The Ruler of Darkness

The first to act was Jung-ah.

She approached Yeon So-hyeon and politely extended a small bamboo tube towards him.

It was a tube that contained his gold needles, which had been sterilized in boiling water after the last procedure.

“You… you’re the one who devastated Luoyang! My family…!”

Yeon So-hyeon sat beside the man and stabbed a needle into his chest with a “kuk” sound.

“Be quiet.”

The man couldn’t even groan from the pain originating from his broken rib.

Yeon So-hyeon took a golden needle out of the bamboo tube that Jung-ah had handed to him.

“Continue talking, and your spleen will get damaged.”

“Move with the needle inserted, and you’ll truly become crippled.”

The man stopped moving.

* * *

After Yeon So-hyeon finished his treatment, Jung-ah wrapped a bandage around the man’s emaciated body.

People who had been cleaning the messy interior of the tent started to gather one by one.

They said nothing and kept watch around them.

Yeon So-hyeon spoke to the man, who was now breathing more easily as he sat.

“I’ve also fixed your ankle while I was at it.”

The man tried moving his ankle upon hearing this.

Amazingly, his previously immobile ankle was now moving freely.

“Avoid straining it for a few days, and you should be able to work like before.”

The man looked at Yeon So-hyeon with trembling eyes.

“You, you are… who are you?”

Yeon So-hyeon asked him,

“Where did you serve?”

The man touched his tattooed shoulder.

“…Northern Front.”

Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“Many people died. And even more were injured.”

At his words, the man bristled and glared at Yeon So-hyeon. “Even if I somehow survived and returned, my family had already lost their lives due to consecutive years of poor harvest.” The man’s eyes widened.

Yeon So-hyeon cleared his throat and spoke.

“…Many people went through the same.”

The man’s head dropped towards the ground.

Yeon So-hyeon patted the man’s shoulder.

“You’ve returned safely. You’ve been through a lot, soldier.”

Tears burst from his eyes.

“You protected your homeland and family.”

Tears flowed and trickled down his face.

No person of high standing had ever praised him for returning home.

No, he had never even heard a word of praise from any commander when the war ended.

“Seeing as you’ve lived so diligently, to the point of twisting your ankle…”

Yeon So-hyeon spoke evenly.

“Don’t you still have a family to look after?”

At his words, the retired soldier slightly shook his head.

“So live diligently going forward as well. Not for the emperor or any swordsmen, but for your family.”

Yeon So-hyeon concluded.

“Never make a wrong choice. You are still standing under the bright sun.”

At those words, the soldier lifted his head and looked at Yeon So-hyeon.

“Who are you…?”

At that time, people dispersed, and the triplets maidservants came walking with a small pot filled with meat porridge.

Yeon So-Hyeon handed the warm pot into the arms of the soldier.

The soldier was unable to say anything due to the warmth and aroma of the food.

All the hostility vanished from his eyes.

“Thank you… Thank you…”

The soldier continued to repeat those words.

Over and over again.

* * *

Yeon So-Hyeon looked at the retreating back of the discharged soldier who was walking weakly out of the main gate.

He was holding the pot as if it was a treasure.

The 4th Young Master silently took his older brother’s hand.

Yeon So-Hyeon grasped his hand back and spoke.

“Did you know? That soldier was forcefully conscripted and deployed to the northern front.”

“Conscripted?”

Yeon So-Hyeon’s gaze was still fixed on the retreating figure of the soldier.

“Under the royal family’s and officials’ request, the swordsmen of our clan personally went and conscripted young men from Luoyang. They targeted those from poor families.”

The 4th Young Master turned his gaze toward the soldier, but his figure had already long disappeared from sight.

“The reason was that they are easier to manipulate. The conscripted were promised to have their families taken care of.”

Color drained from the 4th Young Master’s face.

It was clear where the conversation was headed.

“However, far from taking care of their families, there wasn’t even enough money for war expenses.”

Strength flowed into the 4th Young Master’s hand.

“The swordsmen and officials thought that taking responsibility for all their families right away would be a waste.”

Those around them held their breath, focused on Yeon So-Hyeon’s words.

“They calculated that they could distribute the spoils to the survivors after winning the war.”

However…

“The war was won, but it was a victory filled only with scars; there was no actual gain.”

The royal family never mentioned that war again.

There was not even a common triumphal procession and they were busy disbanding the conscription corps that had merely consumed food and supplies.

During that war, the Central Kingdom suffered from severe famine.

Very few families remained to welcome those who had barely survived.

No one thanked them.

No one talked about the war they had fought and risked their lives for.

The returning soldiers had to head to harsh labor sites to protect even the remaining family members.

Officials and swordsmen, who were afraid they might incite a riot, removed anyone who could be a focal point.

“It was…”

It was a secret history that had been thoroughly hidden in the dark.

As no one could utter a word in shock, the 4th Young Master tightly grasped Yeon So-Hyeon’s hands.

“It’s a relief that at least you, my elder brother, can find some comfort.”

Yeon So-Hyeon lifted his other hand to stroke the 4th Young Master’s head.

“What I did is nothing. I merely said what he ought to hear.”

A bitter smile appeared on his lips.

“A pot of meat porridge would have been even more helpful to him.”

Yeon So-Hyeon’s gaze moved outside the gate.

“It’s not because of my words, but because he still has remaining family that he could muster the strength.”

Yeon So-Hyeon’s voice was flat.

“And it’s because there was a pot of meat porridge that he could go back with hope.”

His gaze turned toward the 4th Young Master.

“If you’re going to take on a big responsibility in the future, remember this.”

It was heavy advice for a youngest sibling responsible for a group.

“A leader must never distort reality, being trapped in self-pity or self-love.”

The 4th Young Master listened attentively.

“Remember that a pot of meat porridge has more power than a hundred of my words.”

“Yes, Eldest Brother.”

Young scholars around him nodded their heads, engraving Yeon So-Hyeon’s words into their minds.

Just then, a nun approached Yeon So-Hyeon and spoke.

“Your Highness, it is time for the temple to close now.”

The western sky was gradually becoming painted with dusk.

Yeon So-Hyeon firmly grasped his younger brother’s hand and shook it.

“Alright, let’s start heading back.”

The 4th Young Master smiled broadly.

“Yes!”

***

As everyone was preparing to leave, Yeon So-Hyeon was meeting with the elder women, also shamaness of the Fairy Cult.

“Really? Is that so?”

The elder’s hands began to tremble.

Yeon So-Hyeon slowly shook his head.

“I’m not entirely sure myself. It’s just a feeling I had…”

He stroked his chin.

“Considering the words that the soldier had been babbling…”

The root cause of everything seemingly pointing to the Sword House.

Luoyang was a massive cage for raising beasts.

A religion that seduces the masses by selling mothers.

“A soldier of humble origins wouldn’t speak of such matters easily. He likely learned from someone.”

“Indeed. It bears similarities to ‘their’ methods.”

The elder, deep in thought, nodded at his words.

“We will release people to investigate. However, immediately…”

“We’re short on all resources, I know. For now, we can at least check his home.”

The elder bowed her head deeply.

“We are sorry for our inability; it’s truly regrettable.”

Yeon So-Hyeon gave a bitter smile.

“It’s not your fault. Do you know how vast this land of Luoyang is and how many people live here?”

He turned and spoke.

“Just wait a little longer. The situation will start to improve soon.”

***

The soldier sprinted through the dimming alley and arrived at a shabby hut.

If his ankle had still been twisted, he would’ve been worried about spilling the porridge from the pot, and it would’ve taken ten times longer to get here.

The Grand Young Master of the Luoyang Sword House had said that if he rested for just a few days, he would be able to use his ankle as before.

Then he no longer had to worry about his already halved salary.

If only that could be, he and his younger brother wouldn’t have to worry about not having enough to eat.

He still carried the warm pot and cautiously opened the door to the plank house.

“Yeong-ah, take a look at this. See what your brother brought?”

There was no warmth inside the plank house.

But he didn’t care at all.

In Luoyang, where even firewood cost money, it was laughable for a pauper to seek warmth.

“Yeong-ah, are you asleep?”

He carefully moved his steps inside the dark plank house, wary of possibly spilling the porridge.

He wanted to show the porridge to his younger brother as soon as possible.

He wanted to see a bright smile form on his younger brother’s face.

“Yeong-ah?”

He stopped in his tracks.

His younger brother usually liked to lie where the sun came in.

And right there, his younger brother was lying down.

“Yeong-ah?”

Having experienced war, he knew at a glance.

His brother, who lay still without any movement, was no longer of this world.

His younger brother, who had struggled and sacrificed himself to support the family while he was away, was gone.

In the end, all that was left for his younger brother were useless legs and a family that had starved to death.

The pot he had been carrying fell to the ground.

The meat porridge splashed everywhere.

From his mouth, an indistinguishable howl erupted.

He embraced his younger brother’s cold, stiff body.

On his brother’s wrist were several distinct lacerations, and the blood that had flowed out had already congealed.

It was suicide. 

To aid his elder brother, who couldn’t earn a proper wage due to a sprained ankle, this was the only thing his useless younger sibling could do.

He held in his other hand a clumsy sculpture he had carved himself.

“Brother! It’s a sculpture of Medicine Fairy!” his younger sibling had said with a bright smile.

“From now on, she will protect our family!”

He picked up the sculpture of Medicine Fairy that had been nestled in his sibling’s arms with trembling hands.

An unintelligible scream and wail erupted from his mouth.

The sculpture of Medicine Fairy shattered.

The pot he threw twisted and rolled.

The beef porridge that had spilled on the floor mingled with his sibling’s coagulated blood.

‘They’ were right.

There was no salvation in this world.

True sinners were never punished.

The worst villains never suffered.

“Never make the wrong choices. You are still standing under the bright sun,” the words of the Grand Young Master of Sword House echoed briefly in his mind but soon disappeared.

With his sibling’s death, he was approaching the ‘Truth’ that they had spoken of.

* * *

The sun had long set, and his younger sibling was only rotting away in the cold night air.

He dug the frozen ground with both hands.

His nails had all broken, and his fingers were torn, yet he felt no pain.

He took out a small box from the hole.

Inside the box were talismans inscribed with peculiar and ominous characters, and a candle that was as red as blood.

As he recited the incantation they had taught him, a dark blue flame rose from the candle.

“Nirvana is a lie.”

The talismans circled around him.

“There is no Paradise.”

The wind howled, and the flames blazed even more fiercely.

“The Bodhisattva is dead.”

Blue flames clung to his body, and he felt excruciating pain.

“The Immortal has departed.”

Yet his lips did not cease to move.

Spells imbued with eerie and dreadful resonance flowed out naturally.

He wanted to scream, but all that emerged from his mouth were incantations whose meanings even he did not understand.

Amidst his burning body, the words they had once told him flashed across his mind one last time.

“Remember, my brother. The time of end is near.”

The flames consumed him entirely, not touching anything around him.

The fire even devoured the last tears that flowed from his eyes.

“Remember, my brother. The time of salvation is near.”

His body turned into black ash.

And it scattered somewhere.

“There is only one truth!”

Where he had been, only a pit and a small box remained.

“Only the Demonic Sect will purify this filthy world back to its primordial state!”

Silence fell.

Frost gradually settled on the corpse of a young boy.

Next to the corpse, the head of a maiden statue was rolling.

For some reason, the statue seemed,

—as if it was crying.

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