The Revealed Conspiracy (2)

Xingxiu Sea.

It is the name of a lake located at the southern end of Cheonghae.

It consisted of two large lakes, and the natives there called them a sea.

According to their legends, the stars of the night sky came down to the lake during the day and slept there. It was beautiful, but not very easy to understand. In any case, that was why the lake was named Xingxiu Sea.

Neung Je-gang was somewhat flustered by the lake that suddenly appeared as he rode his horse.

“Did I take the wrong road? Still, it is nice to see such a large body of water in this desolate place… This must be Xingxiu Sea, right? Then that means I came a little north… Why did this happen?”

Neung Je-gang had clearly followed the road as the caravan leader had told him. Since he had gone astray like this, it could be seen that, for some reason, the man had not taught him the proper road.

“Or perhaps stopping by Xingxiu Sea like this before going on may be their route. But would there be any reason to teach me, who said I was in a hurry, a path that goes this far around?”

Suspicion calls forth suspicion. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious the caravan leader’s intentions seemed.

But that was the end of it. He could not go back, grab the caravan leader, and interrogate him. If the man denied everything, what could he say? He could not kill him just because he had taught him a slightly wrong road.

At any rate, Neung Je-gang spent a day by the lake of Xingxiu Sea and then set his course west again. Kunlun was still farther to the west.

West of Xingxiu Sea was a mountain called U-gak Hobong. People of the Central Plains did not know it, but this barren mountain was where the Yellow River began.

Dragon Spring, halfway up U-gak Hobong.

Because of the spring water that endlessly welled up, the only environment on U-gak Hobong where people could live had been created there. And in that place lived people unknown to the world. They called themselves the Soul Hunters.

Ui Jaeng was a secret agent of the Martial Alliance’s Investigation Unit. He was unrivaled in tracking, if nothing else, and for that reason he had earned Go Won-gi’s trust.

The mission he had received this time was to track Secret Shadow, and if he saw those trying to kill him, to follow after them.

It was a somewhat strange order, but since he had been told to do it, he simply accepted it and followed Secret Shadow. Then, on Gongdong Mountain, he saw the Soul-Hunting First Tiger.

Ui Jaeng, who changed his target of pursuit from Secret Shadow to Soul-Hunting First Tiger, eventually came all the way to U-gak Hobong and saw a group of people called the Soul Hunters.

‘So this is the place the Corps Chief told me to look for.’

It was far from finding the mountain Neung Je-gang had intended, but in any case, this place was also connected to the Necromancer Cult, so it could not be called entirely wrong.

The problem lay in the abilities of those called the Soul Hunters. Each one of them was a master of tracking comparable to Ui Jaeng, and also a master of murder.

Those skilled in tracking are also skilled at avoiding pursuit. After discovering the group called the Soul Hunters, Ui Jaeng attempted to escape. His task was to leave the place without being discovered by anyone and deliver information about it to the Martial Alliance.

But he had rotten luck.

“Kyaaaak!”

It was not one of the Soul Hunters. It was only a native girl from around Xingxiu Sea. If the other party had been a Soul Hunter, he would have noticed in advance from their distinctive aura.

But because she was an ordinary, far too ordinary girl, Ui Jaeng did not notice her beforehand. Paradoxically, ordinariness can be the most perfect thing. Because Ui Jaeng failed to see the girl who had climbed U-gak Hobong to gather greens, his tracks were exposed.

“Huff, huff, huff!”

Those who have never been pursued do not know it. That desperate struggle for life.

Ui Jaeng hid in order to survive rather than for the sake of his mission. But his enemies were also masters of tracking like him, so it did not take long for them to discover where he was hiding.

Moreover, they were truly dangerous people who possessed killing arts that Ui Jaeng did not. In the end, Ui Jaeng gave up hiding and decided to run toward the Central Plains.

Once he left U-gak Hobong, it was nothing but open wasteland until he entered Gansu Province. If his speed slowed even a little, his path ahead might be blocked.

He ran as if to die. No, he ran in order to live. He desperately ran, trying somehow to survive and return to the Central Plains.

He ran like that for a full day, but he could not shake off the Soul Hunters following him. Unease swept over him, telling him that perhaps his miserable life would end here. Then he saw someone ahead of him.

Thud.

His heart sank. He thought this was the end. But as he drew closer and closer, he realized that was not the case. The one blocking the way ahead was not a Soul Hunter.

“Uahahahaha!”

Ui Jaeng burst into a wild laugh full of joy. It was enough to make the Soul Hunters chasing him flinch, wondering if he had perhaps gone mad.

At any rate, Ui Jaeng burst into wild laughter. He could not help it. Had not the one person who could save him appeared before him like a miracle? And that person was Secret Shadow, an existence whose abilities could not be measured.

“I’m saved.”

Ui Jaeng’s cry made the lake of Xingxiu Sea ripple.

Neung Je-gang shook his head when he saw the man who had suddenly run toward him, laughing and shouting. The man was clearly insane.

“Secret Shadow! You are Secret Shadow, aren’t you?”

But that insane man knew him.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Ui Jaeng, and I belong to the Martial Alliance’s Investigation Unit. Not long ago, I followed after Great Hero Secret Shadow.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did Neung Je-gang realize who he was. Since it was a matter he had ordered, he could not fail to know.

“But why are you like this…?”

“I discovered a place where suspicious people live. The one who killed the people who had been subdued by the Four Masters of Gongdong on Gongdong Mountain was living there.”

‘The Four Masters of Gongdong? Was that what they called those old men?’

Neung Je-gang thought briefly of the old Taoists of Gongdong.

‘Come to think of it, I did not even know who they were. If I happen to see them again later, I should at least pretend to recognize them, so this is fortunate.’

But now was not the time to think about the old Taoists.

“Where is that place?”

“If you ride west from here for one day, there is a mountain the natives here call U-gak Hobong. There was a hidden village halfway up where they lived.”

“But why did you end up like this?”

Ui Jaeng’s current appearance looked like a doll made by clumping dust together. His black clothes had turned gray, and everything except his two eyes had turned gray.

“I made a mistake and was discovered. So now I am being pursued by them. I was escaping toward the Central Plains with a sense of duty, thinking that I had to report this fact, but I had just begun to think I might fail because I was exhausted. But then I happened to meet you, Great Hero, and I thought I had survived, so without realizing it…”

Ui Jaeng embellished the fact that he had run to survive with the words “sense of duty.” And he deliberately flattered Neung Je-gang by calling him Great Hero. Ui Jaeng was someone who could become sufficiently shameless if it meant surviving.

“You said you are being pursued right now?”

“Yes.”

“Then those suspicious people must be them?”

Neung Je-gang saw people running toward them from afar, kicking up dust. They looked gray, similar to Ui Jaeng.

Since they were running blindly across the wasteland, it would have been stranger if dust had not risen.

“That is right. It is them.”

Ui Jaeng shouted.

Neung Je-gang tilted his head. No matter how he looked at them, the people running toward him looked not like warriors but like assassins.

“Well, I suppose there is no law saying assassins cannot live in the mountains.”

“Pardon?”

At Neung Je-gang’s murmur, Ui Jaeng looked back at him, wondering what he meant.

“It is nothing. I will handle this place, so Great Hero Ui Jaeng, please continue on your way.”

When words given are courteous, words returned are courteous as well. Since Ui Jaeng had called him Great Hero, Neung Je-gang had no choice but to call Ui Jaeng Great Hero too.

“Understood.”

Ui Jaeng answered at once and tried to run toward the Central Plains again.

“Wait!”

But then Neung Je-gang quickly called him.

“Yes?”

“If you head toward the Central Plains, you may possibly meet a caravan. Do not come into contact with them.”

“What? No, why?”

“Because there is something suspicious about them. Shouldn’t you be careful, just in case?”

“Ah, understood. Then…”

Ui Jaeng now had a little leeway. It was because he was certain that Neung Je-gang would block the pursuit. If he could not trust the man known throughout the world as the greatest assassin under heaven, then whom could he trust?

After Ui Jaeng left, Neung Je-gang watched the people approach him while gradually slowing down.

But not all of them slowed down like that. About half ran even faster, intending to pass Neung Je-gang and continue pursuing Ui Jaeng.

Clang, paaaak!

The ones who tried to run past him had no choice but to stop moving. If they had continued running, their bodies would have been cut apart by the sword energy that flew in like lightning.

“If you wish to pass me, you need permission.”

Neung Je-gang held up his sword and pointed it at them.

The Soul Hunters looked at one another and nodded. They seemed to be making some plan.

Sssssk.

The Soul Hunters who had originally been assigned to deal with Neung Je-gang attacked. Meanwhile, the ones who had tried to pursue Ui Jaeng prepared to run out again.

“I told you to receive permission.”

Claaaaang.

As Neung Je-gang’s shout burst out, the assassins charging at him all staggered for an instant. In that gap, Neung Je-gang launched himself in front of those who were trying to run again and swept his sword horizontally.

Papapak.

The Soul Hunters hurriedly rolled their bodies and avoided the sword energy.

Neung Je-gang remembered hearing that the Four Masters of Gongdong had tormented Godan’s group with sound waves, so he tried infusing inner energy into his voice and letting it out. Unexpectedly, it had an effect. Even if it could not deal major damage, it had the effect of buying a very brief moment.

But from far away, another group of people rushed in. They wore the same style of clothing as the Soul Hunters. They were enemy reinforcements.

“That man is Secret Shadow. You do not need to chase the one who ran away. Kill only Secret Shadow!”

Among those who appeared later was Soul-Hunting First Tiger. Was it because of his shout? The Soul Hunters surrounded Neung Je-gang with their eyes shining fiercely. Ui Jaeng was no longer in their minds.

Sasasasak.

Assassins display their greatest power when they hide themselves. That is why they naturally prefer the night.

But right now it was midday, an open wasteland with no place to hide. It was an extremely unfavorable environment for the Soul Hunters.

However, the Soul Hunters solved that disadvantage with one method. They circled around Neung Je-gang and raised clouds of dust. The dust rose thickly and hid their bodies.

Neung Je-gang watched what they were doing and then gave a faint laugh. The idea was good, but the enemies had forgotten something. It was that the name Secret Shadow included the meaning of assassin as well.

If their forms were not visible, that was advantageous for Neung Je-gang too. Moreover, did he not have illusion arts?

Fsssh.

The instant Neung Je-gang’s body was hidden by the dust, he vanished like smoke.

Papapapapak.

Immediately afterward, dozens of daggers flew into the place where he had been and embedded themselves there.

“Urk!”

A very small groan. A streak of blood visible through the dust.

The Soul Hunters thought their attack had succeeded. But that groan and the bloodstreak did not end with just one time.

“Kek!”

The groans that sounded like coughs and the bloodstreaks that spread as they stained the dust were the lives, and also the deaths, of the Soul Hunters who had surrounded Neung Je-gang.

“Retreat.”

The instant Soul-Hunting First Tiger realized things were going wrong, he gave the order. At his command, the Soul Hunters scattered and withdrew to places without dust.

Before long, the dust they had created slowly settled, and what appeared before their eyes was only the sight of their dead comrades.

“Secret Shadow is not there.”

At someone’s shout, the Soul Hunters flinched in surprise and looked at the faces of their comrades beside them. If he was not inside the dust, that meant he was right there together with them.

But no matter how much they examined the faces of the people beside them, Secret Shadow’s face could not be seen.

“Where did he go?”

“Did he run away?”

At that moment, Soul-Hunting First Tiger abruptly turned his head to the side in alarm. It was not Secret Shadow’s face, but there was a face there that he did not remember.

“You are…?”

Naturally, he had never seen the face Neung Je-gang had transformed into once more.

Chukak.

Soul-Hunting First Tiger’s head rose gently into the air. Without even receiving the reward Kunlun Record Keeper had promised him, Soul-Hunting First Tiger buried his life in the wasteland just like that.

The battle was one-sided. From the start, there was a difference in their abilities as assassins. Strictly speaking, illusion arts were practically cheating, but because of them, the contest flowed one-sidedly.

The Soul Hunters did not flee and charged until the very end. They knew that if they could not stop Neung Je-gang here, their base had no hope of surviving anyway.

They knew very well how much the Central Plains martial world hated the Necromancer Cult. Since one person had already learned its location and escaped, that place had to be abandoned. To do that, they needed time, and to gain that time, they had to throw away even their lives.

After all the Soul Hunters were killed, Neung Je-gang immediately rode his horse toward the place where Ui Jaeng said the village was. Finding Dragon Spring on U-gak Hobong was not difficult. When he went upstream along the water, there was indeed a spring where water welled up, and near it stood a village bearing clear traces that people had lived there.

However, the village had already turned into ruins. Only houses and house sites remained, and there was nothing with life.

“Did they already run away?”

Weeds whose roots are not pulled out will grow again. Neung Je-gang felt regret, but there was nothing he could do.

“But is this really the mountain the Necromancer Cult speaks of?”

Neung Je-gang thought about it.

“It does not seem to be this place, does it?”

They had said the mountain was a place where people like Hwangbo Chu and Godan were gathered. People like that would not abandon their base and leave so easily.

And for this place to have been where the upper echelon of the Necromancer Cult lived, the village was too small. Rather, it would sound more convincing to go to any random mountain in the Central Plains and point at a bandit fortress, saying that was the Necromancer Cult’s base.

“If it is not the mountain, then what is it? Just how many places like this does the Necromancer Cult have?”

At any rate, without gaining anything, Neung Je-gang descended U-gak Hobong again.

Once again, it was time to head for Kunlun.