Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Chapter 181:

The Reversed Fate

Upon receiving a report that a young man and a monkey were trapped in the formation in the rear, Jegal Jin-hee moved with several warriors to deal with them.

This was because, two days prior, a few people had attempted to infiltrate through that very route to reach the safe house.

However, upon arriving at the scene, she was met with a man whose face was all too familiar.

“…You really came.”

Jegal Jin-hee spoke to Mu-jin with a face mixed with various emotions.

“As I said before, if anything happens to the Jegal Family, I will help you, Jegal Jin-hee Shiju-nim.”

“…I appreciate your intentions, Mu-jin Sunim, but our current situation is so unfavorable that you might also be put in danger. It would be safer for you to leave now.”

Although she had urgently sought Mu-jin’s help, she felt guilty now that he was here.

But Mu-jin had no intention of leaving. For Jegal Jin-hee, and to bring the Jegal Family to their side.

“Don’t worry. I’m not alone. I can call for reinforcements. I came here secretly just to grasp the situation.”

“Oh…”

“So first, could I meet with Jegal Gung Gongja-nim? I need to understand the situation.”

“I’ll take you inside. Follow me closely. If you take even one wrong step, you might get trapped in the formation again.”

With those words, Jegal Jin-hee led the way, followed closely by Mu-jin and Ling-ling.

To their surprise, people who weren’t visible before appeared.

These were the warriors who had come with Jegal Jin-hee to deal with the intruders.

‘Is this the power of the formation?’

While marveling inwardly at this first-hand mystical experience, they soon managed to escape the formation.

‘…They weren’t visible just a moment ago.’

As they exited the formation, a pavilion came into view.

In the front yard of the pavilion, several warriors were resting, their bodies wrapped in bandages.

It seemed these were the ones who had been injured while escaping.

‘Barely twenty people in total…’

As Mu-jin assessed the situation around him, the people there looked at him and Jegal Jin-hee with curiosity.

“He has come to help us. I’ll talk to my father first and then explain everything to you.”

With that brief explanation, Jegal Jin-hee led Mu-jin inside the pavilion.

“Father, Mother, someone has come to help us.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the door swung open, revealing a middle-aged couple.

Instead of expressing doubt at seeing Mu-jin, who had come alone to help, they warmly welcomed him.

“I am Jegal Gung of the Jegal Family. Thank you so much for coming all this way to help us.”

“I am Jamihwa, his wife. Thank you so much, So-hyeop.”

Surrounded by dozens of elite warriors of the rebels, a young man had come alone to help. It was enough to feel disappointed, but the couple did not show any such sentiment, proving their dignity.

“I am Mu-jin, one of the three great disciples of Shaolin. Amitabha.”

“So you are the Shaolin Dragon that our daughter has praised so much.”

“Mother…?”

Jegal Jin-hee shot her mother a look as if to say, ‘When did I ever say that?’ but Jamihwa paid no mind.

“Please, come inside.”

Thus, Jegal Gung, Lady Jamihwa, Mu-jin, and Jegal Jin-hee entered the pavilion.

“The situation is urgent, so please forgive our lack of formalities. Can you tell us in detail about the current situation?”

At Mu-jin’s question, the three explained the events of the day of the rebellion and the circumstances before and after it.

After hearing their story, Mu-jin’s impression was rather simple.

‘No wonder there was a rebellion.’

Discrimination against collateral branches and women, and the fact that the family head couldn’t trust even his children and had not designated a successor even at the age of eighty.

Even if Mu-jin had been from the Jegal Family, he would have left the family or started a rebellion out of disgust and frustration.

It was rather surprising that Jegal Jin-hee, despite her exceptional talent, managed to resist such temptations, save her father, and escape.

While Mu-jin was contemplating these thoughts, a peculiar conversation reached his ears.

“Sigh. I never thought Elder Jegal Hyun would harbor such ambitions.”

“Father, please hold on a little longer. Mu-jin Sunim said he could bring reinforcements, so we should be able to reclaim the family from Jegal Hyun soon.”

“…Reclaim the family from Jegal Hyun? What do you mean?”

“Jegal Hyun must be the new family head, so we need to take the family back from him.”

“Jegal Hyun is the family head?”

The family head of the Jegal Family that Mu-jin knew from the story was not Jegal Hyun.

* * *

Deep within the Jegal Family.

In the center of the pavilion now used as the family head’s residence, replacing the collapsed main house, an elderly man sat.

“How is the atmosphere within the family?”

“Since five days have already passed, everyone is coming to terms with the current situation. It seems executing the heads of the direct line had a significant effect.”

Jegal Hyun, who had played a crucial role in this coup, lowered his head and reported to the old man.

“Didn’t you leave the heads on display for only one watch? Aren’t there still suspicions?”

Because they hadn’t managed to kill Jegal Gung and his two sons, they had to use fake heads for display.

Naturally, to avoid being discovered, they could only display the heads for one watch and then burn them.

However, Jegal Hyun thought that was sufficient.

“Due to the family head’s strong reputation, even that short display had a considerable effect.”

Since all the direct lineage had left the family, and there were hardly any among the collateral branches who didn’t trust the current family head.

The family head nodded in satisfaction and asked.

“How is the situation in the Eunsi Grand Canyon?”

“They have surrounded the place where the rebels are hiding and are dismantling the formation.”

The family head clicked his tongue lightly at Jegal Hyun’s answer.

“If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have kept Jegal Mun alive for a while.”

He never imagined that the cunning Jegal Mun would reveal a safe house to his heirs.

Regretting this, he thought again, but even if the same situation arose, he wouldn’t have kept Jegal Mun alive.

If the family head were alive, there would always be a chance for someone to rescue him and plot a counter-rebellion.

“There are only about twenty of them hiding there, so they won’t be able to escape the encirclement. Given enough time, they are as good as dead.”

Approximately seventy martial artists, including those who assisted in the treason and those from the Jegal Family, were dispatched there.

Among them, about a dozen went missing after first entering the formation, but nearly sixty individuals still surrounded the area.

Jegal-hyeon believed that they would ultimately meet their fate, whether they starved to death in the safe house, perished when the formation was dismantled, or died trying to escape.

* * *

‘Has the future changed?’

Mu-jin felt bewildered as a name different from the one he knew for the family head came up.

However, upon reflection, these individuals had fled the family right after the rebellion, so they wouldn’t have had the time to confirm who became the new family head.

Mu-jin asked cautiously, just in case.

“Why do you believe Jegal-hyeon is the new family head?”

“Well, he led the rebellion and discussed the tale of Jin Sheng with me, didn’t he?”

Jin Sheng was a figure who led an uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, gaining popular support with his statement, “Are the sons of kings and nobles born differently?”

However.

“Even though he spoke of kings and nobles, he didn’t say he would become a king himself, did he?”

“Isn’t that usually the implication?”

“Usually, yes. But from what I’ve heard, Jegal-hyeon didn’t have that much influence within the family, did he? Even if his influence grew somewhat due to recent alliances, it would have been difficult for him to rally the family’s people to rebel with external forces.”

“Now that you mention it… it is indeed strange that an Elder responsible for external affairs managed to rally internal members of the family.”

Jegal-gung, realizing Mu-jin’s point, fell into deep thought, sensing something was off.

However, contemplating in this remote place would not reveal the truth.

Eventually, Mu-jin subtly mentioned the name of the family head he had read about in the novel.

“Do you know of someone named Jegal Gi-hwan?”

“Are you referring to Elder Jegal Gi-hwan?”

“Yes. Could you tell me about him?”

Suppressing his surprise at the revelation, Mu-jin asked, and Jegal-gung, wondering why this was being asked, responded.

“Elder Jegal Gi-hwan is, as his title suggests, the head of the elders of the Jegal Family. Most of the branch family members hold elder positions, so you could say he’s the leader of the branch families… Wait, could it be!?”

Just as Jegal-gung was astonished, Jegal Jin-hee and Lady Jamihwa also wore surprised expressions.

Since Jegal-hyeon had been prominently active, they had not considered Jegal Gi-hwan immediately.

But Mu-jin was more concerned with Jegal-gung’s explanation than their reactions.

“If he was the leader of the branch families, did he have strong support from them?”

“In our family’s structure, even as the head elder, he didn’t wield much power. However, he served as a bridge between the main and branch families, conveying orders from the main family to the branches and soothing their grievances.”

Mu-jin sighed deeply as the expected information came out.

“Why the sigh, Mu-jin?”

“After hearing this, it seems that reclaiming the family will be quite difficult.”

“That much was anticipated. After all, they chased us here and formed a siege around us.”

Mu-jin shook his head at Jegal-gung’s words.

“Escaping from here is not the difficult part. Also, ‘destroying’ the Jegal Family is feasible. What I meant is that ‘reclaiming’ it will be difficult.”

“What do you mean by that? How can it be easy to destroy but hard to reclaim?”

“Five days have passed since the rebellion started. Considering that Elder Jegal Gi-hwan has strong support from the branch families, they might already see him as the new family head.”

“How can they consider him the head when the rightful heir is still alive?”

“If having a rightful heir was enough to maintain order, rebellions and new dynasties would never occur, would they?”

“……”

In this era, class hierarchy was explicit.

Thus, as a direct descendant, Jegal-gung naturally believed that his bloodline alone was a valid justification, but Mu-jin did not.

And history was filled with countless events proving this point.

“Many people endure under a rebellion out of fear of dying, but few will reject a new leader promising a better future.”

“……”

“While it’s possible to purge the external forces and rebels with aid from allies, if the entire Jegal Family sides with Jegal Gi-hwan, we’d have to annihilate everyone. That would be exceedingly difficult and even if successful, could we still call it the Jegal Family after everyone is dead?”

Jegal-gung fell silent at Mu-jin’s words.

However, Mu-jin, who had just revealed the truth to Jegal-gung, also felt equally troubled.

‘We need a justification. A justification that will make the members of the Jegal Family support Jegal-gung as the family head instead of Jegal Gi-hwan, even the branch families who have faced discrimination.’

‘Damn. Should we rescue Jegal-gung and wait a few years?’

Eventually, with time, the family members would realize something was wrong.

In the era when Dao Yuetian was active, the Jegal Family was Jegal only in name, practically becoming Shinchun’s subordinates.

It might be possible to persuade them then, but there was still a problem.

‘Even if we rescue Jegal-gung, it will be problematic if it’s discovered that we are protecting him. Damn. We can’t show the future to the Jegal Family members… Wait. The future?’

From the tangled thoughts, Mu-jin discovered a clue and urgently called for Jegal Jin-hee.

“Shiju-nim Jegal Jin-hee, do you still have the martial arts manual you mentioned earlier?”

“Yes. I brought it here after receiving it from Elder Jegal-hyeon just before escaping.”

Hearing her response, Mu-jin thought, ‘This is it,’ and spoke up.

“If we analyze that martial arts manual, we might be able to gain a justification.”

“This manual?”

Both Jegal Jin-hee, Jegal-gung, and Lady Jamihwa looked at Mu-jin, wondering what he meant.

“Didn’t Shiju-nim Jegal Jin-hee mention that they likely acquired martial arts externally to replace the family head’s martial arts?”

“That’s my guess, but how does that relate to our current situation? Oh, do you mean to use it as evidence that it’s not the family head’s martial arts?”

“Since Master Jegal-gung hasn’t mastered the family head’s martial arts either, it can’t serve as justification. What I mean is, the fact that these martial arts were obtained through external forces aiding the rebellion.”

Having read the novel, Mu-jin knew. As Jegal Jin-hee predicted, they obtained some advanced martial arts and secret techniques through Shinchun.

However, this would eventually become a trap constraining the Jegal Family.