Chapter 228
Translator: uly
Chapter: 228
Chapter Title: Paths Diverge
Under that gaze, Wi Seongcheon felt deeply unsettled. He knew exactly why Mu Yeonjun was looking at him with those eyes.
Mu Yeonjun shared a profound sense of camaraderie with Wi Seongcheon in many ways. His favoritism toward Wi Seongcheon was so blatant that everyone could feel it.
But honestly, that attention made Wi Seongcheon uncomfortable. Mu Yeonjun believed Wi Seongcheon would one day walk the same path of demon extermination as him, a comrade in arms. And he hadn't just hinted at it—he'd stated it outright to Wi Seongcheon more than once.
It was burdensome, yes.
But little by little, Wi Seongcheon was starting to feel something similar toward Mu Yeonjun. Back when he was ignorant, he'd dismissed it as meddling. But the Wi Seongcheon of today was no longer in the dark.
Even if he hadn't heard everything, from his father's stories and the fact that the Heavenly Flower Sect had branched off from the Blood Cult, it was clear that the Heavenly Flower Sect pursued the same goal as Mu Yeonjun: the extermination of demons.
That alone would have been wonderful.
'We could just join hands, cheer each other on, and push forward together.'
But it never worked out that way. Hadn't Ananna-i said it? Correcting the deviant Heavenly Principle with human reason—that was Illyeon. And Illyeon... began by rejecting the will of Heaven.
The Heaven-sent One was the savior sent by Heaven to save a world overrun by demons. Illyeon, which claimed to correct Heaven's will with human will, rejected even the existence of the Heaven-sent One. From the moment Wi Seongcheon met Ananna-i in the Sea Dragon's Tomb and became an apostle of Illyeon, his path had completely diverged from Mu Yeonjun's.
It was something he didn't want to dwell on. But he could no longer avoid it. Not just Mu Yeonjun—nearly everyone gathered here was staring at him intently.
"......Ahem."
It wasn't a situation he could gloss over with silence. The White Flame Witch, frowning, moved to block him.
She hadn't spoken yet, but Wi Seongcheon could easily guess what she intended to say.
"It's fine."
"......I haven't said anything yet?"
"What you're about to say is obvious, isn't it? You don't need to threaten them to protect me."
The White Flame Witch blinked and turned her head. It was the first time she'd been preempted like this before even opening her mouth.
"You're not going to coddle me forever, anyway."
"......If you didn't wander off, I could coddle you indefinitely."
"Is that little brat your son or something? The way you wrap him in your skirts, it almost seems plausible."
The Venom Ghost Marquis sneered.
"No, the way you're fussing over him doesn't look like maternal love. Don't tell me you've fallen for some great-grandkid-level brat? Pathetic hag!"
"You're a woman with not a shred of maternal instinct, yet you dare lecture me on it? And now you're flapping your trap like crazy. Should I rip it off or yank out your tongue to shut you up?"
The White Flame Witch glared at the Venom Ghost Marquis with bulging eyes. Wi Seongcheon cleared his throat and stepped between them.
"Ah, why are you two fighting?"
"It's not because of you, so buzz off."
"What kind of talk is that? It is because of me. Come on, no more hiding—I'll lay it all out honestly, so everyone, drop the death glares."
Wi Seongcheon swept his gaze over the famous elders glaring at him and continued. But the emotions in Mu Yeonjun's eyes showed no sign of cooling; if anything, they grew darker and deeper.
"So, um...... Honestly, it was a coincidence. It happened when I stayed at the North Sea Ice Palace for about a month......"
The North Sea Ice Palace's lord, Ice White Divine Lord Ha Myeongil, still hadn't returned. Wi Seongcheon didn't want to drag the Ice Palace into it, so he omitted mentioning that he'd suggested Ha Myeongil sail out to sea.
Judging by how Ha Myeongil hadn't breathed a word to his daughter Ha Jieun, she was clearly ignorant about Illyeon.
"I'd never seen the ocean before—it was so vast and mysterious—so I borrowed a boat and went out to sea. At the time, I was feeling a barrier stemming from a heart demon in my martial arts training."
"So?"
"I drifted on the sea all day and ran into a massive wave."
Wi Seongcheon shuddered dramatically, as if to emphasize the point.
"Before I could react, the boat capsized. Oh no, I thought. My lightness skill wasn't good enough to dash across the open ocean back to land. I got sucked straight into the deep sea......"
He paused there. It was a conversational ploy, but the moment he stopped, the elders fixed him with gazes sharp enough to pierce skin.
"......Ahem. I thought this was it, but there...... I met a huge...... what do you call it? That shelled thing. What's a sea turtle called?"
"......Are you talking about a tortoise?"
"Ah, right. Turtle. A gigantic turtle."
"You punk! Are you mocking your elders?!"
Myeongwon Geomja of the Kunlun Sect, who had always disliked Wi Seongcheon, bellowed. But Wi Seongcheon didn't cower; instead, he protested with an indignant expression.
"No, when the Black Demon King said a star came down from the sky and whispered to him, no one said a word. Why get mad when I say I met a giant turtle?"
"Make some sense!"
"Did a twinkling star from the night sky whispering to you make sense?"
"That's......"
"Hey, shut your trap and stay quiet."
As Myeongwon Geomja flapped his lips without retort, Taiji Sword Lord nearby shot him a murderous glare. In the end, Myeongwon Geomja paled like a corpse and clamped his mouth shut.
"Ahem. Anyway, I got help from the turtle. It let me on its back and started swimming. And the place we arrived at was......"
"If you say you reached the Dragon Palace, I'll pull your fingers out one by one."
The Venom Ghost Marquis spat. Wi Seongcheon let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
"Where I ended up wasn't some mystical, romantic Dragon Palace. It was a massive dragon's...... skull."
"Hard to decide whether to pull your fingers or not."
The Venom Ghost Marquis smirked coldly. Wi Seongcheon promptly clenched his fist to hide his fingers.
From arriving at the Sea Dragon's Tomb, he spoke honestly. When he mentioned Ananna-i, who had waited as an earthen Buddha for hundreds of years, Soaring Insight Abbot of Shaolin let out a long sigh.
"So the beacon of the Western Paradise has dimmed so......!"
Ananna-i was the last lord of the Potala Palace, known to have perished with it. Soaring Insight Abbot rolled his prayer beads and chanted softly.
"......Honestly, that whole thing feels like a dream to me now, but it's true that an ancient elixir, the Dragon Jade, now resides in my body. When I came to the Black Forest, I followed the memories etched by the earthen Buddha to the Blood Palace."
The White Flame Witch didn't deny the Rogue Hero's speculation. That meant she acknowledged her sect, the Blood Gate, as a faction split from the Blood Cult and part of Illyeon. She shot Wi Seongcheon a displeased glance and grumbled.
"I've never cared about the Blood Cult or Illyeon nonsense, and I had no interest in chasing those pie-in-the-sky ideals. But this kid shows up right in front of me, so how could I not get curious? I was bored after long years anyway, so I thought it was a good diversion and kept him around. His talent was excellent, so I taught him a bit of martial arts. I never took disciples like you lot."
"So you didn't officially take him as a disciple?"
"Me? I hate all that master-disciple crap, treating each other like gold and jade."
The White Flame Witch clamped her mouth shut after that. She knew Wi Seongcheon wasn't telling the full truth either—that she'd met the ghost of the Blood Cult Lord and received the role of guardian lion—but she didn't mention it.
"......So Illyeon has passed to you, then."
Taiji Sword Lord said quietly. Wi Seongcheon bowed his head slightly, feeling a pang of guilt.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"No, it's fine. I have no intention of blaming you. Just because you're connected to Illyeon doesn't mean our goals differ."
Taiji Sword Lord shook his head.
"In the end, our aims align. Illyeon seeks demon extermination, and so do we. As long as that desire is genuine, our paths are one."
As he spoke, Taiji Sword Lord stared at Mu Yeonjun. It was a blatant message for him, but Mu Yeonjun continued gazing at Wi Seongcheon with the same eyes.
"......So, do not make an issue of this and interrogate the Young Dragon."
Taiji Sword Lord, looking at Mu Yeonjun with pity, finally turned to the heads of the Nine Great Righteous Sects. Wi Seongcheon felt deep gratitude for his consideration.
'I'll tell him everything honestly next time.'
Wi Seongcheon hadn't revealed all about Illyeon partly for the sake of his sealed Heavenly Flower Sect.
Like the Blood Gate, the Heavenly Flower Sect had split from the Blood Cult. Meaning it too belonged to Illyeon.
If he'd honestly admitted that North Sea Ice Palace Lord Ha Myeongil had deliberately sent him to the Sea Dragon's Tomb? They would have grilled him on why Ha Myeongil did such a thing.
That suspicion would inevitably turn to the Heavenly Flower Sect. Already shrouded in secrecy, any link to Illyeon would spell disaster. Even with the gates sealed under the pretext of closure, the elders would pound on the doors demanding answers.
'I can't put Father in a tough spot.'
Frustrated as he was to confess, the Heavenly Flower Sect Lord was bound by the Heaven-Net Golden Edict and couldn't speak freely.
Thanks to Taiji Sword Lord's warning, the elders gradually averted their gazes. They exchanged sound transmissions, debating what to do next. The Heavenly Demon had drawn a firm line at five years. No specific date, so it would be five years from today.
"Five years isn't long."
The Black Demon King muttered.
"So, we'll end this exchange event in a week."
"You're sending the students back to the Heavenly Academy?"
"Originally scheduled for another half-year, but we shouldn't waste precious golden time, right? Of course, any student who wishes can stay in the Black Forest."
The Black Demon King grinned and stared pointedly at Wi Seongcheon.
'A week.'
To Wi Seongcheon, it felt like a bolt from the blue. If they were ending the exchange anyway, why not now? Why give a whole week?
[Do your best.]
As that thought crossed his mind, a taunting sound transmission from the Black Demon King arrived.
'You spiteful old geezer.'
A vein bulged on Wi Seongcheon's forehead. The Black Demon King knew his predicament and why he'd sent the duel arena challenge to the Dark Overlords.
With a week given, the Black Overlords—who'd been cautiously observing—would change their stance. Even if only three remained: Iron Ghost Yang Jeon, Thunder Justice Jeon Jeon Jeogal Huihyeon, and Snow Flower Ha Jieun.
Bluntly put, neither of the other two was an easy opponent. Even Yang Jeon, whom he saw as a few moves behind, would be unbeatable if Huangbo Seongu or Woo Heera teamed up with him.
And what about Crimson Sword Master? Wi Seongcheon couldn't even guess his strength.
'Do my best? You son of a......'
Wi Seongcheon whipped his head toward Black Heaven Young Lord. His expression remained calmly composed, unshaken.
But Wi Seongcheon couldn't manage that.
Standing beside Black Heaven Young Lord, Mu Yeonjun was still staring at him.
"Damn it."
Wi Seongcheon muttered a quiet curse. Dealing with three Black Overlords and their allied students was ordeal enough. Now it looked like he'd have to worry about Mu Yeonjun too.
But he couldn't just ignore it. If Black Heaven Young Lord lost to another Overlord and lost his qualifications, the Black Demon King would discard him like trash.
And Sama Iljon too.
[Why the long face?]
A worried sound transmission came.
It was Peng Yeonhwa. She stared at him with wide eyes. That gaze shook Wi Seongcheon's heart just a little.
If he asked for help,
Peng Yeonhwa wouldn't refuse. Nor would she be alone. Names flooded his mind: Dang Heeran and Bang Jun, who'd been with him since first year. Woo Haeyeon, giggling "Sunbae-nim." Second-year juniors Yuk Jinil and Namgoong Jiu.
'Maybe even Sunbae Dang Seona....... Taee Hyeong, Jinu Sunbae.......'
Amid the chain of names, Wi Seongcheon let out a hollow chuckle. In just over a year at the academy, he'd amassed so many he could turn to.
Back when he'd been holed up in the Heavenly Flower Sect for twenty years, it had only been Father, Chief Steward Woo, his wife...... and big brother. Just four.
"Just tired."
But.
Even if he could ask for help, Wi Seongcheon couldn't bring himself to say it.
This wasn't about grand justice or duty.
It was just a shitty problem between brothers.
'Yeah, that's it.'
Wi Seongcheon slowly clenched his fist.