Chapter 5

“What did you say…?”

Namgung Du, chief of the Third Young Master’s external intelligence network in the North, asked in disbelief. The young, energetic Namgung Du who had confidently raised his voice against Grand Strategist Sima in the Dread King’s military camp was nowhere to be found.

“It seems the intelligence regarding the near-annihilation of the Dread King’s forces, who were forming the frontline against the Grand Young Master, is true…!”

“Not that!” Namgung Du shouted at his subordinate, his grip tight on his horse’s reins. “The report you gave before that!”

The volume of information flooding in simultaneously from the defeated frontline was massive, but it was all raw and unprocessed. Riding without rest while trying to synthesize this information was pushing Namgung Du to his limits.

“Th-that wasn’t me…!”

Right now, dozens of people were riding alongside Namgung Du: messengers rushing in from various sites, intermediate information processors, officers in charge of communication with different camps, even those handling carrier pigeons and falcons.

“Who made the report before me?! Ride forward and show yourself!”

With all of them riding together in a chaotic jumble, the confusion was reaching its peak. No matter how meticulously the Namgung Clan and the Third Young Master had operated their intelligence network, managing it while marching through an unfamiliar battlefield was an entirely different beast.

“That was me…!” someone called, waving a hand amidst the commotion, their face barely visible.

“Who is that from where?!”

“I told you to ride forward!”

Despite shouts from all sides, the informant struggled to move to the front.

“M-my horse…!” The informant’s voice strained to be heard over the pounding of hooves. “My horse is exhausted, and I can’t move forward…!”

“Ugh…!”

Unable to watch any longer, a Sword Clan warrior from the Namgung Clan grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hurled him forward.

“A-aargh…!”

Fortunately, the informant possessed some martial skill. Despite screaming, he managed to grab the hand of a rider in the front row and hoist himself onto the horse.

“What are you doing?!”

“Speak up immediately!”

As impatience and pressure mounted from all directions, the informant shouted back defensively.

“It’s about the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan…!”

“Who doesn’t know that?!” a deputy-level official scoffed, snapping at the informant. “Aren’t we all currently synthesizing the situation on the Grand Young Master’s frontline?!”

“That’s not it…!”

“Then what is it?!”

At that, the informant cried out as if wronged. “Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon!” His desperate shout pierced everyone’s ears. “The intelligence says he personally appeared in that battle!”

“……”

“……”

The atmosphere instantly froze. For a moment, only the thunderous sound of galloping hooves echoed.

“Pfft-hahaha…!” A deputy-level official burst into laughter.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Kuhahaha!”

Following suit, everyone erupted in uproarious laughter, leaving only the informant who had struggled to deliver the report looking bewildered.

“What’s so…?”

“You there…!”

Amidst the mocking laughter surrounding him, Namgung Du, the one who had originally sought the informant and the chief of the Third Young Master’s external intelligence network, addressed him directly.

“Did you ride from near where the battle took place?”

“Y-yes…!” the informant hurriedly nodded, responding to the question directed at him. “I painstakingly gathered this information directly from the defeated soldiers…!”

As if pleading his innocence, the informant spilled his words in a rush. “Because they suffered near-annihilation, the defeated soldiers were all out of their minds! I had to struggle to piece the information together…!”

“You!” Namgung Du cut him off sharply. “Are you aware that the Grand Young Master’s confirmed location, until very recently, was the Moyong Clan’s villa in the heart of Shenyang?!”

“Excuse me…?!” The utterly stunned informant stammered. “No? That can’t be right? I clearly heard from the defeated soldiers—”

“Useless fool.”

Slash!

Namgung Du’s hand flashed, and against the backdrop of the faint moon, a stream of blood shot into the air. The informant, his chest sliced open, tumbled down and was instantly trampled by the galloping hooves, vanishing from sight.

“……”

“……”

While everyone swallowed hard, stunned by the sight…

“This is wartime!” Namgung Du shouted, his face contorted with rage as he brandished his bloodstained dagger. “This is not the time to be cracking jokes in secret hideouts and wasting the day away!”

As everything continued to deviate from their expectations, the crushing pressure Namgung Du was suffering under gave his words a razor-sharp edge, much like his dagger.

“From now on, anyone who brings unverified, nonsensical rumors as intelligence…!” He radiated a chilling killing intent, warning everyone around him. “Will be treated as an enemy spy planted to cause confusion in our intelligence network!”

Extreme words, extreme actions, and extreme directives. However, just as Namgung Du said, this was not peacetime but wartime.

Seeing everyone tense up and cautiously gauge his mood, Namgung Du turned his gaze forward and clicked his tongue.

“Damn it…!”

His eyes drifted toward the procession of the Military Strategy Bureau. The Third Young Master, Yeon Jeok-gwang, unable to sit still, was likely riding at the very front somewhere ahead. But the rest of the key figures from the Third Young Master’s faction were all either riding in the Military Strategy Bureau’s carriages or moving alongside them.

Even at this moment, Grand Strategist Sima is probably using the Military Strategy Bureau’s independent intelligence network to further solidify his influence…! He gritted his teeth involuntarily.

In a situation like this, what does it matter what that Grand Young Master bastard is doing…?!

Seeing the chief, Namgung Du, visibly displeased…

“You did well,” a deputy from the same Namgung Clan said, riding alongside him to soothe his temper. “By cutting down a useless fool, you’ve awakened everyone’s vigilance. They will all be more diligent in their duties.”

“Right, they should be.” Namgung Du spat at the rapidly passing ground. “Incompetent fool.”

But then, someone riding nearby spoke up, their face pale.

“E-excuse me…!”

When Namgung Du and the deputy turned to look, the man held up a note in his hand, his face completely drained of color. “T-this is news that just came in via carrier pigeon…”

“What is it, why are you stalling?!”

Flinching at the deputy’s shout, the man squeezed his eyes shut and yelled, “According to the intelligence that just arrived, Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon has been spotted at the battle site!”

Following right behind him, a messenger who had just joined them hurried to catch up and shouted, “Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon is personally leading his main unit!”

Namgung Du raised his voice and yelled, “Nonsense!”

That could not possibly be true. If it was, he had killed an excellent informant, the one who had brought accurate information before anyone else, for no reason.

“Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense!” Spit flew from Namgung Du’s mouth as he vehemently denied it. “Does that make any sense?! That Grand Young Master bastard was definitely at the Moyong Clan’s villa in Shenyang…!”

“But…!” the messenger who had brought the final piece of intelligence replied, panting. “This information came from Mount Hua Sword Dragon Gam Woo-hyeon himself, who returned alive after joining the long-distance reconnaissance unit a short while ago…!”

“W-wait!” The Mount Hua Sword Dragon?

“T-the Mount Hua Sword Dragon who was leading the Huashan Sect’s vanguard?” the deputy asked on behalf of Namgung Du, who was struck speechless, his face chalk-white. “The Mount Hua Sword Dragon brought this information himself…?”

“That’s right!” the messenger nodded hastily. “The survivors of the Huashan Sect’s vanguard, including the Mount Hua Sword Dragon, initially joined the Dread King’s forces! They say they barely managed to escape after the Grand Young Master’s subsequent surprise attack!”

“So the Mount Hua Sword Dragon, having escaped once again, met up with our deployed long-distance reconnaissance unit and handed over this information…?”

“That’s correct!”

How could Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon possibly be there? Geographically and temporally, nothing made sense.

“The long-distance reconnaissance unit is rapidly returning this way, so you should soon be able to hear detailed information directly from the Mount Hua Sword Dragon himself!”

Everyone just wore dumbfounded expressions.

After some time passed…

Namgung Du managed to open his mouth, though the words barely formed. “How…?”

Hearing his bewildered muttering, someone in the group looked back, but the corpse of the informant who had first brought the news was already gone without a trace.

“Halt! Halt!”

“We will take a rest break!”

The allied forces of the Third Young Master halted their march. Both men and horses quenched their thirst, and fires were lit on the ground.

“Rest while you can!”

Soldiers and martial artists alike, exhausted from marching all night, welcomed the much-needed break like sweet rain during a drought. But in reality, there was another reason for this untimely rest.

“So?!”

In the temporarily erected command tent, voices filled with suspicion erupted from all sides.

“How on earth did that Grand Young Master bastard cover such a vast distance in an instant?!”

“They say ‘flashing in the east, suddenly appearing in the west’! Is he some mythical spirit from a story, using space-compressing magic?!”

“Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?!”

Despite the doubts pouring in from all directions, Mount Hua Sword Dragon Gam Woo-hyeon, wrapped in a thick blanket and sitting before the fire, simply answered calmly in a hoarse voice.

“Our vanguard wasn’t the only one who saw the Grand Young Master.”

As if reflecting the hardships he had endured, Gam Woo-hyeon’s eyes were deeply stained with fatigue, matching his face smeared with blood and dirt.

“By now, shouldn’t there be many among the defeated soldiers of the Dread King who can confirm this?”

His words were true. The testimonies of the nearly annihilated defeated soldiers of the Dread King were often rambling and full of contradictory nonsense. But reports of sightings of the Luoyang Sword Clan’s Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, were still steadily coming in.

“…It simply.”

“Doesn’t make sense.”

“How on earth…?”

“That’s not the important part. If the Grand Young Master is personally leading the main unit, we must also mount a corresponding response…”

Like that, as opinions began to diverge and clash, Mount Hua Sword Dragon Gam Woo-hyeon, now nothing more than a defeated soldier, was pushed to the background.

Quietly burying himself deep in his blanket as if exhausted, Gam Woo-hyeon felt a hand on his shoulder as he watched them.

“Woo-hyeon-ah.”

There weren’t many who could address Gam Woo-hyeon, the Head Disciple, by his given name like that.

“…Is your body alright?”

Gam Woo-hyeon looked back to see the Sword Monarch of the Huashan Sect.

“…I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.”

After a brief pause, the Sword Monarch, struggling to find the right words, spoke. “…Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. When you become the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, this experience will also be of great help to you.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

What more was there to say? After patting his shoulder, the Sword Monarch walked toward those engaged in fierce debate.

But then, Gam Woo-hyeon’s eyes, looking at the entire command of the Third Young Master’s faction, including the Sword Monarch…

Were no longer filled with fatigue, but with deep suspicion and doubt. And an inexplicable tension.

Among them…

He replayed the words Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon had told him as he observed the Third Young Master’s command.

The Sword Monarch of Mount Hua.
The Immortal Master Taechong of Wudang.
Grand Strategist Sima.

All of them were key figures among key figures in the Third Young Master’s faction.

There is definitely someone who has joined hands with the Demonic Cult…?