---

Chapter 194: The Topic is Alan

Creeeak.

The grand door opened, and I stepped into the clan.

After months of traveling, I had finally arrived at the Gu Clan.

The cold winter season had turned into spring, and flowers that had been resting for a while were now in full bloom.

It had already been a year since I returned.

‘…Only a year, but why does it feel like so much time has passed?’

The feeble body that struggled to climb a single staircase had been pushed to the peak through all sorts of trials, and the days I spent holed up in a corner, moping around, seemed like a distant memory.

Now, I had a grand title attached to my name: Jin Ryong.

This year had been filled with tremendous changes.

“Hmm?”

Upon entering, I let out a surprised exclamation.

As I brought my companions into the clan, I sensed an oddly quiet atmosphere.

“What the…?”

I had sent a letter beforehand, so there should have been someone here to greet us, but the servants were nowhere to be seen.

‘What’s going on?’

It was a strange atmosphere.

No matter how much the household may live in hiding, it shouldn’t be this quiet.

“What’s wrong, Prince?”

As I stood there, the following Tang Soyeol approached and asked me.

By the way, Soyeol had mentioned that she would be stopping by the Gu Clan briefly before heading straight to Sichuan.

When I asked if that was okay, she averted her gaze and said it was fine.

Clearly, something wasn’t okay, but I chose not to press.

“No, it’s just a bit too quiet.”

“Indeed… It is excessively quiet.”

It was quiet.

Strangely so.

Such silence could easily morph into unease.

‘Something must be happening.’

I scanned my surroundings and decided to move toward the center.

Well, I tried to.

Just as I was about to take a step, I felt a presence rushing toward me.

At first, I thought it was the head officer.

However, I quickly realized that the one approaching wasn’t the head officer at all.

A small, young figure was running toward me.

Before long, I recognized who it was.

Wearing the distinct martial robe typical among the bloodline, and with her beautifully braided hair, it was someone I knew all too well.

I looked at the girl rushing towards me and said,

“Why are you… still here?”

The one hurrying toward me was Gu Ryeonghwa.

Ryeonghwa shouldn’t be here at the Gu Clan right now.

She should have already left for the Sword Demoness and Hwasan by now.

So why was she here?

“O-Oppa…”

“What’s wrong?”

With an expression that on the verge of tears and a shaky voice, I rushed forward and grabbed Ryeonghwa’s shoulders.

“What happened?”

“O-Oppa…”

As I moved closer, tears streamed down Ryeonghwa’s face.

It seemed that something truly serious was happening.

“Calm down first…”

“Elder Lee… Elder Lee is…”

“What?!”

I tried to soothe Ryeonghwa, but her words sent my emotions spiraling.

“…What did you just say?”

I asked Ryeonghwa, unable to hide my tumultuous feelings.

“O-Oppa…”

Ryeonghwa was crying, her tears falling freely.

But this wasn’t the time to comfort her.

“…Stop crying and speak clearly.”

Though my tone came out somewhat harsh, this wasn’t the moment to consider such things.

Ryeonghwa, unable to articulate through her sobs, had Wi Seol-Ah and Nangong Bi-ah rush over to console her.

But I couldn’t relax my expression.

Amidst her tears, Ryeonghwa trembled and said,

“I-I think Elder Lee… might die.”

Ryeonghwa’s confirmation hit me like a bucket of cold water.

Why hadn’t Ryeonghwa gone to Hwasan yet?

Why was there no one here to greet the bloodline members who returned from Hanam, and why was the atmosphere so chaotic?

Moreover, the intentions of seeking out Elder Lee as soon as I arrived now felt trivial compared to everything else.

I nearly stormed into the clan’s medical room.

From the moment I arrived, the thick smell of blood assaulted my senses.

There were bandages piled up in one corner, as if they had been wiped clean.

In the medical room, the air was thick with the presence of martial artists who were now tending to the situation.

“…What is going on…?”

Both the clan’s physicians and what appeared to be outside specialists were moving hurriedly.

The physicians were sweating as they treated patients.

And the patients were all members of the Gu Clan’s Sword Team.

From the patterns sewn onto their stripped martial robes, it was clear that they were all from the Five Sword Team.

With shaking eyes, I scanned the atmosphere around me, using my own energy to sense.

Finally, I could detect the presence of the person I had been searching for.

At the end of the medical room, I sensed Elder Lee’s presence.

Just as I was about to take a step toward the room, someone blocked my way.

“Y-You can’t go in!”

As I looked at the person who blocked me, they flinched and took a step back.

The person blocking me was a physician from the clan.

“What?!”

When I shot him a fierce glare, I could see his shoulders trembling.

“…Elder Shin is treating him. It’s an emergency situation, and no one is allowed to enter…”

In that room, Elder Lee was apparently being treated by Elder Shin.

The designation of Elder Shin being in a state of emergency was no trivial matter.

Given who Elder Shin was, I could gauge how critical the situation really was.

I gritted my teeth, maintaining my composure, and asked the physician,

“…Where’s the head officer?”

I barely restrained my urge to smash something.

For now, I needed to understand what had transpired.

“There’s a message for you, Young Master.”

Not long after my call, the head officer entered the medical room directly.

Under normal circumstances, I would have sought him out, but right now, I didn’t want to move from this spot.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you on the way here…”

“Apologies are enough. What the hell happened?”

I interrupted the elderly man’s words of apology.

This wasn’t the time for niceties.

“Just what kind of incident led to this chaos?”

…There was an ambush.

“An ambush?”

“Yes.”

The story didn’t make sense.

An ambush?

‘Elder Lee was ambushed?!’

Putting aside Elder Lee’s status, he was someone who typically operated within the clan.

He might occasionally go to Anhui or roam about, but for a martial artist of Elder Lee’s caliber to be at risk of death after an ambush was incomprehensible.

‘Could it be related to the Five Sword Team?’

I glanced around at members of the Five Sword Team lying injured.

The Five Sword Team was led by none other than my eldest sister, Gu Huibi.

A fleeting thought began to race through my mind.

‘…Now that I think about it.’

Before leaving for the Dragon Meeting, Elder Lee had mentioned needing Gu Huibi’s help and intended to visit her.

The head officer, of course, brought this up.

“They say there was an ambush on the front line.”

“So that’s why everything turned out like this.”

I couldn’t know for sure, but Elder Lee had to at least have surpassed the Transformation Realm.

If one had reached the Transformation Realm in the Central Plains, they transcended the level of a single human.

The influence a single being holds could rival that of a typhoon.

Who exactly would dare provoke such a martial master and launch an attack?

“Do you know who the attacker is?”

“I can’t be certain, so I dispatched a search team… but there is a suspect based on witness testimonies.”

I immediately tuned in to the head officer’s words. Thankfully, it seemed they had some leads on the attacker.

After a moment of silence, the head officer finally spoke up.

“It was the Black Night Princess.”

At that moment, my eyes widened to an extent that would rival a lantern.

There was no mistaking it.

At this point, it was a name I had never anticipated to hear.

“…When we piece together the testimonies, we suspect that the one who led the ambush was the Black Night Princess.”

‘The Black Night Princess…?’

The ruler of the Black Night Palace and the leading figure of the Sa Maoze.

In a few years, she would be killed by the Martial Alliance when the Black Night Palace fell.

‘…Why would she now…?’

The truth of whether or not it actually was the Black Night Princess would only be confirmed once Elder Lee’s treatment was successfully completed.

But if it was true, I needed to ascertain whether the Black Night Princess had indeed ambushed the Five Sword Team and Elder Lee.

‘This was entirely unexpected.’

There was no way Elder Lee would face such a major incident at this time.

It was possible I simply couldn’t recall, but…

‘There is no way I could forget something like this.’

Even if I were a fool, I wouldn’t forget something this significant.

Time and again, I had encountered changes to the future.

‘…Could it have led to this?’

If this was something that had never happened before, it likely meant it was due to an action I had taken.

‘So where do I begin?’

Even if I now tried to unravel this tangled mess, I needed to understand how the Black Night Princess’s presence had reached here.

“…Wait.”

As I tried to shift my thoughts amidst the throbbing pain in my head, a crucial realization struck me.

“Head officer.”

“Yes… Young Master?”

“My sister?”

“…”

The shadow over the head officer’s face deepened at my question.

The Five Sword Team belonged to Gu Huibi.

If Elder Lee had gone to assist Gu Huibi at the front line, then where was Gu Huibi herself?

“My sister isn’t here, is she?”

Gu Huibi was notably absent from the medical room. Given her personality, she wouldn’t seclude herself if she were in a good state.

There was no way someone whose team and Elder Lee were injured would just remain holed up in her room.

More than ever, I needed to find out Gu Huibi’s whereabouts.

The head officer hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

“…The Black Night Princess has taken the eldest lady.”

“Hah.”

I swept my hand over my face at the head officer’s words.

It was a relentless string of unfortunate events.

Without even properly settling in, I had wasted time leaning against the door of the medical room.

Tang Soyeol attempted to bring me some comfort, but this wasn’t the situation for that.

I stared blankly ahead, my mind in chaos rather than focusing sharply on any one point.

‘Gu Huibi has been kidnapped.’

The head officer had declared so without hesitation. Gu Huibi had been taken by the Black Night Princess.

‘So her goal was Gu Huibi from the start.’

It was utterly baffling that the Black Night Princess had suddenly appeared at the front line, overpowering Elder Lee and the Five Sword Team, as if it were all orchestrated for Gu Huibi’s sake.

Why had she taken Gu Huibi?

‘Why? What could possibly be the reason?’

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t grasp the reasoning behind it.

‘…The issue is.’

With this incident, my father had vacated his position in the clan.

‘He had stated he’d move alongside the First Sword Team.’

My father wasn’t here from the moment Elder Lee entrusted his life to Elder Shin; he had left the clan at that exact moment.

His purpose was likely to search for and recover Gu Huibi.

He had likely deemed this situation critical enough to act personally.

It elicited thoughts that my father wasn’t particularly a devoted parent.

There had to be other reasons for his involvement.

Clench!

I felt my teeth grind together in irritation.

I hadn’t expected to be greeted by such circumstances right after returning from Hanam.

‘This noble man could seemingly last another ten years…’

With the recommendation of Pejon, and everything else I needed to sort through, now seemed overwhelming.

Who could have predicted that old man would be lying there like that?

“…Damn it.”

A softly whispered curse stirred Ryeonghwa, who had been sleeping beside me.

I had to suppress my urge to lash out due to her reaction.

Seeing Ryeonghwa reminded me of the Sword Demoness.

The Sword Demoness had set off alongside the First Sword Team, just as my father had done.

I had heard that the Sword Demoness, who had been consuming demon energy, had moved to assist after her treatment, but whether she had fully recovered was unclear.

If she had completely regained her strength, it wouldn’t have been a matter of importance for me to worry; I was thankful she had chosen to assist.

I had asked Nangong Bi-ah and Tang Soyeol to hang back for now, and had requested Wi Seol-Ah to keep track of Hongwa.

I didn’t want anyone else to see the expression I wore right now.

Especially not them.

Just as I settled into the wait, listening for any news, the door that belonged to Elder Shin slowly opened.

Hearing the sound, I immediately sat up.

The figure emerging from within looked weary, and it was Elder Shin.

As he caught sight of me by the door, his expression contorted in surprise.

“What are you doing here…?”

“Elder Shin! Is Elder Lee okay?!”

I interrupted him, shouting in a rush, causing Elder Shin to cover his ears and scowl.

“Damn it! Why are you shouting? Who do you think you are to startle people like that?!”

Ugh…

I helped support Elder Shin as he swayed on his feet.

“…Are you alright?”

“I’ve just been sitting too long, that’s all. I’m fine. It’s just old age catching up to me.”

With that, Elder Shin shed his outer clothing.

“The treatment went well. It’ll take some time to regain energy, but he’ll be awake shortly.”

Elder Shin’s words made the breath I’d been holding finally escape.

In response to my expression, Elder Shin clicked his tongue.

“Did you think you could just sit around and then things would improve?”

“…”

“Such a foolish thing to do. You’re neither a physician nor a healer; why would sitting around change anything?”

Elder Shin was blunt with his words but still ushered me toward the room.

As if to say I should go in and check.

I stepped into the room without hesitation.

Inside, Elder Lee lay straight on a bed.

His enormous frame made the room seem particularly small, but that wasn’t the main concern right now.

‘…There are traces of penetrating wounds on his upper body.’

Though the treatment had concluded, the signs were glaringly evident.

The bandages wrapped around him could not fully hide the notably visible injuries.

Even if they weren’t severe, they likely bore marks of significant damage.

What’s more, it was evident just how badly his body had been mangled.

Elder Shin entered behind me and added an explanation.

“Even while unconscious, his energy was staunching the bleeding. If it weren’t for his extraordinary recovery abilities, these injuries should have killed him long ago. Truly, what a monster of a body he has.”

“…Hah.”

“Having checked, you can leave now; your presence here is making the air stifle.”

“…When will he wake up?”

At my question, Elder Shin scoffed and answered.

“If I knew that, I would have taken up being a martial artist, not a physician, would I? He should open his eyes within four days at the latest, so you can stop worrying unnecessarily and scram!”

Though he grumbled harshly, I gathered the critical information.

He was clearly saying I should leave and rest instead, and so I turned my back after taking a brief glance at Elder Lee.

As Elder Shin had said, staying here wouldn’t change anything at the moment.

“…Please take care of him. I’ll make proper arrangements to come and visit later on.”

“Hmph.”

I turned away from Elder Shin, carefully cradled Ryeonghwa in my arms, and stepped out of the medical room.

As I did so, I handed Ryeonghwa over to the attendant waiting outside.

“Make sure she’s lying down, as she probably won’t wake up easily.”

“Understood.”

Since I had secretly provided her with a blood transfusion, she wouldn’t regain consciousness anytime soon.

By morning, she should come to her senses on her own.

“Shall I contact the residence to prepare meals?”

The attendant seemed concerned about my skipped meals, so they raised the question.

But I shook my head in refusal.

“No, I’m not in the mood to eat right now. Besides…”

I loosened my hunched shoulders and looked in a specific direction.

“I have somewhere to go.”

I needed to quell the agitation roaring inside me regarding Elder Lee and Gu Huibi.

I had to put aside my mixed emotions and concentrate.

“It might take a while.”

With those words, I moved with purpose.

The destination I was headed toward was the Gu Exemplar Sect where Elder Lee was currently located.

 

---