On a rooftop in the old district of Luoyang, overlooking one of the city’s main thoroughfares, Tanryunggu, the leader of the Tamrang—the former special operations unit of the Martial Righteous Alliance—gazed down at the bustling street. Under the setting sun, the avenue was illuminated as if it were midday by a kaleidoscope of colorful silk lanterns, leaving no shadows on the faces of the people who came and went.

Whether the Second Young Master clashed with the Grand Young Master. Whether the Third Young Master collided with the Grand Young Master. Whether the Grand Young Master, returned after a decade, stirred up all of Luoyang as if it were his personal playground. Whether the Sword Clan was thrown into turmoil by the Central Inspectorate’s investigation.

The pedestrians below seemed utterly indifferent.

[Reporting.]

His subordinates began to gather around him.

[As commanded, Teams One through Five are in pursuit of the ‘targets’ through the underground waterways.]

[Teams Six, Seven, and Eight have dispersed and are continuing the search on the surface.]

Masters of concealment and stealth, they blended so seamlessly into the rooftop shadows that they were nearly invisible to the naked eye.

[These are men who may have the Grand Young Master behind them. Tell the teams not to let their guard down just because they are vagrants playing at being vigilantes.]

[As you command.]

With a soft whoosh, a sound completely lost in the din of the street below, a messenger materialized.

[A message from the Military Division.]

[Are they reporting that the Luoyang blockade has failed?]

It wasn’t a difficult conclusion to draw. They were the ones in the field. They had already sensed the lack of movement from the city administration.

[…Yes.]

[Understood.]

He didn’t even bother asking for the reason. When your profession is dirtying your hands, knowing too much is often a liability. Besides, most things were beyond their control anyway.

[The Military Division has fully delegated control of this operation to you, Commander,] the messenger reported, his head bowed respectfully.

The other subordinates who heard the telepathic message clicked their tongues in disgust.

[If they were going to do that, they should have done it from the start.]

[So, if this operation fails, the blame will fall on us.]

The Commander sent a short, sharp message. [Silence.]

The connected subordinates immediately fell quiet.

[…]

They were well-trained hounds.

[As always, we will move as commanded and accomplish the mission. That is all.]

The Commander’s gaze shifted to the messenger. [Additional support?]

The messenger’s head lowered even further. [The Military Division is in the process of urgently reassigning the troops that were originally meant to support the city guard with the blockade, but…]

[By the time they arrive, the targets will have already escaped Luoyang.]

[…]

The Commander gave a curt nod. [Nothing has changed.] His voice, devoid of any emotion, was transmitted to his subordinates. [Find the targets and capture them.]

There was no one to watch their backs, no one to clean up their mistakes. They were the ones who watched others’ backs and cleaned up others’ mistakes.

His vacant eyes stared out at the street. This city, a metropolis so vast its population of millions was a rarity in history, seemed to have no interest in the petty power struggles of mortals.

[What level of force is authorized?] one of his men asked.

The Commander’s reply was brief. [Discretion is authorized. Dismemberment is permitted if necessary. Lethal force is authorized if unavoidable.]

[…How do we respond if the Grand Young Master or his subordinates intervene?]

[I will deal with the Grand Young Master myself.]

But the humans within the city were neither as vast nor as indifferent as the city that cradled them.

[As you command.]

The Commander’s personal detail leaped from the building. They vanished from sight before they even reached the light of the silk lanterns below.

“…”

Through shadow and darkness, his senses, honed to a transcendent level, could just faintly perceive the forms of his men as they moved. His gaze followed them to their destination. He could see a garden, one of an unbelievable size to be located in the middle of Luoyang’s bustling center. And in the middle of that garden stood a lavish pavilion.

The Golden Saucer Hall.

[Information updated,] his intelligence officer reported. [The current ownership of the Golden Saucer Hall, formerly possessed by the Lee Clan’s merchant guild, is unknown. The inn is temporarily closed, and the entire staff is on holiday.]

The trail of the targets who had escaped through the waterways began at the Golden Saucer Hall. It was the other teams’ duty to pursue them; his role as Commander was something else entirely. He arrived on the rooftop of the building directly opposite the inn.

[All units in position.]

The report from his scout followed immediately.

[An ox-cart has been spotted in front of the main entrance. Its form and features match the intelligence on the ‘Ironclad Fortress[1].’ The owner is the Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.]

[No activity has been confirmed outside the Golden Saucer Hall.]

The Grand Young Master wasn’t even trying to hide his vehicle. Was it confidence in his own abilities? Or the characteristic arrogance of a teenager?

It was time to find out.

The Commander gave a short, decisive order. [Breach.]

***

The securely barred main doors of the Golden Saucer Hall were blown to smithereens by a single strike from a specially modified martial technique.

[Breach! Breach!]

The men who had been waiting against the walls swarmed inside without a sound. Simultaneously, those positioned on the roofs of each floor smashed through the main windows and entered.

[I am entering now.]

For the breach from the open-air ceiling in the center of the ‘ロ’ shaped building, the Commander alone was sufficient.

He fell.

He needed no lightness technique, no special movement skill. His superhuman body, having transcended mortal limits, slammed into the dining hall floor. The table he landed on shattered, sending unattended cutlery and leftover food flying into the air.

“…”

And before the debris had even clattered to the ground, his sharp gaze locked onto a young man sitting leisurely on the second-floor railing. The boy was being attended to by a woman of such beauty she seemed like a celestial maiden who had descended from the heavens, and he was casually chewing on a piece of fruit.

“Hey,” the boy said, glancing down at him. “Any damages will be billed to the Third Young Master’s faction. Be prepared for it.”

The Tamrang hounds who had breached through the main door and windows began to appear one by one.

[Fourth floor, hallway clear. Checking individual guest rooms.]

[Third floor, hallway clear. Banquet hall discovered, moving in.]

[Second floor, Grand Young Master and Head Handmaiden[2] of the Wongakjeong have been identified. Continuing search.]

[First floor, search in progress.]

Amidst the dizzying flood of telepathic reports, the Commander stared at Yeon So-hyeon. He could not sense the kind of profound power that was spoken of in the rumors. Had the rumors been exaggerated? Or had the boy, at his tender age, already achieved the sublime state of Returning to Origin Realm[3]?

“Grand Young Master,” his lieutenant stepped forward. “Cooperate peacefully. Otherwise—.”

BOOM!

The Commander’s hand shot out, producing a sound like a cannonball striking its target.

“…!”

His lieutenant belatedly realized that if the Commander’s arm had not intercepted the projectile, his head would have been blown clean off.

“…”

A sweet and sour scent filled the air.

…So it was the latter. The Grand Young Master had indeed reached the state of Returning to Origin Realm.

Because the object that had struck the Commander’s hand with enough force to make it tingle had been the very apple Yeon So-hyeon was just chewing.

[You take command of the field.]

[…As you command.]

Realizing in that single exchange that he was no match for the Grand Young Master, the lieutenant obediently retreated.

CRACK!

The Commander’s hand flashed out again. This time, it wasn’t a piece of fruit. Yeon So-hyeon had launched a Hundred-Pace Divine Fist at the retreating lieutenant’s head.

WHIZZ!

This time, it was a Finger-Flicking Divine Art. The lieutenant threw himself behind a large stone pillar for cover.

“…!”

Sweat poured from his brow, splattering onto the marble floor.

“We are fully aware that the Grand Young Master favors the martial arts of Shaolin,” the Commander said, his emotionless eyes meeting Yeon So-hyeon’s.

The boy’s eyebrows twitched as he spoke a single word. “Kill him.”

“Chung (Loyalty)[4].”

With a bow to her master, his head handmaiden, Jeong-ah, vaulted over the railing. The Commander’s thick eyebrows twitched as well.

[Survive as best you can.] It was the price his lieutenant had to pay for speaking so insolently to the Sword Clan’s Grand Young Master.

[As… as you command…!]

Though Jeong-ah fluidly bypassed him with her movement technique, the Commander dared not interfere. If I show him my back, I’m dead. In the face of Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze, he felt as exposed as if he were standing bare-chested before the cannon of a fortress.

“Without a single word of parley,” the Commander’s lips moved, “your methods are quite severe, Grand Young Master, even if my man was rude.” Behind his stark voice, the sharp clang of metal rang out as his lieutenant blocked Jeong-ah’s first sword strike. “Hand over the targets we are pursuing, and we will withdraw.”

“Parley?” Yeon So-hyeon’s lips twisted into a sneer. “Just because a dog learns to mimic human speech does not make it a man.”

The Commander’s lips twisted as well, but his was no sneer. It was the expression of a seething killing intent that could no longer be contained by his thick-skinned facade. “…Sometimes, a hound bites a man, Grand Young Master.” His fingers twitched as his hand crept toward the long saber on his back. “A dog doesn’t recognize the ranks and statuses of the human world.”

Yeon So-hyeon pushed himself off the railing he was leaning against and swung his legs over to stand. The smirk on his face deepened. “A dog that cannot recognize its master must be put down.”

The Commander’s mind was stretched taut like a drawn bowstring, yet his body became paradoxically relaxed. It was the Natural Body[5] stance—the mark of a master who had transcended mortal limits. “You, Grand Young Master, are not my master.”

As the Commander’s hand neared his saber, Yeon So-hyeon’s grip on the railing tightened, his internal energy flowing into his palm.

“No,” Yeon So-hyeon said, his arrogant gaze, filled with infinite self-assurance, looking down on the man. “I am the ordained[6] master of the Sword Clan.”

Such a brazen declaration. For a fleeting moment, the Commander of the Tamrang almost believed him.

“…”

He gripped the hilt of his saber and thought, So this is the first son of the Sword Lord[7].

The Swordless One.

The sharp aura flowing from the swordless teenager was as palpable as that of a legendary famed sword. It was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

“…”

“…”

In the brief instant that their gazes met and clashed in mid-air—

CRASH!

The fourth-floor railing exploded as a Tamrang agent in night gear was sent flying through the air.

[Ambush!] It was one of the men who had been searching the fourth floor. [Enemy ambush!]

Almost simultaneously, the other teams searching the different floors were attacked. The figures that emerged from the shadows to ambush the Tamrang were all wearing colorful masks. They were the ones who had remained behind, the ones not on the wanted list who did not need to escape through the waterways.

“Hahaha!”

The Spring of Luoyang.

The vigilantes who had been lying in wait had launched their surprise attack at the most opportune moment.

“Kugh…!”

The agent who had been blasted through the railing managed to right himself in mid-air. The moment he landed on the first floor—

“…!”

He realized he had just landed on a killing line, primed to fire. And that his landing had just become the signal for a clash between two beings of an unimaginable level of power: the Commander of the Tamrang and the Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.