Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Heart Demon
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"Are you finally coming to your senses?"
Inside the carriage heading back to Nine Dragons County.
I regained my senses only after a considerable amount of time had passed.
Tang Gyujin sat across from me, looking at me cautiously.
I formed a fist salute and bowed my head.
"I'm sorry for showing such an unsightly side of myself."
"You've come to your senses."
I scratched my cheek with an awkward expression.
After all, I had shown an unsightly side.
I also formed a fist salute toward Tang Ri and the other branch members beside him.
"I'm sorry for startling you. It seems I overexerted myself clashing with the Demonic Cult's lackeys."
"It's not uncommon for one's mind and body to become disordered after intense combat. We understand, Young Master. Still, it's a relief that you handled it without any major issues."
Someone of Tang Ri's caliber would have surely noticed that this wasn't just the aftermath of a simple battle.
Yet, his choice to gloss over it without further comment was likely consideration for me.
Of course, it was probably also because he didn't want to experience the intense killing intent I had exuded again.
The gazes of the other branch members guarding outside the carriage, peeking in furtively, carried a hint of fear.
"Then, by any chance—"
"If you're asking for proof of slaying the Demonic Child, it's here."
I held out a small wooden box.
Tang Ri accepted it with a tense expression, opened the lid, and hardened his face.
Tang Gyujin glanced over and widened his eyes.
"This one is—"
"Recognize him?"
"How could I not? Isn't this the Small Number Ghost Sword of the Horse Demon North Sea Sect, the North Wind Ghost himself?"
Inside the wooden box was the head of Baek San, dead with eyes bulging wide.
Beside it lay several other heads.
"And even the Four Sword Guards of Black Bone Ghost Valley... We must assume they've already infiltrated deep into Sichuan's martial world. It seems the internal strife in Tianshan is nearly over."
A chilling light gleamed in Tang Ri's eyes.
As expected of someone who had blocked the Divine Cult on the front lines in his youth, his murderous intent toward demonic beings was extraordinary.
One could glimpse his rage toward these barbarians who dared defile his territory.
Click!
Tang Ri closed the box lid again and spoke.
"By any chance, the contents of the interrogation—"
"I'll report them separately to the Branch Leader."
"Understood. Then we will summarize the incident log promptly and report it to the Orchid Cooperation Hall."
Tang Ri bowed neatly.
"We apologize for not arriving sooner to provide aid."
"It's fine. It was my hasty action that caused it. Still, thanks to you all, I can return comfortably like this, right?"
At my humble-not-humble words, a flicker of emotion passed over Tang Ri's eyes.
I smiled brightly as well.
With this, my position in the Nine Dragons Branch Family was perfectly solidified.
From the White Bone Net to slaying the Ghost Swords.
Who else my age had racked up such merits so quickly?
Still fatigued and wanting more rest, I asked permission and closed my eyes quietly.
「Has the heart demon calmed down a bit?」
At that moment, Onma, perched on the carriage roof, cautiously transmitted his voice.
The other spirits, too, refrained from speaking rashly, watching me with gazes filled with fear.
From the living to the dead, everyone looking at me that way suggested my killing intent had been truly vicious.
Instead of answering, I nodded silently.
Even slightly recalling the interrogation contents made rage boil up from the depths of my chest again.
'Uheheh, uhehehehe...! You vicious...! You, of all people, cannot point fingers at us...! Young Cult Leader... you are a malevolent ghost, a malevolent ghost!!'
Baek San had been torn into hundreds, thousands of pieces and annihilated.
In the end, even his resolute spirit, which refused to open its mouth until the very last, couldn't withstand that hellish torment.
The curse he spat out at the end still echoed in my ears, after spilling everything he knew.
'A malevolent ghost, huh. Well deserved.'
What I asked him boiled down to two things.
The North Sea Sect's objective.
And the treatment of the Divine Cult followers.
The former yielded quite a bit of interesting information.
All intel I couldn't have gotten from the White Bone Net.
However, I still learned nothing about my master.
Even in Tianshan, no one knew anything about Master.
He had vanished completely without a trace.
But when I posed the latter question...
I had steeled myself for it.
The five sects following the council all harbored grudges against my master and the Heavenly Demon Mythic Cult on a regular basis.
So I expected poor treatment, but the extent of it surpassed imagination.
The survivors left in Tianshan were treated worse than beasts.
Followers caught after fleeing were executed, or sold into slavery to be used as tools for all sorts of experiments and massacres.
Their resentment, hatred, lamentations, lingering attachments, despair, sorrow... all of it seemed to transmit directly to me.
Something suffocating piled up layer upon layer in my chest.
When it finally exceeded the critical point, it erupted.
Baek San being pulverized even finer after spilling everything was due to that rage of mine.
But such a thing wouldn't make all my fury vanish.
Thus, the heart demon awakened.
With all three dantian in turmoil, I should have regained my composure and calmed down, but I failed to do so properly.
If Tang Gyujin hadn't soothed me, would I have even avoided falling into qi deviation?
Even now, the heart demon hadn't vanished completely; it had merely retreated deep into my chest.
It probably wouldn't disappear until I rescued all the followers from the swamp of despair.
Thus, I had to redouble my efforts.
Now, the heart demon would serve as my whip.
A whip to ensure I never stop running.
'Since you called me a malevolent ghost, I'll become one for real.'
A voice resounded from one corner of my mind, crushing Baek San's curse.
'As long as I can save my followers.'
* * *
We arrived at Nine Dragons County around midday.
"It's Young Master Unhwi!"
"Where, where?"
"There he is!"
"It's really him. Wooow!!"
From the main gate onward, servants poured out in droves.
The fervor of their gazes made even me, who prided myself on my thick skin, flinch.
"...What's all this?"
"The merits you've earned have been made public to all the servants. They probably know about capturing the Ghost Sword too."
Tang Gyujin chuckled lightly and pushed my back.
Those gawking at my face weren't just servants.
Some guests who had visited the branch for the Dark Venerable mourning event were there too.
I had experienced similar in Tianshan, but not stares this intense.
「Doesn't it mean their grudge against the Divine Cult runs that deep?」
Onma quietly flew over and perched on my shoulder.
'Grudge.'
「The predecessor of the Nine Dragons Branch Family was the Mad Wind Brigade. They clashed most frequently with the Divine Cult while traversing border regions like Sichuan, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. So it's no wonder they harbor one or two grudges against the Divine Cult.」
What an amusing twist.
To think that I, the young leader of the Divine Cult in my previous life, had become the hope of a family that viewed the Divine Cult as mortal enemies.
On the other hand, seeing the sneers once poured on 'Dang Unhwi' flip in just a few days drew a snort from me.
This was the martial world.
A place where fame and honor could flip like the palm of a hand at any moment.
That's why I couldn't fully trust this place.
'Namgung San-yeong doesn't seem to be around.'
The evidence from the White Bone Net's ghost ritual array had all been secured, but Namgung San-yeong's crimes hadn't been publicly announced yet.
With a major event approaching, showing internal discord wouldn't do any good, and if the Demonic Cult grew wary and tucked in their tails, it would spell big trouble.
Instead, Namgung San-yeong had been imprisoned separately, just as I requested.
Ignoring the pouring gazes, I headed straight for the Orchid Cooperation Hall.
Tang Gon followed right behind.
"I heard you caused quite the spectacle."
"What spectacle? I went and raised the branch's honor."
"Before catching the Demonic Cult bastards, you smashed up the Daoist Brigade's faces first, didn't you?"
"Oh, that?"
"See?"
"What's with that look?"
"I figured as a Young Master, you'd have forgotten about it, and lo and behold, you have."
"Misunderstanding."
"Spot on, probably."
It felt like if the conversation dragged on, I'd just get nagged.
"Anyway, what are you getting at?"
"Envoys are swarming. The Orchid Cooperation Hall's been in an uproar since morning over it."
"Well, true to their envoy nature, they're probably sending experts for revenge. Just smash them."
"If it were just that, I wouldn't mention it."
"There's more? Even the Lion Sword King himself?"
It was a joke tossed out carelessly.
"Yes."
"...Huh?"
"The Lion Sword King is really coming."
"......"
What were the odds of that being true?
I had nothing to say.
"Anyway, the liege has quite a bit to say about this too. Well then."
Tang Gon bowed briefly and left.
I let out a hollow laugh.
The arrival of the martial world's overlord of Guizhou Province.
It was hard to envision how this would act as a variable in the various conspiracies unfolding around the Nine Dragons Branch Family going forward.
But even so, it wouldn't derail the plans I had laid.
Now that I knew the North Sea Sect and Divine Cult's schemes in full, this game was essentially in my grasp.
Only one thing remained needed.
The final piece of the puzzle board.
Namely, Tang Ho-san's plan.
"The Branch Leader awaits inside. Please enter."
Creak!
The doors to the Orchid Cooperation Hall swung wide open.
Unlike my previous visit, the bustling servants parted to either side and bowed politely.
I crossed the center and formed a fist salute toward Tang Ho-san, seated at the conference table.
"Your son Dang Unhwi has completed all missions and returned."
As before, he seemed in the midst of a meeting; Tang Ho-san lowered the spectacles perched on his nose and spoke.
"We agreed on just the White Bone Net's head... but you piled on the Ghost Sword—no, the North Wind Ghost's head too?"
"I'm pretty capable, aren't I?"
"I'm starting to fear how much that talented son of mine will demand in return. You even scratched the Lion Gate Sect, who were minding their own business."
"They deserved it; couldn't be helped."
"And that moved the Lion Sword King?"
"Got nothing to say there. Who could've predicted a figure like that would stir?"
His gaze was calm to the point of icy coldness.
A mischievous urge rose to crack that facade.
"And... one more thing to add."
"What?"
"The full picture of the North Sea Sect's plan."
"!!"
"Doesn't this qualify me—nay, overqualify me—to join the Branch Leader's plan?"
Tang Ho-san's pupils trembled faintly before hardening again.
Even with bait this big, just that reaction.
His composure was truly remarkable.
"Overqualified."
"Then—"
"Follow me."
Tang Gon closed his documents, rose, and approached one wall.
He subtly pushed a brick, and the floor beneath a nearby pillar split left and right, revealing stairs descending underground.
Rumble!
Tang Ho-san descended wordlessly.
Tang Gon let out a hollow laugh for a moment.
"Hah! You earned merits, but to show you the Wind Erosion Court already... Perhaps the liege has inwardly marked you as successor with this chance."
At the word "successor," I smiled faintly.
"What's so special about that place to make such a fuss?"
"The beginning and end of the branch."
Beginning and end?
"You'll see when you go. Hurry now."
Tang Gon's steps brimmed with excitement.
The stairs were a narrow spiral, requiring a grueling descent for quite a while before ending.
An enormous cavern appeared.
「Heavens! To think a facility of this scale underground.」
「The mechanisms and formations installed everywhere are of top caliber. No wonder we never detected it!」
「I knew the Sichuan Tang Clan had deep knowledge in woodworking and architecture, but this level is rare even in the Divine Cult.」
It meant the Nine Dragons Branch Family wasn't just any branch of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Whoever built a facility like this must be a formidable expert too.
'Old Half God General.'
The elder's face flashed in my mind, grinning in ecstasy as he detonated explosives.
The personnel filling the Wind Erosion Court far outnumbered those upstairs.
People dashed about clutching stacks of documents, while unidentified maps and materials plastered the walls everywhere.
But what drew my eyes was the map on the innermost wall.
「The full map of the world... beyond the Central Plains, even outside. Such precision.」
With Sichuan at the center, to the right lay the Central Plains and East Sea, to the left vast Western Tibet, Xinjiang and the Western Regions, and beyond to Tianzhu and Europa.
Major and minor sects and powers were marked, with brief notes on key traits, numbers, relations to the Sichuan Tang Clan, and future development directions.
'So this is what you were aiming for.'
In that instant, the final puzzle piece clicked into place.
Now I understood.
Tang Ho-san's ambitions weren't limited to Sichuan or the western Central Plains; they exceeded my expectations.
The world.
His gaze encompassed not just the Central Plains, but the outer lands, the Western Regions—the entire world.
This place, the beginning and end of the Nine Dragons Branch Family, wasn't merely a conference room.
—Strategies of the World.
It was the grand hall where the Tang Clan plotted how to strategize the world and beyond, centered on themselves.