Chapter 519

A large inn engulfed in flames. Charred wooden pillars collapsed, and ashes billowed into the air. Emerging from the wreckage was a face so familiar that it was shocking.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I should be the one asking that.

Silence fell for a moment. Nameless looked at me as if the ground beneath him had cracked open. His lips quivered slightly before a transmitted voice reached my ears.

– Why… why is the Benefactor coming out of there?

How the hell should I know?

– Wasn’t it Dark Heaven?

That’s what I want to ask.

– Amitabha. Are you Dark Heaven?

What kind of crazy nonsense is this?

If we were Dark Heaven, then what are you? A Vatican official? I wasn’t the only one dumbfounded by Nameless’s words. Jeok Cheon-Gang, known for his skill in eavesdropping on transmitted voices, looked as if he had turned into a wrathful ghost.

“What? I am Dark Heaven?”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant. There seems to be a misunderstanding…”

Before I could even attempt to clear up the confusion, my efforts were immediately rendered useless. More precisely, the esteemed Murim Crusaders, burning with righteous fury ahead of the New Murim Alliance Proclamation, wouldn’t allow it.

“Dark Heaven!”

“The demon has declared himself as Dark Heaven!”

Keyword input received.

“Hold on a moment. He seems to know the Blazing Fire Dragon.”

“Of course, he does! How many times has the Blazing Fire Dragon fought Dark Heaven?!”

“I see. He must be a demon of Dark Heaven!”

A miraculous leap in logic.

“That demon! Just look at him, pure evil!”

“His hair is completely red! A sign that he will drown the world in blood!”

Now they’re resorting to insulting my appearance.

“Kill him first!”

“Anyone who captures him will be a hero!”

A textbook medieval crusader-style conclusion.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. In an instant, a thousand-strong army of Murim Crusaders was swept up in collective hysteria. Nameless and I, both in shock, frantically waved our hands.

“No, you’re wrong! That’s not it!”

“Amitabha! Stop! This person is the disciple of the great monk Grandmaster Gwangdo…”

Nameless’s desperate shout made the surrounding Murim warriors pause, their eyes widening.

“What?”

“Is that true?”

Finally, someone was willing to listen.

Nameless nodded. “Yes.”

“Hah. So he’s not just a demon but the very monster who killed Grandmaster Gwangdo?!”

“…What?”

“Unforgivable fiend! Tear him limb from limb!”

Damn it, this is impossible.

Do Murim warriors suffer from a condition where they go insane if they listen to someone until the end? They refuse to understand even a fraction of what’s being said.

Then, to top off this collective insanity, an unexpected figure emerged from the rubble of the collapsed building.

“Stop right there, wicked one! How dare you commit such atrocities in Hunan?”

Jeok Cheon-Gang, who had been watching this madness unfold with his mouth hanging open, muttered in disbelief.

“These people are all out of their minds. At least let me speak first—”

“No need for words! This is where I, Wolmido, shall bring judgment!”

“…Might as well take the hit.”

Right. For someone like Jeok Cheon-Gang, this level of patience was already impressive.

Whoosh—Bang!

Wolmido flew in like a lightning bolt… and was immediately sent flying back like a cannonball, crashing deep into the rubble.

For the gathered Murim warriors, it was an unbelievable sight—something they had never seen before and likely never would again. A single punch.

The sheer display of martial prowess froze the air around them.

“W-Wolmido was taken down in one blow…!”

“Aah, the demon’s martial arts have reached the heavens!”

His martial arts? No, more like his rage has reached the heavens.

At this point, everyone seemed to realize that no one should mess with Jeok Cheon-Gang right now. They wanted to make a name for themselves by defeating a great demon, but no one wanted to be the one to get crushed.

‘Finally, some quiet.’

Now that the chaos had settled, this was my chance to clear up the misunderstanding. I cleared my throat and prepared to speak—

Right before I could open my mouth…

“There seems to be a serious misunderstanding here. The person you’re accusing of being a demon is actually—”

“Move aside, all of you!”

…Goddamn it.

Who the hell is it this time?

However, as the crowd parted like the Red Sea, I realized this intruder wasn’t someone I could casually curse at.

“The Thunderblade King has arrived!”

“Great Hero Pang himself has come to personally deliver justice upon the demon!”

A massive old man strode forward with an air of unshakable confidence. His broad shoulders, piercing gaze, and the enormous blade resting on his back made it clear—he was no ordinary warrior.

Jeok Cheon-Gang sighed deeply.

“Finally, someone reasonable.”

Agreed.

The Thunderblade King and Jeok Cheon-Gang had a long history of rivalry, but their bond was as strong as any friendship. If anyone could recognize Jeok Cheon-Gang’s identity, it was him.

As expected, the Thunderblade King looked Jeok Cheon-Gang up and down, his eyes widening.

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story. Just get these people to back off first.”

“Answer my question first.”

“…What?”

“Why is a demon scum that deserves to be torn apart standing here?”

Jeok Cheon-Gang’s eyelid twitched violently.

—

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.

In the silent night, only the sound of horse hooves echoed. The massive old man, staring out at the scenery, suddenly spoke.

“I realized it the moment I saw you. There was no mistaking it.”

Under the weight of countless gazes, the Thunderblade King continued in a solemn voice.

“Red hair and crimson flames… anyone would recognize the Fire King. The others may not have realized that Jeok Cheon-Gang has retained his youthful appearance, but I knew immediately.”

“I see.”

I nodded and asked, “…And?”

“Then why did you suddenly start swinging your blade?”

“Well…”

“Oh, and while we’re at it, could you also explain why, after exchanging a single move and realizing you were outmatched, you ordered an all-out attack?”

“Outmatched? Ha ha ha.”

A heavy silence descended again. As the Thunderblade King met my skeptical gaze and those of everyone else around us, he finally opened his mouth with a rigid expression.

“It was… to give them real combat experience.”

“Ah. Real combat, you say.”

“A necessary foundation for the battle against Dark Heaven. Fighting the Fire King, Jeok Cheon-Gang, would be a valuable experience for everyone, wouldn’t it?”

I asked sincerely, “Are you talking about experience in the afterlife?”

The Thunderblade King clamped his mouth shut.

He had to, if he had any conscience left. The number of people carried off to the medical ward had already reached twenty. Most of them were third-rate martial artists who got caught in the crossfire between the Fire King and the Thunderblade King—two of the Ten Kings.

‘If that’s all that happened, we got off easy.’

If the poet Yun Dong-ju from the Japanese colonial era suffered at the rustling of a single leaf, these guys had endured a full-blown hurricane of sword winds and were in immense pain.

“I heard… they’re all alive, at least.”

“Yes, alive. They’ll be perfectly fine—for the next fifteen days, as long as they don’t leave the infirmary.”

The results of their near-death experience were clear.

Even Murim warriors, who live by the sword, aren’t immune to PTSD. When I visited the victims in the infirmary, they were so pale they couldn’t even speak.

Wolmido, in particular, was in serious condition. He was shaking so much that I almost mistook him for someone stranded in the Antarctic rather than in Hunan.

“If you hadn’t ordered a full-scale attack, Great Hero Pang, none of this would have happened.”

As I continued my relentless criticism, the Thunderblade King scowled at me.

“And what about you?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you! Wasn’t it you who rounded up every Murim warrior in the vicinity?”

“I admit that part. But under the circumstances, it was unavoidable. Right?”

Sitting in the corner, my co-conspirator, Nameless, quietly stroked his prayer beads.

“The Benefactor speaks the truth. Even if the Buddha himself were in my position, he too would have raised a battle cry against the demon.”

“Would the Bodhi tree be uprooted and used to smash a demon’s skull?”

“Amitabha. Absolutely.”

For all his fierce temperament, the Thunderblade King couldn’t openly persecute Nameless. The only disciple left behind by his close friend, the late Dharma King Grandmaster Gwangdo, was his sore spot.

“Ugh.”

The Thunderblade King groaned and then turned his glare back to me.

“And this brat here—!”

“What? What now?”

“You, are we friends?”

“No, we’re not.”

“Then do you think the Pang Clan of Hebei is a joke?”

“How does it suddenly come to that? You’re just changing the subject because you’ve got nothing else to say.”

“You insolent little brat, how dare you keep talking back to me—”

“Oh. Your dentures are clicking.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by dentures, but the meaning behind his words was clear.

“You little—!”

His face flushed red with anger, and the Thunderblade King shot up from his seat.

Just as things were about to get violent again, two voices cut through the tension almost simultaneously.

“Calm yourself, Great Hero Pang.”

“Shut up. All of you.”

Two completely different voices, with only one thing in common—the title Ten Kings.

“I was careless,” the Azure Sky Sword King admitted plainly. “It’s been a while since my blood has boiled like that.”

Following his lead, Jeok Cheon-Gang added, “I did nothing wrong. You were the reckless ones.”

Ah, that’s the Jeok Cheon-Gang I know.

A true evergreen tree, unwavering as ever.

The Thunderblade King looked at Jeok Cheon-Gang as if seeing something inhuman.

“Jeokga, don’t you feel even a little guilty?”

“Why should I feel guilty? When martial artists meet, a scuffle or two is expected. Even when I entered the inn, people were already fighting.”

“If Great Hero Namgung hadn’t intervened, what would have happened?!”

The Thunderblade King had a point.

The one who ultimately de-escalated the situation was the Azure Sky Sword King. After a brief exchange with Jeok Cheon-Gang, he suffered minor internal injuries, calmed his energy, and only then made his presence known.

It was only because a servant from the Namgung Clan recognized him that the chaos finally subsided.

“Oh! Oh, oh, oh! The Supreme Elder himself?!”

The scream sounded like someone had just seen a ghost.

Even in their crazed frenzy over the mention of Dark Heaven, the other Murim warriors finally snapped back to their senses.

Of course, there were still some lunatics wondering if the Namgung Clan was also part of Dark Heaven, but thankfully, the rest of the Murim Crusaders regained their reason.

If only Jeok Cheon-Gang hadn’t rejuvenated himself, a few of them might have recognized him from the start.

“We were on the brink of disaster!”

“We could have explained everything. But this all happened because your damn Pang Clan eyes couldn’t recognize him.”

“The inn was destroyed! People were injured!”

“Ahem.”

Clearly feeling a bit guilty, Jeok Cheon-Gang let out a fake cough.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he spoke with a shameless expression.

“I adjusted my strength accordingly. At most, people just got a little banged up by the falling debris. Some ointment should be enough.”

“And you’ll compensate the innkeeper?”

“Of course. Even I have to admit—it burned down quite a bit.”

“…This is coming from the man who once burned down Mount Jiuhua and killed a thousand demon cultists.”

“It was necessary. Those bastards never intended to pay compensation in the first place.”

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there was a strange logic to his absurdity.

The Thunderblade King, momentarily speechless, muttered to himself.

“…So his youthful appearance may have changed, but the inside is still the same. His temperament is just as terrible.”

“Well, at least you still have your old face, Pang. You’ve aged without even being able to rejuvenate yourself.”

“You—!”

“Oh, look at you. Getting mad just because you couldn’t reverse your aging. That’s exactly what an old man would do.”

“You dare, Jeokga?!”

“Hmm? What was that? Sorry, I couldn’t hear the words of an old man who failed to rejuvenate himself.”

His wide-scale taunting was truly masterful.

Not many may have noticed, but I saw it.

The Azure Sky Sword King, seated near the window, subtly flinched.

As I turned to look at him, he quickly averted his gaze and stared outside.

Then, his lips parted.

“I believe it would be wise for you two to stop now.”

At first, I thought he was just trying to change the subject.

But when I followed his gaze out the window, I murmured,

“…Yeah. We really should.”

Beyond my line of sight stood a massive fortress wall and an enormous crowd.

And above the iron gates, carved in powerful calligraphy, were three unmistakable words.

Murim Alliance (武林盟).