Chapter 152
Chapter 152
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Welcoming the Dawn
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“…That’s nonsense. Do you have any idea what the Sword Qi Merchant is? It’s not something you hoard—it’s a power you’d spread far and wide?”
“Is that really so strange?”
“Of course it is! Human nature is to monopolize anything valuable! How could you…!”
The Elder Council Leader gave me a bizarre look.
The gaze of someone beholding something inexplicable.
Receiving that look, I shrugged my shoulders and replied.
“There’s no need to stare like that. To me, the Sword Qi Merchant itself isn’t what’s truly precious—it’s that era it belongs to.”
“…….”
The Elder Council Leader, who had been momentarily confused, soon seemed to realize something and asked cautiously.
“Th-then… you plan to pass it on to the Zhuge Clan as well?”
“Of course. Though I do have some issues to mull over first.”
Before entering this cave, I hadn’t given much thought to what I’d do about the Zhuge Clan.
There had been the matter of the Jade-Faced Seductress and Zhuge Seo-hee’s situation, but those were internal family affairs.
As an outsider, there was no room for me to intervene.
But now, things had changed.
The Zhuge Clan had become overly obsessed with power and crossed a line they shouldn’t have.
They were secretly abusing the Blood Burst Technique, which put them in a position where they deserved to be branded as Demonic Cult sympathizers.
Allying with a clan like that carried far too much risk.
So, I needed to decide before then.
Cut ties, or turn it all upside down.
Meanwhile, the Elder Council Leader stared blankly after hearing my answer.
He looked like his mind was a whirlwind, but what was there to complicate?
Soon enough, he wouldn’t be able to think at all.
“The conversation’s dragged on longer than I expected.”
If I kept dragging this out, Zhuge Geun-young would escape the cave first.
I raised my sword to finish off the Elder Council Leader.
“W-wait a moment!”
“What? You’re not begging for your life at this point…?”
“P-please spare me.”
“…….”
…For real?
At the very end, pulling this now?
I let out a hollow laugh, thinking he’d finally grown scared of death now that it stared him in the face—but apparently not.
“I-I’ll mediate the situation. If you truly pass the Sword Qi Merchant to the Zhuge Clan, you’ll be a great benefactor to the clan. There’s no need for us to shed blood over this, right?”
“…….”
“I’ll let everything that happened today slide. I’ll speak to the Clan Head and ensure he grants whatever you desire.”
It was a remarkably generous offer—overly so.
The Sword Qi must have tempted him that much.
But I refused outright.
“Sorry, but that doesn’t appeal to me. I have no desire to get tangled up with people who pull despicable stunts on their own bloodline just because they crave power.”
“Didn’t you say you’d pass the Sword Qi Merchant to the Zhuge Clan!”
“I will—to those who qualify. Passing it to the branch head… to Zhuge Geun-young… wouldn’t that count as passing it to the Zhuge Clan?”
The Elder Council Leader’s words caught in his throat for a moment, his face twisting in frustration.
“That’s not a good idea. Even if you pass it to the young master, the outcome will be the worst possible.”
“Hey now, reading the heavens or something?”
“Don’t take it lightly! I’m telling you this for your own sake!”
“Thanks, but I don’t need those kinds of thoughts.”
As I raised my sword again, the Elder Council Leader’s expression turned desperate.
Ignoring his teeth-gritting, I swung to sever the old man’s neck—when a phrase I couldn’t ignore slipped out.
“There’s another Blood Jade!”
“…What?”
My sword halted just before slicing the Elder Council Leader’s neck.
A bit of his grimy beard was sheared off, falling limply.
But the twisted eyes looking up at me showed no concern for such trifles.
His face was a mix of relief and dismay.
I slowly withdrew my sword and knelt on one knee to meet his gaze.
“What do you mean? Another Blood Jade?”
“…Exactly as I said. The one you destroyed was the second, a spare we made. The first was already delivered to the Clan Head. They’re finalizing it there.”
It was unexpected information.
I hadn’t imagined there was another Blood Jade.
It was surprising, sure—but so what?
“And?”
“…What? ‘And’? What have you been hearing from me?!”
The Elder Council Leader shouted in exasperation and explained the situation in detail once more.
“The Blood Jade will soon be complete, and the Clan Head will administer it to the prepared one. Through its power, the mightiest warrior, wielding immense strength, will be born.”
“The mightiest warrior….”
Honestly, from my perspective, it was laughable—but at least the old man before me seemed to believe it wholeheartedly.
“No matter how strong you are, you’ll be helpless against infinite inner energy. In the end, you’ll fall to the Blood Jade’s power, and the Sword Qi Merchant will vanish with you. Is that what you want?”
If I had to choose, I’d prefer it not happen—but even if I died, there was no need to worry about the Sword Qi vanishing.
I’d already passed the Soaring Bow Sword and the essentials to Nangong Clan’s Nangong Hyeon, and there was that mad genius Ju Ho-jeong.
The butterfly’s wings had already stirred into a gale.
“I’ll handle my own affairs. You don’t need to worry about me.”
At my steadfast refusal, desperation crept into the Elder Council Leader’s face.
“Why, why choose the hard path? I’m offering to help! W-well, if you’re holding a grudge for me trying to harm you with the Blood Ghost Squad, I apologize. So please…!”
Now the Elder Council Leader was outright begging.
Just one word from me about passing the Sword Qi to the Zhuge Clan had flipped his attitude completely.
It was almost comical, but this old man’s devotion to the Zhuge Clan seemed genuine.
He feared that if I kept clashing with them, I might die—and the Sword Qi Merchant would be lost.
At the root of that sentiment was an excessive obsession with power.
“The reason I won’t accept your offer isn’t that.”
“Th-then what is it? Didn’t I say I’d give you anything you want…?”
“Your very existence is the problem.”
“…What?”
The Elder Council Leader stared blankly at my response.
Meeting his wavering eyes, I stated clearly.
“Those who discard what’s truly important for the sake of power alone—non-humans who’ve abandoned their humanity.”
“…….”
“What I can’t tolerate are scum like you who see nothing wrong with sacrificing others for power.”
The world I desired, the one I wanted to create.
That world could always be defined by one word.
Wuxia.
A world of martial heroes upholding righteousness.
A world for xia who wielded strength and martial arts with worthiness.
“You have no place in the world I’ll create.”
“…You!”
As the Elder Council Leader tried to speak, I swung my sword at his neck—this time for real.
-Shwaak!
Along with his long beard, his severed head floated into the air before crashing to the ground.
It was an ignoble end for the monster who had turned countless blood kin into beasts for his own greed.
*
“Having gone so long without proper meals, his qi has weakened, and his body has grown frail. I’ll prescribe some tonics to replenish his qi. For now, keep him resting and feed him easy-to-digest foods like porridge. He’s young, so he’ll recover quickly.”
“…Thank you.”
Zhuge Geun-young let out a sigh of relief as he listened to the physician and turned to gaze at Zhuge Mu-young.
My master, Im Chun-il, Im Chun-sam, and I watched the scene from one corner of the room.
We were currently in a detached annex of an inn in Yangyang.
After killing the Elder Council Leader, I hurried and caught up to Zhuge Geun-young, explaining how I’d ended up at the cave.
I’d fled to his place for a night’s shelter to escape his little sister’s aggressive advances(?), then secretly tailed him when he slipped out of the clan looking suspicious.
Zhuge Geun-young went through shock, surprise, and disbelief before nodding in acceptance. We escaped the formation together and rejoined the other three.
“Here you go.”
“Oh, my. So much….”
“In exchange, please keep this strictly confidential.”
“Of course. Well then.”
The physician, dragged here in the middle of the night and initially irritable, transformed into a benevolent bodhisattva the moment he received a hefty pouch of silver.
As the kindly smiling physician left the room, we gathered around the table in the center.
“…….”
No one spoke for a moment, all pondering what to say first—until Im Chun-il’s hollow chuckle broke the silence.
“…Ha, hahaha. Feels like I’m trapped in a nightmare. Demonic arts? The Zhuge Clan? That Zhuge Clan?”
“…….”
Zhuge Geun-young’s expression darkened at Im Chun-il’s incredulous words.
Im Chun-sam elbowed his older brother to signal restraint, but Im Chun-il shot back, ‘What? Did I say something wrong?’
“Is this the time to tiptoe around each other? We need to discuss how to handle this unprecedented crisis!”
It was a remark utterly lacking tact or consideration, but an undeniable truth nonetheless.
I turned to Zhuge Geun-young and spoke.
“Will you keep your younger brother here for now?”
“…Yes, at least until the situation settles. I have to hide him for the time being.”
Im Chun-il jumped in again at that.
“Settles? What settlement? You killed the Zhuge Clan’s Elder Council Leader, didn’t you? Shouldn’t we be fleeing right now?”
I shook my head at his urgent tone and explained.
“According to the Elder Council Leader’s records, he only occasionally reported progress back to the main house—the experiments themselves were conducted solo. Unless he reports first, they have no way of knowing about the cave’s anomaly. That means we have at least a few days’ grace period.”
“And I have no intention of running away.”
All eyes turned to Zhuge Geun-young at his resolute words, which followed my explanation.
“For so long, countless blood kin have been sacrificed in the name of the clan. Far more than I knew, in far more horrific ways.”
His eyes flashed sharply.
“Now that I know, I can’t just stand by. No, I won’t. Even if it means staining these hands with my father’s blood in an act of filial impiety, I will stop it.”
Zhuge Geun-young’s vow to correct the wrongs, even if it meant killing his own father, the Clan Head.
The weight of words no one could utter lightly settled over everyone else’s faces as well.