Chapter 148. Those Wearing Black Masks (7)
The Splitting Light Five Ghosts Sword Formation stopped one inch away from Jin So-un’s nape, and the middle-aged man of Diancang ground his teeth as he searched for the leader among those standing on the wall.
“Who is it? Who dares interfere with Diancang’s affairs!”
At the middle-aged man’s shout, the warriors looked toward one point.
“It has been a long time, Senior Splitting Light One Star.”
At the sight of the woman lightly descending from the wall and performing a clasped hands greeting, Splitting Light One Star ground his teeth.
“Since when has the Namgung Clan stood above Diancang?”
The Namgung Clan.
Moreover, men in martial arts uniforms bearing the mark of the Firmament Unit were examining the inside of the estate with stern eyes.
“The Namgung Clan has never stood above Diancang.”
“Then how do you intend to explain this situation?”
“…….”
Splitting Light One Star pointed his sword at Jin So-un.
“Jin So-un wore a mask and inflicted irreparable damage on a disciple of Diancang inside the Yuwol Sect’s estate. Have you stepped forward to defend this?”
Namgung Seon-hwa, who had been looking at Jin So-un, nodded slightly and said,
“Of course not. I merely came here to investigate the disappearance cases occurring in Yueyang.”
“…….”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s words, Splitting Light One Star’s eyebrow trembled, and he turned his gaze toward the Yuwol Sect warriors.
“…….”
One of the Yuwol Sect warriors shook his head slightly, and at that, Splitting Light One Star composed his expression and glared at Namgung Seon-hwa.
“What does that mean? Disappearance cases occurring in Yueyang?”
“If you have been in Yueyang, Senior, you must have heard about those committing murder and abduction while calling themselves the Demonic Cult. We came out to investigate those people.”
“You are saying that is…… the Yuwol Sect?”
“At present, yes.”
“Are you aware that the Yuwol Sect is a lay-affiliated martial sect of Diancang when you say that?”
To insult a lay-affiliated martial sect was the same as insulting Diancang.
Splitting Light One Star was now asking Namgung Seon-hwa whether she could bear the weight of Diancang.
“They committed evil acts and hid their shame by calling themselves the Demonic Cult. What matters right now is not whether they are Diancang’s lay-affiliated martial sect.”
“Answer me! Are you acting like this while knowing that the Yuwol Sect is Diancang’s lay-affiliated martial sect!”
At Splitting Light One Star’s voice, as harsh as frost, Namgung Seon-hwa glared at him for a moment.
“…….”
If she was pushed back now, a massive backlash would blow in.
She absolutely could not retreat.
“……I know that very well.”
“Good. We will determine right and wrong in this matter through the Murim Alliance. I will certainly receive compensation not only for the current situation, but also for crippling a disciple of Diancang.”
At Splitting Light One Star’s words, Namgung Seon-hwa’s face stiffened.
If they took this matter to the Murim Alliance now, it was obvious that the evidence would be destroyed.
Moreover, for some reason, if they brought up the fact that Jong Byeok-gi had been badly injured as well, then a proper investigation would be as good as gone.
At that moment, Jin So-un, who was surrounded by the Splitting Light Five Ghosts Sword Formation, removed his mask and said,
“What reason is there to go all the way to the Murim Alliance?”
At So-un’s voice, which was full of composure, Splitting Light One Star’s lips trembled.
“You shut your mouth. Separate from this matter, the damage Junior Brother Jong suffered will be repaid with your teacher’s sect’s blood.”
“That will not happen. Diancang must first take responsibility for the incident where its disciple called himself the Demonic Cult.”
“You bastard!”
Splitting Light One Star burned with killing intent as if he would explode at any moment.
“It would be better if you did not.”
Namgung Seon-hwa’s low voice.
“What?”
“I am telling you to stop if you intend to kill us to silence us. Our Namgung Clan is not that weak.”
A cold chill settled on Namgung Seon-hwa’s face, though he had thought her only a naive person who knew nothing.
Splitting Light One Star briefly flinched at that appearance, then steeled his heart again and gritted his teeth.
“All of you, that one…….”
However, Splitting Light One Star could not finish his words.
A leisurely voice heard from somewhere cut him off.
“Now, now, let us stop there. What are members of the same Murim Alliance family doing?”
Five men crossed over the gate.
The face wearing the Murim Alliance uniform was someone Splitting Light One Star knew well.
“Yueyang Branch Chief…….”
“It has been a while, Brother Song. You said you would quietly rest and leave Yueyang, but it seems that was not quite the case.”
“How did you come here…….”
“Naturally, I came out to investigate after hearing that there were people impersonating the Demonic Cult.”
Splitting Light One Star glared at Namgung Seon-hwa as if he would kill her.
The situation was flowing in an unfavorable direction.
After the Demon Spirit Plateau incident, the Yueyang Branch Chief who had belonged to the Wudang Sect resigned, and the one newly seated in that position was a person of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
If the scales tilted, they would clearly tilt toward the Five Great Clans.
“Branch Chief, in a grave situation like this, we cannot respond to an investigation carelessly without receiving permission from the Main Mountain.”
“Of course, that would be so. But can you not cooperate with an investigation at least?”
“This is an insult to our blood ally, the Yuwol Sect, and to Diancang.”
“Ah, now what should we do about this…….”
While the Yueyang Branch Chief was scratching his head,
“I think I can help with that.”
When they looked toward the direction the voice had come from, it was Jin So-un, who was inside the Splitting Light Five Ghosts Sword Formation.
“Hm? And you are?”
“I am Jin So-un, Academy Representative of the Murim Academy.”
“Ah, so you were Jin So-un? I heard about you from Seo-hui until my ears hurt.”
Jin So-un wore a flustered expression.
“……About me?”
“Yes. That quiet child chattered away, so I thought I should meet you someday. And now we meet in a place like this……. At any rate, what did you mean by saying you can help?”
“First…… if you release Miss Seong Mo-ran, you can learn about the case without investigating this place.”
“Is that so?”
At first, the warriors of Diancang did not try to step back, but under the pressure of the Murim Alliance members, they eventually had no choice but to withdraw one by one.
As soon as she was released, Seong Mo-ran crossed over the wall and entered the forest, then appeared carrying a pale-faced woman on her back.
“This person is Jang Seol-yeon. She was imprisoned in the basement of this estate.”
———–.
A heavy silence drifted through the area for a long while.
Jin So-un looked down at Jong Byeok-gi, who was writhing on the ground, and opened his mouth.
“I came here to find Miss Jang. I met Jong Byeok-gi here and explained the situation to him, but he attacked me as if he had been caught as the mastermind behind this matter. I merely responded.”
As if So-un’s claim was absurd, a Yuwol Sect warrior shouted angrily.
“Do not lie! You attacked Young Master Jong without saying anything!”
Jin So-un smiled a disgusting smile.
“Whether my words are true or not can be determined by examining the basement of that warehouse over there. That was where Miss Jang was found.”
“Ah……!”
Only then did the Yuwol Sect warriors realize their mistake.
However, words that had already been spoken could not be taken back.
By this point, neither the warriors of the Diancang Sect nor Splitting Light One Star could obstruct the proceedings.
While the Firmament Unit and the Diancang Sect faced off, the Murim Alliance members quickly opened the warehouse and entered.
And a moment later…….
“Huh?”
“Here…….”
“People…… People are imprisoned here!”
At the shouts of the Murim Alliance members examining the warehouse basement, the Branch Chief looked at Splitting Light One Star.
“…….”
It was a question of whether Diancang was also involved.
Splitting Light One Star’s face turned bright red, and he spread his inner arts in every direction.
Boom, boom, boom.
His martial arts uniform swelled as if it would burst, and his killing intent drew out the warriors’ tension.
“Everyone, prepare!”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s shout, the warriors of the Firmament Unit also raised their swords all at once and prepared for battle.
The children of the Taeul Sect, including So-un, also unfolded the White Tiger Sure-Kill Sword Formation again and prepared for battle.
At that moment, Splitting Light One Star flew toward the Yuwol Sect warriors like an arrow.
“How dare you commit such acts in Diancang’s name!”
The ones who were flustered were the Yuwol Sect warriors…….
“G-Great Hero! To begin with, this matter was ordered by Diancang…….”
“Shut up! What are you doing! These are people who dared defile Diancang while inside Diancang’s bosom!”
No sooner had Splitting Light One Star finished speaking than the warriors of Diancang began cutting down the Yuwol Sect warriors.
“Kraagh!”
“S-save……!”
“Save me!”
The people of the Namgung Clan did not even have time to stop them.
The gestures were so violent and decisive that they could not stop them, nor even think to stop them.
It was a scene of one-sided and overwhelming slaughter.
The dying warriors of the Yuwol Sect all looked at the warriors of Diancang with resentful eyes, but the warriors of Diancang looked at them as if they were insects.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
The Yueyang Branch Chief, who had somehow approached Jin So-un’s side, spoke.
“What truly cruel justice.”
The intention behind those words could not be known, but for some reason, Jin So-un thought those words were not wrong.
Jang Do-won was a truly strong person.
When he came to the Murim Alliance in my previous life.
The masters of the Jianghu, whose eyes had turned because of the Fifteen Divine Armaments he had made, tried to make him create divine armaments of their own through him, but it did not work.
There were those who placed blades against his throat, and even those who directly used violence, yet Jang Do-won did not yield.
It had been a time when everyone wondered whether such strength could exist in a person who did not possess even a handful of inner arts.
“Ugh…… Huuugh…….”
Now that same Jang Do-won was shedding tears endlessly.
He embraced his granddaughter, whose existence even I had not known of, and wept for a long while.
“Let us give them space.”
They likely needed time to release the anxiety they had felt about losing each other and fully enjoy the joy of reunion.
The hostages who had been captured were sent home after a brief investigation.
The Murim Alliance tried to step forward for the sake of those who were anxious, but before that, Diancang had already stepped forward and sent the hostages home with the utmost care.
“Why did Diancang step forward so deliberately? In the end, they were the ones who committed this, were they not?”
“What else could it be but a thief’s guilty conscience?”
They had cut off the tail and pinned the blame on the Yuwol Sect, but with the Murim Alliance at the center, everyone had come to know Diancang’s rotten true face.
It was obvious that their prestige would quietly sink lower and lower as time passed.
As Diancang was leaving, I had a chance to meet privately with Splitting Light One Star.
Splitting Light One Star looked at me and ground his teeth.
“Jin So-un, I will not forget what happened today.”
“Should you not naturally remember it?”
“……What?”
“Did I not catch the person who dirtied Diancang’s name from within Diancang? Naturally, this is a situation where you should give me a reward. Is that not so?”
“…….”
Splitting Light One Star’s two eyes trembled violently.
“Surely Diancang, of all sects under heaven, is not going to receive help from a blood ally and simply let it pass? I cannot believe it. Goodness, tsk…….”
Splitting Light One Star’s eyes trembled beyond measure, and now even his lips were trembling.
At that moment, the Yueyang Branch Chief passed by, saw the two of us, and stopped.
“Are you two still fighting?”
“No, Senior Splitting Light One Star was trying to pretend nothing happened after receiving my help, so I was arguing with him a little. I did not know that Diancang under heaven was this petty.”
“…….”
The Yueyang Branch Chief also looked at me with eyes not much different from Splitting Light One Star’s.
“Well, I do not expect much. I used a lot of energy in this matter, so please send me a Spiritual Medicine. Do not put in poison while trying to assassinate me for no reason.”
The Yueyang Branch Chief’s gaze moved from me to Splitting Light One Star.
“Will you send it?”
“……Diancang.”
Splitting Light One Star spoke while forcing down his boiling rage.
“……does not forget grace or resentment.”
After saying that, Splitting Light One Star turned away sharply.
Just as I was about to turn around after leaving a mocking smile at his back,
“You should see me for a moment.”
“What is this about?”
The Yueyang Branch Chief moved first without even answering.
No, if a person asks, can he not at least answer?
So the inside story was this.
Yueyang had long been a place where someone from Wudang had served as Branch Chief.
Because of that, despite having a lay-affiliated sect of Diancang, Yueyang had been strongly influenced by Wudang.
However, when the Wudang Branch Chief lost power and disappeared because of the Demon Spirit Plateau incident, Diancang tried to seize Yueyang again.
But what happened then?
The Black Path Murim, including the Black Axe Palace, which had been gritting its teeth and living with bated breath while Wudang was present, began acting freely. Since it was difficult for Diancang to seize Yueyang with only two sects, they had gone so far as to mention the “Demonic Cult” to reorganize Yueyang.
“Why did you do nothing all this time when you knew so much?”
After hearing the Murim Alliance Branch Chief tell me the inside story, I asked in disbelief.
The Yueyang Branch Chief scratched his head roughly as if wondering what I was talking about and said,
“Do you think I did nothing because I did not want to?”
“And why are you not conducting an additional investigation?”
“An investigation? Do you think we will be the ones to do that?”
“…….”
“Diancang has already moved. They revealed that the mastermind behind this incident was the Yuwol Sect and raided the Yuwol Sect.”
Not even a full day had passed since the incident.
“They are fast.”
“Well, were they not prepared to run at any time?”
“You do not seem surprised.”
“Is that not how justice in the Jianghu is generally maintained?”
After saying that, the Branch Chief walked to one side of his office.
The Branch Chief’s office was filled with strange devices.
When the Branch Chief lit the oil bottle placed on one side of the device, the instruments made from metal and wood began operating with creaks and the sound of a wound spring.
The fire lit from the oil bottle heated the cup placed above it, and the steam rising from the cup seemed to be the principle that moved the machine.
In the end, fragrant tea flowed from the end of the machine with a trickling sound.
The Branch Chief held out two cups of tea.
I quietly smelled the fragrance of the tea and took a sip. A fragrant tea scent lingered in my mouth.
“This is delicious…… Is it a special tea?”
“It is just ordinary Longjing tea. With tea, how one brews it is more important than the quality of the tea.”
After drinking about half his tea, the Branch Chief stared closely at the steam rising from the tea and muttered as if to himself.
“Justice is similar. Depending on how one uses it, it can produce either a muddy taste or a clear taste.”
“…….”
“You do not look as if you agree.”
“Muddy justice can no longer be called justice.”
“Is that so?”
Perhaps he had no intention of debating it, because the Branch Chief scratched his head roughly again.
“At any rate, you worked hard in this matter. Thanks to you, my term will be extended a little longer. It had been giving me a headache for a while.”
Feeling somewhat frustrated, I asked again.
“Did you not intend to resolve it yourself?”
The Demonic Cult.
To impersonate the Demonic Cult.
At this point, it was not that they had big guts; they simply had two of them.
And this calm Branch Chief had been watching from afar despite knowing that.
“I did.”
“Then?”
“I was blocked immediately. By Diancang.”
“…….”
“The position of Murim Alliance Branch Chief is strange like this. At times, it is absolute power, while at other times, it is nothing more than a scarecrow.”
“…….”
“If I had drawn in the strength of a clan, I might have been able to confront them, but I had no confidence in resolving it. If it had not been someone like you, this was not something that would have been resolved to begin with.”
After scratching his head roughly, he spoke.
“At any rate, thanks to you, it was resolved cleanly all at once, so Yueyang should become a little quieter for a while.”
“Still, should you not step forward a little?”
“Me? Why?”
“Will Diancang not target me because of this matter?”
At my dissatisfied voice, the Branch Chief smiled brightly for the first time.
“Goodness, you prepared your own escape route and now ask me to make one for you?”
“…….”
“Half-killing Jong Byeok-gi was partly because of a personal grudge too, was it not? Diancang has already packaged the root of this incident as a secret collusion between Jong Byeok-gi and the Yuwol Sect.”
“…….”
“Moreover, when you are even receiving compensation from Diancang through that friend Splitting Light One Star, what exactly can Diancang do to you?”
Hmm.
Well, I had been completely found out.
This was not supposed to be a plan that was exposed so easily.
I looked closely at the Yueyang Branch Chief’s face.
Judging by how quickly his mind worked and how perceptive he was, he was certainly no ordinary person, but no matter how much I searched my memory, this was a person I had never seen before in my life.
“I do not know what you are talking about.”
“Haha, just as Seo-hui said, you truly do have a shameless side.”
“But from earlier, you have been speaking as if you have some connection with me. I find that rather unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant? It cannot be unpleasant. Of course it cannot be unpleasant. I have committed a deadly sin. Truly, I have committed a deadly sin.”
“…….”
After making a fuss for a while, he suddenly stopped, then opened his mouth and smiled brightly.
Now I was beginning to feel a little frightened.
“Why would we have no connection?”
“Yes?”
“Did you not use the Golden Dragon Hidden Weapon I made without permission? If that much is a connection, is it not a remarkable connection?”
Insane.
Why did that story suddenly come out?
