Chapter 49: White Ghost 1

By the time Baek Moo-jin descended the mountain path of Hong Rakjang, it was already morning. Only then did Baek Moo-jin realize the scenery around him had shifted from night to dawn, and he came to his senses.

‘When did it get this bright?’

It was a mountain path he could normally descend in a single stride. But in this situation, making the insights his own was more important than returning to the North Heaven Sect. While descending the mountain path, Baek Moo-jin had become so engrossed in contemplating ways to utilize the Yanji that he had entered a state of complete absorption. He had stopped walking to ponder, and in doing so, had apparently lost track of time, unaware that the night had passed entirely.

It had already been three days since Baek Moo-jin and Jwa Sa had come to meet Jin So-hye. He hadn’t intended to be away this long. But how much had happened in those few days? Especially, gaining that unexpected power while helping Jin So-hye was an extremely rare stroke of fortune.

Having somewhat organized his thoughts on how to utilize the Yan Emperor, Baek Moo-jin finally remembered the North Heaven Alliance.

‘The Alliance must think I’ve gone missing.’

Baek Moo-jin paused on the mountain path, cracking his stiff joints with a loud pop. Then, pushing off the ground, he began sprinting toward the North Heaven Alliance at a truly terrifying speed.

At this pace, he would reach the North Heaven Alliance far faster than when he had competed in the Left Minister’s lightness skill contest. However, upon arriving at an unfamiliar fork in the road, Baek Moo-jin unconsciously halted his lightness skill and let out a soft groan.

‘Hmm…’

Baek Moo-jin had a terrible sense of direction.

He ended up stopping passing couriers to ask for directions, entering a shabby inn, and inquiring about the way several times. After listening to people’s explanations and taking wrong turns multiple times, Baek Moo-jin could finally relax when he spotted the familiar path he had run along with Jusa Lee Gon.

Yet, the closer he got to the Northern Heaven Sect, the more deserted the streets became. A silence and foreboding hung in the air, the kind you’d expect during a plague outbreak or when northern tribes were advancing south.

2.

Three days and half a day passed.

Though Baek Moo-jin, who had been away, was unaware, the North Heaven Alliance had already engaged in several small-scale skirmishes with the Iron Blood Sect at various branches, regardless of his absence. The Iron Blood Sect was actually provoking the North Heaven Alliance. Their goal was to lure out forces in a wasteful manner. Sword Commandos were dispatched, and top-tier martial artists scattered to assess the situation.

Gu Yanghou, the leader of the North Heaven Alliance, wasn’t idle either. He contacted spies he had planted beforehand and sent messengers and telegraphs to nearby clans and righteous factions, asking them to monitor the situation as a precaution.

However, the Iron Blood Sect had long been in contact with the Nine Heavens Alliance, quietly preparing to strike the North Heaven Alliance.

On the second day after Baek Moo-jin left the North Heaven Alliance.

The North Heaven Alliance had no choice but to recall the sword squad members dispatched to its various branches back to headquarters. This was because undercover North Heaven Alliance investigators and several branches had reported large-scale movements of Nine Heavens Alliance personnel.

Upon learning of Deputy Leader Yu Zayan’s death, Iron Blood Sect Leader Guan Mingjiang immediately finalized negotiations with the Nine Heavens Sect, with whom they had been engaged in a subtle battle of pride.

The conditions set by the Nine Heavens Alliance for cooperating with the Iron Blood Sect were extremely demanding.

The Nine Heavens Alliance demanded not only a share of the Northern Heaven Alliance’s territories but also an additional core region under the Iron Blood Alliance’s control.

After weighing the gains and losses, forming an alliance with the Nine Heavens Alliance was the right move regardless.

After much deliberation, the Iron Blood Sect leader, upon hearing the news of Deputy Leader Yu Zayan’s death, hastily agreed to the Nine Heavens Alliance’s demands and was now heading north.

The Nine Heavens Alliance.

It was a coalition of nine black-cloaked factions.

Among them, the Nine Heavens Alliance factions closest to the Northern Alliance were the Celestial Dragon Society and the Celestial Phoenix Society. Originally, the Nine Heavens Alliance and the Iron Blood Sect alone were insufficient to crush the Northern Alliance. This was because the Nine Heavens forces weren’t concentrated in one region; they were spread across Gansu Province, spanning Gaohe, Jiuquan, and the Qilian Mountains.

However, the Celestial Dragon Society and the Celestial Phoenix Society dispatched troops the moment they received the Iron Blood Sect’s dispatch. These two factions were the Waterway Fortress forces that had expanded their power along the North Wine River before joining the Nine Heavens Alliance. Consequently, it took them less than half a day to advance beyond the upper reaches of the North Wine River and into the Northern Heaven Alliance’s sphere of influence.

While Baek Moo-jin was rapidly returning to the North River Alliance, the Nine Heavens Alliance had already set foot within the North River Alliance’s sphere of influence. From this point onward, the path to the North River Alliance was clear. Whether it was the Iron Blood Sect or the Nine Heavens Alliance, they were bound to encounter Baek Moo-jin along the way.

3.

While charging forward, Baek Moo-jin spotted hundreds of warriors moving in rows and columns. He instinctively halted his light-step movement and paused to observe the mysterious procession.

Of course, the unknown group had also spotted Baek Moo-jin.

But their response was truly laughable.

At someone’s casual hand signal, ten warriors broke ranks and charged toward Baek Moo-jin.

Baek Moo-jin snorted derisively the moment he saw the expressions on the approaching figures.

‘So they’re black-clad bandits. Doesn’t seem like the Iron Blood Sect…’

Rather than responding immediately, Baek Moo-jin deployed his lightness skill, moving ahead of the procession to gauge the enemy’s numbers.

As Baek Moo-jin moved like a streak of light, not even stirring up dust, those who had rushed to kill him stared blankly at his receding figure, exchanging bewildered glances.

“What the hell? He’s incredibly fast.”

The Nine Heavens Alliance had its share of swift footwork, but Baek Moo-jin’s speed was so astonishing it would make even masters of lightness techniques gasp.

A senior member of the Cheonryong Association addressed his subordinates.

“Go report to the leader. It seems Baekrisega or the righteous factions are supporting him. I thought the Cheonbong Association had blocked everything.”

“Understood.”

One of the warriors who had been chasing Baek Moo-jin quickly turned back, while the others stood frozen for a moment, staring at Baek Moo-jin’s receding figure with expressions of utter disbelief.

Someone muttered.

“They said the Heavenly Phoenix Society deployed their Heavenly Net first to capture the messenger, but it seems some got away.”

“We need to increase our speed.”

Baek Moo-jin, moving while deploying his lightness skill, was openly observing the large-scale military force in motion.

He assessed their attire, movements, and even their approximate martial arts skill levels.

The only factions capable of displaying such force in the vicinity were the Iron Blood Sect and the Nine Heavens Alliance.

‘Could these really be the Nine Heavens Alliance? One hundred, one hundred fifty… at least two hundred men.’

As Baek Moo-jin had anticipated, they were the Cheonryonghoe, a faction of the Nine Heavens.

Baek Moo-jin, who had begun to move completely ahead of the group’s procession, glanced at the corpses piled beside the road as he passed.

The corpses of over a dozen martial artists lay abandoned.

It seemed they had been caught passing by, just like Baek Moo-jin, and killed outright.

‘So there were others who went ahead of us.’

Baek Moo-jin arrived at a fairly bustling commercial district after racing down the highway. This area was under the jurisdiction of the Bukcheon Myeong for security, yet not a single soul was visible on the streets.

‘Did they all manage to escape?’

That was a naive thought.

Inside the shops Baek Moo-jin glanced at—the postal station, inns, and others—corpses were strewn about. At that moment, he saw a foot sticking out from an alleyway corner and found himself drawn closer.

The lower garment looked vaguely familiar.

‘Could it be the North Wind Sword Corps?’

The North Wind Sword Corps, affiliated with the North Heaven Sect, wore dark sand-colored martial uniforms, making them easily recognizable. As Baek Moo-jin had expected, a member of the North Wind Sword Corps lay dead, slumped against the wall in the narrow alley. But it wasn’t just one body.

As Baek Moo-jin stared at the bodies piled in the alley, his head and body slowly began to burn.

‘Damn it.’

Baek Moo-jin was not the leader of the North Wind Alliance.

He had never been summoned to an operational meeting, nor had he received any reports on the faction’s movements.

But within the North Wind Alliance’s sphere of influence, a North Wind Sword Sect assassin lay dead, and the estimated two hundred members of the Nine Heavens Alliance were rapidly closing in on Baek Moo-jin, who had gone ahead. No matter how powerful North Wind Alliance leader Gu Yang-hu was, it could be said he had been dealt a blow by the Iron Blood Sect leader, who had preemptively orchestrated an alliance among the black-cloaked forces.

As Baek Moo-jin turned to leave the alley, a voice spoke softly from deeper within it.

“Brother Bai…”

Bai Wuzhen startled and turned around, but no one was visible. Yet, only one person remained who would call Bai Wuzhen ‘Brother Bai’.

As he stepped back into the alley, Baek Moo-jin asked.

“Brother Zhu? Is that you, Brother Zhu?”

Rushing over, Baek Moo-jin scanned the alley frantically. There, a man pinned under another corpse, his head just visible, stared back at Baek Moo-jin.

Baek Moo-jin moved the bodies aside and helped Joo Ja-woon up.

For some reason, Zhu Jia Yun was covered in blood, still wearing his black mourning clothes.

Baek Mujin was more flustered than the fallen Joo Jawan. That Joo Jawan, cradled in Baek Mujin’s arms, murmured weakly.

“So futile…”

“What happened? Who attacked you?”

“It was Gu Tian…”

With what strength remained, Zhu Jia Yun gripped Bai Muzhen’s collar tightly and said.

“Brother Seo-mun and I went out to request reinforcements…”

“Ah, Brother Seo-mun went too?”

Joo Ja-woon continued with difficulty, his eyes half-closed.

“Brother Baek… I…”

Zhu Jia Yun stopped mid-sentence, coughing violently as blood spurted from his mouth. To Baek Mujin’s eyes, Zhu Jia Yun’s wounds were too severe; there seemed to be no hope of him surviving. Suddenly, Zhu Jia Yun gazed past Baek Mujin, muttering weakly.

“I’ll go first.”

With those words, Zhu Jia Yun’s head slumped limply. His eyes remained open. Baek Moo Jin stared down at him for a moment. He couldn’t believe Zhu Jia Yun, who had joined the sect with him, had died so suddenly.

‘Brother Zhu, how many days have passed?’

Baek Moo-jin couldn’t bring himself to leave and stared down at Joo Ja-woon for quite some time. A moment later, the group from Gucheon, who had been chasing after Baek Moo-jin at a fairly fast pace, looked into the alley and shouted loudly.

“He’s here!”

Hearing this, Baek Moo-jin let out a long sigh and finally closed Zhu Jia-yun’s eyes.

“Huuuuuuu…”

Baek Moo-jin, realizing there would be neither time nor opportunity to tend to Joo Ja-woon’s body, bid farewell as he stood.

“Brother Zhu, rest in peace.”

At the alley entrance, the Tianfeng Society warriors began charging forward, weapons in hand. Baek Moo-jin laid Joo Ja-woon down once more. The moment he stood up, he drew his sword, turned his back, and unleashed a straight sword strike.

Seven or eight men who had begun entering the alley were struck by the sword energy Baek Moo-jin unleashed. With a squelching sound, parts of their bodies were cleanly severed.

Baek Moo-jin walked out of the alley, now briefly silent, wearing a bitter smile. A procession of fifty or sixty men, who had been moving, stopped and stared at Baek Moo-jin emerging from the alley.

But Baek Moo-jin suddenly looked down at his own clothes. The collar that Ju Ja-woon had grabbed was stained with his blood, the color vividly visible.

After taking a deep breath, Baek Moo-jin walked toward the enemies surrounding him.

Today, it seemed there would be no time to wipe the blood from his sword.