Sa Sa-ho... Water Shadow quietly continued speaking.
"I received word from Gray Shadow that you would come. So I was waiting. Otherwise, I wouldn't have recognized you."
"Haha. I see. Even so, you recognized me well."
"No matter how skilled you are, you couldn't act exactly like them without knowing the vice-chiefs well."
"Hahahaha."
Transformed Shadow laughed again, affirming Water Shadow's words.
He stood beside Water Shadow while maintaining his smiling face. Unlike Water Shadow who was looking down below, Transformed Shadow looked at the rising sun.
After staying like that for a moment, he spoke as if tossing out words.
"You said you drove Tang O into Seonjoong Mountain?"
Water Shadow answered while still looking down below.
"The peak of Seonjoong Mountain."
"Then doesn't that mean once they cross the mountain, pursuit is no longer possible?"
"Seonjoong Mountain is half mountain, half valley. They can neither climb nor descend on the opposite side from Chaohu Lake."
Transformed Shadow had heard after coming here that the congratulatory guests had been driven into the mountain. At first he didn't understand, but hearing Water Shadow's story now, he seemed to know why.
"Half mountain, half cliff... They'll be helplessly driven to the edge of a precipice. They must be climbing hard trying to find a way to live, how unfortunate. So then, is it land or water?"
Though it was a question without context, Water Shadow somehow understood and answered.
"Land. If it were water, I wouldn't have driven them that way in the first place."
"I see."
After the conversation progressed that far.
Silence came between the two again, but it wasn't very long. That was because there was still something Transformed Shadow didn't understand.
"But were there really no supreme masters besides Tang O?"
In fact, this was the reason that made Transformed Shadow come this way instead of toward the Namgung Family, but Water Shadow didn't know that fact.
"There weren't any."
Hearing Water Shadow's short and firm answer, Transformed Shadow shook his head and muttered to himself.
"That can't be... The reason for causing such a commotion must have been to leave the Namgung Family, so why hasn't he appeared even in a situation cornered like this...?"
Transformed Shadow's words had no subject. However, Water Shadow could sufficiently guess that the subject's protagonist was referring to another supreme master who should have existed besides Tang O.
As Water Shadow guessed, the target Transformed Shadow was talking about was 'the protagonist of the Three Holy Lights.' Surely by this point, he should have revealed his identity and slaughtered the water bandits and demonic beings, yet that person still wasn't thinking of rising from below the surface.
But it couldn't be that Water Shadow and Gray Shadow had missed him either. The Heaven-and-Earth Net was perfect. They controlled all routes leading to the Namgung Family. Though the Namgung Family was a great family, the manor wasn't so large that blockading it would be difficult with the personnel they had.
So did they miss him after all?
'No. That can't be.'
Transformed Shadow shook his head again.
If they had missed him, they should have been able to notice that existence precisely because they missed him. To escape the Heaven-and-Earth Net, he would have had to break through in some direction. That alone would have been possible only by revealing his identity.
"All directions—east, west, south, north—are completely blocked... yet he disappeared without a trace."
Where on earth was that person?
While Transformed Shadow was worrying about that person's whereabouts, Water Shadow, who was still looking down at Chaohu Lake, spoke as if in passing.
"I don't know who you're looking for, but if that person was someone like you, I might have missed him."
"...!"
At Water Shadow's words, Transformed Shadow felt as if he'd been hit on the back of the head with a hammer.
Right, Water Shadow's words were correct.
Why hadn't he thought of that? If it were me... if the opponent were me, could I catch myself? There's no law that says someone like me can only be me, right?
"Hahaha. I see. That's it. That's why both the Namgung Family and you missed that person."
That person can change his appearance freely like himself.
Transformed Shadow was certain of it. Then wouldn't everything fit together perfectly?
He even thought that person might be superior to himself in transformation arts. Because he had recognized himself when no one else noticed.
But.
If so, then how would they catch that person now? There was no way. Transformed Shadow had confidence he would never be caught by anyone. Then the opponent would be the same.
Right now, there were few things Transformed Shadow knew about that person. That he was inside Seonjoong Mountain, and that he was probably transformed into a water bandit or Heavenly Demon Castle member.
After much deliberation, Transformed Shadow reached one conclusion. A method the opponent absolutely couldn't endure without revealing himself.
That was precisely.
"Kill them all."
At Transformed Shadow's low muttering, Water Shadow's gaze finally moved from Chaohu Lake to him.
Transformed Shadow faced him and spoke forcefully again.
"They're all people who will die anyway once the First Stratagem ends. Nothing will change if they die a bit early. Isn't that right, Water Shadow? Hahaha."
"..."
Water Shadow understood what Transformed Shadow was saying only after thinking for a moment. And he thought. That it was fortunate to be on the same side as Transformed Shadow. No, that it was fortunate he at least pretended to be on the same side.
Water Shadow looked down at Chaohu Lake again, and Transformed Shadow looked at the still red sun and laughed heartily.
Do Heo-ok's laughter. What exactly did it mean?
***
Day broke.
However, the pursuit taking place on Seonjoong Mountain was still ongoing.
Since many survivors including Tang O were still alive, considerable time would have to pass before the pursuit ended.
Dong Bong-su was performing the class change quest as a member of the pursuit force. However, from the time the quest completion count reached 80, he couldn't complete any more.
"Damn it! Why aren't they reinforcing the pursuit personnel?"
A hook-nosed water bandit standing beside him said.
As he said, the reason the pursuit had become sluggish at some point was because the deployment of follow-up forces that had been continuously reinforced was cut off.
Though there weren't many congratulatory guests left alive now, they were all masters. Naturally, many sacrifices followed in hunting them down.
In severe cases, dozens would die to barely behead one person. In such a situation, since no additional personnel were being supplemented, the pursuit force's progress had no choice but to be hindered.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
'The other side has no reinforcements either.'
The Heavenly Demon Castle side also wasn't actively pursuing. No, they couldn't. What was happening on this side was happening identically on that side. The Heavenly Demon Castle pursuit force side was also having difficulty pursuing because replenishment wasn't being carried out.
The escapees took advantage of the loosened pursuit to quickly chase after Tang O.
The pursuers were still chasing behind them, but they could no longer easily tie down their feet.
Dong Bong-su was bothered by the fact that reinforcements had been cut off. He thought while matching steps with the other water bandits as they climbed up the mountain.
He had to know the reason. Nothing in the world happens without a cause. If a crazy person killed someone, being crazy itself is the cause and motive for murder. Cause and effect always interact.
A cause always exists.
From that perspective, the delay in reinforcements was definitely strange. Wasn't Do Heo-ok and his gang's purpose to kill the Namgung Family and everyone invited there? Why were they slowing their hand just before annihilating their targets?
Despite repeated thinking, Dong Bong-su couldn't figure out the reason.
Ominousness stimulated survival instinct. Intuition sometimes preceded reason. Dong Bong-su thought now was precisely such a time.
'What should be done in a situation like this?'
The eternal, unchanging truth regardless of time or place—the roadmap in such situations was always decided.
'When you don't know, avoid it.'
If the pursuit ended normally, he would ultimately have to become a member of the water bandits. However, it was impossible to completely blend into the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds with this face. When he washed the blood off his face and scabs formed as the wounds healed, his face would become somewhat identifiable. When that time came, a situation could arise where he couldn't advance or retreat anyway. Moreover, there would be limits to voice modulation. Perhaps even before his face roughly healed, someone might appear who would recognize he wasn't Kang Dal-hui.
He would have to escape this place when the appropriate time came anyway. Dong Bong-su decided to advance that timing a bit and leave here immediately.
Right when he made that decision.
"Damn! They're finally here. Anyway, whether it's the upper brass dawdling around, they're all the same whether officials or bandits."
The hook-nosed man who had been complaining about the lack of additional personnel since earlier said.
Dong Bong-su also turned his head following him and looked down the slope below. Certainly, as he said, water bandits were climbing up.
People's heads were stuck together so densely following the steep slope below the mountain that it looked black. Though they couldn't completely secure the view because thick trees stood densely, even at a glance there seemed to be more than all the personnel reinforced until now combined.
'Too many.'
Dong Bong-su suddenly thought that. His ominous premonition was ignited once more. Moreover, there was one more fact that poured oil on it.
Clearly the color of the clothing they wore was the same as the water bandits', but the characters for Yangtze carved on their chests were reversed left and right.
"What are those things? Why are they all wearing their clothes inside out?"
As the hook-nosed man said, the newly deployed water bandits all appeared wearing their clothes inside out.
'If it were one or two people I wouldn't know, but everyone wearing their clothes inside out? That means...'
Uniforms such as ceremonial dress, military uniforms, school uniforms are effective and meaningful only when they're uniform. That was because it showed proof of being the same group. But now they had deliberately worn the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds' uniforms inside out to create a different uniform.
The meaning of that was self-evident without even examining it.
Wham‑wham‑wham!
As soon as that thought occurred, Dong Bong-su was already charging forward.