The Venerable Master spoke.
“If we leave things as they are, it’s entirely possible that forces within the Martial Alliance itself will begin to collapse it from the inside.”
As if sensing the Martial Venerable’s complicated state of mind, the Venerable Master wore a look of regret.
“It was simply a matter of timing being too soon—everything else is merely the natural course of events, isn’t it?”
He added one more thing.
“In the end, they will become obstacles that threaten even the position of Alliance Leader.”
“Mmm.”
The Martial Venerable made his decision swiftly.
The timing had merely shifted.
As the Venerable Master said, everything was simply following its inevitable sequence.
“Very well.” The Martial Venerable nodded. “Then let us first deal with the Chief Inspector’s private organization. It has grown far too large.”
Instead of replying, the Venerable Master simply smiled and sipped his tea.
Watching him, the Martial Venerable’s eyes turned icy for a single instant but he quickly put on a gentle smile again and clasped his hands together.
“Then.”
After offering a courteous farewell, the Martial Venerable turned away.
The smile that had covered his face vanished in an instant, as though it had never existed.
‘In any case, to me this is nothing more than a rotten boat.’
The Martial Venerable had never cared in the slightest about the power he could obtain from the Martial Alliance. He too was an outsider, and he would have to leave someday.
The Martial Alliance was merely a temporary stopping place.
‘Do you really think I would be satisfied with the scraps of power you people toss my way?’
If he had truly valued the authority of the Alliance Leader? He never would have permitted the heads of each organization to freely choose their commanding authority.
From the very beginning, he had no attachment whatsoever to the Martial Alliance.
‘You lot are dogs to be boiled in the pot as well. I will handle you slowly.’
When a dog takes over its master’s errands, before long it begins to act like the master itself.
The Martial Venerable resolved himself.
Before long, he would boil the dogs who had begun playing the role of master in the pot.
Creak.
Upon returning to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion, a black shadow was already kneeling before the Martial Venerable. He was the leader of the Martial Venerable’s secret organization and the ever-present shadow that hovered at his side.
“The Blood Heaven and Fate Corps has been decided for elimination.”
“I will handle it immediately.”
As killing intent emanated from the shadow echoing in the darkness, the Martial Venerable shook his head.
“There is no need for you to act. Hasn’t there always been an excellent method since ancient times called ‘borrowing a knife to kill a man’?”
“Then…”
“In any case, she has desperately wanted to strike at the Jungson family.”
The Martial Venerable’s eyes grew deeper than darkness itself.
“If we grant her that long-cherished wish at this moment, it will be beneficial for both sides.”
“Is it not a pity?”
At that moment, the shadow spoke cautiously.
“You invested considerable effort to raise her to the position of Chief Inspector.”
In truth, the Martial Venerable had placed great trust in Gongsun Dankyung.
She was highly capable and possessed the ability to swiftly resolve various problems.
Yet her sole desire had been revenge.
But ever since she boarded the same boat as Bu Eunseol, she had changed.
The vengeful ghost who had once suspected everyone, dug into their secrets, and charged forward solely for revenge had somehow become an ordinary woman who looked only at one man.
“No matter how capable she is, once her heart has changed, her usefulness is at an end.”
The Martial Venerable tossed a single letter from his sleeve.
Inside was a plan capable of instantly leading to the destruction of the organization Gongsun Dankyung had poured her entire life into building.
“Execute it as written.”
***
Martial Alliance, Cheongmyeong Hall.
Darkness blanketed the interior of the office, yet no lights were lit.
At the table, two men sat facing each other, staring silently.
They were none other than Cheongmyeong Hall Leader Mu Gyeol and Bu Eunseol, acting in the role of Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division Head Seon Woojin.
“This is troublesome. Coming here so abruptly like this.”
Mu Gyeol could not hide his displeasure toward Bu Eunseol’s sudden visit.
“No matter how covertly you move, this is still the Martial Alliance. Do you understand what I mean?”
Mu Gyeol, disciple of the Heavenly Emperor.
He had been secretly investigating the Martial Venerable all along, digging into the truth behind his master’s death. Bu Eunseol too had contacted him in extreme secrecy and once investigated the Martial Venerable’s secret vault together with him.
But a problem had arisen after that day.
After his vault was ransacked, the Martial Venerable had begun casting suspicious glances at everyone—including himself and all his subordinates.
Fortunately, traces remained only of an intruder who had not cultivated martial arts, and the culprit’s identity remained shrouded in fog. Despite endless investigations, the identity had still not been uncovered. If, in such a situation, the Martial Venerable were to learn that Mu Gyeol had made contact with Bu Eunseol?
He could end up drawing the Martial Venerable’s full-scale suspicion.
“I am well aware.”
“Then leave.”
Instead of answering, Bu Eunseol took out a small wooden box from his sleeve.
“What is this?”
“You’ll understand when you see it.”
Frowning, Mu Gyeol opened the box. Inside were sheets of paper that appeared to have been torn from a book.
They were the fragments of the Spring and Autumn Annals that Bu Eunseol had obtained from the secret vault on Mount Baekun.
“This is…”
As Mu Gyeol slowly read the papers inside the box, his eyes trembled without cease.
In the Spring and Autumn Annals were the very contents he had so desperately sought—details about the Martial Venerable, left behind in his master’s own handwriting.
“My guess was correct after all.”
Tears flowed from Mu Gyeol’s eyes as he read the written words.
“In the end… my guess was right.”
Muttering lowly, he wiped his tears and asked Bu Eunseol, “How did you obtain this?”
“It was purely by chance.”
Bu Eunseol honestly recounted his encounter with the black-masked man and the blue-faced man.
“So that’s how it happened.”
“Were those masked men from the organization you lead?”
“It’s not quite accurate to call it my organization. Let’s just say they share the same intentions.”
Avoiding a direct answer, Mu Gyeol spoke with an utterly forlorn expression.
“Lord Dong was a righteous man. He was merely helping Dan Mok-gi because of a life debt.”
Having read the contents of the Spring and Autumn Annals, Mu Gyeol seemed to have grasped the Martial Venerable’s true nature.
From that point on, he referred to him entirely as Dan Mok-gi.
With a conflicted expression, Mu Gyeol said, “But when he realized the Martial Venerable was walking a wrong path, he helped me. Yet in the end, I drove him to his death…”
Bu Eunseol could understand the pain tormenting Mu Gyeol’s heart.
He too had wandered the martial world for revenge and met countless friends and subordinates.
But if they died because of his own revenge?
He would never be able to forgive himself.
“Seeing that you’ve given me this letter, it seems you now intend to leave the Alliance.”
Mu Gyeol nodded, having read Bu Eunseol’s intentions.
“Is that not so?”
“It is.”
Bu Eunseol took out an envelope from his sleeve.
“What is this?”
“The plan I have prepared.”
As Mu Gyeol read through the letter, his eyes widened.
It detailed not only a flawless plan for Bu Eunseol to leave the Martial Alliance completely under the identity of Seon Woojin, but also a plan to create a new alliance called the Azure Sky Alliance… everything was written out in full.
“Why are you showing this to me?”
“Because I believe you too are a righteous man of the proper path.”
Realizing the meaning behind those words, Mu Gyeol shook his head.
“Not at all. I oppose the Martial Venerable solely for my master’s revenge. I know nothing of the martial world’s justice.”
“I’m not asking you to join right away.”
Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
“Whenever your heart changes, come find me.”
“I don’t know whether to thank you for trusting me, or to tell you that you’re far too naive in trusting people.”
It was truly strange.
After reading the letter Bu Eunseol offered, Mu Gyeol’s gaze—unlike before—now carried clear contempt.
“Unfortunately, I have no intention of sharing intentions with a cold-blooded person like you.”
“What do you mean?”
Mu Gyeol stared straight into Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“Didn’t you deliberately put the Chief Inspector in danger in order to carry out this plan?”
He spoke with utmost coldness.
“So that you could obtain her completely.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Didn’t you intentionally put her in jeopardy this time?”
“She’s in danger?”
“Are you pretending not to know?”
Mu Gyeol said coldly, “To completely crush the existence called Seon Woojin, naturally you must first topple his greatest backer, no?”
“They’re already planning to strike at the Chief Inspector?”
Bu Eunseol too knew well that if anyone intended to target the person known as Seon Woojin, they would first try to bring down Gongsun Dankyung. Yet the Martial Venerable had summoned him to the Heaven and Earth Pavilion and ordered him to cease activating the Clear Heart Token.
But behind the scenes, he had immediately ordered an attack on Gongsun Dankyung? That made no sense at all.
“You deliberately refrained from inspecting the Chief Inspector’s forces during this Clear Heart Token, didn’t you? And wasn’t that precisely to redirect all the arrows aimed at you toward her?”
Mu Gyeol sneered.
“You planned to annihilate her organization, leave her with nowhere to turn, and then recruit her—am I wrong?”
He was mistaken.
He was convinced that Bu Eunseol had devised this scheme in order to recruit Gongsun Dankyung.
“You’re exactly the same as Dan Mok-gi.”
Mu Gyeol spoke with an expression of utter disgust.
“Willing to use any means necessary to obtain what you want.”
“You’re misunderstanding something.”
“Misunderstanding?”
Mu Gyeol sneered.
“Is this what you want to say? ‘I was trying to save her. It was merely a means to help her escape that den of evil called the Martial Alliance…’?”
“Hahaha.”
Bu Eunseol let out a hollow laugh.
Then he snorted while looking at Mu Gyeol.
“Living soaked in such tender dreams is exactly why you still haven’t found any evidence that the Martial Venerable harmed the Heavenly Emperor, isn’t it?”
“What did you say?”
“Do you think the Chief Inspector is some fragile flower raised in a greenhouse? Some innocent genius directing her subordinates without knowing anything?”
He looked at Mu Gyeol with an utterly frigid expression.
“Listen well. She is the one who earned the Martial Venerable’s trust and rose to the position of Chief Inspector in this filthy, nine-cauldron martial world.”
And he declared firmly, “She is always prepared to dirty her own hands. Do you really think someone like her would fall for their schemes?”
Gongsun Dankyung was no ordinary genius.
She had climbed—through her own power alone—to the highest position a woman could reach in this hellish Martial Alliance.
She was the one who had earned the trust of that ever-suspicious Martial Venerable.
No matter what situation arose, she would survive.
That was why Bu Eunseol was not worried about Gongsun Dankyung at all.
But Mu Gyeol said something unexpected.
“You’re right. That was true in the past.”
“In the past?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
“Explain it clearly.”
“Would someone as shrewd as her have deliberately fallen for Dan Mok-gi’s trap?”
“Deliberately fallen into the trap?”
“Right now, she has gone to voluntarily disband the secret force she spent so long nurturing.”
Mu Gyeol delivered an utterly shocking statement.
“For your sake.”
Flames sparked in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“What are you saying?”
“The Martial Venerable has long been aware of the secret organization she built. And at some point, he also saw through the change in her heart.”
Mu Gyeol sighed as he spoke.
“The Martial Venerable summoned the Chief Inspector. He told her that because of your activation of the Clear Heart Token this time, she would end up dying at the hands of the Martial Alliance’s shadow organizations.”
“…”
“And if she wanted to save your life, he proposed that she disband the secret organization she had built all this time.”
Bu Eunseol snorted.
“Of course she would refuse—”
“She accepted.”
In that instant, Bu Eunseol’s constantly flickering eyes froze completely.
He had already anticipated that the Martial Venerable could threaten Gongsun Dankyung using his own safety.
But he had naturally assumed she would refuse.
Yet she had accepted the proposal and was going to disband the organization?
‘No way.’
Her goal was the Jungson family—one of the legendary Three Families.
That secret organization must have been something she had poured her heart and soul into nurturing for a very long time, possessing tremendous power.
So why would she disband it—for his sake?
That bloodless, tearless Gongsun Dankyung… why on earth?
“As you can probably guess, it is naturally a death trap.”
Mu Gyeol said coldly.
“Dan Mok-gi is a descendant of the Dan family, where geniuses are said to be born. He is absolutely not the type to leave behind any loose ends.”
Realizing something, Bu Eunseol asked, “He’s luring the Jungson family’s forces to strike at her?”
“Of course.”
Mu Gyeol snorted.
“There’s an excellent way to cleanly dispose of her without dirtying his own hands—why wouldn’t he use it?”
Stars burst in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
If the Martial Venerable had acted personally, Gongsun Dankyung’s life would not have been in true danger. Their goal was merely to eliminate the secret organizations under the Chief Inspector.
But if he had sent the Jungson family instead, the story changed completely.
Even if they did not know Gongsun Dankyung’s true identity, they would never let her live.
Because the Jungson family would never spare the leader who had raised forces to oppose them.
“You really didn’t know?”
Looking at Bu Eunseol’s increasingly urgent face, Mu Gyeol frowned.
“A man as intelligent as you?”
Bu Eunseol was intelligent.
That was an unchanging fact.
But he was particularly dull when it came to understanding a woman’s emotions.
Moreover, Gongsun Dankyung had never once expressed such feelings toward him…
So naturally, he could not have known.
That cold, ruthless Gongsun Dankyung.
The woman who had clung to revenge more fiercely than anyone was now giving up her revenge to save him.
“Where is she?”
“…”
“Tell me where the Martial Venerable lured her. The location.”
Blood-red light fiercer than fresh blood surged in Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
“Right now!”
***
The Jungson family.
They were obsessively fixated on the power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars, collecting and storing that power through the Boundary Prosperity Jade.
Because of this, Gongsun Dankyung had spent a long time researching ways to confront them head-on and bring about their destruction.
The One Hundred and Eight Stars.
Their power could only manifest within a certain domain, yet within that domain it exerted near-absolute supernatural ability.
Thus, ordinary martial arts could never hope to oppose it.
Among martial world practitioners, perhaps only those who had entered the Supreme Heavenly Realm could stand against it.
‘If the martial arts of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall and the Gongsun family’s formations could be unified… perhaps.’
The reason Gongsun Dankyung had asked Gongsun Hwa-uk to send her to the Martial Alliance.
It was partly to build intelligence networks and forces capable of opposing the Jungson family, but above all, it was to research a way to counter the power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars. By the grace of heaven, she had coincidentally discovered a secret manual hidden on the first floor of the Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
It contained a new esoteric art never before seen in the martial world—one that fused martial studies with formations and created a mystical tool called the Enchanting Shadow Demon Lamp, capable of suppressing any form of supernatural power.
Though it was insufficient against supreme experts, against the One Hundred and Eight Stars who wielded supernatural ability, it could exert a perfectly countersuppressive effect.
‘But this cannot be unfolded alone.’
Just like the Heart Mirror Technique that Yoo Unryong had discovered in the Record of Inherited Essentials, the the Phase described in the secret manual could not be performed by one person alone.
After much deliberation, Gongsun Dankyung invested enormous wealth and manpower to nurture a special unit capable of professionally countering the Jungson family and the power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars.
The Blood Heaven and Fate Corps.
The name carried the meaning of her grudge staining the heavens red with blood, and her determination to stake her life on revenge.
After long training, the experts of the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps not only possessed outstanding martial arts, but had reached a level worthy of being called masters of formations as well, because they had been taught the superior esoteric arts stored in the Martial Alliance’s Solitary Enlightenment Hall, as well as the exceptional formations of the Gongsun family.
‘Now the preparations are finally complete.’
Gongsun Dankyung was confident.
Though she herself had not mastered outstanding martial arts, as long as she had the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps, she was certain she could defeat the experts of the Jungson family who wielded the power of the One Hundred and Eight Stars.
Cheongun Mountain, Sangsu Valley.
That was the main base where the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps, nurtured by Gongsun Dankyung, was stationed.
“Aaah!”
“Argh!”
Right now, wretched screams echoed endlessly through that place.
They were all martial artists of the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps who had undergone relentless training under Gongsun Dankyung’s command.
Among the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps were former grandmasters she had knelt and begged to recruit, as well as fresh-faced young men who had only just reached their mid-twenties.
Every one of them had thoroughly mastered the martial secret manuals and formations taught by Gongsun Dankyung, all for the sake of dealing with the Jungson family—who had disrupted the martial world, abducted children, and murdered them.
Those who had waited only for the day they could eliminate the Jungson family were now dying horribly, spilling blood.
‘No…’
From afar, watching the battle, blood-tears flowed from Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes.
‘If the organization is disbanded, I will no longer pursue any wrongdoing regarding Seon Woojin.’
The words the Martial Venerable had spoken not long ago echoed in her mind.
In the end, she had accepted the Martial Venerable’s proposal and had come to Sangsu Valley to discuss disbanding the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps.
But the moment she arrived at Sangsu Valley, as though they had been waiting, the forces of the Jungson Family—who had never once revealed their tails before—and the masters born with the One Hundred and Eight Stars, whom she had chased endlessly without finding—attacked as if they had been lying in wait.
“Chief Inspector, you must escape!”
Gwak Seong, the corps leader leading the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps, grabbed Gongsun Dankyung’s arm.
He was a swordsman who had once pacified the entirety of Gangnam with a single sword. Long retired and living as a recluse, he had eventually accepted the position of corps leader after Gongsun Dankyung’s desperate pleas and persuasion in the name of revenge.
“They destroyed the Enchanting Shadow Demon Lamps in advance, so we cannot unfold the Phase.”
The highest secret art of the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps—the mystical formation capable of dealing with the Jungson family: Phase.
To unfold it, the leaders of each squad absolutely needed to possess the Enchanting Shadow Demon Lamps, the essential materials for performing the Phase.
But somehow the Jungson family had known.
They had destroyed the Enchanting Shadow Demon Lamps stored in Sangsu Valley before revealing themselves, leaving the corps helpless.
“No. I can’t be the only one to escape.”
“Chief Inspector!” Gwak Seong shouted sternly. “If even you die here, who will carry out the revenge for the warriors of our Blood Heaven and Fate Corps?”
“…”
“You gathered us under the name Blood Heaven and Fate Corps—so surely you must take responsibility for our final end as well, no?”
At Gwak Seong’s roar, Gongsun Dankyung bit her lip until it bled.
He was right.
She had gathered countless martial artists who harbored grudges and vowed revenge.
She had taught them martial arts and formations.
Therefore… it was only right that she bear responsibility for their revenge as well.
“I understand.”
Gongsun Dankyung gazed with venomous eyes at the Jungson family forces pouring into Sangsu Valley.
Then she cried out in a voice filled with resentment.
“I will definitely take revenge.”
“Seeing how precisely the Jungson family forces you targeted found this place… the traitor must be someone very close to you, Chief Inspector.”
At Gwak Seong’s words, blood-red light spread through Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes.
In this world, only two people knew that she harbored enmity toward the Jungson family.
Being capable of sending the Jungson family’s forces to secretly wipe out the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps she had nurtured… was only one person.
‘The Martial Venerable!’
Blood-tears flowed from her eyes.
In the end, the Martial Venerable had connections to the Jungson family as well—and had concealed it all along.
He had seen through the fact that she had boarded the same boat as Seon Woojin… no, that she liked him and using the pretext of disbanding the Blood Heaven and Fate Corps, he had laid a trap.
‘I will never forget this grudge!’
Rumble.
She opened the door to the secret passage she had prepared in advance.
Unable to look at Gwak Seong, she lowered her head and said,
“Please… somehow survive.”
Gwak Seong gave a faint smile.
“Whenever you issue the summons, I will be waiting at the safe house you prepared, Chief Inspector.”
Then he continued, “They have surely laid a heavy encirclement around the entire Sangsu Valley area. Even if you escape through the secret passage, pursuit will certainly follow… be careful.”
“I understand.”
Gongsun Dankyung offered Gwak Seong a respectful salute.
Gwak Seong returned it with solemn formality.
Biting her lip until it bled, she ran toward the secret passage.
From now on, she had to carve a path of blood and return to the Martial Alliance no matter what.
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