Influence
Bang Jeong-cheong, a member of the Uigyeong Pavilion, could only stare blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes.
Where was this, after all? This was the Asura Sword Sect's main headquarters.
And right now, the main gate of that headquarters' Uigyeong Pavilion had been smashed to splinters.
He stood dazed among the drifting wood fragments for a long moment before snapping back to his senses, and then he roared.
"What do you think you're doing right now?!"
There were two men. One he didn't recognize, but the other he did—the man who had collected the Sambong Branch's training resources and five Asura Pills from this very place not long ago.
His name was Myeong Hyeon.
Which meant the man standing in front of him could only be one person. The new Branch Master of the Sambong Branch—Yi Do, bearer of the monstrous alias Cruel Demon, a title as chilling as any demon-lord's.
Bang Jeong-cheong approached him.
"Have you lost your mi—no, forgive me. What exactly are you doing right now? Smashing down the door of the Uigyeong Pavilion, of all things?"
Mid-sentence, he suddenly remembered. This man was an unofficial guardian brought in personally by Great Elder Myo Man-ri. His standing was higher than Bang Jeong-cheong had assumed. Better to keep his speech respectful, then. Yi Do looked down at him with a smile.
"I received my training resources. Is this right?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"I carried out a red-rank mission and handled it perfectly. And in return, I got a mere five Asura Pills?"
Bang Jeong-cheong could more or less understand why the man was upset. But this was the Asura Sword Sect.
"...A branch has only four members, Branch Master, yourself included. Any more training resources than that would simply go to waste. And as for the red-rank mission—you crossed the border and annihilated the Kang Clan, did you not? That was excessive. Weighing your service at the Seok Family Manor against your destruction of the Kang Clan, we judged it appropriate to pay out the standard reward for a red-rank mission."
On its face, it almost sounded reasonable. But—
The time Yi Do had spent grinding through the murim was only a few months in this life, but it had not been so in his previous one. Ten years training under his master, twenty years active in the murim—he had weathered at least two decades of it. He was no fool.
"And what gives you the right to make that judgment?"
"...Pardon?"
"A branch having four members is no justification. From what I hear, every branch in the sect draws training resources for twenty people in one form or another, every single month. Setting aside today's matter, this has reportedly never happened before in the Asura Sword Sect's two-hundred-year history outside of three or four instances during periods of genuine hardship. If that's true, then either the Myeong Hyeon standing beside me lied to my face—or you're the one lying to me right now."
"...That is..."
"Short of madness, Myeong Hyeon would never lie to me. Which leaves you. And second—why is a wretch like you the one weighing the merits and faults of the Kang Clan's annihilation?"
"...Pardon?"
"A mere member of the Uigyeong Pavilion, strutting about as though he plays with the sect's laws like toys. Do you believe your judgment stands above the sect's own? The more I think on it, the more absurd it becomes. These are people who have made a mockery of the Asura Sword Sect. They deserve to be annihilated root and branch. What happened at the Seok Family Manor and what happened to the Kang Clan were never things that should have ended with a paltry five Asura Pills."
He wasn't finished.
"And third—the Asura Pavilion Master apparently gave advance word to the Uigyeong Pavilion. Did she tell you to hand over resources for four branch members and pay the standard red-rank reward of five Asura Pills? Is that what she said?"
It was not.
The Asura Pavilion Master, Sangguan Yeonhwi, had said it plainly: give them resources enough for twenty members, and since the handling of the red-rank mission was flawless—beyond flawless, worthy of open admiration—award the standard five Asura Pills plus ten more.
The man who had overturned that decree was the Bang Jeong-cheong standing before him now.
As the one widely favored to become the next Vice Pavilion Master, Bang Jeong-cheon enjoyed a very close relationship with the Uigyeong Pavilion's current master. And since that master was tightly bound to Elder Cho Dong, and Elder Cho Dong took a dim view of Yi Do, the man had acted out of a certain loyalty to his patron.
Besides, the Uigyeong Pavilion held far more weight within the Asura Sword Sect than outsiders realized.
Martial artists were, by nature, a breed who fought and trained themselves bloody day in and day out—treatment of one kind or another was an absolute necessity. The Uigyeong Pavilion was one of the most indispensable organs of the entire sect. He had banked on that.
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing to be done. I'll overlook the broken door, so please return to the Sambong Branch."
Yi Do's smile deepened.
"And if I decline?"
"...Then I suppose I'll have to call for men and drive you out."
"That would take a while, wouldn't it? Fetching them?"
"...Pardon?"
"It would take a while. So let me shorten it for you."
He didn't understand.
More precisely, he never even got the time to.
Thud—!
Yi Do's fist punched clean through Bang Jeong-cheong's solar plexus.
"Hrk...!"
He yanked his fist free at once, seized the man by the hair, and spoke.
"In your next life, learn to tell the difference between when to crawl—and when not to."
That was all.
Yi Do flung Bang Jeong-cheong bodily. The man's body flew not toward the shattered door but toward the stone wall beside it—and a moment later, a thunderous crash split the air.
The sound of a wall caving in. Bang Jeong-cheong's body had been hurled clear through the stonework, out into the open beyond. His skull was utterly burst; his broken form, limbs twisted every which way, lay embedded in the rubble without so much as a twitch.
Yi Do turned his head.
His frigid gaze swept across the Uigyeong Pavilion.
"Is the Uigyeong Pavilion some department so exalted it can hold the laws of the Asura Sword Sect in contempt?"
However wild Yi Do might be, he knew perfectly well the value of restraint—that was precisely why he had entered the sect and, in the handful of days since, made no move to declare himself a guardian or anything of the sort.
The plan had been to start as Branch Master, gather experience piece by piece, learn every factional undercurrent inside the Asura Sword Sect by heart—and only then begin to move. This changed everything.
How dare anyone lay hands on what was his.
"What does an organization owe the martial artist who gives his all for it?"
Yi Do was in earnest. He might not know the Asura Sword Sect in fine detail, but he understood how the world turned.
For a sect to truly serve its purpose as a sect, it had to treat its members with the dignity they were owed. However deep the factions ran, however different their temperaments and characters, once men belonged to the same sect they advanced together whether they liked it or not.
Meaning that no matter how badly you wanted to beat someone to death or throw them out, there was a line you held to as a bare minimum. Matters of promise could never be treated lightly, and the bond between an organization and its members had to be exactly that way.
This was the foundation.
Thick, concentrated killing intent erupted from Yi Do's eyes.
"Bring the training resources and the proper payment for the red-rank mission. Now."
His hand came to rest on the Cloud Dragon Sword at his hip.
"I will count to ten. If it is not in my hands by then, I will take you all for the same filthy vermin crawling around outside that wall—and slaughter every last one of you."
People, as a rule, change depending on whether they stand alone or belong to a group.
Those within the sect had thought thus: Cruel Demon Yi Do.
Honestly, that was not the kind of alias that attached itself to the orthodox or even the unorthodox path. It was, unmistakably, a demonic one.
Which was itself proof of how merciless his methods were and how unyielding his temperament—and yet, they had assumed that once he joined an organization, he would soften at least a little.
He had arrived and promptly settled the Seok Family Manor affair, then gone on to handle the Kang Clan as well. Immaculate work, every bit of it.
But all of that, everyone had assumed, applied only when Yi Do faced enemies outside the sect.
No one—no one—had imagined he would behave the same way within the Asura Sword Sect itself.
The Uigyeong Pavilion erupted into chaos.
The Pavilion Master was away on retreat, leaving only the vice master in the sect. Vice Pavilion Master Yi Ji-seok had gone in person to tend to the ailing Elder Dang Seo-han, and had just finished the final course of treatment and stepped outside the Elders' Hall when—
A member of the Uigyeong Pavilion came sprinting toward him.
"Vice Pavilion Master!"
"Tsk, lower your voice. This is the Elders' Hall, we..."
"The Sambong Branch Master is tearing the Uigyeong Pavilion apart as we speak!"
"...What did you say?"
"Three of our members are already dead."
His hands began to tremble. That bastard.
"We go now."
And so, arriving at the Uigyeong Pavilion, Yi Ji-seok saw him—a man holding a bundle stuffed full of training resources in one hand and a single pouch in the other.
The bundle looked to hold roughly a month's worth for the branch, and the pouch seemed to contain somewhere around fifteen Asura Pills.
What entered Yi Ji-seok's field of vision next were four pavilion members cleaved in half, two more with their hearts punctured clean through, and one—the one with the burst skull—wedged into a heap of rubble, every limb in his body wrenched out of true.
And every single member of the Uigyeong Pavilion was on their knees. Shaking like leaves.
His beard quivered.
He said three were dead. There are seven.
"You... you madman! What in the world... what have you done?!"
Yi Do, who had been watching him placidly, asked abruptly.
"Are you the Vice Pavilion Master of the Uigyeong Pavilion?"
"I am! I'm the vice master! You insane bastard—you've killed members of the Uigyeong Pavilion! What possible crime did these innocent people commit?!"
"Would you like to know what crime they committed?"
"...What?"
"For martial artists striving to raise their realms, personal time is not the only thing they need. They need the training resources and elixirs that shorten that time—both, without exception. Yet the Uigyeong Pavilion refused just compensation to the sect's own martial artists. Worse, it presumed to judge their merits on its own authority—as though it stood above the laws of the Asura Sword Sect itself. Surely that points to some other intent, does it not?"
"Some other... intent?"
"There is a very real possibility that the pavilion has been siphoning off the sect's goods for itself. It wouldn't surprise me if a sweeping audit were warranted at this very moment."
"...What on earth are you saying...!"
Yi Do swept his hair back and began walking slowly toward Yi Ji-seok. The blood on the Cloud Dragon Sword dripped, drop by drop, onto the floor.
"Now then, Vice Pavilion Master Yi Ji-seok."
"...A mere branch master dares address me..."
"I did not come to this place as a branch master. I came as a guardian."
"..."
"Kind words draw kind words in return, as the saying goes. So tell me—how is it that I sent kind words, and this is what came back?"
Yi Ji-seok swallowed hard. He was indeed the vice master of the Uigyeong Pavilion, but his martial cultivation was nothing remarkable.
A branch master of the Asura Sword Sect was, at minimum, required to be an expert of the Realm of Three Flowers Ascension or beyond... And frankly, judged man against man, Yi Ji-seok in this moment was a candle guttering in the wind.
"Speak carelessly one more time, and I will tear you apart as well. Do you understand?"
"...Yes. I understand."
"Good. Fortunately, the members of the Uigyeong Pavilion proved quick to take my meaning, so it ended with the deaths of only seven vermin who had squandered the Asura Sword Sect's property."
"..."
"Do you have anything to say about that?"
It was just as he was about to spit out the words churning in his gut. Yi Do's frigid eyes pinned him through the heart.
...No. This is not the way. Do not do it.
Yi Ji-seok—unlike some—was a man who read a situation fast.
"...It seems there has been, ah, some misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
"The Asura Pavilion Master instructed us to provide fifteen Asura Pills and training resources enough for twenty branch members. Somewhere in the process of relaying those instructions, the message was evidently garbled."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Or, as you suggest, that dead Bang Jeong-cheong over there was harboring schemes of his own behind my back. But the faults of one's subordinates are the faults of one's superiors as well—so first and foremost, I would like to apologize for the confusion we have caused."
Yi Do's expression eased.
"That is a relief to hear."
"Yes. Now, if you would only wait a moment. You there—go and fetch three more Asura Pills."
The designated member of the Uigyeong Pavilion scurried off to the storehouse and returned with three pills in hand.
"What kind of martial artist offers apology in words alone? But I never reached the great realms of the dao as you have, so I intend to make amends with the one thing I do best."
He held out the three Asura Pills to Yi Do.
"Please, let this settle your spirits."
A smile formed at the corner of Yi Do's mouth. It was nothing like the lethal smiles he had worn until now. It was genuinely warm.
"How fortunate, truly, that our Uigyeong Pavilion's vice master is a man of such sound reason."
Yi Do placed a hand on the shoulder of Yi Ji-seok, who was smiling awkwardly.
"That said. As you yourself pointed out, Vice Pavilion Master, the faults of one's subordinates are the faults of one's superiors. How sloppy must your management have been, for an underling to go passing judgment on his own whim? Above all, with the Pavilion Master absent, the vice master must bear full responsibility by rights... Am I wrong?"
"Every... every word is correct."
However unhinged Yi Do might be, he was more than capable of reading the currents of a room.
Piecing together what he'd heard from Myeong Hyeon: the Uigyeong Pavilion had its factions too. And the Vice Pavilion Master Yi Ji-seok before him stood apart from all of them—a man who had risen to his seat on ability alone, in open rivalry with the Pavilion Master.
He could not hold such a man accountable for this. Not really.
But he could warn him.
"Very well. I'll let it pass today. But if anything even resembling this happens one more time, I won't weigh my options—I will kill you first. You'll have plenty you want to say. I won't be listening. I'll simply kill you, and then I'll kill the Uigyeong Pavilion's master as well. Deciding that because you don't like someone, the compensation can be reshaped to your own taste? Dead, and the world would call it deserved. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
"...I understand."
"Good. Then hurry along and clear away that garbage over there. A place as sacred as the Uigyeong Pavilion mustn't soak up the stench of vermin like that, don't you agree? Isn't that so?"
"Your... your words are entirely correct."
Yi Do patted Yi Ji-seok on the shoulder.
"I was privately worried, you know—that the vice master's seat itself might sit empty by nightfall."
Yi Ji-seok's throat kept working, swallowing and swallowing again. What in the world was this impossible, crushing pressure?
Myeong Hyeon, who had watched the whole affair unfold in silence, found himself wiping cold sweat from his brow without realizing it.
Think it through, and the man called Yi Do was unhinged, yes—but not without justification. He went too far, without question. And yet that excess was precisely what made it the most effective method there was.
Adjudicating guilt with death itself. Once that method locked into place alongside unshakable principle, it became something else entirely: influence.
For all the Uigyeong Pavilion's stature, it was still just one department among the many that made up the Asura Sword Sect.
The one who had crossed the line today was not Yi Do. It was the Uigyeong Pavilion. That much was beyond dispute.
Proper procedure mattered, of course—but not in this case.
The Asura Pavilion Master had already given her instructions to the Uigyeong Pavilion. Fifteen Asura Pills, resources for twenty members. Who was it that had trampled all over that?
Ending the matter here was the best outcome for the Uigyeong Pavilion too.
If this were ever forced through legitimate channels, the one they'd face would not be Yi Do but the Asura Pavilion Master—and they might even end up answering to the Sect Leader himself. He would stake his life on it: pushed that far, the Uigyeong Pavilion could be carved apart whole.
Myeong Hyeon glanced sideways at Bang Jeong-cheong, still embedded in the pile of stones.
That fool trusted Elder Cho Dong far too much.
He had apparently believed Yi Do would bend the knee before Elder Cho Dong's influence—a genuinely idiotic choice. However formidable the old man's reach, it did not stand above the laws of the Asura Sword Sect.
What a strange man.
It left him feeling oddly unsettled.
Myeong Hyeon had spent years as a hidden shadow of the Imperial Sword Sect, watching the ugly underbellies of renowned masters again and again—and now he studied Yi Do with peculiar eyes.
Frankly, stripped of all courtesy:
Compared to those men, Yi Do was practically a sage.
At the very least, Yi Do operated in the open, clean of conscience—while those men slunk and schemed in the dark.
So he allowed himself an idle thought.
The Asura Sword Sect was, without question, in turmoil. It prized the hegemon's path, yet only a handful walked it. Rotten from within already—and what would happen if Yi Do set about fixing all of it?
The seat of the Young Sect Master had stood empty for a very long time. Suppose Yi Do came to sit upon it.
And suppose that, in the end, he became the Sect Master of the Asura Sword Sect.
...I don't know.
A man unknowable even when you thought you knew him. There was no predicting the road he would walk.
Myeong Hyeon managed an awkward smile as Yi Do approached.
"Let's go."
"Yes, Branch Master."
And so Myeong Hyeon set off for Sambong-hyeon at Yi Do's side.