The Duel of League Leaders
The duel of the Sado League's leaders.
"Have you lost your mind, you absolute lunatic?"
Those were the first words of Wiji Han, the Overlord Martial Emperor.
I understand him. Considering the circumstances, I'd say that level of restraint was positively gentlemanly. After all, the Supreme Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance had shown up at the Sado League's headquarters without so much as a messenger's notice. Hardly normal behavior.
"What's the matter, old man Wiji? Guarding your own front hall like it's your wife's chamber?"
Yeom Gi-ha snickered, and a vein bulged on Wiji Han's forehead.
Thrum.
"Absolutely not, Alliance Leader!"
Had Sama Ui, the Heavenly Brain and Chief Strategist of the Sado League, not thrown his entire body in front of the Overlord Martial Emperor, a full-blown battle between the righteous and unorthodox supreme masters might have broken out right then and there. The martial world of today owes a debt of gratitude to the devotion of Sama Ui the Heavenly Brain.
"Fine. Let go."
"I will not."
"...I said fine."
Only after hearing the promise repeated did Sama Ui release his grip. One might call the sight pitiable.
Singija, and now Sama Ui too—chief strategists truly do suffer.
"Hoo—"
Steadying himself with a deep breath, the Overlord Martial Emperor asked again.
"And what business brings you here, of all people?"
Wiji Han had a point. The Supreme Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance, stirring up chaos at the gates of the Sado League headquarters, alone and unannounced—it could only be called a marvel. And the man performing that marvel, Yeom Gi-ha, could only be called an eccentric.
Still...
"Is visiting an old friend such a difficult thing to do?"
Yeom Gi-ha picked at his ear as he spoke, and he looked like he genuinely meant it.
"Since when am I your friend?"
"What else would we be?"
Inferring from Yeom Gi-ha's logic, I suppose men simply become close by fighting each other. Something like that.
"Why on earth would I be your friend."
The Sado League's leader, Wiji Han, thought differently.
"I've lived three years longer than you. That makes me your elder brother."
So he answered.
...So that was the sticking point.
I couldn't bring myself to say it aloud. Whatever it looked like, this was still a face-to-face between the sovereigns of the righteous and unorthodox paths.
But Yeom Gi-ha was, after all, Yeom Gi-ha.
"Hmph. I've never once in my life bowed my head to a man weaker than me."
Yeom Gi-ha was the man universally acknowledged as the Number One Under Heaven of the present martial world—which is to say, he was a man without an elder brother. The very definition of standing alone above all.
Thrum.
"Absolutely not!"
There it was again—Sama Ui hurling himself into the fray, desperately.
Hm. Perhaps the Tyrant Emperor and the Overlord Martial Emperor really were sworn friends after all, I found myself thinking.
"It's fine. Let go."
"...Yes."
Having apparently decided to ignore Yeom Gi-ha entirely, Wiji Han turned his gaze to me.
"It's been a while."
"It has indeed."
His expression was markedly different from the one he'd worn toward the Tyrant Emperor—warmth toward me was plainly written across it. The Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root must have done its work.
"I see. Have you come to join the Sado League? My door is always open to you."
I cut in before Yeom Gi-ha could open his mouth.
"My apologies, but that would be difficult. I belong to a clan now."
Even if I couldn't match Singija or Sama Ui, I at least intended to do my part. Wiji Han, having missed his window to interject appropriately, held his silence—I'd call that a success.
"A shame, then. If you change your mind, say the word anytime."
Wiji Han surely knew well enough that the Dancheon Clan was a prestigious righteous family. He'd simply wanted to needle Yeom Gi-ha.
"Right. Unlike that lunatic over there, I take it you came here on actual business."
His judgment was accurate.
"I've come to collect a payment."
Though he walked the unorthodox path, I knew Wiji Han to be a man of his word, so I spoke freely.
"How much do you want?"
One glance at the magnificent, opulent gates of the Sado League was enough to tell he was hardly short of money.
Still...
"I have no need of money. Would another form of payment suit you?"
Wiji Han nodded. He too knew well that the martial world held many things more precious than coin.
"Name it. Whatever it is."
Bolstered by the goodwill in his voice, I spoke boldly.
"Would it be alright if you erased one unorthodox sect for me?"
Instead of answering, the Sado League's leader and his chief strategist blinked at me.
I could feel Yeom Gi-ha staring at me with an expression that said, what is wrong with this madman?
Even by my own assessment, it wasn't a normal thing to say—but hearing that from Yeom Gi-ha of all people was a bit rich.
"Hm."
I would need to clear up the misunderstanding quickly.
—Discuss practical matters with the Chief Strategist.
With those words, Wiji Han left without a backward glance. It said everything about how much he trusted Sama Ui the Heavenly Brain.
—Alliance Leader, don't cause trouble. Sit still.
—Do you take me for you?
—I'm not you. That's precisely why I worry.
—Puheh.
—...
Only after that somewhat unpleasant exchange between the Tyrant Emperor and his handler was I able to speak with Sama Ui alone.
"Collusion with the Demonic Cult, you say..."
"That is correct."
I was no murderer, and even against an unorthodox faction, I would hardly have sought to erase an innocent sect. The sect I intended to destroy, like Black Water Gate, was one that had colluded with the Demonic Cult.
The difference was that Black Water Gate had been founded from the start by a Demonic Cult sleeper agent, whereas this one had merely entered into collusion along the way.
"Do you have proof?"
Sama Ui's sharp gaze swept over me, and I answered with my back straight.
"I do not."
Knowledge of the future could not serve as evidence. But I had certainty.
"To make such a claim without proof—you must possess information of unshakable reliability."
"That's right."
"May I ask your source?"
"That's a secret."
"I supposed as much."
This was the part of information work I genuinely loved. No one thinks it strange when an informant keeps his source hidden. It is simply the nature of the trade.
"The Sado League will conduct its own investigation. And if we find genuine evidence that they have colluded with the Demonic Cult, our League will punish them. Would that suffice?"
I shook my head.
"No. We will handle the resolution ourselves. The Sado League need only stand aside. That is the price of the favor I ask."
Securing and presenting proof was my burden to bear. If one insisted on labeling it, it would be act first, report after. But since this meant striking a sect under the Sado League's banner, I needed their tolerance in advance if only to prevent a war between the righteous and unorthodox paths.
"Hm."
Sama Ui studied me, deliberating. His gaze was truly piercing—at the very least, I could tell he hadn't taken the Chief Strategist's post merely to keep his leader's trousers from falling down.
"Your insistence on moving personally suggests you expect to gain something there."
I had anticipated he would see at least this much, so I met his silence with silence, unflustered.
"Something worth at least as much as the Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root, I'd wager."
I had learned and practiced the informant's craft through my past life as a beggar; there was nothing in my bearing for him to read.
"No. An affair that drew the Murim Alliance Leader himself must be worth more than that, wouldn't you agree?"
His deduction, however, I could not block.
"I'd have to turn the board over to be certain, but I suspect the Sado League is being played..."
Sama Ui let the words trail off. When I still didn't so much as twitch, he gave a short laugh.
"Very well. This time, we yield."
That was Sama Ui's conclusion. I knew he said it only to make one thing absolutely clear: the Sado League was not being deceived—it was granting a concession.
"You are the benefactor of our Alliance Leader, after all."
That single reason was, from the start, the only reason I'd believed this would go smoothly. As I've said time and again—I trusted Wiji Han's word.
"Thank you."
When I answered plainly, Sama Ui did not forget his parting caution.
"In exchange, you will see this through cleanly. No complications."
"Don't worry."
Their collusion with the Demonic Cult was self-evident fact. There would be no complications.
Zhejiang Province.
A province at the eastern edge of the Central Plains' martial world.
I knew that beyond Zhejiang, further east, lay a mysterious land called the Eastern Kingdom—but that was not the Central Plains. Zhejiang, then, was the end of the known world.
Bordered by Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Fujian, and embraced on the east by the vast sea, Zhejiang was famous for its mild climate and fertile soil.
Above is heaven; below are Suzhou and Hangzhou, the saying goes—and indeed, it was home to Hangzhou, counted among the great thoroughfares of the Central Plains' martial world.
And this prosperous land was also under the Sado League's dominion. One of the wellsprings of the League's wealth, one might say.
That was precisely why I had stopped by the Sado League before coming to Zhejiang.
I intended to accomplish something great within the League's territory—so, using our past connection as a pretext, I had preempted any trouble.
That's right.
It meant that the supreme natural elixir, the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure, slept here in Zhejiang.
In Zhejiang's far south, just short of the Fujian border, lay a city called Wenzhou.
Named for the hot springs that had bubbled there since ancient times.
Having once traveled the open roads and gathered all manner of experience, I knew this much: abundant hot springs meant the presence of a volcano in the region.
And a volcano was precisely the condition under which the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure could form.
"Alliance Leader, have you ever seen a volcano with your own eyes?"
"Mount Hua is in Shaanxi, isn't it? I've been there plenty of times. Their Plum Blossom Sword Art could fairly be called first-rate."
"...I see."
It was an uneventful, peaceful journey.
After four days of travel, Yeom Gi-ha and I set foot in Wenzhou. Having departed from the Murim Alliance headquarters, we had crossed four full provinces in four days. Considering the sheer breadth of the Central Plains, it was a pace that made even the word "swift" feel inadequate.
And at last, we reached our destination.
"This is it?"
"That's right."
The place we arrived at was the Flamefire Band, perched on a ridge in the hills outside Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
Three of the four characters in its name meant fire—one might say their identity was at least firmly established.
Tonight, the Flamefire Band would vanish from the Central Plains' martial world. Yeom Gi-ha would extend the thread of his life. And I would enter the fifth stage of the Yakseon Heart Decision.
That the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure had become known at all could only be called pure chance.
Tracing it back to its origin, the starting point was a violent volcanic eruption that had erupted without warning in Wenzhou.
Granted, no man can predict or harmonize the workings of nature—but this eruption had left far too many things unexplained.
First: an eruption massive enough to reduce a thriving city to ruins, yet with no warning signs whatsoever.
Second: unlike ordinary eruptions, which begin at a mountain's peak, this one had begun at the mountainside—specifically, at the heart of the Flamefire Band.
And third: the lava that had embroidered the earth in the eruption's wake was bizarrely hot, and refused to cool.
Because of that uncooling lava, Wenzhou remained completely sealed off for nearly a year—the damage had been anything but trivial.
There is no effect without a cause. When a result defies explanation, investigating its cause becomes inevitable, and so the Murim Alliance's investigative unit too descended upon Wenzhou.
Though the Sado League ruled Zhejiang, the common folk living on that land belonged to no faction—and that was why.
The Murim Alliance's investigators finally pried the secret loose—thanks to their discovery of the cooled Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure.
And the investigative unit, composed of many gifted visionaries, was able to grasp still more.
The greatest of their findings was this: within the Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure, a heaven-defying art had been discovered.
The Flamefire Band, which should have been the target of punishment, no longer existed in the world.
Only those in the know knew, and the whole affair was brushed aside as a natural disaster, left unspoken and unresolved.
For the record, I—then a beggar—had been part of that investigative unit, which is why I know the full story in detail.
I am twenty-one now. So that event would occur six years from this moment.
It had happened after the Tyrant Emperor Yeom Gi-ha had already vanished. Looking back on it now, knowing everything, I can only call it a bitter waste.
Did I not say that timing is what determines the value of information?
This time, I had set that moment with my own hands. Which means—this time, I can change history.