The Martial Alliance’s Disciplinary Court.
Director Seomun Hoseong had been reading dispatches stacked as high as the table when his son’s report made him frown and look up.
Seomun Jingwang held the position of Warden-General within the Disciplinary Court.
As the title suggested, it was an important post overseeing every aspect of Heavenly Prison and the dungeons.
“What did you just say, Warden-General?”
In private, they were father and son. Inside the Director’s Hall, their relationship was official.
“I came to ask whether I may issue a Martial Duel Writ between Cheon Murin, who is imprisoned in Heavenly Prison, and Peng Jowi, the third son of the Hebei Peng Clan.”
“The Peng Clan’s third son? You mean that fool?”
“Yes. During the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering’s regular tour of Heavenly Prison, he suddenly became embroiled in a dispute with Cheon Murin…….”
Seomun Hoseong snapped the dispatch he had been reading shut and rose from his seat.
“Is this Cheon Murin not an ordinary man? I heard he was an inn attendant.”
“That is correct. He is merely an inn attendant, but the Chief Administrator recognized the danger of the Heavenly Kill Star and imprisoned him in Heavenly Prison.”
Seomun Hoseong nodded in silence.
He knew that a young man born under the Heavenly Kill Star had been captured.
How tense the Martial Alliance had become at the mere mention of that name.
Chief Administrator Jaegal Cheon had immediately thrown him into Heavenly Prison under the pretext of cutting down the grass and tearing out the roots.
Since the order had come from the Chief Administrator, who wielded authority second only to the Alliance Leader, the matter had proceeded without the slightest delay.
‘And he became embroiled in a dispute there?’
Seomun Hoseong sank into thought for a moment.
Then he spoke quietly.
“It seems the fool of the Peng Clan used his head for once.”
Seomun Jingwang’s expression showed his agreement.
“Yes. No matter how ominous the Heavenly Kill Star may be, he is still only an inn attendant. But if Peng Jowi defeats the Heavenly Kill Star…….”
“The Hebei Peng Clan’s prestige will rise. Even if it is only a tiger cub, one can still boast of having brought down a tiger.”
Seomun Jingwang bowed his head.
“With the Heavenly Balance Gathering so near, defeating the Heavenly Kill Star would bring him many advantages.”
The Heavenly Balance Gathering.
It was a tournament said to weigh candidates with the fairness of heaven and identify those destined to become the great talents of the future.
The evaluations encompassed not only martial duels, but also character, achievements, and many other qualities.
For that reason, every sect and clan competed fiercely to earn high marks.
“How amusing!”
Seomun Hoseong smiled faintly.
But the sight of that smile sent chills across Seomun Jingwang’s entire body.
When his father smiled like that, it meant he was in a truly foul mood.
Fool though Peng Jowi of the Hebei Peng Clan might be, he had secured the chance to fight the Heavenly Kill Star and thereby stolen a peerless opportunity from them.
“Did Jinwoo stand by and do nothing?”
Seomun Jinwoo.
He was Seomun Jingwang’s younger brother and Seomun Eunsul’s older brother.
He was habitually quiet and impossible to read, and he had said nothing during this disturbance either.
Seomun Jingwang smiled bitterly as he answered.
“You know how Jinwoo would have acted.”
Seomun Hoseong clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“Tsk! I told him that the Righteous Way does not consist of the Straight alone! Whether one chooses the Curved or the Roundabout, achieving justice requires flexibility. Yet that stubborn fool merely stood there and watched a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity pass him by!”
“What if we refuse to issue the Martial Duel Writ?”
Seomun Hoseong shook his head.
“What would the Hebei Peng Clan say then? Tsk. How do you expect me to contend with that troublesome old man when he rises in outrage?”
He spoke through gritted teeth.
Then, as though a question had suddenly occurred to him, he turned to Seomun Jingwang.
“More importantly, did this Cheon Murin fellow agree to the martial duel? He must be out of his mind!”
“That is…… He was closer to being the one who provoked it. I am certain he has never learned martial arts, but I do not know his reason.”
“They say the Heavenly Kill Physique itself drives its bearer mad, so he must truly be a lunatic! Even if the Peng Clan cast the boy aside, he is still a martial artist.”
“There is one thing that troubles me.”
“What is it?”
“The ancient monster Jin Mudo. He boasted that Cheon Murin would undoubtedly defeat Peng Jowi in one month.”
Seomun Hoseong’s gaze changed instantly.
“Jin Mudo did?”
“Yes. I expected the ancient monster to stop him, but he spoke with such confidence that I could not justify halting the martial duel…….”
“What is that mad old bastard plotting?”
Seomun Hoseong’s brow knotted sharply.
Jin Mudo could do nothing now. He was a mere spectacle used to demonstrate the Martial Alliance’s strength to its young talents.
But when one considered the atrocities he had committed over the course of a hundred years…….
‘Could it be?!’
Seomun Hoseong suddenly recalled a secret incident from thirty years ago.
A demon imprisoned in Heavenly Prison had escaped and thrown the entire Martial Alliance into chaos.
Roughly thirty Martial Alliance masters had died. Another twenty-five had suffered internal injuries severe enough to require long convalescence. It had been an incident of enormous magnitude.
‘He was a vicious demon, but he was never the sort to go berserk with his eyes bloodred and slaughter everyone in sight.’
He had been a cruel demon, but nothing more.
Even now, no one understood why such a man had shattered the bars of Heavenly Prison and gone on a killing spree in the middle of the night.
Naturally, Jin Mudo, who had been imprisoned alongside him, drew the greatest suspicion.
But what could a cripple do when his eyes had been gouged out, the tendons and meridians of his limbs severed, and his qi center destroyed?
The incident had therefore faded away without resolution.
‘Could it be……?’
Still, he could not deny the strange and deeply unsettling feeling in his gut.
“Jingwang.”
This time, Seomun Hoseong called his son’s name as a father.
“Yes, Father.”
“Issue the Martial Duel Writ.”
“Pardon?”
“What else can we do? They wish to fight, and it violates no regulation. Issue it.”
Seomun Jingwang bowed his head.
“Yes, Director.”
He did not know what his father was thinking.
Seomun Hoseong was known as a Formidable Hero of his age.
His power was fierce and keen, and he was widely renowned for his valor.
Yet those who truly knew him did not call him a Formidable Hero.
Instead, they called him the Brilliant Strategist—a strategic genius capable of devising exceptional schemes.
He must have conceived some extraordinary move just now.
“Then I will take my leave.”
Seomun Jingwang had just offered another respectful bow when his father spoke.
“Jingwang.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Jinwoo must be the next one to fight the Heavenly Kill Star. Do you understand?”
Seomun Jingwang’s eyes widened.
His father’s words meant……!
‘Father believes Peng Jowi will lose to Cheon Murin!’
It made no sense to anyone who considered it.
Then why had his father said such a thing?
“Do you understand me? Whatever means you must use, ensure that Jinwoo fights Cheon Murin.”
Seomun Jingwang hurriedly bowed his head.
“Understood.”
When Seomun Jingwang noticed that a smile had appeared on Seomun Hoseong’s lips, he concealed his confusion and withdrew from the Director’s Hall.
He could not begin to understand how the situation was unfolding.
Cheon Murin, a mere inn attendant, would defeat Peng Jowi, a direct-line disciple of the Hebei Peng Clan?
‘I truly cannot understand it!’
But that was not the immediate problem.
He first had to persuade his impossibly stubborn younger brother, Seomun Jinwoo, to fight Cheon Murin by any means necessary.
The thought alone already made his head feel ready to split.
***
“The blade of the Hebei Peng Clan is Mount Tai.”
Jin Mudo’s low voice resonated through the darkness.
“It means their blade is as heavy as Mount Tai and as immense as Mount Tai. There is nothing remarkable about their blade arts. They merely sweep and crush.”
He was teaching Murin about the Hebei Peng Clan.
Since Murin knew nothing whatsoever about the martial world, Jin Mudo first had to explain his opponent’s characteristics.
“I am telling you not to try to counter it. Do you understand?”
“I understand. But the Mad Heaven Demonic Art must have overwhelmed the Hebei Peng Clan’s martial arts. So I’ll simply keep walking my own path.”
Jin Mudo stared intently at Murin. The boy truly defied definition in a single phrase.
It certainly pleased him that Murin acknowledged the Mad Heaven Demonic Art, but the boy gave matters far too little thought.
‘No, has he already finished his calculations? As he said, once he learns the Mad Heaven Demonic Art, the Hebei Peng Clan’s blade arts will pose no problem. Have you already seen that far ahead?’
One thing Jin Mudo had learned about Murin was that the boy never thought in complicated or tangled ways.
That was not because he had a simple mind.
Rather, he was so brilliant that he assessed a situation in an instant.
It seemed the boy had already calculated the outcome of his fight against Peng Jowi.
Pretending otherwise, Jin Mudo tested him.
“That is true of the Mad Heaven Demonic Art I mastered, not the one you are still learning. You are little more than a greenhorn, so what gives you such confidence?”
Murin looked at Jin Mudo as if he could not understand the question.
“I’m not confident in myself. I believe it because you said so.”
“What?”
“If you weren’t confident I could win, you wouldn’t have asked Peng Jowi for a month. You know me well, and you know the Peng Clan. You must have had a clear reason for making that decision.”
‘Good heavens!’
Jin Mudo clicked his tongue inwardly.
The bastard’s way of thinking was undeniably different from that of an ordinary person.
Jin Mudo had made the judgment, so Murin need only follow it. His conclusion was both simple and perfectly lucid.
“So let’s stop this pointless argument. Even the time you spend testing me is a waste.”
Jin Mudo snickered.
He liked the boy’s refreshing directness.
“Very well! In any case, if I cannot trust you now, I will have no other chance! From this moment onward, you must endure Mount Tai.”
After a brief pause, Jin Mudo continued.
“You must withstand the fierce winds blowing through Mount Tai’s valleys, deflect boulders weighing a thousand catties as they fall upon your head, and evade the onslaught of stone blades pouring in from every direction. Otherwise!”
The smile had vanished from Jin Mudo’s lips.
In its place, a strange light flickered within his empty eye sockets.
“You will die at the hands of the Peng Clan.”
Peng Jowi would never be satisfied with merely forcing the Heavenly Kill Star to his knees.
He bore the humiliating epithet of the Hebei Peng Clan’s fool.
The best way to overturn that disgrace in a single stroke would be to butcher Murin, the Heavenly Kill Star, as brutally as possible.
There would be no mercy in his blade.
‘Endure, Murin! Even if the thousand-year-old Mount Tai comes crashing down upon you, you must stand firm and continue along your path!’
His revenge now rested upon this audacious bastard.
For its sake, Jin Mudo desperately hoped Murin would endure the coming ordeal.
“I will open the formation.”
As it happened, he had the perfect Formation Art for the task.
Mad Gale Crushing the Mountain.
One had to stand upon a sheer cliff at the edge of heaven, where the slightest movement threatened to send one plummeting.
There, one had to withstand the maddened blade winds raging from every direction and endure the pressure of Mount Tai bearing down from above. The formation was designed to complete the foundation of the Mad Heaven Demonic Art.
If Murin endured Mad Gale Crushing the Mountain, he would break through the first stage of the Mad Heaven Demonic Art.
SWISH―
Blade winds rose, and a vision of Mount Tai looming vast and pressing down unfolded before Murin’s eyes.