Chapter 926

Everyone makes the wrong choice sometimes.

At least a few times in life.

No—count the little choices we make every day, and the number might run into the thousands.

But a wrong choice doesn’t mean your life is over.

You can regret it, learn from it, and choose a better path next time.

Of course, that only works if you get a next time.

“I—I’ve done nothing wrong! This is a misunderstanding!”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

“You scoundrels! How dare you lay hands on me!”

Fear. Desperation. Anger.

Dozens of people shouted, each caught up in their own emotions.

Their silk robes had lost none of their sheen, and their plump bodies spoke to just how high their station had been—even in a place death had just torn through. But all the wealth and glory they had enjoyed until now were over, effective this very moment.

Such was the fate of those guilty of high treason.

“Arrest every last one of them!”

“Loyalty!”

Swish, swish!

No sooner had Baek Yeon given the order than the Embroidered Uniform Guards surrounding the area swung their binding ropes and scabbards into action.

One civil official, already resigned to his fate, let himself be bound without a word. An old general in dazzling armor resisted, showing off a fair amount of skill in martial arts.

Then he got his skull cracked.

Whack!

“You bastards, how dare you—Guh!”

“Let’s not wear ourselves out already. Come quietly. You’ll have plenty of chances to scream later.”

“W-what are you going to do with me?”

“You already know, don’t you, old Assistant Military Commissioner?”

“……!”

At the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s cold smile, the old general sank to the ground, his face blank.

He had realized that the warm blood running from the crown of his head was nothing compared to what he would be made to shed later.

And one man was weaving his way through the chaos.

“It’s been a while. Last time we met, I think you called me a ball-less eunuch bastard.”

One man.

“You haven’t forgotten me, have you? Oh, we’ve never met? Cut the crap. I remember everything.”

Two men.

“Oh, look who it is. You’ve gotten so fat I almost didn’t recognize you. Don’t worry. I’ll slim you down this time.”

“……”

Every line out of his mouth sounded like a death threat.

Each time Hong Jin greeted someone as warmly as a man at his first school reunion in ten years, gold-armored diet supplements marched over and dragged that person away.

Their faces were flushed at the tantalizing prospect of a fresh batch of prisoners to fill the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s jails, which had stood empty for some time.

“W-wait! Torturer Hong!”

“I’m not a torturer anymore. It’s been ages since I was appointed Deputy Military Commissioner of Shanxi Province. Stop making a racket calling for me and go on ahead. Oh, and give your balls a good wash.”

The man who had once committed defamation by stating a fact¹—calling Hong Jin a ball-less eunuch—was dragged away. Watching him go, the second man—the one who had claimed they had never met—swallowed hard.

“Um, Comrade Hong. I think there’s been some misunderstanding…”

“Who’s your comrade?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you know me? And what misunderstanding? Drag this traitorous bastard to the jail and throw him in.”

Watching everything unfold at lightning speed right before my eyes, I murmured to myself.

There’s going to be a bloodbath.

I couldn’t even guess how many would die. Hundreds? Thousands?

Or tens of thousands, like last time?

And once the traitors who weren’t here today and their families were counted, the purge would be massive.

“Do you pity them?”

At the Emperor’s sudden question, I gave a small shake of my head.

“Those bastards committed crimes worthy of death. Of course they should pay for it. It’s just…”

“You’re worried that people with nothing to do with the treason will be sacrificed.”

“……”

“It cannot be helped. The law of the land must be upheld, especially where treason is concerned.”

“I know. I understand.”

Revenge begets revenge.

If someone survived the purge with a grudge and plotted for the future, they could become the seed of another disaster.

Just as the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord had.

“But there may be exceptions.”

My eyes widened at the unexpected declaration.

“You mean…”

“Make every cause and connection crystal clear, and spare at least those who are innocent. That was what Bao’er² asked of Me just now.”

The Emperor added with a faint smile, “It was also his first request of Me as Imperial Younger Brother and as My brother.”

“……!”

“That boy will become a sage king who brings about an age of peace. He will care for his people more than anyone, and they will love him in return.”

Had this man always smiled so much?

The Emperor, whose face had always been cold and gloomy, looked much brighter now.

His eyes rested on Prince Shangshan—or rather, Zhu Bao, now the Imperial Younger Brother—as the boy met his gaze and awkwardly bowed his head. The warmth in the Emperor’s eyes was impossible to hide.

Even the Emperor is still just an older brother, in the end.

I gave a quiet snort and said, “That’s right. He’ll definitely be a sage king.”

“He is also highly skilled in martial arts. One day he will cross the Great Wall and conquer the vast grasslands, the lost lands of the Northern Sea, and the deserts as well.”

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Um. Nothing. It’s possible.”

I wanted to ask what martial arts had to do with any of that, but I held back.

Why was I starting to think of Jin Wikyung?

“Indeed. Entirely possible.”

“Of course.”

“And that is not all. He will build cities of gold and establish a great empire that will endure for a thousand years.”

“……A thousand years is a bit…”

“Do you think that’s impossible right now?”

No, even if I thought about it as hard as I could, that seemed a bit much.

But the Emperor’s eyes narrowed. I swallowed the words on the tip of my tongue and showed off my dazzling reflexes.

“I just thought you were aiming a little low. I was thinking ten thousand years.”

“Ten thousand years is impossible.”

“……”

“Perhaps it’s because you’re a Murim practitioner, but you do have a rather fanciful streak. You should try to develop a more realistic outlook.”

This son of a bitch.

I’d tried to play along, and he’d gone all serious on me. I was left speechless. Just then, a hand discreetly poked me in the side.

Poke.

I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

I tamped down my anger at the Emperor and moved my lips.

—Don’t worry. Even if I am a Madman, do you really think I’d beat up the Emperor?

Jeok Cheongang replied through Sound Transmission.

—You’re certainly capable of it, but that’s not what I meant.

—If that’s not it, then… don’t tell me—

I turned, eyes wide, and Jeok Cheongang nodded gravely.

—You’re going to hit him yourself, Old Master?

—……

—Good heavens, have you gone senile again? You can’t. If you lay a hand on the Emperor, it’s over for all of us. If he gets pissed off at us and cozies up to Dark Heaven, we won’t have a Great Nation anymore. We’ll have a Dark Heaven Nation. With Hell thrown in.

I was still desperately trying to talk him out of it, like a missionary at Yeongdeungpo Station shouting that believers go to Heaven and unbelievers go to Hell, when Jeok Cheongang gave me a withering look and jerked his chin over my shoulder.

—Before I pluck those dog eyes out, look who’s waiting behind you.

I turned. In the distance stood someone watching us with calm, still eyes.

The Bow Saint.

The instant our gazes met, the relief and joy that had surrounded me seemed to wash away.

An inexplicable chill seeped deep into my lungs.

—So it was you.

The question I had yet to answer—and that voice—lingered faintly in my ears like a breeze at dawn.

—The chosen one the Martial God spoke of.

What had she meant? What truth lay behind those words?

My gaze wavered despite myself.

The Bow Saint gave me a slight nod, then quietly turned and began walking.

Toward somewhere out of sight of the crowd.

Toward a secluded place where she could reveal the secret she had kept until now.

I followed the Bow Saint without a word.

As if to prove that the battle in the grand banquet hall had not been the whole of it, bodies and blood that no one had yet cleared away lay throughout the once-clean, spacious imperial palace.

Still, no one stopped me and the Bow Saint as we crossed the palace at an unhurried pace.

If anything, people hesitated, then bowed and stepped aside.

They recognized us.

They knew who we were, and which side we had fought on—the Emperor’s or the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord’s.

But unlike them, I still didn’t know.

I didn’t know what the Bow Saint’s cryptic words meant, or much of anything about the figure shrouded almost entirely in mystery.

The Martial God.

A peerless hero born of the Great Faction War, who had appeared out of nowhere one day and vanished just as suddenly.

No—he had become the very sky looking down upon all of Murim.

People said there had never been anyone like the Martial God, and there never would be again.

There were mighty figures known as the Three Saints and the Ten Kings, but the Martial God stood in a realm none of them could reach.

That was why they called him the sky. A god.

But…the Martial God was gone now.

The symbol and center of Murim had vanished like a phantom just after disbanding the Murim Alliance.

As though he had never existed.

As though he’d been waiting for this to happen from the beginning.

As the years passed after his sudden disappearance, rumors sprang up like weeds.

Some said he had died after failing to recover from the internal injury he sustained in his final life-and-death duel with the Heavenly Demon. Others said he was spending the rest of his life in some remote mountain valley.

And that wasn’t all.

Some claimed that, having attained enlightenment, he had finally become an immortal.

There were plenty of wilder rumors, too: that the Martial God had always been something like a divine beast protecting the Central Plains, and would never appear in human form again.

With so many mysteries surrounding him, the Martial God had always been a fascinating subject.

The tales of his deeds sounded like myths and legends.

Even to those who had seen him up close. And to me.

And yet…

For that Martial God to come up so suddenly.

I hadn’t seen so much as the Martial God’s little finger, but the mere mention of his title made every hair on my body stand on end.

Now that we had reached our destination and stopped, the feeling was stronger than ever.

Rustle.

The deep night was giving way to dawn.

Even the sound of wet grass brushing against us had a chill to it. The Bow Saint slowly looked around, then spoke without turning.

“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”

She looked like a young woman barely into her thirties, but the Bow Saint was an old master who had lived through ages beyond my imagining.

I answered with the respect she was due.

“Yes.”

“I remember you charging at me as though you meant to kill me. It left quite an impression.”

The Bow Saint reached out and lightly tapped a flower bud that had yet to bloom.

Countless rare and beautiful plants filled this place. It was the same abandoned space where she and I had met a few days ago.

“Whenever I felt troubled, I would come here for a walk. People treated it as forbidden ground, so there wasn’t so much as an ant around.”

“Then that day, too…”

“That’s right. Something was troubling me. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t reach a conclusion, so I came here to walk and think.”

The Bow Saint turned. Her eyes curved like crescents, but the gaze within them was grave and still.

“You were the chosen one the Martial God spoke of, someone who was supposed to possess the supernatural powers to escape even death…so why are you in an irrecoverable state?”

“……!”