Yoo Geum-pil, standing in front of the safe in Seosan, examined the five dots marked in a semicircle with a troubled face.

The dots were carved to a depth that an adult's index finger could fit into, so something had to be inserted inside.

"When the inn built the safe, they commissioned it from our faction. So I know it was made by us."

"If the Hao Faction made it, they should be able to open it. Hurry up and open it."

"That's not easy."

Yoo Geum-pil, who was examining the door with a wrinkled face at the urging of Wang Yao, the master of the Gold Flower Pavilion, let out a long sigh.

"If we bring the person who made this door, we can probably open it. It's difficult for me too. If we force the door open, the passage will probably collapse. The water from Poyang Lake might even flood the safe and submerge it."

"That can't happen. We just need to find that designer. If the Hao Faction made it, they should know who it is, right? Bring him here."

"He's dead."

"What?"

"What!"

When Yoo Geum-pil said he was dead, Wang Yao and Buk Myeong-woo, the master of the Sword Wind Hall, shouted with surprised faces.

Buk Myeong-woo, regaining his composure, said, "Since he knew the secret of the safe, the inn bastards wouldn't have just left him alone. It seems they killed him after completing the safe."

"They're the kind of bastards who would do that. They don't seem like human beings. When I first saw the innkeeper, I thought he was unusual, but I didn't know he was a guy who liked to kill like this. They say he's from the Demonic Cult, so he's extremely evil."

Wang Yao clicked his tongue and recalled Jin Sa-wol. Then Yoo Geum-pil said, "I know that he wasn't killed. Rather, he worked at the inn. He was in charge of the Do Faction of this inn on behalf of the Hao Faction."

"The Do Faction?"

When Buk Myeong-woo asked, Yoo Geum-pil nodded.

"It's Shin Hong, the master of the Do Faction. He's good at making safes. Besides that, I know that he also made the Geumwon and the guest hall here, as well as the Gold Room and the Silver Room of the gisaeng house. He's one of the few people in our faction who has a deep knowledge of architecture."

"I see."

"So that's what happened."

Wang Yao and Buk Myeong-woo said with regretful expressions. But the expressions of the two were not good.

"I heard he died when the inn was attacked by the guys from the Ghost Hand Pavilion and the Blood Killing Faction. If he were alive, we could easily open the safe..."

Yoo Geum-pil let out a deep sigh.

Buk Myeong-woo and Wang Yao retreated with uncomfortable faces.

"Look into it until a solution comes out."

"I'll wait below."

As the two retreated, Yoo Geum-pil began to examine the door in earnest. He tried inserting a small piece of iron into the hole, and he also put down a bundle of keys he had made himself.

Yoo Geum-pil grunted and began to struggle with the small hole.

***

"So why did you kill him unnecessarily? Didn't I tell you not to kill him?"

As they came out of the safe, Wang Yao grumbled and cast a sharp glance at Buk Myeong-woo.

Buk Myeong-woo recalled Shin Hong with a face full of annoyance.

Shin Hong, the master of the Do Faction, was a talkative person. It was Buk Myeong-woo who had watched him die on the boat.

"Did I kill him? It was all his doing."

"You should have stopped him from the side. Why did you just watch? If only that guy had lived, everything would have been easy. We wouldn't have had to stay here for so long either."

"Could Pavilion Master Wang have stopped him?"

"Um..."

Wang Yao, who had received Buk Myeong-woo's sharp gaze, stroked his beard and swallowed a groan. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Buk Myeong-woo covered his mouth with his finger and said, "Shh!"

"Be careful with your words."

"Of course. By the way, how long are you going to keep that old man from the Hao Faction?"

"It will all be resolved when the original master comes."

As Buk Myeong-woo mentioned Zhuge Qing, Wang Yao closed his mouth as if he understood.

As the two walked, about twenty warriors walked with them.

The number of guards around the Geumwon was about a hundred, so not even a single ant could enter.

The security of the guest hall was even stronger, with over a hundred warriors guarding it, and another hundred warriors patrolling the inn frequently.

The inn was a place where no one came and went except for the warriors of the Martial Alliance. All that happened was that a carriage loaded with supplies came in and went out once every five days.

As the carts and merchants loaded with supplies went out of the main gate of the inn, the gate closed with a loud noise.

But a short while later, the gate opened again, and Seok Jeong-bi, the master of the Fierce Tiger Hall, the Clear Light Sword Wind Guest, who had gone out, went inside.

He was a handsome man in his late thirties with a square face and distinct features.

Wearing a navy blue martial arts uniform, he flew his black wind robe and headed for Buk Myeong-woo's room.

Buk Myeong-woo, who was drinking tea with Wang Yao, greeted Seok Jeong-bi when he came in.

"Welcome, Pavilion Master Seok."

Seok Jeong-bi nodded, exchanged eye contact with Wang Yao, and then sat down in a chair.

"I heard outside that a person named General Manager Bi and a gisaeng house master named Jo-rim have been killing the branch masters of the Hao Faction. It seems they are the ones who killed Do-jeong."

"Did you find out?"

"A Hao Faction member told me. Was it Cheong-ryeon? He said that gisaeng told him."

"That gisaeng?"

"She's gone. She disappeared."

At Seok Jeong-bi's words, Buk Myeong-woo showed a smile as if he understood and said again, "She just threw the information and ran away. It means she's afraid of the consequences, and it seems that General Manager Bi and that gisaeng house master named Jo-rim are scary."

"The gisaeng house master is suspected of being a Flower Ghost of the Hwahwaru."

"Damn Demonic Cult bastards."

"The Demonic Cult appears somewhere if you give them a gap. They're like weeds. Even if you pull out the roots, they appear somewhere."

Seok Jeong-bi showed a killing intent as if his resentment towards the Demonic Cult was deep. Wang Yao interrupted the two's conversation.

"Shouldn't we find those two? They probably haven't gone far."

At those words, Buk Myeong-woo shook his head.

"There's no need. If they are the ones who killed Do-jeong, we should rather give them a gap and let them appear on their own. If they have a purpose, they will try to kill me or Pavilion Master Wang. We should rather set a trap."

"You mean to set a trap?"

"Yes."

Buk Myeong-woo answered as if he had a plan. Wang Yao also judged that it was not a bad idea.

Buk Myeong-woo showed a slight killing intent and smiled.

"If they are nearby, they will surely appear when we show a gap. Don't these mosquito bastards originally hide somewhere during the day and appear when we sleep? They cowardly suck blood and run away."

"I want to kill them."

Seok Jeong-bi muttered as if the mere thought was annoying and looked around.

"Let's catch them."

Wang Yao raised his voice. Buk Myeong-woo stroked his beard, and Seok Jeong-bi nodded in agreement.

***

Chuck! Chuck!

With heavy footsteps, five patrolmen circled around the Silver Room of the gisaeng house and then disappeared.

Bi-sun and Jo-rim, who were sitting in a corner room of the Silver Room, opened their mouths as the sound of the patrolmen's footsteps faded away.

"Since they're guys from the main headquarters, there are almost no gaps. We can't go to the guest hall or the Geumwon."

"The fact that we killed Do-jeong has caught our ankle. It's not easy to move. There's no suitable way to approach the master of the Sword Wind Hall."

"Not now. But a chance will surely come."

At Bi-sun's words, Jo-rim smiled.

There was no need to be impatient. In any case, the target was alive.

The reason Bi-sun and Jo-rim were here was because there was a secret passage in the basement of the Silver Room that connected to the Gold Room and the outside.

Few in the inn knew of the existence of that passage. Besides the passage, there were five underground stone chambers, and the only people who knew about them besides Bi-sun and Jo-rim were Jin Sa-wol.

Bi-sun and Jo-rim closed their eyes in the room and tried to sleep. Since they had to be active at night, they had to sleep during the day.

But they had to wake up before night came. Because of the faint presence they heard from below.

Bi-sun and Jo-rim seeped into the darkness of the ceiling.

After a short while, a young man who had appeared like smoke in the room looked around, saw a chair that had been dusted, and sat on it.

"I heard the news of the inn, and it's more miserable than I thought."

Jin Sa-wol said as if whispering and tapped the table. Then, Bi-sun and Jo-rim appeared with smoke.

"You're late."

"Why are you so late?"

As the two asked almost at the same time, Jin Sa-wol turned his head and looked at their faces. Although he saw their changed faces, Jin Sa-wol was not very surprised.

Although he knew Bi-sun's face, it was the first time he had seen Jo-rim's bare face.

"Your face now is prettier than your disguised face."

"I was originally pretty."

Although it was a useless story, Jo-rim smiled as if her tension had been released.

Bi-sun opened the window slightly, looked outside, and said, "At first, the Ghost Hand Pavilion and the Blood Killing Faction attacked because they coveted the inn, but after that, mysterious masked people appeared, subdued them, and even tried to kill us. We ran away, but Il-bi and Il-hu died. The two of us think those masked people are the Martial Alliance."

"The reason?"

"Shin Hong, the master of the Do Faction, was attached to the masked people. Of course, he died because his usefulness was gone. On top of that, Do-jeong, who had come to the inn before, heard the stories of the master of the Sword Wind Hall and the master of the Gold Flower Pavilion. He said he killed the Ghost Hand Pavilion and the Blood Killing Faction members who had attacked the inn."

Although Bi-sun's voice was indifferent, his expression was cold.

Jin Sa-wol silently turned his gaze and looked at Jo-rim.

"A short while after you left, the front pavilion master returned to the alliance, and the guards of Wudang and Shaolin returned to their factions. After that, the guys from the Ghost Hand Pavilion and the Blood Killing Faction attacked the inn. This was a planned event. It's something that can't be done unless it's the Martial Alliance."

Since Il-bi and Il-hu had died, Jo-rim's voice was a little sharp.

Jin Sa-wol, who had heard the two's report, roughly drew the situation in his head.

"It must be the work of the Martial Alliance Leader, right?"

Although Jo-rim asked as if she wanted it to be, Jin Sa-wol shook his head.

"I don't know for sure. What's certain is that Zhuge Qing sent me to the Demonic Cult, kidnapped Son Ae-hwa, and the fall of the inn."

Since it was the first time they had heard that Son Ae-hwa had been kidnapped, the two had surprised expressions.

Jin Sa-wol told them the story of rescuing her from the Martial Alliance's prison.

After that, he continued with a long story about what had happened in the Demonic Cult.

While listening to Jin Sa-wol's story, the expressions of Bi-sun and Jo-rim changed countless times.

As he was talking, the sun had set, and deep darkness had fallen.

Bi-sun swallowed a groan and looked out the window.

"You mean the Esoteric Cult Leader was the Demonic Cult Leader, and he continued his experiments using corpses while pretending to be the Demonic Cult Leader? That's amazing."

"My goodness... What kind of crazy bastard is there? It's creepy. Ugh... The Hao Faction Master is Seo Mun-ryeon, and the Hwahwaru Master is that Dam-ga bitch, is that what you're saying?"

"I heard you know both of them well."

When Jin Sa-wol asked, Jo-rim crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

"So-so."

Although she answered briefly, her gaze had a story. Jo-rim bit her lip with a deep frown.

At the ambiguous answer, Bi-sun was curious but did not ask. For now, the alliance was the priority.

"The master of the Sword Wind Hall is the Flying Eagle Sword, Buk Myeong-woo. He's from the Baekgeom Mun, and he's the third disciple of the Baekgeom Mun Master. He's known as a master of the peak in the martial world, and he's also a master in the Martial Alliance."

"If we kill him, we'll also become enemies with the Baekgeom Mun."

Jin Sa-wol, who had heard Bi-sun's explanation, showed a faint smile and said, "It's not just Buk Myeong-woo. The master of the Fierce Tiger Hall is also at the inn. The Clear Light Sword Wind Guest, Seok Jeong-bi. His faction is the Huashan Sect, and he's a person who is in the top hundred masters. He's also famous in the Demonic Cult."

"There's also the master of the Gold Flower Pavilion, and there are over five hundred warriors of the Fierce Tiger Hall and the Sword Wind Hall."

"Feint to the east, attack to the west."

At Jin Sa-wol's story, Bi-sun and Jo-rim nodded.

Although it was simple, it was an effective deception. If Jin Sa-wol moved, the probability of success was higher than the probability of failure.

Soon, the three began to quietly discuss how to move.