novelraw Chapter 202 : Be Careful of Fire at All Times
Chapter 202 : Be Careful of Fire at All Times
Chapter 202: Be Careful of Fire at All Times
The martial artist of the Eastern Depot, belonging to the faction of the Imperial Concubine, had won the Martial Arts Tournament and was granted a private audience with the Son of Heaven.
Watching this, the fingernails of Empress Gahwiryeong dug into the inner lining of her fan with a crack.
The noise of the banquet pierced her ears, yet her mind was filled with only one person.
“Who in the world is that lunatic?”
Her voice was cold and frigid. Her pale hand slammed down hard on the gold-adorned table.
Her face, elegantly decorated with a phoenix-shaped hairpin, was a mixture of anger and bewilderment.
“……I do not know either.”
At his mother’s fury, the Second Prince, Ju Gachi, lowered his head stiffly.
He had been confident that he knew everything about the Imperial Concubine’s faction. Yet it seemed there was a massive hole in their intelligence network.
To think a young expert like that had joined the opposing faction, and they knew nothing of it.
“Um, Your Highness. From what I overheard earlier……”
At that moment, one of his close subordinates from the Royal Guards spoke cautiously.
Thanks to his martial arts, his hearing was exceptionally sharp even among the Royal Guards.
“That fellow’s name isn’t Mudong… it seems to be Dan Mujin.”
The moment he heard Mudong’s true identity, sparks flew in Ju Gachi’s eyes.
“……What? Dan Mujin? That insolent troubleshooter who kept interfering with my every move dared to crawl in here?!”
The Second Prince’s face flushed red and blue in an instant.
In rage, he slammed his tightly clenched fist into the ground with a thud.
“That worm dares enter the Imperial Palace…!”
He fumed as if he would leap onto the viewing platform at any moment and kill the Eastern Depot agent who was in private audience with the Son of Heaven.
Just then, from afar, a Royal Guard came running over with a desperate expression.
Pushing through the chaotic crowd of the banquet by force, he rushed forward and knelt before the Empress.
“Your Majesty, there is a grave problem!”
That Royal Guard had been stationed secretly in the Heavenly Treasure Vault as a precaution, and at his words, the Empress’s expression sank coldly.
An inexplicable sense of dread crawled up her spine.
“A thief broke into the Heavenly Treasure Vault… and that madwoman opened the ‘chest.’”
“……What?”
The Empress’s heart dropped.
Since the matter she had been plotting was no small affair, the atmosphere of her faction froze instantly.
“The thief? You killed her, didn’t you?”
The Empress gritted her teeth as she asked.
But the Royal Guard had no choice but to shake his head, betraying her expectations.
“She was captured by Imperial Army experts and dragged to prison before we could act… I deeply apologize, Your Majesty.”
He explained that she would be taken away and executed according to procedure.
“You fool!”
The Empress, who always maintained her dignity, rarely lost her composure and shouted sharply.
Her outburst made those in her faction flinch.
“She may speak before her execution. Go at once and seal her mouth forever.”
She had no intention of risking future trouble.
She ordered them to infiltrate secretly and kill the thief, disguising it as an accident.
“Yes! I will carry it out immediately.”
The Royal Guard used his movement technique and slipped back into the crowd.
The Empress fell into brief thought.
She fiddled with her jade ring, then clicked her tongue as if resigned.
“This will not do. Inform the Son of Heaven that I am unwell and hasten the order of the banquet somehow.”
According to intelligence, before the closing, there would be a gift-bestowing ceremony by the Son of Heaven.
At her words, the Second Prince nodded to his subordinate.
“Deliver the message.”
“Yes!”
Another Royal Guard moved swiftly.
A plan that had been proceeding without issue now seemed to be unraveling rapidly.
And the Second Prince had felt this kind of unease several times before—because of one man.
“Dan Mujin……”
He stared intently at the man on the platform.
His eyes gleamed with killing intent more than ever.
The Divine Thief Yangyang leaned her back against the cold stone wall of the prison.
The pressure point sealing her throat only released around sunset. The moment she regained her voice, she began shouting at the top of her lungs.
That inside the gifts prepared by the Son of Heaven, there were deadly Thunderburst Bombs that should never be there.
It was a threat—if they did not release her immediately, important figures would be blown to pieces.
A passing Imperial Army guard, looking utterly annoyed, came over and spoke.
“Tsk tsk, you noisy brat. You’re really saying anything to save your life. Are you claiming the Son of Heaven intends to kill his own consorts with Thunderburst Bombs?”
He sneered, saying he had already been warned about such nonsense.
“I don’t know that! But just open the chest and check! It might not have been set up by the Son of Heaven!”
Yangyang waved both hands frantically inside the cell.
“Shut up!”
The guard slammed the bars loudly, clearly fed up.
Startled, Yangyang stepped back.
“Even if I believed you, if nothing comes out after I touch the Son of Heaven’s belongings, my head will roll. You expect me to risk my life on the words of a mere thief? Do I look insane?”
Yangyang was left speechless.
Even to her, trusting a criminal and betting one’s life wasn’t an easy decision.
“Damn it… then what happens now? Judging from that ignition device earlier, there’s not much time left……”
Inside the large chest had been a complex mechanism like something from a secret underground chamber.
She had hoped saving important figures might give her a chance to live.
But now, she would likely be framed as the culprit and executed.
‘Is my head really going to be displayed in the streets like this?’
This had never been part of her plan. Her grand heist had been completely ruined after getting caught in some unknown Imperial Palace Conspiracy.
Just earlier, when Dan Mujin drew everyone’s attention, things had seemed to be going well.
But how had it come to this?
Sighing deeply, she leaned her head against the sturdy bars.
At that moment—
As the guard disappeared down the corridor, a man in black emerged from the shadows of the sunset.
His face was covered, and he held a small jar.
Sensing something wrong from his assassin-like movements, Yangyang spoke.
“W-Who are you?”
The man said nothing and quietly opened the jar.
A strong smell of oil wafted out. At his waist hung an ignition tool.
Realizing the connection, Yangyang screamed.
“Hiiik! S-Someone help! There’s an arsonist here! An innocent thief is going to die—please, anyone…!”
She shook the bars and even struck them with Fist Qi, but the prison, reinforced with ten-thousand-year cold iron, did not budge.
The guard didn’t return either.
“These bars were made with ten-thousand-year cold iron to hold people like you. Die quietly with your secrets.”
The man smirked.
“N-No way… I’m going to burn to death here? N-No! Someone, please! I’ll serve you for life!”
The man poured oil across the floor and ignited the flame.
Yangyang scrambled to the corner.
“H-Hey, let’s talk! I won’t tell anyone! I’m really good at keeping secrets! I’m not Yangyang the Divine Thief—I’m Yangyang the Silent!”
“Foolish. You learned too much out of petty greed.”
It was because she had opened the golden chest in the Heavenly Treasure Vault.
The man lowered himself to ignite the oil.
“Farewell, thief.”
“Hiiiiiik! Someone, please—!”
Her screams echoed through the prison.
Just as the flame was about to touch the oil—
“Ahem, be careful with fire!”
Thud!
With a dull impact, the man in black collapsed forward.
Behind him stood a tall man, grinning.
“D-Dan Mujin?”
Yangyang’s eyes widened in shock.
Why was he here, in a prison, saving her?
“Hey, what are you doing in there?”
Dan Mujin scratched his chin, amused by her drenched appearance.
“M-Mujin…! Waaah!”
Overcome with relief, she burst into tears like a child.
Startled, he took a step back.
“What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?”
“I thought I was really going to burn to death!”
Sniffling, she complained.
Dan Mujin shook his head and approached.
Back at Mount Emei, she had bragged endlessly about being the Divine Thief.
Clank. Click.
He took out a key and unlocked the iron bars.
The unbreakable prison opened easily.
“……Hey, where did you get that key? Don’t tell me you knocked out a guard?”
“Knocked him out? What, do I look like a criminal like you?”
Yangyang blinked, confused.
As soon as the door opened, she rushed out and kicked the unconscious man.
“You bastard! You tried to burn such a beautiful lady alive?! Heartless scum!”
After venting, she approached Dan Mujin awkwardly.
“Anyway… thanks for saving me. Honestly, I didn’t think you would.”
“Hey, thief. What kind of thanks is that? Show some sincerity.”
He boasted.
“F-Fine… but what did you pay for this?”
“I won the Martial Arts Tournament. The Son of Heaven told me to name my wish, so I asked him to release you.”
“……!”
Yangyang froze.
“…Why would you do that for me?”
“…Don’t tell me you fell for me?”
“Stop spouting nonsense. I should’ve just left you.”
“…Then why?”
“I wanted to reach the Blazing Flame Realm. Just accept it.”
Yangyang scoffed.
“Like that makes any sense.”
But—
“Wait, the chest!”
“What chest?”
“The one the Son of Heaven is giving! There’s a Thunderburst Bomb inside with a timed ignition device!”
“……What?”
“…Why are you telling me this now?!”
“I just remembered!”
“Damn it!”
Dan Mujin immediately broke into a full sprint.