Chapter 101

Chapter 101
An Eye for an Eye (1)

“No!”

Myeol Ji-ryun gasped, her eyelids snapping open in sheer panic as the vision of a blade piercing straight through Rap-sa’s chest tore her from sleep. It was merely a nightmare. Yet the crushing awareness that Rap-sa’s demise had genuinely occurred forced her to scramble upright at once.

“Pa-jeong!”

She found herself lying atop a coarse, unyielding cot. Shadows draped the chilly room, but a quick sweep of her gaze revealed iron bars—she was locked inside a dungeon cell.

How did I end up here?

The last thing she recalled was pausing to catch her breath alongside Pa-jeong.

A sudden shiver ran down her spine.

Outside the iron grate sat an unfamiliar figure on a modest stool, quietly observing her.

“Who are you?”

It was Baek So-cheon.

Only in that instant did the dreadful truth dawn on her: she had failed to slip away from the Murim Alliance.

“Where have you brought me? Where is Pa-jeong? What did you do to him?”

“You are inside the detention cells of the Murim Alliance.”

“And Pa-jeong?”

“He has perished.”

“You’re lying!”

Myeol Ji-ryun screamed in denial. By her reckoning, Pa-jeong stood among the realm’s foremost martial combatants. He was hardly an opponent who could be brought down with ease, regardless of who confronted him or the peril involved.

Yet the unblinking, tranquil expression in Baek So-cheon’s eyes betrayed the harsh truth. Were he still drawing breath, she never would have been abandoned in such a wretched cage.

A wave of disorienting horror, fury, and mortal terror flooded her senses.

“Was it you who ended his life?”

Baek So-cheon gave a slight shake of his head.

“The world does not lack experts capable of slaying him without my intervention.”

Because an ultimate decision regarding her fate remained unsettled, he refrained from disclosing every detail.

“Is this the manner in which you welcome travelers, simply because our origins lie beyond the central plains?”

Though Pa-jeong had already warned her that the Murim Alliance had unraveled their intentions, she feigned complete ignorance.

“To refer to you as a traveler seems rather inappropriate.”

“What are you implying?”

“One hardly extends the courtesy of a guest to an assassin plotting against the master of the residence, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you are blathering about.”

If she hoped to stay alive, feigning ignorance remained her sole defense. She frantically searched for an escape in her mind, but she was unfortunate to be facing Baek So-cheon.

Deeming further conversation pointless, Baek So-cheon rose to his feet.

“Take your ease, then.”

“What do you intend to do with me?”

“That shall be determined entirely by your father’s reaction.”

The Alliance Lord had granted Baek So-cheon uninhibited authority to manage this affair.

He possessed no desire to simply slaughter her anyway. Ending her life would only complicate their position. It was vastly more profitable to leverage her existence to secure what he desired.

“So if my father refuses your demands… you intend to butcher me?”

Baek So-cheon offered an answer without the slightest hesitation.

“Precisely.”

“Are you not supposed to be the champions of the righteous path? This behavior is utterly hypocritical!”

“Why should a standard be forbidden to us when your side practices it so freely?”

Myeol Ji-ryun choked on her own words, unable to mount a defense.

She stepped closer to the partition and attempted to stir her inner qi, only to find her dantian bound by an impenetrable seal.

“Release me. Subject me to an open and lawful judgment.”

“An open judgment? For a criminal like you, such a proceeding culminates solely in the executioner’s blade.”

She recoiled involuntarily at the mention of the execution block.

“It is my departure from ordinary procedure that preserves your breath for now.”

“Baek So-cheon! Do you genuinely dare to push things this far?”

“I doubt your father will cast you aside like refuse. Therefore, keep your silence and wait.”

“If you abandon me within these walls, I shall take my own life.”

“Be my guest.”

“What?”

“Smash your skull into the stone bricks if that is your wish. We will adjust our plans accordingly. To your father, you may be worth a kingdom, but in my eyes, you carry less utility than a stray cobblestone—at least a stone provides a place to rest my boots.”

Baek So-cheon turned his back and made to leave.

“Mark my words! I shall repay this disgrace tenfold!”

Baek So-cheon halted in his tracks.

Turning back toward the iron partition, his gaze had turned entirely glacial.

“Myeol Ji-ryun, has it ever crossed your mind why your father and your grandmaster went to such lengths to insert the Cheon-wae Won-go within our revered Alliance Lord and erect the Eight Directions Ghost Blood Array?”

“Because throughout the entire Murim realm, our clan alone possesses the mastery required.”

“I expected an arrogant answer of that sort. But your assumption is entirely mistaken. It had nothing to do with the grandeur of your family’s dark sorcery.”

“Why, then?”

“Because they are terrified of us.”

“…!”

“In your haughty eyes, the righteous faction must appear stiff-necked and dull. Exasperating, narrow-minded, and pathetic, isn’t that so?”

The accusation hit the mark. She had always regarded them as sanctimonious simpletons shackled by hollow tenets of virtue and ceremony.

“Yet observe the truth: it is sheer dread of those very righteous fools that drove your father and grandmaster to scheme so desperately. Their terror runs so deep that they felt compelled to weave webs of deceit and wager their own kin.”

“Hold your tongue!”

“You have it backwards, Myeol Ji-ryun. Rather than declaring that you will never forget this day, your lips ought to be pleading: ‘Pray, erase this day from your memory.’ Because the vow you just uttered? That belongs entirely to me.”

Baek So-cheon fixed her with an unyielding glare.

“Make no mistake. I will not forget what transpired here! That you dared to subject the mentor I hold in the highest reverence to a torment more agonizing than death—I will carry that memory until my dying breath.”

Crushed beneath an overwhelming aura of sovereign authority, Myeol Ji-ryun could not summon a single syllable in defiance.

Leaving her trembling behind the bars in cold dread, Baek So-cheon walked away into the dark corridor.

—

Myeol Saeng sat cross-legged at the absolute focal point of the grand hall.

Within the sanctuary of the Alliance Lord, the throne traditionally stood at the furthest wall, elevated to cast a commanding view over all who entered.

By contrast, the master of the Blood Cult occupied the precise center of the floor, seated upon a vivid scarlet mat rather than a raised chair.

This layout had been established to facilitate grand occult ceremonies that demanded the combined strength of numerous practitioners. The supreme master anchored the nucleus, while the circle of cult elite enveloped him.

On this day, Myeol Saeng meditated in solitude, guiding his internal essence through its pathways.

A crimson mist in the shape of a serpentine beast wound through the air around him, while the serpentine mark etched into the skin of his forehead burned with intense scarlet radiance. That Blood Snake was an omen said to manifest exclusively when a warrior achieved profound mastery over the Hyeol-cheon-gi.

Gradually, the crimson serpent coiling about his frame receded into his flesh.

Having settled his breathing, Myeol Saeng steadily lifted his lids. His irises flashed with an eerie carmine light before returning to a muted ash gray.

A potent blood aura erupted across his body. Thick crimson energy gathered within his open palms. A solitary release of that concentrated qi bore enough destructive force to turn the entire grand chamber to powder—such was the catastrophic might gathering at his fingertips.

Yet as footsteps crossed the threshold of the hall, the destructive energy within Myeol Saeng’s palms faded into nothingness.

The arriving figure was Jeok Pa-rap. Though his age exceeded a full century, his lustrous dark hair and smooth countenance made him appear almost like a junior disciple.

“What is the meaning of this madness? Ji-ryun has sent word pleading for extraction?”

Myeol Saeng stood up and brought his hands together in a respectful salute.

“I welcome you, Master.”

“Set pleasantries aside and give me an explanation.”

“A distress dispatch arrived from my sister. Rap-sa has fallen, and she is fleeing under his protection.”

“Rap-sa has met his end? By whose blade?”

“Pa-jeong executed him personally.”

“Pa-jeong did?”

“Rap-sa sold us out, exposing our grand design to Yeom Hwa-sin. Following that, Yeom Hwa-sin attended the grand gathering of martial artists and passed the intelligence directly to Baek So-cheon.”

“Utter rubbish! Rap-sa was never privy to the inner details of this undertaking.”

Jeok Pa-rap made no effort to conceal his turbulent feelings, an impatience born of his more than one hundred years of life.

“I am not familiar with every circumstance. I merely convey what arrived in Pa-jeong’s missive.”

“This reeks of a snare laid by the Murim Alliance.”

“Could it truly be that simple?”

“What are you implying?”

“It is just as plausible that Yeom Hwa-sin saw through the plot on his own and fed the revelation to Baek So-cheon.”

“Nonsense.”

“What makes you so confident of that?”

“Running to the Murim Alliance to tattle is completely contrary to that man’s character.”

“He is well aware that we sought to embed the Cheon-wae Won-go within his flesh. And yet you still defend his integrity?”

“Precisely so. The fact that he preserves our coalition despite knowing of our plot proves the breadth of his tolerance.”

“If that is your conviction.”

Jeok Pa-rap took immediate offense at the faint, derisive undertone in his student’s voice.

“What is the meaning behind that tone?”

“You have always held Yeom Hwa-sin in supreme esteem, Master. Perhaps even more so than your own disciple?”

“Cast aside such foolishness. I merely caution you against taking his capabilities lightly.”

The two had clashed over this subject on previous occasions. Unwilling to rekindle an old grievance at this juncture, Jeok Pa-rap redirected the topic.

“What of the situation, then? Have you organized a detachment to retrieve them?”

“I have already instructed our deep-cover operatives within the central plains to converge on the prearranged coordinates.”

“I shall depart to oversee the matter personally.”

“Should this truly prove to be an enemy trap, wouldn’t your intervention walk directly into their snare? You must remain patient.”

“It is Ji-ryun we are speaking of.”

“By this hour, the conclusion has already been decided regardless.”

Jeok Pa-rap stared wordlessly at Myeol Saeng.

“You look upon me with that familiar coldness once more.”

“What coldness do you speak of?”

“Master, no living soul cherishes Ji-ryun more deeply than myself. I do not resemble Yeom Hwa-sin, who gambles with the lives of his own blood. If I refrain from venturing out in person, it is solely because the grand destiny of our cult supersedes my private sentiment.”

“Enough, I understand!”

To disguise their secret deployment of Myeol Ji-ryun and Pa-jeong, the two men had deliberately staged a bitter discord and propagated rumors of internal strife. Yet a genuine, festering rift had long existed beneath the surface. Had it been a simple, loud conflict like the one they performed for the masses, reaching common ground might have proved simpler.

Their true antagonism was far more delicate and deeply ingrained.

Primarily, Jeok Pa-rap persistently inserted himself into the governance of the organization.

In his earlier days, Myeol Saeng had appreciated the guiding hand of his elder, but as the years progressed, that oversight curdled into an intolerable weight.

Yet he lacked the means to cast his elder aside—after decades of influence, too vast a portion of the brotherhood remained fiercely devoted to the former master. Forcing a confrontation would inevitably tear the cult asunder.

That inescapable reality stoked his simmering resentment.

Had his predecessor truly desired his success, he would have surrendered total command into his hands. Instead, the elder’s personal hunger for dominance remained boundless.

Furthermore, their very temperaments collided.

Had their natures been polar opposites, friction might have been simpler to navigate. Each would have recognized where the other stood. Instead, their eerie similarities fueled endless suspicion: Why does he take that course of action?

Thus, Myeol Saeng stood as the only soul alive capable of unraveling the ancient Jeok Pa-rap’s iron composure.

And the master had precisely the same maddening effect upon the leader of the Blood Cult.

Softening his stern features, Jeok Pa-rap spoke with an attempt at reassurance.

“Since Pa-jeong attends her, there should be little cause for panic.”

“Were that true, she would never have dispatched an urgent plea for salvation.”

Jeok Pa-rap’s jaw tightened, but Myeol Saeng averted his eyes, pretending not to notice his mentor’s darkening scowl.

From a technical standpoint, Myeol Saeng and Pa-jeong were martial brethren sharing the same teachings. That connection formed yet another point of quiet venom—Myeol Saeng harbored a profound disdain for the disciple his master had taken in his twilight years. These minor grievances continually chipped away at their fragile unity.

Amidst the suffocating quiet, an attendant sprinted through the doorway carrying a dispatch.

“A critical update from our search cadre! The young mistress failed to appear at the rendezvous marker. Though they deployed scent hounds and combed through the surrounding territory, nearby… they unearthed a disfigured body beneath the soil.”

Myeol Saeng vaulted upright from his scarlet mat.

“What did you say?”

Witnessing his superior’s sudden fury, the messenger scrambled to clarify.

“Relief be praised, the corpse belonged only to Pa-jeong.”

Jeok Pa-rap erupted with terrifying wrath.

“‘Relief’?”

The messenger instantly realized the catastrophic blunder he had committed. Pa-jeong was the prized disciple of Jeok Pa-rap himself.

“I have committed an unforgivable offense! Spare me!”

The attendant threw himself flat against the stone flags, but the elder’s lethal indignation had already detonated.

“You insolent wretch! You call that a relief?”

Jeok Pa-rap thrust his arm forward, and the wretched messenger was violently dragged across the floor into his iron grip by an invisible current. The elder’s irises turned chalky white, his jaws parting unnaturally wide.

Hissing sounds tore through the room.

The life-force of the attendant violently drained from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth, flowing in thick ribbons into Jeok Pa-rap’s gaping maw.

“Aaaargh!”

A solitary shriek of ungodly agony echoed through the hall before the withered husk dropped lifeless to the floor.

Myeol Saeng glared at the spectacle with frigid contempt. The poor fool had muttered “relief” merely because the deceased was not Myeol Ji-ryun. It had been an unfortunate slip of the tongue, yet his mentor had dared to murder a subordinate directly in his presence.

Does this old monster secretly wish for Ji-ryun’s demise instead?

The scarlet qi swirling around Myeol Saeng’s silhouette turned noticeably denser.

Jeok Pa-rap recognized the impetuous nature of his outburst, yet he offered no apology. His cherished pupil had been slaughtered—should his own senior student not display basic empathy?

Unable to tolerate the oppressive atmosphere a moment longer, Jeok Pa-rap spun around and swept toward the exit.

“I shall descend upon the Murim Alliance with my own hands and retrieve Ji-ryun. Transmit word that I am on my way.”

Myeol Saeng remained motionless, his cold gaze trailing his master’s departing back.

Even so, when the time came to sweep away a catastrophe of this magnitude, there was no instrument more formidable than his master.