Chapter 501
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 501
Chapter Title: This Can't Be Happening
Seok Mu-won tilted his head in puzzlement at his father's sudden summons and headed to the closed-door training chamber.
It wasn't like him to seek out his son first under normal circumstances.
And it hadn't been that long since he'd reported the matter.
His father had never rushed him on any assignment before, so Seok Mu-won headed to the chamber without the slightest clue as to why he'd been called.
"Father. It's Mu-won."
Seok Cheon-gyeong's voice came from beyond the firmly shut iron door.
"What came of the matter you mentioned last time?"
The question flew straight at him.
"It was about the activities of those sent from Yongjung Mountain. It seems like some scheme cooked up by the Jegal Clan... but it's so sloppy for their handiwork that I'm still pondering how to respond."
"The Jegal Clan, is it..."
"So I'm considering using the Soul-Devouring Great Law on one of their members, but preparing the necessities for the technique isn't easy."
The Soul-Devouring Great Law.
Seok Mu-won had already used it once on Gwang Hoe-cheon, leaving him with two more chances.
It was a technique laden with restrictions and complexities, but if successfully unleashed, its results were guaranteed.
"Drop it."
Seok Cheon-gyeong's voice came after a brief pause.
"Pardon?"
"That matter you brought up last time. The one about someone impersonating our Divine Cult and exploiting it—just let it be."
"Pardon?"
Seok Mu-won could only repeat himself.
It was an utterly unexpected order.
"Give me just a little more time, and I will surely produce results..."
"No, no. It's not that I doubt you. I just have a feeling we shouldn't get involved in this one."
"Father..."
There was emotion in Seok Mu-won's call—a son needing to rack up merits now that he'd fallen behind in the successor race, only to be told to abandon it.
"You are my son, Mu-won."
Did he sense his son's feelings?
Seok Cheon-gyeong spoke calmly.
"So withdraw from this. My Heavenly Demon Ethereal Void Divine Art, now restored to its true form, feels like it's warning me."
The Heavenly Demon Ethereal Void Divine Art.
The true sovereign technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
With talk of the divine art regaining its form after centuries, Seok Mu-won had no choice but to yield.
"Understood."
"Call in all your scouts. Now is the time to build our foundations. The day our Divine Cult soars will come."
Jegal Nam-cheon returned to his office.
As he settled at his desk, his subordinates placed stacks of prepared documents before him.
He glanced over them and picked one up.
It was a surveillance report on the letters exchanged between his grandson and granddaughter.
The summary read like ordinary sibling correspondence checking on each other's well-being.
Of course, Jegal Nam-cheon knew better.
The back page contained an exact transcription of the contents.
Even the paper quality and the precise positioning of the text had been replicated flawlessly.
It was so meticulous it could pass for an original.
"They must have used a code known only to the two of them..."
Judging that paper texture, ink placement, and layout might influence the cipher, everything had been copied identically.
Even the handwriting style was mimicked perfectly.
The investigators had accounted for the possibility of a code.
He examined the copy for a moment but found nothing.
It wasn't a cipher that could be cracked easily.
"Tch. That's just like those two."
They were among the top three smartest children in the entire Jegal Clan.
No—even among all clan members, they ranked in the top five.
Perhaps that was still underselling them.
That was why even Jegal Nam-cheon couldn't decipher it quickly.
With enough time, he could unravel it, but he doubted it was worth the effort.
"That boy Myeong. If he just watches quietly, it'll all come to him in time."
Jegal So-rin.
What a pity.
If only she weren't a girl, she would have been perfect—but her talents wasted on a daughter made it all the more regrettable.
Another document detailed Jegal So-rin's recent movements.
"She's been frequenting the Scriptural Repository..."
Jegal Nam-cheon frowned slightly.
He flipped through more papers.
It was a report on the repository's status.
Jegal So-rin was the only one visiting frequently.
Everyone else was business as usual.
'Did you alone catch on?'
He could guess why she was prowling the repository.
And if his guess was right...
She would be the most outstanding person in the current Jegal Clan.
It would mean she'd discerned the cause of his transformation.
"What a shame. Such a waste."
A sincere sigh escaped his lips.
"But you won't find anything there."
He murmured softly.
Truth be told, even Jegal Nam-cheon didn't know the full extent of books and manuals in the repository.
He hadn't read every single one from that vast collection.
Not even the librarians knew exactly what was there or how much.
The Jegal Clan's Scriptural Repository was the clan's history itself.
Yet he was so certain because, while he hadn't inspected every book, he had checked every corner of the repository.
Nowhere had he sensed that energy—the one that introduced him to 'chaos.'
At that moment.
Jegal So-rin visited the repository once more.
She was tracing her grandfather's footsteps from two years ago.
Her first step had been checking the librarians' logs.
From one year and six months ago to two years and six months ago.
She confirmed the list of books the clan head had examined and located their shelves.
Now she was retracing each one methodically.
Those surveilling her wouldn't notice these actions.
She'd mixed checking the logs with routine location checks for books, and inspecting shelves with browsing others.
No one could spot the pattern revealing her intent.
'Even if Grandfather checked everything, he wouldn't know.'
That made her progress inevitably slow.
'I have to find what in this repository changed Grandfather.'
Jegal So-rin patiently pulled out each book for a personal look.
She skimmed quickly, but it still took time.
And as she pulled out the book now in hand...
Primeval.
The title consisted of just those two characters.
This wasn't one of the shelves her grandfather had visited.
She'd come here randomly to throw off her watchers.
The title Primeval caught her eye.
So she flipped the cover.
Nothing on the inside of the cover.
She turned another page.
Mugun.
There, in tiny script at the bottom left: two characters.
'Mugun?'
Jegal So-rin cocked her head.
The characters felt familiar.
The placement was odd.
Usually reserved for seals or signatures.
'Wait. Mugun? Jegal Mugun?'
The thought of a signature sparked a four-character name in her mind.
The figure who plunged the Jegal Clan into its darkest era.
Records of the era's Demonic Cult Leader had been erased from the current martial world.
No—only the name "Demon Lord Mugun" remained.
But direct descendants of the Jegal Clan knew the truth.
Jegal Mugun.
The worst demonic fiend in clan history: he betrayed the clan, joined the Demonic Cult, and rose to become its leader.
The Jegal Clan was shunned by the martial world for producing a Demonic Cult Leader and endured relentless assaults from the cult seeking vengeance for their "traitor."
The clan's absolute nadir.
Centuries later, as the Jegal Clan reclaimed its place among the Five Great Clans and the seat of Righteous Heaven Alliance Strategist, their first act was to excise "Jegal" from Mugun's name.
The era and alliance name had changed, but the Jegal Clan always held the Strategist position.
The current Righteous Heaven Alliance Strategist was from the Jegal Clan as well.
Direct descendants were inculcated from youth—almost brainwashed—to etch that past shame into their bones and ensure no betrayal, all while learning of Jegal Mugun.
'No, it can't be. How could a book by that man be in our clan's repository...? This can't be happening.'
Even as she thought that, Jegal So-rin pocketed the book titled Primeval.
It was from the lending section, so she planned to examine it closely later.
Ha Mu-baek headed straight north from Hunan Province.
Crossing the border into Hubei Province.
Entering Hubei from Hunan rather than Jiangxi put him quite a distance from Wuchang and the Dragon Training Pavilion.
He no longer had ties to the pavilion, but his thoughts drifted to Jegal Myeong, still an instructor there.
'I wonder how much that friend knows about this.'
The notion struck him suddenly.
Given Jegal Myeong's character from their encounters, he wouldn't orchestrate something like this.
Wasn't he the one who'd devised shield techniques out of pity for the sacrificial lambs of the Fierce Dragon Corps?
He briefly considered detouring to Wuchang but shook his head.
The fastest way was to head straight to Yongjung Mountain and verify matters himself.
And so Ha Mu-baek raced toward Yongjung Mountain.
The most shocking thing upon entering Hubei was the Sese Avalokitesvara Church's influence.
The closer to Yongjung Mountain, the stronger their presence.
While believers in other provinces held secretive gatherings deep at night or predawn, Hubei was different.
They met openly in small groups even during broad daylight.
In some villages, the entire populace were church followers.
'This is serious.'
At this rate, even if he tracked down the Jegal Clan and eliminated the conspiracy's mastermind, the Sese Avalokitesvara Church might persist as a full-fledged religion.
Too entrenched to eradicate.
Even if the Jegal Clan withdrew support, it seemed poised to self-sustain.
Whether it shed martial ties to become a mere doomsday faith among the common folk, or allied with other forces to rise as a major sect, who could say?
Yiyang.
A grand city.
Not only the largest near Yongjung Mountain but one of Hubei's top five.
Its large population meant the church hadn't overtaken the whole city, despite proximity to the mountain.
Still, small Heavenly Demon Avalokitesvara statuettes lined even inn shelves.
As Ha Mu-baek stared blankly at one without ordering food, the waiter asked,
"Are you a follower of the Avalokitesvara Church, sir?"
"Hm?"
Ha Mu-baek blinked in surprise, and the waiter grinned warmly.
"Our innkeeper, head chef, and every soul here are devotees. We pray daily for the day the Compassionate One cleanses this corrupt world."
"Avalokitesvara Church?"
Ha Mu-baek repeated the name, tilting his head, and the waiter's face fell in disappointment.
"Oh, you're not? You were staring so intently at our sacred statue, I thought..."
"Sacred statue, you say?"
"Yes."
Ha Mu-baek pointed at it, and the waiter nodded.
"Not Heavenly Demon Avalokitesvara?"
"Some call it that, but attaching a demonic label to our holy Compassionate One feels wrong. Sure, to purify the filth, one must dive into the world with demon-like resolve... but our exalted Avalokitesvara deserves reverence. Lowly folk like us can't presume to slap a 'demon' tag on the divine. No, indeed."
The waiter nodded to himself, lost in fervent rambling.
The Jegal Clan had dubbed it Heavenly Demon Avalokitesvara to steer eyes toward the Demonic Cult, but commoners were already calling it simply the Avalokitesvara Statue.
Proof the church was forging its own path, beyond Jegal designs.
From the waiter's demeanor, Ha Mu-baek intuited it:
The Sese Avalokitesvara Church would endure as a religion among the people, independent of the Jegal Clan's whims.