In the evening, at the main unit of the Sichuan Province for the Jeonjin Sect.
A guest had arrived.
Elder Man Jong, sect leader of the Jeonjin Sect, held a ritual for the disciples who had died in the ambush and paused to greet the guest.
The guest was none other than the Second Military Head, Sima Jong-hyeong, of the Murim Alliance. As soon as he saw the elder, Sima Jong-hyeon bowed in greeting.
“Elder.”
Elder Man Jong greeted him warmly and asked.
“It has been so long, military head. Weren’t you planning to drop by Guizhou province and head back to the Murim Alliance?”
Elder Man Jong, who had separated from the government officials, knew what his plans were.
So this visit was rather unexpected.
“That’s right. It became a bit difficult to head back.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are there any ears listening in?”
“Who will enter this place without my permission?”
“Then I am glad.”
Sima Jong-hyeon was showing more caution than usual.
He was usually quite cautious, which made Elder Man Jong even more nervous.
“Did something happen?”
“Please promise me first.”
“A promise?”
“Only Elder Man Jong will know of this.”
“Huh.”
Elder Man Jong walked towards a small altar and lit an incense at this wariness.
“I swear on this table of my ancestor, the august and true Taoist, Wang Jong-yang, that I will not speak of this to anyone.”
Taoist Wang Jong-yang.
The man who had established this sect. As the oath had been made in the name of Jeonjin’s founder, Sima Jong-hyeon sighed.
“It seems like there is a spy in the alliance.”
“Spy? If it is a spy, then isn’t this a small issue?’
“If it was like that, I wouldn’t have told you.”
Sima Jong-hyeong took out something folded in his hand. It was the size of his palm and was a letter with a seal. Something seemed to have been in it, but there was nothing now.
“What is this?”
“The direct letter.”
“A direct letter!”
Direct letters were ones shared between the military heads and the alliance leader.
Elder Man Jong had to listen now.
Upon receiving the letter, Elder Man Jong read its contents. Inside was written.
[If the words of the military head are true, this is a danger for the alliance. We will investigate this matter in secret, so please return.]
“Wasn’t this a reply to the report from what happened near the government office?”
At Elder Man Jong’s question, Sima Jong-hyeon shook his head.
“No.”
“Then?”
“I sent something different from the official letter.”
“And that is?”
“Do you remember the Flashing Swordsman who disguised himself as the Blood Demon?”
“I do.”
Because of that man’s appearance, many of Elder Man Jong’s disciples were killed. Although he followed the path of Tao, he couldn’t ignore the sadness and anger.
“The person named Ja Gyung was aware of the ambush, so it could not be a coincidence. This incident must have happened because the information was leaked from within.”
“… I thought the same as well.”
Even Elder Man Jong had been suspicious of this information leak.
However, the death of his disciples had saddened him so much at the time that he didn’t bring it up.
“Then, do you think this happened because there is a spy?”
“… there is. That too in the heart of the alliance.”
“What do you mean?”
The elder was shocked.
A spy at the alliance’s heart meant the leak was near the top. He now understood why this conversation was to be kept secret.
Sima Jong-hyeon lowered his voice and said,
“The letter you are seeing now… is not from the alliance leader.”
‘…?!’
The elder’s expression hardened further.
It was quite serious if someone sent a fake secret letter.
“Why would you say that? No matter how I look, this is…”
“Since the alliance leader’s letters are quite known, it is possible to copy his handwriting. However, there is a problem with the content.”
“Which one?”
He could not detect anything suspicious. Besides the letter also asked Sima Jung-hyun to come back and solve the case.
“The Alliance Leader has one distinct key when writing such secret letters.”
“And that is?”
“He doesn’t call me military head but calls me informally.”
Sima Jung-hyun’s family name would normally be used, but that word was not found here.
“Isn’t it too much to consider it suspicious based on one thing alone.”
“That was why I tried it. “
“What did you try?’
“I sent someone with a similar build to mine wearing a human skin mask towards the place where we embalmed the body of the fake Blood Demon and sent them to the Murim Alliance.”
“No….”
“They disappeared on the road.”
‘…!!!’
The procession that returned to the Murim Alliance had vanished. This meant that they were attacked.
“Who would do….”
“There is one thing I can guess about this spy.”
“Who could it be?”
“As you know, the former military alliance had died. And…”
At that moment, Elder Man Jong held out his hand and became silent as his eyes trembled.
Sensing something in this, Sima Jong-hyeon asked.
[What is it?]
[I do not feel anything outside.]
[What?]
[All signs of my disciples had vanished.]
Elder Man Jong stood up, went to the wall, and pushed a bookshelf. Shockingly, a passage appeared behind it.
[This?]
[Hurry inside, right now!]
Hearing this, Sima Jong-hyeon hurriedly entered the passage. As soon as he entered, the elder quickly covered it again.
Not long after, the door to the office opened, and Elder Man Jong spoke in a trembling voice.
“The eye…?!”
Before he could finish his words, something sharp flew at him. Seeing this, Elder Man Jong was shocked.
Around evening time, a ship was being loaded with many things. It had been a long time since I received the Blood Demon Sword.
The purpose of this procession of ships was to arrive all the way to the City of Jinan.
The amount of goods being loaded was too much, and after knowing the reason behind it, I could understand why.
A total of twelve escort services participated in this. The ship was as large as a sailboat used to cross the sea, and there were four more ships with the luggage evenly split among them.
We boarded the first boat along with the Wind Wave King.
Coincidentally, the first ship also had an escort service aligned with Hong Geol-hae.
“Something is odd.”
We were inside the room assigned to us on the ship. There, we were talking secretly.
“What is it?”
Sima Young was a bit puzzled by Cho Seong-won’s words.
“If there are four ships, they can distribute the power evenly. Why gather so much strength on this one?”
“Huh, that’s right?”
I, too, shared his thoughts.
Hyuk Cheon-man was on this ship, so there was no reason for me to be on the same ship. It might have been better for me to protect another ship.
There was enough power on this ship to do anything. Even if there were a large number of enemies in the port, they wouldn’t dare touch this ship at all.
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What?”
“They said that if we docked at the end, we would be dropped from the tip. The Mu Ryang Escort Services, who are in charge of this trip, asked us to move casually.”
Sima Young was right.
Our real purpose was just to make contact with the 18 River Families in the Yangtze.
There was no reason for us to escort them until the end.
I felt a bit bad, but I told this to the Hwang Young Escort Group leader and also the other service groups in charge of the ship. They had easily accepted it.
It was as if it didn’t matter.
-What is wrong with that?
It isn’t wrong, but it was definitely odd.
No matter how confident they were with Hyuk Cheon-man here, they had accepted it too easily. Just looking at the people from the Hwang Young Escort Group, they only looked slightly saddened.
But that was all.
It was as if they didn’t care.
“…Woo-hyun. Where did your hyung go?”
“I- I don’t know.”
Song Jwa-baek wasn’t here.
I had told him to get a room assigned to him, but he hadn’t returned. Cho Seong-won clicked his tongue and said.
“I am sure he is after Lady Hwang.”
Ugh.
Did he like her that much?
Sure, she was nice, but the woman couldn’t take her eyes off Sima Young, and everyone saw this.
-How would he see it when he couldn’t get his eyes off her chest.
Short Sword giggled
That’s right.
He wouldn’t see it if he didn’t look at her face. Cho Seong-won then said.
“It must be difficult to do anything on this ship.”
I knew what he meant. With the Wind Wave King on board, doing anything required twice the thought.
Even if we could deal with his fury, it would be better to hold onto it for now. At that moment, the cabin door opened, and someone walked in.
Song Jwa-baek.
‘…!?’
A faint red mark in the shape of a palm was visible on his cheek.
It was a small hand.
‘…’
What did he do?
He was even too embarrassed to look at our faces.
“That face…”
I was about to say something, but Song Jwa-baek changed the topic.
“I don’t understand why the beggars are coming and going as if this is their house or something. No one cares who goes in and out of the warehouse!”
“What?’
“The beggars went into the warehouse with something to eat.”
That was something else I couldn’t understand.
The beggars had the right to eat in the kitchen or even the mess hall, but they went into the warehouse?
This was odd.
“Who are the guards at the warehouse?’
“The Mu Rang Escort Services.”
The representatives for this journey.
‘Hmm.’
I wanted to ask him about the slap, but his information was good. It was also urgent enough for us to move immediately for it.
Apparently, something was being kept hidden.
It felt like just minding our own business wasn’t possible anymore.
I slowly stuck my face out from the corner of the ship wall and looked ahead as if I was scouting. It was the entrance to the warehouse.
Four guards were there, all of them first-rate.
They were strong for warehouse guards, but it made sense.
‘Phew.’
I had practiced quite a bit but wasn’t sure this would work. It might be possible now since I was beyond the wall.
I raised my hand and placed my thumb and middle fingers together.
I then snapped loud enough for them to hear. The guards became silent as if they had been killed.
I used the Wind Shadow Steps and went inside.
-Oh. It worked.
Short Sword said in passing.
All of them looked forward with blank eyes after falling into a hallucination.
I had tested to what extent I could do it, and it worked. The sound was meant to make a person lose consciousness.
However, it wouldn’t last very long. The guards would soon return to their senses, but it didn’t matter.
I made my way through the warehouse. The size of it was also odd inside a ship the size of a sailboat.
-Just like Jwa-baek said,
Six beggars were inside and had food and drinks while standing in front of a large box.
‘What?’
It seemed as if they wouldn’t eat it but were hiding it?
This reminded me of the time when I was a spy.
But then I heard a voice.
“Release the Turtle Breathing Technique.”
It was Hong Geol-gae’s voice.
‘Turtle Breathing Technique?’
It was a method to stop breathing or slow it down enough so that the heart and body temperature would slow to the extent of vanishing a person’s presence.
Baek Hye-hyang had used it on me in the past to hide me from Mu Ack.
But why use it here?
‘…!?’
I felt a presence inside the warehouse, and the number was increasing.
‘What is this?’
The number of presences continued to grow.
There were around ten people, all around the master level.
Was this the reason why I heard the sound of swords? There were warriors inside those boxes.
Grrrr!
At that moment, the ship rocked violently as if it had stopped suddenly instead of bumping into something.
-Seems like something happened outside.
Perhaps I needed to head out.
I dropped from the ceiling and flicked my fingers as I did when I entered. After distracting them, I left the room.
“Raise the sails!”
The sails on the mast were being pulled as the crew moved.
The ship could not move forward without wind if the sails were withdrawn.
And that wasn’t all.
It looked like the sailors had thrown the anchor into the water.
Just what was this?
Why were they stopping this ship in the middle of the river? In the meantime, the three other ships had moved forward one by one.
‘Why?’
I heard a puzzled voice.
“Sajae, you were here.”
It was the Wind Wave King.
“Sahyung.’
“When I went to your cabin, they said you were out for some air.”
Was he looking for me?
If I had come out just a little bit later, he would have caught me near the warehouse.
At that moment, I heard the sailors shout.
“Raise the sails and anchors. We start again.”
‘Uh?’
Was there no problem
As soon as the ships began to move, we raised our anchors again. Could it be that this was a change in position?
I pretended not to realize and asked.
“Did you stop to move the position of the ship?”
Hyuk Cheon-man scratched his head and said,
“You are quick-witted. That’s right.”
“Why, though? Was it so sudden? Was there something wrong?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“If we don’t change, they will notice.”
“They?”
At my question, he smiled.
“I am talking about everyone in the warehouse who just woke up.”
What?
Did he actually feel their presence? I pretended to not know.
“What do you mean?”
“Sajae, you must have felt the presence of the people growing within the warehouse, right?”
“… aren’t they goods?”
“Goods? That’s true. We will send them to the base of the river families.”
‘…!!’
What did he say just now?
“Is sahyung talking about the 18 River Families of the Yangtze River?”
“Yes.”
I knew it.
This wasn’t just some random thing.
There was a different purpose.
“Then… the commission for the Peace Merchant Union wasn’t for goods.”
He continued to speak meaningfully.
“All of this is just for a show.”
