Swift Wind Beggar.

“I’ll speak slowly. I am late with my greeting. This old man is called Gwak Il.”

Gwak Il. It was one of the common names.

However, there was only one person with that name among the Five-Knot Beggars of the Beggars’ Union.

“Swift Wind Beggar!”

He was famed for having the fastest legs in the Beggars’ Union.

Jeon Pyeong and Tang Ho’s gazes turned to Swift Wind Beggar’s legs.

His legs did not move. Blood stained the cloth wrapped around them.

They were not wounds that could be healed with treatment. There was no more Swift Wind.

Noticing their looks, Swift Wind Beggar smiled gently.

“Please understand that I have to receive guests lying down. My body is not well.”

“Not at all.”

Jeon Pyeong hastily shook his head.

“I am Jeon Pyeong of Mount Hua. This side is from Kunlun…”

“I know. You are Young Hero Gyo and Young Hero Seo, yes. And you there must be Young Hero Tang.”

As Swift Wind Beggar’s gaze reached them, Seo Jong-dae and Tang Ho bowed their heads in turn.

Swift Wind Beggar had more than enough standing for that.

He was not only fast. His chivalrous deeds were also well known.

He was a senior respected in the Orthodox Murim.

And such a man had been driven out by fellow Beggars’ Union disciples.

It was hard to believe. His name was far too great for it to be just because of an injury.

“I should hand over what I asked for first. Cheong. Come in for a moment.”

At Swift Wind Beggar’s call, a young beggar outside entered.

“Take down the curtain.”

“Yes, Acting Branch Master.”

At the title “acting,” Bong Seok frowned as if he did not like it.

But he did not bother to say anything aloud.

The young man who had come in also bit his lip after saying the word.

When the beggar named Cheong pulled the cord, the curtain covering the wall was drawn aside.

And when the group saw what lay beyond, their eyes widened.

Wooden slips and bamboo slips filled the wall.

There were even ones written on leather.

It was an amount that made their minds reel.

“All of those are…”

“They are strange incidents that have occurred in the eastern part of Qinghai Province. Of course, even these are only a portion that I myself managed to bring out when I was driven out.”

At those words, the group swallowed hard.

If this was only a portion, just how many incidents had there been.

They could not even imagine.

“I was already aware that something was happening here in Qinghai. But I did not know what it was.”

Swift Wind Beggar shook his head at that point.

“No, that is not right. It is more accurate to say I knew and ignored it.”

Swift Wind Beggar let out a self-mocking laugh.

“By the time I received word and began gathering information, it was already beyond control.”

The wooden slips that covered the wall were proof of that.

“Branch Master…”

“Call me acting. Whatever the reason, I was removed through proper procedures.”

“What on earth happened?”

At Jeon Pyeong’s question, Swift Wind Beggar gave a bitter smile.

“Thanks to the request from Lanzhou, I learned of the problem and thought I had to inform the Central Hall. I ordered the branch members to collect evidence for that. But that was where the problem lay.”

The group could not hide their puzzlement.

Swift Wind Beggar’s actions were reasonable. He could not report without evidence.

His beard trembled as he felt their gazes.

“I should have reported straight to the Central Hall and requested support. I was foolish, even though I knew members of the Murim Alliance had gone missing. The Beggars’ Union disciples who went out to collect evidence disappeared as they were. Only three barely returned.”

They did not know how many he had ordered out.

But given that it was the Beggars’ Union, it could not have been a small number.

“The three who came back had changed as if they were different people.”

The group looked at one another.

Jo Chung came to mind, but they shook their heads.

This was different from Jo Chung. Jo Chung had moved by his own will.

He had not even seemed aware that a bug was inside him.

“After those three returned, the Beggar disciples slowly began to change.”

“It cannot be…”

Swift Wind Beggar nodded.

“They pulled me down and acclaimed a new branch master.”

“Did they also do that to your legs, Elder?”

Gyo-ha suddenly asked. At the title “Elder,” wrinkles formed at the corners of Swift Wind Beggar’s mouth.

“No. After I was driven out, I tried to ask the Heunghae branch post for help. But it had already been attacked by someone. The Heunghae branch master, who was dying, entrusted the branch to me. I immediately pursued the culprit. He was someone who wielded the sword like a ghost. His figure seemed wrapped in darkness. It was that man who did this to my legs.”

At Swift Wind Beggar’s words, the group was stunned.

The acting branch master he spoke of had not meant Xining.

There was yet another figure involved. It meant that the Heunghae branch post had fallen as well.

It was hard enough just to keep up with the situation.

Swift Wind Beggar stroked his beard after saying that much.

“Thinking back on it now, he may not have been human. Still, I did learn one thing.”

As the group looked at him, Swift Wind Beggar turned his eyes to the wall.

“I do not know exactly what those are, but even if they are not all of it… at the very least, the one that took control of the Xining branch post is displeased at this matter leaking outside.”

Beyond Qinghai Province.

When they looked at him as if asking how he knew, Swift Wind Beggar spoke calmly.

“The first thing the ones who seized the Xining branch post did was burn them. When I returned, the people at the Heunghae branch post had changed to be like the Xining branch, and of course, the information had disappeared as well.”

When the group’s eyes slipped toward the outside, Swift Wind Beggar nodded.

“These are the ones who happened to be outside the branch. They gathered here at my request. Despite all that has happened, the Beggars’ Union itself is unchanged. They still gather information as always and deliver it to the Central Hall and the Murim Alliance. The one difference is …”

“They removed all information about themselves.”

At Seo Jong-dae’s answer, Swift Wind Beggar nodded with a heavy expression.

“That is right.”

That made it all the more chilling.

At one place the branch master had been replaced, and at another he had been killed.

Yet even so, up until he came here, Bong Seok had not known.

Other Beggars’ Union disciples were likely the same.

The group shuddered at the chill creeping up inside them.

“Those guys are definitely not from the Unorthodox sects or the Demon Cult.”

That was not enough to explain them.

“That is why I thought of you. Since you are the ones who made such a request, I felt you might be able to give me an answer.”

The group’s gazes started to turn toward Gyo-ha, then shifted to Seo Jong-dae.

For matters like this, Seo Jong-dae was better than Gyo-ha.

Feeling their eyes on him, Seo Jong-dae sighed and began to speak.

Swift Wind Beggar listened to Seo Jong-dae’s story with serious eyes.

Tang Ho now took it seriously, unlike at the beginning.

It was because he had seen and felt it for himself.

“…This Qinghai Province is no different from a den of dragons and tigers. No, calling it a demonic domain would be more fitting.”

Swift Wind Beggar said bitterly.

“Is Orthodox Murim paying the price for abandoning the Kunlun Sect.”

For a price, it was far too heavy.

Swift Wind Beggar had not been in Qinghai when Kunlun fell, but he had heard the news.

He had been dissatisfied with the order at the time to prepare for a Demon Cult invasion instead of going to help Kunlun.

Even so, he had not raised his voice. Then he had forgotten again.

There were many like Swift Wind Beggar.

“I am sorry, but may this old man make one request.”

“Do you mean the Xining branch post…”

At Bong Seok’s words, Swift Wind Beggar shook his head.

“It is already too late to do anything there. I cannot ask you to do something that dangerous.”

“Then?”

“Not long ago, an investigation team from the Murim Alliance was dispatched. I received word that they were attacked by an unknown group and became isolated.”

After saying that, he turned to Jeon Pyeong.

“I am sorry to say this to you, Young Hero, but those who went missing are likely already dead.”

“…I am already prepared for that.”

Jeon Pyeong thought the same.

At his words, Swift Wind Beggar nodded.

“The damage must not spread any further. Please rescue them and get them out of here.”

“And you, Elder.”

Jeon Pyeong had been about to call him senior, but chose Elder instead.

It was because Swift Wind Beggar had seemed to like the title when Gyo-ha used it earlier. Sure enough, a small smile appeared on his face.

“I will remain here and hold the line. The ones who suffer such things will not be only the Beggars’ Union. Someone has to reach a hand out to them.”

The group’s eyes widened.

It was a part they had not thought of.

However, Bong Seok shook his head.

“It is too dangerous. If they are controlling the branch posts, you will not even be able to get help from the Central Hall.”

“I know. But it is something someone must do. When Kunlun returns, would it not be too lonely if no one were left.”

Swift Wind Beggar chuckled as he looked at Gyo-ha and Seo Jong-dae.

The group could not say anything.

Instead, one thing rose to mind.

‘In matters, act with righteousness, if it is not righteous, do not go.’

When you act, you think of righteousness, and if it is not righteous, you do not go.

It was a saying that symbolized the Beggars’ Union itself.

When people thought of wandering heroes, they counted at least three and at most five.

One of them was Baek Gun-ak, the Murim Alliance Leader.

He was known as the Chivalrous Emperor, a renowned man respected by all under heaven, whom no one could deny.

However, when speaking of the most chivalrous group, everyone named one place.

The Beggars’ Union.

Because of people like Swift Wind Beggar, that reputation continued.

“I cannot run as I did in the past, but this old man’s name still has some use.”

Swift Wind Beggar let out a hearty laugh, but his face soon turned serious again.

“If you find it too hard, flee. And never think of going deep into Qinghai.”

That was a warning.

The group looked at one another and nodded.

They had already heard it from Yun Heo.

But hearing it directly like this felt different.

“Ah, before you leave, let me borrow that lad for a bit.”

Swift Wind Beggar was pointing at Bong Seok.

The group nodded and left the farmhouse.

They could guess what Swift Wind Beggar and Bong Seok were going to talk about.

Even long after the party had gone out, Bong Seok did not come out.

However, the group did not hound him.

They waited calmly.

Bong Seok finally came out about two hours later.

When he emerged from the farmhouse, his expression was complicated.

As the group looked at him, he spoke of the reason he had been inside, even though no one asked.

“…He passed a movement art down to me.”

The Ten-Thousand-Li Chasing Wind Movement Art.¹

It was not some grand martial art. It was one of the arts you could learn if you became a branch master.

However, the one who had passed it on was Swift Wind Beggar.

It was not the same as the usual Ten-Thousand-Li Chasing Wind Movement Art.

It contained the lifetime of martial attainment Swift Wind Beggar had built up.

It was no exaggeration to treat it as a different art.

Swift Wind Beggar had chosen Bong Seok as the successor to carry on his martial arts.

Bong Seok scratched his head irritably.

“I know I do not deserve it either.”

Perhaps feeling guilty, Bong Seok spoke first.

It was not that he did not know himself.

He understood himself all too well.

However, for Swift Wind Beggar it was the natural choice.

His martial arts could not be allowed to end here.

Yet he could not hand it down to just anyone.

There were quite a number of Beggars’ Union martial artists outside, but only about two looked stronger than Bong Seok.

And they were all past middle age.

Even after hearing what had happened inside, they showed no sign of dissatisfaction.

In the Lanzhou branch post, the largest in Gansu Province, Bong Seok was the most outstanding talent.

There was no need to even confirm his talent.

Had he joined a small or mid-sized sect, he would have been talent enough to lead it.

“You will have to work hard.”

So as not to smear the name of Swift Wind Beggar.

At Seo Jong-dae’s words, Bong Seok bit his lip.

Seo Jong-dae looked at him and asked.

“Do you need time?”

He had just inherited a martial art. He would need time to sort it out.

However, Bong Seok shook his head.

“I have already memorized it all.”

He said it calmly, without his usual air of boasting.

The group knew those words were not bluffing but the truth.

He could master the martial art later.

It was not something that could be done in a short time anyway.

“Then let us talk on the way. We have already delayed too long.”

It was Tang Ho.

The group nodded. A new task had been set.

The Murim Alliance’s investigation team.

They had to rescue them.

And if those people had come ahead of them, there would be clues about the missing.

The group left the nameless temporary Beggars’ Union branch post.