Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Black Dragon
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Having three hundred assassins sit down and stuffing them with food until their bellies were about to burst was quite the spectacle.
"...I had no idea you liked feeding people so much."
Zhu Yeonhwa let out an exclamation of astonishment toward So-hyang, as if it were absurd or impressive.
The sight of her single-handedly preparing such a massive quantity of food, her hands moving so swiftly by the end that they were a blur.
To think that someone with such profound martial prowess was using it merely for cooking—truly, her friend was an eccentric.
"Heavens, 'merely' cooking! You have to eat well first before you can do anything else, right?"
"Yes, yes. I understand what you mean. Still, these assassins aren't half bad eaters."
Even for an Imperial Scion accustomed to delicacies at every meal, So-hyang's cooking was just as delicious.
It wasn't overly complex or sophisticated, but the rustic, heartfelt flavor evoked nostalgic memories.
It was a truly novel experience.
"Mmm, thank you for the praise. I'm pretty confident in my cooking. Want me to make anything else?"
"-No, that's fine. I'm already full."
It was a firm refusal.
Her friend seemed to have an intense obsession with feeding others, and after witnessing that madness just moments ago, there was no way she could bring herself to request more food.
"Mm, alright..."
Zhu Yeonhwa felt a chill at the dejected mutter.
"Anyway, let's talk business now."
She turned back to the head of the Gungsal Sect, Yi Chun, who was slowly spooning up his chicken porridge, and brought up the original topic.
"...Of course, Your Highness."
So-hyang couldn't bear the sight of the emaciated assassins and had thrown an impromptu feast, but the original purpose of this gathering was to discuss their punishment.
For these grave criminals who had ambushed and abducted an Imperial Princess to extort money, this was a meeting to consider alternatives to the death penalty.
"As you all know, I'm currently in a fair and square competition with my brother for the throne of the next generation."
A battle for the jade throne. One might question the 'fair and square' part given the dirty intrigues involved, depending on the scale.
But that was how it actually was.
"I have plenty of money. With money, I can do anything money can buy."
However, she refrained from crude tactics like crushing the opposition or cutting off their funds.
Gold could sometimes be sharper than any blade, and if she wanted, she could brutally dismantle her second brother's power base and parade it through the streets.
"But that would just be cutting off my own nose to spite my face."
Zhu Yeonhwa's goal was the throne, not mere victory. Destroying the foundation that would become hers would be putting the cart before the horse.
Securing the throne through policy, influence, and support from both the common folk and the elite—that was her clear objective.
"But that's my brother's strong suit. He's no easy opponent."
Of course, the chance of losing was negligible, but winning while holding back and adjusting her level wasn't easy.
Mobilizing astronomical sums arbitrarily could destabilize the empire's economy, devalue the currency, or send prices skyrocketing.
The empire's gold standard, a keystone currency for neighboring nations, would inevitably be shaken.
Even as an empire, it might wobble but not collapse—yet why create change when she already had the economy in her grasp?
The current empire and its throne were like a puzzle toy in the hands of the giant Zhu Yeonhwa.
With infinite wealth, she couldn't solve it without breaking it if she wanted the contents intact.
"To get to the point, I'd like you all to assist me in ascending to the throne."
In other words, they were knives for killing chickens.
Wielding her financial power for every annoyance would be like using an ox-cleaver or dragon-slaying sword for chickens.
She needed to respond appropriately to the opponent's level.
In any case, from the Gungsal Sect's perspective, regardless of the reason, there was only one answer.
"We have been pardoned of our treason and granted new life by your grace. How could we defy you? Use us as you will."
With such a clear power imbalance, no dissent was possible.
The only concern was their homeland Goryeo, but revival was no longer an option.
At this point, the right choice was to cleanly abandon it and protect their families. They should have done so long ago.
It was uncharacteristic of the man who had until recently desperately strived for his country's revival.
The sin of charging forward like a rhinoceros horn without even teaching his granddaughter to use chopsticks—he now realized family came first.
Not treason or betrayal, but merely following the natural order and seeking a path to survival.
What could he do?
With limits so clear.
Bitter resignation and acceptance were etched on the old man's face.
However, Zhu Yeonhwa thought differently.
"Hmm, do you think I'd ignore your circumstances when I know them full well?"
"...! What do you mean...?"
"I'm saying I'll provide support. Food for the peninsula's people, money to purify farmlands, and funds to rebuild the fallen nation."
Paradoxically, light shone the moment they abandoned and resigned everything.
The situation wasn't leisurely enough for haggling, so acceptance was a given.
However, Yi Chun had one lingering question and asked the smiling princess.
"...You said 'peninsula' instead of Goryeo, so does that mean...?"
"Oh? You catch on quick."
The object of Zhu Yeonhwa's support was not Goryeo, but the entire eastern peninsula.
Not repairing a fallen nation, but rebuilding it.
"...You're planning to establish a new dynasty."
"Yes. Goryeo is already rotten to the core."
Internal strife, foreign invasions, devastating famines, and rampant plagues.
The nation of Goryeo was shattered beyond repair, and the people had lost faith in the dynasty.
"Wouldn't it be cheaper to build anew than to fix something broken?"
"......"
It was bitterly true, undeniable even with ten mouths.
"For now, work under me. Full support will come after I become emperor."
For the present, only minimal aid to maintain the status quo.
Though trivial to Zhu Yeonhwa, objectively it was a massive expenditure.
Using it without justification was burdensome, but as emperor establishing a vassal state, it was impeccable.
It also served to sideline the remarkably competent current king who maintained his nation amid extreme calamities on that narrow land.
Securing future diplomatic leverage with firm control—an investment with international utility.
Expenditure combining employment and investment.
Every move of a tycoon who had swallowed the empire pursued myriad goals and profits even in trivial matters.
"Once I become emperor, you will establish a new dynasty at the center. The Yi royal house—it has a nice ring to it."
"...You're telling me to become king."
"Mm, it's hard to ascend the throne immediately, so probably your grandson's generation."
Yi Chun squeezed his eyes shut.
From founding, reliant on the empire.
It would become a vassal viewing the empire as elder brother, parent, and suzerain.
But the essence was the people on that land, not Goryeo's Yi royal clan.
Even if branded traitors by loyal retainers who walked with their sovereign, their duty was clear.
"We shall serve with all our hearts. Bestow any command upon us."
Yi Chun knelt and bowed his head.
Having taken on new retainers, Zhu Yeonhwa needed a detailed grasp of their abilities.
Of course, prior investigations were thorough, so she knew most of their forces and finances without asking.
But there were unknowns.
"Yi Chun, Goryeo's greatest archer who severed the Black Dragon's breath with a single arrow—you're the head of the Gungsal Sect."
"...Merely an empty title."
So-hyang, who had been quietly observing, interjected in surprise.
"-Wait, the Black Dragon? Do you mean you killed the dragon I know of?"
Dragon.
A term praising transcendent beings who passed the Dragon Gate.
One called simply 'dragon' without qualifiers...
Was on par with the empire's Imperial Sovereign, the Yellow Dragon Emperor Hyeonwon.
Though the Sovereign was treated on a higher level among dragons, their stature was the same.
In martial terms, comparable to present realm experts beyond the Flower Realm—divine warriors or Heavenly Demons.
"...The one we faced was far declined, not comparable."
"Still, even so...?"
No matter how declined, at least Flower Realm—and felled with one arrow...
Protector Great Dragon, King Munmu.
"Even if artificially made into a dragon... It's an unparalleled feat."
Zhu Yeonhwa chimed in with So-hyang's exaggerated surprise.
And So-hyang was surprised in another way.
"Wait, King Munmu was a real dragon?"
"Hm? Didn't you know? It's a famous legend even in the Central Plains..."
Indeed.
The thirtieth king of Silla, which ruled the peninsula before Goryeo.
The first monarch to unify the peninsula since Dangun's Joseon.
In So-hyang's memories of her past life, he was just the one with a legend of sea burial turning him into a dragon.
But in this world, he had truly become a dragon and ascended.
A legendary sovereign who overcame chaotic times to achieve prosperity.
Counted among the greatest rulers for excellence in both civil and martial affairs, as his title suggested.
However, predating the Divine Warrior era, martial artists' lifespans had clear limits.
No matter how accomplished, ruling over a century was nearly impossible.
Not from ugly greed to extend life, but concern for his Silla.
Silla then was maintained by gathering under this superhuman king.
After his death, it was obvious it would crumble step by step.
So he devised a way.
If martial limits bound him, use civil arts—sorcery and shamanism to protect Silla.
He artificially became a dragon through self-immolation sacrifice to the sea.
Pre-Divine Warrior yet reaching pinnacle realm, achieving a unique feat.
Offering his exquisitely prepared body through ritual to the sea, becoming its lord to block external calamities threatening his descendants' land.
The first and only human-turned-dragon.
"...Its principle remains unsolved. Even pinnacle sorcerers can't decipher it—a top enigma across history."
A tale of ancient genius incomprehensible to posterity.
"But it wasn't perfect."
However circuitously elevated, the foundational spirit was mortal human.
Over long years of guardianship, that spirit wore down.
Moreover, mighty Silla fragmented into Three Kingdoms again.
The dragon blocked external disasters, blind to internal strife splitting the nation.
"Worn spirit, collapse of the protected, King Munmu ultimately couldn't maintain his realm and fell."
Degeneration, fall, decline.
The fallen dragon, at some point, embraced violence, blackening its scales into a calamity itself.
The Black Dragon laden with dark malice.
Military officers of the era gathered to subdue it on the eastern sea coast.
"...So not my achievement alone. I severed its breath, but a collective success."
During subjugation, Yi Chun loosed one arrow—not because one sufficed, but because it held all his strength, and he could loose only one.
More precisely, he could only shoot one.
Breaking his cherished bow for life's ultimate strike pierced the Black Dragon's reverse scale, ending it.
"Thinking back, Goryeo's troubles started then."
Even in decline, it blocked peninsula calamities; post-death, civil war, invasion, famine—the three disasters poured.
Of course, mere speculation, unconfirmed.
No time to investigate amid crisis management.
"That's why we ended up like this."
Yi Chun limply shook his gaunt arm.
Post-death grudge focused on the slayer, leaving traces.
Aftereffects as vicious plague, sticky curse, lethal poison.
Black Dragon Poison.
Symptoms simple: muscles hard to move, gradual paralysis rendering immobility.
With flesh prerequisite of martial arts decayed, even pinnacle Bone Transformation warrior collapsed.
"...But sufficient rest would allow recovery."
Ultimately ghostly resentment of the dead, disperses with time; Body Transformation homeostasis prevents permanent damage.
Decades of rest...
"But with nation collapsing, how could I rest?"
He couldn't ignore overlapping crises befalling his homeland.
Partially dismantling his completed divine self for sorcery, forcing his body in futile struggle.
Balance of essence-qi-spirit shattered, body irreparably worsened.
Even pinnacle's millennium lifespan became history.
"My choice, no regrets."
Without struggle, no current revival chance.
Compared to family and homeland survival, one body's realm was expendable.
Seeing the old man chuckle hollowly, So-hyang pondered.
"Hmmm..."
From described symptoms and deep observation via divine sense.
Cause transcendent Black Dragon Poison, but symptoms akin to known disease.
Motor neurons in brain and spine selectively dying, immobilizing the body.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
In her past life, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease—an incurable mystery.
"I think I can cure that body... Want to try?"
"...Pardon? What do you—"
And a disease So-hyang herself had once suffered and overcome alone in her past life.