Chapter 64: A rchant’s Righteousness
“Yul Han of the Bright Cult. It is not my ho, but if the Sect Master does not mind, would you co inside for a mont?”
“Thank you.”
The two of them went inside the door just like that, but the Golden Flower Manor guard stiffened as if he could not even move.
It was because among the Vice Cult Leader’s words was the term ‘Sect Master.’
The Vice Cult Leader would not lie, so…….
“Ghk!”
The Golden Flower Manor guard’s complexion turned pale blue. Only then did he realize what he had done.
Iron Demon’s eyes widened. He had thought so random beggar was being brought in, but he recognized the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan.
“What is that state of yours?”
At Iron Demon’s question, the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan gave an awkward smile.
“I am in the midst of trying to repay my sins, even if only a little.”
“Sins? What sins? Did you steal sothing?”
To Iron Demon’s question, the Sect Master replied.
“I stole the lives of innocent people, so I am thinking, and thinking again, how I might repay that deep sin. Amitabha.”
At the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan’s answer, Iron Demon closed his mouth. From his appearance, it did not seem like empty words.
As Iron Demon stepped back, Yul Han led the Sect Master into his own quarters.
Facing each other in the room where he was staying, Yul Han asked the Sect Master.
“Your dantian…… why did you do that?”
“At first, there was nothing I could repay with except this one body of mine…….”
That was right.
The Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan had personally destroyed his own dantian. It was not that he had sealed his ridians to make it temporarily unusable; he had completely shattered it so that it could never be used again.
For an internal master who possessed martial prowess high enough to beco a Sect Master, it was sothing he would have hated more than death to carry out.
Knowing the aning of it, Yul Han could only say one thing.
“It was excessive.”
“It was insufficient.”
“At the very least, Mount Zhongnan does not bear direct responsibility for the deaths of innocent people.”
The Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan widened his eyes, not understanding, and Yul Han continued.
“The martial artists of Mount Zhongnan did not lay a hand on the people of Golden Flower Manor. It is sothing testified to not only by the martial artists of the Bright Cult, but by the people of Golden Flower Manor as well.”
At Yul Han’s words, tears stread down from the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan’s widely opened eyes.
They were tears of relief, knowing that the martial artists of Mount Zhongnan who had died in battle had at least not taken the lives of innocent people.
Yul Han quietly watched the Sect Master like that.
That was the reason Yul Han had not raised a blade of vengeance toward Mount Zhongnan all this ti.
Fights broke out everywhere, and in the midst of them, people died. That was the martial world.
So if it was a fight between martial artists, it was sothing that could be dismissed as such.
Even so.
“You must bear indirect responsibility. It cannot be denied that with Mount Zhongnan’s help, others took the lives of innocent people.”
“I know. I will bear it. Deeply, and for a long ti.”
“You must also apologize.”
“Of course. In that sense, I should also apologize to the Vice Cult Leader—.”
“You do not need to. Martial artists are people who take the blade as their profession. I also have no intention of apologizing for taking the lives of Mount Zhongnan’s martial artists.”
“Vice Cult Leader…….”
“I will have you guided to the Lord of Golden Flower Manor. You should offer your apology to him, and to the bereaved families of Golden Flower Manor.”
With those words, Yul Han cast his gaze outside the door and called out.
“Flashing Light Blood!”
“Yes. Vice Cult Leader.”
As Flashing Light Blood opened the door at once and entered, Yul Han spoke.
“Please guide the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan to the Lord of Golden Flower Manor.”
“Yes. Vice Cult Leader.”
The Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan stood up to follow Flashing Light Blood, but he staggered.
An internal master who had sustained himself with inner power had destroyed his dantian and walked that long distance alone; there was no way his health would be unaffected.
Even so, Yul Han pretended not to notice.
Because he thought that this was the way the Sect Master had chosen to shoulder his sin.
Thus, with no one’s help, steadying his staggering body on his own, the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan followed Flashing Light Blood toward the inner courtyard where the Lord of Golden Flower Manor was staying.
Watching the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan’s figure recede into the distance, Yul Han’s eyes sank.
“So anger does not solve everything.”
Murmuring those cryptic words, Yul Han wrote a letter and had soone send it to the Guardian of the Faith.
No one but Yul Han knew what was written in that letter.
Word spread throughout the martial world that the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan had gone to Golden Flower Manor to apologize.
Stories circulated that the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan had knelt before the bereaved families of Golden Flower Manor.
As tales spread that he had destroyed his own dantian and walked from Mount Zhongnan to Golden Flower Manor without taking any food, the criticism toward Mount Zhongnan began to subside.
Moreover, the story that the martial artists of Mount Zhongnan bore no direct responsibility for the deaths of the Golden Flower Manor workers and rchants who had died innocently ca from none other than the mouth of the Lord of Golden Flower Manor himself.
Public condemnation scattered.
It was around this ti that people began to say, ‘Mount Zhongnan is not that kind of place.’
Mount Zhongnan sought its own guilt and received forgiveness from the victims, Kunlun closed its gates, and Kongtong paid the price of sin with blood.
Now, the only place left in the incident people had co to call the Golden Flower Manor Bloodshed was the Tang Clan.
Those who had been driven out with only the clothes they were wearing were sheltering from the rain under the Tang Clan’s eaves.
Avoiding the Tang Clan martial artists who hurled curses at them to go elsewhere, they huddled together by a wall so distance from the main gate. There were about seventy of them.
The widowed mother of an expelled martial artist, his wife, his children, and even his father lying sick in bed—all of them were shivering from cold and hunger.
The Tang Clan’s edge was sharp.
Even if people wanted to help, they could not, and there was no one who stepped forward saying they would help.
It was because public opinion ran high that, having killed innocent people, they should gladly accept such punishnt.
There were not a few who, as they passed by, threw stones or spat on them.
The Tang Clan’s martial artists ca only from the Tang Clan.
That ant they were one family.
Naturally, their wives, parents, and children were also mbers of the Tang Clan.
That more than a third of those driven out bore the Tang surna was enough to guess the situation.
Among them were children who had been trainee martial artists, and there were also those who were old but had once been Tang Clan martial artists.
To them, the Tang Clan was cruel.
Regardless of age, all of them had their dantians destroyed and the tendons of their limbs severed before being cast out.
The venomous nature of the Tang Clan was revealed in such things.
Then, people began to approach those who had fallen into such dire straits.
They wrapped them in blankets, and though it was dry rations, they shared food with them.
Offering to provide them with a place to stay if they wished, the expelled people could not refuse.
Thus, the people left the Tang Clan’s eaves and moved to a shabby house on the outskirts of Chengdu.
The Bright Cult Banner fluttered before the door of that house, and above the doorfra hung a crude signboard reading, “Bright Cult Guardian Division Sichuan Missionary Office.”
The pressure bearing down on the Martial Alliance increased with each passing day.
Golden Flower Manor continued to demand an answer at the level of the Martial Alliance, and the Vice Cult Leader, three of the Five Demons, and even all of the Thirteen Bloods had settled down in Gansu.
Nearby were Shaanxi and Sichuan; farther away were Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan.
The regions occupied by the core sects of the Hundred Paths martial world were gripped by anxiety.
Considering the capabilities of those staying at Golden Flower Manor, whichever place they headed toward would have to worry about its very survival.
Their numbers were small, making them light and fast.
It ant matters would be decided before helping hands from nearby could arrive.
The resulting sense of crisis and unease had gone beyond the limit.
It was not unfounded fear.
Kongtong had already t its end that way.
In the end, the Martial Alliance Council of Elders convened again and sent what they dared call a reply to Golden Flower Manor—a ridiculous letter that rely said they “extended their deepest condolences.”
“Are they really accepting that?”
At Cold Blade Blood’s shocked question, Demon Flower nodded.
“That’s what it seems, listening to what that so-called general manager said. But why are you getting so worked up?”
“Aren’t you angry, Senior? After suffering all that damage, they calm their hearts with nothing but a scrap of paper with a few aningless lines written on it?”
“You weren’t the one who suffered that damage.”
“Well, that’s…….”
As Cold Blade Blood trailed off, unable to continue, Demon Flower spoke coldly.
“Get a grip. You can’t even tell your own affairs from others’!”
At the clearly reproachful tone, another voice was added.
“I have my grip, which is why I am angry.”
“V-Vice Cult Leader!”
As Demon Flower reacted in surprise and fluster, Yul Han spoke.
“Fourth Elder, you should open your heart. If you keep it shut so tightly, no one will ever treat you sincerely.”
Turning his gaze away from the thoroughly flustered Fourth Elder, Yul Han spoke to Cold Blade Blood.
“It is right to be angry. It is more than enough reason for anger.”
“R-Right!”
“That’s right.”
Encouraged by Yul Han’s support, Cold Blade Blood bristled again as he spoke.
“I’m this angry—so why did Golden Flower Manor accept it?”
“Because they are rchants.”
At Yul Han’s answer, Cold Blade Blood asked with a look of incomprehension.
“Pardon?”
“Though it was called retaliation, in reality excluding the Hundred Paths is the sa as giving up more than half of the martial market.”
“Don’t tell it’s because of money?”
At Cold Blade Blood’s incredulous question, Yul Han replied.
“Just as we stake everything on martial arts, rchants stake everything on money. Just because they are different from us does not an we should look down on them.”
That was the truth.
From a rchant’s standpoint, it was the sa as carving away their own flesh.
And that was not the only reason. Yul Han added another.
“Moreover, even if it is not Golden Flower Manor, rchants stepping forward to trade with the Hundred Paths are starting to appear, one by one.”
“What? Weren’t the Central Plains rchants united in retaliation?”
To Cold Blade Blood’s puzzled look, Yul Han answered.
“Ti and money. Ti cools anger, and money provides the spark that breaks unity.”
“I didn’t know that the righteousness of profit-seeking rchants could be this fleeting.”
“Then at least let us not be like that.”
At Yul Han’s words, Cold Blade Blood spoke as if making a vow.
“Of course!”
At the sight of Cold Blade Blood even clenching his fist tightly, Yul Han gave a faint smile.
Watching Yul Han, Demon Flower’s eyes widened.
‘He’s smiling?’
It was the first ti Demon Flower had seen the Vice Cult Leader smile.
Of course, outwardly, it could not be called a smile at all. The upturned corner of his mouth was only the slightest bit twisted.
If one had to put it into words, it was closer to a sneer.
Even so, Demon Flower felt that the Vice Cult Leader was smiling.
Perhaps because of that, Demon Flower began to understand, just a little, how Cold Blade Blood could laugh and chatter face-to-face with a Vice Cult Leader who wore such a desolate expression.
Then Cold Blade Blood’s question reached Demon Flower’s ears.
“So what do we do now?”
At Cold Blade Blood’s question, Yul Han answered.
“We go back.”
At Yul Han’s reply, Cold Blade Blood let out a cheer and ran toward where his comrades were gathered.
It seed true that ho was a place everyone wanted to return to.
Even if not as much as Cold Blade Blood, Yul Han too was glad to be going back.
The head of the Tang Clan could not sit still after receiving the report that the Bright Cult Missionary Office had taken in those they had expelled.
It felt as if the Vice Cult Leader might burst in at any mont.
Just then, a gate guard brought him a ssage.
“A guest?”
“Yes. They said that if I delivered this, you would et them…….”
What the gate guard held out was a small necklace made of shells.
As the Tang Clan Head stared down at it in disbelief, a strange light flickered in his eyes.
“Where are they?”
“At the main gate—.”
The gate guard’s answer scattered halfway through, because the Tang Clan Head was already running barefoot toward the main gate.
User Comments
0 comments from readers