The Gate of Life
Ssshhhhhh—.
As the night deepened, the rain began to fall in earnest, the drops growing thick and heavy.
"Visibility continues to deteriorate. We're having difficulty carrying out observation duties."
It was the report of the Hyeonwol Pavilion's on-site commander.
Night, and rain. On top of that, the prolonged fighting in the city streets had left even the common people refusing to light so much as a single lamp. Visibility, of course, could not have been good.
"Nothing to be done about that…."
Moyong Ho, adjutant to the Acting Grand General, clicked his tongue.
"Any change in the situation at the other rebel strongholds inside Shenyang?"
The largest of them lay right before his eyes—the underground stronghold—and by all appearances it had already been all but subdued. Still, several rebel positions remained within the city, holding out under siege.
"Nothing of note."
The Hyeonwol Pavilion field commander shook his head at the question.
"Once the explosions, the fires, and the gunfire reached them, the rebels only barred their gates that much more tightly."
Moyong Ho's elder sister, Moyong Un-jeong, was still finishing the purge of the Moyong Family from within. In her place, Moyong Ho stood on the ground in Shenyang. He nodded.
"Good."
It would have been ideal to wipe out every last rebel at once—but that was greed talking.
"We're short of troops wherever you look."
He spoke while studying the tactical map, faintly visible in the light of a small oil lamp. Across it, the strongholds still under rebel occupation were marked in clear, uncompromising strokes.
"As long as the enemy stays bottled up like this, it works in our favor."
If the operation to seize both the Moyong Family's interior and Shenyang itself continued as planned, there would be no problem at all.
"Once the Moyong Family compound is fully secured, my sister will come down here with her forces, and—"
A Hyeonwol Pavilion agent took up the thread.
"—and the rebels of Shenyang will be crushed in isolation inside their own strongholds, without ever managing a single real move."
"The Wudang Vanguard will head home without so much as lifting a finger—standing outside and sucking their thumbs."
Moyong Ho smiled.
"A perfect finish."
"Honestly…."
The Hyeonwol Pavilion field commander shook the rain from his oil-cloth cloak and clucked his tongue.
"I never imagined we could take both the Moyong Family and Shenyang in a single day."
Moyong Ho shrugged.
"It's a joint operation between the Eldest Young Master, who commands the Divine Calculator's strategy, and the Acting Grand General, known as the Military God."
"Indeed…."
Just then, a courier pushed only his head into the temporary command tent.
"Reporting."
It was a breach of etiquette, but a necessary one—to keep the light inside the cramped command tent from spilling outside.
"The search teams assigned to the rebels' underground stronghold report ready for deployment."
The search teams' insertion. Their purpose was to mop up any remnants still lurking inside the stronghold and to secure the heads of key figures.
"Still no reports of Vanguard Leader Gam Woo-hyeon or Elder Moyong Gu-cheok being found?"
"Correct."
"And the fire?"
"Because of the rain, no flames are visible from outside the building."
"Timing of entry?"
"The Eldest Young Master has ordered immediate insertion the moment the smoke thins a little more."
"Understood."
An order from the Eldest Young Master. Who would dare raise an objection? Moyong Ho nodded, then called after the courier as he turned to leave.
"Ah—one more thing."
Moyong Ho asked,
"Who's leading the insertion teams?"
The courier answered at once.
"The Gold-Eyed Divine Maiden has taken command herself."
The Gold-Eyed Divine Maiden. No one knew who had coined it on the spot, but everyone was already using it as if it were only natural—the epithet of Jeong-a, chief maid to the Eldest Young Master.
"With her, there's no worry. Understood."
Moyong Ho was the personal adjutant of the Acting Grand General and a direct blood member of the Moyong Family. That alone would normally have let him speak casually even to the chief maid of the Luoyang Sword Clan's Eldest Young Master. But after watching a master who had cut down the Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix of Mount Hua without suffering any meaningful injury, he could not bring himself to address her lightly.
"……."
Seated in his chair, Moyong Ho still saw the scene from moments ago with searing clarity.
The pinnacle of the Central Plains' Illusory Sword. The countless blades of light that Mount Hua's sword had woven. And the being beyond all common sense who had shattered those lights—and with them, Mount Hua's brilliant history—into pieces.
"…The Gold-Eyed Divine Maiden."
He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck where the chill still lingered.
"Whoever named her that—they chose well."
At that same hour.
"Junior Sister…!"
It was not only those on the Eldest Young Master's side who had witnessed the Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix Mae Ok be cut down.
"You mustn't, Vanguard Leader…!"
"Hold him…!"
The disciples pinning Vanguard Leader Gam Woo-hyeon down with desperate strength were a wretched sight. The proud white robes of the great Mount Hua Sect hung on them in rags. The blood of allies and enemies alike, scorched patches, ash and soot.
"You have to endure…!"
"If the enemy spots us like this…!"
But none of them spared a thought for appearances. A hair's breadth escape from death. The mere fact that they were still alive—that they had clawed their way out of that hellish underground—was miracle enough.
"Junior Sister…!"
Mae Ok had always eyed his position with hungry ambition. She had even vanished alone at the most critical moment, leaving an uneasy taste in his mouth.
"Mae Ok…!"
And yet, for all of that, she had been family. A comrade who had crossed battlefields at his side for long years.
"Kuh… hhk…!"
To watch, from a distance, as her head was severed—there was no desolation quite like it.
[Enemy scouts approaching…!]
At the urgent sound transmission from the disciple on watch, every one of them flattened themselves against the rooftop. Filthy water pooling on the tiles washed into their mouths, but there was no choice.
[Hold the Vanguard Leader tighter…!]
[Whatever happens, do not let him break free…!]
Fortunately, the enemy patrol passed without discovering the figures pressed flat against the roof. The rain and the dark had been their allies.
"…Ugh. Kh…!"
Even the choked sobs that forced their way through Gam Woo-hyeon's clenched teeth were swallowed by the rain and never carried.
[The enemy scouts… have passed.]
The survivors of the Vanguard all let out a breath of relief.
"Vanguard Leader—no. Senior Brother."
A first-generation disciple hauled Gam Woo-hyeon up by the collar and raised his upper body.
"Senior Brother, you have to pull yourself together."
The hand gripping Gam Woo-hyeon's collar was the only one he had left. The price of that nightmare escape.
"Are you trying to get the rest of us killed as well?"
"……."
At his junior brother's appeal, focus slowly returned to Gam Woo-hyeon's eyes.
"…How many made it?"
As reason began to reassert itself, the first-generation disciple answered quickly.
"Nine."
Only nine left. But turned the other way, that meant nine lives he was still responsible for bringing home.
"…I see."
His disciples moved to help him rise. "Nine…." But he waved them off and sat up under his own power.
"That bastard. You've still got his head, I trust?"
"Of course."
The first-generation disciple nodded firmly and lifted the head hanging from his belt.
"Here it is."
It was the head of Elder Moyong Gu-cheok.
"We had no choice…!"
The Mount Hua Vanguard had scraped together their last strength and made for his office.
"It was our final gamble…!"
At the very moment the chaos began, Gam Woo-hyeon had remembered that Elder Moyong Gu-cheok—the man responsible for the rebels' underground stronghold—had vanished from within it. There they had found the secret passage the elder had used, and by something close to a miracle, escaped.
"H-hiiik?!"
And there, waiting for the right moment to flee Shenyang, they had found him.
"How are the likes of you here…?!"
The result of that meeting was the head of Elder Moyong Gu-cheok now in the first-generation disciple's possession.
"…Keep that bastard's head safe."
"Mount Hua does not forget a grudge."
Gam Woo-hyeon ground his teeth as he spoke.
"Sooner or later, the Moyong Family's rebels will pay the price…!"
The Moyong Family had long been the overlords of the north. After today's events, many among the rebels outside Shenyang would raise the banner against Moyong Un-jeong as well.
"Of course."
"Good. But first—"
"—we have to get out of this city."
Crawling low across the rooftop with Gam Woo-hyeon, the first-generation disciple reached the railing and reported.
[The enemy is running continuous patrols through the surrounding area.]
Gam Woo-hyeon clicked his tongue inwardly.
[They must be guessing we have a secret passage that leads outside as well.]
[Yes.]
The first-generation disciple gave a small nod.
[The fortunate point is that their available forces are too few to throw up a wide encirclement—they're relying on scouts instead.]
[…And the short visibility from the night rain is luck of its own.]
Even as they spoke, an enemy patrol passed by—and still failed to find them in their concealment.
[That the enemy cannot employ firearms is another major advantage for us.]
But in the end, time was on the Eldest Young Master's side.
[…The rebels didn't last a day. We have to assume no outside support is coming.]
The original plan had been for the rebels to hold from within while relief arrived from outside. That picture had already been torn apart by the Eldest Young Master.
[Once the sun rises and the rain stops, our discovery is only—]
[A matter of time.]
[…Yes.]
Gam Woo-hyeon ground his teeth.
So once again… I can only wait for another miracle?
Lying prone, he looked up at the sky.
Ssshhhhhh—!
Heavens.
The rain was growing so fierce that not even a fragment of starlight, let alone the moon, could be seen.
Would you cast this Gam Woo-hyeon aside like this…?
But then—
[The enemy's movements are strange…!]
A disciple watching the opposite direction—toward the city walls—reported.
[It's as if the enemy is pulling back from the walls in haste—!]
The report never finished.
KWAANG—!
"An earthquake…?!"
"No!"
Gam Woo-hyeon surged to his feet.
KWAANG! KWANG! KWAANG!
"That is…!"
Before their eyes, the city wall began to collapse with a thunderous roar.
KWA-RRRRRUMBLE!
"…It's friendly artillery!"
Artillery—at this hour, in this place? There could be only one answer.
Gam Woo-hyeon's face lit as he shouted,
"Sama Dae-gunsa…!"
Once again, a miracle had visited the Mount Hua Vanguard.
"Unidentified enemy catapult attack!"
"Wall breach! Part of the wall has been destroyed!"
"Damn it…!"
Amid the sudden, chaotic flood of reports, Moyong Ho bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"What are you standing around for?! Begin counter-battery fire!"
"Impossible! Visibility and darkness—we can't pinpoint the enemy batteries' exact positions!"
"Our own artillery crews are desperately understrength!"
They had already wrung every available soldier dry for the ongoing operation. There was nothing more to be done. Whoever the enemy was, and however they knew—they were striking that weakness with perfect precision.
"Request immediate support from the Moyong Family main house—!"
"Wait."
The one who stopped Moyong Ho from calling for reinforcements was the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, who had just entered the temporary command tent.
"Eldest Young Master…!"
"Withdraw every one of our forces. Immediately."
"……!"
In that instant, Moyong Ho understood the order perfectly.
"Withdraw! Issue the full withdrawal order now!"
He shouted.
"If we stay, we'll be swept under by the enemy!"
Siiing—, FWOOMP!
A green signal flare burst in the air, and the Eldest Young Master's forces began a rapid retreat.
"Th-the rebels! They're pouring out of every position!"
"Mount Hua Vanguard at the front! Mount Hua Vanguard spotted!"
"They're heading for the collapsed section of the wall!"
Had they been caught in that simultaneous flood of enemies, the damage to their own side would have been catastrophic. Every effort they had poured into limiting casualties until now would have been for nothing.
"The enemy is charging the breached wall in full force to secure an escape route!"
"Pass the order—do not attempt to stop the fleeing enemies head-on."
At the Eldest Young Master's command, Moyong Ho cried out,
"The Wudang Vanguard may answer through the collapsed wall! We must not be caught between them!"
Having prevented the worst with a swift and precise judgment, the Eldest Young Master stepped back out of the tent.
Ssshhhhhh—!
"…Sama Dae-gunsa."
Standing in the pouring rain, the Eldest Young Master wore a wry smile.
"A fine move this time. But…."
His gaze turned far beyond the wall.
"I wouldn't expect to get them all out alive quite so easily."
KRRRUMBLE!
As if answering his murmur, thunder rolled across the sky.
The survivors of the Mount Hua Vanguard and the remaining Moyong Family rebels of Shenyang—for them, a hellish fighting retreat had just begun.