Chapter 38: Another Person, the Same Expression
“Your smile looks better than I expected.”
“Is… that so?”
“Your manner of speech is even better. Has some different wind been blowing through the Bright Cult these days?”
“I do not understand what you mean.”
“You abandoned the Heavenly Demon, famed for his ferocity, and decided to follow some sage instead—was that it? Otherwise, how could the Vice Cult Leader’s smile and manner of speech be explained?”
“Does faith really change that easily?”
“Then you are saying nothing has changed, yet you are like this?”
“And is that a bad thing?”
At Yul Han’s counterquestion, the Cloud-Crane Scholar shook his head.
“What nonsense. I only meant that it looks good. When I heard you want rice to our sect, I worried that our Sect Master’s grandson had fallen into senility early, but it seems that was not the case.”
“Is that so?”
“If I had met you outside, I would have taken you for some renowned righteous hero of the Hundred Paths. If your present bearing is truly not an affectation, then what is it that you desire from Kunlun?”
“At first, it was rice. As you already know.”
“You truly needed rice? Not to shake up and scatter the Hundred Paths?”
“I caused a bit of an incident, so I ended up lacking the rice needed to live… And besides, if I wanted to shake the Hundred Paths, I doubt such a complicated farce would have been necessary.”
At those words—little different from a threat—the Cloud-Crane Scholar, who had been gazing steadily at Yul Han, smiled faintly.
“There is no killing intent within your killing aura. That means you do not harbor murderous thoughts in your heart. And yet you speak so harshly. Why is that? If you have no intention of killing, why frighten others by saying you could kill them?”
At words that seemed to see straight through him, Yul Han looked at him with slightly startled eyes for a moment, then smiled calmly.
“Because it is faster.”
“Faster….”
“Even if I explain things at length, people often fail to understand. Having one’s sincerity ignored easily becomes a wound. And I dislike being wounded.”
“So you threatened them? So they would understand quickly.”
“Yes. We are having a conversation like this even now.”
At Yul Han’s reply, the Cloud-Crane Scholar stared at him steadily once more, then rose to his feet.
“You are a guest too much for my vessel to contain. Have the Sect Master treat you well and send you on your way. This old man will return to rest. After using my strength for the first time in a while, there is not a joint in my body that does not ache… haha.”
As the Cloud-Crane Scholar turned away with a hollow laugh, Yul Han asked,
“Are you not taking your cherished sword with you?”
“Cherished sword, my foot. It was just something lying around in the storage that I picked up. It is heavy and useless, so there is no reason to take it any longer.”
Leaving only those words behind, the Cloud-Crane Scholar strode off. Shin Jijinren could not take his eyes off the departing figure for a long while.
Then Yul Han’s voice reached his ears.
“You have a fine grandmaster. His body has already fulfilled its use, yet his enlightenment reaches the heavens, and his eyes pierce a thousand li.”
Thinking it was merely praise, Shin Jijinren suddenly found the words strangely familiar, and his eyes widened.
Yul Han nodded at him.
“That is right. If my sense is correct, he is at the Transformation Realm. However, given his age… his body can no longer support it, so his martial prowess would be difficult to display. Still, even so, it seems he will remain vigorous for quite some time yet. That alone is a blessing, is it not?”
Hearing that he would live healthily for quite a while longer, Shin Jijinren smiled at once.
From Kunlun’s standpoint—lacking top-tier masters—the appearance of a Transformation Realm expert who could not truly be used might have been disappointing, yet seeing him rejoice in his elder’s longevity rather than resent it felt good.
Of course, to an outside observer, it looked little more than a sneer….
“I see. Just as the grandmaster said, your smile is indeed benevolent.”
At Shin Jijinren’s words, Yul Han’s eyes sank.
Starting with Flashing Light Blood, then Cold Blade Blood, then the aged master Cloud-Crane Scholar, and now even Kunlun’s Sect Master—
There were far too many people who could see beyond the killing aura of Extreme Slaughter.
‘Do I look too soft?’
Thinking of the many things he would have to set in motion after returning to the Bright Cult, worry rose within Yul Han.
Shin Jijinren then spoke to him.
“You said we should try to resolve this through dialogue, so please speak. I am listening.”
To Shin Jijinren, who had stepped forward to listen earnestly, Yul Han said,
“I no longer need the rice. Fortunately.”
Hearing that he had no intention of causing a dispute over the broken promise, Shin Jijinren could not hide his surprise.
“H-how…? Did you not just say to the grandmaster that you needed rice to live?”
“Fortunately, I obtained the full amount I needed from elsewhere.”
At that, Shin Jijinren stiffened.
He knew that the Vice Cult Leader had paid a visit to the Martial Alliance.
“Could it be the Martial Alliance…?”
“No. I do not have such a good connection with them.”
If not the Martial Alliance, then… only then did the names of the places the Vice Cult Leader had visited during his journey come to mind.
Shin Jijinren focused on one of those names.
“Surely… Golden Flower Manor?”
“We agreed to supply what each other needs. For that reason, I require a bit of Kunlun’s cooperation.”
“Our… cooperation?”
At Shin Jijinren, who looked uneasy for some reason, Yul Han nodded.
“Yes. That said, it is nothing difficult.”
“What is it that you want?”
“It is not that I want you to do something, but that I want you not to do anything.”
At Shin Jijinren’s expression, clearly not understanding, Yul Han added an explanation.
“I am asking that you not attack the trading caravan on the pretext that it is traveling with the Bright Cult.”
“Are you saying the Bright Cult intends to escort Golden Flower Manor’s caravan?”
“Escort is a bit much… It will probably be closer to acting as guides.”
Guide or escort, it made little difference. Aside from the Hundred Paths, there was nowhere in the world where madmen would attack a caravan accompanied by the Bright Cult’s warriors….
“Ah!”
Only then did Shin Jijinren clearly grasp the Vice Cult Leader’s meaning and cry out.
Seeing that, Yul Han asked,
“You seem to understand, so let me ask. Is it possible?”
“No matter that the Bright Cult provides an escort, we of Kunlun are not the sort to plunder an innocent caravan.”
“I know. However, if it were an order from the Martial Alliance, or a request from another sect, I wondered if the situation might change.”
This time, Shin Jijinren could say nothing. If such a thing truly happened, Kunlun might indeed move, just as the Vice Cult Leader said.
Yul Han then asked him,
“Then let us be clear this time. I will wait—can you add the Elders’ Council’s formal assurance to your answer?”
At Yul Han’s slightly reproachful tone, hinting at resentment over the broken promise, Shin Jijinren asked somewhat brusquely,
“Then what does Kunlun gain from this?”
“Hmm… I will simply leave. Even though the promise was broken unilaterally.”
At the end of those words, the Vice Cult Leader twisted the corner of his mouth upward. By now, even Shin Jijinren could easily tell that he was smiling.
“I understand now what the grandmaster meant when he said your smile is benevolent and free of killing intent.”
At those words, Yul Han’s smile vanished, and instead Shin Jijinren broke into a faint smile.
“Please wait a moment and have some tea. I will obtain the Elders’ Council’s assurance.”
Watching Shin Jijinren’s departing back, Yul Han thought once more,
‘It really does seem that I look too soft.’
Yul Han felt distinctly displeased.
Despite Shin Jijinren’s explanation, Kunlun’s Elders’ Council remained unmoved, stubbornly insisting that they could never agree.
Not only that, but since they had already resolved themselves to a decisive stand, voices even arose suggesting that they should seize the moment to stake everything on a single, all-or-nothing confrontation with the Vice Cult Leader.
Amid the uproar in the council hall, the Cloud-Crane Scholar entered.
As the startled elders rose one after another, the Cloud-Crane Scholar stepped inside and asked,
“Why is it so noisy? Even sitting in the Upper Pure Pavilion, far from here, my ears are ringing. Tsk. I cannot tell whether this is a cultivation hall or a marketplace—how is one supposed to sit here in peace?”
At the Cloud-Crane Scholar’s rebuke, guilt colored the elders’ faces.
Sweeping his gaze over them, he asked the Jade Clear Pavilion Lord, whose right to speak was second only to the Sect Master,
“Jade Clear Pavilion Lord. What is it? What is the problem?”
“Well, that is… With you, Grandmaster, and all the great seniors of the Upper Pure Pavilion stepping forward, we have already steeled ourselves to uphold Kunlun’s duty. I believe there is no reason to retreat now.”
“Hmm… That is right. Indeed. You have already made your resolve and completed your preparations, so why not—let us all die to the last and take down the sect plaque with us. That is what you are saying.”
“Y-yes?”
At the strange ending to words that had seemed to support him, the flustered Jade Clear Pavilion Lord was addressed by the Cloud-Crane Scholar.
“I met the Vice Cult Leader, and even if you gathered me and all the old men of the Upper Pure Pavilion together, it would not fill even half of him. Still, as you say, since you have already made up your minds—what does it matter to know how vastly lacking you are? The Jade Clear Pavilion Lord is right: let us charge magnificently, ruin the disciples, and bring everything to an end. When a breakwater has served its purpose, it collapses—that is the way of things. Yes, splendid indeed. Today, by your own hands, you will put the final seal on Kunlun.”
Leaving only those words behind, the Cloud-Crane Scholar strode out. The elders could only stare after him with blank expressions.
Seeing them thus, Shin Jijinren felt he understood the Cloud-Crane Scholar’s intent.
‘Well, Grandmaster was always like that. Rather than explaining things gently, he chose to overturn everything.’
Recalling the Cloud-Crane Scholar’s boisterous temperament, utterly unsuited to his lofty Daoist name, Shin Jijinren smiled bitterly.
Noticing the Sect Master’s expression, the Jade Clear Pavilion Lord voiced a resentful complaint.
“And you find this amusing?”
“Should I cry, then?”
At the Sect Master’s counterquestion, the Jade Clear Pavilion Lord flushed, but could offer no rebuttal.
That day, Kunlun’s Elders’ Council ultimately decided to accept the Vice Cult Leader’s request.
Of course, there was a condition attached—that the Bright Cult’s warriors would not strike the Hundred Paths first while escorting the caravan.
When Shin Jijinren conveyed this, Yul Han smiled wryly and said,
“Then I also have a condition.”
“What… is it?”
To the slightly tense Shin Jijinren, Yul Han said,
“Please present the same conditions to Mount Dian as well. Naturally, you will need to persuade them.”
“Is Mount Dian not too far away to be involved? As far as I know, there are no people who would come all the way from Yunnan to harm Golden Flower Manor’s caravan.”
“One never knows with worldly affairs. And they are likely agonizing right now because of the promise they made with me.”
Those words meant that he was offering consideration to ease Mount Dian’s predicament.
Understanding that, Shin Jijinren’s eyes sparkled. He had thought so briefly before, but he now felt that this was someone who needed to be viewed differently.
Whether Shin Jijinren thought so or not, Yul Han left behind words saying he trusted Kunlun’s promise and vanished without a trace.
Shin Jijinren, wearing the same expression that Cold Blade Blood and Flashing Light Blood had worn not long ago, stared blankly at the empty seat where Yul Han had been sitting just moments before.