The Lion Mask's Uninvited Visit
A sudden explosion rocked the mansion.
Yang Mun-pyeong, who had been tidying up the house and secretly preparing to flee, jumped in shock and shouted.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Branch Leader Yang! It’s… the wall has collapsed.”
“What? The wall suddenly collapsed?”
Yang Mun-pyeong glared at the escort warrior in disbelief. But the warrior paid no attention to his gaze and continued speaking.
“It’s true! There was a loud noise all of a sudden, and the wall came crashing down, so right now…”
“What did it with? What on earth smashed the wall?”
I built it as sturdy as possible just in case something like this happened!
It wasn’t made with ordinary materials. To increase its strength, he had used the latest construction techniques and performed regular maintenance. That was why Yang Mun-pyeong could only be horrified at the news that the wall had been destroyed.
At his astonished question, the escort warrior immediately told him what he had seen.
“It was… a person.”
“What?”
“It’s true! A person really smashed through the wall with their bare body and came in!”
“You bastard! Do you really think that makes any sense?!”
“It sounds like a joke, but it’s real. The man said he was practicing light footwork and accidentally destroyed the wall. He’s coming to apologize to the owner right now.”
“What? Practicing light footwork?”
What kind of ridiculous excuse is that!
If a person collided with a wall and the wall collapsed instead, what was even the point of the wall’s existence? Yang Mun-pyeong clutched the back of his neck, suddenly faced with a strangely philosophical question.
“I poured so much money into that wall… Just send him away!”
Normally he would have summoned the intruder and given him a piece of his mind, but right now he had no such luxury. At Yang Mun-pyeong’s command, the escort warrior broke out in a cold sweat and answered.
“Well… we tried to stop him, but…”
“I see the upper branch leader is here.”
At the appearance of an unfamiliar voice, both men naturally turned their heads toward the door. Beyond the door that the escort warrior hadn’t managed to close, a massive silhouette loomed.
“Are you perhaps Branch Leader Yang?”
“Y-yes, that’s me.”
What kind of size is that… and a lion mask?
He had met plenty of large men before, but he had never seen anyone bigger than the man standing before him now.
On top of that, the man was wearing a lion mask over his face. He looked exactly like a bandit.
He must be at least seven feet tall.
It wasn’t actually that tall, but the overwhelming pressure radiating from his enormous frame made him appear even larger. Yang Mun-pyeong swallowed hard without realizing it, his body trembling.
Whether he noticed or not, the man beyond the door spoke in a rather friendly voice.
“I’m truly sorry for accidentally destroying the wall. I’ve been practicing light footwork lately in an open area, but I misjudged and slammed right into it.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes. That’s why I came to find Branch Leader Yang and apologize. I’m really sorry.”
“I-it’s fine. These things happen to people.”
Just leave already! Leave!
Contrary to Yang Mun-pyeong’s desperate wish, the giant man rolled his eyes and spoke to him again.
“Hmm, but the state of this room is quite a mess. It looks like you’re preparing to evacuate or something.”
“Haha, as I’ve gotten older, my homesickness has gotten worse. I’m thinking of wrapping up my business and returning to my hometown.”
“Returning home in glory. That’s nice.”
“…Branch Leader… this man is dangerous.”
I know that! And he can probably hear everything!
Yang Mun-pyeong glanced around nervously and spoke again in an earnest voice.
“Haha, we need to prepare for the move, so why don’t you head back now? Since this was clearly an accident, I’ll let it slide this time.”
“I appreciate Branch Leader Yang’s generosity. By the way… where exactly is your hometown?”
“Why are you asking about my hometown?”
“I was wondering if we might be from the same region…”
“It’s the Xinjiang area.”
“Ah! I see! How wonderful! To meet someone from the same hometown in a place like this! I was born and raised in a place called Gaeksim in Xinjiang. May I ask where you’re from, Branch Leader?”
“I’m from Hamil.”
“…Hamil, you say. I thought you might be from the Tianshan area. Haha, my eyes must have been playing tricks on me!”
…No way?
Yang Mun-pyeong examined the man before him with the calmest expression he could manage.
Up until now it had been an absurd situation, but the moment the word Tianshan came out of the man’s mouth… this was no longer absurd. One wrong move and it could become an execution.
“Th-that’s quite an unpleasant joke.”
“Haha, is it? My apologies. Well, I suppose there’s no way you’d share an origin with some shut-in bastard who’s too scared of the Central Plains martial artists to come out of his hole in Tianshan.”
This bastard…?
As a member of the Demonic Cult, the insulting remark twisted his insides. Yang Mun-pyeong ground his teeth and held back his anger. If he lost his temper here, everything would be ruined.
“To make such a rude joke… I’m disappointed.”
“Lately the rumors coming out of Xinjiang have been quite ominous.”
“Has something happened in my hometown?”
Yang Mun-pyeong asked without thinking. The man nodded and answered in a serious tone.
“They say the Demonic Cult bastards are preparing to invade again. And they’re bringing three thousand martial artists with them.”
“You seem to know far too much.”
“How could I not know when that bed-wetting Heavenly Demon is running around leaking information everywhere like he has incontinence? His piss stench has even reached all the way to Goryeo.”
B-bed-wetting…
No matter how much people cursed those who weren’t present, this was the first time Yang Mun-pyeong had ever seen someone with the gall to call the Heavenly Demon a bed-wetter. Blood trickled from the corner of his lip.
“Y-you… your jokes are going too far…”
“Haha, how could a person’s piss smell travel that far? It was just a joke to lighten the mood.”
“What exactly… are you trying to do with me?”
“I simply wanted to share news from our hometown. Isn’t it only proper to inform a fellow countryman that those rat-like Demonic Cult members are stirring up trouble?”
“I… understand… so please leave now…”
“Your expression has improved quite a bit.”
“It’s just… the stress of moving…”
“Oh dear, I’ve kept a busy man for too long.”
“So… please leave quickly…”
The sound of grinding teeth reached the man’s ears.
He’s shaken.
It wasn’t that unusual for people in the Central Plains to curse the Heavenly Demon.
Whenever the topic of the Demonic Cult came up, people would either avoid the subject out of fear or deliberately mock the Heavenly Demon to show off their boldness. Yang Mun-pyeong’s reaction was more than enough to turn suspicion into certainty.
“Branch Leader Yang.”
“Wh-what is it? Do you still have something to say?”
“Every time you hear the Heavenly Demon being insulted, your expression worsens. Could it be that…”
The man looked at Yang Mun-pyeong with meaningful eyes. Yang Mun-pyeong glared back at him, cold sweat pouring down his face.
What kind of crazy bastard is this!
Just how far was he planning to scratch at his nerves? At this point, it was enough to make him suspect the man had known from the beginning. Yang Mun-pyeong stared at him with disbelief in his eyes.
And then, an outrageous sentence came out of the man’s mouth.
“You wouldn’t happen to know that the Heavenly Demon is actually a sodomite, would you?”
“That’s impossible! Hup!”
Yang Mun-pyeong, who had unconsciously shouted, quickly shut his mouth and stared at him. The man’s face was hidden behind the mask, but he somehow felt like the intruder was smiling.
Damn it!
“Someone come! Take this bastard down right now…!”
“You should’ve called them sooner if you were going to.”
“Damn it! Stop him now!”
The escort warrior hurriedly drew his sword and blocked the man’s path. A faint glow shimmered along his blade.
It was too crude to be called sword energy—just a crude gathering of power.
The man snorted and reached out toward the sword.
“Your escort warrior is pathetic.”
“Damn it!”
The escort warrior swung his sword. It traced a rather clean path as it aimed straight for the man’s heart.
The man wearing the lion mask simply walked forward as if the sword trying to cut his chest was nothing more than a tree branch.
“Wh-what!”
It was clearly a human covered in flesh standing before him, so why couldn’t the sword pierce him? While the escort warrior was stunned that his blade hadn’t even damaged the man’s clothes, a hand lightly shoved him aside and grabbed Yang Mun-pyeong by the collar.
“Let’s have a proper chat, fellow countryman.”
“Kill him! Kill him now! Call Song Un!”
The only one who could resolve this situation was Song Un—the branch leader of this Demonic Cult outpost and the man who was probably organizing the underground facility right now. He struggled desperately while calling for Song Un.
But there was no way he could escape from the grip of a man who was nearly two spans taller than him.
“Let go! How dare you…!”
“I have no reason to listen to a Demonic Cult spy.”
“Sp-spy?! What are you talking about!”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know you’ve been in contact with the Hao Clan?”
The man wearing the lion mask—William—pulled out a letter stamped with Yang Mun-pyeong’s seal from his pocket and showed it to him. When his eyes fell on the letter, his face turned deathly pale as he screamed.
“…How did you get that!”
“We found it while rooting out traitors. If you’re going to do things in secret, you should work with someone smart. How could you trust a sloppy fool who leaves things like this lying around?”
“This is ridiculous…”
“What is going on here!”
The branch leader, who had arrived late, turned his eyes toward William.
William turned around while still holding Yang Mun-pyeong by the collar at the sound of the middle-aged man’s voice coming from behind him.
“Well, if it isn’t the branch leader.”
“How is this possible? Branch Leader Yang, what is the meaning of this!”
“What’s the meaning? This place reeks of Demonic Cult bastards, so I came to clean them up.”
“Such arrogance!”
“The arrogant one is you. Pathetic fool.”
“What did you say?”
William’s figure instantly collided with the branch leader.
Unable to dodge the sudden acceleration, the branch leader was sent flying. His arm, which he had thrust out to protect himself, was bent in an impossible direction.
“Ugh…”
“Oh, my foot slipped.”
William walked over to the branch leader at a leisurely pace and grabbed him by the collar.
The branch leader, now dangling from William’s hand alongside the unconscious Yang Mun-pyeong who had fainted from the sudden acceleration, struggled wildly. But no matter how much he struck William’s body, it didn’t budge an inch—like an indestructible diamond.
He’s on a completely different level! There was definitely no information about a master like this in our collected intelligence!
A man who walked around wearing a lion mask couldn’t possibly be unknown. However, when one considered how many reclusive experts and eccentrics existed in the martial world, it wasn’t strange for someone like him to exist.
The problem was that this person had chosen to storm into a Demonic Cult branch.
“Anyone here feel like betraying your side?”
“Betray the Heavenly Demon?! That will never happen! You wicked Orthodox bastard!”
“I see.”
William dragged the two men by their collars and looked around at the numerous martial artists surrounding him.
“Hmm. Quite a lot of you.”
“Branch Leader!”
“How dare you do this to the branch leader…!”
Paying no attention to the reactions of the escort warriors, William surveyed the mansion that had been turned into a mess.
“You’ve got quite a fortune here. It’s going to be a pain to send it all to the Demonic Cult.”
I wonder if there are any elixirs or secret manuals.
A spark of anticipation flashed in the eyes hidden beneath the lion mask.
“All of you, give up any thoughts of running away. The Beggar Clan members have set up formation outside, so escape is impossible. If you want to live, you might as well go hide in those tunnels you dug.”
“We cannot let him live! Deploy the Asura Annihilation Sword Formation and activate the Law of Reversing Heaven!”
“As you command!”
The Demonic Cult martial artists began to surround William. It wasn’t a haphazard encirclement—they formed a proper sword formation with precise spacing.
William watched the formation with interested eyes.
Interesting.
The corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.