Chapter 17 - A Third-Rate Warrior Saving a Girl (4)

Namgung Clan.

The Namgung Clan, the deeply rooted master of Anhui Province located in Mount Huang, was normally visited by countless guests.

Ranging from high-ranking officials to the elders of highly renowned sects.

Such occurrences were like a daily routine, so the servants and maids did not feel much tension, but today was a little different.

None other than the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist had come to visit.

For an excellent manager, knowing the importance of a visitor and treating them accordingly was an essential skill.

However, the liquor, tea, and refreshments tailored to his tastes were stopped by the warriors at the entrance.

"They are having an important conversation inside, so come back later."

"Ah, understood."

While the managers secretly cursed the ignorance of the warriors who didn't consider that the warmed liquor and refreshments would get cold.

"I gave the Admission Token to someone else."

"..."

Inside, Namgung San's brow deeply furrowed as he listened to the story.

He had turned his horse around at the Iron Sword Sect and insisted on stopping by the Namgung Clan, only for things to turn out like this in the end.

"Seonhwa possesses skills that do not fall behind when compared to any rising star."

Namgung San spoke with full confidence.

Even though it was spoken by him, a member of the Murim Alliance's Dragon-Phoenix Summit and the next generation's master of the Namgung Clan, the other party was someone who felt that even such a background was nothing special.

"If that is the case, she should have no trouble getting in even by taking the standard exam."

Unable to control his emotions, Namgung San spoke up.

"Do you not know what people call the Murim standard exam?"

The hellish standard exam.

The term coined by Jianghu gossips for the standard exam taken to enter the Murim Academy.

A brutal test where hundreds of thousands from all over Jianghu take it each time, and only five hundred pass.

In the previous cycle, Namgung San had led the family's retainers and taken that hellish standard exam, but Namgung Seonhwa was not in the same position as him.

"Did you leave the Admission Token in my care?"

"..."

Even the great Namgung San could not help but be wounded by Zhuge Somyeong's words.

"I originally said I would test whether Seonhwa was qualified. Because I cannot give it to someone without qualifications."

"Then why can Seonhwa not even take that test?"

"Because the brat who took the Admission Token is superior to Seonhwa."

"..."

Rage flared up like an active volcano.

Who in the present Anhui Province possessed enough talent to surpass Namgung Seonhwa of the Namgung Clan?

"That cannot be. You must have been mistaken about something, Chief Strategist."

As soon as he spat those words out, he felt the surrounding atmosphere change drastically.

Because his rationality had been momentarily paralyzed by rage, he had made a slip of the tongue that he never should have made.

"Am I in a situation where I must convince you?"

"..."

"Why on earth would I need to persuade you?"

"... I apologize."

Regret was always too late, no matter how fast it came. It was far too late by the time he noticed the distinctive chill lingering in Zhuge Somyeong's gaze.

"You said your family's situation has been deteriorating by the day, right? But what reason is there right now to accommodate all such circumstances across the entirety of Jianghu?"

The painful words pierced deeply into his chest.

It was an emotion he had never felt back in the days when he had nothing to fear and nothing to regret.

However, he could not risk Seonhwa's life just because of these feelings of misfortune eating away at his heart.

"... I offer my apologies. And may I ask just one question?"

"Are you asking who I gave the Admission Token to?"

He received the answer before he could even ask the question. It meant the man already knew all the questions and actions he would take next. The Chief Strategist of the Mantong Bureau was truly a position not just anyone could hold.

"Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect."

The fact that he was telling him despite all this meant he wasn't worried, even knowing what Namgung San would do afterward.

"May I take it from him?"

"It seems that brat was planning to give it to someone else in the first place anyway. Do as you please."

Namgung San silently offered a bow and left the pavilion.

After Namgung San left, Zhuge Somyeong muttered as he drafted his documents.

"Why on earth do I have to get involved in such a trivial matter because of the scoundrels in your house?"

There was no one inside, but Zhuge Somyeong continued speaking.

"If you keep acting like this, I will set fire to your Cangqiong Hall."

"Hoho, you old man. Did going to a high position in the Murim Alliance make you lose your sight?"

Along with the reply, an old man with a long white beard appeared in front of Zhuge Somyeong and sat on a chair. It was the current Patriarch of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Taeha.

"You saw it too, right? That rotten brat glaring and shouting at me? I held back from plucking one of his eyes out."

"Tsk. I have nothing to say to that."

"That son of a bitch, do you know how many times I changed his diapers... I should have just snipped off his pecker back then."

As Zhuge Somyeong's crude words continued, Namgung Taeha's face flushed bright red.

"That's enough! You old geezer! And when did you ever change San's diapers anyway! And what do you mean by snipping off things from another family's precious son?"

"You senile has-been! Why do you think I came all the way to Anhui Province and attended the 60th birthday banquet of some unheard-of Iron Sword Sect Leader? Is that really something you should be saying right now!"

"Goodness! Who told you to come! You only came because you couldn't stand walking on eggshells around the elders!"

After bickering like children who hadn't even reached adulthood, the two men eventually huffed and puffed before maintaining a long silence.

"That Sangwon fellow is plotting something, isn't he?"

The direct line of the Namgung Clan was afraid of the standard exam.

This fact alone was the equivalent of foreshadowing a major disaster.

"The noble clan is right on the verge of splitting into two."

"Hoho, you damn old man. What have you been doing, staying cooped up in your house your whole life without even keeping your affairs in order?"

"..."

Zhuge Somyeong's mockery resumed, but Namgung Taeha could say nothing.

"Is it really that serious?"

"The branch line brats have begun acting however they please, with Sangwon at the center."

"Can't you just call them back into the noble clan?"

"If that were possible, would I be agonizing over it like this?"

The Namgung Clan thoroughly separated the direct and branch lines and divided their duties.

The direct line continued the traditions within the noble clan, while the branch line took full charge of the clan's livelihood from the outside.

However, the internal and external powers, which were supposed to be balanced, began to tilt unevenly, eventually reaching a point where the outside was coveting the power of the inside.

"The collateral influence is being restructured around the Cangqiong Merchant Group. Now, when we handle matters within the noble clan, we have to make 'requests' to the branch line. A 'request,' I tell you."

"... Ugh."

"Furthermore, all the channels we had to know what the branch line is doing outside have been cut off. Word is already coming in from here and there that those brats are borrowing the name of the Namgung Clan to commit atrocities. You must have heard it too, right?"

"... I have."

Because the reason he stopped by Anhui Province this time was to discuss that very matter.

"Do you have a countermeasure?"

"I am creating... a breaking form for the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique."

"Are you out of your mind?"

The Patriarch of the Namgung Clan was attempting to dismantle the very martial arts that served as the face of the family. Even taking the most favorable view, it was a massive incident that would surely end in his impeachment.

If things went wrong, it would not be surprising if the entire direct line was slaughtered.

For him to be calmly preparing such a thing, Zhuge Somyeong could not help but be dumbfounded.

"If I don't, I will have to spill the children's blood with my own hands."

"... So, have you created it?"

It was his curiosity as a single martial artist, before being the Chief Strategist.

Could a breaking form truly exist for such a profound swordsmanship as the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique?

The answer was evident enough just from Taeha's gloomy face.

"It is a swordsmanship layered with the lifelong experiences of our ancestors. It is not something someone like me can just abruptly charge in and create."

"Then are you saying you are wasting your time pointlessly?"

"Then what else am I supposed to do? Do you have another solution?"

"..."

He was the world's Chief Strategist Zhuge Somyeong, but nothing particularly came to mind regarding the current situation.

"You see? It is a problem even you cannot find an answer to in the end. Who could possibly come up with an answer that not even the great Chief Strategist can resolve? I just have to dig into this like my life depends on it."

"... Perhaps."

A face suddenly came to Zhuge Somyeong's mind.

A shameless, sly, and utterly detestable brat who dared to harbor suspicions right in front of the Chief Strategist, yet seemed like he might know a clear answer.

But at the same time, an unlikable face that looked like it would demand to settle the accounts thoroughly.

"... But I feel the price to be paid for that answer would be far too high."

"Who are you talking about?"

"The brat your grandson is trying to chase down."

"Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect? You're saying he knows the answer?"

"I don't know. How could he solve a problem that neither the Patriarch of the Namgung Clan nor the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist could solve? Still, he is a fellow with incredible cunning, so I thought he might be able to find a loophole."

"Hoho, a brat acknowledged by the most narrow-minded man in the world. I would like to meet him once."

"You senile old geezer, who are you calling narrow-minded!"

"Now, now, let's not do this and go have a drink. You can just toss aside those documents as well."

"These are not documents I can just toss aside! The factional dynamics of the Murim Alliance rest on this single document..."

"Ah, ah, whatever. I know how to forge your signature anyway. I'll help you do it. Let's go."

"You son of a bitch! Those documents I couldn't remember signing, that was your doing, wasn't it?"

The two men cast off the dignity that had been weighing down their shoulders all this time and relocated with light hearts.

* * *

My well-crafted plan fell apart right from the start.

"We are not looking for escort warriors."

"Then can't I at least stand guard?"

"... Which sect are you from?"

"I am from the Taiyi Sect."

"... Ahem. I am sorry. We have no openings."

The wall of reality was still harsh to the Taiyi Sect.

If I could prevent the kidnapping, doing it from the inside would be best, but if I said, 'Your daughter is in danger of being kidnapped,' there was a high chance I would be treated like one of the kidnappers or like a madman instead.

Either outcome was a bad result for me.

Instead of infiltrating the inside, I wrapped things up by sending a threat letter making it seem as if I were going to invade.

They would surely prepare more defenses after seeing the threat letter.

In the end, I had no choice but to prevent the kidnapping from the outside, but the problem was that the classified documents only recorded the fact that she was kidnapped and murdered; the process was not written down.

"It was a document written based on an interrogation, and the process wouldn't have been needed anyway."

Thanks to that, I had to search through the entire library in my head once again to find the documents related to this.

* Class Mu

- A large number of animal carcasses found in the forest between Hefei and Chao Lake. Concluded to be an incident caused by indiscriminate hunting. Warnings issued to the hunters.

* Class Gi

- Report of a theft in the slash-and-burn village. The stolen items were trivial things like old clothing and famine-relief crops. No response taken.

* Class Gi

- Report of women disappearing from the slash-and-burn village. After dispatching 9th-class warriors from the branch, their traces could not be found, and the investigation was closed.

* Class Gi

- Several female corpses discovered at Chao Lake. Presumed to be the women who disappeared from the slash-and-burn village. With no notable facts to specify, the case was closed after notifying the villagers.

* Class Gi

- The corpse of a decapitated young girl discovered in an empty house near the Yeo River. She was wearing clothes from the slash-and-burn village, but since no one from the village stepped forward to claim her, the body was cremated and disposed of. Case closed.

I was able to find traces of Wang Soso in the Class Gi and Class Mu reports, which were not considered very important even at the branch.

In conclusion, Wang Soso's body was not found, but based on the physical description of the corpse discovered near the Yeo River written in the report, it was highly likely to be Wang Soso.

Furthermore, hiding an important incident within several other incidents was one of the common methods used by assassins.

My operation began at the slash-and-burn village on the path leading from the Wang Estate to the Yeo River.

"But why didn't they make more use of the hostage?"

From the Wang Estate to the Yeo River, it was only a three-day journey.

A hostage was originally far more advantageous to use while they were alive, so it was a mystery why they had killed her right away.

In fact, if they had just utilized Wang Soso properly, it would have even been possible to extort the immense wealth amassed by Wangga Manor.

"Then again, if they had done that, their identities might have been exposed, and that wouldn't have ended well."

Even though the Cangqiong Merchant Group had the backing of the Namgung Clan, their opponent was Wangga Manor.

If they rubbed them the wrong way, a massive crisis could occur where even the military and the Imperial Palace were mobilized.

"Still, if they were afraid of that, why did they mess with Wangga Manor?"

Leaving such questions behind, time passed, and individuals of unclear identities began to gather in Hefei.