Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Black Dao Conference (2)
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Five years from now, right after the Righteous-Demonic Great War ends, the Murim Alliance loses its central pillar—the Alliance Leader—along with countless troops, leaving it frail and teetering on the brink, like a candle flickering in the wind.
And that's when the Four Black Alliances invade the weakened Alliance.
The Alliance, having rarely seen the Four Black Alliances' leader emerge, couldn't gauge his strength and was caught completely off guard. Key figures, including the Secret Sword Hall Master, were slaughtered en masse.
That's when that guy earned his moniker: Hubei's Greatest Swordsman.
At the time, everyone thought it was just the unorthodox factions attacking the Alliance out of some ancient grudge. But looking back, there were too many suspicious elements to dismiss it so easily.
The massive assault ended in just one day.
No one could explain why an attack expected to drag on for days concluded so abruptly, or why nearly all the victims were from the Secret Sword Hall.
Thinking about it now, the real target from the start was probably just the one man: the Secret Sword Hall Master.
The reason? The Four Black Alliances' leader had concealed all information about himself—to hide that he was a spy.
"How did you know?"
I'd expected excuses or deflections, but he admitted it more readily than I'd thought. If anything, he seemed more curious about something else.
"The Lower Five Gates knows everything. Even why you've had to play the spy all this time."
What he's really worried about now isn't his position—it's the treasure he left behind at the Black Beast Gang.
In my past life, even as the other Four Black Alliances members dropped dead one by one, he held his post at the Black Beast Gang for the same reason.
"What do you want?"
"The Secret Sword Hall Master. We want him captured."
At those words, the alliance leader slowly rose and drew his sword. I took up a defensive stance beside the gate leader, just in case.
"That's a request I can't grant. If you know why I can't quit being a spy, then you know the reason."
"You think we'll stay silent if you refuse our request?"
He didn't flinch at my threat, radiating a ferocious aura instead. Just his glare made my skin crawl.
Similar to me, my ass—he'd already reached a profound realm.
"Strange. Corpses can't talk."
The moment he swung his drawn blade, I shouted.
"I have a way to cure your wife!"
He froze.
His sword stopped right before my nose.
This guy... he really meant to kill us all?
"Even divine healers couldn't cure my wife's illness. What makes you think you can?"
"This."
I carefully pulled a shimmering white silken object from my bosom and held it out to the alliance leader.
"What is it?"
"The shed skin of an imugi that ascended as a dragon. Legend says it can cure any ailment."
I hadn't brought the whole thing, but this much should more than suffice.
Good thing I'd grabbed it just in case.
"...You can really cure my wife's illness with this?"
The alliance leader's eyes trembled with confusion.
A stranger shows up out of nowhere, reveals his secret, and claims he can heal his wife—who could blame him for doubting?
"Just promise to help us capture the Secret Sword Hall Master, and of course."
But this is just me keeping a promise from my past life. And lightening the burden on my heart a little.
Sure, handing over this priceless imugi skin stings, but it's a bargain at this price.
"No lies here, so don't worry. I swear on the Lower Five Gates' name."
Baek Eunhwa stood as well, addressing the alliance leader. In a situation tied to her sect's survival, she knew he wouldn't doubt her word.
The alliance leader slowly accepted the shed skin I offered.
"It's genuine. I can tell, even without ever seeing one before. Nothing like this exists anywhere in the world."
I caught the tremor in his hands. No wonder—he had every reason to be moved.
He'd kept up the spy act even after becoming alliance leader because of his frail wife. In my past life, he stayed by her side until his dying breath, so it made sense.
The Secret Sword Hall Master must have threatened her safety. Just like how that scum used Wolhyang's life to blackmail me in my past life. No way that bastard had changed.
But fleeing far away with a sick wife wasn't feasible. Plus, her existence was a closely guarded secret within the Four Black Alliances, so he couldn't seek help from anyone.
With her illness cured, though, he'd have no more worries.
"So, will you help us now?"
"If this cures my wife, I swear it. Not just help—I'll lay down my life for you from here on."
"It's settled, then. Let's hurry."
Baek Eunhwa, having grasped the situation, quickly led the way out.
The alliance leader followed, his steps filled with hope.
The Black Beast Gang wasn't far from here. I'd visited in my past life, so I remembered the location perfectly.
We left a message for the stronghold leader that I'd return soon, then boarded a carriage with the alliance leader and headed for the Black Beast Gang.
"Life is unpredictable, like the old tale of the old man at the border. I thought this burden would weigh on me for life, yet it resolves so suddenly."
"Your wife's condition isn't improved yet. Save the joy for after it's all done."
"True. I got ahead of myself in my excitement."
The alliance leader, his earlier intimidating presence gone, even used honorifics and acted meek.
I understood his feelings. After all, in his dying moments, his final words had been to entrust his wife to someone.
If he could cure her illness, he didn't mind swallowing his pride.
Soon, after about an hour, a massive palace complex emerged deep in the mountains.
That was the Black Beast Gang, the greatest unorthodox force in the Central Plains.
"You've arrived, Gang Lord!"
The warriors guarding the enormous gates shouted greetings the moment they saw the alliance leader.
"Yes.贵宾 have come, so open the gates at once and prepare a welcome."
"Yes, sir!!"
"It's the Gang Lord's command! Escort the贵宾 with full honors!"
At his order, over a dozen men rushed out, guiding our path and bowing deeply to us.
"Welcome!"
Man, he was treated like an emperor.
The king of the unorthodox factions, after all.
"This way, please. My wife is in the main hall."
We followed the leading alliance leader past several buildings and down a long corridor. At its end, a livable space finally appeared.
The courtyard had a garden and pond, and in a secluded room overlooking the vast mountain range—that's where his wife lay.
Her pale face and emaciated frame made it clear she was in bad shape.
"You've come, Gang Lord."
An elderly physician bowed to the alliance leader. He must be the one tending to her.
"Has my wife's consciousness returned?"
"No. She's still bedridden, only taking thin rice gruel. If her condition worsens further, I can't guarantee her survival."
They exchanged words calmly, as if this had dragged on for ages.
"And you've brought guests."
The elder eyed us curiously. The alliance leader, who'd hidden his wife's illness, suddenly bringing strangers—naturally suspicious.
"These people are my hope."
With that, he pulled the imugi skin from his bosom and handed it to the elder.
"What is this?"
"Medicine I obtained. Dissolve it in water, boil it down, and feed it to my wife. Give her the undiluted decoction three times a day until the whole pot is gone."
"Understood."
Soon after, the elder returned with a bowl of the medicine and handed it to the alliance leader. If the legends held true, this alone would restore her vitality and stabilize her condition.
Slowly, as if offering a sincere prayer, he brought the bowl to his wife's lips.
Gulp.
The medicine slid down her throat.
Gulp.
Sip by sip, the pace quickened with each swallow.
"Darling...?"
At last, she opened her eyes and looked at her husband.
"Ah... ahh..."
He embraced her with trembling arms, tears bursting forth at the moment he'd dreamed of countless times. He'd finally achieved the wish denied him in his past life.
'One last request, if I may.'
Suddenly, his dying form from my past life flashed in my mind.
After I'd wiped out the Flesh Mask, Waterway Stronghold, and Green Forest Strongholds with my own hands, it took a long time before I stormed the last one: the Black Beast Gang.
There was no special reason. If anything, he had no reason to die—he'd holed up here, living quietly.
Yet I killed him anyway, because I wanted to eradicate all unorthodox powers before destroying the Alliance.
That was it. Behind my grand justification of erasing the martial world from existence, I killed as I pleased.
Right here, on this courtyard overlooking the valley below, he faced me as if he'd known I'd come.
With a transcendent poise, he met me—only to have his heart pierced by my sword before he could even draw.
'Please look after my wife.'
Even as he vomited blood, staring at the room where she lay, I couldn't fathom why he'd entrust her to me. But soon, I grasped the deeper meaning.
Entering the room his gaze had lingered on until death, I found his wife—emaciated to the point her bones showed.
She looked long dead; it wouldn't have been strange if she'd stopped breathing ages ago. Her survival to that state was a miracle in itself.
Only then did I understand everything. Why the man called the Four Black Alliances' leader had lived his life holed up here. What his final request to me had truly been.
Unlike me, who'd lost everything, he protected what mattered most until his last breath.
Very carefully, I raised the blade that had killed the alliance leader toward her unconscious form.
With his death, she was doomed to wither away slowly here too. There was only one way to end it all.
I sent her painlessly. And for the first time, after cutting down countless souls without a tremble, my hand shook. A weight of sin squeezed my heart.
Whether helping him now atones for my past life, I don't know. But watching him sob while holding his wife, a weight lifted from my chest.
In the endless cycle of taking and losing, the true victor is the one who protects what's precious. I merely honored the winner, fulfilled our promise, and reflected on my life.
I'll carry on the lesson you gave me in that life. This time, I'll live the same way.
I'll strive to be the one who guards what's precious until the end.