Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Dead
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The news that the entire manor had burned down reached Yi Daein's ears swiftly.
"What about Han Se Yeong? What happened to Han Se Yeong?"
A young retainer quickly answered his question.
"The farmers say the manor is just a wall left standing, and they didn't even catch a glimpse of Han Se Yeong or his retainers."
"I have to go see for myself. Prepare the horses at once."
"Understood."
Yi Daein dragged his injured body outside and mounted the horse the retainers had prepared.
"All of you, follow me."
He led his retainers toward Se Yeong's manor.
The mounted retainers spurred their horses onward, while those without horses dashed using lightness skill.
"Hurry up, you lot!"
His heart racing, Yi Daein urged them on.
But the retainers couldn't gallop freely with their injured family head.
"Please go slowly, family head."
"Quiet, you fools...!"
Yi Daein bellowed at the top of his lungs and whipped his horse even harder.
After riding for a while, the wall atop the distant hill came into view.
But no one even noticed the wall on the hill.
The wide road was littered with corpses torn apart and mangled into chunks of meat.
There were so many bodies that the horses struggled to push through.
The blood flowing from the corpses had turned the road dark crimson.
Ugh...
Yi Daein groaned, trembling with rage.
He could tell who was responsible just from the corpses.
Just two days ago, countless martial artists had flooded into the village, and now this had happened.
He had his retainers count the bodies strewn across the road.
"Even a rough count puts it over five hundred."
"To the manor."
The manor, reduced to ashes, was also littered with countless corpses.
The farmers who had arrived first bowed deeply as Yi Daein entered and stepped aside.
Supported by his retainers, he dismounted and surveyed the manor.
All that met his eyes were piles of ash and shattered, mangled bodies.
Even amid the charred black remnants, human bones protruded.
"Over five hundred bodies inside the manor as well."
Yi Daein's body shuddered at the retainer's report.
More than a thousand dead in total.
'I've heard of "one man worth ten thousand," but to witness it myself...'
It was pathetic and terrifying that he had foolishly provoked such an extraordinary master without realizing it.
As he trembled in dread, three or four retainers rushed into the manor.
"Over a hundred bodies scattered at the base of the cliff below, family head."
Tsk tsk...
"Idiots..."
The formation around this manor wasn't exactly a secret.
Yet they had fallen off the cliff to their deaths—doomed fools who would have died soon enough anyway.
Yi Daein approached the farmers standing to one side.
"Tell me everything you know about what happened."
The farmers only exchanged glances, none stepping forward.
Finally losing patience, Yi Daein revealed his true colors.
"What do you think will happen to your fields and paddies if Han Se Yeong disappears?"
That was why he had rushed here in such haste.
With the landowner gone, he planned to forge new deeds and seize it all.
At that, the farmer who had introduced Yi Hwa and Yi Gu to Se Yeong stepped forward.
"Early in the morning... I came out to prepare for transplanting rice, but the manor's buildings were gone, only black smoke rising. When I hurried over, the young masters who lived here were nowhere to be seen—only Yi Hwa and Yi Gu remained."
Gulp.
"And... what did those two say?"
Yi Daein swallowed dryly, pressing for more.
"In the dead of night... bandits from the Green Forest came charging in, over three thousand strong. The young masters fought them but eventually retreated."
'Three thousand Green Forest bandits...?'
Only then did Yi Daein realize the identities of the over-a-thousand corpses: Green Forest bandits.
"What about Han Se Yeong? What happened to him?"
Right now, he didn't care about the martial artists' identities—only Se Yeong's fate mattered.
"That's just it... the young master stayed till the end even after the retainers retreated, so no one knows what became of him. The manor's young retainers scattered to search for him, and those two left the manor saying they had to find the young master too."
"So... you don't know if Han Se Yeong is alive or dead?"
"...Yes."
Yi Daein couldn't hide his disappointment at the farmer's words.
'Not knowing if he's alive or dead means I can't seize the land... This is maddening.'
His eyes darting anxiously around, he shouted at the farmers.
"Gather up the corpses and burn them!"
"Understood, Lord Yi."
As the farmers began collecting the bodies, he issued orders to his retainers as well.
"Collect all the weapons!"
"Understood."
Bandit weapons wouldn't fetch much, but scraping every last one could easily net over two thousand silver taels.
While gathering weapons, a young retainer found an iron rod beneath a charred pillar.
"Family head...!"
He hurried to Yi Daein and presented the iron rod.
"This is...?"
Yi Daein took it with eyes wide in disbelief.
"Where did you find it?"
It was unmistakably Han Se Yeong's iron rod.
"Over there."
The young retainer pointed to a pile of black ash.
Hurrying over, they found white skulls and charred corpses scattered in disarray.
It was impossible to identify who had died there from the skulls and remains.
Yi Daein struggled to calm his pounding heart.
'It could belong to one of the bandits.'
Yet in his mind, certainty grew that this was Han Se Yeong's rod.
Bandits carried vicious-looking weapons to instill fear.
Some wielded rods, but most were crudely carved from wood.
'Perhaps... Han Se Yeong died right here.'
The young retainers had scattered in search of him, after all.
"Bring all collected weapons to me!"
Yi Daein waited eagerly as his retainers gathered them.
Rumble... clatter...!
The retainers dumped the weapons before him.
Broken swords and blades, spearheads with burned shafts, axes, blackened maces and hammers, daggers—they piled into a small hill.
But not a single iron rod among them.
Kukuku... hahaha...!
A suppressed laugh burst from his lips, swelling into full-throated guffaws.
"He's dead...! The bastard's dead...!"
Tears streamed down Yi Daein's laughing face.
No more need to live quietly like a dead man.
As the saying went, the stubborn stone gets worn smooth—Han Se Yeong, rampaging blindly, had met his end.
His retainers, convinced of Se Yeong's death, wore smiles too.
"Inform the Murim Alliance of this."
The retainers bowed in unison at his command, his laughter fading.
"Understood."
Yi Daein's sagging lips and eyes, once dejected, now curled back into their old arrogant sneer.
Se Yeong and his squad huddled together inside the mining hut.
The squad members' faces were etched with worry.
"Will the Murim Alliance buy it?"
"Doesn't matter if they don't. We'll stay away until things quiet down."
But Se Yeong's voice remained as steady as ever.
If I despair, they despair.
If I grow anxious, they will too.
That was the leader's role.
Heartened, Paeng Se Gi's voice brightened.
"Where to next for a base, brother?"
"Nothing set yet. We'll decide on the move."
Se Yeong stood first, and the squad packed their gear.
A chest stuffed with jewels and silver, plus a few swords left by the Emei disciples.
"You even grabbed the swords?"
Paeng Se Gi chided, but Sa Sa Un mumbled evasively.
"They looked valuable..."
"Who buys Emei swords?"
Wudang swords bore pine motifs, Mount Hua plum blossoms.
Kunlun clouds, Qingcheng suns, Zhongnan rocks.
Emei depicted towering peaks.
Despite the scolding, Sa Sa Un stubbornly packed the Emei swords.
'Why toss these treasures?'
Leaving the hut, Se Yeong headed northeast along the path—no destination set, just following the road.
"Start."
At Se Yeong's word, Paeng Se Gi hoisted the chest onto his shoulder.
Whoosh...
He dashed off, kicking up wind, the squad following, then the siblings deploying lightness skill.
"Best to hole up deep in the mountains for a bit, young master."
Se Yeong agreed with Gang Gyodu.
"Know any scenic spots, instructor?"
Heh heh heh...
Gang Gyodu nodded with a chuckle.
"The Demonic Cult has the world's finest hidden paradise. I'd love to see it once before I die."
"Twenty strings each."
The bandits growled, and the merchants grimaced.
"Heroes, the toll's too steep. Please show mercy."
Bam...!
One bandit slammed his mace into the ground with a fierce glare.
Resigned, the merchants pulled out their purses.
After collecting tolls, they let the merchants pass and melted back into the forest.
Soon, a young monk came bounding along, wind in his wake.
Whoosh...
The hidden bandits watched tensely.
The monk halted abruptly before their forest hideout.
"Om mani padme hum. Begone, worldly woes."
Muttering to himself, he claimed a broad rock under a tree and sat.
The bandits had placed it there to lure travelers to rest.
No one passed it by, and they always appeared for tolls.
No sooner had the monk sat than three young martial artists appeared.
Two young men and a pretty young woman.
Huff... pant...!
Gasping for breath, they too headed for the rock and sat.
As they settled, a burly young martial artist arrived, wind swirling.
Iron rod in one hand, heavy chest on his shoulder.
Huff... pant...!
The giant sat on the rock too, and another young martial artist appeared.
He glanced at the bandits' forest, then sighed deeply.
Sigh...
"Starving here, and it had to be this spot?"
Setting the chest down, he stood guard silently, rod planted in the ground—not sitting on the rock.
Moments later, another martial artist arrived, sat off to the side, and closed his eyes.
After a long while, a young man and woman came stumbling up, panting.
Huff... pant...!
They collapsed onto the rock's edge.
The hidden bandits exchanged glances.
'Masters. Skip 'em.'
'Skip.'
Agreed, they quietly watched the young martial artists.
Paeng Se Gi couldn't even circulate his qi properly with the bandits lurking.
'Strike first?'
But attacking them at rest felt off somehow.
After agonizing, he suddenly opened the chest.
Inside: gold bars and heaps of jewels.
He deliberately held up a pearl necklace.
'Still gonna sit there?'