The day after the expelled Alliance members' raid on Yellow Dragon Fortress ended in failure.
Without warning, a group of unidentified men appeared before the south gate at the crack of dawn.
"We have been dispatched at the request of the Lord of Yellow Dragon Fortress. Open the gate, if you would."
"Hmm?"
Jang Ucheol, who had been sleeping in the watchtower above the south gate, rose in a half-dreaming daze.
The reason he had ended up sleeping here instead of a perfectly good room was because Dan Sahyeok had ordered it.
A simple instruction—that someone would be coming, and to open the gate for them.
"But who are you people?"
"The Lord of Yellow Dragon Fortress is surely aware of the details."
"Well, I would think so, but I haven't heard anything from Sir......"
"Then he must have decided there was no need to explain it to you."
That stung ever so slightly to hear.
The remark did not sit well with Jang Ucheol, but after sneaking a glance at the visitors' bearing, he reconsidered.
'Tch! They look far stronger than me.'
They were men of powerful build.
While martial arts were not decided by bulk and muscle alone, anyone that solidly built was typically a force to be reckoned with.
"Wait just a moment."
Jang Ucheol gathered up the outer garment he had stripped off in the muggy night air, pulled it on, and descended to open the fortress gate.
Without so much as a glance at him, the men poured through and headed straight for somewhere.
"Where are you going?"
No answer, no matter how many times he asked.
When Jang Ucheol followed them, he found that their destination was the residential district within Yellow Dragon Fortress.
The area was strewn with the massive amount of supplies the expelled Alliance members had left behind.
Jang Ucheol had tried to tidy it up as best he could, but it had barely made a dent. In that very place, the men set to work without delay.
The work itself was exactly what Jang Ucheol had been doing.
The difference was that their speed and efficiency were staggering.
SWISH! SWOOSH! THUD-THUD-THUD!
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
They carried goods with their bare hands, without a single cart or carrying frame, at a pace Jang Ucheol's eyes could barely follow.
"W-wait, but......"
Was it really all right for them to just haul those things away?
He lacked the courage to step in front of them and demand answers. As he stood there fretting, a voice suddenly spoke beside him.
"You were here too, I see?"
The one who had appeared out of nowhere at his side was none other than No Song.
When Jang Ucheol stared at him blankly, No Song offered a gentle smile.
"Apparently, the supplies confiscated from the Alliance members need to be converted into coin. I took the liberty of introducing a buyer."
"A b-buyer, you say?"
"Indeed. A fence."
No Song stroked his beard repeatedly, then surveyed the goods being moved about.
"The value of Yellow Dragon Fortress itself is immeasurable, but it will take time before that value can be converted into silver taels. In the meantime, the funds to run this place will come from selling those things."
"W-well, I was aware of that, but......"
"Is this not a good thing for you as well? Moving all of that by yourself and then finding merchants and haggling to sell it off would have been practically impossible."
"That's...... true enough."
Jang Ucheol scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"But that fence and his men look like they could trounce most martial artists."
"Heh, and what makes you think they are not martial artists?"
"Oh, so they belong to some sect or something?"
"Sects and clans are not all there is to the martial world. In truth, the real martial world lies outside those boundaries."
"Outside...... those boundaries?"
"Indeed. Beyond the fence of the Martial Alliance as you have known it."
"Hmm."
Jang Ucheol smacked his lips with a complicated expression.
He had suddenly been treated like a greenhorn, but he could not say it truly bothered him.
Because it was the truth.
If anything, the mere fact that he could converse freely with a figure of No Song's stature—a Branch Chief of the Beggars' Sect, no less—was an experience of great value in itself.
It occurred to him, unbidden, that kneeling before Dan Sahyeok that day had been the right choice.
"By the way, old man. Where is Sir right now?"
"Jang Ucheol, was it? I am sorry to say, but I do not believe anyone can answer that question."
"Y-you're right about that. Please forget I asked."
Having wrapped up the conversation, Jang Ucheol approached the men who were busy carrying goods.
"I'll lend a hand. Tell me where these need to go."
***
At the same time.
O Duseok was in the middle of an enormous, drawn-out yawn.
"Damn it all. I was planning to get nice and drunk and sleep straight through half the day."
The lingering traces of alcohol from the previous night into dawn still clung to his face.
Of course, a master of O Duseok's caliber could have blown off this much tipsiness with a single breath.
He simply could not be bothered.
On top of that, a small measure of defiance against the one who had summoned him this early in the morning was baked into the decision.
"You have grown rather idle, Branch Chief. I seem to recall a man who used to hound his warriors every morning before dawn, until they called him the Pre-Dawn Demon."
"When in the world are you digging up? That has to be at least ten years old."
O Duseok had been grumbling as usual when he suddenly flinched.
"Wait, how do you even know about that? You only joined the Alliance half a year ago at most."
"I heard it from the Tiger-Kill Captain."
"From Gwan Seokyong? That bastard doesn't look the type, so why's he such a loose lip?"
"Becoming generous with stories over a few good drinks is something all the Blood Sky Slayers have in common."
Blood Sky Slayers.
It was the name the warriors of the Gansu Province branch called themselves.
They were the ones who had defended the Central Plains for many long years against the Blood Sky Sect—still threatening and formidable even after being driven to the borderlands.
It was a name like an oath—a vow to see their conviction through, even though the very land they sought to protect had forgotten and turned away from them.
"Speaking of which, those guys must be worrying about me not coming back."
"I doubt a single one of them is."
"......"
"By the way, Branch Chief. How is it that someone who said he was heading back to the Great Snow Mountain has turned around?"
At Dan Sahyeok's question, O Duseok was caught off guard.
"What? You're the one who asked me to come, and now you say that?"
"I asked you? I have no idea what you are talking about."
"That girl—you didn't send her?"
Dan Sahyeok's eyes took on a deep, measured light.
"Explain in detail."
"Oh, uh, well."
His bewilderment having banished the last of his tipsiness, O Duseok recounted everything that had transpired with Sama Ran.
The razor-sharp edge in Dan Sahyeok's gaze gradually softened as he listened.
"So that is what happened. I understand."
"There isn't some kind of problem, is there?"
"As things stand, I would say no. It was something Sama Jin did on his own, but the act itself should not cause any issues."
"That's a relief, but...... something occurred to me while I was just explaining all that. What if the Sama Clan is trying to swallow our branch whole?"
"Could the Blood Sky Slayers be swallowed just because someone tried?"
"Hmm. That's certainly...... a fair point."
O Duseok's tone lacked a certain conviction, and Dan Sahyeok let out a wry smirk.
"How about having a little more faith in your own men, Branch Chief?"
"Tch, shut it. That'd be fine if those bastards weren't such a bunch of misfits."
O Duseok grumbled, then slid a sidelong glance at Dan Sahyeok.
"Of course, the worst of the lot is you."
"That may well be."
"Hmph. Brushing it off as usual, I see. Anyway, isn't it about time you told me? Why you dragged me all the way out here at the crack of dawn."
O Duseok spread both arms wide, gesturing at "here."
An ornate gate and a sizable plaque greeted the two of them.
The name: Gold Moon Exchange.
An exchange house was a place where one could deposit or borrow money, and which issued banknotes used as commonly as silver taels.
Money being as grave and fearsome a thing as it was, the vetting process at an exchange house was nothing short of rigorous.
It was also the sort of place most martial artists had little reason to visit, and O Duseok—who had spent half his life in the borderlands—was no exception.
"What are we doing here? If you want to sell off those odds and ends, it would be faster to find an ordinary trading house."
O Duseok turned to Dan Sahyeok as he asked.
"Unless...... don't tell me you're planning to......?"
"It is not what you are thinking, Branch Chief."
"......What do you think I was thinking?"
"You were thinking I came here to rob the place."
O Duseok flinched, his inner thoughts laid bare.
He quickly feigned otherwise.
"I wasn't thinking anything of the sort."
"I am sure you were not."
"What? Hey, you little—!"
Leaving O Duseok behind, Dan Sahyeok walked toward the front entrance.
Whether the guards at the door recognized him or not, they parted widely to either side.
Passing beneath the heavy rafters and stepping inside, a woman in immaculate attire stood there as if she had been expecting him.
O Duseok, who had pressed himself close behind Dan Sahyeok, let out a low murmur of admiration at the sight of her.
She exuded the air of a scholar, yet hidden beneath it was a thorn-like sharpness.
"Hmm. Quite the master. Hard to believe someone like her is in a place like this. Wait, was she hired from somewhere?"
"You have it backwards, Branch Chief. It is precisely because this is such a place that a master of her caliber guards it."
"......Hmph."
O Duseok snorted like a petulant child. Leaving him be, Dan Sahyeok regarded the woman.
Reading the look in his eyes that bade her speak first, she opened her mouth.
"You are the Lord of Yellow Dragon Fortress, Hero Dan Sahyeok, are you not? My name is Eun Aseol, of the Gold Moon Exchange."
"Not the exchange master...... I presume. Should I think of you as the one in charge of day-to-day operations?"
"That is correct."
At the woman Eun Aseol's confirmation, O Duseok narrowed his brow.
"Something smells off. How did you know we were coming?"
"I saw you from a distance. Whether to give us time to prepare, you walked here slowly from quite far away."
"Hmm."
"A man in his thirties approaching from the direction of Yellow Dragon Fortress, carrying two swords on his back in an X-shape. I would venture there is no more distinctive set of features in Xi'an at present."
"Mm......"
There was not a single loose thread to pick at in that reasoning.
O Duseok closed his mouth, and Eun Aseol turned her gaze to Dan Sahyeok.
"If it would not be too forward, may I ask the reason you have visited our exchange?"
"It is no different from the reason most people visit an exchange."
"I trust you are already aware, but...... we only lend and borrow. We do not conduct ordinary commerce."
"Of course I am aware."
At Dan Sahyeok's answer, a distinct gleam entered Eun Aseol's eyes.
"It does not seem as though you wish to deposit funds...... Do you intend to secure a loan against collateral?"
"I do."
At Dan Sahyeok's reply, O Duseok furrowed his brow.
"If it was money you needed, you didn't have to go this far."
"I need a great deal of money."
"Even so. You could've just grabbed anyone off the street and told them to fork it over. It'd be hard to find anyone from the Martial Alliance who wasn't skimming on the side."
"That is not the kind of money I want."
Dan Sahyeok answered curtly, then turned to Eun Aseol.
"Is it feasible?"
"It would not be impossible, but if you intend to use Yellow Dragon Fortress as collateral, there are complex procedures that must be followed......"
"It is not Yellow Dragon Fortress."
"Pardon?"
"What?"
Eun Aseol and O Duseok flinched in near-unison.
SHING—
Dan Sahyeok drew the blade from his back and presented it before her.
"The collateral I wish to offer is this."
"......The Blood Dragon Blade!"