“I come from the Verdant Abundance Sect of Fujian. I have heard much of your renown. They say you are also called the Hidden King Among Blossoms, and so I, Hyeon, have ventured here today to broaden my horizons. I hoped you might enlighten me with those extraordinary martial arts of yours that have inspired so many rumors, Captain.”

The refined-looking middle-aged man cupped his fist in salute. Five disciples stood behind him.

“Out of respect for the name of the Radiant Demon Squad’s captain, might I invite you to forge a friendship with me through our swords today?”

His words and manner were quite unaffected. His voice, too, was deeply earnest; he seemed the sort of man who could easily win people’s trust. Perhaps a dignified scholar who took up martial arts late in life would develop such a bearing.

If he fully understood his own appearance, voice, and conduct, he could make a formidable figure.

'I was told that he actually is.'

Jung Yeonshin gazed steadily at the Verdant Abundance sect leader. He had heard about him from Heon Wonchang.

The Martial Alliance had many sociable members, and quite a few wielded their connections like divine swords. They might warrant even greater caution than men whose personal martial prowess was exceptional.

'Not that I ever meant to give him a careless reception.'

As the boy was thinking this, someone spoke.

“That’s all a lie. What the hell kind of respect does a man show by turning up unannounced?”

The Supreme Flame Dragon spoke with a faint smile, reclining at an angle on a rock jutting up at one side of the Court of Graceful Fragrance.

The scenery here, at the lodging the Martial Alliance had assigned to the Radiant Demon Squad, was fine enough to accompany Heon Wonchang and the Supreme Flame Dragon’s drinking.

Whether the Alliance members who had begun trickling in frowned at him or not, the Supreme Flame Dragon looked as comfortable as if he were at home.

“Fujian is on the far eastern edge. The captain’s new epithet, Hidden King or whatever it was, came from Sichuan. How does someone from Fujian know a title that’s only just spreading in the far west? It’s one of two things. Either the Alliance warriors who keep so quiet about the Desolate Fortress are chattering away behind closed doors, or our esteemed Verdant Abundance sect leader has been making personal inquiries about our captain...”

His smile deepened.

“Neither possibility is particularly pleasant, is it? Listen, Sect Leader. We’re cut from different cloth than the Alliance, so honesty would serve you better. Say it. You came to test him because you covet our captain’s fame and standing. Admit that, tucked away in a corner of Fujian, you found it hard to take a child’s reputation seriously.”

“... I came here to speak with your superior.”

“Right in the middle of the Martial Alliance, you needn’t worry about the consequences of harming someone from the Desolate Fortress, or, conversely, fear getting hurt yourself. What a golden opportunity! Just withstanding a few forms from the captain of the Radiant Demon Squad would give you something to boast about, and if you actually won, you’d make a name for yourself. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that why you came? I’m certainly not asking out of irritation because you’re the fourth man of your sort to show up.”

The Supreme Flame Dragon was thoroughly irritated.

Sprawled there listlessly, speaking while chewing away at his poppy, he resembled a Thunderclap Bomb on the verge of exploding.

He must have been like this when he beat Yoo Hyun at the Dragon-Phoenix Summit. His bearing was so domineering that the Verdant Abundance Sect’s party could not call him out for his rudeness.

Even Heon Wonchang had seated himself in the distant main hall and laid out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

“Why don’t you just go inside and sleep?”

At Jung Yeonshin’s question, the Supreme Flame Dragon’s expression changed.

“Now, that’s a hurtful thing to say.”

He abruptly sat up and rubbed his hands together vigorously. Rather than looking servile, he resembled a back-alley thug hunting for some trouble to join.

“Am I not staying here to protect my captain, as a subordinate should? You can rest easy, Captain. I, the Supreme Flame Dragon, am thoroughly familiar with the honeyed words and hidden daggers of those stuffy orthodox types. My protection covers politics as well as force.”

He was the very picture of a jovial sycophant, despite being furious to the roots of his hair.

'If one more comes, he’ll definitely get physical.'

That much was plain to Jung Yeonshin.

The Supreme Flame Dragon liked to savor his surroundings. It was an unexpected trait in a man who lived with liquor and poppies always close at hand.

The boy knew why. Unlike Jung Yeonshin, the Hwangbo young clan head wanted to enjoy what little life he had left. Since he would die anyway, he intended to take his time and savor his own existence before departing.

That, too, was probably a good way of coping. He could understand it. Nature was a curious thing.

When one closed one’s eyes to feel the air mingled with bright sunlight, it gently nudged one to savor one’s inner self instead.

For someone with only a short life to live, the closest companion was not blood kin but the gentle breeze.

That was probably why the Supreme Flame Dragon seemed so unmoved by the destruction of the Hwangbo clan.

'A scheduled fight would be better. How many unannounced visits has it been now?'

The boy who lived so fiercely to escape death understood better than anyone the Supreme Flame Dragon’s stance at the opposite extreme.

That was why he sometimes felt spiteful. The man’s peculiar languor would make him question his own life.

If he failed to find a happy ending after racing all the way to the finish, he would ultimately envy the Supreme Flame Dragon for having enjoyed his life.

'I’ll earn merit points this time, too... and I’ll eat it within three years, no matter what.'

Then he would taunt the Supreme Flame Dragon. By then, surely he could afford to loosen up a little.

Perhaps he would try chewing poppy beside the man’s grave.

He ought to make a list of things he wanted to do once he had escaped death. Yes, he would put that first.

While the boy’s thoughts wandered off in strange directions, the Supreme Flame Dragon was pressing the Verdant Abundance sect leader, his head tilted askew.

“Sect Leader, why so quiet?”

“...”

The sect leader did not answer. Was he feeling a humiliation he had never experienced as the leader of an orthodox sect?

The intermittent twitching of the mustache above his lip lent weight to that suspicion.

“Hwangbo young clan head! Your words go too far!”

The five disciples standing behind him spoke up angrily. Their attire reflected their sect’s character.

All five were dressed as scholars, with swords at their sides. In contrast to their neatly groomed beards, waves of qi surged around them, as though they might draw at any moment.

Considering the Supreme Flame Dragon’s conduct, it was an entirely natural response.

“We have heard plenty about the wastrel of that ruined clan, but this is beyond...”

“Have you no respect for your elders? Restrain yourself and stand down! We demand an apology from the captain of the Radiant Demon Squad!”

“That such an outrage could occur within the Alliance...”

One of them fell silent.

THUD.

Jung Yeonshin had suddenly stepped forward and planted his foot. A pulse of internal power spread in every direction.

It was tranquil yet overwhelming. A warrior’s quarrel was, after all, settled by force.

The boy addressed the Verdant Abundance Sect’s experts.

“You asked to forge a friendship through swords. I apologize. I will unfold the true essence of my martial arts.”

“What do you mean...? You intend to teach us your martial formulas?”

One of the sect’s experts asked the question. In the distant main hall, Heon Wonchang shook his head as he took out a blank book.

“He means he will observe every courtesy. He will oblige you even if he must reveal all his martial arts to do so. You are welcome to attack him all at once.”

“What did you just say?”

“Only one of you gets to experience our captain’s sublime martial arts? Wouldn’t that be terribly unfair? He means to prevent any discord among you before it arises.”

Heon Wonchang was utterly straight-faced.

There was something reassuring about the sight of him laying out his writing implements with a scheme in mind. Jung Yeonshin silently cheered him on. Well done, my right-hand man.

“What insolence...!”

“Insolence? How is it insolent to promise his full strength in a place that might become enemy territory? You have interpreted his words in precisely the opposite way. Can you not imagine what it means for the captain of the Desolate Fortress’s Radiant Demon Squad to reveal his martial arts in the heart of the martial world?”

“...”

“He is a man who must regularly go out to apprehend martial artists. Yet he is offering to show you martial arts that ought to remain strictly secret.”

It was quite persuasive.

This was not sophistry dressed up to sound convincing. Heon Wonchang’s argument was sound.

Desolate Fortress warriors truly were reluctant to leave survivors who had witnessed their martial arts. The world was full of enemies on every side. Merely revealing the shape of an art could give rise to countless counters.

No warrior met an opponent’s horizontal strike with an identical horizontal strike.

The Martial Alliance had been formed as a means of self-preservation for the orthodox factions. Founded with the Hwangbo and Namgoong clan incidents as its justification, it could fairly be called a potential enemy of the Desolate Fortress.

The principal martial arts of a Desolate Fortress Black Captain were a matter of enormous interest. If a supreme move that swept in horizontally became public knowledge, people would prepare vertical sword strikes against it.

Or they might devise a supreme move that slipped beneath it to cleave the wielder in two at the waist.

“That goes doubly for experiencing his Burst Discharge and qi waves firsthand. Do you think the saying about keeping some of your abilities hidden exists for no reason? Our captain has offered to reveal his true martial arts by way of apology. You should consider it a valuable opportunity. Actually, Captain, why not simply send them away? With the founding ceremony so close, there is no need to reveal your martial arts again...”

Heon Wonchang had said enough.

“We would gratefully accept your instruction, Captain.”

The Verdant Abundance sect leader stepped forward. Was this not his own wish? He seemed as hurried as if he had received orders.

As an unusual gleam entered the Supreme Flame Dragon’s eyes, Jung Yeonshin and the sect’s experts faced one another. The sect leader stood at the very rear.

His eyes shone as though he meant to survey the field. The strange light flashing in his pupils suggested that he had activated a remarkably advanced eye technique.

'Why do they keep trying to watch? The Fan Dragon, Zhuge Hyeon, was the same.'

Could they understand simply by looking? Was the Martial Alliance, supposedly a conglomeration of well over a hundred sects, actually moving as one toward some goal?

Jung Yeonshin wondered as he drew his divine sword, Northern Radiance.

SHING!

The fresh sunlight seemed to gather on the blade. Pure white radiance flashed from its rippling pattern.

Reborn as a divine sword during the journey to Sichuan, Northern Radiance held the quintessence of the Sichuan Tang Clan’s smithing arts.

Tang Unhwang, the Tang clan head, had once said that the craft used to create the most extraordinary hidden weapons had been concentrated into this single blade.

“Oh...!”

The sect members’ admiration did not last long. Jung Yeonshin did not yield the first move. He struck first.

'I represent the Desolate Fortress. I have to leave an overwhelming impression on the Martial Alliance, whether through martial arts or character.'

What if he even showed himself holding back in a many-against-one spar?

Here at the heart of the Alliance, where rumor was said to outpace the swiftest sword, it would be hard to expect a favorable reputation.

Even if no one liked the Desolate Fortress, he needed them to acknowledge the captain of the Radiant Demon Squad as an individual.

The human mind was a curious thing. The sense of inferiority they felt toward him would soon flare up toward the Desolate Fortress itself.

That was the purpose of his mission.

SWISH!

His feint put the Verdant Abundance disciples on their guard, and they drew their swords in succession.

“Come,” Jung Yeonshin said.

They each adjusted their grip, and the spar began.

SWISH!

The boy in the long black robe, its golden character for “Desolate” gleaming, exchanged moves with the sect’s five swordsmen.

Sword light flashed between swirling hems, and battle cries scattered through the air. Occasional shock waves made the clear air ripple almost visibly.

One move, ten moves, twenty... The expressions of those who had voiced their displeasure gradually changed.

The Verdant Abundance disciples gaped. Two men and two women alike forgot all concern for their appearance.

It was as though they had rehearsed with the young captain beforehand. Their strikes flowed out and were received so smoothly that it felt like a training session, yet they felt no resentment whatsoever.

If anything, it was exhilarating. The captain’s divine sword traced smooth white light, as if foreseeing every sword path to follow.

They even felt it might guide their own attainment along the path of the sword to a higher plane.

It was entirely new. Could a swordsman with such sensitivity truly exist in this world?

'As I thought, he is no mere rising talent. Is he not already a fully realized swordsman?'

The Verdant Abundance sect leader was itching to enter the fray. The captain’s sword paths were being etched into his vision.

Their sublimity was plain to anyone, just as the Alliance’s strategy office had told him. Could he not experience them from within?

A swordsman with such sublime instincts was bound to guide his opponents to a new realm.

'He extends such goodwill to those who may become his enemies? How can the new captain of the Radiant Demon Squad possess such breadth of spirit...?'

He did not notice.

With every exchange, the trajectories of Jung Yeonshin’s sword strikes were being subtly adjusted.

Namgoong Hwashin had left on personal business, and only the Supreme Flame Dragon was watching the boy’s hands intently.