Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: The Black Dragon Gang (3)
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Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Black Dragon Gang, located in the center of Huguang, was utterly silent.
Not a single breeze stirred, and the only marks on the vast grounds were numerous footprints.
But there were no returning tracks.
Only the traces of hurried departures, of swords and the like being dragged away, remained.
Bai Wun-hwan, the leader of the Black Dragon Gang, had let it happen.
It wasn't that he couldn't have stopped them.
He had simply found them unsightly and roared at them to get the hell out.
"To leave without a moment's hesitation just because a small crisis has come."
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Normally, someone would have chimed in at even such an empty laugh, but now, the silence was palpable.
Bai Wun-hwan rose from his ebony-finished chair, shattering the armrest.
The crack that started there spread across the entire chair.
*Crack, crackle…*
Watching the chair crumble, Bai Wun-hwan felt no attachment.
He had held this position for over a decade, yet he pondered why not a single lingering thought arose.
The answer was simple.
‘This seat is meaningless now.’
Letting go of what he had was a shame, but in a way, it was also a relief.
As Bai Wun-hwan was calming his internal energy, the sound of a bird chirping came from outside.
*Chirp, tweet!*
The moment he heard the sound, Bai Wun-hwan roused his internal energy and snatched the bird with a formless hand.
*Snap.*
After lightly twisting the bird's neck, Bai Wun-hwan removed the message tied to its leg.
The message written there was rather brief.
*Bai Dong-il, died resisting.*
*Hang Jeok-san, died in battle.*
"So it has come to this."
Bai Wun-hwan's expression was calm, as if he had expected it.
But in one corner of his face, a wrinkle deepened.
It was due to the regrets that had settled in his old age.
Perhaps it was because of this that Hang Jeok-san and the others had turned their backs on him.
But that lingering shadow was not easily erased.
Even now, its echoes were surging up from deep within him.
"Heh, that boy."
Bai Wun-hwan's gaze was fixed on the name Bai Dong-il.
A useless, weak child. That was how he had seen him, so he had paid him little attention.
He had sighed when he heard the boy had escaped from Chang'an, and when he learned the Black Dragon Gang's shame had been exposed, he regretted not having killed him as a child.
And yet, what had happened?
In a situation where even those he had thought trustworthy had abandoned him, hadn't that boy been the only one to guard the path?
"A tiger father raising a dog son. I thought the heavens had balanced the scales by giving me Bai Dong-il instead of Bai Cheong-il."
Bai Wun-hwan paused his thoughts.
The presence drawing near was growing stronger.
The plum blossom, the taiji, the unique harmony of Zhongnan.
The auras of several cultivators were pressing down on Bai Wun-hwan.
His sore spot, Bai Dong-il, had blocked their path.
Though he had not a single thought of escaping in the time the boy had bought him.
Bai Wun-hwan was proud of Bai Dong-il. Even his second son, whom he had considered a dog, was a tiger in the end.
Born a man, he had upheld his duty to the very end.
Bai Wun-hwan swung his arms once, loosening his stiff muscles.
‘Perhaps both of my sons were more than I deserved.’
Thinking of it as the end brought a sense of peace.
A life spent relentlessly pursuing greed and fame, grasping them in his fists and never letting go.
The end of that burdensome journey, that long road, was approaching.
"Come."
Bai Wun-hwan smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothes. His breathing was long and deep, releasing the pent-up tension.
Suddenly, his mind became clear.
"I, Bai Wun-hwan, will not be remembered in the history of the martial world as a mere nobody."
And beneath it, the valiant stand of Bai Cheong-il and Bai Dong-il will be written.
Bai Wun-hwan slipped on the fist-seal armor that lay on the table.
* * *
Ouyang Jue and the Wudang cultivators were drawing closer to the Black Dragon Gang with every moment.
Of course, they had no intention of attacking the Black Dragon Gang with such a small number.
Their role was simply to report the current movements of the gang members and the situation in Huguang to their respective sects.
In that sense, their encounter with Bai Dong-il and Hang Jeok-san could be seen as unavoidable.
After that series of battles, the cultivators began to see the two from Mount Hua in a different light.
Like the cultivator who now approached Ouyang Jue with goodwill.
"Are you perhaps hungry or tired?"
"I am fine. We still have a long way to go, how could we rest?"
Ouyang Jue always responded with humility. He also didn't forget to occasionally show the cloth deliberately tied around his arm.
His judgment that feeding it pig's blood would make it look quite convincing had worked perfectly.
A master who had single-handedly fought a desperate battle and brought down an expert from the Black Dragon Gang.
Furthermore, his senior brother had personally cut down the second son of the Black Dragon Gang's leader, who had been guarding the path.
The reason Liu Zhangming was currently separated from the group was to prepare the bodies of the fallen cultivators for their rites.
As a result, the two senior brothers under the Sect Leader were becoming more famous than expected.
The martial renown that had been spreading locally was now beginning to reach further.
The Beggars' Sect had helped, but most martial artists would never know.
Ouyang Jue smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
‘For now, the sect's own power isn't great, so isn't it enough to elevate myself and Senior Brother Liu?’
From the first incident with the Golden Ring Merchant Guild until now.
Ouyang Jue had always been involved, and at one point, he even went to Zhongnan himself to negotiate.
And now, the time had finally come to destroy the core of it all, the Black Dragon Gang.
It was time to pluck the sweet fruit.
If there was one small regret…
‘To think Senior Brother Liu would reveal his sword aura against someone like Bai Dong-il.’
Ouyang Jue clicked his tongue faintly, wondering if he should have pushed him harder.
If he had unleashed it at a more dramatic moment, it would not only have boosted Liu Zhangming's fame but also struck a precise blow to the enemy's heart.
But Liu Zhangming had chosen not to.
When asked why, his answer was typically Liu Zhangming.
"If we hide our skills and lives are endangered, who will think of us as cultivators in the future, and how can we be proud of ourselves?"
It was such a sincere answer that even Ouyang Jue, who was close to him, couldn't easily dismiss it.
Seeing that, Ouyang Jue thought.
If every person has an unbendable essence, then this was Liu Zhangming's profound conviction.
At that moment, Ouyang Jue had nodded and smiled in relief.
"As expected of you, Senior Brother."
He had followed Liu Zhangming in his past life because he was that kind of person, and he still respected him in the present.
Half of his reason for wanting to grow the Mount Hua Sect was for Liu Zhangming, Song Muk, Gwak Un-pae, and Jo Hun.
And at the forefront of that was the regret of having killed Liu Zhangming.
Even if that benevolence slowed the Mount Hua Sect's progress, there was no need to forcibly change it.
He just had to build things up, step by step.
Just then, suddenly.
*Paaang, kwang!*
The sound of an air pressure explosion echoed from the distance. Almost at the same time, or perhaps simultaneously, a nearby wall exploded.
"Kuh!"
The cultivator at the front reflexively drew his sword and executed a defensive form.
With his swift reaction and clean technique, he was undoubtedly a promising young talent from Wudang.
But the fierce internal energy imbued in the stone fragments was beyond imagination.
*Clang, crack... shatter!*
The mere impact bent the sword's guard and threatened to snap the blade.
Just like that, the cultivator was stabbed in the chest by his own sword. The fist that followed caved in his bones.
"Huk."
As the air was forced from his lungs, the cultivator's eyes glazed over.
Aside from bursting through the wall, it had taken only a single blow.
With just that, he had killed a rising star of Wudang.
Seeing this, Ouyang Jue's eyes turned cold.
A middle-aged martial artist, impressive in his black robes, fist-seal armor, and untamed hair.
He was no ordinary expert.
He was a polished gem, one who had undergone bone-grinding training long after reaching the peak.
‘This is the middle of the capital, so government soldiers will soon arrive! The right move is to retreat!’
Moreover, he remembered what Liu Zhangming had told him.
Ouyang Jue shouted in a loud voice.
"He's an expert far beyond Hang Jeok-san! We must retreat for now!"
"Aaargh! You bastard!"
But Ouyang Jue's words didn't reach the other cultivators. It was, in truth, an unavoidable reaction.
Not only had they just watched a fellow cultivator from their sect die before their eyes, but that same bastard was now about to throw a punch at them.
Wouldn't they naturally think of revenge?
The Wudang cultivators immediately drew their swords and formed a battle line.
Though blinded by rage, they realized they were facing a formidable master.
The formation they deployed was the Five Elements Sword Formation.
It was one of Wudang's signature formations, said to allow five swordsmen to overcome fifty opponents.
Just then, Ouyang Jue's ears twitched.
"Hoo."
The man took a short breath in, then exhaled. In that instant, his entire body seemed to expand.
The destructive power of the straight punch that followed was nothing short of…
*Kwwaaaang!*
A thunderclap that half-shattered the Five Elements Sword Formation of the five cultivators.
*Crack!*
"...Kuaargh!"
The right arm of the cultivator standing in the center was completely broken, a wound that would require more than two months of recovery at a clinic.
"In just a single move!"
Another cultivator, terrified, threw himself forward to protect his injured comrade.
If another punch landed, it wouldn't be a broken arm, but a severed life.
Watching them, the man sneered as if it were pathetic. Throwing his body in the way was a meaningless gesture.
Against an opponent of his level, it was the same as dying together.
The man pulled his shoulder back. He intended to completely shatter the Five Elements Sword Formation with his next strike.
"I am the leader of the Black Dragon Gang, Bai Wun-hwan!"
*Kuaaa!*
At Bai Wun-hwan's roar, the legs of the cultivators forming the Five Elements Sword Formation gave way.
It wasn't just fear that made their knees buckle; it was a physical reality.
Because of this, the momentum of the formation faded. Its boundaries blurred, as if it could collapse at any moment.
Was this a stroke of good fortune for Bai Wun-hwan?
Or was it misfortune?
Ouyang Jue's figure seemed to blur, then vanished in an instant.
Simultaneously, Bai Wun-hwan's fist, carrying three-tenths of his power, shot forward.
*Kang!*
"...?!"
"Surprised?"
Ouyang Jue grinned and kicked Bai Wun-hwan in the chest.
His intent was to separate him from the other cultivators, but the very fact that Bai Wun-hwan had allowed it was enough to genuinely startle him.
Regardless, Ouyang Jue lightly twirled Severing Manifestation and said.
"From now on, you'll be playing with me."
Bai Wun-hwan's expression twisted.