Chapter 171: Mountain, Makes a Move

“Name, Gwak Hyu. Age, sixty-seven. He has served as head cook since Jang Wonso’s tenure. He’s diligent and reliable, and maintains good relations with the kitchen staff. The reason there was a smell of blood at the time was because the supplier bringing ingredients was injured. It seems Gwak Hyu treated his wound.”

That was the report Dan Woobin gave after secretly investigating for several days on Lee Jaseung’s orders. From what he’d found, there was nothing suspicious about the head cook, Gwak Hyu.

“There isn’t a single piece of evidence showing that he belongs to the hidden faction. I’ve assigned our best watcher from the main branch to keep an eye on him.”

Lee Jaseung asked,

“Why was that supplier injured?”

“It seems he got hurt while carrying goods.”

Lee Jaseung let out a cold laugh. Impossible. That blood had clearly come from a sword wound.

He thought of the head cook.

If Gwak Hyu really was part of the hidden faction, he would hold a very high position. The way he had concealed his Qi during their meeting had been enough to show his skill.

Of course, concealing one’s Qi wasn’t directly proportional to one’s strength, but at the very least, it meant he was at the level of a fully matured Transcendent Peak Realm.

Still, Lee Jaseung couldn’t move based on intuition alone. There was always the slim chance that Gwak Hyu wasn’t connected to them.

In short, he had suspicion but no proof.

“If he won’t move, we’ll just have to make the people around him move.”

“How do you plan to do that?”

Lee Jaseung thought for a moment, then found his answer.

“Gwak Jinpung.”

“What?”

“He must be seething with rage right now, yes?”

“Of course. He just lost the Alliance Leader’s seat right before his eyes.”

“Who do you think he’s most angry at?”

“That would be you, my Lord.”

“Do you really think that’s the case?”

“If not you, then who? Oh! Right, the Golden Ants!”

Lee Jaseung nodded. The one Gwak Jinpung resented most would be the Golden Ants. If they hadn’t revealed that he’d purchased information, he might have won the election.

“What if he tries to take revenge on the Golden Ants, say, by hiring assassins?”

“With his personality, I don’t think he’d go that far.”

“No. He’s probably already made a request.”

“What do you mean? Oh!”

Dan Woobin’s eyes suddenly gleamed. He understood what Lee Jaseung meant.

“He sent a contract to the Hidden Death Valley.”

Most assassination groups in Jianghu were under the Black Way Alliance. The Hidden Death Valley was one of them.

They weren’t a direct division, so their loyalty wasn’t absolute. But they still couldn’t openly defy the Alliance’s orders.

It would be easy to fabricate evidence that Gwak Jinpung had hired them.

They had done similar things before, using assassin groups under their command when dealing with the Wind and Cloud Merchant Union.

“Tell the Hidden Death Valley to respond to the rumor we spread.”

* * *

The plan worked perfectly.

Mountain stayed still, but Rain had to move. The matter was far too important.

“Today isn’t your scheduled day, is it?”

Rain’s visits to deliver ingredients were fixed on certain days, but he had come unexpectedly.

“There’s a new problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“Gwak Jinpung has hired the Hidden Death Valley to eliminate the Golden Ants.”

“What?”

Mountain frowned deeply.

“Is that true?”

“Yes. A spy who handles assassin networks sent word. It’s confirmed that Gwak Jinpung placed a contract.”

It was understandable. He had to be furious, and the Demonic Cult’s sudden attacks had prevented them from calming him down.

But to do something so reckless?

Rain forced himself to contain his anger.

“If we leave this be, it’ll become a serious problem.”

The Golden Ants weren’t a simple information organization. They’d built massive power using the fortune they’d gained through intelligence trading. Eliminating them wouldn’t be easy.

If this incident became public, and Gwak Jinpung was caught, exposing that they had backed him during the election, it would be disastrous.

“We should’ve revealed that Seop Mu-pyeong was the Black Way Leader during the election.”

But Mountain had chosen not to.

“If we had done that, do you know what would have happened?”

There was a chill in Mountain’s tone.

Rain hesitated.

“You mean the Black Way Leader would’ve started a war?”

“Not just might have. He definitely would have.”

Rain still found it hard to believe.

“They say even a cornered rat will bite a cat. But the man we’re facing is a beast who already owns an entire mountain.”

“Still, that’s…”

“Why? Do you think a great war between Orthodox and Unorthodox factions could never really happen?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but,”

Yet that was what he’d believed.

War. The word was easy to say, but wars didn’t start easily. Nor could they. Everyone had too much to lose.

The Black Way Alliance, of all groups, had no reason to start one. Why would men who could spend their lives in luxury and indulgence risk it all for war? That had always been his belief.

“He’s not like the previous Black Way Leaders. He’s a man with enormous ambition.”

He had absorbed the Northern Sky Clan and even taken the Murim Alliance.

Judging from his actions, that much was clear.

“In the chaos after Jang Wonso’s death, the Black Way Alliance under Lee Jaseung could have crushed the Murim Alliance. The Orthodox Factions would have risen to reclaim it, and both sides would have perished. In the end, the Demonic Cult would have seized Jianghu.”

“I was short-sighted.”

Rain bowed his head. His words made sense, yet another thought crossed his mind.

‘Is that really the whole reason?’

His loyalty to Mountain never wavered, but at times, he couldn’t help but question him. He knew he didn’t tell him everything.

For now, they needed to deal with the problem at hand.

“Then we should eliminate Gwak Jinpung first. We can make it look like he took his own life in despair after losing the election.”

Mountain shook his head.

“This is the Black Way Alliance’s scheme.”

“What?”

“Gwak Jinpung would never do such a thing. Do you know why he wanted to become Alliance Leader?”

“Why?”

“When he was young, assassins killed his parents. He’s harbored deep hatred for assassin organizations ever since. His first act as Alliance Leader would have been to wipe out all assassins from Jianghu. A man like that would never hire one.”

Only Mountain knew that, for he had recruited Gwak Jinpung himself.

“He’s discovered who I am.”

Rain’s eyes widened.

“You mean the Black Way Leader?”

“Yes. The bastard. We’re probably being watched even right now.”

Rain immediately focused his senses, but he couldn’t feel any trace of being watched. The observer must’ve been far away.

“You shouldn’t have come here today.”

“I was careless. I’m sorry.”

Though their exchange was tense, they spoke calmly, mindful of the unseen watcher.

Mountain spoke to the air.

“North Wind. Once Rain leaves, the watcher will tail him. Eliminate the bastard.”

A voice answered from the empty air.

“Understood.”

Mountain looked back at Rain.

“The moment you leave, go into hiding.”

“My mistake may have ruined things. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Mountain thought back to the day he met Lee Jaseung. The moment they exchanged greetings, Lee Jaseung had definitely sensed something.

“It seems the time has come.”

“What do you mean?”

“Send word to Heaven. Tell him I want to meet alone.”

Rain was startled.

“That’s too dangerous.”

“The danger lies in the fact that the Black Way Leader has already discovered who I am.”

“Will Cheon Myeongin even agree to meet you?”

Mountain nodded, confidently.

“He will. He’ll come to me no matter what.”

* * *

“The Centurion who was keeping watch was attacked, and Gwak Hyu has vanished.”

When his subordinate reported that, Dan Woobin slammed his fist down on the desk. His face was stiff. The man who had been hit this time was the most skilled watcher in Three-Eyed Pavilion’s surveillance network.

“So it really is him!”

It was now certain that Gwak Hyu belonged to the backing force.

From the way he had pierced through matters connected to Gwak Jin-pung at a single glance, Dan Woobin was convinced the man was either the backing force’s leader or held a rank equivalent to one.

“The person who visited that day has also disappeared.”

Both of them had vanished completely from Three-Eyed Pavilion’s watch.

“First, find their whereabouts.”

“Understood.”

“If they learned their identities were exposed, they’ll go deep under the surface.”

“You can’t be certain of that. They might strike back at us now that they have the chance.”

The opponent knew that Lee Jaseung had taken over both the Black Way Alliance and the Murim Alliance. They would not let things pass quietly.

“Send the information that a man named Gwak Hyu is the backing force’s leader to the Demonic Cult.”

“Understood.”

Dan Woobin said, with force,

“We must use this opportunity to root out the backing force this time.”

* * *

Cheon Myeongin really did come to meet him.

“It’s been a long time.”

“It has.”

Cheon’s greeting was met with the same calm tone from Mountain. Though they were enemies who could have killed each other on sight, their demeanor was unexpectedly composed.

“Have you been well?”

“As you can see, I’m enjoying life.”

“Perhaps a bit too much?”

“I don’t have much time left, you know.”

Mountain gave a faint smile.

Cheon Myeongin studied him with a strange look before suddenly asking,

“I once had a clear goal, to take the world. What about you? What’s yours?”

“If I’ve replaced someone like you, doesn’t that mean I share the same ambition?”

“No. You definitely have a different purpose. You stayed behind Jang Wonso all those years, hoarding strength in the shadows.”

“I’ve simply always preferred working behind the scenes.”

“You can cut the nonsense. Speak honestly now.”

Mountain stayed silent.

Cheon Myeongin spoke again.

“Fine. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway. Why did you ask to see me?”

“I would like to ask you to stop attacking us.”

Cheon Myeongin smirked, a clear smile filled with refusal.

“You have to stop. If we fight, the one benefitting will be someone else.”

“And who would that be?”

“The one person you keep pretending not to see while trying to reclaim your throne.”

Then he added,

“The Black Way Alliance Leader.”

Cheon Myeongin didn’t deny it. It was true. He had less than a year left to live, and with time slipping away, he’d focused only on restoring his organization, unable to handle everything else he wanted.

This time, it was he who asked,

“Then why haven’t you killed him yet?”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to kill him. I couldn’t. I underestimated him. If I had known from the start that Seop Mu-pyeong was the Black Way Leader, I would’ve acted differently.”

Cheon Myeongin searched Mountain’s eyes, trying to see if it was true. But he couldn’t read him. Mountain had lived too long hiding everything inside.

Cheon Myeongin asked again,

“Then why didn’t you kill me?”

He had long believed it was because of Yim Sayeon, his mother. Or perhaps because Mountain wanted to make him suffer, to let him die slowly, miserable and powerless.

But seeing him again now, Cheon Myeongin sensed there might be another reason. There was something deeper in Mountain’s gaze.

And he was right.

Mountain finally revealed the secret he had kept for years.

“The reason I came to you today is to answer that question.”

“So then why? Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I didn’t choose not to kill you.”

“…?”

“I wasn’t able to.”

Cheon Myeongin’s face showed confusion.

Mountain spoke softly.

“Do you remember the day you left the organization?”

“Of course. I could never forget that day.”

Mountain shook his head after hearing that reply.

“No. You don’t remember it. What happened came after you collapsed.”

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