“How laughable.”

The Desolate Fortress Master slowly moved her lips.

“Unaware of your own doom.”

She lay at an angle upon the lustrous brown wood of an ancient trunk, using it as her bed. Her hair flowed down her neck to her lower back, resting like long blades of grass. There was nothing defenseless about her, though her reclining posture could hardly be called a ready stance.

A tranquil air surrounded her face as she turned her head just slightly.

Hers was a gaze that summoned silence.

Her green eyes remained fixed beyond the shoulders of the three captains. A terrible tension sprang up in an instant. The stillness seemed weighted with pressure, the surrounding air drawing taut.

‘Doom?’

Jung Yeonshin repeated the word to himself.

His teacher might well have been the most serene being in all the martial world. He imagined that, as a peerless master, her perspective was little different from the world tree’s. She looked down upon all things.

Her bearing was pure and lofty, so much so that it was difficult to imagine her regarding anyone with hostility. Even when she had struck at the Blood Flame Cult Leader and the Pure Demon Alliance Leader with her sword, she had seemed merely to be doing what needed to be done. It was as though she alone walked in another world.

That was why the word “doom” puzzled him.

Had the Alliance’s envoy offended her? Or was there some ill history between her and the Ye family?

“I’ll have to take the clan head to task.”

Lady Ye murmured from behind and to one side of Jung Yeonshin, “Just protecting the children won’t do.”

Her voice was lower than usual. Even Lady Ye, so outrageously self-centered in everything she did, seemed tense now. Naturally.

“I greet the exalted master of the Desolate Fortress.”

RUSTLE.

Clothing brushed softly as Lady Ye paid her respects to the Desolate Fortress Master. Her movements were light. The distinctive Mobility Arts that informed her bearing were evident as she clasped her hands in a martial salute.

She seemed to retain her composure even after hearing the word “doom.” It was astonishing fortitude, considering that she would scarcely escape death if the fortress master struck.

“Thanks to my fortunate birth, I’ve heard a great deal,” Lady Ye said. “I wanted to see what you were thinking. I was terribly curious how you would keep the treasure you were lucky enough—truly blessed by heaven—to take into your arms.”

“...”

Sunlight melted into the Desolate Fortress Master’s eyes. The rays falling through the window seeped into their leafy radiance.

Was she seeing through the Alliance envoy’s intentions? Yeonshin could feel it through his energy detection. Those eyes held an overwhelming abyss. Beneath the noble clanswoman’s gaze, the very air seemed to turn transparent.

Her lips moved.

“Go on.”

“If you strike me dead now, it means there is something wicked in me. If I leave here alive, it means my heart is pure. Your eyes are especially famous among my people, Fortress Master. They say you see through people and time.”

“You presume to judge me.”

“Seeing you for myself, I know it’s true. If you see no way I can benefit the treasure you hold, my life ends here. If I survive, I’ll be able to watch you.”

“Bold indeed. Would you make these eyes your mirror?”

“To me, that proof is worth my life.”

Lady Ye’s words were refined. Her speech and conduct carried the dignity of a great house, something absent before. Her smooth voice no longer had its former lightness. Even Jung Yeonshin was a little surprised as he listened.

The Desolate Fortress Master tilted her head slightly.

“I sense the remnants of your adoptive father upon that hand. What became of him?”

“He is gone from this world. He will never lay a hand on my treasure again.”

“I command you: do not call it yours.”

“It isn’t yours either.”

Lady Ye’s voice ended abruptly. She had answered in defiance, then closed her mouth.

Those were not words to utter to the peerless master said to stand closest to being the greatest under heaven. Silence spread like a sheet of ice.

‘What is this?’

The exchange stirred suspicions in Jung Yeonshin. There had always been something familiar about Lady Ye’s manner of speaking and acting. Though her voice and appearance were different, they reminded him of someone.

A possibility had naturally occurred to him, but he had dismissed it as too absurd.

The Blood Flame Cult’s Seventh Apostle, serving as the Martial Alliance’s chief strategist for internal affairs? How could she conceal her nature and evade even the Sword Star’s eyes?

Jung Yeonshin, with his Dharma-Surpassing Radiant Wheel Art, had sensed nothing either. Not even when their hands touched.

‘Surely not.’

His eyes were narrowing when she spoke again.

“With these hands, I destroyed the one who had shown me kindness. Now there is only one meaning left to my life. I... I hope I survive this place. I hope my desire to polish that precious jewel is pure.”

Lady Ye’s voice brushed the air. It lacked her usual confidence. There was a yearning in it, a fervent wish.

She sounded detached, as though she had entrusted her neck to an executioner’s blade. Just listening, he could picture her lips pressed into a thin line.

At the same time, a girl’s voice rang out, seething with core energy.

“The more I listen, the more insolent you sound.”

SWISH!

A terrifying wave of force cleaved the space. Scattered silver light grazed the sunshine pouring through the window.

In the brief moment it took Jung Yeonshin to turn, a spear blade came to rest against Lady Ye’s neck.

Ak Surim, the Desolate Divine Spear, had struck. The martial force dispersed a moment later, sending both women’s hair flying.

“Mind your manners.”

Ak Surim continued speaking, her long spear held in one hand.

The deputy leader of the Divine Sword Unit within the Divine Sword Squad.

The menace pouring from her weapon was tremendous. Its brilliant white spear-light shone as though sunlight had been compressed within it.

It was no discourtesy to bare a blade before the Desolate Fortress Master. Unlike an ordinary ruler, she faced no danger from it.

He had been told it was a long-standing custom. Such was the latitude granted to black-robed experts. Their rank permitted them to assess a situation and wield their weapons at their own discretion.

“What vulgar speech. Just what one would expect of stock that lives beneath our clans.”

Xiahou Weizhen, captain of the Forest-Treading Squad, stood behind Lady Ye. His enormous fist was raised slightly, ready to crush her head at any moment.

Colorless waves of qi seeped between his fingers as if in warning. Only because the fortress master had chosen to converse with her had he not killed her on the spot.

The scene laid bare the strength of the Desolate Fortress.

Even Jung Yeonshin would struggle to survive in her place. If their positions were reversed, he would have to prepare for death. Three Blacks, and the Desolate Fortress Master herself.

It was no exaggeration to call this the most dangerous place under heaven. Ak Surim’s kindness, all those familiar calls of “Lightning Genius,” suddenly felt far weightier.

A soft footfall sounded as Zhuge Cheonga edged toward Jung Yeonshin from behind. She seemed frightened by what was unfolding.

He understood. He had not expected this situation either.

Then the Desolate Fortress Master’s voice rang out.

“You overestimate my eyes. The Sword of Nirvana is light. I swing it as my mood dictates, so you must prove your usefulness.”

“I’ll do anything,” Lady Ye said. “Anything, so long as I can stay close.”

The fortress master’s crystalline voice answered at once.

“Try to endure within this fortress. You shall harm no one. I will decide your treatment later.”

She meant she would not execute her now.

“Then, as reflected in your eyes...”

Lady Ye parted her lips, their corners rising.

“At least to the treasure you and I share, I am no wicked presence? That is enough for now. I’m very, very happy. To think you would bring me such joy.”

“I told you not to be insolent.”

Ak Surim frowned. She still held her spear, and the wave of force upon its blade drew a line of blood along Lady Ye’s neck.

This was different from the new Radiant Demon Squad captain’s full-body Burst Discharge. Core energy had risen with her emotions and sharpened itself into an edge.

It was evidence of the realm of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

Lady Ye paid it no mind. Even as white and red contrasted beneath her slender chin, she said what she wished, in an exceedingly gentle tone.

“I’ve learned two things. How short-handed the Desolate Fortress is in these times, and how dearly you cherish the treasure in your arms. I feel both reassured and uneasy, but I suppose I must be content with this for now.”

She smiled brightly.

“I can only express my deepest gratitude for your leniency. I’ll restrain myself during my stay.”

“Go down with the child of the Zhuge family.”

The Desolate Fortress Master issued the order with an expressionless face. It settled the treatment of the Alliance envoys. They would be admitted into the fortress.

Ak Surim withdrew her spear in a splendid arc.

“You. Stay out of my sight if you can,” she spat.

Lady Ye smiled wordlessly, glanced at Jung Yeonshin, and turned away. The white ends of her blindfold fluttered alongside her ebony hair. The longer he watched, the more familiar her manner seemed.

‘Could it be?’

A thread of suspicion took root in the new Radiant Demon Squad captain’s heart.

Jung Yeonshin suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve. A small hand was pulling it. He looked back to find Zhuge Cheonga.

The girl, who had unwittingly taken hold of his robe, anxiously parted her lips. Her audience with the Desolate Fortress Master was about to end without her having said a single word.

“My respects to the Desolate Fortress Master! I am Cheonga of the Zhuge family. Please allow me to serve as a guest warrior of the Radiant Demon Squad...!”

“Granted.”

Her face brightening, Zhuge Cheonga followed Lady Ye downstairs. Startled at herself, she released Jung Yeonshin’s sleeve as she went. She seemed to intend to wait below.

That brief answer had been enough. It was proof of the Desolate Fortress Master’s influence.

A single word from the fortress master stood above the Desolate Fortress’s laws.

Her eyes were upheld with absolute trust. Before them, every deliberation and procedure within the fortress became meaningless. Apparently, this was well known even within the Alliance.

“A wild mind on that one,” Xiahou Weizhen muttered.

Only then were the fortress master and the Blacks alone.

Ak Surim and Xiahou Weizhen did not ask about what had just occurred. Such was the manner of the Desolate Fortress’s supreme masters. If there were orders to give, the fortress master would tell them first. Otherwise, as her subordinates, they would not pry.

Jung Yeonshin decided to set aside his suspicions for now as well.

At last, the new Radiant Demon Squad captain approached the Desolate Fortress Master.

RUSTLE.

Together with his two seniors, Jung Yeonshin slowly lowered his left knee. With one knee on the ground, he clasped his hands in a martial salute. It was a form of respect the Desolate Fortress’s warriors offered only to their master.

“Ak Surim, deputy leader of the Divine Sword Unit, reports to the Fortress Master. Together with the captain of the Forest-Treading Squad, I escorted the Radiant Demon Squad captain back to the fortress. Three members of the Forest-Treading Squad sustained minor injuries, but there were no deaths.”

“The captain of the Forest-Treading Squad greets Your Excellency. Nothing untoward occurred.”

The two captains gave their reports.

At its core, the Desolate Fortress was an organization poised between the authorities and the martial world. It possessed the character of both a military force and Murim. Though it had laws like an army, there was no fixed format for reporting upon one’s return.

The Forest-Treading Squad captain’s curt, characteristically blunt words made that clear enough. That was likely the utmost respect Xiahou Weizhen could express.

Rather, it was Ak Surim’s official demeanor that felt new to Jung Yeonshin. Her short black hair and black robes hanging down, she urged him with her eyes to give the next report.

If she became the next Divine Sword Squad Leader, perhaps the squad’s atmosphere would become livelier too.

‘Senior Ak must be the strongest contender.’

With that thought, Jung Yeonshin spoke.

“... The captain of the Radiant Demon Squad reports his return. I have triumphed at the Martial Alliance’s founding ceremony. White Qilin Namgoong Hwashin, assigned from the Suncheon Wing as a guest warrior, and the other two have also returned safely.”

“You may raise your heads.”

The sunlight pouring down from in front of him was dazzling. A voice dappled with sunshine brushed his ears.

“Captain of the Radiant Demon Squad, look into my eyes.”

At last, Jung Yeonshin faced the fortress master’s pale face.

She slowly raised her upper body and drew in her outstretched legs. Her pale green garments, as full as court robes, brushed softly against the bark. She had seated herself cross-legged.

The Desolate Fortress Master slowly parted her lips.

“You have rendered a service worthy of commendation. You may choose your reward.”

Jung Yeonshin was silent for a moment. Though her face and the shape of her lips were familiar to him now, he instinctively grew cautious. Without her demanding it, he found himself taking care with his words and actions.

Her features and bearing, as though she had descended from beyond the mortal world, created that atmosphere.

Still, he had to say what needed saying. That was what he had learned from the great hero of Desolate Fortress and the Supreme Flame Dragon. He had learned lessons from Zhuge Hyeon and Zhuge Cheonga as well.

The new Radiant Demon Squad captain slowly spoke, gazing steadily up at the Desolate Fortress Master.

“I would rather not choose. Could you give me everything?”

“...!”

Ak Surim’s lips moved soundlessly. She mouthed, “Are you insane?”

Xiahou Weizhen turned to stare at his new junior with wide eyes.

But Jung Yeonshin was bold.

With a small movement of his hand, he drew a book from inside his robe. In the silence, only the sound of paper brushing against black cloth could be heard.

The Desolate Fortress Master’s gaze briefly passed over the words Comprehensive Compendium for Breaking the Righteous Path.

Then she gave a small smile.