What, Did You Think I Wouldn't Know?
Unfortunately for the Three Purities, their organization was riddled with secrets.
An inspector?
This was the first they had ever heard of their organization having inspectors. And yet they could not very well voice the doubt. There's no way of knowing how this damned organization is even put together.
Nokcheong's head spun as he kept it bowed. Even those who belonged to the organization had no idea how it was structured. At least they knew of the Geohae Society, which managed Hubei. As members of Wudang, they had no choice but to deal with them, whether they wanted to or not. Even sending Geumgak outside had been done at their request.
We figured that if Hubei had the Geohae Society, the other provinces would have organizations of similar standing. But an inspector? His thoughts tangled themselves into knots.
Is that why they told us to hide if the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven appeared?
In any organization, inspectors were objects of terror to the rank and file. Wudang itself was no different. What the Three Purities feared most were the Inspection Elders of the Inspection Hall. Even as venerable elders themselves, if those men caught wind of their misdeeds, it would become a devastating weakness.
With the Sect Leader fallen, the Three Purities already held considerable power and had seized control of the Wudang Sect — yet they still could not act openly. If they moved without a solid justification, the Inspection Elders would surely put a stop to them.
Then again, an organization spread across the entire Central Plains would naturally have inspectors. Was that why the warning had circulated in secret — hide if the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven appears? Nokcheong's mind raced.
Wherever people gathered and interests arose, corruption inevitably followed. Even Wudang, this so-called Taoist sect, is no exception. The Wudang Sect, which ought to have been the most incorruptible place in the world, was no different. Just as Sun Wukong had rebuked Gopung a moment ago, rot always lurked somewhere. The larger the organization, the more inevitable the inspectors.
The pieces clicked rapidly into place in Nokcheong's mind.
Come to think of it, the Wudang Bloodbath this time truly went too far.
The Three Purities themselves had been considerably shaken when they heard the news. They had received the request to smuggle Geumgak out, but they never imagined it would erupt into a massacre right in the middle of the street. An organization had to keep its existence thoroughly hidden. And yet the Geohae Society had detonated a shocking incident like the Wudang Bloodbath. It was definitely different from how they'd operated until now.
It was a catastrophe that could have exposed every last one of the organization's Hubei strongholds. The Wulin Alliance had reacted, and the Three Purities, as members of Wudang, had no choice but to take an active role.
Then that means...
The moment the thought connected, a shock struck Nokcheong like a physical blow.
Killing Baekgwiwang...?
He had said it himself — that he had killed him. His attitude had been utterly unashamed. If he were an enemy, he could never come out and say something like that. Would a madman tell his enemy, I killed him? The normal thing would be to conceal it thoroughly, to bury it.
The countless circumstances Sun Wukong had presented. The overwhelming martial prowess they had felt when they crossed blades with him. His encyclopedic knowledge of an organization even they themselves did not fully understand. All of it mixed together, and the Three Purities began to deceive themselves.
Just as Mancheon's advice, once passed along to Sun Wukong, had suggested — their imaginations inflated with every outward impression he presented, and they began fitting the circumstances together on their own.
If he's an inspector... if that's truly what he is. If he had killed Baekgwiwang because Baekgwiwang had strayed from the organization's path?
Baekgwiwang. A man of such power that he governed an entire province. A station so high that even the Three Purities dared not look him in the eye.
The authority and prestige to summarily execute a man like that!
The Three Purities were completely taken in by the illusion they themselves had spun. An inspector of tremendous authority! A man with the power to cut down even Baekgwiwang on the spot. Their bodies trembled.
If Sun Wukong's steel staff had instilled physical terror, the false authority the Three Purities had fabricated for themselves now began to bind them.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Could he read that fear? Sun Wukong's steel staff slowly grazed Hocheong's crown, rising and falling in a measured rhythm. Each time the cold sensation touched him, Hocheong's body shuddered.
The hall was filled with nothing but silence. When Sun Wukong said nothing, no one else dared open their mouth. Having seized the entire hall in a single instant, he savored the quiet. The more desperate a man is, the more he fears silence.
"The Wudang Sect Leader's misfortune — that was your doing as well."
The low rumble drove itself into the Three Purities' ears.
"Hiring assassins from outside — that was you too."
There was not a grain of doubt in that firm voice. It carried weight. It was a tone that went beyond conviction — it was a verdict. Sun Wukong's voice stabbed deep into their lungs.
"......Th—"
"You made contact with a man named Sima, too. Planning to put him forward as your proxy."
The moment Nokcheong tried to speak, Sun Wukong cut him off. When that low, sunken gaze turned on him, Nokcheong's words died in his throat.
"You met him. At the Taoist temple beneath Seven Immortals Peak. About two months before the Sect Leader was attacked."
"......!"
Nokcheong's face went deathly pale. He could not even form words. He... he knows everything! The exact place. The exact date. He knew it all so perfectly that denial was impossible. How could this be?
If he's an inspector... does that mean he has this kind of intelligence network as well?
There was no other way to explain information like this. Two months ago — that was around the time this man had appeared as a guest at the Namgung Clan Estate. No one on Mt. Wudang even knew about the meeting. They had made contact so secretly that no one could have noticed. And yet Sun Wukong spoke as if he had been standing right there that day. This was more than mere intelligence-gathering.
In that instant, their bodies trembled. The same assumption sprouted in all three minds at once. There were eyes watching us the entire time! Nothing else could explain it. And their guess, as it happened, was surprisingly accurate. Every living creature on Mt. Wudang had been a pair of watching eyes, and Dangrang, the Earth Deity who looked down upon the mountain, had been both ear and mouth.
Sun Wukong continued, unhurried. His voice was still ice-cold.
"......!"
"You turned your blades on me. And that's not all. On your way here, you leaked rumors to the martial artists — thinking you'd have someone else do the killing for you, were you?"
Sun Wukong seized a fistful of Hocheong's hair in a brutal grip. He forced the man's head back until their eyes met, Hocheong staring up at the sky. Sun Wukong's smile was reflected in those trembling pupils.
The faint thread of amusement in his voice was thick with mockery. A light sneer — or perhaps a mischievous laugh, as if he found it all terribly entertaining.
"Still. You didn't know who I was, so we'll set that aside."
Sun Wukong's brow arched in a sudden, pleasant curve.
"......?"
It happened in an instant. A face that had been contemplating whether to kill them on the spot — and with a single crinkle of his eyes, the entire atmosphere flipped.
"But I'll take into account that it would've been hard to believe I was your superior right away. So I won't kill you."
"......!"
"Th-thank you!"
Hocheong managed to force the words out, his tongue barely functioning. Sun Wukong let out a short laugh.
A single thread of hope in the midst of overwhelming terror.
The moment a man is released from fear, the emotion is intense. The relief, the thrilling sensation of being alive — it is more powerful than any ecstasy.
Now isn't this the mercy of a Buddha?
See, if you want to show mercy, you've got to give them terror first. Just hand out mercy and they don't even know they should be grateful. If you want someone to feel goodwill, they've got to thoroughly experience malice first.
Sun Wukong's gaze swept quickly across the Three Purities. Yangcheong and Nokcheong, who had been standing somewhat farther back, merely showed relief. But...
This one. Sun Wukong smiled inwardly. His feelings must be something else entirely.
On Hocheong's face bloomed a rapture beyond compare. Of course it did. Unlike Nokcheong and Yangcheong, he had stared death in the face. His entire body had been wrecked by pain that felt like being torn apart — even though, from the outside, it had looked like nothing more than a series of light taps to the head with a steel staff. Must've felt like dying.
Sun Wukong grinned mischievously. It had not been a simple act. He had channeled Yoryeok through the steel staff. The demonic energy had struck the acupoint connecting the crown of the head to the upper dantian dead-on. To Yangcheong and Nokcheong's eyes it would have looked like mere intimidation, but Hocheong, on the receiving end, had died and come back to life dozens of times over.
That was why Hocheong was so overwhelmed with gratitude at having survived that he was ready to prostrate himself on the floor. But Sun Wukong dumped cold water on that joy.
"However. This plan to eliminate Wudang's Sect Leader — that I find curious."
"......!"
"Whether it was Honghaea's order, or whether you had some other justifiable reason."
The steel staff began to move, slowly. Sun Wukong smiled, cold as frost.
"You're going to explain all of it."
The Three Purities had no choice but to erase even the last remaining thread of doubt. He can even lift the restriction... this man is definitely one of the organization's people. And a core figure at that!
All three of them had a restriction placed in their minds. These were men who had trained in martial arts at Wudang and read through countless Taoist scriptures. Their knowledge was not shallow. Uneasy about the restriction, they had searched high and low for a way to undo it, researching every possibility they could imagine. There was no answer. They had concluded that only the one who placed the restriction could lift it.
And yet Sun Wukong had undone it with a mere gesture of his hand.
They abandoned every last doubt. They would have to lay out every justifiable reason for their plan, or they would be caught on some unnecessary charge.
Sun Wukong listened to the inside story in silence. Their objective was simple. Eliminate the Sect Leader. Seize the Wudang Sect. A simple, clear, and effective strategy. But the preparations had been anything but easy.
So basically, decades, huh.
Having heard the rough outline, Sun Wukong saw through the whole affair with perfect clarity. They lost the Sect Leader's seat, all three of them nursed a grudge, and then Honghaea approached them and took these three as his direct subordinates.
In the years since, the Three Purities had slowly built their position on Mt. Wudang. They had not retreated to the back rooms. They had remained, step by step, as pillars of Wudang. All so that one day they could take the sect for themselves. And the moment they reached a certain point, they resolved to eliminate the Sect Leader.
Because of the Mugok Pavilion Master.
The Mugok Pavilion Master's abilities were outstanding, and the Sect Leader himself had begun preparing to hand over the position. If the Mugok Pavilion Master took the Sect Leader's seat, the Three Purities would truly have to step down as elders, retiring alongside the outgoing leader.
So they planned to either kill the Sect Leader and take the seat themselves, or else fill the power vacuum like this and seize everything with their own hands.
Sun Wukong nodded. This was a plan years in the making.
In the end, this has nothing to do with that Baekgwiwang bastard.
Rather than a single underground organization, it looked more like an alliance of independent groups — competing with one another while remaining largely indifferent to each other's affairs.
An alliance like this falls apart easily once the center starts to shake. The corner of Sun Wukong's mouth lifted. No need to deal with them one by one. No need to hunt them down and wipe them out one at a time. Their center. Find that and destroy it, and the rest would collapse on its own. Just as the demons who had opposed Heaven had scattered in an instant the moment Sun Wukong was captured.
U-mawang. For Elder Brother to appear before my eyes...
Sun Wukong's eyes sank low. And the next moment, he lifted his head. A single messenger pigeon rose from the Three Purities' residence, taking flight.
Come, Honghaea.
Sun Wukong's smile deepened.