Seong blinked, then his eyes lit.

“...Come to think of it... it is strange.”

There was one crucial thing missing from Jang Icheong’s stratagem.

Justification.

Dress it up however you like, the core reduces to this:

“A Cheonsusa of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance assaulted Wunguk’s magistracy and killed government troops.”

But if those “troops” were in fact Green Forest bandits? And if that could be proven?

Then Unhwi had, on the contrary, rendered a service to the state.

Left to run its course, it might have caused a certain stir, but Unhwi had the power to overturn all of it.

No need to reach far—just send a single letter to the Everlasting Snow Palace. The contents would be simple.

Ask Lord Seol Jungcheon to put in a word with the imperial house of Wunguk, and he would dispatch a letter at once.

That message wouldn’t need to be complicated.

Restrain yourselves—something no more than that.

This was of a slightly different nature than leaning on his birth palace’s might.

As martial men, who doesn’t see that all of this is someone’s scheme? Why dance to it?

Let the parties settle it in a life-and-death duel like martial men should—that is what accords with reason.

Bluntly, if Wunguk, Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect, and the Everlasting Snow Palace all collided with full force, the martial world would be plunged into chaos. No one desires to blow the matter up that far.

This remains true even if Cheonrim’s influence reaches the Wunguk imperial house.

In the end, Jang Icheong’s “scheme” was so sloppy it hardly qualified as one.

Move the Wunguk court and collar him with a leash—without proper grounds? Laughable.

But if this un-scheme carried two real intents, the story changes.

The first intent was to gauge Unhwi’s level.

If Unhwi fell for the trick, he would indeed receive a letter from Wunguk’s imperial court and be mired in a tangle.

Whether he could break through from there or not—

That was the first intent. The second was that the scheme itself might be a decoy prepared for “something else.”

As he’d told Jang Icheong, the man had “something to say” to Unhwi—and didn’t say it.

That spoke to the second intent, and by meeting it with silence, from that moment Jang Icheong became Unhwi’s enemy—a fact beyond recall.

Unhwi had plainly given him a chance.

“Guests will be arriving before long.”

“...Guests, my lord?”

“Let’s make ready to receive them—and then we’ll have our drink.”

Unhwi turned his back, and the puzzled Seong followed after him.

***

The Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect’s Heartless Shadow Sword, Baek Mujin, entered Seongjakju exactly seven days ago from today.

Within Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect, he was a man second only to Jang Icheong in trust.

True to the epithet “Heartless Shadow Sword,” whether a matter was public or buried in the dark—if it had to be done, he would see it done one way or another.

Add to that a cultivation that had reached the Mythic Realm; the Heaven-and-Earth–class top-tier movement art Shadowless Divine Steps; and the martial art Profound Moon Severing Method, at the lower rung of the God of War grade—he was one of Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect’s sharpest blades.

Why had this man come to Seongjakju?

The precise timing of his entry was the day after Seol Unhwi took office as Seongjakju’s Heavenly Commissioner. That was seven days ago, and on the first day he simply watched the currents.

Then, when news reached him that Seol Unhwi had cowed the Seongjak Union and smashed the Green Forest stronghold on Seongrim Mountain—

He received a letter from the Sword Sect.

Its contents were as follows:

—Jang Icheong will draw Seol Unhwi’s eyes. In the meantime, break up the Seongjak Union and make him swallow the Thousand-Year Blood-Heart Gu to collar him.

Reading the letter, Baek Mujin understood at once.

What the board was, and what Jang Icheong and the Sword Sect wanted.

Yes.

The matter of the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds was a simple lure.

Draw Unhwi out of Seongjakju and handle the real work in the interim.

And the core of that plan was Baek Mujin himself—and, as ever, he moved in his usual way.

His first approach was to Jang Cheonun of the Gangcheon Wave-Saber Sect.

With skill at the Ipshin Realm, Jang Cheonun was a force within the Seongjak Union—but also the man with the greatest grievance against Unhwi.

Crushed by Unhwi once already, Jang Cheonun had seethed ever since.

It wasn’t only that the Union’s effective authority had been stripped away—his pride as a martial man had been trampled.

—Master Jang, are you really going to keep swallowing it like this?

When Baek Mujin slipped close, Jang Cheonun reacted as if he’d been waiting. Baek Mujin made his offer:

They would collar Heavenly Commissioner Seol Unhwi and turn him into a puppet—and Jang Cheonun would be given the right to pull that puppet’s strings.

Hearing Baek Mujin’s plan, Jang Cheonun leapt to his feet in delight.

Even now Baek Mujin couldn’t forget what he’d said.

—How can a dog of a bastard like Seol Unhwi be allowed to govern Seongjakju!? He’s not just reckless—he’s the dregs of humanity, utter garbage! If I can use the cur like a dog, I’ll stake even my soul!

Already leaning that way, Jang Cheonun brought along Nak Hae-wang of the Iron Ship Hall and Shin Nayoung of the Fragrant Flower Troupe.

They were the two most discontent after Jang Cheonun within the Seongjak Union—and, more importantly, both stood at the Harmonization Stage.

They were easily persuaded, heard the plan, and agreed.

Baek Mujin said,

—Remember well. The Seongjak Union will be reborn. Seol Unhwi will keep the Heavenly Commissioner seat, but he’ll be a puppet—and you will be the heads of the great organization that truly rules Seongjakju. Above all, Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect will stand with you—there is nothing to fear.

And that wasn’t all.

—This matter must be kept utterly secret. Above all, do not breathe a word of it to anyone within the Cheonrak Unit.

Naturally so.

—Pung Muhwi held the role of acting head of the old Seongjak Union, but he proved himself unfit to keep the post by submitting to a green whelp named Seol Unhwi. Therefore he will be killed—or crippled. I will take responsibility for that. Do not trouble yourselves.

With each turn of Baek Mujin’s tale, the traitors of the Seongjak Union laughed to themselves.

They were certain.

This would succeed.

By any common-sense measure, Seol Unhwi had already crushed Jang Cheonun—and Pung Muhwi as well.

What realms did those two stand in? Ipshin for the one, Mythic for the other.

Look only at the outcomes.

—None deny that the man’s reserves are beyond imagining, but he too has a weakness.

Baek Mujin’s eyes flashed.

—His inner energy differs in track from the usual energy we wield. Especially destructive force—that is his core. For a martial man at the Ogijo Level to touch one in the Four Realms of Heaven and Earth means he can pierce or contend with the vital energies of nature—but that is both his strength and his weakness.

Simple.

—His weakness is endurance. Drag out the fight, or press him with numbers, and he will have no choice but to collapse. Seong Yangho at his side is an Ipshin Realm martial man; I will handle him, or you will, Master Jang. Once Seol Unhwi falls, Seong Yangho must fall as well.

Just among the elite fighters Jang Cheonun, Nak Hae-wang, and Shin Nayoung brought were a full hundred men.

All were at least Yang-Gwang Ihyeon; among them, ten at the Ogijo Level, and twenty at Three Flowers Gathering Purity.

And that was not all.

Two at Harmonization Stage within the Seongjak Union, one at Ipshin Realm—and Baek Mujin himself at Mythic, of Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect.

On top of that, four Harmonization Stage fighters separately dispatched by Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect.

Those four were the Sect’s shadows—and Baek Mujin’s eventual successors.

Not some lesser ranks—no fewer than eight in the Four Realms of Heaven and Earth, with more than a hundred bodies to serve as meat-shields.

More than enough to face Unhwi and Commander Seong—enough to spill over.

The question was timing.

Everyone knew Cheonryong Hall was under renovation.

With even the training yard blasted to pieces, the Cheonrak Unit could not remain there; once Unhwi returned, they would, of course, head to Punggeomgak, and Unhwi would remain at Cheonryong Hall with Commander Seong.

In an inn on Seongjakju’s outskirts, Baek Mujin, Jang Cheonun, and the other traitors awaited the signal.

Time passed.

Today, Seol Unhwi and the Cheonrak Unit had returned.

Waiting for the “moment,” Baek Mujin thought to himself:

This plan is far more meticulous than it looks.

Lure Unhwi out, gut the inside, and strike the instant he returns to subdue him in one blow.

And if they then controlled him entirely with the Thousand-Year Blood-Heart Gu, it would be as good as seizing a trump card—the Heavenly Righteous Alliance’s Cheonsusa and the Everlasting Snow Palace’s prodigy.

What nagged at ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) him a little was this:

...Is this truly the scale required?

It was a fundamental doubt. Use the Green Forest to pull Seol Unhwi out, let him infer the false purpose of leveraging the court to control him, then, behind that, break up the Seongjak Union and, at the moment of his return, subdue him and collar him—

It wasn’t merely meticulous; it was near to perfect.

If he failed to notice it midway, he would be taken regardless—and truth be told, even if he did notice, little would change.

That—that was the puzzle.

He knew Seol Unhwi was formidable, but did the task truly demand this much?

Baek Mujin was a sharp blade of Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect, but he did not know everything.

Had he known they meant to wield Seol Unhwi as a blade to rebuild the Thousand-Year Demon Palace, he would have understood it all. But that was a fact known to only a very few even within Ihwa Sword Heaven Sect; there was no way Baek Mujin could know it.

You needed to be at least Jang Icheong’s level to have that clearance.

At that moment—

Bang!

The inn door flew open and a “beggar” with three tattered belts tied at his waist burst in at a run.

“Master Baek!”

The Tri-Knot Beggar panted hard and spoke in a rush.

“The Cheonrak Unit’s men have all followed Pung Muhwi to Punggeomgak. Right now, only Unhwi and Commander Seong remain at Cheonryong Hall!”

Baek Mujin’s eyes flashed. The long-awaited moment had come.

“Certain?”

“Yes! I confirmed it myself. The Cheonrak Unit’s column has completely vanished toward Punggeomgak.”

Perfect.

Baek Mujin rose to his feet and spoke.

“The time has come.”

He buckled his sword at his waist and strode slowly out of the inn.

“Tonight, Seongjakju will have a new master.”

Every head nodded.