Chapter 88: Four Absolutes String Gentleman

It had been only a single day since the Kaifeng Blood Massacre, the event recorded as the worst day since the founding of the Murim Alliance.

Kaifeng of Henan, where the main headquarters of the Murim Alliance was located, had been attacked in an unprecedented incident.

Over a thousand were injured, and the death toll reached more than a hundred. The damage was catastrophic.

But what was shocking was that these numbers were considered astonishingly successful, the damage held to an absolute minimum.

The dreadful calamity that had swept across the skies carried a savagely inhuman force.

People were later told that it had been sorcery, but to those who had endured it, there was only one word that could describe what they had suffered: calamity.

The common folk of Kaifeng, who had boasted that they were the safest in all of the Central Plains by virtue of living nearest to the Murim Alliance, were forced to realize how meaningless such beliefs were.

Just as they were sinking into fear and panic, unable even to release their anger—

A second piece of news arrived, one that plunged them into even greater shock.

The Kaifeng Blood Massacre was not the end.

No less than six of the former Nine Dragons Four Phoenixes had met a wretched death.

Among the victims were none other than Shaolin’s Great Disciple and Namgung Clan’s direct descendant.

It was even rumored that when the rescue party finally arrived to recover the corpses, they were so horrified by the mangled remains that they struggled to carry out their task.

Regardless of whether they belonged to the Elder faction or the Alliance Leader’s faction, many of the Young Successors who would have become future Sect Leaders or Clan Heads perished at a young age.

These shocking reports spread beyond Kaifeng in an instant, sweeping across the entire Central Plains.

And all who heard the news realized one truth.

That the long era of peace in the murim had come to an end that day…

Yicheon Inn.

It was famous as the largest and most luxurious inn in Kaifeng, a place acknowledged by all.

But today, its exterior was in a state of grievous damage, utterly unlike its reputation.

Huge holes pierced its ceilings, and signs of corrosion scarred its interior.

They were undeniable marks left behind by the calamity.

Under normal circumstances, the inn would have closed its doors and begun large-scale repairs.

But for some reason, today its doors were open as they were.

And the inside of the inn was overflowing with guests.

“Do you see it? These scars are proof of the crimes that the Demonic Alliance committed against us!!”

“Damn those bastards!!”

“Hhhk!”

The crowd had gathered to hear the words of a storyteller.

Each time the storyteller, perched high atop a stack of chairs, opened his mouth, those who had survived the calamity by sheer fortune wept with rage and grief.

The storyteller relentlessly named the Demonic Alliance as the mastermind behind this bloodbath.

But this was not just one man’s claim.

It was, in fact, the Murim Alliance’s official stance, declared only days earlier.

Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak and the Alliance Leader’s faction had insisted until the very end that they must investigate thoroughly and not make a hasty announcement.

But with the Elder faction led by the Namgung Clan pressing, and with the Imperial Court itself demanding action on account of the civilian casualties, there had been no choice but to yield.

“And yet that was not all! Not only did they spill the blood of innocent civilians, but they also stole the lives of the very Young Successors who were destined to lead the Orthodox Murim in the future!!”

The deaths of the former Nine Dragons Four Phoenixes brought an enormous storm in their wake.

The Sect Leader of Kunlun, Master of the Wind, Gwan Muryang, fainted from the shock of losing his beloved disciple, and even fell prey to severe inner demons, forcing the Alliance Leader to personally intervene to treat him.

Qingcheng, having now lost another Great Disciple following Lee Hoseong, struggled bitterly to choose a successor. In the end, they raised a man who had once caused problems long ago and been confined within the main sect, back into the position of Great Disciple.

“But do not despair! For the Thousand-Year Shaolin, in order to soothe the soul of their beloved disciple, has descended from Mount Song!”

“Ohhh!!”

“You mean, Shaolin itself!!”

Indeed, Shaolin broke its long silence, as Abbot Cheonkwon Yeorae, the Great Monk Gakgong, descended the mountain.

And his first destination was not the Murim Alliance.

Shockingly, Abbot Gakgong met privately with Namgung Myeong.

From that day on, Shaolin withdrew from its long-standing stance of neutrality.

It sided with the Elder faction, demanding stern punishment against the Demonic Alliance.

And the next subject of the storyteller’s words was—

“And as for the Hwangbo Clan…”

“Pah! Don’t even mention those Hwangbo bastards!!”

“Aye! Not even chewing them to pieces would ease my fury!!”

The Hwangbo Clan had become nothing less than a traitorous faction, viewed as mortal enemies.

Their crimes had been so grave that not a soul could feel pity for them.

Even if they claimed to have been deceived, they had taken items stored in the Murim Alliance’s treasury and sold them to the enemy.

They had even smuggled in perilous Cursed Objects into Kaifeng, objects forbidden from entry.

And as soon as the Alliance launched a full-scale investigation, the rottenness of the Hwangbo Clan was laid bare.

“After Clan Head Hwangbo Geon had his dantian abolished and was cast into the underground prison, all who were connected to him were dragged away in chains! But alas, corrupt men within the Alliance keep crawling out one after another without end, such that even Sword Emperor himself sighed deeply in lament!!”

With filth and corruption bursting forth endlessly the deeper they dug, even the commoners now hurled curses whenever the Hwangbo Clan was mentioned, alongside the Alliance’s martial artists.

And yet, what enraged the Orthodox factions most of all was not even that.

It was the arrogant response of the Demonic Alliance, the true culprit behind it all.

“Yet even in such circumstances, those wretched Demonic Alliance bastards dare to act shamelessly in defiance!! Ah, how could one not weep in despair!”

“Damn those dogs!!”

“We must wage war at once and repay them twofold!!”

When the Murim Alliance released its statement and the Imperial Court applied pressure, the Demonic Alliance immediately issued a declaration, bearing the seal of the leaders of the Five Evils (五惡).

But the contents were utterly outrageous to the Murim Alliance.

They claimed that both incidents in Kaifeng were self-orchestrated plays by the Murim Alliance itself, and that they themselves had actually suffered greater losses at the Alliance’s hands.

First, Blood Sea Dragon King, Gang Cheol-eon, master of the Eastern Eighteen Raids, declared that the disciple accused of defacing their sect did not even exist.

Then he claimed that the martial arts manual of his supreme technique, the Flood Dragon Finger (蛟龍指), which had been secretly stored away, was stolen.

They shouted that the Murim Alliance had orchestrated all these incidents and conspiracies for the sole purpose of pinning the Kaifeng Blood Massacre upon them.

And that was not all.

The Heaven-Piercing Sect claimed that the treasured relic of their Sect Leader, which strengthened sorcery, had been stolen by an unknown force.

Finally, the Sleepless Fortress, head among the Five Evils, roared that mysterious forces had ambushed their wagons carrying funds.

They admitted that one-tenth of their secret funds, an astronomical sum, had been plundered during the attack.

The Sleepless Fortress, which ruled the nights of Hangzhou and Suzhou, sweeping in the black money of the underworld—

If they had truly lost one-tenth of their holdings, it would be enough to buy an entire city.

The problem was that every claim the Demonic Alliance made turned out to be true…!

Because of this, the Imperial Court itself was left in an awkward position.

The faction of the First Prince, supported by the Namgung Clan, and the faction of the Second Prince, tied to the Sleepless Fortress, had fallen into sharp conflict.

Neither side had conclusive proof, so neither could be openly supported.

And so even the Imperial Court was swept into the storm of factional strife (政爭), while the murim plunged into utter chaos.

However.

It was in such turbulent times that new heroes were destined to be born.

“But what those vile foes did not know! Even in darkness, light always exists!! Though they deceived Sword Emperor, who would have imagined that the Green Dragon of Sichuan, still in his youth, would shatter and destroy their schemes!!”

“Hurrah!!”

“Waaaahhh!!”

Sichuan Green Dragon.

Naturally, this referred to Tang Sewoon.

The commoners of Kaifeng and martial artists throughout the murim raised cheers and shouts of support at Sewoon’s name.

Once regarded only as a promising Young Successor with a bright future, Sewoon’s reputation was now soaring without end.

This was because the astounding feats he had accomplished during the Kaifeng Blood Massacre had spread rapidly across the Central Plains.

“General Strategist Jaegal himself declared that without the treasure weapon forged by the Green Dragon, the Dark Iron Finger, the devastation would have been unimaginable!!”

Jaegal Hoon praised Sewoon’s accomplishments publicly and privately, exalting his contributions without reserve.

When martial artists and commoners alike heard the details of how the Dark Iron Finger, which could track enemies, was forged, they were left in astonishment.

They realized only afterward that, if not for Sewoon, they would already be dead.

But as all knew, Sewoon’s feats did not end there.

“To save his sister and the Young Successors, he staked his life on using Innate True Qi! With martial arts that reached the extreme heights of Supreme Peak Master Level, he struck down his enemies!!”

The survivors of the Nine Dragons Four Phoenixes, led by Peng Daeho, unanimously named the Green Dragon, Tang Sewoon, as their savior.

That he had, at the age of twenty, ascended to Supreme Peak Master Level—a height even Peng Daeho, ten years his senior, had failed to reach—and annihilated his foes.

Though the Murim Alliance was far too busy dealing with the aftermath of the bloodshed to reward him yet,

Everyone agreed that the greatest reward since the Alliance’s founding was due—

No, they insisted that it must be so.

“The seat of the Seven Great Clans vacated by the Hwangbo Clan shall soon be filled by the Green Dragon’s Sichuan Tang Clan!!”

As expected, after the Kaifeng Blood Massacre, the Hwangbo Clan was immediately expelled from the Seven Great Clans.

And their position was left vacant.

Normally, the Shrine Maiden Sect, which had declined the seat many times before, or the Wi Clan—short in history but said to have amassed impressive strength— or the Mount Huang Sect would have taken that spot.

But the entire murim now whispered that the vacant seat of the Seven Great Clans had already been reserved for the Sichuan Tang Clan.

“Hmm, but the Green Dragon still hasn’t awakened from the battle’s aftereffects, and his clan’s martial forces are hardly fit to—hiiiek!!”

“What the hell did you just say?!”

“You dare flap your filthy lips so carelessly?!”

Those few who spoke out of jealousy or resentment were beaten and thrown out of the inn by the enraged crowd.

At that moment, the storyteller, eyes blazing with fervor, continued:

“His medical skills astound even the Divine Physician of Mount Emei! His talent as a blacksmith is so great that Lord Heukya himself bowed his head and begged to take him as disciple!

His martial arts surpass those of all past Young Successors!

And above all, what shines brightest is his boundless chivalrous heart!!”

The murim no longer called Tang Sewoon by the title of Green Dragon alone.

Not because they wished to strip him of the dragon’s name.

But because they rejected the idea of placing him merely among the Nine Dragons Four Phoenixes.

They recognized him not as a mere Young Successor, but as a martial artist of the murim in his own right, a Master (大俠) worthy of respect.

At that moment, the storyteller turned to the crowd and shouted his final line:

“The Four Absolutes String Gentleman, Tang Sewoon, is the hero destined to lead the next generation!!!”

Waaahhh!

A roar erupted so loud it seemed to shake the inn to its foundations.

The Four Absolutes String Gentleman.

One whose four talents reached the heavens, a gentleman who walked upon the strings of the murim.

Though the title Gentleman meant one of learning and virtue, those who had witnessed Sewoon’s might firsthand knew.

“That soon, Sewoon would earn the meaning of monarch that signified a true king.”

Yet as all hailed Sewoon’s name and celebrated the birth of a hero—

The deep darkness lurking beneath the surface only smiled in chilling silence.

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