Chapter 296

“I, you see, need a player to sit across from me at Go.”

“Am I insufficient for you.”

“Not insufficient. I’m simply curious who is better.”

Yu Cheong found the Heavenly Daoist’s words truly offensive. This had nothing to do with whether Seol Unhwi’s worth was outstanding or not.

What is fairness. What is equity. What is truth?

“Everyone in the martial world knows his talent in martial arts is extraordinary, but they do not know what his two eyes are holding.”

“I have not seen them myself, so I do not know.”

“He is not even of age, and already those two eyes hold the sky.”

“The sky, you say.”

“You command much and prepare much, yet you seem to have no faith in those beneath you.”

“Do I look so.”

“If not, you would not have cut someone out merely for showing ambition.”

“You knew after all.”

“Heh heh, and who am I.”

“You are the sovereign of the martial world.”

“Indeed, I am the sovereign of this vast rivers-and-lakes martial world. Heh heh heh.”

The smile vanished from the Heavenly Daoist’s lips.

“Did the one called Seo Hyo grate on you so much.”

Yu Cheong did not bother to answer.

It was true that Yu Cheong had personally discovered the one called Seo Hyo. It was true his ability was outstanding.

He surpassed Yang Seoljin, whom he had placed inside the Snow Palace.

But he had the greatest problem. His ambition.

The size of Seo Hyo’s ambition was enough to make even Yu Cheong furrow his brow. How could a dog with a collar covet the master’s seat.

Worse still, watching him reach for that seat so brazenly that even the collar seemed meaningless—one could not leave him be, even if one wished to.

“Do you wish that much to kill him.”

“Killing is no longer the issue.”

Yu Cheong smiled softly.

“When the master dies, the one with the collar must also die, Original.”

As if it were only right, the Heavenly Daoist nodded. Then, as though prepared, he put forth a question.

“What do you make of the Snow Mountain Army Lord.”

“He may be a great martial artist, but the moment his ambition touches mine, he will be a flower that cannot bloom.”

“Then the reverse is possible as well.”

“...”

“One of your plans touched the Snow Palace.”

“You mean that from the moment Yang Seoljin was exposed, he and I became enemies.”

“Heh heh heh.”

“Very well. I will not intervene.”

The Heavenly Daoist looked at Yu Cheong without a word.

“I will simply watch how that youth of not yet full age manipulates three bodies—the Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect, Cheonrim, and the Mukse Society.”

“Can you do so.”

“Yes. If the Original wishes to see the outcome, who am I to intrude.”

Yu Cheong let out a long sigh and covered his face with both hands. As if everything stifled him, he stroked down his face, then slowly turned his head to the side.

At that moment, pitch-black smoke began to spill from Yu Cheong’s eyes. It was pure Demonic Miasma.

Yu Cheong lowered his hands. Then, as if he could not abide it, he looked straight at the Heavenly Daoist and spoke.

“Original, how about, for the first time in a while, we set aside Go and have a duel of life and death.”

The corners of the Heavenly Daoist’s mouth curled up.

It was that mischievous smile he wore when delighted.

“Well now... I’ve had so little need to move my body, I may have grown quite rusty...”

The Demonic Preceptor Yu Cheong smiled with a hint of killing intent.

“Then today you will lose the Original’s seat to me.”

“You are more childish than I thought.”

Yu Cheong did not answer.

From his body poured Demonic Miasma enough to startle the world.

That miasma at once became a wave and crashed over the smiling Heavenly Daoist.

***

In the Alliance Lord’s hall of the Heavenly Alliance, Unhwi and Mae Wuidong were in private audience.

“Cheongpung City... When you said you would go there, I was startled, but I did not expect you to put it in order and return in a mere two days.”

There was no way Mae Wuidong did not know Cheongpung City’s value.

For the Heavenly Alliance to embrace all roads meant it would not balk at using poisons and the like.

The problem was that their stockpiled poisons were few, and the varieties not many.

But if they brought Cheongpung City under their sway, the story changed. That signified a rise in the Heavenly Alliance’s power—more than enough reason for Mae Wuidong’s bright smile.

“And, on the way, we were ambushed.”

At Unhwi’s words, Mae Wuidong’s eyes twitched.

“Ambushed... you say?”

“Yes. Martial artists of high caliber, and mechanical formations at the very top of the Heaven-Earth tier—though they did not show themselves, it was truly threatening.”

“My... It is a great relief you are unharmed. But...”

Trailing off, Mae Wuidong’s expression suddenly turned grave.

“If there were not one but two ambushes, and by mechanical formations at that, does it not mean they knew the Heavenly Arbiter’s route like the palm of their hand?”

“Correct.”

“Given the Heavenly Arbiter’s nature, you would not have taken a path plain to see; to have read that means...”

“The likelihood of an insider’s work is high.”

“An insider... The Four Pillars of Cheonrim are without question remarkable. That two of them offered to enter the Heavenly Alliance without hesitation—though it is not for me to say—may have been to induce the Heavenly Arbiter’s carelessness.”

“My carelessness, you mean.”

“Yes. I am deeply concerned. I know the Heavenly Arbiter cherishes his own people greatly, but as they say, the area under the lamp is dark.”

Unhwi listened to Mae Wuidong’s words without a word.

“I may be the Alliance Lord of the Heavenly Alliance, but before that, as a senior of the martial world, I tell you this: do not trust your own people too much. Doubt and doubt again, and even those filtered thus must be doubted again—that is the martial world.”

Only then did a smile draw at Unhwi’s lips.

“It sounds as if one of the two is a traitor.”

“From the circumstances, that fits better than an ‘insider.’ Does it not?”

“Circumstances are only circumstances, Alliance Lord. And if I may say so, giving trust is difficult; even so, if you give it, I believe you must maintain it to the end.”

“Mm...”

“Without even that resolve, how could one complete a great work.”

“...”

“I will bear the price of responsibility entirely, and it will never harm the value of the Heavenly Alliance.”

“If you are that steadfast... very well, I will say no more. You must have your own thoughts.”

“Then we should return to the earlier subject.”

Sensing the change in Unhwi’s tone, Mae Wuidong set down the teacup he had been about to lift.

“Among those who knew I would head to Cheongpung City, you were included, Alliance Lord.”

Unhwi’s office was Heavenly Arbiter. In handling the Heavenly Alliance’s business, he did not need to report everything to the Alliance Lord, but for something that would require him to be absent at least two days, reporting was only natural.

Unhwi had departed for Cheongpung City at break of dawn with the Shadow Lord and the Killing Lord. And about one hour before departure, he had reported to the Alliance Lord.

“You believe it possible that, rather than those two, there truly is a traitor within the Heavenly Alliance.”

“I am saying we must look from multiple angles.”

Even as he spoke, Unhwi’s gaze was taking in everything of Mae Wuidong.

Tone, gestures, unconscious habits.

Unhwi’s powers of observation were peerless. Even so, he could not read Mae Wuidong’s.

There were two reasons.

Either the man called Mae Wuidong possessed acting skill too superb—

Or this very appearance was the true face of the man called Mae Wuidong.

He thought for a moment.

According to the memories of his previous life, the Heavenly Alliance would be completely dismantled about three or four months from now, and the Vice Alliance Lord Mae Wuidong would disappear.

And he would never be found anywhere.

Even through all those long years while Unhwi served as the Blood Heaven Arbiter, that was the entirety of his record.

But Unhwi did not ignore his own intuition.

What had happened.

And what would happen.

Everything had its reasons.

“...Mm... I do not wish to suspect an insider, but as you know, from the time you reported to me, half a ke later I met two people.”

“Did you.”

“Yes. You must have seen them in passing. Senior Huang, and our Heavenly Alliance’s proud Division Chief, Wei Tianhu.”

To say it again, the Heavenly Alliance was little different from a shell.

Those who died along with {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Ye Wonje were, literally, pillars themselves; thus the existing Six Elders, the strike forces, and such had become almost nominal.

Especially in the case of the Six Elders, all seats were vacant and had to be filled—there was a reason Mae Wuidong had mentioned three of the Eight Celestial Seats.

Presently, two of the Six Elders’ seats had been filled.

One was Dukgo Clan’s Dukgo Hyun.

And the other was Huang Mujung, famed by the epithet Upper Profound Iron Fist.

Huang Mujung was a man Mae Wuidong had brought personally—fifty-eight years of age this year, his martial realm was at the Celestial Being Stage; as an Elder, he mainly handled internal affairs and records management, as well as personnel authority over the Heavenly Archives.

Wei Tianhu headed the Heavenly Alliance’s remaining strike corps, the Martial Righteous Unit; he had been its division chief since the days of Ye Wonje, and he enjoyed tremendous trust from the people of the Heavenly Alliance.

His realm was the Mythic Stage.

And now Mae Wuidong was saying that to those two he had mentioned Unhwi’s destination.

“I did mention Cheongpung City in passing... but surely those two would not have tried to kill the Heavenly Arbiter.”

Watching Unhwi’s expression, Mae Wuidong scratched his head as if truly sorry.

“Even so, the Heavenly Arbiter’s suspicion is reasonable, and it is my lapse as well, so I will conduct an inquiry.”

“An inquiry.”

“Yes. I will ask Elder Huang and Division Chief Wei whether they mentioned that fact to anyone else, and if not, I will review internal personnel records of the Heavenly Alliance and the full rolls of our combat organizations—conduct an inquiry that way.”

Unhwi, who had been quietly listening to Mae Wuidong, shook his head.

“It’s all right. I do not wish to make a great affair of it.”

“Huh... even so, at least an inquiry...”

“Elder Huang is a man you brought in personally, and Division Chief Wei is a loyalist who stood firm when the Heavenly Alliance tottered. To suspect those two is not good from the standpoint of the Heavenly Alliance as an organization—let it lie.”

“Mm... and yet...”

“One of the Four Pillars of Cheonrim, the Poison Lord, targeted me; he used his head to the utmost, predicted and predicted again, yet failed—let us settle it at about that.”

“Huh... will that truly be all right?”

“Yes. It will. Above all, it is now clear what the Poison Lord’s ‘low-grade ploy’ was—and it failed. It is right to move on here.”

A curious smile drew at the corner of Mae Wuidong’s mouth.