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Chapter 284
Chapter 284. Night of the Greedy (5)
No, what sort of nonsense was this now?
The Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil, which appeared once every One Cycle, already had an owner decided?
Thinking he was picking another fight with such an absurd statement, I looked at Cheol Sun-jik. His expression, however, was quite different from his usual triumphant look.
To be precise, he looked as though he knew perfectly well that what he himself was saying made no sense.
W̆е b̃ń о v̈èl Ӗn̄.ŭ m̆â
Sensing that there was some other meaning behind it, I asked again.
“What does that mean?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Cheol Sun-jik did not answer for a while.
Then, after a long moment, he asked me in return.
“Do you happen to have a map of the Thousand Caverns?”
“…….”
Wе̄b̆ṅо v̂ е̃l Е n um̃ а
I took the map from my robe and showed it to him.
He looked back and forth between the map and me.
“……You bought this?”
His unpleasant gaze was like that of someone looking at a man who had been deceived by a medicine peddler and bought an immortality herb.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“I did not know Representative Jin was this naive.”
Ha, look at this bastard trying to change the subject.
Е̇nu.mа́ .i d
“I heard the map costs twenty gold taels…… Did you really buy it?”
As if that would be the case.
I briefly told him what had happened as soon as I arrived in Xi’an.
Cheol Sun-jik, who had listened silently, nodded.
“……That is at least fortunate.”
What exactly was fortunate?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
In any case, enough of that.
“Are you going to keep changing the subject?”
At my sharp gaze, Cheol Sun-jik soon nodded and continued.
“Zhongnan has already reached an agreement with Mount Hua. The Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil will belong to Zhongnan.”
What was this supposed to mean?
Who decided that?
É n̈ umа .і̆d
“Have they already found the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil?”
“Not yet. They do not know where inside the Thousand Caverns the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil will appear. Instead, having obtained Mount Hua’s permission, Zhongnan is making plans to exclude everyone else.”
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“…….”
The Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil was a Spiritual Medicine that burst forth in a single instant once the earth’s energy gathered to a certain amount.
One could know when it would appear, but not where.
In other words, the act of searching for the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil inside the Thousand Caverns itself would create competition.
Е̃ n̆ umа.ī d́
And yet if they could exclude everyone else……
“Does that mean Zhongnan is stepping forward in earnest?”
In the end, it was no different from saying they would block others from entering the competition from the very beginning.
As if my guess was correct, Cheol Sun-jik nodded.
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“Zhongnan will mobilize the disciples of its Main Mountain and its lay affiliates to prevent others from approaching the Thousand Caverns.”
I tilted my head.
Е̂ nu m̃а̇ . і̆d̀
“But the Beggars’ Sect is selling maps.”
“That, too, is something the Beggars’ Sect and Zhongnan agreed upon. The Beggars’ Sect handed Zhongnan a detailed map of the Thousand Caverns, and in exchange, it is currently profiting by selling incomplete maps to others.”
“…….”
So it had been a rigged game from the start?
Then……
“It was no accident that Representative Jin had a conflict with the Beggars’ Sect. In preparation for the possibility that Zhongnan fails to secure the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil, the Beggars’ Sect is compiling a list of unfamiliar names. That is what caused the conflict.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Now the pieces fit together.
The report from the Xi’an Branch and the Murim Compendium of Spiritual Medicines only stated that Zhongnan had secured the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil.
When I first saw those documents in my previous life, even though there had been many competitors including Mount Hua, I had simply thought, “As expected of the foundation of one of the Nine Sects.”
‘But that was not it. They had prevented competition from the start and colluded among themselves?’
Moreover, the Beggars’ Sect had even been playing with people’s desires.
Twenty gold taels was not one or two coins. It was a vast sum, large enough that an ordinary person might have to save for a lifetime.
W̃ eb.n о v̄e l Е̂ n̆ ũ m̂ а̀
This was outright fraud.
“They are toying with people to this extent……?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
At my murmur, bitterness also crossed Cheol Sun-jik’s face.
“The Bamboo String Gang is also already guarding the area around the Thousand Caverns. Representative Jin, you will not be able to enter the Thousand Caverns either. If you try to force your way in……”
“Zhongnan and its lay affiliates will not stand by quietly.”
Cheol Sun-jik nodded briefly.
E n úm̌ ä .ìd̂
The story that followed was even more hopeless.
“Zhongnan has also mobilized the Northern Dipper Swordsmen.”
“Madness……”
The Northern Dipper Swordsmen were Zhongnan’s final assault unit.
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Unless Zhongnan’s very roots were shaken, they would never move, and once they did, they would not stop until the enemy was annihilated.
To think they had even mobilized the Northern Dipper Swordsmen.
È ńu m̃а
It showed just how serious Zhongnan was about the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil.
“According to what is being said among the lay affiliates, the Hyeoncheong Pills have been almost completely depleted, so they must secure the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil this time no matter what. That means Zhongnan is prepared to be criticized.”
Even those who proclaimed righteousness would turn their faces away when fire reached their own feet.
If that was true of ordinary people, then if a colossal sect like Zhongnan felt itself in crisis, it would surely stop at nothing.
“This matter is different from the Demon Spirit Plateau. Zhongnan will try to secure the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil no matter what price they must pay.”
“……Are you saying they will not hesitate to kill?”
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Cheol Sun-jik fell silent for a moment.
His gaze lingered briefly in empty air before returning to me.
“They must be blocking the entrance to prevent such an incident in advance.”
At first hearing, that did not sound like much of a problem.
“Of course, who would know what happens inside the Thousand Caverns?”
But Cheol Sun-jik’s following words were deeply ominous.
Е n̆ um̂ӑ.
As he said, no one would know what happened inside, so from the beginning, it would become something that “never happened.”
“Representative Jin, return to your hometown. Enjoy your break.”
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This time, sincerity was in his eyes.
“There is no need to waste your strength on an impossible matter.”
An impossible matter…… It certainly looked that way.
But if they had gone this far, how could I retreat even if I wished to?
Ěn̂úm ӓ
“Will the Bamboo String Gang enter the Thousand Caverns?”
Cheol Sun-jik looked at my expression and let out a sigh.
“You have no intention of giving up.”
“Just tell me whether you will enter or not.”
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He looked at me with an exceedingly complicated gaze.
“……The lay affiliates cannot enter the Thousand Caverns. They merely protect Zhongnan.”
Е̃n ú m а̊ . і̂ d́.
“That is good.”
“What exactly is…… Hah, never mind.”
Cheol Sun-jik, who had been about to ask the reason, soon shook his head.
After being fooled by me several times already, it seemed his intuition had grown sharper.
“Do you truly intend to enter?”
His question itself was wrong from the start.
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Would I enter? That was obvious.
It was not even worth discussing.
Because I could not give up on the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Oil either.
“What do you think it looks like to you?”
“…….”
Rather, the choices placed before me were merely whether I would face them fairly, unlike them, or whether I would face them justly(?) by cheating in the same way they did.
Ё nü ṁ a
So Zhongnan was going to act like this……
As soon as morning came, I bought the Four Treasures of the Study and climbed Mount Judang with my junior disciples.
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Although I had heard Cheol Sun-jik’s story, I needed to know exactly how Zhongnan would exclude the others.
From the foot of the mountain, there were already countless people carrying weapons, and silent wars of nerves were unfolding everywhere.
By the time we reached the middle of the mountain, the crowd began to stagnate.
“Eldest Senior Brother, there are more and more people.”
Е̃ nû ḿа̌ . i d́.
People could hardly move forward.
A few with excellent Movement Arts climbed trees or scaled cliffs to escape the crowd, but most of the people could not leave the mountain path.
After forcing our way up through the crowd, we learned why they were stuck.
“What do you mean by that? We cannot enter?”
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“Too many people have gathered, and casualties may occur. This measure was unavoidable, so please understand.”
“What nonsense! Then is Zhongnan saying it will monopolize the Spiritual Medicine?”
Ēñ u mа̊ . іd̂
“Nonsense?”
The Zhongnan Sect warrior seized on the protester’s words and drew his sword.
“Say that again.”
“Urgh!”
With Zhongnan’s warrior at the forefront, Zhongnan’s disciples and the warriors of its lay affiliates also took one step forward. The one who had been protesting closed his mouth tightly.
Everyone’s dissatisfaction mounted at the situation, which was impossible to understand by common sense, but with sword blades flickering before their eyes, they could not open their mouths carelessly.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“The entrance is congested because Zhongnan unilaterally blocked it and is preventing people from entering! I do not believe this is proper! Moreover, for Zhongnan to use such a petty method……!”
When someone refuted them logically, anticipation began to appear on people’s faces.
After all, the Orthodox Path moved according to justification.
“Even the Murim Alliance has established that the right to a Spiritual Medicine belongs to the one who obtains it. I believe there is a problem with Zhongnan acting so unilaterally.”
When even the Murim Alliance was mentioned, everyone looked toward the Zhongnan warrior.
No matter how much of an absolute authority Zhongnan was in this place, surely it could not defy the Murim Alliance.
Е̂ñu m а̊.іd̃
While the commotion among the people briefly ceased, the warrior who had been looking at the protester opened his mouth.
“Do you all remember what happened during the last Demon Spirit Plateau incident, when countless people entered the Demon Spirit Plateau and suffered calamity?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“…….”
“At that time, did everyone not speak with one voice and place the responsibility on Wudang?”
The more the Zhongnan Sect warrior spoke, the more the protester’s shoulders shrank.
“Those who entered that place were not pushed in by someone else. They went in of their own two feet for their own benefit. Yet merely because the Wudang Sect was there with them, everyone joined together and raised the issue of responsibility. Is that not so?”
Еn̊ ū ṁ a. i d̈
“……Th-That is a little different……”
“The Thousand Caverns are not far from the Zhongnan Sect. If a calamity occurs inside the Thousand Caverns, there will certainly be those who hold the Zhongnan Sect responsible.”
At some point, silence had fallen over the gathering.
As though he had seized victory, the Zhongnan Sect warrior smiled faintly and shouted at the top of his voice.
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“Zhongnan is striving to prevent that very thing! Mount Hua has already understood this matter and permitted Zhongnan’s actions. Therefore, I ask that all who have gathered here also understand.”
With Mount Hua Sect mentioned, and the Zhongnan warrior even cupping his fist, those who had been protesting all shut their mouths at once.
W е́ bn̊ оvеl̇ Еǹ ŭm̌а
For them to push the matter forward with such an absurd justification was no different from declaring that they would not listen no matter what anyone said.
Everyone was full of dissatisfaction, but no one stepped forward easily.
Zhongnan’s martial might was one thing, but the number of lay affiliates with them was also not small.
Moreover, those who had gathered to enter the Thousand Caverns each belonged to different groups, so if one protested first for no reason, one could easily become a fine example for the rest.
Meanwhile, in one corner.
“Let us try another entrance.”
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“Yes. This is not the only entrance into the Thousand Caverns.”
“Move aside. I will go first.”
Some people searched for other entrances in order to enter the Thousand Caverns, but the situation there was not much different.
“These damned……! I should never have bought the map!”
“Did the Beggars’ Sect bastards truly not know about this?”
“As if that is possible! The Beggars’ Sect bastards clearly deceived us!”
Е ǹum̈a_.і̊ d
There were even people who could not restrain their anger and tore their maps to pieces.
There were plenty who screamed in rage, and plenty who looked at Zhongnan with resentment, but Zhongnan paid no attention at all.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
At that shamelessness, a hollow laugh escaped me before I realized it.
‘Were they always this self-righteous?’
The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans I saw in my previous life were remarkable existences.
In a murim where competition was overheated and endlessly fierce, they were the ones who never lost power until the end and preserved their supreme positions.
Ẇ eb́ n̂оv̂еl̄ E n̊um а̇
At one time, I admired them and chased after them.
As a disciple of the Taeul Sect, they were people who had climbed to heights I could never reach even if I struggled my whole life, so even while I raged against their oppression, I also admired them.
But.
The sight they showed now was nothing more than a crude image of those who had climbed up first, then kicked away the ladder behind them.
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‘Was this how they maintained their power?’
They stole other people’s opportunities without hesitation.
Еn ǔm å . іd
They deprived them even of the chance to climb, even of the right to compete.
Then, in order to keep maintaining the power they had gained through such cowardice, they used their martial force once again.
‘Damned bastards…….’
If they had truly been strong, I would not have cared no matter how cowardly the methods they used were.
As strong ones, they would have been able to serve as a sufficient shield to protect others.
But what had they been like in the Great Righteous-Demonic War?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Those who had monopolized the Spiritual Medicines stood farthest in the rear, while those who had been deprived of opportunity stood at the very front.
We, who had eaten only the scraps dropped by those in power, became meat shields at the very front under the pretext of defending the justice of the murim.
‘Even the opportunity to defend righteousness had been forced upon us.’
For weak sects like the Taeul Sect.
Had we ever stood at the very front of our own will?
Because of those who hid behind us and pointed their blades not at the enemy, but at our backs.
E n ū m а
We had merely been driven to the foremost line.
And there, our lives had been taken.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Eldest Senior Brother, it does not look like there is any gap to enter through.”
“If Zhongnan is blocking it like that, there will be no way to break through.”
“Moreover, if we stay here and get swept up in Zhongnan’s suppression……”
I turned my head toward the voices.
W̃ еb̈ nо̇v еl Е nū m̈ а
I saw the faces of my junior disciples, filled with concern.
Yes, they were still alive.
I fixed my gaze once more on the Zhongnan Sect group.
The opportunity they had monopolized was one my junior disciples might have had.
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And if they had possessed that opportunity, these children might not have died so absurdly in my previous life.
That was why, in this life, I could never let that opportunity slip away.
Ӗn̈ú m а̂ . і̂ d̀
“From now on, we climb Mount Judang.”
At my words, my junior disciples tilted their heads.
“We are already on Mount Judang, are we not?”
I looked back at them.
“You all have the Four Treasures of the Study, correct?”
“Yes.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“From now on, draw every corner of the Thousand Caverns’ surrounding area. Do not leave out a single part of the terrain’s shape.”
“Pardon? What do you mean……?”
“Eldest Senior Brother, what are you plotting this time?”
In my previous life, Zhongnan, which had held the opportunity, ultimately failed to stop the Demonic Cult.
Then this opportunity—
“It is time to show the power of the Taeul Sect.”
Ěn̆ů m̈ă
It was our turn to take it.
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