Chapter 1414: If You Really Want It, You Should Take It. (3)

Startled by a sudden presence, Jang Ilso slowly turned his gaze.

He saw a person approaching in this direction.

It was a face he had never seen before. Of course, Jang Ilso could not possibly remember every grain of sand among the Four Sects Alliance, but at least among those who could approach him so closely, there were no such faces.

Then the intruder’s identity was painfully obvious.

“How are things?”

“The cleanup is mostly finished, Alliance lord.”

Thousand Faced Scholar.

There was only one person in the world bold enough to cross into Jang Ilso’s vicinity with a face he didn’t recognize: the Lower District Sect’s sect leader, the Thousand Faced Scholar.

The Thousand Faced Scholar, whose features were so ordinary they would blur from memory after a glance, silently stared at Jang Ilso’s back.

He was looking at the leader of the Four Sects Alliance, standing against the backdrop of a horribly burning Qingcheng.

‘Hegemony Lord…’

At first, he thought it was remarkable.

Across the long history of the murim world, there had never been a member of the Evil Sect who so easily [N O V E L I G H T] toyed with the Justice faction.

This could not be described merely as excellence.

Jang Ilso seemed to see something others couldn’t. He admired it, and therefore acknowledged it.

But now, after trampling the Qingcheng — one of the Nine Great sects — so mercilessly, that feeling had completely changed.

“Have you taken care of everyone?”

“…A few rats did escape, but I’ll send a pursuit right now and they’ll be dealt with.”

“A pursuit?”

“Yes. From the Lower District Sect…”

“Stop the pointless gestures.”

When Jang Ilso cut him off indifferently, the Thousand Faced Scholar clamped his mouth shut.

“They’re just rats at best. No need to waste effort on them. Leave them be. They’ll spread the word — how utterly Qingcheng was destroyed.”

The Thousand Faced Scholar found himself nodding without thinking.

Not that he actively agreed; he simply believed Jang Ilso to be more correct than himself.

The Thousand Faced Scholar now realized he could never see what Jang Ilso saw.

“Will you leave the Blood Palace lord as he is?”

When the Thousand Faced Scholar asked, Jang Ilso glanced sideways.

The Blood Palace’s elite were slaughtering Qingcheng Sect’s disciples here, but the Blood Palace lord himself was nowhere to be seen.

Though the archers had been sent in time — so it was hard to say they hadn’t heard Jang Ilso’s orders — the lord’s absence felt strange.

Jang Ilso shrugged.

“At least he did the minimum.”

“You mean that’s enough?”

The Thousand Faced Scholar narrowed his eyes and asked.

“I don’t expect loyalty. He will merely take the reward for what he did — whether that reward is good or bad.”

The corner of Jang Ilso’s mouth lifted. It looked like a gentle smile at first, but the Thousand Faced Scholar caught a faint, chilling undercurrent behind it.

Jang Ilso was not one to waste things. In this situation he wouldn’t needlessly create conflict with the Blood Palace lord. Yes — for the Jang Ilso up to now, that would have been enough.

But the Thousand Faced Scholar knew.

Now Jang Ilso simply paid a bit more attention to the situation.

Jang Ilso never forgot.

Even if he temporarily yielded to the wall of reality, he never forgot that he had yielded. That was why Desolate Gold Elder met a miserable death, and the Black Dragon King, with one arm severed, became Jang Ilso’s dog.

Perhaps the Blood Palace lord’s fate would be little different.

If anyone continued to judge Jang Ilso from this awkward distance, one day Jang Ilso’s claws would sink into their throat.

And what of the Thousand Faced Scholar?

Was he really standing in a safe place now?

Now the Qingcheng was all flames everywhere. Before dawn it would be nothing but ashes.

The Qingcheng sect’s strength was great, and the Thousand Faced Scholar had prepared for massive losses when he climbed the mountain. Attacking the Nine Great Sects warranted that. He had to be ready to pay that price.

But now the Qingcheng sect was trampled beneath Jang Ilso’s feet with such ease.

‘If it had been a normal situation, this would never have happened.’

Attacked at an entirely unforeseen time by an entirely unexpected enemy, there would have been no chance to fight back. Crushing those who hadn’t steeled themselves was easier than twisting the wrist of a scrawny child.

But it’s always easy to judge in hindsight. The truly difficult thing is making that easy-to-judge outcome a reality.

There stood someone who calmly accomplished the impossible. The Thousand Faced Scholar stared at him.

Then Jang Ilso raised an eyebrow and asked.

“Why that look?”

The Thousand Faced Scholar flinched.

Jang Ilso’s gaze looked strange. Whether from the heat of the surrounding flames, or the boiling desire within him, his light-colored eyes shimmered with an indescribable gleam.

It was the eye of an ambitious villain. That gaze pressed down on the Thousand Faced Scholar.

From the moment they first assembled to form the Four Sects Alliance, to now burning Qingcheng, Jang Ilso had seen the world with that same look.

It wasn’t Jang Ilso who had changed. It was the Thousand Faced Scholar looking at him.

“Are you suddenly afraid?”

Jang Ilso sneered as he asked.

“Even if you’re scared, there’s no turning back. Now that the Qingcheng sect has been burned, the only road left is for either them or us to be annihilated.”

The Thousand Faced Scholar snorted a laugh.

He was used to hiding his true face and masking expression and feeling, but this rare laugh sprang clearly from genuine sentiment.

He could only laugh.

“Of course I’m afraid of the Nine Great Sects.”

“How honest.”

“I’m afraid of ruin too. It’s not exactly pleasant that the way to live like a makeshift king in the Southern lands has collapsed.”

Jang Ilso nodded slowly.

He despised the ambitionless, but he didn’t particularly dislike those honest about themselves. Acknowledging oneself was no small thing.

“But what I’m afraid of isn’t them or my own ruin — it’s you, Alliance lord.”

“…Me?”

Jang Ilso looked at him as if amused. His eyes were calm though they gleamed in the flames, but the Thousand Faced Scholar’s gaze trembled unmistakably.

“They say if a person fears someone, the method is obvious.”

“Yes.”

A grotesque smile touched Jang Ilso’s face as he answered.

“You kill them. So they can no longer frighten you.”

Jang Ilso glanced around and said.

“How about it? Conveniently, there’s two of you. You don’t seem without a chance.”

A hollow laugh escaped the Thousand Faced Scholar’s lips.

There might indeed be a chance. He too was the sect leader of the Lower District Sect. He wouldn’t necessarily lose to Jang Ilso. Jang Ilso’s unknown ability was a variable, but ‘unknown’ didn’t automatically mean formidable.

“Not a bad plan. But… I know an even better one.”

The Thousand Faced Scholar slowly lowered one knee. The knee that would never bow touched the ground.

Jang Ilso watched that profoundly symbolic sight with nothing more than an indifferent gaze.

“Sect leader of the Lower District Sect, the Thousand Faced Scholar Dam Yeo-Hae.”

The Thousand Faced Scholar bowed his head deeply, very deeply.

“I pledge my loyalty to Alliance lord.”

A man kneeling amid the roaring flames — it might be a grander sight than a burning the Qingcheng.

Jang Ilso twisted a smile and let out a low hum.

“Hmph. How sudden.”

“…”

“Wasn’t it always this way?”

The Thousand Faced Scholar raised his head. The moment their eyes met, he sensed it.

Those eyes hadn’t changed in the slightest.

What did it mean that even after securing the Thousand Faced Scholar’s loyalty, that unchanging gaze showed no sign of alteration?

And the Thousand Faced Scholar naturally understood what he must do.

His hand slowly moved toward his face. When the trembling hand covered his face and then fell away…

At last a different smile bloomed on Jang Ilso’s lips, unlike any before.

“So that’s the Thousand Faced Scholar’s true face.”

He gave a small nod. Then, as if teasing, he added.

“You didn’t have to show that.”

“It’s only natural to swear loyalty to the Alliance lord.”

Jang Ilso slowly approached the kneeling Thousand Faced Scholar. His red cloak billowed and then settled down.

Chin.

Jang Ilso lightly rested his hand on the Thousand Faced Scholar’s shoulder and inclined his head slightly.

“Listen to me.”

A whisper sounded in the Thousand Faced Scholar’s ear.

“I’m someone who doesn’t much care about intentions.”

“…”

“No one can know true sincerity. So it’s enough to know what one wants. What is it you want?”

The Thousand Faced Scholar’s shoulder trembled slightly.

“…Life.”

“How petty.”

Jang Ilso lightly tapped the Thousand Faced Scholar’s shoulder.

There were no other words.

There was no promise to guarantee the life he desired, nor any praise for kneeling and joining his ranks. He merely touched his shoulder once.

But the Thousand Faced Scholar did not ask for anything else.

Before this man, everything was meaningless. Promises, feelings, even displayed sincerity — all were just cards to be used when needed.

What the Thousand Faced Scholar desired was only mercy and value.

That cold, metal-forged flame should burn him and the Lower District Sect as late as possible.

“Finish it.”

“Yes, Alliance lord.”

Both his manner and tone had changed considerably.

This did not only mean the relationship between the Thousand Faced Scholar and Jang Ilso had changed.

The Four Sects Alliance, formed from five sects from the start — this signaled that the alliance would take a different form. In the blaze ignited using the Qingcheng as an offering.

“Shall we head to Emei?”

“We should.”

Jang Ilso’s gaze flicked to Byeok Hyyn-Ja’s corpse.

A worthless death. Its only value at most was buying a few units of time.

“News probably hasn’t reached Emei yet. Emei will be easy to take.”

“Right. But we still must hurry.”

A red line of a smile crossed Jang Ilso’s pale face.

“It would be unfair if only the Nine Great Sects suffered. We should make the Heavenly Friends Alliance feel the same. To burn Emei and trample the Tang Family, we’ll need to hurry.”

“Yes!”

The Thousand Faced Scholar bowed deeply and then turned his body.

Watching his receding back intently, Jang Ilso’s face twisted peculiarly.

‘A rat…’

It’s good to be perceptive. But those who lower themselves out of fear of death eventually show their true colors when they no longer think they’re in danger.

The Thousand Faced Scholar’s fate would be decided not by Jang Ilso, but by himself. In any case, he was useful manpower.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue briefly, Jang Ilso cast his gaze toward the distance — not north where Ami was, but east where the Yangtze lay.

“Ga-Myung is going to scold me again.”

He chuckled and then turned his body.

The flames that had scorched the Qingcheng were spreading northward. Their ferocity was such that no one seemed able to stop them.