Chapter 69: There Is Relative, But No Absolute (4)

Before anyone noticed, Yeon Hojeong’s presence had vanished. He had completely left this place.

Mo Yonggun, who had been laughing for quite a while, slowly drew his laughter back.

He calmly filled his cup.

“Yeonhwa.”

“Yes, Father.”

“How did you see him?”

Mo Yong Yeonhwa let out a soft sigh.

“To be honest, I can’t gauge him.”

“Heh-heh, that’s only natural.”

“One thing is certain. He’s far ruder than I expected.”

“If you have no power, you can’t even commit rudeness.”

“It seemed you were deeply impressed by Yeon Hojeong.”

“I don’t know how to put it.”

Mo Yonggun recalled Yeon Hojeong.

Eyes so clear they gave the onlooker chills. A blank face that showed neither leisure nor any hint of haste.

And the terrifying nerve to say, as if it were nothing, that he would erase the foremost clan under Heaven.

The laughter he had barely put away leaked out on its own.

“He’s a strong one. This is apart from martial arts, cunning, or discernment. I felt a strength in him that was innate.”

“...Is it to that extent?”

“I can’t even imagine what kind of life he’s lived. He’s been through just about every slaughterhouse there is and clawed his way up. Even a strong nature finds it hard to surpass the aged shrewdness that experience grants. He has both.”

Mo Yong Yeonhwa’s face tightened.

She knew her father rated Yeon Hojeong highly. She hadn’t expected it to be this high.

Smiling as he pictured Yeon Hojeong, Mo Yonggun’s expression gradually cooled to chill.

“And therefore... he’s dangerous.”

“Pardon?”

“He’s a dangerous one. In him, I could see another version of myself.”

Psss.

The cup in his hand turned to powder.

It was a tremendous depth of inner power. Unconsciously released inner force powdered a jade cup. The refinement of his internal energy defied imagination.

It was an augmentation gained while cultivating the Heartless Heavenly Thunder Form.

“In truth, I said it as a joke, but seeing him stirred my greed for a moment. A talent that far—I thought it wouldn’t be bad to pair him with you.”

Mo Yong Yeonhwa’s eyes trembled.

“But.”

Brushing away the dusted powder, Mo Yonggun looked out the window.

At some point a pure-white moon had risen.

“He’s the same as me. He won’t know the word satisfaction. Even if I were to marry him to you, he’d keep casting covetous eyes at the main house.”

Mo Yonggun’s eyes went deep.

“A pity. If he’d inherited the surname of the main house, I would already have seated him as Young Clan Lord.”

Out of her father’s sight, Mo Yong Yeonhwa clenched a fist.

Why? It just made her angry. Her father always praised her, but he had never delivered an evaluation like that.

In a carefully even tone, Mo Yong Yeonhwa spoke.

“If he’s a talent we cannot make a person of the main house, then you should remove him in advance, shouldn’t you?”

“But of course.”

Perhaps it was the moonlight.

Mo Yonggun’s pale smile felt chilling in some unnameable way.

“I will seize the world. If I do, then the world becomes the garden I must cultivate. But that one will never be a flower that prettily blooms in my garden. In that case, it’s better to pull the roots out beforehand.”

After gazing at the moon for a long time, Mo Yonggun rose from his seat.

“Whatever the reason, it was a meeting of significance. We’ve become busy as well. Let’s be on our way.”

“Yes.”

****

“Hoo.”

In a dark forest.

He set the axe down on a rock that showed the cold moonlight well.

Thud.

He meant to prop it upright, but it wobbled and buried itself in the ground. There was no strength left in his hands.

“Tiring.”

Right after a life-and-death struggle with those damned wolves, he had exchanged sharp words with Mo Yonggun. The drain on spirit and strength was no small thing.

Vmmmm.

He drew up Jade Wave True Qi and little by little corrected the deepening internal injuries.

The damage was worse than he thought. Meridians were torn here and there, and the blood paths were packed full of turbidity.

Yeon Hojeong drew a long, deep breath.

Wiiiiing!

White Tiger Qi opened, inhaling a dense saturation of natural Qi.

Qi plays a role in healing the body. He received the rich Qi through White Tiger Qi to activate inner healing, then opened Black Tortoise Qi and expelled every last bit of remaining turbidity.

After circulating Qi like that for over half a shichen, he finally felt somewhat alive.

“Damn it, I should’ve downed a few bowls of water. Why did I suggest drinking?”

Because of the internal injuries his stomach churned. On top of °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that he’d sloshed in several cups of hard liquor, and he felt he might vomit.

This is why a person mustn’t be bewitched by memories and the like.

‘Truly, youth is different.’

In the days he served as Alliance Lord of the Martial World, Mo Yonggun was both a seasoned politician and the leader of the orthodox path who enjoyed the support of all.

He spared no means or methods toward his goal, but he took care of his own people for certain. To those within his domain, he was a lord to be respected and a capable statesman.

‘He drank plenty, too.’

With the Uprising of the Three Teachings—specifically, the Cult of Perversity’s invasion of the Central Plains—the orthodox and the demonic joined hands for the first time.

The leaders of white and black, allied by the foreign incursion. Even in the midst of waging war, the two of them shared drinks more than a few times.

He had lived a ruthless life to reach that seat, but at least he was not a man without charm. So he had been wary of him, and at the same time felt a sense of kinship.

But the present Mo Yonggun was different.

A strongman burning with ambition, an unscrupulous overlord who, for the sake of his dream, would without compunction weave schemes and commit murder.

‘And besides, back then I didn’t know. That the Mo Yong main house took one of the pillars in the annihilation of the main Yeon line.’

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes turned cold.

Memories are only memories. Tonight’s drinking was nothing more than a farewell cup for a former comrade-in-arms.

If he had not known, that would be one thing; having learned it, the Mo Yong Clan was mortal enemy. They were the same kind as the Ming Clan.

‘Look forward to it, old man. The foundation you’ve piled up to now—I’ll sweep it clean without leaving so much as a speck of dust.’

He was sunk in thought for some time when—

“Hoo, why’d a wounded man climb this high a mountain? I’m dying here.”

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

“What brings you up here?”

“You think I came because I wanted to? I’d like to sit nice and easy and just fiddle the information that comes in, too.”

The one who appeared was Ga Deoksang.

“The Shadow-Death Division?”

“You really are a man without any sense of humanity. Is that how you talk when we meet after so long, without so much as a hello?”

“Looks like you’ve got them well secured.”

“Isn’t that obvious? I’m a man who sees a thing through when I say I’ll do it.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

Ga Deoksang smiled.

“You’ve worked hard as well, Young Master Yeon. Seeing you that injured, they must have been truly fierce.”

Yeon Hojeong shook his head.

“That’s how blood-reeking types are. Rather than strong, they’re simply vicious to the core. I overdid it a bit, beating them down one by one.”

“Even so, it’s tremendous. How many people are there in the martial world who could take down the Azure Wolf Ghosts single-handed?”

“An awful lot. You just haven’t dug them up.”

“...Even when you talk, you always manage to drain the affection out of it.”

“So then, what brings you?”

“Huh? You really are quite injured, aren’t you?”

“Hm?”

With his thumb, Ga Deoksang pointed behind himself.

“Look.”

Yeon Hojeong looked to where he pointed.

His eyes widened.

“I received direct contact from the Clan Lord. Honestly, I was curious how you were holding up, so I doubled as guide and came along.”

A hundred swordsmen stepped forth one after another, shedding the dark shadows.

At their head stood Shin Mo.

“The Azure Hawk Squad greets the First Young Master!”

“We greet the First Young Master!”

Their voices were so loud the whole mountain rang.

Yeon Hojeong clicked his tongue.

“Lower your voices. Is this something to spread rumors about?”

Ga Deoksang snorted.

“Better to spread a little rumor, given the state you’re in.”

Yeon Hojeong let out a brief laugh.

“By the way, how did you find this place?”

In his characteristically low voice, Shin Mo spoke.

“The Clan Lord personally dispatched us. From this point on, we will take charge of the First Young Master’s protection.”

Father?

Yeon Hojeong sighed.

“They must be busy as well—why send you all the way out here?”

Ga Deoksang scolded him.

“You rascal. Is that what you say in front of people who ran so hard the soles of their feet blistered? You ought to be grateful.”

“Ahem!”

Yeon Hojeong stepped down from the rock.

“At any rate... you’ve all had a rough time getting here.”

“It is nothing.”

Yeon Hojeong scratched his head as if embarrassed.

“Anyway, where am I going to find a wine house that can put up this many people? Rear Beggar, could you find one for us?”

“Honestly, what would you do without me?”

“If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“Ah, fine! I already secured a decent manor nearby—go rest there. The Ming Clan’s eyes won’t reach that far.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure.”

Ga Deoksang asked, casual but probing.

“By the way, how did the talk with the Mo Yong Clan Lord end? I still can’t believe that man came to Henan.”

“It ended well.”

“That’s it? Any thought of telling me in a little more detail?”

Yeon Hojeong kept chuckling. Ga Deoksang really was fun to talk to. You couldn’t help but feel your strength return.

He recounted in detail the conversation he’d had with the Mo Yong Clan Lord.

Interest lit Ga Deoksang’s face.

“Authority... so you mean the Right of Grand Assembly.”

“The Right of Grand Assembly?”

“For the masters of the Nine Sects and One Union and the Seven Great Clans, there is a power called the Right of Grand Assembly. They summon the leaders of the orthodox martial world to discuss important agenda.”

Yeon Hojeong knit his brows. He had never heard of it.

“That existed?”

“It does. Ah, of course invoking the Right of Grand Assembly is extremely rare. Since you’re gathering the leaders of the orthodox path spread all over the world, if that agenda yields no answer, the side that proposed it must bear all responsibility.”

“Calling them under the pretext of important business, and then you talk about responsibility?”

“To put it another way, it’s to compensate each sect’s loss incurred by the absence of their leaders. In short, don’t call them over something trivial.”

What a peculiar power to have.

The demonic world was not like that. There was no meaning to a coalition to begin with. The reason Yeon Hojeong built the Black Emperor’s Citadel and ruled alone was that, no matter what alliance you formed, everyone was only waiting to stab you in the back.

“In other words, the Mo Yong Clan Lord is saying he has confidence of that magnitude.”

“Exactly.”

Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.

“So that’s what he meant by a Temporary Alliance of the Martial World. But is it possible to assemble the heads of each sect within a month?”

“There will be leaders who cannot come due to circumstances. But barring that, they must come, without fail.”

For Yeon Hojeong, accustomed to the demonic world’s system, it was quite a shocking institution.

“In any case, since the talk went well, what will you do next?”

“Rest. For the time being.”

“Come now—you’re not the sort to rest with no measures in place.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes gleamed.

“Rear Beggar, you know it as well? That the Ming Clan’s forces have secretly planted themselves near Jiangsu.”

Ga Deoksang smiled.

“I’ve heard.”

“A month can be long, and it can be short. In that time, we should slowly tighten the Ming Clan’s throat, shouldn’t we?”

“They’ll probably deny and step out to block it.”

“Of course they will.”

“I’ll set the mood. I don’t know if we can endure the month.”

“When the rumors die down, I’ll step forward.”

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

“Even if you borrow someone else’s fishing boat, you still have to do your own fishing.”