The Outskirts of Shenyang
Perched atop a jagged cliff overlooking the city, a martial artist clad in the light black armor and robes of the Wudang Sect leaned against a boulder.
[Report from the observation unit regarding the fire.]
Baek Cheong, known as the “Steel Dragon Fang” of Wudang, took a slow sip of his tea and let out a dry, dismissive chuckle.
[Another fire report? I told you not to bother me with trivialities.]
The acrid stench drifting from the city below had long since overpowered the delicate fragrance of the tea leaves, harvested with such care from the high, mist-shrouded peaks of Mount Wudang.
[You should see this for yourself, sir. The scale of the smoke is significant.]
With a scowl, Baek Cheong tossed the dregs of his cup onto the barren ground and rose to his feet.
“Hah…”
He exhaled a long, weary sigh, the sound scraping against the silence of the cliff.
[If this turns out to be nothing, you’re walking back. No horses.]
[You were the one who set that rule, sir. Don’t go changing your mind later.]
Even before the sound transmission finished echoing in his mind, Baek Cheong’s figure blurred.
Tap. Thud.
His movement was eerily weightless.
“Hup…!”
Like a cloud drifting indifferently over a mountain range, his body vaulted off the massive boulders, defying gravity with fluid grace.
Cloud-Stepping Leap.
It was the supreme movement technique of the Wudang Sect, embodying their core essence of yielding and flow, and Baek Cheong’s mastery of it was nothing short of dazzling.
“Alright, let’s see what kind of smoke warrants such a fu—”
Baek Cheong’s voice died in his throat. No one had silenced him; the sight simply stole his words.
Whoosh—!
A massive pillar of black smoke, accompanied by fierce, devouring tongues of flame, billowed from the heart of Shenyang. To the Wudang Vanguard stationed outside the city, the specific source remained unclear, but the devastation was undeniable.
It was smoke rising from the rebel stronghold beneath the earth.
“…Oh, shit.”
Is the Moyong Clan burning their own city? Or is this the work of the Huashan Vanguard?
Baek Cheong’s expression hardened into stone.
“I will report this to the Elder personally.”
***
“Cough, cough…!”
Thick, oily smoke choked the low ceilings of the underground base, filling every corridor with suffocating darkness.
[Vice-Captain!]
[Is the escape route secure on your side?!]
[It’s hopeless here! Too many enemies!]
The oil lamps that had dimly illuminated the passages were extinguished, their light swallowed by the gloom. While the Moyong Clan had undoubtedly invested heavily in ventilation for this subterranean fortress, such systems were useless against a fire of this magnitude.
[Enemies on all sides!]
[These rebel bastards are attacking like madmen!]
[Support! We need support…!]
The surviving disciples of the Huashan Vanguard clawed their way through the chaos, desperate to regroup. They rallied around Vanguard Captain Gam Woo-hyeon and Vice-Captain Mae Ok, trying to carve a path to the surface.
[I’m caught! Help me!]
[Please…! The smoke is too—!]
Desperation fueled their every move.
How did it come to this?
Vice-Captain Mae Ok stood paralyzed in a hallway where visibility was zero without the aid of internal energy.
We came to the North to build merit on the battlefield…
She remembered the council meetings of the Mount Hua leadership. Even when critical elders voiced doubts, the consensus remained that armed intervention in the North was worth the risk.
The Northern Great General’s Estate has lost its power.
The Dread King has already won this war.
Mount Hua will help topple the Moyong Clan, the existing hegemon, and share in the spoils.
This achievement will announce to the entire Central Plains that Mount Hua stands tall…
It will be the catalyst for the Great Huashan Sect to leap forward as the supreme sect once more.
Mae Ok herself had been swollen with ambition. No, she had been thirsty for it.
The Full-Blossom Sword Phoenix.
How elated she had been when she earned that beautiful title at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly over a decade ago. How many congratulations had she received, hailed as the birth of a genius?
But what awaited her here?
This was the desolate frontier of Shenyang, a barren wasteland far removed from the admiring eyes of the Central Plains. It was a place of endless banditry that thrived no matter how many were killed, ceaseless peasant insurrections, and deranged criminals obsessed with heterodox arts.
There was nothing here.
Nothing of the romantic Murim she had vaguely longed for as a child. No glorious reputation. No blinding honor. No beautiful life in a metropolis where her every move would be admired. There was no glory for the name of Mount Hua here.
“Vice-Captain…”
What dragged Mae Ok back to reality was a disciple crawling on the floor, clutching at her ankle.
“B-Breath… Please. S-Save me…”
The disciple, suffocating from the smoke, clung to her leg in a death grip.
[Two critically wounded! Two critically wounded!]
[Enemies are pouring in endlessly!]
Strength drained from the hand holding her sword.
Die? Here? In this underground tomb? Like this?
No. That could not happen.
“Vice-Captain…”
I must live.
She had to survive. She had to live to enjoy the glory she was promised.
“Master…!”
Even at the sound of the voice calling out for their teacher, she did not look back. She kicked her leg free. By the time she gathered her wits, the disciples were gone. Even her Eldest Senior Brother, Gam Woo-hyeon, was nowhere to be seen. She had already separated from the main group.
…It doesn’t matter.
Useless disciples were just baggage now. Her foolish Senior Brother would try to save them until the end, and that choice would likely cost him his life.
Stupid Senior Brother.
They had already failed. There was no point in maintaining the vanguard anymore. She could not allow herself to be dragged down into this swamp with them.
Even if I have to abandon everyone…!
“Over there! It’s Mount Hua!”
A horde of rebels, looking no better off than she was, poured out of the smoke.
“Kill her!”
They charged at her like zealots who had already discarded their lives.
“For the new era of the Moyong Clan…!”
“Dedicate your lives…!”
Mae Ok raised her sword.
“Hup…!”
With a low, sharp breath, purple lightning crackled in her eyes.
I will survive, no matter what!
Sparks flew from her gritted teeth.
At all costs…!
***
“Entering Shenyang is forbidden.”
Baek Cho, the Wudang Elder and supreme commander of their vanguard, was adamant.
“But, Senior Brother…!”
Baek Cheong, the Steel Dragon Fang and representative of Wudang’s younger generation, tried to persuade him once more.
“One gains nothing without risking danger. If we enter now, we can save the survivors of the Huashan Vanguard and put them in our debt. And also—”
“—And also?” Baek Cho cut him off. “You see a chance to build merit and spread your name across the world?”
Baek Cheong fell silent.
Baek Cho knew all too well the competitive spirit and thirst for fame that drove this young martial artist, for whom Mount Wudang had always felt too small.
“If the Huashan Vanguard had escaped Shenyang on their own, perhaps. But unless that happens…” Baek Cho raised a hand, pointing toward the city. “That place is a tiger’s maw.”
“Senior Brother!”
Baek Cheong exploded in frustration. “If it’s a tiger, I will skin it with this sword!”
As a disciple of the previous Sect Leader, Baek Cheong’s generational rank was high enough to address the Elder as “Senior Brother,” and as a genius of the Wudang Sect, he had the skill to back up his arrogant words.
“Junior Brother.”
Baek Cho turned to face the young man, who was still in his twenties, and asked in a low voice, “Is this because of the rumors about the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan?”
Baek Cheong did not answer.
Yeon So-hyeon, the Grand Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
When rumors of the man who hadn’t even reached the age of twenty first reached Wudang, Baek Cheong hadn’t cared less.
The Swordless One, they called him?
Even as the Elders, well-versed in politics, mentioned the Grand Young Master’s name with increasing frequency, Baek Cheong remained indifferent. If the boy had no talent for martial arts, he’d better have a good head on his shoulders to survive in this harsh world.
But then came the news.
“Did you hear?!”
“I heard! According to the latest intelligence, the Grand Young Master has already crossed the Wall!”
“The rumors were true…!”
He could no longer ignore it. Far from ignoring it, his mind was now consumed by thoughts of the Grand Young Master.
“They say he split the massive hall of the Council of Elders of the Sword Clan with a single strike.”
“Ha…! Is he truly the son of the Greatest Sword under the Heavens? That’s insane.”
Baek Cheong had joined the Wudang Vanguard faster than anyone else. He didn’t need to wait for the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly. This was his chance to catch the Grand Young Master.
“…I understand how you feel,” Baek Cho said, his voice heavy. “But moving an army requires the weight and stillness of Mount Tai.”
He pointed at Shenyang again. The towering black smoke was growing larger, threatening to blot out the night sky.
“The Sword Dragon and the Full-Blossom Sword Phoenix of Mount Hua are trapped in there, unable to escape. Are you suggesting we push our disciples into that hell right now?”
Baek Cheong couldn’t bring himself to say yes. Baek Cho turned his gaze away from his junior brother.
“Trust in Grand Strategist Sima.”
He looked up at the pitch-black sky with his hands clasped behind his back. “If it is him, without a doubt—”
Suddenly, the wrinkles around his eyes twitched.
“That is…!”
Even to Baek Cheong’s eyes, the white shape of a hawk was clearly visible against the dark sky.
“The Grand Strategist’s messenger hawk…?”
***
“Haa… Haa…”
Mae Ok, the Full-Blossom Sword Phoenix, had managed to crawl out of the hellish underground fire and break through the insane rebels to reach the surface.
“Haa… Haa…”
Even with the black muzzles of muskets aimed at her, she did not rush. She took a moment to regulate her breathing before speaking.
“I lost my entire vanguard and barely escaped with my life. I was wondering how I would deal with the aftermath…”
She smiled at the man standing before her, using the line of musketeers as a backdrop.
“This works out perfectly.”
It wasn’t composure. Her survival instincts were screaming at her louder than they ever had before.
“It seems the host felt it would be rude to send a guest away empty-handed?”
Her eyes sharpened as she spoke the identity of the figure.
“Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan.”
Yeon So-hyeon. The mastermind who had trapped the Huashan Vanguard in that living hell to be annihilated alongside the rebels.
“Oh?”
Yeon So-hyeon shrugged, his hands clasped casually behind his back.
“I haven’t even introduced myself, yet you recognize me.” He smirked. “Have I become so famous that my face is now posted in every major sect?”
“Famous?”
Mae Ok let out a hollow laugh.
“It is amusing to hear such modesty from the man whose name is currently spoken most often across the entire Central Plains.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
As they exchanged words, Mae Ok, having stabilized her breathing sufficiently, slowly raised her sword.
“Then…”
Her concentration, honed to its absolute limit, allowed her to see even the tension in the fingers of the musketeers resting on their triggers.
“Would you grant me the honor of witnessing the sublime martial arts of the Grand Young Master, who is said to have crossed the Wall before even reaching the age of twenty? Or surely…” Her red lips curled up in a slight provocation. “You wouldn’t travel all this way only to refuse a duel with an exhausted woman, would you?”
It was a cheap provocation, but against a young martial artist, there was no more effective tactic.
“Haha. I’m afraid I must apologize.”
However, Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon was naturally no ordinary young martial artist.
“I came here today solely to observe.”
He extended his hand. Stepping forward from the shadows was a woman clad in night-operation gear—his Head Handmaiden, Jeong-ah.
“This is my Head Handmaiden. She will be your opponent.”
“…?!”
Mae Ok’s eyes trembled with rage.
“…Are you putting forward a nameless servant girl to face me?”
The fury of a master who had crossed the Wall rippled out like a shockwave, sending chills through the maids holding the triggers.
“Nameless, you say?”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled effortlessly, seemingly unaffected by her imposing aura.
“Even the greatest martial artists who left behind legendary feats… started without a title.”