Chapter 216: Chapter 216

Murong Gang.

In the golden age of the murim, when martial arts masters were as numerous as grains of sand on a beach, he was an absolute master whose name proudly stood among the Ten Supremes, chosen beyond the divide between the Black Path and the Orthodox Path.

During the chaotic period of the Great Righteous-Demonic War, he raised warriors in place of the Murim Alliance, which had been tearing itself apart, and defended Jiangbei. He had also publicly revealed his clan’s martial arts to encourage resistance against the Demonic Path.

After the Great Righteous-Demonic War, the name of the Murong Clan vanished, but he remained for ages in people’s perception as someone worthy of respect.

‘He was definitely the type of person whose merits covered his faults.’

An unpredictable process of thought.

A whirlpool of emotion he did not even think to control.

And on top of that, overwhelming force and a vast clan called the Murong Clan that allowed him to expose his neurotic anger directly to others.

An all-powerful thug.

If people had known that this was his true face,

he probably would not have been respected to that extent.

Much less because of something that old bastard said…….

“Why is there no answer? Is the name of the Murong Clan not satisfactory to you?”

I stopped thinking and let out a sigh.

“Haa……. How could that possibly be?”

To be honest, “I, a person from Taeul Sect, becoming a matrilocal son-in-law of the Murong Clan?”

Even if it were written as a novel, people would curse it endlessly for lacking plausibility.

It was that absurd of an opportunity, so there was no way I could be dissatisfied with it.

However, just as the Namgung Clan had asked before, I could not choose to marry a woman from a collateral line and become subordinate to that clan.

Because I had many people I had to protect, including Taeul Sect and the Sojeong Squad.

‘Moreover, Lady Seol is in the Murong Clan too…….’

Murong Seol was a woman who had held a very special meaning even to me in my past life.

Keeping such a woman close while marrying someone else would not be right for me, nor for the person I would marry.

Then Murong Gang’s voice pierced my ears.

“Or does Seol look lacking in your eyes?”

“Pardon?”

What nonsen—.

Oh my, was he talking about Murong Seol right now?

“So many matchmakers come and go that we had to reinforce the threshold with iron, and the marriage proposals that arrive every day are used as fire starters.”

Murong Gang narrowed his eyes and jerked his chin at me.

“If you are a man, you must have heard of our Seol, have you not?”

Murong Seol…… Murong Seol…… Murong Seol, he said…….

S-so.

She would be my wife?

I would be her husband?

Heavens…….

Then my wife would be the Sword Empress, would she not?

In my head, I imagined marrying Murong Seol, having children, seeing that child’s grandson and granddaughter, and finally meeting my end while holding Murong Seol’s hand…….

Then, suddenly, I recalled her voice.

[You want to live that way. So survive that way…….]

Those were the words she had spoken, disappointed in me, when I had run out of the Sojeong Squad and fled into the mountains and rivers.

I vividly remembered her cold face and eyes that day, and the way she had turned away icily.

Then came the sight of her approaching me with an exhausted body after a battle, speaking about my father…….

The sight of her, having lost her clan, missing the younger brother who had died as Breaking Bow…….

They rose vividly in my mind one after another.

‘Huhut.’

A sneer slipped out from the corner of my mouth without my realizing it.

What kind of fantasy was I having?

Had I not desperately wished for the past not to repeat itself in the first place?

If she did not lose everything and enter the Sojeong Squad, the day she gained the alias Sword Empress would be delayed somewhat.

If she did not lose her clan, she would have no reason to enter the Sojeong Squad.

And above all—

I did not want to infringe upon her free will.

I only hoped that she would meet someone she truly liked in a peaceful world.

Yes, that was what I hoped.

After organizing my thoughts, I tilted my head crookedly.

“What exactly are you talking about?”

“……?”

“An arranged marriage in this day and age? Do you not feel sorry toward your granddaughter?”

“What? How dare you!”

I quickly cut him off.

“What I am talking about is something else.”

“Something else?”

Murong Gang was clearly a person who could not be reasoned with.

If reason and logic did not work on this type, then…….

Should I not just shake his emotions instead?

“Is the Murong Clan a Sword Sect in the first place?”

“Are you insulting my clan right now?”

I lightly ignored his words and looked him over.

“If so, where is your sword, Elder?”

Murong Gang was a man mad for martial arts.

Just as eccentric as his temperament was, his experimental spirit regarding martial arts was outstanding too.

Was that not obvious from the strange martial art that had distorted space just now?

At least when it came to martial arts, his emotions were not sealed as tightly as an iron wall.

Murong Gang snorted.

“A shallow brat like you would not know. Once you reach my level, everything I hold and everything I do is……”

“If all the sword arts of the Murong Clan disappeared, would the Murong Clan no longer be the Murong Clan?”

“……?”

He had probably never thought about it before.

Before the Great Righteous-Demonic War, not a single sect or clan of the Murim Alliance would have thought about extermination.

Much less the Murong Clan under heaven…….

I took one more step toward him and asked again.

“If the Murong Clan could no longer use the sword, would the Murong Clan no longer be the Murong Clan?”

Paradoxically, the being who had made the Murong Clan most famous in my past life was Breaking Bow.

People had praised the Murong Clan, which had already been exterminated and vanished, to the skies while saying he was truly the grandson of his grandfather.

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

Murong Gang’s eyes turned chilling.

The thug-like demeanor he had shown until now was nowhere to be seen.

It meant I had seriously touched his emotions.

That was what I wanted.

If I touched them one more time here—

“What is the Murong Clan’s core principle? Sword-Breaking?”

“……!”

Sword-Breaker was the alias that had been attached to the heads of the Murong Clan throughout history.

The Murong Clan had infinite pride in preserving the name of Sword-Breaker.

And that pride would make it impossible for him to endure my mocking provocation.

As expected.

Tremble, tremble.

With his head lowered, Murong Gang stared at me with eyes that had turned red.

“I misjudged you. To commit a great wrong just to hide a small flaw.”

It was the distortion of space I had seen while fleeing earlier.

Unlike when I had seen it as I quickly passed by, an enormous pressure began constricting my entire body.

“I looked upon you favorably, and now there is nothing you will not say. I have already bestowed sufficient grace upon Taeul Sect, so I should have the right to judge you.”

Creak, creak, creeeak.

As if the circulation of blood throughout my body had stopped, my skin began to swell.

It felt as though blood would pour from my seven orifices, and my eyes would burst.

Even so, I maintained my composure.

Again and again.

“Is the Murong Clan’s core principle, as you think of it, truly…… Sword-Breaking?”

“Hah? Are you still trying to wag that wicked tongue of yours? Yes, that is right. Sword-Breaking. That is what our Murong Clan has preserved through long and difficult years.”

Even as I barely forced myself to breathe, I spoke each word clearly.

“……I, I do not think so.”

The image of Breaking Bow crossing the battlefield like an Iron Hawk in my past life rose vividly, as though I had seen it yesterday.

When I saw Breaking Bow’s divine might as he blocked the Demonic Cult, this was what I had thought.

A force that seemed able to shatter even the sky……!

I forced my head up, met Murong Gang’s gaze, and said,

“The true core principle of the Murong Clan is…… Keup, Shattering Heaven…… is it not……!”

“……!”

For an instant, the pressure that had been tightening around me in real time stopped dead.

It was still painful, but it no longer felt as though I would die.

I barely exhaled a hot breath.

“Do you think…… the core principle of our Taeul Sect is Ten Thousand Swords?”

“…….”

“Taeul Sect failed to pass down Ten Thousand Swords for five hundred years. Even so, Taeul Sect continued to endure.”

After catching my breath for a moment, I looked at Murong Gang with an unwavering gaze and said,

“I have not forgotten the core principle of Taeul Sect for even a single moment since I first held a sword as a child.”

[The core principle of Taeul Sect is change.]

Although he had remained second-rate because of his lack of talent, Hong Mun-gi had never lost the root of the sect.

And he had never forgotten to pass that teaching on to his disciples either.

That was why Taeul Sect had been able to carry its name through the past five hundred years.

“…….”

After a brief silence swept across the space, Murong Gang nodded with a strange expression.

“Shattering Heaven…… Shattering Heaven…… Shattering Heaven…….”

As though the word had been branded into his mind, he repeated that one word again and again without end.

He had no choice.

There was a world that could not be seen through Sword-Breaking alone.

A world one could see only by becoming Shattering Heaven.

“Does it matter whether it is a sword or a fist that shatters the sky? Even if it is a bow, what problem is there?”

The hostility slowly disappeared from Murong Gang’s gaze.

Only a mysterious look remained, staring straight through me.

“Jae-hwa made the Blood Cult tremble in fear with a single bow. The comrades of the murim even gave him the alias One Arrow against a Thousand.”

That was right.

The divine might he had shown with a bow in Sichuan had been astonishing beyond astonishment.

“Jae-hwa will use the clan’s martial arts to shatter the sky one day. If that is not with a sword but a bow, is that a problem?”

“Hah! You are certain, are you?”

I could be certain.

Breaking Bow had already been born even in the terrible environment of my past life.

In this life, just as Jae-hwa had said, he would be able to become the Heaven-Shattering Divine Bow.

I nodded firmly.

“I am certain that Jae-hwa will surpass the alias Sword-Breaker and gain the alias Shattering Heaven.”

“……Shattering Heaven.”

“If so, can it truly be seen as the line of the Murong Clan being cut off?”

I looked at Murong Gang and grinned.

“……A new martial art has been born.”

Murong Gang looked at me with complicated eyes.

“You truly are…….”

A complicated gaze, one whose sadness or joy could not be known.

In any case, it was certain that his anger had loosened.

There was no way Murong Gang’s heart would not have raced after hearing the words Shattering Heaven.

“Now, could you release this? I feel like I will die if I stay like this any longer.”

“……Ah, I am sorry.”

Huh? He said he was sorry?

The moment I heard a word I had never thought I would hear from him in my life, the pressure constricting my body vanished in an instant.

As my stopped blood circulation resumed, my whole body prickled as though electricity were flowing through it.

“Ow…… My body…….”

“A-are you all right?”

Now that his reason had returned, Murong Gang’s attitude had somehow become cautious.

As expected, after hearing the word Shattering Heaven, he must have realized what a huge mistake he had made.

I deliberately patted my aching shoulder hard and said,

“What is this? In any case, I had been making choices for the sake of the Murong Clan……. And you did not even listen to what I had to say.”

“C-come now, you should have said it earlier.”

“Did you give me a chance to speak? No, what was that energy that constricted me as if it were going to kill me while I was speaking in the first place?”

Murong Gang subtly avoided my gaze.

“Ahem……. It was to let you witness my lifelong martial art……”

“Please stop saying nonsense. I really almost died!”

For an instant, Murong Gang’s face stiffened.

“So what are you telling me to do?”

This man was returning to his thug-like side again.

His expression grew even more shameless.

“Are you saying you will return as much as you were hit?”

Others might have been intimidated by such a look and stepped back, but did I look like I would do that?

“Hoo, forget it. Even if my fist lands, how much would it hurt you? Just pay me compensation for the beating.”

“What?”

“Why? If you hit someone, is it not obvious that you should pay compensation for the beating?”

Murong Gang stared at me with his mouth hanging open, as though he found me absurd.

No, what was he going to do if he stared at me like that?

Besides, I had been beaten in Murong Jae-hwa’s place, so it was only natural to charge double compensation for the beating.

Of course. Absolutely.

***

The rumor that Murong Gang would appear at Murim Academy’s “Distinguished Guest Invitation” stirred the academy students into excitement.

“Heavens! The Sword-Breaker himself?”

“To think the day would come when I would see him in person in my lifetime!”

“Th-then will Lady Murong Seol also come with him?”

“Hey! I told you not to hang around with him. Why are you so tactless?”

“No, you were part of the Righteous Path Association in the first place, so did you not dislike Jin So-un?”

“……What are you talking about? After seeing him save the members of the Orthodox Path Association, I decided to acknowledge him as a true chivalrous hero.”

For the first time, the academy students submitted their applications to participate with only one thought: that they wanted to take part in the event, regardless of their affiliations or sects.

Because of this, with the exception of a few people who could not attend the event because of private lessons, almost everyone displayed the spirit of participating in the event.

And this news was also delivered to the nearby Murim Alliance.

As the battle in Sichuan dragged on and the tension that had filled the interior eased somewhat, even among Alliance members, there appeared people who wanted to participate in the academy’s event, but the academy did not permit it.

Because of this, dissatisfied talk even arose within the Alliance, saying that perhaps they had invited such a giant(?) because they favored the academy.

“Tsk, tsk. As expected of a man who has lived his whole life however he pleased, you are causing harm efficiently again this time.”

At Jegal So-myeong’s words, Murong Gang furrowed his brow deeply.

“What are you saying, petty-minded bastard! Harm? What harm am I causing!”

As their voices rose, Hyeok Mu-gang stepped in to mediate.

“Ha ha. Both of you, stop. The children outside will hear.”

“Hmph! Seeing you sit in the Alliance Leader’s seat and act all dignified when it does not suit you at all is terribly awkward.”

When Murong Gang’s attack turned toward him, the corners of Hyeok Mu-gang’s eyes trembled.

Considering that he rarely revealed his emotions at all, the bonds built from their younger days certainly did not seem to disappear easily.

“What change of heart made you suddenly attend the event? Moreover, you say it was Jin So-un’s request?”

At Jegal So-myeong’s words, Murong Gang’s expression showed a flinch, and he hurriedly brought his tea to his mouth.

“Ahem. Considering the relationship between that fellow and me, I can grant a request of this level as much as he likes.”

“…….”

Suspicion did not easily leave Jegal So-myeong’s eyes.

“You, who did not even come to your own grandson’s entrance ceremony, came all the way here to grant the request of another sect’s disciple?”

“Ahem! C-cough!”

“Moreover, how did your hands end up swollen like that?”

It was not only his hands.

There were small scratches on his neck and face, and bruises could be seen here and there across his arms.

Jegal So-myeong shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, are you still going around fighting at that age?”

“Who said I fought! Th-this is…… yes. It all happened while I was giving instruction.”

“Instruction? To that fellow Jae-hwa?”

Murong Gang’s brow furrowed.

“That damned grandson…… no, not that fellow, another damned fellow.”

“Jin So-un?”

“Yes.”

At Murong Gang’s words, Jegal So-myeong and Hyeok Mu-gang exchanged strange looks.

Just what sort of relationship did Sword-Breaker and Jin So-un have that they were exchanging instruction and requests?

And as though answering that question, Murong Gang added,

“He is a fellow I will take in as a son-in-law.”

“Son-in-law?”

“……!”

Murong Gang raised his head as though satisfied.

“He is a fellow who will greatly establish the Murong Clan in the future. Umhaha.”

Hyeok Mu-gang and Jegal So-myeong barely held back from spitting out the tea they were drinking.

Because it was the first time they had ever seen the endlessly arrogant Murong Gang acknowledge someone like that.

“No, I am telling you, that fellow lightly dodged my Void-Annihilation Fist. A brat who has only just passed twenty! Moreover, he was even thinking of our clan’s future in a way I had never imagined. Where else in the world could there be such a fellow? Euhahaha!”

Seeing Murong Gang smile as though he felt good just thinking about it, Jegal So-myeong tilted his head.

“A son-in-law who will establish the clan…… Are you perhaps talking about a matrilocal son-in-law?”

“Yes.”

“Pfft……!”

In the end, Jegal So-myeong and Hyeok Mu-gang sprayed their tea.

Beyond knowing just how much Murong Gang cherished Murong Seol, they also knew well that he was not the kind of person who would so easily decide to bring an outsider into the clan.

That was why they were shocked.

Then, suddenly, Jegal So-myeong sensed something strange in Murong Gang’s story.

“……Do you know that he is Taeul Sect’s Chief Disciple?”

Murong Gang nodded confidently.

“I heard that.”

“Taeul Sect usually has the Chief Disciple inherit the sect’s tradition.”

“……Eh?”

Jegal So-myeong let out a sigh, as though thinking, “Of course.”

“……You did not consider Jin So-un’s own wishes or situation at all.”

“Ahem……. Well, he can hold both positions. It is the seat of the Murong Clan’s son-in-law, after all!”

“Hmph!”

Jegal So-myeong sneered at Murong Gang.

“As expected, you have not changed at all from the old days.”

“Wh-what are you talking about! When I brought it up, that fellow clearly liked it!”

“Liked it……! You probably beat him with your fists and threatened him again!”

Murong Gang could not suppress his anger and sprang from his seat.

“You bastard! Do you want to be persuaded by my fists too?”

“Oho! It seems you need to be trapped in the Eight-Gold Formation like before and starved for about fifteen days before you come to your senses!”

Eventually, Hyeok Mu-gang stepped forward.

“Both of you, stop. They can all hear outside……”

“You stay quiet!”

“Alliance Leader, please stay still!”

It did not work at all.

Those who had now become eminent masters of the murim growled at each other with their teeth bared, as though they had returned to the past.

After they bickered for a while like that,

“More importantly, I heard on my way here that Sichuan seems quite noisy.”

At Murong Gang’s words, Jegal So-myeong also let out a long sigh.

“It is because the peaceful state lasted too long.”

“Should we not send more warriors?”

Jegal So-myeong lightly shook his head.

“The tide of victory is turning to us. The war will be won anyway. It will simply take some time.”

“It seems the Black Path bastards are making noise about forming an alliance. How about I go and stir them up thoroughly?”

At Murong Gang’s shrugging attitude, Jegal So-myeong shot a blazing look at him.

Thus, the second round began.

“Just try doing something like that! I will immediately lead warriors to your clan and pull out every last root of grass!”

“No, I offer to help, and you still throw a fit!”

Jegal So-myeong tapped his own head with his finger and mocked him.

“Do you not know how dangerous it is to divide the front line into two? I am asking whether you use the thing sitting above your neck to think.”

“Hmph! Your liver must have shrunk to the size of your petty mind with age. So you will just leave them alone while they form an alliance?”

“You must know about Demonic Practitioners, do you not?”

Jegal So-myeong brought up the matter of Murong Sang-won being attacked.

Only then did Murong Gang’s voice settle calmly.

“You are taking this seriously?”

“Nothing about what happened during the Regular Exam or what happened in Sichuan is ordinary. Darkness greater than the Black Path will likely come.”

“Are you thinking of using barbarians to control barbarians?”

“That is not it.”

“Mm?”

Murong Gang’s head turned to the other side.

The answer came from Hyeok Mu-gang.

“When darkness covers the world, we and the Black Path will likely have to fight together.”

After wearing a stiff expression for a moment, Murong Gang gave a faint laugh.

“Would that be possible?”

“We must do our best. If it is impossible, that much more blood will be shed.”

Since the murim came into being, had there ever been a time when black and white did not fight?

For some reason, Murong Gang felt anticipation that he might see many things he had never seen in his life.

“The murim will become interesting from now on.”

Murong Gang, wearing a strange smile, said,

“If you are thinking of an alliance, you will need to send an envoy delegation.”

Murong Gang shifted his gaze back to Jegal So-myeong.

“Who will you send? Is this not an opportunity for you to dispose of a political enemy? Are you going to send those disobedient Wudang fellows?”

“…….”

“…….”

The strange silence irritated Murong Gang.

“……Do not tell me you are thinking of sending the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly?”

In such seats, it was customary for the most symbolic figures to attend.

The problem was that Murong Seol was included within the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

And the place they would attend was right in the middle of a Black Path gathering.

Jegal So-myeong cleared his throat and answered.

“No……”

“Then?”

“Jin So-un, along with……”

“Eh? You are sending our So-un?!”

At Murong Gang’s words, Jegal So-myeong furrowed his brow.

Who did he think he was to call him “our So-un”?

Truly, had this man gone senile?