Reorganization
The Haedobang and the Geumcheon Assassins Guild.
The two colossal forces that had dominated the back alleys of Nanchang in Jiangxi Province were annihilated on the same day.
Geosan, the leader of the Haedobang, who had been savoring a fleeting sweet dream, had his heart pierced by Muyoung's sword. Oja-gae's head was severed, and he collapsed where he stood.
His subordinates scattered like rats without a shred of loyalty the moment their leaders fell.
The real problem was the assassins from the Geumcheon Assassins Guild.
Instead of planning for the future, they made the idiotic choice of charging straight at Muyoung.
If they had attempted an ambush, it would have been annoying. But since they were kind enough to throw their lives away like this, I was simply grateful.
“Cleanup is complete, Young Master.”
Muyoung approached me, flicking the blood from his blade.
Despite having cut down over a hundred men, his breathing remained perfectly steady. It was clear proof that both his martial arts and stamina had advanced to another level.
I walked over to Yeo Mong, who was still catching her breath.
“So… you’ve finally come?”
“Yeah. I hurried as much as I could, but I guess I was still late.”
Yeo Mong let out a small chuckle at my words.
It was the first time she had ever smiled at me.
“You’ve changed quite a bit.”
“Have I?”
Yeo Mong nodded and studied my body carefully.
My noticeably taller stature, broader shoulders, and the brilliant light in my eyes. In that short span of time, she instinctively realized that this boy had reached a realm far beyond anything she could ever hope to challenge.
“What are you doing? Get up.”
I extended my hand to Yeo Mong. She grasped it and rose to her feet.
“You were watching from the beginning, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
There was no point hiding it, so I answered honestly.
“If that’s the case, then before my subordinates died…”
“Why should I have?”
“Because… didn’t you need our hands?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
I nodded.
The Black King Sect? I needed them.
But even if every last one of them died, I wouldn’t feel any regret. I could simply fill their ranks again.
A shadow fell across Yeo Mong’s face.
Rage surged within her.
The fact that I had simply watched as her subordinates died filled her with fury.
But Yeo Mong had no power to resist.
“Replacements are a dime a dozen. If you try any funny business, I’ll end you all with my own hands.”
“……”
“Answer me.”
“Yes… Young Master.”
There was no other choice.
Those without power eventually had to bow to those with it.
That was the greatest rule supporting the underworld—and indeed, the entire murim.
With those words, I turned away.
We still had a great deal to discuss.
“Let’s go.”
And so we headed straight for the Black King Sect.
Top floor of Geungnakru.
I received a report from Yeo Mong and Gaepyeong about their activities over the past two hundred days.
“Not bad at all.”
They had reorganized their businesses in a short time and focused their information gathering around Geungnakru. The traces of their diligent execution of my orders were evident.
Moreover, the stack of reports and the documents containing the information they had collected. It wasn’t quite at the level I wanted yet, but they were clearly establishing a solid foundation.
“However, the funds are woefully insufficient.”
At those words, Yeo Mong’s eyes sparkled.
“You can tell that just by looking at it for such a short time?”
“Roughly.”
I nodded.
“Good. I’ve grasped the general structure. But this isn’t enough.”
“From now on, it will be easy,” Yeo Mong said with confidence.
The Haedobang had collapsed, and the Geumcheon Assassins Guild had vanished. With the two greatest obstacles gone, there was nothing left to hinder them.
“Since the troublemakers are out of the way, shall we do this properly?”
Yeo Mong nodded at my words.
“From now on, we won’t just buy up the brothels. We’ll acquire inns, taverns, pawnshops, blacksmiths, and even ordinary street stalls.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s not all. Gambling dens, illegal betting rings—everything illegal, without exception.”
“B-but then the funds…”
“We have plenty of funds now, don’t we?”
At my words, Yeo Mong’s sullen expression quickly changed as she realized what I meant. She nodded.
“Ah… With the Haedobang gone, we can simply take over their territory.”
“Exactly.”
The Haedobang had already expanded their businesses aggressively, taking advantage of the gaps left by the Geumcheon Assassins Guild and the Black King Sect. Now that there was no owner, we just had to snatch it all up.
“Did you plan for this all along?”
“Hm?”
“Why did you tell us to sell off our businesses and expand before you went into closed-door training?”
“I did, didn’t I? Well… it’s roughly the same idea.”
The three major powers that ruled this underworld.
I had predicted that if two of them clashed, the remaining one would definitely exploit the opening.
Barring any major incidents, that one power would surely stockpile funds.
And my prediction had been largely correct.
“If you had been passive, the Geumcheon Assassins Guild wouldn’t have moved either. And then the Haedobang wouldn’t have stepped forward. In the end, all we needed was a fuse to light the bomb called war. That fuse was you.”
A single move.
Though we had suffered losses, we had gained something far greater.
For the sake of the greater good… a few sacrifices were of no concern to me.
Yeo Mong clenched her teeth.
Her chest felt icy cold.
She bit down hard to swallow the rising fury, but the bitter taste lingered on her tongue for a long time.
In the end, it meant she had been used. There was no way she could feel good about it.
But she didn’t even have the strength to protest.
As she swallowed her suppressed breath, a single vow slowly bloomed in her eyes.
I knew very well how resentful and furious she must feel.
But what could be done?
I had no deep bond or warm affection for her.
I would use her when she was useful and discard her when she wasn’t.
That was exactly the kind of relationship we needed.
“Use the assets left behind by the Haedobang and the Geumcheon Assassins Guild to replenish our funds. And…”
I grinned and lightly tapped Yeo Mong on the shoulder.
“Don’t just stop at Nanchang. Create an intelligence network that encompasses the entire Jiangxi Province.”
Yeo Mong’s expression grew more serious than ever before.
She slowly nodded.
“I will do it properly, Young Master.”
Jiangxi Province—not just a single city, but an entire vast region.
‘That Young Master’s foresight and power…’
Watching Ju Woo-jin’s back as he left the room, Yeo Mong steeled her resolve.
There was nothing she couldn’t do.
Hadn’t she survived this long by rolling around in the treacherous underworld?
‘This time as well, without fail.’
She would survive.
A fierce determination consumed Yeo Mong.
“Can we really trust her?”
Muyoung asked with concern.
After all, information was power.
In the murim, seizing the initiative in information was tantamount to gaining power.
Therefore, once Yeo Mong tasted that power, there was always the risk that she might betray us.
“Don’t worry.”
I patted Muyoung on the shoulder to reassure him.
“Leader Yeo will never betray us.”
I knew Yeo Mong’s weakness.
Moreover, given her personality, she wasn’t the type to commit betrayal or do anything foolish.
Muyoung quietly closed his mouth, thinking once again that the Young Master always seemed to know things he didn’t.
The next day.
I woke up early and began my training with un-gi-josik followed by a light run around the training grounds.
After my closed-door training, I too was aware that my body had changed significantly.
My internal energy had now reached three gapja, and the speed at which it accumulated was of a kind I had never experienced before. It was almost frightening.
“Huu…”
I regulated my breathing and stood up, slowly assuming a stance as I felt the abundant internal energy within me.
The opening of the middle dantian.
And I began refining the family’s supreme techniques, including the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi.
I was slowly melting the realizations I had gained in my previous life and the insights I hadn’t yet fully refined.
When I finally rose from my position, someone came looking for me.
“So this is where you were, Young Master.”
Yang Gon, the vice-leader of the Baekryongdae, gave me a polite bow.
“What is it?”
In response to my question, Yang Gon handed me a report.
“I will submit the minor details in a separate report later. For now, I have only extracted the major incidents that occurred in Jiangxi Province.”
“Oh?”
I never expected him to organize and bring it so quickly.
I took the report he offered and read through it slowly.
Yang Gon was more capable than I had thought.
He had omitted all unnecessary fluff and focused only on the key points.
“The Haedobang and the Geumcheon Assassins Guild…”
I couldn’t help but be impressed as I read the report.
The annihilation of the Haedobang and the Geumcheon Assassins Guild that had occurred just last night.
It seemed the Baekryongdae had noticed it almost immediately.
The report Yang Gon handed me contained the entire tragedy of the previous day.
There was no unnecessary padding.
Just three lines, but they contained everything that mattered.
“Do not report this part to the higher-ups.”
“Understood.”
“By the way, did the Family Head say nothing about when he would return?”
“Four days ago he said he would return soon, but we have had no further contact since.”
“Then he should be back soon.”
I nodded.
From now on, my days would begin with Yang Gon’s reports.
It meant that all the information in Jiangxi Province was now… mine.
After sending Yang Gon away, I returned to my quarters.
There was a mountain of work to do from now on.
“The Twelve Demon Emperors.”
With the Cheonma currently in closed-door training somewhere in the Central Plains, I needed to cut off the breath of every single one of the Twelve Demon Emperors.
“Do-gon, the Blood Hand Poison Emperor… and Sa-an Gwi-gun.”
They had been relatively easy opponents, and all of them had died by my hand.
But the remaining nine Demon Emperors would be far more difficult.
“Still, it’s a relief that we’ve taken care of one of the most troublesome ones.”
Of course, if there was one among the Twelve Demon Emperors who was the most troublesome, it was undoubtedly Sa-an Gwi-gun.
Killing him so early had been nothing short of a stroke of luck.
If he had survived, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would have happened next.
“Alright, then from this side first…”
“Young Master.”
I had just stood up when Danhui knocked and entered.
“What is it?”
“You’ve been summoned from Geomhonjeon.”
“Geomhonjeon?”
The only person who would summon me from Geomhonjeon right now was… the Great Elder.
I let out a small sigh and nodded.
Then I headed straight for Geomhonjeon.
Geomhonjeon.
When I opened the door and entered, Great Elder Ju Sang-geon was seated at the head of the room.
“You called for me, Great Elder?”
“Indeed.”
Ju Sang-geon gestured for me to come closer.
“The First Young Master has gone to the archipelago with the Family Head. Seung-gyeong and Sang-ah have left for the academy. Sang-jin has also gone to his maternal family.”
Ah, Ju Sang-jin.
So the second brother had ultimately gone to the Namgung Family?
Well, he probably had no face left to show here.
“And?”
Damn. The words came out sharper than I intended.
I was already tense because it seemed like he was about to give me some annoying task.
“And? Isn’t the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly about to be held?”
“…Is the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly happening now?”
“Well, you might not know. You’ve never attended one before.”
The Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.
It was a gathering of the outstanding rising talents produced by various families and sects.
It wasn’t just those who had earned the titles of Dragon or Phoenix who attended. It was more like a networking event between major sects and prestigious families.
Why was he suddenly bringing this up?
I suppressed my unease and asked carefully.
“Surely… I don’t have to go, do I?”
I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to waste on something like that.
With only four years left before the Demonic Cult destroys our family, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly can go freeze to death.
“You must go. You’ve skipped it every time until now.”
“Ha… Can’t we just have my older brother go when he returns?”
“Do you think Seung-hyeok would go?”
I shut my mouth at those words.
My eldest brother wasn’t the type to willingly attend such events either.
“I have work to…”
“Do your work after you return. If you skip it again, our family’s reputation will suffer.”
Ju Sang-geon was firm.
He turned his back as if he would not tolerate any refusal.
Sometimes, he really did resemble my father quite a bit.
“Ha… Damn it.”
In the end, I had no choice but to give in.
I would quickly attend the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly and then hunt down the Twelve Demon Emperors.
“Where should I go?”
“That.”
Ju Sang-geon pointed at the floor in front of me.
On the floor he indicated lay an elegant-looking sealed letter along with a thick invitation.
It was the invitation announcing the opening of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.
“In three days, go to the Mong Family Villa on Mount Myobang in Hubei Province.”
“Mong Family Villa…”
It was a familiar name.
Though it did not belong to one of the great families, it was an undeniably prestigious and ancient noble house.
Because they did not engage much in murim activities, the name was somewhat unfamiliar to the general public, but it was quite well-known among martial families.
No, more importantly…
“In just three days?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, how am I supposed to reach Hubei from here in three days?”
“Ride a horse. How else would you go?”
Wow, look at that shamelessly obvious expression asking why I would even question it.
The distance from Jiangxi to Hubei was such that even riding at full speed without rest would barely allow me to arrive in three days.
“What are you waiting for? Why aren’t you leaving?”
Ju Sang-geon waved his hand dismissively, as if I was bothering him.
Arguing with the Great Elder, who refused to have a proper conversation, would only make my mouth hurt.
I quickly left Geomhonjeon.
As he stared at the closed door, the Great Elder lifted his teacup.
“Go and show them. Show them exactly what kind of person you are.”
A strange smile hung on his wrinkled lips.