Yeon Wi came to Je Gal Munho’s office.

“Strategist.”

Je Gal Munho grinned. Just from Yeon Wi’s expression, he could guess the result.

“They caught him?”

“They did. Clan Lord Tang is said to have won.”

“That is a relief.”

He had left after boldly telling them not to worry, but how could they not worry? The opponent was an unknown master, a pawn of an organization whose true nature and strength were still unclear.

But Tang Gwan was Tang Gwan after all. The king of poison and shadow who reigned as the overlord of Sichuan was every bit as extraordinary as expected.

“They did catch him, but...”

Yeon Wi smacked his lips.

“They say they failed to take him alive.”

“I see.”

“I did not expect them to capture him alive from the beginning, either, but it seems he killed him outright.”

Je Gal Munho let out a hollow laugh.

“You know Clan Lord Tang’s personality, do you not? If Commander Yeon had truly wanted him captured alive, he would have made that point clear.”

“That is true.”

“In a situation where we knew extremely little about the opponent’s strength and type of martial arts, if they tried rashly to capture him alive and suffered a counterattack, we could have lost a comrade. This is better.”

“I think so as well.”

“Now, the problem is...”

“Clan Lord Mo Yong.”

“That is correct.”

Yeon Wi’s eyes gleamed.

“Clan Lord Mo Yong’s methods are impressive. He will have somehow cooked him properly.”

“I trust Clan Lord Mo Yong’s ability, but the issue is that we do not know the situation of Lord Yeo Sangdo, the Provincial Defense Commissioner. If by any chance Lord Yeo is one of them...”

“Do not worry. I have thought of something for that.”

Je Gal Munho widened his eyes.

“Is that so? I also have something in mind separately.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“It is not widely known, but Lord Yeo Sangdo, the Provincial Defense Commissioner of Henan, possesses remarkable integrity and loyalty. His strategy is outstanding as well, so he would not have joined hands with the Divine Flame Cult. If anything, he may be enduring humiliation while sharpening his blade for a counterattack.”

“You know Lord Yeo Sangdo?”

“I met him once or twice in the past. I never had a private conversation with him, but it was enough time to grasp what kind of man he was.”

“People always change.”

“Sometimes, there are values that never change.”

Seeing Yeon Wi express such confidence, he truly seemed to be no ordinary man.

Je Gal Munho gave a light nod.

“For now, until we receive word from Clan Lord Mo Yong, I will have Clan Lord Tang wait with Hu Gae. If the direction is set toward luring them in, then at that time...”

“We must send them out.”

“That is correct.”

Who exactly were they going to send out?

Je Gal Munho rose from his seat with a smile.

“Then I will go see Venerable Gonggong.”

“Do so.”

Three days later.

“We have received word from Clan Lord Mo Yong.”

After reading the letter Je Gal Munho handed him, lightning flashed in Yeon Wi’s eyes.

“As expected.”

He had magnificently succeeded in a deal that could have been difficult.

“Now, once we lure them in and capture them...”

“We will strike straight into Kaifeng Prefecture.”

“Good.”

Yeon Wi tapped the hilt of his sword.

“I will go to Kaifeng Prefecture first. I leave the rest to you.”

“Understood. Ah! By the way, have you received any separate word from Commander Yeon? I have been especially busy of late, so I have not yet read the letter Commander Yeon sent.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“You mean Hojeong?”

*****

A wild hill not far from Xuchang, Henan Province.

“Loitering around here somehow brings back old memories.”

Yeon Hojeong, holding his hands out before the campfire, suddenly said that.

Mookbi tilted her head.

“Old memories?”

“The Ming Clan.”

“Ah, that clan they called the greatest under heaven?”

“Yes. The Ming Clan used to be near here. Now it has practically become ruins, though.”

“They said it was designated as Martial Alliance territory, didn’t they?”

“It should be in the middle of construction. There has not been any exact word yet on what they will use it for, but at least when it comes to defending a fortress, the terrain and walls are close to perfect. It would be too much of a waste to just leave it alone.”

“I see.”

Mookbi smiled.

“How does it feel to return to the territory of the organization you handed defeat to?”

“I do not feel much. It just brings back some thoughts from then.”

The firelight made Yeon Hojeong’s wavering eyes look especially deep.

“I did smash them apart in a frenzy. Looking back, I was reckless too. I ran because I was certain it was possible, but thinking back on it now, I did push things too far.”

“They said you joined hands with Clan Lord Mo Yong and brought them down.”

“I did.”

What had he remembered?

Yeon Hojeong gave a faint laugh.

“Then again, it was always like that. I made grand plans every time, but not much ever went according to plan. In the end, I think I was always busy struggling to make sure the choices I made moved in the right direction.”

“Isn’t that how everyone lives?”

People said Yeon Hojeong’s insight and wisdom could reach the very summit under heaven.

Yeon Hojeong denied that.

Of course, he was quick-witted, and his ability to strike at weak points was outstanding. He did not deny his own strengths under the pretense of modesty.

But he was not on the level of being called a divine strategist. It was simply that once he made up his mind and decided, I will do this, he never looked back.

If one called it reckless, it was reckless; if one called it drive, it was drive.

“Being smart does not mean you can see through every affair in the world. In that sense, Young Master Yeon, you are remarkable. You seem to know when to use your head and when to stake everything on instinct.”

“Instinct, huh.”

“Were you like that then too?”

“During the Ming Clan?”

“No. Back at the Black Emperor’s Citadel.”

The Black Emperor’s Citadel.

To Yeon Hojeong, it was the past, and in the future that had now changed, the strongest alliance of the Dark Path that would no longer be born.

It had not resembled the present Ink Dragon Manor in the slightest, from its origin to its purpose. In a certain sense, it had also been the most brilliant moment of Yeon Hojeong’s life.

“Who knows.”

Yeon Hojeong wet his throat with a mouthful of water, then smacked his lips.

“I ran in a frenzy then too. It was not an organization that was intentionally created to begin with. At first, it was nothing more than a small gang.”

“The Black Emperor’s Citadel... The name is grand. It came from your epithet, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The Dark Emperor.

That darkness meant pitch-black gloom. At the same time, it also referred to the Hell of Black Darkness.

The Hell of Black Darkness was the hell ruled by the Great Wheel-Turning King of the Five Paths, and it meant an abyss itself, where not a single point of light entered.

It was the last of Buddhism’s ten great hells, and by the final judgment, one would either reincarnate or fall into black darkness.

The Hell of Black Darkness was the hell one fell into if one did not have children.

At first glance, that might seem absurd, but more precisely, being unable to have children was also the result of karma from the past, and black darkness could be seen as the place that judged that karma.

In other words, the Hell of Black Darkness was a place that punished evil people who had been stripped of the living instinct of leaving descendants.

That was why it was the final hell. It was also why it existed at the crossroads of the final judgment, which determined the cycle of life.

And Yeon Hojeong had roamed all under heaven while being called by an epithet modeled after that terrifying hell.

He was a man who had lived as the final hell his enemies had to pass through.

“Everyone is like that. Anyone who lives in this martial world.”

The crackling sound of the burning campfire became an instrument adorning Yeon Hojeong’s flat voice.

“When blade clashes against blade, someone dies. In a life-or-death duel, the victor becomes the loser’s final gate. Everyone who has died by my hand until now failed to surpass me. To them, I was simply the last mountain they could never cross.”

“...”

“I was not the one who gave myself that epithet, but I lived that way. After the epithet Dark Emperor came into being, I never lost a battle, at least not in combat, even if I lost wars. It was possible because I had suffered countless defeats before that.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

At a glance, it seemed bitter. Seen another way, it also seemed full of anticipation.

“Now it is different. Now I do not want to be called by such a frightening epithet. No matter how I think about it, Green Mountain Tiger Commander sounds far better than a gloomy epithet like Dark Emperor, does it not?”

Mookbi gave a faint laugh.

“It does.”

“Thinking about it now, even the epithet Dark Emperor is laughable. The final gate? Bullshit. In the end, I am human too. I died after getting stabbed in the back at the very end, so what darkness was I supposed to be?”

“You said you died after being struck by a hidden weapon from the Tang Clan Lord—no, from Tang Gwan back then, right?”

“I did. Even if he had left me alone, I would have died on my own. Then again, if I had died like that, I suppose I would have died fairly well as the Dark Emperor.”

As she listened to Yeon Hojeong, Mookbi thought that a person’s life truly never flowed the way one expected.

She believed Yeon Hojeong’s confession. She completely believed that unbelievable claim, that he had lived for decades and returned to the past.

So she thought: even an outstanding, experienced powerhouse like him was helpless before the enormous current of fate.

Life was a race through black darkness, where one could not see even an inch ahead. If that was true, then it would indeed be easier on the heart to live like Yeon Hojeong, ignoring the gazes of those around you and burning up everything you could do.

Mookbi’s eyes deepened as she looked at Yeon Hojeong.

What about me?

There was something she had always found remarkable while watching Yeon Hojeong.

He always had a goal. Once he accomplished a goal, he immediately set another and ran toward it.

Someone might call that an excessively harsh life. But as Mookbi saw it, apart from how harsh it was, Yeon Hojeong was a man who truly knew how to live his own life as a human being.

At the very least, if it were Yeon Hojeong, he might worry about those left behind before he died, but he would not leave regrets about his own life.

That was how life should be lived.

I am satisfied with things as they are now. But will I be the same later? Could there come a day when I suddenly leave for the sake of my own life?

And in that situation, what expressions would Yeon Hojeong and Yeon Wi make?

Mookbi, who had been lost in thought, let out a silly laugh.

“You have grown too, Young Master Yeon.”

“What has?”

“The Young Master Yeon I knew was someone who paid back what was done to him exactly as it was. Twice over, no, ten times over.”

“I am not all that different now.”

“But now you are getting along fairly well with the Tang Clan Lord, who ended your life.”

Yeon Hojeong scratched his head.

“Mm, that is true. But I cannot exactly go after him for it now, can I? From that gentleman’s position, it is something that never happened.”

“That is true too.”

“Besides, though he did stab me in the back, I did not see the Tang Clan Lord only badly back then either. At least when we went to war, he was a reliable ally.”

“Even now?”

“Of course. If anything, he is far more reliable now than he was then.”

It was then.

“Are you talking about me?”

Yeon Hojeong and Mookbi were not startled. They had sensed Tang Gwan’s presence.

“You are here?”

Tang Gwan, who had revealed himself, snorted.

“When did I ever fight a war with you?”

Yeon Hojeong laughed cheerfully.

“I was just saying it. Please do not mind it too much.”

“Gloomy bastard.”

“Anyway, as expected, you have brought news of victory.”

“He was a half-baked wretch who did not even know the virtue of a life-or-death duel. He was nothing.”

“For saying that, you burned quite a lot of your sleeves.”

“Shut up.”

Tang Gwan sat down before the campfire.

His eyes gleamed as he asked,

“So, has word come from that Mo Yong bastard?”

“Yes. He says he succeeded. Apparently, he intends to lure the Divine Flame Cult bastards in.”

“Is that so?”

Tang Gwan smiled viciously.

“I wonder if somewhat more decent ones will come this time.”

“You might die.”

“The weak die. But I am not weak.”

It was astonishing confidence, as always.

“Did you handle your matter well?”

“Of course.”

Yeon Hojeong looked north.

“Now all that remains is to enjoy ourselves.”