On the road connecting the Imperial Capital and Luoyang. On the road linking the Imperial Capital, the administrative heart of the Central Plains Nation, and Luoyang, the economic heart of North China… for some reason, carriages had stopped, pulling over to the sides. Normally, the leaders of merchant caravans would be complaining non-stop, the upper class would be picking fights to show off their status, and martial artists would instinctively reach for their weapons… but everyone was silent.
“Hiyah!”
Mounted warriors galloped ahead on the road, where a silence as heavy as the pre-dawn darkness had fallen.
“Hiyah!”
Urging on their armored warhorses, the riders themselves wore distinctly high-quality armor. Though a considerable spectacle, none of the onlookers dared meet their eyes. The flags fluttering on their backs spoke for them:
[‘Luoyang Sword Clan’]
After the mounted warriors passed, a procession of dozens of the Luoyang Sword Clan’s specially made armored carriages came into view. Escorted front and back by dozens of armored carriages, a massive six-horse carriage, far more imposing than the others, rumbled along.
Clatter—!
The six-horse carriage’s black steel wheels scraped against the paving stones, throwing off showers of sparks. It was a strange object, built in imitation of the ironclad fortress the Sword Clan Head had created for the Medicine Fairy. This was the Second Young Master’s Black Iron Citadel.
***
Black Iron Citadel, Interior.
Clatter.
As if reflecting its master’s unease, the armor encasing the Second Young Master’s burn-scarred hand emitted a metallic groan. The emotion emanating from Second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong, gazing out at the dark landscape beyond the window shade, was unmistakable anxiety.
Contact with the Luoyang Sword Clan’s Intelligence Department, which had been cooperating obediently, had been cut off. Since the Second Young Master and his advisors relied on them for detailed updates on the situation in Luoyang, their frustration was immense.
“…It could simply be a normal delay. Such things happen quite often in the Intelligence Department, don’t they?”
“That’s true.” The Second Young Master’s advisors, watching his mood carefully, wracked their brains. “However… isn’t it strange that no one from the Intelligence Department is contacting us at all?”
“…Could it be that our collaborators in the Intelligence Department have switched sides?” The advisors frowned. “Not just one or two… the entire group switched sides all at once?”
“If the situation turned unfavorable for our side in Luoyang, it’s possible—”
Clatter.
The advisor who had spoken the unspeakable hastily shut his mouth at the chilling sound from the Second Young Master’s hand. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the carriage once more.
***
Luoyang Sword Clan. Intelligence Department, a certain safe house.
‘…Where did things go wrong?’
Inside the dark room, devoid even of an oil lamp, empty wine bottles lay scattered. The air in the sealed room was thick with cigarette smoke. A middle-aged man sat at a desk, clutching his head.
‘If everyone acted… we could blind and deafen the Supreme Operations Council.’
He was the Director of the Luoyang Sword Clan Intelligence Department’s Second Bureau.
‘I was sure we could delay their decision-making and intervention as much as possible amidst the chaos in Luoyang city…!’
The Supreme Operations Council, unable to reveal its members’ identities publicly, possessed a severe inherent flaw because of that very reason. Although the Agency was out of the plan, they still had the Yeon clansmen and the Elders. He had judged that would be enough for success.
‘Was it arrogance…?’
He recalled the things he, they, had done up until now. It started with omitting a single, insignificant piece of information. The Supreme Operations Council hadn’t noticed. So, next time, they omitted something slightly larger. There were plenty within and outside the Sword Clan who wished to avoid the Council’s scrutiny, and the reward for the deliberate omission of information came in the form of substantial financial gain.
‘…Complacency.’
Because nothing had gone wrong so far, he had thought it would be fine this time too. But this time was different.
“…Director Yi.” His aide knocked lightly on the door from outside and reported. “The Central Inspectorate is looking for you, Director.” Director Yi didn’t answer, and his aide, knowing not to expect one, simply retreated.
“…Damn it.” Director Yi glared at the door in the darkness. He prayed desperately for it to remain closed. He prayed for time to stop in this very moment. Clatter. But contrary to his wishes, the door opened all too easily.
“Director Yi.”
Backlit by the light illuminating the corridor, a grim reaper with white hair and white eyes appeared. “By order of the Supreme Operations Council.” The Head of the Central Inspectorate, Dokgo Ya-yeon, held up a document and informed him matter-of-factly, her face expressionless.
“All your authority is suspended as of this moment, and your person is hereby detained by the Central Inspectorate.”
Director Yi silently reached for his wine cup. But the cup was already empty. He tilted the bottle, but the bottle too was empty.
Clang. The bottle he threw shattered against the floor, but Dokgo Ya-yeon didn’t even flinch an eyebrow.
“…Looks like I’m not the first?”
His eyes met Dokgo Ya-yeon’s. The bloodstains splattered on her clothes and face seemed even more vivid, clashing discordantly with her characteristic impassivity.
“…Was it all the Grand Young Master’s trap from the beginning? Targeting us?” Only now did he realize it. The method—like fishing, casting bait to catch those hidden beneath the surface—was too similar to ‘that day’ he had only read about in records.
“…The Bloody History…” A hollow laugh escaped his lips. “So, in the end, like the rumors in the past said… that great purge was the Grand Young Master’s doing.”
“Perhaps.” Dokgo Ya-yeon finally spoke at the mention of the Grand Young Master. “But what is certain…” Her eyes, looking down at him seated at the desk, held undisguised contempt. “…is that regardless of the Grand Young Master’s intentions, the ending you face is one you chose yourselves.”
The ending I chose myself.
Director Yi, who had been staring blankly up at her, lowered his head.
***
Inside the moving Black Iron Citadel.
“…My liege.” Among the advisors exchanging nervous glances, one hesitated before speaking. “…Regarding the battle situation in Luoyang… what about asking ‘that person’?”
Another advisor asked on behalf of Second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong. “…’That person’?”
The advisor who spoke first gestured backward with a grimace. “The one we put in the armored carriage behind us. The one wearing the skin of Han Myeong-hwi, that strategist from the Jiangnan Division…”
“Ah.”
Geum-jil.
He didn’t say the name aloud, but everyone understood who he meant. “Wouldn’t that person be grasping the situation in Luoyang in real-time?” Though the principle was incomprehensible, whatever sorcery Geum-jil used to control corpse puppets from afar, he must surely be monitoring Luoyang as well.
“…Indeed.”
After a moment’s thought, the Second Young Master gave his permission.
The mounted warrior dispatched to the rear armored carriage returned, reporting with a strange expression. “About that…” He hesitated briefly before forcing the words out. “…It seems you’ll have to see for yourself.”
One of the Second Young Master’s advisors beat his chest in frustration. “What is it already?!”
“…Well.” The mounted warrior replied, sounding unsure how to phrase it. “…It seems the guest has expired.”
The advisor who had beaten his chest spoke as if he hadn’t heard correctly. “Wasn’t that person already a corpse reeking of rot?!”
“No, well, that is…” The mounted warrior’s eyes darted around frantically. “I looked through the window, and he’s not moving at all. Doesn’t respond when called. He was dead before, but now… it looks like he’s completely dead.”
At those words, the Second Young Master’s face twitched beneath his golden mask. “Halt the procession.”
Creak—. Sparks flew from the carriages’ braking mechanisms. While everyone, including Second Young Master Yeon Ja-cheong, watched, the warrior opened the armored carriage door.
“Keuk…!” The battle-hardened warrior instinctively recoiled. The buzzing sound of flies, along with a horrific stench, poured out from the opened door.
“Pull back the shade.”
At Yeon Ja-cheong’s command, the warrior grimaced and pulled back the window shade.
“…Hss.”
The Second Young Master’s advisors turned their heads away. Even the brief glimpse revealed the gruesome state inside the carriage.
“Move aside.” Pushing through the hesitant crowd, the Second Young Master snatched a lantern and approached the carriage himself. His face contorted beneath the golden mask as he peered inside. Han Myeong-hwi’s body was in pieces, hideously decayed and rotting, swarming with maggots. Like a puppet dropped and shattered by its puppeteer. It was as if the strings forcibly holding Han Myeong-hwi’s corpse together had all snapped.
“For the one he was controlling to end up like this means…”
What did it mean for Geum-jil, who had promised to stop the Venerable One of Dark Heavens, to end up like this?
The advisors, pinching their noses and grimacing, easily deduced the situation. “…He failed.”
Then… what was the current situation in Luoyang? Grind. The sound of teeth grinding came from the Second Young Master.
***
That same time, Luoyang. Near Valley of Sins, the top floor of a certain ornate pavilion.
The Second Young Master’s mother, Grand Matron Ouyang, nervously chewed her fingernail until it finally broke. Not just the tip, but seemingly down to the root, as a thin line of blood trickled down her finely powdered hand.
“Geum-jil…!”
Grind, grinding her teeth just like her son, she shot up from her seat. “Is there still no word from that bastard?!”
The Grand Young Master’s camp in the upper stream of Valley of Sins had seemed briefly chaotic, then quickly regained its composure. After that, there had only been a few slight tremors, like minor earthquakes.
That was it.
That was the end.
“Geum-jil, that bastard, talked such a big game…!” At her piercing voice, her subordinates and the leaders of the Council of Six flinched, subtly avoiding her gaze. “Things having come to this, we can wait no longer…!” Too much time had passed. Now, the Supreme Operations Council could intervene at any moment without it being strange. Crimson killing intent flared in her eyes. “Order all forces waiting in the lower stream to advance!”
At her ringing command, the Unorthodox leaders showed reluctance.
“Th-That…?!”
“What about the poison spread in the mid-stream?”
“Poison?” Grand Matron Ouyang snapped sharply at the one who brought it up. “You idiot, still worried about poison?! If that poison were still lingering, it would have already engulfed the lower stream and turned Luoyang city into hell by now!” Her words were logically sound, but…
“That may be so, but…”
…the leaders of the Council of Six didn’t seem convinced. The poison was merely an excuse; seeing the situation turn unfavorable, they wanted to pull out now if possible.
“You bastards…!” Grand Matron Ouyang’s eyes narrowed, a roar about to erupt from her lips, just before…
“Wh-What is that…?!”
…a commotion broke out on the pavilion roof where her warriors stood guard.
“Grand Matron…! The east! It’s the east!”
At the urgent voice from the roof, one of the Unorthodox leaders rushed to throw open the eastern window.
“…!”
Grand Matron Ouyang, along with everyone else present, could see it. Far down the main street. Against the backdrop of the rising eastern sun. A legion of fully armed warriors was marching forward. The characters embroidered on the colorful war flags they carried were clearly visible in the light of the rising sun. Leaning out the window as if he would fall, a Unorthodox leader read them in a trembling voice.
“…Luoyang Sword Clan, War Department.” His trembling gaze moved to the next flag. “Sword Pinnacle Crushes Mountains…!”
Sword Pinnacle Crushes Mountains, Yeom Gwak-chu. A First-Rank Warrior of the Luoyang Sword Clan and an Elder belonging to the War Department, personally leading troops… what did this mean?
“…It’s over.”
Someone murmured the words, scattered futilely by the dawn wind.