39. The Spring and Autumn Period of Martial Arts

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“Ihwa Palace is burning?”

“Yes, yes…”

“No way.”

“No… it’s true.”

“…”

 

 

At the sudden news, Ye Serin shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it.

 

 

Having departed from Zhejiang and arrived in Sichuan Province, where the Black Heaven Alliance’s headquarters was located, in a week, she had attended various pointless meetings and verifications, and was in a very bad mood.

Of course, the Black Heaven Alliance did not impose any sanctions on Ihwa Palace or her. They only gave some warnings. The reason they made her come all the way here was to make her aware of the seriousness of the matter, not for the purpose of sanctions.

 

 

If that was fortunate, it was fortunate, but just coming all the way to this distant place already made her feel bad.

 

 

“Do you know what kind of place the great Ihwa Palace is?”

“O-of course I know. I’m just… telling you what was reported…”

 

 

A servant the Black Heaven Alliance assigned to her, knowing Ye Serin’s temperament.

He was a man who boasted considerable beauty, but Serin, who had already tasted Yu-eun, had no particular interest.

More important than that was the news he brought.

 

Suddenly, Ihwa Palace had burned down? Hearing this ridiculous story made her head throb for no reason.

She was already in a bad mood because she was separated from Yu-eun, and now this nonsense.

 

 

“If you check, you’ll definitelyㅡ,”

 

 

Puhwak!

 

 

Before he could finish speaking, the man’s head was gone.

His head was cleanly cut off, his face full of regret for not being able to finish his sentence.

His distorted expression rolled over and past the door.

 

 

“Kyaaak!!”

 

 

A scream from the other side.

Almost simultaneously, the headless corpse fell.

 

 

“Someone outside, come in and clean this up.”

 

There was a brief commotion in the hallway before someone came inside.

 

“Huu… Sword Queen-nim, you can’t keep doing this.”

 

 

It had been a long time since she was dismissed from the ‘Sword Queen’ position by the Murim Alliance, but many of the Demonic Murim still called her the Sword Queen.

This woman was the same.

She deeply respected Ye Serin, who was the pride of the Demonic Path and the ideal of many women.

 

 

Of course, that didn’t mean she liked what she was doing now.

 

 

She had the pale-faced maids clean up the body and sighed.

 

 

 

“It’s true.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That Ihwa Palace burned down.”

“…”

“Not only that, Ningbo Prefecture and the relevant government office have also been occupied, and beacons have been raised. Perhaps the magistrate as well… Currently, the government troops are surrounding the borders of the prefecture.”

“…Ihwa Palace really burned down?”

“Yes.”

“…”

 

 

Serin’s face hardened seriously.

It wasn’t just because she was the Palace Lord, but Ihwa Palace was truly a huge sect comparable to the Nine Great Sects of the Orthodox Murim, or even more so. If the Namgung Clan, a nearby giant sect, was the First Family Under Heaven, Ihwa Palace was the First Palace Under Heaven. If such Ihwa Palace burned down, it was a bigger incident than the Blood Cult’s rampage.

 

‘Could it be that guy’s subordinates?’

 

 

Then something suddenly came to mind.

 

The initial relationship with Yu-eun was her rape, but in fact, Yu-eun, who was far stronger than her, was enjoying a game.

In addition, his bodyguard, a woman named Seo Hyun, also possessed considerable power. Certainly, she was far inferior to Serin herself,

 

 

“If they were just facing the elders, they wouldn’t be unable to win.”

 

 

The gap between Serin and the elders was like heaven and earth.

With that bitch’s skills, she could defeat the elders and burn down Ihwa Palace.

Moreover, there might be even stronger people than her.

 

 

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing. More importantly, if that’s true, I should go back now.”

“…The Alliance will also send warriors with you.”

“I don’t need them. I’m enough on my own.”

 

If it was really Yu-eun’s subordinates who attacked, and that’s why Ihwa Palace and the village burned down, there was no need to take the Black Heaven Alliance’s warriors.

 

 

“But…”

“I am the strongest in this Murim. I’m not in a position to receive your worries.”

“…I understand. Please be careful. The Alliance will never be on bad terms with Ihwa Palace and Sword Queen-nim.”

“Okay.”

 

Serin nodded and left the room.

 

Walking for several minutes, her silver-like white hair swaying.

A group of people approached her.

 

 

The young man leading the group bowed in front of her.

 

 

“…Sama Hong.”

“Nuna, I heard the news.”

 

Tyrant Sama Hong.

As the head of the Sama Clan and the leader of the Black Heaven Alliance, he was considered the best person under heaven in the Orthodox Murim, and the best person in the Demonic Murim.

But he knew. The true best person under heaven, the best sword under heaven, was Ye Serin right in front of him.

That’s why, even though he was in the position of Alliance Leader, he was always polite to her.

 

 

“Yes. I’m about to leave now.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“It’s not to the point where I need your help yet.”

“I heard the situation is quite serious.”

“It’s okay.”

“If you say so, I understand. Even if there is pressure from the government, don’t back down too much.”

“Hmph. Do I look like someone who would do that?”

“……Just don’t overdo it either.”

“Overdo it?”

“As I said before, as long as the Demonic Cult and the Orthodox bastards are there, it’s not good to be on bad terms with the government.”

“I know that too.”

 

She shook her head as if telling him to stop talking and turned away without saying goodbye.

A rude attitude, but the Alliance Leader didn’t care.

He just watched Serin’s receding figure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“So, the truth is that Yu-eun-ssi is an incredibly strong person, even stronger than the Palace Lord-nim. Up until now, being forced was all acting, and now that he’s roughly achieved his goal, he’s going to use that power to unify the Murim?”

“That’s right. As expected of the First Military Advisor. You’re very smart.”

 

Jjak jjak jjak.

 

 

Yu-eun clapped with a bright face, but Seo Hyun only felt like she was being made fun of.

There’s a limit to how much you can play with people. How could he do this?

Until now, she had lived with so much worry and guilt because of the environment he was in, but it turned out that it was all acting? Even the fact that she had a relationship with him was largely due to such psychological factors?

 

 

‘What the…!’

 

 

She was maintaining her composure on the outside, but her insides were boiling.

 

 

But even so, it was hard to just get angry, because whether Yu-eun deceived others or not, basically, Ye Serin, the Palace Lord of Ihwa Palace, kidnapping him was the start of everything. The extremely self-centered elders and Ihwa Sword Masters were furious at the sight of the burned-down Ihwa Palace, but Seo Hyun, who still belonged to the category of normal people, couldn’t just blame him.

She was just resentful that he had deceived people and made them mix their bodies in this way.

 

 

 

 

 

“Anyway, from now on, we’re going to have a meeting to unify the Murim. Seo Hyun-ssi, please listen carefully.”

“…”

 

 

Yu-eun casually mentioned unifying the Murim.

Seo Hyun didn’t have the energy to say anything.

She felt like she didn’t want to do anything.

She had been brought here almost forcibly, but she didn’t want to open her mouth.

 

 

“First of all, based on the structure I’ve roughly grasped so far, the Orthodox Murim controls the northeastern part of China, centered around Beijing. And the Demonic Murim controls the west and here in Zhejiang, centered around Sichuan. Of course, from today, this place will become the territory of our Galaxy Empire.”

“There’s also Daegoryeo towards Liaodong. Now the Central Plains is Ming’s land, but if you look at the history here, Daegoryeo occupied the Central Plains for at least longer than Ming.”

“I heard that’s right. I heard there are also Xiongnu in the north. Anyway, let’s just call them all the Outer Regions. If you go northwest past Qinghai Province, there’s a place called the Ten Thousand Great Mountains where there are guys called the Sun Moon Divine Cult, and they say they’re the strongest in terms of force.”

 

To explain it easily using the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Murim Alliance is Cao Cao’s Wei and the northern part of Sun Wu, the Black Heaven Alliance is Liu Bei’s Shu and Dong Zhuo’s forces + the southern part of Sun Wu. And the Demonic Cult occupies Ma Teng’s forces.

Daegoryeo occupies part of Yuan Shao’s forces and Gongsun Zan’s sphere of influence, as well as the entire Korean Peninsula and part of the Primorsky Krai, and the Xiongnu in the north occupy part of Siberia, Mongolia, and Central Asia.

 

 

Here, Yu-eun’s Galaxy Empire has occupied Hangzhou, where Ihwa Palace was located, especially Ningbo Prefecture.

 

 

“There’s a possibility that the Namgung Clan will move. By now, they’ve probably heard the news that Ihwa Palace has fallen. Zhejiang can be in the Demonic Murim’s sphere of influence only thanks to Ihwa Palace. Now that Ihwa Palace has fallen, the Orthodox side will definitely move.”

“I guess so? I think it’s likely too.”

 

 

Yu-eun pointed to one side of the roughly drawn map.

 

 

“If they come down here to Jiangxi Province and Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province and Fujian Province will be cut off, and four provinces will be taken over in an instant. Besides, there are no giant sects there, so they can come down quickly. If I were them, I’d attack here.”

“Yes. But it will take quite a while. After all, they won’t believe the rumor that a sect as big as Ihwa Palace has fallen so easily. We’ll have some time.”

“That’s right. Then should we go out to Jiangxi first?”

“No. We’re not Demonic, so I think it’s better for the Orthodox side to cut it off first.”

 

 

Seo Hyun drew a straight line from Anhui Province to Jiangxi Province and Guangdong Province with a blue pen.

 

 

“If this happens, the Orthodox-Demonic War will break out immediately, and they’ll fight each other.”

“Aha.”

“Then I think we can raid the Orthodox’s rear in the meantime.”

“I see. As expected of the cunning Seo Hyun.”

“…”

 

 

Yu-eun and Seo Hyun were freely unfolding various stories.

Seo Hyun, who had been watching for a while, couldn’t stand it anymore and joined the conversation.

 

 

 

 

“You’re all wrong. Even if they confirm that this Palace has fallen, the Namgung Clan won’t come down.”

“Huh? Why?”

 

Seo Hyun sighed.

 

 

“Because there’s Daegoryeo. The Murim Alliance is a very important force in blocking Goryeo. But in this situation where you don’t know when Goryeo will rampage, do you think the imperial family will just watch the Orthodox-Demonic War break out?”

“No… the country should block the country;”

“Ming doesn’t have the power to block Goryeo without the help of the Murim.”

“…”

“There’s even the Xiongnu. It’s not for nothing that the Murim, a private armed group, is running rampant. They have no choice but to tolerate it.”

“What. China is such a loser.”

“? Anyway, the Namgung Clan or the Orthodox Murim will definitely take action to come down, but they won’t take decisive action. They’re just conveying the message to the imperial family that ‘we can come down at any time.’ Then the imperial family, which is short of even one force, will have no choice but to give them what they want.”

“Are they going to marry a princess to the Murim Alliance Leader or something?”

“Maybe.”

“Huh? Really?”

“If they could. There’s only one remaining princess, but they can’t marry her off privately. Because there’s Daegoryeo.”

“Another Goryeo? What’s with all the Goryeo.”

“The last resort used when it’s deemed impossible to stop them is to send the princess to the emperor or crown prince of Goryeo.”

“…”

“Ming has never done that, but it’s been done occasionally in other Chinese dynasties.”

“…They’re really losers.”

 

 

As Yu-eun felt, compared to the world he was in, China here was really a loser.

Of course, it was still a strong empire, but there were so many enemies on all sides and it was chaotic.

Moreover, Daegoryeo, which was located in the east, was a gangster nation that beat up the Mongols so badly on its own even when the whole world was being destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty, so China, which was neighboring it, had no choice but to be tired for generations.

When the Yuan Dynasty had almost conquered Asia and Europe, it was only possible because there was internal strife in Goryeo. If that wasn’t the case, they could never have conquered Asia, let alone Europe.

 

 

And around the time the internal strife in Goryeo ended, the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed as planned and chased out of the Central Plains. It was only about a hundred years after they had conquered the world.

 

 

 

 

“The Yuan Dynasty being chased out of the Central Plains and Zhu Yuanzhang establishing the Ming Dynasty were all due to the influence of Daegoryeo. Goryeo defeated the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang started Ming when that Goryeo was unstable due to internal strife.”

“It’s chaotic, chaotic.”