Chapter 234
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 234
Chapter Title: Making the Beggars' Sect Truly Beggarly Again (1)
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The eagerly awaited voting day had arrived.
The very concept of voting was unfamiliar to them.
And it wasn't the traditional Central Plains method of raising hands at general assemblies to show agreement.
The Beggars' Sect members' heads spun from encountering secret ballots—where you simply scribble on a piece of paper alone—the pinnacle of cutting-edge democracy.
Of course, true democracy was impossible in the primitive ancient Central Plains, especially among beggars whose civic awareness wasn't exactly high.
When they entered the polling station,
[Number 1: Vice Leader Unhak]
[Number 2: Deputy Sect Leader Yeonsa Kang]
[Number 3: Fifth Hall Leader Mo Jinpyeong]
ballot boxes awaited, each labeled with the candidates' names and, for the illiterate beggars, kindly adorned with portraits.
All they had to do was drop their specially made coin—their vote—into the box to exercise their right.
Of course,
one portrait was drawn with exquisite detail and benevolence, while the other two bore the unmistakable marks of age.
Still, it was fair enough.
"Don't worry about who's watching. Just drop it in comfortably."
The fact that the Dragon Head Sect Leader himself was overseeing the vote made it all the more impartial.
He might have spoken to Unhak as his master, saying things like 'I'm sorry I couldn't pass it on to you,'
but the Dragon Head Sect Leader had never declared he'd favor anyone.
If the Beggars' Sect members couldn't trust the Dragon Head Sect Leader, who could they trust?
And so, they voted according to their convictions.
Unhak, who shared a bowl of cheap liquor when they were hungry.
Unhak, who gave them straw sandals for their sore feet.
Unhak, who looked after the lowly ones when others only cared for their superiors.
Unhak, who stayed pure and unsullied alone while others wallowed in filth.
I don't know, just Number 1 anyway.
The branch leader said to pick 2, but still 1.
They voted.
Not every Beggars' Sect member did so, of course.
Some held firm to the belief that a young punk with no gray hairs couldn't possibly be sect leader, no matter the cheap liquor or sandals.
Others distrusted the secrecy of the secret ballot and simply followed their superiors' lead.
But they were all Beggars' Sect members nonetheless.
Watching them,
'These guys are all mad as hell.'
the Dragon Head Sect Leader suddenly recalled Geum Sihyeon's words.
At the final meeting to iron out voting details, Geum Sihyeon had whispered carefully so Unhak wouldn't hear.
—The people dropping the votes can't change a thing. The ones counting them can change everything.
He hadn't grasped it at first.
But now he understood perfectly.
With just a glare or a gesture toward the ballot box,
which Beggars' Sect member wouldn't follow him?
Is this... right...?
But with so little time left to him, he had no room to debate right and wrong.
He only wished the heavens would grant him respite for just this one day.
* * *
"Hoo..."
As if the commotion outside had nothing to do with him, Unhak sat cross-legged, internalizing his master's final teachings.
Remote Power Transmission.
A secret art that could impart not just internal energy but even enlightenment, premised on the upper dantian being fully open.
Of course, it came at a steep price.
None other than life force.
And so,
"Sect Leader, please. I don't want to..."
Unhak refused.
Of course, he knew full well his master's life was entering its final twilight.
No matter that Geum Sihyeon was the Life and Death Divine Doctor—even he couldn't save someone fated to die.
He had merely neutralized the accumulated impurities in the body over long years and ignited innate true energy to grasp the fraying thread of the soul.
But,
the life thus gained should be entirely his master's own.
Not one sacrificed for his disciple.
He had lived his whole life for the Beggars' Sect.
Unhak wanted him to live these final moments for himself.
Yet,
"Unhak."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"My life is already over. Only two lingering regrets keep me here—what disciple wouldn't resolve his master's regrets?"
Facing the transcendent Dragon Head Sect Leader's visage,
Unhak felt sorrow mingled with an overwhelming sense of responsibility.
After a long silence, Unhak finally voiced the question he'd never dared utter since becoming his disciple.
"...Why me?"
But,
the Dragon Head Sect Leader gave no answer, merely grasping Unhak's hand tightly.
No further words passed between them.
.
.
.
A moment later.
The door opened.
Unhak's eyes, lost in meditation, opened, and the Dragon Head Sect Leader's face—unchanged from yesterday—appeared.
"Come out, Vice Leader."
Unable to fully sort the whirlwind of emotions in his heart, Unhak awkwardly followed the Dragon Head Sect Leader out.
The space wasn't vast enough for all voters to sit, but the Beggars' Sect headquarters' grand training ground was packed with countless members, each with their knots tied at their waists.
The air there thrummed with heat on the verge of explosion.
Unhak awkwardly joined the other candidates—the Deputy Sect Leader and Fifth Hall Leader—sitting in a row.
"Welcome."
"You can focus in this situation? Impressive."
Courteous greetings were exchanged, but none held the old warmth.
No, that warmth had vanished the moment he became Vice Leader.
As he inwardly sighed at the weight of it,
"I now announce the next Dragon Head Sect Leader. I personally oversaw the voting, and all division leaders tallied the results together. No objections to the process or outcome will be entertained."
Under the solemn declaration, silence fell over all.
The Dragon Head Sect Leader took the paper with the results from Discipline Elder Taepyeonggae and unfolded it.
"The votes were closely split. A near tie... but even a slim margin reveals where the sect members' hearts truly lie."
Taking a deep breath,
"The will of the Beggars' Sect falls to Vice Leader Unhak! Unhak, step forward!"
With the Dragon Head Sect Leader's proclamation, thunderous cheers erupted.
"What are you waiting for? Go on."
Only at the Deputy Sect Leader's prodding, his expression calmly settled, did Unhak finally grasp the reality.
Even so, it felt like walking on clouds as he slowly advanced.
Until his eyes met the gaze of the Dragon Head Sect Leader, who held the Emerald Jade Staff—the symbol of leadership.
He had already mastered the Droplet Subduing 18 Palms.
Thanks to the teachings, he had internalized the essence of the Drunk Eight Immortal Steps and Dragon Subduing 18 Palms.
Yet the Emerald Jade Staff was something else entirely.
Its mere presence symbolized the authority of the Beggars' Sect Leader.
I swear to the heavens, Unhak had never imagined this moment.
For in his heart, the man before him was the eternal Dragon Head Sect Leader.
But time flows on.
Even when they first met, the Dragon Head Sect Leader had lived many years, enough to call him elderly—but now, deathly pallor overshadowed his vitality.
Only now did Unhak feel the weight of those years.
One more step.
He knelt.
The Dragon Head Sect Leader cried something, handing him the Emerald Jade Staff, but the words didn't register.
He simply,
"I will do my utmost."
repeated what he must say here, aloud and in his heart.
.
.
.
The celebration ended.
Enthusiastic cheers for a new future clashed faintly with uneasy sighs dreading the uncertain tomorrow.
Through all that fervor,
the Dragon Head Sect Leader stood firm at his post.
Even as the elders and division leaders directed the orderly dispersal from headquarters, beyond Kaifeng, to inform all members who hadn't attended,
the Dragon Head Sect Leader remained seated in meditation, unmoving.
"Master?"
Unhak cautiously approached.
A faint breath, like a slender thread of life, brushed his cheek.
"You—you all—are the future."
With that answer to yesterday's question,
the Dragon Head Sect Leader smiled faintly.
As his final breath escaped like wind,
Unhak embraced the father who had raised him.
* * *
The day of the Dragon Head Sect Leader's funeral.
"The Justice Gate will not recognize the Vice Leader as Sect Leader."
The Deputy Sect Leader,
and Yeonsa Kang of the Azure Heaven Society, played their final card.
And.
"Knew it."
"—!"
"—."
Against the backdrop of assassins' silent agony as they endured full-body tendon-tearing and bone-crushing torment,
the righteous hero who had refrained from sabotaging democracy like swapping ballot boxes,
Geum Sihyeon smirked coldly.
He had secured ample justification.
And ample evidence against the enemy.
For the Deputy Sect Leader and Justice Gate, entangled with the Azure Heaven Society, it could have been grounds to tuck tail and submit.
But they hadn't.
In the end,
blood had to be spilled.
"Now, Great Hero Division Leader, Flower Division Leader. Decide. Remain as Great Hero Division Leader and Flower Division Leader, or as Jang Gu-sam and Mo Jinpyeong of the Azure Heaven Society?"
They had received relatively humane treatment compared to the assassins.
But still, gazing at the two Beggars' Sect elders shackled in iron chains, all acupoints sealed,
Geum Sihyeon issued his ultimatum.
Their response was, predictably,
"I—I'm a Beggars' Sect man...!"
"I'll quit that damn Azure Heaven Society right now...!"
"J-just give me a chance, and I'll lead the charge against the Deputy Sect Leader! Please!"
a thorough surrender.
Of course, when first abducted by Geum Sihyeon, they had raised their voices defiantly.
But ever since the Life and Death Needles pierced their acupoints—the martial art he'd gained from the Northern Bright Secret Archive after aiding the Moyong Family—
they had no choice but to cooperate fully.
With thousands of mosquitoes unleashed inside their acupoints, enduring that would qualify them as superhuman in endurance.
Unfortunately, these two elders preferred fondling courtesans' breasts over wine to such feats of patience.
"Good. No more outbreaks for the next three days, and the Lonely Poison's already handled... I trust you'll behave. As for the main poison, detox it if you can."
Geum Sihyeon released the two elders, who appeared perfectly fine on the surface.
Droplets of undisguised fear in their eyes, they bowed repeatedly as they fled the warehouse.
Watching their retreating backs, Geum Sihyeon stretched.
"Snap the Life and Death Needles—normalize the Beggars' Sect—"
Humming a tune, he changed into prepared ragged clothes, rolled on the floor a few times to get dusty, and meticulously altered his face with Bone Shrinking Art.
Human Geum Sihyeon could only speak truth.
So, for Beggar Geum Sihyeon, his alias...
"How about Blustering Beggar?"