Geom Mugeuk and Jin Ha-gun left the Martial Alliance.
Geom Mugeuk was still wearing a bamboo hat to avoid attracting attention.
“They must know that I’ve met with the Alliance Leader.”
Geom Mugeuk did not underestimate the enemy's intelligence network.
After all, this stage in Wuhan was of their own making.
They were the stars of this show.
A serious look crossed Jin Ha-gun's face.
If what Geom Mugeuk said was true, it meant the enemy was watching them from up close.
“Does that mean they have eyes inside the Alliance?”
“Consider that they’ve been preparing for decades.”
Geom Mugeuk said, tapping the bamboo hat he was wearing.
“These are years that cannot be blocked by something like this.”
Hearing this, Jin Ha-gun felt something similar to what Jin Pae-cheon had felt.
This fight would be harder than any he had ever fought before.
“Is it them?”
The ‘them’ Jin Ha-gun referred to were the hidden forces that had orchestrated the three-party meeting.
Geom Mugeuk understood at once and nodded.
“Yes, I believe it’s them.”
Only they could hatch such a conspiracy against the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect and the Martial Alliance.
Jin Ha-gun asked cautiously.
“You still think it’s the Heavenly Wandering Hermit, don’t you?”
Jin Ha-gun wanted one last confirmation.
He believed Geom Mugeuk, with his superior insight, would have a better grasp of the situation.
Geom Mugeuk argued for his belief by considering the alternative.
“Of course, it might not be him. But there’s no need to consider that possibility.”
“Why not?”
“If he is innocent, we can simply apologize for the misunderstanding.”
Jin Ha-gun looked at Geom Mugeuk with an expression that said, ‘How can you make it sound so simple?’
But Geom Mugeuk truly thought it was simple.
“A friendship of decades should be used for times like this. It’s too precious to be muddled by uncertainty.”
Jin Ha-gun felt that this statement held the key to how he should view this matter.
“After all, a brief misunderstanding with a friend is nothing compared to the consequences of failing to see the Heavenly Wandering Hermit’s dark heart.”
Yes, he was right.
His grandfather would never kill the Heavenly Wandering Hermit based on a feeling alone, without concrete proof.
Therefore, he concluded that he was free to suspect him as much as he wanted.
Geom Mugeuk’s clear-cut conclusion lifted a weight from Jin Ha-gun’s heart.
“Thank you for coming.”
Jin Ha-gun expressed his sincere gratitude.
Geom Mugeuk would never know how thankful he was that he had come.
“Of course I had to come.”
That one sentence was enough.
Yes, of course he had to come.
It would be the same if their roles were reversed.
Of course he would have to go.
“By the way, where are we going?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, Jin Ha-gun smiled and said.
“A friend has come from afar. I must provide a place for him to stay.”
The manor Jin Ha-gun had arranged was one used by the Demon Slaying Branch.
It was located at the foot of a mountain on the outskirts, far from the marketplace.
Since everyone knew it was owned by the Martial Alliance, there was no fear of being searched by the martial artists of Wuhan for the time being.
“Look, the moment I show up, the treatment changes, doesn’t it? This is the kind of man I am.”
Geom Mugeuk boasted loudly from the entrance, but of course, no one paid any mind to his bragging.
Geom Muyang, sensing something suspicious, began inspecting the inside of the manor, while the Demon Buddha went out to check the exterior.
The Poison King quietly followed behind the Demon Buddha.
Seeing this, Geom Mugeuk shouted.
“Even if the Poison King tempts you to go pick poisonous herbs, you mustn’t fall for it! He thinks of you as a herb gatherer, Demon Buddha!”
A flinch could be seen from the Poison King’s back.
As the two left, Geom Muyang scolded his younger brother.
“Do not be rude to the Demon Buddha.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk gave a meaningful smile.
“You have to scold me when he’s around, so the Demon Buddha will know your heart.”
“I’m not saying it for him to know.”
“I know. But wouldn’t it be better if he knew anyway?”
He was his brother’s Demon Sovereign, after all.
The only Demon Sovereign his brother liked.
Geom Mugeuk sincerely hoped this relationship would remain unchanged until the end of their lives.
After inspecting the courtyard, Geom Muyang entered a room.
As he walked down the corridor, he carefully checked for any hidden mechanisms.
“Are you worried that Branch Master Jin has set some trick in this manor? You don’t have to worry.”
Without turning back, Geom Muyang replied.
“What reason do I have to trust that man?”
Geom Muyang shared the same concern Jin Pae-cheon had for his grandson.
Don’t trust people so easily.
“Not everyone is like you.”
Geom Mugeuk followed closely behind.
“That was a compliment, right?”
Geom Muyang didn’t answer and opened the doors to check the rooms.
“You use this small room. This one is for the Demon Buddha.”
Geom Muyang chose the largest and finest room for the Demon Buddha.
Of course, he gave the smallest room to Geom Mugeuk.
“The Demon Buddha is the type who would be fine with the smallest room…”
As Geom Muyang frowned and spun around, Geom Mugeuk scurried into the small room as if fleeing.
“You should act like that when the Demon Buddha is here.”
Geom Mugeuk flopped down on the bed.
“Ah, this is comfortable and nice!”
Lying down, Geom Mugeuk looked out the window.
He watched the passing clouds for a moment before asking in a loud voice.
“I heard you called Branch Master Jin first?”
After a brief pause, Geom Muyang’s voice came from his room.
“There’s someone I need to save.”
Geom Mugeuk also knew that the sister of an artisan named Gwak Yeong was being held hostage.
“It feels so awkward to hear a man who only ever thinks about killing people talk about saving someone.”
Even when branded a murderer, Geom Muyang showed no reaction.
Of course, Geom Mugeuk wasn’t one to miss an opportunity to tease his brother.
“Is she pretty?”
He might have snapped, but no answer came.
Geom Mugeuk might have seemed carefree, joking around like this, but inwardly, he was more tense than anyone.
Hwa Yul-cheong.
How could he be complacent when facing a member of the Hwa Clan for the first time since his regression?
Just then, a rebuke came from the doorway.
“You should have stayed and protected the Main Sect.”
He turned his head to see his brother standing at the door.
Geom Muyang was also well aware that it was absolutely wrong for two people of the Heavenly Demon bloodline to be in the same dangerous place.
“The Main Sect will probably be safer without me there.”
After all, the Heavenly Demon Scripture Pavilion had been raided under the Acting Cult Master’s watch.
“Don’t joke around!”
“What’s there to worry about? You’ll protect me.”
“Me? Why?”
“Didn’t you say you came all this way because of me?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected words, Geom Muyang was flustered.
“Who told you that?”
“Who do you think? Someone with a loose tongue.”
There were only three people who heard him say that.
When he said it to Jin Pae-cheon, Jin Ha-gun was under the pavilion, and the Demon Buddha was in the mist.
“It was Branch Master Jin, wasn’t it?”
He naturally assumed his friend Jin Ha-gun had told him, but the culprit was someone unexpected.
“The Demon Buddha told me.”
The Demon Buddha had discreetly informed him via a telepathic message on their way here.
He had said it, hoping to improve his brother’s relationship.
“He didn’t say it for my sake, but for yours. So that I would treat you better.”
At times like this, he could feel a surge of emotion even on his stoic brother’s face.
“So you should learn to express yourself too. How long has the Demon Buddha lived looking only at you? It’s okay to show your feelings now.”
Then, Geom Muyang said abruptly.
“Thank you.”
“Not to me. You should say it directly to the Demon Buddha.”
But Geom Muyang’s words were not for the Demon Buddha.
“Thank you, to you.”
“Suddenly?”
The abrupt thanks made Geom Mugeuk sit up on the bed.
“I’ve done so many things for you to be thankful for that I don’t know what you’re referring to, but anyway, it’s fine. It’s nothing between brothers.”
Then, Geom Muyang slightly opened his collar.
He was wearing the Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Thread underneath.
He had asked the Demon Buddha to wrap it around his brother’s heart, and it seemed he had succeeded.
As expected, the person who handled his brother best was the Demon Buddha.
“Ah, that’s not something I can just say is nothing. I tore off a piece of my life for that.”
His brother of the past would have unwrapped it and told him to take it back immediately, asking who he was looking down on.
No, he wouldn’t have even wrapped it around his heart in the first place.
Even if it had been wrapped by force, he would never have shown it like this.
While he had changed in this way, there was also a part of him that remained just as he always was.
“I will return this when we go back.”
Saying he would return it when they got back meant he intended to fight at the forefront.
He was furious that his brother had nearly been killed, and now his brother had come to this dangerous place as well.
He was truly enraged at those bastards.
“My brother is angry. I don’t know who you people are, but you’re in big trouble now.”
*
Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang began their investigation in earnest.
Through the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion, they received all the files on the sects that had been established in the years before and after the Heavenly Wandering Hermit settled in Wuhan.
There were a total of eight target sects.
Geom Mugeuk and Geom Muyang split the sects to be investigated and conducted the inquiries themselves.
Since they couldn’t grasp the full picture from the documents alone, they went to the sects to see for themselves.
Weren’t they the kind of people who could sense something was amiss just by looking at the gatekeeper’s face or feeling the air in the courtyard?
After the two completed their investigation, they returned.
“The Eternal Spring Sect is out because it has too many branches in the Central Plains. The Tyrant Sword Sect is out because its leader died in an accident recently, and his blood relative took over. The Four Swords Sect is out because they follow the Heavenly Wandering Hermit too ardently. And the Life Blade Gang has too many members.”
The two shared their findings, and Geom Muyang’s investigation yielded the same results as Geom Mugeuk’s.
They couldn’t find the Guardian Sect that had been secretly protecting the Heavenly Wandering Hermit.
“I believe our assumption was wrong.”
The two Demon Sovereigns nodded at Geom Muyang’s conclusion.
Since the two of them had personally investigated based on the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion’s data, the results were likely correct.
This meant there was no sect in Wuhan protecting him.
Did he really handle this all by himself up until now?
Geom Mugeuk firmly shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
He was certain they had missed something.
“This isn’t a task that can be finished in a year or two. It’s been ongoing for decades. Do you think they would entrust everything to one man’s efforts and luck? That’s impossible.”
What if he had done well for twenty years, only to die in an accident the next? Then those twenty years would be all for nothing.
Someone must have been supporting and helping him from the side.
He must have overcome countless unknown crises.
There had to be someone who weathered the storms of time with him.
“Couldn’t he have won over another sect after gaining fame, instead of establishing one at the time?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded at the Demon Buddha’s thought.
“Of course, that’s possible, but I don’t think that’s the case here. For some reason, I feel like he would have kept the most trustworthy person by his side from the very beginning.”
This time, Geom Muyang offered his opinion.
“Then maybe an individual, not a sect, was helping him?”
“He was friends with the Alliance Leader. Naturally, the Martial Alliance would have monitored and investigated him according to their rules. They would have been extremely thorough. Imagine if our father had a best friend. Think about how thoroughly we would investigate him.”
And according to the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion’s investigation, the Heavenly Wandering Hermit had no friends other than the Alliance Leader.
He was utterly alone.
“Didn’t they say those bastards handle poison?”
It was Geom Muyang who answered the Demon Buddha’s question.
He had experienced it firsthand while chasing the counterfeit weapons.
“That’s right. A powerful poison was applied to the counterfeit weapons.”
That wasn’t all.
“Moreover, they seemed to be controlling people’s minds, whether through drugs or a Great Art.”
They made people commit suicide at crucial moments and confess to specific things.
That alone showed their skills were not ordinary.
The four people here knew better than anyone.
They knew how sensitive the Martial Alliance was about poison.
How much they loathed Soul-Devouring Art.
The people of the martial world feared the Poison King and the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign the most.
But for the Martial Alliance to overlook the fact that the Alliance Leader’s only friend was associating with someone who used poison or Soul-Devouring Art?
Geom Mugeuk thought it was impossible.
They were the ones who had missed something.
Geom Mugeuk reviewed the documents again.
He read them with a different mindset than before.
There is definitely something I missed.
The answer is here.
As he read the documents with that thought, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze stopped at one point.
A slow smile spread across Geom Mugeuk’s lips.
“Do you know of a place that is neither an individual nor a sect, a place that can legally use poison and stick needles in people’s heads?”
Geom Mugeuk and the other three sat in a tavern, looking at the building across the street.
In the middle of the bustling marketplace, occupying a large plot of expensive land, stood a large building.
Enlightened Heart Clinic.
“It was the place the Heavenly Wandering Hermit, who often performed acts of righteousness, visited most frequently."
"He would bring the poor there to be treated every time. That’s why it was a place no one would ever suspect.”
Geom Muyang and the two Demon Sovereigns were truly taken aback.
A clinic? The place that supported this conspiracy was a clinic? Who would have ever imagined?
There was another reason to suspect this place was the hidden organization.
“The physician here, So Jeong-rak, is highly skilled in medicine and has a good reputation, making him the most popular physician in Wuhan after the Martial Alliance's Divine Doctor.”
Even the Poison King and the Demon Buddha had heard of his name.
“In particular, So Jeong-rak is famous for detoxifying poisons. It’s even said that when it comes to detoxification, he is superior to the Martial Alliance's Divine Doctor."
"That’s why martial artists from the Central Plains come here first when they are poisoned. He has saved countless lives.”
Then, the Poison King, who had been silent until now, calmly got to the heart of the matter.
“The flower of Poison Arts is not administering poison, but detoxifying it.”