Part Five: The Blockade
One of the finest guest houses in all of Luoyang.
A heavy silence hung over Geum-jan-ru, the establishment once owned by the Yi family's merchant house.
Among the righteous martial artists, those who smoked began, one by one, to take out their tobacco. Even men who did not normally smoke accepted a light from the others and set the leaves burning. Had the ceiling not been open to the sky, the room would have filled with smoke in moments.
As before, it was Cheong Ho-wi who spoke first.
"It was I who requested a complete reorganization of our organization. Yet to become the First Young Master's subordinates..."
His voice gradually dwindled.
"...We do not doubt that the First Young Master has a clear cause of his own that he seeks to achieve."
He let the sentence trail off badly.
"We do not doubt it, but still. That is to say... well."
He was a man of conscience, a man who understood the weight of favors received.
"I understand what you mean to say."
Yeon So-hyeon smiled and finished the thought for him.
"You wonder whether my cause is as pure as yours. Is that it?"
"...Ah. Yes."
Once Yeon So-hyeon had spoken the words for him, Cheong Ho-wi answered with a sigh mixed into the reply.
"That is rather—"
He never finished.
Roughly half the company had begun to laugh, the sound leaking out as if they could not help themselves.
Cheong Ho-wi and the younger martial artists looked around in bewilderment.
"......?"
They could not understand why laughter should rise at such a moment.
Yeon So-hyeon gave a wry smile and sent a sound transmission to one of the older martial artists.
You did not tell your comrades that I am Amcheonjonza?
That was it.
The reason Cheong Ho-wi and the others doubted the purity of Yeon So-hyeon's intentions was simply that they did not know he was Amcheonjonza.
Of course we did not.
The older martial artist shrugged toward Yeon So-hyeon while smoking.
He was one of those who had escaped the Yongbongjihoe Arena Construction Site through Yeon So-hyeon.
We are not so faithless as to go about carelessly speaking information that could endanger our benefactor.
Even if the other party is a comrade?
Comrades, of course—and family as well.
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
Faith and righteousness.
He felt he had just glimpsed one of the reasons the organization known as the Spring of Luoyang had managed to survive in secrecy until now.
"That the First Young Master harbors a cause as pure as ours—no..."
The older martial artist opened his mouth.
"A cause purer than ours. That much I will vouch for."
Those who had escaped with him—those who had seen Yeon So-hyeon's other face—backed the claim.
"If you mean to doubt the purity of the First Young Master's intentions, you may as well doubt me instead."
"I am the same. What I worried over was the future of our organization, not suspicion toward the First Young Master."
Then a man sitting alone in the corner spoke.
"I don't care what anyone says."
Every gaze in the room turned to him.
Among them all, he was the one who most hated the Luoyang Sword Family and most despised those who held power.
The explosives expert from that time, is it.
Yeon So-hyeon recognized the face.
He was the man who had used the powder magazine's explosives to hold the nearly finished buildings hostage.
"From the very moment the First Young Master appeared in that hellish place."
He poured liquor down his throat without caring whether anyone watched him or not.
"I decided to entrust my entire fortune to the First Young Master from that day on."
He looked up at Yeon So-hyeon standing by the railing and declared it to the company as if making a vow.
"Whatever decision this assembly reaches, from this day forward I am the First Young Master's man."
Murmurs leaked from various corners of the room, and soon the whole company began to stir.
Something must have happened there. Do you know anything of it?
I do not. I would like to know myself.
What in the world did the First Young Master show them...
Most of the voices belonged to the younger martial artists who had not been present at the Yongbongjihoe Arena Construction Site.
"Hold a moment."
At that sight the older martial artist raised a hand and settled the company.
"I am certain the First Young Master does not intend to tear us apart and take only a portion of us with him. There must be a reason he wants us to come under his command as we are now."
His clear gaze turned to Yeon So-hyeon.
"Is that not so, First Young Master?"
Yeon So-hyeon gave a short sigh and nodded.
"It is so."
At that response the older martial artist sighed as well.
"...So it is not finished yet."
"It is not finished."
Many faces hardened. Those who had been hoping otherwise clicked their tongues.
The sun was setting over the old quarter of Luoyang.
In a district that would normally have been prowled by vagrants and worse, not a soul now ventured near.
Sector Three search complete. Nothing of note.
Sector Five search in progress.
A band of men was conducting a tracking operation through the warehouse district.
Clad in black and with faces covered, every one of them carried weapons.
Traces confirmed of multiple carriages having moved through.
Team One continues pursuit of the trail. Team Two is to obtain information on the carriages through inquiry.
Every word of their conversation took place solely through specially designed sound transmission. On the ground itself, only their soft breathing could be heard.
Messenger.
Yes.
They were the special operations unit that had once performed the dirty work behind the former Alliance Leader of the Murim—the infamous hellhounds said to leave only corpses and blood wherever they went.
Tanlang.
Report it to the Military Affairs Division.
The leader of Tanlang bared his teeth.
Tell them we have found the bastards' trail.
The Third Young Master's camp, Military Affairs Division.
"Still no report from the pursuit teams?!"
When Grand Strategist Zhuge shouted, a soldier who had been sweating as he sorted the incoming reports cried out,
"The location where they are believed to have held their assembly has been discovered in the old quarter!"
"Additional information?!"
Another soldier answered while scanning a document that had just arrived.
"There is a statement claiming some ten carriages were sighted! The field teams are following that statement and tracking the carriages' whereabouts!"
Grand Strategist Zhuge clenched the white feather fan in his hand.
"We must seize their tails before the bastards vanish without a trace!"
"Understood!"
As he turned, light of qi flashed in his eyes.
The young genius of the Zhuge family, who had long gone without a worthy opponent, had finally caught fire.
"Once we seize those people and force confessions from them, even the Supreme Operations Committee will no longer be able to ignore their existence...!"
Whatever method the First Young Master had used, the first report submitted by the Law Enforcement Sixth Division Head—legal officer of the investigation and surveillance team at the Yongbongjihoe construction site—had been an absolute disaster.
"How on earth did the First Young Master manage to turn the head of the Law Enforcement Division so thoroughly and so quickly?"
At a senior officer's words, another senior officer shook his head.
"I find it more suspicious that the Supreme Operations Committee accepted that initial investigation report so cleanly."
"Surely not..."
A senior officer who had been listening wiped cold sweat and said,
"The First Young Master has not stretched his hand as far as the Supreme Operations Committee as well, has he?"
"Come now, even for that First Young Master..."
"One never knows. Judging by the abilities he has shown thus far—"
"You there!"
At the grating conversation reaching his ears, Grand Strategist Zhuge's roar exploded.
"Have you all nothing to do?!"
The senior officers hastily scattered back to their respective posts.
"Yeon So-hyeon..."
Grand Strategist Zhuge swallowed the rest of the words inside himself.
I will seize those martial artist rabble no matter what and expose that you, Yeon So-hyeon, stand behind them.
He shouted to the officers inside the command room.
"The blockade of Luoyang?!"
"It is in progress! We are currently coordinating with the central government offices of Luoyang!"
"If we drive them into a corner by pursuing them to the end, the First Young Master will surely try to get them out of Luoyang!"
A twisted smile curved his lips.
"But those bastards will never leave Luoyang."
Geum-jan-ru.
Yeon So-hyeon spoke in a calm tone.
"The Grand Strategists to the left and right of the Third Young Master will already be moving to seal off Luoyang."
His voice was not particularly loud, yet because the company was so quiet it seemed to fill the entire space.
"Once the blockade is in place, they mean to comb through Luoyang like hunting for lice and seize every last one of you."
One martial artist pressed a hand to his forehead and spoke as if sighing.
"...The price of touching the Sword Family is more severe than one can imagine."
The foremost house under heaven.
What pursued them now was merely a single branch of that house, yet the pressure was beyond anything they had ever experienced.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Another martial artist raised a hand and put a question to Yeon So-hyeon.
"How did the First Young Master come to know that the Third Young Master's Military Affairs Division would never let us go?"
Yeon So-hyeon answered briefly.
"Their own key personnel confirmed it."
Luoyang Sword Family, Military Affairs Division.
"Trying to shift the responsibility for this matter onto our sects is absurd!"
"We are not the ones who ruined the affair!"
The sect representatives of the Third Young Master's faction were shouting as if they meant to tear Grand Strategist Sima apart, surrounding him on all sides.
"Primary responsibility for the laborers' uprising has already been taken by the Northern Stream of Mount Heng, has it not?!"
"In the end this whole affair only happened because the First Young Master moved from behind the scenes!"
The dispute over responsibility for losing the Yongbongjihoe Arena Construction Site to Yeon So-hyeon was in full cry.
"And the root of it is that you of the Military Affairs Division failed to make proper predictions and take proper precautions!"
The head of one major sect pointed a finger at Grand Strategist Sima as if stabbing him.
"We were to take responsibility for the site, and you of the Military Affairs Division were to cover our rear. Is that not so?!"
At those words the leaders of the various sects began to swarm Grand Strategist Sima as if they meant to devour him.
"That's right! This time the fault lies with the Military Affairs Division!"
"Indeed it does!"
Grand Strategist Sima showed nothing on his face, yet inwardly he ground his teeth.
If we seize those so-called righteous martial artists and focus every gaze upon Yeon So-hyeon...
Grand Strategist Sima glanced sideways at the wall.
Then the heads of every sect will also turn their eyes toward Yeon So-hyeon.
He and Grand Strategist Zhuge—the two minds of the Third Young Master—intended to seize the martial artists of the Spring of Luoyang and pin their backing upon Yeon So-hyeon.
That the laborers rose in revolt because the First Young Master had, from the beginning, used martial artists to stir them up. Shaping public opinion that way will not be difficult.
Thinking of Grand Strategist Zhuge, who would even now be directing the operation beyond that wall, Grand Strategist Sima smiled toward the company.
"Now, now, everyone, please calm yourselves..."
While they squabbled, there was one man who took no part.
Disgraceful creatures.
It was the former Sect Master of Jeomchang.
He who had fled first should, under normal circumstances, have been the vanguard tearing into the Military Affairs Division. Yet with a weakness now held against him, he kept his mouth firmly shut.
Hmm. So the blockade of Luoyang is almost upon us, is it?
Though his mouth remained closed, the habit of working his hands behind the scenes had gone nowhere.
By stealing glances at the reports that came up to Grand Strategist Sima, by listening—already a considerable mass of secrets had been quietly passed to Yeon So-hyeon's side.
He recalled the conversation he had recently held with one of Yeon So-hyeon's subordinates.
"So you are telling me to hand over our side's highest secrets?"
"'Our side,' you say. Since when did the Third Young Master's entire faction become one family?"
"Family is family."
The Sect Master of Jeomchang ground his teeth.
"A family in which each longs to step on the others to climb higher."
In any case, they were one family—that was what he meant.
"And you are now telling me to betray that family."
The man called Yu-gak-pung-mun, or something of the sort.
"My, such harsh words."
The fellow who claimed to have come as Yeon So-hyeon's proxy—Yeon Ha-eung—was a name even he recognized.
"Rather than saying 'betray your family,' I would prefer to put it as seeking a path by which we may live together."
As expected of someone from the External Branch, even the way he spoke reeked of the External Branch.
"Brat. Spare me the diplomatic flourishes."
The former Sect Master of Jeomchang scowled.
"If the First Young Master gives me and Jeomchang benefits, I will cooperate only to that exact degree."
Though he had been called a brat, Yeon Ha-eung—long accustomed to being ignored by the powerful—only smiled with a curling mouth.
"Excellent."
He rubbed his hands together briskly.
"Then from now on you will have to hand over the entirety of the secrets the Third Young Master's side has uncovered."
"Did you not hear what I just said?"
Killing intent colored the former Sect Master of Jeomchang's voice.
"I said I will give only as much as I receive."
"My, my."
Seeing the man's hand creeping toward his sword hilt, Yeon Ha-eung raised both hands in a show of placation.
"Which is precisely why I speak."
From between his sly features a piercing blue light shone in his eyes.
"The First Young Master will henceforth preserve the lives of the Sect Master and of the sect called Jeomchang."
Those eyes were by no means a brat's.
"That is, in truth, the same as receiving everything."
Yeon Ha-eung's tongue moved as smoothly as if sliding across oil.
"What sort of nonsense—"
As the former Sect Master of Jeomchang let out a hollow laugh, Yeon Ha-eung placed a single short word upon his tongue.
"Blood History."
"......."
Every expression vanished from the former Sect Master of Jeomchang's face.
Yeon Ha-eung spoke with his sly smile still in place.
"For reference, I know nothing. The First Young Master merely said that this one word alone would secure the Sect Master's cooperation."
"......."
No answer at all emerged from the former Sect Master of Jeomchang.
The old man looked up into empty air.
It was the look of a man revisiting some point in the past.
A moment later, along with a long sigh, words close to a lament leaked from him.
"...So that Blood History, after all, was something the First Young Master carried out from behind while acting in the Family Head's stead."
Yeon So-hyeon's message had brought certainty to a question the old man had long held in his breast.
As he had expected. As he had guessed.
And as he had long feared—behind every one of those events had stood Yeon So-hyeon.
"As I said earlier, I know nothing of that word."
"Of course you don't. It was around the time you were being pushed out of the succession of the Gaebong Yeon family and were whining your way through the pleasure houses of Gaebong."
This time it was Yeon Ha-eung who looked as if he had taken a blow.
"That remark stings a little."
"Spare me the nonsense."
As expected of the former Sect Master of Jeomchang—he even knew the past of a mere External Branch advisor who was nothing special now.
"......."
The former Sect Master of Jeomchang turned his body.
As the man moved to leave, Yeon Ha-eung could hear a sound transmission from him.
...Tell the First Young Master that I look forward to his favor from now on.