CLS-Chapter 252

Chapter 252

“Did you say bloodline?”

Baek Hoe-myeong cried out in shock.

“Shh.”

The Supreme Elder brought his finger to his lips as if telling him to be quiet.

Even though there was no one around to overhear them, the Supreme Elder’s caution showed just how serious this matter was.

“But I’ve never heard any talk of the Demon Emperor having a bloodline?”

“They say it was never revealed to anyone. When the child was born, the tide of war had already begun to turn against them, so there are rumors that the Demon Emperor never announced the child’s existence.”

“Where exactly did you hear this? Even if it’s just a rumor, I’ve never heard anything like it. My information network shouldn’t be inferior to the Beggar’s Sect or Hao Clan.”

The Supreme Elder nodded.

“Of course, as the Young Family Head, you must hear all the talk under Heaven. But even the Beggar’s Sect and Hao Clan don’t know the affairs of the Demonic Path.”

“…Are you saying this came from their own mouths?”

“It’s difficult to say more. Just know that our family has been scheming for the martial world for a long time, and our reach extends even into the Cult.”

Baek Hoe-myeong’s body trembled.

‘Are they saying the family’s power reaches even into the Demonic Cult?’

He thought he knew most things about the family by now, but whenever he heard such words, he was reminded anew. The family’s power was deeper and broader than he could imagine.

Sometimes he felt like a puppet dancing to the Family Head’s intentions. As if knowing what Baek Hoe-myeong was thinking, the Supreme Elder quietly spoke.

“This is something prepared over generations. Your grandfather and great-grandfather had the power to rule the world, yet they acknowledged that their strength alone could not claim the Central Plains and lived as hermits, turning their backs on the world. Never forget that the family’s resentment runs so deep that men who could have been called the greatest under Heaven in their time endured the life of hermits.”

“Yes. I have never forgotten.”

“Anyway…”

The Supreme Elder seemed to hesitate for a moment, then smiled faintly.

“A rumor is just a rumor. And if the Demon Emperor’s bloodline had truly survived, there would be no reason for them not to have appeared by now. They would already be of age. If more time passes, they won’t be able to properly master the demonic arts the Demon Emperor left behind.”

“…Isn’t there a chance they’re already learning them?”

“That’s impossible. I can state this with certainty. The Demon Emperor’s martial arts cannot be learned through self-study.”

Questions remained, but it wouldn’t be proper to doubt when the Supreme Elder spoke so definitively.

“It’s just an old man’s curious speculation. The Family Head surely has various other schemes to move the Demonic Cult, even without such things.”

“That’s right.”

“In any case, this time the Cult will follow our will. The movement toward Mount Hua is nearly complete.”

“Isn’t there a chance they’ve noticed?”

“They will know.”

“…Then isn’t that a big problem?”

“They’ll know someone is coming. But…”

The corners of the Supreme Elder’s mouth curled up.

“It doesn’t matter. Everyone they catch will be nothing but Green Forest rabble. At most, they’ll only think ‘the Green Forest King is plotting something.’ They won’t notice the real movement.”

“I’ll trust you, Uncle.”

“You should trust them, not me. So Young Family Head, just focus on successfully leading this undertaking.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Though he answered briskly, Baek Hoe-myeong’s face wasn’t bright.

The words he’d heard earlier kept bothering him.

‘The Demon Emperor’s bloodline…’

What if such a person truly existed?

If the Demon Emperor, who held the Demonic Cult’s power in one hand, had left behind bloodline, and the Demonic Cult reunited around that person?

‘The world would be plunged into chaos again.’

But from their perspective, it could also be an opportunity. If they quelled the turmoil created by the Demon Emperor’s descendants, the world would never forget their existence again.

To clear his confused mind, Baek Hoe-myeong quietly closed his eyes.

***

His eyes were like blades.

His eyes, filled with coldness, made even his comrades afraid. The kind of cleanliness bordering on obsession that couldn’t tolerate even a bit of injustice could feel more troublesome to those around him than an enemy.

The man knew this fact as well.

Though they were comrades fighting together, the man wasn’t obtuse enough not to notice that they subtly kept their distance from him.

‘How well they claim to be the Orthodox faction.’

He’d heard enough of the nonsense about how fish can’t live in water that’s too clean. Every time he heard those words, the man had to endure a nauseating revulsion, as if something filthy was rising from within.

Could it be called proper to dirty the water for the sake of fish that could only live in dirty water?

It irritated the man that there were those who shamelessly claimed to be fish that could only survive in dirty water.

‘They’re all rotten.’

That’s why he couldn’t get along with them today either.

It was common after a battle ended to soothe one’s aching heart with alcohol until dawn, but the man had left the camp and was wandering alone like this.

The martial world wasn’t what he had thought it would be.

Those who knew righteousness existed only in storybooks. The martial world was a place that claimed righteousness on the surface but was more rotten than anyone behind the scenes.

It wasn’t that there were no people who truly cared for the martial world, but they were too few. And perhaps because of the prolonging war, people were beginning to appear who compromised by putting forward reality.

‘Is the martial world nothing but a place of squabbling demons?’

Perhaps it was too early for him, still young, to feel regret. But how else could he explain this emotion that weighed heavily on his body if not by the name of regret?

He desperately wanted a strong drink.

His seniors told him he was still too pure, and those who called themselves his friends said he was still untainted by the world.

Then what about himself?

What evaluation should he give himself?

A dreamer?

Or an idealist?

The man laughed lowly.

‘A fool, probably.’

Or else a mental patient afflicted with obsessive cleanliness.

The man shook his head and approached the riverside.

Suddenly, a strong alcohol scent pierced his nose.

The man’s gaze slowly turned toward where the alcohol scent was coming from.

‘Cheap liquor.’

This was quite a familiar smell.

It was the smell of cheap hwaju sold in marketplaces—the kind that noble Orthodox practitioners who spare no effort fighting for the Central Plains against the Demonic Cult’s invasion wouldn’t even think of touching.

A smell that couldn’t even be called fragrance. With no flavor to be found, so harsh that you’d pour it down your throat with the thought ‘let’s drink quickly and collapse drunk’—that kind of liquor’s smell.

And…

That cheap hwaju‘s smell was now stirring the man’s heart.

Perhaps the scent that best suited this battlefield wasn’t the fragrant Xiaohong wine drifting from his camp, but that hwaju‘s aroma. Thinking this, the man walked as if entranced toward where the alcohol scent was coming from.

And pushing through the thickly grown reed bed, the man discovered a small clearing hidden among the reeds, barely visible, and also discovered a man in black sitting there tilting a wine cup.

For a moment, the man could do nothing but stare at the man in black.

There was something captivating about the figure of the man in black sitting alone under the dim moonlight, tilting his wine cup.

The masculine jawline of the man in black, shadowed by moonlight, made him think it looked like a painting, even though they were both men. Like a scene from an old ink painting.

The man in black’s head slowly turned.

“An unwelcome guest.”

A low voice.

It was a low voice with a pleasant resonance.

“Sorry.”

The man quietly bowed his head.

It seemed as if he had intruded into this perfect space and ruined the atmosphere. As the man was about to turn and leave, the man in black casually spoke to him.

“Shouldn’t you be celebrating victory? I didn’t know there was another person besides me who’d separated from the group to mope around.”

The man wore a bitter smile.

“I’m not much for noisy celebrations.”

“Neither am I.”

The man in black quietly looked at the man, then picked up a liquor bottle placed beside him. Then he threw it to the man.

Thunk.

The man caught the flying bottle and looked at the man in black with questioning eyes.

“If you become a drinking companion, you might not be an unwelcome guest.”

The man chuckled softly.

“Are you telling someone who came out here because they dislike people to make a friend?”

“Couldn’t you just do it quietly?”

At the man in black’s shameless attitude, the man couldn’t help but smile.

How long had it been since he’d seen such an unaffected attitude?

“What’s your name?”

“Name?”

“If we’re to be friends, shouldn’t we at least know each other’s names?”

“Well, if we’re true friends, wouldn’t things like status and names not matter at all?”

“We’re not that close yet, are we?”

The man in black nodded and opened his mouth.

“I’m called Jeok Mok-u.”

The man frowned.

‘A strange name.’

There couldn’t be parents who would name their child with the meaning of ‘puppet.’ It was clearly a false name, but the man didn’t bother to press the issue.

What did it matter—it was just a fleeting connection for one night.

“I am…”

The man quietly spoke.

“I am called Wei Jeong-han.”

Wei Jeong-han bolted upright.

A drop of cold sweat ran down his flustered face.

‘An old dream.’

Wei Jeong-han raised his hand to wipe his face.

Judging by the fact that he’d dreamed a dream he hadn’t had for a while, today’s events must be quite a burden on him.

‘I should forget it.’

Wei Jeong-han turned his head to look at Han Sang-ah sleeping soundly. She had tossed and turned all night because of the fact that their two sons would spar today, finally falling asleep only in the morning.

After gazing at her with affectionate eyes for a long while, Wei Jeong-han carefully got up so as not to wake Han Sang-ah. Leaving the bed and sitting at the tea table, Wei Jeong-han poured tea into a cup and slowly sipped it.

‘Today it is.’

Finally, today.

The day when Wei San-ho and Wei Yan-ho would compete had arrived. Wei Jeong-han let out a low sigh.

He had never once thought such a thing would happen. From a father’s perspective, it was something he didn’t want to see. In other families, it might be delightful to see children compete with each other’s achievements, but not the Wei Family.

Because Wei Jeong-han couldn’t sincerely celebrate either one’s victory.

Turning his head to look out the window, brilliant sunlight was streaming through the window frame. Unlike that day’s dim moonlight.

“…Honey.”

“Mm?”

Han Sang-ah had awakened at some point and was looking at him.

“Oh my, I thought I was being careful, but it seems I woke you. There’s still time, so sleep a bit more.”

“Honey, our children will be alright, won’t they?”

At Han Sang-ah’s seemingly random question, Wei Jeong-han smiled gently.

“Why are you stating the obvious?”

Wei Jeong-han spoke straight from his heart.

“Whoever wins, no one will be hurt. Because they’re our children. Because they’re the kind of children who would never do such a thing.”