The reason they had been able to shake the Plum Blossom Swordsmen — who had been clashing with them at close quarters — and buy some time was owed to the various evasion techniques he had honed just as diligently as his killing arts during his days as an assassin.
Constantly and rapidly manipulating traces such as footprints to sow confusion among pursuers was the most basic of basics.
On top of that, he had thrown a subtle lure toward the Sun Vein contingent, which was still clashing fiercely with Shaolin and the Jinju Eon Family — that was a bonus.
Even if the Plum Blossom Swordsmen ground their teeth and gave chase only to find not the Moon Vein they had been hunting, at the very least the Sun Vein — fellow members of the same Sun and Moon Gate — would make a perfectly valid target for their fury.
'But even that diversion should be reaching its end by now.'
Whether the Plum Blossom Swordsmen's arrival had wiped out the Sun Vein's contingent entirely —
Or the Sun Vein had belatedly chosen to flee, having judged the odds unfavorable —
The Sun and Moon Gate's home province of Gangso lay to the southeast of Sanseo, which meant the only viable escape routes were through Taewon's east or south gates.
'So the possibilities are one of two.'
Whether they had been annihilated or had fled, the Martial Alliance forces giving chase would funnel out through those same two gates.
And considering the time he had spent here exchanging pleasantries with the Moon Vein —
It was truly time to leave.
"You seem able to move, so let's be on our way."
"Heh heh heh. Very well, let us do that."
"Nghhh!"
"Elder, allow me to support you."
Perhaps it was the sense of fulfillment from having accomplished their objective?
Despite their ashen complexions, all three Elders shared one thing in common as they struggled to their feet — their eyes shone with bright, unmistakable joy.
"If those accursed topknot bastards happen to give chase, this old woman will stay behind — so go on ahead without worry."
"What are you saying? If anyone stays behind, it should be me — the youngest and fittest."
"What's that? Ahahahaha!"
The bizarre spectacle of volunteering for self-sacrifice while laughing cheerfully all the while.
'It must mean that gaining me is that important to them.'
Of course, their deeper motives remained unknowable.
Whether it was simply an intense desire to possess the miracle of a heavenly curse overcome by talent —
Or whether some other hidden reason, one he could not yet fathom, lay beneath.
'I'll find out in time.'
"Allow me to lead the way."
Vowing to uncover every last one of their true intentions before reaching the Sun and Moon Gate at the very latest, Yul Hwi forced himself to ignore the churning nausea from his internal injuries.
***
"You're saying a succession dispute of that nature has broken out over the next Gate Master's seat?"
"That's right. The turn should rightfully have passed to our Vein, yet those wretched Sun Vein elders are playing their filthy games."
"Ought to be dunked in cesswater and frozen solid, the lot of them."
Contrary to his fears, the party departed Taewon without incident. Yul Hwi immediately procured a sizable carriage in Jinjung, the nearest settlement.
Using the Ice Jade Unit Captain's coin purse, naturally.
Having thus embarked on a somewhat more stable flight, he had been extracting various bits of information through conversation with the Elders, just as planned.
'Internal strife. So that's why.'
And the picture of the Sun and Moon Gate's current state, gleaned not long into the carriage ride, saddled Yul Hwi with a whole armful of complicated calculations.
"The pretext itself is utterly absurd, is it not? What does the Young Moon Master being bedridden from qi deviation have to do with the next Gate Master's succession...?"
"Exactly. That seat was already earmarked for the Vice Moon Master. Where do they get off spouting this nonsense out of nowhere? Tsk, tsk!"
Even in the absence of the Fourth Elder — who had relapsed severely and fallen into a deathlike slumber — the other two Elders raised their voices in fierce condemnation of the Sun Vein's brazenness.
'So it's still just a simple power struggle for now.'
What he had gathered from listening quietly to the old women's chatter was this:
The Sun and Moon Gate was broadly divided into the Sun Vein and the Moon Vein. Among them, only those who had risen to at least the pinnacle level were permitted to receive instruction in a proper elemental martial art — a unique system.
The reasoning was straightforward: anyone below that level could not physically withstand either the Sun Vein's yang-dominant qi arts or the Moon Vein's yin-cold qi arts.
In any case, the reason these two groups — each pursuing diametrically opposed ideals — had been bound together as a single sect was solely because of their founding ancestor: the Sun and Moon Martial God.
He was said to have wielded extreme yang qi and extreme yin qi in seamless, unobstructed harmony within a single human body. As the common root of both the Sun Vein and the Moon Vein, his legacy was what had prevented the two bitter rivals from ever fully splitting apart.
Moreover, no one since the Sun and Moon Martial God's death had managed to wield both energies together.
As a compromise of sorts, they had agreed that the position of Gate Master would alternate between the two sides every ten years.
And yet —
'That arrangement has now reached the tipping point of an open rupture.'
This was not a particularly welcome development for Yul Hwi himself.
The inferno of a great war engulfing the entire Central Plains martial world together with the Demonic Cult had to blaze in full fury — only then could he drive the hammer of vengeance into the Phantom Slaughter Sect without anyone's interference.
For that, the Sun and Moon Gate first had to fulfill its role as a seed of conflict.
"Tsk. But you needn't worry about any of that, Hwi dear."
"That's right. The tiresome politicking is an old woman's burden to bear, so please — just focus on letting that brilliant talent of yours bring our Vein's supreme art to full bloom."
"We'll make sure the Infernal King Unit pays a proper price for what they did to your family, so please don't think too harshly of our Vein."
"Phew! All this disaster because of those cretins — honestly!"
Despite his public declaration that the past grievance of his family would be set aside, the anxious voices still felt compelled to add their reassurances.
Yul Hwi offered nothing more than a slight nod in response.
For now, the priority was to enter as the Moon Master's disciple, learn her martial arts, and secure a high status within the Sun and Moon Gate.
'The foundation to become far stronger than I ever was as Annihilation has been laid.'
And he needed to be at least that strong before he could hope to take on the entirety of the Phantom Slaughter Sect alone.
For now, that was as far ahead as he needed to think.
***
Crossing the southern portion of Habuk — less than a third the size of its northern half —
With a single change of horses along the way, the carriage continued its relentless southward push through northern Gangso until at last it arrived in Namgyeong — the provincial capital where the Sun and Moon Gate was based.
"Nghhh!"
"Goodness...... riding this blasted carriage for so long has every bone in my body aching."
"Come now, let us go in."
Over the course of the journey — a little more than a fortnight — the Fourth Elder, who had been unconscious, had regained her senses midway. And as befitting renowned supreme masters, all three Elders had managed a degree of self-administered treatment for their internal injuries.
The fact that they were still putting on this exaggerated elderly act right on their own doorstep was surely because of the bottomless potential Yul Hwi had demonstrated throughout the journey together.
'They must be anxious.'
It had not been difficult in the least.
With nothing to do but talk during the tedious carriage ride —
All he had done was engage rather "properly" with the questions the old masters lobbed at him, probing to determine his precise level.
'Having shown them this much, the odds of any obstacle to becoming the Moon Master's disciple should have shrunk even further.'
Even if the unreasonable degree of freedom he had demanded became a major sticking point.
He had, after all, spent the journey in rich martial discourse with others who were finally at his level — something he had not enjoyed in a long time.
No matter that the only thing he had ever learned and practiced was the killing arts — the universal insights of martial principles that ran through all disciplines were as immutable as eternal truth.
And so he had planted an enormous shock in the minds of the Elders, who had initially looked down on him as a lesser.
"Come, come! Hwi dear, let us go in."
"How was the journey — are you tired? Would you like to rest and get a good night's sleep first?"
"Haha! No, that's all right. I've come all this way claiming to be a disciple — it's only proper to pay my respects to the Moon Master first."
"Ohohohoh! That's the spirit! Let us go see the Moon Master at once, then!"
"For a boy who grew up alone in the mountains under such hardship, how is he so mannerly and warm-hearted...!"
The three Elders — who would serve as his firm allies going forward — were already in a state where they would hand over their livers and gallbladders without a moment's hesitation if asked.
'I thought he was an arrogant little brat at first......'
'At his age, with that kind of prowess, he'd have every right to be arrogant.'
'To have attained such depth of insight alone and still carry himself with such humility. Hah!'
Competing to surround Yul Hwi like doting grandmothers as they passed through the main gate, the Elders chattered without cease — yet never once stopped exchanging covert glances among themselves.
'We absolutely must secure this boy as the Moon Master's disciple!'
'Indeed! With the Young Moon Master bedridden, he'll be an enormous asset to our Vein.'
'He must be made the Moon Master's disciple at all costs. Bear that firmly in mind.'
It was a conversation conducted through nothing but eye contact, without so much as a qi transmission — yet having spent close to sixty years together, that alone was more than sufficient.
Burned into the minds of all three was a memory from just yesterday's conversation.
"I can't believe you intended to bring me here to treat me and have the Moon Master take me as her personal disciple...!"
"I had no idea — all this time, I'd been resenting the entire Sun and Moon Gate."
"Then if I've overcome the Nine Yin Severed Meridians on my own and trained my martial arts to this level, surely the Moon Master would take me as her disciple?"
"I'm truly looking forward to it, Elders."
The original purpose had been to use him as a living medicinal elixir for the Young Moon Master, who lay bedridden from qi deviation.
But there was no way they could share that grisly truth now.
And so all three Elders had been improvising — building upon each other's words, shoring up the lie with plausibility and justification.
But what if, despite all this, Yul Hwi failed to become the Moon Master's disciple?
What if this boy — who had single-handedly awakened and cultivated an energy worthy of being called extreme yin qi, a feat surpassing anything they had achieved through a lifetime of yin-cold qi training — was denied that position?
What if he were then pressured to remain at the Sun and Moon Gate and become someone else's disciple instead?
'......That must never, ever happen. Never.'
The Fourth Elder, silently following behind her two junior sisters as they clutched Yul Hwi's arms and marched ahead, found cold sweat trickling unbidden down her spine.
She had regained consciousness in the carriage and held a proper conversation with Yul Hwi for a total of ten days now.
More than enough time to grasp the general shape of a person's thoughts and behavioral patterns. And the conclusion she had reached at the end of that period was something rather chilling and frightening.
On the surface and by the way he spoke, he could easily pass for a precocious brat drunk on his own talent.
But when she recalled the spine-chillingly flat, arid look in his eyes — glimpsed on the rarest of occasions — she could not help but wonder whether the person she had been speaking with all this time was his true self.
On top of that, there was the unidentifiable martial art he claimed to have stumbled upon like a stroke of fortune in some mountain cave while fleeing from the Infernal King Unit.
He had avoided specifying exactly what kind of martial art it was, so she could not press him for details — but at least one thing was certain.
'It is absolutely not a proper, orthodox martial art.'
The deep, searching martial discourse they had carried on since the midpoint of the journey — discussions that resembled a formal exchange of sword philosophy.
What had faintly surfaced during those exchanges was something so extremely efficient and mercilessly cruel that it defied easy description.
Much of the Unorthodox faction's martial arts shared those qualities, true — but this was an extremity that stood in a category entirely apart from even those.
A discipline fixated with absolute, single-minded purpose on the taking of human life, one that was utterly indiscriminate about the means and processes along the way — that was the unwavering purposefulness she had glimpsed.
She had no idea what he had picked up and practiced, but because of it, the Fourth Elder could say at least one thing with certainty.
If Yul Hwi — denied the Moon Master's discipleship as he wished — decided the Sun and Moon Gate held nothing for him and chose to leave.
And if the Sun and Moon Gate attempted to force and restrain him.
Then inevitably, something too terrible to imagine would follow.
[Worrying too far ahead is not particularly good for one's peace of mind.]
"!!!"
A tiny qi transmission bored into her ear like a sharp awl, utterly without warning.
Startled despite herself, the Fourth Elder's eyes found the blue gaze of Yul Hwi — who had somehow pulled ahead and was now looking back at her from a distance.
They had arrived, without her noticing, before the Moon Master's Hall — their destination.
In the absence of the Sixth and Eighth Elders, who had already gone inside, Yul Hwi stood alone, offering a gentle, soft smile.
[Things will work out as you hope.]
"......"
[And they had better.]
A smile radiant enough to deserve the name jade countenance.
Yet the two blue pupils set like luminous jewels upon that face held nothing but an unprecedented, emotionless quiet — a serene, arid stillness, and nothing more.