Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: The Traditional Method
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An inn they came across long after leaving the city of Yichang.
Mu-heun felt a strange sense of unease.
‘The inn should be shabby, given the lack of materials for repairs… but it’s far too clean.’
‘Hmm.’
“Server? This is a dish I didn’t order.”
“Oh, my esteemed sirs, please don’t be shy, go on and eat! Our innkeeper told us to serve the great masters of the martial world free of charge. Hehe.”
“Ah… is that so?”
“Yes, sir! That’s right!”
“I understand.”
The innkeeper was even serving dishes they hadn’t ordered.
‘Suspicious…’
Mu-heun finished the meal with his companions.
After spending a night at the inn.
The next morning, they set out again.
As they neared the border between Hubei and Chongqing, Mu-heun sensed a suspicious movement.
‘Hmm…’
He naturally thought of Asura's Seven Bends and the Three Supreme Blades.
They were certainly big shots in the martial world, movers and shakers in their own right. But after all the monumental events he had been through, they felt like newborn pups.
Lost in thought, Mu-heun continued on, even as he sensed the suspicious movements.
‘The danger my master, the Heavenly Demon, spoke of was a problem of an absurd scale. But coincidentally, as I traveled the Central Plains after leaving Xinjiang, it all unraveled like a tangled thread.’
The events in Hubei were just like that. Upon entering Wuhan, he had negotiated with the Soul-Stealing Immortal and learned of Seol Ha-ryeong’s past.
‘Hmm…’
The problem was that Seol Ha-ryeong had also learned about his past life then.
When they first met, she had treated me as someone younger than her, but exceptionally talented. Now, however, she treated me like an elder over seventy years old.
It wasn't entirely wrong, but… being treated like that in my current body felt… realistically awkward.
So I told her to be comfortable, but she just wouldn't listen. I turned my head to the right and looked at Seol Ha-ryeong.
“Hm? Hoho. Divine Doctor, is there something you need from me?”
“No, it’s just that some big shots seem to be in the area… No, it’s nothing…”
With hair like white snow and skin like white jade… a beauty under the moon. Is this what it would feel like to have a granddaughter?
I turned my head from the right back to the front. Soon, we would cross from Hubei into Chongqing, and then reach Sichuan.
We had now entered a mountain path. The dense forest made it a perfect spot for an ambush.
‘Come to think of it, Dang So-so was with me when I went to the Martial Alliance.’
When I traveled from Sichuan to the Martial Alliance, Dang So-so had been with me.
She was the only martial artist from the Tang Clan participating in the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, and her skills were outstanding.
I had thought that if I accompanied her as her aide, I could gain entry to the Martial Alliance.
Once inside, my plan was to use Gu Pae-seon to meet the Alliance Leader. If I met him and explained the situation, I thought I could get his help in uniting the martial sects later on.
That’s what I had thought.
However, fate led me down a different path this time as well.
Yes… such is life; you never know what’s just around the corner. We stopped by the Hall of Brilliance at Pae-seon’s repeated insistence. And there, I met the Soul-Stealing Immortal.
The Soul-Stealing Immortal was more reasonable than I expected. No, rather, he had been waiting for me.
*Rustle, rustle*
‘Ha, really… these newborn pups are so noisy. They won’t even give me a moment to reflect on the past.’
Anyway.
‘If things with Seol Ha-ryeong hadn't resolved well, I was planning to eliminate him… but instead, he bowed his head and promised to cooperate with me actively.’
After meeting the Soul-Stealing Immortal, everything seemed to go smoothly.
However.
Despite that, I couldn't just meet the Martial Alliance Leader and leave. There was another fateful event. The reason it took so long. Ghost Spirits.
To make matters worse, a sly eel from the Unorthodox Sects had infiltrated the Martial Alliance…
In the end, I unexpectedly joined forces with the Orthodox Sects. The Unorthodox eel wasn't the main issue; the evil spirits from the *Three Books on the Advent of the Chaotic Heavens' Inhuman Beings* were running rampant in Hubei.
The Ghost Spirits running wild in Hubei, and their leaders, the evil spirits Rakshasa and Mahoraga.
‘It still gives me shivers.’
They had used a unique ghost art to hide their sanctuary, which we discovered by interrogating the Skin-Wearing Ghosts that had possessed the warriors of the Jinju Yan Clan.
Before interrogating the Yan Clan warriors, there had been a fight with the Yan Clan Head, Yan Jwa-ryeong. That fight was truly dangerous. It was a good thing I used the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, Jin Hong, and the Martial Alliance Leader, Du Baek…
I nearly suffered an internal injury that would have been difficult to heal.
But, perhaps this was fate…
Even those events worked as a blessing in disguise.
Such is life; a blessing may be a curse in disguise, and a curse a blessing.
After that, the leaders of the Orthodox Sects followed my plan without a hitch. If I had tried to deal with Hye-nang and the Five-Energy Ghosts, who were running rampant across Hubei, all by myself…
‘Just the thought gives me a headache.’
And the House Ghosts spreading in all eight directions. Thanks to the renowned masters of the Orthodox Sects dealing with them, I was able to meet Mahoraga.
Yes, the leader of all those evil spirits, Rakshasa Mahoraga.
I’ll never forget the first time I met him.
My hair stood on end.
A wave of fear washed over me.
I realized it.
At my current level, a frontal assault would be suicide.
So, I joined forces with the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, Jin Hong, and the Martial Alliance Leader, Du Baek.
‘The Orthodox Sects and the Demonic Cult joining forces! This must be the picture my master envisioned!’
Just then, Mu-heun felt presences surrounding them in a wide circle.
‘Hmph. They’re starting to close in. They should be appearing soon. I’m hoping for the Unorthodox Sects’ cooperation, but it’ll be a problem if they’re all like this…’
Mu-heun turned his gaze from the front to his left. The man following him from the rear left.
“You’re not going to follow me all the way to Xinjiang, are you?”
“Haha, of course not. I am merely accompanying you in case you encounter the Three Supreme Blades. I am not unaware of the Divine Doctor's martial prowess, but they too are known to have reached the pinnacle of demonic arts. If the three of them were to attack you at once…”
“Haha, thank you.”
“Not at all. Your well-being is for the good of the entire Central Plains.”
The person I was speaking with was the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, Jin Hong.
‘Of course, the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable must have also sensed the presences surrounding us. Hmph, come to think of it, he wasn't like this at first…’
The day we planned the operation to subjugate Mahoraga at the Martial Alliance and relayed it to the leaders of the Orthodox Sects, Jin Hong had come to see me.
He enjoyed snacks and tea with me, and we had a small talk. The standard for good and evil… that was probably Jin Hong's criterion for judging people.
However, I couldn't define such a standard until the end. Rather than defining it completely, to keep contemplating it. That was the answer I came to, and I conveyed that answer to Jin Hong.
Of course, I also told him that I was the Divine Doctor of Sichuan in my past life and that I had met my end after being betrayed by the Tang Clan.
The trembling pupils of the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, known as an absolute master of the Orthodox Sects…
‘It was quite an interesting experience.’
I told Jin Hong that I met my master, the Heavenly Demon, on the border of life and death, and that I was given a new life in the Demonic Cult.
Jin Hong listened to my entire story in silence.
Perhaps his heart underwent a great change… After that, he expressed his active support for everything I said.
Thanks to him, everything was resolved smoothly.
‘So… it would have been nice if it ended there…’
But now, this man, the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, was following me, vowing to protect me from the Three Supreme Blades. Of course, what he said wasn't wrong.
Mu-heun was also aware of how crucial his role was at present. So, he was grateful for Jin Hong's consideration. However, those sparkling eyes that expected a new miracle from me!
‘For a man his age, why is he acting like that!’
“Haa…”
I turned my head from the left back to the front.
‘Those Three Supreme Blades bastards… isn’t it about time they showed up?’
Asura's Seven Bends and the Three Supreme Blades—it's all because of them. Flame Demon Cho Yeom-wi, Ice Demon Yeon Ah-ryeong.
‘Just you wait, you bastard seniors.’
After I capture the Three Supreme Blades and get the evidence, it’s your turn!
Just then.
“Are you Baek Mu-heun?”
A man carrying a long saber appeared.
***
Just before leaving Hubei, Mu-heun's party was passing through a mountain path. The path was overgrown with trees and plants, so their visibility wasn't great.
However, with one a master who had reached the divine realm, another at the pinnacle of the transformation realm, and the third in the middle stage of the profound realm, it was impossible for them not to notice someone appearing right in front of them.
Naturally, they knew the man would appear before them.
The man, who had a long, large scar running from his chin to below his eye, had been lying in wait on one side of the path Mu-heun’s party was on. After confirming Mu-heun’s face several times, he stopped hiding and came out to speak.
At the man's waist was a long saber. His appearance was as if he was introducing himself as one of the Three Supreme Blades for all to see.
The man exuded a fierce aura. Before he revealed himself, Mu-heun hadn't been able to gauge his level because he had concealed his energy quite well.
He could only guess that he was at a similar level to himself. But his level didn't matter. After all, next to Mu-heun was one of the absolute masters of the Orthodox Sects.
‘What took him so long…’
When Jin Hong first came to Mu-heun and offered to escort him to Sichuan, he was honestly grateful.
The Three Supreme Blades were all masters of the transformation realm. One-on-one might be manageable, but three-on-one was impossible. They were still formidable opponents for Mu-heun.
Therefore, Mu-heun had been prepared to request support from the Soul-Stealing Immortal and the Martial Alliance Leader if necessary. But since Jin Hong had come first and volunteered to be his escort, there was no need…
Mu-heun felt very reassured.
With the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable, Jin Hong, one of the Five Supreme Masters of the World, by his side, why would he fear the likes of the Three Supreme Blades?
Despite this, the Soul-Stealing Immortal had expressed his anxiety. He offered to contact the Wudang Sect and have Mu-heun receive their protection until he left Hubei.
Of course, I refused flatly.
The Wudang Sect, which boasted a lofty reputation throughout the land. In the Wudang Sect was the Taiji Sword Emperor, Mu Jin-hyeon. Mu-heun didn't want to be indebted to him from their very first meeting.
When meeting important people, one needs to be properly prepared. This was even more true for someone from whom he would receive much help in the future.
Just then, the man spoke, his fierce energy crackling in the air.
“What did you do with Asura’s Seven Bends?”
I glanced at the man before me, who had raised one hand, beckoned with a finger, and tilted his head.
‘His clothes, weapon, appearance… he must be one of the Three Supreme Blades. The ones who were forming a wide encirclement have been closing in quickly. Poisoning the food at the inn, lying in wait on the road. They’re using some pretty traditional methods.’
“What’s it to you?”
“What… what did you say?”
“You’re about to be beaten to a pulp and die. Why would you need to know?”