Chapter 61

In Go, there’s a saying: a large group of stones does not lose.

It means a large cluster of stones has many liberties and is hard to capture.

Un Ji-kang was a large group of stones.

No matter what clever moves you tried, he was the kind of formation that resisted capture.

But even Un Ji-kang had a hidden weak point, and that weak point was Bukgung Bi-beom.

“Lord Solitary Cloud Manor, how do you intend to take responsibility for this situation?”

Yeon Mujin pointed the arrows of accusation straight at Bukgung Bi-beom.

“Me, me? What are you talking about!”

Bukgung Bi-beom looked thoroughly flustered.

“Isn’t it only natural to ask the Lord of Solitary Cloud Manor about what happened at Solitary Cloud Manor? How do you plan to take responsibility, Lord?”

“You want me to take what responsibility?”

“Attempted murder of the Zhuge Family’s young lord, preparing poison to ruin the fairness of the martial arts contest, preparing fake sacred relics to deceive the young lords of the two families—those are your crimes.”

Yeon Mujin knew Bukgung Bi-beom well.

That man had never taken responsibility for his own mistakes, let alone anyone else’s.

Whenever something happened, he looked to Un Ji-kang, and Un Ji-kang, like a mother bird tending her chicks, instructed Bukgung Bi-beom’s actions one by one. It was proxy regency.

I don’t kno…

You won’t offer ignorance as an excuse. This happened in your own manor, did it not? If you didn’t know, it’s incompetence; if you did, it’s complicity. Tell us. Did you truly know nothing of ordering poisoning, ruining the contest, and preparing fake sacred relics?

Of course he didn’t know. How could he?

Bukgung Bi-beom’s stupid face had already answered for him.

But Yeon Mujin’s aim wasn’t to extract facts.

He intended to wound Bukgung Bi-beom’s pride.

Bukgung Bi-beom was petty. One of the small-minded people even Yeon Mujin admitted existed.

He wasn’t calculating like Un Ji-kang, nor cold-blooded; he didn’t grasp how his words and actions could escalate.

Un Ji-kang had raised him into such a fool.

Un Ji-kang wanted to become king.

But he was not a Bukgung by blood. Outside the Bukgung Family walls, he was nothing more than a notorious public enemy of the murim world.

So Un Ji-kang turned his lord into a fool and hoped to become the Hidden King.

The more capable Un Ji-kang proved himself, the larger his appetite grew.

Bukgung Bi-beom had to grow stupider, more inept, and more lacking.

Only then could Un Ji-kang seize the throne.

Yeon Mujin knew the relationship between the two well.

A relationship with not a grain of trust—only mutual exploitation.

Bukgung Bi-beom needed Un Ji-kang because he lacked ability, and Un Ji-kang needed Bukgung Bi-beom to provide a veneer of legitimacy for power.

So how do you drive a wedge between them?

Strike at the pride of petty Bukgung Bi-beom.

“You hid things with a fake Sunny Breeze and Green Field and schemed to promise the sacred relic right before the final as a pretext for collusion, didn’t you?” Yeon Mujin said.

—Say there is no such thing.

Un Ji-kang said.

“There is no such thing!”

Bukgung Bi-beom said.

“It doesn’t matter which of the three is targeted. If someone simply collapses from poison, you planned to use that as a pretext to stop the match and pin the incident on a single conspirator acting on their own, didn’t you?” Yeon Mujin pressed.

—Say Solitary Cloud Manor had nothing to do with it.

Un Ji-kang said.

“Solitary Cloud Manor knows nothing of it!”

Bukgung Bi-beom repeated like a parrot.

“If not, are you saying the Zhuge Family’s young master went mad and committed such deeds alone? It’s the Zhuge Family, not the Hwangbo Family! Do you take the Zhuge young master for a fool, someone who would plot in the courtyard of the World’s Greatest Family?”

Hwangbo Ryeong tilted his head at the odd phrasing.

‘Is he saying the Hwangbo Family could be fooled by that?’

But given the atmosphere, people let it pass.

Zhuge Kwan listened quietly and, though pricked by conscience, let it pass for the moment.

He even coughed a few times to lend more persuasive force to Yeon Mujin’s rhetoric.

After all, hadn’t he just been a man returned from the brink of death?

—Claim the Zhuge Family acted alone!

“The Zhuge Family acted alone!”

“Hah! Do you think that claim is persuasive? This happened in Solitary Cloud Manor’s front yard, at an event Solitary Cloud Manor hosted, with the host of Solitary Cloud Manor as the very witness to the plot. Do you think the two pillars of White Murim would accept that at face value?”

“Well… that’s true.”

“That’s the right thing to say.”

Hwangbo Ryeong and Zhuge Kwan nodded, leaving everything to Yeon Mujin.

For some reason, it seemed an internal conflict had erupted: people from the Bukgung Family (Flying Swallow Manor) were criticizing the Bukgung Family (Lord of Solitary Cloud Manor) and pressing him on his fault.

Even an orator hired for a fortune couldn’t plead as passionately as this.

—Lord, that man is trying to intimidate you by nitpicking with no evidence. If you answer calmly, there will be no problem. No proof of ordering poisoning will be found anywhere.

Even with Un Ji-kang’s calm instructions, Bukgung Bi-beom’s eyes wavered.

‘Then was it, from the start, true that the poisoning was ordered?’

Bukgung Bi-beom knew nothing.

He felt like a fool.

—Do not waver. If you make a mistake here you’ll only be blamed. Just recite what I say. As always. Do not answer anything.

“I know nothing of this matter,” he declared.

When Bukgung Bi-beom spoke words he hadn’t been instructed to, Un Ji-kang’s eyebrows twitched.

But he did not scold him. It was an answer without serious problem.

“That’s right. Lord, you truly know nothing, don’t you?” Yeon Mujin nodded and took a step back.

It seemed as if he was stepping back.

“But how do you explain preparing the fake sacred relics?”

“What?”

“Wasn’t the Sunny Breeze and Green Field a fake? If you hand the sacred relic to the winner, it’s only a matter of time before it’s exposed. Solitary Cloud Manor wouldn’t hope for that. Then wasn’t there never any intention to actually hand over the relic?”

At Yeon Mujin’s accusation, the angry gazes of the warrior contingents of the two families turned to Bukgung Bi-beom.

Bukgung Bi-beom was greatly displeased.

‘Are they blaming me now? Those filthy wretches? Who do they think I am!’

He was a noble of the Bukgung Family—the bloodline of the World’s Greatest Family itself!

No one except his father could rebuke him.

Especially not for a wrongdoing he hadn’t committed!

“Are you saying I would hatch all this just because I’m stingy over some thing called Sunny Breeze and Green Field?”

When he began to speak words he hadn’t been told, Un Ji-kang urgently sent a transmitted voice.

—Lord! Close your mouth. Do not be deceived by the stratagem!

But Bukgung Bi-beom ignored his warning.

A flash of light sparked in Yeon Mujin’s gaze.

“The Sunny Breeze and Green Field ’something like? Something like? Lord Solitary Cloud Manor, did you dare to call the sacred relic of the Tae-san Divine Sword—something the Zhuge and Hwangbo Families so covet—‘something like’?”

“‘Dare’? ‘Dare’? Are you using the word ‘dare’ toward me now? In front of a noble of the Bukgung Family that trifle of a relic is of no importance! Do you think the treasures you sword-wielding monkeys cherish have any value to me?”

Yeon Mujin feigned outrage.

“Calling them sword-wielding monkeys is slanderous! Looking at the situation, it becomes a story that Lord Solitary Cloud Manor was stingy and deceived others. Is it fitting that a scion of the World’s Greatest Family would spin a plot to drive someone to death out of stinginess over a relic, and deceive the esteemed warriors of White Murim with a fake? How is this different from a gambling con on a back-alley stall?”

“What? A gambling con man…!”

Bukgung Bi-beom had never heard such an insult and his ears burned.

The atmosphere soured to bitterness.

The warriors of the Zhuge and Hwangbo Families, enraged not only by being deceived but now being called monkeys to their faces, flew into fury. Bukgung Bi-beom grew so agitated he leapt to his feet and pointed at Yeon Mujin.

—Lord, stop! Enough!

Bukgung Bi-beom ignored Un Ji-kang’s transmitted voice.

—Bukgung Bi-beom! Can’t you hear the old man’s warning to stop!

“Hey, you monkey brat! Crawling into Yoon’s skirts has made you blind, hasn’t it! I didn’t even know that thing was fake. From the start, it was the steward who prepared this stupid monkey game and prepared the goods—how would I know! The Bukgung Family of the world, this Bukgung Bi-beom, is not so petty as to deceive others with fake goods!!”

Bukgung Bi-beom’s booming shout echoed everywhere.

Everyone present heard his reply without exception.

“……”

An unsettling silence followed.

Bukgung Bi-beom tried to steady his unrelenting anger and panted.

The warriors of the Zhuge and Hwangbo Families doubted what they had just heard.

Un Ji-kang forgot to send another transmitted message and simply stared at his lord, Bukgung Bi-beom.

Bukgung Yoon’s face flushed with shame.

And Yeon Mujin—

“I understand well.”

He answered with a satisfied smile.

All those reactions ran contrary to Bukgung Bi-beom’s expectations.

“What is this? Why is no one speaking? Are you trying to disrespect me?”

“No. We understand Lord’s intention well.”

Yeon Mujin dismissed Bukgung Bi-beom’s protest and approached Hwangbo Ryeong with a respectful bow.

“I have conveyed the true intent of Lord Solitary Cloud Manor. As the young lord of the Hwangbo Family, perhaps you have something to say.”

Hwangbo Ryeong met Yeon Mujin’s gaze with a complex expression.

Then he stepped forward and offered a polite salute to Bukgung Bi-beom.

“I am Hwangbo Ryeong. And on behalf of the Hwangbo Family, I will convey our family’s opinion.”

Un Ji-kang’s face turned ashen.

Bukgung Bi-beom still couldn’t comprehend the situation and panted harshly.

“From today the Hwangbo Family severs all ties with Solitary Cloud Manor. We understand your view that treats the heroes of the martial world as foolish monkeys. Our house will no longer share any fellowship or promises with the Bukgung Family, the foremost of the world’s families.”

“What…?”

“Originally this was the purpose of attending the Taiyuan event. We took a long detour blinded by the sacred relic called the Sunny Breeze and Green Field. As Lord said, that trifle of a relic is not what’s important. What truly matters are allies who work for mutual balance and development. Lord Solitary Cloud Manor’s intentions do not seem to align with the Hwangbo Family’s thinking.”

His tone was resolute and solemn, a sign of his conviction.

He turned to his subordinate warriors and said:

“You monkeys! We return to our main house!”

“Yes!”

A thundering shout of the Hwangbo Family’s warriors answered Hwangbo Ryeong’s command.

Before they took their first step, Zhuge Kwan stepped forward next.

“Zhuge Kwan of the Zhuge Family.”

He looked pale, but his expression was more serious than ever.

The Hwangbo Family warriors paused and watched Zhuge Kwan.

“The Zhuge Family is known in the murim world as ‘Miraculous Zhuge,’ pursuing celestial secrets ordinary warriors do not. There is a saying in Zhuge: ‘Four civil, six martial.’ Though the Zhuge Family seeks scholarly ways—studying celestial patterns, meridians, and stratagems—the root of our family remains in the murim world. The Sunny Breeze and Green Field and the sacred relic of the Tae-san Divine Sword are…”

Zhuge Kwan looked over the broken Sunny Breeze Sword and the Green Field string and then spoke.

“These items are far more important to us than Lord might think. Without understanding or insight into the murim world, and lacking even backbone, to follow the orders of the public enemy of White Murim and seek to cause division between houses—we cannot share aims with Solitary Cloud Manor.”

He enunciated each word clearly.

“An incompetent, ignorant, and powerless lord cannot be imagined as the future successor of the World’s Greatest Family, not even by my loftiest thoughts. The Zhuge Family will cut all ties with Solitary Cloud Manor.”

Zhuge Kwan’s final words were, to Yeon Mujin, undeniably satisfying.

“Lord Solitary Cloud Manor, it was filthy being together; let us never meet again.”