Chapter 171
Chapter 171
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Demon Prohibition Decree
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Do you have business with me?”
Yi Hwan crossed his arms at the sudden question and fired back.
“Those corpses from earlier—your doing?”
“No way.”
Yang Chan acted nonchalant. But inside, he was anything but.
‘Did he ask knowing, or is he just fishing?’
If Yi Hwan suspected him, either way spelled trouble.
‘Should I kill him?’
Eliminating future risks would be best.
That was when it happened.
Yi Hwan’s voice drifted in.
“Don’t take it the wrong way. Some poison-wielding maniac’s been on a killing spree, and it’s got me labeled as one of the rebel scum.”
“…….”
“Anything hit a nerve?”
“No chance. I’m completely uninvolved.”
“Good enough.”
Slam!
Yi Hwan shut the window.
* * *
‘Suspicious, but I’ve got priorities. I’ll shelve it for now.’
Yi Hwan changed clothes and donned the human skin mask. He lightly tapped the wall.
Tap tap.
“Take a look.”
Moments later, Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae entered.
They eyed his changed attire with puzzled expressions.
“Where are you headed?”
“Zhao Kingdom’s Imperial Palace.”
“What?”
“I didn’t come this far just to gather intel.”
“Whatever it is, we’re coming with you.”
“Safer alone.”
Cheol Mu-ok asked.
“Regarding the Blood Demon’s heirs?”
“Among other things.”
Gulp.
Yi Hwan downed the remnants of his drink and stood. Ju Tae and Cheol Mu-ok rose too, faces etched with worry.
“You sure you’ll be okay?”
“Still doubting your lord, huh?”
“It’s not that. If Jo Yun’s a Blood Demon heir, the Imperial Palace is practically their lair. Who knows what dangers lurk…”
“I’ll come back alive. No worries.”
Before opening the door, Yi Hwan added one more thing.
“If I’m late, don’t do anything stupid.”
“…….”
“Answer me.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
Yi Hwan left the inn without telling the others. He blended into the crowd and headed for the Zhao Kingdom’s Imperial Palace.
“He’ll be fine, right?”
“What choice do we have? Trust in our lord’s abilities.”
Cheol Mu-ok said the words, but his gaze was endlessly grave.
‘What’s this? This ominous feeling….’
* * *
If asked the most splendid spot in the Zhao Kingdom’s Imperial Palace, it was undoubtedly the detached palace. Also called Li Flower Palace, it served as the residence of Yeon’s Empress.
The room brimmed with the scent of tea.
The Empress savored the finest tea specially provided by Southwest King Jo Yun, a faint smile playing on her lips.
‘Fool. You strutted about oblivious to the heavens, and now you meet your end in a distant land.’
Earlier that evening, in her meeting with Jo Yun, she’d learned Yi Hwan hadn’t arrived. They were also investigating unidentified corpses and requested her personal confirmation.
She refused, citing their gruesomeness, and Jo Yun dropped it.
The two eyed each other with suspicion. Not that there was reason to press—the point; Yi Hwan’s death suited them both.
‘With that thorn gone, I feel so unburdened.’
Her smile deepened.
Then, a female attendant entered.
“Shall we prepare your bath, Your Majesty?”
“The scents?”
“Yes. We’ve filled it with your favorites.”
“Shall we share it after so long?”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Setting down her teacup, the Empress headed to the bath, shedding her garments one by one. Her gradually revealed form boasted more elasticity than a woman in her twenties.
The eyes of the trailing female attendant gleamed with thick desire.
* * *
A night without even the moon.
Yi Hwan deployed stealth arts to infiltrate the Zhao Kingdom’s Imperial Palace successfully.
Security was tighter than expected.
Likely due to the murders at the Golden Army’s local headquarters.
Yi Hwan keenly scanned the palace shadows, crouched like beasts in the dark. Spotting one palace, he moved again.
‘Good thing I learned stealth arts.’
Among Yi Hwan’s subordinates beyond the Three Kings were mighty figures. One was the legendary assassin called the Slaughter King.
He’d learned stealth arts from him.
Reach the pinnacle, and you could slip into the innermost palace and sever the emperor’s head with ease.
The Slaughter King had once infiltrated Zhao Emperor Jo Bi’s bedchamber, pressing a blade to his throat in threat. That incident broke Jo Bi’s will to resist Daye Fortress; he attended the Mount Hua Banquet, forging the Non-Aggression between Court and Martial World etched in history.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind howled across the palace roofs. Yet Yi Hwan’s robe remained unmoving, like forged iron.
Even the flap of his hem had to be cautious—Blood Demon heirs lurked somewhere here, he was certain.
Soon, atop his target palace roof, Yi Hwan heightened his senses to probe below. His brow furrowed.
‘Damn.’
Sticky moans leaked from the adjacent palace, burrowing into his ears.
Yi Hwan adjusted his sensory range. Faint energies stirred beneath the roof.
‘Normal breaths this faint and deliberate….’
High-level experts gathered below.
Whoosh.
The wind clawed past him again. Yi Hwan caught his breath.
‘Two hundred years since? Issuing the Demon Prohibition Decree.’
Demon Prohibition Decree.
Two centuries ago, after unifying the world, Yi Hwan had decreed a total ban on all activities by demonic forces. Violators saw their sects and factions razed, leaders beheaded publicly.
That brutal bloodstorm ushered in an era of peace, culminating in the Mount Hua Banquet and the Non-Aggression between Court and Martial World.
‘If they inherited the Blood Demon’s legacy, they’d know the decree. Knowing means they’re bound by it. They couldn’t ignore Blood Demon history.’
Yi Hwan’s reason for issuing it was simple.
The Blood Demon heirs were poised to devour Zhao Kingdom, while he lacked even a proper force. He aimed to reveal himself as Daye Fortress Lord’s heir, putting them on edge. That tension might slow Jo Yun’s moves.
Until he built his own power.
‘Even if it strains me, I must carve it deep.’
Yi Hwan exhaled long.
“Hoo.”
He channeled energy into his hands.
Wooong.
Resonating, his hands glowed golden. It shot toward the opposite palace wall, etching “Demon Prohibition Decree.”
Crackle!
Stone dust fell as letters formed. Noise drew open windows everywhere.
“Intruder!”
“Over there!”
Figures leaped toward him. Yi Hwan unleashed a full-force strike.
Flash!
A streak of lightning split the air.
Thud!
“Argh!”
Boom!
It bisected the first leaper and smashed the far wall.
Fwip!
Swish!
More leaped onto his roof. But Yi Hwan had vanished into the dark.
“Look at that!”
All stared at the crumbling stone.
“Demon Prohibition Decree?”
“What’s that?”
None atop the roof knew its meaning.
Then, one appeared.
The middle-aged man ever at Jo Yun’s side. He gazed at the etched words, eyes trembling faintly.
‘The Demon Prohibition Decree….’
* * *
Jo Yun indulged in pleasures.
His prodigious stamina let him embrace several women in a night without falter. Tonight was no different.
Fresh from his third conquest, his sweat-slicked body glistened.
“Now it’s this concubine’s turn.”
The fourth slithered forth like a shedding snake, clinging tight. As Jo Yun’s member stiffened anew—
“Your Highness.”
The middle-aged man’s voice came from outside. Jo Yun, parting the woman’s legs, scowled and rose.
Moments later, clad only in an outer robe, he opened the door.
“Summoning me at this hour means grave news. What is it?”
“You must see for yourself.”
* * *
Tremble…
Jo Yun’s eyes reflected the letters, shaking faintly.
‘The Demon Prohibition Decree!’
He knew its weight—the humiliating, brutal history of the demonic martial world it embodied.
“What happened?”
“Gone by the time I arrived.”
“No one saw him?!”
“The first to leap died by the fiend’s hand. No witnesses. My apologies.”
Jo Yun stared at the etched wall, lips pressed tight. Yi Hwan naturally surfaced in his mind.
In the Northern Legion battle, Yi Hwan had unleashed Daye Fortress techniques.
“Not dead after all?”
“Yeon’s Fourth Imperial Prince?”
“You saw it too at Yeon’s Northern Legion. Him using Daye Fortress arts.”
“Not him.”
“Why so sure?”
The middle-aged man replied promptly.
“His power then fell short of a true Daye Fortress heir. But look at those letters’ depth—requires at least four jiazi of cultivation. More shocking: channeling energy to carve stone here.”
“……!”
“Impossible to advance that far so quickly. It’s not Yeon’s Fourth Imperial Prince.”
Jo Yun gravely nodded at the man’s conviction.
“Then a true Daye Fortress heir has emerged?”
“Worse: he knows us well.”
“Indeed. Knows us, so he came to warn.”
“Bad omens. Poison user slaughters out of nowhere, now this in the palace heart.”
Jo Yun’s face hardened further at the words. He’d just thought the same.
‘Knows I’m a Blood Demon heir, yet warns openly—such confidence?’
‘Yeon’s Fourth Imperial Prince learned Daye Fortress arts, so maybe their heir bases in Yeon?’
‘No. If so, they’d have appeared during the Northern Legion war. Perhaps they don’t know of each other?’
Throb.
Chaos bred a stabbing headache; Jo Yun pressed his temple, eyes sinking deeper.
‘If the Poison King’s heir is with him too….’
As fearsome as a near-peak Daye Fortress heir was a Poison King descendant. No—to Jo Yun, even more so.
Why else withdraw forces despite Northern Legion superiority?
Throb.
Another spike; he drew a deep breath.
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”
“Nothing.”
Whoosh!
Wind whipped his form.
His robe billowed, baring his nudity, but Jo Yun stared stonily at the decree. The middle-aged man, belatedly noticing, adjusted his robe.
“First, erase that eyesore. Then recall all Southwest Army children to the palace for grand hall security.”
“Understood.”