The Sin Of A Man Of Resolve (4)

So many had crowded toward the arena that the streets were unusually empty.

Even among the few, some recognized Mun Jung. Startled, they bowed, and he kindly returned each greeting.

Thus Mun Jung and Jin-hyeon climbed the mountain.

He had roamed the hills around the festival grounds, but never this one. Following Mun Jung, Jin-hyeon calmly took in the surroundings.

‘Impressive.’

Masters hid at points all over the mountain. Jin-hyeon’s eyes sharpened.

‘So this is the Sichuan Branch Leader’s level.’

Even with his skill, it was hard to read their exact levels.

Not because they outclassed him, but because they trained in arts specialized in masking Qi and presence. The assassination arts used by killers.

‘A notch above Gold Pillar Seomun’s guards. This is quite something.’

The Heavenly Will Alliance hunted them hard, but the Black Society’s numbers were enormous.

In sheer membership, they rivaled the Beggars’ Union once said to number a hundred thousand. Seomun Hoe was one of only five top leaders within such a Black Society.

Guarding someone that important meant elite assassination arts were a given. Yet Mun Jung’s guards surpassed even that, and there were easily over thirty.

‘If my goal were to break through, it’s not impossible.’

Jin-hyeon clicked his tongue.

‘But to beat them all down, I’d have to bet my life.’

After walking for some time.

“Phew. Must be the mountains. It’s especially cold.”

Mun Jung stepped onto a small pavilion and looked around.

“They say snow is coming down hard in northern and western Sichuan. Soon the cities near Chengdu will be white.”

Silently, Jin-hyeon approached the pavilion.

Seureuk.

A masked man appeared from nowhere and blocked him.

“Your weapons.”

Jin-hyeon tilted his head.

Then Mun Jung spoke.

“He is a guest. Stand down.”

The masked man vanished like a ghost.

“Come up. I had tea prepared.”

When Jin-hyeon stepped up, Mun Jung handed him a cup from a small tea table.

In the biting cold, the tea had cooled. He wrapped both hands around the cup.

Hwoong.

A heat shimmer rose from the cup.

Mun Jung’s eyes glinted.

“You practice Heat Yang Arts?”

Sitting on the railing, taking a sip, Jin-hyeon spoke evenly.

“So, what business do you have with me?”

Mun Jung chuckled.

“Let’s keep it casual. Yesterday you spat out ‘kill or spare’ in plain speech. Why are you being so polite today?”

“If you want, I will.”

“You really don’t know how to say things you don’t mean, do you?”

“I use it when I need to.”

“Eh, it’s fine. Once I sat in this seat, it was nothing but honorifics and people tiptoeing around me from all sides. It gets on my nerves, but hearing you talk like that… it’s fresh. I like it.”

Jin-hyeon took another sip.

He’d told his subordinate he was an honored guest, and sure enough, the tea was indeed luxurious. Its scent was light at first, then a fine fragrance spread across the face after drinking.

“Now then.”

Mun Jung lifted his cup as well.

White shimmer rose the moment he held it. Impeccable control of internal energy.

He moistened his throat and sat on the railing too.

“Since we’ve dropped formalities, there’s no need to ramble.”

“Straight to the point. Good.”

“The Black Bamboo Fort fell to the Black Tiger Fist Sect.”

Jin-hyeon drank in silence and looked at him, face calm.

Mun Jung’s expression was similar, calm, but his eyes were razor sharp.

“Affairs between sects are not easily meddled in even by a Heavenly Will Alliance branch. We can dig in under the Alliance statutes, but absent civilian deaths or harm to those uninvolved, it becomes difficult.”

“…”

“There are always times when law or principle blurs. To the Heavenly Will Alliance, local sects wield more influence than old imperial nobility ever did. Naturally so, the Alliance itself is a union of sects.”

“…”

“Even in war between sects, if servants of a sect die, it’s hard to leverage that. They can be seen as civilians, or as human assets of the sect.”

He wet his lips with tea and continued.

“The Mighty Tiger incident and the recent murders are different. Those the Sichuan Branch must intervene in, as you know.”

“…”

“Therefore, it’s hard for us to step into this Black Bamboo affair. If we force it, all of Sichuan Murim may rise, and word will spread to other regions.”

“…”

“So you needn’t keep playing ignorant. Though even in private, my position requires verification.”

A gentle light rose in his eyes.

“It was you, wasn’t it? The one behind Black Tiger striking Black Bamboo.”

“…”

“More precisely, you participated in the battle as well.”

“You talk too much.”

“Do I? I was trying to be considerate.”

“You claim you were a Chief Adjudicator, yet you’re using the kind of guided questioning you’d expect from a Martial Examiner or a constable. Were you originally from that branch?”

“I came over after serving as a Martial Examiner.”

“I thought so.”

Jin-hyeon set the cup on the rail.

“Murim sects being more influential than regional clans? You’re not wrong. But not in Sichuan.

“…”

“As I know it, Sichuan Murim is clearly weaker than other regions. What you said fits elsewhere, but not here.”

“Is that what you think?”

“No need to play ignorant… you probe and probe, then lay a decisive trap.”

Mun Jung’s eyes narrowed.

A trap laid? The words themselves could be taken as involvement.

“So you admit it.”

“I see the trap, and I know it’s meaningless.”

Jin-hyeon looked him squarely in the eye.

“You already know everything. So why bother with traps?”

“…”

“You broke your word about not rambling from the start. Some conversation this is.”

He rose, picked up the cup, and set it on the tea table.

“Good tea. Thanks for the hospitality.”

“Are you leaving like this?”

“I don’t mind teasing people who circle their words. But you aren’t fun either way.”

Mun Jung gave a wry smile.

“If you go now, how do you think I’ll treat you?”

“That’s exactly where to start.”

“?”

“If you brought me here knowing I was behind it, then you should’ve begun with how you’ll deal with me. That’s what would make this conversation interesting for me, wouldn’t you agree?”

A flicker of surprise crossed Mun Jung’s face.

“Start from there?”

Jin-hyeon cocked his head.

“I thought you were clever. But unlike yesterday, today you began to become sly.”

“…”

“A conversation with a sage concealing secrets, or one with a small-minded man full of schemes… I’d say the former has far more charm.”

“Sage or small-minded man.”

“Fine, one more chance. Which do you want to be?”

Mun Jung couldn’t help but be impressed inside.

‘He’s playing me completely.’

This was his territory. There were thirty-three Branch Leader guards, and more Sichuan Branch masters stationed beyond the ridge in case anything happened.

With the post of Sichuan Branch Leader and the reputation he had built over the years, there was nothing lacking.

And yet, in that domain, the white-haired youth showed not the slightest sign of being cowed. If anything, he tried to take the lead, urging them to lay everything out in the open.

That wasn’t something mere experience achieved. It took sharp insight, an extraordinary mind, and the right disposition, the kind of diplomatic talent forged from all three.

Even while never yielding and pressing strong, he somehow drew you in.

‘He’s a prodigy for certain.’

The only problem was that whether he would bring a fresh wind to Sichuan, or a blood gale, was uncertain.

“Good.”

Mun Jung indicated the tea table.

“I’ll try the sage. Though I don’t know how it will look.”

“Good.”

Jin-hyeon sat again, this time on the floor with his back to the rail, not atop it.

He slung the Unbreakable Sword over his shoulder, as if he was daring them to look. The casualness of it only made the pressure he gave off feel all the more unsettling.

“That sword looks inconvenient to swing.”

“It’s for training.”

“Harsh training. Mis-swing it and even a master might wreck his joints.”

“It’s fierce enough, so it’s fine. I didn’t bring it against the Black Bamboo Fort Master, though.”

“…”

Now he openly said he had engineered it.

Staring at him, Mun Jung lifted tea to wet his throat.

“Why did you do it?”

Frank words came from Jin-hyeon as well.

“Because he did something that deserved death.”

“Because of the ‘scent’ you mentioned? Yeom Yong-cheon stank, did he?”

“Seeing him, yes. But not only that.”

Jin-hyeon told him that the Abundant Prosperity Guild, the Divine Spear House, and the Black Bamboo Fort had joined hands with the Oh Family Merchant House, and that the Lee brothers had come to Sichuan targeting him and Seol So-ha.

“…”

Mun Jung’s face tightened slightly.

Seeing it, Jin-hyeon realized something.

“You knew the Lee brothers had entered Sichuan?”

“Yes, I knew.”

“…”

“But I didn’t know those three sects had linked with the Oh family. Hearing it… I see. They meant to build a money flow between Shaanxi and Sichuan.”

Jin-hyeon’s eyes sharpened.

“If you knew, why didn’t you stop it?”

I’ve laid down my cards, now lay down yours.

Whether fair or not, his demand was forthright.

‘Sage, or small-minded man.’

Mun Jung hesitated.

If he spoke honestly, one more person would know what the Sichuan Branch Leader had truly been thinking, something no one else had known until now.

If it reached the wrong ears, his efforts would be wasted, and his aims would suffer.

‘Complications…’

Bitterness shadowed his face.

‘Before fretting about setbacks, am I still running with my life on the line for my goal?’

He had. At first.

But asked if it was still so now, he couldn’t say yes.

If sure he could achieve it, he would stake his life. But the world was vast, and even a Heavenly Will Alliance Branch Leader had places he could not touch.

Realizing many could be hurt because of him, the fire that once raged within no longer burned the same.

So he neither lived fiercely nor quit, he just made preparations and lingered.

‘…’

Mun Jung looked at Jin-hyeon.

At such a moment, was the appearance of this dangerous, capable youth heaven’s arrangement, or someone’s ploy aimed at him?

‘I don’t even want to worry about that anymore.’

Between life and death, he retraced what Jin-hyeon had done.

Then his mouth opened of its own accord.

“Because I wanted to change it.”

“What.”

“Sichuan.”

“…”

“And the world.”