Escalation

Luoyang Sword Family, the Second Young Master's camp.

A room lit by the glow of the setting sun.

There was a single mirror.

It was a glass mirror—something the Central Plains still lacked the technology to produce on its own. Framed in silver worked with exquisite precision by European craftsmen, the glass reflected the expressionless face of an old man staring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into it.

"......."

He groped at the places where his eyes had been.

The glass mirror cast back those hollow, pitch-black voids.

The physicians of the Medicine-Immortal Gate had insisted he wear prosthetic eyes. Without them, they had warned, the empty sockets would eventually collapse, leaving one side of his face looking as though it were melting away.

"…The Lee family's merchant houses have been sold off?"

The booming voice that had once belied his age was gone. What escaped him now was a phlegmy rasp.

"Yes, Elder."

His closest aide, waiting behind him, bowed his head deeply, cold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sweat beading on his brow at the ominous atmosphere.

"They were divided into dozens of portions according to region and sold. We are currently ascertaining the list of buy—"

The elder cut him off.

"Unnecessary. The meaning behind their purchase of the Spirit-Tile Trading Company that was split from the First Young Master is perfectly clear. Those families have declared they will not involve themselves in this war."

The old man lifted a prosthetic eye carved from crystal and pushed it into the empty socket as he continued.

"And at the same time, it means we have lost families that might have become potential allies."

The elder who, the moment he heard the report, had read the entire situation as if he had been present at the transaction between Yeon So-hyeon and those families.

"......."

His closest aide, who had been about to offer the usual admiration for the elder's insight, closed his mouth. This was not the moment for such words; they would only backfire.

"The heads of the powerful families that joined hands with us have come calling?"

"…Yes. I have seated them in the reception hall for now."

"They are raising hell, asking what we were doing while the Lee family was torn to pieces, I imagine."

"......."

It was precisely correct, so the aide could only bow his head even lower.

The elder stared into the mirror and muttered in a low voice.

"Must I even praise them for coming here instead of fleeing like the Jang family…?"

The Lee family's annihilation.

There had been no chance for them to intervene. By the time the intelligence arrived, it was already too late. The First Young Master's surprise strike against the Lee family had been that swift, that powerful, and that merciless.

"The Cheong family and the Gong family…"

A grinding sound issued from the elder's mouth as he gazed at the mirror. Blood welled from his gums, filling his mouth with the coppery tang of blood.

The instant he heard the report of the Lee trading houses being sold, he had pierced through every surrounding circumstance. He could see straight into the minds of the powerful family heads now gathered in the reception hall and raising an uproar.

But what good did that do?

"Yeon So-hyeon…!"

He could not read the First Young Master's thoughts. He could not predict the First Young Master's actions.

In the elder's mind, it was as if he heard his lord's footsteps. The metallic clack and click of his lord's left gauntlet clenching and unclenching rang through his skull.

The next failure would mean his disposal.

"......."

In the mirror, his remaining eye was bloodshot and trembling. But the prosthetic sat motionless, unfocused, simply fixed in place. The artificial eye occupying the empty socket felt especially cold.

"Aaaargh…!"

With a howl, Elder Hahu smashed his fist down. The glass mirror shattered at once and scattered. He had not drawn up his internal qi, so his fist was left a bloody ruin.

"Huu. Huu."

He raised a hand that shook not with pain but with rage and tied a silk eyepatch over it. Blood from his hand stained the silk that covered the prosthetic. Blood ran down his face as well. Bright red drops pattered onto the carpet covering the floor.

…If I cannot stop that First Young Master bastard, there will be no path left for me.

He drew a cigarette from his robes, set it between his lips, lit it with the True Fire of Samadhi, and drew the smoke deep into his lungs. The acrid tobacco smoke and the scent of his own blood filled his chest together.

He opened his mouth.

"…Let us go to those family heads."

It was time to teach them that, just like himself, they had nowhere left to retreat.

"Isn't the First Young Master's power completely different from what we first heard?!"

The head of the Wang family raised his voice. Having confirmed that the Jang family head, his household, and closest aides had fled, he had rushed to the Second Young Master's side.

"You said the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families would never move—yet the Gong family is already raising a storm of blood, is it not?!"

"......."

At his scolding, the Second Young Master's people who had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dealing with them either turned their heads or averted their eyes. Under ordinary circumstances these men might have been dismissed with a snort, but the ones before them were heads of Luoyang's powerful houses—not a single one of them lacked a name worth fearing.

"Was it empty talk from the start? Did you deceive us? Or did you simply spout nonsense without even grasping the situation properly?!"

The Wang family head slammed the thick conference table.

"If you have mouths, then speak!"

The moment his roar ended, the family heads seated to his left and right began to hurl rebukes at the Second Young Master's side without distinction.

"You ought to produce a countermeasure at once, should you not?!"

"You strutted about so proudly before—what in the world do you intend to do now?!"

"While the Lee family was being annihilated, what exactly were you people doing?!"

A family head shot to his feet and shouted. Another jabbed a finger, spittle flying. One even resorted to curses.

The Lee family, erased from history in a single instant. The terror and helplessness the family heads had felt while watching that annihilation had now twisted into resentment and accusation, pouring out without restraint.

Internal strife.

Exactly as Yeon So-hyeon had intended.

Just then the door opened and a steward's voice rang out.

"Elder Hahu of the main house enters."

The person in charge had arrived.

The Wang family head and everyone else fixed the open doorway with the eyes of hunters sighting prey.

"At last, someone we can actually hold a proper conversation with has appeared!"

"Elder Hahu! Why so late?! The seriousness of the present situation—!"

The face of one family head who had been shouting toward the entrance suddenly went ashen.

"The seriousness…"

The mouths of the family heads who had been about to swarm Elder Hahu like a pack of starving wild dogs snapped shut.

"You have all traveled a long way. My thanks for the trouble."

Elder Hahu, a cigarette held in a hand from which blood still dripped, spoke to them in a thoroughly hoarse voice. His remaining eye was sunken; his complexion was as rigid as a corpse's. There was even a hint of madness in that eye.

The hearty, magnanimous Elder Hahu they remembered was nowhere to be found.

"......."

The family heads fell silent with the same unease one feels upon suddenly confronting a madman. But their silence did not last long.

"…The Luoyang Sword Family is still in Luoyang. What long road is there to speak of?"

These were not men to be cowed by a mere expression or atmosphere. The Wang family head met Elder Hahu's gaze and sneered instead.

"Judging by that complexion, Elder Hahu must have agonized quite thoroughly over some brilliant countermeasure."

Another family head piled on, pressing him.

"Yes, let us hear this brilliant countermeasure of yours."

"Surely you have not failed even to prepare one yet?"

"Surely not. A man who already committed a grave blunder with faulty intelligence would hardly do that. You must have a plan."

Toward those who flicked their tongues like snakes, Elder Hahu answered in his phlegmy rasp.

"I have no separate plan prepared for the likes of you."

"……!"

The family heads' faces contorted at once. Looking into those faces, Elder Hahu continued.

"Nothing has changed. If we smash Yeon So-hyeon's enterprises so thoroughly that he can never rise again, everything ends—just as originally planned."

He lifted his blood-smeared hand and exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke.

"The reason that bastard is thrashing about like this is solely to protect the foundation he first began to build."

Elder Hahu watched the smoke drifting through the air as he spoke.

"The moment that foundation collapses, he will return to being a lone figure as before—capable of nothing but spinning schemes and working connections."

It was an analysis that precisely identified First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon's present circumstances. The entire series of moves that had begun with his first official outing had been for the purpose of securing and expanding his own power base. If he lost the flow of funds that underpinned it all—his commercial foundation—his current expansion would be heavily braked.

"…Fine words, yet we did not gather here to listen to analyses of that sort."

"At the very least, you ought to prepare a measure to stop the Cheong family and the Gong family, should you not?"

Elder Hahu lowered his gaze and looked down upon the family heads.

"A measure?"

There was not a trace of emotion in that eye.

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yourselves are our measure."

He bared his teeth in a sinister smile.

"Tear into the Cheong family and the Gong family. Even a single scrap of flesh. Until you die. Without retreat."

Though the Lee family had collapsed in an instant under concentrated surprise assault, these houses were still among Luoyang's powerful families. If they charged in ready to die, even the Cheong and Gong families would inevitably suffer heavy damage.

But that was nothing more than a one-sided demand from the Second Young Master's side.

"What kind of nonsense is that?!"

In the process, the families themselves would clearly suffer enormous losses. The enraged family heads shot up from their seats.

"Listening quietly, I find your arrogance boundless!"

"Do you mean to treat precious allies like mere arrow-fodder?!"

"…Precious allies?"

At those words, a laugh slipped from Elder Hahu.

"Parasites who clung to us because of Sapaecheon, who fawned upon my lord to fatten their own power—and now you speak of precious allies."

His blatant mockery turned the family heads' faces scarlet with humiliation.

"…If this is how you intend to treat us, then our Wang family will leave this alliance!"

Led by the Wang family head, the other family heads also cried out for the dissolution of the alliance without exception. Yet even as he listened to their words, Elder Hahu merely smoked his cigarette, offering not even a reply.

"Elder Hahu! Does 'above' know of this absurd policy of yours?!"

At that, Elder Hahu gave a short laugh.

"'Above,' is it…"

He flicked his fingers and knocked the lengthened ash to the floor.

"As it happens, the one 'above' said there was something she wished to tell all of you in person."

"……?"

Before the family heads could open their mouths, the steward standing at the entrance cried out in a great voice.

"Grand Madam Ouyang of the main house enters!"

At that cry, every family head hastily straightened his posture while still standing.

"Such distinguished guests have arrived."

Accompanied by a woman's voice that was seductive yet laced with venom, dozens of maids and stewards entered and took positions along the walls. The Second Young Master's mother, Grand Madam Ouyang, revealed herself with elegant steps.

"Elder Hahu."

"Yes, Grand Madam."

She surveyed those gathered and smiled.

"To tell such precious allies to simply go back and fight without even a proper measure… Should there not be at least clear guidance?"

"I am deeply ashamed."

Yet on Elder Hahu's face as he spoke those words, there was not the slightest trace of apology. It was nothing more than theater.

She met the eyes of the family heads present.

"This Grand Madam shall personally inform you of special guidance prepared for all of you."

With a sour expression, the Wang family head offered the representative courtesy.

"…We shall listen with respect."

"Ah! Now that I think of it."

As if it had only just occurred to her, Grand Madam Ouyang clapped her hands.

"I had forgotten—there are people I must introduce first."

When she crooked her fingers, warriors who had been waiting outside entered. In each hand they carried a head.

"……?!"

The cuts were recent enough that blood still dripped from the severed necks. They set the heads upon the conference table. Their manner was as casual as a butcher placing a pig's head upon a chopping block.

"Fufu."

Grand Madam Ouyang raised a fan to hide her mouth as she laughed.

"Look carefully. Familiar faces, are they not? Why not offer them a greeting?"

They were the heads of the Jang family—the very ones who had supposedly abandoned everything and fled Luoyang.

"......."

Without distinction of age or sex, every head still wore the expression of the moment of death, twisted in agony and mid-scream. The family heads shuddered at a reunion they had never imagined.

"I trust you have all now guessed the measure and the guidance this Grand Madam bestows upon you?"

She turned a radiant smile upon the gathering—like a carnivorous plant unfurling its flower—and spoke.

In that instant the family heads understood. From the beginning, there had been only one choice available to them. If they did not tear into the First Young Master, only death awaited them—whether their lives ended like the Jang family's, or their houses ended like the Lee family's. To survive, they had to drive the First Young Master into retreat.

Pressing a hand over the spasm that had risen on his wrinkled face, the Wang family head opened his mouth.

"…I understand the Grand Madam's guidance. However."

He felt his lips go bone-dry and his throat tighten, yet he forced the words out.

"You do not intend simply to cast us alone onto the front line, I trust?"

At his words, Grand Madam Ouyang nodded.

"Of course not."

Elder Hahu, standing beside her, spoke.

"Our side has already begun the counterattack."

A certain avenue in Luoyang.

A steel carriage drawn by two spirit beasts raced without hesitation down the broad road. Far ahead in the direction it traveled, the main house of the Luoyang Sword Family sat upon a hill as though looking down over the heart of Luoyang.

"......."

Gazing out the carriage window at the double fortress walls that seemed to burn crimson in the light of the setting sun, First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon was smiling.