The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 467

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 467: The Anxiety of Goodness (4)

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“How can you carry out an execution without even conducting a proper investigation?!”

Myeonghyeon’s roar thundered throughout the Martial Alliance.

Two groups faced one another in the enforcement arena, their killing intent flaring.

Mount Cang Sect, the sect of the accused, stood against the Enforcement Hall.

“Gwanrok has denied every accusation! Yet you would sentence them to death without a shred of evidence?! Do you think so little of Mount Cang Sect?!”

Myeonghyeon’s fury soared to the heavens.

An elite Mount Cang Sect disciple who had risen through the Inspectorate had been branded a spy alongside Hu Ilsik.

“We have already shown you all the evidence.”

The Enforcement Hall remained cold.

Joo Gwanrok had delivered a spare copy of the death list to Hu Ilsik, and Hu Ilsik, who had led the Black Officers, had written Mount Mao Sect’s name on it.

The circumstances were already clear.

“This makes no sense from the start! Why would a disciple of Mount Cang Sect work as a spy alongside some orphan whose origins no one even knows?!”

From Mount Cang Sect’s perspective, it was incomprehensible.

Gwanrok was not an outsider who had entered as a lay disciple. Mount Cang Sect had raised Gwanrok from a very young age.

How could someone they had spent decades with suddenly turn out to be a spy?

Moreover, Gwanrok had denied the accusations time and again.

“Now that further crimes have been uncovered, the execution will proceed.”

Joo Gwanrok had intended to wipe out five sects besides Mount Mao Sect.

Each held an important position among the One Hundred Eight Peaks.

When an Enforcement Hall member nodded to a subordinate, an execution officer drew a sword beside Joo Gwanrok, who was bound to a chair.

Shing.

Blue sword qi gathered along the pure white blade, and Joo Gwanrok cried out until the veins bulged in Gwanrok’s neck.

“Martial Uncle! I’ve been wronged...! I truly have been wronged!”

Joo Gwanrok wept and pleaded innocence, but the Mount Cang Sect members could no longer restrain themselves.

“Stop them.”

At Myeonghyeon’s brief command, the Mount Cang Sect members vanished.

“...!”

Shing.

They reappeared behind the Enforcement Hall members.

Mount Cang Sect’s swords rested at the Enforcement Hall members’ throats.

“...”

Yet even with a sword at their throat, the execution officer’s expression did not change.

“This is an act of rebellion against the Martial Alliance. Are you aware of that?”

“Justice that is not right is no justice. Stop the execution at once.”

As the tense standoff continued, two middle-aged figures slowly entered the enforcement arena.

The Enforcement Hall members immediately cupped their fists.

“““We greet the Alliance Leader.”””

“““We greet the Chief Strategist.”””

They were Jegal Somyeong and Hyeok Mugang.

Jegal Somyeong scanned the scene with a hardened expression.

“Have you lost your minds?”

Myeonghyeon spat the words through clenched teeth.

“The one who has lost their mind is the Chief Strategist!”

“What?”

“Joo Gwanrok has declared innocence countless times. Can executing someone without properly hearing a word of it truly be called the way of a Martial Alliance founded on justice?”

Jegal Somyeong, who had listened in silence, asked bluntly.

“Is there evidence of innocence?”

“...We are searching for it through an investigation!”

“Hm. You claim innocence without evidence?”

“Even before evidence, there is common sense! What connection could there be between a Mount Cang Sect disciple and that murderer Hu Ilsik?!”

It was an impassioned cry.

Jegal Somyeong’s reply came back cold.

“So you are saying Gwanrok cannot be guilty because Gwanrok belongs to Mount Cang Sect.”

Myeonghyeon refused to yield.

“I am saying you should uncover the truth beyond all doubt! Or are you trying to use Dam Ak’s affair from last time to tighten your grip on Mount Cang Sect?!”

Mount Cang Sect had already been pushed far from the center of the Martial Alliance.

Daoist Myeonghyeon’s blunders in Sichuan had distanced Mount Cang Sect from the Orthodox Society’s center of power. Its attempt to regain influence by involving itself in Dam Ak’s affair had pushed it out entirely.

If it became known that a Black Officer spy had come from Mount Cang Sect, the sect’s plans to strive for supremacy might be delayed for decades, or abandoned altogether.

That was why Myeonghyeon had come all the way to the Martial Alliance while recuperating at the main mountain, despite their advanced age.

“As the Martial Alliance’s Chief Strategist, put aside political maneuvering and place justice first!”

“Justice, justice...”

The Snowflake Iron Fan had appeared in Jegal Somyeong’s hand.

Myeonghyeon’s words had struck a nerve beyond endurance.

“You speak as though the Martial Alliance is an unjust organization.”

Swish.

The Snowflake Iron Fan in Jegal Somyeong’s hand opened.

Its edge pointed straight at Joo Gwanrok’s throat.

Myeonghyeon’s face reddened at Jegal Somyeong’s intention to act personally.

“Do you truly intend to see this through to the end...?!”

At that moment, Hyeok Mugang gently stopped Jegal Somyeong’s iron fan and stepped forward.

Jegal Somyeong looked at Hyeok Mugang for a moment, then folded the fan and stepped back.

They could settle matters here and now, but dealing with what followed would not be easy.

“Hu Ilsik, who used the death list, never revealed to anyone that they were a spy. Even those who had shared hardships alongside Hu Ilsik did not know about the dark arts Hu Ilsik had learned.”

Hyeok Mugang’s voice was calm.

“Let me ask you this. Can you guarantee that Mount Cang Sect’s disciple, Joo Gwanrok, has not learned dark arts? If it is revealed that Gwanrok has...”

“...”

“Mount Cang Sect will cross a river from which there is no return.”

Myeonghyeon’s body trembled beneath that beastlike gaze.

That was right. For Daoist Myeonghyeon, who feared Mount Cang Sect’s downfall, perhaps it would be better for Joo Gwanrok to die like this.

But.

“Considering the danger that Gwanrok may use dark arts at any moment, carrying out the execution now may be better for Mount Cang Sect as well.”

The words, “may use dark arts,” stirred the deepest part of Myeonghyeon’s heart.

‘Are they already convinced that Gwanrok learned dark arts?’

Mount Cang Sect had already fallen far.

If this had been Mount Cang Sect in its prime, Joo Gwanrok would never have been investigated in the first place.

Daoist Myeonghyeon could not accept the present reality, nor Mount Cang Sect’s decline.

So.

“If you designate Mount Cang Sect, the Martial Alliance’s most important ally and pillar, as a heretical faction, then Mount Cang Sect has no reason to remain in the Martial Alliance!”

“...”

Even while faintly recognizing their own foolishness, Myeonghyeon puffed up in a final struggle before a beast.

Not only the Enforcement Hall members but even Jegal Somyeong could not hide their surprise at the threat.

Of course, a single remark could not end an alliance that had lasted so long. Still, Daoist Myeonghyeon’s words would not end as mere words.

“...Is that so?”

Hyeok Mugang’s expression did not change.

“The Martial Alliance and Mount Cang Sect share a blood oath alliance that goes beyond a simple alliance! If the Martial Alliance does not trust Mount Cang Sect, what meaning is there in Mount Cang Sect remaining in the Alliance?”

And Jegal Somyeong feared exactly that.

Hyeok Mugang was the type of person who showed no emotion when most angry.

Before long, Hyeok Mugang’s fingers began tapping rhythmically.

“Covering up wrongdoing is what you call trust...”

Hyeok Mugang gave a light shake of the head.

“If that is the relationship between us, I believe it would be best to end it.”

Hyeok Mugang drew a straight line through the air with a finger.

“What do you mea...”

“Ghk!”

A thin red line appeared on Joo Gwanrok’s neck, just as hope of survival had begun to bloom.

“M-Martial Uncle...”

Joo Gwanrok’s neck was cleanly severed, and the head rolled across the floor.

“Tell Baek Umun this. Nowhere in the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Law does it say that the weight of a criminal’s sin changes according to the sect they belong to.”

Blood poured from the severed neck like a swelling stream.

The Mount Cang Sect members stared blankly at the sight.

Tanghyeon Sect had vanished along with Wang Soso’s disappearance.

At the time Wang Soso disappeared in my previous life, Wang Geumsan had lost all reason and received the names of three sects through the Hefei branch leader.

People found it strange.

Why was Tanghyeon Sect, a White Path sect, among those three?

Why had the Hefei branch leader of the Martial Alliance personally handed over Tanghyeon Sect, one of the One Hundred Eight Peaks?

Wang Geumsan wiped out the three sects and later vanished alongside the Wang Family Estate, allowing people’s questions to dissolve into time without leaving a trace.

And now.

Tanghyeon Sect’s name had surfaced again.

“Did the list come directly from the Black Officers?”

“We received it after it passed through the Mantong Office.”

“Did it say which sects were under suspicion?”

“It did not. I suppose that means we are to investigate without prejudice.”

They had been suspected of a serious crime twice.

Should I dismiss that as absurdly bad luck?

Or should I see it as the misdeeds they normally kept hidden being revealed at moments like this?

“Once you cross that mountain, you’ll reach Tanghyeon Sect.”

A villager we met along the road pointed toward a western mountain.

I casually asked, “Does Tanghyeon Sect ever abuse its power?”

“Pardon? Abuse its power?”

The villager tilted their head.

“Quite the opposite. Whenever something serious happens in the village, they’re the first to step forward. Honestly, they go so far that you start wondering whether martial artists really need to do all this.”

“I see.”

For some reason, Ilgak looked relieved.

“When you see them apologizing because they couldn’t resolve matters that weren’t even their fault, you come to understand what a true hero is.”

From what I heard, Tanghyeon Sect seemed to share many qualities with me.

I was glad I had prevented their destruction by resolving Wang Soso’s case.

“Benefactor Jin, what’s with that expression?”

“What expression?”

“You look as though you received the praise yourself.”

“...They have a spirit of chivalry. I’m the sort of person who is moved when I hear stories about chivalry.”

“Benefactor Jin?”

What was with that dumbfounded expression?

I had the urge to put a few lumps on Ilgak’s smooth head.

When I was young, Martial Alliance events felt more like fairy tales.

The Greatest Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament, heroes’ memorial services, even martial world festivals.

News of Martial Alliance events filled me with vague longing for a place I could not visit and fantasies about experiences I had never known.

But those were only feelings I had as a child.

Once you become an adult and learn about the world, you begin to understand the political meaning behind every event.

If I, who had spent my entire previous life at the bottom, understood that much, how much more would those who led and managed a sect understand?

No one would think this visit by the Dragon-Phoenix Association was simply for friendship.

It had been that way before, and it would continue to be that way.

Especially for those who had heard that the Martial Alliance was carrying out a purge operation against people who had learned Blood Cult arts, how would they view the Dragon-Phoenix Association’s visit?

“Welcome!!!”

Thundering voices of welcome greeted us, and crowds lined the entrance.

The mouthwatering scent of food filled the air from every direction, while music rang out within the sect.

“We have been waiting for you, members of the Dragon-Phoenix Association.”

We lined up and exchanged greetings with cupped fists.

“““The Dragon-Phoenix Association greets Tanghyeon Sect.”””

“““Tanghyeon Sect welcomes the Dragon-Phoenix Association.”””

As soon as the greetings ended, Tanghyeon Sect Leader Mak Hyowol warmly seized the Society Leader’s hand.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting eagerly. Come inside first.”

Considering that sect leaders normally received the Dragon-Phoenix Association in the Sect Leader’s Hall, Tanghyeon Sect was welcoming the association with exceptional enthusiasm.

Whenever the Dragon-Phoenix Association, led by its Society Leader, passed by, Tanghyeon Sect disciples greeted them again and again.

Ilgak and I followed slowly behind, and I sent a sound transmission.

-Did Tanghyeon Sect know we were coming?

Instead of answering, Ilgak turned to look at me.

Ignoring Ilgak’s gaze, I continued the sound transmission.

-I’m asking whether Tanghyeon Sect Leader knew Ilgak and I were with the Dragon-Phoenix Association.

Officially, this was the Dragon-Phoenix Association’s visit.

Yet Tanghyeon Sect Leader had shown no surprise upon seeing Ilgak and me.

I wasn’t overestimating our fame, but it felt strange that even farmers in rural villages recognized Ilgak while Tanghyeon Sect Leader did not.

“...!”

I did not need an answer.

Ilgak’s eyes had widened in surprise.