ALL NOVEL Chapter 116
At Shin Yubin’s words, Baek Geon stared at her blankly, then spoke urgently.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard the Murim Alliance will include masters of the Flowering Realm in this attack.”
“Masters of the… Flowering Realm?”
Baek Geon felt his boiling anger cool down. His eyes filled with doubt.
The masters of the Flowering Realm possessed by the Murim Alliance were mostly the Alliance Leader Namgoong Baek and the sect leaders. But even then, there were only four of them.
The known masters of the Flowering Realm numbered eight.
Excluding the four belonging to each sect, there were four more who acted independently. These were masters who transcended sects and were beyond the influence of the Murim Alliance.
It would be difficult to bind them by the order of the Murim Alliance Leader.
“The Alliance Leader or sect leaders wouldn’t have stepped forward… Did they bring in other Flowering Realm masters?”
“I don’t know the details. But they said they would form a group of 100 supreme masters led by Flowering Realm masters to attack. Also, they’ve already taken measures to ensure the Young Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader don’t return together.”
Baek Geon stared intently at Shin Yubin, who had been cunningly plotting such things behind the scenes.
The granddaughter, who is deeply trusted by the snake-like Shin Hohyeol. Baek Geon seemed to understand why Shin Hohyeol cherished this woman so much.
‘She’s exactly like him.’
Unpleasantness washed over him as if he was seeing Shin Hohyeol’s younger self. Baek Geon slightly furrowed his brows and looked at Shin Yubin, then spoke slowly.
“Then what returns here will be the Young Madam’s corpse.”
“No. Not necessarily.”
“What do you mean?”
Shin Yubin slowly rolled her fingers and lightly rubbed the empty cup in front of her. Marks remained where her fingers had brushed.
Shin Yubin quietly looked down at the cup, then raised her eyes.
“In my opinion, I don’t think she’ll be taken down so easily.”
Baek Geon stared blankly at Shin Yubin who was saying unexpected things, then let out an empty breath. He opened his mouth with a sneering smile.
“You just said even the Young Cult Leader might not be able to return here, but now you’re saying that’s not the case. Are you mocking this old man now? Moreover, we’re talking about Flowering Realm masters. You with your shallow martial arts depth may not know, but the Flowering Realm is a supreme state on par with the Transcendent Demonic Realm. No matter how great the Young Cult Leader is, he won’t be able to fend off 100 supreme masters including a Flowering Realm master.”
“I know. But if worldly affairs proceeded so easily as you say, what would be the point of plans and strategists?”
“…”
As Baek Geon tightly closed his mouth, Shin Yubin smiled brightly and withdrew her finger. She adjusted her posture and softened her expression gently.
“They say ‘Prepare for danger in times of peace’. If things go well, we may be able to deal with the Young Cult Leader as well. But shouldn’t we prepare for the case where that plan fails?”
“So. What have you prepared then?”
Shin Yubin stared quietly into Baek Geon’s eyes, then raised the corners of her mouth and spoke lightly.
“It’s a secret.”
“…What?”
At her simple answer, Baek Geon’s face twisted. Baek Geon jumped up from his seat.
“Are you playing with me…!”
“As I said earlier, it’s better to have fewer mouths. Even better to have fewer ears. So… Please wait until the results come out.”
Shin Yubin smiled brightly and stood up from her seat, turning her body. Baek Geon’s eyes sank with anxiety, worry, and anger as he watched her back leaving without even a greeting.
* * *
Hands were busy searching for clues by rummaging through the corpses to identify the attackers.
The corpses would become food for wild animals anyway, so they didn’t bother gathering and burning or burying them, and the living were gathered separately for interrogation.
It was a tired dawn, but it was impossible to sleep, so I was watching the interrogation scene.
If they were still breathing, even with legs cut off and arms fallen off, they were forcibly brought in for torture and interrogation. It wasn’t a particularly good sight, but I didn’t stop or interfere. Instead, I rolled my eyes to look at Ji Seok standing beside me.
A Shaolin master who had entered in disguise as a merchant. A master who had mastered the Reverse Sinew Technique to the extreme. It was true that we had gained a lot of help thanks to him. But…
“Are you okay?”
“What do you mean?”
I pointed with my chin towards the place where screams were incessant. Ji Seok glanced at that place, then tilted his head as if asking what the problem was.
“Is there a problem?”
“No… Isn’t Shaolin basically a place that values life? I thought it might be unpleasant from your standpoint to bring injured people and torture them like that.”
“As the Young Madam said, monks basically prohibit taking life. But in times like these, just reciting sutras and showing kindness doesn’t work. That’s why there are people in Shaolin who can take life when necessary. That’s the 108 Arhats.”
“I’ve heard of them vaguely. They’re said to be Shaolin’s elite who can deploy the 108 Arhat Formation.”
Ji Seok smiled brightly. He looked at the people being tortured and briefly recited a Buddhist mantra, then continued speaking.
“Only a few of those 108 Arhats become Zuo Zuo monks, and I was going to take one of those positions. After attending this martial arts competition and returning, I was going to succeed to the Zuo Zuo monk position.”
“I don’t think I saw you at the martial arts competition…”
There was no way I wouldn’t remember a man of this build. When I made a puzzled expression, he smiled awkwardly as if embarrassed.
“I was well past the age to be called a late-blooming talent, so I was restricted and couldn’t register.”
Couldn’t participate because of age. How pitiful. I looked at him sympathetically. Ji Seok shook his head as if it was okay.
As I was having a few more exchanges with him, one of the warriors approached.
“We found something.”
After nodding to the warrior, I got up from my seat and approached Hyuk Dojin who was regulating his breathing behind.
He was in the middle of regulating his breathing to treat the internal injury he had suffered from forcibly moving to save me. Although I didn’t call him, he slowly opened his eyes at the sound of my footsteps and stood up. I smiled slightly as I faced his refreshed face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine now.”
He smiled brightly and hugged me lightly. I forced a bright smile at Hyuk Dojin’s appearance of hugging me and asking if I was okay every time he saw me, as if he was still shocked by the recent events.
Hyuk Dojin stared blankly at my face, then slowly loosened his hands. As I stood beside him, he moved first and approached the warrior who had spoken to me.
The warrior guided us to a man who was dead with his arm cut off.
“Is it this one? He seems to be dead.”
“He just died. He didn’t particularly open his mouth, but would you like to see this?”
The warrior lowered his arm and tore the clothes covering his shoulder. As the cloth tore, his shoulder was fully exposed. But there was only a bloodstain there, no particular mark.
Hyuk Dojin’s eyes narrowed. Hyuk Dojin, who had been staring blankly at the shoulder, spoke slowly.
“The Silver Killing Corps.”
“The Silver Killing Corps?”
Hyuk Dojin straightened his waist and nodded his head.
“They’re counted as the most elite among the Demon Cult’s assassination squads. All fifty assassins comprising the squad are masters approaching the supreme level.”
The Demon Cult’s assassination squad… Then are all of these people from the Silver Killing Corps? As I looked around, the warrior who had called us shook his head and continued speaking.
“The others are not. We checked in case they might be from another Demon Cult organization, but that’s not the case, and I think they might be people sent by the Murim Alliance. Looking at the people still alive, their Taiyang points are bulging, so they’re from the Righteous Sect.”
“…Then are you saying the Demon Cult and Righteous Sect collaborated to send this many people?”
“That’s the current speculation. Moreover, the person who blocked the Young Cult Leader also seems to have been a Flowering Realm master. There’s a heaven and earth difference between those who have crossed the wall of the Flowering Realm and those who haven’t. To block the Young Cult Leader alone and even try to grab his leg, one would need to be at least a Flowering Realm master.”
I hurriedly turned to look at Hyuk Dojin, and he nodded his head while exhaling. At his answer, I let out a quiet sigh. Then suddenly, Jeok Biwol’s words came to mind.
“Black Dao Sect.”
As I muttered quietly, Hyuk Dojin’s gaze came down. Meeting Hyuk Dojin’s eyes, I spoke quickly.
“Could the Black Dao Sect have been involved in this too?”
“If the information Jeok Biwol provided isn’t false, we should consider that the Murim Alliance, Demon Cult, and Black Dao Sect joined hands to mobilize this many people. A place with scale can easily mobilize 100 supreme masters, but Flowering Realm masters are different.”
“But how can these three places cooperate?”
Hyuk Dojin rubbed his chin and organized his thoughts for a moment, then slowly rolled his eyes. His mouth opened slowly.
“To bind the three places, a common figure would be needed.”
Namgoong Baek. My body flinched at Hyuk Dojin’s words. Hyuk Dojin faced me and spoke quietly.
“If the Murim Alliance Leader intervened directly and mobilized people, it’s not strange.”
It was a reality I had been trying to ignore since he hadn’t shown any signs of hostility even once during the more than a month-long period. As I furrowed my brows, Hyuk Dojin exhaled a sigh.
“But it’s puzzling. If the plan was to deal with it for certain by bringing along a Flowering Realm master, they could have mobilized 100 masters reaching the pinnacle level rather than supreme level and been cautious, but I don’t understand why they took such an ambiguous attitude.”
“…”
At Hyuk Dojin’s doubt, I tightly closed my mouth and racked my brain. But as I was about to turn my head with tired eyes, unable to think of anything suitable, I saw Joo Hwarin, who had gone towards the campsite to put Harang to sleep, running urgently.
“Y-Young Miss!”
Wondering what was wrong, I quickly approached Joo Hwarin. Joo Hwarin spoke urgently while catching his breath.
“A, a big problem!”
“What happened?”
“It’s all burned!”
Burned? What? As I looked at Joo Hwarin with a puzzled expression, something suddenly came to mind and I opened my eyes wide.
I hurriedly passed by Joo Hwarin and headed towards the campsite. We had mixed and stored each other’s bags, and one of them was blackened. It felt like blood was draining from me.
A sigh also escaped from Hyuk Dojin’s mouth, who had followed behind. I slowly approached the burned bag with a blank face. When I picked up the bag with trembling hands, the ends crumbled away. I hurriedly opened the bag and examined inside.
I thought there might be a one-in-a-million chance, but such hope shattered into pieces the moment I saw it with my own eyes.
“It’s all… burned.”
All that was in the bag was a box that had turned to ashes. I took out one half-crumbled box and opened the lid.
What should have been inside had disappeared without a trace. My head felt heavy.
“…I think I know why they made such an attack. They didn’t intend to kill us all with the attack from the beginning.”
I stared blankly at the black ashes scattering from my hand.
A perfect plan to kill me. It was an easier and simpler plan than sticking a knife in my neck.
“From the beginning, they intended to burn all the medicine.”
All they had to do was burn all the medicine I was supposed to take.