Crashing the Gates
The Entrance Exam.
It was a test that anyone wishing to join Sadocheon had to undergo, without exception.
Yet, compared to the entrance examinations of other factions like the Murim Alliance, Sadocheon's was notoriously infamous.
This was especially true for the First-Class Entrance Exam.
It was simply too brutal, too dangerous.
The First-Class Exam was a tournament of rapid, consecutive battles based on a winner-takes-all principle.
In other words, one had to keep fighting until only a single person—the victor—remained standing.
Although it took the form of a sparring match, because it belonged to the Unorthodox path, it was conducted far more ruthlessly than those of the Murim Alliance.
Every act short of outright murder was permitted, and all manner of vicious, bizarre weapons and hidden projectiles were tolerated.
Furthermore, there was no time to catch one's breath, let alone rest; the endless sparring raged on throughout the entire day.
However, as bitter as the process was, the reward was equally sweet.
The victor was granted a massive bounty and the immediate opportunity to be appointed as a vice captain of the Ten Heavenly Squads, bypassing the rank of a low-level warrior entirely.
Naturally, the final match could only be fiercely contested.
"Hyah!"
Inside the vast training ground, a fierce martial technique erupted in all directions, accompanied by a battle cry loud enough to make the walls ring.
"Whoaaa!"
The spectators and martial artists watching the final match were whipped into a frenzy.
Yet, in stark contrast to the excited atmosphere of the crowd...
"Hmm."
The middle-aged man sitting in the highest seat of honor let out a low groan.
Resting his chin on his hand as he looked down at the training ground, there was not a trace of admiration or approval in his eyes.
Instead, his displeasure and dissatisfaction were so blatantly obvious that the people around him could not help but walk on eggshells.
Surprisingly, the individuals carefully watching his reactions were no ordinary men.
They were the leaders of the Five Divisions—the highest authority within Sadocheon—and the captains of the Ten Heavenly Squads, all gathered in one place.
Yet, even they had no choice but to tread lightly around him.
And for good reason.
"It seems the quality of the applicants grows more pathetic by the year."
This middle-aged man was none other than one of the Four Emperors and Six Sovereigns, the absolute peak of the Unorthodox faction.
The Lion Blade Emperor, Dok-go Cheon.
Though Heukpaeseong refused to acknowledge it, gossipers openly revered Dok-go Cheon as the undisputed number one of the Unorthodox path.
He was the absolute ruler of Sadocheon.
As everyone continued to watch him anxiously, Dok-go Cheon spat out another remark.
"Last year was widely criticized as the worst, but this year is even more disastrous."
At his scathing, uncompromising criticism, the nearby Sadocheon executives scrambled to offer excuses.
"The youth of today only care for play and neglect their training. The state of the world these days is..."
They went on for a while, muttering about how "kids these days lack grit" and "back in my day, we had drive," attempting to soothe Dok-go Cheon's temper.
"No, people are the same now as they were then," Dok-go Cheon said flatly.
"The reason the applicants are getting worse is simple: they have judged Heukpaeseong to be more appealing than us."
"That is not true!"
"My Lord, there is no way we could lose to the likes of Heukpaeseong!"
The division leaders and squad captains standing behind Dok-go Cheon denied it in unison.
Yet, a faint shadow of defeat lingered on their faces.
They knew their master's words were, to some extent, the truth.
Every year, at the exact same time as Sadocheon's Entrance Exam, Heukpaeseong held its own Entry Exam.
As the name suggested, it was a test to qualify for entry into Heukpaeseong.
Had the two exams been held at different times, applicants could have tried their hand at both.
However, they always overlapped, forcing the Unorthodox warriors to choose one over the other.
Consequently, the quality of Sadocheon's applicants had plummeted because the best candidates chose Heukpaeseong instead.
I can no longer just watch and hope things will improve on their own, Dok-go Cheon thought, troubled.
The rising stars within Sadocheon's territory were leaving their hometowns behind to head east toward Heukpaeseong.
Considering that ordinary people lived and died within a hundred-mile radius of their birthplace, leaving home was no simple matter.
This held true even for the free-spirited warriors of the Unorthodox path.
Once you left your hometown, you became an outsider, and newcomers were persecuted no matter where they went.
Yet, the reason they abandoned Sadocheon—which was rooted in their native soil—to seek out Heukpaeseong in a foreign land was primal.
Wealth and fame.
Heukpaeseong was overwhelmingly wealthier than Sadocheon.
This was evident in how the top scorers of the Entrance Exam consistently applied to join the Geum-wol Squad—the lowest of the Ten Heavenly Squads—rather than the elite combat units like the Evil Dragon Squad or the Heavenly Tiger Squad.
Their hearts were swayed by the financial support promised by the Geum-wol Squad rather than a desire for martial mastery.
That was why, for the past decade, the followers of Vice Lord Do Ye-cheon, the Mad Soul Fist, had constantly pleaded with him.
They argued that they were all Unorthodox anyway, so why not make easy money through drugs, looting, and human trafficking just like Heukpaeseong?
But I cannot allow that.
Dok-go Cheon had steadfastly refused. The banner of Sadocheon under his leadership was "freedom." However, that freedom did not extend to discarding one's humanity.
He was not talking about the hypocritical righteousness of the Orthodox faction. Even for the Unorthodox, there was a line that must not be crossed. Dok-go Cheon was certain of this.
Yet, their words hold some truth.
As the era of peace dragged on, the value of gold had paradoxically surpassed the value of martial arts. This frustrated Dok-go Cheon.
By nature, he was nothing but a martial artist. He possessed peerless martial power, but lacked any business acumen.
He could only reject his subordinates' proposals without offering any viable alternatives.
Approving the creation of the Geum-wol Squad and permitting the operation of gambling dens had been the limit of his compromise.
Because of this, Sadocheon was slowly crumbling like a castle of sand. The decline in the quality of their applicants was just one of the consequences. It was a vicious cycle.
As Dok-go Cheon pondered how to break this cycle...
"Whoaaa!"
Finally, the victor of the final match was decided.
"Hu Seong, prepare the awards."
"Understood!"
At Dok-go Cheon's command, his trusted confidant and leader of the Law Enforcement Division, the Blood-Chasing Wolf Hu Seong, immediately cupped his fists in response.
Once the award ceremony was completed before the Lord of Sadocheon and all the executives, the Entrance Exam would draw to a close.
However, among the ranks lined up at the back, there was one man whose face had turned completely pale.
Damn it, when is the captain coming?!
It was Jong Yo-geuk, the vice captain standing in for the captain of the Geum-wol Squad, No Hwang-mun.
His insides were burning with anxiety. His captain, who had vanished saying something had happened to his brother and that he was going to catch the culprit, had still not returned even though the finals were over.
Since all captains of the Ten Heavenly Squads were required to be present at the conclusion of the Entrance Exam, the murderous glare Hu Seong was sending his way made him feel like he was on death row.
Surely, nothing happened to him, right?
He decided he had to tell a subordinate to go look for him. Just as Jong Yo-geuk was about to quietly step backward...
Rumble!
"?!"
What was that?
A massive vibration suddenly shook the ground. It was no earthquake. It was a colossal wave of internal energy being unleashed by someone.
The main gate...?
Jong Yo-geuk blinked and turned his head. He wasn't the only one; everyone was looking in that direction.
"...!!"
Even the Lord of Sadocheon, Dok-go Cheon, narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?!"
"Hey, stop him! Stop him!"
Something was wrong. Dok-go Cheon felt it instinctively. There was an extraordinary presence approaching.
"No, wait!"
"Aaargh!"
Urgent shouts and commands echoed, punctuated by occasional screams.
"What's going on?"
"Why is it so noisy over there?"
The commotion had grown loud enough for everyone to notice. But the real storm had not yet arrived. The real storm...
CRASH!
With a deafening roar that brought the entire exam to a grinding halt, the massive gates of the training ground came flying inward.
The gates, measuring a whopping twelve meters in height, were so heavy that even first-class martial artists struggled to budge them. Yet, they rolled across the ground like mere twigs.
A heavy silence descended upon the training ground.
What was this? What on earth was happening?
When humans encounter an incomprehensible situation, their bodies and minds freeze. Had a master of the Transformation Realm or Profound Realm burst through the front gates, the squad captains and division leaders would have drawn their swords and lunged forward immediately.
Yet, the energy radiating from the intruder was merely at the Peak Realm.
A young man with an unfamiliar face stepped into view.
"?!"
"..."
Carrying a large straw sack slung over his shoulder, the man was a complete stranger whom no one in Changsha recognized.
By the looks of it, some kid who had barely reached adulthood had dared to crash the Entrance Exam.
In the face of this absurd situation, someone in the spectator stands let out a dumbfounded gasp, prompting the others to slowly snap back to reality.
As the whispering grew louder, the young man casually scanned his surroundings. Soon, his gaze drifted upward, locking onto the seat of honor.
Directly onto the seat where the Lord of Sadocheon, Dok-go Cheon, sat.
"..."
"..."
The eyes of the two locked in silence.
Who is that brat?
Dok-go Cheon was the only one who recognized the intruder's true worth. The sheer volume of the young man's internal energy was incomparable to his own.
And yet... what was this unprecedented aura radiating from him?
Pressure? No, presence?
In that moment, it was the intruder who broke the silence.
Whoosh!
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the young man hurled the straw mat he was carrying onto the arena floor.
Thud!
"Ack!"
Perhaps because it was entirely unexpected, the victor of the tournament was struck by the flying bundle and tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Beside him, the rolled-up straw mat unraveled.
"Kyaaa!"
"Heh...!"
Screams and sharp gasps erupted from the crowd. Inside the unrolled straw mat lay a gruesome, mangled body.
Twitch.
"Ugh... ah..."
As the crowd recoiled in horror, the body visibly squirmed. The spectators stared, their eyes glued to the figure.
"No... No Hwang-mun?!"
"The captain of the Geum-wol Squad!"
Realizing the identity of the mangled body, the crowd fell into an even deeper state of shock. With two of his limbs severed and one eye missing, the horrific sight made everyone gasp for air.
"S-Spare..."
No Hwang-mun squirmed like a worm, reaching out his sole remaining arm toward the Lord of Sadocheon, Dok-go Cheon.
Stomp!
"Argh!"
But he was not allowed to move any further. Jeok-un stepped heavily onto the back of the begging man.
"My name is Jeok-un," the perpetrator of this outrageous act finally spoke.
He grinned broadly.
"And I have come to bestow a favor upon Sadocheon."
He stood tall, wearing a thoroughly triumphant smile.