An Ho-jin, Captain of the Personal Guard under the Demon Alliance Leader, noticed his lord inside the carriage curl his lips into a mischievous smile.
It was a sign that something very unpleasant was about to happen to someone.
A short while later.
An Ho-jin had been scanning their surroundings, praying that it would not be them, when his expression changed sharply.
“Enemies!”
At the low but clearly ringing warning, the warriors surrounding the carriage each drew their swords.
The enemies, whom they expected to attack at once, stopped fifteen jang from the carriage.
But the carriage and horses racing along the narrow, rugged mountain road could not easily slow down or change direction, so the gap between the two sides only continued to shrink.
CLACK! CLACK!
Only the repeated beat of hooves racing down the dirt road and the rumble of carriage wheels sounded through the silent forest.
Rather than blocking the road ahead of the party, the enemies hid in the dense trees along both sides and watched them.
From fifteen jang to thirteen, twelve... eleven.......
The closer they drew to the enemy, the more An Ho-jin's attention focused not on them, but inside the carriage.
The strongest among them was their lord, the Demon Alliance Leader, and whenever force was required, the guard had to wait for their lord's orders no matter what.
CLANK—! CLANK—!
That remained true even as sharp metallic sounds rang from the treetops across from them where the enemies were hiding.
At last, they came within ten jang.
TWANG—! TWAANG—! TWANG—!
The bolts loaded in the enemies' crossbows were fired and hurtled right up before them, yet still they waited.
Because.......
RATTLE!
The door of the moving carriage opened.
Even the wind veered aside from the Alliance Leader as he slowly stepped out as though onto level ground.
Without so much as a fold of his clothes or a single strand of his hair falling out of place, the Alliance Leader stood beside the carriage and extended one hand.
SWIIISH......!
Just before the iron bolts pierced the carriage and the guards, turning them into porcupines!
They stopped dead.
“Gasp!”
Had the bolts struck some invisible force and shattered or ricocheted away, An Ho-jin would not have been so astonished.
Judging by the force and energy with which they had been fired, both the crossbows and bolts clearly employed special mechanisms. But their master was the strongest man in the martial world, so something of that degree would have been easy for him.
But countless iron bolts, enough to cover the sky in black, had stopped in midair after flying with tremendous force.
CREEEAK—!
Then they reversed direction and returned along the exact paths by which they had come. That was, well.......
THUD, THUD, THUD—!
“Ghk!”
“Aaargh!”
The enemies struck by the returning iron bolts screamed.
Their blood stained the green leaves red, making that patch of forest as beautiful as if autumn foliage had settled upon it.
Those who had been supporting themselves on the branches swayed like fruit tilting in the wind, then fell and rolled across the ground.
An Ho-jin watched his lord's back as Wi So-baek strolled leisurely toward them as though out for a walk.
That was why.
Before that man, danger ceased to be danger, and if they rashly tried to do anything, they would only get in his way.
The fact that guards charged with protecting their lord could do nothing but watch him resolve the situation might have been shameful.......
But An Ho-jin believed that moving only as much as necessary at the necessary moment was also a skill, and that the guard's duty was to carry out whatever their lord desired, in whatever form. He therefore felt no shame.
BOOM—! BOOM—!
The enemies who had remained behind or survived without suffering fatal wounds were torn to shreds by a single glance and gesture from his lord.
His gaze held nothing but pride as he watched the miracle of the season changing into autumn only along the path his lord walked.
“A-a demon!”
Wi So-baek lowered his gaze toward the voice.
A dark-red, mangled piece of fruit writhing on the ground had opened its mouth.
Without any particular emotion, Wi So-baek stamped down on it.
SQUELCH—!
The thoroughly crushed flesh left the ground beneath his foot soaked, yet Wi So-baek's shoe remained perfectly clean when he stepped away.
After he walked several more paces, the road painted entirely red with blood and flesh ended, giving way to dry brown earth.
The moment Wi So-baek stepped onto it, dozens of shadows burst from beneath the trees rather than above them.
Their plan appeared to have been for the crossbow unit in the front line to throw their opponent into disarray with the first attack, allowing the assassins hidden in the rear to deal a fatal second blow.
Wi So-baek lightly swept his gaze over the group closing in and attacking from every side.
He had begun roaming the world as the Demon Alliance Leader around the time he completed his lower qi center and was searching for a way to open his middle qi center.
Even at that level, he had no equal under heaven.
But now.......
He had fallen into heart demons while opening his middle qi center and become somewhat erratic, granted!
Yet over the long years trapped inside the formation, he had added grueling effort to his natural talent, completed his middle qi center, eventually opened even his upper qi center, and grown strong enough to tear apart the formation and escape. Had he not become even stronger?
Before, he had thought about how to win. Now, he chose how to kill.
And the instant he made his decision.
KABOOM—!
The wind became a blade and swept away those who dared rise above his head.
Something hot poured down in a patter through the severed flesh of the bodies hurled far backward.
Wi So-baek did not stop there.
THOOM—!
When he stamped down hard, the ground heaved outward from beneath him.
Grass and trees lurched violently like buoys upon the spreading circular wave.
Had their roots not been embedded firmly in the soil, they would probably have been torn out in an instant and sent floating into the air.
Yes, just like those things.
Wi So-baek extended a hand toward the assassins who had remained hidden to the very end, waiting for the last possible opportunity before springing from the shadows.
CRACK, CRACK—!
Along with that grotesque sound.......
“H-hurk!”
“Ghk!”
Screams sprayed out once more.
Silence settled over the surroundings.
Aside from the personal guard he had left behind, the only living, breathing person in the vicinity was Wi So-baek.
“Who might own the hounds they sent this time?”
Ever since Wi So-baek left the Divine Cult, the Six Families of the Divine Cult, called the six pillars supporting it, had steadily sent packs of hounds after him.
As each clan had a different disposition, their reasons likely differed as well.
Resentment toward the Young Cult Leader who had abandoned them, and a threat demanding that he stop forgetting them and return.
Most likely of all was their ambition that if fortune somehow smiled upon them and Wi So-baek deigned to die to a mere pack of hounds!
Then after the death of the current Cult Leader, who had no successor of the direct line, they could make the Divine Cult their own!
“Hahaha.”
Was that not laughable?
“How clingy. Just because it looks like some magnificent treasure beyond your reach does not mean it looks that way to me. Who would covet something so trivial?”
Thus, no matter what objective drove them to loose their hounds, Wi So-baek simply kicked them out of his path like stones encountered on the roadside.
It was a perfect display of contempt and mockery, declaring that they posed no threat and held no particular meaning to him, and so deserved no more than that.
Wi So-baek's gaze swept across the gruesome scene around him.
Yes, that was how it had been until now.
It was not that he suddenly felt some great emotion.
Only.
“It is about time I questioned the hounds' owners.”
Why, when he gathered his aura and killing intent to scatter dog food every time, and so many hounds had eaten that food, died, and now wandered the Nine Heavens, had the ones who sent them never once come to him in person?
Their attempts to gauge his martial realm and divine his mood by examining the hounds he killed had begun to irritate him.
“For the sake of the future, I should clear away the ones who lurk too deeply in the shadows.”
While he was at it, even if they had not acted this time, he would investigate whether some sinister faction involved in the Buil Academy affair was hiding among the Divine Cult figures who had plotted in the shadows over the years.
“Alliance Leader!”
While Wi So-baek stood there, the personal guard approached carefully to avoid getting filth on the carriage and horses.
An Ho-jin opened the carriage door, and Wi So-baek climbed inside.
A short while later, the carriage door closed. Only after they reached dry earth did the carriage pick up speed and continue forward.
No one looked back, as though nothing had happened.
Upon arriving at the Demon Alliance, Wi So-baek shook off those who came to greet him as though they were a nuisance and headed for the Demon Venerable Pavilion.
“Hm?”
A trace of surprise crossed Wi So-baek's face as he stopped before the Demon Venerable Pavilion.
He had been away only briefly, yet the scenery around the Demon Venerable Pavilion had changed completely.
The rare flowers and wondrous herbs that had given off a subtle fragrance were all gone. In their place lay flat stone paving and works that several artisans had clearly labored over with all their hearts, each carved around a single theme and arranged to harmonize with the landscape.
Given Yeo-hwa's delicate, cautious nature even when choosing a single tea leaf, she had clearly needed considerable resolve to carry out the work.
“It is lovely. Well done.”
Though he tossed out the praise without even looking toward the approaching presence, Yeo-hwa's face brightened with unmistakable joy.
When Wi So-baek entered the pavilion, Yeo-hwa quickly followed, swallowing hard.
She appeared curious whether he would go straight to the third floor.
Since it was no particular hardship, Wi So-baek decided to meet her expectations.
“Bring the tea. Let us drink it on the third floor.”
“Yes, wh-what?”
Yeo-hwa jerked her head up.
Seeing her blink, Wi So-baek gestured toward the garden with his chin.
“Could you have had any time to enjoy the scenery while fretting over whether I would like it? This is a place you worked hard to decorate, Yeo-hwa, so we should look at it together. It will be at its most beautiful now.”
Wi So-baek went up to the third floor first. Coming to her senses, Yeo-hwa hurried off to bring the tea.
‘Has the Alliance Leader truly changed?’
Even so, he was still the benefactor who had saved her and the person to whom she would remain loyal for life.......
Nevertheless.
As a human being, she could not help preferring him as he was now, with his killing intent softened and the occasional affectionate remark tossed her way.
Carrying a tray of tea and refreshments to the third floor, Yeo-hwa's steps were busier than usual.
The view of the garden from the third floor possessed a different charm.
But Wi So-baek suddenly realized something and let out a quiet sigh.
“Is there something in the garden you do not like?”
Yeo-hwa had just reached the third floor and asked as she set a teacup before him.
At the unwavering look in her eyes, which said she would change it at once if only he spoke, Wi So-baek shook his head.
“I thought I had come to dislike the old garden because its arrangement looked like trees and grass embedded in the mountains and reminded me of unpleasant memories. But now I see that the problem was not the scenery, but the person. The one who should be here is absent, and it seems that was what bothered me.”
Yeo-hwa's heart plummeted.
Someone who should have been here was gone. That meant......!
“D-did they die?”
Was that shock why the Alliance Leader had suddenly changed so much?
Indeed, only something of that magnitude would make sense!
Considering what kind of man the Alliance Leader was... it would have been strange for him to change into a different person for no reason!
When Yeo-hwa's eyes began shaking as though an earthquake had struck them, Wi So-baek lightly tapped the table with his clenched fist.
At the THUMP, Yeo-hwa came to her senses and met his gaze.
Wi So-baek corrected her misunderstanding.
“He is not dead.”
“Why? Why not?”
“......”
“N-no, that is not what I meant. I mean that is fortunate. Truly, wonderfully fortunate!”
When Yeo-hwa grew flustered in a manner wholly unlike someone who always strove to be calm and coolheaded, Wi So-baek slowly shook his head.
“I cannot see him because he is outside the Demon Alliance, not because he is dead. He tells me not to kill people so freely, yet here you are trying to kill my precious younger brother.”
“I am sorry.......”
When Yeo-hwa apologized, Wi So-baek gave a quiet laugh.
It was only a small misunderstanding, was it not?
Still, the way Yeo-hwa's eyes shone excessively brightly afterward was somewhat.
Overwhelming, perhaps?
There was only one reason.
A younger brother?
A younger brother.
A younger brother!
Yeo-hwa was speaking with her eyes.