“Why the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan?”
It was the deepest question that had lingered in Kang Sang’s mind from the very beginning. He had to ask. Why the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan? Why Yeon So-hyeon?
“When We heard that ‘that Grand Young Master’ of the Luoyang Sword Clan had ended his seclusion and re-entered the world… We realized it was the last chance We would be given.”
The Emperor, seated across from him, had said those very words. He now gave a slow nod. “Indeed… We knew you would ask that.”
His words trailed off, and a bitter smile touched his lips. The Emperor paused for a long moment, but this was a matter of great importance. Kang Sang waited in silence.
Finally, the Emperor’s lips parted again. “…For a long time now, well before anyone else, We have been watching the movements of the Grand Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan.” Kang Sang was about to hear a story he could never have imagined. “From the very day he was born.”
“…?!”
Forgetting all decorum, Kang Sang dared to lift his head and stare at the Emperor. But instead of rebuking him, the Emperor looked up at the ceiling.
“The place in the Central Plains where change comes slowest, where it arrives last, is this very Imperial Palace.” He gestured to himself. “And within it, under the pretext of upholding tradition, the place most resistant to change is the Imperial Family.”
The Emperor’s words seemed to veer into an unrelated topic, but Kang Sang agreed nonetheless. “…That is so, Your Majesty.” An image of the palace as he had seen it today rose in his mind. From the day he had first entered its gates as a young official, to the day he had cast off his robes and left, and again upon his return today, the palace—down to the very patterns on the ceiling—had remained unchanged. If that was true of the palace, it was even more so for the Imperial Family at its heart.
“And that is why, to this day, there are those within the Imperial Family who observe the changes in the heavens and divine fortunes and misfortunes from them.”
The Imperial Family had countless minor organizations related to matters of superstition, beyond the realm of common sense and reason—those who presided over celestial rites, tended the ancestral tablets, or divined the weather and floods.
“…Are you speaking of the Astronomical Officials?”
“Indeed.”
They were directly under the Emperor’s command, but so far removed from power and advancement that no one paid them any mind. Only a man who had served as Chancellor, like Kang Sang, would even remember their name.
“And seventeen years ago, they submitted a secret report to my father, the late Emperor.” The Emperor’s eyes narrowed. “It was a report on the appearance of the Star of Heavenly Slaughter.”
“…The Star of Heavenly Slaughter.”
It was said that the fate of one born under that star was to drench the world in blood. A man as erudite as Kang Sang could not be ignorant of it. However…
“Was that not a star of myth, Your Majesty? I have heard that while some have claimed to see it rise, its existence has never been proven.”
“Correct. We heard it was the same back then as well.” One person would point to a spot in the night sky and preach of its ominous nature, but the vast majority would see no star at all. “And so, it was nearly dismissed as a trivial matter.”
“…For an organization that receives no attention, causing a stir now and then is the only way to maintain their budget, after all.”
“But, Chancellor,” the Emperor’s voice dropped low. In the room, where the old eunuch’s martial arts blocked all outside sound, his voice was especially chilling. “It was different that time.”
“Not only the Imperial Family’s Astronomical Officials, but soon, from all across the Central Plains, warnings from renowned occultists in the common world began to pour into the Imperial Court.”
“…?!”
This was a matter within the exclusive domain of the Imperial Family, a story that even Kang Sang, the Chancellor at the time, had never heard.
“Those who cast fortunes, those who claim to read the heavens, those who claim to glimpse the future, those who handle ghosts, those who communicate with spirits, those who serve gods—all the famed practitioners of the shadowlands, without exception…”
Even Kang Sang, a man brave enough to hunt tigers, could not help but feel a shiver run down his spine.
“All of them, on the same day, at the same hour, sent the exact same warning to the Imperial Court.” The Emperor spoke the words of that day’s warning. “‘The Star of Heavenly Slaughter has risen over the thousand-year-old ancient capital.’”
“…”
The current capital of the Central Plains was the Imperial Capital, but the thousand-year-old ancient capital was none other than Luoyang. And seventeen years ago… Kang Sang was not so slow as to fail to see how all these threads were connecting.
“…Are you saying the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan was born under the Star of Heavenly Slaughter?”
“That was their assertion.”
Kang Sang shook his head. “…It is preposterous. Were there no other possible interpretations?”
“If not that,” the Emperor said with a bitter smile, “then they said it meant the new leader of the vanquished Demonic Cult was born in Luoyang on the same day as the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan.”
The new leader of the Demonic Cult…! Kang Sang silently grimaced and shook his head. “So it was confirmed that the Grand Young Master was the Star of Heavenly Slaughter?”
“No.” The Emperor shook his head. “We do not know how, but they said the star vanished from sight after that day.”
“…It vanished?”
“All sorts of theories ran rampant among the Astronomical Officials. The child of the star had died. But if he were to die so easily, he couldn’t have been born under the star in the first place. Someone had defied the heavens and intervened in fate. Or perhaps, it was never the Star of Heavenly Slaughter to begin with.”
“…So, in the end, the truth could not be determined.”
“But it was enough to make the Imperial Family keep a close watch on the Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan.”
“Ah…!”
That was it. This entire story had begun with the question of why the Emperor had paid such close attention to the Grand Young Master from the very beginning.
“In the past, there was one known as the ‘Medicine Fairy’.”
At the Emperor’s words, Kang Sang nodded. “You speak of Yak So-yu, the Grand Young Master’s mother.”
“Indeed. Her deeds, which were a series of events bordering on miracles, even led to the founding of a new religion.”
“…A great conference was held among all the official religious orders of the Central Plains to decide whether to recognize the Fairy Sect as a formal religion.” And as a result, the Fairy Sect had been recognized, and its name began to spread throughout the land.
“It was so. But…” The Emperor’s gaze met Kang Sang’s. “It will be news to you that nearly half of the deeds known to the world as the Medicine Fairy’s miracles were, in fact, the work of the Grand Young Master.”
“!”
“The Medicine Fairy, who received many honorary positions, submitted numerous petitions to the Imperial Court during her lifetime. Blocking a great flood, predicting a great drought, developing new farming methods, compiling medical texts…” Nearly half of these, the Emperor was saying, had been touched by the hand of the young Grand Young Master. “It was a fact We could never have known, had the Imperial Family not been watching his every move.”
“…It is astonishing. But,” Kang Sang shrugged, “as an acquaintance of the Grand Young Master, it is not entirely surprising either.”
“Is that so?” The Emperor let out a soft laugh. “But to Us, it was the most astonishing thing of all. An astonishing person. That is why, from long ago, We wanted to emulate him more than anyone.”
“!”
“And so, We read every report related to him.”
This was a story the Emperor had never told anyone.
“That child, younger than Us, was Our hero. We wanted to become a person like the Grand Young Master.” At this moment, the Emperor was more sincere than he had ever been. “If We could be like that boy, Yeon So-hyeon, We felt that We, too, could be remembered as the greatest Emperor in the history of this continent.”
“…Your Majesty!”
At the overwhelmingly candid confession, Kang Sang, at a loss for what to do, lowered his head to the floor. He could predict what would come next, but he did not dare to utter the words himself.
The Emperor shook his head. “But unlike him, We were incompetent.”
“…”
The late Emperor had died suddenly, and he, the Crown Prince, had inherited the throne amidst chaos. And at that time, the patriarchs of the Sixteen Imperial Families, his greatest vassals, had bared their hidden fangs. The young Emperor had become their puppet.
“And even the Grand Young Master, the hero of Our heart…” After the event known as the Blood Purge, a great cleansing within the Luoyang Sword Clan, he had entered seclusion. “Did he finally succumb to the cruel fate of the Star of Heavenly Slaughter?” the Emperor murmured to himself. “Or was that, too, his destiny?”
In the end, the old demons who had manipulated him were forced to step down, but that was not a result of the Imperial Family’s power, but merely the outcome of a political struggle within the Sixteen Imperial Families. The prestige of the Imperial Family had long since fallen to the dust. He was powerless.
“We, no…” The Emperor gave a self-mocking smile. “I was, in truth, giving up on everything…”
“…”
“Time passed relentlessly, loyal vassals were swept away, the clans throughout the Central Plains grew stronger, and now even the Min Clan of the new Empress…” The Emperor, no, the ordinary young man, held up his hands. “…There was nothing I could do.”
At the Emperor’s raw confession, Kang Sang’s eyes reddened. “…Your Majesty.” What could he possibly say? But there was no need for him to say anything.
“Then, a short while ago, shocking news reached me.”
“What news was that, Your Majesty?”
The Emperor’s next words were far from self-deprecating. In fact, he was even smiling. “It was a report from the Imperial Family’s Astronomical Officials, who have barely managed to continue their work.”
“The Star of Heavenly Slaughter has risen again.”
“…Again?”
“And a short time after that…”
Kang Sang did not need to be told. He could guess the rest. “The Grand Young Master of the Sword Clan ended his seclusion…!”
“That is right.” The Emperor nodded emphatically. “He has returned.” He nodded again and again, as if convincing himself. “He has finally returned.”
Kang Sang now understood why the Emperor had said that Yeon So-hyeon’s return from seclusion was his last chance. Similar ages, similar situations. The Emperor was identifying with Yeon So-hyeon, seeing his own powerless struggle against fate in the Grand Young Master’s story. And with this, the unproven connection between Yeon So-hyeon and the Star of Heavenly Slaughter was as good as confirmed.
“I hear he has been causing one major incident after another since his return,” the Emperor said, looking pleased.
“…The Grand Young Master is rapidly securing the position he had lost.” And wherever he went, blood was spilled and screams arose.
The Star of Heavenly Slaughter… It was all superstition. The Emperor’s story was mysterious, but as Confucius said, a gentleman does not speak of strange phenomena, feats of strength, disorders, or spiritual beings.²³ For Kang Sang, who had known Yeon So-hyeon for a long time, it held little meaning. But to know a thing is to see anew. He found himself re-evaluating Yeon So-hyeon’s recent actions.
“…Your Majesty,” Kang Sang began cautiously. “Does it not trouble you, that the Grand Young Master may be the Star of Heavenly Slaughter?”
“No.” The Emperor shook his head immediately. “On the contrary, I think it is for the best. That is exactly what this era needs.” He bared his teeth in a smile. “From ancient times, great torrents of blood have always accompanied great changes in history. All change is met with resistance, and a change great enough to alter history is bound to be met with even greater resistance.”
The sight was so different from the weak Emperor he had known that Kang Sang felt a fresh sense of shock. “…Indeed. That is so.”
“So, tell me.” The Emperor held out a hand toward Kang Sang. “The news you have brought.” The Emperor, his hope now kindled by the name Yeon So-hyeon, was no longer powerless. “Please, share with Us the strategies of the Grand Young Master.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty.” A smile touched Kang Sang’s lips as he bowed his head once more. It was not only the old, loyal vassals, Kang Sang and Gong Liang, who had been waiting for Yeon So-hyeon’s return. The Emperor, too, had been waiting.
“However, it would be better for you to hear it directly from the parties involved, rather than from me.”
“The parties involved?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Kang Sang said, his head still bowed. “By now, those old demons, acting under the Grand Young Master’s orders, should have infiltrated the Imperial Capital and concealed themselves.” He meant that if he sent the promised signal, they would enter the palace immediately.
“!”
The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean you did not spread the rumors of their arrival to conceal your own entry into the palace?!”
The smile on Kang Sang’s lips deepened. “To show illusion as reality, and reality as illusion.” To spread rumors of the old demons to hide Kang Sang’s movements. To reveal Kang Sang’s movements to hide the old demons’ movements.
“All of this was the Grand Young Master’s strategy, Your Majesty.”