Chapter 374: The Imperial Escort (2)

“No! Admiral Lim!”

“Ugh! He-he beheaded the Admiral?”

The whispers and screams of the East Spear’s eunuchs began erupting within the hall.

Still, not a single person in the Imperial Palace had ever imagined that Admiral Lim, who was known for his overpowering skills, would be taken down as simply as a bird getting hit by an arrow.

“Kuak!”

Not a single person from the East Spear could avenge their admiral.

The reality of kneeling helplessly only made them feel even more miserable.

‘He-he was really beheaded!’

Even Zhu Taikhan couldn’t help but be shocked.

He had personally crossed paths with Chun Yeowun in the Demonic Cult, and he knew that he would punish the Admiral but never had he imagined that he would decapitate an Imperial Palace official.

‘I thought that he would be conscious of the non-aggression treaty between Wulin and the Emperor.’

Chun Yeowun was currently in the Imperial Palace, which was at the centre of the Empire.

The prince had thought that no matter how reckless the Lord of Demonic Cult was, he wouldn’t take an official’s life so easily.

The prince couldn't understand what Chun Yeowun was thinking.

‘They are definitely different from the rest of Yulin.’

Zhu Taikhan glanced at the Elder from the Kongtong clan.

The disciples and members of the Kongtong clan had suppressed the eunuchs without spilling any blood or taking any lives, all in order to respect the treaty.

“Ugh…. Heavenly god! Heavenly god! How could this…”

The expression of Elder Cheong-su, a long-time member of the Emperor-Yulin alliance, wore a serious expression.

It wasn’t because Admiral Lim Cheong-hwa had lost his life, but because of what he heard him say before he died.

‘What did I hear just now?’

As a Superior Master level warrior, he had enhanced hearing, which meant he could listen to almost everyone's voices within the underground hall if he wanted.

Admiral Lim had called the young monster that stood before him, the Lord of the Demonic Cult, before dying.

‘He is the Lord of the Demonic Cult!?’

He had assumed that Yeowun was someone close to the Imperial family.

However, when he heard the word ‘Demonic Cult’, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

This man had not just entered the Palace, his actions would also cause huge political changes.

‘He must be Chun Yeowun.’

He'd heard about the New Lord of the Demonic Cult through Jegal Sohi, a strategist who had been sent along with an envoy to the Demonic Cult.

It hadn’t been very long since the young man had become the Lord of Demonic Cult, and he had sent official messengers to Yulin.

At that time, one of the Five Strongest Warriors of Yulin, Chun Yu-jong, had gone over to the cult for the sake of establishing an agreement.

‘He is still a child? What a joke!’

All that he'd heard from the meeting seemed to be lies.

This person was no child, but a devilish monster.

He wasn’t a growing dragon, but a full-grown dragon.

[Young-woon ah.]

Cheong-su telepathically called out to one of his disciples.

[Elder?]

[Pay attention to that man’s clothing and facial features, when we return back to our clan, you will have to draw a portrait.]

[Excuse me?]

His disciple Young-woo was puzzled at his request.

Realizing the doubts his disciple had, the Elder spoke.

[That person is the Lord of Demonic Cult, Chun Yeowun.]

[Demonic Cult…? Lord of Demonic Cult?]

Young-woon couldn’t help but be shocked at the words, ‘Lord of the Demonic Cult.’

He looked young, yet had such tremendous power. It wasn't surprising that the disciple had thought that it was some elderly man who had gone through a metamorphosis, but for him to be the Lord of the Demonic Cult.

Then more important things quickly ran through his mind.

[cou-could the Demonic cult members be in this place?]

Although they had formed an alliance with the Demonic Cult, the Lord of Demonic cult is an enemy force with which Yulin had been in constant confrontations for hundreds of years.

Such a person was invading the imperial palace without any prior notice.

[There will certainly be a riot in Yulin because of this.]

If it wasn’t for the existing alliance, the situation would have caused a huge stir.

Elder Cheong-su warned his disciple who wasn’t able to control his expressions.

[First, calm your expressions. Don’t even think about talking or looking like you know they belong to the Demonic Cult.]

[Understood.]

Even though he responded, Young-woo couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

It looked like Elder Cheong-su, one of the 17 leaders of Yulin, who was known to be a strong warrior, was afraid of confronting the Lord of the Demonic Cult.

Even though he could fight him and claim it to be for political reasons.

Step! Step!

Whilst the two of them were talking telepathically, Chun Yeowun walked towards Zhu Taiyoon.

None of the eunuchs could stop him.

‘I shouldn’t let him go there…’

‘Ugh, my body can’t move.’

Their knees were glued to the floor, and they lacked the energy to stand up.

In fact, after watching their admiral get beheaded, they had realized that they were nothing but tiny ants compared to him.

The funny thing was, despite being released from the pressure, not a single eunuch stood up.

Drop! Drop! Drop!

Drops of blood were falling while Chun Yeowun was walking.

It was Admiral Lim’s blood dripping from the sword he held in his right hand.

The eunuchs, who were already in shock from fear and intimidation, didn’t even think about rebelling.

“Huak… huak… huak!”

Zhu Taiyoon, the crown prince, still had his nose, which was bleeding, stuck to the ground.

His dignity as a prince had been damaged, and he was even angrier that he couldn’t lift his head.

Roll!

That was when something rolled towards him.

‘This?’

Upon looking at what it was, Zhu Taiyoon was so startled that he desperately wanted to move away from it.

“That! Admiral Lim!”

It was Admiral Lim’s head. He'd never been to a battlefield. This was his first time seeing a decapitated human head.

And since it was the head of someone he knew very well, the impact was even greater.

“Wahhhhhhhhh!”

Not being able to stand the sight, he ended up throwing up.

Zhu Taiyoon, who threw up for quite a while, looked up at Chun Yeowun.

Throughout his entire life, which had been without any obstructions, Chun Yeowun was his first barrier.

‘Ugh… who is this monster blocking my path of becoming the Emperor? If everything had gone according to plan, I could have had everything in my hand!’

Sometimes, to overcome fear, letting anger take over was effective.

“It… it is all because of you. How dare you, a worthless member of Yulin, look into the eyes of the future Emperor…”

Woong!

“Kuak! My… body!”

Before he could even release his anger, the prince’s body began to float midair.

Chun Yeowun took two steps forward and approached Zhu Taiyoon, before looking at him with a cold gaze and then spoke.

“Such wild running tongues need to be cut.”

“What! How dare…..!”

“Thanks for your hard work alongside the Blade God Six Martial clan, on trying to frame my Cult, Your Highness Crown Prince.”

“Cult?”

When Chun Yeowun mentioned the clan and their joining hands, Zhu Taiyoon’s eyes went wide.

At first, he'd thought that the man was just someone that Zhu Taikhan had brought in from some Yulin clan.

However, the man had said himself that he was from the Demonic Cult.

“No… Demonic… Cult?”

“See? You do know us well.”

“No? How can the Demonic Cult be here… in the Palace?”

When Zhu Taiyoon found out that Chun Yeowun was from the Demonic Cult, he couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

When they were executing the plan, a plan that had been brought forward by the person called Master Dogun, a member of the Blade God Six Martial clan, and admiral Lim, the Master had assured them that there would be no problem in the execution of the plan and with blaming the crime on the Demonic Cult, because it was located to the south of the Yellow River.

‘What exactly went wrong?’

Even before the plan’s execution, the Demonic Cult had appeared.

Zhu Taiyoon tried to move his body, but he couldn’t.

Chun Yeowun spoke again.

“It has been good knowing you. Now please get ready to pay the price.”

As he said that, Chun Yeowun raised his right hand, and Zhu Taiyoon, who felt something ominous, shouted out with a pale face.

“Wh-what are you planning on doing? I am the crown prince of the Empire. How dare you subject a member of the Imperial family to…”

Thud!

Before Zhu Taiyoon could finish, Chun Yeowun moved his right hand, and the prince’s elbow broke.

“Kuakkkkk!”

The bones from his elbow protruded through the skin.

It was impossible for Crown prince Zhu Taiyoon to endure such pain.

Clicking his tongue, Chun Yeowun spoke.

“So what if you are from the Imperial family? Huh?.”

If the Imperial family was so high and mighty, they shouldn’t have resorted to such cheap tactics.

The eunuchs immediately grew furious hearing their prince’s scream.

“How dare you! For you to hurt His Highness’s!”

“Retreat before we charge you!”

No matter how frightened they felt, their loyalty to the Imperial family was stronger.

Three eunuchs, having been enraged, wielded their High Wave swords and charged towards Chun Yeowun.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The swords, which could curl like whips, were aimed at Chun Yeowun from three directions.

“Ugh!”

“Wh-what is this?”

Their bodies, which were supposed to move, came to a halt.

Not knowing what was happening to them, they grew stiff as dolls, and their faces crumbled into pure fear.

Without even looking at them, Yeowun spoke.

“I assume you don’t value your lives.”

“What?”

Swish!

Chun Yeowun raised his left hand and pretended to turn something.

The necks of all three eunuchs suddenly snapped.

Crack!

“Kuak!”

Screaming in pain, they died with their necks twisted at an odd angle.

It was an effective example.

Realizing that Chun Yeowun showed no mercy to anyone, the eunuchs paled.

‘He… he killed them!’

This overwhelmingly strong man didn’t care if it was an imperial official or a prince.

He was a real tyrant.

Zhu Taiyoon, who had been screaming in pain because of his broken arm, yelled with bloody eyes.

“Kuaaaak! How dare you, an insignificant being break the arm of an Imperial family member! Huak… huak! I will make sure that every member of the Demonic Cult suffers…”

Crack!

“Kuaaaaak!”

While he was still screaming, Zhu Taiyoon’s left arm was also broken.

Like his right arm, the bone protruded from the elbow.

Zhu Taiyoon abandoned his dignity as a member of the Imperial family and began shedding tears.

‘This guy is the real deal.’

Only then did Zhu Taiyoon sense that his life was in danger.

He knew that if the man that stood before him got upset, he would really kill everyone.

The people of Yulin and even the clan heads would always bow their heads before the Imperial family and Imperial officials, but this man absolutely wouldn't do so.

‘Thi-this is the Demonic Cult!’

This was completely different from Yulin.

Without even blinking, he had broken the arm of a crown prince.

As if he wasn’t done, Chun Yeowun moved his hand once more.

“Eeeeek!”

Fear sank into Zhu Taiyoon’s bones as he worried that something else in his body would be broken, so he cried out.

“Dooon’t! I strayed from the right path! No, No prince would break his promise! Please… please let me go! I beg of you!”

Words asking for forgiveness came out of his arrogant mouth.

He knew that arrogant words would lead to his death.

As he kept shouting for forgiveness and shedding tears, Chun Yeowun muttered to him...

“If you had continued to talk nonsense, I would have been able to cut off an arm, tch, what a pity that I didn’t get to do that.”

“A-arm?”

Creepy!

Just those words caused the crown prince to shiver as a chill ran down his spine.

‘Hmm.’

Chun Yeowun looked at someone and opened his mouth again.

“Well, since my anger has been resolved to some extent, I will hand Your Highness over to the prince as promised.”

“Promised? Ughhh!”

His body, which was afloat, began moving.

Chun Yeowun moved his hand in a particular direction and the Crown Prince's body followed accordingly.

Zhu Taiyoon’s body moved towards Zhu Taikhan.

Thud!

“Kuak!”

He fell to the floor as the force keeping his body disappeared.

“Do whatever you want with him”

At Chun Yeowun's words, the smile on Zhu Taikhan’s face reached his ears.

“Is your arm okay? Brother?”

His voice contained not one ounce of concern.

Rather, it was closer to sarcasm.

‘Zhu Taikhan! You! You bastard!’

Zhu Taiyoon was on the floor feeling nothing but utter disgrace, while prince Zhu Taikhan looked down on him with a pleased gaze.

‘How did I fall into such a humiliating position?’

As the situation turned against him, the Crown prince was regretting his choices.

As a result of his greed, he had wanted to overthrow Zhu Taikhan and even the Supreme Commander, but his greed had only brought humiliation.

Zhu Taikhan spoke to him.

“Are you going to admit your loss? It is truly a pity that the carefully devised plan of yours has failed so miserably”

Thud!

At those words, Zhu Taiyoon barely opened his mouth and spoke through grunting teeth.

“… I witnessed the death of Admiral Lim. No matter how many witnesses there are, do you really think that His Majesty would trust the son of a concubine over me?”

The plan had definitely failed.

However, even if it had failed, there was a fatal weakness for Zhu Taikhan.

He was the child of a concubine, and not the Empress.

Even if Zhu Taiyoon was pushed away, the Emperor’s favour would fall onto the third prince Zhu Taeseong.

“Elder Cheong-su!”

“… yes. Your Highness.”

At the sudden call from Zhu Taiyoon, Elder Cheong-su, who was watching the situation, answered with an uneasy voice.

In a pleading tone, Zhu Taiyoon spoke.

“This Crown Prince was too blind and ended up getting mixed up with the wrong people. I hope you don’t get involved in this.”

“… huh.”

Even when the situation turned out to be as horrible as it was, Zhu Taiyoon actually refused to give up.

Even Elder Cheong-su was at a loss for words.

When he'd first arrived at the Imperial palace as an envoy, he'd felt that Crown Prince Zhu Taiyoon was quite ambitious. But now his lust for power was the only thing he could see.

“If the members of your clan, turn away from this situation…”

“You will never become the next heir.”

“What? Who dares to… ugh?”

Zhu taiyoon, who'd become angry at the voice of someone interrupting his words, tried to get up.

However, he was too exhausted to move.

Pak!

“This Prince Zhu Taikhan, greets the Great Emperor!”

“The Great Emperor!!!”

Starting with Zhu Taikhan’s cry, all the officials inside the underground hall knelt before the dignified man in a golden robe who was standing at the entrance.

Zhu Taiyoon, who was in shock, spoke in a trembling voice.

“Ugh, Wh-Why is His Majesty in the Royal Shrine…”

The person who had majestically appeared in the Shrine was Zhu Taewon, Emperor of the Daemyeong Empire.