Chapter 312

“This letter is the legitimate justification for me to kill Master (Mukse Society).”

“...But the Vice Lord is a No-Extremes Incarnation master. If you look at the situation, isn’t Master that person? How is that possible?”

Seol Unhwi let out a short laugh.

“My eldest brother recently rose to the Mythic Stage. With an eldest brother like that, he can issue orders to everyone except the Palace Lord of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.”

“......”

“It’s a matter of position and authority. The portion that martial attainment occupies in being the head of an organization isn’t that large.”

Seol Unhwi took the letter back from Han Murin and carefully folded it into his robe.

“What matters most is stripping off the mask.”

“...But with this letter, isn’t it enough....”

“How will you prove he is Master?”

Han Murin swallowed.

This was why, when dealing with people who used their heads, his own head also had to be sharp.

How far had Seol Unhwi read?

No.

No.

That was not what he should be thinking about.

“You saw the opening.”

“I saw it.”

Seol Unhwi smiled and turned his head.

“Now, let’s go strip that mask off.”

***

“Seol Unhwi will die.”

At Master’s words, Flame King Hwa Munyeom raised his head.

“All of a sudden, what—”

“It’s not all of a sudden. It’s already decided. I sent a letter to Yeon Songbaek.”

They had held talks before, but the atmosphere then and now was excessively different.

The playfulness had drained from Master’s voice. He was deadly serious.

Flame King Hwa Munyeom’s gaze turned cold.

“So that means he dies?”

“Did you forget Yeon Songbaek is a No-Extremes Incarnation? No matter how great the Heavenly Arbiter is, he still can’t face a Realm of Martial Divinity martial artist. And the opponent is the sect master of one of the Five Sword Sects—do you really think that’s possible?”

“But....”

“But what. And what is wrong with our Vice Lord. Don’t forget your proper role. Our Flame King is the Vice Lord of Mukse Society, not the Heavenly Arbiter’s attendant.”

Master crossed his arms and leaned back into the chair.

From Flame King Hwa Munyeom’s position, he could not not ask.

“Why do you dislike the Heavenly Arbiter so much?”

“It’s not that I dislike him, exactly... I don’t know. He’s an uncontrollable existence. He isn’t moving in the direction we want—he’s moving as he pleases.”

“Is that bad?”

“It’s bad. Of course it is. And his usefulness is already over. If we let him loose any further, we really won’t be able to control him. For an illegitimate son of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, he’s grown far too big.”

Master uncrossed his arms and continued, tapping the table with a finger.

“Jegal Yeonghyeon is desperate to kill that brat, too. A perfect piece of bait. If we kill Seol Unhwi and use the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace to shave down the strength of the Martial Alliance and the Sichuan Alliance—the greatest enemies of the Heavenly Alliance?”

“.......”

“Of course, the Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect and the Heavenly Alliance will need to fabricate some excuse for the events that caused his death, right? But bowing their heads for a moment isn’t difficult. No matter how you look at it, using the Palace Lord of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace to crush the Martial Alliance and the Sichuan Alliance—this is the critical moment among critical moments.”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom stared silently at Master. The eyes visible beyond the mask were different from usual.

“Why? Do you think my judgment is wrong?”

“I think your viewpoint, as Master, is naturally different from mine, but I am skeptical.”

“Skeptical... I think I know which part and why you feel that way, our Vice Lord. For the reconstruction of the Thousand-Year Demon Cult, we have to accept a certain level of variables—why have you become so timid?”

“Is that at the level of a variable?”

“Of course it’s a variable. Don’t be afraid. If you get like that because you’re old, it’s ugly.”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom watched him with strange eyes.

He was definitely different from usual.

It was as if he was excited.

And—

He was clearly waiting for something.

“What are you waiting for?”

“What else? A reply.”

“A reply?”

“From Shin—no. From Yeon Songbaek. He would’ve already received the letter, and if he sent a reply, it should’ve arrived long ago... but it’s a bit late, isn’t it?”

Master crossed his arms again.

“...Strange.”

As he muttered, Master’s ears twitched.

Footsteps were coming from outside.

It’s here.

Soon, a low, very peculiar voice—like metal being scraped—came from beyond the door.

“Master. An urgent letter has flown in. May I enter?”

“Don’t come in. Just slide it in underneath.”

“...Understood.”

A letter slipped in under the threshold, and at Master’s gesture it floated up and settled into his hand.

“Heh... how exactly did our Heavenly Arbiter die—”

As Master tore it open and read, his expression gradually stiffened, and finally became an incredulous face.

“What is this....”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom asked.

“What does it say?”

“It says Seol Unhwi is heading to Cheonsu. He met with the sect master of the Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect and there were no issues—he even says Yeon Songbaek left smiling.”

“Is that the end?”

“Not the end. It says Chief Seong found something and handed it over, and that’s what’s strange.”

The timing of when Master had sent his letter, and when it was received.

All of it had to be taken into account.

“...I don’t know what conversation they had, but Yeon Songbaek received an item, returned to the sect, and would’ve received my letter there—yet there’s no reply, and there’s no action?”

This letter was not a letter Yeon Songbaek had sent. It was a letter sent by one of Master’s trusted men.

If the time it took to go back and forth was considered, at least two double-hours, at most half a day.

Within that time, Seol Unhwi would reach the Heavenly Alliance.

This was wrong—so wrong it was almost unbelievable.

Flame King Hwa Munyeom said in a calm voice.

“Are you flustered?”

A faint trace of ridicule was mixed into that tone.

Master’s eyes beyond the mask turned cold.

“Could it be... our Vice Lord leaked information?”

“Do I look like the kind of bastard who would do that.”

“Then?”

Master slammed the table with his hand.

“Then that bastard is really at this level? He moves ahead of the ‘critical moment’ I judged? That bastard?”

Master was not merely enraged—he was flustered.

Up to now, he had prided himself on having everything in his palm, shaking it at will.

But the situation unfolding now was telling him the opposite—that he had been played on someone else’s palm.

This was the kind of thing that warranted being flustered.

“That bastard going to Calmheart County was no different from going to his own grave, and it should have ended that way—this can’t be happening like this!”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom remained calm.

The Seol Unhwi he had judged was not a man who could be easily swayed by someone.

He answered quietly.

“Even Jegal Yeonghyeon of the Martial Alliance wouldn’t have known until he faced him for the first time. That he himself was behind Seol Unhwi.”

Master stared hard at Flame King Hwa Munyeom.

“...Oh? Our Vice Lord is talking strangely today. More direct than usual.”

Then he suddenly leaned forward.

“You think I can’t beat that greenhorn?”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom fell silent for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“That is something we will know once we see.”

Master had nothing to say.

Recently, there had been a time Mukse Society stepped into the open without Master himself.

It had been the matter at the royal capital of Un’guk, and that had been all.

That was because Master had ordered him not to step forward further, and Vice Lord Flame King Hwa Munyeom had been deeply dissatisfied on this point.

Seol Unhwi had told Flame King Hwa Munyeom to recommend, from within Mukse Society, a person to be put forward for an elder seat, and the Division Chief of the newly formed strike force and the members under him.

Flame King Hwa Munyeom had handed that roster to Seol Unhwi, and Seol Unhwi had chosen some of them and delivered them to the Alliance Lord of the Heavenly Alliance.

The most important point here was the people Seol Unhwi had selected—and as said earlier, all of them were Mukse Society’s people.

No matter if Vice Lord Flame King Hwa Munyeom and Seol Unhwi tried to take them, if Master told them not to go, they could not go.

And so it fizzled out.

Even though Mukse Society had gained a justification to step forward and act openly, he crushed it. He crushed the strike force. He crushed the elder seat as well.

It was Master’s will: be silent, as befits Mukse Society.

“Are you very angry?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re very angry. Don’t doubt my judgment. It’s better for Mukse Society not to step into the open. If the martial artists who withdrew from the martial world come back out into the world, the old grudges we buried will raise their heads again—how are you going to bear all that, then?”

Seol Unhwi had said it.

That old grudges could not be erased, no matter how one tried to erase them.

That the Gold-Dust Ablution Rite was ultimately nothing more than individual desire—so if one wanted to erase old grudges, there were only two answers: kill the other side to the last, or die oneself.

“Mukse Society’s work is decided by me—by the will of Master. So put away those worthless feelings and go do your job.”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom rose from his seat and picked up the mask that had been set beside the table.

“If there is something you need, call for me.”

As Flame King Hwa Munyeom started toward the door, Master stopped him.

“Vice Lord.”

Flame King Hwa Munyeom turned his head.

“Do you really think that bastard has the will for ‘reconstructing the Thousand-Year Demon Cult’?”

There was no need to think.

He answered firmly.

“It is not that he has none.”

“Strange. Not that he has none?”

“I am telling you it is only a difference in scale.”

“A difference in scale....”

“May I go?”

Master let out a short laugh.

“You’ve practically become his man.”

“Does it look that way?”

“Do you not know your own face? You two always seem to be fighting, but did you grow fond of him in the meantime? Or is it because of your daughter? Or is it because of that bastard son of the only disciple—Han Murin or Dong Murin or whatever he’s called—who survived?”

“Whatever it is, I have not changed.”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“My long-cherished wish is to reconstruct the Thousand-Year Demon Cult and create a new order in the martial world. You knew that and appointed me Vice Lord—Master. Are you doubting your own judgment?”

Though it could not be seen, the corners of Master’s mouth curled upward.

Flame King Hwa Munyeom said,

“If I may speak boldly, you should consider why Yeon Songbaek did not send a reply.”

“Why?”

“Setting aside that you missed the critical moment, a new problem will arise now.”

“I know. But if our Vice Lord just keeps his mouth shut, there’s no problem.”

“I have always been silent. As befits «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Mukse Society’s Vice Lord.”

“.......”

“But conversely, Master, you will have to open your mouth now.”

With those words, Flame King Hwa Munyeom opened the door and left.

Left alone, Master stared at the letter on the table and muttered.

“The situation is turning strange. Strange.”

Seol Unhwi.

There is one thing that roughly comes to mind about what that bastard is aiming for, but—

“No way....”

There’s no way he’s a madman to that degree.