Chapter 136: The Order Has Changed
The killing intent of the Murim Alliance members filled the Shui Stronghold.
Not only the bandits but even Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok wore expressions of shock and confusion.
To order a suppression without even going through the process of investigation—this was not the usual way of the Murim Alliance.
No matter if the Murim Alliance was the union of the Orthodox faction, and even if the Shui Stronghold belonged to the Unorthodox, this was certainly strange.
“What is the meaning of this!”
Jang Gwang shouted in a flustered voice.
The martial prowess of the Alliance members who had stormed in was by no means low. If they clashed head-on with the Inspection Stronghold here, they would most likely be annihilated.
The situation escalated rapidly.
The Murim Alliance members began attacking the bandits, unleashing streams of killing intent.
“You crazy bastards!”
The bandits spat curses as they swung broadswords and axes wildly.
But just like frightened dogs barking louder, they were no match for the Alliance members.
Desperate screams from the bandits followed one after another.
“Form a formation and fight them off!”
Han Mu-geon, the Stronghold Leader of the Inspection Stronghold, shouted with inner qi imbued in his voice. The bandits grouped together and began resisting the Alliance members.
But it was not enough.
They were barely holding on because of their superior numbers, but once a gap was pierced, death would sweep through the Stronghold like a raging fire.
The Murim Alliance members did not hurry. To them, the bandits here were nothing but a ragtag bunch of riffraff.
“Do not let a single one live.”
The man who said this lowered his sword and fixed his gaze on Jang Gwang. He had noticed that the atmosphere here flowed under Jang Gwang’s lead.
Without the slightest hesitation, the man charged at Jang Gwang.
Swaek—!
Lowering his center of gravity, he slid forward at tremendous speed.
A shocked Jang Gwang swung his large broadsword.
Chaeng—!
His blade and Jang Gwang’s broadsword collided head-on. Jang Gwang felt pain as if his wrist would snap.
“Ugh!”
Jang Gwang was pushed back three whole steps.
His opponent’s inner qi was far deeper than expected.
“Brother!”
Won Hu-hyeok and Han Mu-geon joined the fight.
The three of them attacked the man together, yet the tide of battle hardly shifted.
The man swung his slender sword with ease, as though toying with all three of them.
The single, thin blade effortlessly blocked the massive broadsword and axes.
Kang—!
The man lightly knocked aside Won Hu-hyeok’s axe, then suddenly increased his speed, slashing across.
Seogeok—!
A red line split across Jang Gwang’s chest.
Clutching his chest with his left hand, Jang Gwang staggered backward.
The man suddenly pressed forward, as though intending to end it with the next strike.
Won Hu-hyeok and Han Mu-geon hurried to intercept.
Shwik—!
With a profound footwork, the man slipped past their weapons as if mocking them and appeared right before Jang Gwang.
His sword swung again.
Though Jang Gwang pressed his left hand against the blood pouring from his chest, he swung his broadsword desperately with his right.
Jjeong—!
The broadsword was sliced apart with ease.
A faint but unmistakable Sword Flux glimmered along the man’s blade.
Even after cutting through the broadsword, the momentum did not cease, and the sword thrust forward.
Jang Gwang sensed death.
What he felt in that moment was not fear, but worry.
The Murim Alliance members, including this man, were too strong. If he died so futilely, Won Hu-hyeok and Han Mu-geon would not escape death either.
But there was nothing he could do. A crushing sense of helplessness and defeat weighed upon him.
Just as the sword’s tip was about to pierce Jang Gwang’s throat—
From behind Jang Gwang, a figure darted forth like lightning.
Startled, the man hastily twisted his sword’s trajectory.
In an instant, the sword and an overwhelming force clashed head-on.
Jjeooong—!
The man was helplessly blasted away.
The battle within the stronghold froze, and all eyes turned toward this spot.
The man crashed into the ground after flying for quite some distance, then staggered to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Tension filled the air.
That a Captain of the Murim Alliance suffered internal injury from a single strike meant his opponent was truly an extraordinary master.
As the thick dust settled, a man revealed himself.
It was Jin Seong-un. He gazed at the man with his usual calm expression.
Some of the bandits recognized Jin Seong-un.
But neither they nor Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok spoke a word.
They all understood. If their association with Jin Seong-un was revealed before the Murim Alliance, it would bring him nothing but harm.
The bandits chose silence out of loyalty, and the Murim Alliance members, gripped by tension, also kept their mouths shut.
A heavy silence followed.
Catching his breath and tending to his internal injury, the man—Hwang Eung Captain Won Seo-pung—glared at Jin Seong-un. His expression looked deeply troubled.
‘What in the world is that?’
He looked to be barely past his early twenties. Yet from that single exchange, Won Seo-pung could clearly gauge the other’s level.
A master of a tier far above his own. He had no idea who he was, or why he interfered with the Murim Alliance’s affairs.
But one thing was certain.
‘At the very least, those two must die.’
Won Seo-pung’s gaze fell upon Jang Gwang and Won Hu-hyeok.
It was clear they were the leaders of Shui Stronghold. Bandits were lowly beings—once their heads were cut off, the rest were nothing but rabble.
They could be shaken however one wished. What could headless bandits possibly do with their dull, oversized skulls?
Having made up his mind, Hwang Eung Captain coughed lightly, then—
Swaek—!
Unleashed a sudden burst of Sword Qi.
He deliberately refrained from asking the stranger’s identity.
It was a thoroughly political choice.
Later, claiming ignorance would always provide him with many avenues of retreat.
The surging Sword Qi split into five streaks as it shot forward at incredible speed.
The Mount Heng Sect’s Five Paths Sword Art .
As though five swords had been unleashed, each streak traced its own distinct trajectory as they came crashing down.
Jin Seong-un swung his sword head-on.
The crimson flames of the Fire Dragon Escape Sword burned away three streaks of Sword Qi in an instant.
Hwang Eung Captain’s eyes widened.
Though the Sword Qi he unleashed was meant to strike the two bandits behind, his other intention had been to bind the mysterious expert in front of him.
‘And yet, so easily…’
Fortunately, two streaks of Sword Qi bypassed him and continued toward the bandits.
Now it was too late for him to leap in and block them. The bandits had neither the means nor the skill to evade.
Just as Hwang Eung Captain felt inward relief—
Seogeok—!
A chilling sound he should not have heard rang out.
The Sword Qi that had been rushing fiercely at the two bandits was sliced apart vertically, brushing past them harmlessly.
Kwaaaang—!
The severed Sword Qi crashed straight into the river.
Before the bandits stood a man, holding a short dagger in his hand.
From head to toe, he exuded an ominous, pitch-black aura. He then spoke.
“Five Paths Sword? Looks like that bastard’s from the Mount Heng Sect.”
It was Seo Yu-gyeom, who had arrived late.
During his days in Deathshroud, he had studied the martial arts of most major factions in the murim, so he immediately recognized Hwang Eung Captain’s origin.
Shaking his sore wrist in the air, Seo Yu-gyeom continued.
“The other Alliance members behind you all have the same sword forms. Is this really a mission of the Murim Alliance?”
Or was it just the private affair of the Mount Heng Sect?
That was the suspicion his words carried.
A heavy doubt gleamed in Seo Yu-gyeom’s eyes. The reason was simple—the Mount Heng Sect of the present era was in decline.
In most cases, shady dealings were born from greed of the corrupt, or from the desperation of the ruined.
Hwang Eung Captain kept silent.
The Alliance members glanced at one another.
At that moment, another man finally arrived at the stronghold. Unsurprisingly, it was Seomun Ak, whose movement arts were the slowest among the three.
“You crazy bastards…”
Seomun Ak leaned on his knees, panting heavily. Just chasing after Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom had drained him of nearly all his strength.
Seeing him, Hwang Eung Captain frowned.
‘Why would the wastrel of the Seomun Clan…’
A bad feeling rose within him. The man was a wastrel, yes, but not one to openly consort with those of the Unorthodox Path.
Which meant the two other experts who appeared earlier were also, with high likelihood, men of the Orthodox.
Fixing his eyes on Jin Seong-un, Hwang Eung Captain recalled a certain rumor.
That the wastrel of the Seomun Clan had become an inn waiter. Naturally, one figure came to mind—the man most in the spotlight in the murim as of late.
“Guest Dragon?”
At the mention of that alias, the life briefly vanished from Jin Seong-un’s eyes.
Jin Seong-un spoke nonchalantly.
“That’s right.”
“What? Guest Dragon—why would you be helping bandits…?”
Hwang Eung Captain narrowed his eyes as he asked.
At least it was a relief that Guest Dragon, though famous for his unmatched martial skill and eccentricity, had no powerful background behind him.
Pressing him with a strangely coercive tone, Hwang Eung Captain spoke, and Jin Seong-un, after a brief thought, replied.
“They’re our regulars.”
“……”
“They eat a lot. Precious customers, indeed.”
Hwang Eung Captain’s face twisted into incredulity. To interfere with the affairs of the Murim Alliance for such a trivial reason?
Regardless, Jin Seong-un added.
“Ah, and this one here is also our inn’s waiter.”
Jin Seong-un pointed toward Jang Gwang.
A stir rippled through the stronghold.
Guest Dragon was known to keep company mainly with men of the Orthodox Path. That he had taken in the bandits of Shui Stronghold was surely a matter that could stir serious trouble.
Hwang Eung Captain immediately pressed the point.
“You’ve taken in bandits? Do you realize how easily that could be misinterpreted?”
“What kind of misunderstanding, exactly?”
“Guest Dragon, though one of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes, is not strictly bound to the Orthodox, is he?”
“I was never a murim man to begin with.”
Is he mad?
That was the fleeting thought in Hwang Eung Captain’s mind, yet he forced himself to continue.
“...Well, regardless. To form such deep ties with an Unorthodox faction like Shui Stronghold, to the point of standing in the way of the Murim Alliance’s suppression—heh, someone could very well grow suspicious of Guest Dragon. Especially…”
He deliberately paused for effect. Though from a declining sect, he had risen to the seat of Captain with his own strength.
He knew well how to persuade people, and how to apply pressure.
“There are many in the Murim Alliance who believe the Unorthodox are foes to be cut down without mercy. And in truth, they’re not wrong.”
As he said this, Hwang Eung Captain fixed his stare on Jin Seong-un. In his eyes was blatant pressure.
A warning not to protect worthless bandits and draw needless suspicion.
If things went awry, Guest Dragon or not, he could end up opposing the entire Orthodox murim.
Coming from none other than a Captain of the Murim Alliance, any ordinary man would have felt the crushing weight of his words.
Hwang Eung Captain was certain.
Soon, Guest Dragon would retreat, tail tucked between his legs. After all, the calculations did not add up. To shield a few Unorthodox bandits at the risk of making enemies of the Orthodox murim?
“It makes sense.”
Jin Seong-un nodded in agreement. It was the very concern he had when first taking in Jang Gwang. Even when he accepted Seo Yu-gyeom, once of Deathshroud, the same thought had crossed his mind.
Now that he thought of it, the inn’s members were largely the same. Bandits, assassins, even wastrels.
In a low voice, Hwang Eung Captain gave his warning.
“Guest Dragon, do not interfere any further in the matters of the Murim Alliance. This is no request.”
Just as he gave a sharp glance to his men, ordering them to prepare for the continued suppression—
Jin Seong-un, nodding as if in agreement, replied in his typical offhand manner.
“But the order has changed. It is the Murim Alliance that has interfered in the affairs of the Seong-un Inn.”
“...What?”
Hwang Eung Captain wore an expression as though he wished to wash his ears out with water.
How could a mere inn be spoken of in the same breath as the Murim Alliance, the greatest union of the Orthodox Path?
He could only blink dumbly in disbelief.