Justice Prevails -1

Yeo Il-ye recalled Ho Cheon-an's words.

Yeo Il-ye thought as she pursued Gae Myeong-bu. They had already left Sichuan far behind and been running for a long while. Yet the way he never once looked back made this feel less like a flight and more like...

"A lure, then."

Yeo Il-ye gradually slowed her light-foot technique. Gae Myeong-bu had drawn his sword and was waiting for her.

"I never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠liked Hwanggeum-seon's scheme from the start. Fifteen years ago—how could I trust the plan of a man who couldn't even catch one powerless little girl?"

Yeo Il-ye drew her own sword in silence.

"If not for the Diancang Sect's retaliation, wiping out a little girl like you would have been nothing. Did you think reaching Super-Peak made the whole world yours? It's already been ten years since you attained that realm you swagger around with."

Letting Gae Myeong-bu's words pass through one ear, Yeo Il-ye continued her thoughts. How could she achieve a proper revenge?

"Just because you took down some bandit chief, you think you can beat this Gae Myeong-bu as well? That arrogance of yours ends right here today—"

"Your tongue runs long."

There had been a clue in Gae Myeong-bu's words.

"As you say, I was nothing but a small, young girl. Are you so frightened of losing to that little girl that you've lost your nerve?"

"You little bitch!"

There was no need to overthink it. If he took such pride in his martial arts, she simply had to shatter that pride to pieces.

Watching Gae Myeong-bu close the distance with a roar, Yeo Il-ye thought. He was certainly a man who had reached the late Super-Peak Realm. He could not compare to the Diancang Sect, but he was someone who had long trained solid martial arts in a respectable school.

Stable footwork. Weight of experience that carried force. And even the density of the Sword Gang formed on his blade.

Among those Yeo Il-ye had faced, he could be classified as her strongest opponent yet.

Even so, Yeo Il-ye observed the calm within herself. Facing the greatest adversary of her life, her heart remained utterly serene.

I see.

From that, Yeo Il-ye gained certainty.

I am stronger.

A heavy boom rolled out. Internal energy erupted from Yeo Il-ye's entire body, kicking up clouds of dust. The energy that seemed to burst free for an instant converged onto her sword in a single breath.

Gae Myeong-bu's face hardened. He had heard she possessed vast internal energy, but this was outright monstrous. He had never intended to leave any reserve in his attack, yet he poured even more energy into his blade.

Even from this distance, the force made every inch of his skin prickle.

Gae Myeong-bu steadied his pounding heart and let his eyes gleam more cunningly than ever.

The matchup favors me.

He was pretending to charge in with rage-blinded reason, but from the beginning Gae Myeong-bu had intended to receive and counter the Sun-Shooting Sword Art.

The sword forms of the Jambong Sect were meant to crush an opponent and seal them so they could not move. They were perfect for locking down the Sun-Shooting Sword Art, whose single strike left a massive opening if it failed to land despite its ferocious power.

Tasting that terrifying internal energy and the force it drove through his skin, he felt it would not be easy—yet that changed nothing.

Watching Yeo Il-ye take the opening stance of the Sun-Shooting Sword Art, Gae Myeong-bu widened his eyes and focused.

What he had to watch for was an instant. He had to evade the thrust of the Sun-Shooting Sword Art that would stab in during that single fleeting moment, then bind her sword.

The distance was ten jang.

A gap a Super-Peak expert could close in a single breath if they so chose. Gae Myeong-bu wound his tension to the absolute limit.

Nine jang. Eight. Seven.

Yeo Il-ye's internal energy began to condense. The sword held level before her chest—when would it launch?

Five jang.

A howling gale erupted. Proof that the internal energy Yeo Il-ye had condensed was exploding outward. Gae Myeong-bu smiled in triumph. For her young age her energy control was considerable, yet no matter how refined the control, the sheer volume she possessed was simply too vast.

Vast internal energy revealed its signs clearly the moment it moved.

Gae Myeong-bu became certain the Sun-Shooting Sword Art was coming. No matter how superb her energy circulation, if she did not release energy condensed this tightly, her organs would twist themselves apart.

Three jang.

Among Super-Peak masters, a distance as close as facing each other head-on. Gae Myeong-bu halted his steps and unfolded his form first.

Having executed the form to perfection, Gae Myeong-bu smiled in triumph. No matter how vast Yeo Il-ye's internal energy, no matter that the Sun-Shooting Sword Art was a peerless divine technique, once caught in this Sword Thorns in Full Bloom she would inevitably lose her power.

And then Gae Myeong-bu saw it.

Yeo Il-ye's sword sweeping from above to below.

Gazing into Gae Myeong-bu's widening eyes, Yeo Il-ye thought. How could the Sun-Shooting Sword Art, called the absolute of the martial world, possess only a single face?

Hou Yi had loosed his arrows toward the sun.

And brought it down.

"Had this been before I met the Beast King, I might have had a sliver of a chance."

Gae Myeong-bu ground his teeth. Right now he felt the full force of Falling Star with his entire body. A sword carrying Sword Gang and force capable of shattering everything was crushing him whole.

Yeo Il-ye watched Gae Myeong-bu's contorting face and thought. Did he believe he had lost because his calculation was wrong? Nonsense. The arrows of the Diancang Sect would never be stopped by mere brambles like these.

They might have been pierced and wounded, yet they would have driven through everything without ever being halted.

A grinding crack of shattering force!

The thorn-like Sword Gang Gae Myeong-bu had created snapped helplessly. It might have been a form that could seize a sword, yet it could not stop a star falling with the momentum to crush all things under heaven.

A wet slash!

The star's trajectory severed Gae Myeong-bu's right arm clean through.

"I suppose you never imagined I would show you my swordsmanship."

That was the last thing Gae Myeong-bu heard before the force swept his consciousness away.

Yeong Ji-huyeol let out a light breath and returned to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Wanderer Inn.

It had been a rather long day.

After exchanging blows with a martial artist of the same realm, he had even been drafted into the search of the Jambong Sect.

Once the Jambong Sect members were all subdued, the nangin had turned the place upside down like hunting lice, gathering all manner of evidence.

Yeong Ji-huyeol thought of the Jambong Sect and shook his head. That Yu Sa-yeon was a survivor of the Tangsu Sect had already been surprising enough, yet from the secret vault in the sect leader's room they had pulled proof that Gae Myeong-bu had hired the Old Evil Sword Dok Yeong-chan and the Moon-Night Blade Ya-jeok.

Whether it was Gae Myeong-bu, who had scraped together every dirty secret to prepare for denouncing the sect, or the sect leader who had held physical evidence of what Gae Myeong-bu had done fifteen years ago...

"Hm...?"

Yeong Ji-huyeol frowned when he opened the door and found a letter lying on the floor. A letter that looked as if someone had slipped it through the gap beneath the door.

Who could it be?

Yeong Ji-huyeol tore open the envelope without a word and read its contents. After finishing the letter, he quietly exhaled a sigh.

"...Time to finish things, is it."

Yeong Ji-huyeol set the black bamboo hat he had briefly removed back onto his head.

"My thanks for the cooperation."

"Hwahahaha! Hwanggeum-seon! Your downfall isn't far off either! Uwahahahaha!"

Yeo Il-ye had returned with Gae Myeong-bu, whose right arm had been severed. Once he regained consciousness and confirmed that his right arm was gone, Gae Myeong-bu seemed to have gone mad.

Well, Gae Myeong-bu's chances of rising again had to be considered nonexistent. It wasn't his left hand that had been cut off—losing the right was the same as having his life as a martial artist severed. He appeared unable to accept that reality and had been swallowed by hatred.

Detailed accounts of the Yeo Family Mountain Villa bloodbath and its perpetrators, the dark history of the Jambong Sect, and even the weaknesses of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people no one had expected—Gae Myeong-bu poured out every scrap of knowledge in his head, wishing for the ruin of everyone he knew.

In any case, Gae Myeong-bu's malice was unpleasant, yet every piece of evidence that left his mouth was decisive.

The affair of the Yeo Family Mountain Villa. The crimes of the Jambong Sect. Evidence of countless other evils that might or might not have occurred—all of it spilled from Gae Myeong-bu's lips.

In particular, the misdeeds committed by Hwanggeum-seon and Gae Myeong-bu were laid bare one by one. They ran short of paper just trying to record his testimony, which said everything.

Hyeok Gi-rin, who had been organizing the contents with me, looked ready to vomit on the spot.

Gae Myeong-bu had unleashed malice raw enough to make even me—Ho Cheon-an, who had weathered every kind of battlefield on land, sea, and air—frown, and Hyeok Gi-rin, who had no immunity to such malice, seemed to have taken a considerable mental blow.

I gave Hyeok Gi-rin a light pat on the back.

"It's all right. It's over now."

"...Why is it, I wonder."

Hyeok Gi-rin murmured with a pale face.

"Why... do people like them live ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that way? They feel their own wounds so keenly, yet they inflict wounds on others without a second thought and can speak of it so brazenly."

"The world has people like that as well."

I spoke calmly. All sorts of people lived in the world, and among them existed bastards like Gae Myeong-bu.

"...Does it not bother you at all, Master Ho?"

"Haha, of course it feels foul. But I've already shaken it off."

Hyeok Gi-rin looked at me with an expression that said she could not understand.

"Well, that fellow has nothing left but to pay for his crimes. Clinging to the unpleasantness only hurts me."

"...You're right. Master Ho has already settled every matter."

"Rather than me settling it, it was the result of everyone's efforts."

What had I even done, really? My only proper contribution had been taking down a single Peak Realm expert of the Jambong Sect. I had planned to bring down Seongrak Pavilion as part of the operation... but Yu Ji-gyeong had fled and gotten himself caught by Heukmyo, so that credit had all gone to her as well.

Stopping Yeo Il-ye, digging through the Jambong Sect's documents, compiling Yu Ji-gyeong's testimony... I had been the errand boy.

Exactly the level of contribution befitting a First-rate warrior.

We returned to the room where Sama Yeom and Yeo Il-ye were waiting. Sama Yeom accepted the compiled documents, read them, and gave a dry laugh.

"...They managed to pull all this off right under my nose."

Sama Yeom smiled as usual, but the killing intent that edged that smile was no illusion.

"You have not forgotten our initial agreement, I trust."

"Of course not."

Sama Yeom sighed as he spoke.

"Hwanggeum-seon, Yu Ji-gyeong, and Gae Myeong-bu will be dealt with according to Young Lady Yeo Il-ye's will. I remember it well. So, young lady—how do you intend to handle them?"

"...I do not yet know."

Yeo Il-ye answered calmly.

"Whether I wish to kill them or simply take revenge... I will know once I face Hwanggeum-seon."

"...I see."

Instead of further complaint, Sama Yeom began writing something on official document paper. The document he finished in a single breath listed every crime Hwanggeum-seon had committed in exhaustive detail, along with the statement that the authorities were currently investigating to verify them.

"Today I will send government troops to scatter this proclamation throughout the Hwanggeumga."

The household of the Hwanggeumga, along with the representatives of the Hwangbo Clan, Emei, Zhongnan, and Qingcheng Sects, would no doubt collapse in shock upon receiving it.

In modern terms the proclamation was similar to naming a suspect in a criminal case... yet it carried power that a mere summons could never match.

If the subject of the proclamation vanished or went into hiding, they were immediately wanted as a criminal.

This Murim Cheonha was not the modern world. Cases that took months to resolve were common. So should one detain or thoroughly monitor a suspect throughout that period?

Realistically impossible.

That was why they slammed down a proclamation declaring that flight equaled criminal status, pinning the target's feet in place.

What would the people of the Hwanggeumga think upon seeing this proclamation? Though called a proclamation, it was no different from an indictment listing the charges of burning the Yeo Family Mountain Villa, colluding with bandits, and every foul deed committed while growing the Hwanggeumga.

Could anyone who saw that proclamation still believe their family head was innocent?

The answer would become clear when we visited the Hwanggeumga estate tomorrow.