Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 231

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 231

They couldn’t fight because Noh Dae-sul had suddenly appeared and scrambled their minds.
“Bang-ju, why have you come all this way?”
Hwang Bo-un finally broke his silence to ask.
Noh Dae-sul poured wine into a cup marked with fingerprints as he spoke.
“I had business with the Blood Sword Asura myself. It seems you have a prior engagement, so I thought to meet afterward, once matters are settled.”
That Noh Dae-sul would say such a thing while they were about to fight to the death meant he trusted Maeng Mang-do to emerge victorious.
So the three onlookers couldn’t help but bristle.
“Are you saying the Blood Sword Asura is stronger than Sam Gong Taesa?”
“That’s something only a fight would tell, but that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“That the abbot of Shaolin Temple wouldn’t attempt to kill an innocent man.”
“Ha! How absurd. If the Blood Sword Asura is innocent, then where in this world can you find a guilty man?”
“At least two or three are visible to me right now.”
“Bang-ju!”
Through the outcries of the three, Sam Gong Taesa’s voice cut through.
“It has been a long time.”
Sam Gong Taesa pressed his palms together in greeting, and Noh Dae-sul bowed his head in return.
Though Noh Dae-sul showed deference to few, the abbot of Shaolin Temple was precisely the sort of man worthy of his respect.
“It seems you are quite certain the Blood Sword Asura is innocent, Bang-ju.”
Noh Dae-sul tapped Nam Jae-seok on the back, who sat tense with his knees drawn up.
“This man is a survivor of the Daerim Valley incident in Sichuan Province.”
“It was reported that there were no survivors of that incident. Are you saying one existed?”
“He hid himself rather cleverly. Tell us what happened then.”
“Me? You want me to speak?”
“A witness must testify—would you have this old drunk do it?”
“Ah, yes. Of course.”
Nam Jae-seok began to recount the events of that time, stumbling through his words. Though he had already told the story twice before, the sheer gravity of the assembled company made him stammer repeatedly.
The moment the long account ended, Hwang Bo-un’s voice erupted.
“How can you believe the word of some unknown wretch!”
Noh Dae-sul spoke.
“Why did you come all the way here from distant Shandong?”
Since Hwang Bo-un had seen Noh Dae-sul several times in his youth, the casual address came naturally.
“Of course to capture that villainous creature!”
“The world overflows with wicked men, and there are plenty to capture besides Sam Gong Taesa—yet you’ve ridden a thousand li to come here?”
“Does distance mean anything when one practices righteousness?”
“You didn’t come for revenge over your eldest son?”
Noh Dae-sul struck directly, and bewilderment flickered across Hwang Bo-un’s face.
“What—what are you talking about?”
“I know your son Hwang Bo Ji-myeong wasn’t killed by Zhuhuo Rumo—he was murdered.”
Noh Dae-sul’s finger pointed toward Maeng Mang-do.
“By the Blood Sword Asura over there.”
“Who speaks such nonsense?”
“A wild practitioner who secretly trains stolen martial texts is one thing, but the sub-patriarch of the Hwangbo Clan, one of the Five Great Clans, dying to Zhuhuo Rumo? Do you really mean to dress up your son’s death in such a foolish lie?”
“It’s not a lie—my son truly died to Zhuhuo Rumo!”
“Then why have you come here?”
“As I’ve already said——”
“To punish a Murim Public Enemy? Dozens of men have been called that, yet the Hwangbo Clan never involved themselves unless the place was Shandong Province. So what makes the Blood Sword Asura so special that you, the Ga-ju, came personally all this way?”
Hwang Bo-un found no words to refute what history itself had proven.
Into that silence, Sam Gong Taesa’s voice cut in.
“What connection is there between the Daerim Valley Blood Incident and the death of the Hwangbo sub-patriarch that you pursue this line?”
“Do you remember when the Daerim Valley Blood Incident occurred, Abbot?”
“Amitabha. Of course. Ah!”
Only then did Sam Gong Taesa realize the two incidents were inseparable.
“A tragedy that unfolded within barely two days.”
“No matter how swift the Bloodsword Demon’s lightness technique may be, it’s nonsensical to say he killed the Hwangbo Clan’s sub-patriarch in Shandong Province and then traveled to Sichuan Province to instigate a blood incident. Do you know of a person capable of such a feat, Taesa?”
Of course Noh Dae-sul knew.
“It’s impossible for any human.”
He wanted to say, ‘But there are four men who don’t seem quite human,’ yet he held his tongue.
“At the time, we knew from our Sect that the sub-patriarch’s cause of death was a sword wound. But for some reason, the cause of death suddenly changed to Zhuhuo Rumo. I thought nothing strange of it, but then an entirely different incident thrust itself into the matter.”
Noh Dae-sul clicked his tongue as he spoke.
“So if the Murim Alliance moved on that basis, shouldn’t they be ashamed?”
“My son died not by that villain’s hand, but by Zhuhuo Rumo!”
Hwang Bo-un cried out thus, yet his hatred toward Maeng Mang-do was so vivid that his words rang false.
“The Bloodsword Demon bears false accusations not only in the Daerim Valley blood incident, does he not?”
Noh Dae-sul laid out what he knew, point by point.
Because these were the words of Bang-ju Noh Dae-sul of the Sect, no one dared interrupt him.
“Of the four blood incidents attributed to this man, I will swear on my name that two are false accusations. And of the remaining two, there is no lack of suspicious elements—evidence alone is wanting. To this degree, I could stake my entire fortune on the Bloodsword Demon’s innocence in all these cases.”
Byeok Sang-do flared up at once.
“Preposterous! What fortune does a beggar possess? No—this isn’t a matter of fortune, it’s about establishing justice in the Murim! That the Bloodsword Demon is evil is a fact proven clear as daylight! Over seventy Murim Alliance warriors fell at his hands alone!”
“If he killed those who sought to kill him, how can that be held against him?”
“Now you defend a wicked demon! A Bang-ju at that!”
“Is that a jab at the Sect?”
Noh Dae-sul’s face grew grave in a way rarely seen.
“Which is more wicked—to fabricate accusations against the wronged, to corner them, to kill them? Or to thrash about trying to survive?”
“Everyone in the Murim knows that man is a wicked demon!”
“And who placed that mark upon him? The Murim Alliance itself!”
“So… are you saying the Murim Alliance was wrong?”
“They say absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the Murim Alliance is proving that truth. Where does this arrogance come from—that they alone are right and all others wrong?”
“So the Sect, which doesn’t even join the Murim Alliance, stands outside and criticizes while posturing as pure?”
“Pure? There’s no filthier creature than a beggar like me.”
“So the beggar king before us means to take the side of that villain?”
Hwang Bo-un’s voice dripped with naked contempt. Noh Dae-sul, who had been watching the three men intently, suddenly broke into a grin.
“A beggar may lack coin, but he doesn’t lack spine. I’ve proven the Bloodsword Demon’s innocence sufficiently—if you won’t accept that, I can’t simply walk away. I’ll have to do something.”
“And that something is to fight us?”
Noh Dae-sul nodded and was about to speak when Sam Gong Taesa beat him to it.
“Amitabha. There will be no fighting here.”
Sam Gong Taesa turned to the Bloodsword Demon.
“Is everything you’ve said thus far the truth?”
“I’ve been saying it for twenty years now! I am innocent!”
“I understand. Shaolin Temple shall take responsibility for this and uncover the truth. In the meantime, would it not be well for the Bloodsword Patron to come to Shaolin Temple with me and wait?”
“You’re telling me to stay at Shaolin Temple?”
“I pledge on the honor of Shaolin that no harm shall come to the Patron until the truth is revealed.”
“Ha! The monks of Shaolin came at me too, trying to kill me. And you expect me to trust you? Absurd!”
“Then come with me instead.”
Everyone looked at Noh Dae-sul, who had spoken.
“The Sect has never tried to kill you, has it?”
“No, that’s true enough.”
Naturally, all three—Hwang Bo-un foremost among them—objected.
“We cannot let that villain escape this place!”
“I vouch for him. If the blood incidents that have occurred are his doing, I will answer for it with that man’s life.”
“How can we trust a Bang-ju who’s already concluded the Bloodsword Demon is innocent?”
“I believe what I believe, but if Shaolin’s investigation proves the Bloodsword Demon guilty, I will gladly abide by that finding.”
Noh Dae-sul had adroitly brought Shaolin Temple into his camp.
No matter how the Wudang, the Zhongnan, and the Hwangbo Clan joined forces, Shaolin Temple’s weight could not be ignored.
Sam Gong Taesa asked Noh Dae-sul.
“May I trust in the promise you’ve made?”
“Of course. When have you ever seen me break a promise?”
Never, likely.
By nature, Noh Dae-sul was a man who made promises only rarely.
“Taesa, surely you don’t mean to actually hand the Bloodsword Demon over to the Bang-ju?”
For Hwang Bo-un, who had believed he would have his revenge, his insides were turning to ice.
“In truth, Shaolin has harbored doubts about the Bloodsword Patron’s blood incidents for a long time. But now that a witness has come forward, it seems right that we investigate from the beginning.”
“How many Orthodox Faction members did that man kill!”
At Sam Gong Taesa’s long sigh, his white beard trembled faintly.
“As the Bang-ju said, if this incident arose due to the Murim Alliance’s error, surely we cannot hold the Blood Sword responsible for it, can we?”
If Shaolin Temple decided to follow Noh Dae-sul’s judgment, killing Maeng Mang-do in this place would be impossible. The person they trusted most was Sam Gong Taesa.
Even if Byeok Sang-do, Gwan Ho-un, and Hwang Bo-un combined their strength, none of them could be certain of defeating Maeng Mang-do.
So they had to convince Sam Gong Taesa somehow, but the monk’s heart had already tilted away from them.
“Then I’ll take the Blood Sword with me.”
“That cannot be allowed!”
Hwang Bo-un, harboring a personal grudge, could not let Maeng Mang-do leave this place.
“I cannot permit the Blood Sword to depart from here while breath remains in me!”
The more Hwang Bo-un’s agitation grew, the more solid Maeng Mang-do’s innocence became — so Gwan Ho-un and Byeok Sang-do could not simply stand idle.
“Ga-ju Hwang Bo, there will be other days. Since Shaolin Temple has taken responsibility, let us withdraw for today.”
“But……!”
“Will Ga-ju Hwang Bo fight alone?”
Byeok Sang-do’s words forced Hwang Bo-un to face reality.
―Let us end this for now. It won’t take long to kill the Blood Sword.
Byeok Sang-do’s telepathic transmission pressed down Hwang Bo-un’s burgeoning rage. Without Sam Gong Taesa present, they could do as they wished.
So Hwang Bo-un withdrew.
Sam Gong Taesa spoke to Noh Dae-sul as he prepared to leave.
“You must keep that promise to take responsibility for the Blood Sword.”
“Of course.”
Sam Gong Taesa issued orders to the Murim Alliance soldiers below the cliff not to obstruct Maeng Mang-do’s departure.
When Noh Dae-sul, Maeng Mang-do, and Nam Jae-seok leaped down the cliff, the Murim Alliance soldiers who had encircled them parted to left and right.
Maeng Mang-do, surveying the angry expressions around him, spoke.
“There was no need for all this.”
“Are you unhappy about being spared?”
“I never asked to be spared. If I’d wanted to live, breaking through the Cheonra Jiwang would have been nothing.”
“And you’d spend your life fleeing instead.”
“Does that mean the Murim Alliance won’t pursue me now?”
“Of course not. What kind of place is the Murim Alliance if they forget a grudge?”
“Then what?”
“Lie low for a while.”
“Don’t even ask me to become a beggar of a sect. I won’t beg even in death.”
“I have no desire to take a man like you into my sect either. A disciple stronger in martial arts than the Bang-ju is nothing but a headache.”
“Then where are you taking me?”
“To a quiet place where there are no listening ears, at least for now.”
The Cheonra Jiwang had been broken, but pursuers still came.
The pursuers might have thought themselves merely shadowing their prey, but they could not deceive Noh Dae-sul and Maeng Mang-do’s perception.
When Noh Dae-sul, seizing Nam Jae-seok by the neck, hurled himself forward, Maeng Mang-do followed suit.
No one save the Ga-ju of Gudaemun Faction or the Five Great Families could have kept pace with their lightness technique.
Before a quarter hour had passed, they shook off those who had been trailing them and took shelter in a temple ruin that seemed ready to crumble at any moment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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