First Greeting to My Brother
“…What the hell are you doing here?”
My voice was ice-cold.
Not even a breath stirred the air.
Ilho kept his head bowed. The other four demonic masters held their encirclement in silence, eyes locked forward. The martial artists of the Moyong Family could barely believe what was unfolding before them.
“The Nine Killing Stars…? Did I mishear that?”
“He definitely said Nine Killing Stars.”
They muttered among themselves, eyes darting like fledglings too frightened to fly.
“You mean the Heavenly Demon Cult’s Nine Killing Stars?”
“This isn’t even near the Cult’s borders. How is this possible?”
Their ears had clearly caught every word of Ilho’s kneeling declaration toward me. Still they refused to accept it at face value.
“Nonsense. This has to be a scheme.”
Someone muttered the words, adjusted his grip on his sword, and took a bold step forward.
“Even a joke needs limits if you want anyone to fall for it. There’s no way the so-called elite of the Heavenly Demon Cult would just appear out of nowhere in a place that isn’t even—”
Ilho’s head snapped up like lightning. Crimson eyes blazed through the slits of his mask, sharp enough to pierce flesh. In the same instant the other four warriors’ internal energy erupted.
Dense demonic qi boiled up from all five of them at once, coiling around the Moyong men like a giant noose of black haze.
“H-hiiik—!”
The bold one who had stepped forward stumbled back in pure terror. The storm of demonic energy did not stop. It felt like standing beneath a landslide of living shadow.
Those among the Moyong warriors whose martial arts were weaker frothed at the mouth and collapsed where they stood.
“I-it’s real…”
“The hunting dogs that even drag Guardians down… here, in this backwater…!”
Every face turned the color of dirt.
“Enough.”
My cold voice cut the air.
The crushing demonic qi vanished as cleanly as if washed away by lake water. I looked around at Ilho and the others and spoke slowly.
“You appear out of nowhere and pull this? Did you come to capture me? Or…”
From deep behind my own crimson gaze, a faint black light with a white core flickered to life.
“…did you stay behind after that day to finish what you started, tracking my trail all this time?”
“Lord Moyong Bi, that isn’t—”
I cut him off.
“Let me say one thing.”
My voice dropped low.
“Things are different now. Very different.”
Ilho answered quietly.
“No one knows that better than I. You are the man who defeated the Flame Wolf King after he unleashed Heaven and Earth Great Shift at its peak.”
He added a short remark.
“It is a secret tale no one in the jianghu yet knows, which is a pity.”
“…Flame Wolf King?”
Cha Ryu-ja croaked the name.
“That massacre at Gwando? I heard the Flame Wolf King went berserk after the Cult Leader cast him out, but I thought it was just rumor…”
One of the Moyong men spoke.
“…Wait. Then—”
Every gaze swung to me at once.
“He… beat the Flame Wolf King? That bastard son?”
“Impossible.”
Ilho paid their reactions no mind.
“We are neither righteous nor evil. Contrary to common belief, the Heavenly Demon Cult has always worshipped only martial strength; the sole law has always been the strong are respected.”
He kept his head bowed and continued in an even tone no matter what they said.
“We have lived only as the Cult’s blade pointed at the Central Plains, as its hunting dogs. Proper courtesy and roundabout speech feel unnatural to us. If our rough words have caused unintended offense, we offer apology… but before any further explanation, allow us to greet you properly.”
He murmured to his companions.
“We have talked enough. Are you still hesitating?”
The remaining four demonic masters looked at one another. A brief silence fell.
Then, one by one, they sank to their knees. The motion was slow, yet the weight of meaning it carried was as heavy as a mountain.
They spoke as one.
"We, the remaining members of the Nine Killing Stars, wish to serve Moyong Bi as our lord."
"Please accept us."
I blinked. I stared at them. At the same time I felt countless pairs of eyes fixed on me.
What the hell is this…
Anyone standing in my place would have felt the same stunned confusion. Questions and doubts flooded my mind so thickly I had no idea where to begin unraveling them.
As if he understood, Ilho spoke.
“The reason we who have been watching finally stepped forward is simple.”
He looked down at the Moyong remnants, still pinned like rats in a trap beneath the weight of demonic qi.
“Before you decide how to dispose of the men in front of you, there is information you do not yet know—information critical to that decision. That is why we revealed ourselves. And…”
Ilho’s eyes gleamed.
“…we also had no wish to stain the hands of the man we have recognized as the next Heavenly Demon with blood over something this filthy.”
The air itself seemed to ripple. Someone muttered under his breath.
“…Heavenly Demon…? What word did I just hear?”
I frowned.
“Information I should know?”
“Yes. You will not regret hearing it.”
“And why should I trust any of you? Until recently you were trying to kill me.”
Ilho rose to his feet.
“We know. That is precisely why we treated the reliability of this report with the utmost care—so that we might earn even a fragment of your trust. If so much as a single detail fails to match, or if we cannot gain the trust of the lord we wish to serve and are denied even the chance to speak…”
His voice hardened.
“…then every last member of the Nine Killing Stars will sever our meridians and take our own lives on this very spot.”
I looked at him. He looked back without flinching. I clenched my teeth.
“Bullshit—”
Perhaps you should listen once.
Mumyeong’s voice rose from the shadows behind me.
Severing one’s meridians as a form of suicide is a phrase rarely used. You know as well as I that simply mentioning it is considered a stain upon one’s honor—especially when it comes from the mouth of the leader of the Cult’s prideful elite.
I closed my mouth and drew a long breath.
“Speak.”
Ilho clasped his fists in salute.
“After our first encounter we did not return. We followed you. We observed you. Therefore we can at least guess what you desire most and what you despise most. With that in mind we investigated and dealt with two matters.”
“Two?”
Ilho calmly raised two fingers.
“First: while that large force split up and slaughtered the household and martial artists of the Wiji Family, we blocked them at twelve separate locations. A mere speck compared to the whole, yet because we stood in their way roughly thirty percent of the innocent civilians suffered no harm.”
My eyes widened.
“…You? Demonic masters?”
Ilho nodded at my disbelief.
“I stake my martial honor that this report contains neither exaggeration nor falsehood. Of course we thoroughly erased every trace of demonic energy, so you need not worry about complications.”
“W-wait a second—!”
Cha Ryu-ja shouted.
“I thought contact from the northwestern units had been slow since yesterday…!”
“And the second matter. We learned this while tracking them and using our own information networks.”
Ilho pointed at the Moyong group in front of me.
“Those men may wear the same family name as you right now, but strictly speaking their roots are not the Moyong Family at all.”
“…Not the Moyong Family?”
“Correct.”
I studied them carefully. When I first entered the jianghu I had been hauled along on an ox-cart. I still remembered the uniforms of the Moyong warriors I had seen then. The clothes showing beneath their outer layers were exactly those uniforms. Several ornaments they wore were also pieces any true Moyong household member would recognize.
“They originally belonged to a large unorthodox band known as the Hyeonpung Majeok that operated along the northern border. Even the Wiji Family could not touch them. Recently the eldest son of the Moyong Family, Moyong Jinryong, set out under the pretext of suppressing them.”
“And?”
“Under the name of suppression he quietly absorbed them into his own force without anyone noticing. In short, he simply changed their shells.”
“Nonsense.”
I cut him off flatly.
“I clearly saw them use Moyong Family formations against me.”
During the fight at the mill I had watched them deploy Moyong formations prepared specifically for me. Ilho answered without the slightest hesitation.
“From Moyong Jinryong’s perspective it would be troublesome if the border dogs he intended to use for dirty work were wiped out immediately, so he handed over a few formations and martial arts as payment. Having them handle filthy tasks without him lifting a finger makes that much of a gift nothing at all. Being born of the unorthodox path, they never possessed orthodox virtues to begin with; they simply carry out whatever dirty work is ordered without a single word of protest.”
“….”
“Lord Moyong Bi. Every faction in the jianghu has a line it will not cross.”
Ilho was nothing like the image people usually held of demonic masters. He was rational, calm. I could see the faint tremor at his fingertips; he was tense as well. Yet he did not waver as he laid out his words in a clear voice.
“It is almost laughable for someone from the Heavenly Demon Cult to say this, and I truly hate the Blood Cult more than anything, but I despise the orthodox sects almost as much. Ever since they seized hegemony over the jianghu they have been greedily obsessed with money and interests and thoroughly rotten. However.”
He raised his head.
“Even if they are corrupt pigs, they have not yet fallen so far as to butcher pregnant women and children the way the Blood Cult would. That much I know, as one born of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Of course…”
Ilho’s voice trailed off.
“…there seems to be one person in the Moyong Family for whom that line no longer exists.”
It is the truth.
Mumyeong spoke.
Once they leave the formation… men who know only the blade ultimately converge into a single nature. That one is not lying.
After a brief silence Mumyeong let out a deep, regretful sigh.
In the end they will be toyed with by strategists and hang themselves… but that may simply be the fate of us martial artists rather than scholars.
Mumyeong’s highest principle was always survival. He was prepared to make any ruthless decision for that sake. For him to speak so decisively meant he had sensed something indescribable as a remnant of the Heavenly Demon Cult, something shared by those of the same camp, rather than mere pity for Ilho’s situation.
That was when it happened.
“Y-you fucking bastards! Stop spouting shit about Cult this and lord that! This territory was ours… it was ours! What business is it of yours if we run wild in our own district, huh?!”
Cha Ryu-ja clutched his broken leg and screamed.
“Big Brother Dokgo Cheon will be here soon! And the true master of the Five Great Families you keep mentioning—Lord Moyong Jinryong—will personally take care of you! No matter how much you individuals thrash about, you’ll all die—!”
My boot smashed into his mouth.
“Ghk—ghk!”
I kept my foot planted in his thrashing face and lifted him high, then slammed him into the ground. I shook the iron-studded sole clean. Broken teeth rolled across the dirt.
I opened my mouth.
“…Whether I take you in or not, the details can wait. First we handle what is urgent.”
“Yes.”
Even through the mask I could tell Ilho’s expression had brightened.
I said,
“In that spirit, one more question.”
“Command us.”
I looked at the bandits wearing the shell of my own bloodline. Crimson light flickered in my eyes.
“Among those present, was there even one who, when the civilians were being slaughtered, at least did not smile? Or who refused even once to carry it out?”
“I stake every shred of my honor, and I swear this before the lord we have recognized for the first time in our lives as the true first-generation Heavenly Demon of the current jianghu.”
Without the slightest hesitation Ilho answered.
“There was not one.”
“…Then.”
My eyes flared crimson. Cha Ryu-ja’s face froze. Killing intent flooded every corner of the space.
“Y-you… you bastards… you won’t get away with—”
One by one the demonic masters released their demonic qi. Blades left their scabbards. Clear steel sang from every direction. Crimson light shot toward the sky.
In pure numbers the Moyong remnants still held the overwhelming advantage. Yet their faces drained of color by the second. They looked like a flock of sheep surrounded by wolves. Even before the first blow they already knew how this contest of raw power would end.
“P-please…”
A heavily bearded martial artist trembled like an aspen. His eyes pleaded for mercy as they met mine. Meeting that gaze, I spoke.
“You have one gak.”
All five demonic masters dropped to their knees and bowed their heads as one.
“Our lord, command us.”
I pointed at the remnants.
“Kill them. This will serve as my first greeting to my brother far away.”
“By your will!”
Their voices shook heaven and earth. Black demonic qi from the five supreme masters of the Heavenly Demon Cult surged upward like a waterfall into the sky.