Chapter 103
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: You Bastards...
Two children entered the room where Dan Mok Un-hye was staying and lost themselves in conversation.
It barely qualified as a room.
Only recently, with help from Thunderclap Beggar, Ha Mu-baek, and Wi Ji-gun, had it finally been made somewhat livable.
Ye Hwa had stubbornly refused any assistance from the start.
She relented only after being persuaded that a proper environment was crucial for treating Dan Mok Un-hye.
In truth, they should have moved the entire house first, but Ye Hwa had refused that outright.
Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun sat at the table, savoring the aroma of the tea Ye Hwa had brought them.
It would probably take quite some time.
Then, Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched. Wi Ji-gun's did the same.
[Who the hell are these guys?]
[No idea. Their numbers have been growing lately... Looks like we can't just sit back anymore.]
They had sensed the presence of strangers.
These weren't the auras of ordinary folk coming and going through Wuchang.
They were definitely martial artists.
And they were moving with extreme stealth.
The movements of professionals trained in infiltration techniques.
They had slipped into Wuchang with malicious intent.
The martial world was full of all sorts of people with tangled grudges, so they'd let it slide until now.
Ha Mu-baek hadn't thought it directly concerned him.
But things were different now.
Their movements had reached even the Dragon Training Pavilion.
[What are the Beggars' Sect doing?]
[Only a handful of their beggars can sense these guys. Maybe two or three in Wuchang. They're avoiding them expertly, so the sect probably hasn't caught on yet.]
[Figures. Sneaking around like rats... Even most Beggars' Sect branches wouldn't notice.]
Wi Ji-gun nodded slightly in agreement.
"Looks like it'll take the kids a while, so I'll step out for a bit."
Ha Mu-baek drained his teacup, stood, and said to Ye Hwa.
"Go ahead without worry."
With his master there, there was nothing to fret over, but Ha Mu-baek replied that he understood and left Dan Mok Un-roe's house.
The moment he stepped through the door, his figure vanished in an instant.
All that remained where Ha Mu-baek had stood was a faint breeze.
"Hiya!"
Dan Mok Un-roe thrust his sword with a spirited shout, but it was effortlessly blocked.
Ju Wu-myeong's Pure Azure Sword Method defense was impenetrable, without a single gap.
It was a world apart from Baek Ri-pyeong's strength.
"Not bad."
Ha Mu-baek murmured as he watched.
He perched atop a tree near the training ground, scanning the surroundings.
Yet no one spotted him.
"Those kids are doing fine on their own, so leave them be... Time to catch some rats."
Ha Mu-baek had arrived at the Dragon Training Pavilion from Dan Mok Un-roe's house in the blink of an eye. Now, near the seven training grounds, he hunted the intruders skulking about.
He had pinpointed their locations from the start.
"One, two, three, four. Perfect."
He confirmed the people at each sensed presence.
All four of them.
Scattered across the vast Dragon Training Pavilion, but none escaped Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
Ha Mu-baek moved lightly, and this time, not even a breeze trailed his vanishing figure.
"Huh?"
"Gah!"
"Urk."
Short cries of alarm and groans rang out.
But no one heard them.
Ha Mu-baek had silently subdued three in an instant.
As he went for the last one.
"Tch."
The rat sensed something amiss and moved first.
It was futile, like struggling in the Buddha's palm.
Realizing he couldn't escape Ha Mu-baek's grasp, the rat charged instead.
His sword flashed toward Ha Mu-baek's throat.
At the same time, he bit down hard on his molars. Attacking the enemy while biting a poison pill hidden in his mouth to commit suicide.
Ha Mu-baek smirked and flicked a finger.
Finger wind struck the rat's pressure point precisely, locking his jaw.
The muscles around his tongue, jaw, and vocal cords stiffened.
But his sword hand was unaffected, so the blade flew at Ha Mu-baek.
Realizing suicide had failed, the rat unleashed all his internal energy into the sword.
The blade's momentum grew even fiercer.
In that moment, Ha Mu-baek's expression changed.
It hardened coldly, murder flashing in his eyes.
"You bastards..."
A small but savage voice leaked from Ha Mu-baek's lips.
Appearing before the rat in a flash, Ha Mu-baek raised his right hand.
The enemy's sword was already snapped.
No one could tell when or how.
"How are you bastards still around?"
With those words, his hand pierced the rat's dantian.
With pressure points sealed, not even a scream escaped.
His body merely trembled in agony.
It was only natural.
Ha Mu-baek had shredded the dantian in the most excruciating way.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned to the other three.
Their pressure points sealed, tossed aside haphazardly.
He approached without hesitation and tore their dantians as well.
Then, using Empty Air Grasp, he lifted the writhing men and headed deep into a secluded spot in the Dragon Training Pavilion.
"Arrrgh!"
"Hrrgh!"
"Agh..."
"Krrgh."
The moment their pressure points were released, screams and groans of pain erupted.
With sound-blocking technique in place, Ha Mu-baek didn't care what they did.
He simply looked down with cold eyes.
"Speak. How are you bastards still around?"
His voice dripped with killing intent.
It seemed he could slay all four just with his words.
At Ha Mu-baek's question, the four froze, forgetting even their screams.
Like mice before a viper.
Yet their mouths stayed shut.
"How can Demonic Cult bastards infiltrate Wuchang—of all places—the Dragon Training Pavilion?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, the four men's eyes trembled minutely.
They hadn't expected him to know their identity precisely.
"The moment you circulate your energy, that foul, filthy stench of demonic qi pours out. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
A chilling voice.
It felt like demonic qi emanated from Ha Mu-baek's voice instead.
The Demonic Cult and Blood Cult.
Against those two alone, Ha Mu-baek was more ruthless than they were.
Still, the four clamped their mouths shut.
Ha Mu-baek had already extracted their poison pills, so suicide was impossible.
"Won't talk? Good. Very good."
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly.
A cruel smile.
"I was a bit worried you might spill easily."
His voice sounded almost amiable.
"You bastards only have two ways to kill yourselves: qi deviation or poison pills. Dantians are shattered, pills removed, and pressure points sealed."
As Ha Mu-baek spoke slowly, the four trembled violently.
Even with pressure points sealed, goosebumps crawled over their skin uncontrollably.
"Meaning you bastards can't die even if you want to."
Ha Mu-baek's grin bared teeth gleaming white.
To the four men, it looked utterly terrifying.
For a moment, it was hard to tell who were the Demonic Cultists and who was from the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
They wanted to close their eyes in terror, but not even their eyelids obeyed.
Ha Mu-baek strode forward to one of them.
With an expressionless face, he raised a hand toward the man's arm.
The moment he did.
"Stop."
Ha Mu-baek halted at the voice from behind.
It was all too familiar.
His master, Wi Ji-gun.
"Master..."
"Tsk. You didn't even sense me approaching this close. You've lost yourself."
Words like a reprimand.
"But these guys..."
As Ha Mu-baek started to protest, Wi Ji-gun waved a hand. The four men with sealed blood points fainted softly.
"Demonic Cult remnants. Those cursed bastards. They've infiltrated right under our noses."
Ha Mu-baek protested as if wronged.
"What of it? To me, you're more important than those scum. Right now, a horrific killing intent is pouring from you. Others might not sense it, but it's crystal clear to me."
That was why Wi Ji-gun had rushed here at full speed.
"How can you reek of shed blood like this? It's crawling back out from your body. I'm not worried about those pathetic worms—I'm worried you'll plunge into hell again."
Wi Ji-gun's calm words.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes trembled fiercely.
"Master..."
"I understand your rage toward those filthy dogs hasn't faded. But you need to let it go, bit by bit. Doesn't Lan have you?"
"Understood."
Ha Mu-baek replied softly in agreement.
"But we need to make them talk."
Wi Ji-gun nodded.
"Just don't lose yourself."
"I won't."
Wi Ji-gun stepped aside, and Ha Mu-baek revived the four men.
It was a short time, but the rats sensed the shift in Ha Mu-baek's aura and felt slight relief—prematurely.
Under his icy interrogation, they cracked sooner than later.
The four men crumbled like incense burned to ash.
"Why are the Demonic Cult bastards surveilling Palace Lord Gong and Gong So-yu?"
That was all they knew.
Surveillance on Gong Mu-hyuk, Gong So-yu, and those around them.
Expanding the scope had inevitably reached the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Because they'd set the entire Wuchang as their surveillance zone.
"No telling. For now, we clean out the trash in Wuchang."
"Yes. Of course."
Ha Mu-baek agreed with Wi Ji-gun.
No—from the moment he knew they were Demonic Cult, he'd already decided.
"I'll handle it appropriately. Stay with the kids, Master."
"Alright. Be careful not to lose yourself."
Leaving words of concern, Wi Ji-gun vanished.
Ha Mu-baek's figure disappeared as well.
Toward the presences of unfamiliar warriors recently entering Wuchang.
He just needed to sort and deal with the Demonic Cult remnants among them.
Easy for Ha Mu-baek, if no one else.
He simply hadn't checked until now, unaware they'd infiltrated Wuchang.
Using Infinite Bright Wheel Eye made detecting demonic arts as easy as flipping a hand.
"Hmm... No one's reporting back..."
On the roof of a pavilion over the pitch-black Dongting Lake.
A masked man murmured suspiciously while overlooking the lake.
It was the man who had met Gong Do-hyuk.
The appointed time had passed by a full hour.
He'd waited just in case, but no one sent word.
It meant all those sent into Wuchang had been caught.
His gaze turned to Wuchang.
"That monster's doing, after all."
There was someone he suspected—no, was certain of.
His presence there was the organization's most critical intelligence from the start.
"This is why I hated Wuchang."
From Hao Clan intel, he knew the man was linked to this affair.
Just yesterday, he'd ordered widening surveillance for more info—and this mess happened.
"What to do..."
The masked man stared at Wuchang with eyes full of dilemma.
"Gotta move."
Muttering to himself, his figure vanished.