Chapter 538

Slice.

Wei Qiang pitched forward.

He did not fall onto his back staring at the ceiling.

He simply collapsed forward.

The brush on the desk rolled off.

Blood began soaking into the paper where the ink had spread.

Over the names.

Ju Soa wiped her sword on the hem of his clothes.

She picked up the papers from the desk.

The half-written ones.

Folded them.

Tucked them inside her clothes.

Then left the room.

The five were waiting outside.

None of them were injured.

“Western mountain road. Find the marker and remove it. Within fifteen days.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t touch the rest of the Emerald Cloud Sect.”

“Yes.”

Ju Soa walked toward the wall.

As she walked, she looked at her hand.

Drops of blood had splashed across the back of it.

She wiped them away.

Three contacts arriving in fifteen days.

She only had to go back and tell Unhwi.

Ju Soa crossed the wall.

And walked into the darkness.

***

It was nearly dawn when Ju Soa returned to the Sichuan Alliance headquarters.

The martial artist guarding the gate recognized her.

Without a word, he opened the way.

Once inside, she saw one room with its light still burning.

Unhwi’s room.

Ju Soa knocked.

“Come in.”

She entered.

Unhwi was sitting there.

Not at the desk.

By the window.

He held a cup of tea.

She could not tell whether he had been drinking it or merely holding it.

“It’s done.”

“Good work.”

“We dealt with Wei Qiang. The others will remove the marker on the western mountain road within fifteen days.”

Unhwi nodded.

“There’s one more thing.”

Ju Soa pulled a folded sheet of paper from inside her clothes.

The one she had taken from Wei Qiang’s desk.

A half-written document.

She placed it on the table.

Unhwi unfolded it.

Read over it.

When an organization faced a crisis, there were those who tried to overcome it.

And there were those who watched for an opportunity within that crisis.

Wei Qiang had belonged to the latter.

“But those three contacts coming in fifteen days. Are we just going to wait for them?”

“We should.”

Ju Soa looked at Unhwi.

“Sometimes it is faster to simply let what is coming arrive.”

Ju Soa considered the meaning of those words for a moment, then asked nothing more.

There were many times when she only understood this man’s words later.

“Then I’m going to sleep.”

“All right.”

Ju Soa turned around.

“Ju Soa.”

She stopped at the door when Unhwi called her.

Turned her head.

“You did well.”

Ju Soa smiled faintly.

“What work? It’s what I always do.”

The door closed.

Unhwi quietly looked out the window.

Dawn was coming to Sichuan.

The darkness was thinning.

The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was slowly changing.

Black into blue-gray.

Wei Qiang was only the beginning.

Not the twigs.

The thick branches had to be cut away.

The tea had gone cold.

He drank it anyway.

***

When a small problem erupted, it also meant a larger one was about to follow.

The Emerald Cloud Sect had certainly been a small problem.

The Azure Dragon Sect was considered one of the strongest forces among the subordinate sects of the Sichuan Alliance.

It was on the third day after the funeral ended that a declaration from the Azure Dragon Sect began circulating throughout Sichuan.

Liu Zhenheng brought it and spread it before Unhwi.

Unhwi read it in silence.

There was a great deal written in it.

—

We mourn the passing of Kang Cheonwoo, Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance. But mourning is only mourning. From this day forward, the Azure Dragon Sect intends to sever its ties with the Sichuan Alliance and walk its own path. Now that an outsider from the Blood Heaven Sect claims the position of acting Alliance Leader, the Sichuan Alliance is no longer the Sichuan Alliance. We hereby declare that the name of the Azure Dragon Sect cannot stand beside an alliance that has knelt beneath the shadow of the Demonic Path. We await the participation of sects that share our convictions.

—

Unhwi folded the declaration.

“When did this begin circulating?”

“About two days ago.”

“Have any sects besides the Azure Dragon Sect responded?”

“Five small sects. None have issued an official position yet, but there are signs that they have been in contact with the Azure Dragon Sect.”

Liu Zhenheng’s voice was low.

A voice suppressing anger.

“What do you intend to do?”

Unhwi stood.

“I’ll go myself.”

“Alone?”

“With Ju Soa.”

Liu Zhenheng opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

His eyes said he had something to say.

But he did not say it.

Because he had already seen once what kind of man this was.

Unhwi handed the declaration back to Liu Zhenheng.

“Keep it safe.”

“......Will there be a use for it?”

“I’m going to read it in front of the Azure Dragon Sect Leader.”

The Azure Dragon Sect was in western Sichuan.

Half a day by horse from the Sichuan Alliance headquarters.

The mountains there were beautiful.

The sect occupied broad grounds, with many buildings.

Even at a glance, it was clear why it was the second-largest of the subordinate sects.

Martial artists stood at the gate.

Ten of them.

More than usual.

They had raised their guard.

Natural, after circulating that declaration.

It also meant they understood what kind of consequences they had set in motion.

Unhwi and Ju Soa dismounted.

The gatekeepers looked at them.

It took them a moment to recognize Unhwi.

The instant they did, their eyes changed.

It was not tension.

It was hostility.

“I am Unhwi, acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance. I came to meet your Sect Leader.”

One of the gatekeepers stepped forward.

“Our Sect Leader has already severed relations with the Sichuan Alliance. There is no longer any reason for us to receive someone from the Sichuan Alliance......”

“Whether a member of the Azure Dragon Sect will meet someone from the Sichuan Alliance is for your Sect Leader to decide.”

The gatekeeper swallowed.

“Do you not understand the situation?”

“......”

“You stand on Sichuan soil, sever your ties with the Sichuan Alliance, and refuse to meet its acting Alliance Leader? Can you bear what comes after that?”

“That......”

“Open it. Before I kill you and open it myself.”

The gatekeeper could no longer stop Unhwi.

No.

The fact that he had even managed to exchange this many words with him was absurd in itself.

Unhwi silently walked past the gatekeeper.

No one stopped him on the way to the Sect Leader’s Hall.

Lu Han, Sect Leader of the Azure Dragon Sect, was in the main hall.

He was not sitting.

He was standing.

He had received word that Unhwi was entering and had prepared himself accordingly.

Early fifties.

Solidly built.

A long beard along his chin.

Sharp eyes.

Four Elder-level martial artists stood to either side of him.

Unhwi walked into the main hall.

Stopped.

The two men faced one another.

Lu Han spoke first.

“I did not expect you to come personally, Young master.”

“After reading the declaration, I decided I had to.”

“If you read it, then you already know my position.”

“I do.”

Unhwi drew the declaration from inside his clothes.

It was folded.

He slowly opened it.

“That is why I came to confirm something.”

Lu Han’s eyes moved to the declaration.

Then returned to Unhwi.

“Confirm what......?”

“Did you write this yourself?”

“I did.”

“Does every word of it express your own intent?”

“......Why ask something like that?”

“Because I want to confirm it.”

“......Confirm it...... Very well. I will answer clearly. I wrote it myself. Every word of it.”

Unhwi nodded.

Then began reading the declaration.

Out loud.

Slowly.

We mourn the passing of Kang Cheonwoo, Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance.

Lu Han’s expression stiffened slightly.

Now that an outsider from the Blood Heaven Sect claims the position of acting Alliance Leader, the Sichuan Alliance is no longer the Sichuan Alliance.

“I already told you that I wrote that declaration......”

“I’m not finished.”

Unhwi cut him off.

His voice did not rise.

Yet Lu Han stopped.

We hereby declare that the name of the Azure Dragon Sect cannot stand beside an alliance that has knelt beneath the shadow of the Demonic Path. We await the participation of sects that share our convictions.

He finished reading.

Unhwi folded the declaration.

“Confirmed.”

Then he spoke.

“You wrote it yourself, distributed it yourself, and acknowledged it yourself here and now.”

“......So?”

“One more question.”

Unhwi looked at Lu Han.

“Where is the land on which the Azure Dragon Sect stands?”

Lu Han frowned.

“What are you suddenly talking about......?”

Unhwi answered.

“Sichuan.”

It was an obvious fact.

“Land the Sichuan Alliance has protected for decades. Land Kang Cheonwoo cultivated with blood and sweat. He took the Sichuan Alliance, which once existed in name alone, and raised it into one of the greatest alliances in the martial world. The people of Sichuan benefited greatly from that. The Azure Dragon Sect among them.”

“......”

“The Azure Dragon Sect was able to put down roots here, conduct business, take disciples, and hang its sign not merely because this land called Sichuan existed, but because the Sichuan Alliance existed.”

“......”

“And standing on that land, you declared that you would take the Murim Alliance’s hand.”

Unhwi’s voice lowered.

“You put down roots in Sichuan and declared that you would shake Sichuan’s roots. You stand inside the protection of the Sichuan Alliance and declare that you will set that protection on fire. That is what your declaration says.”

Lu Han’s face reddened.

“How is refusing to entrust Sichuan to an outsider from the Blood Heaven Sect an act of betrayal? This is an attempt to protect Sichuan—”

Unhwi cut him off.

“You protect Sichuan by taking the Murim Alliance’s hand?”

“......”

“Do you not know ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) that Gun Mugeol wants Sichuan? Do you truly not know what the man who personally killed Alliance Leader Kang will target next?”

“......”

“When Gun Mugeol reaches into Sichuan, which side will the Azure Dragon Sect stand on after placing itself under the Murim Alliance?”

Lu Han opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

“And.”

Unhwi continued.

“You urged the surrounding sects to join you. You used the Sichuan Alliance’s disorder to encourage division. Is that an act of protecting Sichuan?”

“......That was......”

“You did this before even ten days had passed since Alliance Leader Kang’s death.”

Wind blew through the courtyard.

The main hall was silent.

The Elders standing on either side of Lu Han lowered their eyes.

They were not looks of disagreement.

They were the eyes of men who knew Unhwi was right and therefore remained silent.

Only Lu Han continued looking at Unhwi.

There was something in his eyes.

Anger, perhaps.

Pride.

But beneath it was something else.

Unease.

The unease of feeling his own words returning to him here and now.

“Young master.”

Lu Han spoke quietly.

“No matter how well you argue, a man of the Blood Heaven Sect taking control of the Sichuan Alliance is—”

“Lu Han.”

For the first time, Unhwi called him by name.

No title.

Lu Han’s expression hardened.

“Circulating this declaration was not withdrawal.”

Unhwi spoke.

“You called the Sichuan Alliance part of the Demonic Path, incited division, and walked into Gun Mugeol’s embrace.”

“That is what an enemy does.”

Lu Han’s eyes began to tremble.

“Are you saying you consider me an enemy?”

“You did so first.”

Lu Han felt that something had gone terribly wrong.

This had been a carefully calculated plan.

The Azure Dragon Sect was one of the pillars of the Sichuan Alliance.

That was undeniable.

And with the Sichuan Alliance shaken, he had wanted to raise the value of that position even further.

Not merely a pillar.

Something beyond even a core faction.

Through the declaration, he intended to gather sects willing to follow him and then negotiate with the Sichuan Alliance.

The Sichuan Alliance controlled vast interests.

Countless people struggled for even a slightly larger share of them.

This had clearly been an opportunity.

But now Unhwi was calling him an enemy.

Defining him completely as one.

This could not happen.