Chapter 28: Written as a Conspiracy, Read as Revenge
Despite the Alliance Leader’s opposition, insisting that holding a banquet for those gathered after so many deaths and so much damage was utterly inappropriate, the Elders’ Council of the Martial Alliance went ahead and opened the banquet anyway.
Their reasoning was that, in times like these, it was all the more necessary to show an unwavering and dignified front.
At the banquet held under such logic, the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, who had been staying within the Alliance, was not invited.
Even the Alliance Leader himself did not attend. The Shaolin Divine Monk had chosen that as his way of expressing opposition to the Elders’ Council’s decision.
Of course, that sort of expression of will from the Alliance Leader had no effect whatsoever on the Elders’ Council.
Though they spoke endlessly of justification and deliberation, the Hundred Paths were, in the end, people of the martial world—those who stood up by the sword and proved themselves through strength.
Among such people, an Alliance Leader without sufficient strength could exercise neither power nor influence.
The martial world was simply too harsh a place to reclaim authority based on the name of Shaolin alone.
At the banquet held under such circumstances, Chang Myeongja, who attended as Wudang’s representative, found himself in the position of a sack of barley set aside.
Wudang was the sect to which one of the two instigators of the incident—what the Martial Alliance had labeled an “accident”—belonged.
Yet because Wudang had not actually sent any master to the incident itself, the Seven Sects believed they alone had borne all the losses, and so Chang Myeongja had no choice but to endure their cold stares.
Moreover, compared to the other attendees, Chang Myeongja’s allocation was low. What Wudang had wanted was not high representation through allocation, but to be a “victim” that could place psychological pressure on the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
For those reasons and more, Chang Myeongja had become an outcast—and it was then that one person approached him.
“So you’re an outsider as well, it seems.”
The one who approached him familiarly was the Plum Blossom Hall Lord of the Mount Hua Sect. He had been selected and dispatched as Mount Hua’s representative in this affair.
The Blazing Fire Sword Lord, who had represented Mount Hua in the Martial Alliance until then, had been summoned back to the main sect immediately after the Plum Blossom Hall Lord’s arrival.
The reason given for the summons was that he was one of the instigators of the “accident” and had caused trouble through unilateral action that defied the main sect’s orders.
In any case, for such reasons, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord—who had been forced to shoulder all the blame for the “accident” caused by the Blazing Fire Sword Lord, one of the instigators—was likewise an outcast.
Hearing the words of the Plum Blossom Hall Lord, who was in a situation similar to his own, Chang Myeongja gave a bitter smile.
“You have arrived, Senior Uncle.”
Chang Myeongja of Wudang addressed the Plum Blossom Hall Lord of Mount Hua as Senior Uncle because the Nine Sects lived under one roof, like nine members of the same family.
Perhaps because of that, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord also addressed Chang Myeongja without reserve as Junior Nephew.
“You must’ve been dragged out here too, Junior Nephew. I thought they’d gone mad, holding a banquet in a situation like this, so I tried not to come—but they sent people pestering me until my ears rang….”
As he grumbled, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord looked at Chang Myeongja, who was once again smiling bitterly.
“And after dragging us out here, they treat us like sacks of barley set aside. Isn’t that petty, I ask you?”
“Do you think they did it intentionally?”
“Do you think not, Junior Nephew?”
At the Plum Blossom Hall Lord’s question, Chang Myeongja could not bring himself to answer and merely gave an awkward smile.
He understood it himself.
This was a kind of punishment directed at Wudang and Mount Hua, who had led the matter but then pulled back at the critical moment.
The excuse that the now-dead Mujinja and the Blazing Fire Sword Lord—who had been summoned back to Mount Hua—had caused the “accident” through unilateral action that defied their main sects’ orders was dismissed as nothing more than an excuse.
If Mount Hua or Wudang had suffered something similar, they would have been in the same position.
So he could not bring himself to call the current treatment unfair.
Perhaps because of that, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord did not pursue the topic any further with Chang Myeongja, who could only smile in silence.
Talking about it more would only make them feel more miserable. Instead, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord brought up something else.
“Still, I was surprised they sent you as Wudang’s representative. Thanks to that, it seems the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult agreed to the settlement quite readily, so that’s a relief.”
At the Plum Blossom Hall Lord’s words—cutting straight through Wudang’s intentions in sending him—Chang Myeongja smiled bitterly.
“We were in such a weak position that we had no choice but to use such a stratagem. Our Wudang…”
“Is that only Wudang’s problem? Mount Hua is the same, and so are those Seven Sects over there glaring at us as if they’re something special. Otherwise, they’d have swung their swords first instead of talking.”
“I don’t know if that’s something a cultivator should say, but it is regrettable. To lack strength… it truly is a painful thing.”
The Plum Blossom Hall Lord looked at Chang Myeongja—who must have felt it more keenly than anyone—with pity.
“You had to bow your head to your master’s enemy. Junior Nephew’s heart must be terribly heavy.”
“I am only ashamed that I have stained my master’s name.”
Seeing Chang Myeongja lower his head weakly, the Plum Blossom Hall Lord spoke.
“Given time, an opportunity will come. They say a true man plans his revenge over ten years, do they not? You need only not forget today’s humiliation.”
“We agreed not to make an issue of it anymore, but revenge… is that really possible?”
“The Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult is the greatest of demonic figures. He will surely commit new sins with his own blade again. When that time comes, you can repay him with interest—including the price of today’s sins. So keep striving. You, and I as well.”
Perhaps encouraged by those words, a faint smile settled on Chang Myeongja’s lips, which had been weighed down until then.
A small smile also appeared on the Plum Blossom Hall Lord’s lips as he encouraged him, as though he were watching the efforts of the younger generation who would shoulder the future of the Nine Sects.
However, many attendees looked upon the two of them—mutually encouraging and consoling each other—with displeasure.
To them, Wudang and Mount Hua were traitors who had pushed the Seven Sects to the fore while pulling back themselves to avoid losses.
Among them, the Seven-Aspect True Person of the Kongtong Sect was sending the sharpest and most hostile gaze.
Toward that Seven-Aspect True Person, the Peng Clan elder known as the Nine-Ring Blade approached.
“I can’t imagine what those two find so amusing, smiling like that.”
The Seven-Aspect True Person responded to the Nine-Ring Blade’s words.
“It seems they’re pleased that they themselves suffered no losses.”
“That may be so. While many sects have had the seeds of their transcendent peak masters wiped out by this incident, those two remain intact.”
It was true. Among the Seven Sects that had participated in this “accident,” some had truly lost all of their transcendent peak masters.
Considering that the presence of such masters was a crucial requirement for a great sect, it was an extremely serious problem.
To the point that rumors were spreading that several sects which had completely lost their transcendent peak masters might be pushed out of the Nine Sects or even the Six Great Clans.
Among them, the Kongtong Sect’s position was the most precarious. Perhaps because of that, the Seven-Aspect True Person clamped his mouth shut at the Nine-Ring Blade’s words.
To that Seven-Aspect True Person, the Peng Clan elder asked,
“And what of Kongtong? In this incident, our Peng Clan lost three transcendent realm masters and five peak-level masters.”
“We suffered similar losses.”
At the Seven-Aspect True Person’s reply, the Nine-Ring Blade merely nodded without saying much.
According to the information conveyed beforehand, Kongtong had in fact suffered less damage than the Peng Clan.
The problem was their current situation. Kongtong had still not recovered from the aftermath of their clash with the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult fifteen years ago.
For that reason, the prevailing opinion was that Kongtong—having lost two transcendent peak masters and four peak-level masters in this incident—had suffered an irrecoverable blow.
After fifteen years of effort, the two transcendent peak masters they had barely managed to restore had both perished.
Moreover, the four peak-level masters who had been killed alongside them amounted to nearly eighty percent of Kongtong’s peak-level experts.
In effect, it had become impossible for them to maintain the name of the Nine Sects. The Nine-Ring Blade subtly pointed out that very fact.
“I hear talk of reorganizing the Nine Sects due to this incident. And in those discussions, Kongtong’s name comes up the most. Regrettably, I believe Kongtong’s situation is largely the fault of those two sects.”
As he spoke, the Nine-Ring Blade confirmed that venom seemed to drip from the Seven-Aspect True Person’s gaze as it turned toward the representatives of Wudang and Mount Hua. Slipping into mental voice transmission, he asked quietly,
–Are you planning to just endure it like this?
–What do you mean?
–The Peng Clan has always felt sympathy for Kongtong. I merely wished to say that we find it regrettable that Kongtong is being wounded by the indifference and betrayal of those it believed to be comrades.
Staring steadily at the Nine-Ring Blade as he transmitted those words, the Seven-Aspect True Person asked,
–You didn’t say that just to offer empty comfort. Do you have some kind of plan?
–No matter what we do, it will be difficult to prevent Kongtong from falling out of the Nine Sects now.
–I’ll ask again. If you’re not mocking me, then say what you mean!
At the Seven-Aspect True Person’s somewhat roughened transmission, the Nine-Ring Blade replied with a faint smile,
–Let’s not just take it lying down. If we must lose one arm, then we take both of the enemy’s legs. It’s one of the Peng Clan’s golden maxims.
The Seven-Aspect True Person knew that maxim well. The Peng Clan had several such maxims, and all of them were aggressive enough that people sometimes mocked them as being no different from the obstinacy of the demonic path.
So he asked the Nine-Ring Blade, who had brought up that maxim,
–What do you mean by that?
–The Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult will return. Without suffering any real damage—trampling over our blood as he does so. The Peng Clan has no intention of just letting that happen.
–You intend to take action?
The Seven-Aspect True Person’s gaze was filled with distrust. No matter how central the Peng Clan was among the Six Great Clans, they could not deal with the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult on their own.
–Of course not. We know well that the Peng Clan alone would be insufficient.
–I doubt it would change much even if Kongtong lent its strength.
–Unfortunately, that’s true.
–Then if you still speak like this, do you have another method?
–To be honest, we don’t think we can inflict any major loss on the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
–Then…?
–We simply intend to take a bit of revenge on those two sects that stabbed us in the back and escaped unscathed, and to make the Vice Cult Leader’s return journey a little more troublesome.
The Seven-Aspect True Person felt his interest piqued by the Nine-Ring Blade’s words.
If he could achieve even that much revenge, it felt as though the rage on the verge of bursting within him might be eased somewhat.
–You spoke to me like this because there’s something you want us to help with, correct?
–We’ll set the stage. Kongtong just needs to provide a few means.
–In what way?
At the Seven-Aspect True Person’s question, the Nine-Ring Blade’s mental transmission grew lengthy. With each exchange, a gradually more sinister smile began to settle on the Seven-Aspect True Person’s lips.
Thus, in one corner of the Martial Alliance’s banquet hall, a conspiracy bloomed and slowly ripened in the darkness of the deep night.
Despite Yul Han’s claim that the agreement had gone smoothly, Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood took turns standing watch and could not fully relax.
Yul Han asked the two of them,
“Surely those who call themselves the Hundred Paths wouldn’t stab us in the back? Get some rest.”
“Do you truly believe that? You know better than anyone, Vice Cult Leader, that those Hundred Paths bastards have smiled to your face and swung their blades behind your back more times than we can count.”
“Surely not….”
Yul Han’s trailing words—meant to say, ‘Surely they wouldn’t do that’—fell apart.
<If we treat them well with food and drink, then attack at night once their guard is down, it will certainly succeed.>
It was a stratagem Yul Han—no, Gwak Yi-han—had once proposed in the distant past to eliminate a demonic figure.
And on that day, exactly as planned, the demonic figure who had eaten the food and drunk the wine provided by the Righteous Will Sect and fallen into a deep sleep never woke again.
The faith Yul Han had held all his life—his belief that he had lived by righteousness and justice alone—was beginning to waver. Memories of that time were colliding violently with the present reality.
He had never imagined that simply switching positions would cause everything to change so completely.
Because of that, Yul Han’s pride in having been a “righteous hero” was being shaken to its roots.
That was why his trailing words changed.
“…They might do exactly that.”
“Yes. That’s what I’m saying. In any case, those Hundred Paths bastards are truly not to be trusted.”
Believing that the Vice Cult Leader was finally seeing the situation clearly, relief filled the expressions of Flashing Light Blood and Cold Blade Blood.
They believed that no matter where it was, as long as the Vice Cult Leader did not lower his guard, the worst-case scenario could be avoided.
Thus passed the night, with tension wound tight and someone always keeping watch—yet Na Cheol-yong never came to see Yul Han.
Perhaps he had expected it to some degree; Yul Han, who greeted the morning after staying awake all night, did not seem deeply disappointed.
Still, it was not that he felt no regret at all, and as he left the Martial Alliance, he kept glancing back repeatedly.
And so Yul Han departed from the Martial Alliance, a place rife with words and troubles.