“……On the contrary, it could very well turn out even better. The future is something even the Buddha himself would struggle to foresee.”

Unhwi shook his head.

“Regrettably, even the Buddha would have thought the same as I do. They know what it means to learn the Way of Gaebang and to feed off its martial teachings. The talents who entered Gaebang to become the freest beings in this world, the key figures meant to shoulder its future, will now see the reality of Gaebang. Do you truly believe they will follow the Gaebang that the current Vice Branch Leader is shaping?”

“……”

“If Gaebang falls into the role of little more than wiping the floors for the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Original Blood Sect, of course they’ll turn their backs on it. Or else they’ll try to change it—and before long, they’ll be found as corpses. Do you think the Vice Branch Leader would ever leave them alive?”

“……”

“Jin Muhyeok is not the sort of man who simply watches those who slander him walk away. If you expect loyalty from someone who sold off his own sect, then that is not a matter of virtue—it’s a matter of intelligence.”

“Huhhh……”

“I can stake my neck and swear this much: in five years—no, in ten—the Gaebang of today will be nothing but a gathering of vermin, its name plaque dulled, and the brilliant talents within will abandon it……”

“That’s enough.”

Hyejeongsan folded his arms and closed his eyes.

Every word was true.

In the end, the problem with Gaebang came down to a single point.

The Lord of Gaebang, Hyejeongsan, had been too complacent. The Vice Branch Leader who caused all the internal strife was none other than his only disciple.

That disciple had strayed from the path, and it was plain that he would one day ruin Gaebang. Yet Hyejeongsan had never been able to make the decision.

He told himself the boy’s waywardness was only a passing phase and let it go on.

That period had lasted fifteen years.

He opened his eyes.

“So then, what do you intend to do now? Will the massacre of Gaebang disciples stop as well?”

Unhwi gave a short, derisive laugh.

“Of course not. From here on, I’ll continue killing every Gaebang disciple I lay eyes on.”

“……After all this exchange, how can that be your conclusion?”

“Because through this very exchange, I’ve come to think Gaebang even more laughable than I did before.”

“You’re beginning to irritate me.”

“And that is something I should care about?”

Such insolence was unthinkable to direct at the Lord of Gaebang himself. Yet there was reason behind it.

“You could not even set right your strayed disciple. As a result, Gaebang is split in two, its future darkened, and though you still have the chance to reverse it, you turn away. Tell me—would such a Lord truly dare to make an enemy out of me as well?”

At that, Hyejeongsan’s eyes flew wide.

“You know as well as I do. If you kill me here, Gaebang will be annihilated.”

“……You gamble with your life?”

“This is no gamble. Call it an awakening, if you will.”

Something stirred in Hyejeongsan’s chest. Not anger—shame.

“I mean to grant you grace, and still you dither, senior. A single moment’s decision determines decades, centuries of the future. Gaebang, the only sect to have rebuilt itself after the ruin of the Thousand-Year Calamity, now stands at a crossroads once again.”

Unhwi lifted the bamboo-leaf liquor on the table and drained it in one go, then continued.

“I will keep killing Gaebang disciples. At least here in Seongjak Province, any who wear that belt at the waist—I don’t care who they are—will die by my hand. If you ask me how long, my answer will be: until I grow tired of it.”

“……So you mean to say, give you a justification to stop?”

“Not quite. I mean that I am giving you a chance, Lord.”

Hyejeongsan understood.

To put it bluntly, he had come here to warn Unhwi.

To tell him to stop killing Gaebang disciples. He believed that if the Lord of Gaebang himself came, Unhwi would be persuaded.

For Hyejeongsan was Gaebang.

But instead, Unhwi was threatening him—or rather, forcing him to face reality.

“Caught between advance and retreat—you must feel utterly cornered. A brat like me, right in front of a Supreme Void of Non-Being master, saying he’ll keep killing Gaebang disciples… and you can’t even silence me.”

If he killed Unhwi, the Everlasting Snow Palace would become his enemy, and Gaebang would go to war with them.

Now that Seol Jungcheon had ascended to the Union of Chaos and Sovereignty, and Seol Horyeong had been appointed Young Palace Lord, they needed accomplishments that would mark their names in history.

The Everlasting Snow Palace was regarded as a nation in the outer murim.

And the glory of a nation meant unity. In that sense, Gaebang was the perfect prey.

Most of all, Unhwi had declared he would never stop—that he would kill until he tired of it.

To prevent this, Hyejeongsan had to decide.

Purge the corrupt faction within Gaebang—the New Wave.

If he did, Gaebang would be whole once more. Unhwi would have given him grace, and Hyejeongsan would owe him a debt.

In the world of the martial arts, the cycle of grace and grievance would be perfectly sealed.

“You… you’re not even eighteen yet, are you?”

The year had not yet turned, but in about a month, it would.

He was indeed eighteen. When Unhwi nodded, Hyejeongsan let out a hollow laugh.

“Unbelievable. That someone with such a depth of discernment is not yet even of age… The Everlasting Snow Palace must be overjoyed.”

After a long moment of thought, Hyejeongsan asked,

“Why are you offering me such help?”

Unhwi hesitated, then answered slowly.

“I’ll speak plainly, without concealment.”

“Go on.”

“My intent was to use Gaebang as my personal organization.”

“Lofty dreams. With me still firmly in my seat, you thought to swallow up Gaebang whole?”

“I said I would speak plainly. Whether it’s realistic or not is another matter. I am telling you what my intent was.”

“And has that intent changed now?”

“Not yet. But if you, Senior Hye, make the decision and remake Gaebang anew, then it need not be my private organization—we could instead clasp hands and aid one another. That intent would be the best possible outcome.”

“To clasp hands and aid one another… and you think you have the authority to decide that?”

Unhwi smiled faintly.

“I think you’re misunderstanding.”

“Mm?”

“It isn’t about clasping hands with the Everlasting Snow Palace. It’s about clasping hands with me.”

Silence.

Hyejeongsan stared at him for a long time, then slowly rose from his seat.

“We have had a good conversation.”

“Have we.”

Hyejeongsan’s feelings were tangled. He had lived fifty years as the head of Gaebang.

In those fifty years, he had made countless decisions, weathered countless crises.

But now, before a boy not yet eighteen, he had come to realize just how complacent he had been.

The more crushing truth was that the boy’s words were not wrong.

The values he had upheld for Gaebang, the lofty ideals, were crumbling even now.

And only he could stop it.

But that road meant discarding his disciple.

His only disciple—the one he had raised like a son—he would have to personally execute.

It was a heartbreaking decision. Yet only thus could Gaebang survive. It was not Unhwi he was thinking of, but Gaebang’s very future.

Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Hyejeongsan spoke.

“Still, since I came all this way… will you at least preserve my dignity?”

“Of course. Since you’ve come in person, I’ll put an end to killing Gaebang disciples.”

“And Seongjak Province is vast. I had thought to establish a Chongta here, but how will you deal with the gap in information?”

“Gaebang must fill it.”

Hyejeongsan let out a hollow laugh.

He was no fool.

Their talk was winding toward its end, and now they needed a compromise. Yet for Unhwi to say Gaebang itself should re-enter the very region where its disciples had been slaughtered—there could only be one meaning.

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“Jang Seok of Yangryeong Province.”

“……You mean that man famous for being yours.”

“That’s right. Please appoint him as Branch Head of Seongjak Province.”

“Mmm……”

“At present it’s a Three-Knot Gaebang branch, but wasn’t it originally a ‘branch’ seat? Then you can promote it to Four-Knot, place him in charge, and when the time comes to raise it to a Chongta, promote him once more. That should suffice.”

“Well, well… did you calculate all the way to this point?”

“I did plan that far. I did not anticipate the Lord of Gaebang himself would come. Fortunately, our talk has proceeded peacefully, so I’m only executing what I had already prepared.”

“You know if I do that, it will look strange. It wouldn’t be me preserving your dignity—it would look as if I were conceding to you.”

It was perfectly understandable.

If things ended with the Lord of Gaebang personally coming to negotiate with Unhwi, and the outcome was Jang Seok, Unhwi’s man, being promoted and seated as Branch Head of Seongjak—then to all eyes, it would look as though Hyejeongsan had lost.

Not preserving his dignity, but eating away at it.

Unhwi extended his hand to the side.

“A dagger.”

At the curt words, Hyejeongsan tilted his head, and Commander Seong, standing at a distance, also looked puzzled.

“Bring me a dagger.”

Unhwi repeated himself. Commander Seong hurried forward, drew the dagger he had tucked into his chest, and handed it over.

Then—

What happened next shocked both men, though not Unhwi himself.

Gripping the dagger tightly, Unhwi began slashing a long cut across his own forehead.

With a tearing sound, blood poured down in torrents.

“Wha… what are you doing…?”

“Master… Master Unhwi!”

And that was not the end.

He reversed his grip on the dagger and drove it deep into his left shoulder.

Thud.

Blood streamed down.

“Stop… Master Unhwi!”

Commander Seong moved to intervene, but Unhwi raised his other hand to halt him.

“Wait.”

Finally, he drove the dagger into his right thigh.

Thud.

Blood spurted upward.

Commander Seong stood frozen in shock, while Hyejeongsan stared at Unhwi, his face rigid.

Calmly, Unhwi spoke.

“Today, Senior Hye came to meet me. Here, you subdued me.”

“……”

“You ordered me to stop killing Gaebang disciples at once. I refused. Struck by my audacity, you judged it more profitable to form an amicable bond with me.”

Though he spoke in a quiet voice, to Hyejeongsan it fell like thunder inside his skull.

“Having esteemed me so highly, Senior Hye then placed Jang Seok, who shares close ties with me, in the vacant Seongjak Branch. You issued a warning and withdrew.”

“……You…”

“Wouldn’t this preserve your dignity, and mine as well? What do you think, Senior?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep