"The big deed was done by the Alliance Lord and Murin. I only helped."
"Who do you take for a fool."
Fla King Hwa Munyeom glared at Unhwi.
"Gun Mugyeol would not have co here for no reason. He would have intended to kill , and you and all your people as well, then swallow Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace and the Heavenly Alliance in one bite."
Unhwi did not answer.
Because Fla King Hwa Munyeom's guess was correct.
"While I served as Vice Lord of Mukse Society, I saw and heard much."
Fla King Hwa Munyeom continued.
"Gun Mugyeol is no gentleman. He is a hypocrite who will do anything for his own gain. He shouts justice on the outside, but on the inside he pursues only power and profit."
Unhwi looked the other way.
Far off, the martial artists of the Fla Fortress Division led by Hwa Muryeong were walking in, drenched in blood. Behind them, Seo Hyo, who had been disguised as a porter, followed along with the newly ford Heavenly Spirit Sword Division of the Heavenly Alliance.
They all looked plainly exhausted, but the joy of victory shone in their eyes.
Watching them, Unhwi spoke quietly.
"You do not need to worry about the Martial Alliance."
"And the Sichuan Alliance?"
"The sa applies."
Unhwi turned his head and looked at Fla King Hwa Munyeom. The two n's eyes t.
"I intend to hold the enthronent ceremony imdiately. Will that be acceptable?"
"Of course."
At Fla King Hwa Munyeom's answer without hesitation, Unhwi spoke at once.
"It will be very different from Mae Wuidong's ti."
"I know. That it will be different."
"..."
"But for now, you are still here, aren't you."
To be clear, Fla King Hwa Munyeom was no fool.
He belonged to the very clever sort.
This enthronent ceremony would proceed in a different direction from the ti Mae Wuidong took the seat.
Back then, the Heavenly Alliance had felt like it was living its last light, as if it would die at any mont, but now it had beco, in na and reality, one of the three great powers of the Central Plains.
When Mae Wuidong beca Alliance Lord, it had been a coalition barely holding its bloodline together. But the Heavenly Alliance, which now included the Five Sword Sects and the Four Demon Sects, was a massive force that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Martial Alliance and the Sichuan Alliance.
Of course, Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace's strength had weakened, but the weight only grew heavier with the ergence of Fla King Hwa Munyeom, who had been in seclusion.
Where did Fla King Hwa Munyeom co from.
Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace.
Dong Murin would beco Palace Lord of Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace with undeniable justification, and if Fla King Hwa Munyeom supported him from behind, who could claim the Heavenly Alliance had weakened?
"At the enthronent ceremony, every sect master of the Five Sword Sects, every sect master of the Four Demon Sects, and all the notable figures of the Central Plains will co. Are you prepared?"
At Unhwi's question, Fla King Hwa Munyeom smiled faintly.
"More than prepared."
Confidence overflowed in that smile.
During the years of seclusion, there were things he had prepared.
Unhwi nodded.
"Then may I ask you to handle the cleanup?"
"Cleanup?"
"Until Dong Murin grows into it, the Alliance Lord must guard his back."
At Unhwi's words, Fla King Hwa Munyeom nodded.
No matter how experienced Dong Murin was, he was still young.
And to lead an enormous organization like Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace, he inevitably needed the support of an elder like Fla King Hwa Munyeom.
"It sounds like you are telling to purge the old forces of Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace that will not follow willingly."
"You heard correctly."
Unhwi continued with an expressionless face.
"Is internal cleanup not essential for seizure of control."
"Do not worry."
Certainty filled Fla King Hwa Munyeom's voice.
"If he is Yuseong's son, of course I must guard him. Moreover, that child has already proven his qualification well enough."
To kill Shin Jueon's two sons, the ones who were to beco the next Palace Lord of Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace, all at once on his own was proof of talent in itself.
Unhwi nodded and looked up at the sky.
As the clouds parted, moonlight began to shine upon the earth again. The red rocks of Fla Demon Mountain were dyed silver.
As Unhwi stood there, Seo Hyo approached him.
Unhwi asked briefly.
"The cleanup?"
"It is all finished."
The aning of this delegation coming was, in the end, that all of the Heavenly Alliance people who followed Unhwi had co as well.
Shin Jueon and Gun Mugyeol both harbored thoughts of seizing the Heavenly Alliance, and he would let them be?
Rather than clean it up later, it was right to clean it up now, while the chance existed.
Whether by poison or by ambush.
In any case, the elite of Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace would move, and Unhwi had read the situation itself.
Which ant, conversely, that he had been prepared to strike back.
That Seo Hyo said it was all finished could only an one thing: they had killed them all, without leaving a single one.
"Good work."
Seo Hyo, drenched in blood, smiled slightly.
"It was hard work, but to be honest, I have not felt this fulfilled in a long ti."
With a puzzled expression, Unhwi turned his head.
"Well... you know as well as I do. When I was active as Cheonrim's Lord, I was filled with nothing but the feeling that I was cleaning up after Yucheong and Yang Seoljin."
The phrase "cleaning up after" was more direct than expected, but there was no word that could explain it more clearly.
Because he truly had been cleaning up after them.
Growing Cheonrim, hiding Cheonrim's dark side, earning money for them.
"But these days... I feel good."
Seo Hyo raised his right hand. Every part of it was stained with blood, yet it was clear he was looking at sothing other than blood.
"I am building. As of today, the Heavenly Alliance has fully beco one of the three great powers, and no one in the martial world will be able to deny it."
Unhwi understood his feelings.
But.
"It is one step."
"...Pardon?"
"We have only taken one step. I understand your heart, but you and I, and Senior Hwa over there, the three of us must never swing between joy and sorrow. I believe you know the reason as well."
With a serious expression, Seo Hyo nodded.
Unhwi reached out and patted Seo Hyo's shoulder.
"Rather than telling you you worked hard, or that it is fulfilling, I will say what I should have told you now."
Seo Hyo, with an expression that suggested he was looking forward to what it might be, widened his eyes at Unhwi's next words.
"I trust you."
"Sir...?"
"If the Millennium Demon Cult is rebuilt by my hand, you will be at my side."
Seo Hyo closed his mouth.
Because he felt sincerity in Unhwi's words.
As Unhwi looked at Seo Hyo, he took sothing from his pouch and handed it to him.
It was a single manual.
The mont he took it and checked the contents, Seo Hyo nearly lost strength in his legs.
"Sir. This...?"
"Tell no one, and train only when the one you trust most is guarding you."
He could not bring himself to speak.
Seo Hyo, of all people, could not fail to recognize the value of this manual.
Demon-Blood Heaven-Steel Art.
A manual that forges a Heavenly Demon.
In the days of the Millennium Demon Cult, there had been many who were called the next Heavenly Demon.
Those were the ones usually called the Great Lords.
Among them, there was not a single person below the Supre Void of Non-Being, and they shared only one thing in common.
They had mastered Demon-Blood Heaven-Steel Art.
More precisely, only those who mastered Demon-Blood Heaven-Steel Art could obtain the title of Great Lord.
Seen another way, this was legitimacy.
"...Sir... I know my own level. For , I lack more than I have to beco a Heavenly Demon."
"I did not give it to you to beco a Heavenly Demon."
"...Pardon?"
"West dawn. In keeping with your na, I give it to you so you will guard that value, and carry that value through."
"Ah..."
"And do you not know. Whether you will beco the Heavenly Demon, or soone else will."
"..."
"I know you are suffering, but still, suffer more and advance. For now, as Vice Alliance Lord of the Heavenly Alliance."
Seo Hyo nodded and offered a formal salute.
Unhwi turned and began to walk, and then it happened.
"Sir."
At Seo Hyo's voice, Unhwi stopped and turned his head.
"...There is an action I should have taken long ago, though it is late."
Unhwi looked at him quietly.
"May I do it now?"
"Go ahead."
At Unhwi's words, Seo Hyo took the posture of full prostration on the spot.
"When I first t you, sir, I did think you were extraordinary."
Unhwi looked down at Seo Hyo without speaking.
"But I did not know it would be to this extent. Yes. I am sincere about rebuilding the Millennium Demon Cult. But Yucheong tried to cast aside once my usefulness was done, while you, sir, repeatedly said you would keep using to the end, and you truly acted on it."
"And?"
"Now it seems it is my turn to act."
Looking at the ground, Seo Hyo continued in a firm voice.
"I want to serve you. Not as an ambiguous cooperative relationship like now, but I want to be reborn into a lord-and-subject bond."
Unhwi looked down at Seo Hyo for a mont, then tossed out a line.
"Stand."
Seo Hyo rose at once.
Unhwi asked him.
"There is one thing I want to make clear."
"Speak."
"Did I ever, even for a single mont, take orders from you?"
Seo Hyo blinked.
If he thought about it, when they first t it had been ambiguous, but then and afterward, and even now, it was always Unhwi who gave orders, and Seo Hyo who followed.
"The lord-and-subject bond was, in truth, already decided from before."
At those words, a small smile ford at the corner of Seo Hyo's mouth.
"Do as you have been doing."
"Then may I call you lord as well?"
"Is lord more comfortable, or is sir, as you have always called , more comfortable?"
"To be honest, sir is more comfortable."
This was not because Unhwi seed easy, or for any such reason.
Beyond being simply a lord, Unhwi truly was a sir.
Rebuilding the Millennium Demon Cult would certainly be difficult, but if Unhwi was with him, it would surely succeed.
And would that be the end.
No, absolutely not.
If rebuilding succeeded, it also ant Unhwi would stand tall at the summit of the martial world.
He was a man capable of more than that.
That was why he was a sir in the truest sense.
Unhwi said briefly.
"Then call sir from now on."
"I will, sir."
"And write the invitations and send them."
"Invitations, you say..."
Unhwi looked at the setting sun and opened his mouth slowly.
"The Martial Alliance, the Sichuan Alliance, the Five Great Families, the Soul-Reaping Sect, and."
Unhwi paused, then nad the last two groups.
"Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, Original Blood Cult."
Seo Hyo, startled, asked.
"When would it be best to set the date?"
"One month from now."
Seo Hyo nodded.
"Then I will take asures accordingly."
One month from now.
Cheonsu would beco the most boiling place in the entire martial world.
***
Ten days passed after the incident at Soul-Dao Demon Fla Palace.
Sending the invitations had long been finished, and that included those who had indicated their intention to attend, and even those who did not bother to reply.
Preparations for the banquet were almost complete, but then a new incident broke out.
King Undeok of Un Kingdom had passed away.
King Undeok had been frail to begin with, and after the incident in the royal castle everyone had expected he would endure at most a fortnight, yet that period had stretched longer than expected.
Even so, he could not last a full month.
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