Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Saintess's Prophecy
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"After sending word of the death to White Deer Academy, I spent all my time inquiring about what happened to Gong Cheon-ak and Bing-seol. I had to know if they were dead or alive."
"You were planning to rescue Bing-seol."
"Well, something like that."
"......"
"You're right. To be honest, I intended to rescue her. But then I heard the two of them had been executed."
"......!"
"I thought it was all because of Gong Cheon-ak. He's the last disciple to inherit the Heavenly Demon's true teachings. They wanted to kill him to completely sever the lingering lineage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
Heuk Do-san was too shocked to continue speaking. When he heard they'd been taken to the Righteous Alliance under escort, he had considered they might lose their lives. To think it had really come to that.
He couldn't understand why his heart sank at the deaths of those two, people he'd once crossed blades with.
At the same time, an inexplicable resentment toward the Righteous Alliance that killed them welled up inside him. It was a fire rising from his chest that his mind couldn't comprehend.
"And then?"
Unknowingly, his voice grew icy cold. If he felt this way, how must Hyeon-gak feel, having lost Bing-seol?
Yet Hyeon-gak continued calmly, more composed than expected.
"I thought I at least needed to recover their bodies, so from then on, I started asking around about how the corpses were handled. That's when I ran into Yeom Jin-sang."
Heuk Do-san belatedly realized Hyeon-gak hadn't said a word about Yeom Jin-sang's whereabouts.
Come to think of it, he hadn't asked either.
"What happened to Yeom Jin-sang?"
"It turns out the moment he escaped the snow mountain cave, he rushed straight to Seop Dae-gang and attached himself to him. I heard he replaced Hong Gong-tak, carrying Seop Dae-gang on a litter all the way to the Yellow River. For that merit, they overlooked his past crimes and he received great compensation from the Mount Hua Sect or something like that."
"There's probably no one else like that guy."
"In some ways, he's truly remarkable."
"But why did he...?"
"At first, I thought it was a chance encounter, but it wasn't. He came looking for me on purpose. And he told me something astonishing."
"What did he say?"
"Surprisingly, Gong Cheon-ak and Bing-seol are alive. Not only that, but three days from now, they'll be secretly escorted somewhere, and he said he could arrange a brief meeting by taking advantage of the chaos."
"You just said they were dead!"
"I said that's what I heard. I didn't say they were really dead."
"Then you should have said so from the start. Why confuse people like that."
"Heh heh heh. Surprised? That's exactly how I reacted when I first heard. My heart dropped. Isn't it strange? They were once enemies I fought, but when I heard they died, my blood boiled without me realizing it."
"What if it's a trap?"
"I thought the same at first—that it was a trap set by Seop Dae-gang to catch me, since I knew Yeom Jin-sang had attached himself to him. But then he gave me this."
Hyeon-gak held out a small object to Heuk Do-san. It was a tiny knot made by tying blue and red threads.
"What's this?"
"It's a tassel made by twisting horsehair dyed by Mongolians. I gave it to Bing-seol when we crossed the plains. Only she and I know about it."
"Yeom Jin-sang met Bing-seol. She asked him to arrange a meeting with you."
"That's right."
"Why would Yeom Jin-sang, who's feeding off Seop Dae-gang, honor Bing-seol's request?"
"She told him that if he arranged the meeting, I'd give him a thousand taels of silver. His greed for money made him betray Seop Dae-gang."
"A bat-like bastard."
"It's actually fortunate. Thanks to him, I learned Gong Cheon-ak and Bing-seol are alive and even got to meet her. Of course, scraping together a thousand taels of silver nearly broke my back."
"But how does Yeom Jin-sang have the means to arrange a meeting with Bing-seol? And how did he meet her in the first place?"
"That's where his true talent shines. Back in the steppes, he was just a bat flitting from one side to another to survive, but here, he's a man of astonishing resourcefulness."
Yeom Jin-sang used his solid backing of Seop Dae-gang to meet the jailer of the prison. His request was to allow a brief visit with a distant relative from his hometown—a niece among the captured Demonic Cult prisoners—before her father died.
It wasn't a big issue, and intimidated by Yeom Jin-sang's prestige backed by Seop Dae-gang, the jailer turned a blind eye for ten taels of silver.
Having successfully bribed the jailer, Yeom Jin-sang disguised Hyeon-gak as an old man and brought him to the prison.
There, Hyeon-gak was able to speak with Bing-seol for about fifteen minutes through the iron bars.
"She was in terrible shape. That once-beautiful face was half-ruined...... Sigh."
"Were you hoping someone locked in prison would be plump and rosy? Cut the nonsense and tell me what Bing-seol said."
"She told me that it seems Brother Heuk is alive. If he is, he'll surely return to Bongrae someday, and I must meet him then no matter what."
"......?"
"At first, I thought she'd lost her mind from being locked up too long. Everyone clearly saw the cave collapse—how could Brother Heuk be alive?"
"And then?"
"But Bing-seol's expression was so serious. It seemed like she'd seen something while possessed by a spirit. As you know, she's the saintess of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, so she can see things we can't......"
"It must have been a precognitive dream."
"A precognitive dream?"
"Not really sleeping, but highly concentrating her mind to glimpse a fragment of the future in an instant."
"How do you know that, Brother Heuk?"
"She told me."
Hyeon-gak stared at Heuk Do-san with eyes full of jealousy for a moment before continuing.
"But how would I know when or where Brother Heuk is coming so I can meet him? As I said earlier, Seop Dae-gang is eyeing my life, so I can't wander around freely."
"Bing-seol told you the way."
"That's right. She said you can't meet Brother Heuk by searching for him—you can only make him come to you."
"And then?"
"After parting with Bing-seol and returning to White Deer Academy, I pondered for days and came up with the plan to create a fake daughter. Then I went around Bongrae and Naiju, seeking out the courtesans Brother Heuk had been involved with in the past. The first condition was that the relationship was widely known, the second was that she had a daughter of the right age. Turns out you were quite the womanizer, huh?"
"Cut the irrelevant chatter."
"Finally, a courtesan perfectly matching the conditions appeared. She was none other than Seol Maeran, once a courtesan of Nakhwa Pavilion. The rest you can guess."
"Why come up with such an absurd method? Do you know how shocked I was?"
"I had no choice. I couldn't set up nets at every entrance to Bongrae and wait for Brother Heuk."
"So you went fishing instead of netting?"
"I didn't think you'd actually bite."
That was the end of Hyeon-gak's story. Heuk Do-san felt a mix of absurdity and astonishment.
Bing-seol's mystical power to sense he was alive was astonishing, as was her insight predicting his return to Bongrae.
Hyeon-gak's scheme of creating a fake daughter to lure him was less astonishing and more infuriating.
How much anxiety had he felt over the past half day? And the people of Bongrae, who knew nothing and had been pointing fingers at him and White Deer Academy.
'Thinking about it makes me mad all over again.'
At least hearing news of everyone from Hyeon-gak was a gain. Though fortunes varied—some awaited death in prison, others returned to their families for peaceful lives.
"Why did Bing-seol want me to meet you?"
"I asked her that too. She only said, 'Just meet him. Next time, he'll find the way himself. Whether he accepts his fate or rejects it.'"
Find the way himself?
He had no idea what that meant. From the context, Bing-seol must have seen his future while in prison. And she gave him a chance. A chance to reject fate.
Whatever it was, it was bound to be a harsh and arduous path. That's why she left the choice to him.
"From then on, following Bing-seol's prophecy, I waited here for Brother Heuk to return alive while looking after the Demonic Cult prisoners and children. All while hearing how that bastard Seop Dae-gang was rising higher and higher."
"How far did he rise?"
"After the war ended, the Righteous Alliance reorganized its structure. They transformed an organization optimized for wartime into one for governance. Of course, they also rewarded merits."
According to Hyeon-gak, the Righteous Alliance's basic structure consisted of one lord, two academies, four halls, and eight corps.
The one lord referred to the Alliance Leader.
Elected by the consensus of numerous martial sects, the Alliance Leader held all military authority of the Righteous Alliance. Now that it had risen as the foremost power in the current martial world, calling its leader the supreme figure in the martial world was no exaggeration.
The two academies referred to the two elder factions leading the Righteous Alliance: the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans.
These two elder factions included many peak masters not far below Alliance Leader Sword Sage Yeop Jeong-cho. They supported the leader while also preventing the Righteous Alliance from being dominated by one person.
The four halls literally meant four parties, the core forces forming the mainstay of the Righteous Alliance.
Each hall oversaw various subordinate organizations called pavilions, groups, and squads, handling the alliance's miscellaneous affairs.
Finally, the eight corps were the eight strike teams representing the Righteous Alliance. Though their leaders ranked below the hall masters, their combat-oriented nature granted them independent operational authority.
"There are also many direct affiliates outside the main structure, as well as secret organizations operating in the shadows. But for now, knowing the basics should suffice."
"Why switch from talking about Seop Dae-gang to explaining the Righteous Alliance's org chart out of nowhere? You planning to join them or something?"
"You need to know where our enemy stands to face him."
"Our enemy?"
"Seop Dae-gang."
"Why is he our enemy?"
"Then is he a friend?"
"Are there only enemies or friends in this world?"
"I heard everything that happened while we slept in the snow mountain cave from Bing-seol. He stole the Ten Thousand Great Heaven Skies, didn't he? That's a demonic art that must never leave that place. We can't let him get away with it. We must catch him and punish him."
'It's not Ten Thousand Great Heaven Skies, it's Ten Thousand Great Heaven Scripture. And what he took was a fake—the real one is writhing inside me right now.'
Heuk Do-san couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Anyway. So what position did Seop Dae-gang snag in the Righteous Alliance? What, promoted from sword commander to hall master?"
"That's the strange part. Rumor has it he could have taken a hall master position if he wanted, but he insisted on becoming a strike corps leader himself."
"What's strange about that?"
"I'm no expert in mercenary tactics or politics, but I know that in an era of governance, securing a political position like hall master is better than leading a combat-oriented strike corps."
"It's the opposite."
"The opposite?"
"Unlike imperial courts ruling a nation, a martial world's power ultimately comes from force. A combat-oriented strike corps holds the decisive punch."
"You mean he's planning a rebellion?"
"Rebellion or not, real power lies with those holding military authority. So which strike corps does he lead?"
"The Ink Soul Ghost Armor Corps. He commands a full thousand men under him. With horses and men clad in pitch-black iron armor, their might is said to rival a proper army unit."
From sword commander of the meager Ten Ghost Chasers with barely ten subordinates, to leader of a thousand men.
A meteoric rise indeed.
Including the Alliance Leader, fourteen elders, and four hall masters, it placed him in the top twenty of the Righteous Alliance hierarchy. A beast with power—who knew what he'd do next.
'What does that have to do with me?'
Having heard Hyeon-gak out, Heuk Do-san stood up.
"What are you doing?"
"Heading out."
"Where to?"
"White Deer Academy."
"Why there?"
"Because it's where I lived."
"What are you going to do at a place that's already ruins?"
"Do you need a reason to go home? I'm going because it's home."
"I haven't finished talking yet."
"I've heard everything. Come by later. I buried a jar of liquor in the backyard long ago—it should be nicely aged by now. We can catch up."
"The real story starts now."
"......?"
"After the rumor spread that Brother Heuk has a son, something unexpected happened. Something very serious."