Chapter 354: Chapter 354
The Orthodox Path and the Black Path.
The conflict between these two irreconcilable forces began three hundred years ago.
That is to say, two hundred years after the Murim Alliance was formed. An era when the Orthodox Path and the Black Path were not yet clearly distinguished.
At the time, the Murim Alliance had not fully resolved the doubts surrounding its very reason for existence.
The Seven Sects, which had been the Alliance’s core, were already wielding influence as the representative sects of their respective regions–and even their provinces–with or without the Murim Alliance.
The Alliance itself was deteriorating into little more than a social gathering that did nothing but collect money from individual sects.
In fact, during this period, the Murim Alliance maintained exchanges not only with the Seven Sects but also with the Three Great Clans–the predecessor of the Five Great Clans–and the Three Sects and One Gang, which represented the Black Path. Even the Green Forest and waterway strongholds frequented the Murim Alliance as casually as one might visit a tavern.
There was no power of enforcement. It served merely as a forum for exchange.
From the perspective of the Seven Sects, who bore the actual financial burden, the Murim Alliance’s activities amounted to nothing more than squandering their own wealth to provide a playground for others.
Thus, the dissolution of the slowly crumbling Murim Alliance appeared to be the natural course of events.
Around that time, an incident occurred.
Gu Yang-geuk, a man of common origins who had risen to the ranks of an absolute master through his unique martial arts, killed Transcendent Divine Sword Ja-yang, the Alliance Leader at the time.
One might think that killing and being killed was hardly unusual for those who lived by the sword in the Central Plains, but the issue lay in their status.
In particular, the death of the Alliance Leader–a position that was, in truth, closer to the president of a social club–began to generate considerable ripples.
His duties had amounted to nothing more than hosting banquets, sharing wine and snacks, and making pleasantries. But in name, the Alliance Leader was the representative of all who claimed the Orthodox Path.
Since the Alliance Leader had been connected to the Wudang Sect by one degree, the Wudang Sect could not simply stand idle against the bereaved family’s outcry of injustice.
In the end, the Seven Sects issued a statement under the Murim Alliance’s name and sought to settle the matter by arresting Gu Yang-geuk and confining him in the Prison for several years.
He had been a man without an established faction, and his disposition hadn’t been entirely of the Orthodox persuasion, so the task hadn’t seemed particularly burdensome.
But the reaction was fierce.
The Three Sects and One Gang of the Black Path, as well as the Green Forest strongholds and wanderers, violently opposed the decision and began shielding Gu Yang-geuk.
What mattered most was that the opposition was “violent.”
The other side’s reaction was so extreme it seemed excessive, and those who had intended to brush the incident aside were gradually forced to harden their expressions.
They had their own dignity to maintain.
Having already pronounced the guilt, they could not reverse course now.
Moreover, the man Gu Yang-geuk had killed was the Alliance Leader. It was not something that could simply be overlooked.
Because of the Black Path’s fierce resistance, the Alliance’s ragtag organization could not act on its own.
To be precise, an investigation party composed of Wudang, Mount Hua, and Shaolin was assembled.
They went to Gu Yang-geuk’s residence and arrested him.
“So you’ve come.”
Gu Yang-geuk calmly acknowledged his offense and was escorted to the Murim Alliance under the investigation party’s custody.
The real problem came next.
As if to prove their resistance had been no bluff, the Black Path assembled a “rescue party” numbering more than five times the investigation party’s headcount and freed Gu Yang-geuk.
This farce that was beyond comedy threw the Seven Sects of the Murim Alliance into a state of alarm.
Having their prisoner snatched during escort meant this could no longer end with merely a loss of face.
After all, it was the Murim Alliance, led by the Orthodox Path, that had saved the Central Plains and brought peace in ages past, was it not?
But at the time, a spirit of freedom prevailed in the murim, and the Black Path’s forces were overwhelmingly larger. As a result, the Murim Alliance ultimately failed to punish Gu Yang-geuk.
And this incident became a wake-up call for the Murim Alliance–that is, for the Orthodox murim.
The Seven Sects began recruiting personnel for the Murim Alliance in earnest, sweeping out every Black Path member who had been freely wandering in and out of the Alliance.
The Seven Sects established the foundation for the current Nine Sects and One Gang.
They drew in the Jegal Clan and the Namgung Clan to supplement the Three Great Clans, forming the Five Great Clans and solidifying the Alliance’s base.
Then they launched full-scale war against the Black Path.
The colors that had been indistinct until then began to separate–vivid and sharp.
From the Righteous Path to the Orthodox Path. From the Unorthodox Path to the Black Path.
And the result was as it stood today.
Victory for the Orthodox Path, raised under the banner of “justice.”
“……And so began the long, dark history between the Black Path and the Orthodox Path.”
Even after Cheol Sun-jik finished his story, no real questions or answers followed.
Only a long silence.
Then, as if finding something odd, Seong Mo-ran asked.
“What does that story have to do with us being here……?”
Cheol Sun-jik shook his head lightly and added.
“The point is that the Orthodox and Black Paths were never that far apart. They were once close enough to stand side by side.”
He smiled reassuringly and nodded.
“So there’s no need to be frightened. There was a time when they shared cups of wine together in the Murim Alliance.”
Seong Mo-ran wore an incredulous expression.
“……That incident happened because Transcendent Divine Sword Ja-yang violated Gu Yang-geuk’s wife. And after that, didn’t the hatred only deepen over the past three hundred years after the Murim Alliance declared the Black Path its primary enemy?”
“Is it not time to break that cycle of hatred?”
At this forced, inconsistent logic, Seong Mo-ran tilted her head in bewilderment.
“……Didn’t you dislike Young Master Jin to begin with? Why are you going out of your way to speak on behalf of the one who threw us in the Prison?”
Cheol Sun-jik pondered quietly.
He wanted to know the answer to that himself.
[Keep them calm. Talk to them so they don’t panic.]
If only Jin So-un hadn’t said those words before they were locked up, there would have been no need for him to step forward.
But he was, after all, the Unit Leader of the Life-or-Death Unit.
Failing a mission given by one’s leader was a matter of pride.
“Whatever the case, at least we can rest comfortably in a safe space, can’t we?”
“Safe……you say?”
Seong Mo-ran ran her fingers along the iron bars separating their space from the next, cocking her head.
The jet-black color stood out–the bars appeared to be made of Black Iron, famed for its hardness.
While Cheol Sun-jik was mentally sorting through what to say next–
“Excuse me……”
Dang Gi-han, the Seventh Captain and the one whose face had been etched with worry since the moment they entered the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect, cautiously opened his mouth.
“These holes in the walls.”
He traced the holes with a vacant, imaginative gaze.
“They’re probably mechanisms for launching arrows.”
“……”
Cheol Sun-jik, who had been carefully choosing his words, felt his head ring like a struck bell.
The holes were packed across every wall inside the barred area.
If Dang Gi-han was right and this was a mechanism that could fire arrows simultaneously from every direction……
Everyone inside the Prison would be turned into pincushions.
After examining the holes, Cheol Sun-jik turned his gaze to Dang Gi-han.
“……You haven’t been to the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect before, so how can you be so certain?”
A sharper edge than he’d intended slipped into his words.
Keeping the people from panicking was his job right now.
The Unit Leader had gone off saying the leaders needed to have a talk, so for the time being, the responsibility fell to him as the one entrusted with full authority.
Revealing tragic information in this situation would only stir unrest.
But whether Dang Gi-han read his intent or not, the man kept talking.
Like a child excited over a problem he knew the answer to.
“And do you see those smaller holes above those?”
Tiny holes flickered in and out of view with each dance of the torch’s fire-shadow.
“Poison mist will probably pour from those.”
“……”
“Oh, the Tang Clan has facilities for the exact same purpose! They’re mainly used for confining demonic beasts brought in for research.”
So after risking their lives to escape the Black Forest, punching through the Demonic Reaches, and fighting off those creatures wielding bizarre arts–
The place they had arrived at was a Prison designed for demonic beasts.
“……”
What could he possibly say to keep people from panicking?
The very people who had been complaining of exhaustion and showing their physical limits were now wide-eyed with alarm, unable to hide their shock.
“Sigh……”
Murmuring swelled among the academy students.
Amid the clamor, words like “Are we going to die here?” and “Did we flee the fox only to walk into the tiger’s den?” drifted about.
Then.
CLANG—! CLANG—!
A warrior standing guard struck the iron bars and bellowed.
“Quiet! Quiet!”
At that stern voice and those cold eyes, the murmuring mouths snapped shut.
The attitude and actions of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect warriors were brimming not with goodwill, but hostility.
Seong Mo-ran whispered to Cheol Sun-jik.
“Is it really safe?”
“……”
Seong Mo-ran pulled away from Cheol Sun-jik and shrugged.
“Listening to Il-gak’s words of the Buddha would put me more at ease than your nonsensical history lesson.”
“……”
Cheol Sun-jik felt oddly aggrieved.
He found himself jealous of the bald…… no, of Il-gak, who had gone with Jin So-un to meet the Sect Leader of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect.
***
In Il-gak’s estimation, choosing the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect in this situation had been the lesser of evils.
First, coming here to evade those presumed to be Demonic Cult members was, in itself, not a bad decision.
With no means to request aid from a Murim Alliance branch, relying on a small-to-mid-sized sect would only cause even greater damage.
‘However……’
The Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect was a sect that even the great sects of the Murim Alliance regarded with wariness.
Because they dealt in poisons. And because they were as venomous as the Tang Clan itself.
Those who knew the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect’s fearsome reputation well would never have the nerve to set foot inside, no matter if their mortal enemy was hiding within.
In that regard, the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect could be considered the best possible choice. Yet the reason it remained the lesser evil was this:
The Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect utterly despised Orthodox sects.
No, their feelings went beyond mere dislike–they harbored outright hatred.
Dan Se-ung, who stood before him now, was branded an extremist even within the Black Path and was someone even fellow Black Path practitioners kept at arm’s length.
The speech he’d given long ago at his Sect Leader inauguration–“I will sweep away the Orthodox murim and turn the Central Plains into a Black Path murim”–had sent shockwaves through the entire murim for some time.
Il-gak still remembered his shock upon hearing that Jin So-un’s plan was to request aid from the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect.
Still, Jin So-un had visited the Black Thought Alliance before and had some connection to Black Path practitioners, so Il-gak had followed, trusting that the man had some card to play.
‘But how can a person’s face be so……’
That hope shattered the moment he saw Dan Se-ung’s face, which looked as if calamitous evil had been carved into it.
Moreover, watching the academy students get thrown into the Prison the moment they entered the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect was enough to convince him that Dan Se-ung intended to fulfill the declaration he’d made at his inauguration long ago.
-Unit Leader Jin, what do you plan to do?
Through the razor-sharp gazes of the stone-faced Dan Se-ung and his subordinates, Il-gak carefully sent a Sound Transmission.
Jin So-un’s eyes went wide as a rabbit’s.
-Why are you asking me? The person who suggested we come here should do the talking.
In that instant, Il-gak’s heart plummeted.
“Excuse me?”
So shocked was he that he forgot he’d been using Sound Transmission and spoke aloud.
“Ahem……!”
Dan Se-ung and the other figures of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect openly showed their displeasure.
Il-gak could not even wipe the sweat trickling down his scalp as he frantically sent a Sound Transmission.
-Wh-what do you mean?! Unit Leader Jin! Unit Leader Jin!
He called out to Jin So-un with desperate urgency, but Jin So-un pretended not to hear.
Then, Dan Se-ung, who had been scowling deeply, spoke.
“So you’ve come to ask the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect for room and board?”
His heavy voice rumbled low.
Though he spoke plainly, the way it reverberated through the entire great hall suggested some sort of mechanism was in place.
Jin So-un, who had been nonchalantly looking the other way until that moment, answered immediately.
“Yes.”
“Do you think the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect…… is some kind of inn?”
As expected, Dan Se-ung’s voice was laced with displeasure.
No–he appeared to be thoroughly incensed at being treated like an innkeeper.
Il-gak could not even begin to imagine how he might quell that man’s anger.
This was the sort of situation where Cheol Sun-jik’s quick thinking would have been far more useful……
He could not even fathom why he had been dragged…… no, why he was here.
All he could do now was trust.
Trust the Unit Leader he believed in and continued to believe in–Jin So-un.
“Look, you have to at least acknowledge that this is truly a dire situation.”
Could he really trust that man?
While Il-gak silently chanted sutras in his mind, Dan Se-ung’s voice rumbled low once more.
“Did you think I would believe such a preposterous story?”
“Then why did you let us in???”
That crazy…… no, did the Unit Leader just raise his voice……?
While Il-gak questioned his own ears–
“If you were going to refuse, you should have turned us away at the gate. Why get our hopes up only to do this?”
“……!!!”
This madm– no, Jin So-un was addressing the infamous extremist Dan Se-ung as though chatting with the man next door.
Il-gak was not the only one who sensed the irreverence in Jin So-un’s behavior.
Among the senior figures of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect gathered in the great hall, an uproar was brewing over whether to kill Jin So-un or not.
Dan Se-ung snorted as if in answer.
“Why did I let you in, you ask? I was thinking about how it might be if I executed all the academy students and sent them back to the Murim Alliance.”
“Amitabha……”
Il-gak’s expression turned oddly transcendent.
The Demonic Reaches and the Demonic Cult had failed to take his life, and yet it seemed it would be Jin So-un who cost him his head.
Then.
“Is that truly the extent of your ambition?”
“……Hm?”
Jin So-un’s voice rang clear and sharp through the great hall.
“I heard that when you were inaugurated as Sect Leader, you made the bold declaration that you would sweep away every Orthodox practitioner in the murim. Are you currently putting that plan into action?”
“……”
“Surely you don’t think that sending the academy students’ severed heads to the Murim Alliance will fulfill that vow of yours?”
“……At the very least, they would learn how fearsome the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect is.”
Jin So-un let out a small scoff.
“That’s just a band of murder-crazed lunatics. If you pull a stunt like that, people will only cling to the Murim Alliance all the more. ‘See? You can never deal with Black Path scum!’ They’ll say.”
“……”
“Three hundred years ago, the Murim Alliance consolidated and the Black Path was declared the enemy of the murim because, in the end, the banner of ‘justice’ belonged to the Murim Alliance.”
THUD—!
Dan Se-ung slammed his armrest, irritation dripping from his voice.
“So what of it!”
Jin So-un’s voice suddenly settled into calm.
Il-gak had heard that tone and seen that expression before.
Quite often, in fact.
And.
After Il-gak witnessed that look, bad things always followed.
Just like now.
“You experienced it yourself at the Black Thought Alliance. A new enemy is about to emerge in the murim. And they will be an existence that neither the Orthodox Path nor the Black Path can handle alone.”
“……”
“If we’re going to fight together anyway, wouldn’t the side that extends its hand first seize the initiative?”
After a brief silence, Dan Se-ung let out a mocking laugh.
“……The hypocrites of the Orthodox Path would never accept that hand so easily.”
“Then that’s even better.”
“Hm?”
For an instant, Dan Se-ung’s body leaned slightly forward.
Seizing the moment, Jin So-un likewise inclined himself toward Dan Se-ung.
“The Black Path extended its hand for the safety of the murim. But the self-righteous Orthodox Path slapped that hand away.”
Then, curling his lips into a grin, he added.
“Doesn’t that sound like a rather different picture from three hundred years ago?”
Dan Se-ung stared at Jin So-un with his mouth pressed shut.
“Terrifying, unimaginable enemies have appeared. But the Orthodox Path petulantly turns its back because it doesn’t want to join hands with the Black Path. People are dying, and the Black Path fights desperately. What picture does the murim see?”
As if in answer to Jin So-un’s question, Dan Se-ung murmured.
“The Orthodox Path…… would look foolish.”
“As expected, you understand perfectly.”
Il-gak had no idea what was happening.
One thing was certain: Dan Se-ung was gradually revealing a powerful desire.
“……”
Dan Se-ung brought his hands together, covering his mouth, and fell silent for a moment.
After a pause.
“But.”
His eyes flashed as he spoke.
“How am I to believe what happened to you is true? I find it hard to believe that such a large-scale force mobilized, and I find it even harder to believe you hunted a divine spirit.”
“That’s exactly why I brought him along.”
“Hm?”
Jin So-un’s hand pointed squarely at Il-gak.
“This is none other than Il-gak, a monk who has mastered the Tendon-Changing Classic of Shaolin Temple.”
Il-gak’s face twisted into a bizarre grimace.
Whether he cared or not, Jin So-un began looking around and announcing in a loud voice.
“Have you ever seen a monk of great Buddhist power tell a lie?”
“……”
Jin So-un introduced Il-gak to the crowd like a snake-oil peddler hawking his wares at a market.
“If anyone has ever seen a high monk of Shaolin Temple lie, step right up!”
But even Jin So-un’s bold proclamation drew only a tepid reaction.
Naturally, one could not distinguish truth from falsehood based on a person’s status or origin.
It was only natural that Il-gak, thinking “this is why he brought me here?”, wore an expression brimming with betrayal.
When even this much failed to stir the crowd, Jin So-un clicked his tongue.
“Tch, I even peddled Shaolin Temple’s name and they still don’t buy it.”
With a visibly regretful expression, Jin So-un reached into his robe and, after a moment, produced a single leather pouch.
“This is the gallbladder of a Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear. Please verify it.”
“!!!”
“!!!”
“!!!”
Every member of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect flinched in unison.
When Dan Se-ung gave a rigid nod, a warrior swiftly approached, took the item from Jin So-un’s hand, and carried it to Dan Se-ung.
“……!”
Dan Se-ung’s eyes went as wide as a rabbit’s upon examining what was inside the pouch.
“This size…… you truly hunted a Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear?”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
“The Spiritual Pill…… what about the Spiritual Pill?”
“There was no Spiritual Pill.”
“……That’s absurd……”
Jin So-un shrugged with a brazen face.
“If we’d had that, would we have fled so desperately?”
Just then, one of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect’s disciples cut in.
“Sect Leader, sir, records state that the essence of a Black Forest divine spirit is quite often very small or absent entirely.”
“Hmm…… is that so?”
Dan Se-ung wore a look of lingering regret, unable to tear his eyes from the bear gallbladder.
Then, Jin So-un flashed a playful smile.
“Oh, and that gallbladder is a gift I brought for you, Sect Leader. I’d be grateful if you’d accept it.”
“Hmm?”
“I was taught that one doesn’t visit someone’s home empty-handed.”
A brief stillness.
Then wild laughter erupted from Dan Se-ung’s mouth.
“Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! You were excellently raised in a fine sect, I see! Now I know why the Four Emperors Peak Lord is fond of you! Bwa ha ha ha ha!”
The moment Dan Se-ung broke into laughter, those who had been exuding a murderous aura began to show smiles, one by one.
When the laughter abruptly ceased, Dan Se-ung parted his lips with a solemn expression.
“Listen well. After a full three hundred years, an Orthodox guest has visited our Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect. Attend to them more graciously than any guest we have ever received.”
His subordinates answered in unison.
“””Yes!”””
Jin So-un looked at Il-gak and grinned.
“Worked out well. Good thing I brought the gallbladder.”
“……”
“What? What’s got you pulling that face?”
What’s got him pulling that face?
“Was there truly…… a need to peddle…… Shaolin Temple’s name?”
Jin So-un clicked his tongue, looking genuinely regretful.
“If Shaolin’s name had sold better, I wouldn’t have needed to give up the gallbladder. What a waste.”
“……”
“Oh, you guys need to do better. You’ve got no credibility, no credibility at all. Tsk.”
At Jin So-un’s shameless attitude, Il-gak could not close his mouth for a long while.