Heavenly Martial Council chamber.
The leadership of Heavenly Martial Castle sat on both sides of a long table, faces tight with tension.
At the highest seat, the Heavenly Martial Emperor, Jeok Mugun, sat with his chin propped on his hand, his expression openly displeased.
“I left Heavenly Martial Castle in your hands, and this is the spectacle you’ve made of it.”
“We’re sorry.”
“Sorry?”
Jeok Mugun straightened.
A storm of pressure surged off his body.
He’d thrown himself into training lately—trying to become a grandfather he wouldn’t be ashamed to face—and as a result he’d pushed his realm even higher.
Sensing a presence completely unlike before, the leadership lowered their heads and thought the same thing.
He got stronger.
Stronger than that?
As expected of the Heavenly Martial Emperor—
And the fear on their faces was the same fear of whether that fury might fall on them.
“Did you just say ‘sorry’ to me?”
“We’re sorry.”
BANG—!
CRACK—!
RUMBLE—!
The moment that “sorry” came again, Jeok Mugun slammed the table.
It split in half, and everything on top of it spilled to the floor.
“Not one of the people in this room moved for Heavenly Martial Castle before things reached this point. And you say what? ‘Sorry’? Don’t you dare tell me you ‘didn’t know.’”
GRIND—
Jeok Mugun rose.
His pressure, stronger than ever, crushed down on them.
“Ghk!”
The leadership grimaced under the overwhelming weight.
Jeok Mugun’s face twisted further.
“To suffer under pressure at this level... pathetic. Looks like none of you have trained your martial arts properly all this time.”
No one spoke.
Every time someone said “sorry,” he only grew angrier—so they shut their mouths.
“Heh. Now you won’t even speak? Is what I’m saying so funny?”
“N-no! Even with ten mouths, we have nothing to say, so...”
“Fine. If anyone in here thinks their realm has risen lately, raise your hand.”
No one moved.
“Pathetic trash... and you call yourselves the pillars that lead Heavenly Martial Castle!”
“We’re sorry!”
“Do you think I’m doing this because I want to hear you say ‘sorry’?”
Silence again—like they’d swallowed honey.
Then one of the three men seated closest to Jeok Mugun stood.
“Father. Please, calm yourself first.”
It was Jeok Ryonghyeon, Jeok Mugun’s eldest son.
“I told you not to call me ‘Father’ in public. If my own son treats my words like a joke, why would these people listen to me?”
“I apologize, Lord of the Castle. I understand your disappointment and your rebuke. But I don’t think it’s right to make the people here shoulder responsibility for what the strategist did wrong.”
“What did you say?”
“This entire situation was orchestrated by the strategist. His identity was exposed and he disappeared—so you should be searching for him and holding him accountable.”
“Heh. Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“The strategist is dead.”
“...What?”
“I killed him with my own hands and held him accountable. Is that enough?”
With a cold face, Jeok Mugun lifted his hand as he spoke.
Shock hit the room.
At Jeok Mugun’s gesture, an attendant brought a booklet.
It was a record of the leadership’s corruption.
Jeok Mugun opened it and began to read.
As the pages turned, the leadership’s faces drained to blue.
His sons’ corruption was written in there too.
When he finished, Jeok Mugun crushed the booklet into powder and scattered it into the air, his eyes full of killing intent.
“And you still want to blame only the strategist? You want to claim none of this is your fault?”
Silence again.
“No words? Should I hold you accountable the same way you wanted to hold the strategist accountable? Hm?”
GROOOAN—
“Ghk!”
“Ugh!”
A pressure so heavy they couldn’t even keep proper posture spread over the leadership.
The ones enduring it best were Jeok Mugun’s sons.
Jeok Mugun looked at them and spoke.
“Pathetic. Even the ones called my sons aren’t moving for Heavenly Martial Castle—they’re obsessed with taking this seat for ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) themselves. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.”
“W-we’re... sorry.”
Jeok Mugun’s pressure eased.
“You want this seat that badly? Fine. Divide it among yourselves. Come to think of it, everything gets solved if I leave.”
At that bombshell, the leadership—who’d been suffering a moment ago—shot up in panic and tried to stop him all at once.
“N-no, Lord of the Castle!”
“We were wrong! We’ll do better from now on!”
“If you hate the temple, the monk leaves. If I don’t want to watch this, I can simply walk out. Instead, I wasted my time and drained my energy for nothing.”
If the Heavenly Martial Emperor left Heavenly Martial Castle now—
Even if the castle wasn’t what it used to be, more than eighty percent of its martial warriors would still be loyal to him.
If he walked out, they would abandon the castle and follow.
Then only a shell named “Heavenly Martial Castle” would remain.
How many would stay to guard an empty shell?
And if someone became Lord of the Castle over an empty shell—who would even acknowledge it?
It would mean nothing.
“W-we were wrong! P-please give us one chance!”
“A chance?”
“Yes! We’ll show you we’ve changed! And if you still don’t like it then, do as you wish, Lord of the Castle!”
Jeok Mugun swept his gaze across them.
The leadership prostrated themselves as one.
Jeok Mugun spoke.
“Fine. I haven’t managed Heavenly Martial Castle properly either, so I’ll give you a chance.”
“Thank you!”
“I’m setting conditions.”
Everyone leaned in, listening like their lives depended on it.
“From now on, every four years, we’ll hold a full tournament and reassign the hierarchy. You’ve been comfortable, haven’t you? No more comfort. This applies to the leadership too. You’ll climb from the bottom by defeating your opponents, step by step. And every year, there will be a fixed one-week period when lower ranks may challenge higher ranks. During that period, higher ranks must accept challenges at any time, day or night. If you win, you keep your place. If you lose, the positions reverse. This will be publicly announced to all of Heavenly Martial Castle. If you don’t want to get properly overturned from below, you’ll train like you’re dying starting today. From now on, I’ll build a system where the stronger one rises to the top.”
Jeok Mugun looked at his children.
“This includes you as well. The ones under you right now could become your superiors in the future. If you suffer that humiliation, I’ll cut off the bond of father and child—so you’d better put in two, three times the effort of anyone else.”
Faces stiffened.
“And if there are people you placed in Heavenly Martial Castle through cheating, clean it up within this month. If I investigate and find they’re still here... you’d better be prepared.”
Heads stayed bowed.
Arguing here wasn’t a smart idea.
Jeok Mugun stared at them with an unsatisfied expression.
It wasn’t time to speak of Hundred Demon Heaven yet.
If he said it now, it would only multiply the chaos.
His eyes flicked to the strategist’s seat.
He remembered Gongsun Munryong, always laughing roughly, always offering some ingenious solution.
I’m sorry. The Heavenly Martial Castle you raised—I’ll reforge it no matter what. And I’ll make the bastards of Hundred Demon Heaven who did this to you pay. I swear it.
*****
“It’s been a while.”
“Have you been well, my lord?”
“As you can see. Did you look into what I asked?”
“Yes. I looked into the Gongsun Family in detail, as you requested. Here.”
I took the booklet Milyeong offered with both hands and opened it.
“Hm. The family still doesn’t know Gongsun Munryong is dead?”
“Yes.”
“Looks like Grandfather Geum took it hard. If he still hasn’t told the Gongsun Family...”
I kept turning pages.
“Nine-Yin Severed Meridians?”
“Gongsun Munryong’s second child has Nine-Yin Severed Meridians. It seems he’s barely holding on with spirit pills that replenish yang energy. They said it would be hard for him to live past fifteen, but thanks to the spirit pills he was still alive even at twenty.”
“Younger than I expected.”
“They say he was born late. There’s a twenty-year gap between him and the first child—the head of the Gongsun Family.”
I nodded.
“People say someone born with Nine-Yin Severed Meridians is a genius granted by heaven.”
“That’s right. The rumors say he’s the most outstanding genius in the entire history of the Gongsun Family. But he can’t use that talent because even moving is difficult.”
“Because of the illness.”
“Yes.”
“He’s perfect as Heavenly Martial Castle’s strategist. I’ll visit, deliver the news, treat him, and send him to Heavenly Martial Castle.”
At my words, Taecheon spoke.
“If he’s that kind of talent, how about keeping him under you, Young Master?”
“No. True Martial Sect already has me. And right now, it’s time to strengthen Heavenly Martial Castle’s power too.”
Taecheon and Chu Sowon nodded.
They’d already heard about Hundred Demon Heaven.
I looked at Milyeong.
It felt like it was time to bring the Hao Clan under me.
If I was going to face an unknown force like Hundred Demon Heaven, I’d need information.
Milyeong alone wasn’t enough.
I needed the Hao Clan’s full strength.
Honestly, even the Hao Clan wouldn’t be enough.
I would have to unify every information organization in the Central Plains into one.
And first, I had to take the Metropolitan Exam and confirm there was nothing wrong in the Imperial Palace.
I had to strengthen True Martial Sect as well.
Heavenly Martial Castle too.
The entire martial world of the Central Plains too.
To do that, I’d have to find the Four Heavenly Demon Fiends.
I had to use them to pour tension back into a complacent Central Plains.
The work ahead of me was a mountain range.
“Haa... I came out planning to just wander the Central Plains at my leisure...”
I asked Milyeong.
“No trace of the Four Heavenly Demon Fiends yet?”
“We’re searching the places you indicated, my lord, but nothing unusual has appeared so far.”
“Doing it alone is pretty rough, isn’t it?”
“Honestly... it is.”
Then I really did need the Hao Clan first.
“The Lord of the Hao Clan is doing well?”
“Yes.”
“He’s still been listening for my information, hasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s time I met him.”
“When do you plan to go? I’ll prepare—”
“Now.”
“...Pardon?”
“You know where the lord is.”
“...Yes. I do.”
“Let’s go.”
In an instant, I arrived at the location Milyeong named.
Milyeong looked half out of his mind—like he’d remembered the time I’d once grabbed him and dragged him to Ghost-Wind Gate.
I’d been fast then too.
But today was so far beyond that it wasn’t even comparable.
If I hadn’t protected my body with energy, my skin would’ve been peeled clean off.
“You alright?”
“...Yes. I’m fine.”
“You have to be. I came slowly for your sake.”
That was slow?
I had nothing to say.
We entered the city from a nearby mountain.
I looked around.
Brilliant buildings hung with red lanterns stretched on without end.
“Isn’t this a red-light district?”
“That’s correct. This entire street is the Hao Clan’s main base.”
“All of it?”
“Yes. People think this place is just a district. They never imagine it’s a sect at all.”
It was fresh.
The entire district being a sect.
No one would ever find it like this.
“The world calls this place the Crimson Nightland.”
“Crimson Nightland... it fits.”
“Follow me.”
Milyeong led me toward where the Lord of the Hao Clan was.
After passing countless pleasure houses, a lake opened up, framed by beautiful scenery.