Drip drip—
Water droplets flowed drop by drop down the woman's jade-white skin. Her delicate jade hands ceaselessly scooped up water from the bathtub, wetting her graceful shoulders and breasts as if carved by gods.
The sight of water droplets sliding and circumventing the prominent symbol marked between her breasts was sensuously stimulating in a way that didn't match her pure body.
The water droplets, slightly reduced in size after passing the protrusion, continued downward without rest along the valley between her breasts, downward, downward. Passing over her smooth lower abdomen, they finally reached their destination—a small pond.
However,
In that intimate place where the water droplets soaked in, there was a small pattern hidden that only the water droplets could see. As if resembling a person's blurry shadow....
Before long, the woman finished her bath.
The moon that had just risen sent its light as if regretful, caressing her naked body, but couldn't stop her from putting on clothes.
Rustle, rustle.
Soon, her beautiful body was mostly covered by clothes. Of course, that intimate place of hers too....
Slide.
As she came out of the bathroom, a fairly tall female warrior wearing purple light armor approached. It was her guard warrior, Jang Ga-heun.
Normally, maids should have been waiting for her to finish bathing, but....
She quickly noticed from Jang Ga-heun that there was a special message.
"What's the matter?"
"Young Miss. A cloud has come from the Main."
"...Who came?"
The woman's voice became even softer, and also lowered further. So that ears that might be on the walls wouldn't hear.
"I haven't confirmed yet."
"The location?"
"First Ground."
"First Ground!? Did you just say First Ground?"
"Yes, Young Miss. And—"
The woman was already quite surprised, but it seemed there was more to tell as Jang Ga-heun continued speaking.
"And?"
"Today, two more people whose identities couldn't be determined entered the Alliance."
"Two people? Are they those the Alliance Leader sent invitation cards to directly?"
"One seems so, but the other doesn't seem to be."
"Explain."
"One went to Cheontong Hall as soon as he arrived and is having a private meeting with the Alliance Leader, and the other... headed to Jibin Pavilion together with the Breaking Heaven Hegemon Blade whose whereabouts had recently been unclear."
"One is having a private meeting with the Alliance Leader? And the other appeared together with the Breaking Heaven Hegemon Blade and headed to Jibin Pavilion?"
"Yes, Young Miss."
A peculiar smile appeared on the woman's face upon hearing Jang Ga-heun's answer.
"...A cloud suddenly appeared, and two more variables have emerged. Hoho. Good. Very good."
"...."
"I was worried about what to do if the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament was utterly boring, but it seems my concern was unfounded. This martial arts tournament will be unexpectedly interesting."
Perhaps very, very much so.
"...When will you go to meet them?"
Whom... didn't need to be added. It was merely a matter of order. She would meet all three anyway.
"I should go greet them now."
"Yes, Young Miss."
The woman left the bathroom and slowly walked toward Muhwa Gate.
The choice of the word greeting. And Muhwa Gate.
With that, the first of the three the woman would meet was decided.
***
The man was waiting for the woman at 'First Ground.'
With his arms crossed and eyes closed, his appearance was so motionless that he might seem dead.
First Ground.
This place had existed since long ago, but those who knew of it were extremely rare, and most of them had died. Now, only dozens knew about this secret place, and even fewer could enter.
The man being here meant he was also one of them.
Would the radius be thirty meters?
The entire interior space of First Ground was rippling alive like the twitching scar on the man's cheek.
Trees, stones, earth, sand, and the sky—everything surrounding him was distorted like a desert mirage. The only thing maintaining its form intact in this mysterious space was him alone.
Wooong—
At some moment, a hole opened with a strange sound in one spot directly in front of the man.
Step.
One small foot entered through the hole into the space. The hole gradually grew larger and naturally revealed the owner of the foot's entire body.
Another person who set foot in this strange space, First Ground.
It was precisely the woman who had left through Muhwa Gate a moment ago.
"You came."
The man's voice was rough, as if speaking with a handful of sand in his mouth.
"...."
The woman could recall the man's identity from that voice. Though the man's appearance had changed very much from what she remembered, only that grating voice that scraped at people's hearts remained the same.
"Gwang-un. So it was you."
Gwang-un. The woman called the man that.
The man, Gwang-un, looked at the woman with eyes as rough and unrefined as his voice and said.
"The Soldier Eccentric has come to the Murim Alliance."
"...."
Gwang-un brought up the main point immediately without a single word of greeting. But the woman didn't care. She knew all too well that Gwang-un was originally such a person.
More importantly, the fact that the Soldier Eccentric had appeared at the Murim Alliance was significant.
The 'Three Holy Lights incident' that occurred when plotting against the Namgung Family.
After that, Flying Cloud, Gray Shadow, and Water Shadow went down below the cliff to find the party involved in Three Holy Lights who might possibly be alive, but....
They failed to find them.
Eventually, those three including many other Clouds and Shadows focused on pursuing the Three Eccentrics' movements. Probably the fruits of that effort had finally been borne now.
"Where is he?"
The subject was the Soldier Eccentric. Something easily guessed without asking.
"Well. Recently, several people with ambiguous identities have entered the Murim Alliance, so even I can't tell who everyone is."
Two more were added today. But the woman didn't bother mentioning that.
"Do you want to die?"
Was saying the single word "well" some great capital crime? Pitch-black murderous light exploded from Gwang-un's eyes.
However, receiving Gwang-un's domineering energy that seemed capable of killing an ordinary person with just his gaze, the woman instead laughed loudly.
Moreover,
"Hahaha. Yes. That's just like Gwang-un."
Her voice changed. The soft, thin voice became thick and masculine... no, became a completely male voice.
At that, killing intent far more intense than before gushed out strand by strand from Gwang-un's body.
The interior of First Ground instantly sank as if suffocating.
"My sword doesn't speak many words. Transformed Shadow."
Transformed Shadow. Gwang-un called the woman that.
The woman, Transformed Shadow, opened her mouth after clenching and unclenching her fists as if her hands were itching. She—no, he—originally liked adventure and fighting. But that was only when certainty was guaranteed. As far as he knew, there were only a few within the Main who could defeat that 'mad Cloud' with a sword. If it was like that over ten years ago, the gap must have widened even more now.
"Hoho... Haha. I really don't know either. As you know, these days people are flooding into the Murim Alliance every single day."
It wasn't a lie. Because of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament, truly many people had recently surged into the Murim Alliance. The identities of most of them had been determined, but the identities of a very small number hadn't been discovered yet. There were even a few who had secretly entered the Murim Alliance without going through Muhwa Gate. Whether they were spies planted by Heavenly Demon Castle, or figures the Murim Alliance Leader had secretly brought in, completely unknown... such figures. Perhaps... Mubon's secretly operated 'Shadows' might be included too....
Moreover, what was even more interesting was that Hyeoncheon Jinin knew about that fact to a considerable extent. Yet he was leaving it alone, so he must have some scheme.
'The Soldier Eccentric must be one of them too.'
Transformed Shadow also truly didn't know that the Soldier Eccentric had entered the Murim Alliance. Probably if he hadn't heard from Gwang-un, he would have been unaware of that existence for quite a long time, or unable to determine it.
Gwang-un glared at Transformed Shadow's eyes a bit longer before opening his mouth again.
"I'll trust you. However, if it's a lie...."
"If it is?"
"I'll kill you."
"Hahaha, hoho. I look forward to it, yes."
This statement of Transformed Shadow's was also not a lie. Though it seemed he couldn't defeat Gwang-un, it also seemed he could.
There's no peerless warrior in the Murim. It didn't seem he would lose to Gwang-un who had only now drawn his sword that had been rotting within the Main in this rough Murim. Because the Murim wasn't a place where one could guarantee victory solely based on the superiority or inferiority of martial arts....
If he couldn't win, he just needed to make it so he could win and then fight. That's why he looked forward to it. A possible fight with Gwang-un.
Transformed Shadow once again let out a bizarre laugh that couldn't tell if it was from a woman or man.
"Hahahoho."
Gwang-un, as if no further conversation was necessary, passed by Transformed Shadow and moved his steps toward the hole he had opened. While saying.
"From now on, I will take control of the Outer Shadows here."
"Do as you wish."
Transformed Shadow, who had already recovered the woman's voice, answered with a bright smile. Anyway, Gwang-un's words, having come down under Mubon's orders, were law here now. Of course, the real power holder in this Zhengzhou would still be himself.
Still, there was something curious.
What exactly would Gwang-un do to capture the Soldier Eccentric?
"What do you plan to do from now on?"
At Transformed Shadow's words, Gwang-un stopped right in front of the hole. Due to the rippling wall, he also seemed to be moving, but he was clearly standing still.
"I'll participate in the tournament."
With those words, Gwang-un completely disappeared from First Ground.
"Participate in the tournament? The Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament?"
Who?
"That Gwang-un? Directly? Ha... Hahahahahaha! Good. Good. Hohohohoho!"
Transformed Shadow laughed madly as if something was amusing.
Even after that, Transformed Shadow's bizarre laughter that couldn't tell if it was from a woman or man echoed for a long time inside First Ground. Of course, no one could hear it.