Chapter 42 : The Aftermath
The living are silent, but the corpse is honest.
Myeonggwang had not said anything about the Hundred Rivers Association while he was alive.
But paradoxically, Jang Baekseo was able to secure a clue about the Hundred Rivers Association through the dead Myeonggwang.
He had searched the bosom of the deceased Myeonggwang on a whim and had been able to get his hands on a token and a book.
On the token made of pure white platinum, the character 'Hundred' was embossed in the center.
"No matter who, where, or how you look at it, it's an item related to the Hundred Rivers Association."
Jang Baekseo, who thought that it would be useful somewhere someday, took the token.
"The token is one thing, but what on earth is this…"
Jang Baekseo looked into the book he had found in Myeonggwang's bosom along with the token.
-Blood Flower Sutra-
This book, whose name exuded an ominous feeling, had contents that were just as bizarre.
First of all, the contents inside were written in a language he had never seen or heard of in his life.
'The cover of the book is written in Chinese characters, so why are the contents inside written in a different language?'
If he could, he wanted to go to the creator of the book and grab him by the collar, but Jang Baekseo endured, promising himself a distant future.
"Ugh!"
Although he was pretending to be calm, Jang Baekseo's current condition was a mess.
From his right arm, which had been shattered in a head-on collision with Myeonggwang's pseudo-sword force, to his body, which had been hit by stones containing energy and pierced by tree branches. In addition, although he had succeeded, the blow he had received in the process of receiving Myeonggwang's pseudo-sword force with the Jowon sword manual was also serious.
'Aww, I'm going to die…'
Jang Baekseo dragged his aching body and headed for the Qingcheng Sect.
When he returned, the situation was already in the cleanup stage.
As Myeonggwang had guessed, Grandmaster Gwangseo had prepared to spread a net that could not be escaped, covering Mount Qingcheng, before surrounding them, and as soon as they had scattered and fled, he had spread the net.
In fact, it would have been fine without the net. It was because the traitors had all been captured by the Gwang generation and the first-generation Myeong generation disciples who had surrounded the pavilion at that time.
Of course, since the resistance was fierce, more than half had to be killed, but they were still able to capture half of them alive.
And among those captured alive, Myeongryo was also included.
Grandmaster Gwangha was looking down at Myeongryo, who was restrained by the other first-generation disciples, with empty eyes.
"Why?"
"…"
"I'm asking why you did this!!!"
A murderous qi wave that spread with a roar shook the surroundings.
"…It was for Qingcheng."
"Qingcheng? For Qingcheng? Ha, hahaha!"
Grandmaster Gwangha, who had laughed futilely for a long time, looked at Myeongryo and said.
"What do you mean, for Qingcheng? Is it for Qingcheng to secretly plot and scheme within Qingcheng? Or is it for Qingcheng to poison your own senior uncle because you think you'll be caught doing such a thing? If you have a mouth, speak!"
"…You don't know, Master."
"I don't know? What do I not know? Well, I didn't know. I didn't know that my disciple was such a patricide, and I cherished and lived with him so much…"
"Do you think Qingcheng will be fine as it is?"
"Ho ho! Now you're even saying strange things?"
"You don't know the reality of the Western martial world now, Master! While the Eastern martial world was strengthening its power by gathering into the Righteous Heaven Alliance and the Chivalrous Alliance respectively, what did the Western martial world do!? They were either checking and growling at each other, or they were not paying attention to others and were holed up in their own castles, not caring about their surroundings!!"
Looking at Myeongryo, who was shouting desperately, Grandmaster Gwangha frowned.
"…Your words are all over the place. I must have always taught you that even when you eat a single bowl of noodles, there must be neatness in it. You wouldn't not know that you should do the same when you speak."
At Grandmaster Gwangha's words, Myeongryo buried his face in the floor and seemed to think for a moment.
"…The Eastern martial world has been repeating its divisions and unifications for a long time, and in the current era, it has been organized into the Righteous Heaven Alliance of the Southern martial world and the Chivalrous Alliance of the Northern martial world. They are fighting among themselves now, but do you think they will only do that forever?"
"In other words, you're saying that someday, the Righteous Heaven Alliance or the Chivalrous Alliance will aim for the Western martial world and advance… is that what you're saying?"
"The Western martial world has had peace for too long, and the Eastern martial world is looking for a place to release its power, which has reached its peak. That should be enough of an answer."
"Ha! Your words are plausible. But what does that have to do with your secret plotting?"
"We received a promise from them. In return for helping them with what they want, we would receive help in unifying the Western martial world for Qingcheng…"
The unification of the Western martial world!
Unlike the Eastern martial world, where many sects were gathered closely in a relatively small land, in the Western martial world, the large sects were often quite far apart due to the vast land.
As a result, there were few conflicts, and therefore, there was little cooperation.
Throughout the long history of the martial world, the Western martial world had almost never united as one, except for the Righteous-Demonic War of the old days.
Myeongryo was now talking about the unification of such a Western martial world.
"Them… who on earth are they?"
"…I cannot say."
"…"
At Myeongryo's silence, Grandmaster Gwangha just looked at his disciple without a word.
"That's enough, Senior Brother. That child, Myeongryo, is already a traitor who has betrayed the sect and killed his senior uncle. If you talk to him any more, only your heart will be hurt."
Grandmaster Gwangseo, who had stopped further conversation, ordered the first-generation disciples to lock Myeongryo in prison.
Grandmaster Gwangha just looked at his disciple being dragged away with sorrowful eyes.
***
"Baekseo!! What happened!?"
"Haha, it just happened."
In the medical hall of Qingcheng, two junior and senior brothers were having a conversation.
One was Cheongmu, a second-generation disciple of the Mysterious Profound Sect and a master who was counted among the top ten in Sichuan, and the other was Jang Baekseo, a disciple of such a Cheongmu.
The reason why Cheongmu was so surprised was because his disciple, Jang Baekseo, was literally a mess, wrapped in bandages and lying on a corner of the medical hall.
Cheongmu had also participated in the encirclement last night.
While tracking and capturing the members of the secret power, he had suddenly realized that his disciple, Jang Baekseo, the mastermind of this operation, had disappeared. He had been worried that something bad might have happened, and when he had looked for him, he had been told that he had been seriously injured and had been hospitalized in the medical hall.
"Hoo… how on earth did you get so seriously injured?"
"…I wanted to help even a little, so I chased after the people of the secret power who were breaking out of the encirclement, and then…"
Although he trailed off at the end, Cheongmu could roughly deduce the situation.
In other words, he had chased after a member of the secret power who had escaped from yesterday's encirclement, had fought, and had been injured like this in the end.
One arm was multiply fractured, and his whole body had bruises. In severe cases, there were even places where his bones were cracked. In addition, he had even suffered an internal injury, so it was a situation where it was a relief that he had saved his life.
"How is the situation in the Qingcheng Sect now?"
"Hmph, you're worried about that in your condition?"
"Haha…"
Although Cheongmu gave him a scolding, he kindly explained the current situation to Jang Baekseo.
Last night's encirclement operation had been successful, and they had been able to capture half of the members of the secret power. And they had learned the name of the secret power, or to be precise, the identity of the group that had created the secret power in Qingcheng, which was the Hundred Rivers Association.
'It seems there was a light-lipped person.'
Although there were guys like Myeonggwang who would not mention the name of the Hundred Rivers Association even if they died, people were originally a hundred people, a hundred colors. If there was a tight-lipped person, there was also a person whose mouth was as light as a feather.
This time, it seemed that a person with such a light mouth had blurted out the name of the Hundred Rivers Association.
But…
"Everyone was confused by the name they had never heard of before."
Before his regression, the Hundred Rivers Association had revealed its tail one by one while fighting the Righteous-Demonic War, so the Demonic Cult had been able to find out the existence of the group called the Hundred Rivers Association. But until the present time, when the Righteous-Demonic War had not broken out, the Hundred Rivers Association would have been a thorough secret group that had not revealed a single tail.
In other words, it was a situation where there was no additional information that could be obtained even if they knew the name.
"Thanks to that, instead of the Qingcheng branch meeting that should have been held, a Qingcheng emergency response meeting is being prepared now."
"That's understandable."
Currently, Qingcheng was in an uproar, like a beehive that had been poked with a stick.
They couldn't help but be surprised to learn that the sects of the same branch, who had been laughing and looking forward to the Qingcheng branch meeting together until yesterday, were actually traitors.
Moreover, since even a first-generation disciple of Qingcheng was among the traitors, it was impossible for there not to be an uproar.
Although the number found was considerable, they could not even be sure that this was all, so anxiety and impatience were eroding the inside of Mount Qingcheng.
The people of Qingcheng were doing their best to find the traitors who might exist in addition to these, by interrogating the captured prisoners to resolve this situation.
"Still, it seems to be getting under control somehow."
"Under control…"
Cheongmu avoided answering Jang Baekseo's words.
"It's not under control… it seems to be just the beginning."
Cheongmu had a bad feeling.
He didn't think that this incident, which had happened in Qingcheng, a great pillar of the Orthodox Faction martial world, the Nine Great Sects, would just end quietly.
He couldn't shake off the ominous thought that all of these things that had happened now were a prelude to something huge that would happen in the future.
"That may be so, but… for now, let's enjoy the peace of this moment."
At his disciple's overly simple words, Cheongmu smiled.
"…Yes, for now, just focus on recovering your body."
Saying so, Cheongmu left the medical hall.
Currently, the medical hall was full of people who had been injured in last night's encirclement operation, and he thought that staying in such a place any longer would be a nuisance to the people of the medical hall who were still busily moving around.
After his master had disappeared, and after a while.
A person appeared in the medical hall, or to be precise, next to the bed where Jang Baekseo was lying, without anyone around noticing.
"Is your body a little better?"
"As you can see."
"…"
Seeing Grandmaster Gwangha, who could not continue his words, Jang Baekseo did not say anything and just waited for his next words.
"…Because of my lack of virtue, you have suffered like this."
"…To be precise, I'm not the only one who has suffered."
"…"
At Jang Baekseo's words, Grandmaster Gwangha's words were blocked again.
It was true. How many people had suffered and been injured because of this?
"…Yes, that's right."
Grandmaster Gwangha had nothing to say.
"…I heard that Myeonggwang's body was found in a corner of a remote place in Mount Qingcheng."
"…"
"Looking at the traces around, it is said that his breath was cut off in one go by a powerful sword force art."
"…"
"I don't know who killed Myeonggwang… but I am really greatly indebted to you."
"…Hoo."
Jang Baekseo, who had been worried for a moment that he might harbor a desire for revenge against the person who had killed his disciple, was relieved that Grandmaster Gwangha was not such a person without principles. No, in the first place, he would not have known that Jang Baekseo had done it.
As Jang Baekseo was letting out a sigh of relief…
"But… the traces at the place where Myeonggwang was found were very strange…"
"Strange… what do you mean by that?"
Leaving behind Jang Baekseo, who was asking back anxiously, Grandmaster Gwangha took a stance as if he were holding a sword in his hand and slowly moved.
"When martial artists who have reached a certain level fight, traces are bound to be left at the place where the decisive battle took place. And those traces can tell you quite a lot."
"…"
At Grandmaster Gwangha's words, Jang Baekseo, who had been worried for a moment about whether he had left any traces that could identify him in his fight with Myeonggwang, was relieved that he had not left any traces of martial arts that could identify the target, other than using the Roaring Heaven, the first form of the Nine Heavens Sword Demon Art.
The traces left by the Roaring Heaven were also very rough and coarse, making it difficult to identify the form, and moreover, there was no one in this world who knew that Jang Baekseo had learned the Roaring Heaven.
As Jang Baekseo was letting out a sigh of relief…
"Myeonggwang… the traces that that child left were strangely low?"
"Yes? Low, what do you mean by that…"
"It's literal. The traces of the sword art of Qingcheng that that child left… were left at a subtly low position for someone who had fought against an adult. A little smaller than an adult… but it's ambiguous to say it's small… yes, it seemed like he had fought with an opponent of about your height, Baekseo…"
'Oh no!!!'
Jang Baekseo, who had understood the meaning of Grandmaster Gwangha's words, forcibly swallowed the scream that was about to burst out of his throat.
What Grandmaster Gwangha had found out through the traces left at the end of the two's desperate struggle was not the type of martial arts the two had used or the aspect of the fight. He had deduced the physique of the person who had fought with Myeonggwang through the stride, the length of the sword wound, and the height at which it was engraved.
"…"
"…"
A heavy silence fell between the two.
At the end of a long, if long, and short, if short, silence, the moment Jang Baekseo was about to open his mouth first!
"…I don't know who that master is… but Baekseo, if you meet him, please be sure to tell him this…"
"…"
"That I'm really… grateful… for doing what I should have done."
Grandmaster Gwangha, who had said that, was showing his back to Jang Baekseo.
And the back of Grandmaster Gwangha, which was seen in that way, looked as big as a mountain and as hard as a rock, as if he had overcome his age.
Since it was the back of the best in Qingcheng, it would have been a natural thing if it was natural.
But at the same time, that mountain-like, hard rock looked so sorrowful and sad.
At least Jang Baekseo… felt that way.
(End of Chapter)