Chapter 149: The End of Childhood (8)

It was a pain that felt as if it would never end.

Namgung Ak had clearly handled everything in a single instant.

It was not as if Namgung Hyeong had been steeped in Demonic Energy and eaten away by it.

There had been only one hair-thin strand, one tiny fragment of Demonic Energy lodged inside him.

And yet, for Namgung Hyeong...

The pain felt endless, as if it would go on forever.

“Hah, haah, h-heuuh...”

Cold sweat poured down his entire body like rain.

In his ears, the Young Cult Leader’s scream from the moment the Demonic Energy vanished circled like an auditory hallucination.

So much so that he could not answer even when Namgung Ak called him.

“...pull yourself together! I said, snap out of it!”

Only after Namgung Ak shouted four times did Namgung Hyeong finally look back at him.

Then he examined his own dantian again.

Thankfully, the Demonic Energy seemed to have been burned away completely.

“...Are you all right?”

“I am all right, Father.”

Namgung Hyeong staggered weakly to his feet.

He said he was all right.

He even somehow forced his tone to sound like usual.

But he could not hide the cold sweat soaking his collar, or his deathly pale complexion.

“If you are not all right, lie down.”

“...May I?”

Namgung Hyeong narrowed his eyes and looked at Namgung Ak.

His ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) father had never tolerated seeing him lie down in front of him unless it was time to sleep.

His reason had always been that an ordinary mediocrity, lacking in talent to begin with, would never improve if he even lay around in comfort.

If he was saying this now...

It meant one of two things.

Namgung Hyeong had already run up against the wall of talent and was past forty besides.

He had skill enough to receive the far-too-generous title of Sword King from his fellow martial artists.

So perhaps there was no real point in driving him further.

Besides, Namgung Ak already had an excellent game piece in Namgung Seon.

Namgung Seon would fulfill his dream for him.

And if not that...

It would mean he truly felt sorry for Namgung Hyeong’s pain.

Namgung Hyeong himself considered the possibility for a moment, then snorted inwardly.

His father was not that kind of man.

“Well, I will gratefully lie down.”

After that brief courtesy, Namgung Hyeong lay down on the long, soft chair meant for guests.

Namgung Ak sat in the chair directly across from him.

Then, stroking down his beard, he spoke as if muttering to himself.

“Has any more information come in about the former Heaven-Net Platform Lord, Flame-Saber Emperor Ak Jupae, turning to the Demonic Cult?”

“No. After entering the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, he appears to have shut himself away. There has not even been anyone who claims to have seen him.”

“He may simply have killed every witness.”

“There are no corpses either.”

The Flame-Saber Emperor’s Flame-Dragon Saber Canon was a blazing yang art accompanied by intense fire.

If he had killed someone with it, then even if the corpse had burned without leaving so much as ash, it would still have left traces.

Traces like a wildfire had swept through.

“There are not even any traces.”

“No footprints, no trail?”

“No. I have already sent Night-Heaven Wanderers.”

Namgung Ak frowned.

Night-Heaven Hall.

Its Hall Lord and Deputy Hall Lord were dead, and now only ordinary Wanderers remained.

Even so, that alone made them an excellent covert unit directly under the Family Head.

The Hall Lord and Deputy Hall Lord had merely been exceptional among them.

Every one of the others was loyal to the Namgung Household, and each was a master who had learned and used Kill Veil martial arts.

The same Kill Veil martial arts they had seized when they struck the Demonic Cult’s main base in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

“If they found nothing, there is a high chance there truly is nothing.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Then. What has become of Night-Heaven Hall’s Hall Lord and Deputy Hall Lord? Do you intend to choose new ones?”

Namgung Hyeong shook his head.

That decision seemed rather unexpected to Namgung Ak; one of his brows drew together.

“Since they died, it has actually become easier to control.”

“Oh...?”

“I am no assassin, so I do not know how to operate an organization of assassins. However...”

Namgung Hyeong glanced around them.

It meant Night-Heaven Wanderers were hidden even inside this Family Head’s Office.

Namgung Ak was not unaware of that.

But certainly, unless someone had reached his level or possessed a special talent for searching, they were hidden well enough to go unnoticed.

“I am the Family Head of the Namgung Household, a sword family, and I do know how to operate a guard unit.”

“You mean to change Night-Heaven Hall’s very nature.”

“We will not abandon information-gathering or disruption altogether. But the direction the Hall Lord and Deputy Hall Lord wanted, structuring the personnel mainly around that, made Night-Heaven Hall... how should I put it? Too independent.”

Namgung Hyeong nodded and continued.

“I was not particularly fond of that. It also made me uneasy.”

“A purge, then.”

“I did not kill them, but since I will not appoint replacements, one could call it a purge of positions and ranks.”

Namgung Ak thought in silence for a while, then nodded in return.

Namgung Hyeong’s decision was not bad.

At this point, there was no way to obtain talent on par with the former Hall Lord or Deputy Hall Lord, who had come from Kill Veil.

Besides...

“The Dark Emperor is dead, I hear.”

“Yes. It seems he was killed by Mount Hua Sword Emperor Jeonggang.”

“Then there truly is no one left to take charge of Night-Heaven Hall. Running it as an assassin group like before would be somewhat difficult.”

Their value had not existed solely in operating and managing an assassin group.

As people who had learned Kill Veil martial arts directly, from childhood, and at their essence, they had been given the role of “teacher.”

Because of that, the Night-Heaven Wanderers had learned not only Kill Veil martial arts.

They had also learned the conduct and mindset of assassins.

Those were elements Namgung Hyeong could not replace.

Likely, no one could replace them.

Even if the current Night-Heaven Wanderers taught Kill Veil martial arts to junior Wanderers who joined later...

Unless some extraordinary genius appeared, it would be difficult for them to surpass their seniors’ level.

In that way, Night-Heaven Hall would slowly change from an assassin group into a guard unit.

Not immediately, perhaps.

But as they lost people, as generations passed and the personnel changed.

If that was how it would end up, it was better to have them specialize as guards early on.

“You do not intend to use them only as guards, I assume.”

“They are far too useful for that, are they not?”

They were men who had learned directly from a disciple raised by the former Kill Veil Master.

Their value as assassins, at least for this generation, could be called more than sufficient.

“Good...”

“Is there someone you wish to kill?”

“I do not intend to watch anyone stand above Seon.”

Namgung Hyeong narrowed his eyes.

Which meant...

Namgung Ak intended to make sure that, in the coming future, Namgung Seon would become the number one martial artist under heaven.

Even if that meant killing his rivals early and cutting them down before they could sprout.

*****

A night under the new moon.

Mount Hua, too, was endlessly dark, just like the land below the mountain.

And among its grounds, the places where no lights were lit...

Were perfectly suited for hiding one’s body and approaching quietly.

“...Are you truly sure this is all right, Soyak?”

Cheonjeong whispered in a small voice.

There was no one nearby who could hear even that much.

Even so, Soyak lifted a finger to her lips, signaling that he should stay quiet.

Before the two of them...

Stood Myeongjeok’s residence.

It was an old-fashioned house roofed in tile, not large, but not exactly small either.

Fortunately, the house was empty.

There was not even a servant sweeping the yard, nor a maid tending the furnace.

Only a cold, bleak, silent darkness lay over the place.

It even gave the impression that no one lived there at all.

Soyak set her hand on the hilt of Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge at her left hip and slowly stepped into the yard.

Her senses for energy, sharpened to a sensitive edge, scraped together information from every direction.

The sound of grass insects. The sound of leaves shaking in the wind.

And yet...

From inside the house, she heard no sound of a person moving.

“...It really seems no one is here, Eldest Brother.”

“That would be fortunate, but...”

“It is not fortunate.”

Cheon Soyak slipped off her shoes and lightly stepped onto the wooden porch.

Then she slowly pushed several doors open with her shoulder.

There was no one inside.

It was the same after she opened every room that seemed likely to serve as a bedroom.

“Could you go check the ash in the furnace for me? Just once.”

“The ash?”

“Yes.”

Cheonjeong found it strange, but headed to the kitchen without argument.

The furnace was full of soot, as if it had once burned fiercely.

But that was all.

It had already cooled cold, without the slightest trace of warmth.

Cheonjeong reached inside the furnace and lightly rubbed the remaining ash.

The ash clumped together instead of crumbling.

Because of moisture.

“Soyak.”

Cheonjeong returned from the kitchen and called to Soyak, who was opening and checking the remaining doors.

Soyak’s black gaze turned toward him.

“Yes, Eldest Brother.”

“It seems no one has lived here for at least several days. The morning dew has made the ash clump and turn damp.”

“I thought that would be the case.”

Soyak let out a sigh.

There was no one here.

In other words...

Not only Eunbyeok, but even Myeongjeok had vanished without a trace.

“...Then it is as we thought, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Soyak looked around the empty house, then came back outside.

And answered firmly.

“It seems Great Grand Master Myeongjeok is currently serving as the Young Cult Leader’s host.”