Chapter 165
Chapter 165
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: The Treasure Hunt Begins
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The rumors about the Black Swallow and the Latent Dragon spread to every Black Tyrant in Central City. Some of them were outraged at the injustice, while others felt a chill of murderous intent.
It was unavoidable. Nominally at least, the White Night Witch was an instructor of the Black Forest, and only Seven Star Disciples and above could seek her tutelage.
The Black Swallow was a Six Star Disciple. Her talents weren't particularly outstanding either. She should have remained a Five Star for life, but she had advanced to Six Star because the Latent Dragon had gathered blood medallions for her.
And that Black Swallow, promoted thanks to the Latent Dragon, was now staying in the White Night Witch's Blood Palace.
Digging deeper revealed that the Latent Dragon—not a Black Forest disciple, but a student of the Heavenly Academy—had been the first to meet the White Night Witch.
The one filled with both outrage at the injustice and icy killing intent was the Black Dragon, Shangguan Hu.
He was the Black Forest's sole Seven Star Disciple. For a long time, he had visited the White Night Witch's Blood Palace in Central City to seek instruction. But he had always been turned away at the door, never once crossing hands with her.
"What's the use of taking it out on me?"
Jinu rolled the prayer beads on his wrist and smiled faintly.
"If you're dissatisfied, you should go complain to the White Night Witch herself."
"I want an answer from you."
Shangguan Hu glared at Jinu with eyes brimming with killing intent.
"Little Buddha. You lost to the Latent Dragon at last year's Heavenly Tournament martial exhibition."
"So?"
"But I don't think the Latent Dragon is superior to you. If you hadn't hesitated out of mercy for a fellow Buddhist disciple, you would have won that match."
"Who knows... It was a defeat I could accept. Setting aside any hesitation for my junior, I simply couldn't overwhelm Guardian Wi Seong-cheon."
"You're admitting your skills are inferior to the Latent Dragon's?"
Shangguan Hu blatantly scratched at Jinu's pride, but Jinu's smile didn't waver.
"Indeed. I was inferior to Guardian Wi Seong-cheon. That's why I lost."
"I don't care about the reasons for your defeat. Just answer my question."
"It's a difficult one."
"Is the question of whether I'm better than the Latent Dragon really that hard?"
Shangguan Hu's eyebrows shot up. Jinu stopped rolling his beads and stared steadily at him.
"I've sparred with Guardian Wi Seong-cheon, but not with Guardian Shangguan Hu. How could I possibly say which of you is superior?"
"I guarantee you this: if we fought to the death right now, I could kill you within ten exchanges."
"Then that would make you stronger than Guardian Wi Seong-cheon."
Shangguan Hu scratched at Jinu's pride once more, but Jinu's smile remained unshaken. Before his defeat to Wi Seong-cheon, he couldn't have brushed it off so calmly.
"What kind of answer are you even expecting?"
Breaking the silence was Tae Hee-myeong. Sitting in the corner with his sword propped on his shoulder, he fixed the Black Dragon with a gaze sharp as a blade.
"Don't be rude to Senior Jinu anymore."
"It's fine."
"It doesn't sit well with me hearing it."
Tae Hee-myeong often came across as scatterbrained, but he was like a sword in moments like this. Shangguan Hu snorted at the sharp energy bearing down on him.
"The students of the Heavenly Academy really get along well. Fine, Sword Dragon. Then why don't you answer?"
"Enough already."
Cheong Wu-bin grimaced, tired of listening.
"As Senior Jinu said, if you're unhappy with the White Night Witch's decision, go complain to her yourself."
"Ha! You want me to defy one of the Ten Heroes?"
Shangguan Hu spat out a hollow laugh. At his words, Tae Hee-myeong's eyes narrowed. The Black Dragon Shangguan Hu—the man hailed as the top Black Tyrant before the Black Heaven Young Lord appeared...
Meeting him in person, he felt disappointingly narrow-minded, unworthy of his reputation.
"Forget it. It was foolish of me to ask you lot. As if I'd get a good answer."
"You must have wanted to hear that you're better than the Latent Dragon."
Jinu asked with a faint smile. Shangguan Hu whipped his head around to glare at him.
A ferocious killing intent crashed over Jinu. Even as he withstood it, Jinu's mind remained serene.
"What good would your answer do me? I'll prove it soon enough anyway."
"Prove it?"
"Tomorrow."
Shangguan Hu twisted his twitching lips into a grin.
"Tomorrow's when the fun treasure hunt begins."
It had been announced that morning.
In the central city's square, visible to all, a list of 'treasures' had been posted. Rumors of just one of them were enough to turn the martial world upside down. Starting tomorrow at noon, they would be hidden in the forest outside the central city's walls.
"At noon tomorrow, the gates will open, and the waiting Black Tyrants will rush out."
Until now, the Black Tyrants in Central City had avoided major clashes. There had been no reason to spill blood.
That was the past. Now, there were more than enough reasons to welcome conflict.
"The Latent Dragon might be among them. I can't kill him, but making him lose would be simple."
"If you can manage it."
Jinu said with a smile.
"As I said from the start, I'm a Buddhist disciple, so I can't pursue personal gain. I'll stay here and guard the place tomorrow."
"As long as you do your part when it matters."
"No need to doubt that."
Jinu's smile shifted slightly. Divine arts manuals, elixirs, divine weapons—he had no interest in such things.
He wanted to meet the Black Heaven Young Lord again.
Jinu hadn't forgotten his 'first defeat.' The gap in skill had been overwhelming. Had he underestimated his opponent? Let his guard down? Excuses.
He didn't harbor any desire for revenge against the Black Heaven Young Lord... He just wanted to ask.
Am I different now from back then?
And why he hadn't announced the results of their bout to anyone. He wanted to ask that too.
When he'd seen him at the port... he hadn't asked. He hadn't felt ready.
'This is personal desire too, I suppose.'
Jinu gave a wry smile and rolled his beads.
"I need to recover the Tenfold Gold."
"Do as you like. Not just you— the other students will act on their own greed too. I prefer that."
Shangguan Hu's eyes gleamed.
"It's easier to crush them that way."
The Black Dragon Shangguan Hu. His bloated pride made him narrow-minded. Yet he had been hailed as the greatest prodigy of the unorthodox sects with the title 'Black Dragon' until the Black Heaven Young Lord appeared. Even if his temperament was flawed, his skill was real.
* * *
"Don't forget. Utmost Blood Leopard and Millennium Snow Ginseng."
"Yes."
"Even if you can't get the Millennium Snow Ginseng, make sure you take the Utmost Blood Leopard. Otherwise, you'll suffer quite a bit."
She committed the curt reminder, delivered with a cold gaze, to heart.
"You're really not going?"
At the casual question, Baek Ri-hyang nodded. She'd spent only a few days in the Blood Palace. In the end, she hadn't received a single lesson from the White Night Witch.
She didn't feel regretful or anything... She hadn't held such expectations from the start.
"There's no need for you to come along. None of the treasures are things I need anyway."
"Elixirs never hurt."
"If I go with you, I'll just get in the way."
Baek Ri-hyang composed her expression and spoke. Wi Seong-cheon didn't deny it.
It was true. This wasn't like the blood medallion hunt. There had been more Five Star Disciples after blood medallions, but this time, his opponents were Black Tyrants.
And possibly even Dragon-Phoenixes.
Baek Ri-hyang didn't change her mind. She knew her own abilities clearly. Not a single Black Tyrant was weaker than her.
The same went for Dragon-Phoenixes. If she had to pick, it would be the Heavenly Academy students rather than Dragon-Phoenixes. But Baek Ri-hyang wasn't competing with them.
'This is the right choice.'
Baek Ri-hyang stared at Wi Seong-cheon's receding back. There was no need to take risks now. Following out of pointless pride would ruin something that could succeed.
'Martial manuals? Elixirs? Divine weapons? Who cares about that junk.'
Baek Ri-hyang desired only one thing. Something she'd yearned for since childhood. Focusing solely on that allowed her to remain cold and rational.
Exchanging with Heavenly Academy students, the Latent Dragon. To Baek Ri-hyang, this was her last chance.
"Little one."
It was the first time the White Night Witch had spoken to her since she'd entered the Blood Palace.
"Even if you and the Latent Dragon catch the Black Heaven Young Lord and become Baek Ri-mu-won's disciple, with your talents, you'll never master the Divine Demon Extermination Method."
Why had she said that so suddenly?
Out of pity? Mockery? Or... sympathy? Even she couldn't tell.
"You're right."
Baek Ri-hyang accepted it readily. She tore her gaze from the departed Wi Seong-cheon and turned to the White Night Witch.
"It's not about whether I can learn it or not. What matters is that I, the daughter of the Black Witch King, become his disciple."
That was the only thing Baek Ri-hyang desired.
When she immersed herself in it... even if it seemed impossibly distant... a sense of fulfillment welled up from deep in her chest.
I am the daughter of the Black Witch King Baek Ri-mu-won. Even if others mock my lack of talent, that Black Witch King acknowledged me as his daughter.
'That's why. I have to become my father's disciple.'
No matter what it takes.
* * *
Though called a treasure hunt, they weren't kindly providing treasure maps. It started at noon today. From that point, the east, west, south, and north gates would open.
The vast forest beyond them was the stage for the treasure hunt. Treasures that would inevitably stir the Black Tyrants and Heavenly Academy students were hidden there.
'There will be competitors.'
When he'd said he needed to obtain the Utmost Blood Leopard and Millennium Snow Ginseng, Baek Ri-hyang had given that advice.
'The Millennium Snow Ginseng will be targeted by Snow Flower Ha Ji-eun.'
Among elixirs with extreme yin energy, the Millennium Snow Ginseng was considered the best. There was no way Ha Ji-eun, who practiced extreme yin arts, wouldn't covet it. Even though there were three roots...
'Ha Ji-eun will show the most enthusiasm in this treasure hunt.'
That was certain. Selling just one treasure would greatly aid the financially strapped North Sea Ice Palace.
'And the Utmost Blood Leopard. There's no way Sudden Flash Jade Qilin won't covet it.'
Unlike Ha Ji-eun, Jade Qilin practiced extreme yang arts. Plus, having mastered the Energy Absorption Great Law, she would desire the Utmost Blood Leopard just like Wi Seong-cheon.
That wasn't all. Most extreme yang elixirs could be called heaven-sent aphrodisiacs. As long as one controlled their energy properly.
For the lustful maniac Jade Qilin, the Utmost Blood Leopard was more a stamina booster for a richer sex life than for advancing her martial arts.
'There are three roots of Millennium Snow Ginseng, but only one Utmost Blood Leopard.'
The White Night Witch had told him to secure the Utmost Blood Leopard at all costs. The one to watch most closely was Jade Qilin.
'...But what is this?'
Wi Seong-cheon exited through the west gate, closest to the Blood Palace. Noon had just passed, and the gate was open, but so far, he was the only one to emerge from it.
That made sense. He hadn't sensed anyone else hiding.
'They're waiting. I hadn't heard about this.'
He glared at the forest spread before him. Beyond it, blatant presences stirred openly. Not disciples or students. This was...
"My goodness."
Wi Seong-cheon let out a hearty laugh and shook his head.
Deep in the forest, still out of sight. An overwhelming, savage presence he couldn't ignore no matter how he tried. It wasn't hiding; it simply hadn't appeared yet.
The Ten Heroes' Green Forest Demon Emperor.
For some reason, he was deep in the forest.
'One, two, three...'
He sensed the presences radiating from him. He couldn't count them all, but their nature was easy to discern.
'The elites of Mountain King Stronghold that the Green Forest Demon Emperor brought. So that's where they went after disembarking...'
At that point, it was clear this was no ordinary treasure hunt.
"Clear as day."
Wi Seong-cheon smirked and stepped forward.
The treasures were guarded by the Green Forest Demon Emperor and Mountain King Stronghold elites.
'I can only hope the Green Forest Demon Emperor isn't guarding the Utmost Blood Leopard.'
Surely he wouldn't be that unlucky. Wi Seong-cheon tried to convince himself of that.