The Bait and the Trap
Yoo Sung followed Dogan Mabu, with Ho-sung trailing close behind.
Dogan Mabu allowed them to keep a certain distance, but he absolutely refused to let them draw any closer.
Though they could have easily ignored his warning, Yoo Sung chose to maintain a reasonable distance alongside Ho-sung.
"Are we just going to watch like this?" Ho-sung asked, watching the bandits of the Black Brown Fort fall like autumn leaves before Dogan Mabu's relentless advance.
"For now."
"But what if he wipes out all the evidence?" Ho-sung still suspected that Dogan Mabu was somehow connected to the demonic practitioners.
"Well, from what I've heard, Dogan Mabu isn't on particularly good terms with the current chief, is he?"
"That is true."
"Besides, if he wanted to learn demonic arts, he would have done so long ago."
Dogan Mabu's martial arts were rough, but that was all. He possessed the typical ruggedness of the Unorthodox Path, but none of the distinct, repulsive energy that characterized demonic arts.
"Let's keep watching. We'll clean up whatever he misses."
"Jang Sam!!!" Dogan Mabu roared, calling out only that single name as he forged ahead. In his mind, the chief of the Black Brown Fort, Jang Sam, was far more important than the ordinary bandits.
Tat!
Someone leaped into the air in the distance. Realizing his subordinates could no longer hold back Dogan Mabu, Jang Sam was attempting to flee.
But before he could get far, Dogan Mabu's great axe swept through the air, slicing clean through Jang Sam's ankle.
Slash.
"Argh!"
Jang Sam collapsed with a agonizing groan. The sight of him trying to crawl away to escape was utterly pathetic.
"Why?! Why are you doing this?!"
Giving up on running, Jang Sam tried to negotiate. Dogan Mabu glared down at him with a fierce, burning gaze.
"You ask because you don't know?! You bastard, where did you learn that demonic art?!"
"T-That..."
Realizing that the sudden assault was because of his demonic cultivation, Jang Sam's eyes darted around frantically.
Damn it!
Cursing inwardly, Jang Sam desperately looked for an escape route.
Boom!
"Where do you think you're looking with those petty eyes?! Kneel and beg for forgiveness this instant!"
At Dogan Mabu's roar, Jang Sam spotted a opening and lunged forward.
Whoosh!
But it was a trap. Just as Dogan Mabu lunged to cleave Jang Sam in two with overwhelming momentum—
Thud.
"That's far enough."
"...You bastard."
Dogan Mabu scowled, looking at Yoo Sung, who had suddenly stepped in to block his path.
"Get out of the way. I will kill him with my own hands."
"I don't care about his life. But I have a few questions to ask him first. Once I'm done, you can kill him or do whatever you want."
"..."
Dogan Mabu was utterly dumbfounded by Yoo Sung's incredibly casual, almost arrogant demand.
"Do not interfere, brat. He is not an opponent you can handle."
Though he was currently fleeing in a pathetic state, Jang Sam, the chief of the Black Brown Fort, was by no means a pushover. He was a mid-tier master of the Transcendental Realm. Many ordinary martial artists had fallen prey to him. In fact, several prominent young successors of both the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions in Sichuan had tried to hunt him down, only to be utterly humiliated.
"Do not let youthful arrogance drive you to seek glory, only to end up in an early grave. Wait patiently, and I will give you a chance to speak with him."
"You don't act much like a bandit." Yoo Sung chuckled at Dogan Mabu's offer.
Right then—
"Hehehe! Don't make me laugh!"
Sneering at the two men who were ignoring him, Jang Sam detonated something.
Bang!
"...!"
Yoo Sung dodged it effortlessly, but Dogan Mabu reacted differently. Even though he, like Yoo Sung, had anticipated the attack, he swung his great axe with all his might to prevent the explosion from reaching the innocent bystanders nearby.
"Hyaaaah!"
With a powerful gust of wind, the one-eyed carriage driver spun like a dancer, blowing the explosion away.
Yoo Sung and Ho-sung watched the display with quiet admiration.
"They've really made up their minds."
Lately, the looks the surrounding factions cast toward the White Wolf Fort were highly unusual.
It had already been five years since Pa-gun had settled in Baek Mountain and become the chief of the White Wolf Fort.
Though he had operated as a prominent master of the Unorthodox Path in Sichuan, Pa-gun's roots actually lay in the Orthodox sects. Because of this, he had become an outcast, belonging to neither the Orthodox nor the Unorthodox factions—a wandering vagabond.
Eventually, fortune favored him, and he entered Baek Mountain, staying by the side of the previous chief.
"Perhaps it's almost time to move on."
The only reason he had held onto the position of White Wolf Fort's chief was to perfect a certain demonic art. He had killed the previous chief and taken his place solely to conceal the demonic art he had acquired.
However, even after five years, the side effects remained severe.
"To break the curse of the blood-sucking art, I ultimately need that."
It was only last year that he had learned of the existence of a demonic relic known as the Soul-Devouring Saber.
"I heard you possess a treasure of the Matian."
Where had that rumor leaked from?
When the Twin Blades of Black and White had come looking for him, Pa-gun's hesitation had been brief. He kept them as hangers-on while secretly searching for the Soul-Devouring Saber.
In the meantime, he had killed the bandits who had practiced the Blood-Sucking Demonic Art and absorbed their demonic energy to make it his own.
The progress was slower than expected, but Pa-gun possessed immense patience—a trait naturally forged during his years of being abandoned by the Orthodox sects and hunted by the Unorthodox Path.
"It's a shame, but I can't push it any further."
Last year, he had broken through the wall of the Transcendental Realm, and recently, another wall had blocked his path. He instinctively knew that if he broke through this barrier, he would become a master of the Transformation Realm.
Given a little more time, he would have been able to shatter the wall of the Transformation Realm, but the current situation was growing too difficult.
The only reason the White Wolf Fort had survived the pressure from Sichuan's factions was because they hadn't been truly serious. Baek Mountain was a convenient gathering place for outlaws that both the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions of Sichuan could exploit whenever they pleased.
Pa-gun knew this well, which was why he had comfortably used the bandits for his own ends.
However, with the recent emergence of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance, the atmosphere had shifted.
With the giants of Sichuan's Orthodox path rallying around the Tang family, even the Unorthodox factions of Sichuan could no longer sit idle. Once the joint onslaught of the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths began, the White Wolf Fort would be reduced to a handful of ashes.
"I might as well go out with a bang."
Chuckling, Pa-gun stood up.
"Chief!!! A guest has arrived!"
At his subordinate's report, Pa-gun's eyes gleamed coldly. He was highly curious about who would seek him out at a time like this.
If things go south, I'll just abandon everything and run.
As he hid his dark intentions behind a cold gaze, an entirely unexpected figure appeared before him.
Meanwhile, Cheondo Gate was also lingering near the vicinity of the White Wolf Fort.
"This is definitely the trace of a demonic art."
Responding to the mobilization order of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance, Cheondo Gate had dispatched the majority of its core martial artists.
Kwak Young, hailed as the next successor, had personally led the forces of Cheondo Gate and achieved quite a few notable successes.
Yet, he still felt it was not enough.
"This time, show me what you are truly capable of. Prove your worth to your bride and her family."
The cold, indifferent eyes of his father, Kwak Yoo, flickered in his mind.
Kwak Yoo's attitude of always looking down on him deeply irritated Kwak Young.
"Why is he suddenly acting like this?"
Normally, Kwak Yoo paid little attention to him. Since Kwak Young was his only child, Kwak Yoo had never been overly harsh on him. Knowing this, Kwak Young had run wild as he pleased.
Even when he crossed the line and got scolded, he knew Kwak Yoo could never truly cast him aside.
Kwak Young, who desired the future of Cheondo Gate more than anyone, would never allow the achievements he had built with his own hands to be handed over to someone else.
Yet, his father's recent movements had been strange.
"Has he had a change of heart, or has something happened that makes him feel he can finally discard me?"
Over the years, Kwak Young had gone to great lengths to track down and ruthlessly eliminate any of Kwak Yoo's illegitimate children.
The only reason his safety was guaranteed even when he disobeyed Kwak Yoo's orders was because there was no other successor to inherit the clan.
"It seems he's gone and sowed his wild oats behind our backs again."
Clicking his tongue, Kwak Young's eyes flashed with a dangerous, predatory light.
He had gone through so much trouble to slaughter every single bastard child.
"What a persistent old man. Sowing seeds solely for the sake of the sect's future."
Kwak Yoo was not a particularly lustful man. He embraced women for one reason and one reason only: to leave behind his seed.
To sire children through various women, and then raise the one with the greatest martial talent as his successor—that was the principle Kwak Yoo had maintained.
Knowing this, Kwak Young and his mother had hunted down every woman Kwak Yoo met and murdered their children.
"It seems this time, Mother couldn't resolve it with money."
It was a pity, but it couldn't be helped.
"You said he was over there, right?"
Yoo Sung's movements, traveling alongside the Iron Sword of the Tang family, had already been reported to him.
From the very beginning, Kwak Young's target was Yoo Sung.
"Hehehe. You shouldn't have come back. If you had stayed away, you wouldn't have to die like this."
Grinning, Kwak Young walked toward the White Wolf Fort.
His goal was neither the demonic practitioners of the White Wolf Fort nor their demonic arts. It was solely Yoo Sung's head.
The aftermath of the explosion Jang Sam had triggered solely to save his own life was massive.
The Black Brown Fort was completely obliterated, and Jang Sam was captured by Yoo Sung.
"He's completely lost his mind, hasn't he?"
At Ho-sung's words, Yoo Sung clicked his tongue.
"It's a sorcery that destroys the brain the moment one is captured."
He didn't know the exact name of the sorcery. However, he knew that the demonic practitioner who used it belonged to the Matian.
"As expected, those Matian bastards are completely insane."
To the Matian, humans were nothing more than disposable pawns. The demonic practitioners they raised were no different.
"Then why on earth did they create the Matian and start that war?"
Ho-sung's question was one shared by the entire martial world.
"Who knows? No one probably knows the answer. Perhaps not even the remaining remnants of the Matian."
"Having lived my entire life as a puppet, I merely wished to decide my own end."
If the words of the Matian Lord who had died by his hands were true, then even the current peace was part of the Matian's design.
Ultimately, the Matian would show themselves again soon. More massive, more spectacular, and far more ruthless than before.
Before that happens, I must grow the clan's power.
Even if he established reliable shields around them, the core would always be the strength of his own family. A clan did not need to be vast in numbers, but its absolute power had to be immense to have a voice in the martial world. And in the Jianghu, power was determined solely by the presence of absolute masters.
This was why Yoo Sung's gaze turned toward Dogan Mabu.
While Yoo Sung was talking with Ho-sung, Dogan Mabu, who had regained his composure, bowed politely.
Possessing the spirit of a true hero, Dogan Mabu was entirely different from the bandits of the White Wolf Fort.
In times of chaos, men like him are the first to die.
Those with unyielding convictions and a deep sense of loyalty rarely survived. Before the silver tongues of hypocrites, they were merely used as meat shields and discarded.
That guy was similar.
"Bwahahaha! What makes a true hero? Though my beginning was dictated by another, my end shall be of my own choosing!"
He was a man who had left behind words strikingly similar to the final testament of the Matian Lord. He had been overly confident compared to his actual talent, but he had been quite amusing.
A man who fought against the Matian with no grand sense of vengeance or lofty goals, but simply because he wanted to choose his own death.
The Iron Axe, Jang Eok.
Though the martial world had forgotten him, his name and his axe techniques would remain forever etched in Yoo Sung's heart.
As the wielder of that axe, Dogan Mabu might not be a bad choice.
Of course, he still needed to observe him a bit longer.
If fate allows, I will pass it on to him. If not, I can simply find someone else.
There was no need to rush.
"I doubt the entire White Wolf Fort has turned into demonic practitioners. Did only a fraction of them dabble in it?"
"Most likely. From what I can see, five bandit forts, centered around the Black Brown Fort, have become demonic practitioners."
Though he had no concrete proof, Dogan Mabu was certain.
There were four other chiefs who shared a close relationship with Jang Sam, the chief of the Black Brown Fort. Together, they were known as the Five Scoundrels of Baek Mountain.
They were men of petty greed and little talent, constantly stirring up trouble.
Dogan Mabu despised them, but Pa-gun had used them to satisfy his own greed.
"It would have been impossible for Jang Sam to acquire this on his own, and the same goes for the other four. These bastards are undoubtedly Pa-gun's bait, though I do not know what he is plotting..."
Both Dogan Mabu and Yoo Sung had a fair idea of what that plot entailed.
"The Iron Flower."
"Most likely."
"Aigoo, but still, targeting Dang Hwa-young? Just for the White Wolf Fort?"
Despite Ho-sung's doubt, Yoo Sung and Dogan Mabu were absolutely certain.
"That is exactly why they are targeting her."