Chapter 121: Jaseung, Meets Wrath

After Jang Wonso left, a secret meeting was held. Dan Woobin, Mujin, Ma Young-gi, and Baek Seolyoung attended.

Lee Jaseung didn’t leave Baek Seolyoung out. He could have hidden some things and revealed others. He could have easily done that.

But he decided not to. That would have treated her like she didn’t matter. Truly trusting her meant believing she would overcome whatever she heard. It was also for the sake of their relationship.

So he told her everything about the situation and everything he knew. In truth, after the Alliance Leader touched his own disciple, there wasn’t much left that could shock her.

“If any part is hard to accept, tell me anytime.”

His consideration moved her and she felt truly grateful. She answered gladly.

“I will.”

When Lee Jaseung spoke about Jang Wonso’s secret order, everyone was startled.

“Who did he tell you to kill?”

“A common farmer named Woo Baek who tends fields nearby.”

“He told you to kill a man like that? Did he give a reason?”

“He didn’t.”

“Jang Wonso is an extremely cautious man. A man like that wouldn’t issue such an order lightly. If this gets out, his seat as Alliance Leader is in danger. He knows that. If he gave this order anyway, it means he’s confident he can manage any consequence that might follow.”

Lee Jaseung nodded. There was clearly intent behind this.

Dan Woobin raised a few possibilities.

“If I speculate a few things… first, it could be a test of your loyalty, my Lord.”

Mujin slipped in.

“This is what may happen. You go to kill him, yank the blanket while he’s asleep, and Jang Wonso is lying there grinning. Then he says, ‘Now I can trust your loyalty.’”

“Of course that won’t happen. That was a bad example.”

Firmly cutting off Mujin’s joke, Dan Woobin continued, seriously again.

“Most likely, he is someone who must die in Jang Wonso’s eyes, but it is likely difficult for Jang Wonso to kill himself.”

At that clear deduction, Lee Jaseung offered an answer.

“So he’s one of the people behind the Alliance.”

“Correct. Even if something goes wrong, he intends to treat it as you acting on your own. Those people tried to kill you after all.”

“A kind of rebellion huh.”

“In a sense, but probably not an open one. More likely it’s a private matter between Jang Wonso and the target. Whether you succeed or fail, Jang Wonso surely has second and third layers he trusts.”

He had sat as Alliance Leader for a very long time. He would have cultivated power unknown to the ones behind him.

Dan Woobin asked carefully,

“You said Elder Yim Sayeon’s son was tied to this, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

He hadn’t hidden that from Baek Seolyoung either. She had been shocked at first, then accepted it.

“His illness likely caused some shift within the people pulling strings.”

A stone had been thrown into a still lake. The ripples were spreading on every side.

It resembled the past history Dan Woobin had mentioned. One incident that influenced everything after.

“What should we do?”

Dan Woobin answered firmly.

“Remove him. You still need Jang Wonso’s trust for now.”

They kept trying to kill him, and they were people who would have to be erased anyway. For the moment, taking Jang Wonso’s side had more advantages.

Lee Jaseung rose and spoke.

“Then I shall.”

“You’re going now?”

Striding out, Lee Jaseung said,

“Why would I put off a good thing?”

At the door, he glanced at Baek Seolyoung. Seeing her worried face, he gave a small nod. She nodded back.

After he left, Mujin smiled and spoke to Baek Seolyoung.

“Don’t worry too much. You know how strong our Alliance Leader is. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“This will happen often in the future, so you’ll need to get used to it.”

“I should,” Baek Seolyoung said with a bright smile.

But she had a feeling.

This wouldn’t be something she could get used to easily.

Men here would never know a woman’s heart when she sent a man off to fight.

No matter how smart they were, no matter how strong.

* * *

The man marked Earth was meeting someone in a thatched cottage with a small yard.

He had shed his martial garb and mask for a peasant’s clothes. A man you could see anywhere.

But the man he was meeting was anything but ordinary.

He was short, with a body that looked forged from steel.

A square face, big guileless eyes, thick lips, and cheekbones that jutted in a nervous way. His features didn’t fit together.

He was Wrath, the man of the character for rage.

Instead of passing Jang Wonso’s words up the chain, Earth had come to meet the very man Rain had summoned earlier, Wrath. Rain had ordered Wrath to eliminate Lee Jaseung.

If Earth had respected Jang Wonso, he might have gone to Rain before meeting Wrath to relay the message. Maybe the order to eliminate Seop Mu-pyeong would have been postponed or canceled.

But he didn’t.

Wrath spoke while looking at him.

“Why did you call me?”

Despite his looks, his voice was extremely courteous. Hearing only the voice, one might imagine a handsome and learned gentleman. Even his voice didn’t match his appearance.

Earth treated him with great caution. He was one of the few who knew how dangerous this man was.

“There is someone to eliminate.”

“Who?”

“Seop Mu-pyeong. He was just appointed leader of the Virtuous Heroes in the Murim Alliance.”

In truth, he wanted to order Wrath to kill Jang Wonso. Of course, he couldn’t. Acting on his own that way would cost him his life ten times over.

This would be enough. Killing Seop Mu-pyeong alone would be sufficient warning to Jang Wonso.

‘This won’t be the end. Someday, I’ll…’

With a stubborn vow to end Jang Wonso, Earth showed his dogged malice.

“By when?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Understood.”

Wrath turned to go. Earth called to his back.

“Be careful. Black died trying to kill him.”

A faint smile flickered and died at Wrath’s lips. It was full of arrogance and didn’t match his courteous tone at all.

“That’s why you called me. Don’t worry.”

Wrath left the room.

Earth smiled, satisfied. With Wrath on the move, Seop Mu-pyeong would die soon for sure.

Just then, Wrath poked his head back through the door.

“Step outside for a moment.”

To check to see what it was, Earth quickly went out.

He was shocked at what he saw outside. There was a small patch of field in front of the house, and someone was squatting there examining the crops.

It was Lee Jaseung. He rose and turned to face them.

“Which one of you is Woo Baek?”

Earth was truly shocked. No, more confused than shocked.

“Why are you here?”

How had Seop Mu-pyeong found his home?

‘Did he happen to come here on other business?’

In the instant, he reminded himself there were no such coincidences in Jianghu, a face flashed through his mind.

‘Jang Wonso!’

Earth’s expression was twisting.

‘That crazy bastard!’

He realized Jang Wonso had sent Seop Mu-pyeong to have him killed.

Jang Wonso must have secretly investigated and found where he lived. Something that never should have happened had happened.

Lee Jaseung’s gaze moved from Earth to Wrath at his side.

A master!

He recognized it instantly.

Then he tilted his head. A master, yes, but something felt off. Not just because Wrath’s features were strange.

Something in him stimulated his instincts. A danger housed in Wrath’s mismatch.

Wrath felt the same. The threat in this young, handsome man.

“Who is that man?”

Earth answered honestly.

“He is the Seop Mu-pyeong you are to kill.”

Wrath looked at Lee Jaseung.

Studying him, Wrath suddenly barked back,

“He is this strong and you didn’t tell me in advance?”

Earth replied.

“Didn’t I tell you that already? I did.”

“You didn’t say he was this strong!”

Earth looked at Lee Jaseung afresh. He hadn’t seemed that strong to Earth’s eyes.

But Wrath was different.

The moment he saw Lee Jaseung, his fighting spirit writhed. Instinct recognized the opponent.

Lee Jaseung decided to eliminate them both as quickly as possible.

At that moment, something appeared that made him change his mind.

A crow flew in and alighted on a branch some distance away.

It’s that crow!

The very one that had watched him before.

Which meant this fight was also being watched.

‘I won’t just let you watch!’

He intended to start by blowing the crow away with a burst of wind.

Last time, they had watched through the crow as he fought the man marked Black. He had killed Black and his subordinates beneath the eclipse.

Back then, he hadn’t known the crow was watching.

Now that he knew he was being watched, there was no reason to flaunt his true power.

As he was about to unleash the wind, a thought flashed through his mind.

‘If they know my strength, why send another crow?’

Ordinarily, long-distance surveillance through a crow like that wasn’t easy. It required a master of high skill using immense inner Qi.

It also cost a fortune in money and manpower.

So why? To watch this fight for fun?

He looked at Wrath the next moment. The man was certainly strong enough to trigger instinctive caution. But he wasn’t strong enough to kill Lee Jaseung.

Then why send him?

The answer came a moment later.

‘They don’t know my strength precisely!’

His mind spun fast.

They were checking again. Last time was a battle against dark arts in the darkness of an eclipse.

As Black Way Alliance Lord, no dark arts worked on him, so he had beaten them easily.

Back then, they hadn’t known he was the Black Way Alliance Leader. Now they did. So they wanted to confirm his real strength, the kind unrelated to dark arts.

He decided to turn this to his advantage.

‘Fine, I’ll show you.’

But just enough.

He would reveal hidden strength, but not all of it.

It’d be like telling a lie.

Mix a little truth with the falsehood.

Then how much would be just right?

He reached a conclusion.

Only one hundred and eighty years worth of Qi. No Close-Combat Technique. No Limitless Steps.

And another thing.

He couldn’t show himself killing both men here.

So one had to live.

That answer came easily as well.

Since Wrath had come to kill him, Wrath would be the one to die.

Lee Jaseung looked at Earth and smiled.

The relaxed smile was unnerving. Earth drew a conclusion after seeing it.

‘It would be best to get out of here first.’

With Wrath present, there was no reason to risk staying.

He sent Wrath a sound transmission.

— Eliminate him and meet me at the covert contact point.

With that, Earth left. It was time to adopt a new identity. Even if Wrath killed him, Jang Wonso knew who he was.

‘Jang Wonso, you bastard! I will kill you no matter the cost!’

He vanished just like that.

Only Lee Jaseung and Wrath remained.

“I am truly glad to meet a master like you.”

Unlike Wrath’s bright grin, Lee Jaseung’s response was unamused.

“You’re a little strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just, something is off.”

“I am not a strange man.”

His smile vanished the instant he suddenly grew serious.

It was awkward when he smiled, and awkward when he grew angry. Though he looked lacking somehow, Lee Jaseung didn’t let his guard down.

If he were truly lacking, he wouldn’t give off this tension. This wasn’t a deficiency, it was novelty. A new kind of enemy he had never experienced.

Those are the ones that are even more frightening.

“I am angry now.”

“Let it out as much as you like.”

With heavy thuds, Wrath charged like a bull. Lee Jaseung didn’t evade. He met him head-on.

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