Chapter 85

Heavenly Chivalry (1)

A gaze colder than ice.

Namgung Gwan already knew well who Cheon Muyang was.

It didn't take long for news of what happened at the Yongbong Assembly to reach Hapbi.

"I heard you're called the Heavenly Chivalry."

Heavenly Chivalry.

A chivalry of the heavens.

That was the new epithet given to Cheon Muyang, who had raised the sword of chivalry at the Yongbong Assembly.

"Heavenly Chivalry, huh…."

A once-in-a-generation butcher.

The disgrace of the Cheon family.

Someone who had only ever been called an idiot or trash—such a man didn't suit an epithet like Heavenly Chivalry.

Awkward.

Perhaps that was why Cheon Muyang scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile.

"How is it that you came together with Seohee?"

"Well, there's something I need to settle, and I was also asked for a favor."

"A settlement? A favor?"

Twitch!

Every one of those reasons rubbed him the wrong way.

"How would the eldest son of the Cheon Clan and the Namgung Clan come to settle something, and who would dare ask for a favor regarding the Namgung Clan's affairs?"

It was a murderous warning from Namgung Gwan—outsiders were not to interfere.

However, Cheon Muyang shook his head.

"Who knows."

"What did you say?"

"I think that depends on who made the request…."

Cheon Muyang smiled.

Looking at that smile, one couldn't help but doubt whether the epithet Heavenly Chivalry fit him at all.

'No matter how you look at him, he's just a butcher. Heavenly Chivalry?'

Just look at that butcher's grin.

It made him want to punch him senseless; Namgung Gwan openly showed his displeasure.

"The one who made the request? Are you saying the Sword King asked you for a favor?!"

Cheon Muyang's eyes widened.

As if to ask how he knew.

"What?"

This time, it was Namgung Gwan who was flustered.

"How did you know?"

"W-what nonsense is this!"

"The Sword King elder personally asked me."

Namgung Gwan didn't believe him.

Who was the Sword King, after all?

The pillar that supported the Namgung Clan.

"Silence! How dare you! To impersonate the Sword King's name!"

Namgung Gwan drew his sword in one swift motion.

Whooong!

As a sharp aura poured out, the single sword rushing forth carried the unique dignity of the Namgung Clan.

Yet his actions were no different from those of the unorthodox rabble.

"Hey now, swinging your sword out of nowhere. You'd think you were some unorthodox thug. Tsk."

Cheon Muyang let out a sigh.

It was a fine sword, but separately, the ignoble temperament behind it was laughable.

"Impersonation, you say."

Kooong!

Cheon Muyang didn't even bother to move.

Because he already knew the Wolf King had stepped in.

"I saw it with my own eyes."

A massive saber flew in gently, like a fluttering butterfly.

Yet the tremendous force contained within it was neither light nor gentle.

Kwaaaang!

With a sound of shattering, Namgung Gwan's sword was knocked away and embedded itself far into a wall.

Fragments scattered around it, lying helplessly on the floor.

"Do you mean to sully my name as well?"

"Y-you are…?"

Namgung Gwan's eyes, filled with shock, turned not to his broken sword, but to the Wolf King before him.

"Are you asking who I am?"

"Could it be…."

In the Central Plains, there were only a handful of people who carried a saber as large as their own body.

Excluding the Hebei Paeng Clan, only one epithet came to mind.

"I-it's the Wolf King…."

"So you do know."

"How could you be here…?"

The Wolf King shrugged.

"I'm currently a retainer of the Cheon Clan."

"A r-retainer?!"

Namgung Gwan was shocked for an entirely different reason.

Who was the Wolf King, after all?

Wasn't he someone who roamed the martial world freely, belonging nowhere?

"Is it truly so, that you, Wolf King, have become a retainer of the Cheon Clan?"

The mere fact that the Wolf King had settled somewhere would surely cause a great upheaval in the martial world.

Because a new balance would form due to the Cheon Clan harboring the Wolf King.

"Why would I bother lying to the likes of you?"

Crunch.

Namgung Gwan was not one to yield easily.

The Wolf King's presence was an unforeseen variable, but it wasn't enough reason to back down here.

"So then! Do you mean to involve yourself in the affairs of the Namgung Clan?"

"Tsk."

The Wolf King's immense fighting spirit began to churn like a vortex.

It was markedly different from before.

"I mean I am a witness."

"W-what did you say?!"

"Or you could find the Sword King and ask him directly."

"…!"

Where was one supposed to find the Sword King, who had vanished without a trace?

"Hmm…."

Namgung Seohee drew her sword.

Whooong!

A clear, ringing sound echoed.

And everyone was stunned.

"S-seohee? T-that sword…?"

The sword Namgung Seohee held was the Namgung Clan's treasured blade that symbolized the Sword King—the Emperor Sword.

"Grandfather gave it to me."

"…!"

The Sword King had passed down the Emperor Sword.

What more conclusive proof could there be?

Whooong!

Before the overwhelming sword intent of the Emperor Sword, which looked as though it could cut merely by being seen, all of the Namgung Clan's martial artists released their killing intent.

"Well then, it looks like fact-checking is finished."

At Cheon Muyang's signal, the Wolf King also withdrew his aura.

"When will you be welcoming your guests?"

"…."

Namgung Gwan closed his eyes, left with no choice but to accept Cheon Muyang's group.

"Tch, you should've come out like this from the start."

Cheon Muyang's faint provocation set many hearts ablaze.

"Close the main gate!"

Namgung Gwan's command rang out.

***

The Namgung Clan closed its main gate.

As if sealing itself off, no one left the estate.

"It feels like a funeral house."

Staying in the guest reception hall, Cheon Muyang's group smelled the thick incense filling the clan grounds.

Most likely, a funeral was being held for Namgung Sang-hyeok.

The Wolf King asked casually.

"Didn't you hand over the corpse too easily?"

The day before, Cheon Muyang had returned Namgung Sang-hyeok's body.

The gruesome state had nearly led to more bloodshed, but at Cheon Muyang's sharp rebuke, they had all fallen silent.

『If I hadn't cut down the demonic energy, not even a corpse would've remained. He would've turned to a handful of dust and vanished. Is that what you wanted?』

Thus, they all must have realized it.

That Namgung Sang-hyeok had made a choice he never should have.

"Well, it served as a warning, didn't it?"

"A warning?"

"Rather, they might grow curious. About why the corpse of Namgung Sang-hyeok—who should've turned to dust—was left intact."

The Wolf King laughed.

Because he had understood exactly what Cheon Muyang was aiming for.

"So that's how it is."

It made sense that they would be curious.

In other words, Namgung Sang-hyeok's corpse had been nothing more than a kind of bait thrown at them.

"So then, if they move…."

"Today, then."

"That's right."

They would want to secure the corpse itself.

Today was the perfect timing.

After all, today was the day right before it would be buried.

"Hm… but this is the Namgung Clan. No matter how reckless those bastards are, would they really dare to lay a hand on the Namgung Clan?"

The Wolf King found it hard to believe.

However, Cheon Muyang's thoughts were different.

"Let's wait and see. They won't want even a single variable."

That was why they had remained hidden in the shadows all this time, steadily weakening the Central Plains' martial world.

'Thirty years to bring down the Cheon Clan. Then how many years would they invest to bring down the Central Plains?'

They said a gentleman's revenge was not too late even after ten years.

And these people were anything but gentlemen.

They might have invested a hundred years—perhaps even more.

That was precisely why they would never tolerate even one variable.

'This is a variable. Isn't it?'

Those who succumbed to false power all met the same end—a handful of dust.

From the start, even the Demonic Cult had likely been nothing more than tools to be used and discarded.

Their fate had been inevitable.

But Namgung Sang-hyeok had not met that predetermined end.

'They'll want to secure the corpse of that variable. Or….'

And so, there was something they would surely want.

Namgung Sang-hyeok's corpse.

Or—

'Me.'

Cheon Muyang.

"So, will they move?"

"What's the point of guarding Namgung Sang-hyeok's corpse?"

It was utterly useless.

Even if they obtained the corpse, there would be nothing for them to gain.

"If they come for me, I'll smash them. If not, I'll just watch."

"...."

The Wolf King nodded, while Namgung Seohee, nearby, remained silent.

"You should avoid acting rashly too. If we're going to wipe them all out."

"Yes."

Using her elder brother's corpse as bait would naturally feel unsettling.

But there was no other way.

She knew as well that this was the only method to remove the shadow of the Demonic Cult hanging over the Namgung Clan.

Then—

"They say even tigers appear when you speak of them."

"Looks like that saying fits perfectly."

"...?"

The Wolf King and Cheon Muyang looked at each other and smiled.

A moment later, Seohee realized what their smiles meant.

Sasasaak.

The movements of those keeping watch near the guest reception hall suddenly became busy.

Seohee knew well that under normal circumstances, these people would never move like this.

"Don't tell me…?"

For even them to move, it meant the situation was truly an emergency.

And there were only a few emergencies that could be imagined at this point.

"Yes. Exactly what you're thinking."

It meant that the scenario the Wolf King and Cheon Muyang had spoken of was now unfolding in reality.

"Alright then, shall we start moving?"

Cheon Muyang rose from his seat.

The Wolf King followed right after.

"What about the kids?"

"Let them be. Isn't this a good chance for them to train with the Namgung Clan?"

Wolyeong, along with Neung Ryeo-un and Cha Myeong-hak, was currently sparring with the Namgung Clan's martial artists under the guise of training.

They were surely learning something valuable in more ways than one.

He didn't want to interfere with that time of growth.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Then doesn't that mean I have to move too?"

"If you don't like it, don't."

"Seriously…."

Grumbling, the Wolf King stood up.

"No way I'm missing out on something this fun."

"Good."

Without either waiting for the other, the two of them leapt up onto the roof of the guest hall at the same time.

"...."

Namgung Seohee followed after them, her expression complicated.

The eyes that had been watching this area were already gone.

"Hm…."

But as they drew closer, Cheon Muyang began to sense a deepening killing intent.

It wasn't from the Namgung Clan.

It didn't seem like their goal was merely to retrieve Namgung Sang-hyeok's corpse.

Otherwise, this aggressive killing intent couldn't be explained.

"Heh heh heh. Looks like the Namgung Clan's reputation has finally grown hollow."

The Wolf King laughed heartily.

What place was this?

Wasn't it the illustrious Namgung Clan of the world?

"How has the Namgung Clan come to be looked down on like this?"

At the Wolf King's subtle provocation, Seohee bit her lip in secret.

However, Cheon Muyang interpreted things differently.

"Even without the Sword King, this feels like it was breached too easily."

"So?"

"Either they deliberately opened a path, or they sent someone who could break through the Namgung Clan as if it were nothing."

"One of the two?"

Cheon Muyang shook his head.

"No chance. It's both."

"...."

The Wolf King nodded.

"So that's how it is."

Silence.

No matter how much of a master one might be, even someone at the peak of martial enlightenment couldn't rival the Cheon Clan or the Namgung Clan alone—or so Cheon Muyang once believed.

'That was wrong.'

Especially after encountering the Lord of Yama, that belief had been completely overturned.

'If it were the Lord of Yama…?'

The Namgung Clan would already be a sea of flames.

Even if the Sword King were present, suppressing the Lord of Yama would have required the spilling of countless Namgung lives.

'I can feel it….'

It wasn't on the level of the Lord of Yama, but a similarly sinister killing intent pressed in.

Goooooo—!

An eerily heavy silence.

The Wolf King had already wiped the smile from his face and drawn his massive saber.

"Was it a trap from the start?"

"Looks like it."

"You don't look like someone who's fallen into a trap. You look like you expected it."

"I didn't expect it—but doesn't this mean the chance to wipe them all out has arrived?"

"...!"

It was a shift in perspective.

The corners of Cheon Muyang's lips curled upward.

"Let's see who showed up."