Jin Tianxiang looked Baekji up and down.
'As expected, he must be from a powerful local family.'
The Four Shrines Heaven lends its strength to the businesses of the surrounding powerful local families. They earn profits in exchange for protecting mines or looking after business sites.
Jin Tianxiang, assuming Baekji was from a powerful local family, stopped paying attention to him.
The powerful local families who reigned like kings were all insufferable brats.
They also commanded private soldiers, and there were even powerful local families whose numbers reached the thousands.
"Hiyah!"
Jin Tianxiang, not wanting to mix words with Baekji, spurred her horse and galloped forward.
"Geez, she's so cold."
Gan Tieshan advised Baekji.
"The Four Shrines Heaven's Jin Tianxiang is a woman admired by the Black Path in this region. If you speak carelessly, you'll be in for it."
"They admire such a fierce woman? I guess the Black Path likes it rough."
"..."
As Baekji continued to speak disrespectfully, Gan Tieshan fell back, worried that the sparks might fly to him.
The party arrived in Hezhou around sunset.
"Why is the atmosphere like this here?"
Baekji muttered as he entered Hezhou.
Martial artists with swords were moving around in groups. Even as they hurried, they bowed their heads respectfully to Jin Tianxiang.
"The Four Shrines Heaven is currently at war. If you're not careful, your head will fly, so don't act rashly."
Jin Tianxiang warned and then designated an inn.
"This place is managed by us, so it will be safe. Tell the waiter to call a doctor."
When the escort group entered the inn, Jin Tianxiang said to the people in blue, "Guard them well. They are witnesses that we were frad."
"I understand."
As Jin Tianxiang mounted her horse again, Baekji followed.
"Why are you following ?"
"I told you. The Four Shrines Heaven Lord said to co for a drink."
Hmph. You really want to get beaten.
It seems he ca from a powerful local family to make so request, but his way of speaking is utterly rude.
Jin Tianxiang, deciding to beat Baekji up when they got to the base, nodded her head.
"Fine. Follow . But, where are you from?"
"My identity, you see... I can't just tell it to anyone."
Grind!
You really want to be beaten to death.
.
.
.
The Four Shrines Heaven was on a cliff by the river west of Hezhou. High castle walls and buildings were built with baked clay bricks.
Guards stood on the castle walls.
"This is a castle. Are you really fighting a war?"
"That's right. This is Half-Moon Fortress. The life of a martial artist is a war every day, brat."
Jin Tianxiang treated Baekji completely like a child.
Baekji didn't mind.
"Oho? Really? To think there's a brat who dares to wage war with the Four Shrines Heaven. Who on earth is it?"
"There are always enemies. If you knock one down, the next one cos out. Do you think unifying the Black Path is easy?"
Entering through the main gate, it was a wide plaza. Buildings lined both sides.
The martial artists coming and going from the buildings mostly wore gray martial arts uniforms, and occasionally, those wearing blue were seen.
Rarely, those wearing black martial arts uniforms were also visible.
They too bowed their heads in silent greeting whenever they saw Jin Tianxiang.
It was like seeing a disciplined Righteous Path sect, not the Black Path.
The two entered a building built on the cliff by the river at the back of the fortress.
Entering through the door, a wide space used as a training ground appeared.
"Wait. I'll go and report to the Heaven Lord."
Jin Tianxiang left Baekji standing in the training ground, which was full of all kinds of weapons, and went inside.
The Four Shrines Heaven Lord, Jin Tiansuo, was talking with Scholar Bing.
"Brother, I finally caught their tail. I think they are the survivors of the Twin Poison Sect."
Jin Tiansuo stood up from his seat.
The man in his thirties was tall and slender like his sister, and his white face went well with his black clothes.
"I received the report. But they say three of our brothers were seriously injured. I told you. I told you not to underestimate the enemy and to take enough troops."
"If there are too many people, it's difficult to chase the enemy. They are really fast brats."
Jin Tiansuo approached and put his hand on his sister's shoulder.
"If you get hurt..."
"Brother, I'm all grown up too."
Jin Tianxiang, Jin Tianxiang, brushed off her brother's hand on her shoulder and said, "Oh, right. So brat ca looking for you, saying he would have a drink with you."
"With ?"
Jin Tiansuo was bewildered.
"Why don't you stop doing business with the powerful local families? It's a pain to see those brats acting all high and mighty."
"We're in the middle of a war right now, so it's difficult to take on work... where did he say he was from?"
"I don't know. He said he couldn't reveal his identity... he's a very arrogant brat."
Scholar Bing interjected.
"By any chance... didn't he have shaggy hair and carry a bamboo staff?"
"No. He had a treasured sword at his waist. He's a brat full of nothing but vanity. He even wore a hero's headband."
Baekji had neatly combed his hair and tied it tightly with a hero's headband. It was to cover the scar on his forehead.
"So... there's no appointnt, right? Good."
Jin Tianxiang smiled. She had asked just in case, but there was no such thing as an appointnt.
She was pleased at the thought of beating Baekji up.
Scholar Bing, unable to shake off his lingering attachnt, stepped forward.
"I will go and et him."
Jin Tianxiang, along with Scholar Bing, entered the training ground where Baekji was waiting.
Scholar Bing's face brightened when he saw Baekji.
"Yang Honored One! It really is you, Yang Honored One!"
He ran over and grabbed his hand as if he had t a long-lost brother.
"It's good that you ca. I felt bad all this ti for coming without saying goodbye in that chaotic situation..."
He's a smooth-tongued brat. Has he completely forgotten the grudge of being beaten?
No, that's not it. This brat, by any chance...
"Are you really Scholar Bing? Let
see your face."
Baekji grabbed Scholar Bing's face and pulled.
Jjuk, the human-skin mask stretched.
Scholar Bing hastily raised his hand and covered his face.
"Ugh, absolutely not. This is a human-skin mask that is like my life."
As a military advisor of the Black Path, there were many brats who wanted to assassinate him.
"It's uncomfortable talking to a brat with his face covered..."
Jin Tianxiang was also surprised.
If he was the Yang Honored One that Scholar Bing was talking about...
The much-rumored disciple of the Alliance Leader?
The strange play script called the 'Four Hegemons of Shaanxi Great Assembly' had also flowed into the Four Shrines Heaven.
How pathetic she had thought it was when she saw it.
'As expected, he was a madman.'
Jin Tianxiang circled around Baekji and then grabbed his cheek.
"Ouch! What are you doing?"
"You're not wearing a human-skin mask? No matter how I look, you don't look like the Alliance Leader's disciple."
* * *
"Eum."
Shangguan Ming let out a groan and put down the docunt he was looking at.
The minutes of the eting sent from the Elder Hall.
―...In a situation where the threat of the Blood Sect is becoming more serious by the day, the Alliance Leader's incapacitation is a threat to the safety of the martial world... it has been finally concluded to dismiss the Alliance Leader and elect a new one...
It was a notice to vacate the Alliance Leader's quarters.
'Is it finally coming to this?'
He had expected it, but it was too fast.
The Elder Hall had no interest whatsoever in the Alliance Leader's condition.
'A person who has dedicated half his life to the Martial Alliance...'
Shangguan Ming gritted his teeth. It wasn't that he didn't understand the decision of the Elder Hall.
An old and wounded tiger must give up the mountain.
It was also the law of the martial world, where power reigns.
'Ti is of the essence...'
The Elder Hall said they would hold a grand retirent ceremony out of respect for the Alliance Leader.
And the deadline they notified was only a week.
They were going to oust the forr Alliance Leader before even electing a new one.
After the retirent ceremony?
Where would the Alliance Leader be taken?
It was obvious what the end of an old tiger who had lost his main mountain would be.
Shangguan Ming put the docunt in his bosom and went to the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.
The Wind and Cloud Pavilion known to the world was a place where the Alliance Leader went to have his fortune told before a major event.
The bent-backed master of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion was sitting at the oracle table with his eyes closed. The I Ching was spread out on the table, and it seed he was in the middle of interpreting a hexagram.
Shangguan Ming said politely, "The day has co."
The master of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion said with his eyes closed, "The sun is setting, but I have not found a branch to rest on, so my heart is anxious..."
The Wind and Cloud Pavilion known to a few people in the Alliance was the Alliance Leader's secret information network.
But only one person.
Shangguan Ming knew the true purpose of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.
Because he had organized it himself.
The Wind and Cloud Pavilion was mainly a secret society of families who had been saved by or had received help from the Alliance Leader.
The Alliance Leader had opposed it, but Shangguan Ming had pushed for it.
Even though he had created it, he had outwardly confronted the Wind and Cloud Pavilion and had kept his distance. So even those who knew the identity of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion thought it was an organization created by the Alliance Leader to keep the military affairs departnt in check.
The master of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion opened his eyes, took out a hexagram stick from the divination tube, and threw it on the table.
"Inauspicious, it will be advantageous to cross the river to the west."
The master of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion opened his eyes. A bright light flashed.
"Now, imdiately!"
* * *
The night Shangguan Ming escaped the Alliance, guarding the unconscious Alliance Leader.
Baekji went up to the third floor of Jin Tiansuo's residence.
A modest drinking table was set by the window in the room.
The river could be seen outside the window.
In the darkness, the river shone white. It was as if a single stream of the Milky Way was winding down.
"The Heaven Lord really lives in a good place. Even the Martial Alliance Leader would be envious of this place."
Jin Tiansuo's thick eyebrows twitched.
He knew that Baekji had intentionally let it slip that he was not in a master-disciple relationship with the Alliance Leader.
"Sit."
Jin Tiansuo pretended not to hear, sat down, and poured a drink.
He had heard from Scholar Bing that Baekji spoke informally to everyone.
Jin Tiansuo thought that if he was an absolute master as he had heard, he could do so. Because he was also like that.
"They say the Heaven Lord is a heavy drinker... but I'm a light drinker. I used to like it, but after my bone and flesh transformation, my body beca very clean. So when I drink, it feels like I'm drinking poison."
"You'll get used to it again if you keep drinking."
The Heaven Lord did not offer and gulped down the drink. His appearance was very heroic.
"You beat up and chased away my subordinates when I called, so what's with the sudden visit?"
He spoke as if they had known each other for a long ti.
"Ah, right. I beat up a sickly scholar, and I couldn't sleep at night."
"Hahaha. Even I want to beat up Scholar Bing sotis. He talks more and more."
After a few rounds of drinks, Baekji asked, "Why did you call ?"
"Let's talk slowly. The night is long."
"Hmm. I don't think the night of Half-Moon Fortress will be comfortable."
Baekji said, looking out the window.
Countless torches could be seen across the river.
"It really would be right to say it's a war. There seem to be about a thousand people over there."
"Even so, there are not many who can be called martial artists. They are people it's embarrassing to even use my hands on."
"Why are such people fighting the Four Shrines Heaven?"
"They must have been driven by soone."
Jin Tiansuo's answer was concise.
"So there's soone behind them?"
Jin Tiansuo, instead of answering drank.
Baekji, looking at the river, said, "It looks like those brats are going to cross the river."
"They'll stop at that."
The torches flocked to the riverbank, and nurous boats could be seen.
"They've been doing that for a month."
"So they're waiting for this side to get tired."
It was a tactic that they had no choice but to fall for even though they knew.
"It's good to watch while having a drink."
"Wow. That's cool. Those are the words of a great man."
"Keuk, keuk... what a strange brat. I can't tell if he's a child or an old man."
Jin Tiansuo muttered as if to himself.
Baekji also drank a glass of alcohol, and said, "Heaven Lord, what's your worry?"
"...?"
"There was a reason you called ."
Jin Tiansuo looked at Baekji silently. Then he poured a drink into his own glass, drank it slowly, and then opened his mouth heavily.
"Which family are you from?"
"......?"
"The Extre Middle Path, the No Martial Sect, the Silver Moon Sect... no, I don't think it's the Silver Moon Sect. They say you can feel a unique cold energy from that side... but there's no such thing. I think it might be the No Martial Sect."
(End of Chapter)
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