Chapter 72
Chapter 72
The Martial Alliance Leader
As Namgung Myung reevaluated Se-woon's worth in his mind—
The faint hostility in his gaze swiftly transformed into the piercing stare of a hawk eyeing its prey.
'If this is the case...'
Adjusting his plans according to the changed circumstances, Namgung Myung immediately took action.
His icy gaze shifted toward one person.
"Hmm, it seems all misunderstandings regarding Clan Leader Tang have been cleared. What do you think, Clan Leader Hwangbo?"
"......Excuse me?"
Caught off guard by the sudden call, Hwangbo Geon blinked rapidly as he stared at Namgung Myung.
"Oh? Are you trying to back out now?"
"N-No! What are you—?"
"Clan Leader Tang demonstrated the abilities of the Divine Artifact himself and resolved the misunderstanding, yet you persisted in dragging this out, leading to this situation!"
"?!?!"
Hwangbo Geon was so dumbfounded he couldn't even muster a response.
What the hell was this absurd situation?
He had only acted as instructed.
Why was the blame suddenly being shifted onto him?
In that moment, Namgung Myung turned to Se-woon with a warmth starkly contrasting his earlier demeanor and continued.
"Sigh, I imagine Clan Leader Tang must have been greatly startled. I was worried."
"......I am fine. Thank you for your consideration, Clan Leader Namgung."
"Hehe, how could I stand by and watch a junior in distress?"
The revised plan's direction was clear.
Se-woon, who could secure the vote of the neutral Mount Hua faction and was the closest to inheriting the title of Divine Craftsman—
Namgung Myung intended to pull him into his own faction.
Only then did Hwangbo Geon belatedly realize the truth.
'A scapegoat!'
Namgung Myung's gaze silently pressured him.
Take the fall.
That was the unspoken command.
Sacrificing Hwangbo Geon to leave a favorable impression on Se-woon.
"Hah, I don't know what grudge drove you to such actions, but in my opinion, regardless of circumstances, Clan Leader Hwangbo should personally apologize to Clan Leader Tang."
"!!"
"Y-Yes."
"Ahem. We, too, nearly fell for Clan Leader Hwangbo's words and wronged an innocent pillar of the future."
Following Namgung Myung's lead, the elders—excluding Qingcheng Faction's Juk Seong-ja—all voiced their agreement.
Cornered, Hwangbo Geon's face flushed red and then paled.
......Apologize to that brat?
The last heir of the fallen Tang Clan, bowing to the head of the prestigious Hwangbo family?
'Namgung Myung! How dare you!'
His pride refused to allow it.
Hwangbo Geon glared at Namgung Myung with eyes brimming with fury.
But—
"What are you doing?"
"......!"
Namgung Myung's response was brief.
Just two words.
The moment Hwangbo Geon met Namgung Myung's gaze—cold as the northern winds—his anger dissipated without a trace.
'Damn it...'
What filled the void was nothing but fear and terror.
Filthy and pathetic as it was, he had no choice.
The moment the Namgung family turned its back on him, the Hwangbo family would vanish from the martial world overnight.
For the first time, he regretted his decision to become Namgung's hunting dog.
And so—
"......Kgh, my... apologies. This was entirely my misjudgment..."
With a despairing expression, Hwangbo Geon bowed his head and began to offer a wretched apology—
Creak.
"?!"
Suddenly, the doors of Azure Dragon Hall swung open again.
Due to the earlier commotion, the elders whipped their heads around with expressions that screamed, What now?
Only to exhale in relief.
Entering was an Enforcement Hall warrior who had gone to retrieve another Divine Artifact from the forge.
......But something was off.
Why was he just standing there, frozen?
The warrior stood rigid as a statue, gripping a sword in both hands.
Now that they looked closer, his face was deathly pale.
"Good work. I'll take that."
Then, a deep voice spoke from behind the warrior as a figure stepped forward.
"!!"
"—!!"
Everyone in the hall, including Se-woon, was stunned by the unexpected arrival.
"A-Alliance Leader?"
"Why is the Alliance Leader here...?!"
Indeed. The one who had appeared was none other than the Martial Alliance Leader—
Sword Emperor Yoo Jin-hak.
He had returned to the Alliance far earlier than planned.
At that moment, Hwangbo Geon's eyes gleamed with hope.
This was his chance.
If he could expose Se-woon's absurd lie about the Alliance Leader personally assigning him a mission, the situation could be overturned.
"You've arrived at the perfect time, Alliance Leader!! Clan Leader Tang here has been—"
Hwangbo Geon's mouth clamped shut like a clam.
The Alliance Leader's merciless gaze locked onto him.
'Kgh—!'
Words failed him. An overwhelming pressure crushed him, making it hard to even breathe.
Not just Hwangbo Geon—everyone in the hall was bewildered.
Yoo Jin-hak's aura was entirely unlike his usual self.
His expression was devoid of warmth, his presence sharp as a blade.
'This is unusual.'
Only Se-woon remained composed.
He instantly recognized that Yoo Jin-hak had encountered something extraordinary during his absence.
Rewinding time.
One day earlier.
Caw, caw.
The cries of crows echoed eerily through the mountains.
Beneath the circling flock, as if searching for prey—
"......."
Yoo Jin-hak stood with a hardened expression.
The benevolent smile he had always worn for Se-woon was nowhere to be seen.
His eyes burned with barely restrained fury as he surveyed the devastation of a burned-out village.
Rustle.
Walking through the ruins, Yoo Jin-hak bent down and picked up an object from the ground.
A porcelain doll.
Half charred black, half shattered.
The doll's once-colorful face had melted under the flames, leaving streaks resembling bloody tears.
Psssh.
As his energy touched it, the doll crumbled into dust.
Yoo Jin-hak sank into thought.
'......This place is no different.'
Outwardly, it appeared as if a lightning strike had sparked a fire that consumed the entire village.
The villagers below the mountain had also dismissed it as a natural disaster, claiming the entire population had perished overnight.
But Yoo Jin-hak knew better.
Appearances were deceiving.
This was unmistakably the scene of a horrific massacre.
Since Dokma's reappearance, one suspicion had lingered in Yoo Jin-hak's mind.
If Dokma, believed dead, had survived—
Could others have as well?
For the past two months, he and Jegal Hoon had secretly investigated.
They revisited every major and minor bloodshed case—those left unresolved due to lack of evidence or deemed not worth the resources.
And—
As time passed, suspicion turned to certainty.
-......Alliance Leader. Our projections suggest at least twenty—no, even more—Great Demon Heads may still be alive.
Jegal Hoon's face was ashen as he spoke.
Great Demon Heads referred to demonic practitioners at least at the early stages of the Mystic Realm.
If over twenty such beings were lurking in the shadows...
Even combining the forces of the Martial Alliance and the Evil Faction, the number of Mystic Realm martial artists among them would be fewer.
While they had been lulled into complacency by peace—
A sinister undercurrent had been flowing beneath the martial world.
An incident of this scale couldn't be mere coincidence.
Thus, Yoo Jin-hak and Jegal Hoon theorized that an 'unknown force' was systematically aiding these resurrections and erasing traces.
But this unknown force was terrifyingly meticulous.
The deeper they dug, the more they felt lost in an impenetrable fog.
Just as they grasped a clue, it vanished like smoke.
Yet Yoo Jin-hak refused to give up.
Even as the elders accused him of neglecting his duties, he pressed on.
After relentless effort, they uncovered that a mysterious merchant group had commissioned the villagers to gather poisonous herbs.
These herbs had been delivered to Dokma's cave. Or rather, had been delivered.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, Yoo Jin-hak halted and focused his energy into his eyes.
His innate Golden Pure Eyes weren't just for discerning hearts.
As his sun-gold irises scanned the surroundings—
Swoosh!
Over the ashes and soot of the village—
The final moments of the villagers superimposed themselves before him.
This wasn't time reversal.
Merely reconstructing the deceased's last moments by synthesizing countless traces.
But through the Golden Pure Eyes, previously unseen details became clear.
'Even in the agony of burning alive, not a single one resisted.'
Indeed. Every corpse had died peacefully.
No matter how sudden the lightning strike or how fierce the fire, it was impossible for everyone to perish without even waking.
Burning alive was among the most excruciating pains a human could endure.
Another anomaly stood out.
Yoo Jin-hak's frown deepened.
'None of the bodies are children's.'
The disappearance of boys and girls was one of the most ominous signs in the martial world.
Many forbidden rituals required sacrificing children.
The merchant group had vanished like a mirage.
The adults had all perished in the flames.
The children were missing.
Yoo Jin-hak exhaled sharply and steeled himself.
'......If they've harmed even a single hair on those children, I will not let it stand.'
He would execute every last one responsible for this atrocity.
The absence of children's bodies meant they had been abducted.
Yoo Jin-hak searched for traces of their movement at the village's edge.
But there were none.
No trampled grass, no footprints.
He focused on scent.
If the children had been taken amid the flames, the smell of smoke would have clung to their clothes.
Yet no trace lingered anywhere.
'Wait. No scent at all?'
Then, Se-woon flashed through Yoo Jin-hak's mind.
Mountain Fragrance Water.
The Divine Artifact of the Divine Thief, rumored to have been used by Dokma.
'What if Dokma wasn't the only one with Mountain Fragrance Water?'
If the unknown force had supplied it to all the Demon Heads—
It would explain why no traces of the abduction remained.
'He sought the scentless.'
Recalling the line about Se-woon from the Alliance's reports—
Yoo Jin-hak, having reached the pinnacle of the Mystic Realm, began replicating Se-woon's method.
Expanding his senses outward, he pursued the scentless.
Even for him, this was no easy feat.
As his sense of smell heightened to its limit, countless scents assaulted him like arrows.
Isolating one among them was disorientingly difficult.
But soon—
'......Found it!'
He succeeded in tracking the enemy's traces.
Amid the infinite scents of nature, he pinpointed the artificial one perfectly.
New realizations flooded him, but Yoo Jin-hak set them aside.
'Tang Se-woon... How did a mere twenty-year-old grasp such insights...?'
Though questions about Se-woon surged, he forced them down.
Now wasn't the time.
From then on, Yoo Jin-hak pursued the scentless trail of Mountain Fragrance Water.
And finally—
He discovered a hidden cave deep in the mountains.
'......No children.'
Regrettably, the cave held neither the children nor the enemy.
Only signs of their recent departure.
With the trail cold, Yoo Jin-hak couldn't hide his bitterness.
Just as he thought it was over—
Plip.
A droplet of water echoed through the cave.
Turning, Yoo Jin-hak saw a small pond.
"!!"
His eyes widened in realization.
Activating his movement technique, he dashed to the pond.
Despite the droplet's fall, the water's surface remained perfectly still.
Like a mirror, undisturbed by ripples.
Yoo Jin-hak recognized this phenomenon from a tale once told by the Divine Maiden Sect Leader.
'The Water-Moon Mirror technique!'
A spell bridging distant places through water.
The Water-Moon Mirror allowed communication across vast distances.
A glint flashed in Yoo Jin-hak's eyes.
'Residual energy remains. If I pour all my power into it...!'
He could briefly seize control of the spell.
Thud.
Kneeling, he placed both hands on the pond's surface.
Whoosh!
Channeling every ounce of his energy into the spell—
Rumble!
The pitch-black water shimmered blue.
Then, words surfaced on the water.
[Alliance. Rat. Contact.]
The Alliance's spy had made contact.
[Plan. Ready. Complete.]
The grand scheme was prepared.
[Target......]
The target was......
Screech!
Grrr!
Suddenly, as if sensing Yoo Jin-hak's intrusion—
Bubble!
The water boiled like lava.
Quake!
Simultaneously, the cave trembled violently as if struck by an earthquake.
The cavern was collapsing.
Crash!
Yoo Jin-hak blasted out using his movement technique.
As he fled, he burned the final two characters into his mind.
[Target. Kaifeng. Seal.]
'—The target is Kaifeng!'
The Martial Alliance—
No, Kaifeng was in danger.