The operation was smoothly completed.
“They burned the documents clean.”
“I anticipated this. Secure the testimonies first!”
Important documents had been completely incinerated, but the intent was to prevent them from having the time to destroy everything. If a document were to appear proving the connection between this drug field and the Odokmun, it might lead to an actual war with Odokmun.
“Hmm.”
Watching the Jeokgwi members busy separating and isolating the captives while gathering evidence, I discreetly frowned.
“Senior, what’s with the expression? Did many get hurt on your side?”
“Nobody’s life is in danger.”
I felt a vague unease and surveyed the surroundings. Was it too… easy?
The Sokryeong Sect and Dark Dragon Sect were different cases.
The disturbance in Okgyo and the actions taken in Gonmyeong to elevate I-seol to a position were indeed significant, and it was normal for them to be on the losing end. I, the one who initiated the events, was caught completely off guard, so it made sense that the Sokryeong Sect or Dark Dragon Sect would struggle to respond.
However, now that we had attacked the drug field, it was something Odokmun could have certainly prepared for.
Given that Kang Chumo-ru had visited Odokmun and applied serious pressure, it was reasonable to expect a counteraction.
Observing the reaction of the Odokmun martial artists guarding the drug field, they seemed to have made their own preparations, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a bit anticlimactic.
That said, it wouldn’t be good to demoralize everyone with just a mere lack of evident evidence when there were indeed many injured.
It was also true that engaging in an all-out war with the Imperial Army would further worsen Odokmun’s position.
Upon returning, I would need to check if Odokmun was preparing other moves.
“Thank you for your hard work, Instructor.”
“You all suffered more than I did.”
“Indeed, it was truly admirable work! The prowess was nothing short of divine! Every time the sword gleamed, enemies fell like leaves… Amazing!”
Kang Chumo-ru showered accolades on Hyeok Gi-rin with sparkling eyes. If Kang Chumo-ru was unaware that Hyeok Gi-rin was the Grand Master of the Jeomchang Faction, Hyeok Gi-rin’s effortless skill must have seemed extraordinary to him.
While one might say it was natural for the Grand Master of the Nine Great Sects to perform outstandingly, considering it was the effort of the princess who had secretly honed her skills, the feeling would indeed differ.
“Ahem. Can I leave the cleanup to you? I still have things to do.”
“Of course! Please leave it to us!”
Hyeok Gi-rin seemed burdened by Kang Chumo-ru’s sparkling gaze as he coughed awkwardly, blaming it on the picking formation. The black cat and Miss Yeo Il-ye, aware of the circumstances, stifled their laughter. Realizing the meaning behind their amusement, Hyeok Gi-rin turned red and pushed my back.
“Now, off you go!”
“Then, I leave it in your hands.”
“Ah!”
Once the Jeokgwi members had moved a fair distance away, the black cat immediately began imitating Kang Chumo-ru to tease Hyeok Gi-rin.
“Truly divine work! I wish I could have seen that!”
“Th-That’s enough…”
“Every time the sword shone! East and west, it sparkled!”
“Ugh, stop teasing me!”
Seeing Hyeok Gi-rin’s blushing face, everyone broke into laughter. Even Miss Yeo Il-ye couldn’t help but giggle, prompting Hyeok Gi-rin to pout as he took the lead.
Thus, we entered the cave amidst a cheerful atmosphere.
“Let’s slightly open the door and check the contents inside.”
“Yes.”
After confirming that the core stone emitted a blue light, I urged the group to crack the door open just enough. The entrance was somewhat elevated, allowing a clear view of the cave’s interior.
“A house has appeared.”
There stood a modest dwelling alongside jars one would expect in any household.
“Wow… It’s really fascinating. There was nothing here, but now there’s a house…”
“Let’s venture in first.”
If needed, we could break the altar or entrance, so we cautiously proceeded.
“Is anyone here?”
“We’re not suspicious individuals.”
Although it was uncertain if anybody would emerge after hearing our dubious statements, we scoured the area, picking up bits around the house.
“Excuse me, but I’d like to open the jars. I ask for your understanding.”
Fearing that someone might be hiding inside the jars, the party started to check them.
“Just grains, preserved foods, and water?”
“Hmm… that doesn’t help…”
Finally, we opened the door and entered the house, but there was no one to be found.
“Looks like there’s nobody here.”
“This is quite an ambiguous fate.”
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
While the party showed clear disappointment, I brushed it off lightly. If the probability were high, would it even be a selection? Even in the game Martial World, odds were that inconceivable items often surfaced in the lottery formations.
Unlike me, who quickly let go of my expectations, the others lingered, searching the surroundings.
I could see the injured expressions of my companions as if expressing some sort of unfair grievance.
It was a situation that could easily evoke such feelings.
There is always an expectation created by the surrounding atmosphere.
With glowing blue lettering, a self-vibrating cave, and mysterious settings.
And there were tales that legendary masters or monumental spiritual beings might emerge.
Feeling, one could almost expect the essence of a Dharma master to appear, yet all that was found were empty houses and jars, so it’s understandable to feel incredulous.
“Perhaps there’s some spiritual medicine hidden among these jars…?”
“Hmm, could that be possible?”
The black cat murmured, looking suspiciously at the jars.
“The hunting luck of the senior can’t go wrong…”
Indeed… in the hunt with the black cat, there had been no failures. From the Hyeon Cheon-ja’s cave to Hwari Cave, and more recently, to Sanghasa. Others might still lack credibility due to insufficient samples, but the black cat had experienced many events, thus their trust in me appeared distinctive.
The trouble was that such certainty from the black cat only intensified the others’ lingering hopes.
“Then shall we dig a little deeper? It wouldn’t hurt to search thoroughly.”
Nodding at Tang Do-yeon’s suggestion, the party agreed. With that consensus, I too had no choice but to assent.
Just as we were about to move for a second round of jar searches…
Boom!
A heavy sound echoed, resembling a clash of rocks. Upon hearing that sound, everyone froze. That type of noise could only emanate from one place.
The entrance of this cave.
Someone had discovered the cave entrance and had closed it. The party all simultaneously drew their weapons.
Step. Step.
There was a leisurely footstep, as if there was no rush. It was clear that whoever it was, they intended to trap us by closing the stone door.
Exchanging glances, the party arranged into formation. With the long-range attackers, me and Miss Tang So-yeol positioned at the back, while the rest stepped ahead.
Step.
As I saw the person emerging from the passage, my eyes widened in astonishment. It wasn’t just me; everyone in the party shared the same feeling of undeniable surprise.
Jeong Cheol!
Standing at the entrance was Jeong Cheol.
“How…”
The black cat’s soft moan replaced my question.
“Long time no see.”
Jeong Cheol glared at me and spoke.
“Your name is Ho Cheon-an, right? Just learning your name wasn’t easy at all.”
Where had they discovered this information? As I mulled over it, Jeong Cheol twisted his lips into a smirk.
“Or should I call you Yongji Maeng?”
*
It all began with the Sacheon Individual Martial Arts Tournament.
“That’s where everything went awry.”
Reaching the absolute level of Hyeong-gyeong, Jeong Cheol had resolved to become another absolute powerhouse in Sacheon, but everything started to unravel the moment news of the Sacheon Individual Martial Arts Tournament reached his ears.
Facing the imminent collapse of the reason for revenge of the Sacheon Outcast, Jeong Cheol had to move swiftly…
In a hurry, he pulled in the Outcast Faction from Yunnan and had no choice but to orchestrate reckless plans.
The problem was that even those reckless strategies ended up backfiring.
The Poison Doctor, who hadn’t returned to his clan for more than a decade, happened to be present at that exact moment, and Ho Cheon-an, the Sacheon Outcast he had been counting on, stood in his way to protect the masters.
There had been a declaration of vengeance from Ho Cheon-an, but Jeong Cheol paid it little mind. The reality was that it was impossible for Ho Cheon-an to defeat him, so he had hoped that conceding to Ho Cheon-an’s claims might cultivate a favorable impression.
After that, he merely waited for the right moment.
Sacheon was ailing under the tide of Outcast members, and slowly but steadily, the board was being set, and Jeong Cheol quietly bided his time.
When it seemed ripe for the Sadoryeon to move properly, an incident erupted.
Sokryeong Sect.
The Dark Dragon Sect’s Ak Gyeong-cheol had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a master from Podalap Palace, leading to an unusual situation. What had been minor rumors about Podalap Palace personnel roaming the borders swiftly transmuted into wild tales that the martial artists of the Seojang were preparing to invade Yunnan.
Ak Gyeong-cheol became a nobody—a scrambling fool defeated by mere frontier rascals, and naturally, the three elite masters of Yunnan and Sadoryeon also took a hit.
However, Jeong Cheol saw this as an opportunity.
If he could tighten the noose around the weakened Sokryeong Sect and push them into Sacheon, the Four Sects would move on their own, and Jeong Cheol awaited the emergence of a vanguard.
But the news that reached Jeong Cheol was not the Sokryeong Sect’s surrender, but rather the appearance of the Imperial Army.
Jeong Cheol was taken aback by the sudden emergence of the Imperial Army. This also dealt a significant blow to the Sadoryeon.
Naturally, Jeong Cheol investigated the incident in great detail.
It was then that he discovered the existence of Yongji Maeng.
“Yongji Maeng.”
It was nothing short of a miracle that I-seol, who had been living in a quaint corner of Gilu, swiftly cleared away all rivals and rose into prominence, so Jeong Cheol found that remarkable.
Given I-seol’s acclaim as the “Best Beauty in Yunnan,” the information surrounding I-seol was quite ample, and using that knowledge, he could piece together a series of scheming actions that had sprung forth miraculously.
Jeong Cheol took a keen interest in Yongji Maeng, who had been caught by the Jeokgwi members. He began to suspect that Yongji Maeng had been crucial in I-seol’s rise to the position.
With confidence regarding Yongji Maeng’s impact, Jeong Cheol thought,
“I must bring this individual under my command without fail.”
Yongji Maeng’s capabilities began to intrigue him. He could achieve his goals of elevating I-seol’s stature while ensuring that other rivals were set on a path of self-destruction.
Astonished by the elaborate tactics of Jeong Cheol, he was twice as impressed by the immense foresight which even accounted for the Imperial Army.
After the scene in Okgyo escalated to the level of treason, Jeong Cheol found himself mentally shaken.
He had believed he made the best moves within the circumstances allowed, but the outcome was constantly as dismal as ever, inevitably shattering his spirits.
With every endeavor resulting in complications not unraveling, it was only natural for him to question his talent for devising strategies. Then, he saw the rise of Yongji Maeng to take the lead.
“He must have been enchanted by the beauty of Yunnan, or perhaps he thought he could manipulate I-seol, and ended up being ousted. In either case, it’s certain he is the person I need.”
Deliberately sowing discord among the representative figures of the Sadoryeon, feigning anger, and locking himself away, Jeong Cheol began to tail the Jeokgwi members.
As he attempted to seize Yongji Maeng and persuade him, unexpected circumstances unfolded.
What he thought was Yongji Maeng, ensnared by the Jeokgwi members, had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a disguised empty cart.
“Yongji Maeng was partnered with the Imperial Army? What’s going on…”
Upon confirming this fact, Jeong Cheol was flabbergasted. From his stance, it had made more sense that the Imperial Army was targeting the Sadoryeon rather than Yongji Maeng.
Thus, Jeong Cheol began to monitor the movements of the Jeokgwi members discreetly.
If the Imperial Army were indeed staging an assault on the Sadoryeon, he needed to take measures to prevent further losses.
As he continued to keep an eye out, Jeong Cheol finally detected suspicious movements.
Exactly those of the members of Ho Cheon-an’s dedicated unit as they moved to deliver battle garb to Ho Cheon-an’s party.
Upon tracking them, Jeong Cheol encountered Ho Cheon-an’s group and understood the background behind the events.
He hadn’t recognized the new complexion of Ho Cheon-an, which had changed after immersing himself in the Barley Lotus Pool and obtaining a new martial arts technique. Yet, just a glimpse revealed the only man in the party was indeed that Sacheon Outcast.
Miss Yeo Il-ye of Red Bamboo Swordswoman and the Tang Clan’s artisan, whom he had met, could only refer to him as that Sacheon Outcast.
“Ho Cheon-an.”
Seeing the figure of that Sacheon Outcast, Jeong Cheol trembled. Following their brief meeting at the Tang Clan, where Ho Cheon-an had stated he would soon catch up with him, Jeong Cheol began collecting information on the Sacheon Outcast.
However, the quality of information he managed to collect was barely worth calling data. Miss Yeo Il-ye had attended the matches of Sacheon Outcast No. 28. It was suspected that the Sacheon Outcast, who had achieved merit and been invited to the Imperial Palace, had been linked to this No. 28.
Overall, all he had gathered were mere fragments.
He hadn’t been able to find out how old he was, where he was from, who he was associated with, or what activities he had undertaken.
The standard intel surrounding Ho Cheon-an had been systematically erased, generously foiled by the black cat’s obscure machinations.
While Jeong Cheol had been unable to obtain information about Ho Cheon-an, he had casually passed it off at the time. Even without clear revelations, there were no threatening connections to prominent figures, and in the end, he was just a candidate with a brief stint of under two months as the Commander of the Golden Guards.
As he realized Yongji Maeng was actually Ho Cheon-an, the situation took on an entirely new context.
Having withdrawn the Sokryeong Sect from the Sadoryeon and made the weakest heir I-seol into the clan head, stirring turmoil within the Dark Dragon Sect—that was a realization that struck him hard.
Ongoing admiration for Yongji Maeng’s strategical mind turned into shock as Jeong Cheol realized this was merely one part of Ho Cheon-an’s elaborate plans.
“Ever since the issues with the Tang Clan, nothing has gone smoothly. Had everything been planned out by Ho Cheon-an?”
As he tracked the movements of Ho Cheon-an’s group and confirmed the operational capacity of the Bicheongmacha, Jeong Cheol gained confidence that the Podalap Palace incident was likewise a scheme set by Ho Cheon-an.
What were the odds that elite masters would stumble into each other fortuitously and engage in combat?
Despite having held the position of Commander of the Golden Guards for barely two months, now Ho Cheon-an could call upon the special unit of the Imperial Army. With that kind of incredible skill, it wouldn’t be odd for a Seojang elite to be maneuvered at his will.
“I’m scared.”
Jeong Cheol felt a burgeoning fear towards Ho Cheon-an. To Jeong Cheol, Ho Cheon-an was the embodiment of the incomprehensible. In less than six months, the ability to mobilize the elite forces of the Seojang and a thousand special troops of the Imperial Army while content with mere existence as a Sacheon Outcast—this was a creature of the inexplicable.
