Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

Baek Suryong looked at the back of the prostrating Ma Jungcheon's head. Revealing the Heaven Defying Divine Art to him was a calculated move.

I wonder how much this man knows?

He recalled the Poison Demon's last words.

* The Blood Cult selected several candidates and taught them the Heaven Defying Divine Art. Their goal is to pit the candidates against each other and create a new Blood Demon.*

Baek Suryong thought it was a crazy scheme, but he gained one significant advantage from it. He could disguise himself as one of the candidates.

The only person who had seen Baek Suryong use the Heaven Defying Divine Art and returned alive was the Night Emperor, but even then, he had been wearing a mask. In other words, his identity would not be compromised just because he used the Heaven Defying Divine Art.

"O Honored One…"

Honored One, huh? Is that how they refer to all the Blood Demon candidates? Also, considering he knows of the candidates' existence even though his martial arts are pretty weak… he probably belongs to the Infernal Sanctum.

"……" Ma Jungcheon trembled nervously, not daring to lift his head until Baek Suryong spoke again. The sudden appearance of a cult leader candidate greatly confused him.

Did someone from our Cult send Seol Ryonghwi here? But why disguise him as such…?

Finally, Baek Suryong broke the silence, saying, "State your affiliation and rank."

Ma Jungcheon immediately blurted out, "I am the 17th Captain of the Infernal Sanctum. I was dispatched to the Ice Palace ten years ago…"

Baek Suryong nodded as Ma Jungcheon revealed everything. As expected, he belonged to the Infernal Sanctum, and as one of the twenty captains, his position was neither high nor low.

After introducing himself, Ma Jungcheon carefully lifted his head. "But, Honored One, for what reason are you here…"

CRASH!

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Baek Suryong stomped on Ma Jungcheon's head, smashing it into the floor. "Who gave you permission to ask questions?" he hissed.

"M-My apologies. Please forgive me…" Ma Jungcheon, crushed against the floor, let out a pained groan. The energy of the Heaven Defying Divine Art constricted his entire body. He felt like a moth caught in a spider's web.

"Try to guess with that puny brain of yours. Why I came here. If you guess right, I'll take my foot off you. If you don't, I'll crush that useless ornament on your shoulders."

"…!" Ma Jungcheon shivered at the sheer arrogance in Seol Ryonghwi's tone.

Only someone born and raised in the Blood Cult, where the strong were revered, would act so brazenly. After all, in the Blood Cult, it was natural for the strong to oppress the weak and dictate their right to live and die.

"No answer? I guess I'll just crush…"

"W-Wait a moment… Kuuugh!" Ma Jungcheon desperately tried to think, enduring the pain of his head being crushed. He clawed at the floor with his fingers in frustration. He didn't want to die a meaningless death, he wanted to die a martyr for the glory of the Cult.

A moment later, he croaked, "Did one of the Apostles send you?"

At the word 'Apostle', Baek Suryong flinched imperceptibly.

The Apostles were his students from his previous life. The mere thought of them being the driving force behind the current Blood Cult gnawed at him like a reopened wound.

"…You're lucky," he whispered, removing his foot from Ma Jungcheon's head.

Ma Jungcheon unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, but he knew that it was too early to relax.

"Why do you think an Apostle sent me?" Baek Suryong asked.

Stealing glances at Baek Suryong, Ma Jungcheon offered the answer he had managed to squeeze out of his brain. "…Since the Ice Palace has been constantly delaying their reply, I believe an Apostle ordered you, an Honored One, to take matters into your own hands."

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"Hmm… so that thing on your shoulders isn't just an ornament."

"M-My apologies…"

Ma Jungcheon broke out in a cold sweat. Although he had met several elders and other candidates, this was the first time he had encountered someone with such a commanding presence.

He's no ordinary person. With this much power… he might be the one closest to becoming the new Cult Leader.

Ma Jungcheon felt a sense of reverence and respectfully bowed his head.

Thanks to this, though, he failed to notice the faint upward curl of Baek Suryong's lips.

Don't you just love misunderstandings? Isn't it so awesome when these guys' imaginations do all the thinking for me?

[How can you be so cunning…]

Baek Suryong had been through this enough times to know the routine. First, he would intimidate the opponent with the Heaven Defying Divine Art. This would prompt them to concoct reasons to dismiss their suspicions while he merely had to maintain a displeased expression and nod in agreement.

Baek Suryong straightened his expression and said, "You are more or less correct. An Apostle suggested that I observe the North Sea Ice Palace, and I thought it would be fun."

"…!"

H-He dares to address the Apostles without honorifics?

Ma Jungcheon's misunderstanding deepened.

Baek Suryong continued, "Now, speak. Who or what is causing the delay?"

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"…Eun Hwiryong. She continuously opposes the mobilization of the Ice Palace's forces…"

"Are you saying the current Empress of the Ice Palace is hostile to our Cult?"

"That is correct."

A wave of relief washed over Baek Suryong. At the very least, he was now certain of one fact.

I can trust Master Eun's descendants.

He had been worried that the other Ice Palace clans might cooperate with the Blood Cult to the same extent as the Seol Clan, but Ma Jungcheon's answer put his mind at ease.

"Grand Elder Han Songbaek is also a problem. The Eun and Han Clans have joined forces to keep the Seol Clan in check. Although the Seol Clan is still the greater power, the influence of the two families cannot simply be ignored…"

"Pathetic."

"M-My apologies." Bowing his head low, Ma Jungcheon continued cautiously, "After we achieve the next step of our Grand Scheme, we plan to get rid of them both. This has already been discussed with Seol Suryeon, so you need not worry, Honored One."

Baek Suryong smiled. Get rid of them? Yeah, we do indeed need to take out the trash. Seol Suryeon and the Seol Clan leaders who follow her, that is.

"What are the movements of the other families?" he asked.

"We don't really need to pay much attention to them, but…"

Ma Jungcheon explained the trends and political structure of the major families within the North Sea Ice Palace. This was high-level information that could not have been obtained by merely staying with the Seol Clan for a few days.

Good. Now I can distinguish friend from foe.

Baek Suryong organized the information Ma Jungcheon provided in his mind, then asked, "At the banquet a few days ago, Seol Suryeon completely seized the initiative in her conversation with you."

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Ma Jungcheon's face flushed with embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, Seol Suryeon is not an easy woman to deal with…"

Of course, Baek Suryong knew that. Seol Suryeon, the iron-blooded woman who sold the Ice Moon Goddess to the Blood Cult out of ambition and seized the throne after a bloody civil war, was a tough opponent even for the Director of the Infernal Sanctum.

He cut Ma Jungcheon off, "She fed me the Poison Demon's poison in order to control me."

"I-I'll get you the antidote, right away…"

"No need. It didn't work on me in the first place."

Ma Jungcheon's eyes immediately widened. "A-Are you saying… you've already reached the stage of Myriad Poison Immunity…?!"

To be precise, Baek Suryong was only immune to the Poison Demon's poison. For other poisons, he had high resistance, but not complete immunity. This was still far from true Myriad Poison Immunity. However, he saw no need to explain the truth to Ma Jungcheon.

"Is our Cult supplying Seol Suryeon with poison?" he asked.

"Yes. She uses that poison to eliminate her political enemies, threaten, and dominate other families."

Baek Suryong nodded. Of course. There's no way she would have used poison only on me.

Seol Suryeon was a woman who would do anything to achieve her goals. If she was willing to poison Seol Ryonghwi, whom she believed to be her own relative, then she most certainly wouldn't hesitate to use it on martial artists from other families.

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"Recently, Seol Suryeon poisoned Grand Elder Han Songbaek's grandson. The old man still believes it's an illness, but…"

The Han Clan was one of the largest families in the North Sea, alongside the Seol and Eun clans. Though Grand Elder Han Songbaek stubbornly resisted the Seol Clan, Ma Jungcheon said that they, too, would soon kneel to Seol Suryeon.

"When that happens, the Eun Clan will be completely isolated, and Eun Hwiryong will become a true figurehead Empress."

Ma Jungcheon continued his story, confirming that Seol Suryeon had employed not only poison but also all available means ranging from threats and force to economic pressure, to amass power over the decades. Now, more than half of the families in the North Sea served the Seol Clan faithfully.

Baek Suryong tensed. The more he learned, the less feasible it seemed to defeat the Seol Clan in the North Sea. However, he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"I have one more question."

"Please ask."

"I heard that thirty-five years ago, martial artists from the Central Plains invaded the North Sea Ice Palace."

Baek Suryong recalled what Seol Sinwoo had told him.

> "It was a terrible incident. Many of the Ice Palace's masters perished. Among them were successor candidates like me. Many young, talented children were abducted too. After repelling the attack, the Ice Palace united as one."

When he heard those words, he felt a strange sense of incongruity.

Ma Jungcheon definitely knows the truth behind that attack.

Baek Suryong whispered, "That attack. Was it a plot hatched by Seol Suryeon and our Cult?"

Even as he asked, he prayed that his suspicions weren't true. He wanted to believe that, no matter what, Seol Suryeon wasn't so corrupt as to sacrifice her own people.

However, Ma Jungcheon simply tilted his head in puzzlement. "You didn't know?"

"……"

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"At that time, Seol Suryeon was facing a political crisis. The pressure from the other families was intensifying daily, so she asked our Cult for help. We agreed that our cult's masters would disguise themselves and invade the Ice Palace to eliminate Seol Suryeon's political enemies and rival successor candidates. To avoid suspicion, we also killed some of the Seol Clan's martial artists, though it was mainly those who resented Seol Suryeon…"

Baek Suryong's heart sank. Seol Suryeon had committed a far more terrible act than Seol Sinwoo believed. In order to eliminate those who opposed her, she had brought in a foreign power and stained the North Sea with blood.

If this fact became known, she would never be forgiven.

"Well, as it happened, our Cult also needed test subjects at that time."

"Test subjects?"

Ma Jungcheon blinked in confusion, surprised that Baek Suryong was even asking him such a question. Nevertheless, he answered, "At that time, we were short on test subjects for researching the White Ice Divine Art in our Cult. Fortunately, the children of the North Sea have the ideal constitution for learning it, so it was a win-win situation for both parties."

Baek Suryong gritted his teeth. He could instantly picture the abducted children locked up in tiny cells and forced to learn martial arts.

"You crazy bastards…"

As the creator of the fake White Ice Divine Art, Baek Suryong was more familiar with its side effects than anyone else.

He recalled the Nine Yin Witch he had met in the Valley of Evil. She had gone mad from the flawed martial art and ultimately committed suicide.

How many more Nine Yin Witches has the Blood Cult created?

It was thanks to the Ice Essence she left behind that he was able to learn the White Ice Divine Art. He was indebted to her. He couldn't save her, but he would at least avenge her.

"Honored One? You too must have learned the White Ice Divine Art modified by our Cult… why would you not know of this…?"

Ma Jungcheon knew that this was a rude question, but he had to ask. An unacceptable suspicion was beginning to grow in his mind.

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Baek Suryong sighed, "Right. It'll be hard to keep hiding it. Do you remember what I said earlier?"

"I'm not sure what you're referring to…"

One again, Baek Suryong grabbed Ma Jungcheon's throat, but the man just stared blankly at his hand without resisting.

"You know, when I grabbed your neck like this before," Baek Suryong remarked casually.

Ma Jungcheon's face paled. The words he had forgotten upon seeing Baek Suryong's shocking transformation came rushing back to him. "You said you were interested in pest extermination…"

"That's right, I did."

"D-Don't tell me… the pest you were referring to…" Eyes wide with horror, Ma Jungcheon looked at Baek Suryong with an expression of disbelief. "Impossible! H-How, why would someone like you, against our Cult…!"

CRACK!

Ma Jungcheon's neck snapped and his body went limp on the floor. Even in death, his glazed eyes burned with the question he would never hear the answer to.

[What will you do now?] the Divine Azure Dragon Sword asked.

"…Now that I know the whole truth, I need to meet with the Empress, " Baek Suryong replied, his tone turning serious.