Kunlun's Humiliation (1)
The next day. At the Kunlun Sect's manor near the capital of Seoha, the sect leader Hyeon-geom could not hide his shock at the imperial family's demand.
"What did you say?! You want this old man to appear in person?!"
"Yes, Sect Leader. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is personally interrogating the criminals. She orders you to enter the palace at once."
What was even harder to believe was that the Seoha imperial family—whose forces had been so weak that Hyeon-geom and a few elders could have wiped them out if they wished—had somehow captured several of Kunlun's main fighters.
"Kuh… This is absurd! Even if Kunlun has declined, there are limits!"
- Crash!
When Hyeon-geom flipped over the desk in his office, various items scattered everywhere.
"It must have been that slick-faced bastard from yesterday! Aaaagh!"
"Master! Please calm yourself!"
Despite his disciples' attempts to stop him, Hyeon-geom only managed to suppress his rage after rampaging for nearly an hour.
"Ahem. Rather than meekly following Seoha's orders, I should gather the elders and go together. No matter how strong that fellow is, facing Kunlun's full strength will leave him like a candle in the wind."
His confidence shattered the moment they reached the city gates.
"Halt! Halt!"
"What's the matter?"
"Due to last night's assassination attempt, entry is forbidden for groups larger than two. Please understand!"
"Look here! Do you know who this man is? This is the famous Kunlun Sect Leader, the one known as the Sage and Sword Immortal—Hyeon-geom Jin-in!"
The young guard, who looked like an ordinary man with no martial arts training, merely glared at the Kunlun disciples as if he had never even heard of the sect.
"So what? What do you want me to do about it?"
"Y-you insolent cur!"
"If you're not entering, move aside. Next!"
With a long line forming behind them, the one who grew desperate was Hyeon-geom himself.
"Damn it!"
"Enough! I will enter alone. The rest of you may return."
<Sect Leader! Are you truly going to let this humiliation against the great Kunlun Sect pass?!>
<Of course not. I have a plan.>
"You do your job diligently. What's your name?"
"They call me Il-ryong."
Entering the city alone, Hyeon-geom was searched by the palace guards at the gates.
"Alright, no weapons or tools allowed inside! Especially metal—belts, coins, identity plaques—nothing metallic gets in. Put everything in this basket and write your name down!"
Hyeon-geom looked at the basket thrust forward by the young guard, who had a rather flashy uniform but otherwise unremarkable appearance. He reluctantly placed his sect leader's sacred sword, the Cheongbaek Sword, his identity plaque, and various metal coins inside before entering the palace empty-handed.
- Smirk
Hyeon-geom never saw the guard's wicked grin behind his back.
**
"Empress Dowager! Their crimes have nothing to do with Kunlun!"
"Nothing to do with you?! Last night, Kunlun's Taoists tried to assault General Yi Cheong-ha in a group! Even this palace heard the voice of that fiend trying to lay hands on me! And now Kunlun dares to evade responsibility?!"
Hyeon-geom's voice carried a faint trace of anger as he protested against the Empress Dowager's contempt.
"Of course, I bear some responsibility for failing to guide my disciples onto the right path. However, Kunlun neither commanded nor instigated them. Pressuring our sect like this will only create problems!"
"Hah! Are you trying to threaten this palace now?"
"Threaten? That's preposterous… Gah!"
- Shing!
- Thud!
An unknown force shot from afar and sliced off one of Hyeon-geom's ears.
- Gush!
"Your Majesty! Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine."
A handsome man in full armor walked in slowly—it was Ban-ryong, the Empress Dowager's lover and the man who had risen to the rank of general overnight.
"If you threaten Her Majesty again, that qi will pierce your neck instead of your ear!"
"Kuh… I-I wasn't threatening anyone…"
"Silence! I clearly felt your arrogant aura! If you don't believe me, shall we test it?"
Faced with the general's bold challenge, Hyeon-geom had no choice but to beg for his life and Kunlun's future. In the martial world, strength was law—and neither he nor Kunlun possessed that strength.
"…I beg for Her Majesty's mercy."
Hyeon-geom swallowed bloody tears at the humiliation that the so-called Nine Righteous Sects could never have imagined.
"Specific punishment for Kunlun will be decided later."
'Just you wait! Even if our sect gets dragged into the great war between righteous and demonic factions and suffers a bloodbath, I will repay this disgrace!'
But Hyeon-geom's revenge would never come to pass.
"My belongings are gone! How is that possible?!"
"Hey, old man! Why are you causing trouble in front of the palace? Do you have two necks or something?"
Unable to fight the palace guards, Hyeon-geom could only receive the answer that his belongings would be sent to the Kunlun manor once found. He headed toward the city gate he had entered through earlier.
Due to yesterday's incident, various entry and business restrictions were in place. Even in broad daylight, the streets were eerily empty.
"Hey! Bald Taoist over there! Wait a moment!"
When Hyeon-geom had walked about two hundred jang from the palace, a man called out from a nearby alley. It was the young palace guard who had taken his basket of belongings earlier.
"You bastard! You stole this old man's belongings!"
"Yeah, that's right. Why are you so slow on the uptake, Bald Taoist? I've been waiting here forever."
"What?! This old man will fix that insolent head of yours right now!"
Completely unaware that the alley was a trap, Hyeon-geom charged at the man like a moth to a flame.
"Come on, Baldy!"
"Child! Even in death, do not resent this old man!"
As punishment for mocking his head, Hyeon-geom unleashed a palm strike wrapped in his peak-level inner energy.
- Grab!
But the man easily caught Hyeon-geom's wrist, as if an adult were seizing a child's hand.
"Old man, it's time for you to die once. Air Injection!"
"Hah! What kind of sorcery is this?!"
- Crack!
"Sixty."
The man had only chanted a strange incantation while holding Hyeon-geom's wrist. After releasing it, Hyeon-geom stepped back two paces and faced him. Yet from the man's grinning expression, Hyeon-geom realized he had already fallen for some trick.
"Making such a grand show of nothing!"
'This opponent is a master who has returned to simplicity. Wait a moment!'
"You… You're the general from earlier, aren't you?"
"So you finally noticed, Baldy. Fifty."
Hyeon-geom looked around, pretending to charge while planning to flee, but found himself surrounded by nothing but high alley walls.
"Did you use some illusion technique?! Why are there only walls…"
"Heh heh. What if it is an illusion? What if it isn't? Either attack me or die. Forty."
"But why have you been counting backwards this whole time?"
"Why else? I'm counting down the remaining minutes of your life, Baldy. Thirty."
Having spent years researching alchemy, elixirs, and the secrets of immortality, the Taoist was naturally sensitive about his lifespan.
"W-what nonsense! Why is my life draining away so quickly?!"
"Don't make this difficult. Just die quietly. Aren't you starting to feel dizzy? Twenty."
"Eek! S-save me! I'll give you the entire Kunlun Sect! Even the beautiful female Taoists! Just spare me!"
"Good, good. At least die with some dignity befitting a sect leader… What did you say?"
"S-save me!"
"Not that. The next part."
"The Kunlun Sect and all the beautiful female Taoists—I offer them all to you?!"
- Clap clap clap!
"Ho, customer! We have a deal!"
The man approached, clapping, and immediately grabbed Hyeon-geom's wrist again while chanting.
"Cancellation! Baldy! If you go back on your word, you'll die twice as painfully!"
"O-of course I won't…"
Though Hyeon-geom had every intention of going back on his word, the man cast another spell.
"Slave!"
"…"
The basic dark magic energy that could bind the soul of someone with a will to submit scattered into the air.
"This bald bastard tried to trick me!"
"Hurk, h-how?!"
- Whoosh!
- Thud!
Hyeon-geom's head, ignorant of dark magic principles, was struck by the man's hand and sent flying into the sky.
- Thud!
- Roll roll roll!
"Damn it. Get up!"
- Whoosh!
"Greetings, Master!"
Disgustingly, Hyeon-geom's head greeted the man while lying on the ground, while his headless body prostrated properly before him.
Thus, Hyeon-geom became Murim's first Dullahan. However, the young cult leader who had raised the Dullahan Hyeon-geom felt his vision darken as he tried to imagine how to supply demonic energy to this bald Dullahan.