Silver Moon Pavilion, Gongsun Dankyung’s office.
Gongsun Dankyung, who had summoned Bu Eunseol, smiled faintly and nodded.
“As expected, you turned a crisis into an opportunity.” She continued with an expression of utmost surprise. “But I never anticipated that you had a connection with Lord Bukgung.”
Bu Eunseol sat silently, listening to Gongsun Dankyung’s explanation.
Everything that had happened to him until now.
The fact that Serene Jade Hall Leader had uncovered circumstances suggesting Seon Woojin might be a Majeon spy.
It had all stemmed from the information Gongsun Dankyung leaked to the Elder Council.
She had foreseen everything: that this incident would open the way for Bu Eunseol to pursue the Three Realms forces lurking within the Martial Alliance, while simultaneously elevating him to a position so impeccable that he would never again face suspicion of being a spy.
‘So this is how far she went.’
Bu Eunseol had realized his mistake on Ghost Island early on and had preemptively mobilized the Death Spirit Corps to fabricate evidence and traces.
Yet the Serene Jade Hall Leader, a pawn of the Three Realms, had anticipated that possibility and brought forth Bukgung Ryeong as a witness.
This was something even Bu Eunseol had not foreseen.
If Bukgung Ryeong had failed to recognize him?
If his quick wit and resourcefulness had not produced a story perfectly matching the events on Ghost Island?
A great commotion would have erupted, and Bu Eunseol would have had to leave the Martial Alliance immediately.
Yet Gongsun Dankyung had believed in him unwaveringly, without a trace of worry?
“It’s hard to believe,” Bu Eunseol spoke his honest feelings. “That you predicted every detail and leaked the information to the Elder Council…”
“You don’t have to believe it.”
Gongsun Dankyung smiled faintly.
“The results explain everything anyway.”
If she had truly believed the evidence and suspected him?
She would not have leaked the information to the Elder Council; instead, she would have gathered even more perfect proof to ensnare him.
But she had believed.
And that belief had produced the correct outcome.
“Didn’t you always suspect me, Chief Inspector?” Bu Eunseol wore an expression of incomprehension. “Why trust me to this extent?”
“Trust Captain Seon? Hardly.”
Gongsun Dankyung laughed, revealing teeth as white as ivory.
“I’m someone who fundamentally doesn’t trust people.”
“What do you mean?”
“I simply decided this was the only way to truly make Captain Seon mine.” Gongsun Dankyung spoke calmly.
“You must be tired too, Captain Seon. If you kept being suspected by me, you’d no longer be able to stay on the same boat. Am I wrong?”
Bu Eunseol was surprised.
“That’s true.”
“I like your honest admission.”
She smiled with satisfaction and picked up the book on the table.
“Now, let’s hear Captain Seon’s sincere explanation.”
She handed it to him.
“How you discovered the secret passage in Solitary Enlightenment Hall… and how you came to learn the Heon Won Bright Sword Technique.”
Opening the book, he saw the exact time he had emerged from the storage warehouse recorded within.
“Chief Inspector.”
“From now on, you’ll need to speak carefully. As I said, I fundamentally don’t trust people.”
With those words, the presence of experts with tremendous auras positioned around Silver Moon Pavilion became palpable. They were likely not guards from Silver Moon Pavilion but elite masters directly under Gongsun Dankyung’s command.
“Then what do you trust, Chief Inspector?”
“Ability.”
Gongsun Dankyung explained calmly.
“I don’t trust Captain Seon—I trust Captain Seon’s ability.”
“I’ll have to explain properly, then.”
Bu Eunseol muttered with a deep breath.
“Without a single lie.”
“I’ll listen with open ears.”
The phrase “listen with open ears” was something a subordinate said to a superior.
Though Gongsun Dankyung had thrown in a friendly jest, Bu Eunseol’s expression remained unchanged.
“I discovered the Heon Won Bright Sword Technique when I ascended to the second floor of Solitary Enlightenment Hall after resolving the Heaven-Human Cult incident.”
He calmly explained the situation of obtaining half a secret manual from the bookshelf on the second floor at that time.
Gongsun Dankyung, listening silently, flashed her eyes.
“The manual lacked the general principles, so you memorized the changes in your mind over three days?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should be able to write them all down.”
She snorted lightly and pointed to brush, ink, and paper.
“Prove it.”
If Bu Eunseol had obtained a proper sword manual and memorized the general principles, there would have been no need to memorize each change individually.
She intended to thoroughly verify whether his words were true.
“Understood.”
Taking the brush, Bu Eunseol began drawing the changes of Heon Won Bright Sword without hesitation.
Finally, he handed her the paper with all 395 changes drawn.
“But can you verify their authenticity, Chief Inspector? I could have drawn random sword forms and merely matched the number.”
Gongsun Dankyung smiled at the corners of her mouth.
She opened a drawer and took out another thin book.
Surprisingly, it was the Heon Won Bright Sword manual Bu Eunseol had found atop the bookshelf on the second floor of Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
“How do you have that, Chief Inspector?”
“I looked for it. In advance.”
Gongsun Dankyung wore a calm smile.
“If Captain Seon had coincidentally learned the Heon Won Bright Sword swordsmanship, I wondered where it might be.”
She shrugged.
“So the answer came easily.”
If Bu Eunseol was not an external spy?
She had pondered where he could have learned Heon Won Bright Sword.
In the end, she had discovered the Heon Won Bright Sword manual hidden on the second floor of Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
“You know the origins of this manual as well, Chief Inspector.”
“Of course. Otherwise, how could I know about the secret passage connected to the storage warehouse?”
Bu Eunseol frowned.
Then had his discovery of the Heon Won Bright Sword manual also been her arrangement?
“Did you secretly place that manual in Solitary Enlightenment Hall?”
“Of course not.”
Gongsun Dankyung shook her head.
“I merely know that the changes written in this swordsmanship are the method to find the secret passage hidden in Solitary Enlightenment Hall.”
She continued calmly.
“Originally, this manual was said to have been lost when an intruder broke into Solitary Enlightenment Hall during the time of the previous Alliance Leader, the Iron Emperor.”
“…”
“I wondered why this manual was found split in half on the second-floor bookshelf of Solitary Enlightenment Hall.”
“I don’t know either.”
“Hmm.”
Gongsun Dankyung shook her head and continued. “In any case, Captain Seon coincidentally learned this manual and thus found the secret passage in Solitary Enlightenment Hall.”
Sighing, Gongsun Dankyung shook her head.
“Should I believe such a story?”
“Even if I were in your position, I wouldn’t. But…”
Bu Eunseol stared straight into her eyes.
“It’s all true.”
It really was the truth.
Bu Eunseol had truly obtained and learned the Heon Won Bright Sword manual by chance.
“I already knew those words were true.”
Gongsun Dankyung said something unexpected.
“If they weren’t, this private meeting with Captain Seon would not be here but in the cold underground prison.”
“You believe me?”
“I told you—I fundamentally don’t trust people.”
Gongsun Dankyung spoke calmly.
“If Captain Seon had known the Heon Won Bright Sword manual from the beginning… when you entered Solitary Enlightenment Hall as a reward for exterminating Heaven-Human Cult, you would have already used it.”
Gongsun Dankyung had already predicted everything.
Even that Bu Eunseol had only now learned the secret of the mechanisms in Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
After the Heaven-Human Cult subjugation, Bu Eunseol had naturally had opportunities to enter Solitary Enlightenment Hall.
There would have been no need to ask Yuk Jangcheon and enter with difficulty as he did now.
“Why ask me when you already knew everything?”
“I told you—I fundamentally don’t trust people.”
Gongsun Dankyung wore an enigmatic smile.
“Besides, the crucial connecting link was missing.”
“The connecting link?”
“How you suddenly discovered the mechanisms in Solitary Enlightenment Hall at this particular time and decided to investigate them.”
‘Hmph.’
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
In the end, Gongsun Dankyung did not deeply trust him.
She had merely grasped and predicted every situation with terrifying cold logic.
She had summoned him to confirm the facts because she could not find a convincing “connecting link” to make sense of the sequence of events.
“Hall Leader Yong Myeong, who was in the underground of Gang Okji at the time, told me.” Bu Eunseol had no choice but to tell the truth.
“Hall Leader Yong Myeong…”
Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes flashed as she murmured.
“Then why didn’t you report that to me at the time?”
“First, I had to verify whether Hall Leader Yong Myeong was telling the truth. Reporting to you came after. But…”
Bu Eunseol spoke honestly.
“Even if I had uncovered all the secrets, I wouldn’t have reported them to you.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason as you.”
Bu Eunseol’s eyes, which had been polite and courteous throughout, turned extremely cold.
“I fundamentally don’t trust people either.”
As Gongsun Dankyung wore a blank expression, Bu Eunseol continued.
“You seem to trust me, but in reality, there’s no trust at all. You’ve endlessly suspected me until now.”
“I leaked the information to the Elder Council because I trusted you.”
“That wasn’t trusting me—it was trusting your own intuition and mind.”
Bu Eunseol spoke coldly.
“If you had trusted me even a little, you would have discussed it with me first.”
“…”
“You only emphasize that we’re on the same boat with words. But you’re on a different boat, aiming an arrow at me—ready to loose it at any moment.”
Bu Eunseol’s voice grew increasingly emotionless.
“Would there be any need to report a hard-won secret to someone like you?”
Gongsun Dankyung had nothing to say.
If their positions were reversed, she would have made the same choice.
“Fine.”
In that moment, her eyes and expression—always gentle and calm—sharpened somewhat.
She had cast off the thin mask that had hidden her true nature until now.
“I’ll speak clearly from now on.”
Her voice, once warm, had turned ice-cold.
“From today onward, I will truly acknowledge Captain Seon as mine.”
“Suddenly?”
“No. I’ve always thought so. Captain Seon has always possessed abilities far beyond my expectations.”
In Gongsun Dankyung’s long, large eyes flowed a solemn and sharp light never seen before.
“And since you examined Heaven and Earth Pavilion this time… you must already suspect the current Alliance Leader’s true identity.”
‘Heaven and Earth Pavilion?’
Sparks flew from Bu Eunseol’s eyes.
That the Martial Venerable was acting as Alliance Leader in place of the Heavenly Emperor was not a particularly shocking fact. The most important thing was the authenticity of the Heavenly Emperor’s corpse in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Pavilion hidden underground in Solitary Enlightenment Hall—whether he was truly alive or dead.
If he were dead, the balance of the martial world would change completely.
Yet she only mentioned traces of the Martial Venerable in Heaven and Earth Pavilion?
“Have you not entered the underground of Solitary Enlightenment Hall, Chief Inspector?”
“The underground of Solitary Enlightenment Hall only has a fork in the secret passage.”
Gongsun Dankyung frowned as if sensing something odd.
“Was there something else?”
Bu Eunseol quickly changed the subject.
“I saw traces of things like broken iron pieces.”
“Those must be remnants of mechanisms in the secret passage. Some devices installed in the past to block intruders still remain.”
Bu Eunseol was inwardly shocked.
‘She never saw the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Pavilion stored underground in Solitary Enlightenment Hall.’
Since she knew of the secret passage in Solitary Enlightenment Hall, he had assumed she had seen the Ice Jade Pavilion containing the Heavenly Emperor’s remains.
But judging by her expression and eyes, she had not seen the Ice Jade Coffin with the corpse.
“Then you mean I can become yours because I discovered traces of the Martial Venerable in Heaven and Earth Pavilion.”
To Bu Eunseol’s question shifting the topic, Gongsun Dankyung replied firmly.
“Of course not.”
“Then…”
“Captain Seon knew such a secret yet has told no one until now.”
Gongsun Dankyung said confidently.
“If you were a spy belonging somewhere, you would surely have reported this to your superiors.”
“I could have secretly sent a coded message without your knowledge.”
“Nonsense.” Gongsun Dankyung said firmly. “Captain Seon has not contacted anyone anywhere.”
Bu Eunseol tensed.
Could Gongsun Dankyung possibly have experts and a surveillance system capable of watching him around the clock?
“How can you be so sure?”
Hiding his thoughts, Bu Eunseol spoke calmly.
“Even if not now, I could tell someone someday.”
“If you learned such a fact, you would need to report it immediately for it to be effective.”
Gongsun Dankyung said confidently.
“If even slightly delayed? The traces of Elder Martial Venerable in Heaven and Earth Pavilion could be cleared away in an instant.”
‘No surveillance system after all.’
Now he saw: Gongsun Dankyung had not constantly observed him but absolutely trusted her own analysis and judgment.
“So, let’s end this tiresome tug-of-war of suspicion between us.”
Gongsun Dankyung’s expression softened as she looked at Bu Eunseol.
“To be honest, whatever purpose Captain Seon has, as long as you don’t intend harm to the Alliance, that’s enough.”
She was a woman whose words and actions matched.
She did not trust Bu Eunseol himself.
She had analyzed his goals and actions and concluded he was someone who would not harm the Martial Alliance.
“And now, I’ll tell you the truth.”
Rumble.
She pressed something on the desk, and a bookshelf opened, revealing a secret passage.
“From now on, all conversations between us will take place here.”
Bu Eunseol followed her into the secret passage.
The sealed chamber inside was larger than her official office, filled with various books and furnishings.
The Silver Moon Pavilion office was a facade.
This chamber seemed to be where she truly conducted business.
“As Captain Seon has confirmed, Elder Martial Venerable is handling the Alliance Leader’s duties.”
Gongsun Dankyung spoke heavily.
“And I am the only one who knows this fact.”
Bu Eunseol wore a subtle expression.
From her tone and expression, it felt as if the Heavenly Emperor was perfectly alive.
‘It’s better to ask directly without beating around the bush.’
Having decided, Bu Eunseol immediately spoke.
“Why is Elder Martial Venerable acting as Alliance Leader?”
Gongsun Dankyung blinked her large eyes and answered.
“I heard the elder reluctantly took on this role at the Alliance Leader’s request.”
‘He’s alive.’
As Bu Eunseol inwardly marveled, she continued calmly.
“Fortunately, there is a secret passage connecting to Heaven and Earth Pavilion in the Alliance. The elder was able to perfectly fulfill the Alliance Leader’s role using it.”
‘She’s only relaying what the Martial Venerable told her. She hasn’t met the Heavenly Emperor.’
“It seems something happened to the Alliance Leader.”
When Bu Eunseol probed indirectly, Gongsun Dankyung nodded.
“I heard the Alliance Leader was ambushed within the Alliance while attempting to break through to a new martial realm and suffered severe injuries.”
“Someone ambushed the Alliance Leader?”
“The Three Realms, probably.”
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath.
“Then the Alliance Leader is in secluded recovery due to his injuries.”
“I haven’t seen it myself, so I can’t be certain. It’s only what Elder the Martial Venerable told me.”
‘She’s lying.’
If the Heavenly Emperor was secretly in secluded recovery to heal his injuries?
There would be no need to place a corpse in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Pavilion.
Then Gongsun Dankyung added, “Elder Martial Venerable and the Heavenly Emperor were closer than brothers. He always said the Alliance Leader was his lifesaver.”
Bu Eunseol spoke with concern.
“No matter how great the Martial Venerable is, if it became known he’s acting as Alliance Leader, the martial world would fall into great chaos.”
“If the fact that the Alliance Leader suffered severe injuries became known, the chaos would be even greater.”
She wore an extremely grave expression.
“In the worst case, the balance of the martial world could collapse in an instant. That’s why they seem to have made this choice.”
No matter what anyone said, the Heavenly Emperor was the foremost of the Orthodox Faction and its pillar.
If such a figure were gravely injured? The Demonic Faction would never miss the opportunity.
The Orthodox martial world would fall into great chaos, potentially allowing the Demonic Faction to gain dominance.
Thus, they hid the injury and entrusted the Alliance Leader position to the Martial Venerable.
“In the end, after much deliberation, Elder Martial Venerable accepted the Alliance Leader’s request. And that’s why I was selected as Chief Inspector.”
For the Martial Venerable—who had wandered aimlessly through the martial world—to suddenly become Alliance Leader and manage the world was no easy task.
After deep consideration, the Martial Venerable had chosen someone who knew the truth yet could assist and support him.
That was Gongsun Dankyung.
“So this was the true reason you became the youngest Commander and Chief Inspector.”
At Bu Eunseol’s words, Gongsun Dankyung nodded.
“Yes.”
Her eyes flashed as she continued.
“And it’s also the reason Captain Seon can become the youngest Hall Leader.”
Bu Eunseol took a deep breath as if finally understanding everything.
“You mean it would be ideal to have a Hall Leader who knows this fact and can assist the Martial Venerable.”
He looked at Gongsun Dankyung.
“Because the existing Martial Alliance leadership can never be trusted.”
“Exactly.” Gongsun Dankyung nodded readily. “Especially the Hall Leaders—they are even more likely to have been involved in the Alliance Leader’s ambush.”
Bu Eunseol nodded as well.
If someone ambushed the Heavenly Emperor within the Alliance, high-ranking Alliance officials would inevitably be involved.
In the end, the Martial Venerable needed not only a new Chief Inspector who knew everything but also a Hall Leader who knew he was a fake Alliance Leader yet would still help him.
