WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 9: Socheon's Flag

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Im Chung returned empty-handed.

He had gone to meet Wang Gon, the Hall Leader of the Mythic Gang, only to find that Wang Gon was away on a long journey.

By the time Im Chung returned to the branch, everything had already been cleaned up. The corpses had been removed, and the merchants who had given their statements had all gone home.

Beon Saeng's heart pounded as he made his report. There had already been an uproar when they arrested Jong Bae and the others, but now Taejeong had died at the branch. Im Chung was bound to give them a severe scolding.

Yet Im Chung's response was unexpected.

"If anything, this worked out well."

"Sir? How could this be good?"

"The Great Righteous Sect crossed a line by storming the branch. They have nothing to say for themselves now. In the end, it was fortunate that I couldn't meet Hall Leader Wang."

Arresting the Great Righteous Sect members had been an issue that could have caused trouble in many ways. Their attack on the branch, however, was an entirely different matter. It had overshadowed the earlier arrests.

Of course, Im Chung did not believe the Great Righteous Sect had intended to attack the branch. Taejeong might have been a scoundrel, but he could not have been foolish enough to go that far. They had probably come to intimidate them, only for things to spiral out of control. And Baek Socheon was surely at the heart of it.

Im Chung lowered his voice.

"Martial Artist Baek killed Taejeong deliberately, didn't he?"

"No, it was an accident."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Beon Saeng did not think so, but that was how he answered because he believed it would be better for himself, Im Chung, and Baek Socheon alike.

"Leave us. Send Martial Artist Baek in."

"Yes, sir."

Beon Saeng almost said that Baek Socheon had done nothing wrong, but stopped himself. Defending him now would only anger Im Chung further.

Once Beon Saeng left, Baek Socheon entered the office.

Im Chung stared at him in silence.

"What happened?"

"Just as I wrote in the report."

"Shall we speak frankly?"

"Let's."

"I don't know what kind of life you've lived, but don't do this. Martial Artist Beon is a good man."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't shake him up."

"So he'll be easier for you to use?"

"......!"

Im Chung flared up at once. He had never imagined Baek Socheon would say something like that, especially to his face.

Still, Im Chung could not immediately deny it. The thought that part of him might have felt that way flashed through his mind.

"You..."

A certain word came to mind, but he could not bring himself to say it.

"You may leave now."

Only after Baek Socheon walked out did the words Im Chung had held back escape with a sigh.

"You're shaking me up too."

Perhaps he had been too proud to say it aloud.

'Still, they won't let this go easily.'

Taejeong's death felt as refreshing as an aching tooth finally coming out, but now Wang Gon, who would demand his gold tooth back, was the problem.

* * *

Sima Iljung's first duty at the Strategic Command Center of the Sage Heaven Pavilion was managing dispatches.

Hundreds of dispatches arrived every day from across the Central Plains, all sorted and processed here.

Strategists sorted ordinary dispatches by their contents, while special-grade dispatches were delivered unopened to Zhuge Hyeon. Some even bypassed Zhuge Hyeon and went directly to the Alliance Leader.

Sima Iljung's duty was to sort the ordinary dispatches. Since he was still new to the Strategic Command Center, he served as an assistant.

Whirr. Thump!

Sima Iljung looked toward the channel carrying dispatches from Zhejiang Province. He quickly broke the seal on the cylinder that had come down and removed the dispatch inside.

It was an ordinary dispatch, one that strategists were permitted to open.

"This is a report that Taejeong, leader of the Great Righteous Sect, a local Black Society, was killed by Baek Socheon."

A senior strategist classified the dispatch after hearing Sima Iljung's report.

"Process it as high priority and take it to the Great Strategist."

"Yes, sir."

Ordinarily, the death of a Black Society leader would not even qualify as a low-priority report. It would never have been sent in the first place.

Yet the Sage Heaven Pavilion was currently watching all information from Zhejiang Province, especially Wencheng. Any report related to Baek Socheon was automatically treated as high priority.

Sima Iljung took the dispatch into Zhuge Hyeon's office.

"This is news of Baek Socheon at the Wencheng Branch."

Zhuge Hyeon checked its contents and gave a quiet laugh.

"Of course. That temper of his hasn't gone anywhere. Send this to the Alliance Leader's Hall."

"Understood."

Normally, Zhuge Hyeon, the head of the Sage Heaven Pavilion, would decide which high-priority reports should be sent to the Alliance Leader's Hall.

Anything related to Baek Socheon, though, was automatically sent there. It meant the Alliance Leader's Hall was still closely watching him.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time Baek Socheon has been away from us. He was always at our side. Even when he roamed the battlefield, he returned to headquarters. He found glory here, and he fell from grace here as well."

They had always been able to see him. Every time he was demoted, they watched him trudge across the training grounds. The Murim Alliance had been both his cradle and his grave.

"Do you miss him?"

Just as Zhuge Hyeon was about to answer, the emergency bells rang.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Zhuge Hyeon and Sima Iljung hurried out of the office.

"What's happening?"

A strategist ran over and made an urgent report.

"We have received word that a large Black Heaven Alliance force is moving rapidly from Gansu toward Shaanxi."

Gansu belonged to the Black Heaven Alliance, while Shaanxi belonged to the Murim Alliance.

"How many?"

"Eight hundred members of the Soul-Chasing Corps."

"Eight hundred? That's the entire Soul-Chasing Corps."

Zhuge Hyeon was startled. The Soul-Chasing Corps was one of the Black Heaven Alliance's main forces, and its movements were always watched closely. Its troops had been scattered throughout Gansu, but they appeared to have gathered in secret.

Either there was a hole in their intelligence network, or the enemy had carried out an extraordinary operation. Neither possibility was good.

"What is their target?"

"Judging by their direction, it appears to be the Shaanxi Division."

"Send an emergency alert to the Shaanxi Division and the nearby branches."

"Yes, sir."

The strategist hurried away.

Whirr. Whoosh.

The senior strategists at the Strategic Command Center expertly operated the mechanisms, and dispatches sent from here sped out through the tubes.

Sima Iljung asked Zhuge Hyeon anxiously, "Could they be preparing for an all-out war?"

Zhuge Hyeon shook his head.

"I don't think so."

War always came with warning signs.

If the Soul-Chasing Corps was the vanguard of a war, there should have been troop movements not only in Gansu, but throughout Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong, all territories under Black Heaven Alliance control. No such reports had arrived yet.

Of course, there was still a slim chance this marked the beginning of the Orthodox-Demonic War. The Black Heaven Alliance was unpredictable enough that no one knew what it might do.

"It's probably a large-scale drill."

That was Zhuge Hyeon's judgment, and what he hoped for.

Even then, dispatches continued to arrive.

"The Soul-Chasing Corps has advanced another ten li toward Shaanxi. At this pace, they will reach the border within an hour."

"What forces do we have at the expected first point of contact?"

"Only fifty guards from nearby branches. Three hundred troops have departed from the Shaanxi Division as emergency reinforcements."

That still made only three hundred and fifty troops. They would be severely outnumbered if a clash occurred, and the enemy was the Soul-Chasing Corps, elite among elites.

Based on the incoming reports, the strategists moved flags across the troop deployment map. Built on the actual geography of the Central Plains, it was covered in hundreds of flags.

The Soul-Chasing Corps' flag steadily moved toward Shaanxi.

The Shaanxi Division's flag also moved to meet it.

Sima Iljung was tense. This was the first emergency he had experienced since arriving at the Strategic Command Center.

He had lived through the final stages of the war, but had been a junior strategist then, handling only miscellaneous work before the war ended.

Now, for the first time, he was experiencing a real conflict with the Black Heaven Alliance.

Orders poured out from the Sage Heaven Pavilion without pause, while several times as many dispatches flew in.

"A report says the enemy force is about to reach the Gansu-Shaanxi border."

Two flags stood close together, separated by the boundary line between Gansu and Shaanxi.

This was a live and dangerous situation. A few dozen enemy troops might have led only to a local clash, but this was the enemy's finest unit, eight hundred strong. The moment it crossed into Shaanxi, they would have to consider it the start of a war.

Considering the flight time of a dispatch hawk, the outcome had likely already been decided.

An agonizing wait followed.

Every strategist stared only at the mechanism that received dispatches from Shaanxi.

Unless they were urgent, all other dispatches were put on hold.

Whirr. Thump!

At last, a dispatch arrived from Shaanxi.

Everyone stared tensely at the strategist's mouth as the dispatch was read.

"Ah! The Soul-Chasing Corps turned back without crossing into Shaanxi."

All the strategists sighed in relief at once.

The tension drained from Zhuge Hyeon, who dropped heavily into a nearby chair.

Sima Iljung brought Zhuge Hyeon a cup of water.

"Thank you."

Only after drinking did Zhuge Hyeon finally relax.

"That's a relief."

"Their provocations are becoming more severe."

This provocation felt like a warning, as though they were telling the Murim Alliance that the time was drawing near...

"Do you know something? The more Baek Socheon's rank fell, the more active the Black Heaven Alliance became."

"What? Surely not."

"Oddly enough, it was true. Every time Baek Socheon was demoted, they always provoked us."

"They know Baek Socheon has lost his internal energy, don't they?"

"They do."

"Then why?"

"It means that even without internal energy, the simple fact that he held a high position had considerable power to deter war."

Regardless of martial skill, Baek Socheon himself carried a certain symbolic weight.

Of course, that might not have been the case. The enemy could have simply resumed preparations for war, and the timing might have coincided with Baek Socheon's demotions.

Still, Zhuge Hyeon was too clever not to consider that possibility. There must have been something that made him feel the two were connected.

"If that's true, shouldn't Baek Socheon return to the Alliance all the more?"

"Yes."

Yet the Alliance Leader had even taken back the sword bestowed upon him.

It meant the Alliance Leader never wanted to see him again. Could Baek Socheon truly return under such circumstances?

'How did things end up like this?'

The two people Zhuge Hyeon remembered had once been truly close.

Wherever the Alliance Leader went, Baek Socheon was there.

He was always at the Alliance Leader's side, like Zhao Zilong, capable of accomplishing any task entrusted to him. Baek Socheon had been impressive and reassuring. Zhuge Hyeon was surely not the only martial artist in the Murim Alliance who had thought so in those days.

The Black Heaven Alliance's provocations were growing more forceful. Things had reached the point where war breaking out would no longer be surprising. Of course, martial artists outside the Alliance did not know just how serious the situation had become.

Zhuge Hyeon rose and walked toward the troop deployment map.

The two flags that had stood pressed close together over Shaanxi and Gansu were now farther apart.

After studying them for a moment, Zhuge Hyeon searched through a box beneath the map where several flags had been gathered.

Soon, he took out a flag with a golden border and a vivid crimson field, one representing a large force.

It was the first flag ever made for an individual since the Sage Heaven Pavilion's founding.

A flag that treated a single person as a large army.

A clear name was written on it.

Socheon.

Zhuge Hyeon remembered when the Socheon Banner had raced across the strategic deployment map. Every time Baek Socheon's flag moved, enemy flags fell and were removed from the map.

And if war broke out once more...

'Could we win a war without Pavilion Master Baek?'

Zhuge Hyeon stared at the Socheon Banner for a long while, then carefully brushed away the dust on it and returned it to its place.

As Zhuge Hyeon left the Strategic Command Center, he gave an order.

"Lift the emergency alert in Shaanxi once the Soul-Chasing Corps has withdrawn more than two hundred li."

"Yes, sir."

A small village at the southern edge of Zhejiang Province had become a little more peaceful today, but the Central Plains had become a little more perilous.

Footnotes:

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