The Calamity of Annihilation
It was the hour before dawn.
In that darkness that still clung to the world, Yi Won opened his eyes in his chamber.
He felt as though he had slept, but not for long.
It was only natural. He had been too consumed by worry to sleep properly.
He dragged a hand down his face.
Haa.
Any deliberation over whether this was the right choice had ended long ago.
This was right. Only by selling Yi Do out could the Yi Clan survive—and only then could he live on as its unbroken patriarch.
And it wasn't just any sect. It was the Imperial Sword Sect, one of the Eight Great Sects. There was simply no other masterstroke that could turn this situation around.
And yet, this gnawing unease... perhaps it was guilt, or something like it.
Tch.
He clicked his tongue lightly. What did any of that matter? The Yi Clan would live on, and from here on, all he had to do was rule Jangryeong Commandery as its clan head.
His throat was dry.
"Is no one outside?"
Strangely, there was no answer. Turning his head, he raised his voice to call again.
"Is no one outsi—"
No—he tried to.
".....Huh?"
A foolish sound burst from Yi Won's lips. He had no choice. There was a man in the room.
Seated in the chair in the corner of the chamber, legs crossed, the man was staring straight at him. Even in the darkness, his two eyes seemed to gleam.
"...Yi... Yi Do...?"
It was unmistakably Yi Do. He looked a little worn, but he was alive and well. Yi Won's thoughts simply stopped.
...How?
"Brother."
"Ah... ah... yes..."
"Do you know what I have vowed to myself, over and over again, in my thirty years of life?"
"...Thirty years?"
"That those who stab you in the back must die. Without exception."
"..."
"I've been burned more times than I can count. I saved a woman about to be murdered, only to be branded the villain. I was begged to settle a family dispute, and the moment I helped, they stabbed me in the back. After enough of those experiences, mercy simply drained out of my hands."
"..."
"And yet, when I returned to the past, things were strange enough that I decided to be a little generous."
"...Look, Yi Do... I think there's been a misunderstanding... first, let's just—"
"Did you not kneel and repent, begging forgiveness for the past? I accepted it. You asked to be made clan head, so I made you one. You swore you would give me anything I wanted—did I ever ask for something grand?"
"...Do you have any idea how much the elixirs I gave you were worth?"
"Those trifling elixirs? Once you dominate Jangryeong Commandery, that's pocket change you could recoup within a few months. And I hear you skimmed a few of the elixirs meant for me on the side—are you joking with me right now? With just the funds of the Sangun Trading House and the Un Clan, you could have secured more than double what you gave me. Am I wrong?"
"...I am the clan head. Does it make any sense that the clan head cannot use his own chamber?!"
"Do you know what was beneath that chamber?"
"..."
"Yi Se-geuk was conducting human sacrifices down there, under the name of 'Material Expenses.'"
"...What?"
"No one in the Yi Clan knew. But I once stopped the annihilation of the Yi Clan single-handedly. The Golden Heaven Divine Sword? I held the gate alone against warriors who would have crushed a man like that without breaking a sweat."
Would anything have changed if he'd said all this earlier? Who could say. Yi Won was already a man swayed by every passing wind, and he had long since been resenting the elixirs he'd been forced to hand over. Even if he'd known, it would have changed nothing. One needn't look far for proof—the gap between Yi Do's realm and that of the Golden Heaven Divine Sword Ma Heuk-rang was as vast as heaven and earth.
"You became clan head anew, didn't you? That trivial succession duel—within a single month, enough money to rebuild it and more would have flowed into the Yi Clan. Expand the clan itself, bring all of Jangryeong under its control, and while we couldn't match the Eight Great Sects, we could have built a power at least on the level of the Five Great Schools. Even if I stood at the forefront, the head of the family would still have been you, Brother. If anyone dared look down on you, did you think I would have stood by in silence?"
"...Yi Do..."
"My head holds realized martial arts alongside every technique used—and once used—by the very pinnacle of warriors. Had I given you a few of those, bought elixirs with the overflowing funds, and widened your meridians again and again, I could have raised you to at least the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown within ten years. You said you would give me everything, so I trusted you and left it all in your hands. I wanted to see how far that resolve truly went. And when you wavered over this much—could I possibly entrust what comes after me to you? The truth is, you never intended to give me everything, and you never trusted me that much to begin with."
"..."
"If the Golden Heaven Divine Sword had killed me that day, the Yi Clan and the Hyeokli Clan would both have been annihilated. Not by my hand—but by his."
"...But he was going to spare—"
"You've got it all wrong. The elders of the Imperial Sword Sect are all cut from the same cloth. Did you truly believe that a man called a great hero was actually one? Do you know that the Golden Heaven Divine Sword, alongside the Sword Emperor, wipes out villages in secret and defiles women at will? Guilt means nothing to them—if a girl is merely beautiful, they act. Do you have any idea how many families have been ruined that way? More than ten that I know of alone. That is the true face of the Imperial Sword Sect. That is their time-honored pastime—that is what I am telling you."
Yi Won's mouth simply hung open. The Imperial Sword Sect, doing such things? If that were true, the entire murim would be in an uproar.
"If you are the head of a family, you owe the utmost caution in any matter that bears on its very survival."
"..."
"You should have kept a line open to both sides instead."
Lightning struck through his skull.
"If you had supported everything I asked for, and if you had not been at that table when you sold me to the Golden Heaven Divine Sword, none of this would likely have come to pass."
That was true. Yi Won had never thought that far. Yi Do raised his hand. Hanging from it were several elixirs. Yi Won's face went pale.
"...Yi Do... at least hear me out..."
Yi Do shook his head.
"I did not come to listen to your rambling, pathetic excuses. I came to keep a promise."
"A promise?"
Yi Do rose from his seat.
"Have you forgotten? What happens to those who stab me in the back."
Every hair on his body stood on end.
There was no way he could have forgotten.
"W-wait... stop, just stop for a moment... the Golden Heaven Divine Sword—"
"What are you saying?"
"...Huh?"
"The Golden Heaven Divine Sword never came to Jangryeong Commandery."
"....Huh?"
"He met with calamity on the road here, and the Yi Clan was annihilated by a succession war that broke out within its own walls."
"...W-wait a moment—"
"The clan head and young clan head of the Un Clan, Lady Un, and Yi Won—the new clan head of the Yi Clan—none of them escaped the burning estate of the Yi Clan."
Yi Do's hand seized Yi Won by the hair.
"That is what is about to happen. Do you understand?"
Only then did the moonlight spilling through the window illuminate the chamber. Yi Won's eyes bulged.
Where Yi Do had been sitting, there were three heads.
One was the head of his own mother, Lady Un. One belonged to Wun Mu-jeong, clan head of the Un Clan.
And the last was that of Wun Jeong-su, the young clan head of the Un Clan.
Before ever coming to Yi Won, Yi Do had already slaughtered every one of them marked for death.
He swallowed hard. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg, but his body would not move an inch.
Yi Do's other hand moved slowly. It touched Yi Won's right eye. With a thock—a sickening sound—the eyeball was plucked out. Then the other.
Yi Do hurled his body across the chamber. Yi Won made no sound at all.
He had clearly been struck in his pressure points.
When—?
Yi Won could feel it. An agonizing pain from his lower abdomen.
His dantian.
It was unmistakably being ripped out whole.
Shrrk.
From Yi Won's hollow, empty eye sockets, tears of blood streamed down.
Yi Do walked out in silence. One man was waiting for him.
"Yeom Gil-seong."
"...Yes, Young Master."
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes. It's done."
Who was the man who had chiefly carried out Yi Do's orders within the Yi Clan, and who had always shown him goodwill? The servant, Yeom Gil-seong.
"I owe you an apology."
"Not at all. This is what you wish to do, Young Master—what right does a lowly creature like me have to say a word about it?"
"But it's also true that I couldn't keep my promise to make you Chief Steward. And you won't be able to go on living in the Yi Clan either. So the apology is warranted."
"...It's all right. My life is one you salvaged, Young Master. Yi Clan or not, I'll find a way to survive somewhere."
Grudges repaid with grudges. Kindness repaid with kindness.
Yi Do drew two things from his robe. One was a small box; the other, a thick manual.
Yeom Gil-seong took them, a puzzled look crossing his face. Quietly, Yi Do spoke.
"In this box are three Fifty-Year Great Rejuvenation Pills and four Fifteen-Year Fortifying Pills."
"...Y-yes?"
"Listen to the end. This manual records three martial arts: the Plum Blossom Yin-Yang Sword Art, the Seven Star Steps, and the Violet Mist Divine Art. A sword art, a footwork technique, and a cultivation method. The lost legacies of the Mount Hua Sect, destroyed six hundred years ago."
"Young Master... why are you giving me this...?"
"Compensation."
"..."
"If I failed to keep a promise, then repaying it with interest is only right. I cannot teach you myself, so go to the Golden Inn. Give one Fifty-Year Great Rejuvenation Pill each to Hwang No-baek and his disciple Jo Hyeon, and ask Hwang No-baek to take you in."
"...Will he accept me?"
"He will. Anywhere else, who can say—but the lost arts of the fallen Mount Hua Sect? Hwang No-baek will surely be interested."
"...Young Master..."
"Enough. Now set this place ablaze."
What Yeom Gil-seong had prepared was oil. He had already spread it throughout every corner of the Yi Clan estate.
"As of today, I will be known as the mad beast who burned down the Yi Clan and fled. So deny any connection to me. Understood?"
"...Young Master. How could I—"
"Do it. I do not yet have the power to turn the world upside down, so this is the right way."
"..."
"And you have talent for the martial arts. A late start will hinder you not at all. Train, and train again."
Yi Do turned away without another word. As he walked off, Yeom Gil-seong slowly knelt toward his receding back and bowed his head to the ground.
That day.
Before the break of dawn, the Yi Clan burned.
Hyeokli Wonpyeong, sleeping soundly, slowly opened his eyes.
"Lord Clan Head! Lord Clan Head!!"
His brow furrowed. The sun had not even risen—what fool dared wake the clan head at this hour? Still, there had to be a reason grave enough for it. Ever-magnanimous, Hyeokli Wonpyeong thought as much and asked,
"What is it?"
"Right now... the Yi Clan is on fire."
His mind snapped awake.
"What?"
"They say Yi Won, the clan head, along with Lady Un and every last bloodline of the Un Clan, is still trapped inside with no way out."
He rose from his seat at once and threw open the door. A servant stood there, ashen-faced.
"Is... is that truly certain?"
"Yes. I confirmed it with my own two eyes just now."
"...Good. Wake the Young Clan Head and Cheol-san immediately, and tell them to come to the Patriarch Hall."
"At once."
The servant bolted off without a backward glance. Wonpyeong headed straight for the Patriarch Hall without even pausing to change his clothes. He thought, and thought again.
The Yi Clan had burned? Who could have set the fire?
The thought that it might be Yi Do never even crossed his mind. There was only one answer.
The Golden Heaven Divine Sword. He had burned the Yi Clan just now. Nothing else made sense. It was glaringly obvious.
So what was to be done now?
Hyeokli Yang-geon and Hyeokli Wonpyeong had both been present when the Golden Heaven Divine Sword was persuaded. If the man suspected for even a moment that they were in league with the Yi Clan, then the one burning next would doubtless be the Hyeokli Clan.
He needed a contingency. He had to draw a perfect, unblemished line between themselves and the Yi Clan.
Before long, his eldest son Yang-geon and second son Cheol-san entered the hall. Both were barely dressed—proof that they too understood how desperately urgent this matter was.
"Father! Is it true the Yi Clan has burned?"
"It is. I only just heard myself."
"...Then what are we to do?"
"Simple."
It truly was simple. Just as he had said before—draw the line.
"The Yi Clan and we have never once joined hands, not even when the Jang Clan was wiped out. And above all, there is no evidence that they and we ever shook hands."
"But Lady Un summoned us, did she not?"
"She did. But the reason we attended that gathering was to prevent 'a calamity upon Jangryeong Commandery.'"
"...A calamity... upon Jangryeong?"
"If the Golden Heaven Divine Sword tears down the Yi Clan, the entire commandery will be thrown into chaos. The mid-tier and minor sects that have been crouching in silence until now will rise up all at once, scrambling for supremacy. We were merely wary of that. Do you understand?"
It diverged from the truth, but there was no help for it.
"You mean to draw a line, then."
"Yes. That is the only way to escape the Golden Heaven Divine Sword's wrath. Speaking of which—how many elixirs remain in our Hyeokli Clan stores?"
"...Three Twenty-Year Taiyi Pills and one Hundred-Year Ginseng. That is all."
"...You there. Is no one outside?"
The same servant who had brought news of the Yi Clan's annihilation reentered.
"Go and bring me every elixir we have. All of them."
The servant went back out. Yes—this was a bribe.
The three men waited. Before long, the servant returned, carrying a box of elixirs into the hall.
"Lord Clan Head, I have brought— keugh!"
Before the words could even finish, a sword burst out through his chest.
It was surely the Golden Heaven Divine Sword.
Hyeokli Wonpyeong shouted.
"Lord Ma Heuk-rang!! There has been a misunders—"
He too failed to finish his sentence. The man revealed behind the collapsing servant was not the Golden Heaven Divine Sword Ma Heuk-rang.
Yi Do smiled gently.
"Lord Hyeokli. Good morning to you."
"...You—how are you...?"
"That's just how it turned out. Though I must say—Master Jang Mak-su of the Jang Clan, and now you—rulers of Jangryeong Commandery certainly are generous with their hearts."
"...What are you—"
"First, I believe I owe you a word of thanks."
"...Thanks?"
Yi Do nudged the box of elixirs lying on the floor with his foot. The medicines inside rolled into view.
"Thank you for presenting such a gift to the very man who has come to annihilate the Hyeokli Clan."
"You—how did you get in here—wait. What did you say? Annihila—?"
Before Yi Do could answer, Hyeokli Cheol-san kicked off from his spot.
"You bastard!! You'll pay for my Gale Squad men—I'll have my revenge!"
The sword in his hand shot out with ferocious momentum. Yi Do pulled the blade from the servant's chest. He read its trajectory—and swung without a flicker of hesitation.
KRAKOOM—!!
With a sound like tearing thunder, Hyeokli Cheol-san's descending blade was split cleanly in half. Before his face—frozen in blank disbelief—a shadow fell.
Shwk—!
Yi Do's sword pierced straight through his face.
Leaving the fallen body behind, Yi Do walked forward at an unhurried pace.
"You gave me a gift, after all. So I shall send you off without pain, as a special courtesy."