Chapter 420: Chapter 420
From the fundamental question about survival he had raised at the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect to now advocating outright for the elimination of Jin So-un.
And from Yong So-ah of all people.
Compared to my previous life, where he had not even been aware of my existence, I could feel to my marrow just how much my standing had changed in this one.
‘Not that it’s a good thing.’
Some might revel in the notion that infamy was still a form of fame, but I did not want so much as a speck of dishonor clinging to my name.
If someone was out there sharpening a blade for my neck, I would rather sneak in first and ram a knife through their heart before they got the chance.
I took another step toward Yong So-ah, who was still watching me in that silent, still way of his.
“On that note, we actually see eye to eye on something.”
And then I voiced, without restraint, something I had thought countless times in my previous life—right to his face.
“I also think the Murim Alliance can only survive if Yong So-ah dies.”
The Murim Alliance of my past life, which he had abandoned, flashed vividly through my mind.
The past where faithful pawns like me, who had believed in and followed him, were cast aside without a second thought.
“……”
And yet…… why was his expression so utterly unmoved after being told he needed to die?
Had he been cursed with death threats so many times that he was numb to them?
In any case, my words must have been quite a shock, given that he was silent for a good long while—
“That is an illogical claim. No matter how I consider it, there is no correlation between my death and the Murim Alliance.”
“……”
That was what he had been thinking about?
While I stood there, dumbfounded, Yong So-ah sighed softly as though he had expected as much.
“As I thought. Just a threat you blurted out in the heat of the moment.”
“No, I meant it. The Murim Alliance can only survive if you, Yong So-ah, die.”
Because that was exactly how the murim—the Murim Alliance—of my previous life had perished.
“There is nothing but despair ahead for a Murim Alliance led by you.”
“Groundless nonsense.”
Fair enough—he could not possibly imagine that one day he would disband the Murim Alliance with his own hands, flee to Bukhae, and create the Righteous Path Alliance.
“We’ll see about that in time.”
I took one more step forward, slid the Red Radiance Sword into its sheath, and assumed a Sword-Drawing Stance.
“Anyway, that’s not what today’s business is about, is it?”
At that, Yong So-ah tilted his head and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“……?”
This bastard had not so much as shifted the sword from behind his back, let alone taken a drawing stance.
I was the one who wanted to ask.
“What the hell are you doing? Didn’t you come here to kill me?”
For the first time, emotion flickered in Yong So-ah’s eyes.
A voice laden with pure, undiluted puzzlement came flying at me.
“Why would I kill you?”
“……?”
What?
“You are an uncertainty. And that entails countless dangers.”
Right, so isn’t that the same as saying you’ll kill me?
“……”
Hmm, or maybe not?
Not that it mattered either way.
Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven
First Form
Extreme Swiftness
Whatever nonsense he was spouting, I moved.
The Red Radiance Sword flashed from its sheath, sending a single streak of light across the space.
WHIIIIING——
I looked at the space where the blade had swept, the belated sound of splitting air trailing behind it.
‘How……?’
Once again, Yong So-ah had not suffered so much as a scratch.
No—there was a slight change.
A sliver of the front hem of his white uniform had been cut away.
But this situation made no sense whatsoever.
The experience at the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect, all the training since, the deeper and bolder swordplay, the next level of qi manipulation.
All of it combined—and all I had to show for it was the hem. A single hem.
“That rate of progress in such a short time.”
Yong So-ah looked down at the severed fabric. His voice remained flat.
And his utter lack of reaction now transcended the level of a wall and tipped into something bewildering.
‘What on earth……?’
Not even Hyeon-yeong, who had mimicked qi-driven sword control using Innate Energy, had felt this impossibly remote.
No—by now, I could not even gauge the nature of this remoteness.
It was not a difference in skill.
If anything, I was confident that I could make Yong So-ah feel threatened.
Then where did this vast, unfathomable distance come from?
“What the hell……”
Because I had overcome the Asura Gold-Shackling Jade-Shattering Formula and changed, I could feel it even more keenly.
The distance.
“What are you hiding?”
I had to ask, even knowing he would never answer.
“Jin So-un. You are an existence that generates a gap.”
Still nothing but incomprehensible drivel from Yong So-ah.
I had ascended to a level far beyond my previous life, yet the higher I climbed, the more the distance between us seemed to widen.
This nagging sense that I was missing something.
But—
‘So what?!’
I seized the resolve that had nearly buckled.
My enemy was more terrifying than Yong So-ah, mightier than the entire Murim Alliance, and capable of engulfing the whole murim in demonic flame—the Demonic Cult.
I could not afford to break here, against some conniving Wudang prodigy.
Great Heaven Sword Art
Breaking Strike Form
Fan-like blades spread outward, enveloping Yong So-ah’s perimeter.
The dozens of Illusion Swords—the same ones that had sent Wudang’s disciples spraying blood in droves, none daring to so much as think of resistance—
Illusion Swords vivid enough to be indistinguishable from reality swarmed and harassed Yong So-ah, seeding chaos.
‘Let’s see if you’re really that good in a real fight.’
Whatever he was hiding, in the chaos of a close-quarters melee, I refused to believe I would lose one-sidedly.
‘At least one arm!’
WHOOSH—
A flow of qi in the shape of the Taiji diagram formed around Yong So-ah, dissolving the entire storm of Illusion Swords in a single breath.
THUNK, THUNK, THUNK— THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK—
As lightly as if it could serve as a textbook titled How to Counter Taeul Sect Swordsmanship.
I kept my guard up, bracing for the counterattack that would surely follow, but—
“I did not come here to fight you.”
Yong So-ah still held his sword behind his back.
“If not that, then why are you here? These are your sect’s people, after all.”
“I am not brazen enough to cover up and defend wrongdoing.”
His gaze swept over the fallen Wudang members around them. A faint trace of contempt lingered at the corners of his eyes.
“Nor did I come alone.”
“……”
Just then, the firmly shut manor gates shook as if they might shatter.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Open up! You sons of bitches!”
“Open up or we break it down! And when this thing breaks, your skulls go with it!”
“I’ll kill you all…… I’ll kill every last one of you!!”
What? What was this barrage of vulgar profanity?
Had a Black Path sect launched a surprise attack?
That was the only reasonable assumption. No disciple of an Orthodox Path sect could possibly use language this coarse and savage.
A Wudang disciple cowering in a corner looked up at Yong So-ah, ashen-faced.
“Wh-what do we do?”
At a glance from Yong So-ah, the man crept to the main gate and cautiously opened it.
“You sons of bitches—!!!”
The owners of the filthy mouths kicked the gate so hard it nearly flew off its hinges and stormed inside.
And—
‘Ah……’
When I saw who they were, I could only lower my sword in silence.
They were none other than my precious— no. Just my juniors. The Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers.
“Where are you?! Wudang!!! You sons of bitches! You dare kidnap our Senior Brother Jin?!”
“Fuck! I swear, from this day forward! Wudang is the Mantongbu’s sworn enemy!”
“Eldest Senior Brother!!! Eldest Senior Brother!!!”
The instant they burst in, the three swept the area with murderous intent, ready to cut down anything their blades touched.
But soon enough, the carnage laid out before them stopped them in their tracks.
“Wh-what the……”
“What…… d-did a war break out?”
“Eldest Senior Brother! Eldest Senior Brother!!!”
Dong-ryong, bawling my name as though I had died, tears glistening in his eyes.
Then his gaze met mine—very much alive and standing—and his eyes went round.
“That was some very spirited cursing. Where on earth did you learn it?”
Had they been hanging around ruffians while I was away?
Geum-pyo cleared his throat before answering.
“From our senior brother, obviously…… Ahem.”
What?
Had Gye Cheol-yeong come back from the dead?
They had no senior brother other than me right now.
“……”
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence settled over the scene, utterly at odds with the devastation around us.
Eun-ho was the first to speak.
“……Don’t tell me you did all this by yourself, Eldest Senior Brother?”
I was not entirely sure what ‘all this’ referred to, but since everything that had happened here was my doing, I gave a modest nod.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t get hurt at all.”
I answered casually, trying to put them at ease, but Eun-ho’s face only grew more aghast.
“Why…… are you completely unhurt?”
“Excuse me?”
Before I could chide him for that being the wrong thing to focus on, Eun-ho’s head swiveled rapidly as he took in the scene, jaw dropping.
“Good heavens…… If you want a self-defense claim to hold up, you need at least a few scratches. Are you even human?”
Why does that kid keep getting weirder?
I ignored Eun-ho—who had apparently gone strange even before joining the Mantongbu—and looked at Geum-pyo.
“How did you know to come?”
“We received word from the Hao Gate.”
“Oh? The Hao Gate?”
They must have lost the trail partway through. Impressive that they had managed to keep tracking my whereabouts.
Choosing the Hao Gate over the Beggars’ Sect really had been the right call—
“SILENCE!!!”
A thunderous Lion’s Roar suddenly shook the entire manor.
The source of the deafening voice was the very Hall Master whose qi center had nearly been shattered moments ago.
“What are you standing around for?! Subdue those brats at once!”
The man who had been trembling like he was about to wet himself just moments ago…… had Yong So-ah’s arrival given him a hundred times his usual courage?
“Yong So-ah! You too! Subdue Jin So-un right now!”
Yep. Yong So-ah’s presence had given him courage all right.
“……”
But for some reason, Yong So-ah did not move. He merely fixed the Hall Master with a long, silent stare.
“What are you—”
“I am afraid that will not be happening.”
The one who stepped forward instead was Eun-ho.
He positioned himself calmly in front of the Hall Master.
“Because we’re the ones who brought him here.”
“What nonsens—”
“And I doubt any of you will be getting off easy either.”
“……?”
Eun-ho’s finger pointed at the main gate.
“The situation is already over.”
Immediately, the presence of warriors encircling the entire manor pressed in.
“So, you’re telling me you did all of this single-handedly?”
The craggy face of Jegal So-myeong appeared as he stepped boldly through the gates, trampling over the threshold.
With an army of Murim Alliance warriors at his back.
***
After the Dam Ak extraction operation concluded, the Taeul Sect contingent had headed straight for Hefei, where their sect was located.
Having clashed with the Diancang Sect and sustained injuries, they had no choice but to spend a full seven days focused on nothing but recovery.
During that time, Jin So-un had disappeared—and then, miraculously, they received word that he had resurfaced in Wuhan after a full fortnight.
Kang Chae-seok had sulked for days, lips jutting out five spans, over having been left out of the Diancang fight.
But since it was Kang Chae-seok’s own fault for failing Baek Hae-gwang’s test, no one paid him any mind.
A fortnight after returning to the Taeul Sect—
“……That’s strange.”
Something unusual began.
“Hmm, I wonder what brings them here.”
A single warrior with a sword at his hip stood rooted before the Taeul Sect’s gates, staring at the closed doors.
The Taeul Sect was officially under sealed gates.
The warrior surely knew they were not accepting visitors, yet he did not leave.
Kang Chae-seok, whose sulking had finally burned itself out, mentioned the matter to Baek Hae-gwang during training.
“It’s been two days now. What on earth could it be?”
Hong Mun-gi, who had by now transformed into an entirely different person, replied with pointed disinterest.
“He probably has his reasons.”
“Could he be a disciple who was expelled from the Taeul Sect long ago or something?”
“In all my years from childhood to now, not a single disciple has ever been expelled.”
“Fair point……”
The Taeul Sect had, in practice, been run more like a martial hall, and there had been few restrictions on disciples coming and going.
Even if a student left to train at another hall, no one had begrudged it.
If that hall happened to help with escort agency recruitment, they had actually praised the decision.
“Then what could it possibly be? Why does he keep lurking in front of us? It’s distracting.”
At Kang Chae-seok’s complaint, Sect Leader Hong replied while diligently working his body.
“Perhaps it is because you are not focusing on your training. If you had given it everything you had, you would be too exhausted to spare attention for anything else. Haaah!”
“……”
Somehow, the man’s warmth seemed to decrease by the day.
No—if anything, the sharp words had been increasing.
“Speaking of which,” Baek Hae-gwang, who had been listening nearby, tossed a remark into the air. “It seems a growing number of people have taken an interest in your recent activities.”
As if a stone had been dropped into a lake, the eyes of Hong Mun-gi and the other Hall Masters snapped wide open.
“Are you saying they have finally started to take notice of us?”
After the word had spread that the Taeul Sect had broken through Diancang and reached Anhui, they had been brimming with anticipation that their name would soon thunder across the land.
Kang Chae-seok’s excitement was met by a withering look from Baek Hae-gwang.
“That is not it. People are asking why a sect under sealed gates is engaging in so much outside activity.”
“……”
“There is a growing suspicion that the sealed gates are merely a means to dodge responsibility while reaping benefits.”
A fair point, given how significant their recent involvement had been despite the supposed seal.
“Then why is that man just standing in front of our gates?”
“I do not know that, but there is one thing I do know for certain.”
“What?”
Baek Hae-gwang grinned and tilted his head to the side.
“Break time is over.”
“……”
Kang Chae-seok, who had been trying to steal a bit more rest through conversation, sprang to his feet as if his backside were on fire.
***
“……He’s still there.”
Day four.
The man still stood before the Taeul Sect’s entrance without so much as twitching, staring fixedly at the gates.
Two more had now joined him, all glaring at the sect together.
And as Baek Hae-gwang had said, there was not a hint of goodwill in their bearing.
“Something’s going to happen, isn’t it?”
Day six.
The number of people staring at the Taeul Sect had grown again.
“T-ten?”
Not an enormously impressive number, but the sight of people in disparate attire united by a single shared emotion as they gazed at the sect was distinctly unsettling.
Hong Mun-gi decided to step out himself.
CREEEAK——
The gates of the Taeul Sect swung open.
Hong Mun-gi planted himself at the entrance with a commanding stride.
If they had come to do the Taeul Sect harm, then regardless of who they were, he had resolved to stand at the very front.
“I am Hong Mun-gi, Sect Leader of the Taeul Sect.”
The visitors fixed their imposing gazes upon the sect leader.
Just as Hong Mun-gi opened his mouth to speak again—
“We pay our respects to the Sect Leader.”
They pressed their hands together in unison and bowed to Sect Leader Hong Mun-gi.
“……!”
“……!”
Behind him, the Taeul Sect members who had been watching trembled faintly.
It was the first time any of them had ever received the courtesy of an unsolicited bow as members of the Taeul Sect.
While the others wore stunned, vacant expressions, unable to hide their surprise, Hong Mun-gi replied with composure.
“I do not know what business brings you to our sect. However, the Taeul Sect’s gates are currently sealed. Please forgive us for being unable to receive guests properly, and I ask that you return. Our younger members are growing uneasy.”
At his words, the man at the front—the very first to have taken up his post before the gates—stepped forward and bowed once more.
“I am a man surnamed Jang, from Shandong. Might I put a question to Sect Leader Hong?”
“You may.”
“Your words contain an inconsistency, Sect Leader. You say the Taeul Sect’s gates are sealed, yet did the sect not fight a battle with the Diancang Sect in Hubei just weeks ago? One might argue the seal has already been broken.”
Those behind him nodded in unison.
“That was a chance encounter on our way back to Anhui. One cannot call that the commencement of activity in the murim.”
“But even setting that aside, the Taeul Sect has been heavily involved in outside affairs through the Great Heaven Merchant Guild and similar ventures. If you hide behind the pretext of sealed gates to shirk responsibility while taking only the benefits, the people of the murim will point their fingers and call you wretched.”
“……!!!”
“……!”
The Taeul Sect members bristled and moved to step forward at the shifting tone, but Hong Mun-gi raised a hand to hold them back.
“I appreciate your concern for the Taeul Sect’s reputation. However, that, too, is the Taeul Sect’s affair. It is not yours to worry about.”
“That is where circumstances have changed.”
“What do you mean?”
The man who had introduced himself as Jang produced an envelope from his breast and tossed it to Hong Mun-gi.
At the gesture, the Taeul Sect members scowled—then their eyes flew wide.
The envelope, which should have been carried away by the wind and fallen to the ground, sailed straight to Hong Mun-gi, defying the breeze.
TAP.
“……”
Hong Mun-gi’s expression grew complicated as he caught it.
The ability to manipulate qi in such a way was proof that this man was no mere ruffian looking for trouble.
In any case, the envelope likely contained the reason for his visit.
He tore it open and read the contents. His brow furrowed sharply.
“A martial duel…… challenge?”
At that, everyone around him bared their Fighting Spirit without pretense.
“It is not only the people gathered here. As we speak, many martial artists from across the Jiangbei region are making their way here to hold the Taeul Sect accountable for its transgressions.”
“……”
“Remaining hidden behind sealed gates will not last much longer.”
A storm had begun to descend upon Anhui.