Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Apology
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The lingering joy from the re-sealing of the Three Clans' Five Oaths and Baek Hyun's miraculous survival had somewhat faded.
Basic judgments on his new constitution had also been made to some extent.
Mokheon, Baek Hyun, and Maeng Yeon headed to the outskirts of Starpoint Mountain to handle the aftermath of this incident, which they had barely postponed.
That area—the living quarters of Starpoint Sect disciples and the fiercest battlefield of the battle—saw numerous disciples receiving treatment for their combat wounds.
Or collecting the scattered corpses of poisonous insects and humans.
Binding the captured prisoners and making them kneel in a line.
"Senior Brother, you're back. As ordered, we successfully defended the sect's mountain gate. All surviving enemies have had their internal energy sealed and bound as soon as spotted. But those two suns that just appeared... what were they?"
Soon after spotting the sect leader, Elder Mok Jin approached them to discuss the serious celestial anomaly.
"The seal on the Three Clans' Five Oaths had been broken."
"What!? Then we must go seal it right away...!!"
"But we somehow managed it, so no need to worry. Hyun also gained a precious opportunity in the process. I'll explain that later."
Mokheon patted Baek Hyun's head with a proud expression, substituting for a full explanation of the situation.
Baek Hyun's suddenly changed hair color and aura.
The long robe of Mokheon's he was wearing instead of his original clothes, and more—there were plenty of things catching attention.
Still, sensing the situation had resolved favorably, Mok Jin let out a sigh of relief and asked about the one thing bothering him most.
"But is that girl next to you a prisoner? She looks familiar somehow..."
Mok Jin pointed to the dark-skinned woman standing naturally beside Baek Hyun and continued.
A girl with the distinctive appearance and attire of a Southern Barbarian, exuding an extraordinary aura and looks despite her young age.
As Mok Jin rummaged through his memories at the strikingly familiar impression...
"She's the Palace Master's daughter and heir to the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace. Thanks to her cooperation, we minimized casualties and resolved the situation. You must have encountered her on the battlefield a few times."
Palace Master's daughter.
Heir to the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
At those shocking keywords, rarely heard, all eyes in the area instantly focused on Maeng Yeon.
The Starpoint disciples glared at her with hostility upon learning the heir of the enemy faction was before them.
The captured prisoners were shocked to see her standing calmly beside the enemy leader without bindings and began murmuring.
"Wh-why is the young lady with Starpoint Sect bastards...!"
"Young Lady! Surely... you didn't betray us!!"
As the prisoners reacted intensely, the Starpoint disciples who had been busy with other tasks also turned to look at her en masse.
At the center of all those gazes and fierce reactions, Maeng Yeon let out a small sigh and walked toward the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace prisoners.
And then.
She struck the cheek of a warrior shouting if she had become a traitor and opened her mouth.
Maeng Yeon's pent-up frustration, suppressed due to overwhelming public opinion, exploded like a burst dam.
At her fierce roar, not only the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace prisoners but even the disciples who had viewed her unfavorably were thrown into confusion.
"Ha, I'm still dumbfounded. Did you idiots really believe that absurd nonsense?
This fight means nothing.
It's not for Father's treatment, not for revenge, not for the tribe's glory.
We just... fought a idiotic battle for an idiotic purpose and ended up like this..!"
By then, large tears welled up in Maeng Yeon's eyes and streamed down.
Her every word now trembled faintly with sobs.
Yet, feeling obligated to explain to them, she quickly wiped her tears and continued in a voice as strong and resolute as ever.
"This whole situation was utterly illogical from the start. Yet we committed that folly.
The Vice Palace Master—leader of Poison Valley and my uncle—colluded with an external group to throw us all into the fire pit and skim the spoils.
We were like oxen yoked to plows our whole lives, nearly dying exploited at that rotten bastard's whim..!!"
At the shocking claim that the Vice Palace Master was the traitor, the prisoners couldn't easily believe Maeng Yeon.
"N-no way. The Vice Palace Master...!"
"He wouldn't do that! There must be some misunderstanding...!"
-Thud
In front of the warriors denying reality, Maeng Yeon silently dropped an item she had prepared.
The head of the young divine bird—one of the Vice Palace Master's strongest cards, but whose life had been futilely ended by Baek Hyun.
"That's the divine bird that poisoned Father. It moved on the Vice Palace Master's orders and tried to kill me too."
Faced with irrefutable proof, the prisoners fell silent.
A divine bird picky about its habitat wouldn't suddenly fly alone to distant Starpoint Mountain.
It must have come on someone's command.
And among the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace members, only one could possibly tame a divine bird.
"Really... the Vice Palace Master tried to kill us?"
"Then we... what the hell..."
As the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace survivors plunged into extreme chaos...
-Thud
Finishing with the survivors, Maeng Yeon turned back toward Mokheon and the Starpoint disciples, knelt on one knee, and performed a fist-and-palm salute.
Then, lowering her head deeply, she spoke in a humbly courteous voice unlike her earlier fierce tone.
"Sect Leader and fellow Starpoint Sect disciples. Due to our ignorance and arrogance, we committed grave offenses against Starpoint.
In place of my father, currently bedridden from wicked schemes, as the next Palace Master of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, I sincerely apologize to all of Starpoint."
The shocking sight of their future face and leader sternly rebuking her subordinates then kneeling to apologize.
Some warriors who realized their wrongs bowed their heads in tears, but most prisoners stared blankly in confusion.
Absorbing the suddenly injected shocking information was overwhelming for them.
Eventually, all eyes turned to one person.
The one bearing the greatest responsibility for this disaster and the de facto second-in-command in place of the young next Palace Master.
Takmu felt the countless gazes upon him and finally opened his tightly shut mouth.
"...Yeon's words are true. The Vice Palace Master deceived and betrayed us."
Takmu's confirmation turned the unbelievable into fact, plunging the survivors into despair.
After Maeng Yeon, the next heir, Takmu—who had been most active in this affair—agreeing meant it was undeniable truth.
However...
"But I have no intention of bowing to you lot."
Takmu began uttering unimaginable words.
"I knew half of this was a vain dream. Even if it was all the Vice Palace Master and some shadowy group's scheme... I don't regret starting this!!"
At his brazen remark, as if his face were made of iron, the Starpoint disciples' expressions, softening slightly at Maeng Yeon's apology, twisted viciously again.
"Hah!! After attempting such atrocities, how can you act so shamelessly!!"
"Barbarian scum without any sense of righteousness...! Aren't you ashamed in front of your subordinates!!"
"Shut your mouths! You hypocrites who used us as shields when the Demonic Cult invaded—don't lecture me on righteousness!! You have no right to invoke human conscience to me!!"
'!!'
At the unexpected bombshell, the disciples mid-denunciation froze.
The Righteous-Demonic Great War.
The worst war in murim history, sparked decades ago by the Demonic Cult's uprising.
The Demonic Cult back then was far more horrific than today, their atrocities evoking disgust even from fellow demonic path followers.
Eventually, after the era's Heavenly Demon returned wounded from a joint assault by righteous experts and was slain by his Left and Right Protectors during recovery, the unprecedented incident occurred.
Only after the remnants who committed all manner of evils under him were excommunicated and banished from the Ten Thousand Great Mountains did the war end.
Yet the Heavenly Demon had spilled so much blood across murim before collapsing.
And the greatest victims were the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace and other outer wildlands factions.
"Think only you suffered!? Our Starpoint Sect took massive losses too..!!"
"Don't pretend you're the same as us, lounging in historic buildings surrounded by treasures!! We lost everything!! The ancient halls steeped in tribal history, relics, ancestors' teachings!! Even the children to carry our future!! All gone!!"
Takmu was now screaming with bloodshot tears.
The reason they could wage extreme guerrilla war against Starpoint Sect was simple.
They had no base to begin with.
After the Demonic Cult invasion razed every structure to ruins, even decades later they relied on simple tents in harsh Southern Barbarian lands.
"Over half our population was massacred, the tribe shattered!! If the Palace Master hadn't tamed the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts to rally the tribes, we'd have vanished long ago!!
What were you, our then-allies, doing while that happened!? You never left your headquarters, just watched from afar-!!!"
At those words, the first-generation disciples vaguely aware of the truth fell silent.
Until the Righteous-Demonic Great War, Starpoint Sect and Southern Barbarian Beast Palace had close ties and an official alliance.
Thus, there was ample reason to aid the devastated Southern Barbarian Beast Palace as allies or humanely.
But Starpoint Sect had most forces dispatched to the Murim Alliance, leaving minimal defense, no spare aid.
The Alliance's united forces prioritized Central Plains defense, ignoring the outer Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
In the end, despite allies nearby, Southern Barbarian Beast Palace was utterly abandoned.
"...Your words ring true. The strong devouring the weak is nature's law."
Without strength, one can't protect ancestral legacies or tribal futures.
Abandoned by allies, not even a peep.
Thus, they dreamed.
A dream of power none could ignore.
"But... now it's time to wake from the dream."
Kill me.
I don't want to live anymore.
As Takmu closed his eyes after those words...
A fist flew from somewhere and smashed his face.
At the unanticipated impact, Takmu involuntarily opened his eyes and beheld.
"What grand bullshit were you spouting... Is that all you've got?"
A boy in just a long robe looked down at the forcibly kneeling him.
"That... that's your reason!? If you knew even a bit of what we lost...!!"
"That's not the point right now!!!"
Baek Hyun's fury-filled shout echoed thunderously.
"Corpses litter the ground from your insane dream! Plenty of your subordinates among them!! Add those who died pointlessly from your schemes so far, way more!!
You pushed all your men off cliffs, piled karma on survivors that'd shame a grand demonic head, and now the lamest you wants to die alone and escape!?
How's your attitude different from a brat throwing a tantrum after trying everything and failing!!? As a faction leader, at least kneel like Yeon and beg for your men's lives!! Don't dump responsibility on them—survive and fix it somehow!!"
And—!!!
-Swish
Mid-shout, Baek Hyun bowed his head lower than the bound, kneeling Takmu's.
"I'm sorry. For failing to live up to your trust back then."
Silence fell as if time had stopped.
Not just acquaintances like Mokheon and Maeng Yeon, but all watching were stunned.
Takmu stared blankly at Baek Hyun's occiput without reaction for a while.
Then, chuckling softly, he spoke.
"You... intend to make me feel smaller than an ant."
-Crack, crunch..!!
With those words, ominous sounds emanated from the bindings around Takmu's body.
As Mokheon sensed danger and reached for his Shoot the Sun Sword...
-Boom..!!
Takmu slammed his forehead into the ground.
Grinding his teeth as if they might shatter.
He spat out a trembling voice filled with rage.
"I and my subordinates... sincerely apologize for the evils we committed against Starpoint. So please..."
Spare our remaining subordinates.
Takmu, who seemed unyielding, smashed his head in utmost humiliation.
Swallowing tears crushing his heart, begging for their lives—at that sight, the other survivors bowed their heads too.
"We're sorry! We were wrong!!"
"We've committed a capital offense...! Our foolishness!! Spare Takmu!!"
At the survivors shedding tears and kowtowing en masse, even the enraged disciples couldn't keep glaring.
Reading the mood, Mokheon walked to Takmu and released his bindings.
"As Starpoint Sect Leader, I accept your apology. Raise your heads."
No matter the apology, bad blood between people can't vanish completely.
But by admitting and apologizing for wrongs.
"Let's talk now."
They can become friends again.