The Former Supreme - Chapter 3

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 3: Back to the Starting Point (3)

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At the same time, at the Murim Alliance's Sage Heaven Pavilion.

Led by Great Strategist Zhuge Hyeon, the Sage Heaven Pavilion served as the Murim Alliance's brain. It gathered and analyzed intelligence from across the martial world, then issued orders to the Alliance's various organizations.

Three years had passed since the truce with the Black Heaven Alliance.

Recently, the Black Heaven Alliance had begun showing troubling signs again. It was dealing with the Blood Cult beyond the borders and reorganizing the Seven Unorthodox Families. The Sage Heaven Pavilion's role had become more important than ever.

"Great Strategist, it's Iljung."

"Come in."

Sima Iljung, a strategist from the Strategy Department, entered Zhuge Hyeon's office.

A direct descendant of the Sima Clan, Iljung was intelligent and quick-witted. He worked diligently at every task entrusted to him, making him the Sage Heaven Pavilion's most promising young strategist.

"Baek Socheon has packed his belongings and returned home. The appointment order will be delivered to his residence early tomorrow morning. His new post is the Wencheng Branch in Zhejiang Province."

Zhuge Hyeon slowly nodded at Iljung's report.

"I still don't understand why this is happening."

Of course, Iljung meant Baek Socheon and the punishment imposed on him.

When Iljung joined the Alliance and became a strategist at the Sage Heaven Pavilion, Baek Socheon had been at the height of his power as head of the Secret Pavilion.

What followed was a fall.

He broke the Alliance Code, defied orders, and acted violently. He had even assaulted a superior.

"Understanding someone isn't easy."

"Do you understand him, Great Strategist?"

"I..."

Zhuge Hyeon trailed off. Iljung could not tell whether the Great Strategist did not understand Baek Socheon or simply did not wish to speak of him.

"Have you received clearance to enter the Strategic Command Center?"

"No. I'll receive it next month."

A person had to have been in the Alliance for five years before they could enter the Sage Heaven Pavilion's Strategic Command Center.

"I'll move it up by a month at my discretion. Follow me."

"Yes."

Zhuge Hyeon left the office with Iljung.

Iljung's heart raced as he followed. There was a saying that one only became a true strategist of the Sage Heaven Pavilion after gaining access to the Strategic Command Center.

Zhuge Hyeon led Iljung down to the third basement level.

The farther down they went, the more worn-down everything became. The corridors, the doors lining them, all of it.

Yet Iljung knew better.

That deserted, shabby corridor contained formidable mechanisms designed to prevent even the greatest masters from intruding. They said only someone with martial arts on the Alliance Leader's level could break through them.

The two arrived at a warehouse at the end of the third basement corridor, a place used to store supplies. It was shabby and crammed with miscellaneous objects.

Walking ahead, Zhuge Hyeon casually moved the beads on an iron abacus propped against the wall. Continuing onward, the Great Strategist laid a standing broom on its side, then lightly tapped a cobweb on the wall.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary cobweb.

It was not.

It was a thin thread made from heavenly silkworm silk.

Once Zhuge Hyeon moved that as well, the wall in the corner opened.

Beyond it was a space large enough for several people to stand. As soon as the two stepped inside, it began descending automatically.

Clang.

How far down had they gone?

When the door opened, another long corridor lay before them. Two masters stood at the entrance. Though Zhuge Hyeon came through every day, the Great Strategist still exchanged that day's coded phrase with them.

They passed through another corridor filled with hidden mechanisms.

When Zhuge Hyeon opened the door at its end, the sight within unfolded before them.

"Ah!"

The moment Iljung looked inside, he gasped.

Dozens of strategists were working in the vast chamber.

Bamboo tubes containing messenger letters descended through dozens of pipes connected to the ceiling. Reports had arrived from every corner of the Central Plains, ranging from ordinary messages to the most urgent intelligence. Here, they were sorted according to their importance.

Then Iljung spotted the opposite wall and stopped.

After reading what was written there, he froze.

Names had been listed from top to bottom.

At the very top was a single line.

Martial World Ranking Record.

It was a ranking of the martial world's masters, compiled through the Sage Heaven Pavilion's analysis.

"It really exists!"

The rumors had been true. The Sage Heaven Pavilion studied and investigated the martial arts of masters throughout the Central Plains, then ranked them.

Iljung had worked at the Sage Heaven Pavilion for five years, yet only now learned it truly existed. Even while eating and drinking with Iljung, his seniors had never mentioned it once.

At the top of the Martial World Ranking Record stood the proud name Ak Sogun.

First in the Martial World Rankings, Ak Sogun. Murim Alliance Leader.

Second in the Martial World Rankings, Yeom Hwasin. Black Heaven Alliance Leader.

Third in the Martial World Rankings, Yang Jin. Sword Emperor.

Fourth in the Martial World Rankings, Beom Cheong. Mad Heretic.

Fifth in the Martial World Rankings, Yu Paeryeong. Lord of the Under-Heaven Gang...

Zhuge Hyeon stood beside Iljung and looked up at the rankings. From first place to one hundredth, it was a list of masters who shook the martial world.

"If you leak that, you'll be beheaded without exception."

"Yes! I will never speak of it."

"You mustn't even talk in your sleep."

"Yes."

Zhuge Hyeon smiled at the sight of Iljung tensing up.

"Ha ha. I'm joking. Would we kill you for talking in your sleep? Who would even believe those rankings?"

"Yes? Ah, yes."

Iljung felt strangely unsettled.

He did not know how accurate the rankings were. Perhaps the Black Heaven Alliance's own ranking record placed its leader in first place.

Still, Iljung knew better than anyone how exceptional the people gathered at the Sage Heaven Pavilion were. A person called a prodigy would be fit only to scrub floors there.

Then Zhuge Hyeon said something Iljung had never expected.

"Do you know who once stood at the very top?"

Iljung flinched at the meaningful question.

"Could it be?"

Only one name came to mind.

"Baek Socheon?"

"That's right. For several years before he was injured, he was ranked first. It used to read like this."

- First in the Martial World Rankings, Baek Socheon. Head of the Murim Alliance's Secret Pavilion.

"He was really ranked first?"

"Isn't that the same as asking whether our Sage Heaven Pavilion is a sham? Or are you asking whether this Great Strategist is a liar?"

"Ah, no. I'm sorry. I misspoke."

As if Zhuge Hyeon had only been teasing, the Great Strategist smiled and pointed to the very bottom of the ranking record.

"Look there."

At the very bottom of the ranking list, beneath the hundredth place, Baek Socheon's name was written.

Ranking Assessment Deferred. Baek Socheon. First Unit, Third Squad Leader of the Iron Sword Corps.

"Out of respect for him, we have not yet been able to erase his name."

"Ah!"

Iljung's heart trembled.

At that moment, learning this hidden history, Iljung finally felt that he had become a true strategist of the Sage Heaven Pavilion.

Then it happened.

Ding ding ding!

At the sound of a bell, everyone's gaze turned in one direction.

An order had arrived through the most important of the pipes connected to the various organizations. It was the pipe through which the Alliance Leader's orders were delivered.

The strategist in charge hurriedly brought it to Zhuge Hyeon.

After reading the order, Zhuge Hyeon summoned the martial artists under the Great Strategist's command. They were masters belonging to the Sage Heaven Pavilion, tasked with protecting its strategists.

Zhuge Hyeon gave the order.

"Recover the Ghost Shadow Sword from Baek Socheon. If it is the Alliance Leader's order, he will hand the sword over without resistance."

"Yes."

The martial artists who received the order left.

The Ghost Shadow Sword was a treasured sword the Alliance Leader had bestowed upon Baek Socheon.

Iljung asked in a trembling voice, "Does this mean the Alliance Leader is severing ties with him?"

His questions continued. Forgetting that it was rude to press the Great Strategist so insistently, Iljung became swept up in this astonishing moment in history.

"Well, even I don't know that."

Zhuge Hyeon prided themself on knowing every event in the Central Plains, but could not know the true thoughts of Baek Socheon and the Murim Alliance Leader.

A short while later, the martial artists returned with the Ghost Shadow Sword.

"Did he hand it over willingly?"

The martial artist in charge shook their head.

"No. At first, he said he wouldn't give it up and told us to get lost."

Zhuge Hyeon smiled faintly, as if the answer had been expected.

"And then?"

"The Alliance Leader's order didn't work, so we pleaded with him. We said that if we returned without the sword, we'd all die. In the end, he handed it over."

"Why did you do that? You could have simply returned and reported that he had defied the Alliance Leader's order."

The martial artist in charge hesitated. Past memories and a debt of gratitude showed on their face.

"...During the last war, Baek Socheon once saved my life. He doesn't even remember it."

"Ah, I see."

How could this martial artist be the only one? Many people owed Baek Socheon their lives.

"What did he say when he gave up the sword?"

"How did you know?"

"Even if he handed over the sword for your sake, with that temper of his, he must have had something to say."

"Well..."

"It's fine. Tell me exactly what he said. Don't leave out a single word."

After hesitating for a moment, the martial artist relayed Baek Socheon's message exactly as instructed.

"'How petty, giving it to me and then taking it back? I'm so disgusted that I won't use a sword anymore. I'll walk around barehanded and get myself killed by those Black Heaven Alliance bastards, so tell the Alliance Leader not to get so worked up about it. Make sure you deliver every single word! Ptooey, ptooey.' That's what he said."

"Ha ha ha."

Zhuge Hyeon laughed loudly, but no one else dared react.

"Submit it to the Alliance Leader's Hall exactly as spoken. Leave out the ptooey, ptooey."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you think those words were meant for us? Submit it exactly as he said. We've taken back the sword, so we should take his final words with it."

"Yes, understood."

The martial artist who had reported to Zhuge Hyeon left with the sword.

Zhuge Hyeon spoke to Iljung.

"Well, shall we leave as well?"

"Yes."

Iljung was overwhelmed. Too many thoughts had crossed his mind in far too short a time. The words he had spoken to Zhuge Hyeon before coming here still reflected how he felt.

'I still don't understand. No, now I understand even less.'

At the same time, a question rose in Iljung's heart.

'What on earth happened between Baek Socheon and the Alliance Leader?'

The question rose to his throat, then sank back down. Iljung did not dare mention the Alliance Leader at all.

As they left the Strategic Command Center with Zhuge Hyeon, one of the senior strategists happened to be changing the entry at the bottom of the ranking record.

The title of Third Squad Leader after Baek Socheon's name was replaced with a new designation.

Baek Socheon. Rank-and-file Martial Artist of the Wencheng Branch, Zhejiang Division, Murim Alliance.

Footnotes:

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