The Temple's Turmoil (4)
The room was filled with several people.
Yeon Hojeong, the commander of the Uijeong Army; Moyong Woo, the commander of the Tangma Army; and Muk Bi, the deputy head of the Myeolsa Army.
Ga Deuk-sang was also present, and unexpectedly, Sama Hyeon as well. Yeon Hojeong had summoned him separately.
The top leaders of the Martial Alliance’s most powerful mobile forces, the de facto head of the Martial Alliance’s intelligence network, and the heir to the Shadow God—once called the legend of the Central Plains’ assassination world—had gathered in one place.
That was why an unusual atmosphere hung over the room. They had not come together as friends with personal ties, but as people bearing heavy responsibilities within a single organization.
“So,” Yeon Hojeong said after reading the letter for a long time.
“You’re saying a major power struggle has broken out inside Botam?”
“That’s right.”
Ga Deuk-sang replied with a frown.
“When I read the letter from the Lord of the Black Dragon Department, I couldn’t help but be surprised. I never thought he was the kind of man who would lie about something like this, but as always, I launched an investigation to verify the truth.”
“What were the results?”
“The Lord of the Black Dragon Department was correct.”
“Are you certain?”
“Do you know why I felt so hollow while investigating this Botam matter?”
Ga Deuk-sang let out a sigh.
“Because Botam’s information management was so sloppy that there was no need to investigate with any real intent. Well, it makes sense. Botam is the sect of the Sword Queen and a temple. Unlike Shaolin, they aren’t very active in the jianghu, so they probably never had a proper intelligence organization.”
“I see.”
“I don’t know why they changed so much, but Botam is no longer the sacred temple of the Sword Queen it once was.”
Yeon Hojeong looked at Muk Bi.
“Deputy Muk.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Do you know anything about Botam?”
In truth, Botam and Gwanilgok shared many similarities. The difference was that Gwanilgok was closer to a religion, while Botam was a closed sect that trained in martial arts rather than a temple.
Muk Bi shook her head.
“I’ve heard the name a few times, but I don’t know the details.”
After joining the Myeolsa Army, she had studied the various organizations of the Central Plains’ murim. Of course, Botam had been among them.
At first, she had been curious about a sect made entirely of women, but she soon lost interest. She had no desire to waste time on a sect that never ventured into the jianghu.
Yeon Hojeong turned to Moyong Woo.
“What about you?”
“I only know the basics. In truth, Botam has always stayed far from the jianghu’s attention. All I know is that they have produced the Sword Queen for generations, and that her martial prowess is said to be beyond imagination.”
“I see.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes grew deep. As expected, none of them know as much as I do.
Yeon Hojeong’s knowledge of Botam was similar to the reason Yang Cheon paid attention to them. She should be in her mid-twenties by now. About the same age as Muk Bi, maybe a little older.
Botam selected candidates for the Sword Queen each generation and sent them into the jianghu.
Once there, the candidates ruthlessly eliminated evil and accumulated virtue according to their own standards. Naturally, they clashed with the black path many times over the generations.
In reality, the black path accounted for more than eighty percent of the brutal image the murim had in the public eye—a lawless world.
There, murder and plunder were everyday occurrences. Preying on the weak was simply a way of life. Betraying someone from behind was considered a virtue beyond the ordinary, and even the absolute ruler of an organization would be called an idiot if he trusted his subordinates.
In crude terms, the black path murim was a complete mess. It was a chaotic battlefield where countless jackals watched for any chance to tear each other apart.
The Sword Queen candidates had proven themselves by dealing with those black path ruffians or dismantling their organizations. After all, the black path murim was the easiest place in the Central Plains to find dens of evil.
However, after Yeon Hojeong entered the black path and built his reputation as the Black Dark Emperor, and after he established the Black Emperor Castle to bring the black path murim under control—
The Sword Queen, who had been roaming the black path murim, disappeared somewhere. She was strong. Yeon Hojeong’s pupils widened. Even I couldn’t guarantee victory against her back then.
He had once met the Sword Queen candidate.
Though she was called a candidate, she was already an absolute master whose martial arts had reached completion. At the time when Yeon Hojeong, as the successor of the Four Gods, had begun to be called the strongest of the black path after killing Yang Cheon, he had been greatly surprised to see a female swordsman so powerful that even he could not easily discuss victory or defeat without going through a bloodbath.
Yeon Hojeong recalled part of the conversation he had with her back then.
“So it’s you. The man who conquered the chaotic black path and began ruling it with strict discipline and law.”
“And?”
“I hope your path is filled with light. I hope your reforms prevent the black path from repeating its past mistakes.”
“If you’ve said everything you wanted to say, then get lost. I’m busy.”
“I know you. Contrary to appearances, you’re a man with deep feelings. That’s the conviction I gained after watching you for several months.”
“Shut up.”
“I hope the sincerity with which you seek to transform the black path from a world of beasts into one that smells of humans will reach future generations. Otherwise, the next generation’s Sword Queen will come looking for the black path again.”
“Still not gone?”
“Remember this. The moment your grand plan collapses, the Sword Queen’s blade will once again aim for the black path’s heart.”
There were many political reasons and countless incidents, but one of the reasons why the massive organizations born in the black path never lasted even a single generation was the existence of the Sword Queen.
Throughout history, the Sword Queens had started from the very bottom of the black path, crushed every organization connected by a line of virtue, and then quietly returned to Botam. How utterly ridiculous.
Yeon Hojeong did not particularly like Botam or the Sword Queen.
They possessed power. And they used that power solely for their own values.
Of course, that in itself could not be called wrong. People’s personalities varied greatly, and personal freedom could sometimes be more important than others’ suffering. Yeon Hojeong did not deny that.
However, he could not agree with their behavior.
Punish evil and accumulate virtue? Prove it and become a symbol?
It was a ridiculous notion. Once you laid hands on punishing evil, you had to see it through to the end. The reason was simple: when you interfered half-heartedly, it was not evil that suffered more, but virtue.
That was why he believed a half-baked chivalrous hero was worse than someone who remained indifferent. The so-called Sword Queen candidates only saw the evil right in front of them; they never considered what kind of tyranny the scattered evil behind it would inflict upon the common people.
Even that was a matter of personal freedom? From Yeon Hojeong’s perspective, it was utter nonsense. It was not a question of freedom, but merely the selfish self-satisfaction of those who knew no responsibility.
That was why Yeon Hojeong did not like Botam or the Sword Queen.
And now, those very people had become entangled in a power struggle and turned into a complete mess. Something must have happened.
Yeon Hojeong thought of the Sword Queen once more.
Back in his days as the Black Dark Emperor, the female swordsman with deep eyes who had boldly declared she would point her blade at evil right in front of him. Her gaze back then had been real. At the very least, she wasn’t the kind of talent who would come from a sect destroyed by internal strife.
Regardless of how Yeon Hojeong viewed them, the Sword Queen of that time had possessed an untainted purity.
She was the kind of person and the kind of gaze that was hard to find in a group caught up in power struggles. It was a hasty thought, but Yeon Hojeong sensed that the Botam he had known in the past and the Botam of the present were completely different.
“This is just my personal opinion,” Yeon Hojeong said, his eyes gleaming.
“There must be a reason why Botam ended up in such a state.”
Ga Deuk-sang nodded.
“I think so too. In truth, tradition has the power to make even considerable disturbances vanish without a sound. In the hundreds of years of Botam’s history, was there really not a single greedy person? Yet the reason Botam could maintain its current reputation is because its history and tradition had enough power to suppress greed and ambition.”
“I agree.”
“In other words, just as the Commander said, something must have happened to them. Furthermore, because I thought the same, I dug even deeper.”
“And the result?”
“There was none.”
Ga Deuk-sang sighed.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t figure out why they ended up like this.”
“I see.”
If even the Beggars’ Sect’s investigation couldn’t uncover it, there was no need to concern himself with that part any further.
Then it was time to look at the present.
“The Lord of the Black Dragon Department said in his letter that one of Botam’s three factions came to him. He said that if he lent them the power of the Black Dragon Department, they could maintain a good relationship in the future.”
“That’s right.”
“No matter how much of a power struggle it is, they’ve truly rotted to the core.”
Regardless of what kind of person Yang Cheon was, he was the leader of the Black Path Alliance. In other words, he was the head of the very black path murim that Botam had clashed with for generations.
They had gone to such a man and asked him to lend them his strength? It showed just how broken Botam had become.
“And,” Yeon Hojeong said with a frown.
“He wants us to take charge of one of Botam’s factions, bring Botam down, and divide their power among ourselves?”
Ga Deuk-sang scratched his head. White dandruff fell like snow.
“That’s certainly a thought worthy of the head of the Black Path Alliance. He doesn’t miss an opportunity.”
“No. If he were truly the head of the Black Path Alliance, he would have tried to deceive us and swallow Botam’s power whole.”
“I thought the same, but Yang Cheon isn’t an ordinary man either. He probably figured a clumsy lie wouldn’t work on us.”
“That could be.”
Ga Deuk-sang’s eyes gleamed.
“The Lord of the Black Dragon Department sent this letter to the Commander, not to the Martial Alliance headquarters. He must be certain that since the Commander belongs to the Martial Alliance, the letter will eventually reach them. But the fact that he deliberately sent it to the Commander first instead of headquarters—what does that mean?”
“……”
“I understand. I know why he sent the letter to the Commander.”
Yeon Hojeong looked at Ga Deuk-sang.
Ga Deuk-sang licked his lips.
“That man also knows. He knows the influence the Commander wields.”
“Influence, huh.”
“I’ve been too embarrassed to say it until now, but to put it bluntly, the things the Commander has accomplished so far are more than worthy of being called achievements.”
“That’s an overestimation.”
“It’s an accurate assessment. And the Lord of the Black Dragon Department knows that well. Setting everything else aside, the Commander has a track record of toying with the Lord of the Black Dragon Department. How many people in the current world could deceive one of the Holy Thirteen Seats?”
“……”
“The Lord of the Black Dragon Department has his eye on the Commander.”
Yeon Hojeong silently looked down at the letter.
Ga Deuk-sang asked,
“What do you intend to do?”
“What do you mean, what? I have to report it to the Martial Alliance.”
“That’s obvious, but the problem is our position.”
A subtle tension appeared on Ga Deuk-sang’s face.
“If he doesn’t get the answer he wants from us, there’s no telling what Yang Cheon might do.”
Hunan and Guangdong were right next to each other. Furthermore, south of the Yangtze River, the black path’s influence was stronger than the white path’s.
Let alone Yang Cheon. If he moved with serious intent, Yeon Hojeong and the Uijeong Army would suffer a fatal blow. A suggestion that is also a threat, and a threat that is also generosity.
Yeon Hojeong narrowed his eyes. The whole process is too smooth. Don’t tell me, Yang Cheon… this wasn’t your doing, was it? Turning Botam into this state.
Just then—
“Hm?”
Ga Deuk-sang, who had been listening intently, suddenly grimaced. He had received a message from his subordinate.
Yeon Hojeong asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“……The situation is taking a truly absurd turn.”
“……?”
Ga Deuk-sang stood up.
“One of Botam’s swordsmen has contacted me through the Beggars’ Sect.”
“……”
“Damn it, think about how we should respond until I get back.”
After Ga Deuk-sang left, Yeon Hojeong let out a deep sigh.
“Deputy Muk.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“I think I need to call for that bald monk.”