Emperor’s Sword [EN]: Chapter 46

Having returned to the inn, we all dispersed to our respective rooms. As if by unspoken agreement, no one said a word, and everyone acted as if the only thing to do right now was to rest. The Mad Demon and the others only needed to follow Pa Cheon’s orders. They had no need, obligation, or right to consider the group’s path or suggest future actions, so they could comfortably focus solely on Pa Cheon. For them, Pa Cheon had long since become an absolute faith, more than just a master.

It is truly strange for one person to be subordinate to another. For an individual to subjugate even their own will to another is impossible without endless trust and absolute loyalty based on that trust. What bound them together was not Pa Cheon’s strong martial arts, nor his endless decisiveness and wisdom, nor was it the aura of an absolute being that subjugated others. Of course, Pa Cheon possessed these qualities, but the thought that one could entrust their life to this person came from seeing his heart.

Beyond what was visible, Pa Cheon had a mysterious aura that no one could easily imitate, and an attraction that endlessly drew people’s hearts. If asked to explain what caused this effect, no one could say. Whether it was innate or acquired was not important.

They were simply being led by their own hearts, and they were becoming accustomed to following it as if it were the natural thing to do. Like fate, Pa Cheon had become the center of their lives, an indispensable existence. Perhaps it was even greater than the mission of the Heavenly Demon Sect to conquer the Central Plains, and this feeling was quite important to them, who followed and relied on him.

In the darkness, Pa Cheon’s eyes began to resemble light. Using his Thousand-Mile Eye Technique [a technique that allows one to see great distances], he began to scan the inn in all directions, creating a dense net and examining it in small units. Not even the subtle movements of a cat crossing the wall under the cover of night escaped his observation. The meaningless murmurs of passersby, the rambling of a drunkard, and the secret gestures of lovers whispering sweet nothings were all caught by his senses. He constantly circled around, as if trying to capture something specific.

After a while, his eyes flashed as if he had found what he was looking for.

About a quarter of an hour passed.

“Knock knock.”

“Come in.”

There were two people. It was them. As soon as they entered the room, they knelt and bowed to Pa Cheon.

“We greet the Great Lord.”

“Did Zhuge send you?”

“Yes, Great Lord.”

“Can you explain why we had to go through such a complicated procedure?”

The room was still dark, but it was no obstacle for Pa Cheon or them. It might even have provided a comfortable rest.

[Mad Demon, return to your room.]

The Mad Demon, who had been waiting for any sign of outsiders, disappeared, but the two in front of him did not notice anything.

“Please, look at this letter first.”

He handed Pa Cheon a sealed letter and returned to his kneeling position. His posture showed extreme caution.

(From Cheonnyeo Zhuge Cho Hong [a title indicating a female strategist]. I apologize for greeting you in this manner. As I expected, the opposition from the Elder Council was extreme, and I was concerned about the Great Lord’s safety, so I had to resort to this method.

Although you have already been granted all positions and authority as the Great Lord by the Great Patriarch [the leader of the Demonic Sect], the Elder Council has officially announced that they will not recognize this.

In conclusion, they will attempt to assassinate the Great Lord whenever they get the chance, and for this reason, it has become difficult to visit the main sect through official channels.

The children I sent are trustworthy, so please follow them to the main sect and then look for an opportunity to check their power. Their power has been revealed by this incident, and I have learned that it has expanded and solidified even more during that time.

………………Omitted……………….. These children are the core of the younger generation here, and having them under your command will be of great help in the Great Lord’s future endeavors.

Please come with them at noon tomorrow. I will take care of the arrangements beforehand. I believe that the Great Lord will clear the dark clouds of the main sect, and I await your arrival. Military Advisor Zhuge Cho Hong)

“What is your name?”

“I am… Lee Shi Myung.”

“And you?”

“I am Shin Kwan Chul.”

“Good names. What are your ranks in the Demonic Alliance?”

“I am the captain of the Thousand Blade Unit, and the one next to me is the vice-captain.”

“Thousand Blade Unit? Directly under the Great Patriarch?”

“Yes, that’s right. We are in charge of covert operations, surveillance, and intelligence, and we only follow the orders of the Great Patriarch. It is mainly composed of young people under 30.”

“Is the Thousand Blade Unit an organization assigned to me?”

“Not exactly. Only the two of us are assigned to the Great Lord, and the rest of the personnel can be selected separately by the Great Lord.”

“Very well. We will talk more tomorrow morning. Go and rest.”

“Understood!”

Pa Cheon, who had been watching them retreat, spoke in a low voice again, and the two stopped.

“Shi Myung!”

“Yes, Great Lord.”

“Why did you act like that earlier?”

“That is… because it was the right thing to do.”

“Because it was the right thing to do… Very well, you may go.”

Even after they had completely disappeared, he pondered over Lee Shi Myung’s words.

“Huhu, it’s hard to believe that those words came from a promising talent of the Demonic Path.”

-If you nurture them well, they will become great assets.

“They are unpolished gems. One is gentle but has a firm core, and the other is rough but has a warm heart. They are not suitable for the Demonic Path.”

-No. To truly understand the Demonic Path, such children are suitable.

“Then what about me?”

-You are a hybrid. Not Demonic, not Righteous, not Tyrannical… In a way, you are a dreamer who dreams of something beyond that.

“A dreamer?”

-You don’t abandon one side and take only one, but you transform yourself as needed. You instinctively do that without even realizing it. You are the only one in the world who is like that.

You are resolute, cruel, and cold. Sometimes you are overly affectionate, but you become cunning and wicked for your goals.

Yet, you are thorough in controlling and managing yourself. A human who can perfectly control himself according to his will! You are neither evil nor good. You are a hypocrite and a pretender. In the end, you will either bring disaster or great fortune to the world.

“Aren’t you praising me too much? I’m not that great. I’m just doing what my heart tells me to do.”

Pa Cheon fell backward and soon fell asleep.

-Such a carefree guy!

★ As noon approached, Lee Shi Myung and Shin Kwan Chul began to lead Pa Cheon’s group to the main headquarters of the Demonic Alliance. They had heard it was under Dongting Lake, but they were curious about where the entrance was located and how it was concealed. The small boat was rapidly approaching the center of the lake.

“It seems we are not entering from the land.”

“Yes, that’s right. It is located under Mount Jun, which was the main base of the old Dongting 18 Forts [a group of bandits]. However, the entrance is not there, so there is no fear of being discovered unless someone leaks it. Precisely at noon, the guards at the entrance will change shifts, and the military advisor has already replaced them with our people.”

The boat approached the area where Mount Jun was visible. There was only a small rocky island there, and nothing else.

“Here it is.”

Lee Shi Myung said those words and took out a small whistle from his pocket.

“Hoo-roo-rook, hoo-rook, hoo-roo-rook.”

As the whistle sound, which was blown in a regular rhythm, ended, the small rocky island split open to the left and right, and a submerged cave appeared between them. It was a cave that sloped downwards, and the water flowed fiercely downwards. Even if they did nothing, the boat would drift down by itself.

As they passed, the heads of people occasionally peeked out from the top of the underwater cave, indicating that they were the guards of this place. After descending for a while, they reached a place like a large pool where water had collected, and several boats were moored there.

“How do we get out when we leave?”

“The flow of this water can be artificially controlled. We can go out by directing the flow of water outwards.”

“Is that so?”

After docking the boat, Lee Shi Myung and Shin Kwan Chul got off first, followed by Pa Cheon’s group. Half of the underground plaza was water, and the other half was sand. Behind it, there were five natural caves. Lee Shi Myung led them to the cave in the very center.

Pa Cheon’s honest feeling as he looked at the underground world was that human will was truly amazing.

According to Lee Shi Myung, this place was under Mount Jun. It was truly amazing that such a huge underground world could be created in such a place. Although it was said that they had modified a natural cave that had existed from the beginning, it was a scale that could not be built in a short period of time.

“This is as far as we can go. If you go inside, someone will come to guide you.”

The long passage was not a natural cave, but a smooth passage that had been carved out and covered with high-quality marble. Generally, the five caves served as a major dividing point, and several huge underground plazas were located between them. Each place had underground stone chambers. There were over 20,000 of them, which was an enormous scale.

As Lee Shi Myung had said, two people appeared to greet Pa Cheon. One was a young girl in blue, and the other was a middle-aged woman in white.

“Welcome. We have been waiting for you.”

They greeted Pa Cheon and immediately turned around to lead them away.

★ “Was there any inconvenience in coming here?”

It was Zhuge Cho Hong. It had taken half an hour to meet her after entering the underground, which showed how vast the area was. As they entered the stone chamber, there was nothing to indicate that it was underground. The relatively simple interior showed her frugal nature.

There were a few old paintings hanging on the wall, and about a hundred books were placed on a bookshelf on another wall. And judging by the fact that there was another door behind it, it seemed to be the bedroom. The structure was such that one could not feel any discomfort, and palm-sized night-shining pearls were embedded in the ceiling, so it was not dark at all.

“Now, please sit down.”

Pa Cheon’s group sat on the chairs that Zhuge Cho Hong pointed to.

“Right now, you cannot meet the Great Patriarch. The Great Patriarch has entered seclusion as of yesterday and has entrusted all authority to the Great Lord.”

“What?”

It was absurd. It felt like he had been left with all the difficult tasks while the other had slipped away, which made him feel resentful.

“Please understand, Great Lord. The chief elder is like a father to the Great Patriarch…”

“Even so, it’s too rude to enter seclusion without even saying hello.”

“To be cold about it, if the Great Lord fails, the Great Patriarch will not care about the Great Lord’s safety. It would be better to think that the only people in the main sect who can help the Great Lord are me and the two people who guided you here.”

“Ho, really? It’s like sticking my head between the jaws of a tiger.”

“It will be more than that. You should not think that the Great Patriarch’s direct subordinates are on your side. They are just bystanders. And the enemies are lurking everywhere.”

“Is that so? Well, it doesn’t matter. If, and when, I take control of the Demonic Alliance, the Great Patriarch won’t tell me to step down, will he?”

“Huhu, as I said before, it depends entirely on the Great Lord’s ability. If your ability is proven, you may even become the Great Patriarch yourself. And whether you take the opponents under your command or turn them into enemies depends on the Great Lord’s will and ability.”

“Did you say there are a thousand soldiers I can use?”

“That’s right.”

“Is the Thousand Blade Unit a thousand strong?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll take them. If I need anything else, I’ll ask again. Now, let’s hear how this house is running.”

The Demonic Great Patriarch, Hyuk Woo Jong, had four disciples. And there were four direct units under their command, the Elder Council, the Inner and Outer Halls, and the Green Forest and Four Directions, the Dongting 18 Forts, the Five Elements Hall, the Assassin’s Den, the Enchanting Flower Palace, the Sun Palace, and the Black Tiger Gate, which were the core forces of the Demonic Alliance, existed as independent organizations.

In addition, there were only the Thousand Blade Unit and the Demonic Eye Unit, which were directly under the Great Patriarch. It was a relatively simple organizational structure. The leaders of the Eight Gates of the Demonic Path were treated as elders, and they were the forces that held most of the power of the Demonic Alliance.

“One of the four disciples is on the side of the Elder Council. He is the eldest disciple, Han Dang, and is the person designated as the next Great Patriarch. The disciples’ personal guards each have around 1,000 members, and the Outer and Inner Halls combined have less than 2,000 members. There are 3,000 warriors belonging to the Elder Council, which is very different from other martial arts forces.

Most of them are also related to the Eight Gates of the Demonic Path in some way, so the Eight Gates of the Demonic Path cannot openly follow the Great Patriarch. They can be classified as a relatively neutral force. In the end, there are 12,000 people even without the Eight Gates of the Demonic Path. In fact, there is a big difference from what is known in the Righteous Path. Of course, it is clear that they are inferior to the forces of the Martial Alliance, which is a coalition of the Righteous Path, but the main sect is not a force to be ignored.

Among the Eight Gates of the Demonic Path, only the Green Forest and the Dongting 18 Forts are on the side of the Great Patriarch, the Five Elements Hall and the Black Tiger Gate are neutral, and the Four Directions, the Assassin’s Den, the Enchanting Flower Palace, and the Sun Palace are closer to the Elder Council. However, they will follow the stronger side at any time, so they can be considered a neutral force. In the end, the biggest problem and the biggest obstacle to the Great Lord’s activities are the Elder Council and Han Dang. Other than them, no one will openly show their animosity towards the Great Lord.”

Pa Cheon was just nodding as he listened to her explanation. It was as if he was listening to a story that had nothing to do with him.

“Okay. I’ll figure out the rest as I go. Shall we take a look around? Oh, before that, I want to see the Thousand Blade Unit first.”

“I will have them stand by. But if that happens, the Elder Council will know of the Great Lord’s existence. Of course, since you have already entered, they cannot openly use assassins…”

“If we have to clash anyway, the sooner the better. Military Advisor, just trust me and follow me.”

“Understood.”

★ It was a place called the First Plaza. About a thousand young people were gathered there, all dressed in black and carrying swords. Their eyes were sharp, and their posture was flawless. Just by looking at their disciplined formation, one could tell the extent of their training. At the very front stood the captain of the Thousand Blade Unit, Lightning Sword Lee Shi Myung, and the vice-captain, Merciless Blood Sword Shin Kwan Chul. Pa Cheon, who was scanning them with his eyes, was inwardly impressed.

‘Hmm, just by looking at them, I can see that the Demonic Alliance is not far behind the Martial Alliance. Rather, they are ahead in terms of spirit and domineering presence. Of course, they are the elite, but I am satisfied.’

“I am… Heavenly Demon Scholar Pa Cheon.”

Surprise flashed in the eyes of all the members of the Thousand Blade Unit except for the captain and vice-captain, who already knew.

“By the order of the Great Patriarch, I have become the Great Lord of the Demonic Alliance. From now on, I will… make this main sect an organization that is not lacking in any way when facing the Martial Alliance. Anyone who becomes an obstacle or hindrance to this, regardless of their position, will be executed on the spot. Put aside your doubts. I will not allow questions. Either become my enemy, or become my ally and stand at the forefront of unifying the martial world. It’s one or the other.”

At that moment, an overwhelming aura of dominance emanated from Pa Cheon’s body. His eyes were like burning torches, and his presence was like a sword that split the heart and marrow. Everyone trembled without realizing it.

“I have chosen only you. From now on, I will work with you to reform this main sect. If there is anyone who wants to leave now, speak up. I will transfer you to another position at any time, and there will be no disadvantages afterward.”

Pa Cheon’s gaze swept around, but no one stepped forward. Everyone was already subdued by Pa Cheon’s aura, and their hearts were frozen by his words.

“Lee Shi Myung.”

“Yes, Great Lord.”

“Where is the largest conference hall here?”

“It is the Hall of Reverence for the Demonic.”

“You are to immediately issue an order to all officers above the rank of hall master. Have them all gather there within half an hour from now. There are no exceptions.”

“Understood!”

“The Thousand Blade Unit will guard the area around the Hall of Reverence for the Demonic under the leadership of the vice-captain. From now on, that will be my residence for the time being.

Dismissed.”

“Understood!”

A faint trace of excitement was rising on their faces. Perhaps, if it is that person?

They would have to wait and see.

A gust of wind was blowing through the Demonic Alliance. But no one knew yet. That this was a raging whirlwind that would sweep everything away…