"What does that an! The traces of the Dark Heavenly Son's seal have disappeared?"
The White Master raised his voice, a rare occurrence.
He, the Black Master, and Mangija had sealed the Dark Heavenly Son in the place where he had stayed. It was a seal that no one could ever break.
As the main agent of the grand ritual, Mangija had taken on the task of managing that seal. But, about a month after the sealing, he had suddenly shown up and spouted such words.
The atmosphere grew tense.
Even in the midst of it all, the White Master watched the Black Master. It was because, given his temperant, he might try to kill Mangija right away.
"Since when, exactly?"
Contrary to the White Master's expectation, the Black Master's voice was calm. However, because of that, it was as cold as an iron lump sunk in the deep sea.
Mangija flinched and answered.
"That's the problem, I don't know. If the Dark Heavenly Son did sothing at the last mont, we can't rule out the possibility that we've been deceived for the past month. Perhaps the sealing failed in the first place..."
Swish-!
The Black Master's seated figure stretched out long.
The Crescent Moon Staff was instantly pulled into the palm of the Black Master as he rushed toward Mangija.
Kang-!
The Crescent Moon Staff, imbued with dark ki, stopped just an inch before Mangija's head. A white fan had blocked it.
"Black Master, calm down a little. Shouldn't we hear the explanation first?"
"Explanation for what."
The Black Master looked at Mangija with eyes like an abyss.
Mangija's body trembled once. It had been quite a long ti since he had been called one of the Three Eccentrics of the Orthodox Path. Nevertheless, as he faced the Black Master's montum head-on, fear montarily surged.
The Black Master's gruff voice squeezed out from between his lips.
"It wasn't us who were deceived, but you, Mangija. Perhaps you deceived us."
A dark, blackish ki blood from the Black Master's entire body. It was to the point where even the White Master's arm, which was blocking the Crescent Moon Staff, began to tremble.
"Black Master! Do you really intend to not co to your senses until the end and stain your hands with blood?"
"Nonsense. I just joined you because our goals aligned. Did you wish for
to beco a righteous man? I am the grand disciple of the Dark Heavenly Son. The ki of the one called the greatest evil of all ti flows through my entire body. The heavens and earth may be overturned, but I will never beco a righteous man."
The Black Master and the White Master glared at each other as if they would kill one another.
The Black Master was right. The two had only been together for the sa purpose; they had temperants that were too different.
Cheon Woojin, watching this from the side, wanted to step in and stop his masters. But he could not exert any influence on the figures of the past.
It was then.
Just as the Black Master's rough montum filled the entire forest.
The clear cry of a baby was heard from inside the hut.
Simultaneously, the montum of the Black Master and the White Master vanished as if washed away.
The White Master, who had rushed into the hut, suddenly ca out holding a baby the size of his forearm.
"Baby, I'm sorry for startling you. It wasn't , it was that dark fellow over there."
"..."
The Black Master looked at the White Master with resentful eyes.
You're going to sell
out like that?
That was exactly the look in his eyes.
Thanks to that, as the precarious atmosphere was sowhat nded, Mangija opened his mouth again.
"The Dark Heavenly Son will return."
It was painful for Mangija to utter these words himself. So many precious things had been consud in this great undertaking, yet it had ended in failure.
But it was a statent that had to be made. If he kept his mouth shut because it was painful, no one would be able to warn the world of the danger.
"I don't know when it will be, but if it's after twenty years have passed, we will be dead and gone."
"..."
The White Master and the Black Master t each other's gaze.
They had failed to stop the Dark Heavenly Son in their own era.
But, when that ti ca, who on earth could stop him?
The three n shared the sa worry.
Naturally, everyone's gaze turned to the baby held in the White Master's arms.
On the way back from sealing the Dark Heavenly Son.
Exhausted, they had entered a tavern.
There, a young mother was in extre labor, and Mangija, who was also knowledgeable in dicine, had delivered the baby himself.
However, the mother's body was already severely damaged, and she passed away right after giving birth, without ever having held the baby.
The three made a grave for her and had no choice but to take the baby with them, and he was...
"Baby, are you crying because you miss your mommy?"
The White Master soothed and comforted the baby who kept whimpering. But the crying showed no signs of stopping.
"Tsk, give him here."
The Black Master took the baby in his arms. At that, the baby pulled on the Black Master's beard and giggled.
Even martial artists who feared nothing in the world would tremble and bow their heads when they saw the Black Master, yet the baby, who knew nothing, would burst into laughter whenever the Black Master offered his beard.
Suddenly, the White Master spoke.
"What if we teach that child?"
The Black Master looked at him with an expression that said, "Don't talk crazy."
"How can we make this child learn the martial arts of the Dark Heavenly Son, which are like a curse? Please, think a little."
"He must know. If he really returns, won't he be able to stop him only if he knows more about him than anyone else?"
"..."
The Black Master fell silent. If the Dark Heavenly Son returned in an era after they were gone, the only person who could stop him would be soone well-versed in the Dark Heavenly Son's martial arts.
And, the only person in that era who could raise such a person was the Black Master himself.
"You guys have truly gone mad."
The Black Master threw the baby to the White Master. In the process, he used the mysteries of telekinesis so that there was not the slightest tremor.
Soon, the Black Master looked at the White Master and Mangija with disgust and disappeared into the forest.
Mangija let out a deep sigh. The thod he had thought of as his last hope had also failed.
"I guess it's not possible. Well, he's the Black Master who despises the Dark Heavenly Son's martial arts more than anyone."
Mangija sat down on the floor with a thud.
But the White Master looked intently in the direction the Black Master had disappeared and said.
"Even so, he will eventually teach this child martial arts. If no one can stop the Dark Heavenly Son when he really returns, then there will be no world for this child to stand on."
The White Master had tried for a long ti to eliminate the evil that resided within the Black Master, but to no avail. However, in the Black Master who was with this child, there was not a hint of malice.
Who would have known that the Black Master, who made the world tremble, would be weak to a baby?
The White Master suddenly looked up at the sky.
For a mont, sadness flickered across his face.
"In this wide world, the people I can trust can be counted on one hand. Five at most, perhaps? With the disciples of the Dark Heavenly Son running rampant in the world, I can't be sure that no one has gotten involved with them."
For the first ti, the White Master regretted his life.
He had walked a solitary path for too long.
The martial world had looked up to the White Master's back, and the White Master had also been inwardly satisfied with such a life.
But now that the end of his life was in sight and there was still work to be done, he regretted it so much.
How much ti had passed like that?
As the White Master had predicted, the Black Master returned. In his hand was a wooden staff, as if he had just carved it, that a child could use.
The White Master handed the baby to the Black Master and said.
"When the child grows up, I will send him to the Martial Alliance. I hope this child, at least, is not left to walk the world alone like us."
"But why the Martial Alliance of all places?"
When the Black Master raised an objection, the White Master retorted as if it were obvious.
"Then should we send him to the Demonic Cult or the Unorthodox Path? The Martial Alliance is the most trustworthy place. Besides, according to Mangija's astrology, there's a high possibility that Belil Tian will beco the Alliance Leader in the future. He's a trustworthy fellow."
The Black Master looked at Mangija with a face that asked if he could do such a thing. Mangija, without a clue, puffed out his shoulders and nodded.
The Black Master thought about sothing intently and then said.
"Then how about sending him to the Unorthodox Path? There's a pretty decent junior nad Ha Yulcheon. I have a feeling that by the ti this child cos of age, that guy will have united the Unorthodox Path."
"Hah, no matter what, how can the Unorthodox Path guys, who only know their own rice bowls, gather their will? That's ridiculous."
While saying so, Mangija began to practice divination.
Soon, Mangija's expression changed subtly.
"How about it? Am I right?"
"N-no?"
Mangija, for once, stuttered.
He had glimpsed the future of the Black Plaque Star.
But as one of the Three Eccentrics of the Orthodox Path, how could he send a child who could be called the future of the martial world to the Unorthodox Path?
Mangija told a white lie.
"The Unorthodox Path will not be united even after a hundred years. Well, that's to be expected."
The Black Master smacked his lips as if disappointed.
Since he couldn't send him to the Demonic Cult, the Martial Alliance was the only option left.
In the first place, since everyone, regardless of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, or Demonic factions, hated and feared the Black Master, it wasn't a matter he was particularly attached to.
And so, the three agreed to send the baby to the Martial Alliance in the future.
Cheon Woojin had been watching the entire process from the side. There was a legend that Mangija had recorded everything in the world, but he had never imagined that he would have left such a record for him.
It was then.
In an instant, the three simultaneously looked at Cheon Woojin.
Cheon Woojin, who had just been there as an observer, was startled by the sudden gathering of gazes.
Suddenly, the White Master spoke.
"Woojin, what do you think? Even Mangija can only roughly predict the future; he cannot know it in detail. But you, of now, know, don't you? What kind of place is the Martial Alliance of your era?"
Cheon Woojin, in his bewildernt, could not easily answer the White Master who was speaking to him.
Then, the Black Master chid in from the side.
"Why? Did we do sothing foolish again? The Martial Alliance wasn't a bunch of trustworthy guys either, was it?"
There was a subtle expectation.
Cheon Woojin recalled the Martial Alliance he had seen and experienced himself.
Starting from Young Master Song, to Cheol Jiak, Zhuge Lin, Jinun, the Martial Alliance Leader and the Chief Strategist...
There were good people, but there were also those like the White Dragon Unit Commander or the Benevolence and Righteousness Division Commander who were the opposite of the White Master's will.
He didn't know what to answer.
Then, the White Master, who had approached, placed his hand on Cheon Woojin's shoulder. Unfortunately, he could not feel the warmth through the contact.
However, he could feel the warmth in the gazes of his masters looking at him.
"It's alright. I believe in you, Woojin."
Soon, Cheon Woojin's world was dyed completely white and then returned to normal.
* * *
Cheon Woojin was standing in the Disciplinary Hall Master's office.
In front of him, the Dragon Head Beggar Lord and the Disciplinary Hall Master were looking at such a Cheon Woojin with faces that said they were dying of curiosity.
In Cheon Woojin's mind, the question his masters had left was still vivid. What kind of place is the Martial Alliance of your era?
Cheon Woojin could not give a definite answer right away.
All sorts of human characters existed in the Martial Alliance.
But what was certain was that people completely different from his masters' expectations were trying to throw the Martial Alliance into chaos.
"What did you see?"
The Dragon Head Beggar Lord asked.
Cheon Woojin answered that he was sorry, but it was a private story.
At that, unlike the impatient Disciplinary Hall Master, the Dragon Head Beggar Lord just nodded and asked.
"What will you do from now on?"
If he was soone to whom Mangija had personally left a letter, it was necessary for him, as the Dragon Head Beggar Lord, to watch his movents carefully.
Cheon Woojin said calmly.
"First, I plan to sort out the Martial Alliance."
It was a bold statent for a newcor who had been in the Alliance for less than a year. But was he just any newcor? He was the person to whom Mangija had left a letter, and the disciple who had inherited the true teachings of the White Flower Sword Immortal.
The Dragon Head Beggar Lord burst into laughter as if he were truly delighted.
"Excellent!"
The Dragon Head Beggar Lord, once again excited on his own, drank from his wine bottle. While his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, Cheon Woojin bowed his head and left the office.
"Kyaa."
The Dragon Head Beggar Lord, who had wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, said to the Disciplinary Hall Master with his face flushed red.
"Bring the Annals of the Beggars' Sect and record this for today's date. A whirlwind has begun to blow in the martial world. It is a wind that will topple even a great tree that has stood firm with its roots for hundreds of years. If you wish to live, you must lie flat on the ground like a reed and wait for the whirlwind to pass."
The hand of the Disciplinary Hall Master, who was writing it down, stopped abruptly.
He asked with a serious face.
"Beggar Lord, do we prostrate ourselves as well?"
"We have nothing to worry about. We live prostrate on a daily basis anyway."
"..."
Soon, the two burst into a hearty laughter that resembled each other.
(End of Chapter)
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