The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

The place where Jang Baekseo was currently was Geum Hyeonah's quarters, which the Geumjo Merchant Guild had built 'on the side' while building the Gyohyeongak.

Its name was…

'Golden Mystic Pavilion.'

'What a blatant name…'

To put it simply, building another Gyohyeongak was just a groundwork before building this Golden Mystic Pavilion.

And the Golden Mystic Pavilion built in that way was truly splendid.

As Jang Baekseo and his junior brothers were admiring the magnificent high-class building, which was the same as the one they had seen at the Geumjo Merchant Guild…

Geum Hyeonah walked out of the main gate of Golden Mystic Pavilion.

"Oh my! Senior Brother! And the junior brothers have come too."

And she naturally stood next to Jang Baekseo.

In addition, she linked arms with him as if it were natural and led him inside Golden Mystic Pavilion.

"…Is there a need to link arms?"

"Sohyun wants to link arms too!"

The two junior brothers also followed behind.

The inside of Golden Mystic Pavilion, which they entered in that way, was as magnificent as its luxurious exterior.

The beautiful decorations, porcelain, and furniture of craftsmen that looked expensive at a glance intimidated the junior brothers.

Of course, Jang Baekseo was not intimidated by such things.

'It's quite nice.'

He was Jang Baekseo, who had been the Sword Demon, a key figure in the high-ranking officials of the Demonic Cult before his regression. There was no reason for him to be surprised by this level of splendor.

Whether the three junior brothers showed their respective reactions or not, Geum Hyeonah brewed tea with a smiling face.

Although there were maids hired to assist Geum Hyeonah around, Geum Hyeonah insisted on brewing the tea with her own hands.

Jang Baekseo, who took a sip of the tea that came out that way, was surprised.

"The aroma is really good. The tea leaves are good, but I can feel that your skill in brewing tea is very excellent."

At Jang Baekseo's compliment, Geum Hyeonah covered her mouth with her sleeve and was delighted.

"You praise me too much, Senior Brother."

"…It's just tea…"

Yuhan said something next to him, but it was not heard by Jang Baekseo and Geum Hyeonah, who were having a friendly conversation.

Although it looked to the people around them as if Jang Baekseo was just having a friendly conversation with a smile, his inner thoughts were different.

'How worried must this old man be about his daughter sending such people?'

Although they were hiding almost perfectly, they could not deceive Jang Baekseo's senses.

Currently, in Golden Mystic Pavilion, besides the ordinary maids, there were at least four guards with considerable martial prowess.

All of them were at the peak level or higher, and moreover, one of them was a master who had reached the transcendent realm.

He knew that the Geumjo Merchant Guild had a lot of money, but he didn't know that they would go so far as to hire a transcendent master.

At first, Jang Baekseo could not easily accept that there was a transcendent master from outside the sect within the sect, but he decided to think of it in a good way.

No matter what anyone said, Geum Hyeonah was currently a disciple of Mysterious Profound Sect. That fact would not change, no matter what happened in the future.

In other words, if someone attacked or was hostile to Mysterious Profound Sect, it would mean the same as attacking and being hostile to Geum Hyeonah, and this meant that they would have to fight this mysterious transcendent master. And if you thought a little more broadly from there…

'I'll have to deal with the Geumjo Merchant Guild.'

As Jang Baekseo was thinking that…

"Young Lady, Great Hero Cheongmu has arrived."

"Oh my? What brings Master here at this time?"

"Should I leave?"

"Fufu, no. I'm still a little awkward with Master. I would be grateful if you would stay with me, Senior Brother."

After a while, Cheongmu, who was the master of Jang Baekseo, Jang Yuhan, and Jang Sohyun, and now also the master of Geum Hyeonah, who had entered as a secular disciple, entered the room.

"You're all here."

When Cheongmu entered the room, all the disciples stood up from their seats and greeted their master.

Cheongmu gestured for them to sit down again and hurriedly conveyed his business.

"Baekseo, you'll have to come with me to the main hall."

"May I ask what's going on?"

Jang Baekseo, who noticed his master's eyes looking around at his other disciples and the maids of Golden Mystic Pavilion, stood up from his seat without saying anything more.

"Junior Sister, I enjoyed it today thanks to you. I would be happy if you would invite me again next time."

"Yes, anytime. I'll prepare some refreshments to eat together next time."

Jang Baekseo, who conveyed his greetings and was about to get up to follow, said to Yuhan and Sohyun, 'You guys can play a little more,' and sat them down again. He then hurriedly followed his master out of Golden Mystic Pavilion.

"To say something that can't be said in front of the junior brothers… what on earth is going on?"

At his disciple's question, Cheongmu also said with a troubled expression.

"I have no idea what's going on either. Let's go to the main hall first. I'll tell you as much as I know on the way…"

After a while, Jang Baekseo and his master, Cheongmu, entered the main hall together.

In the main hall, besides the master of this main hall and the Sect Leader of Mysterious Profound Sect, Ju Yulgok, and Cheong Yeonah, who had already arrived, four other people were sitting.

And those four people were…

The people of Qingcheng they had met on the way to the Geumjo Merchant Guild.

Jang Baekseo suppressed his surprised expression as much as possible and, with a calm face, first bowed to the Sect Leader and then to the people of Qingcheng.

"Jang Baekseo, the senior disciple of the third generation of Mysterious Profound Sect, greets the great heroes of Qingcheng."

"Haha, aren't you surprised that we are the people of Qingcheng?"

The one who spoke with a hearty laugh was the oldest among them, Gwang Yuwon… although Gwang Yuwon was probably not his real name…

Gwang Yuwon, who had laughed heartily for a while, introduced himself to Jang Baekseo, Cheongmu, and Cheong Yeonah, who were sitting in their seats.

"Nice to meet you. I am Gwangha, the senior brother of the current Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect."

And according to the following words, the names of the two burly men who had beaten up the thugs at the inn before were Myeonggwang and Myeongryo, and they were first-generation disciples of Qingcheng and the disciples of Grandmaster Gwangha.

Also, the name of the disciple who was younger than Jang Baekseo was Myeonghwa. From what he heard, it seemed that Grandmaster Gwangha had insisted and had taken him in as a first-generation disciple, ignoring the generation.

Seeing him do such an insistent thing in a prestigious sect that valued generation, Jang Baekseo had a rough idea of what kind of person Grandmaster Gwangha was.

After they had exchanged greetings and had a rough grasp of each other's identities, the Sect Leader opened his mouth.

"Then, Grandmaster Gwangha, since the three people you wanted to call are all here, can you now tell us that important story?"

Grandmaster Gwangha, who had heard the Sect Leader's words, thought for a long time with a serious face and then opened his mouth.

"First, before I start the story, the story I am about to tell is related to the shame of Qingcheng, so can you promise not to speak of this matter carelessly?"

The Sect Leader readily nodded his head, and it was the same for Cheongmu and Cheong Yeonah.

Jang Baekseo also readily nodded his head. Whatever that shame and secret was, it was a sect that would disappear within ten years if he couldn't stop the Righteous-Demonic War anyway.

There was no reason not to nod his head.

Whatever the reason, when the people of Mysterious Profound Sect nodded their heads, Grandmaster Gwangha, who had looked around the room, began his story.

"As you all know, Qingcheng is currently aggressively opening its doors to the secular world…"

The story that began in that way was surprising.

Qingcheng had begun to rapidly expand its power in the current generation.

They had begun to actively accept even those who had not entered the Daoist path by opening their doors to the secular world.

And as a sign of their harmony, they had given even the disciples who had not entered the sect a chance to participate in the events and operation of the sect.

Thanks to that, Qingcheng was able to have an unprecedented power, but at the same time, it had also brought the disputes of the secular world into the sect.

In other words, as the secular people who had their roots in the secular world participated in the operation of the sect, there were cases where they would secretly guide the operation or direction of the sect to be beneficial to the place they belonged to.

But up to this point, it was still within the range that Qingcheng had expected.

However, Grandmaster Gwangha soon realized that something strange was happening within Qingcheng.

As the sect became secularized, factions naturally formed, and the factions that were formed in that way naturally began to fight with each other.

It was said that the factions that were in conflict in this way often carried out their work competitively.

And Grandmaster Gwangha said that he had first felt something strange here.

In other words, he had learned that the work that the factions that were in conflict with each other had carried out had resulted in a result that was beneficial to a merchant guild that had no connection to them at all.

At first, Grandmaster Gwangha had thought it was just a product of coincidence, but once this caught his eye, similar things continued to catch his eye after that.

He had noticed that there were often cases where the work carried out by factions that were completely unrelated or hostile to each other ended in a form that was beneficial to a merchant guild, escort agency, or martial sect that had no connection or relevance to Qingcheng at all.

Having come this far, Grandmaster Gwangha said that he had gained a certain conviction.

"…In other words, you think that a third power is secretly at work behind the scenes."

Jang Baekseo, who had heard the story, muttered to himself, and Grandmaster Gwangha nodded his head greatly.

"Yes, I think that's probably the case in nine out of ten cases…"

Grandmaster Gwangha, who had gained conviction, had been running around trying to find out the identity of this third power since then.

But he had not been able to find any plausible clues and had only made futile efforts. He said that he had met Jang Baekseo's party on the way to the Geumjo Merchant Guild while he was traveling incognito for this purpose.

"But in the end, I couldn't achieve any results, and as a last resort, I came to Mysterious Profound Sect like this, clutching at straws…"

Saying so, Grandmaster Gwangha continued.

"You must know that the Qingcheng branch meeting will be held soon."

Of course, he knew it well. If the Qingcheng branch meeting hadn't been just around the corner, Mysterious Profound Sect would have tried to bite and twist the neck of the Qingcheon Sect somehow…

"If we hold the Qingcheng branch meeting with an unknown third power secretly at work, we don't know what they will do here…"

It was true.

The Qingcheng branch meeting was a place where the Qingcheng Sect and the various small to medium-sized sects located in its sphere of influence gathered to decide on the major and minor affairs related to Qingcheng. If a group whose identity was unknown was secretly at work here, it was scary to even imagine what they would do.

"…I understand the story well. I also understand well how desperate Grandmaster Gwangha is. But I would like to know what that has to do with visiting Mysterious Profound Sect…"

As the Sect Leader urged him to get to the main point, Grandmaster Gwangha, who had been silent with a serious face for a moment, opened his mouth.

"Mysterious Profound Sect…"

Grandmaster Gwangha, who had uttered the first word, took a breath and continued.

"I want Mysterious Profound Sect to enter the Qingcheng branch."

""…!!!""

At that shocking remark, silence fell on the main hall.

And Jang Baekseo thought.

'Isn't this old man completely crazy!?'

(End of Chapter)