WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Former Supreme ◈
Chapter 102: An Eye for an Eye (1)
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"No!"
At the sight of a sword protruding from Rapsa's heart, Myeol Jiryun's eyes flew open in shock.
It had been a dream.
But the moment she realized Rapsa's death was real, she sprang up.
"Pajeong!"
She was lying on an old, hard bed. The surroundings were dim, but on closer inspection, she realized she was in a martial prison.
'Why am I here?'
The last thing she remembered was resting with Pajeong.
Then she flinched.
Someone was sitting on a small chair beyond the bars, watching her.
"Who are you?"
It was Baek Socheon.
Only then did she realize she had failed to escape the Murim Alliance's pursuit.
"Where am I? What about Pajeong? Where is Pajeong?"
"This is the Murim Alliance's martial prison."
"Pajeong?"
"He's dead."
"That's a lie!"
Myeol Jiryun shouted. As far as she knew, Pajeong was among the strongest. No matter whom he faced or what situation he was in, he was not someone who would die easily.
Yet she could tell from Baek Socheon's calm eyes that it was true. If Pajeong were alive, she would not be imprisoned here.
Shock, rage, and the fear that she might die as well washed over her.
"Did you kill him?"
Baek Socheon shook his head.
"There are many masters besides me who could kill him."
Since they had yet to decide what to do with her, Baek Socheon did not tell her the truth.
"Even if we came from the lands beyond the borders, is this any way to treat a guest?"
Pajeong had told her that the Murim Alliance knew everything, but she flatly denied it.
"Calling yourself a guest is rather strange."
"What do you mean?"
"Would you call someone trying to harm their host a guest?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
If she wanted to live, denial was her only choice. She was trying to think her way out of it, but unfortunately for her, she was facing Baek Socheon.
As if he had nothing more to say, Baek Socheon stood.
"Then rest."
"What are you planning to do with me?"
"That will depend on how your father responds."
The Alliance Leader had granted Baek Socheon full authority to handle this matter.
He had no intention of killing her. Doing so would only make things worse. Using her to obtain what he wanted was the wiser choice.
"If my father doesn't do as you want... are you saying you'll kill me?"
Baek Socheon answered without hesitation.
"I will."
"You're from the orthodox faction, aren't you? You can't do this."
"Why do you think you can do such things, but we cannot?"
Myeol Jiryun had no answer to Baek Socheon's question.
She stepped closer to the iron bars. She tried to draw up her internal energy, but her dantian had already been completely suppressed.
"Let me go. Let me receive a fair judgment."
"A fair judgment, you say? Then you would be beheaded."
Myeol Jiryun flinched at the word.
"The only reason you can live is because I am not handling this fairly."
"Baek Socheon! Are you really going to do this?"
"I don't think your father will give you up so easily. So wait quietly."
"If you leave me here, I'll kill myself."
"Go ahead."
"What?"
"I don't care if you smash your head against the wall and die. I'll deal with that if it happens. You may be a fortune to your father, but to me, you're worth less than a boulder lying around. At least I could sit on one."
Baek Socheon turned and walked away.
"Just you wait! I will never forget today's humiliation!"
Baek Socheon stopped.
When he returned to stand before the bars, his gaze was even colder.
"Miss Myeol, have you ever thought about why your father and Great Grandmaster tried to plant the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu in our Alliance Leader and create the Eight-Directional Ghost Blood Formation?"
"Because it is something only we can do in the martial world."
"Yes, I expected you would think that. But you're wrong. It isn't because your heretical arts are so formidable."
"Then why?"
"Because they're afraid of us."
"...!"
"To you, the orthodox martial artists must seem old-fashioned and narrow-minded. They must look frustrating and pathetic."
It was true. She had thought they were idiots, bound by pointless chivalry and etiquette.
"But do you know this? Your father and Great Grandmaster are causing all this chaos because those orthodox martial artists frighten them. They are so afraid that they had to put even you forward to carry out their scheme."
"Shut up!"
"Miss Myeol, you're mistaken. Rather than saying you will never forget today, you should say this: Please forget what happened today. And what you said earlier is what I should be saying."
Baek Socheon stared directly at her.
"Don't forget. I will never forget today. I will never forget that you tried to drive the person I love and respect most into a fate worse than death."
Crushed beneath an indescribable pressure, Myeol Jiryun could not offer a single rebuttal.
Leaving her frightened gaze behind, Baek Socheon quietly departed.
* * *
Myeolsaeng sat at the very center of the Cult Leader's Hall.
Normally, the seat of honor in the Alliance Leader's Hall was placed high at the rear center, where the Alliance Leader could look down upon those below.
But the Blood Cult Leader's seat stood in the exact center of the Cult Leader's Hall. Instead of a grand chair, there was a single red cushion.
This arrangement accounted for times when a great ritual requiring the power of many masters was performed. Then, the cult's masters would form a circle around the cult leader.
Today, Myeolsaeng was alone. Sitting cross-legged, he circulated energy.
Blood-red energy in the shape of serpents swirled around him, and the snake tattoo on his forehead glowed crimson. It was said that the Blood Serpent appeared only after one attained full mastery of the Blood Heaven Art.
The Blood Serpent's energy, which had coiled around Myeolsaeng, was soon absorbed into his body.
After gathering the energy, Myeolsaeng slowly opened his eyes. His pupils shone red like blood before turning gray.
Blood Qi surged from his entire body. Red energy rose from his palm, immense power swirling there, enough to reduce the Cult Leader's Hall to dust with a single palm strike.
When someone entered the hall, the energy filling Myeolsaeng's hand quietly subsided.
The newcomer was Jeok Parap. Though over a hundred years old, Jeok Parap had black hair and taut skin, making him look more like a disciple than a centenarian.
"What do you mean? Jiryun sent a request for rescue?"
Myeolsaeng rose and respectfully pressed his palms together in greeting.
"Welcome, Master."
"Answer me first."
"Pajeong sent an urgent dispatch. It said Rapsa was dead and that he was escaping with Jiryun."
"Rapsa is dead? Killed by whom?"
"Pajeong said he killed him personally."
"Pajeong did?"
"Rapsa betrayed us and told Yeom Hwasin our entire plan. Then Yeom Hwasin apparently attended the duel tournament and told Baek Socheon."
"What nonsense! Rapsa did not even know about this plan."
Jeok Parap had never hidden his emotions well. That tendency had worsened after he passed ninety, and now that he was over a hundred, his feelings showed even more plainly.
"I don't know the full details either. All I know is what Pajeong wrote in the dispatch."
"This is a scheme by those Murim Alliance bastards."
"Can we really be sure of that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Yeom Hwasin may have discovered this and tipped Baek Socheon off."
"That cannot be."
"How can you be so certain?"
"Tattling to the Murim Alliance is not his way."
"Yeom Hwasin knows that we planted the Heaven-Exiled Grudge Gu in his body. Yet you still say it cannot be?"
"That is precisely why. He has the magnanimity to maintain an alliance even after learning that."
"I see."
Jeok Parap reacted to the faintly mocking tone.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Master, you have always thought highly of Yeom Hwasin. Have you not valued him more highly than me?"
"Do not misunderstand. I only meant that you should not underestimate Yeom Hwasin."
They had argued over this before. Jeok Parap did not think this was the time to revisit it, so he quickly changed the subject.
"So? Did you send a rescue party?"
"I first sent the cult's masters who have been operating secretly in the Central Plains to the meeting place."
"I will go myself."
"If this is their scheme, would that not be exactly what they want? Please wait."
"This concerns Jiryun."
"Either way, the outcome should be clear by now."
Jeok Parap stared silently at Myeolsaeng.
"You're looking at me that way again."
"What way?"
"Master, I love Jiryun more than anyone. I am not like Yeom Hwasin, who gambles with his child's life. I did not go myself because I would not let personal feelings interfere with the cult's greater cause."
"I know!"
This time, the two had deliberately displayed their conflict and spread rumors about it. They had done so to send Myeol Jiryun and Pajeong and make this plan succeed.
Still, there was genuine discord between them. If their conflict had been as openly hostile as what they had shown everyone, their relationship might have been easier to repair.
Instead, it was subtle and delicate.
For one thing, Jeok Parap involved himself deeply in the Blood Cult's affairs.
At first, Myeolsaeng had welcomed his master's help. Now it had become a burden.
Even so, Myeolsaeng could not bring himself to tell his master to stop interfering. Jeok Parap had put in years of effort, and many within the cult followed the elder master as a result. If Myeolsaeng pushed Jeok Parap aside, the Blood Cult would be split in half.
That truly irritated Myeolsaeng.
If Jeok Parap truly cared about him, all that strength should be focused on Myeolsaeng. Yet his master's ambition was too great for that.
Their personalities were a problem as well.
If they had been completely different, their conflict might not have deepened. They would have known that they thought differently.
But the problem was that they were similar in some ways.
Similar yet different personalities constantly raised the question, 'Why is that person acting like this?'
That was why Myeolsaeng was the only person who could break the composure of Jeok Parap, who was over a hundred years old.
And Jeok Parap was likewise the only person who could disturb the Blood Cult Leader's peace of mind.
Jeok Parap reassured Myeolsaeng in a gentle tone.
"Pajeong is with her, so there is no need to worry."
"If that were true, he would not have sent a request for rescue."
Jeok Parap's expression stiffened, but Myeolsaeng pretended not to notice and looked away.
Strictly speaking, Myeolsaeng and Pajeong were fellow disciples. That, too, was part of the conflict. Myeolsaeng disliked Pajeong, whom his master had accepted as a disciple late in life. All these small things had gathered together and formed an invisible rift between them.
A heavy silence filled the hall until a subordinate rushed in with an urgent report.
"An urgent dispatch has arrived from the masters sent to rescue her. They report that the young lady did not appear at the meeting place. They even released Tracking Hounds and searched the surrounding area thoroughly. Not far away... they found a shattered corpse that had been buried."
Myeolsaeng sprang to his feet.
"What?"
The subordinate hastily continued at the cult leader's fierce reaction.
"Fortunately, it was Pajeong's corpse."
Jeok Parap shouted at once.
"Fortunately?"
The subordinate realized the mistake. Pajeong had been Jeok Parap's disciple.
"I deserve death!"
The subordinate dropped flat to the ground, but Jeok Parap's rage had already erupted.
"You mad bastard! What do you mean, fortunately?"
The moment Jeok Parap extended a hand, the man flew into his grasp. Jeok Parap's eyes turned white, and then he opened his mouth wide.
Ssssss.
The life force pouring from the man's seven orifices began to be absorbed into Jeok Parap's mouth.
"Ghk!"
The man let out a pained scream, then fell to the floor as a dried husk.
Myeolsaeng watched with displeasure. The subordinate had called it fortunate because it was not Myeol Jiryun's corpse. It had been a mistake, certainly, but was that enough reason to kill a subordinate in front of the cult leader?
'Does that mean you wished Jiryun had died?'
The red energy rippling around Myeolsaeng grew denser.
Jeok Parap also realized his mistake. Yet he did not apologize. His other disciple was dead. Should Myeolsaeng not understand that much?
As though he could no longer stand the sight of Myeolsaeng, Jeok Parap turned and walked out of the Cult Leader's Hall.
"I will go to the Murim Alliance myself and bring Jiryun back. Send word to them that I am coming."
Myeolsaeng silently watched his master stride away.
Even so, the most reliable person to resolve this matter was still his master.
Footnotes:
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