Lost in thought, I recalled what had happened before.
The time Brother Jin-ho went to Yunnan and vanished.
The reason had been the Mist Mountain phenomenon created by the Silver Mist Sword.
Back then, everyone traveling with him had been fooled by it and failed to find the right path, but I alone hadn’t fallen for it and had made my way through.
Later, I learned that was because of both the martial art I cultivated and my constitution.
The Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art had the ability to keep me from falling into any kind of deception, and my Black Dragon Star Body shut out anything around me that tried to affect my mind.
Just like Mist Mountain, a formation twists nature through the arrangement of objects in the surroundings and deceives the five senses.
That was why people hallucinated that dry land had turned into the sea, and why they kept circling the same place over and over.
But since the formation couldn’t interfere with my five senses, I felt nothing strange at all and came in just fine.
This is nice.
That aside, how should I send him off so he stays gone for good?
When someone pulls a stunt like this, I can’t rest until I pay him back properly.
Moyong Tae-geol headed for Eun Seo-ho’s quarters.
The night before, his father had told him to speak with Eun Seo-ho about a possible marriage with his younger sister.
“May I speak with Handsome Young Hero?”
At the question, the attendant Palgap blinked.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean? What do you mean?”
“A little while ago, an Escort Guard came by and said the Young Clan Lord had ordered him to bring our Young Clan Lord over, so he left with him.”
“What?”
He froze.
“I never gave such an order. That’s why I came here myself.”
“What? Then who in the world called for the Young Clan Lord?”
His face turned grave.
“It sounds like something’s happened. Do you know where he went?”
“Yes. He went to the Deepwood Garden. I just came from there.”
Moyong Tae-geol immediately headed for the Deepwood Garden, where he found two martial artists standing guard at the entrance.
“Did Handsome Young Hero go inside and tell you to wait here?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It’s already been about two hours since he went in… Wasn’t someone waiting for him inside?”
At that, Moyong Tae-geol bit his lip.
“I never sent anyone to summon Handsome Young Hero.”
“What?”
“Then why would that martial artist tell such a lie?!”
“Is that martial artist inside too?”
“No. He said he was carrying out the Young Clan Lord’s errand, then left the Deepwood Garden and headed that way.”
“What did he look like?”
At the question, the two guards described the martial artist they had seen.
Moyong Tae-geol turned to his own guard.
“Was there someone like that?”
His guard furrowed his brow.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that… but I can’t be certain from a description alone.”
Then something flashed through Moyong Tae-geol’s mind, and he immediately gave an order to his guard.
“In the Young Clan Lord’s name, I order this! Seal every entrance and exit of the main estate at once!”
“I obey!”
Then Moyong Tae-geol entered the Deepwood Garden alone.
Because he thought he knew who had tricked Eun Seo-ho into coming here.
Seong-geol… why do you keep doing this?
Whoever had lured Eun Seo-ho into the Deepwood Garden had probably intended to use what was inside to put him in a difficult position.
And what was inside was a formation.
The formation there didn’t directly harm anyone, but unless someone came to pull you out, it would keep you wandering the same place forever.
On top of that, it warped the flow of time so that a single day felt like a year. A vicious formation, through and through.
To escape it by your own power, you either had to walk out along the path of life and death or destroy the formation itself.
But finding that path was extremely difficult, and breaking the formation required at least the Transcendent Realm.
It had already been over two hours since Eun Seo-ho entered, so he had to be going through hell by now.
He needed to be pulled out quickly.
As he headed deeper inside, Moyong Tae-geol realized what trick Moyong Seong-geol had used.
He had deliberately bent a straight entry path so that anyone walking in would step into the formation.
An outsider wouldn’t notice anything off and would have no choice but to walk right into it.
“Damn it!”
He had to go deeper in order to temporarily halt the formation, so he cursed under his breath and hurried on.
But then…
When he arrived at the core, he had no choice but to stop in shock.
“Khh…”
“…”
Eun Seo-ho, whom he had assumed was suffering as he wandered helplessly through the formation, was fast asleep in the very heart of it.
Huh?
Hearing someone suddenly running toward me, I opened my eyes and looked up.
Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol was staring at me with a stunned expression.
Ah, damn…
I got caught sleeping.
While thinking over how to send Moyong Seong-geol off for trying to hurt me, I’d put together a rough plan and realized something.
Hardly anyone ever came to the Deepwood Garden.
Which meant it was a place where I could rest without anyone bothering me.
Besides, the plan I’d made couldn’t move forward until the Young Clan Lord came here anyway, so what exactly was I supposed to do here by myself?
Training didn’t feel quite right either.
Maybe it was the climate here, maybe it was the shade from the trees, but even though it was the Seventh Month, the temperature was perfect for a nap.
So I’d stretched out on a long bench and enjoyed a little sleep, but Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol had shown up sooner than I expected.
I smoothly sat up as if I’d never been asleep at all.
Truthfully, the only reason I’d been relaxed enough to fall asleep in the first place was because I knew the only person who’d come looking for me would be the Young Clan Lord.
I looked at him with a smile and said,
“You got here earlier than I expected.”
“How did this happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you’d be suffering inside the formation here. But…”
I grinned.
“I have a few tricks of my own. I can’t exactly tell you what they are, but in any case, I’m perfectly fine.”
“That’s a relief. Truly. And I apologize on his behalf.”
I stopped him before he could lower his head.
“No. You’ve done nothing wrong, so why should you be the one apologizing?”
“My younger brother is still a member of the Moyong Clan, and I’m the Young Clan Lord of the Moyong Clan.”
“He’s old enough to be beyond the reach of an elder’s protection. And since he chose to do this of his own will, the responsibility should be his as well.”
At my words, he let out a sigh and nodded.
“Hah… that’s true.”
Then he continued.
“Before I came in here, I ordered every entrance and exit of the main estate sealed. The martial artist who brought you here might try to run.”
Actually, even if he did run, I had Geumryeong. I could find him whenever I wanted, which was why I’d just stayed here.
Still, since Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol had already taken care of it, that saved me the trouble.
“Thank you. I truly appreciate you doing that for me.”
I cupped my fist in my palm, then asked with a serious expression,
“The one who stole that treasured sword before. Was that Moyong Seong-geol’s doing?”
He flinched at my question.
“I told you not to let your feelings show so easily.”
“My apologies. I was caught off guard without realizing it…”
I continued calmly.
“As I see it, Moyong Seong-geol is chasing a foolish dream. Dreaming itself is fine. The problem is when the people around him get hurt because of it.”
In my previous life, Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol had been one of those victims. He nearly became one in this life too.
Most likely, the Clan Lord had also been one of them.
Judging by how suddenly he handed over the position of Clan Lord to him.
“If things go on like this and even the Moyong Clan ends up dancing to his tune, that would be a truly tragic disgrace.”
“…”
“I believe there’s an outside force backing Moyong Seong-geol.”
Otherwise, how could he have passed that treasured sword into the Phantom Market?
Registering an item for sale there involved a very strict process.
That was why the Phantom Market had such a strong reputation, and the people who ran it took pride in that.
Judging by the Young Clan Lord’s reaction, it seemed he already knew that much.
He must have learned it while tracing the treasured sword’s whereabouts.
Which meant he couldn’t afford to brush off what I was saying.
“If you feel no anger at the reality of outside forces looking down on the Moyong Clan, then you’re unworthy of being the Young Clan Lord, and unworthy of calling yourself one of the Moyong Clan.”
At my words, he clenched his fist tight and said,
“I am angry too! But I had no proper way to deal with it…”
“A way, huh… By the way, you really did get here sooner than I expected.”
Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol hesitated for a moment, then explained what had happened.
“The truth is, last night my father told me to come see you and ask your intentions.”
“My intentions? What intentions?”
“Marriage with my younger sister.”
“Cough!”
What the hell? Where did that come from?
“Are you all right?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine. And I appreciate the offer, but there’s already a young lady I have feelings for…”
“I see. My apologies.”
From what he had just said, I picked up on one crucial point.
“Does anyone else know the Clan Lord told you to come find me?”
“No. Only Yeon-geol and I know. Ah, and my mother knows as well.”
Oh?
So Moyong Seong-geol didn’t know.
Well, that explained why he’d gone with this method.
And in the end, that would become the noose around his own neck.
“I just thought of a good way to handle this.”
Moyong Seong-geol asked the attendant entering his room,
“Well? How did it go?”
“As planned, Eun Seo-ho entered the Deepwood Garden. He’ll obviously think he’s following the path in and end up trapped in the formation.”
“Heh heh heh, then he’s in for a miserable time.”
“But what if the martial artist we sent reveals that you were the one behind everything, Young Clan Lord?”
“Is there any evidence?”
“No.”
“Exactly. And he’s probably already fled with the money I paid him, so you worry too much. Besides, he won’t dare open his mouth carelessly.”
“I may have been too nervous.”
“And there were witnesses who heard that my brother had summoned him, so my brother will be blamed as the culprit.”
Even then, the attendant still looked uneasy as he asked,
“That may be true, but… doesn’t he lack a motive?”
“A motive? If the two of them met before in the Deepwood Garden, then we can say they were plotting something together. Then we just claim it all went wrong, and that’s why he did it.”
He continued,
“So go to them and ask for support. Tell them to fabricate evidence that’ll tie the two of them down for good.”
“Understood.”
Just then.
Noise suddenly broke out outside, and the attendant went out to see what was going on.
A moment later, he came rushing back in, looking pale.
“What is it?”
“T–this is bad!”
“What do you mean?”
“They say Eun Seo-ho was… found unconscious in the Deepwood Garden.”
“What?”
He had only expected Eun Seo-ho to suffer a little before coming back out, so unconsciousness was the last thing he expected.
“Based on witness statements that Eun Seo-ho was summoned to the Deepwood Garden, the side residences of everyone with permission to use the Deepwood Garden have been sealed off. That includes ours.”
“What the…”
Moyong Seong-geol could only stare in shock.
“Oh, young master. What in the world happened to you?”
I was lying on the bed in my quarters. Beside me, Palgap kept letting out one distressed cry after another.
“Palgap.”
“Yes?”
“You can stop now. No one else is here.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Palgap cleared his throat and said,
“Good thing. My throat was killing me. I thought I was going to die.”
I snorted at that.
Right now, a rumor had spread throughout the Moyong Clan that I was in a coma.
“But do we really have to do this?”
At Young Clan Lord Moyong Tae-geol’s question from where he sat beside me, I nodded.
“Yes. This gives proper justification for why you sealed every entrance and exit of the Moyong Clan.”
I appreciated that he had done it for my sake, but it would be troublesome if he got reprimanded over it.
“That’s true, but…”
“And I need to be at least this badly hurt if we want to punish the real culprit properly.”
No matter how maliciously the other side had schemed, if I came out perfectly fine, it would become harder to press the matter against them.
“And even though we haven’t found him yet, this will also make it much easier to pressure the martial artist who guided me to the Deepwood Garden.”
There was an enormous difference between helping someone humiliate Handsome Young Hero and helping put Handsome Young Hero into a coma.
If he ended up taking all the blame here, he’d be branded the man who harmed a hero of the martial world and sentenced to death.
If he didn’t want that, he’d talk.
I wasn’t particularly fond of the title Handsome Young Hero, but times like this really made it useful.
Anyway, for now, the side residences of everyone with permission to use the Deepwood Garden had been sealed.
If you’re going to make a move, you might as well make it dramatic.
That was how you got the best effect.
A little earlier, Deputy Merchant Lord Bok Yun and his wife had come by, taken one look at me, and said,
“So, what exactly do you need me to do?”
That was my friend for you.
He understood the situation right away, and I asked him to protest to the Clan Lord on my behalf.
At the same time, I told him to secure a promise that whoever had put me in danger would be stripped of every bit of authority they held.
Clan Lord, you’re about to sweat blood over this.
Right then, the Young Clan Lord’s attendant shouted from outside.
“Young Clan Lord! They say they’ve caught that martial artist!”
We smiled.
Now things were about to get a lot more interesting.
–TL Notes–
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