Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Evil Ghost
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Everyone around them froze like statues.
No discerning eye for martial arts was needed. Even someone who had picked up a sword just days ago could intuitively sense it.
The final technique Yu Jingwang displayed was not something an ordinary warrior—or even one with decent talent—could achieve through effort alone.
It was a single move that settled everything, yet people felt it was less a sword strike or technique and more akin to emergence—like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon.
And that was precisely the truth. A warrior who had endlessly honed himself had torn through his own chrysalis with his sword, spreading his wings to the world outside.
'A new sixth venerable has been born.'
Amid the stunned crowd, Yu Jingwang clutched his father's corpse and wept before slipping into unconsciousness.
Whether from blood loss or exhaustion, it didn't seem like he'd wake anytime soon—not within an hour or two, at least.
Dang Mujin hurried to Yu Jingwang's side to check his condition.
'The wounds aren't light. I need to get him somewhere safe and treat him first.'
But Yu Jingwang wasn't the only one who needed attention. He couldn't just leave Flash Sword Yu Gwan-il's body behind either.
'Should I carry both? Come to think of it, what about Baek Hyang-ah?'
Dang Mujin thought of Baek Hyang-ah and furrowed his brow.
He was no longer the naive physician ignorant of the world's ways.
If someone showed him kindness, he returned it tenfold. But if they revealed malice, he could swing his sword without hesitation.
Kindness for kindness. Malice for malice. Dang Mujin had etched the Strange Physician's teachings deep into his heart.
Yet those teachings didn't apply to Baek Hyang-ah. She had never harmed him or shown any malice.
The problem lay in their differing perspectives. Dang Mujin had killed her father, and now, alongside his companions, he had slain her master, Muryangja.
Dang Mujin held no grudge against her, but she had every reason to harbor one against him. He felt conflicted.
'Even if she hasn't wronged me, should I kill her to prevent future troubles?'
What would the Strange Physician have decided?
He didn't know. Dang Mujin had to find the answer himself.
But his deliberation didn't last long. He felt the weight of countless gazes upon them.
Dang Mujin looked around.
Hundreds of Kongtong Sect warriors from Huan'gu Pavilion had emerged outside, staring at his group.
...
The atmosphere evoked the heavy stillness before a storm.
A sense that the slightest twitch could unleash catastrophe.
Dang Mujin made a pragmatic call.
Killing Baek Hyang-ah here would provoke hundreds of enraged Kongtong warriors to attack—and it wouldn't be surprising at all. He let go of any lingering thoughts about her.
'Right. Sparing her was the correct choice.'
Xuan Gong knew nothing of the history between Dang Mujin and Baek Hyang-ah.
Yet he arrived at the same conclusion: release her.
The only difference was that, unlike Dang Mujin, Xuan Gong was even somewhat sympathetic toward her.
He sheathed the sword at her throat and whispered,
"Miss Baek. Though things turned out this way, there was no malice. Live well and stay safe."
With that, Xuan Gong returned to the group, hoping they'd cross paths again someday. He even flashed what he thought was a charming smile.
In the powder-keg tension, Nangong Ming whispered to Dang Mujin.
"Hey. You're not gonna ask the one-armed guy to carry someone, right?"
"I won't. Don't worry."
Dang Mujin hoisted Flash Sword Yu Gwan-il's body, while Hong Geolgae carried the unconscious Yu Jingwang.
Hundreds of Kongtong Sect warriors from Huan'gu Pavilion continued staring intently at Dang Mujin's group.
The tension was suffocating. Their group's condition wasn't optimal. If that many charged, they couldn't escape unscathed.
Well, they could escape—but only by abandoning Yu Jingwang and Yu Gwan-il.
Dang Mujin prayed it wouldn't come to that.
'Please, don't charge.'
He swallowed hard and took a step forward. The Kongtong warriors didn't react.
Not even when Dang Mujin's group finally slipped from their sight did anyone give chase.
They had overcome another crisis.
*
The moment Xuan Gong released her and returned to Dang Mujin, Baek Hyang-ah's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
She remained seated there, unmoving, even after they vanished from view. She couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality.
Baek Hyang-ah clenched her fists with all her strength. Her nails dug into her palms, bringing a dull pain.
Yes. It was reality.
'Master.'
She had been shocked hearing of her father's death.
But this shock dwarfed that. Unlike her father, Muryangja had died right before her eyes.
Muryangja had been a stern master, but also one who treated her with genuine kindness.
He had shown her the vast world and her potential within it.
Others might say differently, but to Baek Hyang-ah, he was an exemplary teacher.
Her mind was a foggy blur. If nothing interrupted, she might sit there for a month or a year.
But she sensed hundreds of heavy footsteps approaching. Kongtong Sect disciples closing in.
Were they offering a comforting hand in her grief? Or retrieving Muryangja's body?
Baek Hyang-ah looked up, realizing both guesses were wrong.
What met her were gazes laced with contempt—not warmth.
It wasn't her imagination. Amid the low murmurs, a quiet voice rang out.
"Did that girl get the sect leader killed?"
It was laced with exaggeration, but still rooted in truth.
If she hadn't been captured by Xuan Gong, Muryangja would have toyed with Dang Mujin's group at leisure and claimed victory.
The murmurs swelled with clear discontent and anger.
"Is this really okay for the Kongtong Sect? They said it was an upright righteous faction."
"They promised we'd escape our filthy unorthodox lives, our fringe northern days—live honorably. Strut in Luoyang or Chang'an, boast to our families as righteous warriors."
An organization built around one overwhelming figure crumbles when that pillar falls.
The main sect's Kongtong warriors wouldn't waver at Muryangja's death. Their systems were solid, their faith in Kongtong martial arts unwavering. They could stand without him.
But Huan'gu Pavilion's warriors were different. Half clung to hopes of a better future, half to coercion.
They had just witnessed those hopes shatter and the coercion lift. Nothing held them anymore.
Someone shouted in fury.
"They lure us with pretty words, and all we get is watching our sect leader flop over dead to some no-name bastards from who-knows-where?"
A few main sect disciples from Huan'gu Pavilion raised their voices.
"That's too far!"
Normally, that roar might have cowed them. But not now.
The enraged warriors shouted louder.
"Too far? Shove it up your ass. You exposed bottom-feeders trying to lecture us?"
"Screw this! I'm going back to my old life. Daoist? Not in my fate."
Sensing the mood boiling over, Yagul Dal-eum bellowed in his booming voice.
"Enough! Calm down!"
His words couldn't fully quell them, but they seized attention.
Fortunately, Yagul Dal-eum was fairly well-liked, even among those dragged here by force.
Someone grumbled at his face.
"What now? Gonna grab those who want to leave?"
"No. I won't hold anyone."
"Then?"
"Don't drag down those who want to stay in the Kongtong Sect. Those who stay, come to my side!"
A few slipped out from the crowd.
But of hundreds of disciples, only a dozen or so joined Yagul Dal-eum.
The rest decided to abandon the sect and head north. Even some main sect disciples sent to Huan'gu Pavilion chose to leave.
Faced with the dismal outcome, Yagul Dal-eum quietly bit his lip. The cracked skin split, filling his mouth with a metallic tang.
Huan'gu Pavilion's warriors, about to leave empty-handed, hesitated and stopped. They figured they deserved compensation for months endured.
"Leaving with nothing?"
"Of course not!"
The departing crowd swarmed into Huan'gu Pavilion, grabbing anything of value.
Still unsatisfied, some torched the place as they went. The wooden structures blazed up in seconds.
"Burns real nice!"
"Haha!"
They mocked the Kongtong Sect as they passed Baek Hyang-ah, heading north—shedding righteous warrior lives for unorthodox ones once more.
Baek Hyang-ah sat motionless amid the flow like a rock in a river, watching the burning Huan'gu Pavilion.
How much time passed?
With a crash, one of Huan'gu Pavilion's halls collapsed in flames. The noise snapped her back.
Her forearms, back, and hands throbbed. Stepped on or kicked while seated in the crowd, no doubt.
As Baek Hyang-ah staggered to her feet, Yagul Dal-eum—who had waited—approached and offered a hand.
"Return to the Kongtong Sect with me."
But Baek Hyang-ah silently pushed his hand away. She had no intention of following him back.
Her place had been by her master Muryangja, not the Kongtong Sect.
A Kongtong Sect without Muryangja was neither what she wanted nor a place she could return to.
Of course, Yagul Dal-eum couldn't guess her thoughts.
"Will you head back a bit later, then?"
"No."
Baek Hyang-ah gave a curt reply, then hoisted Muryangja's limp body and stepped inside Huan'gu Pavilion's walls.
Untouched buildings raged with red flames. Collapsed ones spewed black smoke, embers unquenched.
Muryangja's dead weight bore down. His body heat, too faint for a living man. Blood stench mixed with acrid smoke.
Baek Hyang-ah thought this was hell.
Stumbling forward, she approached the fiercest blaze.
"Dangerous!"
Yagul Dal-eum's voice rang out. But she didn't retreat.
She laid Muryangja's body in the flames.
It was presumptuous to cremate the sect leader's corpse on her own whim, but Yagul Dal-eum couldn't stop her.
Baek Hyang-ah stared long at her master's engulfed form, then looked up. Red embers soared through black smoke—a poignantly beautiful sight.
Turning her back on Huan'gu Pavilion, she walked out. But flames still burned in her eyes.
She had stayed with the Baek family of Jeyuan per her father's wish. But he died, and that Baek family was gone.
She had joined the Kongtong Sect following Muryangja's call. Now both he and it burned.
Staying put wasn't the answer. Nor was grasping others' hands and following.
A half-remembered tale surfaced: eventually, one must walk alone.
Baek Hyang-ah realized it was time to find her own path.
Yagul Dal-eum, gauging her mood, asked,
"Miss Baek. Where to?"
"To hell."
Baek Hyang-ah untied her waist sword and set it on the ground.
A blade she couldn't even draw before her master's death. She wouldn't wield one again.
She glanced at Yagul Dal-eum, then south toward the Kongtong Sect, and smiled wistfully.
"And I won't be alone."
The evil ghost turned north and walked.