TWSV 59

Chapter – 59

Mo Yong-min stared intently at Grand Commandant Seo.

“The Grand Commandant who commands the nation’s military power, is it? That frail scholar has grown quite a bit.”

“What did you say?”

“Don’t you recognize this face?”

“……”

An eerie atmosphere settled over the arena.

Sensing something amiss, the Imperial Guards placed their hands on their weapons.

The Grand Commandant Seo’s brow furrowed.

“Do you know me?”

Looking at the wrinkled face of the Grand Commandant, Mo Yong-min smiled.

“How could I not?”

A chilling curve formed at the corner of his lips.

“A rotten official who forgot his duty as a minister of the state.”

“What…?”

“Even if you couldn’t become Wang Chu, I thought you at least wouldn’t take a new master!”

“……”

Wang Chu was a figure mentioned in the Records of the Grand Historian, in the biography of Tian Dan—a paragon of loyalty.

Even after being abandoned by the king he served, he refused the enemy state’s attempts to recruit him, leaving behind the famous words: ‘A loyal minister does not serve two rulers, and a virtuous woman does not take two husbands,’ before hanging himself from a tree.
(忠臣不事二君, 烈女不更二夫 — A loyal minister serves no second lord; a virtuous woman takes no second husband.)

The current emperor had ascended the throne through a coup.

Mo Yong-min was condemning him—saying that even if he could not take his own life like Wang Chu, he should have retired into obscurity.

That even if he did not die, he should never have served a new ruler.

The Grand Commandant Seo’s expression turned icy.

“Who are you?”

Mo Yong-min sneered.

“You truly don’t recognize this face?”

“……”

Thick eyebrows, a youthful and handsome appearance.

No matter how he searched his memory, it was a face he did not recall.

As Seo failed to recognize him, Mo Yong-min’s gaze grew colder.

“Well, if you did remember, you wouldn’t have dared to serve two heavens.”

Mo Yong-min grasped his own chin.

“But you will not fail to recognize this face.”

His fingers caught the edge of his jaw.

At the same time, the human-skin mask peeled away, revealing Mo Yong-min’s true face.

Thick eyebrows and fierce eyes.

A solid jaw.

Unlike the smooth, refined Mo Yong-min, this face was rough and wrinkled.

Upon seeing the revealed face, the Grand Commandant Seo’s brows knitted tightly.

First came doubt.

Then disbelief.

And finally, sheer shock, as he unconsciously stepped back.

“Y-you…! S-surely…!”

“Do you recognize me now?”

Seo looked as if he had seen a ghost.

“Grand Commandant, who on earth is that man?” the Crown Prince asked.

Despite it being the Crown Prince’s question, Seo had no presence of mind to answer.

Unlike a man who commanded the military power of Great Ming, his entire body was trembling.

Though many years had passed, how could he forget?

The overwhelming presence that had once seemed like a god.

“C-Commander Mo Yong-hui….”

Hearing the name, the Prince of Yan tilted his head.

“Commander?”

The title of Commander referred to the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—the emperor’s personal imperial guard.

But the current commander was accompanying the emperor on the Northern Campaign and stationed in the capital of Hebei.

Yet here was this strange old man, having removed a mask, being called “Commander.”

As the Prince of Yan was about to ask why, his gaze dropped.

Then his pupils shook.

“Could it be…?”

He raised his head to look at the strange old man.

At a glance, he appeared well over ninety years old.

Yet there was a subtle sense of noble dignity about him.

The Prince of Yan was not ignorant of history.

It was only twenty years ago.

“Could it be—the commander who served my abdicated elder cousin?”

“Hah!”

Mo Yong-hui shouted.

An overwhelming aura swept across Hwachung Plain.

His eyes flared bloodshot.

“How dare you say ‘abdicated’ when His Highness Emperor Hui was deposed by your father’s rebellion!”

A murderous intent that tore at the soul flooded the arena.

Even the elite imperial guards and the Eastern Depot agents could barely remain standing.

The crowd erupted in shock.

Those among the martial world who realized the old man’s identity were horrified.

“S-surely, if he’s the former commander of the Embroidered Guard…”

Someone finished the thought.

“The Yellow Wolf, Mo Yong-hui.”

“!”

The murmuring platform fell silent.

Mo Yong-hui, the Yellow Wolf—one of the Mo Yong clan, a founding meritorious official who helped Zhu Yuanzhang establish Great Ming.

The nickname “Yellow Wolf” had been given by the remnants of the Yuan, who feared him.

Later, Mo Yong-hui pledged himself to the imperial house.

From the early days of Ming, he led the Embroidered Guard, eventually even ratifying the treaty of non-interference between officials and the martial world.

His personal martial prowess had long been regarded as peerless—said to be the only rival of the legendary Talma Divine Soul.

Yet he had vanished from the world twenty years ago.

During Emperor Yongle’s coup, he disappeared along with Emperor Jianwen, a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Gossips had claimed that even Mo Yong-hui could not survive such chaos, or that he had wandered the world searching for the missing Jianwen Emperor until his death.

But that was not so.

The Grand Commandant Seo, drenched in cold sweat, proved it plainly.

“M-Mo Yong-hui… H-how could you…?”

Why had he reappeared before everyone now?

Seo quickly shook his head.

It was a foolish question.

There could only be one reason.

The distance to the Crown Prince was barely a dozen steps.

Mo Yong-hui had already been over ninety twenty years ago.

The wolf had grown old.

“A-all units, draw your swords!”

The Embroidered Guard and Eastern Depot agents drew their weapons.

Seo waved his arms violently toward the platform.

“What are you doing! Come down and help at once!”

No matter how great he once was, he was still only one man.

Here were countless imperial masters, and even more martial artists.

A foolish man.

After enduring all those years, he could not restrain himself and revealed his identity before the deed.

In fact, it was fortunate.

The emperor had been investing enormous resources every year to search for the missing Jianwen Emperor.

And this man had served as Jianwen’s commander.

He must know Jianwen’s whereabouts.

“Didn’t you say I forgot my duty as a minister?”

Having judged the situation favorable, Seo regained his composure.

“The one who truly failed his duty is someone else—someone who failed to protect the lord he was meant to protect…”

A golden afterimage flashed.

“Kugh!”

From ten paces away, Mo Yong-hui instantly seized Seo’s throat.

Tears streamed from Seo’s wrinkled eyes.

“You traitor who abandoned the foundation of the state to save your own life—now you dare insult even this old man?”

It was over in an instant.

Dozens of Embroidered Guards and Eastern Depot agents leapt forward simultaneously.

“Kill him!”

Their weapons struck toward Mo Yong-hui without a single gap.

“!”

The moment they met Mo Yong-hui’s sword, dozens of blades were flung skyward.

Wrapped in golden energy, the weapons were crushed back into their primal forms.

Watching from afar, Yong So-baek gasped involuntarily.

“T-Turning the Dipper, Shifting the Stars…!”

A secret art of the Mo Yong clan, predicting the opponent’s sword path and nullifying attacks.

It was not lost, yet had never been properly demonstrated in the current generation.

A supreme art of the world was being reenacted across time.

Yong So-baek recalled Kang Yu’s words.

—Even if we all rush him together, it won’t be easy.

“So it really was true…!”

Though their eras overlapped, they had never crossed paths.

Seeing Turning the Dipper, Shifting the Stars in person, it was overwhelming.

Kang Yu’s assessment—that even all ten of them together would struggle—was no exaggeration.

Still, they could not simply watch.

『Change of plan. Attempt suppression first.』

As Yong So-baek was about to leap onto the arena—

“Wait a moment.”

Kang Yu grabbed him.

Yong So-baek’s face hardened.

“What now, you brat!”

“Just wait a little.”

“How can you say wait after seeing that! Didn’t I tell you—even if he’s the Grand Commandant, he can’t die!”

“That won’t happen.”

“What?”

Yong So-baek shook off Kang Yu’s hand.

“Sometimes you’re a genius, other times an idiot. Mo Yong-hui has lived for this moment alone! And you say it won’t happen?”

“Don’t you find it strange?”

“What now!”

Kang Yu’s eyes remained fixed on the arena, utterly steady.

“If his goal were really to kill someone, he wouldn’t have revealed his identity first. If he had stayed hidden, he could have achieved it easily.”

Yong So-baek frowned.

“That could be because emotion overtook him at the crucial moment. And more importantly, didn’t you say their goal was to harm the imperial house at a martial alliance event and break the non-interference treaty?”

“That was true then—but not now.”

“Huh?”

“It looks like something went wrong among their side.”

“Wrong…?”

Despite the dire situation, Kang Yu’s gaze did not waver.

“Don’t forget. Our goal is total annihilation.”

“……”

Following Kang Yu’s gaze, Yong So-baek looked back at the arena.

The Grand Commandant Seo’s face, still clutched by Mo Yong-hui, had turned dark and lifeless.

‘At an event hosted by the Alliance, one of the Three Excellencies of Ming—the Grand Commandant—dies.’

By the hand of the deposed Jianwen Emperor’s commander.

With the Crown Prince of Yan present.

『Why aren’t you moving, Leader!』

After hesitating, Yong So-baek planted his heels firmly on the ground.

The child was deep-thinking.

With unusual insight, able to pierce through situations without relying on form.

『Wait for now.』

『What?』

Messages flew in through voice transmission, but Yong So-baek did not respond.

And finally, just as Seo’s blue tongue reached the edge of his jaw—

“Kh—!”

Mo Yong-hui released his grip.

Seo, who had been on the brink of death, retched and gasped for air.

“Kehek! H-haah!”

Seo collapsed to the ground, vomiting, while the Crown Prince of Yan staggered nearby.

The Embroidered Guards and Eastern Depot agents had already lost momentum.

Dozens of weapons lay crumpled like scrap.

The martial artists on the platform held their swords, frozen.

“……”

After surveying the now-silent crowd, Mo Yong-hui looked down at Seo.

“Let the condemned hear this.”

His voice spread across all of Hwachung Plain.

『You condemned submitted to tyranny, abandoned your duty as ministers, and colluded with rebels who coveted the state. By law, you deserve death by slow slicing. However, His Highness Emperor Hui’s will is otherwise. He seeks only restoration, not slaughter.』

A heavy voice followed.

『Only today, after enduring the seasons of disgrace, do I proclaim the great cause. What you see and hear now shall be the proof.』

Yong So-baek’s brow twitched.

“…Proof?”

As Kang Yu had said, Mo Yong-hui did not kill Seo.

But the proclamation was suspicious.

Clearly, Mo Yong-hui’s goal was not simple assassination.

And the Crown Prince of Yan seemed to grasp it as well—he was startled, but never lost his composure.

“All of us here are to be proof? Proof of what?”

Mo Yong-hui’s eyes were parched and cold.

“Didn’t I say it? His Highness wished not to punish the guilty, but only to reclaim the throne.”

“What does that have to do with proof?”

“There were twists, but from the beginning our goal was one. A place where the eyes of the Central Plains gather most—and a time when the traitor’s bloodline would be present.”

“……”

As silence like ice covered the plain, someone stepped onto the arena stairs.

A man wearing a bamboo hat pulled low over his face.

Reaching the center, he removed it.

A dazzling golden aura flooded everyone’s vision.

The revealed face was far too familiar.

“…Mo Yong-min?”

The man wore the same face Mo Yong-hui had used as disguise.

Mo Yong-hui’s low voice echoed.

“He is His Highness Emperor Hui’s second son.”

“!”

For the first time, confusion crossed the Crown Prince of Yan’s face.