Just getting from the outer fortress to the entrance of the inner fortress took nearly half an hour. If a peak master ran without rest at full speed, it would have taken maybe a quarter of an hour.

The inner fortress wasn’t as wide as the outer, but it was still spacious. As befitted the critical heart of the Alliance of the Martial World, the placement of buildings grew more strategically dense—and at the same time, more splendid.

“This is where we’ll be staying.”

Within the inner fortress, the place allocated to the Yeon Clan was Army-Breaking Pavilion. The façades of the buildings looked especially old-fashioned and solid.

Once he had finished unpacking, Yeon Wi spoke.

“Your father will go straight to the Hall of the Martial Sage. You stay and rest.”

“Please be careful on your way.”

“And don’t cause trouble.”

“I won’t.”

Yeon Wi shot a glance at Ga Deoksang.

He was hovering outside the building, hands clasped behind his back, smacking his lips and prowling restlessly in circles. His anxiety was written all over him.

Yeon Hojeong let out an exaggerated cough.

“I’ll keep him on a tight leash.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Yeon Wi said,

“If necessary, you may use force.”

He meant that if the fool went berserk and made a scene, Yeon Hojeong was to subdue him on the spot. Yeon Hojeong gave a crooked smile.

“He’s not that lacking in sense. Don’t worry.”

“Very well. Then I’ll trust you and go.”

“Yes, Father.”

Yeon Wi left Army-Breaking Pavilion.

Seeing him off, Yeon Hojeong scrunched up his brow.

“This is insane. Why are you buzzing around me like that?”

Ga Deoksang hurried over.

“Let’s drink, let’s drink. I haven’t had a single drop in my mouth for half a year.”

“Drinking is drinking, sure, but...”

Yeon Hojeong ran his eyes up and down the man.

“More importantly, you’ve changed a lot in six months.”

He might be acting like an idiot, but the qi Ga Deoksang was radiating was worlds apart from what it had been when they last met in the summer.

His inner force has exploded.

At the bare minimum, it had increased three or fourfold since the last time.

It was a truly staggering amount of inner force. In sheer quantity, it rivaled Mookbi’s latent reserves; in inner force alone, calling him a peak master wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Of course, he could only actually use about half of it. That was because Ga Deoksang’s comprehension lagged behind.

Transplanted combat power. Did the Dragon Head Union Lord transfer part of his own inner force?

The odds were high. The energy that hadn’t been properly harmonized was extremely savage, yet {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} refined to a very high degree. It was not a power you could obtain with elixirs.

And it’s not just his inner force.

Most decisively, the thickness of the qi pressure Ga Deoksang emitted was different.

It had only been half a year, but he must have spent every single day in hell. Yeon Hojeong suddenly felt a competitive urge rising.

“How about a bout before we drink?”

Ga Deoksang bellowed,

“You lunatic! I ran away because I didn’t want to train, and you want to spar? Put the drinks on the table first!”

“You don’t think you’re being a bit shameless, inviting yourself like this?”

“Gimme booze! Booze!”

“I’ll pour if you go a round with me.”

Ga Deoksang grabbed Yeon Hojeong’s fist and started pounding his own face with it.

“Ow, I lost! I lost, all right! This fucker Yeon Hojeong is way too strong! I can’t beat him!”

He flopped flat on his back, clutching his face, and rolled around.

Yeon Hojeong felt his energy draining away. Not out of pity—but because it felt like he was dealing with someone not quite right in the head.

“Damn it, fine, let’s go in.”

“Hehehe.”

Ga Deoksang trotted into the quarters ahead of him, acting like he owned the place.

Watching from the side with a dubious expression, Mookbi muttered,

“There really are a lot of strange people in the martial world, huh?”

“That guy is the pick of the litter. It’s hard to find a lunatic like that.”

“Except for your family, everyone you know is abnormal.”

“True. You’re not exactly normal either, you know?”

“What did I do?!”

“Whatever. You drinking too?”

Mookbi shook her head as if the very idea disgusted her.

“You expect me to deal with that horrific hangover again? I’ll pass. I’m going to rest.”

“You could just drink in moderation.”

“I said no.”

“All right, get some rest.”

“See you later.”

“And don’t forget to wash before you sleep.”

“I’m way cleaner than you are!”

Grumbling under her breath, Mookbi went into her own room.

Yeon Hojeong grinned. Yeah, she really is fun to tease.

A little later, a simple table of food and drink was set in Yeon Hojeong’s quarters. The cooks and servants of Seven-Star Pavilion—which now housed the Six Great Clans—had carried the spread all the way into his room.

“Here, let me pour you—”

He was about to fill Ga Deoksang’s cup when the man grabbed the bottle and started chugging straight from it.

Straight from the neck...?

It was fairly strong liquor. Wouldn’t he wreck his stomach like that?

Then again, with that monster of a stomach that had once digested twelve geun of pork, he could probably handle it. Grumbling, Yeon Hojeong filled his own cup.

“Have you always liked drinking this much?”

BUUURP. “What kind of beggar doesn’t like booze?”

“It’s a bit much, though.”

“Drop it. Ugh, downing a whole bottle at once really hits you.”

Ga Deoksang slumped back in his chair. Slowly, his neck was flushing red. He was clearly forcing his inner force down.

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“Still, looks like you’ve been doing well enough physically.”

“Just being physically fine is nothing. It’s my mind that hurts, my mind.”

“Exactly. You weren’t this crazy a beggar before.”

“......”

“What’s wrong?”

“You’ve changed quite a lot too, since I last saw you.”

“Have I?”

“Back then you’d stab first and ask later. Now you smile while you slap.”

“I’ll take that as meaning I’m better now.”

“They’re both bad!”

Ga Deoksang grumbled.

“Anyway, looks like you’ve been doing fine too. You pulled some damn dangerous stunts in the meantime, huh?”

“Hmm?”

“Catching Ming Heorim, pounding Mo Yong Yeonhwa, poking at assassins, wrecking the traders in Zhejiang, what else was there...”

“So you did know.”

“Of course I knew. Why do you think I gave you that Foul-Essence Token? Our boys made good use of it.”

“Thanks to that, things went pretty smoothly.”

Ga Deoksang’s face grew serious.

“Let’s start with the old business.”

For all that he’d made such a fuss about drinking, in the end he’d had a lot he wanted to talk over with Yeon Hojeong.

“There’s one thing I want to ask first.”

“Go ahead.”

“The girl you brought with you—is she from Anhui Blood Palace?”

It seemed best not to hide the truth from Ga Deoksang if it could be helped.

“She’s not from Anhui Blood Palace. But she is from Sun-Piercing Valley.”

“Explain properly.”

Yeon Hojeong spoke in full about Mookbi—Baek Hyang’s—past. What kind of group Sun-Piercing Valley was, and how the notorious name Anhui Blood Palace had come into the world.

Ga Deoksang’s eyes grew round.

“God-Slaying Cult, huh? There really are still a lot of mysterious forces in the martial world that we don’t know about.”

“I heard they’re closer to a religion than a sect.”

“So? You borrowed the blade of the Namgung Clan to smash that place called Sun-Piercing Valley so you could stop those bastards?”

“That’s right.”

Ga Deoksang clicked his tongue.

“How many lives you working with here? To pull something like that on the Namgung Clan... If they’d caught you, you’d have been in deep shit.”

“They didn’t catch me.”

“...Shit, when you put it like that I got nothing.”

“And I didn’t lie. Anhui Blood Palace was someone from the Yi God Contest five years ago. Golden Sword Sect got dragged into that bizarre life-and-death war and ended up annihilated.”

“Mm.”

“In the end it was good for the Namgung Clan too. They got their Anhui Blood Palace.”

Ga Deoksang nodded.

“At least that clears up my biggest question. If that’s how it was, I can understand.”

Only then did he pour liquor into his own cup.

“What happened with the assassins? I told the kids to investigate, but they couldn’t figure out where those bastards came from.”

“I don’t really know either. My guess is they’re assassins operating out of Hubei, but nothing’s certain.”

“Hubei? How’d you figure that?”

“It was just a feeling. Either way, it’s too late to investigate now—no point.”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

Downing his cup, Ga Deoksang’s eyes flashed.

“How about the Mo Yong Clan?”

“They’re the most likely. But I’m not sure.”

“Figures. With that bastard’s personality, you think he’s only got one or two enemies?”

“I’ll crack your skull.”

“I’m not your enemy. Don’t misunderstand.”

The two of them snickered. Even talking about serious matters, there was a relaxed ease between them.

But only for a moment.

“Speaking of the Mo Yong Clan.”

“Go ahead.”

Ga Deoksang’s face turned grave. He was no longer the beggar who’d just been howling for booze.

“Tell Clan Lord Yeon to be careful of the Mo Yong Clan.”

“That’s hardly news.”

“There are some top masters from the Ming Clan who were imprisoned in the Alliance’s dungeon—and a few of them have gone missing.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.

“I can’t be certain, but it looks like a very small number among the Nine Sects and One Union and the Six Great Clans pulled some of them out.”

“As allies?”

“Most likely.”

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“If they’ve got the ability, that’s good for them.”

Ga Deoksang frowned.

“Did you seriously just say that? Anyone tied to the Ming Clan should, without exception, be sent to the dungeon and punished under Alliance Law.

“No matter how much of a pillar of the White Path they are, secretly sneaking out criminals without due process is a grave crime.”

“Sure, it’s a grave crime. But who’s going to accuse them of it?”

“......”

“Besides, the Alliance of the Martial World right now is only provisional. From the atmosphere, it looks like it will be rebuilt, but if you go around shouting accusations without evidence, the ones who get hurt will be our side.”

Ga Deoksang let out a long sigh.

“I’m frustrated too, you know. No matter how hungry they are for talent, to spirit people away in secret without following procedure is...”

“People’s greed goes beyond law and order. That’s why there’s no such thing as a perfect law. No matter how many thousands of years pass, the law will keep changing.”

“Heh.”

“And thanks to that, I picked up a little benefit myself.”

“Huh? Benefit?”

Refilling his cup, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“The day we were attacked by assassins, there was also a pretty strong master who attacked.”

“A master, you say? If you’re calling him that...”

“He used the Shooting-the-Sun Sword Art of AZURE MOUNTAIN SECT.”

“...!!”

Ga Deoksang’s eyes went wide.

“Is... is that for real?”

“It’s real. I only caught him easily because Mookbi was there. Considering the state of my martial arts at the time, I might not have been able to gain the advantage in a straight fight.”

“...!”

“He was in his late thirties or early forties. Reeked of blood. He must have killed more people than you could count...”

“Meng Yi.”

“Mm?”

THUMP!

Ga Deoksang slammed the table.

“It has to be Meng Yi. The foremost disciple of the previous Sect Master of AZURE MOUNTAIN SECT—and the man who obtained the supposedly lost Shooting-the-Sun Sword Art.

“The one who killed the previous Sect Master and disappeared.”

The two men looked at each other.

Yeon Hojeong opened his mouth.

“Is he Ming Clan?”

“I can’t say for certain, but our headquarters is treating him as such.”

“Hmm. His mouth is very heavy. He’s still locked up in our clan’s dungeon.”

A cold light entered Ga Deoksang’s gaze.

“Then if we track who took Meng Yi, we’ll know who tried to kill you.”

“Most likely.”

“Then starting today I’ll—”

“Forget it.”

“Huh?”

Yeon Hojeong smirked.

“If Mo Yonggun is the one who sent Meng Yi, he’ll have erased every trace. If we poke around needlessly, we’ll just make him more wary.”

“It might not be Mo Yonggun. What if it’s a new enemy? Then what?”

“We’ll think about it when the time comes. Who knows? I might have something else to use him for.”

Ga Deoksang pounded his chest.

“You still haven’t kicked that reckless streak of yours. Listen here! Mo Yonggun just got his hands on another powerful treasured sword not long ago!

“That’s like strapping wings onto a tiger! At the very least, we have to keep him from moving freely!”

“Wings?”

“Mo Yong-woo! The hidden genius of the Mo Yong Clan! That monster who was branch chief of Zhejiang has gone under Mo Yonggun’s command!”

“Has he now.”

“You don’t know Mo Yong-woo, do you? That man is a genius among geniuses the world knows nothing about. It’s like there are now two Mo Yongguns.

“Granted, if you consider his fundamental nature, it might not be that...”

“......”

“...What? You know?”

“I should be asking you that. You really didn’t know? The branch chief of your Hangzhou division made things quite easy for me.”

“I—I never heard that part. You really joined hands with Mo Yong-woo?”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Yeon Hojeong leaned back in his chair.

“From now on, I’m done worrying.”