The Blood Emperor Approaches
Na Bu-gang muttered under his breath.
“In the end, one can only follow where the heart leads?”
“That’s right. No matter what we say, you’ll ultimately do whatever your heart tells you. The heart is stronger than pride, after all.”
At that moment, the courtesans who had been sitting with them chimed in one after another.
“Oh my, so the question was about your friend? I thought it was about romance between a man and a woman.”
“I assumed it was about the Jade Ring as well.”
“Same here. I’m losing my mind.”
The young men couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the courtesans’ wildly off-mark interpretations.
Thanks to that, the somewhat heavy atmosphere lightened considerably.
While refilling Na Bu-gang’s cup, Go Seon-ji said, “How about it? Drinking with friends isn’t so bad, is it? Being lofty is fine, but don’t think too poorly of gatherings like this.”
It was a remark aimed at Na Bu-gang’s usual reluctance to mingle with others.
“Well… once or twice a year probably won’t hurt.”
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, Ju Seung-yong asked Na Bu-gang, “By the way, I heard that this year the Jinbo Merchant Guild is expanding into the Baekwol Kingdom. Is that true?”
“Who told you that?”
“I overheard the head of the Taehwa Trading Company talking to my father. Something about the Jinbo Merchant Guild aiming for the Taehwa Trading Company’s position?”
“Position? That’s not quite right. Last year the Taehwa Trading Company lost all their trading partners in the Baekwol Kingdom and had to withdraw. They’re basically starting from the bottom again.”
“Ah! So that’s why the Jinbo Merchant Guild is trying to enter the Baekwol Kingdom? That place isn’t exactly easy to deal with.”
“They must have prepared countermeasures, which is why they’re pushing forward. Why? Is the Joyang Merchant Guild also interested in the Baekwol Kingdom?”
“The Taehwa Trading Company proposed a joint venture. So we might end up going in with them. The people of the Baekwol Kingdom can be rather rough, after all.”
Na Bu-gang nodded with a deliberately indifferent expression.
However, unlike his outward appearance, his heart was far from at ease.
65th Chapter. The Blood Emperor, Ak Mu-gun
The next morning.
Dan Yeop headed to the Jeommun headquarters once again to teach the Jin-sam-dae-do-beop.
Around 9 a.m., as Dan Yeop entered the Ansikheon, Baek Cho-gong and Vice-Leader Mok Un-saeng quickly came out to greet him.
Startled by their unexpected welcome, Dan Yeop politely clasped his hands and bowed.
“I seem to have arrived late. Starting tomorrow, I’ll make sure to come a little earlier.”
Baek Cho-gong waved his hands dismissively. “Oh no, not at all! Vice-Leader Mok and I simply came out early to warm up. You didn’t have any trouble coming through the cold, did you?”
“No, sir.”
As the three of them exchanged greetings and pleasantries, a Jeommun disciple entered and spoke cautiously.
“Leader, someone from the Hyeonmu Pavilion is looking for you.”
“From the Hyeonmu Pavilion? At the start of the new year?”
“Yes.”
“Who is it?”
“He said his name is Jin Ha-cheong.”
“The Lightning Sword, Jin Ha-cheong? How strange. Very well. Escort him to the Simhyang Pavilion. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Understood.”
Once the disciple had left, Vice-Leader Mok Un-saeng asked with a puzzled expression, “Jin Ha-cheong is the chief steward of the Hyeonmu Pavilion, isn’t he? Why would he come looking for you, Leader?”
“We’ll find out when we meet. Has there been anything unusual happening in the city lately?”
“There haven’t been any particularly noticeable signs. Aside from the relationship between the Black Tower and the Red Fang becoming slightly strained…”
After suffering a heavy blow at the hands of Dan Yeop and Dan Bul-wi, the Black Tower’s influence had shrunk. The Red Fang had begun slowly encroaching on their territory, which had soured relations between the two factions.
“It couldn’t be because of that, could it?”
“I doubt it. The Black Tower and Red Fang haven’t clashed directly. Besides, it’s merely a conflict within the Unorthodox Faction. There’s no reason for the Hyeonmu Pavilion to involve itself.”
“That’s true, but something about it still feels off.”
“You should go quickly. Jin Ha-cheong has a short temper—he might storm in here himself.”
“Right. Instructor Dan, I’ll take my leave first.”
With a regretful expression, Baek Cho-gong left the Ansikheon.
Simhyang Pavilion, Jipdanhyang.
Even though it was his own office, Baek Cho-gong opened the door with extreme caution and stepped inside.
Sure enough.
An old man with a stiff, stubborn appearance was sitting arrogantly in the seat of honor, as if he owned the place.
Baek Cho-gong clasped both hands respectfully and bowed his head.
“It has been a long time, Lightning Sword. Have you been well?”
The Lightning Sword, Jin Ha-cheong, spoke in a curt tone.
“Sit.”
‘This son of a bitch, he won’t even acknowledge a greeting…’
Though his pride was wounded, Baek Cho-gong grumbled only inwardly and quickly took a seat without showing it.
“Hehe, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
Anyone with even a moderate level of status in either the Orthodox or Unorthodox Factions knew who the leaders of Haomun were.
The Lightning Sword, Jin Ha-cheong, was one such person.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. I received an urgent message from Shaolin. It seems the Blood Emperor, who has been committing massacres throughout Sanam Province, is heading toward the Guannei Circuit.”
“Huk! The Blood Emperor, Ak Mu-gun? Is he truly coming to the Guannei Circuit?”
“That appears to be the case.”
“But why would the Blood Emperor come to the Guannei Circuit? What is there for him here?”
“There’s Chang’an Castle, isn’t there?”
“Still, if he enters Chang’an Castle, won’t he be noticed immediately?”
The Blood Emperor, Ak Mu-gun, was a public enemy of the previous generation’s Five Great Sword Factions.
Normally, anyone marked by the Five Great Sword Factions would live in hiding, but the Blood Emperor did no such thing.
He traveled the world as if mocking the Five Great Sword Factions.
Recently sighted in Sanam Province where Shaolin was located, it seemed he was now extending his reach all the way to the Guannei Circuit.
“He wandered around Sanam Province even with Shaolin there. Why would he fear the factions in Chang’an Castle?”
“Is there something you want from our Haomun?”
“I want Haomun to locate the Blood Emperor’s position and inform us.”
“……”
Baek Cho-gong could not answer right away.
In this world, there were things one could do and things one must never do.
Anything involving the Blood Emperor fell into the latter category.
Asking them to inform on the Blood Emperor—a public enemy of the Five Great Sword Factions and a great demon of the previous generation?
If that reached the Blood Emperor’s ears, the Guannei Circuit branch of Haomun would be finished.
Although the Blood Emperor was an enemy of the Five Great Sword Factions, he still had allies.
In particular, there was no shortage of Unorthodox Faction leaders who called him sworn brother.
There were no true secrets in this world.
The information could leak through the Unorthodox Faction, and there was no guarantee he didn’t have friends within the Orthodox Faction either.
If that happened, only the relatively weak Guannei Circuit branch of Haomun would drown in blood.
“Well… while it is true that our Haomun runs errands for various murim factions…”
“Do you plan to stay confined to the Guannei Circuit for the rest of your lives? If so, you don’t have to accept this request.”
Baek Cho-gong’s heart sank.
The words were essentially a threat: If you don’t help with this matter, the Guannei Circuit branch of Haomun will never be allowed to participate in the Ten Blades Unification.
“When you say ‘we,’ does that mean someone stands behind the Hyeonmu Pavilion?”
“Hmph! Of course. What could the Hyeonmu Pavilion possibly do even if they found the Blood Emperor? Do you really think the Hyeonmu Pavilion can accomplish what even Shaolin failed to do?”
“Then…?”
“Excessive curiosity beyond one’s station can shorten one’s lifespan. All you need to do is mobilize Haomun and report the Blood Emperor’s location. Will you do it?”
“Ugh… Understood. For the sake of the gangho’s justice, our Haomun will…”
At that moment, Jin Ha-cheong tossed a money pouch in front of Baek Cho-gong.
“I told you to know your place, so why do you keep getting greedy? Haomun should just do as it’s told. The gangho’s justice will be upheld by the other factions.”
Baek Cho-gong ground his teeth in humiliation.
Paying him no mind, Jin Ha-cheong stood up and strode out of the room.
Ansikheon, Jipdanhyang.
When Baek Cho-gong returned to the training grounds, his complexion was terrible.
Vice-Leader Mok Un-saeng approached him cautiously.
“Leader? What did Jin Ha-cheong say to make you look so grim?”
Dan Yeop, who had been about to begin training, along with the hall leaders, district leaders, and gate captains, all turned their attention to the conversation.
“It seems the Blood Emperor who was in Sanam Province has crossed over into the Guannei Circuit.”
“What?! And? What does that have to do with us that he would come to see you… Wait, surely not?”
Vice-Leader Mok Un-saeng looked at Baek Cho-gong with wide eyes.
Baek Cho-gong let out a small sigh and answered, “He told me to find the Blood Emperor’s location and report it to the Hyeonmu Pavilion.”
“We can’t do that. You must absolutely refuse. You did refuse, right? If we get involved with the Blood Emperor, we’ll all die.”
“It looks like the Five Great Sword Factions are planning something. They said if we don’t help them, we shouldn’t even dream of leaving the Guannei Circuit for the rest of our lives.”
“Crazy… So what? You still have to say no. The Ten Blades Unification can wait until later…”
“I already agreed. Even if it’s just the Hyeonmu Pavilion standing in our way, we’d be completely helpless. If the Five Great Sword Factions are truly behind this, we have no choice but to obey. The Blood Emperor is terrifying, but the Five Great Sword Factions are just as frightening. You know this too. If we fall out of their favor, the Ten Blades Unification will remain nothing but a dream.”
“We could all be slaughtered by the Blood Emperor before we even achieve the Ten Blades Unification. His friends aren’t only in the Unorthodox Faction. He’ll eventually find out that we were the ones who informed on him.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it. We can only hope that the bastards from the Five Great Sword Factions manage to finish him off.”
“……”
In the end, Vice-Leader Mok Un-saeng could no longer object.
No matter what, when the Five Great Sword Factions gave an order, Haomun had no choice but to obey.
That was the difference between the Beggars’ Sect and Haomun.
The Beggars’ Sect could refuse if they didn’t want to do something, but if Haomun failed to carry out an order, they would inevitably suffer severe consequences.
Dan Yeop, still new to the gangho, quietly asked the nearby Baek Yu-hwa, “Junior Sister Baek, who is this Blood Emperor?”
“He is the Blood Emperor Ak Mu-gun, a great demon of the previous generation so vicious that even the Unorthodox Faction trembles at his name. Looking at the things he’s done, he’s closer to a devil than a human being.”
“What exactly did he do?”
“They say he rips out the hearts of young children. He once wiped out an entire village simply because their noise annoyed him.”
“Hah! He really isn’t human.”
Dan Yeop shook his head slowly.
A short while later, he began teaching the Jinbaekryu Dobeop to Haomun’s high-level experts.
At this point, no one could have guessed that the Blood Emperor Ak Mu-gun and Haomun would become entangled in a bitter karmic relationship.
The training for the Jinbaekryu Dobeop ended in the morning.
Although the progress was frustratingly slow, the high-level experts of Haomun had no time to spare.
All the experts in the Ansikheon were administrators of the Jeommun branch.
To find the Blood Emperor, every single one of them had to move.
Even Gate Captain Baek Yu-hwa was mobilized.
Dan Yeop had offered to help, but Baek Cho-gong refused to allow it.
It wasn’t just that Dan Yeop was ignorant of the gangho’s affairs. More importantly, searching for the Blood Emperor was far too dangerous, so he was excluded entirely.
There was always the chance that sparks could fly if he stayed near the Blood Emperor.
In the end, everyone left to search for the Blood Emperor, leaving Dan Yeop alone.
Standing there blankly, Dan Yeop gave a bitter smile.
‘One may not know who enters, but one always knows who leaves.’ How true that was.
The Ansikheon felt especially desolate without Baek Yu-hwa.
“Not even murim people live easy lives.”
When he thought of the disciples who would have to wander through the bitter cold searching for the Blood Emperor, his heart felt heavy.
Dan Yeop waited until dusk before finally leaving the Ansikheon.
The search for the Blood Emperor continued the next day, and the day after that.
Eventually, training for the Jinbaekryu Dobeop was reduced to a single hour in the morning.
The administrators originally had plenty of free time, but because their target was the Blood Emperor, they ended up running around even more frantically than the regular disciples.
Dan Yeop remained alone in the Ansikheon, training the Jin-sam-dae-do-beop and waiting for good news.
On the fourth day.
Around 3 p.m., a Jeommun disciple brought word to Dan Yeop in the Ansikheon that the Blood Emperor had been sighted.
“Has anyone been assigned to tail him?”
“I heard it’s Gate Captain Baek Yu-hwa and Gate Captain Yang Hoe.”
“Understood. Please inform me immediately if any new information comes in.”
“Yes!”
After the Jeommun disciple left, Dan Yeop drew his horizontal blade, but before long he sheathed it again.