Chapter 66
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: A Visit from the Mang Mountain Thistle
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Startled, Yeop Dan-yeong looked up at the ceiling. Just then, the teahouse roof shattered, and a figure dropped down.
“Huh? Y-you are…”
Yeop Dan-yeong's face had already turned pale.
“Hey, long time no see.”
Beom Gye-wi approached as naturally as if meeting a dear friend and gently extended his hand.
Yeop Dan-yeong thought he should dodge, but by then, Beom Gye-wi's tower-like arm was already draped over his shoulder.
‘There's a limit to how much lightning can strike from a clear sky!’
Yeop Dan-yeong couldn't hide his bewilderment at Beom Gye-wi's sudden appearance.
It wasn't for nothing that the people of the martial world had given him the ominous title of Mang Mountain's Thistle. Those who met him and lived to tell the tale could be counted on one hand.
He was the one person he wanted to meet the least.
Looking down at the trembling Yeop Dan-yeong, Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.
“Are you sick?”
He felt like he was about to develop an illness he never had, but Yeop Dan-yeong forced a smile.
“I-I'm just so happy to see you.”
How many times in a lifetime would one get the chance to meet the Mang Mountain's Thistle? For him, this was already the third time. The fact that he was still alive was purely due to his innate luck.
‘Or is it the opposite?’
How unlucky must he be to repeatedly run into a man who brought disaster like a plague god?
“I had a good dream last night, and now I see why. I never expected to meet the Lord of Mang Mountain in a place like this.”
“Lord of what mountain?”
Seeing Beom Gye-wi's confusion, Yeop Dan-yeong wore a troubled expression.
“I can't very well call you the Mang Mountain's Thistle, can I? You don't like being called that.”
“That's right. I don't.”
Beom Gye-wi nodded and patted Yeop Dan-yeong's head as if he were proud of him. Then, in an instant, the smile vanished from his face.
“So why would a guy who knows that do what he did?”
“Pardon?”
“The Changrakbang guys came looking for me, didn't they?”
“The Changrakbang? Why would they…?”
Yeop Dan-yeong's eyes, which had been trailing off, shook violently.
“By any chance, were you staying in the Divine Demon Valley?”
“Yeah. I was indebted to them… No, I'm looking after them.”
“……!”
Yeop Dan-yeong's face turned pale in an instant. He finally understood the situation he was in.
Just as he feared.
Beom Gye-wi's next words turned Yeop Dan-yeong's complexion ashen.
“I asked them, and they pointed me here, to the Shanxi branch of the Black Point.”
Beom Gye-wi stared intently at Yeop Dan-yeong, who stood frozen like a stone statue, unable to speak.
“Why'd you do it?”
Yeop Dan-yeong shouted with all his might.
“I-I didn't know! I really didn't! If I had known, I would never have sold the information! Please believe me!”
“Oh yeah?”
Surprisingly, Beom Gye-wi nodded readily.
“Can't be helped if you did it without knowing.”
“Thank y—”
“But are you going to do it again?”
“What?”
“You know I'm there now. So are you going to bother me again?”
“Such an unfortunate incident will never happen again.”
“Good.”
Beom Gye-wi nodded and looked around. He then spotted one of Yeop Dan-yeong's subordinates, who was prostrated on the floor, sneaking glances at him.
“Hey, you.”
“Yes? Sir!”
“Get me some cold water. I'm thirsty from all that running.”
Yeop Dan-yeong glared at the hesitating subordinate. Only then did the man hurry outside.
While waiting for the water, Yeop Dan-yeong cautiously observed Beom Gye-wi.
Fortunately, he didn't seem to be in a bad mood.
“May I ask what happened to the men from Changrakbang?”
“What do you think happened?”
Yeop Dan-yeong squeezed his eyes shut at the reply. He didn't need to hear the rest to guess what had happened.
He suddenly remembered that his subordinates who had been monitoring the Changrakbang men were gone.
“By any chance, my men too…?”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head, then suddenly recalled something.
Right after leaving the Divine Demon Valley, he had sensed a group hiding nearby, concealing their presence.
“Ah! Them? I asked what they were doing, and they just charged at me.”
‘Damn it!’
Yeop Dan-yeong cursed inwardly.
The situation was crystal clear without him having to ask.
Just then, a man carefully entered, holding a tray with a teacup. It was the subordinate who had gone to fetch a drink.
He respectfully offered the tea to Beom Gye-wi.
The clear golden liquid sloshing in the cup and the fragrant aroma wafting to his nose were enough to tell it was high-quality tea.
But Beom Gye-wi's expression was indifferent.
“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”
Yeop Dan-yeong waved his hands in panic.
“What? How could I possibly…”
“I asked for cold water. I'm dying of heat, so what's with bringing me hot tea?”
Yeop Dan-yeong immediately shouted at his subordinate.
“Bring cold water! Now!”
“Forget it. I'll just drink this.”
Beom Gye-wi snatched the teacup, took a few sips, and made a strange face.
“This tea tastes pretty good.”
“It's Junshan Silver Needle.”
A needle-shaped yellow bud tea from Junshan, a small island in Dongting Lake.
It was a renowned tea, so rare in production that one couldn't obtain it without considerable power or wealth.
Beom Gye-wi held the teacup out to Yeop Dan-yeong.
“Drink.”
“Pardon?”
“Hurry. I'm telling you, it's a taste you'll never get to experience again.”
Reluctantly bringing the cup to his lips at the almost forceful suggestion, Yeop Dan-yeong spat out the tea at Beom Gye-wi's next words.
“It's not often in life you get a chance to taste Auspicious Scale, Blue Shadow.”
“Pfft!”
“Huh? Why'd you spit out something so expensive?”
“*Cough.*”
After a fit of coughing, Yeop Dan-yeong, consumed by bewilderment, turned his gaze to his subordinate.
Seeing the subordinate trembling with a pale face, Yeop Dan-yeong realized Beom Gye-wi's words were true.
‘He did this without being ordered!’
It was a disaster brought on by his trusted subordinate's overzealous loyalty.
Auspicious Scale, Blue Shadow, one of the deadliest poisons of the Sichuan Tang Family, is also known as Seven Moans, Certain Death. It's a colorless, odorless, potent poison that kills its victim before they can let out seven groans. He hadn't even swallowed, yet the tip of his tongue was already growing numb.
Yeop Dan-yeong finally understood what Beom Gye-wi meant by 'a taste you'll never get to experience again.'
If you die after one taste, how could you ever have a second?
“*Spit!*”
Beom Gye-wi spat on the floor.
A toxic energy that bubbled and released a foul stench!
“Did you do that without even knowing this?”
Without giving Yeop Dan-yeong a chance to explain, Beom Gye-wi shot out his hand like lightning. He grabbed Yeop Dan-yeong's subordinate and lifted him into the air.
“Gah!”
The man gagged and struggled for a moment, his throat clutched in the large hand.
Soon, crimson flames erupted from his seven orifices.
“……!”
In an instant, his subordinate turned into black ash before his eyes and scattered into the air!
Yeop Dan-yeong could only stare at the scene with dazed eyes. Beom Gye-wi suddenly spoke.
“Where did you get the information about the Divine Demon Valley?”
“From the White Sword Sect's…”
“White Sword Sect?”
“*Gasp!*”
Yeop Dan-yeong, who had answered unconsciously in his half-dazed state, hurriedly shut his mouth.
The Black Point might trade in everything, but there was one thing that was off-limits.
The identity of their informants.
If an informant's identity were revealed, it would deal a major blow to their credibility as information brokers.
This was why they guarded it with their lives.
“The White Sword Sect's what? Why'd you stop talking?”
Despite Beom Gye-wi's prodding, Yeop Dan-yeong only broke out in a cold sweat.
“I gave you the information you wanted to know, so you should tell me what I want to know, right?”
Beom Gye-wi asked with a frown.
“The information I wanted to know?”
“Yeah. You were curious earlier. About what happened to your men.”
Yeop Dan-yeong let out a deep sigh.
He had built a name for himself with his excellent interpersonal skills, but against Beom Gye-wi, there was simply no way out.
“Baek Un-hwi, an Inspection Emissary of the Martial Alliance. He was the source of the information.”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.
He found it rather strange that someone from the Martial Alliance, and an Inspection Emissary at that, would sell information to the Black Point.
“Tell me everything you know about him.”
“That much is…”
Beom Gye-wi grinned at the hesitating Yeop Dan-yeong. Yeop Dan-yeong's heart sank.
“If you don't talk, I'll spread rumors.”
“Pardon?”
“That the head of the Black Point's Shanxi branch has a big mouth.”
Yeop Dan-yeong squeezed his eyes shut.
Checkmate.
If his organization found out, there was no way they would let him off with just a reprimand. But that was a problem for later. Compared to Beom Gye-wi, it was hardly a problem at all.
‘I'm dead either way!’
Having made up his mind, Yeop Dan-yeong truthfully explained the information he had gathered on Baek Un-hwi.
“So, that guy is the younger brother of the White Sword Sect's leader, and he colluded with his uncle to take over the sect?”
“That is correct.”
“And secure the Sacred Hand Divine Pills while he's at it?”
“There's probably no martial artist in the world today who wouldn't covet the divine pills.”
“You too?”
“What?”
Stared at intently by Beom Gye-wi, Yeop Dan-yeong was startled and nodded his head vigorously.
“O-of course, I don't covet them. And I never will!”
“Good.”
Beom Gye-wi grinned, nodded, and turned to leave.
“Let's see each other often from now on.”
“Where are you going?”
“The White Sword Sect.”
“What? Why there…?”
“To catch that guy.”
Yeop Dan-yeong was shocked by his words.
“Don't tell me you're going to attack the White Sword Sect?”
“Might as well wipe them out while I'm at it.”
Seeing Beom Gye-wi casually utter such dreadful words, Yeop Dan-yeong turned pale and shouted.
“W-wait a moment, please!”
Yeop Dan-yeong couldn't get a grip on the spiraling situation.
One thing was certain: Beom Gye-wi was not a man of empty words.
If the White Sword Sect suffered damage, the Martial Alliance would get involved, if only for an investigation, and it would only be a matter of time before the Shanxi branch's involvement in this matter was revealed.
‘Damn it!’
In the end, he would be the only one to die.
Yeop Dan-yeong quickly racked his brain.
“Even if you go to the White Sword Sect, he won't be there.”
“Why?”
“Because he's an Inspection Emissary of the Martial Alliance. Given his position, he stays at the Martial Alliance headquarters except in special cases.”
A kill order had long been issued for Beom Gye-wi.
He thought that no matter how reckless Beom Gye-wi was, he wouldn't do something as crazy as attacking the Martial Alliance headquarters. However, it didn't take long for him to realize how naive that thought was.
“Oh? He's at the Martial Alliance? That's some useful information.”
Seeing Beom Gye-wi gauging his direction to launch himself forward, Yeop Dan-yeong felt a surge of foreboding.
“Where are you going?”
“You said the guy's at the Martial Alliance, right?”
“You're going to the Martial Alliance?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Of course there was a problem.
It would be fine if you went and died alone, but my life is on the line.
If he didn't stop Beom Gye-wi somehow, it would escalate into a massive, uncontrollable disaster. Yeop Dan-yeong didn't have many options.
“I will find out where he is for you.”
“Why should I wait around? I'll just stir up the White Sword Sect and the Martial Alliance in order, and he'll pop out from somewhere.”
“……!”
Before he could be stopped, Beom Gye-wi launched himself into the air.
After standing there with a stunned expression for a moment, Yeop Dan-yeong belatedly screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Emergency!”
Before his voice even faded, subordinates appeared from all directions. They were the masters of the Black Point who had been hiding their presence in disguise.
“We must find Baek Un-hwi's whereabouts before he reaches the White Sword Sect! Move now!”
“Yes, sir!”
His subordinates chorused in unison at his command and scattered in different directions.