The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 171

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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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Red Dragon Martial Emperor, Chapter 171

Chapter 171 — The Forbidden Demon Decree

“Is there something you need from me?”
Yi Hwan turned the question back on him, folding his arms across his chest.
“Those bodies from a moment ago—was that your doing?”
“It couldn’t have been.”
Yang Chan’s composure was flawless. His mind, however, was anything but calm.
‘Is he asking because he knows, or is he just guessing?’
Either way, if Yi Hwan suspected him, it was trouble.
‘Should I kill him?’
That would be the cleanest solution to eliminate any future threat.
Then Yi Hwan spoke.
His voice drifted across the space between them.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m being accused of treason because someone’s been running around poisoning people left and right.”
“…….”
“Does that strike a nerve?”
“How could it? I’m entirely uninvolved in this matter.”
“Then we’re good.”
Snap!
Yi Hwan shut the window behind him.

* * *

‘Suspicious, but I have more pressing matters. I’ll set this aside for now.’
Yi Hwan changed into fresh clothes and fastened a face mask over his features. Then he rapped lightly against the wall.
Tap, tap.
“Got a moment?”
Moments later, Cheol Mu-ok and Ju-tae entered the room.
They exchanged puzzled glances at Yi Hwan’s fresh attire.
“Where are you going, sir?”
“The Zhao Imperial Palace.”
“Sir?”
“I didn’t come all this way just to gather information.”
“Whatever you’re planning, we should accompany you.”
“I’ll be safer alone.”
Cheol Mu-ok pressed further.
“Does this concern the Blood Demon’s legacy?”
“Among other things.”
Glug.
Yi Hwan drained the last of his cup and rose to his feet. Cheol Mu-ok and Ju-tae stood as well, worry etched into their faces.
“Are you certain this is wise, sir?”
“Still doubting your lord, I see.”
“It’s not that. If Zhao Yun truly is descended from the Blood Demon, then the palace itself is their stronghold. There’s no telling what dangers lurk there…….”
“I’ll come back alive. Don’t worry.”
Before opening the door, Yi Hwan added one more thing.
“And if I’m delayed, don’t do anything reckless.”
“…….”
“I want your word.”
“You have it, sir.”
“And you.”
Yi Hwan slipped out of the inn without alerting the others. He melted into the crowds flowing toward the Zhao Imperial Palace.
“Will he be all right?”
“What else can we do but trust in our lord’s abilities?”
The words were steady, but Cheol Mu-ok’s eyes betrayed a weight of doubt.
‘What is this sense of dread……?’

* * *

If one were to name the most splendid place in the Zhao Imperial Palace, it would undoubtedly be Byeol-gung Palace. Known also as Ihwa Palace, it served as the residence of the Empress of Yen.
The interior was saturated with the fragrance of tea.
The Empress savored the finest tea that Seo Nam Wang had specially procured for her, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
‘How foolish. So arrogant, never knowing his place—and in the end, meeting his demise in some distant foreign land.’
At an evening meeting with Zhao Yun, she had learned that Yi Hwan had not arrived. She was also informed that an unidentified corpse was under investigation, and a request had been made for her to verify it personally.
The Empress had declined, citing its gruesome appearance, and Zhao Yun had not pressed the matter further.
The two were suspicious of each other. Of course, neither had reason to protest—Yi Hwan’s death was something they both desired.
‘How liberating, to see that thorn finally removed.’
The Empress’s smile deepened.
Just then, a Female Warrior entered.
“Your bath is prepared, Your Majesty.”
“Did you scatter the fragrance?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I have filled it with your most beloved scents.”
“Shall we bathe together, as we once did?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
Setting down her teacup, the Empress moved toward the bath, discarding her garments piece by piece. Her body, gradually revealed, possessed more suppleness than that of a woman in her twenties.
The Female Warrior who followed behind had a gleam of dark desire burning in her eyes.

* * *

A moonless night.
Yi Hwan had successfully infiltrated the Zhao Imperial Palace using the Concealment Art.
The guard presence was more formidable than anticipated.
Likely due to the recent murder that had occurred at the Gold Guard’s regional command post.
Yi Hwan surveyed the sprawling palace halls, hunched like a beast in the darkness, his gaze sharp and predatory. Then he spotted a particular hall and began to move again.
‘It was wise to have mastered the Concealment Art.’
Under Yi Hwan’s command were formidable beings beyond the Three Kings. Among them was the legendary assassin known as the Killing King.
The Concealment Art had been learned from him.

When one reaches the highest level, one can slip into the Nine-Layered Imperial Palace and take the Emperor’s head as easily as plucking fruit.

The Killing King had once entered the bedchamber of Emperor Zhao Bi himself, blade pressed to his throat. That incident had broken Zhao Bi’s will to resist Dae-ya Fortress, leading him to attend the Wha-san Alliance and etch his name in the historic precedent of Non-Interference of Martial Arts.
Wheeeee!
Wind swept powerfully across the palace roof. Yet Yi Hwan’s long robe remained as rigid as iron, unmoved by the gale.
The very sound of fabric billowing was something he dared not risk—he was certain that descendants of the Blood Demon were somewhere within these walls.
A moment later, standing atop the roof of his target hall, Yi Hwan extended his senses downward, detecting the presence beneath. His brow immediately furrowed.
‘Damn.’
Sticky, lewd sounds were seeping into his ears from the adjacent hall.
Yi Hwan adjusted the range of his perception. Several faint auras became detectable below the roof.
‘If natural breathing without artifice is this faint……’
It meant that considerable masters were gathered beneath his feet.
Wheeeee.
Wind gusted again, raking across his entire form. Yi Hwan paused to steady his breathing.
‘Has it been two centuries? Since issuing the Forbidden Demon Decree.’
The Forbidden Demon Decree.
Two hundred years ago, after achieving the Unification of All Lands, Yi Hwan had issued the Forbidden Demon Decree, forbidding all activities by the forces of Evil Demons. Those who violated it had their entire sects and factions utterly eradicated, and their leaders executed by beheading before all.
Thus, through that cruel bloodshed, an era of peace had dawned, and upon that foundation, through the Wha-san Alliance, he had achieved the unprecedented historic precedent of Non-Interference of Martial Arts.
‘If the Blood Demon’s lineage has inherited the records, they would not be ignorant of the Forbidden Demon Decree. If they know of it, they cannot help but be affected. They cannot possibly be unaware of the Blood Demon’s history.’
Yi Hwan had one purpose in issuing the Forbidden Demon Decree now.
Unlike the descendants of the Blood Demon, who were on the verge of swallowing Zhao Kingdom whole, he himself had yet to establish a proper force. Thus, his aim was to make them aware that a successor of the Dae-ya Fortress lord—himself—still existed, and thereby make them wary. That wariness, he hoped, would slow Zhao Yun’s progress, even if only slightly.
Until he had built his own power.
‘I must carve this as deeply as possible, even at great cost.’
Yi Hwan drew a long breath.
“Hoooo.”
He gathered his Inner Energy in both palms.
Uuuoom.
With a resonant hum, his hands became wrapped in golden brilliance. It shot toward the wall of the opposite hall, and there he inscribed the characters for the Forbidden Demon Decree.
Crack-crack-crack!
Characters etched into the wall as stone dust cascaded down. Windows creaked open throughout the palace in response to the noise.
“An intruder!”
“There!”
Men rushed toward Yi Hwan. He unleashed a devastating strike against them, pouring his full strength into the blow.
Flash!
A brilliant arc of light tore through the air like a Lightning Strike.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
Boom!
The arc severed the body of the first man to rush forward, then smashed against the palace wall opposite.
Thud!
Whoosh!
Men poured onto the roof from all directions where Yi Hwan had been standing. But he had already vanished into the darkness.
“Look there!”
All eyes fixed on the place where stone dust swirled.
“The Forbidden Demon Decree?”
“What is that?”
None of the men who had scrambled onto the roof recognized the meaning carved into those characters.
Then one figure climbed up.
It was the middle-aged official who had always stood at Zhao Yun’s side. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the wall bearing the Forbidden Demon Decree.
‘The Forbidden Demon Decree…’

* * *

Zhao Yun was fond of carnal pleasures.
His vigor was so extraordinary that he could embrace several women in a single night without tiring. Today was no exception.
His body, freshly risen from the third woman, glistened with sweat.
“Now it is this concubine’s turn.”
The fourth woman shed her garments like a serpent shedding skin and pressed herself against Zhao Yun’s body. It was just as his manhood began to stiffen again.
“Your Highness.”
The middle-aged official’s voice drifted in from outside. Zhao Yun, about to part the woman’s legs, furrowed his brow and rose.
Moments later, Zhao Yun threw open the door, wearing only his outer robe.
“If you’ve sought me at this hour, something grave must have transpired. What is it?”
“You should see it yourself, Your Highness.”

* * *

Tremble, tremble…
Zhao Yun’s eyes, reflecting the characters of the Forbidden Demon Decree, quivered faintly.
‘The Forbidden Demon Decree!’
He understood what those characters signified—and the shameful, brutal history of the Demonic Martial World that lay beneath them.
“How did this happen?”
“By the time I reached the roof, he was already gone.”
“Surely someone saw him!”
“The man who rushed up first was slain by this master’s hand before anyone could get a look. I apologize, Your Highness.”
Zhao Yun stared at the wall bearing the Forbidden Demon Decree, his jaw clenched tight. And then, unbidden, a name surfaced in his mind: Yi Hwan.
At the battle in the Northern Military Unit, Yi Hwan had undoubtedly wielded the Dae-ya Castle Martial Arts.
“He wasn’t dead after all?”
“Are you referring to the Fourth Prince of Yen?”
“You saw him yourself in Yen’s Northern Military Unit—saw him deploy the Dae-ya Castle Martial Arts.”
“It is not him.”
“What makes you so certain?”
The middle-aged official answered at once.
“At that time, his martial prowess fell considerably short of a true Master of Dae-ya Castle. Yet observe the depth of these characters. Achieving such depth would require at minimum forty years of cultivation. More remarkable still—he used his Inner Energy to carve these words into this wall within such a brief span.”
“…!”
“For him to have advanced this far in so short a time is impossible. Therefore, the Fourth Prince of Yen cannot be responsible.”
At the middle-aged official’s confident tone, Zhao Yun nodded heavily.
“Then a true successor of the Master of Dae-ya Castle has emerged?”
“What concerns me more, Your Highness, is that he knows us well.”
“Of course. Knowing us as he does, he came here deliberately to warn us.”
“I have an ill feeling about this. First, a poisoner appears out of nowhere committing murder, and now the Forbidden Demon Decree surfaces in the very heart of the Nine-Layered Imperial Palace.”
At the Middle-aged Official’s words, Zhao Yun’s expression grew heavier still. He had been turning over that very thought himself.
‘If he knew I was descended from the Blood Demon and came all this way deliberately to warn me, it means he possesses that much confidence.’
‘If the Yen Kingdom’s Fourth Prince learned the Dae-ya Castle Martial Arts, could the successor of the Dae-ya Castle Master have made Yen Kingdom his home as well?’
‘No. If Yen Kingdom were his base, he surely would have appeared during the Northern Military Unit’s war. Then might it be that they have lived all this time unaware of each other’s existence?’
Sharp pain.
As his mind grew turbulent and a stabbing headache pierced through him, Zhao Yun pressed his fingers against his temples, his gaze darkening further.
‘If the heir of the Poison King walks alongside him as well….’
The heir of the Poison King was nearly as fearsome as the successor of the Dae-ya Castle Master. No—Zhao Yun regarded the heir of the Poison King as the more terrifying threat.
Why else would he have withdrawn his forces in the Northern Military Unit despite commanding overwhelming military superiority?
Sharp pain.
As the awl-like headache struck again, he drew in a deep breath.
“Why do you suffer so, Your Majesty?”
“It is nothing.”
Whoosh!
Wind wrapped around Zhao Yun’s entire body.
His long robe billowed open in the gust, exposing his bare form, yet Zhao Yun remained rigid-faced, his gaze fixed upon the Forbidden Demon Decree. Only then did the Middle-aged Official notice that nothing lay beneath the robe, and he hastily straightened the garment.
“First, dispose of that grotesque thing. Then summon all the children stationed in the Western Nam garrison back to the palace and deploy them to guard the Grand Hall.”
“Understood.”

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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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