Chapter 66
Yeom Hwasin (1)
Baek So-cheon emerged from the Heavenly Dragon Secret Grounds forty-five days after entering.
Part of him wanted to remain there and train until he achieved complete mastery of the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Sword Art, but given the situation in the martial world, he could not afford to do so.
His brief period of secluded cultivation had yielded several accomplishments.
First, the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method had reached the fourth level. It was the first breakthrough he had achieved inside the secret grounds.
Next, he had become capable of freely executing the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Asura Divine Sword through its third form.
He could do more than merely perform the forms. By the time he completed the third form, the sword lines created by the first and second forms still remained suspended in the air.
Of course, the moment he achieved it, Baek So-cheon had declared firmly,
“No more. This is impossible!”
However, he had felt much the same way when he first succeeded with the second form.
To be honest, he now harbored a vague expectation that perhaps it truly could be done.
Still, he sensed that further progress would not come easily.
He could also perform the Heaven-Overturning Nine Fists smoothly through the fourth fist. Rather than deliberately advancing to the later techniques, he had focused on perfecting the first four.
The greatest sword art of all time, the greatest fist art of all time, and the greatest heart method of all time.
He was now learning three martial arts that each bore the title of the greatest in history.
Since he had already acquired three of them, he found himself wanting to obtain and learn the final one as well.
That last martial art was a movement technique.
The Wind God Walks the Heavens.
It was reputed to be the fastest movement art in the world.
However, it was extraordinarily difficult to obtain.
It belonged to none other than Yeom Hwasin, the leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance.
Baek So-cheon chuckled.
In the past, he had believed that obtaining the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Asura Divine Sword from Ak So-gun would be even more difficult.
That alone revealed just how dire Baek So-cheon’s relationship with Ak So-gun had once been.
In any case, if he could also obtain the Wind God Walks the Heavens, he would accomplish the unprecedented feat of learning all four martial arts passed down through the ages under the title of the greatest in history.
After leaving the Heavenly Dragon Secret Grounds, Baek So-cheon paused and looked up at the sky.
The autumn sky awaiting winter was clear and high.
The chilly wind brushing past him made him realize that winter had already drawn close.
Baek So-cheon headed directly for the Cloud Dragon Hall, where the Alliance Leader conducted his official business.
Ak So-gun welcomed him warmly.
“So-cheon.”
“Alliance Leader.”
“How was it? Did you achieve anything?”
“Thanks to you, I made considerable progress.”
“Well done. I’m truly glad.”
Ak So-gun looked as pleased as if the accomplishments had been his own.
“You remember the exact location of the life gate within the Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then memorize this as well.”
Ak So-gun taught Baek So-cheon the method of circulating internal energy needed to open the stone wall leading into the Heavenly Dragon Secret Grounds.
“Have you memorized all of it?”
“Yes.”
“Repeat it back to me.”
Baek So-cheon recited the circulation method exactly as Ak So-gun had taught it.
“You may now go there and train whenever you wish.”
“Is it truly all right to tell me this?”
“It is.”
Originally, the secret was meant to be passed down only to the Alliance Leader, yet Ak So-gun answered without hesitation.
‘Could it be?’
A thought suddenly occurred to Baek So-cheon, but he stopped himself from asking.
He decided that this was not the proper time for such a conversation.
Baek So-cheon bowed his head in gratitude.
“Thank you. Truly.”
“You have finally come outside after so long, so go enjoy the fresh air first. We can speak later.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
After bidding Ak So-gun farewell, Baek So-cheon left the Alliance Leader’s Hall in high spirits.
***
The first place Baek So-cheon headed was the teahouse near the main entrance of the headquarters that Cheon-geuk had taken over.
She was the first person he wanted to see.
Of course, forty-five days had passed, so she was unlikely to still be there.
One of her subordinates would probably be guarding the place, so he intended to leave a message asking her to meet him.
Just as he was about to enter the teahouse in a cheerful mood, someone called him from behind.
“So-cheon.”
There were only a handful of people who would address him so casually by name.
Baek So-cheon turned around without thinking and froze in shock.
Across the street, a man was waving at him.
He possessed an enormous frame nearly twice the size of an ordinary man.
It was none other than Yeom Hwasin, leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance.
“This lunatic!”
The words escaped Baek So-cheon’s mouth before he could stop them.
“Why are you standing there looking so dazed? It’s me.”
Yeom Hwasin spoke as casually as though calling out to an old friend, making Baek So-cheon wonder whether he was seeing things.
The leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance had boldly appeared directly in front of the Murim Alliance’s headquarters.
His nerve was extraordinary.
Baek So-cheon walked toward him.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“My mind is perfectly sound.”
“Do you have any idea how many of our martial artists are inside that headquarters?”
“I know the number more accurately than you do. I receive reports every morning—what divisions have deployed, where they went, and when they returned. Your side does the same, does it not?”
Yeom Hwasin provoked him with complete confidence.
“Why? Are you going to shout and summon them? Go ahead. What do you think will happen?”
“You’ll die.”
“Not a chance. Hundreds of your people will die, while I will stroll away unharmed. Besides, your cowardly Alliance Leader would never come out personally.”
Baek So-cheon hesitated.
Should he simply start a fight?
What if he landed the first strike with a perfect surprise attack?
Perhaps he could fight despite having relatively less internal energy.
However, he was not yet confident that he could kill Yeom Hwasin.
Moreover, if they fought in a place like this, the casualties among passersby and merchants would be enormous.
Unaware of the thoughts running through Baek So-cheon’s mind, Yeom Hwasin pointed toward a tavern in the distance.
“Let’s go have a drink.”
“Fine.”
To think he would end up drinking with the leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance in a tavern directly outside the Murim Alliance headquarters.
Perhaps because it was still early, there were no other customers inside.
The waiter who approached to take their order flinched at Yeom Hwasin’s overwhelming size.
Had he known the man’s identity, he would never have smiled so innocently while praising him by saying,
“You truly have an impressive physique, sir.”
Yeom Hwasin ordered the establishment’s finest dishes and alcohol as though he were a traveler visiting from afar.
The two emptied their first cups in one gulp.
“Why are you here?”
“I came to see you. I heard you reconciled with your Alliance Leader.”
“That’s right.”
The story had already spread throughout the Murim Alliance, so naturally Yeom Hwasin knew.
“Your Alliance Leader is a hypocrite. You must not let him deceive you.”
“Why do you hate our Alliance Leader so much?”
“Because he is the one man I could call my greatest rival. Naturally, I hate him.”
He said it with a broad smile, but the words also perfectly defined the relationship between the two men.
“This world is filled with truth and falsehood. Which one did you choose?”
“At the very least, I know that you are someone far removed from the truth.”
“Hahaha! Wouldn’t it be strange for the leader of an unorthodox alliance to worship the truth?”
Yeom Hwasin stopped laughing.
Then words Baek So-cheon could never have imagined came from his mouth.
“How did you remove the Heaven-Outside Origin Gu?”
Baek So-cheon froze.
“You—how do you know about that?”
Yeom Hwasin had even named the exact type of Gu.
That implied two possibilities.
The first was—
“Were you involved in this conspiracy as well?”
“I possess a natural hatred for Gu and similar filth.”
If he was telling the truth—
‘There was a spy?’
Only a handful of people had been present when the Alliance Leader was treated.
Even the secret guards had been dismissed, with the exception of Pung Geuk-an.
Only Baek So-cheon, Cheon-geuk, Na Sa-rin, the pavilion masters, and the Divine Physician Ban Wol-ryang had remained.
‘Could one of them be a Cheokcheon Alliance spy?’
At that moment, Yeom Hwasin smiled.
“You appear to be wondering who the spy might be. Only the most important figures would have been present while the Alliance Leader was being treated, correct?”
He leaned forward.
“Listen, So-cheon. If one of them truly were my spy, why would I reveal that fact to you? I would have gone to great lengths to plant them and raise them to a high-ranking position.”
He was right.
Now that Baek So-cheon and Ak So-gun had reconciled, Yeom Hwasin had no reason to inform him that there was a spy among them.
‘Then what?’
Baek So-cheon silently stared at Yeom Hwasin.
A brief silence passed.
Then a single thought flashed through Baek So-cheon’s mind.
“Don’t tell me. You too?”
“As expected. You really are clever.”
A shocking truth emerged from Yeom Hwasin’s mouth.
“I was infected with that damned Gu as well. However, the enemy failed to understand one thing. The Dark Dominion Spirit Art I practice allows me not only to detect when a Gu enters my body, but also to suppress its activity.”
Baek So-cheon had heard from Goe Yeo, who had been imprisoned in the underground thunder prison, that Yeom Hwasin practiced the Dark Dominion Spirit Art.
Because of that, Baek So-cheon had initially suspected that Yeom Hwasin might have used that art to place Ak So-gun under a soul-bewitching spell.
“They implanted the female Gu in you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then who received the male?”
“My son.”
His son was the official successor of the Cheokcheon Alliance.
The Blood Church had devised a conspiracy intended to destroy not only the Murim Alliance, but the Cheokcheon Alliance as well.
“Did you remove the Gu?”
“Would I have traveled all this way to find you if I had? I merely used the Dark Dominion Spirit Art to suppress the Gu inside my body. I still haven’t removed it.”
The medicinal ingredients required to eliminate the Gu were not difficult to acquire.
Neither was the method of applying needles and sealing acupoints particularly complicated.
The problem was that no one knew the procedure.
“Damn it! The technique was lost so long ago that not a single person in my alliance knew the solution.”
“What did you do, then?”
“I continued pretending it was working. I acted as though I were deliberately distancing myself from my son.”
“You know who is behind it.”
“Of course. When both your side and mine collapse, there is only one place that stands to gain the most.”
So Yeom Hwasin knew as well.
“Those bastards from the Blood Church were planning to destroy us both while we were busy tearing each other apart.”
“Then why haven’t you punished the Blood Church Leader? Given your personality, I would have expected you to attack him already.”
“Why do you think?”
Baek So-cheon soon found the answer.
“Because if your alliance with the Blood Church collapsed, you would no longer be able to attack us?”
“This is why I like you. Of all the sword-wielding fools I know, you are the smartest.”
In other words, Yeom Hwasin intended to exploit the Blood Church for as long as possible before destroying it.
However, once Baek So-cheon and Ak So-gun removed their Gu, the situation changed.
Yeom Hwasin had therefore decided to eliminate his own Gu as well.
“You knew from the beginning that Gu had been implanted in both the Alliance Leader and me.”
“That’s right. I noticed the instant the creature entered my body and settled inside me. At the time, I had a thought. Would the Blood Church truly have planted Gu only in us?”
Yeom Hwasin was indeed no ordinary man.
Behind that massive body, he had considered every possibility.
That meant he had already known when they met during the Shinhwa-bang incident.
Even so, he had continued spouting nonsense about Ak So-gun being a hypocrite and three years being sufficient.
He had intended to seize the Blood Church next after Baek So-cheon and the Alliance Leader fell.
‘Ah, come to think of it, the “three years” he mentioned back then had an entirely different meaning!’
Baek So-cheon glared at Yeom Hwasin.
His brain, like his body, was enormous.
So was his ambition.
“The reason I came today is simple. You will remove the Gu from both my body and my son’s. You must have discovered the method. That foolish Alliance Leader certainly could not have done it.”
“And if I refuse?”
The table between them flew aside.
Yeom Hwasin lunged forward with speed like a flash of light and seized Baek So-cheon by the throat.
“Then I’ll kill you. Now that you are no longer useful, why should I leave you alive?”
Killing intent erupted from Yeom Hwasin’s body.
It was no empty threat.
It carried his absolute determination to kill Baek So-cheon.
The dormant internal energy within Baek So-cheon’s meridians began to awaken.
The desire to strike first and begin the battle with a surprise attack surged through his entire body.
What if he launched a sudden attack and poured everything into a single explosive assault?
Could he win?
The temptation began again.
Baek So-cheon analyzed the odds.
Yeom Hwasin might have grown even stronger while recovering from his injuries.
Looking at it coldly, Baek So-cheon’s current chance of victory was only thirty to forty percent.
He had to endure.
This was a battle that would become increasingly favorable to him as time passed.
There was no reason to risk everything while the outcome remained uncertain.
At that very moment—
“Stop!”
The person who appeared at the entrance of the tavern was Cheon-geuk.
Even after forty-five days, she had not left the Alliance.
“I will grant the Alliance Leader’s request.”
Yeom Hwasin turned toward her and smiled broadly.
“So it was you who helped them.”
Baek So-cheon looked at her.
Cheon-geuk had revealed herself and abandoned her concealment to save his life.
She, more than anyone, understood how dangerous it was to become entangled with Yeom Hwasin.
Baek So-cheon and Cheon-geuk’s gazes met.
‘Why are you going this far?’
Cheon-geuk’s eyes answered him.
‘Why are you going this far? You could have simply lived well on your own.’
Cheon-geuk addressed Yeom Hwasin.
“So release him.”
“Do you dare give me an order?”
At Yeom Hwasin’s icy question, Cheon-geuk’s eyes calmly settled and deepened.
“Look at him and look at me. Does either of us appear afraid to die here?”
Both Cheon-geuk and Baek So-cheon already possessed the eyes of people who no longer cared whether they lived or died.
Naturally, Yeom Hwasin possessed the same gaze, so he understood their resolve perfectly.
He grinned.
“Yes. This is more like it. Now things are getting interesting.”
Yeom Hwasin released Baek So-cheon’s throat.
“We depart from here in half an hour. Prepare yourselves and gather here again.”
His smile vanished.
“And if you try anything foolish, such as attempting to capture me, one hundred times the number of casualties you expect will disappear today.”