I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 32

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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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032 — Needlessly Joining the Murim Alliance
The Baek Ri clan—its clan leader Baek Ri-hyeon, his brother Baek Ri-ga-jin, and their sister Baek Ri-hyang—had established themselves in a hidden residence known to no one.
They were taking every precaution, then taking it again, to remain inconspicuous in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Baek Ri-ga-jin asked Baek Ri-hyeon about the news that the Witch Jang Ryeo had been spotted in Chengdu.
“What do you make of it, brother?”
“It doesn’t seem worth taking too seriously, though… I’m at a loss. She’s so unpredictable, slipping through my grasp each time I think I understand her. What about you, Ri-hyang?”
“When I heard the news, my first thought was: why now? The Dang clan incident happened, our Baek Ri involvement came to light, and only then does this emerge. I’ve tried to find any connection, but there isn’t one. The current state of the Martial World hasn’t shifted at all. So I focused on the Witch herself, and one thing became clear.”
“What’s that?”
“Looking at the famous past incidents involving the Witch, I realized she throws herself recklessly into deeply personal matters—calculating nothing, hesitating nothing.”
The incident where she raised an uproar at the Murim Alliance demanding they find Sa Cheol-gang, her actions against the Ma Sect, the dangerous chases where her life hung by a thread.
“A deeply personal matter?”
“I believe the possibility is very strong. Otherwise, there’s no way someone who’s been so quiet until now would suddenly appear.”
“Hmm. Now that you mention it, that does make sense. So it should have no connection to our affairs.”
“That’s what I believe.”
“Still, I can’t help but worry. Whenever that woman appears, someone always dies, or something that shakes the entire Martial World inevitably occurs. I fear the fallout from her actions might reach us as well.”
“I share that concern.”
Where the Witch went, trouble always followed.
Just then, a guard who had briefly stepped away approached Baek Ri-hyeon with urgency.
“Clan Leader. The information we’ve been waiting for appears to have arrived.”
Baek Ri-hyeon, Baek Ri-ga-jin, and Baek Ri-hyang all turned toward the guard with bright, eager eyes.
“Information we’ve been waiting for? You mean…?”
He meant news of Yeo Mi-hee and Dang Yi-hyeok.
“Yes, Clan Leader.”
“Speak quickly.”
“Among the merchants trading in the markets of Su-nyeong County, we discovered something unusual in their conversations and have completed direct confirmation. They are waiting only for your command now.”
“The confirmation is certain?”
“We’ve verified it multiple times.”
Baek Ri-hyeon, Baek Ri-ga-jin, and Baek Ri-hyang burst into delighted laughter.
“Ha ha ha ha!”
“Hee ha ha ha!”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
The worries of recent days and the conversation they’d just had about the Witch vanished at once, and a brightened Baek Ri-hyeon asked:
“But what did they hear?”
“There was a family living in a mountain village who used to come down to the markets roughly once every seven or ten days to buy provisions. But for the past month, they haven’t come at all. So someone concerned for them went to check on the family in that mountain village, and that person never came back down either. When they went to investigate, it turned out those bastards had killed the family living there and were hiding in their home.”
This was where Yeo Mi-hee and Dang Yi-hyeok had been concealing themselves.
If they were to learn that everything was exposed because of the family they’d murdered to keep their identities hidden, what would their faces look like?
“Ha. So there truly are no secrets in this world? Their fate ends here, it seems.”
“It feels as though heaven itself is helping our Baek Ri. Brother.”
“So it does.”
“My congratulations, brother.”
“We should be congratulating our Baek Ri clan. Ha ha ha.”
“I’m moved by your devotion to our clan.”
“Aren’t you the same as I am?”
“Thank you.”
The guard turned to Baek Ri-hyeon once more.
“How shall we handle it, Clan Leader?”
“Dispose of them cleanly. Burn everything. Not a trace of bone should remain.”
“Understood.”
“And see that the Su-nyeong County Branch is also cleaned up.”
“Understood. And what of the young one?”
“Ri-hyang. What would you have done?”
Baek Ri-hyang’s expression twisted as if she’d tasted something foul.
“You said to wake them from their dream, didn’t you? Then they should wake.”
“Ha ha ha. I do appreciate how cleanly you sever ties, sister.”
“Brother, really. Though it is a shame. Such a pretty face and such talent, wasted.”
“True enough.”
Baek Ri-hyeon issued his final command to the guard.
“Dispose of the young one as well.”
“Yes, Clan Leader.”
Thus the fate of all eleven members of the Su-nyeong County Branch was sealed.
Sa U Rin included.
* * *
The sun hung at its zenith over Chengdu in Sichuan Province.
At this hour, the tavern kept its doors closed. Yet on the second floor, plainly visible to any passerby, someone had settled in with deliberate calm.
Alone.
She drank, her gaze fixed on some distant point.
A woman draped in an Embroidered Robe, exquisite with its cascade of flowered needlework.
Appearing to be in her early thirties.
At the apex of both youthful purity and mature allure.
And above that—a seductive quality that seemed to shimmer like heat-haze in the curve of her eyes and the corner of her mouth.
A beauty so transcendent that even “finest in all the realm” seemed insufficient.
No.
A beauty so absolute it could suffocate a man.
In terms of martial prowess, one might say she hovered between the peak of Hyeon-gyeong and the threshold of Saengsa-gyeong?
In a word: a beauty beyond that of any immortal.
Any man who walked the Gangho, who devoted himself to the Martial World, would think nothing of risking his life for such a woman.
Yet there was no one around her. Not a soul.
Not men—people. Only ants scurrying past.
That was it.
The woman sitting in refined composure on the tavern’s second floor, drinking from her cup, was none other than—
First of her sect.
Jang Ryeo, the supreme authority of the Ma Sect.
Nobody dared approach; she was mad enough that you could die just catching her eye.
Despite possessing a beauty that could rightfully claim the title of finest woman under heaven, people never called her that. They didn’t even think it.
Because of her excessive conduct.
No—excessive was too mild a word. She was simply mad.
Yet despite all this, a man appeared. Or rather—unfortunately—an old man with white hair and a face etched deep with wrinkles.
The old man alighted gently, stepping across the tavern’s second floor in a single bound.
The old man was Dok Wang, the patriarch emeritus of the Sichuan Dang clan.
He’d come only to verify the rumors, though the situation was already clear.
Jang Ryeo, the Ma Sect’s supreme, who had been sitting in composure and draining her cup, suddenly arched her eyes.
“Oh, old man’s come visiting?”
‘…This damnable woman!’
Old man, right off the bat!
To Dok Wang, the patriarch emeritus of the great Sichuan Dang clan—old man!
He should have snapped at her immediately, but his opponent was who she was, so he refrained.
“Impressive. Keeping your face so taut at your age. You must be pouring Inner Force directly into your skin, aren’t you?”
She was maintaining her former beauty intact, so such a thought wasn’t unreasonable.
“I don’t know where you waste your Inner Force, old man. Are you perhaps dallying with some young girl? Better be careful. You’ll have all your vitality drained right out of you and die.”
“That’s not—”
“Not what?”
“When you’ve reached my years, you ought to speak with more grace.”
“If your face were as refined as your words, the people around you would drop dead from exhaustion.”
“…If I can’t even speak. Tsk.”
“Don’t just stand there—sit down. Unless you want to brag about being short.”
…
With no choice left, Dok Wang dragged over a chair and sat.
Then a Wine Bottle and a Wine Cup rose into the air of their own accord, drifting toward him. The bottle tilted, filling the cup.
“Drink.”
“…Pointlessly…”
“What. You hoard your Inner Force just to waste it on parlor tricks like this. There’s nothing else to spend it on these days anyway. You know how it is.”
Since ascending to the supreme seat of the Ma Sect, no one had dared challenge Jang Ryeo or attempt to climb above her.
So naturally, there was no need to expend her Inner Force.
Dok Wang took the cup and drained it in one swallow.
“Help yourself to side dishes. You know the rules—I only serve them to one person.”
“Heh heh.”
Yes, he knew. He knew it all too well.
Yet the fact that she still hadn’t forgotten that one person—Sa Cheol-gang—struck him as genuinely curious.
How much time had passed.
‘Could it be…’
Is that why you’ve come?
Because you heard that Sa Cheol-gang was dead?
There’s no way to know.
Even Dok Wang couldn’t begin to fathom the movements of this madwoman.
“So. Why have you come to Sichuan?”
“You don’t know?”
“……Look, you cut off everything I say before I finish, and then expect me to read your mind?”
“Are you truly ignorant, or are you playing games?”
‘……Did she actually come knowing something?’
“……Good heavens. You just said I don’t finish my sentences.”
“So?”
“So.”
“Fine. I’ll spell it out for you. You hit my son.”
A sigh escaped Dok Wang’s lips unbidden—the absurdity was suffocating.
“Phew. Have you gone senile all of a sudden? Or are you so bored and restless that you’ve traveled all this way just to play word games with me?”
He couldn’t make sense of a single word she was saying.
“You think I’d do something like that?”
“No, if you just think about it for a moment, it should be obvious. How could I encounter someone from the Jang clan and—”
The witch Jang Ryeo cut him off, her beautiful face hardening.
“What are you babbling about, old man? Where does the Jang clan come into this?”
“……Then what?”
“My child. My son. That’s what I’m talking about—my boy……or rather, my son.”
“……What? ……Your son?”
“Yes. My son.”
Dok Wang burst into laughter, the absurdity of it all overwhelming him.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
The witch Jang Ryeo’s beautiful eyes narrowed to slits.
“Why are you laughing? Do you want to die?”
So Dok Wang stopped laughing.
“Ahem.”
Not out of fear.
Who knows who lives and dies until you’ve fought it out? Sure, he’d likely be at a disadvantage, but still.
He was, after all, among the elite of the righteous sects.
Though the true measure of strength could only be known through real combat, the witch Jang Ryeo was undeniably the supreme master of the Ma Sect, while Dok Wang ranked within the top ten of the righteous factions—so on the surface, he was slightly outmatched.
Dok Wang studied her expression carefully, then stepped closer and examined her face intently.
Perhaps senility had truly set in, and she’d come here on a whim.
“Wipe that look off your face. You’ll actually get yourself killed.”
“Ahem.”
So he wiped it away immediately. And again, not out of fear.
She looked ready to rampage like a madwoman, which was entirely plausible given her temperament.
“You don’t seem to have gone senile……so why are you talking such nonsense?”
“Nonsense? Nonsense? So you think I’ve lost my mind? Is that it?”
“The witch of all Heaven having a son? Who in their right mind would believe that? Put your hand on your heart and think about it.”
Jang Ryeo brought her hand to her own chest.
“……Hand on your heart?”
“Yes. Hand on your heart.”
“Old man, are you ogling my chest right now? Is today the day you want to be the Sichuan Dang clan’s memorial service? Huh?!”
“……This is maddening. Truly. Is that what you heard? I meant you should have a conscience.”
“You think I don’t understand what you meant? Huh?! Your eyes were fixed on my chest just a moment ago.”
“Heh heh. This will be the death of me. If you’re going to keep spouting nonsense, I’m leaving.”
Dok Wang rose from his seat.
“Sit down. If you leave like this, I’m going to the Sichuan Dang clan myself.”
……
So he sat back down, helpless. The thought alone was horrifying.
“Alright. What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I already told you. Did you hit my son or not?”
A hollow laugh escaped him unbidden.
“Sigh. So you’re saying I hit your son? And that’s why you came?”
“Well, not solely because of that, but yes, it’s one of the reasons.”
“Fine. Let’s say that’s true. So who is this son of yours?”
“My son? U Rin.”
In that instant, Dok Wang’s mind went white-hot.
“U Rin……. ……what?”
“U Rin. You hit him, didn’t you? Isn’t that right?”
Dok Wang stood frozen, utterly dumbfounded.
“Hey. Hey?”
The witch waved a hand in front of his eyes.
“What’s wrong? Lost your mind?”
His mind wasn’t lost — but Jang Ryeo’s soul seemed to have fled her body instead. Dok Wang couldn’t help but notice.
“So……, U Rin……, Sa Cheol-gang’s son U Rin?”
“Yes. My son U Rin.”
“……No, U Rin is Sa Cheol-gang’s son, not your son.”
It was pathetic.
He understood not letting go of Sa Cheol-gang — but did it have to go this far?
“What do you mean? I gave birth to U Rin. He came from my body. You said he was closest to Sa Cheol-gang, that he was dearest to him — how could you not know something so obvious?”
Crash!
Dok Wang, his wits entirely scattered, toppled backward along with his chair.
One of the ten greatest masters in the Righteous Faction, no less.
And not even gracefully.

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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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