◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 453: The Seed of Evil
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The unusual things he had said.
[Jin Sowoon, you are uncertainty.]
The irrational actions he had shown.
[Do not interfere with me, Jin Sowoon.]
All of it flashed through my mind.
Not only this life, but my previous life as well.
The countless strange things he had done.
The actions I had never understood and the results they had led to began tangling together in my mind.
My thoughts raced so quickly that I could almost feel steam rising from my head.
Yet I still could not shake my doubts.
“…”
I looked at Namgung San.
“Senior… do you believe this?”
“…”
Namgung San silently looked at Yong Soa.
He was asking whether he could speak.
“…”
Yong Soa nodded.
Namgung San turned back to me.
“I did not believe it.”
“…”
“To be precise, I am still not certain.”
Even Namgung San, praised as a man accomplished in both letters and martial arts, looked conflicted over the matter.
“At the beginning… when the Dragon-Phoenix Association had only just begun its activities.”
A complicated expression crossed his face as he recalled the past.
“…Yong Soa spoke of the Great Undertaking.”
When the Dragon-Phoenix Association first gathered after graduating from the Martial Arts Academy, Yong Soa had brought up the coming war.
He said they needed to prepare a ten-year plan for it.
“He told us this when we found it absurd.”
[There is not a shred of falsehood in it.]
Of course, Namgung San had not believed him.
Yong Soa had only just joined the Martial Alliance, yet he claimed to know of signs of war that neither the Beggar Sect nor the Namgung Clan’s intelligence network had detected.
Namgung San thought it was nothing more than a pretext for forming a private organization within the Martial Alliance.
He had been certain of it.
“But… they appeared.”
The Demonic Cult shook the martial world without ever revealing itself.
Then the Blood Cult openly emerged in Sichuan.
Namgung San had no choice but to accept it.
“…”
“I can no longer deny it completely.”
Yong Soa had predicted the existence of both the Demonic Cult and the Blood Cult.
It was time to question someone else.
“Do the others know?”
“No. Only a limited number of people know.”
“Why?”
“Because they must not.”
“Why must they not?!”
Yong Soa looked at me with calm eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me.
“By telling them…”
It was surprising that eyes devoid of emotion could hold such deep stillness.
“What would I gain?”
“Gain?”
“Who would readily believe such a story?”
“…”
True. If I had not personally realized, tested, and confirmed Yong Soa’s ability, I would not have been certain what kind of power he possessed either.
If he spoke of the future in this situation, people would only think he was mad or suffering from the aftereffects of qi deviation.
It was no different from asking people to believe that I had regressed.
“Even if people believed me, my information would stir chaos in the martial world. No, those in power would inevitably turn it into chaos.”
His voice was as emotionless as ever.
“That is why I do not speak of it.”
For some reason, I heard loneliness in his voice.
“…”
The fact that I could sympathize with his feelings made me sick, and I took a deep breath.
“What are the odds?”
“What?”
“The odds that the future you see will be right.”
“Ten out of ten.”
Yong Soa’s answer was full of certainty.
“Don’t give me that bullshit.”
“…”
I would never accept it.
“Were you that certain when you ran away alone on the Demon Spirit Plateau?”
“There was certainly fault in my actions. But…”
Yong Soa remained unwaveringly certain.
“In the end, they were the actions that saved the most people.”
Grind.
How much more confusion had his sudden actions caused?
“Don’t make me laugh! Because of you, back then…!”
“Did you come here to discuss the rights and wrongs of my past actions?”
“…”
Thud-
Thud-
The Black Officers continued battering the mystic formation.
Crrrack-
Sounds of something cracking and breaking rose from within the formation one after another.
It was enough to make me worry whether the formation could hold out for two days, as Yu Jiryang had said.
“If you have seen the future and know of the Demonic Cult, do you not know how important the Mount Mao Sect is?”
“My answer is the same. As long as they side with the Demonic Cult, rooting them out completely is the right course.”
“Based on what?!”
“An eye.”
“An eye?”
Yong Soa pointed to his left hand.
“Among the demonic beings, Gu Songbaek had no left eye.”
“…”
Gu Songbaek’s wound had happened before Yong Soa arrived.
If Yong Soa had seen the future of Gu Songbaek and the demonic beings before then, perhaps the Mount Mao Sect truly would act alongside the Demonic Cult, as he claimed.
“…”
I could not even begin to sort out the mess in my mind.
Too much information had suddenly come crashing down like a mountain. I could not begin fitting the pieces together.
“Don’t make me laugh. You are going to destroy an entire sect over such an uncertain story?”
“Jin Sowoon. What can you do?”
It was a declaration that he had no intention of stopping either the suspicions of a forbidden art or the Black Officers’ operation.
“You bastard…”
As though nothing was wrong, he added,
“Stay out of this.”
“…What are you planning to do?”
“Were you not told? If they surrender, children under fifteen will live. If they refuse…”
There was not the slightest hesitation in Yong Soa’s voice.
“Nothing living will remain in the Mount Mao Sect.”
There was no point continuing the conversation.
I turned away.
“You as well.”
His emotionless voice reached my back.
“The same goes for you, Jin Sowoon.”
#
After Jin Sowoon left, only the two of them remained.
Namgung San broke the silence.
“Why did you tell him first?”
Yong Soa had never been the first to tell anyone about seeing the future.
Even people who would join him in the Great Undertaking had never heard it directly from him.
Mentioning his ability himself would only become a means of deceiving others.
Still staring at where Jin Sowoon had disappeared, Yong Soa answered.
“Because he noticed the existence of the Dragon Eye first.”
“…”
“And he already harbored doubts about my ability to see the future.”
Despite his emotionless tone, a faint smile appeared on Yong Soa’s lips.
“As though he understood me.”
For the first time, Namgung San saw Yong Soa smile.
“…Do you think he could become a comrade?”
The smile vanished at once.
The emotionless voice of the man standing alone grew colder than ever.
“He is a certainty of uncertainty. Even what happened today proves it. Jin Sowoon will not leave the Mount Mao Sect. If he is that kind of uncertainty…”
“…”
Yong Soa’s eyes did not waver.
“Removing him quickly is the right course.”
Namgung San swallowed.
No one Yong Soa had decided to eliminate had ever survived.
Then…
“What… do you think you are doing?”
A clear, ringing voice sounded out.
Yong Soa and Namgung San turned at the same time.
Heo Gwanjung stood there, his fingers having received only rudimentary first aid and his appearance a complete mess, glaring at the two of them.
“Ah, I was wondering where you had gone. The commander has finally shown himself.”
Heo Gwanjung ground his teeth at Namgung San’s words.
“You could not even properly handle the task entrusted to you. What were you doing?”
“We were busy in our own way. Something unexpected came up.”
“The Taeul Sect…?”
“You know quite a bit, do you not?”
“You could not even get past the Taeul Sect?! You let things get this bad?”
Namgung San’s expression hardened.
“That is a bit harsh, is it not? Are you not in the same position? Why could you not stop them properly from the inside?”
Killing intent surged from Heo Gwanjung’s body.
“The name Dragon-Phoenix Association is a joke. Was all that skill you boasted about nothing but empty talk?”
Namgung San’s face stiffened at Heo Gwanjung’s mockery.
He stepped right up to Heo Gwanjung, looked down at him, and spoke quietly.
“Listen, Commander. We are doing everything we can. And we are not your subordinates. Rather, we are here to watch each other. Besides.”
Namgung San’s eyes flashed.
“Even the allegation that the Mount Mao Sect learned a forbidden art is doubtful in the current situation. Do you have conclusive evidence?”
Heo Gwanjung glared at Namgung San, then shifted his gaze to Yong Soa.
“…Do you intend to simply let this stand?”
He was telling Yong Soa to take responsibility for both the current situation and Namgung San’s attitude.
Unlike Namgung San, who clenched his teeth, Yong Soa showed no change in emotion.
“The Mount Mao Sect will disappear. Is there another problem that needs resolving?”
He simply spoke firmly.
Heo Gwanjung glared at Yong Soa as though he wanted to kill him before answering.
“No.”
“Then focus on your task.”
“…I hope you do not fail this time.”
“That will not happen.”
Yong Soa said it with certainty.
#
When I passed through the mystic formation and entered the Mount Mao Sect, Gu Songbaek let out a sigh of relief upon seeing me.
A cold voice overlapped with that sigh.
[Among the demonic beings, Gu Songbaek had no left eye.]
The wound over his left eye stood out even more.
“Is your eye… all right?”
“Ah, they say I will never be able to use it again. Still, compared to the others…”
“…”
Would Gu Songbaek really side with the demonic beings?
Was he truly a seed of evil that would turn hundreds, thousands of White Path martial artists into madmen?
The Mount Mao Sect’s illusion art was certainly a fearsome and powerful form of spell arts.
There was a reason the Mount Mao Sect had long stood between the orthodox and unorthodox paths.
In the past, it had wielded enough power to plunge the entire martial world into chaos by itself.
Thinking of that power, perhaps Yong Soa was right.
And if the Mount Mao Sect survived this incident with endless hatred toward the Martial Alliance…
As one thought led to another, Gu Songbaek spoke.
“Perhaps… have you heard something?”
He looked deeply anxious, as though the decision over life and death rested in my hands.
Thud-
Thud-
The entire Mount Mao Sect shook.
The tremors were a signal announcing the sect’s destruction.
I answered honestly.
“They want to destroy the Mount Mao Sect.”
“Without any terms for negotiation?”
“There are terms.”
Though I could not tell whether they truly counted as terms.
“They said that if you burn all of the Mount Mao Sect’s secret arts, children under fifteen who have not learned them may live out the rest of their lives under the Inspectorate’s watch…”
It was a condition no different from a death sentence.
No sect leader would accept such cruel terms.
Anyone would rather die than accept them.
Yet why…
“Is that… true?”
“…”
“Truly… truly, if we do that, they will spare the children?”
“Those were Yong Soa’s words.”
“Ah!”
Why?
“I see, I see…”
Why did Gu Songbaek look like he had found a single ray of hope in utter despair?
Why?
“The children, the children…”
Why would someone who had enjoyed wealth and honor through power think of the lives of young disciples before their own possessions?
“Allow me to speak with the sect members for a moment…”
I grabbed Gu Songbaek’s sleeve.
“Sect Leader.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you considering accepting those terms?”
“…”
“The Mount Mao Sect, with its long history, is about to be destroyed by a false accusation. Their terms are unbearably cruel as well. Why would you accept them?”
He looked at me for a moment before carefully opening his lips.
“Of course…”
Tears soon streamed down Gu Songbaek’s face.
“Of course I am wronged and resentful. This situation is absurd, and I feel like dying right now. But as with all things in this world, not everything follows its proper course.”
“…”
“If the destruction of the Mount Mao Sect is the course history demands, then saving the lives of innocent children is at least my duty.”
The sleeve caught in my hand began trembling, little by little.
“That is the justice I must uphold before I die.”
“I will quickly speak with the others. Some may not wish to accept it.”
I had decided what to believe.
“I will be right back…”
“No.”
I held onto his sleeve.
“Hm? Young Hero Jin…”
“Let us fight.”
“What do you mean…”
I stopped them.
“No, we only need to hold out. They may be stronger, but time is on our side.”
“…”
“My junior disciples and I will stake our lives on it as well.”
Gu Songbaek furrowed his brow deeply.
“Young Hero Jin! Those are not words to say lightly! Simply by coming here, you have bestowed on us a favor we can never repay. You are not people who should die in a place like this.”
I decided to believe what I had seen and felt.
“Do not worry. No one will die. Not us, and not the Mount Mao Sect.”
The Mount Mao Sect would save countless White Path martial artists as it had in my previous life and lead the war against the Demonic Cult to victory.
No, I would make it happen.
“…”
Gu Songbaek’s remaining eye shook violently.
I met his gaze directly.
“We will survive, then beat the bastard who caused this mess together.”
At last…
Tears flowed from the eyes fixed on my face.
Clear tears from one eye, bloody tears from the other.
“But…”
Fear seeped into his voice.
“Yong Soa is over there.”
The greatest problem before us.
Yong Soa.
Even if we stopped the Black Officers, the Mount Mao Sect would still face destruction if we could not stop the purge unit and Yong Soa.
But I could not retreat now.
“Yong Soa…”
I was certain.
“I will handle him.”
“…”
I was certain that if I could not stop him, the nightmare of my previous life would repeat itself.
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