Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: The Rogue King's Might
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There was no place that loved lining people up quite like the martial world.
Who was stronger, who was weaker.
From the Three Venerables and Eight Kings.
Lavish titles like the Six Dragons or whatever.
They were all just names created to make ranking easier.
The martial world's hierarchy was something even the idlers on the marketplace floor listened to with rapt attention.
And the moment you brought up Murim Alliance Leader Namgoong Hyeok, comparisons became pointless...
Namgoong Hyeok was an outlier by definition from the start.
As for the powerhouses below him.
Debates over who was the true master raged fiercely across the Central Plains.
Gossips debating the superiority of masters as if they were the ones involved.
And every time, one name inevitably popped up without fail.
That was Rogue King Du Heon-u.
Quite a few people underestimated him.
For those like the Sword King of the Zhongnan Sect or the Beggar King of the Beggars' Gang, who were active at the heart of the Central Plains.
It wasn't hard to gauge their prestige.
Their affiliations were part of the Nine Great Sects, and they had amply demonstrated their strength in major and minor incidents.
The challengers who fearlessly sent them letters of challenge also played a part.
On the other hand, many doubted the Rogue King's prowess.
"He's just the boss of some gang in a corner of the Central Plains, isn't he?"
Since he stayed only in the outskirts of the Central Plains, most people never crossed paths with him.
His position as the representative of ronin didn't help either.
Ronin were routinely looked down upon in the Central Plains.
Even if he was the strongest among them, how impressive could he be?
Such doubts.
They were nothing but empty talk from those who had never even set foot past Fujian's threshold.
Humans were creatures of forgetfulness.
Whether they couldn't recall events from long ago.
One man facing off against the Wudang Sect's elites with sheer martial prowess.
And the fact that the Wudang Sect still kept silent about it, never encroaching on Fujian again.
Too many failed to grasp what that meant.
"I'll take the lead. Everyone, follow me!"
The ronin were thrilled.
The legendary tales of their Rogue King.
To witness him in battle with their own eyes and fight alongside him.
The ronin, clutching their pounding hearts and ready to join the fray at their king's command.
Soon realized.
They had nothing to do.
Boom!
The Rogue King stomped the ground hard.
The earth split just from that.
Riding the rebound, he leaped forward.
Straight into the heart of the enemy lines.
"Hup!"
It seemed reckless at first glance.
A sea of people.
Demonic cultists packed so densely there was barely room to stand.
Amid beasts exuding savage auras thirsting for blood.
Charging in without even proper armor was akin to throwing one's life into the mud.
If he weren't the Rogue King.
"Uwaaaah!"
The Rogue King thrust out his fist.
The qi condensed at its tip erupted with his shout.
Pa-ba-ba-bat!
The ground trembled.
The shockwave from the Rogue King.
Like a storm, the vortex of qi ravaged and swept through the demonic cultists.
The earth gouged out, shredded beyond repair.
Those filling it left not even a trace of their forms.
All from a single punch.
The emergence of an untouchable foe.
Even after losing their commander No Cheol, the cultists instinctively sensed it.
This one had to be eliminated.
Whoosh!
The demonic cultists charged at the Rogue King en masse.
Even if a dozen fell from one punch, their numbers were too vast to count.
As if their sole purpose was to swarm him somehow.
Only after discarding weapons and pouring in manpower did they finally overwhelm him.
Dozens of cultists enveloping the Rogue King like a net.
The moment the bloodlust in their eyes thickened, they detonated simultaneously.
Pu-ber-bung!
Blood flooded out.
Fountains of blood from the exploding cultists.
But despite the suicide attacks that burned away their lives.
The Rogue King stood there unscathed.
"Truly vicious stuff. Melting people into a puddle of blood like that."
Rain fell.
A scarlet downpour.
Traces of those not even allowed to leave corpses due to the Blood Unit's drug.
The toxic blood soaked the Rogue King's body.
"Stings a bit, huh."
Even the blood laced with malevolent energy that seemed to dissolve anything couldn't pierce his protective qi.
The Rogue King licked his lips as if tasting it.
The watching cultists began to tremble.
"Impressive. Even with your reason numbed, you still feel fear?"
They looked like broken puppets.
Their bodies twitching to charge under the drug's effect, but instinct rejecting it.
"Poor things. I'll end you as painlessly as possible."
It was a requiem delivered in advance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The grueling battle had ended.
In truth, the moment the Rogue King appeared, it was practically over.
Ignorant fools might disparage him.
But he was one of the few true heavyweights I'd witnessed.
'If only you'd come a bit earlier.'
That lingering regret remained.
The demonic cultists' martial arts weren't exceptionally superior.
On the level that Jegal Yeong or Hwangbo Seyul could handle easily.
The problem was numbers.
No matter how many you killed, more poured in.
In a prolonged war of attrition, even individual prowess had limits.
I'd even pondered exhausting my inner energy to purify demonic qi on a massive scale.
The Blood Corps' trap was far beyond expectations.
'Hundreds? Can't even count them.'
All those cultists had vanished without a trace.
The ones cornered to death all self-destructed into blood puddles.
No Cheol's lieutenants, sensing they couldn't escape, covered his corpse in blood and took their own lives.
"Senior, you alright?"
"Me? Of course. Just a bit queasy in the stomach."
Jegal Yeong was a mess.
Her hair disheveled, blood crusts here and there.
She shrugged as if fine, even cracking a joke.
But to me, it just looked like she was pretending to be okay.
'Must be exhausting. Especially mentally.'
Mastery in martial arts didn't harden the mind.
No matter that they were vile demonic arts users, little more than mindless beasts.
Taking lives.
Dozens of them?
Not easy.
"Junior, looks like we need to eat extra hearty for dinner tonight?"
"Think you can keep it down?"
"Hehe, that's exactly when you need a solid meal."
"How about some blood sausage?"
"That's... a bit too twisted..."
What was wrong with blood sausage?
Nothing beat it after heavy blood loss.
Surprisingly, Hwangbo Seyul seemed unfazed.
She often acted childish, making it easy to overlook.
But her resolve was quietly firm.
"We should send a report to the Alliance."
"Yeah. Hardly any evidence left... We'll have to leave a thorough investigation to them."
As expected, nothing useful in the rough buildings they'd set up.
Weapons they'd used (already corroded), scraps of clothing at best. The rest for the official investigators.
We decided to stay in Fujian until handing over the site.
'They really went all out to lure us in.'
Sun-Moon Divine Cult.
Quite aggressive for a group that had vanished for ages.
Of course, probably the radicals obsessed with blood characters, like last time.
Their attempt to stir chaos through the Bloodswordsman without drawing attention had backfired spectacularly.
Recalling No Cheol's words, they must have heard I'd purified the Bloodswordsman too.
So they scattered Blood Units in the south to draw us out?
Talk about bold.
Petty at the same time, avoiding the core out of fear of the Alliance and only hitting the outskirts.
'Should I contact Master?'
At least the heightened security around the Ten Thousand Great Mountains was a silver lining.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Demonic Cult.
It was the magic word that cranked the Murim Alliance's processing speed to the max.
Less than a week later, the investigation team arrived.
We handed over all info and prepared to return.
The day before departure.
I went to see the Rogue King.
"Oh, young hero. What brings you here?"
"What now... You could've picked up on it back then."
"Haha! If you wanted to blame me, give a heads-up next time."
"As if there was time."
Still that brazen face.
He must've expended quite a bit in the recent battle.
His fresh vigor irked me.
"I figured you'd come back this time."
"Seriously. Seeing that mess and still thinking of returning would make me an idiot."
"Still hung up on that?"
"Damn it. Gotta make me curse to feel satisfied?"
It was a memory I'd long erased.
Mentioning it now.
Of course it pissed me off.
"Anyway. Glad you're doing well."
"Come to think of it, I owe you thanks. Thanks to those bastards, I felt like leaving this place."
"Jeez..."
He didn't press further after I said that much.
"Fancy a drink?"
"No time. I came because the seniors asked me to pass on their thanks."
"Those ladies? Wasn't that enough? They thanked me profusely for ages. Said it was a misunderstanding."
"What if you'd worded it so there was no misunderstanding?"
"You know my position and still say that."
Last time with Jegal Yeong.
The Rogue King had refused cooperation to the point of stubbornness.
That was before securing justification.
Two ways to get him involved.
One, concrete proof of the Demonic Cult, like we did.
The other...
"Hire me with money. One word like that would've made it easy."
"You know better. Think that's how ronin work? Boss is handling it, and I butt in?"
"Seems you've gained some social skills since."
No intention of saying that one word.
Because of it, couldn't shake off the trailing ronin, nearly died hacking away till you showed.
"Control your men better."
"If they're controlled, they're not ronin anymore!"
That damn freedom.
Though he said that.
"Feeding off the Demonic Cult is freedom too?"
"Happens sometimes. Fools who think they're free from responsibility. Of course I won't let it slide. They'll pay for their stupidity."
The Rogue King cooperated fully with the Alliance investigators.
Those deeply involved, he beheaded personally after interrogation.
Innocent entangled ones punished by degree of crime.
Handed over the criminals the Alliance demanded as requested.
At the end, when he swayed the ronin to our side, I thought he'd sneakily cover for all ronin.
Turns out he just hoped not to implicate innocent ronin overall.
Thanks to that, we searched every nook, confiscating all Blood Units the ronin held.
"Leaving already?"
"Told you I'm busy. Business done, time to go."
"Really not drinking?"
Unlike him.
A hint of lingering reluctance.
"Don't block those who come, don't hold those who leave."
"You remember well."
"...Next time I come, I'll think about it."
No need for thanks.
He'd get it.
I turned and left the Rogue King behind.