Dokgo Mu-yeong and Neung Un-bi clasped their fists in salute to Tang Cheol-hyeon.
"We greet Elder Poison Hand."
"We greet the Tang Clan Leader."
Neung Un-bi then turned to Ice Phoenix Mo Yong-rin and likewise clasped his fists in succession. Though she was much younger than he, her rank and position within the Martial Alliance placed her far above him.
"I greet the Right Military Strategist."
"It's a pleasure, Xuanwu Corps Leader. And it's been a long time, Dokgo Clan Leader."
Dokgo Mu-yeong returned her greeting.
"I never imagined Ice Phoenix would be here."
"How is Sword Phoenix?"
"Seol is as spirited as ever. She's just been away for a few days on an errand I assigned her."
"That's good to hear. I was worried she might have been injured. When Sword Phoenix returns, let's arrange a meeting. I ran into a few people from prestigious sects in Luoyang, and they've all taken an interest in Sichuan lately, so they came along. It should be helpful for expanding connections."
"Yes, let's do that."
Poison Hand Tang Cheol-hyeon spread his hands to either side.
"Come, sit. I feel terrible for making you wait so long. As an apology, you'll stay for dinner. I'll have the table groaning under the weight of the dishes."
Tang Cheol-hyeon sat first, and the other three followed suit.
Dokgo Mu-yeong spoke up.
"First, Elder Poison Hand, I'd like to thank you for your decision to join the orthodox factions. Thanks to you, we were able to escape danger that day."
"Ke-ke-ke. I hardly did anything. The hard work was yours. Still… it's a shame that the Emei Sect chose to close their gates in the end. I may not have been part of the orthodox side until recently, but I'd heard endlessly of Bohyeon Divine Nun's virtue. We've truly lost someone precious."
Dokgo Mu-yeong nodded bitterly.
"Yes, it's truly a heartbreaking matter."
"But what can we do? The living must go on living. If we avenge Bohyeon Divine Nun, won't she rejoice, even in the afterlife?"
"Yes, indeed. Which brings me to the reason I'm here."
Dokgo Mu-yeong reached into his robe and took out a sealed letter.
"As you may already have heard, in this last battle a young man named Cheon Ryu-yeong rendered immense service. He asked me to personally deliver this letter to you, Elder."
He slid the letter across the table to Tang Cheol-hyeon.
"Oh! You mean the Martial Scholar?"
At those words, both Dokgo Mu-yeong and Neung Un-bi blinked in surprise.
"Martial Scholar? What do you mean?"
Before Dokgo Mu-yeong could ask further, Mo Yong-rin, sitting straight-backed, spoke.
"It seems you haven't heard the saying, the darkest place is beneath the lamp. Rumors have already spread quickly that a man named Cheon Ryu-yeong saved you all and drove the Heavenly Demon Sword away. People have latched onto the fact that he knows no martial arts, and they're calling him the Martial Scholar."
Faint smiles touched the lips of Dokgo Mu-yeong and Neung Un-bi.
A nickname isn't something one gains simply by wanting it—yet Cheon Ryu-yeong had already earned one.
Seeing their smiles, Mo Yong-rin continued in a flat tone.
"Strictly speaking, the proper nickname would be Martial Porter. But it seems people don't yet know that Cheon Ryu-yeong used to be a mere porter. If they knew his humble origins, the fervor they're showing now would cool somewhat."
"…!"
"In any case, the Alliance has decided to promote him. Cheon. Ryu. Yeong. Even if his true status is lowly, right now we need a hero to soothe the sense of loss from having our supposedly impregnable branch seized."
The smiles vanished from Dokgo Mu-yeong and Neung Un-bi's faces.
As a subtle tension filled the reception room, Tang Cheol-hyeon opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
"Isn't it fortunate? If people were calling him the Martial Porter, it would be a disgrace to the orthodox factions. To think we accepted help from some mere baggage carrier—tsk, tsk. You did the hard work, and he walks away with the fame. What a shame."
Dokgo Mu-yeong and Neung Un-bi were about to object, but Tang Cheol-hyeon's eyes were already scanning the letter's contents.
After reading it in one go, the corners of Tang Cheol-hyeon's mouth twisted into a sardonic grin.
"Cheon Ryu-yeong, eh? What an amusing fellow. This is what you'd call meddling, isn't it? A few lucky guesses made him a so-called hero, and now he can't see past his own nose. Daring to offer a warning disguised as advice to my clan—ke-ke-ke."
He handed the letter to Mo Yong-rin and looked at Dokgo Mu-yeong.
"Have you read this?"
Dokgo Mu-yeong ground his teeth, then nodded.
"Yes. Young Master Cheon told me about it. He also sent a similar message by carrier pigeon to the Qingcheng Sect."
Deliberately, he referred to Cheon Ryu-yeong as "Young Master Cheon," subtly signaling that they trusted and respected him. At that, Tang Cheol-hyeon's eyelids twitched faintly.
"Tsk, tsk. And knowing that, you still brought me this nonsense? Makes me wonder if you really are the cautious head of the Dokgo Clan I know."
At Tang Cheol-hyeon's clicking tongue, Dokgo Mu-yeong's expression hardened visibly.
"Elder Poison Hand, Young Master Cheon is truly a remarkable talent. If you dismiss what he says…"
Tang Cheol-hyeon narrowed his eyes and cut him off.
"Are you disrespecting my clan?"
"How could you say such an absurd thing? Who in the world would dare disrespect your esteemed house?"
"Then it must be Cheon Ryu-yeong who's disrespecting us."
"…!"
"Says here there's a high chance the Heavenly Demon Sword will move before the Qingcheng Sect joins us? And you expect me to believe that? Those people should be cowering in their Sichuan branch fortress, and yet he thinks they'll come out to attack? Ke-ke-ke. The idea is so ridiculous I don't even know what to say."
Dokgo Mu-yeong bit his lip—already split from the previous battle—until a bead of blood appeared.
"Elder Poison Hand, is there truly no merit at all in Young Master Cheon's warning?"
Before Tang Cheol-hyeon could reply, Mo Yong-rin answered in his place.
"Of course it's possible. If the Qingcheng Sect joins, the enemy will be driven into a tighter corner. In such desperation, they might well decide they have nothing to lose and launch a do-or-die attack. However… a miscalculation would mean their total annihilation. We would suffer almost no losses."
Tang Cheol-hyeon gave a dry chuckle.
"Ke-ke-ke. Exactly. If, by some chance, they attack, we should welcome them with open arms. The Sichuan branch is on a hill and hard to assault anyway."
Both he and Mo Yong-rin concluded that Cheon Ryu-yeong's warning was highly unlikely. The fortress-like Sichuan branch was the only real advantage the cultists had left—it was hard to imagine they would abandon it.
Hearing their words, Dokgo Mu-yeong let out a quiet sigh. He couldn't argue the point; in truth, he had wondered the same thing himself.
But both he and Neung Un-bi had seen and experienced Cheon Ryu-yeong's extraordinary insight firsthand, and so they chose not to dismiss it outright.
"…Hmph."
Dokgo Mu-yeong swallowed the bead of blood at his lip.
He was not in a good mood. No matter what the reasoning, he did not like Tang Cheol-hyeon and Mo Yong-rin looking down on Cheon Ryu-yeong.
At that moment, Neung Un-bi, who had been silently watching, finally spoke.
"In any case… even if the chance is slim, it still exists, doesn't it? In that case, isn't preparing for it—just as Young Master Cheon advised—not a bad idea? There's no real loss in doing so."
Both Tang Cheol-hyeon and Mo Yong-rin's brows furrowed at the same time.
Tang Cheol-hyeon clicked his tongue openly but didn't say a word, making it clear he considered the remark unworthy of response.
Mo Yong-rin fixed Neung Un-bi with a frosty gaze.
"I understand that you owe your life to the Martial Scholar this time. But you must not lose your ability to make rational judgments over personal debts. Xuanwu Corps Leader, you're not a mere subordinate—you're a commander, aren't you?"
Neung Un-bi shot back without backing down.
"I'm not questioning the Right Military Strategist's genius. But what Young Master Cheon suggested was only two things: First, to strengthen the watch; and second, until the Qingcheng Sect joins us, even if the enemy provokes a fight, not to go out and meet them, but to hold our position. Neither of those is particularly difficult, is it?"
His voice was heated.
Dokgo Mu-yeong, sitting beside him, reached under the table to tap Neung Un-bi's thigh—
a signal to calm down. Supporting Cheon Ryu-yeong openly here was easy enough, but the more they did so, the more the two in front of them would dismiss him. Such was human nature.
Mo Yong-rin's cold eyes shifted from Neung Un-bi to Dokgo Mu-yeong.
"Do you agree with him, Clan Leader Dokgo?"
Dokgo Mu-yeong sipped his tea in silence.
Her lips curved into an icy smile.
"You trust Cheon Ryu-yeong that much? Even though you've only known him a few days…"
"I do."
"…!"
Mo Yong-rin's pupils flickered for an instant before she smiled faintly and looked between the two men.
"In that case, let me tell you how meager the advice is from this Martial Scholar you both trust. First, to thoroughly check everyone entering the Tang Clan and strengthen the watch. Does that mean until now the Tang Clan has let in any stray dog or cow, and thieves have been coming and going at night?"
Neung Un-bi twitched one cheek before replying.
"It means that with the Heavenly Demon Sword right on our doorstep, we need to be extra vigilant, doesn't it?"
"The Tang Clan is already considered one of the most closed-off in all the martial world. You both must have felt how tight the security was just getting here—the hidden experts lying in wait everywhere, the mechanical traps laced with deadly hidden weapons. Do I need to explain further?"
Neung Un-bi bit his lip. She was right; after all, there was a saying that even a bird couldn't enter the Tang Clan and make it out alive.
Mo Yong-rin continued in her cold tone.
"And as for not meeting an attack even if they come—there's no need to even discuss it. If they're foolish enough to leave the advantage of the Sichuan Branch and come to us, that's a gift from the heavens. And yet he says to just watch? Why give up the chance to drown them in our Invisible Venom and kill them all without effort?"
"…"
"This Martial Scholar is using fabricated merits to cloud your judgment, trying to sow division among the orthodox factions."
Neung Un-bi's jaw dropped in shock. Dokgo Mu-yeong's eyes flashed sharply.
"Ice Phoenix! What do you mean, fabricated merits?"
Mo Yong-rin bared her white teeth in an icy smile.
"Clan Leader Dokgo, calm yourself and think carefully. The day before the battle and on the day itself—those successive 'coincidental' meetings between the Martial Scholar and Sword Phoenix. Isn't that strange? And from identifying the Emei Sect's spy to moving the Tang Clan to the Sichuan Branch—he was flawless from start to finish."
Dokgo Mu-yeong's voice was hard.
"And what are you trying to say?"
Tang Cheol-hyeon, who had been watching with interest, spoke languidly.
"What else? She's suggesting that this Martial Scholar may be an infiltrator from the Demonic Cult."
Neung Un-bi shot to his feet and slammed his fist on the table.
"That's absurd!"
"How dare you!" Tang Cheol-hyeon barked.
"Elder Poison Hand! Young Master Cheon—"
Dokgo Mu-yeong raised a hand to stop him, then gave a thin smile as he turned to Tang Cheol-hyeon and Mo Yong-rin.
"Elder Poison Hand, have you ever fought against the Demonic Cult?"
"What does that have to—"
"You haven't. And you've never experienced large-scale battle either, have you? Naturally so—because everyone quails and flees before the Tang Clan's name."
"Clan Leader Dokgo!"
Tang Cheol-hyeon's eyes blazed, but Dokgo Mu-yeong had already turned to Mo Yong-rin.
"Ice Phoenix! I know your genius—you can memorize every detail you've seen once. But you've never experienced the carnage of a battlefield."
"Clan Leader Dokgo, I'm giving you an objective analysis of the situation and the most probable—"
"I'm not finished."
"…!"
"You can't imagine it—the devastation of watching friends, trusted subordinates, die screaming before your eyes. You've never known the battlefield, where blood sprays and limbs fly, where a friend's head is severed right beside you. You can't know the feeling of blood boiling in your veins at that moment."
Mo Yong-rin's eyelids trembled.
"And what exactly are you trying to say?"
"The battlefield is a beast entirely different from cutting down one or two men in a street fight. When you've fought side by side in that crucible, you learn—whether you want to or not—what kind of person someone is. Whether they can be trusted with your back. Whether they'll run in a moment of danger. Or whether they have some other scheme."
"I'm warning you of the danger of letting emotion blind you to the truth."
"Ice Phoenix! People aren't creatures of reason alone. They are creatures of the heart. Don't try to understand the battlefield from a few reports and documents. This is heartfelt advice—for your sake."
Mo Yong-rin clenched her teeth.
Dokgo Mu-yeong turned back to Tang Cheol-hyeon.
"Elder Poison Hand, I… trust the Martial Scholar, Cheon Ryu-yeong. I fought alongside him on the battlefield, and my heart tells me he can be trusted."
"…"
"And if—if—you brand him a spy over baseless suspicion… my clan will not stand idly by."
Tang Cheol-hyeon ground his teeth, his voice turning cold.
"Ke-ke-ke… You won't stand idly by? Does that mean you'll die in his place? I truly cannot understand why you'd get so worked up over a worthless porter."
"Because… he is already one of my clan's people."
"…!"
Tang Cheol-hyeon and Mo Yong-rin both widened their eyes in surprise.