What Brings You To A Place Like This?

Sheets of rain were pouring down.

Thanks to it, the flames quickly died down. Otherwise, the fire would have spread all the way to the village at the foot of the mountain.

It would’ve been horrific.

Once the last embers were gone, the Buddhist nuns returned to the Emei Sect.

The temple halls were charred pitch-black.

Because of the wet ashes, it looked as if the place were shrouded in darkness.

Naturally, the nuns’ expressions were grim.

“…At least the Buddha statue is intact.”

The Buddha statue in the main hall.

Though it was sooty from the fire, it still stood firm.

In front of the statue lay the corpse of the dead wolf.

“Amitabha.”

Each of the nuns recited the Buddha’s name.

It was not to comfort the wolf’s departed soul.

It was to sever the emotions rising within them.

The disciples looking at the dead wolf all wore dark expressions.

“…Sajeo¹. We will have to stay at the foot of the mountain for a while.”

At the words of the elderly nun, Elder Nun Hyeong-un nodded.

It looked like it would take quite some time.

With the Sect Leader away, she was the highest elder in the Emei Sect.

There were a few elders, but they had left Emei and were cultivating in secluded hermitages.

They couldn’t simply call them back.

“Before that, we must hold someone accountable.”

It was Gyeong-ye. She looked at Elder Nun Hyeong-un with a stubborn gaze.

Several first-generation disciples, who held the same status as elders, looked at Gyeong-ye with pained expressions.

It was because they knew how dearly she cherished So-yeong.

That was precisely why she could not let the matter slide.

Elder Nun Hyeong-un nodded.

“Go and bring So-yeong here.”

A short while later.

So-yeong walked up to the Medicine Buddha Hall, where the Medicine Buddha was enshrined.

Normally she would have been summoned to the Disciplinary Hall, but it had already collapsed to the point that you could barely tell what it had been.

Dark shadows ringed her eyes, as if she had not rested properly for two days.

Her lips were cracked from not even being able to drink water properly.

At her pitiable appearance, some disciples turned their heads away.

But Elder Nun Hyeong-un and Gyeong-ye had their gazes fixed on So-yeong.

“Second-generation disciple So-yeong.”

“Yes, Grandmaster.”

“Do you know your fault?”

“Yes. I disobeyed my master’s command and placed the sect in danger.”

“That is right. This is a crime worthy of expulsion.”

At the word ‘expulsion,’ So-yeong’s eyes trembled.

She had been prepared for it, but hearing it said aloud was different.

“Yes.”

So-yeong squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her head. At that, the first-generation disciples turned in surprise to look at their martial aunts.

Disciples of the Hyeong-generation.

Most of them were elders.

They simply remained calm, as if they had already heard this.

So the first-generation disciples could not easily step forward.

“However, the ways in which you have devoted yourself to the sect are not small. Your junior sisters, and even the junior generations, have submitted petitions on your behalf. The first-generation disciples and the elders have done the same.”

Her junior sisters and the younger disciples she could understand.

But she had not thought even the first-generation disciples and elders would step forward, and So-yeong’s body began to tremble.

More than gratitude, what she felt was guilt.

They cherished her this much.

But because of her own stubbornness, she had nearly dragged them into danger.

“Moreover, even as the Sect Leader’s proxy, one cannot expel a disciple without the Sect Leader’s permission.”

The faces of the first-generation disciples brightened.

However, the Hyeong disciples behind them looked away as if they hadn’t seen it.

It was because they already knew the outcome.

“Second-generation disciple So-yeong, listen well.”

Elder Nun Hyeong-un’s voice rang through the Medicine Buddha Hall.

“You have committed the crime of disobeying the sect’s orders and bringing calamity upon it. However, this did not go against the Buddha’s teaching of having compassion for life. In light of your usual conduct, we judge expulsion to be too harsh.”

Elder Nun Hyeong-un’s calm gaze turned to So-yeong.

“Your crime will instead be answered by banishment from this sect.”

“…!”

“Sago!”

The first-generation disciples cried out in shock.

The Hyeong disciples beside them held them back.

“Taking responsibility for a life is never something light. You sought to save that life, so you shall take responsibility and care for that child.”

One must not take a living creature into one’s care lightly.

That was what Elder Nun Hyeong-un was saying.

“As long as that child lives, you are not to set foot in this sect. When that child’s name is entered in the ledgers of the underworld, return to this sect and await judgment.”

“…Disciple So-yeong will obey the sect’s command.”

So-yeong bowed and spoke in a voice on the verge of tears.

Then she turned her back and left the Medicine Buddha Hall.

The first-generation disciples couldn’t bring themselves to follow her.

From outside the hall came the sounds of the second- and third-generation disciples crying.

They had heard everything that had been said inside.

Turning their eyes away from them, the nuns gathered around Elder Nun Hyeong-un.

“…Sajeo, you could at least have given them time to say their farewells.”

“Giving them time would only deepen their sorrow.”

“Sago. Even so, is banishment not too much?”

It was not Elder Nun Hyeong-un who answered the first-generation disciple’s question.

It was Elder Nun Hyeong-yeong.

“On the contrary, this is a good opportunity.”

“Pardon?”

Calling the expulsion of a disciple a good opportunity. She couldn’t understand it.

“Our sect is in a very precarious state right now.”

The eyes of the first-generation disciples widened.

They had known things were not good, but they had not known it was serious enough to be called precarious.

One of the first-generation disciples hastily stuck her head out the door.

Fortunately, there were no disciples remaining outside.

They had all gone to see So-yeong off. The first-generation disciple closed the door and came back in.

Elder Nun Hyeong-yeong calmly continued.

“We have lost contact with Qinghai Province. No, there have been reports of an unknown group sighted beyond Qinghai, in northern Sichuan.”

“Surely not… is it them?”

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The group known as the Demon Cult.

Even speaking their name carelessly was difficult.

“For now, we cannot know.”

Elder Nun Hyeong-yeong shook her head calmly.

If the Kunlun Sect still existed, they might have been able to learn their identity.

With the Kunlun Sect gone, the Emei Sect had to stop them.

That was not all.

The Iron Blood Hall in Gansu Province had begun expanding its power in earnest.

On top of that, Chongqing and Guizhou were little different from being the Evil Heaven Alliance’s territory.

Within Sichuan Province were the Emei Sect, the Qingcheng Sect, and the Tang Clan.

Three groups that could be called pillars of the Murim Alliance had gathered there, yet enemies surrounded them on all sides.

If not for the Mount Hua Sect and the Jongnam Sect in Shaanxi, they would already have been isolated.

In other words, their situation was like a lamp in the wind.

“That is why our Sect Leader personally headed to the Murim Alliance.”

The first-generation disciples’ expressions hardened.

Hearing it laid out like this, they realized it was not something they could take lightly.

After Elder Nun Hyeong-yeong, Elder Nun Hyeong-un spoke.

“Bloodshed is inevitable.”

They couldn’t avoid it. The title of the Nine Sects One Union was not merely an honor.

They had to shoulder the duties that came with it.

If they turned their backs, the Orthodox Murim would waver.

If war broke out with the Evil Heaven Alliance, the Nine Sects One Union would have to face them at the very front.

No, they were already doing so.

Many disciples had gone out to the Murim Alliance.

They were surely fighting even now.

The Emei Sect could not escape the chaos of war.

Nor should they.

Delivering all living beings.

That was truly the Buddha’s will.

Elder Nun Hyeong-un looked out beyond the Medicine Buddha Hall’s window.

At the collapsed main hall.

At the Buddha statue rising tall above it.

It seemed almost like a sign of the Emei Sect’s future.

“If our sect falls, So-yeong will become a new seed.”

Even if Emei burned away and vanished, the sect’s spirit would endure like that Buddha statue.

Through So-yeong.

Hearing this, the first-generation disciples nodded with heavy faces.

If it was So-yeong, she was more than qualified.

So-yeong was the head senior sister among the second-generation disciples.

She was practically the Emei Sect’s future. Under normal circumstances, she too should have been sent to the very front.

But now the situation had changed.

The first-generation disciples looked to their own martial aunts.

They could feel their resolve in their eyes.

They were prepared to lay down their lives for the Emei Sect. They were already thinking about death. That was why they had let go of the small hope named So-yeong.

The first-generation disciples felt anew the weight of the battlefield.

However, Elder Nun Hyeong-un’s intentions didn’t end there.

It was something she had not told even her fellow elder sisters.

She thought of a certain boy.

A man whose outward appearance made it hard to call him a boy.

When she faced the wolf, his words had come back to her.

A chaos was coming that could not even be compared to the war with the Evil Heaven Alliance.

The ones who had come down from the north were surely related to that being.

‘Otherworldly beings draw other otherworldly beings.’

That was what the heir of Kunlun had said.

But to her eyes, he himself felt like an otherworldly being as well.

‘No, it would be more accurate to say Kunlun itself is like that.’

The same was true for his master, Sword Freak.

She had heard that Yun Heo’s appearance had not changed from when he was young.

Back then, Yun Heo was said to have overwhelmed the Iron Blood Hall Master.

Someone unrelated to this war, yet possessing the strength to move the world.

She hoped that So-yeong’s fate would brush up against theirs.

But there was something even she had not foreseen.

The time of otherworldly beings flowed differently from reality.

Just because something resembled a fox or a dog didn’t mean it lived by the same span of time as they did.

Perhaps because the rain was pouring down.

In a remote mountain valley of Lingshan, a shabby inn was crowded with customers.

The innkeeper bustled about in a daze because of the sudden surge of guests.

Just then, with a bang, the door opened again.

“Welcome t……”

The innkeeper, who had started to greet them, closed his mouth.

It was because a huge figure was visible beyond the door.

Kugugung.

A bolt of lightning struck at that moment, revealing his wet upper body as it was.

Even from a distance, his muscles were extraordinary.

On top of that, scars showed here and there.

Perhaps because he was wet, steam was even faintly rising from him.

“Brother, what are you doing not going in?”

“Ah, right.”

When the big man stepped inside, a man with a slight, boyish frame appeared behind him.

But no one could relax.

The smaller man’s body was also covered in scars.

On top of that, iron weights were attached to his arms and legs.

Was he some escaped convict?

The inn fell silent. It seemed there were people of Murim among them, as some quietly reached for their weapons.

The innkeeper’s face showed dismay.

‘So this is what they mean when they say blessings never come alone.’

It seemed the rain had invited unnecessary guests as well.

“M-may I ask what brings heroes of the mountain like you to a place such as this?”

“Heroes of the mountain?”

When the big man tilted his head, the small man spoke.

“He means bandits.”

“Ah, right.”

His voice was boyish for such a large frame, and he even scratched his head.

From their exchange, they could tell the two were not bandits.

But their sense of alert only grew.

If they weren’t bandits, there was only one kind of person who went around looking like that.

People of Murim.

And unorthodox ones at that.

The world was already in turmoil.

And considering they had just been mistaken for bandits, they would be all the more offended.

Contrary to the innkeeper’s expectations, the slightly built man walked over and asked politely.

“Please prepare a room for us to stay for the night and a meal.”

His manner of speaking was courteous.

Even his voice carried refinement.

The innkeeper snapped back to his senses and opened his mouth.

“T-there is only one room left…”

As soon as he said it, the innkeeper regretted it.

He should have offered them his own room instead.

But the small man simply nodded as if it were nothing.

“That’s fine. It’s all right with you too, Brother?”

“Yeah.”

The big man gave a calm nod.

Only then could the innkeeper properly see their faces.

Their faces were as young as their voices.

The big man’s face in particular looked incredibly simple and honest.

‘And I called someone like this a bandit…’

He had misjudged them.

The smaller man’s face practically shone.

The word ‘young master’ suited him.

‘Why in the world is he going around with his chest bare…’

Of course, he didn’t say that out loud.

It was not because of his role as an innkeeper.

It was because of their backs when they turned around.

They said a man spoke with his back.

Their backs were far more fearsome than their faces.