Chapter 287: Who Handled That Matter?

TL: FoodieMonster007

A heavy silence fell.

The wooden Jin Paecheon stared at Geom Mugeuk. Its completely blank expression felt eerie and intense.

SSSSSS.

The wooden doll returned to its original size, like an actor exiting a stage after the curtain falls.

Geom Mugeuk looked past the doll on the floor to Baek Cheongeong.

"Did the Murim Alliance Chairman annihilate your family?" Geom Mugeuk's voice trembled. Even for someone who had experienced so much, this incident was shocking.

Baek Cheongeong, however, enjoyed Geom Mugeuk's reaction.

Come now, oh-so-clever Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult! What will you say now?

"Why? You don't believe the Murim Alliance Chairman would do something like that?"

Geom Mugeuk stated firmly, "That's right. I don't believe it. The Chairman I saw wasn't that kind of person."

Jin Paecheon was certainly a domineering man, but he was not one to massacre an entire family. No matter how little one knew what was in a person's heart, it was impossible for that Jin Paecheon to have done such a thing. No. That couldn't be right.

"Fine, then what was the Chairman's reason for doing it?"

Baek Cheongeong refused to answer. "I've said all I need to say."

His actions implied the conversation would only continue if Geom Mugeuk could block his next attack. Baek Cheongeong once again unleashed the Thousand Wooden Souls Art.

SSSSSS.

This time, three dolls grew in size. They walked forward slowly, their movements and aura different from the previous doll.

Geom Mugeuk could tell they were special, even among the dolls. In human terms, they were not just masters, but exceptional masters.

Despite facing an even stronger enemy, Geom Mugeuk sheathed his sword.

Baek Cheongeong gave him a quizzical look.

SHIIIIK.

Geom Mugeuk surged forward first with the Hell Step. He crossed the space in the blink of an eye and threw a punch.

"……"

KWARRRREUNG!

An explosive sound rang out with a clap of thunder. The doll in the middle never even had a chance to attack before its head was blown clean off.

It was the Fist Demon martial art, the Thunder Arhat Fist's first form, the Black Cloud Asura.

The remaining two dolls attacked without hesitation.

SHWIIK! SHWIK!

Two swords flew in, aiming for Geom Mugeuk's vital points.

I got him!

The attack was so fast and precise that Baek Cheongeong believed it had succeeded.

But just as the two swords pierced Geom Mugeuk's body, his form vanished.

Teleportation!

A clap of thunder erupted simultaneously, burying Baek Cheongeong's surprise.

KWARRRRREUNG!

A second clap of thunder exploded. The head of the doll on the left burst apart.

The last doll attacked without faltering, ignoring the flying fragments.

However, Geom Mugeuk was no longer there. This time, he had used the Shadow Step.

KWARRRRRRRREUNG!

A third, even louder clap of thunder echoed as the last doll's head shattered. A well-trained hunting dog cannot catch a tiger. All three were finished in a single blow.

The three dolls shrank to their original size and fell to the floor.

Baek Cheongeong's entire body trembled. He never imagined he would feel such fear here, in a forest full of his dolls.

Geom Mugeuk picked up one of the broken dolls.

"These dolls are different."

"They were, but you made them ordinary."

"I didn't want to waste time."

"You're trying to waste my ten years of time."

Geom Mugeuk stared into Baek Cheongeong's eyes. "What about Miss Jin's time? Have you thought about her past and her remaining days?"

Thinking of Jin Haryong weighed on his mind, but another anger came first.

"What about my family, who died unjustly! My brother, my sister-in-law, my nieces and nephews! What about my nephew's children? Can you even imagine? The heart of a parent who died holding their child! How I felt when I unfolded that blood-soaked baby blanket! Do you have any idea what I saw in that blanket!"

Baek Cheongeong's eyes were bloodshot.

SSSSSSSS.

His rage flowed into the dolls, which began to grow again.

This time, there were two. The fewer their number, the more special their aura.

The two dolls attacked first. They were incredibly fast, undoubtedly created to imitate a master of the fast sword.

They moved so quickly that even Baek Cheongeong, their creator, could not see the fight clearly.

Since he couldn't see, he could only listen. The sound of swords clashing rang out continuously, followed by three distinct sounds that marked the finale.

SHIIIIK! SHUK! CHAK!

The moment Geom Mugeuk's sword returned to its sheath.

TUK, TUUK!

The heads of the two dolls fell and rolled on the floor.

He had unleashed the Soaring Sky Sword Art's fast sword style, the Fifth Technique, Blue Sky Strike.

It had been a while since he used the Blue Sky Strike, and it was faster than before. Even at the same Twelfth Star complete mastery, his proficiency had matured, unleashing the technique with even greater power.

Baek Cheongeong was too stunned to speak.

Even the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult shouldn't have neutralized those fast sword dolls so quickly. He had expected at least five hundred exchanges. He thought Geom Mugeuk would be unable to cope and would be severely injured.

Geom Mugeuk's reaction was even more surprising. He could have boasted about his martial arts but didn't mention it. A fight of this level seemed meaningless to him. His only interest was in that man's life.

"Please answer my earlier question. Why did the Chairman annihilate your family?"

"Why is that so important to you? Whether the Chairman did it because he went senile or was bored, why does it matter? What if the Murim Alliance Chairman is a hypocrite, and what if he isn't! In the end, you Demonic Cult bastards just plan to get rid of everyone and swallow this murim whole, don't you?"

"Even if we eat it, we'll cut out the rotten parts first. So please tell me."

He deliberately used the word 'rotten'. Whatever the truth, that was what Baek Cheongeong believed.

"Did you see it yourself?"

"Are you trying to say it wasn't the Murim Alliance Chairman's doing just because I didn't see it myself?"

Every word he uttered was laced with fury. Geom Mugeuk knew how great that fury must be and calmly tried to soothe him.

"I'm not on the Murim Alliance's side. I'm simply curious about the truth."

"If you're not on the Murim Alliance's side, then why are you in front of me?"

It was because of Hwa Mugi. If he hadn't known about the connection to Hwa Mugi, he wouldn't have approached Baek Cheongeong this way.

"It's because of Miss Jin."

Baek Cheongeong scoffed but finally answered. "I didn't see it myself. By the time I returned, it was already…"

The memory of that moment surfaced, and Baek Cheongeong couldn't continue.

"But why are you so certain it was the Chairman's doing?"

"There was a witness."

"……"

"The chief steward of our household. He was dying, covered in blood. Those were his last words. That the culprit was the Murim Alliance Chairman."

Geom Mugeuk said nothing. The Murim Alliance Chairman might have killed them, or he might not have. One could never know what was in a person's heart.

However, he first considered the possibility that it wasn't true because Baek Cheongeong would later become a follower of Hwa Mugi.

"No matter how I think about it, the reason for the Chairman to annihilate your family…"

A thought flashed through Geom Mugeuk's mind. He recalled a fact he had forgotten. There was one reason the Chairman would annihilate them.

"You killed the Chairman's son and daughter-in-law!"

His expression hardened. Baek Cheongeong said nothing, but his reaction was telling.

"You knew about it too."

"Does my knowing it lessen his sin? If you want revenge, you should only do it to the person who committed the act. Why did he kill everyone?"

His protest was justified. The sorrow of losing a child was understandable, but annihilating another family for it was clearly wrong.

"But I have one question. If that's the case, why did the Chairman let you live? It was obvious you would try to get revenge like this."

"Because after that incident, I was processed as dead."

He had entered the Murim Alliance with a new identity.

"Who handled those matters? Did you do it yourself?"

Faking one's death and becoming the Master of the Murim Alliance Chairman's grandson was a difficult task. Even the Demonic Cult's All-Knowing Hall would have to handle it with care.

"Of course."

His answer came after a moment of hesitation. It was a lie. Geom Mugeuk was certain someone was behind him.

"So? What is it you want to say?"

Geom Mugeuk brought up something shocking. "What if that incident wasn't the Chairman's doing?"

"!"

"What if a third party was involved? What if they deceived you and the Chairman?"

As Baek Cheongeong's expression crumpled into a deep frown, Geom Mugeuk added an even more shocking statement. He would never have made such a hypothesis if he hadn't known of Hwa Mugi's existence. However, the Chairman's character and Hwa Mugi's existence led to this assumption.

"What if the death of the Chairman's son and his wife was all planned from the very beginning?"

Baek Cheongeong seemed to be in shock, staring blankly for a moment. He had never once considered those words. What is this bastard saying? It's nonsense.

"And what would they gain from that?"

Geom Mugeuk presented his final conclusion.

"……"

"!"

"You. Driven mad by revenge, enduring for ten years while embedded deep within the Murim Alliance. You, who would become the decisive throwing knife to kill the Chairman."

Killing intent radiated from Baek Cheongeong's body. He denied everything. No, he had to deny it. If Geom Mugeuk's words were true, then what he had carved for ten years was his own foolishness. It would mean a doll had been carving a doll.

"What the hell do you know! Do you think just flapping your mouth and saying whatever you want makes it true? What do you know!"

His anger was born from bewilderment. What if those words are true? That deep anxiety raged inside him. He would have dismissed these words as a fabrication from anyone else.

But these were the words of Geom Mugeuk, who overwhelmed him with martial arts. They came from the extraordinary person who had forced him to advance his own plans.

The trees began to grow, feeding on his surprise, fear, and anxiety.

Tree branches grew from the ground around the two men.

These were no ordinary trees. They could not be cut even with swords. The secret technique of the Thousand Wooden Souls Art was being unleashed. The growing trees formed walls and a ceiling, leaving nowhere to run. The two men faced each other in a sealed space made entirely of wood.

Other branches wrapped around Baek Cheongeong's body, forming armor. In this place, not even sword qi or enhanced sword qi could cut this armor.

"You've ruined everything. Jin Haryong will die because of you."

Geom Mugeuk calmly asked him, "What did you say to me earlier? Didn't you shout about why he killed the family instead of just the person responsible? But what are you doing now?"

"Because they did it first!"

"Weren't you the ones who started it?"

No, perhaps it was Hwa Mugi.

"Let Miss Jin go. I know you originally had no plan to kill her."

Vines rose from the ground and climbed up Geom Mugeuk's legs. They began to slowly bind his entire body, immobilizing him.

"The person who helped you infiltrate the Murim Alliance orchestrated all of this."

Geom Mugeuk saw Baek Cheongeong's eyes waver. The branches climbing his body paused for a moment. There must have been someone.

"Tell me who it is."

"There is no one! No such person exists! Do you take me for a fool!"

Other trees grew around Geom Mugeuk and became long spears. They aimed like octopus tentacles, stabbing at Geom Mugeuk from all directions as fast as a scorpion's tail.

Geom Mugeuk raised his protective enhanced qi to block the attack.

TANG! TAAANG! TANG!

The wooden spears made a metallic sound as they collided with his protective enhanced qi.

Even if he cut them, they grew back. Even if they shattered, another tree would grow and attack. They attacked endlessly, trying to tear through his protective enhanced qi. The only way to stop this attack was to kill Baek Cheongeong, hidden inside the armor.

TANG! TAAANG! TANG!

The attack inside the enclosed space was several times stronger than one from the outside.

"It's not too late. Let's face that person together!"

Baek Cheongeong hesitated, feeling Geom Mugeuk's sincerity. What if his words are true?

"Please! Don't make me kill you."

In the end, however, he did not trust Geom Mugeuk.

Baek Cheongeong pushed his inner arts to their absolute limit. Blood trickled from his mouth, but he didn't stop. A dozen spears attacked a single point, Geom Mugeuk's heart.

TANG! TAAANG! TANG!

At this rate, his protective enhanced qi would eventually be pierced.

"If you die, a war with the Demonic Cult will break out. Even if I can't kill him, the Heavenly Demon will."

The wooden spears merged into one. It turned a darker color, the final attack into which Baek Cheongeong would pour all his inner arts. In this space, that attack could no longer be blocked.

SHWAAAAAAK!

It flew toward Geom Mugeuk's heart.

The very next moment.

"……"

The flying wooden spear stopped right in front of Geom Mugeuk's heart. Its sharp edge vanished, and it fell to the floor with a thud.

Five figures now stood before Geom Mugeuk.

Four demonic spirits surrounded Baek Cheongeong. The Nine Calamities Demonic Art's First Stance, the Human Destroying Stance, had been unleashed.

The wooden armor, which could not be cut even by sword qi, was sliced apart and fell to the ground with a clatter. His martial arts, rooted in demonic art, could not block the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

When the demonic spirits vanished, Baek Cheongeong's entire body was soaked in blood.

Baek Cheongeong stared at Geom Mugeuk with a dazed look. He felt he didn't have much time left.

Geom Mugeuk took a doll from his robes. It was the doll whose face he had said he would carve himself.

A face was now carved into it. Over the past few days, visiting Baek Cheongeong's workshop, Geom Mugeuk had carved Hwa Mugi's face.

"Was that person this man?"