Time flew by like an arrow.
Just when it started to feel strange that the Demonic Cult bastards had gone so quiet, three whole days passed without a single incident.
Three days. Already.
WHOOOSH—!!
“Urk!”
The recoil made me stagger and drop to one knee. Pain surged up hard and clear.
I tried to force my body to move through the pounding ache, but—
“Too slow.”
A sharp sword was already resting against my throat.
The Sword Emperor’s blade.
“...Ah, damn.”
I let out a low groan of disappointment. I’d really thought that one might get through, but in the end, it was too much.
Fssshhh—!!!
I drew back the energy that had swelled through my body. Moonbolt’s influence slowly ebbed away.
“Whew.”
Half the energy in my dantian was still there.
Which meant—
With only half my reserves spent, I still couldn’t hold out against the Sword Emperor.
And that was with the Sword Emperor not using inner qi while I had been using mine. Even so, the gap was still this wide?
As I clicked my tongue in disappointment—
“You’re better than before. At least now you’re starting to move on instinct.”
“...Am I?”
“Yes.”
On instinct.
The Sword Emperor seemed to think that counted as praise in his own way, but—
...I don’t know about that.
Could you really call it praise?
Even after all that time practicing, I still hadn’t reached the point Yoo Cheongil and the Sword Emperor kept talking about.
A body that moved before thought.
I still couldn’t fully understand what they meant by saying I was slow because I was thinking too much before I moved.
Well.
I’d just have to keep at it.
If I kept going, I’d get there somehow.
Thinking that, I flicked my hand loose.
“Oh, sir.”
When I called out, the Sword Emperor looked at me.
“I need to go to Liaoning. Are you coming with me?”
Maybe it was because I’d spent so much time around him now, but I’d started asking him things like that without much thought.
A while ago, I wouldn’t even have dared talk to him first.
At the very least, I trusted by now that he wouldn’t snap at me just for saying something like this.
“Liaoning?”
“Yes. I’m heading back to the main house.”
“...”
The Sword Emperor looked like he was considering it.
“Go.”
“You’re not coming?”
“I have something to do in Henan.”
“...Ah.”
That was a little unexpected. I’d assumed he’d follow just for the training if nothing else.
“We’ll pause the training for now.”
“Understood.”
I nodded.
So I was going without the Sword Emperor.
*****
“So that’s how it is. You’re coming with me.”
“...What do you mean, ‘so that’s how it is’?”
The first person I went to after parting ways with the Sword Emperor was Poison Dragon. The moment he saw me, he made a baffled face at what I said.
“What the hell? Where’s that coming from?”
“I’m going to Liaoning, so you’re going too.”
“...Me?”
“Who else is here?”
“There are plenty of people around.”
“Then who’s driving the carriage?”
“...Why would I be the one doing that?”
That was true enough.
It wasn’t like Poison Dragon had to do it.
Still—
“You need to learn Ten Thousand Flowers Rain, don’t you? If you’re still too incompetent to master it by now, then shouldn’t you at least be doing something?”
“...Ghk.”
Ten Thousand Flowers Rain.
He still hadn’t fully learned it.
Honestly, from where I stood, he was about eighty percent there, but the remaining bit was the problem.
Once that was done—
That’ll be the end of it with this idiot too.
Maybe then I could finally end this long, stubborn stretch of putting up with Poison Dragon.
That was what I was thinking.
“So you’re driving the carriage. Got it?”
“...Yessssir.”
“Use your words properly.”
“Understood.”
At that rate he was going to crack a molar.
I let out a faint snort and turned away.
“Oh, right.”
Then I remembered something and looked back at him.
“...”
“...”
My eyes met Poison Dragon’s just as he was flipping me off.
“What are you doing?”
“...My forehead suddenly got itchy.”
He hurriedly scratched his forehead with the same finger.
“You think that’ll work?”
I asked flatly.
“No. I suppose not.”
Poison Dragon nodded with humble sincerity.
“Come here.”
At my words, Poison Dragon immediately spun around and ran.
...That bastard?
“...If I catch you, you’re dead.”
It didn’t even take half a gak before Poison Dragon ended up in my hands.
*****
Under the noble pretense of adding to his training, I beat the dust out of Poison Dragon and then flexed my wrist a few times as the slight stiffness set in.
“That’s what you get for acting up.”
Ah, that felt better.
I thought back to the way he’d been screaming at the end.
I didn’t feel bad about it in the slightest.
I was practically doing charity work here.
I’d been teaching him Ten Thousand Flowers Rain for what, months now?
By this point, he should’ve gotten it.
Honestly, maybe Poison Dragon just didn’t want to go home.
Though if he went back now, he’d just have to come again in a few months anyway. Maybe that’s why he can’t leave.
The talks with the Demonic Cult.
What had come out of them.
And the educational institution the Alliance was about to open by gathering the younger generation.
It was close enough now that even if Poison Dragon returned to the Tang Family in Sichuan, he’d only have to come back again soon.
All the real standouts would have to gather.
Every genius known to be exceptional would be called in without exception.
If the Demonic Cult was sending its younger generation—
then our side couldn’t afford to look any weaker.
If we lost ground there too, that would be the end of it, so the names the Alliance had to summon were obvious.
And among them, Poison Dragon was someone who absolutely couldn’t be left out.
Did he know that?
Even if he doesn’t, the Alliance isn’t going to let him off the hook anyway.
Whether he knew or not wouldn’t change anything.
He wasn’t escaping the Alliance.
Coming with me was actually the only way he was getting out at all.
Of course—
...No idea whether he actually wants to leave.
Not that it mattered to me.
Poison Dragon never had a choice to begin with.
I’d never handed him one in the first place.
Poison Dragon was attending. End of story.
I needed someone to drive the carriage.
Still—
“You don’t actually have to come. Are you going?”
Yu Yeon was different.
She didn’t really need to go to Liaoning at all.
But strangely enough, Yu Yeon nodded hard with eyes brighter than they had been in a long time.
It was obvious she wanted to go.
“...Oh. Really?”
She’d already followed me this far, and now she wanted to go all the way to Liaoning too.
Not that I was going to stop her.
“Fine, then.”
Leaving her behind by herself didn’t sit right with me anyway.
...No matter how closely the Alliance is watching the Demonic Cult bastards.
Yu Yeon was of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.
No one knew that, but I did.
And if that ever—
it’d be a problem if the Demonic Cult found out.
The fact that she was the Heaven-Slaying Star couldn’t be exposed either.
So bringing her with me wasn’t a bad idea.
For her sake.
The only problem was—
“This should be fun. We’re leaving today?”
“...”
The real issue was the man who always seemed to materialize the moment a conversation like that happened.
“...Are you coming too, senior?”
“Why are you making that face like you hate the idea?”
“Because I do. Just stay here at the Alliance.”
“Come on. I can’t do that.”
Yu Yul smiled brightly.
Ah, for fuck’s sake.
He was coming too.
“How’d you even hear about it...? I definitely kept it quiet.”
I’d made all the preparations to leave without Yu Yul noticing, but the answer to that mystery came straight out of Yu Yul’s mouth.
“Poison Dragon told me.”
“That bastard...!”
That damn lunatic couldn’t even keep his mouth shut?
Next time I saw him, I was going to beat him harder.
I ground my teeth and let out a breath.
“...Are you seriously going?”
“What am I supposed to do here by myself? Pick a fight with the Young Cult Leader? Actually, that sounds kind of fun.”
“...”
Huh.
So leaving this man behind really would’ve caused a disaster.
Then again, what exactly had I been expecting from someone from the Azure Moon Sect?
“You won’t have anything to do in Liaoning.”
“I can look around.”
“There won’t be anything worth looking at.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
“You really don’t listen at all, do you?”
These people were all impossible.
But leaving him behind didn’t feel right either.
“Ah.”
Then something occurred to me.
“In that case, can I ask a favor while we’re at it?”
“If I say no, you won’t take me?”
“Yes. Probably.”
“Then I’d better agree.”
Yu Yul grinned.
What was with that expression?
He had no idea what I was about to ask.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Absolutely not.
And that applied even to someone with a personality as bizarre as Yu Yul’s.
I was sure of it.
Because—
compared to that lunatic, our “older brother” was far more insane.
*****
After roughly checking who was going, I headed back to my quarters.
The list had ended up with both the people I wanted and the people I didn’t, but the preparations were more or less done.
The time...
It was already well past noon.
At this point, I just needed to change out of my sweat-soaked training clothes and go see Thousand-Mile Divine Eye.
That was what I was thinking as I reached my door.
Then—
“...”
Something smelled off inside.
A foul, stale, disgusting smell.
What the hell was that stink?
Frowning, I opened the door.
“Oh, you’re back.”
There was a guest inside.
Of course, an uninvited one.
For fuck’s sake.
Why did everyone keep barging into my quarters like they owned the place?
And worse, this was someone I couldn’t exactly complain to.
“...My respects, Union Leader.”
Staff Strike Woo Aseok.
The Beggars’ Union Leader was lying there in my room like it was the most natural thing ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in the world.
“What brings you here...?”
“What do you mean, what brings me here? We agreed to meet in three days.”
“I assumed you’d send someone and tell me to come to you.”
I definitely hadn’t expected him to show up in person like this.
“I didn’t think the Beggars’ Union Leader would come himself.”
“Hoh hoh hoh. I had some time to spare. Figured I’d take the chance to see a few old monsters again too.”
Was that supposed to mean Thousand-Mile Divine Eye and Divine Spear?
“...And one troublesome bastard besides.”
For a moment, Woo Aseok’s tone shifted, but he quickly returned to normal and pulled several letters from inside his robes, handing them to me.
“Brat. This is what you wanted.”
“Ah.”
I took them at once.
“Thank you—”
“Burn them the moment you’re done reading. Do not leave them behind. Not even a scrap.”
“...Understood.”
The warning was so firm I nodded immediately.
“I organized it as much as I could. I took measures so there shouldn’t be a problem, but you never know. That bastard is absurdly sensitive.”
“So that’s why you’re telling me to burn them the moment I read them...?”
“If you understand, then hide them well.”
“Understood.”
Honestly, I had trouble imagining Dark Sovereign noticing something even in a situation like this, but ignoring Woo Aseok’s warning would’ve been idiotic.
“Anyway. I’ve delivered what I came to give, so I’ll be going.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you. And sorry for the trouble.”
As if he’d really come for nothing but that, Woo Aseok vanished while casually picking his nose.
Only the stench he left behind remained in the room.
He really was like the wind, that old man.
“How the hell am I supposed to get this smell out?”
So a human being really could smell like this.
Just leaving the windows open wasn’t going to fix it.
...Thank God.
At least I was leaving the room today.
I didn’t think I could sleep in here anymore.
I let out a relieved breath and turned—
Slide.
“...”
I felt a presence.
Was that Woo Aseok again?
No, wait.
Had he heard what I said?
Actually, he probably had.
Thinking that, I hurriedly started to explain myself.
“Union Leader, that’s not what I—”
FWAAASH—!
“...!”
Something lunged at me.
“Ugh—!?”
Something slammed into my body.
I twisted at once.
Thankfully, it didn’t feel like a real ambush.
It was too weak for that.
“What the—!”
I caught the attacker and shoved them off.
My hand clamped around a slender wrist as I looked up to see who it was.
“...Huh?”
It was someone who felt strangely familiar.
“...You...”
The person glaring at me with murderous eyes.
Soft gold-white hair.
Pale blue eyes like the sky.
Those sharp, pretty eyes were drawn up viciously.
“Oh.”
Wait.
Wasn’t this—
“What exactly did you do to me...?”
She spoke in a voice thick with hostility.
Hearing it, I said her name.
“Bow Ghost?”
The person who’d attacked me was Bow Ghost.
But for some reason—
“...Why do you look like this?”
Compared to the figure I remembered, she looked at least twenty years younger.
