145.The Supreme General's Lineage
The Greatest House Under Heaven – Jin Mugwang in Critical Condition
Jin Mugwang's condition was critical.
Months had passed since Lee Hee, who had left with only a portion of the Baekryongdae, stopped by the main house and began searching for the General.
Even Lee Hee, who knew the General better than most, had failed to find him.
The imperial court, however, found him first—because they used the martial world.
Bands of fighters who swung their blades without clear cause or greater purpose—
individually fierce, collectively little more than a rabble—
they were strong in solitary action and willing to commit any deed for profit.
The imperial court made use of several sects entangled in regional interests, as well as those possessing intelligence networks.
What they suspected was simple: the General might not be dead.
The Emperor mobilized the martial world—those who had aided his rise to power—and issued a bounty for General Jin Mugwang across the entire jianghu.
A small number of respected masters could not block the Emperor's excesses.
Instead, they preserved their righteousness by refusing to participate.
Most sects, however, monitored the regions under their influence and searched for Jin Mugwang.
The equation was simple: power and the palace were always right.
That belief stirred the endless greed of martial men.
No mere assassin of the Black Blade could defeat the General.
Their movements and techniques were intimidating to the untrained eye.
But to those who had mastered similar palace-born martial arts, they were ineffective.
The Emperor chose to use the martial world.
He chose to exploit their greed.
His judgment proved accurate.
They found Jin Mugwang in a remote mountain hermitage where he had withdrawn to cultivate his mind.
They attacked immediately.
As word spread through the martial world, more gathered like moths to flame.
Whatever reward had been promised, it drew them in waves.
Rumors swelled beyond control.
Some even whispered that Jin Mugwang possessed a divine martial scripture, further inflaming their covetousness.
Lee Hee received the news while the General was fending off relentless, successive assaults and attempting to escape.
Sharp-minded as ever, Lee Hee summoned the Baekryongdae at once and set out for the place named in the rumors.
Meanwhile, the Emperor learned that the General still lived.
He waited for Jin Mugwang to die slowly under the accumulating wounds inflicted by martial fighters.
At the same time, he secretly dispatched a small force with orders to sweep through Jin Estate and escort the household members to the capital.
If the family were taken to the imperial city, Jin Mugwang would surrender of his own accord.
That was why he could not openly mobilize a grand army.
Capture them first.
If the General valued their lives, he would choose death himself.
Afterward, eliminate the family as well.
Uproot everything.
Three things endangered the General's life:
a fatal internal injury,
a deep sword wound,
and an unknown poison.
The poison made breathing difficult.
The deep wound refused to close.
The internal injury caused his once-formidable body to flicker like a candle in the wind.
Lee Hee's own condition was equally grave, yet he refused to leave the General's side.
He coaxed and insisted that the General accept treatment.
Fortunately, though Lee Hee bore many blade wounds, he suffered neither poison nor internal trauma.
He had charged first into battle, engaging the lesser fighters, while the true masters waited to confront the General.
In a secluded corner of the rear courtyard, Lee Sogun wept alone.
She had given nothing but loyalty with all her being.
What crime had warranted such a trial?
During treatment, the General lost consciousness several times.
His breathing thinned to a thread.
There was no sign of recovery.
Even in agony, waking repeatedly through the night, he asked whether the Baekryongdae had returned home.
The household physician exhausted every effort.
He cleaned wounds, disinfected them, and stitched them closed.
The elderly patriarch—Jin Mugwang's father—and Jin Musik never left the bedside.
Death stood visibly near.
The body's natural vitality had nearly vanished.
The physician treated what could be seen.
He could not treat the poison hidden within.
Messengers were sent in all directions to find renowned healers.
At first, Jin Mugwang had sat upright and spoken.
Now he could not rise.
His breath grew faint.
He could no longer speak.
Physicians were summoned.
Medicines were prepared.
Men were dispatched to distant places.
Meanwhile, young Sowoon walked in troubled thought.
He did not return to his quarters.
Instead, he wandered the broad courtyard, the entrance, and the estate walls.
When he thought, he walked.
Solutions that would not come while sitting often emerged in motion.
"The martial fighters.
The Emperor who moved them.
The Chancellor who urged resignation.
The Black Blade that attempted assassination without pause.
The army.
The people.
The Baekryongdae.
And me."
He calculated as though arranging stones on a board.
He even placed himself among the pieces.
The numbers would not resolve.
By all appearances, the entire world pressed in attack.
He felt the true meaning of being surrounded on all sides.
There was no solution.
This was a battle without victory.
Unless the Emperor were deposed.
The thought echoed back at him.
"Depose the Emperor?"
His own words startled him.
It seemed impossible—yet if the Emperor were removed, everything would end.
No.
Behind the Emperor stood the Chancellor and the Black Blade.
Perhaps they held even greater practical power.
Then they too would have to be removed.
His thoughts spiraled.
The three were, in truth, one.
The Chancellor had urged resignation.
That suggested he did not seek the General's death outright.
He wished to preserve him for future use.
Yet the repeated assassination attempts came from the Black Blade.
Mobilizing even the martial world meant the Emperor and the Black Blade truly desired Jin Mugwang's death.
Then perhaps the Chancellor should be approached.
Or threatened.
Or perhaps confront the Black Blade directly.
Was the Emperor merely a figurehead?
What did power fear?
Power feared losing itself.
What about Jin Mugwang threatened them?
His strength.
His reputation among the people.
If he held command of troops or gained popular support, overturning the capital would not be difficult.
That was why the Northern Expedition had been kept small.
The barbarians had to be repelled—but the army could not be large enough to threaten the capital.
They feared potential force.
At present, the General was a lone man.
Yet he had won victories.
He possessed the trust of soldiers and people alike.
Organizing an army under his name might not be difficult.
One premise enabled the next.
One correct judgment unlocked another.
This was not a matter of loyalty and righteousness.
It was political manipulation and power.
To save Jin Mugwang, either remove the fear at the summit of power—
or shatter that summit entirely.
Sowoon's thoughts continued without end.
His steps had carried him back to the main courtyard.
The feast had ended.
Yet not a single member of the Baekryongdae had left.
They sat unmoving, like stones.
A heavy silence hung over them.
The General had ordered them to go.
He lay dying.
He would soon be branded a traitor.
If five hundred had failed, five thousand would come.
Then fifty thousand.
No one stood first to depart.
Yet no one stepped forward with another plan either.
Every life is precious.
Who could calmly accept a catastrophic tomorrow—perhaps not even tomorrow, but today?
They were ordinary men.
They were moved by the image of their commander—gravely wounded, urging them to leave out of genuine care.
They were shaken by the sight of a loyal hero prepared to fade away.
The Greatest House of Hanan refused to let those who would die for it remain.
And that refusal burned deeper than any command.