Chapter 405: Southern Murim Alliance (2)
Baek Sang-ah and I received a much warmer welcome from the Southern Murim Alliance than we had expected.
Even though we hadn't yet disclosed our true purpose, they fawned over us, hoping for Namcheon’s return.
“Young Master! It’s truly been a long time!”
In the past, under the name Jin Myeong, I had worked with Hwangbo Mun and Murong Gun. We reunited in the Southern Murim Alliance, having followed our respective clans.
“Have you both been well?”
It was a customary question, but their responses were unexpectedly bitter.
“Hahaha...”
“If only we had been well.”
“Something must have happened.”
I offered a polite smile and gave them a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
“Speak. If you have any frustrations, as your confidant, I shall listen.”
“C-Confidant?!”
Both wore expressions of deep emotion.
In a secluded and quiet spot, Hwangbo Mun let out a deep sigh.
“The state of the Alliance is unbelievably poor right now.”
“I heard as much from an elder of the Gongsun Clan, but in what way exactly is it poor?”
“Right now, the Southern Murim Alliance isn’t an alliance. It’s merely the Murim Alliance and Evil Path Castle jostling under one roof.”
I had heard the organizational restructuring wasn’t complete yet, but was it far more serious than I had thought?
“The Jaegal Clan, which produced the Alliance Leader, has completely failed to take the lead.”
Usually, a faction that produces the Alliance Leader assumes a central role in governance and bears the responsibility of maintaining order.
“But the Alliance Leader is always wandering about somewhere and has no interest in the Alliance’s affairs.”
Discontent was clearly written on the faces of Hwangbo Mun and Murong Gun.
Outraged, I slightly raised my voice.
“The Alliance is in shambles, and no other sects have stepped up in unison?”
“That’s right. Especially the Nine Orthodox Sects, who should be the most proactive, are instead holding themselves back.”
“And during that time, the Evil Path Castle has been running rampant like it owns the place!”
Much of their frustration echoed the sentiments of Gongsun Un.
‘No major useful information.’
“By the way, is the Namcheon Baek Clan preparing to break the seal and rise again? If Namcheon returns, it would be a great strength!”
“I’m sorry, but anything related to the seal isn’t within my jurisdiction. That’s a matter for the elders of the clan.”
“Ah...”
Their expressions darkened.
“Hmm, speaking of which...”
Lowering my voice as much as possible, I whispered to them.
“Could I perhaps get some information about the Alliance Leader?”
“You mean the Alliance Leader?”
“Before leaving the clan, the Sword King gave me a little tip.”
The name Namcheon Sword King worked instantly.
“T-The Sword King?!”
“He said, wasn’t the former Alliance Leader, Gwan Hyun, unjustly ousted under false charges?”
Their faces instantly turned pale.
It was a topic too sensitive for them to mention themselves.
“Think carefully.”
I drew my face closer and whispered.
“When the former Alliance Leader was ousted, do you really think the Jaegal Clan acted alone?”
“T-That couldn’t be.”
The Wudang Sect was a power not to be taken lightly compared to the Jaegal Clan.
“Of course, it must have been possible only with the complicity of surrounding factions.”
“......Huff.”
“Qingcheng, Jongnam, Jeomchang, Beggars’ Sect. And... the Gongsun Clan. They are the current pillars of the Southern Murim Alliance.”
Though I was from a sealed clan, I had a surprising wealth of information. But the two had no time to question that.
“The Nine Sects remaining silent in the face of the Alliance Leader’s tyranny? The premise is flawed. The Alliance Leader is merely their puppet.”
“Good heavens!”
“T-That may be, but the Evil Path Castle’s tyranny is too...”
“They probably didn’t anticipate that either. In trying to fight the wolf, they let the tiger inside.”
“......”
Murong Gun, who had timidly raised an objection, fell silent.
It seemed like I was forcing a theory, yet the pieces fit together perfectly.
“To my confidants, I’ll speak honestly. I’ve never even heard of this current Alliance Leader, Jaegal Cheon.”
The two chose silence in the face of the painful truth.
“If he were a master of the Fire Mirror Level, he’d have already made a name for himself representing the Jaegal Clan. At the very least, if he had been listed among the Ten Talents, I might have understood. But I couldn’t find his name anywhere.”
“That is...”
“Indeed... it’s true.”
“Above all, I heard in passing that the Southern Murim Alliance is treating the Hwangbo Clan and Murong Clan like leftovers.”
The two reacted immediately.
"That is correct."
"The Murong Clan couldn’t even dispatch a single elder to the Southern Murim Alliance. Such a thing could only happen if they were utterly disregarding the main clan!"
Both of their main clans were lords of territories powerful enough to rival the Nine Orthodox Sects.
It was hard to understand with what audacity they dared to discriminate against them.
Murong Gun whispered to me.
"According to a relative of mine in the Military Division, Alliance Leader Jaegal Cheon was someone who appeared out of nowhere, as if he had just dropped from the sky."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, there’s no result without cause. Suspicious, they traced his backing and found someone unexpected, not from the Jaegal Clan."
"Who was it?"
"Jeok Wonja of Qingcheng."
Jeok Won was one of the elders dispatched from Qingcheng.
And in the past, he had been ranked equally with Jeok Un, whom I had once fought within our Cult.
"Qingcheng, huh…"
I furrowed my brow slightly.
It reminded me of the last moment of Song Yangja.
"Qingcheng said they had nothing to do with it... so that was a lie."
If not, then at the time they truly had no connection but later made an irreversible choice.
Whatever it was, if that statement was true, Qingcheng had now become an entity we could not tolerate.
Thus, the meeting with the two prodigies ended.
"We have a problem."
Baek Sang-ah, with a serious look, said so as she returned to our lodgings.
"There’s no one within the Alliance who seems to know the whereabouts of the Alliance Leader."
"No one at all?"
Following Gongsun Un’s intent to desperately check the Evil Path Castle, Baek Sang-ah had met with several individuals within the Alliance.
And after contacting all sorts of people for half a day,
"All of them were duds."
She let out a sigh of disappointment.
Mount Bokryong, where the Alliance Leader was supposedly away.
Yet no one knew the location of that Mount Bokryong.
"There is, however, one person with a slight possibility…"
"Who?"
"Jegal Gun, the current Outer Hall Leader of the Southern Murim Alliance, who reportedly exchanged messages with Eun Yi. Him."
Unfortunately, Baek Sang-ah hadn’t been able to meet him.
"But, considering the nature of the position of Outer Hall Leader, he wouldn’t have left the Alliance grounds."
Being a high-ranking figure from the Jaegal Clan, it was highly likely he knew the whereabouts of this Mount Bokryong.
I looked around her and tilted my head.
"By the way, where’s So Cheon?"
"Taking a walk."
"……."
No way that was just a normal walk.
It would make more sense if the word ‘night’ was attached in front.
"I hope So Cheon brings back something worthwhile."
Baek Sang-ah smirked and replied.
"At the very least, he won’t get caught."
"Naturally. He’s a monster who crept into the heart of the Evil Overlords of Heaven and severed the neck of a cult leader."
Honestly, if So Cheon were to ambush me at midnight now, I doubted I could respond properly.
That’s how far So Cheon’s stealth abilities had surpassed the limits of the mortal realm.
And not long after,
So Cheon completely surpassed our expectations.
"I’m back."
Baek Sang-ah and I both focused on the ‘thing’ in So Cheon’s hand.
"You… what’s that?"
It wasn’t something he was simply holding.
What So Cheon had ‘dragged along’ was none other than the limp body of someone unconscious.
So Cheon answered nonchalantly.
"Some guy called the Outer Hall Leader of the Southern Murim Alliance. His name was… Jaegal-something?"
"……."
"……."
Baek Sang-ah and I were left speechless at the unthinkable stunt.
He kidnapped the Hall Leader from the heart of the Southern Murim Alliance, in the midst of all those guard-dogs of martial artists?
How?
"Weren’t there martial artists posted outside? How did you fool their eyes?"
"Well?"
"……."
I wondered if he was messing with me, but So Cheon’s expression was serious.
He was someone who, when working, made a clear distinction between private and professional matters.
‘That signature instinct of his.’
Anyway, if the unconscious middle-aged man before us truly was Jegal Gun, this was an unexpected opportunity.
I immediately set up a sound barrier, restrained Jegal Gun’s limbs, and struck his demonic blood points to wake him up.
Not long after, Jaegal Gun regained consciousness and began shouting at us with a glare.
“You vile scum dare commit such depravity within the Southern Murim Alliance! What is the meaning of this?!”
His gaze turned to Baek Sang-ah.
“A-And aren’t you the Southern Mist Sword Flower of Namcheon?! I heard news that you visited the Alliance today, so what in the world is this about?!”
Baek Sang-ah gave a cold smile and warned him.
“Even if you shout like that, nothing will leak outside, so for now just shut up and be quiet.”
“……!”
“We only have one question for you.”
She released killing intent right in front of Jaegal Gun’s nose as she asked.
“Mount Bokryong, the place the Alliance Leader headed to—where is it located?”
“Mount Bokryong? What is that?”
“…….”
He was desperately pretending not to know.
‘His voice is beginning to tremble.’
Though his acting was passable, he couldn’t completely hide the faint unease leaking through.
“Can’t be helped. I wanted to do this the easy way…”
Baek Sang-ah turned her gaze toward me.
“Make him talk. Use torture or whatever it takes.”
“T-Torture?!”
Jaegal Gun’s face twisted in horror.
“D-Do you think you’ll get away with this?!”
Indeed, if we performed torture in a place like this, cleanup would be troublesome.
Moreover, once the warriors realized the Outer Hall Leader had gone missing, they’d tear apart the Southern Murim Alliance like a pack of wild dogs—making it even likelier we’d be discovered.
However,
So Cheon spoke nonchalantly.
“Don’t worry. I can twist perception with the Ten Thousand Phase Tai Chi.”
“…That’s even possible?”
“Probably? I think I just did it earlier.”
Just what in the world…
Why did the heavens give someone like him such abilities?
I really did want to thoroughly examine his talents one day.
But for now, the priority was focusing on Jaegal Gun.
“S-Stop it!”
Jaegal Gun’s pitiful scream echoed emptily through the VIP Chamber.
A while later.
“There’s another problem.”
I said as I wiped the blood off my hands, looking at Baek Sang-ah who had been observing.
“We succeeded in finding out the location of Mount Bokryong… but it seems our torture has been discovered by ‘them.’”
Baek Sang-ah furrowed her brow.
“Discovered?”
“There was a Demonic Soul Repression Art placed on Jaegal Gun.”
“……!”
An ancient art that suppresses the soul.
The most troublesome part of this technique is…
“When the Demonic Soul Repression Art breaks, it likely alerts the caster of that fact.”
“Then what should we do?”
I shrugged.
There was only one answer in this kind of situation.
“Well, we’ll just have to strike first.”
Mount Bokryong, which Jaegal Cheon entered along with the Jaegal Clan.
That place was none other than another name for Mount Tai, one of the Five Great Peaks of the Central Plains.
‘Mount Tai is where orthodox Bongseon Rituals traditionally take place.’
No matter what happens there, we must stop it at all costs.