The Heavenly Demon Castle Anhui Branch was reduced to ashes, and the water bandits of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds were massacred. Though the Murim Alliance's advance was quite swift, since they dispatched forces after going through the Murim Grand Conference, the actual subjugation took place a full two weeks after the Namgung Family's calamity.
The subjugation process itself went extremely smoothly, but they couldn't execute all the villains. A large number of Demon Soldiers and water bandits went into hiding, evading the Murim Alliance's masters. Due to the nature of martial artists, once they removed their martial robes and hid among the common folk, it became extremely difficult to find them.
In the end, the Murim Alliance's subjugation ended as only half-complete.
In particular, they ultimately failed to catch Silver Naked Lecher Paga Blood, known as the Anhui Branch Head who led all these events, and Yangtze Dragon Hero Sa Sa-ho, the General Chief of the Yangtze Waterway Strongholds. According to information obtained during the subjugation, the two had disappeared immediately after the Namgung Family's blood calamity.
Where on earth had the two vanished to?
The Murim Alliance presumed they had fled along the Yangtze River to Sichuan and from there escaped to Heavenly Demon Castle. On the other hand, Heavenly Demon Castle claimed that the Murim Alliance had orchestrated all of this to attack Heavenly Demon Castle in the first place, propagating that those two were scapegoats of the conspiracy.
The Murim Alliance threatened Heavenly Demon Castle to hand them over, and Heavenly Demon Castle raged that the Orthodox Faction's trash were using schemes and vowed revenge. Regardless of what actually happened to Silver Naked Lecher and Yangtze Dragon Hero, their mysterious disappearance gave both sides justification to attack each other. The disappearance of the two itself became the pretext for war.
War clouds soon hung over the Martial World, and martial artists actually began gathering in succession to Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai. Now the situation had come to where war couldn't be stopped even if Silver Naked Lecher and Yangtze Dragon Hero appeared.
What indeed had happened to those two?
***
"So, you're saying the First Stratagem was completed without any problems?"
From behind a red curtain, a low, dry voice—difficult to discern whether male, female, old, or young—emerged and spread through the cave. It had an unpleasant texture, like a dead tree being scraped by wind.
This bizarre voice, the like of which couldn't be found again under Heaven.
The owner of the voice was Mubon.
And the place he was in, where his voice echoed, was the Secret Cave of Mubon.
There weren't even torches on the cave walls, but a faint red light seeping from somewhere dyed the entire space eerily. Before the curtained platform, two people in black clothes were prostrated, and their names were Paga Blood and Sa Sa-ho respectively—the very perpetrators who had turned the Martial World upside down.
Together with Transformed Shadow Do Heo-ok, they had exterminated the Namgung Family and immediately left Anhui Province. They had moved so quickly and swiftly that the dust of Anhui still clung to their robes. There was no reason whatsoever to remain there once the planned affair was concluded.
The Heavenly Demon Castle Anhui Branch and Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds, with their command structure collapsed, had trusted only Gray Shadow and Water Shadow and been stabbed in the back, inevitably falling into disarray under the Murim Alliance's attack.
As soon as the two arrived here, they reported the progress of the First Stratagem to Mubon and remained prostrated in that spot.
The words Mubon had just spoken were the first he'd uttered after quite some time had passed since receiving their report.
"Yes, Mubon."
Gray Shadow answered without delay.
Swoosh—
Along with an extremely low sound of cutting through air, Gray Shadow's right cheek was sliced lengthwise.
Gray Shadow saw nothing, felt nothing. However, he already knew who had done it. As far as he knew, there was only one person under Heaven who could freely manipulate energy force in this manner.
Drip drip drip.
Belatedly, blood flowed down his cheek. In fact, if he hadn't felt the pain, he wouldn't have known he was wounded until the blood came out. Mubon's attack was terrifyingly covert to that degree.
"Say it again."
Mubon's desolate voice flowed out from behind the curtain once more. Though extremely calm, none of those present received that voice plainly. The fact that Mubon's energy force had grazed their cheeks—that fact alone meant they were at fault.
Naturally, Gray Shadow couldn't give any answer.
Swoosh—
Drip.
The sound of cutting through air came again. This time it was his left cheek. Judging by the convulsion in his cheek, this one seemed to carry considerable force. Gray Shadow was in pain, but silently gritted his teeth and endured.
"It was completed without any problems, so why has Transformed Shadow become Namgung Hye? Was the original plan for Transformed Shadow to sneak into the Murim Alliance disguised as a woman?"
"..."
Gray Shadow and Water Shadow gave no answer, only bowing their heads further.
Then tremendous killing intent erupted from beyond the curtain. Overwhelmed by it, Gray Shadow and Water Shadow merely sweated and trembled. It wasn't fear or anything—their bodies, their instincts were simply reacting to the killing intent.
Not long after feeling the killing intent, red liquid began flowing from between Gray Shadow and Water Shadow's lips. Just receiving the killing intent with their bodies had caused internal injuries to two supreme masters.
Then at one moment.
"If such a thing happens once more, you will not die intact. Do you understand?"
Mubon's voice flowed out again and the killing intent lifted.
Gray Shadow and Water Shadow opened their mouths to answer, but.
"Ye... Mu...! Cough! bon..."
They vomited blood and fainted on the spot.
With that, Mubon's interrogation ended.
Mubon's voice echoed through the cave once more.
"Where did you say that fellow jumped down?"
Now there was no one properly standing in the cave, but from somewhere a heavy voice flowed out and answered Mubon's question.
"Seonjoong Mountain, Mubon."
The one who answered was Gwang-un, who had returned from Anhui Province earlier than Gray Shadow and Water Shadow. In fact, Mubon had already received a full progress report from him. And Gwang-un already knew who Mubon meant by 'that fellow.' Though he didn't know the exact identity.
"Seonjoong Mountain..."
Mubon's whisper-like low voice trembled finely and settled throughout the cave. By the time that trembling completely subsided and disappeared, his voice came out from behind the curtain once more.
"Flying Cloud."
No sooner had those words fallen than a black silhouette dropped from the ceiling to the ground. As soon as he descended to the floor, he pressed his forehead to the ground.
"You called, Mubon?"
"Can you descend below a very tall steep cliff?"
"Yes, Mubon."
What was this? To Mubon's nonsensical question, Flying Cloud gave a nonsensical answer. How on earth could a human made of flesh and blood safely descend below a very tall steep cliff?
However, Flying Cloud had answered immediately just moments ago without even a moment's hesitation. The Shadows and Clouds could tell no lies to Mubon. That meant what he said was true.
"Yes, that's right. If it's you, you'll be able to descend without any problems."
"..."
Flying Cloud waited for Mubon's next words without answering.
"The world is vast. The world excluding us is also vast. Isn't that so, Flying Cloud?"
"That is so, Mubon."
"Flying Cloud."
"Yes, Mubon. Please command me."
"Take those two and go to Seonjoong Mountain. Go and find that fellow. If he's dead, bring back at least his corpse. If by chance he's been shattered to pieces, collect even those bone fragments without leaving any behind."
"I obey."
After finishing his answer, Flying Cloud placed Water Shadow and Gray Shadow each on one shoulder and left the secret cave. The excellence of his Movement Technique was indescribable.
Once he disappeared, Mubon's voice echoed through the cave once more.
"Gwang-un."
"Yes, Mubon."
"Who do you think it is?"
Though there was no particular designation, Gwang-un well knew that the 'who' Mubon spoke of was 'that fellow.'
"I believe it's one of the Two Divinities, Three Eccentrics, Five Supremes, and Ten Greats."
"Too many. Narrow it down."
At Mubon's words, the secret cave fell into brief silence. However, it wasn't very long.
"I think it's one of the Three Eccentrics."
Gwang-un said.
"Why do you think that?"
Mubon asked again.
"The Two Divinities were at Tianshan and Mount Song respectively at that time. And the Ten Greats and Five Supremes don't have skills sufficient for that."
"Then are you saying the Three Eccentrics have the skills to do that?"
"I don't know if they can or cannot, but I think they might be able to."
"Hoho. 'Can' and 'might be able to.' Interesting."
"..."
"Gwang-un, your words have merit. Yes, we still haven't properly grasped only the Three Eccentrics. I also have no certainty about them, so you're right. Gwang-un."
Mubon laughed lowly with his bizarre voice and called Gwang-un.
"Yes, Mubon."
"You go immediately now, select ten from among the Outer Clouds, go to Anhui Province to recover the items, and after that track the whereabouts of the Three Eccentrics. The Second Stratagem is suspended until you find them."
"I obey."
Though an extremely important decision had been made in an instant, Gwang-un raised no objections. Mubon had spoken, and he had decided. That was the end of it.
After finishing his answer, Gwang-un left the secret cave.
Once he disappeared, the secret cave became a hollow cave again. Since Mubon was there as if present yet absent, it wasn't a complete hollow cave, but....
"Who are you? You?"
Mubon's voice, unclear who he was speaking to, once again traveled throughout every corner of the cave before disappearing.
You.
To one holding a blade in the darkness, the existence called 'you' is always frightening.
Though Mubon had told Gwang-un to pursue the Three Eccentrics, he thought 'that fellow' might not be one of the Three Eccentrics. As he himself had said earlier, the world was vast and wide. As vast as that width, there would be countless candidates for 'you' somewhere.
"Who are you? You...?"
Once again, Mubon unconsciously let slip the same words. And after a long while, he repeated those words again.
"Who are you? You?"