Chapter 39: Blood Alliance Conference-2
Chapter 39: Blood Alliance Conference-2
But Ma Yu-gyeom, who had grabbed the hilt and was trying to draw it, ultimately did not draw the sword.
No, he couldn't draw it.
"Ee-ik!"
The sight of him trembling while gripping the hilt—it seemed he was being suppressed by some invisible force.
Just as the Blood Demon had blocked Cheok Gang's killing intent earlier, he had apparently pressured Ma Yu-gyeom with formless energy as well.
The fact that he could render Ma Yu-gyeom, a peak-level martial artist, in such a state without even lifting a finger, was simply astounding.
Suddenly, my plan to launch an offensive against the Blood Cult as soon as I reached the peak level seemed so laughably foolish.
I felt hollow.
The Blood Demon smiled gently as he observed Ma Yu-gyeom's teeth-gritting face, then soon shifted his gaze to the next person.
At that, Ma Yu-gyeom's expression immediately turned despondent, and he released the strength from the hand that had gripped the sword.
I suspected he had despaired at the sight of an insurmountable wall that he could never overcome.
The Blood Demon exchanged a word of goodwill with each and every squad leader, including Squad Leader Seolpung, before entering the summit hall.
We could only watch his departing figure with complicated expressions.
The impression he left was far too intense.
Not only his overwhelming presence and martial prowess, but above all, the fact that he had just called each squad leader by name, one by one, and left each a friendly word of goodwill—this could not help but come as a massive shock to us.
I heard Bi Sa-yeong muttering in a deflated tone from behind me.
"I don't know who the Murim Alliance Leader is anymore."
I agreed.
After all, our own alliance leader, the Cooperative King Mo Yong-geom, had only left a single perfunctory greeting.
I doubted he even remembered the names of the squad leaders, let alone the commanders or vice-commanders.
It was bitter.
Even without fighting, I already felt defeated.
At that moment, a strand of telepathic transmission suddenly reached my ear.
It was Cheong-yeon's voice.
- Didn't something seem strange just now?
At her telepathic message, I made a puzzled expression.
Strange?
What did she mean?
Was she talking about how the Blood Demon seemed far too decent?
But Cheong-yeon's next words were not about that at all.
- It seemed like the Blood Demon left some kind of telepathic message for Squad Leader Ma earlier.
Huh? A telepathic message?
The Blood Demon to Ma Yu-gyeom?
Surprised, I asked back.
- You're saying you intercepted a telepathic transmission?
- No, of course not.
Well, of course she couldn't have.
I had never even heard of anyone being able to intercept telepathic transmissions.
Even the absolute beings of the martial world probably couldn't manage that.
She continued her telepathic message.
- When Squad Leader Ma was trying to draw his sword, he suddenly released his strength and made a startled expression. That's what it looked like. It seemed like the Blood Demon told him something surprising.
At her words, I examined Ma Yu-gyeom's face once again. His head was deeply bowed, and he was trembling faintly as if he had received a shock.
Honestly, from my perspective, I thought it was simply because he felt powerless before the Blood Demon, who was his sect's sworn enemy.
Even I, standing next to him, had felt helpless—so for him, who had faced the Blood Demon directly, it must have been far worse.
But since it was Cheong-yeon speaking, whose observational skills were far superior to mine, I could not simply dismiss it.
But still....
No matter how much I thought about it, nothing in particular came to mind.
What in the world could the Blood Demon possibly have said to Ma Yu-gyeom at this point?
Did he apologize for something regarding the Jeomchang Sect?
I couldn't even begin to guess.
The summit ultimately ended quickly, without incident, just as I remembered from my past life.
The Blood Demon and his four attendants, including the Iron God Mad Demon Cheok Gang, departed immediately, and the alliance leader's party also left the Thirteen Squads without looking back.
"Alliance Leader! Please, take care on your journey!"
Vice-Leader Heon Yeong-bo shouted from behind until his throat nearly burst, but judging by how the alliance leader hurried on his way without paying him the slightest attention, it seemed he would indeed remain stationed here in this life as well.
And then, that very evening, since it was our Seventh Squad's patrol rotation, we went out on duty when night fell.
Cheong-yeon suddenly spoke to us.
"There is something I need to ask of all of you."
At those words, we looked at her with puzzled expressions.
She was not only strong in martial arts, but had always shown herself to be exceptionally sharp and capable in every matter.
So others would ask favors of her, but never once had she asked anything of anyone else.
But what she said next was even more shocking.
It was because she said this before all of us, who were staring at her with puzzled expressions.
"I want to believe it won't happen, but... I might very well die in the near future."
At her sudden, unexpected words, we couldn't grasp the meaning right away and cried out in shock in that instant.
"...Whaaat?!"
"Die?! What do you mean, Cheong-yeon?!"
***
That morning, it was when the alliance leader and his party were passing before the assembled Thirteen Squad members.
Hae Cheong-yeon cast a telepathic transmission toward one of them.
- It has been a long time, Uncle Jegal.
It was directed at Jegal Ji-gang, the Heavenly Brain, military advisor of the Murim Alliance.
At that, Jegal Ji-gang, who abruptly turned his head, opened his eyes wide for an instant. It was because he had never imagined he would see her here.
- Aren't you Cheong-yeon? What in the world are you doing here?
- Circumstances led to it. Would you like to hear the details shortly in those woods over there? I'll be waiting.
After entering the summit hall, Jegal Ji-gang said he would step out briefly on an errand and was able to meet Hae Cheong-yeon in the woods.
"Cheong-yeon greets you, Uncle."
"Cheong-yeon! What in the world is going on?! Why are you at the frontlines?! Does Brother Hae know about this as well?!"
Hae Cheong-yeon was not only the friend of Jegal Seoyul, the precious daughter whom Jegal Ji-gang doted upon, but also the daughter of one of his few close friends.
The fact that she was in this place had Jegal Ji-gang so furious he could barely contain himself.
But Hae Cheong-yeon answered calmly.
"Father doesn't know yet. But once I learned what was happening here, I couldn't pretend I didn't know. That wouldn't be the attitude of an orthodox faction member that Father taught me."
Jegal Ji-gang was momentarily at a loss for words.
He knew all too well what kind of person her father was and what he emphasized above all else.
"No, even so, you are still young, and moreover as a woman, isn't this place far too dangerous for you?"
But once again, she shook her head with a smile.
"In our squad, there is even a younger sister a year younger than me. I am now twenty-one, so I am certainly old enough to carry my own weight. Besides, the things I have learned here are too shocking for me to turn away now."
Things she had learned here....
At those words, Jegal Ji-gang suddenly looked at her with a complicated gaze.
Then Hae Cheong-yeon smiled and spoke again.
"Please don't worry too much. It hasn't been that dangerous yet. And I asked to see you because I wanted to ask a favor of you."
Saying that, Hae Cheong-yeon held out two sealed letters.
"I wrote letters to Seoyul and to Father, but since I knew you would be coming for the summit anyway, I didn't send them yet. May I entrust these to you, Uncle?"
At her words, Jegal Ji-gang nodded with a smile.
"Alright, if that's your intention, then so be it. Understood. I will deliver it."
The two exchanged more well-wishes for a while longer before parting ways.
But Hae Cheong-yeon's face, which had been smiling brightly as she bid farewell to Jegal Ji-gang, turned grave the moment she turned her back.
And though she could not see it, the smile had vanished from Jegal Ji-gang's face as well.
***
Hae Cheong-yeon spoke to her comrades.
"I've thought for some time now that something is strange about the current situation. The poor conditions at the front lines and the dangerous demons, the Emperor's Tomb Blood Incident and the Jeomchang Sect's wrongdoings as their cause, and even the secret history of the Jeon Family Estate. The fact that none of this has become known to the martial world, or has been misrepresented, is simply too unnatural. So I suspected there must be a massive force managing it all."
At her words, Bi Sa-yeong furrowed his brow and asked.
"A massive force? Who do you mean?"
Then Hae Cheong-yeon answered.
"Most likely... the Murim Alliance."
Cheon Ju-eun asked with a look of incomprehension.
"But eonni, isn't it common knowledge that we all swore a secret oath? Of course, the intent is a bit suspicious, but is that really so strange?"
Hae Cheong-yeon answered.
"The very act of swearing the secret oath is problematic, but the biggest issue in my mind is that the secret is being kept so well."
"...Huh?"
"The term of service at the front lines is five years. In other words, unless someone voluntarily extended their service, there should already be quite a number of people with front-line experience active in the martial world. Moreover, anyone who survived five years here could hardly be lacking in skill—they would all be quite accomplished masters, wouldn't you agree? If so, masters who originated from the front lines should have certainly appeared somewhere. Especially in Guizhou Province, Sichuan Province, or Guangxi Province, which border Yunnan."
Then she looked at Seonwoo Jin and asked.
"Seonu Gongja, you mentioned you obtained intelligence about the front lines from the outside. Did you ever personally meet someone who originated from the front lines?"
At those words, Seonwoo Jin shook his head with a stiff expression.
He, too, thought he could now understand what she was getting at.
"No. I have never met a single person in Guizhou Province known to be from the front lines. I haven't even heard so much as a rumor. The only place I could obtain intelligence from was the Hao Gate."
Then Hae Cheong-yeon turned back to the others and said.
"Does this make any sense? That there isn't a single person from the front lines even in Guizhou Province, right next to Yunnan Province? And that in the martial world, where rumor travels faster than speech, not a word of the front lines is being transmitted at all?"
At her words, the expressions of the listeners grew increasingly grave.
Na Seo-yu swallowed hard and asked.
"Cheong-yeon-ah, then you don't mean..."
***
Around the same time, Jegal Ji-gang, lodging at the inn, stared for a moment at the letter entrusted to him by Hae Cheong-yeon before breaking its seal.
And he began to read its contents.
But Jegal Ji-gang's expression as he read it grew stiffer and stiffer.
Inside the letter Hae Cheong-yeon had sent to her father was a detailed account of the situation at the front lines.
The demons that emerged there, the dire state of the front where veteran warriors died and only young ones remained, even the secret history concerning the Jeomchang Sect.
And at the letter's close, she had also written that she could not understand why all of this had to be secret, and how it had been kept from the martial world for so long.
Hae Cheong-yeon's letter was, in the end, a request to her father asking if he could not look into the matter for her.
By the time he finished reading the letter, Jegal Ji-gang's formerly rigid expression had now turned completely blank.
After a long while lost in thought, Jegal Ji-gang finally smiled faintly, as if having made his decision.
Then he began burning Hae Cheong-yeon's letter, which he had finished reading, in the fire.
"Cheong-yeon-ah, Cheong-yeon-ah. A secret oath is a promise made to keep a secret. For Seo-yul's sake, I'd like to simply pretend not to know, but... if I leave you be, sooner or later you'll convey these facts to your father, won't you? So you leave this uncle no choice. I lack the confidence to bear it if your father learns the truth."
Then he suddenly thought of her father and said.
"I've done you wrong, Hae hyung. But... Hae hyung, even if one of your three daughters were to disappear, wouldn't you still have two remaining? This is all because of Hae hyung's own stubborn nature, so please understand."
Having spoken thus, he began to compose a letter.
It was a secret missive to be sent to the Murim Alliance.
***
In the dark of night, Do Hui-yeong, one of the women belonging to the Thirteen Squads' Fifth Squad, sprang up from her bed.
It was because she felt she'd had some sort of strange dream.
But after she rose, she could remember nothing.
She just felt slightly dazed.
"Strange. Why is this happening?"
Muttering so, she tried to go back to sleep when she suddenly recalled the sight of the Blood Demon and his entourage she'd seen during the day.
It was when the Blood Demon was greeting the squad leaders one by one and everyone's attention was focused there.
Feeling as though she'd heard a strange sound, she had abruptly turned her head to look at the four who had come with the Blood Demon.
And in that moment, her eyes had met those of the Bamboo Hat Person, who had the smallest build among them.
He had just then lifted his bamboo hat slightly and was looking at her.
He was a man with red eyes that felt unpleasant for some reason.
'But I turned my gaze away right after.'
It was because the feeling had been so foul that she hadn't wanted to meet his eyes for even a moment longer.
And after that, nothing had happened.
Could it be....
Fear suddenly struck her.
The thought came to her that she might have been soul-possessed at that moment.
But after swallowing nervously from terror, she soon shook her head.
No matter how much she was the weakest in the Fifth Squad in martial prowess, wasn't it absurd to be soul-possessed just from meeting someone's eyes once?
If she had been soul-possessed, she wouldn't even be able to have these thoughts right now.
'Right, it can't be that. It must just be that my nerves have become sensitive.'
Having reached that conclusion, Do Hui-yeong tried to fall asleep again.
Being soul-possessed by a Blood Cultist and harming her comrades, only to be killed by those comrades—the very thought was too horrifying to bear.
Do Hui-yeong wanted to believe that such a thing had absolutely never happened to her.
But after falling asleep moments later, she once again had to suffer from nightmares. Nightmares of which she could remember nothing upon waking.
***
Ma Yu-gyeom slowly opened the door to his quarters.
Though there was no one inside, the hand opening the door trembled minutely, deoldeol.
Entering with a rigidly stiffened expression, he discovered the neatly placed letter and box atop his bed and froze as if turned to ice.
Then he squeezed his eyes shut.
But after standing motionless for a long while, unable to move, he finally took a deep breath and had to unfold the letter.
As he opened the letter with a hand that was trembling, deoldeol, a familiar handwriting met his eyes.
It was a hand all too familiar, but one he had not seen in a very long time.
His face, which had twisted sharply upon seeing it, began to contort further and further as he read the letter.
And finally, when he had read it to its very end, he violently crumpled the letter and let out a shriek.
"Uaaaaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaah!"
It was a voice mingled with deep resentment, bitter grief, and despair.