I was pretty sure our topic would rotate around Blood Demon. But this was something I hadn’t even thought about.
-What? Did he just ask if you had ties with the Dual Martial Forces? Do they and the Flying Moon Order have something to do with Blood Sect?
Short Sword seemed interested in the topic.
There was no way this man would ask without reason, but I didn’t even know about this faction, nor did I place any request to the Lower District.
Hac Ack-chun touched his beard and said, “Judging by your reactions, it seems like there is.”
“No. Honestly… I don’t know.’
“You don’t know?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm. Didn’t you say before that your maternal grandfather was a member of the sect?”
‘Ah!’
I forgot about this!
This was a lie I made up to get out of a crisis when I met Do Jang-ho. A year had passed by, so I ended up forgetting about it.
-How can you forget about it? This is bad!
‘Right.’
We had overcome the crisis of life together and were vigilant too, so this was something which could place all of us in danger.
Certainly when I was a spy, death was always on the line, I was always on the edge and made sure to never make any mistakes, but lately, I felt like I was changing.
‘I need to be anxious.’
Carelessness could not be allowed. Looking at Hae Ack-chun, I added.
“…Yes. My mother always used to say so, but I never really knew about it. To be honest, I don’t know anymore than this.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Hae Ack-chun wondered and asked.
After thinking for a while, I took something from my pocket and held it in my hands. It was a keepsake from my mother which I presumed he was asking about.
-You want to show it?
‘This isn’t something we have to hide.’
I too wanted to know about this. Was my mother from this place?
And what kind of relationship did this place have with Blood Sect?
Hae Ack-chun narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Jade plaque.
“Where did you get this from?”
“When I went back to the family for the mission… I received it as a keepsake from my mother. I found out then that the Lord of the family wasn’t even my true father.”
I put on a bit of a heart broken expression.
-Are you forcing yourself to cry?
The basics of acting was to control one’s emotions. This was easy for me, and Short Sword chuckled at my acting.
“Your mother seems to have hidden a lot.”
Unlike before, I now doubted it a bit too. Actually, rather than that, my attention was more onto the plaque here.
Did he know about the plaque? Hae Ack-chun held it up as he checked it.
“Huh… it has been a while. This plaque.”
“Uh?”
“Hehe. How can you know about this when you are new to all this?”
I was surprised and asked him, “Does teacher know something?”
“How can I not know? Even today’s young ones should know the origin of this plaque.”
The origin of that thing?
As I was still puzzled, he showed me the plaque which was shining from the light of the lantern.
“There is no place in Murim which has this sophisticated origin denoted by a moon.”
“Then does this mean?”
“This is the original plaque bestowed by the Royal family.”
‘…?!’
Royal Family?
I was shocked as the Royal family was brought in for no reason.
What was this Flying Moon Order, for it to be linked with the Royal family?
“That place is a strange sect. Where do I even start?”
Hae Ack-chun scratched his head and dipped his fingers into the glass as he wrote with the drops of alcohol.
[Blood Demon]
“You guys know very well that this is the start of our sect.”
Was there anyone who wouldn’t? Hae Ack-chun connected two lines vertically below it and said, “There are only a few people in the sect who know of this. The lineage of the Blood Demon is divided into two parts?”
“Two?”
It was really the first time I was hearing about this. Hae Ack-chun inscribed letters with drops of alcohol.
[Baek Chun-kang and Baek Ji-woong.]
Hae Ack-chun circled Baek Ji-woong from the two names and continued.
“This is the Great Blood Demon.”
“Great Blood Demon?”
This was odd. Just the name itself said that Baek Chun-kang was the eldest of the duo. As with Murim and nobles the eldest mostly inherited the rights to any position.
“You seem puzzled. Kulkul.”
“Isn’t Baek Chun-kang the firstborn?”
“Right. As you guessed, Baek Chun-kang was the eldest. However, he set his goal to becoming an official of the government, not the leader of the sect.”
This was truly a unique person.
In a way it could be said that Murim and officials were two different worlds. Even at the most critical time they chose to not intervene with the other side.
“Baek Chun-kang was well versed in learning duties as well as martial arts and he confidently passed the test to secure a position too. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty who liked his personality and academic results bestowed him a Jade plaque along with the title of Flying Crane.”
‘Ah…’
The son of Blood Demon, who should be at the top of the Forces of Evil, was a government official, this was an amazing secret.
“He became the start of not the Great Blood Demon lineage but the Flying Crane Moon family. Isn’t that something to be proud of?”
‘Flying Crane Moon family?’
He was still calling it as a family name, but a question immediately popped into my mind.
Blood Demon was a man with madness and greed for power. If the Royal family knew the truth about the father, how would the situation have turned out?
However, Hae Ack-chun solved the question.
“But, his birth name and connection to the Blood Demon caught the feet of the family.”
“What do you mean?”
“It didn’t matter that he was an official. One day a tragedy unfolded when the Emperor who ascended the throne was taken down by the Golden Great Emperor.”
‘Golden Great Emperor!’
-What are you so surprised about?
Golden Great Emperor.
Ju Yang-seon.
The man who declared war against the entirety of Murim. It could be said that it was the time when both sides were at their worst.
This period saw the destruction of small Murim sects and I even heard that many sects had joined hands at the time in order to survive.
“The persecution of the Murim sects, headed by the sixth generation member of the Royal family eventually reached the Flying Crane Moon family.”
“They were kicked out by the Royal family?”
“The Royal family did try to throw away and destroy the Flying Crane Moon family. But how could the Main Sect have been silent when one of their descendants was in trouble?”
“They helped them?”
“Yes. Our sect mobilized everything to help and get them out of there.”
“…The relationship of the family must have been revealed.”
Of course it was. How could one not notice a huge sect moving to help an official’s family?
“Then did the family rejoin the sect again?”
“No. Since the days of Baek Chun-kang, their side of the family had given up the path of evil and chosen the righteous faction. How could they simply return?”
“Ah! So they went to the Dual Martial Forces faction?”
“Hehe. Yes. In the entire world of Murim, if there exists a place where those without the backing of any major sects or noble families can join, then it is them. Looking for a fence to protect them, the Flying Crane Moon family entered the Dual Martial Forces.”
If it was revealed that blood ties were keeping them protected, sects would have looked down on them. But they took a different path.
‘Hmm…’
And at the same time, I had this thought.
No matter how much this family chose to stray from the evil side, they did receive help from the same side during the persecution.
Maybe the Blood Sect was the one who didn’t accept them.
-Why?
Because they belonged to the sect. In other words, that family too had the qualification to lead the Blood Sect.
‘Ah! right? Accepting them would only increase competitors for the position of leader.’
Perhaps the reason was great.
If not, wouldn’t they have asked for the family to rejoin the sect? In a way, the Dual Martial Forces was also a group which fought for power in Murim.
And if they moved there, it would be a relationship where they would have to fight.
-Man, humans are so complicated. Tch.
Right.
Human beings did not care about parents or siblings in the face of power and money.
“Then, did that family who joined the Dual Martial Forces turn into the Flying Moon Order?”
“Hehe. You understand that too. Yes, the same family had changed its name”
“Ah…”
In the end, the origin of the Flying Moon Order was from blood ties. In other words, if my mother or my biological father was a person belonging to this order, I would possess the bloodline of Blood Demon
-Huh! Didn’t I tell you that?
The Blood Demon Sword chuckled as he told me.
How could I just blindly believe that? In addition, I lived my life as a spy in the previous life and I had only known of my family in this one.
So this all made things complicated to me, and Hae Ack-chun continued.
“Keke. I could not have been happier.”
“Uh?”
“The direct descendant who inherited his blood survived and returned to the Main Sect. How could this not be fate?”
Fate?
Was this really fate?
Hae Ack-chun surely looked happy.
“With your existence, his Blood is back. I am no longer troubled by the late sect leader. Hahaha.”
“…Teacher. What about Baek Hye-hyang and Baek Ryeon-ha?”
“Huhu, you. How can they be the direct descendants?”
Ah…
Was he happy about this?
If Baek Ryeon-ha or Baek Hye-hyang were to get married and give birth to a child, their child would still not be considered as the direct descendants.
That was because a direct bloodline had come into existence, turning it over.
“But teacher. How can you be sure I am the direct descendant? Isn’t this too soon to jump into conclusion just because this plaque was handed to my family? If my mother did belong to the family…”
Even if the blood was mixed in, I could not prove that I was the direct descendant.
Then, it would be my father who had to be the direct descendant, and at that, he stopped.
-Great that expression says your good times are gone.
I could understand the situation in a better manner now.
The direct lineage of the Blood Demon was cut off and the two daughters barely inherited the blood of Blood Demon. Now, suddenly I come up holding the direct bloodline of Blood Demon.
But the authenticity of the direct descendant was what changed everything in this dynamic. At that time, Hae Ack-chun looked at me and continued.
“If that is the case, I can make that blood stronger by marrying Baek Ryeon-ha or Baek Hye-hyang.”
‘…. ?!’
What did I hear just now!
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