The Ruler of Darkness

Book 8: Chapter 9

At the same time as the forced execution was being carried out on the Lee family.

An investigator belonging to the Cheong family, accompanying a judge, was quietly hiding near a government office.

[There’s still no movement from the target.]

A report came in via sound transmission from a subordinate who had infiltrated the office interior.

[Send in the next personnel. Switch to visual surveillance.]

The retired elders of the Lee family at the main house would obviously resist with force, exercising their right of self-defense, so they were being suppressed by applying obstruction of enforcement.

But it was different for the active Lee family members on duty during the day.

[The target has made contact with a Lee family servant. Based on eavesdropping, it seems the target has been informed of the Lee family’s situation]

[The target has changed into casual clothes and begun moving hurriedly. Moving towards the back gate.]

An investigator already waiting near the back gate secretly tailed him with his subordinates.

[Do we just continue tracking like this?]

[Of course. The target is an active official. We can’t arrest without clear physical evidence. We just need to report the target’s location as originally ordered.]

[Understood]

Though they were pursuing only one target, there were many active officials from the Lee family (excluding the insignificant low-ranking officials).

Therefore, other teams were also tracking their designated targets in real-time.

***

The head of the Lee family decided to flee the moment he heard the unidentified explosion (the sound of the main gate being destroyed).

When he received the report that Yeon So-hyeon had come in person, he was already escaping through a secret underground passage known only to the family head.

‘The Eldest Young Master showing up in person means he must have properly prepared a way to attack, no matter what.’

It was outstanding reflexes and judgment befitting the head of an influential family.

‘But how could he have prepared to attack our Lee family so quickly?’

It hadn’t even been an incense stick’s burn since the family member who was the district chief of Cheonghak District had been carried in after being beaten for obstructing the relocation of Hodu Village.

‘Was it prepared in advance? But how did he pinpoint our Lee family? Does that brat have precognition or something?!’

He gritted his teeth in disbelief at Yeon So-hyeon’s swift and precise movements.

‘That devilish bastard…!’

As soon as he passed through the formation laid out in the secret passage, he ordered behind him without looking back.

“Two of you stay and guard this place.”

“Yes, Family Head.”

Two of the family’s martial artists following behind immediately separated from the group and remained.

Those following him now were the most loyal martial artists in the Lee family.

The two would hold their position until their last breath.

As he swiftly passed through the maze-like passage, the Lee family head felt his chest to check.

‘Fortunately, I grabbed the secret ledger I had hidden for emergencies.’

The secret ledger was full of records that must not fall into outside hands, especially the judiciary.

Yet he couldn’t destroy the ledger.

With the family’s main house in danger, the ledger recording all their under-the-table dealings was his lifeline.

‘With this, I should be able to save my own life at least.’

Reaching the end of the secret passage, a ladder leading upwards came into view.

It was a ladder connected to a building in Luoyang’s old town district.

The building located in a deserted alley was disguised as a warehouse, but in reality, it was the Lee family’s emergency escape route.

“Climb up first and check the building’s interior.”

One martial artist unhesitatingly climbed the ladder.

She opened the disguised exit and entered the building.

It was a spacious two-story warehouse.

After surveying the interior, she reported down below.

“Interior clear.”

This was after checking all devices installed to leave traces if anyone had intruded.

“Good. Two more climb up and check the external situation.”

At his thoroughly cautious order, two more martial artists climbed up and looked outside through hidden windows, then reported below.

“Exterior clear.”

Only then did the Lee family head nod.

“I’ll go first.”

With martial artists guarding the rear, the family head climbed the ladder.

As one martial artist grabbed his hand when it came within reach and pulled him up in one breath, the remaining martial artists inside the building moved swiftly to secure the exit.

“Time is short. Let’s hurry.”

As the family head moved, brushing dust off his clothes, the martial artists securing the exit went out first into the deserted back alley.

Those guarding the rear below nimbly climbed up.

And at the moment the family head stepped out into the complexly intertwined back alleys.

The martial artists who had gone ahead to secure the corner were all pinned to the wall at once.

“……?!”

What pierced the martial artists’ heads and bodies were iron arrows.

The iron arrows, fired from a distant rooftop, not only killed them instantly but fixed them to the wall.

“Enemy ambush-!”

That was just the beginning.

With the sound of air being pierced, a continuous volley of iron arrows flew in, targeting the martial artists while avoiding the family head.

“Kuh!”

True to their status as elites of an influential family, they began deflecting the iron arrows with amazing reflexes, drawing their swords.

“It’s repeating crossbow fire!”

“Protect the Family Head!”

Several people joined the human wall already surrounding the family head on all sides.

“First, evacuate the Family Head to the passage…!”

As someone shouted, all the windows in the rear shattered at once as hidden weapons from the Sichuan Tang Family poured in.

“Urgh…!”

“Hidden weapons from the rear!”

They hurriedly guarded the rear, but several had already fallen to the hidden weapons, and many were injured.

And that wasn’t the end.

After an irritating chain sound rang out once, the warehouse roof was smashed, and a figure fell and landed silently.

In his hands were twin sickles, and the heads of those separated from the family head flew into the air, scattering blood.

It was a perfect ambush with no way to respond.

“A-A master…!”

The chain sound rang out once more.

This time, it was an attack from the front, so most were able to avoid having their heads harvested.

“Gurgle….”

But the bodies of the martial artists, already slowed by injuries from iron arrows and hidden weapons, fell as their heads were lost.

“……!”

Blood from the enemies dripped from the twin sickles held by Tang Baek, the grim-faced middle-aged man, the head collector of the Tea Horse Road.

He stood blocking the floor opening leading to the secret passage, silently watching the enemies.

“…….”

Suddenly, all attacks ceased, and all that remained were the martial artists surrounding and protecting the family head with their bodies.

From among them, the family head asked.

“…Are you Eldest Young Master’s subordinates?”

No sooner had that question ended than people hiding in each complex alley revealed themselves.

At the forefront was a stunningly beautiful woman holding a sword.

The family head spoke as if sighing.

“How on earth did the Eldest Young Master know about this passage…?”

Uniquely, her eyes were shining with a golden light.

The family head didn’t know, but before her eyes, called the Dragon Eyes, any secret passage was as good as useless.

***

At that time, at the Lee family’s main house.

One more.

An elder who had managed to hide was dragged out and thrown into the garden.

The important documents he had been carrying and the gold and silver treasures he had grabbed had already been confiscated.

“…….”

The elder raised his disheveled head.

Like the other elders around him, he blankly looked up at the sky.

The spring day was warm, and the sky was painfully blue.

The bruises on the old men varied, but their thoughts were the same.

‘…Where exactly did it all go wrong?’

***

‘Everything was wrong from the start.’

Surrounded by the few remaining martial artists, the head of the Lee family gave a bitter smile.

From the beginning, there had been no place or way to escape.

‘The moment the Eldest Young Master revealed his hand, and I could see that brat’s cards…’

At that moment, everything was already as good as over.

With a dejected expression, he slowly raised both hands above his head.

And his lips moved.

“…Attack!”

The bodies of the elite martial artists, who had trained for just such a situation, exploded with speed as if launched before the order even finished.

Three towards Tang Baek.

One towards the head maid Jung-ah.

And himself, practically carried by the last remaining martial artist, hurled his body towards the entrance of the secret passage.

With a cold woman’s snort, the martial artist who had tried to ambush Jung-ah was cut in two.

A perfect counterattack that strikes first despite moving second.

The strongest counter-technique in the history of the Luoyang Sword House.

There was no way a mere Lee family martial artist could block the completed Flash Shadow Instant.

The situation was the same for Tang Baek’s side, but he didn’t even snort.

“…….”

The martial artists, already visibly exhausted, couldn’t even last one exchange before all becoming corpses rolling on the ground.

The final resistance was meaningless.

“Urgh!”

As the last martial artist carrying him lost his head and fell, the family head’s body bounced on the ground several times from the momentum.

He had become an unsightly old man, unbecoming of the head of an influential family.

“…Well then.”

He muttered once with a cough and staggered to his feet.

“Now there’s no option left.”

It was surrender.

“I’ve lost. Guide me to the Eldest Young Master.”

He spoke in the most dignified voice he could muster to the woman approaching with calm steps, head maid Jung-ah.

“I’ll give any testimony needed. I won’t spare any cooperation-“

The family head’s eyes bulged.

He raised his trembling hand to grasp the sword piercing his neck.

“Gurgle….”

He seemed to be trying to say something, but only blood foam surged from his mouth.

As the last strength left the old man’s unsightly body, he sagged with the sword as his axis.

Jung-ah’s sword, receiving the weight of the corpse, didn’t move even a hair.

Jung-ah, who had been staring at the breathless corpse with an expression of disbelief as if wronged, retrieved her sword.

Then she lifted the falling corpse as carefully as anything in the world.

It was as if she were holding the corpse of a lover.

“…….”

In the corpse’s embrace were precious items her master wanted.

Her hands, searching the chest, moved carefully but precisely, lest the items be damaged.

Blood flowed from the corpse’s upturned neck, dripping to the floor.

“Recovery of the Lee family head’s seal and secret ledger complete.”

As she released her hands after retrieving the targeted items, the corpse fell face-first to the floor.

The Hyeonwolgak agents waiting behind her moved.

“Good work. We’ll take it from here.”

They moved in perfect unison according to their respective areas of expertise.

It was work such as moving corpses, destroying traces, retrieving hidden weapons, and blocking the secret passage.

In the distance on a rooftop, Jung-ah’s gaze caught the sight of maids from the maid squad shouldering repeating crossbows and withdrawing.

They were the repeating crossbows that had been detached from the armored carriage and installed.

After confirming that far, she put the items in her bosom and stepped outside the warehouse.

Tang Baek had already disappeared.

The afternoon sunlight was dazzling.

***

Someone approached the investigator tailing an active Lee family official.

[…….]

After the person who delivered the message via close-range sound transmission disappeared into the crowd, the investigator sent a sound transmission to his subordinates.

[Mission complete. We’re withdrawing now.]

Not just them, but all teams tracking Lee family officials across Luoyang were beginning to withdraw.

He added briefly.

[From here on, we leave it to the Gong family.]

The remnants of the Lee family.

To suppress the active officials before they could make any rash moves required not just bending the law, but illegal intervention.

And cooperating with Yeon So-hyeon was a family with powerful authority that could even make such illegality legal.

The Gong family, proudly listed as one of the Sixteen Families of the Imperial Capital.

It was the moment Yeon So-hyeon’s next hand was about to be revealed.