Chapter 394
Chapter 394
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 104
>Chapter Title: Crossroads (1)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Eldest Young Master Na Yul-ryang tossed back the full cup of liquor.
As he reached to pour another, Mo Yak clicked his tongue.
"Why are you pouring your own drink like some pitiful loner?"
"You're not drinking with me."
"Good grief. You weren't even one for liquor before your seclusion... "
To be precise, it was those eyes...
Ever since the surgery to transplant that bizarre eye from the Elder Hall, he'd been glued to the bottle.
It was starting to grate on Mo Yak.
He held his tongue because it was his lord, but was it really just a transplant of a lost eye?
No physician worth their salt would say an eye could be restored once lost.
Even if they harvested one from another person, current medicine couldn't reconnect the optic nerve.
Yet the doctor brought by that Elder Hall emissary had done it effortlessly.
'...But why didn't they fix his own eye?'
Yul Myeong, the Elder Hall's messenger, had gone blind from burns.
A martial artist like him would surely crave his sight— so why refuse an eye?
It made no sense, no matter how he turned it over.
His lord showed no interest in others' affairs, so Mo Yak kept quiet despite the oddity.
But things felt subtly off from the man he knew.
'Hmm.'
Staring as Na Yul-ryang downed another cup, Mo Yak finally spoke.
"What will you do about the Elder Hall's offer?"
"Offer?"
"Yes. They spoke as if they knew something. Isn't that why you're troubled?"
"Troubled..."
Na Yul-ryang filled his cup, one eyebrow arched.
In his mind surfaced Yul Myeong's words from the Elder Hall emissary.
[The Leader doesn't see any of you young masters as successor material.]
[...What did you say?]
[You seem curious, so I thought I'd tell you.]
[Why say it now?]
Word had it the Leader's condition was worsening, bedridden.
So why drop this bomb now?
Na Yul-ryang pressed his thumb into Yul Myeong's fatal acupoint, voice icy.
[What is the Elder Hall plotting?]
[Plotting? How amusing. The Elder Hall is merely where retirees gather to spend their twilight years.]
[Twilight years, my ass. Why are you old coots so invested in the Assembly's future? The succession, too.]
[Even in retirement, our futures are tied to the Assembly's.]
[The Assembly's future? Hilarious. You just want to grab the reins again.]
[Is that your way of saying power?]
[Do I look like I need to ask?]
[...]
Na Yul-ryang stared at the silent Yul Myeong, then released the acupoint.
Lacking eyes made him impossible to read—no emotion, no intent.
To him, Na Yul-ryang said,
[Tell the old coots: supporting me is fine, but don't overstep.]
[That might be difficult.]
[What?]
[They asked me to make you an offer.]
[Offer? I clearly...]
[The situation's changed. The Leader will pick a fourth outsider as successor. No one knows who. It'll split the Assembly.]
[...A fourth outsider?]
[Yes. So the Elder Hall proposes to elevate you as Leader.]
At those words, Eldest Young Master Na Yul-ryang's face turned frigid, unlike before.
Though blind to his expression, Yul Myeong sensed the shift in air and backpedaled half a step with a wry smile.
[Unexpected. I figured you and the Leader weren't that close.]
[None of your business.]
[Loyalty to your master...? Something like that?]
[You...]
In a flash, Yul Myeong retreated six paces.
A heartbeat slower, and Na Yul-ryang would've ripped out his babbling throat.
[If so, I get the anger, but hear me out first.]
[Get lost.]
[Calm down. Time's short. Regret it after the seat's taken, and it's meaningless.]
[Without your meddling, that seat is...]
[Not yours. Even bedridden, the Leader hasn't named a successor because he intends it for no one.]
[...]
[Still skeptical? Do you know why the Leader has no children?]
[...]
Na Yul-ryang's icy gaze narrowed.
He wasn't one for women himself, so he'd never questioned it.
[No interest in them? Or can't have kids?]
[...What are you getting at?]
[The Leader chose no marriage, no heirs. Because the Heavenly Lineage no longer wants him as Leader.]
Na Yul-ryang's eyebrow shot up.
The Heavenly Lineage no longer wanted him as Leader? What?
It muddled his thoughts.
Until now, he'd assumed the Leader wanted succession through competition.
No complaints there.
None of his fellow disciples threatened his stronghold.
But the Leader viewing none as worthy successor grated.
Then why take them as disciples?
Yul Myeong continued.
[The Elder Hall has two conditions. Nothing harmful. Accept, and you'll be Leader.]
Na Yul-ryang, silent a beat, asked,
[...What are they?]
[First: at your inauguration, marry the youngest disciple, Lady Wi So-yeon.]
[What?]
Utterly unforeseen.
Marry Wi So-yeon?
To his bafflement, Yul Myeong smiled.
[For legitimacy. If you become Leader and sire heirs with a fellow Heavenly Lineage disciple, even as proxy for the Heavenly Lineage's main house, all will accept.]
It held logic.
[And the second?]
[That's...]
Na Yul-ryang's face twisted oddly at the second demand.
Wholly unexpected.
Thus, he'd taken time to mull their proposal.
Was it true?
Or were they sowing confusion to paint their desired picture?
Yet Yul Myeong's words rang true.
The Leader refused private audiences despite worsening illness.
Did he truly no longer want the Heavenly Lineage leading the Assembly?
Na Yul-ryang slammed his empty cup on the table.
Just then—
Someone rushed into the rear garden where the liquor had been laid out.
Even running, their steps silent, aura contained—hardly detectable.
Seeing him, Mo Yak rose.
"The one attached to Judge King."
"Odd lightness skill."
"The Soundless Blade Hyeong-in from the Central Plains' Four Great Assassins, whom I introduced then. You said he was useful for hiding his qi with that unique circulation method."
"...Different face. Face-changing mask?"
"Probably. But why's he sprinting here in a panic?"
To Mo Yak's question, the arriving man caught his breath, cupped his hands in salute.
"Had to relay it urgently, so I hurried."
Mo Yak smacked his lips at the response.
"Something's gone wrong. Temper expectations, Young Master."
Eldest Young Master Na Yul-ryang snorted.
He'd expected little anyway.
He'd foreseen Judge King Ho Tae-gang's desperate ploy.
Even so, he'd assumed some countermove for it—but this man's reaction suggested Judge King hadn't played along.
"So Judge King did nothing in the Dark Division and left?"
"N-No, not that."
"Then what happened?"
"Judge King was overwhelmingly crushed."
Mo Yak tilted his head.
What?
Judge King Ho Tae-gang crushed unilaterally?
Debated his master, the Dark Division Leader?
As puzzlement grew, Soundless Blade Hyeong-in spoke gravely.
"He... tried to subdue Mok Kyung-un, but in mere exchanges, his arm snapped, and he knelt."
'!?'
Filling his cup, Na Yul-ryang froze.
How could he not?
Who was Judge King Ho Tae-gang?
One of the Assembly's top brass Five Kings, bearer of the rare Eight Stars title—peak master.
And he'd knelt with a broken arm after a handful of moves?
Mo Yak spoke in disbelief.
"...Ha? A joke?"
"N-No joke. It's true."
Soundless Blade waved his hands.
He could scarcely believe his own eyes.
Excluding the Six Heavens at martial world's pinnacle, Eight Stars holders were acknowledged supreme.
Yet such a supreme being toyed with by a youth not even thirty?
Shock incarnate.
"...Certain?"
"Absolutely. And the Dark Division had an incredible master. Surveillance aside, they detected me despite my soundless technique fully masking presence and qi..."
"Wait. So beyond guards, they spotted you too?"
"...My apologies."
"Fled in haste here?"
Mo Yak's voice rose.
"N-No need for worry. Didn't come straight. Took detours, hid to check for tails."
"Haa."
Mo Yak sighed, shaking his head.
The others were decoys to flaunt surveillance on Judge King.
This one was not—exposure forbidden from start to finish.
And he'd not only been spotted but fled.
Mo Yak turned to Na Yul-ryang.
"Young Master, setting aside verification..."
"Certain?"
"Pardon?"
"That he subdued Judge King in a few moves."
The question went to Soundless Blade.
"I stake my life on it. Even Judge King couldn't match him. As if far superior in cultivation..."
"Impossible."
Mo Yak cut in.
Then to Na Yul-ryang:
"As you said, before the secret mission, Mok Kyung-un was at Qi Transformation entry. If this report holds, he'd have shattered the wall beyond the wall, reaching the Leader's bedridden realm. Even for his monstrous growth..."
"Ha!"
Na Yul-ryang barked an incredulous laugh.
Why?
Puzzled, Mo Yak watched as Na Yul-ryang erupted in mad laughter.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
Mo Yak furrowed his brow.
Never seen this before.
Suddenly cackling like a lunatic—what?
Na Yul-ryang stopped, shook his head, downed his cup.
He set it down and rose.
"Young Master?"
"I thought no one could match my talent, but I was wrong."
"Young Master... You can't believe Soundless Blade's..."
"And if I don't?"
"..."
"You think sorcery or qi deception fells an Eight Stars supreme master?"
Mo Yak drew a deep breath, exhaled, calming.
"You judge him truly stronger."
"Not judgment—fact."
He too had reached Qi Transformation peak via seclusion, glimpsing beyond the wall thanks to the Elder Hall's demonic eye.
With its power, he might even fell Eight Stars elites.
Rivalry with this first worthy foe drove his surge.
Yet the bastard had exceeded expectations.
'A fortuitous encounter?'
During the secret mission away from the Assembly, he'd chanced upon something skyrocketing his cultivation.
Nothing else explained it.
Though hard to swallow fully.
If true, he'd achieved unprecedented, once-in-history growth.
For the first time, Na Yul-ryang felt it.
'Is this... envy?'
Infuriated by the bastard's insane leap past his own.
Heaven's talents might truly be thus.
Having vented through laughter, escaping envy, Na Yul-ryang swiftly regained icy calm.
Thus,
"Mo Yak."
"Yes."
"Assume he's reached the Leader's realm. What now?"
"The Leader's realm..."
"Yes."
"...Forgive me, but one-on-one, no chance for anyone."
"Indeed."
Given a few years—no, one—he might train maniacally to challenge the wall beyond.
But not now.
Other ways to counter.
Mo Yak ventured cautiously.
"Mobilizing all our forces might barely match him. Unknown before, but now we know— we can find a way..."
Before he finished—
Thud!
'!?'
Mo Yak choked on words at the landing sound right behind.
Chill prickled his spine from the eerie dissonance—turn or not?
A low voice whispered in his ear.
"Right. So no time for scheming."