Chapter 335. Neither Enemy nor Ally.

As I drank, I asked Cha Seongtae.

“How did you end up appearing here? You’re not the sort to get mixed up in a fight like this.”

Cha Seongtae spoke with the look of a man about to launch into a dull tale of heroics.

“It was an arduous journey.”

“Cut the crap. Keep it short.”

Cha Seongtae looked around at the Four Great Villains and said,

“I’ll summarize. First, the Sect Leader got angry and went to Dongho, did you not?”

“I did.”

“The truth is, I went there to help.”

I was baffled to hear that a bastard who would be no help whatsoever had come to help.

“And?”

“I missed you by a hair’s breadth. Dongho was already under the Alliance members’ control. I grabbed whoever was nearby and asked where the Sect Leader had gone. They said you had gone to the Murim Alliance to escort the Alliance Leader. After coming all the way to Dongho with such effort, it felt a shame to simply turn back, so I headed to the Murim Alliance as well.”

“Can someone really fail to catch up that consistently? That’s not a hair’s breadth.”

Cha Seongtae looked at me.

“I’d have gone faster if I’d ever been to the Murim Alliance before.”

“So, did you get to see the Murim Alliance?”

“I saw the entrance. It was tremendous. I nearly got dragged away for loitering around. After this and that, I asked around, and they said the Sect Leader had left again. This time, I had no way of knowing where you’d gone, so I was roughly making my way back to Ilyang County when I followed the trail of corpses scattered around. I witnessed Senior Fist King crossing hands with some old fiend, along with a rare giant of a man. Of course, at first, I didn’t know who was on our side. In any case, I went closer and checked the old fiend’s face. Well, the moment I saw him, I knew he was a vicious villain. His past evil deeds were written all over his face.”

Somehow, a grand tale was unfolding despite the flimsy contents. Ghost Demon, who had apparently gotten absorbed in the story before we knew it, chimed in.

“And then?”

“He was no ordinary old fiend, but still, you can’t just kill anyone out of nowhere, can you? While they were in the middle of an internal energy struggle, I said, ‘Excuse me, but I have something to ask,’ and openly asked him.”

“What did you say?”

“I asked if he had seen the Hao Gate Sect Leader, and the giant said they had parted from him at the Murim Alliance a few days ago.”

“And then?”

Cha Seongtae looked around at us, then clenched his fist.

“Do words even need to be said? I gifted this to the old fiend’s wicked mug.”

“…….”

“I definitely hit his face, but my hand hurt more. In any case, the enraged old fiend’s face turned red, and only then did the entangled Fist King and Lee Gunak overturn the situation. At a glance… there was no doubt this fist had triggered the old fiend’s qi deviation.”

Sword Demon answered with an incredulous expression.

“A Wraith engaged in an internal energy struggle against Fist King and Lee Gunak?”

“Yes. According to Senior Fist King, if I hadn’t come, they would have fought for another two hours. He said my help was significant.”

I looked at Cha Seongtae and said,

“Wow, you came back from the brink of death.”

Cha Seongtae replied,

“Who did?”

“You. Who else?”

“Do you think I’d die that easily? I asked after I’d already grasped the atmosphere. In any case, Senior Fist King said it seemed the other Kings were being attacked as well, so I came with them. There were a few who blocked our way en route, but that giant named Lee Gunak dealt with most of them. He really fought well.”

Lust Demon, who had been listening up to this point, nodded.

“But he lost to me.”

Since the truth was the truth, none of us had anything to say.

I sank into thought for a moment, then said to Sword Demon,

“…That man in black. From the way the Wraiths deliberately kept protecting him during the fight earlier, he’s an important figure. From what we know about Wraiths, they don’t treat anyone other than the Cult Leader as human. If he’s someone those Wraiths protect, we should kill him by any means necessary. If the Demonic Cult is after me because I possess the energies of extreme yin and extreme yang, there’s a chance the man in black’s use is similar to mine. What do you think, eldest brother?”

It was the best opinion I could give while leaving out any mention of the Heavenly Jade.

After pondering for a moment, Sword Demon answered,

“There’s no need to go out of our way to find him.”

“Why?”

Sword Demon looked at me.

“If what you say is true, he’ll come looking for you again.”

I tilted my head slightly.

Sword Demon said,

“The Cult Leader is different from the Scholar. The way he treats me and the way he treats the man in black are likely similar.”

Lust Demon replied,

“What way is that?”

“It’s nothing special. The strong reign supreme. The Cult Leader may have encouraged them to try creating a Heavenly Demon. Then he’ll watch all of it… and they’ll be sacrificed to him.”

Sword Demon looked at me.

“…….”

For some reason, laughter escaped me on its own.

“Ah, is that how it is? The strong reign supreme.”

Thinking about it, Sword Demon, I, and the man in black were all in the same position. The Cult Leader seemed to possess truly tremendous confidence. Perhaps this method was his way of surpassing the other Three Calamities.

Just then, the door of the inn opened, and the White-Clad Scholar, who had disappeared, walked in as if nothing had happened.

The moment I saw the White-Clad Scholar, a sigh escaped me.

It wasn’t as though he had helped, nor was it as though he hadn’t helped, so cursing him felt wrong, and thanking him didn’t suit the situation either. In any case, he was a dog of a bastard.

The White-Clad Scholar looked around at us, then asked Cha Seongtae,

“What are you?”

Cha Seongtae replied with a sneer.

“What are you, then?”

With my eyes opened a little wider, I looked back and forth between Cha Seongtae and the White-Clad Scholar. Since the White-Clad Scholar might suddenly kill Cha Seongtae, I had already braced myself.

The White-Clad Scholar looked around the inn, then stopped and wrung the water from his clothes. After squeezing water out several times, he asked me in an ordinary tone,

“May I kill him?”

“He’s the chief steward of Hao Gate, so hold back. His martial arts are still at a level that’s hard to measure.”

Only then did Cha Seongtae look at the White-Clad Scholar with a startled expression.

The White-Clad Scholar was running his hands over various parts of his clothing, and strangely enough, wherever his hands touched, the cloth quickly dried. Then he went into the kitchen alone, came back out with liquor, drank straight from the vessel, and said,

“Did you see the man in black?”

“I did.”

“I chased him and lost him.”

“Was he that fast?”

The White-Clad Scholar shook his head.

“There were scraps of black clothing along the way. It seems he took off his black clothes and tried to destroy them while fleeing, but because I was nearby, traces remained. In any case, I have a feeling he’s somewhere nearby.”

The White-Clad Scholar spoke to Sword Demon for what was almost the first time.

“Sword Demon, do you know who he is?”

Sword Demon replied,

“A Wraith. Who else would he be?”

The White-Clad Scholar asked as if seeking an opinion.

“Is there even such a thing as a wraith protecting another wraith like that? Judging by the eyes I saw beneath the hood, he wasn’t that old. His voice, too. At first, I wondered if he might be the eldest young master, but…….”

I asked.

“But?”

“I don’t think they would leave the eldest young master among the wraiths like that. And he didn’t take part in the attack, either. For the most part, he was watching you, Sect Leader, and then disappeared.”

Somehow, the smartest man in the jianghu had become curious about the man in black. For a moment, I wondered whether I should share what I knew with this scholar bastard. Then I cast aside my suspicions and decided that I should be the first to treat the White-Clad Scholar as a comrade.

I looked at the White-Clad Scholar, who was sitting at a table some distance away and drinking without any snacks, then said to Cha Seongtae.

“Bring our guest something to eat with his liquor.”

Cha Seongtae replied.

“What am I, a waiter?”

“Better than bringing it after getting smacked in the head, isn’t it?”

“That’s true. I think we had some dried snacks. I’ll bring everything for now.”

While Cha Seongtae went into the kitchen, I said to the White-Clad Scholar.

“Is he someone even the scholars don’t know?”

“That’s right.”

The truth was, I didn’t know the bastard either, but for some reason, I wanted to mix imagination and lies before telling the White-Clad Scholar. I didn’t really know why. When had I ever been such an upstanding man? Since the relationship between the White-Clad Scholar and me wasn’t exactly normal either, I had no intention of answering him normally.

“He isn’t old. He’s being protected by the wraiths. And he doesn’t seem to be the eldest young master. Then perhaps he’s the wraiths’ disciple.”

“A disciple, is it.”

Cha Seongtae awkwardly approached and set the snacks down on the White-Clad Scholar’s table. At that, the White-Clad Scholar raised his hand as if he were about to strike him.

In that instant, Cha Seongtae backed away with a clatter, took his stance, and wrapped both hands in the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art.

Crackle!

The White-Clad Scholar checked the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art, then tilted his head.

“……What’s with this bastard? He’s not without talent.”

Having teased and tested Cha Seongtae, the White-Clad Scholar chewed on a dried snack and looked at me.

“Why do you think he’s a disciple? Let’s hear your nonsense.”

I thought of the man in black, felt nauseated, drank a mouthful of liquor, and then freely imagined the life of a man I did not know.

“……Wraiths are people too, aren’t they?”

Cha Seongtae replied.

“People are people, I suppose.”

“A young wraith doesn’t quite add up. Unless he was a child born among the wraiths. Even if wraiths have no qualms about killing one another, if a tiny child were born among them, are they really the sort who could kill even a child like that? I’m not sure. In any case, if he wasn’t killed by someone while growing up, he would have become the wraiths’ disciple. He may have learned all sorts of demonic arts. He may have learned only martial arts meant to avoid qi deviation. Or perhaps, if he was lucky and had outstanding talent in martial arts, they came to hope that if they taught him well, they could make him into a Heavenly Demon……. Or maybe some old fiends passed their internal energy on to him as they died. He would have needed some hard-to-predict story or fortuitous encounter to obtain martial prowess great enough to shake off the White-Clad Scholar’s pursuit. He isn’t the Cult Leader, nor is he the eldest young master, so there’s no reason for the wraiths to protect him like that and die heroic deaths. The fight in the rain was…….”

Everyone was listening intently to my story.

“It was too fierce. The man in black probably had never seen a fight like that. Even the ones who died by my hand at times gave me the feeling that they were dying with some kind of honor. It wasn’t simply a dog’s death, you could say. If they could show a disciple a fight like that, then in its own way, you’d have to call it an ending befitting wraiths.”

The White-Clad Scholar, who had been listening in silence, asked.

“Why would a bastard like that be watching you?”

This point was, in fact, the crux of the matter.

I looked at the White-Clad Scholar.

“To absorb me?”

“Because of your internal energy of extreme yang and extreme yin? After absorbing it, then what?”

“He’d try to kill the Cult Leader.”

“Why?”

Here, I relayed the Sword Demon’s answer to the White-Clad Scholar exactly as it was.

“Because the strong are supreme. It seems he believes he has to do that to survive. After living like a pig waiting to be slaughtered in the old main headquarters, perhaps he came here to struggle so he could truly live for once. As for information about me, the Four Heavenly Kings who saw me before must have told him.”

The White-Clad Scholar said.

“Are you saying the Cult Leader knows all of this?”

“Do I have any way to beat the Cult Leader right now?”

“No. He’s a man even Cheonak could not handle.”

“What about the man in black?”

“The same.”

“If the man in black absorbs me? Would he become similar to the Three Calamities?”

The White-Clad Scholar, recalling Cheonak’s martial might, tilted his head slightly.

“He might be able to face them, but…….”

Here, I told the White-Clad Scholar the conclusion I had reached.

“If the man in black absorbs me, and then the Cult Leader absorbs the man in black’s internal energy in its entirety, would the other Three Calamities be able to handle the Cult Leader?”

The White-Clad Scholar answered with a slightly dumbfounded expression.

“Both of you?”

The White-Clad Scholar slowly looked around at the Four Great Villains, glanced even at Cha Seongtae, then said.

“If that happens, he’d be a Demon God. The wall that had been blocking something would collapse, and his rank would rise. Cheonak is blocked by a similar wall, after all. If it is born from the righteous path, it is a Martial God; if it is born from the demonic path, it is a Demon God. In truth, they’d be one and the same.”

I asked the White-Clad Scholar for his opinion.

“Can one cross into that rank simply by increasing one’s internal energy?”

“No.”

The White-Clad Scholar looked at me.

“If the Cult Leader, with his current skill, were to obtain something like the Jaha Divine Art you use, then it would not be lacking to call him a Demon God. If you are dragged off by the Cult Leader, you won’t even be allowed to die cleanly. The entire jianghu already knows that the martial arts you use are extraordinary. On top of that, you slaughtered even the Four Heavenly Kings before the eyes of the two young masters……. Before, Cheonak showed interest because you bluffed, but the Cult Leader likely won’t care about your bluster at all.”

I nodded.

“I see. Then we have our conclusion. If I’m captured by the Cult Leader, it means this jianghu is finished. A world ruled by the Demonic Path, one that the scholars’ forces, Cheonak, the Beggars’ Sect Chief and the clever White-Clad Scholar, and even the long-suffering Alliance Leader Im can do nothing about.”

The White-Clad Scholar said to me in a serious tone.

“How about just killing yourself the moment you’re captured? Or should I kill you?”

“I can’t do that.”

I said to the White-Clad Scholar.

“When that time comes, I’ll take the Cult Leader down with me on my own. You lot can give me the name Jaha Scholar and hold memorial rites for me. There was once a man like Jing Ke who took the Cult Leader down with him. Add me to the list of great men that the scholars honor.”

The White-Clad Scholar smiled.

“Not bad. If the Cult Leader disappears, there will be no expert in the jianghu capable of stopping us. The Beggars’ Sect Chief won’t be able to do anything alone, either.”

The Sword Demon, who had been silent, opened his mouth.

“White-Clad.”

The White-Clad Scholar looked at the Sword Demon.

“What?”

The Sword Demon said in a calm tone.

“That’s what you think.”

The Lust Demon glared at the White-Robed Scholar.

“You’re free to delude yourself.”

The Ghost Demon finally added a word as well.

“If the jianghu moved exactly as one wished, how could it be the jianghu? White-Robed Scholar.”

Cha Seongtae cut in.

“Pardon me in the middle of that conversation, but is this man an ally or an enemy?”

Cha Seongtae had enough sense that it didn’t seem like a question asked out of ignorance. After all, in life, there were bastards you couldn’t tell were enemies or allies.

I asked Cha Seongtae for his opinion.

“What do you think?”

Cha Seongtae thought for a moment about how to answer, then opened his mouth.

“He’s just kind of obnoxious.”

The moment the White-Robed Scholar glared at Cha Seongtae, the four of us villains burst into laughter at the same time.

“Hahahaha……”

Now that I thought about it, he wasn’t an enemy, nor was he an ally. He was simply an obnoxious bastard.