Chapter 136
Chapter 136
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: I Thought I'd Met the Heavenly Demon
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A young man with two short spears crossed on his back walked leisurely, his hands clasped behind him.
His gaze was fixed on the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, standing tall in the distance.
"So that's the Underworld Sect, huh?"
The answer to his question came from behind him.
"Yes. That is correct. That is the headquarters of the Underworld Sect."
The speaker was dressed entirely in black, even his face covered by a mask. It was as if a shadow had spoken.
"But still... it seems a bit sluggish, don't you think?"
"I will relay the order to hurry."
"No, don't. There's no need to rush. If we take heavy losses by rushing, it'll be a net loss for us."
The man muttered, slowing his pace slightly.
What he wanted was for the entire situation to be wrapped up by the time he arrived.
"Anyway, since it's a courtesan house, there must be plenty of pretty girls, right?"
"I've made it clear to them not to harm the women."
"If that's why it's taking so long, I can certainly understand. I've often heard the women of the Underworld Sect are incredible. I'm looking forward to it."
At his words, the masked man in black behind him spoke cautiously.
"I am obligated to report everything truthfully to him."
"I know. Anyone hearing this would think I was planning something strange. I'll just set aside the five best ones, so don't you worry."
The masked man in black bowed his head as if in apology.
"No need to be sorry. What can you do when our lord is the very incarnation of lust? Well, like lord, like subordinate, I suppose."
A thick desire flickered in the man's eyes.
"What about the Martial Alliance and the Black Alliance?"
"They're too busy with the Jegal and Namgung families to spare any attention for this."
"Still, it's a relief we can take care of the Underworld Sect without much trouble. Honestly, these guys have been getting sharp lately, which was a bit of a problem."
"Even so, it's a painful loss to see an organization we spent over a decade planting disappear."
The man touched his forehead with his hand as he walked and shook his head.
"My blood boils just thinking about it. To think we'd get caught. It just goes to show how formidable the Underworld Sect is. That's why..."
"The risk is too great."
"I haven't even said anything yet."
"You intend to take over the Underworld Sect, don't you? The Underworld Sect is not a place that can be taken by force. Even the Heavenly Demonic Cult gave up on taking it by force."
"What do you mean, they gave up? They just didn't touch it because they didn't need to. Honestly, if the Heavenly Demonic Cult had set its mind to it, do you really think the likes of the Underworld Sect could have held out?"
The masked man in black looked troubled by the man's words, but soon nodded.
"Then, at least give it a try. But if things seem even slightly off, you must eliminate everyone."
The man grinned.
"You have my word."
He said, looking toward the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. It was getting closer.
And behind him, hundreds of warriors followed silently and in perfect order, without even a breath of sound.
His plan for the day wasn't just to take over the Underworld Sect.
After hitting this place, he would immediately strike the Medicine King's Sect. Then, he would deal a significant blow to the Golden Jade Trading Company before retreating.
That was the plan for today.
The rest would be left to ferment for a few days before proceeding.
"The Underworld Sect members we identified beforehand are being dealt with, I assume?"
They weren't just attacking the Hundred Flowers Pavilion; they were also targeting the Underworld Sect members operating in secret throughout Wuhan.
"We lacked the time to fully grasp the strength of the Underworld Sect. There is a chance of unforeseen variables."
"Always so rigid. So, you think we'll fail?"
"There will be no failure. There will only be casualties."
The man waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.
The masked man in black fell silent and slightly lowered his head.
From then on, the man walked without another word.
Then, a sudden chill ran down his spine, and he stopped walking before he even realized it.
He instinctively looked around.
He wasn't the only one who felt it. The masked man in black and the followers behind them all stopped at the same time.
"What... is this?"
"I believe we should prepare ourselves."
At the masked man's words, the man looked at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and strained his ears.
The sounds of fighting were still audible. There was little change over there. If things continued like this, they would achieve their desired result.
The problem was here.
"It seems... the variable has appeared on our side, hasn't it?"
At the man's words, the masked man in black drew his sword. It was a dark blade, coated in black lacquer that didn't even reflect the moonlight.
And the hundreds of warriors following behind also drew their swords in unison. They were identical to the one the masked man held.
"Just as I thought. I had a bad feeling about this, you know? It was a good thing I brought everyone along, wasn't it?"
"I can only admire the Young Lord's insight."
Meanwhile, the warriors began to spread out slightly, forming a battle formation.
It was a sword formation designed to face a powerful enemy.
It could be adapted for fighting many or few, and for now, they were only in a preparatory stance, ready to shift to either.
The real formation would begin once the enemy appeared.
"Now, shall we see what brilliant mind has created this variable?"
The man's eyes glinted. The thought that this variable might derail his plans didn't even cross his mind.
***
"Block it!"
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of steel echoed from all directions. Sparks flew as weapons clashed with harsh noises.
Blood splattered everywhere, and shouts and screams filled the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
The Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and Hwaok were gritting their teeth, fighting the enemy.
It seemed Hwaok's skills were superior to the Master's.
Hwaok had not only learned the Moonglow Demonic Arts but had also endured Byeok Taesan's hellish training several times.
The Hundred Flowers Pavilion was full of courtesans belonging to the Underworld Sect. However, their talents and skills lay more in gathering and organizing information than in martial arts.
The male members of the Underworld Sect were fighting hard, but they were severely outnumbered. The enemy was skilled, too.
There were some ruffians from the underworld and mercenaries sent by Yuk Taegu and Jang Gagu inside the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, but their numbers were too few.
This wasn't the only place the ruffians and mercenaries had to protect.
They had recently recruited members of the Secret Heaven Group, but they, of course, did not stay at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Hwaok gritted her teeth and swung her sword.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
The ones fighting Hwaok were the strongest among the enemies.
With five such men ganging up on her, it was only natural that she couldn't resolve the situation quickly.
The Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion was also facing three men.
Her senses were at their peak today, an aftereffect of having her soul cleansed by Byeok Taesan.
Had it not been for that, she would have been defeated already.
"You're from the Black Axe Sect!"
At the Master's shout, the men who were attacking her grinned.
"You just figured that out? I thought you knew from the start. Anyway, you're holding out pretty well, aren't you? It looks like taking you down without a scratch will be difficult."
The man said, taking a short break. He then surveyed the situation elsewhere.
The Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion steadied her breathing and circulated her internal energy.
She felt like she could collapse at any moment. She glanced over at Hwaok, who was holding her own against five opponents without being pushed back an inch.
No, if she held on just a little longer, it seemed she might even win.
But at that moment, a group of rough-looking men stormed up from the floor below.
"What! Are you still at it?"
"We've killed all the men! And we've captured most of the women! Let's finish up and get going!"
The man who had been resting frowned.
"You try it! See if you can finish it quickly! The intel was wrong! The Master of the Underworld Sect is one thing, but who the hell is that woman! We would've been in big trouble if the plan had been any tighter!"
The man shouted, then continued with a grave expression.
"You didn't touch the women, did you? Trying to do it secretly is useless. If you get caught later, you'll pay a heavy price."
"Hah, don't worry about that. I didn't touch them. He'll pass them down to us after he's had his fill anyway, so why take the risk? So let's just finish this! We're not done yet!"
"Hmph. Fine, now shut up."
The man said and looked at the Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
"Well, now that things have come to this, don't resent us too much. We'll all have to get along later anyway. That'll make things easier for our Master of the Underworld Sect, you see."
The man approached the Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion with a sinister and cruel smile.
Five more men joined him from behind.
The Master's expression hardened. Five more men were also approaching Hwaok.
From her experience, she knew they became much trickier as their numbers increased.
They had clearly trained for a long time in fighting as a group against a single opponent.
Just as she was about to be consumed by despair, an eerie sensation swept down her spine.
Everyone flinched, their bodies momentarily freezing.
And a colossal energy erupted from below, piercing through the floor.
Kwoooaaaaah!
A huge hole was blown through the floor. The roof, too, vanished.
The Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and Hwaok stared blankly at the scene.
Swallowing hard, they cautiously approached the hole to look down.
Byeok Taesan was there.
The tension left her, and she collapsed to the floor.
She turned her head to look at Hwaok. She expected Hwaok to have a similar expression, but surprisingly, Hwaok was calm.
"It's not over yet. I'll go down and check."
The men they had just been fighting, and those who had come up, had vanished without a trace.
But not all the enemies were gone. And she had to tend to her fallen comrades.
As Hwaok went down, the Master of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion took a moment to compose herself.
Then she forced herself to stand up and went downstairs.
She was the Master of the Underworld Sect. It would be a disgrace to just sit there.
***
After blowing away the entire central section of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, Byeok Taesan left the building.
He had killed all the enemies who had infiltrated it.
Blowing up the center was, in truth, more an act of venting his anger. He could have killed all of them without doing so, but he had deliberately destroyed everything.
He felt a little better after that.
"Should I have left a few of them alive?"
There might have been some information he could have extracted through interrogation.
But Byeok Taesan didn't care much. There were plenty of enemies anyway. He could just capture one or two of those over there and take them with him.
Byeok Taesan walked slowly. As he did, he released his aura, letting it flow like thread unwinding from a spool.
Hundreds of enemies were over there. And the ones at their forefront were quite skilled.
One of them exuded an aura similar to that Hyeokryeon Bigwang fellow from before.
Byeok Taesan checked the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts imbued in his vambraces as he walked.
There needed to be enough of the arts within them for resonance to occur.
After finishing his check, he slowly began the resonance.
Around that time, the enemies spotted Byeok Taesan.
The man with the crossed short spears on his back stepped forward and glared at Byeok Taesan. Then he tilted his head.
"Strange. It felt really dangerous, but..."
The man studied Byeok Taesan carefully.
"No matter how I look at him, he seems like nothing special. What do you think?"
The man asked the masked man in black behind him.
"He looks that way to me as well."
"Have you said your last words?"
Byeok Taesan spoke, extending his hand.
The energy of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts, amplified through resonance, surged forth like a great storm.
Kwooooosh!
The sound wasn't loud. It was just that everyone felt a chilling terror.
And the hundreds of warriors simply vanished.
"I need a bit more practice."
Byeok Taesan said, looking at the man with the short spears and the masked man in black.
He hadn't intended to touch those two, but he couldn't perfectly control the amplified power of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts, and it had grazed them slightly.
The right arm of the spear-wielding man was gone, and one of the two short spears on his back had disappeared.
And the masked man in black's legs had been cleanly melted away.
The spear-wielding man didn't even seem to notice his missing arm.
He was staring at Byeok Taesan with eyes full of terror.
"How... How...!"
Byeok Taesan smirked.
"Any last words remaining?"
He had no intention of killing them right away. He needed to take them and uncover who was behind them.
The man collapsed to his knees. Next to him, the masked man with no legs lay writhing on the ground.
"Young Lord, you must escape."
At the masked man's words, the man let out a dry laugh.
"It's useless. You saw what just happened. I thought I'd met the Heavenly Demon."
At those words, Byeok Taesan's gaze changed.
"You seem to know a lot about the Heavenly Demon."
At Byeok Taesan's words, the man smirked.
"Why? What are you going to do if I do? Want me to introduce you?"
"It seems you don't just know about him, but you've seen the Heavenly Demon use his full power..."
The man's expression hardened. He felt that something about the atmosphere was strange.
Seeing the man suddenly clam up, Byeok Taesan smiled faintly.
"Looks like I'll have to extract it from you."
At those words, the man's expression filled with alarm. He and the masked man in black suddenly exchanged a look.
At that moment, the dantian in both men began to spin violently.
Just as Byeok Taesan realized what was happening and was about to do something, their bodies exploded.
Kwoooaaaaang!
Fragments of flesh and drops of blood imbued with powerful energy swept across the area with the force of the explosion.
Naturally, the explosion swept past where Byeok Taesan stood.
Pitter-patter!
A rain of blood fell.
Byeok Taesan stood beneath it.
Not a single drop of blood or fragment of flesh touched him. They had naturally avoided him as they fell.
Byeok Taesan muttered softly.
"These guys... now I'm even more curious about who they really are."