Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Black Thunder
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“…….”
Gongsun Beom offered no response to my question.
He simply clamped his lips shut.
It was hard to believe this was the same guy who'd been so eagerly stirring up the crowd just moments ago. He was that quiet.
No, rather than quiet, he was scanning every inch of me with eyes that seemed intent on prying something out of me.
I didn't like the look in those eyes. Should I just smash him one more time?
“Young Sect Leader! Give it to me! Grant me the chance!! Let me give that fool a proper lesson and prove my loyalty to the Little Demon!”
Number Fifteen suddenly threw himself flat before me.
But then Number Sixteen jumped in right after, not wanting to be left out.
“No, sire! Let me do it! Grant me the chance! The new recruits are already drilled straight as arrows!”
“You wretch!! Even tea has its hierarchy—how dare you try to cut in front of your senior!?”
“In the realm of spirits, what senior or junior? It's who earns the Young Sect Leader's favor that matters!”
“You bastard!”
“Young Sect Leader, grant me the chance!”
“No, grant it to me!!”
I couldn't stand the sight of them all scrambling to cling to me.
What the hell had gotten into them?
When I glanced silently at the other specters, one cleared his throat and spoke up.
“They've both been too busy managing the North Sea Sect's new recruits lately, haven't they?”
‘Was that it?’
“And it seems there was some argument between the two.”
‘An argument?’
“Yes. Over which of them the Young Sect Leader trusts more—”
Trust?
Who?
Me?
Them?
“I, of all people, am the loyal servant you kindly took in as your youngest! Above, I care for the seniors, and below, I serve as an example to the juniors—”
“Ha! Even so, you were just a low-grade demon! Do you know how long my bond with the Young Sect Leader goes back? If we count from our living days, it's over a decade of deep brotherhood—”
Loyal servant? Bond?
Listening to this nonsense nearly made me burst out laughing.
I ignored both of them and tossed the command tablet toward Gongsun Beom.
Clack!
It rolled feebly across the floor with his name inscribed on it.
Gongsun Beom's face hardened.
“…What does this mean?”
I crossed my arms and snorted lightly.
“You sure can talk now. I thought you'd gone mute from some head injury.”
“…….”
“No matter what I ask, you'll just stonewall me anyway, right? And if I flash this tablet and give orders, you'll ignore it and defy me. Or maybe sneak off with my coin pouch at the first chance.”
“…….”
“A pain like you under me is nothing but a headache. What's the point? So just take it and get lost.”
“…….”
Gongsun Beom glared back and forth between the tablet and me.
As if he could figure out my scheme that way.
Of course, if he could glean anything from that, it wouldn't be called Little Heavenly Demon.
“…I don't know what you're thinking.”
In the end, Gongsun Beom pocketed his tablet and rose from his seat.
“You'll regret letting me go like this soon enough.”
“Regret, my ass—just scram already? Or should I smash the tablet for you?”
Gongsun Beom glared at me wordlessly, tucked the tablet into his bosom, and stepped into the Flying Heaven Guard's Silver Phantom Step.
Flash!
His vanishing technique was impressive.
I turned to the Onma waiting in standby.
“Follow him.”
“By your command!”
Whoosh!
From now on, I planned to tail Gongsun Beom.
What interested me wasn't the man himself—Flying Heaven Fox Gongsun Beom—but his exact backer.
* * *
Screeeeech—
‘He'll definitely tail me.’
Gongsun Beom glanced back as he swiftly exited the Black Tortoise Hall.
Nothing in sight.
He spread his senses wide.
Still nothing detected.
But Gongsun Beom was certain Yunhwi was pursuing him from somewhere.
Why else had he shown the North Sea Sect's sect leader relic?
Because he'd sniffed out his true identity.
The reason for releasing him like this was plain as day.
Hurry up and report back to the backer.
That way, they could track him down.
The problem was, even knowing all this—even seeing through Yunhwi's every ploy—he had no choice but to move.
It was a major incident: the sect's grand legacy severed.
Fail to report it properly?
Even with extenuating circumstances, trouble would come eventually.
If reprimanded, he was done for.
Of course, getting tailed by Yunhwi meant he was done for too.
They'd lop off his head once he was used up.
So Gongsun Beom decided to use his head.
‘Just leave no evidence behind.’
What Yunhwi wanted was the link connecting him to his backer.
The methods or means of communication to that link. So he'd reverse-engineer it.
‘As if I'll let you have your way.’
Gongsun Beom headed to a secret safehouse on the outer compound's outskirts.
Unleashing his full World's Best Lightweight Skill, the Continuous Step.
And about half a shichen later.
Flutter flutter!
Over a hundred pigeons and hawks took flight from various spots in the Tang outer compound.
* * *
“It seems the fool's trying to use his wits.”
“Desperately scheming to fool the Young Sect Leader's eyes—such folly.”
“In the end, everything he does is within the Young Sect Leader's palm.”
I stood atop my lodging's roof, quietly observing the carrier pigeons and hawks in the sky.
As the specters said, Gongsun Beom was struggling in his own way.
Releasing birds all at once would draw too much attention, so he spaced them out by time and place.
Send a hawk from the outer east now, then a pigeon from the inner west half a gak later.
He even sent people on contrived errands outside or chatted deliberately with friendly warriors.
All desperate, tearful efforts to evade my eyes.
He must've figured I couldn't assign tails to every single one.
Tracking them all and investigating would overwhelm any manpower.
Even if possible, it'd take time—enough for them to clean up.
But he didn't know one thing.
I had a trump card that more than covered it all.
Specter arts.
Kiiiiiaaaah!
From the Nine Dragons Great Battle, I'd harvested over a hundred specters.
Inject them with Black Dragon Qi, and they could roam freely outside.
Meaning I could attach them to every pigeon and hawk.
“This one's not it!”
“This is a decoy—”
“This pigeon nested in the Discipline Hall originally—”
“Not here either—”
Reports came in real-time.
If a bust, they shifted instantly per Onma's orders to spots needing tighter watch.
Through swift tracking, surveillance, and analysis, we soon pinpointed the contact's rough location after some time.
“The contact seems to be in the stable hidden in the outer northeast woods!!”
Onma's full report.
I unleashed Gale Wind Divine Speed.
Flash!
I appeared in the sky above.
Below, one specter flitted noisily over the stable.
“The stablehands inside received the pigeons and checked the letters!! They're now copying them onto new letters and tying them to other carrier pigeons!”
A stable, huh.
Perfect for hiding pigeons and such animals while managing horses.
No one pays much mind to lowly stablehands doing grunt work.
Tucked in the woods, easy to conceal traces.
Smart spot selection.
But to nestle right in Tang Family Fortress—the most insular spot in Central Plains martial world.
Must've taken serious effort over years… but oh well?
It's about to vanish.
Flash!
I spread the Violet Illusion Veil.
The space around the stable warped.
A barren wasteland appeared.
Trees, fences, woods, hills, halls, Tang Fortress—all gone. Just the lone stable on endless desolation.
Conditions weren't right for summoning Evil Ghost Hell Formation (or risk alerting Tang experts), so plain illusion sufficed against these small fry.
“Illusion…!?”
“Damn! We've been made!!”
Two stablehands burst out, grinding their teeth.
Inside, frantic movements—burning documents, no doubt.
I unleashed specters infused with heavy Black Dragon Qi.
Kiiiiiaaaah!
Kee-kee-kee-kiik—
Eerie wails and thick ghostly miasma engulfed the stable.
The more Black Dragon Qi specters absorbed, the deadlier their spectral venom.
Free to roam, how much poison and curse would flood the stable?
“Gack……!”
“This can't—”
They clutched throats, convulsed, and dropped one by one.
Faces pale, foam at mouths.
Thud!
“Y-You—”
One stablehand still breathing recognized me.
I smirked and booted his skull.
Splat!
I wasn't after these small fry anyway.
No need to subdue—just kill and bind with Golden Lock Chains later. Easier to interrogate that way.
Besides, the real target was inside.
Creaaaaak!
The stable door swung wide.
Beyond horse carcasses poisoned to death by specters.
A man sat on a round chair, clicking his tongue, glaring at me.
“…Damn fox whelp. Tracked by the tail like this? Do you know the effort and time my family poured into this place?”
His clothes were shabby, but his aura dwarfed the stablehands.
His eyes crackled nonstop with brilliant yellow lightning, and heatwaves from it shoved back the miasma with force.
His lightning was hot yet sinister somehow.
Tinged with black.
Black Thunder.
“Never dreamed the South Palace Clan— a direct bloodline no less—would coil right in the heart of the main family's turf.”
I twisted my lips.
Thunderclap Fury symbolized the East, West, South Palaces, and among it, Black Thunder marked the Dark Thunder Division's elite.
Not a branch—direct line.
Not young either; clearly a renowned master in the jianghu.
I knew instinctively.
This was the decision-maker overseeing the Dark Thunder Division across Sichuan from Tang Family Fortress.
Chasing a tail led to landing a big fish sooner than expected.
“…….”
He ignored my words, scrutinizing my surroundings closely.
Confirming no one else, he sneered coldly.
“Brat, you shouldn't have come here. And if you did, not alone—you should've brought Tang Family Fortress backup.”
He figured my greed blinded me to come solo.
“Your recklessness just sealed your fate. Don't forget it even in the Nine Heavens.”
Like a senior lecturing a junior.
Rumble!
Black lightning filled the stable and crashed down on my head.