Just before Grand Young Master Yeon Sohyeon and Northern Great General Regent Moyong Woonjeong arrived at the Moyong Clan’s Main Clan.
It was the final approval stage of the operation.
“Grand Young Master.”
“…Mm?”
Moyong Woonjeong spoke. “According to your plan, first eliminating the leaders of the traitorous factions, Moyong Wan from the pro-Dread King faction and Moyong Chusan from the pro-Martial Righteous Alliance faction, would certainly bring significant advantages, but…” She cautiously expressed her concern. “Will they simply stick out their necks so obediently?”
Although they were undoubtedly Moyong Woonjeong’s kin, she spoke of them as if they were anything but family.
“They are rotten to the core, but they are also competent enough to have shaken the Moyong Clan to its foundation in such a short time.”
“Do you think they will stage a desperate resistance to the death, Woonjeong?”
At Yeon Sohyeon’s words, calling her name with such familiarity, Moyong Woonjeong blushed slightly before answering.
“…The worst-case scenario we could face is them resisting from within while enemy reinforcements arrive from without.”
Yeon Sohyeon nodded coolly, agreeing with her view.
“Certainly, that is true.”
The Moyong Clan, renowned for their strength and unity, was led by the Northern Great General. If they united firmly and resisted, even a brief stand of a day or two would be formidable.
“Just as the Moyong Clan has not properly supported the Northern Great General’s Headquarters on the front lines all this time—”
Moyong Woonjeong picked up his train of thought.
“—Enormous war supplies are stockpiled within the Moyong Clan estate. And the allied forces of the Third Young Master’s New Martial Righteous Alliance are likely marching steadily even now.”
A long-term battle? No. If time were dragged out for even a few days, the odds would tilt heavily in their favor.
“Clearly, inevitably, every operation carries its own risks, but…”
She voiced her opinion with even greater caution.
“Perhaps you might reconsider the plan once more…”
Yeon Sohyeon smiled broadly.
“There is no need for that.”
“Grand Young Master…”
“Woonjeong.”
He raised a finger and spoke.
“Moyong Wan and Moyong Chusan. I know their kind well, and I have seen far too many like them.”
Moyong Woonjeong did not miss the flash of killing intent that brushed past Yeon Sohyeon’s smiling face as he bared his teeth slightly.
“Those men…”
Yeon Sohyeon looked out the window.
“Even if they have sufficient odds of victory, if there is a hole through which they can ‘certainly’ survive, they are the type to choose escape through that hole rather than risk their lives in an adventure.”
The Grand Young Master was certain.
“Perhaps those left behind might choose a desperate resistance, but they? Absolutely not.”
Did the Grand Young Master know them personally? At his strangely absolute conviction, Moyong Woonjeong felt puzzled but did not show it. If it was the Yeon Sohyeon she knew, she trusted that he would reveal everything when the time was right.
“…If that happens.”
She predicted the subsequent situation.
“Quelling the disturbance and chaos caused by those left behind will be the next problem.”
“Correct.”
Yeon Sohyeon nodded.
“Undoubtedly. For the sake of their own safety, they will cause chaos before fleeing.”
“…Do you have a plan in mind?”
“A plan?”
Yeon Sohyeon turned his head to look at her and smiled.
“Woonjeong. You are my plan.”
***
Present time.
Moyong Clan Central Plaza.
The place reached by Moyong Woonjeong and the Great General’s Escort, who had been racing toward the Grand Conference Hall, was the geographical center of the Moyong Clan.
The Central Plaza.
“Fire! It’s a fire!”
“Aaaagh—!”
It was, truly, a horrific scene.
The fires set here and there by the rebels had become an inferno. Every corner of the vast Moyong estate was filled with soaring flames and black smoke.
“Kill them!”
“Die!”
Blood spilled from all directions, the clash of weapons and death throes erupting everywhere.
“Kyaaaah!”
A carriage, racing frantically without direction, struck maidservants who were wandering lost in confusion, then crashed into a high wall and crumpled.
“Run!”
Warhorses that had escaped the stables to flee the fire galloped wildly.
“…It’s over. This family is finished.”
Those who feared being struck by blind blades if they ran out into the streets hid inside buildings, suffocating. Even the rebels couldn’t distinguish friend from foe, and even the midsummer sun was hidden, obscured by black smoke.
And then.
Transcending all that confusion and chaos.
“Listen!”
A single voice.
Moyong Woonjeong’s voice rang out clearly.
“Members of the Moyong household, listen!”
She pulled hard on the reins.
Neigh—!
Her massive warhorse reared on its hind legs and let out a long cry.
“I am the Northern Great General Regent and the Acting Patriarch of this family, Moyong Woonjeong!”
Fire and civil war.
Piercing through that chaos and confusion.
“It’s the Acting Patriarch!”
“Lady Moyong Woonjeong…!”
Her voice, filled with ample internal energy and undeniable pressure, reached every corner of the grounds.
“Those without sin, discard your weapons and pick up water buckets!”
She shouted without hesitation.
“Those who have been swept up, do not fear! Follow my command and suppress the fire!”
Of course, the first to react to her were the rebels.
“The culprit who ruined this family!”
“The culprit Moyong Woonjeong is over there!”
In a situation where they couldn’t even distinguish ally from enemy, these were the rebels who had been cutting down everyone in sight.
“Execute Moyong Woonjeong!”
And waiting for them was—
“Fire!”
With a roar that seemed to tear eardrums.
The long guns (muskets) of the Great General’s Escort, who had been waiting for the rebels to pop out from behind Moyong Woonjeong, spat fire in unison.
“Kuaaagh!”
Limbs torn apart on the spot, intestines scattering from perforated abdomens, the rebels collapsed in heaps amidst the thick smell of gunpowder.
“……!”
“……!”
Now, the only ones left on the street were those who had been swept up in the chaos, with no intention of attacking Moyong Woonjeong.
“Reload! Reload!”
Startled by the gunshots, they lay prone, eyes wide as saucers, staring at her. Towards them, Moyong Woonjeong shouted again, not blinking once even as bullets grazed past her.
“Rise!”
“Members of the Moyong household!”
The General’s Sword she raised high atop her horse flashed amidst the black smoke of the fire and the white smoke of gunpowder.
“The Moyong Clan does not fall like this!”
At that cry, which shook their very chests.
It wasn’t clear who moved first.
“Get up!”
But one thing was certain: the person who moved first was not the last to join in.
“Don’t be scared, let’s get up!”
One by one.
Those who didn’t know where to go found a direction.
“It is the command of the Acting Patriarch!”
Those who didn’t know what to do found a method.
The sounds of their shouts soon began to echo from all directions.
“Those without sin, suppress the fire!”
“Save the people!”
“Put out the fire!”
Soon, they began to shout in one voice.
“The Moyong Clan does not fall!”
***
The Moyong Clan was a clan of Grand Generals.
The servants and maids, who had lived their entire lives under strict training—
“The Moyong Clan does not fall!”
“We do not fall!”
—began to move as trained the moment a leader appeared.
“Those without sin, discard weapons and lift water buckets!”
This soon became a flow, a single streak of order within the chaos.
“The villain Moyong Woonjeong is over there!”
Rebels without a proper command system popped out constantly from every alley, but—
“Check for weapon possession!”
Those who defied Moyong Woonjeong’s command ringing everywhere, holding weapons instead of water buckets, were enemies. Distinguishing friend from foe was all too simple.
“Commence free fire!”
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Centered on the Central Plaza.
Before the fire of the Great General’s Escort, who had quickly seized and secured tactical vantage points, the rebels were swept away like fallen leaves in the autumn wind the moment they exited the alleys.
“Escort Captain!”
At Moyong Woonjeong’s resounding voice, the Captain, who had been entrusted with the defense of the Central Plaza, answered immediately with a hand signal.
“Leave it to me!”
No further words were needed.
“Hiyah!”
Moyong Woonjeong, along with twenty heavy cavalrymen, passed through the Central Plaza and began to break through inward.
“I announce in the name of Northern Great General Regent Moyong Woonjeong!”
The Escort Captain, left behind with the defensive troops, raised his internal energy and shouted.
“Discard your weapons and surrender even now! Lay down your arms and lift water buckets to save your family!”
***
“Kill her!”
As they drew closer to the Grand Conference Hall—
“It’s Moyong Woonjeong!”
The resistance of the rebels grew fiercer, and the mere twenty heavy cavalrymen led by Moyong Woonjeong were forced to slow their pace.
“Keuh…!”
A soldier of the Great General’s Escort, struck by a blind arrow, staggered and nearly fell from his horse. Moyong Woonjeong snatched him up instantly and shouted.
“Do not stop!”
Using the momentum of the heavily armed subordinate tilting her center of gravity, she thrust her spear downward at an enemy in that direction, recovering her balance.
“Here…!”
Accepting a short spear handed to her from behind by the injured subordinate, she immediately hurled it, piercing an enemy, and spurred her warhorse.
“Run without stopping!”
Even amidst the thick smoke obscuring their vision, with warhorses foaming at the mouth and enemies pouring in from all sides, the answer of the Great General’s Escort was set.
“Loyalty!”
With a thunderous roar, they narrowed their formation with Moyong Woonjeong at the spearhead, clumping together like a single mass to break through the enemy lines.
“Uaaagh!”
The heads of rebels rushing in with strange screams were shattered and scattered by bullets fired from the hands of the Escort. Those slammed directly by the massive weight of the warhorses were sent flying by the impact. The long spears of the Escort shot out from the formation like ghosts, taking heads.
Their martial arts were terrifyingly effective in this chaotic melee that resembled a battlefield.
“I see it!”
An escort crewman shouted, confirming the massive blue-roofed pavilion through the black smoke.
“The Grand Conference Hall is ahead!”
But simultaneously, another shouted.
“Group of martial artists detected at the front!”
Men wearing white martial arts robes embroidered with the symbol of the Moyong Clan, lightly armed. Even from a distance, their spirit was extraordinary.
Confirming their identity, an escort crewman shouted.
“It is the Moyong Clan’s Sword Corps!”
Since the Grand Conference Hall was practically the heart of the Moyong Clan, an encounter with an armed group was an inevitable sequence.
“Great General! It is impossible to clash with the Moyong Clan’s Sword Corps with our current combat power!”
At a point where the troops left behind to quell the chaos in the Central Plaza were absent, ramming into the Sword Corps with a mere twenty cavalrymen was madness.
“It does not matter!”
Moyong Woonjeong spurred her warhorse, drawing out her last ounce of strength as she shouted.
“We break through as we are!”
Once again, the answer of the Great General’s Escort was set.
“Loyalty!”
It didn’t matter if the enemies before them were the Moyong Clan’s Sword Corps, skilled in anti-cavalry tactics.
“Uaaaaah—!”
If their Great General ran, they ran.
If their Great General charged, they charged.
They were the Great General’s Escort, and none among them could fall before their Great General on the battlefield.
“Hyaaaaaah—!”
With shouts that couldn’t be distinguished from one another, they summoned all their strength and began to overtake Moyong Woonjeong.
“……!”
And just before they reached the front line of the Sword Corps, who were holding their swords ready to intercept the cavalry like loaded springs—
“Ha!”
Rumble!
With a low snort, black lightning fell from the sky onto the Moyong Clan’s Sword Corps like a flash of light.
It was the unique martial art of the Sword Pinnacle Crushes the Mountain, Yeom Gwak-chu.
Super Heavy Sword, Mountain-Shattering Force.
Crunch.
The figure who crashed into the ground, crushing two martial artists, spun around in place and held up his index and middle fingers straight.
That was the Sword Finger Technique.
“Grand Young Master!”
In that short moment when Moyong Woonjeong’s face brightened upon confirming his identity—
Sword Clan Sword Art, Heart of the Resonating Sword.
Hidden Ultimate Principle.
Extreme Five Chaotic Hemp.
A merciless sword light swept the Sword Corps.