Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: That Bastard Side-Branch Upstart
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Tang Geon-hu, one of the six squad leaders of Jeongpung Pavilion, was utterly dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in Jeongpung Pavilion.
‘Arrogant little shit! That bastard side-branch nobody who couldn’t even look me in the eye and just groveled on the floor not long ago—how dare he strut around like he knows everything...!’
He had originally been part of the faction that strongly supported Tang Yu-chang for the Red Squad Hall.
And for good reason. Wasn’t the marriage alliance symbolizing harmony between the Western Tang Clan and the South Palace Clan the very union of Tang Yu-chang and Tang Gyu-jin?
By rights of legitimacy or bloodline alike, he firmly believed that Tang Yu-chang, the rightful heir, was the only path to the Nine Dragons Branch Family’s glorious future.
But then, out of nowhere, the illegitimate son’s momentum had risen like wildfire, swallowing everything whole.
Tang Gyu-jin had been handed over to Yunhwi, and Tang Yu-chang had been forced to leave the branch family in solitude.
Harmony with the South Palace Clan?
It had all ended the moment Namgung San-yeong died.
Now, only war with them remained.
‘If the Demonic Cult is stirring, shouldn’t we pull the South Palace even more firmly to our side? And yet, because of some petty power struggle, he’s casting out fellow Central Plains folk...! It’s like burning down the thatched roof to kill the bedbugs.’
But there were scarcely any in the Nine Dragons Branch Family left to ponder such grave matters besides himself.
‘Especially those Gwangpung Squad bastards—they’re the worst! Wagging their tails at the illegitimate like fawning dogs the moment power was decided.’
As an outsider himself, Tang Geon-hu despised the Gwangpung Squad members for always sticking together and swaggering about.
Not long ago, Tang Gon had rebelled against Yunhwi’s orders to overhaul the surveillance system around Punghwa Pavilion from top to bottom, only to suffer public humiliation in front of his subordinates. That incident was all part of this.
Because of it, Tang Geon-hu ground his teeth, vowing to one day repay those Gwangpung Squad bastards in full.
‘Punghwa Pavilion’s the same. Everything’s gone haywire. They’re dragging the branch family I’ve devoted my life to straight into hellfire!’
Yet Tang Geon-hu couldn’t voice these inner thoughts recklessly.
His friends who had done so had all been branded as “pro-South Palace” subversives and demoted.
So he planned to bide his time in hiding as best he could.
‘The illegitimate bastard’s rampaging like a tyrannical thunderbolt right now. He’ll show an opening eventually. I have to wait for that.’
And to create such an opening, Tang Geon-hu had lately been dragging his feet on orders.
“Squad leader, is this really okay? This is... disobeying orders.”
His sixth squad’s current mission was surveilling the night market perimeter.
But Tang Geon-hu was half-assing it, dumping most of the work on his subordinates.
With the squad leader slacking, the squad members—who had been on high alert at first—were inevitably growing lax.
Worried about this, one subordinate cautiously voiced his concern, but Tang Geon-hu just scoffed.
“What do you mean disobeying orders? We’re standing watch in the assigned sequence, patrolling the designated routes, aren’t we?”
“But this is the old patrol method from before the sub-branch leader revised it... Gahk!”
Tang Geon-hu seized the subordinate by the scruff of the neck as he kept talking back.
“You insolent punk, who the hell do you think you’re ordering around? Isn’t what you’re doing right now disobeying a superior’s command?”
“Guhk, guhk...! I-I was just—”
“Who put you up to this crap? Tang Gon? You’re not seriously saying that bastard’s orders as a mere regular agent outrank your direct superior—me—are you?”
Jealousy flickered in Tang Geon-hu’s eyes.
“N-No—”
He released the chokehold before the man suffocated.
Thud!
“One more word out of you, and I’ll execute you on the spot. Got it?”
“Y-Yes, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then get back to your post.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Tang Geon-hu frowned as he watched the subordinate scamper off.
“Mae Pung Knights, Maeng Pung Knights—honorary titles from the old days, nothing more. And they’re still deluded by that nonsense. Tsk!”
Lately, word was that young agents were buzzing with admiration for Tang Gon and the Yunhwi he supported.
Even in the sixth squad, it seemed he’d need to root out that rotten mindset first to straighten things out.
There was just so much to do.
‘The Demonic Cult bastards are even more insidious and vicious than we know? We can’t block their claws with the current system? Bullshit!’
Grind!
Tang Geon-hu gnashed his teeth.
‘A kid not even twenty—what the hell does he know? Unlike you, who just flap your gums, we—me especially—have been running ourselves ragged for years to stop the Demonic Cult. I know them better than anyone.’
So the previous defense system, perfected through exhaustive study, was more than enough.
He had zero intention of following Yunhwi’s system, which tossed safety to the dogs.
“From the start, letting a unqualified bastard side-branch punk run wild was the mistake—”
As Tang Geon-hu turned, venting his frustration, something cold suddenly pressed under his chin.
Slash—
Before he could react, his head tumbled to the ground.
The ghost who had ambushed him gave the corpse a chilly glance before turning elsewhere.
『Moving to the next location.』
『Understood.』
『Understood.』
Ghosts bearing frost prowled the night sky.
* * *
‘The air’s shifted.’
Onma halted mid-flight, instinctively sensing something as he straightened up.
‘The number of warriors covering sectors six and seven southeast of the night market seems down.’
Just in case, he beat his wings wide and headed toward the Nine Dragons Branch Family compound.
If the North Sea Clan had moved far earlier than Beolhai predicted or hatched some other scheme, he figured there’d be movement from the Fourth Guest Hall.
And right on cue, an old man with a bizarre seal emerged for a stroll in front of the Guest Hall.
As if waiting for something.
‘...Waiting?’
A foreboding chill hit Onma, widening his eyes.
From a distance beyond human sight, a middle-aged man suddenly looked up toward Onma’s position in the sky.
And smiled.
『Heh heh heh, so you’re the freak! The oddity who fled Old Ghost Valley’s embrace, clinging bat-like to those fools and bedeviling us at every turn!』
‘One of the Twelve Black Ghosts!!’
Judging by the sorcery in the transmission, this sorcerer outclassed even the White Bone Net Formation.
『Time to return to our fold.』
Onma frantically flapped to send a spirit message to Yunhwi, but a cold trajectory sliced the air first.
Thud!
Moments later, a falcon plummeted lifelessly to the ground.
* * *
Silence blanketed the alley, utter stillness reigning.
Not even crickets chirped.
Fwoosh!
Tang Gyu-jin and Yu Su-min rapidly expanded their senses.
‘Nothing!’
But no presence stirred anywhere nearby.
Not even in the thatched huts beyond the walls.
Meaning the whole area was abandoned.
Or had been made so.
Clang!
As the three drew their swords with grim faces, a frigid snow wind descended from the sky.
Clang-clang-clang—
Blade lights sharply flashed through the gale.
They barely deflected all the swords.
Thud, patter!
The snow wind leaped far away before alighting atop the walls.
They transformed into swordsmen radiating icy glares and auras, like snow demons from frozen wastes.
“As expected of the later-generation talents leading Sichuan’s martial world—you even blocked the Ice Flash.”
At their center emerged a man.
Ordinary face, but an extraordinary air.
The trio’s expressions hardened.
“Demonic qi...!!”
“You’ve got a good nose for it.”
The man, Gu Min-chae, smiled coldly.
Since ancient times, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had branded the Nine Great Sects—full of Daoist and Buddhist sects—as heretics for betraying divine teachings.
He’d caught the Daoist scent wafting from Tang Gyu-jin.
“But... you’re not panicking much. So the Nine Dragons Branch Family already sensed we were here?”
Yu Su-min and Sima Yeon-ui’s gazes whipped toward Tang Gyu-jin.
They’d known nothing of this.
But Tang Gyu-jin had no time to explain.
He just tightened his grip on his Azure River Sword in silence.
‘Guryonghyeon was guarded airtight by Jeongpung Pavilion warriors. For them to appear means—’
The agents around here had all been taken out.
‘I have to tell Hwi right now!’
But they were surrounded by Dao demons, with no gap to escape.
Worse, their leader Gu Min-chae’s aura was no joke.
His demonic qi boiled as if ready to erupt.
‘At least peak transcendent realm!’
A hopeless situation.
No matter their genius status in Sichuan’s martial world, the three were mere minor peaks compared to Gu Min-chae.
“Well, doesn’t matter. I have business with you for an entirely different reason.”
Gu Min-chae smiled.
And vanished.
“!?”
Tang Gyu-jin whipped his head around, searching frantically, only to find him leisurely standing before Yu Su-min.
“The Ami Sect’s Anti-Demon Sword is a pain in various ways. Shall we start by disarming it?”
Yu Su-min had no chance to react.
Before she could circulate her qi, Gu Min-chae’s palm strike slammed her chest.
Boom!
She spewed blood and flew back, her face deathly pale.
“Sister Min!!”
“Min!”
Tang Gyu-jin and Sima Seon screamed, slashing at Gu Min-chae. Sword qi flashed.
“Foolish.”
Gu Min-chae scoffed, one hand behind his back as he casually parried both swords with the other in a divine feat.
Clang-clang-clang!
Fwoosh—
He then spread his hand wide and unleashed an air-splitting palm.
The Ice Soul Divine Palm, famed from the North Sea Divine Palace—the North Sea Clan’s predecessor.
Boom!
Shattered ice scattered.
Tang Gyu-jin and Sima Seon’s bodies were encased in frost.
Chilling qi invaded their meridians, halting qi flow.
Their joints froze solid, immobilizing them.
The Heart-Freezing Poison had activated.
“With the Nine Dragons Branch Family’s daughter and the Blue Heaven Sword Emperor’s cherished daughter, that should suffice.”
Gu Min-chae smiled coldly, hands behind his back.
‘Damn—’
Tang Gyu-jin realized what he was after and screamed inwardly, but his frozen lips wouldn’t move.
Gu Min-chae addressed the bloodied, collapsed Yu Su-min.
“Go back to the Nine Dragons Branch Family like this and relay the message. If he wants these hostages back, tell Yunhwi—that man alone—to come.”
“!!”
Before Yu Su-min could scream it was nonsense, Gu Min-chae vanished completely with Tang Gyu-jin and Sima Seon-ui.
The Dao demons followed.
Only cold air lingered.
“N-No...!!”
Yu Su-min’s desperate breath trembled in the air.
* * *
“...Sister, is this really the right thing to do?”
“You did great. Handled it well.”
“I was worried they’d suspect us.”
“No need—they didn’t notice. You saw Lady Seon too? Those bastards were so full of themselves, they ignored us completely.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
“So now we just wait. Until people come.”