Chapter 499
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 499
Chapter Title: A Variable Has Taken Effect
"Do you even properly understand what you're doing right now?"
"Of course. This is all for the glory of our clan."
Jegal Yi-jong replied as he ripped into a duck leg with relish.
The sight irritated Ha Mu-baek to no end.
So...
Whoosh.
He snatched the duck meat back using his qi grasp technique.
"Ah...!"
Jegal Yi-jong jumped in surprise at Ha Mu-baek's sudden move.
"Looks like you need to starve a bit longer."
Ha Mu-baek had no idea what 'the glory of the Jegal Clan' meant, but for someone who had shattered the peaceful lives of an entire village, the man's brazenness was off the charts.
His face was full of complaint, but he didn't dare lunge at Ha Mu-baek.
He had witnessed with his own eyes just how monstrous the man was.
The way Ha Mu-baek had butchered those two hundred Blood Cult elites was straight out of hell—a demon incarnate.
Ha Mu-baek flicked his hand again, and Jegal Yi-jong felt his body stiffen rigidly.
"You won't be able to move properly. You'll barely manage to lift an arm to sip some water. Spend a week like that, and maybe you'll grasp even a fraction of the mess you've caused."
Ha Mu-baek used his qi grasp to float Jegal Yi-jong into the air and shove him back into the cave.
Then he tossed the water canteen over.
If he rationed it carefully, he wouldn't die of thirst.
"Wait, hold on! Leaving me like this won't solve anything! I've already sent messenger birds to the clan three days ago! They'll know something's happened to me by now. Clan members will show up in this village any day!"
Jegal Yi-jong screamed desperately.
Ha Mu-baek sent a burst of qi to seal his pressure points.
The man could no longer speak.
Ha Mu-baek turned and started walking away.
'He was sending reports to the Jegal Clan every day?'
The Jegal Clan.
They weren't some minor sect or faction.
So they couldn't have anticipated Ha Mu-baek showing up in this backwater village.
But true to their status as a major clan, they had precautions in place.
Messenger birds dispatched daily.
Probably more than one at a time.
Ha Mu-baek hadn't imagined they could send birds from a tiny village like this.
'Guess I need to head to the Yungzhong Mountains.'
He made up his mind.
Even if he took out whoever the Jegal Clan sent to check on Jegal Yi-jong, they'd just send more.
Better to cut the problem off at the root.
Ha Mu-baek changed course.
The Dragon Training Pavilion was undergoing massive changes as well.
The news that they were no longer recruiting for the Fierce Dragon Corps brought a faint smile to Jegal Myeong's lips.
It was heading in the right direction.
Jegal Myeong glanced toward the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
"Instructor Ha. You're incredible."
Jegal Myeong.
He had considered himself lucky just to slightly improve the survival rates of the Fierce Dragon Corps recruits.
Developing and teaching shield techniques.
That was the extent of what he could do.
But what about Ha Mu-baek?
He had wiped the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest and the Blood Cult off the map.
Of course, the Righteous Heaven Alliance hadn't shared the full details, but Jegal Myeong could guess what had happened.
When the Pavilion Lord showed them the official notice halting Fierce Dragon Corps recruitment now that the Blood Cult and forest were dealt with...
Jegal Myeong and Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul had exchanged knowing smiles.
They could infer what had gone down there.
The difference this time?
Fierce Dragon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek.
Still, no one had imagined he'd resolve the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest this quickly.
"What were all those years and sacrificed lives for...?"
He even questioned the Righteous Heaven Alliance's actions.
Why sideline someone with that kind of talent as an instructor at the Dragon Training Pavilion instead of sending him to the forest sooner?
It had backfired in an unexpected way, ultimately clearing the forest, but still.
More pressing was the letter from his clan.
It ordered him to wrap up his Alliance duties and return to focus on clan matters.
"Hmmm."
A heavy sigh escaped him.
The clan.
His grandfather.
They were worlds apart from Jegal Myeong.
Born the legitimate heir of the Jegal Clan.
Grandfather as clan head, father as young head.
Even with an older brother, he was the clan head's grandson.
Gifted with exceptional talent and the family's expectations, but the clan's path diverged from his own ideals.
They pursued hegemony, not righteousness.
Sick of the atmosphere prioritizing only the clan's prosperity over the proper path, he had volunteered for the Alliance.
But even there, the clan's influence reached.
What they wanted was the Heavenly Eye Pavilion.
In the end, Jegal Myeong had come to the Dragon Training Pavilion on his own and found some fulfillment in his days.
And now this sudden letter from the clan.
'What exactly are you plotting, Grandfather? Father?'
Jegal Myeong picked up his brush.
He had deliberately turned a blind eye to clan affairs, but now he felt he needed to investigate.
He began writing a discreet letter to his youngest sibling, the one clan member whose temperament most closely matched his own.
"Jegal Clan Head Jegal Nam-cheon. What the hell are you thinking?"
Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong scowled at the stack of reports before him.
They scattered clues everywhere pointing to the Jegal Clan as the root, while masquerading as Demonic Cult activity.
As if daring someone to figure out it was the Jegal Clan's doing.
And all those discoveries pointed straight to the Yungzhong Mountains.
Like an invitation to come visit.
Too big an impact on the martial world to ignore.
The Subtle Guanyin Cult was spreading like wildfire through the clans and sects.
Leave it be, and it might truly birth a new force called the Guanyin Cult, independent of the Jegal Clan.
The Jegal Clan.
He knew they saw him as their lifelong enemy.
Because of the Heavenly Eye Pavilion.
The Pavilion Lord position had been practically monopolized by the Jegal Clan in the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Until Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong took over.
One of So Hwi-woong's first acts as leader was appointing Gong Son Dan-gyeong as Pavilion Lord.
But this scheme felt too grand just to oust him.
He checked the other Great Clans and Nine Great Sects—no unusual activity.
The Yeon Clan and Zhongnan Sect were swamped just cleaning up after the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest and Demon-Sealing Corps mess.
Clearly a solo Jegal Clan operation.
Worth of a major clan like the Jegals, one of the Five Great Clans?
Even for them, the scale was absurdly massive.
Had they accounted for something like this?
"What a headache."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong muttered, rubbing his temples.
Jegal Go-pung sought out Jegal Nam-cheon.
"What is it?"
"We've lost contact with Yi-jong."
Jegal Nam-cheon frowned at Jegal Go-pung's report.
"That thunderbolt-headed fool finally..."
His second son's child, thus Jegal Nam-cheon's grandson as well.
Unlike the Jegal bloodline, he was reckless and unpredictable.
That's why Jegal Nam-cheon had excluded him from the main operation, but somehow the boy insisted on joining the great undertaking and was given an easy task.
Spreading the Subtle Guanyin Cult in small villages without major sects or powerful forces.
He had handled it smoothly until now, but suddenly, radio silence.
"Think something happened to the kid?"
Jegal Go-pung answered his uncle's question carefully.
"Unlikely. We sent him there after considering every variable multiple times. But an unforeseen factor could have intervened."
Jegal Nam-cheon pondered his nephew's words.
"What's your take?"
"Not enough information for a clear judgment."
Jegal Nam-cheon had no choice but to frown.
Lack of intelligence.
That was what hobbled the Jegal Clan.
It never happened when they controlled the Heavenly Eye Pavilion.
Information from across the land flowed straight in.
"What about the Heavenly Eye Pavilion?"
They had cut ties discreetly, but Gong Son Dan-gyeong had the Pavilion locked down tight—next to no useful intel.
"Nothing noteworthy."
At that moment.
"Clan Head. A letter from Young Master Clan Head."
A servant announced a letter from Jegal Nam-cheon's son, Jegal Kang-ha, an elder stationed at the main Alliance headquarters.
"Bring it."
The servant handed over the letter carefully and withdrew.
Jegal Nam-cheon broke the seal, unfolded it, and read slowly.
"A variable has taken effect."
He grimaced and passed it to Jegal Go-pung.
Jegal Go-pung's face twisted upon reading it.
"My apologies. My oversight."
He bowed his head.
"No. Neither of us predicted the Fierce Dragon Corps would move there."
No one had foreseen that damned monster Ha Mu-baek becoming Fierce Dragon Corps Leader either.
Ha Mu-baek's actions mocked the title of 'major clan.'
"Sending him to the Dragon Training Pavilion was our mistake."
Ha Mu-baek's demotion to instructor.
The Yeon Clan had spearheaded it, but the Jegals had advised on the scheme.
Jegal Go-pung spoke with a look of regret.
"Probably that Ha Mu-baek bastard's doing?"
"Some of the villages Yi-jong was handling lie along the route from Luoyang to Seobok."
He answered his uncle's question with evident agreement.
Seobok in Goseo Province.
A midsize city on the border between Goseo and Honam Provinces, east of Mount Hyang.
The Fierce Dragon Corps' next assigned area. If Ha Mu-baek, who had appeared in Luoyang recently, headed there, he'd likely pass through Yi-jong's villages.
"And he must have noticed what the kid was up to along the way."
"Exactly."
A slim chance, but an outlier like Ha Mu-baek could pull it off easily.
"He'll come."
Jegal Nam-cheon murmured with conviction.
Jegal Go-pung nodded slightly in agreement.
They wouldn't ignore the events in villages where the Subtle Guanyin Cult was spreading.
And given what they knew of Ha Mu-baek's temperament, he wouldn't sit idly by.
"Tch. That's why rootless upstarts are trouble."
Jegal Nam-cheon clicked his tongue softly.
"What about Myeong?"
"No reply."
"That stubborn fool would do that. Still, he'll move to investigate. Keep an eye on little Sorin. He'll surely contact the boy."
"Understood."
"Prepare thoroughly since that bastard's coming. How's the overlapping formation core?"
"No issues."
Jegal Nam-cheon grinned at Jegal Go-pung's response.
The overlapping formation core.
Discovering it had sparked dreams of the Jegal Clan's rise.
"Good. Things are progressing even better than expected. Even we didn't calculate how much discontent the martial world harbors toward the current era."
"Yes."
"If this goes off without a hitch, topping the Five Great Clans is nothing. We could usher in a Jegal Dynasty."
Jegal Go-pung bowed deeply at Jegal Nam-cheon's words.
Jegal Nam-cheon's eyes gleamed with ambition.
"Double down on spreading the Subtle Guanyin Cult."
"Understood."
Roles had reversed, in a way.
The Subtle Guanyin Cult was merely a means to an end.
Yet now, its momentum made it a force mighty enough to become the goal itself.
Composed of commoners, not martial artists, but their numbers were already immense.
Another miscalculation by the Jegal Clan—but a pleasant one.
"What about Yi-jong?"
Jegal Go-pung asked as he turned to leave, as if it just occurred to him.
"From Ha Mu-baek's recent moves, he doesn't dirty his hands unless it's Blood Cult or Demonic Cult scum. He probably spared the kid."
"Yes."
With that, Jegal Go-pung slowly exited the clan head's office.
Alone now, Jegal Nam-cheon's eyes shimmered with an indescribable, profound light.
"Heh heh heh. Jegal Dynasty, Jegal Dynasty."