Chapter 370
"Young Hero Namgung! What on earth happened?"
Mak Goeng rushed over in shock upon seeing Namgung Un's battered state.
Gurgle—
As Namgung Un opened his mouth, a thick clot of crimson blood spilled out.
"The Demon Hall... intended to assassinate... the Sect Chief..."
Namgung Un trembled as he pointed at Hae-pung.
Mak Goeng's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?"
"That man colluded with... a spy from the Demon Hall—"
But before he could finish, Namgung Un collapsed unconscious.
"Young Hero Namgung!"
Panicked, Mak Goeng placed a hand on Namgung Un's back and channeled his internal energy into him.
'This...'
Yet all over Namgung Un's body were not just the marks of the Beggars' Sect's supreme technique, the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms—
But also injuries from the Jade-Shattering Fist, Gold Mountain Hand, and virtually every other secret technique of the Beggars' Sect.
'Regardless of anything else, the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms can only be executed by someone who has mastered the sect's core mental cultivation.'
Mak Goeng turned his head and glared at Hae-pung.
Though the full details were unclear, one thing was certain: the one who had attacked Namgung Un was undeniably a master deeply versed in the Beggars' Sect's martial arts.
"Deputy Sect Master!"
Mak Goeng roared.
"What is the meaning of this? Are you truly claiming that you conspired with figures from the Demon Hall?"
Hae-pung, too, was on the verge of losing his mind.
He had only agreed to lay down the Heaven-and-Earth Net here and not pursue Bu Eun-seol—
Yet suddenly, a scion of the Namgung Clan appeared, spouting nonsense about secret dealings with the Demon Hall?
'This is wrong.'
Hae-pung gritted his teeth.
If it came to light that he had again made a secret pact with the Demon Hall's successor—
Even if he seized control of the sect, he would lose the trust of his disciples.
The bigger problem was the matter of the Artificial Dantians.
If that were exposed, the Beggars' Sect would have no choice but to tear down its own signboard by the end of the day.
"Elder Mak! You are colluding with an outside force to frame this Deputy Sect Master!"
Hae-pung, having struck first, raised his voice in solemn authority.
"Arrest Elder Mak and escort him to the headquarters for judgment!"
After all, the only enemies here were Mak Goeng and a single member of the Namgung Clan.
Hae-pung had chosen the simplest method to silence them.
"As expected of the traitor who harmed our sect's Grand Elder!"
Mak Goeng shouted loudly, as if he had anticipated this very move.
"Disciples of the Eight Routes—listen well! Execute the rebel Hae-pung and restore our sect's righteous foundation!"
'What?!'
Just as Hae-pung reeled in shock—
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
From the foot of the mountain, the thunderous sound of footsteps rose as over two thousand troops began ascending.
He, too, had heeded Namgung Un's advice and brought all of his forces.
"No need for further words! Attack at once!"
At Mak Goeng's command, the disciples of the Eight Routes immediately drew their staves.
The core factions of Hae-pung and Mak Goeng finally clashed at the foot of Heavenly Flower Mountain Villa.
"RAAAAAAH—!"
With a unified battle cry, the fight began.
The Beggars' Sect, long swayed by the whims of its leadership, had suffered repeated schisms and turmoil—
But never before had its own members engaged in such bloody infighting.
'The survival of our sect hinges on this battle.'
The exact same thought arose in both Hae-pung and Mak Goeng's minds.
For Hae-pung, if he failed to suppress Mak Goeng now, all his corruption would be exposed.
In that case, forget becoming Sect Chief—he would be forced to take his own life.
Likewise, if Mak Goeng failed to repel Hae-pung's assault, he would be slaughtered on the spot.
Not only that—he had to defeat Hae-pung to prevent the sect's dark secrets from spreading throughout the Murim.
And so, the two factions began a desperate, no-holds-barred battle for survival.
On the opposite cliff overlooking Heavenly Flower Mountain Villa—
A figure in black robes stood with arms crossed, observing the battle below.
It was Bu Eun-seol.
"They'll destroy themselves."
A cold smirk played on his lips.
The Beggars' Sect had already been fractured from the start.
Moreover, having committed irreversible atrocities, its fate was all but sealed.
Bu Eun-seol and Namgung Un had merely hastened its downfall.
Whoosh—
At that moment, Namgung Un—who had been feigning unconsciousness—quietly slipped away from the battlefield and returned to Bu Eun-seol's side.
"The Beggars' Sect is finished now."
Namgung Un shook his head as he gazed down at the carnage below.
"Those were the strongest forces the Beggars' Sect's headquarters had to offer. And now they're annihilating each other... It'll take them decades to recover from this."
"Do you pity them?"
At Bu Eun-seol's question, Namgung Un shook his head again.
"Perhaps I would have thought that way in the past. But not anymore."
His voice was resolute.
"It's simply self-inflicted."
Namgung Un's perspective had shifted.
He no longer believed that only the Righteous Faction was righteous or that they alone acted justly. What mattered, he realized, was the heart of the person wielding that righteousness.
"I don't understand why the Murim is divided into the Righteous and Demonic Paths. In the end, the path exists within a person's heart."
'He's different from the Bullet King.'
The Bullet King had held a fierce pride in the Righteous Faction, clinging to it with blind faith.
But Namgung Un, though he still carried pride in the Righteous Faction, did not blindly believe in it—nor did he harbor prejudice against the Demonic Path.
Moreover, after experiencing this incident with Bu Eun-seol, even the very concept of the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions had grown faint in his mind.
"Where there is a beginning, there must be an end. Where there is righteousness, there must also be its opposite."
Bu Eun-seol let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
"Perhaps, from the moment of birth, humans are beings forced to choose between two paths."
Namgung Un felt dizzy.
Concepts he had never before considered now swirled violently in his mind.
"It seems I won't be able to walk the same path as you, Brother Bu—the path of a Grandmaster."
Then, grinning, he added:
"I have no desire to delve into matters of life and death, nor obsess over what's righteous or demonic."
If Bu Eun-seol was a Philosopher—a man with superhuman insight and wisdom, capable of observing and comprehending all phenomena outside himself—
Then Namgung Un was an extraordinary figure in his own right, one who understood not the external world, but his own capabilities.
He knew he lacked Bu Eun-seol's abilities, and so he resolved to think only of what he could understand.
"That, too, is a fine method."
Bu Eun-seol smiled faintly.
Truthfully, not every human needed to ponder the myriad phenomena and principles of the world as he did.
Simply judging wisely what one saw and felt was enough to grasp many truths and gain true insight.
"Shall we go, then?"
As if having reached a deeper realization, the light in Namgung Un's eyes grew profound.
Bu Eun-seol nodded and activated his Movement Technique.
The deepest heart of Heavenly Flower Mountain Villa.
There stood a pavilion, open on all sides.
Before it, a lone figure stood with hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the scenery.
He wore pristine ceremonial robes, and his long, silver-streaked hair was tied in a topknot.
His sunken eyes, fixed on the distant sky, were deep and unfathomable.
This was none other than No Bong, the current Sect Chief of the Beggars' Sect.
"Hmm."
A low hum escaped him.
Swoosh.
At that moment, two black shadows appeared before the pavilion.
One wore black robes, a dark Ink Sword strapped to his back. The other wore blue robes, a slender Long Sword sheathed at his waist.
Bu Eun-seol and Namgung Un.
"So it comes to this."
No Bong showed no surprise at their arrival.
"From the start, we should never have fed those child assassins something like an Artificial Internal Core."
A strange thing.
No Bong had already deduced that the secret of the Artificial Internal Core had been exposed because of the children Bu Eun-seol rescued from Wicked Incense.
This proved that he had not been confined to Heavenly Flower Mountain Villa in illness—but had instead been observing the Murim's affairs as clearly as if reading the lines of his own palm.
"And of all places, it had to fall into the hands of Langya Pavilion."
Slowly, No Bong turned around.
Contrary to rumors of prolonged illness, his posture was straight, his entire body brimming with vitality.
And though he was the Sect Chief of the Beggars' Sect, wasn't he dressed in fine ceremonial robes, more befitting a wealthy merchant of Kaifeng than a beggar?
He had not been bedridden—he had been perfectly healthy all along, manipulating the Beggars' Sect from the shadows... while discarding his duties as its leader.
"So even a Spy can become Sect Chief."
Bu Eun-seol instantly realized the truth: No Bong was a Spy who had infiltrated the Beggars' Sect.
The energy flowing through his body—
It was neither the martial arts of the Beggars' Sect nor those of the Righteous Faction.
And at the center of his brow, wasn't there a faint glimmer of Primordial Spirit Light—visible only to those who had opened their Upper Dantian?
That the Sect Chief of the Beggars' Sect had trained in mental cultivation methods from Beyond the Frontier was undeniable proof—he had mastered formidable martial arts long before ever becoming a disciple of the Beggars' Sect.
"Far from it. It's because I was a Spy that I could become Sect Chief."
At Bu Eun-seol's scoff, No Bong's lips curled into a faint smile.
"How else could I conform to this filthy, useless system and win the support of those brainless, incompetent Elders?"
Watching this, Namgung Un inwardly sighed in relief.
The Beggars' Sect had not fallen to corruption.
This had all happened because a single treacherous Spy had seized control.
But the words that followed from No Bong shattered Namgung Un's hopes into pieces.
"From long ago, the Beggars' Sect has been rolling along under the control of greedy old men. That's why it wasn't difficult to manipulate the former Sect Chief Sang-gwan and the Elders."
No Bong wore a triumphant smile.
"All it took was offering them enough sweet temptation—none of them refused."
Shing—
Bu Eun-seol, who had been listening silently, drew the Ink Sword from his back.
No Bong blinked in surprise.
"You're not going to ask anything?"
"Like why I did this? Or what figures and factions stand above me as Sect Chief?"
Bu Eun-seol replied coldly.
"If I were the kind of man to spill such words so easily, I wouldn't have risen to the position of Sect Chief."
No Bong chuckled faintly.
"At any rate, you two are fated to die. The mouths of the dead don't open... So why shouldn't I reveal any secret I please?"
"For a mere spy to rise to the head of the Beggars' Sect—even in your dying moments, you'd still spew information meant to sow chaos."
Clack—
Bu Eun-seol pressed the Ink Sword against No Bong's throat and sneered.
"You'd do anything to deal one last critical blow to your enemy."
"Hahaha. You understand spies well."
No Bong laughed heartily.
"Correct. A true spy must utter information to confuse their enemy even as they die."
Abruptly, No Bong stopped speaking—and a poisonous energy began seeping from his body.
At the same time, a metallic, bloody stench filled the air.
"Blood Emperor."
At last, Bu Eun-seol realized No Bong's true identity.
He was a descendant of the Blood Emperor, one of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars.
"So that's how you seized control of the Beggars' Sect."
It was said that those struck by the Blood Emperor's martial arts would gradually lose their blood until they died as if drained dry.
The problem was that even the Blood Emperor himself would lose blood when using his techniques—forcing him to replenish it afterward.
And what better supply source than the Beggars' Sect, where disciples were so numerous they couldn't even recognize one another?
"So the rumor that you could replenish blood with animal blood was a lie."
"Hehehe."
No Bong smirked at Bu Eun-seol's words.
"As the rumors say, you're sharp-witted."
Then, with an easy nod, he admitted it.
"Correct. To use the Yang Hoe Art and the Eternal Flow Warm Electric, one must inevitably drain human blood."
"So in the end, all of the Eight Emperors and Three Stars—except the Martial Emperor—were fallen figures?"
"Fallen?"
At Bu Eun-seol's muttering, thick Evil Qi surged from No Bong's eyes.
"You know nothing."
No Bong wore a profoundly meaningful expression.
"Though, I suppose there's no need to explain."
Snap—
With a flick of his finger, the surroundings abruptly darkened.
Simultaneously, young martial artists with blood-red glows in their eyes formed a Flesh Wall around the pavilion.
Their numbers easily exceeded a hundred.
Whether they had consumed Demon Seeds or not, they all radiated formidable Internal Power—yet their eyes were dull and unfocused.
They were the same Soulless Ones Bu Eun-seol had faced in the past.
"This should be more than enough to deal with the Namgung boy."
It was astonishing.
Despite having anticipated every possible scenario, No Bong had only prepared Soulless Ones to handle Namgung Un.
"You waited all this time to fight me."
As Bu Eun-seol assessed the situation, No Bong let out a soft laugh.
"Fight? That's a strange way to put it. Killing a brat like you is nothing to me."
His eyes swept over Bu Eun-seol before his lips curled upward.
"I was curious. Just how remarkable are you, to keep interfering with This Realm's affairs and still survive?"
Shockingly, No Bong had been waiting all this time—just to kill Bu Eun-seol himself.
"This Realm?"
When Bu Eun-seol repeated the words, No Bong only smiled.
It was an eerie smile—impossible to discern as truth or deception.
No Bong was a spy who had controlled the Beggars' Sect for years. Every word from his mouth could be a lie. Or, even if true, crafted to feel like a lie.
In short, his words were untrustworthy—most likely meant only to sow confusion.
"Sect Chief No—"
Unable to stay silent any longer, Namgung Un stepped forward.
"Regardless, haven't you held the position of Beggars' Sect Chief for a long time? How can you sacrifice innocent Beggars' Sect disciples who followed you?"
But No Bong had infiltrated as a spy from the beginning—this plea would never reach him.
"Moreover, if he became the Beggars' Sect Chief just to suck blood, he'd treat his disciples' lives like flies anyway."
Yet Namgung Un still addressed him as Sect Chief and urged him to reconsider for the sake of the Beggars' Sect.
Just in case.
Even if by the slimmest chance—
If he could change his mind, they might prevent the sacrifice of the Beggars' Sect's disciples.
"Judging by this, the Namgung Clan will prosper for another two hundred years."
It was high praise, acknowledging Namgung Un's qualities as a Renowned Chivalrous Hero.
"These wretches were meant to be beheaded to forge the Internal Cores anyway. You can't call it a sacrifice."
No Bong intended to let these young men die by Namgung Un's hand—and harvest another Internal Core in the process.
"Even if you have no lingering attachment to the Beggars' Sect, surely you can still distinguish right from wrong?"
"Right and wrong are things you can only afford to consider in trivial matters."
No Bong, rather than answering directly, sighed strangely as he looked at Namgung Un.
"In great affairs, there is no room for such distinctions. You'll understand when you become the head of the Namgung Clan one day."
Then, as if he had said all he needed to, he flicked his finger.
Snap.
At the signal, a hundred Soulless Ones raised their Grotesque Blades toward Namgung Un.
"Now, it's time for you to make a decision."
No Bong smiled faintly as he spoke.
"These Soulless Ones—their souls already extracted, forcibly fed Demon Seeds, and bound to obey any killing order without question. Tell me, is slaughtering them truly the right thing to do?"
For a moment, Namgung Un's eyes wavered.
The words struck at his spirit and mind like a hammer, just as the Bullet King's entire sense of morality had once been shaken.
No Bong—he was skillfully shaking Namgung Un's very soul with his silver tongue.
"You talk too much."
The moment Bu Eun-seol stepped forward to attack, No Bong spoke in a leisurely tone.
"Then let's get to the point."
"The point?"
"You're too valuable to simply kill."
No Bong's voice lowered.
"Enter This Realm. If you do, I'll grant you power and authority beyond anything the Demon Hall's succession could offer."
'So This Realm wasn't a lie after all.'
As Bu Eun-seol's eyes gleamed, No Bong scoffed.
"Don't think you can just waltz in to gather intel. Entering This Realm requires certain... procedures and tests."
Then he continued.
"I'll tell you the first test. If you wish to enter—kill that Namgung boy."
No Bong spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Even if the Demon Hall's heir kills one Namgung son, what difference would it make?"
"You've learned negotiation poorly. Or perhaps you simply failed to research this Lord properly."
"You must have something you desire too, no?"
No Bong smiled as he met Bu Eun-seol's sharp gaze.
"Enter This Realm, and you'll gain access to all the information you seek."
"Information I seek."
"Indeed."
No Bong's smile brimmed with confidence.
"Haven't you been searching for the Seven Fingers Demonic Blade's whereabouts all this time?"
"You're saying he's alive?"
"Don't try to fish for answers."
At Bu Eun-seol's words, No Bong maintained his composed smile.
"Join, and you'll learn everything you wish to know. The mere fact that I'm offering this is already an exceptional concession."
"That much is true."
Bu Eun-seol nodded in acknowledgment—then gripped his black sword.
"Let's begin, then."
There was no chance he would pledge himself to some unknown faction just for information—nor would he ever kill Namgung Un.
"A pity."
No Bong shook his head.
Then, with a genuinely regretful expression, he spoke.
"To think your bones will be buried in this desolate mountain cabin."
Flash!
In an instant, light erupted from the Grotesque Blades of the hundred Soulless Ones surrounding them.
Meanwhile, No Bong slowly turned and vanished into the shadows.
Swish—slash—clang!
As sword qi rained down like a storm, Namgung Un raised his Golden Needle Sword.
Whooom!
Simultaneously, an overwhelming pressure crashed down, slamming the sword qi into the ground.
He had unleashed the first three forms of the Emperor Sword Form once more.
"Brother Bu. I'll handle these ones."
Bu Eun-seol hesitated briefly.
Namgung Un's skill had already reached the Transcendent Realm. But the Soulless Ones here weren't the only ones.
"Fine. Make it quick—cut down that senile old man and return."
Whooom!
Namgung Un unleashed the Emperor Sword Form again, shattering the Soulless Ones' weapons.
'He can hold out for about a quarter hour.'
If Bu Eun-seol didn't kill No Bong within that time—Namgung Un would lose his life.
But if he let No Bong escape now, all their suffering up to this point would be for nothing.
After a brief deliberation, Bu Eun-seol nodded.
"I'll return as quickly as I can."
With those words, Bu Eun-seol swiftly activated his Movement Technique, piercing through the wall of Soulless Ones and vanishing.