Jingya was hurrying through the 'back road' toward Wang Pavilion, the residence of the First Young Master.
The back road was meant for those of lower status and position.
From ox carts loaded with grain sacks to chattering servant girls moving in small groups, and strong men carrying boxes in a hurry.
Except for the absence of loudly haggling merchants and countless beggars, it was no different from the marketplace outside.
The stream of countless people moving busily with purpose could be considered the lifeblood of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
Jingya was walking in the shadows beneath the walls, wrapped in a long robe.
"Hey, look over there. She's incredibly beautiful."
"Hey, don't look! She clearly seems to be someone of high status, don't stare!"
"Y-yeah, that's true. But why would a high-status young lady use the back road?"
"What business is it of lowly folk like us to know?"
"Well, I was just..."
From a distance, two servants were chattering about her beauty that was visible beneath her robe.
It was a conversation that ordinary people couldn't hear in the noisy back road.
But their conversation was 'visible' to Jingya.
Their lip movements, the rolling of their eyes, their small gestures, all vividly conveyed their conversation.
And not just them, but everyone Jingya had passed by had been through her 'eyes'.
'Good. The decision to change clothes wasn't bad. There's no one tailing me.'
While it was hard to imagine that the Second or Third Young Master would assign people to monitor a mere maid like herself, Jingya remained vigilant.
Until she entered under the First Young Master's roof.
Because like a spring azalea seed, her situation was one that could only be swayed by the wind.
Ignoring the familiar gazes that glimpsed at her beauty and grace as usual, she quickly moved her feet.
***
After walking for quite some time, she finally reached her destination.
'This is Wang Pavilion...?'
Jingya felt shocked when she arrived at the walls of Wang Pavilion.
She had heard much about the massive scale of Wang Pavilion, the space dedicated solely to the First Young Master, located at the furthest corner of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
But seeing it in person was different.
The walls stretched endlessly on both sides, and beyond them, towering trees formed a dense forest.
'I can't even tell where it ends...'
Given that even her 'eyes' couldn't gauge its scale, it must be among the largest residential spaces in the famous Luoyang Sword Clan.
'But why is there no one here?'
The back road that had reminded her of a marketplace until recently had become increasingly deserted as she approached Wang Pavilion, and now it was surprisingly silent.
This wasn't an exaggeration.
It wasn't just that there were few people—literally no one was there.
Not even the usual servants carrying food ingredients were visible.
A past teaching from the Reception Hall Master flashed through Jingya's mind.
'Jingya, it's the same for any family. If you want to peek at a family's financial power, look at their back road.'
By that standard, Wang Pavilion was a place where financial power had dried up.
'...It's not like I didn't know.'
Swallowing dry saliva, Jingya moved her feet.
After walking along the wall for a while, she entered the main road leading to the main gate.
Unlike the back road, the main road was for important people in the sword clan, including guests and warriors.
'Jingya, if you want to feel a family's power, look at the front of their main gate.'
For the first time since the day she arrived at the sword clan,
Jingya could see that there was absolutely no one coming or going on the main road of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
'Even though the First Young Master is in seclusion, I didn't expect it to be this bad...'
Until now, she had secretly laughed at those who spoke ill of the First Young Master behind his back.
But now that she saw the situation herself, she couldn't simply laugh at them anymore.
All that was visible was a handful of guards stationed at the main gate.
Moreover, they appeared to be enjoying a nap while leaning against the wall.
Their awkward attempt to straighten up upon seeing her appear wasn't even amusing.
"Uh, um. What brings you here?"
Jingya inwardly sighed at the guard's response, who was clearly still half-asleep.
"I come by order of the Head Steward."
Instead of adding any explanation, she held out the Head Steward's directive.
"The Head Steward?"
At the mention of the Head Steward, the squad leader who had been secretly suppressing a yawn quickly stepped forward to receive the directive.
While the squad leader carefully checked the directive, Jingya inwardly sighed again.
The massive main gate, built to allow carriages to pass through smoothly, showed no signs of maintenance.
The paint was peeling, and it was rotted in places to the point where she could hardly believe it was a facility of the sword clan she knew.
And what about the walls she had passed?
While tremendously high, they showed clear signs of hasty repairs with mud plaster where they had collapsed here and there.
Seeing roof tiles that had been brazenly left unattended, broken who knows when, made her chest feel tight.
'...Was choosing the First Young Master a mistake?'
At this hour, at the office gates of the Second or Third Young Master?
There would undoubtedly be a line of splendid carriages and people in expensive silk clothes waiting for entry permission.
And at those gates, the direct warriors following the Second and Third Young Masters would be on duty with disciplined movements while subtly emanating their presence.
Qualitatively different from these pathetic guards napping during duty hours...
That's when Jingya's nape bristled.
It felt as if several blades were brushing past her body.
She was able to hold back her scream for one reason.
It was a sensation she had felt several times before.
'Qi sense!'
Yes.
It was a type of qi wave emanated by those who had reached a certain level in inner power.
And the source of that qi wave was undoubtedly the guards she had considered pathetic.
'These people...! They're not simple guards! They're masters!'
They were using qi waves to substitute for a body search.
Whether she had inner power.
Whether she was hiding weapons.
Whether she was concealing killing intent.
Since naturally an ordinary maid wouldn't be able to feel these qi waves, Jingya concentrated on feigning composure.
'Right, of course.'
Cold sweat ran down her nape.
'Even if he's the despised First Young Master, he's still the legitimate heir of the sword clan.'
It would have been nonsensical for ordinary guards who knew nothing of martial arts to guard the main gate of such a person's residence.
That's when the guard squad leader (disguised master) who had finished reviewing the directive approached her.
"The directive is confirmed."
He returned the directive as politely as when he had received it.
Jingya barely controlled her trembling fingertips as she took the directive and put it in her bosom.
"Boys, open the gate."
The squad leader's voice was heard behind Jingya as she entered through the main gate.
"Ah, by the way. I forgot to mention this."
When she turned around, he spoke in a calm tone as if it were nothing.
"Never stray from the forest path."
Though Jingya couldn't understand the meaning, she nodded to him and moved her feet.
When she had moved sufficiently far away, one guard snickered and shook his head.
"A new maid for Wang Pavilion. What would that Swordless One need a new maid for?"
"I don't know much either, but aren't maids needed for important people who handle 'outside business'?"
Then another guard snickered while gesturing to outline Jingya's figure.
"I guess that 'sword' of the Swordless One is still working, huh?"
And raucous laughter rang out.
'As expected...'
Hearing their conversation from afar, Jingya bit her lip.
From what she could tell, the contempt toward the First Young Master within the sword clan varied in degree.
Among them, it was especially severe among the warriors who valued martial arts.
If the two pillars supporting the sword clan were financial power and martial power, the First Young Master had already completely lost one side along with the derogatory title of Swordless One.
Even masters who had reached the level of using qi sense were only guarding the First Young Master's main gate because it was their duty.
No one seemed to have any loyalty to him.
'...There's a long way to go.'
Even if the Head Steward was right about the First Young Master having a change of heart, what could the First Young Master possibly do?
"...!"
And then she realized.
She was now in the middle of a formation larger and denser than any she had ever seen before.
'It's the forest! These trees, no, the entire forest is constructing a formation!'
Her 'eyes' were showing the formation all too clearly.
It wasn't that she had never 'seen' formations before.
From light formations that made people lose their way in areas guests shouldn't approach, to anti-personnel lethal formations gleaming with killing intent at every defensive point prepared for emergencies.
But none of them had a more terrifying density than the formation she was seeing now.
It seemed as if the formation itself would crush people like insects just by being 'seen'.
Except for one.
The single path she had been following—every area except that was pitch black, the entire forest.
Even with her 'eyes', she dared not even attempt to interpret it.
'Never stray from the forest path.'
She could finally understand the guard squad leader's words.
And she also realized.
Like the masters disguised as gate guards.
This terrifying formation was the same.
She was now approaching one of the core figures of this massive clan that wielded fierce authority across the continent.
No matter how much he was ignored and despised.
He was this clan's First Young Master.
And her vision flickered.
The forest appeared, then the formation, then her vision brightened again, then darkened, repeatedly.
And he—the First Young Master was suddenly standing before her.
"What an unusual child."
Standing eerily in the middle of the forest path, he spoke to Jingya.
His voice sometimes sounded like a boy's, sometimes like a young man's, sometimes like a beast's howl, and sometimes like a demon's roar.
"How are you seeing Wang Pavilion's barrier?"
He—it tilted its head while thrusting its deathly pale face toward her.
Its eye sockets were hollow as if someone had gouged them out, and inside was connected to the endless hell.
Yellow pus-mixed bloody tears were flowing from that bottomless abyss.
"And how are you 'seeing' me?"
Though it was 'looking into' her with its hollow eye sockets, she with her 'eyes' could neither properly see nor understand anything.
It was something that could never be seen.
It was something that should never be seen.
"Ah!"
With a short scream, her consciousness broke off.