Within the vast, majestic great hall of the Demon Alliance.
All the Demon Alliance's principal figures had gathered below the empty jade throne in their absent master's hall.
“Did you find him?”
Cha Pyeong-in, the Literary Wheel, asked from the place closest to the seat of honor where the throne stood.
“The sudden landslide on the day of the incident left the entire area in ruins. Not a single trace remained.”
Wood Banner Captain Oh Chi-yeong could not bring himself to raise his head and answered like a condemned man.
“Ha!”
The Literary Wheel let out a hollow laugh.
Irritated creases formed on his pale, thin skin, translucent enough to show blue veins, sharpening his already sensitive-looking eyes.
As though a headache had struck, the Literary Wheel pressed his palm hard against the corner of his eye and spoke.
“I should have been there.”
Why in the world, for an event as important as the Grand Martial Conference, had the Alliance Leader taken not him, the Demon Alliance's Strategist!
But the reckless Martial Wheel and the Wood Banner Captain, who knew nothing of the ways of the martial world?
It was not that he regretted missing some insignificant Grand Martial Conference.
The Literary Wheel was beside himself with displeasure that, simply because Wuchang, where the Grand Martial Conference had been held, was close to the place where the Alliance Leader had disappeared, those who had attended the conference were left in charge of searching for him.
Oh Chi-yeong silently accepted the obvious reproach, but Cheol Myeong-hwan did not.
“We searched every inch of the hills outside Hanchuan where it happened! We searched all the way to Xiaogan County without even stopping to eat or sleep!”
His indignant shout rang through the great hall.
“Deputy Captain!”
Oh Chi-yeong tried to stop him, but who was Cheol Myeong-hwan?
He was the man who had done something insane even before that terrifying Alliance Leader, smashing his forehead against the dirt!
“The area where the Alliance Leader disappeared is a complete mess right now, crawling with those red-eyed Martial Alliance bastards and sightseers from Wuchang! If you knew how much we suffered in a place where it was hard to take even one safe step... you would not say such a thing!”
“And?”
“What?”
The Literary Wheel regarded the questioning Cheol Myeong-hwan coldly.
“Did you produce any meaningful results?”
“...That is.......”
“Surely you are not trying to say that effort can be compared to ability as a measure of worth?”
Was the notion that the process mattered more than the outcome not merely shallow self-consolation fit for hypocritical righteous sect bastards who would die for appearances?
“And you were the Wood Banner Deputy Captain, were you not?”
“That... is correct.”
“How dare a mere deputy captain intrude upon our conversation? Do not think it was your own ability that allowed you to behave rudely before the Alliance Leader and remain standing. That outcome was solely the product of a momentary whim on his part.”
Perhaps sensing the contempt in that gaze, Cheol Myeong-hwan's face flushed red, then blue.
“Literary Wheel! You criticized the righteous sects and the Martial Alliance for being so hidebound, yet it seems you enjoy enforcing a hierarchy just as much as they do.......”
SWISH—!
Before he could finish, Cheol Myeong-hwan's eyes widened at the object flying toward the space between his brows.
It was already too late to dodge!
As Cheol Myeong-hwan hesitated over what to do, someone moved in his stead.
CLANG—!
“Literary Wheel, what is the meaning of this?”
After batting away the iron-ribbed fan with his scabbard, Oh Chi-yeong glared ahead.
The Literary Wheel answered with a perfectly composed expression, as though he had done nothing wrong.
“Many people mistakenly believe that because the demonic path and the unorthodox path are unrestrained, they place no importance on hierarchy. However.”
The Literary Wheel jerked his head sideways at the subordinate who had retrieved his fan after it flew away and tumbled across the floor.
With ribs forged from iron and jewels set into it, the fan was a treasure in its own right, but.......
Would Cha Pyeong-in ever use something another person had touched?
Without sparing another glance for the fan being taken away like trash, Cha Pyeong-in continued.
“It is precisely because the Black Path gathers those who charge ahead without setting limits that the distinction between superior and subordinate must be all the clearer. The righteous sects are mocked because they divide that hierarchy by vesting power in rank itself.”
Were they not different?
Their divisions were clear, but anyone strong enough could cross the line and rise above it.
“Insubordination cannot be tolerated. It is not because I am the Demon Alliance's Strategist and the Literary Wheel, but because I am stronger than the Wood Banner Unit's deputy captain and play a greater role in the Demon Alliance.”
And the same applied to Oh Chi-yeong, the Wood Banner Captain.
He would let it pass this far out of respect for a subordinate who had recently enjoyed unprecedented favor from the Alliance Leader, but it was a warning that he would show no mercy if Oh Chi-yeong overstepped his station once more.
Oh Chi-yeong raised his lowered gaze.
“Everything the Literary Wheel says is correct. But surely there is a proper measure in all things?”
“The righteous path within the demonic path, you say.”
The Literary Wheel muttered in disbelief, but this time Oh Chi-yeong did not back down.
“The demonic path must have a righteousness befitting the demonic path. Just as people walk the righteous path, is the demonic path not also a road walked by people? Thus, even if our Deputy Captain was indeed at fault, was the move the Literary Wheel unleashed just now not too harsh?”
Had Oh Chi-yeong not deflected it, Cheol Myeong-hwan would have been badly injured.
The words came smoothly enough, but perhaps he might never have seen Cheol Myeong-hwan's intact face again.
“But the Wood Banner Captain moved, and no one was injured. Moreover, we all learned a valuable lesson, so the outcome was not bad, was it?”
As though to say it had all been included in his calculations.......
At his expression asking whether that was not enough, Oh Chi-yeong ground his molars.
The Literary Wheel met Oh Chi-yeong's gaze and moved his fingertips.
His fingertips touched the flexible sword worn around his waist like a belt.
The moment the Literary Wheel uncoiled the supple blade and took it in hand, the situation would hurtle irretrievably toward the worst possible outcome.
Just as the air in the great hall stretched taut and the tension grew so thick that breathing became difficult.
“This is not the time for us to fight among ourselves.”
Gi Yun-cheong, the Law Wheel, intervened.
Only then did they notice that the great hall had split into two groups: the established central faction led by the Literary Wheel, and the emerging faction centered on the Wood Banner Captain, who currently enjoyed the Alliance Leader's newfound favor.
“You make it sound as if we have an enemy outside?”
Oh Chi-yeong pressed a hand to his forehead as Cheol Myeong-hwan sneered again despite having nearly died moments ago.
The Law Wheel curved his pale brown eyes gently and nodded.
“Indeed, we have no particular reason to care even if the Martial Alliance barks in every direction. But when it concerns not the Demon Alliance, but the Alliance Leader's whereabouts, is there not one other place we cannot simply ignore?”
“Ah!”
Only then did everyone gathered in the great hall simultaneously recall another vast military organization secluded within the martial world.
“The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!”
Someone's murmur spoke for them all.
The Martial Alliance and Demon Alliance might currently divide the martial world beneath heaven between them, but.......
They could not disregard the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult crouching within the Hundred Thousand Mountains at the southernmost edge of the land.
They existed without ruling, a proud river flowing alongside history.
They were a wall as majestic as Mount Tai.
Of course, it was not as if no one had ever doubted the Divine Cult's strength and tried to provoke it.
It was simply that none of those who entered the Hundred Thousand Mountains in Guangxi to find out ever emerged again.
Nourished by countless corpses, the Hundred Thousand Mountains spread ever lusher branches and unfurled new leaves.
Now and then, a stone that tumbled down from the Hundred Thousand Mountains rolled into the martial world and threw all beneath heaven into chaos, but most vanished soon after earning infamy.
Many whispered that the Divine Cult had hunted down and killed the traitors who left the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The righteous sects whispered that much of the Demon Alliance Wi So-baek founded was filled with people who had followed him out of the Divine Cult, and that the Divine Cult must now be a hollow, meaningless organization, but who could say?
The handful who had actually left the Divine Cult merely snorted at such talk.
“When the Alliance Leader is present, the Divine Cult is merely an inconvenient neighbor. When he is absent, it is a calamity that could descend upon the martial world at any moment. Do not imagine that calamity will spare us alone.”
By the time the Law Wheel finished speaking, a grave silence had settled over the great hall.
“Then what should we do?”
Someone asked.
The Law Wheel swept back his pale hair, as light in color as his eyes, and spoke.
“We must find the Alliance Leader.”
And so they returned to where they had begun.
At least no quarrel broke out this time.
In the silence, everyone sank into their own thoughts and racked their brains.
Amid groans of anguish from all around, Ga Jeong-hak, the Martial Wheel, who had been standing back as if none of this concerned him, clicked his tongue.
“Fools.”
Chief Administrator Yeo-hwa, who stood beside Ga Jeong-hak, turned to him.
They spoke freely now that each had realized the other knew the truth the Alliance Leader had not revealed.
“What they should be worrying about right now isn't the Alliance Leader's disappearance or what the Divine Cult might do. It's whether the world itself will survive. None of them seems to realize that.”
Ga Jeong-hak shrugged, and the corners of Yeo-hwa's eyes, laden with sorrow, trembled.
Based on all the information gathered thus far, it was highly likely that Martial Alliance Leader Jang Se-jin was dead.
Yeo-hwa knew how dearly the Alliance Leader cherished him.
And so, having lost the sworn younger brother he cared for so much, could the Alliance Leader truly......
Yes, could he possibly remain sane?
And did anything beneath heaven exist that could stop the greatest under heaven if he ran amok?
The two swallowed dryly at the same time.
Just imagining it sent a chill down their spines.
“He will be all right.”
Yeo-hwa murmured, and Ga Jeong-hak sighed in agreement.
“Please.”
“Yes, please.”
They nodded and prayed again and again.
***
Meanwhile, the Demon Alliance was not alone.
Wi So-baek, the very man shaking the world beneath heaven.
“Love.”
“Huh?”
“You asked how I plan to raise your big brother.”
He was having a serious conversation with a six-year-old girl.
A-ri dug a forefinger into her ear, wondering whether she had heard him correctly.
Love?
Loooove?
“My big brother likes meat and white rice! Pretty clothes look good on him too.”
“I see.”
When Wi So-baek replied without much emotion, A-ri's brow furrowed.
At first, it had been fascinating to see the beggar mister turn into a handsome young master unlike anyone she had ever seen, but that was as far as it went.
A-ri wanted to know what kind of person her big brother's father was and with what resolve he had come to Huaming Escort Bureau to take care of her brother.
But looooove?
“You can't eat it or wear it. A-ri doesn't think shapeless things are important. Everything has to be real so you can touch it, fill your belly with it, or try it on!”
A-ri looked up at Wi So-baek as she complained.
Her gaze now plainly demanded that he hand over what he possessed, and Wi So-baek tilted his head.
He was offering the very thing that had been hardest for him to obtain as an absolute ruler of all beneath heaven and that he had come to treasure most, yet he could not understand why the little girl continued to sulk.
“My wish is to run a dumpling shop with your big brother.”
When Wi So-baek spoke with complete sincerity, A-ri pressed her rabbitlike front teeth into her lower lip and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
Her big brother.
He had the worst luck.
“Hng.”
As tears spilled in drops from A-ri's eyes, Wi So-baek silently looked down at her.
A-ri then spread both arms.
When he remained still, she stepped closer this time as though asking to be held.
In the end, Wi So-baek lifted A-ri in an awkward embrace.
“Why are you crying? Hmm, do you miss your big brother? I heard he went to the martial academy. Shall we go meet him and take the opportunity to look around the place?”
A-ri nodded at Wi So-baek's question.
Wi So-baek walked toward the main gate with A-ri in his arms, then stopped and looked somewhere.
When A-ri tried to raise her head to see what it was, Wi So-baek pressed the child's head firmly against his chest.
“It is nothing.”
Once he said that, A-ri lost interest and remained still.
After Wi So-baek left through the main gate with A-ri, Yu Cheol-sam, an Escort Captain of Huaming Escort Bureau who had been hiding behind a pillar, clutched his chest and sank to the ground.
“W-what was that? How can someone's gaze feel like it could split me in half? I thought he knew no martial arts?”
Yu Cheol-sam trembled all over, unaware that drool was running from the corner of his mouth as he muttered.