Chapter 19 - Three Legs—No, Four

That, too, was a question he could not yet fully answer.

'To move on to the next stage...'

He needed the strength to face the next stage of enemies. If he could not be certain of that, he would have to keep hunting Black Faction members, however slowly he leveled up. He had wiped out the ones here, so the sensible course would be to keep hunting them even if it meant going to another city.

First, he would examine the abilities he had gained at level 7. Then he could answer that question.

[Critical ERROR...]

As expected.

The now fairly familiar Critical ERROR message window appeared as soon as he leveled up, cluttering his thoughts.

A critical error.

It could have stopped reminding him by now, but once again the system unfailingly informed him that he was the product of a critical error.

CLICK.

Dong Bongsu closed the noisily clamoring error window and calmly began checking the benefits of his level-up.

The stats window showed nothing beyond the usual steady increases. The Quest window was still littered with X marks, and no new gifts had appeared in his Inventory.

As with his progress from level 2 to level 6, the Skills window was the only one with any distinctive changes.

First, the proficiency of the two active Skills he had gained at level 5 had risen a little. He already knew that, and it was only natural.

What mattered was that reaching level 7 had added two new Skills.

[Qi Circulation Lv.1 Proficiency: 0%]

A training method that deliberately guides the qi accumulated in the dantian through the meridians distributed throughout the body.

Temporarily increases Attack Power and Defense when activated.

Duration/Cooldown: 5/10 (minutes)

True Qi Cost per Use: 100 JP

Current Skill Bonus: Attack Power/Defense increased by 30%

[Three Forces Sword Art, Second Form: Direct Strike Yellow Dragon Lv.1 Proficiency: 0%]

An exceedingly common sword art in Murim. Even ordinary people without internal energy can learn it.

Direct Strike Yellow Dragon is an enhanced version of Thrust.

All action bonuses for this Skill depend on the proficiency of related Skills and whether sword qi/sword force is used.

Currently Applied Level: Lv.1 (The player can adjust this Skill's applied level.)

Thrust Range Bonus: 1%

Thrust Attack Power Bonus: 1%

Thrust Execution Speed Bonus: -0%

True Qi Cost per Use: 30 JP

[Qinggong], [Qi Circulation], [Three Forces Sword Art, First and Second Forms]

Dong Bongsu carefully reviewed the capabilities of his new Skills along with those he had gained at level 5.

With an unlimited supply of JP, Qinggong could be used like a passive Skill, while the Three Forces Sword Art was an offensive Skill, just as the words “sword art” suggested.

Qi Circulation, on the other hand, was his first buff-type Skill. Its True Qi cost seemed fairly high, but the benefits were excellent.

A 30% increase in Attack Power and Defense.

He could imagine how tremendous that was without even trying it.

It did have the drawback of a five-minute duration and a ten-minute cooldown, but if he used it only when needed, even that did not seem like much of a disadvantage.

Next.

SWISH. SWISH.

He tried executing the first and second forms of the Three Forces Sword Art, Sweep Away a Thousand Armies and Direct Strike Yellow Dragon, in succession. They linked together very smoothly, but there did not seem to be any special bonus. He then tried reversing their order, but again, the two movements simply flowed together as though they had always been one. That was all. He realized that chaining forms from the same sword art offered no special benefit.

Finished examining his new Skills, he placed Jo Pyeong's horribly mangled corpse in his Inventory and advanced.

SPLASH, SPLASH.

The road through Paradise Village, now a sea of blood, soon came to an end. Beyond the village stretched broad rice paddies and fields, with a sizable manor standing in their midst.

Paradise Manor.

“Paradise, huh.”

An ill-fitting name.

Ah, no. From my perspective, it was a perfectly fitting, romantic name.

For me, that is.

Once he brought that place down, all of Fengyang's Unorthodox Factions would be gone.

After trying his new Skills in there, he would decide.

Would he advance, or remain at this stage a little longer?

● ● ●

Dong Bongsu entered Paradise Manor.

Thinking Black Faction members might be hiding in the paddies or fields, he had approached slowly and cautiously. Yet no one had stood in his way.

Instead, the manor's gate was wide open.

The open gate brought to mind two stratagems Black Society Leader Bang Poyeom might have chosen.

The Empty Fort Strategy? Or Retreat Is Best?

If it was the Empty Fort Strategy, he would have to stop his advance for the moment. If it was Retreat Is Best, he would have to stop here as well. There would be no one inside anyway.

Even so, Dong Bongsu entered Paradise Manor.

Because aside from those two stratagems, there was one more choice a person could make.

And that was...

Giving up.

When people face difficulties they cannot possibly overcome, or stand on the verge of losing everything, they make one of two choices. Fight with a willingness to die, or simply die.

Dong Bongsu was certain Bang Poyeom had chosen the latter. That mood hung over the entire manor.

The battle in Paradise Village had likely been nothing more than a last stand before death.

“Are you the Nameless Hero?”

As Dong Bongsu stepped inside Paradise Manor, an old, hollow voice came from the darkness.

A scrawny, white-haired old man was watching him. Dong Bongsu instinctively knew he was Bang Poyeom.

He said nothing in response. He merely approached him slowly.

“If you're a hero, why are you all covered up like that?”

“Because I'm not a hero.”

One brief reply.

“Heh heh. Not a hero? Then why have you been going around killing the Unorthodox Factions?”

“Because I'm not a hero.”

The answer was the same. And both answers were true. He covered his face because he was no hero, and he went around killing Black Faction members because he was no hero.

“Heh heh. You've fooled everyone in Fengyang.”

“I never fooled anyone. They chose to believe it themselves.”

Once again, Dong Bongsu spoke the truth. He had merely hidden himself within the beliefs people wanted to hold.

There was a saying that people saw only as much as they knew. In much the same way, people believed what they wanted to believe, or what they wanted to see. Whatever suited them. The truth beneath it did not matter.

“... You're an interesting fellow. I don't think I'll have any regrets even if I cross the River of the Dead today.”

SHING!

A clear ring of steel echoed through Paradise Manor. Bang Poyeom had drawn his sword.

“Come, then. Whether you're the Nameless Hero or not, you've come to kill me all the same. Let us cross swords.”

Dong Bongsu slowly drew his own blade. It was the Beginner's Sword. He also activated Qi Circulation, the Skill he had gained that day. For an instant, fierce energy burst from his body.

“A fine sword, and a fine presence.”

With those admiring words, Bang Poyeom extended his sword toward Dong Bongsu. It was a courtesy exchanged before a sword duel. But Dong Bongsu knew nothing of such things. Even if he had, he would not have observed them.

SHING.

The merciless cry of a sword.

To him, a sword was nothing more than a weapon for killing his opponent.

Without a moment's hesitation, Dong Bongsu charged at Bang Poyeom.

● ● ●

How strong am I now? Strong enough to plunge into the real Murim?

His footsteps fell steadily.

As he left Paradise Manor, Dong Bongsu asked himself once again.

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.

The blood running down the tip of his sword supplied the answer.

It was time to advance to the next stage.

● ● ●

Murim.

A world of contests that straddled life and death, a land of ambition where desires were realized. A place where vengeance, gratitude, and grudges tangled like skeins of thread, where the rules of everyday life were disregarded in favor of Murim's own laws.

Gain power, and you could reign over the world. Fall behind, and you would have to lie bleeding upon the cold earth.

Thus arose such expressions as “heartless Murim” and “merciless Murim.”

Martial artists might be divided into the Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Faction, and the Demonic Path, but to ordinary people, it was all nonsense. In their eyes, martial artists were all the same: outlaws.

At present, Murim's three great powers held one another in balance. It was what was known as a tripartite balance of power: a cauldron standing upright on three legs. If even one of those legs collapsed, the state of the world would change drastically.

People called the powers that formed those three legs the Three Hegemons, and accordingly called the present age the World of the Three Hegemons.

The Murim Alliance.

A coalition formed by the Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Families of the Central Plains, and countless small and medium-sized orthodox sects throughout Murim. Since Shaolin had originally spearheaded its creation, its headquarters were in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, near Mount Song, where Shaolin stood.

If all the orthodox sects belonging to the Murim Alliance united, the Alliance would unquestionably be the greatest power in Murim. Under its laws, however, the Murim Alliance Leader possessed very limited authority, preventing that vast organization from becoming the leader's private possession. Thus, in ordinary times, the Alliance was little more than a symbolic body representing the Orthodox Faction.

There were occasions when every orthodox sect in Murim united under the banners of the Alliance and its leader: when foreign powers invaded the Central Plains. Apart from those times, it was merely a loosely connected federation, within which the orthodox sects sometimes engaged in fierce intrigues and struggles among themselves.

The Heavenly Demon Castle.

Based in Xinjiang, it was an organization of those who revered the Heavenly Demon who had united Murim over a thousand years earlier. Its influence reached virtually every corner of the world, but its visible forces were concentrated in Xinjiang and Tibet.

In practice, it was the largest single power in Murim, and the lord of the Heavenly Demon Castle wielded absolute authority within it. If he so wished, its experts could cross Qinghai and storm into the Central Plains as early as tomorrow. However, the Murim Alliance Leader would then circulate martial summons and mount an immediate counterattack, which kept them from making any rash moves.

The Hall of Gathered Evil.

The weakest of the Three Hegemons, it was scorned as a gathering of heterodox paths and deviant arts. Yet if it sided with the Murim Alliance, the world would immediately belong to the Orthodox Faction; if it sided with the Heavenly Demon Castle, the Castle would immediately seize the world. In effect, the Hall of Gathered Evil played the most crucial role in the tripartite balance.

Nor was its mastery of this balancing act the only reason it was feared. With its grip on the world's underworld and its enormous wealth, it was the only power capable of secretly swaying even the authorities, albeit to a limited extent.

For the past hundred-odd years, there had been no fatal clashes between these three powers. It was what people called a time of peace.

But a tripartite balance was a precarious arrangement that began to creak at even the slightest imbalance on one side.

In truth, the cauldron called Murim had been creaking incessantly for the past century. The Hall of Gathered Evil's dangerous balancing act had merely kept it in equilibrium.

But what if...

What if this cauldron had not three legs, but four? And what if that fourth leg stood right in the center, where it was difficult to see from outside?

What if that central leg had been maintaining the balance in secret?

Perhaps the three legs had mistakenly believed all along that they alone were keeping it balanced. After all, the central leg was difficult to spot at a glance, making it seem as though its presence or absence made no difference.

But was that really so?

If the central leg were far larger and sturdier than the other three combined, the cauldron could remain standing without any of those three.

If an unseen...

Leg truly existed, and if that leg were larger and stronger than the other three combined.