Chapter 241 Encounter-2

Chapter 241: Encounter-2

About sixty members of the Hainan faction were walking along the inland road of Guangdong Province.

Their direction was eastward from Yongchuan in Guangdong Province toward Gwangju in the west—opposite the direction Sun Wuzhen and his group were traveling.

Among them, Miao Qingzhu, the head of the Miao family of Hainan, whose lineage had long served as military officers for the Hainan faction, suddenly frowned slightly and asked.

“Are you certain they haven’t reached Yongchuan yet?”

In response, Jagae-chu, the head of the Haenamja clan who managed the merchant guild and oversaw the Haenam faction’s finances, answered.

“According to Hao Gate’s intelligence, that’s what they say. I reckon if we go just a little further, we might meet them.”

Overhearing their conversation, Sulmoseng, the head of the Haenam Soolga, murmured with a sly grin.

“At last, I shall meet that scoundrel who dares to impersonate Master Inparang.”

Upon hearing this, the head of the Jagae Clan, Jagae Choo, and the head of the Myo Clan, Myo Cheong-ju, glanced at him.

True to his role as the trusted lieutenant of Haenam’s Sword Master Jin Taedo, he had already concluded that Inparang was not the real one.

At that moment, Miao A-ran, the youngest daughter walking beside Miao Qingzhu, the head of the Miao family, quietly asked her father in a soft voice.

“You think their pace is too slow, don’t you?”

Myo Cheong-ju gave a slight nod.

“Yes. Doesn’t it seem like they’re waiting for someone to catch up? For someone who’s challenged the two great sects, Haenam and Hyeongsan, to be so lacking in a sense of crisis…”

Miao A-lan responded with a faint smile.

“Could it be they really are waiting for someone to follow?”

“Hm?”

It was while the father and daughter were having this conversation.

Suddenly, the voice of the self-playing zither came through.

“Looks like it’s them.”

“Huh?”

“Did you say ‘them’?”

At the sound of Jagaechu’s voice, everyone followed his gaze and looked ahead.

Then they all saw it.

A group of four people, young and old, men and women… Among them, a handsome young man dressed in white, a white sword at his waist…

The moment Miao A-lan saw his outline, her heart began to beat rapidly.

‘Brother In. Really?’

Though still far away, Miao A-lan, whose cultivation had already surpassed the peak realm, could discern his features clearly.

His face bore a striking resemblance to that of her betrothed, In Parang, whom she had seen ten years prior.

That face made me wonder if he would have turned out differently had he grown up well all this time…

Miao A-lan’s face, which had always shown only a calm and elegant demeanor to others, was gradually flushing.

***

As over sixty members of the Haenam faction hurriedly approached, Seonwoo Jin stood quietly with his arms crossed, merely watching them.

But it wasn’t merely to wait for them.

It was because he was intently listening to and memorizing the explanation Son Daesu was giving them as they approached.

Son Dae-su was speaking rapidly using telepathy.

– They appear to be three groups of about twenty people each. The man leading the group on the far right is Jagae-chu, the head of the Haenam Family. He’s quite a formidable figure. Not only is he a master of the highest caliber, but he also runs the Haenam Trading Company. Moreover, he’s a major player in the upper echelons, responsible for all the finances of the Haenam Sect using the profits earned there.

He explained in detail about the head of the Haenam Miao Clan, Miao Qingzhu, and the head of the Haenam Shu Clan, Shu Mosheng, in the same manner.

Son Dae-soo, who loved wandering here and there, possessed an immense amount of knowledge, which made this possible.

And it was precisely the kind of assistance Seon Woo-jin had been expecting from Son Dae-soo.

Seon Woo-jin suddenly asked.

– Do you know who that beautiful young lady is coming beside the Miao Clan Chief? Not only is she beside the Miao Clan Chief, but her status and martial arts skills also seem extraordinary.

Son Dae-su pondered for a moment before answering.

– I’ve never seen her myself, but I suspect she might be Miao A-lan, the youngest daughter of Miao Guozhu, the most beautiful woman of the Hainan faction. If it is indeed her, rumors say she’s a remarkable prodigy. Not only did she reach the pinnacle of martial arts at a young age, but her wisdom was said to surpass even her martial prowess.

But even someone like Son Daesu didn’t know that she had been the betrothed of Inparang since childhood.

Meanwhile, the entire group from the Haenam Sect had arrived before Sun Woo-jin’s party.

Seon Woo-jin stood watching them with a cold expression, arms crossed, and the expressions of the Haenam faction leaders looking at him grew extremely complex.

The first to speak was Jagae-chu, the head of the Haenam Family.

He spoke to Seon Woo-jin with a look of deep emotion.

“You… you truly are In Parang, Young Master In! Oh, those eyes so like your father’s, and your childhood features remain unchanged…!”

Seemingly already convinced that Seonwoo Jin was In Parang, he approached him with an emotional expression.

But Seonwoo Jin raised his palm to stop him and spoke coldly.

“Stop right there, Lord Jaga. Have you not yet heard the news that I declared I would take revenge against the entire Haenam faction?”

At those words, Jagae-chu asked back with a flustered expression.

“But, Young Master In! Our Haenam Sect…”

At that moment, Sulmoseng, the head of the Haenam Soolga, frowned and shouted.

“You dare declare war on the entire Haenam Sect? You insolent brat! Master Jaga! How can you possibly believe that scum is Young Master Inpang?! That bastard is clearly…!”

That was when it happened.

Seon Woo-jin let out a bitter laugh and shouted at him.

“Sulmoseng! You dare show your face before me? Your nerve is remarkable! Or is it that you’re simply thick-headed?!”

At those words, Sulmoseng roared in fury.

“What?! How dare you…!”

At that moment, Seon Woo-jin drew his sword like lightning, pointed it at him, and shouted.

Clang!

“Sulmoseng! Do you think I don’t know you were the one who ambushed us with Jin Taedo back then?!”

Sulmoseng retorted with a flustered expression.

“What, what did you say?!”

“You really think I wouldn’t recognize you just because you wore that cheap mask? You really are as dumb as a rock!”

Sulmoseng was so flustered he couldn’t speak for a moment.

It was because he had actually followed Jin Taedo while wearing a mask and ambushed In Parang’s father, In Gye-un.

He probably thought she wouldn’t know, but In Parang, who couldn’t forget that day for even a single day, had identified everyone present by their physique and martial arts prowess and recorded it all in her journal.

Then, with eyes blazing like flames, Jagae-chwa asked Sulmo-saeng.

“Soolga-ju! Did you truly attack Lord In Gye-un, the head of the In family?!”

At that question, Sulmoseng couldn’t answer immediately.

After a moment’s hesitation, he forced his mouth open and shouted.

“Ah, no! That’s just that bastard’s lies! I never…!”

But the seasoned mother-of-pearl inlay couldn’t fail to notice what his flustered expression and momentary hesitation signified.

Jagae-chu shouted with a furious expression.

“Soolmoseng, you bastard, you truly!”

“Master Jaga! I…!”

Just as Jagaeju couldn’t hold back and lunged toward Sulmoseng,

Seonwoojin suddenly spoke coldly.

“So you still claim the Haenam faction is not my enemy? What do you think, Lord Jaga?”

At those words, Jagae-chu answered with a flustered expression.

“No, Lord In! That was nothing but a ploy by Jin Taedo and his followers! There are still those in the Haenam faction who await Lord In…!”

Then Seon Woo-jin gave a bitter laugh and looked at Myeo Cheong-ju as he spoke.

“Just a scheme by Jin Taedo and his followers… Then what about Miao Cheong-ju? Is he also one of Jin Taedo’s followers?”

Myo Cheong-ju had been observing the unfolding events with a solemn expression.

He was contemplating the certainty that In Parang was the real one, while also worrying about what lay ahead.

But when In Parang’s arrow suddenly turned back on him, he asked back with a flustered look.

“What… what are you talking about, Prince In? I am not a follower of Jin Taedo. I am here in a neutral position…”

Then Seon Woo-jin sneered again, his words spat out like venom.

“Neutral… I suppose you were also neutral when you recommended the Hyeongsan Sect to my father? Why don’t you tell me you didn’t know the Hyeongsan Sect and Jin Taedo had already conspired beforehand?”

“Th-that!”

At those words, Myo Cheong-ju couldn’t bring himself to lie and swallowed hard.

He couldn’t bring himself to lie under the piercing gaze of his daughter staring at him from the side.

He hesitated for a moment, then finally closed his eyes tightly.

It was just as Seon Woo-jin had said.

When In Gye-un, struggling under Jin Tae-do’s propaganda campaign, sought advice on what to do, it was Myeo Cheong-ju who suggested he seek the assistance of the Hyeongsan faction.

And at that time, Jin Tae-do’s influence was clearly behind Myo Cheong-ju’s advice.

After a brief moment, Miao Cheong-ju finally opened his eyes and spoke with a weary expression.

“I… never imagined things would turn out this way….”

At that, Jagae-chu, who had been staring at him with a shocked expression, cried out.

“Myo-ga-ju! Even you?!”

Myo Cheong-ju had maintained neutrality between Jin Tae-do and the other clan leaders opposing him, siding with whichever side seemed advantageous at the time.

And since four of the remaining ten clan leaders had already sided with Jin Tae-do, most decisions were ultimately determined by the opinion of the last one, Myo Cheong-ju.

This meant that ultimately, the Haenam faction’s meetings were largely decided according to his will.

But for him to actually be on Jin Tae-do’s side…

Moreover, when you think about it, wasn’t it he who had so ruthlessly dismissed the rumors that Jin Taedo had killed In Gye-un?

He dismissed it as nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

Because of his reputation as the wisest in the Haenam faction, no one dared contradict him—yet he was actually the most involved party in that incident.

Shocked and betrayed, Jagaechu couldn’t utter a word.

He could only glare at him, trembling with rage.

Then it happened.

Suddenly, a deafening explosion rang out.

Boom!

Startled by the sudden noise, everyone looked over in that direction.

Then they all witnessed the sight of red smoke billowing skyward.

It was the fireworks launched by Sulmo Saeng, the head of the Sulga family.

He laughed frivolously and said,

“Kwahahahaha! Don’t worry, Lord Miao! None of them will be able to tell anyone else about it!”

Jagae-chu sensed something in his words.

What the fireworks truly were, what Sulmoseng had prepared…

Jagaechu glared at Sulmoseng with eyes that seemed ready to devour him and roared.

“Sulmoseng, you bastard!”

Son-irang, who had been frantically watching the unfolding situation, whispered to her grandfather, Son Daesu.

“What’s going on here, Grandpa? And what are those fireworks?”

The answer came from Seon Woo-jin.

Seonwoojin gave a sly smile and asked Sulmosaeng.

“Looks like he brought reinforcements. I suppose Jin Tae-do ordered me to make sure In Parang disappears cleanly, right?”

At that question, Sulmoseng chuckled and replied.

“Heh heh heh heh, you know your stuff. But you realized it too late. I’m sorry to Lord Jaga-ju as well. But you’ll have to die here now.”

That was when the words ended.

Like waves crashing in, black-clad warriors wielding swords appeared from all directions and began to surround them.

Whoosh!

There were easily two hundred of them.

They encircled the group completely, raising their swords and pointing them at the crowd at the center.

Jagae-chuga turned his head to survey them and said.

“Could they possibly be…?”

Then Sulmoseng chuckled and replied.

“That’s right. They’re the warriors of the Black Dragon Ship, the elite of the Naval Corps. What else would Master Jin have willingly sent them this time?”

“The warriors of the Black Dragon Fleet?!”

The Black Dragon Ship was one of the few vessels in the naval fleet—composed mostly of former pirates—that carried only pure-blooded warriors of the Haenam clan.

Truly the elite of the Haenam faction, the naval squadron had a total of ten Black Dragon ships. With a crew of about two hundred, it seemed the warriors from three of those ships had been mobilized.

Hearing their words, Son Daesu’s face darkened sharply beside them.

If those were warriors from the Black Dragon ships, the situation was extremely serious.

“Those… Black Dragon Ships…”

It was widely known that the warriors of the Black Dragon Ships were the elite of the Haenam faction, composed entirely of martial artists of first-rate skill or higher.

Moreover, it was rumored that every captain of the Black Dragon Fleet was a peak martial artist with eighty to ninety years of cultivation, and that a significant number of peak masters at the very beginning of their peak or with seventy years or more of cultivation were also mixed in.

With over two hundred such individuals, and judging by the unfolding situation, it seemed that even figures like Sul Mo-saeng, the head of the Sul Clan known to be stuck at the wall of the ultimate peak, and Miao Qing-zhou, the head of the Miao Clan and a confirmed ultimate peak master, were not their enemies.

In contrast, our side had only the peak-but-aging mother-of-pearl chaser, the still-too-young Confucius, Jin So-eun and myself—who wouldn’t be much help in this situation—and my granddaughter Son-i.

Naturally, it was an extremely disadvantageous situation.

He whispered anxiously to Seonwoo Jin.

“What shall we do now, Gongja?”

At that moment, for some reason, Seonwoojin’s gaze was fixed not on the Black Dragon Fleet warriors, but on Jagaechu.

After briefly studying his expression, Seonwoojin suddenly chuckled softly and answered Son Daesu’s question.

It was a relaxed smile that seemed entirely out of place in such a tense situation.

“I think you should just stay put.”

“Huh?”

Son Dae-su stared at Seon Woo-jin’s face, looking utterly confused.

Sul Mo-saeng, the head of the Sul Clan, roared with laughter.

“Kwahahahaha! Any last words?! Of course, I won’t listen even if you have them! Kwahahahaha!”

Hearing his hearty laughter, Myo Cheong-ju apologized to his daughter with a somber expression.

“I’m sorry, Aran. I didn’t tell you beforehand either. But things turned out this way…”

At that moment, Myo-a-ran was fixated on Seon Woo-jin’s face.

Without taking her eyes off him, she suddenly murmured.

“You seem to have changed a lot.”

At those words, Miao Qingzhu sighed and said.

“Huh. Yeah. You might think that. But this old man hasn’t changed.”

Miao A-ran then looked at Miao Qingzhu with a meaningful expression and said.

“Not Father. I meant Brother Parang has changed a lot. I’ve long suspected you were involved in Lady Inagajoo’s disappearance.”

“What? What did you say?”

Miao Qingzhu couldn’t help but feel flustered by her words, which suggested she had already guessed what had happened, and by the cold gaze her daughter fixed upon her.

And soon he understood.

Come to think of it, hadn’t this sharp daughter been giving him meaningful looks and asking questions whenever he mentioned the operations of the Haenam faction?

Perhaps even he himself had already suspected it, though he had refused to believe it.

That his daughter knew his shameful secret.

It was at that moment, as Miao Qingzhu gazed at his youngest daughter with a complex look, that he realized this.

Myo A-ran followed Seon Woo-jin’s gaze toward the mother-of-pearl pendant and murmured.

“And… I wonder if it’s really over yet.”

It was then.

The mother-of-pearl hairpin, which had been glaring coldly at the drunkard, suddenly raised its right arm high and shouted.

“Strike!”

Sulmoseng clicked his tongue and simply watched Jaegaechwi’s actions.

“Tsk tsk.”

The entourage Jagae-chu had brought numbered barely twenty.

With that number, they couldn’t even handle the two hundred Black Dragon Fleet warriors surrounding them, let alone his own entourage and the Myo family’s followers.

But the moment Jagae Chuga boldly ordered the attack, something unimaginable to Sulmoseng unfolded.

Pipipipipipip!

Poo-poof! Poof! Poo-poof!

“Kwaaaaah!”

“Aaargh!”

“A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

The attack didn’t come from the direction of Jagaechu’s attendants. It came from outside the Black Dragon Fleet warriors’ encirclement.

Hundreds of warriors who had appeared from somewhere had attacked the Black Dragon Fleet warriors from behind, outside the encirclement.

Pipipipipip!

“A, an ambush! Gaaaah!”

“Dodge! Aaaah!”

The arrows being fired at the Black Dragon Fleet warriors were not ordinary bows, but powerful arrows crafted by the Haenam Shin Clan.

The terrifying power of the battle forged in the Great Martial Realm, coupled with the surprise attack on their completely undefended rear, caused the Black Dragon Fleet’s elite forces to crumble helplessly.

“Kraaaah!”

“Dodge!”

“No, no place to… AAAAAHHH!”

Caught in this sudden chaos, the figures at the center frantically looked around in panic.

Only two among them remained unflustered.

Namely, Jagaecheu, who had ordered this attack, and Seonwoojin, who had been watching him.

Son Dae-su suddenly asked Seon Woo-jin.

“Master, did you somehow foresee this situation?”

Sunwoo Jin merely smiled faintly at his question.

It was a question that didn’t require an answer.

Seon Woo-jin had predicted that the people who would become most desperate when In-ga’s heir, In-pa-rang, appeared would be the members of the Haenam faction opposing Jin Tae-do.

After all, being pushed back by Jin Tae-do, the head of the sect, they absolutely couldn’t miss this golden opportunity to gain a legitimate justification to oppose him.

Surprisingly, however, they did not appear before Seon Woo-jin until the Yukhap Sword Masters of the Hyeongsan faction arrived.

Their response was undeniably much slower than expected.

Of course, it was understandable.

After all, it would inevitably take some time for the maritime faction, the Haenam-pa, to turn their sights on Seon Woo-jin himself.

But even so, Seonwoo Jin was certain of one thing.

They absolutely could not arrive later than Jin Tae-do’s men.

Therefore, from the moment the Haenam faction’s personnel arrived, Seonwoo Jin had been paying close attention to Jagae-chu, the head of the Jaga clan, who was not mentioned in Inparang’s journal.

And the result was, as he had expected.

Clang!

Seon Woo-jin drew the White Tiger Sword.

Then, he shouted at Sulmoseng, who was frantically turning his head in panic.

“Soolmoseng! Haenam! And it is time to avenge the Haenamsa monks who sacrificed themselves that day!”

Sulmoseng swallowed hard as he stared at the sacred weapon of the Haenam faction aimed at him—the pure white White Tiger Sword.