Chapter 287: Who Handled That Matter?
Chapter 287: Who Handled That Matter?
Silence fell.
The wooden figure of Jin Pae-cheon stared at Geom Mu-geuk. Its lack of expression made the atmosphere feel all the more eerie and intense.
Ssssss.
The wooden doll shrank back to its original size, like an actor exiting the stage after the curtains had fallen.
Geom Mu-geuk looked past the doll lying on the ground and met Baek Cheon-gyeong’s eyes.
“Did the Murim Alliance Leader really destroy your clan?”
Geom Mu-geuk’s voice trembled slightly. Though he was a man of vast experience, this revelation was shocking.
Baek Cheon-gyeong, on the other hand, seemed to relish Geom Mu-geuk’s reaction.
Well, world-renowned Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult! What will you say now?
“Why? Is it so hard to believe the Murim Alliance Leader committed such an act?”
Geom Mu-geuk spoke firmly.
“Yes. It is hard to believe. The Alliance Leader I know is not the kind of person who would do such a thing.”
Jin Pae-cheon was certainly a man of the overbearing path, but he wasn't someone who would massacre an entire family. No matter how unpredictable human nature could be, Jin Pae-cheon doing that? No. It was impossible.
“Fine. Then tell me, what reason would the Alliance Leader have for doing such a thing?”
Baek Cheon-gyeong refused to answer.
“I have said enough.”
As if suggesting that further conversation was only possible if Geom Mu-geuk survived the next attack, Baek Cheon-gyeong unleashed his Wood Form Thousand Soul Technique once more.
Ssssss.
This time, three dolls grew in size.
As they stepped forward slowly, their movements and momentum were entirely different from the previous dolls. Geom Mu-geuk could tell—these were special even among the dolls. If they were human, they wouldn't just be masters; they would be exceptional ones.
Despite facing even stronger enemies, Geom Mu-geuk sheathed his sword.
In that moment, Baek Cheon-gyeong’s eyes flickered with confusion.
Whish!
Geom Mu-geuk charged first using the Underworld King Step. In the blink of an eye, as if he had teleported through space, Geom Mu-geuk threw a punch.
Boom!
Rumble!
An explosion echoed like a clap of thunder. Before it could even attempt an attack, the head of the doll standing in the center was completely blown away.
It was the first strike of the Fist Demon’s Thunder Asura Fist: Black Cloud Asura.
The remaining two dolls attacked without the slightest hesitation.
Swish! Swish!
Two swords flew toward Geom Mu-geuk’s vital points.
I’ve killed him!
The attack was so fast and precise that Baek Cheon-gyeong fell into a momentary illusion of victory.
But at the very second the two blades were meant to pierce Geom Mu-geuk’s body—his figure vanished.
Illusionary Displacement!
Simultaneously, a thunderous roar erupted, drowning out Baek Cheon-gyeong’s shock.
Rumble!
A second clap of thunder burst forth. Before anyone knew it, the head of the doll on the left was shattered into pieces.
Even amidst the flying debris, the final doll continued its assault without pausing. However, Geom Mu-geuk was already gone. This time, he had used the Dark Shadow Step.
Rumble! Crash!
The third thunderclap roared even louder, and the last doll’s head was pulverized. No matter how well-trained a hound might be, it could never take down a tiger; all three were finished in a single blow.
The three dolls returned to their original size and fell to the ground.
Baek Cheon-gyeong’s entire body shook. He had never imagined he would feel such fear here—especially not in this place, a forest filled with his own dolls.
Geom Mu-geuk picked up one of the decapitated dolls.
“These dolls are different.”
“They were. Though you made them look ordinary.”
“I didn't want to waste time needlessly.”
“You are trying to make ten years of my life a waste.”
Geom Mu-geuk stared into his eyes and asked, “What about Miss Jin’s time? Have you thought about her past years and the days she has left?”
Thinking of Jin Ha-ryeong certainly weighed on his heart. But Baek Cheon-gyeong’s rage took precedence.
“What about the time of my family who died unjustly! The time of my brother, my sister-in-law, and my nephews! What about the time of the children my nephews would have had? Can you even imagine it? The heart of a parent who died clutching their child to protect them! My feelings when I unfurled those blood-stained swaddling clothes! Do you have any idea what I saw in those clothes? In those swaddling clothes!”
Baek Cheon-gyeong’s eyes became bloodshot.
Sssssss.
His rage poured into the dolls as they grew once more.
This time, there were only two. As the number decreased, they exuded an even more extraordinary aura.
The two dolls attacked first. They were incredibly fast, clearly modeled after masters of the fast sword. They were so swift that even Baek Cheon-gyeong, their creator, could not clearly track the fight.
Since the movements were invisible, sound was everything. The clashing of blades rang out in rapid succession, followed by three distinct, final sounds.
Whish! Slice! Click!
The moment Geom Mu-geuk’s sword returned to its scabbard—
Thud, thud!
The heads of both dolls fell and rolled across the ground simultaneously.
He had used the Flying Heaven Sword Technique, Fast Sword Form, Fifth Form: Azure Heaven Form.
It had been a while since he used the Azure Heaven Form, and it was faster than ever before. Even within the same Twelve-Star Great Achievement, as his realm matured, the technique manifested with far greater power.
Baek Cheon-gyeong was too stunned to speak.
Even for the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, neutralizing these fast-sword dolls so quickly should have been impossible. He had expected at least five hundred exchanges. He had predicted that even Geom Mu-geuk would be unable to withstand this fight and would be severely wounded.
Geom Mu-geuk’s reaction was even more surprising. He could have boasted of his martial arts, but he didn't even mention them. He seemed to consider a fight of this level utterly meaningless. His only concern was the truth.
“Answer the question I asked before. Why did the Alliance Leader destroy your family?”
“Why is that so important to you? Whether the Alliance Leader did it because he went senile or because he was bored, why does it matter? What does it matter if the Murim Alliance Leader is a hypocrite or not! Aren't you Demonic Cult bastards just planning to wipe everyone out and take over the Murim anyway?”
“Even if we take it over, we will cut out the rotten parts first. So tell me.”
Geom Mu-geuk deliberately used the word "rotten." Whatever the truth of the matter was, Baek Cheon-gyeong believed it to be so.
“Did you see it with your own eyes?”
“Are you trying to say it wasn't the Alliance Leader's doing just because I didn't see it myself?”
Rage was laced into every word he spoke. Knowing better than anyone how immense that anger must be, Geom Mu-geuk calmly soothed his emotions.
“I am not on the Murim Alliance’s side. I am simply curious about the truth.”
“If you aren't on their side, then why are you standing before me?”
It was because of Hwa Mu-gi. If Geom Mu-geuk hadn't known about the connection to Hwa Mu-gi, he wouldn't have approached him this far.
“It is because of Miss Jin.”
Baek Cheon-gyeong snorted once, but eventually, he answered.
“I did not see it myself. By the time I returned, already…”
Baek Cheon-gyeong trailed off, unable to continue as the memory resurfaced.
“Then why are you so certain it was the Alliance Leader’s doing?”
“There was a witness.”
“Who?”
“Our family’s chief manager. He was dying, covered in blood. His final words were that the culprit was the Murim Alliance Leader.”
Geom Mu-geuk remained silent. The Alliance Leader might have killed them, or he might not have. One could never truly know another person’s heart.
However, the reason he considered the possibility of innocence was that Baek Cheon-gyeong was someone who would later become a follower of Hwa Mu-gi.
“No matter how much I think about it, the Alliance Leader had no reason to destroy your family…”
In that moment, a thought flashed through Geom Mu-geuk’s mind. He remembered a fact he had forgotten. There was one reason the Alliance Leader might have destroyed them.
“Your family killed the Alliance Leader’s son and daughter-in-law!”
Baek Cheon-gyeong’s expression hardened, and he said nothing. His reaction gave it away.
“You knew as well.”
“Does the fact that I knew make his crime any lighter? If he wanted revenge, he should have only targeted the one who did it! Why did he kill everyone?”
His protest was justified. While the grief of losing a child was understandable, massacring an entire clan in response was clearly wrong.
“But I have one question. If that’s the case, why did the Alliance Leader leave you alive? It was obvious you would seek revenge like this.”
“Because I was officially declared dead after that incident.”
He had entered the Murim Alliance with a new identity.
“Who handled those matters? Did you do it yourself?”
Faking a death and assuming a new identity to become the tutor of the Murim Alliance Leader’s grandson was no simple feat. It was something even the Demonic Cult’s Tongcheon Pavilion would have to work hard to achieve.
“Of course.”
His answer came after a moment of hesitation. It was a lie. Geom Mu-geuk was now certain that someone was behind him.
“So? What is it you want to say?”
Geom Mu-geuk spoke words that were bound to shock him.
“What if that incident wasn't the Alliance Leader’s doing?”
“!”
“What if a third party was involved? What if they deceived both you and the Alliance Leader?”
As Baek Cheon-gyeong’s face contorted, Geom Mu-geuk added an even more startling possibility. If he hadn't known of Hwa Mu-gi’s existence, he wouldn't have even considered such a hypothesis. But the Alliance Leader’s character and Hwa Mu-gi’s existence made this assumption plausible.
“What if everything, starting from the death of the Alliance Leader’s son and his wife, was planned from the beginning?”
Baek Cheon-gyeong stood dazed for a moment, as if struck. It was a thought that had never once crossed his mind. What is this brat talking about? It’s nonsense.
“And what would they gain from that?”
Geom Mu-geuk delivered his final conclusion.
“You.”
“!”
“You, who have endured ten years consumed by revenge, embedded deep within the Murim Alliance. You, who would become the decisive dagger to kill the Alliance Leader one day.”
Killing intent erupted from Baek Cheon-gyeong’s body. He denied everything. No, he had to deny it. If Geom Mu-geuk’s words were true, then what he had been honing for the past ten years was nothing but his own foolishness. It meant a doll had been carving a doll.
“What do you know! Do you think anything that spills out of your flapping mouth is the truth? What do you know!”
It was a rage born of panic. What if those words are true? That deep-seated anxiety was swirling within him. If these words had come from anyone else, he wouldn't have given them a second thought. He would have dismissed them as lies made up to shake him.
But these were the words of Geom Mu-geuk, a man who overwhelmed him in martial arts. They came from the mouth of an extraordinary person who had forced him to accelerate his plans.
Feeding on shock, fear, and anxiety, the trees began to grow.
Tree branches sprouted from the ground around where the two men stood. These were no ordinary trees. They were trees that could not be cut even by swords or blades; the secret technique of the Wood Form Thousand Soul Technique was being unleashed. The growing trees formed walls and a ceiling. There was nowhere to run. The two faced off in a sealed space made entirely of wood.
Other branches wrapped around Baek Cheon-gyeong’s body, forming a suit of armor. In this place, even Sword Qi and Sword Force could not cut through this armor.
“You ruined everything. Because of you, Jin Ha-ryeong will die too.”
Geom Mu-geuk asked him calmly, “What did you say to me earlier? Didn't you scream about why he killed the family instead of just the person responsible? But what are you doing right now?”
“Because they started it!”
“Weren't you the ones who started the whole thing?”
No, perhaps it was Hwa Mu-gi.
“Release Miss Jin. I know you never originally planned to kill her.”
Vines rising from the ground crawled up Geom Mu-geuk’s feet. Then, they began to slowly bind his entire body, rendering him immobile.
“The person who helped you infiltrate the Murim Alliance—that person is the one who plotted all of this.”
Geom Mu-geuk saw it. Baek Cheon-gyeong’s pupils wavered. The branches climbing his body paused for a moment. There was definitely someone.
“Tell me who it is.”
“There is no one! No such person exists! Do you take me for a fool!”
Other trees grew around Geom Mu-geuk, turning into long spears. Aimed like octopus tentacles, they lunged at Geom Mu-geuk from all directions with the speed of a scorpion’s tail.
Geom Mu-geuk manifested his Body Protection Qi to block the attacks.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The wooden spears made metallic sounds as they struck the Body Protection Qi. Even when cut by a sword, they grew back; even when shattered against the Body Protection Qi, other trees grew to continue the assault. They attacked relentlessly, seeking to tear through his protection. The only way to stop this was to kill Baek Cheon-gyeong, who was hidden inside the armor.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The attacks within this space were several times stronger than those outside.
“It’s not too late. Let’s face that person together!”
Because he felt Geom Mu-geuk’s sincerity, Baek Cheon-gyeong hesitated. What if his words are true?
“Please! Don't make me kill you.”
But in the end, he did not trust Geom Mu-geuk.
Baek Cheon-gyeong pushed his internal energy to its absolute limit. Blood trickled from his mouth, but he did not stop. Over a dozen spears targeted a single spot: Geom Mu-geuk’s heart.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
At this rate, the Body Protection Qi would eventually be pierced.
“If you die, war will break out with the Demonic Cult. Even if I can't kill him, the Heavenly Demon will.”
The wooden spears merged into one. Turning a darker shade, it was the final attack into which Baek Cheon-gyeong poured all of his internal energy. At least within this space, that attack would be unstoppable.
Screeeech!
It flew toward Geom Mu-geuk’s heart.
In that very moment—
Flash!
The lunging wooden spear stopped right in front of Geom Mu-geuk’s heart. Soon after, the spear’s sharp energy vanished, and it thudded to the floor.
Standing before Baek Cheon-gyeong were five figures.
Four evil ghosts stood around Baek Cheon-gyeong. The first form of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, Annihilation Form, had been unleashed.
The wooden armor, which couldn't be cut even by Sword Qi, was shredded and began to fall to the ground in heaps. His martial arts, rooted in demonic arts, could not withstand the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.
When the ghosts vanished, Baek Cheon-gyeong’s entire body was soaked in blood. He stared at Geom Mu-geuk with hollow eyes. He felt that he didn't have much time left.
Geom Mu-geuk pulled a doll from his robes. It was the very doll he had said he would carve the face of himself.
And now, a face was carved into that doll. Over the past few days, while moving in and out of the workshop, Geom Mu-geuk had carved Hwa Mu-gi’s face.
“Was this the man?”