Chapter 309 - A Spark of Evil (2)

After Oh Ilsik died, the Jeondeung Sect disciples' attitude changed a little.

Those who had been mindlessly shouting only to charge now shrank back and began tending to themselves, focusing on their own pain.

"AAAGH!"

"My arm!!"

"M-My leg! My leg!"

The voices screaming were far better to hear than that fucking chant.

Of course, that did not mean matters ended there.

Once they came to their senses, they realized that I had killed Oh Ilsik and grew even more enraged.

"Are you not also a member of the Orthodox faction? Then how can you side with an Underworld figure and commit murder against a fellow Orthodox man?"

"We will never let this pass! We will inform the Qingcheng Sect and the Murim Alliance, and you and your sect will...!"

From bastards who said they would report me to ones who said they would take revenge on the Taiyi Sect.

What a complete mess.

I answered lightly.

"Ah, do you all want to die right now, by any chance?"

"..."

GULP.

Even as they kept silent, the Jeondeung Sect disciples' bodies trembled faintly, as if they could not hold back their anger.

Hmm, it seems they still haven't grasped the situation.

"Do you think this matter will simply end here?"

"What... do you mean by that!"

"Your Sect Leader learned a forbidden art publicly declared as such by the Murim Alliance. And you lot are under suspicion of having learned that forbidden art as well."

"What? Wh-What are you..."

"D-Don't lie! The Sect Leader would never do such a thing!"

"So you're trying to frame us!"

It was at least fortunate that the sect's members were made up of adults who wished to become escort warriors.

If it had been a family-style sect like the Taiyi Sect, where everyone from little children to the elderly lived together, the scene would have been far more miserable.

I spoke coldly to those who could not face reality.

The fact that Oh Ilsik had learned a demonic art was not their crime, but if I simply let them go, there was no telling what greater disaster might come later.

"Well, we will find out once it is investigated."

Excluding those who had suffered severe injuries, we bound everyone and headed for the Dok-a Sect.

After all, it was the only force of any scale in the Hwangcheon County area.

After making the Dok-a Sword's subordinates buy shackles and ropes, we drove iron stakes into the house the bastards had been using as lodging, connected the shackles to them, and used it as a makeshift jail.

It was crude, but this much should be enough to hold them for several days.

I looked at the Dok-a Sect disciples lined up on either side and loosened my stiff shoulders.

"An investigation team will come from the Murim Alliance. If even one of them dies before you hand them over..."

The sound of the Dok-a Sword swallowing rang like thunder.

"All of you die by my hands."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

No, there was no need to bow all the way to your waist...

But why has that man been so excessively polite since earlier?

In any case, it seemed only Oh Ilsik and Deung Gohyeon, who followed him most closely, had learned the demonic art.

Oh Ilsik himself must have known best from the start that it was a suspicious martial art, so he would not have been able to easily pass it on to others.

They themselves knew that demonic arts were grave crimes that could lead not only to the destruction of one's sect but even to the extermination of one's clan, so they could not have carelessly handed it to someone else either.

'Besides, even Deung Gohyeon probably never imagined he was learning a demonic art.'

But even so, that did not mean the Jeondeung Sect disciples could be removed from the list of suspects.

They might have learned it without realizing it, like Deung Gohyeon...

Well, the Murim Alliance's Inspection Pavilion or Disciplinary Pavilion could decide that on their own.

I held out a bank draft to the Dok-a Sword.

"Use this to cover food expenses until the people from the Murim Alliance arrive, and repair the damaged facilities too."

The Dok-a Sword accepted the draft with moved eyes.

"... Uh, Young Master..."

"Don't feel burdened. Just take..."

"This is for one hundred silver taels?"

"..."

"There are over eighty Jeondeung Sect people alone..."

What?

With one silver tael, I bought ten bottles of Bamboo Leaf Green, sliced pork, and even candied snacks, so one hundred taels should be enough.

No, forget enough. Wouldn't there be enough money left over to build a whole pavilion?

#

At the news that Jin Sowoon, who had gone to the Dok-a Sect last night, had even stormed into the Jeondeung Sect, the people of the Daecheon Merchant Group and Wangga Manor turned deathly pale.

Of course, if it had ended there, that would have been fortunate.

But after they heard that the Jeondeung Sect was a sect that claimed to be of the Orthodox faction, and furthermore had a shallow connection with the Qingcheng Sect...

CLATTER.

... In the end, they dropped the spoons they were holding.

"No!!! Young Master!!! Were you not only going to recover the money!!! How could you storm into an Orthodox sect!!!"

"Ah, there were circumstances. Don't worry. Even the Sect Leader's death can be handled without any trouble..."

"Whaaaat?!!!! Y-You killed the Sect Leader????"

"Ah... You didn't know that?"

When Jin Sowoon spoke while awkwardly scratching his head, Go Jungtak was so shocked that he fainted.

Even the expression of the relaxed Wang Soso changed ominously.

"Brother. Even if it is not a sect affiliated with the Murim Alliance, if they claim to be of the Orthodox faction, there will be trouble."

"Do not worry. I can resolve it."

"..."

One more coffin was loaded onto the merchant group's procession as it left Hwangcheon County.

At first, everyone in the merchant group was horrified when told they had to transport a coffin, but when they were told that the Jeondeung Sect matter could not be resolved without bringing it, they tightly shut their mouths.

After entering Hefei, Anhui Province, Jin Sowoon took the coffin and visited the Murim Alliance Hefei Branch.

In the meantime, word had spread that Jin Sowoon had killed the Sect Leader of the Jeondeung Sect, causing a brief commotion.

"Academy student Jin Sowoon. There had better be a proper explanation for this matter. No matter your status as an academy student, storming into an Orthodox sect and killing its Sect Leader is a grave crime."

Under strict inspection, what Jin Sowoon presented was Deung Gohyeon's corpse.

"Ugh!"

"Why, why would you bring this!"

"Fuck! Open the window!"

Because the weather had warmed considerably, the untreated corpse gave off a stench of decay that stabbed the nose.

As if accustomed to such foul odors, Jin Sowoon reported calmly.

"This is what I was investigating when the incident occurred."

"This?!"

At the Vice Branch Chief's shout, Jin Sowoon's finger pointed toward Deung Gohyeon's eyes.

The gazes of those who had been pinching their noses and grimacing soon followed Jin Sowoon's finger and reached that spot...

"...!?"

One by one, their eyes widened like startled rabbits, and they lowered the hands covering their noses.

"What sort of phenomenon is this?"

"Did someone splash ink on them?"

"No, they seem too black for that..."

The alien eyes immediately convinced them that this incident was far from ordinary, and Jin Sowoon's charges were cleared on the spot.

Jin Sowoon added a detailed explanation.

"The only special change in his appearance was his eyes. However, he moved beyond his body's limits, as if he felt no pain."

"Beyond his body's limits?"

"He kicked off the ground and charged without even realizing his own ankle was broken."

"..."

It was behavior not easily seen from a martial artist of common sense.

Those who knew better than anyone the limits of internal energy and the limits of the body would never do such a reckless thing.

The branch people did not say it aloud, but from just a few clues, they instinctively sensed that this was related to a "forbidden art."

Then their attitude toward Jin Sowoon immediately changed.

"As expected, the top student of the Murim Academy is different."

"One born from the illustrious and prestigious Taiyi Sect is indeed different somehow."

"Of course, of course. I always knew that an outstanding figure like this would someday emerge from the Taiyi Sect, the pride of Hefei."

"Is the Taiyi Sect Leader doing well?"

Since the top student of the academy had personally made the report, there would be no chance of anything being omitted midway.

In the end, the report on this incident would lead to performance evaluations for the Alliance members.

Knowing this well, Jin Sowoon added nothing more.

The Murim Alliance Hefei Branch, in an unusual move, announced the suspicions against the Jeondeung Sect before conducting an investigation.

The charge was that they had used "sorcery" to cause chaos in the world.

The personnel of the Hefei Branch urgently dispatched to Hwangcheon County first, and the Murim Alliance's enforcement division also sent investigators.

Meanwhile, while the Orthodox Murim grew noisy over the investigation into the Jeondeung Sect...

In the Underworld Murim, strange rumors began to spread, centered on Hwangcheon County.

"Well, they say the Black Flame Dragon is actually the shared successor of Underworld experts."

"Kahahaha! You stupid bastard, you actually believe that nonsense?"

"Huh! I'm telling you, it's true. A sect called the Dok-a Sect in Hwangcheon County was in danger because of the Jeondeung Sect's attack, and would you believe it, the Black Flame Dragon stormed into the Jeondeung Sect alone and wiped them out!"

Of course, there were not many people who easily believed this absurd rumor.

To begin with, Jin Sowoon was from the Taiyi Sect, one of the 108 Peaks of the Murim Alliance, and he himself was the top student of the Murim Academy.

Since obtaining the status of an academy student guaranteed advancement in the Murim Alliance, the background of every single one of them was also investigated in detail.

The academy itself was a place where those with shady pasts could not enter in the first place.

At first, people thought it was nothing more than a joke created by Underworld figures who liked teasing members of the Orthodox faction, but the rumors spreading this time were too specific and vivid to be dismissed as mere jokes, so they continued to expand and be reproduced.

After all, it was true that the Jeondeung Sect had suffered damage close to annihilation.

"They say he locked all the Jeondeung Sect disciples in the Dok-a Sect and tortured them brutally."

"On top of that, they say he killed the Sect Leader of the Jeondeung Sect too!"

"Huh, impressive...! No, but why is the Murim Alliance staying still? Those hypocritical bastards would hunt the Underworld like rats whenever anything happened to an Orthodox sect, even if it wasn't an allied sect."

"Do you think the Black Flame Dragon is called the Black Flame Dragon for nothing? He must have worked some scheme from the inside."

"That's right! So this time, they framed the Jeondeung Sect for using sorcery and put them on the list for subjugation entirely... He is no ordinary man!"

As stories that had begun as baseless rumors aligned with the Murim Alliance's response, Underworld figures began believing the false rumors one by one.

"They say he toured all of Henan and inspected every Underworld sect one by one."

"They say he called them 'friends' whenever he met Underworld figures!"

"From what I heard, when he was at the Underworld Alliance, he caught up with Elder Hyeoltu for the first time in a long while."

"Then did Elder Hyeoltu teach him martial arts too?"

"Is that all? They say he is the only disciple Elder Hyeoltu ever took in!"

The rumor that had begun as a small snowball started to grow larger and larger.

"The Black Flame Dragon's prestige is truly tremendous!"

"As expected of the shared successor of the Underworld Murim and the Black Maitreya!"

... And that rumor began spreading little by little from Henan and Anhui Province to the whole world.

Of course, Jin Sowoon himself, the person at the center of the rumor, knew nothing of it.

#

After finishing business at the Murim Alliance branch, I headed straight for the information broker inn.

"Oh! Young Master, welcome."

The owner of the information broker inn, whom I was seeing for the first time, recognized me without even checking the black token.

"You did this last time too. How exactly do you know me?"

"Haha, it would not do for us to fail to recognize an honored guest. Naturally, we have all studied the descriptions of your appearance. And there is this as well."

"Hm?"

The owner of the information broker inn took out a small hanging scroll.

On it stood a man wearing robes made of white silk with brilliant patterns embroidered in gold thread.

And across his chest, in huge letters, was written the word "top student."

TREMBLE TREMBLE.

I could not control my trembling hand.

"Wh-Where did you get this?"

This cursed portrait that Eunho, that damned bastard, had made...

"Ah! You did not know? After you entered the academy as the top student, many parents bought it as a talisman to pray for their children to become top students, so it has circulated widely."

What the hell is this nonsense!

Why are they using someone else's shameful past as a talisman...!

"This may be somewhat rude to say, but... in people's perception, a disciple of the Taiyi Sect entering the academy as its top student seems to be received as something akin to a triumph of diligent study, so any household with someone taking an exam-like test always has this hanging scroll... huh?"

Before I could make a rational judgment, my body moved on its own and tore the hanging scroll to shreds.

And only after that shameful portrait had been torn to pieces did I realize that the owner of this hanging scroll was the owner of the information broker inn.

"Ah, I-I'm sorry."

"... It is all right."

SLIDE.

"I have one more."

The owner of the information broker inn took out another hanging scroll with a bright smile.

"..."

I started to reach out again, then left it alone.

... For some reason, I felt like he had more of the exact same hanging scroll.

Phew, fuck.

After carefully rolling up the hanging scroll and putting it somewhere safe, the owner looked at me.

"Then how may I help you today?"

I came back to my senses and told him the reason I had sought the Hao Sect.

"I need to meet Hall Leader Yang Gunbaek."

"..."

In an instant, the face of the owner, which had been full of smiles until now, hardened.

"For what matter?"

"It concerns the Jeondeung Sect."

"... Do you mean the sorcery?"

"That is how it is known on the surface."

The owner tilted his head as if he did not understand.

I looked him straight in the eyes and added,

"There is a corpse I handed over last time. If you say it is a discussion related to that, he will understand."

#

The Murim Alliance said it would begin an investigation, but a proper investigation would likely not proceed.

They were more earnest than anyone when it came to Subjugating Demons and Eradicating Evil, yet paradoxically, in their perception, the Demonic Cult was no different from an imaginary goblin.

Moreover, as could be seen just from the personnel of the Hefei Branch, once they began playing politics over achievements, the essence of the matter would become even more muddled.

So I had to begin the investigation before traces of it disappeared.

'There may be an even bigger problem...'

It seemed preparations were needed sooner than originally planned.

If the Demonic Cult had already been operating in secret within the Orthodox Murim before the Orthodox-Demonic Great War broke out, then all the plans I had prepared until now would become useless.

That was also why I had omitted the story about the Exploding Blood Pill when reporting to the Murim Alliance.

I was not yet certain whether the Exploding Blood Pill raised a demonic practitioner's demonic qi, and if this story spread little by little and reached the ears of the Demonic Cult, another variable might arise.

"Phew... It is truly difficult to protect the peace of Jianghu."

"What, you bastard!"

"I said it is difficult to protect the peace of Jianghu."

"You little shit, just because you have a mouth! Keep your hands up properly!"

I raised my hands high again.

No, honestly speaking, what did I do wrong?

I saved the Daecheon Merchant Group's protection toll, and I even arranged for them to be protected in their future trade journeys.

Should I not be praised instead for this much?

"Good grief! You, you!"

My father, unable to contain his anger, tried to throw an inkstone, and at that moment, Lord Wang quickly stepped in and stopped him.

"Enough. Was this not all for the Daecheon Merchant Group?"

"No, if that bastard has not truly become an Underworld figure, then why did he storm into and stir up an innocent Orthodox sect!"

"Ah, I told you, those men had learned sorcery. Then he simply did what had to be done."

"As expected of my lord..."

"Jin Sowoon, you little shit, shut up! Phew, so why did that crazy little... no, why did that bastard have to do it!"

I never knew protecting the peace of Jianghu would be such a solitary and lonely task.

And so, while I avoided my father's displeasure, trained under Baek Haegwang at the Taiyi Sect, and fainted every day...

The Hao Sect contacted me once again.