I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 63

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 63
The Demon-Subduing Grand Duke and Admiral of the Golden Dragon Guard, Lee Dae-yong, who was on his way to submit his regular report to His Majesty the Emperor, scowled as he listened to an urgent report that flew in via sound transmission from his subordinate.
‘Tsk, to think they are only reporting this now.’
He could not keep His Majesty the Emperor waiting.
However, since the time for the audience was not fixed down to the exact second, he waited briefly for the urgent priority document to be brought to him.
‘How dare a mere Namgung Clan show such insolence to His Highness the Fifth Prince.’
Though he could also be called King Wuryong, from the perspective of someone who had personally taught him martial arts and looked after him for a long time, the Fifth Prince was a master who, though slightly sacrilegious to say, felt like a cherished disciple.
And although that master had hidden his identity, he had been unjustly insulted by the Namgung Clan.
How could this matter be overlooked?
There had to be a fitting punishment.
It was just that His Majesty the Emperor would determine the severity of it.
“Before I hear your report, I have something to say first. My youngest has sent Me a message.”
“His Highness also separately conveyed the situation to your loyal subject, asking me to hear Your Majesty’s decision.”
“Then you must already know what happened?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Read this anyway. To see if any details were omitted.”
Admiral Lee Dae-yong respectfully accepted the scroll offered by the Emperor, read it all, and offered it back.
“It is exactly as your loyal subject heard separately.”
“Haha, the name Imperial Sword Form is a name that has carried on since the Song Dynasty, and although the hidden meaning in the surname Namgung also branched out from the Imperial Family, it has its roots, so I did not mind it.”
In short, it meant he had treated them with leniency.
“Thus, I have no intention of making a grievance out of such points anew now. However, they used their influence to intimidate and take the spoils that my youngest subjugated with his own hands.”
“It is a truly sacrilegious act.”
“My youngest was worried. He wondered if those who acted like this toward him would treat the martial artists of other small and medium factions any differently.”
It was indeed a reasonable worry.
“The merits the Namgung Clan has submitted all this time for subjugating demonic monsters and demonic practitioners. The spiritual medicines allocated with priority in consideration of those merits. Shouldn’t we investigate whether all of that is accurate?”
More than ninety percent of spiritual medicines were monopolized and sold through the Imperial Court.
And how much spiritual medicine a sect could purchase was almost completely identical to how many masters that sect could raise in the future.
Very rarely, someone who surpassed the limits would emerge, but the baseline converged there.
“Your words are entirely correct, Your Majesty.”
The Namgung Clan snatching the Horn of Qingjuebiao was not simply a matter of two thousand silver taels.
It was about filling the achievements of merit established by Namgung.
Because that connected to the future of Namgung.
If they had proposed a deal here to hand over three thousand silver taels’ worth of merit, Seonwu would not have been as disappointed in Namgung as he was now.
But Namgung took the money and took the merit as well.
All this time, doing so against the weak had not been a problem.
Rather, it had maintained Namgung as the foremost among the Five Great Noble Families.
However, their meddling with Seonwu because of those piled-up retributions had finally blown up.
“My youngest does not simply wish to punish them for the insult he suffered. He worries for a greater matter.”
“Yes, if merits and faults are not properly brought to light, and rewards and punishments are not correct, who will strive for the country in the future? If such things accumulate, small and medium forces will no longer strive for subjugation, so how great would the damage be?”
The conversation shared between the Emperor and the Admiral was truly solemn.
Even though, when Seonwu was writing this letter with Jun by his side, they had been exchanging words like ‘those Namgung punks need to be taught a lesson.’
“Furthermore, although Absolute Shadow won, when he spoke words to scold their insolence, they instead harbored malice and plotted a conspiracy to harm him under the pretext of a martial duel. Fortunately, Absolute Shadow was not actually harmed, but how could there not be other martial artists who were harmed in such a manner?”
“It is truly a matter of concern.”
“It is trampling upon a bud that might have established merits for the country and the people in the future.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Answering each point, Admiral Lee Dae-yong marveled internally.
‘This is not the way His Majesty the Emperor usually speaks, is it?’
He was absolutely not someone who detailed the logic of governance so clearly.
Normally, he would say something like this:
[What Namgung is doing is rather unseemly. Read this, go investigate a bit, and punish them appropriately.]
So, this was actually him going through the text written and submitted by his cute youngest prince point by point, bragging about his child and showing off how smart his youngest was.
The Admiral never once let a sacrilegious word like ‘foolish doting parent’ cross his mind.
“Is that all? In commerce, they issue long-term drafts that exceed commercial standards, and even when one wishes to cash them out, they deduct an absurd advance interest. How could the small and medium merchant groups that Namgung exploits while barely keeping them alive be limited to just this? When a single ant is seen on a pillar, there is bound to be an anthill inside it. If we neglect these signs, the country may collapse in the future.”
If this were translated differently, it meant this:
[The matter my youngest uncovered holds such a weighty significance.]
“It is indeed such a grave matter, Your Majesty.”
Here, the only thing for a subject to do was agree that those words were correct.
And since it wasn’t making up things out of thin air, the difficulty was low.
Even in the Admiral’s opinion, right now the Imperial Family was so powerful and the Emperor was so strong that these evils weren’t a big problem, but…
Could this not pile up and become a major issue for future generations?
Even things done while walking on eggshells right now would grow in scale bit by bit, little by little, in the future.
“They say the Jianzun in the Namgung family is still quite strong? My youngest wished for you to go personally.”
“To make an example out of people of their level, it is fitting that your loyal subject goes in person.”
“Good. Receive this.”
With that, what the Emperor handed down was not the Imperial Sword, but the Executioner Axe Tally.
The meaning of this Executioner Axe Tally differed slightly by country and era, but in the Great Long Empire, it meant that if the opponent was a ‘Wulin martial artist,’ even if they were one of the Ten Venerables, they could be executed without reporting first if necessary.
Of course, if one actually used it recklessly just because it was given, it meant they lacked political sense, and Admiral Lee Dae-yong did not lack that much sense, but it was an item that would shatter the composure of even the world-famous Changtian Jianzun, Namgung Unseong, just by looking at it.
“You may take plenty of the Golden Dragon Guard with you. I am here in Gyeongseong.”
“I receive your command, Your Majesty.”
* * *
The Namgung Clan was peaceful today as well.
Because its master was Namgung Unseong, the Changtian Jianzun who occupied a seat among the Ten Great Masters of Wulin, who would dare to challenge them?
It wasn’t for nothing that they were called the leader of the Five Great Noble Families.
Unseong, the head of the family, was once again contemplating the Imperial Sword Form today while caressing his beloved sword.
He had already ascended to the Realm of Creation and occupied a seat among the Ten Venerables, but how could there be an end to the martial path?
Approaching to report to such a man, the Third Elder bowed his waist deeply.
“Family Head, I would like to deliver the regular report.”
“Haha, why be so formal, younger brother? Between us.”
“No, since this is a public report right now.”
Even though Namgung Unseong told him to make himself comfortable, the Third Elder could not do so.
Everyone became small whenever they stood before the Family Head, who exuded the aura of a true emperor, looking down and suppressing everything from the heavens.
An absolute existence whom one dared not resist.
Within his domain, no one could stand against him.
When standing before an emperor, the rest naturally became subjects.
‘As long as the Family Head remains healthy, our family will also be the number one under heaven!’
“Right, do speak.”
“Yes, this month’s income is… Furthermore, the demonic monster subjugation merit is… Thus, the subjugation that the Seokyun Sect participated in was divided into seven-tenths of the merit for the main family and three-tenths for them.”
“You showed them consideration.”
“Yes, if we took all ten-tenths, they would not respond properly either, so I gave them about three-tenths.”
In reality, the Seokyun Sect, which had performed the difficult roles and even suffered injuries, was dissatisfied, but how dare they not be happy to have been of help to Namgung?
Considering that as much as three-tenths had been handed over.
Other than that, various reports continued.
“It is going smoothly.”
At Namgung Unseong’s praise, the Third Elder’s face brightened slightly.
“Yes, except for the unpleasant incident a while ago…”
“Tsk, Hyeok-in let his guard down too much.”
“It is truly so.”
“Even so, this year’s demonic monster subjugation merit is also an overachievement.”
“That is correct. Based on this, I intend to negotiate with the government to increase our allocation for spiritual medicine purchasing rights.”
“Do so.”
The thing most needed to protect the position of an emperor was martial might.
And although the masters of the Transcendence Realm and the Realm of Creation who ascended through enlightenment were important, in the end, their roots lay in a greater number of Jeoljeong Gosu.
To raise the younger generation, no matter how much spiritual medicine they had, it was never enough.
‘We need to secure a supply source for spiritual medicine that does not go through the Imperial Court.’
For now, it was a distant prospect.
Even though he was an emperor, once he stepped outside of Wulin, he was no emperor.
To say he was the emperor of Anhui Province meant, turning it around, that he was the emperor only in Anhui Province.
And even of that, to tell the deeper truth, he was the emperor only in a part of Anhui’s Wulin.
It was so right now, but who knew what would happen in the future?
Long ago, during the Song Dynasty alone, his ancestors had looked down upon the world.
They were a branch family that broke away, changed their surname, and spent the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, and when the Mandate of Heaven for that Yuan Dynasty ended, they failed to ascend to the position of taking over the world again.
Even so, how could they forget their roots?
The Imperial Sword Form was the sword of an emperor.
Even if he had not reached it yet, how could one awaken its true ultimate meaning without a grand ambition deep within their heart?
Arrogant, but just as strong.
That was his ability as the Changtian Jianzun.
Because such a man was there, the gatekeepers guarding the main gate of the Namgung Clan were also very confident.
Who would dare to challenge us?
Today would be peaceful too.
They believed so.
The appearance of a master flying through the sky while riding atop a sword that scattered golden energy shattered that peace.
The gatekeepers cried out in astonishment.
“Uh, uh, what is that?”
Sword Flight.
A divine skill that was said to be possible for only a segment among the masters of the Realm of Creation.
Among them, if it was a master scattering golden energy…
It was an emergency.
It was an emergency situation where the Namgung Family Head, one of the Ten Great Masters of Wulin and a seat among the Ten Venerables of the world, Namgung Unseong, had to step forward himself.
The Demon-Subduing Grand Duke, Lee Dae-yong, descended to the ground.
“Let Namgung come forward and receive the Imperial Decree!”
Changtian Jianzun Namgung Unseong closed his eyes at that sound.
‘Why would the government…’
Even if any other master among the Ten Great Masters of Wulin had come, there would be nothing uncomfortable.
But an Imperial Decree alone was troublesome.
Before the silk scroll containing the Imperial Decree, the royal command, one could not help but kneel.
However, every time a person harboring the mindscape of an emperor knelt like that, their mindscape would shake.
Internal injury.
Qi Deviation.
It could also be called that.
Of course, Namgung was a clan that had endured the reign of the Yuan Dynasty after the Southern Song fell.
It wasn’t just a day or two since they had resided below the Imperial Family and become emperors who were not truly emperors, so they had naturally created a core secret method for accepting such situations.
Even without bringing up the example of King Goujian of Yue, it was not difficult to endure that moment with the spirit of sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall.
However, it was merely enduring; it was not good.
‘It means it is not a matter of the level of offering a spiritual pill for a prince’s birthday.’
If it were an ordinary Imperial Commissioner, it would be one thing, but for the Demon-Subduing Grand Duke to come in person?
“What brings you here, Admiral Lee?”
Namgung Unseong instinctively felt that this visit was more of a curse than a blessing to the family.
If the Admiral of the Golden Dragon Guard were visiting privately, at least a visiting card announcing the visit in advance would have arrived before he came.
It would have given them time to prepare to welcome an honored guest.
Yet he came directly and suddenly.
And as if they had been waiting, the Hall Masters and guards of the Golden Dragon Guard followed right behind him.
‘Five of the Hall Master level… and a hundred of the guard level.’
This was a level of pressure that meant if Namgung resisted, they would erase them from this spot.
Of course, Namgung also had the three Great Elders who were in the Transcendence Realm.
In addition, there were thirty Jeoljeong Gosu, including regular elders and squad leaders.
If a fight really broke out, it would be hard to win, but relying on the formation, it was worth holding out in a siege.
It was just that it wasn’t a siege with a future.
If they did not bow their heads before this threat, it would lead to the extermination of their nine generations.
“Wait for a moment. There are more who will arrive.”
At the words of Admiral Lee, who came out coldly without even using mutual honorifics, Namgung Unseong’s complexion darkened even further.
‘What on earth is going on?’
Then, after a bit of time passed, this time the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner appeared, leading a massive number of his subordinates.
Since even the highest official of justice in Anhui Province had come, the meaning of this was now unmistakable.
It meant they were determined to interrogate the Namgung Clan for the crimes they had committed.
But what crime had they committed?
Namgung Unseong truly did not have even a single shred of a guilty conscience.
He was clean.
Therefore, he was bewildered.
Why on earth?
Watching that from afar, Seonwu whispered to Absolute Shadow.
“Oh, oh, it looks like the Namgung Clan got caught doing something shady in the back?”
“It indeed appears so, Senior Brother.”
“That’s the Admiral of the Golden Dragon Guard over there. It looks like they’re going to get thoroughly ransacked?”
“It looks that way to me as well.”
At the play-acting of Seonwu and Absolute Shadow, Jun concealed his absurd expression.
‘What is that punk talking about when he’s the one who called him here.’
Of course, to anyone looking from the outside, it would look like Seonwu, who knew nothing, was just purely marveling.
[My word, it is a tru~ly won~derful disguise.]
Jun taunted via sound transmission, but Seonwu was confident.
[Don’t you know that it’s a rule to at least do this much originally?]
[Right, right.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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