Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: A Cruel Retribution
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“Nice. I thought this last time, too, but for a family on the frontier, this is quite luxurious.”
Neung Un-bi sneered as he scanned the backyard of the Heavenly Pillar Gate's main hall.
Stone lanterns, a pavilion, even trees managed with considerable flair.
But his eyes grew even colder.
It was all money.
The extravagance was funded by money earned from selling people like animals.
That's why he was angry.
The fact that people's blood and sweat had gone into creating a garden meant for sipping tea and finding peace of mind made him furious.
“You bastard! How in the world did you get here?!”
“How? What do you mean, how? With everyone rushing to the main gate under attack, there was hardly anyone left.”
Neung Un-bi said, glancing pointedly behind the wall.
Five men?
Something like that.
For someone with Wang Cheon's martial prowess, taking down that many was no trouble at all.
“You hear that sound?”
“…”
Neung Un-bi deliberately cupped a hand to his ear, reminding them of the situation.
“Sounds like the fight is in full swing. Shouldn't we get started too? Since we all know what's going on, there's no need for a friendly chat.”
At Neung Un-bi’s words, Bae Hyo-gang's face twisted in anger.
“How dare you attack the Heavenly Pillar Gate, a member of the Orthodox Murim! Do you not fear the consequences?!”
“Orthodox Murim… who?”
“What?”
“Where exactly is the Orthodox Murim here?”
“...?”
“Just because you have a mouth doesn't mean you can spew nonsense. All I see are beasts running wild for their own gain.”
Crack, crack.
A smile deepened on Neung Un-bi's lips as he cracked the knuckles of his clasped hands and took a step forward.
“You bastard! Stop!”
Bae Hap, whom Bae Hyo-gang had kept hidden behind him, aimed his sword.
Neung Un-bi stopped in his tracks and stared blankly at Bae Hap.
He must have heard everything about the situation, yet his hot-bloodedness was running rampant.
*That's why your father was holding you back. In case you acted rashly out of youthful vigor.*
*He knows. He saw it.*
*The kind of power I possess.*
*That's why he didn't act rashly, despite my taunts.*
He was not unskilled, so he could have lost his temper and challenged Neung Un-bi to a duel, but he held back, again and again, afraid his son would be in danger.
Afraid that while he fought Neung Un-bi, Wang Cheon, who came with him, would harm his son.
*And yet you step forward first?*
*You pathetic thing?*
Neung Un-bi let out a smirk, lifting his chin slightly as he looked at Bae Hap.
“Hmm, on second thought, I think you deserve a beating too.”
“What?”
“You knew, didn't you?”
“...?”
“That the people you subjugated as demonic practitioners were actually innocent.”
“Th-that’s…”
“Father and son alike… After committing such a despicable act just to gain some empty fame, how can you look so proud?”
“…”
“Is your own happiness all that matters? To hell with what happens to other people’s lives?”
Visibly flustered by Neung Un-bi's direct accusation, Bae Hap finally raised his voice.
“They… are different from me!”
“What?”
“I am the First Young Master of the Heavenly Pillar Gate. How could I possibly be the same as those worthless bastards?!”
“Ha! This bastard. Anyone would think he's the Son of Heaven. Just how do you raise a kid for them to turn out like this?”
Shifting his gaze to Bae Hyo-gang, Neung Un-bi’s smile vanished.
“Then again, it would be stranger for a son of a bitch to give birth to and raise a tiger. Even a tiger cub raised by a dog will end up wagging its tail and craving shit on the street.”
“Y-you… Shut up, you bastard! How dare a mere Demonic Cult member like you know anything, insulting my father and me!”
“Hah, you deaf bastard. Right, I've said too much. I might as well be reading scriptures to a cow. What's the point of explaining anything to someone like you? Let's start with a beating. We need to fix that rotten mentality of yours first.”
“What?”
Shwick!
A gust of wind seemed to blow, and for a moment, Neung Un-bi's form, who had been right in front of them, blurred.
The ultimate Three Nothings Footwork, unleashed with a subtle fury.
Losing sight of Neung Un-bi in an instant, Bae Hyo-gang's face contorted.
Surely his son wasn't…
Whipping his head around, Bae Hyo-gang saw a fist burying itself deep into his son's side.
Thwack!
“Gack!”
The tremendous impact felt as if it shattered his ribs and scrambled his internal organs, and Bae Hap let out a single, sharp scream.
“Hap!”
Bae Hyo-gang shouted and tried to rush forward, but Wang Cheon blocked his path.
“Out of my way, you bastard!”
A fierce palm strike was unleashed, but Wang Cheon was no ordinary opponent.
He would have been a difficult adversary even at Bae Hyo-gang's best, but with his attention fixed on his son, his attack lacked any semblance of sharpness.
Krrrack!
A white lotus of ice that froze the air blocked his path, and beyond the frost-tinged space, Bae Hyo-gang saw Neung Un-bi grabbing his son by the hair.
“You must have been so arrogant. Believing that being born into a good family was a strength you earned all on your own.”
“…”
“But you should feel it too. Just how relative strength is. What the powerlessness of being beaten feels like.”
With eyes shining a piercing blue, a threateningly poised hand plunged into Bae Hap's dantian.
Shluk!
“Guh, gyaaaack!”
For a martial artist, the dantian was one of the most vital spots.
Without a shred of hesitation, Neung Un-bi tore his apart.
As blood flowed freely and Bae Hap screamed in agony, the corners of Bae Hyo-gang's eyes shot up.
“You bastard! I'll kill you!”
With a ferocious aura, Bae Hyo-gang thrust out both palms, but Wang Cheon was not about to stand by and watch.
Clang!
Bae Hyo-gang couldn't take a single step past the wall of ice Wang Cheon had created.
Pushed back by Wang Cheon, Bae Hyo-gang stared, his eyes bloodshot, alternating his gaze between Neung Un-bi and his captured son.
“Why? Are you worried?”
“…”
“You should be.”
“You bastard…”
“If you were, you wouldn't have seen a mother's head split open trying to protect her child from being stoned at the Heavenly Pillar Gate that day and immediately thought of your son's achievements.”
“Shut up!”
“Feel it. What it's like for a parent to watch their beloved child die.”
“Y-you bastard! What are you trying to do?!”
Bae Hyo-gang's eyes widened as if they would tear, but Neung Un-bi had already extended his hand.
Towards the groaning Bae Hap.
“Stop, you bastard!”
Bae Hyo-gang launched himself forward again, but he couldn't even muster half of his true strength.
His frantic movements, born of worry for his son, were not enough to shake off Wang Cheon.
And Neung Un-bi paid no mind to his tearful efforts.
Snaaap!
Neung Un-bi slowly bent and broke Bae Hap's wrist.
“Aaaargh!”
A bloodcurdling scream echoed like a monstrous roar.
“Stop! I told you to stop!”
Neung Un-bi still paid him no heed. He was more ruthless than he had ever been in his life.
Guilt? Pity?
Why should he feel such things?
He was no Taoist master who guided villains with goodwill. Nor was he a Buddhist who believed sins could be absolved by chanting scriptures.
He was once a man hunted by the Orthodox Murim as a murderous fiend, and now he was a member of the Demonic Cult, pointed at for being wicked and cruel.
He could be far more brutal than this.
However, he wouldn't kill him. Living life crawling on the ground like a dog would be far more painful than losing it.
Snaaap!
Neung Un-bi made sure Bae Hyo-gang had a clear view as he broke Bae Hap's other arm.
“You bastard!”
Veins popping on his forehead, Bae Hyo-gang roared and charged.
Thwack!
But as soon as he took a step, a kick from Wang Cheon caught his chin, and he crumpled to the ground.
He couldn't see Wang Cheon. All he could see was his son, writhing in agony.
As Bae Hyo-gang trembled, barely managing to push himself up, Neung Un-bi spoke with a cold smile.
“Among the people we recovered, there was one who was paralyzed from the waist down.”
“…”
“I heard he was crippled by you bastards even before he was sold off.”
“…”
“Do you know how he lived?”
“…”
“The street thugs made him beg on the streets. What crime had he committed?”
As his chilling voice descended, Neung Un-bi’s hands rested on Bae Hap's two legs.
“P-please, please stop. I'm begging you.”
“…”
Bae Hyo-gang had finally resorted to pleading, but the answer was not what he wanted.
“He must have begged just like that. To you bastards.”
Craaack!
“Aaaargh!”
His two legs bent backward, Bae Hap screamed until his head suddenly slumped forward. He had passed out from the pain.
Clench.
Neung Un-bi nonchalantly grabbed Bae Hap by the hair, lifted him, and tossed him toward Bae Hyo-gang with a cold smile.
“You should have known. That if you harm others, you will one day be punished. That you can never escape, not with the power of your money, nor with the prestige of your family.”
“…”
Bae Hyo-gang embraced his son, frantically checking his condition.
…He was alive.
His dantian was destroyed and his limbs were useless, but he was still breathing.
“Hap… you fool.”
Tears streamed down Bae Hyo-gang’s face.
But they were likely not tears of repentance for his sins.
So he had to be taught. Just how heavy his sins were.
…*I'll make you weep tears of blood.*
“Wait. Just wait a little longer. Your father will have his revenge. I will inflict even greater pain on that wicked Demonic Cult bastard than what you've suffered now.”
Laying his son on the cold ground, Bae Hyo-gang rose, a bloody glint in his eyes.
He was becoming a demon. Rage had seeped into the marrow of his bones, turning into a demonic nature.
What did the martial arts he learned matter? Even if one mastered the arts of an immortal, if their heart succumbed to evil, it was no different from a demonic art.
The current Bae Hyo-gang was nothing but a beast swayed by the demonic energy born of twisted paternal love.
A monster who stole the freedom of others for his clan and schemed for the riches of others to fill his own belly.
*So I'll make you the same.*
*I'll break your limbs and gouge out your eyes so you can live in the agony of darkness, crawling like an insect for the rest of your life.*
I am no apostle of justice, nothing but a villain.
Whatever the reason, how could the sin of killing people ever be forgiven?
But to eliminate the vermin that gnaw away at the world like you, I can become even more cruel.
“My lord.”
“…I'll do it.”
“…”
Neung Un-bi said softly, stopping Wang Cheon.
If he didn't handle the beginning and the end himself, he felt his anger would boil over.
For some reason, today, the demonic energy no longer incited his killing intent. Even as his anger seethed, his mind grew cold.
“Die!”
Whooosh!
With a roar-like shout, Bae Hyo-gang, consumed by his demonic nature, charged like a beast.
A tangible killing intent. Two hands thrusting straight forward.
He was a martial artist strong enough to be a difficult opponent had he been a bit more level-headed, but he had already lost his reason, and the experience accumulated over long years was muddled by his thirst for revenge.
A single strike was all it took to sever the neck of a beast blinded by its demonic nature.
Shing!
The tip of the Flying Swallow Sword rose high.
Then, he stepped forward, and Neung Un-bi's form glided across the ground.
The soundless, formless, and shadowless Three Nothings Footwork was imbued with the swordsmanship of the Lunar Eclipse.
True Lunar Eclipse: Moonlight Dance of Death.
The moonlight reflecting off the blade glinted sorrowfully.
The steps that playfully skimmed the ground were dizzying, and the resulting trajectory was cruel, yet beautiful.
The sword strike, drawn as if dancing under the moonlight, descended upon Bae Hyo-gang's body.
Shlick!
“Kugh!”
The passing trajectory of the sword slashed his eyes and sliced his ears, cutting him off from the world.
Unable to see or hear, Bae Hyo-gang's hands and feet flailed wildly in all directions, but what threat could such aimless movements pose?
Shlick!
Sliced, and sliced again.
Blood spurted like fountains from the wrists where his hands had been severed, and the body with its ankles cut off collapsed to the ground, flailing.
“Aaaargh! I'll kill you!”
Shluuk!
Soon, the upright sword plunged deep into his dantian.
“Aaaargh!”
Pulling out the Flying Swallow Sword, Neung Un-bi flicked the blood from its blade and looked up at the moon with cold eyes.
It was a night reeking of blood.
Today, he was once again the same monster as in his past. He had returned from a past life to live anew, but he was still a beast that devoured other beasts.
A bitter night.
“My lord…”
Wang Cheon stopped as he was about to approach Neung Un-bi.
Bae Hap and Bae Hyo-gang were in such a wretched state it was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive, and the area was drenched in blood.
And in the middle of it all stood Neung Un-bi, his sword hanging loosely by his side.
The moment his lord's eyes, which had been gazing at the moon, turned to him, Wang Cheon felt his heart sink.
Because the look in his eyes, holding the moonlight, and the faint smile on his lips, somehow seemed terribly sad.