Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Aiding Ha Jin (2)
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“Wh-what?! Gahhhh!”
The Stone Tiger Ghost, Seok Ho-gwi, who had maintained a calm and ruthless demeanor throughout his confrontation with the Invincible Golden Sword Ha Jin, freaked out at the sound of Seok Geum-yeong's voice—convinced as he was that she was dead.
He'd acted all bold, but in the end, he was just a cowardly little punk.
“Hah... hah...”
Seok Ho-gwi was panting so hard from the shock that he could barely catch his breath.
From his perspective, a dead woman had suddenly come back to life and spoken—how could he not be startled?
“Why did you call me, brother? This time... will you kill me yourself?”
Only then did Seok Ho-gwi realize the truth from Seok Geum-yeong's icy voice.
“Y-you... You're alive? What the hell happened?”
Realizing too late that he'd been tricked, Seok Ho-gwi turned in shock to look at the Invincible Golden Sword Ha Jin.
The scene unfolding behind him was even more hopeless and gruesome.
“Young Master Seok Ho-gwi. My apologies.”
Shockingly, Jang Cheon-ak, the Captivating Duke who served Seok Ho-gwi, had been completely subdued by Ha Jin.
A dazzling golden sword symbolizing Ha Jin was already pointed at Jang Cheon-ak's throat.
The other warriors guarding Seok Ho-gwi were in the same state.
The Heavenly Demon, Yang Hui-gun, and Sogang—disguised as Ha Jin's fellow guards—had knocked out the rest, leaving them foaming at the mouth in unconscious heaps.
“No way!”
Seok Ho-gwi trembled in disbelief at the completely reversed situation.
The time he'd spent confirming Seok Geum-yeong's death had been merely a split second.
'He subdued all my men in that short moment?'
Seok Ho-gwi still couldn't believe it, looking dazed.
“You won't accept it even with your own eyes?”
Unlike the trembling Seok Ho-gwi, Seok Geum-yeong was as calm as ever.
And rightly so.
To Seok Geum-yeong, who had endured major events from Ha Jin's betrayal to the Heavenly Demon's alliance, Seok Ho-gwi was nothing more than a pathetic worm.
“Wh-what?”
“Brother Seok Ho-gwi. That you've lost.”
The Seok Geum-yeong in Seok Ho-gwi's memory had always been kind and gentle.
But today's Seok Geum-yeong felt cold and ruthless—strangely unfamiliar.
But that lasted only a moment.
“How dare a wench like you think you can beat me...”
Furious at the counterattack from the docile girl he'd mocked, Seok Ho-gwi lunged toward her without warning.
Swish!
Seok Geum-yeong drew a small dagger she'd hidden and blocked his path.
“It's not that I think I can win—I've already won. Aren't you still clinging to the absurd delusion that you can turn the tables, brother?”
“Y-you...”
Seok Ho-gwi shuddered, glaring at the dagger's sharper-than-ever blade.
He wanted to charge and threaten her right then, but Ha Jin and the Heavenly Demon wouldn't stand by idly.
“Grand Steward Jang Cheon-ak!”
In the end, all Seok Ho-gwi could do was call for Jang Cheon-ak like a child begging an adult for help.
The problem was that even Jang Cheon-ak's neck was in Ha Jin's hands.
“Ha Jin! Don't you want to save your daughter?! If my grandfather and our True Medicine Hall decide to...”
“No need. Get lost.”
Seok Ho-gwi tried once more to sweet-talk Ha Jin but failed.
His pupils shook at the curt rejection he hadn't expected.
“You weren't planning to let my daughter—or even me—live anyway, were you?”
“Urk!”
Seok Ho-gwi shut his mouth, at a loss for words.
It was time to admit it.
That he'd been defeated by Seok Geum-yeong, whom he'd looked down on and believed he could kill anytime.
“Jang Cheon-ak. Go fetch my daughter at once. If you try any tricks or run...”
Ha Jin shifted his golden sword from Jang Cheon-ak's throat to point at Seok Ho-gwi's.
“...Seok Ho-gwi's head will roll on the floor.”
“Hah! Yes, sir!”
Jang Cheon-ak was no slouch, having trained in martial arts as the grand steward of the Seok Family Manor, but against a transcendent master like the Invincible Golden Sword Ha Jin, he was less than a fledgling.
Released by Ha Jin, he didn't even consider attacking.
“I'll bring her right away!”
Fearing Ha Jin might change his mind, he rushed to the treatment room where Ha Yeon-seol had been left.
He returned carrying her nearly lifeless, unconscious form on his back.
“Yeon-seol!”
Ha Jin cried out at his only daughter's worsened state, far more dire than just days ago.
He'd expected neglect, but not this level of callous abandonment.
“You bastard, Seok Ho-gwi!”
Ha Jin was so enraged he nearly charged at Seok Ho-gwi right then.
His killing intent was fiercer than a starving tiger's—Seok Ho-gwi, barely trained in martial arts, couldn't even look at him.
Thud!
Seok Ho-gwi collapsed to his knees, kowtowing desperately with both hands raised.
“Spare me, Ha Jin—no, Hero Ha Jin! I was wrong. Please, just my life!”
Seok Ho-gwi couldn't withstand the killing intent of a transcendent realm master.
His actions were pure survival instinct.
Meanwhile.
Swish!
The Heavenly Demon approached the stiff, unconscious Ha Yeon-seol.
His specialty was killing the living, but extremes meet.
Having slain countless foes, he intuitively knew how to stave off death.
“She's not dead yet. But her breathing is faint.”
The Heavenly Demon extended his hand unhesitatingly toward her dantian.
“G-Gunryong... What are you...”
Ha Jin, who'd been about to lunge at Seok Ho-gwi, panicked and began to sweat.
Whoosh!
The Heavenly Demon's internal energy—several times deeper and stronger than Ha Jin's—enveloped Ha Yeon-seol's body.
And that wasn't all.
Slurp!
Forcing her mouth open, the Heavenly Demon fed her an emergency vitality pill he carried.
It was handmade by the Merciless Killer and gifted to him—a Revival Pill that restored a patient's qi in any situation.
With boundless internal energy and the pill's effect, the half-dead Ha Yeon-seol reacted immediately.
Her pale face regained color, and her halted breathing turned to soft, steady breaths like deep sleep.
“Thank you!”
Only then realizing the Heavenly Demon had extended her life, Ha Jin bowed deeply again and again.
“No need for thanks. This isn't proper treatment—just buying time. Hurry to the Seok Family Manor main estate to meet the Merciless Killer.”
“Yes!”
A father's mind clears sharpest when his child suffers.
Ha Jin had learned that through life.
“Have Hui-gun and Sogang take Geum-yeong and go with Ha Jin first.”
The Heavenly Demon signaled he'd stay behind awhile.
Sogang asked, puzzled.
“What will you do?”
“What else? If we leave him like this...”
The Heavenly Demon pointed at the terrified Seok Ho-gwi.
“...this fool won't send pursuers talking revenge?”
The Heavenly Demon's guess was spot on.
Once the group left, Seok Ho-gwi planned to mobilize True Medicine Hall's full forces for immediate payback.
The Heavenly Demon knew this from countless experiences over 200 years.
“N-no, I won't. Absolutely not.”
“Everyone says that. Until they're out of danger.”
The Heavenly Demon trusted no one but his own.
When he had to trust strangers, he trusted the situation, not the people.
“So, a light handiwork before we go will make the trip to the Seok Family Manor main estate smoother.”
The Heavenly Demon's task was to utterly crush Seok Ho-gwi and True Medicine Hall's will to pursue.
That was it.
“As expected of Gunryong.”
“We'll take the carriage, leave a trail, and you follow.”
“Yeah. Go on ahead.”
The Heavenly Demon sent Sogang and Yang Hui-gun off first. Seok Geum-yeong's group retraced their path in the carriage they'd arrived in.
The commotion hadn't spread properly, and with Seok Geum-yeong alive, no one could stop them.
“Now, let's see if our Seok Ho-gwi tells the truth or lies.”
Left alone, the Heavenly Demon released Seok Ho-gwi, his guards, and even the Captivating Duke Jang Cheon-ak as if playing a fun game.
“What... are you doing...?”
Even Jang Cheon-ak couldn't fathom the intent of this young, handsome man before him amid the confusion.
“Assassins! Assassins trying to kill me—help!”
Seok Ho-gwi screamed without pause to catch his breath.
His bellows shook the heavens.
“Young Master Seok Ho-gwi called!”
“All True Medicine Hall peak experts to the young master's room!”
Dozens of peak realm warriors gathered orderly before his door like they'd been waiting.
Soon, Gunryong stood alone as Seok Ho-gwi's forces numbered in the dozens.
“Heh heh heh. The tables have turned.”
Seok Ho-gwi bared his true nature toward the Heavenly Demon who'd toyed with and mocked him.
“Just as I thought.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled brightly, delighted rather than surprised.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I was right after all. You're a liar, and my faith in the situation proved true—how could I not laugh?”
“You mad bastard!”
Appalled by the Heavenly Demon's gamble with his own life, Seok Ho-gwi snorted and issued orders without hesitation.
“Men! Tear that madman limb from limb right now... No! Capture him alive and bring him before me!”
Seok Ho-gwi planned to salve his wounded pride by capturing, torturing, and tormenting the Heavenly Demon.
He didn't realize the right move upon release was to flee without looking back—that alone was his only path to survival.
Roar!
The order came from Seok Ho-gwi, the True Medicine Hall master's pampered grandson and potential future lord of immense wealth.
Greed-blinded warriors launched a total assault.
They didn't even realize they were leaping into death's swamp.
Their foe was none other than the First Heavenly Demon, Gunryong.
One sword.
One blade was enough.
Krunch!
As the Heavenly Demon thrust the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword and swung a single form, dozens of peak and super-peak masters lost their lives, arms, or legs on the spot.
One sword birthed a sea of blood—the area overflowed with gore.
“H-heeeeeek!”
Seok Ho-gwi, who'd watched it all from start to finish, nearly fainted from sheer horror.
No, it was a miracle he stayed conscious.
True Medicine Hall's boasted forces—Seok Ho-gwi's thousand-strong army equivalent—shattered in one strike.
“Seok Ho-gwi. You must have Stone Qing's blood in you too, right?”
The Heavenly Demon approached Seok Ho-gwi, who clearly wasn't true True Medicine Hall blood like Stone Qing.
He planned to spare him for now.
Whether survival was fortune or misfortune was hard to say.
“Do not see, do not hear, do not speak. Know what that means?”
Don't look, don't listen, don't talk.
The Heavenly Demon slowly closed in on Seok Ho-gwi.
“N-no way...”
Sensing his fate, Seok Ho-gwi was terrified enough to die on the spot.
“Before bed tonight, thank your bloodline. Got it?”