Ch. 25

Chapter 25: Seizing the Inspection Corps

Cheon Muryang raised three fingers.

Then he folded his index finger and spoke.

"One."

He had investigated all the Inspection Corps members beforehand.

It was to see if there might be any among them who hadn't committed crimes.

However, it was merely a groundless concern.

The entire Inspection Corps was garbage beyond recycling.

"Two."

He folded his thumb.

The former Inspection Corps Commander, Cheon Ahaeng, was imprisoned in the underground dungeon.

Even so, the reason they were holding out was obvious.

It meant such a powerful backer existed, and Cheon Muryang knew who it was.

'Third Elder.'

If not him, there was no one else who would devise such a petty plan.

Grand Supreme Elder Cheon Jungho at least seemed to be someone who knew dignity.

"Three."

Cheon Muryang held up his middle finger conspicuously for them to see, then folded it very slowly.

"……."

No one left.

Rather, it was a good thing.

"How fortunate."

They were all of the same kind as Cheon Ahaeng.

People who took positions in the Inspection Corps through bribes or connections, every one of them taking money under the table.

So truly, it was fortunate.

If even one had fled, they would have repeated their garbage-like deeds elsewhere.

"That no one ran away, I mean."

"Grand Young Master, behind us is……."

"I know who's there."

"……!"

"But if you think I won't cut you down just because you trust in something like that……."

Cheon Muryang swung Heavenly Light Sword with indifferent eyes, as if cutting a roadside pebble.

"Huk!"

It was tremendous speed.

Everyone's eyes widened.

In that moment, the chest of the one standing closest split open.

Thud!

His body toppled over.

Cheon Muryang shook off the blood on Heavenly Light Sword several times.

"You're mistaken."

"I, iik!"

They panicked.

They had never imagined the situation would unfold this way.

"What are you doing, not attacking?"

"How could we possibly swing our swords against the Grand Young Master?"

"Ah, really? Then let's do this. I swear as the Grand Young Master of the Cheon Clan. Even if you kill me, no one will touch you."

"How can we believe that!"

"If you don't believe it, then just die."

"Ugh……!"

"You don't have a choice anyway, do you?"

Cheon Muryang deliberately provoked them.

After his transformation, he wanted to see how much he had changed.

At a level where he could generate Sword Energy, they were perfect.

Crack!

They realized.

That they had no choice.

It was being discarded after use.

So they emanated thick killing intent toward Cheon Muryang.

"Yes. You should have done that from the start."

"My lord! It's dangerous."

Cha Myeonghak tried to stop him, but Neung Ryeoun shook his head.

"You all don't step in either."

"Yes."

With Neung Ryeoun's response.

Countless blades flew toward Cheon Muryang.

Clang!

However, not a single blade reached Cheon Muryang.

"Th-this…… Can't be!"

Several swords were torn from their wielders' hands and flung away by the force contained in Heavenly Light Sword.

"Hmm. My strength and reflexes have definitely improved."

Cheon Muryang felt his body had improved incomparably to before.

Their best sword strikes appeared so slow they made him yawn.

Also, even without using full power, he had enough strength to deflect swords automatically.

Squeeze.

Cheon Muryang gripped Heavenly Light Sword firmly.

"Then……."

He suddenly became curious.

What would happen if he cut through the sky with all his might using this body?

Grin.

Cheon Muryang smiled with curiosity.

The smile was no different from the one he wore when he was a wastrel in the past, but everything else about Cheon Muryang had changed.

Whoosh!

Heavenly Light shot toward the sky.

With that alone, pressure like Mount Tai pressing down enveloped them.

Tremble tremble.

Their legs trembled.

Even standing felt difficult.

They tried to endure by gritting their teeth, but they turned pale at the sight unfolding before their eyes.

"Ah……!"

All of them had learned the Cheon Clan's sword techniques.

Even though they had only learned superficially without grasping the true meaning, they could clearly see.

Whooom!

The loftiness of the sky contained in Cheon Muryang's sword.

They saw Cheon Muryang looking down with indifferent eyes from an unreachably high place.

Crash!

That sky collapsed in an instant.

There was nothing they could block it with, and nowhere they could flee.

In this moment, their power of life and death rested in Cheon Muryang's will.

'I won't kill them.'

Death would be a luxury for them until they paid for all their sins.

It was Cheon Muryang's justice to let them rot beneath that underground dungeon for life.

"Whew……."

When Heavenly Light Sword stopped.

No one stood before Cheon Muryang.

"Ugh……!"

No one died.

However, a horrific scene unfolded before his eyes.

Cheon Muryang had cut off their right arms so they could never wield swords again.

"You are all dismissed."

With indifferent eyes, Cheon Muryang passed judgment and gave his first command to Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak.

"Put them all in the underground dungeon."

"Yes, my lord."

The two men trembled.

Because they had each seen their own skies through Cheon Muryang.

For that very reason, the true meaning of the sword Cheon Muryang showed approached them as a tremor.

"Tsk."

Cheon Muryang tried to head to the Inspection Corps office through the naturally created path.

Boom!

It was then.

A roar echoed from not too far away.

Whip!

Cheon Muryang's head turned.

He felt intense Demonic Energy from that place.

It was deep and thick Demonic Energy incomparable to the Soung Pavilion Master's.

"This is……."

He had thought the Soung Pavilion Master's Demonic Energy was an incomplete form.

However, the current Demonic Energy was the same as the thick and ominous Demonic Energy that had once covered the Cheon Clan.

Creak.

Cheon Muryang was furious.

'From the Soung Pavilion Master…… Just how far does the Demonic Cult's reach extend?'

The Demonic Cult never revealed itself.

However, the Demonic Cult had already taken root deep within the Central Plains martial world.

"At least I cannot tolerate it in my home."

Cheon Muryang raised Heavenly Light Sword.

Hum!

Heavenly Light Sword reacted to the Demonic Energy.

With that, he realized someone emitting terrible Demonic Energy was coming here.

"Perfect, he's coming on his own."

"Cheon Muryang!"

Soon, the one who appeared was Cheon Ahaeng, disheveled with shackles on his hands.

He was in the state of having escaped from the underground dungeon.

Snicker.

Cheon Muryang laughed.

"After cutting down garbage, bigger garbage comes."

"How dare! A bastard like you make me like this?"

Cheon Ahaeng's eyes were filled with madness.

Only fury toward Cheon Muryang remained.

"You clearly saw the Soung Pavilion Master's end……."

Hadn't Cheon Ahaeng been present at that place too?

However, Cheon Ahaeng sneered at Cheon Muryang with a fishy smile.

"Don't compare me with the likes of him. The elixir given to him was incomplete."

"Incomplete……."

"It means I have enough power to tear you apart and escape."

"I like that. I was feeling stiff since my body wasn't fully warmed up anyway."

"Shut up. I will definitely tear you apart!"

Cheon Muryang knew about Cheon Ahaeng.

He was a hothouse flower who only cared for himself and had learned martial arts but never once fought risking his life.

'Does it even change one's disposition?'

Yet, Cheon Ahaeng's appearance of charging so recklessly was like a completely different person.

Perhaps because of the madness in his eyes, the whites appeared even larger.

"Why don't you come instead of just talking?"

"Fine! That's what I was about to do."

Glance.

Cheon Ahaeng tore off the chains almost like ripping them apart.

Then, he glanced at a sword lying on the ground.

"Pick it up. If you're going to do it, you should do it properly."

"……."

Cheon Ahaeng picked up the sword.

That sword turned black in an instant.

The entire area seemed to darken from the terrible Demonic Energy.

Even Neung Ryeoun tried to stop Cheon Muryang from the ominousness.

"My lord!"

"It's fine. Let me finish warming up my body."

"Arrogant bastard!"

Cheon Ahaeng rushed toward Cheon Muryang frantically like someone being chased.

"I'll kill you before Cheon Wigang and Cheon Seonhak arrive!"

The roar alone from Cheon Ahaeng's escape from the underground dungeon was an emergency.

So Cheon Wigang's safety would inevitably be the top priority.

For that reason, all of the Cheon Clan's military groups, including Cheon Seonhak, would have gone to Cheon Wigang.

Therefore, the time allowed to Cheon Ahaeng was until they realized the target was Cheon Muryang.

"You seem to be mistaken……."

Cheon Ahaeng was greatly mistaken.

The mistaken belief that he could kill Cheon Muryang with that false power.

"I'm enough on my own, you see?"

Clang!

The two swords crossed.

From their point of contact, intense shock burst out in all directions.

"……!"

Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak had to draw up their Internal Energy even though they were only watching.

"Witness this overwhelming power! A wastrel bastard who trained for a few months cannot possibly handle it!"

Just as the Soung Pavilion Master had.

Cheon Ahaeng too was intoxicated with the power given by Demonic Energy.

"That power isn't yours, as I said at Soung Pavilion."

"Shut up. Shut up!"

Rumble rumble rumble!

Cheon Ahaeng's Sword Energy became even more intense.

The Demonic Energy emanating from him dyed the Cheon Clan's sky with darkness.

"The Cheon Clan's sky is only this much! How ridiculous to be arrogant with such a pathetic sky!"

Cheon Ahaeng laughed madly.

Jealousy and envy toward Cheon Wigang and Cheon Seonhak could be felt.

"For one who bears the Cheon surname to forget the essence. Why must the shame be mine?"

It was shameful.

How could one bearing the Cheon surname make statements denying the essence of the Cheon Clan—the sky?

"Shut up!"

"It's your mouth that should shut."

"……!"

"And what should be cut is that filthy and false Demonic Energy."

Whooom!

A clearer energy than before permeated Heavenly Light.

"A frog in a well can only see a sky as large as the well's opening."

So the frog could never know the sky outside the well.

"You foolish frog-like existence who doesn't know the sky outside the well."

The frog in the well was Cheon Ahaeng.

"……!"

"Do you think you've defiled the sky?"

The blackened Sword Energy had certainly defiled the sky.

However, he should know.

That while he might defile a part.

He could not defile the entire sky.

"The sky you defiled is merely the sky you've seen from your well."

Heavenly Light Sword, filled with blue Sword Energy blooming in strands, severed a portion of the blackened sky.

Space distorted.

Heat haze rose, and through the gaps, Cheon Ahaeng's Demonic Energy was swept away and disappeared.

"N-no!"

"So realize it even in death."

He would not realize it even in death.

"That the Cheon Clan's sky is not so low as to be within your reach."

Heavenly Light cut through Cheon Ahaeng's very darkness.

Slice.

Cheon Ahaeng's head fell.

Nowhere did the insolent darkness that tried to defile the sky exist.

Having severed the Dark Sky.

"Dark Sky Severance, is it."

Cheon Muryang memorized that sensation.

Because it would be effective against those harboring Demonic Energy.

"……."

Dark red blood flowed from dead Cheon Ahaeng's corpse.

The terrible Demonic Energy seemed to have absorbed even the fundamental life force contained in the blood.

Crack, crackle!

Then, Cheon Ahaeng's corpse began twisting wildly.

It was a disgusting and horrific sight, but Cheon Muryang only watched indifferently.

"Grand Young Master!"

At that moment, those who had been tracking the source of the roar arrived.

Boom!

Cheon Muryang shouted in all directions with Internal Energy fully loaded.

"No one!"

"……!"

"Shall defile the Cheon Clan's sky!"

Everyone flinched.

Because dignity resided in Cheon Muryang's sharply edged gaze.

"Clear it away."

With indifferent eyes, Cheon Muryang passed by the lump that had been Cheon Ahaeng and the former Inspection Corps members still moaning in pain with their right arms severed.