The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 41

Chapter 41. A First-Rate Warrior Stirring Up a New Wind (3)

As soon as it became known that my body had recovered enough for me to walk around outside, visitors began lining up one after another.

“You saw me earlier, did you not? I am Cha Seok-du, Peak Lord of Four Emperors Peak.”

“I am Kang Maeng-ji, Gang Chief of the Black Serpent Gang. You must have heard my name.”

“I am Go Gil-san, Sect Leader of the Four Dragons Sect.”

“Gang Chief of the Blood Spear Sect…….”

“Saber Armor Sect…….”

Under normal circumstances, as a disciple of the Taeul Sect, sitting down with some of the foremost experts of the Black Path Murim would have been an extremely burdensome situation, but they barged in without paying the slightest attention to my circumstances.

“The Black Path Murim owes you a great debt.”

At Cha Seok-du’s words, everyone gathered with him nodded in unison.

“If not for you, I cannot even imagine what kind of upheaval would have swept through the entire Black Path Murim.”

“Not at all. Setting beliefs aside, I merely did what naturally had to be done.”

“No. We know, and the hypocrites of the Orthodox Path know as well, just how difficult it is to do what naturally has to be done after setting beliefs aside. For example, one could say the Murim Alliance’s lukewarm response was because the majority of the people on the Demon Spirit Plateau were warriors of the Black Path Murim, could one not?”

“…….”

“Therefore, what you did was a tremendous and extraordinary deed that cannot be traded for anything.”

Cha Seok-du scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Thanks to you, I also learned that even among those hypocrite bastards, there are some fairly decent ones.”

“Ahaha…….”

I have no idea whether I should be pleased about this situation or not.

Until the Demonic Cult appeared, the Murim Alliance’s chief enemies had been the Black Path and the Unorthodox Path.

“If my heart had its way, I would invite you and everyone from your sect and hold a grand banquet…….”

“Pardon?”

I cried out without realizing it, and before I even had time to cover it up, Cha Seok-du’s face filled with regret.

“……but if I did, you would suffer a great deal of trouble.”

I hurriedly continued speaking to reduce their gratitude.

If word spread that I had truly been invited by a Black Path sect, it would be a problem if I did not go, and an even bigger problem if I did.

“I have already received more than enough recompense in knowing that the principles of the Murim World were upheld without distinguishing between white and black. Any further gratitude would feel excessive to me instead.”

A strange emotion hung over the faces of Cha Seok-du, Kang Maeng-ji, Go Gil-san, and the others.

I could not tell at all, because of their fierce expressions, whether it was anger at my refusal of their goodwill, or joy because they no longer had to repay me.

“Wahahahahaha. Truly impressive. Impressive indeed. How is it that talents like this spring forth endlessly from the Orthodox Path?”

When Cha Seok-du burst into a roar of laughter, the other Black Path men all burst into wild laughter as well.

“……Haha.”

I felt exactly like a piglet dragged before a group of hunters, not knowing when I might be roasted whole.

“Even so, if we do not repay a favor, that would be no different from abandoning our humanity, never mind the name of the Black Path. Take this.”

What he held out was an identity plaque about two finger joints long.

“Four Emperors Peak will repay its debt whenever you need us.”

“……!!”

I could not help but gasp inwardly.

The identity plaque he had just handed me was not merely an identity plaque in nature, but closer to a debt-repayment plaque.

And one handed over by the head of a sect with his own sect at stake.

This was the same as an IOU declaring that Four Emperors Peak would repay its debt at any time.

In the Murim World, even if one belonged to the Black Path, failing to repay the debt represented by such a plaque would brand that sect as one without even the bare minimum of honor, making it difficult to survive even among the Black Path Murim.

Moreover, there was no expiration date on a debt-repayment plaque. If Four Emperors Peak remained through the generations, then regardless of whose hand the plaque was in, Four Emperors Peak was bound by oath to step forward at least once. This plaque was also a symbol of profound trust that could not be repaid with money.

While I was wondering whether it would be all right for me, a disciple of an Orthodox Path sect, to accept this, the heads of the other sects stepped forward as well.

“Our Black Serpent Gang is the same.”

“As am I…….”

Thus the identity plaques piled up one by one.

The table was filled with no fewer than twenty identity plaques. There had been more sects that had actually participated, but it seemed they had selected and narrowed them down to representatives from among themselves.

“Uh…….”

“Do not refuse even this much. Even if we are of the Black Path, that would turn us into Human-Faced Beasts with the Hearts of Monsters.”

After considering his words for a moment, I nodded and rose from my seat.

Once the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out, the Orthodox Path and Black Path alike would all be wiped out. Before those mad bastards of the Demonic Cult, what difference did white or black make?

I once again recalled the Patriarch’s true legacy that I had stored in my head.

Now, would a foundation not slowly begin to form, one where I no longer had to be conscious of the eyes of other sects?

“Setting identity aside, how could I refuse the goodwill of my seniors of the Murim World? Thank you. I will make good use of these.”

After all the Black Path sects left, before I even had time to collect myself, the representatives of the Orthodox Path sects entered.

Because the number of Orthodox Path sects that had participated was relatively low, there were not as many of them as the Black Path sects.

“It seems the Peak Lord of Four Emperors Peak came and went.”

Namgung Jin-myeong smiled as he looked at the identity plaques piled high on the table. While I was wondering whether I should clear them away or not, he seemed to understand how I felt and waved his hand.

“It is fine. Peak Lord Cha Seok-du asked me what sort of repayment would be best for you, and I was the one who told him.”

The Peak Lord of Four Emperors Peak and the Young Clan Head of the Namgung Clan had exchanged such a conversation?

“Because they ran rampant throughout Yueyang, handling matters became easier. Merchant bastards, do they not turn other people’s misfortune into opportunity?”

The circumstances were as follows.

When tens of thousands of people gathered on the Demon Spirit Plateau and supplies became scarce, provisions had to be procured from Yueyang, the nearest city.

The merchants seized the opportunity and raised the prices of supplies by a great deal, and just as the Orthodox Path sects were about to grit their teeth and pay the inflated prices, the Black Path sects tore through merchant guilds and Escort Agencies alike, threatening them and stabilizing the prices again.

At Namgung Jin-myeong’s words, saying it had been a perfect joint operation between black and white, I could only let out a hollow laugh.

“Ha… ha…….”

The Namgung Clan, which had built up a firm grudge against the Murim Alliance through this incident, was openly showing the Murim Alliance that it was building ties with the experts of the Black Path Murim.

But could I act as boldly as he did? No.

He was the Young Clan Head of the Namgung Clan, and my sect was the Taeul Sect.

He nodded as though telling me not to worry.

“There will be no one who says you colluded with the Black Path because of what you did this time. If such a person exists, I will kill him with my own hands.”

“……Pardon??”

“That was a joke.”

I shut my mouth at the bloody joke, and he chuckled as though amused.

“I heard you caught the Emperor Sword Art with your hand, yet your nerve does not look that great.”

At Namgung Jin-myeong’s words, a strange light appeared in the eyes of the people seated around us.

“Great Hero, is that true?”

“Ah, I told you it was. You should have seen how startled our San was. He nearly dropped his sword on the spot.”

Everyone looked at me with curious eyes.

I glanced at Namgung San, worried Namgung Jin-myeong’s words might be discourteous to him, but he looked entirely unconcerned and was even smiling faintly.

“Now, now. There are still more people waiting, so let us quickly make room.”

There are still more people waiting?

While I screamed inwardly, a warrior of the Mount Heng Sect stepped forward.

“I am Ha Min-jung’s Eldest Senior Brother. Thank you for saving our youngest Junior Brother.”

A middle-aged man who looked old enough to be Ha Min-jung’s father made a clasped hands greeting and bowed his head.

I nearly pretended to know him.

As the next person to become the Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sect, he was famous even within the Murim Alliance for being fair and just.

“It is an honor to meet Great Hero Seven-Kill Soul-Destroyer.”

“……You know me?”

“I have heard much of your great name through rumor, Great Hero.”

“You make me even more ashamed……. I heard that my Junior Brother spoke wicked words to you. Thank you for saving him regardless.”

“Please do not mention it. He said nothing that would particularly wound me. Please tell him to recover quickly.”

Seven-Kill Soul-Destroyer Song Jeong-mu looked at me with a subtle gaze.

“You are…… an astonishing person in many ways.”

After saying words whose meaning I could not grasp, Song Jeong-mu took something out from inside his robe.

“……This is a gift the Sect Leader asked me to deliver to you.”

What he handed me was a thick leather pouch a little larger than my palm.

“This is……!”

“These are one hundred Demon-Subduing Talismans made by our sect.”

“!”

“!”

The others listening were even more surprised than I was.

The demon-subduing efficacy possessed by the martial arts of the Mount Heng Sect had been famous even before the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out.

The Demon-Subduing Talisman was the talisman with the greatest efficacy among the secret arts of the Mount Heng Sect, and it had the effect of driving out demonic deceit, disturbance, and poison.

However, making this talisman was so difficult that there had even been talk throughout the Murim World that there were fewer Demon-Subduing Talismans than actual Small Reversion Pills.

“Are you sure you can give me this many?”

A single Demon-Subduing Talisman was worth ten gold taels.

If there were not merely one or two of such talismans, but one hundred, that meant they had brought every Demon-Subduing Talisman they had made since the past.

“We brought them to dissolve the formation. But the formation was too powerful, so we could not even think of using them. The Sect Leader told me not to be stingy toward the one who saved his disciple from inside that formation.”

If they were giving them to me without burdening me, was there any need to refuse?

Moreover, once the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out, Demon-Subduing Talismans would show a remarkable effect against the followers of the Demonic Cult, and their value would soar to one hundred gold taels per talisman.

“I will accept them with gratitude.”

“Will you come to Mount Heng someday?”

“……?”

“No. You must be about due to come to the Murim Alliance soon.”

“……That is likely so.”

“Yes. Then let us meet at the Murim Alliance.”

After Song Jeong-mu, the people from the Shandong Ak Clan and the Yang Estate left behind identity plaques.

“I hear from Ji-ryang that you have a great interest in Mystic Gate Formations.”

I had been considering Mechanism Formations and Mystic Gate Formations for the defense of the Taeul Sect.

Once the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out, the damage suffered by sects where Mechanism Formations and Mystic Gate Formations had been installed and sects where they had not was tremendously different.

However, setting aside the fact that installing these Mechanism Formations or Mystic Gate Formations cost an enormous sum, there were only a handful of places with the ability to install them, so even with money, there were many cases where it was difficult to do so.

That was why I had subtly asked Yu Ji-ryang, with whom I had built ties this time, about the installation cost of Mystic Gate Formations and the necessary items, and it seemed that had reached the ears of someone higher up.

“Thus, we are thinking of installing Mystic Gate Formations in the Taeul Sect. What do you think?”

My mouth fell open wide.

“Do you even need to ask? It was something I wished to request first. However, I understand installing Mystic Gate Formations costs quite a lot. How much should I expect it to cost?”

I had already secured funds in advance for Mechanism Formations, since I had planned to hire Jegal Cheon-gi to install them, but I had not been thinking of Mystic Gate Formations.

“About that cost. What if we exchanged it for the things you obtained in the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation……. inside there?”

“The things I obtained, you say?”

“You said there was a time you took a wrong step?”

It seemed even the story I had casually mentioned in passing to Yu Ji-ryang had gone up along with the rest.

In any case, I had nothing to lose, and if the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation could make the Mystic Gate Formations to be installed in the Taeul Sect more powerful, would that not be an even better thing?

“Understood. I will be in your care.”

“No. Rather, we should be the ones saying that.”

After Yu Ji-ryang, the people left, and only Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San remained in the room.

In truth, while receiving all these gifts, this was the turn I had anticipated the most.

What had the Namgung Clan, which held a seat among the Five Great Clans, prepared?

He had clearly said that when he gave me the Great Swallow Divine Pill before, he would not wipe his mouth clean and call the matter settled. Would expecting more than that make me look too much like a thief?

While I was lost in one thought after another, Namgung Jin-myeong held out an envelope.

‘Is it a Promissory Note?’

In truth, even if I received identity plaques as debt-repayment plaques, how well could I make use of them?

Especially if I received help from the Black Path, people would not let that pass easily.

In that sense, the Namgung Clan’s identity plaque would be the same.

At times like this, a clean settlement in gold would not be bad either.

“After you have already given me the Great Swallow Divine Pill…….”

I tried pretending to refuse once. Of course, if he withdrew it here, I intended to curse him for the rest of my life.

“Did I not say so then? Would the Namgung Clan, famed under heaven, pretend not to know its debt to the benefactor who saved both my daughter and our warriors, merely with a single Great Swallow Divine Pill?”

“Haha, of course.”

As I said that, I subtly pulled the envelope toward me, but the paper visible through the slightly opened envelope looked somewhat different from an ordinary Promissory Note.

Perhaps noticing my reaction, Namgung Jin-myeong burst into a hearty laugh.

“Puhahaha. You may check it.”

“……Ah, that is.”

“In truth, what I have to say can only be said after you see that.”

Uneasy, I quickly took the paper out of the envelope.

But what was written on it was completely different from what I had expected.

【……I sincerely hope you will visit.】

The contents were not a Promissory Note, but a letter. And not just any letter, but an invitation from the Clan Head asking me to visit the Namgung Clan.

“My father said he very much wished to see you at least once.”

“…….”

Namgung Jin-myeong’s father was Namgung Tae-ha, the Clan Head of the Namgung Clan and the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.

Putting aside the fact that he had reached a realm incomparably higher than mine, even by seniority in the Murim, he was not in a position where he needed to send me an invitation.

In such cases, it was generally proper according to seniority to send an invitation to the sect, after which the representative of that sect would pass it down by ordering a subordinate to go.

Yet it was none other than the Azure Emperor Divine Sword who had lowered himself as far as possible and sent a formal invitation to a disciple of the Taeul Sect.

“Uh, that is…….”

Though I had received an astonishing invitation, the burden instead increased.

“I apologize. Though I believe my actions were right, I do not think they were enough to warrant receiving such an invitation from the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.”

I spoke as modestly and tactfully as possible, but Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San still did not lose the smiles at the corners of their mouths.

“Ah, there is no need to feel so burdened. My father said he had separate business with you.”

“Pardon?”

In this life and in my previous life alike, I had never once met the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.

That was certainly so, and yet how did that person know me and why did he ask to meet me?

“I hear you stole my father’s treasure, the Seven-Colored Jewel?”

“!!”

At the abrupt story, I glared at Namgung San, demanding an answer as to what on earth was going on, but this man suddenly looked up at the ceiling and started whistling.

“Ah, no, that, that is…….”

“Furthermore, when my father heard that his grandson had been fleeced of both a Great Swallow Divine Pill and even Heavenly Silkworm Thread, he nearly fainted.”

The story was growing more and more absurd.

“So please visit without any burden.”

Is this man joking right now?

“Ah, yes. My father also said that if you do not visit, he will personally come looking for you.”

So if I don’t come and get hit, he’ll chase me down and hit me. Is that it?

At that chilling story, I quickly answered.

“I will be sure to visit as soon as I finish my urgent business.”

At least if I go to get hit, I’ll take one blow less.

At my words, Namgung Jin-myeong nodded in satisfaction.

Namgung San had also turned his head again and was looking at me. While I glared at him and demanded an explanation, Namgung Jin-myeong opened his mouth again.

“And I have one request for you.”

“Please speak.”

“I would like to bring someone in, and I hope you will hear that person’s story.”

Who could possibly be someone Namgung Jin-myeong referred to as “that person”?

Moreover, someone whose story I, specifically, had to hear?

Unable to guess who it might be, I simply nodded, and when the door opened afterward and an old man and Seong Mo-ran carefully came in, I understood why he had said such a thing.

“It has been a while.”

It was the Iron Sword Sect Leader.

“Have you been well?”

I answered with a clasped hands greeting.

“…….”

The Iron Sword Sect Leader simply looked at me without answering.

Compared to when I had seen him last, he looked far more haggard.

The flesh of his entire face had sunken deeply, and his two eyes had sunk hollow, making the face that had once looked nasty seem even more ill-tempered.

“I have not been well.”

“Ah…… I see.”

“My grandson, who was supposed to inherit the family, was sent to Prison, the Ninefold Sword was taken, and the name of the Iron Sword Sect fell into the dirt. How could I have spent my days well?”

Perhaps this differed from what had been discussed beforehand, because Namgung Jin-myeong showed a flustered expression for the first time.

“……However, all of those things came from my faults, from my wrongdoings. If there was anything you did wrong, it was merely that you brought them to light.”

Namgung Jin-myeong’s hand, which had been about to stop him, slowly lowered.

“And yet the object of my resentment saved the life of my one remaining granddaughter. If that is so, then can I resent you any longer?”

He continued speaking in words that made it unclear whether he was blaming the other person or reproaching himself.

“When I heard that Mo-ran was trapped inside the Soul-Destroying Formation, I swore to Heaven. If Mo-ran was returned to me, I would offer my life.”

The Iron Sword Sect Leader suddenly knelt down and prostrated himself on the floor.

“!”

“!”

“!”

I was not the only one in the room. Namgung Jin-myeong, Namgung San, and even his granddaughter Seong Mo-ran were present.

I was greatly alarmed and quickly tried to raise the Iron Sword Sect Leader.

“Please rise. I merely did what was natural.”

“It may have been natural to you, but it was not so to me. When I had even wagered my life, what does kneeling matter?”

He spoke in an anguished voice.

“I apologize to my benefactor. Please forgive this old man for the sins I committed in the past.”

Seeing him cast aside the weight of his reputation and years, the people who had frozen could not say a word.

I nodded and said,

“……I will accept your sincere apology, Sect Leader. So please rise now. If you continue like this, will my saving Young Lady Mo-ran not become a blemish instead?”

“Please do so, Sect Leader. If you place such a burden on him, would the relationship between the Taeul Sect and the Iron Sword Sect not remain awkward going forward?”

Only when even Namgung Jin-myeong stepped forward did the Iron Sword Sect Leader rise from his seat.

Like the others, he took an identity plaque from inside his robe and set it down.

“From now on, I will not infringe upon the Taeul Sect’s position in Hefei. In addition, I will work to ensure that our two sects build a good relationship going forward.”

“Your words alone are worthy of gratitude.”

When I offered a clasped hands greeting, the Iron Sword Sect Leader also clasped his hands at the same time and bowed his head deeply.

Seong Mo-ran looked as though she had something she wanted to say, but overwhelmed by the immense weight her grandfather had shown, she could not carelessly open her mouth. Instead, she looked toward me the entire time as they left.

“Whew. Truly astonishing.”

Namgung Jin-myeong sighed as though wiping away a cold sweat.

“Indeed. From that man’s position, doing something like that could not have been easy.”

At my words, Namgung Jin-myeong spoke as though asking what I was talking about.

“I was talking about you.”

“Pardon?”

“I am asking, where else could there be someone who, at the age when he has only just come of age, receives debt-repayment plaques not only from Orthodox Path sects but also from Black Path Murim experts, and receives a deep bow from the Iron Sword Sect Leader? Even my son, and even that Yong So-ah, at your age, merely made names for themselves with their martial arts. Is that not so?”