〈Episode 189〉 Meaningless Acts. (3)
Meaningless Acts. (3)
Heukyagung Headquarters.
It was an organization among the great forces of the Demonic Path, led by the Palace Lord of Heukyagung—one of the Samaoje known as the absolutes of the Demonic Path.
Thud.
Thud.
An indescribable roar echoed repeatedly as someone walked down a corridor pitch-black without a single torch.
Strangely, not a single footstep could be heard from the man passing through the passage at a steady pace, neither fast nor slow.
To say the sound was buried beneath the roaring from all directions would be amiss—his presence was simply too faint.
It felt as though he were walking on water.
The quietly walking man soon reached a massive door.
Embedded in the jet-black door was a small purple gem.
“We greet the Palace Lord.”
As the man appeared, those waiting in front of the door immediately bowed their heads in courtesy.
“Anything unusual?”
“Nothing.”
Hearing this, the man nodded and reached toward the purple gem embedded in the door.
The gem shone brilliantly for a moment upon touching him.
Grind.
A strange sound came from the door.
Boom!
The massive door, whose tremendous weight was evident at a glance, was pushed open lightly with one hand.
“Chilju.”
“Yes, Palace Lord.”
“The gem is cracked. Call Taejeolgwi later.”
“Understood.”
Having spoken, the man stepped inside.
The interior was as dark as the outside corridor.
However, as if he could see clearly, the man walked without hesitation.
In the pitch darkness, only the faint purple light of his eyes was dimly visible.
Eventually.
The man, who had been walking for some time, stopped in one place. It was a room without a single light, yet the man could see this place clearly.
After briefly looking around, he gazed at one spot and slowly began to kneel.
“Have you been comfortable?”
His words scattered hollowly into the void.
No answer came.
But he did not mind.
He was merely saying what he had come to say.
“Much has happened in a short time.”
As if in response to the Palace Lord’s words,
Crackle. Crackle.
A small, crumbling sound was heard before him.
It was the sound of flowers withering and drying, crumbling away powerlessly.
The room, layered in darkness, shone brilliantly in the Palace Lord’s eyes.
Countless flower petals had turned to dust and piled up before him.
Flowers that had bloomed through an immense amount of internal energy.
“The outside is still like hell, but I do not believe you need concern yourself with it.”
The Palace Lord simply continued.
“Heaven merely looks down; you are….”
The Palace Lord’s mouth, which had been speaking, snapped shut.
Because his Heaven stood before his eyes.
A cold droplet of sweat ran down the Palace Lord’s cheek as he raised his head.
“Ahh….”
A thin exclamation escaped his lips as he beheld his Heaven with his own eyes.
Truly, it was a minuscule body.
A frail, miserable body that looked as though it had barely begun to toddle about.
Yet the Palace Lord knew.
Knew how great a power was hidden within that frail flesh.
In the child’s hand was a completely withered flower.
In the other hand, a single book.
The child’s face was hidden by long hair cascading to the floor, but
the Palace Lord could see within it an extraordinarily bright purple pupil shining with a radiance beyond compare to his own.
“…O, Heaven.”
In the Palace Lord’s eyes, it was clearly visible.
That it was a terrifying darkness.
That light had faded in every direction was thanks to Heaven.
The very fact that merely having it before his eyes caused the internal energy of the Palace Lord—who had achieved the Spiritual Sea—to surge wildly was proof of that.
The child raised a small arm and handed the book to the Palace Lord.
The Palace Lord carefully received it.
“The end.”
It was the child’s small voice.
At that, the Palace Lord immediately burned the book. For this was a blessing.
“…I shall prepare the next one.”
“Hungry.”
“That too shall be hastened.”
At the Palace Lord’s words, as if with nothing more to say, the child turned and returned to where it had been.
Was it an illusion? The spot where the child stood seemed especially dark.
Heaven was no different from a blessing bestowed upon him by the gods.
The Palace Lord watched that retreating figure and quietly rose.
Though it was a space walled in on all sides, somehow it felt as though the wind was blowing.
Rising, the Palace Lord took in the sight of Heaven a while longer.
‘I must make the body sturdier.’
To contain that vast darkness, the vessel was far too small.
For that, more flowers had to be prepared.
The Palace Lord bowed his head in courtesy toward Heaven, who was not looking his way, then turned his back and headed for the entrance.
Boom!
The moment the Palace Lord stepped out, the door closed as if it had been waiting.
Those guarding outside remained as before, yet
someone who had not been there earlier was waiting for the Palace Lord outside the door.
“I greet the Palace Lord.”
Before him stood an old man—a master who served as Vice Palace Lord of Heukyagung.
Guibi Chilgeom, Seoncheokmun. The Central Plains called the old man by that name.
The Palace Lord looked at the old man with eyes different from before and asked.
“What is it?”
“There is urgent news to deliver, so I took the liberty of coming here.”
“Speak.”
“We have found the whereabouts of the Flame.”
At Seoncheokmun’s words, the Palace Lord’s expression shifted as if intrigued.
“The location?”
“At the front lines, it is said.”
“The front lines… So it seems to be one of those Righteous Path bastards.”
At the Palace Lord’s words, Seoncheokmun cautiously handed over a letter.
The Palace Lord immediately took and opened it.
Reading through the written lines quickly, he stopped at one part.
“The Gu Clan….”
The name that left the Palace Lord’s mouth felt like a thorn pricking at the back of his throat.
“I see. The Gu Clan.”
Without a hint of doubt, the Palace Lord simply nodded.
To think the Flame they sought was the Gu Clan—could there be any words more fitting?
“You said the front lines?”
“Yes.”
The front lines.
A region already reduced to ruins and swallowed by the aftermath of the Demon Realm Gate.
The hypocritical fools of the Righteous Path sent blood relatives and sword troops under the pretext of blocking this place to gain the trust of the common folk, but it was all futile.
Seoncheokmun looked at the Palace Lord and stated his opinion.
“…We are hastily organizing a unit, but as the target is what it is, we expect the situation to be somewhat difficult.”
At those words, the Palace Lord burned the letter he held.
Fwoosh.
As the purple Samadhi True Fire spread from the Palace Lord’s hand, Seoncheokmun, who had been bowing, lowered his head even further.
“There is no need to organize a unit.”
Seoncheokmun made a puzzled expression at the Palace Lord’s words.
Having found what the Palace Lord had sought so desperately, why show such a reaction?
“I shall go myself.”
“…Palace Lord!”
Seoncheokmun showed a bewildered reaction at the words of the Heukyagungju, who had remained in the palace and never moved.
For the past several decades, the Heukyagungju had stayed in the palace without ever stirring.
“It is too dangerous. If something goes wrong, Yeomgwi might personally step forth… Gkh!”
Seoncheokmun’s chattering mouth was instantly sealed shut.
He was involuntarily crushed by the pressure slowly rising from the Palace Lord’s body.
Though the Palace Lord’s expression was the same as before, Seoncheokmun intuitively knew that the moment he misspoke here, his neck would snap regardless of his position as Vice Palace Lord.
“Yeomgwi? Are you afraid of that toothless tiger?”
“Ah… n-no… I wouldn’t dare….”
“Indeed. It had better not be so.”
Having heard the crushed reply, the Palace Lord lightly patted Seoncheokmun’s shoulder.
The pressure that had been tightly squeezing Seoncheokmun vanished in an instant.
“The Yeomgwi of the past died long ago. Now he is merely an old tiger lazing peacefully in Shanxi.”
The Gu Clan’s dreadfulness was not something a mere Yeomgwi could compare to.
All the more reason not to fear some past martial artist who could not even easily leave that place.
“I, the Palace Lord, shall go myself. See that it is conveyed.”
“…Yes… I understand.”
This was none other than the Flame needed by Heaven.
Now that he knew of it, there was no reason to hesitate.
‘Though under normal circumstances, it is something I would have passed over.’
But since it concerned the Gu Clan, a small interest was piqued.
After all, a blood member of the Gu Clan had also been involved in a matter he had been informed of in the past.
‘Gu Yangcheon, was it?’
The boy who had killed Daejeolgwi, a supreme expert who had been useless yet possessed considerable skill.
He too was a figure of the Gu Clan.
Moreover, they said he was the sole remaining descendant of Yeomgwi.
At this, the Palace Lord recalled the name he had seen in the letter before burning it.
Sword Phoenix, Gu Huibi.
Should no problems arise, she was a martial artist whom many expected to soon inherit the name of Sword Empress.
“Vice Palace Lord.”
“Yes, Palace Lord….”
“Prepare more flowers and books.”
“…I shall carry out your command. As for the books, I shall send word to Taeju.”
Having left his final command, the Palace Lord walked past Seoncheokmun.
After a few steps, he vanished along with a small gust of wind.
The target: the front lines where Sword Phoenix was.
It was the moment the Palace Lord set foot in the Central Plains after a full decade.