Chapter 114
Chapter 114
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: I'll Give You Three Months (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After sending Yang Ha-jeong on her way, I lay in my quarters, lost in thought.
It had already been about nine months since I fell into this world.
In that time, I'd built up my martial arts quite a bit, and I'd diligently bedded plenty of women.
Honestly, it was a lot. Way too many.
The real problem was that there were still plenty of women I wanted to bed in the future. And that number might even grow.
'I need money...'
Money and power are inseparable. You need power to protect your wealth, and wealth to sustain your power.
I wanted to try something like in those alternate history tales, but there was no guarantee it'd work, and to hit it big, I'd need seed money anyway.
'Worst of all, there's a huge risk of things turning upside down.'
The grand milf era that my master had kicked off. The martial women of the righteous sects who married young would now have kids reaching adulthood.
At this point, freed from the duty of raising children, I'd have to bed them diligently to relatively easily reap women at the peak of their milf beauty.
If only I'd come here a few years earlier, I could've spammed "Ahh, this is what XX is!" and struck it rich overnight...
'If women are scattered all over Jianghu like this, by the time I get around to them while they're raising kids, I'll end up as the bastard telling them to spread their legs!'
Imagining the scene a few years from now where my own kids grow up and hit me with "Mister, who are you?" the moment they see me already made the back of my head throb.
'No way! That can't happen!'
The best option would be to sprinkle decent ideas at a place loaded with manpower and funds, collect royalties as compensation, and build my fortune that way.
But the only fitting place was the Tang Family. The Peng Family seemed tied up with other matters for the time being...
'But it's annoying.'
Doing something good for the Tang Family would ultimately benefit Tang Jo-myeong. He might even get cocky again and mistreat Peng Yeon-hwa.
"Isn't there any good investors out there..."
Tak tak tak tak
As I was deep in thought, a commotion erupted outside. People clutching their torches were running toward somewhere.
'What happened?'
I stepped out and stealthily followed the crowd. Peng Wol was urgently gathering his disciples, about to head out from the family compound.
"Oh, Brother Kang!"
Peng Wol's anxious face lit up the moment he spotted me.
"Brother, what's going on?"
One of the elite disciples who had gone with Peng Mu-do and Yang Ha-jeong had returned covered in blood.
He'd made it back, but he hadn't been able to properly relay anything before collapsing and losing consciousness.
The opponent was the government office. The authorities. Even if they were getting beaten, if the Peng Family struck back, it'd almost certainly be seen as rebellion.
Peng Mu-do might be fine, but for Young Master Peng Wol, it was too grave a matter to charge in.
"Young hero, I'm sorry, but this is a family affair. I'd appreciate it if an outsider didn't meddle."
A middle-aged man stepped forward, eyeing Peng Wol. Guessing the situation from their locked gazes, he interjected.
Some were insisting they couldn't go. They couldn't let Peng Wol, not even the family head, make a decision to antagonize the government.
Suppressing my irritation at this bullshit "your business, my business" crap in this crisis, I spoke up.
"Isn't the situation urgent? Let's at least head nearby first and..."
"No, can you take responsibility, young hero? If even that gets interpreted as defiance against the officials, what then?"
"Sir, if you're scared, just say you're scared."
At my sudden jab, the middle-aged man floundered, mouth agape in shock.
But his temper flared, face turning beet red as he gripped his sword hilt, starting to threaten me.
"Have you said your piece? I'm thinking of the family's future..."
"Ah, I see. So for the family's future, you can abandon the family head, and the disciples too. I get it completely."
At my sarcasm, the man clenched his sword hilt, trembling with rage.
I was the one who really wanted to blow up. If I hadn't realized I couldn't turn the crisis around alone, I'd have gone ahead already.
Still, hearing the Peng Family disciples murmuring behind him, it seemed my words had swayed public opinion.
"Let's do as Young Hero Kang says. Uncle, please set aside your anger for now and let's go."
Unlike his profusely bowing head, as if apologizing on behalf of the now black-with-rage middle-aged man, Peng Wol's telepathic message sounded relieved.
I slipped in among the Peng Family disciples leading the way, hurriedly heading toward the Provincial Inspector's Office.
Please, please let nothing have happened. If something did, please let them be holding out well.
I forcibly shoved away the thought that I should have warned Yang Ha-jeong more strongly.
Such thoughts were useless anyway. Regret after arriving and it being all over wouldn't be too late.
So please, just hurry up a bit more! You slow-ass Peng Family bastards!
The Demonic Cult's Young Cult Leader, Young Ho-kyeong, deflected the opponent's saber. The saber cry roared like a tiger—a hallmark of the Five Tiger Gate Saber Technique.
And the saber at its peak was as heavy as a collapsing mountain.
As Young Ho-kyeong leaped back to evade it, the saber's owner, Peng Mu-do, spoke.
"I've never heard of a female expert with such swordsmanship in Jianghu. Are you from the Demonic Cult?"
And she even showed leisure at times.
"Why assume Demonic Cult?"
"Who else? Swordsmanship defying all reason, yet refined and stable... But the demonic qi is thick..."
Peng!
Peng Mu-do closed in with explosive movement, but she'd already seen through that his footwork was a one-shot deal.
Once that step ended, he'd revert to tortoise speed.
Yet Peng Mu-do still looked at ease.
"Not even Sword Tyrant that old man, nor tales of a female disciple under him... The Cult Leader's daughter, then? Or not?"
"...I won't answer."
Young Ho-kyeong was deeply dissatisfied with this situation. She'd come north of the Han to punish rogue cultists who'd slipped her control.
She'd tracked their hideout, only for the cultists to suddenly start trouble, clashing swords with Peng Family disciples.
'Elder Yi...!'
She knew he'd long pushed for all-out war with the righteous sects, and she'd somewhat agreed.
But the Cult Leader's command was absolute. Even if she'd bite her sword and plead face-to-face to retract it, starting without permission?
"The Mountain Emptying Poison wasn't my intent. I hope you understand."
"Ha, you think this trash is some great shackle for me?"
Despite his confident demeanor, it was shackling him plenty. The fact that Young Ho-kyeong, still lacking in skill, could handle Peng Mu-do was proof enough.
Normally, Mountain Emptying Poison should've crippled his inner power in less than a quarter hour, but he'd been flaunting peak transcendent prowess for nearly that long.
Even if countered somehow, its potency was visibly waning by the moment.
'Someday I'll win with pure skill...'
If she just held out steadily until she could overwhelm him with strength, Young Ho-kyeong could win.
But her mind was a mess.
'Should I kill this guy?'
The reason she was facing Peng Mu-do now was simple.
If she let him loose, he'd lead his Peng Family disciples to slaughter every last Ming Cultist.
No matter their crimes, they should be handled within the cult, not die by his hand.
Disguised as officials, but with her demonic qi unleashed via Ghost Face Great Method, a plea to the Spirit Lord would easily clear any treason charges.
The problem was, with such a large clash, they'd surely seek fitting retaliation.
'Spare him, and he becomes a pesky foe in clashes with the righteous sects. Kill him, and we hasten a war we might avoid.'
Before meeting Kang Yun, she'd have slain him without hesitation.
Even if it cost her Young Cult Leader position, she'd bear it.
The righteous-demonic great war was inevitable; with the Demonic Cult and its evil affiliates' superior forces, Ming rule over the world.
'But not anymore.'
Now, with the tie to the Blood Demon, it was different.
Why rush into clashes when she could achieve Ming supremacy stably, without cultist sacrifices?
If the Blood Demon allied with Ming and crushed the righteous core experts, ordinary cultists' bloodshed would minimize.
'But if I stop here and the righteous don't stay quiet, it's all for naught.'
Would this man, swinging a saber loaded with one-strike-kill intent, believe her inner thoughts?
Even if he did, problem. The righteous sects would conclude Ming planned to extend into Central Plains martial world and unite to resist.
'Elder Yi...!'
No matter how it rolled, it was a dead end.
Leave silently, and Peng Mu-do would pursue or get whittled down until cultists killed him.
Confront Elder Yi, and he'd claim ignorance of rogue cultists escalating to this.
And ultimately, the great war happens. As Elder Yi wished.
'I won't let you off.'
Firming her murderous intent toward Elder Yi, she doubled the inner energy in her sword.
Today, here, five exchanges would become four.
Elder Yi—Huang Du-myeong—eyed the two youths blocking his path, a glint in his gaze.
"Hah, causing such a ruckus at a government office. Who exactly are you?"
It was banter. Even without the youth's surging saber qi, the thick demonic qi filled the air, detectable by any martial artist.
Unlike Blazing Dragon Peng Wol's flushed, furious face, Hand Dragon Kang Yun sneered nonchalantly.
"Your cult sure loves meddling in state affairs. Filling an entire province's inspectorate with Demonic Cultists? Since when did the Demonic Cult become such a patriotic group?"
But Elder Yi read his emotional state from those wavering eyes, palpable as if in his grasp.
Killing intent boiling, barely restrained by thin ice-like reason.
'So tight with the Peng Family?'
A hidden expert unknown to the world, origin mysterious but profound inner power, famed as one of the Nine Dragons new stars.
He'd heard he'd built rapport with Peng Wol, but this reaction was odd.
"You're Hand Dragon, right? This doesn't concern you. Best to step back..."
"Elder, at your age, why not rest easy in your coffin instead of this messy place? Oh, no sons or daughters to close the lid for you?"
"What did you say...?"
Kang Yun's words, delivered with that same smirking attitude, unwittingly struck Elder Yi's reverse scale perfectly.
Forcing down the blood-boiling rage surging to his head, Elder Yi summoned cold reason.
"Fine, two on one might work. Come at me."
"..."
"Ah, I'll just maim you like that wench lying there. Not kill. Rest easy."
Elder Yi frowned at the fresh qi fully unleashed from Kang Yun, gripping a dagger reverse in his left hand and assuming a stance.
Yang Ha-jeong, collapsed behind the two men under Peng Family disciples' protection, was a reverse scale not just for Peng Wol, but Kang Yun too—something Elder Yi couldn't possibly know.