“From downstairs I heard you wanted to surpass Martial Deity Heaven.”At Yeon Cheon Baek’s words, the two alliance leaders jolted in fright and sprang up.“Th-that was just a private conversation between the two of us!”“N-no, perish the thought—how could we possibly surpass Martial Deity Heaven?”“Exactly. People say even the king gets cursed when he’s out of sight. It was just empty talk between ourselves.”Their reaction made Yeon Cheon Baek’s face fall in disappointment.“What is this? Those reactions. I actually came up because I liked hearing you say you’d stand against Martial Deity Heaven and wanted to see your faces. As it is, you’re no different from the rest.”“W-wouldn’t it offend you, us saying we’d stand against you?”“Hm? Should it offend me? I’m pleased.”“You’re… pleased?”“That’s right. If you say you’ll oppose me, then I have my pretext.”“Pretext?”“Exactly. A pretext to rampage across the Central Plains without restraint. Thanks to handing out secret manuals and whatnot, I lost my pretext to strike the Central Plains, couldn’t unify it, and everything’s been left half-done.”“Pardon? Th-that was only because the Heaven Lord wished to avoid meaningless battles…”“No. Sa Ma Cheon said doing that would eventually bring out people who’d oppose Martial Deity Heaven, so I did it. And what happened? Decades have passed and not a single soul has stepped up to oppose us.”Yeon Cheon Baek extended his cup with a disappointed look.Eon Ho Baek hurried to fill it.Sluuup—He emptied it in one go and let out a sigh.“Hah. So when you two made the Martial Alliance and whatever else, I’ll admit I had hopes. ‘At last these brats are moving to try something,’ I thought. So I didn’t interfere.”There had been a rumor that Martial Deity Heaven held back out of wariness when the alliances were formed—untrue.He had simply let them make them.All for the personal amusement of the Martial Deity Heaven Lord.“You idiots. If you made an alliance, you should have done something with it.”“Th-that… we apologize.”“We apologize.”They didn’t know why they were apologizing, only that it felt like they had to.More than that, they were scared.To think the reason he’d let them form the alliances had been to goad them into attacking Martial Deity Heaven.“Tch tch. Pathetic fools. In name only ‘leaders,’ sitting and lamenting.”“About that…”If he’d heard even that, then he’d really heard everything.“Enough. Since we’ve met like this, there’s something to discuss while we’re here.”At the mention that he had something to say, the two men tensed again.“W-what is it?”“No need to tense up. No—that’s wrong… it is something you should tense up about.”Something to tense up about?Both men swallowed.What on earth was it?“The Demonic Cult will soon reveal itself to the world.”“Pardon?”“Pardon?”What was this all of a sudden?The Demonic Cult?Why bring up the Demonic Cult here?“Are your ears clogged? The Demonic Cult. You know it?”“Y-yes, of course.”“Good. They’ll soon be out in the open.”“Th-then…”The alliance leaders couldn’t get a grip on the situation.“I’ve told you. Now you’ll make your own preparations, won’t you?”The two looked at each other, blinking, then sighed.“Hah. Even if we say it, we don’t know if anyone will believe us.”“Right. At best, they’ll suspect we’re using the Demonic Cult to shore up our position.”“Pathetic. And you call yourselves alliance leaders?”“It’s because we lack power.”Seeing the two sag, Yeon Cheon Baek stroked his beard.Then he asked Yeon Woo Jin,“Woo Jin, what do you think? Should we lend these brats some strength?”At his words, Yeon Woo Jin smiled and nodded.Lend them strength?How?Surely not…?Was he telling them to come over to Martial Deity Heaven?But they were, after all, the leaders of the Martial Alliance and the Four Evils Alliance.What if they refused?They glanced at Yeon Cheon Baek.And at his hand.If they said no, that hand looked as though it would tear them to pieces.They didn’t want to die.A hollow title like “alliance leader” could be thrown away anytime.They’d wanted to throw it away anyway.“I—I’ll step down as alliance leader. S-so the next leader can…”“I’ll step down as well.”As if their thoughts were in sync, both declared they would relinquish their posts.Yeon Cheon Baek looked at them with contempt.“Tch tch. Men with no fire at all. Woo Jin, let’s forget the part about giving them strength.”Yeon Woo Jin shook his head.“No. We should give it. If those two have firm standing, it’ll be easier to fight against the Demonic Cult.”To voice a contrary opinion to the Heaven Lord of all under heaven—Was that… okay?Even if he was the grandson, from what they’d heard, the Heaven Lord’s temper would erupt like fire.“Hah hah hah. Is that so? Then we’ll do as our Woo Jin wishes.”But rather than erupt, he spoke with a benevolent smile, kinder than anything they’d seen.Rumor had it he was arrogant beyond heaven and earth.Were the rumors wrong?He turned his gaze back to the two—cold.The change was instant, like a man transformed.They understood.That benevolence existed only for Yeon Woo Jin.“You heard him? Be grateful our Woo Jin has a generous heart.”“Th-thank you.”They didn’t know what they were thanking him for, but they thanked him anyway.Eon Ho Baek cautiously asked,“Um… may we ask what you mean by ‘lend us strength’?”“Just what it sounds like. We’ll make you stronger.”“That isn’t something done overnight. It will take a great deal of time.”“Agreed. Even as figurehead leaders we have mountains of duties. We have no time.”Yeon Woo Jin rose and approached.“May I take your pulses for a moment?”A martial artist shouldn’t lightly offer his wrist.As they hesitated, a bellow came flying.“What are you doing? Do you fools have any idea what kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity just landed in your laps? Why aren’t you sticking out your wrists this instant!”Whoooom—Red qi welled from Yeon Cheon Baek’s body as his anger flared.Startled, the two thrust out their wrists to Yeon Woo Jin.“Pathetic. A fortune that might come once in a lifetime is right before your eyes and you don’t even notice.”Truly pathetic.Rather than seat fools like this as leaders, it seemed better to seat Yeon Woo Jin there and let him command everyone directly.Huh?Wait.Wasn’t that the most reliable way to respond?The martial world belonged to Yeon Woo Jin anyway; whatever he did wouldn’t matter.The true alliance lord of the Central Plains, the first ever to unify the Martial Alliance and the Four Evils Alliance.A smile crept to Yeon Cheon Baek’s lips.And if the sects that had joined a Central Plains Alliance swore fealty to Yeon Woo Jin as a matter of course…?And if he became Heaven Lord of Martial Deity Heaven as well…?The Central Plains would be unified naturally.The Little Heavenly Lord Contest would become moot.It sounded fun.He was curious what faces the heads of the Five Guardian Clans would make later.They must have been nurturing hopes that one of their scions would become Heaven Lord.He felt a twinge of apology.If only he’d met Yeon Woo Jin a little earlier, he wouldn’t have let them harbor false expectations.He resolved to soothe them well later.“I think two days will do.”Yeon Woo Jin’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.“Two days? So they haven’t been neglecting their training.”“Yes. It looks like they’ve kept at it steadily to grow stronger.”“So they’re not completely worthless.”At Yeon Cheon Baek’s remark, the two scratched the backs of their heads, abashed.They had only ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) trained out of frustration.“There’s still time before the Divine Dragon Tournament begins. Let’s start at once.”Start… what?Right now?The Divine Dragon Tournament would begin in four days.The preliminaries would start the day after tomorrow.The basic qualification process that countless entrants had to pass.Clear the steps and you passed the prelims.In any case, they had nothing to do until the main event.Before the main event, all that was on their schedule was to show their faces at the prelims and give a word of encouragement to the participating divine dragons.But one question nagged.Only two days to work with.How would he make them stronger in that span?Would he give them a tremendous elixir?Or some panacea one might not see in a lifetime?If not that, how would he make them strong?They were intensely curious.“Alright, that’s enough sitting. Strike while the iron’s hot—let’s begin now.”So “at once” meant now?Not tomorrow—now?In the dead of night?When they blinked in confusion, a shout cracked out.“You two! Move—now!”“Y-yes! Yes!”At Yeon Cheon Baek’s roar, both men jumped to their feet. ****A cave north of Xi’an.Eon Ho Baek and Su Cheon Kang had been dragged here in the middle of the night.Yeon Woo Jin was bent over the ground, carefully drawing something like a formation, while Yeon Cheon Baek had gone out, saying he’d fetch provisions.Enough for two days, it seemed.With Yeon Cheon Baek gone, it was their chance to ask questions.“Um… Young Master Yeon.”Unsure how to address him, they settled on “Young Master Yeon.”“Yes?”“How exactly will you make us stronger? Could you explain?”“It doesn’t seem to be a panacea or elixir. No matter how we think on it, growing stronger in two days sounds impossible.”Yeon Woo Jin grinned.“You’ll get an elixir too. Have you heard of Inyeondan?”“Inyeondan! The elixir that’s the talk of Chang’an?”“The one they say is harder to obtain than plucking a star from the sky—surely you aren’t saying you’ll give it to us?”“I am. I’ll give each of you one.”“Ho…”Startled, the two alliance leaders stared.Inyeondan was an elixir that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the most famed pills in the Central Plains.The difference was, the others could only be obtained by invading a sect to subjugate it or by stealing—whereas Inyeondan was not like that.If you had money, you could buy as many as you wanted.No—that wasn’t true either.True to its name, you needed a bond—an “inyon”—to obtain it.As a result, reselling Inyeondan at exorbitant prices had become commonplace.The current going rate was fifty gold taels.An absurd price, and yet every pill that appeared on the market sold at once.And he was offering that treasure to them.“Th-that’s too much to accept.”“Indeed. You barely know us—how could you give us such a precious elixir?”“I’m the one who made Inyeondan. So I have plenty.”He made Inyeondan?Stunned, they stared at Yeon Woo Jin.“I—is that true?”“Yes.”Good heavens.Many had tried to find the maker of Inyeondan.The Martial Alliance and the Four Evils Alliance had searched as well.They had mobilized all their intelligence networks and learned nothing.And the figure hidden behind that curtain turned out to be the grandson of the Martial Deity Heaven Lord, the next Heaven Lord of Martial Deity Heaven.At this point, one realizes heaven is not fair.As the grandson of the Heaven Lord and his heir apparent, his martial skill would be formidable without saying.On top of that, he could craft an elixir that forged masters.They thought,Under Yeon Woo Jin’s rule, Martial Deity Heaven would only be stronger than now, never weaker.With that thought, an odd peace settled over them.Perhaps because they finally understood that no matter how they struggled, they could not defeat Martial Deity Heaven?They decided simply to enjoy this fortune that had come upon them unawares.Whether they would be able to enjoy it wholly was another matter.

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