Chapter 136. I Tried Infiltrating the Orthodox Faction.

Once only the executives were gathered, I closed the doors to the main hall.

“Bring Chief Steward Byeok as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

A short while later, while we were waiting for Chief Steward Byeok, Cha Seongtae asked as if he found it strange.

“It’s truly odd that the Martial Alliance would suddenly request support from us.”

It was, in fact, an odd matter.

However, there would be a difference between what I thought and what Cha Seongtae thought.

“What’s odd about it?”

Cha Seongtae looked around at the executives and said,

“Even without requesting help from us, wouldn’t the Martial Alliance’s strength be enough to deal with Mokryeong Stockade and the Southern Mount Green Forest Alliance? Are they trying to gather every last soldier and strike in order to reduce their losses? If so, that’s a bit too shameless.”

“That’s not it.”

While Cha Seongtae was asking his question, Chief Steward Byeok took his seat.

“Our Chief Steward Byeok.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Explain it to Cha Seongtae. Why the Martial Alliance would request support from a backwater sect like ours.”

“Understood.”

Chief Steward Byeok looked at the executives and said,

“Requesting support is only natural.”

“In what way is it natural?”

“If you think of it as an alliance, then no matter what happens, contacting one another and hoping for help is proper. If we help them this time, then in turn, we can proudly request help from the Martial Alliance later. What the Martial Alliance wants is unity among the sects. Unity is born from the accumulation of things like this. Rather, the heads of sects that did not receive such a request for support would be displeased. The Martial Alliance must have sent requests to as many forces as possible. That is because many sects still have not joined the Martial Alliance. Only when incidents like this occur can they gather together in one place and interact. In any case, there are more than enough reasons.”

“So there were many reasons.”

Chief Steward Byeok asked me,

“By the way, have Mokryeong Stockade and the Southern Mount Green Forest Alliance joined hands?”

When I nodded, Chief Steward Byeok continued.

“If the Green Forest and the Waterway Stockades grow powerful, they can reach the point of holding off government troops as well. From the Alliance Leader’s standpoint, requesting help from every force he can gather is as natural as water flowing downhill. The question is to what extent you will help the Martial Alliance, Sect Leader.”

I crossed my arms for a moment and looked at Chief Steward Byeok.

‘Just what sort of life would this old man have lived if I hadn’t been around?’

“Chief Steward Byeok.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Chief Steward Byeok’s strategy, wisdom, insight, and analytical ability make it seem as though I am looking at Jiang Taigong himself.”

Chief Steward Byeok looked at me with suspicion in his eyes.

“That is excessive praise, is it not?”

“It didn’t work?”

“No.”

“Chief Steward Byeok, you’ve grown a level in the meantime.”

Only then did Chief Steward Byeok smile and reply,

“Thank you.”

“……”

Thinking that praise worked far too well on Chief Steward Byeok, I said to the executives,

“I had no intention of leaving the Southern Mount Green Forest Alliance alone anyway, so this is fortunate.”

“It is fortunate.”

“This is not our Hao Sect helping the Martial Alliance. I have no intention of having the Hao Sect help.”

“Pardon?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Listen carefully. I’ll summarize this matter simply. It’s not that our Hao Sect is helping the Martial Alliance. The Martial Alliance has come to help me, Lee Zaha, with my personal revenge.”

Cha Seongtae blinked.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“It is not. The Hao Sect will remain here and continue rigorous training. I will use the Martial Alliance to exact personal revenge on the Green Forest Alliance, which starved Junior Brother Geumhae, beat him, made him twist his ankle, and, as if that weren’t enough, demanded a toll from me. Does everyone understand?”

Cha Seongtae nodded.

“I understand. To summarize, you’re saying you’re going to charge in alone.”

I nodded with a solemn expression.

“No. I am going with the Martial Alliance. I am not alone. At my side stands the Martial Alliance. What an exceedingly reliable force.”

“Wow…… when you put it that way, it somehow sounds grand and impressive.”

“So Gunpyeong, Seongtae, Junior Brother Baegin.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Train hard every single day… Whether I’m here or not, cultivate yourselves so there’s no difference. Next time something like this happens, at least one of you three should be able to go as the Hao Sect’s representative for support. Skill is weight. The three of you are putting in effort as well, but you still have many shortcomings.”

“Understood.”

“And Chief Steward Byeok.”

“Yes.”

I scratched my cheek and said,

“Prepare plenty of travel funds, and my attire too, perfectly… so I don’t look like some country bumpkin. In a gathering of orthodox masters, the Hao Sect shouldn’t look like the Beggar Gang.”

“That is true.”

“I’ll depart as soon as preparations are complete, so everyone, as usual……”

My subordinates rose from their seats and cupped their fists toward me.

“Sect Leader, please go and return in good health.”

“That’s so cringeworthy……”

The other executives also cut me off, each saying a word.

“Sect Leader, please return safely.”

“Raise the fame of the Hao Sect…… Ah, is that not quite right? In any case, have a safe trip.”

“Please don’t go there and fight with the heads of other sects, Sect Leader.”

The executives’ nagging gradually increased.

“I get it, so be quiet.”

Cha Seongtae added,

“Sect Leader, you mustn’t kill our allies.”

“That’s enough.”

“Yes, sir.”

Looking around, I saw all my subordinate bastards staring at me like they were looking at a child going out to play near the water.

‘Hmm…….’

I nodded several times and reassured my subordinates.

“It’s me. Don’t worry. What could possibly happen when I’m just going to beat up the Green Forest Alliance and thrash the Waterway Stockades?”

“Yes, sir.”

As the executives left the main hall, they muttered among themselves.

“We’re worried he’ll beat up our allies.”

“Shh, he can hear you.”

I listened to my subordinates’ conversation and nodded.

“Good. This atmosphere…… A warm atmosphere where one can speak one’s mind freely.”

Chief Steward Byeok nodded beside me.

“That’s right.”

An hour later, seen off by my subordinates, I set out for the gathering point, the Martial Alliance’s Hengshan Branch.

* * *

If I was going to train my lightness skill, I would have to run fiercely anyway. As I ran, unleashing my lightness skill for the first time in a while, my spirits lifted slightly. After all, this was the first time I had properly used it since training in the martial arts of yin and yang.

After running for two double-hours without rest, I stopped for a moment on a quiet road. I was puzzled, because my lightness skill had become faster than usual.

‘Why did I get so fast?’

Was it simply because my internal energy had deepened from drawing on the power of the Heavenly Jade?

I could not clearly determine why my lightness skill had suddenly grown faster. Still, compared to before, even while I was running, my body felt somehow “comfortable.”

Was it because I had learned the Moon Shadow Emotionless Art?

Ordinarily, if I ran fiercely for more than two double-hours, my entire body would grow hot as if engulfed in flames, but now, even though I was not using the Moon Shadow Emotionless Art, the heat subsided easily.

“Has the level of my body risen?”

After taking a brief rest, I set off again for Mount Heng.

When I first regressed, I never expected that I would go help the Martial Alliance.

Come to think of it, when the current members of the Martial Alliance later became veterans……

They would become the bastards who spread that inescapable net and chased me down.

Goosebumps rose on my forearms as I ran.

“…….”

Now that I thought about it, among them there were probably Martial Alliance members I had beaten to death in my previous life. Even in my days as the Mad Demon, I had beaten to death experts from great clans and hypocrites of the orthodox path, but I had not directly killed members of the Martial Alliance. But while escaping the Martial Alliance’s vicious inescapable net, I had no choice.

If I got caught, I would die, or else be locked in a prison for several decades.

Only after rumors spread that I had killed Alliance members and fled……

did the Demonic Cult begin to show interest in me.

Thanks to that, I was able to be hunted by the Demonic Cult as well.

In any case……

As I ran toward the Mount Heng branch, I felt extremely strange. It was as though a nameless thorn had lodged itself somewhere in my heart.

I also felt slightly displeased.

If in my previous life I had possessed the ability to slip leisurely out of the Martial Alliance’s inescapable net, I would not have felt this way.

Once again, in this world, skill decides everything.

Swept up in emotions I could not define, I increased the speed of my lightness skill even further. Right now, I was running fiercely in order to help the very people who had surrounded me in my previous life.

* * *

The martial artist who guided me to the main hall announced inside.

“The Hao Sect Leader has arrived.”

The heads of the sects in the main hall all turned their heads at once and looked at me. I covered my mouth for a moment, clearing my throat.

Here and there were mixed in experts of the orthodox path who had been beaten up by me in my previous life.

‘That stings. It really stings…….’

Why was the flow of life so abrupt?

Even though only the leaders were gathered, there were so many people that it was dizzying. I was already the type to feel unsettled even when alone, but now people tied to me by old relationships and old grudges from my previous life were all staring at me at once, leaving me flustered.

Alliance Leader Lim, seated at the seat of honor, looked at me.

“Sect Leader, you’ve come? You arrived much faster than expected. This isn’t exactly an atmosphere for hospitality, so sit down for now.”

I sat in the only empty seat left at the foot of the hall, crossed my arms, and took a deep breath.

Looking around……

The first people to catch my eye were the sect leader of the Hyeongsan Sect, the young clan head of the Namgung Clan, the young clan head of the Seomun Clan, and the sect leader of the Jeomchang Sect.

There were some bastards I knew, and many I did not. As I looked around to see who had answered Alliance Leader Lim’s summons, I finally spotted the bastard sitting at the foot of the hall across from me.

“……!”

The Pervert was staring at me with his eyes wide open.

I flinched for an instant and looked at the Pervert.

“Shitpants?”

Alliance Leader Lim, who had been speaking, looked at me.

“Sect Leader, what did you say?”

“Ah, nothing.”

The Pervert’s face was turning bright red the moment he heard the word Shitpants.

Thinking about why this bastard was here, it seemed he had come as the representative of the Pungun Mong Clan.

Naturally, the Pungun Mong Clan was also an allied force of the Martial Alliance.

I scratched my forehead for a moment.

The Pervert mouthed at me.

‘You wanna die?’

I shook my head and returned his greeting with my own mouthed words.

‘You moron.’

Among the Martial Alliance’s support forces were two public enemies of murim from my previous life. But not all of the allied forces had arrived yet. The martial artist who had guided me earlier opened the doors to the main hall again and announced.

“The clan head of the Sima Clan has arrived.”

At that moment, everyone watched Alliance Leader Lim’s expression. There was no particular change on his face.

When Sima He, the clan head of the Sima Clan, appeared in the main hall, people rose here and there.

“Clan Head, welcome.”

The Pervert also stood and offered Sima He a cupped-fist salute.

Alliance Leader Lim, with his backside still planted in his seat, spoke to Sima He.

“Clan Head, you’ve come.”

Sima He said to Alliance Leader Lim.

“Alliance Leader, why are you wearing such a displeased expression toward someone who came to help?”

Alliance Leader Lim replied curtly.

“This is just how my face is. Sit down.”

I stared silently at Sima He. He was someone I was seeing for the first time as well. However, I had heard and knew by whom, and how, he would die. He was a man of tremendous ambition, one who had caused many problems in the orthodox path.

In short, Sima He was someone who had constantly coveted the position of Alliance Leader.

He had not hesitated to do illegal things……

until Alliance Leader Lim caught him, fought him in a one-on-one duel, and killed him. In my previous life, the bastard had challenged Alliance Leader Lim and been beaten to death, yet now he had arrived as reinforcements.

Looking around, I saw that the relationships from my previous life were truly tangled together in a complicated mess here.

‘Wow, this really is a madhouse under the name of an alliance.’

Thinking that I alone knew this sent goosebumps over me once more. Just then, Sima He, who had been looking for a place to sit, came in front of me and said,

“Junior, give me your seat. There’s nowhere to sit.”

“……!”

I looked up at Sima He with a startled expression. Suddenly, like a revolving lantern, the worried faces and words of my subordinates flashed through my mind.

[Sect Leader, you must not kill our allies.]

I was not an idiot.

Sima He tilted his head and said to me,

“Junior……?”

I stopped my thoughts and replied.

“If there’s no seat, stand and listen.”

Alliance Leader Lim sighed and said to an Alliance member,

“Go inside and bring out a chair.”

“Yes, Alliance Leader.”

Sima Hak looked at me with an expression half bewilderment, half amusement.

“I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”

Before I could answer, Alliance Leader Im barked.

“Sima Hak!”

Sima Hak looked at Alliance Leader Im with a dumbfounded expression. Alliance Leader Im spoke with his brow furrowed.

“If you came as reinforcements, act like an ally. Don’t try to set the mood. When the chair comes, sit there. Don’t disrupt the meeting. Did you come here to make a grand entrance, or to help?”

Privately, Sima Hak seemed to be his senior, but Im Sobaek was speaking from the position of the Alliance Leader.

When Sima Hak stood there for a moment like a mute who had swallowed honey, the alliance member who had brought the chair spoke cautiously.

“Family Head, please sit here.”

Of all places, the alliance member set Sima Hak’s chair beside mine.

Sima Hak, his expression calming in an instant, gave a faint laugh and said,

“The Alliance Leader is right. That was my mistake. Please continue the meeting.”

I looked around the main hall with my arms crossed.

Somehow, I had become a member of the White Path.

It was amusing that the damned atmosphere I knew so well was unfolding right before my eyes.

For starters, it occurred to me that being Alliance Leader was no easy position. It was the most famous seat in the jianghu, so one might think it would be comfortable, but there seemed to be quite a few people like Sima Hak, which was why his white hairs kept increasing.

When I suddenly turned my head, Sima Hak was glaring at me.

‘Shit, you startled me…….’

When I faced forward again, this time that lecher bastard was looking at me.

“…….”

Ah, what chaos. Such chaos…….