Chapter 537

“The course of the world is a strange thing indeed. Alliance Leader Kang—no, Senior Kang—didn’t foresee even a situation like this.”

Unhwi tapped the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword at his waist.

“From the moment he handed this sword to me, Senior Kang gained a chance to protect everything he had built until now.”

Who had unified the martial world in his previous life?

Under the name of the Blood Heaven Sect, it had been Unhwi, bearing the title of Blood Heaven Arbiter.

But looking beneath the surface, it would not be wrong to say that Unhwi had done it alone.

Unhwi spoke briefly.

“Ju Soa.”

Nan Xian remembered nothing after that.

Because the moment Unhwi called Ju Soa’s name, what followed was not an answer, but the sound of wind.

Whoosh.

That wind cut through Nan Xian’s neck.

His head fell to the ground.

That was all.

Unhwi rose from his seat.

***

The air felt different when the man and woman stepped outside the inn.

Ju Soa walked beside him. Glancing at the envelope in Unhwi’s hand, she slowly spoke.

“I’ll handle the Emerald Cloud Sect.”

“Alone?”

“Oh, come on. How could I do it alone? I’ll pick about five people from the Sichuan Alliance and take them with me.”

Five.

“You must know some people there.”

“......You really are uncanny.”

“Confident?”

“I’m not the same Ju Soa I used to be.”

Ju Soa walked with her eyes forward.

“Don’t worry about cleaning up the Emerald Cloud Sect. If I can get the locations of the other contacts out of them while I’m there, I’ll do that too. We’ll have to see how many they planted throughout Sichuan, but if there are more, I don’t think it’ll take long to root them out.”

“How?”

“I have my own work too, you know.”

Her tone was indifferent.

Unhwi did not ask further.

The two walked on again. Only their footsteps could be heard. The night on the outskirts of Sichuan was deep, and there was not a single streetlamp along the road. Only dim moonlight.

Ju Soa spoke.

“How many did we kill today?”

“Thirteen.”

“That’s a lot.”

Ju Soa let out a breath.

“Were they all Gun Mugeol’s people?”

“Most of them. Two were simply opportunists.”

“You killed them too?”

“They were already making moves inside the Sichuan Alliance.”

Ju Soa nodded.

She did not object.

She had traveled with this man for a long time.

She knew where judgments like this came from. She knew they came from his desire to protect the people he cared about.

Only the method was cold.

“Aren’t you tired?”

The question came out of nowhere.

Unhwi looked at Ju Soa.

“Why ask that all of a sudden?”

“Just because. You walked for three days to get here. Then you stood through the entire funeral, and you’ve been doing this all day too.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re allowed to say you’re tired if you’re tired.”

“It’s bothersome.”

“That means you’re tired, right?”

Unhwi gave a small laugh.

The road was dark.

Ju Soa laughed softly as well.

***

The Emerald Cloud Sect was quiet.

It was a quiet sect even during the day.

A small sect nestled against the mountainside.

Even among the subordinate sects of the Sichuan Alliance, it was not a prominent name.

Perhaps that was why it had survived so long.

Sometimes, not standing out was a way to survive.

At night, it became quieter still.

Ju Soa looked inside from beyond the wall.

Three buildings were lit.

Six people were patrolling.

They carried weapons, but their steps were loose.

Their guard was down.

A lowered guard meant they believed nothing would happen.

And in this world, those who believed that were always struck from behind.

It had been one day since Unhwi told her about the Emerald Cloud Sect.

Ju Soa had spent that day moving.

Wei Qiang, acting Sect Leader of the Emerald Cloud Sect. Forty-three years old.

He had entered the Emerald Cloud Sect seven years ago.

His activities before that were unclear.

His martial arts were at the middle stage of the Entering Divinity Realm. Fairly strong for the acting Sect Leader of a subordinate sect of the Sichuan Alliance.

And he made an effort not to show how strong he was.

That alone was enough.

Five people stood beside Ju Soa.

All of them wore black clothing suited for moving at night. Among them, a large bald man wearing a mask spoke.

“I never thought our Miss Ju would return to the Sichuan Alliance like this.”

“Neither did I. When I was wandering around, I did think about joining the Sichuan Alliance at one point, but...... somehow things ended up like this.”

“Heh heh. Still, working together like this again after so long has put me in a fine mood before we’ve even begun.”

Ju Soa had first met Unhwi in Yangnyeong.

Before that, she had wandered across the martial world.

It would have been stranger if she had never passed through Sichuan, and considering that Ju Soa had been beautiful enough to earn the title Thousand-Hand Beauty, it would have made no sense for people not to gather around her.

Many things had happened.

There had been good connections.

And bad ones.

At least these five belonged to the former.

“Let’s begin.”

Everyone held their breath.

Ju Soa spoke quietly.

“I’ll take the acting Sect Leader’s room. Three of you block the entrance. One covers the escape route. The last one clears the area around the wall.”

“Yes.”

That was all.

They crossed the wall at the same time.

There was no sound.

There was no sound as the five scattered either.

Ju Soa walked straight ahead. She remained conscious of the sensation of the ground beneath her feet.

There was gravel.

She did not step on it.

There was a dry branch.

She avoided it.

The first patrolman was coming around the corner.

Ju Soa stopped.

She stood in the shadows, still beyond the reach of his gaze.

The patrolman came closer.

Ten steps.

Five steps.

Three steps.

At that moment, one of the people following behind her moved.

Swish.

The edge of a hand struck the patrolman’s neck.

He caught the collapsing body and quietly lowered it to the ground.

There was not even the sound of it touching the earth.

Ju Soa continued forward without looking.

The second patrolman was easier.

The moment he turned, Ju Soa’s hand struck beneath his chin.

The impact drove upward.

It did not even take half a beat for consciousness to cut out.

There was no sound.

He simply crumpled.

Ju Soa shook out her hand.

The third patrolman was the problem.

He had a wide field of vision.

He held his weapon in both hands.

He walked while carefully scanning his surroundings.

Unlike the other two, this one was properly standing guard.

Ju Soa climbed onto the roof.

She walked across the tiles.

Distributing her weight.

Checking each tile.

Without making a single sound.

She looked down from directly above the patrolman’s head.

Then jumped.

She bent her knees upon landing, absorbing the impact.

She came down with both hands planted on the patrolman’s shoulders.

Her weight bore down from above.

Before he could react, she struck the back of his neck.

Thud.

Three were dealt with.

The others handled the remaining three.

The courtyard fell silent.

Ju Soa stood before the acting Sect Leader’s room.

The light was on.

Someone was inside.

He was not asleep.

She opened the door.

Wei Qiang raised his head.

He was sitting at a desk.

A brush was in his hand.

He had stopped in the middle of writing something.

The person who should have been there was absent.

Instead, there was a woman.

A face he had never seen before.

“That.”

Ju Soa indicated the desk with her eyes.

“You were going to send that to the Murim Alliance, weren’t you?”

“......”

“Finished writing it? Or were you still working on it?”

Wei Qiang’s face hardened.

He put down the brush.

Slowly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You do. Why pretend you don’t? Though actually, it doesn’t matter either way.”

She stepped inside.

“The result will be the same.”

Wei Qiang rose.

The chair scraped backward.

His hand moved toward his side.

There was a scabbard there.

The acting Sect Leader wore a sword even inside his own room.

That alone said what kind of man he was.

A man who was always prepared.

A man who was always ready to escape.

He drew his sword.

His hand was fast.

That was not the reaction speed of someone at the middle stage of the Entering Divinity Realm.

It was speed forged through real combat.

The sword point flashed in the lamplight and shot toward Ju Soa’s neck.

At an angle.

From above to below.

A sword strike carrying force behind it.

Ju Soa’s body flowed sideways.

Slip.

The sword cut through empty air.

The wind from the blade brushed her hair.

Wei Qiang did not stop.

The second sword strike came back from the opposite direction.

It aimed for her waist.

A strike meant to seal off space.

Whether she retreated or leaped upward, its path would reach her.

Ju Soa did not retreat.

She moved forward.

She drove into the space just before Wei Qiang’s sword could reach her.

Inside the bend of his arm.

The point where the sword’s power was weakest.

A movement possible because of her small frame.

From there, she drew her sword.

Heavenly Flower Myriad Light Sword Art.

Like a single flower petal drifting down.

The smoothly flowing sword point drew a line across the inside of Wei Qiang’s wrist.

A slicing sound rang out.

It was not deep.

It was shallow.

But it was precise.

Through the sword, she felt a single tendon being severed.

“Urgh.”

The sword lost its strength in Wei Qiang’s hand.

He tried to catch it with his left.

A reflexive movement to grab it before it hit the floor.

Ju Soa’s foot came down on the sword first.

Wei Qiang looked at Ju Soa.

Ju Soa was not looking at him.

She was looking at the desk.

Names were written there.

Elders of the Sichuan Alliance.

The strength of subordinate sects.

And Unhwi’s name.

Ju Soa’s eyes sank.

“You know sending this would weaken the Sichuan Alliance, don’t you?”

Wei Qiang did not answer.

“Of course you do. That’s why you wrote it.”

“......”

“It would have to be at least this useful for the Murim Alliance to take an interest and for Gun Mugeol to accept you.”

Wei Qiang laughed.

Only one side of his mouth rose.

“You’re going to kill me anyway, aren’t you?”

“Oh my, why ask something so obvious like it’s a question? You’re dying today. Did you actually think you were going to survive?”

“......”

“So just choose whether you want it fast or slow.”

Wei Qiang’s smile disappeared.

A long while later, he spoke.

“That sounds like you’re threatening to torture me.”

Ju Soa smiled.

“I’ve never particularly liked torture, but it turns out to be effective.”

“......”

“And I’ve seen a few things from the sidelines, so you can probably look forward to it.”

Wei Qiang frowned.

She was wearing a mask, so he could not make out every detail, but he was certain.

“......Ju Soa, the Thousand-Hand Beauty. Is that you?”

Ju Soa removed her mask.

Seeing the face beneath it, Wei Qiang let out a hollow laugh.

“Your reputation truly does not do you justice.”

“Is that really what you should be saying right now?”

“......”

“Just answer what I ask. How many?”

“......Three. They’re due to come in fifteen days.”

“The route?”

“The western mountain road. We agreed to leave a marker.”

Ju Soa nodded.

She lowered her sword.

Then raised it.

Heavenly Yang Boundless Art.

A stance with the sword held upright toward the sky.

Straight.

Unwavering.

Energy began gathering upon it.

It was different from the energy of the Heavenly Flower Myriad Light Sword Art.

If that had been water, this was light.

It did not spread softly.

It gathered toward a single point.

The two energies met upon the sword.

Blended.

The soft and the straight became one.

Wei Qiang saw that light.

It was beautiful.

And cold.

The sword came down.