Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Everyone Disperse
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‘They really pulled it off. I never thought they’d even catch the White Bone Net Demon.’
The more Dang Gyujin looked at Unhwi, the more she couldn’t help but think he was incredible.
On the surface, he seemed like a mischievous rascal who loved fooling people and cracking jokes as a hobby, but beneath that lay an astonishing depth of wisdom.
‘How did he even see through my mother? To him, she was someone who tried to kill him just a short while ago.’
She was truly curious about what went on inside Unhwi’s head.
「Ehehehe! Didn’t I tell you? That guy’s cut from the same cloth as me. No, he’s even more impressive!」
She snapped out of her thoughts at the whisper from the blue-faced ghost mask within her.
‘What? Does that mean Unhwi is—’
「No. Absolutely not. He’s not a spirit. He doesn’t have talent that outstanding. Eheh.」
‘Unhwi lacks outstanding talent?’
Was that even possible?
He’d matched her, who had learned the Heavenly Earth Chronicles, blow for blow.
「That’s what makes him even more impressive.」
Dang Gyujin couldn’t comprehend the blue-faced ghost mask’s words.
But one thing was clear.
The blue-faced ghost mask, which usually only barked orders to fight, kill, and clash, was chattering more than ever for the first time.
「That guy’s a devil. A devil.」
‘A devil?’
「Yeah! A devil! One who devours, tears apart, and boils alive anything that messes with him! No! He’s a Demon King!」
‘!!’
The blue-faced ghost mask’s reaction to Unhwi was one of kinship—or hostility.
「He’s human! Definitely human! So how can a human be like me? This is weirdweirdweirdweirdweird!!」
Dang Gyujin’s mind grew noisy with the blue-faced ghost mask’s shrieks.
「So you better not get on his bad side! You’ll get eaten. I want to fight and kill and tear, not get eaten!!」
Dang Gyujin struggled to understand the blue-faced ghost mask.
But one thing was certain.
Unhwi could not be judged by her own standards.
Even the blue-faced ghost mask, which had rampaged through the world without fear until now, was terrified of him.
He was a new star.
And his fame would soon shake the Sichuan martial world to its core.
Everyone would be on high alert with the Demonic Cult stirring again, and attention would pour onto Unhwi, who had rooted out the threat.
It would be a fame incomparable to the reputation she had built.
And naturally, the position of Nine Dragons Branch Family successor would fall to Unhwi.
Dang Gyujin intended to support him wholeheartedly from the sidelines.
She had never been particularly attached to the successor role to begin with.
She had only accepted it half-heartedly due to pressure from Namgung San-yeong and the family retainers, but with someone this exceptional, yielding was the virtuous choice.
Besides, she harbored a lingering desire to hone her swordsmanship further at the Qingcheng Sect.
‘Mother and Yuchang will object strongly, but there’s no helping it.’
After the White Bone Net Demon’s death, the occasional glances from Namgung San-yeong had troubled her.
‘Please… please don’t let me commit the filial impiety of harming my own mother.’
Dang Gyujin silently, fervently wished for something she could never voice to Namgung San-yeong.
* * *
The search wrapped up quickly.
Thoroughly combing the underground areas around the secret chamber revealed quite a few more spaces.
Letters exchanged with the New Cult, logs recording their various schemes to establish themselves in the Nine Dragons County, ingots of gold donated by figures including Namgung San-yeong under the guise of offerings to the shrine.
Even among them were classified documents marked ‘South Palace,’ sending chills down everyone’s spines.
It was ironclad proof that the South Palace Clan was directly involved in this Demonic Cult activity—something they couldn’t just gloss over.
But the worst was yet to come.
“No way—”
“These lunatics…!”
“Ughhh! Blech!”
The underground beneath what was presumed to be Sukan’s ranch held a prison.
Countless animal carcasses lay scattered, limbs torn off haphazardly.
A foul stench permeated the air, swarming with flies and maggots.
The real horror was the human bones mixed in among them.
Causes of death varied wildly.
Some bound in iron chains and tortured to death, others left to starve, some who devoured each other in hunger-induced madness, victims of plagues, those killed in fights, even ones who bashed their heads against the walls in suffocating despair to end it all.
A sight too gruesome for words.
Hell on earth.
Dang Gyujin clamped a hand over her mouth at the inhuman spectacle no true human could perpetrate.
Dang Gon ground his teeth.
Namgung San-yeong, with her weak stomach, retched in a corner.
「Even the New Cult’s deranged maniacs wouldn’t stoop this low—」
「No wonder Black Bone Ghost Valley keeps getting shut out of the mainstream—they’re nothing but filthy rejects who can’t rise on their own!」
「Hey, kid! You didn’t take part in this crap, did you?」
Even the specters, no strangers to brutality, burned with rage.
Even demons had their code of ‘righteousness.’
To temper oneself relentlessly toward ultimate strength, and stand at the pinnacle above all.
That was the demon path generally accepted in the New Cult.
But some lost control, addicted instead to the drug of power.
Exploiting the weak and discarding their humanity.
That wasn’t the demonic way. It was mere evil.
Black Bone Ghost Valley was evil.
「No! Absolutely not! This place is Sukan’s ranch for crafting death knights! I was a victim too!」
The Fifteenth Tiger bounced in place.
「I came to Black Bone Ghost Valley of my own accord seeking strength, but after that, it was nothing but days of torment. It’s a memory I’d rather forget. Please believe me!」
Sincerity poured from the Fifteenth Tiger.
It seemed that was why he’d been thrilled when the White Bone Net Demon, a junior, arrived.
“The Demonic Cult or South Palace Clan might catch wind of this place anytime. We should transport all these materials to the branch family before then.”
Dang Gon and Dang Gyujin nodded gravely at my words.
“To prepare for any contingencies, have Uncle guard this place, and Sister, go with Mother to the branch family to report this and bring reinforcements.”
“What? Then what about you, Hwi?”
Dang Gyujin’s eyes widened, sensing I planned to slip away elsewhere.
“I’m going to follow the White Bone Net Demon’s trail.”
“Trail?”
“Yes. I learned a few things about Black Bone Ghost Valley while fighting him. I want to pursue them.”
Catching the White Bone Net Demon had been an officially sanctioned mission for ‘Dang Unhwi’ by the Nine Dragons Branch Family, so I could move with these two.
But not from here on.
Now it was time for ‘Yeon Unhwi’ to act directly.
I couldn’t tell them I was off to rescue survivors of the Angma Divine Illusion Sect.
So I made the excuse of chasing other traces of Black Bone Ghost Valley.
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
The ones pursuing the Divine Illusion Sect survivors were Black Bone Ghost Valley’s hunters, after all.
“It’s dangerous! How do you know what might happen!”
“Other Twelve Black Ghosts could show up. I’ll accompany you.”
Of course, Dang Gyujin and Dang Gon wouldn’t let me go alone that easily.
Sure, I’d caught the White Bone Net Demon solo, but that was thanks to the advantage of a surprise ambush.
Facing another of the Twelve Black Ghosts head-on? I couldn’t guarantee victory.
“No. I have to go alone. Who’ll guard here otherwise? Who’ll go to the branch family?”
“Well—”
“Or Hwi, you go with Mother to the branch family. I’ll chase the trail.”
I shook my head at Dang Gyujin’s suggestion.
“There’s too much I can’t explain right now. I have to go. Besides.”
I cut myself off, glancing subtly toward Namgung San-yeong.
Dang Gyujin looked the same way and hardened her expression.
She understood I meant we needed to keep an eye on Namgung San-yeong.
Moreover, if the South Palace Clan was truly involved, even Dang Gyujin, born of that bloodline, would need temporary scrutiny.
“I won’t overdo it. I’ll leave markers along my path. Once you finish up here, just send reinforcements.”
“…….”
“…….”
“And who knows—their trails could be vanishing even now. Or what new schemes they’re plotting elsewhere. Let me go.”
Dang Gon and Dang Gyujin stared at each other in silence.
A wordless exchange passed through their eyes, heavy with unspoken discussion. How it would end was obvious.
* * *
“You absolutely can’t push yourself until we get there. Got it?”
Dang Gyujin didn’t stop worrying until we exited the shrine.
It took a long while of reassuring her before I could send her to the branch family.
Namgung San-yeong watched me briefly, but I ignored her.
Let her stew in her panic a bit longer.
Dang Gon said to trust him alone with the shrine. Even if Black Bone Ghost Valley remnants returned from outside, he’d handle them stylishly, and joked to save some for him when he joined the reinforcements later.
“Pretty great people, huh?”
Descending the wild mountain path.
I glanced back at the specters and said it casually.
The specters nodded.
「I hesitate to say it, but from what we’ve seen, no one trusts the young leader more than these two.」
「They may be riffraff from the orthodox sects, but their loyalty to the young leader is genuine.」
「If we’d been from the same faction, I’d often think of sharing a drink with them.」
Looks like I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Right.
Dang Gon, Dang Gyujin—they were all great people.
If I had to name the greatest treasure I’d gained since awakening as ‘Dang Unhwi,’ it might just be these two.
Without them, would I have clung to the Nine Dragons Branch Family? Or cast it all aside to roam as a wild man, chasing the Angma Divine Illusion Sect?
That’s why this rescue had to succeed, no matter what.
Paaat—
I wrapped myself in the Wicked Ghost Battle Cloak. I maxed out my spirit power and internal energy, fully opening my central dantian.
Gale Wind Divine Speed.
I planned to keep unleashing the lightness skill that turned me into a straight-line gust of wind straight to my destination without pause.
“Everyone disperse. Find and bring back anything that could be a clue—survivors of the Divine Illusion Sect, Black Bone Ghost Valley pursuers, or any traces they left behind.”
「Understood!」
「Understood!」
「Understood!」
From now on, I was no longer Dang Unhwi.
I was Yeon Unhwi.
* * *
The southwestern region of Sichuan Province leading to the west was all steep gorges and high plateaus with thin air.
Daocheong County sat at the gateway to those plateaus.
Surrounded by sheer mountains, dense fog rose from rivers that hadn’t fully drained away.
That’s why, despite being next to Nine Dragons County, reaching Daocheong County was no easy feat.
Even the official roads were poorly maintained, broken in places.
But with the specters’ guidance, I navigated without getting lost and arrived safely in Daocheong County.