Dark and Light Martial Emperor

Chapter 25. Storm (5)

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

“…”

“Your Highness?!”

“Hmm? Oh, did you call me?”

“Yes. I was wondering if you are feeling well…”

“I’m fine. I didn’t even warm up properly.”

“I see…”

Shinmo’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.

Yeonhojeong spoke with an apologetic tone.

“I’m sorry for causing trouble and putting you in a difficult position. I’ll buy you a drink of apple wine tomorrow.”

“Apple wine? That’s too modest of you.”

Shinmo bowed his head.

“I’m glad you are okay. Please rest well.”

“You too.”

“I’ll assign some window response agents near your lodging, just in case.”

Yeonhojeong nodded. If he didn’t set up some guards, Shinmo would be more anxious.

He didn’t want to bother anyone anymore.

“Thank you.”

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

Shinmo left the room and Yeonhojeong turned his eyes to the window.

The banquet that started shortly after noon was cancelled before half an hour passed. It was still bright outside.

Yeonhojeong’s eyes darkened as he looked outside.

‘The Myeong family?’

He acted as if nothing had happened to wrap up the incident, but his senses were still focused on Myeonghorim.

‘It’s the same. I’m not sure yet, like with Jegal or Paeng. But…’

He was a bit hasty, but Yeonhojeong trusted his intuition. He relied on his instinct.

He felt a strong sense of discomfort from Myeonghorim’s inner power.

To be precise, it was different from the inner power of the family’s monsters. Even if he only considered the similarity of their temperaments, it was a completely different martial art.

But Myeonghorim’s inner power deviated from the martial arts of the Central Plains. It was like a wolf wearing a sheep’s skin and introducing itself as a sheep.

He refined his rough and fierce energy to fit the Central Plains’ sentiment. The color of one’s inner power changed depending on the personality of the cultivator, but Myeonghorim’s inner power felt fundamentally different from the Central Plains’.

‘It’s a pity. If I had pushed him harder, I could have seen his true skills.’

Yeonhojeong sighed and tilted his head.

‘How did the Myeong family fall?’

After learning martial arts from his master and leaving the mountain, he pacified the Black Lands and turned his eyes to the world.

By then, the Myeong family was already gone. It wasn’t destroyed by someone like the Yeon family, but its power declined rapidly, and it collapsed in less than three years.

Yeonhojeong rubbed his chin with a restless face.

‘How did that happen?’

If a family of the Myeong family’s caliber fell, he should have paid attention to it as he was starting to shake the history of the Black Lands. At least, he should have heard some information about the Myeong family.

But he didn’t receive any information about the Myeong family. He was too busy building the foundation of the Black Fortress, but wasn’t this too much?

‘Did someone control the information?’

The information power of the Black Lands’ factions was sharper and faster than the White Lands’ factions.

In the early days of the Black Fortress, Yeonhojeong was also in charge of the information bureau. There was no one in the Black Lands who could play with information and avoid his eyes.

‘Could it be from the White Lands’ martial world?’

One thought led to another.

He couldn’t shake it off. The important thing was whether the Myeong family was a monster or not, but his thoughts kept drifting to that side.

Yeonhojeong was pondering over that part for a while.

“Your Highness.”

He heard Shinmo’s voice from outside the door.

“Yeah?”

“The eldest daughter of the Jegal family is here. What should we do?”

Shinmo was clear about drawing the line, even if he had personal ties. Yeonhojeong nodded.

“Let her in.”

Clank.

Jegalayeon entered as if she had been waiting.

She changed from her bright green dress to a more active outfit and she looked more lively.

“What are you doing alone? Sitting by the window.”

“Why are you here?”

Jegalayeon grumbled.

“You should at least tell me to sit down when you have a guest.”

“Sit down.”

“What about tea?”

“Make it yourself.”

“You’re so prickly.”

Jegalayeon sighed and sat down. She felt a bit tired.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“I see. You look fine enough to make me embarrassed for worrying. Well, I didn’t expect you to have the skills to play with that jerk in our family.”

No matter how ignorant she was of the world, Dangyangseon was the heir of the Dang family. The Dang family wouldn’t have taught their future representative lightly.

Jegalayeon looked at Yeonhojeong’s face.

Yeonhojeong was still looking at the window with an unreadable expression.

She had a lot of questions for Yeonhojeong.

She was curious about how he became so strong, why he was so obsessed with Myeonghorim, and what he was thinking.

‘Hoo.’

She sighed inwardly and smiled brightly.

“I guess I can hide behind you if something happens later.”

“Then what’s your purpose?”

“You’re so hard-headed. You sound like the club my father used to hit me with when I was young. I just came to see your face.”

Yeonhojeong frowned.

She was about to snap back at his rude words when he said.

“Thank you.”

“…Huh?”

“Thank you.”

Jegalayeon blinked.

“Thank you? For what?”

“For defending me in time. Thanks to you, I was able to settle the incident. It’s your merit.”

“…Why are you suddenly like this? It’s cold, man.”

“Your skill of catching the tail of the words is remarkable. You’re really a Jegal.”

“Catching the tail? You mean rhetoric, right?”

“You could even argue with a three-inch tongue.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“It’s gratitude.”

“Ugh, enough! Spit! Spit! You should have not said thank you!”

“Then let’s pretend I didn’t say it.”

“You don’t like it?”

Yeonhojeong turned his head away. He looked like he didn’t want to talk.

Jegalayeon’s face flushed a bit.

She blurted out without thinking, but she actually felt good. She knew he was not someone who easily said thank you to others.

She came to comfort him because she felt sorry for him, but she received an unexpected gratitude. She didn’t want to mention it, but she thought she could say a word in this atmosphere.

“Be more careful from now on.”

“I got it.”

“…Hehe.”

“What’s that sneaky laugh?”

“Sneaky?”

She flared up and soon sighed with exhaustion.

“Tsk, you’re stronger than me, so I can’t even punch you… Ah!”

Jegalayeon’s face became a bit serious.

“I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“You know, that guy who was the leader of the Brain Fire Sect at Choseong Tower.”

“What about him?”

“I’ve been wanting to ask you, how did you hurt him?”

Yeonhojeong tilted his head.

“Is there a special way to hurt someone? I just hit him with the intent to kill. That’s all.”

“That’s not what I mean…”

Woong.

A strong inner power surged from Jegalayeon’s hand. At the same time, the scent of magnolia started to fill Yeonhojeong’s room.

“My family’s Hyunwonjeondanshingong is a rare secret technique. And I hit him right in the abdomen with my attack.”

The abdomen is a dangerous area, even if you don’t use inner power. There are so many organs crammed in there, so if you hit it wrong, you could be incapacitated or even die.

“But he didn’t even fall down, let alone show any pain. And it’s not like his inner power was several times stronger than mine.”

“It’s the difference in the nature of the energy.”

“Huh? Nature?”

Yeonhojeong spoke casually.

“The Yeolyanggong he learned is very high level. That is, his inner power contains fire energy. But your inner power is based on wood energy.”

“…?!”

“What happens if you throw a piece of firewood into a blazing bonfire? Does the fire go out? No, it burns even stronger.”

Jegalayeon was dumbfounded.

“Even if the fundamental nature of the inner power is different, the difference in martial arts is obvious…”

“His martial art is not a simple mixed technique. It was once a martial art that claimed to be the best in the world.”

“What?”

“Along with the Yinhanbaeryu, it was famous as one of the two ultimate techniques of the Yinshin. The Yinhwahongryu is the martial art he learned.”

Yinshin? Yinhwahongryu?

Jegalayeon furrowed his brows.

“I’ve never heard of that martial art.”

He couldn’t help it. Yeonhojeong only learned about the existence of the Yinshin after he became the lord of the Black Fortress.

The Yinshin was the king of the assassins.

The Yinshin of the Black Fortress era was a different one from the previous one, so his achievements were vague. But the previous Yinshin was a legendary being who succeeded in ninety-nine out of a hundred assassinations.

And after that one assassination failure, he hid his traces until he trained his successor.

“It’s hard to believe that he didn’t feel any shock…”

“That’s because your achievements are low.”

“Huh?”

“It’s hard to ignore the compatibility even if you reach the extreme realm. There can be the best in the world, but there can’t be an absolute invincible. The heaven never allows a sole supremacy.”

“…”

“Well, he probably didn’t learn even three-tenths of the Yinhwahongryu, let alone the Yinhanbaeryu.”

“Three-tenths…”

Jegalayeon’s face turned serious.

“He was that strong with just three-tenths.”

“Whether it’s three-tenths or ten-tenths, it’s important to learn as deeply as possible within the limit of what you learned. You and him only licked the surface of the Shingong.”

“I feel like you’re lumping me with him, and I don’t like it.”

“I don’t care.”

“Tsk.”

Jegalayeon sighed deeply. She came to comfort him and worry about him, but she only felt more uneasy.

“There can be the best in the world, but there can’t be an absolute invincible? That’s true.”

“If you’re done, then…”

“But isn’t there one person?”

“What?”

“The person who was called the absolute invincible in the history of the martial world.”

Yeonhojeong tilted his head.

“If you mean the founder of Shaolin, Dharma…”

“No, not Dharma. The legendary warrior who pacified the Blood Sect Rebellion three hundred years ago, when the martial world was at its peak.”

“Three hundred years ago? Who?”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know. I’m busy enough living now, let alone three hundred years ago.”

“He’s a really amazing guy. I thought you could see through the logic of the world like a ghost, but you don’t know that famous person?”

“I hate history.”

“I can tell.”

“So, who is that great person?”

His tone was the same as before, but it sounded sarcastic to Jegalayeon.

She snorted.

“You’ll be surprised when you hear it.”

“Who is it?”

“The Four Directional Martial Emperor.”

“The Four Directional Martial Emperor?”

“You really didn’t know? Amazing, you too.”

“What a childish nickname.”

“Don’t say that. He’s a person who is highly regarded by our White Lands’ martial artists. If he didn’t pacify the Blood Sect Rebellion back then, the world would have become hell by now.”

Yeonhojeong shook his head.

“The world is already hell enough.”

“Geez, you’re so dark. You’re really a dark guy, you know.”

“Shut up.”

“Anyway, if the Four Directional Martial Emperor’s skills were as the history says, he would definitely be called an absolute invincible, right? He learned not one, but four martial arts to the extreme.”

“Four martial arts?”

“Yeah. He was unmatched in offense, defense, and evasion by any martial art in the world. And he also mastered the Yin-Yang Energy.”

Yeonhojeong’s eyes sparkled.

“Offense, defense, evasion, and Yin-Yang Energy?”

“That’s right. Well, he’s a person who’s been deified, so there might be some exaggerations. They even said he summoned a golden dragon, so he was also called the Yellow Dragon Emperor. I think that’s too much.”

“…”

“Anyway! Don’t live so dull. There must be some interesting things in life…”

“…”

“Jega?”

Jegalayeon was confused.

She saw Yeonhojeong’s blank expression for the first time.

‘The Four Directional Martial Emperor? He summoned a golden dragon?’

Flawless offense, defense, and evasion. And Yin-Yang Energy.

And a golden dragon?

“Um… I don’t know why, but maybe I said something wrong…”

“Tell me more.”

“Uh, huh?”

Yeonhojeong’s eyes flashed.

“Tell me more about that person, the Four Directional Martial Emperor.”