My First Subordinates

After dealing with the Sichuan Assassin Sect, I returned to the Yibin branch of the Hao Clan. It was where I had left Jeok Mahyeok’s two younger siblings, Jeok Hagun and Jeok Hayeon.

“Thank you. Thank you so very much, Young Master. I will repay this kindness until the day my life ends. Truly, thank you.”

Those were the words Jeok Mahyeok had spoken while kneeling and sobbing after I removed the gu from Jeok Hagun and Jeok Hayeon’s bodies.

The bastard who had been the Sect Master and First Killer of the Sichuan Assassin Sect had been an easier man to handle than expected.

We had only reached the third stage of Tendon-Separating and Bone-Dislocating, yet he had already been bawling with tears and mucus streaming down his face, screaming that he would cooperate with anything.

‘Kuaaaaaak! Stop! Please stop! Anything! I will cooperate with anything! Aaaaaaak!’

So I had smiled brightly and told him,

‘Come now, what a lie. Surely the Sect Master of an assassin sect could not be this lacking in spirit.’

Then, after slowly letting him experience the fourth and fifth stages as well, I began the conversation.

All kinds of information began pouring out like a burst dam.

The information varied widely.

There was medicine that could force the gu fed to assassin-sect members like Jeok Mahyeok out of their bodies, the locations where he had hidden his wealth and elixirs, and even information about their clients.

He had trained his disciples not to scream even once when dying, yet his own behavior had been nothing short of profoundly disappointing.

Apparently, it truly was difficult for a greedy man to be strict with himself.

I watched the three siblings embrace one another and cry in overwhelming emotion before suddenly speaking to the man standing beside me.

“I will remove your gu ten years from now. Do you feel wronged?”

The man, who had been standing with an expressionless face like a boulder, looked at me with deep eyes and answered,

“As long as you keep your promise, I would not care even if you never removed it.”

He was Gyeon Jung, the man who had been the Second Killer of the Sichuan Assassin Sect.

He was the assassin who had felt far more threatening than a Pinnacle Realm master despite not yet reaching the Pinnacle Realm himself.

When I had asked Jeok Mahyeok for information about the Sichuan Assassin Sect beforehand, he had described this man as follows.

‘The Second Killer is a man like a blade. He carries out the Sect Master’s orders without complaint, but shows no emotion while doing so. Furthermore, he does exactly what he is ordered to do and nothing more. He is like a tool without emotions. I have never truly communicated with him, but I once wondered whether he had killed his own emotions to endure the life of an assassin that he never wanted. I saw him looking sorrowfully at children who had been dragged into the assassin sect, just once.’

That was why I had decided not to kill the Second Killer, Gyeon Jung.

After briefly losing consciousness from being struck by my sword qi, he awoke to see that I had already subdued the Sect Master and taken the medicine that delayed the gu’s attacks from him. He then calmly declared his willingness to follow me.

Like a blade that did not care who held it.

At the time, I promised that I would free him after he worked for me for ten years and told him this.

‘If you work beneath me, I will at least ensure that you never again have to seal away your own emotions. For now, you will have no choice but to use your abilities as an assassin, but soon, I will let you live proudly as a warrior who stands beneath the sunlight.’

I had said that because I had once heard the emotions of Brother Sag Muhun, who had belonged to the Shadow Unit. I suspected that Gyeon Jung’s feelings were probably similar to Brother Sag’s.

He gave no answer to my promise.

However, at that moment, I thought I saw an intense light of emotion in his eyes for the first time.

It seemed he truly was a born warrior.

A short while later, once the three Jeok siblings stopped crying, all of them decided to follow me.

“Young Master! Please allow me to follow you! My abilities may be inadequate, but I will grind my bones to dust and devote this life to serving you!”

“Me too! I want to follow you together with Orabeoni!”

“…I ask the same.”

I had honestly expected it, but it was still satisfying.

Hiding my delight, I gave them their first command with a solemn expression.

“My first order is!”

They looked at me with determined eyes.

Their expressions made it seem as though they would march into hell itself the moment I gave the order.

Laughing inwardly, I continued.

“To consume elixirs.”

“Yes, Young Master! Elixirs… pardon?”

“…C-Consume elixirs?”

“….”

True to his greedy nature, the assassin Sect Master had piled an enormous number of elixirs inside his personal storage, yet apparently almost never distributed them to his disciples.

Considering that even Gyeon Jung, the strongest member of the assassin sect, had yet to accumulate a full sixty years of internal energy, I wondered whether he had deliberately regulated their growth to prevent his disciples from crossing the wall into the Pinnacle Realm.

“What work could I possibly assign to people who do not even possess sixty years of internal energy? From now on, all of you will first increase your internal energy.”

As they exchanged bewildered glances, the younger brother, Jeok Hagun, cautiously asked,

“We are extremely grateful. However, I heard that abruptly filling one’s internal energy with elixirs carries a risk of qi deviation….”

I grinned and answered,

“There is a method to overcome all of that, so do not worry.”

To think there would come a day when I had something for which to thank those Blood Cult bastards. Living long truly allowed one to see all kinds of things.

I took a closer look at the boy Jeok Hagun, who had just pointed that out.

The twin siblings, Jeok Hayeon and Jeok Hagun, could be considered little more than bonuses who had come with Jeok Mahyeok.

Therefore, I had not expected much from them, yet the talents of these two appeared anything but ordinary.

For eighteen-year-olds who had received nothing more than assassin training, their senses and skills were remarkably good.

They were talents who increasingly made me want to raise them properly.

They immediately consumed the elixirs and began circulating their internal energy.

They used the Muhwa Heart Method that I had newly taught them.

The Muhwa Heart Formula was the internal cultivation method of the Thousand Kill Secret that I had memorized in the Seonu Clan’s library. Although it was an assassin sect’s cultivation method, its effects were far superior to those of most advanced internal arts….

It was useless to me, as I cultivated the Chaos-Origin Infinite Art, but it would undoubtedly be of tremendous assistance to these assassins.

I intended to teach them the assassination secrets of the Thousand Kill Sect that I had learned.

For Gyeon Jung and Jeok Mahyeok, who had already reached a high level as assassins, merely learning them would likely produce a considerable increase in their abilities.

‘And in the long term, I should teach them proper martial arts. So that they can make names for themselves as warriors beneath the sunlight.’

Perhaps because they were the first direct subordinates I had obtained in this life, there was much I wanted to do for them.

I was already looking forward to seeing how much they would grow.

However, that concerned the distant future. For the matters immediately ahead, I met the Yibin branch leader of the Hao Clan again.

I wanted to obtain the information about the Hao Clan in Guizhou Province that I had previously asked the Yeongnam branch leader to gather.

And while I was at it, I also wanted information about the Seonu Clan.

With a grave expression, he explained the current situation in Guizhou Province at length.

“…Therefore, it appears that the internal conflict has nearly been resolved.”

According to the information they had gathered, the Hao Clan members of Guizhou Province had apparently been caught in an internal conflict until recently.

And that conflict had recently ended.

In the worst possible direction….

“Toward the Blood Cult, you mean?”

“…Yes, that is correct.”

I let out a deep sigh at his answer.

He also fidgeted nervously, unable to meet my eyes.

“H-However, it is not as though no members oppose them. The former Hao Clan Master of Guizhou Province and the members who followed him are said to have gone into hiding, so if we can establish contact with them, we will surely be able to drive out the Blood Cult forces.”

“…But you said that the former Hao Clan Master was also a Blood Cultist.”

“Th-That is true, but….”

From what he told me, I understood the approximate situation as follows.

Unlike the Masked Demon Lord in Sichuan Province, the demon whom the Blood Demon had infiltrated into Guizhou Province in the past had apparently chosen to operate in the shadows and seize control of the Hao Clan rather than establish a sect.

Thus, unlike the other provinces, where the Hao Clan generally had the character of an alliance between individual branches, the Hao Clan of Guizhou Province had adopted a centralized structure centered around a single Hao Clan Master.

That Hao Clan Master was the unidentified Blood Cult demon.

However, what happened afterward was strange.

For some unknown reason, Blood Cultists who had recently entered the province clashed with the existing Blood Cultists who formed the Hao Clan’s leadership.

And the victors of that conflict were the newly arrived Blood Cultists.

“I’m grateful that they caused an internal conflict, but… why do I have such a bad feeling?”

I suspected that the newly arrived Blood Cultists were remnants of the Righteous Chivalry Guild driven out of Sichuan Province.

However, there was a problem with viewing it only that way.

‘Considering that Sichuan Province was entrusted to the Masked Demon Lord, Sa Won-yang, the one responsible for Guizhou Province could not possibly have been insignificant. He must have been at least on the level of the Blood-Seeking Demon General, Ji Gwang-ok. Yet these newcomers defeated such a man, one who had already established his own power base? Just who…?’

I unconsciously swallowed.

I had the feeling that an unimaginably monstrous figure was lying in wait.

The faces of the Iron-Body Mad Demon, Cheok Gang, and the Nine Abyssal Yun Demon, Gi Eum, who had appeared at the Righteous Chivalry Guild, suddenly came to mind.

Monsters who had looked down upon the countless masters of Qingcheng and the Tang Clan.

‘Surely such major figures would not have been dispatched merely to the Hao Clan of Guizhou Province….’

Even so, my anxiety did not subside.

‘I’m suddenly becoming afraid to return to the Seonu Clan.’

If I went to the Seonu Clan this time, there was no possibility that I could simply greet Father briefly and leave.

The Seonu Clan’s situation was every bit as chaotic as Guizhou Province’s.

Moreover, considering that many people in the Seonu Clan had been Soul-Seized by the Blood Cult in my previous life, I could not guarantee that the Blood Cult had not already reached into the Seonu Clan.

Therefore, if I went to the Seonu Clan this time, I expected that I would inevitably come into contact with Blood Cult forces.

The Yibin branch leader described the Seonu Clan as follows.

“The Seonu Clan is presently like a balance scale supported at its center by Clan Head Seonu Jung. No, to be precise, I suppose it should be called a three-armed balance. It may appear balanced for now, but the moment the weight shifts toward one side, the entire thing will collapse.”

Apparently, although I had never known it, the Seonu Clan had once nearly collapsed in the past.

When Father was young, a major conflict had occurred and all the clan’s masters had been killed.

At the time, Father had been forced into becoming Clan Head at far too young an age, and to preserve the Seonu Clan’s position among the Eight Houses of Guizhou, it seemed he had chosen to draw in outside assistance.

“The greatest threat to the Seonu Clan at that time was the Ha Clan, which was also based in Guiyang. Therefore, your father protected the Seonu Clan by marrying a daughter of the Ha Clan instead.”

The Ha Clan was one of the Eight Houses of Guizhou and also the maternal family of my second brother, Seonu Hyeok.

It felt pathetic that I had only now learned the circumstances behind that marriage.

I suddenly asked him,

“Then it seems the Gaeyang Sect, the maternal family of my eldest brother, was brought in to keep the Ha Clan in check.”

“Yes, that is our assessment.”

The Gaeyang Sect, the maternal family of my eldest brother, Seonu Seong, was a sect located in Gaeyang, a region near Guiyang.

It was a mid-sized sect that did not belong to the Eight Houses of Guizhou. Although its influence was smaller, Father seemed to have tried balancing that weakness with the legitimacy of the First Madam and the eldest son in order to restrain the Ha Clan.

And that was not the end of it.

The maternal family of my fourth younger brother, Seonu Gi, was Seogidang in Dogyun, while the maternal family of the fifth child, Yeonha, was the Un Clan of Geumsa.

All of them were sects situated in different regions surrounding the Seonu Clan.

“Then why did he draw in Seogidang and the Un Clan?”

When I asked that, the Yibin branch leader avoided my eyes and spoke with difficulty.

“…Great Hero Seonu Jung originally had a woman with whom he was in love. However, for the sake of the Seonu Clan, he had no choice but to take her as the Third Madam.”

The Third Madam.

He meant my mother.

And she had passed away not long after I was born.

But the fact that he was now speaking about Mother meant….

The branch leader cautiously continued.

“The First and Second Madams did not have a good relationship. Both gave birth to sons, and both wished to seize control of the Seonu Clan. However, according to rumors from the time… they apparently worked together whenever dealing with the Third Madam.”

I tightly closed my eyes.

I immediately understood what he meant.

My mother, Father’s original lover, who had no influential background, and my eldest and second brothers’ mothers, both notorious for their vicious personalities.

I could almost see the situation unfolding before my eyes.

“The cause of the Third Madam’s death was never made public. However, in our assessment, it was probably….”

He trailed off.

However, I could not fail to understand what he wanted to say.

“Phewww.”

I tried to calm myself.

Nothing had yet been confirmed.

Whether those women had truly killed my mother, or whether they had treated me so cruelly because they had been jealous of Mother as Father’s former lover.

However, fierce flames were surging within my chest for the first time in a long while.

“After the Third Madam passed away, the conflict between the First and Second Madams reportedly became even fiercer. Therefore, according to our deductions….”

“He dispersed their power even further. If it became a struggle among several factions rather than a confrontation between two, none of them could move recklessly.”

“Yes, that is our assumption.”

I let out a deep sigh.

I had almost no memories of seeing Mother myself.

She had passed away so early that even my exceptional memory could not recall her.

However, I could easily imagine it.

If those women had treated even me, a young child, with such cruelty, how must they have treated my mother?

How difficult must the life of a woman without any powerful background have been?

I also felt that I could understand the burden Father had carried.

He must have endured outside powers manipulating the clan however they pleased, discarding Seonu Jung the individual entirely and living only as the Clan Head….

I suddenly muttered,

“There is much to do.”

It seemed that would indeed be the case.

Once I returned to the Seonu Clan.

After remaining lost in thought for a long time, I spoke again to the Yibin branch leader, whose expression remained heavy.

“I have a request.”

“Yes, Young Master. Please speak.”

“Could you deliver two letters for me?”

“Yes, of course. To whom should they be delivered?”

“One is a letter for the Sichuan Tang Clan. And the other is….”

A vast underground space beneath a large inn in the darkness of night.

“Kuaaaaak!”

“Uaaaaak!”

Countless people were bleeding and dying in every direction.

It was a massacre.

People dressed in red had formed an encirclement and were slowly killing those trapped within while tightening the perimeter.

They smiled leisurely, as though playing with rats trapped inside a jar.

A fierce-looking middle-aged man who appeared to be the leader of those trapped at the center of the encirclement shouted,

“What is the meaning of this, Young Master?! Did we not swear that we would follow you?!”

When he shouted, the center of the encirclement opened slightly, and a young man slowly walked through.

He was a beautiful young man whose handsome face seemed to radiate light despite the surrounding darkness.

He spoke in a cold voice.

“First, despite the Sovereign entrusting you with an important duty for the grand undertaking of bringing the world under the Blood Cult, you collaborated with Sonanso and did nothing more than manage the Hao Clan. Second, you failed to capture the criminal Sonanso and instead helped her escape. Third, through all these actions, you forfeited our trust.”

The young man stopped walking and asked with a cold gaze,

“Do you require more reasons, Gong Daegak?”

Gong Daegak, eldest of the Blood Cult demons known as the Three Ghosts of Galsa, clenched his teeth and shouted,

“This is a misunderstanding! The Witch planned to advance into the light after taking control of the shadows. She was never neglecting her duties! Furthermore, we truly do not know where the Witch is!”

However, the beautiful young man, Gu Yusang, the White-Jade Earth Dragon once called the foremost young master of Sichuan, snorted.

“Do not make me laugh. You rescued mere orphans and addressed the grievances of courtesans, yet you claim you were not neglecting your duties?”

Gong Daegak desperately shouted,

“We were orphans as well! Is it wrong for those of us who were once orphans to help children in the same position? Furthermore, by doing so, we could expand the Blood Cult’s influence…!”

“Silence! Do you think the Sovereign sent you here so that you could waste valuable time and manpower on such nonsense?! There is no need for further discussion! Repay your sins with your lives!”

When Gu Yusang rebuked them coldly, the expressions of Gong Daegak and the other Three Ghosts of Galsa also turned cold.

“Hmph! The Witch told us that the Blood Demon ultimately wished to purge those of us from the previous generation. She said he would dispose of us just as he disposed of the Masked Demon Lord. As expected, the Witch’s insight was accurate! We should have followed her and escaped long ago!”

Powerful auras began surging from the Three Ghosts of Galsa as they resolved themselves to fight.

The eldest, Gong Daegak, possessed more than ninety years of internal energy, while the auras of his two younger brothers, each possessing more than eighty years, were no less formidable.

Gong Daegak shouted,

“You brat! We treated you with respect because you are the Blood Demon’s successor, and now you seem to believe you have become the Blood Demon himself! Do you think the Three Ghosts of Galsa will fall easily to someone like you?!”

The two demons standing on either side of Gu Yusang spoke with savage expressions.

“How dare mere Three Ghosts of Galsa speak of the Sovereign in such a manner? Young Master, leave them to us! This Chuk Hotak and No Josong will tear those dogs apart!”

“Entrust them to us, Young Master!”

The men standing on either side of Gu Yusang were Chuk Hotak, the Blood Monk of Yama, and No Josong, the Man-Eating Demonic Tiger. They were demons of the Supreme Realm and with more than ninety years of internal energy, respectively.

Therefore, even the Three Ghosts of Galsa could be dealt with by those two.

However, Gu Yusang smiled gently, turned to look behind him instead, and said,

“Uncle Hwa, may I ask you to handle this?”

A handsome, elegantly dressed man stepped slowly forward from behind him, fanning himself and yawning.

“Yawn. Naturally, I must grant Yusang’s request. But may I return upstairs immediately after dealing with those fellows? I found some exceptionally pretty children up there.”

He had the youthful appearance of a man in his early thirties at most and wore splendid clothing that made him resemble a pleasure-seeking nobleman rather than a martial artist.

However, upon seeing him, Chuk Hotak and No Josong respectfully bowed and stepped aside, while the Three Ghosts of Galsa muttered with horrified expressions.

“Th-The Flower-Seeking Lust Demon, Hwa Sayu?”

The Flower-Seeking Lust Demon, Hwa Sayu.

Alongside the Iron-Body Mad Demon, Cheok Gang, and the Nine Abyssal Yun Demon, Gi Eum, he was one of the Five Demonic Lords of the Demonic Sect and an overwhelmingly powerful master ranked among the Thirty-Six Stars of the World.

And such a man had appeared here together with Gu Yusang.