Chapter 133: Mujin, Nervous

A band of men were training in the mountains.

They were undergoing brutal drills that looked exhausting just to watch. These were the warriors of the Divine Sword Regiment.

Not only the Captains and group leaders, even the ordinary martial men were elite elites with rich battlefield experience.

Mujin allowed no exemptions for this training. Groups cycled through high-intensity exercises. It was truly hellish training.

Swish, swish swish!

Exhausted to the bone, the Divine Sword Regiment’s fighters nonetheless thrust their swords in unison with crisp, disciplined motion.

At first glance, standing in formation and rehearsing the same technique might look like something for recruits. But the Regiment’s training was different.

These were not basics. These were real combat techniques. They were moves meant to subdue an enemy in a handful of exchanges, not to be put on display.

Mujin strode among the flashing arcs of swordlight.

“Put more strength into your left foot,”

“Loosen your arms,”

“Straighten your waist!”

He corrected their postures. It was rare for Mujin to personally conduct training since there were instructors for that. This time he had taken command himself.

“The sweat you shed today will stand in for the blood you will shed tomorrow!”

At Mujin’s cry, everyone roared their kiai.

After one round of drills, Mujin called in the next group.

Yaso, a subordinate of the Regiment, asked with concern.

“Aren’t you tired, Captain?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look a little gloomy for some reason.”

Yaso had seen correctly. Mujin felt his mood falling. He had the sense that something ominous was approaching.

“Any news from the Lord?”

Lee Jaseung had cultivated a Yin technique and gone in search of the iron sphere. He had not yet returned, so there was of course no news.

“No. Not yet,”

Mujin could not decide where his unease was aimed. Was it at Lee Jaseung, at himself, at the Divine Sword Regiment, or at the Black Way Alliance?

Lee Jaseung had once said this.

“If you can’t shake off anxiety, train.”

Mujin remembered joking then that he would rather stay anxious.

But no, Lee Jaseung was right.

Only strength that could overcome the misfortune anxiety hinted at could truly banish anxiety.

Mujin tightened his throat and called out loudly,

“Bring the next group forward.”

Then, a voice came from behind.

“Why is the truant Divine Sword Regiment suddenly training? Did that arrogant strategist in the Black Way Alliance plan some death mission?”

Mujin smirked. The voice belonged to that very arrogant strategist.

Mujin did not let teasing pass. Without turning, he replied.

“You know how impulsively that arrogant strategist formulates operations.”

“That’s true.”

“And is that all? He never considers what the front-line fighters putting their lives on the line actually think.”

"D-Do I not?"

"He judges everything by numbers. How many enemies, how much force, how many of us, how much we can spend."

"As a strategist, I think that’s totally fair."

Dan Woobin’s voice faded gradually.

"We’re treated like expendables. We’re pawns on a board."

"That’s not true! I’ve never treated you like expendables!"

"He hates being misunderstood more than death itself. If someone used that, they could probably spark a war, you know?"

"Stop it! I’m not that simple!"

Mujin finally turned and smiled faintly.

"Hehehe, you’re here? Chief Strategist."

"I started it, so that’s on me. But what’s up with you all of a sudden? Why the training?"

Mujin usually ran special drills before major operations.

"It just felt like discipline was slipping in recent days."

They both knew that was not the real reason. If judged purely by military bearing, the Guard Hall’s martial men were the strictest, then the Iron Cavalry Regiment. Compared to them this place might seem freer, but that was only by comparison.

Within the Black Way Alliance, no unit’s discipline matched the Divine Sword Regiment’s.

Dan Woobin asked seriously,

“Do you sense something?”

Mujin, who had lived as a reaper through countless life and death days on terrible battlefields, nodded once and replied with a serious tone.

"The wind smells of blood."

He spoke symbolically of course. He didn’t say he worried for Lee Jaseung, because telling Dan Woobin would only worry him.

Dan Woobin understood. Sensing an approaching crisis was something even his sharp mind couldn’t always explain.

Mujin glanced at him and said,

"Keep us alive."

Dan Woobin nodded. Mujin and the Regiment would fight, but the decisions determining life and death ultimately belonged to him.

"I’ll probably treat you like expendables though."

Mujin replied with a smile.

"Then make us expendables you can use a hundred times before you throw them away."

* * *

Baek Seolyoung was cleaning Lee Jaseung’s office.

She could have left it to the attendants, but at least for the space where Lee Jaseung worked she wanted to tidy it herself.

They said you could tell a person’s character by looking at their room.

"He’s neater than me."

She laughed as she muttered to herself. His office was indeed well organized.

The colors of the curio cabinets and the drapes, the placement of table and chairs all fit her tastes. Being in the room calmed her.

She placed the Limitless Iron Chest she had brought onto Lee Jaseung’s desk. She had heard he had learned the coffer’s martial art and that he had refused to pass it on.

She thought that was right. A martial art of such a great treasure shouldn’t be handed out lightly.

She opened the lid.

The chest seemed to stir. Maybe it was her imagination. The bronze figurine inside the iron coffer moved and performed its forms more vividly than ever. Things tended to shine when they were in their place.

In the past, thoughts about the Limitless Iron Chest would have led her to question her own position. Was she standing in the right place? Was this where she belonged?

She no longer dwelt on such questions. In the past she might have asked herself, while Lee Jaseung did great things, what was she doing here, cleaning? But she had learned that drawing a sword and charging forward was not the only way to fight.

First you had to know exactly who you faced from the position you held. Now was not the time to lead the charge, but to stand alone and grow stronger.

A fight she would hate might come in the future, and she will win in a cool way.

She threw the window wide and thought,

Finish your business safely and return quickly.

* * *

Two men were moving a cart. They wore monk’s robes but they were not monks. A real monk wouldn’t haul a cart with a woman’s corpse on it.

The corpse on the cart was shriveled, every moisture drawn out.

"We’re already on the eighth one today."

The man pushing the cart from behind replied.

"Feels like this is almost over too."

"Why not gather them in one batch and handle them? This daily drudgery is a pain."

"They can’t do that which is why we are doing this. I’ve been at it for seven years now."

"Money’s good, but we’ll get divine punishment for this."

It was then. A strange voice suddenly rang ahead.

"Then you shouldn’t have done it."

The man in front jerked his head up in surprise.

Thuck!

A hole opened in the man’s throat.

The man behind tried to shout “intruder,” but no sound came out. His mute acupoint had been sealed.

The one who killed the man in front and disabled the other’s voice acupoint was Lee Jaseung.

"I’ll ask just once. Answer properly and I’ll spare you."

The man nodded fiercely.

"Where is the sphere?"

At that question, Lee Jaseung released the sealed acupoint. The man’s pupils flicked as he thought how to answer.

Thuck!

Lee Jaseung drove his dagger without mercy. The man collapsed with no scream.

Lee Jaseung leaped again.

Outwardly it was a temple, but it functioned like the villains’ den. Fighters were posted in hiding around the temple, and he eliminated them first.

Some were skilled, but none who were already targeted by Lee Jaseung was able to escape his dagger.

He cleared the outer sentries and entered the interior. He no longer needed to ask where the thing lay. He could sense it.

A powerful Yin Qi came from a small Buddhist hall in the rear courtyard.

Lee Jaseung was very cautious.

His earlier duel with the swordsmen sent by the hidden force had been no easy thing. A single slip might have meant death.

But today he was even more tense.

Jang Wonso had spent years suppressed like a puppet, accumulating power. The source of that power was hatred.

Lee Jaseung had seen again and again how twisted hatred could become a madness that swallowed everything.

For seven years the man had collected women’s inner Qi and true life essence.

What did he intend to do with it?

Create a witch of legend?

Or forge a weapon of terrible power?

It was impossible to say. In any case, the work was nearly complete, and there would be a trump prepared to guard the sphere.

Lee Jaseung’s figure sliced the air like a bird.

He skimmed past a wall and flashed his dagger.

Thuck, thuck, thuck!

The wall yielded like tofu. Blood dribbled from the breach.

He dropped under the wall.

Ahead stood the Buddha hall. Yin Qi became stronger as he approached.

He crept along the wall, sharpened all five senses, and found no more hidden fighters.

He stepped into the rear courtyard. From the hall a restrained yet powerful Yin Qi flowed.

He opened the door and entered.

A golden Buddha sat in the center, flanked by four statues, two on each side.

They resembled the Four Heavenly Kings but also differed at the same time. The four statues shared the golden Buddha’s form yet differed in color and detail.

The blue statue held a sword, the white one a pipa, the red statue had a dragon coiled about its hand, and the green statue held a spear.

Curiously, all the statues had their eyes closed, giving the place an eerie feeling.

The iron sphere he sought rested at the hall’s center. For something so important the security felt lax.

It didn’t seem that essence absorption had been carried out here, so why was the orb moved to this hall? Had they finished their work?

The Iron Orb felt different from that day as expected.

Compared to that day, it was sharper, stronger, and somehow organized.

Lee Jaseung approached carefully, his Protective Qi raised to the utmost.

Just as he reached for the iron sphere, the blue statue with the sword snapped its eyes open.