Chapter 219
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: Dark Annihilation (4)
“How did you know I was here?”
“……”
“You read my movements, didn't you?”
“……”
“Looks like I can't fight you anymore from now on. It's absolutely disadvantageous for me. But... what do I do when I feel like swinging?”
“……”
“You won't talk?”
“I hoped you hadn't died.”
“……”
This time, Fox was the one at a loss for words.
Four Thousand Four silently pulled out the dagger lodged in both his legs. He carefully sealed the acupoints, applied golden sore medicine, and was now tightly wrapping them with bandages.
Fox just stared at Four Thousand Four's bowed head.
“You know you're a really bad person, right?”
“……”
“There's no one in your heart but Zhuge Soso. They say if you can't have the fruit, don't even look at it... but you have no intention of lecturing or dissuading me. What's the point? You know I won't listen. But at least... if that's how you feel, don't give me any hope. Every time you do this, it just makes it harder for me. Can't you just treat me coldly like a stranger?”
“I will.”
“Don't just say you get it—actually do it. That's the only way I can breathe easy.”
“I said I get it.”
Four Thousand Four patted Fox's thighs with both hands, as if signaling he was done.
“Don't worry. I'll treat you so coldly you'll feel wronged.”
Four Thousand Four smirked as he spoke.
'Again...'
Fox bit his lip slightly.
Four Thousand Four said he'd be cold, but his hands still lingered on Fox's thighs. And through those hands flowed a warm affection.
She wasn't asking him to just change his tone—she wanted him to stop these actions too.
Four Thousand Four stayed in the ruined outpost with only its pillars left standing for three days.
Because Vanguard and Fox were so badly injured they couldn't move, they would have to remain here for at least another fortnight.
Jaja came looking for them.
She looked a mess too... but she joined them anyway.
Hanbi returned.
Hanbi had lost one eye. His left arm bore a wound so deep the bone was visible. A little deeper, and they might have had to amputate.
'My fault.'
Four Thousand Four knew it was his fault for not conveying the orders properly. But he hadn't been in a position to issue them. They had no choice but to act on their own judgment.
“It wasn't potato digging after all?”
Hanbi said in disbelief.
No one responded.
Hanbi didn't say more. He knew exactly how things had gone wrong this time.
“As we've seen from this... too many cooks spoil the broth.”
Vanguard said calmly.
Everyone regarded Vanguard as the leader.
Vanguard had led them as the branch leader of the Killing Gate. Even after he became a traitor and they walked different paths... when it was just them, Jaja had also led the Killing Gate as branch leader. But still, Vanguard was the leader.
And what about Four Thousand Four? He was a leader too.
Emotionally, they followed Four Thousand Four, but orders came from Vanguard in this strange dynamic.
Vanguard spoke.
“If we don't settle this now, it'll keep happening. We have to wrap it up somehow.”
Vanguard struggled to his feet.
Thud! Thud!
Vanguard walked toward Four Thousand Four.
His injured right foot dragged across the ground. Yet not a single eyebrow twitched as he approached.
Vanguard stood before Four Thousand Four.
“Four Thousand Four, do you agree we need to settle this too?”
“……”
Four Thousand Four just looked at Vanguard.
“Your subordinate pays respects to the Death Leader.”
Vanguard dropped to one knee and bowed deeply.
Four Thousand Four still just looked at him.
'Death Leader.'
It was a term used only by successors of the Death Decree. The Death Decree was passed to one person alone, so there could only be one successor. However, if branches formed and multiple successors existed in the same era, one would be designated as the leader.
Death Leader.
No Death Leader had ever appeared in the martial world until now.
The Death Decree had always been passed to one alone. It was an unwritten rule that when the disciple entered the world, the master secluded himself.
Green Death, Blind Death, Four Thousand Four... never had three successors moved in the same era. Especially not divided and acting separately without unity.
If three existed, one should have been named Death Leader—but it hadn't happened.
Vanguard uttered the words "Death Leader."
He wasn't a successor of the Death Decree, but this meant he aspired to become one.
Four Thousand Four couldn't transmit the Death Decree to him now.
In the end, Vanguard's words meant he would fully absorb even the Death Decree itself under the Death Leader's command. That he would become a tool of murder, willing to kill innocent farmers, housewives, and children if ordered by the Death Leader.
“No regrets...?”
Four Thousand Four finally spoke after a long pause.
“I'm a dead man anyway, with nowhere to go... and the whole world against me when I move alone. Hahaha!”
Vanguard laughed as he spoke.
Thud! Thud!
Another person approached.
Jaja walked up and knelt on one knee before Four Thousand Four.
“I pay respects to the Death Leader.”
Jaja said coldly.
“Regrets...”
“Spare me that. From my position, it's already a blessing you skipped the nine bows ritual.”
Hanbi chuckled gruffly.
“Marriage allowed between fellow disciples once in the Death Decree?”
Vanguard looked at Hanbi, puzzled as if wondering what that had to do with anything. But he soon glanced at Jaja as understanding dawned.
Jaja glared fiercely at Hanbi.
“Urgh!”
Hanbi struggled to his feet.
“What I realized from this mess... no need to hide your feelings. Even when your life's on the line, if you're only thinking of one woman, you're hopelessly gone.”
Hanbi walked over and stood before Jaja.
“I like you.”
“You're insane.”
“You already know I do.”
“Seems your head's addled—want me to smack you again?”
“Let's not. Tell me what's lacking, and I'll fix it. But I won't hide how I feel about you.”
“You really...!”
“I pay respects to the Death Leader.”
Hanbi knelt on one knee before Four Thousand Four.
The only one left was Fox, and everyone naturally turned their attention to her.
“I'm not doing it.”
Fox said, lowering her head.
“If you say kill, I'll kill. If you ask for my arm, I'll give it. If you want my leg cut off, I'll do it... but I can't serve you as Death Leader. Fellow disciples can marry, but not with the Death Leader. I won't cut ties completely like that.”
“It's fine. You don't have to. Do you think I don't know your heart?”
Four Thousand Four said.
Fox bit her lip again.
He kept saying these things even though she said she hated them. What good was a cold tone if the words were so warm?
Rumble! Rumble!
An unfamiliar pigeon arrived.
The Zhuge Clan used gray pigeons for messages, but this was a pure white pigeon without a single stray feather.
“He really stirred up the hornet's nest.”
Zhuge Myeong received the messenger pigeon himself.
A scroll hung from the pigeon's ankle, sealed so no one else could open it.
Unless the scroll vanished, no one could open it before Zhuge Myeong did.
Pop!
Zhuge Myeong broke the seal and extracted the scroll from within.
“Where'd it come from?”
Zhuge Soso asked, holding out a neatly folded paper.
“Unexpected. The Hebei Peng Family.”
Zhuge Myeong said, furrowing his brow.
He had anticipated a messenger pigeon from somewhere, but not from the Hebei Peng Family.
This time, he unfolded the paper Zhuge Soso offered.
- Peng Family
Only two stark characters were written on it.
“Huh? Haha! Hahaha!”
Zhuge Myeong burst into loud laughter, amused.
“How'd you know?”
“To untangle a knot, you follow the order it was tied in. Tracing it led to the Peng Family.”
“You going?”
“I have to.”
“They'll have some suspicions by now, rough guess.”
“They have hunches but no proof. We haven't slipped up... but if we go this time, they'll come at us hard.”
“Hard... how hard?”
Instead of answering, Zhuge Soso looked at Zhuge Myeong.
Her gaze was gentle. But unreadable.
Finally, Zhuge Myeong asked about the worst case.
“Severing the gate?”
“That's what they'll do.”
Zhuge Soso answered without hesitation.
Even without proof, with suspicions, they couldn't work together. Either full expulsion or at least sidelining the Eight Wings from affairs.
The Eight Wings planned to follow that course.
In short, it meant excluding the Zhuge Clan from the alliance led by the Five Great Clans.
Such a move would have massive repercussions.
It could devastate the Zhuge Clan's commercial rights, mining rights, and more. In the worst case, they could fall from one of the Central Plains' Five Great Clans to a minor regional sect.
“You... foresaw this happening, didn't you?”
“Yes.”
“But not a word to me?”
“No choice but to do it this way.”
“Fine. Planning to keep going?”
“I've already climbed onto the tiger's back. No getting off now.”
“Haha! Then ride it out.”
“You okay with that?”
Zhuge Soso looked at Zhuge Myeong with pitying eyes.
The Zhuge Clan had been stable. But now stood on the path to decline. And Zhuge Soso had opened that path, leaving Zhuge Myeong to choose. He had become a clan head who, before even officially taking the seat, had to choose the road to the clan's fall—an ironic twist.
“It's your doing. Finding Father, the path for the clan... and for me too. Don't worry about me. I promise, holding firm is my job. You!”
Zhuge Myeong placed a hand on Zhuge Soso's shoulder.
“Must ensure we rise again. My death is no concern, but the clan's fall cannot happen. Do that, and I'll handle anything. Can you promise?”
“I promise.”
Zhuge Myeong gripped her shoulder firmly.
Squeeze!
Strong power transmitted through his hand.
“Ring the bell! Full assembly!”
Zhuge Myeong bellowed.
Not to Zhuge Soso, but to his escorting guards.
“If they come rough, we'll hit back rough. Don't worry. I said holding firm is my job—no crumbling here. Hahaha!”
Flames blazed in Zhuge Myeong's eyes.