Chapter 362
Chapter 362
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 362
>Chapter Title: Truth (2)
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“Summon Eunuch Cha.”
At Grand Eunuch Tai’s command, Eunuch Byung-pil flinched in a most irreverent manner.
“Why do you seek Eunuch Cha?”
To his cautious question, Grand Eunuch Tai replied with a displeased expression.
“Since when have you been above me? As far as I know, this old man need only serve one—the Emperor.”
It was as if to say, do I look like someone who has to explain himself to the likes of you, Eunuch Byung-pil?
Eunuch Byung-pil swallowed dryly and slammed his head against the floor.
“I-I’m sorry. I’ll summon Eunuch Cha right away, Grand Eunuch.”
Having realized through repeated failures that his impatience had led him to err.
Grand Eunuch Tai looked down at him for a moment before speaking.
“Your health is poor, so it seems difficult for you to continue as Director of the Eastern Depot. I’ll have Eunuch Cha take over those duties for a while, so bear that in mind.”
“I shall obey your will!”
Eunuch Byung-pil answered vigorously and turned to leave the room.
But unlike his spirited reply, his face was twisted in utter distortion as he exited.
Originally, the Directorate of Rites, which oversaw all eunuchs, had a chief Grand Eunuch and two or three deputies like Eunuch Byung-pil assisting him.
Among those deputy eunuchs, the most trusted one took the position of Director of the Eastern Depot.
Yet now, Grand Eunuch Tai had declared he would hand that position of Director of the Eastern Depot to another deputy eunuch.
But defying Grand Eunuch Tai, who wielded absolute power and had reached a terrifying realm, was impossible.
Thus, Eunuch Byung-pil, the former Director of the Eastern Depot, had no choice but to go inform Eunuch Cha, his rival of equal standing.
“What a pathetic sight, Eunuch Bang.”
Eunuch Cha openly sneered as he alternated glances between the bloodstains on Eunuch Byung-pil’s forehead and thigh.
In response, Eunuch Byung-pil forced down his anger and replied curtly.
“Grand Eunuch seeks you.”
No longer able to endure the humiliation, the former Director of the Eastern Depot turned and departed.
“Hmph.”
Snorting, Eunuch Cha soon composed his attire and expression before heading to Grand Eunuch Tai’s residence.
“I greet Grand Eunuch.”
As Eunuch Cha bowed in greeting, Grand Eunuch Tai nodded and replied.
“In place of Eunuch Bang, I shall entrust you with the duties of Director of the Eastern Depot.”
“To repay your trust, I shall shatter my bones and pulverize my body.”
“How could this be merely my trust?”
“For His Majesty the Emperor, my body and soul are ever ready to be offered. Long live! Long live! Long live forever!”
“Hahaha. I shall inform His Majesty of your loyalty.”
Immediately after the ritual exchange, Grand Eunuch Tai issued a command to Eunuch Cha, who was prostrated flat.
“From now on, take a few reliable men from the Eastern Depot and go to the northern regions.”
“I shall prepare as swiftly as possible and depart. But what precisely am I to do in the north?”
“It seems Jeong Il-ho of the Martial Alliance is facing difficulties with his recent mission.”
Jeong Il-ho was a code name for Cheok Pae-myeong, the leader of the Martial Alliance.
Originally, he was not a man named Cheok Pae-myeong. He had been raised from childhood as a member of the Imperial Guard to protect the Emperor.
Then one day, a secret order came to the young man.
Infiltrate the Central Plains as a martial artist under the false identity of Cheok Pae-myeong.
This was not limited to Cheok Pae-myeong alone.
Every year, some of the children trained for the Imperial Guard were selected and given similar secret orders.
The Eastern Depot forged their identities, and the Eastern Depot disguised the martial arts they learned as a kind of ‘fortunate encounter.’
Furthermore, those who progressed quickly and built sufficient influence within the righteous factions of the Central Plains were granted spirit elixirs as well.
Of course, these too were routinely disguised as ‘fortunate encounters’ by the Eastern Depot.
In this way, as they planted and nurtured spies across the Central Plains, the one who grew the fastest and amassed the most influence was Cheok Pae-myeong.
Thus, he was given the code name Jeong Il-ho, and to assist him, the most talented young scholar was assigned—the current Chief Strategist of the Martial Alliance, Gong Son-hyeon, also known as Jeong Il-ho.
Moreover, the warriors of the Martial Alliance at that level were spies cultivated by the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guard, just like Cheok Pae-myeong.
Grand Eunuch Tai gave a rough explanation of the situation Cheok Pae-myeong faced.
“Thus, go to the north and investigate the Mirok Divine Cult.”
“I shall do so.”
After Eunuch Cha bowed once more and departed.
The old man called Grand Eunuch Tai gazed coldly once again at the map on the table.
Clearly one empire called Han, yet the map appeared as if divided into dozens of nations.
‘If Emperor Ganxi had acted in time.’
Emperor Ganxi was the ruler before Grand Eunuch Tai was born, and during his reign, the Demonic Cult’s first invasion—after being driven to the Western Frontier—occurred.
But Emperor Ganxi deemed the riffraff of the martial world unworthy of attention, and as the court washed its hands of the matter, the righteous factions of the Central Plains banded together to form the Martial Alliance.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the Martial Alliance succeeded in trapping the Blood Slaughter Heavenly Demon and driving out the Demonic Cult—without a shred of aid from the court.
The righteous factions of the Central Plains suffered immense losses in the process, but the court made no move against them.
Emperor Ganxi regarded the self-proclaimed martial artists as mere riffraff, unworthy even of suppression.
Decades after that Ganxi Emperor passed away, the Demonic Cult’s second invasion erupted.
The emperor of that time was utterly incompetent, interested only in decadence and pleasure.
The righteous factions, having already once united under the Martial Alliance banner to face the Demonic Cult, repelled them far more easily than before.
Upon hearing this, the emperor of that era, Emperor Taiping, remarked:
“Hahaha. My subjects have stepped forward on their own to defend the land and expel the rebels—truly commendable.”
To this, a sycophant attached to Emperor Taiping flattered:
“This too is thanks to Your Majesty’s grace. With your grace reaching the heavens, what is there to worry about?”
Thus, they left the Central Plains’ security half to the martial artists, had the court guard the borders, and the emperor simply indulged in decadence with his sycophants.
Meanwhile, the major righteous factions managing regions in the court’s stead continued to grow their power.
“We repelled the Demonic Cult’s invasion, cared for the common folk, and eliminated bandits and the unorthodox paths. The affairs of the martial world are ours to handle, so leave them to us.”
Some martial artists even boldly visited government offices to declare as much.
It was the time when the absurd custom of ‘court non-interference in martial affairs’ took root.
Then, decades later, after Emperor Taiping passed.
The next emperor sought to rectify this, but by then, the righteous factions of the Central Plains had grown too vast.
Meanwhile, corruption and decay had spread through the imperial court and bureaucracy, weakening them to the extreme.
Thus, the new emperor sought to bolster the imperial house’s power, and the organizations he chose for this were the Imperial Guard and the Eastern Depot.
To purge sycophants and corruption, and execute those daring to usurp the emperor’s authority, he began strengthening these two long-neglected forces.
To this end, Emperor Yuanli of that time recruited eunuchs from across the Central Plains, and it was during Yuanli’s fervent collection that the young Grand Eunuch Tai entered the palace as a eunuch.
Over decades, Emperor Yuanli succeeded in purging corruption, and the young Grand Eunuch Tai amassed great merits as well.
Yet eliminating the Central Plains’ righteous factions and abolishing the nonsense of ‘court non-interference’ remained a distant goal.
For while Emperor Yuanli focused on bolstering the imperial house and purging corruption, the righteous factions had grown even more bloated.
Of course, no single faction could compare to the imperial house and court in power.
But when united, even the imperial house and court could not guarantee victory, and the greatest issue was foreign threats.
They could not neglect the borders to suppress internal martial artists.
Occupying the vast lands of the Central Plains meant managing enormous borders.
The fierce nomads of the north, Silla beyond the Black Dragon River in the southeast, the Demonic Cult in the western Xinjiang, the southern barbarians in the southwest, and the Japanese pirates raiding the coasts.
Emperor Yuanli was no fool; he could not choose to empty the borders and attack the martial artists.
Thus, after Emperor Yuanli—who had somewhat stabilized the imperial house—passed away.
Amid chaotic successions with emperors changing rapidly.
A horrific bloodbath erupted in the Central Plains.
The revolt of the Blood Cult.
The young Emperor Tianxing, who had recently ascended the throne, came to distrust all martial artists due to that event.
The Blood Cult that massacred commoners were martial artists, and the righteous factions that invoked ‘court non-interference’ while fattening themselves were martial artists too.
Even after suppressing the Blood Cult, Emperor Tianxing pondered deeply, and the stratagem he devised was the ‘Return to Origins’—the grand plan to exterminate the martial world.
If they could not empty the borders to slaughter martial artists, better to have them slaughter each other.
A scheme born from the inspiration of the Blood Cult clashing with the righteous factions.
And the one tasked with overseeing it was the eunuch already serving as chief Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Rites—Grand Eunuch Tai.
He carried out the groundwork over decades at the emperor’s command, gradually planting spies in the Demonic Cult and Martial Alliance, awaiting the bloom.
Even now, after Emperor Tianxing—who devised the Return to Origins—passed and the next emperor ascended, Grand Eunuch Tai continued the mission.
“All the lands of the Central Plains originally belonged to the Son of Heaven, so I shall surely restore this map to its rightful state. By any means necessary.”
The palace’s ancient monster, who had held a position above one and below ten thousand for over sixty years, murmured coldly as he stared at the map.
* * *
At the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult branch in Lanzhou, Gansu Province.
There, Il-mok wore a troubled expression.
“Is something bothering you?”
When Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a stepped forward among the accompanying maidservants to ask, Il-mok hesitated a moment before sighing and speaking.
“Third Senior Brother brought the information I wanted, but the follow-up is the problem.”
The maidservants looked shocked.
Jin Ha-yeon, who at least maintained a calm expression, asked on behalf of the others.
“If it was the information you wanted, does that mean you predicted the imperial court’s scheme from the start?”
“Of course not. Until Third Senior Brother told me, I had no idea Deng Bi was a lackey of the court.”
“Then, what do you mean it was the information you wanted?”
To their questions, Il-mok shrugged lightly and replied.
“I mean the alliances we’ve built so far. I’ve thought of a way to maintain those relationships. Even if it’s revealed we’re the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, if there’s a greater enemy outside, wouldn’t the alliances hold?”
He had harbored a faint hope that the reason the court disguised the massacre as the Blood Cult’s doing might provide that clue.
“The court is plotting a grand scheme to exterminate the martial world, and to that end, they even committed massacres to aid the Martial Alliance. With justification like that, surely the alliances will hold?”
Il-mok hadn’t anticipated the court would devise such a timely mad scheme.