TSBIRBV Ch 320

Chapter 320. The White Lotus Cult (3)

To Yegyeol’s surprise, the sudden mention of the Hwangbo Clan unsettled him.

What’s this about? He couldn’t possibly know anything… so why bring up the Hwangbo Clan now?

“I don’t quite understand,” he said carefully. “Isn’t the Hwangbo Clan one of the Five Great Houses?”

“You’re correct,” Peng Muguk replied gravely, nodding.

Up close, Yegyeol could see the exhaustion etched into the man’s face. Unlike his elder brother, who devoted his life solely to honing martial arts, Peng Muguk bore the weight of leading an entire clan—his weariness was only natural.

“But not all of the Five Great Houses are truly equal,” Muguk continued, his expression serious.

“The Hwangbo Clan is, without doubt, a good house. They’ve produced generations of righteous swordsmen and are well respected in the Shandong region. You’re still young, so perhaps you don’t yet understand—being admired rather than feared while walking the martial world with a blade at your waist… that’s no simple feat.”

For a moment, a shadow of melancholy passed over Peng Muguk’s face before fading again.

“It wasn’t always this way,” he murmured.

He paused, then asked, “Are you aware that Hebei has not only the Peng Clan, but also the Jinju Eon Clan?”

“The Jinju Eon Clan? Weren’t they the ones recently investigated by the Martial Alliance?”

Yegyeol nodded, brows furrowing. He couldn’t quite see where this was leading—why the conversation had shifted so abruptly from the Hwangbo Clan to the Jin Clan.

“Yes,” Muguk said. “For years, the Jinju Eon Clan challenged the Peng Clan’s dominance in Hebei. But no matter how hard they struggled, they could never surpass us to claim a seat among the Five Great Houses. So, they began dabbling in… things the orthodox sects would never touch.”

“Such as?”

“Let’s just say there were far more problems than what the Alliance’s report disclosed. It wasn’t merely a matter of usury.”

Yegyeol tilted his head. “Does this have anything to do with the abductions—the young cultivators being drugged and taken?”

Muguk nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Indeed. The issue truly began after the Jin Clan’s downfall. In the past few years, certain individuals have been working behind the scenes to ruin merchant guilds that partnered with the Peng Clan in Hebei.”

“Oh—come to think of it, didn’t Elder Brother mention going after some pirates recently?”

“Exactly. Those vermin allied themselves with smugglers and saboteurs to disrupt trade, tarnish our reputation, and even assassinate our guards—forcing us to attach clan martial artists as escorts. Despite all that, interference persisted. I had long assumed it was the Jin Clan’s doing.”

“Then… could that be why they were destroyed?”

“Yes,” Muguk said simply. “It was I who reported the Jin Clan’s corruption to the Martial Alliance Leader.”

So that’s how it all connects, Yegyeol realized, glancing at him with new understanding.

“I knew they’d collapse once their crimes came to light, but not that it would escalate so dramatically. I’ve learned firsthand—you can’t cover the heavens with your palm.”

Heavens, my foot. That was Haryang’s doing, Yegyeol thought drily.

The Peng Clan Head had no way of knowing that the Jin Clan’s rapid collapse had been accelerated by one man—because they’d dared to lay hands on Yegyeol.

So the Alliance’s ‘swift investigation’ was really driven by the Peng Clan’s influence, Yegyeol mused. I thought they were just quick on their feet—but looks like there was a hand pushing things behind the curtain.

“Once the pirates are dealt with, everything will be settled,” Muguk continued. “That’s why I came to see my brother—to coordinate the cleanup. I even proposed to the Alliance that we form a subjugation force, to sweep up the remaining bandits and restore order. But… unexpectedly, someone’s been obstructing us.”

“Someone from the Hwangbo Clan?”

“Most likely. Or perhaps someone trying to check the Peng Clan’s rise now that the Jin Clan has fallen. Shandong and Hebei are close neighbors, after all.”

“But why would another righteous clan try to interfere?” Yegyeol asked, feigning innocence.

“Because every clan has mouths to feed and an honor to protect,” Muguk replied wearily. “The Central Plains is a far smaller place than it seems.”

Whether because Peng Munhyeong had taken Yegyeol as his sworn brother, or because Muguk genuinely trusted him, the clan head spoke with surprising candor.

That alone was suspicious.

A man in his position didn’t speak so freely unless he had a reason.

“Let me speak plainly,” Muguk said. “I want to know the Hwangbo Clan’s true intentions.”

Of course, this wasn’t his only reason for suspicion.

During the Jin Clan investigation, he had discovered evidence that they’d formed a secret alliance with the Hwangbo Clan. He didn’t know why—or what their goal had been—but he did know that the Hwangbo Clan had helped obscure the full extent of the Jin Clan’s crimes.

“Since you’re on good terms with Lady Hwangbo Geumhobong, I suspect you’ll see and hear much during this subjugation mission.”

“Hmm…” Yegyeol murmured, neither agreeing nor refusing.

“If you’re willing to assist me,” Muguk continued, “I’ll make sure you’re rewarded in kind.”

He sounded more like a merchant than a clan head—though Yegyeol suspected he knew of his own past as a trader.

So that’s from Elder Brother, huh, Yegyeol thought dryly.

“I’m not sure why you’d ask me instead of Hero Peng,” he said lightly.

The question was half a polite refusal, half a test.

Muguk frowned faintly. “My brother is trustworthy, yes—but he’s hopelessly dull when it comes to matters like this.”

Yegyeol nodded unconsciously. That much, at least, was true. Peng Munhyeong was the very definition of a man who let his muscles do the thinking.

“And still… why me?”

“I trust my brother’s instincts,” Muguk said with a faint smile. “Beastly as they are, he’s never been wrong. He has an uncanny sense for people who’d bring harm to the clan.”

His weary face softened for a moment. “Despite what Father believed, I think he would’ve led the Peng Clan well if he’d inherited it.”

Yeah, no. That’s definitely not true, Yegyeol thought.

Still, the wistful look in Muguk’s eyes told him enough—the affection ran both ways. Peng Munhyeong wasn’t the only one devoted in that brotherhood.

But that doesn’t mean I can trust him.

When Yegyeol didn’t immediately respond, Muguk leaned forward.

“I know you wish to reclaim the honor of Je Haryang.”

Yegyeol’s shoulders stiffened, almost imperceptibly.

“From the moment my brother told me that the ‘Heaven’s Thunder Dragon’ bore the name Je Haryang, I found it curious. And the more I watched the circumstances unfold, the more dissonance I felt—so I dug a little deeper.”

Yegyeol had expected someone to connect the dots eventually, but not that it would be the Peng Clan Head himself. The tie through Munhyeong had clearly given Muguk deeper insight than most.

So much for thinking his brother was the only one I needed to worry about, he thought wryly.

“When a man with that name wins the Dragon–Phoenix Assembly,” Muguk went on, “and stories of him spread like wildfire—reviving the legend of the Kunlun Cloud Dragon itself—it’s hard not to notice. Soon, the tales of the Heaven’s Thunder Dragon completely eclipsed his predecessor’s.”

He gave a faint, knowing smile.

“After hearing from my brother that you had ties to the Beggar’s Sect Grand Elder, I began to think all of it… might have been deliberate. Tell me—was I wrong?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Yegyeol said flatly.

Muguk raised a hand mildly. “Don’t mistake me. I don’t mean to condemn youthful ambition. This isn’t a threat.”

“A threat? Why would it be?” Yegyeol asked evenly.

Muguk’s expression darkened slightly. “…Ah. So you don’t know. The Grand Elder of the Beggar’s Sect has quite the tight lips, it seems.”

He fell silent for a long while, as if struggling with something unspoken.

The truth—that the Je Haryang of legend had become the Heavenly Demon—was known only to a handful within the righteous factions. Most of those who had known him in youth were now the senior figures of the orthodox world, men who would rather bury the past than face it.

So when word spread that a new Je Haryang had risen—a young hero seeking the truth of his namesake—it hadn’t seemed strange to anyone.

So the Grand Elder couldn’t tell him the truth, Muguk mused inwardly. Perhaps he allowed the boy to spread the rumors himself, thinking it would do no harm.

And of course, the Hao Sect—ever eager for profit—had seized the gossip from the Beggar’s Sect’s leaks and sold it across the land.

However sharp his mind was, Peng Muguk was too straightforward to imagine that this unassuming young man could have engineered all of it—the chaos, the rumors, the rising storm.

That was far beyond what any ordinary person could conceive.

After a moment, Muguk asked quietly, “Then… are you spreading the Cloud Dragon’s name to find him?”

Yegyeol said nothing.

Why correct an assumption that served him so well?

“To set you up would be to betray my own brother,” Muguk said firmly. “I’ll never do anything that would harm you.”

His solemn tone almost made Yegyeol smile.

Perhaps mistaking that flicker of amusement for hesitation, Muguk pressed on.

“I’m not asking for much. If, during the subjugation mission, any of the targets—bandits, pirates, anyone—manage to escape, let me know. And tell me whether Lady Hwangbo was involved in that particular operation.”

“…Is that truly all you want?”

The question came softly, almost as if yielding, and Muguk nodded.

He’d expected the Fierce Tiger’s sworn brother to be brash, but this young man was more cautious than a tortoise.

Yegyeol inclined his head. “If that’s all, very well. But Lady Hwangbo isn’t a bad person.”

“I agree,” Muguk said. “But there’s someone within her clan—someone who could use her daughter’s safety as an excuse to pry into the Alliance’s plans.”

A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and Yegyeol suddenly saw the resemblance—he was indeed the Fierce Tiger’s brother, in instinct if not temperament.

Hwangbo Yakrin.

So in the end, everything circled back to her.

Yegyeol recalled the woman once counted among the Four Pillars of the Martial World.

Once, in his naivety, he had imagined that Haryang might have married her—that the gentle, elegant lady would have been a fitting match for his master.

When he learned the truth, he’d been almost irrationally relieved.

But apart from that association, he could hardly recall what kind of person Hwangbo Yakrin truly was.

Was she warm? Intelligent? A formidable martial artist, perhaps?

But still…

Could a woman who had pushed her own blood off a cliff still be called human?

Yegyeol wasn’t sure he could say yes.