Chapter 275 - I Told You Not to Choose the Cult

Of course, he had brought it up for the Sword Immortal to hear.

Geom Mugeuk rose and respectfully saluted the Sword Immortal with a fist clasped in his palm.

“I did not have the chance to greet you properly earlier. It is an honor to meet you.”

The Sword Immortal studied him with a keen gaze. As when he had first seen him, he found himself admiring the clarity of Geom Mugeuk’s eyes and his qi presence.

'Such clear eyes, despite practicing demonic arts? Truly remarkable.'

His gaze shifted to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon standing behind Geom Mugeuk. He recalled what the man had said earlier.

[“It can change.”]

Had his remark, which sounded as though he had changed his own life, been referring to this young lord?

The Sword Immortal asked again, his voice low but stern.

“Repeat what you said earlier.”

“I suspected you did not know. Had you known, you surely would not have condoned it.”

The Sword Immortal had accompanied Jin Hagun only to protect him at Martial Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon’s request. He did not know what business had brought the young man here. He had never been interested in the first place.

“Are you saying that what you said earlier is true?”

“Yes. Seo Cheong over there murdered a passerby simply because he wanted to kill, and he also killed a martial artist of the Cult. There are other victims as well. I happened to be in Hunan, and when I tried to punish him, the Orthodox Martial Alliance intervened to stop me.”

The Sword Immortal turned his cold gaze on Jin Hagun.

“Squad Leader Jin, is that true?”

Given his temperament, an affirmative answer would earn a thunderous rebuke—not merely for the Martial Alliance Leader’s grandson, but even for the leader himself.

Jin Hagun understood Geom Mugeuk’s intention. He was offering him a way out through the Sword Immortal.

“It is true.”

Anger surged from the Sword Immortal.

Jin Hagun quickly added, “But one fact has been left out.”

He looked at Seo Cheong.

“I, too, intended to impose a fitting punishment for Seo Cheong’s crimes.”

He knew this was the most natural way to sever his ties with the Heavenly Harmony School.

“What punishment?”

“I intended to imprison him. He would have to remain there for the rest of his life.”

The Sword Immortal regarded him suspiciously. He might simply be scrambling for an excuse now that the elder had intervened.

Jin Hagun met his gaze squarely. In truth, he might have done so—or he might not. He chose to believe in himself. Somehow, he would have punished the man.

Only then did the Sword Immortal’s expression soften.

“Yes. I knew you would.”

He lent Jin Hagun his support because he trusted him. He had watched the boy grow up and knew well that he had worked harder than anyone and had always been upright.

“I believe in you.”

“I will strive all the harder not to disappoint you.”

Jin Hagun was relieved that matters would no longer proceed toward absorbing the Heavenly Harmony School. Looking back now, he had been utterly blinded by greed.

Of course, the Sword Immortal’s anger had not disappeared. It had merely found a new target.

His gaze settled on Seo Cheong. The young man should have taken the hint and hurried over, but he remained frozen in terror.

Seo Baekjung called loudly, “What are you doing? Come here at once!”

The Sword Immortal was already angry. Offending him now might cost Seo Cheong his life on the spot.

“I said come here!”

Seo Baekjung roared, then sent a sound transmission.

“Do as the Sword Immortal tells you. Get over here and beg for forgiveness as though your life depends on it!”

“Save me, Father! I can’t go to prison! I’ll die there!”

“Shut up! This is no time to indulge your whining!”

At his father’s furious rebuke, Seo Cheong walked toward the Sword Immortal, his face filled with fear.

Seo Baekjung sent Jin Hagun an urgent sound transmission.

“Stop him!”

“Now that the Sword Immortal has intervened, there is nothing I can do. You know as well as I do, Sect Leader, that he is the alliance leader’s friend and has spent his entire life upholding chivalry.”

“Are you really going to do this? Do you think that man will let this pass?”

Seo Baekjung was referring to Jin Hagun’s master.

His master was indeed Jin Hagun’s greatest concern.

But the Sword Immortal had intervened, and Jin Hagun had already decided to wash his hands of the Heavenly Harmony School. He believed his master would surely understand his decision.

“Even he cannot go against the honored Sword Immortal’s wishes.”

Meanwhile, Seo Cheong had come to stand before the Sword Immortal.

The elder asked him coldly, “Is what I heard from the Demonic Cult’s young lord true?”

Unsure how to answer, Seo Cheong hesitated. Once again, his eyes sought Seo Baekjung.

Had he been innocent, he would have denied it and protested the injustice. That one gesture alone amounted to an admission of everything he had done.

Seo Baekjung stepped in for him.

“The case is still under investigation. The truth has yet to be established.”

He was trying anything he could to escape this predicament. Jin Hagun would feel sorry for him, so he hoped the young man would confirm his claim.

But the Sword Immortal addressed Geom Mugeuk instead.

“Young Lord, is this man telling the truth?”

“No. All his crimes have already been established.”

The Sword Immortal rebuked Seo Baekjung with a cold stare.

“You dare lie to me?”

Even imprisonment seemed too lenient to him. He had spent his life executing those who killed the innocent, regardless of their standing.

Seo Baekjung bowed his head in an apparent acknowledgment of fault and sent a sound transmission.

“Get on your knees and beg!”

Only then did Seo Cheong kneel. He was utterly terrified.

'Anything but prison!'

He pleaded with the Sword Immortal.

“I was drunk and made a mistake. I don’t remember what happened that day. Please forgive me.”

The Sword Immortal’s expression grew colder still. Rather than admit wrongdoing, the first thing he had done was call it a mistake. And now he was blaming drink?

One detail could reveal the whole, and the Sword Immortal immediately understood what sort of person Seo Cheong was.

“A mistake?”

“Yes, a mistake.”

“Then why did you kill the others?”

“That...”

He could think of no excuse. Raising his head, he pleaded, “Please forgive me just this once.”

“I am asking why you killed them.”

Under that icy rebuke, Seo Cheong’s mind went blank.

In that blank, dazed state, an emotion welled up from deep within him. It was the one he had directed at others most often throughout his life: anger.

Seo Cheong was furious. No one had ever cornered him like this before.

The next instant, he shouted, “Because I wanted to kill them!”

Silence fell.

“Because killing people felt thrilling.”

Seo Cheong raised his head, looked around, and shouted even louder.

“You all know that feeling, don’t you? You’ve killed more people than I have! Why are you picking on me?”

Everyone there merely watched him with cold eyes.

The one who rushed toward him was Seo Baekjung.

SLAP!

Seo Baekjung struck his son hard across the face.

“Shut up!”

“Why are you hitting me? Was anything I said wrong?”

He should have realized his father was hitting him to save him, but in his agitation, Seo Cheong was blind to everything.

“Why is that elder trying to punish me? This isn’t the Orthodox Martial Alliance’s territory—it belongs to the Demonic Cult! If anyone’s going to punish me, it should be them!”

SLAP! SLAP!

Seo Baekjung struck him mercilessly.

Who else could he blame? It was his own fault for raising his son this way.

He could feel that the Sword Immortal’s fury had reached its peak. If this continued, the elder might kill Seo Cheong.

He hurriedly sent Bi Sain a sound transmission.

“We will stand with the Unorthodox Alliance.”

Bi Sain did not immediately answer the desperate appeal. He now held all the leverage.

He marveled at Geom Mugeuk. To bring in the Sword Immortal and steer events like this! Looking only at the outcome, it might seem like something anyone could have thought of, but not just anyone could have pulled it off.

While Seo Baekjung briefly communicated through sound transmission to draw in the Unorthodox Alliance, Seo Cheong could not endure even that short wait and caused more trouble.

He was angry with his father. He mistook the silence of the man who ought to save him by any means necessary for an attempt to save only himself. All he did was hit him.

With no affection or trust between them in ordinary times, an extreme situation left room only for extreme thoughts.

Convinced that his father had abandoned him, and gripped by fear, Seo Cheong blurted out something he should never have said.

“You’ve killed people too, Father!”

Flustered, Seo Baekjung hurriedly told the Sword Immortal, “He’s frightened and saying whatever comes into his head. Please pay him no mind.”

He turned to his son with a scowl.

“Shut up! Do you really want to get your father killed too?”

It was a hasty remark, and a disastrous one. Seo Cheong interpreted it as, 'If you’re going to die, die alone!' He screamed in desperation.

“You poisoned the Wicked Venom Sword and buried him in the bamboo grove on the hill behind us! You killed the Three Wolves of Hunan, and you killed the Annihilation Sword too!”

Silence fell at once.

A name that should never have been spoken had come out. The Three Wolves of Hunan and the Annihilation Sword were figures between the orthodox and unorthodox paths, but the Wicked Venom Sword was a martial artist of the Unorthodox Alliance.

Seo Baekjung looked at Bi Sain in alarm.

“So the missing Wicked Venom Sword was buried on the hill behind your school, Sect Leader Seo.”

“You misunderstand.”

“No need for excuses. The Wicked Venom Sword wasn’t one of my people anyway.”

“Then will you take our hand?”

“Unfortunately, that would be difficult. Unorthodox though we may be, we still have our pride, don’t we?”

He could not accept them knowing they had killed an unorthodox martial artist. Too many eyes were watching. Geom Mugeuk had dropped a windfall into his lap, only for it to roll right out of his grasp.

In the end, Seo Baekjung clutched at the lifeline farthest from him.

“We will join hands with the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon. Please accept us.”

He did not even use a sound transmission. There was no time left to negotiate privately. It was not just his son—his own life was now in danger. The Demonic Cult was his only hope.

Watching him, Bi Sain exclaimed that it had come to this after all. When Geom Mugeuk had jokingly told him at the outset never to choose the Demonic Cult, Bi Sain had sensed that this might be the eventual outcome.

And now it had actually happened.

“Didn’t I clearly say I didn’t want you? I told you not to choose the Cult.”

“Please accept us.”

“I said no! Go to that Orthodox Martial Alliance you like so much.”

“Please!”

“The Unorthodox Alliance’s young alliance leader may look frightening, but he’s a good man. Go to him.”

“Please let the Divine Cult take us in! I beg you!”

Seo Baekjung clutched Geom Mugeuk’s trouser leg and pleaded.

“This puts me in a difficult position.”

It truly had not deviated an inch from Bi Sain’s expectations.

Finally, pretending to yield reluctantly, Geom Mugeuk said casually, “Very well. But I have one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Your son goes to prison. As long as the Heavenly Harmony School remains loyal, I will postpone his beheading.”

This was not forgiveness. Life in the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s prison would bring suffering worse than death.

Horrified, Seo Cheong began raging again.

“Save me! Why should I suffer? Why, just because I killed a few worthless nobodies? Father, save me!”

He had lived his whole life treating everyone with contempt, but now he would finally taste the terror of the real world.

“You hypocrites! You kill whoever you want, so why can’t I kill anyone?”

Seo Baekjung sighed. His son seemed to be shouting whatever death whispered into his ear.

Eventually, Seo Cheong turned his abuse on his father as well.

“What kind of father abandons his own child? How can someone like you lead a sect? You bastard!”

In that moment, the bond between them snapped completely.

Seo Baekjung thought that perhaps this was the better path for the Heavenly Harmony School. The school would continue to prosper, and his son would still be alive, at least. That was enough.

That was how he composed himself.

Then Light Flash, who had not spoken a single word until now, strode over and called to him.

“Sect Leader Seo.”

Seo Baekjung turned toward him without thinking.

WHOOOSH!

SLICE.

Light Flash cut him down with a single stroke. His sword was so swift that no one even saw it.

Everyone was stunned; no one had imagined he would kill Seo Baekjung. His son, Seo Cheong, was particularly shocked. Terrified that he might be next, he collapsed where he stood, his face deathly pale.

Light Flash bowed his head to Bi Sain and said briefly, “The Wicked Venom Sword was my sworn younger brother. I will willingly accept punishment for acting without orders.”

Even Geom Mugeuk had not known that. When indifferent heaven takes an interest in the world, it leaves no escape, just like this.

Watching this unfold, the Sword Immortal sent the Blood Heaven Saber Demon a sound transmission.

“Did you arrange all this?”

He thought the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had been sending sound transmissions and devising strategies throughout the gathering. That was the sort of man the Sword Immortal remembered him as.

“I wish I had...”

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was not a man who would lie about something like this.

The Sword Immortal’s gaze shifted to Geom Mugeuk.

“I shall have to live a long time.”

He had belatedly realized that even he had acted according to Geom Mugeuk’s wishes.

“Keep meddling like that, and the young people won’t have anything kind to say about you.”

“That’s all right.”

And so the matter of the Heavenly Harmony School was settled.

With Seo Baekjung dead and Seo Cheong destined for prison, someone who followed the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon would now rise to become the school’s new head.

Everyone’s eyes naturally converged on Geom Mugeuk.

He had accomplished everything today. He had absorbed the Heavenly Harmony School and made Seo Cheong pay for his crimes. Standing there with an easy grin and not a trace of tension, he now seemed like an entirely different person.

If someone said that nine out of ten rumors were exaggerated, at least those present here would shake their heads and reply that Geom Mugeuk was the remaining one.

Jin Hagun and Bi Sain slowly approached him, and the three stood facing one another in a circle.

Just as their meeting had been, the three successors’ first farewell was about to become an unprecedented moment in Murim history.