Chapter 80
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: A New Mission (4)
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“Is it your companions that make you so bold?”
It wasn't Song Yeonghyeon who snapped at Jinmyeong for suddenly stepping forward.
Rather, it was Song Yeonghyeon's subordinates standing behind him.
To them, Jinmyeong didn't look all that impressive.
Unlike the others, who seemed extraordinary.
“A fox riding on a tiger's back, are you?”
“……”
Song Yeonghyeon's men spat the words out while looking at Jinmyeong, and their comment was enough to make Maeng Yo, Shin Yehyang, and even the Mad Demon glance at him.
“Keuk, khahahaha!”
And Maeng Yo, unable to hold back his laughter, slapped Jinmyeong hard on the back.
“That hurts.”
“Did you hear that? They called you a fox. Said you're riding on a tiger's back!”
“I suppose I could be.”
This wasn't the first or second time this had happened.
Unless one was a considerable master, it was difficult to accurately gauge Jinmyeong's martial prowess.
Even masters didn't so much grasp his strength as they felt something extraordinary about him.
“Be quiet!”
“Captain?”
“And you call yourselves the White Tiger Brigade?”
At Song Yeonghyeon's words, the members of the White Tiger Brigade fell silent.
“My apologies.”
“It’s nothing.”
Song Yeonghyeon immediately bowed his head to Jinmyeong.
The White Tiger Brigade members could only watch in silence as their captain bowed his head because of them.
And to Jinmyeong, of all people—the one who looked the least remarkable among the suspicious group.
“Khaha. It seems you're not entirely without an eye for people.”
“…It would seem so.”
As expected of the Righteous Alliance Leader's disciple, Song Yeonghyeon also seemed to have noticed that Jinmyeong was no ordinary person.
“But are you truly not going to reveal your identities?”
“You seem to have a rough idea already, don't you?”
“Haha.”
In response to Jinmyeong's question, Song Yeonghyeon could only laugh awkwardly.
But just as he said, it felt as if he could roughly guess who Jinmyeong's party was.
“Ask.”
“I just can't bring myself to ask.”
But Song Yeonghyeon couldn't easily bring himself to voice the words hovering on his tongue.
It felt as if speaking them aloud would make them true.
And Song Yeonghyeon was afraid of that.
“It's probably exactly what you're thinking.”
“…I was hoping it wasn't.”
“Then you shouldn't have asked.”
“You have a point.”
But how could he not ask?
He had to know why these people before him had come all this way.
“Didn't you know from the start when you came here?”
“……”
“Because a group of this composition would inevitably draw the attention of the Righteous Alliance.”
Song Yeonghyeon nodded at Jinmyeong's words.
The White Tiger Brigade looked bewildered, but Song Yeonghyeon had no time to worry about them.
“Then why did you ask?”
“I was just trying to feign a chance encounter to figure out your purpose.”
“Wasn't your approach a bit too blatant to be called a chance encounter?”
At Jinmyeong's words, Song Yeonghyeon chuckled and plopped down on the ground.
“Then let me ask you directly. Why on earth are you here?”
But no one answered Song Yeonghyeon's question.
In fact, only Jinmyeong was looking at him.
The Mad Demon and his daughter, Shin Yehyang, seemed uninterested from the start, not even glancing their way.
Maeng Yo, too, seemed to have lost interest and went to lie down with a flop.
“Well, this is quite awkward.”
When no one answered, Song Yeonghyeon finally scratched his head.
“There's no need to tell the Righteous Alliance our business, is there? Then let me ask you. Why is the Righteous Alliance Leader's disciple here?”
“Haha. If people from the Righteous Alliance are here, the reason is simple, isn't it? It's because of the demonic arts manuals that have suddenly appeared.”
The demonic arts manuals that suddenly appeared, starting in Fujian.
Because of those manuals, people were flocking to Fujian, so the Righteous Alliance had no choice but to act.
“But with you all making a move in this situation, how could we not be suspicious?”
The Vice Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and his daughter, and the recently famed New Demonic Sword Controller.
“Though I don't know why that man is here as well.”
The most incomprehensible thing was why the King of the Green Forest was here.
No matter how he thought about it, the King of the Green Forest had no connection to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“He's been with me recently.”
“…That's the reason I'm curious about.”
He already knew that Maeng Yo was with Jinmyeong.
What Song Yeonghyeon was asking was 'why'.
“Don't tell me the Green Forest has come under the command of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“That's not it. I'm just with this guy because he's interesting.”
Maeng Yo replied with a frown.
No matter how great the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was, the Green Forest was also a considerably large faction.
Therefore, the question of whether they had come under the Cult's command was bound to hurt his pride.
“In any case, are you all unrelated to this matter?”
“We're not entirely unrelated.”
The members of the White Tiger Brigade reacted to Jinmyeong's words.
While Song Yeonghyeon remained seated on the ground listening, the brigade members moved their hands to their swords, as if ready to draw them at any moment.
Ever since learning that the people they initially thought were merely suspicious were from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, they had been prepared to draw their swords at any time.
“Is that so?”
However, unlike the brigade members, Song Yeonghyeon still appeared relaxed.
“Actually, my master and I don't believe you are the culprits.”
“Why?”
“Because you moved too late.”
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult only began to move after the demonic arts manuals suddenly appeared.
“And if this was a plot by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Vice Cult Leader wouldn't have come himself.”
The White Tiger Brigade members, who had been listening quietly to Song Yeonghyeon, flinched.
Those who had seemed ready to draw their swords at any moment froze on the spot, as if their bodies had turned to ice.
It was due to the pressure that came with the name of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Vice Cult Leader, the Mad Demon.
Seeing Song Yeonghyeon's attitude, they had thought the man was extraordinary, but they never imagined he would be the Vice Cult Leader.
“At this rate, are the people of the Righteous Alliance not interested in us?”
“Haha. How could that be?”
“Then why are you surprised? You should know just by looking at his face.”
“You have a point.”
Song Yeonghyeon trailed off with a laugh.
“So, what is the real reason you've come?”
“There's no reason to tell you. A pity for you, I'm sure.”
Why did the Mad Demon appear here, away from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
That must have been the reason Song Yeonghyeon came here without avoiding them.
But Jinmyeong had no reason to tell the Righteous Alliance why.
“I thought as much.”
Song Yeonghyeon still wore a sly smile.
“So, you'll probably have people following you.”
“You're telling me that directly?”
“We're just trying to find out your purpose for coming here, so don't mind it too much.”
Seeing Song Yeonghyeon speak so openly, Jinmyeong let out a chuckle.
“Well, I'll try to do that, but I can't make any promises.”
“Haha. I understand.”
After saying that, Song Yeonghyeon looked at the White Tiger Brigade members standing blankly behind him.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and get ready to sleep.”
“H-here, you mean?”
“Yes, here. Is there any place safer than this?”
They wanted to ask if there was any place *more* dangerous than this.
But Song Yeonghyeon, as if he wasn't joking, began to prepare to camp for the night.
“Let's rest here together. Is that alright?”
Song Yeonghyeon asked after already preparing, but no one said anything to him.
Instead, everyone seemed to have lost interest, preparing to rest without even looking at the White Tiger Brigade.
And Song Yeonghyeon, too, as if there was nothing more to learn from them, quietly watched his brigade members prepare to camp.
Jinmyeong watched the brigade members for a moment before lying down and closing his eyes.
‘Is he confident, or just oblivious?’
None of the White Tiger Brigade members were asleep yet.
But the people from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult already had their eyes closed, and Song Yeonghyeon couldn't help but admire Jinmyeong's party for it.
Without such confidence, they would never be able to sleep like that.
“……”
After watching Jinmyeong's party for a moment, Song Yeonghyeon also lay down.
The White Tiger Brigade members flinched at the sight, but they couldn't make a sound.
They didn't want to make any noise and get on the Mad Demon's nerves.
The brigade members had no choice but to lie down, hold their breath as much as possible, and close their eyes.
But among them, not a single one could rest properly; they had to stay up all night with their eyes open.
‘They're moving early.’
And Jinmyeong frowned at the rustling sounds that started early in the morning.
Even though it was dawn and the sun had not yet risen, Song Yeonghyeon and the White Tiger Brigade were already packing up and starting to move.
“Are we really just leaving like this?”
“What else would we do?”
“But he's a leader of the Demonic Cult, isn't he?”
“If we provoked him for no reason, we'd all die.”
The White Tiger Brigade members didn't know if it was alright to just leave the Mad Demon be.
“Our mission isn't to kill the Mad Demon.”
If it were, we wouldn't have come with just these numbers.
“And he's probably listening to everything we're saying right now.”
They might have rested as if they weren't paying attention to the White Tiger Brigade, but it was impossible that they weren't on guard.
And just as Song Yeonghyeon thought, at the faint sound of the White Tiger Brigade's movements, eyes opened to watch them.
“Let's go.”
Song Yeonghyeon led the White Tiger Brigade away without any lingering attachment.
‘So they came to Fujian because of the demonic arts, and they came here to see if we were related to them.’
If they were related, he would have had to report to the Righteous Alliance that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was plotting something.
‘Still, it seems reckless.’
He didn't know how elite the White Tiger Brigade was within the Righteous Alliance, but they seemed woefully inadequate to deal with the Mad Demon.
No matter that Song Yeonghyeon was the Righteous Alliance Leader's disciple, he was not at a level where he could handle the Mad Demon.
Song Yeonghyeon surely knew this fact as well.
‘Was he certain?’
Jinmyeong recalled what Song Yeonghyeon had said when he first arrived.
That the Righteous Alliance Leader and he himself believed the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was not involved in this matter.
So he must have thought it was safe, but Jinmyeong still couldn't shake the feeling that it was reckless.
“Get ready.”
A short while after the White Tiger Brigade left, they too began to move again.
“Do you know his exact location?”
“I have a rough idea, but I can't be certain that man is still there.”
They hadn't pinpointed the former Vice Cult Leader's location. In fact, they hadn't even confirmed his appearance.
Nevertheless, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult believed the former Vice Cult Leader had reappeared and dispatched the Mad Demon.
Since the secret manuals the former Vice Cult Leader had taken in the past had appeared in the world, they concluded he had resurfaced.
‘They're moving even without certainty.’
It seemed that was how badly the Heavenly Demon and the Mad Demon wanted to deal with the former Vice Cult Leader.
“At this rate, we should be able to follow those men.”
In that case, it was best to use the Righteous Alliance.
That was why the Mad Demon hadn't bothered to kill Song Yeonghyeon.
No matter how formidable the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was, their intelligence network in the Central Plains couldn't match the Beggars' Sect.
And since the White Tiger Brigade was moving based on the Beggars' Sect's intelligence, following them would likely lead them to the former Vice Cult Leader.
“We're moving.”
The Mad Demon didn't hesitate, launching himself in the direction the White Tiger Brigade had gone.
And the rest of the group also took off, following after the Mad Demon.