Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Why Here?
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O Juhyang left the marketplace behind and headed toward the dock on the Yangtze.
The Yangtze connected to Dongting Lake, where numerous boats came and went.
As O Juhyang approached the dock, the number of martial artists following her steadily grew.
There were nearly a hundred of them.
'Who the hell are they trying to catch, gathering in such massive numbers?'
A hundred martial artists amounted to half the strength of a typical banner unit.
They split into five groups of twenty each and advanced to surround one particular pier.
I took an interest when I saw them encircling a large ship.
'They're targeting the people on the boat.'
It was a clipper ship flowing from Jiangsha toward Dongting Lake, mainly carrying sightseers.
I grew increasingly curious about O Juhyang's targets.
'Demonic Cult members? Or maybe Sichuan martial artists?'
Hunan had no major orthodox sects like the Nine Great Sects, just the rising Hyongsan Sect at best.
In truth, it was practically unorthodox territory in Jiangxi.
Many martial schools and families were split evenly between unorthodox and orthodox.
The unorthodox had seized Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, so they'd gathered here to keep Dongting Lake out of their hands and maintain a fragile balance.
For a Demonic Cult division leader to show up personally in a place like this was extraordinary.
That's when I spotted people climbing onto the deck, and I furrowed my brow.
Three young men stood out, two of whom I knew well.
'Why are they here?'
It was a day full of unexpected surprises.
"What are Pang Soun and Zhuge Dowon doing here? No way they're just sightseeing, right?"
As I muttered to myself, I sensed someone approaching from afar.
Sensing the blood flow around me, I detected a single expert drawing near. A stench like rotting filth hit my nose first.
A middle-aged beggar stood before me and spoke.
"Scholar, who might you be to know Young Master Pang and Young Master Zhuge?"
Looking around, I saw beggars gathering, each clutching a steel staff.
These were clearly Beggar's Sect members from Hunan Province, mobilized to track the Demonic Cult's movements.
"Are you from the Hunan branch of the Beggar's Sect? Then you must be the Black Wolf Beggar."
I knew all the branch leaders of the Beggar's Sect.
The Black Wolf Beggar had a black blotch covering a third of his face, earning him his nickname. Despite the lowly title, he was a peak-level expert.
"You know me?"
He'd been instantly recognized as the Hunan branch leader by this scholar. It was enough to arouse suspicion.
"I'm Cheon Taesan. I was once in the Murim Alliance's Inspection Unit."
"Inspection Unit's Cheon Taesan? The Scholar Sword?"
I was surprised the Black Wolf Beggar knew me.
"Well, well, you're none other than the famed Scholar Sword Cheon, whose name is ringing through the martial world these days."
He stared at me with wide-eyed astonishment.
"How do you know me? I only operated around Hefei and Nanchang."
"There's probably no one in Hunan who hasn't heard of the Scholar Sword. Word is you're the foster son of the unorthodox overlord Mok Yeohyeon."
With half of Hunan being unorthodox turf, the rumors had spread fast.
"Lately, the storytellers at the inns have been making the Scholar Sword their favorite topic."
I hadn't expected storytellers in Hunan to be talking about me.
"Anyway, do you know who's surrounding that ship right now?"
"We only spotted them recently, so we're not sure. Does Scholar Cheon know?"
"It's O Juhyang, the Fourteenth Division Leader of the Demonic Cult."
"Fourteenth Division Leader!"
Anyone who knew how elite a Demonic Cult division leader was would react with shock, and the Black Wolf Beggar was no exception.
I continued.
"Looks like she's targeting Pang Soun, Zhuge Dowon, and the Wudang Sect martial artists."
There were about ten in Wudang robes.
The Black Wolf Beggar replied.
"From the looks of it, they're headed for Dongting Lake."
With Pang Soun and his ten escorts, Zhuge Dowon and his fifteen guards, plus ten Wudang Taoists, they seemed bound for Sichuan to fight—probably driven by youthful hot-bloodedness. Stopping by Jiangsha on the way, they couldn't resist chartering a boat for a tour of Dongting Lake.
Nearly forty strong, which explained why O Juhyang had brought a hundred Demonic Cultists.
"Still, it's odd for a division leader to mobilize just to take out a group that size."
The Black Wolf Beggar gave me a puzzled look.
"They're the future stars of the orthodox world. The Demonic Cult wants to nip them in the bud before they grow. It's what they do best."
In five years, those kids would be peak or even transcendent experts—a threat the Demonic Cult couldn't ignore.
The Black Wolf Beggar snorted derisively.
"There are over forty on the ship alone, and we've got about fifty Beggar's Sect disciples. We're evenly matched in numbers. Plus, with the famous Scholar Sword here, I doubt we'd lose even in a fight."
Numerically, it was about even.
"Branch Leader, there are Tang Clan experts staying at the inn—about ten of them. Call them in too."
"I know. I've already sent some disciples. They'll arrive as soon as they get the message."
I figured with this many experts, we could hold our own against O Juhyang's group.
Still, to be safe, I probed the Demonic Cultists' blood flows to gauge their levels.
'What? That's... Could that be what the storyteller Pong Cheongja mentioned!'
Spotting Demonic Cultists with bizarre blood flows, I recalled what the storyteller had said: the Demonic Cult amplified innate true energy to mass-produce experts.
Their blood flows were utterly abnormal.
Normal human blood circulated from the heart, but these Demonic Cultists had left and right sides flowing in opposite directions.
'They can survive like that? Is that even possible?'
Stunned into a daze, I suddenly felt a pickaxe-like blow to the back of my head.
It felt eerily familiar, like déjà vu.
"My god! Now I see it!"
Left and right blood flows opposing each other was, strictly speaking, similar to the two spirit energies of the Seven Stars Seven Origins rotating.
'I rotate spirit energy with Seven Stars Seven Origins, while they rotate blood flow to amplify innate true energy. Same principle, just spirit energy versus blood flow.'
As I realized this in shock, the Black Wolf Beggar asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Branch Leader, have you heard the rumors? About the Demonic Cult perfecting a technique to double their innate true energy, making them twice as strong."
He nodded.
"I've heard the storytellers in Hunan buzzing about it. But who would believe that?"
"I didn't either, until now. Those Demonic Cultists seem to have it. I can read their auras, and every one of them is at least first-rate, mostly peak-level."
Meaning each Demonic Cultist matched the Black Wolf Beggar, the branch leader.
"Come on, you can't be serious..."
He looked incredulous, and understandably so.
He'd only barely reached peak level after forty years of training.
Besides, he seemed skeptical of judging skill by aura alone—a feat only transcendent experts could reliably pull off.
The transcendent realm was another world entirely.
If peak level took ten thousand steps, transcendent was an endless path with no end in sight.
Wearing an expression full of doubt, the Black Wolf Beggar said lightly,
"Then I'll go wipe them out. What about you, Scholar Cheon?"
"I'll help."
I was worried he was underestimating the Demonic Cultists too much.
"Fine, then cover our rear and provide support. Don't rush to the front."
He clearly saw me as just some bookish scholar who swung a sword now and then.
As the Demonic Cultists neared the ship, the Black Wolf Beggar charged forward.
He figured striking from behind would give them the ambush advantage.
"Yeoseol, you should hide for a bit."
I didn't want to drag her into the fight.
Understanding my intent, Yeoseol replied,
"Brother, then I'll go grab some ice candy up there."
She held out her hand.
I opened my money pouch, and she snatched some silver coins.
"Brother, be careful. Don't get hit by any stray blades."
"You rascal."
She finally seemed like her old self, so I patted her head.
"Hee hee hee."
Yeoseol scampered off toward the stalls lining the upper dock.
"Argh!"
A scream rang out then.
I immediately dashed toward the ship with lightness skill, pulling a book from my robes as I went.
"What the—!"
The Black Wolf Beggar felt hollow despite ambushing the Demonic Cultists from behind.
He should've killed at least ten, but fifty attackers had only taken down three.
"Ngh!"
He recoiled as a counterattacking Demonic Cultist's sword strike pushed him back steadily.
It was blocking his peak-level power.
"Argh!"
"Gahk!"
His Beggar's Sect disciples around him had their hearts or throats slashed in just a few exchanges.
These were the finest from Jiangsha's Beggar's Sect, handpicked—and now they were dropping like flies. He was at a loss for words.
"Black Wolf Beggar, sir! These bastards are strong! All peak-level!"
His left-hand man, a beggar who'd lost an arm, shouted it out.
A super first-rate expert like him had barely killed one Demonic Cultist before losing his arm. It had to be true.
His eyes pleaded for retreat to save the rest.
'Was Scholar Cheon right? All Demonic Cultists at peak level? Damn it, the Hunan's beggars are done for!'
As he spaced out for a moment, the one-armed beggar had his throat slit.
"Aaaagh!"
"You filthy dogs!"
The Black Wolf Beggar barely felled one Demonic Cultist and lunged at the one who'd killed his subordinate, only to get counterattacked.
Then another Demonic Cultist charged from the left, aiming for his throat.
'I can't even deflect the front guy's sword.'
In that inescapable moment, a faint ping sounded, and a white petal-like object embedded in the forehead of the Demonic Cultist going for his neck.
Splat!
"Branch Leader, at this rate, we're all dead. We need the Steel Staff Formation to hold out."
Scholar Cheon shouted as he rushed forward, tearing pages from his book and hurling them.
Each throw pierced a Demonic Cultist's forehead.
Boom!
The force was so immense it sounded like a drumskin bursting.
Splat!
Crack!
Smash!
I learned then that head explosions sounded different based on the angle.
That's when I recalled another of Scholar Cheon's nicknames I'd heard at the inn.
The storytellers had hammered his tales into my head.
'Hundred Leaves Scholar.'
He'd earned it at Hyeonhyeon Field by hurling paper like leaf hidden weapons to kill Demonic Cultists.
How hard had I laughed over drinks hearing that?
A puny scholar wielding leaf blades? It was the stuff of absurd hero tales not even found in street pamphlets.
Absurd to the extreme.
The Black Wolf Beggar bellowed,
"Gather up! Form the Steel Staff Formation!"
The Beggar's Sect disciples, falling like autumn leaves, rallied into a formation.
But there were only about twenty of them.
Over thirty dead in just a little over a quarter-hour.
Biting his lip, the Black Wolf Beggar yelled,
"From now on, stick to the Steel Staff Formation—no breaking it! Switch to defense!"
Even as they gathered, five more died.
'Too strong. If this is the Demonic Cult's true power, can the Murim Alliance even handle it?'
A chill ran down his spine, making his unwashed skin prickle.
The deck was chaos.
Unlike the Beggar's Sect, the Pang Clan escorts, Zhuge family guards, and Wudang martial artists had quickly assessed the enemy's strength and countered with formations.
As Scholar Cheon tore pages from the rear and flung them at the Demonic Cultists, a guard shouted,
"Hidden weapons! Watch out!"
Ting ting ting!
The Demonic Cultists batted the paper away with their swords and turned toward Scholar Cheon.