Three days before the Imperial forces arrived at the Demonic Cult Castle, someone called out to the person outside the golden carriage.
“Southern Commander. Are you there?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Yon Namgun, who was the lead of the Imperial Guards who guarded the carriage, slowed down his horse to walk next to the carriage. The person then ranted from within the carriage.
“Commander. Isn’t it weird for me, King of the Great Ming Dynasty, to go down myself to send the message?”
The man who inside of the golden carriage along with the Imperial Order was the 2nd son of the Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Taikhan. Zhu Taikhan was very displeased with the fact that he had to go down to the Mountain of Ten Thousand himself. He did follow the direct order from the Emperor, but he still wasn’t happy about it.
“It’s an order from the Emperor himself. Please, consider it.”
Yon Namgun spoke to Zhu Taikhan. Yon Namgun had been saying this multiple times throughout their trip already but Zhu Taikhan’s discomfort did not disappear.
‘I don’t understand why our First Emperor even promised such a thing.’
Zhu Taikhan didn’t say this out loud as speaking ill of the first Emperor of the Great Ming was not allowed even for the son of the current Emperor, especially because of the nonaggression pact between the entire Yulin and the Empire. This was a pact made between the First Emperor of Great Ming and three leaders of the three factions of Yulin. Martial artists of Yulin who had unimaginable power as a single entity was a serious threat to the Empire. There were some dynasties in the past that fought a war against Yulin, but the First Emperor of Great Ming considered a waste to fight within and made a pact with them instead.
‘I heard the martial artists helped when the Great Ming first started.’
They were told that from the beginning. But now that was 180 years ago.
“Commander.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Who owns this land?”
“It belongs to the Emperor of the Great Ming, your highness.”
“Then who are those who live in the land of Great Ming?”
“They are the citizens of the Great Ming, your highness.”
The carriage shook as the man inside punched his fist into the carriage.
“Then why are these so-called martial artist thugs disrespecting our Empire?!”
“What are you…”
“They are citizens of the Empire who should come bow in fear when the Emperor orders them to. But why am I, a King, going down to them instead?!”
Zhu Taikhan was furious at the fact that he had to take orders from the Emperor and go down to send these people messages by himself. And he didn’t like this Demonic Cult faction, where they considered their Lord to be the ‘Sky’. Even the Emperor of Great Ming himself only considered him to be the ‘Son of the Sky.’ It was very arrogant of them.
“Why are they so different from those who call themselves the Forces of Justice?”
Those from the Forces of Justice considered themselves as citizens of the Great Ming and always paid respect toward the Empire. Zhu Taikhan saw many powerful warriors from the Forces of Justice within the Imperial Palace when they were invited. Some of them even offered to teach warriors of the Royal family in way of the blades. Zhu Taikhan, who was highly interested in martial arts, also took this chance to learn blade art from a monk from the Fire Mountain clan.
“As far as I know, your highness, the cult, and the Forces of Evil have different values.”
Commander Yon Namgun had few friends from the Forces of Justice and had heard about the power struggle between the three factions. These three factions were older than the Great Ming itself, and always struggled to keep their values.
“Values? Rubbish. That’s up to them, not us. Are only the Forces of Justice considered citizens of the Great Ming Empire?”
“…No, your highness.”
Yon Namgun had no objection to that. Even if all these martial artists were fighting against each other, they all were citizens of the Great Empire.
‘Emperor ordered it himself, but that’s not good. It’s better if I can make the Lord come up to the palace himself. If I can do that, it will be a great feat.’
Unlike the Yulin clan of the Forces of Justice, no leader from the Demonic Cult or Alliance of Forces of Evil came to the Imperial Palace. They always sent their messenger to keep the pact in place, arrogantly.
‘Hmph.’
If it wasn’t for Zhu Taiyun who chose to go down to the Yulin clan, Zhu Taikhan would have chosen to go to the Yulin clan instead. But with the eldest son, Zhu Taiyun, choosing first, Zhu Taikhan had to choose the Demonic Cult as they were known to treat guests from the Imperial Palace with respect at least. As for the Alliance of the Forces of Evil, even his uncle suggested not to go.
“I can’t let this go on like this. What do you think, Yuking?” Zhu Taikhan asked and a man who was on a horse left of the carriage, answered under the shadows, “Your highness. I heard the Lord has been replaced recently.”
“Hmph. I heard that too.”
Before Zhu Taikhan departed for the Demonic Cult, he asked monks from the Fire Mountain clan who were at the palace to teach blade arts to the Demonic Cult. They didn’t know the details, but they said the new Lord was very young.
“From what I have heard, the previous Lord had a health problem, and that the new Lord overthrew him and took his place.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Zhu Taikhan became interested in the news that he hadn’t heard of. The man continued, “Your highness. It is said the new Lord replaced most of the powerful individuals of the cult and the Lord himself is very foolish. How about you take this chance as your advantage?”
“Advantage?”
“If you teach this ruffian the way of our Empire, this will earn you trust from the Emperor.”
Yon Namgun frowned at the man named Yuking. The way the Imperial Order was delivered was entirely in the hands of Zhu Taikhan, but he wasn’t sure if this approach and thinking might be beneficial.
“Interesting. Go on.”
But Zhu Taikhan seemed to be very interested. After hearing the plan, Zhu Taikhan, unfortunately, decided to do what Yuking told him to do.
‘That Yuking… I am worried how the cult will react to this.’
Yon Namgun became concerned but he was an Imperial Guard. He could only take orders from the Royal family.