Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Stand-in Father
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While Wi Seong-cheon was enduring harsh one-on-one torment from the White-Haired Witch, Baek Ri-hyang began properly studying the Five Elements Path under Yeo Myeong-ui's guidance. Anyone could see that their relationship was that of master and disciple, but...
"Stand-in father... you say?"
Baek Ri-hyang felt a bit perplexed. She had thought he would naturally suggest calling him master when he brought up changing the form of address. Instead, Yeo Myeong-ui had unexpectedly proposed calling him "dae-bu" from now on.
"Hmm, ahem. Yes. It's not an entirely strange way to address me, is it?"
"Well... that's true, but..."
Baek Ri-hyang couldn't understand why Yeo Myeong-ui was so adamant about avoiding a master-disciple relationship, but calling him stand-in father wasn't odd at all.
"Understood. As you wish, I'll call you Stand-in Father from now on."
Baek Ri-hyang bowed her head politely. Seeing this, a gentle smile formed on Yeo Myeong-ui's face. Baek Ri-hyang was his secret creation. She had been born from the Black Demon King's blood and the Ebony Witch's sorcery.
But if Yeo Myeong-ui hadn't willed her birth, she never would have come into the world.
'It's a shame I couldn't create her myself.'
Originally, he had wanted to use only the Black Demon King's blood and his own skills to bring life into being. But his talents were too meager to breach such a taboo on his own. In the end, he had no choice but to accept the Ebony Witch's help.
What did it matter?
If anything, the addition of her sorcery made it all the more intriguing. Yeo Myeong-ui hadn't created Baek Ri-hyang out of a desire for a child. It was simple curiosity.
'She was originally mine.'
Even so, he couldn't claim ownership. Unexpectedly, the Black Demon King had developed paternal affection for "her." Against an easier target, he might have schemed to take her by force, but doing so against the Black Demon King was impossible.
'Who would have thought that Black Demon King, of all people, would adopt a child born without love as his daughter.'
It was giving him a headache.
It was true that Yeo Myeong-ui had once been a candidate immortal cultivating the Immortal Path. He still respected the Immortal Path, his master, and the other immortals.
But Yeo Myeong-ui was no saint. Just as not all humans were good, not all immortals were either. He was the same.
That said, he didn't consider himself evil. No one really did.
Good and evil—dividing "existence" into just those two was far too simplistic. Existence was too diverse, complex, and profound. Yeo Myeong-ui had turned his back on the Immortal Path he revered because he was too faithful to his own desires.
"Though I share no blood with you, your father and I are old friends, so you don't feel like a stranger to me. And by fate's twist, I've come to teach you."
"Yes, Stand-in Father."
Baek Ri-hyang answered without lifting her bowed head. Yeo Myeong-ui found the title quite pleasing. The Black Demon King was a great warrior and remarkable man, but hardly an exemplary father. At least, the "father" he showed was far from the ideal Baek Ri-hyang yearned for.
Yeo Myeong-ui knew Baek Ri-hyang thirsted for paternal love. Proclaiming himself her stand-in father was his own scheme to win her back.
"Yes, Hyang-ah. You possess extraordinary talent. Others failed to recognize your innate gifts, but I see them, and I'll make them bloom brilliantly."
"...Yes."
Baek Ri-hyang lifted her head slightly as she replied. Yeo Myeong-ui noticed her once-stiffened cheeks soften, her lips curving into the faintest smile.
'What could I possibly lack compared to the Black Demon King?'
Setting martial prowess aside, he was confident his benevolence far surpassed the Black Demon King's.
* * *
Bang Jun couldn't fathom what Ok Gi-rin was thinking. The man had boasted of avenging himself against the one-armed monk who had crippled him, yet for days, he had holed up in the Demon Palace, indulging only in debauchery.
'What the hell does he want?'
Since that day, Bang Jun hadn't set foot in the Demon Palace. He had always disliked the place. It was a den of fools who mocked his values. No matter how many times he went, he never got used to it.
In the end, it was all talk. Not surprising at all. Bang Jun had never placed any expectations on Ok Gi-rin. He had allied with him solely to find faults with the students who came with him, figuring Ok Gi-rin would prioritize his own safety over reckless challenges.
Letting him stay put and wallow in pleasure was actually a relief for Bang Jun.
"......"
It would be fine.
Bang Jun couldn't speak, his eyes widening in shock. For a moment, he wondered if he was still half-asleep, but a chill raced down his spine, jolting him fully awake. He leaped to the ceiling corner, calming his pounding heart there.
"Why so startled?"
Ok Gi-rin chuckled heartily. Bang Jun stared down at him, speechless.
He hadn't noticed. Had he been that dead to the world?
No, not really. He wasn't fatigued, and his sleep had been normal. Meaning he had slept without fully relaxing his guard. This wasn't the Heavenly Academy. This was foreign territory—especially the heart of the unorthodox, the Black Forest. Ok Gi-rin wasn't trustworthy, nor were the palace maids in his wing, or even the fellow Heavenly Academy students.
No one here was someone Bang Jun could let his guard down around.
That's why he had always stayed vigilant, even in sleep. And yet... Ok Gi-rin had entered his room and stood watching him until he woke.
"Wh-what are you doing here?"
"I was going to summon you to report, but then I remembered I'd neglected official duties for days."
Ok Gi-rin grinned. He looked utterly transformed from the man Bang Jun had seen in the Demon Palace days ago—like someone from a distant past.
"What happened...?"
"Oh, nothing much."
Ok Gi-rin waved it off.
"I got lost in a trance of bliss with the ladies for days. Hard for you to understand, I'm sure, haha! If I had to put it in words... call it an enlightenment?"
"...Enlightenment?"
"There's a legend in my Origin Harmony Sect. Mokgol Gong seems oddly averse to intercourse, but you know about chamber arts, right...?"
Before Ok Gi-rin could finish, light flashed in Bang Jun's mind. He dropped from the ceiling and bolted out the window. Ok Gi-rin shouted something behind him, but Bang Jun ignored it.
You know about chamber arts, right?
Ok Gi-rin was wrong. This wasn't chamber arts. Bang Jun stood there in a daze before collapsing to the ground.
The Demon Palace wing was silent.
The maids who had once filled it with ceaseless moans now only rasped dry breaths. Bodies that should brim with youthful vigor were withered and shriveled; their barely open eyes looked ready to close forever. Nearly a hundred maids lay half-dead like this.
Amid it all, the other students allied with Ok Gi-rin lay entangled in drunken, drugged heaps.
Bang Jun's eyes trembled. Unconsciously, he gripped the dog-beating staff at his waist. To him, those panting wretches weren't human—they were mongrels.
"Whoa, calm down."
No.
The real mongrel was right behind him. Bang Jun spun, swinging his staff. There was every reason to.
Crack!
The staff struck Ok Gi-rin's head. It barely turned his face. Bang Jun had swung with intent to shatter his skull, but the staff splintered instead.
Bang Jun's eyes bulged. He hadn't held back. One strike, one kill—that was the aim. Yet not even blood trickled from Ok Gi-rin's head.
"Mokgol Gong."
Ok Gi-rin frowned. He brushed fragments from his hair and continued.
"I understand your rage, so I didn't dodge."
"You... bastard...!"
"But I can't comprehend your fury. Know why? None of them died."
Ok Gi-rin smirked, gesturing at the maids. The withered women, upon seeing him, crawled toward him with gasping moans. Bang Jun's face twisted at their feeble pleas.
The maids were begging Ok Gi-rin for more embraces.
"See? They're asking for more because it wasn't enough. Means they enjoyed our communion that much."
"What the hell... did you do?"
"I told you. Chamber arts. Gong, chamber arts circulate yin and yang to ascend to immortality. I communed deeply with each one, letting them merge with me in ultimate ecstasy. Nothing like ordinary coupling."
Ok Gi-rin bared his teeth in a grin.
"In that process, I entered a trance and achieved great progress. I overdid the chamber arts and drained their essence too much... but no issue. Proper rest will restore their primal energy."
"Restore what? You mad lust demon—how is this any different from a fiend's yin-plucking tonic?!"
"Why state the obvious? All chamber arts are based on yang-plucking yin or yin-plucking yang. Fiends' yin-plucking is just taking others' energy to bolster your own. At root, it's yin-yang circulation for harmony—but that's an outdated method. Just as martial arts evolve, so do chamber arts. The Origin Harmony Sect doesn't pursue the demonic path. We walk a slight deviation from the righteous—a heterodox way—but we're still a Daoist sect."
Ok Gi-rin scowled and snapped back.
"How is it different? Can't you see? I didn't kill them. Didn't rape them. They came to me willingly, and as sub-sect master of Origin Harmony, I bestowed grace upon them."
"Bullshit!"
"Whoa, you just don't get it. This isn't even something for you to get angry about."
No need to hear more. A massive power surged from Bang Jun's dantian. The Earth-Shaking Chain Fist Method from his master, the Eccentric Beggar, fueled his violent instincts. His palm exploded toward Ok Gi-rin with a boom.
"Huh."
Ok Gi-rin's body blurred. A bare-handed palm strike, yet more menacing than the staff swing. So he didn't take it. Ok Gi-rin vanished from Bang Jun's sight.
'Crazy bastard.'
Was Ok Gi-rin always this fast? He hadn't been during the fight with Wi Seong-cheon. Lighter with one arm missing? Ridiculous.
"Fighting between saints and students in the city is forbidden."
Ok Gi-rin backed away without engaging. Bang Jun channeled more inner power, glaring.
"Turning someone half-crippled with yin-plucking is fine?!"
"You're under a gross delusion, Gong. Didn't I just say?"
Fighting between "saints and students" was forbidden.
"They're neither saints nor students. They're Origin Harmony disciples I personally smuggled in with saint-level power. Get it? They're not protected students under Black Forest law—they're my property."
"Why are disciples property?!"
"Just a manner of speaking. Anyway, they came to me of their own will and still beg for more. Rage all you want personally, but don't presume to speak for their grievances."
Bang Jun's eyes wavered at that.
Don't presume to speak for their grievances? Ok Gi-rin meant to calm him, but it was like pouring oil on fire.
"I'm doing this because I want to beat you dead!"
Veins bulged across Bang Jun's body. Ok Gi-rin recoiled in alarm.
Fighting a student like Bang Jun in the city would break Black Forest law, but more pressingly, Bang Jun's aura had shifted. The staff swing fueled by pure fury hadn't hurt even if it landed squarely, but now he felt a genuine threat.
Ok Gi-rin turned tail and fled without looking back. Bang Jun roared in pursuit, but feeble hands grabbed him. He froze and looked down.
"Stop... please stop..."
"Don't..."
Emaciated maids clung to his pant legs. Bang Jun glared at them, grinding his teeth. By then, Ok Gi-rin had escaped the Demon Palace.
"Argh...!"
Frustrated beyond words, Bang Jun tore at his hair. He desperately wanted to pummel Ok Gi-rin to death, but he couldn't shake off those withered hands.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and pried them off one by one. Then he glared at the students still indulging in each other.
He wanted to beat them all to death.
Suppressing the urge, Bang Jun began tending to the maids. To recover their damaged primal energy, they needed food first. He smashed a wall, using the large chunk as a lid to cover the liquor ponds one by one. Then he raided the granary, gathering armfuls of edibles.
"...Fuck."
Before making the Beggar Clan secret honey porridge, Bang Jun cursed at his filth-blackened hands. After a moment's hesitation, he steeled himself for his first bath in years.