Unraveling Questions

After leaving the Martial Alliance, Neung Je-gang headed for Zhengzhou. The towering walls of Henan’s provincial capital came into view, and he saw long lines of people waiting to enter the city.

Once inside Zhengzhou, Neung Je-gang went first to the money exchange. Having tossed away his pouch when he bought the Mindless Sword, he had no cash on hand.

But he had brought with him enormous sums taken from the Assassin Pavilion. The money alone was enough to fund Huiji Mountain’s operations for decades.

Added to that were the brothels and inns the Pavilion had run with hired men; the amounts were astronomical. Managed well, Huiji Mountain would never need to worry about finances again.

Paradise Exchange.

The largest exchange in Zhengzhou. When Neung Je-gang arrived, a man ran out to greet him at once.

“Welcome, sir. What business brings you here?”

“I’d like to sell some properties and deposit the value with the exchange…”

“Ah, please this way.”

If it was not a withdrawal but a deposit, the exchange welcomed it most warmly.

Following the guide, Neung Je-gang laid out documents he had organized in his bosom. Among them were land deeds, house deeds, and deposit slips from other exchanges—a pile of assets.

“A-all of this…?”

“Calculate the total and issue a deposit slip. Oh, and give me about ten taels in coin.”

Even at a glance it came to hundreds of thousands of taels. One slip even read 100,000 taels of gold. This was perhaps the largest single transaction they had ever seen.

“Please wait a moment while we tally it.”

Land and buildings varied by region and size, so calculating took time.

“The total is 478,920 taels of gold. Please review.”

The exchange master himself rushed over with an itemized list of Neung Je-gang’s documents, their values, and the sum.

Neung Je-gang skimmed it and nodded. Unless the property values themselves were skewed, the totals added up.

“Good. Give me ten taels in coin, and the rest in a single slip.”

“In… one slip? Wouldn’t you like it broken down?”

If he asked for slips in single tael denominations, the entire staff would spend the night stamping them. It would be laborious beyond belief.

“Just one. Carrying many is inconvenient.”

“Isn’t that risky? Shall I arrange guards for you?”

“No need. Only this exchange knows I hold such a sum.”

The master tilted his head at the calm reply. Such confidence was only seen in martial experts. Yet the young man before him looked like a scholar who had never touched a sword.

Then the master’s eyes caught the weapon lying casually at Neung Je-gang’s side—the Mindless Sword. Different in form from ordinary blades, and without a scabbard, it made him flinch.

There was an old saying in the martial world: An inch longer was an inch of advantage; an inch shorter was an inch of peril. Long weapons had their merits. Another saying warned: Beware the old, the women, and the children—for in the martial world appearances deceived.

Neung Je-gang was none of those, yet he carried a peculiar long sword. The master knew such men were best treated with caution.

He returned with a pouch of ten gold taels and a single deposit slip. Neung Je-gang inspected it carefully.

“Hm. Not a forgery.”

On rare occasions, even exchanges issued false slips, leaving customers paupers overnight. But none could deceive the eyes of one who had served in the Eastern Depot’s Capture Bureau.

After repeated bows of thanks, Neung Je-gang left the exchange and sought out a forge. He wanted at least a simple scabbard to draw less attention.

The simplest bamboo scabbard was made. Anything ornate wouldn’t suit the Mindless Sword. The straight bamboo casing fit neatly in his hand.

He tossed a full gold tael for the work and left. The smiths stared as if at a madman—such a price for the cheapest scabbard!

From there, he went to a stable. He bought two horses and a carriage.

With so many nights spent outdoors, he decided a carriage bed was better than sleeping rough.

Riding slowly out of Zhengzhou, he took the official road toward Hanzhong. A glance back revealed no pursuit.

“I chose an exchange belonging to the Southern Merchants’ Guild on purpose, but it was just an exchange after all?”

If the master had been a member of that influential guild, he might have coveted Neung Je-gang’s wealth. The Guild commanded significant martial power.

Yet no one followed, even though he traveled by carriage, an easy target.

“Did I overestimate the Southern Merchants’ Guild? Perhaps its traders are only merchants, and the schemers are others altogether.”

He mulled it over.

“Whether the whole Guild or a part of it, they’re clearly conspiring with someone in the Martial Alliance. And they have a similar group near the Black Alliance in Guangxi. What are they plotting?”

He had no clear answers. Overthrowing the Alliance and the Black Alliance to dominate the martial world? But the martial world was not a thing one could conquer.

“In any case, my task is to unmask the one who slew thirty Special Assault Corps members. That is all I must think of.”

That was his conclusion. Once he exposed the culprit, he would return to Huiji Mountain. Whatever schemes brewed between Alliance and Black Alliance were not his concern.

This thought eased his heart. No need to burden himself with others’ troubles.

At Hanzhong’s gates, little seemed changed. No trace of the massacre remained. Time was merciless; neither the people in line nor the guards atop the towers seemed to recall that day’s bloodshed.

Inside the city, Neung Je-gang found an inn. From time to time he indulged in a wash and a proper bed; carriage travel was hardly comfortable.

Since he would not use the carriage within the city, he left it and the horses at the inn and walked freely toward the site Go Won-gi had called that accursed scene.

In the city’s southeast stood Gye Yu Lodge, a safehouse long used by the Martial Alliance.

Neung Je-gang slipped unseen over the wall and went to the rear court. Its layout felt odd, and the reason was soon clear.

“So this is it? They said there was a concealment ward… they hid an entire building?”

A house that should have been there was missing. That was where the thirty corpses of the Special Assault Corps had been found.

Passing through the ward by Go Won-gi’s method, he entered the hidden building. A spacious hall greeted him—the very place where the bodies had been discovered.

Neung Je-gang’s gaze sharpened as he scanned the floor.

“No trace of murder would remain this long. But why did they try so hard to keep me from coming here? There must be a reason…”

He searched floor, walls, and ceiling. Nothing. Dust lay thick across the hall, marked now only by his footprints.

He realized nothing could be found here. He went upstairs. Rooms lined the second floor—small chambers for the lodge’s use.

“Did the Corps members sleep here?”

He opened the first door. He expected a neat bed, but it was in disarray. Blankets tossed aside.

“Huh? The Corps didn’t make their beds?”

He checked other rooms; the same. He hurried through them all, even up to the third floor.

Then he understood.

“They weren’t killed in the hall. They were asleep, then suddenly rushed out—and were later found in the hall. That explains why only thirty rooms had messy beds. But did they rush to the hall… or somewhere else?”

That was all he could deduce. It left only more doubt whether the hall was truly the site of their deaths.

“All this time I assumed they died here in the hall. Which meant the killer was a supreme master. But if they died elsewhere and were moved here, the problem changes. If a trusted figure killed them one by one, then carried them here, their calm expressions make sense. It could have been three hundred, not thirty. This points to betrayal—the thing I hate most.”

He fell silent at the thought.

Someone all thirty would trust. Someone strong enough to kill instantly by paralyzing the brain. Someone high-ranked enough that Lady So-hee of Taepyeong Pavilion called him Great One.

“There aren’t many like that. But why kill in such a troublesome way, and risk gathering the bodies here? There must be a reason…”

Neung Je-gang turned and left the building, slipping back out of Gye Yu Lodge and returning to the inn.

“In the end, I must investigate Taepyeong Pavilion again. Still, I gained something: at least a possibility. If I question So-hee, I’ll know for sure.”

At the inn, he soaked in hot water and came to his conclusion.

His carriage left Hanzhong behind. Once it was out of sight, a hawk rose into the sky over the city, beating its wings in the same direction his carriage had gone.