Chapter 398: Force (1)

About an hour after the incident, I surveyed the situation with my hand resting on my forehead. First, I checked the faces of the girls sitting on my bed.

I started with the girl with brown hair tinged with gold, sitting farthest to the left. It was Wi Seol-Ah. I asked her a question while gazing at her.

“What’s going on?”

“Huh?”

Wi Seol-Ah flinched. I could see her pupils shaking crazily. I asked her again, staring into her eyes.

“Why were you guys in my room?”

“…Uh, about that…”

Wi Seol-Ah glanced next to her. There sat Namgung Bi-ah, still dozing, not fully awake yet. Why was she looking at her?

I waited in silence for an answer, and Wi Seol-Ah spoke hesitantly.

“…S-Sis was walking inside… so I followed her.”

“…”

I looked over to Namgung Bi-ah. When Namgung Bi-ah noticed my gaze, she murmured, rubbing her eyes.

“…You… weren’t coming…”

“What does that have to do with you walking in my room…?”

“…Hmm?”

Namgung Bi-ah looked at me as if it had everything to do with it. Why was she staring at me that way?

I could understand Namgung Bi-ah, since she had a habit of sneaking into my bed to sleep from time to time, but I couldn’t understand why Wi Seol-Ah followed her.

“And why did you follow her?”

“…She said she was going inside… so I just…”

Wi Seol-Ah avoided eye contact, and her ears turned red. I had to sigh.

“…Are you trying to be like her or something? Why did you try sleeping in another person’s bed?”

“I’m sorry…”

“And you… never mind.”

I thought about scolding Namgung Bi-ah as well, but I just let her off the hook. She wasn’t going to listen to me anyway. Instead, I clenched my fist and bonked her forehead once.

“Agh…!”

Namgung Bi-ah let out a short scream and clutched her forehead. She then looked up at me with a mix of sleepiness and resentment.

“What makes you think you can stare at me that way when you didn’t do anything good?”

“…”

“You were the one that took my blanket last time too, right?”

“…!”

Namgung Bi-ah opened her eyes wide. Did she really think I wouldn’t know it was her? She wasn’t even being secretive about it when she took it.

“Why do you keep on stealing my pillows and blankets?”

“I ran out…”

“Ran out of what? Pillows? Blankets? Also, you could just say that you ran out. Why do you keep on taking mine?”

It’s not like Namgung Bi-ah was poor. I couldn’t understand why she was trying to solve this matter by herself. It seemed like Namgung Bi-ah wasn’t happy with my response, though, because her eyes narrowed.

“…That’s… not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“…Never mind…”

She refused to answer, seemingly starting to sulk.

What did I do this time to make you sulk…

Putting Namgung Bi-ah aside, I looked at the girl sitting farthest to the right. It was a light green-haired girl with a dissatisfied look, Tang Soyeol, whom I had dinner with earlier.

“…Hey.”

Tang Soyeol flinched when she heard my voice, seeming to have noticed that I was talking to her.

“Don’t you think that most people don’t just barge into other people’s room like that?”

I was referring to when Tang Soyeol had barged into my room without warning. Normally, you would knock before entering.

Or, at the very least, she should’ve asked if she could come inside. I didn’t expect her to just barge into my room.

When I pointed out her mistake, Tang Soyeol turned her head away after a moment and puffed her cheeks, making her look like a squirrel with acorns stuffed in its mouth.

But why were all these girls making these faces? What had I done wrong?

“Why are you guys—“

“I admit that I messed up, but…”

Just as I was about to ask them what they were so unhappy about, Tang Soyeol shouted out, clenching her eyes shut.

“This is all Master Gu’s fault!”

“…What?”

When I looked at Tang Soyeol, confused, Wi Seol-Ah and Namgung Bi-ah both nodded in agreement.

“What did I do…?”

This is quite frustrating…

All I did was run around all day, eat in an uncomfortable setting, and return to my room to get spare clothes. And suddenly I’m at fault?

I continued to stare at Tang Soyeol speechlessly. Then, the three girls stood up at the same time as if they had planned it. I backed away a little in shock.

The three girls then stomped their way towards my door. Were they going to leave like this? I could see they were still dissatisfied, but I decided it would be better to leave them alone for now.

I believed I would be drained if I didn’t.

As I let the girls leave without stopping them,

“…Wait.”

I stopped Namgung Bi-ah, who was about to leave with them. When I grabbed her hand, Namgung Bi-ah stared at me as if she was hoping for something.

I didn’t know what she was hoping for, but… what I was going to say to her most likely wasn’t it.

“…Can you ask the Lord of Namgung Clan if I could visit him soon?”

I knew I shouldn’t have asked this question to her now, but I had to ask while I had the chance, since I had to focus on training.

I can’t just ignore this after all.

I honestly wanted to ignore it, but I knew Namgung Jin wouldn’t let me, with his personality. He most likely wanted to learn another thing from me, but I had an excuse to use this time.

Because of that, I decided it would be best to meet him as soon as possible to resolve this. That’s why I asked Namgung Bi-ah this favor.

After hearing my request, Namgung Bi-ah responded with a frown.

“…Father… left.”

“What?”

I paused.

He left…?

To where?

Where did that man go all of a sudden?

When I asked Namgung Bi-ah, confused, she gave me a proper answer this time.

“…Anhui.”

He had returned to Anhui, where the Namgung Clan was located.

After I finished my talk with the girls, I requested a servant for a spare set of clothes and headed to the cave.

I started digging, using Heaven Destruction Arts, like usual, but my mind was filled with other things.

Namgung Jin left Henan.

That’s what Namgung Bi-ah had said. I couldn’t help but ask ‘why?’ after hearing her.

It was understandable for him to return; after all, it wasn’t strange for the Lord of the Namgung Clan to return to his clan.

It’s just that, I didn’t expect Namgung Jin to return without asking me to teach him again, especially when he was obsessed with reaching a higher level.

Though, of course, it was good for me, since I had less things to worry about…

…I didn’t have anything to teach him anyway.

I was able to use Elder Shin’s words to teach him the first time, and I used what I learned from the Sword Queen the second time, but I had nothing I could use this time.

Therefore, it was good that Namgung Jin had suddenly left, but I was concerned that he had left Henan in such a hurry.

Did something happen in Namgung Clan?

I didn’t see why he would leave so quickly if that wasn’t the case. I tried to think about anything that could’ve happened to the Namgung Clan during this time period, but nothing came to mind.

Crack-

I continued to think as I proceeded to destroy the cave’s wall.

There was a reason I was feeling so sensitive about Namgung Jin leaving like this. I was worried that I might’ve changed history again.

It’s not just Namgung Jin.

It wasn’t just one or two things that had changed. There was the ambush that happened in the Heavenly Dragon Academy, but the Harmonic Sword had resigned from his position, and a new Alliance Leader was going to be picked.

Originally, Wi Seol-Ah should’ve become the next Alliance Leader ten years from now, but that time had come ten years too soon, and not in a good way.

Then who’ll be become the next Alliance Leader?

I didn’t know the answer. There were many candidates from the Ten Sect Alliance, Four Noble Clans, and other noble clans, but I wasn’t able to make a prediction because of so many things changing.

What a mess, seriously.

I was working myself fairly hard to make a difference, but I still lacked a ton. Was I really doing a good job?

I kept up with my training to change history, but I knew that that wasn’t going to be enough.

Also… it’s the same for Gu Clan.

Gu Clan also went through many changes. A problem rose after I killed the previous First Elder—the changes of Gu Sunmoon.

Currently, the Captain of the first army was temporarily acting as the Leader of Gu Sunmoon. I’m sure he was doing a good job, but…

Wait, now that I think about it, where did the first army’s Captain go? Because he was my father’s direct escort, I heard that he came to Henan with him, but I never once saw him.

Was he taking care of something on his own?

That was highly likely, but I wasn’t sure.

Muyeon didn’t come either. I obviously expected my escort, Muyeon, to come, but he didn’t.

Judging by this, it seemed like Gu Sunmoon was trying to keep Muyeon there. They must’ve noticed Muyeon’s talent when he reached Peak Realm, and he was from Gu Sunmoon to begin with, so I believed that Gu Sunmoon was trying to raise Muyeon properly.

Are they thinking of making him their Co-Leader?

That was the only thing that made sense. Gu Jeolyub seemed to have the same suspicion as me when we heard this news for the first time, which was why he put on a gloomy expression for a while.

All I was able to tell him was work hard as he can to not fall behind.

Though if Muyeon really makes himself home in Gu Sunmoon…

It might actually be better.

It wasn’t a bad scenario for me.

I realized one thing for sure after meeting with the Heavenly Demon: I need a force. I needed not just myself to be strong, but a whole force for the future.

I realized that it was going to be way too difficult for me to deal with the Heavenly Demon by myself. I already knew this before, but my meeting with the Heavenly Demon that day made me certain of it.

If I really wanted to replace the Celestial Sword’s spot, I needed a force just like her.

Therefore, if Muyeon officially joins Gu Sunmoon, I could potentially help him reach a higher position so that I could use him, to use Gu Sunmoon, as my own.

At first, I thought about getting support from the Murim Alliance.

But there isn’t a single group I can trust.

There really wasn’t a single place I was able to trust. I was once again able to see that the Central Plains was rotting away due to these people.

Because of that, rather than joining an untrustworthy organization,

…I’ll make one myself.

I concluded that it was better for me to gather people to make my own group.

That was why I was holding myself back, even if people called me the Lesser King of Hell or spread bullshit rumors about me. Not only that, but I was already thinking of potential members.

However, there was one thing I was concerned about regarding this matter.

If… I really gather all of these people in my mind into one spot…

Then there was no way that my group was going to be considered a group of the Orthodox Faction.