Chapter 51 - Besieged on All Sides

"What is that supposed to mean? Surely you don't intend to slaughter every last person in the Namgung Clan and then announce, ‘I am the heir to the Namgung Clan’? If that's your idea, forget it. Those Orthodox Faction riffraff care more about the name of a family or sect. They might acknowledge you as a somewhat impressive expert, but they won't consider you the heir who will rebuild the Namgung Clan. It might be different if you'd learned their martial arts, but as things stand, it's impossible. Oh, enough. Stop making pathetic excuses. This isn't like you, Shifting Shadow. When I saw Mad Cloud again after over ten years, he hadn't changed a bit, but you've turned into a complete sad sack. Just wipe out the Namgung Clan and their hangers-on here, return to headquarters, tell him the truth, and await his judgment. Wouldn't that be more like you...? Hm!? You...?"

Paga Hyeol was in the middle of telling Do Heo-ok to admit his mistake when he abruptly fell silent, a startled expression crossing his face.

CRACK, CRUNCH.

For Do Heo-ok's face and body had suddenly begun to twist and change in grotesque ways.

CRACK, THUD, CRUNCH...

A moment later, the handsome man named Do Heo-ok was gone. In his place stood a woman of peerless beauty. Do Heo-ok—or rather, the beautiful woman of unknown name—gave Paga Hyeol a bashful smile and spoke.

"What about this? In this form, I would have no need of a witness named Namgung Hye. Wouldn't you agree that I could become the heir to the Namgung Clan without even learning their martial arts?"

Even Do Heo-ok's voice was now exactly that of a woman, leaving Paga Hyeol bewildered.

"... Don't tell me that face is...!"

"Indeed. This humble maiden is named Namgung Hye."

Yes. As Do Heo-ok shyly lowered his head, he looked exactly like Namgung Hye, the woman he had been about to pledge his life to in marriage until so recently.

At the sight, Paga Hyeol broke into a broad grin and roared with laughter.

"Heheheh, hahahaha! I'm sorry. I take back what I just said. You haven't changed a bit. You're still just as..."

"Just as?"

"Insane. Heh heh."

Ordinarily, calling someone insane was an insult. But from Paga Hyeol—or rather, Ash Shadow—it was the highest praise.

The Core Shadows and Core Clouds had all studied martial arts directly under Mubon. Each possessed some extraordinary quality, and that was why he had chosen them. To each Shadow and Cloud, Mubon had imparted martial arts that would maximize those qualities. A few had even reached the very pinnacle of their specialized arts. Insane was Ash Shadow's special word for precisely such people.

Do Heo-ok—or rather, Shifting Shadow—knew this well. That word also told him that Ash Shadow had fully understood the significance of his transformation.

"A slaughtered family. Revenge for the man who passed on the entire true legacy of the Thunder Saber, along with his internal energy, before dying. What's more, this woman never knew any martial arts to begin with. No one will suspect Namgung Hye because she doesn't know the Namgung Clan's martial arts. No, they won't be able to. Surely that gives us more than enough to continue the First Stratagem, doesn't it, Ash Shadow?"

Before anyone knew it, ‘her’ deferential manner of speaking had reverted to Shifting Shadow's usual tone. Ash Shadow clapped his hands and burst into laughter again.

"Heheheh, hahahaha! Good, good. Very good!"

Shifting Shadow laughed along with him.

"Hahahaha! Ah, that's not right. I suppose I'll have to laugh like this from now on? Hohohohoho!"

The two laughed for a long while. Then, at some point, Ash Shadow stopped and spoke suggestively, his eyes discreetly roaming up and down Shifting Shadow's body.

"Namgung Hye really is a beauty, though. My cock's twitching even though I know you're a man."

Shifting Shadow's feminine laughter stopped dead, and a murderous expression crossed his face. A sinister, grotesque voice that the real Namgung Hye could never have produced emerged from her lips.

"Put that filthy thing back the way it was right now, or it will never twitch again. Because I will carve it off very neatly, right here and now."

Ash Shadow knew perfectly well that Shifting Shadow was joking. Still, he could hardly keep drooling over a man who was a woman only on the outside. He swallowed hard and had no choice but to calm the third leg attached to his lower body.

KREEEE!

A hawk appeared far away in the sky and flew swiftly toward them. In an instant, it reached the air above Rising Dragon Mountain's summit, circled over their heads, then began a steep descent toward them. As its shape grew clearer, they could see that it was not the same breed as the gyrfalcons Ash Shadow had released to intercept messenger pigeons.

"A ring hawk?"

It was indeed a ring hawk, a bird raised by an organization quite well known in Murim for regular exchanges of intelligence in place of messenger pigeons. Both Ash Shadow and Shifting Shadow knew the organization's leader well.

It was Water Shadow, the last of the seven Shadows mobilized for this First Stratagem, and the one who was not here.

The ring hawk's arrival likely meant that the time to begin was approaching. Ash Shadow resumed his usual expression of utter boredom and raised one arm horizontally. The hawk glided slowly down and alighted on it. A small, slender wooden case was tied to its leg.

POP.

Ash Shadow untied the wooden case from the hawk's leg and immediately opened its lid. The air packed inside escaped with a crisp sound. Inside was a single sheet of paper bearing this brief message:

[Afloat.]

The moment he read it, Ash Shadow summoned the True Fire of Samadhi and burned the paper. Then he tossed out a few words in a languid voice.

"They've set sail."

The remark came without any explanation, but Shifting Shadow understood.

"Already? Though I suppose I can hardly call it early. The plan to begin under the full moon has already gone awry. There's nothing strange about the boats setting sail now."

RIP.

Ash Shadow suddenly tore a strip from the hem of his trousers and began poking holes through it with his finger. Shifting Shadow knew exactly what he was doing and watched without a word.

Before long, a single word had been punched into the cloth: ‘Begin.’

Ash Shadow rolled up the cloth, put it in the case, and tied it back onto the ring hawk's leg. Then he immediately sent the bird skyward again.

Watching it wing away, he grinned. The feast of blood to come—the anticipation of it set his heart racing.

"Then I'll have to get moving ahead of schedule, too. What about you, Shifting Shadow? Will you stay here and join me?"

Shifting Shadow immediately shook his head.

"No. I'm following that hawk."

"You're going to Water Shadow? Why? This side looks much more entertaining."

"You don't know what you're talking about. That side will be far more entertaining. I guarantee it."

"How? Ah! Because of Tang Wu? Come on, that one man can't compare with the weight of the Namgung Clan."

"Well, perhaps not one man. But two would be a different story."

"Two? Ah! That light last night?"

Ash Shadow quickly realized whom Do Heo-ok meant.

"Yes, that light. Whoever it was isn't a member of the Namgung Clan, so they'll certainly come that way. I didn't see the light yesterday, but from what I've heard, their internal energy seems to be on the level of the Two Gods and Three Monsters. Perhaps... it really is one of them. Or one of their successors. Failing that, surely they're at least some extraordinary recluse?"

"Ah, damn it. Now that you put it that way, that side sounds much more tempting."

"Just finish things properly here. Leave everything over there to Water Shadow and me."

"But listen. If that tremendous flash yesterday really was produced entirely by internal energy... even you and Water Shadow together won't be able to beat that person."

"Probably not. But... wouldn't that be entertaining in its own way? Haha... hoho."

With a laugh that was difficult to identify as either masculine or feminine, Do Heo-ok bent his knees, preparing to leap away. He faced south, toward Soho Lake, where the ring hawk had just disappeared.

It was at the very instant he began straightening his knees to jump.

"Oh, Shifting Shadow, watch yourself on the way. I've deployed our people all around here. As you know, our Heavenly Demon Castle boys are a very rough bunch."

Shifting Shadow smirked at his words. At the same moment, his beautiful face and slender figure began to contort.

CRACK, SNAP, CRUNCH, CRACK...

Before long, Namgung Hye was gone. In her place crouched a man with his knees deeply bent and an expression of profound boredom.

"Will this do? Heh heh heh."

The face, the manner of speaking, the laugh—everything was an uncannily perfect copy of his own. Ash Shadow could only let out a hollow chuckle at Shifting Shadow's new appearance.

WHOOSH!

Shifting Shadow finally left Rising Dragon Mountain's summit. Watching him go, Ash Shadow shook his head and muttered to himself.

"That bastard is just as obnoxious as Mad Cloud, though in a very different way. But if he's taken my form, shouldn't he change into my clothes as well? He could have changed clothes here before transforming. Heheheh."

With that lewd remark, Ash Shadow vanished as well.

The boats had set sail, and Mubon's grand scheme, briefly thrown off course, began moving forward once more.

"Has the Han army already conquered all this land? On every side, only songs of Chu resound. My great king's fortune has run out; how could this lowly consort cling to hopes of life?"

—Yu Ji, beloved consort of Xiang Yu, Hegemon-King of Chu

The wicked are certain of success and put forth efforts to match. That is why they succeed.

—Charles Pierre Baudelaire, French poet

Midnight. A round moon hung in the sky, nearly full—perhaps already full. Beneath it, dozens of boats, large and small, sped across Soho Lake.

Southward, ever southward.

SWISH, SWISH.

The boats cut cleanly through the water.