Chapter 68: Chapter 68
Martial Alliance Headquarters, the Disciplinary Hall.
Glaring at Cheol Ji-ak across the table, Disciplinary Hall Master Chu Pung-gae spoke.
“Ji-ak.”
“Yes, Hall Master.”
Cheol Ji-ak’s hands were bound in iron gauntlets, yet he was dignified. That was because he had committed no wrongdoing.
At that sight, Chu Pung-gae spoke in a voice mixed with a sigh.
“Few in this interrogation room have had their limbs and teeth remain intact. I am showing you goodwill.”
“Yes.”
Cheol Ji-ak also knew. Aside from his rising anger, he knew that the Disciplinary Hall Master was protecting him.
The Disciplinary Hall was an organization that created, refined, and enforced Alliance law.
Naturally, being summoned to the Disciplinary Hall’s interrogation room meant they had already gathered sufficient circumstances.
Not only were the methods of interrogation generally violent, but unorthodox means were sometimes mobilized as well.
For instance, after discovering the location of one’s family, they might threaten them through that, or coax them gently with falsehoods. There were times when teeth or fingernails were extracted raw, and in extreme cases, they brought in an expert of lightning arts to strike lightning into their head.
However, Chu Pung-gae had not touched Cheol Ji-ak or Zhuge Rin in the slightest.
“First, because I trust you. Others tease you as a perpetual squad leader, but having watched you for that long, I know you better than anyone. You are not a fellow who would sell his convictions for money.”
Strictly speaking, even saying such words was an act unfitting for a Disciplinary Hall Master. That was because the Disciplinary Hall fundamentally operated on the principle of treating anyone who entered the interrogation room as a criminal.
However, because he knew Cheol Ji-ak, he could not do so. At any rate, all these matters were things conducted between human beings.
“Second, because all the circumstances are far too perfect.”
The circumstances of Cheol Ji-ak embezzling the treasure map and selling it to the unorthodox Xiangyang Society. Not to mention the ledger, the process was far too crystal clear. Furthermore, the treasure map, the core of this incident, had also been discovered recently.
From the Xiangyang Society’s fugitive chief manager, that is.
The chief manager committed suicide the moment he was captured. What a dead person could leave behind was not words, but circumstances. In that way, the newly revealed circumstances pointed once more to Cheol Ji-ak.
The timing was far too opportune, and far too perfect.
Having investigated and unraveled countless cases, Chu Pung-gae conversely considered it suspicious for that very reason.
It was as if someone of an arrogant disposition was asking, ‘When I have done this much, how could you not make an arrest?’
Because of that, Chu Pung-gae felt a strange revulsion. If there was someone’s calculated intention in this matter, it meant the Disciplinary Hall was faithfully dancing to that intention.
“At any rate, for that reason, I will not lay a hand on you. However…”
In that instant, Chu Pung-gae’s gaze sank low.
Even while interrogating the squad leader and vice squad leader, the Disciplinary Hall was tenaciously investigating and digging into the case on the other hand.
“If the investigation results ultimately point to you in the end, I doubt I could ever forgive you.”
“Yes.”
Cheol Ji-ak nodded calmly. It was a confidence that only one without the slightest falsehood could display.
Around the time Chu Pung-gae let out a sigh at that sight.
“H-Hall Master!”
A hall member entered in a noisy flurry.
He was one of the fellows sent to pursue the fugitive Cheon Woo-jin.
Approaching, the hall member checked Cheol Ji-ak’s presence.
“It is fine, speak.”
Once the hall master’s order fell, the hall member spoke.
“That, while pursuing Cheon Woo-jin this time, we captured a man along the way. A martial artist bastard who used Heaven-Shaking Thunder…”
He explained the entire process in clear detail.
Arriving at the vacant lot while chasing Cheon Woo-jin’s traces.
The mysterious man and Heaven-Shaking Thunder discovered in the empty lot.
All the way to how, upon escorting him to the Alliance and interrogating him, his identity turned out to be the Shadowless Divine Thief.
“What? The Shadowless Divine Thief?”
Chu Pung-gae’s eyes narrowed. The Shadowless Divine Thief was someone counted among the public enemies by the Alliance. Because he rarely harmed people, his grade was not high, but looking at his ability alone, he was a bastard who could well be included in the Second Grade.
Chu Pung-gae’s piercing gaze sank endlessly.
“The situation has grown severe.”
Capturing a public enemy was good for the Alliance.
However, that an escaped Alliance member had begun employing martial force was not a welcome matter.
After pondering, Chu Pung-gae finally spoke.
“I shall step forward personally. Furthermore, elevate the operation from a Third-Grade pursuit team to a Second-Grade Pursuit-and-Kill Squad.”
“Hall Master, what are you saying!”
Cheol Ji-ak let out a roar of outrage.
Unlike a pursuit team that stopped at chasing and capturing, a Pursuit-and-Kill Squad aimed to kill its target.
What was more, a Pursuit-and-Kill Squad personally led by Disciplinary Hall Master Chu Pung-gae was famous for having never once failed in its mission.
Chu Pung-gae looked at Cheol Ji-ak with a chilly gaze.
“Listen, Ji-ak. An armed squad member whose movement was prohibited under Alliance law fled voluntarily. On that alone, Cheon Woo-jin is a criminal. Yet he has begun using martial force. What is more, he possesses martial prowess outstanding enough to subdue the Shadowless Divine Thief.”
A criminal who escaped from the Martial Alliance was running rampant with outstanding martial prowess. Naturally, the Disciplinary Hall had to set aside all other matters and prioritize capturing and executing him above all else.
“However…!”
Cheol Ji-ak tried to say something, but the Disciplinary Hall Master shook his head. It had gone too far to turn back.
Putting on his robe, the Disciplinary Hall Master spoke to his subordinate.
“Raise the surveillance level on the Black Tortoise Squad Leader and Vice Squad Leader. In particular, since the Black Tortoise Squad Leader is a fellow at risk of taking unexpected action for his subordinate, accompany him with experts.”
“Yes, understood.”
Receiving the order, the hall member glanced sideways at Cheol Ji-ak. The Black Tortoise Squad Leader was a man with outstanding external arts. If such an enormous expert of external arts made up his mind to take unexpected action, it would become quite troublesome.
* * *
Whether the Martial Alliance was turned upside down or not, Cheon Woo-jin was walking along leisurely.
He had shaken off the Alliance’s pursuers long ago.
“The Three Eccentrics of the Righteous Path.”
Cheon Woo-jin spoke those words for no particular reason, turning the pronunciation over in his mind.
He had heard tales of the Three Eccentrics revered by the Righteous Path several times before.
That was because White Elder, his master who was called the White Flower Sword Immortal, was one of the Three Eccentrics.
‘If it is Master’s secret cave…’
Perhaps he might obtain a clue regarding his masters’ deaths.
As Alliance Leader Bukli Cheon said, the deaths of his two masters were indeed a bit strange. There was no way that two experts possessing such martial prowess passing away on the very same day at the exact same hour could be a coincidence.
If so, why had he not felt anything strange back then?
It was because to Cheon Woo-jin, who had only ever lived in the mountains, the words of his two masters were absolute truth. His masters had known the precise date of their departure long before.
He had never harbored doubt about his masters’ words. If the two of them said it was so, it simply was so.
However, since descending from the mountain, he had met many people and encountered diverse events.
Thinking back on it now, his masters’ deaths certainly had something suspicious about them.
Around the time Cheon Woo-jin was walking along with his hands clasped behind his back.
A barrage of rock debris rained down from up ahead.
Cheon Woo-jin evaded it with light steps. Turning his head to look behind, the rocks that had flown endlessly shattered and scattered with sharp thuds.
Cheon Woo-jin was walking vertically up the cliff.
‘It is remarkably steep.’
The location of the secret cave the Shadowless Divine Thief had shared was a basin in Jiulong County. Surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs, it seemed it could become a heaven-blessed fortress depending on its use.
Ordinary experts would struggle even to approach it, and from a certain point onward, not even animals could be seen.
Just how long had he walked like that?
Cheon Woo-jin’s world tilted once more. To be precise, his footsteps that were treading the cliff transitioned onto the level ground atop the cliff.
Before the eyes of Cheon Woo-jin, who had climbed up, quite a wondrous landscape unfolded. Untouched by human hands, vegetation grew lush, and only winged creatures like bees and birds were enjoying this nature.
Cheon Woo-jin moved his steps slowly. Even though he passed right nearby, birds did not startle and flee. That was because Cheon Woo-jin’s realm had already reached a level of assimilating with nature.
“It’s over there.”
There was no need to search separately. That was because an alien streak of energy amid nature was wafting as if pulling him toward it.
Following that energy, Cheon Woo-jin continued moving deep into the vegetation.
* * *
“…”
Soon, he stood quietly before a massive cave.
Without anything obstructing it, it was wide open.
The energy leaking from inside spread outside the cave, naturally harmonizing with the energy of nature.
“It wasn’t Master.”
It was different from White Elder’s energy. It had a feeling slightly softer and calmer than that.
Cheon Woo-jin slowly advanced. Because the cave was quite deep, darkness descended in an instant, but such a thing posed no problem.
Reaching its end, a vast cavernous space appeared, filled with quite magnificent energy. While it held little significance to him, if martial artists such as Song Yi-yeon or Zhuge Rin trained here, it would be of immense help.
Suddenly, he saw characters written in flowing brushwork upon the cavern wall.
Cheon Woo-jin’s mouth parted slightly.
Though he rarely showed surprise, this time he could not remain nonchalant.
Cheon Woo-jin.
It was because his very own name was written there.
Beneath the wall lay an iron box of dark hue.
It was locked so it could not be opened, but when he channeled energy into it just in case, it clicked and unlocked.
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin lifted his head and gazed once more at his name written on the wall.
Except for his master, he had never met the other Three Eccentrics. Yet this secret cave was unmistakably a place prepared for him.
In the first place, even if someone else discovered this location, they would never be able to open the iron box even by force.
That was because it was an iron box crafted from Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron, the material of the Crescent Moon Staff and known to be harder than Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at the contents inside the iron box with a puzzled heart.
The composition was simple, but through it, one could instantly discern who the owner of this secret cave was.
“Divine Beggar Man Gi-ja.”
Cheon Woo-jin took out a red knot from the iron box. It was the artifact symbolizing Man Gi-ja, the former Sect Leader of the Beggars’ Sect and one of the Three Eccentrics of the Righteous Path.
Man Gi-ja was truly an eccentric figure.
As the person with the most occupations under the heavens…
Fundamentally, befitting the Sect Leader of the Beggars’ Sect, he was a beggar, yet he also roamed villages performing divination and fortune-telling, while simultaneously being an avatar of records who left behind the most books.
In addition, he researched martial arts as a martial scholar in the Martial Alliance, was sometimes a craftsman creating ingenious weapons, and was even known to have served as an astronomer in the Imperial Palace during his youth.
Befitting his name, Man Gi-ja was truly a man proficient in all disciplines.
Why would such a man leave something like this for him?
Cheon Woo-jin looked into the iron box with a perplexed mind.
Aside from the Crimson Knot, two letters lay inside. A letter left for the Beggars’ Sect, and a letter left for Cheon Woo-jin.
Without reading the letter left for the Beggars’ Sect, Cheon Woo-jin tucked it into his bosom and looked at the letter bearing his name.
A letter left by an eccentric whose face he did not even know.
It was something that naturally stirred his interest.
The instant Cheon Woo-jin was about to unfold the letter.
“…”
A sign of human presence was sensed outside.
There was no one who would visit atop such a steep cliff by coincidence.
Withdrawing his qi, Cheon Woo-jin stood quietly in the deepest part of the cave and looked toward the entrance.
Soon, a man stood at the entrance.
“Well now, so this place is…!”
Unaware of Cheon Woo-jin’s presence, he looked around before slowly walking inward.
There were not many who would appear in this place.
‘It is either a pursuit team from the Martial Alliance chasing me, or the one who obtained the treasure map from the Shadowless Divine Thief.’
The likelihood of the former was not great. If it was the latter, that person would be the mastermind behind this affair.
Gripping his Crescent Moon Staff within the pitch-black silence, Cheon Woo-jin quietly watched the approaching man.
Thud, thud. His footsteps echoed softly.
“Wh-what…”
Soon, the man who had arrived in the depths only then confirmed Cheon Woo-jin’s presence and halted his steps.
However, to pull back his steps now, the distance between the two was far too close.