Chapter 184. The Thread Was Not Severed (2)
Thud!
“Gah!”
The earth-shaking vibration jolted Pa Sa Leok back to his senses.
“Urk!”
The moment awareness returned, excruciating pain surged through his entire body, choking off his breath.
“Aaaargh!”
It hurt. It hurt like nothing else he’d ever felt.
Bugs writhed in the stump below his severed knee, gnawing at his flesh, while his mangled left hand throbbed with deep purple swelling. His dantian was crushed, making any attempt to circulate internal energy impossible, and blood loss had his head spinning. Yet amid it all, the pain burned with crystal clarity. It was absurd.
It hurts! It hurts so much!
Cold sweat poured from his body. Normally, a man in this state would be dead. His innately robust vitality, a gift in most cases, had become his poison now.
Then, a chilling voice slithered into his ears.
“Does it hurt?”
Pa Sa Leok snapped his head up in shock.
Flash!
Flash!
A young man stood before him, eyes gleaming with a fierce blue light. Gray-black iron chains crossed diagonally over his upper body. A massive axe hung from his shoulder—grotesquely huge against his lean frame, evoking a primal terror.
“Y-You’re…?!”
Yeon Hojeong slowly crouched down.
Pa Sa Leok flinched. Yeon Hojeong’s eyes burned even bluer than his own Western-mixed gaze, like the god of death incarnate.
“Of course it hurts. I left you like that on purpose so it would.”
“You bastard!”
“Want me to carve off more?”
Pa Sa Leok instinctively held his breath. Carve more? Who talks to another human like that?
Even in his bandit days, he’d never sliced people up or down on a whim. This was a blunt declaration of how little Yeon Hojeong saw him—as meat on a butcher’s block.
Pa Sa Leok’s face drained of color.
Yeon Hojeong smiled. A demon’s grin.
“I was about to start by gouging out your eyes if you spouted more bullshit.”
“……!!”
“You’ve got some killer survival instincts, huh? Or wait, no—since you held out till we crashed the party.”
Pa Sa Leok clamped his mouth shut.
This guy’s insane.
He knew it from experience. The pretty boy looked like he’d spent his life with his nose in books, but he was the type who could mince a man like pork at a slaughterhouse.
Guys like this? Don’t provoke them. Gouge out eyes? Hell, he’d be lucky if he wasn’t turned into jerky while still breathing.
“You get the situation, right?”
“……”
“Your whole Hwarang Group? Buried.”
Pa Sa Leok swallowed hard without thinking.
Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.
“No reaction?”
The words were hard to parse.
Pa Sa Leok swallowed again and cautiously spoke.
“What… what do you plan to do with me?”
Yeon Hojeong chuckled.
Polite tone now. When he’d fought Mo Yong Woo, every word was a snarl, but here he avoided provoking. A beast through and through.
With that level of martial prowess, his mental fortitude should be ironclad—yet this guy was a bandit to the bone. Made him easier to handle, at least.
“Depends on what you tell me.”
“……?”
“You know your condition. Your vitality’s impressive, but even that won’t last long like this.”
“……!”
“Answer straight, and I’ll treat you, toss you some silver to live on.”
Pa Sa Leok’s eyes wavered. Treat him? Give him money? Did that mean he’d live?
No way!
He’d pulled that trick plenty—bait with promises to toy with the mark.
“You really mean that?”
“Yeah.”
“You said treat and pay—not spare my life.”
Laughter flickered in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.
“Cunning bastard. Didn’t think that far, but good point. Guess experience teaches best.”
Pa Sa Leok wouldn’t fall for it. Even if sincere, assume the worst and negotiate. One slip, and he was done. Legs? Hands? Fixable later. Survival first.
“I’ll answer. Treat me, give me enough silver to live worry-free, and… move me somewhere safe, no harm done.”
Bold as brass.
Yeon Hojeong scratched his cheek.
“Damn, so brazen I’m almost intimidated.”
“Or I won’t talk.”
As if. Refuse answers and kill him? All demands vanish. Push a bit harder, and Pa Sa Leok would fold.
But unexpectedly, Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Deal. Spill clean, and I’ll pay, heal, drop you safe.”
“You won’t come kill me later?”
“Think I’d waste time hunting a walking corpse like you?”
“……”
“Relax. Unless we bump into each other wandering the Central Plains, I won’t bother tracking trash.”
Pa Sa Leok exhaled in relief. He sensed sincerity in Yeon Hojeong’s voice.
“……Fine. What’s the question?”
Light talk. Yeon Hojeong trusted he’d get truth.
“Why come here?”
“……?”
“Heard you stirred shit in Xizang, Qinghai, northern Gansu. Why crawl to Shandong for trouble?”
Pa Sa Leok swallowed again. Mouth dry as dust.
“Know a guy named Yeong Go Wi?”
“Yeong clan—Hae Ryong Merchant Group?”
“Yeah. Brother of the head. He’s siphoned goods to us before.”
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“And?”
“Hong Ok he stole couldn’t leave Shandong. So we came ourselves. Two full crates of top-grade…”
“Wanna die?”
Pa Sa Leok’s eyes bulged. Out of nowhere?
“Wh-Why?”
“I just a crazy fucker to you, huh?”
“……?!”
“Lying to gauge me… Bold. Ballsy, playing games with your life? Respect, bandit chief.”
“Wh-What?! It’s true! Face Yeong Go Wi yourself…!”
Then Yeon Hojeong pulled a small paper from his bosom.
With no internal energy, Pa Sa Leok’s vision blurred the faint writing.
Hwarang Group Leader Pa Sa Leok. From So Roe Eum Sa in Xizang. Excommunicated a decade ago for unknown reasons, founded Hwarang Group. Built the mightiest bandits beyond the border over ten years. Ruthless, cunning, classic petty villain who overvalues himself.
“……!”
“Two crates of Hong Ok drag a thousand-man Hwarang Group to Shandong? His Majesty the Bandit King himself?”
Yeon Hojeong’s blue pupils slowly turned crimson.
Whoosh.
Pa Sa Leok gaped. The brief blaze in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes was pure terror.
Unable to circulate energy, the onslaught of killing intent choked him like a storm.
Yeon Hojeong spoke. Imagination? His canines seemed elongated like a beast’s.
“Deal’s changed.”
“H-Huh! Heuk!”
“You die, no question.”
“Kuhuk!”
“Want it clean? Truth only. One lie from that filthy mouth…”
Yeon Hojeong grinned.
Chilling intent filled the warehouse.
“Then I won’t kill you. I’ll let you live to a ripe old age.”
Eerie threat. Not kill? Pa Sa Leok wasn’t fool enough to take it as mercy.
Ssssh.
Crimson killing intent seeped through his every pore.
“Why Shandong.”
Pa Sa Leok’s mouth opened on its own. Irresistible force.
“A… a request.”
“From who?”
“Tu Wang… Tu Wang Yang Cheon.”
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes darkened twofold.
Yang Cheon!
Thirteen Heavenly Seats of the Sacred Heaven. Ten pinnacle masters of the Central Plains martial world, revered as the Divine Immortal Emperors—excluding the newer Three Lords.
Tu Wang Yang Cheon was one. Past sixty, devastating bare-handed fighter, supreme in practical fisticuffs.
And he was the last major threat Yeon Hojeong felled before unifying the black path.
Yang Cheon’s request? These guys?
Impossible. Ambitious, arrogant, brutal—Yang Cheon didn’t beg favors. Command, maybe.
Yeon Hojeong’s fist clenched.
“Who?”
“Y-Yes?!”
“Who’s backing you.”
“Heuk!”
“Not one person. A group. Which beyond-border outfit?”
Pa Sa Leok’s eyes shook wildly.
Yeon Hojeong read him instantly. Same scum as black path trash—easy psychology.
“Not So Roe Eum Sa? Weird, yeah. Top power beyond borders wouldn’t ignore an excommunicated disciple bandit-ing around.”
“……!”
“Who? Who’s backing you?”
“Th-That’s…”
Yeon Hojeong bellowed.
“Spit it out!”
Pa Sa Leok squeezed his eyes shut.
“I-I don’t know!”
“What?”
“I don’t know their identity! Just…”
“Just?”
“They’re… insanely strong and cruel. That’s all I know.”
“How do you know? Met them?”
“Yes.”
“……You met them?”
Of course. No way this punk got played blind.
But separately, shock hit Yeon Hojeong. He’d suspected. Maybe linked to some beyond-border group.
Wishful thinking before. Low odds, but hoped so—easier to track.
Now, real connection.
“Name.”
“Pardon?”
“The group’s name.”
“D-Don’t know! Really! Never named their organization!”
Yeon Hojeong’s intent thickened.
Pa Sa Leok rushed on.
“But! They had a trait!”
“Trait? What?”
“Wore weird bloodwind cloaks! Every one I met!”
“……!!”
“Felt like… some religious cult members. Swear!”
Yeon Hojeong rose.
Hummm!
Hummm!
The warehouse walls trembled.
“Religious group?”
“Yes!”
“……Yeah. So that’s it.”
Yeon Hojeong looked up at the ceiling. Ecstasy and rage twisted his face.
His clenched fist quivered like it might shatter.
His lips parted slowly.
……Found you.