Chapter 687: PAID

‘This is something.’

The sunlight streaming through the iron bars evoked a strange emotion.

The air felt slightly damp.

Despite the incoming light, the space was curiously dark.

Though somewhat maintained, there were still oddly worn items around.

Looking at these things, I couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

‘So this is how it turned out.’

This was an interrogation room, a space furnished with a chair and a desk.

It was located in the underground level of the Alliance, a place that, given time, would be used for a different purpose.

‘I never thought I’d return here.’

What I was looking at now was an intact wall, but in the future, this wall would be demolished, and iron bars would be installed.

Currently, it was an interrogation room, but by then, it would be called a prison.

Yes, this place was identical to the underground prison where I had died in my past life.

The only difference now was that it was being used as an interrogation room.

Realizing this, I gazed around, and a peculiar sentiment crept in.

A mixture of unease from returning to the place where I had died in my previous life, and a sense of dissonance from the fact that I had arrived here in a slightly different context.

As I was immersed in these thoughts, turning my gaze elsewhere—

Click.

Clatter.

A sound came from the front.

It was the noise of something being poured into a teacup.

I looked at the old man pouring tea into the cup in front of me.

The robe he wore symbolized his affiliation with the Alliance.

Beneath it, the insignia of Wudang could be seen faintly.

The room was filled with a subtle but profound aura of martial energy, the kind that could only belong to a true martial artist, not an amateur.

The presence it exuded made my skin crawl, reminiscent of the sensation I felt when I first encountered the Sword Emperor.

The old man before me evoked a similar feeling, no less intense.

‘Well, of course.’

Just as the Sword Emperor was among the top ten masters,

this old man was no different. It was only natural.

As the tea finished pouring, the old man’s sharp gaze turned toward me.

“It’s been a while.”

At the elder’s greeting, I took a moment to steady my breath.

“Yes, it has been a while, Sect Leader… No, I suppose I should address you as the Alliance Leader now.”

Before me sat the Wudang Sect’s leader, the Wudang Sword Saint,

the one currently in charge of the Martial Alliance.

At my words, the Sword Saint’s lips curved into a slight smile.

“Call me whatever you wish. Being the Wudang Sect Leader is still a name I must bear.”

I nodded slightly at his words.

‘Still the Wudang Sect Leader, huh.’

Something about the order of priorities felt off.

‘It sounds like the title of Alliance Leader takes precedence.’

It’s true that the Sword Saint’s involvement with Wudang had been gradually decreasing.

I’d heard he had even appointed a deputy Sect Leader to reduce his responsibilities there.

Hearing him speak this way confirmed the feeling.

‘This must mean the Martial Alliance is more important to him now.’

From the Alliance’s perspective, this would be seen as a favorable development.

‘There’s a reason no Sect Leaders have been appointed as Alliance Leaders for centuries.’

Thinking back on the history of Alliance Leaders, there were a few family heads among them, but the Sword Saint was the first Sect Leader to hold the position.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The reason wasn’t complicated.

A young martial artist had fought the Hundred Grandmaster Oil Sword, and the match ended without a clear winner.