Chapter 342
Chapter 342
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 342
Chapter Title: The Audit
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―The Demonic Alliance and the Northern Sea Ice Palace have formed an alliance!
When this rumor spread, the martial world was thrown into a state of profound shock.
Since its founding, the Northern Sea Ice Palace had never once opened its doors to an outside power.
And though they practiced the demonic martial art of Ice Arts, had they not always prided themselves on standing between the righteous and the demonic?
For such a place to form a pact with none other than the Demonic Alliance, the very coalition of the demonic path?
―That information is incorrect. The Northern Sea Ice Palace did not form an alliance with the Demonic Alliance, but a bond of sworn brotherhood with the Lord of the Martial Soul Command!
But then, even more shocking news followed.
A rumor spread that the Northern Sea Ice Palace had not formed an alliance with the Demonic Alliance, but had instead entered a pact with the Lord of the Martial Soul Command, the successor to the Alliance.
―How could that be?
The people of the world did not believe such a rumor. No, they could not believe it.
The Northern Sea Ice Palace was a union of the six great families of the Northern Sea. Their military strength was so formidable that not even the Demonic Alliance could touch them carelessly.
Yet the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace had made a pact not with the Demonic Heavenly Emperor, but with the mere Lord of the Martial Soul Command?
―Thirty thousand Ice Soul Divine Pills, sent from the Northern Sea Ice Palace to the Lord of the Martial Soul Command, have arrived at the Demonic Alliance.
But as if to prove the rumor true, the Northern Sea Ice Palace sent thirty thousand Ice Soul Divine Pills to the Demonic Alliance, addressed to Bu Eun-seol.
In an instant, the martial world was abuzz with talk of the Lord of the Martial Soul Command.
―It was true that the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace entered a pact with the Lord of the Martial Soul Command.
As this news spread, various intelligence organizations offered two interpretations.
―The Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace has played his hand wisely.
An alliance with the Demonic Alliance would be difficult to retract.
But the Northern Sea Ice Palace had allied not with the Demonic Alliance, but with Bu Eun-seol.
A successor could be ousted at any time, or replaced by another.
Should Bu Eun-seol die or be removed from his position, the Northern Sea Ice Palace would no longer be obligated to fulfill its promise.
―Nonsense. The Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace made the pact because he was certain that the Lord of the Martial Soul Command would become the master of the Demonic Alliance.
The Northern Sea Ice Palace had no need to subordinate itself to any individual or organization.
For them to have made a pact with Bu Eun-seol nonetheless… it meant they had no doubt he would become the master of the Demonic Alliance and the leader of a million demonic practitioners.
Thus, the intelligence organizations were split between these two views, and the debate continued.
For some time, the martial world could not stop talking about the Lord of the Martial Soul Command, Bu Eun-seol.
***
In contrast, the White Horse Temple was like a house in mourning.
The Master of the White Horse Temple, Gang Yang-cheon, had demanded Bu Eun-seol form an alliance with an outside sect for a ridiculous reason.
In the end, Bu Eun-seol had complied with this unreasonable demand and left for the Northern Sea Ice Palace, but not before aiming a sharp blade at the Temple Master.
―I must resume the audits of the sects that gnaw away at the Alliance’s power. There are far too many sects engaging in useless endeavors.
But Gang Yang-cheon had been able to laugh off Bu Eun-seol’s threat of an audit.
Because he had already assessed the situation at the Northern Sea Ice Palace and was certain that Bu Eun-seol would never be able to form an alliance with them.
But that expectation was shattered to pieces.
Bu Eun-seol had not just formed an alliance with the Northern Sea Ice Palace; he had returned after entering a bond of sworn brotherhood with the Ice Palace Lord himself.
As a result, Gang Yang-cheon—no, the entire White Horse Temple—who had tried to throttle Bu Eun-seol at the Demonic Council meeting, was now in checkmate.
―The audit will begin.
Bu Eun-seol kept his promise the moment he returned to the Demonic Alliance.
With his adjutants, Myo Cheon-u and Yu Un-ryong, and all the members of the Martial Soul Command, he began the audit of the White Horse Temple.
An audit mobilizing the entire Martial Soul Command was utterly unprecedented.
Seeing this, Gang Yang-cheon could not contain his rage and turned back to his training hall.
―Better to die than suffer through this!
When Bu Eun-seol descended upon him with the entire Martial Soul Command, he found the sight so unbearable that he entered secluded cultivation.
―It matters not whether the Master has entered seclusion. Tear it all apart.
Bu Eun-seol’s stern command fell as he entered the White Horse Temple.
At his word, the members of the Martial Soul Command showed through their actions what a true audit was.
From every paper-bound book within the temple to the number of chopsticks in the dining hall… they overturned and accounted for everything.
They even investigated outsiders visiting at the temple's invitation and anyone associated with them. Whatever it was, they tore it apart first and asked questions later.
―Isn't this going too far!
All the members of the White Horse Temple protested loudly.
Even a family of traitors wouldn't be turned upside down like this.
But regardless of their complaints, the members of the Martial Soul Command continued to wreak havoc on the temple.
Unable to bear the humiliation, the temple's leaders went to protest directly to Bu Eun-seol.
―Our temple is one of the Ten Demonic Sects. How can you treat us like this?
But that was the wrong choice.
―Excellent. I was finding it a nuisance to summon you all individually. From now on, all hall master-level figures of the White Horse Temple will have a private meeting with me.
As if he had been waiting, Bu Eun-seol began to question the temple's leaders one by one as they were brought before him.
―This is just an interrogation!
The leaders of the White Horse Temple who had their "private meetings" with Bu Eun-seol trembled with rage and humiliation.
It was a private meeting in name only. Their conversations with Bu Eun-seol were closer to intense interrogations, lacking only physical torture.
―This Lord has discovered evidence of major corruption within the White Horse Temple. I have summoned you to uncover the truth, so you will cooperate.
The leaders finally realized they had made the wrong choice.
Before this madman, they should have just bowed their heads. Their feeble attempt at resistance had become a poison that was now strangling them.
But the milk was already spilt.
Like dogs at a funeral home, they had no choice but to be dragged before Bu Eun-seol, swallowing their tears.
Moreover, because he kept questioning them until he got the answers he wanted, those with weaker internal energy collapsed, vomiting.
But even that was just the beginning…
―Forty years ago, why did you attack the Seven-fingered Demon Sword?
Bu Eun-seol asked the leaders a shocking question.
He began asking about an incident with the Seven-fingered Demon Sword from forty years ago, an event they could barely remember.
What’s more, the only ones who remembered the incident were mostly men of old age.
The younger hall masters knew nothing, so they had to scrape together whatever rumors they had heard.
―I can't take this anymore!
Finally, the Vice Master of the White Horse Temple, Yeok Jung-maeng, could no longer tolerate Bu Eun-seol's tyranny, and his patience snapped.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
Yeok Jung-maeng stormed into Hyeongseung Pavilion, where Bu Eun-seol had set up temporary quarters to torture the hall masters.
“Isn’t this going too far?”
Yeok Jung-maeng burst in, but Bu Eun-seol didn’t even glance at him, his eyes fixed on a book.
‘Th-this….’
Seeing Bu Eun-seol ignore him and stare at the book, a thick vein popped on Yeok Jung-maeng’s forehead.
“Lord of the Martial Soul Command!”
Only when he roared did Bu Eun-seol finally raise his head.
“Vice Master Yeok, I presume. Welcome.”
“What kind of audit is this?”
“What are you talking about so suddenly?”
“Why are you asking the hall masters strange questions that have nothing to do with the audit!”
“Strange questions?”
Yeok Jung-maeng gritted his teeth and shouted.
“You said you were auditing our temple for corruption, so why are you digging up a forty-year-old matter?”
In that instant, Bu Eun-seol’s gaze turned exceptionally cold.
“Are you saying that asking about the Alliance’s Vice Lord is a strange question?”
“The Seven-fingered Demon Sword is a man who went missing decades ago. Why are you asking our hall masters about his whereabouts?”
“How very strange.”
Bu Eun-seol said, his eyes still fixed on the book.
“Though he may have disappeared long ago, he is still the Vice Lord of the Demonic Alliance. Yet every disciple of the White Horse Temple refers to the Vice Lord as the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.”
Yeok Jung-maeng flinched but quickly bit his lip and spoke.
“The Vice Lord’s disappearance is a story that the Demonic Heavenly Emperor and all the leaders of the Alliance keep quiet about. So why are you asking about it at our temple?”
Bu Eun-seol then raised his head, a relaxed smile on his face.
“Because I received information that the Vice Lord’s disappearance is connected to the White Horse Temple.”
“Nonsense. That’s just a ridiculous rumor.”
“A rumor, you say.”
Bu Eun-seol’s sharp gaze met Yeok Jung-maeng’s eyes.
“Forty years ago, before he became the Alliance Lord of the demonic path, the White Horse Temple attacked him, did you not?”
For a brief moment, Yeok Jung-maeng’s eyes wavered. But he quickly adopted a nonchalant expression and said.
“What are you talking about? Our temple attacked him?”
“…”
“Do you have proof? Proof that our temple attacked him forty years ago?”
“Do you think this Lord would ask such a question without any proof?”
An icy blade seemed to shoot from Bu Eun-seol’s eyes, as if to slit Yeok Jung-maeng’s throat.
“If you have proof, then you should proceed with it.”
Yeok Jung-maeng scoffed, averting his gaze from Bu Eun-seol’s cold stare.
“There’s no need to ask our temple about it, is there?”
A man in his fifties who had become the Vice Master of the White Horse Temple, he was not only skilled in martial arts but also adept in all matters.
What if Bu Eun-seol really did have clear evidence of the attack on the Seven-fingered Demon Sword?
He had seen through it—there would be no need to torment them with this sham interrogation.
“It is not that I lack proof. This Lord was merely contemplating.”
Bu Eun-seol smiled coldly.
“After all, the White Horse Temple is one of the Ten Demonic Sects, in name at least.”
‘In name?’
Yeok Jung-maeng barely swallowed his surging anger and asked back.
“Contemplating what?”
“The Four Spirits Gate.”
Bu Eun-seol stared intently at Yeok Jung-maeng’s face.
“I’m debating whether to destroy the White Horse Temple or the Four Spirits Gate.”
In an instant, Yeok Jung-maeng’s complexion turned ashen.
‘Does he really know that our temple and the Four Spirits Gate attacked the Seven-fingered Demon Sword?’
“Ah, of course, you don’t have to say anything, Vice Master.”
Bu Eun-seol wore a meaningful smile.
“However, since the Master is in seclusion, you, the Vice Master, can take full responsibility.”
Rising from his seat, Bu Eun-seol slowly walked toward Yeok Jung-maeng.
“If you’ve decided to keep your mouth shut, then so be it. However…”
He smiled as he looked at the side of Yeok Jung-maeng’s face.
“You will be responsible for everything that happens after you leave this room.”
“W-wait. What do you mean, responsible?”
“It’s a simple matter.”
Bu Eun-seol let out a small laugh.
“If I were to spread a rumor that I heard all this information from you, Vice Master Yeok… wouldn’t that lead to an interesting outcome?”
‘This bastard!’
Yeok Jung-maeng clenched his fists.
If Bu Eun-seol spread such a rumor within the White Horse Temple? No matter how much he denied it, no one would believe him.
And if it reached the ears of the hot-tempered Gang Yang-cheon… the consequences would be truly unbearable.
‘From the beginning, he tortured the hall masters, waiting for me to come to him in anger!’
A chill ran down Yeok Jung-maeng’s spine.
He had hounded the clueless hall masters, asking about the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.
It was all a trap, set to make him, the Vice Master, come to Bu Eun-seol of his own accord.
‘If I refuse, this madman will pin everything on me.’
Yeok Jung-maeng bit his lip.
It was a checkmate.
Even as the Lord of the Martial Soul Command, he couldn't interrogate Gang Yang-cheon, the head of one of the Ten Demonic Sects.
Bu Eun-seol's goal from the start was to corner Yeok Jung-maeng and blackmail him.
“You’re thinking for too long.”
Bu Eun-seol said with a yawn.
“I will take immediate action to help this Lord make a swift decision.”
“W-wait.”
Yeok Jung-maeng gritted his teeth so hard they might break.
He knew the pit before him was a trap, yet he had no choice but to crawl into it.
“If I speak, will you keep it a secret?”
“Of course. This Lord does not wish for things to escalate either.”
Yeok Jung-maeng took a deep breath.
To avoid being framed.
To escape Gang Yang-cheon’s harsh reprimand and punishment, he had no choice but to answer Bu Eun-seol’s questions meekly.
“Our temple had a slight grudge against the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.”
He hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“At the time, the Master’s son and the temple’s successor, Gang Mu-hak, was killed by the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.”
The words were so unexpected that Bu Eun-seol’s eyes widened.
“The Vice Lord killed the Master’s son?”
“That is correct. Though at the time, the Seven-fingered… no, the Vice Lord was not a member of the Demonic Alliance.”
Bu Eun-seol couldn't understand.
The Seven-fingered Demon Sword had killed the only son of the White Horse Temple’s Master? That meant there was a feud between them that made it impossible for them to live under the same sky.
“Then why didn’t you kill him? If you had mobilized the full power of the Demonic Alliance, you could have easily done so.”
Before joining the Demonic Alliance, the Seven-fingered Demon Sword was a man who walked the martial world alone.
Since he wasn't a member of the Alliance back then, the Temple Master would have had countless opportunities to kill him.
So why hadn't he killed the Seven-fingered Demon Sword?
“That, I do not know. But at some point, the Master gave up on his revenge.”
“…”
“After he became the Vice Lord, he became completely untouchable.”
Bu Eun-seol had an answer, but his mind only grew more clouded.
“This is all that I, the Vice Master, know.”
At Yeok Jung-maeng’s words, Bu Eun-seol bit his lip. He could sense that the man was not lying.
‘It seems this is all the information I can get from the White Horse Temple.’
Not only was it impossible to interrogate the Master, Gang Yang-cheon, but he wouldn't talk even with a knife to his throat.
‘If anything, the Temple Master’s reclusive and autocratic leadership style was a help.’
Gang Yang-cheon should have dealt with Bu Eun-seol directly, even if it meant swallowing his pride.
But the White Horse Temple was structured so that the Master made all decisions and the disciples offered absolute obedience.
The same applied to the Vice Master, Yeok Jung-maeng. That was why Bu Eun-seol’s blackmail had worked.
“Very well.”
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Is it over then? All of it?”
At Yeok Jung-maeng’s question, Bu Eun-seol smiled gently.
“Of course. We will stop here.”
Bu Eun-seol kept his promise.
After his private meeting with Yeok Jung-maeng, he immediately led the members of the Martial Soul Command out of the White Horse Temple.
―I hear Vice Master Yeok struck a deal with the Lord of the Martial Soul Command. That’s why he’s leaving without a word.
―What a relief. If it weren’t for the Vice Master, our temple would have been squeezed dry until it was a complete mess.
And as he left, he did not forget to save face for Yeok Jung-maeng.
This way, he could continue to obtain information about the White Horse Temple through him in the future.
It's only the first step that's difficult.
People are instinctively conditioned to obey someone who alternates between irresistible threats and sweet rewards.
‘Master, you have made the worst possible choice.’
A smile formed on Bu Eun-seol’s lips as he thought of the White Horse Temple's Master, Gang Yang-cheon.
When Bu Eun-seol arrived for the audit, he chose seclusion simply because he didn't want to see the unpleasant sight.
But that was not an action befitting the leader responsible for a sect. In the end, it led to the worst possible audit from the White Horse Temple’s perspective.
‘He also doesn't know how to properly manage his people.’
Not only that, but Gang Yang-cheon demanded nothing but obedience from his subordinates.
Of course, such a method could quickly and easily unite a large organization.
But it also meant that the members of the organization would refuse to take even an iota of responsibility for their actions.
In the end, Gang Yang-cheon had made the wrong choices and failed to manage his people properly.
That was why Bu Eun-seol was able to run roughshod over the White Horse Temple, one of the Ten Demonic Sects.
***
In the conference room of Jamma Pavilion.
Having finished the audit of the White Horse Temple and returned to the Demonic Alliance, Bu Eun-seol sat in the empty room, deep in thought.
At the White Horse Temple, he had once again uncovered a secret trace of the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.
And now he was pondering a way to solve the mysteries surrounding him more quickly.
‘The martial world viewed the disappearance of the Seven-fingered Demon Sword from various perspectives.’
―The Demonic Alliance’s intelligence network must be pathetic. They haven’t been able to find their missing Vice Lord for decades.
And on the other hand, some said this.
―It’s not that they can’t find him. They’re deliberately not looking. Because he’s a headache.
―Or… maybe they’re not looking because the Demonic Alliance killed him.
‘All plausible theories.’
He had killed an uncountable number of orthodox and unorthodox masters, making too many enemies in the martial world.
Because of him, the Demonic Alliance had been in trouble on several occasions.
What if he hadn't vanished so suddenly? There were rumors that he would have started an all-out war with the Martial Alliance.
‘But the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace described him as a gentle person.’
So far, those Bu Eun-seol had found who knew of the Seven-fingered Demon Sword’s activities were all individuals of high martial skill and status from the orthodox faction or those who stood between the factions.
This meant there was a high probability that the Seven-fingered Demon Sword had intentionally contacted them.
‘Could it be that these activities were exposed, and he was quietly eliminated?’
Deep in thought, Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
If the Demonic Alliance had gathered its strength to kill the Seven-fingered Demon Sword, there would be no reason to leave his position vacant.
‘Then could it have been the Martial Alliance?’
Bu Eun-seol shook his head again.
The traces of the Seven-fingered Demon Sword he had found were those of a true hero among heroes. If the Martial Alliance had reached a consensus on how to deal with the Seven-fingered Demon Sword?
At the very least, an elder of the orthodox faction like the Sword Venerable would have no reason to keep him alive just because he was the successor to the Seven-fingered Demon Sword.
‘Then why does the Alliance keep the Vice Lord’s position vacant?’
Even the Demonic Heavenly Emperor couldn't unilaterally decide to leave the Vice Lord's seat empty.
Because there would be no justification for keeping it vacant.
‘In the end, it means even the Ten Demonic Sects have consented to keeping it vacant.’
A flash of insight sparked in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes.
His thoughts turned to Yeoro, the cherished sword of the Seven-fingered Demon Sword, which he kept tucked away.
‘If I use Yeoro… might I get closer to the truth?’
What if he were to bring it out before the top leaders of the Demonic Alliance, including the Demonic Heavenly Emperor and the Ten Demonic Sects?
Using Yeoro as bait, Bu Eun-seol could unearth the information about the Seven-fingered Demon Sword that the Alliance leaders were hiding.