"Not bad. Good flavor."
A heaping bowl of steaming meat dumplings.
Dan Sahyeok sampled a few and spoke, prompting the old cook to shrug.
"Dumplings are hard to make taste bad."
"Even so, achieving this texture is no easy thing. I enjoyed the meal."
"Does that mean I am hired?"
"Of course. I look forward to working with you."
Despite Dan Sahyeok's ready answer, the old cook seemed vaguely uneasy.
"That said. Did you not hear anything from Jang Ucheol?"
"Hear what?"
"My background is a bit......"
Dan Sahyeok turned his head, and Jang Ucheol winced.
"Uh, well. Sir, this gentleman once...... cooked for the Blood Ghost Sect, briefly."
"What is the Blood Ghost Sect?"
"A sect that had some clout in Hunan for a while. But, well......"
"The short version."
"It was an unorthodox sect."
Dan Sahyeok looked back at the old cook.
Under the sudden return of that gaze, the old cook swallowed hard in spite of himself.
"I do not care."
"Truly?"
"I am not the sort to make idle remarks about such things. All the less so if you were merely a cook, not a disciple."
Only then did the tension leave the old cook's face.
"Much obliged. I only did it to put food on the table, but that label followed me all the way here to Xi'an."
"People are inherently fond of wallowing in moral superiority and pointing fingers."
"Moral what? In any case, I appreciate it, young friend."
"Now, now, Cook Jin. Show some respect to my sworn brother."
"You show some yourself."
Dan Sahyeok cut Jang Ucheol short with a brief rebuke, then studied Cook Jin in silence.
"Just cook well and there is no need to feel uncomfortable."
"I like you more by the minute. Understood. So long as I get proper ingredients, I will serve you the finest food you have ever tasted."
"There may be times you will need to feed dozens in a single day. Would that be a problem?"
"Give me kitchen hands and there will be no trouble at all."
"Good. When that time comes, I will arrange more people for you."
And so Dan Sahyeok hired Cook Jin.
Two days later.
The grace period Dan Sahyeok had announced finally expired.
"How many sects and clans failed to vacate?"
At Dan Sahyeok's question, Jang Ucheol gulped.
"Well, the thing is, sir. Almost...... the vast majority did not leave, it seems."
"I see."
Dan Sahyeok's reaction was unexpectedly bland.
Jang Ucheol assumed he would grant a few more days or at least try talking it out, but that prediction missed the mark entirely.
"Then they will have to be thrown out."
"Pardon? Um, sir?"
Dan Sahyeok did not answer and headed for the door.
Jang Ucheol scrambled to keep up and ventured a cautious question.
"Sir, about the...... throwing out. What manner of throwing out are we talking about, exactly?"
"Do I need to spell that out for you?"
"No, not at all! Not in the slightest! I am sorry. I will just keep my mouth shut."
"Good."
Dan Sahyeok strode forward with long steps.
The very first place he visited was the residential quarter at Yellow Dragon Fortress' northernmost edge.
The moment he set foot inside, people who recognized him sauntered out.
"I had a feeling you might come. As it happens, I was hoping to meet--"
Dan Sahyeok ignored them and marched straight into the quarters.
By the time the people rushed after him, he was standing in the middle of a room, staring at an enormous celadon vase.
"This--is it yours?"
"Y-yes. A valuable piece procured from across the Eastern Sea--"
WHOOSH!
Without a word, Dan Sahyeok hurled the celadon out the window.
"No, nooo!"
"Stop him!"
The martial artists threw themselves out the window, mustering every ounce of movement arts they had.
Valiant as the effort was, it could not prevent the celadon from shattering.
CRASH!
The sound was sharp enough to carry to every corner of the quarter.
Before long, the martial artists came storming back, faces crimson with fury.
"What is the meaning of this!"
"Forced eviction."
Dan Sahyeok answered flatly.
"Literally speaking, I will be removing every last item left inside my Yellow Dragon Fortress."
"Y-you cannot think we will simply stand for this outrage!"
"Then do not stand for it. I am counting on it."
With that, Dan Sahyeok began flinging the room's contents out the windows at breathtaking speed.
His speed and precision were such that all manner of objects sailed through the not-particularly-wide windows in a blur.
"No! The jade pendant bestowed by the Magistrate!"
"Do you have any idea what that landscape painting is worth?"
"We will clear out ourselves, so please, just stop!"
Screams and pleas flew in equal measure, but Dan Sahyeok did not stop.
Eventually, some of the martial artists resorted to throwing punches, but Dan Sahyeok dodged every last one as if by sleight of hand.
All while continuing to hurl their belongings out the windows without pause.
The attackers exhausted themselves and collapsed in heaps before he was done.
The moment he finished one quarter, he moved straight to the next and began hurling possessions out with the same furious diligence. Seeing this, the remaining occupants scrambled to gather their things.
Word spread swiftly, and an alarm rippled through all of Yellow Dragon Fortress.
"Dan Sahyeok has started smashing everything!"
"He is throwing out anything left inside the rooms, without exception!"
"He will not listen to reason and dodges every punch thrown at him!"
"Damn it all, is he completely mad?"
"Someone overheard him muttering to himself--after the belongings, it is the people's turn!"
"Us, too? What on earth is he planning?"
"His lackey who follows him around asked, and apparently the answer was he would throw them over the fortress walls......"
"......!"
"That lunatic!"
"He really means to throw every last one of us out?"
The horrified people split roughly into two camps.
Those who decided to grab their things and flee made up the first.
Those who flooded toward Sama Jin's quarters made up the second.
"Strategist! Strategist Sama!"
"This is no time to be sitting around--! Huh?"
"Wh-what?"
Those who had come to protest, or to push the Strategist into action, were shocked all over again.
Sama Jin's quarters were completely empty.
"Wh-what is going on......?"
"What seems to be the matter?"
Sama Jin came shuffling out of his bare, furniture-less room.
His own appearance was so spartan it could have passed for a funeral.
"Strategist! What is all this?"
"I should be asking you that."
"Dan Sahyeok! That man has started a rampage!"
Sama Jin merely nodded at the frantic crowd.
"So he has begun."
"Begun? Is that all you have to say?"
"I see no reason it should not be."
"You are the Martial Alliance's Strategist! While the entire Alliance is subjected to this unprecedented outrage, should you not be doing something?"
"Outrage? One man tossing belongings out is an outrage?"
"Well......"
"The people of the Martial Alliance, the men and women who claim to lead the Orthodox martial world!"
Sama Jin's razor-edged gaze swept across their faces.
"And you call that an outrage and come running to me, begging for help?"
"......"
"The previous Alliance Leader's dying wish was unambiguous, and we tacitly raised no objection to it. Dan Sahyeok truly did slay the Blood Sky Demon, and he earned the right to demand what he wished of the Martial Alliance."
Sama Jin continued in a level tone.
"And now he has formally become the Lord of Yellow Dragon Fortress and is exercising his rights as its owner. I see neither a means to stop him, nor any justification for doing so."
"S-Strategist."
"Go pack your things. If you keep dragging your feet, he really will throw you over the fortress walls."
"......!"
The crowd, ashen-faced, scattered in every direction.
Sama Jin watched them go, then let out a small sigh.
"Phew."
"Well handled, Strategist."
Sama Jin turned to find a familiar figure approaching with a smile.
"Patriarch Jegal."
"What brazen, selfish people they are. You have my sympathy for having to manage such folk all this time."
At Jegal Unseong's words, Sama Jin gave a bitter smile.
"By rights, it should have been you in this role."
"The whole world knows your strategic mind surpasses mine."
"I have never found that kind of flattery quite so grating until today."
"Is that so?"
Jegal Unseong smiled as he replied.
After a moment's thought, Sama Jin shook his head.
"No, that is not true, actually. If anything...... I just feel relieved."
"Mm."
Jegal Unseong turned his gaze northward.
"From the looks of it, not a single person among the Martial Alliance's many members dares the thought of standing against him."
"They all saw the Azure Sky Sword King get torn to pieces."
"......How has the Namgung Clan reacted?"
"What do you think? It is no different from an actual funeral. For the time being, they will not even have the wherewithal to contemplate revenge."
"True, that is to be expected. Frankly...... the fact that Patriarch Namgung survived at all feels like a miracle."
"I agree. Speaking of which, Patriarch Jegal, you must be privately pleased."
At Sama Jin's incisive remark, Jegal Unseong smiled bitterly.
"Not entirely. It is fortunate that the mighty Namgung Clan has been checked, but I cannot help worrying that the martial world may have embraced something even larger and more dangerous."
"Worried."
"And hopeful at the same time."
Jegal Unseong turned and gazed into the distance, beyond the main gate.
Sama Jin followed his line of sight, taking in the distant halls of Yellow Dragon Fortress.
"I feel the same. In any event, the Martial Alliance had grown complacent. That much is fact."
"But now that it has lost its headquarters, what will become of the Martial Alliance?"
"I cannot say."
Sama Jin turned back to Jegal Unseong and answered with the air of a man who considered it no longer his concern.
"Who knows. Perhaps some wealthy benefactor will find a new site for a headquarters and keep the Martial Alliance alive."
"Mm."
"Or perhaps someone with the connections to bring in patrons with deep pockets."
"Do you truly mean that?"
"What do you think?"
"Then the Martial Alliance is......"
"Finished, most likely."
Sama Jin shrugged.
"The Alliance Leader has passed, and its founding objective--the death of the Blood Sky Demon--has been achieved...... so the Martial Alliance fading away may simply be the natural course of things."
"Mm."
"It is for the best. Do you not think so, Patriarch Jegal?"
"I suppose so, but......"
Jegal Unseong's eyes, now gazing far beyond the halls, flickered with foreboding.
"Not everyone will see it that way."
***
"This is absolutely unacceptable!"
"What in the world are the Strategist and everyone else doing?"
An inn somewhere in Xi'an.
It was packed to more than twice its usual capacity with martial artists expelled from Yellow Dragon Fortress.
Dan Sahyeok, having gone room by room and thrown out every item that remained, had eventually begun expelling the people themselves.
His method was simplicity itself.
"Leave."
"......And if I refuse?"
"This."
"......!"
He grabbed them bodily and hurled them over the fortress walls.
After two or three people went sailing, the rest blanched and started running.
That alone would not have been an issue, except that their opponent was the man who had felled the Azure Sky Sword King.
And before that, the one who had slain the Blood Sky Demon.
To resolve the situation, they would need to find a way to deal with that man.
"What are we supposed to do now......"
They put their heads together, but the only thing that escaped the martial artists' lips was sigh after sigh, heavy enough to sink the earth.