Chapter 435: A Coincidence That Changes the Situation (3)

“Manor Lord.”

“Mm.”

Yangcheon drained his cup.

“Rough.”

“My apologies.”

“The brewery sent us poor liquor to begin with. What do you have to apologize for?”

“......”

Yangcheon smiled at White Rat, who merely lowered his head in silence.

“White Rat.”

“Yes, Manor Lord.”

“Not happy?”

“......Pardon?”

“I asked whether you were unhappy.”

For the first time in a very long while, White Rat was caught off guard. It had been the same in the past—whenever the Manor Lord spoke to him this way, the composure he normally maintained so well was badly shaken.

Of course, as one of Yangcheon’s most trusted retainers, he was also skilled at controlling his expression.

White Rat answered without a tremor in his voice.

“Of course not.”

“I told you before, didn’t I? There’s no need to lie in front of me.”

“......”

“Heh. You’ve served at my side for a long time, and I’ve watched you for just as long. Do you think I can’t tell when one of my closest retainers is upset?”

White Rat suddenly felt something rise in his throat.

Ever since Yeon Hojeong had returned to Ink Dragon Manor, the Manor Lord seemed far more at ease than before.

More precisely, the personality that had grown increasingly sharp over time had begun returning to its old broad, unhurried nature. Despite his ambition, Yangcheon had always been strict with his people in public yet surprisingly gentle with them in private.

White Rat had always known that.

What moved him now was simply hearing the words closest retainer again after so long.

“A great many strange things have happened lately. First I let myself get played by a wet-behind-the-ears brat. Then some woman who knows less about politics than a sparrow knows about the sea came strutting in with her chin held high and started making insolent demands. Right to my face, no less.”

The brat was Yeon Hojeong.

The woman was the leader of one of the branches from Putuo Hermitage.

White Rat lowered his head a little farther.

“Calling him a mere brat is unfair. His talent and ability are far too exceptional.”

Letting an insolent woman leave unharmed could be interpreted as the magnanimity of a leader.

Being deceived by a brat, however, was a matter of ability.

That was why White Rat elevated Yeon Hojeong. The leader he served was not someone who could be fooled by some ordinary youngster.

Yangcheon understood exactly what White Rat was doing, and laughed.

“Heh heh heh. You really have gotten old. I never thought I’d hear flattery from you.”

“......”

“Still, you’re right. Yeon Hojeong is far too capable to dismiss as some brat. Even after being fooled by him once, I still find myself wanting to get my hands on him again.”

“Manor Lord.”

“I know. Do you really think I would invite that bastard back into Ink Dragon Manor?”

“......”

“I have my pride too. And even if I offered, he wouldn’t come. I do intend to repay him properly one day, but I have no genuine desire to recruit him into the Manor again.”

“My apologies.”

Yangcheon rubbed his chin.

“In any case, after dealing with one thing after another lately, something occurred to me.”

“......”

“Patience truly is an important virtue.”

White Rat’s eyes wavered.

Yangcheon refilled his cup and continued.

“What happened with Yeon Hojeong was simply a failure on my part. My judgment of people was lacking as well.”

“That is not true, Manor Lord.”

“I acknowledge that it was.”

“......”

White Rat knew why Yangcheon’s body had fallen into such a state, and why his once-keen judgment had dulled over the years.

It was because of the Perverse Lust Cult Leader.

Yangcheon had been struck by the Cult Leader’s martial arts and spent years in an abnormal physical condition.

Yet Yangcheon did not blame the Perverse Lust Cult Leader.

He regarded even that as a failure of his own ability and judgment.

A great man.

White Rat felt that Yangcheon—the leader he served—had finally reached completion.

“But the woman from Putuo Hermitage is different. The disorder within Putuo Hermitage was caused by a disciple I dispatched under my orders. In other words, its present turmoil is exactly what I intended.”

“......”

“I’ve meddled in countless matters over the years, but surprisingly few unfolded exactly as I planned. Putuo Hermitage is one of those rare cases. I should be applauding myself. Instead, that woman came here and made demands like those, and listening to her nearly turned my stomach inside out.”

“I believe that is... a separate matter.”

“A separate matter?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Putuo Hermitage fell into turmoil because of your remarkable scheme. Her insolence, however, was merely the arrogance of someone too conceited to recognize the person standing before her.”

Yangcheon smiled.

“You believe so?”

“I do. Furthermore, she is a fallen swordswoman who became drunk on past glory and even neglected her training.”

The expert Putuo Hermitage had dispatched possessed formidable martial arts.

As if proving that the legends surrounding Putuo Hermitage were no exaggeration, her cultivation stood well above White Rat’s. The sharpness of a swordswoman who had dedicated her entire life to the sword was formidable as well.

But White Rat could tell.

That old fox had neglected her training for the past two or three years.

She had pursued the sword, only to step into the mire of political struggle. When a sun that once shone from on high falls, it grows colder than moonlight.

That fox was exactly such a person.

White Rat was confident that if he brought out every secret art he had kept hidden, he could kill her despite her superior cultivation.

It had only been two or three years.

Yet those two or three years of neglect had dulled the sword edge she had honed over an entire lifetime until it was little better than a club.

In the end, that was all she amounted to.

Yangcheon had interfered in Putuo Hermitage’s current troubles, but even without him, someone like her would have collapsed sooner or later.

“For a martial artist, the ability to judge an opponent’s strength accurately is essential. Challenge someone you should never challenge, and your life is at risk. The same applies to a politician. A politician must accurately judge the other side’s capabilities. One mistake can ruin not only the individual, but the entire organization to which they belong.”

“So that woman is unqualified both as a martial artist and as a politician?”

“She may qualify as a martial artist. But I would never dignify her by calling her a politician. She is merely a fool who mistakes herself for perceptive and intelligent.”

Yangcheon chuckled.

His own assessment was much the same as White Rat’s.

Had he not seen the madness of desire lurking in that fox’s eyes, even Yangcheon would not have tolerated her.

Those who lose reason to desire will try to set the whole world ablaze at the slightest gesture.

And that was precisely the kind of gesture Yangcheon had given her this time.

“By the way, what do you think? Putuo Hermitage is divided into three branches. One of those branches came to me, so one of the other two will probably go to the Martial Alliance.”

“Perhaps both will.”

“That possibility can’t be ruled out. Still, blinded by desire or not, they have enough sense to sketch out the broad picture. They’ll be watching one another carefully too. If one goes to the Martial Alliance, another will scramble to secure a different patron.”

White Rat’s eyes gleamed.

“You mean a third faction?”

“Exactly.”

“In the current martial world, an organization comparable to either us or the Martial Alliance would be......”

“There is one. Just not in the Central Plains.”

“......!”

White Rat’s expression stiffened.

“Would they really reach that far? Besides, there is a strong chance they know nothing about the Three Creeds.”

“True. Their intelligence network is lacking, so they likely know nothing of the Three Creeds.”

Yangcheon smiled faintly.

“But what if someone were to tell them that the Three Creeds exist?”

“......!!”

“Then wouldn’t that fox den called Putuo Hermitage become a battleground where two tigers and a three-headed wolf fight for dominance?”

“Manor Lord.”

White Rat spoke cautiously.

Very cautiously.

“Forgive me for saying so, but for us to leak that information ourselves would be going too far......”

“At first.”

Yangcheon cut him off sharply.

“When I first decided to ruin Putuo Hermitage, I had my reasons. You know them as well.”

“......Yes.”

“Putuo Hermitage has produced swordsmen worthy of being called the greatest under heaven in every generation. Not a single generation was an exception. The world simply never knew.”

Yangcheon leaned back in his chair.

His eyes turned toward the ceiling, their depths impossible to fathom.

“That person is the Sword Empress. And to be acknowledged as the Sword Empress, a candidate must enter the world and prove both her ability and her chivalrous spirit.”

“That is correct.”

“And generation after generation, the Sword Empresses have gone after our Dark Path.”

Proof of strength.

Proof of chivalry.

The Sword Empress was not merely a symbol of Putuo Hermitage’s martial arts.

She embodied not only its martial power, but also its spirit and the path it sought to follow.

Such a figure could not be produced through instruction alone.

What good she accumulated after entering the world mattered.

How she punished evil mattered as well.

That was why the sole candidate who passed the final trial would spend a period of time moving anonymously through the Central Plains.

She would conceal herself completely, punish evil where no one could see, and accumulate good without anyone knowing.

From the Dark Path’s perspective, it was enough to make their teeth grind.

Generation after generation, they were destined to suffer at the hands of the Sword Empress.

After all, the Dark Path was the side that brought misery to ordinary people in the first place, and the organizations at its roots had been shattered by a Sword Empress once every generation.

A being who could not simply be crushed by force.

A peerless martial master whose absolute skill remained unknown to the world.

To the Dark Path, the Sword Empress was like an unavoidable natural catastrophe.

“The Sword Empress of this generation would probably have come looking for me.”

Yangcheon closed his eyes.

“If Putuo Hermitage had not fallen into its present state.”

“......”

“Whether she came to punish evil or simply challenge me as a martial artist, I wouldn’t have cared. If she attacked, I would just smash her apart. But......”

“......”

“I am the leader of Ink Dragon Manor, an alliance of the Dark Path. Before my competitive spirit as a martial artist, before the confidence that comes with the title Fighting King, I had a responsibility as a leader of many people to find a way to win without fighting.”

“I would dare call that a wise decision.”

“But circumstances have changed.”

WHOOOSH.

A heavy presence spread from Yangcheon’s body.

“I was fool enough to spend years without even realizing what the Perverse Lust Cult Leader had done to me. While I stagnated, countless rising talents—and bizarre organizations whose names I had never even heard—came surging upward.”

“......”

“I will no longer remain merely the master of a Dark Path alliance.”

FWOOSH.

Terrifying Killing Intent erupted from Yangcheon’s eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be fair to send one warning to the bastard who left me like this? If I need to use whatever vicious methods it takes to lay his chest wide open for my fist, then shouldn’t I do exactly that?”

“......Manor Lord.”

“White Rat.”

“Yes, Manor Lord.”

“I need to have the Sword Empress.”

“......!”

“I need to take that divine sword of the world—gleaming coldly without purpose—and place it in my own hand. With that sword, I intend to sever at least one of the two words that make up Perverse Lust. Do you understand what I mean?”

White Rat bowed his head.

“I exist only to carry out your orders.”

“That bastard Yeon Hojeong is in Guangdong, correct?”

“Yes.”

“The Martial Alliance still hasn’t chosen its leader.”

“That is correct.”

Yangcheon closed his eyes.

“Send a letter to Yeon Hojeong. That bastard is at the heart of Martial Alliance politics. At least for now.”

“......”

“We need to move him.”