Chapter 90: Things Going Awry-2
Chapter 90: Things Going Awry-2
At those words, the peak-level masters of Jeonghyeopbang asked back with startled faces.
"You mean the Hangsan Sect of Shanxi Province?!"
The Hangsan Sect, along with the Ami Sect of Sichuan Province and the Sword Pavilion of Zhejiang Province, was one of only three nunneries in the martial world.
Furthermore, the martial arts of the Hangsan Sect were famously the natural counter to the martial arts of the Blood Cult.
Heo Gyeong answered.
"That is correct. As you all know, the martial arts of the Hangsan Sect are the natural enemy of the Blood Cult's martial arts. Therefore, I propose that you all be verified by Lady Hae here that you are not Blood Cultists."
At that sudden suggestion, the flustered masters of Jeonghyeopbang could not answer for a moment.
They too had heard that one could distinguish Blood Cultists by using the internal energy of the Hangsan Sect.
But for someone who had inherited the true transmission of the Hangsan Sect to suddenly appear and declare that she would verify them was far too bewildering.
Of course, the claim that Hae Cheong-yeon had inherited the true transmission of the Hangsan Sect was an outright lie.
However, because she was a woman and possessed an inherently mysterious aura, it lent an air of credibility to the Jeonghyeopbang members that it could very well be true.
Then one Jeonghyeopbang master asked with suspicious eyes.
"How can we trust Sect Leader Heo?! This could be a ruse to frame us as demon heads of the Blood Cult, could it not?!"
But Heo Gyeong smiled with composure and answered.
This, too, was part of the script Hae Cheong-yeon had written for him.
"Frame you? Why would I go out of my way to do that?"
At his incredulous retort, the Jeonghyeopbang members were the ones left bewildered instead.
"You all seem to still be under a misconception. The Jeonghyeopbang that once fought us no longer exists. The main body of Jeonghyeopbang has been occupied by the Mount Qingcheng Sect and the Dang Clan, and you are now only known as the public enemy of the martial world, mere minions of the Blood Cult."
At his words, one Jeonghyeopbang master shouted in rage.
"We are not minions of the Blood Cult!"
Then Heo Gyeong countered calmly.
"I wish to believe that as well. Do you not understand? What I am trying to do is give you the chance to prove that right now. Though I was once an enemy who fought you with my life, I am saying I will help prove that you are not Blood Cultists."
A silence fell over the conference hall for a moment.
The Jeonghyeopbang masters could all finally realize it.
The fact that there would be no more certain way to prove their innocence than to have their former enemy, Heo Gyeong, confirm it.
That this proposal would cause them no harm.
Then another one asked Heo Gyeong.
"Could you not have come to pick a fight with us out of vengeance? What if you attack while pretending to verify us?"
At that question, Heo Gyeong scoffed.
"Can you see how many of us there are right now? Six. Just six. Are you truly afraid that these six people might pick a fight with you?"
He was right.
While Jeonghyeopbang held the numerical advantage of peak-level masters within the conference room, more importantly, attempting such a ploy before the more than a thousand warriors waiting outside would be no different from an act of suicide.
Thus, the masters of Jeonghyeopbang had nothing further to confirm.
Just as Heo Gyeong said, there was absolutely nothing in this that would harm them.
Suddenly, someone asked in an exhausted voice.
"Why are you giving us this chance, Sect Leader Heo? Though it was the Blood Cult bastards' doing, is it not also a fact that you lost your own younger brother?"
Then Heo Gyeong clenched his teeth bitterly and answered.
"That's right. I lost my younger brother. And that is precisely why I came here. Because I can never forgive the Blood Cult bastards who caused me to lose my brother!"
Then he swept a fearsome gaze over the masters of Jeonghyeopbang and said.
"I swear it. If a Blood Cult bastard is found among you in this place, I vow I will tear them limb from limb."
Although it was according to the script Hae Cheong-yeon had prepared, his words, filled with genuine emotion, conveyed enough persuasive power to the Jeonghyeopbang members.
The masters of Jeonghyeopbang nodded their heads.
They felt they could fully understand his words.
Also, for them, merely redirecting their resentment onto a Blood Cultist would be a matter of ample gratitude.
Now that there were no more objections, Heo Gyeong opened his mouth again.
"Good. Then now, one by one, you will be verified by Lady Hae over here...!"
It was at that moment.
Two of the Jeonghyeopbang masters, who had been subtly exchanging glances, threw their bodies like lightning.
Papak!
"Ugh?!"
"Brother Jang?!"
"What the?!"
Everyone stared at them, startled by their sudden movement. But the situation was so abrupt that they could not stop them.
At least, the Jeonghyeopbang masters could not.
Seukak!
Puk!
"Kueok!"
A spear that flew in like a ray of light pierced through the back of one of the masters throwing his body, embedding deeply into the wall.
It was a spear thrown by Seol Pung, the one who had merely stood behind Heo Gyeong without a word—none other than Chang-hyeok, the Reincarnated Zhao Zilong, the second of the Five Siblings of Doksu.
He had been waiting for this movement from the very beginning.
Seol Pung threw the spear and, without even checking whether it struck true, flung himself forward like a wild beast.
Then he moved at terrifying speed and grabbed the ankle of the master who had just broken through the window and was trying to escape.
Kwadeudeuk!
"Kaaak!"
It was when the man screamed from the pain of his ankle breaking.
Immediately dragged back inside the conference hall, he was acupoint-sealed before he knew it and thrown to the ground.
Peok!
"Kaek?!"
The masters of Jeonghyeopbang could not say a single word.
They were bewildered that their colleagues they had spent time with tried to flee, but it was also because the agility Seol Pung had displayed in that brief moment was something utterly incomprehensible and impossible.
Only Heo Gyeong, who had already witnessed Seol Pung's true skills firsthand, simply drew a savage smile as he looked at the captured Blood Cultists.
"Well done, Daehyeop Chang. So they finally showed their true colors. These Blood Cult mongrel bastards!"
That day, Heo Gyeong was able to annihilate all of the Blood Cult forces remaining within Jeonghyeopbang.
Then the remaining remnants of Jeonghyeopbang expressed their thanks to Heo Gyeong and all disbanded.
Heo Gyeong was satisfied.
This was because everything had gone exactly as Hae Cheong-yeon had promised, preventing the remaining Jeonghyeopbang forces from banding together as a new power and becoming a threat to Sangeommun.
***
Hae Cheong-yeon, having returned to Sangeommun and reading the letter sent by Sak Mu-heun in a secluded room, furrowed her brow slightly and sank into thought.
Even for Hae Cheong-yeon, the matter of the women held captive by Georyeokma was one she could do nothing about.
She hoped that Seonwoo Jin had prepared a countermeasure, but no matter how capable he was, it did not seem like there would be any special solution.
Moreover, even aside from that issue, the reputation of the Five Siblings of Doksu had grown far too large compared to their initial expectations.
If Jegal Ji-gang began to properly investigate this entire affair, there was no way he would let them pass by unnoticed.
Perhaps it would not take very long for him to discover that the Five Siblings of Doksu, supposedly from Zhejiang Province, in fact had no connection whatsoever to Zhejiang Province.
She let out a small sigh and muttered.
"I need to return to my father's side quickly..."
While they had been out and about, her father, the Sword Saint Hae Un-baek, seemed to have nearly seized full control of the front lines.
Therefore, to escape Jegal Ji-gang's sight, it was best to return to the front lines as soon as possible.
The front lines, once a land of death, had now become the safest place for them.
But there was one problem.
It was Seonwoo Jin and Bi Sa-yeong.
Though rumors had not particularly spread, one could tell without confirming that they must have played a major role in the fall of Jeonghyeopbang.
Yet, even now, several days after they had brought down Jeonghyeopbang, they had still not returned.
Even Hae Cheong-yeon, who now firmly believed that nothing would go wrong if it was Seonwoo Jin, had reached a point of worry.
'We should have arranged some kind of channel to contact each other...'
She bit her lip in belated regret.
Not anticipating that they would be separated and acting apart for this long had been a mistake.
If only she could have at least informed them that the master of Jeonghyeopbang was the Small-faced Demon Lord Sa Won-yang...
Hae Cheong-yeon, who normally could not understand how people tormented themselves with useless, ominous imaginings, had no choice but to sigh at the various ominous thoughts flooding her mind in this moment.
What if, not knowing that the Jeonghyeopbang master was Sa Won-yang, they had recklessly attacked?
What if they had been critically injured in an unforeseen accident and could not move?
What if he... could no longer come back?
Hae Cheong-yeon covered her forehead with her hand, utterly seized by uncontrollable thoughts.
"What kind of foolishness is this?"
It was utterly pathetic.
To be caught up in such irrational, time-wasting thoughts.
She tried her best to judge the situation as coldly as possible.
'The probability that Young Master Seonu or Young Master Bi met with an accident is... well, not that small. It is entirely possible.'
At that conclusion, her heart seemed to drop, but she somehow pulled herself together.
And she clenched her teeth and continued her train of thought.
'Even if something has happened to them, I cannot wait here much longer. Considering that the Murim Alliance's investigation team could come south, I will have to leave this place by tomorrow at the latest.'
Having reached that conclusion, Hae Cheong-yeon clutched her chest at a sudden pain.
Her heart could not accept the cold judgment her head had delivered.
Her heart kept constricting, making it difficult even to breathe.
"Haa, haa, fwoo."
After a moment of deep breathing to compose herself, Hae Cheong-yeon suddenly let out a dumbfounded laugh.
'To this extent?'
It was nothing short of absurd.
She had thought it was just a feeling of slightly heightened curiosity...
Hae Cheong-yeon decided to leave her room.
She could no longer stay inside.
She wanted to breathe some fresh air.
Just then, the group members gathered at the Sangeommun training ground saw her and spoke to her.
"Eonni! Come here!"
"Come quickly, Miss! We were just making bets on what those two rascals are doing that's making them late!"
The group members, wearing clear expressions, seemed to be betting on the reason why the two were delayed.
She somehow felt pathetic.
'I don't know who's more pathetic. These group members who don't seem to have a single worry, or me, who can't trust him as much as they do...!'
Hae Cheong-yeon, who was having such thoughts, suddenly shouted out in surprise.
"Young Master Seonu?!"
The other group members were equally startled by her words.
Everyone immediately turned their heads to look behind, and then they could spot Seonwoo Jin and Bi Sa-yeong leaping over the wall and flying toward them.
All of the group members shouted with bright smiles.
"Jin! Sa-yeong!"
"Young Master Bi! Young Master Seonu!"
"You rascals! Why are you so late?! We waited!"
"We were incredibly worried, I tell you!"
Everyone ran over and surrounded the two of them, shouting.
Seonwoo Jin and Bi Sa-yeong smiled brightly and responded to them, filled with joy.
"Sorry we're late, Squad Leader, everyone. We had some things to check on. Has everyone been well?"
"I tried to come back quickly. But this rascal Jin-i kept stalling for time."
Hae Cheong-yeon, too, wore a bright expression she had never shown before and ran toward them.
But Hae Cheong-yeon, who had seen something, suddenly stopped in her tracks right before reaching them.
Her bright expression slowly cooled.
"Oh? Why would that be? Young Master Seonu, you don't suppose you were charming the hearts of the ladies even there, do you?"
"What? For real? You made us wait this long and you were busy seducing women?"
"Heheh, why wouldn't he be? The Ami Sect women were casting such pitiful glances at this rascal Jin-i, even I felt sorry watching from the side."
"Wow! Is that really true?! Too much! You're like an enemy of us womenfolk!"
"Oh-ho? Sa-yeong, is that the story you're going with? If so, I have plenty to say as well."
"Ack! N-no, I mean. That's not it!"
Hae Cheong-yeon stopped at a slight distance and simply watched them.
She watched Seonwoo Jin, who was cheerfully conversing with the group members even without her.
And watched how his gaze occasionally, carefully, strayed toward Na Seo-yu.
Hae Cheong-yeon could see it.
How his gaze, which had initially been toward Squad Leader Seolpung, shifted right toward Na Seo-yu.
Though he briefly gave his attention to the other group members and to herself as well, in the end, the place where his gaze lingered longest was upon Na Seo-yu.
Watching that careful, yet affectionate gaze, Hae Cheong-yeon felt tears somehow welling up.