A Bold Wager
“A wager…”
Jegal Mun murmured softly.
“Does that mean you are that confident?”
“Yes.”
“Then what will you wager?”
“If my words prove false, I will enter the Cave of Repentance of my own accord and practice wall-gazing meditation until your anger is appeased, Father.”
“...!!”
Jeok-un was confidently offering to enter an indefinite period of secluded meditation.
Anyone else might hesitate, wondering if a father would really lock up his own child as if torturing him.
But this was the Divine Strategist, the cold-blooded, iron-willed military advisor of the Murim Alliance.
Jegal Mun was a man who would ruthlessly punish even his own flesh and blood if they were in the wrong.
“Conversely, if I prove my words, I ask that you grant me just one request—something well within your power to fulfill.”
Jeok-un stated his desired terms.
Jegal Mun stared at him with a heavy, solemn gaze for a long moment.
“Very well. Let it be so.”
“Thank you.”
He accepted his son's audacious wager.
Impressive.
A moment later, Jeok-un looked at the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation laid out before him, feeling genuinely impressed.
However, they had not moved to the training grounds like before.
They were still inside the Patriarch's Hall.
Except...
Whoosh!
Jegal Mun had manifested a miniature version of the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation right on top of a plain wooden Go board.
The formation's signature mist and haze swirled across the grid.
He was indeed a man worthy of being called the Chief Military Advisor of the Murim Alliance and the Divine Strategist.
By simply placing white Go stones, he had activated a brand-new formation.
But breaking the formation would not be a problem.
No matter how small it was, its essence remained the same.
Which meant the solution "that person" had told him in his past life would still apply.
A conversation with a certain woman flashed through Jeok-un's mind.
“Your biggest problem, Alliance Leader, is that you always try to solve everything with brute force!”
“Why is that my problem? It's your problem.”
“Huh?! What did you just say?”
“Because whenever I stir things up like this, you always clean up the mess perfectly... Ow! Hey!”
“There you go again! That mouth of yours!”
The reason Jeok-un knew how to break the Eight Trigrams Formation was entirely thanks to one person.
The Blood Queen, the Chief Strategist and greatest mind of the Evil Hegemony Alliance.
Since he had regressed, he would have to recruit her again.
...But where was it that he had first met her?
“Do you need more time?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
Jegal Mun's question snapped Jeok-un out of his thoughts.
Reuniting with her was important, but resolving the task at hand came first.
“Then, I shall begin.”
Jeok-un slowly looked down at the Go board once more.
Clack.
As Jeok-un picked up a black stone, the atmosphere shifted, and a faint, peculiar light began to gleam in his eyes.
It was a sign that he was focusing on the wager and beginning to pierce through the essence of the Eight Trigrams Formation.
Click.
Soon, Jeok-un placed a black stone down and calmly began to dissect the formation.
“Ordinary people assume that the Eight Trigrams are the core of the formation, simply because of its name and its general structure.”
Click.
Soon, another black stone was placed on the board.
“Well, it is not unreasonable to think so. Even if you interpret it that way, you can still solve it and find the Gate of Life. However—”
Tap!
Then, the third.
Once he placed the final stone, making a total of three black stones—
Hummm...!
The black stones placed among the white stones of the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation began to actively interfere with the flow of the Eight Trigrams.
“...!!”
Swoosh!
Holes began to tear through the mist and haze in various places.
In just three moves.
The flaw in the formation that Jeok-un had mentioned had truly revealed itself.
“The Eight Trigrams Formation merely contains the Eight Trigrams; they are not its core. The true essence is the hidden Nine Palaces.”
Just like the nine stars representing the Nine Palaces—One White, Two Black, Three Blue, Four Green, Five Yellow, Six White, Seven Red, Eight White, and Nine Purple—nine holes had opened up within the Eight Trigrams Formation.
“If you operate the formation using only the Eight Trigrams without knowing this fact, side effects will occur.”
Saying so, Jeok-un picked up another black stone.
Clack!
And placed it down.
Right on the spot where he had been trapped during the Waryong Trial.
“The longer the formation remains active, the more the phase of the Central Palace, which should maintain the balance, shifts.”
Jegal Mun was visibly shocked by this newly revealed secret.
But Jeok-un paid no mind to his father's surprise and continued placing stones.
“This probably wasn't a noticeable issue in the True Eight Trigrams Formation. Because of its massive scale, the phase wouldn't shift easily. A sort of 'too big to fail' scenario, you could say.”
“Yes, but the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation...”
“Indeed. In the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation, which was forcibly scaled down, the phase shift of the Central Palace becomes extreme. And...”
Instead of placing another black stone, Jeok-un flicked his fingers.
“The moment the phase shifts, and the Three Blue Star encroaches upon the position of the Four Green Star...”
Snap!
Jeok-un gathered his energy and ruthlessly flicked the air.
Just like when he had escaped the Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation by throwing a punch clad in Heaven-Defeating Qi.
Bang!
Clatter!
With a light explosion, the white stones scattered in all directions.
“...!!”
Jegal Mun was dumbfounded.
The Lesser Eight Trigrams Formation on the Go board had been completely shattered.
“Simple, isn't it?”
Jeok-un smiled faintly.
“The wager...”
It was only after a long silence that Jegal Mun finally spoke.
He had no choice.
Even though he had witnessed it with his own eyes, the sight was shocking enough to leave him speechless.
“...You won.”
“Thank you.”
Though he had won the wager, Jeok-un smiled bitterly inside.
In truth, it was because Jegal Wi-yeon had defected to the Demonic Cult in his past life and handed over the Eight Trigrams Formation, forcing the Evil Hegemony Alliance to painstakingly find a countermeasure.
But that will never happen again.
Because he would make sure to kill Jegal Wi-yeon.
As Jeok-un made this unspoken vow, Jegal Mun spoke.
“So, what is it that you want?”
Jegal Mun spoke readily, his voice warm.
His previous fury had vanished without a trace.
Of course, recovering a flaw he hadn't known about—perhaps a secret technique of their ancestors lost during transmission—was a cause for great celebration.
However.
The truth was, he had probably never been angry in the first place.
As I thought, it was an act.
Looking at Jegal Mun's expression, Jeok-un confirmed that his father's earlier outrage about betraying the clan and ancestors had indeed been a performance.
Creating this situation, acting furious, and even the wager just now.
It had all been a calculated move by Jegal Mun to evaluate his true worth.
Even though he had been tested by his own father, he didn't feel offended.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say he felt entirely indifferent.
Because that's just the kind of man he is.
Even though Jegal Mun was his father, Jeok-un harbored a deep love-hate relationship toward him.
Having lived as the leader of the Evil Hegemony Alliance himself, he knew how heavy and demanding the duties of the Chief Military Advisor of the Murim Alliance were.
But that did not justify neglecting his family.
If he had cared for his family even a fraction of the amount he dedicated to his work, Jeok-un's mother would not have died from the schemes of Lady Oh and Jegal Wi-yeon in his past life.
Yet, despite that.
The way Jegal Mun was looking at him now—with a proud and approving gaze he had never seen before in his life—stirred complex emotions within Jeok-un.
This is giving me a headache. Let's just take what's mine.
Jeok-un finally stated his reward to Jegal Mun, who was waiting for his answer.
And that was...
“I want the White Feather Fan.”
“...!!”
The White Feather Fan.
A fan said to be crafted from the feathers of a spiritual beast, a divine artifact capable of controlling wind and waves.
A treasure of immeasurable value that everyone in the martial world coveted.
But more importantly...
“...Are you asking me to support you in becoming the Young Patriarch?”
The heirloom of the Patriarch.
In other words, the White Feather Fan was a sacred object that only the Patriarch could wield.
Jegal Mun assumed that Jeok-un was seizing this opportunity to reveal his hidden ambition.
However...
“What do you mean by that?”
“Hmm?”
Jeok-un tilted his head, looking at Jegal Mun.
His eyes asked what kind of nonsense his father was talking about.
“I literally just want to borrow the White Feather Fan for a single day.”
“?”
“I will return it in perfect condition after using it.”
“??”
Jegal Mun was genuinely bewildered.
But Jeok-un truly just needed the White Feather Fan itself.
To reclaim that, I absolutely need the White Feather Fan.
It wasn't just the Heaven-Defeating Qi that had earned him the title of the Dark Heaven Tyrant.
In his past life, he had wallowed in the mud before miraculously awakening it much later.
To reclaim the power inherited from his mother's bloodline, the White Feather Fan was indispensable.
Still, Jeok-un thought Jegal Mun might reject his request.
The White Feather Fan was the clan's priceless treasure.
Even with a one-day limit, it was not something to be lent out lightly.
Well, if he says no, I'll just have to resort to my backup plan...
“I will allow it.”
“!!”
Jeok-un was startled.
The permission had come far more easily than expected.
“However, it is strictly for one day. And you must return it completely intact.”
“Of course!”
“Very well. Let us move on to the next matter, then.”
The next matter?
As Jeok-un listened closely, Jegal Mun slowly continued.
“The flaw in the Eight Trigrams Formation you mentioned. Can you fix it?”
Naturally, the one who broke the formation would be best suited to reinforce it.
In his past life, he had utilized the restructured Eight Trigrams Formation that the Blood Queen had designed.
Jeok-un nodded readily.
“Yes, I have already prepared a solution.”
“Oh? Then let us hear it.”
“Hmm, but about that...”
“...?”
For the first time, Jegal Mun wore a look of utter confusion.
Jeok-un smirked, seizing the opportunity.
“Shouldn't there be another reward for my hard work?”
“!!”
Now, now. If you try to take it for free, you might get indigestion, Father.
Immediately after Jeok-un left, inside the Patriarch's Hall.
Jegal Mun was having a private meeting with someone else in the space Jeok-un had just vacated.
“Brother.”
The one who called Jegal Mun "brother."
It was none other than the leader of the Heavenly River Squad, Jegal Tan.
“Why did you hand over the clan's priceless treasure to Jeok-un so easily?”
Even though the guards had been dismissed from the Patriarch's Hall, it could not be completely empty.
Jegal Tan had been hiding in the rafters on guard duty, so he had heard everything.
“Are you that curious?”
“Wouldn't anyone be?”
Jegal Tan looked deeply worried, but Jegal Mun's expression was perfectly relaxed.
“Isn't it interesting?”
“Pardon?”
“As you know, Jeok-un was born with a heavenly curse.”
“...”
Everyone in the clan knew that Jeok-un's body was not normal.
Because of that, he had received his fair share of contemptuous looks.
“But not only did he overcome that heavenly curse on his own, now he's taking the White Feather Fan to pull off something else. It is highly intriguing.”
“J-Jeok-un overcame the heavenly curse?!”
Hearing this for the first time, Jegal Tan gasped in shock, unable to close his mouth.
It was only natural.
Even when they had invited famous physicians from all over the Central Plains to cure Jeok-un's illness, hadn't they all given up without even trying?
Yet he had cured that heavenly curse by himself overnight.
It was hard to believe, but since it came from Jegal Mun himself, it had to be the truth.
But his shock was short-lived.
Jegal Tan quickly set aside his role as Jeok-un's uncle and returned to his duty as the leader of the Heavenly River Squad to voice his concerns.
“That is certainly commendable, but even so, lending him the White Feather Fan seems excessive.”
“Why is that?”
“If he were to lose the White Feather Fan, the damage to the clan would be catastrophic...”
“Do not worry.”
“Pardon?”
Leaving Jegal Tan's confusion behind.
Jegal Mun walked over to the window, his eyes tracking the figure walking away in the distance.
“That child will surely bring back something far greater, something incomparable to a mere White Feather Fan.”
“What??”
Watching Jeok-un's back as he returned to his quarters under the pouring moonlight, Jegal Mun murmured softly.
“Have I neglected the clan too much all this time?”
“...”
“Haha. I was so distracted by the storms of the martial world that I only now realized the greatest tempest of all has risen right inside my own house.”
“...!!”
While Jegal Tan stood dumbfounded by the Patriarch's immense praise.
...Perhaps blood truly cannot be denied.
Jegal Mun swallowed his final thought.