Na Rin pointed to the section ‘III. Was the Cheongseong Faction disciple really in a state of Juhuipma?’ and continued speaking.

“And lastly, this is the strangest part. The two of you have opposite opinions.”

Two of them?

While I was puzzled for a moment, Na Rin’s head quickly turned towards Gong Son Wu.

“Cheongseongsanim. Was the Cheongseong Faction’s first-generation disciple affected by Juhuipma?”

“No. That was not the case.”

“Why do you think so?”

Gong Son Wu, as if he had been waiting, continued with a prepared answer.

“If that person was in Juhuipma, their face should have been red with blood and heat rushing to it, and blood vessels or spots should have been prominent, but there was no such sign at all. Rather, they looked pale as if they had turned blue.”

“Then why did Hyeolma think it was Juhuipma?”

In response to Na Rin’s question, Hyeolma put the blood mirror to her lips and recalled the scene she had observed in the blood mirror that day.

“…When I looked through the blood mirror, that person’s vision was blurry and red. All the energy was rough, and it seemed like they were swept up by something powerful and couldn’t control themselves, so I thought it was Juhuipma.”

Na Rin raised her voice towards Dokgo Cheon and the audience.

“From this, we can conclude that the Cheongseong Faction disciple may not have been in Juhuipma outwardly, but mentally, they were in such a bad state that it appeared like Juhuipma. Then, why would they have been in such a state?”

Why did the Cheongseong Faction disciple end up in that state?

This was a question that no one had raised until now. It would be fair to say that there was no interest in it to begin with. After all, whatever state a disciple of an orthodox faction was in, it wasn’t anyone’s business to know the cause.

“From here on, it’s my own thoughts. It might be speculation, but is that alright?”

Dokgo Cheon, who had been listening silently until now, nodded at Na Rin’s words.

“Let’s hear it.”

“I am deeply grateful.”

Na Rin bowed deeply as a sign of gratitude for the permission and then fumbled to take out a bundle.

Inside the bundle were two types of mushrooms.

‘Mushrooms?’

A look of puzzlement appeared in people’s eyes.

Na Rin held up both mushrooms high for everyone to see and said.

“These mushrooms! They are the answer I’ve thought of!”

Mushrooms are the answer?

Looking around at the puzzled audience, Na Rin said.

“These two mushrooms look similar at first glance, but they are actually completely different. One is the commonly eaten chestnut mushroom, and the other is a poisonous mushroom called the yellow chestnut mushroom.”

Then someone who found Na Rin’s words interesting asked.

“The two mushrooms look so similar, but one is poisonous?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Na Rin held up the mushrooms high so people could see them well.

“If you eat this yellow chestnut mushroom, you will see hallucinations. I think the people who flocked to the Cheongseong Faction in the first scene might have eaten this mushroom.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because they all must have seen ghosts.”

Gulp.

Na Rin, who had been speaking non-stop, swallowed.

“The Cheongseong Faction must have been surprised too. There wouldn’t have been so many people asking to catch ghosts before. But if several people ate the mushrooms together and had hallucinations, it’s entirely possible that they all saw ghosts together.”

Na Rin pointed to ‘II. To think of ‘porridge’ as the last thought before dying!’ and continued speaking.

“I think the Cheongseong Faction disciple ate the porridge mentioned in the second scene around this time. Perhaps the villagers shared it as a form of encouragement? Porridge containing yellow chestnut mushrooms.”

“Hmm.”

It was a plausible story.

When food was scarce in a village, it was common practice, both then and now, to gather whatever they could find and boil it into porridge to share.

Especially mushrooms, which could be found in abundance in the mountains without farming, were an ingredient that was never missing when making porridge.

“There’s a ghost in the village. What would the Cheongseong Faction disciple who ate the poisonous mushroom porridge see after hearing that fact?”

“…They would have seen ghosts?”

“That’s right. They must have seen ghosts. Then what would they have done?”

It wasn’t hard to imagine the actions of the Cheongseong Faction disciple who had discovered the ghost they were looking for.

They would have drawn their sword from its scabbard.

“Begone! You demon!”

And they would have swung that sword, intoxicated by hallucinations.

With only a righteous heart wanting to exorcise the ghost.

“Child, so what you’re saying is…”

“Yes.”

Na Rin declared.

“The Cheongseong Faction disciple killed all the villagers. That’s the third scene.”

The Cheongseong Faction disciple killed people.

An entire village, at that.

“Hmm.”

At this unexpected turn of events, people each let out a sigh.

Are you saying they caused a bloodbath, unable to distinguish between people and ghosts while intoxicated by poisonous mushrooms?

A disciple of an orthodox faction, no less.

“The toxins from yellow chestnut mushrooms are excreted through urine after one night. The Cheongseong Faction disciple must have realized what they had done.”

What did the Cheongseong Faction disciple do after committing an irreversible tragedy?

Perhaps they lost their mind. So they might have blamed their crime on the demonic cult and then attacked the swallows, claiming to seek revenge.

If not that, they might have simply wanted to offset their crime by indiscriminately slaying members of the demonic cult.

“Nonsense!”

An old man jumped up from his seat and pointed at Na Rin while shouting.

It was Oh Imcheonhap, known as the most hot-tempered among the Twelve Elders.

“Are we to be swayed by the glib tongue of a child too small to even reach the scroll! It’s nothing but a fanciful novel without a shred of evidence!”

It doesn’t matter if I can’t reach the scroll.

Na Rin’s lips protruded in a pout.

“Who said there’s no evidence?”

It was Gong Son Wu.

Elder Oh, who had spoken up, felt pressured by the Guardian’s intervention but maintained his stern attitude as he retorted.

“Then, Guardian, are you saying there is physical evidence to support the child’s story?”

“To some extent.”

Gong Son Wu spoke loudly so that others could hear as well.

“After interpreting the blood mirror with the child, I sent an investigation team to Guanxian (the area near Cheongseong Mountain). I did so because I was concerned that what the commoners who saw ghosts might have witnessed were jiangshi.”

“Jiangshi!”

“How terrifying.”

At the mention of jiangshi, people in the audience uniformly recoiled and shuddered.

“Don’t worry. There were no jiangshi. Instead, they heard about a strange incident.”

A strange incident?

Gong Son Wu, confirming that everyone’s attention was focused, spoke emphasizing each word.

“They say there was a bloodbath. An entire village was wiped out in one night. And the culprit vanished without a trace.”

“…! That’s!”

If Na Rin’s story were true, this was an event that would inevitably occur.

‘How curious.’

Hyeolma rubbed her forehead with complex feelings.

They had seen the same scene, but the clues that she had dismissed as incomprehensible or meaningless, Na Rin had gathered like beads and strung them together.

A flawless, coherent organization of events.

‘How can such deduction come from the mind of such a young child?’

It was understandable for Hyeolma to

No one knew that in her past life, Na Rin had worked as a search team member for the Murim Alliance, collecting, classifying, and appropriately deploying information.

Meanwhile, the people who heard Na Rin’s story were bustling with sharing their own thoughts.

As each person’s opinions clashed and mixed, they were gradually converging into a single stream.

“I see.”

The moment Dokgo Cheon nodded his head like a puppet with its strings cut off, without any expression, a notification window appeared.

[*You have succeeded in persuading a master of the Divine Realm, and your ability has increased. (Speech +20)]

‘Gasp! A Divine Realm master?’

Na Rin’s already round eyes widened to the size of lanterns.

‘Was that realm really real?’

It was surprising because the highest realm Na Rin had reached during her Hyeolmaehwa days was the Absolute Realm.

The so-called highest realm that humans could reach, that very Absolute Realm.

The Divine Realm was one step beyond that Absolute Realm, and at that point, it would not be wrong to consider them not human, but rather an immortal.

‘Wow, geez. No wonder he doesn’t seem human. He’s not human.’

Knowing now that he was a Divine Realm master, Dokgo Cheon suddenly looked completely different from before.

His expressionless face like a puppet seemed to contain the profound enlightenment of the Divine Realm.

His ice-cold indifferent attitude seemed to express the Divine Realm’s detached observation of human affairs?

Whether Na Rin suddenly brightened her eyes or not, Dokgo Cheon spoke indifferently to Gong Son Wu.

“Jigukcheon. As you suggested, it was worth borrowing the child’s wisdom.”

“I feel relieved that the Sect Leader speaks so.”

Gong Son Wu stepped back into the center of the hall with a proud expression.

It was time to draw a conclusion.

“Everyone will remember what we needed to discuss today.”

Gong Son Wu’s body walked past the scroll that read “Preemptive Strike”.

“It’s time to conclude whether to consider this incident as a preemptive strike by Murim or not. So I ask those present here.”

Gong Son Wu stood directly in front of the scroll that read “Qualification”.

“Raise your hand if you think the Cheongseong Faction disciple has the qualification to represent the orthodox Murim.”

“……”

No one raised their hand.

It wasn’t just because the Cheongseong Faction’s martial power was weak.

The truth was that it was unreasonable to consider someone who had become a madman after eating poisonous mushrooms as representing Murim’s will.

As if he had expected this, Gong Son Wu moved his steps to the next scroll that read “Intention”.

“Raise your hand if you believe the Cheongseong Faction disciple had the intention to start a war.”

This time, a few raised their hands.

These were people who believed that the very act of attacking the demonic cult members showed a willingness to go to war, regardless of whether that person was a madman or not.

However, those with such extreme opinions were only a small minority compared to the total number of people.

After gathering opinions, Gong Son Wu bowed to Dokgo Cheon and said.

“I believe that the question of whether the orthodox Murim launched a preemptive strike against the demonic cult should be answered ‘No’.”

“Hmm.”

Everyone in the audience focused their attention on Dokgo Cheon.

Even if not all cult members agreed, if Dokgo Cheon said it was right, war would break out in the demonic cult without a second word.

However, if Dokgo Cheon had intended this from the beginning, such a meeting would not have been held in the first place.

“Charge the Cheongseong Faction with the crime of attacking the swallows, and demand appropriate compensation. We’ll exchange it for the disciple’s head.”

“As you command!”

“And child.”

“Yes!”

Na Rin quickly responded, knowing that Dokgo Cheon was calling her.

“You’ve rendered a service, so I should bestow a reward, but I’ve never given anything to a child before. If you have a wish, speak it.”

Na Rin’s eyes sparkled.

“A wish…?”

Until just a moment ago, Na Rin had no particular desires.

She had no other purpose than to put Gong Son Wu in her debt and make an impression on Dokgo Cheon.

But now it was different.

Because a sweet and savory piece of rice cake was right in front of her eyes.

‘Guided sparring with a Divine Realm master…!’

Slurp.

Just thinking about it made her mouth water.