The Master’s Stratagem (3)

Neung Je-gang immediately left for the quarry to fetch Majil and descended the mountain.

“Boss, where are we going?”

Majil asked with a beaming face, clearly more excited about traveling than training.

“The Martial Alliance.”

“The Martial Alliance? But why are we going there?”

Majil did not seem surprised by the name.

“You don’t look shocked to hear that we’re heading to the Martial Alliance?”

“Why would I be shocked? What’s that got to do with me? But why are we going there?”

“To make it have something to do with you.”

“Huh?”

“There’s something I need, and it’s in the Martial Alliance. Which means I’ll have to steal it. You’ll help me, right?”

“I’ll help, sure, but… stealing? Even though you were once with the Eastern Depot? What if you end up locked away in Geumma-roe again?”

“That’d be great. It’s an abandoned iron mine—perfect for training the Metal True Energy.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

Neung Je-gang hurried their pace. But with Majil tagging along, moving quickly was easier said than done.

‘I brought him along to keep him out of trouble while I was gone…’

He regretted it already, afraid Majil might cause chaos if left behind.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“A horse? Hehe, I’ve eaten horse meat before, but…”

Majil licked his lips.

“I knew it. Sigh, guess we’ll need another carriage.”

Neung Je-gang dashed to Shaoxing and bought both a horse and a carriage. This time at least Majil could drive it, so the trip would be a little easier.

But less than half a day after leaving Shaoxing, Neung Je-gang called out to him.

“Majil!”

“Yes?”

“Let’s head somewhere quiet. Away from people.”

“Why?”

“To see who’s been following us.”

“Someone’s following us?”

Majil scooted sideways on the driver’s bench and craned his neck, but saw nothing.

“There’s no one there.”

“Majil.”

“Yes?”

“If you could see them, would that count as secretly following us?”

“Then you should have said they were sneaking after us!”

Majil shouted as he brought the carriage to a stop.

“Why are you stopping the carriage?”

“You said to go somewhere quiet!”

“And you call this quiet? We’re on the official road.”

“It is quiet. Look, no one’s even walking around.”

He wasn’t wrong. Under the blazing midday sun, the highway was deserted.

But that was the problem: because it was the main road, the stalkers never showed themselves.

“Let’s keep moving.”

“See? No one’s there. You’re just being paranoid…”

Majil muttered irritably as they rolled on, and Neung Je-gang regretted bringing him yet again.

That night, under a starlit sky, the crackle of the campfire was warm and familiar.

Majil, feigning exhaustion from driving, snored loudly, while Neung Je-gang sat alert, waiting for their pursuers to finally show themselves.

Rustle.

A faint sound no ordinary man could detect. Neung Je-gang tossed another log onto the fire.

“Think you can endure this?”

“I’ll try, but I just started training the Metal True Energy. If I get cut, I’m dead. So you’d better handle it.”

“If you die, I promised I’d cremate you.”

Neung Je-gang rose, holding what had looked like a mere fire poker—it was actually the No-Mind Sword, which he had been casually using to stir the flames.

Swish!

Hidden weapons whistled through the air.

“Aaah! Save me!”

Majil shrieked.

Neung Je-gang turned to shield him, but Majil was gone—he had already burrowed into the earth.

“So he really won’t die. Damn brat, he scared me.”

Deflecting the incoming hidden weapons, Neung Je-gang searched for the attackers.

Something was off. The weapons flew, yet no figures appeared.

The air itself felt different. Like when he had once been trapped inside the Seven-Killer Demon Formation of Blood Sword Pavilion, a binding weight pressed down on him.

Neung Je-gang realized what he was facing.

“Is this the Hyunhyeon Family?”

“Heh heh, too late to realize now.”

The Hyunhyeon Family had never been a clan of warriors. They were scholars of formations, a brain trust devoted to studying arrays.

But, as in all of the martial world, powerlessness invited humiliation. Forced to set up and dismantle formations for others, silenced under the excuse of secrecy, sometimes even killed once their work was done—eventually, they vanished.

When they resurfaced years later, it was as a killer organization. By trapping enemies in formation fields and starving them to death, they had become one of the most terrifying assassin groups.

“No wonder. That’s just what they’d do.”

Neung Je-gang knew he was trapped inside a formation field. No more weapons flew; the formation itself was his prison.

“But why target me now? The contract on my life expired long ago.”

The assassins answered, unseen:

“Our contracts have no limit. Once inside a formation, it doesn’t matter when you die.”

“Then you’ll just wait there until I drop dead?”

“That’s right.”

“Persistent bastards…”

Neung Je-gang sat back by the fire, sliding the No-Mind Sword into the flames as if absentminded.

“What’s the size of this array? I can hear your voices too clearly, so it can’t be that big.”

No reply. They wouldn’t leak information about the formation.

Thump.

Suddenly, the earth by the fire bulged—and Majil’s head popped out.

“Huh? Are they all dead already?”

“Where’d you crawl off to?”

“The ground’s soft here, so I tunneled. Dug all the way back to the hill we passed earlier.”

He climbed out, brushing dirt from his clothes.

“The soil’s moist because Shaoxing’s famous for its water. That’s why they make Shaoxing wine here.”

Neung Je-gang grinned.

“You hear that? My companion already dug us a tunnel out. What now?”

“Lies. We’ve heard that trick before. If you can escape, go ahead.”

It was only natural they didn’t believe him. Who could dig a tunnel in so short a time?

“Looks like I’ll have to give up another horse and carriage.”

Neung Je-gang cast a regretful glance at the wagon, then looked at Majil.

“Didn’t think I’d be glad to have you along.”

He had just been regretting bringing him, but Majil’s clueless smile made it all worth it.

–-

Neung Je-gang slipped out through Majil’s tunnel. It ended at the hill they had passed earlier.

“You stay here. I’ll go meet the Hyunhyeon Family.”

In truth, the assassins of Hyunhyeon lacked proper killing skills. They were scholars who had studied formations all their lives, not killers of flesh and blood. Outside their arrays, they were no match for someone like him.

“H-how…?”

Seeing him free, the Hyunhyeon men were struck dumb.

“I told you, we dug a tunnel. Why didn’t you believe me?”

Neung Je-gang tapped their pressure points, immobilizing them one by one.

“If you’ve failed your mission, then pay the penalty.”

Groaning, they had no argument. A rule was a rule.

“Actually, you don’t need to. The ones who hired you to kill me? I already slaughtered them myself. So technically, you owe nothing. But hear this—every killer organization in the martial world will be destroyed by my hand. Hyunhyeon Family won’t be spared. I’ll forgive you this once since you weren’t killers by origin. But if I ever see you again, I’ll wipe you out root and branch.”

He released their pressure points. None realized he had already marked them with the Ten-Thousand-Li Pursuit Incense.

“Now, dismantle the formation. My carriage is still inside.”

The Hyunhyeon assassins exchanged looks, then complied and vanished. With the tunnel open, the array was worthless.

“Majil!”

Neung Je-gang called.

As the boy emerged, he thought to himself: he’d better study the science of formations too.

Then, to Majil, he said with a straight face:

“You’ll go to the Martial Alliance alone.”

“And you?”

“I need to stop by the Hyunhyeon Family. They dared target me, I won’t let it go.”

“What am I supposed to do alone at the Martial Alliance?”

“Wait for me. I might even get there before you.”

If the Hyunhyeon Family wasn’t too far, that was likely true.

“In Zhengzhou, there are plenty of inns by the Martial Alliance. Pick one and wait—I’ll find you.”

With that, Neung Je-gang soared skyward and vanished into the night.

Jaw slack, Majil stared after him, muttering:

“See? Flying through the sky looks awesome. Damn it! But… I don’t have any money. How am I supposed to get by till then?”

Hyunhyeon Family.

If there was one scholarly art most wondrous in both the martial and the Confucian worlds, it was the science of formations, the Qimen Dunjia.

The Hyunhyeon Family were its masters.

People often said: “In heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Suzhou.” That was how splendid Suzhou was thought to be.

Suzhou had fertile land and rich harvests, canals everywhere linked to Lake Tai and the Yangtze, abundant fish, heavenly cuisine… but most famed of all were its gardens and its beauties.

Among its many gardens was the Lion Grove. Built by the Yuan-era monk Tianru to honor his master, it was filled with fantastically shaped rocks from Lake Tai, resembling lions—thus the name.

It was before this Lion Grove that Neung Je-gang now stood, frowning.

“The scent trail ends here. Which means there’s an array hiding them nearby. Damn it… I chased them all this way, and now I can’t enter. I can’t just barge in blind against their formation.”

That was the problem: he knew the Hyunhyeon Family was here, but had no way inside.

“And why do killers always hole up in such nice places? Couldn’t they just hide in the mountains?”

It was true. The Assassin’s Den had been under a famous temple. The Soul-Chasing Hall beneath a shrine. And now this.

“Wait—underground, all of them.”

That was the common point. If Hyunhyeon was truly a killer sect, they too would have a lair underground.

“Damn it, I should’ve brought Majil…”

Annoying when present, but sorely missed when absent.

“I’ll head to the Martial Alliance. I know where they are now; I can always come back.”

Resolute, Neung Je-gang turned away. The Ice Essence Crystal was his priority, not wiping out assassins.