Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Double Agent
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The smell of blood brushing the tip of my nose. The aroma of meat.
I cautiously stepped deeper inside. No signs of life.
The interior was filled only with silence.
I examined the meat hanging from the hooks. Praying it wasn't, I felt along its structure.
...
Meat.
Beef.
"...Phew."
Gongbaek let out a sigh of relief. Suryeon asked him.
"How long has it been since we went in?"
"More than a shichen, for sure."
"Anyone come out?"
"None."
So there was a passage inside.
I rummaged through the butcher shop. It didn't take long to find a small tunnel.
A hidden staircase leading downward. There was blood smeared near the entrance.
Suryeon pulled a night pearl from her bosom. The luminous gem clearly illuminated the structure within, glowing on its own.
Narrow. Cramped and reeking. The key point was that it didn't smell of earth.
The faint blood scent was all too familiar to me. Layer upon layer of it stacked up...
How many masses of flesh had passed through this place?
Gongbaek fell silent. Suryeon took the lead.
We slowly followed the path downward.
There was a door. Opening it revealed yet another door.
The straight-running tunnel was strangely free of dampness. The air wasn't stifling either, and breathing felt remarkably easy, as if some mechanism connected it to the surface.
I opened another door. A rush of blood smell hit me.
The man who had been carving something turned his head.
"Who..."
---Kwaaang!!
A hand too swift to track.
Gongbaek's palm strike slammed the man into the wall.
"Kuhk?!"
Was that the Subduing Demon Thirteen Palms at its zenith?
...Impressive. The body would have shattered into pieces the moment it connected. If he hadn't reined in his power, that flesh would have scattered entirely.
I peered at the meat he had been working on.
"......."
Different from the chunks hanging above. Not beef.
Something humanoid lay on the workbench.
...Though its original form was now impossible to discern.
"...Human flesh."
"You heaven-defying scum!!!"
---Wooduk!
Gongbaek's eyes rolled back. The man crushed at the base of the wall screamed in agony.
Overflowing inner energy saturated the surroundings. The very air seemed to sink and churn in reflux.
Overwhelmed by the pressure, Suryeon hunched down. I pushed forward and placed my arm atop Gongbaek's hand.
"Planning to destroy the lead we barely secured?"
"......."
The Venerable belatedly regained his senses and lowered his hand. The thug on the floor groaned.
"...Nearly slipped up. Thanks for the restraint."
I seized the man by the nape and dragged him to a chair, forcing him upright.
I slapped his cheeks repeatedly until his wits returned.
Blood gushed from the convulsing man's mouth as he hacked and coughed.
St-stop... Pl-please...
Not even remotely human.
But for the moment, restraint was necessary. There were words we needed to hear.
The gasping man clasped his hands in supplication.
"I'll tell you anything. So please, enough now..."
"Explain. What went on here."
"I-I just... did what I was told..."
Stalling for time?
I reached for my sword. But Suryeon shook her head.
A slew of torture implements sprang from her hand.
"Give this girl one shichen. I'll wring out everything he knows."
The man recoiled in terror.
"I'll talk! I-I just...! I was only packaging those... to make them easy to eat! Nothing more! Really...!"
"Who picks them up?"
"Hyun-baek! The Hyun-baek guy takes them!"
"Hyun-baek?"
"Y-yes!"
A name I'd never heard. But the man himself arrived on the scene shortly after.
"Gotta hurry. Packed good..."
The intruder froze upon spotting us.
We subdued him without mercy. Half-killed him, then culled everyone linked to him.
Numerous enterprises under Shaolin's oversight.
Some entangled with human flesh. Over two days of tracing the trail, Gongbaek let out a heavy groan.
"All these people transporting such things... and you stayed silent...?"
Human scum stamped down by coin.
The final fate of those blinded by riches and goods.
We snagged the last courier. After laundering his identity time and again, the human flesh that entered a minor relay outpost inside Henan Province was cooked up like beast meat.
Another courier claimed the prepared meat. His path veered not toward Henan but a remote locale.
Once the final courier set down the dish and vanished, precisely one shichen later, a man appeared.
"...Dam-yang."
Gongbaek muttered. Under the moonlight, the figure clutching the cooked meat slipped away somewhere.
Dam-yang's destination was a labyrinthine rocky mountain.
"...Repentance Cave?"
"You know it?"
"Entry's forbidden outright. Formations prevent casual passage too. But... striding in so boldly?"
"He has accomplices."
"...Follow my footsteps precisely, donors. Lose the flow here, and you could get sealed inside for good."
Gongbaek stepped inward.
Eerie sounds echoed. The familiar energy grazing my body felt akin to entering the Demon Palace.
But its intensity was worlds weaker than the Demon Palace.
Gongbaek groaned.
"What in the world...?! The formation's orientation's been twisted...?! Someone tampered with it...?! The life gate's no longer viable...! Stick right behind me!"
I followed the straining Gongbaek. I carefully steadied the staggering Suryeon.
"...Sorry..."
With violent currents stinging the skin and the world seeming to upend for the unaccustomed, it was only natural.
Rather, my endurance was the anomaly. Without my prior experience, even I'd have succumbed to the disorientation.
I scooped her into my arms. Hoisting her with both hands, I pursued Gongbaek once more.
Gongbaek glanced back with awe.
"Donor, just how many hidden trumps do you conceal?! Even treading the formation's weakest points on purpose, it's a force few could withstand...!"
"We need more speed!"
"Understood!"
---Tak.
My foot met solid ground. The turbulent flows settled in an instant.
It felt like escaping a pitch-black maze. Gongbaek tugged my sleeve upward.
Hardly catching our breath, we spotted a distant moving black speck.
"There."
Dam-yang. His silhouette reappeared.
His steps into a certain cave mouth soon vanished entirely. The ominous vibe prompted my question.
"Always been there?"
"No such thing. First I've seen of it."
Dam-yang, lantern in hand, emerged less than a shichen later.
We let him pass in silence. Evidence could be secured anytime.
The real question was what lay inside.
"......"
"......"
We ventured into the cave. And discovered it within.
"...This..."
Heavenly Fragrance Hermit Gongbaek.
The Venerable, one of the Four Saints, dropped his wooden fish mallet.
"What in blazes...!"
The night pearl's glow pierced the cave's deepest recess.
Something bound to the wall. A figure humanoid in shape.
Suryeon thrust the pearl forward. In its hazy light, a face emerged.
Undeniably the one that had just departed.
'Dam-yang's face was there.
We whipped our heads around.
Someone stood at the cave mouth.
Dam-yang. The enigmatic man donning his guise, the one who had just left.
Yet the aura was utterly different.
If the prior one had been a serene lake, this exuded a tempest's fury.
Amid the bone-chilling energy pouring forth, he murmured.
"Had I not deliberately warped the formation, you might've tailed unnoticed. The Venerable title's well-earned."
"You fiend! Show your true colors!"
"Venerable. Mind your volume. I know you're dubbed one of the Four Saints, but your prowess falls short of the heavens. Shaolin Supreme or not, if reality lags rumor... what's the point."
He shrugged.
"Tail's been stepped on. Got a bit tangled thanks to it... but nothing major. Power's amassed plenty. All that's left is to act."
"Who... are you?"
"Murim Alliance Inspector Red Cloud, was it? Your exploits there were downright startling. Piecing scarce intel to hunt me down so swiftly... you've proven yourself."
Dam-yang whispered.
"So here's my offer. Red Cloud. A chance to join us."
"...What?"
"We are the inverted heavens, beholders of all below."
Dam-yang's frame twisted with wooduk cracks.
"You don't know me. But I know you. Demon Cult spy."
"...What...?"
The Venerable instantly put distance between us. Suryeon bored into me with her gaze.
I drew my blood sword in a flash.
"Who are you?"
"Once stood face-to-face with the First Demon. Served at the Heavenly Demon's side too. Utter bliss. Forgot my duties entirely."
Hair sprouted from the barren scalp.
Muscle piled onto an already sturdy build.
Dam-yang.
A hulking brute of wholly alien visage shook off the garments emerging with his transformation.
"Heard of the White Snake Leader?"
"......!"
One who turned men to corpses via the Ghost Spirit Soul Subjugation Great Law...
Led the entire White Snake contingent into disappearance.
One of my prime marks.
He raked back his crimson locks. Peeled away the shredded rags clinging to his skin.
"Face gone rigid. Red Cloud. No need to fret. In the inverted sky, I alone watched you. Know why? You're feeble. Laughably so-no cause for notice. Fixating on you's the oddity. Absent the Akmin affair, even I'd have ignored you. My interest was your patron, the Heavenly Demon. You yourself? Worthless."
"...Where's White Snake?"
"Oh ho? Returned to the Alliance to hunt 'me'? Astonishing. Didn't foresee that. Never figured the Heavenly Demon would seek me out... betrayal hit harder than thought? Kuhuhu. Spirits lifted. Then 'he' and 'she' must top your kill list too. Inquired after White Snake? Thriving. Splendidly. But here's the thing. Don't have them anymore. Took them solely to present to that lord."
"What?"
"First, words for you. Skill's abysmal, yet the Heavenly Demon-once righteous-redeployed you to the Alliance. Means she trusts you implicitly. Thus, you're valuable to me."
Perched atop a boulder, he crooked a finger.
"Explanation first. The world requires attunement. Attunement's essential, even for the proper future. Take me-plain to see. You see, I..."
"Fiend! Spouting drivel!"
"Monk. Quiet. You're decrepit, expendable. No future left. Peak realm's meaningless when your mind's ossified. Indecisive to boot... claimed Shaolin Abbot yet opted to turn blind eye. Dropped from contention ages ago. Useless. Stay out of it. I'm addressing him, not you."
"You bastard!"
Gongbaek lunged. His thrusting palm shimmered with manifested astral energy.
Yet the strike was uprooted before landing. Amid earth-shaking clamor, he intoned.
"Monk. Think I'd confront you unprepared? Human flesh served one purpose. The apex of Ghost Spirit Soul Subjugation. Those summoned via Lion Corpse Revival demand it as sustenance."
Exploding ki rampaged outward. Devouring winds, it roared.
In the billowing dust, Gongbaek staggered back. His sliding heel gouged a long scar.
The manifested astral energy winked out. Not from power's deficit. Gongbaek's bulging eyes attested.
Voice quavering. Gaze endlessly wavering.
It pierced the haze, locking onto one steadfast shadow.
"...Master?"
Dust parted to reveal swaying robes. A monk barring the man's path wiped his lips amid thick blood reek.
Aged visage. Yet the aura rising from his frame was formidable.
He grinned.
"Unexpected reunion. Show more joy. Monk. Ah, no-can't simply rejoice? The man you slew with your own hands lives again. Ah, Red Cloud. Take a good look."
"...What?"
"Smell the kin? Ghost Spirit Soul Subjugation's completion demands one thing. What you harbor. The hard-to-steal prize."
The reeking monk of death raised an arm. A trivial gash on his palm healed in a blink.
Engulfed by roiling black mist, wholly.
"...Heavenly Tribulation?"
"Precisely. Quick on the uptake. Ah, introductions tardy. I'm Akbi. Sole reason divulging my name here?"
Akbi, self-proclaimed former Shaolin Abbot, propped his chin behind Gongbaek.
"Join us or perish here. Your call, Red Cloud. Glory assured... or death devoid of meaning. Hinges on you. No need to spell the right choice-you know."
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