Chapter 14
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Venom Dragon's Interrogation
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The ambush had been meticulously planned and prepared with utmost determination.
According to the Venom Dragon Captain—who had both arms rendered completely useless in the process—he was naturally just rolling on the ground with his pressure points sealed.
Even though his two legs remained perfectly intact.
This was because the aftershock of losing his right arm and spilling far too much blood all at once was overwhelmingly severe.
The sharp energy Gwang-il had driven into both shoulders had also massively disrupted his qi and blood.
No matter how much of a poison master he was, having ascended to the Supreme Poison Realm, with both arms needed to deploy poison arts incapacitated, he had no way to resist.
"Planning to keep your trap shut right until the end?"
"……."
Dragged by the hair in utter humiliation into the manor that served as their base.
The relentless brutal torture and threats were steadily eroding the Venom Dragon Captain's already fragile iron will.
"Do you think I won't find the evidence just because you're clamming up?"
"……."
The reason Gwang-il was pressing him so relentlessly now was precisely that evidence.
The document proving the Sichuan Tang Clan had forged a pact with the Beast Palace hadn't been found anywhere in this manor.
Thus, ever true to his former(?) Evil Path Alliance leader style, he opted for the easy route of torture over the hassle of searching himself.
"You know damn well killing you alone won't solve anything, right? Do you really want to be branded public enemies of the martial world and see your clan wiped out?"
"……."
"You must know how many people in this world distrust and despise you sneaky Tang Clan bastards."
Twitch.
The eyebrow of the Venom Dragon Captain—who had been gritting his teeth and enduring the pain without end—twitched violently.
His words dragged his family, which was everything to him, through the mud, igniting a surge of rage from deep within.
"And can you handle the fury of our main house?!"
"But this little shit still hasn't come to his senses…!"
Puk!
"Keuugh!"
Without a shred of mercy, he stabbed a major acupoint on the thigh.
Gwang-il had pierced a vital point that could leave lifelong aftereffects if mishandled, then casually yanked out his beloved sword and muttered.
"You lot cozied up with the Beast Palace and stabbed my sect in the back first—what gall do you have to speak of fury?"
"Keu! Keuhuh!"
"That's why you snake-like Tang Clan scum are such a problem. Your own dirty deeds are always fine, but touch you and you foam at the mouth like rabid dogs…."
"Sh-shut your mouth! How dare a third-generation disciple spout off about our main house!"
"This bastard since earlier…!"
Ppak!
"I know! Plenty! That's why! I'm saying! This crap! Right?! You! Viper! Fucker!"
Gwang-il repeatedly bashed the crown of the kneeling Venom Dragon Captain's head, then grumbled lowly with seething irritation.
"Of all the damn leeches to get tangled with…!"
Poison and hidden weapons were troublesome enough, sure.
But far worse were the horrific tenacity and insidiousness of these Tang clansmen who wielded them.
For Point Cang, already too busy charging straight ahead, the Sichuan Tang Clan was the absolute worst enemy imaginable.
‘Better to face guys who charge in swinging swords upfront.’
These bastards acted so vilely that even most evil sects couldn't compare—and as the Dark Heaven Emperor, he had long since written them off as untouchable.
Even with the Evil Path Alliance, which stood toe-to-toe against the united Murim Alliance of every righteous sect under heaven, they couldn't eradicate them in the end.
And of all things, these most loathsome vipers had to get involved….
"Goddamn it!"
Ppak!
Gwang-il smacked the Venom Dragon Captain's head again as irritation boiled over, then sheathed his sword and rose from his seat.
He hadn't truly expected this stubborn bastard to crack easily anyway.
‘No choice but to hand him over to the sect for now.’
He'd already crippled him into a useless wreck, so no tricks were possible.
Though he hadn't secured ironclad proof of the Beast Palace pact.
Still, just setting up this den of thieves in Yunnan was damning evidence enough, wasn't it?
The Beast Palace angle could be denied through gritted teeth, but the evidence of them disrupting Yunnan's markets through the Yun Merchants was plentiful.
And pinning the Iron Sword Gang's schemes on top would make for a convincingly tight noose.
‘Keep squeezing the Yun Merchant Leader, and more'll spill out.’
With his Point Cang disciple identity exposed, he couldn't even call on sorcery.
So Gwang-il decided to neatly cut his losses here and move on.
‘For now, at least.’
To exploit the Yun Merchants long-term, he needed to frame every one of their past misdeeds as Sichuan Tang Clan handiwork.
The Iron Sword Gang mass kidnapping was just one item on the list.
As a famed righteous sect, there were plenty of scandals that would dunk their reputation in the shit.
From the Yun Merchant Leader's view, he'd get more than he wished for, so he'd cooperate without complaint.
Hell, he might even eagerly dump every filthy secret from running his merchant group.
The more he did, the more he'd depend on and pledge loyalty to Gwang-il.
‘Also urgent: rope in the Beggars' Sect to keep those Tang Clan bastards in Sichuan from acting rashly.’
At minimum, build up enough deterrence to keep them out of Yunnan.
Only then could he focus purely on raising Point Cang without distractions.
Of course, first things first.
‘Check if those beggar scum knew and let it slide, or if they're just useless.’
Tsk!
Having to handle every damn thing himself was grinding his nerves just breathing.
Looking down to vent his anger again, he saw the Venom Dragon Captain had already lost his mind and fainted.
"……Haaa!"
One more reason to quickly whip his junior brothers into shape and make them earn their keep.
"Gwang-il!"
After running endlessly with the heavy load slung over his shoulder for a while, veering far off the paths to avoid people.
Gwang-il finally looped back to the Iron Sword district and shared a joyful(?) reunion with his master—whose face was drained pale, as if his soul had fled.
Of course, Tong-cheon—who had been frantically searching for his disciple—freaked out and leaped back upon spotting the green-robed man dumped like baggage at his feet.
"Wh-what the hell is this?!"
One arm vanished entirely, the opposite shoulder sporting a clear puncture wound and utterly ruined.
Spotting the culprit from the wounds in an instant, Tong-cheon's eyes twitched savagely for a moment.
He had nearly lost his mind already from hearing his disciple—out of the sect for the first time—had taken a life.
And now dragging back another in such gruesome shape!
As a master, his fury surging was the natural course.
But that rage flipped entirely at Gwang-il's grave voice that followed hot on its heels.
"The Sichuan Tang Clan was behind it all, Master."
"Wh-what?! You, th-that… what do you…?!"
"The backers of the Iron Sword Gang—those utterly heinous evil sect scum who kidnapped the blacksmiths' kids here in the Iron Sword district! It was the Sichuan Tang Clan!"
"!!!"
Gwang-il's face, playing up extreme agitation, hardened further into unyielding stone.
For a split second, a hollow emptiness welled up from deep within at his own age and this clown show.
But he swiftly reined it in, resuming his iron mask and diligently feigning gravity.
"Your disciple couldn't stomach the Iron Sword Gang's atrocities and punished them—only to get ambushed. By those vile Sichuan Tang Clan criminals."
"Heavens! What a calamity…!"
"So I had no choice. Chase down the scum rampaging in our sect's territory to stop their escape? Or rush back here and let them flee free?"
"……."
At this juncture, even the dullest soul couldn't miss the speaker's intent.
Thus, for Tong-cheon—pure-hearted yet sharp-minded—it was obvious what his disciple was driving at.
"So, fearing they'd destroy evidence and bolt, you pursued immediately?"
"Master. These wicked fiends sicced evil sect thugs on innocent Yunnan civilians. As a Great Point Cang disciple, how could I let such outrages pass?"
"……."
"Weren't all the arts I learned under your guidance for upholding justice in person?"
An ironclad pretext of halting the criminal's flight.
And the supreme banner of justice no self-respecting righteous man could ignore.
"Did you see the state of those blacksmiths' kids I rescued?"
"……."
"Had I backed off there without intervening, Master, any one dying wouldn't have been strange—that horrific, those tender young children."
With the waters broken, he neatly wrapped the Iron Sword Gang slaughter in righteous packaging.
Feeling it fully ripened, Gwang-il—who had subtly gauged the moment—forces an irrefutable choice on his master.
"Your unworthy disciple dared defy your command and acted alone. I'll take the punishment gladly later. But Master! Isn't there something far more pressing right now…?!"
"Haaaa! What in the world is all this……."
He'd merely stepped out on Sect Leader's orders to commission swords for the sect.
Somehow unearthing a shadow over the sect and tangled in the jianghu's venomous grudges.
And the Sichuan Tang Clan, no less?
The unimaginable culprits left Tong-cheon's mind reeling.
"Faint poison reek on the green robes… No need, I get it."
Slowly scanning the fainted man's grimaced face, Tong-cheon finally gazed skyward with a deep sigh.
"How is the Venom Dragon Captain here…?!"
In such a mangled state, no less.
And beaten by his own disciple, of all things….
‘But I can't blame Gwang-il for that.’
His disciple had simply lived the sect's teachings properly.
He hadn't ignored injustice, and despite such terrifying foes behind them, he'd summoned courage to uphold justice.
The Tang Clan and their dread poison arts—total unknowns to him.
For a master, just returning this intact was cause for gratitude.
"In any case, this exceeds my authority to judge."
It entangled a pillar of the Eight Great Clans, no less.
He needed to inform the Sect Leader and elders, seek their wisdom, and receive orders.
Having set the immediate priority, just as Tong-cheon moved to say they should hurry back to Point Cang.
Gwang-il—who had eyed the perfect opening—struck first.
"Master. These scum made a manor their base."
"……And the ones inside?"
"I apologize. In my first true battle, desperately fending off their ruthless killers without quarter… I ended up…."
"No, no. How is that on you?"
Tong-cheon urgently cut off his disciple's guilt-ridden face with firm tone.
"The sin lies with those who dared scheme in Yunnan behind our backs. Don't give it a thought, Gwang-il. How does one who upholds justice hang his head?"
‘……Nailed it.’
Securing the absolution as planned with ease, Gwang-il finally eased up and pressed on.
"I fear remnants might slink back to destroy evidence. If you allow, Master, I'll hold the site until the sect elders arrive."
"Absolutely not! Gwang-il, let your master…."
"The stakes are too dire. To relay this horror fully to the Sect Leader, doesn't it fall to you—the Sect Leader's own disciple—to go?"
"……."
Hard to argue, especially now outmatched in raw power.
After brief thought, Tong-cheon fully embraced his disciple's proposal.
This was an emergency where time was of the essence.
"I'll be back soon. No straining yourself—always put your safety first. Remember it, remember it."
"Your disciple will surely obey."
Gazing briefly at his impeccably poised disciple with conflicted eyes.
Taat!
Tong-cheon kicked off the ground, his form streaking away like lightning.
Once his master's presence fully faded.
"……Not much time."
Back to his impassive face, Gwang-il darted off with swift strides.
He had to hustle his personal errands in this narrow window.
‘Beggar scum. I truly hope you're just incompetent.’
His destination—recalling the Dragon Head Division Leader from his past life—was the Beggars' Sect division, squatting boldly under the grandest bridge smack in the bustling central market district.