Chapter 268: Confession (6)
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The next day.
Sa-ak! Sa-ak!
Yeon Ho-jeong, who was sweeping the courtyard with a giant broom, turned his head at the suddenly felt presence.
“Yo.”
Muk Bi, wearing fur clothes, waved her hand looking at Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled and said.
“What did you come out for from the crack of dawn? It’s cold, so go inside and rest more.”
“Sneaky human.”
“What?”
Muk Bi grumbled.
“I was wondering why you knew me so well.”
Yeon Ho-jeong chuckled.
“Are you believing me?”
“What else can I do if I don’t believe you? Since you say so, I have to believe it.”
It was truly an incomparably simple conclusion.
Of course, this didn’t mean Muk Bi’s trust in Yeon Ho-jeong was deeper than Yeon Wi’s. It was correct to see the difference between the two people strictly as a difference in personality.
“How was it?”
“How was what?”
“How was I back then?”
Yeon Ho-jeong snorted.
“You were an obstinate person who only knew how to shoot a bow. Not acting your age, you would get dead drunk and just dance and stuff in front of everyone, you did.”
“Keok!”
Muk Bi’s face heated up bright red.
“Liar!”
“Hehehe.”
“…That wasn’t it, right?”
“What does it matter if you did, and what does it matter if you didn’t. Isn’t the important thing the you of right now?”
“Tell me straight. Did I or didn’t I?”
“I don’t know. I think you might have.”
“As expected, it’s a lie!”
Yeon Ho-jeong continued sweeping while giggling.
“In the greatest alliance of the Unorthodox, the Dark Emperor Castle, there was a position called the Five Great Divine Generals.”
“Five Great Divine Generals…?”
“They were the most powerful masters operating under the Lord of the Dark Emperor Castle, the Dark Emperor. Each individual’s martial arts were at the Grandmaster level, and all of them lacked nothing to contend for number one under heaven in their respective fields.”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Muk Bi.
“The head of those Five Great Divine Generals and the person called the strongest military commander was you.”
“…!”
“A person whose unrivaled archery was undoubtedly the best under heaven, and who boasted a close combat power against the other Five Great Divine Generals even without holding a bow, called the second-in-command of the Dark Emperor Castle when limited to martial arts alone. That is the Divine Archer Muk Bi, none other than you.”
Muk Bi felt her heart pound for no reason.
Divine Archer? What a great alias that is. She was on the verge of getting goosebumps at the fact that her self in the era Yeon Ho-jeong lived was a strong person worthy of discussing number one under heaven.
“And that Gang Ryang too.”
“…?!”
“Called the number one sword of the Unorthodox, the invincible one of the Way of the Sword who made a name for himself as the Iron-Blooded Sword King in the Central Plains Murim is exactly Gang Ryang. He was likewise one of the Five Great Divine Generals.”
Muk Bi let out a hollow laugh.
“Gang Ryang too…?”
“At that time, the number one sword under heaven praised by the Jianghu was Murong Jun. However, in some quarters there was this saying. ‘In terms of martial arts Murong Jun is higher, but when limited to the sword alone, Gang Ryang is higher.'”
“That’s an immense evaluation.”
“Even if he looks like a guy missing a screw somewhere, his talent and passion at least were unmatched by anyone. There was a reason he was counted among the Five Great Divine Generals at the youngest age among us.”
“Was the Ghost Iron Sword Sect destroyed back then too?”
“Yeah. That’s why I was surprised. I had agonized over whether history perhaps reaches the same conclusion in the end even if its flow changes.”
Muk Bi, who had been blankly staring at Yeon Ho-jeong, brought a broom from the corner.
“Let’s do it together.”
“Then I’m thankful.”
The two people stood side by side and swept the snow.
Sak! Sak! Sak!
Perhaps because they were originally people with good knack, the piled-up snow was swept away in chunks with a single sweep of the broom.
Yeon Ho-jeong asked looking down at his broom.
“Aren’t you offended?”
“About what? That you didn’t tell me until now?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“You could think of it as an intentional approach.”
Muk Bi smiled.
“Well, I could think like that.”
“You really don’t seem offended, huh?”
“If it weren’t for you, Young Master Yeon, my life would have been shoved further into the gutter, you know? Thinking of that, I couldn’t dare say I feel offended.”
“Oh ho, you sure know it.”
Muk Bi merely smiled brightly.
‘So that was it.’
Behind her broadly smiling face, she recalled the words Yeon Ho-jeong had said in the past.
‘You rarely revealed your emotions easily. But it wasn’t that you had no emotions at all. Rather, you were a martial artist with a hotter heart than anyone else.’
‘I liked you. Because at least the you of that time knew how to choose your life yourself. Even though that path was painful, you never complained once.’
‘I didn’t know your past. I didn’t know it would be like this. But trying to find out any more than this would just be meddling.’
‘The past is just the past. But I wanted to fix the past that would become a terrible future. To do that, I needed a me different from the me of the past.’
When the God of Archery Selection Battle had ended and she was with Brother Gyeong-cheon, Yeon Ho-jeong, whom she had never even seen the face of once, had said those words.
She had been confused in extreme sadness, but nevertheless, those were words that kept lingering in her head. Yeon Ho-jeong treated her as if he had known her for a long time.
‘That’s why you came looking for me.’
Muk Bi’s eyes looking at Yeon Ho-jeong became wistful.
‘And yet you didn’t coax me.’
If he had truly intended to use her, he could have dragged her along in some way.
However, Yeon Ho-jeong did not do so. He gave her the right to choose, and if she had said she wouldn’t join him, he really intended to let her go without lingering attachments.
That was exactly Yeon Ho-jeong.
Even with a person he had formed deep ties with in the past, he never forced them. He merely suggested, and respected the individual’s choice.
How could she hate such a person? How could she say she was saddened?
‘Rather, the person who received grace is me.’
Yeon Ho-jeong had gifted her a family.
Just with that alone, there was no lack in considering him a lifelong benefactor. She was a thousand times, ten thousand times more thankful for him treating her like family than for saving her life.
“Whew, my back aches.”
“A person who swings around an eighty-geun axe going ‘woosh woosh’ is making a fuss over just this.”
“I’m not using my internal energy.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“It’s just training. If you just fix your posture properly, it’s good for training your lower back and abdomen.”
“…”
“Hey, and who uses internal energy just to sweep some snow? What a waste of internal energy.”
Come to think of it, Yeon Ho-jeong’s posture was definitely restrained.
It was a posture that was safe to see as training rather than labor. However, it was natural enough not to know unless one looked closely.
Muk Bi clicked her tongue.
“Why are you training even at a time like this?”
“You have to melt even moments like this into part of your training for your skills to improve quickly.”
“Ay, that’s a bit much.”
Yeon Ho-jeong chuckled.
“That’s right. This much isn’t nearly enough. But I just believe. That if these moment by moments gather, I’ll be able to climb at least one step higher in the future.”
“Hmm.”
“Well, it’s fine even if my skills don’t necessarily improve. Just maintaining tension is sufficient enough.”
Muk Bi, who had been staring blankly at Yeon Ho-jeong, shrugged her shoulders.
“Even so, I won’t live like that.”
“Lazy thing.”
“You haven’t forgotten that I’m older than you, Young Master Yeon, right?”
“I was the Castle Lord, and you were my subordinate, you know?”
“It’s a past I don’t know anyway.”
“It’s the same now too, isn’t it?”
“This is a private setting, isn’t it?”
“Even if my body is young, I am a person who has lived close to fifty years.”
“It must be nice to be old. But shouldn’t that be seen as imaginary numbers?”
“…”
“Live in reality, don’t get buried in the past.”
“You, you’ll never get scammed wherever you go. Goodness, a person who was so easy-going and naive is now wearing a dagger on her tongue.”
“I don’t think that’s something Young Master Yeon should say.”
Yeon Ho-jeong burst into hearty laughter.
Muk Bi, who smiled back, asked lightly.
“When are you going to tell Ji-pyeong?”
“Ji-pyeong?”
“Yes. Since you told me too, shouldn’t you naturally tell Ji-pyeong too?”
“Well, I wonder?”
Yeon Ho-jeong shrugged his shoulders.
“Now that it’s come to this, I don’t really want to hide it. But it’s also weird to set the stage and talk about it, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
“Yeah.”
He looked up at the sky.
The pitch-black dawn sky, the pouring snowfall had noticeably weakened before he knew it.
“I realized yesterday. That it’s best for this kind of talk to just come out naturally.”
“Hmm.”
“Of course, until yesterday I didn’t know that. It was a really big worry for me.”
Yeon Ho-jeong shrugged his shoulders.
“But not anymore. Whether I confess my past or not, the people who trust me will not lose their trust until the end. Then I can just take it easy too.”
Muk Bi smiled.
“Your words are nice.”
“Ah, and it’s annoying now. Yesterday I poured out at least five days’ worth of talking all at once. I want to keep my vocal cords closed for the time being.”
“You talk too much for saying that.”
“…”
“Oh ho.”
“…”
“Bravo.”
“…”
“If you’re going to keep your mouth shut like that, can I hit you once? It seems like you don’t need it.”
“No.”
The two people burst into laughter at the same time.
“I’m just going to go naturally. That’s good.”
“Alright. Then do it that way.”
Thus half a shijin passed.
The sky was still dark like night. But there was a feeling of it slowly brightening from the eastern sky.
“Ah, moving around since dawn makes me hungry. Shall we eat?”
“Sounds good.”
* * *
“Whew.”
Zhuge Wen-hu hadn’t slept a wink.
“Three Cults of Fanaticism…?”
His eyes looking at the rattling window were dyed with confusion.
‘Why couldn’t I figure out there was such an organization until now?’
Then again, it wasn’t the Central Plains but outside the Great Wall. If forces outside the Great Wall made up their minds and tried to hide their power, it couldn’t help but be difficult to catch them no matter how outstanding the Murim Alliance’s intelligence gathering was.
That was why it was even more terrifying.
Whether it’s a person or an organization, when they gain power, they tend to want to reveal it to the outside world. It was a matter that touched upon human nature.
But they thoroughly hid themselves even while equipped with that massive power and capital.
A group with not only tremendous power but also patience transcending imagination. And since certainty toward the future is essential for that much patience to be exhibited, there would also be many highly capable tacticians.
‘It doesn’t feel real. However…’
Zhuge Wen-hu sighed.
‘Army Commander Yeon is not a person who would lie about such a matter. Furthermore.’
He took out a few neatly folded documents from his bosom.
They were exactly the top-secret information documents extracted from the Black Dragon Manor. Those documents had the flow of funds entering the Black Dragon Manor from outside the Great Wall written on them.
And in that flow, the Gray Wolf Squad that the combined forces of Sweeping Demons and Annihilating Evil had taken out was also included.
‘There is also clear evidence. In the end, it means I can be certain that the Three Cults of Fanaticism actually exist.’
Zhuge Wen-hu buried his back in the chair as if frustrated.
“To the extent of supporting the Black Dragon Manor, the power of the place called the Evil Lust Cult would rival the Murim Alliance at the very least. But to think there isn’t just one such organization, but three?”
His view went pitch-black.
He was someone who would usually come up with countermeasures against the enemy quickly, but there is a limit to that too.
Furthermore, there was one more problem.
“Murong Jun.”
Anger surfaced on Zhuge Wen-hu’s face.
“There is a limit even to being crazy about power, how could he join hands with Yang Cheon! This guy is truly crossing the line!”
The threat of the Three Cults of Fanaticism was, honestly, excessively abstract.
But Murong Jun was not. He thought he was a person with his own sense of justice even if he was blinded by power, but seeing it now, isn’t he a hopeless bastard under heaven!
Zhuge Wen-hu, who had been huffing and puffing for a long while, turned his head to the door.
“Is anyone there.”
“Yes, Strategist.”
“Convey to Clan Head Yeon. That the Strategist wants to see him for a moment.”
“Understood.”
Zhuge Wen-hu turned his gaze to the window.
Deudeudeudeu.
The window was shaking like crazy from the lethal freezing wind.