Soyak recalled the fight from that day.

Ak Seowon’s Flame-Dragon Saber Canon, wrapped in raging fire.

The move—Back-Scale Ignition.

That flame had been his Sword Qi, surely.

Because the shape hadn’t fully fixed, it had looked like real fire…

“Is that so?”

“They say because of that, the Heaven-Net Platform Lord—basically the Alliance Leader’s right hand—stepped down from the Commander post and went back to the countryside.”

“…I see.”

“If he was just stepping into Transcendent Apex, then that puts him in the same realm as you.”

Soyak didn’t know if that was the reason.

Having lost someone himself, had he realized something?

Soyak lowered her gaze quietly.

So what if he had realized something.

If he realized it and repented, would her dead parents come back?

No.

If he realized it and repented, would his dead son come back?

That wasn’t it either.

The wheel of revenge never breaks.

Stepping down and going back to the countryside would only make it easier for him to move around freely.

But now wasn’t the time for revenge.

Not yet…

She still had to build strength.

“He came with them, actually.”

“He did? Good. If the Flame-Saber Lord Ak Jupae is here, subjugation will be a bit easier.”

“But…”

“What happened?”

“The branch family head passed away because of this incident. As far as I know, only the Young Head and the youngest daughter are left.”

Ak Taegyu studied Soyak in silence.

Then he let out a heavy sigh.

“I shouldn’t say this, but someone better than Flame-Saber General Ak Seowon needs to come.”

“The Seventh Unit Commander should be strong, shouldn’t he?”

“He should be. They say the closer you get to the First Unit, the stronger they are. I heard the First Unit Commander is just stepping into the Transformation Realm—same as Ak Jupae.”

It was a strangely twisted feeling.

The blood relative of someone she had killed.

The dead man’s name coming from another person’s mouth.

Soyak rose quietly.

“Is there any confirmed information on Yacha Blood Gate or the Sura Unit?”

“Only that Yacha Blood Gate’s armed group—the Blood Sword Commander—is just stepping into Transcendent Apex.”

“And the Gate Lord…”

“Nothing confirmed. Looks like he hides information pretty well.”

They needed more information.

And no matter where you went, the Beggar Union was best for information.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

“Where are you going?”

“The Beggar Union.”

*****

The Beggar Union, Southern Shandong Province Branch Hall.

It was chaos.

The Beggar Union was a place anyone could join as long as they were a beggar.

There was no way the Demonic Cult hadn’t infiltrated a place like that.

“How much… how much of the information do we have to burn…”

Third-Knot disciple and Branch Hall Leader Yang Goeng felt like his head was splitting.

And it made sense.

Half of the First Knot and the Second Knot had run.

The moment the Shandong Ak Family went up in flames.

Of course that’s what happened.

No matter how well they hid their demonic energy—

If Branch Hall Leader Yang Goeng, who had stepped into Apex, checked properly, he’d catch them.

There were only two reasons they’d stayed fine until now.

First: there were too many people to do a complete inspection.

Second: nobody had even imagined there were people with demonic energy inside the Beggar Union.

“Demonic Cult—from when, damn it! From when!!”

Yang Goeng clawed at his head.

Hair rained down in clumps.

Every piece of information the ones who ran had brought in was unreliable.

Meaning it had to be destroyed.

But information was a net—everything connected.

If even one strand was contaminated, the credibility of related information was cut in half.

And in the Beggar Union, the First Knot, Second Knot, and Third Knot disciples were the eyes at the source of that information.

Just how much had been twisted?

Yang Goeng started by salvaging information related to the Demonic Cult.

At minimum, none of the Third Knot disciples had run.

Which meant any information sourced from the Third Knot could be saved.

“Ha… damn it, only twenty percent is left…”

Even that was lucky.

With the First Knot and Second Knot, all you could scrape up were rumors and word-of-mouth.

That was the Demonic Cult for you.

Fortunately, they could salvage quite a lot of the important material.

The problem was the remaining eighty percent.

All of it had to be burned.

That was when it happened.

A First Knot disciple rolled into the Branch Hall Leader’s room like he’d been thrown, reporting almost like a scream.

“Branch Hall Leader! Someone from Mount Hua is here!”

“What? Mount Hua??”

Mount Hua was in Shaanxi.

From here, it was far—no, insanely far.

Why here?

Why not the Shaanxi Branch Hall?

“Why would Mount Hua come here?”

“Th-that is… so… they said they came on a Roaming Pillar Journey to the Shandong Ak Family…”

“A Roaming Pillar Journey? In this timing—into Shandong?”

“They… they got caught up in it…”

What the hell do they do with this.

Mount Hua wasn’t a sect you could turn away at the door.

More than that—a Roaming Pillar Journey.

As far as Yang Goeng knew, Mount Hua didn’t send Third Generation disciples out on those very often.

And even when they did, it was normally around Shaanxi.

‘…Then that means it has to be at least a Second Generation disciple, doesn’t it?’

Who were Mount Hua’s Second Generation disciples now?

The young pillars of the martial world, just past the Later Generation ranks, entering their thirties.

Among them was even someone once called the strongest of the Later Generation.

Mount Hua Sword Dragon, Eun Jeong.

A powerful martial artist running in the late Transcendent Apex at just thirty.

“D-did you ask their name???”

“Cheon Soyak… that’s what she said.”

“Cheon Soyak? Huh? That name isn’t among the Second Generation disciples, though?”

Yang Goeng had memorized the names of most rising young experts from the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans.

Even their realms and traits.

And yet it didn’t click?

That was strange.

It felt like he’d heard the name somewhere…

“Where is she now?”

“We seated her in the side room.”

“Good. I’m going right now.”

The Branch Hall Leader threw on the best outer robe he owned and rushed out of his room.

Mount Hua, in a situation like this—

Why would they come to the Beggar Union?

Wasn’t it obvious?

They had learned what was happening and came to help.

That was good news.

That’s what he thought.

Right up until he opened the door.

“…Huh?”

“I am Cheon Soyak, Third Generation disciple of the Mount Hua Sect. I greet the Branch Hall Leader.”

The one bowing politely in front of him was, unmistakably, wearing Mount Hua’s plum-blossom martial uniform.

Except she was far shorter than he’d expected.

No, it wasn’t just her height.

Her frame was small, and she was young.

“Y-you’re a Third Generation disciple?”

Even so, Yang Goeng didn’t forget formal speech.

The other person was a mainline disciple of a great sect.

“Yes. I’m out on a Roaming Pillar Journey for a while.”

Only then did Branch Hall Leader Yang Goeng smack his forehead.

He’d trapped himself thinking it had to be a Second Generation disciple, so it hadn’t occurred to him.

Even though it was fresh information the Beggar Union itself had distributed not long ago.

A monster who had defeated Namgung Seon, the Young Head of the Namgung Clan and the Heavenly Sword.

A genius named as material for the next greatest swordsman under heaven.

“…E-excuse me, but—were you the one who won at the Ilji Gathering not long ago?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“It’s truly an honor to meet you.”

“Honor is…”

Confusion spread over Soyak’s face.

She didn’t understand why this man was acting like this toward her.

Of course, she knew how she looked to the outside world, but…

This was beyond groveling.

“You can… speak comfortably.”

“Oh no, how could I do that to a mainline disciple of Mount Hua. So—what brings you here?”

“…I’d like to ask for a bit of help.”

Branch Hall Leader Yang Goeng answered with a wide smile.

“What kind of help?”

“I’ve heard the Beggar Union is an information organization. You know what happened to the Shandong Ak Family recently, yes?”

“How could I not? We’re in chaos because of that right now.”

“We… intend to help the Ak Family.”

Yang Goeng’s smiling face creased into a frown.

Help them?

From what he knew, this child was fourteen.

It was true her martial arts were powerful, but…

That was only “for her age.”

The martial world had eccentrics and monsters like grains of sand.

The report he’d received said Soyak’s realm was the edge of Apex.

But from what he had in front of him…

This incident involved the Demonic Cult’s Sura Unit and, among Shandong’s unorthodox forces, Yacha Blood Gate.

One child expert at Apex wasn’t going to change that.

“…Young Hero Soyak.”

“Yes.”

“I may be a lowly, worthless beggar, but may I say one thing?”

“I’ll listen.”

Ahem.

Yang Goeng cleared his throat.

He meant it as sincere advice.

His throat was tightening because he was trying to do something he never did.

“You understand the difference between someone who’s reached Transcendent Apex and someone at the edge of Apex, yes?”

“Yes. It’s a big difference.”

Using Sword Qi.

That meant you could freely control the sword’s “length.”

In a fight between martial artists, “distance” mattered.

Sword Qi was what nullified that distance by letting you control “length” freely.

So which was superior between Sword Light, which only increased the sword’s power, and Sword Qi?

The answer was obvious.

An expert who used Sword Qi could, at any time, adjust the sword’s length…

And make an attack that couldn’t reach, reach.

“As you heard from the Ak elder, this incident involves the Demonic Cult’s Sura Unit and the unorthodox Yacha Blood Gate.”

“I heard.”

“And their core strength is at least Transcendent Apex.”

Yang Goeng spoke in an extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely serious and heavy voice.

But Soyak didn’t seem to match the mood at all.

She simply looked at him, expressionless.

“For an Apex expert to throw herself at a Transcendent Apex expert is…”

“Branch Hall Leader.”

“Yes?”

“Not long ago, I reached the threshold of Transcendent Apex.”

Yang Goeng’s mouth fell open.

It was valuable information.

Very valuable information, but…

Was that even possible?

Chapter 76

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