Chapter 115

Hyeon Beom, whose head had been struck, stared at Hyeon Mun with a dumbfounded expression.

Hyeon Jang also fell silent and looked back and forth between his disciples.

Hyeon Mun slowly glanced at both sides, then scratched the back of his head.

“Am I a sajae?”

Hyeon Beom nodded.

Then Hyeon Mun folded his hands and bowed his head.

“Sahyung, greetings. It’s been a while.”

“What just happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“What did you just do?”

Then Hyeon Ryeong, who was standing behind, smacked Hyeon Mun on the head and spoke.

“You bastard, what have you done to sahyung?!”

All the stunned gazes shifted this time to Hyeon Ryeong.

Hyeon Ryeong also checked the elder brothers’ expressions and then spoke.

“…Am I the youngest?”

Hyeon Jang and Hyeon Beom quietly nodded.

Then Hyeon Mun smacked Hyeon Ryeong on the back of the head again and said.

“You idiot! Hyeon Mun! What have you done to sahyung?!”

“You are Hyeon Mun.”

“Hyeon Jang!”

“I am Hyeon Jang.”

Hyeon Mun glared at Hyeon Ryeong and said.

“What is your name!”

“…”

Hyeon Jang looked at the two sajaes in bewilderment.

After being away from Mount Hua for a long time, it seemed his sajaes had become idiots who couldn’t even recognize their elder brothers.

“Hyeon Mun, Hyeon Ryeong. Stop joking. You two arrived last among Hyeon disciples.”

“So he’s the youngest and I’m above him?”

“How long are you going to keep asking the obvious?”

“I see. Thank you for telling me.”

Hyeon Mun sent a telepathic message toward Hyeon Ryeong.

—Now that you mention it, remember this well. I am the elder brother.

Yeok Yong-ma, disguised as Hyeon Ryeong, shot a glance at Yeon Mujin, who was disguised as Hyeon Mun.

‘Don’t act so obviously!’

Then Yeon Mujin, as if reading her thoughts, sent another telepathic message.

—It’s fine. This won’t give us away.

‘Is Yeok Yong-ma kidding? Is this a joke?’

The two of them were wearing the Human skin masks that Yeok Yong-ma had painstakingly crafted.

The real Hyeon Mun and Hyeon Ryeong were probably asleep in the inn where Yeon Mujin had stayed.

Yeon Mujin, disguised as Hyeon Mun, asked Hyeon Beom.

“By the way, why were the first-tier disciples suddenly summoned?”

“I don’t know either. We’ll find out soon.”

“Hyeon Jang Sahyung, Hyeon Beom sahyung.”

At that moment, other Hyeon disciples came to them and said.

“The second-tier and third-tier disciples have all gathered at Jade Maiden Peak. They say all first-tier disciples should gather as well.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. The elders and the sect leader are also at Jade Maiden Peak.”

By that time, all the sect members of Mount Hua would have gathered.

Hyeon Jang looked at his disciples and said.

“It seems something will happen today. Let’s all go to Jade Maiden Peak.”

At Mount Hua’s Jade Maiden Peak, all the cultivators had gathered.

Centered around the sect leader, the elders spread out to the left and right in a circle.

And in the center, in a triangular formation, groups of first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier disciples were arrayed.

In a typical sect, the number of disciples increases from first-tier to second-tier to third-tier, but Mount Hua was the opposite.

There were far fewer third-tier disciples than first- and second-tier ones.

And the disciples appeared progressively thinner as you went from first to second to third tiers.

Hyeon Jang’s party, arriving late at Jade Maiden Peak, took their places according to the arrangement.

Hyeon Geom occupied the place of honor among the first-tier disciples.

The first class disciples who had arrived at Jade Maiden Peak all clicked their tongues as they looked at Hyeon Geom.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

“Elder brother Hyeon Jang should be at the very front. That shameless fellow.”

“He thinks lightly of being a sahyung.”

Even as he heard those words, Hyeon Geom steadfastly kept his gaze fixed only on the sect leader.

Hong Yujinin also did not look elsewhere, watching his sole disciple, Hyeon Geom.

Hyeon Jang stood beside Hyeon Geom and called him in a low voice.

“Hyeon Geom.”

Hyeon Geom, as always, smiled and greeted Hyeon Jang.

“Hyeon Jang sahyung, have you come?”

“It’s been hard to see your face.”

“We’re both busy with our duties, so how often would we meet?”

Hyeon Jang’s remark was a question about why he hadn’t come to pay respects, but Hyeon Geom just smiled, offering a flimsy excuse.

Hyeon Jang found Hyeon Geom’s attitude irksome.

Although he had no particular grudge against Hyeon Geom, Hyeon Geom always seemed to keep his distance and treat him warily.

“Hyeon Geom.”

“Yes, sahyung.”

“Do you find me uncomfortable to be around?”

Hyeon Geom stared at him for a long moment without answering.

“Of course not. I have never found the sahyung’s uncomfortable.”

“…Is that so?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking if it’s the other way around?”

“That we should find you uncomfortable?”

“Elder brother, let me ask again.”

Hyeon Jang listened intently to his disciple’s words.

“In a declining sect, should those who don’t bring in money pay respect to those who do, or the other way around?”

“…What?”

“Or should the sect leader’s disciple fear the mountain’s disciple, or the opposite?”

“What are you talking about now?”

“Should the strong be annoyed by the weak, or should the weak be obliged to be annoyed by the strong?”

“You now…”

As Hyeon Jang began to show anger, Hyeon Geom grinned again and said.

“In any murim world, there’s only one proper conduct between those two: I would never fear the sahyung’s.”

Hyeon Geom bowed politely again and looked at Hong Yujin.

Hyeon Jang was about to argue but stopped when he felt the elders’ gazes.

“Has everyone gathered?”

Hong Yujin looked at the assembled disciples and announced.

Yeon Mujin and Yeok Yong-ma were both positioned at the far edge of the first-tier disciples.

Yeon Mujin calmly watched the situation from the back row, while Yeok Yong-ma’s gaze drifted to the third-tier disciples.

“There is a reason I have gathered you all today.”

Hong Yujinin continued speaking.

Even the elders of Mount Hua maintained an unusually solemn demeanor.

“Eul Gong sahyung, I need to go to the restroom…”

“Hold on a bit.”

“My stomach’s been hurting since earlier.”

“…To be honest, my stomach has been hurting too. Should I quietly mention it to elder brother Jo Baek?”

Keen-eared Jo Baek put a finger to his lips and looked at Eul Gong. Shh.

“Over the years, Mount Hua has lost its former strength and repeatedly declined. The elders, including those of the main hall, and the first-tier disciples have worked day and night for Mount Hua’s future, but there has been no suitable method.”

Those were Hong Yujin’s words.

“When the days are dry, the rivers run dry; when the roots wither, the branches lose strength. As the sect leader, I bear the greatest fault for Mount Hua’s losing its way and wandering.”

“No, sect leader.”

One of the first class disciples spoke up.

Hong Yujin smiled warmly.

“Hyeon Jang. You don’t have to go out of your way to comfort this old sect leader.”

Hong Yujin met the eyes of each first class disciple in turn.

His gaze lingered longest on Hyeon Geom’s face.

At the end of Hong Yujin’s gaze, Hyeon Geom’s fist tightened noticeably.

“Each and every one of you is my disciple and my child. What father would willingly hand a ruined household to his sons? I believed it my duty as sect leader to carry the burden until Mount Hua reclaimed its rightful place. But that was all the overambition of an old man.”

Hong Yujin’s final words sounded less like speech than a sigh.

He slowly took something out.

The first-tier disciples all audibly swallowed.

Yeon Mujin’s expression, hidden under the human skin mask, stiffened.

Purple Cloud Divine Sword. The sect leader’s sacred relic of Mount Hua.

“It’s time for Mount Hua to change. What right does a sect that cannot even properly feed its own disciples have to talk about tradition, or to call itself a prestigious school?”

He spoke the exact words Yeon Mujin had once said.

Those words hit Hong Yujin like a great shock.

In the gloomy atmosphere, only Hyeon Geom did not heed Hong Yujin’s words.

All his attention was fixed on the Purple Cloud Divine Sword.

Hong Yujin lifted the Purple Cloud Divine Sword high with both hands.

“The rotten root that must be cut away first is myself. I hereby declare to all Mount Hua disciples: the next owner of the Purple Cloud Divine Sword is…”

It was at that moment.

“Ah!”

A loud cry broke out from among the crowd.

Then someone pushed through the people desperately and ran to one spot.

Everyone had been watching the sect leader, so they didn’t immediately realize what had happened.

“Move aside!”

Hyeon Ryeong, flinging his robe, shoved through the second-tier disciples.

Startled, the second-tier disciples backed away at Hyeon Ryeong’s shout. But something was strange.

“What was that voice just now…”

Hyeon Ryeong was a man in his mid-thirties. Yet the voice that came from him was that of a frantic woman.

Moreover, the way he ran was unusual. Hyeon Ryeong scurried forward like a market woman who had never learned the proper way to run, flustered and clumsy.

“That gentlemanly Hyeon Ryeong sahyung?”

But Hyeon Ryeong was not the real problem.

Where he ran to, the third-tier disciples of Mount Hua were beginning to collapse one by one.

Eul Jeong, Eul Yong, Eul Dang… the third class disciples were collapsing silently, one after another.

Among the third-tier disciples, only the eldest, Eul Gong, staggered and barely stayed on his feet.

“What on earth is going on?”

The children had always been skinny from poor nourishment, but it had never been this bad.

The third-tier disciples’ complexions were as pale as those of people who had stopped breathing.

Hyeon Ryeong ran to Eul Gong, grabbed the boy’s hand and cheek, and asked.

“Child! Eul Gong!”

“Ah…?”

Eul Gong’s eyes flickered at the sight of Hyeon Ryeong’s face.

And a single word escaped that made Hyeon Ryeong—or rather Yeok Yong-ma—feel a chill.

“Mo…ther?”

Eul Gong mumbled that faintly in a daze.

Yeok Yong-ma kept patting his cheeks, arms, and shoulders and, excited and flustered, asked.

Her voice, urgent, bewildered, and ragged like a mother who didn’t know what to do, made listeners’ hearts race.

“There, there! Child, what’s wrong? Are you dizzy? Do you have a fever? Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?”

“My stomach…”

As he uttered those words, Eul Gong finally collapsed as well.

Hyeon Ryeong pulled up Eul Gong’s shirt, saw his swollen belly, buried his face in the nape of his neck, and smelled it.

The smell. That smell. The scent of Occult Blood Grass was so strong.

She had smelled this before. The corpse of a man who had once died from Occult Blood Grass poisoning had given off the exact same smell.

Ah! The smell of that death from forty years ago was distinct at the tip of her nose!

Yeok Yong-ma lifted her head.

She didn’t even notice the mask dangling from Eul Gong’s hand and swaying from his face.

“Leeks and garlic! Honey and cinnamon! Anything with yang energy—bring it all! Quickly!”

The cultivators of Mount Hua all paused at the woman’s piercing cry.

Even the elders and Hong Yujin couldn’t properly make sense of what was happening.

Seeing no movement from the unarmed ones, Yeok Yong-ma scraped the ground with her bare hands, grabbed sand and dirt, and scraped and hurled it at the unarmed people with fierce determination.

Her fingernails broke and blood oozed between her fingers, but she didn’t even notice.

“Why aren’t you running! Are you trying to kill all the children! You bastards, run! Please, just run!”