Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 54
>Chapter Title: Zenith (3)
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Half a shichen ago.
Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon stood before the entrance to the Alliance Leader's chambers, his eyes carrying a hint of tension.
'How long has it been?'
It had been quite some time since he'd last seen the Alliance Leader's face, ever since the illness had taken a turn for the worse.
Even he, the head of the Alliance's secretive intelligence division, had received orders through the Vice Leader.
Yet now, completely out of the blue, he'd been summoned.
He couldn't help but feel inwardly puzzled.
There was one thing he could guess at, though.
'...Did the Vice Leader's side find out?'
If that was the case, it would be a serious problem.
He'd gone to such lengths to keep that information from reaching the Alliance Leader.
He could only hope his fears wouldn't come to pass.
-Creeeak!
At that moment, the door to the chambers swung open.
The one who opened it was none other than Vice Leader Mong Seocheon.
-Thud!
Composing his expression into a smile, Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon clasped his hands together in a formal salute.
"Hohoho. Greetings to you, Vice Leader."
The Vice Leader showed no particular reaction to his greeting.
Instead, he looked at the Shadow Division Leader with a strangely inscrutable expression.
Then,
"Why haven't you brought your disciple along?"
"My disciple is currently out on an errand for me, so I sent a subordinate to fetch him..."
"Then come in."
Before he could even finish, Vice Leader Mong Seocheon turned and beckoned him inside.
The unusually cold demeanor made Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon's eyes narrow.
It seemed his worries might indeed become reality.
'Trouble.'
He hadn't yet secured the exact location or a perfect escape route, so he couldn't make a move.
If the Alliance Leader had learned of it in the meantime, the situation would spiral out of control.
In that case...
...
Hwan Yaseon gritted his teeth subtly.
He quickly masked it with a smile again, covering his mouth as he stepped into the chambers.
Though he'd visited the Alliance Leader's quarters several times before, today the entire room felt oppressively heavy and chilling.
It couldn't be the air of a sickroom, so it must have been his own mounting tension.
-Step, step!
His footsteps felt heavy.
He kept smiling, but his stomach churned.
His opponent was one of the Six Heavens, the pinnacle of the current martial world—the Leader of the Heaven-Earth Society.
Even for him, facing such a man was unnerving.
A massive bed stood against one wall of the spacious chambers.
Thin silk curtains draped over it, faintly revealing the figure within.
-Swish!
The Vice Leader clasped his hands and stepped forward.
"Shadow Division Leader has arrived."
*Cough, cough.*
A coughing fit echoed from inside.
Behind the Vice Leader, Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon hurriedly clasped his hands and bowed his head.
"I pay my respects to the Alliance Leader."
As he bowed, Hwan Yaseon's eyes narrowed further.
He'd been curious about the Alliance Leader's condition and whether it had improved at all.
But hearing that rasping amid the coughs, it seemed the illness remained unchanged.
'Strange.'
Why would a supreme master of the Alliance Leader's caliber suffer such a prolonged illness?
'Are we certain that man inflicted an incurable internal injury?'
Only a tiny handful in the entire Alliance knew of this.
The reason so few were aware was not just that the injury was worse than expected, but also because the Alliance Leader hadn't gained the upper hand in their clash.
Even so, it had dragged on far too long.
For a master of such profound inner energy, he should have healed himself by now.
He was pondering this curiously when,
"Shadow Division Leader."
It was the Alliance Leader's voice, heard after so long.
"Yes, please speak."
"Is there nothing you wish to tell this seat?"
"..."
Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon's expression hardened in an instant.
He'd assumed there would be some preamble about why he'd been summoned, but this direct thrust caught him off guard.
Yet Hwan Yaseon was not one to show his emotions easily in such situations.
"Ahaha. How is your illness faring..."
"Imperial Palace."
It came before he could finish.
Just those two words, and Hwan Yaseon's throat tightened.
His worst fear had come true.
Despite all his efforts to mislead the Vice Leader's side, it seemed he couldn't block it after all.
'No helping it.'
Without the Imperial Palace factor, he might have bought more time.
But that chance appeared lost.
As he racked his brain for a way out,
Vice Leader Mong Seocheon's voice came from ahead.
"Are you saying that you, in charge of the Alliance's intelligence, are unaware of what I've uncovered myself?"
"..."
This was bad.
No room for evasion.
They already knew.
Probing him like this was a test in itself.
That was the Alliance Leader's way.
If so, there was only one path left.
Raising his head, Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon smiled brightly.
"Hohoho. As if that could be. This subordinate has also obtained intelligence that the man is detained in the Imperial Palace."
No sooner had he spoken than the Vice Leader turned his head slightly, glaring sharply.
"Then why haven't you reported it?"
"You're really putting me in a bind here."
"A bind?"
"You're speaking as if I've deliberately hidden it."
Hwan Yaseon spoke in a tone implying offense at the suspicion.
The Vice Leader scoffed.
"Then what's the reason you've known all this time that he's imprisoned in the Imperial Palace's Golden Prison and yet failed to report it?"
'Ah.'
So that's how they were coming at it.
The interrogative pressure suggested he was summoned purely on suspicion.
No choice now.
Composing himself, Hwan Yaseon replied calmly.
"Are you certain that's true?"
"What?"
The Vice Leader furrowed his brow.
"What if it's disinformation deliberately leaked by the Imperial Palace to lure in the remnants of the White Lotus Cult?"
"..."
At Shadow Division Leader Hwan Yaseon's words, the Vice Leader was momentarily speechless.
It was a gamble for Hwan Yaseon as well.
As a true remnant of the White Lotus Cult, he would have preferred to avoid mentioning it altogether, but he had no choice now.
Otherwise, the Vice Leader would press him even harder.
Fortunately,
'They don't have solid confirmation yet.'
The Vice Leader didn't seem to have ironclad information.
Just like him, they only had word of the man's detention in the Imperial Palace's Golden Prison.
That meant he could push further.
"As head of intelligence, reporting unverified information would require me to bear responsibility. Naturally, I must cautiously verify its authenticity..."
"No need for verification."
The one who cut him off was none other than the Alliance Leader.
Hwan Yaseon hurriedly bowed apologetically.
"But, Alliance Leader..."
*Cough, cough.* "Time is running short."
"Yes?"
What did that mean just now?
Time running short?
It was right then.
"Behold this seat."
-Swish!
The thin curtain was pulled aside, revealing the Alliance Leader on the bed.
Hwan Yaseon instinctively looked up—and his eyes went wide.
'...What in the world?'
* * *
Half a shichen later,
In the training hall behind the secret wall of the main hall.
"Slower than a pig? Then you're just a maggot?"
'This bastard!'
The shock was brief; Mok Kyung-un's mocking insult sharpened Mong Muyak's gaze.
But unlike the one who'd started the provocation, Mong Muyak was remarkably cool-headed.
In that split second, he analyzed Mok Kyung-un.
'The energy I sensed was peak level at best. Yet this movement, and the force pressing down on the sword's tip—it's beyond that.'
That meant he'd been concealing his qi.
Realizing this, Mong Muyak inwardly clicked his tongue.
He'd heard the boy had topped the Blood Valley trials, but at only seventeen, and considering past Blood Valley graduates, he'd pegged him at mature peak, maybe extreme peak.
But if he could fool his energy sense,
'I'll have to account for even higher.'
-Pah!
Judging that Mok Kyung-un might possess even greater skill than expected, Mong Muyak shifted back with footwork, unbalancing his stance.
Naturally, Mok Kyung-un's body, pressing down on the sword tip, tilted forward.
In that instant,
-Pak!
Mong Muyak unleashed a swift kick toward the tilting Mok Kyung-un's neck.
If the boy had a narrow field of vision, he'd eat it; if not, he'd have to release the sword tip to dodge and steady himself.
But,
-Grip!
His prediction missed.
Mok Kyung-un, who'd been pressing the sword tip with his palm, seized it,
-Paak!
And yanked it, swinging it around.
As a result,
'Urk.'
Mong Muyak's body, mid-kick with sword in hand, lurched sideways, forced off-balance.
But it didn't end there.
As Mong Muyak surged his inner energy to counter,
-Paaaak!
'Damn it!'
Despite that, his body whipped even harder, and soon,
-Paaaaaaaak!
He lost his grip on the sword and flew back nearly eight paces.
Though rattled, he calmly twisted midair to right himself, but,
-Shrrrrrrrk!
Unable to dispel Mok Kyung-un's energy, he skidded another seven paces across the floor.
Third Escort Captain Seop Chun, watching with wide eyes, clapped and cheered.
-Clap, clap, clap!
"Hahaha! Excellent! Simply excellent!"
He'd assumed that if things went south, Mok Kyung-un would take the fall.
And understandably so—Mong Muyak was Vice Leader Mong Seocheon's son and the grandson of the retired Sword King Mong Ujong, now in the Elder Council.
Trained by one of the unparalleled masters countable on one hand across generations, renowned for his prodigious sword talent, seeing him yield to a mere novice not even in the Five Tigers—it thrilled Seop Chun to no end.
-Grind!
Of course, Seop Chun's cheers were more than enough to sting Mong Muyak's pride.
Sure, he'd started the taunt, but he had his reasons.
Mok Kyung-un had insulted the sword.
As the Shadow Division Leader's disciple, he should be a swordsman, not a saber user—yet carrying that masterpiece forged by the famed Gu Yaja like mere decoration rubbed him the wrong way.
Hence the "pig's pearl necklace" jab.
But now he looked the fool.
He'd meant to teach a sword lesson, only to humiliate himself.
Mong Muyak glared at Mok Kyung-un.
Backing down now would cement the shame.
Thus.
-Swish!
Gripping his sword hilt, Mong Muyak ignited his sword intent.
"Fine. Let's have a proper bout..."
"Take this back first."
'!?'
In that moment, Mok Kyung-un hurled something like a spear throw.
It was none other than the sword he'd taken from Mong Muyak.
-Pang! Shwaaaaak!
The sword hurtled toward him in an instant.
What level of inner energy allowed a sword to fly right before his eyes in a blink?
Its speed alone hinted at its power.
Yet,
-Pak!
The flying sword halted abruptly in midair.
-Thud, thud!
Seop Chun couldn't hide his shock at the blade hovering perilously close.
'No way. Blocking it with qi?'
The energy on the sword was no joke—he'd thought evasion necessary—yet to parry it with mere qi?
Mong Muyak's inner energy seemed far denser than before.
Seop Chun shouted at him in admiration.
"Ha! Mong Muyak! Did you swallow a centuries-old snow lotus or what?"
But,
"...Wasn't me."
Mong Muyak replied with a bewildered expression.
Seop Chun tilted his head.
What was that supposed to mean?
Not him?
"What are you talking about?"
"I didn't stop the sword just now!"
"What?"
Seop Chun glanced suspiciously at Mok Kyung-un.
'Hm?'
But Mok Kyung-un stared at the floating sword with a serious expression, smile gone.
Not him either?
What the hell was going on?
As he puzzled over it,
-Sring!
'Eh? The sword?'
The sword, still in its sheath in midair, suddenly unsheathed itself and slashed toward Mok Kyung-un at blinding speed.
-Shwaaaaaaaa!
Mok Kyung-un's eyes sharpened as he watched.
The energy propelling the incoming sword was something he'd never felt before.
It was as if qi itself were a peerless swordsman, alive and wielding the blade.
What sorcery was this?
Before he could process, Cheong Ryeong's shocked cry pierced his ear.
-Sword Control Technique!
[Episode 54: Zenith (3)] End