I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 90

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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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Chapter 90
The Witch Jang Ryeo fixed Ok Ji-rim with a wide stare and spoke.
“Oh, head of the Sanon Trade Consortium. What brings you all the way here from Guangxi Province?”
‘Sigh. Just as I’ve heard.’
Even as a Supreme Exponent of the Demonic Path, she had no basic courtesy—that much was plain.
He’d already introduced himself as the head of the Sanon Trade Consortium, yet she showed not the slightest inclination to show him respect.
‘So be it.’
Martial artists were all the same—drunk on their own prowess. Which, truth be told, made them easy to handle.
“We go where the money flows, that’s simply our way.”
“Where the money flows, you say? True enough. Today must be one of those days. Very well—earn yourself a handsome profit before you leave.”
The Sanon Trade Consortium ranked among the five richest enterprises in the Central Plains. Yet here they were, scrambling for more. His mind understood it, even if his heart rebelled. Merchants had transparent hearts, after all.
More money was always better money.
Martial artists were no different—the stronger, the better.
Still, for reasons he couldn’t quite name, the Witch Jang Ryeo had always filled him with distaste.
But distaste and refusal were two different things when profit was at stake.
“That said, if Your Eminence would permit, I should like to arrange a private audience.”
“I’m afraid not. I’m rather busy at the moment. Besides, those gathered here will bring you far more advantage than I ever could. If you’ve heard anything about me, you’d know that already.”
“Ha, ha, ha. Indeed we have.”
Yet he still sought her out. There had to be a reason for it.
The Witch Jang Ryeo was hardly one to miss such a thing.
“Which is precisely why I venture to be so bold with you, Your Eminence.”
“If you thought rudeness was involved, you shouldn’t have done it. Don’t you see? If you truly know of me, you’d know that disrespect leads straight to death. Does your wealth think it can save you from that? Well?”
‘This woman…’
“My sincerest apologies.”
“Good. Watch yourself. This is the Gangho, after all. A clever man ought to know better. Now, I’m busy.”
The Witch Jang Ryeo turned her back on Ok Ji-rim and fixed her gaze on her brother, Jang Yu-un.
“You’re not busy right now, are you?”
He was at a loss.
With the estate so packed with guests, how could he possibly not be busy?
“I am busy.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me.”
‘Damn it!’
Here we go again. Again!
She was completely arbitrary. He’d said he was busy, hadn’t he? Yet his younger sister had a downright supernatural gift for infuriating him, as if she’d stuffed cotton in her own ears.
“Come with me.”
“But right now—”
“What are you doing? Get moving.”
“You’re really—”
“Really what?”
“Never mind.”
And so the Witch Jang Ryeo, Jang Yu-un, and Sa U-rin vanished from the banquet hall.
The lords of Guizhou exchanged glances and approached Ok Ji-rim in a body.
“Please, think nothing of it. She’s simply a free spirit.”
“Ha, ha, ha. I was aware, so it’s quite all right.”
Yet it wasn’t all right. Not at all. He was deeply offended. Whatever else might be said, Ok Ji-rim possessed power and influence to match—or nearly match—that of any Demonic Path Supreme Exponent.
Yet the Witch Jang Ryeo had treated him as if he were beneath her.
The lord of the Murim Alliance himself, or the leader of the Heterodox Alliance, would never dare conduct themselves this way toward him.
In any case.
Ok Ji-rim posed a question to the gathered lords of Guizhou.
“Tell me—were you aware that the Supreme Exponent has a son?”
Ok Ji-rim had not known.
He had not known that the son of the Demonic Path’s Supreme Exponent, the Witch Jang Ryeo, was the one who had obliterated the Xueyu Fang in a single night and returned alive from the Underworld Path among the Murim Alliance’s warriors.
And.
He had not known that the Witch Jang Ryeo’s son was the one they called the Jade-Faced Azure Dragon in the Murim Alliance.
“We only just learned of it ourselves.”
“A son, all of a sudden?”
“Was he adopted?”
“Look at him—don’t you see? He’s her spitting image.”
“Quite right. When did she ever produce such a fine-looking son?”
“I should have a word with Jang Yu-un about this.”
She appeared to be around twenty years old, so she likely hadn’t married yet.
“This fellow. Son of a Supreme Exponent, no less. Do you think he takes just anyone?”
“What do you mean by that? What’s wrong with our Cheongmun?”
“People might think Cheongmun is one of the seven great Demonic Path sects, the way you talk.”
“You really do have an exasperating streak, don’t you?”
“What are you saying?”
“The Supreme Exponent isn’t the type to concern himself with such things. Haven’t you noticed how he keeps his distance even from the Sanon Trade Consortium? Can’t you see that?”
“……I suppose you’re right.”
“When you think about it, our Supreme Exponent truly has no ambitions.”
“Remarkable, really.”
No ordinary person could be that way.
At that moment, the leaders began to slip away from their seats one by one.
“Where are you all going?”
“I need to have a word with my daughter.”
“Same here.”
“Ha ha. What a predicament for me, with no daughter to my name.”
A twinge of regret stirred in his chest.
“By the way, I heard the Consortium also has a daughter.”
“Ah, I already have someone in mind as a potential son-in-law.”
Though merely one martial artist of the Murim Alliance, he possessed unlimited potential. So through this Azure Dragon Murim Tournament, I had resolved to assess the true extent of his capabilities.
That was the truth.
That one martial artist of the Murim Alliance was none other than Sa U-rin.
Ok Ji-rim, head of the Sanon Trade Consortium, remained entirely unaware of this fact.
“I’m not sure what sort of person he is, but wouldn’t he fall short of the Supreme Exponent’s son?”
“One never knows how things will unfold in the Gangho.”
“True enough.”
For such is the nature of the Gangho.
* * *
The study of the Head of the Jang Clan Estate.
Head of the Jang Clan Jang Yu-un, the witch Jang Ryeo, and Sa U-rin sat in their places.
Jang Yu-un, the head of the clan, threw words at Jang Ryeo with an irritated expression.
“What is it this time?”
Had to be on a day like this, of all days.
“If you spout nonsense that won’t come to pass again…….”
He couldn’t do much about it, but at least by speaking his mind this way, he harbored the hope that she might weigh her words more carefully.
“Why are you speaking like that in front of your nephew you’ve never met?”
“Ahem. I’m being cautious precisely because it’s the nephew I’ve never met.”
“Bullshit.”
“Ha ha. And what of you?”
“I’m always like this, so it doesn’t matter.”
A sigh escaped unbidden.
“So why did you come?”
“I’ve brought an opportunity for our Jang Clan to stand at the center of the Gangho.”
“……You have?”
As if.
“I have.”
“I’d rather not hear it. No, I don’t need to hear it. Why do you always begin with such grandiosity when you’re about to spout nonsense? Enough. I’ll pretend I heard nothing, so just stay quiet and leave.”
That was truly the path forward for the Jang Clan.
At that, the witch Jang Ryeo’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Do you want to die?”
“……N-no…….”
Ordinarily, his younger sister Jang Ryeo would never speak to him this way.
He had not heard those words—”Do you want to die?”—since that time in the latter years when he had tried to kill his younger sister Jang Ryeo.
So for a moment, his heart lurched. The memory of that time came rushing back.
“Don’t you see I’m speaking seriously right now? Eh?”
If you don’t see it, that’s why you’re being like this, isn’t it?
No, she had never truly been serious in her life. Her face might wear an air of gravity, but the words and deeds that emerged from that solemn expression were invariably preposterous.
“……Speak then.”
He didn’t know what it was, but he sensed instinctively that something vast, something real and tremendous, was about to break loose.
Or rather, he could already discern it from the words flowing out. The center of the Gangho, no less?
I’m already dreading what absurd nonsense he’s about to spout, given the way he’s loading his words with such elaborate preamble.
And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“The Jang Clan is defecting to the Orthodox Path, effective immediately.”
“That’s not….”
Not “let’s do it”—but “we will do it”?
As though it’s already been decided?
The Head of the Jang Clan is undeniably Jang Yu-un, which means Jang Yu-un is the master of this house, and yet——
How could she make such a monumental decision entirely on her own whim, without so much as a word to the actual master?
And.
“You said the same thing last time. You admitted yourself it couldn’t be done.”
So please, I’m begging you—spare me any more of this ridiculous drivel.
“This time the situation is different.”
“Different how? Unless the Murim Alliance has suddenly begun desperately begging us to join them, which they haven’t.”
If they had, I’d at least consider it. But that’s not going to happen.
Not unless the Murim Alliance has lost its mind.
“That’s precisely the situation we’re in now.”
The Head’s eyes widened.
“…What?”
No. I mustn’t be shocked. The odds are quite high that this is nothing but a lie designed to test my own judgment.
So I compose myself and ask again, carefully.
“Jang Ryeo. Did you drink before noon?”
“You’re the one who held the banquet, not me.”
“Then why are you spouting nonsense?”
“I know you don’t believe me. But it’s true.”
The Head is utterly baffled. So he turns his gaze toward this nephew he’s meeting for the first time, studying his face.
‘…What is this?’
That blank expression?
His face reveals absolutely nothing.
Whether he’s indifferent, whether Jang Ryeo is telling the truth, or whether it’s a complete fabrication—there’s nothing to read in his features at all.
So the Head has no choice but to face his sister Jang Ryeo’s gaze once more.
“…All right. Let’s hear it.”
Once she’s finished yapping, perhaps there will be peace.
“Who do you think heads the Murim Alliance right now?”
“…Why the sudden question….”
“Just answer.”
“…Well, since the Alliance Lord is away, it would naturally be the military strategist.”
“Very well informed.”
“….”
As if I’m some fool. Really, this is….
“So Jegal Gun-sa, who can be said to be the current head of the Murim Alliance, came to me directly and told me this.”
“…He came here and told you to have the Jang Clan join the Alliance?”
“He did.”
“…Is that truly the case?”
The military strategist of the Murim Alliance would have no reason whatsoever to say such a thing, unless he had lost his sanity.
“It is true.”
“Sigh.”
Has the military strategist of the Murim Alliance truly gone mad?
Or is it that the military strategist sees something he wants to extract through the Jang Clan….
What could that be?
No matter how hard I think, nothing comes to mind.
…Could it be?
Is the Murim Alliance planning war with the Demonic Path? To gain the upper hand?
…No.
In all the history of Gangho, the Orthodox Path has never been the first to start a war.
So what is it, then?
“You’re starting to believe me, I see.”
“…Yes. You wouldn’t joke about something like this twice. But what is the military strategist’s intention in this? Or rather—do you have any guarantee that he won’t simply milk us dry and discard us when he’s done with us?”
“That much is certain.”
“How so?”
“Because Jegal Gun-sa and our Sa U-rin share the same purpose.”
“……You, Sa U-rin?”
“Don’t you even know your nephew’s name?”
“When did you ever tell me?”
“Ah, I suppose I didn’t. My son’s name is Sa U-rin.”
Thank goodness.
He doesn’t bear the Jang surname.
That meant, after all, there was no intention to strip the Jang Clan Estate bare.
“……Yes, Sa U-rin. But you’re saying my nephew Sa U-rin and Jegal Gun-sa share the same purpose? What in the world does that mean?”
The boy was barely of age.
How could such a child have the same purpose as the Murim Alliance’s strategist?
Frankly, it sounded like nonsense.
“And there’s one more solid reason why our Jang Clan Estate won’t simply be abandoned.”
“What is it?”
“I will become the Lord of the Murim Alliance.”
“……What? The, the Lord of the Murim Alliance? You?”
“Yes.”
At that, Jang Yu-un, the Head of the Jang Clan, began to laugh as if possessed.
One should at least speak words that sound like sense.

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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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