Chapter 23: A Blow to the Back of the Head
The Shaolin Divine Monk asked Yul Han, who had trailed off mid-sentence.
“Are you thinking of spilling blood?”
Yul Han could not relax his stiff expression at the Shaolin Divine Monk’s question.
Honestly, that was exactly it. He had thought it would be good if they accepted, and if not, bloodshed would be unavoidable.
Yet it was only right before those words left his mouth that he realized how dangerous that line of thinking was.
That was why Yul Han had trailed off without finishing his sentence.
<Forcing one’s will upon others.>
He realized its danger belatedly.
A selfish attitude that prioritized one’s own position and circumstances over those of others, resolving matters according to one’s own intentions and convenience.
And doing so with blades and blood.
Yul Han was deeply shocked that he had been taking such a method—neither righteous nor in accordance with chivalry—for granted.
Only after facing the situation where positions had been reversed while confronting the Taiji Sword Emperor did he once again come face to face with the mistakes of his past that he had suddenly realized back then.
Because of that, the life he had once proudly believed to have followed righteousness and chivalry was being shaken to its very core.
‘What on earth have I been following?’
Yul Han forcefully calmed his tangled emotions and answered the Shaolin Divine Monk’s question.
“That is not why I came.”
At Yul Han’s gentler-than-expected reply, the Shaolin Divine Monk found it unexpected.
It did not align with what the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult had shown so far—his blood-soaked past actions, nor his recent move of cutting down the Taiji Sword Emperor in a single stroke.
Moreover, he was the Vice Cult Leader who exuded such overwhelming killing intent that merely sitting face-to-face made chills run down the back of one’s neck.
Perhaps because of that, the Vice Cult Leader’s gentle manner of speech resonated even less with the Shaolin Divine Monk.
With a cold voice, eyes brimming with killing intent as if he might swing his blade and spill blood at any moment, and an utterly unreadable expression, he was saying such words.
How should one put it—there was no sense of sincerity. That was why the Shaolin Divine Monk ended up throwing out a foolish question.
“Do you…… truly mean that?”
Even while knowing that, even if it were a lie, there was no way he would answer that it was a lie, the Vice Cult Leader naturally nodded at the question.
“There is no reason to utter empty words after coming all this way.”
Spoken without dimming that killing gaze in the slightest, the Vice Cult Leader’s words still sounded hollow.
‘A conversation without sincerity… how empty and futile.’
Perhaps because his disappointment was so great, another remark resembling a reproach slipped out of the Shaolin Divine Monk’s mouth.
“If that was your thinking, you should not have cut down the Taiji Sword Emperor.”
The moment he tossed it out, the Shaolin Divine Monk regretted what he had just said. He knew it was a remark that did nothing to help the current conversation.
And just as he was about to apologize and take those words back—
“There was no way to stop someone who was determined to die.”
It was a statement that could be interpreted in many ways. Because of that, the Shaolin Divine Monk’s expression shifted through many emotions as he heard it.
At first, he was angry.
He thought it was mocking—implying it was the price for recklessly charging in without knowing his own level.
After that surging anger, regret came flooding in.
Regret toward himself for failing to vehemently oppose the Martial Alliance’s decision to deploy the extermination force, including the Taiji Sword Emperor, without realizing the vast disparity in strength.
Perhaps because that regret calmed his emotions, the Shaolin Divine Monk came to consider that the Vice Cult Leader’s words could be interpreted differently.
‘Did he intend to spare him, but he chose death?’
Along with the thought, shock plainly appeared on his face. With that shocked expression, the Shaolin Divine Monk asked,
“Does that mean you truly did not intend to kill him?”
Even as he asked, he thought that could not be the case. Given his past actions, the Vice Cult Leader was not someone who would ever spare a master of the Hundred Paths.
Yet……
“He said that turning back without even drawing one’s sword was a humiliation greater than death.”
At Yul Han’s unexpected answer, the Shaolin Divine Monk’s eyes widened in confusion and astonishment.
‘To fear death and turn away without even drawing one’s sword before an enemy is a humiliation greater than death for a martial artist.’
It was a phrase the Taiji Sword Emperor had always kept on his lips.
The Taiji Sword Emperor must have spoken those very words even in his duel with the Vice Cult Leader, choosing to die gloriously rather than live in disgrace.
If a martial artist of the Taiji Sword Emperor’s caliber wished for that, then even if the Shaolin Divine Monk himself had been standing where the Vice Cult Leader stood, he could not have ignored that will.
For martial artists of the Jianghu, there were deaths more important than life itself.
And so, it became impossible to resent the Vice Cult Leader for cutting down the Taiji Sword Emperor.
Perhaps that was why the Shaolin Divine Monk’s gaze toward the Vice Cult Leader grew calmer than before.
“It seems that everything you have said today is sincere.”
“That is why I came all the way here in a situation like this.”
At Yul Han’s reply, a deeper gravity settled onto the Shaolin Divine Monk’s expression.
To be honest, until this conversation began, he had thought the Vice Cult Leader’s visit was a display of power—boasting of the strength with which he had personally slain both the former Number One of the Hundred Paths and the current one.
Given the Vice Cult Leader’s past record of turning Kongtong into a sea of blood single-handedly, and driving countless masters of the Hundred Paths to their deaths, it was more than plausible.
Yet, considering what the Vice Cult Leader was saying now, he truly seemed to desire no further conflict.
Wanting to understand more deeply the reason he had come to think this, the Shaolin Divine Monk asked the Vice Cult Leader,
“Why…… is that? You appear to have secured overwhelming superiority.”
“I believe we have seen enough blood from this incident. How about we bring things to an end here, so that those who need not die do not end up dying any further?”
Though it was a suggestion to conclude the situation, it somehow sounded like an accusation—that he had sent the Taiji Sword Emperor, who did not need to die, to his death.
Though it was not incorrect, and though the Shaolin Divine Monk was said to possess fairly deep Buddhist faith, he could not stop an unwarranted surge of anger from rising within him at the fact that the one saying it was the Vice Cult Leader who had slaughtered countless masters of the Hundred Paths.
“So you are saying that we should put an end to the matter of the Taiji Sword Emperor being killed by your hand right here.”
After blurting it out with rising anger, he once again immediately regretted it.
‘My resolve, my resolve. With such lacking cultivation, how can you be spoken of by others as having high spiritual power?’
As the Shaolin Divine Monk reproached himself inwardly, Yul Han’s chilly voice was added.
“It also means I am willing to bury the matter of being ambushed.”
The gazes of the two, speaking of the same matter from different perspectives, collided in midair.
But soon, with a low murmur, the Shaolin Divine Monk averted his eyes.
“Hmm…….”
Even the Shaolin Divine Monk, said to possess unparalleled firmness of resolve due to his profound spiritual power, found the killing intent flowing from Yul Han’s eyes too intense to face head-on.
It was a concession from such a man.
If the Vice Cult Leader truly resolved to spill blood, it was difficult to even imagine how much blood would have to be shed.
That was why the Shaolin Divine Monk had initially resolved to end this incident even if it meant offering up his own neck.
Yet that very opponent was the one proposing to cover things up here. Though he had not yet uncovered the fundamental reason behind it, he could not afford to drag things out to probe further.
If time dragged on and the Vice Cult Leader happened to change his mind, the Martial Alliance might end up shedding blood that never needed to be shed.
Therefore—
“I will…… accept it. However, approval from the council of elders is required. Unlike your cult, the Martial Alliance is not a place that moves solely by the decision of its Alliance Leader.”
“I understood.”
“You said you understood—would you be able to wait just a little while as the procedure is finalized? It won’t take long.”
At the request of the Shaolin Divine Monk, Yul Han nodded.
“Very well.”
“In the meantime, I will have a place prepared where you may rest.”
“I won’t refuse.”
With that, the conversation between Yul Han and the Shaolin Divine Monk came to an end.
It was a shorter exchange than expected, but neither Yul Han nor the Shaolin Divine Monk had any complaints, as things had gone more smoothly than anticipated.
Guided once more by Jegal Giyeon, Yul Han was led to a room in the emptied guest quarters, where he met Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood, who had already been waiting.
“What happened?”
Flashing Light Blood asked the moment he entered, and Yul Han replied in a calm voice.
“They said approval from the Council of Elders is required. If it’s approved, they’ll consider this matter settled here.”
At Yul Han’s answer, relief appeared on the faces of Flashing Light Blood and Cold Blade Blood. The thought that they wouldn’t have to draw blades in the heart of enemy territory eased their tension.
The Alliance Leader, the Shaolin Divine Monk, did not convene the Council of Elders immediately. Several elders had requested a bit of time in response to the summons.
The Shaolin Divine Monk readily accepted their request.
He believed they needed time to report to their respective sects and receive their sects’ decisions.
In truth, however, the elders who asked for time were taking a course of action completely different from that of the Alliance Leader.
At the center of those elders stood the Blazing Fire Sword Lord, who represented the Mount Hua Sect.
Joining him was Mujinja, who had come out as an elder of the Martial Alliance representing Wudang.
At their insistence that they could not simply let a vicious criminal go, the Kongtong Sect, Mount Emei, and Mount Zhongnan among the Nine Sects voiced their agreement, and from the Six Great Clans, the Peng Clan, Gok Clan, Tang Clan, and even the Hwangbo Clan lent their support.
Among the Sixteen Great Factions—called the sixteen pillars of the Martial Alliance—including the Beggars’ Sect, three from the Nine Sects and four from the Six Great Clans had joined forces.
Shaolin and the Jegal Clan were excluded, as they were the places that had produced the Alliance Leader and the Strategist who were pushing for reconciliation with the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
What was unexpected was that Mount Hua and Wudang, to which the Blazing Fire Sword Lord and Mujinja—the apparent ringleaders of this affair—belonged, refused to participate.
Not only did Mount Hua and Wudang refuse, they even ordered that this plan be halted immediately.
After a brief moment of confusion at the unforeseen situation, the Blazing Fire Sword Lord and Mujinja decided to push their plan through regardless.
They judged that their sects had been cowed by the power of the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
They did not want to show such weakness to others.
Moreover, they believed that results carried far more weight than the process.
If they could kill the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult through their plan, they thought that disobeying their sects’ orders could be smoothed over without issue.
More than that, if, while their own sect leaders hesitated, they acted boldly and gained the justification of having eliminated a vicious criminal, they could obtain authority rivaling their sect leaders not only within their sects but even within the Martial Alliance.
The two had no intention of giving that up.
Like the Blazing Fire Sword Lord and Mujinja, the sects that joined this plan also had clear desires.
Kongtong, Mount Emei, and Mount Zhongnan hoped to gain the justification of having eliminated a vicious criminal with their own hands while Shaolin, Wudang, and Mount Hua—the core sects of the Nine Sects—hesitated.
That justification would give them wings and eventually become an opportunity to surpass the core sects.
The Peng Clan, Gok Clan, Tang Clan, and Hwangbo Clan from the Six Great Clans participated for the same reason. It was an opportunity to surpass the Namgung Clan and the Jegal Clan, who stood firm like an enormous Mount Tai.
Thus, the three sects from the Nine Sects and the four clans from the Six Great Clans participating in this matter gathered the maximum strength they could muster.
All of the experts at the supreme peak and above from these seven great sects were mobilized.
Not only that, the Gok Clan, which was also the greatest merchant house of Shandong, poured out massive funds and brought in three assassination sects reeking of blood.
Ghost Slaughter Pavilion, Beheading Fate Valley, and Northern Mang Night.
All of them were top-tier assassination sects with records of killing experts at the supreme peak and above.
They were the ones who made the first move.
With the gate guards withdrawn by internal collaborators, the assassins of the three sects entered through the wide-open back gate of the Martial Alliance without resistance and headed straight for the guest quarters.
The Martial Alliance, wary of discord between Yul Han’s group and its own martial artists, had forbidden anyone from approaching within thirty zhang of the guest quarters.
This policy applied not only to martial artists but also to the workers employed by the Martial Alliance.
As a result, there was no one to convey requests to, and since no detailed hospitality had been prepared in advance, they were on the verge of going hungry for dinner.
In that situation, Cold Blade Blood grumbled in a displeased voice.
“There isn’t even an ant within thirty zhang of my perception. Did they think we’d make a move? They cleared it out real cleanly. Bastards.”
At his complaint, Flashing Light Blood smiled faintly.
“In their own way, they were probably trying to prevent unnecessary clashes. We don’t have to worry about anything either, so it’s not that bad.”
“I know. It’s comfortable for me too. But they should at least feed us, shouldn’t they? Maybe these bastards did it on purpose. Like, ‘Go on, starve.’”
At Cold Blade Blood’s constant grumbling, Flashing Light Blood gave a bitter smile.
“There’s no way that’s true. They probably just didn’t think it through—”
His words were cut off by Cold Blade Blood’s sudden voice.
“Hey! A person. No—more than one is coming.”
At that, Flashing Light Blood quickly spread his perception, and his expression hardened.
“They’re not fast, but they’re light. Martial artists. And they’re approaching from three directions.”
At Flashing Light Blood’s words, Yul Han, who had been sitting silently, stood up.
“It seems I thought things were too easy.”
“Then…?”
“It looks like this won’t be resolved without shedding blood.”
Yul Han’s cold voice settled heavily, rapidly dropping the temperature of the room.