The Iron-Blooded Demonic Emperor
In the north of the Kingdom of Jeok stood a place called Mount Manryeon.
Positioned precisely at the center of four regions — Masu County to the north, Sumi County to the south, Hwan County to the west, and Anseong County to the east — this mountain was home to the famed Emperor Sword Sect.
Countless sects dotted those vast lands in every direction, yet even the powers that dominated each region never dared claim themselves the foremost of their territory.
They could not dare.
The foremost power of all four regions was the Emperor Sword Sect.
From Mount Manryeon, the Emperor Sword Sect all but ruled the four regions — a force even the royal house of Jeok could not presume to touch.
That was the Emperor Sword Sect.
In truth, it was not only the Emperor Sword Sect; all of the Eight Great Sects of the martial world operated in much the same fashion.
On Mount Manryeon, a man with long hair clad in a white robe was swinging his sword.
The Heavenly Wind Imperial Sovereign Sword Art — the paramount technique among paramount techniques — unfolded together with the Imperial Sovereign's Dominion Step.
At the tip of his sword, vivid sword qi began to shimmer into being.
The sword raised high into the sky stopped, upright and still.
The man's two eyes flashed.
He brought it crashing down with tremendous force, as if to cleave everything standing before him.
KWAAANG—!!
The cliff face before him collapsed outright, and the deafening roar of its ruin shook heaven and earth.
As the man slowly sheathed his sword and straightened his posture—
Clap clap clap.
The sound of applause rang out from several directions.
The man turned his head and flinched in surprise.
He immediately assumed a formal bow.
"I greet the Sect Leader."
"Heheh. You've done it."
White hair, a white beard.
He appeared a grandfatherly old man of boundless benevolence, but his body could not have been further removed from gentleness.
A frame nearly seven feet tall, and a greatsword over six feet long fastened at his waist.
This man was none other than the Sword Emperor, Gun Mu-gyeol — one of the Ten Great Masters of the World.
"Your achievement is truly astonishing. Already at the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak — Elder Ma must be overjoyed."
"You honor me too much."
"Oh come now, too much? At your age, boy, to reach the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak — that is exceedingly rare. Modesty is well and good, but there are times when one must acknowledge what deserves acknowledging. Heheheh. Truly... it leaves me in awe. A talent like yours is bound to be spoken of among the Ten Great Masters someday."
"Your excessive praise leaves me at a loss for where to put myself."
"Heheheh. You rascal..."
Gun Mu-gyeol clapped a hand on Jang Un-yeon's shoulder.
"This is not merely Elder Ma's fortune — it is the fortune of the Emperor Sword Sect itself. How could I, as Sect Leader, stand idle? If there is anything you desire, speak it."
Jang Un-yeon paused as if in deliberation, then answered in a clear, ringing voice.
"I would like to visit my hometown."
"Hmm... by hometown, you mean Jangryeong Commandery."
"Yes."
"But this is a critical time. Now that two of the Eight Great Sects have been revealed to have tendrils of the Thousand-Year Demonic Cult entwined about them, a great war will erupt before long. For now, remain within the sect."
Jang Un-yeon was dissatisfied — but what could he do?
The Sword Emperor was all but an absolute sovereign here in the Emperor Sword Sect. What he declared was what was.
"Understood. I shall postpone the journey home."
"Good. Wisely thought. Is there nothing else you desire?"
"...This is a cautious request, but there is one thing I wish to ask."
"Speak."
"I would like access to the Heavenly Book Pavilion."
"Mmm..."
"Three shijin would suffice."
The Heavenly Book Pavilion was where the Emperor Sword Sect's martial manuals were enshrined.
The arts of legendary masters whose names had once shaken the world stood alongside the techniques left behind by the sect's own great masters, row upon row.
Gun Mu-gyeol smiled.
"Granted. I permit you entry to the Heavenly Book Pavilion — but not for three shijin. You shall have six. If I am barring you from returning home, I ought to compensate you at least that much."
"Thank you."
"Go on, then. Enter it right now if you like."
"Yes."
Having thus sent Jang Un-yeon off to the Heavenly Book Pavilion, Gun Mu-gyeol stood with his hands clasped behind his back atop the cliff.
It was a magnificent view he never tired of, no matter how often he beheld it.
Then a man approached him.
Unlike the white-haired Gun Mu-gyeol, he was an old man with black hair, his body every bit as hardy and robust.
This man was Ma Heuk-rang, one of the Eight Elders of the Emperor Sword Sect.
He was also Jang Un-yeon's master — the one who had first discovered his talent and brought him into the Emperor Sword Sect.
He asked in a low voice.
"Sect Leader. Is it truly right to keep it from him?"
Gun Mu-gyeol turned his head.
He saw Elder Ma's face, full of worry, and let out a long sigh.
"You know as well as I do that the talent of one who has attained the Three Flowers Gathering at the Peak is extraordinary."
"I do... but even so, these are things he ought to know."
"There is no need for him to know it now. If the boy learns of his clan's annihilation at this stage, it will only fill his head with distracting thoughts. His growth will stall, and that stagnation could drag on indefinitely. You know this."
"I do, but... haah. How such a thing could come to pass, I truly cannot fathom. The annihilation of his entire clan..."
Gun Mu-gyeol grieved it as well.
Jang Un-yeon's talent was, without question, immense.
And that talent had to keep blooming, now and here.
If word reached him that his clan had been wiped out, it would fester in his mind — and beyond stalling his growth, it could send him into qi deviation itself.
That could not be allowed.
"And I hear that first-generation disciple Won Hu was killed as well. The name of that fiend..."
"It is Yi Do."
"Yi Do, is it..."
"Yes. Word has it he reached the Zhu Tian Realm at the age of seventeen. His talent rivals Un-yeon's own... but the two of them can no longer draw breath under the same sky."
Gun Mu-gyeol did not deny it.
And he read what Elder Ma intended.
"How much time do you require?"
"...Fifteen days will be enough."
"Fifteen days. Very well. Go."
This was no mere request to vacate the cliff.
"Thank you, Sect Leader. I will go and settle this matter in advance."
"Hear an old man's words. Given that Yi Do's initiative and temperament, he has ample room to become a demon-lord who will throw the martial world into turmoil. Spare no discretion in your methods. Do you understand?"
"Of course. I will go and see his clan utterly 'annihilated' — cleanly."
With that, Elder Ma departed as well.
Left alone, Gun Mu-gyeol silently returned to contemplating the magnificent view.
The Emperor Sword Sect, true to its name, must walk the path of emperors.
Whoever dared touch them must be made to regret it down to the marrow of their bones.
That was the spirit of the Emperor Sword Sect.
Most sects possessed a Council of Elders.
So what, exactly, was this council?
In the case of the Yi Clan, it referred to the members of the household who had stood alongside Yi Se-geuk from before he ever became Clan Head.
Broadly speaking, it encompassed blood kin as well as ordinary martial artists.
Those who had belonged to the clan for untold years — who had even given their lives to it — could hardly be cast aside like worn-out straw sandals.
The Council of Elders was created precisely to honor and provide for them.
Most sects followed a similar arrangement.
At present, the Yi Clan had four elders in total.
All of them had stood beside Yi Se-geuk from before the Yi Clan had grown into what it now was.
One had risen from the rank of Chief Steward. One had served for no fewer than thirty years as the Finance Pavilion Master, managing the clan's funds from the days of Yi Se-geuk's predecessor down to the present. One had served as the Martial Pavilion Master, laying the foundation of the Yi Clan's exclusive lineage art, the Azure Radiance Sword Art, developing it, and training the clan's martial artists.
These four were gathered in the Elder Hall now, and not one of them wore a pleasant expression.
"'Keep to your quarters and remain there.' What in the world is this supposed to mean?"
"That's exactly what I've been saying. This is wrong — wrong past all measure. Think of all we have given this Yi Clan. How dare they treat us like yesterday's leftovers!"
Perhaps such words were only to be expected.
The Yi Clan was now, in name and in fact, the supreme power of Jangryeong Commandery.
The Sang Cloud Merchant Group had been absorbed whole; everything belonging to the Jang Clan had been swallowed up; and the Woon Clan had entered the Yi Clan's fold and taken root within it.
All that remained was to soar. No — they had already taken flight.
And right now, the enthronement ceremony for the new Clan Head was underway.
The second son, Yi Won, had become Clan Head at last.
Yet these four had not been invited.
They were not some outside power — they were the Yi Clan's own household, and they could not even receive an invitation to the enthronement.
Just keep to your quarters, they were told.
Did that make a shred of sense?
Each of them was spitting out grievances in turn when—
Creeeak.
The door of the Elder Hall opened, and a man stepped inside.
It was Yi Do.
The moment they laid eyes on him, the four elders voiced their complaints, each in his own register.
How could they be treated so shabbily?
What on earth had they done wrong?
Having served the Yi Clan faithfully for decades upon decades, how could they be barred from even showing their faces at a celebration that every outside power was attending?
And so on, and so on.
Yi Do listened to every word of it in silence.
After a long while, the clamoring elders fell quiet one by one.
Only when the hall had gone silent did Yi Do speak.
"Are you quite finished?"
"..."
"Then it is my turn to speak. Esteemed seniors — are you deeply aggrieved?"
Ak Gwi-gwang, the former Finance Pavilion Master who had been sitting quietly, answered as if he had been waiting for exactly this.
"You call that a question? Think of the years we have devoted to this Yi Clan, and now we are treated like scraps left out in the cold!"
By rank, the direct-blooded Yi Do did stand above them — but they were elders.
By the clan's rules, the elder's seat was the most honored position in the household, and one from which its holders could counsel the Clan Head directly.
So much, he could overlook.
Yi Do drew a ledger from within his robe.
"I won't waste breath. Is there anyone here who knows what the 'material expenses' recorded in this ledger are?"
"...You came all this way to ask us that?"
"Not exactly — it's a question asked in passing. If anyone here does know, I will spare his life."
He thought he must have misheard.
The last part.
"...What did you say?"
"I truly hate repeating myself, but you are all advanced in years and seem to have trouble following things, so I'll let it pass this once. To say it again: if anyone knows about these material expenses — over five hundred silver taels leaving our coffers every single month — I will spare his life."
"....You mean to kill us."
Instead, Yi Do looked genuinely puzzled.
"Is that not obvious?"
"...How is that 'obvious'?! We are elders! We spent decades building this Yi Clan alongside you — we are the founding heroes who swelled its power!"
Yi Do shook his head.
"What allowed the Yi Clan to grow was the decisive power of the Sang Cloud Merchant Group and the Woon Clan. The Azure Radiance Sword Art — teaching that garbage as a proud exclusive lineage art is what earned the Yi Clan its reputation as the weakest clan in Jangryeong Commandery. The Finance Pavilion Master here — with the clan's finances mismanaged to this degree, sitting on the elder's seat, you're nothing but a parasite eating rice you never earned. The one who came up from Chief Steward is the man who fell for Lady Sang's whispering and talked the rest of you elders around. And the Medical Pavilion Master over there — as a physician, you deliberately murdered the martial artists who disliked Yi Se-geuk and carried on every manner of filth besides. Founding heroes, you say? Are you playing games with me right now?"
With every sentence, the elders' bodies flinched and shuddered harder.
How in the world did he...
Yi Do no longer spoke with words.
He curled his right hand around the dagger hidden in his sleeve and threw it, just as it was.
Thwack—!
It buried itself in an elder's forehead — so deep that only the hilt remained visible.
Thud. The elder of Chief Steward origin collapsed and became a corpse.
"Three remain. If any of you have something to say about the material expenses, you should decide quickly."
Yi Do walked over slowly and pulled the dagger free from the dead elder's forehead.
Not a moment's hesitation.
He threw it again.
The dagger traced a curve through the air like a serpent's strike, and then — thwack — it buried itself in the forehead of the Martial Pavilion elder.
Thud.
Two remained now.
Ak Gwi-gwang, the elder of the Finance Pavilion, and Gang Hae-sun, the elder of the Medical Pavilion.
Yi Do walked toward them slowly.
Just before pulling the dagger from the second corpse's forehead, Ak Gwi-gwang shouted.
"Stop! I will tell you."
Yi Do answered — not with words, but with action.
He threw the dagger, exactly as it was.
Thwack—!
Ak Gwi-gwang flinched violently. Two zhang away from him, Gang Hae-sun toppled over, slowly.
The moment he saw the dagger buried in the man's forehead, his legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor where he stood.
"There is no reason to spare those who know nothing — and since at least one of you does know, I am truly glad."
Yi Do approached Gang Hae-sun's body, drew out the dagger, and came to stand before Ak Gwi-gwang.
"So. What is this 'material expense'?"
"...The former Clan Head obtained a single great opportunity, long ago."
"A fortuitous opportunity?"
"...Yes. I do not know the details myself — only that it was a legacy left behind by the Iron-Blooded Demonic Emperor. That is the extent of what I know."
Yi Do found it a little curious.
"What does that legacy have to do with the money?"
"...You do not know who the Iron-Blooded Demonic Emperor is?"
Truthfully, Yi Do's erudition was broad — but it did not extend to everything.
"...You truly do not know the great demon-lord who soaked the martial world in blood four hundred years ago...?"
"I don't. What I need to know is how this money was spent. Talk."
"...Tilt the bed in the Clan Head's chamber. You will find a hidden space there. That space leads underground, and it is sealed by a massive iron door — but the door is a trap. Look at the wall beside it and you will find a corner jutting out slightly. Press there, and another hidden chamber will open. That is all I know."
It seemed there was something quite remarkable down there.
His father — a man who had never once in his life known the meaning of respect — if this gift of his turned out to be the real thing, Yi Do supposed he could manage a sliver of regard for him.
"So now you will spare me?"
Yi Do smiled.
Ak Gwi-gwang took that smile for a good sign.
"Thank you... I will work harder than ever. When the inspectors came around, I was never caught, not once. I will surely prove useful to you."
Yi Do reached out and took hold of Ak Gwi-gwang's shoulder.
"But you see, Elder."
"...Yes, speak."
"New wine belongs in new wineskins, doesn't it?"
"....What?"
"I said I would spare you. I never said I would spare you whole."
"...What are you..."
"I will cut off your limbs and gouge out both your eyes. Your tongue as well, so you can never speak. And then I will throw you onto the back mountain of the Yi Clan."
"...Y-you... you demon...!"
"You gave me such valuable information — I cannot let you meet an end like that. So I will offer you a choice. What I described just now is the first option. The second is to die by my hand, right now. Without pain."
"...Y-you... monster..."
Yi Do took that as his answer.
Without a flicker of hesitation, he brought the dagger down.
CRACK—!
Ak Gwi-gwang's head split clean apart.
Yi Do rose from his seat.
These were men who had already plotted, alongside Lady Sang, to topple the Yi Clan from within.
Spare them? The thought had never existed from the very beginning.
"Yeom Gil-seong."
At Yi Do's call, the servant who had been waiting outside opened the door and entered.
The man who had become Yi Do's most loyal retainer in the Yi Clan.
"Throw all of them on the back mountain."
The man beamed brightly.
"Yes, Young Master!"