In a remote forest on the outskirts, we waited for the Silver Moon martial artist sent by Gowol.
Once Cult Leader Pungcheon and I made up our minds and moved, there was no one who could keep watch on us.
Unless the Phantom King himself took action, anyone capable of tracking and surveilling our movements with stealth and qinggong would have to be at the level of Uncle Hwi, who guarded my father. But how common could someone like that be?
“If Elder Seong is a man of deep loyalty, as you said, Cult Leader, then he must have had no choice but to step down from his position as elder.”
“You mean his disciple pressured him and drove him out?”
“There’s a high chance of it. He may have desperately opposed the idea of unifying the Outer Territories.”
And now he had disappeared.
“Do you think So Baekta killed Elder Seong?”
I answered honestly.
“It’s possible.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon’s gaze sank coldly.
“If he did…… I will not forgive him.”
I said nothing. This was a matter between Cult Leader Pungcheon and his disciple, so it depended on his will.
Just then, a man arrived there.
The man, who introduced himself as Hwang, said he was Silver Moon’s person in charge of the Outer Territories.
From his gait alone, I could tell that neither his martial arts nor his qinggong were ordinary.
Even so, he looked plain. That was also a trait of the martial artists active in Silver Moon. If you mixed them in among people, they were so ordinary that they would never stand out.
“I have found out what you asked. The information Elder Seong asked us to investigate was about an ironworks.”
“Where is this place?”
Then an unexpected name came up.
“It is the Sinung Ironworks.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon tilted his head.
“Sinung Ironworks? Was there such a place?”
An ironworks of the Outer Territories that even Cult Leader Pungcheon did not know.
“It has not been around for very long, and it is not large in scale, so you likely would not have known of it.”
At Hwang’s explanation, Cult Leader Pungcheon nodded. Since he did not know it, he naturally assumed I would not know it either, but I knew about the Sinung Ironworks.
In my life before regression, there was another name for the Sinung Ironworks.
The Number One Ironworks of the Central Plains.
In the days when Hwa Mugi and the Twelve Zodiac Kings seized control of the martial world, the Sinung Ironworks was the most famous ironworks in the Central Plains. It commanded hundreds of regional ironworks throughout the Central Plains and supplied weapons to most of the major sects. It was truly the greatest ironworks. They amassed tremendous wealth by selling arms.
‘So the Sinung Ironworks began from here!’
I had thought the Sinung Ironworks had nothing to do with Hwa Mugi or the Twelve Zodiac Kings.
But seeing them appear in a situation like this, they too were connected to them.
“Unexpected. I thought what Elder Seong was trying to investigate would be the Hwayang Sect or the Heuksa Gang.”
If measured purely by the size of their forces, Pungcheon Cult could be seen as the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Hwayang Sect as the Martial Alliance, and the Heuksa Gang as the Unorthodox Alliance. In other words, when So Baekta said he would unify the Outer Territories, it meant he would strike the Hwayang Sect and the Heuksa Gang and force them to their knees.
Naturally, we had expected an investigation related to them, so Cult Leader Pungcheon’s doubts were only natural when an ironworks he had never heard of appeared instead.
“Do you perhaps know why he asked for an investigation into the Sinung Ironworks?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon asked just in case, but the answer was as expected.
“I cannot know his reason. Here is the information he took.”
“Thank you.”
Hwang immediately left.
Standing there with Cult Leader Pungcheon, I shared and read through the materials on the Sinung Ironworks. The information was varied. There were personal details on the House Master and those who worked under him, and it detailed how many weapons they produced and how much they supplied to which sects. There was even a layout of the buildings there.
“The Sinung Ironworks is definitely connected to that disciple of mine trying to start a war. Elder Seong realized that and entrusted Silver Moon with the investigation.”
“I think so as well. Elder Seong ran out while looking through these materials. There must be a part that caught his attention.”
As he read the documents, Cult Leader Pungcheon shook his head.
“I absolutely detest numbers.”
A considerable portion of the materials had to do with numbers. How much was produced and how much was earned. How much was spent.
Just then, my eyes caught something strange.
“Look at this. This is the amount of iron purchased last year. Compared to the year before, it is ten times greater.”
“So it is.”
“And here is the amount of weapons they sold last year.”
“They did not sell nearly that many weapons compared to the iron they bought. The gap is far too large.”
“And yet this year, they purchased even more iron. They should have had a great deal of inventory left.”
“That is certainly suspicious.”
We looked at each other, nodded, and immediately launched ourselves toward the Sinung Ironworks.
* * *
Before visiting the Sinung Ironworks, we bought bamboo hats with veils attached and covered our faces. We had decided to visit as customers.
“It’s larger than I expected.”
“According to the information earlier, they bought the land near the ironworks last year and expanded.”
Countless carts laden with cargo were coming and going, and the sounds of hammering metal and working bellows rang out from every direction.
An attendant came to greet us.
“What brings you here?”
“We have come to buy swords.”
“There are many kinds of swords.”
“High-grade swords.”
“Please follow me.”
The man guided us somewhere. As I followed him, I looked around. The good thing about coming as customers was that we could openly inspect the place.
In every building, muscular men stripped to the waist were busily making weapons.
At a glance, there was nothing suspicious. It was truly an ordinary ironworks.
When we entered the place the man led us to, various swords were on display there.
“Please take your time looking around.”
After examining the swords there, I asked the man.
“Do you have anything better than what is here?”
“We have supreme-grade items, but they are very expensive.”
“Let me see them.”
“Please wait a moment.”
A short while later, not the man who had guided us earlier, but a muscular young man entered.
“I am Ho Gyeong.”
Ho Gyeong.
This person, too, had been among the individuals in the information we received from Silver Moon. Since the House Master did not often show himself outside, the one effectively running the ironworks was this Ho Gyeong. The reason we had come as customers was also because I wanted to meet this man.
“You wish to see supreme-grade swords?”
He opened the box he had brought and handed me a sword.
I drew the sword and examined it. It was not quite a famed sword or a treasured blade, but among ordinary swords, it was truly well made.
“I’ll take twelve of these.”
“Twelve?”
Ho Gyeong was startled. Cult Leader Pungcheon beside me also looked at me in surprise.
—You’re not really going to buy them, are you?
—I am. Since they’ve gone through the trouble of coming all this way, I thought I’d buy each of the guards a sword.
—Buy them with your own money!
—Of course.
Since I could become a major customer, Ho Gyeong asked carefully.
“May I ask where you are from?”
I tapped the veil hanging down in front of my bamboo hat with my hand. It meant that I did not wish to reveal it.
“My apologies. It seemed this was your first transaction with our house, so I committed a discourtesy.”
Perhaps because he dealt with many martial artists, Ho Gyeong’s words and actions were very polite.
“Someone introduced this place to me.”
“Who was it?”
“Elder Seong of Pungcheon Cult.”
When Elder Seong was mentioned, I carefully observed Ho Gyeong’s expression.
“Ah, I see. He is a truly admirable man.”
He did not waver at all. From my impression, at least Ho Gyeong had nothing to do with Elder Seong’s disappearance. Or perhaps he had not disappeared? If he had hidden himself voluntarily, that would be fortunate.
“Then you will be taking the swords with you personally.”
“That’s right.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Ho Gyeong went inside to prepare the swords.
Leaving Cult Leader Pungcheon there, I quickly slipped outside. Since Silver Moon’s information had even included the layout of the buildings here, I launched myself without hesitation.
I encountered people along the way, but they did not notice me.
My Shadow Steps, having reached great accomplishment, turned them into blind men with their eyes open and guided me deep into the ironworks.
I moved between the buildings here and there. I used Swift Steps, Shadow Steps, and Flash Steps.
At the most secluded corner, there was a large building. The sound of metal came from within.
I sensed martial artists hiding around it. Judging by the airtight security, it seemed to be the place where the House Master forged swords. This alone showed that it was by no means an ordinary ironworks.
Would they really be able to detect my Shadow Steps after I had achieved great accomplishment?
I did not put that to the test today. What I was looking for was not the House Master. I was searching for the iron they had purchased. That vast quantity of iron had to be stored somewhere, but no matter where I searched, there was no place where iron was being kept.
‘Did they secretly make everything and send it somewhere?’
But for that, the scale of the ironworks was far too small.
Then I saw an empty lot overgrown with weeds.
It was the land they had bought last year, the one mentioned in Silver Moon’s information. They had bought it while they were busily scheming something. If they were going to leave it abandoned like that, why had they bought it?
I released dozens of strands of qi at once and scanned the surroundings. I was checking whether anyone was hiding there.
Then I sensed something from the ground of the empty lot. At first, I thought it was a person in hiding, but it was not.
All of my qi focused on that place.
* * *
“The swords are ready.”
Ho Gyeong returned with twelve swords, each wrapped well in leather, tucked into a long leather bag.
Only Cult Leader Pungcheon was in the room.
“Where did the other gentleman go?”
“He said he felt a little stifled and went out for some air.”
“I will escort him back.”
Just as Ho Gyeong was about to go outside, Cult Leader Pungcheon said,
“First, let us settle the price of the swords.”
He had held him back to buy time, but inwardly, Cult Leader Pungcheon was suspicious.
‘Surely not? Did the Young Cult Leader calculate even this far? That I would buy time while paying? Yes, if it is that merciless and greedy Young Cult Leader, he would be more than capable of it. Gowol, oh Gowol. I have come all the way to the Outer Territories only to be fleeced.’
Cult Leader Pungcheon paid the price.
He took out the money as slowly as possible and counted it twice, then three times to confirm it.
Even when the payment was finished, Geom Mugeuk had not returned, so Ho Gyeong went outside.
Geom Mugeuk, who had returned at some point, was stretching in front of the building.
“The swords are all ready.”
* * *
Only after we landed far away from the Sinung Ironworks did I tell Cult Leader Pungcheon the results of my search.
“I found out where that iron is.”
“Where was it?”
“There was a secret workshop underground. They were making weapons there.”
Through the qi I had released, I had discovered that there was a vast underground space beneath the ground, and that constant faint vibrations and noise could be sensed from it.
“The scale was tremendous.”
“So they were preparing for war there.”
War required enormous supplies.
Supplies were one thing, but the most important thing in war was not letting the enemy discover your preparations. So Baekta had joined hands with the Sinung Ironworks and secretly prepared war materiel. No, to be precise, the Phantom King had likely connected the two of them.
“There must be a considerable amount of materiel piled up there.”
“What will you do now?”
“I should meet So Baekta once.”
At last, the moment had come to face him alone.
“What do you intend to do?”
“The fact that he revealed that plan to the Cult Leader means he must have expected it to reach my ears as well. If so, he must also have something to say to me. Since he has shown one card, I need to see what other card he is holding.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon smiled meaningfully. He must have been thinking that his disciple had finally met his match.
“Ah, and this is the money spent on the swords. Please take it.”
“No need. Consider it my gift to the young ones.”
“Are you planning to regret it again later?”
“If I want to blame you for this for a long time to come, I should be the one to buy them.”
I handed him the leather bag of swords I had been carrying.
“Then please give them to them yourself. If you give them the swords, Cult Leader, the guards will truly be pleased. I will go to the Cult Leader’s Hall.”
Cult Leader Pungcheon accepted the leather bag and said,
“While I take the credit, you show him the taste of a true wave from behind.”
* * *
When I entered the Cult Leader’s Hall to meet So Baekta, he was standing before a bronze mirror hung on the wall, drawing patterns on his face.
“Young Cult Leader, please wait a moment.”
So Baekta greeted me through the bronze mirror.
“Take your time.”
I walked behind him. For a moment, I watched as unique lines unlike anything in the world were made.
“Our cult has three patterns in all. The Gyohwa, which symbolizes our cult; the Cheonhwa, the pattern used when going to war; and the Punghwa, which is drawn when one dies. The pattern I am drawing now is the Cheonhwa, drawn when going to war.”
Indeed, its colors and shape were intense. What I had seen on the first day had been the Gyohwa, and now I was seeing the second, the Cheonhwa.
“What do you think? Would you like to try drawing it once?”
“I decline. It seems you haven’t heard the rumors about me. I am a pacifist, you see.”
In the bronze mirror, So Baekta looked at me with a faint smile.
“You must be very timid.”
“Isn’t it rather the timid who start wars?”
So Baekta’s hand flinched and stopped for a moment, then began drawing again.
“Beware cowards. You never know what they might do.”
I asked him in a calm tone,
“You must have known that if you told the Cult Leader, it would reach my ears as well. Why did you reveal it?”
“The master I remember was not someone who would speak of our cult’s important affairs to outsiders.”
“Perhaps Master is the same. The you that Master remembers was surely not a disciple who would commit such absurd acts.”
He laughed in the bronze mirror.
“What is your real reason for doing this?”
“I wanted to receive your permission. If we are going to wage war anyway, whether it is approval or tacit consent, your permission has to be given, doesn’t it? If we simply went ahead with it, you might use that as justification to strike us. Aren’t you more than capable of doing exactly that?”
At last, So Baekta finished the Cheonhwa on his face and turned around.
“Permit our war.”
I could tell from his confident eyes. Even if we did not permit it, he would start the war.
What has made you so excited? What has filled you with such confidence? What has deluded you into thinking that our cult’s blade cannot pierce the sandstorms of the Outer Territories?
“Very well. I will state our official position.”
If I wanted to see his card, I would have to push him hard.
In a cold and authoritative tone, I said to him,
“Our cult does not permit your war.”
An unknowable heat rose in So Baekta’s eyes.
I poured cold water over that heat.
“So go wash your face and wipe it all off.”