Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Heading to the Abyss Hall (1)
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These rumors spread across the land of Yoneung like a raging storm.
Ghost Sword Manor, which had been gradually fading from the minds of the martial world, suddenly became the talk of the town by absorbing the thriving Fine Sword Sect, creating a massive uproar.
"This is all thanks to you, Gunryong."
Yang Dae-un, the Shadowless Sword and lord of Ghost Sword Manor, hadn't gone a single day lately without smiling from ear to ear.
As he said, thanks to the Heavenly Demon's exploits, Ghost Sword Manor had absorbed everything from Fine Sword Sect.
Literally everything.
As a result, even though the Heavenly Demon's aid had temporarily filled their coffers, Ghost Sword Manor—which had no way to sustain itself—now seized all of Fine Sword Sect's wealth and assets. On top of that, they reclaimed the guard rights for the inns and taverns that Fine Sword Sect had stolen from them in the past, allowing them to live in abundance.
"It's not thanks to me. It's because Yeon-hwa and Dae-un fought so well."
The Heavenly Demon shrugged and quipped playfully.
Thanks to the overwhelming victory in the all-or-nothing sect war brought by those three champions, Fine Sword Sect's lord Jeon Il-gwang, Jeon Seong-jin, and the entire Jeon clan had fallen to the status of slaves or lowly warriors in Ghost Sword Manor.
Jeon Il-gwang had tried to flee in the night with his son,
-Where you going? To the bathroom?
But every time, he was caught by the Heavenly Demon, beaten until his face was swollen black and blue, and now he had given up even attempting to escape.
"Still, I'm worried. About how to handle the Fine Sword Sect survivors and the Jeon clan."
Yang Dae-un could speak his mind freely in front of the Heavenly Demon.
Before, there had been no one he could rely on for counsel, even when problems arose.
The only person he truly trusted was his son, but even he had gone missing, leaving Yang Dae-un to handle every major crisis alone.
"Handling people is simple. Whip and carrot. Just remember those two things."
"Whip... and carrot?"
"Yeah. Swing the whip hard at first, treat them harshly. Then, when it feels too much, offer the carrot."
For all his appearances, the Heavenly Demon had been the leader of ten thousand demons, commanding thousands or tens of thousands of troops. His advice was invaluable to manor lord Yang Dae-un.
"The Jeon clan is still holding out false hopes, so I'm just using the whip for now. But soon, when they come to their senses, offer the carrot, open a path for them to live in Ghost Sword Manor, and they'll settle in."
At that time, Yang Dae-un was only half convinced. But lo and behold.
As time passed, Jeon Il-gwang, Jeon Seong-jin, and the Fine Sword Sect survivors marveled at Ghost Sword Manor's inner workings and superior martial arts, sincerely submitting themselves.
"Manor Lord, please forgive my past rudeness."
With Jeon Il-gwang, the leader of the Fine Sword Sect survivors, lowering his tail, the rest followed smoothly.
Yang Dae-un heeded the Heavenly Demon's advice and offered the carrot at the right moment.
"Though Fine Sword Sect is no more, I will create the Fine Sword Squad within Ghost Sword Manor to carry on your lineage. With Great Hero Jeon Il-gwang as its captain, please become my right arm in expanding Ghost Sword Manor."
And not just that,
"Gunryong. From now on, instead of treating Captain Jeon Il-gwang and his clan with disdain, how about heavily employing them as the manor's main force?"
"Hmm, sure."
By coordinating perfectly with the Heavenly Demon, who had wielded the whip, Yang Dae-un quickly earned Jeon Il-gwang's trust.
"Manor Lord! Thank you. I will serve you with utmost loyalty!"
As the Heavenly Demon said, by naturally opening a path to survival and even offering chances for advancement and fame in the martial world, the Fine Sword Sect survivors had no thought of leaving. Instead, they burned with zeal to rack up merits.
Their efforts soon led to Ghost Sword Manor's growth, making it the undisputed master of Dome Green Mountain, ready to exert its influence.
'Good. Now the Fine Sword Sect survivors won't stab us in the back.'
The Heavenly Demon looked into Jeon Il-gwang's eyes, now filled with pure loyalty, and felt satisfied that the man's delusions had finally been dispelled.
By absorbing Fine Sword Sect, Ghost Sword Manor resolved both its financial and manpower shortages, escaping a long slump and crisis.
Thanks to this, it stabilized even faster than the Heavenly Demon had anticipated, emerging as a rival to the Moyong Clan, Yoneung Province's strongest family.
"Haaah."
Everything was going perfectly for Ghost Sword Manor. Its lord, the Shadowless Sword Yang Dae-un, had entered a second golden age, becoming one of Yoneung's representative masters. Yet he alone sighed deeply every night.
Today, as usual, he let out a sigh and prepared to drown his evening in drink.
"What's got you so worried?"
Before he knew it, the Heavenly Demon had slipped into Yang Dae-un's room without a sound, startling him.
"G-Gunryong?!"
Yang Dae-un jumped in surprise at the sight of the Heavenly Demon, his face clouded with gloom.
"If it's about your son Yang Hui-gun, don't worry. Now that Ghost Sword Manor has stabilized and bolstered its forces, I'll get moving on it soon."
The Heavenly Demon could guess the full situation just from Yang Dae-un's expression.
"It might be tough for you."
"What?"
Even at the Heavenly Demon's offer to step in, Yang Dae-un's face remained dark.
He had his own reasons.
"Do you think I haven't searched for my son? I contacted the Beggars' Sect and Hao Clan, pouring out gold like water. Yet there's been no word."
"Really?"
The Heavenly Demon was surprised too, pursing his lips.
The best information networks in the martial world were the Beggars' Sect for the righteous factions and the Hao Clan for the unorthodox. Their vast manpower gave them unmatched prowess, yet even they couldn't locate Ghost Sword Manor's true heir, the Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun.
Yang Dae-un wanted only to know if his son lived or died, but they couldn't even tell him where he'd gone, deepening his despair.
To make matters worse, the gold wasted on the Beggars' Sect and Hao Clan had steadily drained Ghost Sword Manor's finances, making it a total disaster.
"If even the Beggars' Sect beggars, Hao Clan courtesans, and pickpockets can't find Hui-gun, who could? How?"
No matter how hard he tried, Yang Dae-un's heart rotted away, unable to find even a hair of his son.
This time, he was certain even the miraculous Heavenly Demon couldn't do it.
"There's still one place left."
The Heavenly Demon's eyes sparkled with their usual mischief.
"What?"
"Haven't you heard? Beneath the Beggars' Sect and Hao Clan lies the true abyss."
"N-No way?!"
Yang Dae-un asked in shock, and the Heavenly Demon grinned.
"That's right. I'm thinking of heading to the Abyss Hall."
As the Heavenly Demon had just said, there was a saying in the martial world that a true abyss lay beneath the Beggars' Sect and Hao Clan.
It meant there existed a group that could resolve even matters beyond those sects' information networks—the darkest, dirtiest bunch in the martial world, belonging to what was known as the black houses.
Even the unorthodox factions scorned them as the abyss of abysses for their evil and filth.
Thus, they were named Abyss Hall, a gathering of those trapped in inescapable pits of darkness.
"Abyss Hall belongs to the blackest of black houses... They operate so deeply underground that even their location is unknown. Do you know where it is, Gunryong?"
Only a few knew Abyss Hall's location, and even they operated like a secret black market membership—finding it was like plucking stars from the sky.
Many sought Abyss Hall to handle dirty jobs or matters unsolved by Beggars' Sect and Hao Clan, but meeting them was exceedingly difficult.
"Do you think this Heavenly Demon would know the whereabouts of such lowly scum?"
"Then..."
"There's one guy who should know about Abyss Hall."
The Heavenly Demon left Ghost Sword Manor, vowing to find a lead on Yang Hui-gun.
Surprisingly, the place he headed was none other than!
"Halt!"
"Who the hell are you at the Great Black Gold House?"
The Black Gold House, which ran the biggest loan sharking in Yoneung Province.
For reference, this was the same Black Gold House that had previously loaned a massive sum to Ghost Sword Manor, dragging Yang Dae-un and his clan into the mire.
The Black Gold House thugs guarding the entrance mistook the impeccably dressed Heavenly Demon for some lost young master who had wandered in by mistake.
"If you don't wanna die, go tell Baldy that Gunryong's here."
"Baldy? Who's... Heek?!"
"You mean our Black Gold House Lord, Great Brother Yeo Rip?!"
"This bastard's lost his mind?"
The Black Gold House goons were on the verge of drawing swords in fury at the insolence of calling their sky-like boss—whom even heroes and lords addressed properly—merely "Baldy."
"W-Wait! I've seen this guy before! He's the mad superhuman who split Fine Sword Absolute Art Gung Seung-u in half with one strike during the Fine Sword Sect vs. Ghost Sword Manor sect war!"
Fortune among misfortune, some of the goons had witnessed that sect war.
The clash between Ghost Sword Manor and Fine Sword Sect had become so legendary in Yoneung that virtually no one was unaware.
"Heek! That monster from Ghost Sword Manor?"
"He looks super young, but rumors say even Shadowless Sword Yang Dae-un was helpless against him, like he'd returned to youth?"
"Nah, he's a fallen immortal."
Especially since he'd slain peak master Gung Seung-u with a single sword, rumors had inflated the Heavenly Demon into a fallen immortal.
"Heh."
The Heavenly Demon let out an incredulous chuckle at the absurdity, even to his own ears.
Just then, as the goons panicked over their rudeness to a big shot,
"You idiots barking like fools at the entrance? Chasing away fortune?!"
Perfectly timed, Black Gold House Lord—and the baldy Yeo Rip, who had been thoroughly schooled by the Heavenly Demon at Ghost Sword Manor and forced to cough up gold—appeared with a halo of menace.
He was scolding the noisy underlings at the entrance when,
"And who might you... Heup?! G-Gunryong?!"
Recognizing Gunryong, he recoiled as if stabbed in the side, eyes bulging.
"Why has Gunryong come all the way here?"
Yeo Rip soon broke out in cold sweat, his bald head making his panic all too visible.
"Why? Can't I come here?"
"N-No, it's not that... You didn't need to come all this way; if you'd just called, I'd have gone to you."
"Sure you would have."
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue in mockery.
If he'd summoned Yeo Rip, the man would have made endless excuses and delayed indefinitely.
"Such harsh words. So, what brings you here?"
"Black Gold House is a black house, right?"
"Ssp, rather than 'black house,' we're more like the darkest shadows or part of the black forest in the martial world..."
Krunch!
Irritated by Yeo Rip nitpicking and dragging on, the Heavenly Demon clenched his fist.
"Grab at my words one more time, and you're done."
"A-Ah, yes! We are a black house! Our Black Gold House is frontline even among black house gatherings."
Finally, Yeo Rip was speaking plainly.
"Good. Then you must know where Abyss Hall is."
"Abyss Hall?"
At the mention of the blackest black house, Yeo Rip's sweat glands burst again.
Black Gold House might fart loudly in Yoneung martial circles, but compared to the infamous central plains Abyss Hall, it was third-rate at best—unworthy to share a table.
Still, being in the same black houses and meeting at gatherings, he barely knew their location.
"I know it, but... They're a black house too. They won't meet anyone without a familiar face or connections. You need ties or someone who knows them."
Yeo Rip said this politely, intending to refuse.
That was how fearsome Abyss Hall was.
"Someone I know? Yeah, I do."
"Ah, as expected! That changes things. Who is it?"
Yeo Rip's face lit up at the mention of a connection to Abyss Hall.
Sneer!
The Heavenly Demon grinned.
"You."