Chapter 536

“Whether Elder Liu or anyone else here likes it or not, there is no avoiding the fact that I must serve as acting Alliance Leader. If not me, who among you can stop Gun Mugeol as he is now?”

“......”

“If I leave the Sichuan Alliance empty, Gun Mugeol will come to swallow it the moment he gets the chance. Not only the Sichuan Alliance. All of Sichuan will fall into his hands. Your futures? They are obvious. You will either die or submit. I doubt anyone here truly believes Gun Mugeol is a gentleman simply because people call him one.”

It was not wrong.

Before Kang Cheonwoo’s corpse had even gone cold, Xiao Xuanwu had tried to exploit his death.

An Elder of the Sichuan Alliance.

Liu Zhenheng himself was angry.

He was only asking whether this method was right or wrong.

“Elder Liu.”

“......Speak.”

“If I had tried to persuade Elder Xiao with words, would he have accepted them?”

Liu Zhenheng did not answer.

The lack of an answer was the answer.

The man had already made his move.

He had completely failed to grasp the situation.

Persuade someone like that with words?

He had already revealed his true nature.

Already revealed his ambition.

Someone like that was better cut away in advance.

Liu Zhenheng took one step back.

Then Great Elder Gwak Inhyeok spoke.

His voice was quiet.

“Young master.”

“Yes.”

“Continue with the rest.”

Someone entered to remove Xiao Xuanwu, who lay collapsed on the floor, but Unhwi raised a hand and stopped them.

“Remove him after the meeting.”

That was all he said.

His intention was simple.

He wanted the body left there.

In front of ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) everyone.

Zhu Yishan looked at it, then turned his gaze away.

The mid-ranking Elders did the same.

Their eyes were uncomfortable.

But they were not eyes of objection.

Unhwi continued.

The specific measures against Gun Mugeol.

Their connection with the Beggars’ Sect.

The route through Viper Valley.

How far the Blood Heaven Sect would intervene.

How to bring the subordinate sects of the Sichuan Alliance back under control.

One by one.

Without interruption.

The Elders listened.

Questions came intermittently.

Zhu Yishan asked the most.

He was meticulous.

A man who approached things through practical matters rather than emotion.

Unhwi found those questions comfortable.

They were easy to answer.

Liu Zhenheng did not ask much.

He listened.

His eyes seemed fixed somewhere as he listened.

Gwak Inhyeok did not ask a single question.

He simply sat there and listened.

As the meeting neared its end, Gwak Inhyeok finally spoke for the first time.

“I have only one question.”

“Ask.”

“To whom do you intend to return the Sichuan Alliance?”

Overlord Hall fell silent again.

Unhwi looked at Gwak Inhyeok.

The old man’s eyes were calm.

He was not pretending not to know.

He was asking for confirmation.

Unhwi remained silent for a moment before answering.

“To someone the people of the Sichuan Alliance can follow.”

Gwak Inhyeok nodded.

He asked nothing more.

Liu Zhenheng lowered his gaze after hearing the exchange.

Zhu Yishan glanced once at Gwak Inhyeok.

No one spoke.

But anyone in Overlord Hall with enough awareness understood what had just passed between them.

No one knew who would eventually lead the Sichuan Alliance.

But for now, there were three candidates.

Great Elder Gwak Inhyeok.

Left Elder Liu Zhenheng.

Right Elder Zhu Yishan.

“We will end here for today.”

Unhwi stood.

“If anyone has objections, come find me separately.”

No one rose.

Unhwi left Overlord Hall.

The moment he stepped through the doors, the air outside felt different.

Inside smelled of a dead man.

Outside was simply autumn air.

***

He thought tonight would be his last.

His last night in the Sichuan Alliance.

Nan Xian walked through a narrow alley and checked what he carried inside his clothes.

A thick envelope.

What lay inside was paper.

But he knew how much each sheet was worth.

The Sichuan Alliance’s troop deployments.

The current state of its subordinate sects.

The names and dispositions of its Elders.

And information concerning Unhwi.

The Murim Alliance contact would be pleased to receive it.

Nan Xian thought as he walked.

He had no regrets.

The Sichuan Alliance was already finished.

Its Alliance Leader was dead.

Anyone who had spent long enough in the Sichuan Alliance understood what the death of the Sichuan Overlord, Kang Cheonwoo, meant.

That man had been everything.

Without him, the Sichuan Alliance was an empty shell.

And now an outsider from the Blood Heaven Sect was trying to seize that shell.

It was laughable.

Gun Mugeol was different.

Gun Mugeol was real.

A hero of the martial world.

If there was anyone who could drive out the Blood Heaven Sect and unify the martial world, it would be Gun Mugeol.

Nan Xian’s belief was by no means delusional.

Gun Mugeol had proven it by killing Kang Cheonwoo.

A Mixed Origin Sovereign had killed another Mixed Origin Sovereign.

How many people were capable of that?

Gun Mugeol was clearly one of the martial artists of the current generation who could stand against the Supreme Master of the Martial World, the Heavenly Wayfarer.

The current had already been decided.

Reading the current was how one survived.

Nan Xian headed toward the arranged meeting place.

It was an old inn on the outskirts of Sichuan.

The Murim Alliance contact should have been waiting there.

All he had to do was hand over the envelope.

Then it would be over.

Tomorrow morning, he would leave the Sichuan Alliance, and the Murim Alliance would arrange a position for him.

The inn door came into view.

The lantern was out.

Strange.

It was the agreed time.

The contact always arrived first and left the light burning.

Nan Xian stopped.

He looked around.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

It was not unusual for the outskirts of Sichuan to be quiet at this hour.

But this quiet was different.

Not an empty silence.

A filled silence.

No footsteps.

No wind.

Nothing at all.

Sweat formed across Nan Xian’s back.

He thought he should turn around.

But his feet did not move.

He had come too far.

Perhaps the contact was merely late.

Perhaps the lantern was out because he was waiting in darkness.

Nan Xian stopped before the door.

He reached out.

Opened it.

The smell came first.

Thick.

Heavy.

The smell of iron.

His body recognized what it was before his mind did.

His stomach reacted first.

Nausea surged up.

Nan Xian raised his eyes.

The inside of the inn.

Tables.

Chairs.

Wine bottles.

The ordinary interior of an inn.

But it was not ordinary.

There were people.

Dead people.

The contact was there.

It took Nan Xian a moment to recognize him.

His face was difficult to identify.

He lay sprawled over a table.

Two more were beside him.

One on the floor.

One against the wall.

Others seemed almost piled in a corner.

There was no time to count.

Nan Xian’s vision shook.

His feet tried to retreat.

“You came.”

A voice sounded.

Nan Xian’s feet froze.

The voice came from the darkness.

From the inn’s innermost corner.

From the place the extinguished lantern left invisible.

His eyes adjusted.

Someone was sitting there.

At a table.

Holding a wine cup.

Legs crossed.

Sitting alive and alone among the dead.

Young.

Absurdly young.

It did not feel real that someone of that age could be sitting there alone.

But it was real.

The smell proved it.

The things on the floor proved it.

Nan Xian opened his mouth.

No sound came out.

White hair.

That face.

Anyone who failed to recognize him would have to be an idiot.

The Blood Heaven Arbiter.

Acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance.

Unhwi.

He spoke.

“Sit.”

Nan Xian’s legs gave way.

He collapsed into the nearest chair.

Unhwi set down his wine cup.

“What you have inside your clothes.”

“......”

“Take it out.”

Nan Xian’s hands trembled.

He pulled out the envelope.

He tried to place it on the table, but his hands would not obey him.

He simply held it out.

Unhwi stood.

Walked over.

The sound of his footsteps was strangely clear.

Because there were no other sounds.

Because there were only two living things inside.

He took the envelope.

Opened it.

Skimmed through it.

It did not take long.

He spent little time turning each page.

But to Nan Xian, that time felt long.

Unhwi folded the papers back together.

“Have you handed anything else to Gun Mugeol’s side?”

“......No.”

“Is this the first time?”

Nan Xian closed his mouth.

Unhwi looked down at him.

“I asked if this was the first time.”

“......T-Twice.”

“When?”

“......A month ago and two weeks ago.”

“What did you send?”

“......Alliance Leader Kang’s movements. The confrontation with the Murim Alliance. And matters inside the Sichuan Alliance......”

His words trailed off.

Unhwi looked past Nan Xian’s shoulder.

Toward the door.

The inn door opened again.

Ju Soa entered.

She had been waiting outside.

She swept her eyes once across the interior.

Her gaze passed over the corpses before reaching Unhwi.

“Anyone else who needs killing?”

Unhwi glanced at Nan Xian and gave a short answer.

“No.”

Ju Soa understood what he meant.

“Ah.”

She leaned against one wall.

And looked at Nan Xian.

Her eyes were cold.

There was no pity in them.

No contempt either.

They were simply the eyes of someone looking at something that needed to be disposed of.

Nan Xian met those eyes, then turned away.

No.

They will let me live.

I told them everything.

Unhwi stood before him again.

“Where in Sichuan does Gun Mugeol have contacts?”

“......”

“You know.”

“......”

“You have a talent for making me ask the same thing two or three times.”

Nan Xian slowly raised his head and looked at Unhwi.

Something about his tone and atmosphere felt wrong.

He had thought they would let him live.

It seemed they would not.

The chance of him dying here appeared very high.

“......What...... will happen to me?”

“You will die.”

The firm answer stopped his breath.

“But you have the chance to choose whether you die painfully or without pain.”

Nan Xian swallowed.

In the end, there was only one meaning.

Answer every question.

If he spoke, at least he would die without pain.

If he did not—

He would suffer every agony they could give him before dying.

It was only a question of likelihood.

In the end, he decided.

“There are two places. One is an inn in eastern Sichuan. The other is planted inside one of the subordinate sects.”

“Which sect?”

“......The Emerald Cloud Sect. The man serving as acting Sect Leader is one of Gun Mugeol’s people.”

Unhwi looked at Ju Soa.

Ju Soa nodded.

She had memorized it.

“More.”

“......That is all. Everything I know.”

Nan Xian finished speaking.

Unhwi said nothing.

Nan Xian waited in that silence.

Hoping for something.

He did not ask to be spared.

Not because of pride.

Because he knew those words would not work on this man.

He simply—

hoped the questions would end here.

“You saw the mood of the martial world and thought the Sichuan Alliance was finished.”

Nan Xian flinched at Unhwi’s words.

“A Sichuan Alliance without the Sichuan Overlord is an empty shell. So you changed sides. No. You decided to change sides.”

“......”

“It was not a wrong judgment.”

Unhwi spoke.

“The Sichuan Alliance without the Sichuan Overlord is weak. It is only natural that it would shake.”

Nan Xian looked at Unhwi.

Unhwi’s eyes looked down at him.

“But you left one thing out of your calculations.”

“......”

“I am here.”