Chapter 36

“Smoke and Cloud Union, what did you call us together for?”

The temporary leaders of the Southern Four Alliance gathered in Military Hall at Ha Ho-baek’s urgent summons.

This was the first time the four had met like this since forming the joint raiding party against the Night Water Clan. Back then they’d been given a box containing the severed heads of sect warriors as a “gift.” Shocked and overwhelmed with despair, the Southern Four Alliance had not met since—convinced there was no way to resist.

Even now, the faces of the temporary leaders were as dark as ever.

“I requested this meeting because I have something to tell you all.”

“Let’s hear it.”

The Smoke and Cloud Union of Namyang Lake, the Gold Radiance Sect of Soyang Lake, the Dispersing Lotus Union of Misan Lake, and the Blue River Clan of Doksan Lake—these four sects were the hundred-island sects of Namsa Lake known as the Southern Four Alliance. Among them, Ha Ho-baek of the Smoke and Cloud Union was currently the youngest.

“I felt the remaining strength of the Smoke and Cloud Union alone would not be enough to stand against the Night Water Clan, so I requested outside assistance.”

Ha Ho-baek was not the only one to consider outside help. The other temporary leaders, as heads of long-rooted sects in Namsa Lake, also had friends and allies. But every request they’d made had been ignored or refused.

There was only one reason: they feared the name of the Bukgung Family, rumored to be behind the Night Water Clan.

“Oh? Where did you ask for help?” Noh Ja-gwang, temporary head of the Gold Radiance Sect, asked with little expectation.

“I asked the Bukgung Family for help.”

“…!”

The three leaders, excluding Ha Ho-baek, widened their eyes.

Mo Yeom-bi of the Dispersing Lotus Union asked, “And what was their answer?”

“Guests from the Bukgung Family came to see the Smoke and Cloud Union.”

“!!!”

Someone coming in person without a messenger meant they intended to help. The lifeless eyes of the heads suddenly regained some life.

“Is that true?”

“They really sent people from the Bukgung Family?”

“No, wait a moment.”

As the others grew excited, Mo Yeom-bi interjected skeptically. “That doesn’t make sense. Does that mean the Bukgung Family isn’t actually backing the Night Water Clan? The Bukgung Family wouldn’t interfere with their own affairs, would they?”

“No. That’s not necessarily so.”

Yu Un-seok of the Blue River Clan answered for Ha Ho-baek. The oldest and most experienced among them, he had acted as a de facto elder brother since the previous leaders vanished.

“The Bukgung Family is united under one name, but inside it’s divided into factions. The minor branch hasn’t even chosen a Family Lord—I’ve heard six brothers are vying for it. Even within the same family they can be at odds and obstruct each other.”

Yu Un-seok slapped his knee, glanced at Ha Ho-baek, and grinned. “Why didn’t I think of that? Remarkable. Astonishing. Lord Ha, your ingenuity is astounding. If you cannot oppose the Bukgung Family, you check Bukgung with Bukgung. How did you come up with such an idea?”

“My father, I understand, had a small connection with the Bukgung Family.”

“So what did the Bukgung Family’s guests say?”

Ha Ho-baek swallowed before answering. “They demanded gold in exchange for rescuing the Smoke and Cloud Union.”

“What madness!” Mo Yeom-bi erupted. “They must know our situation and demand money first? Are they heartless monsters?!”

Their elder, Yu Un-seok, admonished him. “Calm down. They’re called the greatest golden house in the world. How many requests like this must they receive? It’s remarkable they didn’t ignore the Smoke and Cloud Union’s plea and actually sent people. Perhaps they just calculate precisely. So—how much did they demand?”

“Ten thousand coins.”

“…?”

“They demanded ten thousand coins in gold.”

Silence flowed between the four.

Noh Ja-gwang said, “Ten thousand coins—two thousand five hundred per person? The Gold Radiance Sect doesn’t have that kind of wealth.”

“It’s not split among the four. They demanded ten thousand coins in gold from the Smoke and Cloud Union alone.”

A common expression crossed the other three faces: are they insane?

Mo Yeom-bi’s anger could not be quelled. “If they aren’t going to help, they’d at least say so. Did the Bukgung Family come here to mock us? No sect in the world can pay ten thousand coins apiece!”

“They said the ten thousand coins is not an upfront fee but a success reward. If they fail to bring down the Night Water Clan, they won’t take the money. They also claim they’ll find our missing fathers and friends.”

“You mean the missing leaders? Their fate isn’t even known.”

“Yes. I also think that claim is an excuse to extract ten thousand coins.”

“They’re probably dead. The Night Water Clan has no reason to keep them alive,” Mo Yeom-bi declared.

“In any case, a martial arts warrior from the Bukgung Family requested a meeting with our elders. They’ll likely make the same proposal. Shall we meet them?”

A negotiation with the Bukgung Family was their only lifeline, but the enormous sum weighed heavily on them. The leaders felt as if they were stepping into a tiger’s maw worse than the one they feared.

“What kind of martial arts warrior from the Bukgung Family was it? A famous fighter? What was his skill like? What was the atmosphere?”

“He said his name was Yeon Mujin… honestly, I don’t know the name. I didn’t see his skill, but his air—how to put it—was like that of a stray dog.”

“A stray dog?”

It hardly fit the Bukgung Family.

Ha Ho-baek tilted his head. “No, rather than a stray dog, perhaps I should say a mad dog…”

“A mad dog?”

Calling him a mad dog of the Bukgung Family was an impossible image.

Yu Un-seok decided first. “Let’s meet him.”

“Yu hyung!” Mo Yeom-bi cried. “Ten thousand coins? Are you out of your mind? Even if it succeeds, we’d be selling the future of Blue River Clan!”

“Blue River Clan has no future as it is.”

Yu Un-seok looked at Mo Yeom-bi. “I can’t stand by and let Blue River Clan collapse. I can’t forget the eyes of the retainers who look only to me. I can’t eat or sleep; thinking only of Blue River Clan’s future feels like the sky is falling. Blue River Clan has been passed down for generations. I will not hand it over to those bastards with my eyes wide open.”

A vein bulged in Yu Un-seok’s neck. “Even if it’s like selling Blue River Clan’s future, if someone will buy it, I’d sell it even to a ghost. For the honor of my late father!”

“I agree with you, Yu hyung.” Noh Ja-gwang of the Gold Radiance Sect echoed him. “Do-hyeong, Gi-mun, Mu-cheol—they were brothers who grew up with me. You know the devastation when a brother’s head is all that remains, Yeom-bi. If we lose the Gold Radiance Sect like this, their reproach will follow me into the afterlife. If there were a price for the pain and hatred etched in my heart, I would pay not ten thousand coins but a million.”

Noh Ja-gwang spoke with trembling fists, bloodshot eyes, and a flushed throat. He was the most solemn and weighty of the four, a truly manly presence. The others swallowed their composure at his fury.

“Mo hyung, even if we refuse, it wouldn’t hurt to meet them once. They’re not asking for ten thousand coins right now, are they? Hasn’t the Southern Four Alliance always been of one body?” Ha Ho-baek urged.

At his prompting, Mo Yeom-bi finally relented. “If it’s merely to meet them…”

“Very well. A stray dog, was it? No, a mad dog? The Night Water Clan treated us like mutts, so we’ll gladly act like dogs too. Ho-baek, call Yeon Mujin. Let’s meet him together.”

Yu Un-seok gazed out at Namsa Lake framed by the window. This was the land where they were born, where they had lived, and where they would be buried. It could not be taken easily.

“He may be our only way out, or he may be the mouth of a new gateway to hell…”

And that mad dog was now the focus of dozens of Night Water Clan members’ glares.

“Tell the clan leader to come out, you motherfuckers!”

He spoke and moved like a third-rate street thug, with none of the dignity or prestige expected of the murim. Watching Yeon Mujin act out made the External Protection Troops’ heads ache.

“He calls himself the captain?”

“He’s got the whole wanderer look about him.”

“You’re magnificent, captain!”

Only Yu Se-gwang cheered, eyes shining. “This is the spirit of a man who won’t be cowed! An indomitable presence! Lord Yeon, I respect you!”

“Se-gwang, you can learn everything else from him, but don’t learn that.”

“He’s going to catch it from him. He sure will.”

Seo Nak-il and Wei Gon-chan had begun treating Yeon Mujin like some contagious disease.

“But deputy captain, shouldn’t we help?”

Who knew what he was thinking, smashing open a clan gate and shouting for the leader, but murim common sense said to beat uninvited guests senseless and drive them out like dogs.

The hitch was that the man they were supposed to beat was Yeon Mujin.

Even if their heads were split in two, the External Protection Troops couldn’t imagine Yeon Mujin being beaten like a dog. To be honest, they were a little curious to see what would happen.

“Who the hell are you!” a martial artist demanded, leaping forward with the all-too-familiar challenge.

With beady eyes and grubby features, he looked the sort of fellow who might win a Central Plains evil sect’s “handsomest villain” contest.

“I am Byeon Chil-seong of the Night Water Clan! State your name and origin!”

When meeting someone new, revealing names and status to establish standing was a murim rule Yeon Mujin ignored.

“Are you the clan leader?”

“What kind of bastard dares to…”

Thwack!

Before he could finish, Yeon Mujin’s fist met his face. Byeon Chil-seong sprawled to the ground, his features smashed.

The former contender for the Central Plains evil sect good looks contest now resembled a candidate for the butcher’s prize.

“Where’s the clan leader!” Yeon Mujin called like someone crying out for a lost love.

But the Night Water Clan’s members had too much pride to announce, “Clan leader, he’s here!” simply because two of their men were down.

Next came a hulking man at least twice Yeon Mujin’s height.

“These guys have strong personalities.”

“They’re not ordinary.”

“They’re peculiar.”

That was the External Protection Troops’ impression.

“I am Gwak Ji-geol of the Night Water Clan…!”

“You’re not the clan leader, are you?”

Between the words “clan leader” and “you’re not,” Yeon Mujin drove his fist into the giant’s belly. Gwak Ji-geol spat something greenish-brown and was instantly knocked out.

Gwak Ji-geol had some reputation within the Night Water Clan, but the mood among the clan’s darker members shifted—from “What kind of madman is he?” to “What kind of mad warrior is he?”