Chapter 22: Hwa Jeokun (3)

“Keurgh!”

Cheon Yura’s knees hit the floor.

Though she had succeeded in synchronizing perfectly with my flow of Qi, the cost of facing off against the Sword Aura of a Peak Master Level opponent was steep.

“Hehe, hehehe!”

Jeokun’s figure was drenched in blood.

He had taken a direct hit from the attack that exploded out from the mechanism formation just before it was destroyed by the shockwave. The wound he received looked nearly fatal.

And yet—

“What a shame.”

Despite suffering what appeared to be a fatal injury, Jeokun was still alive.

And he still had enough energy left to finish us off.

As if in one last desperate struggle, the remaining mechanism formation activated and targeted Jeokun. But most of it had already been destroyed, and couldn’t stop him.

Jeokun swatted away the incoming hidden weapons as he walked toward us.

“Looks like you can’t move anymore.”

“……”

Cheon Yura hung her head, utterly exhausted, looking like she was dead. I held her protectively and glared at Jeokun.

‘Is this the end?’

I had poured everything into our joint Qi fusion, so my condition wasn’t much better than hers.

“You two have truly surprised me. If we were to fight again next time, the outcome might be completely different.”

Jeokun smiled darkly as he aimed his sword at my throat.

“To think that my life could serve the greater cause… how moving.”

With eyes wide open, Jeokun swung his sword down at me and Cheon Yura.

“Die.”

Or rather, he tried to.

KWAAANG!

“Yooouuuu insolent fooooool! How dare you lay a hand on them?!”

A thunderous voice erupted from behind Jeokun, and the entrance to the hall shattered in an instant.

A massive middle-aged man leapt in from outside and struck Jeokun on the head.

“Kuh!”

A lightning-fast ambush.

Under normal circumstances, Jeokun’s skills would have allowed him to defend himself, but with his energy nearly depleted and his body injured, he had no chance.

And even if he had managed to block it, the result would’ve been the same.

“Young Cult Leader! Are you alright?!”

The one who sent Jeokun flying in a single blow was a tall middle-aged man, nearly eight feet in height.

Shhhk!

At the same time, the true elites of the Guardian Corps appeared like shadows and surrounded us.

Perhaps finally coming to her senses, Cheon Yura murmured weakly,

“U… Hobup.”

“Yes! Your faithful servant, I, Grand Protector, have arrived!”

Grand Protector, the Red-Faced Demon Fighter, Wang Cheongeol.

A supreme top-tier expert of the Heavenly Demon Cult, often said to resemble Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms—if only he grew his beard longer.

“You’re late.”

“M-My deepest apologies! I only received the call when I briefly stepped away from my post!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Grand Protector threw himself to the ground and slammed his head down in apology, looking genuinely remorseful.

I shot a suspicious glance his way.

‘You left your post? Grand Protector did?’

The sole purpose of the Guardian Corps was to protect the Cult Leader and his family.

Failing to respond to a summon in a situation like this was serious enough to warrant being stripped of his position.

“……It’s fine. I was the one who initially refused your protection anyway.”

Cheon Yura sighed and shook her head. She pointed at Jeokun, who had been flung far across the hall.

“That one’s an Elder of the Azure Star Sect. He said it himself, so there’s no mistake. Make sure he stays alive and spills everything.”

“Y-Yes, Young Cult Leader. But… the thing is…”

“What?”

“That man… I believe…”

“……”

Sweat streamed down Grand Protector’s face.

For someone of his power, nearly a Grandmaster, to lose control of his body like that, there could be only one reason.

Seeing his reaction, Cheon Yura immediately understood.

“Damn it.”

The blow he had struck while shattering the door—

That very blow had killed Jeokun on the spot.

“M-My apologies. My deepest apologies!”

THUD THUD THUD THUD!

Grand Protector continued to bang his head on the floor.

I stared at him in disbelief.

‘Did he do that on purpose?’

In twenty years, the Guardian Corps would end up betraying us—but by then, Grand Protector would no longer be around.

He had already retired and was living leisurely as an Elder by that time.

When I was the Inner Administrator, the evaluations about him were all the same: the most loyal of the loyal, willing to do anything for the Cheon Clan.

There was no way he would be a traitor now, given the timing and circumstances.

Cheon Yura let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders.

“All that effort, for nothing.”

“Y-Young Cult Leader!”

“We’re going back.”

Before long, Sa Biyeon and the Black Guards who had been underground rejoined us.

As Cheon Yura stared at the burning manor, she turned her head toward me.

Her expression made me flinch slightly.

“Jin Yeomyung, I will definitely repay the debt I owe you today. And next time, I will definitely…”

She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

This mission had been nothing more than her way to redeem her pride, launched with sheer stubbornness.

But in the end, they had gained nothing, and instead, committed the grave error of stirring the grass and scaring the snake.

“I… have no excuse.”

Her eyes were filled with frustration, resentment, and self-loathing.

Beside her, Sa Biyeon fidgeted nervously, trying to say something, but in the end, she stayed silent.

She probably realized that any clumsy words of comfort would only wound Cheon Yura’s pride even more.

In the end, Cheon Yura returned to the Lesser Demon Hall under the pretext of receiving treatment.

Sa Biyeon, who stayed behind to handle the aftermath, let out a heavy sigh.

“Haah, this… this wasn’t the ending we wanted.”

“There was no helping it. Things don’t always go the way we want them to in life.”

She gave me a surprised look upon hearing that.

“You’re more composed than I expected, Master Jin.”

“I’m not the type to linger on things that have already passed.”

In truth, what I just said was a lie.

If I truly held no regrets over what had already happened, I wouldn’t have done something like reincarnation.

“What do you think will happen next?”

“We probably won’t be able to make any moves for a while. Neither side.”

Just the revelation that the Azure Star Sect had a spy within the Cult would stir up a storm for some time.

The enemy would become even more cautious, and our Cult would turn its attention to the Orthodox sects, which meant it would become harder to catch their tail.

“Especially the Young Cult Leader—she’ll be under something close to house arrest for a while. It was really dangerous this time.”

“I suppose so.”

If there were anyone from the Cheon Clan involved in this incident, even the Cult Leader himself would move to restrict the Young Cult Leader’s actions.

“Still, once the Cult Leader learns the full truth of what happened, at the very least, Black-Spotted Blood won’t be allowed to spread within the Cult anymore.”

The surface-level goal I had agreed on with Sa Biyeon in the first place was to resolve the matter of Black-Spotted Blood.

Now that it would be dealt with, she no longer had any justification to get involved.

And yet, Sa Biyeon didn’t look convinced.

“Master Jin, did you… perhaps anticipate this outcome?”

I shrugged.

“Of course not.”

“But the way you’re speaking now… it’s as if you knew things would turn out like this.”

“It’s just the logical conclusion, based on the facts. Are you saying I orchestrated this whole situation?”

“Of course not…”

Now that I had taken it this far, Sa Biyeon couldn’t press the issue any further.

In the end, she achieved her stated objective but left without any real gains.

There would soon be a large-scale investigation into the Cult’s underworld operations concerning Black-Spotted Blood.

How she responded to that would determine her standing within the Sa Clan.

In other words, Sa Biyeon wouldn’t be able to act freely for some time either.

“Whew, if all of you keep clinging to me like this, I’m the one who’s going to get tired.”

Though I denied it when Sa Biyeon asked, I had predicted that the situation might develop like this to some extent.

“Gu Chil.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Almost as if he emerged from the shadows, Gu Chil appeared behind me in a kneeling posture.

There was a reason my bodyguard hadn’t shown up until now.

“Did you find anything?”

Gu Chil and the guards from the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan who accompanied me had been searching for evidence inside the Hidden Trace Manor, separate from the Black Guards.

“Most of the documents had already been burned, so there wasn’t much. But we did find this in the dead manor lord’s belongings.”

The Hidden Trace Manor Lord, Eun Cheoljung, had his head taken off by Jeokun in the very first exchange.

The Guardian Corps had taken his corpse, but Gu Chil had apparently managed to retrieve something beforehand.

I took the note from Gu Chil’s hand and let out a quiet chuckle.

“So in the end, Grand Protector’s blunder ended up helping me.”

“Excuse me? A blun—what?”

“Ah, just talking to myself. Don’t worry about it.”

I waved a hand at the confused Gu Chil and turned my eyes to the note.

> [Thousand-Day Pass (千日關) Sang (相), Certain Kill (必殺), Smoke (煙) – Deliver immediately]

‘What is this?’

The fact that it was found on Eun Cheoljung’s body meant it must be important.

The “Thousand-Day Pass” referred to none other than one of the Heavenly Demon Cult’s two major educational institutions.

I didn’t know what “Sang” or “Smoke” meant, but one thing was clear.

‘It’s an order to assassinate someone inside the Thousand-Day Pass.’

Considering the Hidden Trace Manor secretly operated the Killing Squad, it wasn’t strange that Eun Cheoljung would receive an assassination order.

“What does it say?”

“It seems… they’re trying to help me.”

“…Sorry, what?”

“Thousand-Day Pass, huh…”

A smile formed on my lips without me even realizing it.

“This works out nicely. It’s the perfect place to replace the Pavilion.”

As I muttered to myself, Gu Chil pouted and grumbled.

“Young Master, could you maybe explain things in a way I can understand?”

Well, if it’s Gu Chil, he deserves to know my plan.

So, flashing my brightest smile, I said:

“Looks like we’ll be parting ways for a while.”

“Whaaat?!”

***

Just as I expected, the Heavenly Demon Cult was thrown into turmoil upon discovering that Black-Spotted Blood was circulating in its lower ranks, and that a member of the Azure Star Sect was involved.

“Those Orthodox bastards dared to pull a trick like this on our Cult, the kind of thing only lowly factions would attempt?!”

“Heavenly Demon! You must annihilate the Azure Star Sect this instant!”

Some of the war-hungry Elders and members of the Six Great Demonic Clans were already calling for an all-out war with the Orthodox faction.

But the Cult Leader, Cheon Taejong, was wise.

“We must be certain whether they truly are from the Orthodox sect… or if someone else is impersonating them.”

“H-Heavenly Demon!”

“If we swing our blades wildly at the wrong target, we’ll only bring disaster upon ourselves. The wrath of the Cult must be thorough—but directed precisely.”

The Cult Leader forcibly quelled all complaints.

He formally sent letters of protest to the Murim Alliance and the Azure Star Sect, demanding the truth behind the incident be revealed.

In truth, Cheon Taejong had wanted to declare war immediately and wipe out all those involved.

But the one thing that stopped him—

Was the report from his daughter, the one who caused this incident: the Young Cult Leader, Cheon Yura.

She reported the possibility that a traitor within the Cheon Clan and an unknown third party were involved, and urged him to proceed with caution.

And in addition to that—

For the first time in her life, she came to him with personal concerns, just like a teenager going through adolescence… but that’s a private matter, so let’s skip over it.

‘Azure Star Sect, huh…’

Azure Star Sect.

Among the Nine Great Orthodox Sects, it was known for its bold and masculine style. It actively fought to eradicate the demonic path alongside Shaolin.

Still, thanks to its status as a prestigious sect of Daoist lineage, its methods were usually quite gentlemanly.

‘Yura said that man Jeokun didn’t seem like someone from the Orthodox side at all.’

Even if the Nine Great Sects secretly looked after their own interests, they were fundamentally obsessed with honor and reputation.

Would people like that pull something like this against our Cult?

“Left Guardian.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

At Cheon Taejong’s call, the Left Guardian—One-Thousand Kills a Day, Mujeong—appeared.

He lightly tapped the armrest of the grand chair, gathered his thoughts, then spoke.

“There’s something I want you to investigate.”

“I accept your command.”

The Left Guardian’s answers were always short and firm.

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