I Became the Hidden Ruler of the Martial World

As the Namgung family was gradually engulfed in a crimson sea of fire, Baek Sowol's party was passing through a secret passage, cutting through the cold underground air.

Although elaborate mechanisms to block intruders were lurking in various places, they were nothing more than lumps of scrap metal in front of the disarming methods in the data that Zhuge Hyun had handed over.

No, there were many places where there was no need to even use the disarming methods.

"As expected, it's broken."

Perhaps because the ground had been twisted due to the previous accident, the traps that should have been fatal only made a creaking sound and did not work.

Thanks to that, the party was able to penetrate deep into the inner courtyard of the main house without any particular hindrance.

Of course, it wasn't that there were no martial artists guarding the passage at all.

"Intruder...!"

Slice.

Before the astonishment could turn into a scream, Baek Sowol's sword brushed past their Adam's apples.

A ferocious strike, more like a hungry beast instinctively cutting the throat of its prey than an elaborate technique.

In the place where she had passed, only a thick pool of blood and torn pieces of flesh remained.

"Not a person, but like the teeth of a wolf filled with resentment."

Go Hakryeong, who was following behind, frowned and muttered softly.

That destructive presence that could not be hidden even after reaching the realm of the peak.

That was the weight of the name 'Heavenly Demon' that Baek Sowol was now shouldering.

Ju Wolryang answered with a bitter smile.

"My lord's martial arts are as sharp and ferocious as the pain she has suffered."

The two strategists followed Sowol, exchanging idle chatter that did not suit the bloody scene.

"Elder, why did you, who are also physically uncomfortable, insist on following?"

"Wolryang, you also have no talent for using your body, do you not?"

"I can't help it, since I want to see this damn Namgung fall with my own eyes."

"You also know that it is the same for this old man."

Although the environments they had lived in were different, the resentment of being trampled under the huge name of Namgung was as deep as Sowol's for both of them.

Finally, when they had left the passage and stepped into the front yard of the Namgung family, Sowol stopped.

"Ah..."

The pavilions engulfed in flames were imprinted on Baek Sowol's retinas.

Fragments of the past passed by like a phantom in front of her eyes.

The Namgung family, which she had first visited, holding her father's large hand.

-Haha, Jehyun. This child is my daughter.

-Ah, hello...

-Think of it as your own home and be comfortable.

The people of the Namgung had kindly held out their hands to her, who had hidden behind her father's back because everything was unfamiliar.

Those warm hands were now rolling on the floor, covered in blood.

The inside of the family, being ravaged by the martial artists of Mount Tian, was a pandemonium itself.

Sowol also added her own sword strikes to that path of blood and moved forward.

And so, the kitchen they arrived at.

-Sowol-ah, this way!

A friendly place where, if she went, led by the hand of the young Namgung Cheon, the benevolent head chef would secretly give her candy, breaking the family tradition.

-Young Master, Young Miss, it's a secret from the master.

The savory and sweet taste when chewing the candy coated in white sugar.

But now, in that place, instead of the savory smell of candy, only a pungent smoke and the fishy smell of fresh blood were full.

Baek Sowol discovered an old man with white hair who had collapsed on the floor.

It was the head chef who had smiled while giving her candy.

He was now dead, staring at the burning ceiling with empty eyes.

"He had learned martial arts and was holding a sword, so I just cut him down."

At the dry report of the martial artist standing by, Sowol silently nodded her head.

She squatted down and gently closed the old man's wide-open eyes.

Under the chillingly cooling eyelids, the sweet memories of her childhood were also buried.

The next place Sowol headed for was the great training ground on the west side of the main building.

-Sowol-ah! I can't find you! Come out!

As soon as she opened the door, she heard the voice of the young Namgung Cheon like an auditory hallucination.

The memory of playing hide-and-seek, weaving through the thick pillars of this place because they could not go out on a rainy day.

Baek Sowol looked at the third pillar where she used to hide.

But now, what was decorating that pillar was not the hide-and-seek of a young girl, but roughly sprinkled fresh blood and the broken longsword of the Namgung, which had lost its master.

And behind it, a faint qi sense.

"This demon! Die!"

A young boy who had not even reached the age of learning jumped out from behind a pillar and rushed in, swinging his sword.

But the boy's sword did not even reach Sowol's clothes and was suppressed by a martial artist of Mount Tian who was by her side.

As the martial artist was about to strike the boy's neck, Sowol softly stopped him.

"Stop."

Baek Sowol quietly looked down at the boy.

Pupils burning turbidly with fear and resentment.

In them, Baek Sowol saw her old self, who had had to powerlessly grit her teeth on the day of the annihilation of the Baek family.

"Namgung Yoon... it was this brat."

Go Hakryeong, who had followed, intervened, pretending to know.

"Do you know him?"

"The fact that that secret passage collapsed was because of this brat. The young brat got drunk and caused such a ruckus... tsk."

Go Hakryeong clicked his tongue.

It seemed it was not a very good relationship.

Hearing those words, Baek Sowol recalled the information she had heard before.

In a way, it was a truly strange fate, recalling that the infiltration had become much easier thanks to the boy in front of her.

Sowol gestured indifferently.

"Let him go."

"Heavenly Demon. Although he is young, he is one who has learned martial arts."

"I said let him go."

As the martial artist reluctantly took his hand off, Namgung Yoon rushed in again as if he had been waiting.

"Ugh!!"

But Sowol lightly deflected that pathetic struggle and then kicked the boy in the solar plexus.

"Keok!"

Baek Sowol mercilessly trampled on the head of Namgung Yoon, who had been thrown into a wall.

"You are weak. Consider yourself lucky. Thanks to you getting drunk and causing a ruckus, it was much easier for us to infiltrate. Thank you, Namgung Yoon."

At the insulting words of thanks, Namgung Yoon's shoulders trembled.

"So I will spare your life."

Baek Sowol turned her body after trampling him to the point of being crushed, for the purpose of suppressing him.

"Keuk... I'll kill you... I'll definitely kill you..."

Hearing the words of curse, Baek Sowol smiled bitterly.

Thinking that her survival at the time of the annihilation of the Baek family might not have been a coincidence.

"Heavenly Demon. We have driven the enemy's core forces into the Cheongun Hall."

Ju Wolryang's report pulled Baek Sowol, who had been lost in sentiment, back to reality.

The pleasant memories and the phantom of the past she had seen in the boy also scattered with the smoke.

"Let's go."

With Baek Sowol's command, the owner of Mount Tian now confidently moved her feet to the final battlefield.

[Cheongun Hall]

The originally splendid and heavy signboard was half-split and was rolling on the floor.

The heavy door, which would have originally not allowed any external intrusion, was half-shattered.

Thump!

The door, which had been half-collapsed, was shattered by Baek Sowol's kick.

Inside, the martial artists of the Namgung were waiting, having formed a last stand.

The martial artists of Mount Tian, who had been surrounding them, knelt as they saw Baek Sowol.

"Long live the Heavenly Demon! Long, long live!!"

"Stop."

Baek Sowol stopped the martial artists of Mount Tian who were kneeling.

Seeing that, a dignified middle-aged martial artist among the martial artists of the Namgung performed a fist-and-palm salute towards Baek Sowol.

"I am Namgung Hwi, the acting head of the Namgung family. What grudge do you have against the Namgung to persecute us so?"

Namgung Hwi's hand, which was performing the fist-and-palm salute, was trembling.

Due to the absence of Namgung Jehyun and the persecution that had started from above, the fortunes of the Namgung were on the decline.

In such a situation, the Namgung could not respond to the sudden, secret, and precise surprise attack.

Namgung Hwi had abandoned his pride and had lowered himself to save at least the remaining family members.

However.

"As one who stands above those who have been persecuted by you, I have come to annihilate you."

The woman in front of him, Baek Sowol, was extremely chilly.

Unlike what was seen, Baek Sowol's heart was slightly shaken.

-Haha, Sowol and Cheon, the two of you are always together, you look just like real siblings.

Namgung Hwi, who was in Baek Sowol's memory, though he did not seem to remember her.

The tips of Sowol's fingers trembled slightly.

However.

'If I proceed half-heartedly, only a complete annihilation will await later.'

Baek Sowol drew the White Iron Clear Dew.

"Struggle."

An appearance as if there were no compromise.

What was hidden behind it was the hope that although the great tree of the Namgung would burn and disappear, the sprouts would remain and might one day bloom.

Naturally, the only ones who knew this were Baek Sowol and Ju Wolryang.

In the breathtaking silence and tension, the martial artists of the Namgung family began to struggle.

"Fight! Protect our home!!"

Under Namgung Hwi's command, the martial artists of the Namgung swung their swords at the martial artists of Mount Tian.

And in the center of that, Baek Sowol confidently approached Namgung Hwi.

Namgung Hwi performed a fist-and-palm salute towards Baek Sowol.

"Namgung Hwi, the acting head of the Namgung family."

"The Heavenly Demon, the owner of Mount Tian, who will annihilate your family."

Baek Sowol also performed a fist-and-palm salute in return.

The two, who had performed the act of respecting the opponent, the only one in the urgent battlefield, aimed their swords at each other.

The Azure Sky Sword Qi that erupted from the tip of Namgung Hwi's sword split the floor of the Cheongun Hall.

As the acting head, and as the father of a child, he poured out all his martial power.

A sword as if it contained a struggle, as if the Namgung were still intact.

However, Baek Sowol walked into that sharp sword qi as leisurely as if taking a walk.

"The sword of Namgung Jehyun was the king itself, but the martial arts of the one who is his deputy are extremely weak."

With Sowol's low voice, the White Iron Clear Dew was swung.

A trajectory that was extremely honest, with no pretense or anything.

As if pretense was not needed in front of overwhelming power, Baek Sowol's sword strike flew towards Namgung Hwi.

In a single strike, fresh red blood gushed from Namgung Hwi's shoulder and thigh.

Clang!

The sword that Namgung Hwi was holding was shattered into pieces with a screaming bursting sound, as if representing his feelings, which had been crushed by Baek Sowol's martial arts.

The cold blade of Sowol's sword touched the neck of the kneeling Namgung Hwi.

"Ah... father...!"

At that moment, from beyond the shattered threshold of the Cheongun Hall, someone's wailing sound was heard.

It was Namgung Yoon, who had been kicked by Sowol at the great training ground and had become a mess.

He had crawled here to save his father, even in the pain of his fingernails being pulled out and his knees being all scraped.

What came into his sight was the sight of his father, who was the pillar of his family and his sky, defeated and covered in blood.

"No... don't... please!"

Namgung Yoon wailed, spitting out blood-mixed saliva.

Sowol met the boy's pupils, which were glaring at her as if to kill her, head-on.

And without hesitation, she thrust her sword.

Slice.

"Keoheok... Yoon... ah... run..."

Namgung Hwi's head drooped powerlessly.

"Ah, father...! Ugh!! Ugh...!"

The sound of Namgung Yoon's world collapsing filled the Cheongun Hall.

Baek Sowol pulled out the blood-stained sword and then muttered coldly towards the boy who had collapsed on the floor and was wailing.

"Look. This is the result of your weakness. If you want to resent, resent your own weakness. And survive somewhere and come to kill me. Until then, I will keep your life."

That was the only mercy that Baek Sowol could give to the boy, and the most terrible curse.

Baek Sowol turned her body without any lingering attachment and left the smoke-filled Cheongun Hall.

The flames of annihilation completely swallowed the Namgung family.

Without even wiping off the blood that had splattered all over her body, Baek Sowol pressed down her bamboo hat deeply and walked towards the collapsed main gate.

It was then.

Parting the thick smoke, a man was running like crazy.

Baek Sowol, the person she was most afraid to face now.

Namgung Cheon, Zhang Sanfeng.

He was at a loss for words, seeing the burning signboard and the courtyard strewn with corpses.

And he discovered Baek Sowol, who was walking out to the burning main gate.

"...Sowol-ah? What on earth is this?"

The affectionate older sister, or the girl who was like a younger sister, in his memory.

But now, a woman with no trace of her past self, covered in blood all over her body, was standing in front of him.

Zhang Sanfeng realized.

That the one who had slaughtered his family was the Baek Sowol in front of him.

Baek Sowol stood with the heat of the burning pavilion at her back and looked at him from under her bamboo hat.

"...Weren't you the one who turned your back on the family? Zhang Sanfeng."

As the two's gazes intertwined, the main beam, which was like a symbol of the Namgung family, collapsed with a loud noise.