My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 65
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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 65. Murim Alliance Investigator, Jegeol Gil
“Then I shall carry out this task and return forthwith.”
“Yes, go well.”
Murim Alliance Master Hall.
The moment a certain stern-faced man bowed and stepped outside, Song Ildo’s expression grew troubled.
“Will he be all right? I’ve heard he’s an exacting sort—difficult to please.”
“That is precisely why I’m sending him. Speaking not as his brother, but in truth—there is no one better suited for a task like this.”
Jegeol Mun, the Commander of Military Affairs, continued with a puzzled look on his face.
“And this matter itself is far stranger than one or two anomalies warrant.”
“Hmm. Yes, indeed. Yet I wonder if that fellow will remain… restrained.”
Song Ildo’s face darkened with misgiving.
The visage of Peng Mugang, Patriarch of the Hebei Peng Clan, rose before his mind.
That fearsome countenance—as though a great tiger had taken human form.
And his temperament, fierce as wildfire, was another matter entirely.
But worse still was the man’s sentiment toward the Murim Alliance itself—far from favorable.
This was what truly unsettled Song Ildo, the Alliance Master.
At Song Ildo’s words, Jegeol Mun chuckled softly and replied.
“Have no fear. The Patriarch may seem fierce, but he is not one to act rashly without cause.”
“Quite right. Your concern exceeds the matter at hand, Alliance Master. Ha!”
“Well, if that is the case, I am relieved.”
Those in the Master Hall moved to ease the Alliance Master’s anxiety.
And yet—
……
One of the elders had fixed a peculiar gaze upon the place where the departing man had vanished.
His eyes followed the direction the investigator had taken.
***
“What more needs investigating that brings you all here?”
Hebei Peng Family Patriarch Hall.
Peng Mugang regarded those who had just offered him a respectful greeting with evident displeasure.
They were investigators dispatched from the Murim Alliance.
“Surely the Alliance does not distrust the account given by our Clan?”
“That could hardly be the case.”
Jegeol Gil, the investigator sent for the task, bowed his head and spoke with his characteristic impassive expression.
“It is only that, given the gravity of the matter, we wish to conduct a more thorough and meticulous inquiry, so that no misunderstanding may arise.”
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding do you speak of?”
Peng Mugang’s eyes narrowed.
“My account concerns the Demonic Cult, not the Peng Clan. I trust there is no confusion on that point.”
At the mention of the Demonic Cult, Peng Mugang’s expression twitched.
The Demonic Cult had always been a threat to the martial world of the Central Plains.
The investigator’s monotone voice filled the hall with quiet weight.
“By examining the scene, we may learn what the Demonic Cult schemed through this incident and what intentions they harbored. Surely that knowledge would benefit us all, would it not? That is all.”
“Smooth words indeed.”
“I am grateful for your appreciation.”
“Tch. That was no compliment.”
So he appeared merely stolid, yet proved shameless as well.
Peng Mugang regarded him with eyes that betokened displeasure, but the investigator remained unmoved.
As though such encounters were nothing new to him.
“Understood. Go about your work.”
“Thank you. Then I shall take my leave.”
The investigator bowed and departed.
“A weary-looking fellow, this one who has come.”
Peng Mugang clicked his tongue as he watched the investigator’s retreating form.
‘Jegeol Gil, Murim Alliance investigator.’
Peng Mugang had heard the name before.
The man was renowned for various reasons.
Many celebrated cases had been solved by his hand.
A man who would undertake anything—any deed whatsoever—in service of uncovering the truth.
Yet precisely because of this, many held him in poor regard.
With such a man now arrived, he would surely uncover the true nature of this affair.
Still, the question remained—
‘Those rotten dogs. Making a commotion and leaving on a whim, and then out of nowhere they perish alongside the Demonic Cult. What a turn of events.’
Peng Mugang recalled the image of the Sarim Group.
They were the sort of men whose faces bore arrogance so thick it turned his stomach.
That such men should meet their end in this manner struck him as surprising.
And to die battling the Demonic Cult in Hebei—the very threshold of the Peng household, no less.
Regrettable though it was, there remained something that, as Peng Mugang, he simply could not reconcile.
Specifically, that those who fell fighting the Sarim Group were members of the Dark Slayers—an elite force of the Demonic Cult.
Peng Mugang himself had heard the name of the Dark Slayers often enough.
They were wolves that hunted giants.
Yet such formidable warriors fell in mutual destruction against mere Sarim Group brats?
It defied all logic.
‘There must be something more to this.’
He was not alone in his thinking—others surely harbored the same suspicion.
That was doubtless why the Murim Alliance had dispatched an investigator.
“Hmm. A headache in the making.”
Truth be told, he was seething.
How little did those cursed Demonic Cult wretches esteem the Peng household, to perpetrate such an outrage not in some distant corner but here in Hebei itself?
Yet he could not mount an immediate assault on the Demonic Cult.
And the Demonic Cult themselves were likely in disbelief at this very moment.
To have squandered one of their principal forces so ignominiously while attempting to eliminate a handful of unripe youths.
“Hah.”
Peng Mugang shook his head, weary of further deliberation.
Still, perhaps that meticulous investigator might uncover something; he decided to place what small hope he could in that possibility.
***
“You’ve arrived?”
“Indeed.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Naturally, the Patriarch is in rather poor spirits.”
As Jegeol Gil emerged from the Hebei Peng Family Patriarch Hall, a group of Murim Alliance warriors approached him.
“Well, one can hardly blame him for that.”
Jegeol Gil spoke in his characteristic blunt manner, his expression suggesting understanding.
“They’ve completed their own investigation, and now we’ve arrived to conduct a fresh inquiry from the beginning.”
“Still, this matter is hardly a trivial one, is it?”
“You’re right. One of the Murim Alliance’s precious combat units was annihilated. By those wretched Demonic Cult dogs.”
“And every last one of them is dead as well.”
That was the crux of the mystery.
He harbored no desire to diminish the Sarim Group’s desperate struggle, yet from an objective standpoint of military strength, the outcome seemed impossible—a reality he could not simply dismiss.
Should one attribute their victory to some miraculous surge of strength in their final moments, the matter would rest there; but an investigator must begin by rigorously excluding such explanations.
Hence he intended to proceed with a thorough examination, holding all possibilities open.
It was then that—
“Good day to you. Welcome to the Peng household.”
A man approached them with warmth in his greeting.
At first glance, he bore the unmistakable bearing of no ordinary figure—a handsome man of evident distinction.
“My father has instructed me to render you every assistance. I am Peng Sejin.”
Upon Peng Sejin’s introduction, the eyes of Jegeol Gil and his companions widened.
The Crown Prince of the Hebei Peng Clan—Peng Sejin.
One of the rarest talents in the annals of the Peng household, and a man celebrated for his exemplary character as well.
Jegeol Gil, like the other Murim Alliance warriors, had heard the name spoken more than once.
It was, after all, the second most renowned name in the current Peng hierarchy, second only to Peng Mugang himself.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Peng Sejin spoke.
“Then allow me to show you to your quarters first. And having traveled such a distance, you must be famished—shall we prepare a meal?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Jegeol Gil shook his head, his expression impassive.
“We’ll simply stow our belongings and begin our investigation at once. We took a light meal on the journey here.”
“I see. Very well. Should you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to speak.”
Most would have felt awkward or offended by Jegeol Gil’s curt demeanor, yet Peng Sejin bore no such expression, nodding gracefully instead.
“Of course.”
Jegeol Gil nodded with perfect formality.
He then posed a question directly to Peng Sejin.
“Then, if I may—could you recount for us everything that transpired from the moment the Sarim Group arrived until their departure?”
“Yes, well… there’s not much to it.”
Peng Sejin then laid bare every story he knew, exactly as it had happened.
Everything from the moment the Sarim Group arrived to each and every action they took, every incident that unfolded.
Save for one thing.
“…Hm.”
The warriors of the Murim Alliance who had been listening to Peng Sejin’s account fell into awkward silence.
It was a story that seemed almost beyond belief.
They had beaten a servant nearly to death for accidentally spilling water, and had even raised a hand to strike Peng Sejin’s young nephew who tried to stop them.
“Is that all true?”
“It is.”
“Hm.”
Even the taciturn Jegeol Gil found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
The Sarim Group’s conduct had been uniformly disrespectful, crossing every line of propriety.
“I had heard rumors that there were problems with their behavior, but I never imagined it would go this far.”
And of all places, in the Hebei Peng Family—one of the Five Great Clans that represent the entire martial world.
He couldn’t even fathom what their conduct must be like elsewhere.
And to dare such outrages under the banner of the Murim Alliance, no less.
It was enough to leave everyone speechless.
Soon Jegeol Gil bowed his head toward Peng Sejin.
“While I am not in a position to speak for the Murim Alliance as a whole, I offer my apologies on behalf of those who belong to it.”
“No, no, it’s all in the past.”
“That is not so. Their actions were undoubtedly a blow to the Murim Alliance’s prestige. I will report this matter to the Alliance leadership, and before we depart, I shall offer a formal apology to your Patriarch as well.”
At Jegeol Gil’s unfailingly courteous demeanor, Peng Sejin nodded in agreement.
He realized that this man was not merely taciturn—he possessed remarkable clarity of principle.
Peng Sejin found himself taking a liking to Jegeol Gil.
“By the way, you mentioned the Sarim Group held a match against the White Wolf Brigade?”
“Yes. I understand they initially refused, but the Sarim Group kept pressing the matter, so it eventually came to pass.”
“I see.”
Jegeol Gil nodded.
The White Wolf Brigade… he knew that name well.
He had heard it spoken of many times.
One of the Hebei Peng Family’s premier military forces, they were known to cause their share of incidents.
Recently, they had made a name for themselves across the entire martial world by taking the head of the Ultimate Evil Little Demon, one of the absolute demons.
Now he understood why the Sarim Group had pressed so relentlessly for a match.
Running into such celebrated warriors while riding high on victory would certainly tempt them to challenge.
All the more so, given their conduct.
“And how did the match conclude?”
“It ended without resolution, halfway through.”
“How so?”
Peng Sejin spoke awkwardly.
One of the overexcited Sarim Group members had employed a Killing Technique during the match, seriously wounding a member of the White Wolf Brigade.
“Hah.”
Jegeol Gil felt as though the more questions he asked, the more apologies he had to make.
He almost thought it better to save them all up and apologize once, all together.
Stifling a dry laugh, Jegeol Gil spoke to Peng Sejin.
“In any case, it seems the last encounter your family had with the Sarim Group was with the White Wolf Brigade.”
He would need to see them first.
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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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