Chapter 90 : The Hidden True Face

Chapter 90: The Hidden True Face

Those present recoiled in shock at the sudden appearance of Gu Tae and the three Stronghold Lords.

But as if they had already decided to reveal their true selves, the three Stronghold Lords charged forward with eyes showing only the whites.

Yul Han spoke to Iron Demon, Profound Demon, and Poison Demon as they stepped forward to face them.

“Don’t kill them. Just restrain them for a moment.”

Leaving those words behind, Yul Han hurled his body into Hongui.

If the three Stronghold Lords were under a heretical art, then as long as they were alive, it would be possible to find and eliminate either the caster who could not leave them, or the medium sustaining it.

Deep within the Martial Alliance, in one of its inner quarters—the Strategist’s residence—Jegal Giyeon sat facing the head of the Jegal Clan.

“Word has arrived from the watchers.”

At the Clan Head’s words, Jegal Giyeon’s eyes shone.

“What happened?”

“Wind-Riding Flight. They say the Wave Sword Venerable used it.”

Wind-Riding Flight, along with Void-Stepping, was among the highest-difficulty lightness skills. To even imitate either required reaching the Manifestation Realm.

In other words, it meant that the Wave Sword Venerable had reached the Manifestation Realm.

“He succeeded!”

At Jegal Giyeon’s bright smile, the Clan Head nodded.

“Fortunately.”

“Then all that remains is to have him clash with the Vice Cult Leader, is it not?”

“The fire has been lit. All that remains is for the smoke to rise.”

“How did you manage that…?”

“I sent word through the watchers. That if he halted the bloodshed he is currently creating, the Ghost Cult would take the hand of Hainan.”

“Will the Wave Sword Venerable accept? No matter how much the Ghost Cult is riding a meteoric rise, he of all people must know that the backlash from the bloodshed he himself is creating is what’s feeding his growth.”

Their conversation was strange.

If taken at face value, it meant that the Jegal Clan was secretly in contact with the Wave Sword Venerable.

And there was another thing as well—they were under the mistaken belief that the current bloodshed was being caused not by the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor, but by the Wave Sword Venerable.

Even so, the two continued speaking.

“That’s precisely why I casually hinted that Shaolin stood behind the Ghost Cult.”

“Not us, but Shaolin?”

At Jegal Giyeon’s faintly smiling question, the Clan Head replied,

“Of course. The elixir is Shaolin’s Great Reversion Pill, and the manual is also Shaolin’s—Worldly Insight. Then who would one think the power behind it is?”

As the Clan Head said, from the perspective of the Wave Sword Venerable, who knew nothing of the inner truth, it would be hard not to believe that Shaolin was the one behind it.

Nodding, Jegal Giyeon asked,

“I had actually been meaning to ask. The Great Reversion Pill, I understand—you obtained it through the Alliance Leader, who accepted your proposal to use the Wave Sword Venerable to suppress the Vice Cult Leader. But what about Worldly Insight?”

“The ancestors had keen foresight.”

“…Pardon?”

At Jegal Giyeon’s puzzled look, the Clan Head smiled meaningfully.

“It’s no recent thing that an elder of the Jegal Clan has served as the Strategist of the Martial Alliance. Likewise, it’s happened more than once that a Shaolin master has served as Alliance Leader.”

“What exactly do you mean…?”

“It means there was once an Alliance Leader who asked for insight from Worldly Insight.”

“You’re saying Shaolin showed its sacred treasure, Worldly Insight, to an outsider from the Jegal Clan?”

“They trusted him that much. Enough to surpass the trust between Alliance Leader and Strategist.”

“Even so, Worldly Insight… That’s madness.”

“Not quite. No matter how much they trusted him, Shaolin would never hand Worldly Insight over to another.”

“Then…?”

“It was brief. In front of the Alliance Leader, merely reading it—nothing more.”

Even that was a mistake.

Within the Jegal Clan were geniuses who could memorize an entire book perfectly from merely reading it once.

Just as Jegal Giyeon suspected, according to the Clan Head, the Strategist from the Jegal Clan who read it reproduced its contents verbatim and compiled it into a book, sending it back to the main family.

That was how Worldly Insight, the sacred treasure of Shaolin, came to reside within the Jegal Clan.

Moreover, the Jegal Clan’s Worldly Insight had been fully deciphered and annotated.

It was thanks to the long years of repeated research by the Jegal Clan’s scholars.

Even so, the Jegal Clan never raised a martial artist who trained in Worldly Insight.

They knew all too well what consequences would follow if a martial artist trained in Worldly Insight were to emerge from their clan.

Though called a clan of sages, the Jegal Clan also excelled at disinformation, collusion, and schemes.

In fact, the reason they could proudly occupy one axis of the Nine Sects despite possessing less than half the martial force of the other sects was because such hidden methods functioned flawlessly beneath the surface.

If the truth of the schemes and information manipulation the Jegal Clan had carried out over the years were to come to light, they would be buried in the martial world forever for their filth.

Yet no one in the Jegal Clan felt ashamed of it.

Because they believed that had they not acted that way, they would have long ago been crushed and annihilated by the strong.

Indeed, in the early days after their founding—when the Jegal Clan had been clean and upright—they had been used and discarded repeatedly, facing near-annihilation countless times.

In any case, with the Worldly Insight they had obtained as a result, the Jegal Clan sent it to the Wave Sword Venerable this time, together with the Great Reversion Pill.

They had no choice.

Though the Great Reversion Pill was a peerless elixir, it had the unavoidable limitation of being specialized for Shaolin internal energy.

Even so, the Alliance Leader refused to release Shaolin’s core cultivation method to the very end.

And indeed, to draw out the Great Reversion Pill’s effects to their maximum, a trivial cultivation method would never have sufficed.

That was why the Jegal Clan handed over Worldly Insight, which they themselves could not use yet treasured dearly.

Thanks to that, the Wave Sword Venerable was able to obtain both.

Only then did Jegal Giyeon fully understand the situation, and he asked,

“Will he win?”

“It won’t be easy. But considering his ability to cause bloodshed… the Vice Cult Leader won’t escape unscathed either.”

“One of his limbs will likely be severed.”

“At the very least.”

At the Clan Head’s smiling reply, a smile also formed at the corner of Jegal Giyeon’s lips.

That would be enough.

The Hongui that Yul Han entered was as cold as the summit of the Heavenly Mountains under a cutting gale.

Though it was autumn, breath visibly steamed even at midday, so it was far from normal.

As Yul Han walked through the frigid streets of Hongui, his steps came to a halt.

It was because he had spotted a man standing in the middle of the road, blocking his path.

It was not the Monk Eightfold Confusion.

Then there was only one possible candidate.

“Man-Sa Calamity Emperor?”

At Yul Han’s uncharacteristically provocative question, the man replied,

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not your uncle.”

“Then who are you?”

“In my sect, I’m called the Supreme Elder. The Eastern Lands call me the Wave Sword Venerable.”

It was an unexpected name, yet not an unfamiliar one.

He might not have been listed among the Seven Great Masters of the Martial World, but he was undeniably one of the masters who had reached the Transformation Realm.

“Then was the Hae-nam Sword Sect behind the current bloodshed?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t do such filthy things.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I made a promise with my uncle. That once I defeated you, I’d stop this sort of nonsense and work for the sake of the sect.”

Those words meant that the Wave Sword Venerable’s uncle was the one who had caused the current bloodshed.

“Was the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor a member of the Hae-nam Sword Sect?”

At Yul Han’s question, the Wave Sword Venerable let out a short snort of laughter.

“You’re different from what I heard.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was told you don’t like free handouts very much, yet here you are trying to get secrets for nothing.”

“So you’re telling me to find out myself?”

“If you want to hear them.”

As he answered, the Wave Sword Venerable gripped his sword and drew it. His intent was unmistakable.

“Doesn’t seem like a wise choice.”

“That too, we’ll know once we test it.”

The moment his reply ended, the distance of nearly fifty feet vanished in an instant.

Yul Han twisted his upper body to narrowly evade the Wave Sword Venerable’s attack, his gaze hardening.

The speed and movement the Wave Sword Venerable had just displayed far exceeded the capabilities of the Transformation Realm.

“Seems the rumors were wrong.”

“Thanks to the many who wished for your death.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just that I received a small gift in exchange for killing you.”

Yul Han mulled over the Wave Sword Venerable’s words briefly, then his gaze sank coldly.

“An elixir.”

“As sharp as the rumors say. With that clever head of yours, think it through now. If you want the answers you’re after, what do you think you should do to me?”

Once again, following the fading echo of his voice, the Wave Sword Venerable’s sword came flying in.

There was no preparatory motion—only a flick of the blade, and the sword shot forward at a terrifying speed. But Yul Han’s reddened eyes pierced straight through the anxiety hidden within it.

How should it be put—something felt off.

It was like watching a blade artist perform sword techniques. A strange sense of mismatch lingered.

That mismatch was creating small openings in the Wave Sword Venerable’s movements.

Stepping precisely along those openings, Yul Han’s body slipped through as the blade—gleaming with force energy—brushed past him.

Did he think it was a shame?

Looking at the Wave Sword Venerable as he lightly furrowed his brow, Yul Han asked,

“It feels like it’s only been three or four days since you broke through to the Transformation Realm. Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

“Bullshit!”

Thinking he was being mocked, the Wave Sword Venerable cursed and leapt into the air, his body shooting forward at a terrifying speed.

Wind-Riding Flight.

A lightness skill that used the wind to move—something only usable at the Manifestation Realm.

Now it was certain.

The Wave Sword Venerable had reached the Manifestation Realm, on par with the Four Heavenly Forces.

And yet…

Once again, openings were visible everywhere.

It was the mismatch caused by executing the Wave Sword Form—the secret art of the Hae-nam Sword Sect—using Worldly Insight, Shaolin’s internal energy method.

Piercing through those flaws with his red eyes, Yul Han once more rendered all of the Wave Sword Venerable’s attacks meaningless with just a few steps and a slight twist of his body.

As if he had never imagined that even an attack launched with Wind-Riding Flight could fail, the Wave Sword Venerable clenched his lips tightly.

“You’re fast on your feet!”

“What a waste of your realm. With skill like this, you should be using it for the sake of people. How could you side with something so utterly inhuman?”

“I didn’t side with it. I just didn’t stop it.”

“You think there’s a difference?”

“Why, does there have to be?”

Reading the Wave Sword Venerable’s thoughts from that answer, Yul Han’s gaze grew cold.

“You’re no different from your uncle.”

“So what, are you going to kill me? Aren’t you curious where my uncle went? What will happen next? Or who it was that sent me a gift asking for your death? Even so, do you think you can kill me?”

As he threw out those words, the Wave Sword Venerable’s sword flew again.

Expecting Yul Han to evade by stepping aside as before, he twisted the direction of his flying blade—only for his eyes to widen.

Instead of moving, Yul Han stood his ground, glaring at him with terrifying intensity.

At the instant he hurriedly tried to redirect his sword back—

Slice.

The Wave Sword Venerable felt with absolute clarity that a single beam of light had pierced straight through him.

And then—

He also realized what it meant that his body, without his own will stopping it, had come to an abrupt halt in midair, as if it had fallen straight down.

“My uncle swore you’d never be able to kill me… said you’d be too curious…”

“Wrong.”

“…?”

“I don’t think I need to know everything.”

The moment Yul Han finished speaking, a line of blood starting from the Wave Sword Venerable’s forehead ran straight down his entire body.

And then—

Thud.

The Wave Sword Venerable’s body, split cleanly down the middle, collapsed to the ground.

Turning his gaze away from the corpse, Yul Han fixed his eyes on a crow perched on a nearby tree.

As he looked at the crow blinking eyes as red as if filled with blood, Yul Han, his own eyes crimson, spoke,

“Wait just a little longer. I’ll come find you soon.”

As those words ended, Yul Han’s gaze glittered like a red jewel.

In the next instant, the crow shuddered violently, then fell straight down, blood pouring from every orifice.