Chapter 283
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 283
Chapter Title: You Already Know, Don't You?
On the sheer cliffside of Hyeong Mountain stood a small thatched hut.
It was tiny, barely large enough for one person to live in.
In front of the hut was a signboard thrust into the ground, inscribed with the words "Punishment Cave" in a savage, intimidating script.
Mun Inbaeksong, the Strategist, had climbed up to the hut to meet with someone.
"What brings the Strategist to this humble hole of mine?"
A beautiful middle-aged woman asked him, her every gesture exuding refined grace.
But Mun Inbaeksong saw through the elegance to the anxiety lurking beneath.
"You already know, don't you?"
That was why he answered like that.
A bitter smile touched the woman's lips at his words.
"I've heard you've been through a lot because of my foolish daughter."
It was called the Punishment Cave, but servants came and went every day. Through them, she kept up with the news from the Saha League.
"Is it only as a mother that you're concerned?"
Mun Inbaeksong replied calmly.
She probably wanted to bolt out of there right now. She was surely holding herself back with effort.
It was only natural.
How could she sit still when her daughter was being hunted by Shaolin monks?
"I've received permission from the League Leader."
The middle-aged woman's eyes widened at Mun Inbaeksong's words.
"What..."
"The ban on you has been lifted."
Mun Inbaeksong's tone was even, but the woman's eyes trembled faintly as she heard it.
"Ah..."
Her voice shook too.
"You've wanted to charge out of here immediately, haven't you?"
She nodded at his words.
Her eyes were red.
How could it not be so?
She had been hearing nonstop about her daughter, Gongya Hwiyeon.
She wanted to run—no, fly—to her side right away.
But she couldn't.
She had to suppress that urge somehow.
Because she was a criminal.
Bound by the ban that forbade her from leaving the Saha League.
Back then...
If she hadn't delayed due to personal matters...
The Saha League wouldn't have suffered such a blow from the Blood Cult.
It was clearly her fault.
Her punishment had been confinement in the Punishment Cave.
The ban.
Even in the midst of war.
It was an excessive penalty that wasted their strength.
Even though the Saha League had taken massive losses at the time...
She had arrived late but managed to salvage the situation somehow.
Yet she had still received that punishment. There was one reason for it.
Gongya Jeongmun.
The son of Saha League Leader Gongya Jangcheon, and her own husband, had vehemently demanded severe punishment.
The Ink Lotus Flower, wielder of the Piercing Heaven Demonic Flower Bow, Umun Garyul, had vanished like that.
One of the Six Flowers of the Martial World and the greatest archer of the unorthodox factions had been erased from the jianghu over a single mistake.
And now, that ban was being lifted.
"The League Leader himself wanted to rush out. I barely talked him down. Right now, the League has no expert who can slip into orthodox territory without a trace."
In Gongya Hwiyeon's current situation, they couldn't just send anyone.
They needed someone of sufficient skill.
The problem was that anyone of that caliber couldn't evade the Righteous Heaven Alliance's eyes.
All such experts' movements would be under surveillance.
They needed someone like the League's protectors or elders.
But if those people entered orthodox territory without reason...
It would only draw the Righteous Heaven Alliance's attention.
So they needed someone who could enter unnoticed.
And there was no one but her, who was practically imprisoned.
Nearly twenty years had passed since she vanished.
The orthodox factions had naturally forgotten her.
Moreover, she excelled in lightness skill and stealth.
She was among the best in the Saha League back then.
In the end, she was the perfect candidate.
Mun Inbaeksong had persuaded Gongya Jangcheon with that logic.
However...
She soon lowered her eyes.
"What did the young master say...?"
It was a cautious question.
Mun Inbaeksong had no answer for it.
He hadn't told him about this decision yet, after all.
Umun Garyul gleaned that fact from his reaction and kept her eyes downcast.
And said nothing.
Mun Inbaeksong felt frustrated.
He couldn't show it, but he was on the verge of exploding inside.
'Damn that little brat. Useless bastard. Pathetic excuse for a man.'
He ground his teeth.
The root of this mess, Gongya Jeongmun.
Mun Inbaeksong inwardly hurled every curse he could think of at him.
Her husband, Gongya Jeongmun, had been the most vehement voice demanding punishment for Umun Garyul.
And the reason wasn't anything else.
It stemmed from his inferiority complex and jealousy toward his wife.
He had been commanding the strike force that suffered devastating losses at the time.
Even if Umun Garyul's joining had been delayed, he had led them into the enemy's trap.
She had arrived late and salvaged what few survivors she could from that trap.
All of it had ignited Gongya Jeongmun's inferiority complex.
Shocked by her husband's resentment, jealousy, and rage toward her...
She had accepted the Saha League's punishment without a word and entered this Punishment Cave.
A flimsy hut like this was no prison for someone of her skill.
In truth, no one would have stopped her if she left.
Not even Gongya Jangcheon.
He knew all the facts.
He had come here several times, telling her the ban would be lifted, so just come down.
Yet she had remained here of her own will.
Refusing to have the ban lifted.
The only one who could release Umun Garyul from her self-imposed bonds was one person.
The man who had bound her in the first place.
Gongya Jeongmun.
The reason Umun Garyul was shocked by the ban being lifted was simple.
It had been done without her consent.
Until now, even though Father-in-Law Gongya Jangcheon could have lifted it, she had refused, and he had respected that.
Still, she felt a sense of relief that it was lifted.
Her husband still viewed her with disdain.
But at least now she had an excuse to rush to her daughter's side.
"Lady, you mustn't think of this as merely a temporary suspension of the ban."
Mun Inbaeksong pleaded earnestly.
And then he knelt.
Umun Garyul was startled.
By the Saha League Strategist's sudden action.
"Please... save the League Leader's granddaughter... my disciple's child... your daughter..."
Umun Garyul's face trembled faintly.
Her eyes reddened.
Mun Inbaeksong had swept away her last hesitation.
He had given a push to her back as she wavered on taking that one step forward.
The Saha League's Strategist had even knelt.
"Where is that child?"
Had she made her decision?
Umun Garyul asked in a choked voice.
"Near Mokran Mountain was the last report."
He then explained everything he knew in detail.
"Understood."
Umun Garyul rose to her feet.
"Ah, the Four Thunder Bow—she took it with her..."
Mun Inbaeksong said as if it had just occurred to him.
"What does it matter? A criminal doesn't shun weapons."
Mun Inbaeksong bowed his head deeply.
"Then I'll be off."
With those words, her figure vanished.
The Shaolin monks entered a small village.
They continued their inquiries here too, but found nothing.
The trail was growing faint.
There had clearly been signs she entered the village.
"Amitabha. This is difficult... so difficult."
Yeonjin muttered in frustration.
The villagers were cooperative with the Shaolin monks.
It was only natural.
Famous monks from Shaolin Temple weren't someone you'd encounter every day in a backwater village like this.
They seemed eager to share everything they knew.
Yet there was still no gain.
"Hoo."
Yeonjin sighed.
They had decided to stay the night in this village.
He ordered his disciples to rest and went to patrol the village himself.
On the off chance he might find something.
Hangsan was exhausted too.
She was clever.
Too clever, making the trail that much harder to follow.
He worried how they would pick it up next.
"Um, Senior Brother Hangsan."
As they settled in to rest...
Myojin, the third-generation disciple they'd brought along for odd jobs, approached Hangsan with a face full of curiosity.
"What is it?"
"Is... is the Four Thunder Bow really that amazing a divine weapon?"
It was a very cautious question. It seemed the name had spread among the disciples during the pursuit.
Hangsan frowned at his junior nephew's query.
Such idle curiosity in this dire situation.
"Ah, yeah. What kind of weapon is it exactly?"
Even his senior brother Hango, resting nearby, showed interest.
In truth, few knew about the Four Thunder Bow.
Hangsan was the odd one out.
He had learned of it while studying martial history.
It was as good as forgotten now.
Over a dozen years ago.
The female expert who had made her name with the Four Thunder Bow had vanished, and it had ended up in the Saha League Leader's hands.
With his senior brother asking too, Hangsan couldn't just stay silent.
"It was the signature weapon of the unorthodox factions' greatest archer. One of the Ten Great Evil Weapons."
The eyes of the surrounding Shaolin monks lit up.
Monks who had taken refuge in Buddhism, yes—but they were young men and martial artists.
How could they not be curious about legends of the jianghu?
"I hear its appearance changes based on the user's level. The evil qi inherent in the weapon itself is hard to control too. That's why not just anyone can wield it... but Umun Garyul, the Piercing Heaven Demonic Flower Bow, handled it with complete freedom. They say when her archery merged with the Four Thunder Bow, she could take on a hundred foes alone—no, a thousand."
A long explanation.
No one lost interest.
"In the early days of the war with the Blood Cult, she alone displayed the might of an entire strike force."
"I've never even heard of her."
Hango tilted his head.
It was natural.
She had been forgotten.
Thirteen—no, now fourteen years had passed since she vanished.
Time enough to fade from memory.
Especially for martial artists of their generation.
He himself wouldn't have known without the history scrolls in Janggyeong Pavilion.
Who pays attention to such dusty old books?
"The Saha League erased her. She committed a grave sin and vanished for it."
There were several such figures.
'Even in our Shaolin right now...'
Hangsan stopped that thought there.
Even recalling it was taboo.
No, most disciples of his generation or younger probably didn't know at all.
He only knew because he had scoured every martial history scroll in Janggyeong Pavilion.
"Anyway, its owner has been the Saha League Leader for the last thirteen or fourteen years. Which is why we suspect it's out in the world now."
Hangsan wrapped up his explanation.
The young Shaolin monks sank into their own thoughts.
Monks or not, it was a tale tied to a legendary weapon of the martial world.
"Everyone, over here!"
At that moment...
Yeonjin's lion roar echoed.
The resting monks hurried over.
They gathered in an instant at a dried-up well on the village outskirts.
A well so parched they had boarded it over and sealed it shut.
Yeonjin stood there with a grave expression.
"Hold. Everyone, stop."
As they approached within five zhang of the well, Yeonjin urgently commanded.
The Shaolin monks halted.
"Senior Uncle, what is it?"
Hangsan stepped forward to ask.
"I sense evil qi coming from this place."
Yeonjin was currently operating the Prajna Wisdom Eye.
Through it, he spotted faint wisps of evil qi leaking from the dried well.
The monks tensed and stared at the well.
Someone might be hiding inside.
And it was likely the criminal they had been pursuing.
"Hango. Check the surroundings."
At Yeonjin's order...
Hango immediately inspected around the well.
To see if any traces of the criminal remained.
A well dried to dust.
Villagers naturally wouldn't come here often.
There were few human footprints around.
Just Yeonjin's and what looked like some children's.
And...
"It seems she was here."
A woman's footprint was visible.
A normal print from someone without internal energy.
But it was exactly the one they had been tracking.
Hango reported to Yeonjin.
"She was here."
Yeonjin nodded.
And glared at the well.
"However."
Hango continued.
"There are also signs she left."
"Could it be a ploy to lure us in?"
Yeonjin asked.
Hango couldn't be sure.
"Unknown."
Yeonjin nodded.
At his gesture, the Shaolin monks approached and encircled the well.
"Open it."
Yeonjin commanded, channeling his internal energy in preparation for any contingency.
Two fourth-generation Shaolin disciples cautiously approached the well's cover.
"Stop. That's far enough. Halt."
Suddenly, a voice rang from midair.
Ha Mu-baek stepped down from the sky, treading the air slowly.
He landed right beside the well, placing himself squarely in the midst of the encircling Shaolin monks.
"Amitabha. Patron Ha, what brings you here so suddenly?"
Ha Mu-baek grinned.
"I had business at this well too, you see."
Yeonjin frowned.
"Patron Ha..."
"What's wrong?"
Ha Mu-baek gazed steadily at Yeonjin.
'She's not here.'
Good.
He had spread his senses around upon arriving.
Gongya Hwiyeon was nowhere nearby.
There was only one item inside the well.
That was the presence he had sensed with his qi perception.
He had hurried here fearing she might be with it.
But she wasn't.
She was moving cleverly, as expected.
"Do you realize that interfering with us looks like aiding the unorthodox?"
His voice dripped with displeasure.
Ha Mu-baek raised his right hand at the words.
And then...
Kwak!
He smashed the well's cover with it.