“What did you say?”

The Supreme Flame Dragon asked, his thick eyebrows lifting slightly.

Jung Yeonshin could guess what he meant just by looking at his face. He was not asking because he had failed to hear. His expression suggested he was offering a chance to reconsider.

“I spent a long time locked in an underground prison. Must have dulled my hearing. Say that again.”

The corners of his mouth crept upward. He was trying to assert his own authority instead.

He had been the young clan head of a great house. As a member of the regional noble clan rooted in Jinan, Shandong, he would have enjoyed standing rivaling that of many royal houses. His behavior was understandable enough.

Yeonshin spoke calmly.

“If you belong to the Radiant Demon Squad, then you are my subordinate.”

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

The Supreme Flame Dragon’s faintly smiling eyes narrowed further. Dark shadows already lay beneath them; now he looked ready to lie down in a coffin at any moment. For all his formidable presence, he looked like a wreck.

His qi surged like a blaze. Within it, his lips twisted into a languid smile. He was as bizarre as ever.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ve never seen him before. Is he fighting Lightning Genius?”

“Let’s tell an adult.”

“Idiot. They’re all away on missions. Brother Jung is the highest-ranking person here right now.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon had shouted loudly upon arriving. By now, the Radiant Demon Squad’s unranked disciples had come out to watch.

A boy a couple of years older than Yeonshin stepped forward and herded the children back.

“Let’s go behind the hall. You can tell he’s an expert. We’ll only get in Brother Jung’s way.”

“But that man isn’t wearing any rank color.”

“Just go.”

Yeonshin was grateful. The boy had taken on the role of Shin Sobin, the only other fully fledged warrior remaining at the squad hall.

Yeonshin activated his Radiant Demon Arts and calculated the combat paths. He intended to block off any lines of movement that might expose the children to the aftermath. Fortunately, it was easy: the space behind the Supreme Flame Dragon was wide open.

He continued speaking.

“Superiors command, subordinates obey. That applies to every combat unit in the Divine Sword Squad.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon snorted.

“Cute kids. Anyway, I’m almost thirty—the age of standing firm. Must I really call you captain?”

“Senior will do.”

“I studied under the Hwangbo clan head. The old man was so cantankerous I hate even calling him my father, but he was among the oldest fossils of the Eight Great Family heads. Even by the martial world’s generational hierarchy, your claim is absurd...”

Just then, Shin Sobin, who had been creeping closer from a distance, shouted.

“Senior Lightning Genius studied under the Desolate Fortress Master!”

“...”

The Supreme Flame Dragon shut his mouth. The martial world’s generational hierarchy inevitably lost its meaning before the noble race.

Every argument had been refuted. He opened his mouth with a feeble objection.

“Still, at my age...”

“An unranked disciple talking like that to a blue-robed warrior?”

Sobin challenged him with catlike eyes. It was an odd arrangement. While Yeonshin and the Supreme Flame Dragon faced each other, she stood to one side with both hands on her hips, watching them with jet-black eyes. She looked ready to dispute every word the Supreme Flame Dragon said.

Sobin released her own qi to withstand the space occupied by the two experts. Her white robe fluttered softly, like the skirts of a young celestial maiden.

Was it innate courage? She did not seem the least bit nervous.

“My house was, after all, one of the Eight Great Families.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon kept his gaze on Yeonshin as he spoke. Sobin answered.

“It was wiped out, wasn’t it?”

Her words were curt. Yet he could not turn toward her. Yeonshin had already activated the Movement Art and was displaying a deeply settled presence.

He had reached a level worthy of being called an advanced expert. Having even killed the Blue Qilin, whom the Supreme Flame Dragon had called his close friend, he could rightly be counted among a major sect’s finest.

“Good grief.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon knitted his brows as though this had become terribly tiresome.

“... I have a reputation in the martial world, too. You must have heard that I won the Dragon-Phoenix Summit.”

“The White Qilin won it too, and he lost to Senior Lightning Genius.”

“Consider my standing. I was the young head of a clan.”

“What does a clan that no longer exists matter? Besides, Senior Lightning Genius is the Desolate Fortress Master’s direct disciple, and I’m a legitimate daughter of the fortress’s Shin Clan. He’s a blue-robed warrior, I’m a white-robed warrior. And you...”

Sobin’s lips curved slightly. Her expression was audacious.

“You said it yourself earlier. A small-fry unranked disciple.”

“...”

“Are you out of your mind? If you’ve joined this fortress, you follow its laws. Who do you think you are, challenging a blue-robed expert so far above you? Do you want to end up back in a corner of that prison? My grandfather was the previous Elder Council Leader. One word from me, and you’ll...”

Her tirade grew increasingly fierce, like a cat’s sharp cries. It made her epithet, White Cat, feel thoroughly appropriate.

“...”

As the Supreme Flame Dragon gradually reined in his presence, looking utterly at a loss for words, Yeonshin remained on guard against him but felt privately disappointed.

Since the man was no young unranked disciple, Yeonshin had merely insisted on proper rules as his senior in the Radiant Demon Squad. Even so, he had been rather pleased by the Supreme Flame Dragon’s apparent readiness to attack.

The boy thought, <i>‘I thought we might exchange blows at full strength. Without my having to provoke him, too.’</i>

Then he slowly spoke.

“By the way.”

“What now?”

“I only know your epithet, too. What’s your name?”

When a formidable expert roamed the martial world, martial fame naturally followed. Usually, however, only their epithet spread. The land was simply too vast.

That was especially true of Xinye County in Henan, where Yeonshin came from. Only the biggest rumors ever reached it.

Yet it was unusual for a Desolate Fortress martial artist not to know the Supreme Flame Dragon’s name. There were, after all, precisely eight young clan heads of the Eight Families.

<i>‘Even on the mission, they only gave me his likeness and epithet.’</i>

There was a reason. Even Baek Miryeo, his blue-robed senior, had known well of the Supreme Flame Dragon’s short lifespan.

With the Hwangbo clan’s annihilation, the reason they had made the concubine-born Supreme Flame Dragon their heir had come to light. A life destined to end young, paired with brilliant talent: they had considered him expendable, to be replaced after he had elevated their house’s renown.

That was why they had not publicized their young clan head’s name. They wanted fame, yet also someone easily erased. It was a paradox.

Yeonshin saw himself in the Supreme Flame Dragon’s circumstances. It was one reason he kept his distance from his maternal relatives, the Desolate’s Ma Clan.

A soft footfall brought a pleasant scent. Sobin had come up beside him before he knew it. When their eyes met, she smiled brightly; for a moment, she looked more like a puppy than the White Cat.

Yeonshin swallowed his puzzlement. Asking about her changed attitude now would only complicate matters.

Meanwhile, she pressed the Supreme Flame Dragon.

“Your senior asked you a question. Answer.”

“Don’t much feel like telling you, ma’am.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon’s world-weary expression suited him despite his age, perhaps because he was so strikingly handsome.

The Blue Qilin and White Qilin had been the same. The direct descendants of great houses all had exceptional looks. Come to think of it, so did Sobin and Ma Se-In.

<i>‘She said looks were a kind of status, too.’</i>

Those had been the words of Ak Surim, the Desolate Divine Spear who had accompanied him on this mission.

Yeonshin found himself thinking of the Desolate Fortress Master. There was nothing she lacked: exalted standing, world-shaking martial arts, even an endless lifespan. Did she know what it was to lack anything?

At the same time, Sobin’s eyes sharpened again.

“What did you just say? ‘Don’t much feel like it’? You really haven’t learned your lesson, have you, old man?”

“Because I threw that name away, ma’am. Wouldn’t want the Hwangbo name bringing bad luck.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon smiled faintly. He seemed to have recovered his composure. He shifted his manner of speech freely without ever sounding unnatural. His thoughts ran deep. Yeonshin could see how he had held his own as the heir to a great house.

“I received no advance notice. Let’s go to the Command Bureau first. I need confirmation that you really were released from prison and assigned to the Radiant Demon Squad.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon had arrived alone, without a single escort from the Command Bureau. That was hardly conceivable. If his story was true, he must have shaken off whoever was guiding him.

Just then, Sobin’s breath brushed his shoulder. She was about half a head shorter than him, and the way she stared up at him was a little disconcerting.

“Senior, am I coming too?”

“No. The children will be anxious. Set their minds at ease.”

He meant the Radiant Demon Squad’s unranked disciples, who shared with him the warmth he had never received at the Jeong Clan Estate. Everyone in the squad did. He could not help caring about them.

“It’s not like they’re ordinary civilian children.”

Pouting her small lips, Sobin reluctantly withdrew.

Yeonshin met the eyes of the Supreme Flame Dragon, who had been watching her with a grin.

“Let’s go.”

Verifying the facts came first. Yeonshin led him toward the Command Bureau. The man snickered and ambled after him with a swagger.

They walked for a while as dusk fell. After they had passed several clusters of halls, someone called out.

“Young Master Jung.”

They had run into the Chief Administrator. He appeared to be on his way into the Command Bureau hall. His imposing frame still radiated robust vigor, utterly at odds with the faint, last struggles of the fading sunset.

Yeonshin calmly offered a martial salute.

“Chief Administrator. I was just coming to see you.”

“Ah, I believe I know why.”

The Chief Administrator beamed as though looking at his own son. He glanced behind Yeonshin, where the Supreme Flame Dragon stood with one leg slightly raised.

“Because of that fellow, I take it?”

“Yes.”

“His assignment is official. The Supreme Flame Dragon will be a powerful blade for the Radiant Demon Squad. Keeping him under control is his superiors’ responsibility, of course, but I believe you and the squad are more than capable.”

“... Yes, understood.”

“Naturally, it is not easy to accept. But the Fortress Master examined him personally. You may rest assured. As for justification, her command is sufficient.”

“Ah.”

Yeonshin gave a quiet exclamation.

He pictured the Desolate Fortress Master gazing at the Supreme Flame Dragon: leaning against the tree trunk that filled her office, studying him without emitting a trace of qi.

The imagined scene was vivid. ... Reflected in those abyssal, deep-green eyes, the Supreme Flame Dragon looked pitiful.

They were the eyes of a supreme transcendent even among the noble race. They were said to see through to one’s essence.

His doubts subsided.

“Thank you for explaining.”

Yeonshin offered another martial salute and was about to turn away when the Chief Administrator’s voice stopped him.

“If you have no urgent business, why not come inside for a moment? I understand a dispatch concerning the Radiant Demon Squad in Sichuan has just arrived. My subordinates should be reviewing it.”

“May I?”

Yeonshin responded immediately. A kindly smile appeared on the Chief Administrator’s face.

“Of course. The Fortress Master personally accepted you as her direct disciple. There can be no question of your character. Follow me. They should have decoded the letter by now.”

“Wait.”

Yeonshin’s brief instruction was not directed at the Chief Administrator.

The Supreme Flame Dragon raised his eyebrows at being abruptly treated like a dog, but the boy did not look back.

With a firm footstep, Yeonshin followed the Chief Administrator into the Command Bureau.

The instant he crossed the enormous threshold, voices struck his ears as though they had been waiting for him. The murmuring was calm yet clamorous, with an edge of urgency.

<i>‘An Enchantment.’</i>

Even his heightened senses had not picked up the sounds outside. Just as Yeonshin was appreciating anew the vast resources of the Desolate Fortress, he heard:

“... Squad white robes, two killed in action. Bodies being recovered. The remaining twenty-three, including the captain of the Radiant Demon Squad, are all missing following an engagement with an unidentified group.”

“Use of an area-wide martial technique suspected. Traces of hidden weapons within a radius of eight zhang—approximately twenty-four meters. All impact marks densely concentrated. Believed to be the Sichuan Tang Clan’s secret ultimate technique, Blossoms Raining Across the Sky. Unclear whether used in support or hostility.”

“Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord sighted in Long’an Prefecture, Sichuan. Accompanied by a Tyrant Sword Tribe Elder.”

“Rising generation disciples of the Thirteen Skies gathering in Shunqing Prefecture, Sichuan. Numerous martial artists of the evil and unorthodox paths attending, including the Ten Perfections Sect and Pure Demon Alliance. Several notable experts observed among their bodyguards. Estimated at blue-robed level at minimum.”

“The Diancang Sect’s Young Sword Empress, the Emei Sect’s Golden Staff Divine Maiden, and the Qingcheng Sect’s Red Cloud Dragon sighted. Three of the Nine Great Sects. Also in Shunqing Prefecture, Sichuan.”

This was the Desolate Fortress’s Command Bureau, where news from all across the world converged. Martial-trained scholars discussed matters throughout the hall, their eyes bright and keen.

“Shouldn’t we send reinforcements?”

“Impossible. We lack personnel to defend the fortress. Fifteen of the seventeen squads are deployed.”

“Divine Sword Squad forces stationed in Sichuan... Radiant Demon Squad, Heavenly Squad, Suncheon Wing. Effective immediately, the Radiant Demon Squad is to be excluded from our available combat strength.”

Amid the urgency, a deathly silence began to spread from one spot.

The entrance. Blue robes fluttered.

Though their wearer stood motionless, qi rose like raging waves and began surging toward the ceiling.

It was the force of a single person’s presence.

“That assessment of our combat strength...”

The boy’s voice rang out. His voice was only now breaking, beginning to deepen.

“I would ask you to withhold it.”