Chapter 157: False Charge
Chapter 157: False Charge
Jegal Seoyul stood there blankly, simply watching the two fights unfolding before her eyes.
It was clear who the enemy was, and she felt she ought to help, but she simply could not move her body.
She didn't have the faintest inkling of how to even begin to intervene.
The battle between the Seductive Demoness Son Eun-sang and the Flower-seeking Lust Demon Hwa Sa-yu was surreal.
It was surreal in the speed that her eyes could scarcely follow, and in the way their surroundings were reduced to ruins in an instant wherever they moved.
The sight of Son Eun-sang, clad in the protective aura she had only ever heard about like a garment, and Hwa Sa-yu, who, as if performing witchcraft, destroyed objects several zhang away every time he extended his hand...
It felt as though she was watching a scene from one of those martial arts novels she had read as a child and scoffed at for being lies.
'So that is... the battle of absolute beings.'
Gazing upon it, Jegal Seoyul felt as though she had become an ant cast into a desert, or a minnow thrown into a vast, endless sea.
It was overwhelming and hopeless, like staring at the forces of nature itself.
But even their fight did not make Jegal Seoyul as sorrowful as the other battle did.
The fight between Seonwoo Jin and Gu Yu-sang.
Two men who seemed not much different from herself in age were fighting in a manner utterly unlike her own.
As she watched, a self-deprecating glint of tears welled up in Jegal Seoyul's eyes.
'They called me the Heavenly Wisdom Sword Peak? Haha, hahahaha.'
The Blood Thunder Sword Technique unleashed by the man who seemed to be a Blood Cultist, Gu Yu-sang, was awe-inspiring.
Not only the crimson bolts of lightning that shot forth in streams every time he swung his sword, but also the overwhelming power and speed felt with each and every strike he executed sent chills down her spine.
It was enough to make one wonder if the legendary Thunder God himself would have fought like that, had he been here.
'If it had been me, I probably wouldn't have been able to withstand even a single strike....'
But the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords and the Sail Sword Technique that Seonwoo Jin was using to fight him as an equal were mysterious to behold.
The Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, which in days past had been demonstrated by Seonwoo Jung, the head of the Seonwoo family, and made her utterly captivated, was now being unfolded by Seonwoo Jin's hand in an even more evolved form.
Watching his sword, Jegal Seoyul could not help but murmur to herself.
"Beautiful...."
It was.
Seonwoo Jin's sword was beautiful.
She could not, for the life of her, distinguish which was an illusory sword and which was a real blade.
All of it seemed to be an illusion in and of itself.
Moreover, the Sail Sword Technique, which he occasionally mixed in as a decisive blow, was far too lethal.
They were sword strikes that were, quite literally, like rays of light itself, making one understand why it was called the supreme quick sword of the martial world.
Though her realm was still lacking, Jegal Seoyul could discern at least one thing.
That while each on its own, the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords and the Sail Sword Technique seemed inferior to the Blood Thunder Sword Technique, their fantastical combination was suppressing the Blood Thunder Sword Technique.
The proof of that was the deep wound visible on Gu Yu-sang's face.
And now, Seonwoo Jin's movements were changing once more.
Jegal Seoyul murmured in a voice full of astonishment.
"Wh-what is that?"
A wing of light, formed by Seonwoo Jin's sword shadows, was beating.
A light-purple wing, undoubtedly an illusory sword, was dodging the crimson thunderbolts as if it were alive, shedding sword shadows like feathers.
The sight was as though a giant bird was flying through the sky, evading red lightning.
The feather-like sword shadows that poured out intermittently were real blades that seemed like illusions, and illusions that seemed like real blades.
Even though Gu Yu-sang was displaying the overwhelming power of the Blood Thunder Sword Technique, he could not withstand Seonwoo Jin's phantasmal offensive and was floundering.
Anyone could see it.
That the end was not far off now.
And at that moment, Seonwoo Jin's sword once again became a ray of light and pierced through space.
Shiiiik!
"!"
Gu Yu-sang tried to dodge hastily this time as well, but his luck was not as good as before.
Puuuuk!
He had no choice but to open his eyes wide in shock at the ray of light that had pierced through his shoulder.
And in the next instant, with just a slight tremor of Seonwoo Jin's sword, his right arm, the one holding his sword, was severed and fell away.
Puaaak!
"No!"
Gu Yu-sang screamed and scrambled backward.
But Seonwoo Jin had no intention of letting him go.
"It's over now!"
It was just as Seonwoo Jin was about to shoot toward his heart once more.
Puuuuk!
"Grrrk!"
Yet another chest was pierced through.
When Seonwoo Jin, reacting sensitively to the sound, turned his gaze, he could see that the hand blade of the Seductive Demoness Son Eun-sang had just pierced through Hwa Sa-yu's chest.
The battle between the two supreme masters had ended.
However, the expression on Son Eun-sang's face, who had penetrated Hwa Sa-yu's chest without much difficulty, was not good.
"What are you? You deliberately let me strike your chest?"
Indeed.
Hwa Sa-yu, who had been pushed back, seemingly stunned, had offered his chest to Son Eun-sang as if committing suicide.
And the moment her hand blade pierced his chest, he grabbed her arm tightly.
Even as he was dying, Hwa Sa-yu grinned a bloody smile and said,
"Let's go together, Son Eun-sang."
"What?"
At that instant, a dense crimson light burst forth from Hwa Sa-yu's eyes.
It was the same sight as he remembered, the same as Seok Gyeong-dal when he had self-detonated against the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord Ji Gwang-ok.
Sensing something terribly wrong, Son Eun-sang used her other hand to swiftly crush Hwa Sa-yu's head.
Peoseok!
But once activated, the Blood Cult's secret technique, the Explosive Death Thunder, did not stop even when the head was gone.
Soon, a massive explosion erupted.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
It was an explosion of tremendous power, incomparable to the one Seok Gyeong-dal had caused.
"Good heavens...."
Jegal Seoyul could only mutter, standing dumbfounded at the sight of the overwhelming explosion the likes of which she had never seen before.
The scene within a ten-zhang radius centered on the explosion had been completely devastated.
Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine.
'If I had been caught up in that....'
If she had, there likely wouldn't have been even a trace of her left.
And had the explosion occurred at that spot earlier, she would certainly have been caught in it.
With newfound eyes, Jegal Seoyul looked once more at the two people who had saved her life, and who had also saved the head of the family, Seonwoo Jung, and the people of the Seonwoo family who had come out at the commotion and been watching.
Son Eun-sang, who had unfurled a massive protective aura to block the explosion from this direction, was now retracting it.
And she spoke with a smile to Seonwoo Jin, who was behind her.
"Phew, I really nearly died. You saved me, didn't you? Hah, in all my life, I never dreamed I'd owe a life debt to anyone. And to think it would be to such a young child."
At that, Seonwoo Jin, who had rushed in like a gale at the moment of crisis and sliced off both of Hwa Sa-yu's hands that were holding Son Eun-sang, smiled awkwardly and replied.
"You came here to help me and nearly suffered a grievous mishap, how could it be a debt? Thank you truly, seonbaenim. I survived thanks to you."
The moment Seonwoo Jin severed both of Hwa Sa-yu's hands, he had shouted, 'Protective aura!' and Son Eun-sang, understanding immediately, had shoved Hwa Sa-yu's body far away and simultaneously deployed her protective aura.
That was the reason both of them had survived the enormous explosion, and why Jegal Seoyul and the Seonwoo family members watching from behind had survived as well.
Son Eun-sang clasped Seonwoo Jin's cheeks with both hands, looking as though she found him utterly adorable, and said,
"Oh my, how can you speak so prettily too? The very fact that you came to save me in that situation is remarkable, child. I've seen countless men who call themselves hyeopgaek, but those who act like you, I can count on one hand."
Then, with an affectionate look, she asked,
"You, don't you really want to... with me?"
But just as she was about to speak, Son Eun-sang suddenly stopped, as if something had occurred to her.
At that, Seonwoo Jin grinned and asked back,
"Son seonbae, how is Elder Goe-ui doing?"
At that question, Son Eun-sang flinched slightly, then averted her gaze and answered with a sulky expression.
"Who? That stubborn mule? How would I know that? Whether that fellow is doing well or not."
Seeing her pouting demeanor, Seonwoo Jin couldn't help but think that this youthful-looking woman, who was actually over sixty, was cute.
It was as though he was looking at a woman truly in her teens or twenties, wasn't it?
And the way a woman acts when a man she's interested in won't do as she wishes, at that.
Knowing from his past life that the two of them had gotten together, Seonwoo Jin hoped that at least that much would not change in this life either.
So he cautiously broached the subject.
"Ah, I see. My apologies, seonbaenim. Last time I saw you, I thought the two of you seemed somehow well-suited, so I suppose I was mistaken."
At that, Son Eun-sang started slightly and asked, feigning indifference.
"...We looked good together?"
"Ah, yes. Though, of course, seonbaenim is far too good for him."
"Right! That's only natural! As if that old fossil could compare!"
Of course, he deliberately refrained from mentioning that, in actual age, Son Eun-sang was indeed older.
Anyway, Son Eun-sang suddenly seemed to be in a good mood.
She glanced around briefly and then asked Seonwoo Jin,
"So, is everything that required my presence now resolved?"
The way she asked the question made it seem as if she wanted to drop everything and go back right then and there.
Smiling at the sight, Seonwoo Jin nodded.
"Yes, it's all finished. Now, I should provide you with some lavish hospitality...."
"No! It's fine! What hospitality! The work's done, so that's that! I'm leaving now!"
And with that, Son Eun-sang's form vanished from the spot.
It was with such incredible speed that even Seonwoo Jin, who prided himself on his lightness arts being second to none, had to shake his head.
After smiling in slight bemusement for a moment, Seonwoo Jin slowly shifted his steps and approached Gu Yu-sang, who lay collapsed on one side.
He had tried to flee hastily during the explosion earlier.
Perhaps Hwa Sa-yu's self-detonation had been meant to create an opening for him to escape.
But in the end, he could not.
Unluckily, a bone fragment from Hwa Sa-yu had pierced through his heart, killing him instantly.
And that was an unfortunate outcome for Seonwoo Jin as well, who had wanted to capture him and extract intelligence about the Blood Cult.
But aside from that, everything else was satisfactory.
He had purged all the maternal-side factions from the Seonwoo family, and he had been able to expose all the Blood Cult forces operating secretly in Guizhou City.
Furthermore, not a single martial artist who could serve as a pillar of the Seonwoo family—his father included—had been killed or injured.
It was truly the best possible result.
Seonwoo Jin was finally able to look up at the sky and smile with relief.
"I've done it."
And watching him, Jegal Seoyul and the people of the Seonwoo family stared blankly, as if dazzled.
***
A day had passed since the decisive battle between Son Eun-sang and Hwa Sa-yu, and Seonwoo Jin and Gu Yu-sang.
For the gossipmongers of the martial world, that single day was an exceedingly bountiful one.
Because over the course of that day, the fact that the Un clan had been a puppet of the Blood Cult had spread far and wide throughout the martial world.
Moreover, the tragic news that the Murim Alliance's strike force that had raided that place had been completely annihilated by the Blood Cult's Flower-seeking Lust Demon Hwa Sa-yu—and that the Murim Alliance, now on emergency footing, was relentlessly exterminating the Blood Cult followers in Guizhou City—was also news the gossipmongers could absolutely not afford to miss.
But nothing could excite the gossipmongers more than this piece of news.
It was the news that the Flower-seeking Lust Demon Hwa Sa-yu, who had gone to strike the Seonwoo family, had been killed by none other than the Seductive Lust Demon Son Eun-sang, who happened to be staying there at the time.
All the gossipmongers of the martial world were thrilled.
"The Flower-seeking Lust Demon! He's dead?!"
"Yes! And wasn't he killed by the Seductive Lust Demon Son Eun-sang, no less?! The second-strongest Lust Demon in the martial world, killed by the strongest Lust Demon!"
"Kkh, incredible! If that's true, isn't it truly a historic event? You could truly call it the Battle of the Lust Demons! I should have seen that spectacle with my own eyes!"
Of course, there were occasionally those who wondered why Hwa Sa-yu, who had annihilated the Murim Alliance's strike force, had gone to the Seonwoo family, and why Son Eun-sang had happened to be at the Seonwoo family at that very moment.
But those voices were not loud.
That was because the rumor itself had been embellished and spread by No Sam-ryong, the branch leader of the Hao Gate in Guiyang.
The fact that Seonwoo Jin's name could not be found anywhere in those rumors was also for that reason.
In the meantime, the people of the Seonwoo family had been able to erase all traces of battle from within the family estate to some degree.
Additionally, the first son Seonwoo Seong and Jegal Ji-yong, who had gone to Gaeyang Gate, as well as the fourth son Seonwoo Gi and the wives who had been made to flee through the back gate to the Seogidang during the previous Blood Cult invasion, were all able to return to the family estate.
Then Seonwoo Jung, the head of the Seonwoo family, suddenly summoned all members of the Seonwoo family to the training grounds.
It was the highest-level mobilization order, gathering not only the family members of the Seonwoo family but also the people of the Jegal family, Dan Ha-seon the eldest son of the Dan family estate, and even the common warriors of the Seonwoo family.
Seonwoo Jung opened his mouth before all of them assembled.
"The reason I have gathered everyone here today is to cut out the rotten parts that have been eating away at our Seonwoo family and to ensure such a thing never happens again."
His voice was solemn, but thanks to the powerful internal energy it carried, everyone gathered at the training grounds could clearly make out his words.
People began to murmur at Seonwoo Jung's words, the precise meaning of which they could not grasp.
At that moment, Seonwoo Jung spoke again.
"Bring forth the criminals."
Then warriors dragged two bound women to the center of the training grounds.
They were Seonwoo Jung's fourth wife, Madam Un, and her daughter, Seonwoo Yeon-ha.
At the haggard appearance of the two women, who seemed to have had their mute acupoints sealed and could not utter a single word, people began to murmur even more with bewildered expressions.
"Th-the fourth madam? The youngest young miss?"
"What is this? What in the world is going on?"
"Is this the same situation as with the second madam and second young master during that fight with the Ha clan?"
At that moment, Seonwoo Jung opened his mouth again.
"Two days ago! The warriors of our Seonwoo family had to risk their lives to fend off an invasion by Blood Cult demon heads!"
At this, everyone silently focused on Seonwoo Jung's voice.
"There were many sacrifices, but in the end, with everyone's strength, we were able to defeat those wicked foes! We defeated the Blood Cult demon heads who had made the entire martial world tremble in fear, and with our own power, we protected the Seonwoo family!"
At his words, all the warriors clenched their fists.
Two days had passed, but even thinking about it now, it was an event that made their hearts burn hot.
But at that moment, Seonwoo Jung's voice suddenly grew somber.
"However! Afterward, we came to learn one shocking fact. That the Blood Cult demon heads who had raided us had, in fact, come from the Un clan, my in-laws in Geumsa! The Un clan had long since become a den of Blood Cult demon heads!"
Those words were far too shocking for the people who had not yet heard the intelligence.
The common warriors began to murmur in astonishment, and the faces of Madam Un and Seonwoo Yeon-ha, who had been dragged out front, turned pale as white paper.
But Seonwoo Jung did not stop speaking there.
"Moreover, the shocking facts did not end there! I also came to learn that the person who had called them into our Seonwoo family was none other than my daughter Yeon-ha, standing right there!"
At this, the people of the Seonwoo family could no longer make a single sound and simply stared blankly at Seonwoo Yeon-ha's face.
Because it was a fact far too excessively shocking.
Madam Un was also staring at her own daughter with a horrified face.
At that moment, Seonwoo Yeon-ha, her face drained white, began shaking her head frantically.
She seemed to want to say something.
Seonwoo Jung spoke briefly toward her with a somber face.
"Release her mute acupoint."
Then her mute acupoint was soon released, and Seonwoo Yeon-ha cried out desperately.
"I-I! I did not know that the Un clan was a den of the Blood Cult! I merely asked them to help me avoid being married off to Gaeyang Gate, and I had no idea what would happen afterward! Father, I am wronged! I would never...!"
But Seonwoo Jung cut off her words and asked heavily.
"Just like when you killed the Dan family estate's Young Master Dan Ha-sang last time and framed your elder brother Jin for it?"
Those words were like a blade of ice that split Seonwoo Yeon-ha's heart in two.
She could do nothing but freeze on the spot.
Because she had never imagined that her father knew about that matter.
Her horrified pupils were trembling violently.
At this, Seonwoo Jung finally let out a voice filled with rage.
"How dare you! Contracting the murder of the innocent Young Master Dan, and not content with that, pinning the blame on your own brother! Did you think I would not know?! And then, after asking for the same thing as back then, you claim innocence just because you supposedly didn't know they were Blood Cult followers?! You feel wronged?! Are you even truly human?!"
People now began to look back and forth between Seonwoo Yeon-ha with blank expressions and Seonwoo Jin, who was watching her with deep eyes.
And receiving their gazes, Seonwoo Jin could feel something welling up in his chest.
Because the people who had only now come to learn the truth of that day were sending him apologetic looks.
To others, it may have been an event less than a year old, but to Seonwoo Jin himself, it was a look of apology he had only finally been able to receive after crossing an entire lifetime.
He shut his eyes tightly.
His heart was surging at the false accusation that had finally been cleared, and at the face of his friend who had died so miserably, which suddenly came to mind.
At that moment, Seonwoo Jung raised his voice again and declared.
"Madam Un, who colluded with the Un clan alongside Yeon-ha and threw our family into chaos, is to be imprisoned in the Thunder Prison immediately! And Yeon-ha will be sent to the Dan family estate! Whether they tear Yeon-ha to pieces there or make her live out her life as a slave, I will not interfere in the slightest!"
The gazes of the people now turned toward Dan Ha-seon, the eldest son of the Dan family estate, who had been standing behind Seonwoo Jung.
They had wondered why he had been standing behind Seonwoo Jung all this time, and now they thought they could finally understand.
Seonwoo Jung bowed his head deeply to him and spoke.
"I am truly sorry. Due to my sin of failing to properly govern my household and raise my children rightly, the precious talent of the Dan family estate was sacrificed. I shall atone to the Dan family estate for the rest of my life."
At this, Dan Ha-seon shook his head with a bitter expression.
"How could that be the fault of the family head? It was all due to the schemes of the Blood Cult demon heads."
At the time of Dan Ha-sang's death, the Un clan had not yet been taken over by the Blood Cult.
Dan Ha-seon knew that fact well, too.
But by speaking thus, he shifted the responsibility onto the Blood Cult.
It was his way of expressing, in a roundabout manner, his will not to hold the Seonwoo family accountable.
Dan Ha-seon, who had exchanged such words while firmly clasping hands with Seonwoo Jung, suddenly looked at Seonwoo Jin, who was standing to one side.
Then he slowly approached him and spoke.
"You must have suffered greatly in spirit, bearing that false accusation all this time. You have endured much, Jin. And, I am sorry for having misunderstood you."
Having said that, Dan Ha-seon embraced Seonwoo Jin tightly.
It was a sight that brought heat to the eyes of everyone who was watching.
And Seonwoo Jin's own eyes grew hot as well.
Both of them were already aware of everything, and they knew full well that all of this was meant to show Seonwoo Jin's innocence to the people, yet somehow, a deep sigh was escaping him nonetheless.
"Huuuu..."
It felt as though he was only now able to exhale the injustice that had been pressing heavily upon his chest since his previous life.