Chapter 411
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 411
Chapter Title: Listen Well
Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Elder Council.
Underground training chamber.
Yeon Ja-kyeong sat cross-legged, eyes closed.
Two voices echoed endlessly in his mind, tempting him.
Accept our power.
Then you will gain immense strength.
Today.
After suffering humiliation at Ha Mu-baek's hands, Yeon Ja-kyeong had come straight to the training chamber.
And he wavered.
Pain still throbbed in his solar plexus.
How dare he.
Fuming with rage, Yeon Ja-kyeong wanted nothing more than to seize that power from his mind right then and there.
But he did not let fleeting emotions lead to rash decisions.
A sly old fox.
That was Yeon Ja-kyeong.
He bombarded the temptation with questions.
But the answers always boiled down to one thing.
Accept the power.
That was it.
He couldn't even learn how strong it was.
Just that it was immense.
So he had asked.
'Is it stronger than that bastard who struck my solar plexus?'
The response?
[Heaven overwhelms all.]
[Light illuminates all.]
Vague nonsense like that.
It seemed to claim supremacy over the world, but heaven and light—different things entirely.
If the power tempting him couldn't even settle superiority between its own voices,
why gamble on such uncertainty?
'Heart demons.'
Calming his fury toward Ha Mu-baek, he thought it through once more, arriving at the same conclusion as before.
Heart demons.
Yeon Ja-kyeong had reason to believe so.
The first time he heard those voices,
what they said.
—I too am part of that technique. In the end, you will seek me out.
Didn't they claim to be part of the technique themselves?
A fragment of the Pure Harmony Heart Technique.
Yeon Ja-kyeong believed his mastery of it had already reached its peak.
Last time,
when he tested the incomplete Self-Light Scatter Poison on his own body and shattered it with his own power.
That was when he felt he had touched the pinnacle.
Afterward, he had surpassed the absolute peak realm and stepped into the early stages of the Transformation Realm.
And when the Pure Harmony Heart Technique hit its peak,
that's when the voices appeared.
Thus, it made sense to deem them heart demons born from the pinnacle Pure Harmony Heart Technique.
Yeon Ja-kyeong's reason led him to that conclusion.
Finishing his meditation in the imagery while circulating the Pure Harmony Heart Technique in the training chamber,
Yeon Ja-kyeong returned to his daily routine.
He had smoothed over the incident that nearly gave the Alliance Leader cause for action.
Now it was time to focus on the cadets' field training.
Days passed like that.
Displeasure was etched perpetually on Yeon Ja-kyeong's face.
No other reason.
The voices came several times a day.
A change that arose after meeting Ha Mu-baek.
Probably not Ha Mu-baek's intent,
but his visit had succeeded spectacularly.
It gifted Yeon Ja-kyeong this profound irritation.
Had the heart demons awakened in response to Ha Mu-baek's killing intent?
Several times a day,
they screeched for him to accept the power.
Alternating between the two voices.
This morning,
both screeched at once,
jerking his eyes open as he woke.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
His cheeks were hollowing out unnoticed.
"At this rate, I might waste away first."
A mutter laced with annoyance.
Yeon Ja-kyeong headed to the training chamber.
He had tried everything to eradicate these heart demons.
Impossible.
Stubborn heart demons that wouldn't vanish no matter the method.
"Guess I'll have to go to the main clan."
He finally decided.
No method here could eliminate these damned heart demons.
Then,
perhaps the main clan held clues.
In the long history of the Yeon Clan,
he wasn't the only one to master the Pure Harmony Heart Technique to its peak.
Ancestors might have left hints.
And so,
Yeon Ja-kyeong halted his duties
and left the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Ha Mu-baek soon returned to the Dragon Training Pavilion.
His body was caked in dust.
Heading to the instructors' bathhouse, he washed alone late at night.
He filled the tub with cold water, heated it with inner energy, and soaked his whole body.
"Feels good."
The trip to the Righteous Heaven Alliance had achieved its goal, for now.
He had exposed the Demon-Sealing Corps' schemes.
Now Elder Gong would scrutinize them more closely.
The Alliance Leader as well.
And Yeon Ja-kyeong.
He had struck the grass hard.
What moves would he make?
Startle and bolt? Or burrow deeper in secrecy?
Either way didn't matter.
If he bolted, grab him on the spot.
If he hid, dig deeper while he stalled.
As he planned his next steps,
he paused.
"But why am I racking my brain over this crap?"
Back as Hocheon Corps Leader,
he just stayed near the Alliance Leader, guarding him.
After demotion,
he seemed busier than ever.
This wasn't the original plan,
yet Ha Mu-baek reflected for the first time.
Why had things turned out this way?
The Discipline Hall Lord and Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord who came to him.
The transfer order they presented.
Demotion under the guise of punishment to the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Of all places, why there?
Who sent him to the Dragon Training Pavilion?
Someone who knew his temperament well and the pavilion's situation.
Someone who expected him to stir up a storm there.
And above all, someone with the power to decide his demotion post.
"Elder Gong."
Obvious.
No need to agonize.
When his demotion as Hocheon Corps Leader was decided, Elder Gong had surely demanded input on the posting in exchange for acceptance.
Yeon Ja-kyeong, the de facto head of the White Path Society, was indifferent to the pavilion, so he would have approved easily.
The scene unfolded vividly in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
Not witnessed firsthand, but based on experience, it was certain.
Splash.
Ha Mu-baek rose from the tub, water sloshing wildly.
He dried off, dressed, and left the bathhouse.
His steps led to the Pavilion Lord's office.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's office.
Quite late at night, yet lights still burned.
The office was lit by numerous candles.
The desk especially blazed with them.
Pang Do-yul pored over stacks of documents without respite.
From constantly bowing his head,
his nape ached.
Even a warrior at the absolute peak or beyond couldn't escape stiff muscles.
As he lifted his head to loosen his neck,
"Gasp!"
Pang Do-yul startled.
A figure stared at him from the desk.
Ha Mu-baek.
One arm propped on the desk, chin resting, legs crossed, gazing silently.
"Couldn't you make a sound when you enter? Thought my heart would stop."
Pang Do-yul didn't fault Ha Mu-baek for barging into the Alliance Leader's—no, the Pavilion Lord's office uninvited.
He just resented the ghostly silence.
"Working hard, eh?"
Ha Mu-baek remarked, eyeing him.
"Deputy Qi returned."
Qi Yu-chan.
He had gone to the Righteous Heaven Alliance on business regarding the cadets' field training and was back.
Bringing a flood of documents for the Pavilion Lord and Vice Pavilion Lord with his terrifying efficiency.
"What is the Dragon Training Pavilion to you, Pavilion Lord?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
Pang Do-yul blinked, puzzled.
"The post I was assigned to."
A nonchalant reply.
"Doesn't feel that way. You show more affection than for the Alliance's warriors I know. Just look at shoving me into senior instructor of the Fierce Dragon Corps."
"......"
Pang Do-yul said nothing.
"If it were the people I saw at HQ... they'd care less about the Fierce Dragon Corps' fate. Might not even know it exists."
"Just fulfilling my duty as Pavilion Lord."
A textbook response.
"Well, doesn't matter now. Just curiosity struck."
"About what?"
"You knew about those Devouring Dragon Pavilion bastards' scams long ago, right?"
Pang Do-yul's eye twitched at the question.
"Back then, new to the pavilion, I charged in blind. But Qi Yu-chan."
"Deputy Qi?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"Knows everything about pavilion affairs. Impossible he didn't know their antics. Whether he did or you did, same thing."
"......"
Pang Do-yul had no reply.
"Pretty close with Elder Gong, aren't you?"
Pang Do-yul of the Pang Clan, one of the Five Great Families.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong, right-hand man to the Alliance Leader, from the Dorim Sect of the New Eight Schools.
At a glance, unlikely friends.
Under the righteous faction's umbrella,
but factions divided within.
"You fed all the pavilion's intel to Elder Gong?"
"Merely suggested improvements to the Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord."
"Not asking for a blade to shatter the stagnation and stir a storm?"
As Ha Mu-baek spoke, a subtle aura rose from him.
Filling the office.
Not directly pressuring Pang Do-yul. Just saturating the space, amplifying presence.
Still, it dried Pang Do-yul's mouth instinctively.
The aura pressing him.
"Pavilion Lord. Listen well. I hate being used unwittingly to someone's designs. But rethinking today, things don't add up."
With those words, the aura thickened.
Expressing Ha Mu-baek's displeasure directly.
"Hmph."
Pang Do-yul let out a small groan amid the viscosity.
"Why was I sent here? Thinking it over, it's clearly Elder Gong's doing... but why the pavilion specifically? Led me to conclude you're involved too."
The aura grew dense enough for Pang Do-yul to feel Ha Mu-baek's ire firsthand.
Any denser, and it would crush him directly.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh escaped.
"Didn't expect you so soon."
Pang Do-yul finally confessed what Ha Mu-baek wanted.
Only then did the overwhelming presence vanish.
"Why?"
Ha Mu-baek stared, asking.
"To fix the pavilion, it needed a shock."
"You could've handled it yourself."
Pang Do-yul shrugged at the question.
"White Path Society and New Eight Schools' influence is stronger than expected."
He rose, approached the desk, and sat opposite Ha Mu-baek.
"Devouring Dragon Pavilion too. They were paying off many places. Deputy Qi probably turned a blind eye to avoid noise."
Ha Mu-baek frowned.
"If White Path Society and New Eight Schools unite against me, I'm powerless. What power does the Pang Clan head's third son have? If they petition the Elder Council for a new Pavilion Lord?"
He mimed slitting his own throat.
"Main clan won't budge for my post. You've met my father—his mind's all on the eldest grandson. And when I arrived, the pavilion was a mess. If I got ousted, it'd revert. Couldn't let that happen."
"Contradiction in your answer. Earlier you said it was just your assigned post."
Pang Do-yul grinned.
"A lie, of course. In case you bought it."
Ha Mu-baek frowned again.