Yoo Unryong took a deep breath.
"So in the end, to obtain these chains... just as he stole the Heavenly Emperor's power, he had been trying to seize the Baekri family's power all along."
"That must be it."
Pondering deeply, Yoo Unryong tilted his head for a moment.
"But it's truly strange. Why was the Heavenly Emperor's corpse in the basement of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall?"
The Heavenly Emperor's corpse had Boundary Prosperity Jade secretly embedded in its earlobe.
Thanks to that, it maintained a perfect body that looked no different from when he was alive.
Unless one had mastered the Cheonui Heart Secret like Bu Eunseol, no one could ever notice the existence of the Boundary Prosperity Jade.
It was a perfect corpse whose authenticity no one could doubt.
"Moreover, you said the corpse was split in half, and martial arts were even engraved on the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin?"
At that time, mysterious martial arts that transcended the level of the current martial world had been engraved on the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin.
The fake corpse was split vertically from the Baihui acupoint, leaving only the front half of the body.
"From the Martial Venerable's perspective, even if the real corpse of the Heavenly Emperor existed, shouldn't he have completely destroyed it?"
Stroking his chin, Yoo Unryong furrowed his brow.
"But... why did he leave behind that elaborate fake corpse?"
"I've constantly pondered that reason as well."
Bu Eunseol muttered in a low voice.
"And only recently was I able to vaguely find the answer."
"What is it?"
Pausing for a moment, he stared into the void and spoke.
"That corpse and the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin were probably a joint petition."
"A joint petition?"
"No matter how cunning the Martial Venerable is and how outstanding his martial arts are, he couldn't become the Martial Alliance Leader just by killing the Heavenly Emperor."
Hidden factions existed within the Martial Alliance, and even the abyssal forces of immense power, the Sacred Domain among them, were intertwined with it.
No matter how outstanding his abilities were, he could not ascend to the position of Alliance Leader without their consent.
"But the Heavenly Emperor didn't die, did he?"
"He probably made the joint petition anticipating exactly that, since unexpected things can happen."
There would be countless variables in dealing with an expert like the Heavenly Emperor.
Considering the risks, it would be strange not to make a joint petition.
"So you mean he engraved martial arts on the corpse and the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin in exchange for an oath, so that those who joined hands with the Martial Venerable could never back out."
Yoo Unryong wore an expression as if he were gazing at new scenery.
It was a perspective he hadn't considered at all until now.
"That deduction certainly makes sense."
The Martial Alliance was an aggregate of countless factions.
The Martial Venerable couldn't play the role of a fake Martial Alliance Leader for as long as he pleased.
Since the martial arts engraved on the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin were said to be mysterious arts unseen in the current martial world, the Martial Venerable and a certain faction had most likely created the Heavenly Emperor's fake corpse and engraved the traces of their unique martial arts upon it, to keep each other in check.
"What's certain is that the Martial Venerable remains entrenched in the Martial Alliance even knowing his identity has been exposed."
Yoo Unryong said.
"We must figure out beforehand what scheme he is planning to unfold."
Why the Martial Venerable was holding out in the Martial Alliance.
Why he had killed the Solitary Enlightenment Hall Lord.
Why he had selected Baek Museong as the next Alliance Leader.
In the end, his true identity had to be properly revealed so that he could be expelled from the Martial Alliance.
"Otherwise, using the position of Martial Alliance Leader, who knows what scheme he might unfold again."
As long as the Martial Venerable sat in the Alliance Leader's seat, shaking him directly was out of the question.
He absolutely had to be dragged down from the Alliance Leader's seat, so that the certain factions backing him would turn their backs, and every plan and conspiracy he was pursuing could be thwarted as well.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, the sound of knocking on the office door came along with Wi Cheongyeong's voice.
"Command Lord, it's Wi Cheongyeong."
As soon as he entered, he spoke with a perplexed expression.
"We just received contact from the Martial Alliance."
"The Martial Alliance?"
"It has been decided that the next Alliance Leader, Baek Museong, will ascend to the position of Alliance Leader."
In an instant, Bu Eunseol and Yoo Unryong looked at each other.
He suddenly handed over the Alliance Leader position to Baek Museong?
Did that mean the Martial Venerable had obtained everything he needed from the Martial Alliance and intended to leave it behind cleanly?
"And the Martial Alliance sent word to this Corps."
Wi Cheongyeong spoke as if he couldn't understand it.
"They plan to hold an inauguration ceremony within the Martial Alliance in fifteen days, and they will formally invite the Martial Soul Command Lord."
Originally, the Martial Alliance held a grand ceremony when the next Alliance Leader was decided, but the inauguration ritual itself was conducted simply.
This was to show the new Alliance Leader's resolve to handle matters fairly, without accepting solicitations from any sect.
Yet this time, they were suddenly going to hold an inauguration ceremony?
"Shall I convey that we will not accept?"
Wi Cheongyeong looked at Bu Eunseol with a worried expression.
"It's too coincidental, in this situation."
"No, it's a good thing."
Bu Eunseol's eyes grew sharp.
Since they had formally announced the invitation of the Martial Soul Command Lord, they wouldn't attack openly.
He intended to use this opportunity to grasp the situation of the Martial Alliance once more and uncover the secrets of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
* * *
Having returned to the Martial Alliance, the Martial Venerable's face had turned pale, and burning rage looked ready to burst from his eyes at any moment.
'How dare he!'
He ground his molars as if to crush them, the sound of his hard teeth clashing ringing out eerily.
'To think I had to reveal my bottom line because of that unspeakably impudent greenhorn.'
That he had become a dependent of the True Demon was a secret that absolutely could not be revealed until his grand plan was entirely complete.
But that unidentified novice who had crawled out of the Sacred Domain had ruined everything.
Whatever wicked trick he had pulled, the Martial Venerable found himself hunted by figures of the Baekri family who never showed themselves for ordinary matters.
By entangling him in that battle, the boy had driven him to a moment of absolute crisis.
In the end, he safely extracted himself by secretly using his last resort, the Soul Demon Dharma Energy, but not only did he suffer internal injuries because of it, the fact that he had used the Soul Demon Dharma Energy was nearly exposed to the outside world.
"I will definitely sever his breath."
With a murderous mutter, he turned his body and headed toward the Heaven and Earth Pavilion.
But his feet froze like stone before he could take a few steps.
It was because an ominous premonition brushed past his mind along with the bleak night wind.
'That heir of the Sacred Domain lingered in the Martial Alliance for a good while even after deceiving me.'
That bastard was meticulous and cunning.
The bastard who had shaken up the entire board and driven him, the Martial Venerable, into a corner. What was his reason for taking such an immense risk to stay in the Solitary Enlightenment Hall for a while?
What in the world had he been doing there?
'The office.'
Like a flash of light, a single location pierced through his mind.
That person had headed to the office on the third floor of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall and run into him. Meaning, his destination had been the office from the very beginning.
The Martial Venerable changed direction and immediately headed to the Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
Meanwhile, the new figure said to have been dispatched from the Sacred Domain to replace the dead Mok Do-in was handling matters in the Hidden Forest Pavilion, so there was no chance of running into him.
Step.
Upon arriving before the door of Mok Do-in's office in the Solitary Enlightenment Hall, the memories of that time resurfaced once again.
'He reproduced all of Mok Do-in's speech, demeanor, gaze, and even minor habits.'
That meant he had observed Mok Do-in for a long time.
'But if he had doubts about Mok Do-in's death, why didn't he report it to the Sacred Domain?'
What if that novice from the Sacred Domain had constantly come and gone from the Martial Alliance and mingled with Mok Do-in?
No matter that he had cut ties with the Sacred Domain, he would surely have discovered something strange and reported it to them.
Yet although a fact-finding investigation began from the Sacred Domain, they failed to find any particular anomalies.
It simply ended with them sending a successor for Mok Do-in.
'There's something here.'
Creak.
As the Martial Venerable threw open the tightly closed door of Mok Do-in's office, cool air and a faint scent of ink greeted him.
Right after Mok Do-in died, he had already searched this place so thoroughly that not even a rat could hide, yet he had discovered nothing at the time.
'I must have missed something.'
A bizarre certainty that could not be explained by reason pushed at his back.
The Martial Venerable began to scan everything in the room once again.
The bookshelves, the desk, the old scrolls, even the cracks in the wooden floor. His acute senses sliced through the space like a blade.
It was then.
'Hmm?'
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a Star Plate hanging on one side of the wall.
It was an object he had previously passed by, considering it merely an old, ordinary decoration.
But for some reason, it felt different now.
That was because just earlier, when he had clashed with the experts of the Baekri family and drawn out the power of the Martial God Heaven, the aftermath of that explosive energy still lingered faintly within his body.
And wasn't the chaotic energy mixed within his body resonating slightly toward the Star Plate, as if connected by an invisible thread?
'Hmm.'
A strange intuition flashed through his mind.
As if possessed, the Martial Venerable approached the Star Plate and gathered the heterogeneous power squirming within his body at his fingertips.
Bzzzt.
When he placed his hand on the center of the Star Plate, a bizarre cracking sound rang out as if dry lightning had struck.
It had reacted to the mixed energy he injected.
Rumble.
Along with a heavy noise, the wall where the Star Plate hung split entirely and opened inward.
Beyond the dusty darkness, a hidden secret space, a secret vault, revealed itself.
"I can't believe it!"
Creak.
An exclamation akin to ecstasy burst from the mouth of the Martial Venerable as he entered the secret vault.
In that place lay what he had so desperately searched for.
The one and only reason he couldn't leave the Martial Alliance, which he wouldn't trade for anything.
"So it was here."
It was a dark, dull iron coffin that seemed to have endured hundreds of years.
The sides of the iron coffin were engraved with patterns composed of multiple layers.
Thin lines flowed continuously to form meandering waveforms, and between them thick engravings were carved deep, dark as shadows.
Some formed repetitions of regular geometric patterns, while others were connected by irregular lines, like a single stroke swept with a brush.
"I can't believe it."
However, his joy did not last long.
The lid of the massive iron coffin was already open, and the inside was completely empty.
Only the specially crafted coffin, made to contain the Chains of Samsara, revealed its hollow interior.
"That bastard!"
The Martial Venerable's eyes burned with rage.
The one who had infiltrated the Martial Alliance and acted as the Hidden Forest Pavilion Lord.
The one who had provoked him and started a fight with the Baekri family to divert his attention.
The very bastard he had missed.
It was certain he had disappeared with the chains.
"Nonsense!"
The Martial Venerable lost his reason and roared.
"Are you saying he didn't originally have it, but took the chains that were here?!"
To keep these chains perfectly intact within a physical body, three conditions were required.
One had to possess the Profound Divine Technique Qi of the Baekri family to resist the power of the chains.
Or possess the Soul Demon Dharma Energy of the True Demon to synchronize with the power of the chains.
Or possess a body that was perfectly ordinary yet encompassed everything, like the past Seven-Finger Demon Blade.
Other than that, no matter what power one possessed...
The moment they touched it, their body would be destroyed and turn to ash. How on earth did he take this?
In an instant, a single possibility flashed through the Martial Venerable's mind like lightning.
"Could it be that he wasn't from the Sacred Domain."
He finally thought of an existence capable of not only deceiving his eyes and ears but also committing this impossible act.
The one capable of pulling off such a thing. Wasn't there only that one bastard who had ruined all of his grand plans so far?
"Bu Eunseol!"
The Martial Venerable gritted his teeth.
There was a time when his goal had been to steal that boy's power, open the Baekri family's secret vault, and obtain the complete Profound Divine Technique Qi.
However, things became easier once he was chosen by the Martial God Heaven.
Because he realized there was a secret to mixing the two great powers even with just the Soul Demon Dharma Energy.
That was why, after becoming the Martial God Heavenly Lord, he had searched the Martial Alliance for the iron coffin and the chains the Heavenly Emperor had hidden.
In the end, it had been entrusted to a figure from the Sacred Domain, the Hidden Forest Pavilion Lord, Mok Do-in.
"Little brother. You truly deceive me to the very end."
Looking down at the massive iron coffin lying at his feet, he recalled fragments of the unerasable past.
* * *
―'Steal only half of the Golden Immortal True Qi. That will be enough.'
In the past, a figure from the hidden factions established within the Martial Alliance had sought out the Martial Venerable.
He tossed him utterly incomprehensible information.
―'The Heavenly Emperor. He received the Chains of Samsara from the Seven-Finger Demon Blade. Since he is already someone colluding with the demonic path, he will have no qualms about betrayal or the like.'
―'Nonsense.'
The Martial Venerable could not believe those words.
His sworn younger brother who had saved his life, the Heavenly Emperor whom all martial artists looked up to like the sky. To think he had joined hands with the demonic factions and obtained the Chains of Samsara, a power that shook the very principles of the world?
―'Martial Venerable. Are you not a figure of the righteous path? Will you pretend not to know that the leader of the righteous path has turned to the demonic path?'
No matter how narrow-minded his character was and how obsessed he was with martial arts, he too was an elder of the righteous path.
No matter that the Heavenly Emperor was his savior, no matter that he was his sworn younger brother...
For him to have joined hands with demonic practitioners and obtained the power of the True Demon that had destroyed the martial world for generations was utterly unacceptable.
―'I will first verify the facts.'
It was true.
As a result of the investigation, just as they said, his younger brother Shin Domubi had been secretly colluding with the Seven-Finger Demon Blade.
Justification.
The sweetest temptation in the world was the poison called 'justification.'
Because as long as there was justification, any action could be rationalized.
Ultimately, he swallowed the sweet poison.
―'So there was a reason my younger brother was strong.'
He had suppressed his true nature out of admiration and devotion to his younger brother Shin Domubi's broad character and chivalry, but he was inherently a narrow-minded and obsessive man.
Upon discovering the truth that the Heavenly Emperor had colluded with demonic practitioners and obtained demonic power...
His wolf-like nature erupted once again.
―'What do you want from me.'
The Martial Venerable contacted them once more.
―'Your goal wouldn't be merely to steal the Golden Immortal True Qi.'
―'The reason the Heavenly Emperor is invincible is the Mysterious Qi unleashed by the Golden Immortal True Qi. After all, even the Heavenly Demon Emperor couldn't break the Mysterious Qi.'
A certain figure who had approached him spoke in a low voice.
―'But what if the Martial Venerable, his only sworn older brother and the so-called pillar of the martial world, once again suffered a fatal injury as in the past? To maintain that hypocritical attitude of his, the Heavenly Emperor will share his Golden Immortal True Qi. If that happens, his Mysterious Qi will be broken.'
Pausing for a moment, the shadow spoke lowly.
―'The Heavenly Emperor, having lost half of his Golden Immortal True Qi, will no longer be able to fully contain the Chains of Samsara. He will surely be forced to transfer and store it in an iron coffin.'
Even the Martial Venerable did not have the beastly heart to brazenly strike the back of the sworn brother who had pulled him back from the threshold of death.
But receiving a share of the Golden Immortal True Qi to force him to give up the Chains of Samsara was not so difficult a task.
Moreover, the Chains of Samsara were the source of the True Demon's power, the ultimate knowledge that allowed one to glimpse the realm of gods.
What if he obtained even a single piece of it? He could transcend the world and ascend to the seat of the greatest of all time.
―'Very well.'
His boiling ambition ultimately swallowed his loyalty.
No, perhaps there had been no loyalty in his heart from the very beginning.
―'I have a condition in return.'
After listening to the Martial Venerable's subsequent demands for a long while, the figure in the darkness nodded.
―'I shall accept it.'
Finally, the plan to weaken the Heavenly Emperor's martial prowess was set in motion.
With the help of that certain figure, under circumstances no one could suspect, the Martial Venerable secretly returned to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion of the Martial Alliance, where his sworn brother was, bearing a fatal injury that nearly severed his breath.
Amidst the agony of crushed ribs and a twisted dantian, the Heavenly Emperor discovered the dying Martial Venerable.
And he poured his Golden Immortal True Qi, which was like his very life force and called the greatest healing art in the world, into him without reserve and without an ounce of suspicion.
The moment that warm energy entered him, the Martial Venerable deployed a secret esoteric art and plundered fully half of the Golden Immortal True Qi that flowed in like a river.
Only then did the Heavenly Emperor realize that the Martial Venerable had intentionally stolen his Golden Immortal True Qi, yet he did not blame him. Without a single word, he went into closed-door training to recover his body.
Once the plan concluded successfully, they used the mysterious Boundary Prosperity Jade to craft a perfect fake corpse identical to the Heavenly Emperor.
The texture of the skin, every single strand of hair, even the minute scars. It was so exquisite that one would believe it was a living person.
―'Now, Martial Venerable, it is time to grant your demand.'
It was only after they had crafted a fake corpse perfect enough for the entire world to believe the Heavenly Emperor's death, and enshrined it in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin, that they engraved their unique martial arts upon it.
The Martial Venerable's demand was exactly that: to create a sort of joint petition inscribed with traces of their unique martial arts.
Yet they went out of their way to craft a fake corpse first.
Then, after enshrining it in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Coffin, they engraved their unique martial arts upon it.
―'So you have no intention of killing my younger brother.'
The Martial Venerable realized.
They were not trying to kill the Heavenly Emperor by breaking his Mysterious Qi, but were making a corpse in order to capture him alive.
―'In any case, the joint petition has been made. Are you satisfied with this?'
―'I am satisfied.'
Afterward, the plan proceeded without a hitch.
The Heavenly Emperor, who had entered closed-door training in a weakened state after losing half of his Golden Immortal True Qi, vanished like mist by the hand of a certain faction.
―'I already knew.'
As soon as the Martial Venerable became the Martial Alliance Leader, he began scouring the inside of the Martial Alliance.
―'That you bastards were approaching me.'
At that time, the Martial Venerable was already acting as the Divine Sage with the help of the Wooden Buddha.
Through his prophecies...
He already knew that the factions trying to kill the Heavenly Emperor were approaching him.
He merely pretended to agonize and waver in order to avoid their suspicion.
―'The chains were not in my younger brother's body even before you stole the Golden Immortal True Qi.'
However, the moment the Martial Venerable heard that story, he changed his mind.
Rather than helping the Heavenly Emperor, he decided to snatch the Chains of Samsara while pretending to join hands with them.
The Martial Venerable gleefully scoured the inside of the Martial Alliance.
Because of this, his ties with the Wooden Buddha were completely severed, and he could no longer obtain his cooperation, but it didn't matter.
If he grasped the Chains of Samsara...
He would escape the yoke of heavenly secrets, and even the Wooden Buddha's prophecies would no longer work on him.
The flow of causality would move according to his will, and the order of the world would be woven anew at his fingertips.
Very soon, he would become the master of a new heaven, a living Heavenly-Mandate.
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