“The front line on the Grand Young Master’s flank has been ambushed?!”

Grand Strategist Sima urgently stuck his head out of the carriage window and shouted the question.

“Who on earth launched a surprise attack?!”

“How should I know?”

Riding on horseback, the Third Young Master answered with an indifferent expression.

“Since it’s on that bastard Grand Young Master’s side, obviously that bastard Grand Young Master attacked.”

There wasn’t even time to scoff at the remark. Grand Strategist Sima leaned further out and roared.

“Namgung Du! Where is Namgung Du?!”

Namgung Du, responsible for northern intelligence on the Third Young Master’s side, hurriedly spurred his horse toward the carriage.

“H-Here I am. Grand Strategist!”

Amidst the procession marching fearlessly toward the battlefield, Namgung Du had long since lost his initial arrogant momentum.

“Who on earth launched the surprise attack, and how?!”

Namgung Du, his face pale as a sheet, answered with a troubled expression.

“I-I apologize…!”

“What does that mean?! Apologize?! Do you mean there isn’t even a single small clue or fragment of information?!”

Namgung Du leaned forward and bowed his head, clinging to his horse. That action might have been due to the speed of the galloping steed, or perhaps it was shame consuming the man in charge of intelligence.

“Damn it all! How do you do your job! How can there not be a single scrap of trivial information—!”

As Grand Strategist Sima exploded in anger, a memory suddenly flashed through his mind.

“By now…”

It was just a moment ago, in his conversation with the former Martial Righteous Alliance Leader. These were the words Grand Strategist Sima himself had spoken while checking the time: It is the time when the Grand Young Master’s main unit would have joined him.

Grand Strategist Sima himself, instead of heading to Shenyang where the situation had become dire, had headed straight to the Dread King’s camp, reclaiming the day he had lost to the Grand Young Master.

If…

What if the Grand Young Master’s main unit had utilized the same method?

“…Surely.”

Clinging with difficulty to the window frame of the carriage as it shook madly, he looked south with a dumbfounded expression.

***

One hour ago.

In the darkness of the night, a campsite sat overlooking the land of Liaoning across the black-flowing river.

“Although we ambushed the enemies, we could not take their heads satisfactorily!”

Someone wearing the unique general’s uniform of the Northern tribes was giving a speech on the podium.

“So! Those above say we effectively lost!”

Gathered in the open space, the expressions of the soldiers listening to the speech were grim. However, in a corner, the figures wearing the attire of the Central Plains Kingdom looking at them had even worse expressions.

Although it was hard to guess the original color of their martial arts robes, which were torn, soiled, and reduced to rags, the Plum Blossom pattern could barely be distinguished at the end of their sleeves.

They were the survivors of the Huashan Sect Vanguard.

“…Does anyone understand what that general is saying?”

They had walked for a whole day to join the campsite of the Northern tribe located on the front line.

“Well…”

A second-generation disciple who could roughly understand the language of the Northern tribes explained to the others. “This corps we are with… at the time we were in Shenyang…”

The disciple took a moment to choose his words.

“…’Were’, at that point.”

Avoiding the gaze of those who squeezed their eyes shut, the second-generation disciple continued. “It seems to be the corps that launched a surprise attack on the front line with the Northern Great General’s Department.”

There had been a massive surprise attack across the entire front line. However, thanks to the food supplies Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon had distributed in advance, the corps belonging to the Northern Great General’s Department were able to retreat without much damage.

Conversely, the corps on the Dread King’s side had to withdraw without gain.

“Do you agree with the thoughts of those above?!” the general of the Northern tribe shouted to his soldiers. “Do you think we lost?!”

Although they couldn’t inflict proper damage on the corps of the Northern Great General’s Department, the Dread King’s side didn’t suffer much damage either. Therefore, the soldiers responded with bright eyes.

“No—!”

They shouted like one body with thunderous voices.

“Exactly!” The general shouted while moving his body vigorously, boosting the soldiers’ morale. “Those bastards of the Central Plains are all cowards!”

Although he said it while pointing across the river, the faces of the Huashan Sect disciples listening to the translation darkened even more.

The general raised his voice further. “Those Central Plains bastards who ran away like cowards lost, not our proud corps!”

“Damn it.”

A first-generation disciple stood up and left his seat.

“I can’t listen to this anymore.”

Looking back for a moment, the sight of the disciples sitting huddled around the campfire, silently sharing warmth, looked even more miserable.

…Damn it.

Heading to a darker place as if avoiding the light of the torches hung throughout the campsite, the first-generation disciple of Mount Hua gritted his teeth. To think our Great Mount Hua has come to this state…

In his life, not once had his pride as a member of Mount Hua been shaken.

…That damn bastard Grand Young Master!

The Grand Young Master’s single sword strike—the nightmarish sight of it splitting the clouds and the sky simultaneously—stuck to his eyelids and wouldn’t fall away.

The first-generation disciple soon found a figure sitting sprawled behind a tent in a corner.

Glug, glug.

The sight of overflowing kumis flowing down the neck and turning into grime was visible to the first-generation disciple’s eyes. It was a person no different from a cripple.

The first-generation disciple called out to him.

“…Eldest Senior Brother.”

His Eldest Senior Brother and the Sect Leader’s Disciple of Mount Hua. There was no answer from Gam Woo-hyeon.

“Eldest Senior Brother is the ‘Mount Hua Sword Dragon’.”

It was a title he was so proud of. However, Mount Hua Sword Dragon Gam Woo-hyeon buried his head deeper. That action looked as if he was running away from his own title.

Swallowing a sigh inwardly, the first-generation disciple continued. “Although it is uncomfortable, the disciples are resting. Now, what do you plan to do? Shouldn’t we head north as soon as the day breaks and at least join the main unit?”

Gam Woo-hyeon bowed his head and said nothing. At that appearance, the first-generation disciple ground his teeth.

“…Shouldn’t we at least take revenge on that bastard Grand Young Master and Seamless Heavenly Robe?!”

At the words ‘Grand Young Master’ and ‘Seamless Heavenly Robe’, Gam Woo-hyeon’s eyes flashed open. But he did not get up from his seat.

Seeing that, the first-generation disciple raised his voice further. “Do you intend to end everything while defeated like this?! Are you going to pretend not to know and forget about the surviving disciples and the dead disciples?!”

“…You.”

Finally, a hoarse voice flowed from Gam Woo-hyeon’s mouth.

“It seems you are displeased that I take time to forget and soothe everything for even a single night.”

Even in the tone of rebuke, the voice lacked strength.

“Are you not even giving me time to tend to my wounds?”

The reason the first-generation disciple’s face brightened was that what dwelled in Gam Woo-hyeon’s voice was not despair and resignation.

“Eldest Senior Brother has no such time.”

“Heh…”

Gam Woo-hyeon laughed with a sound of escaping air and grabbed the hand the first-generation disciple extended to help him stand. The disciple supported the injured man.

“Eldest Senior Brother is alive, and those enemies are also alive and well.”

Naturally, the enemies referred to Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon and Seamless Heavenly Robe Yeon Seo-rin.

“You must cut off their heads as soon as possible so we can place them on the memorial table and soothe the souls of the disciples.”

“Damn it…” Mount Hua Sword Dragon Gam Woo-hyeon smirked. “Easy for you to say when it’s not your job…”

“If it is Eldest Senior Brother, when you face them again, it will be fully possible.”

Gam Woo-hyeon smiled bitterly, feeling the stinging pain rising from his injury. “Maybe if it were Seamless Heavenly Robe. But that person called Grand Young Master—”

“No.” The first-generation disciple shook his head firmly. “No. If it is the Mount Hua Sword Dragon I know, you can defeat anyone.”

Gam Woo-hyeon looked blank for a moment.

“…Rascal.”

He smiled, turned his head, and nodded. “Right. It will be possible.”

As if convincing himself, he repeated the words. “I will surely be able to do it.”

At that moment.

Do you really think it is possible?

……

It sounded like a corpse speaking. At the voice so chillingly hoarse it couldn’t be deeper, Gam Woo-hyeon’s movement stopped.

Do you really think it is possible with that weak power? With that insignificant talent?

He hadn’t even sensed a presence. The voice was clearly coming into Gam Woo-hyeon’s ear, but like being possessed by sorcery, it echoed from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint the location.

The day you no longer turn away from that truth, you will soon be able to meet ‘us’.

Who is ‘us’? What kind of magic is being played?

Submit. The end is coming. The time of salvation is coming. Listen to our doctrine.

“Who is it?!”

Gam Woo-hyeon couldn’t hold back and shouted.

Cough, cough.

A cough due to the injury burst out, but he raised his voice even more.

“Who is using sorcery?!”

As he looked around, the first-generation disciple called him with anxious eyes. “Eldest Senior Brother?”

“Did you not hear it?!”

Cough. To Gam Woo-hyeon coughing once more, the first-generation disciple made an expression of confusion.

“What are you saying?”

“What do you mean what?!”

Even amidst his shouting, the last words left by that hoarse voice remained in Gam Woo-hyeon’s ears.

Only we shall purify this filthy world to its primordial form.

Primordial. Purification. End and salvation. Truth.

“Clearly…” Gam Woo-hyeon muttered, looking around like a madman.

Fires were lighting up the campsite here and there, but he could no longer find that wicked voice anywhere.

“I have heard it somewhere…! Words I have heard somewhere before…?”

“Eldest Senior Brother! Pull yourself together!”

The first-generation disciple hurriedly grabbed the staggering Gam Woo-hyeon. “What is this all of a sudden…?!”

Supporting him, the disciple touched Gam Woo-hyeon’s forehead and was startled. “Fever…?! Your forehead is like fire, Eldest Senior Brother!”

High fever. And hallucinations or auditory delusions caused by that fever.

“I heard it.”

Considering the level of injury Gam Woo-hyeon suffered during the escape from Shenyang, and the crude first aid afterward, no matter how great a master, he couldn’t be fine.

“Somewhere, clearly…”

At least, the first-generation disciple thought so.

“Is anyone there?!” the disciple shouted while running, carrying Gam Woo-hyeon. “Call a physician immediately! Right now!”

Some soldiers on patrol discovered them, but not knowing the language of the Central Plains, they were of no help.

“Is there no disciple of Mount Hua there?!”

At the moment he aroused his internal energy and shouted—

“Dodge…”

“Yes? Eldest Senior Brother? What did you say?”

“Just now, clearly…”

As he brought his ear closer, Gam Woo-hyeon’s struggling voice could barely be heard.

“Killing intent in the wind…”

“…?!”

Chill.

There was no time to think. The first-generation disciple trusted his senses and Gam Woo-hyeon’s words and threw himself down.

Swoosh—!

Over his spine as he lay covering Gam Woo-hyeon, he could feel something like lightning piercing through the air.

….

And the first-generation disciple realized something.

Until just now, the voice of the Northern tribe general giving a speech, faintly heard from the center of the campsite, was no longer audible.

“…?!”

Hurriedly raising his body, the first-generation disciple looked over the distant tents and shuddered.

“Th-This is—?!”

“The General—?!”

The campsite was engulfed in confusion in an instant.

On the podium, the corpse of the Northern tribe general stood pierced and pinned by a long, massive piece of metal. That weapon flowing with a dull luster was, undoubtedly—

“A javelin of the Luoyang Sword Clan…?”

From his mouth, a tearing scream burst out involuntarily.

“It is a surprise attack by the Sword Clan’s War Department!”