Chapter 111
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: The Shattering Shell (1)
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“Are you starting your day with a drink, or have you been drinking all night without sleep?”
Lee Cheonsang didn’t answer Ho Yoseong’s charming question.
‘He’s a bit different than usual.’
Lee Cheonsang, who usually didn’t even bother with side dishes, let alone a proper meal, had a respectable drinking table set out today.
His appearance had also changed significantly. Unlike his usual self, who left the front of his robes wide open, he was dressed very neatly. The dragon robe, which he typically just slung over his shoulders, was worn properly.
He exuded a majesty as vast as a great mountain and a loftiness that seemed to touch the heavens, both at once. Despite his towering eight-foot frame, he didn’t look cumbersome at all; rather, his presence completely filled the space.
Perhaps this was the bearing of an emperor who had conquered the kingdoms of an ancient continent to build a grand empire.
Ho Yoseong felt dazzled by Lee Cheonsang’s noble figure.
After gazing at Lee Cheonsang for a moment, Ho Yoseong spoke affably.
“May I have a glass as well?”
“Come.”
Lee Cheonsang filled an empty cup placed to one side.
Ho Yoseong bowed his head and drained the cup.
“Is there something special happening today?”
Lee Cheonsang nodded.
“I’m expecting a guest.”
“A guest?”
To think the word ‘guest’ would come from the mouth of the great Lee Cheonsang.
“Who is it?”
Unable to contain his curiosity, Ho Yoseong asked frankly.
Lee Cheonsang, refilling his cup, answered nonchalantly.
“The Lord of the Secret Palace.”
“……!”
Surprise flickered across Ho Yoseong’s face.
Besides Lee Cheonsang and a few demons from the previous generation, only two people knew the identity of the Lord of the Secret Palace. And as the Grand Marshal of the Divine Cult, Ho Yoseong was naturally one of those two.
“The Lord of the Secret Palace… in person?”
“Indeed.”
“What brought about this change of heart?”
“She asked to meet. I told her to come.”
“……Truly remarkable.”
Lee Cheonsang was, without a doubt, the master of the Divine Cult.
But there was one person even a Cult Leader like him could not treat carelessly.
That person was the Lord of the Secret Palace. With rare exceptions, no Cult Leader in history had ever summoned the Lord of the Secret Palace to the Palace of the Demonic God.
Even the seventh Heavenly Demon, praised as the greatest in many aspects including martial power and governance, had respected the Lord of the Secret Palace.
It wasn't that the Lord’s martial arts surpassed the Cult Leader's, nor did they possess any means to check his power. Nevertheless, the position of the Lord of the Secret Palace deserved respect.
If the Cult Leader resided in the light, the Lord of the Secret Palace resided in the shadows. The two were inextricably linked.
“Why would the Lord of the Secret Palace wish to see you, my lord?”
“Who knows.”
“You don’t know?”
“I’m not curious.”
A truly Lee Cheonsang-like answer, Ho Yoseong thought. It wasn’t that he held any ill will toward the Lord of the Secret Palace; he simply didn’t spare her a single thought.
Ho Yoseong asked, amused.
“What will you do if the Lord of the Secret Palace gets angry?”
“Whether she gets angry or sad, that is her freedom.”
“That may be so, but.”
“However, the consequences of making a scene in my presence will be her own responsibility to bear.”
Ho Yoseong felt a sudden chill.
Just as he wasn't curious about why she wanted to see him, he didn't care what the Lord of the Secret Palace did.
But if she were to displease him in any way, Lee Cheonsang would drag her down without a second thought.
‘He truly is a terrifying man.’
The Cult Leader respected the Lord of the Secret Palace for her symbolic importance. But to Lee Cheonsang, such things were meaningless.
Because he himself had already become the Divine Cult incarnate.
“The Lord of the Secret Palace would be disappointed to hear that.”
“Is that so.”
His tone still held not a shred of interest.
Ho Yoseong let out a faint smile.
“Shall I bring up a topic that might capture your interest, my lord?”
“……”
“In about two hours, the Third Young Master will be leaving the Cult.”
A flicker of interest appeared in Lee Cheonsang’s previously indifferent eyes.
Ho Yoseong couldn’t suppress a wry smile.
‘If the Lord of the Secret Palace saw this, she would be even more upset, my lord.’
Though if he voiced that thought, Lee Cheonsang would probably say that being upset was also her freedom.
“He has requisitioned the Berserk Demon Unit as his escort.”
“Yes. Though we are short-handed, in a way, they are a perfect fit for this job. You know what kind of unit the Berserk Demon Unit is. Most troubles will be quelled by their infamous reputation alone.”
Although they had taken a few hits recently, the Berserk Demon Unit was, by name and by nature, the most vicious unit in the Divine Cult.
The upper echelons knew all too well how fearsome the unit could be on actual missions.
A barely perceptible smile touched Lee Cheonsang’s lips.
“He’s chosen a good combination.”
“You think so too, don’t you?”
“Perhaps a moment will come when the Berserk Demon Unit has to restrain the Third Young Master.”
Anyone else would have been puzzled by this statement. But Ho Yoseong affirmed it with his silence.
Draining his cup, Lee Cheonsang asked.
“Did you see it too?”
“I don’t know if I saw it, but I think I have some idea.”
“What did you see?”
“……I don’t know. That’s why I think he is dangerous.”
A cryptic conversation.
Lee Cheonsang nodded.
“The Red Snake House will not leave that boy alone.”
“I believe so.”
He had crippled Hong Wi-mun, the eldest son of the house, and their daughter, Hong Yeorin, had also been humiliated.
Hong Wi-mun was still at the Cult receiving treatment, but Hong Yeorin had returned with her family under the pretext of a vacation as soon as the Festival of Papiyas ended.
By now, they were likely grinding their teeth in rage.
Having been informed that the Third Young Master was appointed as the Special Inspector, they would not miss the opportunity to try and utterly destroy Seo Ryang.
Of course, they would have to calculate the extent of Lee Cheonsang’s potential intervention.
“My lord.”
“Speak.”
“If… the Third Young Master were to fall to them, what would you do?”
Lee Cheonsang poured another drink as if it were of no concern.
“The fact that they killed the Cult Leader’s disciple would serve as a fine pretext for handling many matters.”
Ho Yoseong thought to himself that hearing such words from the one man in the demonic world—perhaps the entire martial world—who could treat pretexts as the most trivial of things was, paradoxically, all the more terrifying.
“But I do not believe the Third Young Master will be defeated.”
“You trust the Third Young Master.”
Lee Cheonsang gave no clear answer.
This was not a matter of trust. Ho Yoseong probably knew that as well.
There was only one reason he had asked such a question.
“The Third Young Master was also brought into the Hall of Judgment, which you yourself have entered.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“I learned much about him, but I did not learn everything.”
Ho Yoseong’s eyes wavered. The great Lee Cheonsang, who seemed capable of seeing through the principles of all creation, was saying he could not fully grasp the nature of a young man not yet thirty.
“There is something about him that I do not know. I am not foolish enough to trust someone I cannot see through completely.”
“……”
“I hope this inspection will force him to reveal whatever it is he’s hiding.”
Gazing at Lee Cheonsang, Ho Yoseong asked as if tossing the question out.
“My lord, do you trust me?”
“I do.”
It was the first time Ho Yoseong had realized that being trusted by someone could be so gratifying, and yet so frightening.
“Is there anything else to report?”
“No, my lord.”
Lee Cheonsang lifted his head and looked toward the door.
“My guest has arrived. You may leave now.”
*Rumble!*
The doors to the grand hall opened.
***
“Young Master. The preparations are complete.”
“Alright.”
Aeng-hwa swallowed hard.
Dressed in a red outer robe over his jet-black martial uniform, instead of his usual favorite white one, Seo Ryang’s appearance was subtly imposing.
The Seven Nights Saber at his right hip, the Twin Meteor Sabers slung across his lower back, and the Dragon Scale Saber strapped diagonally across his back all exuded a formidable power.
On his left shoulder, he wore an epaulet embroidered with five characters in golden thread: ‘Chief Inspector of the Divine Cult.’
His carelessly tousled hair and the dark, deep colors of his attire completely erased Seo Ryang’s usual, somewhat lighthearted air.
Was that why? Even Geumho, sitting at Seo Ryang’s feet, didn’t look merely cute like usual.
An unknown tension. A faint, distant look in his eyes, different from the norm.
Aeng-hwa found it difficult to even dare wish Seo Ryang a safe journey.
Seo Ryang looked toward the window.
‘The air is cold.’
The chilly dawn air, which usually brought a pleasant coolness, felt bitingly cold today.
‘Will I be able to feel this air again?’
Seo Ryang closed his eyes.
His pounding heart still hadn’t calmed. It was a tension entirely different from when he had set out with the Garden of Joy’s transport team.
‘…I’m going.’
The Red Snake House would never leave him be. As the Cult Leader’s disciple, they couldn’t touch him easily, but they wouldn’t just stand by with their hands tied either.
‘I won’t have many chances. I have to finish the job at the Red Snake House, if at all possible.’
And that job would be marked by deaths so elaborate that even one of the Ten Great Masters of the world would find them hard to unravel.
Seo Ryang looked around.
A familiar air lingered in the dark room. Having eaten and slept here for the past few months, he felt a sense of intimacy with the space.
‘Thinking that I’m really leaving makes me feel restless.’
After looking around the room for a while, his gaze suddenly fell upon Aeng-hwa.
Aeng-hwa bowed her head deeply. For some reason, she lacked the confidence to face the Young Master.
Seo Ryang smiled.
“You’ve worked hard since dawn, preparing all this.”
“Not at all, Young Master. It is my duty.”
“No. I haven’t said it before, but I’ve been grateful to you every single day. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to live so comfortably until now.”
Aeng-hwa felt a lump form in her throat. His sincerity, felt all the more strongly because he was so different from his usual self, stirred her emotions.
Seo Ryang handed her two books from the table.
“Take these.”
“Pardon?”
“I said, take them.”
Aeng-hwa accepted the books, bewildered.
“Open them.”
As the Young Master instructed, she opened a book, and her eyes filled with text accompanied by detailed annotations.
“This is…”
“You have some talent, but it would be hard to call you a martial genius. Instead, your strengths are a diligence and sincerity that others lack.”
“Young Master?”
“The internal energy technique you are learning is stable, but not outstanding. That’s why I prepared this. It’s not one of the most renowned martial arts in our Cult, but it’s a technique that would be called first-rate anywhere.”
“A m-martial art?”
“If I had more time, I would have taught you myself… I added annotations to make it easier to read, but I’m not sure how helpful they’ll be.”
Tears slowly welled up in Aeng-hwa’s eyes.
Seo Ryang must have put a lot of thought into annotating each of the two martial arts. Knowing that made the wave of emotion all the stronger.
But what stirred her feelings even more was a sense of foreboding.
A 불안감 that the Young Master might just disappear, never to return again, seized her. She grabbed Seo Ryang’s sleeve and shook it.
It was an act she would never have dared to consider normally.
“Young Master. Please don’t go.”
“……”
“Can’t you pass the mission on to someone else?”
Seo Ryang smiled bitterly.
It was an emotion that logic couldn’t explain. It seemed Aeng-hwa knew he had already made up his mind to leave.
The atmosphere was entirely different from his previous departure from the Cult.
“Don’t skip your meals just because there’s no one to prepare them for you.”
“……”
“I’m leaving.”
Dragging out the words would only make it harder for both of them. Seo Ryang coolly walked out the door.
In the training yard, Ma Dongpil was waiting, dressed in a black martial uniform.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Just then, Aeng-hwa shouted from behind him.
“Young Master! Please come back safely!”
Seo Ryang paused for a moment.
But it was only for a moment. He walked on impassively.
When the main gate finally opened, seven carriages and a hundred demons in battle robes were lined up, their eyes gleaming menacingly.
Wi Hongryeon, standing at the front, knelt.
*Thud!*
“Divine Cult Invincible! All Demons Submit! We greet the Acting External Inspector, the Special Inspector!”
Immediately after, all the members of the Berserk Demon Unit’s Second Squad knelt.
“We greet the Special Inspector!”
Seo Ryang, with a stoic face, looked them over and nodded.
“Let’s go.”
“By your command!”
With Seo Ryang leading, all the demons boarded the carriages.
And so, seven carriages departed from the Divine Cult. The dawn sky, still completely dark, seemed as though it would not brighten much even when morning came.