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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Far from Namgung-Woo and his group, a pair of eyes watched them from a distance.
“How ruthless. No wonder Li Zi-long was scared.”
The uninvited observer was a woman.
Li Zi-long, the instigator of the Beijing incident, had called her the “Samunryeong”[1]
She wore a loose robe over form-fitting martial attire that accentuated her curves. Without the robe, her clothing would have been quite revealing.
However, the rest of her attire resembled that of a Daoist nun.
Her appearance was a curious mix of martial artist and mystic.
As if to confirm the latter, she deactivated her Farsight Technique and clicked her tongue.
‘I wanted to see the man who killed Li Zi-long. It was definitely worth the trip.’
Traveling over two thousand li just to satisfy her curiosity might seem excessive, but distance meant little to her.[2]
She recalled her unpleasant encounter with Li Zi-long in Beijing.
She had been wary of him even before he launched his attack, and in the end, as she’d feared, his ambitions had been thwarted.
Li Zi-long had called him an impurity, a defier of heaven, but in her eyes, Li Zi-long was no different.
‘He was a defier of heaven himself, twisting the cycle of life and death, deceiving the heavens.’
She had cooperated with Li Zi-long because she had something to gain and a connection to his master, but looking back, it had been an unpleasant experience.
Despite his reckless actions and seemingly rootless nature, she was a descendant of a pure and orthodox Daoist lineage.
She actually felt a vague sense of affinity for Namgung-Woo, the man who had ended Li Zi-long’s reign.
‘Should I observe a little longer?’
She was already leaning towards a decision, but she considered it further.
While she wasn’t pressed for time, she didn’t want to waste it unnecessarily.
“Huh?!”
Lost in thought, assuming she was alone, she suddenly sensed an approaching presence and shot to her feet.
Though she had deactivated her Farsight Technique, she had set up a barrier as a precaution. It had been shattered in an instant.
The culprit was obvious.
Namgung-Woo.
He was running straight towards her.
“How…? No, wait, he’s too fast!”
At this rate, they would meet in minutes.
He might have already detected her presence. He possessed uniquely powerful eyes, after all.
“Tsk… no choice.”
She pulled a pill from her pocket and swallowed it whole. As a pill she had crafted herself, its medicinal properties took effect immediately.
She gathered the spreading energy and channeled it towards the Tianzong acupoint near her shoulder blade.
As the name “Heavenly ancestral hall (Tianzong)” suggested, it housed a divine spirit.
“Soaring through the Void. Phoenix, carry me!”
As she chanted the incantation, a red light emanated from her shoulder blade, near the Tianzong acupoint.
A magical inscription, resembling a phoenix’s wings, appeared and enveloped her.
-Whoosh!
A Sword Qi, arriving with impeccable timing, sliced through the air where she had been standing.
Namgung-Woo, appearing moments later, sensed the empty space where his Flying Sword Qi had struck and expanded his senses.
Whether it was high-speed movement or spatial translocation, a hastily prepared technique would have its limitations.
Even Li Zi-long, whom Peng Hou-sang had considered a top-tier sorcerer, had needed the vast spiritual veins of Mount Manse and a specially constructed altar to perform such feats.
No matter how skilled a sorcerer, unlike martial arts, preparation was crucial for magic.
Unless they had cultivated their body into a living altar, like a martial artist refining their three dantians.
“Not far. But is she flying?”
While Namgung-Woo had run in a mostly straight line, he had made slight adjustments to avoid obstacles.
But the presence he sensed was moving away in a perfectly straight line, without any deviations.
‘I could catch her if I really wanted to…’
At that speed, he could easily catch up using the Thousand Li Steps.
But he decided against it.
She might have other tricks up her sleeve, and he didn’t want to stray too far from his companions.
‘If she’s targeting me, she’ll be back. As for the Clear Water Sect… that’s their problem.’
He had no obligation to protect them after completing his contract.
He would intervene if they were in immediate danger, but they weren’t close enough to warrant him going out of his way for them.
“Time to head back. They’ll be changing shifts for the night watch soon.”
He smoothly sheathed his sword and turned back without hesitation.
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The rest of the journey was uneventful.
Peng Ha-ryeong and the Yang brothers, having demonstrated their skills, were in high spirits.
The latter seemed particularly pleased, perhaps more by the spoils of battle than the fight itself.
“Such a hefty bonus… Boss, I really have a knack for picking lucrative jobs, don’t I?”
Yang Kwai jingled the Withered Hope Society tokens in his hand.
As wanted criminals, the members of the Withered Hope Society had bounties on their heads.
There was even a bonus for the Blood-Blind Elder, whose identity was known.
“But why hasn’t the Withered Hope Society been eradicated? With bounties like these, mercenaries should be all over them.”
“Because they’re useful.”
“I see. Some people use the Withered Hope Society as a cover to attack their rivals. Leaders on both sides.”
“That’s right. And the Withered Hope Society only targets those weaker than themselves. They don’t touch the major powers.”
“Because if they mess with the wrong people, they’ll be completely wiped out.”
So, the Withered Hope Society preyed on smaller, weaker factions, minimizing the risk of retaliation, while larger powers used them as scapegoats for assassinations, seeing no need to actively eliminate them.
“More importantly, the Withered Hope Society is made up of fairly skilled individuals. Affected sects and factions have tried to band together to eliminate them, but they’ve always failed.”
“Criminals tend to be tenacious. They’re experts at self-preservation.”
“Exactly. That’s why I think this incident will greatly enhance the Azure Sky Group’s reputation.”
While the Yang brothers and Peng Ha-ryeong discussed the Withered Hope Society and their recent success, Namgung-Woo thought about the woman he had let escape.
‘Was she part of the Withered Hope Society?’
The fact that she used magic suggested a connection.
The tokens carried by the Withered Hope Society members were magically imbued, after all.
‘The Withered Hope Society is a decentralized organization. It would be difficult to maintain cohesion without magic. She might not be a leader, but she’s likely involved in their operations.’
That was as far as his interest went.
He was a mercenary, not a hero. He had no grand ambitions of eradicating the Withered Hope Society.
After several days of travel, they finally reached their destination: Jing County.
The faint clang of hammering echoed from the distance.
“We made it…”
Wi Ji-ryang murmured, overcome with emotion.
It had been a perilous journey, with two near-death experiences. Well, the second one wasn’t exactly a life-or-death situation, but they would have been killed without Namgung-Woo and his group.
‘And we would have lost the Dragon Eye Orb.’
The thought made his earlier anxieties seem ridiculous.
At the entrance to Jing County, Wi Ji-ryang called out to Namgung-Woo.
“Young master Nam.”
“Yes?”
“Here are the ten taels of silver we promised as payment.”
Namgung-Woo accepted the silver ingot.
A tael was a unit of weight, not a number of coins. With his superhuman senses, he immediately recognized that the ingot weighed slightly over ten taels.
“This is too much. I’ll give you the change.”
“It’s fine. Even refined silver has some impurities. Please, just accept it.”
“If you insist.”
The difference was negligible, less than a single tael.
After Namgung-Woo accepted the payment, Yang Kwai, declaring the matter settled, called them over.
Jing County was a small town.
New buildings stood alongside old ones, a testament to the passage of time.
A tall tower and a large shrine marked the center of the town.
Following a clear stream upstream, they drew closer to the rhythmic clang of hammering.
As befitting a town of artisans, they crossed an elegant yet sturdy bridge. A small, red pavilion stood on the bridge, emanating a rich aroma of tea.
“It’s a teahouse.”
“It’s called… the Red Pavilion.”
Peng Ha-ryeong and Wi Seong-ha, bonding over their shared gender, chattered excitedly, pointing at various sights around Jing County.
Peng Ha-ryeong had initially seemed wary of Wi Seong-ha, but now they seemed to be getting along, which Namgung-Woo found amusing.
“Boss, shouldn’t we go straight to Master Gu?”
“It’s not the Beginning of Winter yet.”
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to visit him early? He might be more inclined to consider our request. It’s a small town; we should be able to find lodging easily.”
Lee Gong-seo countered Yang Kwai’s suggestion.
“The Four Seasons Gathering only takes place on the designated day. Going early would be a waste of time.”
“Ahem, ahem… you could have mentioned that earlier.”
“Let’s find lodging first.”
Chuckling at Yang Kwai’s grumbling, Namgung-Woo called out to Peng Ha-ryeong and Wi Seong-ha, who were walking ahead.
Several days passed.
Finally, the Beginning of Winter arrived.
“In honor of the Beginning of Winter, I will accept outside commissions!”
The Four Seasons Gathering, the Beginning of Winter’s gathering, had begun.
And until then…
The Zhuge Family had not arrived in Jing County.
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[1] Samunryeong = Commander of the Four Gates.
Symbolizing control over the “four gates” (cardinal directions, spiritual realms, or metaphysical boundaries). This aligns with her role as a mystic or Taoist practitioner who likely manipulates spiritual or cosmic forces.
In short, Samunryeong is a symbolic title reflecting her mastery over mystical thresholds and her defiance of cosmic norms.
[2] 200 li = 100 km.
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