Chapter 111
[What are you talking about in there? I can’t hear a thing—did that fox Jegal Hyeonmun put up sorcery?]
[Hey?]
[Yeo Il.]
[…]
[Yeo Il, Yeo Il.]
[…]
[So when are you going to accept me?]
Was even voice transmission completely blocked?
No—if it was Yeo Il, there was also a good chance she could hear his voice and pretend she couldn’t, ignoring him. Or maybe an even more serious conversation was continuing inside.
Either way, he didn’t like it.
Could something else really take priority over answering him?
Jin Cheong-ak stood in front of the tightly shut door for a long time, unable to erase the displeasure from his face.
Should I just break this pathetic sorcery?
But to disrupt Jegal Hyeonmun’s sorcery, there was only one way: use inverse-heaven demonic martial arts. Using demonic energy would be the same as confessing, in the middle of the orthodox faction, that he was a member of the Demonic Cult.
“Hm.”
He should have lived a little more diligently.
Not long after Gwangbyeok died and he followed Yeo Il down into the Central Plains, the Jin family’s Dangju had once sent him a letter through Beomjung.
All of the First Young Master’s martial arts are no different from demonic arts, so learn the martial manual I sent through Beomjung at least in a basic way. If you need a secret manual, I will send it later.>
The point was simple.
Hide the demonic arts.
But since a First Young Master couldn’t go around getting beaten, he should at least learn some third-rate orthodox martial arts to disguise himself.
It was something worthy of ridicule—a person who learned demonic arts learning orthodox martial arts—but neither Jin Cheong-ak nor the Jin family’s Dangju particularly cared.
In fact, after that day, the Jin family’s Dangju regularly sent quite useful martial manuals, but Jin Cheong-ak always skimmed them at best and learned them lazily.
That was his temperament to begin with, and in any case, Yeo Il would definitely protect him (while pretending she wasn’t). And in the worst case, he could kill everyone and go back to the main sect… though he probably couldn’t go back, so he’d kill everyone and apologize to Yeo Il instead.
“Namgung Gongja.”
At the familiar voice from behind, Namgung Hui-myeong turned his head.
He had been wandering aimlessly near Jin Cheong-ak, sunk in worry.
“Dangju-nim.”
Dang Maeryeong, who had returned after checking the poisoning state of the Jegal Clan’s eldest daughter, Jegal Ihwa, frowned and asked Namgung Hui-myeong,
“I heard. What kind of conversation is happening inside?”
“I was going to secretly listen, but I can’t hear anything.”
“It seems he placed sorcery. To go that far….”
Dang Maeryeong looked at the door with a complicated expression. Then she asked Namgung Hui-myeong,
“Did Jegal Hyeonmun-nim tell you who Ye So-gun is?”
“He didn’t mention it at all. And everyone looks more concerned about the rumor about Soyo than about Ye So-gun or anything. Hah. Does that make sense? The Cheonma Divine Cult is talking about a Jeongma Great War—!”
“Shh. In the first place, not many people know the ones who infiltrated the Jegal Clan were the Cheonma Divine Cult. Even if they do know, more people think it’s Salmak’s trickery. They’ve been holding their breath for a very long time.”
Dang Maeryeong glanced at Jin Cheong-ak, her expression looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Since she had seen Yeo Il’s martial prowess with her own eyes, it seemed Jin Cheong-ak’s identity as her bodyguard was also bothering her.
“…Namgung Gongja, so you truly can’t think of who Ye So-gun is?”
“Think of what? I’ve never even heard that name. Jeok-myeong Hyung also said he didn’t know, and the only people who might know are Father and Uncle Pae… but Father aside, even Uncle Pae has gone silent.”
To Jin Cheong-ak, the name they spoke between them was not unfamiliar.
If the Namgung Clan does not return Ye So-gun, then the third Jeongma Great War will break out!
As he recalled the warning the Cheonma Divine Cult had supposedly left while kidnapping the Jegal Clan’s second daughter, Jegal Seonhwa, a deep sneer formed at the corner of his mouth.
Hyung’s sensibilities are as tacky as ever.
Still, it wasn’t bad.
Choi I-ryang’s persistent desire had made the current Yeo Il.
A woman who had claimed she was merely “traveling the Jianghu” while being dragged around by Gwangbyeok’s last words, and who seemed like she would part with the world without regret the moment she saw the end—was now mixed among these countless Jianghu people, struggling of her own will to accomplish her objective.
He didn’t like that her objective always circled back to the jade ring, but—
Now, yes… he could be magnanimous and accept even the jade ring.
It was fine if the jade ring only ranked second in Yeo Il’s priorities.
If he couldn’t accept that difference, all that would remain was self-loathing and destructive, morbid obsession. Damn it. Jin Cheong-ak didn’t want to become Cheonmu Ryeong.
As he listened to Namgung Hui-myeong and Dang Maeryeong’s conversation with a face endlessly bored—
A voice transmission came from Beomjung.
[My lord, I have something to report.]
Jin Cheong-ak left at once.
He flinched for a moment. As if he really were a dog with a master, he found himself looking back toward Yeo Il.
Am I going to get scolded again?
After warning me like that, you disappear on your own? And so on.
Die. And so on.
You drew your sword and charged. And so on.
When he ran through the possible outcomes, he always reached the same conclusion.
I want to see her.
Her face angry because of me.
It was embarrassing to say it, but honestly, it was incredible—Yeo Il’s face when she dragged fury up from the pit of her chest.
When he first recognized this feeling, it was hard to accept it as his, or even to acknowledge it. He thought it was the emotion of a low, shameless little brat.
So he provoked Yeo Il even more. And that process…
“Hm.”
…Maybe that incident that day was why Yeo Il hated him even more.
Beomjung and Danghong were waiting for Jin Cheong-ak in front of the market outside the Jegal Clan. Wearing white robes side by side, they looked cute beyond words.
“Why did you bother calling me outside, Beomjung?”
“I apologize, my lord. It seemed to be an important matter….”
“Did Hyung come all the way down here to catch me?”
“Yes.”
At the curt confirmation, Jin Cheong-ak let out a hollow laugh.
He had expected the Jegal Clan incident to be Choi I-ryang’s scheme, but to think he would come personally instead of leaving it to underlings. It must be urgent.
“Not far from here, there is the largest inn in Hubei Province, Hwawoon Inn. They say he appeared alone last evening, drank tea, and left.”
“As expected—he doesn’t even like alcohol, yet he still goes only to high-class inns to enjoy elegance. When will he finally give up that wretched one-sided love toward this little brother of his….”
“Judging by the circumstances, it does seem that the one who kidnapped Jegal Seonhwa was Choi I-ryang.”
“When he was already talking about Ye So-gun, do we even need to weigh ‘circumstances’? No matter how you roll it, forward or backward, it’ll be my Choi-family Hyung.”
Use Ye So-gun’s existence as leverage and start the Jeongma Great War again.
That was one of Choi I-ryang’s grand dreams.
The problem is what Yeo Il will do.
Needless to say, he had not even the tiniest speck of intention of handing Yeo Il over to Choi I-ryang.
Choi I-ryang.
A brother with not a drop of blood shared.
After being exalted as the Cheonma Divine Cult’s First Young Master, Jin Cheong-ak had never once defied his brother.
Whether it was the Cult Leader’s seat, attention, power, wealth… if he wanted it, Jin Cheong-ak wished he would take it all.
A life of poverty-free retreat and carefree leisure—far from those things—was what Jin Cheong-ak wanted. Of course, he intended to throw away poverty and keep the secular world close for life.
Yet somehow he had ended up here. Really.
Yeo Il. Yeo Il.
Our Yeo Il.
…What should he do?
If Choi I-ryang had moved personally this far, then it seemed Yeo Il had also devised a scheme using Choi I-ryang. If she got properly entangled with the main sect, even for her, the aftermath would become extremely troublesome.
Should I just take her and run?
Either way, Choi I-ryang looked like he planned to make this big—very big. Thinking of the Jianghu people assembled inside the Jegal Clan, Jin Cheong-ak asked Beomjung,
“The Murim Alliance knows it’s connected to the main sect. Is the Murim Alliance Leader, Kwon Ja-seong, coming in person?”
“No. It’s certain he can’t come. Instead, it seems he requested aid from various places, including the Nine Great Sects and One League. That’s why there are so many outsiders inside the clan.”
Whether the Nine Great Sects and One League or the Five Great Clans—at best, the level of those who came to help was similar to Namgung Hui-myeong.
Then the outcome was obvious.
“They’ll all die.”
He really should take Yeo Il and run.