Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: I Guess You'll Have to Stay Here a Little Longer
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"Um... Young Master, you're not planning to enter that manor alone, are you?"
the Underworld Sect member asked in the most cautious tone possible.
Byeok Taesan looked away from the trail of the tracking incense leading to the main gate and turned to face the Underworld Sect member.
"Is there a problem?"
"Given the circumstances, it's highly likely that's the base of those who orchestrated this incident. Wouldn't it be dangerous for you to go alone?"
At the Underworld Sect member's worried expression and tone, Byeok Taesan smirked.
"Dangerous? Are you worried that I might be in danger?"
"Ah... I-I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you, Young Master. It was just an old man's worry..."
Byeok Taesan raised a hand, cutting him off.
"Enough. I'm not offended. And my safety is not what you should be worried about."
"Then..."
"You should be worried about someone escaping from there."
The Underworld Sect member swallowed hard as he looked at Byeok Taesan. For some reason, Byeok Taesan's aura seemed to have shifted slightly.
A strange pressure weighed down on his shoulders.
"You said this is Dangyang, right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"How many Underworld Sect members are in Dangyang?"
"There are sixty men skilled enough to be considered proper members of the Underworld Sect. However, each of them commands about five to ten people."
Of course, those people didn't know they were connected to the Underworld Sect. They were merely individuals swayed by money or desire.
"Mobilize them all. If anyone tries to escape from that manor, track them."
He couldn't order the Underworld Sect members to stop them, as he didn't know the skill level of anyone who might flee the manor.
They just needed to track them and confirm their location. Then Byeok Taesan could go and capture them himself.
"I will carry out your command."
The Underworld Sect member bowed his head and sent a hand signal to his colleagues waiting at a distance.
The stir of Underworld Sect members moving could be felt from all directions.
"When should I enter the manor?"
"We will hurry as much as possible. Give us two hours, and we will set up a tracking network around the area."
"Alright. I'll go in after two hours."
After saying that, Byeok Taesan casually glanced around.
As it happened, there was a small but charming teahouse nearby.
Byeok Taesan entered the teahouse and sat by a window on the second floor, leisurely enjoying his tea.
The manor's main gate was visible through the window.
* * *
Go Jungwang was finishing his preparations to leave.
Everything that needed to be destroyed had been destroyed.
All the documents and ledgers he had used were burned to ashes.
Now, he was gathering the things he needed to take.
There was quite a lot.
First, he packed the documents that recorded and organized everything about the operations he had conducted.
He also packed what Seo Dogun had left behind.
The remaining Blood Augmenting Pills and the improved ones also had to be carefully packed.
"So, all that's left now... are those jiangshi over there?"
Go Jungwang's gaze turned to the window. He could see the half-jiangshi that filled the garden.
And he also saw the sight of those half-jiangshi collapsing one after another.
Go Jungwang's eyes widened in shock.
It was the first time he'd seen it himself, but he knew immediately who could cause such a phenomenon.
"Byeok Taesan!"
He could see Byeok Taesan striding past the collapsing half-jiangshi.
It was like knocking over poorly stacked bundles of straw.
There were over five hundred half-jiangshi gathered in the garden. Yet, it took only a few blinks of an eye for all five hundred to fall.
Every single half-jiangshi had collapsed.
And Byeok Taesan stood still in the middle of it all.
Go Jungwang hastily stuffed what he was packing into a sack and slung it over his back. Then, he rushed out of the room.
This was no time to think. He had to escape now.
And if there was truly no way out, he would take his own life. Suicide was forbidden, but he believed his lord would understand in a situation like this.
'Damn it!'
Go Jungwang quickly burst through the window on the opposite side of the building.
Crash!
The window shattered, its fragments raining down with him.
Go Jungwang landed lightly on the ground and immediately launched himself over the wall.
The fact that he hadn't given any orders to his remaining subordinates crossed his mind, but it couldn't be helped. He couldn't possibly go back into the manor now.
Go Jungwang ran swiftly toward the safe house he had prepared for emergencies.
His plan was to hide there until things quieted down, then secretly slip out of Dangyang.
Go Jungwang moved with all his might, trying to leave as few traces as possible.
* * *
Byeok Taesan absorbed the spiritual energy before it could disperse.
The quality of these beings wasn't particularly high, so the efficiency was a bit lower than usual.
However, the sheer number—over five hundred—provided an amount that made efficiency irrelevant.
His senses caught one person escaping, but he let them go for now. Consuming the spiritual medicine was more important than catching that person at this moment.
He could always catch that man later, but the spiritual medicine—no, the spiritual energy—that dispersed here would not return.
After neatly stacking the spiritual energy within his body, Byeok Taesan entered the building.
The men inside the building admirably chose not to flee and instead ambushed Byeok Taesan.
Crash!
Someone threw a vial of poison on the floor.
A thick, poisonous smoke enveloped the area.
Byeok Taesan moved without paying it any mind. Poison was ineffective against the master of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts.
Anything that entered his body would be instantly incinerated and evaporated.
Men with swords clinging to the ceiling leaped down the moment the poison smoke erupted in front of Byeok Taesan, striking with their blades.
Byeok Taesan dodged the falling swords simply by taking a single step forward.
Byeok Taesan's step was no ordinary step. An immense pressure crushed down on the heads of the swordsmen.
Splat!
At the same time, men hidden beside the entrance thrust their swords.
Byeok Taesan waved his hand once.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The swords moved on their own, tangling with each other.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
And then their heads exploded.
Nine men died that way, their heads bursting.
Now, only three men remained. Byeok Taesan strode toward them.
Thud!
The three men's eyes rolled back in their heads as they collapsed.
Byeok Taesan had sealed their acupoints.
Byeok Taesan picked them up and tossed them into a separate pile.
He would later instruct the Underworld Sect to take care of them.
Among the survivors, they seemed to hold some rank, so he planned to have them interrogated.
Of course, they probably knew very little, but since the Underworld Sect would be doing it, not him, it wouldn't be a bother.
Byeok Taesan headed deeper inside.
And he found a staircase leading down to a basement.
He could sense the presence of just one person in the basement.
Byeok Taesan strode down into the basement.
* * *
Seung Doheung was imprisoned in the dungeon set up in the basement.
He hadn't been tortured, but he had been beaten quite severely during his capture, and his entire body ached.
"Hoo. It seems this is the end of the line for me."
He had made arrangements so that someone could find him.
But those arrangements had a time limit.
He had to be found before the tracking incense faded.
The scent had grown too faint.
The tracking incense sprinkled near his house was probably almost impossible to smell now.
"Surely they weren't caught by these bastards while trying to find me, were they?"
Seung Doheung muttered, then shook his head.
If that had happened, Go Jungwang wouldn't have just sat still. He would have started torturing him to dig up information on who was behind him.
While staying at the public granary, he had constantly looked for an opening and managed to send a few signals.
If those signals had been properly received, there should have been some kind of movement.
"Either the signals went wrong... or they're in a situation where they can't move."
Still, they would eventually make a move.
Then they would track him, and if he was really lucky, they might find him later.
"Damn it. To think I'd get tangled up with bastards like these."
As he was lamenting his fate, he heard someone entering the basement dungeon.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
It was the sound of someone slowly descending the stairs.
It wasn't Go Jungwang. He always moved in a hurry. If it had been Go Jungwang, the sound would have been a rapid *tap-tap-tap-tap*.
Seung Doheung lifted his head and looked toward the stairs.
He saw a person descending.
'He's not one of the men here. Could it be...!'
A light of hope flickered in Seung Doheung's eyes. That light soon turned to elation.
This was because the scent of the tracking incense powerfully struck his nose.
It was the very same tracking incense he had left behind.
Soon, Byeok Taesan stood before Seung Doheung, separated by the bars of the prison cell.
"Seung Doheung?"
"Y-Yes, that's me. Are you... from the Cult?"
"No."
At Byeok Taesan's answer, Seung Doheung's eyes lit up.
"I knew it. Then you must be from the Society?"
Byeok Taesan looked at Seung Doheung impassively.
But while his expression was calm, his mind was not.
'The Society? What's this now?'
He had come all this way because he found traces of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. But now this man mentioned a "Society," and the word came out right after he denied being from the Cult.
Byeok Taesan had answered no to being from the Cult because that's what he had always done. He wasn't really a man of the Cult, after all.
The Cult was his, but he was not the Cult's.
"Seeing how young you are, you must not have been with the Society for long. For now, come in and unlock this for me."
Seung Doheung pointed to his ankle.
A chain connected to a large iron ball was fastened around his ankle.
"My internal energy is sealed, so I can't do a thing. So first, get this off, then go upstairs and call the others. Did you not bring a physician with you?"
Byeok Taesan just stood there, quietly listening to Seung Doheung.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and move. You took care of all the bastards upstairs, right? Among them, you must not let the one named Go Jungwang escape. He's the leader."
"It seems... you'll have to stay here a little longer."
Leaving those words behind, Byeok Taesan turned and went back upstairs.
Seung Doheung called out to him with bewildered eyes.
"Hey! Wait! How can you just leave! You have to free me! I told you I can't use my internal energy! My ankle hurts! Hey!"
* * *
When he came back up, he saw the Underworld Sect members diligently clearing the manor.
He spotted the man who had been with him earlier and approached him.
"Ah, Young Master."
The Underworld Sect member bowed respectfully.
"The cleanup outside is almost finished. Now we need to clear the building. What are your orders?"
"Clear it. There are three survivors, so take them aside. And there's one man imprisoned in the basement dungeon. Keep a close watch on him."
"Yes, sir."
"What about the one who escaped?"
"One man escaped, but he hasn't left Dangyang."
"It seems you weren't detected."
"His senses were duller than we anticipated."
The Underworld Sect member had been anticipating someone on the level of the Lord of the Hubei Martial Alliance. They had tracked him assuming he was of a similar caliber.
That was why they had to watch and track him cautiously from a great distance.
They had mobilized nearly seventy percent of the Underworld Sect members in Dangyang.
"Let's go."
At Byeok Taesan's words, the Underworld Sect member bowed his head and quickly began to lead the way.
The safe house where Go Jungwang was hiding wasn't very far from the manor where he had been staying.
"It's over there."
The Underworld Sect member pointed to a small building.
It was a truly ordinary building, and there were many other similar-looking buildings around it.
There were gisaeng houses, taverns, and inns everywhere, all bustling with people coming and going.
This place would likely be just as crowded at night. No, perhaps even more people would be out and about after dark.
It seemed to be a safe house designed for hiding among the crowds.
There were quite a few people inside the building. There was a manager, cooks, and even warriors to guard the place.
Of course, the warriors' skill level was not very high. They were extremely ordinary.
And it was the same for the other buildings in the area.
"Did you confirm his face?"
"Yes. I confirmed it myself."
"Good. Follow me for now. Then wait outside until I give the signal."
"Yes."
Byeok Taesan walked swiftly toward the building. And he slipped right inside.
Once inside, Byeok Taesan began to subdue every person his senses detected, one by one.
His speed was incredible.
Wind projectiles shot from his ten fingers struck their mute and paralysis points, and they all collapsed limply.
It was a three-story building, but Byeok Taesan spent almost no time on each floor.
Arriving on the third floor, Byeok Taesan looked at the last remaining person.
From the moment he entered this place, he was certain this man was Go Jungwang.
Everyone else was so ordinary that this man's presence stood out far too much.
"I have a lot of questions for you."
Saying so, Byeok Taesan strode toward Go Jungwang. Reaching him in an instant, Byeok Taesan lightly struck the crown of Go Jungwang's head just as he was about to speak.
Crack.
Go Jungwang's eyes rolled back sharply as he collapsed.
"Did I use a little too much force?"
Byeok Taesan sent a signal out the window. After a brief wait, the Underworld Sect member came rushing up to the third floor, out of breath.
"Is this the one?"
"Yes. That's definitely him."
Byeok Taesan grinned.
"Good. Let's go back."
As Byeok Taesan descended with Go Jungwang, the Underworld Sect member carefully scanned the surroundings.
He found a sack lying to one side and checked its contents.
The Underworld Sect member nodded, then took the sack and went downstairs.
He then ordered the other Underworld Sect members who had just arrived to search the building thoroughly before quickly following after Byeok Taesan.
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