Chapter 340
Chapter 340
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 340
>Chapter Title: Righteousness (2)
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Why was this?
Even though her mind was screaming at her to draw her sword, the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol's hand remained frozen on the hilt, unable to move.
‘Have I, an elder of the Emei Sect, been struck with fear…?’
She had joined the raid on the Tang Clan stronghold in Sichuan, renowned for its poisons, and fought in the battle that razed the Blood Religion's headquarters.
Yet before the aura pouring from this masked man standing right in front of her, her body simply refused to budge for some reason.
Contrary to the rationality urging her to draw her sword at once, her instincts were shrieking in protest.
That the man's words were no lie.
That the moment she drew her sword, she would truly die.
A fleeting moment passed, one so brief it could slip by unnoticed.
Then, a bead of cold sweat trickled down from the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol's forehead.
The very instant that drop of sweat slid past her chin and fell through the air to splatter on the ground.
"Both of you, please calm yourselves."
Huangbo Yeon stepped forward to mediate, placing herself between them.
At that, the pressure bearing down on the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol vanished like a mirage.
Huangbo Yeon hadn't pushed it back. In a move ghostly swift, Il-mok had simply withdrawn his aura in an instant.
‘…The martial display during the duel was merely the tip of the iceberg.’
Newly awed by the masked man's prowess, Huangbo Yeon quickly gathered her wits and pressed on with what she had to do.
"I am Huangbo Yeon of the Huangbo Clan. True Person Qingmu and Exalted Nun Mieoljeol may recall—we fought together in the war against the Blood Religion."
"Ah, so Sword Peak is here as well."
As True Person Qingmu forced a casual greeting, the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol, having regained her composure, spoke to Huangbo Yeon.
"While we waged war against that Blood Religion, these vile scum were sucking the common folk dry! Sword Peak fought in that war too, so you must understand how wicked they are!"
Even after nearly dying, the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol found her spirits lifted with an ally at hand.
Unfortunately, Huangbo Yeon had no intention of meeting those expectations.
"As Exalted Nun Mieoljeol says, if they truly preyed on the common folk, then of course I would stand with you."
"…What do you mean by that, Sword Peak? It sounds like you might side with them."
"It wouldn't make sense to punish the innocent, would it?"
"…Do you really think that's something a comrade who fought alongside us in the Blood Religion war would say?"
To the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol's question, Huangbo Yeon replied firmly.
"Isn't discerning right from wrong with fairness more important than the bonds of battle we shared?"
"Hah. Is that truly the Huangbo Clan's stance?"
Huangbo Yeon hesitated briefly at the question but soon answered with a proud expression.
"It's my decision alone. But I take pride in the fact that I'm no longer some green novice relying merely on my clan's name."
Even the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol could not bring herself to contradict those resolute words.
To call her a novice at just over thirty, when she had reached the transcendent realm, would be no different from admitting one's own folly.
"…Very well, then. We'll see for ourselves whether they truly cared for the common folk or just bled them dry."
The Exalted Nun Mieoljeol glared at Huangbo Yeon and Il-mok behind her, then turned on her heel and left without so much as a farewell.
The Emei nuns followed after her, and True Person Qingmu departed next, his face a mask of complicated emotions as he chanted a Taoist invocation.
"Infinite Buddha."
Only after the nuns and Taoists had vanished from sight.
Huangbo Yeon turned to Il-mok with a troubled look.
"Hero. I'm worried you chose too dangerous a method."
"Dangerous method? I haven't the foggiest what you mean."
"Was it necessary to intimidate Exalted Nun Mieoljeol like that?"
At Huangbo Yeon's question, Il-mok let out a scoffing laugh.
"It was merely a clash of spirits. They've spent their lives intimidating others under the Emei Sect's banner. To converse as equals, we first had to strip away that arrogance."
"So you never intended to kill her from the start?"
To Huangbo Yeon's question, Il-mok offered nothing but a faint smile.
His eyes remained unchanged beneath the mask, but the upturned corner of his mouth spoke volumes, and Huangbo Yeon felt she knew the answer without words.
It was an odd sensation.
This man who had been so kind to the common folk showed not the slightest hesitation when it came to killing.
‘…Come to think of it, he was the same when we first met.’
As she recalled her first encounter with the incarnation of Maitreya, Il-mok suddenly clasped his hands in a formal greeting toward her.
"My thanks for intervening in the fight. Had Sword Peak not stepped in, a storm of blood would have swept this place."
Huangbo Yeon nearly let out an incredulous laugh despite herself.
The words sounded like gratitude for sparing lives, yet the implication was the precise opposite.
‘Had I not intervened, they might all have been slaughtered.’
It was almost laughable.
The departing Emei and Qingcheng folk seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that they had thrust their heads into a tiger's jaws and somehow emerged alive.
"I merely did what needed doing."
"Needed or not, it's a thorny matter. The Huangbo Clan belongs to the Martial Alliance, just like them."
"…I held back for the sake of mediation myself. Qingcheng may be one thing, but Emei's conduct left much to be desired."
As Huangbo Yeon subtly revealed her true feelings, Il-mok concealed his intrigue and asked gravely.
"Has something happened between the Huangbo Clan and Emei? If it's too sensitive to share, I apologize for my rudeness."
"It's no clash between clan and sect. Merely my personal impression."
Huangbo Yeon glanced briefly in the direction the Emei nuns had gone before continuing.
"In the Sichuan Hidden Valley Blood Massacre, the Tang Clan was undeniably at great fault, yet Emei hounded only them to the bitter end. Even as the common folk were slaughtered by the Blood Religion, revenge came first for them."
Huangbo Yeon wore a bitter expression as she turned back to Il-mok.
"And it was the same afterward. They hid away under the pretext of stabilizing their war-torn sect, only poking their heads out at the final battle to claim the glory."
"…I hesitate to say it, but for a so-called upright orthodox sect, that's awfully petty."
"Petty. Hahaha. You're likely the only one bold enough to describe Emei that way, Hero."
After lightly bantering with the incarnation of Maitreya, Huangbo Yeon grew serious once more and asked.
"But are you sure you'll be all right? If I may be so bold, should the Maitreya Cult have exploited the common folk, I would side with them."
At what was more warning than caution, Il-mok chuckled dryly.
"I'm the one who's worried. About what vicious schemes they'll cook up to fabricate crimes that don't exist."
"…Surely they wouldn't go so far as to invent guilt from nothing."
To Huangbo Yeon's question, Il-mok replied only with a smile, saying nothing more.
‘Righteous though she is, an orthodox faction is still an orthodox faction.’
Unlike Il-mok himself, she seemed to believe that even the righteous sects wouldn't cross that final line.
* * *
Qingcheng and Emei.
Both sects had suffered grievous wounds.
In the Sichuan Hidden Valley Blood Massacre, they had lost many promising young disciples to the Tang Clan and Blood Religion alike, and in the subsequent wars against each, they lost yet more elites.
Yet as the saying goes, even if a rich family falls on hard times, three generations must pass before ruin sets in. Despite such heavy losses, the two sects remained the strongest powers in Sichuan.
But they could not be content with the current state of affairs.
Their sects had weakened only in the span of a few short years of successive battles, and they remembered their former glory all too well.
Thus, Emei and Qingcheng formed a temporary alliance.
While they waged war, rogue martial artists and dark path wanderers had swelled their ranks across Sichuan. The two sects aimed to eradicate them and divide the province between themselves.
Originally divided among three powers including the Tang Clan stronghold, once the purge was complete, they expected to emerge as even greater sects.
Taking Chengdu—the provincial capital where the Tang Clan had its roots—as their base, they began sweeping away the so-called rogue martial artists and dark path forces.
That is, not those who claimed the dark path for themselves, but anyone they arbitrarily branded as such, driving them out wherever they found them.
Of course, as self-proclaimed orthodox sects, the two didn't immediately resort to blades.
Just as they had with the Maitreya Cult, they politely admonished them with words and sent them packing.
The problem arose when some foolishly rejected that kindness and defied them.
Like the Maitreya Cult now.
"What shall we do?"
At True Person Qingmu's question, the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol snapped irritably.
"Why ask the obvious? We handle it just like before, of course."
"With Sword Peak of the Huangbo Clan watching?"
"Tch."
The Exalted Nun Mieoljeol clicked her tongue in annoyance before replying.
"Sword Peak said it herself. If they were sucking the common folk dry, she'd stand with us."
"…Then I suppose we should first instruct our disciples to check on the villagers."
Having reached a decision, they dispatched their disciples to scour Guangyuan County and the villages and counties under Maitreya Cult influence, gathering intelligence.
The reports that returned were absurd, to say the least.
"…No village reports having money taken by force?"
"Not only no takings—they've shared food, prescribed medicine, and even taught letters to the illiterate."
At his disciple's report, True Person Qingmu sank into deep thought.
‘They seem every bit an orthodox sect. Is attacking them truly the righteous path?’
To be sure, among those Qingcheng and Emei had driven out, some had claimed to be orthodox.
But even those minor sects had collected coin from the common folk, however little.
As recompense for protection from the dark path.
Emei and Qingcheng were no different. The only distinction was framing it as "donations" rather than "transactions."
So where on earth did these people get the funds to dispense such charity?
Pondering alone yielded no answers, so True Person Qingmu consulted the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol once more.
"Hmph. Obvious enough. One of two things. Either they terrorized the villagers into lying, or they're fronting borrowed funds to play the good Samaritans—only to squeeze out even more later. A con artist's classic ploy."
"……."
True Person Qingmu had a gut feeling it was neither.
But voicing that would only spark an argument with the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol, so he pointed out another issue.
"Whether the villagers were coerced or they're con men, the problem is we have no evidence."
Deep down, True Person Qingmu wanted an excuse to bow out of this mess.
With Sword Peak's intervention, the sect leader and other elders would surely understand.
But the Exalted Nun Mieoljeol's response that followed made him realize something was amiss.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a smile curled her lips.
"Since they're villains either way, we just make the evidence we need."
A smile more serpentine than befitting a Buddhist disciple.