Chapter 474: At the Martial Alliance (8)

Mo Yong Yeonhwa wanted to scream.

"It's been a while."

Yeon Hojeong looked considerably worse for wear than he had the last time she saw him. His clothes were torn to rags, and his hair was a disheveled mess.

But his distinctive gaze remained unchanged.

No, it was far more striking than before.

His eyes were so deep and clear that they seemed almost chillingly cold.

Simply meeting his gaze made her feel as though he could see through every secret she harbored.

Concealing her feelings, Mo Yong Yeonhwa offered a martial salute.

"Greetings, Commander Yeon of the Righteous Justice Corps."

Yeon Hojeong's eyes gleamed.

Mo Yonggun smiled.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes, Father."

"We have an honored guest. Tell the servants to prepare some food and wine."

"Yes, Father."

"Would you care to join us?"

Mo Yong Yeonhwa smiled.

"I don't think a lowly caterpillar like me belongs at this table. Perhaps another time, when the occasion is right."

With that, Mo Yong Yeonhwa left the room.

Mo Yonggun chuckled and gestured toward a chair.

"Have a seat."

"Impressive."

"Hmm? What is?"

Yeon Hojeong sat down.

"I wouldn't say she's become humble, but she seems far more difficult to deal with than before."

"My daughter?"

"Indeed."

Mo Yonggun took the seat opposite Yeon Hojeong and poured himself some cold tea.

"She's beginning to understand the world. She's realized how many geniuses and monsters are out there."

"Anyone can recognize that. What matters is whether she can admit there are people who surpass her."

"She's admitted that as well."

"That's no easy thing."

"One must learn to accomplish difficult things to make progress, wouldn't you agree? She still has plenty of shortcomings, but what matters is that she's taken her first step."

Yeon Hojeong smacked his lips.

She was nothing more than a little fox before. Now she's even learned how to hide her fangs.

He was not the only one who had been growing.

The extent of one's growth depended on how one spent the time available.

In that respect, Mo Yong Yeonhwa apparently had not wasted her time either.

Of course, Yeon Hojeong was hardly pleased by the change.

A short while later, a modest spread of food and wine was brought in.

"Clear grain liquor, I see."

"Isn't it your favorite?"

"It is, but I wasn't sure it would suit your tastes, Clan Lord."

"You drank so much of it that I decided to try some myself. At first, all I could taste was how strong it was. These days, I've come to enjoy it."

"I see."

"Here, let me pour you a drink."

The two filled each other's cups.

"Shall we toast your safe return?"

"I'm so touched I could cry."

CLINK!

They knocked their cups together and drained them in one go.

Mo Yonggun smiled.

"You haven't changed."

"What makes you say that?"

"What if I'd slipped poison into your wine? You certainly drink it without a second thought."

"Is that really the sort of pointless worry I'm supposed to entertain the moment we meet?"

"Ha ha ha!"

"Neither of us is the sort to resort to such crude tricks, are we?"

"I'm grateful you think so highly of us."

Neither man meant a word of it.

There was no such thing as fair play in political struggles. Poisoning someone's wine was as legitimate a possibility as any other scheme.

If Mo Yonggun believed he could kill Yeon Hojeong that way, he would have poisoned his drink a hundred times over.

Yeon Hojeong would have done the same.

They simply discarded tactics that would not work against each other.

After clashing for so long, the two knew each other well.

In that respect, their struggle was nothing like a game of Go.

"It seems you had a sparring match as soon as you arrived."

"I did."

"With Clan Lord Yeon?"

"He's still a formidable wall standing in my path."

Mo Yonggun's eyes gleamed.

Just as I thought.

He had met Yeon Wi several times during council meetings.

They had never spoken much, but every encounter had left Mo Yonggun privately astonished.

Each time they met, Yeon Wi seemed like a different man.

Even so, Mo Yonggun had assumed Yeon Wi remained beneath him.

Apparently, that was no longer the case.

If Yeon Hojeong spoke of his father this way, then even if Yeon Wi was not stronger than his son, he certainly was not weaker.

Which meant there was probably little separating Yeon Wi from Mo Yonggun himself.

I thought that while this brat was away from the Alliance, Yeon Wi would be spending his time plotting with the strategist. Apparently not.

Mo Yonggun understood just how much blood, sweat, and suffering someone at his level had to endure to achieve such growth.

Yeon Wi must have subjected himself to agony that felt like dying, again and again.

Only by overcoming that suffering countless times could he have reached his current level.

Worse still, at their level, even such effort could result in regression rather than advancement.

Natural talent, relentless effort, and probably a measure of extraordinary fortune as well.

Mo Yonggun sighed inwardly.

Recognize that the world is full of geniuses and monsters... I suppose that's something I need to accept myself.

Mo Yonggun had reached his present realm not only through enlightenment, but also thanks to the ancient martial arts known as the Thunderbolt Art and the Heartless Heavenly Thunder Forms.

Thunder Qi was the fiercest and most destructive form of qi under heaven.

His martial arts, which continuously expanded his Inner Qi through the cultivation of Thunder Qi, followed a different path of advancement from conventional martial arts.

Just as enlightenment was not the only route to greater strength, an increase in the quality and quantity of one's Inner Qi did not necessarily make one stronger.

Conversely, advances in Inner Qi and mastery of martial techniques alone could allow someone to contend with—or even defeat—a master who had attained supreme enlightenment.

Mo Yonggun had maintained a balance between those two avenues of development.

In a sense, one might say he walked a more difficult path than other martial artists.

Of course, from another perspective, it could also be considered an easier one.

"You and your father truly are remarkable."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"Well, enough about that."

Mo Yonggun's gaze changed.

"How was it? What happened in Guangdong?"

"Didn't you already receive the reports during the council meetings?"

"I'm asking not as a councillor of the Martial Alliance, but as a comrade-in-arms bound to you by a temporary alliance."

A comrade-in-arms, huh?

Well, he's not entirely wrong.

Mo Yonggun's hatred of the Three Creeds was terrifying.

He despised them so deeply that he was willing to postpone the election of the Martial Alliance Leader if it meant exterminating them.

That hatred and single-minded desire to kill had certainly proved useful.

At the same time, however, they served as a shield behind which Mo Yonggun could conceal just how unpredictably he might act.

It was why Yeon Hojeong now dealt with him more cautiously than before.

"To begin with, the man who posed as Yangcheon's disciple, Hong Gwan, was actually a spy sent by the Perverse Lust Cult. His real name was Yayul Jeok."

Yeon Hojeong gave him an unvarnished account of what had happened in Guangdong and how he had handled the situation.

There was one thing he omitted, however: the presence of the elderly Buddhist monks living in Foshan.

Venerable Gonggong might already have told Mo Yonggun about them, but Yeon Hojeong considered that unlikely.

There was no reason to make things uncomfortable for Venerable Gonggong by revealing the matter himself.

"Hmm. I see."

Mo Yonggun looked impressed.

"I expected you to handle things well, but you truly smashed them to pieces. Excellent work."

At least this time, his praise was sincere.

Yeon Hojeong shrugged.

"The job isn't completely finished yet. The mission won't be over until Guangdong has been properly stabilized."

"I'm sure it will work out. I have no doubt you took all the necessary measures."

Mo Yonggun nodded.

Yet one question troubled him.

He hasn't told me everything.

He could sense it instinctively.

Yeon Hojeong had not disclosed every last detail of what happened in Guangdong.

Then again, that was only natural. Mo Yonggun would have done the same in his position.

But he had noticed several gaps in the account—matters that should have been mentioned when explaining how the situation had been resolved, quite apart from any personal affairs.

For example, how had Yeon Hojeong persuaded Guangdong's senior government officials to cooperate?

Guangdong's Left Provincial Administration Commissioner doesn't particularly like martial organizations.

Unlike in some other provinces, securing a post in Guangdong's Office of Provincial Administration required genuine ability.

It was not a position one could simply purchase with bribes.

Mo Yonggun had conducted his own investigation into Guangdong's Left Provincial Administration Commissioner before the expedition.

He's not the sort who can be swayed by force. And he won't accept bribes from martial artists either. He's clearly a proud man.

How, then, had Yeon Hojeong won him over?

Could this brat have connections within the government?

It was possible.

But Mo Yonggun considered it unlikely.

Monstrous though Yeon Hojeong might be, it was absurd to imagine that he could eliminate the Three Creeds' agents, restore public sentiment in Guangdong, and establish connections with government officials all at the same time.

This was not a question of ability, but of time.

Even Yeon Hojeong could not manufacture hours that did not exist simply to cultivate government connections.

Or did he already have ties to the government?

That seemed doubtful as well.

If he had, there would have been no reason to send Mo Yonggun to meet the Regional Military Commissioner during the operation against the Divine Flame Cult's warriors.

Of course, he does have something of a connection with Lord Yeo... but that alone doesn't explain it.

Mo Yonggun reached a near-certain conclusion.

He probably has no established contacts on the government side. Which means he persuaded the Left Commissioner through some method he hasn't told me about.

And whatever that method was, it could not have been something Yeon Hojeong accomplished entirely on his own.

Despite his thoughts, Mo Yonggun's smile never faltered.

"How is Woo?"

"You mean the Commander of the Demon-Sweeping Corps?"

"Indeed."

"He's healthy. And unlike certain people, he's an honest, dependable man."

"Ha ha ha! Yes, he's a rather straightforward fellow. He'd be capable of fulfilling his responsibilities no matter what position he held."

Yeon Hojeong's eyes gleamed.

That's right. He'd do his part even as Martial Alliance Leader.

"I expect I'll be working with the Commander of the Demon-Sweeping Corps on many things from now on. I hope I can count on your support."

"Ha! Shouldn't you be saying that to Woo? Why ask me?"

"He's your younger brother. No matter how upright he may be, can he really disregard his elder brother's wishes? Especially when you're also his Clan Lord?"

"Ha ha ha."

Mo Yonggun found himself strangely pleased.

At the very least, Yeon Hojeong's assessment of Mo Yong-woo was sincere.

Mo Yonggun recognized that sincerity, which allowed him to laugh without any ulterior motive.

"Come. Let's have another drink."

"Gladly."

They continued filling each other's cups, drinking back and forth.

Half a double-hour later, roughly an hour had passed.

Mo Yonggun, his face now pleasantly flushed, asked,

"Have you given it any thought?"

"Given what any thought?"

"Come now. Surely there was a reason you left matters in Guangdong to Woo and returned to the Alliance ahead of him?"

Yeon Hojeong's eyes gleamed.

"You're talking about the spy."

"Indeed."

Although drink had reddened Mo Yonggun's face, the moment the word spy left his lips, his eyes turned cold.

"The bastard is vermin, but I have to acknowledge his ability. Concealing himself so completely among an assembly of sect leaders is no easy feat."

It was far more than merely difficult.

Ordinary mental fortitude would never withstand that kind of pressure.

At the very least, the infiltrator's strength of mind had to be exceptional.

"We don't know yet whether we're dealing with one piece of vermin or several, do we?"

Mo Yonggun's eyes blazed.

"You think there's more than one?"

"I think we should keep that possibility open. Though I consider it unlikely that there are two or more."

"That would be my assessment as well."

Mo Yonggun idly turned his wine cup between his fingers before casually asking,

"How do you intend to catch him?"

There would be no single leading figure in the operation to root out the spy.

Everyone would have to participate in identifying and capturing the infiltrator.

Still, Yeon Hojeong's intelligence operated on a different level from that of most people.

There was no harm in hearing his thoughts.

Yeon Hojeong set down his cup.

"I haven't figured out how to catch him yet. But before we begin analyzing the suspects, I have an idea of where we should start."

"Let's hear it."

"We need to dig into their pasts."

Disappointment crossed Mo Yonggun's face.

"Isn't that obvious? In fact, before that fool Deung Cheongyo made his explosive declaration, Strategist Je Gal had already begun investigating the councillors' backgrounds."

"I'm not talking about that level of investigation."

"Then what?"

"We need to go back to before they joined their sects."

"...!"

Mo Yonggun's expression hardened.

Resting his chin on one hand, Yeon Hojeong gazed at him with unusually clear eyes.

"We need to find out when each of them entered their sect, what martial arts they learned, whom they met, and how they eventually became sect leaders. I think we need to examine every detail of their histories."

"Are you saying...?"

"Exactly. We can't rule out the possibility that the infiltrator belonged to the Three Creeds from a very young age—even before entering his sect."