Chapter 90
Chapter 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Ambush of the Nine Evils Four Demons
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh dear, so they were waiting for us."
The moment Mok Yangil spotted them, his face rapidly hardened.
He had sensed something unnatural about the terrain around them.
How could a vast open plain suddenly appear in the middle of a dense forest?
A closer look revealed traces everywhere—entire swaths of brush cut cleanly and evenly to create this empty space.
Mok Yangil bit his lower lip in dismay, and Hyeok Mulin nodded toward them, asking,
"You know them?"
Mok Yangil glanced at the four warriors standing in the distance and nodded.
"Of course. Anyone who's set foot on this island would know them. They're the core executives who pull the strings of the Yongdo Overlord Association under the Chairman himself—the Nine Evils Four Demons."
"Nine Evils Four Demons."
What a grandiose name.
Hyeok Mulin scanned them with impassive eyes, and soon eight gazes turned toward him.
Along with those fervent stares, Mok Yangil began explaining the Nine Evils Four Demons.
"The middle-aged man crouched at the front is the Lesser Evil Supreme Sword, Amseokdae. Before entering the Thousand-Year Prison, he was a ronin who fought in countless battlefields. A swordsman of one-man-army prowess who led every battle he joined to victory."
No emotion showed on Amseokdae's face as he crouched, staring at them.
His dark skin was etched with deep wrinkles crossing his cheeks, giving his expressionless face a weary, haggard air.
Yet his eyes remained sharp as ever, and his callused hands rested steadfastly, ready to draw his sword at any moment.
Mok Yangil then turned to the man standing at Amseokdae's right.
"The man on the right is the Dream Evil Lust Demon, Gyeon Jaryang. Twenty years ago, he was a lecher active in Singang Province, preying on the daughters and sons of noble families in his madness for women."
"...Singang Province."
Hyeok Mulin had never heard the name or title before.
But the mention of his past activities in Singang deepened his gaze.
"He eventually got caught, fled desperately to the Central Plains, and there too couldn't kick his habits—tried to lay hands on a daughter of the Dang Clan and got nabbed."
Gyeon Jaryang, with his sly downcast eyes, had a prominent hooked nose and glossy lips.
Incredibly, despite his history twenty years ago in Singang, his face was so smooth and wrinkle-free he could pass for a young man just past his early twenties.
"And on the opposite side, the seductive woman on the left is the Crimson Evil Blade Flower, Sagal Yeon. She was the senior disciple of the Kun Dao Sect, the famed blade school of Jiangnan Province, but one day she massacred her master and over a thousand fellow disciples, destroying the sect—a fiend of the worst kind from the unorthodox paths."
Sagal Yeon, her thin red saber tied neatly at her waist, glared straight ahead with serpentine, slitted eyes full of sinister damp malice.
Her pointed face gave a sharp impression, as if she'd stab a knife into someone's heart at any moment, and her bluish lips subtly betrayed sinister cravings.
Having introduced the three, Mok Yangil swallowed hard as he eyed the monk at the rear.
"And finally, that precept-breaking monk is..."
His voice trembled as he described the man at the back.
"The de facto action captain of the Yongdo Overlord Association, the Nine Evils Blood Monk, Yeo Roe."
Even at a glance, the monk he pointed to was no ordinary sight.
Yeo Roe wore a monk's robe with his upper body half-exposed, a giant over eight feet tall, exuding a presence that could overwhelm most warriors just by standing there.
His round eyes seemed gentle at first glance, but a deeper look revealed the clear glint of cruel madness hidden within.
At the end of his long dangling earlobes were burn scars etched with the words "No Precepts."
"Nine Evils Blood Monk..."
"You've probably heard of him. A mad monk from Shaolin who broke all nine precepts and even tried to kill the abbot."
Trying to kill the abbot was indeed insane.
Though even a perfect ambush probably wouldn't have killed him anyway.
"This is bad. I never imagined they'd all gather here waiting for us."
Sweating profusely, Mok Yangil lowered his voice and murmured to Hyeok Mulin.
"How about we fall back for now? We're still at a distance—if we sprint at full speed, we might escape."
But overhearing his whisper, they smirked and spoke.
"Already thinking of fleeing with your tail between your legs."
"Who sent you?"
"Finally caught that bat-like bastard."
Some among them clearly despised Mok Yangil, and now it seemed Hyeok Mulin had become an irredeemable target alongside him.
They sneered at Hyeok Mulin and Mok Yangil.
"One's pristine, but the other's a total rag."
"He looks like he'll croak any minute even without us lifting a finger."
But soon, a heavy voice boomed over their mockery, crushing it.
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Everyone flinched.
The atmosphere froze in an instant as Yeo Roe from the rear spoke in a sunken tone.
"Enemies before us, and this is how you behave? Even if they look ragged, don't you know to watch your words and deeds? Restrain yourselves."
Those beside him nodded with stiff faces.
In the now tense air, he issued proper orders.
"Am Gong, you take the right."
At Yeo Roe's command, Amseokdae's gaze shifted to Mok Yangil.
His eyes held a complex mix of emotions tinged with faint longing.
"Understood."
As he accepted, Yeo Roe turned to the others.
"Gyeon Gong and Sa Nangja, you two handle the left together. They broke through our underlings without a scratch—not to be taken lightly."
"As you command."
Gyeon Jaryang accepted with a satisfied smile.
But Sagal Yeon on the opposite side scowled, displeased, and shot back sharply.
"Team up with him?"
Sagal Yeon glared at Gyeon Jaryang with eyes twisted as if eyeing roadside filth.
It was only natural for her to loathe him.
He was a lecher who'd bed anyone regardless, even earning infamy across the martial world.
Moreover, he'd nearly lost his head more than once for throwing leers her way despite past lessons.
But her defiance didn't last.
"......"
Yeo Roe fell silent.
He simply stared at her steadily.
Under that wordless pressure, Sagal Yeon flinched, then turned away with a huff.
"...Fine. I'll do it."
Her face crumpled in disgust as she stepped forward alongside Gyeon Jaryang.
She eyed Hyeok Mulin at the front for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.
"What a shame. Your face is my type."
Sagal Yeon, taken by Hyeok Mulin's looks, licked her lower lip regretfully.
But Hyeok Mulin gave no reply.
She twitched one corner of her mouth.
"Playing hard to get. Not that I could spare you even if you begged on your knees."
"Exactly. It's a foregone conclusion anyway."
Gyeon Jaryang, eyeing Hyeok Mulin with distaste, stepped forward with a twisted smirk.
And the instant Hyeok Mulin met his eyes.
Whoosh—
The heavens and earth split open.
Hyeok Mulin slowly looked around.
Trees neatly aligned to left and right.
A straight path stretching ahead.
Hyeok Mulin stood alone in the middle of what could be a lavish palace garden trail.
Birds chirped in his ears, and the sunlight filtering from above was comfortably warm, not harsh.
This place seemed eternally peaceful, untouched even if the outside world drowned in war's gloom.
"......"
In that serene atmosphere, as Hyeok Mulin confirmed his surroundings and turned forward again, a small mountain bird fluttered before him.
He raised his hand, and it alighted lightly on his finger, blinking tiredly from a long flight, its wings stilling with a soft flutter.
And as it gazed at him with bright eyes.
Crack!
The bird suddenly swelled, gaping its beak wide to reveal hundreds of jagged teeth studded like thorns, lunging to devour him.
Krunch!
But the victim was the other way around.
Hyeok Mulin impassively crushed the bird in his grip.
And with that, the world cracked and shattered.
As it flooded with blinding light, Hyeok Mulin stepped back from the killing intent aimed at him.
Swoosh—
"No...!"
Sagal Yeon's downward slash cleaved empty air, her eyes widening in shock.
"How did you break the illusion?"
"Someone without inner power shouldn't be able to dispel it!"
As Hyeok Mulin returned to reality, they stared in disbelief.
He fixed Gyeon Jaryang with a stare, then slowly curled his lips.
"You used innate essence."
"How did you...!"
Gyeon Jaryang's lower dantian was sealed, and his middle dantian unopened.
So the only way he could cast illusions was one: burning his lifespan for innate essence.
And that was precisely why this power-deficient lecher had been elevated to executive in the Yongdo Overlord Association.
The moment his secret was exposed, as Gyeon Jaryang panicked, Hyeok Mulin closed in instantly.
"......!"
Gyeon Jaryang whipped out a dagger from his bosom and thrust it forward, but Hyeok Mulin casually deflected it and smashed his wrist, dropping the blade.
As Hyeok Mulin swung a fist at his face next, he crossed both arms to block.
"Not the face!"
"Then die."
Crack.
Hyeok Mulin twisted his neck instead, killing him on the spot before he could even scream.
Turning from the corpse flopping to the ground, Hyeok Mulin picked up the fallen dagger.
He slowly turned to Sagal Yeon, deep wariness filling her pupils.
"You bastard...!"
Gripping her saber anew, Sagal Yeon charged at Hyeok Mulin.
"......"
Meanwhile, a short distance away, Mok Yangil watched them, exhaling in relief at Hyeok Mulin's escape from the illusion before turning forward.
Amseokdae stood before him, meeting his eyes and speaking.
"It's been a while."
"...Indeed. Have you been well?"
"No issues."
"I haven't. I keep dreaming of the day you betrayed and abandoned us."
In truth, the island's factions were once evenly split among the Cheonra Escape-from-Death Society, the Yongdo Overlord Association, and a smaller group.
Amseokdae had originally led that smaller group.
He'd gathered a sizable force and commanded them as leader.
And at his side was Mok Yangil, whose affable nature united them as one.
However.
The parting came abruptly, without warning.
One day, with no prelude, Amseokdae vanished.
Perplexed, the group searched worriedly as one, but never found him.
Days later, they didn't need to search anymore.
He appeared coldly amid the Yongdo Overlord Association forces raiding their group.
Yes. He had betrayed them.
Abandoning those who trusted and followed him to join the enemy.
"No apologies now. Even if I went back, my actions wouldn't change."
"Thick-skinned as ever."
"Our goals were the same from the start, weren't they?"
Amseokdae's eyes sharpened keenly.
"Survival. I simply took the best path to it."
"Makes me sick."
Mok Yangil's disgusted gaze brimmed with revulsion.
Amseokdae nodded understandingly.
"Point fingers if you must. My mind won't change."
"...One last question."
Staring hard, Mok Yangil bit his lip before continuing.
"Did you plan to betray us from the beginning?"
Amseokdae paused, then slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"I see. So that's how it was."
Mok Yangil nodded hollowly, then locked eyes forward and surged ahead in a flash, lunging at him.
His fingers extended like a wolf's claws bursting from the dark, slashing at Amseokdae's throat.
But his Yin Wolf Shattering Claw failed to reach its mark.
Amseokdae drew and swept his sword in a wide circle, forcing Mok Yangil to withdraw.
Yet Mok Yangil didn't give up.
He unleashed his signature move, Shadow Fury Phantom Claw, splitting his fingers into dozens.
The shadowy clones targeted Amseokdae's throat from all angles.
But.
Swish swish swish!
Amseokdae countered with Hundred Sword Shadow Body Technique, illusions of countless blades flickering toward Mok Yangil.
Neither had inner power, so the techniques' illusions weren't visible, but their blinding speeds clashed fiercely.
And the clash ended quicker than expected.
"Gahk!"
Mok Yangil tumbled across the ground, slashed despite barely dodging.
Soon, Amseokdae's silhouette loomed over him, backlit by the sun.
Mok Yangil gritted his teeth, glaring up bitterly.
It was almost predictable.
Amseokdae had once led the small group, recognized for his prowess and recruited by the Yongdo Overlord Association.
"You've endured well. I'll send you off painlessly."
With cold eyes, Amseokdae raised his sword high to the sky.
As he swung down, Mok Yangil stared wide-eyed at the descending blade.
But at that very moment.
Phewing—!
"......!"
An arrow from somewhere struck, forcing Amseokdae to retract his sword and leap back.
Mok Yangil's pupils dilated at the arrow embedded right before him.
"This is... no way...?"
Mok Yangil slowly turned toward the arrow's origin.
There stood a man.
Ibi Ja.
The arrival of welcome reinforcements couldn't have been more timely.