Chapter 73
I had already heard of Namgung Jin’s reputation—a man so obsessed with martial arts that he treated women as delicately as if caring for a priceless artifact.
Myeongheo, curious about the woman capable of moving a man as stone-hearted as him, asked his close friend, the Sect Leader Hong Si-young, to find out her identity.
He didn’t want to involve the disciples of the Mudang Sect, so he requested this favor privately.
Through that, he learned not only who the woman was but also what had happened within the Namgung family.
Amazingly, the woman possessed healing abilities comparable to the Golden-Clothed Divine Maiden from fifty years ago.
She had treated martial artists injured by the madmen of the demonic cult who had suddenly attacked the Namgung family.
The fact that madmen had infiltrated the Namgung family carried huge implications.
Although the rise of the demonic cult had been gradually spreading, nothing like this—attacking in broad daylight—had occurred before.
Yet Namgung Seon-yul had quietly handled the matter.
Of course, he had informed the Martial Alliance, but no rumors about the Namgung family’s involvement had spread.
“It seems he wants to handle it quietly because it involves someone from the family,” Myeongheo thought.
He even knew that Namgung Seon-yul’s younger brother, Namgung Hyeok, had colluded with the demonic cult, periodically consuming the Blood-Yang Pill until he became a madman. All of this had been revealed to him by the Sect Leader.
At that thought, Myeongheo’s expression darkened rapidly.
He turned his body, stiff as stone, backward.
One step. He walked lightly, yet with precision, until he reached the Golden Hall (Geumjeon) at Cheonju Peak.
His astonishing movement was something no one could imitate.
Myeongheo slightly opened the hall’s door and entered.
Deep within the Golden Hall was a secret room accessible only to the eldest master.
He quietly stepped into the room, which was protected by a barrier.
To anyone else, the room was invisible, appearing as nothing but a solid wall.
Finally, Myeongheo stopped in front of a bed draped with a dark curtain.
He lifted the curtain and revealed a figure lying on the bed.
The man looked quite young.
He lay motionless, his limbs blackened, looking like a corpse.
Yet his chest rose and fell faintly, like a bellows in motion.
He was alive.
For now.
But his breathing was so faint it seemed as if it could cease at any moment.
Myeongheo gently grasped the man’s emaciated, branch-like hand. It was devoid of warmth.
“Mu-myeong…”
The man’s name was Mu-myeong (Nameless).
He was the second-generation disciple of the Mudang Sect and someone Myeongheo especially cherished, even personally giving him his Taoist name.
“Mu-myeong,” meaning “without cry,” came from the idiom Bulbi Bulmyeong, signifying someone who waits for the right moment to accomplish great deeds.
True to his name, Mu-myeong was normally quiet and unassuming, yet shone brightly when it mattered most.
He was a child who knew when to wait and when to act.
Myeongheo believed him to be a future leader of the Mudang Sect.
However, five years ago, Mu-myeong was abducted by the demonic cult while surveying Hubei after descending Mudang Mountain.
Of course, Mu-myeong wasn’t weak enough to be easily captured.
The cult had threatened him with the lives of nearby children and bystanders, forcing him to comply.
Upon hearing this, Myeongheo immediately descended Mudang Mountain to search for Mu-myeong.
But the cunning cult evaded him for three whole years.
After three years, he finally tracked one of the cult’s four headquarters—ironically, located in Hubei.
Right in Hubei, where the Mudang Sect resided!
He realized how blind he had been beneath his own lamp.
Myeongheo regretted not having properly monitored Hubei, yet his anger toward the treacherous cult burned brightly.
He didn’t hesitate in his revenge.
Leading all the martial experts of the Mudang Sect, he annihilated Ilma-gak, the cult’s Hubei headquarters.
He personally beheaded the cunning cult leader.
The cult members, even the head of Ilma-gak, trembled before Myeongheo’s overwhelming martial power.
The disciples present later said that day, Myeongheo displayed martial prowess that astonished heaven and shook the earth.
Yet, despite searching the entire Ilma-gak, Mu-myeong was nowhere to be found.
All Myeongheo learned was that the abducted disciples from five years ago had been taken to the cult’s main headquarters.
He searched again for Mu-myeong and the cult’s main base, but it was impossible to find.
Two years passed since Ilma-gak’s destruction.
Finally, Myeongheo faced Mu-myeong—now a madman.
Seeing him with bloodshot eyes, unrecognizable even to himself, Myeongheo wept.
“Mu… why can’t you recognize me?”
Memories of Mu-myeong flashed before his eyes: the obedient child from early training, the one who admired everything he did, and the moments when Myeongheo personally taught him martial arts.
None of it was something he wished to discard. Mu-myeong was like a disciple, more like a child.
In the end, Myeongheo couldn’t bring himself to kill Mu-myeong.
To prevent chaos within the sect, he staged a ruse.
In front of everyone, he pretended to strike a powerful blow, making it appear that Mu-myeong had died.
He then hid Mu-myeong deep within the Golden Hall.
No one—not even the Mudang Sect or the entire martial world—knew the truth.
Even the Sect Leader, who knew all that happened in the martial world, didn’t know.
Myeongheo bound Mu-myeong with talismans to prevent him from acting like a madman upon awakening.
Yet the chance of him waking was slim; he was barely clinging to life.
“How can I restore you?”
Ever since bringing Mu-myeong there, Myeongheo had been researching a way to reverse his madness.
But no method had ever been discovered, even when a madman appeared fifty years ago.
Even the greatest martial artist in the world was powerless.
Should he give up everything?—he pondered.
Then, by fate, he heard about the Golden-Clothed Divine Maiden.
“If she’s capable… she might heal Mu-myeong.”
Fifty years ago, she had cured the madness of the Tianma warrior, Wei Zhiqiang.
If this woman had the same abilities, she could possibly heal Mu-myeong.
There was no harm in trying.
But he would have to explain to her that he was hiding a disciple suffering from madness.
Namgung Seon-yul, for instance, would have instantly executed his own brother if he detected signs of madness.
If the Divine Maiden—or worse, Namgung Jin and his group—found out he was hiding Mu-myeong…
Namgung Seon-yul would surely learn as well, and the problem could spiral out of control.
“A difficult problem indeed.”
But Myeongheo had no intention of giving up.
A solution capable of healing Mu-myeong had appeared before him; he could not ignore it, even if the consequences were irreversible.
“Mu, I will restore you, no matter what.”
He decided to allow Namgung Jin and his companions to enter the Mudang Sect.
