The sunlight and breeze coming in through the window carried warmth.
A perfect spring day.
In the back garden, which had been desolate and colorless throughout the winter, flowers now bloomed in vivid colors, and the trees had begun to take on a soft green hue.
An elderly man, his hair white at the temples, gazed for a moment at the scenery outside the window before shifting his eyes to the table in front of him. On it lay a letter, delivered late in the morning by carrier pigeon, now spread open.
He had read it at least twenty times already, enough to memorize every word. One might expect him to be sick of it by now, but the old man once again examined each line carefully.
It told of the loss of the Sichuan branch, of the devastating damage suffered by the Emei Sect, and of the deaths and severe injuries among many renowned martial artists.
Though the letter was filled with grave news, the old man focused only on the part concerning a single person.
"Someone who was still a mere errand-runner the day before the fight… Cheon Ryu-yeong. Cheon Ryu-yeong."
His expression now was the same as when he had first read the letter—troubled and perplexed.
The old man wore a shimmering silk crane-embroidered robe, his half-gray hair neatly arranged beneath a dark blue headscarf. From his white socks to his purple leather shoes, everything he wore was of the finest quality.
His small eyes and slightly hooked nose gave him a sharp look, yet the upturned corners of his mouth and rounded jawline lent him a kindly air.
Though the upper and lower halves of his face didn't quite match, together they formed a strangely harmonious impression.
This was Jegal Cheon (諸葛天), Chief Military Strategist of the Martial Alliance.
Alongside the Alliance Leader, the Sword Emperor Dan Baek-u (劒皇 端伯宇), he led the Martial Alliance, and his elder brother was the head of the Jegal Clan, one of the Eight Great Righteous Families.
People called him the greatest genius strategist in the martial world without hesitation—and indeed, he had accomplished enough to deserve that title many times over.
He was fifty-four years old.
And this gray-haired genius strategist now felt a sense of defeat toward a young man named Cheon Ryu-yeong, whom he had never even met.
If he had been there, would he have been able to see through the spy disguised as a member of the Emei Sect? And afterward—could he have judged and acted with the same decisiveness as Cheon Ryu-yeong had?
No matter how many times he thought it over—dozens, even hundreds of times—his conclusion remained doubtful. The decisiveness Cheon Ryu-yeong had reportedly displayed left him not just shocked, but even disbelieving.
"Cheon Ryu-yeong…"
Jegal Cheon turned his gaze back toward the garden.
A man who looked to be in his mid-forties was walking toward him. In truth, the man was sixty-five.
Tall and slightly lean, he was strikingly handsome. In his youth, he had been the subject of countless romantic rumors.
It was none other than Dan Baek-u, the Sword Emperor and Leader of the Martial Alliance.
When their eyes met, Jegal Cheon bowed first. Dan Baek-u accepted the greeting and called out,
"Chief Strategist, the weather's fine—come out here."
Though he spoke calmly, his voice brimmed with vigor.
"Yes. Please wait just a moment."
Jegal Cheon walked into the garden—neither too quickly nor too slowly. Dan Baek-u, hands clasped behind his back, spoke as soon as Jegal Cheon approached.
"What do you think will happen in Sichuan?"
Dan Baek-u was the sort who preferred to skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. His dislike of complications was evident even in this one sentence.
Jegal Cheon stood beside him.
"Have you seen the letter from Sichuan?"
Important information from outside was always delivered to both the Alliance Leader and the Chief Strategist at the same time.
"I've seen it."
Jegal Cheon noticed the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of Dan Baek-u's mouth.
The Sichuan branch had been lost. The Black Tortoise Unit had suffered heavy casualties. The Emei Sect had even declared that they would close their gates for ten years.
By rights, such news should have brought anxiety and grief—but Dan Baek-u showed none of it.
Jegal Cheon knew well why.
The Alliance Leader's life goals were clear:
First, to grow stronger.
Second, to achieve fame—ipsin yangmyeong (立身揚名)—and spread his name across the world as the mightiest martial artist.
In truth, these were the dreams of most martial artists. Dan Baek-u simply had a stronger obsession with fame than most.
Jegal Cheon knew exactly why.
Dan Baek-u was the epitome of a self-made man. Born in a humble, obscure sect in a rural backwater, he had risen to become one of the Ten Great Experts of the Righteous Faction, and then to the very top as Leader of the Martial Alliance.
A dragon rising from a muddy ditch, as the saying went.
The public admired him for reaching the highest position through his own power, without the backing of a prestigious clan. But like many who had turned their lives around, Dan Baek-u carried a constant undercurrent of anxiety.
He did not believe he had ever been truly accepted by the great orthodox sects or noble families of the martial world. In his mind, he had become Alliance Leader only because the great sects had chosen someone without a powerful backing to prevent any one of them from gaining too much influence.
Dan Baek-u, the Sword Emperor, was not satisfied with his current success and fame.
He longed for genuine recognition from the masters of the great orthodox sects at the very top of the martial world. Beyond that, he even harbored the ambition to command them.
In other words—he dreamed of becoming a hegemon.
After a moment's silence, Jegal Cheon spoke.
"Sichuan will remain in a standoff for now, with no major movements."
Dan Baek-u tilted his head, frowning slightly.
"But the reason the Demonic Cult and the Black Heaven Lotus took the Sichuan branch was to invade the Central Plains, wasn't it?"
"Yes. But after capturing the Sichuan branch, they suffered significant losses in the ensuing battle. If they act rashly now and happen to lose, they would have to give up the branch they worked so hard to take. They'll proceed with caution."
The Demonic Cult had won, but their victory had been tarnished. The Righteous Faction had lost, but had managed to save face. That, in short, was the outcome of the battle in Sichuan.
Dan Baek-u bit his lip several times before revealing his thoughts.
"What if I were to go to Sichuan myself?"
Jegal Cheon shook his head with a wry smile.
"It's too soon. A tiger does not move lightly."
He spoke so decisively, as though the matter didn't even require thought, that Dan Baek-u's brow furrowed.
"Are you worried I might make a mistake in Sichuan and fall into the Demonic Cult's hands?"
"Surely not. How could I think such an absurd thing?"
Jegal Cheon even waved his hands in denial, but Dan Baek-u's voice rose.
"Then you mean to say that when the Black Path openly reveals their ambition to invade the Central Plains and even seizes the Sichuan branch, the Leader of the Martial Alliance should just sit back and do nothing?"
Jegal Cheon rubbed the bridge of his nose before answering.
"There are three reasons. First, unless the Demonic Cult's leader, the Thunder Emperor, appears in person, there's no justification for you to march out yourself. For you to go to Sichuan now would be like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken."
"That's a fair point. But isn't it better to deal with a small hole in the dam before it grows any bigger?"
Dan Baek-u was the sort who, under normal circumstances, would follow the Chief Strategist's advice. But this time was different. This time, he wanted to press forward and earn merit for himself.
"Second—the Tang Clan will not welcome it."
At Jegal Cheon's second reason, Dan Baek-u finally bit back a bitter smile. This point, at least, was undeniably valid.
The Tang Clan, a powerhouse in its own right, was unlikely to desire overt and forceful intervention from the Martial Alliance.
"That's true. The Tang Clan, whom you painstakingly persuaded to side with the Righteous Faction, will probably want to use this opportunity to show the martial world their own strength and status."
The other name for the Tang Clan was fear.
Even the Sword Emperor Dan Baek-u, who usually feared nothing, had no desire whatsoever to create enmity or awkwardness with them.
"Exactly. Even if two thousand troops led by the Demonic Cult's Young Cult Leader have joined the fight, they are by no means a match for the Tang Clan. In such a situation, if the Alliance Leader were to personally head to Sichuan… it would make the Tang Clan feel as though we do not trust them."
Dan Baek-u dropped his look of regret, stretched, and said,
"They'd think I was just trying to steal their thunder. Yes, that's true. Very well, I can't help it then. But what's the third reason?"
"As you saw in the letter, there are two individuals from this battle who are worth paying close attention to. It's not too late to act after we have properly assessed their capabilities."
"Two people?"
"The Heavenly Demon Sword Baek Un-hoe—and the young man named Cheon Ryu-yeong."
Dan Baek-u frowned, his expression one of disbelief.
"The Heavenly Demon Sword is only twenty-nine, isn't he? And you're telling me I should pay attention to a greenhorn like that?"
"The Heavenly Demon Sword captured the Sichuan branch almost without taking any losses. He's proven that the rumors of his exploits in the Outer Martial World were no exaggeration. That means we cannot afford to take him lightly. Also, he is the only man to have emerged alive from the Heavenly Demon Cave, which had lain sealed for five hundred years."
At these words, the furrow in Dan Baek-u's brow deepened.
"Are you getting old, too? You're being overly cautious. Even if he'd come back from the Netherworld itself, he's still not thirty yet. The weight of my blade and his are worlds apart."
"…"
"If I had been in the Sichuan branch chief's place instead of Ironblood Meng Cheon-hu… the Heavenly Demon Sword would have been cleaved in two by my sword. Things wouldn't have escalated to this point."
Jegal Cheon gave a slow, knowing smile at the man's confident tone.
"Alliance Leader, you're not the sort to be confined to the Sichuan branch anyway, are you?"
It was outright flattery—but when flattery is the truth, it becomes something else entirely: a compliment one is due.
"That's true."
"In any case, for now, as long as the Tang Clan remains at the center of Sichuan's martial forces, there should be no major problems—unless the Thunder Emperor of the Demonic Cult personally moves or reinforcements arrive."
Dan Baek-u turned his head toward Jegal Cheon.
"Come to think of it, you're a frightening man. Did you spend the past year building ties with the Tang Clan out of concern that Sichuan's martial world might one day be in danger?"
The Tang Clan had long insisted on walking an independent path, neither joining the Righteous nor the Unorthodox, nor even the Demonic Faction.
In the martial world, any organization had to align itself with one of these three paths if it wished to survive.
Everyone had their own aims and ideals, but this unwritten rule had to be followed—for purely practical reasons. In times of crisis, a sect would need allies to turn to.
Yet the Tang Clan was one of the rare few capable of standing alone in the turbulent martial world, alongside sword masters of the Dao and demon warriors alike.
Jegal Cheon replied modestly,
"Didn't the Demonic Cult conquer the Outer Martial World and establish the Black Heaven Lotus? I simply believed a minimum level of preparation was necessary. I was only doing what had to be done."
"Hahaha. I'm saying this because the other leaders ignored what was so obvious to you. In any case, this incident will draw new attention to your foresight."
The Righteous Faction was enjoying an unprecedented golden age, and the great sects were locked in a contest to expand their own influence. So even though the Demonic Cult's movements were suspicious, the orthodox sects were more wary of one another than of the distant cult.
When the Demonic Cult invaded, they could always unite to repel it—but an enemy within was another matter entirely.
Jegal Cheon met Dan Baek-u's gaze and spoke in a serious tone.
"Alliance Leader—about Cheon Ryu-yeong. What do you think of him?"
Dan Baek-u smiled faintly at the strategist's renewed mention of the youth.
"To be honest, I was impressed."
"So was I. Without that young man, the Righteous Faction's honor would have been utterly trampled."
"Oh? For the Chief Strategist to say so… Well, I suppose it's true. That young man did great service."
"Indeed. From discovering the Emei Sect spy to making only the best possible decisions in the midst of a rapidly changing battlefield—what he did would have been impossible even for me."
Dan Baek-u turned his body to face Jegal Cheon directly.
"Hahaha. Are you saying a genius strategist greater than yourself has appeared? Or perhaps you want to take him as your disciple?"
A glint flashed in Jegal Cheon's eyes.
"That's not what I mean."
Dan Baek-u noticed the severity in the man's expression and became serious himself.
"Then what are you trying to say?"
Jegal Cheon pressed his lips together, not answering right away. Dan Baek-u, growing impatient, urged him on.
"What are you dragging this out for? Spit it out."
At last, Jegal Cheon spoke.
"I'm saying… Cheon Ryu-yeong may be an agent of the Demonic Cult."
"...!"
Dan Baek-u was so shocked he momentarily lost his voice, then shook his head and spoke.
"But I heard Cheon Ryu-yeong worked as a baggage handler in a trading escort agency for seven years…"
"His past cannot be ignored, but blind trust could cause us to miss the truth. It's entirely possible he's been recruited by the Heavenly Demon Sword, isn't it?"
"Hm…"
"Consider this—he just happened to meet Sword Peak Dokgo Seol the night before, and then, when the Emei Sect spy appeared, he just happened to be there. That's… a chain of coincidences."
Dan Baek-u's eyes lit up and he nodded.
"A series of coincidences… could be inevitability."
"Yes. It could have been orchestrated. For someone who was once just a baggage handler to possess such extraordinary insight… I cannot easily accept it. Of course, there are strange geniuses in the world—but what he's shown goes far beyond that."
In truth, such suspicion was only natural for a strategist of the Martial Alliance. And given how remarkable Cheon Ryu-yeong's achievements had been, it would have been stranger not to suspect him.
The martial world was not only a place of swordplay—it was also a place where schemes and intrigues ran rampant. Jegal Cheon's words struck Dan Baek-u as all too plausible.