Chapter 500
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 500
Chapter Title: That Sounds Interesting
Jegal So-rin.
Granddaughter of Jegal Nam-cheon, the head of the Jegal Clan, and the youngest sister of Jegal Myeong.
Unknown to the gossipmongers of the world, her beauty was said within the clan to rival that of the Five Flowers of the Martial World.
Yet her talents surpassed even that stunning beauty.
"Hmm."
She spread out the letter from her brother and fell deep into thought.
Her grandfather was undoubtedly plotting something massive.
Why else would he summon even her brother?
Lately, she'd noticed more eyes watching her every move. It had to be because of this letter.
If she stepped away, someone would surely check it.
But that didn't matter.
It was just a routine letter asking after her well-being between siblings.
The hidden code within was known only to her and her brother.
Of course, the sharp-minded scholars of the Jegal Clan might decipher it if they tried, but it would take them at least a month.
That's how carefully they'd crafted the code.
And it wasn't for any other reason.
It was rebellion against her grandfather, the clan head.
Rebellion against his ironclad personality that demanded he know every single detail of everything in the clan.
It was a code the two of them had created in their childhood.
Seated there, Jegal So-rin penned her reply to her brother's letter.
It detailed what she'd felt and learned while staying in the clan.
"Are you there, Pal-lo?"
"Yes, Miss."
Jegal So-rin called one of the servants responsible for her quarters and the surrounding area.
He was the only one around her she could truly trust.
Of course, this letter would eventually be seized by clan members and its contents revealed.
But Pal-lo was the only one she could rely on to deliver it properly, so she sought him out.
"Go to Yonghyeon and send this letter to the Dragon Training Pavilion in Muchang."
Yonghyeon was a fairly large city at the base of Yongjung Mountain. To use an external messenger service rather than the clan's own, she had to go there.
"Understood."
Pal-lo took the letter and silver from Jegal So-rin, bowed deeply, and turned to leave.
His presence faded away discreetly.
"Tch."
Jegal So-rin clicked her tongue.
She left her quarters and headed to the clan's archive pavilion.
'This is where it all began.'
Two years ago, on a certain day.
After her grandfather, the clan head, visited the secret vault and archive pavilion.
Change swept through the clan.
Once she realized this, Jegal So-rin had come to the archive whenever she had time, inspecting every corner, but she still hadn't uncovered what had changed her grandfather.
In the deep folds of Yongjung Mountain.
Jegal Nam-cheon climbed a tall tree and gazed at one spot.
There, layered formations invisible to ordinary eyes were arrayed.
Nine formations overlapped.
At the heart of the deepest one lay the core Jegal Nam-cheon had personally embedded.
It looked like an ordinary pebble anyone might see.
To an outsider, it would seem just a common stone stuck in the dirt.
Of course, the moment someone accidentally found it and reached for it, the formations would activate.
Right now, even the outermost formation lay dormant in perfect peace.
Even an herbalist wandering in would see it as just another secluded nook in Yongjung Mountain.
Jegal Nam-cheon leaped from the tree.
He landed lightly before the core at the formation's center in an instant.
[What is it? Nam-cheon.]
At that moment.
A voice spoke directly into Jegal Nam-cheon's mind.
"Guests will arrive here soon, so I stopped by to check. Chaos."
Jegal Nam-cheon smiled faintly and whispered his reply in a soft voice.
Addressing the other as Chaos.
Chaos.
One of the six primordial fragments.
That name slipped from Jegal Nam-cheon's lips.
[That's interesting.]
Chaos responded.
"It is, indeed."
[The Demonic Cult?]
Chaos asked.
Jegal Nam-cheon's encounter with Chaos had been by chance in the family vault.
More precisely, it started in the archive.
The moment he laid eyes on one of the martial arts manuals collected there, he felt an inexplicable pull and delved into research.
As a result, he sensed a strange energy from that manual—one he remembered.
It was the energy he'd felt by chance in the vault and puzzled over.
Thanks to his extraordinary memory, he recalled it, and Jegal Nam-cheon soon sought it out in the vault.
That was the pebble now embedded as the core of the layered formations.
Classified as a research-worthy artifact due to its irregular emanations of unidentified strange energy, it had been stored in the Jegal Clan's vault for hundreds of years as an ordinary pebble.
Until it met Jegal Nam-cheon, awakening its will.
"Not the Demonic Cult."
[A shame.]
The reason Chaos replied thus was simple.
It harbored a grudge against the Demonic Cult.
After hearing from Jegal Nam-cheon about the current state of the martial world, it took interest in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
When he shared parts of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art collected by the Jegal Clan, Chaos sought out the Demonic Cult.
The condition of its proposed deal was this nine-layered formation.
Even for the Jegal Clan, this formation—unachievable even in the last war—had been completed for that reason.
"Heh. What exactly do you want, you?"
[Chaos.]
A curt reply.
"Right. And in that process, the Jegal Clan will stand tall over the world. This martial realm will become the Jegal martial world."
Jegal Nam-cheon murmured softly in response.
His eyes gleamed once more with profound, multifaceted light.
At its base lay an insatiable ambition.
"Well, the one coming before the Demonic Cult won't disappoint either. That monster I told you about once is coming. Ha Mu-baek. He's perfect to test if this nine-layered formation lives up to your word."
[Ha Mu-baek......]
Chaos seemed to recall the stories Jegal Nam-cheon had shared.
[No matter. No one will survive. They will only become offerings to Chaos.]
Jegal Nam-cheon nodded at Chaos's words and turned away.
Nearby, rearing the envoys of the Sesegwaneum Cult in secret was proceeding smoothly as well.
Everything fit together perfectly.
The growing power of the Sesegwaneum Cult, the massive influx of wealth from them, the nine-layered formation completed on that foundation, and the Righteous Heaven Alliance and Ha Mu-baek who had caught the scent.
The Demonic Cult might have sniffed it out too, but there was still no movement.
Seok Cheon-gyeong.
The sole surviving son of the previous Demonic Cult Leader Seok Won-cho, and the current leader.
He had succeeded in gathering all the fragments of Emptiness, completing the true and perfect form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art: the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Transcendent Divine Art.
He hadn't reached its pinnacle yet, but he had achieved substantial mastery.
True ascension was now just around the corner.
With the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Transcendent Divine Art restored after hundreds of years, he could surely bring the world to heel beneath the Demonic Cult.
"Just a little longer. Almost there."
As Seok Cheon-gyeong murmured this and settled into meditation,
[Not yet.]
A hollow voice echoed in his mind.
It was something that happened occasionally since gathering all the fragments of Emptiness and completing the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Transcendent Divine Art.
"What?"
A voice of unknown origin.
No matter how much he cultivated or elevated his realm, Seok Cheon-gyeong couldn't pinpoint its source or identity.
[Bide.]
Seok Cheon-gyeong grimaced at the voice that rang out again.
The first meant "not yet," and the second meant "lie low."
It was only natural for his face to twist.
He had believed great accomplishment was within reach.
"What nonsense is this? Show yourself!"
For the first time since the voice began, Seok Cheon-gyeong exploded in fury.
Forgetting his meditation, he bellowed.
Come out and explain yourself right now.
But the voice fell silent after that.
In the end, Seok Cheon-gyeong swallowed his anger and pondered its meaning once more.
Since completing the full incantations of the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Transcendent Divine Art, these terse words occasionally tossed out by that voice had provided crucial hints.
Up until now.
Today's sudden words enraged him, as they didn't seem helpful, but past experience calmed his rage.
'If this is another hint... it means the time isn't right yet, so stay hidden longer. What manner of being is it? What does it know?'
Seok Cheon-gyeong's doubts deepened.
Along with a gnawing unease.
The Demonic Cult was currently minimizing its activities.
Ever since gathering the fragments of Emptiness, it had halted nearly all operations until he completed the art.
Yet the command was to lie low.
What had happened lately?
As he mulled this over, a memory surfaced in Seok Cheon-gyeong's mind.
His son had visited not long ago to report.
Someone was impersonating the Demonic Cult.
They were even distributing statues engraved with his father's face to expand their influence.
He had ordered an investigation into them.
As he ruminated on the "bide your time" message, that fact came to mind.
Hesitant but resolved, Seok Cheon-gyeong summoned Seok Mu-won.
There had been no word from him since that day.
Ha Mu-baek set his course for Yongjung Mountain, leaving Jiangxi Province behind and soon reaching the northern reaches of Hunan Province.
He moved swiftly, stopping in every village he passed to gauge the situation.
Not every one, but at least half bore traces of the Sesegwaneum Cult.
It was spreading incredibly fast.
Like a plague.
'So many people in this world harbor grudges.'
A heaviness settled in his chest.
Ha Mu-baek didn't know why he felt this way, but he couldn't shake the weight.
'What could people's desires possibly be...'
Such questions arose.
Discontent with the world ultimately stemmed from unfulfilled desires.
And there were far too many such people.
Not just the desperately poor, but the wealthy too.
Nor did poverty alone drive them to the Sesegwaneum Cult.
In Ha Mu-baek's eyes, some who should worry about tomorrow's meal surprisingly held no grudges against the world.
On the flip side, he saw those hoarding wealth in vast storehouses, yet consumed by worldly discontent, zealously devoting themselves to the Sesegwaneum Cult.
Much of that wealth was flowing to the cult's envoys under the guise of saving the world.
The more he learned, the less he understood.
Because reality contradicted what he thought he knew.
Ha Mu-baek turned inward.
'What is my desire?'
Revenge.
That was it.
And hadn't that birthed a blood-mad demon within himself?
In the end, the demon's root was Ha Mu-baek's own desire.
Thus, he saw the demon as himself.
Had he fulfilled that desire now?
No.
The Blood Cult was nearly eradicated, but the Demonic Cult's remnants lingered somewhere unknown.
Only uprooting them would sate his desire.
Was he unhappy now? Did he wish the world gone?
No.
Ha Mu-baek was content with his current life and hoped his sister Seol-ran would be happy.
He gave his all today to make that wish reality.
The Sesegwaneum Cult's doctrines sounded like nonsense to him.
He too had unfulfilled desires, yet he didn't wish the world destroyed.
What separated him from those ensnared by the cult?
Before he knew it, such questions delved deeper.
A premonition told him that at the end of these questions lay the demon and himself.
Ha Mu-baek pressed on, seeking that answer.