Chapter 117

An unusual atmosphere.

At the Sect Leader’s words, the second class disciples who had finished their meal rose first.

They led the reluctant third class disciples away and disappeared.

“Sect Leader, then we’ll be taking our leave…”

When signs of the situation turning into a fight appeared, Bukgung Yoon spoke.

It was impolite to watch another sect’s quarrel; after all, they were guests.

But Won Rang shook his head.

“Flying Swallow Manor Lord, please remain. This matter is not unrelated to the Bukgung Family.”

He looked at the elders who had not touched the food at all and asked.

“Elders, won’t you eat a little?”

“The Sect Leader is openly ostracizing us elders—how could we have an appetite?”

Won Rang did not flare up at the thorny retort.

Instead, he called the remaining first-rank disciples and said.

“Hwa Eun.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Clear away the food set out for the elders. The other disciples will share it.”

The first-rank disciples, glancing at the elders, cleared away the dishes.

The elders who watched the food being removed were openly displeased.

Some even mixed the food with other things so people would not eat it.

No matter what the elders did or said, Won Rang said nothing.

Only after all the dishes had been cleared did he speak.

“Are your bellies somewhat full?”

“……”

“This table was the last one the elders and Southern Edge Sect could share together. Isn’t household originally meant to describe people who share the same food?”

“So you’re saying we are no longer members of Southern Edge Sect?”

Won Rang answered the question with another question.

“Have the elders until now eaten the same meals as Southern Edge Sect’s disciples?”

“……”

Bukgung Yoon stepped back and slowly observed the elders.

As she had felt upon first arriving at Southern Edge Sect, the elders there showed an odd difference from the other disciples.

The disciples wore patched clothing, but the elders wore new garments.

While the disciples looked gaunt from long hunger, the elders had healthy complexions.

The only ones resembling the other disciples were Sect Leader Won Rang and Won Yang, the steward who had first guided them.

“The steward discovered that you had been in contact with Ten Thousand Gold.”

The elders, who were about to retort, suddenly stopped mid-motion.

The first-rank disciples who were listening were taken aback.

Bukgung Yoon and the External Protection Troops reacted similarly.

The elders of the Southern Edge Sect faction were spies for the Ten Thousand Gold?

Not just one or two elders, but the entire elder group?

“……”

A long silence settled.

Won Rang slowly looked at each elder’s face.

His expression showed neither anger nor disappointment.

“For too long you have been trapped by rigidness, tied to the sect’s name, and prevented by the prestige of the sect from doing what must be done. Do you understand, elders?”

What things?

“Today is the anniversary of the Master’s death.”

Won Rang paused for a moment.

“The Master entrusted me with the Sect Leader’s post and left me only one message.”

He gazed into the air as if tracing an old memory and spoke.

“Be a branch for the Southern Edge Sect.”

Among the first class disciples, more and more bowed their heads and swallowed in silence.

Won Rang said.

“Disciples of Southern Edge Sect, listen. My roots do not touch Southern Edge Sect, yet I intended to be its largest branch.”

He slowly drew his sword and rose from his seat.

The elders looked at the Sect Leader with eyes of fear and suspicion.

“Stand up, betrayers of Southern Edge Sect. Today at last the time has come to cut away the rotten roots.”

Mok Gyeong-hae, sword drawn, charged toward the Sect Leader.

It happened in the space of a breath.

No one had expected Mok Gyeong-hae to act like this.

In Mok Gyeong-hae’s sight, the figure of Hong Yujin, who had taken him in and raised him, drew closer.

And the Zaha Divine Sword he held came closer as well.

One would be cut down, the other seized.

He had endured for that sole purpose.

“Master, receive this strike from your disciple…!”

The tip of Mok Gyeong-hae’s thrust aimed precisely at Hong Yujin’s heart.

But almost simultaneously as Mok Gyeong-hae moved, a figure moved to block his path.

It was Hyeon Jang, a first-rank disciple of Mount Hua.

Chaaeng!

Sparks flew as Hyeon Jang’s blade struck Mok Gyeong-hae’s.

“Hyeon Geom! What on earth are you doing…!”

Before Hyeon Jang could finish speaking, Hyeon Geom’s sword moved.

Phuak!

Hyeon Jang’s robe was stained with red.

A pale crimson, like plum blossoms, spread across his chest like petals.

“Hyeon Jang sahyung!”

The first class disciples’ shouts burst out.

Mok Gyeong-hae showed not the slightest hesitation as he executed the finishing move.

The Mount Hua practitioners finally felt it keenly.

This was no cruel joke or dream.

Mok Gyeong-hae really had attempted to kill a fellow Mount Hua martial artist.

If so, then Hong Yujin too…?

“How dare you butt in while master and disciple are speaking?”

Mok Gyeong-hae’s cold voice snapped people back to attention.

“Everyone, draw your swords! Stop Hyeon Geom! Protect the Sect Leader!”

Hong Yujin clearly watched Hyeon Jang’s back as he slowly crumpled before him.

There was no time to compose himself.

Because there was a disciple aiming the Zaha Divine Sword at him.

“Now hand over that Purple Cloud Divine Sword!”

Mok Gyeong-hae drew a line across Mount Hua with his sword.

It was Cultivation Sword, the Mount Hua sword technique personally taught by Hong Yujin.

Mok Gyeong-hae’s swordplay, stained with the blood of a brother, bloomed like red flowers—splendid and relentless.

Compared to any swordsman of Mount Hua, its brilliance shone.

‘Ah, I was blinded by that talent and failed to see what needed seeing!’

Hong Yujin sensed death.

Puuuk!

He heard the blade cut flesh, but felt no pain.

When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw two blades.

One was Mok Gyeong-hae’s sword, the other a blade that had sprung out, slicing Mok Gyeong-hae’s side.

“…?”

Mok Gyeong-hae’s face went pale with astonishment.

He twisted at the waist and leapt sideways.

Thud-thud-thud!

Red droplets, like falling petals, dripped from Mok Gyeong-hae’s side.

Behind Mok Gyeong-hae stood Hyeon Mun, who had suddenly approached.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Seems the fellow’s life is stubborn—thought I’d kill him in one strike.”

It was not Hyeon Mun’s voice.

Mok Gyeong-hae immediately recognized the owner of that voice.

“…Yeon Mujin?”

Hong Yujin was also startled at the name.

A martial warrior from the Bukgung Family who had come searching for Mount Hua?

Yeon Mujin tore off and hurled the face-covering mask that had covered his face and said.

“It’s me, Yeon Mujin.”

The elders of Mount Hua were also surprised to discover Yeon Mujin disguised as Hyeon Mun.

How could they forget that face? He was an unforgettable uninvited guest to Mount Hua.

“Mok apprentice. Pay respects to your elder brother.”

“…Where is Hyeon Mun!”

“Hyeon Mun the Taoist died by my hand.”

The atmosphere turned sharply cold.

“…Just kidding. I didn’t kill him. The mood is so grim. He’s probably asleep in his underwear at Hwaeum Inn. I might have left him naked, so he could’ve caught a cold.”

“What?”

“But don’t worry. My room has many folded erotic picture books, so at the very least he won’t be bored as a man.”

Even in this situation, Yeon Mujin didn’t stop babbling about erotic picture books.

“You came to target Mount Hua as well?”

“You too? This brat finally shows his true colors. Listen well, Sect Leader. This man has been a parasite eating at Mount Hua for years while coveting the Sect Leader’s seat. The money he brought into Mount Hua? All of it came from the leader of Ten Thousand Gold. Not only that, he mixed Occult Blood Grass into the food to poison fellow disciples.”

“What nonsense! Master, do not believe this man. He is not worth trusting. He is the very spy sent by the leader of Ten Thousand Gold to sell out Mount Hua!”

“What a spy-talk. Which spy would go about telling the Sect Leader to sell your sect to him because your sect has fallen? Have you seen such a spy in the world?”

“Well…”

Faced with that, there was nothing more to say.

Mok Gyeong-hae had become convinced Yeon Mujin was a spy through the reaction of the leader of Ten Thousand Gold.

But if that were revealed, it would also expose that he had been colluding with Ten Thousand Gold.

Earlier, Yeon Mujin’s tirades at Mount Hua had instead cornered him into a dilemma.

“Mok apprentice, can you still speak so boldly after seeing that?”

Yeon Mujin pointed to the three Mount Hua disciples who had collapsed.

The children were slowly regaining themselves as the tutors gave them honeyed water.

The epidemic handler bustled among the children administering treatment.

Here and there came the sounds of children moaning, vomiting up what they’d eaten, and breathing sharply with fever.

“Hyeon Geom—no, Gyeong-hae.”

Hong Yujin called his disciple’s name.

“Were you truly going to sell out Mount Hua?”

The Sect Leader’s, the elders’, and the sworn-brothers’ gazes that looked at Mok Gyeong-hae.

Faces full of reproach and the busy epidemic handler. She had torn off the cumbersome face mask and ran about tending the children.

A sword thrust lodged by Yeon Mujin burned and stung at his side.

“Hah. Haaaa…”

Mok Gyeong-hae gave a deep, deep sigh.

“I’m sick of it all. I’ll just kill them all.”

There was weary annoyance steeped in his words.

Hong Yujin stood up, holding the Purple Cloud Divine Sword.

“Disciples of Mount Hua, listen!”

The Sect Leader’s voice filled Jade Maiden Peak. The Mount Hua disciples simultaneously lifted their heads and looked to him.

“The crimes of betraying the sect and insulting the ancestors! The crime of attempting to poison Mount Hua’s future—the children! The crime of drawing a blade against your master and showing contempt for the sect’s elders and sworn-brothers!”

Each of his words reverberated like thunder.

“From today I strip Hyeon Geom, disciple of the Sect Leader, of his rank and title! You are no longer a disciple of Mount Hua!”

Silence flowed. Breaking that heavy stillness, the Sect Leader spoke again.

“I hereby command all disciples of Mount Hua: Commit the offenses—murder and sacrilege against the ancestor! Show Mount Hua’s righteous spirit toward the sinner Mok Gyeong-hae!”

Hong Yujin slowly turned his gaze toward Mok Gyeong-hae.

The child he had taken in, the child he had raised, the Mount Hua sword he had nurtured.

The childhood Hyeon Geom and the filth-heap Mok Gyeong-hae—two images of one person—overlapped in his mind.

As a father it was a harrowing feeling, but as a master he had to be stern.

And as the Sect Leader of the entire sect, he had to be as rigid as stone.

He killed the Hyeon Geom that lived in his heart.

“Mount Hua gave you life and martial skill; today I take both away from you. Sinner Mok Gyeong-hae, accept the sect’s judgment!”

“I am no longer a Mount Hua practitioner—will I accept your judgment gladly?”

Mok Gyeong-hae scoffed at the Sect Leader’s decree and said.

And here was one more born a rebel who would not accept Mount Hua’s decree.

“All disciples of Mount Hua, hear me!”

This time Yeon Mujin yelled again.

“That shameless wretch Mok Gyeong-hae, like a thunder-naked monkey of the world, fails to recognize brothers under heaven—an atrocious crime that cannot be overlooked by an elder! I will punish Mok Gyeong-hae, so step back and watch quietly!”

A proclamation as solemn as the Mount Hua Sect Leader’s command….

But all the practitioners who heard it were dumbfounded.

“…What is that supposed to mean!”

“This man intends today to slay all Mount Hua practitioners and be reborn as the Mount Hua Sword Ghost. If I cut him down today, you would be greatly indebted to the Bukgung Family and Flying Swallow Manor—remember that when you sell off Mount Hua later!”

Yeon Mujin also drew his sword.

“Now, Mok apprentice! Raise your sword! Honestly, I’ve disliked your eyes since the first day I saw you! You gorge on pork dishes until your pockets run dry! Receive the resentment of the pigs of Hwaeum County!”