Chapter 291
Chapter 291
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 291
Chapter Title: Sichuan Tang Family (1)
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To the blatantly mocking tune ridiculing Man-woo's death.
Do-ol Wolma Yang Gui's foot slammed into the ground.
Paht!
In an instant, Do-ol Wolma shot out of the manor like a ferocious evil spirit.
At the sight, the village bumpkin who had been humming the tune of Yong-woo Sang-bak with alcohol buzzing to the top of his head felt his drunkenness vanish in a flash. Without realizing it, he turned to flee.
But how could a mere bumpkin outrun the steps of a great demonic master?
"!"
Do-ol Wolma blocked the man's path in a blink and grabbed him by the collar.
"Kek."
"That tune you just muttered. Where'd you pick it up?"
"Kekhek. Let... let go a bit..."
Do-ol Wolma lowered his arm so the struggling bumpkin's feet touched the ground.
Having barely escaped death, the bumpkin hurriedly spoke.
"Fr-from the opera at the Holy City's festival! It's a song from there!"
Having heard the answer, Do-ol Wolma tossed the bumpkin aside like trash.
Kwang!
Just as the flung bumpkin crashed into the manor wall and slumped limply.
Four shadows leaped out from behind the wall and knelt on one knee before Do-ol Wolma.
Among the four demons, two were spies from the Moon King Division, and the remaining two were liaisons with the so-called Seven Tiger and Eight Tiger of the Inner Chamber Demon General.
Do-ol Wolma fixed his gaze on Seven Tiger and spoke.
"Opera?"
"Eon Yong-un twisted the incident where our cult burned the Righteous Martial Academy's four great dormitories to his advantage..."
"Explain truthfully before I split you two fools' heads open and verify it myself."
"...They're performing a play satirizing Black Thread Demon General's demise."
"Did the Inner Chamber Demon General know about this?"
"......"
"If he didn't, that Song Gil-jun bastard is a useless fool I can kill on the spot. Answer properly."
"...Yes. He knew."
At the response, Do-ol Wolma twisted his expression.
"If he knew, then he deceived me."
Seven Tiger and Eight Tiger bowed their heads in unison and hurriedly said,
"Moon Horse Senior must know that Inner Chamber Demon General was close to Black Thread Demon General like friends. He had no choice but to withhold it to endure the humiliation and complete the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's grand plan."
"Yes. He said this was the righteous sects' scheme and that if we endure the insult just a bit longer, the perfect moment would come."
At their words.
Do-ol Wolma furrowed his brow and spoke again.
"To complete the cult's grand plan, there may be a need to tolerate some vermin-like commoners. However, the Cult Leader and All Demons Hall must be objects of awe and fear! If even beggars and bumpkins are singing such songs, how much longer must we wait!?"
"......"
"......"
"The decisive battle with the righteous sects is imminent. I won't split your heads, so go relay my words to that Gil-jun fool. The time he's waiting for is far off, so I'll make the decision."
Finishing his words, Do-ol Wolma issued orders to his direct subordinates.
"Moon King Division heads to the Holy City."
"Yes, sir!"
"We obey!"
As the Moon King Division's forces marched out of the manor en masse, Seven Tiger and Eight Tiger quickened their steps.
They dashed toward the garrison in Heavenly Poison Valley, a short southwest journey from So-hwa Fortress.
There, they rushed to Song Gil-jun's tent and reported the Moon King Division's matter.
"...Moon Horse Senior said he'd make the decision and led the Moon King Division's full force straight to the Holy City."
Kwang!!!!
Hearing their report, Song Gil-jun roared and shot up from his seat.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!!!"
At that moment, words Demon Prison Lord Yeon Ok-ran had said recently while extending her arm flashed through his mind.
'If I had to name one person in the world who's an obstacle to our cult's grand plan, I'd pick Eon Yong-un without hesitation.'
At the time, Song Gil-jun had marked Eon Yong-un as a figure of caution but considered him less dangerous than Yeon Ok-ran.
But now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to acknowledge her words.
"Eon Yong-un!"
Having inwardly admitted Yeon Ok-ran's words.
The humiliation he'd suffered in Dan-gang Valley days ago flashed through Song Gil-jun's mind.
'Next time we meet, I'll crush you—I, your instructor, promise!'
At that, an alarm bell in Song Gil-jun's head warned him to halt the Sichuan conquest plan.
"...If we'd been satisfied with burning the four great dorms and withdrawn, we wouldn't have tasted such failure."
Song Gil-jun's gaze immediately shifted to the righteous sects' force map overlaid on the Holy City's terrain diagram.
Marked on the map were the forces of Sichuan Tang Family, Murim Alliance, Beggars' Sect, Emei Sect, and Qingcheng Sect.
Handling that alone with just Moon King Division was impossible.
Now that things had reached this point, abandoning the Sichuan conquest plan was out of the question.
"Eon Yong-un. Do I have to step into that bastard's trap again?!"
After dry-washing his face once, Song Gil-jun ground his teeth and ordered his subordinates.
"We head to the Holy City too. Seven Tiger, sound the emergency to the cultists. Eight Tiger, summon the Heavenly Poison Valley's Valley Lord here right now!"
"Yes, sir!"
* * *
The Sichuan Tang Family's Mild Poison Festival was heading toward its finale.
Since the festival had proceeded splendidly, most of the initial goals had been achieved.
Among them, the first goal accomplished was attracting merchants to the street vendor area.
The reason we'd directly run a stall was to encourage that very thing.
With the vendor area now packed without room to step, it could be called a resounding success.
Thus, my younger siblings and I halted operations under the pretext that materials were exhausted.
And focused on patrolling centered around the opera venue.
Yeong-yong-i was on watch from the sky, while we covered the ground here and there.
At that moment, a man holding a child's hand bowed politely.
"Aren't you Miss Ok-gi? Come on, kid. Greet her."
"Hellooo."
Tang Ok-gi tilted her head at their greeting.
"You know me?"
"Oh dear. Of course the young lady doesn't know a lowly one like me."
"Yes. You seem unfamiliar."
"The Tang Family doctors at the free clinic treated my boy, so I felt this inexplicable closeness and... I'm sorry if I offended you."
"No such thing. Is your son better now?"
"Yes. I thought the glutton just had a stomachache from overeating, but turns out there were worms in his belly."
"Oh? That needs prompt treatment."
"Yes. Never dreamed of seeing a doctor for something like that, but thanks to the Tang Family, the kid lived! Thank you!"
"I didn't do anything."
"It's a grace from the Tang Family, so I had to greet you too. It's a blessing the Tang Family is in Sichuan."
"Hmph. Ahem. Come to Tang Family Tower after the festival for another checkup. Make sure it's fully gone. And cook food thoroughly."
Tang Ok-gi had tilted her head at first.
But by the end of the talk, she returned to us with a pleased expression.
"You look happy."
"Hmph. Not bad."
"More than not bad—your mouth's twitching up."
"It's... It's just weird getting greetings like this from non-Tang Family folks for the first time!"
There were those who greeted openly like that, but far more sent warm glances.
"Doesn't seem like they're just fearing the Sichuan Tang Family anymore."
It was tantamount to achieving the greatest goal of holding the festival.
Now, all that remained was thwarting the Demonic Cult's plan to extend its grip over this land.
That was when Master asked.
- But tomorrow's the festival's last day, isn't it? That Do-ol Wolma's been awfully quiet.
'Indeed.'
I spoke to Ye Hae-su.
"Senior, by now the opera story should've spread through all nearby villages in the Chengdu Basin, right?"
"Yes, Junior. Places like Hanzhong beyond Geom-gak or Yunnan down south might not, but it should've reached all big and small villages near Chengdu Basin."
At Ye Hae-su's answer, I stroked my chin and muttered to myself.
"Doesn't seem like the Demonic Cult hid their forces far away... If word reached them, they'd be flipping out and charging by now, but it's quiet."
Nangong Yun spoke at my words.
"Talking about Do-ol Wolma?"
"Yeah."
"No chance that demon has more patience than expected?"
Absolutely not.
But since it was info from the original story, I couldn't state it flatly.
I chose my words carefully.
"Slim chance. Masters and disciples sharing martial arts often have similar temperaments."
Master chimed in at my words.
- I want to say that's not the case.
'?'
- ?
Pretending not to hear, I finished.
"...You saw Black Thread Demon General's personality back then too, right, Gong-yun?"
Nangong Yun nodded but offered another view.
"When you and I received that note from the permit office, didn't Grand Strategist say it might be a ploy? Could that be it?"
"That was before decoding the cipher."
"Hm."
"The contents were too fragmentary. If it was a ploy to lure us, it'd say something like 'Permit office's youngest son moved to such-and-such.'"
"True."
"If we check that tree again now, I bet there's bait notes planted. If he doesn't show soon, someone might suggest digging it up. That'd be trouble..."
As I rubbed my chin, Jeong Hyeon brought up another headache.
"Heard Emei and Qingcheng have complaints too."
"Grand Strategist said nothing?"
"Seems he didn't tell us. I just learned visiting Beggars' Sect on Young Master Eon's errand."
"Yeah? What complaints?"
"They're grumbling about waiting on Grand Strategist orders without clear info—like how long this'll go on."
"Sheesh. Complaints from ignorance."
"I get it somewhat. Emei doesn't speak, Qingcheng's Daoist—they're not thrilled with disciples amid a secular festival."
As I chatted with Jeong Hyeon, Ha-seong shared his thoughts.
"If Do-ol Wolma doesn't show like this, won't it get messy? Qingcheng and Emei might leave, or bite the Demonic Cult's bait you mentioned?"
"They say even a village dog recites poetry after three years—even you see the picture after one year as a human?"
"I'm Galaxy Star... No, really, isn't this a big problem?"
"Do-ol Wolma has to come."
"...Then good."
At my words, Eun Ha-seong nodded.
Woo So-reung, beside him, shivered.
"Not good at all? Your words scare me too, Brother Eon. Saying the great demon's definitely coming."
"...Huh. True."
It was then the beggars came running, noisily banging their staffs.
Ddak! Ddak! Ddak! Ddak! Ddak! Ddak!
"Emergency! Flying arrows!! Emergency signals from north of Chengdu!!"
My siblings and I immediately shouted.
"Demonic Cult's attacking! Civilians, take shelter in nearby buildings!"
"This is real! Not part of the show! Everyone evacuate!"
The beggars echoed our words like a round song.
"Evacuate if told!"
Even the Sichuan noodle stall owner nearby mobilized Ha-o Sect members to evacuate people.
"Today's business ends here."
Shortly after.
Yeong-yong-i circling overhead screamed.
Piiiaaek!!!!
Not long after.
A burly old demon gripping massive twin axes landed before us.
Kung!
I spoke to the landed old demon.
"Are you Senior Do-ol Wolma?"
"Filth calls me that. Seeing a blood-clot like you know my moniker and step forward fearlessly... You must be Eon Yong-un."
"I'm pretty fearless for a blood-clot. But you're no saint yourself, Senior? We were just talking about you."
"What?"
"Not sure if you know, but I handle ghosts a bit. Man-woo wailed he missed his master, so I was pondering how to let him meet..."
Shortly after, Do-ol Demon General wrapped his twin axes in black qi and charged, kicking off the ground.
"Die!!!"
But it was worth a try.
At that instant, Blade Ghost Emperor Tang Ho-tae and the Sichuan Twin Freaks landed before me.