The Righteous Path
“Atonement, you say…”
“So they… joined the Fairy Sect to atone for their sins?”
Whispers from the distinguished guests rippled through every corner of the grand banquet hall.
“Hyeongsan Bukryu lost a great many of their people, true enough. But that does not mean their remaining strength can simply be ignored.”
“Indeed. You’re right about that.”
While everyone murmured and debated Hyeongsan Bukryu’s decision to join their ranks—
“I look forward to working with you.”
“We are grateful that you have accepted us, Eldest Young Master.”
—the warriors of Hyeongsan Bukryu were exchanging words with Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
At that very moment—
“Fresh news!”
Once again, information deliberately leaked by the Third Young Master’s faction arrived in haste.
“The Emei Sect has also decided to join the Third Young Master’s new Murim Alliance!”
“Emei?!”
A few guests reacted to the announcement. Yet almost at once—
“Still…”
“Right now, more than the Third Young Master’s side…”
“The speed at which the Eldest Young Master is consolidating power is far more astonishing.”
—interest in the news withered, and conversation swung back toward Hyeongsan.
“The Eldest Young Master will grant Hyeongsan Bukryu a base of operations here in Luoyang…”
“Once they secure that foothold, a steady flow of income and talent will follow.”
“In that case, within a few years Hyeongsan Bukryu will recover everything they lost before the annihilation—”
“No. Hyeongsan will grow larger than it ever was before the fall. This is Luoyang, after all.”
Luoyang—one of the greatest cities in all of Zhongyuan.
Even as Yeon So-hyeon, Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan, made his presence unmistakably felt—
“Hoho. Eldest Young Master, with so many allies gathering around you, this old man feels quite secure himself.”
“It is Elder Gong Ryang who is worth a thousand armies and ten thousand horses to me.”
—he had installed the Old Demon Gong Ryang, whose iron grip inspired pure dread, as Governor of Luoyang. Small wonder, then, that the subordinate sects of the Luoyang Sword Clan—those who had been building the new Murim Alliance—were now flocking to the Eldest Young Master as a matter of course.
“Is this not a tiger that has grown wings?”
“The speed at which the Eldest Young Master’s forces are swelling is like the Yellow River rising in the rainy season.”
“Deciding to attend today’s gathering was an excellent judgment indeed.”
“I was thinking the very same.”
While the guests hastily calculated their own interests and fretted over how to draw closer to the Eldest Young Master, a few among them exchanged secret glances completely at odds with the general flow of conversation.
Now…!
Before it is too late, we must pull Gongdong out of here…!
They were the hardline loyalists of the Third Young Master’s faction.
“The Military Affairs Bureau is summoning you!”
“Come, let us go! Great Master!”
Unable to find an opening among those standing at the front, the Great Master of the Gongdong Sect found his shoulder seized.
“W-wait a moment…!”
When the Great Master of Gongdong drew up his inner energy, preparing to shake the hand off once more, the Third Young Master’s loyalists resorted this time to sound transmission first.
Just now, Elder Namgung Hyeok-cheon ordered every member of the Gongdong Sect to return at once.
On top of that, there is the summons from the Military Affairs Bureau. Does Gongdong intend to ignore both completely?
They had not aimed their words at the Great Master alone. By invoking Gongdong itself, the message was nothing short of a threat.
“You people…!”
As the Great Master of Gongdong bared his teeth in open hostility—
Calm yourself a little and think, Great Master!
—they abruptly shifted their stance and began to shake him.
Diancang and Zhongnan have already turned traitor, and Hyeongsan has completely broken with us as well!
In a situation like this, if Gongdong alone returns with steadfast loyalty, who in the world would dare treat Gongdong coldly?
The Great Master’s eyes wavered for only the briefest instant—yet they did not miss that tiny crack.
If Gongdong, which has returned upholding loyalty and righteousness even in these circumstances, is treated poorly, all under heaven will point their fingers at the Namgung Clan and the Military Affairs Bureau!
Naturally, rewards no less generous than those of the Eldest Young Master will be forthcoming!
They drove the spike home, the words flowing straight into the Great Master’s mind.
Besides, if you join the Eldest Young Master’s side only now, what do you think will be left for you?
With Huashan and Wudang joining as well, the influence of the new Murim Alliance will only grow greater across all of Zhongyuan!
No small share of profit will flow to Gongdong in the days ahead!
Lines creased the face of the Gongdong Great Master.
Every single word they spoke was true.
Diancang, Zhongnan, and even Hyeongsan had already joined. If Gongdong dragged its feet and joined late, it would be nothing more than a borrowed barley sack on the Eldest Young Master’s side—utterly useless.
Moreover, unlike the other sects, if Gongdong chose to join now, it would have no pretext beyond naked pursuit of profit.
He squeezed his eyes shut once, then opened them again. They were bloodshot and still badly shaken—yet his heart had already settled into firm resolve.
“We of Gongdong…”
“The Gongdong Sect…?”
The Third Young Master’s loyalists watched his lips part with eager anticipation. The surrounding guests, who had been following the shifting atmosphere of the Third Young Master’s camp with open curiosity, pretended not to listen while sealing their mouths and pricking their ears.
“We of Gongdong will still offer our swords to the Eldest Young Master.”
At those words—
“Great Master?!”
—a scream-like cry burst from the mouths of the Third Young Master’s loyalists.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
“Yes. I may well have lost my mind. But…”
The Great Master of Gongdong gave a firm, decisive nod.
“My will is set.”
The loyalists raised their voices in utter incomprehension.
“No—why on earth?!”
“You would deliberately choose the cup of punishment in a situation like this?!”
“Great Master!”
Shoving past the clamor, one of the Third Young Master’s loyalists shouted:
“At least give us a reason!”
After a brief silence in which he finished ordering his thoughts, the Great Master of Gongdong opened his mouth and spoke a single word.
“The righteous path.”
The Third Young Master’s loyalists, who had worn blank expressions for a moment, now looked as if they could not believe their ears.
“The… righteous path?”
Without exception, they let out hollow laughs of derision. What anachronistic, grotesque nonsense—
Knowing full well they would never understand a single word of it, the Great Master of Gongdong merely offered a bitter smile.
“Until now, the Eldest Young Master has displayed countless schemes and stratagems through his divine calculations. Yet not once has he ever strayed from the righteous path.”
“And so what does that—”
The Great Master cut them off.
“That is precisely the credit and trust a sovereign must possess. That is the virtue the Eldest Young Master holds… and that is also the decisive reason I myself resolved to follow him.”
Sovereign. Credit. Trust. Virtue.
Even as he spoke those words—
“And that is why I have made up my mind to serve the Eldest Young Master.”
“Hah…”
—how strange and distant those words felt.
Now I think I understand.
Why the Sect Leader of Zhongnan, after kneeling and apologizing to the Eldest Young Master, had worn an expression that was almost one of relief… he thought he finally understood.
“If what the Great Master is saying now is that talk of chivalry and righteousness—those proper orthodox phrases that even the old Murim Alliance never bothered with—”
“No.”
The Great Master of Gongdong shook his head firmly.
“I know full well that we have already fallen far too low to speak of such noble values.”
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“However.”
Though that smile was thoroughly self-mocking, it also carried the same air of relief that the Zhongnan Sect Leader’s smile had once held.
“Even from the standpoint of the sect’s interests, it is the same.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The Great Master of Gongdong answered:
“Rather than all those sweet promises from the Third Young Master’s side—guaranteeing Gongdong a future overflowing with tens of thousands of benefits—”
He spoke with absolute finality.
“A single word of promise from the Eldest Young Master looks far more likely to be kept.”
In other words: unlike the Eldest Young Master, the Third Young Master’s side possessed neither credit nor trust.
“Nonsense!”
Naturally, the Third Young Master’s loyalists flared up at once.
“What kind of baseless logic is that?!”
“It would be better if you simply pretended to be a saintly gentleman—what absurd rubbish are you spouting?!”
The Great Master of Gongdong lightly shook free of the hand that still gripped his shoulder and stepped away from them as he asked:
“Is that so?”
He continued the question.
“The Eldest Young Master has never once broken a single word he has spoken, and I do not believe he ever will. What do you make of that?”
Amazingly, in that moment, the Third Young Master’s loyalists fell silent.
Would the Eldest Young Master, in the path that lay ahead, break any promise he had made?
No one could readily answer that question. And that—precisely that—was the greatest asset and achievement Yeon So-hyeon had built since ending his seclusion.
“That is the virtue of trust and credit of which I spoke earlier.”
A grinding of teeth escaped the mouths of the Third Young Master’s loyalists.
In the end, however, even they had nothing else to say.
“…Great Master. You will come to regret this decision.”
They could manage only the most typical of threats.
“No matter what the Eldest Young Master does, we will make certain that Gongdong is utterly ruined.”
“Go ahead and cling to the Eldest Young Master—enjoy the cold leftovers while your disciples resent you.”
“You won’t even get memorial rice after you die, so you might as well eat cold rice while you’re still alive.”
Typical though the words were, the murderous intent riding upon them was genuine. A chill ran down the Great Master of Gongdong’s spine, and he could only clamp his mouth shut.
Yet—
“Ohhh?”
When he turned his head, Gong Ryang’s face was suddenly right before him.
“?!”
The startled Third Young Master’s loyalists reflexively stepped backward. Seated in his wheeled chair, Gong Ryang advanced toward them by exactly the distance they had retreated and spoke.
“Are you, right now, threatening someone who intends to throw himself into the Eldest Young Master’s shadow?”
Gong Ryang asked, wearing a smile that carried the thick, coppery scent of blood.
“In Wongak-jeong—the Eldest Young Master’s own residence—do the likes of you dare to release murderous intent?”
“N-no…!”
“That isn’t what we—!”
Hastily shaking their heads and waving their hands only made the surrounding atmosphere grow colder still.
Damn it…!
In our haste we forgot where we were…!
White-faced, the Third Young Master’s loyalists edged backward toward the entrance.
“W-we shall take our leave now!”
The guests who had no desire to become directly involved did not block their path. But—
“I, Gong Ryang, have memorized every one of your faces.”
Gong Ryang bared his teeth at the men who were fleeing in such haste.
“Your sects, your clans, your martial halls—none of them will ever set foot near Luoyang soil again.”
Gong Ryang’s teeth were yellowed with age; the rows had collapsed, many replaced by gold or missing entirely. Yet to those men, the Old Demon’s fangs were more terrifying than those of a mountain lord.
It was only natural that they forgot all dignity and fled Wongak-jeong as if running for their lives.
“…Thank you, Elder Governor of Luoyang.”
When the Great Master of Gongdong expressed his gratitude—
“No.”
Gong Ryang gave a light shake of his head.
“You are thanking the wrong person.”
“Pardon?”
Returning to his usual gentle expression, Gong Ryang smiled.
“Do you think this old man would presume to act as master of Wongak-jeong on his own authority?”
Driving out a guest was the master’s prerogative.
Realizing what Gong Ryang meant, the Great Master of Gongdong spun around by reflex—and there stood Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
“E-Eldest Young Master…!”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled.
“I welcome the Gongdong Sect’s decision to join us.”