Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: We Can Win (1)
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"What a shame."
"Indeed. In any case, there won't be many who can enter that place. Hwan-gyu, was it?"
"Yes."
"What's the level of your martial arts? I heard from before that yours had reached the late peak realm..."
"I've recently advanced to the early transcendent realm."
"Then I'll leave it to you. We'll make sure to compensate Jeomchang Sect as well."
"Understood. Instead..."
He glanced subtly at his disciples.
Song Juk nodded, catching the unspoken request to protect them.
"I understand. I'll guard them personally."
"Thank you."
"And you'll have support from the imperial palace."
"Even better."
"Conveniently, there's a transcendent realm expert here with you. Go in together with her."
After Song Juk finished speaking, there was a knock at the door a moment later.
The door opened, and a woman entered.
She had a cold expression and wore a black military uniform. She bowed politely.
"I'm Seol Ryua."
"You're with the Black Guards of the imperial palace."
"The Black Guards?! The elite force that only follows His Majesty's direct orders?!"
"Oh, you know of them?"
"A Black Guard general visited Jeomchang Sect once before."
While listening to Hwan-gyu's response, Seol Ryua introduced herself.
"I'm the Third Captain of the Black Guards. I hold the rank of a mid-tier general."
"Dang Yu-wol of the Sacheon Tang Clan."
"Call me Hwan-gyu of Jeomchang Sect."
"I'm just someone who knows only how to fight, so I'm not sure how much help I'll be."
She had come to provide support but was clueless about poisons.
Thus, she couldn't hide her apologetic expression.
"I'll simply follow the two of you."
"Haha, what could a poor old man like me know? I'll just follow the young brother's lead."
Seol Ryua bowed slightly to Dang Yu-wol.
Watching her, Ye-ui muttered briefly.
-The Black Guards, huh. Weren't they the ones who dealt the heaviest blow to the Blood Cult during their war with the Great Empire?
One of the groups he'd only known from records was now before his eyes.
Dang Yu-wol looked at her with curiosity.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Shall we head out, then?"
"Yes."
The discussion was over.
As they stepped outside, Dang Yu-wol spoke to Gu Hwan-gae.
"While the three of us are inside, there's something I'd like you to handle, Elder."
"What is it?"
"Once we start investigating the village... there might be strange movements around the village outskirts or toward Hoe-gang County."
"Strange movements? Like what?"
"Attacks on the government offices, or perhaps the spread of poison."
Hoe-gang County housed a Blood Cult branch.
If they began resolving the Jiro River Village issue, the Blood Cult would surely make a move.
He wanted that intercepted.
"Is it dangerous?"
"I can't say it's not."
"Heh. This kid's really squeezing every bit of value out of his pay. Feels a bit excessive."
"Bill the extra to General Song."
Gu Hwan-gae let out a hollow laugh at Dang Yu-wol's relaxed words.
* * *
Dang Yu-wol, Hwan-gyu, and Seol Ryua.
The three headed straight for Jiro River Village.
As they neared the village, Seol Ryua and Hwan-gyu's expressions hardened.
"...Young brother. Is this really okay?"
"It's still manageable."
A foul stench assaulted them, strong enough to make one want to pinch their nose shut.
Suppressing it with effort, they reached the village entrance, where soldiers waited with hands over their noses and mouths.
"We've received orders. You may enter."
Following the soldier's guidance to the entrance, the two hesitated to step forward, unlike Dang Yu-wol.
The stench was instinctively repulsive.
"Tang young hero. Are you alright?"
"I've smelled worse poisons than this. And..."
Dang Yu-wol drew a flying dagger from his bosom.
"Right now, we need to focus on those guys."
Regaining their senses at his words, the two looked ahead.
People in red clothes were extracting something from corpses, their faces uncovered.
"Who are those...?"
The two didn't know, but Dang Yu-wol did.
They were Blood Cultists.
In that case.
"What the hell are you...!! Gahk!!"
"You bastard...!! Keok!!"
Without a word, Dang Yu-wol hurled flying daggers at them and thought.
He had no intention of leaving a single Blood Cultist alive.
"Young brother?!"
"Young hero?!"
Seol Ryua and Hwan-gyu panicked at the sudden attack.
"General Seol!! Let's go!"
"Yes!!"
But these were people working on corpses in a restricted area.
They couldn't be good ones.
"Young brother!! What are these guys?!?"
"Not good ones, that's for sure."
"Yes!!"
While they fought other Blood Cultists, Dang Yu-wol examined the dead ones.
-They couldn't even withstand a single Soul-Chasing Phantom Dart, so they're not skilled Blood Cultists. Hm? What's that?
There was a small plaque in his bosom.
A jade plaque engraved with a flame emblem.
'Outer Law Elder Gu Sa-bak's faction.'
The Blood Cult was divided into three factions.
Dang Yu-wol and Ye-ui recalled its structure.
'Vice Cult Leader Blood Poison Lord Gal-cheon, in charge of all research divisions.'
-Vice Cult Leader Brutal Demon King Gil-yeong, leading the martial combat faction and their Blood Cultists.
And finally, Outer Law Elder Gu Sa-bak, handling most external affairs.
These were under Gu Sa-bak.
-Gu Sa-bak's subordinates aren't that strong.
'Then it's best to eliminate them all here.'
Dang Yu-wol whipped his head around.
More were approaching from afar.
"Enemy attack!"
"Ugh. Got it!"
Hwan-gyu gripped his weapon and swiftly swung his sword at the rushing foes.
"Haaap!!"
Four Directional Sword Technique.
A powerful, swift sword art said to shoot down the sun.
"Kuaaaak!!"
No one blocked his single stroke.
And Seol Ryua's attacks were the same.
"Gahk!!"
"You witch!!"
"Says the one who should know."
Her strikes were plain, typical of imperial martial arts, but each one landed heavily.
With every swing of Seol Ryua's longsword, one fell dead.
"Kraaak! You filthy dogs!!"
Because his comrades were dying?
The last Blood Cultist in the back raised his hand.
He held a pouch.
-Poison!!
"Gahk!!"
But Dang Yu-wol wasn't idling.
His Soul-Chasing Phantom Dart pierced the Blood Cultist's heart in an instant.
"Phew. Seems we've got them all. By the way, what's that?"
Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua eyed the pouch the last one had tried to throw.
Dang Yu-wol picked up the fallen pouch and peeked inside.
It contained fine red powder.
"Poison...?"
"Yes. Nine-Refined Lamp Powder."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Yes. One of the extreme poisons that can penetrate qi barriers and infect."
At his words, the two paled.
The opponents were weak, but the poison demanded caution.
"You hold onto it, Tang young hero. They might have more, so please check."
"Got it."
Dang Yu-wol searched the fallen Blood Cultists' bosoms.
Fortunately, he found six pouches of poison.
'Lucky.'
-You could consume these safely.
For a poison arts practitioner like Dang Yu-wol, it was as good as elixirs.
'Not enough to raise my realm, but definitely helpful.'
He smirked and quietly pocketed the poisons.
Meanwhile, Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua returned after felling more appearing enemies.
"Their martial arts are bizarre, to say the least. Unsettling."
"You see all sorts in the martial world. Anyway, young brother. Who the hell are these guys?"
As Dang Yu-wol was about to answer Hwan-gyu's mutter,
Seol Ryua spoke first, cautiously.
"They might be from the Blood Cult."
"Blood Cult?"
"Yes. A demonic cult that's lurked in the shadows of the Great Empire for ages."
Her bitter tone carried enmity.
"Among the Blood Cultists I fought before, some used similar techniques."
"But I've encountered Blood Cultists in my youth too."
Hwan-gyu had met them before as well.
But they hadn't moved like this.
"The Blood Cult has many branches."
Each branch had different behaviors and techniques.
These might be a different faction from the ones Hwan-gyu met.
Dang Yu-wol nodded slightly at her words.
-The Blood Cultists Hwan-gyu True Man met were probably under Brutal Demon King Gil-yeong.
'Likely.'
Dang Yu-wol turned to the corpses the Blood Cultists had been handling.
As expected, they harbored the Seven Liquid Blood Plague Poison.
"Amitabha..."
What a pity.
Hwan-gyu prayed for the souls of the dead.
Meanwhile, Seol Ryua surveyed the surroundings.
"There are more corpses over there. Tang young hero, what should we do with these?"
"Burn them. That's best."
"I see. It's like handling plague victims."
In her military experience, she'd cleared villages with infectious diseases.
The similarity made her mutter in a subdued voice.
"Wearing hoods to do this... Even martial artists aside, how could they do this to innocent villagers..."
"There are worse in the Western Regions."
"Really?"
"Yes. They fling plague-ridden corpses at enemies to spread disease."
"Gasp! Such outrage against heaven!!"
"There might be more of these guys in the village. Let's investigate."
"Right."
Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua walked ahead, swords fully drawn.
After several more skirmishes, they reached the village center.
There, they ground their teeth.
"Look over there."
A middle-aged man in luxurious blood-red robes stood in the village center.
The moment he spotted Dang Yu-wol's group, he snarled.
"Who the hell are you?"
"We'll be the ones asking. What are you? What's your connection to what's happened in this village?"
From the imperial army's perspective, hostility was inevitable.
She demanded sharply.
But the luxuriously dressed middle-aged man didn't even snort.
"Get out of my way."
At his command, his apparent subordinates charged.
"Ugh!! Young brother! Lady Seol! These ones are different from before!!"
Similar to those he'd faced in the past.
Skilled in martial arts.
Thus, Hwan-gyu and Seol Ryua desperately swung their swords.
-That one. He's a Dharma Protector. To become a Blood Cult Dharma Protector, transcendent realm is the baseline... You okay?
A transcendent realm Blood Cultist.
Dang Yu-wol smiled.
'No big deal.'