CCTnovel Chapter 460
Chapter 460
Jin Hoyeon tilted his head. The meaning seemed obvious on its face, so what more was needed?That expression was precisely the difference between a family head and an elder.
“Is he telling me, the family head, to come in person? Or is he demanding that the entire Jin family bow its head? Or, if not that, is he calling out Alliance Leader Gun, the one behind this matter?”
No one answered.
It could be one of them.
It could be two.
It could be all three.
Jin Muhang threw the letter onto the table.
“Have you contacted Alliance Leader Gun?”
“...Not yet.”
“Why?”
Jin Hoyeon hesitated briefly.
“...There is the matter of face.”
“Face.”
“Yes. This matter was ordered by the Alliance Leader. We acted under that order and succeeded in pressuring Red Spirit Court.”
“Succeeded?”
Jin Muhang gave a faint laugh.
“Three hundred men are dead, and our guest master is dead. You call that success?”
“...Until then, it had been successful.”
“And now?”
Jin Hoyeon closed his mouth.
Jin Muhang sighed.
“If we ask the Alliance Leader for help, the Jin family loses face. That is what you mean to say.”
“...Yes.”
“But if we remain still, it will look as though we were pushed back by Seol Unhwi.”
“That is correct.”
“And yet if we seek revenge, the opponent is troublesome.”
“...”
“But if we do not, that goes against the nature of the martial world.”
Jin Muhang rose from his seat.
He walked to the window.
Outside, the sun was setting. Red twilight stained the sky.
“...Seol Unhwi.”
He muttered the name.
He had heard the rumors that the man was insane.
He had also heard that his martial arts were powerful. However—
Jin Muhang turned around.
“He should not look down on the Jin family.”
His gaze turned cold.
“If we have been wronged, we repay it. That is the martial world.”
“Family Head. But the opponent is...”
“What of it if the opponent is strong?”
Jin Muhang cut him off.
“Do we flee? Do we hide? Is that the Jin family?”
“...No.”
“For two hundred years, the Jin family has never bowed its head to anyone. That remains true now.”
Jin Muhang returned to the seat of honor.
“Gather our forces.”
“Family Head!”
“You said Seol Unhwi is at Red Spirit Court?”
“Yes. But...”
“I will go myself.”
The grand hall fell silent.
Great Elder Jin Hoyeon hurriedly stepped forward.
“Family Head! It is dangerous!”
“Dangerous?”
“Seol Unhwi’s realm is said to be Unity of Heaven and Man on the surface, but we do not know exactly what level he has reached. He already has a record of killing several martial artists at Unity of Heaven and Man, and Maeng Jeung, who died this time, was a master of Manifestation of the Boundless. Above all, in his spar with Great Elder Yeongunseong, he managed to inflict a meaningful wound on him...”
“So?”
Jin Muhang snorted.
“There is a bond between Seol Unhwi and Yeongunseong. What sort of man is Yeongunseong? Is he not a man who values bonds? He may have allowed himself to be wounded to preserve the dignity of Seol Unhwi, who had just been appointed Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
Jin Hoyeon tried to say something, but Jin Muhang was faster.
“Even if that were not the case, inflicting a wound is something any martial artist of the Harmony realm could do. Then the only certain fact before us is this: Maeng Jeung’s death.”
“...Yes.”
“Maeng Jeung was a guest master. He was not of the Jin family.”
“But he was a master of Manifestation of the Boundless.”
“So, are you saying a martial artist of the Harmony realm cannot defeat someone at Manifestation of the Boundless?”
At that miraculous logic, Jin Hoyeon fell silent.
Jin Muhang raised a hand and pointed toward the air.
“Our martial artists are outside. The descendants of the Jin family. They are watching.”
“...”
“A man of the Jin family has been killed by an enemy, and the Jin family’s strategy has been pushed back. If we hide in such a situation, what will they say?”
“Family Head... If this is a matter of face, then I can go in your stead...”
“Great Elder.”
Jin Muhang cut him off.
“If you go, can you win?”
“...That is...”
“You cannot. Maeng Jeung could not win. How would you?”
It was a cold statement.
Jin Hoyeon’s face stiffened.
“I will handle this matter. As the family head.”
Jin Muhang struck the table.
“Prepare at once—!”
It was then.
“Would you wait a moment?”
A voice sounded.
From outside the grand hall.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the doors.
The doors opened.
A man entered.
He was tall. Half a head taller than Jin Muhang, with broad shoulders and a body that looked hard all over.
It was almost like looking at the Hebei Peng family said to have been destroyed during the Thousand-Year Chaos.
He appeared to be in his mid-fifties. His hair was streaked with white. But his eyes were sharp, no less fierce than those of a young martial artist.
Above all, there was a blade at his waist.
The blade was broad. It looked heavy. A pattern was engraved on the scabbard. A faint, old design.
When Jin Muhang saw it, his eyes widened.
Surely not.
The man gave a faint smile.
“It has been a long time, Muhang.”
His voice was low.
Jin Muhang shot up from his seat.
“...Brother Seok?”
“Yes. It is me.”
The man walked into the grand hall.
His steps were bold. There was not the slightest hint of intimidation in him.
The elders of the Jin family tensed. A stranger had entered the grand hall without permission.
But Jin Muhang raised a hand and stopped them.
“Stand down.”
“Family Head?”
“He is a guest.”
The elders looked bewildered.
A guest?
That man?
Jin Muhang descended from the seat of honor and approached him.
“...Is it truly you, Brother Seok?”
“Would I be a ghost otherwise?”
“How... did you come here? I was certain you were still in closed-door training... Unless you were a ghost...”
The man laughed.
“Live long enough, and even ghosts become your peers.”
Complicated emotion crossed Jin Muhang’s face.
“I heard the news. The Tyrant Blade Sect...”
“Was destroyed.”
“...You survived.”
“I did. As you can see.”
The man spread his arms.
He was perfectly intact. Not a single wound on him. Naturally so.
When the Tyrant Blade Sect was destroyed, this man had been in closed-door training.
Tyrant Heaven Blade Supreme Seok Junseo.
The retired master of the Tyrant Blade Sect.
“...Brother Seok, after leaving seclusion... where have you been all this time?”
“Here and there.”
Seok Junseo looked around.
“I heard. They said my son died, and the Tyrant Blade Sect was destroyed.”
When Seol Unhwi had gone to the Murim Alliance—
that was when the Tyrant Blade Sect had been destroyed.
More than anything, with the destruction of the Tyrant Blade Sect, the Five Great Families had become the Four Great Families. Yet even now, the martial world still called them the “Five Great Families.”
This was not anyone else’s will.
Only one man’s.
The will of Gun Mugeol, leader of the Murim Alliance.
As though nothing had changed, the “Five Great Families” had entered the Murim Alliance.
Even then, everyone had questioned it.
Why the Five Great Families?
They were now the Four Great Families, so why insist on calling them the Five?
At this point, Jin Muhang understood.
This situation.
“...Did Alliance Leader Gun send you here, Brother Seok?”
“The Alliance Leader’s will, and my own. Those two wills brought me here.”
Gun Mugeol.
He truly was not an easy man.
“...Please, sit first.”
“I will.”
Seok Junseo sat, and Jin Muhang took the seat across from him.
The elders withdrew and stood behind him. Their eyes were still wary.
Jin Muhang opened his mouth.
“Brother Seok. I will ask directly. Is your purpose revenge?”
“It is.”
“Then you mean to strike Seol Unhwi.”
“That is the idea.”
Jin Muhang was about to say something.
“I will go.”
Jin Muhang’s eyes widened.
“...What did you say?”
“Seol Unhwi. I must be there when that bastard dies. I must avenge my son and my family.”
“...”
“I will go to Yellow Sand Pass.”
His words were calm.
But the killing intent contained within them was anything but light.
Jin Muhang looked at the man.
“Brother Seok. The Seol Unhwi of that time and the Seol Unhwi of now stand in different positions.”
“I know.”
“He is the Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect. The position directly beneath the Heavenly Wayfarer.”
“I know.”
“He killed Maeng Jeung. A master of Manifestation of the Boundless.”
“I know that too.”
“And yet you mean to go alone?”
Seok Junseo laughed.
“Are you worried for me?”
“Of course I am.”
Jin Muhang raised his voice.
“You are my benefactor. You saved my life when we were young. How could I send such a person into danger?”
“Benefactor?”
The man chuckled.
“That was long ago. It means nothing now.”
“Brother Seok!”
“And.”
The man rose.
“What I need is a stage. I have a debt to repay Seol Unhwi.”
Seok Junseo’s eyes shone coldly.
Jin Muhang felt it.
He felt what lay in that gaze.
Vengeance.
Deep vengeance.
“...Brother Seok. Even so, I cannot send you alone.”
Seok Junseo touched the blade at his waist.
“Look at this blade.”
The pattern engraved on the scabbard.
It was faint, but its shape was still recognizable.
Tyrant.
The symbol of the Tyrant Blade Sect.
“The Tyrant Blade Sect was destroyed. My son, the sect master, died. The elders died. The disciples died. My family and my grandson as well.”
“...”
“All of them died.”
His voice was calm.
But the fury contained inside it was not light.
“I came here for one purpose alone: to kill Seol Unhwi.”
Jin Muhang swallowed.
He could feel this man’s realm.
Harmony realm.
The same realm as his own, but it was clear.
This man was higher.
Naturally, even within the Five Realms of Martial Divinity, there were finer divisions.
Early, middle, late.
At Seok Junseo’s current level, he was unquestionably in the late stage.
“Brother Seok. Your realm...”
“I gained a measure of enlightenment while in seclusion.”
“...Impressive.”
“There is nothing impressive about it. I am already no different from a dead man.”
The man looked at Jin Muhang.
Jin Muhang stared at him for a long while.
This man was serious.
He truly meant to kill Seol Unhwi, even if he had to stake his life on it.
Jin Muhang’s eyes hardened as well.
“Very well. Then let us go together.”
“...”
“I will watch your back.”
Jin Muhang was sincere too. Seok Junseo looked at him silently for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“Good. Then let us do that.”
He slowly rose from his seat.
“We leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“There is no reason to delay. We will go to Yellow Sand Pass first. If he is not there, then Red Spirit Court. If he is not there either, then the Blood Heaven Sect.”
Seok Junseo’s vengeance was beyond imagination.
“There was a pavilion in the corner over there. I will be there. Come when it is time to depart.”
Then he walked toward the door.
Jin Muhang called out to him.
“Brother Seok.”
Seok Junseo stopped.
“There is one thing I wish to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Can you win?”
Silence.
Seok Junseo turned his head.
Only his profile was visible.
“I do not know.”
It was a calm answer.
“I do not know how strong Seol Unhwi is. Perhaps I may die.”
“And yet you will go?”
“I will.”
Seok Junseo smiled.
“Because if I do not, I think I will regret it for the rest of my life.”
He opened the door.
“Prepare.”
The door closed, and Seok Junseo disappeared.
Jin Muhang stood there.
For a long time.
At last, he sighed.
“...The world is full of madmen.”
Seol Unhwi was a madman.
And Seok Junseo was a madman too.
“Family Head.”
Great Elder Jin Hoyeon approached.
“What will you do?”
“...What else?”
Jin Muhang looked out the window.
The sun had completely set. Darkness was descending.
“We can only watch.”
“Watch?”
Jin Muhang nodded.
“If Brother Seok wins, all the better. If he loses...”
His words trailed off.