Chapter 36
One of the highest power institutions of the imperial family, the Eastern Depot.
The head of the Eastern Depot, who received the emperor’s full favor, was Admiral Gong Jin.
He was considered one of the top masters of the imperial palace, along with the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Approaching with a sharp aura that matched his impression, he spoke.
“I hope you can prove yourself.”
Eunho gave him a calm look.
“Can we start?”
Srrng-
No need for words!
Gong Jin silently drew his sword.
With the emperor’s command given, what more was needed?
Eunho’s lips curled up slightly as he watched.
“Then let’s proceed.”
Eunho’s figure seemed to waver for a moment, then disappeared from sight.
Gong Jin’s eyes narrowed.
Does he have substance?
Eunho appeared right in front of him in an instant.
Gong Jin calmly swung his sword.
However, Eunho’s figure blurred again, and he only cut through afterimages.
The warriors of the Murim Alliance gaped at Eunho’s movements, but Gong Jin just silently held his sword and scanned the surroundings.
The martial arts of the warriors are flashy and unconventional.
But the sword that protects only the emperor is honest and never arrogant.
A sword filled with reverence, as if looking up to the heavens.
“The Fifteen Swords of Heaven (Gyeoncheon Sibo Geom).”
That was the sword of the Eastern Depot.
The sword that struggled to catch Eunho’s afterimages with the first and second strikes gradually began to follow him.
By the tenth strike, it narrowly grazed Eunho’s neck, and eventually, it slightly cut the ends of his hair.
A strange light flickered in Eunho’s eyes.
A sword that looks up to the heavens.
An interesting thought came to mind.
Eunho knew a martial art that suited it very well.
The Thirteen Lightning Swords (Seomjeon Sipsam Geomroe).
A sword technique created by one of the elders of the Namgung family, inspired by lightning falling from the sky, embodying the essence of extreme speed.
The image of his master explaining with emphasis was vivid.
Eunho’s figure charged aggressively towards Gong Jin.
Go ahead, look at the sky all you want.
I’ll bring down lightning for you.
Clang, clang, clang-!
Eunho and Gong Jin’s swords began to clash at an incredible speed.
They even got faster and faster.
It was as if they were saying, “This is what extreme speed is.”
The warriors of the Murim Alliance watching were astonished.
Had they ever seen such swift swordsmanship in their lives?
Soon, they gave up trying to follow the swords with their eyes.
After about thirty exchanges.
“Ugh!”
Gong Jin, who was struggling to block, lost his grip on his sword.
Clang!
The sound of the sword hitting the floor echoed throughout the grand hall.
“Is this proof enough?”
After a brief silence, the emperor smiled with satisfaction.
“Hahaha, it seems you’re not just good with words. To subdue our admiral so easily.”
Seeing Eunho’s martial prowess, the emperor made up his mind.
He had always been interested in martial arts and wanted to learn it. Although the admiral strongly opposed it.
But he would learn it.
How could he not learn something so magnificent?
Eunho would definitely be his martial arts teacher.
Eunho, noticing the emperor’s satisfied expression, lightly sheathed his sword and changed the atmosphere.
“Then let’s set the bait and get ready to catch them.”
The emperor nodded.
He was the most trustworthy martial artist he had ever seen.
“What kind of bait should we use? When fishing, the bait should be hidden to catch the fish.”
“Not necessarily. I heard the Blood Demon’s martial prowess is at the Supreme Peak Realm level. The more blatant, the better. They will definitely take the bait.”
Eunho had never hidden when he knew it was a trap.
That’s what a true master is.
They would see the trap as an opportunity.
***
A musty smell filled the underground secret room.
Unknown inscriptions covering the floor and walls created an eerie atmosphere.
In the only small space without inscriptions, a naked, emaciated man sat hunched over.
His entire body was covered in a red, sticky liquid that looked like the blood of a beast or human.
“It’s done.”
The man’s voice was sharp and eerie, like a pickaxe scraping against rock.
In front of him stood warriors dressed in red blood-stained robes.
“Congratulations!”
When the old woman at the front bowed her head, the warriors behind her knelt and pressed their foreheads to the floor, shouting in unison.
“Congratulations!”
The man scanned his subordinates with a fierce gaze before standing up.
Though he was naked, his body was so emaciated that no one felt any discomfort.
At that moment, someone from the group stepped forward and bowed.
“We have received information that the emperor is going hunting.”
“Good. We will kill him then. It is a sad thing to kill the Son of Heaven, chosen by the heavens, but I too am chosen by the heavens. No one else can do this but me.”
However, the warrior who reported this did not look pleased.
“The emperor, who was heavily guarded, suddenly decided to go out. It is obvious that he is making it known everywhere, clearly a trap….”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
The man, whom they believed to be the Blood Sovereign, was staring at him without any expression.
His face and eyes were so devoid of emotion that just looking at him felt eerie.
The warrior’s body froze completely.
“Do you doubt me?”
The warrior swallowed hard.
“N-no, that’s not it….”
He quickly began to bang his forehead on the floor.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even though his forehead was split open and blood was flowing, he did not stop. His eyes were filled only with fear.
“Stop. Do not spill any more of your blood in front of me.”
The heavy voice of the Blood Sovereign fell over his head, and he looked up at the Blood Sovereign with a slightly moved expression.
“I will soon dye the world red and command it. You deserve to enjoy that world with me. That is the greater cause.”
The greater cause? The last words bothered him a bit, but he nodded and said.
“I am deeply grateful!”
At the same time, the Blood Sovereign’s large hand reached out towards his face.
“Ugh!”
In an instant, the warrior’s body floated in the air.
It felt as if someone was choking him, making it impossible to breathe.
If only it ended there, but soon he felt the energy in his body reverse.
“Ugh!”
The reversed energy gathered in one place and was absorbed into the Blood Sovereign’s palm. The Blood Sovereign closed his eyes and trembled as if savoring it.
The warrior’s body began to shrivel and soon dried up like a mummy.
The Blood Sovereign withdrew his hand.
Thud.
His moistureless corpse fell lightly to the floor like a piece of paper. The Blood Sovereign looked at him briefly before turning his gaze to his subordinates.
He was quite pleased to see them all avoiding his gaze.
For those who rule the world, fear is inevitable.
“This is the greater cause. Prepare to open a new world.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Except for the deputy leader, the subordinates quickly disappeared from the room as if fleeing. The body that had been as thin as an old man’s was now that of a robust man in his twenties.
He looked at the old woman standing next to him with a crazed look in his eyes.
“Deputy leader, I want to see the results of the Great Law immediately.”
It was an achievement obtained by condensing the blood and flesh of thousands.
The Twenty-Four Masters, said to be the strongest in the world.
They were no longer feared.
The old woman, called the deputy leader, smiled and bowed her head.
“I anticipated that you would say so and have prepared accordingly. It seems that one of the people used in the Great Law was from the Hainan Sect.”
Hainan Sect (海南派).
The Hainan Sect, located on Hainan Island, the southernmost part of the Central Plains, was classified as an external sect.
The Hainan Sect had lost its former glory for a while but was quickly regaining its reputation recently.
The current head of the sect, Haegum Woo Jungdo.
He entered the Supreme Peak Realm and was listed among the Twenty-Four Masters. The Blood Sovereign smiled with satisfaction.
“Is he in the Central Plains?”
“Yes. I heard he is desperately looking for you, Blood Sovereign.”
***
If the Eastern Depot’s mission was to assist the emperor mentally and physically from the closest proximity, the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s sole focus was to protect the emperor’s safety from a step away.
“What? B-bait!?”
Crash-
In his fury, he stood up so abruptly that the chair he was sitting on toppled over.
He glared at Gong Jin, the admiral of the Eastern Depot, as if he wanted to kill him.
“Did you dare utter such nonsense to the emperor! And you, admiral, just stood by and watched?”
“Do you think I just watched? I immediately requested the emperor to behead him.”
“And?”
He tilted his head.
Then why is that arrogant bastard still alive?
“I lost.”
Gong Jin’s face darkened.
He was recognized as one of the top masters of the imperial palace. How long had it been since his last defeat?
Of course, he knew there were stronger people in the martial world.
But knowing it and actually facing it were quite different.
“What? You lost!? You pathetic fool. How could the admiral of the Eastern Depot lose to such a martial artist?”
No matter how powerful the Embroidered Uniform Guard was, only one person could dare speak so harshly to the admiral of the Eastern Depot.
It was Yoon Pyung, a high-ranking official of the second rank and the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Yoon Pyung’s intense gaze moved past Gong Jin to the man standing next to him, who flinched under the scrutiny.
“Ahem, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Nothing to do with you?”
How could that be?
Yoon Pyung’s long-time friend and the leader of the Murim Alliance’s Blue Sky Brigade, Namgung Hyuk.
How could he not be responsible as the leader of the warriors dispatched this time?
“How do you manage your subordinates that they dare to utter such arrogant words in front of His Majesty the Emperor!”
Yoon Pyung was venting his anger at Namgung Hyuk.
However, Namgung Hyuk’s attitude was firm.
“First of all, that guy is not my subordinate. He holds the same rank as me.”
Namgung Hyuk had no intention of provoking Eunho over this matter.
He was well aware of the rumors about the Blood Heaven Divine Sword.
And this incident confirmed that his reputation for having no backing was not just a rumor.
There was no need to bring it up and create unnecessary friction.
It wasn’t out of fear.
Eunho was a disciple of Namgung Cheong, the greatest elder of the family. Although not an official disciple, there was still some awkwardness in terms of hierarchy.
If he were truly the last disciple of Elder Namgung Cheong… in terms of hierarchy, he would be on par with the current head of the family, Namgung Yong.
As Namgung Hyuk clearly drew a line, Yoon Pyung’s anger did not subside.
He stood up abruptly and spoke harshly.
“I will go to His Majesty the Emperor right now and request to behead that guy, and I will personally execute him!”
At that moment, Gong Jin, who had been quietly watching, grabbed his arm and delivered the final blow.
“Don’t do it.”
“Let go of me!”
“At least one person’s honor should remain intact, shouldn’t it?”
“What, what!?”
Yoon Pyung was taken aback.
‘So this damn admiral is saying that I will lose?’
Thinking that made him even angrier.
Not only did a mere martial artist dare to speak such nonsense to His Majesty the Emperor, but he also dared to tarnish the honor of the imperial palace?
Of course, Eunho was just following orders.
Yoon Pyung roughly shook off Gong Jin’s arm and walked away, fuming.
“I will personally deal with that arrogant bastard!”
Watching his retreating figure, a strange smile appeared on Gong Jin’s lips. When one of the competing groups is humiliated, the honor of the other rises.
That was exactly the situation now.
One of the two masters’ honor was broken.
But what if both of their honors were broken together?
Gongjin, although it was a short time, understood Eunho’s personality.
It was because he had a straightforward personality without hiding anything.
He would not hold back.
He would plant a solid punch on Yoon Pyung’s face.
“I’m sorry. Isn’t this what politics is all about?”
Gongjin consoled his sad heart by offering an apology that Yoon Pyung pyeong couldn’t hear, with a bitter smile.
