Even after fifteen minutes, there was still no sign this complete mess was going to calm down.
I quietly let out a sigh.
Then again, if it were that easy to settle, that disaster wouldn’t have happened in my previous life.
This was one of the reasons the damage had been worse than expected back then.
The leaders had gotten injured because the people gathered for the meeting had turned it into a contest of pride.
If they hadn’t pulled this kind of nonsense at the meeting, a few more people – no, dozens more – probably would’ve made it out alive.
As I quietly watched them beat each other senseless, someone suddenly called out to me.
“Handsome Young Hero! Why are you just standing there watching? Hurry up and help us deal with those bastards!”
At that, I shrugged.
“What’s in it for me?”
“What?”
“Wouldn’t it be far more profitable to sit back, let all of you wear yourselves out, and then step in once no one has the strength left to move and start cutting heads off?”
The moment I said that, everyone froze on the spot. Then they all started eyeing each other and slowly backed away.
“Hm? Why stop already? You should keep fighting. Doesn’t a fight only end when somebody finishes it?”
At my words, everyone awkwardly cleared their throats.
“We’ve behaved rather disgracefully.”
“We can’t waste our strength here.”
“Ahem. Let’s continue the meeting.”
And so the discussion resumed.
But they still couldn’t reach a conclusion on who would enter first.
Their positions were too sharply opposed.
I glanced at Elder Gyeong Sanja. His eyes were growing more and more restless.
No matter who it is, that kind of impatience right before an important decision is dangerous.
It makes people commit mistakes they never needed to make.
One reason the Murim Alliance had suffered such terrible casualties in my previous life might have been Elder Gyeong Sanja’s “mistake.”
And that impatience was almost certainly about results.
If I remembered right, the Kongtong Sect Leader was already very old by now.
Old enough that no one knew when he might ascend.
And within the Kongtong Sect, the elders’ factional struggle over the next Sect Leader had reached a fever pitch.
If memory served, Elder Gyeong Sanja had barely survived, but looking at what happened afterward, he might’ve been better off dying here.
Anyway, I couldn’t let this drag on forever.
I needed to carry out the emperor’s order and get back as soon as possible. I had too much piled up already.
Lady Seohyang might be handling things in my place, but I couldn’t leave everything to her.
I raised my hand and asked,
“Is the space inside the Sword Tomb narrow?”
“Not especially. It’s wide enough for about five people to walk in side by side.”
At Elder Gyeong Sanja’s reply, I offered a compromise.
“Then let’s do this. All three factions go in at the same time.”
“At the same time?”
“Yes. Each faction takes one line, and the three lines enter together. That way every faction is at the front, in the middle, and in the rear all at once. No one should have anything to complain about.”
“What about the spoils?”
At the Unorthodox Sect member’s question, I let out a faint laugh.
“That comes down to luck.”
“Luck?”
“Yes. The ones on the left take whatever spoils are on the left, the ones on the right take whatever’s on the right. Same for the center.”
At that, one of the Demonic Cult members muttered,
“So that’s why you’re calling it luck. Then how do we decide who stands where?”
“Isn’t there a traditional way?”
“So it’s a martial match after all?”
Seriously. Are these people insane about fighting or what?
I barely managed to swallow the complaint that almost slipped out.
To be fair, there was always the option of drawing lots, but no matter how we did it, someone would start whining about fairness.
I was annoyed, but in a situation like this, a martial match might really be the cleanest solution.
Then a better idea came to me.
“Do any of you know the grass-pulling game?”
“Haven’t heard that in a long time. It’s something kids used to play when I was young.”
The grass-pulling game was a children’s game.
You braided long blades of grass together and pulled. Whoever’s grass snapped first lost.
Hearing a hulking Unorthodox Sect man talk about it felt a little strange. Then again, even the most ruthless thug in the world must’ve had an innocent childhood once.
In any case, everyone seemed to know the game and nodded.
“Then let’s use that to decide positions.”
“Not a bad idea. I agree.”
“So do I.”
The heads of each faction would take part themselves.
In other words, a single match with their pride on the line.
Each of them broke off a blade of grass, braided the three together, and took hold of their own strand.
“Begin!”
At my shout, the grass-pulling match began.
Woooong!
A grass-pulling match between martial masters looked nothing like a children’s game.
They were each protecting their strand with inner force.
But they couldn’t just pour inner force into it recklessly.
Grass was fragile.
If they used more than it could withstand, it would snap on its own.
Which meant victory depended on controlling inner force with extreme precision.
Normally, the higher a person’s realm, the finer their control over Qi became, so this contest was a pretty effective way to measure who had the superior realm.
Really, what better method could there be? No bloodshed, and everyone stayed happy.
“Urgh…”
“Ghhk!”
“Haaap!”
The heads of the three factions stood close enough to feel each other’s breath, sweating like rain as they focused on a single thin blade of grass.
Watching three burly men pour their souls into a delicate strand of grass made me want to call in a court painter and have this scene immortalized.
Everyone around them watched with bated breath.
No one dared make a sound in case it broke their concentration, and while the silence dragged on, how much time passed?
Snap.
At last, the first loser emerged. It was the Unorthodox Sect’s representative.
And not long after that.
Snap.
Another strand broke, and the final winner was decided.
The last one standing was Elder Gyeong Sanja.
So the Kongtong Sect’s focus on inner force over external techniques hadn’t been for nothing.
“Wooooah!”
“We won!”
“Uoooooh!”
Could they really be that excited?
The Orthodox Sect side erupted in cheers, young and old alike.
Meanwhile, the Unorthodox Sect leader who’d gone out first stood there like a condemned man, head hanging low as if he’d sinned against them all.
“Then out of the left, right, and center, which do you choose?”
“The center, obviously!”
And just like that, the Demonic Cult took the left, the Murim Alliance took the center, and the Unorthodox Sect took the right.
“Then let’s set the date of entry for two days from now!”
“If any of you break the agreement and go in first, we won’t let it slide!”
“Make sure your side doesn’t try anything underhanded either!”
Watching that, I inwardly scoffed.
Because what was the point of all this fighting?
None of them were getting in anyway.
After the meeting ended, we started back toward our camp.
As I walked, I quietly sank into thought.
I hadn’t expected the Embroidered Guard to be attached to the Murim Alliance side.
I’d assumed they’d establish an independent force and move separately.
Thanks to Warrior Jin Yeong, I’d learned imperial palace martial arts, and after getting dragged into all sorts of incidents, I’d even worked alongside the Embroidered Guard.
Because of that, even if someone tried to hide the fact that they were Embroidered Guard, I could usually figure it out.
The emperor had probably taken that ability of mine into account when he ordered me to monitor them.
He must’ve meant for me to keep watch in case the Embroidered Guard he’d dispatched had started cozying up to the Murim Alliance.
The emperor disliked the Murim Alliance.
They kept overstepping into places they had no business meddling in and getting on his nerves.
Was he planning to use this chance to uncover the Murim Alliance’s helper inside the imperial palace?
Hm… that was entirely possible.
Just then, I locked eyes with one of them.
.
.
.
It was evening.
Dinner tonight was noodles again, but I enjoyed them.
A place famous for its noodles was bound to have all sorts of variations, and that made it interesting.
Off in the distance, young master Hae Jun was eating as well.
After the brutal lesson I’d given him, he seemed to have finally dropped the habit of complaining about meals and was quietly eating his noodles without a word.
Then again, if you spent all day wearing sixty-six pounds of iron all over your body, you’d be starving.
Part of the point had been to make him shut up and eat whatever he was given, so it was nice to see the lesson had stuck.
The only issue was that his wrists were so heavy that both the hand holding his chopsticks and the hand holding his noodle bowl were trembling.
Well, that was his problem.
Just then, two men approached me.
Both of them looked like Embroidered Guard.
If they were from the Embroidered Guard, there was no way they wouldn’t know who I was.
They’d probably come to find out why I was here.
“Mind if we join you?”
“Ah, not at all.”
At my permission, they sat down on the rocks beside me.
“So we’re finally introducing ourselves today. Good to meet you. I’m Gwon Jik of the Guizhou Gwon Family.”
“I’m Gwon Eul.”
Since they were using their martial family identities, it looked like they were keeping their Embroidered Guard status hidden.
“The Guizhou Gwon Family? Isn’t your family famous for spear arts?”
“Oh! So you know of our family.”
“I may be leading the Yeongseon Min Family right now, but my main work is as the Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group. Guizhou produces a great many precious medicinal herbs, so I visit the area from time to time. And anyone who travels to and from Guizhou with a merchant group knows the Guizhou Gwon Family.”
I continued,
“You’re the dependable people who protect us from Guizhou’s scoundrels.”
“Hahaha! That’s right.”
“Exactly.”
Of course, being a martial family, they naturally collected protection money from merchant groups too.
But there was no reason to ruin the mood by bringing that up.
“But aren’t you busy with merchant group business right now? If it’s the Eunhae Merchant Group, summer should be your busiest season because of the Windcraft Fan.”
At that, I let out a sigh.
“As you said, this is an extremely busy time. But I couldn’t just ignore my mother’s family when they were in trouble, so I came.”
“Ah, that’s right. Didn’t you say the Yeongseon Min Family was your mother’s family?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“I’d stopped by with a letter from my mother, and just then the Murim Alliance’s request for aid arrived. But my second uncle had gone into closed-door training, so there wasn’t really anyone suited to lead reinforcements.”
“So you came in his place.”
“That’s right. I may be from a merchant group, but I do carry the title Handsome Young Hero, so I think they figured at least no one here would dare look down on me.”
“You’ve had it rough too.”
“In any case, I plan to wrap this up and return as quickly as possible.”
“Hmm. So that’s why you acted the way you did during the meeting earlier.”
They readily accepted my explanation.
“If I overstepped, then I apologize.”
“No, not at all. You did well.”
I set aside my empty noodle bowl, then cupped my fist toward them.
“In any case, please help me finish this quickly so I can return to the merchant group.”
“Don’t worry.”
I subtly looked them over, and it seemed their suspicion toward me had completely vanished.
Good thing I’d brought my mother’s family’s martial artists with me.
“By the way, are you entering the Sword Tomb as well in two days?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course we are.”
So that was it.
Sorry, but you won’t be entering Blood Staff Star Monk’s Sword Tomb.
.
.
.
That night.
I quietly rose from my bed.
Escort Guard Seo Wu and Escort Guard Jin Yu, whom I’d already tipped off in advance, also silently got to their feet.
Picking the bedding right by the entrance really had been the right call.
That was exactly why I’d chosen this spot in the first place – it made sneaking in and out much easier.
The Raging Wind Squad martial artists, though, had completely misunderstood and assumed I’d done it to protect them.
But I didn’t bother correcting that misunderstanding.
For some reason, it felt like the more I tried to clear it up, the worse the misunderstanding would get.
Since this was a tent inside the Murim Alliance camp, there weren’t any dedicated night guards.
They simply had whichever group had been assigned that duty do a light patrol.
A group our size could slip out quietly enough.
– Let’s go.
At my Voice Transmission, they gave the faintest nods.
We moved quickly.
And the place we arrived at was Blood Staff Star Monk’s Sword Tomb.
Tonight, we intended to enter this Sword Tomb.
And then blow it up.
Because there was nothing inside except vicious trap formations.
In other words, it was all a pointless death trap.
Knowing exactly how horribly the people who entered it would die, there was no way I could just stand by and watch.
Someone would probably say this.
Why not just shove the Unorthodox Sect and Demonic Cult people in first?
Sure, that was possible.
But I wasn’t confident I could bear the weight of those lives.
They might belong to the Unorthodox Sect and the Demonic Cult, but not every last one of them was a blood-soaked monster without a shred of conscience.
In my previous life, and in this one too, I’ve seen countless people who lived as villains without truly being evil.
And on the other hand, I’ve seen plenty who lived as righteous men while being anything but righteous underneath.
So for now, this is the best option.
Of course, what I do now might change the future, but so what?
The moment I began struggling to change my fate, the waves of destiny had already started rising.
What I’m doing now is only one of those waves.
And haven’t I already stirred up countless waves and dealt with them every time?
Who knows?
Maybe this will help my revenge.
If trouble comes from it, then I’ll deal with it again, just like always.
Twelve people were standing guard in front of Blood Staff Star Monk’s Sword Tomb.
But that wasn’t the entrance I intended to use.
I’d learned by chance in my previous life.
Blood Staff Star Monk’s Sword Tomb didn’t have just one entrance.
And so we entered through the cramped second entrance.
But…
– Kui!
Something was wrong with Geumryeong’s reaction.
–TL Notes–
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