Chapter 232: Chapter 232

The Murim Alliance had ruled the Murim for five hundred years, growing as arrogant as arrogance could be.

The Blood Cult knew that arrogance of the Murim Alliance well.

That was why, in the early stages of the Sichuan Incident, they had been able to strike the Elder Council and the Academy Students hard on the back of the head, leave them stunned, and then slide a knife into their side.

However, they seemed not to have considered that the Murim Alliance had been able to become arrogant because it possessed power.

There was no way the Murim Alliance, stabbed in the back of the head and in the side, would simply sit still.

The Murim Alliance cracked its neck left and right with a series of loud pops, then seized the Blood Cult by the throat with its enormous, blunt hand.

The tide of war turned in an instant.

Most of the Blood Cult’s martial artists and Spell Practitioners who had been acting up in Sichuan either fled or fell beneath the Murim Alliance’s blades, and even their final weapon, the Iron Corpse Puppet, had melted into a handful of poison water under the Poison King’s hand.

Since the opening stages of the war, not only had the Blood Cult failed to win even once, they had only continued retreating backward, and then farther backward.

It was clear that no one would see the Blood Cult running wild in Sichuan anymore.

And yet.

The war was not over.

Because of this, Maeng Ju-won, who had suffered every day in the Murim Alliance’s Mantongbu, had to come all the way to Badang in Sichuan and suffer there too.

“Where am I? Who am I?”

Although only the elites had been selected and urgently dispatched, their numbers still reached several thousand.

There was the enormous amount of food needed to feed them three meals a day.

There was the replacement of weapons lost in battle.

In addition, when one considered the horses, the low-ranking warriors who assisted the martial artists, and even the servants, well over ten thousand people were chirping, “I’m hungry,” and “I’m cold.”

When the Murim Alliance dispatched forces, supplies were usually procured locally through the branches in each provincial capital, but that only worked when the force in question was a single unit-sized detachment.

Logistics in an unforeseen war like this one were not something administrators who had only ever managed branch-level affairs could handle in the first place.

Even when the administrators worked overtime as though it were their daily bread, the logistical supply did not function properly, and this provoked the warriors’ anger.

Then, on a day when a warrior who had eaten only one meal grabbed an administrator by the collar and flipped him through the air a couple of times……

“At this rate, we will all die……!”

The administrators, who had thought of their posts as lifetime jobs and sworn they would never leave their branches no matter what happened, fled in the middle of the night, and the logistics became even more of a mess.

And so.

The Grand Strategist Jegal, taking pity on the warriors dispatched to Sichuan, made a decision.

“You go. To Badang!”

“……”

What am I, some doll that does whatever it is told? Am I not pitiful too……!

However.

“Damn it……”

When he opened his eyes, he was already in Badang.

That was the sequence of events that led Maeng Ju-won of Mantongbu to come all the way to Badang.

Maeng Ju-won swallowed his resentment and looked over the situation.

There were three things he hated most.

The first was overtime caused by excessive work.

The second was a heavier workload caused by a shortage of personnel.

The third was dispatched work caused by a shortage of personnel.

Judging from those conditions……

……It would not have been strange if he wrote his resignation letter on the spot.

He had longed day and night for leaving work on time through the recruitment of new talent, only to receive an even heavier workload instead.

Rather than the “letting go” often spoken of in Orthodox Path martial arts, Maeng Ju-won drew up the “rage” often discussed in Black Path martial arts, became infinitely ferocious, and began cleaning up the situation in Sichuan without hesitation.

“Who writes a report like this?! The supplies are a mess because the report is a mess! No! Seeing how you are deliberately wasting supplies, it seems you are harboring a conspiracy to weaken the Murim Alliance’s power. I shall have you sent to the Execution Pavilion and investigated!”

“Find people! What? There are no people? If you cannot find them, kidnap them! The Murim Alliance will take responsibility afterward. Whether they are passing Confucian Scholars or merchants, bring them all here and seat them. Filling the numbers comes first!”

“Supplies! Supplies! I told you to take care of the meals first! Once their bellies are full, they will not lose their shit over minor things!”

As he skillfully handled the food lines of the dispatched warriors, which no one in the Murim Alliance had managed properly for nearly thirty years, Maeng Ju-won unknowingly proved himself to be the Grand Strategist’s most excellent favorite doll.

“They said he was the greatest talent of Mantongbu, the one the Grand Strategist cherishes most, and it seems that was no empty rumor!”

“Indeed!”

Through his efforts, the supply lines that had been blocked like the Acupoints of a martial artist who had lived a loose, indulgent life finally began to breathe, little by little.

After arriving in Sichuan and feeding the warriors all three hot meals, Maeng Ju-won had been just about to take a breath when he began sweating buckets again.

“Has there still been no countermeasure?”

Though he himself did not realize it, his proper duty was that of a strategist.

It was a position meant to formulate strategies and provide counsel on the battlefield so the war could proceed smoothly.

The problem was that not even Maeng Ju-won, famed under heaven, could resolve the current matter in Sichuan.

After being slapped clean across the face in Sichuan, the Blood Cult had staggered backward until they retreated to Changdu, where Sichuan and Qinghai met.

Now that the Heavenly Eye Pavilion’s investigation had already revealed that the Blood Cult’s main base was in Qinghai, the Murim Alliance was not one to hesitate in rooting them out completely.

The problem was.

These humans with heaven-defying ways of thinking had recklessly installed bizarre traps all around their main base and entered their final decisive battle.

‘As expected of descendants of those motherfuckers.’

They had piled up everything from Illusion Formations that left aftereffects, to deadly poisons with no antidotes, to animal-type Jiangshi made using heaven-defying Spell Arts.

Because of this, not even the Murim Alliance under heaven could rashly step forward.

And then, as if misfortune were piling atop misfortune.

“The Black Path bastards have started moving too……!”

During the war in Sichuan, the Black Path bastards who had been anxiously curling up their hands and feet in fear that sparks might fly toward them had begun slowly glancing around and stretching themselves.

The Black Path members of Sichuan who had not attended the Black Thought Alliance Founding Ceremony, the greatest event in the Black Path Murim, gathered one by one, and intelligence reports that they were preparing for battle kept coming in.

The Murim Alliance had reached the point of worrying that, after the Blood Cult, it might have to expose its side to the Black Path as well.

For the Murim Alliance, this was a situation in which it could neither advance to suppress the Blood Cult nor leave the Blood Cult behind and withdraw.

“Ha……”

As Maeng Ju-won pressed both hands against his throbbing head, a sharp voice flew toward him.

“Why has that narrow-minded bastard still not said anything?”

“Th-that…… the Grand Strategist is doing his utmost to observe the movements of the Black Thought Alliance.”

“So when will those results come out?!”

The man was only as tall as Maeng Ju-won’s shoulders, and his body was as hard as a flintstone.

Despite being an old man, he had long black hair, and he had been tormenting him since morning without pause. But Maeng Ju-won could not recklessly talk back to him as he did in Mantongbu.

In Mantongbu, he had talked back to Jegal So-myeong as if he had ten lives.

Even then, he had used his brilliant mind to determine “the line he could cross” and had talked back only “to an acceptable degree.”

However, affairs in Badang were moving so urgently that he had not even had time to determine where this old man’s line lay.

Not only that.

Even if Jegal So-myeong used force, he only did so to the extent of leaving bruises. There was no guarantee that the Poison King would show that kind of mercy, was there?

Maeng Ju-won tried to calm Dam Ak’s agitation as he spoke.

“S-so, for now, all information is blocked……”

Not only the Heavenly Eye Pavilion, but even the Beggars’ Sect members dispatched to Shanxi Province were sending no information.

He did not know what kind of orders had come from the Black Thought Alliance for those Black Path bastards of Sichuan to keep cracking their joints.

But in any case, one could make a judgment only if there was information to judge by, could one not?

“Hmm……”

When the Poison King’s eyes narrowed, Maeng Ju-won began hiccuping.

Ah, am I going to become a handful of poison water just like this?

At that moment.

A cold voice that pricked at his pride flew in and lodged itself in him.

“Why did an incompetent bastard like you come?”

“Pardon??”

Wait, this is crossing the line a little, is it not?

Was he not the one who had unblocked Sichuan’s supply lines, which had been as clogged as the Acupoints of a man about to die?

In martial arts terms, it was a great feat no different from opening the Three Qi Centers and achieving Five Qi Returning to Origin.

No one in the Murim Alliance could have done as much as he had even if they came here now. Yet he was in. Com. Pe. Tent?

Was this old man with his strange way of speaking not being far too harsh……!

“Jin So-un.”

However, at the name that came next, Maeng Ju-won had no choice but to stop.

“Why did that child not come? I distinctly told them to send that child.”

“Ah……”

For some reason, Maeng Ju-won accepted it almost immediately.

True, if that bastard had been there, there would have been no reason for him to come all the way here.

“That friend is currently out as an envoy to the Black Thought Alliance.”

“Hmm…… Is that so?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

The Poison King clicked his tongue for some reason and shook his head.

“Neither you nor that narrow-minded bastard handles work to my liking.”

“I apologize.”

“You had better bring back a decision as quickly as possible. Otherwise, know that we will advance within seven days and nights.”

“……Yes.”

He could not bring himself to say, “You must not.”

If they dragged out more time, then supplies or whatever else would no longer matter, and they might end up retreating the front line until they were annihilated between the Blood Cult and the Black Path.

‘Grand Strategist……’

He could only hope and hope that the Black Thought Alliance’s movements would be grasped quickly and that Mantongbu would issue a judgment.

“It is time for you to keep your promise.”

Blood Battle still wore an expression that said he could not accept defeat.

“Just one more game, for the last time……”

I firmly shook my head.

“Please keep your promise first. We can play again after that.”

Of course, even if we played ten games, no, a hundred games from now on, there was no way I would lose to Blood Battle.

Go was ultimately a contest of moves.

What was the point of fighting a guy who played while keeping tens of thousands of go records stacked inside his head?

Moreover, among those tens of thousands of go records, there were plenty belonging to Blood Battle’s other identity, the Imperial Go Master “Doa.”

Unless he underwent a complete rebirth through go, there would be no way for him to defeat me.

In the end, Blood Battle drew his body back.

“I will let you meet him tonight.”

When I looked around, not only Il-myeong and Dang Seo-hui, but even Flame Ghost Consort had admiration lingering on their faces.

Honestly, why were they so surprised over this much?

The important part was that this was only the beginning.

When night fell, Blood Battle tried to use Concealment Art and leave through the door.

I looked at him with an utterly dumbfounded expression.

“Why are we moving in secret?”

“Then, when everyone is desperate to cut off your head, do you want me to show you openly meeting the Alliance Leader?”

No, leaving that aside, what if I had not been able to use Concealment Art?

“That would be your problem. Shall we play again? If you win this time, I will let you leave openly.”

As expected, what an ugly old man who could not accept defeat.

“No need. Let us go.”

I unfolded Ghost-Breathing Step and followed behind him.

Though he said nothing, after seeing my presence disappear, Blood Battle wore an expression as though asking what kind of bastard I was.

A moment later, his Sound Transmission reached me.

[What martial art is that?]

[If you reveal the secret of your martial art, Elder, I will tell you too.]

[……]

Blood Battle glared at me for a moment, then began leading the way again.

Really, what a sly old man overflowing with curiosity.

The Black Thought Alliance’s main building was under strict guard as usual, but no one noticed Blood Battle’s presence or mine.

Naturally, I thought we would be going to the Black Thought Alliance Leader’s office, but Blood Battle led me somewhere strange.

Is he not taking me to the office, but to a torture chamber?

Then, when we reached a dead end.

Blood Battle pressed one side of the wall firmly, and the dead-end wall moved silently, revealing an entrance.

“It is here.”

After passing for a long while through a corridor without even a Night-Luminous Pearl embedded in it, we entered a room where a small light was leaking out.

Inside, the Black Thought Alliance Leader Cha Seok-du and Dam Ak were seated.

“Welcome. Black Flame Dragon!”

Cha Seok-du, whose face was flushed red, suddenly embraced me tightly and patted my back hard.

What is this? Was he drinking?

He wore an expression as if nothing were wrong, but the strong scent of wine drifted from his chest.

“It is unfortunate that we can only meet in a place like this. In any case, are you not a person no different from a founding contributor of the Black Thought Alliance? I had intended to hold a grand banquet in your name.”

This man is saying something terrifying with such a calm face.

It would be less damaging to me if the Black Thought Alliance simply sent assassins to my quarters instead.

If he held a banquet and publicly declared me a founding contributor, then at that point I would truly and inescapably become a Black Path Rising Star.

I barely pulled myself out of his arms.

“Have you been well in the meantime?”

“Enough. Between you and me, throw away such half-baked etiquette, ha, ha!”

Cha Seok-du said that, then poured wine into a cup and held it out to me.

Of all things, in a situation where everyone in the Black Thought Alliance wanted to kill us, this was a cup of wine offered by Cha Seok-du, the Black Thought Alliance Leader.

And Dang Seo-hui had not even come with me. Should I drink this or not?

……After agonizing over it, I emptied the cup in one go.

It was because I thought that, if I was going to die anyway, dying by poison would be less painful than dying under torture.

Cha Seok-du’s hearty laughter shook the air.

“Uha, ha, ha, ha! As expected, you are more bold-hearted than most Black Path men. Truly, do you have no intention of coming to our Black Thought Alliance?”

“None whatsoever.”

“What a pity. What a pity.”

Cha Seok-du said that and filled the wine cup again.

As I followed his hand with my eyes, I brought up the main issue.

“The reason I wished to see you is……”

“I know. It must be because of Ak Byeong-bi.”

Stop.

A moment later, his hand stopped pouring the wine.

“I am sorry, but I have no way to help this time either.”

I looked straight into his eyes.

“The Delegation Leader said he did not do it.”

After looking at me for a moment, Cha Seok-du stared at the wine cup, then swallowed it in one gulp and roughly wiped his lips.

“Do you think so too?”

“I intend to believe him.”

“Not that he did not do it, but that you intend to believe him……. I also wish to do so. But I cannot.”

“Why not?”

The answer to my question came from Dam Ak.

“Because everyone wants blood.”

Dam Ak still looked at me with sharp eyes, as though he would pierce through me.

“Do you also think blood is necessary, Strategist Dam?”

“I believe it is inevitable.”

Wow…… Those eyes are like he is looking at an enemy.

Just what happened to that man in this life?

“Even if the Black Thought Alliance disappears before it can even stretch itself properly?”

“That is something we will know only after trying.”

When thorny words began passing between us, Cha Seok-du stepped in to mediate.

“Both of you, stop. We did not meet like this to declare war.”

After shaking his head toward Dam Ak, Cha Seok-du turned his gaze to me.

“What do you think is the problem of our Black Thought Alliance right now?”

The problem currently facing the Black Thought Alliance should not have been any different from the problem suffered by the Black Path Alliance that the Sword Demon had created in my previous life.

If I thought carefully about the reason they had collapsed, the answer came quickly.

“You have no power.”

“Correct.”

It did not mean they truly had no strength.

Since all the Black Path men under heaven had already gathered, they were as strong as any organization in terms of physical force.

What I had pointed out was the issue of the Black Thought Alliance command’s authority.

In other words, they lacked the power, the authority, to force the orders of the command upon the entire Black Thought Alliance.

Cha Seok-du smiled bitterly.

“We are not a place with a completed system like the Murim Alliance. For now, we have filled the positions with people from Four Emperors Peak, but if a majority opinion forms, the Black Thought Alliance has no choice but to be dragged along by it.”

“……”

He no longer used a wine cup and began drinking straight from the bottle.

The worry settled on his face was not easily erased even by wine.

A moment later.

Thud-

He loudly placed the wine bottle down on the table.

“Let us do this! Ak Byeong-bi will be imprisoned in the Black Thought Alliance’s Prison. He likely will not be able to come out for a long time. In exchange, I will buy enough time for you and your companions to escape.”

“Can that quiet the pro-war faction?”

“It is a temporary measure. In the end, the Black Thought Alliance will likely wage war according to majority opinion.”

Although Cha Seok-du, the Four Emperors Peak Lord, had become the Alliance Leader, at present he was no different from a figurehead.

I leaned forward and looked straight at Cha Seok-du.

“By any chance, are you intending to start a war to consolidate power?”

Cha Seok-du’s movement stopped, and the corners of Dam Ak’s eyes trembled.

Once blood had been shed, voices would emerge within the Black Thought Alliance calling for power to be given to the command for the sake of handling the aftermath.

Naturally, power would gather at the command, and authority would be created.

Dam Ak might be thinking precisely that right now.

However.

“If that happens, the Murim Alliance will harbor another anger.”

If this back-and-forth continued, it would become the same situation as my previous life.

I had not the slightest intention of standing by and watching that happen.

At my resolute expression, Dam Ak smiled softly and spoke.

“There is another method.”

“What is it?”

“We punish every member of the Envoy Delegation. Once everyone vents their anger that way, it should be somewhat better.”

Fuck, he says something horrifying so casually.

Is it because this is not his business?

As though unaffected by his provocation, I gave a shrug.

“I would prefer that such a thing not happen.”

“Nothing will be resolved by sitting still.”

“……”

Hmm, as that man said, nothing would be resolved by simply sitting still.

I removed some of the thorns in my mouth and spoke.

“Does it not seem a little strange?”

“What does?”

“Is it not too perfect?”

Cha Seok-du tilted his head.

I stroked my chin and explained further.

“The Delegation Leader, who had a grudge, killed Gu Gye-ak. I am asking if that does not feel far too obvious.”

Dam Ak’s eyes shone sharply.

“What are you saying?”

Am I the only one who feels this way?

In the middle of the pro-war faction gaining power, the person who was essentially the leader of the pro-war faction had been ambushed and killed.

And by the notorious Execution Pavilion Master of the Orthodox Path, no less.

It was as if a scene had been plucked directly out of history, and the context before and after it fit far too well.

Should I say that everything seemed to be flowing naturally toward the event called a war between the Murim Alliance and the Black Thought Alliance?

Moreover, Ak Byeong-bi had not even concealed his martial arts. No matter how deep his grudge was, there were still limits.

As someone who had personally experienced a great war of an entire generation, I knew that history did not flow with such precise context.

Sometimes, a war began over a ridiculous fight of pride, and sometimes, after perfect preparation, a single small mistake led to an entire unit being annihilated.

History merely filled in the sparse empty spaces after events had occurred and created a plausible context.

Yet right now, it was so natural that it felt unnatural instead.

“In my opinion, it feels as though someone is deliberately hoping for a war between the Black Thought Alliance and the Murim Alliance.”

Perhaps Dam Ak had also thought of that, because he flinched and stared at me.

Then he soon shook his head and said,

“……There are already many in the Black Path Murim who hold grudges against the Murim Alliance.”

“Of course there are. But the problem is that the plausibility fits so well that it feels contrived.”

“……”

Dam Ak’s face hardened, but I did not care in the slightest.

“If that is the case, if we are being toyed with by someone’s intentions.”

I drew in a breath for a moment, then asked the two of them.

“Are we supposed to simply accept this situation?”

Cha Seok-du frowned as though he did not quite understand.

Unlike him, Dam Ak rested his chin on his hand and sank into thought upon thought.

After the two of them exchanged glances for a moment, Dam Ak spoke.

“In theory, it sounds like a meaningful argument, but in the end, is it not merely words meant to escape this situation?”

I immediately shook my head.

“No. I am certain to some extent.”

“Certain? Do you have evidence?”

This might be the last chance to stop a war between the Black Thought Alliance and the Murim Alliance.

It was time to make a winning move.

I answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes.”

“……What is it?”

At my firm words, Dam Ak continued staring at me without withdrawing his suspicious gaze.

“I will tell you that in due time. For now, I would like to ask one favor.”

“What is it?”

“Please allow me to investigate the incident.”

Doubt settled on both their faces.

“What do you mean……?”

“If I poke around here and there, the person who caused this incident will reveal themselves again.”

As though he had realized my intention, Dam Ak leaned forward.

“Are you saying you will serve as bait?”

“Yes.”

Dam Ak and Cha Seok-du looked at each other.

Cha Seok-du chuckled.

“It will be dangerous. Will you be all right?”

Since I had already staked even my grandfather’s honor, there was no path back for me.

“I will resolve it.”

The only way to survive was to charge straight ahead.