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Chapter 309. Seeds of Evil (2)
After O Il-sik's death, the Lantern Sect members' demeanor shifted somewhat.
Those who'd been mindlessly screaming for a charge began guarding their bodies, focusing on their own pain and tending to their wounds.
"AAGH!"
"My arm!!"
"M-my leg! My leg!"
Е n u̇ mа́
Hearing their screams was far better than listening to that wretched battle cry.
Of course, things didn't end there.
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Once they regained their senses and realized I'd killed O Il-sik, their outrage only intensified.
"You're Orthodox Path too, aren't you! How can a fellow Orthodox Path member side with Black Path scum and commit murder!"
"We won't let this stand! We'll report you to Qingcheng Sect and the Murim Alliance, and your sect—!"
From those threatening to denounce me to those vowing revenge on Taeul Sect.
Еn̆u_m а̊
A real circus.
I responded lightly.
"Oh, do you all want to die right now?"
"......"
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GULP.
Though they kept silent, the Lantern Sect members' bodies trembled with barely contained fury.
W̆ е̂ ḃn ӧ v̇е̄l Е̂nu m̂ӑ
Hmm, still hadn't grasped the situation, apparently.
"You think this is just going to blow over?"
"What...... do you mean!"
"Your Sect Leader trained in a Forbidden Art as publicly designated by the Murim Alliance. And you lot are now suspected of having trained in it too."
"What? Wh-what are you......"
"L-lies! The Sect Leader would never do such a thing!"
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"You're trying to frame us!"
It was fortunate, at least, that the sect was composed of adults who'd aspired to be escorts.
Had it been a clan-type sect like Taeul Sect, where everyone from children to the elderly lived together, the scene would have been far more harrowing.
I spoke coldly to those who refused to face reality.
O Il-sik having trained in a Demonic Art wasn't their crime. But letting them go now might invite an even greater catastrophe down the road.
"Well, an investigation will sort it out."
Ёn̈_ū.m̊а̃
I bound everyone except those with critical injuries and headed to the Poison Fang Sect.
It was the only organization of meaningful size in the Hwangcheon County area.
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I had Poison Fang Sword's men buy shackles and binding rope, then drove iron stakes into the houses the Lantern Sect members had been using as quarters, chained them to the stakes, and repurposed it all as a makeshift prison.
Crude, but it would hold for a few days.
I surveyed the Poison Fang Sect members standing in rows on either side and rolled my stiff shoulders.
"The Murim Alliance will send an investigation team. If even one of those prisoners dies before I hand them over......"
Еn̈ um̌ă
The sound of Poison Fang Sword's gulp thundered like a lightning bolt.
"You'll all die by my hand."
"Y-yes, sir!"
There was no need to bow that deeply, though......
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And why had that guy been so excessively deferential since earlier?
In any case, it appeared that only O Il-sik and Deung Go-hyeon—his closest follower—had trained in the Demonic Art.
Ӗn̄ ů m а
O Il-sik would've known better than anyone how suspicious the martial art was, so he couldn't have easily passed it on.
They knew full well that Demonic Arts carried a punishment beyond execution—extending to the extermination of one's entire clan. They couldn't have handed it off carelessly.
'And Deung Go-hyeon probably didn't even realize he'd been training in a Demonic Art.'
Still, that didn't mean the Lantern Sect members could be cleared from the list of suspects.
They might have unknowingly trained in it, just like Deung Go-hyeon......
Well, the Murim Alliance's Execution Pavilion would handle that judgment.
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I held out a promissory note to Poison Fang Sword.
"Use this to cover food costs until the Murim Alliance's people arrive, and repair the damaged facilities."
Poison Fang Sword accepted the note with a look of deep emotion.
"......Y-Young Master......"
"Don't feel pressured, just take—"
"This is only a hundred silver taels."
Еn̄ǔṁ ӓ . і d̈
"......"
"The Lantern Sect prisoners alone number over eighty......"
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What?
I'd bought ten bottles of Bamboo-Leaf Clear Wine, braised five-spice beef, and even candied fruit as snacks for just one silver tael. A hundred taels should be plenty.
No—more than plenty. He could practically build a new hall with the leftover money.
***
E ń u ṁ a.ïd
The news that Jin So-un had stormed the Lantern Sect after visiting the Poison Fang Sect the night before left Great Heaven Merchant Guild and Wang Estate's people aghast.
That alone would have been bad enough, but when they learned the Lantern Sect was a sect that claimed the Orthodox Path banner, and moreover had shallow ties to Qingcheng Sect—
CLATTER—
......they dropped their chopsticks entirely.
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"NO!!! YOUNG MASTER!!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GET THE MONEY BACK!!! YOU STORMED AN ORTHODOX PATH SECT???"
"Ah, there were circumstances. Don't worry. The Sect Leader dying can be handled without any issu—"
W̆ėb_n о̃v ӗ l̂ Ẽ n u m̊а́
"WHAAAAT???? Y-you killed the Sect Leader????"
"Ah...... you didn't know about that part?"
When Jin So-un sheepishly scratched his head, Go Jung-tak was so shocked he fainted on the spot.
Even Wang So-so's normally relaxed expression turned grave.
"Brother. Even if they weren't affiliated with the Murim Alliance, if they claim the Orthodox Path, this is going to cause problems."
"Don't worry. I can handle it."
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"......"
When the caravan departed Hwangcheon County, one additional item was loaded onto the wagons: a coffin.
At first, everyone in the guild balked at the idea of transporting a coffin, but when told that without it the Lantern Sect matter couldn't be resolved, they clamped their mouths shut.
After entering Hefei in Anhui Province, Jin So-un brought the coffin to the Murim Alliance's Hefei Branch.
In the meantime, word had spread that Jin So-un had killed the Lantern Sect's leader, and a brief commotion erupted.
"Academy Student Jin So-un. You will need to provide a satisfactory explanation for this incident. Academy student or not, storming an Orthodox Path sect and killing its leader constitutes a serious offense."
Ë nu m ã
Under the stern scrutiny of the investigators, what Jin So-un presented was Deung Go-hyeon's corpse.
"BLEGH!"
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"Why, why would you bring this!"
"Fuck! Open the windows!"
The warm weather meant the unpreserved corpse gave off a nose-burning stench of decay.
Jin So-un, seemingly accustomed to such odors, reported with perfect composure.
En̂u m̀ а̄.і̇ d̈
"This is what the incident arose from investigating."
"Investigating what?!"
At the Deputy Branch Chief's sharp rebuke, Jin So-un's finger pointed to Deung Go-hyeon's eyes.
The scowling, nose-pinching onlookers followed his finger—
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"......!?"
One by one, their eyes went round as rabbits' and their hands dropped from their noses.
Е́ n̆ ü m̄ã . і̀ d̆
"What manner of sorcery is this?"
"Was ink splashed on them?"
"No, they're too black for that......"
The anomalous eyes were enough to instantly convince them this case was anything but ordinary, and Jin So-un's charges were dropped on the spot.
Jin So-un added a detailed explanation.
"The only visible physical change was in the eyes. However, as though unable to feel pain, the subject exhibited movement beyond the body's natural limits."
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"Beyond the body's limits?"
"He kicked off the ground and charged without even realizing his own ankles were broken."
"......"
Behavior unthinkable for any rational warrior.
Those who understood the limits of inner arts and the body better than anyone would never commit such reckless acts.
Though no one said it aloud, the handful of clues was enough for the branch personnel to sense intuitively that this was connected to "Forbidden Arts."
É n u m̄â
Their attitude toward Jin So-un shifted immediately.
"As expected of the Murim Academy's top scorer."
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"Truly, a graduate of the prestigious Taeul Sect is cut from a different cloth."
"Indeed, indeed—I always knew Taeul Sect, the pride of Hefei, would produce an outstanding talent."
"How is the Taeul Sect Leader doing?"
Since the top scorer himself had filed the report, there was no risk of anything being lost in the chain.
Е́ǹ u m̂а̀. і d
And this report would ultimately feed into the officials' performance evaluations.
Jin So-un, well aware of that, said nothing more.
The Murim Alliance's Hefei Branch took the unprecedented step of publicly announcing charges against the Lantern Sect before the investigation had even concluded.
The charge: having used "Witchcraft" to cause public disturbance.
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The Hefei Branch dispatched a team to Hwangcheon County on emergency deployment, and the Murim Alliance's enforcement division also sent investigators.
Meanwhile, as the Orthodox Path murim buzzed over the Lantern Sect investigation—
W e b̌ n о̌v̄ еl̀ Е́n ù m̈ ӑ
A peculiar rumor began spreading through the Black Path murim, radiating out from Hwangcheon County.
"I'm telling you, the Black Flame Dragon is actually the Joint Successor of Black Path masters."
"Bwahahaha! You idiot, you actually believe that nonsense!"
"It's true, I'm telling you! There's this Poison Fang Sect in Hwangcheon County that was under attack from the Lantern Sect, and the Black Flame Dragon single-handedly stormed the Lantern Sect and wiped them out!"
Of course, no one readily believed such an absurd rumor.
Jin So-un was, after all, from Taeul Sect—one of the Murim Alliance's One Hundred Eight Peaks—and he himself was the Academy's top scorer.
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The moment you earned academy student status, your path to advancement in the Murim Alliance was assured, which meant each student's background was investigated in exhaustive detail.
The Academy was, by its very nature, a place people with shady pasts couldn't enter.
At first, it was dismissed as a joke—Black Path people loved mocking the Orthodox. But this time, the rumor was far too specific and vivid to be mere banter, and it kept expanding and reproducing.
After all, the Lantern Sect's near-annihilation was a verified fact.
"I heard he locked up every last Lantern Sect member in the Poison Fang Sect and subjected them to brutal torture."
"And he killed the Lantern Sect's leader, too!"
Ё n̂uṁа̂.і̇ d̃
"Incredible......! But then why is the Murim Alliance sitting still? Those hypocrite bastards used to hunt Black Path people like rats whenever anything happened to an Orthodox sect."
"He's the Black Flame Dragon for a reason, isn't he? He must've pulled some scheme from the inside."
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"Exactly! I heard he slapped Witchcraft charges on the Lantern Sect and got them put on the suppression list...... That's no ordinary player!"
Baseless rumors collided with the Murim Alliance's response, and one by one, Black Path people began believing them.
"I heard he toured all of Henan, personally inspecting every Black Path sect."
"Apparently he uses the word 'friend' every time he meets Black Path people!"
Е ṅ üḿа.і d
"I heard that when he was at the Black Thought Alliance, he caught up with Elder Blood Battle after a long time!"
"So he learned martial arts from Elder Blood Battle too?"
"That's not all! They say he's the only disciple Elder Blood Battle ever took on!"
What began as a small snowball of a rumor kept growing.
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"The Black Flame Dragon's prestige is truly formidable!"
"As expected of the Joint Successor and Black Maitreya of the Black Path murim!"
Е̃n̊ u̇m̃ ȧ
......And that rumor spread from Henan and Anhui Province, quietly proliferating across the realm.
Though the person at the center of it all, Jin So-un, knew nothing of it.
***
I finished up at the Murim Alliance branch, then headed straight for a Black Shop.
"Oh! Young Master, welcome."
The Black Shop owner I'd never met before recognized me without even checking my Black Token.
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"Last time too—how on earth do you know who I am?"
"Haha, we can't very well fail to recognize a valued customer. Naturally, we've memorized the physical descriptions. And there's also this."
"Hm?"
The shop owner produced a small scroll.
On it stood a man dressed in white silk with elaborate golden-threaded patterns.
And splashed across his chest in enormous letters: "Top Scorer."
Е_n û mǎ
TREMBLE, TREMBLE.
I couldn't control my shaking hands.
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"Wh-where did you get this?"
That accursed painting Eun-ho had made......
"Oh! You didn't know? After you entered the Academy as top scorer, many parents have been buying these as good luck charms for exam success. They're in wide circulation."
What kind of bullshit was this?!
W̄еb̂ṅ_о̌ v е.l̃ Еn ů ḿа́
Why was someone else's humiliating past being used as a charm?!
"This may be a bit forward of me to say, but...... people seem to perceive a Taeul Sect disciple entering the Academy as top scorer as the very embodiment of Diligence by Firefly and Snow, so every household with someone taking an exam-like test has this scroll posted— huh?"
Before rational thought could catch up, my body moved on its own and tore the scroll to shreds.
Only after the humiliating portrait lay in pieces did I realize the scroll had belonged to the shop owner.
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"Ah, s-sorry."
"......It's fine."
Wѐ b̃ǹòv el̊ E ňú ṁā
He reached over—
"I've got another one."
—and produced another scroll with a beaming smile.
"......"
I started to reach for it, then stopped.
......Something told me there were more where that came from.
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Hah, fuck.
The owner carefully rolled up the scroll, tucked it somewhere safe, then turned to me.
"So, what can I help you with today?"
I gathered my wits and stated my reason for visiting Hao Gate.
"I need to meet Chief Yang Gun-baek."
"......"
W̃еb ṅ.о v̂ ёĺ .Е n ūm̈ а
Instantly, the smile that had filled the owner's face hardened into stone.
"What is this regarding?"
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"The matter with the Lantern Sect."
"......The Witchcraft charges?"
"That's how it's being presented publicly."
The owner tilted his head as if unsure what to make of it.
Еň ũmӑ
I met his eyes directly and added.
"I turned over a corpse last time. If I say it's related to that, they'll understand."
***
The Murim Alliance had announced they'd begin an investigation, but chances were it wouldn't be a proper one.
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These were people more sincere about Purging Demons and Destroying Evil than anyone—yet paradoxically, in their minds, the Demonic Cult's existence was no different from an imaginary goblin.
Moreover, as the Hefei Branch personnel had already demonstrated, once they started playing politics over results, the core truth would only grow murkier.
Ѐnù m̌а́ . ĭd
So the trail had to be investigated before it went cold.
'There might be an even bigger problem lurking......'
It seemed preparations needed to start sooner than originally planned.
If the Demonic Cult had already been operating covertly within the Orthodox Path murim before the Great Righteous-Demonic War even began, then every plan I'd prepared up to now would be rendered worthless.
That was precisely why I'd left the Blood-Explosion Pill out of my report to the Murim Alliance.
I still couldn't be certain that Blood-Explosion Pills drew out a Demonic Practitioner's Demonic Qi, and if that information leaked and reached Demonic Cult ears, it might create yet another variable.
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"Hah...... protecting the peace of the murim is truly difficult."
"What did you say, punk!"
"I said protecting the peace of the murim is difficult."
"This little shit and his loose mouth! Hands up properly!"
I snapped my hands back up.
No, honestly, what had I even done wrong?
Ёn um а
I'd saved Great Heaven Merchant Guild's protection tolls and arranged for future escort protection on their trading runs.
If anything, I should've been getting praised for this.
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"Ugh! You, you!"
Unable to contain his fury, Father grabbed the inkstone and was about to hurl it when Estate Master Wang quickly stepped in.
"That's enough. He did all this for Great Heaven Merchant Guild's sake."
"But why would that boy storm an innocent Orthodox Path sect unless he's actually gone Black Path!"
Wе b n̈ öv̈ еl̂ Е̌n̆ ù m а
"Didn't he say they'd been practicing Witchcraft? Then of course he did what needed doing."
"As expected of you, Estate Master—"
"Jin So-un, you bastard, shut up! Hah, so why does that crazy—...... I mean, why does he have to be the one who does it?!"
I had no idea that protecting the peace of the murim could be this lonely and thankless.
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And so, while I dodged Father's wrath and trained under Baek Hae-gwang at Taeul Sect—fainting daily—
Word came from Hao Gate once more.
Е̄ n u m̆а̌. і̆ d
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