Chapter 78: Chapter 78
“A notice? Are you saying you’ll announce it to everyone?”
“Yes. With unprecedented conditions. Offer everything money can buy.”
“What?”
“Weapons, martial arts, elixirs. Say you’ll give them all. So anyone would be tempted.”
“No, but…”
“Ah, and say that current Five Dragon Hall members will receive a hefty traveling allowance just for participating.”
“Master…”
Chwi Hong-ran’s face immediately fell. She couldn’t fathom Jang I-seo’s plan at all.
‘Doing this will only draw more attention from the First Young Master… Furthermore, it reveals just how much capital you possess.’
In short, it would make them an even bigger target.
But why on earth.
“But write that the recruitment is being held at the Third Small Palace.”
“What?”
“If we’re going to suffer headaches from being dragged into this mess, it’s unfair to suffer alone. Besides, won’t more people show up if we drop her name?”
“But… can you just do that without her permission?”
“We’re just borrowing her location and name, so what? And she’ll have to play along.”
A slow smirk spread across Jang I-seo’s face. Watching him, Hong-ran’s jaw dropped, her mind reeling as his intentions began to click into place.
‘He’s trying to pin Cheon Mu-gi’s focus on the Third Young Lady first!’
Good heavens. She was utterly astounded.
‘In this case, the First Young Master will have no choice but to assume the Third Young Lady struck first deliberately. Then, he’ll only have one course of action: suppress this matter entirely, regardless of the cost. Master is planning to exploit the opening that creates…’
A shiver ran through her, and Hong-ran’s fingertips trembled. Stealing another glance at Jang I-seo, his eyes gleamed with absolute cunning and sinister intent.
‘A snake. A terrifying one, but a good snake.’
A hollow laugh escaped her.
“I will do as you say. I’ll put up the notices everywhere and distribute some funds in advance to make it credible.”
“I knew I could count on you, Proprietress. You read my mind.”
“You flatter me.”
“Since I’m flattering you anyway, I have one more task. The nearby tribes have been at war until recently. They’re all wary of the Demonic Cult, but among them are forces that cannot be ignored, like the Shan Wang Jia.”
Why bring up northern politics suddenly…
But Jang I-seo wouldn’t bring up something pointless.
Pricking her ears, Hong-ran waited for his command.
“Look into who made a name for themselves in the recent wars.”
“Does that mean…!”
“Even if we gather a hundred men from within the cult, they’ll all just be the same vicious, demonic scum. If that’s the case, we might as well recruit from the outside.”
So that’s his plan. He’ll divert their attention toward the Third Young Lady while looking outward for recruits.
Truly, my master is…
“It’s late. You should head back. We’ll talk more soon.”
“Yes!”
Hong-ran stood and offered a respectful bow. Jang I-seo raised a hand in acknowledgment, and she departed with graceful steps.
Left alone, Jang I-seo threw the windows wide open and stared out at the dark night sky.
“There is no way to win a disadvantageous fight. When that happens, you have to rig the board yourself.”
If you couldn’t predict your opponent’s moves, the next best thing was to dictate the rules and force their hand.
This was the strategy Jang I-seo had devised.
“Cheon Mu-gi. What will you do now? Will you accept my invitation?”
Under the moonlight, his enigmatic smile lingered in the heavy night air.
* * *
A few days later.
True to Jang I-seo’s design, Cheonsan was in an uproar.
The reason was the notices plastered everywhere, on inn walls and buildings alike.
“Did you see? The Third Young Lady is recruiting men, and the conditions are incredible.”
“I saw. They say she’s offering five nyang of silver a month. That can’t be real, can it?”
“What lie? I heard from my source that all the top-tier weapon orders are currently backed up for the Third Young Lady.”
“Good heavens. Then it must be true!”
Word had spread so thoroughly that you couldn’t walk a single lap around the village without everyone knowing.
“Big Brother! Did you hear? That little bastard Mao is starting his own faction!”
“Heh… hahahaha! If that’s even possible, I’ll roast my own hand.”
Ma Jin-gu, who had hobbled over to the Ma Family estate on crutches, and Ma I-sin, who burst into a fit of mad laughter upon hearing it.
“Adjutant Jang… incredible!”
Even Maeng Hwi, who had been sitting on a hill at the Horse Grounds, idly plucking grass in solitude.
The news had rippled out in all directions in a flash, leaving no one in the dark.
Naturally, the village housing the First Small Palace, where the First Young Master Cheon Mu-gi resided, was no exception.
“…Bring me the notice.”
A man wrapped entirely in bandages beneath a black windbreaker muttered in a fractured tone.
His name was Hwan-sa, and his appearance was anything but ordinary.
In the previous generation, he had been widely known by the moniker Phantom Demon Lord, but now his title was far more familiar.
The First Young Master’s Adjutant.
The right-hand man of the First Young Master, Cheon Mu-gi.
“I have brought it.”
A warrior approached and respectfully handed him a neatly folded notice. The man’s black windbreaker bore flame insignias that looked as if they were branded in blood. He was a member of the Black Fire Guards, the hundred dark demons who followed Cheon Mu-gi.
“For the Third Small Palace to dare pull something like this…”
A thick, murderous glint shot from the Phantom Demon Lord’s eyes as he scanned the notice. When the passing cultists recoiled in terror and stared:
Swish!
The Black Fire Guards unleashed a wave of pressure, shoving the cultists aside as if telling them to mind their own business.
The contents of the notice were beyond absurd.
To summarize:
一. The Third Small Palace is recruiting one hundred demonic warriors.
二. Selection will be based solely on skill. The highest compensation is guaranteed.
三. Current members of the Five Dragon Halls will receive a traveling allowance for participating.
And one tiny addendum, written as small as a bean:
* Note: Successful applicants will be affiliated with the Seventh Small Palace.
Word had already secretly spread that the Seventh Young Master had recently received the Hundred Commander’s Seal. So what did this mean?
It meant the Third Young Lady and the Seventh Young Master had teamed up to scheme together.
The Phantom Demon Lord snapped the notice shut and strode out.
“We return to the First Young Master.”
*
A massive estate painted entirely in black, from the roof tiles to the perimeter walls.
Even the corridors and the sliding doors at the far end. Everything was steeped in darkness.
The only distinguishing feature was the motif of flames.
While the Guardian Dragon Hall had its tigers, this place was adorned with fiery insignias at every turn.
And in the Demonic Cult, there was only one place like it.
The First Small Palace’s Black Fire Court.
Returning straight from the village, the Phantom Demon Lord had to pass through seven sliding doors, each guarded by a Black Fire Guard along a long, narrow corridor, before finally reaching his master’s room.
Rattle. As the final door slid open, it revealed the man seated at a table in the very center.
Long, dark hair and black robes. A calm gaze, utterly devoid of emotion.
Even his posture as he painted an orchid was flawless, without a single trace of disorder.
Finding someone who enjoyed poetry and calligraphy in a den teeming with demonic martial artists was contradictory, yet the eccentricity suited him strangely well.
The First Young Master, Cheon Mu-gi.
It was him.
Without a word, his adjutant, the Phantom Demon Lord, stepped three paces forward and stood at attention beside him, rigid as a pillar.
He waited in silence.
He didn’t move again until Cheon Mu-gi finished the painting and set his brush down.
“What is it?”
A flat, calm voice. You could tell just from his tone. He was the kind of man who wouldn’t bat an eye even if lightning struck at his feet.
That had been the case even in his childhood, when he was hailed as the greatest genius of the Demonic Cult.
Unlike Ma I-sin, whose emotions always raged like a storm, he had always been as silent as stone.
Because of this, people used to refer to them as fire and water.
But that was an old story.
“The Third Small Palace has put these up all across the cult.”
The Phantom Demon Lord stepped forward carefully and handed him the notice. Cheon Mu-gi opened it and scanned the text as indifferently as if he were reading a casual essay.
In fact, the Phantom Demon Lord felt anxious just watching him.
Cheon Mu-gi finished reading in an instant. He handed it back and delivered his verdict with the same emotionless tone.
“Our third sibling has done something quite extraordinary. Using the seal our youngest received for her own selfish gain.”
“She has crossed the line. I should have been suspicious the moment an adjutant was assigned to the Seventh Young Master… Forgive me.”
“Nonsense. We should acknowledge her for this. It simply means she has grown enough to deceive even her own brothers.”
Was he really going to let this slide? After witnessing such insolence?
No, impossible.
A smirk crept onto the Phantom Demon Lord’s lips.
Having served the grand fiend of the previous generation, he knew Cheon Mu-gi was definitely not that kind of man.
“If she has grown, we can no longer treat her like a foolish child. We have no choice but to treat her accordingly.”
As expected.
A cold-blooded blade, concealing absolute ruthlessness behind a gentle facade.
The only man qualified to command all demons, completely unswayed by anything.
That was the First Young Master, Cheon Mu-gi.
“How shall we proceed?”
The Phantom Demon Lord asked, his tone icy. His eagerness to obliterate the Seventh and Third Small Palaces entirely was palpable, needing only a single order.
Had it been the reckless Second Young Master, he might have given such an order.
But.
‘Sa Hae-ryeong. I would have put you in your place eventually if you’d just stayed still. Using your head first is unlike you. Lacking the strength, you drew everyone’s attention to use as a shield. But who is it? You aren’t clever enough to devise such a shallow scheme. Whose help did you get?’
Cheon Mu-gi was an all-rounder, mastering both the martial and literary arts.
He was a man who already harbored dozens of venomous vipers in his belly.
It was obvious to him at a glance that this scheme hadn’t come from Sa Hae-ryeong’s head.
“Give the word, and I will sweep them all away within three days.”
Yet the Phantom Demon Lord, completely oblivious to his master’s thoughts, oozed murderous intent and blurted out.
“Hmm.”
Rather than getting angry, Cheon Mu-gi let out a thoughtful hum, pretending to deliberate.
He didn’t do this because he was swayed by his adjutant’s words, but simply because he understood the kind of man he was.
A man with a fiery temper and a bottomless thirst for blood.
Rather than trying to change such people, it was better to simply use them when the occasion called for it.
Of course, their uses were always predictable because of that nature.
And this was not one of those times.
This time, with public opinion so heavily skewed, he needed someone to step forward and act as his proxy.
For instance…
“Cheon Mu-giiiiii!”
Someone like the Second Young Master, Mu Han-seong, who was currently sprinting toward them, completely out of control and screaming at the top of his lungs.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Cheon Mu-gi’s mouth.
*
Meanwhile, a line of ruffians was stationed just outside the walls of the First Small Palace.
It was obvious they belonged to a single faction, but they lacked any proper uniform, and their weapons were all over the place. Even their stances were wild and varied, looking absolutely deplorable.
However, writing them off as mere street thugs was impossible given the vicious aura they radiated.
Chilling gazes pierced through their giggling and laughter.
Each and every one of them had the vicious look of a predator you’d be lucky to find even one of anywhere else.
If you had to call them thugs, it felt like someone had gathered every single gang boss in the country into one place.
In short, they were vicious bastards.
That was exactly what they were.
It wasn’t an inaccurate assessment.
They were the hundred eccentrics who were known as troublemakers even within the Five Dragon Halls.
It was the Second Young Master’s private army: the Hundred Strange Brigade.
“Cheon Mu-giiiiii!”
And the lion-maned brute currently screaming the First Young Master’s name at the top of his lungs was none other than the Second Young Master himself.
The Hegemon Fist Emperor, Mu Han-seong.