The Double Yang Gang leader's head struck the ground with a dull thud. His body remained balanced for a moment, then toppled as Jung Yeonshin sheathed his sword.

The prefect's lips parted slightly. A streak of blood marked her cheek, spattered from the Double Yang Gang leader's neck. Without looking at the corpse, she merely stroked the cheek that bore her husband's traces.

"Husband..."

She murmured with a somewhat detached expression. It seemed she had inwardly resigned herself the moment a Black-ranked warrior of the Desolate Fortress appeared. That explained why her expression had remained unchanged ever since she faced Jung Yeonshin.

Unlike some ignorant county magistrate in a remote backwater, someone of a prefect's standing would always keep a close eye on the Desolate Fortress. She would know its status, martial strength, and character well.

"Young captain, will you kill me too?" she asked.

Jung Yeonshin did not answer immediately.

She was different from the martial artists he had beheaded thus far. There was much he needed to learn. What could a prefect possibly lack that she would aid in plundering? What gave her the nerve to do this so close to the Martial Alliance and the Wudang Sect? She had also reportedly entertained experts from the other Martial Alliance. What were those men plotting, appearing in time for the new Alliance's founding ceremony?

"That depends on what you tell me."

Huguang Province rivaled a small country in size. There were only seventeen prefects in all of Huguang, each wielding authority over eight county magistrates. Killing one rashly would burden anyone. There was no telling what connections she might have to the imperial family.

Jung Yeonshin intended to resolve his immediate questions first.

"Lead the way."

He led his companions into the hall, with the prefect walking ahead.

* * *

"Word of you has reached every prefecture in Huguang Province."

The prefect spoke as she lifted her teacup slightly. Did she have noble-race blood? Fingers unusually slender and smooth for her apparent age lightly brushed the rim.

"Whenever a new captain rises under the Divine Sword Squad, dispatches arrive simultaneously for all seventeen of us across this vast land of Huguang. They inform us of your identity and standing, and advise us to conduct ourselves accordingly."

She had lost her spouse, yet her demeanor barely changed. Did entering government service turn people into monsters no less than martial artists?

Prefect. Her Excellency the prefect.

Before the Song dynasty, the office had been known as that of a commandery governor. It was a principal fourth-rank post, fully three grades above such widely known offices as county magistrate and investigating censor. A prefect commanded judicial officers, assistant prefects, and deputy prefects—figures of unmatched power among ordinary people. There was a reason for the honorific.

Thus, the words of the prefect before him indirectly attested to the standing of the Desolate Fortress's Black-ranked warriors.

"Does that gall you?" Jung Yeonshin asked quietly.

The Mount Hua disciples behind him gasped. Such conduct was almost unimaginable among ordinary people, yet the prefect herself remained composed. Did she fully accept the standing of a captain under the Divine Sword Squad? Or was she simply deeply calculating?

"Gall me? Such personal language feels unfamiliar. Any official with a sensible head on their shoulders would acknowledge the necessity of your people."

The prefect brought the cup to her lips. She moistened her throat with tea before speaking again, her face expressionless.

"Government soldiers struggle to prevent the atrocities committed by lawless martial artists. Naturally so. What productive work do those people who claim to live in Murim perform? While soldiers help commoners plow their fields, raise livestock, and build houses, martial artists hone their methods of killing. They know how to do nothing else, and contribute nothing to the country. Shouldn't they at least be strong? Those people, I mean."

She stared hard at Jung Yeonshin.

"That is why we need the Desolate Fortress. Your numbers are few compared with the Central Plains, but the symbolic significance of the world's foremost martial organization protecting the people's livelihoods gives us firm support."

"We don't protect plunder and slaughter."

The boy's reply was calm. Yet these were words from a black-robed expert of the Desolate Fortress. They could not help but carry extraordinary weight.

The three men guarding the prefect's back reached for their waists. They were among the few surviving government soldiers. They looked ready to draw their blades and strike Jung Yeonshin at any moment. For an inferior fighter, yielding the first attack to a master meant certain defeat.

Yet not one could hide his violently trembling hands. Jung Yeonshin's indifferent gaze alone had reduced them to this.

"Stay still."

The boy spoke curtly. Had it reached them as a command? Their hands fell from their weapons in unison. The Dharma-Surpassing Radiant Wheel Art carried in his voice weighed heavily. A bitter smile formed on the prefect's lips.

"You are something supernatural. How, at your age?"

"Shut up. Is food that scarce? Why did you plunder innocent villages?"

He cut straight to the question. At once, the prefect's smile vanished.

"I said I acknowledged the necessity of the Desolate Fortress. By that, I mean I keenly feel the need for military strength capable of suppressing martial artists."

"Go on, then."

"... But government soldiers are weak, and even for me, inviting experts from the imperial court was exceedingly difficult. That is why the Desolate Fortress exists... Yet you are busy attending to the entire Central Plains. Officials like us can only wait our turn, hoping to become the destination of your next assignment. Compared with the whole world, aren't even the Desolate Fortress's forces a mere handful?"

"..."

"A prefect's salary cannot support a private army. So I privately took a martial artist as my husband. Using tribute to feed and clothe martial fighters would make me guilty of treason, so I instead treated a portion of the people I govern as an offering. Sacrifice one to protect ten. Rather than wait for the Desolate Fortress's sword to arrive, I merely sought to punish the lawless myself. Even if it meant feeding this Double Yang Gang."

"Isn't that treason too?"

"One cannot deceive the Censorate when it comes to accounting for tribute. Absurdly enough, it is easier to explain away an entire village disappearing. Doesn't every petty rabble in the world throw the country into disorder while calling themselves martial artists? You must have seen countless horrors between Xiangyang and here. As crop failures spread, martial artists no longer restrain their displays of force. Outlaws without even identification tags, rampaging without the least sense of their place..."

For the first time, the prefect plainly displayed emotion. Blue veins stood out on the backs of her clenched fists. Jung Yeonshin watched her fury impassively before speaking.

"Did the Martial Alliance and Wudang Sect turn a blind eye to your conduct?"

The Mount Hua disciples held their breath. This was a moment of grave importance. Depending on the prefect's answer, there was no telling what this reckless young captain of the Radiant Demon Squad might do to the orthodox coalition or the foremost of the Nine Great Sects.

The prefect answered readily.

"The Wudang Sect would know nothing of this. Those immortal-like people rarely descend their mountain. Along with Shaolin, they receive more imperial support than any martial organization save the Desolate Fortress, so they merely come down occasionally to eradicate practitioners of evil and unorthodox paths."

"And the Alliance?"

"They did turn a blind eye. I govern Yunyang Prefecture, which borders Hanzhong in Shaanxi. 'We shall refrain from involving ourselves unnecessarily in Your Excellency's affairs, and ask that you assist in the exchange of goods between Hanzhong and Yunyang'... That was the message they sent."

"This was a message to a prefect, after all. They cannot have delivered it verbally," Heon Wonchang said, eyes wide.

He had briefly adopted a more deferential manner out of respect for his captain, but his usual tone had returned. The boy paid it no particular mind.

"Hand over the letter," Jung Yeonshin demanded.

Without a word, the prefect took a cord-sealed document from the table. Receiving it on the young captain's behalf, Heon Wonchang tore away the cord. Soon, paper backed with green silk lay spread before the Desolate Fortress experts.

A curse escaped Heon Wonchang's lips.

"The Zhuge clan head's official seal... Those fucking bastards."

"I keep telling you, the noble clans aren't orthodox. Aside from the Nine Great Sects, they're all powerful families and hypocrites."

The Supreme Flame Dragon spoke lightly. Namgoong Hwashin remained silent, his eyes sunken. He seemed deep in thought.

Jung Yeonshin jerked his chin without a word. Heon Wonchang resealed the letter and passed it to the new captain of the Radiant Demon Squad. The boy tucked the document inside his robe. The bird he had received from the eunuch Myeong Yeo stirred once against his chest.

A blade capable of piercing the Alliance's heart had fallen into the Radiant Demon Squad captain's hands. It could be the starting point of an immense achievement.

Jung Yeonshin spoke again, his face showing little excitement.

"One last thing. Tell me about the other Martial Alliance. Are those bastards targeting the new Alliance?"

"Their army is coming."

* * *

Jung Yeonshin tucked the prefect's words into a corner of his mind. Preparing for his approaching encounter with the new Martial Alliance was enough to occupy him. It was difficult to predict what unexpected developments might arise at the founding ceremony.

He decided to devote all his attention to the Alliance. His priorities were guarding against possible ambushes and working to strengthen the Radiant Sword Art, even during the founding ceremony.

'It'll be difficult to use fists and palms before an Alliance Leader renowned as a peerless swordsman. I'll have to transform my swordsmanship first.'

He freed the commoners imprisoned in the estate's annex. After hearing their consistent testimony about the terrible things they had suffered even while being kept alive, he beheaded the remaining soldiers with the prefect's acknowledgment.

They said still more commoners had been slaughtered while resisting. Jung Yeonshin and his companions had themselves seen the heaps of corpses in the village they visited earlier.

Only Yunyang Prefecture's most exalted official remained. He made her kneel in the middle of the training ground. Jung Yeonshin stood motionless, like an executioner about to behead a condemned criminal.

"Whatever my greater cause," the prefect began, "I acknowledge that I committed crimes tantamount to treason. A captain of the Desolate Fortress has come in person, so it is only right that I offer my head. That is how order is maintained in this world."

Her manner of speaking was archaic. It did seem she had inherited noble-race blood. Jung Yeonshin was unmoved by her detachment. His visibly sturdy hand closed around his sword hilt.

"Can he really do that?"

Standing to one side, Yoo Hyun addressed the question to no one in particular.

It was understandable. Someone of a prefect's standing would have countless connections in the Forbidden City. However exalted a Desolate Fortress captain might be, this was not something to undertake rashly.

Even the eunuch who had acknowledged Jung Yeonshin and given him a spirit beast would not have envisioned him executing a principal fourth-rank official. At most, he had probably imagined a principal seventh-rank county magistrate.

'Not my concern.'

The face of the emperor's grandson and heir rose in the boy's mind, along with his words.

["You may call me senior martial brother."]

Whatever standing the prefect held in the Forbidden City's political circles, whatever intervention someone connected to her might attempt, couldn't he fend it off at least once? All the more so if he took into account the Eastern Depot, to which the eunuch Myeong Yeo belonged.

"Keep cutting down the lawless. I do not think you will fall easily. One who avenges the innocent and weak is a gallant hero. A captain of the Desolate Fortress will surely soothe hundreds, thousands of souls."

So the prefect said. Did she harbor some bitter grudge against martial artists? Looking again at her fierce eyes, he saw nothing remotely noble. She merely struck him as one face of the tragedy these troubled times were producing.

"Yes. Starting with you."

Jung Yeonshin did not overthink it. If someone deserved cutting down, he would cut them down.

The things that obstructed his path toward the Fruit of the World Tree, the people who particularly offended his eyes, the Tyrant Sword Tribe Lord who had brought about the Jeong Clan Estate's destruction, the countless orthodox experts who would test him at the Alliance he would reach tomorrow...

"As captain of the Radiant Demon Squad," the boy said slowly, "I tell you this: of everyone I have encountered since setting out this time, you were the most lawless."

With those words, sword light flashed from his fingertips.