Reincarnated Sword Ghost

Chapter 57 : Huayeon Gate

Huayeon Gate

The Murim Alliance is a coalition of righteous sects.

Furthermore, due to the background of its establishment, it maintained a close relationship with the royal family as well.

The very place that was founded with the support of the Murim Alliance and the royal family was the Heavenly Martial Hall.

Its purpose was to suppress the cunning fiends of the Evil Faction.

Naturally, information collected by Heavenly Martial Hall warriors during missions was relayed to the Murim Alliance.

Conversely, information needed to carry out missions was provided by the Murim Alliance.

This mission was no exception.

A one-striped warrior whose name was about to have a "death" mark added next to it on the Heavenly Martial Hall's roster due to disappearance.

The letter of request for assistance he sent became the catalyst for this mission.

In an instant, information on the Myriad Gold Merchant Guild was re-collected and organized.

Baek Sang received the contents directly and scanned through them.

The key figures were the merchant guildmaster Baek Sagun and his child, Baek Yeo-il.

According to a reinvestigation by the Beggar's Union, Baek Sagun was more than worthy to be called an expert.

This guy, who had already been designated for elimination by the Murim Alliance, concealed his identity and reappeared in a place like this.

'And yet...'

Baek Sang looked at Jeong-un with a look of disbelief. Then, at the body that lay before them, split in half and bleeding out.

The face was exactly divided down the middle, and it matched the previously obtained description of his appearance perfectly.

Setting that aside, by any means, it was the corpse of the one known as Baek Sagun.

"You killed him alone?"

"Should I have let him live?"

"That's not what I meant..."

It was sincere when he told Jeong-un to hold onto the man's ankles.

Baek Sang had witnessed Jeong-un's duel with the Light-Flowing Sword firsthand.

With martial skills like that, he figured Jeong-un could surely hold out long enough for the other Heavenly Martial Hall warriors, including himself, to take care of the small fry.

That's why he had entrusted it to him with confidence.

'He finished him off by himself during that time?'

Aside from Baek Sagun, the other Evil Faction members weren't notably powerful.

It meant that it didn't take long to subdue them all and make it here.

Jeong-un glanced at Baek Sang, who stood silent for a moment, then spoke.

"I've heard everything I needed to hear. It seems they formed an organization, gathering those of a similar kind."

"An organization?"

"They appear to have founded a religion of sorts among themselves. Whether they were sincere or not, they tried to recruit me."

"Hah, you?"

Baek Sang scoffed.

"I guess the guy had an eye for talent. Why didn't you let yourself be caught so you could at least learn their hideout's location?"

Jeong-un opened his mouth slightly.

"I see, that would have been a method. I'll remember that."

"No, that's not what I meant..."

At that moment, other Heavenly Martial Hall warriors began to appear one after another.

All of them had bloodstains on their uniforms, and upon seeing the corpse in front of Jeong-un, they all wore similar expressions.

"What in the world..."

"How could a martial artist end up dying like that?"

"Perhaps only if he met his mortal enemy would he kill so ruthlessly."

"No wonder they call him Annihilating One-Slash..."

One among them approached Jeong-un.

This was Yeo Ho-jun, the one-striped warrior who had first arrived with Baek Sang.

He, too, seemed to have gone through a fierce battle, his black martial uniform soaked in blood until it nearly looked navy blue.

By Jeong-un's rough estimate, there had been well over a hundred Evil Faction members here alone.

The Heavenly Martial Hall warriors must have cut down countless enemies.

"Young Hero Yu."

"Have you been well?"

"Well, you ask if I've been well?"

Yeo Ho-jun's eyes went round for a moment, and he gave a wry laugh.

It wasn't something you said to someone you thought was dead who suddenly reappeared.

"I've been well enough. Managed to earn some merit doing a few minor missions. Well..."

He trailed off at the end. He seemed to still regret not having been promoted to two-stripes.

"Anyway, when I heard you requested support, I volunteered right away. I was so shocked when I heard you'd vanished from that tomb. I'm glad you're safe."

"Ah..."

His feelings shone through on his face. He really had been greatly surprised to hear of Jeong-un's situation.

Jeong-un gazed quietly at him, feeling an odd tickle inside.

In reality, their bond amounted to little more than a single duel.

No matter how driven to success the warriors gathered here might be, earning merit on a mission required staking their very lives.

Some purposely chose to fail particularly dangerous missions and return alive.

It was safer to survive that way and accumulate small achievements to earn promotion.

For someone to volunteer without such calculations, responding to another's request for help, was proof enough of their character.

"By the way, young Hero..."

"...?"

"Your aura seems to have changed again. It's only been a few months... Did you by any chance take some good elixir somewhere?"

Jeong-un replied with an embarrassed laugh to the joking remark, fleetingly recalling the internal energy within his lower dantian.

"By the way..."

Jeong-un turned to Baek Sang and asked, "What about the others? Do you know what happened to them?"

"The others? Wasn't our force enough for this?"

"No, I didn't mean that..."

Jeong-un trailed off. He was thinking of Baek Il-gang, Tang Yerin, and Jo Gwang, with whom he'd formed a group at Nokmun Mountain.

When the entrance to the Divine Physician's tomb collapsed, he'd sent them above with quick thinking.

If they were all unharmed, he'd expected them to come along when support was requested for this mission.

"Ah."

Baek Sang, as if reading his mind, spoke up.

"If you mean your teammates, they're all fine. They've just been living a little listlessly... but due to another assignment, they couldn't come to this one. If not for that, I'm sure they would have come along. They're those kinds of people."

"As long as they're safe, that's enough."

Jeong-un then looked over everyone who'd gathered here.

After the fierce battle, they all seemed to have loosened up and were chatting casually.

Most of them were people whose faces he didn't even recognize.

Naturally so.

Even within the Blue Scale Corps, assignments rotated, so if the timing didn't match up, it wasn't uncommon not to see someone for months.

Not everyone had necessarily come with the purest motives.

Missions requiring many people usually offered a promise of high merit.

Within five years, one needed to accumulate as much merit as possible to make a name for oneself, so few acted without calculation.

'Even so...'

In the end, all these people had risked their lives to help him. That fact was certain.

Jeong-un bowed his head deeply and clasped his hands in a formal salute.

"Thank you all."

"......"

"......"

At that, people looked at one another's faces. They wore expressions of surprise at this unexpected gratitude.

Then, small chuckles broke out here and there. It was an unexpected end to yet another unusual mission.

* * *

The aftermath was more systematic and swifter than Jeong-un had expected.

Immediately after sending the mission completion report via letter, the Murim Alliance dispatched personnel directly.

He heard it was someone from one of the five great families.

They said they'd be launching a massive investigation across this whole region, especially centered around the Wei Sword Clan.

'I remember the look on his face.'

Jeong-un recalled Wei Jinmyeong's face going deathly pale.

Once he learned that Jeong-un was a Heavenly Martial Hall warrior, he didn't even dare meet his eyes.

It wasn't common for the Murim Alliance headquarters to send someone out in person.

This wasn't simply about taking down a few Evil Faction members.

It was about a group with massive influence over the whole district being exposed as an Evil Faction cohort.

It was no wonder the entire district was turned upside down. It only proved, yet again, that these were chaotic times.

"You were living in style, weren't you?"

Baek Sang said with a wide smile.

Presently, the Heavenly Martial Hall warriors were all staying at the guest quarters of Huayeon Gate.

They'd just finished a rather large battle.

They needed a place to recover for a few days, and Huayeon Gate kindly extended their hospitality.

Now there was no room left in the space Jeong-un had previously used by himself.

The servants were even busier running about in a flurry.

Among the Heavenly Martial Hall's warriors, all were treated as honored guests.

Jeong-un now shared a room with Baek Sang and a few other warriors, a stark contrast to when he'd had the whole guest house to himself.

"Is it uncomfortable for you?"

"I'm actually enjoying the bustle for a change."

"You usually have your own room, right?"

"Right, I've been promoted for quite some time."

The guest quarters were bustling, to a degree that mere liveliness couldn't describe.

It was understandable.

They'd wiped out the ruling power of the district with not a single casualty among them.

They had accomplished the mission, gained enormous merit, and suffered no losses.

Everyone had reason to be in high spirits.

'I should definitely try to earn more merit.'

He'd heard that getting promoted to two-stripes meant getting reassigned to a higher floor and a private room—a way to provide different treatment.

"How much merit do you need for promotion to two-stripes?"

"What?"

Baek Sang looked at Jeong-un with surprise.

"I didn't expect you to ask something like that."

"It's not as though I have no dreams of making a name for myself."

"Isn't it just that you want a private room?"

"......"

Baek Sang grinned and continued.

"Well, as for merit... everyone dreams of getting to at least two, if not three, stripes before the five years are up. But a third of those who leave the Hall do so with only one stripe. It's not that easy."

"That difficult?"

Jeong-un asked, somewhat surprised. Five years was by no means a short time.

Failing even a single promotion in all that time seemed a bit humiliating.

Baek Sang, reading his expression, added, "No one will look down on you for leaving with just one stripe. Maybe disciples from the Nine Great Sects or the five great families would care about that sort of thing. But here, just completing the mission and leaving safely proves your martial skills. Such people often become key figures at their own gates or even found new sects when they return to the martial world."

"Hm..."

Jeong-un had never really thought about such a distant future.

He'd come to the Heavenly Martial Hall only to increase his martial skills.

The future after that didn't concern him—at least not right now.

'Their aspirations are different from mine.'

He'd once believed that, as martial artists, everyone would chase the pinnacle of martial arts.

But the martial world he'd experienced firsthand was different.

Most just wanted fame. Few martial artists were truly aloof from the mundane world.

Talk of separation between military and administrative realms was laughable.

If they settled in an area, the first thing they did was cozy up to the local area magistrate.

"In any case, I wouldn't worry about you. You've completed several missions in quick succession, haven't you? You're advancing faster than most. The nickname 'Annihilating One-Slash' is probably already spreading throughout the Central Plains."

"Is it possible for a nickname to change?"

"Hm? A nickname? Well, unless something special happens..."

Knock, knock.

"Young Hero Yu Jeong-un, are you there?"

At that moment, a voice called Jeong-un as someone knocked on the door.

When he opened it, a warrior from Huayeon Gate was standing there.

He bowed politely and relayed the message.

"The Gate Leader wishes to meet with you."

"The Huayeon Gate Leader?"

Jeong-un asked back with a puzzled look.

'Not anyone else, but me?'

The one responsible for this place was clearly Baek Sang. If there were something to discuss, it would make sense to summon him.

When Jeong-un turned to Baek Sang, he, too, wore a confused expression.