Chapter 287 - Who Handled That for You?

Silence fell.

The wooden Jin Paecheon was staring at Geom Mugeuk. Its utter lack of expression only made it feel more chilling and imposing.

SHHH.

Like an actor leaving the stage after the curtain fell, the wooden figure returned to its original size.

Looking past the figurine that had fallen to the ground, Geom Mugeuk asked Baek Cheongyeong, "The Martial Alliance Leader wiped out your family?"

His voice trembled. For all he had experienced, this revelation was shocking.

Baek Cheongyeong, meanwhile, was savoring his reaction.

Well, oh-so-clever young lord of the Demonic Cult! What will you say now?

"Why? Can't you believe the Martial Alliance Leader would do such a thing?"

Geom Mugeuk answered firmly.

"That's right. I can't. The alliance leader I met wasn't a man who would do something like that."

Jin Paecheon was certainly domineering, but he was not a man who would slaughter an entire family. No one could truly know another's heart, but that Jin Paecheon had done such a thing? No. It couldn't be.

"All right, then. Why did he do it?"

Baek Cheongyeong refused to answer.

"I've told you enough."

As though further conversation depended on surviving this attack, he unleashed the Wooden Form Thousand Souls Art again.

SHHH.

This time, three figurines grew larger.

They advanced slowly, their movements and bearing unlike those of the previous figures.

Geom Mugeuk could tell they were special even among these figurines. In human terms, they were not merely masters, but exceptional ones.

Despite facing stronger enemies, Geom Mugeuk sheathed his sword.

Just as Baek Cheongyeong gave him a puzzled look—

WHOOSH.

Geom Mugeuk struck first, charging in with Underworld King's Step. In the literal blink of an eye, he crossed the intervening space and drove out his fist.

BOOM!

CRASH!

Thunder rang out with the explosive impact. Before it could launch even one proper attack, the figure in the middle had its entire head blasted off.

Geom Mugeuk had unleashed Black Cloud Asura, the first form of the Fist Demon's Thunderbolt Asura Fist.

The remaining two figures attacked without the slightest hesitation.

WHOOSH! SWISH!

Two swords shot toward Geom Mugeuk's vital points.

'I've killed him!'

The attack was so swift and precise that Baek Cheongyeong fell under that illusion.

At the very instant the two swords pierced Geom Mugeuk's body, his form vanished.

'Shifting Form, Changing Position!'

At the same time, a thunderclap erupted, drowning out Baek Cheongyeong's astonishment.

CRAAASH!

The second thunderclap rang out. Already, the head of the figure on the left was bursting apart.

The last figure attacked without faltering even as the fragments flew toward it.

But Geom Mugeuk was no longer there. This time, he had used Dark Shadow Step.

CRAAAASH!

The third thunderclap was louder still, and the last figure's head shattered. No matter how well trained, hunting dogs could not bring down a tiger. All three had been finished with a single blow apiece.

The three figures returned to their original size and fell to the ground.

Baek Cheongyeong trembled all over. He had never imagined he would feel such fear here—here, of all places, amid a forest filled with his figurines.

Geom Mugeuk picked up the severed figurines again.

"These ones are different."

"They were. Until you made them ordinary."

"I didn't want to waste time needlessly."

"You're trying to turn ten years of my life into wasted effort."

Geom Mugeuk looked him in the eye.

"And Miss Jin's time? Have you considered the life she's lived and the days she has left?"

Thinking of Jin Haryeong did trouble Baek Cheongyeong's conscience. But his anger came before that.

"What about the time of my family, who died unjustly? My older brother, his wife, their children! What about their children's children? Can you even imagine it? The hearts of parents who died holding their children, trying to protect them! What I felt when I unfolded those bloodstained swaddling clothes! Inside them! Do you have any idea what I saw inside those swaddling clothes?"

His eyes were bloodshot.

SHHHH.

His anger filled the figurines as they grew again.

This time, there were two. The fewer there were, the more extraordinary the qi presence they revealed.

The two figures attacked first this time. They were astonishingly fast, unmistakably modeled after masters of the swift sword.

They were so fast that even Baek Cheongyeong, their creator, could not clearly see them fighting.

Unable to follow their movements, he had only sound to go by. The repeated clash of swords ended with three distinct sounds.

WHOOSH! SLICE! CLICK!

The instant Geom Mugeuk's sword slid back into its sheath—

THUD. THUD!

Both figures' heads fell at once and rolled across the ground.

He had unleashed Azure Heaven, the fifth form of the Heaven-Soaring Sword Art, a swift-sword form.

It had been some time since he last used Azure Heaven, and it was faster than before. Though he remained at twelfth-level complete mastery, his attainment was steadily maturing, making the move more powerful.

Baek Cheongyeong was too stunned to speak.

Even the Demonic Cult's young lord should not have been able to neutralize these swift-sword figures so quickly. He had expected at least five hundred exchanges. He had believed that this fight, at least, would prove too much for Geom Mugeuk and leave him badly injured.

Geom Mugeuk's reaction was even more surprising. He might well have boasted of his martial arts, yet he did not so much as mention them. He seemed to regard a fight of this level as meaningless. His interest lay solely in Baek Cheongyeong's life.

"Answer my earlier question. Why did the alliance leader wipe out your family?"

"Why does that matter so much to you? Why does it matter whether he did it because he'd gone senile or because he was bored? What difference does it make whether the Martial Alliance Leader is a hypocrite or not? You Demonic Cult bastards only want to wipe everyone out and swallow all of Murim anyway!"

"Even if we swallow it, we'll cut away the rotten parts first. So tell me."

He had deliberately called them rotten. Whatever the truth of this matter, that was what Baek Cheongyeong believed.

"Did you see it yourself?"

"Are you trying to say it wasn't the Martial Alliance Leader's doing because I didn't see it myself?"

Anger laced every word. Knowing better than anyone how immense that anger must be, Geom Mugeuk calmly sought to soothe him.

"I'm not on the Orthodox Martial Alliance's side. I simply want the truth."

"If you're not on their side, why are you standing before me?"

Because of Hwa Mugi. Had he not known of Baek Cheongyeong's connection to Hwa Mugi, he would never have pursued him this far.

"Because of Miss Jin."

Baek Cheongyeong snorted, but finally answered.

"I didn't see it myself. By the time I returned, they were already..."

He could not continue, as though the memory of that moment had come back to him.

"Then why are you certain the alliance leader did it?"

"Someone saw him."

"Who?"

"Our family's steward. He was dying, covered in blood. Those were his last words. That the killer was the Martial Alliance Leader."

Geom Mugeuk said nothing. The Martial Alliance Leader might have killed them, or he might not have. One could never truly know another's heart.

But the reason he gave greater consideration to the possibility that it was not the alliance leader was that Baek Cheongyeong would one day become a follower of Hwa Mugi.

"No matter how I look at it, the alliance leader had no reason to wipe out your family..."

At that moment, a thought flashed through Geom Mugeuk's mind.

He remembered something he had forgotten. There was one reason the alliance leader might have exterminated them.

"Your family killed his son and daughter-in-law!"

Baek Cheongyeong's expression hardened, and he said nothing. His reaction told Geom Mugeuk the answer.

"You knew, too."

"Does my knowing make his crime any less grave? If he wanted revenge, he should have taken it only on those responsible! Why did he kill everyone?"

His protest was justified. The grief of losing a child was understandable, but exterminating the other family was unquestionably wrong.

"But there's one thing I don't understand. Why would the alliance leader have spared you? It was obvious you'd seek revenge like this."

"Because afterward, I was recorded as dead, too."

He had entered the Orthodox Martial Alliance under a new identity.

"Who handled all that? Did you do it yourself?"

Faking his death and becoming the master of the Martial Alliance Leader's grandson under a new identity. Even the Cult's Heaven-Reaching Pavilion would have found that difficult, no matter how carefully it worked.

"Of course."

His answer came after a hesitation. That meant it was a lie. Geom Mugeuk was certain someone was backing him.

"So? What are you trying to say?"

Geom Mugeuk said something startling.

"What if the alliance leader didn't do it?"

"!"

"What if a third party was involved? What if someone deceived both you and the alliance leader?"

As Baek Cheongyeong scowled deeply, Geom Mugeuk added something even more startling. Had he not known of Hwa Mugi's existence, he would never have entertained such a theory. But the alliance leader's character and Hwa Mugi's existence had led him to it.

"What if even the deaths of the alliance leader's son and his wife were planned from the beginning?"

Baek Cheongyeong stood dazed for a moment, seemingly shocked. He had never once considered such a thing. What was this brat talking about? It was nonsense.

"And what would they gain from that?"

Geom Mugeuk offered his final conclusion.

"You."

"!"

"You, consumed by revenge, enduring ten years buried deep within the Orthodox Martial Alliance. You, who would one day become the decisive dagger that kills the alliance leader."

Killing intent poured from Baek Cheongyeong. He denied it all. No, he had no choice but to deny it. If Geom Mugeuk was right, what he had carved over the past ten years was his own foolishness. A puppet had been carving puppets.

"What the hell do you know? Do you think anything that comes out of that flapping mouth of yours makes sense? What do you know?"

His anger sprang from bewilderment. What if those words were true? That profound unease was raging through him. Had anyone else said it, he would not even have paid attention. He would have dismissed it as a fabrication meant to shake him.

But these words came from Geom Mugeuk, whose martial arts overwhelmed his own. They came from someone so extraordinary that he had forced Baek Cheongyeong to accelerate his plans.

Feeding on his shock, fear, and anxiety, trees began to grow.

Branches sprouted from the ground around the two men.

These were no ordinary trees. No sword or saber could cut them; a secret technique of the Wooden Form Thousand Souls Art was taking effect. The growing trees formed walls and a ceiling. There was nowhere to flee. The two men faced each other in a sealed space enclosed entirely by wood.

Other branches wrapped around Baek Cheongyeong, forming armor. Here, even sword qi and sword force could not cut through it.

"You've ruined everything. Jin Haryeong will die because of you, too."

Geom Mugeuk asked him calmly,

"What did you say to me earlier? Didn't you shout about why he had killed the family instead of only those responsible? What are you doing now?"

"They did it first!"

"Wasn't it your family that started this?"

No, perhaps it had been Hwa Mugi.

"Release Miss Jin. I know you never originally planned to kill her."

Vines rose from the ground and climbed over Geom Mugeuk's feet. Then they slowly began binding his entire body, leaving him unable to move.

"The person who helped you infiltrate the Orthodox Martial Alliance—that person orchestrated all of this."

Geom Mugeuk saw Baek Cheongyeong's eyes waver. The branches climbing his body paused for a moment. There was no doubt someone had been involved.

"Tell me who it was."

"No one! There's no such person! Do you take me for a fool?"

More trees grew around Geom Mugeuk, turning into long spears. Aimed at him like the arms of an octopus, they stabbed at him from every direction as swiftly as scorpion tails.

He raised his protective concentrated qi to block them.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The wooden spears struck his protective concentrated qi with metallic clangs.

When he cut them with his sword, they grew back. When they shattered against his protective concentrated qi, more wood grew and attacked. They assailed him endlessly, seeking to tear through his protection. The only way to stop the attack was to kill Baek Cheongyeong, hidden inside his armor.

CLANG! CLAAANG! CLANG!

The attacks within this enclosure were several times stronger than those outside.

"It's not too late. Let's confront that man together!"

Sensing Geom Mugeuk's sincerity, Baek Cheongyeong hesitated. What if he was telling the truth?

"Please! Don't make me kill you."

But in the end, he did not trust Geom Mugeuk.

Baek Cheongyeong pushed his internal energy to its limit. Blood trickled from his mouth, but he did not stop. A dozen or so spears attacked a single point: Geom Mugeuk's heart.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

At this rate, his protective concentrated qi would eventually be breached.

"When you die, war will break out with the Demonic Cult. Even if I can't kill him, the Heavenly Demon will."

The wooden spears merged into one. Darkening in color, it became the final attack into which Baek Cheongyeong would pour all his internal energy. Within this enclosure, at least, Geom Mugeuk would no longer be able to block it.

WHOOOOSH!

It flew toward Geom Mugeuk's heart.

At that very instant, a brilliant flash erupted!

The oncoming wooden spear had stopped before his heart. A moment later, it lost its lethal sharpness and dropped to the ground with a thud.

Farther ahead of Geom Mugeuk stood five figures in all.

Four evil spirits surrounded Baek Cheongyeong. Geom Mugeuk had unleashed Human Annihilation, the first form of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

The wooden armor, impervious even to sword qi, had been cut apart and began falling to the ground in a clattering shower. His martial art, rooted in demonic arts, could not withstand the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

When the evil spirits vanished, Baek Cheongyeong was drenched in blood.

He stared blankly at Geom Mugeuk. Geom Mugeuk sensed that he had little time left.

Geom Mugeuk took a figurine from inside his robe. It was the very figurine whose face he had once said he would carve himself.

Now it had a face. Over the past few days, while visiting Baek Cheongyeong's workshop, Geom Mugeuk had carved Hwa Mugi's features into it.

"Was this the man?"