Chapter 465 : Murim Reorganization Tournament (2)
Chapter 465: Murim Reorganization Tournament (2)
Even after hearing that the Left Minister of Governance was the host of the Murim Reorganization Tournament, the martial artists didn’t seem to care much.
The prizes and rewards at stake were too massive to ignore, so they were deliberately turning a blind eye to the fact that an official of the government was organizing it.
Moreover, since the Martial Flower Lord had long admired the martial world, practiced martial arts, and occasionally involved herself in Murim affairs, martial artists didn’t feel much resistance to her presence.
Furthermore, the Left Minister of Governance, out of consideration for the pride of martial artists, didn’t even appear at the Opening Rite (Si-je) marking the beginning of the tournament.
Instead, the representatives announcing the opening rite were none other than the heads of Shaolin, Wudang, and Mount Hua—the backbone of the martial world.
The Left Minister of Governance merely stayed behind the scenes, assisting.
In truth, hosting a Murim Reorganization Tournament of this scale required such massive funding that neither the sects nor the Hundred Justice Alliance could even dare attempt it.
Because the Martial Flower Lord had mobilized all the resources herself as the host, the current scale was made possible.
Since this was the first grand orthodox Murim festival since the founding of the Hundred Justice Alliance, neither the Murim sects nor the Alliance rejected the government’s support.
In some ways, it even symbolized the Hundred Justice Alliance being recognized by the government, so they accepted it rather proactively.
“Since the tournament officially begins tomorrow, there won’t be much room to breathe. Let’s focus today on investigating the Left Minister of Governance.”
As darkness fell, Demonic Master moved together with Yong Hwarin.
Bae Yun, the Left Minister of Governance, entered his quarters late after conversing with various Murim Myeongsooks.
Other than the Murim Myeongsooks, he had met no one else up to that point.
It felt as though he was deliberately choosing to spend time in their company.
While observing Bae Yun, Demonic Master and Yong Hwarin came to a realization.
“The Left Minister of Governance is nothing more than a decoy to divert suspicion.”
Demonic Master spoke with conviction.
Yong Hwarin nodded in agreement.
“That seems to be the case. There’s little room for doubt.”
Demonic Master muttered, sounding frustrated.
“If you’re right, then by now they should already be making moves. It’d be too risky to act in the middle of things.”
After a moment of contemplation, Yong Hwarin shared a sudden thought.
“Elder, do you know anything about what’s happening on Mount Wangok?”
“Mount Wangok? Of course. I’ve been sending subordinates regularly and gathering information. I understand what you’re worried about, but Mount Wangok has nothing to do with this. According to my men’s reports, even the warriors from Valley of Poison seem to have withdrawn—there’s no trace of them. And with the disappearance of the warriors from Valley of Hidden Darkness who were stationed there, I’d say they’ve likely given up on the Dragon Bone Cavern.”
It was hard not to trust the elite of the Heavenly Demon Sect, who had searched and surveilled Mount Wangok.
“Isn’t it possible they went into the Dragon Bone Cavern? If they had the Dragon Bone Poison, they could wipe out all the martial artists participating in the tournament.”
“I thought the same and had the area around the Dragon Bone Cavern scouted multiple times. But there was no sign of any infiltration. Even high-level experts couldn’t make it past the cavern’s entrance, which means the formation hasn't been broken. My guess is, after failing to gain entry, they gave up. Now that the tournament is about to begin, they have no reason to waste time on it.”
Demonic Master, knowing just how potent the Dragon Bone Poison was, had kept Mount Wangok under close surveillance from the start.
However, with both the Valley of Hidden Darkness and Valley of Poison warriors—who had occupied the area—disappearing, it raised red flags. They made several attempts to enter the Dragon Bone Cavern, only to lose elite warriors in the process.
Seeing Yong Hwarin’s still-worried expression despite everything, Demonic Master chuckled softly.
“I told you not to worry. Do you know who I am? Just in case something happens, I’ve already hidden about two hundred elite members of the Heavenly Demon Sect near the Dragon Bone Cavern.”
Yong Hwarin was impressed by Demonic Master’s thoroughness.
‘As expected, he monitors even the most dangerous locations meticulously.’
Demonic Master had hidden reliable figures like Hyangbyeok and Hyang Woon around the cavern.
And if anything were to happen there, they were prepared to rendezvous with the forces on this side.
“For now, let’s keep a close watch on them. If anything suspicious occurs, we’ll snatch and interrogate them.”
Since there wasn’t much else that stood out, Yong Hwarin agreed with Demonic Master’s assessment.
They were already monitoring the figures from the demonic path and the Myeongsooks of the demonic path, but none of them seemed to have any connection to the Three Demonic Heavens, so there were no suspicious individuals among them.
“Since demonic cultivators are less likely to suspect someone from their own, please assign some Heavenly Demon Sect experts to keep tabs on them.”
“I’ve already done so.”
Demonic Master had already mobilized every available resource at his disposal.
“With such thorough surveillance, if they make a move, we’re bound to catch it. So hang in there until then. Frankly, it’d be best if this ended quietly without any incident, wouldn’t it?”
That night, Yong Hwarin, who had been hiding on the roof of the Left Minister of Governance’s quarters, confirmed that he had truly fallen into a deep sleep and returned to his lodging with a heavy heart.
The next day, Yong Hwarin was too busy monitoring and investigating the Left Minister of Governance and his surroundings to even attend the Opening Ceremony marking the start of the Murim Reorganization Tournament.
When he heard a chorus of cheers erupt from the duel arena, he realized the matches had officially begun.
Up until then, Demonic Master and Yong Hwarin conducted another sweep around the guest quarters of the Left Minister of Governance.
“No movement at all.”
Demonic Master muttered with a hint of letdown. They had kept a meticulous watch, expecting something to happen, but not a single clue had surfaced.
“Waaaah!”
Another wave of cheers erupted.
They had begun duels on the very first day, and the cheers came from the sight of a martial artist stepping onto the stage.
As Yong Hwarin blankly stared toward the duel arena, Demonic Master mumbled.
“What? You want to join too?”
“I’m not interested.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to earn the title of a Murim Star?”
Yong Hwarin chuckled softly at Demonic Master’s teasing.
Truthfully, ever since he laid eyes on the duel arena, the desire to compete had slowly started to spark in his heart.
It wasn’t that I coveted fame or rewards.
It was simply a martial artist’s instinct to test the level of my martial arts.
But now wasn’t the time to leisurely engage in duels.
Thousands of martial artists' lives were at stake—there was no room to be distracted.
“The Left Minister of Governance is seated at the duel arena watching the matches, and the other demonic practitioners are spectating as well, so we’re the only ones left here.”
Even though we loitered around the guest quarters, no one said a word to us.
Demonic Master spoke to me as I still seemed to be searching for something.
“This time, it looks like all the well-known prodigies are participating.
I also heard that the Three Demonic Heavens’ successors are entering as well.
They’re probably trying to repay the humiliation they suffered at Shaolin Temple.”
I’d heard rumors that despite the chaos following the deaths of the Three Demonic Heavens’ leaders, participants included Jeonghang of Shaolin, Unmang of Wudang, Cheongmong of Mount Hua, and Myeongok of Emei Sect, as well as Sanbi of the Holy Heaven Cult and Soyonghwa of the Valley of Hidden Darkness.
Moonwoo of Blood Demon Castle would not be participating due to losing an arm, but I’d heard he still came to watch.
They had arrived the night before, so I hadn’t seen them yet.
Apparently, the Hundred Justice Alliance guaranteed their safety this time, allowing them to participate.
Their intent was to show that the Three Demonic Heavens were still alive and well, while the Hundred Justice Alliance accepted their participation in order to defeat them and restore the pride of the orthodox Murim.
“We’re done here. Let’s go check how the matches are progressing.
There could be someone among them trying to pull tricks.”
Since it was impossible to just blindly look for suspicious individuals, I agreed with Demonic Master’s suggestion.
“Let’s do that.”
Honestly, I had also been curious about how the duels were going.
“But are you really not planning to compete?”
“As you know, Elder, I don’t have the luxury to be distracted by that right now.”
“That’s unfortunate.
If you displayed your martial prowess in front of the entire Murim, the ripple effects would be tremendous.
Just leave this place to me and go enter the duel.”
Demonic Master once again tried to persuade me, but I refused flatly.
“I’m not interested.”
I scanned the spectators watching the duels, looking to see if there were any suspicious figures.
Here and there, I spotted familiar faces.
Not only successors from the Nine Great Sects, but also heirs of various Murim clans had come to participate in the Murim Reorganization Tournament.
I saw faces like Namgung Soomyung, Pang Giyok, Shangguan Joyoung, Pang Cheollyeon, Tang Cheolgi, Seomun Yuwon, Jegal Cheongyeong, and Hwangbo Mak.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every expert in the Murim had gathered.
Looking up at the highest seat, I saw the Southern King and let out a sigh of relief.
‘If they have any sense, they won’t act rashly while the Southern King is here.’
Because of the Southern King’s appearance, the Left Minister of Governance had yielded the top seat and moved down.
But looking at his expression, he didn’t seem the least bit tense.
‘Clearly, the Left Minister of Governance really doesn’t know anything and is just here as a figurehead.’
Since the Southern King was royalty, practiced martial arts himself, and kept martial artists close by, most didn’t feel uncomfortable around him and simply paid their respects.
Around the Southern King, high-level bodyguards exchanged greetings with the renowned Myeongsooks of Murim.
“Look over there.”
I followed Demonic Master’s pointing finger—and had to swallow a groan.
“I told them not to come to the tournament.”
I had warned five women not to leave the Hundred Justice Alliance, worried that something dangerous would happen at the Murim Reorganization Tournament.
I couldn’t tell them the truth, so I had only urged them not to come.
If I had told them honestly and they accidentally mentioned it to others, it would’ve caused uncontrollable chaos.
Besides, I was confident that Demonic Master and I alone could handle any danger, so I hadn’t told anyone else.
But despite my warning, the five women had come to spectate the tournament.
‘Well, with martial artists like Mo Biyoung, Jeong Minji, and Namgung Yoo, it was naïve of me to think they’d just stay put.’
The five women weren’t even watching the duels.
They kept scanning their surroundings as if searching for someone.
“They’re not watching the matches and keep glancing around… they’re probably looking for you.”
I realized that too and said,
“I’ll go meet them for a bit.”
I approached the five women.
They were still scanning the crowd, trying to find me.
Because they didn’t know I had used Disguise Technique, they didn’t recognize me even when I got close.
—Min, Mae, I’m here. I’m the ordinary-looking martial artist to your right.
Jeong Minji saw the plain-faced martial artist smiling at her and couldn’t help but smirk.
His face was so unremarkable that one could forget it immediately after a glance.
—Just follow me for now. There are too many people here.
I took the lead and headed toward the guest quarters.
As Jeong Minji followed, the others trailed behind her.
Once we were away from the crowds, I spoke.
“I told you not to come.”
I scolded a bit, and Hoi Unkyung responded.
“We intended to stay away, but someone came to us and said they had a letter to deliver to you, so we brought it.”
Still, I couldn’t resist nagging.
“Then only one of you should’ve come.”
At that, Mo Biyoung interjected.
“With so many people here, we thought it’d be hard to find you, so all five of us came. We figured it’d be quicker to find you if we searched together.”
Her excuse was convincing enough that I decided not to push further.
More than anything, I needed to check the letter that had come for me.
‘It’s from Myeong Gujeong, huh.’
I pulled out several thick sheets of paper that had been tucked into the letter.
After reading the letter, I looked at the enclosed documents.
‘This is supposedly part of the latter portion of the Royal Queen’s Record?’
The papers contained mysterious writings and strange patterns.
In the center of a hexagon, there was a pearl-like shape, and around that orb were incomprehensible spells.
I read over Myeong Gujeong’s letter and thought to myself.
‘So this is the incantation formation to awaken the Dragon Command? Myeong Gujeong must be suggesting that I use this to dismantle the formation and enter the Dragon Bone Cavern later.’