Invincible with Twin Swords

Chapter 48 : Can You Accept All the Truth?

"What did you see?"

Na Yeryeong had a dark expression ever since she returned from the thunder prison.

"He loved his wife very much."

"...So it's even more heartbreaking."

"He didn't learn a demonic art. The memory of a person who has learned a demonic art is not erased, but jumbled. His memory of that day was just erased. I don't know how it was erased."

There was something I had expected.

"There is a medicine called the Memory-Severing Pill. It can erase a short period of memory from the time it is taken."

It was a story that Seok Nosam, the master of the Medicine King Hall, had told me during the Azure Blade Unit days.

At that time, I had chided him, saying where would such a medicine that erases only a short period of memory be needed.

Someone probably secretly fed Jong Ilmyeong the Memory-Severing Pill and then made him lose consciousness by hitting his pressure points.

So he thinks that he has no memory of that day at all.

"Then someone erased his memory and framed him as if he had fallen into a demonic state while learning a demonic art. Who on earth could it be?"

"I know who it is. What I was curious about was why he went this far."

Na Yeryeong's two eyes were lost in thought.

"It's the person I'm thinking of, right? What's the reason?"

"It's the person you're thinking of! And I found a clue in my conversation with Jong Ilmyeong today. If my thoughts are correct, it's because of a certain item he has."

"Are you saying he did this for just one item?"

"If you hear what that item is, it will be difficult to use the word 'just'."

What I had asked Jong Ilmyeong was whether he had obtained something amazing before the incident.

Jong Ilmyeong was a person who had no interest in martial arts.

Instead, he had a great greed for mysterious tools and would search the entire Central Plains to obtain them.

At that time, what he had obtained by chance at an old bookstore he had visited was the Heavenly Lord's Painting.

"What is the Heavenly Lord's Painting?"

"It is a painting that is said to contain a clue to reaching the number one in the world!"

The Heavenly Lord's Painting is a single painting left by the Heavenly Lord Sword Emperor, who is still called the number one in all ages and times after hundreds of years.

"Everyone thought that this painting was a treasure map that pointed to the place where the Heavenly Lord Sword Emperor's martial arts secret manual was hidden. So there were several bloody winds in the Central Plains to obtain this painting."

"Wasn't it a treasure map?"

"I don't know. I've never seen it. And I'm not interested."

I am not a person who believes in and searches for a treasure map.

If you want to become strong, you have to become strong yourself through training and enlightenment.

The only way I know to become strong is that one way.

"Jong Ilmyeong also tried to interpret that painting, but he said he couldn't find any clues. Anyway, since he had obtained this painting by chance, wouldn't anyone who knew this fact covet it?"

"Who knew?"

"His dead wife! He said he only told his wife. But he said he didn't show it to her. Because all those who have seen the Heavenly Lord's Painting until now have died."

"Hmm. He didn't want to put his wife in danger. Where would that painting be now?"

"Everything he has collected is in a hollow space in the basement of Jong Ilmyeong's house. Of course, the only ones who know this fact are Jong Ilmyeong and his dead wife."

The Heavenly Lord's Painting, which will turn the world upside down, is right in the basement of his house.

Of course, the person who wants that painting and has planned this incident will also know this fact.

The reason why he didn't kill Jong Ilmyeong and framed him and imprisoned him in the thunder prison was because he hadn't obtained that painting yet.

"He said that a formation is spread at the entrance of the underground hollow, so if you try to open it by force, it will collapse. If that happens, the Heavenly Lord's Painting will be buried forever."

"In that case, the real culprit will try to get a clue to open the door to that place."

"So I asked Jong Ilmyeong for a few things today."

If it flows according to my plan, we will soon be able to reveal the reality of the case.

And Jong Ilmyeong will be cleared of the false charge and be able to get out of the thunder prison.

But can he accept all the truth?

I was worried about that.

* * *

Late at night.

There were two figures secretly infiltrating the empty house of Jong Ilmyeong.

They looked like a man and a woman, and both were wearing black night clothes and even masks.

"Are you sure no one is here?"

"I came yesterday and the day before and checked several times. The inside of the house and the vicinity. Right now, there are only the two of us in this area."

But they did not readily enter the empty house and were hiding their bodies in the darkness.

"What kind of story did they tell that he suddenly changed his mind?"

The one wearing the mask was Cheon Mubaek, Jong Ilmyeong's close friend and the leader of the Law Enforcement Unit.

The one who had planned this incident and framed him was also Cheon Mubaek.

The plan was to frame him for the murder of his wife, imprison him in the thunder prison, and then persuade him to get him out and obtain the way to enter the underground hollow.

But Jong Ilmyeong, who had given up on life, did not tell him the way in the end.

But his attitude suddenly changed after the Flying Heaven Sect leader had visited yesterday.

"He said he had something he had to do when he got out. He said he needed a lot of money to get him out, so he had to dispose of the things he had collected in the basement, so I persuaded him. Isn't it a relief for us that he, who had said he would pay for his sins, has changed his mind?"

"It's a relief that we know the way now. In fact, if he had handed over the Heavenly Lord's Painting to me earlier, the situation would not have become like this. He never showed it to me even when I said I would just take a look. He said that the moment I saw that painting, I would be in danger."

"His words were right. That if you carry that painting, you will be in danger. In the end, he himself fell into danger. Hehe."

"It's because an unqualified person has it."

The two of them checked their surroundings once again and then carefully entered the house.

Cheon Mubaek stepped forward and took out the books that Jong Ilmyeong had told him from the library, where books were densely packed, in order.

- Thud!

A small door opened from the floor where there was nothing.

It was a hidden entrance to the underground hollow.

When they entered the entrance, a long underground passage unfolded, and at the end of it was a large stone gate that seemed impossible to open.

"From now on, you have to do the work. He said that only he and you can solve the formation, so he must have loved you terribly. Haha."

"The time I spent with him was terrible. Anyway, he will finish the rest of his life in the thunder prison, so I won't have to face him anymore."

The woman with Cheon Mubaek was surprisingly Jong Ilmyeong's wife, Danmok Ryeojin, who was thought to be dead.

Unlike Jong Ilmyeong, who was always engrossed in useless things, Cheon Mubaek was a man who understood her heart and ambition.

Danmok Ryeojin wanted to have the world.

And Jong Ilmyeong was not a man who suited her to fulfill that dream.

It doesn't matter if Cheon Mubaek had approached her because of the Heavenly Lord's Painting.

If she makes him the master of the world, the world will become hers.

She carefully moved her steps according to the method Jong Ilmyeong had told her.

Cheon Mubaek was following her.

As if he was worried that someone might be watching, he kept looking back.

Finally, they reached the large stone gate.

There, a few lines of text were engraved.

'What would a withering flower want?

It just wants to return to a handful of dirt safely.

A beautiful flower or a nameless grass, in the end, they are buried in the same place.

What would you do if you had the world by filling your wicked greed?

You will regret it as you brush your white hair, reflected in the dawn lake.

Whichever path you take, in the end, you meet in one place.'

Danmok Ryeojin stopped for a moment in front of the stone gate.

It was as if Jong Ilmyeong was speaking to her.

"Because you're thinking about such idle things, you're in this state. Shouldn't a man have a big dream?"

She touched the letters engraved on the stone wall in order.

The letters on the stone wall felt as if they had just been engraved.

The letters reacted to her touch and emitted a faint light.

- Thump!

The huge stone gate shook, and small stone powders scattered.

And with a thud, the door, whose formation had been released, opened slightly.

"It's finally open. Now bring the world to me."

Danmok Ryeojin said, stepping aside.

Cheon Mubaek stepped in front of her.

His expression was full of excitement.

He pushed the huge stone gate with an excited expression.

- Screech!

With a friction sound against the floor, the door to the storage room where the Heavenly Lord's Painting was finally opened.

* * *

A few days ago, in the thunder prison.

"So you're saying I just have to tell him that? That to open the door, I have to get out of the thunder prison or my dead wife has to come back to life?"

"And you just have to go there with me and unfold a simple formation."

"This is the thunder prison. How can I go there? And why do I have to talk about a dead person?"

"First of all, the matter of leaving this place for a while has been discussed with the Righteous Law Hall's Hall Master Gwak. Of course, we will have to move in secret. And you will soon find out about your dead wife."

Jong Ilmyeong's expression was dark.

Isn't it that his close friend, who was the only one who had stood by his side, had planned all this?

"I knew that he was greedy for the Heavenly Lord's Painting. Because he came to me every day and asked about the way to enter the underground hollow."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"Because he was my closest friend. If this whole incident is because of that painting, I can't put him in danger again, can I? I have already lost my beloved wife."

Jong Ilmyeong is called by the nickname Divine Machine Scholar.

He possesses all kinds of mysterious talents in the world.

But this smart person was betrayed by those closest to him.

Geniuses are often like this.

Even if they know everything, they do not know the human heart.

He did not know how cruel a person can become for their own greed.

All decisions must be made by him himself.

Because everyone has the right to decide their own life.

What I can do is to show him the options.

The choice is entirely his.

* * *

Underground hollow.

Danmok Ryeojin and Cheon Mubaek opened the large stone gate with both hands.

The door they had so longed for was open.

In front of their eyes, numerous strange tools were piled up.

And a person who should not be here was standing in front of them.

"It's been a while."

Jong Ilmyeong said to Danmok Ryeojin in a warm voice.

She could not answer.

"How did you get here..."

Cheon Mubaek said, startled.

At the same time, his hand went to the sword on his waist, and his two eyes were looking around.

If I, who was sitting quietly in a corner, had not been there, he would have drawn his sword.

"It's a regrettable thing!"

I said to the two of them as I stood up from my seat.

"What's the use of becoming the master of the world like this? Is the world obtained like that worth it?"

Cheon Mubaek's face turned red with shame.

But Danmok Ryeojin's expression did not change.

She said to Jong Ilmyeong proudly.

"I will not make any excuses. But you did not have the greed you should have had even after obtaining that item. You even tried to destroy it. You said it was a painting that would throw the world into chaos."

"Was this painting so important to you? To the point of betraying me?"

"It's not just a painting. You know it too, that it's a painting that can make you the master of the world."

Sometimes, we are mistaken that we know the person next to us well.

And such a mistake often betrays us and creates a cruel reality.

Like the two people who had been married for a long time but were now facing each other here.

Jong Ilmyeong was speechless at her shameless answer.

He just looked at her two eyes quietly.

After a moment, he opened his mouth.

"It's a relief. That you are alive and not dead."

Danmok Ryeojin's pupils shook violently.

"Because I can kill you with my own hands!"

(End of Chapter)