Chapter 241
Chapter 241
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 241
>Chapter Title: Gambling (1)
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A few days before the first cohort of the Faith Education Center completed their training.
A group secretly entered Lanzhou in Gansu Province.
Two men, who could be called the representatives among them, visited Il-mok's residence, and Il-mok welcomed them warmly.
“Greetings, Third Senior Brother! It's been a while, Branch Leader An Jeok-un.”
“Hahaha. Long time no see, little junior.”
“Greetings, Eighth Young Master.”
After a light exchange of greetings, Seo Wan-pyeong spoke with a moved expression.
“Heavens. The phrase 'leaps and bounds' must have been coined just for our little junior. To catch up to this senior brother in just a few months.”
Around the time he graduated from the Demonic Path Academy, the little junior had only just begun to emerge from Extreme Demon.
Yet now, he had gained enlightenment and reached a level where victory was no longer assured.
“Hahaha. I'm still a long way off, Senior Brother.”
“They say excessive humility is false modesty. It feels like you're teasing this senior brother.”
Il-mok flinched, wondering if Seo Wan-pyeong's paranoia had flared up again, but Seo Wan-pyeong let out a sinister chuckle.
“I'm joking. Hahaha.”
“J-joking? Ha. Hahaha.”
Seo Wan-pyeong had also partially escaped Extreme Demon, so his paranoia had lessened compared to before.
The aftereffects of suffering from side effects for over twenty years lingered, keeping his overall aura melancholic.
“I heard from Master. Those filthy scum from the Hao Gate are interfering with our little junior's duties?”
Il-mok nodded vigorously at Seo Wan-pyeong's question, laced with gloomy killing intent.
It was the kind of killing intent that would send chills down one's spine if directed at you, but since it was aimed at an ally, it somehow felt reassuring.
‘Just like what I went through before joining the Demonic Path Academy, those Hao Gate bastards need to suffer under Third Senior Brother.’
The reason they had come was because Il-mok had sent a letter to the main headquarters.
Along with an explanation that the Hao Gate was sending spies.
“We're coaxing the spies through the Faith Education Center for now, but we can't just keep defending forever, can we?”
“The Faith Education Center. I heard about that from Master too. Master and Eldest Senior Brother praised you so much their mouths went dry.”
Praises that Seo Wan-pyeong had almost never received himself.
“Praises for me...?”
“They said that when the only options seemed to be killing all the suspected spies outright or wasting manpower surveilling them and letting everything go to ruin, you came up with this ingenious method. I heard them say, 'As expected of the little junior!' myself.”
At Seo Wan-pyeong's explanation, Il-mok reacted awkwardly.
‘Praise from Master or Eldest Senior Brother is a danger signal.’
It was routine for praise to be followed by new assignments.
Seeing Il-mok's awkward reaction, Seo Wan-pyeong forced a smile to hide his true feelings.
‘Praises I've scarcely heard in my lifetime mean nothing to the little junior.’
He had escaped Extreme Demon, but the side effects weren't completely gone. He was just better at enduring them than before.
Seo Wan-pyeong quickly suppressed the negative emotions rising as he tilted his head slightly and asked with a gloomy smile.
“So, what does this senior brother need to do from now on?”
“First, this is information obtained from the coaxed spies. Next, this is a list of those not coaxed but suspicious. And finally, this is a list of those who recently entered Gansu Province again.”
As if prepared in advance, Il-mok handed over thick stacks of letters divided into categories.
“We're short on manpower, so we couldn't verify all the spies or gather all the information. Based on the info in these letters, please reverse-trace the Hao Gate's main body.”
Il-mok had requested reinforcements from the Shadow Pavilion in his letter.
Not just to passively accept the Hao Gate's schemes, but to strike at their head or core.
He hadn't expected Third Senior Brother to come as reinforcements, though.
Looking at the stacks of letters Il-mok handed over, Seo Wan-pyeong's face darkened momentarily.
‘...They said the little junior's notoriety is widespread at headquarters.’
He thought there couldn't be anything to criticize about such a brilliant little junior, but facing him directly was overwhelmingly impressive.
‘The little junior handles this level of work effortlessly, so he hands it off to others just as easily. Sigh. His thinking is on a different level from someone like me.’
In one corner of Seo Wan-pyeong's mind, the negative thoughts he had forcibly suppressed began to grow.
Il-mok himself couldn't handle it and was outsourcing, but Seo Wan-pyeong had no way of knowing that.
While Seo Wan-pyeong desperately shook his head side to side to overcome his inner demons,
Il-mok and An Jeok-un conversed, unaware that the paranoid patient before them was on the verge of blackening.
“Eighth Young Master. What do we need to do?”
“Ah. I'd like you to set up a formation at the Faith Education Center. Using the Illusion Dream Formation to show new believers visions of Maitreya and instill faith.”
That was why Il-mok had requested reinforcements from the Eight Trigrams Hall in addition to the Shadow Pavilion.
He planned to adapt only the Illusion Dream Formation from that Ghost Valley bastard's tricks, omitting the Dream Flower Grass.
While Il-mok explained the desired effects of the Illusion Dream Formation in detail, as if commissioning building construction, and An Jeok-un organized the details for a moment.
After finishing the discussion on the Illusion Dream Formation, An Jeok-un asked,
“Your progress with the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword seems quite fast, Young Master. As promised, once you reach Transcending Demon, do you intend to come to the Eight Trigrams Hall?”
Il-mok forced a smile at the reminder of the promise made when An Jeok-un had come as a temporary instructor at the Demonic Path Academy.
“Hahaha. If I reach Transcending Demon, I'll think about it then.”
‘Once I reach Transcending Demon, I'll live like a layabout in the back room. Why the hell would I go there?’
Il-mok had no intention of practicing formations, spells, or even martial arts. As long as he reached Transcending Demon.
Moreover, joining the Eight Trigrams Hall meant living with hazardous substances, so he had zero intention of going.
Continuing the conversation might get him roped into the Eight Trigrams Hall, so Il-mok hurriedly turned to Seo Wan-pyeong.
“Third Senior Brother? Your complexion looks dark. Is something bothering you?”
“...You're teasing me for having dark circles from my days and nights being flipped.”
“H-how could I dare tease a senior brother as lofty as the heavens?”
“Lofty as the heavens? Even the heavens can be incompetent compared to oneself.”
Feeling a sense of déjà vu from Seo Wan-pyeong's tone, Il-mok sensed danger and hurriedly moved his tongue.
“What are you saying! Everyone has their strengths! Why else would I ask for your help, Senior Brother? This fool couldn't perfectly execute stealth techniques like you even if I died and came back to life, nor could I catch the Hao Gate's rats and trace back to their core.”
“Even clever you can't do it?”
“That's right! That's why I'm asking for help.”
“Hmm.”
Seo Wan-pyeong looked down at the stack of letters from Il-mok with a subtle expression, nodded, and smiled gloomily.
“Then, entrust it to me with confidence. This senior brother will surely find where the Hao Gate's core is hiding.”
Seeing him regain his confidence, Il-mok let out a deep sigh of relief.
Dealing with this mad senior brother seemed harder than handling the Hao Gate's core.
* * *
To handle the task Il-mok assigned, Seo Wan-pyeong and An Jeok-un moved busily.
An Jeok-un went to the Faith Education Center with the sorcerers he brought and began drawing the formation, while Seo Wan-pyeong started the investigation with the Shadow Pavilion warriors.
In addition to the information confessed by those who admitted to being spies through atonement and confession, they secretly tracked those who endured the Faith Education to the end and followed the flow of the letters they sent.
But the Hao Gate had survived as an intelligence network for a long time, so they didn't easily expose their core.
When the letter courier they were tracking turned up dead, Seo Wan-pyeong clicked his tongue with a gloomy expression.
“Tch. Such卑鄙 bastards.”
Someone who noticed they were being pursued had killed the courier and taken the letter.
‘Whew. At least we still have opportunities left, so that's fortunate.’
Fortunately, new suspected spies had entered the Faith Education Center, so opportunities remained.
And that opportunity was, in a way, created by the little junior.
“Let's pursue the next target.”
Thinking that failing to catch the core would leave him without face to show the little junior, Seo Wan-pyeong melted into the darkness with the Shadow Pavilion warriors.
Meanwhile.
Even after the first cohort graduated, the Faith Education Center steadily accepted new believers.
Because those who completed it and returned to their villages spread rave reviews.
From the perspective of those who hadn't received that mysterious additional training, the Faith Education Center was truly paradise.
To the point where those who showed poor attitudes in such a great place and got sent to 'additional training' seemed strange.
How much time had passed while weeding out spies at the Faith Education Center and waiting for the Hao Gate's core to be found in Lanzhou?
A single letter arrived at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Lanzhou branch.
It was from Gwan Mu-yeol, living as Magistrate Park Chun-sik in Pyeongnyang County.
As Il-mok read the letter's contents, his expression twisted, prompting Jin Ha-yeon and Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a to ask.
“Is there a problem?”
“Brother. Are you alright?”
“Sigh. There are guys opening gambling dens in Pyeongnyang County.”
“...Can't the government warriors handle such riffraff?”
When Jin Ha-yeon asked again, Il-mok shook his head.
“They're cracking down, but these guys moving so organized seem highly suspicious.”
The first thing that came to Il-mok's mind was the Hao Gate.
Perhaps they weren't stopping at sending spies but were outright trying to soil our territory.
‘Gambling of all things. These people just escaped addiction to Dream Flower Grass, and they're already vulnerable to pleasure.’
That's why he had deliberately taken the hard path, diverting their attention to music, performances, plays, and such.
If they fell into gambling, they could reach a truly hopeless state.
As if understanding Il-mok's concerns, the Ascending Heaven Sword hanging at his waist let out a sword cry.
Weeeeng.
Il-mok looked down at the Ascending Heaven Sword for a moment, made his decision, and said,
“It seems I need to handle this one personally.”
It wasn't just the sword; with everything outsourced for the Faith Education Center, there was no one left to delegate to.
* * *
Two days later.
Il-mok and his group arrived in Pyeongnyang County.
Disguised lightly or with face veils, their first destination was the Hall of Arts.
A scripted sparring match was scheduled there today, and according to Gwan Mu-yeol's report, gambling was happening over its results.
It was ridiculous. Scripted sparring was essentially a play with predetermined outcomes, yet they were gambling on it.
‘No, if they colluded with the scriptwriters, it could turn into an even bigger problem.’
Harboring such thoughts inwardly, Il-mok finished paying and entered the hall. Since he was hiding his identity, he paid the out-of-towner fee.
Il-mok and the group scattered to seats in the audience.
To overhear gambling talk or spot suspicious movements.
After scanning the surroundings with his senses for a bit.
As the orchestra played and two warriors took turns appearing on stage, cheers erupted one after another.
“Waaaaah!!”
They were Heavenly Demon Divine Cult warriors who had somehow ended up acting as scripted sparring performers here.
“We will begin the sparring!!”
At the announcer's shout, the two middle-aged warriors continued with flashy, exaggerated moves.
Il-mok ignored the scripted sparring, focusing on finding the gamblers.
Soon, he couldn't help but wear a shocked expression.
He hadn't found evidence of gambling.
“Haat!”
Suddenly, some madman intruded onto the stage where the scripted sparring was happening.
As a bizarre atmosphere filled the entire venue, one of the sparring warriors barely hid his surprise and asked,
“Young hero, who are you to interrupt our life-or-death duel?”
“I am Peng Ji-gwang of the North Hebei Peng Family. I'm still young, but as a martial artist, I couldn't stand by and watch. I had to step up. Warriors putting on such childish sparring! Have some shame!”
At the bold declaration of the youth named Peng Ji-gwang, Il-mok couldn't help but think,
‘...Does the North Hebei Peng Family teach demonic arts too?’
At any rate, he didn't seem to be in his right mind.