“…It is said that no matter how mighty a great tree, soaring dozens of feet into the sky, it is all for naught if its roots are rotten.”

One of the Supreme Operations Councilors lamented with a heavy sigh.

“And now, our House is the very image of that rotting tree…!”

The formal name of this highest decision-making body in the Sword Clan of Luoyang was the Supreme Operations Council. But its original name was the Emergency Planning Council. It had been established as a temporary institution, intended only to fill the power vacuum in a crisis and ensure a smooth transfer of authority to the legitimate heir.

But that was a lifetime ago.

“…This is all the karmic debt of our predecessors, their original sin.”

The newer members of the council fell silent, their faces etched with pain. The men who had formed that first Emergency Planning Council had tasted the power of ruling the greatest family under the heavens and found it to their liking. In their greed, they had cast aside the former Patriarch’s final wishes. They had threatened and coerced the rightful heir, Yeon So-hyeon, and usurped his authority for themselves.

“We, the Supreme Operations Councilors, tried so hard to watch over the House from our lofty position,” a councilor said, his voice thick with regret. “And yet, it has come to this—our own eyes and ears, sworn to secrecy and anonymity, have turned against us.”

Another added in a weary tone, “This body was only ever meant to be temporary, a bridge for the transfer of power. We were fools to forcibly institutionalize it into the Supreme Operations Council.”

The new female councilor clutched her head. “…It was flawed from the very beginning, wasn’t it?”

A senior councilor nodded grimly. “We have spent countless years and endless effort trying to patch the flaws in this system. But it has now become painfully clear that we have failed to address the fundamental problem.”

The architects of this original sin, their predecessors, were long gone from their seats of power. But the corrupt legacy they left behind remained, a poison that had seeped deep into the roots of the great tree that was the Sword Clan of Luoyang.

“Chairman.”

All eyes turned to the one man who remained from that bygone era.

“How in the world did the Grand Young Master know all of this?”

“It all began with a single intelligence report,” the Chairman answered.

“A report?”

Instead of elaborating, the Chairman pulled a cord, summoning someone from outside. The heavy iron door swung open, and a figure who had been waiting in the antechamber stepped into the secret grotto.

“It is an honor to meet you, esteemed Councilors of the Main Clan.”

As the figure came into the light, the council members gasped in recognition.

“…You are?”

“You… you’re the one who served in the Agency until recently. A former field commander, if I recall. Your name was…”

The middle-aged woman stepped into the warm glow of the grotto’s oil lamps, her face calm and composed as she introduced herself.

“I am Cheong-su.”

It was her. The very same Cheong-su who had quit the Agency to pledge her sword to Yeon So-hyeon. The woman who had saved the Dasunrang from assassination before disappearing without a trace.

“That’s right. It was Cheong-su,” a councilor confirmed. “When word came that you had resigned from the Agency and returned your heavy armor, there were many here who lamented the loss.”

Several of the councilors recognized her from her long years of loyal service.

“So, it was you who reported the Agency’s corruption to the Grand Young Master?”

“No,” Cheong-su replied, shaking her head with a surprising firmness. “As I was leaving the Agency, I simply delivered the report containing that information to the Grand Young Master. The true informant is still within the Agency’s ranks.”

A murmur went through the councilors.

“Still active?”

“Then why didn’t this person report directly to us…?” the new male councilor began, his voice trailing off as the grim reality dawned on him. He might be new to this council, but he was a man who had weathered every storm imaginable in his lifelong service to the Sword Clan of Luoyang. “…Of course. The informant didn’t trust the Supreme Operations Council.”

It was a perfectly logical suspicion. If the Agency was corrupt, who was to say the council itself was not the source of the rot?

“That is correct,” Cheong-su affirmed, her expression tinged with bitterness. “If not for the direct command of the Grand Young Master, I, too, would never have agreed to stand in this chamber.”

Her words were a merciless indictment. The councilors lowered their heads, their hearts heavy with shame. They had no defense. Regardless of the system’s inherent flaws, the undeniable truth was that they had failed to earn the trust of those who had dedicated their entire lives to the Sword Clan.

“This is a copy of the report. Read it and see for yourselves.”

With a flick of his wrist, the Chairman used a martial arts technique to send a copy of the document flying to each councilor.

“This is…!”

“…Gods above.”

Gasps and sighs of disbelief echoed through the grotto as they read.

“The Grand Young Master… no, Grand Young Master, the Grand Young Master…” The new male councilor set the report down with a trembling hand, his voice hollow. “Why did he not bring this report to us sooner?”

Cheong-su answered his question with one of her own.

“Before the events of tonight, would you have truly believed him?”

“…”

Of course not. Others might have, but he knew with certainty that he would have dismissed it as a cunning ploy by the Grand Young Master to gain an edge in the succession contest.

“But still, we would have tried to conduct an internal investigation—”

“And just like the countless ‘internal investigations’ of the past several years,” Cheong-su cut him off, “the guilty parties would have cut their losses and vanished into the shadows.”

“…She’s right.”

In a situation where they didn’t even know who could be trusted, what kind of meaningful investigation could they possibly have conducted?

“As I said before,” the Chairman’s voice, infused with internal energy, cut through their despair and snapped them to attention. “This is the once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity that the Grand Young Master has created for us.”

“He is right, without a doubt,” an elder councilor, who had served nearly as long as the Chairman, agreed with a nod. “In this very moment, we will finally see who has been blocking the information that should have been coming to us. The traitors within the Agency will have no choice but to reveal themselves.”

“…But,” another councilor interjected with a frown, “in this situation, who can possibly serve as our trusted eyes and ears? Our hands and feet?”

The council fell into a grim silence.

“…What about the Chief Steward of the Inner Court?”

“The sharp conflict between him and the Grand Young Master is well known, is it not? We cannot predict how he will act once he learns this was all set in motion by the Grand Young Master.”

“Furthermore, to grant even more power to a man who is already so influential…”

“But if we bring in anyone else…”

Faced with this unprecedented crisis, they were utterly paralyzed.

“On that matter, you need not worry,” the Chairman stated. “Waiting outside right now is the chief of the independent intelligence network that the Grand Young Master has built within the Main Clan.”

“The Grand Young Master built his own intelligence network…?”

“What is the meaning of this?!”

Ignoring their shocked reactions, the Chairman gave Cheong-su a nod. She stepped aside, admitting another figure into the grotto.

“A pleasure to see you, esteemed members of the Supreme Operations Council,” the newcomer said, clasping his hands in a formal greeting. “I doubt there is anyone here who does not recognize my face.”

He was right, of course. He was one of the most central figures in the entire Sword Clan of Luoyang.

“The General Steward…!”

The man who had stepped into the light was none other than the head of the Sword Clan of Luoyang’s entire Steward Department.

“…You have been supporting the Grand Young Master, General Steward?”

“What a thing to say.” The General Steward chuckled and shook his head. “It is not that I was supporting the Grand Young Master. It is that my lord, the Grand Young Master, was supporting me.”

“……!”

The chamber fell silent at the revelation of this unimaginable alliance.

“In any case, do not concern yourselves with intelligence,” the General Steward continued, a meaningful smile playing on his notoriously severe face. “I will remain nearby until this matter is concluded and will personally serve as your eyes and ears. I have already deployed a vast number of agents, focusing on the Agency and the other intelligence departments. You would do well to trust me.”

Even if he hadn’t said it, there was not a single person in that room who doubted his capabilities. The General Steward was a man of such skill that he could have entered the ranks of the elders long ago had he wished. He had been proving his immense competence since the time of the Great Supreme Retired Patriarch.

How in the world did the Grand Young Master earn the loyalty of such a man? When did this relationship even begin?

“Chairman,” a councilor said, his voice filled with awe, “the Grand Young Master has prepared for us our eyes and ears.” He paused, almost afraid to ask. “Does this mean… he has also prepared for us our hands and our sword?”

The Chairman’s reply was immediate. “He has.”

The half-feared, half-hoped-for suspicion was true. Amidst a wave of incredulous laughter, the General Steward spoke again.

“At the Grand Young Master’s request, the Senate of Elders will lend you their aid.”

“The Senate…?!”

“The Senate of Elders of the Sword Clan of Luoyang—.”

“You mean the Senate’s Special Task Force will be mobilized?!”

The Special Task Force was a legion of masters who had retired from active duty for personal reasons. An elite force that obeyed only the direct command of the Senate. If they were to be mobilized, they would be the most reliable hands, the sharpest sword imaginable.

“But the Senate’s guiding principle is to never interfere in the internal politics of the Main Clan, is it not?” That was why the old masters had built their own village on the hills, living quiet lives as farmers and herdsmen.

“To that rule, there is a single exception.”

“Of course…!” At the Chairman’s words, the new male councilor, an expert in the Sword Clan’s legal codex, slapped his own forehead. “There is a clause that states the Senate may act upon its own judgment if an event occurs that threatens the very existence of the Main Clan!”

Another councilor, remembering the clause, marveled at the ingenuity. “Normally, a threat to our existence would mean an attack by a great external enemy…!”

“But there are no such specific qualifiers in the text! It is all a matter of interpretation!”

The Chairman nodded. “Precisely.” He surveyed the room. “Is there anyone here who disagrees that the current situation constitutes a threat to the very existence of our House?”

There was no one.

“Heh, heh.” The new male councilor shook his head in disbelief. “That exception is practically a dead letter law. I barely remembered it myself. How on earth did he…” He paused, the answer dawning on him as he asked the question. “Don’t tell me, this was also the Grand Young Master’s doing…?”

The General Steward shrugged. “If you were to seek the single most knowledgeable expert on the laws of this House, who else would it be but my lord, the Grand Young Master?”

“…”

They were all at a loss for words. They had thought themselves sufficiently astonished when they received reports of Yeon So-hyeon’s actions in the Imperial Capital. But to see the sheer, meticulous depth of his preparations left them utterly speechless.

This is…!

It is as if the Grand Young Master’s unseen hand is present everywhere at once…!

At this point, it was not unreasonable to wonder if they had all been nothing more than puppets, dancing on Yeon So-hyeon’s palm from the very beginning.

“Everyone, focus!”

It was the Chairman’s sharp rebuke that broke them from their stupor.

“Do not forget that at this very moment, the Grand Young Master is enduring the enemy’s bombardment solely to buy us this time!”

He was right.

Jolted back to reality, the councilors sprang into action.

“…Y-yes, of course!”

“Then, effective immediately…!”

Yeon So-hyeon had provided the grand framework, but the specific details of the plan and its execution now rested in their hands. And these men and women, who had dedicated their lives to the Sword Clan, proved themselves worthy of their station. In moments, they had formulated a plan and began dispatching orders in all directions.

…Grand Young Master.

As the Chairman watched them, his mind drifted back to the day he had learned of this entire plan from Yeon So-hyeon. He remembered that fateful night, the night he had met the Grand Young Master wearing the face of the Venerable One of Dark Heavens.

***

“Are you truly telling me the Agency has fallen this far…?”

The Chairman unconsciously clenched the report on the Agency that the Venerable One of Dark Heavens had given him.

“Mark my words, Chairman,” the Venerable One of Dark Heavens said, his voice like bubbling molten steel. “You will have only one chance. When the Second Young Master’s faction has nowhere left to run, the corrupt administrators of the Agency will surely move to blindfold the Supreme Operations Council.”

“…I will convey your warning to the Grand Young Master. But tell me.” The Chairman carefully tucked the report into his robes. “Who authored this?”

The Venerable One of Dark Heavens smiled, a sad, weary expression. “Once, long ago, there was a man in the Agency who was a friend to the Grand Young Master of this House. Despite their large age difference, they were kindred spirits.”

A name surfaced in the Chairman’s memory. “…Are you speaking of the former Head of the Agency? The one who died in the line of duty?”

“He died during a mission, yes. But he was not killed by the enemy. Nor was it an accident.”

“……!”

If not the enemy, and not an accident, then it could only mean one thing: he had been killed by an ally.

“The Grand Young Master only learned of this later. It seems the man had been secretly tracking those within the Agency who were making seditious moves for a long time.”

“…So they murdered him. And disguised it as an accident during a mission.”

It was a truth of unparalleled bitterness.

“The Grand Young Master met his younger brother not long ago,” the Venerable One of Dark Heavens said with a sigh, looking up at the night sky. “It seems the boy followed in his older brother’s footsteps. He joined the Agency and became a field commander.”

The younger brother of the former Agency Head. A field commander. The pieces clicked into place for the Chairman.

“…A short while ago, after that commotion in the Inner Court over the price of a book, you summoned the Grand Young Master to the Supreme Operations Council. His younger brother was the one who escorted him.” The Chairman’s words were almost a whisper. “He continued his brother’s investigation into the Agency’s corruption…!”

“He did,” the Venerable One of Dark Heavens confirmed with a grim smile. “That report is a precious thing, steeped in the blood and effort of two brothers who were more loyal to this House than anyone.”

A grating sound, like the grinding of teeth, echoed in the night. A ghostly, demonic fire began to smolder in the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s eyes.

“When the Grand Young Master creates the opportunity,” he began, his burning gaze locking onto the Chairman, “you, Chairman, will find those bastards. You will hunt down and capture every last one of them!”

His voice thundered with such power that the very air seemed to vibrate.

Was any other answer necessary?

In that moment, the Chairman forgot that he and the Grand Young Master were supposed to be hiding their true identities from one another. He simply clasped his hands together in the most formal, solemn salute of a warrior.

“By my loyalty!”