Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: These Guys Are Really Something Else
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The interrogation of the Mad Blood Trio yielded no significant results. They were exactly the same as the Four Fiends of Guangdong.
They had no memory of their deaths, their memories of the past several decades erased, blindly following someone's orders.
This time, they said they had come here to grant Bu Ducheol's request.
They couldn't remember what orders they had received before that, or what they had done.
As the interrogation of the Mad Blood Trio was concluding, Byeok Taesan opened his eyes.
He had been organizing his enlightenment and spiritual energy, but he had heard Hwaok's entire interrogation process.
It was entirely possible for him to divide his consciousness to handle other tasks without breaking his concentration.
Byeok Taesan rose from his spot and approached the Mad Blood Trio.
He observed them carefully.
The Mad Blood Trio trembled with fear, especially when they looked at Byeok Taesan.
Even considering they had been defeated by him, their reaction was excessively fearful.
When interrogating the Four Fiends of Guangdong, Byeok Taesan had left everything to the Underworld Sect, so he hadn't seen them separately.
This was the first time he was seeing such a reaction.
Byeok Taesan turned his gaze to Bu Ducheol.
But Bu Ducheol was a bit different.
He feared Byeok Taesan, but not to the same extreme extent as the Mad Blood Trio.
"Well, look at this."
Byeok Taesan glanced back and forth between the Mad Blood Trio and Bu Ducheol before speaking to Hwaok.
"I'll take these three with me. You interrogate the remaining one. You haven't forgotten what I told you earlier, have you?"
"Yes. I'll keep it in mind."
Byeok Taesan gathered the Mad Blood Trio, lifted them effortlessly, and went off somewhere.
Hwaok silently watched his retreating back before turning her cold gaze to Bu Ducheol.
So far, all she had managed to ascertain was his name.
For someone of his skill, almost nothing was known about Bu Ducheol. It was as if he had come out of seclusion from somewhere.
Furthermore, he knew almost nothing about his backer.
Hwaok didn't let her disappointment show and calmly continued the interrogation. What mattered most was the location of the Half-Jiangshi.
She didn't know if Bu Ducheol had hidden the Half-Jiangshi somewhere or if he never had them in the first place.
Still, she had a feeling they were out there.
'His demeanor is somehow different from the Mad Blood Trio's.'
With that thought, Hwaok continued her interrogation, determined to find the location of the Half-Jiangshi.
* * *
Byeok Taesan had taken the Mad Blood Trio separately because he had a strange feeling about them.
He had felt something was off from the moment he first encountered them.
But that feeling had intensified just a moment ago.
When the Mad Blood Trio trembled in fear as Byeok Taesan approached.
Bu Ducheol's reaction was normal. As if he were seeing an ordinary person.
But the Mad Blood Trio was different.
Byeok Taesan scrutinized the trembling, cowering members of the Mad Blood Trio even more closely.
Then, he activated the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts.
He suspected their reaction was due to his arts.
As expected, the moment he activated the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts, their fear grew even greater.
It was as if they instinctively feared the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts.
Byeok Taesan continued to observe the Mad Blood Trio for a long time. He wasn't just looking; he was focusing on their souls.
Reacting to the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts meant there was a high probability of an issue with their souls.
After concentrating for a full hour, he finally figured out what the problem was.
"Why are their souls in this state?"
The souls of the Mad Blood Trio were subtly twisted.
Their bodies and souls didn't align perfectly. There was a gap between them.
"Wait, didn't they say these guys were fiends who were active over fifty years ago?"
But they were too young.
This wasn't rejuvenation, either. Their skills were too lacking for that.
Moreover, those who had reached a state capable of rejuvenation would not have such twisted souls.
No, more importantly, hadn't it been said that these men had all died by decapitation?
"What is this? Don't tell me they just shoved their souls into young bodies?"
Having said that, Byeok Taesan tilted his head.
"That should be almost impossible."
When Byeok Taesan first entered this body, he had struggled immensely in the beginning.
And even then, this body of Byeok Taesan was highly compatible with the Heavenly Demon's soul.
It was a body so well-matched that it would be difficult to find a better fit outside of a direct family member.
Despite that, his soul and body hadn't aligned perfectly, and it had taken a very long time to adjust.
If not for the remnants of the Heavenly Demon's spiritual energy, he might have died without ever managing to sync them.
But to take any random body and insert the soul of someone who died fifty years ago? That was practically impossible.
"Then what in the world are these guys?"
In any case, Byeok Taesan had never seen beings with souls twisted like this, and his interest was piqued.
"Shall I pull one out and see?"
Byeok Taesan swiftly extracted the soul of one of the three.
At that moment, he felt something snap.
It wasn't a physical sensation, but one transmitted through the soul.
*Thud.*
The body, its soul extracted, collapsed limply.
Byeok Taesan was slightly startled.
"It dies from just this?"
Even when Byeok Taesan extracted a soul, the connection to the body wasn't severed.
That was why they could groan and scream when he used the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts on their extracted souls.
But this one died the instant its soul was pulled out.
"What a filthy soul."
Byeok Taesan activated the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts and gently burned the soul in his hand.
"Ugh!"
A mass of black spiritual energy suddenly pulsed out from the soul. Byeok Taesan quickly let it go.
The soul began to crumble, soon turning into black spiritual energy and scattering into the air.
It was completely annihilated.
Byeok Taesan looked down at his own hand.
A mark, like a burn, remained. But this wound was not on his physical body.
It was a wound on his soul.
Of course, it wasn't serious. The burn on his palm healed in an instant, leaving it perfectly fine.
Byeok Taesan stared silently at the remaining two before extracting their souls one by one.
He wanted to identify exactly what was being severed the moment the soul was extracted.
He didn't just release the extracted souls; he burned them with his demonic arts before letting them go.
He had a feeling that simply letting them go would be a bad idea.
Byeok Taesan quietly watched the souls burn fiercely, emitting black spiritual energy.
Something was tickling the back of his mind, just on the verge of understanding.
* * *
After incinerating all the souls of the Mad Blood Trio, Byeok Taesan returned to where Hwaok was.
In the end, he had failed to obtain anything concrete.
But something still tickled the back of his mind. He knew that with the right trigger, this feeling would cross over into the realm of enlightenment.
These things couldn't be rushed. In fact, a relaxed and patient approach was more effective.
Byeok Taesan decided to completely forget about the Mad Blood Trio, pushing the matter from his mind.
By the time he did, he had arrived where Hwaok and Bu Ducheol were.
Bu Ducheol was on the verge of death.
His injuries were severe.
His spine was crushed, and the shock had caused extreme internal damage. The harm was even greater because his dantian had been all but shattered.
To save Bu Ducheol, they would need the Divine Doctor of the Ages or the One-Needle Eccentric.
When Byeok Taesan arrived, Hwaok reported as if she had been waiting for him.
"I've found the location of the Half-Jiangshi."
"You have?"
Byeok Taesan's face lit up.
Just a while ago, the spiritual energy he had stored in his meridians had been completely absorbed, forcing him to accumulate it through sheer force.
Now, he needed more spiritual energy to store in his meridians again.
He could go to a pavilion to replenish his energy, but it couldn't compare to an elixir.
And to achieve a healing effect just by having it attached to his meridians, it had to be an elixir.
"He says they're hidden in a rather large pirate stronghold, a little ways from here."
"A pirate stronghold? Come to think of it, didn't they say all the pirates in this area vanished?"
"Yes. There will likely be a considerable number of pirates there as well."
"There as well?"
Hwaok quickly added an explanation.
"The men here are all pirates."
Byeok Taesan glanced around.
Men were strewn across the ground everywhere, their bodies still twitching.
All of these were pirates?
"Looks like the quality of pirates has gone up lately. These guys were pretty decent."
Hwaok's expression hardened.
"It seems their latent potential was forcibly awakened to increase their power."
"Awakening their potential? Like that guy I saw a while back? Don't tell me all these guys were material for Half-Jiangshi too?"
"No. They don't seem to be material for Half-Jiangshi. They are merely consumables, their innate energy drained completely before being discarded."
"These guys are really something else."
Without using any of their own power, they were dragging in surrounding people, awakening their potential, and using them as disposable pawns.
"Did you find out anything else?"
"Nothing. This one is just another pawn."
"And also material for a Half-Jiangshi?"
"The Divine Doctor and the Eccentric will have to examine his body to know for sure."
Byeok Taesan nodded.
He sat on a nearby rock and waited for the rest of the group, who had gone to capture the enemy remnants.
About an hour later, the group began to return one by one.
No one appeared to be injured.
Given the decent skill level of the enemies, Danyeong, Chaewol, and Soso must have gained some solid combat experience.
And the two physicians from the Heavenly Medicine Hall, who had insisted on coming along, looked ready to collapse from exhaustion.
It seemed the Divine Doctor of the Ages had worked them hard.
After handling a few matters and giving out instructions, Byeok Taesan set off toward the pirate stronghold where the Half-Jiangshi were said to be.
* * *
Byeok Taesan's group moved swiftly toward the stronghold.
The handling of the numerous fallen men back there was left to the nearby Underworld Sect.
By now, members of the Underworld Sect would be swarming the area, extracting any useful information from them and disposing of the dead.
Everyone was traveling with a calm demeanor, except for two people who were visibly excited.
The physicians from the Heavenly Medicine Hall.
'Are we finally going to see the Half-Jiangshi?'
Why else would the two of them have come all this way? It was all because of the Half-Jiangshi.
They aimed to learn how to deal with them and, if possible, ascertain the whereabouts of the Poison Demon through them.
Recent events in the Hubei Martial Alliance had confirmed that an unidentified monster was plotting something.
The Heavenly Medicine Hall had concluded that the Poison Demon was likely among those monsters.
And they believed that whatever the Poison Demon was plotting, it was undoubtedly aimed at the Heavenly Medicine Hall.
The Poison Demon's hatred for the Heavenly Medicine Hall was even deeper than their dislike for him.
In any case, as they traveled diligently, a massive pirate stronghold came into view.
"The scale of this stronghold is larger than I expected."
At the words of the Divine Doctor of the Ages, who was at the front, the One-Needle Eccentric also nodded.
"With a stronghold of that size, the leader and their second-in-command are usually quite skilled."
The Divine Doctor of the Ages's eyes widened as he looked at the One-Needle Eccentric.
"Brother, how do you know that so well?"
"Am I not allowed to know such things?"
"No, it's just that you speak as if you've lived the life of a pirate yourself."
The One-Needle Eccentric's eyebrow twitched. Seeing this, the Divine Doctor of the Ages feigned surprise and said.
"Don't tell me you really did? My brother was a pirate?"
"I was not! I just..."
"Just?"
"I just happened to run into them here and there during my harder days."
"You can tell the skill level of the leader and their second-in-command just by seeing the size of their stronghold from a chance encounter? Wow, I have to re-evaluate my brother's insight."
The One-Needle Eccentric clenched his fist.
"Should I open up that insight of yours a bit?"
"My insight?"
The Divine Doctor of the Ages's gaze shifted to the One-Needle Eccentric's fist.
The One-Needle Eccentric slowly raised his fist and said.
"One punch from this will open your eyes right up."
"There you go with your grim jokes again. This is why people suspect you were a pirate."
As the One-Needle Eccentric's fist trembled, the Divine Doctor of the Ages quickly looked at Byeok Taesan and said.
"Young Master, shall we get going? Will you enter from the front again while we strike from behind?"
Byeok Taesan chuckled.
"Against something of this level? What's the point of striking from behind? Let's go."
With those words, Byeok Taesan strode confidently toward the stronghold.
The flow of energy emanating from the stronghold washed over his entire body.
His senses had become much sharper.
Through the last battle, some of his old senses had returned.
But the fight had been too bland to fully recover his former instincts.
He needed a more intense battle.
He wanted to face not some empty husks, but a powerful enemy that he couldn't defeat without shedding his own blood.
Such a powerful enemy was not in that stronghold.
But there was one person there who could at least slightly quench Byeok Taesan's thirst.
The corners of Byeok Taesan's lips curled up slightly.
His blood began to boil.
< These Guys Are Really Something Else > End