The moon hung low over the Assembly Fortress, casting silver light across the high balconies and stone courtyards. For once, the night was still—no sect duels, no shouting disciples, no whispering rumors. Just a strange, breath-held calm.
Baek Sun-Ho stood in the gardens beyond the neutral zone, quiet among the blue blossoms that clung to the fenceposts. The scent of rain still lingered from the morning. It reminded him of his first breakthrough.
So-Ri approached, silent as dew. "Can't sleep?"
Sun-Ho shook his head. "Feels like the calm before something ugly."
She smiled gently and handed him a flask of tea. "You're too paranoid."
"No," he said, eyes narrowing. "I'm just finally learning to trust that feeling."
Behind them, the leaves rustled.
Too gently.
Sun-Ho spun—
Chhk.
His blade stopped mid-swing as a thin dagger caught the moonlight. It had nearly kissed So-Ri's neck.
A cloaked figure stood behind her, arm extended—no noise, no killing intent until the last second. A professional.
So-Ri's fan snapped open, slicing upward.
Clack-clack—fwwsshh!
The attacker leapt back, spinning through the air and landing in a crouch. Four more shadows dropped from the garden wall. Blades gleamed in gloved hands.
Ji-Mun appeared from the shadows. "I knew it was too quiet!"
From the treetops, Ma-Rok descended like an avalanche, slamming the ground and sending one assassin flying. "No one stabs our sister!"
Yul-Rin tossed smoke bombs—pffsssh!—and Yeon scrambled to cover So-Ri.
Sun-Ho remained still, watching the fifth attacker carefully. This one hadn't moved. She stood calmly, her face hidden beneath a plain brown veil. A small sigil—barely visible—was burned into her glove.
He recognized it.
Fanged Serpent Sect. Supposedly extinct.
Sun-Ho's eyes narrowed. "You're not here to kill me. Not really. You're here to send a message."
The woman didn't speak. She raised a jade seal and hurled it into the air.
A flare burst—BOOM—crimson and white, in the shape of a twisted crown.
All around the fortress, other flares answered. One. Two. Four. Eight.
Not assassins.
Saboteurs.
---
Council Chamber – Minutes Later
Sun-Ho stood before the assembled elders and sect leaders. The garden was now behind wards. The assassins had fled before being captured—except one, who'd taken poison before interrogation.
He tossed the jade seal onto the center table. "Recognize it?"
Gasps.
Sect Leader Hwan of the East Wind Hall leaned forward. "That's… that's from the Fanged Serpent Sect."
"Impossible," another barked. "They were wiped out in the Purge of Twelve Moons!"
Sun-Ho's voice cut through the murmurs. "You were lied to."
Master Jang stood beside him, sipping from a small clay cup. "This is not the work of rotting cults. It's precise. Coordinated. Funded."
Someone slammed a hand on the table. "Are you accusing the sects themselves?!"
"No," Master Jang said coolly. "Just some of your backers."
Ji-Mun, nursing a cut along his sleeve, leaned against a pillar. "Let's stop pretending. This isn't about Sun-Ho. Someone wanted bloodshed tonight to derail the heir trials."
Sun-Ho held up a bloodied dagger. "This blade is laced with a poison only the Alchemic Moon Syndicate has access to. A group supposedly dissolved two generations ago."
Silence.
Then:
"They were supposed to die out."
"Only on paper."
Sun-Ho looked at them all. "The hidden factions are not dead. They are evolving—faster than we are. If you don't choose a Murim Heir now, they will choose one for you."
---
Outside the Hall – After the Debate
So-Ri leaned against the wall. "That wasn't just a speech."
"It was a line in the sand," Sun-Ho said.
Yul-Rin joined them. "You shook the tree. Let's see what falls."
Ji-Mun added, "You made enemies. And probably got a target painted between your eyebrows."
Sun-Ho smirked. "They already fired the first arrow."
Ma-Rok cracked his knuckles. "Let them come again. I need exercise."
Yeon simply scribbled: One more attempt likely. Multiple shadows. You need to rest.
Sun-Ho stared into the night.
Rest?
There was no time for rest now.
---
Late Night – Elsewhere in the Fortress
Two hooded figures met in an abandoned chamber beneath the old records hall. One wore the crest of a minor sect. The other, a blank black robe.
"The dagger failed."
"We expected that. He's not the type to die easily."
"He rallied more support than expected. This accelerates the timetable."
"Should we move?"
"No. We let him pass the next trial. Then we drown him in what comes after."
A scroll was unrolled. The name "Baek Sun-Ho" was circled in red.
"So close to the crown," the shadow whispered, "and yet still so breakable."
---
End of Chapter 95 – A Blade in the Garden