Chapter 340 : Righteousness (2)
Chapter 340: Righteousness (2)
Why was this happening?
Even though her brain was desperately screaming at her to draw her blade, Abbess Miejue’s hand remained completely frozen around the hilt of her sword.
‘I... am afraid? Me, an Elder of the Emei Sect?’
She had been there when they stormed the infamous Tang Family village in Sichuan.
She had fought in the battle that wiped out the Blood Cult's main base.
And yet, her body refused to move and wouldn’t respond to her will when faced with this masked man.
Her reason was telling her to draw, but her instincts were screaming something else entirely.
Her instinct warned her that his words were not an empty threat.
That the moment she drew her sword, she would die.
A split second passed, yet it felt like an eternity.
A single bead of cold sweat traced its way down Abbess Miejue's forehead and fell silently to the ground.
"Both of you, please calm down."
The moment it hit the floor, Hwangbo Yeon stepped forward and placed herself between them.
And just like that, the crushing pressure that had been bearing down on Abbess Miejue vanished like it was an illusion.
It wasn't that Hwangbo Yeon had pushed it back.
Il-mok had simply withdrawn his Qi in an instant, displaying a level of control that was bone-chilling.
‘What he showed during the sparring match was just the tip of the iceberg.’
Freshly reminded of just how dangerous the masked man was, Hwangbo Yeon quickly steadied herself and moved on.
"I am Hwangbo Yeon of the Hwangbo Family. I'm not sure whether Taoist Master Cheongmok or Abbess Miejue remembers me, but we did fight alongside each other during the war against the Blood Cult."
"Well now, to think the famous Fist Phoenix was here as well."
Taoist Master Cheongmok greeted her with a show of composure, though the effort behind it was obvious.
Abbess Miejue finally snapped out of her daze and immediately appealed to Hwangbo Yeon.
"While we were out there fighting the Blood Cult, these vile people were bleeding the common folk dry! You fought in that war, so I trust you understand just how wicked they truly are!"
Nearly dying just a second ago had done nothing to deflate her. If anything, having more allies around had given her a second wind.
But unfortunately for her, Hwangbo Yeon had no intention of giving Abbess Miejue what she wanted.
"If things were exactly as you claimed, Abbess, if these people were truly bleeding the common folk dry, then of course I would stand on your side."
"Just what are you trying to say right now, Fist Phoenix? That sounds like you might stand on their side as well."
"Trying to punish the innocent for crimes they haven't even committed; don't you think that's completely ridiculous?"
"And you think that's something a comrade from the Blood Cult War should be saying right now?"
Faced with Abbess Miejue's blatant attempt to gaslight her, Hwangbo Yeon responded with a firm voice. "I believe that objectively judging right from wrong holds far more weight than the simple fact that we fought on the same side of a battlefield."
"Ha. And is that truly the Hwangbo Family's decision?"
Hwangbo Yeon hesitated briefly at that, but then answered with an expression full of pride.
"It's my decision alone. But I'd like to think I'm no longer some greenhorn hiding behind her family’s name."
Even Abbess Miejue couldn't bring herself to argue with that. Calling
someone who had reached the Supreme Peak Realm while barely past thirty a greenhorn would have been nothing short of making a fool of herself.
"...Very well. Then I'll watch and see whether these people truly looked after the common folk, or whether they were bleeding them dry all along."
Abbess Miejue shot a sharp glare at Hwangbo Yeon and then at Il-mok standing behind her, before spinning on her heel and leaving without so much as a farewell.
The Emei nuns followed her out.
Taoist Master Cheongmok lingered for a moment with a complicated expression, then clasped his hands together and left as well.
"May immensurable heavenly merits follow upon you."
Once the nuns and Taoists had disappeared from sight, Hwangbo Yeon turned to Il-mok with a troubled look.
"Incarnation, I worry that was a rather dangerous way to handle things."
"Dangerous? I'm not sure what you mean."
"Was it really necessary to intimidate Abbess Miejue like that?"
Listening to Hwangbo Yeon's concern, Il-mok just snickered and burst into an amused laugh.
"It was just a bit of posturing. Those people have spent their whole lives using their sects’ names to bully others around. To have an actual conversation as equals, you first have to knock that arrogance down a notch."
"So you never intended to kill her from the start?"
Il-mok didn't answer. He just smiled lightly with the corners of his lips curving up while his eyes behind the mask remained indifferent.
She didn't need him to say it out loud but she already understood.
It was a jarring feeling.
The same man who'd been so warm and gentle with the common folk had absolutely no hesitation when it came to killing.
‘Come to think of it, he was like that the first time we met, too.’
As Hwangbo Yeon found herself recalling her first encounter with the Incarnation of Maitreya, Il-mok abruptly turned toward her and clasped his hands in a polite bow.
"Thank you for stepping in. If you hadn't, there would've been a bloodbath here."
Hwangbo Yeon nearly let out a dumbfounded laugh at that. The words sounded like gratitude for stopping the fight, but the meaning underneath was exactly the opposite.
‘If I hadn't stepped in, those people might have been wiped out to the last.’
She could only find the entire situation incredibly amusing and ironic.
After all, the Emei and Qingcheng folks had walked right into a tiger's jaws and come back out without even realizing it.
"I only did what needed to be done."
"It may just be your job, but it still puts you in a rather messy political position, doesn't it? After all, your Hwangbo Family is a core member of the Martial Alliance, exactly the same as they are."
"To be honest, I only held back for the sake of keeping things civil. I can’t say anything for Qingcheng, but Emei's conduct wasn't exactly something I was happy about."
As Hwangbo Yeon let a hint of her true feelings slip, Il-mok tucked away his interest and asked in a more serious tone.
"Is there some kind of friction between the Hwangbo Family and Emei? If it's a sensitive topic that you'd rather not share, please forgive my rudeness for prying."
"It's not a conflict between the clan and the sect. Just my own personal feelings."
She glanced briefly in the direction the Emei nuns had gone.
"Regardless of what the Tang Family did in the Sichuan Massacre, Emei was fixated entirely on the Tang Family and wouldn't let it go during the whole duration of the campaign. Even as the Blood Cult was slaughtering the civilians, their revenge came first."
She let out a rueful expression before turning back to Il-mok.
"And it didn't stop there. They conveniently hid in the backlines under the excuse of 'recovering' from their fight with the Tang Family, only to miraculously show up right at the very end of the final battle just to grab a share of the glory."
"...I'm trying to be polite here, but for a group that calls themselves a prestigious and righteous Orthodox Faction’s sect, they act like petty cowards."
"Petty cowards. Hahaha. You're probably the only person who would describe Emei that way, Daekyeop."
After sharing that light exchange, Hwangbo Yeon's expression turned serious.
"By the way, will you be alright? Forgive my forwardness, but if the Maitreya Luminous Cult has been exploiting the common people, I won't hesitate to join their side and strike you down."
Il-mok just gave a dry laugh at her warning.
"If anything, I'm the one who's worried. Knowing them, I'm worried about what kind of corrupt stunts they'll pull just to frame us for a crime we didn't commit."
"Come on. Even they wouldn't stoop so low as to completely fabricate evidence of a crime, would they?"
Il-mok said nothing and simply smiled back at her.
'She has a good heart, but she still has the hopelessly naive mindset of an Orthodox martial artist.'
She still believed that a sect of the Orthodox Faction would not cross that final line.
Unlike Il-mok, who knew exactly how filthy the world was.
***
In the middle of the internal debacle that happened among the Orthodox Faction, Qingcheng and Emei were the sects that had taken the heaviest losses among the Nine Sects and One Gang.
During the Sichuan Massacre, they had lost an entire generation of promising young prodigies to the Tang Family and the Blood Cult. And to make matters worse, they had lost even more elite masters fighting their subsequent wars against them.
But as the saying goes, 'even a bankrupt millionaire still eats well for three generations.'
Even after taking such catastrophic damage, the sheer foundation of the two old sects meant they were still the undisputed hegemons of Sichuan.
But despite that, they were deeply unsatisfied with their current weakened state.
The brutal weakening of their once-great sects had happened in the blink of an eye over just a few short years, and their memories of their former glory were still fresh.
So Emei and Qingcheng formed a temporary alliance.
Their goal was to sweep out the Unorthodox Faction’s scums and gangs that had been growing throughout Sichuan while they were off fighting, and then split control of all of Sichuan between the two of them.
Since Sichuan used to be split three ways when the mighty Tang Family was still around, the two sects eagerly expected to become even wealthier and more powerful once they finished sweeping up the Tang Family's leftovers.
Starting from Chengdu, the provincial capital where the Tang Family had once been based, they began rooting out the Unorthodox Faction’s scums one by one.
However, they didn't just target actual criminals; they ruthlessly drove out absolutely anyone and everyone they arbitrarily decided to label as such.
Of course, since they were technically 'righteous' Orthodox Faction’s sects, they didn't just kick the doors down with swords drawn right away.
Just like they had tried to do with the Maitreya Luminous Cult, they simply showed up in force and 'politely' suggested that people pack their bags and get out.
The only hiccup in their plan was when people stubbornly rejected their fake kindness and actually had the guts to fight back.
Like the Maitreya Luminous Cult.
"What do you plan to do?"
Hearing Taoist Master Cheongmok's question, Abbess Miejue snapped back irritably. "Why are you asking something so obvious? We do what we did before, of course."
"In full view of the Hwangbo Family's Fist Phoenix?"
"Tsk."
Abbess Miejue clicked her tongue in annoyance and replied. "The Fist Phoenix said it herself. If they've been bleeding the common folk dry, she'll stand on our side."
"...Then I suppose we'd better send our disciples to check on the commoners."
With that decided, they sent their disciples out to comb through Guangyuan County and the villages and towns where the Maitreya Luminous Cult had set up shop.
What came back was utterly baffling.
"...You're telling me there wasn't a single place where money was taken from the people?"
"Not only that, but they've been distributing food, providing medicine, and even teaching those who can't read how to write, sir."
Taoist Master Cheongmok sank into deep thought at his disciple's report.
‘No matter how I look at it, these people are acting exactly like a textbook Orthodox Faction’s sect. Is going after them really the right thing to do?’
Sure, out of all the groups Qingcheng and Emei had kicked out of Sichuan, plenty of them had also claimed to be 'righteous' Orthodox sects.
But even those supposedly 'good' sects had secretly siphoned money out of the commoners' pockets. They had essentially run a mafia protection racket, forcing the locals to pay them a 'fee' just to keep the actual thugs away.
In fact, Emei and Qingcheng were no different in that regard.
The only distinction was that what they collected was called a "donation" rather than a "transaction."
But then, where was the Maitreya Luminous Cult getting the money to afford all this charity?
Realizing that racking his brain alone wasn't going to solve the mystery, Taoist Master Cheongmok brought the report directly to Abbest Miejue.
"Hmph. Please, it's laughably obvious. It has to be one of two things. Either they threatened the commoners into lying, or they're temporarily spending money to look good and plan to squeeze something much larger out of them later. It's a classic con man's trick."
"......"
Taoist Master Cheongmok had a gut feeling it was neither.
But saying so out loud would only start an argument with Abbess Miejue, so he pointed out a different problem instead.
"Whether they threatened the locals or they're just running a giant scam, the bottom line is that we don't have a single shred of actual evidence to prove it. Am I wrong?"
Deep down, Taoist Master Cheongmok was hoping to use that as an excuse to bow out of this whole business.
Given the Fist Phoenix's interference, he figured even his Sect Leader and the other Elders would understand.
But what followed made him realize something was going very wrong.
The moment he finished speaking, a smile crept onto Abbess Miejue's lips.
"It doesn't matter. They're villains either way, so we can just fabricate the evidence."
It was a smile more befitting a serpent than a Buddhist nun.