Chapter 271: Side Story – ‘Fathers-in-Law’ Please Give Me Your Daughters! (7)

The Eastern Heaven, just like the Kingdom of El Ras, was a gigantic empire that dominated the continent’s hegemony, but the size of the eastern continent was three or four times larger than the western one.

That great empire was ruled by the Son of Heaven, under an absolute monarchy.

The emperor’s authority came from a founding myth declaring him the “son of heaven.”

But one day, the world’s light disappeared.

People fell into chaos.

The sun that had always illuminated the world was blocked by shadows, and the light vanished from the earth.

The confusion was absolute.

Naturally.

“We have the Son of Heaven, descendant of the heavens—how could heaven abandon us?”

It was the beginning of the creation myth that Tatez Valtazar attempted to open.

The impact of that event shook even the distant Eastern Empire.

In the Eastern Empire, where the path of the dao and the responsibilities of the monarch were taught, that event caused a massive political earthquake.

If flowers wilted, lightning struck, or a flood came, everything was interpreted as the monarch’s fault for lacking virtue.

“The emperor angered Heaven. That is why the world is being punished.”

As the darkness continued, resentment toward the imperial family grew unchecked.

If it had lasted only a week, they could have excused it somehow.

But the Heavenly Empire was too vast.

Unlike the Kingdom of El Ras, there was no meteoric hero to prepare the country for chaos.

Nor was there any miraculous cooperation between royalty, nobility, the army, and religious sects.

Doubting the emperor’s authority, the provinces began to fracture.

And in the midst of that, the demons of the evil cult resurfaced.

A long time ago, there existed a demon cult that spread blood across the world.

The Blood Church.

The Demonic Cult.

Or, in some regions, simply “the Church.”

The names varied, but they all shared one faith.

“Let the ten thousand demons bow! Let the world of blood be reborn!”

“Let the ten thousand demons bow! Let the world of blood be reborn!”

Under heaven stood the Son of Heaven.

Above heaven stood the Demon God.

The absolute master of the Demonic Dao.

The invincible one without rival under the heavens.

The embodiment of the supremacy of the strong.

Someday, the Demon God would purify the entire world with fire.

For those who revered strength, he was a legend.

“The imperial family and the martial masters of the continent have been abandoned by heaven!”

“It is time for the Ten Mountains to march toward the central world!”

The problem was that they lacked a unified leader.

A body capable of inheriting the essence of the Demon God—considered mere legend—did not exist.

There were leaders of the blood palaces, but they were rotating positions, a system of “election” far inferior to the ancient Demon God.

The cult needed a new absolute.

A being capable of crushing the world with power.

But the heir of the Demon God had never appeared.

The essence left behind was so destructive that no human body could withstand it.

“He exists! Such a person exists!”

“Someone who crushed the continent’s strongest warriors with bare fists, who defeated ten thousand imperial soldiers!”

“He undoubtedly walks the path of the Demonic Dao!”

“Who is that monster?!”

Four years ago—

An absolute existed in the Heavenly Empire.

“Hua Ran! The Night-Flying Yacha!”

“She, with her indestructible body and mythical technique, can reach the state of Supreme Demon!”

An absolute power.

Something the decaying Demonic Cult could never have imagined.

Their hope resting on a young jiangshi wasn’t as impossible as it seemed.

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While the light vanished from the world and imperial authority wavered, the imperial family struggled with similar thoughts.

When the sunlight disappeared suddenly, the world was thrown into terror. And although the sun later returned, driving away the darkness, the damage was already done.

The Demonic Cult, which had taken advantage of the darkness, was running rampant.

And worst of all—the being they clamored for as their “messiah” was the same monstrosity that had ravaged the Empire four years earlier.

When Erin and Josephine took her away almost by force to the west, the imperial family celebrated that the untamable monster had left the empire.

But now the situation had changed completely.

The imperial family knew about Kang Ryun’s atrocious crimes.

Therefore, they erased Hua Ran from the “execute on sight” register the moment she stepped on imperial soil.

After all, the Kang family was famous as an imperial ally.

Kang Yu, master of illusory arts, and Kang Ryun, master of formations, had contributed greatly to the empire.

Although Kang Ryun was the true criminal, they could at least try to restore Kang Yu’s honor.

But they could not.

Turning a living human into a jiangshi was an unforgivable atrocity.

“Your Majesty! Taoist priest Jin Oh-hyeok requests an audience.”

While the imperial court discussed the situation, Hua Ran’s name surfaced again.

“The disappearance of the light was not natural. It was manipulation of heavenly order. We must prepare for a second catastrophe!”

The sun had disappeared due to “external interference,” an event impossible to ignore.

And the demons were using that event to rise.

The imperial family wanted to prepare for a second disappearance of the light.

“We cannot interfere with Heaven’s will…”

“If human power is not enough, use a power that is not human.”

The leader of the imperial Taoists—formerly Kang Ryun’s position—proposed a solution.

“I plead that the Night Yacha Hua Ran be elevated to ‘Posterior’ (Hu) and controlled by Taoist masters!”

His method was not much different from Kang Ryun’s.

But it differed in one aspect.

“A Posterior who bears enough karma can ascend and control the natural order.”

“And that’s possible?”

“That is what the Dao teaches.”

Hua Ran had spilled much blood—her sins were karma.

“She has enough for an ascension.”

To do so, they first had to capture her.

To stop the Demonic Cult.

To use her as a Posterior.

For a possible heavenly ascension.

Just when they were preparing to send formal envoys to the Kingdom of El Ras—

Hua Ran returned on her own to her homeland.

“Capture her before she escapes.”

That is why they sent the army.

Accusing her of collaborating with the Demonic Cult, they declared her a traitor and sent forces to arrest her.

“That’s how it happened.”

“…”

“…”

Corin and Josephine, after hearing the entire story from Sa Jin-hyuk, were speechless.

“Forming a harem is absurdly difficult.”

Corin let out a deep sigh at how tangled everything had become.

***

To get straight to the point, Hwaran was escorted meekly by the imperial army.

The principle dictates that a traitor must be beheaded and their bloodline exterminated up to three generations.

However, the hostility of the imperial army was not as great as expected.

The soldiers were the least of it; what was truly notable was that the imperial envoy was extremely attentive to her reactions.

“What are you going to do?”

‘…I’m not going to hit them.’

At Ran’s question, Hwa hid her intention to resist.

Escaping was easy. Massacring them all would also be trivial for the Bicheon Yacha.

But if she did that, Corin would not be pleased.

He deeply detested killing people. More precisely, he rejected it naturally.

Life is something that must be protected.

If one is going to take something so obvious, one must do it with prudence.

A perspective completely different from that of so many Park Sihoos. And such ideas also influence those around him— even a yacha who does not hesitate before bloodshed.

“C-c-criminal, eat this!”

What the envoy held out to her was a peachwood tablet.

An object that acts as a nemesis to a jiangshi. In the past, Kang Ryun had neutralized her using exactly that.

When Ran looked at it indifferently, the envoy shouted in panic.

“Q-quickly, eat it! Do you intend to disobey His Majesty the Emperor’s order?”

“Fine. But don’t touch sister Yoo-hwa or our family.”

“O-of course. Don’t worry so much, this is only to have a pretext…”

The envoy acted very carefully, as if trying to soothe the Bicheon Yacha.

Being a taoist, he knew perfectly well that if she went out of control, the entire imperial army would be reduced to paste.

Ran swallowed the tablet without resisting. Then her body reacted.

“Hmm…”

‘Act well.’

“I-I’m doing the best I can!”

Even after swallowing the domokpae, Ran didn’t suffer any major effect.

This was because she was no longer just a living jiangshi, but now carried the divine rank of the “Third Goddess of War, Morrígan.”

She possessed a power far beyond what she had as the Bicheon Yacha, and if she wished, escaping from the Heavenly Empire would be nothing.

‘Still, aren’t you a little excited?’

‘About what?’

‘If they take us away, my brother will come rescue me. A knight saving the princess locked in a romantic castle, right?’

‘…How annoying.’

If she was taken, Corin would no doubt worry. He might even run desperately to save her.

Ran looked forward to that sort of scenario a little— acting like a distressed maiden falling into the arms of her prince. Quite a girlish fantasy.

The soldiers, unable to imagine she was only pretending to be neutralized by the tablet, tied her up with ropes and loaded her into an escort carriage.

“Envoy…!”

Yoo-hwa arrived running urgently and stood before him.

“The incident from four years ago has already been proven a misunderstanding! How can you call her a traitor?”

Though she maintained etiquette, she was ready to draw her sword at any moment.

It was true the Kang family had declined after the death of Kang Yu and the fall of Kang Ryun.

But even so, the family had enough power not to be wiped out, and Yoo-hwa intended to protect her cousin with all her strength.

“Ehem… one moment, allow me to explain…”

The envoy carefully whispered that all of this was to fool the demon cultists who had been active recently.

That it was only a pretext to secure custody of Ran first.

As he said this, he noticed Ran’s wide-open eyes—even after swallowing the domokpae—staring at him, and thus he maintained utmost courtesy.

“So please follow us. I-I beg you.”

Having witnessed the Wolya-seong incident, the envoy clearly feared the Bicheon Yacha.

“Kang Yoo-hwa is also suspicious! Treat her with respect and escort her.”

And so, both were escorted as if they were major criminals, but treated far too respectfully for actual criminals.

***

Heavenly Empire.

Imperial Palace.

Thirty thousand imperial soldiers, hundreds of warriors and taoists.

The safest place in the Empire, undoubtedly the center of the continent.

“Impressive.”

“…Corin.”

Professor Josephine, beside me, looked at me with obvious worry.

“Are you seriously going to do this?”

“A man must do whatever it takes to rescue his woman, right?”

“…You do know all of this is extremely stupid, don’t you?”

“I appreciate that you didn’t bring up the issue of ‘the seven.’”

I had come to the imperial palace to rescue Hwaran.

Sure, there were more diplomatic methods— with Dunaleff’s economic power, Arden’s strength, or the backing of El Ras’s royal family, we could probably retrieve her.

But that would take too long.

At least a year.

Leaving Hwaran in the imperial palace for that long?

Not happening.

“Well, if I just brought Marie, Alisha, and Estelle, that would already be enough to crush the Empire.”

“…That level of modesty is absurd.”

“Yes, I could actually do it alone.”

I was no longer the same as before.

I may not have the benefits of the Third Commandment now, but I possess the Sun and the Light.

The Sun, Claur Solas.

The Light, Aradwa.

The Fate, Lia Pal.

I have not yet received the Ardri coronation, so I can only use the Sun and the Light.

“With just those two powers, I’m already the strongest in the world.”

Nor am I lacking in technique.

After all, I am the heir of Erin Danua and Tates Valtazar.

There is no human who can defeat me now.

“But I’m not going to kill everyone. I’ll just go in, take Hwaran, and leave.”

“Haa… I know you’ll do it your way, but please avoid deaths.”

Assaulting an imperial palace with only two people seemed absurd, but with my current power, it might be possible.

“Make way!”

I kicked open the main gate of the palace and invaded it.

Numerous warriors and taoists confronted me, but—

“Divine Light Ray!”

Booom!

“Aaargh!”

“He’s wielding light! What is that thing?!”

I showed a little of Melyr’s Light and reduced the palace to dust while searching for the Emperor.

“W-who are you?”

“I am the Heavenly Demon.”

“What?”

Yes, the heir of the Heavenly Demon, Michael Jackson, is not intimidated by any “Son of Heaven.”

“Please stop doing these stupid things! And stop walking backwards! Do you know how many people have fainted? How can a human walk backwards like that?!”

“Okay, okay.”

Are people really fainting?

Not surprising— when I walk through the city, people scream “Oppa!” and lose their minds.

I’m definitely the true heir of the Heavenly Demon.

“Your Majesty.”

To avoid more trouble, I wore my hood; that way no one recognized us.

“Hwaran. Where is she now?”

“Y-you insolent wretch! I am the Emper—!”

“KIEEEEEEKK!”

“AAAAARGH! MY EARS!”

I didn’t feel a drop of pity for the Emperor’s screams.

I may respect my in-laws, but an emperor from another continent?

No way.

Besides, this guy was also one of the culprits who used Hwaran as a demonic tool through Kang Ryun.

“I’ll throw the palace roof into the sky so you understand who I am!”

Maybe I should summon the Sun and roast them all like chicken.

“W-wait!”

At that moment, a taoist came running and fell to his knees.

He had probably seen how several dozen taoists had been wiped out in a single blow, because he had no will to fight whatsoever.

“Hwaran was kidnapped by magyo during transport! So she’s not in the palace!”

“…Magyo? The ones from the Hundred Thousand Mountains?”

“Y-yes…”

Suddenly everything had turned into a strange wuxia story, and I was doing a Heavenly Demon cosplay— slightly awkward.

“…Getting married is harder than it looks.”