill!"
"The Huainanzi says: the tiger and the leopard do not display their claws, and even when they bite they do not bare their teeth…"
Tigers and leopards never show their claws; when they tear flesh, their fangs remain hidden.
"Indeed—those words might have been written for this very First Young Master."
Listening to the growing murmur of the crowd, the smile at the corners of Lord Qing’s mouth deepened by degrees.
The exploits shown today would become rumors that chased one another’s tails. Those rumors would give birth to countless questions and wild conjectures about the First Young Master’s realm, and they would spread throughout the whole of Luoyang.
He was certain that by this evening, no matter which restaurant or tavern in Luoyang one visited, one would hear talk of the First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family.
Luoyang, main hall of a business owned by the Yi clan.
"Still deliberating?"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa smiled at her counterpart.
She wore a luxurious yet substantial outdoor dress, and her makeup was a shade heavier than usual, lending her a mature allure.
"……"
That smile was enchanting, yet to the man across from her it felt like the growl of a predator.
"In my view, it is hardly a matter that requires such agonizing."
The general manager of the Yeongwa Merchant Guild, an enterprise owned by the Yi clan, answered while sweat streamed down his face.
"…Hand over the entire business? The main house of the Yi clan may have fallen, but is the First Young Master’s demand not excessive?"
"‘Hand over’? Anyone listening would think we were seizing it by force. The First Young Master intends to pay a more than adequate price."
"The price is not the issue! Our Yeongwa Merchant Guild is growing every year and posting enormous profits. Forcing us to sell such a guild is no different from robbery!"
"Is that so?"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa rose from her seat with elegant grace.
"How much longer do you suppose the distribution routes to Jiangnan that this Yeongwa Merchant Guild has held—and everything else—can be maintained?"
She spoke as though offering a final piece of kindly advice.
"Before long, rival firms that hear the Yi clan has collapsed will come swarming without exception. They will devour this Yeongwa Merchant Guild down to the last bone fragment. I wish you martial fortune, at least."
When she offered her farewell and began to withdraw, she showed not the slightest lingering regret.
"W-Wait…!"
In the end it was the general manager of the Yeongwa Merchant Guild who stopped her.
"Just give me a little more time!"
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa heaved an obvious sigh, then returned to her seat. She did not pull the chair squarely beneath her and sit properly; instead she perched sideways, making it plain that she could leave at any moment.
"…Urgh!"
The guild’s general manager tore at his hair as sweat poured from him like rain.
To display his feelings so completely at a negotiation table—until this moment he had never imagined he would present such a spectacle. Yet the present situation was the worst of the worst; concealing his expression and hiding his thoughts would gain him not the slightest advantage.
He had been clinging by his fingernails to the edge of a cliff from the start.
"…I may be the general manager of this guild, but the sale of the entire enterprise is not something I can decide alone."
"You need not worry on that score."
At his words Sang-gwan Nan-hwa smiled and produced the documents she had prepared.
They were the papers Chief Maid Jeong-a had handed her at the coordinates indicated by the encrypted note.
"The head of the Yi clan has already consented to the sale."
"…What did you say?!"
"See for yourself."
The general manager accepted the documents with eyes as round as saucers.
"……?!"
Upon those papers was stamped the official seal of the Yi clan head, and beside it the clan head’s finger seal stood out with perfect clarity.
"Th-then this finger seal…?"
In its redness the seal was no different from ordinary vermilion paste, yet a dark, blood-tinged cast ran through it, unlike any dried seal paste he had ever known.
And the faint, metallic reek rising from that finger seal—
"Surely…"
With trembling eyes he lifted his gaze to Sang-gwan Nan-hwa.
"My, my…!"
She glanced briefly at the seal, then offered a smile utterly devoid of emotion.
"It seems the head of the Yi clan was in a tremendous hurry. To press his finger seal in his own blood."
The general manager’s face drained of every last drop of color.
Guessing what must have befallen the clan head was not difficult.
"……"
If one did not wish to be eaten, one had to devour first.
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa—who had once nearly lost every member of her group and her own family to the Emei Sect—was now fully prepared to strip her enemies of everything they possessed.