Chapter 366
Chapter 366
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 366
>Chapter Title: Truth (6)
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“…….”
The gathered crowd all stared at Il-mok’s face with expressions as if their words had been choked off.
It was because a youthful face, utterly mismatched with his skill level, had been revealed.
But their shock was a bit premature.
When Il-mok opened his mouth next, an even greater impact crashed over them.
“I am Il-mok, the youngest disciple of the late Heavenly Demon, Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi, who ascended to the heavens.”
Everyone was left dumbfounded by the shocking true identity of the incarnation of Maitreya.
Even information about the Heavenly Demon’s youngest disciple was something scarcely known in the Central Plains.
Only the Beggar Clan’s Chief and the Rear Elder, who were well-informed, had heard vague rumors.
Over a dozen years ago, the Heavenly Demon had taken a youngest disciple, and within the Divine Cult’s territory, rumors swirled that he was a genius—that was the extent of their knowledge.
Right then.
“You filthy Demonic Cult bastard! So you’ve been deceiving us all this time!!”
Out of nowhere, the Qingcheng Sect Leader roared and swung his sword at Il-mok.
His face was twisted in rage.
The founder of the Qingcheng Sect had originally been a disciple of the Kunlun Sect, which had been wiped out by the Demonic Cult long ago.
From the start, Qingcheng and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were mortal enemies, and now realizing they’d been tricked, his fury was beyond words.
As Il-mok lightly twisted his body to evade the Qingcheng Sect Leader’s ambush.
Daoist Qingmu had already drawn his sword and joined to assist the Leader.
When the fight broke out inside, Jin Ha-yeon and the others standing guard as Protectors smashed through the windows and doors to rush in.
But.
“Stand down.”
Even as Il-mok faced off against the two swordsmen at once, he ordered them not to intervene.
The righteous faction experts, who had each raised their internal energy in preparation for battle upon their intrusion, also halted their movements to watch the situation first.
It was a chaotic sequence of events, and above all, not the slightest killing intent emanated from Il-mok as he faced the Qingcheng Daoists.
In contrast, the Qingcheng Sect Leader, radiating killing intent without end, thrust his sword forward, but Il-mok instantly deflected it using the principles of flow.
The Qingcheng Sect Leader’s stance wavered, blocking the joint attack from Daoist Qingmu’s sword path.
“Urk.”
As Daoist Qingmu hurriedly withdrew his sword path, Il-mok slipped into his guard with a sudden charge and sealed his pressure points.
He had easily subdued him by exploiting the Sect Leader, who was several levels below Daoist Qingmu.
“Die!!”
Next, the enraged Sect Leader bellowed and charged at Il-mok, but he was no match.
Thud.
In just three exchanges, Il-mok sealed the Qingcheng Sect Leader’s acupoints as well.
As the righteous warriors wore complicated expressions at this absurd skill unbecoming of his age, the subdued Daoist Qingmu cried out.
“You bastard!! So it was you who deceived us to seal off the Emei Sect!!”
Daoist Qingmu’s rage was considerable, having trusted the Cult of Maitreya.
At his shout, Il-mok replied with a stern expression.
“When we were the Cult of Maitreya, we sinned against Emei, but if we are the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, does that mean we have no sins against Emei?”
As Daoist Qingmu faltered at the question, this time the Sect Leader bellowed.
“Do you think we’ve forgotten what you did in the past! Even if Emei are sinners, do you think we wouldn’t know you’re plotting something nefarious!”
“If parents are murderers, must all their children be killed too? Is that truly the way of the Qingcheng Sect?”
For some reason, after asking the Qingcheng Sect Leader that, Il-mok turned to look at Hwang Bo-yeon.
“Lord Gwon-bong, didn’t you tell me? That even if Emei’s elders were wrong, it’s not right to kill all the young disciples too. Yet, we must bear the sins of our ancestors from hundreds of years ago, while showing mercy to Emei’s children? Is that truly the way of the righteous factions?”
“T-That’s….”
Hwang Bo-yeon couldn’t easily answer Il-mok’s question.
As her thoughts tangled in complexity and her mind grew dizzy, her inner demons crept right up to her nose.
“Pull yourself together.”
Just then, her father, Hwang Bo-ak, pressed his palm to her back and infused his internal energy to stabilize hers.
At that moment, the Taiji Sword Immortal stepped forward.
He gazed at Il-mok with a complicated expression.
‘The disciple of a monster is a monster, it seems.’
Taiji Sword Immortal Wu Hezi. In his life, there was only one time he had witnessed the previous Heavenly Demon, Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi, right before his eyes.
It was on the day his grandmaster—the true Supreme Sword of Wudang—was about to ascend to immortality.
* * *
The grandmaster of Wu Hezi, who earned the empty title of Taiji Sword Immortal, was a swordsman who had reached lofty heights, but rather than venturing into the martial world, he devoted himself solely to cultivating the sword and the Dao in the depths of Mount Wudang.
On the day that grandmaster faced death.
Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi visited his hermitage.
As the Taiji Sword Immortal blocked him, he instinctively realized.
The one standing before him was a colossal mountain—and a colossal evil.
The moment the Taiji Sword Immortal steeled himself for death to exchange blows with him, a feeble voice came from behind.
“Hezi. He’s an old friend of mine, so step aside.”
The Taiji Sword Immortal was utterly flustered. For his great grandmaster to call the Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult a friend.
As the Taiji Sword Immortal dazedly stepped aside.
“The insolence of pointing your sword at me—I’ll overlook it for the sake of my friendship with your friend.”
With those words, Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi passed by the Taiji Sword Immortal and conversed with the Supreme Sword of Wudang.
The two old masters merely exchanged casual words, but the atmosphere made them seem like bosom friends to anyone watching.
After conversing for just the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi left the hermitage.
“Hezi.”
Only then did his grandmaster call the Taiji Sword Immortal inside.
“Don’t chase empty teachings—look at the world with your own eyes. Even among those who call themselves righteous, there are wicked ones mixed in, and even in places called Demonic Cults, there are those who can be reasoned with.”
The Supreme Sword of Wudang spoke as if teaching a child. To Wu Hezi, who was already past sixty and called the Taiji Sword Immortal.
“You mean the Heavenly Demon is someone who can be reasoned with?”
“Hahaha. You saw it with your own eyes and still can’t believe it?”
“…….”
As the speechless Taiji Sword Immortal shut his mouth, the Supreme Sword of Wudang brought up an unexpected topic.
“This is a story from when this old man was young, chasing empty fame instead of the Dao in my youthful folly.”
With those words, the Supreme Sword of Wudang began recounting his first encounter with Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi.
He had misunderstood him while he was helping commoners, drawn his sword and attacked, only to be thoroughly beaten in return.
“Hahaha. And so, this old man ended up learning about the Dao from that Demonic Cult dog. Isn’t it ridiculous?”
“…….”
To deny it would be to reject his grandmaster’s teachings, to affirm it would be to call his grandmaster ridiculous, so the Taiji Sword Immortal could say nothing.
“Hezi, do you know why this old man shut himself in this remote hermitage, devoting himself only to the sword and the Dao?”
“…Because you reached a high level of the Dao and realized empty fame is meaningless?”
The Supreme Sword of Wudang shook his head.
“In my youth, it was because of my foolish heart. I wanted revenge on that Demonic Cult bastard at least once, so I gritted my teeth and swung my sword.”
“…….”
“But as I trained my sword every day and occasionally met that man again to exchange blows, at some point, I simply found joy in clashing swords and conversing with him.”
“…….”
“So I kept training my sword. To continue exchanging blows with him. And to ensure no innocents shed blood.”
Wu Hezi quietly listened to his grandmaster. He never imagined his grandmaster, who only trained the sword in a remote hermitage on Mount Wudang, had such a backstory.
But the final words didn’t quite make sense, so he asked again.
“What do you mean, to ensure no one sheds blood?”
“Heh heh heh. The man who taught me one day became the heaven of the Demonic Cult. Having become the heaven of the Demonic Cult, how could he ignore the wishes of its followers? So I must provide him a pretext, no? A pretext so he can’t recklessly venture into the Central Plains. Unlike me, that damned monk thinks differently, which is a pity.”
“…….”
As Wu Hezi quietly closed his mouth at the unexpected tale, the Supreme Sword of Wudang spoke again.
“Hezi. Don’t be swayed by twisted words—establish your own standards. The branches and leaves of a great tree sway easily in the slightest breeze, but the roots remain firm. The same goes for Wudang’s sword. To embody softness, firm roots are needed.”
True to a Wudang swordsman, the Supreme Sword of Wudang left his final teaching on the sword to the Taiji Sword Immortal as his last words.
* * *
At the time, the Taiji Sword Immortal, who had just entered the initial stage of the Profound Realm, reflected deeply on his grandmaster’s teachings and had now become one of the top five experts even among the Twelve Heavenly Lords.
Yet, he never imagined he would encounter that Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi’s youngest disciple here.
The reason the Taiji Sword Immortal watched without aiding the Qingcheng swordsmen was because of his grandmaster’s final words.
Instead of rash action, to judge with his own eyes.
“It’s not right to foist the sins of ancestors onto their descendants. We acknowledge that point. However, isn’t it only natural to suspect those who have already committed crimes multiple times?”
At the Taiji Sword Immortal’s question, thrown to gauge his judgment, Il-mok replied.
“If it’s simply a matter of trust, I accept that. Not only do we have our history of ancestors, but it’s true that we inevitably deceived you all.”
Il-mok accepted it so straightforwardly that the Taiji Sword Immortal and the righteous warriors were utterly flustered.
But Il-mok’s words weren’t over yet.
“However, instead of closing your ears and eyes because you can’t trust us, look into it from the beginning.”
With that, Il-mok pointed to the letters placed on the table.
“If you wish, we can share all the information we’ve gathered. Work with the Beggar Clan to discern truth from falsehood. I only ask that you consider why I revealed my face and identity before you all.”
When Il-mok mentioned the Beggar Clan, Gangwang looked at him with a complicated expression and spoke.
“Before I respond to your proposal, let me ask a few things.”
“Please ask.”
“Why did you come out alone and remove your mask? No matter how exceptional your skills, you can’t withstand a joint assault from everyone here.”
“Because we learned of the horrific plot called the Martial World Extermination Scheme. If my life can stop it, isn’t that a bargain?”
In truth, Il-mok had one more thing he trusted.
The scriptures of the Cult of Maitreya contained countless innocent commoners.
Those present, unlike other hypocrites, at least knew the bare minimum of duty.
Thus, he coldly calculated they would restrain themselves, knowing a fight would harm the commoners.
He simply didn’t mention it, as it would seem like using the commoners as hostages.
“Then lastly, one more thing. If our Beggar Clan refuses, what’s your plan? Furthermore, if no one here believes you?”
“…In that case, I plan to give up everything and return to the Divine Cult’s territory. As I said earlier, staying here would just play into the imperial court’s schemes.”
At that answer, the Qingcheng Sect Leader, who had been quiet for a while, bellowed again.
“You created all those Maitreya cultist heretics and now say you’ll just go back!! Do you really think that makes sense!”
Unlike the enraged Qingcheng Sect Leader’s attitude, Il-mok calmly addressed the assembly.
“There’s a story from the far West like this.”
Regardless of the bewildered expressions around him at the sudden tangent, Il-mok continued.
“A man who worked as an assassin in his youth killed many innocents. Realizing his wrongs too late, he traveled the continent, gathering orphaned children and caring for them in a peaceful rural village.”
This was a story Il-mok had picked up somewhere in his previous life. Thus, he fabricated it as something he’d heard in the West.
“One day, people whose parents he had killed came seeking revenge. I ask you all: Is he a villain? A good man? Furthermore, if he is a villain, must the children he saved also die as sinners?”
Having posed this Zen-like question, Il-mok finally cupped his fists toward the assembly.
“I won’t force you. Take your time to ponder and decide.”
With that, Il-mok passed by the righteous warriors and exited the hall.
But even after Il-mok left, silence hung over the place.
They were all searching for their own answers to the dilemma Il-mok had posed.