I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 38

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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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Entering the Murim Alliance for Nothing — Episode 38
The mouth of Jang Ryeo, the younger sister that Family Head Jang Yu-un of the Jang Clan feared so deeply, finally opened.
“What if our clan withdrew from the Evil Faction Alliance and transferred to the Murim Alliance?”
“……W-what?”
What was this — a tiger grazing on grass?
The sheer absurdity of it actually dissolved Family Head Jang Yu-un’s tension.
Though he occasionally got himself into situations beyond his control — or rather, now that he was the supreme leader of the Evil Faction, there were hardly any situations he couldn’t handle — his younger sister had never spouted such utter nonsense before.
“Think carefully about what I’m saying. I didn’t come up with this lightly.”
Didn’t come up with it lightly — no, she should never have brought it up at all.
“……You’re actually speaking these words? Why don’t you just spit in my face instead?”
At least then he’d have cause to be angry.
But this — there were no words for it.
The Jang Clan had belonged to the Evil Faction Alliance for a full two hundred years in Guizhou Province.
What’s more, they were one of the seven major sects representing the Evil Faction itself.
“Still, we could consider it, couldn’t we?”
No. Absolutely not.
This was not a thought to be entertained under any circumstances.
“Even if you say that, this is impossible.”
Though she occasionally meddled in the Evil Faction Alliance’s affairs, offering unsolicited criticism, this was an entirely different matter.
“Why?”
“……Why? You’re asking why? Fine.”
Come to think of it, this was actually a very simple problem.
“Could you alone fight the entire Evil Faction and win?”
“……No.”
No matter how much one might be called the supreme leader of the Evil Faction, winning against it all was impossible.
And Jang Ryeo would certainly know that.
That’s why power was necessary — to carry out one’s will and vision.
But to stand against the entire Evil Faction, how much power would be required?
At minimum, one would need half the power of the Righteous Faction just to call it barely competitive.
Of course, that would still be woefully insufficient. The whole of the Righteous Faction would be ideal.
“Right, it’s simple then. That’s why it won’t work.”
“I see. So it won’t work.”
He expected her to dig in her heels, but instead she accepted it without resistance — which somehow made it worse. She’d clearly known all along and was just testing him.
He really did wonder what kind of mind could conceive of such thoughts.
“But why did you suddenly bring this up while we were talking about your son?”
“Well, your son entered the Murim Alliance, didn’t he? So I thought I’d ask, just in case. Whether he might have interest in it. You’ve been in the Evil Faction a long time, after all. So I figured trying the Righteous Faction might be worth considering.”
Family Head Jang Yu-un seemed to be choking, his breath catching as he spoke.
“Ha, ha, huh, hehehehe. This is maddening. Really. So you’re saying. Your son actually went to the Murim Alliance?”
“Yes.”
“Ha, ha. So, did your son take after some man from that Demonic Cult or whatever — is that whose child he is?”
Jang Yu-un knew.
His younger sister had been blinded by love, risking her life to go to the Murim Alliance and cause that uproar.
And not content with that, she’d even marched into the Demonic Cult itself.
“You know well.”
“So what of that man from the Demonic Cult? Why are you acting like this?”
“He’s dead. Five years ago.”
“……That’s unfortunate.”
“It’s fine. Everyone dies eventually.”
“……You’re so carefree about it.”
Yet she’d loved that man so deeply.
“So, you’re trying to live with your son now?”
“That’s what I was trying to do, but he went off to the Murim Alliance.”
“So, the Jang Clan to the Murim Alliance? Really, I’m speechless. Absolutely speechless. You could just bring him back, couldn’t you? Ah, so even as his mother, you can’t control your own child?”
“No, he said he was going to become the Murim Alliance Leader. How am I supposed to drag him out when he’s already full-grown?”
“……Murim Alliance Leader? Ha, ha. Mother and son both intend to grasp the Jianghu in the palm of your hand? Hehehehe. If I want to avoid seeing that spectacle, I’d better die soon. Ugh.”
Wouldn’t it be ghastly to even imagine?
And it was painfully obvious what would happen.
Knowing his mother was the supreme leader of the Evil Faction, he still wouldn’t follow her?
Wasn’t that genuinely laughable?
If it were anyone else, they’d use the backing of such a mother to do whatever they wished, and if they lacked talent in the martial arts they wanted to learn, they could even consume the finest Spirit Medicine. Wasn’t that the kind of position available to them?
On top of that, there’s the Jang Clan—a condition that needs no explanation.
And yet he deliberately threw himself into the treacherous Murim Alliance?
The man’s simply mad.
And besides.
His mother is the supreme leader of the Evil Faction, and he wants to become Murim Alliance Leader?
Murim Alliance Leader?
It’s so absurd I’m left speechless.
I’ve never laid eyes on the nephew, but it’s perfectly clear he doesn’t possess a sane mind either.
No—as I said just now, the man is simply mad, isn’t he?
“If he’s going to die anyway, just hand the Jang Clan over to our son.”
What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?
Jang Yu-un glanced sidelong at his sister’s expression. She was entirely serious, which made the situation all the more troublesome.
“……Insane. Woman. I mean—that’s just what I meant to say…….”
He’d never harbored much ambition for the position of Family Head, but truthfully, now that he’d tasted power, he found no willingness to relinquish it quietly. If she insisted on seizing it by force, he supposed he’d have no choice but to yield.
“I’m not taking it. Not taking it. Good heavens. Getting scared—”
“……Scared? Who said I was scared?”
A breath escaped him.
It was more than mere fear. For an instant, he’d felt as though plummeting from a ten-thousand-zhang cliff.
“If you’ve nothing more to say, go. You’re driving me to distraction.”
“Well, isn’t there some good solution?”
“There isn’t one. Just go. If you’re going to keep spouting nonsense. No, wait—while you’re here, why don’t you let me assess your nephews’ martial arts before you leave?”
“What are you saying? You didn’t even look at my son’s martial arts.”
“Why? Doesn’t your boy measure up to your standards either?”
He hoped that were true.
It was that petty envy—when a cousin prospers, your own belly aches.
“What are you talking about? He’s already reached a level where I wouldn’t need to assess him.”
He’d heard tales of Poison King, and he’d heard the story of how the Baekri Clan’s secondary leader and Juru had clashed. Moreover, he’d witnessed it with his own eyes, hadn’t he?
“……Truly?”
It couldn’t be.
The arm bends inward, so he assumed Jang Ryeo was simply biased in her assessment of her own son.
Or rather, he wanted to believe that.
“I’m telling you. At his age, I was nowhere near that level.”
“……Tsk.”
It was far too preposterous, wasn’t it?
At that level, one might as well say he was something other than human.
“Believe it or don’t. I was shocked myself. In any case. Can’t you really think of some good idea?”
“The best policy is to avoid seeing each other.”
“What—are you asking me to drive a wedge between mother and son? Is that what you’re saying?”
“……Ah, no. It’s just that there’s no other way. That’s what I meant.”
This woman was too capable, and she’d birthed an equally capable son, which kindled such envy that foolish words spilled from his mouth.
“Think before you speak. Think. But truly—is there really no good solution?”
There isn’t one, I’m telling you.
And yet Jang Ryeo lingered there, her mind circling the same thought, unwilling to depart.
* * *
The conspirators behind the Yin-Yang Valley incident were exposed, and Yeo Mi-hui and Dang Yi-hyeok could not escape death.
Thanks to the witch Jang Ryeo, they were not killed by assassins hired by the Baekri Clan, but upon returning to the Dang household and enduring brutal torture, they confessed the Baekri Clan’s involvement—and then met their end.
No matter how direct a lineage descendant one might be, the Dang household showed no mercy.
One might call it cruel, but it was precisely because they had always acted thus that the Dang household had risen to become the master of Sichuan Province.
After that, Poison King sought out the Baekri Clan.
Poison King gave the Baekri Clan Family Head a choice: engage in a full confrontation with the Sichuan Dang Clan, or offer up his own neck and bring this matter to a close.
The Baekri Clan Family Head’s choice was, in a sense, inevitable. He had to prevent his clan’s annihilation.
So the Baekri Clan Family Head offered his neck to Poison King’s blade.
The Baekri Clan had lost its Family Head and its heir apparent. It was the reason they did not resort to sect closure.
They might rise again someday, but if they did, it would take a good forty or fifty years.
Thus the incident arising from Yin-Yang Valley was being resolved. Yet the minds of Poison King, the Grand Elder of the Sichuan Dang Clan, and Dang Won-hu, the Family Head, grew only more complicated.
Without Sa U-rin, the son of the Evil Faction’s supreme leader witch, and the witch Jang Ryeo, the Yin-Yang Valley incident could not have been resolved.
In short, they had incurred a great debt of gratitude.
But Jang Ryeo is a member of the Evil Faction, is she not?
Moreover, she is the mother of Sa U-rin, the Evil Faction’s supreme leader’s son.
Of course, this fact had not been revealed to outsiders. Jang Ryeo would not have wished it, and the Sichuan Dang Clan wished it even less.
It would be easy enough to brush this whole affair aside as if it never happened, but that’s not how things work.
Wasn’t Sa U-rin a benefactor to the Sichuan Dang Clan?
And hadn’t he even told Sa U-rin to wield the Sichuan Dang Clan like his own sword?
It was a statement laden with the Dang Clan’s resolve to repay kindness twofold, and there was a heart willing to do exactly that.
But.
If—God forbid—it were ever revealed that Sa U-rin, whom they had helped and supported, was the son of the Evil Faction’s supreme witch……
Consequences beyond their control would unfold. No, they absolutely would.
The Dang Clan in league with the Evil Faction?
The Sichuan Dang Clan defecting to the Evil Faction?
Wasn’t the mere thought of it horrifying?
And so, with the Poison King Dang Mo-jun and Family Head Dang Won-hu already drowning in the complexity of their thoughts and emotions, an unexpected problem emerged.
The Poison King Dang Mo-jun and Family Head Dang Won-hu were regarding Dang Yi-ryeong with bewildered eyes.
“What do you mean you’re going there?”
Dang Yi-ryeong had suddenly announced she was going to the Murim Alliance. Had she said it was to gain experience in the Jianghu, there would have been no reason to stop her. But since it seemed her reasons lay elsewhere, they were perplexed.
“Because that’s where my life’s goal lies.”
Since the Yin-Yang Valley was eliminated, Dang Yi-ryeong had devoted herself entirely—desperately—to her training.
To the point that those around her had grown concerned.
She wanted to become stronger, wanted to prove herself, wanted to stand with pride.
The Poison King, Dang Yi-ryeong’s grandfather, asked:
“Your life’s goal is at the Murim Alliance? What in the world could possibly be there? Are you telling me you mean to become the Murim Alliance Leader?”
There was no reason for a direct line of the Sichuan Dang Clan to aspire to such a thing. And for a long time now, none of the Nine Sects and One Alliance or the Five Great Clans had occupied that seat.
They checked and balanced one another with such strength that no one could easily ascend to the position of Murim Alliance Leader.
So the notion of becoming Murim Alliance Leader was nothing but wishful thinking.
Dang Yi-ryeong, who couldn’t possibly be ignorant of this, hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“I have no interest in becoming Murim Alliance Leader. My goal is U-rin.”
“……U-rin? Are you truly saying that man is your life’s goal?”
In plain terms, she had fallen in love.
In youth, nothing was more precious than love itself.
And so the Poison King spoke plainly.
“It cannot be.”
Family Head Dang Won-hu was equally unrelenting.
“Absolutely not.”
Dang Yi-ryeong’s eyes widened. It was unexpected. She had thought they would encourage her instead.
“……Why not? Why do you say I cannot? Grandfather, Father—you both spoke highly of U-rin. You said he would grow into something great. Did I misunderstand?”
She had not.
At first, both the Poison King and the Family Head had harbored hopes that Dang Yi-ryeong and Sa U-rin would fare well together.
But.
“There is one thing you do not know.”
“What is it? But even if there is something I don’t know, I cannot give up.”
Her heart had already been entirely surrendered.
Or rather, she thought, how significant could it truly be?
“Even if U-rin were a Demonic Cultist? Even if he were of the Evil Faction? It’s not like that, is it? So I have no reason to give up.”
It was the unwavering resolve of Dang Yi-ryeong.
Seeing this alone, she had devoted herself to training, even sparing her sleeping hours.
So that she could stand beside Sa U-rin with confidence.

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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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