The Gold Inspector of Cheongun Port
The Blue Sky Demonic Sword stood planted in the ground, silent and still.
This was Cheongun Port's Cheongpung Pavilion.
By rights, it should have housed Heavenly Dragon Guard investigators at all times, watching over the port as its official seat of inspection — yet not a single investigator was present, and judging by the thick coat of dust over everything, it hadn't been tended to in ages either.
Standing there, Yi Do found himself remembering the Lower Realm.
Sambong-hyeon.
It had been exactly the same when he was first assigned to that border county. There should have been people, but nothing was managed, and even those who were supposed to occupy their posts were off squandering their time elsewhere.
Similar to back then — but with one decisive difference.
Here, the Heavenly Dragon Guard hadn't shown its face for over two hundred years.
It was, frankly, a fascinating situation.
"Wol Ryeong."
"Yes, Inspector."
"Explain."
"......There are well over several hundred sects in Cheongun Port, but only three of them serve as the pillars the others gather around."
Yi Do tilted his chin, signaling her to continue.
"The Heavenly Sea Divine Sect, the Azure Wave Sword Sect, the Swimming Sea Dao Gate — and the Sea Dragon Overlord Sect."
"I thought you said three."
"Yes. As of now, it is three, but the Sea Dragon Overlord Sect is threatening the bulwark of those three. Recently they produced an investigator at Nascent Soul Great Completion, which gave them the confidence to consider themselves equals in name if not in fact, and the tides of Cheongun Port have begun flowing their way as well. I mentioned it because I thought it was worth knowing...... my apologies if that was overstepping."
"Not at all. You know more than I expected."
"......As you know, I lack strength, so I've devoted myself to shoring that up in every other way I can. Cultivation is my focus, but I was chosen as a Blue Scale, after all. I have to do my duty."
"A good attitude. Four sects — understood. Then explain this situation as well."
Perhaps it was the satisfaction of being acknowledged, but Wol Ryeong smiled faintly.
"Yes. I'll continue. The masters of the sects — Hae Mugeuk of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect, Baek Un-cheol of the Azure Wave Sword Sect, Do Cheon-il of the Swimming Sea Dao Gate, and Won Rin of the Sea Dragon Overlord Sect — are all Nascent Soul Great Completion investigators. Setting Won Rin aside, the original three sects have managed the order of Cheongun Port."
"'Managed,' you say."
"And...... this is politically delicate, but as you know, should His Majesty the Heavenly Dragon Emperor ascend to the Upper Realm, the current Great Dragon Marquess of Yongguk would inherit that throne, and......"
"Those three sects belong to the Marquess?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"So that's why they looked at me so sourly in the Heavenly Dragon Citadel."
"It doesn't end there. One of the Four Sovereigns of the Citadel, the Heavenly Fire Divine Lord, is the previous Sect Master of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect."
Only laughter came.
The situation was truly interesting.
Cheon Gang had already reached the realm of True Immortal.
And with ascension to the Upper Realm sealed off, their power struggles were meaningless — because Cheon Gang could not ascend.
Of course, it would be a different story if he stepped back and passed the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's seat to the current Great Dragon Marquess, Cheon Han-su, but judging by the situation, he had no intention of handing it over.
And truthfully, not handing it over was the correct choice.
Until the question of why ascension was blocked could be solved, the strongest existence needed to sit at the head. That was the only way to respond, whatever might come.
But there was one premise left unspoken in all of this.
Was Cheon Gang truly the only one who had reached True Immortal?
That much was obvious without looking.
And Cheongun Port belonged to the faction of a man who believed he would be the next Heavenly Dragon Emperor.
Just how rotten was this place, then?
The odds were good that it was rot among rot — the worst of the worst.
Which was exactly why Yi Do agreed that Cheon Seok-un had to act before it was too late — and Yi Do had appeared right on cue.
He would be a fine blade for the man, and he intended to collect his payment in full.
He asked Wol Ryeong, "Did anyone tell them I was coming before I arrived?"
"The Guard Commander sent a handwritten letter to the 'Three Gates of Cheongun.' Yesterday, in fact."
"And yet no one has come."
"......"
"I hoped this could be settled with pleasant words. In the end, a hope was only ever a hope."
Truthfully, that was just talk — Cheon Seok-un had given him no explicit directive. He had simply been granted the post of Gold Inspector, with a single instruction: cut out the rot. That was all.
He would have preferred the cooperation of the Three Gates of Cheongun. Cheongun Port was so vast that he'd intended to place them under his command, delegate order-keeping to them, and simply receive reports — but if it came to this, then so be it. He would do things the way he always did.
"......What will you do, Gold Inspector?"
"What will I do? They didn't come out to greet me, so there's nothing for it but to go myself."
He rose from his seat.
"Lead the way."
"Where to?"
"The closest one."
"Then I will guide you to the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect."
They had barely stepped out of Cheongun Pavilion when it happened.
A procession of figures met them at the entrance.
The white-haired middle-aged man at their very front broke into a smile. "Ah — it seems we've come rather late. Hehehe."
The laughing man stepped forward and bowed with a formal fist salute. "I am Won Rin of the Sea Dragon Overlord Sect. It is an honor to meet the new Gold Inspector."
Wol Ryeong's words came back to him — that the Sea Dragon Overlord Sect was the rising power threatening the stronghold of the three forces ruling Cheongun Port.
Now that he looked, they were sharp-eyed indeed.
"I am Yi Do."
"Hehehe, I know. They say a great figure has risen from the Lower Realm — truly, your reputation does not exaggerate. Hehehehe."
He was a man of much laughter. But that was only the surface; his two eyes gleamed sharp as blades. He glanced past Yi Do at the dust-covered interior of Cheongpung Pavilion, then smiled again. "Hehehehe — surely we're not the only ones who came? The fools of Cheongun Port are as hopeless as ever. I offer my apologies on their behalf. There are so many poorly raised men about that they've committed a blunder like this."
Yi Do smiled faintly.
"Can any man be perfect? The world is a harsh enough place that everyone has their circumstances. I am no petty soul — how could I fail to understand even that much?"
"Hehehe...... truly, even your vast magnanimity bears the bearing of a great hero. Then I must offer my greeting once more."
Won Rin raised his right fist toward the sky. Behind him, some twenty investigators standing at attention dropped to one knee and prostrated themselves in unison.
Won Rin lowered his fist, then bowed. He spoke.
"We greet the Gold Inspector!"
Before his words had even finished, the twenty investigators behind him roared as one.
"We greet the Gold Inspector!"
Yi Do liked it.
This man understood, with painful clarity, exactly what it took to honor someone.
It was evident from the simple fact that a Nascent Soul Great Completion investigator had bowed to Yi Do, who was merely an early-stage Nascent Soul.
The man's ambition reached the heavens.
And Yi Do — personally, he didn't dislike men like this. Brushing past Wol Ryeong, who was blinking in flustered surprise beside him, he walked forward.
Before the still-prostrate Won Rin, Yi Do dropped to one knee in the same manner and placed a hand on his shoulder.
He spoke in a quiet voice. "What is it you want?"
"Heheh...... I want for nothing. I only wish to look good in the Gold Inspector's eyes."
"If that's truly all you wanted, then I misjudged you."
"......"
"No one else is listening. This conversation belongs to you and me alone, and so long as you guard your tongue, it will never spread. And this moment will not come again — so think carefully before you answer."
Won Rin slowly raised his head.
The smile drained from his face.
He was serious. So was Yi Do.
"For two hundred years, the order of Cheongun Port has been managed by the Three Gates of Cheongun. The Heavenly Dragon Guard has occasionally sent men, but each time they stopped by the Three Gates first, were lavishly entertained, heard a report or two, and never intervened in any real way."
"And the Guard Commander?"
"In the past, the Great Dragon Marquess told the Commander that he would manage Cheongun Port from then on and that the Guard should keep its hands off. The Commander answered that the Guard would not move unless a problem arose. Since then he has appointed no Gold Inspector and never come in person — but I suppose we must conclude that the situation has changed now."
"Then you seem to know exactly what's happened here in Cheongun Port."
"Yes. I do. And I will tell you all of it."
Won Rin's expression remained steady. He spoke.
"You asked what I want."
"I did."
"Cheongun Port is enormous. The Three Gates keep the order, but their interests are simply too vast, and the wall they've built around themselves is colossal. I want to tear that wall down."
"You're asking for my help?"
"I'm asking for your tacit consent."
"There will be bloodshed — and you want me not to intervene?"
"As the Gold Inspector, I could hardly ask you not to intervene outright. But I swear this: I will handle matters in a way that disturbs your peace as little as possible. Furthermore, we will become your sword, Inspector. We will become your feet."
Put simply: look kindly on me. That was the substance of it.
Not bad.
"Good. I understand well enough."
"If I have been disrespectful, I beg your pardon."
Yi Do shook his head.
"I like honest men like you. Men who can say clearly what they want, and clearly what they can offer. Men, in a word, whose heads actually turn. Won Rin."
"Yes, Inspector."
"You came to pay your respects first, so I'll return the favor and help with your affairs first. The 'problem' that's arisen in Cheongun Port can wait until after."
Won Rin tilted his head in confusion.
Yi Do watched him for a moment, smiled, and rose to his feet.
"We're going to the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect. Everyone follows."
Hae Mugeuk of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect was reading a book with leisurely contentment.
Vice Sect Master Hae Wolhwa approached him, her face tight with urgency. "Uh...... Sect Master......! Outside, right now......"
Hae Mugeuk lowered the book only slightly. "Outside, what?"
"......The Gold Inspector has arrived."
Even so, Hae Mugeuk merely snorted. "Is that so? A full day's passed. He's rather late."
The thought of going out to pay his respects first simply never occurred to him.
Cheongun Port was vast.
Vaster than anyone could imagine. Keeping order across it was no easy task, even for a first-rate investigator.
There had to be someone to handle that burden for them — and here, that someone was the 'Three Gates of Cheongun.'
All he had to do was continue business as usual. The Gold Inspector could stand in the back with his hands folded and receive reports. He was a Gold Inspector in name only — and even if the Guard Commander stood behind him, the Great Dragon Marquess stood behind the Three Gates.
What more was needed?
So he had thought.
Then Hae Mugeuk looked out at the procession that had pushed its way through the crowds and into the sect grounds, and his brow slammed into a knot.
"......There's a strange face among them."
"Heheh...... 'a strange face,' you say. Your tongue is as flippant as ever, then and now."
"However high you've climbed into Nascent Soul Great Completion, there are still degrees of class."
"And the Sect Master of the great Heavenly Sea Divine Sect isn't at Great Completion himself, is he?"
"Different. I stand on the threshold of early Soul Transformation."
"Which is to say, you haven't reached it yet. We currently stand on the same plane, so kindly put away that downward gaze. Boasting about being stuck at Great Completion for hundreds of years is hardly something to be proud of, is it?"
"Hoooh...... this bastard really has lost his mind."
Won Rin smiled brightly.
"I've always been like this, so pay me no mind. Might I suggest you concern yourself less with me and more with the Gold Inspector standing here?"
Yi Do saw him then — a young man with a long pipe clenched in his teeth, trailing smoke.
The moment he saw him, Hae Mugeuk's brow creased a second time. "You're the Gold Inspector?"
"Can't you tell by looking?"
"You wear neither the gold plate that marks a Gold Scale of the Heavenly Dragon Guard, nor the golden crown that marks a Gold Inspector. And I've never once been shown your likeness, so naturally I wouldn't recognize you, would I? Above all, you're merely an early-stage Nascent Soul investigator...... isn't it strange that I should know your face at all?"
"As I understand it, a letter was sent. Why did no one come to Cheongpung Pavilion?"
"Hoooh...... did you want to be fussed over?"
"Does it look that way?"
"It looks exactly that way, but I'll refrain from saying so. And in any case, the order of courtesy was settled wrong from the start. The one who should have come to pay respects first is not me — it's you."
"How novel a conclusion. Your reasoning?"
Hae Mugeuk let out a long sigh.
"Must I really explain even this?"
"Humor me."
"The Three Gates of Cheongun all belong to the Great Dragon Marquess. When the man who will be the next Heavenly Dragon Emperor has declared he will rule this place, how could a new Gold Inspector simply arrive in a Cheongun Port that runs perfectly well as it is? This could shatter the existing order entirely, you understand."
A smile crept across Yi Do's lips.
"Is that so."
"However high you flew in the Lower Realm, this is the Middle Realm. The one who needs to impress is not us — it's you. I don't care for having to explain this at length either, so go on home for today and come back tomorrow. As you can see, I'm busy."
Yi Do stared, unmoving, at Hae Mugeuk as the man waved the book in his hand.
"Wol Ryeong."
"Yes."
"What do you make of this situation?"
"......I consider it grossly insolent."
"Does Hae Mugeuk of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect carry enough weight to commit such an insult against me — a Gold Scale of the Heavenly Dragon Guard, and the Gold Inspector of Cheongun Port?"
"Absolutely not. The sects of Cheongun Port are merely sects. It is Yongguk that rules them, and all order and inspection within Yongguk falls under the Heavenly Dragon Guard's authority. And the most formidable of those authorities is precisely the Gold Inspector. Not even the Great Dragon Marquess stands beyond its reach."
"Then what punishment does one normally receive for conduct like this?"
"Execution. Summary execution on the spot is the principle — there is no need even to bring him before the magistrates within Yongguk."
Everything after that unfolded with terrible naturalness.
The investigators of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect ringed the surrounding grounds — their number a staggering several hundred.
Hae Mugeuk snorted. "Wave principles about all you like and nothing remains in the end. Every rule has its exceptions, and how one wields them......"
"The truth is, I didn't want to handle things the way I did in the Lower Realm."
"......What?"
"It was a nuisance. Getting blood on my hands was a nuisance, and settling the debts of gratitude and grievance that spring up from every ruin was a nuisance. There is work I must do, and I had no wish to waste time on such things. And yet — you've forced my choice after all."
Yi Do folded his hands behind his back. Slowly, his two eyes flooded with gold.
In an instant, the air around them seemed to stop.
An formless ripple spread outward from Yi Do, crushing the ambient spiritual qi into a single point of absolute dominion.
It was invisible — and yet, paradoxically, blindingly clear to the eye.
The wind. The mist. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth itself.
The skull of the nearest Heavenly Sea Divine Sect investigator swelled from within — and burst.
Drops of blood and shreds of flesh sprayed in every direction. No one could react. And that was only the beginning.
Two. Three.
It began faintly, but the pace quickened with every heartbeat.
In the blink of an eye, ten heads had exploded in a chain — and after that, a hundred.
BOOOOOOM—!!
A colossal shockwave swept through the entirety of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect. Halls shook, and Hae Mugeuk, seated until now, shot to his feet.
The investigators who had just died numbered a full hundred and twenty.
Fear and despair flooded the faces of the survivors.
The Heavenly Dragon Force.
The supreme divine art that only those of the dragon's bloodline could wield.
In the time it took to blink a few times, the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect had become a painting of hell. A hundred and twenty headless corpses lay sprawled where they had stood, and the survivors had collapsed where they knelt.
Wol Ryeong, who had come with Yi Do, said nothing, but her legs were trembling — and beside her, Won Rin swallowed hard.
And Yi Do, without a flicker of hesitation — this was not the end.
His gold-flooded eyes fixed directly on Hae Mugeuk.
In that instant, another ripple burst outward in every direction.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!!
The heads of the collapsed investigators of the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect exploded once more.
The surviving investigators, paralyzed with terror, tried to flee, but their feet had turned to lead. Every time the Heavenly Dragon Force pulsed outward, they died with bursting skulls.
Yi Do walked forward slowly.
He looked at Hae Mugeuk, still seated in the pavilion with his book in hand. His gaze was sunken, and his pupils brimmed with killing intent —
and Yi Do merely smiled back at that killing intent.
When he stood directly before him, Yi Do asked, "I intend to erase the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect from this world. Anything you'd like to say?"
"......You've crossed the line."
Yi Do spoke.
"Wol Ryeong."
"......Yes...... Yes!"
"Take Won Rin there and erase the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect from the world."
"A-as you command!"
Yi Do's gaze returned to Hae Mugeuk.
"This piece of filth, I'll handle myself."
Veins stood out across Hae Mugeuk's forehead.
"You son of a bitch......!"
Hae Mugeuk's fist shot toward Yi Do —
and Yi Do slammed down the Blue Sky Demonic Sword at his waist with all his strength.
KWAAAAAAAANG—!!
The two men were hurled apart, flying far into the distance.
Yi Do's eyes flashed.
Today, the Heavenly Sea Divine Sect would be annihilated.
They would be made an example for all to see.
Power flooded into his legs. Eight Qi Rings whirled in an instant.
Becoming a single dragon that pierces the heavens, Yi Do's leg drove straight for Hae Mugeuk's face.
KWAAAAAANG—!!