Caught Up In A Secret Scheme (1)

“Secret Shadow’s traces have been discovered.”

“Where?”

“Tianshan.”

“Tianshan? Why did he go there?”

“They say he followed those who killed Nam Yeong.”

“Nam Yeong is dead?”

“You are late with your information. It has been quite a while. They say Secret Shadow became enraged because of that and pursued them.”

“How did you people learn that?”

“Do not think the information power of our Brocade Guard is inferior to the Eastern Depot’s. In some aspects, we surpass them.”

“Understood. Then I will see you again later.”

“I will not go far. Please go carefully.”

One person left, and another person entered again.

“Secret Shadow’s traces are the main content of the information.”

“Is there nothing else?”

“The movements of his companions. Nam Yeong is dead, and if even they are harmed, the blow to Secret Shadow will become even greater.”

“As expected, the Brocade Guard is different. Good. We will deal with them first. But you must certainly take responsibility.”

“I know. Your Highness simply knows nothing at all.”

“Do not carelessly call me Your Highness either.”

“Understood.”

Another person left, and two more people entered again.

“Thank you for the information you gave us. But what is it you want?”

“Secret Shadow’s life.”

“Haha! That is truly a story that suits our tastes as well. But will it be possible with just the two of you?”

“It does not matter if it is impossible. We have nothing left now. If we die together, then we win.”

“With that kind of resolve, it should be possible to deal a blow to Secret Shadow. As it happens, people Secret Shadow greatly likes are moving separately from him. First, kill the woman among them.”

“The woman?”

The two people made troubled expressions. They did not like that the person they had to face was a woman.

“Was she said to be betrothed to Secret Shadow? She is probably someone whose loss would pain his heart quite a lot. She does not seem to have learned much martial arts, and they say only her medical skill is outstanding, so surely there will be no mistake?”

The two who were listening nodded. If she was Secret Shadow’s fiancée, the shock would truly be great. That fact alone was enough for them to harden their hearts.

“Good. Do not worry.”

“Then that is enough. I will inform you later of Secret Shadow’s movements when he returns to the Central Plains again.”

The two people nodded and went outside.

Now no one else entered anymore. Instead, only the one who had called himself a member of the Brocade Guard remained seated there.

“I will suppress the Eastern Depot. I have staked my life on that. To do that, I must erase Secret Shadow from the Eastern Depot. The people who will carry out that work have all been prepared now. When he returns from Tianshan, the work will begin from then.”

The Brocade Guard. It was an organization created to protect the empire’s imperial city and capital, Beijing. Before the Eastern Depot was created, it was also a place that held absolute power. Its power had not gone anywhere even now, but because of Secret Shadow, it had been living under the pressure of the Eastern Depot’s prestige.

That Brocade Guard was now targeting Neung Je-gang.

“You say information is not being delivered?”

“That is correct. Somewhere, someone is digging up our secret lines. We must quickly set up countermeasures.”

“Are there countermeasures?”

“We have no choice but to abandon the current branch. An information agent who has already been exposed is no longer useful.”

“If you think it will be resolved by doing that, then do so. Put it into effect quickly.”

They were the Eastern Depot’s agents. A hole had been opened in the empire’s largest organization for handling information. They had no choice but to cut off the middle branch through which information was delivered. Until it recovered, they would no longer be able to completely control information.

Cheong Yeon, Ma-jil, and the group fell into danger. However, that news was not delivered to the Eastern Depot. The Eastern Depot did not know. They did not know that the reason their organization had been damaged was simply to catch Cheong Yeon, Ma-jil, and their group. There was no other reason.

The entrance of Antang Mountain. Those who hid their forms completely surrounded Antang Mountain. Information about their movements was completely cut off.

An emergency was raised in a certain unit in Jiangxi Province. They had to come to Antang Mountain under the pretext of training. Cases where troops crossed into another province to train were almost unheard of.

“Phew! This damned cleaning has no end.”

Right now, Ma-jil’s group was doing a great cleaning. It had already been over a month. During that time, they had done nothing but clean relentlessly.

Even so, the smell of blood had not faded much, and the water of the pond had not completely lost its red hue. The blood of the dead was still thickly dissolved in that water.

“It is still a long way until the captain comes, right?”

Cheong Yeon asked while looking at Ma-jil.

“I don’t know, hmph.”

Ma-jil was sulking like a little girl. He had learned that Cheong Yeon and Gongsun Gyeong-in were learning forbidden arts from Neung Je-gang.

“Ah, I told you. He said he would give you one too.”

He told Ma-jil this because his ill temper had not subsided, but Ma-jil could not understand the idea of learning later in the first place.

If martial arts were of the same level, it was better to learn them first. That way, one would be one step ahead of others.

But Ma-jil had not learned anything, while the two of them were already learning forbidden arts. He was upset because he thought he had been excluded only because his dantian was broken.

“Something is strange.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in approached and spoke.

“What is?”

“The surrounding air is somehow becoming stifling.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in, who was currently learning the Small-Hand Art, was in a state where his sense of qi had developed greatly.

“The surrounding air?”

Cheong Yeon muttered as if he had sensed something, then went outside the cave. He soon came back in. Standing in the narrow passage blocking the cave entrance, he called Ma-jil.

“Ma-jil! It is the enemy.”

“The enemy?”

No matter how much he was sulking, if the enemy had come and he still acted sulky, he would become a bastard worse than the enemy. Ma-jil set aside his ill temper and stood up. They had not even finished cleaning yet, and now the enemy had come again. He no longer liked Antang Mountain very much.

“Do you know who they are?”

“No. But it is strange. It feels familiar.”

“That is the same for me as well. Somehow, it feels familiar. The only organizations I know are the Thief World and the army…….”

Gongsun Gyeong-in, who had been speaking, and Cheong Yeon suddenly met each other’s eyes. Then they shouted at the same time.

“It is the army.”

“The army? You are saying the enemies climbing Antang Mountain are the army?”

Ma-jil asked in confusion. The army was supposed to mean they were on the same side. In any case, they were people working under the same imperial sky.

“Why would the army?”

Cheong Yeon had doubts. No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for the army to climb Antang Mountain while spreading killing intent.

“What do you mean? Are you saying the army is our enemy right now?”

Ma-jil still could not understand.

“Someone in the military is targeting us. They must have decided to eliminate us while the captain is absent.”

“The military? No, what bastard dares?”

Ma-jil wanted to rush outside at once, grab any one of them, and ask. He wanted to shout that after they had gone through such hardship and even resolved Kunlun’s rebellion for them, how could there be such betrayal?

“But would the army know this place?”

The cave was large, but the entrance was also in a secluded place, and it was not easily visible from outside. Perhaps if they just endured here, the soldiers might simply search, give up, and go down.

“If they did not know, there would be no reason for them to climb while spreading killing intent like that. Perhaps someone from the former people here informed them. Or else they intercepted the Eastern Depot’s information along the way. The Eastern Depot knew this place.”

“Then we have no choice but to fight.”

“…….”

It was truly a difficult problem. It certainly seemed like they were targeting them, but if they fought here and the other side claimed they had not been targeting them, they might have the blame dumped on them.

If the soldiers said they had had no intention of attacking this place, they would have nothing to say. Those people could simply say they were in the middle of training.

“Shall we hide for now?”

“Where?”

“In that secret room over there.”

Ma-jil pointed to the space on the side. But to Gongsun Gyeong-in’s eyes, it was just a stone wall. He looked at Ma-jil with pitiful eyes. It was a gaze like he was looking at a madman.

“And if the enemy still does not withdraw?”

“Then we fight.”

Ma-jil spoke firmly.

“Can we not dig a tunnel and escape?”

Gongsun Gyeong-in asked.

“Sorry, but if you dig a little below this floor, it is complete rock. It is entirely made of stone. The soil inside here is something that blew in on the wind and piled up over a very long time, so it is not very thick.”

Cheong Yeon answered before Ma-jil did. He was relaying what Ma-jil had said in the past when they made a house here.

“Ah! We are properly trapped.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in’s body began to tremble. Since he was a thief, he innately hated being trapped to an extreme degree.

“Let us avoid them first, and if the army still does not withdraw, then we will fight. If we can just hold out until the captain comes, the captain will take care of everything after that.”

“Good.”

Cheong Yeon and Ma-jil, who knew Neung Je-gang’s personality well, seriously reached that conclusion. Gongsun Gyeong-in did not oppose it either. Since he already knew how Neung Je-gang fought, he could not think of a better opinion.

Ma-jil and the group went through the cave to the side space. Ma-jil moved last and blocked the entrance with a boulder. He did not stop there, and also scraped together the soil beside the cave and blocked the gaps of the entrance.

“This place is nice.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in liked that space. It was not that narrow, and it was not very wide either. There was also water, so they could wash.

If there was only one inconvenient thing, it was Je So-yeon, who was part of the group. He was worried how she would endure for a while in a place with only men.

During that time, they lived while reading the martial arts manuals Nam Yeong had been storing inside. Gongsun Gyeong-in cultivated the Small-Hand Art, and Cheong Yeon immersed himself in training his sword aura. Since they could not make noise, they could not train excessively, but there was no great issue with creating and withdrawing sword aura.

Jo Ja-myeong also read manuals and trained in what Pungroe taught him. Jo Ja-myeong had already roughly learned all of the basic parts. As Neung Je-gang had seen, he had excellent talent for martial arts.

Only Ma-jil, who was learning completely different martial arts, did not have much to do. However, with martial arts, the more one knew, the better. So he diligently read books.

Ma-jil probably would not know. Later, once the Five Element True Qi became complete, even his damaged dantian could be restored. When that time came, the martial arts he was reading now would become a great strength.

What Jo Su-won, Jo Ja-myeong’s father, did was take charge of meals. Saying that was the only work he could do, he would step forward on his own and prepare food for the group to eat.

Je So-yeon, unable to keep watching that, began teaching Jo Su-won simple basic medicine. It could also be called a kind of herbalism.