There are moments in human relationships when one reaches a turning point.
Usually, it is only after the fact that one realizes, Ah, so that was it. But today, Jin Ha-gun could feel it with certainty.
Between his grandfather and himself, a bridge was beginning to be built—not of sand, but of sturdy wood.
“I will trust the Young Cult Leader fifth, not second.”
His grandfather had shown him the path he needed to take, so he ought to repay him in kind.
“First, I will trust in the belief that we are right. Next, I will trust you, Grandfather. After that, I will trust my subordinates in the Demon Extermination Squad, and after that, I will trust the Murim Alliance martial artists who are silently doing their duties even at this very moment. Only after trusting all of them will I trust the Young Cult Leader.”
Jin Paecheon smiled in satisfaction. This grandson of his had seemed nothing but immature, yet before he knew it, he had grown so reliable.
“Let us return.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
The two of them descended from the pavilion and made their way toward the entrance of the bamboo grove.
Jin Ha-gun asked cautiously. Depending on the answer to this question, the fates of many people would change.
“What do you intend to do now?”
Instead of answering, Jin Paecheon asked for his grandson’s opinion.
“What do you think?”
Through this opportunity, he wanted to see how his grandson would handle such a matter. For he felt that the time had come.
“As you saw earlier, the First Young Master has no intention of backing down like this. In the end, those behind him will once again try to divide our Alliance and the Divine Cult. Before that happens…”
The reason he could not immediately continue was that it might be something his grandfather would find uncomfortable.
“I believe we must meet Cheonae Geosa.”
They would have to find out first whether he truly was the one behind it all, or whether he was being framed through someone else’s scheme.
“And when you meet him?”
“If Cheonae Geosa is indeed behind this, then he will know he is under suspicion.”
After all, he had used the Mind-Control Art to arrange for the White Dragon Corps Leader to speak his name.
“If we do not go to him and confirm the matter in this situation, he will think we suspect him.”
If they trusted him, he would expect the Alliance Leader to come to him and tell him that such a thing had happened.
“Whether the Geosa is innocent or not, in both cases, the fact remains that we must seek him out first. We must move first.”
Jin Paecheon nodded silently and continued walking, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, the two arrived at the entrance.
As Jin Paecheon climbed into the carriage waiting there, he gave an unexpected order.
“You go meet him.”
It meant he was entrusting the handling of this matter to his grandson.
Jin Ha-gun had a premonition. This test might be the final test for him to become the successor.
“Yes, I will do so.”
Now that he knew his grandfather’s true feelings, things were completely different from before. He would be able to handle the matter objectively, without worrying about the relationship between the two elders.
The carriage carrying Jin Paecheon departed at once.
Once the carriage left with the Alliance Leader’s guards, the Demon Extermination Squad martial artists gathered around Jin Ha-gun, who remained alone.
Because they had been moving together with Jin Ha-gun, they knew better than anyone that the current situation was far from ordinary.
“We’re going to Musojang.”
* * *
Jin Ha-gun stood at the entrance of Musojang and looked up at the signboard.
Musojang.
It was a name given by the martial artists of Wuhan in honor of Cheonae Geosa, who had lived his entire life in non-possession.
Jin Ha-gun suddenly recalled that the “muso” in muso-bulwi, meaning absolute power to do anything, used the same characters.
Whether the life he desired was one of non-possession, or one in which he sought the power to do as he pleased, would soon be known.
When a martial artist of the Demon Extermination Squad knocked on the door, Chief Steward Ju appeared from inside.
Recognizing Jin Ha-gun, he greeted him respectfully.
“Welcome, Squad Leader.”
Chief Steward Ju had served Cheonae Geosa for many years, and despite his outstanding martial skills, he had taken charge of the household affairs of Musojang. Out of respect for Cheonae Geosa, he had devoted his life to him.
Jin Ha-gun looked past him and asked,
“Has something happened?”
Beyond Chief Steward Ju, the courtyard was visible, and dozens of martial artists could be seen standing there. Even at a glance, the atmosphere felt unusual.
At that, Chief Steward Ju asked with a strange look in his eyes,
“Did you not come after hearing the news?”
He seemed to believe Jin Ha-gun had already known and come.
Jin Ha-gun did not bother to say otherwise. He did not know what had happened, but he would find out once he went in.
“Please, come inside.”
Chief Steward Ju guided Jin Ha-gun in. The Demon Extermination Squad martial artists followed behind him.
Those in the courtyard were all martial artists from sects in Wuhan.
They recognized Jin Ha-gun and greeted him respectfully with cupped fists. He was the leading candidate to become the next Murim Alliance Leader, and the Demon Extermination Squad he commanded was made up of the elite of the Murim Alliance.
The Demon Extermination Squad lined up between them and formed a passage.
Jin Ha-gun and Chief Steward Ju walked along the path made by the Demon Extermination Squad and went inside.
As he walked, Jin Ha-gun observed the martial artists in the courtyard. All of them were tense, their expressions stiff. Something had clearly happened.
Chief Steward Ju led him to the main hall.
There were more than ten people inside, and it was so quiet that not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
When Jin Ha-gun entered, the people there turned their heads.
They were all faces Jin Ha-gun knew.
The heads of various sects in Wuhan. Some led dozens of disciples, others hundreds.
They silently gave Jin Ha-gun a cupped-fist salute.
Jin Ha-gun likewise greeted them only with a quiet cupped-fist salute. There was a reason they were exchanging such soundless greetings.
Among them was a bed, and a physician was treating someone.
An old man lay on the bed receiving treatment.
As if to show that he had wandered outside for many long years, his skin was darkly tanned and rough. His old, shabby martial attire seemed to have accompanied him for decades.
But anyone who knew him would never judge him by his appearance. If anything, that crude and rough exterior made him shine all the more.
Cheonae Geosa Hwa Yulcheong.
He had spent his entire life wandering the Central Plains and doing good deeds. If he met someone pitiful, he emptied his purse for them; if he met someone wronged, he always avenged their grievance.
A man for whom even the words “great hero” were insufficient—Hwa Yulcheong was lying on the bed.
Until Jin Ha-gun arrived here, he had never dreamed he would witness such a scene.
And even less had he imagined that the reason would be this.
Chief Steward Ju conveyed an astonishing fact.
“Today, the elder was attacked by an unidentified assailant.”
Jin Ha-gun’s expression stiffened.
Cheonae Geosa had been ambushed, of all times, now?
Jin Ha-gun’s gaze turned to his arm.
The physician was treating his arm. It was not a wound inflicted by a sword. The roughly torn injury was quite deep to be called self-inflicted.
After carefully finishing the treatment, the physician cautiously addressed the people there.
“The tears and gouges will heal with time, but the problem is the poison.”
Cheonae Geosa had been poisoned?
“If the antidote does not work, there will be aftereffects.”
At the physician’s words, Jin Ha-gun could feel a cold chill spreading through the room. It was the anger of those present.
Jin Ha-gun and the sect heads moved to a place a little distance away from the bed.
Since Hwa Yulcheong was asleep, Jin Ha-gun intended to go outside to talk, but they showed no intention of leaving. They displayed their will to guard this place until Hwa Yulcheong awakened.
“What on earth happened?”
At Jin Ha-gun’s low question, a young martial artist standing a short distance away spoke.
“The elder was struck in my place while saving me.”
He was He Ren, the sect master of Zhengzhao Sect, a small sect in Wuhan. After the previous sect master died in an accident not long ago, he had newly become sect master.
“When I heard that the elder had returned to Wuhan after so long, I asked him for help. I wanted to ask how I should lead my sect. After receiving the elder’s precious words, I was seeing him off when a demonic practitioner attacked.”
At the words demonic practitioner, Jin Ha-gun’s heart sank. At least in this place, those were words that should not have been spoken.
“Did you just say a demonic practitioner?”
He Ren nodded, and as if to explain why, Chief Steward Ju brought over something that had been placed beneath the bed and showed it to him.
“The manor lord was struck by this.”
After confirming what it was, Jin Ha-gun’s expression hardened.
Astonishingly, it was Jingyeok, a hidden weapon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
The very thing that had drawn Geom Muyang to Wuhan had now appeared before Jin Ha-gun as well.
“What happened to the one who carried out the ambush?”
“He died by the elder’s hand.”
A middle-aged martial artist standing beside them stepped forward.
He was Gao Xiong, the sect master of Yijian Sect. He was a man who had lost one arm while fighting demonic practitioners in the past, and when it came to the Demonic Cult, he was someone who would leap up grinding his teeth even from sleep.
“As you know, that hidden weapon is a Demonic Cult hidden weapon designated as forbidden by the Murim Alliance. If it had not been for such an ugly and vile hidden weapon, how could the elder have been struck?”
A heavy silence flowed.
The other sect heads neither agreed with those words nor denied them.
If this truly was the Demonic Cult’s doing, then this was not something that could end with an apology.
At that moment, another person stepped forward. He was Huang Gen, the sect master of Wuhan’s Bisong Sect. He deeply respected Cheonae Geosa and followed him as one would a master.
He walked back to the bed, looked down at Hwa Yulcheong, and said quietly,
“No matter whose doing it is, I intend to find the culprit even if I must devote the rest of my life to it.”
The other sect heads also nodded and stood before the bed.
All righteous faction martial artists respected Cheonae Geosa, but those gathered here in particular were people who followed him closely enough to give their lives for him.
If they moved, the Wuhan murim would move, and if Wuhan moved, the entire murim would move.
Jin Ha-gun silently looked at Hwa Yulcheong.
‘Is this a self-directed act? Or was he truly attacked?’
In the current situation, he could not know.
But one thing was certain.
Though he had lost consciousness and had not spoken a single word, he was setting the hearts of these many righteous faction experts aflame.
The Demonic Cult tried to kill Cheonae Geosa!
How enormous an incident this was becoming. For now, it was only these people, but once the matter became known, the murim would be turned upside down.
Huang Gen turned to Jin Ha-gun and said,
“Squad Leader Jin, I hope the Alliance will not sit by and watch this matter.”
At that, the others also turned around. Everyone’s gaze focused on Jin Ha-gun.
“Have the Murim Alliance step forward, cast a dragnet, and make sure the culprit cannot escape.”
“You must lodge an official protest with the Demonic Cult.”
The demands continued, but Jin Ha-gun held his tongue.
‘Is this what you wanted? Do you really intend to use these people as a shield to get through this matter? Do not touch me. If you touch me, everyone will move. Is this how you are giving that warning?’
They stood lined up before Hwa Yulcheong.
This was not simply a wall raised because a righteous faction martial artist had been ambushed. It was a wall of trust he had built over the past several decades, a wall of respect. It was a wall built through decades of effort. That was why it could not be carelessly torn down.
It was just then. From behind them, a quiet voice was heard.
“…That is enough.”
At those words, the room fell silent. The voice had come from the bed behind them.
Everyone turned around in surprise, and Hwa Yulcheong was waking up, raising himself from the bed.
“Elder!”
“Manor Lord! You’ve awakened!”
“What a relief.”
Everyone rejoiced and gathered around him.
“Why are you all making such a fuss over something so trivial?”
The moment his sleeping presence awakened, it overwhelmed everyone there.
His presence was neither sharp nor forceful. It was an exceedingly gentle presence.
And yet it was a gentleness that seemed impossible to break with any strength.
Huang Gen first checked his condition.
“How can you say it is trivial? Elder, you have been poisoned!”
But Hwa Yulcheong replied as though it were nothing serious.
“I have suppressed it with my internal energy, so I am fine.”
This time, unable to hold back, the sect master of Yijian Sect shouted,
“It was the work of the Demonic Cult bastards!”
“Nonsense! How can you conclude it was the work of a demonic practitioner simply because the attacker carried a Demonic Cult hidden weapon?”
His reaction was completely different from what Jin Ha-gun had expected.
“I am fine, so do not make a needless commotion. All of you, go back. If a fight with the Demonic Cult breaks out over something uncertain, many innocent lives will be lost. So do not act rashly, and mind your tongues.”
After sternly rebuking them, he searched for someone among the crowd. The person he sought was the young He Ren whom he had saved.
“Are you all right?”
When he smiled at him, He Ren was deeply moved and gave him a great bow.
“I will never forget the grace of your saving my life for as long as I live.”
“What good is there in remembering this old man? Take good care of your own people. You remember everything I told you, don’t you?”
“Elder!”
He Ren lowered his head and shed tears.
Lastly, Hwa Yulcheong’s gaze turned toward Jin Ha-gun. When the two of them were alone, he would call him Ha-gun by name, but now he addressed him as the leader of the Demon Extermination Squad.
“Squad Leader Jin.”
“Elder.”
Their gazes met in midair. As always, Hwa Yulcheong looked at Jin Ha-gun with gentle, benevolent eyes.
From the time he was a little boy until now, this man had always smiled brightly at him without changing.
Was this man truly the one behind the conspiracy?
That was why he was confused, and that was why he was all the more suspicious.
Hwa Yulcheong asked in a calm tone,
“What is happening in Wuhan?”
That is what I want to ask. What are you trying to do in this Wuhan?
Everyone waited for Jin Ha-gun’s answer. They expected that, as the leader of the Demon Extermination Squad, he would know facts they did not. Whether it was the Demonic Cult’s doing or not, the ambush of Cheonae Geosa was a major incident.
“Nothing has been confirmed yet. However, in this murim that had been at peace…”
Jin Ha-gun gazed at Hwa Yulcheong and calmly added,
“It seems a great evil has awakened.”