Chapter 142: The True Identity of the Four Elders (1)
“Master.”
Gwanghyeol, the secret warrior of the Ma Clan, hurriedly approached his lord as he exited Iron Steed Prison Cave.
Then he was struck with shock.
‘T-That’s…!’
Following behind Ma Seonghwan with a sunken expression was Ma Chulsoo—and in Ma Chulsoo’s arms was an emaciated corpse.
There was no way Gwanghyeol wouldn’t recognize who the corpse was.
“Gwanghyeol.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Withdraw the forces.”
Before he could even understand what was going on, Gwanghyeol’s head bowed instinctively.
“Your command is my will!”
“And… from the moment we return to the main house, your assigned protection will no longer be me, but the second son, Ma Chulsoo.”
“……!!!”
Gwanghyeol’s eyes twisted in shock.
“M-Master, that means…!”
“From now on, the Grand Heir of the Main clan is Ma Chulsoo. I will be making the announcement accordingly, so keep that in mind.”
“U-Understood!”
Gwanghyeol instantly sensed a storm of blood brewing within the main house.
At that moment, a heavy, overwhelming presence began approaching from afar.
Ma Seonghwan recognized the presence and smirked faintly.
“Saves me the trouble of having to visit.”
“You bastard! You damned son of the Ma Clan!”
“Jin Gun-ak.”
Jin Gun-ak, cloaked in a dark red aura, approached Ma Seonghwan flanked by dozens of guards.
Gwanghyeol and the rest of the Ma Clan’s escort immediately entered battle stance.
Jin Gun-ak stormed up to Ma Seonghwan’s face, seething with fury.
“You’re joining forces with the Illusion Clan to incite civil war within the cult? Are you seriously trying to see this through to the end!?”
“You’re misunderstanding something, Jin Gun-ak.”
Of course, he had stood up intending to see it through, but the outcome had turned out quite differently.
“It’s already over, so stop putting on airs. That brutish Asura God of yours annoys me just by existing.”
“……Over?”
“Yes.”
Though still suspicious, Jin Gun-ak lowered his hostility for the moment.
Ma Seonghwan might have been an insufferable man, but he wasn’t one to lie.
As Jin Gun-ak eased up, Ma Seonghwan continued speaking to him.
“I didn’t anticipate the Illusion Clan joining in on their own. Of course, I was planning to punish your eldest son for interfering in the affairs of the main house without permission.”
“……”
Ma Seonghwan deliberately left out everything regarding Heavenly-Slaying Star.
Naturally, Jin Gun-ak, who didn’t yet know the whole story, had nothing to say.
Ma Seonghwan stepped closer and gently patted him on the shoulder.
“But the situation has changed.”
“Changed?”
“Looks like we’ll be on the same boat for a while.”
“……!”
“The Ma Clan, the Pa Clan, and the Jin Clan. With this lineup, your eldest son’s plan might actually be feasible.”
“Hmph! It’s the Jin Clan, the Pa Clan, and the Ma Clan!”
Jin Gun-ak childishly asserted his pride, but Ma Seonghwan didn’t show much reaction.
Even he acknowledged that Jin Gun-ak’s eldest son was currently at the center of everything.
“Of course, due to the succession issue, the main house won’t be able to move for a while. Same goes for the branch and side houses.”
“Hmph.”
With the Ma Clan on their side, the outcome was virtually decided.
But they couldn’t let their guard down. Their opponent was none other than the Cheon Clan.
“Depending on how the remaining two clans are swayed in the short time we have, and how we fend off the Cheon Clan’s assault on the Young Cult Leader, the future could change entirely.”
“Are you serious?”
Jin Gun-ak stared at Ma Seonghwan, his expression unreadable.
The Ma Seonghwan he knew was someone who always tried to steer things in his own favor. He wasn’t the type to hand over control so easily.
“I’d prefer to see your smiling face next time.”
With those parting words, Ma Seonghwan turned away with his subordinates, as if he had no further interest in conversation.
Jin Gun-ak felt an odd emotion stir inside him. He couldn’t believe it, but the back of that man—the infamous Sword Demon—looked... somehow lonely.
“Damn, maybe I’m getting old.”
Jin Gun-ak ruffled his hair roughly.
***
Cheon Yura looked into the distance where Jin Yeomyung lay sprawled.
“Jin Yeo…!”
Just as she was about to call out his name, she suddenly shut her mouth and held her breath.
“Young Cult Leader?”
Cheon Yura stared at Jin Yeomyung from afar and muttered softly.
“He’s… badly hurt.”
Sa Biyeon saw her expression and nodded.
“I see. I don’t know who he fought, but… it must have been a fierce battle.”
Beside Jin Yeomyung, Baek Sang-ah was changing his golden medicine compress and wrapping fresh bandages.
As soon as Sa Biyeon saw that, she quickly watched her master’s reaction.
From past experience, it wouldn’t be strange if rage flared up in her master’s eyes.
However…
“……”
Her master, whom she had expected to erupt in fury, simply watched in silence.
Strangely, there was even a trace of sorrow in her gaze.
“Young Cult Leader, shall we go to Young Master Jin?”
“Th-That…”
But for some reason, Cheon Yura hesitated to respond.
“Young Cult Leader?”
In a very small voice, she said,
“…Wasn’t it me who pushed him away first?”
Her voice was so quiet, it could’ve been mistaken for the hum of an insect.
“I told him to get lost, too.”
Yes, she certainly did.
“And after getting that angry… approaching him first feels a bit…”
So you went through all that knowing full well what you were doing?
Sa Biyeon quietly sighed, silently cursing her master with her eyes.
Though it was refreshing to see her normally straightforward master act so bashfully, this was simply frustrating now.
“That's not the real issue, is it?”
Flinch!
Sa Biyeon pierced straight through the truth with her sharp insight.
“Is it about that ‘truth’ that Cheon Yujeong spoke of?”
“……”
Cheon Yura answered with silence, which was as good as a yes.
“Hm.”
To be honest, Sa Biyeon didn’t think that whatever that truth was would change Jin Yeomyung’s feelings toward her.
Even now, when he was covered in injuries like that, it was clearly for Cheon Yura’s sake—not anyone else’s.
That’s why Sa Biyeon boldly shouted.
“Young Master Jin! Are you alright?!”
“B-Biyeon?! What are you doing?!”
“Young Master Jin!”
Cheon Yura glared at her servant, filled with betrayal…
But—
“Young Lady Cheon?”
The moment Jin Yeomyung turned to look this way.
That emotion completely vanished, as if it had never existed.
She couldn’t even feel the presence of Baek Sang-ah looking disapprovingly from the side.
Only Jin Yeomyung entered her world.
“Ah… uh…!”
Cheon Yura felt afraid.
If that man had learned she was a created being…
If he now looked at her with contempt because of it…
Could she really endure that?
Cheon Yura quietly lowered her shoulders and stared straight at Jin Yeomyung.
Though her face remained cold and composed, her mind was in utter turmoil.
There was no way Jin Yeomyung wouldn’t notice the fear leaking through the cracks in her broken mask.
And that man, covered in wounds, silently walked up to her—
Clench!
He said nothing at all… and simply embraced the woman before him.
In that moment.
Cheon Yura’s entire world turned white within Jin Yeomyung’s arms.
***
‘Cheon Yura? Why is she here…’
The moment Sa Biyeon called my name—
I noticed Cheon Yura standing right beside me.
—
[…Get lost. Disappear from my sight right now.]
—
The memory of her coldly pushing me away came to mind the moment I saw her.
But I knew that wasn’t her true intention.
No, to be honest, I didn’t care what her real feelings were anymore. I didn’t have the mental capacity to overthink it.
‘I’m a little tired.’
Maybe because I unleashed the second stage again, my mind—once as tough as iron—had gone a little soft.
Even as I approached, Cheon Yura continued to glare at me with her usual coldness.
But so what?
With all the guardians and subordinates watching…
Whump!
I just hugged her.
“Jin… Yeomyung.”
Cheon Yura called my name with a trembling voice.
“Just for a moment… just let me stay like this a little longer.”
“……”
In the stillness, as if the world had stopped, I could feel Cheon Yura’s disordered breathing.
Had she also just come from a fight, like me?
‘Chrysanthemum scent…’
It didn’t suit someone like her, a born martial artist, but still… it was nice.
‘I just want to stay like this.’
If she were the Cult Leader—the Heartless Demonic Empress—how would she have acted in this situation?
That random thought popped into my mind, but before I could answer it, a voice cut through my ears.
“If you two get any closer, you’ll be kissing next.”
“Ah.”
“Ack…”
The voice of an old man, clearly displeased.
It was Saro, Cheon Jeonmun, who had appeared between me and Cheon Yura, glaring at us.
I slowly took Cheon Yura by the shoulders and gently stepped back.
“I… I’m sorry, Young Cult Leader.”
“……”
Cheon Yura didn’t respond.
Her head was bowed, so I couldn’t see her expression.
Then she abruptly turned around and marched off, walking away from me with heavy steps.
‘Hmm, is she mad?’
“Hahaha, how bold. Very bold indeed.”
Hmm.
I didn’t know if Cheon Yura was angry—but it was clear the old man before me was.
“If someone had seen that, they’d have torn you apart.”
I scratched my cheek and shrugged toward the old man.
“Well, regarding that… there’s something I’d like to say.”
“Something?”
“Would you allow me a private conversation?”
***
Surprisingly, Cheon Jeonmun accepted my request.
“A private talk? It’s practically just the two of us already. Was there really a need to dismiss the others?”
“I have an urgent matter to ask the Poisonous Demonic Warlord.”
“Hmph, I’m not exactly in the best mood, but let’s hear it.”
I clenched my fist slightly at the sight of Cheon Jeonmun.
He still wasn’t planning to take off the mask?
Then I’ll tear it off for him.
“Poisonous Demonic Warlord Cheon Jeonmun. No, Cult Leader.”
Cheon Jeonmun tilted his head.
“Cult Leader? What nonsense is that?”
Even as he tried to evade, I continued speaking.
“I believed until now that everything I experienced was part of a framework created by the Cheon Clan elders. But in truth, that wasn’t the case.”
“……”
I stared straight into the wrinkles on Cheon Jeonmun’s face.
“It’s true that the elders of the Cheon Clan first set this in motion. But somewhere along the way, someone else intervened and twisted the entire board.”
“Heh heh, is that so? I’m quite curious who that could be.”
“There’s only one person in this Heavenly Demon Cult who could pull that off.”
A being who reigns above all others, looking down upon all from the sky.
Heavenly Demon. Cheon Taejong.
“I don’t know why someone like the Cult Leader, who clearly dislikes me, would give me this kind of opportunity.”
“You… consider that an opportunity?”
Cheon Jeonmun, who had been feigning ignorance, suddenly asked in a low voice.
“Of course. Whatever secrets her birth may hold—they have nothing to do with me.”
I’m not bound by the values of this era.
Even if I live in this world, my ‘origin’ is not from this time.
Whether she was born through artificial insemination, or even alchemically created as a homunculus—
I would still love her.
“…Heh heh.”
Cheon Jeonmun, hearing my resolve, nodded as if it had nothing to do with him.
“You should say that directly to the Cult Leader. He’d quite like it.”
So he’s dodging it until the end?
Then I’ve got no choice.
I took out the record of the Divine Demon Physique I’d obtained from the research archives.
The moment Cheon Jeonmun saw the document, his expression subtly stiffened.
‘You can’t be surprised just yet.’
I opened to the most shocking passage in that record and began to read aloud.
“Fortunately, the Previous Young Cult Leader turned out to be a lunatic troublemaker. Though hailed as a once-in-a-century prodigy, he constantly caused incidents and drove the Previous Cult Leader insane.”
Twitch!
The moment I uttered that line, Cheon Jeonmun’s lips twisted into a grotesque sneer—as if on cue.