Episode 86 – The Real Reason for the Six Families Gathering
“What is the meaning of this calamity?!”
The First Elder shot up from his seat and rushed over to the Sixth Elder’s corpse.
“Chunseok, my friend... what on earth happened to you!”
He clutched the corpse with a face that, to anyone else, looked grief-stricken.
Of course, my impression was more along the lines of, Ah, so the Sixth Elder’s name was Sado Chunseok. What an extra-tier name.
It’s not that I’m some cold-blooded psychopath indifferent to blood. It was just... the situation.
Anyone could tell this is suspicious.
To someone like me, who practically lives through performance, the First Elder’s “grieving” was laughably bad acting. His sobs and trembling shoulders were out of sync.
He was overacting to deflect suspicion from the current situation.
But the other martial artists, unaware of this, likely saw it as genuine sorrow over the loss of a right-hand man.
[It’s becoming clearer now. As expected, your theory was correct, you monster.]
“Yeah. It must’ve been the work of the Sun and Moon Chu Clan.”
No matter how you look at it, the Sixth Elder had been completely out of his mind—like a drunk or a zombie. There was nothing normal about his state.
[It’s a textbook case of someone under the Soul Separation Technique. The First Elder is likely putting on this act to hide that the Sixth Elder was under its influence.]
The Soul Separation Technique is a form of sorcery that manipulates a person’s mind.
“Right. And the Chu Clan are the best at using that technique, aren’t they?”
In the Heavenly Demon Cult, “strength” didn’t necessarily mean brute force. Of course, personal martial prowess was considered supreme, but if one couldn’t achieve things through martial arts, other methods were just as valid.
And the Chu Clan... they clung obsessively to those “other methods.” While their martial arts were respectable, it was their forbidden techniques and formation magic that made them truly troublesome. There was a reason they were often likened to the Zhuge Clan of Jianghu.
[You don’t need to worry too much. That technique isn’t easily inflicted. You, who’ve even withstood fragments of the Supreme One’s mental domain, are practically immune.]
“I’m not too worried about that. But... it’s what the Sixth Elder said before dying that bothers me.”
[‘Traitor.’ ‘Gift.’]
“Exactly.”
In the Heavenly Demon Cult, calling someone a traitor is worse than the worst insult. You’d be better off cursing their parents.
So for the words “traitor” and “gift” to be spoken together... they usually don’t belong in the same sentence.
Except in one case—
As in: Here’s a traitor as a gift.
[The First Elder tried to cut loose his pawn, and the Chu Clan responded by sending back a ‘gift.’]
“Yeah. Even the First Elder must’ve been shocked. He probably didn’t expect them to pull something so dramatic.”
The Sixth Elder’s suicide had two meanings.
One was a warning to the First Elder: Don’t dare use us.
The other was directed at me.
They’re done testing the waters.
With the situation blown up this far, it would be hard to end things peacefully. If peace had been the goal, they would’ve sent me his head discreetly.
This was a declaration of war.
[So what now? The Chu Clan may have declared war, but it’s not like we have a clear method of response.]
“But we can’t just let them lead us around. Didn’t you say it yourself? My ability isn’t just luck. It’s using information to shape the situation.”
Still seated, I opened my mouth.
“Everyone, step back.”
The low, cold edge in my voice made the elders flinch. The First Elder kept on pretending to sob, acting like he hadn’t heard.
“I told you to step back, First Elder.”
“But—”
“Step. Back.”
With qi in my eyes, I spoke firmly, and only then did he rise. And even then, his posture screamed ‘fake grief’ to me.
“Saweol.”
“Yes.”
At my call, Saweol—Seong Hwayeon, vice-captain of the Black Shadow Corps—appeared from thin air. The elders gasped, startled. None of them had noticed she was there the whole time.
“Take three units of the Black Shadow Corps and head to the Chu Clan. Bring me the soul-separation practitioner.”
Shock spread through the elders’ eyes. The Sixth Elder’s strange behavior, temporarily forgotten by the First Elder’s dramatic act, came back to mind.
“Also, no one is to touch the Sixth Elder’s body until we understand the situation.”
“!”
The martial artists who had just entered immediately cordoned off the area around the corpse, like police taping off a crime scene.
“A Soul Separation practitioner, Clan Head?!”
The First Elder finally spoke, seemingly snapping out of it.
“Soul-separation practitioners are wicked beings who forcibly summon spirits that should be at rest! This is an insult to the deceased!”
“Oh? So you’re saying you’re not interested in finding out why the Sixth Elder died?”
“He was always lazy and greedy by nature. Surely he was just drunk or under the influence of aphrodisiacs!”
“Then who, exactly, is the one insulting the dead?”
The elders all nodded. Even they thought something was fishy, and the tide of opinion was shifting to my side.
“Even so! Calling a soul-separation practitioner from the Sun and Moon Chu Clan, those untrustworthy rats!”
“I’ll be sure to pass along your personal opinion to the head of the Chu Clan.”
At my words, the First Elder shut his mouth like he’d swallowed honey.
[What are you planning with this stunt?]
Skybreaker Sword seemed genuinely puzzled.
‘I realized something while fighting Sado Gwang—these schemers always see people as pieces on a board.’
They manipulate the pieces however they want, until you’re pushed to the edge with no way to move.
‘So there’s no need to even play on their board.’
The Chu Clan thinks we won’t dare move recklessly. That we’re beneath them. They expected that even if they provoked us openly, we’d just take the hit.
Why should we?
There’s no need to move how they want us to. If we’re just pawns on their board, then jumping off the board entirely is the best move.
[So you sent the Black Shadow Corps deliberately—to show that we’re not playing their game.]
“Exactly. The Chu Clan probably expected a quiet, calculated chess match behind the scenes... but bringing this out into the open puts them in a tight spot. Let’s see how clever they really are.”
If they’re geniuses...
Then I’m a transmigrator.
And transmigrators don’t hold back.
To conclude: my plan was only half-successful.
Because the Chu Clan didn’t send a Soul Separation practitioner.
Publicly, their excuse was that, with the Six Families Gathering approaching, their practitioners were busy with preparations and ceremonies.
In the end, the Sixth Elder was buried quietly.
But I succeeded in planting the idea in everyone’s heads—that the Chu Clan was up to something sinister.
So that makes it a half-success.
***
“You really went all in without a backup plan. Tsk tsk.”
Cheol Muguk clicked his tongue with an old man’s laugh. It didn’t suit the man’s youthful, black-haired appearance at all. He even kept thumping his waist and shoulders, though they weren’t hurting.
“You don’t match your face at all right now.”
“I know, I know. Sopeyong nags me about that constantly. But what can I do? It’s a habit of decades.”
“If your body has changed, you should act accordingly. The body tends to follow the mind.”
“Anyone hearing this would think you’ve swapped bodies before. Hey, brat! It was me who reversed my aging, not you!”
He hit a nerve, and I took a sip of tea just to dodge the moment.
Cheol Muguk looked at me and pouted slightly.
“When I said bring drinks, I meant we’d share. Not drink alone.”
As he said, he was drinking alone.
The drink was a gift from me.
After taking care of the Sixth Elder’s incident, I felt I couldn’t stay still.
Now that I’d openly clashed with the Chu Clan, they’d no doubt try to counter me through more covert means.
In this situation, the most useful person was clearly Cheol Muguk.
It wasn’t like I needed a specific treasure. I just thought I could gain some valuable insight from him.
“The original protagonist never even got close to the Six Families Gathering.”
I might’ve boasted about being a transmigrator, but all my knowledge came from Return of the Murim—and its scope was limited.
The original protagonist, Mujin, was such a pariah that he couldn’t even dream of attending the Six Families Gathering. So the only information I had was indirect.
Like the fact that the meeting takes place on a remote island in the middle of a lake in the second Demonic Realm.
If I wanted to learn more, Cheol Muguk was my best shot. I couldn’t exactly go knocking on Gwak Riyeon’s door.
“Tch. You’ve ruined my drinking mood.”
“For someone saying that, you sure are drinking a lot.”
“The booze you brought isn’t ordinary! It’s Baekmangju, soaked in a hundred-year-old python! Even a Supreme One would struggle to find this. Leaving it untouched would be a sin!”
Well, it was from Sado Gwang’s personal stash. He probably meant to drink it once he’d recovered.
My thoughts drifted back to Sado Gwang again.
Months had passed since he threw himself off the cliff at the Valley of Lost Souls, yet there was still no word.
If he were alive, surely there would’ve been some sign by now.
Is he truly dead?
Maybe that whole “falling off a cliff brings you fortune and resurrection” only applies to protagonists. And Sado Gwang... wasn’t the protagonist of this story.
“Hey! You’re spacing out again, even though I’m right in front of you.”
“Oops.”
“You’ve got that ‘not even a drop of blood would come out if I stabbed you’ face again. Worried about the Six Families Gathering, aren’t you?”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. It’s not like I have any parents to explain these things to me.”
“Your worst trait is how you always shut people up.”
Cheol Muguk downed his drink in one gulp before continuing.
“If you mess up at the Gathering, I’ll be the one who’s embarrassed. If you hadn’t come to me, I was about to summon you myself.”
“Good to know.”
“Do you know why the Six Families Gathering was created?”
“I thought it was after the Heavenly Demon Blood War. Since the Supreme Heavenly Demon reigns but does not rule, the gathering allows the heads of the Six Demon Families to decide major matters of the cult. Isn’t that right?”
“That’s the official and superficial reason.”
“So there’s another reason?”
Cheol Muguk nodded gravely at my question.
“The real reason for the Six Families Gathering is...”
What he said next nearly made me lose control of my expression.
“To study how to kill the Heavenly Demon.”