Chapter 100: Zhuge’s Move (3)

Zhuge Household, Internal Affairs Pavilion.

Zhuge Yeon stared at the report in utter disbelief.

"One of Second Young Master’s men was found hanging at the foot of Mount Longzhong with a nail driven through his head?"

"Yes, Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord."

The person kneeling before her wore pale robes.

He was not a martial artist.

He was a strategist from the strategist corps—the branch of the Zhuge Household that served as its brain.

"...It never seemed like my two older brothers were on such terrible terms."

"That is correct. It was closer to an honorable rivalry..."

There were only three possible answers.

The First Young Master had made a move against the Second Young Master.

The Second Young Master had staged the whole thing to frame the First Young Master.

Or a third party had intervened.

But who would have anything to gain from deciding who became the next Family Head of the Zhuge Household?

To begin with, she controlled the Zhuge Household’s flow of money.

Why else would she spend every day of her life stamping seals from dawn to dusk?

Every promissory note, every check, every ingot of silver, every contract stopped in front of her for approval before it ever reached the Family Head.

That was what it meant to be the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord.

In practice, it made her no different from the mistress of the household.

Which meant that the Zhuge Household’s real power came from the Family Head and the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord anyway.

Besides, the Family Head can’t just change suppliers on a whim.

Every material the Zhuge Household used had to be suitable for mechanisms and formations.

And how common could materials like that possibly be?

High-grade materials of that sort were not only expensive, they only came from a limited number of places.

In other words, even if someone wanted to switch suppliers and funnel profit to another merchant, it was impossible from the start.

More than anything—

Let us say such a merchant existed.

Would they really dare stick their neck into a succession struggle inside one of the Five Great Households?

The Zhuge Household might not be known first for military might, but it was still one of the Five Great Households.

Their Great Heavenly Star Art and their signature martial art, the Ascending Heaven Flying Dragon Sword, were not toys.

Of course, it was true that the family’s strength leaned heavily toward strategists.

In the end, the Family Head of the Zhuge Household was chosen not by the sword, but by leadership.

But did that mean the Great Heavenly Star Art was not a profound heart method?

Did it mean the Ascending Heaven Flying Dragon Sword was not a supreme martial art?

No one in the martial world would dare say such a thing.

It was only that the talented members of the Zhuge bloodline tended to devote themselves to strategy and mechanism-formations.

That did not diminish the quality of their martial arts.

It was only that the Zhuge bloodline tended to enjoy reading books.

That did not mean the martial arts passed down through the family were crude.

"...For now, tell them to tighten the perimeter even further. Activate every mechanism and formation we normally leave dormant in peacetime as well. Restrict all entry by outsiders, and any guest who comes specifically to see me is to be reported to me separately. I’m going to the Family Head now."

"To the Family Head?"

"He may be in closed-door training, but what else can I do? In the worst case..."

Zhuge Yeon let out a long sigh.

"If this turns into my two brothers drawing blood over the Family Head’s seat, then the Family Head may truly have to step in personally and settle it."

*****

A few days earlier.

Inside the Namgung Household Family Head’s Office.

Namgung Hyeong sat across from an old man.

A man who had once been the former master of the Kill Veil, and who, at some point, had vanished without a trace.

When the Alliance Leader had been elevated as the Sword Sovereign, this man’s title had been reduced to the Dark Emperor...

A legendary assassin once known in the previous generation as the Dark Sovereign.

"I do not doubt that you are the Dark Emperor."

"Wise of you. Heh heh heh."

"And you wish to avenge the one who killed your disciple?"

"Is that not a fine justification? To kill someone, after so long?"

Namgung Hyeong swallowed dryly.

The old man before him was not sane.

Yes... to reach that realm as an assassin, a man would have to cast normal things aside.

Humanity, for instance.

Or common sense.

"So who was it?"

"I do not know for certain. I only heard the story secondhand."

"You do not know for certain?"

The Dark Emperor sneered at him.

Then he rose slowly from his seat.

And released his presence.

"...Ghk, khk!"

Murderous intent exploded outward.

The savage pressure that crushed the very air slammed Namgung Hyeong down into his chair.

He gagged, unable to breathe.

Namgung Hyeong might have been a master in the middle stage of Transcendent Apex.

But his opponent was the Dark Emperor.

An assassin who had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm.

The force pouring from that shriveled old man with his wasted limbs was impossible to believe.

"Though this old man never reached the Mysterious Realm, and so never underwent rejuvenation..."

Every word made the murderous intent thicken.

Cold sweat poured from Namgung Hyeong’s brow and the back of his neck like rain.

That murderous pressure was aimed at him, and him alone.

It felt as though his heart would stop.

"If I wished, I could have your little brats buried with their heads and bodies in separate graves."

"Th-that, that is, khk...!"

"I know that your Namgung Household’s Night-Heaven Hall uses the martial arts of the Kill Veil."

The Dark Emperor.

A man with no known name.

No one had ever truly seen his face.

No one had ever evaded his attack or faced him head-on.

That was why people called him the Dark Emperor.

Killing Namgung Seon?

For an assassin who had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm, it would be as easy as wringing a chicken’s neck.

If he wished to rampage until Namgung Ak, the Sword Sovereign, arrived, then he could rampage to his heart’s content.

Perhaps...

No one would even be able to send Namgung Ak a cry for help.

Because everyone would be dead before they knew what had happened.

That was the kind of existence the Dark Emperor was.

An ordinary martial artist, no matter how powerful, could never act that recklessly.

Wanted posters with his face and name would be plastered all across the Central Plains by morning.

But the Dark Emperor was different.

No one in the world knew his real face or his true name.

If he simply took off his mask and martial robes and slipped into a crowd of commoners...

No one, no one at all, would ever find him.

"B-but I truly only heard it from someone else!!"

"Speak."

"Shaolin, the Shaolin monk Gong-eop, and Mount Hua’s Third Generation disciple, Cheon Soyak..."

"Shaolin’s Gong-eop and Mount Hua’s Third Generation disciple?"

The Dark Emperor poured out even denser murderous intent.

Namgung Hyeong was on the verge of blacking out.

In the end, he forcibly stirred the internal energy of the Azure Sky Heart Method.

"Ghk, huff, huff, HRAAAK...!!"

At that very moment, the Dark Emperor’s hand came down on Namgung Hyeong’s shoulder.

The murderous pressure crushing his body vanished cleanly.

But the fear did not.

If anything, it only grew worse.

When Namgung Hyeong looked up—

The Dark Emperor was staring down at him with eyes that gleamed with terrible violence.

"I will move personally and confirm it. If you have lied, be prepared."

All Namgung Hyeong could do was nod.

That was all.

*****

At the main gate of the Zhuge Household.

Beneath the grand signboard, martial artists stood on guard with severe expressions, watching every direction.

It suited a place where grim business had taken place.

Only after they had come all the way here did Eunsong finally set Soyak down.

Soyak had asked several times along the way to be let down.

Eunsong had ignored her every time.

He needed to preserve her strength.

A man had already died here once.

There was no guarantee there would not be a second victim.

And while carrying someone like Soyak on his back barely cost Eunsong any strength at all...

Soyak was slight of frame, with a body that had never been able to build much muscle.

For a child like her, even a single extra chance to rest mattered.

"...I asked you four times to put me down."

"And I told you no four times."

With a small grin, Eunsong reached out and patted Soyak on the head.

She was not even five feet tall.

Soyak blinked and looked up at her master.

"So build up your stamina."

"That is exactly what I intend to do, whether you say it or not."

Right about then, one of the martial artists guarding the front gate began walking toward them.

His left hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

"What business do you have here? The Zhuge Household is currently not admitting outsiders—"

"I already heard on the way in, down by the foot of Mount Longzhong. Someone died, didn’t they?"

"...How did you hear that?"

"I came to see the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord."

"Ah."

If a guest had come to see the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord, the gatekeepers would naturally have let them through.

And once they did, that guest would inevitably see the corpse.

At that point, they could not help but ask, and the guards could not help but answer.

Since the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord would tell them the same thing anyway, there was no point in stubbornly refusing.

"The Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord has already instructed us to report separately anyone who comes specifically to see her. May I ask your names?"

"I am Eunsong, a second-generation disciple of Mount Hua. This is my disciple, Cheon Soyak."

"Understood. I will report your arrival and return with her answer. Please wait here a moment."

The guard clasped his fist and bowed, then turned and ran into the estate grounds.

He would likely be back before long.

Until then, all they had to do was stand there and wait for a moment.

There was nothing difficult about that, and Eunsong did not expect anything troublesome to happen.

That was, until he saw the First Young Master of the Zhuge Household walking out through the front gate with grief written across his face.

"Who are you people?"

The shout was half a challenge.

It was the instinctive suspicion reserved for outsiders.

Eunsong narrowed his eyes.

Then, skipping any greeting or formal salute, he answered flatly.

"I am Eunsong, a second-generation disciple of Mount Hua. I came to see Zhuge Yeon, the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord of the Zhuge Household."

"My youngest sister? For what purpose?"

"That is something I will tell the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord."

The First Young Master, Zhuge Cheokwol, frowned.

By nature, he was a coolheaded and composed man.

But right now, he was simply a man who had lost the guard and friend who had stood beside him since childhood.

"And why can you not tell me?"

Zhuge Cheokwol stepped squarely across the gate.

Then he declared,

"Something you cannot tell me, yet you intend to say to my sister? You think I would let suspicious people like that into the household?"

"The Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord does not answer to the First Young Master. I have something I must discuss with her directly—"

"Enough."

It was unreasonable.

But he was being pushed hard enough now that he had to be unreasonable.

Eunsong, however, did not lose his ease in the slightest.

If anything, he welcomed that response.

He’s trying to protect Zhuge Yeon.

That meant he did not suspect his own flesh and blood.

If he had suspected the Second Young Master, then he would probably not have had attention to spare for Eunsong at all.

He was rejecting Eunsong because he suspected the hand of an outsider, not because he believed this was the work of family.

Then Zhuge Cheokwol pointed at Soyak.

And sharply pressed the point.

"Seeing as whatever this is can be said in front of some little girl who knows nothing of the world, it cannot be all that important. If you tell me, I may let you through. Otherwise, I cannot."

"This child is—"

"Surely you are not saying that I, the First Young Master of the Zhuge Household, should hear of something involving the Zhuge Household after some outsider girl, Master Eunsong."

There was no reasoning with him.

Just as Eunsong let out a long sigh—

Soyak spoke.

"It is not a matter concerning the Zhuge Household."

"...What?"

"It concerns me. My master came to the Internal Affairs Pavilion Lord of the Zhuge Household because of something related to me."

It overturned the very premise of the conversation.

As Zhuge Cheokwol faltered, Soyak used his own logic to drive in the final nail.

"...Does the First Young Master truly intend to pry into the secret of a little girl?"

It was checkmate.