The Patriarch of the Northern Heavens - 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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Master of the Bukcheon Sword Family – Chapter 32

There was no other choice.
Great-Uncle had been absent from the Bukcheon Sword Family for over twenty years.
Yet such a man had returned….
Everyone couldn’t help but be astonished.
But even so, his influence remained formidable.
Most of the senior members here were in their forties or older.
They had all served the Bukcheon Sword Family as household members since the time Great-Uncle was actively engaged in his duties.
So they couldn’t help but know his strength well.
“Ah, Elder Ho-geon….”
One of the elders spoke in a trembling voice.
But Great-Uncle merely responded coldly.
“Who gave you permission to speak? Does this old man’s command to keep silent sound like a joke to you?”
“…!”
Kugugugung.
The aura emanating from Great-Uncle pressed down upon the entire Council Chamber.
The faces of the senior members couldn’t help but turn deathly pale.
From the aura alone that was now palpable, one could tell that Great-Uncle’s power had grown even stronger than before, certainly not weakened.
“I, I apologize!”
The elder quickly bowed his head in apology.
Great-Uncle clicked his tongue as he regarded them.
“While I was away attending to my own matters, the family has fallen into complete ruin. Truly lamentable.”
“Uncle. I am deeply sorry.”
“It is not your fault. All of this is the fault of those villains who attempted to poison you and seize control of the family. Alas, I only regret that I could not help you sooner.”
Father’s eyes reddened at Great-Uncle’s words.
It seemed the two of them had been quite close.
Great-Uncle gazed at Father with tender affection for a moment, then completely changed his expression and glared at Lee Tae-gyeom.
“Lee Tae-gyeom.”
“…It has been a long time. Master Ho-geon.”
“Until now, I have trusted you. Though I knew you had always coveted wealth and harbored ambitions for power, I never expected you would fall so far. But did you truly attempt to betray the family and poison the family head?”
“No, no! This is a misunderstanding. I have done no such thing!”
“Hmph. Let us see if you can still speak such words after hearing the testimony! Come in!”
Great-Uncle spoke thus and called out in a loud voice.
Then one of the Bukcheon Sword Family’s servants entered, trembling like an aspen leaf. Upon seeing Father, he immediately prostrated himself and cried out loudly.
“Master, I have committed a crime worthy of death!”
“O Suk-su!? Why are you….”
“By, by the orders of Elder Won-ju, I poisoned the family head’s meals. In such small amounts over many years that you would not notice….”
“What, what did you say?!”
“Is that really true!?”
The senior members of the faction loyal to Father rose from their seats with wide eyes.
After all, this statement was capable of overturning the entire Bukcheon Sword Family.
This was the trump card I had prepared over the past two days.
From the start, I already knew who the culprit was through the knowledge of my first life.
And I also knew that O Suk-su had fallen into Elder Won-ju’s temptation while suffering from gambling debts.
So yesterday, I met with him, revealed all the facts, and blackmailed him.
I told him I would spare him from death if he struck Elder Won-ju in the back before we exposed everything first.
O Suk-su, already wracked with guilt and uncertainty, accepted my proposal.
And this was the result.
“O Suk-su, you treacherous bastard!”
“Elder Won-ju! Is this really true!?”
Even the renowned Lee Tae-gyeom seemed flustered by the outcries of the enraged senior members.
He shot to his feet and cried out.
“No, it’s a misunderstanding! That fool is lying! Why would I ever harm the Family Head!”
“Because the weaker the Family Head’s authority becomes, the stronger the Elder Council’s power grows.”
Great-Uncle spoke in a cold voice.
“You were trying to rule the Bukcheon Sword Family as its master instead of serving our Jin bloodline. Am I wrong?”
“G-Great-Uncle!”
“We need not listen to the ravings of a traitor. Take him away and lock him in Thunder Prison! Whether through torture or whatever means necessary, make him confess every crime he has committed!”
Lee Tae-gyeom immediately moved to escape.
But I was faster. I had already blocked his escape route and prevented him from fleeing.
“Get out of my way!”
The enraged man reached out to attack me.
‘I can feel it.’
The flow of wind was telling me where this attack would lead.
I wrapped a gentle breeze around my hand and deployed the Golden Silk Technique. My movements, far smoother than before, deflected Lee Tae-gyeom’s attack.
“What!?”
“How could the Young Family Head block the attack of Elder Won-ju, a master of the Harmony Realm…”
The senior members who witnessed this gasped in astonishment. In their eyes, I was merely a martial artist at the peak of the Perfection Realm.
Yet such a person had managed to block a strike from Lee Tae-gyeom, even if he was a decaying master of the Harmony Realm.
Lee Tae-gyeom seemed equally shocked, his face startled as he prepared his next attack.
“You bastard!!”
A thunderous roar pressed down upon Lee Tae-gyeom.
Great-Uncle, who had somehow moved behind Lee Tae-gyeom, attacked him with a furious expression.
“Not only are you trying to flee after committing crimes, but you dare attack Muyeol!?”
Boom-boom-boom!
In an instant, what seemed like more than a dozen strikes erupted against Lee Tae-gyeom.
“Kugh-waaack!”
Lee Tae-gyeom couldn’t even mount a counterattack, let alone defend himself properly, as he collapsed spitting blood. Against Great-Uncle, a master of the Heavenly Martial Realm, Lee Tae-gyeom was not even worth three seconds.
“Iron Blood Sword Captain!!”
Great-Uncle’s cry was directed at the Iron Blood Sword Captain, who was participating in the council. The Iron Blood Sword Captain responded immediately, his face tense.
“Yes!”
“Throw this bastard into Thunder Prison and have the Iron Blood Sword Squad keep watch. And you, Master of Jipbepdang!”
“Yes, yes!”
“By any means necessary, make him talk. I’ll emphasize this once more—by any means necessary.”
Seo Un-hui, Master of Jipbepdang, was not so foolish as to misunderstand what that meant. He immediately bowed his head and responded.
“I shall obey your command!”
“Hmph.”
Great-Uncle snorted and surveyed the room around him.
“From this moment forward, the main family shall begin a thorough reformation under my authority, the Family Head, and the Young Family Head. In that process, the foolish ones who committed wrongdoings alongside Lee Tae-gyeom will not be able to participate. Rather, they shall each receive punishment according to the crimes they have committed.”
“…!”
I could see the faces of many elders from Elder Won-ju’s faction hardening like stone. This was clearly a statement targeting them.
“However, those who first reflect upon their crimes and voluntarily confess shall be given a chance for leniency. I hope you will all judge wisely for yourselves.”
Of course, Great-Uncle had no intention of forgiving them.
Neither did I.
But if we said otherwise, we couldn’t predict what reckless actions Elder Won-ju’s faction might take. So by feigning forgiveness, we could first collect a list of their crimes.
Whether it worked or not, I could clearly see the eyes of Elder Won-ju’s faction members trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
They were likely weighing their options, fearing for their lives.
By my estimate, about a third of them would come forward with their own crimes.
And by coaxing them, we would gradually learn of the remaining two-thirds’ transgressions.
Then, when the time was right, we could mete out appropriate punishment.
‘But right now, that’s not the priority….’
I fixed my gaze on Lee Tae-gyeom’s face as he lay unconscious.
‘Dealing with this bastard first is what matters.’
A sharp killing intent flickered in my eyes.

* * *

News that Lee Tae-gyeom had attempted to poison the family head spread throughout the entire clan.
Everyone who heard the truth was shocked. No one could have imagined that someone holding the position of Elder Council member would commit such an act against the family head.
Yet there were those who nodded in understanding, as if they had suspected it all along.
“It was certainly strange. The family head’s illness began after Elder Council member… no, after Lee Tae-gyeom seized power, didn’t it?”
“Then was he planning to devour the clan from that point onward?”
“He must have been planning it long before. But he only began executing it from that time.”
“My, how terrifying. How long had he been concealing such a wicked heart?”
“Still, it’s fortunate it was revealed now. Wasn’t the position of Elder Council member replaced?”
“Indeed. Our family’s greatest elder, the Swift Wind Divine Sword Master, took on the role of Elder Council member himself, so such incidents won’t happen again.”
The clan members whispered about this topic whenever they gathered.
It was a subject they could not help but discuss.
It made no distinction between high and low.
Whether they were senior figures of the clan or young servants, everyone voiced their own opinions about the clan’s future.
Meanwhile, Lee Tae-gyeom was imprisoned in the deepest part of Thunder Prison.
“Ughhhh….”
His condition was far from normal.
His arms were broken, and the muscles of both thighs had been torn by torture and were not healing.
On top of that, the internal injuries he had sustained from Jin Ho-geon during the family council were not healing either.
These were wounds that would leave permanent scars without proper treatment. He gnashed his teeth, lamenting his circumstances that had changed overnight.
‘Damn those Jin clan bastards. I will have my revenge on all of them someday.’
Yet even he had not lost hope.
At the very moment he was imprisoned in Thunder Prison.
[Do not reveal anything about us. If you do, we will soon get you out of here.]
Lee Tae-gyeom had received a torn piece of paper with those words written on it from someone.
That message meant that if he endured, Black Night City would help him escape from this place.
‘Once I get out of here, I will kill that bastard Jin Muyeol first!’
Believing in that promise, he gritted his teeth and endured even the horrific torture that might leave aftereffects.
The interrogators were so impressed by his refusal to speak that they could only shake their heads in amazement.
How much time had passed like this?
Thud! Crack! Thud!
Just as his consciousness was beginning to fade, Lee Tae-gyeom heard such sounds in his ears.
He barely opened his eyes to look ahead, and saw a masked man knocking out the guards who had been watching Thunder Prison.
“Ah, you’ve come!”
Lee Tae-gyeom suddenly snapped awake and cried out.
The masked man placed a finger to his lips. A signal to be quiet.
“…!”
Lee Tae-gyeom immediately closed his mouth in understanding and waited for the masked man’s next move.
Soon the door creaked open. The masked man silently pointed outside.
‘It must be nighttime.’
And it was the darkest hour of the night.
The moon hung dim in the sky, visibility reduced to mere inches ahead.
Such conditions were perfect for an escape.
The masked figure moved like a phantom, guiding Lee Tae-gyeom toward the outside.
After carefully traversing for some time, they arrived at a hillside considerably distant from the Bukcheon Sword Family. It was then that Lee Tae-gyeom, overwhelmed with relief at his survival, burst into frenzied laughter.
“Ha, hahahaha!”
“….”
“I am truly grateful! As promised, I have revealed nothing about Black Night City, so rest assured. Now I shall hand over all information regarding those bastards—help me with my revenge.”
“You show no remorse whatsoever.”
“What?”
Slash!
Lee Tae-gyeom’s disheveled hair fell to the ground, severed cleanly.
“Wh-what!?”
Barely mustering the strength to evade the attack, Lee Tae-gyeom rolled across the ground using the Descending Pagoda technique.
He stared at the masked figure in disbelief.
Why would someone from Black Night City speak of remorse and attack him?
The answer came swiftly.
“…!”
As the masked figure cast off the black mask, a handsome young man’s face emerged.
And that young man’s identity was someone Lee Tae-gyeom had wished dead countless times.
“Y-Young Master! How are you—!”
“Lee Tae-gyeom.”
The young man, Jin Muyeol, spoke in a frigid voice.
“It is time you face the consequences of your sins.”

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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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