Chapter 64 - Kang Dalhui

The Murim Alliance surmised that the two men had traveled up the Yangtze to Sichuan, then fled from there to the Heavenly Demon Castle. The Heavenly Demon Castle, on the other hand, insisted that the Alliance had orchestrated the entire affair from the outset as a pretext to attack it, proclaiming the two men victims of that conspiracy.

The Murim Alliance demanded that the Heavenly Demon Castle hand them over, while the Castle raged against the scheming scum of the Orthodox factions and vowed revenge. Whatever had actually become of the Naked Silver Demon and the Yangtze Dragon Champion, their disappearance had given both sides grounds to attack the other. Their very absence had become a pretext for war.

Before long, war clouds gathered over Murim, and martial artists began converging on Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai in steady streams. Matters had now reached the point where even the reappearance of the Naked Silver Demon and the Yangtze Dragon Champion could not avert war.

What, then, had become of those two?

"So you are telling me that the First Stratagem was completed without a hitch?"

A low, dry voice drifted from behind a red curtain and spread through the cave, giving no clue to its owner's age or sex.

It was a bizarre voice, one that seemed to have no equal anywhere in the world.

It belonged to Mubon.

And the place where he sat, where his voice resounded, was Mubon's Secret Grotto.

Two figures in black lay prostrate before the curtained dais. Their names were Paga Hyeol and Sa Saho—the very men who had turned Murim upside down.

After destroying the Namgung Clan together with Shifting Shadow, Do Heo-ok, they had immediately left Anhui Province. With their planned task complete, there had been no reason to remain.

With their chains of command shattered, the Heavenly Demon Castle's Anhui Branch and the Eighteen Waterway Strongholds of the Yangtze River had placed their faith entirely in Ash Shadow and Water Shadow, only to be betrayed. They could do nothing but crumble under the Murim Alliance's assault.

Upon arriving here, the two had reported the progress of the First Stratagem to Mubon and remained prostrate where they were.

The words Mubon had just spoken were his first since hearing their report a considerable time earlier.

"Yes, Mubon."

Ash Shadow answered without delay.

WHIP!

With an almost inaudible whistle through the air, a long gash opened across Ash Shadow's right cheek. He had neither seen nor felt anything. Yet he already knew who had done it. As far as he knew, only one person in the world could manipulate waves of qi with such freedom.

Belatedly, blood trickled down his cheek. In truth, had it not been for the pain, he would not even have known he was wounded until he began to bleed. Such was the terrifying stealth of Mubon's attack.

"Say that again."

Mubon's bleak voice drifted out from behind the curtain once more. It was utterly calm, but no one present could take it at face value. The mere fact that his qi had grazed their cheeks meant that they were at fault.

Naturally, Ash Shadow could not answer.

Blood trickled down. Another whistle cut through the air. This time it was his left cheek. Judging by the spasms in it, the blow seemed to have carried considerable force. Ash Shadow gritted his teeth and bore the pain without a word.

"If it was completed without a hitch, why has Shifting Shadow become Namgung Hye? Was disguising himself as a woman and infiltrating the Murim Alliance part of the original plan?"

Ash Shadow and Water Shadow merely bowed their heads lower without answering.

An immense surge of killing intent poured out from behind the curtain. Overwhelmed, Ash Shadow and Water Shadow could only tremble and sweat. This was not fear or anything of the sort. Their bodies, their instincts, were simply reacting to the killing intent.

Barely moments after they felt it, red liquid began seeping between their lips. Merely being subjected to that killing intent had inflicted internal injuries on two Beyond Peak Realm experts.

"Should this happen again, you will not be granted an easy death. Do you understand?"

Mubon's voice sounded again, and the killing intent receded.

Ash Shadow and Water Shadow opened their mouths to answer, but...

"Yes... Mu...! Cough! Bon..."

They vomited blood and collapsed unconscious on the spot.

And with that, Mubon's interrogation ended.

Had roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea passed? Mubon's voice echoed through the cavern again.

"Where did you say that man jumped?"

No one was properly on their feet in the cavern now, but a deep voice emerged from somewhere to answer Mubon's question.

"Seonjung Mountain, Mubon."

The speaker was Mad Cloud, who had returned from Anhui Province before Ash Shadow and Water Shadow. In fact, Mubon had already received a full report from him. Mad Cloud also knew whom Mubon meant by "that man," though he did not know precisely who the man was.

"Seonjung Mountain..."

Mubon's voice, low as a whisper, settled over the cavern with a faint tremor. Just as that tremor subsided entirely, his voice emerged from behind the curtain once more.

"Flying Cloud."

No sooner had he spoken than a black figure dropped from the ceiling. The instant he landed, he pressed his forehead to the floor.

"You summoned me, Mubon?"

"Can you descend a precipice a thousand fathoms deep?"

What was this? To Mubon's impossible question, Flying Cloud gave an impossible answer. How could a human being of flesh and blood possibly descend a thousand-fathom precipice unharmed?

Yet Flying Cloud had answered at once, without the slightest hesitation. None of the Shadows or Clouds could lie to Mubon. That meant what he had said was true.

"Yes, of course. You would have no difficulty descending it."

Flying Cloud said nothing, waiting for Mubon to continue.

"The world is vast. Even without us, the world is vast. Would you not agree, Flying Cloud?"

"Indeed, Mubon."

"Flying Cloud."

"Yes, Mubon. Give me your command."

"Take those two to Seonjung Mountain. Find that man and bring him back. If he is dead, bring back his corpse. If he has been smashed to pieces, collect every last fragment of bone."

After acknowledging the order, Flying Cloud hoisted Water Shadow and Ash Shadow onto his shoulders, one on either side, and left the secret grotto. The elusive swiftness of his movement technique defied description.

Once he was gone, Mubon's voice echoed through the cavern again.

"Mad Cloud."

"Who do you think it is?"

Though he had specified no one, Mad Cloud knew perfectly well that "who" meant "that man."

"I believe he is one of the Two Divinities, Three Eccentrics, Five Masters, and Ten Greats."

"Too many. Narrow it down."

At Mubon's words, silence briefly descended on the secret grotto. But it did not last long.

"I think it is one of the Three Monsters," Mad Cloud said.

"Why do you think so?" Mubon asked.

"The Two Gods were at Mount Tian and Mount Song respectively at the time. And neither the Ten Greats nor the Five Highs possess the skill to do such a thing."

"Then you are saying the Three Monsters do?"

"I do not know whether they can or cannot. But I believe they might."

"Heh heh. They can, and they might. How amusing."

"Mad Cloud, your reasoning has merit. Yes, we have yet to properly gauge the Three Monsters. Even I have no certainty where they are concerned, so you are right. Mad Cloud."

Mubon gave a low laugh in his uncanny voice and addressed Mad Cloud.

"Select ten of the Outer Clouds at once and go to Anhui Province to retrieve the goods. After that, track down the Three Monsters. The Second Stratagem is suspended until you find them."

An immensely important decision had been made in an instant, but Mad Cloud offered no objection. Mubon had spoken. He had decided. That was the end of it.

After acknowledging the order, Mad Cloud left the secret grotto.

With his departure, the secret grotto became an empty cavern once more. Not entirely empty, of course, for Mubon remained, his presence so faint that he might almost not have been there...

"Who are you? You?"

Mubon's voice wandered through the cave once more before fading. It was impossible to tell whom he was addressing.

You.

For someone holding a blade in the shadows, the existence of "you" was always frightening.

Though Mubon had ordered Mad Cloud to pursue the Three Monsters, he thought "that man" might not be one of them. As he himself had said earlier, the world was vast beyond measure. Somewhere in that vastness, there would be countless possible candidates for "you."

"Who are you? You...?"

Once again, Mubon unwittingly murmured the same words. Then, a long while later, he repeated them.

Who are you? You?

There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it never care for anything else thereafter.

- Ernest Miller Hemingway, American novelist

As the Murim Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Castle clashed across the land, a bloody wind swept through Murim.

The Black-White Great War.

That was what people called the struggle between the Heavenly Demon Castle and the Murim Alliance. No one even knew who had coined the name. Just like that, Murim split into two colors and went to war.

In the early stages of the war, the Heavenly Demon Castle held the advantage. Like its Anhui Branch, its branches throughout the land had been operating in secret, and many Orthodox sects in the various provinces had yet to identify their bases. Consequently, the Castle's branches frequently rose up without warning and struck their enemies helpless. The trouble was that the long years of peace had led them to relax their vigilance against the Unorthodox sects.

For over a month afterward, the Murim Alliance remained at a disadvantage. Judging by the initial course of the war alone, the Heavenly Demon Castle's momentum was so fearsome that it seemed it might unite all Murim under its rule.

But however much of a paper tiger it had become, the Murim Alliance represented the combined strength of Orthodox Murim. It was by no means weak enough to submit easily to the Demonic Path.

Soon, the Murim Alliance regrouped and adopted a defensive strategy, using the Nine Great Sects and Four Great Noble Clans as its strongholds. Defenders enjoyed an advantage in a siege, and that was not true only of wars between nations. Indeed, since most major sects and noble clans had a variety of formations installed on their grounds, it could be said that defenders in Murim enjoyed an even greater advantage than those in conventional warfare.