Chapter: 1
The entire Jianghu was thrown into shock.
The Demonic Martial Emperor.
The strongest under heaven.
The Blood Night Heavenly Demon, Ma Heukpung, was dead.
The cause of death was unknown.
Two years after he ignited the war between the Orthodox and Demonic factions, the death of the Blood Night Heavenly Demon brought the Great Orthodox–Demonic War to an empty and anticlimactic end.
During that time, hundreds of thousands of pyeong of farmland had been burned to ash, and thousands of civilian homes had collapsed.
Wherever battles broke out, innocent people were forced to shed tears of blood.
When the war ended, the first to smile were not the martial artists of Jianghu, but the common people.
They cheered the end of the war, reclaiming scorched fields and rebuilding their homes.
It was the tenth year of Emperor Seonjong’s reign of Great Ming.
Late March, just as the snow melted into spring—right before the Martial Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Cult were about to clash in a war that would decide their fates.
That was when everything ended.
* * *
The Qianqing Palace of the Forbidden City—
the emperor’s residence, where even imperial consorts could not enter freely.
The emperor filled the wine cup of the man seated across from him.
Dan Hyeon-u watched silently as the cup was filled.
Seeing this, the emperor let out a shallow sigh.
For nearly ten years, Dan Hyeon-u had shown no expression other than a blank one.
The emperor spoke.
“Are you truly leaving? Now of all times—when you’ve slain the Blood Night Heavenly Demon and eased the suffering of the people?”
“Yes.”
It was a short answer, but firm.
The brevity was as usual—but that firmness was something the emperor had not heard in ten years.
Eighteen years had passed since Dan Hyeon-u had saved the emperor’s life.
During that time, Dan Hyeon-u had led the emperor’s secret organization, the Nameless Unit, as its commander.
The Nameless Unit—seventy elite masters including Dan Hyeon-u—had originally had no name.
But someone began calling it “Nameless” because it had none, and the name stuck.
Hiding his heavy heart, the emperor drank his wine.
When he set the cup down, it made a loud sound.
“Stay in the palace. I won’t burden you with difficult tasks anymore. You’ve stabilized Great Ming to this extent. Without you, this peace would never have come. And now, just when things have settled, you’re leaving after nothing but hardship?”
“Yes.”
“From now on, I’ll bring you into the light. I’ll give you authority second only to mine—absolute power. You’ve earned it. Everything anyone could ever desire or dream of is right before you.”
“That was never what I sought.”
“Even if you didn’t seek it, aren’t these things you deserve now? Because of you, the people of Great Ming have a land worth living in. The debt Great Ming owes you is immeasurable.”
“Just as Your Majesty governs not for reward, I acted with the same heart.”
“Is there anyone in Great Ming who has achieved as much as you? Since the founding of the dynasty, no one has accomplished what you have. And yet you say you need no reward?”
“To me, it would only be a burden.”
“Do you mean to make me an emperor who mistreats his meritorious subjects?”
“If Your Majesty were such a man, I would have left your side long ago.”
Still expressionless, Dan Hyeon-u replied.
And the emperor finally understood—
What Dan Hyeon-u truly wanted.
From the very beginning, Dan Hyeon-u was not someone who could be swayed by wealth or power.
The emperor had not tried to bind him with those alone.
He only wished to share prosperity together.
To share what they had built—together.
Yet Dan Hyeon-u’s heart did not waver.
“Let me ask one last time. Are you truly leaving? Abandoning the era of peace you created? You should stay and watch over this new world you made!”
“There is something I must set right.”
“Hah… To reject an emperor’s plea so decisively. You truly haven’t changed at all.”
The emperor could not stop sighing.
A man who had known nothing but hardship.
The one he trusted most—yet someone who had lived only in the shadows, to whom he could not even offer a farewell banquet.
At last, he stopped trying to persuade him.
As painful as it was, he knew he had to let him go.
The emperor placed two items on the table.
A golden token engraved with six horses.
And a golden identification plaque—unlike the wooden ones others carried.
Looking at Dan Hyeon-u, who only stared at them, the emperor said,
“At least take these. I trust you won’t show such disloyalty as to refuse even this.”
“I understand.”
Dan Hyeon-u calmly slipped the two tokens into his sleeve.
The emperor closed his eyes, overcome with regret.
From the moment they first met, this man had been by his side like a gift of fate—helping him guide Great Ming as if destiny itself had ordained it.
Losing him was like losing his own arms and legs.
Yet he knew—this was goodbye.
“My power can no longer stop you.”
“Thank you for everything.”
Dan Hyeon-u rose to bow, but the emperor spread his arms to stop him.
Tears had filled his closed eyes.
“Don’t. Don’t bow.”
Instead, the emperor raised his wine cup.
With eyes brimming with sorrow, he forced a bright tone.
“Before you go… let us part as we did back then.”
Back when the emperor was still a prince.
No—when Dan Hyeon-u did not yet know he was a prince.
Back when they lived like brothers.
For a moment, Dan Hyeon-u returned to that past.
He spoke a name he had not uttered in ten years—the emperor’s true name.
“Zhu Woon-cheon. So this is farewell.”
“Dan Hyeon-u. Even after you leave, don’t forget me. Write sometimes, you heartless friend.”
“You take care as well.”
Dan Hyeon-u raised his cup and clinked it against the emperor’s.
With a clear sound, the wine passed down their throats.
They set the cups down and clasped hands.
It had been years since their last handshake.
Unlike the past, the emperor’s hands were now smooth, while Dan Hyeon-u’s calluses had grown deeper.
Dan Hyeon-u looked to be in his early twenties; the emperor, fifteen years older, now in his mid-thirties.
Yet they remained comrades and friends who had walked the same path.
After releasing the handshake, Dan Hyeon-u turned and left the Qianqing Palace.
Escorted by only one man—the emperor himself—
Dan Hyeon-u, the strongest under heaven, erased all traces of himself from the Forbidden City.
It was six months after the Heavenly Demon’s death.
* * *
The ship rocked violently as it cut through rough waves.
Departing from Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province, it sailed toward Hangzhou.
After a week at sea, Hangzhou finally came into view.
“Heaven above is paradise; on earth are Suzhou and Hangzhou.”
A saying famous enough to reflect its wealth and splendor.
Hangzhou was more prosperous and dazzling than even the capital, Beijing.
And now—after twenty years—it welcomed Dan Hyeon-u home.
Emotion welled up in his chest, and he bit his lip.
Not because of its splendor or opportunity—
But because it was the hometown he longed for.
A place he himself had abandoned.
When he was young, before leaving home, he told his parents he would become a great martial artist and return in glory.
It was an age of hot blood and reckless pride, and he thought they would understand.
They did not.
His father—who ran a modest silk shop—opposed him vehemently.
A gentle man, renowned as the finest silk weaver in Hangzhou.
Yet that day, Dan Hyeon-u learned his father could rage.
He understood now why.
They were not wealthy, nor a prominent family—but they were harmonious.
A home loving enough to embrace even a rebellious adolescent.
His father listed some twenty reasons why he should never become a martial artist.
Each reason added fuel, turning opposition into a fierce argument.
Now he understood—it had been fear.
Fear of the brutal, fleeting life of those who lived by the blade.
But back then, he could not accept it.
The argument spiraled into disaster.
A reckless decision born of youth—
He ran away from home.
He swore never to return until he achieved his dream.
Driven by stubborn pride, he wandered the Central Plains.
Then he encountered a fortuitous destiny.
The Ten Thousand Martial Divine Art.
Two months after running away, while seeking a path into martial arts, he was chased by wolves deep into the mountains.
After running nearly ten li, the five wolves stopped before a cave hidden by thick brush.
They drooled, ears flattened, tails tucked.
Sensing danger, he entered the cave.
Inside lay a skeleton clutching a sword—
And three books.
Unable to leave, he survived by eating moss and drinking water dripping from the cave ceiling.
He learned the Ten Thousand Martial Divine Art there.
One year later, he mastered it alone, buried the skeleton, and took its sword.
Stepping outside, he slew all five wolves with a single strike.
Thus began his journey through the martial world.
Not long after, he experienced the fifteenth of the twenty reasons his father had warned him about.
He encountered dozens of members of an evil sect.
He had no chance of victory.
He was already gravely wounded—
When a man saved his life.
Prince Zhu Woon-cheon.
A prince who revered martial prowess.
His martial arts slaughtered the enemies in an instant.
If not for him, there would be no Dan Hyeon-u today.
They traveled together for years.
Fought bandits, crushed dark sects.
Never imagining the fearless swordsman beside him was royalty.
Eventually, Dan Hyeon-u surpassed the prince.
A genius talent—and a supreme martial art.
Zhu Woon-cheon brought him to the Forbidden City.
Only then did Dan Hyeon-u learn the truth.
He accepted it as destiny and helped make him emperor.
For ten years, he wielded his sword for peace—
But each merit meant more deaths.
His smile faded.
His face went blank.
And numbness followed.
Yet his longing for family only grew.
“I swore I’d return in glory… even said I wouldn’t so much as urinate toward Hangzhou.”
Now he returned—
Not in glory, but as a retired warrior.
Yet he was the strongest under heaven.
And all he wanted was home.
The ship docked.
“Hangzhou arrival! Disembarking passengers, prepare!”
Dan Hyeon-u stepped onto the land with nothing but a small bundle.
Regret. Longing. The weight of the past.
Twenty years later—
He turned his steps toward the home he missed.
