Chapter 33 : The Bait's Bait
Jang Baekseo's bombshell caused the crowd to murmur. Words like 'Then did they kill Grandmaster Gwang Oh!?' and 'I thought it was strange when they suddenly entered the Qingcheng branch meeting…' were exchanged, and the atmosphere became even more hostile.
But Jang Baekseo ignored the murmuring and continued.
"Last night, the elders of the Mysterious Profound Sect and I left the Qingcheng Sect and spent the night near a secluded grotto in Mount Qingcheng."
As Jang Baekseo said that, Grandmaster Gwangha hurriedly intervened and tried to continue.
"That's right, they are…!"
But Jang Baekseo cut off Grandmaster Gwangha's words by continuing one step faster.
Grandmaster Gwangha was probably trying to say that they were helping him chase the secret power, but Jang Baekseo thought that it was not yet time to reveal that.
'If I reveal the existence of the secret power here and now, the chance to catch them will probably disappear forever!'
Jang Baekseo had no intention of letting this secret power, which had trapped them, go.
For that reason, he could not reveal their existence on a large scale now.
"Last night, I pestered the elders of the sect and went to a deserted place in Mount Qingcheng…"
"Will you tell me the reason?"
Although Grandmaster Gwangseo's words were gentle, his eyes were coldly sunken. If he could not give a convincing answer here…
'I'll be framed as the assassin of Grandmaster Gwang Oh and my head will fly!'
That's why Jang Baekseo carefully said the excuse he had prepared in advance.
"It was to ask them to watch my training."
At that answer, question marks appeared above the heads of not only the Sect Leader of Qingcheng, Grandmaster Gwangseo, but also the people who were listening around him.
"Child, I don't quite understand what you're saying. If you were going to ask them to watch your training, you could have used the training ground inside the Qingcheng Sect. Why did you have to go all the way to a secluded place in Mount Qingcheng?"
"That's because I couldn't show the people of Qingcheng my training."
"Why is that? Were you perhaps worried that the disciples of Qingcheng would steal a glance at the training of the Mysterious Profound Sect?"
There was an indescribable sneer in those words.
The Nine Great Sects!
It was the name of the great trees that supported the martial world, and the Qingcheng Sect was a martial sect that proudly occupied a corner of this great tree. For such a Qingcheng to have trained far away, hiding, for fear of being spied on by the Mysterious Profound Sect, which was just a little well-off in Gangjeong County, a sneer could not help but come out.
Of course, he did not say such things on the surface, but the words he wanted to say were clear.
Jang Baekseo was not particularly angry about that. He was just a little annoyed!
Jang Baekseo continued, with a little of that annoyance.
"Sect Leader, do you perhaps know what happened to the Mysterious Profound Sect yesterday?"
When the Sect Leader tilted his head at Jang Baekseo's question, a first-generation disciple of Qingcheng who had approached him from the side explained what had happened yesterday in his ear.
"Jeongpung, yes, you had a duel with that child… he's a very skilled child, but to think that you succeeded in grappling art, even if you caught him off guard, is amazing."
The Sect Leader, who had spoken in an ambiguous tone that was neither a compliment nor a sarcasm, urged him on with his eyes, saying 'So?'.
Jang Baekseo continued at the Sect Leader's gesture.
"Yesterday's duel was a shameful thing for me. Against Young Hero Jeongpung, who had gone easy on me out of consideration, I tried to seize victory by using grappling art in a surprise attack. I was so ashamed of my own actions that I declared my own defeat."
"Yes, I heard so."
"But that alone did not erase my shame, so I specially asked my master and the other elders of the sect to train me in the middle of the night."
"Then you mean…"
"Yes, as you think…"
Jang Baekseo looked at the Sect Leader's eyes with a rather challenging look and continued.
"I was taught how to win against the sword of Qingcheng."
At those words, which were not just challenging but even provocative, the crowd murmured for a moment.
"No matter how much it was a request due to my personal feelings, how could I be taught how to attack the sword of Qingcheng inside Qingcheng?"
At Jang Baekseo's words, a few people in the audience began to show a reaction of understanding. To be taught how to attack the sword technique of a sect while staying in that sect… it was something that would normally be a concern.
"Moreover, from the perspective of the Mysterious Profound Sect, which was newly participating in the branch meeting, it was bound to be a burden, and we had no choice but to leave Qingcheng and receive teachings in a place where there were no eyes."
Even after Jang Baekseo's words ended, the Sect Leader did not answer and just looked at Jang Baekseo quietly.
In the meantime, among the audience, an argument was going back and forth between those who thought Jang Baekseo's excuse was quite plausible and those who thought it was a lame excuse.
After a short time, the Sect Leader continued.
"That remark you just made… can you prove it?"
Jang Baekseo smiled triumphantly in his heart.
"If you give me a chance…"
That one word was decisive.
The Sect Leader of Qingcheng, Grandmaster Gwangseo, called a third-generation disciple from within the sect.
The person he called was a disciple whose skill was most similar to that of Jeongpung, who had fought with Jang Baekseo yesterday, and who had learned the same type of martial arts.
"Jeongdo… you go and find out the truth of that child's words."
"I understand, Sect Leader."
The remains of the murdered Grandmaster Gwang Oh were cleared, and the people of the medical hall, who were in charge of medicine within the sect, left to confirm the exact cause of death and the time of death of Grandmaster Gwang Oh.
And everyone else had gathered again at the training ground where Jeongpung and Jang Baekseo had had a duel yesterday.
It was to see the duel between Jang Baekseo and Jeongdo, who had dueled with Jeongpung yesterday.
Jang Baekseo had said.
That he had been stimulated by yesterday's incomprehensible duel and had received guidance from the elders of the Mysterious Profound Sect.
That since they could not receive teachings on how to attack the sword of Qingcheng inside Qingcheng, they had deliberately left the inside of Qingcheng and had trained all night in a secluded place in Mount Qingcheng.
That was the excuse of the Mysterious Profound Sect, which had secretly left their quarters in the middle of the night.
Among the sects participating in the branch meeting so far, there were a few other sects besides the Mysterious Profound Sect that had left their quarters in the middle of the night, but they all had their own plausible reasons and witnesses to prove their innocence.
Currently, among the sects participating in the branch meeting, the only sect whose innocence had not been properly confirmed was the Mysterious Profound Sect.
In other words, if Jang Baekseo could not prove that he had received training last night here, the suspicion of the assassination of Grandmaster Gwang Oh would naturally fall on them.
But it was very difficult to prove this.
Even if it were true that the people of the Mysterious Profound Sect had stayed up all night to train Jang Baekseo last night, it was not guaranteed that Jang Baekseo would beat Jeongdo right now.
Martial arts was not something that could be learned in a single day and become strong enough to attack an opponent.
In other words, there was a much higher probability that this duel between Jang Baekseo and Jeongdo would not be able to prove anything.
"Baekseo, you brat! What are you thinking, doing such a reckless thing!!"
Cheongmu shouted in anger, and Jang Baekseo could only bow his head deeply.
"Don't be so hard on him, Senior Brother. You know that that young brat did it thinking of our position, don't you?"
At Cheong Yeonah's words, Cheongmu, who had been scolding Jang Baekseo, had no choice but to swallow his words.
"And if you trace the cause in the first place…"
Saying so, Cheong Yeonah headed towards Ju Yeongchan, who was huddled in a corner and bowing his head without a word.
"It's because someone, someone, made a rash lie."
"…I'm sorry."
At Cheong Yeonah's subtle nagging, Ju Yeongchan let out a deep sigh and apologized.
"No, this is not your fault, Senior Granduncle. I think we were caught in a trap in the first place."
"A trap?"
At Jang Baekseo's words, Grandmaster Gwangha asked back.
After the series of conversations between the Sect Leader and Jang Baekseo had ended and the duel between Jang Baekseo and Jeongdo was prepared, Jang Baekseo made an excuse to confirm the method of attacking the sword of Qingcheng with his masters for the last time and bought some time.
In the meantime, Grandmaster Gwangha had come to the party of the Mysterious Profound Sect.
"First, before that, I will ask. Grandmaster Gwangha, was Grandmaster Gwang Oh perhaps your collaborator?"
At Jang Baekseo's question, Grandmaster Gwangha's eyes widened like a lantern.
"How did you know that…"
"As expected… Grandmaster Gwangha, you must have thought that you had thrown a bait to catch the secret power."
Grandmaster Gwangha waited for Jang Baekseo's words with eyes that had not yet recovered from the shock.
"But this situation is telling us. That the one who threw the bait was not Grandmaster Gwangha…"
Grandmaster Gwangha had thrown the bait of the Mysterious Profound Sect and had thought that the secret power had bitten it, but that was not the case.
The secret power had used the bait of the Mysterious Profound Sect in reverse to throw the bait of a contact, and Grandmaster Gwangha had been caught in it.
"Grandmaster Gwangha, who are the people who know that Grandmaster Gwang Oh was your collaborator?"
"…Only me, only me. I was deliberately conspicuous and was investigating the identity of the third power from the outside, and Gwang Oh was secretly investigating from the inside."
"Then the one the third power was aiming for from the beginning must have been Grandmaster Gwang Oh."
"!?"
The third power probably did not know exactly who Grandmaster Gwangha's collaborator was. But they probably thought that Grandmaster Gwangha had a collaborator they had not identified, and they had used the bait of the Mysterious Profound Sect in reverse to find out and eliminate him.
"…Last night, after Myeonggwang informed me that a secret contact note had come to the Mysterious Profound Sect, I secretly conveyed this fact to Gwang Oh."
"Then the person who conveyed this fact to Grandmaster Gwang Oh at that time is suspicious…"
"No, that's not it. In case of an emergency, I conveyed the message in a phrase that only Gwang Oh and I could understand, and the one who delivered this message was also my disciple, Myeongryo."
"…Did you tell Grandmaster Gwang Oh to come out to the contact place?"
"…Yes. Gwang Oh's level was still only at the beginning of the transcendent realm, but it would be advantageous in case of an emergency if there was even one more person…"
Now he could understand why Grandmaster Gwangha had been so restless while he was in ambush.
He had felt anxious because his junior brother, who should have followed him to the contact place right away, had not appeared.
'And as a result, Grandmaster Gwang Oh was assassinated in a situation where Grandmaster Gwangha, the best in Qingcheng, was not there.'
He didn't know whose head the plan had come from, but they had been completely had.
In addition to that, they had meticulously framed the Mysterious Profound Sect for this assassination.
He wanted to go and beat up the witness who had witnessed them leaving their quarters, but the possibility of those who had used such a meticulous plan to openly reveal their tail was close to zero.
'They probably used some trick to make him witness us coming out.'
The important thing now was not that.
"…What are you going to do now? To prove the innocence of the Mysterious Profound Sect here, you have to beat Jeongdo. But a trick like yesterday won't work once you've shown it…"
Grandmaster Gwangha, who was asking with a worried face, said, 'It would be better to reveal the truth now…,' but Jang Baekseo shook his head.
"If we reveal this fact now, not only will the Qingcheng branch meeting fall into chaos, but the secret power will completely hide themselves underground. If that happens, there is a high probability that we will never be able to catch them again."
At Jang Baekseo's words, Grandmaster Gwangha let out a groan.
In the meantime, a young disciple of Qingcheng came to the pavilion where the party of the Mysterious Profound Sect was talking.
"It's almost time for the duel."
Jang Baekseo, who nodded his head, followed the young disciple with a calm gait.
Behind him, the worried gazes of the elders of the Mysterious Profound Sect and Grandmaster Gwangha poured down.
But Jang Baekseo headed to the training ground where the duel would be held with a light gait, as if their worries were meaningless..
(End of Chapter)