Killing Intent flickered in Fire Ape’s eyes.

“Where is he?”

“I said I don’t know.”

“...”

“That man’s always been good at slipping around here and there without us knowing. It’s not exactly new, so what.”

Even at Ga Deoksang’s blunt reply, Fire Ape’s expression didn’t change. Only the Killing Intent in her eyes thickened further.

It was the kind of gaze that would make even a master under heaven reflexively turn away. You could believe someone might kill with nothing but a look.

But Ga Deoksang’s courage didn’t lose to anyone, either.

“Did you stick luminous pearls in your eyes or something? Pretty impressive.”

“...”

“Glare like that all you want—if I don’t know, I don’t know. Now get out.”

Fire Ape spoke.

The low, cold tone—unfitting for a woman—was, unfitting for the name Fire Ape, nothing but unsettling.

“We have been ordered to guard and watch you.”

“So what?”

“There is no guarding or watching without a target. I’ll ask one last time. Where is Jeong of the Martial Ancestor Sect?”

Then, from the side, Pae Yul—who had been tending his sword—spoke.

“I’ll say it once, and only once.”

Fire Ape, who had been glaring at Ga Deoksang, turned her gaze to Pae Yul.

Pae Yul didn’t even look at her. He only wiped the blade with a dry cloth.

“Even without your filthy tongue, I’m already tired enough to be sick of it. If you irritate us one more time, I’ll cut off all your heads and then go argue with the Lord of the Manor myself.”

A grim light burst from Fire Ape’s eyes.

Pae Yul sheathed his sword.

SHRRRK! THUNK.

“If you understood, get lost.”

After staring at Pae Yul with chilling eyes, Fire Ape turned her gaze back to Ga Deoksang.

Ga Deoksang shrugged.

“That’s what he says.”

“...”

“See you later, monkey-human.”

Fire Ape turned away.

Before leaving the estate, she said,

“If this happens again, I will use the authority of the guard captain to kill one of you.”

Pae Yul let out a short snort of laughter.

“Please do. I’ve gone too long without cutting—feels like my joints have rusted.”

KREEEAK. BANG!

The estate gate shut.

Ga Deoksang stared at the closed door, then let out a long breath.

“Sure is murderous.”

Pae Yul scoffed.

“It’s a contest of pressure between beasts. The moment you get pressed down, you get eaten.”

“Still, wasn’t that pushing it a bit too hard?”

“Then what, I’m supposed to ignore that bitch’s mouth?”

“Well, not ignore it. I’m just saying—maybe you poked her too hard.”

“Poked her, my ass. If she screws up the job over words like that, then the other side’s the one lacking.”

That wasn’t exactly how it worked, but...

Ga Deoksang, about to say a few more words, shut his mouth instead. It wasn’t like Pae Yul would listen anyway. What meaning was there in lecturing manners to someone rough by nature?

Besides, it’s not like I’m in any position to preach manners either.

“And that bitch didn’t back off because of me.”

“Huh?”

Pae Yul jerked his chin toward the estate roof.

Following that gesture, Ga Deoksang saw Tang Sang-a up there, refining her daggers.

Tang Sang-a smiled sweetly.

“Did you want to say something?”

“...Nope.”

Ga Deoksang cleared his throat.

Damn, this is awkward.

Whether it was Pae Yul, Tang Sang-a, or Je Gal Ahyeon inside the estate—currently tearing her hair out over restructuring Ink Dragon Manor’s organizational system—

All of them, if it was Yeon Hojeong’s word, would accept first no matter how unfair it was.

But Ga Deoksang wasn’t Yeon Hojeong.

How the hell am I supposed to soothe these insane people.

Ga Deoksang sighed.

Not a single normal one among them.

And right to the end, he refused to admit that he wasn’t normal, either.

*****

Walking through Changsha’s streets, Yeon Hojeong thought,

Lively.

The martial world called each other Orthodox Path and Dark Path and kept one another in check, but ordinary commoners didn’t care about any of that.

Living in the same world, yet utterly absorbed in their roles on entirely different stages. That was the martial world, that was the world of the Central Plains.

“Hide of a great tiger caught on Mount Yuelu—twenty taels of silver!”

“Fine silk just came in! Top-grade silk the high officials of the Ministry of War love!”

“Come in! Pig caught at dawn today!”

Merchants screamed until their throats tore, and the people filling the street brimmed with light in their eyes as they looked around.

It was peaceful.

If only there were a clear separation.

If the blood-stinking world of the martial world and the lives of commoners were thoroughly separated.

If that boundary were firm, how good it would be.

But the world wasn’t like that, and the martial world’s war eventually shook even the safety of ordinary livelihoods. No—far beyond that, countless commoners died unjustly.

Bitter.

One of the countless reasons he built the Black Emperor’s Citadel was the safety of ordinary livelihoods.

More precisely, he ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) wanted to create at least minimal rules. Fighting might be their business, but the stages were different. It wasn’t a matter of talking about lines or territory.

Yet the will of a single man could not change the world. Because the will of others was just as unshakable.

I have to stop it, after all.

Both the invasion from beyond the frontier, and the clash of black and white.

So that those running about with bright energy on another stage would suffer no harm at all.

But...

Yeon Hojeong smacked his lips.

For now, I should deal with what’s in front of me.

To be blunt, he still hadn’t even resolved the internal matters of the Alliance of the Martial World. And it wasn’t like he was close—there were still mountains of it.

I really picked a tiring life.

It couldn’t be helped. If he didn’t move, his family would be the ones to suffer.

With those thoughts, Yeon Hojeong walked on—until a strand of voice transmission reached him.

[In fifteen paces ahead, at the fork, turn left and you’ll see a shabby inn. Go inside there.]

Yeon Hojeong turned left at the fork, as the Beggars’ Union field agent said.

That’s it.

They’d called it shabby, but seeing it, it wasn’t that shabby.

Still, it blended in with the surrounding buildings. Yeon Hojeong only recognized it because he came in knowing—if he’d just passed by, he might not even have realized it was an inn.

An exquisite location. It didn’t look like a rich man, a beggar, or a martial artist would ever come here.

Yeon Hojeong entered without hesitation.

Rrrk.

When he opened the door, a faint scent of wood and a heavy tea aroma washed over him.

A middle-aged man who looked like the owner was nodding off even as someone came in.

But Yeon Hojeong could tell. That middle-aged man’s consciousness—though he looked asleep to anyone—was actually focused on him.

And.

“...”

Yeon Hojeong turned his eyes to the stairs in one corner of the inn, then climbed them without pause.

“Even if you’re the sort who always growls when you meet and trade insults you can’t even put in your mouth.”

A low voice carrying amusement.

“Strangely, when you meet in a foreign place, it feels that much more pleasant. It’s odd, isn’t it?”

At the central table on the inn’s second floor—

Mo Yonggun was there.

Mo Yonggun smiled.

“Is it the same for you? If possible, I’d like it to be me you’re happy to see.”

Happy to see my ass.

Yeon Hojeong muttered quietly.

“Looks like our relationship wasn’t just the usual murderous kind. If my head starts aching the moment I see your face.”

“Hoh. That’s a hurtful thing to say.”

“Is it?”

“Didn’t you say it before departure from the Alliance? That we might as well go together. That if the one in command and the operational team join forces, the mission success rate will go up.”

“I think I said something like that.”

“Hahaha.”

Mo Yonggun gestured to the seat across from him.

“You’ve worked hard. Sit first.”

“Let’s.”

Yeon Hojeong sat lightly.

Mo Yonggun’s eyes shone.

He’s changed.

He noticed Yeon Hojeong’s change at a glance.

His energy isn’t fluctuating like before. It’s extremely stable. Like he’s reached some kind of balance.

He didn’t know what martial art Yeon Hojeong had learned. It felt like Yeon Clan martial arts, but even when they’d exchanged hands, Yeon Hojeong also seemed to have refined an ancient art whose source was hard to grasp.

Either way, it hadn’t been long since leaving the Alliance, and yet he’d already improved.

“As expected, you’re remarkable.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Mo Yonggun didn’t feel any need to hide what he thought.

“You’re different from before departure again. Did you gain some kind of insight in the meantime?”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“It’s not something grand enough to call insight. Energy that cannot maintain balance is bound to collapse at any moment. I only kept striving to avoid that.”

“If trying were all it took to achieve as quickly as you, then there wouldn’t be anyone in the world who wasn’t a master.”

“I’ll take that as praise.”

“Slow down a bit. If you keep this up, how am I supposed to live without fearing you’ll catch up?”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes swept over Mo Yonggun’s sword.

“And you’re not ordinary, either.”

“Hm?”

“Did you get excited over an outing for the first time in a while? The scent of blood is so strong even with your sword sheathed.”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes flashed.

“You could feel that?”

“I’m particularly sensitive to that kind of thing.”

“Hoh!”

Yeon Hojeong smiled faintly.

“This is the sort of thing you won’t notice if you don’t pay attention. But you’re one of the people I’m watching most closely right now. Every time we meet, I can’t help analyzing what changed, what you’re thinking, what you look like you’re about to do.”

“That’s truly an honor.”

“How many did you cut?”

Mo Yonggun snickered.

“I’m not some peerless demon lord. I don’t commit pointless slaughter.”

“I’d rather deal with a demon lord who knows only slaughter. You’re too dangerous.”

“Aren’t you the same? How did you turn into such a monster at that age?”

“The world’s too harsh. If I want to protect my people, I have to do anything.”

Mo Yonggun burst out laughing.

“Do you know? Sometimes I really can’t stand the sight of you—but then at times like this, there’s no conversation partner as entertaining as you. At least if I fight you, it’ll never be boring.”

“I’ll make it boring for you later.”

“Is that a declaration of defeat?”

“What are you talking about? I’m saying I’ll bury you.”

“Hahaha!”

Watching Mo Yonggun laugh loudly enough to shake the inn, Yeon Hojeong asked calmly,

“What brought on the change of heart?”

“Hm?”

“As you said, before departure, I told you. We might as well go together.”

“You did.”

“Even if you’d agreed right away, I’d have doubted you. But you sat there blankly, and only now you come into enemy territory? You’re asking me not to suspect you when it’s impossible not to.”

Mo Yonggun smiled.

That smile carried cold, and within it, a seriousness of its own surfaced.

“I told you before, but for this matter, I intend to be serious. Because it’s important—for me, and for you.”

“I know that much. But.”

Yeon Hojeong’s face went blank.

It was a chilling shift.

“The you I know is someone who can handle two or three things at once without breaking a sweat.”

“...”

“You’ll be serious on this mission with no tricks, sure—but why come all the way to Hunan? After this is over, are you planning to throw a proper mess?”

Mo Yonggun’s face, like Yeon Hojeong’s, went indifferent.

“You’ll find out if you wait.”

“You’ve got a real talent for making people uneasy.”

“And the you I know isn’t the kind of man who can’t do his work just because he’s uneasy. I’ve got that much faith in you.”

Yeon Hojeong let out a short snort.

“Today, I took one hit and landed one.”

“Honestly, you and I—looks like we’re destined to live like this forever unless one of us gets smashed to pieces.”

Yeon Hojeong waved a hand like everything was a hassle.

“Enough. Let’s stop here for today. Listen to the report.”

“I will listen carefully.”