GMLS Ch 13

Monghyun’s face turned deathly pale after checking the contents of the letter. He immediately dashed off towards the 5th Prince’s quarters. Inside, the 5th Prince and the Captain of the Guard were still chatting amiably.

“Do you still like sweets?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Then I’ll have to tell the kitchen. I don’t care for sweet things at all, so they probably won’t have any sugar or honey prepared.”

“It’s alright. I’m no longer a wretched commoner child. I am a nobleman with the Shangshuling as my father, so I can eat all the sweets I want at the manor. I can bring some from there if needed.”

Right. Sweets weren’t what was important right now.

“Your Highness.”

“Why have you come when I did not summon you?”

A cold gaze pierced the top of his head. Monghyun suddenly felt a pang of sorrow. He had served with a single mind for over ten years, but it was all for naught. He didn’t want to become the old stone being jealous of the stone that just rolled in, but what was sorrowful was sorrowful.

“If you’ve come, then speak. You came without permission, so doesn’t that mean you have urgent business?”

This was also right. His own sorrow wasn’t what was important right now.

“I have just heard that the Crown Prince was stabbed and has passed away.”

“……What did you just say?”

“A moment later, His Majesty the Emperor also passed away.”

The astonished complexions of the 5th Prince and the Captain of the Guard changed in an instant. As if on cue, their eyes grew cold and their auras turned sharp.

Monghyun clicked his tongue. They had been bickering so much, yet once their minds were aligned, there was no master and servant in the world who got along better. ……They are master and servant, right?

“Please dress in formal attire. You must go to the main palace at once.”

The imperial palace was a veritable crucible of chaos. It was a major incident that the Crown Prince had been assassinated, but for the Emperor to pass away right after, it was no ordinary matter.

A martial law decree (戒令) was immediately proclaimed. The Imperial Guard set up positions in all directions. The Hidden Shadow Corps, who had been in hiding, all burst out into the open. Having lost the master they served and the master they were supposed to serve overnight, they surrounded the imperial palace, exuding a menacing aura.

The more timid palace servants were terrified. To their eyes, the Imperial Guard and the Hidden Shadow Corps were the very messengers of death. The servants scuttled through the covered walkways, their bodies hunched over, afraid to even make eye contact.

Even soldiers with a fair amount of courage kept their posts with pale faces. The situation was no different for high-ranking officials of great influence. Their shoulders, always held confidently, were now slumped as they anxiously stroked their goatees.

The only one composed amidst all this was Shangshuling Yeo Yullyeong.

The 2nd Prince, the 3rd Prince, and the 5th Prince, who had been confined, all entered the court at the same time. The grand doors of the Audience Hall opened, and the three princes walked inside with confident strides. Those inside all bowed in unison.

The 2nd Prince was forty this year, and the 3rd Prince was thirty-two. The Emperor had lived to enjoy a long life, his buttocks having warmed the throne for fifty years. They were growing old without ever becoming emperor or even a titled prince.

The 2nd Prince was a six-foot-tall, untalented martial artist.

His mother hailed from a renowned family in Subeak, one of the five southern nations. The vassals she brought with her were naturally skilled in weapons, hidden blades, and martial arts. Growing up amongst them, he became a half-baked martial artist filled with nothing but an inferiority complex.

He would have been better off if he had picked up a brush instead, Yeo Yullyeong coolly assessed.

The 3rd Prince was a short man with a hooked nose.

He was insolent, loved to put on airs, and had a dark personality. He was also famous for smiling like a magnanimous man to your face when his feelings were hurt, only to use all sorts of tricks behind your back. Unfortunately, his intelligence couldn’t keep up.

He tried to imitate Yeo Yullyeong, but it was like a sparrow trying to follow a stork; the majority of his schemes were exposed.

He had been on the verge of confinement several times, but the Emperor had let him be, so he somehow remained safe. In the first place, the Emperor preferred the foolish 3rd Prince, who had no potential to harm him, over the brilliant 5th Prince.

As soon as they were each seated, the two princes began a battle of wills. Sharp words tore into each other. However, even while their tongues lashed out ceaselessly, they never once mentioned the Crown Prince.

They saw the blood of the South in each other.

The five southern nations were Subeak, Mujin, Gi-Mujin, Onjo, and Namjo. The 2nd Prince’s mother was from Subeak, said to be the most powerful of the five nations, and the 3rd Prince’s mother was from Mujin, a land mostly covered in jungle.

The 2nd Prince brought in and commanded private soldiers and an assassination squad from his own country, which was famous for its outstanding warrior race, while the 3rd Prince had sorcerers who handled medicines and poisons under his command.

Mujin’s medicines and poisons, made from ingredients found in its jungle filled with all sorts of strange and bizarre things, were famous throughout the continent. It was said their medicine could cure any grave illness, and their poison could not be treated by any divine physician.

And the Crown Prince had vomited blood during a hunt and was stabbed to death when he died.

There was no one in this hall who didn’t know what that meant. However, there was only circumstantial evidence, no proof. Besides, one of those two would become the master of this country, so who would volunteer to step forward and get on their bad side?

Of course, besides those two, there was one other person qualified to be the successor. The 5th Prince Muryun, who had been confined three years ago. Unlike his two brothers, he was quiet. He had a calm and serious demeanor. His gaze seemed indifferent at a glance, but if one looked within, there was a great tiger watching the growling of wild dogs.

Despite seeing two pathetic dogs and one steadfast tiger, Yeo Yullyeong found the situation, in which the tiger was at a disadvantage, amusing and rose from his seat.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on him. Normally, the first words from his mouth should have been about the Three Bureaus—a temporary institution established when a king passes away. Having a state funeral, it was only right to establish the Three Bureaus first.

But this time, the circumstances were different. An emergency in which the Emperor and the successor he had chosen had died suddenly at the same time. That was the current situation, and the response to it was specified by law.

“In accordance with the law passed down from ancient times, the three princes must now begin preparations for the test. The executor of that test, also as specified by law, will be me, the Shangshuling.”

The 2nd Prince raised an objection.

“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

Look who’s talking.

Since it was the 2nd Prince, who had the most solid power base among the three remaining princes, who spoke, the 3rd Prince found it so ridiculous that he snorted openly. Yeo Yullyeong wore his usual languid smile.

“In what safe haven would I harbor such a wicked thought? I will proceed without an ounce of personal bias.”

“With just words, can one not move mountains and cross great seas?”

“It is of no use even if you find it displeasing. The executor of the test is the Shangshuling. This is a law that the Sangseon himself wrote on a stone monument and passed down, so if you do not comply, please renounce the test and be content with the status of a titled prince.”

“You, you dare—”

CLANG!

Before the 2nd Prince could finish his words, the Imperial Guards protecting the Audience Hall slammed the butts of their spears onto the floor in unison. Small dents were left in each spot. As they, each one a first-rate warrior, unleashed their auras in unison, the faces of the officials, whose job it was to doodle with brushes from their seats, turned white.

The 2nd Prince glared at Yeo Yullyeong with wide eyes. The expression of the man who had bowed politely remained unchanged from the beginning.

“Until the test is over, I am both the executor and the Emperor’s proxy. I trust that a wise prince like yourself knows what that means.”

Though he kept growling, unable to suppress his anger, the 2nd Prince eventually sat back down.

The origin of this test begins with the immortal known as the ‘Sangseon,’ who is said to be the founder of the Yeon Continent. He was the master of the Celestial Realm and the highest among all immortals. He was also one who could elevate his status and ascend to the ‘Divine Realm’ anytime he wished.

There was only one reason the Sangseon could not leave the Celestial Realm: his profound affection for the Mortal Realm.

In those days, the Mortal Realm never had a peaceful day. It was a time when the sea was still the size of a palm. The land was so vast that humans could not tread upon it all, but perhaps the size of the land was never that important in the first place.

Humans, swallowed by ambition and jealousy, took up arms. Pools of blood gathered and rotted on fertile lands, and not only humans but all sorts of plants and animals died out.

After much deliberation, the Sangseon summoned the most renowned spiritual beasts of the Mortal Realm.

[I intend to select three among you, elevate your status, and have you look after the mortal world. You are to prepare swiftly and partake in the test.]

The Sangseon’s test continued for a hundred days and nights.

Countless spiritual beasts failed or gave up midway. The spiritual beasts that steadfastly remained raced towards the pillar of heaven erected by the Sangseon on the hundredth day. And finally, three spiritual beasts were chosen.

They were the White Tiger, ‘Cheontae Baekho’; the Ice and Snow Qilin, ‘Sawollin’; and the Black Dragon, ‘Jinhae’.

Well, after that, Sawollin went mad and nearly destroyed the Mortal Realm, Cheontae Baekho died trying to stop him, and Jinhae, the youngest, couldn’t handle the suddenly vast sea and fell asleep…… it was a total mess, but that’s not important right now, so let’s move on.

What is important is that the Sangseon left word to adopt that testing method in the event of a problem with the succession to the throne.

However, the preconditions were so absurd that the test had only ever been actually implemented twice in the long history of the Geum Empire.

One instance occurred when an incredibly indecisive emperor died without ever managing to appoint a crown prince. The other occurred when the crown prince, still a newborn, died of a fever, and the emperor died suddenly before he could appoint another prince as crown prince.

In all cases, the Shangshuling of that time served as the executor. That, too, was part of the Sangseon’s law.

“The 5th Prince will also participate in the test. The date will be two months after the state funeral is over, and the content will also remain unchanged.”

Though the reasons for the test were different, the content was the same in any era.

[You will depart from the imperial palace on the same day at the same time. The one who first lays a hand on the ‘Sky Monument’ at the summit of Mount Cheontae becomes the emperor.]

It was a monument said to have been made by the Sangseon, who brought down a part of the ‘pillar of heaven’ he had used for the spiritual beasts’ final test.