Within the Shin Clan,
chaos reigned.
Broken screams echoed throughout the territory.
Contradictory orders.
Unrestrained rage.
Inside one of the inner wings,
Shin Baek's mother was crying.
Sharp.
Hysterical.
Yet there was no door left for sympathy.
Everyone knew.
The son she had raised.
The acts she had chosen to overlook.
The lives taken in the name of talent and lineage.
This scene…
was not injustice.
It was consequence.
In the main hall,
Elder Shin Han-Dra stood in silence.
One of the clan's oldest elders.
And a member of the Sect's Council of Elders.
He surveyed the situation calmly,
then spoke:
"What happened…
has no precedent in the history of the Cheonma Sect.
It was not a struggle for succession.
Nor an internal coup.
It was an anomaly—
illogical,
and unacceptable."
Beside him stood an elderly man,
leaning on a staff topped with a dark violet crystal,
its poisonous glow faint but unmistakable.
The man spoke in a hoarse voice:
"This is madness."
"Whoever did this
has declared war on the Council of Elders,
the Transcendent Demons,
and our clan itself."
His grip tightened around the staff.
"And yet…
he did it."
"And in the most humiliating way possible."
Shin Han-Dra replied slowly:
"We will take revenge."
"Not for him."
"But for our dignity."
Two days later…
The matter was no longer confined to the clan.
The news spread across the Ten Thousand Peaks.
It was no ordinary rumor.
No exaggeration.
Two days were enough.
People could not believe it.
If it had been a succession conflict—
that would have been familiar.
If it had been a silent assassination—
that would have been understandable.
But a severed head
hung at the gate of a Great Clan?
That…
was not normal.
At the Council of Elders' assembly,
the atmosphere was suffocating.
The elders sat in a wide circle.
No visible anger—
yet tension strangled the air.
An elder with a gray beard spoke:
"This is an insult not only to the Poison Clan,
but to the Council of Elders
and the Transcendent Demons as well."
Another replied, eyes narrowed:
"Hanging the head is a message.
A direct challenge."
A third elder intervened:
"No one would dare do this
without backing."
"But where does the Sect Leader stand in this?" one asked.
Another answered sharply:
"Do not involve his name in such matters.
This is the play of insects to him."
A fifth elder spoke coldly:
"The method…
bears no clan signature.
No poison.
No assassination technique.
Just decapitation—
without resistance."
Silence fell.
Then one of them said:
"The academy."
Several gazes lifted.
"The timing matches."
"And there were those
who had conflicts with him
and returned to the academy."
Another elder replied:
"But who from the academy
would dare touch
a son of the Shin Clan?"
The first answered:
"One who does not fear."
"Or one who believes
no one stands above him."
Silence again.
Then a name was spoken:
"The Black Hat."
Faces changed.
One elder said sharply:
"Are you accusing that person?"
"If it were him,
the head would not have been left hanging."
"Their methods are different."
"And we've never heard
of such raw power—
nor any reason for him to do this."
Another elder concluded:
"Then the perpetrator
is connected to the academy,
but not under its control."
"Something…
that has gone beyond restraint."
The meeting ended
without a decision.
And that—
was the most dangerous outcome of all.
In a distant place…
At the summit of the Ten Thousand Mountains,
a man sat.
Long black hair danced in the wind.
His face was unseen—
only his back.
Beside him stood the Grand Guardian.
He asked in a low voice:
"Why…
did you clear the path for that boy,
yet ignore your own son?"
The reply came—
smooth, heavy,
calm to the point of cruelty:
"My son?"
A brief pause.
"He deserved to die."
"And one who cannot
protect himself…
is expendable."
Silence followed.
Then the man spoke again:
"When you see
the seed of a monster…"
"Would you restrain yourself
from claiming it?"
The Grand Guardian answered without hesitation:
"Yes."
"I understand."
End of Chapter