Lord Shadow

SILHAE

It is near the end of winter. In some places of Silhae, spring air could already be felt. Seed have taken roots and vegetation begins to grow all over the land.

The weather is warmer as animals wake from their hibernation, with their newborns

In some places the snow melted and cause flooding round certain waterways. In the end of this winter someone enter the city of Pocheon.

Pocheon is a large city south of the Five Finger Mountain.

The city is close to the border of Zhou and it is also one of the city where there is large presence of martial artist.

As the gate was opened, a man rides inside the city before leaving his horses at the gate stable.

He and his companion enter the city and prepares themselves for their journey.

Even though winter is leaving and spring is about to come, the cold is still there so the streets are not overly overcrowded.

But this man and his companion felt this kind of cold is quite refreshing. They come from Beiyuan so this cold is nothing to them. And they are also a martial artist.

This person is wearing a thick fur of a wolf with lean body. But while his body is lean, he is muscly. His entire muscle is tight and pack power.

His face is a little boyish and even look a little like a girl face, with rosy cheek and smooth features but that is his one of his ways to fool people.

If one underestimates him because of his appearance, then surely by the end of it, they would be regretful.

He has long black hair that reaches his neck but tied neatly.

The man beside him wears a thick black robe with a sword strapped on his left hip. His face is the opposite of that boyish looking man.

His face is fierce and his eyes glared at people like an unsheathed saber. His hair is cut short looking like a disciplined man

The lean man is Tukhla and the other person his companion, Ulhak.

They finally arrived at Silhae. They did not stop at the royal city of Silhae. Instead they kept going to Pocheon because is it closer

‘This city is quite prosperous’ Ulhak said nodding his head. Tukhla nodded. He saw a few stall opened selling hot buns.

He went to one of those stall and bought a few as he shared with Ulhak.

‘Let us go to the restaurant and see if there is any news worth listening’

‘How about our supplies, Tukhla? You are not forgetting our task are you?” Ulhak asked.

‘Don’t worry. They still ae not opening their shops. We should warm ourselves first with some of the delicacies of Silhae.

Ulhak reluctantly agreed as Tukhla brought him to one of the largest restaurant in Pocheon.

The restaurant is called the One Thousand Taste.

The last time Tukhla went to Pocheon he found this place and he fell in love with its mutton hop. They made it a little bit different than the people of Beiyuan

They saw a large three storied building on the busiest street of the city, and quickly enter the restaurant.

Usually there would be greeters in front of the entrance but since it is still winter, no one would come out and tries to attract customer in deadly cold.

When they enter the could quickly felt warm and the chatter of people filled the buildings. They could see waiter taking orders, servers serving plates and bowl and all kind of interactions.

It was full of life and people. Tukhla smiles seeing this kind of city life. He takes a seat at one of the empty table.

Not before long, a waiter came and ask him what he would like. He orders his favorite mutton chop and a tea.

As he was waiting for his food, he looks around him. He could see that while many of the people here are normal people, there is a lot of martial artist.

And he is not the only one that realizes this. Ulhak who rarely talks also realizes this. He looks at Tukhla like expecting him to explain it to him

Thankfully he has been to Silhae and Pocheon before and so he knows a bit why it is like this

He sighed and then he explains it

‘Pocheon is a special city. It used to be a city state before the Wang family created Silhae. Their founder conquered the city and integrate it with his kingdom. But the Wang family also respected the family of Ju who used to rule the city state of Silhae. The Ju family has long faded into history but their descendant and dispel survived and reestablish their sect. Pocheon is a city governed by a martial sect. And the one ruling the city of Pocheon is none other than the Three Legged Crow Sect’

‘Ah, like Saber Manor that rules the city of Jian and the Sword Residence that rules the city of Ruo?’ Ulhak asked.

Tukhla nodded.

‘Ah, I understand now’ He then stop speaking and Tukhla could only shake his head

This companion of him has a weird habit.

He only asks thing when it made him curios but once he found the answer he no longer cares. For a conversationalist like Tukhla sometimes he feels frustrated with his non talkative companion.

His hot tea arrived and he take a sip to expel the cold and that is when he heard an interesting name being thrown about

He heard the name Xi Feng and he stood up from his seat. Ulhak look at him and Tukhla look back at Ulhak, his gaze is serious and Ulhak just nodded.

He walks to the table and cupped his hand.

‘heroes of martial arts world, can I ask you something?’

‘Hmm’ The is three people on that table. They are all muscly and bulky and they have an aura of a fighter

Each one of them have a weapon around them, as it could be used almost instantly.

‘Heroes of the martial arts word, I heard some of you were talking about the Sword Gentlemen Xi Feng? Is there any news from him after his explosive feats of killing the Elders of the heterodox sects?’

Hearing this news, they all brightened up.

‘Ah, a fellow martial artist. You don’t look like you came from around here’

‘I come with my friend’ as he gestured to Ulhak ‘from the East’

‘Beiyuan?’

Tukhla nodded. They too nodded. Then they said

‘No, we were just saying what we heard from the rumors. We were sharing news. And it had to do with the Sword Gentleman Xi’

‘What rumors?’ Tukhla said as he takes a seat on the last empty seat.

‘The Three Devils of Han had arrived at the Five Finger Mountain and is about to challenge the Sword Gentleman’

‘Aye!’ One of the patron shouted. The three men raise their glass and shouted back. It seems the news have making it ways around the city

Tukhla was thinking about who is Three Devils of Han and then he remembered it.

‘The Three Devils of Han? The Crippled Devil Han Xiao, The One Eyed Devil Han Guang, and the One Thousand Cut Devil Han Xin?’

The crowd of three nodded

***

Now you know who those three pople that are climbing the mountain is. Anyway, I think you all are still in the festive mood. The NEw Year is coming. Regretfully I still have no one significant to share my new year eve with. Huhuhu. I hope next year would be a good year for all of us.

See you all tomorrow.