Near Longquan stood a mountain called No Man's Peak.

No human foot ever reached it. The slopes were too treacherous to take a single step on, and the place teemed with wild beasts that attacked people.

At most, a few herb gatherers worked its lower slopes now and then.

The herb gatherers had given them their lead. It was their accounts that had brought the search here.

Somewhere inside No Man's Peak lay a place called the Valley of Ten Thousand Deaths.

Restless ghosts lived there, they said.

So someone climbed the mountain regularly, they said, carrying offerings on his back to soothe their spirits.

The head of the Clear Water Baek Clan of Ningbo,

Baek Gyeong, led the elite Azure Turtle Unit straight into No Man's Peak.

The mountain was as rough as its reputation.

Any warrior without much skill would have a hard time of it.

Fortunately, Baek Gyeong and the Azure Turtle Unit were elite, and they crossed the mountain without slowing.

How many days passed like that?

They had nothing to go on but their guesses about the routes the supplies must have taken.

And then.

At last, they found it.

The Valley of Ten Thousand Deaths.

A valley carpeted with ten thousand deaths.

The name didn't lie. Nothing filled the place but a thick qi of death.

Dense trees blotted out the sky, and the fog that had settled beneath them showed no sign of lifting.

Moss-covered rocks lay everywhere underfoot, and the only sound that reached their ears was cold water running in from somewhere.

Baek Gyeong looked down into the valley and groaned under his breath.

His senses were dulling; he could feel it. Maybe a formation had been laid here.

Baek Gyeong signaled forward.

Two warriors of the Azure Turtle Unit slipped down, quick and nimble.

A little while later,

the two warriors came back.

"It's quiet."

"Nothing seems to be wrong."

Baek Gyeong gave a small nod and stood up.

After Woon Seorin had saved his life,

Baek Gyeong had been tracking these people on her orders.

He'd worried about his…