Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Integration (3)
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* * *
A few days later.
“We greet the Sect Leader of Mount Hua!”
Bai Duanxian had to work hard to hide his complex expression as the Taoists, who had until now walked with their heads held high, bowed to him.
And yet, paradoxically, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
*They’re the same juniors who used to ignore me…*
With the fall of the Zhongwan Sect, which had been the center of the small and medium-sized Taoist sects scattered across Shaanxi, the balance of power had shifted decisively.
They had been defeated by a junior, Ouyang Jue, in both character and martial prowess.
Though minor grievances remained, the tide had turned long ago.
The power map of Shaanxi was gradually being simplified, dominated by the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhongnan Sect.
But did they know?
That due to the events of a few days ago, the Zhongnan Sect was now a step behind Mount Hua…
Bai Duanxian straightened the folds of his Taoist robe.
“You have all endured much, traveling all this way.”
“Not at all, Sect Leader.”
“I trust you have been well? Haha.”
Their demeanor was impeccable.
An appearance that anyone would find fitting for the head of a sect.
And they were all praising him.
*They must be seething inside.*
Bai Duanxian smiled faintly.
Their words were sweet, and their faces shone with admiration, but their true feelings were surely different.
Their independent power base, built alongside local magnates, had been shattered in an instant. How could they not be resentful?
Once his current influence faded, they would undoubtedly turn on him in a heartbeat.
These were men more accustomed to the ways of the martial world than the tenets of Taoism.
Before their arrival, Song Muk had warned him.
“It is best not to assume they will remain our allies forever, Sect Leader.”
It was a tactful way of telling him to draw a line.
Song Muk had advised that the righteous path for a Sect Leader was to avoid disaster, even if it meant abandoning these men.
The incident with the Zhongwan Sect, where Ouyang Jue had nearly been trapped, had surely influenced his words.
*These men here are of a similar sort, having stood by and done nothing about the Iron Bamboo Master…*
If he left them as they were, he would be betrayed again.
Recalling Song Muk’s cold, direct gaze, Bai Duanxian’s smiling lips hardened.
*But I don’t think I can do that.*
It was foolish.
Some might call him a stubborn fool.
But he was a Taoist.
The Taoist named Bai Duanxian was a man forged by the teachings passed down from his master, his grandmaster, and all the senior brothers before them.
*It is the duty of a Taoist to guide others onto the right path.*
The mind must be clear for the body to be righteous; one must first temper the heart before forging the body.
Bai Duanxian’s eyes swept over them.
They were men still mired in greed and ambition, unable to see the true path.
They had simply failed to temper their hearts first.
With that thought, Bai Duanxian opened his mouth.
“I know you may harbor resentment over the current situation.”
“……”
“Sect Leader, why would you say such a thing? We are disheartened to hear it.”
But his words caused the once-warm atmosphere to deflate.
There was no outright hostility.
Just a certain sense of unease that prickled the skin.
A false unity.
It was no exaggeration to say they were a group temporarily united by the menace of the Black Dragon Gang.
The events that led to their gathering had been ugly, to say the least.
But. Even so.
Bai Duanxian was not a Taoist who judged people based on profit and loss.
And what sort of experiences had he accumulated until now?
He closed his eyes for a moment.
Countless phantoms flickered through the dark shadows of his mind before vanishing.
The Golden Ring Merchant Guild, Ha Jin-ak’s fallen face, Cheol Geum-san’s betrayal.
Each one a tragedy the likes of which he had never experienced.
The things he had believed in, the people he had trusted, the sect brother who had been by his side for so long.
All of them had either backstabbed him or fallen.
There was no telling when Ha Jin-ak would recover. And Cheol Geum-san had even learned demonic arts.
What a joke. An elder of Mount Hua, practicing demonic arts.
“……Hah.”
A dry laugh escaped him.
At the sight, the representatives of the smaller sects flinched.
If this fact became known, they would not only be scorned but might even be pursued by the Martial Alliance itself.
In the midst of it all, the man named Bai Duanxian had changed, just a little.
It might be a temporary phenomenon.
But… he had changed.
The Taoist named Bai Duanxian, the man he used to be, would have unleashed a torrent of scolding here.
Even if it was just a temporary change, one that might pass like a spring breeze.
No one could deny the fact that the man named Bai Duanxian had changed.
Bai Duanxian opened his eyes.
“I will not force you to stay indefinitely.”
“Is that… true?”
Many eyes turned to the one who had asked such a petty question.
They worried his words might cause the Sect Leader to change his mind.
It was a concern born from their past insolence.
“It is.”
Bai Duanxian’s magnanimity had grown.
People make mistakes.
It is because of such imperfections that they strive to correct them, struggling not to repeat them.
Bai Duanxian, too, had learned from experience.
He had learned it desperately in a period of less than two months.
“Are we not companions, learning the same Path?”
“…………”
Silence fell upon the room.
As if his words were unexpected, gazes trying to discern their truthfulness bored into Bai Duanxian.
The strange standoff did not last long.
*Was Bai Duanxian… always such a great man?*
Gulp.
An old Taoist felt his sleeve grow damp.
It was surely from shame.
When the Mount Hua Sect had established a fine estate in Chang'an to treat a fool, what had he thought?
*I felt there was a hidden motive… but was I wrong?*
The Bai Duanxian standing before him now was not trying to stand above them.
Companion.
It meant he would treat them with the respect due to fellow seekers of the same Path, even before their status in the martial world.
A scent of bamboo emanated from him.
It was not the rigidness forged from a title like the Iron Bamboo Master, but a fortitude that could be felt from his very being.
In the span of two months.
Bai Duanxian had changed.
“Therefore.”
The Taoist who had once belittled and suspected others based on trivial, everyday conduct had become a man of great heart.
Despite the many shocking tragedies, Bai Duanxian did not despair.
He would stand firm in his place, becoming a dependable shade for the disciples of Mount Hua who would look up to him from behind.
Thinking of the bedridden Ha Jin-ak, Bai Duanxian erased the ill feelings that had clouded his vision.
*Watch me from there, Jin-ak.*
Remembering the disciple who had shouldered the danger to punish the evils of the Black Dragon Gang.
“As fellow Taoists who study the same Path, let us not bow our heads to one another. We are all Taoists born and raised in Shaanxi.”
Bai Duanxian clenched his fist tightly, then opened it. At the same time, Liu Zhangming entered with a tea table.
For a moment, tension flowed among the old Taoists.
Some even braced themselves, wondering if this was a show of force.
Then, Bai Duanxian spoke.
“The tea smells wonderful. Please, help yourselves.”
“……”
At his words, the old Taoists picked up their cups with hesitant expressions. Of course, they still harbored the thought that this might be a veiled threat.
But as Bai Duanxian continued to speak, they were forced to change their minds.
He told them that more and more physicians were flocking to the estate in Chang'an.
While it was currently being used to treat a simpleton, its purpose could change to that of a supply depot or a shelter if the situation demanded it.
Bai Duanxian hinted at this, adding that Liu Zhangming, whom they had just seen, would be dispatched there if it were converted into a shelter.
“Would it not be good for you, my fellow Taoists, to lend a hand as well?”
The casual suggestion from Bai Duanxian was, naturally, incredibly appealing.
“If there is a stop we can make on our patrols, it would be a fine thing.”
“And if the situation becomes unfavorable, we could send a carrier pigeon here.”
“……?”
“Since everyone will have a hand in it, there will always be a Taoist on standby, so would you not be able to receive help?”
“Ah!”
The old Taoists slapped their knees.
Being located on the borders of Shaanxi, and with few members in their sects, they were vulnerable to invasion in many ways.
But what if they had a foothold in Chang'an, in the center of Shaanxi?
It meant they would have more options to respond to a crisis.
However, this also subtly implied something else.
“You are right, Sect Leader Bai. It is an offer I cannot help but accept.”
One of the old Taoists’ eyes gleamed.
“But are you planning to expand your influence in such a way?”
Even at that provocation, Bai Duanxian maintained the smile that had hardened just moments before.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Hmm…”
*He’s become fearsome,* the old Taoist thought to himself.
The Bai Duanxian he saw after half a year was certainly different.
His capacity had broadened, yet he had also become more befitting of a Sect Leader.
As if the winds of change in the martial world had transformed the man himself.
Bai Duanxian swept them over with a relaxed smile.
“Well, what do you say?”
Faced with a fatally attractive offer they could not refuse, the old Taoists fell silent.
Then, one of them spoke up as if he had just remembered something.
“Indeed… we never know when an unorthodox faction like the Black Dragon Gang might appear.”
*Trickle.*
The old Taoist carefully poured tea into Bai Duanxian’s cup.
“Please, have a cup, Sect Leader.”
“Very well.”
Bai Duanxian nodded readily.
* * *
“Dammit…”
Bai Wun-hwan spat out a bitter remark.
It had only been a month.
In that short time, the Black Dragon Gang had met with its worst crisis ever.
Bai Cheong-il, once considered a promising successor to the gang, was dead.
*He may have fought valiantly against a secular master from Mount Hua and the Beggars' Sect, but from the perspective of an unorthodox martial artist, it was nothing more than a dog's death!*
That wasn’t all.
It was coming to light that the Shaanxi branch of the Black Dragon Gang had been extorting nearby villages.
They had even disguised themselves as Taoists and massacred innocent commoners.
The mouths of the Beggars' Sect, once sealed, had been unleashed and now chattered endlessly.
“It’s a small mercy that my youngest wasn’t caught…”
But hadn’t he, too, led the enemy to the location of the Black Dragon Gang’s secrets?
A useless son in so many ways.
*I should have cast him out early on if I knew it would come to this.*
Bai Wun-hwan clicked his tongue.
Instead, he thought of Bai Cheong-il.
“I miss you today, of all days.”
When he was alive, he had seemed to only covet his position, so Bai Wun-hwan had kept his distance.
To think his absence would be felt so keenly only after he was gone.
Bai Wun-hwan briefly softened his beastly eyes and looked up at the ceiling with a melancholic gaze.
Just then.
“Gang Leader, it is Elder Xiang.”
“…Alright.”
Hearing the somewhat watery reply, Xiang Jiksan tilted his head as he opened the door.
*Creeak.*
The door opened with an unpleasant sound.
Inside, Bai Wun-hwan was staring at Xiang Jiksan with an unyieldingly firm expression.
“What is it?”
*I must have imagined it.*
After all, if he showed any weakness in a crisis like this…
*He’d be torn to shreds.*
From Xiang Jiksan’s perspective, that would be a welcome development.
The Black Dragon Gang was already in a state of gradual decline.
If its leader weakened, he could simply suck him dry and establish his own independence.
*Besides, who knows what he’s really thinking?*
Xiang Jiksan smiled faintly and unfurled the letter he had brought.
“I have investigated.”
“…Hmph.”
Snatching the letter from Xiang Jiksan’s hand, Bai Wun-hwan untied the string and glanced at the portrait on the first page.
“This is the one?”
At his words, the corners of Xiang Jiksan’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Yes, Gang Leader.”
“I see.”
Bai Wun-hwan growled, his voice laced with hostility.
“So this is the bastard who ruined our grand plan…”
- Plum Blossom Sword Hero, Ouyang Jue.
- Current age, eighteen.
*Rip!*
After reading every word, Bai Wun-hwan tore the letter to shreds with a single, effortless gesture.