Chapter 334

“Coming to your own grave on your own two feet. Now that I see it, you weren’t a genius—you were just an ordinary fool stuffed to the brim with arrogance.”

Chief Seong’s fist clenched even tighter, but this time as well, he stayed still. Hwa Muryeong also kept silent.

Shin Jueon’s gaze shifted to Hwa Muryeong.

“Stupid bitch.”

At the sudden insult, Hwa Muryeong raised her head.

“Are you talking about me?”

“In this hall, who else would be worthy of being called a bitch besides you?”

Shin Jueon’s voice was cold and sharp.

“An insolent, pathetic bitch. I spared your life and gave you a chance, and you kick it away to grab a rotten lifeline like that?”

Hwa Muryeong’s eyes flashed.

“The rotten lifeline is the one you grabbed, Palace Lord.”

Shin Jueon’s brow furrowed.

“Well now—this bitch is running her mouth.”

“You’re the one who started it, aren’t you?”

“The one who made the stupid judgment is the one who started—”

“Not that.”

Hwa Muryeong cut him off.

Silence fell.

“All of this happened because you brought it on yourself. From the moment you killed Dong Yuseong eleven years ago.”

Hwa Muryeong’s voice trembled, but it was firm.

“Am I wrong?”

Shin Jueon sipped his tea and smiled. The smile was chillingly cold.

“You’re not wrong. It’s something I brought on myself. I should have killed you then, too, but I couldn’t.”

“And the reason is my father.”

“I won’t deny it. Your father—the Flame King—though he was only a Vice Lord, stood at a higher realm than I did.”

Shin Jueon set down his teacup and continued.

“Then you should think about it. Why I killed Dong Yuseong, his direct disciple, and didn’t kill you.”

“How is that different from what I just said? Because of my father—”

“No. You’re under a major misunderstanding.”

Shin Jueon’s eyes sharpened.

“What?”

“In the martial world, what is unseen is greater than what is seen.”

“...What do you mean?”

“It means it wasn’t as simple as you think.”

“......”

“The reason your father didn’t drive a dagger into me after I killed Dong Yuseong—his direct disciple—is simple. Because once, I saved your father’s life.”

Hwa Muryeong’s brow knotted hard. She hadn’t heard this even from Flame King Hwa Munyeom.

“From my standpoint, I could have killed one of you—either you or Dong Yuseong. If I did, my relationship with your father would grow awkward, but your father isn’t such a contemptible man that he would ignore a life-debt after being saved, is he?”

Hwa Muryeong clenched her fist. Shin Jueon kept speaking.

“Even while Hwa Munyeom lived in seclusion, his influence was entrenched throughout the palace. From my standpoint, I had to reduce that influence.”

With no information about martial arts having spread, what Shin Jueon said sounded more rational than expected.

Influence.

That was something no one could ever dismiss.

From a Palace Lord’s standpoint, someone within the organization held greater influence than him?

One way or another, removing them was the right move.

“Fine. The conclusion is simple. You are alive in Dong Yuseong’s place. If you had died, Dong Yuseong would have lived. From my standpoint, I could only kill one side, and I chose Dong Yuseong... so now that I think about it, this is practically your fault.”

It was sophistry—but not to Hwa Muryeong as she listened.

Guilt surged up.

Without going far, Hwa Muryeong was a master who had reached Heaven-Earth Apex.

Even so, she had endured eleven years of being shunned and ignored within the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace.

During that time, she had never once shown a hint of complaint.

She had only endured, and endured again.

That was how deeply the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace mattered to her.

Yet the moment she learned Dong Murin was alive, she decided to turn her back on the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace without a single shred of hesitation.

If she could die, she wanted to die in Dong Yuseong’s place.

That was how much she loved Dong Yuseong.

A voice spoke in place of the wavering Hwa Muryeong.

“It feels like a rather low-grade provocation, senior.”

It was Unhwi.

Shin Jueon furrowed his brow.

“Low-grade?”

“Yes. You need to be precise. Dong Yuseong didn’t die in Cheonsu Temple’s place.”

Unhwi’s voice was still calm.

“You had no choice but to kill Dong Yuseong, didn’t you?”

“Do you have proof?”

“There’s no proof, but this is the martial world. A life-debt is absolute—yet if you kill even the one and only daughter he has left, that life-debt becomes meaningless.”

Shin Jueon stared at Unhwi in silence.

“If you had killed Hwa Muryeong, senior, you would inevitably have died. You knew that, so you didn’t cast Hwa Muryeong out of the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace—you kept her here.”

“Kept her?”

“Yes.”

“......”

“To put it simply, she’s a hostage.”

Unhwi set down his teacup and continued.

“At this point, I’m curious. Why did you kill Dong Yuseong?”

“That bastard plotted rebellion.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

Shin Jueon’s lips pressed into a hard line.

“You plan to kill me anyway, so why bother hiding it?”

In the end, the corner of Shin Jueon’s mouth lifted, and laughter spilled out.

“Hahahahahaha!”

His laughter went on for a while.

“You really do have nerve, just like I heard. Fine. There’s no reason to hide it. Do you know Absolute Flame Heaven-Mixing Art?”

“If you mean Absolute Flame Heaven-Mixing Art... that’s the Heaven-Mixing Flame Emperor’s martial art.”

“For a brat, you’ve got a broad enough eye. Yes. It’s the Heaven-Mixing Flame Emperor’s martial art.”

That was enough.

“I understand. Framing a Vice Lord for internal treason and killing him to obtain an unrivaled martial art? A reason befitting a martial artist.”

“Have your questions been answered?”

“They have.”

Shin Jueon rose from his seat. The aura of a master who had reached Limitless Manifestation erupted from his body.

“Then now, let’s go.”

“Where do you mean?”

“Where else? To the River of Three Crossings.”

Unhwi drank his tea without a word.

Shin Jueon turned his head and looked at Hwa Muryeong.

“My eldest son still has no spouse.”

“So?”

“You will become that spouse.”

Hwa Muryeong’s brow knotted hard.

“Are you thinking of refusing?”

“Refuse or not, that’s not even something worth thinking about—”

“I intend to pass this Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace to my eldest son.”

Shin Jueon’s voice lowered.

“If you marry Ju-yang and bear a child, that child will become the next Palace Lord of the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace.”

For Shin Jueon, it was a very rational proposal. Taking Hwa Muryeong in meant taking Flame King Hwa Munyeom in as well, strengthening the palace’s power and securing legitimacy at the same time.

But Hwa Muryeong answered shortly again, as if it wasn’t worth considering.

“I refuse.”

Shin Jueon let out a snort of laughter.

“This stupid bitch must have thought that was a request.”

“......”

“Wait for now. There’s ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) something I need to deal with first.”

The aura of a master who had reached Limitless Manifestation erupted from Shin Jueon’s body.

Unhwi was still drinking tea.

“Is the tea that good?”

“It’s not bad.”

“I’d like to tell you to stop sipping tea and stand, but I doubt there’s tea in the underworld, so finish it and rise. I’ll send you off immediately.”

He spoke like that, but Shin Jueon was a very cautious man.

He didn’t know what sort of depth Seol Unhwi truly had, but he couldn’t deny there might be a hidden move.

Not taking even the slightest injury.

That was what Shin Jueon was aiming for.

Unhwi didn’t even finish the tea. He set the cup down as it was.

“Senior Shin.”

“Speak.”

“I don’t consider myself a genius.”

“What nonsense is this, all of a sudden?”

“Keep listening. At the very least, I consider myself talented.”

“Talented...?”

“If I resolve myself to mutual destruction, I can somehow handle even a martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man. But not Limitless Manifestation.”

Unhwi raised his head and looked up at Shin Jueon.

“What happens today in the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace will be a stage—both for Dong Murin, my man, to fulfill his vengeance, and at the same time for one person’s honor and will to be carried through... someone who will later sit in the Alliance Lord’s seat of the Heavenly Alliance.”

Shin Jueon had been about to ask what insane nonsense that was, but he couldn’t.

Slowly, his head turned.

At the entrance of the Palace Lord Hall stood an old man with a small frame.

He wore a Horned Iron Mask, but even at a glance, Shin Jueon knew who it was.

“Flame... King...?”

Hwa Munyeom slowly removed the mask.

He looked like an old man with thick white hair, yet his eyes still held a sharp, glittering edge.

The deep traces of time carved into his face only created a heavier pressure from within that depth.

It could only be called overwhelming.

“It’s been a long time, Palace Lord.”

Hwa Munyeom’s voice was calm, but restrained fury writhed within it.

Shin Jueon’s face stiffened in an instant.

He had suspected it, but to think the Flame King—who had lived in seclusion for well over ten years—would appear here.

“...You bastard who underwent the Gold-Dust Ablution Rite—what business brings you here... no, wait—”

Shin Jueon’s gaze snapped to Unhwi. Unhwi had said it clearly.

A stage for the one who would become the next Alliance Lord of the Heavenly Alliance.

Shin Jueon’s mouth fell open.

“Don’t tell me... you?”

“It is a heavy office, but I have decided to accept it.”

Shin Jueon’s eyes widened. This was completely beyond his expectations. It wasn’t merely helping Dong Murin’s revenge—this was the ruler of the immense force called the Heavenly Alliance stepping forward in person.

“But... why? The Gold-Dust Ablution Rite... seclusion...”

He couldn’t believe it. Appearing was one thing, but becoming the Heavenly Alliance’s Alliance Lord? That was another story entirely.

Breaking the Gold-Dust Ablution Rite meant openly violating a taboo of the martial world.

These madmen.

“...You’re trying to make even more enemies than you had at your peak. At least tell me why. Why?”

Hwa Munyeom’s eyes turned cold.

“Use that fine head of yours and think it through yourself. And there’s one thing I want to be certain about.”

“What is it.”

“It’s not that I didn’t take vengeance for Yuseong. It’s that I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t?”

“Eleven years ago, when you killed Dong Yuseong, I endured it. Because there was a life-debt for saving my life. But.”

Hwa Munyeom’s voice sank even colder.

“If you try to kill his son as well, that is another matter.”

“...Another matter?”

“You gave me a reason to protect what I failed to protect. And.”

“...And?”

“You gave me justification to kill.”

In that moment, Shin Jueon understood clearly.

“...I forced you to break your seclusion?”

“Seems you finally understand how the situation is moving.”

The Flame King’s pressure toward Shin Jueon was steadily rising.

“Even a life-debt has its limits. If you want to uphold that life-debt, then you must, by right, require a new life-debt.”

“......”

“You made it for me, so I will offer my thanks—for the first time in a long while.”

Hwa Munyeom walked forward slowly. Each step made the ground tremble.

“You who killed my disciple out of greed. The time has come for you to pay the price.”

The air in the Palace Lord Hall tightened to a razor’s edge, and Shin Jueon placed his hand on the sword at his waist.

“Hwa Munyeom. Even if you step in, the result will be the same. You are old, but I am not as old as you—and I never stopped being active in the martial world.”

“Is that so?”

Hwa Munyeom smiled. That smile was chillingly cold.