Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Combat Emperor
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After crossing the river, Jin Wu-gun, a subordinate from the Peerless Sect, was waiting with the reins of three horses. He saw me and bowed respectfully.
"My lord."
Jang Ung had arranged for us to ride into Dong-ro Prefecture.
It was about five *li* to the prefecture, and the thought of walking had left me drained. This was a welcome sight.
After burning down the large carriage carrying the assassins from the Northern Underworld Bureau, my internal energy and martial arts vanished while I was crossing the river on the ferry. Now that the fighting was over, my skills had receded.
I had been standing gallantly on the ferry, but when my legs gave out and I staggered, collapsing to my seat, I realized my power was gone.
"My lord, please take this horse."
I placed my left foot in the stirrup, grabbed the saddle with both hands, and tried to lift myself onto the horse.
"Ugh!"
But halfway up, my arms began to tremble, and I couldn't pull myself any higher.
*Thud!*
"This is harder than it looks!"
"My lord, is something wrong?"
As I stepped back down, Jang Ung approached, not suspecting for a moment that I was struggling to mount the horse.
"Chief Jang, I have no strength. Give me a push."
"What? Oh! Yes, sir!"
"Push my rear with all your might."
"Understood!"
Thanks to Jang Ung pushing my backside, I settled easily onto the saddle.
*Clip-clop!*
The three horses trotted side by side down the main road. From the moment we set off, Jin Wu-gun kept glancing at Jang Ung and me. He seemed curious about what had happened.
Jang Ung, guessing why Jin Wu-gun was acting this way, spoke to me.
"My lord, it seems this fellow is curious."
It was the first time I had ever seen the normally calm Jang Ung so excited.
On the way to the prefecture, Jang Ung let go of the reins and, with animated gestures and spittle flying from his mouth, described to Jin Wu-gun how I had dealt with our enemies.
And when Jin Wu-gun heard that I had killed the Red Death Divine Sword, the Sixth Heaven of the Unorthodox Path, in just four moves, he practically foamed at the mouth.
"Ah!"
Next, Jang Ung explained that I had burned the carriage carrying the assassins from the Northern Underworld Bureau, but it seemed Jin Wu-gun wasn't even listening.
The fact that I had killed the Red Death Divine Sword had brought him to the verge of fainting.
***
*Thump!*
The two horses carrying Jang Ung and me entered the Dong-ro Branch, and the main gate shut firmly behind us.
An Do-pil, Hyeong In-geol, Sang Gang-jo, and all the other branch members were gathered inside the gate, waiting for me. They sighed in great relief.
"Ah! Grand Branch Master! You've returned safely!"
"Grand Branch Master! We were so worried!"
I smiled faintly and raised a hand.
"I'm fine."
As I dismounted, I lost my balance and staggered slightly. Jang Ung, who had already gotten off his horse, quickly supported me.
An Do-pil and the branch members asked with worried expressions.
"Are you injured?"
"Are you all right?"
I walked toward the annex.
"I need to rest for a bit."
Jang Ung and Sang Gang-jo followed me into the annex.
"I need to get some sleep."
As I lay down on the bed, Sang Gang-jo approached.
"Third Team Leader, what happened?"
Sang Gang-jo, who had been stuck in the Dong-ro Branch because of the Demonic Emperor's search party, was dying of curiosity.
"You weren't injured?"
"Our lord wasn't harmed in the slightest."
I closed my eyes, and Jang Ung answered for me.
"Chief Jang, you saw everything?"
"I did."
"Tell me in detail."
"Let's step outside so our lord can sleep."
***
"Third Team Leader, please wake up."
Sang Gang-jo gently woke me.
"Mm... what is it?"
"The Demonic Emperor's search party is here."
"Oh?"
I had expected the Demonic Emperor's search party would come to the Dong-ro Branch in one form or another.
"How long was I asleep?"
"You slept for about one *shichen*."
As I left the room and walked toward the entrance, Sang Gang-jo spoke, suppressing his astonishment.
"I heard you killed the Red Death Divine Sword, the Sixth Heaven of the Unorthodox Path?"
"I did."
"That's truly incredible."
"You flatter me."
My face felt a little hot.
"My prediction was correct. Third Team Leader, you will soon become a Heavenly Dragon."
"I have no desire to be a Heavenly Dragon."
"Pardon?"
"I plan on becoming something else."
"What do you wish to become?"
"The strongest."
Just saying the words made my chest swell and my heart pound.
"I will build my experience in real combat and become the strongest under heaven."
"A Martial Emperor. A Combat Emperor."
My eyes widened.
"I like that! The Combat Emperor!"
I really liked the sound of it.
As Sang Gang-jo and I approached the main gate, we saw all the branch members gathered there. Across from them, with their backs to the gate, stood ten strangers.
When I drew near, the branch members parted to make way for me, and the gazes of the ten strangers focused on me.
Judging by their attire, the strangers were experts from the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union. This must be the search party looking for Sang Gang-jo.
Sang Gang-jo stood calmly beside me. His disguise was so perfect that even our own branch members hadn't recognized him until they were told. Besides, standing next to me must have given him a sense of security.
Since Sang Gang-jo was teaching martial arts to the Dong-ro Branch members, he had no choice but to reveal his disguise.
By now, the branch members had vaguely guessed that Sang Gang-jo was the one being sought by the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union and the Ten Heavens of the Unorthodox Path.
But they never spoke a word of it. Sang Gang-jo was their martial arts instructor, after all.
An Do-pil looked at the Demonic Emperor's search party and spoke resolutely.
"Who are you, and what business brings you here?"
With me backing them up, An Do-pil and the branch members feared nothing in the world.
One of the ten men from the Demonic Emperor's search party, the one in the center, spoke quietly.
"We are looking for someone."
His attire was slightly different from the other nine, suggesting he was the leader of the group.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Is this everyone from the Martial Alliance's Dong-ro Branch?"
"It is."
"The person we seek is not here."
The search party seemed to be cautious because they had heard rumors about the Grand Branch Master of the Martial Alliance's Dong-ro Branch—me.
However, they didn't retreat so easily. They had an important mission.
"May we look around the Dong-ro Branch?"
Just then, Jang Ung's telepathic message reached me.
[My lord, the Demonic Emperor's search party is currently combing through Dong-ro Prefecture.]
They weren't just searching the Martial Alliance's Dong-ro Branch; it was part of a larger sweep.
[I will return to the Peerless Sect and monitor the situation.]
An Do-pil glanced at me, as if asking for my opinion on what to do.
I nodded.
"Look wherever you please."
I was about to say more, but Sang Gang-jo sent me a quiet telepathic message.
[Third Team Leader, please, don't say anything else or step forward. Let them leave peacefully. I beg you.]
The truth was, I had intended to pick a fight with these bastards from the Demonic Emperor's search party. Looking down on the Martial Alliance's Dong-ro Branch was the same as looking down on me.
But from Sang Gang-jo's perspective, the best course of action was to avoid the passing storm.
A quarter of an hour later, the ten members of the Demonic Emperor's search party, having thoroughly searched the Dong-ro Branch, regrouped in their original spot.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
They hadn't found anything. Of course not, with Sang Gang-jo stuck right beside me.
I clasped my hands behind my back and spoke leisurely.
"Well now! Let's settle the bill!"
The ten members of the Demonic Emperor's search party, who were about to turn toward the gate, flinched.
"Surely you don't intend to barge into someone else's home, turn it upside down, and then just leave?"
[Third Team Leader!]
Sang Gang-jo sent an urgent message, but I ignored it.
"What do you mean?"
A palpable tension spread through the ten men from the Demonic Emperor's search party.
"I granted your request, so now you must grant ours. Don't you agree?"
A look of anxiety appeared on the leader's face.
"What is it you want from us?"
"Your lives."
I said I was going to kill ten men with utter composure. For someone who was once a low-ranking warrior of the Martial Alliance, this was significant progress. I felt so good that my body tingled.
But despite my words, I wasn't yet ready to unleash my martial arts.
My blood wasn't boiling. Against these men, my fighting spirit didn't ignite.
"Put yourself in my shoes. If people from the Martial Alliance went to the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union to search for someone and ended up in this situation, would you let them go peacefully?"
The leader couldn't answer.
The ten members of the search party simultaneously gripped the swords on their shoulders.
*Shing!*
At that, the branch members, without any command, retreated in unison as if on cue.
*Shuffle!*
Only Sang Gang-jo and I remained facing the ten search party members.
However, Sang Gang-jo couldn't keep standing next to me. If he appeared too special, he would only arouse the search party's suspicion.
Sang Gang-jo backed away slowly, his eyes fixed on me, but said nothing.
The search party's leader spoke with a hardened face.
"I ask you. Please let us go."
"Did you know where you were coming?"
"Is this not the Martial Alliance's Dong-ro Branch?"
"Is that all?"
Despite my speaking to him informally, the leader remained polite. It meant he knew who I was, yet had no choice but to carry out his mission.
The Demonic Emperor's Grand Union knew that I, the man called the Fire Dragon Sword and the Clear White Jade Hand, was holding down the fort at the Dong-ro Branch, yet they didn't pass by; they searched it.
They pushed forward with their mission, even while worrying they might be annihilated by me.
That's how important finding Sang Gang-jo was.
The leader asked politely.
"We know that you are the Fire Dragon Sword and the Clear White Jade Hand."
"And the Grand Branch Master of the Dong-ro Branch."
The Grand Branch Master of the Dong-ro Branch is the Fire Dragon Sword and the Clear White Jade Hand.
But from this day forward, I am the 'Combat Emperor.' It would be embarrassing to boast of such a grand title myself. For now, I'll keep it to myself.
But one day, the time will come when I am called that. Dreams, and ambitions, are meant to change and grow.
"Must you fight us?"
"No. You won't be able to fight me."
"What do you mean?"
"A fight is an exchange of techniques, but you will die at my hand without ever getting that chance."
"..."
These men must have come knowing how I dealt with the experts of the Ten Heavens and the Red Death Divine Sword on the plains.
"You should never have entered Dong-ro Prefecture knowing I was here."
The leader spoke with a conflicted expression.
"Please understand. We are not the ones who give orders; we are the ones who must carry them out."
His words moved me slightly.
"Who gave the order?"
"The Demon-Slaying Union Lord."
The lord of the Jiangsu Demonic Union is the Demon-Slaying Union Lord, also known as the Demon-Slaying King.
I had received a report from Jang Ung that the Zhejiang Demonic Union was having trouble with the search, so they had requested help from the Jiangsu Demonic Union.
"So you're saying the Demon-Slaying Union Lord who gave the order is the bad guy, and you are all blameless?"
"That is..."
"Not very convincing."
The leader's expression grew complicated.
"Then what should we do?"
He clearly wanted to avoid a fight at all costs. If a battle broke out, they would be annihilated.
At this, I hesitated slightly. Just moments ago, I had intended to kill them, and part of me still wanted to, but cold reason urged me to stop.
If I were to kill them simply because my pride was wounded by them daring to enter while knowing I was here, it would be the petty revenge of a small-minded man who enjoys killing.
They weren't after my life, nor were they experts I needed to defeat.
They were merely acting on their superior's orders. There was sufficient reason to let them live.
There may be a righteous path and a demonic path, but I have my own way: the path of the heart.