The rising curls of tea fragrance filled the room.

Its color was vivid, yet the scent wasn’t overbearing. It asserted itself without putting one’s nerves on edge.

So was Je Gal Munho as Yeon Hojeong saw him.

Of the six clans praised as the greatest martial families under heaven, the lord of the line that dwelled on Longzhong Mountain in Hubei and carried on the legend of Kongming had just such an impression.

Je Gal Munho took a sip of tea.

“Good tea.”

“I’m glad it suits your taste.”

“Even with fine leaves, if you don’t handle them properly, you won’t draw out this fragrance or flavor. You seem to know your way around the tea ceremony.”

“Not to that extent. I’ve brewed it often, but I’ve never studied it in depth.”

Je Gal Munho’s eyes flashed with curiosity.

“Often brewed?”

“Yes.”

Ordinarily, brewing tea is the work of attendants. Short of a very distinguished guest, it’s rare to brew and serve tea yourself.

And yet Yeon Hojeong said he’d brewed tea often.

“A refined hobby.”

“It isn’t a hobby. I simply figure, rather than ask someone, it’s quicker to brew it myself and drink.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“Ha ha, I don’t know whether to call that impatient or rational.”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“I’m just an odd one, that’s all.”

Why was that?

Was it because he was the young man who had saved his daughter’s life? Or because he was his daughter’s friend?

He was a young man who was strangely easy to like. Perhaps it was because his appearance leaned more toward a man of letters than a martial man.

“The Six Great Clans are quartered in Seven-Star Pavilion. But even within it, our lodgings are so far apart that coming and going isn’t easy. I’ve been—understandably—extremely busy.”

“......”

“I wanted to come at least once. Allow me, again, to say thank you.”

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“Understood.”

It was an odd reply.

It wasn’t a humble turn of phrase, yet it didn’t feel out of place. That was likely due to the temperament one heard in his voice.

He seemed the sort to tie things off cleanly. In other words, one of the types Je Gal Munho preferred.

And he knows exactly what I’m thanking him for. Quick on the uptake.

The impression differed somewhat from what he’d heard from his daughter. He didn’t seem particularly tense, and yet the air was rather stiff.

“Heh-heh, I must be making you uncomfortable.”

“That’s not it.”

“Hmm? No? Then I’m glad.”

Deep creases sat at the corners of Je Gal Munho’s mouth.

He was a face that never lost its smile—a strategist’s expression that disarmed the person across from him.

Yeon Hojeong’s gaze deepened.

I knew we’d meet someday, but I didn’t expect it this soon.

The brain of the White Path Alliance of the Martial World.

In the past, before the Four Yin Cult uprising, the Black Emperor’s Citadel clashed with the Alliance at every turn.

The Black Emperor’s Citadel was in the midst of expanding its power, and the Alliance felt a need to check the suddenly rising dark-path martial world.

It was an inevitable collision. Many men under him died as a result.

And from then until the day he died as the Dark Emperor, the Alliance’s chief strategist’s seat was held by Je Gal Munho.

As expected.

Since his return, this was the most refined insight he had seen.

A man of excellent wisdom, yet different from his father—who valued chivalry above even that wisdom—and different from Mo Yonggun—who wielded his excellent wisdom purely for his own appetite.

He was a crystallization of knowledge. That was why Je Gal Munho’s eyes were memorable.

“You are remarkable.”

“Mm?”

The words slipped out, but Yeon Hojeong didn’t hide his mind.

“As one gains knowledge and learns how to employ clever tricks, one usually loses one’s purity.”

“......”

“You are different, Clan Lord.”

“Heh-heh, different?”

A friend of his daughter, a junior of the rivers and lakes, was openly evaluating him.

It wasn’t a common experience. Perhaps that was why Je Gal Munho suddenly found himself very curious how Yeon Hojeong saw him.

“Very well—how do I appear to you?”

“Let’s see.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“I finally understand today why Ahyeon and Juni are kind.”

“What’s that? Hahaha!”

Je Gal Munho burst into hearty laughter.

“So, in your eyes I look like a pure and good person?”

“They say people see what they want to see. Perhaps, deep down, I myself am hoping the Clan Lord is such a person.”

“Heh-heh! And why do you want to see that in me?”

“Wouldn’t it be nice, just once? To have a chief strategist who isn’t cold-blooded hold the Alliance in his hand.”

“......!”

“A chief strategist often has to move his soldiers, his subordinates, like chess pieces. So strategists tend to grow cold. If they aren’t cold, even with a good head it’s hard to devise efficient war plans.”

Yeon Hojeong grinned.

“That’s why a good chief strategist is rare. Unless he becomes strong enough, he can’t protect his own purity or his rightness.”

A peculiar expression crossed Je Gal Munho’s face.

“How did you know I’ve been named the Alliance’s chief strategist?”

“They call you the Divine Strategist Je Gal. With the Clan Lord at the pinnacle of such a Je Gal Clan, who would commit the folly of setting someone else as strategist?”

“Heh-heh-heh.”

Je Gal Munho only laughed.

Admiration and surprise for the other seeped into that laugh.

“It seems the rumors were understated. I knew you were hot-blooded, but I didn’t expect you to blurt out something so dangerous like this.”

“Did you?”

“You don’t believe what I’m saying, do you?”

“If you mean to put on a front against the greatest of ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the great clans under heaven, the default assumption has to be: kill everyone in your path without hesitation. To others, that can look more than dangerous.”

“Heh-heh.”

“You couldn’t possibly see me as merely a boundlessly hot-blooded young talent.”

Je Gal Munho, who’d been quietly looking at Yeon Hojeong, tapped the table lightly.

“You pass.”

“......”

“It isn’t enough to be quick-witted. It isn’t enough to be kind. You mustn’t be nothing but belligerent, and you mustn’t be overly timid.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re trustworthy as someone who could lead an Independent Field Force.”

Light flared in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

“An Independent Field Force......”

“This morning, Mo Yonggun announced the founding purpose of an Independent Field Force. There was all sorts of talk, but whatever the reasons, you could feel his intent to create it no matter what.”

“I see.”

“I assumed he had told you in advance.”

“I won’t deny it.”

Je Gal Munho smiled thinly.

“In truth, I oppose founding an Independent Field Force. That hasn’t changed today.”

“......”

“However, if it’s you, it will be fine.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“It appears it weighs on you.”

“Mm?”

“Mo Yonggun’s aura is no ordinary thing.”

Je Gal Munho’s eyes flashed.

“Aura... yes, far from ordinary.”

“The existence of an Independent Field Force could become a bad precedent when the Alliance later organizes its subordinate bodies. My father thinks so; I think the Clan Lord has grounds to worry as well.”

“......”

“I won’t show more than is necessary, nor will I let it be branded a useless unit. That seems the best I can do.”

With that, Yeon Hojeong wet his throat with tea.

Watching him in silence, Je Gal Munho shook his head.

“I was mistaken.”

“Sir?”

“I thought you were a tiger just barely shedding its cub’s coat. Now I see—you are a consummately seasoned great tiger.”

“Thank you for the generous appraisal.”

“Generous? I’m almost resentful that my vocabulary can’t express anything higher.”

Je Gal Munho also swallowed a mouthful of tea. With that sip, he managed to shake off some portion of his worries and cares.

“I have one question.”

Light sparked in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

Here it is.

It was clear Je Gal Munho had come to ask this. Without realizing it, his eyes tightened.

“On this one point, I want a clear answer. Truthfully, without falsehood.”

“Please ask.”

“Have you struck some sort of deal with the Mo Yong Clan?”

“......”

“Please, speak plainly.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“This is the third time I’ve made a deal with Mo Yonggun.”

Je Gal Munho’s face stiffened.

And at Yeon Hojeong’s next words, the stiffness filled with puzzlement.

“And I won all three.”

“......Won?”

“So far it’s victory after victory. He’s no easy man, so I don’t know when that will break.”

Je Gal Munho furrowed his brow.

“What do you mean?”

“In the past, Mo Yonggun was pushing a plan to swallow his own main house.”

“W-what?!”

He’d never heard such a thing. Honest surprise colored Je Gal Munho’s face.

He’ll do.

Yeon Hojeong read the other man’s expression, his eyes, his emotions and character.

Even if he weren’t the chief strategist—this man would be fine.

He then unfolded, without embellishment, what he’d gone through over the past year.

Meeting Hu Gae at the later-generation gathering, joining hands with the Mo Yong Clan to face the Ming Clan, and how, while capturing Ming Heorim, he almost came into conflict with the Namgung Clan yet again.

And further, how Mo Yonggun had simultaneously watched him and tried to recommend him as head of a unit to use as a worthwhile chess piece—he told it all.

When he’d finished, Je Gal Munho’s face was twisted with shock.

“Mo Yonggun... a truly dangerous man.”

“Dangerous, yes. Brilliant, too.”

“Then this ‘deal’ with him—?”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“Sitting and taking it isn’t in my nature. I wanted payback, and I wanted my freedom back, so I forced a sit-down.”

“Heh-heh, heh-heh-heh!”

Je Gal Munho looked at Yeon Hojeong with eyes full of admiration.

“A sit-down with that Mo Yonggun? Heh-heh-heh!”

Who knew why he found it so delightful. He just laughed for a long while without a word.

“What on earth are you?”

It was a question with lingering mirth. He hadn’t asked it expecting an answer.

“Given your martial skill alone, your level doesn’t fit your age in the least—now I see you’ve been cutting across the Central Plains, throwing yourself into all manner of incidents.”

Yeon Hojeong let out a short chuckle.

“I’m fond of making trouble.”

After staring at him for a while, Je Gal Munho smiled.

“A pity. A real pity.”

“......?”

“You needn’t keep yourself quite so stiff. I just gave up.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Ahyeon.”

“......”

“You’re an exceptional man. As a father with a daughter, I would welcome a son-in-law as exceptional as you.”

“......Ahem.”

“But while you could become a great guest of our main house, I don’t think you could make Ahyeon truly happy. Your talent is too exceptional.”

Yeon Hojeong wetted his lips.

“I have no thought of marriage.”

Smiling, Je Gal Munho rose to his feet.

“Still, stay good friends with our Ahyeon. If someday your heart truly turns, you’re welcome as my son-in-law.”

These people all seemed equally desperate to marry off their children.

“Today’s meeting was thoroughly interesting. Thank you for making the time.”

“Not at all.”

“I’ll be going.”

“Go safely.”

“Ah! Before I go, let me tell you one thing.”

“Yes?”

Je Gal Munho’s face grew serious.

“It may be that the Independent Field Force won’t be just one.”

“......?!”

“Besides the unit you’ll take, another may be created.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes grew deep.

“Will the Nine Sects and One Union take it?”

“If Mo Yonggun doesn’t get greedy.”

“......”

“Rest well.”

Je Gal Munho left Army-Breaking Pavilion.

Seeing him off, Yeon Hojeong smiled thinly.

“Sir Mo Yong, if you get greedy, gambling can cost you your own hand. Aren’t you getting a bit reckless?”

Just then, a daft-sounding reply came back.

“Pardon?”

Yeon Hojeong blinked. Okcheong had arrived at some point.

“What is it?”

“......?”

“You didn’t go back to your quarters, did you?”

“I... came for instruction.”

“Instruction?”

“......Yes?”

“Am I your master? Why are you getting instruction from me?”

Okcheong grew flustered.

“Th-that... no, yesterday you clearly said, Young Master Yeon—”

“If you want instruction, you have to pay a price worthy of it.”

“......A price?”

Yeon Hojeong smiled darkly.

Nothing to do for a few days, and you’ve walked right into it.

He slung an arm around Okcheong’s shoulder as if friendly.

“Your master is the Sword Immortal, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“An all-rounder of Wudang’s martial arts! You must have realized magnificent insights.”

“Y-yes.”

“Beautiful, surely. Enticing. You’re a Daoist—maybe not used to the arithmetic of the secular world, but since we’re here, how about learning a bit about it?”

“I-I’m not sure I understand...”

“Heh-heh, you will. So—shall we start the instruction now?”

“Eh? Uh, yes! I would be grateful!”

“First, display Wudang’s martial arts from start to finish. In detail—very detailed. So clear that even a child could realize the subtle principles.”