Wudang Sacred Scriptures

Kwak Yeon paid no attention to Hu Gae’s coarse curse and turned to Jin Cheongha.

“Young Castle Lord, how did you come to know such a thing?”

Hu Gae, who had been venting his anger, flinched and looked between Kwak and Jin.

Kwak had changed the way he addressed her. He no longer called her Miss Jin, but Young Castle Lord, and his tone had become markedly more formal.

“...!”

Only then did Hu Gae understand. Kwak had treated Jin Cheongha with respect in every circumstance because she was the Young Castle Lord of Ghost Night Castle.

And here he had been mistakenly thinking Kwak was awkward around her because he harbored feelings for her.

Huh. I’ve really been sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.

He had just babbled about the two of them sounding like a married couple, after all.

Damn it. Expecting romance from a brother whose nature is that of a Taoist is more foolish than hoping for flowers on a dead tree.

As Hu Gae blamed the innocent Kwak instead of himself, Jin began to speak.

“My father captured and interrogated one of the traitors. That was how he learned that the Eight Demonic Venerables had not died.”

“...!”

Since this concerned a hidden affair of the Demonic Eight Divisions, Hu Gae listened intently.

“When the hidden mastermind’s Servitors infiltrated the Great Demon Prison to win over the practitioners of the Demonic Eight Divisions, the Eight Demonic Venerables refused them without hesitation. They must have foreseen that accepting the great evil art would turn them into the Servitors’ slaves.

“Then the Servitors won over some of the imprisoned practitioners and incited a prison revolt. Unable to withstand the traitors’ strength after they had recovered their inner power, the Eight Demonic Venerables retreated into the deepest part of the Great Demon Prison and sealed the passage behind them.”

Having poured out the long explanation in a single breath, Jin paused to steady herself.

“You both already know what happened afterward. I need not tell you.”

Kwak nodded readily. He could picture what must have happened at Ghost Night Castle after that.

Once the Castle Lord realized that the tide had turned beyond recovery, he must have sent the Young Castle Lord away and told her to find the Great Demon Prison.

That was why Jin had been headed for the Martial Alliance to learn its location when she encountered them.

Kwak could feel the immense burden resting on her shoulders.

“So you intend to go to the Great Demon Prison and rescue the Eight Demonic Venerables?”

“Yes.”

“And what will you do after rescuing them?”

“Not every practitioner of the Demonic Eight Divisions has been brought under the hidden mastermind’s control. The ones who accepted the great evil art grew vastly stronger through their demonic arts, and they seized actual power within the Demonic Eight Divisions. Many others have no choice but to follow the prevailing tide.”

“The demonic path reveres strength. I understand.”

Jin immediately replied,

“Chief Secretary Kwak, not every practitioner of the demonic path follows the strong without question. Nor are they all devoid of righteousness.”

“...!”

“Demonic nature and Tao have always dwelled together in a person’s heart, like light and shadow. Have they not?”

Hu Gae nodded.

“Sister Jin is right. A Taoist is not always a good person, and someone of the demonic path is not always evil.”

Kwak readily bowed his head to Jin.

“Young Castle Lord, how could I, who claim to be a resident Taoist, fail to understand the truth that even the demonic path begins with the heart? I was simply absorbed in your account and spoke carelessly.”

“You need not apologize, Chief Secretary Kwak. I know you meant no harm. I only said it because I wished to explain what I intend to do after the Eight Demonic Venerables emerge.”

“Then that is a relief.”

Hu Gae listened to the two of them yielding so readily to each other and felt slightly bewildered.

Doesn’t that make them sound like a married couple after all?

As Hu Gae remained caught up in that confusion, Jin spoke again.

“Once the Eight Demonic Venerables leave the Great Demon Prison, I can only hope they will rally the practitioners of the demonic path who still have conviction and turn the tide.”

“...”

“...”

It was such a distant hope that Kwak and Hu Gae both fell silent.

How would they even discover the Great Demon Prison’s location? And even if they were fortunate enough to find it, the hidden mastermind’s lackeys would surely be guarding it.

Moreover, if the Eight Demonic Venerables had sealed the entrance themselves, the collapse must have been on the scale of a cave-in. It was uncertain whether they had survived until now at all.

When Kwak and Hu Gae remained silent, Jin continued.

“It is the only thread of hope left to save the Demonic Eight Divisions as they are now. That is why I could not bring myself to tell you both so readily.”

Hu Gae nodded.

“Sister Jin, I understand completely. If that truth became known to the martial world, those who bear grudges against the Eight Demonic Venerables would flock to the Great Demon Prison.”

“Thank you for understanding, Sub-Branch Master.”

“There’s no need to thank me for that...”

Hu Gae awkwardly scratched at his thigh.

“Brother Hu, do you happen to know the location of the Great Demon Prison?”

Hu Gae shook his head at Kwak’s question.

“The Martial Alliance keeps everything about the Great Demon Prison under such strict secrecy that even the Beggar Clan does not know. To be honest, we had no reason to uncover it.”

“Could you investigate it now? You once said that when the Beggar Clan sets its mind to something, there is no secret beneath the heavens it cannot uncover.”

Hu Gae’s face twisted faintly.

Damn it. I only said that because I could use it as an excuse to refuse anything difficult or troublesome whenever I didn’t feel like doing it.

But he could hardly say such a thing as a member of the Beggar Clan.

“Well... I can send word to my people and make the effort, but information concerning the Great Demon Prison is extraordinarily sensitive...”

He trailed off.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, you do not need to go that far.”

Hu Gae sighed inwardly in relief.

Whew.

The moment his master learned that he had ordered Beggar Clan members to find the Great Demon Prison, thunder would fall on him.

His master was the sort of man who claimed he would open his eyes even from the grave if he heard the words ‘Demonic Eight Divisions.’

What in the world did that old man experience during the Eight Desolations Upheaval?

He had heard that his master had taken part in the Eight Desolations Upheaval as a Sub-Branch Master, just as Hu Gae did now.

In any case, Jin Cheongha herself had declined their help, so Hu Gae had escaped an awkward situation.

But that relief burst like a bubble the moment Kwak spoke.

“No. Young Castle Lord, it has become even more difficult for you to move freely within the Martial Alliance. Brother Hu and I, your companions, ought to make the effort. Is that not right, Brother Hu?”

Hu Gae felt as though someone had put a ring through his nose. Still, he answered reluctantly.

“Uh... yes. That’s right.”

Kwak said to Jin,

“Brother Hu is of the Beggar Clan. Since he has agreed to investigate, we should soon have good news. I will make an effort as well.”

Jin lowered her head slightly.

“Thank you. I did not wish to speak of the Great Demon Prison because I feared placing such a burden on both of you...”

Hearing the tremor in her voice, Hu Gae said awkwardly,

“Sister Jin, why make such a fuss over this much? What you are trying to do would benefit not only the Demonic Eight Divisions, but the orthodox martial world as well.”

“...?”

“If matters unfold as you intend, wouldn’t the orthodox martial world be able to deal with the Demonic Eight Divisions’ fiends—the hidden mastermind’s lackeys—without lifting a hand?”

Kwak brightened at Hu Gae’s words.

“Brother Hu, that is entirely correct.”

“Hm...?”

“I mean what you said about it being good for the orthodox martial world as well.”

“...!”

Hu Gae saw the gleam in Kwak’s eyes and felt a chill run through him. That look was always followed by Kwak meddling in something, and then by miserable hardship.

“Brother Kwak, are you perhaps...?”

“I have read that the highest form of strategy is to win without fighting. Rather than carry out a campaign that demands enormous sacrifice, is this not another course worth considering?”

Hu Gae was stunned to realize that Kwak intended to rescue the Eight Demonic Venerables, those great demons of the previous generation.

“Hey, but if this goes wrong, people could mistake you for a traitor of the highest order.”

Jin, too, stepped in with alarm in her eyes.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, the Sub-Branch Master is right. It is far too dangerous even to contemplate. Please put the thought aside.”

Kwak shook his head.

“I know that people look at the finger and not at the moon it points toward. But when the moon shines plainly before us, can we claim that it does not exist?”

“...!”

“...!”

Both Jin and Hu Gae were briefly left speechless.

In that one sentence, they felt how differently Kwak viewed the world.

“In any event, we must first deal with the matter directly before us.”

Only then did Hu Gae snap back to himself.

Their own house was already on fire, yet they had been worrying about dates for next year’s ancestral rites.

“Yes, you’re right. Catching the Right Military Strategist’s tail takes precedence over everything else. Still, the Right Military Strategist is plainly a collaborator, but we have neither proof nor any way to establish it... Haah.”

Before Hu Gae’s sigh had even ended, Jin spoke.

“Sub-Branch Master, I will testify publicly and expose the Right Military Strategist’s true nature.”

Kwak and Hu Gae both turned toward her.

“Young Castle Lord?”

“Sister Jin?”

Jin spoke in a resolute voice.

“If I stand before everyone and recount every fact, the Right Military Strategist will not be able to deny it. I will reveal my own identity as well.”

Hu Gae looked at her in alarm.

“Sister Jin, this is the Martial Alliance. Everyone here is hungry to launch the campaign against the Demonic Eight Divisions.”

“I know I may be put in danger. I know I can hardly expect leniency.”

“...?”

“But even at this very moment, the Martial Alliance’s plans and intelligence are being leaked through the Right Military Strategist. The Martial Alliance’s campaign force is about to deploy. If this continues, it will suffer a devastating blow. That must be what the hidden mastermind wants.

“And if the hidden mastermind comes close to taking control of the martial world, there will be no hope even if the Eight Demonic Venerables emerge.”

Kwak immediately said,

“Young Castle Lord, let us do that.”

“Brother Kwak?”

Kwak turned to Hu Gae, who was staring at him in shock.

“Brother Hu, we can reveal the Young Castle Lord’s identity without allowing it to become public.”

“Hm...?”

“This is when I use my authority as Chief Secretary of the Alliance Leader’s Office.”

Hu Gae’s darkened face brightened.

“Ah!”

If they revealed Jin’s identity only to the Martial Alliance Leader, Jin would not be endangered.

The Martial Alliance Leader was Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak, one of the Four Venerables of the martial world. He was the sort of man who upheld the greater cause and did not concern himself with personal transgressions.

And he trusts this Cave Hermit Taoist enough to summon him to the Alliance Leader’s Office and feed him spiritual medicine.

Hu Gae could think of no other explanation for why Kwak’s martial arts had advanced so dramatically in a single day.

Yet before long, Hu Gae’s expectations of the Martial Alliance Leader were shattered.

It happened after Hocheon Unit Lord Myung Jincheon said only a few words while blocking the entrance to the Alliance Leader’s Office.

“All of you, go back. Return after dawn. The Alliance Leader has ordered the gates of the Alliance Leader’s Office sealed for tonight.”

“Unit Lord Myung, we must see the Alliance Leader at once concerning the incidents in the Strategists’ Office.”

Even though the request came from Kwak, Chief Secretary of the Alliance Leader’s Office, Hocheon Unit Lord Myung would not budge.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, no one may enter the Alliance Leader’s Office at this time.”

“Unit Lord Myung, I sincerely apologize, but please at least send word to the Alliance Leader. The matter is that urgent.”

“...”

Hocheon Unit Lord Myung watched Kwak for a moment, his lips twitching.

—Chief Secretary Kwak, the Alliance Leader is in closed-door seclusion. It is something he cannot tell anyone, so he is using the sealed gates as a pretext. Go back.

The instant Kwak heard Myung’s transmitted voice, his heart dropped.

Could he have suffered enough damage to require secluded qi circulation?

Kwak knew that Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak had expended an enormous amount of inner power and true qi suppressing and purging Kwak’s inner demon.

If he merely happened to be in secluded cultivation, that would be an immense relief, but...

Unable to do anything further, Kwak turned away in frustration.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, are you not acting in the Alliance Leader’s stead?”

At Hocheon Unit Lord Myung’s question, Kwak turned back toward him.

“...?”

“My understanding is that the Alliance Leader appointed you Chief Secretary precisely so you could act in his stead at times like this.”

“...That is true!”

Kwak gave Hocheon Unit Lord Myung a clasped-hands bow.

“My own failing caused needless commotion. Thank you as well for reminding me of my position.”

Hocheon Unit Lord Myung answered bluntly,

“As one charged with the Alliance Leader’s protection, I merely wish to preserve his peace. You have no need to thank me.”

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