A Vessel That Does Not Leak
The outskirts of Luoyang, in the suburban reaches beyond the gardens.
The morning sun had brightened until it stung the eyes, yet a group of figures deliberately shunned the open road, picking their way instead along the animal tracks through the forest as if trying to escape the light itself.
"Hey. The path is getting rougher by the minute."
A woman seized the shoulder of the man walking ahead of her.
"You're certain this is the right way?"
They wore the shabby clothes of common porters, yet she could not quite hide the eyes of a martial artist—eyes so sharp they were almost frightening.
Even so, the middle-aged man leading the way only laughed, thick-skinned and unbothered by the pressure of a trained fighter.
"In a chaos like this, there is no group of specialists more reliable than our merchant company. You may rest easy."
"If anything goes wrong—"
"Aigoo. Goes wrong?"
He waved the words away as if they were not even worth hearing.
"That will never happen."
He thumped his own chest with absolute confidence.
"Our Path of Life Merchant Group is Luoyang's first specialist escape company, and one of the finest collections of escape experts in the entire Central Kingdom!"
"That may be…"
Even allowing for some exaggeration, it was not untrue.
The Path of Life Merchant Group had smuggled out righteous fighters that the Third Young Master's faction had hunted with everything up to and including the Tanlang units. They had safely extracted the mercenary bands and assassin groups who had targeted the Sword Family's Third and Fourth Young Ladies. In a short span they had piled up one glittering achievement after another and become the most promising name in the trade.
"Heh heh."
He winked.
"You honored members of the Emei Sect will leave the Luoyang region by a thoroughly safe route and return to Sichuan without the slightest worry. So set your minds at ease."
They were, in truth, disciples of Emei.
With the Path of Life Merchant Group's help, they were in the middle of slipping out of Luoyang.
"Aren't you being a little too optimistic?"
The Emei nun warned him again.
"As I said earlier, we are in a situation where the Luoyang Sword Family's pursuit teams could latch onto us at any moment—"
"Hahaha. Didn't I already tell you to put that sort of worry aside?"
He raised his voice instead.
"You ladies of Emei will never so much as set eyes on a Luoyang Sword Family pursuit team!"
The nun was left speechless by the sheer bottomless confidence.
"Rather than waste time fretting, what matters is walking harder!"
The middle-aged man of the Path of Life Merchant Group clapped his hands to rally the group.
"All right, all right—everyone's caught their breath by now, yes? If you want to be clear of the Luoyang region before the day is out, move those feet!"
At his words, those among the Emei party who lacked internal energy sighed, rose from where they had been resting, and began to plod after him.
Their resemblance to a defeated remnant made the nun's face tighten, yet she did not open her mouth to scold them.
If we are not defeated remnants… then what exactly are we?
She reversed direction, moving back along the column toward its rear, and spoke to their leader.
"Grand Abbess."
The old woman who had been walking in silence, equally dressed in shabby clothes, lifted the brim of her bamboo hat just enough to look at her.
It was a face so steeped in killing intent that no one would have believed she was a nun who served the Buddha.
The white-haired, star-bright Go-dok-no-gwi of Emei—the White-Haired Poisonous Old Ghost.
"What is it?"
The nun forced the question past that hair-raising gaze.
"…Is leaving Luoyang like this truly the right decision?"
The high-ranking members of Emei had been released by the Second Young Master's faction.
The intent had been to secure the Grand Abbess's aid in the coming clash with the First Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.
They had known her vicious nature—the nature that never forgot a grudge—and had acted on that knowledge.
But the Grand Abbess had chosen a path completely opposite to the Second Young Master's design.
Instead, she had decided to use the great chaos as cover and slip out of Luoyang altogether.
"You dare question my decision? You, of all people?"
Killing intent alone seemed ready to tear a person apart.
She wore rags because she had to. She walked animal trails because she had to.
Yet in this moment, the one burning with the fiercest rage in the entire column was without question this old woman.
"I—I meant no such thing."
The nun hurriedly shook her head.
"Leaving Luoyang was an excellent decision. But even if we cannot reach the Sword Family's First Young Master himself, then at the very least—Daseonrang."
A grinding of teeth.
The moment the name Daseonrang left her lips, killing intent spilled from the surrounding nuns along with the sound of teeth being ground.
"At the very least, should those ungrateful wretches not be made to pay the price of betrayal?"
The other nuns said nothing, yet their expressions clearly agreed.
"We have already been branded as disposable pieces by the Sect Leader."
Once the plan to assassinate Daseonrang had been exposed, Emei had surrendered through the First Young Master. They had been forced to vomit up every piece of land they held in Zhongjing, and the Sect Leader had piled every charge onto the Grand Abbess.
"If we simply return to Sichuan like this, we will only be walking to the execution ground on our own two feet—"
"Foolish. How is your vision still so narrow?"
"You mean… there is a deeper meaning to our return to Sichuan…?"
[We are not walking to the execution ground.]
A grotesque smile curved the Grand Abbess's lips.
[We are returning in order to seize the very Emei Sect that abandoned us like this.]
The eyes of the nuns who shared the sound transmission flew open as if they might tear.
"Th-that…?!"
The nun who had raised her voice switched to transmission, mindful of the middle-aged guide of the Path of Life Merchant Group at the front.
[To take over Emei with only our present strength… is that even possible?]
Her gaze swept the surroundings.
[Even if we do have a fair number of high-ranking members here… still…]
Several of them nodded. Overturning an entire sect could never be easy.
[I teach you one thing and you fail to grasp two. Tell you only one and that is all you know.]
The Grand Abbess clicked her tongue softly at them and posed a question.
[What do you imagine the internal situation of our Emei is right now?]
…
The words left the backs of the nuns' heads ringing.
[Exactly.]
She chuckled low in her throat.
[The Sect Leader, claiming she was saving the sect, threw away everything Emei held in her hands.]
That act might guarantee the sect's survival, yet it was a decision bound to ignite enormous discontent within.
[At this very moment our Emei is suffering a chaos no less severe than the Luoyang Sword Family's. We will use that chaos and that discontent.]
[I… I see. But…]
The nun who had hurriedly finished her calculations voiced her worry.
[Even if the uprising succeeds, can our Emei stand alone in Sichuan after making enemies of both the Sichuan Tang Family and the Dali Duan Family?]
[We will not be alone.]
[Pardon…?]
The Grand Abbess produced the card she had kept hidden.
[Sapaecheon has agreed to stand as my backer.]
[S-Sapaecheon?!]
If Sapaecheon became their patron, it would be as reassuring as the support of a million troops.
But why would Sapaecheon appear here, of all places, so suddenly?
[It is all but certain that this affair will end in the First Young Master's victory. When that happens, Sapaecheon will have no choice but to be dragged about by the Emperor and the First Young Master in the businesses of the lower Yangtze.]
Once she had said that much, the nun understood Sapaecheon's aim as well.
[If the lower reaches are closed to them, then the upper! By wrecking their enterprises in Sichuan—the upper reaches of the Yangtze—they can make the lower-reach businesses wither as well!]
That was the role assigned to the new Emei of the Grand Abbess, now securely backed by Sapaecheon.
[B-but, Grand Abbess.]
Still half in awe, the nun suddenly thought of something and asked.
[…When exactly did you receive such a proposal from Sapaecheon?]
[Do you remember the elder who released us?]
The nun searched her memory.
[Ah…! The one from the Second Young Master's Jiangnan faction…!]
Elder Son of the Second Young Master's Jiangnan branch.
[He was Sapaecheon's hidden agent inside the Sword Family?!]
[He was.]
Without the others knowing, Elder Son had made a private offer of alliance to this grudge-filled Grand Abbess.
[B-but that elder released us long before the outcome against the First Young Master had even been decided, did he not?]
The nun who asked the question realized the answer the instant the words left her mouth.
[…Sapaecheon made the proposal in advance, just in case.]
If the Second Young Master's side looked likely to win, the Grand Abbess could vent her grudges and hatred to her heart's content. If the Second Young Master's side looked likely to lose, she would return to Sichuan and plan for another day.
[Precisely.]
The Grand Abbess nodded.
[That is how the great sects that dominate this Central Kingdom handle their affairs.]
A chill ran down the nun's spine.
Preparation piled upon preparation. Contingency piled upon contingency. Using surplus strength and influence to answer countless situations that had not even arisen yet.
She felt she had glimpsed a fragment of that overwhelming depth.
[For now I—we—take one step back. But we will not forget the grudge.]
The transmission carried killing intent cold enough to raise gooseflesh.
[We will not forget the First Young Master and Daseonrang, who inflicted this humiliation upon us.]
Crossing the Sichuan Tang Family and the Dali Duan Family would exact a terrible sacrifice even with Sapaecheon at their backs—yet she felt not the slightest fear.
Had she not been the one who raised the collapsing Emei to this height with her bare hands?
[And someday, when I return to this Luoyang, I will—]
She stopped dead.
"Grand Abbess?"
"…The guide's presence has vanished."
At those words the nun immediately shouted toward the front of the column.
"What is happening?! Where did the guide go?!"
"Pardon?"
The nuns at the head looked blank.
"If you mean the guide, he just said he would check the terrain ahead and went deeper into the forest—"
"Everyone, defensive positions—!"
The Grand Abbess's voice cracked out like a thunderbolt, but it was already too late.
Without the faintest warning of presence, the nuns crumpled where they stood.
Needle-like hidden weapons were buried in the fallen bodies.
"Kh…?!"
In that final brief instant the Grand Abbess's warning allowed those who had trained in martial arts to deflect the projectiles.
"Who are you?!"
Even as she shouted, the nun already knew the answer.
Hidden weapons that had flown without a trace of presence. A surprise attack so refined that only the Grand Abbess, who had crossed the wall, had sensed it. A subduing poison so potent that a mere graze dropped a person on the spot.
"It's been a while, Go-dok-no-gwi."
A sly, middle-aged man's voice.
How many people under heaven would dare address the Grand Abbess of Emei—who had reached the realm beyond the wall—by that derogatory name, the White-Haired Poisonous Old Ghost?
"I'm disappointed. You still haven't managed to run any farther than this."
The moment the Grand Abbess confirmed the gloves gleaming with a vivid green luster even in the darkness, light flared in her eyes.
"Gwangnyangnokpi…!"
Hearing the name of those gloves, the nun recognized the middle-aged man emerging from the shadows and cried out his name.
"Tang Gwi-ho!"
Vice Head of the Sichuan Tang Family. Leader of the Shadow Unit.
"Yes. It's me."
He covered his mouth and chuckled, and the Grand Abbess ground her teeth at the sight.
"…You bastard. Path of Life Merchant Group this, that—from the beginning it was a trap aimed at us?"
Tang Gwi-ho wore a thin, mocking smile.
"Dear me."
It was a smile that looked down on her from above, openly ridiculing her.
"The Path of Life Merchant Group simply performed its original role, which is why we caught you. But to claim that the entire company was prepared solely to trap you…"
His mouth twisted.
"Wouldn't that be overestimating yourselves just a little?"
Just as he said, even at this very moment the Path of Life Merchant Group was racking up spectacular results.
Officials, people connected to the Luoyang Sword Family—anyone and everyone. As the First Young Master's victory grew more certain by the hour, countless people seeking to flee Luoyang to escape him were walking into the Path of Life Merchant Group of their own free will and requesting their services.
Exactly as Emei had just done.
"You dog, Tang Gwi-ho…!"
"Oh my."
At that thunderous old roar, Tang Gwi-ho made a show of flinching.
"If you must resent someone, perhaps it should not be me, but the true owner of the Path of Life Merchant Group—the First Young Master himself?"
As he spoke he shook his head slowly from side to side.
"Honestly. Just how far ahead does that First Young Master see? These days it feels like I spend every single day being astonished by something new."
When Yeon So-hyeon had used the Path of Life Merchant Group—purchased through Daseonrang—to extract the righteous fighters of the Spring of Luoyang, Tang Gwi-ho had merely thought the man was thoroughly prepared.
But once matters had come to this, once the Path of Life Merchant Group had revealed itself not merely as an escape route but as a net that swallowed the very enemies who should have gotten away cleanly… he could not help but be stunned.
"That Mugeomza bastard…!"
The Grand Abbess's long white hair billowed into the air, radiating a killing intent that bordered on demonic.
"Someday I will kill him for certain!"
Tang Gwi-ho listened to the hate-filled cry and spoke only a single word.
"Strike."