Chapter 240: The Emperor (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: The Emperor (3)
The death of a Family Head of the Sixteen Major Sects—a true titan of power—inevitably shifted the currents of the era.
This was especially true when that death came by another's hand.
In a sense, this banquet was a gathering intended to address those very changes. But it also meant that the various factions of the Sixteen Major Sects, usually scattered across the Central Plains, had all converged into a single pond: the Namgung Clan.
It was a rare sight to see so many of them in one place. Regardless of the mourning period, it was inevitable that the banquet hall would transform into a political arena...
"Oh, Senior Heo-do is here too."
Seo-jun took a step back from those political undercurrents and simply enjoyed the feast.
This detachment was only possible because he had reached the Transcendent Realm, a stage that surpassed the very limits of humanity. A martial artist at the Transcendent Realm only needed to concern themselves with others of the same level.
In other words, there wasn't much in this room that Seo-jun needed to worry about.
The people gathered here were merely the elders of the Sixteen Major Sects, not the sect leaders themselves. Of course, there were Transcendent martial artists backing them, but Seo-jun had never been the type to lose sleep over such things.
"So, that 'Lunch-Rec' and 'Dinner-Rec' thing... it’s not just modern slang used by the youth; it’s, well, quite catchy."
"Hoo... this is a problem."
"Why?"
"I believe I’ve used those terms at least once a day since I first heard them."
True Human Heo-do stroked his beard with a flustered expression. Seo-jun finally couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Wait, did you really like those words that much?"
"Though I am advanced in years, I strive to live with a youthful heart. In truth, only then can one continue to make progress in their martial studies."
"Oho, hearing you say it like that..."
Almost all of the Sixteen Major Sects were in attendance at the banquet. Naturally, if every single mourner from the sects had come, the crowd would have been overwhelming, so only a select few representatives from each were present.
Still, with fourteen out of the sixteen powers attending—excluding the Kunlun and Peng clans—the turnout was by no means small.
"But seriously, why did you come instead of the Third Prince?"
At Seo-jun's question, the Emperor chuckled.
"Because it looked fun. When this many people gather, at least one interesting thing is bound to happen."
"You pathetic man."
Seo-jun clicked his tongue and used Void Object Grasping to pluck a dish from afar. It was firm tofu. His Chun-bong liked it quite a bit.
"Here, Chun-bu-i, say 'ah—'."
"S-Stop it."
With a prim expression, Chun-bong used her chopsticks to snatch the firm tofu floating in the air. She glared at Seo-jun petulantly and sent a message via Voice Transmission.
[What do you think you're doing in a place like this?]
Then she promptly popped the tofu into her mouth.
[So you are eating it?]
When Seo-jun smirked, Chun-bong snorted.
[You hate this stuff.]
[Yeah, it's really not for me.]
Suddenly, the Emperor cut in.
"Are you not eating? This is delicious. I occasionally take trips down to Anhui just for this."
The Emperor, who had stuffed his own mouth with firm tofu, nodded with a satisfied look. Seo-jun simply flipped him the middle finger.
"My, how prickly." The Emperor chuckled.
Whatever the underlying political currents, the atmosphere among the guests was quite harmonious, largely because the two Transcendents in the hall were conversing in a relatively decent mood.
Perhaps emboldened by that atmosphere, a woman from the Tang Clan approached Seo-jun with a charming smile.
No man would dislike a rare beauty offering to serve him wine. The woman's smile held a hint of tension, but it was outweighed by her confidence.
"Great Hero, if it isn't an intrusion, perhaps I could..."
The woman, carrying a wine ewer, naturally reached out to place a hand on Seo-jun's shoulder.
"Ugh...!"
Or rather, her body froze just before she could touch him. Her hand, which had been reaching for Seo-jun, remained suspended in the air as if paralyzed.
"Ah, I don't really like being touched."
Seo-jun, who had caught the woman's hand with Void Object Grasping, looked at her with an unreadable gaze. "So?"
"A-Ah, no, it's nothing..."
The woman hurried away, her face turning pale.
It was good to win the favor of a Transcendent, but one wrong move could cost a person their head. Their way of thinking existed entirely outside the realm of what ordinary people could imagine; the shield of being a daughter of the Tang Clan was far from invincible here.
As the woman hurried back to her seat, the Emperor burst into laughter.
"Haha! Leave that prickly fellow be." He lifted his cup and drained it in one gulp. "My cup is empty."
The woman cautiously moved toward the Emperor. Seo-jun watched her retreating figure with narrowed eyes.
Is she having a hard time within her family or something?
He didn't understand why she was going out of her way to serve wine like a common attendant. As a daughter of the Tang Clan, her status should have been equivalent to that of a princess.
Seo-jun clicked his tongue and turned to Namgung Su-ah, who was sitting next to him.
"Want more?"
"Hmm? Just one more cup, then."
As he poured the wine himself, Namgung Su-ah giggled. "Geum Mae is staring at you pretty hard, you know."
Just as she said, Chun-bong was watching him with an unblinking gaze.
"You want a cup too, Chun-bu-i?"
"I'm fine. I never really acquired a taste for alcohol."
Chun-bong shook her head and scanned her surroundings.
When her brother had looked at that woman with those strange, unreadable eyes, the atmosphere had stiffened for a moment. The great figures of the Sixteen Major Sects were walking on eggshells around her brother, the Transcendent.
Of course, she didn't particularly care about that, but her brother's reaction bothered her.
Does he still hate women?
For someone who supposedly did, he and his sister-in-law were always hugging and touching every morning, making quite a fuss.
"Hmm..."
As Chun-bong was pondering, one of the elders from the Jongnam Sect spoke up. His expression was strangely stiff.
"Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord, may I ask a question?"
"Huh? Sure, why not?"
Seo-jun nodded nonchalantly, but Chun-bong did not share his ease.
That elder's expression. She knew that look. It was the look of someone who found something about this situation extremely displeasing.
Is something about to blow up?
She had an instinctive premonition. But Chun-bong, who had been about to intervene, simply let out a sigh.
He'll handle it.
There were always people who only realized reality after getting hit. Did he think the Sect Leader of Jongnam could block a blade right in front of him? Or perhaps he blindly trusted in his own seniority.
She didn't particularly care to understand him. There were many people in the world, and naturally, many who were difficult to understand. Chun-bong simply accepted it as the way of the world.
"I heard that Jo Chung, an elder of the Murim Alliance, died at your hands. May we hear the full story of that incident?"
Now, that was a rather grim topic.
He killed an elder? Chun-bong hadn't known about that. She stole a glance at Seo-jun's expression.
"Jo Chung?"
Seo-jun tilted his head as if puzzled, but then his expression suddenly hardened. His eyes fixed on the Jongnam elder. It was a freezing gaze.
"Ah, that vermin."
To top it off, Seo-jun's eyebrow twitched.
Great anger. No, moderate anger?
Chun-bong swallowed hard.
"Before he was an elder of the Murim Alliance, he was an elder of Jongnam. I believe I am at least entitled to hear the details of what happened."
It wasn't necessarily a question Seo-jun couldn't answer. However, words carried a tone. Even the exact same phrasing could change meaning entirely depending on how it was spoken.
Chun-bong could describe the elder's tone in one phrase:
One step closer to suicide.
She carefully covered her mouth.
"A crane that holds its head high and noble is destined to die early."
"What does that mean...?"
"That's what that idiot babbled. Did you not hear that part?"
The Jongnam elder seemed genuinely taken aback, as if he truly hadn't heard that detail, but he did not back down.
"Even if he said such things, your handling of the matter was far too hasty. At the very least, you should have sought some understanding from Jongnam. That would have been the proper way."
Gulp. Chun-bong swallowed again. The Jongnam elder had finally declared his full intent to commit suicide.
At this point, she was genuinely curious about the elder's thought process. Was he actually a Transcendent hiding his power?
Chun-bong rolled her eyes and peeked at Seo-jun's face.
Huh?
Her eyebrows twitched. Seo-jun's reaction was better than expected. She had assumed he would fly into a rage and rip the elder's head off immediately, but he seemed less angry than she thought.
Ah, he said the Family Head ascended, right?
Chun-bong had also heard about the dream Namgung Su-ah had. That was why her brother had been in a terrible mood for the past few days.
At this rate, would it just cost the man an arm? Or maybe just a slightly dented skull?
As Chun-bong waited anxiously for Seo-jun to make his move, someone else burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahaha...! This is a masterpiece!"
It was the Emperor. He laughed until his face turned red, then leaned in close to the Tang woman beside him.
"You, what do you think?"
"Y-Yes...?"
The Emperor's hand gripped the woman's chin. Her face turned white with fear.
"Look at that fellow who doesn't know his place, running his mouth. What on earth does he believe in? The Sect Leader of Jongnam? His measly seniority? Or is his head just filled with flower patches?"
"I-It seems so..."
"Is that so? You think so too. If that is what you wish, then so be it."
"Pardon...?"
The Emperor let go. The woman's legs gave out, and she slumped to the floor.
The Emperor chuckled and reached out toward the Jongnam elder.
"Now, Tang... whatever your name was. Anyway, this child says she wants you dead."
As he spoke, a terrifying heat coalesced in the air. The Heaven-Sun Imperial Extreme Fire Divine Art, pushed to its absolute limit, birthed a miniature sun in the void.
Faster than the Jongnam elder could even react, the sun plummeted toward his head.
Sssssssssssssss—!!
The Jongnam elder flipped backward, chair and all. His eyes trembled violently. The scorching heat of the sun dissipated right in front of his face. What had blocked it was the sky itself, taking the form of a sphere.
The Jongnam elder gasped for breath and looked at Seo-jun. If Seo-jun hadn't blocked that strike just now, he would have truly died.
"W-What is this..."
Seo-jun swung his hand.
Thwack!
With a sharp gesture that seemed to strike the very fabric of space itself, the elder was smacked in the head and collapsed on the spot.
Without sparing the unconscious man a single glance, Seo-jun stared intently at the Emperor.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Is there a problem?" The Emperor chuckled. "If someone doesn't know their place, they should be cleared away. I'm actually curious. Why keep that thing alive?"
"Because you were the one trying to kill him. It suddenly annoyed me."
"Oho, truly?"
The Emperor stood up. He adjusted his half-slumped dragon robe and sauntered toward Seo-jun.
"Do you know why that fellow felt so free to babble like that?" His pale golden eyes gleamed wickedly through his narrowed lids. "It's because you're young. He looked down on you. He doesn't realize how massive the wall blocking his sight truly is."
"And?"
"I couldn't just stand by while my peer was being disrespected. So, I stepped in on your behalf."
Seo-jun sneered. "I think you just stepped in because it looked fun."
The Emperor's eyes widened.
"Oops, you caught me? But I wasn't lying. You can't just leave things like that be."
"Yeah, you can't leave them be."
"Oh, so you understand?" The Emperor chuckled.
Seo-jun smirked as well. "Yeah. Starting with you."
Zip!
Seo-jun's hand sliced through the air. The Emperor leaned back to dodge and let out a loud laugh.
"Haha...! That works too!"
The Emperor's hand curved like the claws of a dragon.