Chapter 390. Neither of Us Smiled.

As I pictured the Blood Cult Leader leaving in such haste, I felt slightly strange. The Tower King, who had already become the new Right Envoy, was dead, and Yongmyeong had departed for the Blood Night Palace as well.

Keeping in mind that worldly affairs never went entirely as I wished, I had a feeling that something unpleasant was about to happen.

Of course, there was a basis for this premonition.

Even though the former Right Envoy had fled while killing cultists, the cultists, including the Black Forest scouting unit, showed no agitation whatsoever.

Silence carried many meanings depending on the situation.

The silence that had settled over the area around the Jaha Inn this time was a mixture of tension and stillness, but if one had to weigh it, the tension seemed far heavier.

It was something like an entire army standing by.

As I analyzed this silence in my own way, I soon realized that the Cult Leader was coming. I did not think this was a silence that someone like Left Envoy Wei could create on his own.

I returned to the Jaha Inn with Eldest Brother and said to the Seven Killers of Yunnan.

“Set up the tables, and prepare liquor and drinking water. No need for side dishes. Don’t raise any dust. For now, tidy up everything in sight.”

The Seven Killers of Yunnan moved quietly the moment they heard me. They had some sense too, so they must have noticed that my mood had changed a little.

Eldest Brother went over to the wooden platform, moved the wooden sword that was on top to one side, then took a cloth and wiped the blade of the Radiant Sword.

I looked at the fluttering flag.

“…….”

Had planting the flag been a mistake from the start?

Quite some time had passed, and yet the Cult Leader had not appeared in person, so I began to wonder if the cultists had clashed with some other force.

A man who had personally come all the way to Ilyang County could go anywhere.

A little while later.

It seemed a carriage was approaching, so I went outside and saw that an unfamiliar carriage had arrived near the Black Forest scouting unit.

Was it the newly appointed Left Envoy, or the Cult Leader?

The carriage was painted entirely black, down to its wheels. The horses pulling it were black horses, and even the saddle was jet-black.

In any case, everything was black.

The man who emerged from it looked over the cultists once with his back to me, and following his gaze, every cultist around him knelt.

There were no slogans or anything of the sort.

Then additional pitch-black warhorses arrived, and men in black lightly leaped down from them and took hold of the reins. I could not tell whether their mouths had been fitted with bits or they had been trained that way, but even the warhorses had the talent to keep their mouths shut.

The newly arrived men in black were dressed slightly differently from the Black Forest scouting unit that had arrived earlier, so they looked like personal guards or an escort unit. Even from a distance, I could tell that the personal guards were much larger than ordinary cultists.

Unlike the other cultists, the personal guards did not kneel. They moved at ease, then spread out slightly and took positions around the area.

Only then did the man who had emerged from the carriage turn around and walk toward the Jaha Inn.

It was a fairly long distance…….

The Cult Leader was walking here alone.

The moment I suddenly saw the Cult Leader, a small sigh slipped out of me. Strange thoughts kept coming to mind.

Would it not be better if he charged this way with troops in tow?

Would it not be better if he gave the order for the entire army to charge and attacked the Jaha Inn?

Or would it not be better if he came rushing over in a fit of rage, unleashing his lightness skill?

Every thought I had hoped for missed the mark.

The Cult Leader came walking alone, without even bringing a subordinate. He was closing the distance in the atmosphere I hated most, in the manner I hated most.

This was why the Cult Leader was not a man who moved according to my will.

Because if he was that composed, I had no way to deal with him.

It had been a long time since I had seen the Cult Leader’s face…….

But I was not glad to see him at all.

In life, one rarely even had the chance to drink while looking at the faces of those who shared one’s will, so I felt a sense of doubt as to whether I really had to look at a man like that.

The Cult Leader approached from where the cultists waited to where I stood like darkness.

I learned that darkness did not surge in swiftly like a wave, but arrived by walking slowly.

There was no way to avoid this kind of darkness.

When I let out a second sigh at the entrance of the Jaha Inn, the Cult Leader, who had come close, spoke in an ordinary tone.

“Sect Master.”

I had no choice but to extend my hand inward.

“You have come a long way. Let us go in.”

In any case, he was a guest, so I guided him into the inn.

I had no choice but to show the Cult Leader my back.

Showing the Cult Leader my back? This was why guests were kings. Even though I knew he had no reason to launch a surprise attack at my back, a considerable chill ran down my spine.

Eldest Brother, who was sitting on the wooden platform, also greeted the Cult Leader.

“You have come.”

The Seven Killers of Yunnan had been scattered here and there with blank expressions, but the moment they saw the Cult Leader, they knelt.

“……We greet the Cult Leader.”

I arrived at the table and turned around.

Eldest Brother set down the cloth he had been using to wipe the Radiant Sword, then sheathed the blade. The Cult Leader looked around, then sat in the seat we had hurriedly prepared.

Only then did the Seven Killers of Yunnan quietly rise, bring a water pitcher and liquor, set them down on the table, and withdraw.

Eldest Brother sat on the wooden platform with his arms crossed, and he did not seem inclined to come to the table.

In the end, I sat across from the Cult Leader.

During that time, the Cult Leader poured water himself and drank.

Was he perhaps impervious to all poisons?

The Cult Leader swallowed it as though drinking water from beside his own bed, then looked at Eldest Brother.

“……How is it, now that you have left the cult?”

Eldest Brother answered.

“Ordinary. Daily life is ordinary too. Eating, sleeping. Even when I have no thoughts at all, it is ordinary.”

The Cult Leader, who seemed not to care about his tone at all, nodded and asked something else.

“How did the Right Envoy end up losing his mind like that?”

“I do not know exactly. A person changing is not due to one reason alone. There were things he had accumulated against you. His martial arts may have hit a wall. The fact that he lost so many subordinates to the Sect Master was also a cause. Or perhaps he went mad while searching for a way to become stronger. In any case, it seems difficult to live with a sound mind.”

The Cult Leader asked again.

“If you had to choose one among them?”

Eldest Brother shook his head.

“There is no one thing. If I were to choose two, it would be because of the Cult Leader and the Sect Master. The two of you.”

While the Cult Leader looked at me, I poured myself liquor and drank.

I had never found a man’s gaze so uncomfortable before. But unless it was an opportunity like this, I did not think I would be able to glare for long at a man no different from the greatest under heaven, so I avoided his gaze as little as possible.

The Cult Leader said.

“Sect Master.”

“Speak.”

“Your disciple seemed clever. Where did you meet him?”

“At an auction house called Heukhyang. It was a place that even traded children as young as Yoran, so I killed them all and brought him away.”

“Did you take her as your disciple because you knew she was clever?”

I shook my head.

“Clever or stupid, she would have become my disciple either way. Yoran was the one who said first that she wanted to learn martial arts. Did you like her?”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“I did.”

“She already has plenty of masters, so don’t get greedy.”

“I have no intention of teaching her.”

“That’s a relief. I can’t have my disciple stolen away and turned into a cultist.”

“Return Ilsal.”

“Why?”

“It is not a sword that suits you. It does not match your martial arts, your disposition, or the purpose for which the sword was made. You were never an assassin to begin with.”

I had nothing in particular to say.

“……”

I unfastened Ilsal from my waist and placed it on the table. If he brought up Ilsal right after talking about Yoran, there was nothing I could do.

The Cult Leader took hold of Ilsal, drew it halfway, and examined the blade.

“……”

Without saying a word, the Cult Leader sheathed the sword again and looked at the Sword Demon.

“If you intend to become invincible as your master wished, keep the Radiant Sword. If not, return it. If what you desire is to be a swordsman, the Radiant Sword will not help you. Are you telling me you still have not finished agonizing over it?”

I looked at Eldest Brother along with the Cult Leader.

The Cult Leader was not wrong, so I had nothing to add. The choice belonged to Eldest Brother, but there did not seem to be any way out.

The Cult Leader asked the Sword Demon.

“……What is the state of the bond?”

Eldest Brother answered.

“It is not complete.”

“Then returning it should not endanger your life.”

Eldest Brother looked at the Cult Leader, then refused in an indifferent tone.

“Kill me and take it.”

“Why?”

“Because as long as I possess this, you will be inconvenienced at least a little. If I die, I will tell those around me to return it to the Cult.”

The Cult Leader opened his mouth.

“Let us do that. Left Envoy Wi.”

From a distance, Left Envoy Wi answered.

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

“Take it.”

After three or four breaths, Left Envoy Wi appeared at the entrance of the Zaha Inn, came in without a word, took Ilsal, and turned around. From the moment he entered until he moved away, there was almost no sound of footsteps.

The Cult Leader said,

“Sect Master, how long will it take you to acquire a new weapon?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not the type to obsess over famous swords. I’ll try to find one quickly, and if I can’t, I’ll use even a long sword with a chipped edge.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“Do that.”

The Cult Leader was a man who was clear about giving and taking, so it sounded as though this was the price for returning it.

I looked at the liquor and asked the Cult Leader,

“Will you have a drink?”

The Cult Leader held out the cup he had drunk water from. For the first time, I poured liquor for the Cult Leader, then looked at Eldest Brother.

“Eldest Brother.”

Eldest Brother came over and took an empty cup from the table. I poured liquor for him as well, then filled my own cup.

We drank without saying anything in particular, but this was also a cup of oath, promising that we would keep our word to one another.

After setting down his cup, the Cult Leader spoke first.

“Choose the place.”

It sounded like he was asking where I wanted to die. I had no intention of dying, but I considered the place for now.

Where should we fight the decisive battle so that I would have no regrets?

Eldest Brother met my eyes and said to me,

“You decide.”

I thought carefully, then said to the Cult Leader,

“Then let us meet on Mount Hua.”

“The date and time?”

“Come when you feel like killing us. We’ll go first and train there.”

The Cult Leader looked at Eldest Brother.

“And you?”

“Where else would I go? Let us meet then.”

As though accepting the proposal, the Cult Leader said,

“On Mount Hua.”

Unexpectedly, the Cult Leader held out his cup again. While I filled it like a waiter, the Cult Leader said,

“Sect Master, it was not a good strategy.”

“Why is that?”

The Cult Leader glanced toward the fluttering flag.

“……The location of your main camp was not bad, but how do you intend to wage war without messengers or scouts? Because of the flag, I knew that supporting forces would come from various places, and after receiving reports from my scouts, I sent troops in advance to deal with them at each road. I, too, rode around in a carriage and enjoyed seeing the world for the first time in a while.”

“Mm.”

The Cult Leader looked at me.

“I have read old books and a few texts on military strategy, but there is no record of a general who devised a strategy as emotional as yours. The Military Sword King, who was coming to support you, fought Left Envoy Wi once, and the Nangong Sword Emperor was unlucky enough to meet me. He was a man of quick judgment, so instead of a full-frontal battle, he asked me for a one-on-one duel.”

“What happened?”

“His right arm was cut off, so he will no longer be able to use the title Sword Emperor. In exchange for not being annihilated, he promised to seal his clan’s gates for a hundred years. In other words, he was hooked by your strategy of his own accord and defeated in isolation. Of course, we did not win on every front. The Fist King’s side had few numbers, but our casualties there were greater than anywhere else. However, they, too, were lacking in numbers, so in the end they inhaled poison smoke and fled somewhere.”

I had nothing in particular to say.

The Cult Leader said,

“There is still much I have yet to receive reports on, but what happened at the other roads should be similar.”

In other words, because of the flag I had raised, they had been defeated in isolation. Since I had made the Zaha Inn the site of the decisive battle, the Cult Leader had isolated the Zaha Inn as much as possible, struck down the surroundings first, and then appeared.

Watching this Cult Leader, a strange thought occurred to me.

Would a strategist like Sima Yi have had this sort of air about him?

On the whole, the Cult Leader seemed like a lonely man with no one who could face him in terms of either martial force or strategy. In a word, he was a man born in the wrong era. Or perhaps he had been born in the wrong place and was doing things like this because of it…….

I myself had not actually lost, but those who had tried to help me had been severely beaten or had already been defeated by the Cult Leader.

I simply admitted defeat honestly.

“You saw through it well. I was foolish and emotional, and that is why I was caught. It seems I understood the world as an inn. How embarrassing. Have you received any other reports?”

The Cult Leader said,

“Noble clans are generally stagnant, rotten water, so they are easy to deal with. When the clan head or a large number of troops move out, if you send just a few assassins to the main house to stir things up, they usually decide to retreat because of their property. The Ximen Clan returned that way as well. Property and home are more important than helping others. That is the limit of the orthodox path.”

“What about Alliance Leader Lin?”

I sat at the table and conversed with the Cult Leader as if we were playing baduk without stones.

“I heard Im Sobaek at least knew how to use scouts and messengers, so he was running all over the place. Even his subordinates couldn’t properly grasp his location, but in the end, they clashed with my first brat’s forces near the Murim Alliance, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. Im Sobaek would have had no choice but to return. He is the sort of man who prioritizes saving lives over taking them.”

By “first brat,” he seemed to mean the Cult Leader’s eldest, the First Young Master. In other words, it seemed the First Young Master had obstructed the Murim Alliance’s advance, or had fought them to a standstill.

The Cult Leader continued.

“Not everything goes according to plan, for either you or me.”

“That is true.”

“The price for the lives of the cultists you killed was already not something that could end with your death alone, so many men of the kangho paid it in your stead. By now, it should be roughly even. From the start, given your temperament, this would have ended if you had challenged me directly. You are the one who made it grow this large. Were you that afraid?”

I shook my head.

“It was less fear than frustration.”

“When I see you at Mount Hua, I hope you have at least become comparable to the other Three Calamities. Will that be possible?”

“That remains to be seen.”

“There would be no point in my going all the way to Mount Hua merely to watch you commit suicide. Sword Demon, would you not agree?”

Big Brother looked down at the Cult Leader and replied.

“Surely the Sect Master won’t choose suicide. You may disappear together with Mount Hua, so do not be too arrogant.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“I will limit the number of people who may ascend Mount Hua. Cheonak, the Divine Beggar, the Sect Master, the Sword Demon, and the White-Clad Scholar. At most, around ten people. But I do not wish to see Im Sobaek.”

“Why do you dislike Alliance Leader Im so much?”

The Cult Leader looked at me as if I were pathetic.

“What Cult Leader would like an Alliance Leader?”

I never thought I would have to hold back laughter while speaking with the Cult Leader, but that was exactly what happened now. Since the atmosphere was grave, I did not laugh. I pushed my cheek out a bit with my tongue.

To think laughter was about to come out in the middle of this…….

I knew I was a madman, but this was crossing the line.

“Then let’s set Alliance Leader Im aside for now. Let’s keep the numbers around that. Senior Beggar is old, so he may not come. He’s at the age to retire. I wonder if he’s even eating his meals properly.”

I muttered that lightly, but the Cult Leader did not laugh.